Comments (1)

By J.Ho, April 7, 2008 1:23 pm

I’ve posted this recipe in the past, but I just found some pictures I took the last time I prepared it for some friends. So I figured it would be a good thing to update. Don’t let the bacon, butter and cream fool you. This dish is much lighter than it appears.

This is a simple country-style French dish that is hearty, nourishing and wicked, wicked good! It’s origins are in the French province of Brittany. One of the six Celtic nations, Brittany is gastronomically revered for producing some of France’s best beers, white wines, crêpes and seafood.

1 large onion, sliced
4 oz butter
8 oz bacon slices
1 ½ pounds potatoes, peeled & thinly sliced
1 ½ pounds fresh cod fillets (any medium to firm textured white fish such as haddock, roughy or halibut may be substituted)
1 cup heavy cream

Heat oven to 350°. Sauté the sliced onion in 2 tablespoons of the butter. Prepare in a greased casserole dish which is an appropriate size to pack in all the ingredients firmly. Cover the bottom of the oven dish with a layer of bacon slices, then half of the onion, then half of the potato slices. Layering it all like a sandwich.

Cut the fish into medium sized pieces and place on top of the potatoes. Season well with salt & freshly ground black pepper. Reversely, cover the fish with the rest of the potatoes, then the onions and then the bacon. Season well with salt & freshly ground black pepper again. Pour over the cream. Dot the top with the remaining butter. Bake in the oven for about an hour. It will be done when the top is well browned and the cream is bubbling vigorously.

With the potatoes integrated within the dish, all you need is a side green vegetables. I’d suggest roasted asparagus.

Yankees suck!

Comments (2)

By J.Ho, January 9, 2008 9:43 pm

And I mean GARLIC! Sometimes I just have to brag. This rules. Too easy. TOOOOO EASY! I whipped this up tonight before I packed for my trip. I always pack my bags way too late. This time I’m early. I usually pack them in a rush before the cab gets here. Hopefully, I’ll have it all done tonight. Have fun with this while I’m gone. Sayonucci!

• 2 chicken breasts, cut into chunks
• 6 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 5-6 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• ¼ cup flour
• ½ cup water
• ¼ cup white wine
• Salt & freshly ground black pepper
• Dash of crushed red pepper flakes
• Handful of chopped green onions

Toss chicken in flour till each piece is coated well. Flash fry garlic in olive oil over high heat until it’s just turned brown (not burnt), remove. Use a wok or stir fry pan if you have one. In remaining olive oil fry chicken until cooked and a bit crispy. Add red pepper flakes, oyster sauce, wine, sesame vinegar, green onions, soy sauce, salt, pepper, water, and remaining garlic and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring often. Serve over a bed of steamed jasmine rice.

You can take this in a million different directions. Try another vegetable instead of green onions. Like carrots, celery or okra. Maybe baby corn. Try a combination of whatever you can think of. But make it something that will compliment the garlic and the tangy hint of vinegar. Next time I’ll sprinkle freshly chopped flat leaf parsley over the top just before serving. Yankees suck!

Comments (1)

By J.Ho, December 5, 2007 6:16 pm

So it’s not actually a bisque. But I had to name it something. I have been sick lately. Yesterday I was laying around thinking about making some minestrone soup. I looked through my Italian cookbooks and really didn’t find anything that looked easy to make. No good soup is going to be easy, but I needed something less complicated.

Last week we had dinner at Casa de Luca in Beverly. It’s a great neighborhood Italian restaurant with generous portions and reasonable prices. The minestrone soup was to die for as were the fresh garlic bread sticks. I was inspired. I’ve only made a minestrone a few times before. I was never impressed with how they came out. So I figured I’d invent one of my own.

