Archive for the ‘Food at Home’ Category
Too much serious talk lately. Let’s lighten things up by talking about food. I’ve been eating good lately. Maybe a little too good. I don’t want to step on that scale until I fast and exercise some! I cooked some chicken breasts on the grill the other day. Also grilled some poblanos, tomatillos and onion to make a green sauce. Fill ed up some corn tortillas, topped it with Cotija cheese, fresh chopped cilantro and it was great. Had lobster tail for dinner on our 33rd wedding anniversary. Traditional meal with baked potato, asparagus and melted butter. Had a Wedge Salad before that. Wedge of iceberg lettuce, bacon, blue cheese dressing, tomato and a little red onion. Very tasty. Took the leftover lobster and chopped it up and mixed it with my version of elote. I grilled some corn on the cob. Cut off the kernels. Mixed it with some lime juice, mayo, cilantro pesto, and Cotija cheese. Added a little celery and some chopped up grilled veggies from the other nigh. Stuffed it all in a corn tortilla and loved it! I had a hankering for turtles (the candy not the soup) the other night. Made some caramel sauce, chilled it, put it over chopped walnuts, topped that with chocolate ganache, chilled it and they were delicious! But the caramel ran if I didn’t keep them chilled. So, a couple nights later, I made ice cream added the chopped up turtles to it and man, was that great! It was great. Went over to a neighbors house for dinner. He made pork tenderloin three ways, had sweet potatoes with pistachios, a very al dente green been salad, and a Jezebel sauce. Somebody else brought Chicken Liver Pate for appetizer and I brought Crepes Suzette for dessert. There was also Angel Food cake cupcakes with Raspberry cream frosting.
Again, been living it up too good lately. Time to fast and exercise, and then, get on the scale!
I haven’t been talking a lot lately about what I’ve been eating at home. I bought the smoked salmon at Costco, pretty good price. I bought the jalapeno cheese bagels at Safeway in Sedona for $1.99 for a bag of 6. Not bad. So I’m eating a pretty good sandwich with great fresh ingredients for under a dollar. I just had a smoked salmon bagel sandwich out. The bagel was stale and the salmon was ok and it cost me $7.95. But the ambiance was great! While I was at Safeway, I also bought some London Broil. The normal price for the package I picked out was $21, but it was on sale and the price was $8. That was quite a mark down, and it was a lot of meat! I marinated the first London Broil in red wine for about 4 hours, grill it, sliced it. It was good, but when I cook the next piece I would like to turn out a little more tender. I remember eating a London Broil sandwich at a restaurant in downtown Chicago that was absolutely delicious. I want to recreate that sandwich. So, the next piece of London Broil I’m going to tenderize it and marinate longer. I’ll let you know how it turns out.
I’ve smoked some pork shoulders. Talk about a lot of good, tasty meat for a fair price. I made some tamales with the left over pork. Bought 5 lbs of masa at Food City in Cottonwood. That’s a lot of tamales! I made about 40 of them. I also did some chili rellenoes for a Uno de Mayo party. Oh yeah, I hope I don’t shoot myself in the foot with this one. Again, its Costco. I bought a pack of 7 four ounce lamb chops for $14. That’s right! Two bucks a chop, nice and thick cut. And boy were they delicious! I just seasoned them with salt and pepper and grilled them. Again, delicious. They were Australian, but I did not get any of that gamy taste from them like you did in the old days. Also, a big bag of fresh asparagus, again from Costco. Thick stems, grilled some, boiled some. Fantastic! The grilled batch, I put a little balsamic vinegar and olive oil on. Nice.
So, what have you been cooking lately?
I’ve created a “Bring the Bistro Home” video series and now have it available on DVD format. It makes the perfect gift or get it for yourself! The first DVD includes the videos for Burgundy Beef, Beef Braised in Beer (Tender Tasty Beef on the menu), Horseradish Encrusted Salmon, Shrimp Albear, New Orleans Style BBQ Shrimp and Potatoes Dauphinois. These were big favorites at the Bistro and the recipes have been downsized for home preparation.
Going to have a breakfast buffet party this coming Sunday. Quiche (crustless and with crust), 3 grain pancakes, omelets, crepes Suzette, potatoes, peppers, onions, tomatoes, bacon, sausage, chicken sausage, grilled steak, moles sauce, corn tortillas, mole sauce, bran muffins, corn muffins, wheat toast, champagne, orange juice, virgin Marys, vodka, fresh fruit and avocados. What else? I don’t know! If I run out of something, I’ll make something else! Pictures to follow!
My wife and I are going to a chili cook off party tonight. I’ve got my entrees all set and ready to go! Earlier in the week I smoked a pork shoulder and beef brisket. I took the Pork, sliced it up and added it to my own BBQ Sauce made with ketchup, brown sugar and apple cider vinegar to name just the major taste ingredients (besides the chili powder, cayenne, cumin and garam masala!). So that’s one chili, Smoked BBQ Pork Chili, sounds good and it tastes good too! Then there’s the smoked beef brisket chili and also a turkey chili. All of them have tomatoes, peppers, onion, white beans and black beans and ground up chipotles in Adobo Sauce to give it some heat. They all taste great, but the Smoked BBQ Pork Chili is my favorite. Topped with some cheddar cheese and raw green onion, its just outstanding. I’ll let you know how everybody at the party likes them. Later.
When we opened our restaurant back in the early 90s, the search was on for the perfect coffee to serve our customers. After tasting many brands and brews, we decided on Illy Cafe. And it turned out to be a good decision because our customers loved the espressos, cappuccinos, lattes and the brewed coffee that we made using Illy Cafe! To this day at home, we have our own little cappuccino machine and we have our lattes using Illy Cafe coffee! Its delicious!
I bought my first Cuisinart food processor back in the early 80s. My wife and I had lots of parties and did all the cooking. We still have a few parties every now and then and still do all the cooking. I hate to think of trying to do all that work without a food processor. My wife and I were at one of the Food and Wine Events in Aspen, Colorado one year and we went to a conference that had Julia Child as one of the speakers. The panel of speakers was asked by the moderator, “What is the most important piece of equipment in your kitchen?” Julia Child was the first to respond and she said “That would be me!”. Everybody laughed their butts off. Julia Child was serious, but I think there was a general consensus among the speakers that the food processor had changed everything.
I had carpal tunnel problems from years of tapping on a keyboard as a computer programmer. When I opened my restaurant I wanted to make breads and pastas from scratch. Kneading for me was a very painful process. So, I developed a number of bread and pasta recipes where I made the dough in the food processor and then took out and kneaded it for just a minute to get them gluten strands nicely formed. This saved me from the pain of extensive kneading. Plus all the other things that your food processor can do for you like grating, slicing, making salad dressings, bread crumbs, pesto and a myriad of other things. I think its the most important piece of equipment in the kitchen (besides me, of course!).
This is an easy one. You’ve had regular pesto before, right? Fresh basil, pine nuts, garlic, sea salt, olive oil and cheese. Well, this is cilantro pesto, so just substitute fresh cilantro for the fresh basil. Here you go, drop two cloves of garlic in a food processor while the processor is running. When its finely minced turn off the machine and put in two cups fresh cilantro with most of the stems removed, a tablespoon of sea salt and 1/4 cup pine nuts. Turn on the machine and slowly pour in 1/3 cup olive oil. Turn the machine off, add one cup grated dry cheese like Parmesan or Asiago. Pulse until combined. So now you’ve got yourself a great tasting cilantro pesto. What do you do with it? I ate it with Hummus (recipe on this site) and Flatbread. I use it on anything Southwest. I made turkey chili, put a dollop in the middle of the bowl, fantastic. I made quesadillas and mixed it it with the sour cream, delicious. I mixed it in soups. I made a creamy cilantro dressing for my Southwest Salad. Toss it with fresh cooked pasta. Use it as a sandwich spread, etc, etc.
Yes, Hummus! Don’t ya just love it? Its a spread made with garbanzo beans processed with sesame seed paste (Tahini), lemon juice, cumin, garlic, salt a little olive oil and water. You can eat it with just a pita warmed and toasted. Or how about those deliciously healthy Terra Chips made of different root vegetables? But it doesn’t stop there. How about hummus spread in a pita pocket, then fill the pita with a variety of vegetables, cooked or raw? Add some chicken or turkey strips, or some grilled strips of portabello mushrooms. Instead of in a pita pocket, use flatbread. Use it as a healthy sandwich spread instead of mayo and/or ketchup. So how does one make this stuff. Well, here’s how I do it.
Ingredients:
- 1 15 ounce can of garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained and rinsed - This food is low in Saturated Fat, and very low in Cholesterol and Sodium. It is also a good source of Dietary Fiber, Protein and Copper, and a very good source of Folate and Manganese.
- 2 cloves garlic – Lowers triglycerides, risks of cancer, heart disease and stroke
- 1/4 cup sesame paste (Tahini) – This food is very low in Cholesterol and Sodium. It is also a good source of Thiamin, Phosphorus, Copper and Manganese.
- 2 tsps cumin - It is a good source of Dietary Fiber, Thiamin, Phosphorus, Potassium and Copper, and a very good source of Calcium, Iron, Magnesium and Manganese.
- Juice from half a lemon - It is also a good source of Folate and Potassium, and a very good source of Vitamin C which helps prevent cancer and heart disease.
- 1/3 cup water
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup olive oil – low in Cholesterol and Sodium, helps lower risks of cancers and heart disease
Procedure:
Put the garlic in a food processor and process until finely minced. Add the garbanzo beans, sesame paste, cumin, lemon juice, water and salt. Turn the food processor on and while running add the olive oil.
How to serve:
What we did in our restaurant was put an 8 ounce portion of hummus in a glass cup, drizzle a little olive oil on it and dust it with some smoked paprika. It looked pretty and tasted great. We served it with two grilled pitas cut into eight pieces each, or with Terra Chips or a combination of the two. We would also create sandwich specials that were usually vegetarian in nature. Some were grilled vegetable sandwiches, portobello mushroom sandwiches, or a combination, usually in a toasted pita pocket that was coated with some of the hummus. Of course, if customers wanted they could add grilled chicken strips, shrimp or turkey to these sandwiches. And since hummus is a Middle Eastern thing, serving a sandwich made with it with a side of a cold couscous salad with golden raisins, toasted pine nuts, cilantro, coriander, currants, dried apricots was incredible good and authentic! Enjoy!
Done with red meat for a while! I never thought I’d say that, but I wanted to do videos of sauces. So a Bernaise Sauce, Bordelaise Sauce and Steak au Poivre with Cognac Cream sauce. That’s two rib eye steaks and a beef tenderloin meal. Plus I did a Hollandaise Sauce which required Eggs Benedict and copious amounts of Asparagus and Broccoli. In between I ate some delicious grilled Korean Lamb chops prepared by a neighbor. By the way, you have to check out the Steak au Poivre video. I almost burnt down the house, hence the name “Burn Down the House Steak au Poivre”. So anyway, what’s next to eat. I had a whole turkey in the freezer, so I took it out, defrosted under refrigeration (the best way to defrost), and cooked it on a rainy Wednesday. Now its going to be turkey dinners with mashed potatoes, gravy and veggies. Turkey Sandwiches for lunch. Maybe some turkey bean soup. Turkey on a salad with dried cranberries and walnuts, etc, etc. Hopefully the turkey will be gone by the time I get tired of turkey!