Going Raw on Meatless Monday
Tonight I decided to try something different. In my quest to taste, de-construct and bring to you the many different cuisines of the world I made a healthy raw-vegan dish. You don’t have to be a vegetarian to enjoy dishes such as this, but it doesn’t hurt to put the meat aside once in a while also. Read the rest of this entry
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The Waterfront Alehouse, Brooklyn
Chef Justice With Executive Chef Jim Takacs
Nestled on Atlantic Ave. in cozy Cobble Hill is a small gem. The Waterfront Alehouse is a gastropub that has 2 locations, one in Brooklyn and the other in Manhattan. I’ve never been to the Manhattan location but I must say the Brooklyn location is pretty darn good! The executive chef Jim Takacs is a very creative cook and his food is delicious. As described by Zagat’s Restaurant Guide, “This is what a neighborhood saloon should be.” It boasts a healthy rotation of local, imported, and craft beer. Chef Takacs creates an assortment of smart dishes such as Mako shark bites with wasabi ginger slaw & hot chili sauce, and his grilled basil-garlic shrimp over gigante beans and tapenade salad. He also dares to cook wild game such as wild boar and venison. The real treat is his bread pudding. I must say, I’ve never been a fan of bread pudding, but one taste of Jim’s version and
I was hooked! The flavor and texture is a cross between flan and creme brulee. I brought some home to try and De-Construct it myself (I think im getting close lol) but can’t duplicate it yet. If you are looking for good atmosphere and good food I highly recommend dropping by for a beer and some of Chef Takacs’s creations.
http://www.waterfrontalehouse.com/
155 Atlantic Avenue
(Between Henry & Clinton)
Update: My good friend Jim Takacs passed away on June 22 2018. I just want to express my deepest sympathies to his family and many friends. Rest in peace brother.
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Asian Style Zesty Wings w/ Cold Sesame Soba Noodles
My idea for this dish came from a shopping trip where I had seen these cool black plates. I wasn’t going to purchase them because for most of the meals I post I would rather have a white plate (to show more detail on the food itself) but my girlfriend gave me an idea. These plates were screaming for a good Asian dish! She specifically requested sesame cold noodles. I had never made that before — or even tasted it! But I must say this dish was absolutely delicious. I chose Japanese Soba noodles instead of Chinese egg noodles. We found the Soba to be heartier and more satisfying, and the combination of the sesame oil, peanut butter and other spices cooked into the sauce was just plain amazing. Because we wanted a little protein with dinner, I cooked up some Asian-style chicken wings (since I always have wings in the freezer). I have soft spot for any style of chicken wings, and these had just the punch I was looking for. You should marinate these wings overnight, but at least no less than 4 hours for the best flavor. Now lets De-Construct some Asian cuisine
For the Noodles you will need:
- 1/2 lb Japanese Soba noodles
- 3 tablespoons dark sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons peanut oil
- 3 green onions, thinly sliced on the diagonal
- 1-inch piece fresh ginger, minced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon red chili paste,
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
- 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 6 tablespoons hot water
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
- 1/2 tablespoon brown sugar
- Cucumber slices, for garnish
- Fresh cilantro leaves, for garnish
For the Wings:
- 2 pounds chicken wings (exclude wing tips)
- 3 or 4 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped finely
- 3 tablespoon water
- 1/4 cup fish sauce
- 1/4 cup lightly packed light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
- Canola oil, for deep-frying
- 2/3 cup regular rice flour or cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon chili garlic sauce, homemade or purchased
- 1 tablespoon chopped scallion, green part only chopped cilantro and/or mint for garnish
Ok lets get those noodles done first:
Cook the noodles in large pot of boiling unsalted water over medium heat until barely tender and still firm. Drain immediately and rinse with cold water until cool. Drain the noodles really well and transfer to a wide bowl; toss with the sesame oil so they don’t stick together.
In a small saucepan, heat the peanut oil over medium-low flame. Add the green onions, ginger, garlic, and chili paste. Cook and stir for a minute until soft and fragrant. Mix in the brown sugar, peanut butter, vinegar, soy sauce, and hot water. Stir until the sugar is dissolved and the peanut butter has smoothed out. Toss the noodles with the peanut sauce until well coated. Serve at room temperature or chilled. Garnish with the sesame seeds, cucumber slices, and cilantro.
Now on to those wings!
First cut your wings into drumettes
In a small bowl, combine the garlic and water. Let sit for 5 minutes. Position a mesh strainer over a bowl, and pour the garlic water through to strain. Press on the solids to extract as much garlic water as possible.
Add the fish sauce, light brown sugar, sugar and pepper. Stir to dissolve. Transfer to a plastic bag, add the chicken wings, and refrigerate for4 hours, or overnight.
Remove the chicken wings from the refrigerator at least 20 minutes before frying to remove some of the chill. Drain the chicken wings from the marinade and blot dry with paper towel. Reserve the marinade! Have the rice flour ready in a small bowl.
Pour the oil to a depth of 1 1/2 inches into a saucepan, wok, or deep skillet. Heat to about 360°F.
lightly dredge each wing in rice flour, patting off the excess. Put the reserved marinade and chile garlic sauce in a large skillet and set it on the stove.
Fry the wings in batches until golden brown, 4 to 5 minutes. Drain on paper towel. 6. Heat the reserved marinade until bubbly and slightly syrupy. Add the freshly fried wings and stir, turn, and coat in the syrup, which will turn sticky as it reduces and clings to the wings. Add a splash of water to dilute the glazy bits in the skillet and get them to coat the wings. There should be no liquid left when you’re done coating.
Transfer to a plate, sprinkle with the scallions. Bon appetit!
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Fiery Cajun Shrimp & Steak Rigatoni
We seen a lot of gator hunting during our swamp tour
Fats Domino’s house Post -Katrina
New Orleans superdome from the highway, post- Katrina
After Hurricane Irene passed through NYC, I’ve been thinking about hurricanes. A few years ago we took a trip to New Orleans. It was my first trip down there and I thought all we’d do was drink, drink, drink. But as soon as we arrived I realized how great the cuisine was in this “party” city. We visited two years after Katrina and the city was still reeling from the disaster. We purchased a self-guided Katrina tour CD from the car rental location (proceeds donated to rebuilding the city) and drove through the still devastated areas of the lower 9th ward. It was an overwhelming and humbling experience as the damage was still extensive and the infrastructure of the city was not yet very functional. We even grabbed a picture of Fats Domino’s house, which is in the lower 9th ward from which he was evacuated from after the storm, and we drove up to those famous breached levees. But up on Bourbon Street, which was not damaged too badly by the storm, it was a different city. Live music and food was abundant; you had the feeling that this city was on the verge of rebounding from the storm. We visited the Praline Connection off Bourbon Street (542 Frenchmen St) where I had some alligator sausage to die for, and my girlfriend, Emily, had the jambalaya, which was deelish as well. Acme Oyster House yielded fresh oysters but no clams, which we were told were more expensive because they had to be imported from up north. It didn’t matter, though, because the cajun/creole cuisine was top notch. I was thinking about that trip when I decided to cook this dish, a cajun-spiced riff on pasta, shrimp and steak. Recipe Coming Soon
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Spicy Chipotle Shrimp Tacos w/Lime-Cilantro Sour Cream Sauce & Steamed Lobster Claws
Ingredients:
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground chipotle chile powder
32 peeled and deveined large shrimp (about 1 1/2 pounds)
1 teaspoon olive oil
8 (6-inch) white corn tortillas
2 cups shredded iceberg lettuce
1 chopped tomato
1 chopped jalepeno pepper
1 ripe avocado, peeled and cut into 16 slices Steamed lobster claws (optional)
Directions:
1. Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl; add shrimp, tossing to coat. 2. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add shrimp mixture to pan; cook 1 1/2 minutes on each side or until done. Remove from heat. 3. Heat tortillas in microwave according to package directions. Place 2 tortillas on each plate; arrange 4-5 shrimp on each tortilla. Top each tortilla with 1/4 cup lettuce,diced tomato,a couple of jalepeno slices, 2 avocado slices, and 1 1/2 tablespoons lime/cilatro cream sauce. Garnish with lobster claws (optional)
Lime/Cilantro sour cream sauce:
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise
3 TBS minced fresh cilantro
Grated zest of 1 lime
1 TBS fresh lime juice
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk until smooth. Refrigerate up to 4 hours until ready to use.
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Lemon Chicken Fettuccine
lemon-chicken-fettuccine
Lemon Chicken Fettuccine
I was looking for a very tasty yet simple meal to make for dinner one night, something that would take few ingredients and even less time . This simple pasta dish is bright with lemon, the chicken fried crispy and the whole dish made my taste buds Pop. It was satisfying, and very damn good. Time to De-Construct this dish!
1 lb skinless Chicken breast
3 Tbs freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 Tbs olive oil
1 medium to large-sized garlic clove, peeled and minced or crushed
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
9 – 10 ½ oz fresh fettuccine
A few tablespoons flour seasoned with salt and pepper for dusting the chicken
1/4 cup Olive oil for browning meat
3 medium shallots, chopped
2 medium cloves of garlic, chopped
1 cup chicken broth
Juice of 1 lemon, maybe 3 – 4 Tbs
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup fresh or frozen peas
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro or flat-leaf parsley
Begin this dish early in the day if preparing for dinner or the night before if preparing for lunch. Clean, rinse and pat dry the chicken and cut into very large chunks, place all the chicken in a bowl just big enough to hold them all. Pour the 3 tablespoons lemon juice, the 1 tablespoon olive oil and the minced garlic over the chicken. Salt and pepper , stir so all the chicken is coated in the liquid, then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to marinate all day, overnight or at least for several hours. The chicken marinated like this will not only be infused with lemon flavor but once cooked it will be tender and moist.
Once the chicken has marinated, take the bowl out of the fridge and remove the chicken pieces from the marinade. Start a pot with water for the pasta. Salt the water once it comes to a boil.
Heat up about 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet. Toss the chicken pieces in the seasoned flour to coat then shake off the excess flour. Once the oil is hot, add the chicken (you may need to do this in batches as you do no want to crowd them) and allow to cook until the pan side is golden brown and crispy. Turn the pieces over to brown on the other side. Add more olive oil to the pan as needed. As the chicken pieces turn golden brown all over, remove them to a plate.
Cook your pasta in the salted boiling water as you prepare the chicken and sauce. Keep watch over it and drain it when it is done. Place it in a large serving bowl.
Once all of the chicken is browned, quickly wipe out the skillet with paper towels then add a couple more tablespoons of olive oil to the hot skillet. Add the chopped shallots and garlic and, stirring cook them until they are wilted, tender and caramelizing around the edges, about 2 or 3 minutes. Pour the chicken stock and juice of one lemon over the cooked shallots and garlic. Salt and pepper. Add the peas and lower the heat to allow the broth to simmer for a few minutes until the peas are cooked and tender and the broth and juice are reduced to about half. Carefully add the chicken pieces to the broth just to heat through.
Pour the sauce with the peas and chicken over the cooked pasta and toss gently so the pasta is sauced and the chicken and peas are evenly distributed. Sprinkle the chopped fresh cilantro or parsley over the top to toss as you serve.
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Oriental-Style Sesame Chicken
Ingredients:
3-4 boneless chicken breasts
For the sauce:
3 Tbs toasted sesame oil
1 tsp ginger, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tsp chili paste
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 Tbs sherry vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbs soy sauce
Peanut oil, for deep-frying
Salt
1-2 Tbs toasted sesame seeds, for garnish
2 Tbs chopped scallions, for garnish
For the marinade/batter:
4 Tbs cornstarch
6 Tbs low-sodium soy sauce
2 tsp toasted sesame oil
1 tsp kosher salt
4 Tbs all-purpose flour
4 Tbs water
1 tsp baking powder
Directions
Wash the chicken under cold running water, and pat dry with paper towels. Cut the chicken into 1-inch cubes/strips and put into a large mixing bowl. Add the marinade ingredients to the bowl and stir to combine. Set aside to marinate while you prepare the sauce.
In a saucepan, add the sesame oil and set over low heat. Add the ginger and garlic and fry gently until fragrant, about 2 to 3 minutes. Meanwhile, combine the remaining sauce ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir well to dissolve the cornstarch. Gently pour into the saucepan with the fried ginger and garlic. Stir as you pour because the cornstarch will thicken up pretty quickly. Keep warm over low heat.
In a heavy-bottomed pot, heat enough oil to come halfway up the sides of the pot, to 375 degrees F.
Fry the chicken, in small batches, until golden and crispy, about 5 to 6 minutes. Remove the chicken using a wire mesh strainer and drain on paper towels. Season with a little salt, to taste. To serve, arrange the fried chicken in a bowl and drizzle with the sauce tossing well to coat. Sprinkle with a generous amount of toasted sesame seeds and garnish with scallions.
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Shrimp with Lemon Beurre Blanc Sauce
What can I say about French food? It exudes romance and sexiness. But when most of us hear the name of a french dish we think it’s difficult to cook. First of all, I love shrimp, and I love Cognac so the thought of combining the two had me very excited. Then I threw in the creamy Beurre Blanc sauce in all of its buttery goodness, and i had myself a very good dish. When i was gathering up the ingredients for this dish first thing i thought was “wow, a lot of butter is need for this dish!” But once I added it to the sauteed shallots, cream, white wine and lemon juice and with the constant whisking it became a yummy creamy sauce. When i poured it over the shrimp, it was pure heaven. I’m looking forward to experimenting with more french dishes in the future and bring them to you for you to try at home. Bon Appetit!
