And now for something completely different! It’s another addition of what I had for dinner.

I love cooking Italian, so that means it’s pasta night!  Traditionally growing up pasta night was Sunday.  Well any night can be a pasta night and I am gonna share it with you!

Pasta and seafood go great together, so this was a main inspiration for this dish!  This is a healthy tasty dish you can make at home that the family will enjoy.  Omit the seafood and it’s vegetarian! I dont use any butter either! Very easy to make in any home; here is the recipe.

mixed seafood, diced tomato, onion, garlic, zucchini, squash, parsley, red chili flake

1 med. size yellow onion small dice

6 piece of garlic chopped

6 fresh roma tomato (also can be bought in a can diced) cut vine end off, score opposite end, blanch in boiling water until starts to peel then shock, peel skin off, cut in half, remove seeds, dice up

1 zucchini med. dice

1 yellow squash med. dice

1/2 bunch parsley Italian flat leaf chopped

1 bottle of white wine ( 2 cup for recipe and the rest is for you)

3 cup mixed seafood (IQF in you grocery store; best found in asian markets)

1 Tsp red chili flake (If you like heat add more)

1# of you fav. long type pasta (I will assume you know how to make pasta)

1/4 cup EVOO

In a large saute pan heat oil till smoking,  add onion and stir, add garlic and chili, cook till translucent

deglaze with wine and reduce by half, add tomato and cook until soft

add seafood and half parsley, add water if too tight

season with a little salt and pepper (if too acidic for you and needs balance add a pinch of sugar)

by this time you should have your water for your pasta already boiling that tastes like the sea

Tomato wine sauce

cook pasta, aldente!

add zucchini and squash, cook until soft yet still retaining crunch

pasta should be done, add pasta and remaining parsley

toss to coat evenly

Plate, enjoy!

Pasta with squash, zucchini and seafood in tomato wine sauce

Dont forget your wine, some bread and that special someone!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Keep eating, Chef recommended!

I even think my grandfather would love this one!

Butchers…Butchers…We don’t need no Stinking Butchers, or do we?!?!?

Well I guess you might want to know where this is going, and some of you know where I am going.  I mean what is up with butchers, where have they gone????  How many of you can think of where one is besides the horrible counters at Jewel or Dominic’s?  Too many times, my family or myself have gotten bad meat product from these establishments, so you know how I feel. Now I am not knocking, the wonderful counter at whole foods but it is so overpriced, who shops there for meat?

I can think of one in Chicago, Gepperth’s Meat Market on Halsted.  Unfortunately when I was doing a dinner the other day I was in need of ground lamb and I knew this was the place to go, unfortunately I found out the hard way that they were closed. So the quest begins…. Dominic’s……I should have known better.  A little Latin market, which has a great meat counter, but Latins don’t eat lamb….I forgot!  So I ended up at Jewel….of all places! Not the perfect quality I was looking for but, to end the quest it was all good and my Lebanese dinner was made.

stuffed grape leaves with lamb and rice

So where have all the butchers gone?

I remember when I was in Europe, Italy to be exact, I was overwhelmed by the street markets.  These places had everything from vegetables, fruits, fish and of course meat.  Butchers caring on their backs freshly killed pigs right into their shops and selling amazingly fresh product.

Where did we go wrong here, what are we doing?

Have we forgotten our past and what food use to be.  Did you know at an average grocery store a package of ground meat carries around thousands of different DNA in just one pack!  I like to get my meat ground fresh right in front of me,  and when I get lamb I like it ground double and very lean.  I might want to make kibbeh  nayyeh, which is a lamb tartare with bulgur and spices. Amazing!

Butchery is an art and not everyone can do it.  A chef is not a butcher, they are something different.  Butchers stand uniquely alone in the culinary arts and deserve great respect.  Great patience and skills of anatomy are required to become one.  I like to call it respect for the animal that I am butchering and that is how I teach butchery.

So if you like fresh meat go out and find a nice butcher in your community, support them and contribute to a dying art that could possibly be lost forever!

Keep eating!!!!

Your a Lush……I’m a Lush……Meet me at LUSH!!!!!!!!!!

Getting off late and trying to make a deadline can be challenging, let alone writing a self bio!!!!!! I decided that going home wouldn’t be the best option, due to the many distractions;  Xbox, TV, taking a shower and losing all ambitions by relaxing at home.  I decided to go out, find a nice place I could sip on some alcohol, and have some snacks. This is why I’m a total LUSH!  You might be one yourself…. crossing the border of being a drunk……. but not quite an alcoholic……..YET! You don’t go to meetings right?

Wine and spirit shops are a fun thing and they just keep popping up all over the place. They aren’t just places to buy,  beer, wine and spirits, anymore; these places are hosting tastings, charcuterie boards and small bites. Lemme tell you; they are doing a great job! Vast selections of fine crafted beers from breweries you never heard of……………no Coors here! Scotch, Vodka, Mescal, Gin, Bourbon, and other types, from labels you dont know……my head is spinning!  OMG!  I cannot forget the wine, from all over the globe and a great $10 or less selection of great wines so you cannot loose whatever your budget.  Did you catch the hint?  I’m Talking about, Lush wine and spirits!

