tasty

Arugula With Chorizo Stuffed Chilis

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A quick and tasty dinner this evening.
I had pasta for breakfast and lunch ,
so I tried to lighten it up a bit for dinner 🙂
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Prep a small salad with arugula, grape tomatoes, shaved asiago cheese, onions and raspberry vinaigrette.
Slit chilis on the side and remove ribs and seeds. Remove chorizo from casing. Stuff the chilis with the chorizo. Wrap top half of stuffed chili with bacon. Dust with cornstarch and saute until bacon is crisp and chilis are cooked. Serve with salad. Enjoy !

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Roast Pork Butt, Fries & Porcini Sauce

Lunch.

Definitely not “food porn”
Definitely a wonderful lunch.

Life is Good ! Pork is Good !
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Breakfast Of Champions # 13 ” Poached Egg’s Florentine “

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5.00am . Sunday.
The choice : Breakfast or go back to sleep :-0
Breakfast won 🙂
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Have a great sunday ! Life is Good !
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Curry Wurst Mit Fritten

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” Curry Sausage With French Fries ”

A post worth writing / reading you ask ? Well, if you ever had a good curry wurst, you start salivating just by reading the title. If you never had one, you might shake your head in disbelieve. What could be so special about a sausage drowned in curry-ketchup ? What the heck is curry ketchup ? Like many things in life, a mere description can never do justice to the actual experience of eating the real thing. I for one love my caviar, foie gras, lobster and so forth. But as you must have realized by now, I just as much appreciate the simpler thing’s in live. “Curry wurst mit fritten” certainly is one of them. Now, there are many different sausages suitable for this dish, but since I live in the states, it is more difficult in certain areas to source good quality sausages. However, I have access to very good mild Italian sausages which fit perfectly. As for the curry sauce, many elaborate sauces have been concocted over time, some more, most less successful. What works best for me is a quality ketchup mixed with roasted garlic puree, good quality curry powder and a bit of salt. That’s it ! Please don’t knock it before you tried it. I have surprised many a chef over the years with this simple sauce (condiment), most of whom were eager to get the “secret recipe”. Important also is to sprinkle a fair amount of the curry powder over the sauced sausage just before serving. I can think of no other dish in the world were I would suggest that, but here it works just beautifully. Also very important are first class, crispy french fries, sprinkled generously with sea salt and dipped into mayonnaise. Yep, the comercial kind of mayo works best here. Save the good home made stuff for something else 🙂

Guten Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Caldo Verde

Food memories ……..

Caldo Verde.
For me this recalls the time we were living in Madeira, Portugal. We were living and working in Porto Moniz, in a wonderful apartment overlooking the ocean, close to the center of Funchal, near the rock pool and a great restaurant which was in a rock cave just below our house and specialized in grilled sardines. During many evenings during the cooler months of the year, Maria and I went across the street to a simple restaurant/kiosk which was located right on the stony beach, just opposite the cave restaurant. While I forgot the name of the places, I remember clearly what we consumed most times: A bottle of ” Gatao Vinho Verde ” for me, a diet coke for Maria and two bowls of ” Caldo Verde ” for the both of us if we had dinner on the beach. Same beverages, accompanied by four orders of grilled sardines (one for Maria, three for me ) when we dined in the Cave. These simple dinners alway’s made a perfect ending to a busy day. Memories……. 🙂
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Ingredient’s :

Kale, thoroughly washed, stems removed
Potatoes, medium diced
Chorizo, finely sliced
Stock, chicken, beef, pork, or vegetables
( I used leftover smoked pork stock I had in my freezer
from last weeks “Collard Greens” preparation )
Garlic, paste
Onions, diced
Black pepper, fresh ground
Kosher salt,
Maggi seasoning
Olive oil, to saute

Method :

Saute chorizo in oil until starting to brown.
Remove chorizo, reserve. Saute onions and garlic
until translucent, add potatoes and stock, simmer
until potatoes are soft. Mash potatoes or blend with a
stick blender. Add kale and most of the chorizo. Simmer
until kale is soft. Season soup with salt, pepper and maggi to taste.
To serve, sprinkle the rest of the chorizo on top for color.