Traditionally, minestrone is a thick Italian soup made with vegetables, often including beans, pasta or rice. I wasn’t in the mood for a bean soup and I was really craving chicken. I went to the store and grabbed a bunch of things that seemed to go well in making an Italian chicken stew. Here’s what happened …

• 2 quarts chicken broth
• 1 quart water
• ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 whole rotisserie chicken (I used one that was already cooked at the store)
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 2 carrots, finely chopped
• 2 celery stalks, finely chopped
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 1 cup Italian green beans (the flat kind), roughly chopped
• 1 large zucchini, roughly chopped
• 1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
• 1 14oz can diced tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons chicken base paste
• 2 tablespoons vegetable base paste
• 1 tablespoon dried Italian seasoning
• 1 teaspoon crushed dried red pepper flakes
• 2oz salt pork, finely diced
• 1½ cup Ditalini pasta
• Fresh Italian flat leaf parsley

Heat a large stock pot over medium heat and add the olive oil. Let the oil heat through and add the diced salt pork. Slowly render the fat and flavor from the salt pork then add the chopped onion. Stir till the onion is well coated with oil. After few minutes add the shallot, chicken and vegetable base pastes, garlic and Italian seasoning. Stir often. After another few minutes add the carrots, celery, Italian green beans and chicken and vegetable base pastes. Stir well and cook for five minutes or so then add the canned crushed and diced tomatoes. Stir and cook for another five minutes then add the water and chicken broth.

Crank the heat up to high and bring to a boil. Once it’s boiling, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for about half an hour. Carve up the rotisserie chicken. Remove as much meat as you can from the chicken leaving behind any fat and skin. Break up the meat with your hands and add to the stew. Simmer for another half hour or so. Stir often.

I like to get those rotisserie chickens quite often. They don’t cost much more than buying a raw whole chicken. Even if I don’t plan on eating them that day, I carve out the meat and set it aside in case I need to add it to any recipe in the near future. Sometimes I just sit on the couch, watch TV and chow down on crackers, cheese and cold shredded rotisserie chicken meat.

Anyway, add the chopped zucchini and cook for another five to ten minutes. Turn off heat and add the ditalini pasta. Cover and let sit for 20-30 minutes. Serve in wide flat bowls topped with freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese and chopped fresh Italian parsley. Trust me, you’ll love it.

Mine came out a bit salty, but I like it that way. I used salt at first when I added the chopped onions. Judging by how salty it was, I omitted the salt from this posting. The soup will get plenty of salt from the chicken and vegetable base pastes. That stuff is potent, but I love it. I’ll never go back to dried bouillon again.

Zuppa-dupa!

Yankees suck! Oh, and the Ravens are bunch of cry babies.

Comments (0)

By J.Ho, December 3, 2007 7:25 pm

There is more info regarding this posting — see it here after you read this.

———————

First off, I’m with my lady friend and she’s evaluating some software for a project she’s working on for her company. She is seriously the biggest computer nerd that’s ever walked the earth. But she’s damn cute and one hell of a saleslady. Anyway, she’s making me use one of her project’s shitty laptops. How shitty can a laptop be you ask? It’s a Fujitsu-Siemens laptop with a French keyboard layout running Ubuntu Linux. That’s how shitty. What’s even weirder is I’m allowing her to make me use this thing. But seriously, what am I going to say. I’m weak to her species.

She doesn’t actually like Ubuntu software or the silly Japanese-Eurotrash hardware it’s wrapped in. She says Ubuntu Linux smells like ass and she’s actually going to prove it to a big group of other nerds who make decisions regarding multi-multi-multi-million dollar defense related technical solutions. She’s a former Sun chick and she feels Solaris could have saved the world if Sun wasn’t so freaking stupid. If she doesn’t like that hardware/software setup then why torture me? The reason is obvious: she probably enjoys it.

Anyhoo, this idea for a post just hit me. There are some great restaurants in Beverly, MA, the town just south of where I live. Beverly has a great bar, music and social scene too. Not that I’m a miserable, cynical prick or anything, but for some reason the worst of the worst appetizers in Beverly restaurants are stuck in my head. Just to show I’m a kind hearted guy and I’m not all about being negative as I have been against the Indigo Bar & Grill, I’ll also add info about a good appetizer at the restaurants. Deal? Good. Here we go…

Nothing can kill a dining experience faster than a lousy appetizer. Receiving a poor greeting when you arrive at a restaurant and bad service rank right up there too. But when an appetizer sucks, it will ruin a meal. No matter how good the next courses are. These are the top five appetizers in Beverly restaurants that must be removed from the earth as fast as freakin’ possible. The very thought of ever experiencing these apps again make my blood boil.

#5 – Cheese and Fruit – Brenden Crocker’s Wild Horse Cafe

• Three cheeses, grapes, apples, guava paste, toasted almonds, honey and crackers – $13.00

I swear to Jah. Cheese and fruit for $13. In Beverly. It’s not that cheese and fruit are bad or shouldn’t be on a appetizer menu, but come on peeps. $13? In Beverly? The last time I paid close to that for a cheese and fruit tray was at The View Lounge on the 39th floor of the Marriott in downtown San Francisco. I didn’t mind it then since we were getting more than just the food. This place has a freakin’ spectacular 360° view of San Francisco! Robin Williams was drunk off his ass and doing one-acts at the bar. And I think Keith Sweat was crooning with the house jazz band. The ambiance was worth the overpriced food and cocktails. All the ambiance you’ll get at the Wild Horse Cafe is seeing the snobby people you’d usually run into at SOMA.

One good appetizer at the Wild Horse Cafe is the huge plate of nachos, but with house-made potato chips instead of Doritos or something. Smothered in melted cheese, bacon, scallions and sour cream. I didn’t see it on the online menu, but I always get it. Believe it or not, nachos are an easy thing to screw up and the Wild Horse does them perfectly. The first time I had them the girl I was with asked for the bacon be placed on the side. She didn’t eat bacon. When I heard that all I could imagine in my head was a big red X over her face and a buzzing sound like on the Family Feud.

#4 – Crab Cakes – SOMA

SOMA was actually the first bar I went to when I moved out here from California. I had a mediocre overpriced martini and absolutely offensive crab cakes. They sucked. Plain and simple. I lived in the Washington DC area for some time and I had some pretty good Maryland crab cakes down there. The crab cakes at the Black Cow in Hamilton are tasty. However, the crab cakes at the Pacific Café in San Francisco are the best I’ve had in my entire life.

One decent appetizer at SOMA is the Caesar Salad. It’s probably good since it’s not too difficult to make.

#3 – Chile Con Queso – Acapulcos Mexican Restaurant

• Rich, spicy Mexican cheese dip in a bowl with tortilla chips

Imagine Velveeta with Tabasco Sauce. After living in California for so long, I’ve become a Mexican food snob. I can’t help it though. There is absolutely no decent Mexican food in the Northeast. I challenge anyone to steer me towards some. Please.

One decent appetizer there is the Camarones De Ajo – Shrimp sautéed with fresh mushrooms in butter, garlic and spices. Not great, but not that bad.

#2 – Sopa Cielito Lindo – Cielito Lindo Grill

• Black bean and corn soup garnished with onions and fresh cheese

Absolute shit. It seemed like it was made with canned black beans that were rinsed and then mixed with a broth made made of 100% hot tap water. I know how to make a black bean soup. Even though mine is the best in the world, it’s pretty easy to make. It isn’t magic.

One decent appetizer: TACOS! How hard are they to screw up? This restaurant also links their online menus to PDFs. Christ.

#1 – Grilled Portuguese Octopus – SOMA (yes, SOMA again)

• Served atop chick peas, baby tomatoes, roasted fennel, preserved lemon and mint. Tahini and homemade yogurt drizzle.

Seriously, I think that description should speak for itself. If aliens and terrorists teamed up and sent us an appetizer that would bring our nation to it’s knees, it might look something like this. They also spelled fennel and drizzle wrong on their online menu. See it here. But they did spell fennel correctly on another appetizer description. See. Inconsistent.

I seriously have to stop typing. I’m still using this French keyboard and it’s driving me batshit.

Les Yankees sucent! (Yankees suck!)

Comments (2)

By J.Ho, November 20, 2007 10:12 pm

My 2nd mother, Halina, gave me this recipe. It’s divine! The Grand Marnier was my idea though.

1 12-oz bag of fresh cranberries
1 cup pineapple juice
2/3 cup sugar
2 shots Grand Marnier or Triple Sec
Dash of ground nutmeg

Place the cranberries in a colander and rinse under cold water, discarding any stems or rotten cranberries. There are always a few in each bag. Take one cranberry and eat it raw while looking at yourself in a mirror. You should have made a funny face.

In a heavy sauce pan mix sugar and pineapple juice and throw in the cranberries and nutmeg. Cover and bring to a boil. When the boiling begins you should hear the cranberries starting to pop open. Remove cover and stir. Reduce heat slightly and continue slow boiling while stirring very often. After about five minutes all of the cranberries should have popped. Smash any cranberries that appear to be intact with the back side of a spoon. Cook another minute or two while continuing to stir. After it has a jelly-like consistency, remove from heat and spoon into a bowl. Cover and cool completely in the fridge.

Happy Thanksgiving! Yankees suck!

Comments (0)

By J.Ho, November 20, 2007 2:40 pm

Why not? I can make one. If I really wanted to. But no one would buy it. I think my friends wouldn’t mind me giving them one. So, I can make them, pay for them and give them away. For $34.95, Tastebook can get me published. Tastebook is a web startup company that provides tools for users to create their own recipe databases. Users can also share the databases with friends and publish books with content from the recipe databases.

Why didn’t I think of that? Founded by a couple of guys from Ofoto, Tastebook recently received an infusion of cash from CondéNet, the internet operations sub of Condé Nast Publications. Tastebook partnered with Epicurious.com, also a Condé Nast Publications sub, for providing initial content from Epicurious’ online recipe database which include over 25,000 recipes.

To create a cookbook, users collect recipes online from Epicurious (they say more content providers will be available in the future) or add their own. From there users get to decide which recipes they want in their cookbook, as well as the cookbook’s title, cover photo and more. I’ll make one titled “Recipes That Chicks will Totally Dig.”

Much love goes out to my childhood friend, Miss K, who sent info on this company to me. Great idea with a lot of potential. I just hope their site doesn’t turn into and advertising farm like the Food Network has become.

Yankees suck!

Comments (1)

By J.Ho, November 15, 2007 5:21 pm

I know of several ways to roast a turkey.  But only one or two ways that actually yield a delicious, juicy bird.  I was cruising the Boston Globe’s online Food section.  What do you know.  They have a roasted turkey recipe.  Since I’m one always willing to learn something new or something old, yet effective, I clicked on the link.  Look at it for yourself here.

Now I noticed the article was dated 2006.  It’s not like I’m expecting a turkey recipe from 2007 to be irrelevant in 2007.  The roasting method seemed pretty simple and straightforward, which is the typical methodology for cooking anything delicious.  Three times the article refers to a chart for gauging the roasting time.  Something that’s pretty important in my opinion.  Anyone can season a bird and slap it in the oven.  The mystical part of roasting a turkey is figuring out how damn long the thing needs to be in the oven, and at what temps and stuff.

The chart they are referring to is not found anywhere on that page!  What the hell? If I had to guess, and I hate having to guess, I would say this article was originally published in the paper version of the Globe and reincarnated as a short article for the web a year later.  Someone’s lazy ass did a simple cut-and-paste from some database (or maybe it was an automated system) and simply syndicated the article.  But somehow forgot to, or intended to leave out the important roasting chart.

Typical, TYPICAL Boston Globe journalism for you.  Lots of fluff that everyone knows and leaving out the things that we might actually need.

Yankees suck!