Prosuitto

One of my favorite places has ben a place down the street from my front door all along!  They have been opening all over in Chicago and they do a great job, not just in the plethora of the varieties of eclectic and eccentric liquors they sell, but raising the bar and creating something different, promoting education of beer and wine, to include the fine art of charcuterie, becoming a recent addition…..This is the place for me to get away to and get some work done!

Charcuterie Tasting

Setting up shop to write my Bio on the corner of the bar, I felt like going outside the norm and go with beer!  With the wonderful help of the knowledgable staff I was beer in hand, a sampling of some Charcuterie, and bone marrow!  Well on my way I breezed through and got my bio done and didn’t even break a sweat…..I did get a buzz!

So to conclude….Lush is a great place to find a selection of great beer, wine, Liquors, charcuterie and snacks that are outside the norm or you comfort zone if you are an adventurous person! You Better be!!!!!

Bone Marrow

Kudos to Mitch, Rachel, Kelly, Cara and the rest of the team for doing the things that you do and keeping us all in Chicago LUSH’ES!

Thanks,  I got my Bio done!!!!!!!

Keep Eating……………..

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Currently working on improving the Blog everyday, changes need to happen sooner than later.  Please be patient while I upgrade the site for maximum pleasure!

 

Keep Cooking!

Salmon….Cured…..WHAT…..Smoked!!!!!

OK…..So I have been wanting to do this for some time and I don’t know why it has taken me so long to do so.  This is one of my specializations. Curing, preserving, smoking of meats and fish!  These are age-old techniques that date back to the times when refrigerators weren’t even a thought on anyone’s mind. Well its coming back…Many restaurants and good ones are doing such things, great things and I would like to consider that I do it in my restaurant as well!  So here it goes, I love salmon and it is a very versatile fish;  grill it, sear it, steam it, cure it, smoke it, eat it raw, heck the skin is also good!

So it is always about upping the par level with my food and always asking how can it be better?

Project Salmon:

Pre made VS. Home made

On the left, Salmon cured and smoked; the right cured, smoked and 5 spice rubbed....Yum!!!!

1-1-2 brine

• 1 part salt
• 1 part sugar
• 2 part h2o
• combine in pot and dissolve salt and sugar over a bit of heat into the water
• cool down to 40 degree or less

Cure the salmon

• combine cleaned salmon filet into brine (optional to leave skin on or not)
• depending on how think it is will determine how long ( about an 1hour per 1/2in.)
• when flesh becomes firm its complete
• pull out of brine and place on tray and into cooler so it can dry

From here you can choose to keep it just brined or you can create a dry rub, like pastrami ( I used 5 spice and it was great)

Additionally you can also smoke it (of course I did) I used cherry wood smoke chips, but other flavors are available!

• If smoking use rub after being smoked and not before!

So the end result is this………………….Awesome! Around the board everyone who tried agrees!

This Salmon has nothing on the stuff we buy pre done!  We are making a change on our menu; It’s night and day difference of flavor and freshness…….also $5/# Cheaper.  Also we can take pride and say it’s home made!

Keep cooking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How A Bachelor Cooks Dinner….

I remember the days of old when I was a bit younger and living alone for the first time.   I was stationed @ Fort Bragg, North Carolina in my 1st Army posting. Dinner use to consist of Cheddar Ramen with everyone’s favorite culinary tool the microwave; or what is also called in the culinary world “Chef Mike”. Let’s not forget the wonderful King Cobra 40 to go with.  Does this sound reminiscent of someone’ s college? Well to be a Soldier or college student means there isn’t much money to go out for a steak dinner, so you get by with what you got!

Fast forward to the future and (Hopefully) you can now start affording that nice steak dinner you always dreamed of. Well here it is!  I went to the store, after a long day of roaming around the Home and Housewares expo show and I was inspired.  Being around some top Chef’s like Emeril, Stephanie Izard, Morimoto and Paula Dean why wouldn’t I be!  So here is what I came up with…………………………………………….Enjoy!!!

Pan Seared Prosciutto wrapped Rib-eye with Cranberry reduction, Wild Zahatar Rice and Arugula salad with Lemon Vinaigrette topped with a Tomato Segment

Don’t Forget the wine!   Ciao!

Dinner over the weekend!

Its been some time since I have cooked Italian. So it’s time to do it up! Also having someone to share it with means there is no better reason. I love a guinea pig. LOL! Oh and I cannot for get the wine!

Snow days!

So, by now you know chicago just had a top 3 record breaking snow storm.  It was crazy! By the time we dug out, walking down the street was like walking through a cooridor. Anyway, it got me thinking! How can we utalize snow as food? For survival, it can be a clean source of water. Just watch out for the black, brown and yellow stuff! How about snow cones? Another technique used by the french is to put some honey on it. I use to do this growing up and its great! Check out the pics! Keep cooking!!!!!!

Sounds fishy!

Here is the completed dish I have been raving about! Its with ponzu,and spicy grated daikon, delish! In fact i just got off another long day at work, now sitting at the bar with a warm Jameson and a kirin waiting for my special sashimi dish!  But thats life!

Work, Work, Work!!!!

Just returned form another Long day at work!

So as I was walking down the street to catch my bus to go to work, my fish guy called me and says I have something great for the restaurant! Pink Hawaiian Snapper, Sashimi grade. Hmmmmm, What can I do with this?  Nigiri?? Sashimi?? top with some ginger and ponzu pair it with some sake! OK!  Special! Take a look!  Caio!!!!!!

Fresh