Bom apetite ! A vida é boa !
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Spicy Coconut Soup With Chicken, Rice & Vegetables

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Yesterday evening I was going to make an authentic Thai or Indian dish,
but then I realized that I did not have some of the ingredients I needed in
my cupboard, so I came up with this beauty. While it is not authentic Thai
nor Indian, Malay, Indonesian, etc, etc, I can proudly inform you that is
100% authentic ” Hans “.
I could not have eaten better last night, so it goes to show once more that
love for food and cooking, a bit of imagination and a little bit of skill’s can
many times replace the biggest, best, most expensive recipe book 🙂
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Ingredients :

Chicken, your choice of cut or boneless
Broccoli rabe, blanched
Grape tomato, whole
Green peas, blanched
Corn, blanched
Mini peppers, finely sliced
Scotch bonnet, seeds removed, finely sliced
Ginger, grated
Garlic, paste
Sweet chili sauce,
Coconut milk,
Limes, juiced
Cumin, ground
Fish sauce,
Curry powder,
Kosher salt,
Cilantro, coarsely chopped
Peanut oil, to saute

Method :

Saute garlic and ginger until fragrant, add curry and cumin, deglaze with sherry.
Add chicken, salt and and stock and simmer until chicken is tender but not
overcooked – (please, no “falling of the bone” here). When chicken is almost done,
stir in coconut milk. Slowly simmer for another five minutes., Add all vegetables,
seasoning and lime juice and let it all heat through.
To serve, sprinkle with cilantro and accompany with basmati rice.
To eat, mix rice into soup, small amounts at a time.

Bon Appetit! Life is Good !
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” Asian Inspired Baked Chicken “

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This was a great tasting chicken and best of all, no
more than 3 minutes of prep. Great taste, good looks,
easy to prepare.
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Ingredients :

Chicken, legs, breast, wings
Sweet chili sauce,
Oyster sauce,
Soy sauce,
Lime juice,
Garlic, paste,
Ginger, grated,
Kosher salt,

Method :

Mix all marinade ingredients, dip chicken until well coated,
bake at 375 f until done. Serve with lettuce in sesame/honey dressing.
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Breakfast Of Champions # 11 ” Millefanti In Brodo Di Carne “

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Usually I have peppermint tea and bananas for breakfast,
but today that did not tickle my fancy at all. So I took refuge
in another one of my favorite breakfast (and late night snack )
standby’s : An Italian variation of egg drop soup.
I fortified some great beef stock I had in the fridge by simmering
it for fifteen minutes with a good amount of garlic and ginger and seasoning
it with freshly grated nutmeg, kosher salt, cayenne and maggi seasoning.
The eggs I whisked with parmesan cheese, flat leave parsley, chives and nutmeg.
I fished out the sliced ginger and slivered garlic after simmering them for
15 minutes, then whisked in the eggs, immediately removing it from the heat
and drinking it as hot as possible.
Voilà ! Instant satisfaction 🙂
Remember, sometimes the simple things………

Have a great day ! Life is Good !
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” Canton Noodles, Beef & Vegetables In Ginger/Garlic Broth “

I know these are great pictures, but boy o boy, the fragrances from this dish 🙂
Yesterday I made a great beef stock in order to have a rich soup today.
This soup was just so flavorful and the different textures made it one of my
favorite asian dishes in a long time.
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Ingredient’s :

Beef stock,
Flank steak, sliced into baton
Broccoli rabe, blanched
Canton noodles, cooked, drained
Bamboo shoots, sliced
Radish, sliced
Black mushroom, soaked in hot water, quartered
Garlic, paste
Ginger, grated
Cilantro, coarsely chopped
Salt, to taste
Cayenne pepper, to taste
Sesame oil, to taste
Sherry, to taste
Oil, to saute

Method :

Saute steak until nicely browned but still medium on the inside.
Remove, set aside. Saute garlic and ginger until fragrant,
add mushroom and radish, deglaze with sherry, add stock and
simmer for one minute. Add bamboo shoots and rabe and bring
back to simmer. Remove from heat, add beef, sesame oil and salt
and pepper. To serve, sprinkle generously with cilantro and
soy sauce and chili sauce on the side.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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” Rigatoni Rustica “

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Last night’s dinner was a perfect example of tasty comfort food,
simple, tasty, pretty, easy, and satisfying.
(Sounds like a wish list for a spouse 🙂
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Ingredient’s :

Chicken, cut into one inch pieces
Rigatoni, cooked al dente, strained, reserve some of the cooking water
Bok choy, cut into one inch pieces
Onions, julienned
Kernel corn,
Grape tomatoes, whole
Chilies, sliced
Garlic, paste
Ginger, grated
Kosher salt, to taste
Cayenne, to taste
Butter, to saute
Red wine, to deglaze

Method :

Season chicken and saute until golden brown and cooked through.
Remove and reserve. Saute onions, corn, garlic, ginger, bok choy and chili,
deglaze with red wine and a small amount of the cooking water from the pasta,
add pasta and tomatoes, season with salt and cayenne.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !