tasty

Schwäbisches Rotkraut Mit Kasseler Rippenspeer Und Knoblauchkartoffeln

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Easy now with the German tongue breaker – it’s just red cabbage with smoked pork loin and garlic potatoes, jawohl 🙂
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The secret to a good red cabbage (as well as sauerkraut) is to cook it long enough and to bind the juices, two simple steps that most cooks ignore. Unlike some other recipes steeped in a long tradition, in my opinion, this one does NOT improve with modernisation or simplification. It is a very straightforward preparation which will be rewarded with a great dish, wonderful in taste, texture and presentation.
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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P.S.
Although this dish does not really need a sauce, I am a typical “Schwoab“, who loves sauce with everything.
So I made a sauce with the drippings from the kasseler, some finely chopped tomatoes and a shot of red wine 🙂
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Sauerkraut on ChefsOpinion
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Schwäbisches Rotkraut Mit Kasseler Rippenspeer Und Knoblauchkartoffeln

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Preparation :
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: saute sliced onions in a generous amount of duck or pork fat until translucent, add finely sliced cabbage

: to one pound of cabbage, add 1/2 cup red-wine-vinegar and 1 cup red wine

: add sugar, kosher salt, cayenne pepper,2 bay leaves, 1 cinnamon stick

: grate 1 unpeeled apple into the cabbage, add two cups of water or stock and simmer until the cabbage is tender

: add a small amount of corn starch slurry, mix well

: simmer another minute, check/adjust taste

: turn heat to lowest setting, add sliced kasseler (smoked pork loin), let meat heat through, about 4 minutes, depending on thickness

: meanwhile, saute small cooked potatoes in garlic oil, season with kosher salt and cayenne pepper

: Schwäbisches Rotkraut (Red Cabbage Swabian Style)

: Schwäbisches Rotkraut Mit Kasseler Rippenspeer Und Knoblauchkartoffeln

: Schwäbisches Rotkraut Mit Kasseler Rippenspeer Und Knoblauchkartoffeln

: Schwäbisches Rotkraut Mit Kasseler Rippenspeer Und Knoblauchkartoffeln

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Stuffed Baked Potato With Smoked Salmon, Dragon Fruit And Salad

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My original intention for breakfast this morning was to just pile some smoked salmon on a slice of bread and wait for lunchtime to come around for a more substantial meal. But then I saw the pomegranate and bean sprouts in the fridge, as well as an open container with Greek yogurt. Needless to say, I couldn’t stop there and all of a sudden, breakfast started to morph into what became this great brunch.
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Stuffed Baked Potato With Smoked Salmon, Dragon Fruit And Salad

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Preparation :
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: bake potatoes at 375F until done, let cool slightly

: season sliced radishes with kosher salt, let stand for 15 minutes

: cut top off of the potatoes

: remove “flesh” from “skin”

: coarsely chop smoked salmon

: mix the potatoes, salmon, greek yogurt, scallion, garlic paste, kosher salt and cayenne pepper, fill back into potato skins

: dress romaine lettuce, fresh spinach, sliced salted radishes, bean sprouts and tomatoes with honey/mustard dressing and fresh ground black pepper

: select a pretty serving platter 🙂

: arrange salad, dragon fruit slices and baked potatoes nicely on platter, sprinkle with pomegranate-seeds

: Stuffed Baked Potato With Smoked Salmon, Dragon Fruit And Salad

: Stuffed Baked Potato With Smoked Salmon, Dragon Fruit And Salad

: Stuffed Baked Potato With Smoked Salmon, Dragon Fruit And Salad

: Stuffed Baked Potato With Smoked Salmon, Dragon Fruit And Salad

: Stuffed Baked Potato With Smoked Salmon, Dragon Fruit And Salad

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Crispy Pata

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This super tasty and crispy dish is one of my all-time favorite Pinoy dishes. Usually it is made with a whole pork leg, but I also like it just the way I was introduced to it many years ago while living in the Philippines, with the cheapest cut of the leg, the feet.
The first time I had this dish was in Manila, when the maid I employed offered to share some of the food she cooked for herself and her husband that day. She was a bit shy to offer, since she thought the food might not be good enough for me, what with all the bones and stuff. She also used only the Feet, since she could not afford to buy the whole pork leg. I remember how happy and proud she was when I loved her cooking. After that, I had her cook for me this and other local specialties often, which we usually shared on the rooftop terrace which was a big deal for her and her husband. (This was in the early 80’s – a maid used to make $20-$30 a month, even less in the countryside. My maid’s husband was the caretaker at our apartment-building of 6 apartments, he made about the same salary. But, to their luck, they were allowed to sleep under the staircase on the ground floor, which they closed off with cardboard and a curtain and therefore considered them self fairly safe, comfortable and overall lucky with their living accommodations.)
Thankfully, times have changed, but there is still way too much poverty around the world and too many people must endure this kind of poverty or, sadly, worse 😦
But thinking about food should be a happy occasion, so back to the present and our Crispy Pata. While it is easy to prepare, you might want to do the frying outside if you can (think deep-fried turkey) In any case,be extremely careful when frying the feet or the whole leg in deep fat, because the moist meat tend’s to splatter a lot. A covered fryer will give some protection but still – use the utmost care !!!
Serve with atchara or avocado.
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Bon Appetit ! Kainan na !
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Click here for Atchara
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More Crispy Pata on ChefsOpinion
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More Pigs Feet on ChefsOpinion
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P.S.
Don’t even think about discarding the pork stock! It will make a very flavorful soup, as you can see below.
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Crispy Pata

Pork Soup With Pasta, Corn And Egg

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Preparation :
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: pigs feet

: score the skin

: simmer the feet with kosher salt, chili flakes, a dash of lime juice and lots of garlic paste

: meanwhile, mix chopped chilies, garlic paste, chopped onions and chopped cilantro with kosher salt and white vinegar

: chili-vinegar dipping sauce

: chili-vinegar dipping sauce

: skim the scum and most of the fat during simmering

: strain the stock, check / adjust the seasoning, add pasta, kernel corn, scallions and egg yolk to serve as an appetizer to the crispy pata

: when the feet are very ! tender but NOT falling apart, remove the feet from the stock, let dry for at least one hour

: fry in 375F oil until the skin is very crisp and the meat is still moist and juicy

: serve with atchara or avocado

: douse liberally with the chili-vinegar sauce

: Crispy Pata

: Crispy Pata

: Pork Soup With Pasta, Corn And Egg

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How To Turn Radiators Into A Delicious Dish…….

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“Radiatore with Salame and Sun-Dried Tomatoes in Garlic-Confit Cream”
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Pasta, garlic, cream and other “stuff” 🙂 – always quick and easy to prepare, yet very rewarding with big flavors and a lovely texture.
This is the kind of food I prepare when I “don’t feel like cooking”. After all, the whole preparation takes only a few minutes and is easy enough to be handled by a novice in the kitchen, all one needs is a few good ingredients and a passion for food, the rest will fall into place all by itself 🙂
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Radiatore with Salame and Sun-Dried Tomatoes in Garlic-Confit Cream

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Preparation :
To read instructions, hover over pictures
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: saute garlic in olive oil until just starting to change color

: add salame julienne and onion julienne, saute until onions are translucent

: add julienned sun-dried tomatoes and heavy cream, season with kosher salt and fresh-grated black pepper

: simmer until cream starts to thicken, remove from heat, add grated parmesan, check / adjust seasoning

: add fresh cooked radiatori with a bit of the cooking water, mix well

: plate on serving dish, sprinkle with freshly shredded parmesan

: Radiatore with Salame and Sun-Dried Tomatoes in Garlic-Confit Cream

: Radiatore with Salame and Sun-Dried Tomatoes in Garlic-Confit Cream

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Shrimp And Vegetable Salad With Cheese/Garlic Bread

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Last night proved to be one of these dreary nights when I am not able to sleep, so at 5.00 am I decided to give it up, get up and start the day. I had my usual breakfast of two bananas and a glass of ice-cold, reduced fat milk, which usually carries me for a few hours until the early afternoon or even early evening. Not so today. At 10.30 am I decided I needed something a bit more substantial, which lead me to prepare this great concoction. Because of the delicious but very filling large amount of garlic/cheese bread I devoured, I’ll be fine for the rest of the day and will probably just have a few fruits for dinner 🙂 😦
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Shrimp And Vegetable Salad With Cheese/Garlic Bread

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Preparation :
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: spread a generous amount of garlic-confit paste on sour dough bread (or your favorite bread)

: sprinkle with finely grated parmesan and fresh ground black pepper, bake at 375F until golden

: Cheese&Garlic Bread

: sprinkle radish, cucumber, tomato and peppers with kosher salt, let rest for 10 minutes, discard excess liquid

: mix vegetables with ranch dressing

: marinade shrimp with lime juice, finely chopped chilies, kosher salt, olive oil and chopped cilantro

: drizzle some of the shrimp marinade over iceberg leaves

: top with veggie salad

: top veggie salad with shrimp

: Shrimp And Vegetable Salad With Cheese/Garlic Bread

: Shrimp And Vegetable Salad With Cheese/Garlic Bread

: Shrimp And Vegetable Salad With Cheese/Garlic Bread

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Petti Di Pollo Alla Fiorentina

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Quote from Ciao Italia :
“Anything alla fiorentina, meaning Florentine style, usually signifies that spinach is in the dish”.
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If you wonder why I put this quote at the beginning of this post, the answer is simple:
“Petti Di Pollo Alla Fiorentina” is traditionally (originally?) prepared by stuffing a chicken breast with a mixture of chopped blanched spinach and grated cheese, then sauteed in fat or baked in the oven.
While this can be a very enjoyable variation, I have seen many other ones, some even just grilled, served with or without any spinach. This was actually in Florence some years back, when Maria and I visited a fancy restaurant off the beaten track and I ordered a “Bistecca Alla Fiorentina” for myself (beef-heaven on earth) and Maria ordered the “Pollo Alla Fiorentina”, which was presented as a simple grilled chicken breast served on a bed of spinach.
As for the reason I prepare my version the way I do is simply because I feel it is a far more tasty and juicy version of the widely touted as original version of “Petti Di Pollo Alla Fiorentina”.
Coating the chicken allows the breast to stay very most while you can cook the meat to just being done, while if you stuff the breast and then cook it, by the time the stuffing is heated to a safe temperature, the breast will be much too dry.
So, as usual, while I don’t claim that my version is the “Original”, I strongly believe that it is the improved version of a venerable, classic dish 🙂
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
(Controversial, sometimes) 😦 🙂
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Petti Di Pollo Alla Fiorentina

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Preparation :
To read instructions, hover over pictures
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: butterfly skinless chicken breast in half

: score the surface to allow more coating to adhere to the meat

: mix equal parts of raw chopped spinach, grated parmesan cheese and whole eggs, season with kosher salt, garlic paste and cayenne pepper

: dust the breasts with flour, then dip into spinach/egg mixture, saute in olive oil

: almost done…………

: meanwhile, saute freshly cooked penne in garlic-oil, add chopped tomatoes, grated parmesan, sriracha, kosher salt and maggi seasoning (optional), mix well

: plate the pasta, sprinkle with grated cheese

: top with chicken, sprinkle with more cheese and basil leaves

: Petti Di Pollo Alla Fiorentina

: Petti Di Pollo Alla Fiorentina

: Petti Di Pollo Alla Fiorentina (notice how juicy the chicken breast is)

: Bella eats Petti Di Pollo Alla Fiorentina 🙂

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Pulled Pork “Havana Loco”

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For most of my life I detested the very idea of pulled pork. My professional training as a cook had taught me that if something falls apart, it is overcooked and therefore non grata. In addition, the pulled pork I was introduced to during my early years in the USA was almost always smoked for many hours, then completely inundated in (most of the time crappy) “bbq sauce”.
The whole thing seemed to me to have the texture and taste of some lousy half-smoked cigars mashed-up and mixed with ketchup and vinegar, more often than not served on a limp, tasteless burger bun. As a result, for many years I stayed away from pulled pork.
This changed when I got to travel in Latin America and in Latin American-circles, where pulled pork took on a very different dimension, one which I was finally able to wholeheartedly embrace. Usually braised in the oven for hours, with lots of cilantro, lime, garlic, various citrus juices and sometimes the addition of onions and/or chilies, the pork tastes lively and fresh, not at all heavy or greasy or overly sweet. Usually, it is served with white rice and yucca or a simple salad and most of the time with some kind of spicy, vinegar based condiment.
Below find my own take on pulled pork, as I imagine I would serve it at my imaginary, popular nightspot in a Havana of long-gone times, with hot girls dancing to the Rumba, Mojitos flowing freely and eating, drinking, dancing, making love and enjoying life being the only thing on everybody’s mind……………..
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Pulled Pork “Havana Loco”

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Preparation :
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: whole porkbutt, shank removed

: cut pork butt in half, reserve one half for another recipe, score skin of porkbutt in a criss-cross pattern

: orange, lime, kosher salt, chili flakes, garlic paste

: mix the juices from the fruit, 2 tblsp salt, 1 tsp chili flakes, 2 tblsp garlic paste with 2 pints of water, pour into pan with porkbutt, lightly cover with alu-foil, cook at 350F for 4 hours or until pork falls apart when lightly squeezed

: meanwhile, make sauce by blending with a beurre-mixer or in food processor : lime juice, garlic paste, cayenne pepper, cilantro, kosher salt and olive oil

: almost……..

: cilantro, garlic and lime sauce

: season fresh spinach leaves and thinly sliced radish with kosher salt and cayenne pepper

: sour dough bread (use your own choice of bread)

: cut in half, remove some of the soft part (don’t throw away, this is great to dunk into the pork juices)

: after 4 hours at 350F….

: put pork into a bowl, remove chicharones (crispy skin), reserve chicharones

: chicharones

: remove bone from meat, give bone to Bella 🙂

: shredd the pork with 2 forks or tongs

: add the pork juices from the pan to the meat (make it VERY moist without drowning it)

: put some spinach on the bottom half of the bread

: top with meat, thinly sliced red onions, radish and more spinach leaves

: pile it on………

: douse with cilantro, garlic and lime sauce

: cover with top-half of bread, slice in half or quarters

: Pulled Pork “Havana Loco”

: Pulled Pork “Havana Loco”

: Pulled Pork “Havana Loco”

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Chicken-Noodle Soup With Spicy Sausage And Napa Cabbage

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So now that summer is finally over (at least according to the calendar), soups will be on the menu more often to warm our frozen bones (or we could turn the A/C from 72F to 78F ?) 🙂
Anyway, I myself never need an excuse to prepare myself a pot of soup, especially any variation of chicken-noodle soup, which I eat as often as twice a week. Following is today’s version :
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Chicken-Noodle Soup With Spicy Sausage And Napa Cabbage

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Preparation :
To read instructions, hover over pictures
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: saute diced chicken in garlic oil until lightly browned

: add diced spicy Italian sausage and chicken stock, season with grated ginger, kosher salt and cayenne pepper, simmer until sausage and chicken is cooked through, about 4 minutes

: meanwhile, saute finely sliced onions with garlic paste in olive oil until onions are caramelized, reserve

: add shredded carrots to the soup, simmer one minute, remove from heat

: add sliced napa cabbage, finely sliced peppers and chopped cilantro, check / adjust seasoning

: plate freshly cooked casarecce pasta to soup plate, sprinkle with chopped cilantro

: top with the soup, top with the caramelized onions, sprinkle with more cilantro

: Chicken-Noodle Soup With Spicy Sausage And Napa Cabbage

: Chicken-Noodle Soup With Spicy Sausage And Napa Cabbage

: Chicken-Noodle Soup With Spicy Sausage And Napa Cabbage

: Chicken-Noodle Soup With Spicy Sausage And Napa Cabbage

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BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS # 49 – Dutch Buttermilk-Pancake With Fresh Raspberries

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If ! I would NOT be an overweight, diabetic old man, I would have me one of these at least three times a week for breakfast 🙂
Of course I would change the fruit often – I would rotate such fruit as apples, rhubarb, strawberries, carambola, bananas, lychees, pears, pitaya, grapes and many more, but the concept would always be the same. This wonderful dish can be prepared in less than 10 minutes, is extremely easy to whip-up and, if you use the less-exotic fruits, is also very cosy on your wallet 🙂
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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P.S.
If you don’t have buttermilk at hand, regular milk or half&half will do the trick.
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BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS # 48 – Dutch Buttermilk Pancake With Fresh Raspberries

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Preparation :
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: mix self-rising flour, honey, whole eggs and a dash of organic vanilla extract until smooth

: cook in fat of your choice ( I prefer clarified butter) until just set, flip

: cook on second side until golden but still fluffy and not dry

: meanwhile, saute 1 tblsp sugar or castor sugar in 1 tblsp of clarified butter

: when caramelized, remove from heat

: add fresh raspberries, stir JUST ONCE carefully in order to avoid mashing the fragile raspberries

: put pancake on a serving dish

: top with the raspberries, dust with castor sugar, sprinkle with mint leaves

: BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS # 48 – Dutch Buttermilk Pancake With Fresh Raspberries

: BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS # 48 – Dutch Buttermilk Pancake With Fresh Raspberries

: BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS # 48 – Dutch Buttermilk Pancake With Fresh Raspberries

: BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS # 48 – Dutch Buttermilk Pancake With Fresh Raspberries

: BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS # 48 – Dutch Buttermilk Pancake With Fresh Raspberries

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Obatzda (Bavarian Cheese Sandwich – Boss Level)

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Sadly, most of us will not be able to attend the real Oktoberfest in Munich this month 😦
So, to help you dream about actually being there in person, here is one of the quintessential dishes one might consume together with a Maß Bier (or even a few Maß ) at the Oktoberfest or any other beer-garden, or, as I did today, in my chair in front of the TV, watching the Oktoberfest on Deutsche Welle TV and having a Maß of iced tea 🙂
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Guten Appetit ! Life is Good !
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