You will need:
- 1 shallot, chopped
- ½ cup dry white wine
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream
- 12 tablespoons cold butter(unsalted is optional)
- 1/16 teaspoon white pepper
- 5 tablespoons butter
- ¾ lb medium shrimp, rinsed and deveined
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons Cognac
To make Beurre Blanc:
Simmer the shallots, white wine, and lemon juice in a small saucepan over low-medium heat for 5-10 minutes, until the mixture is reduced to about 1 tablespoon. Add the cream and bring to just under a simmer. When the first few bubbles rise, turn the heat down very slightly and add the 12 tablespoons of butter, one tablespoon at a time, whisking constantly. Be sure to allow one pat of butter to melt completely before adding the next. Once the butter is fully incorporated, season the beurre blanc sauce with white pepper and set aside.
In a skillet over high heat, melt 5 tablespoons of butter, and then sauté shrimp, turning a few times until cooked through – about 2 minutes. Reduce the heat to low and season the shrimp with salt. Carefully add the Cognac(it may flame) and stir thoroughly. Spoon the warm beurre blanc sauce over the hot shrimp and serve with side dish of your choice. Enjoy!
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Shrimp & Octopus In a Bourbon And Black Pepper Sauce. Yummy!!!
Shrimp & Octopus in black pepper bourbon sauce
Ingredients:
1 lb large shrimp shelled & deviened, and patted dry (leave tails if you wish)
1 can of prepared octopus drained I used fresh octopus, but canned is easier and faster for most home cooks (octopus recipe coming soon)
1/2 onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup bourbon whiskey
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 tablespoon salt
1 cup ketchup
2 tbsp tomato paste
1/3 cup cider vinegar
1-2 tablespoons liquid smoke flavoring
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 teaspoon hot pepper sauce, or to taste
Directions:
In a large skillet over medium heat, combine the onion, garlic, and whiskey. Simmer for 10 minutes, or until onion is translucent. Mix in the ground black pepper, salt, ketchup, tomato paste, vinegar, liquid smoke, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, and hot pepper sauce. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium-low, and add shrimp and simmer for 10 minutes, then add canned octopus and simmer 10-15 additional minutes. Remove shrimp and octopus with a slotted spoon and arrange 0n plates. Run sauce through a strainer if you prefer a smoother sauce and drizzle over the shrimp and octopus and garnish with lemon slices. Serve with a refreshing salad or side dish of your choice. Bon Appetit!
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Chinese-Style Beef & Broccoli
Chinese style Beef & Broccoli
Now this is a dish I was inspired to prepare since it was a popular lunch dish among most of my co workers when I was in the construction business years ago. When prepared correctly, this is a very tasty dish. My problem was it was inconsistently prepared at different local take-out joints. While some would have a nice tasty sauce and others would have a thick and bland sauce. So after scouring the web for hours I decided to deconstruct this meal and make it tasty and easy to cook for you.
Ingredients:
1 lb top sirloin or flank steak, sliced into 1/8-in (3-mm)-thin strips
1 small red and green pepper, roughly chopped (optional)
1 medium onion, sliced
1 medium carrot cut into strips
1 inch piece of ginger, minced
2 garlic clove, minced
Marinade:
6 Tbs. low sodium Soy sauce
1 Tbs. honey
½ Tbs. red pepper flakes
1 Tsp. Fish sauce
1 garlic clove minced
½ tsp black pepper
The Sauce:
3 Tbs. Cornstarch
3 Tbs. Soy sauce
¾ Cup beef broth or water
1 Tsp hoisin sauce
1 Tsp. fish sauce
1 Tsp. White sugar
1Tbs. Dry Sherry cooking wine
3 Tbs. Asian sesame oil (a must)
Directions:
Slice beef across the grain into 1/8 inch thick bite-sized pieces. In a bowl mix together soy sauce, honey, fish sauce, red pepper flakes, garlic, and the beef then cover, and let it marinate for 4 hours to overnight in the fridge. Make the sauce while beef is marinating; In a bowl mix and dissolve the cornstarch in soy sauce, dry sherry, sugar, sesame oil, beef broth, and fish sauce.
Heat wok and I mean let it heat really good and then add 2 Tbs. of vegetable or canola oil and stir-fry beef for 20 seconds or until it’s no longer pink in small batches, don’t crowd the meat. Repeat this process until all beef is cooked then set aside. Over medium heat stir-fry garlic, dry red pepper flakes , ginger, bell peppers (if using), and onion for 40 seconds. Next add broccoli and carrots, cover, and let simmer for one minute. Increase heat to high, add 1/2 cup beef broth, cover, and let it simmer for another minute. Remove cover, add beef, and all juices accumulated and stir for one minute or until the beef is heated through. Then add the sauce mix and keep stirring until the sauce has thickened. Transfer it to the serving platter. Top white steamed rice with the beef & broccoli. Bon Apetit!
With bell pepper
Gourmet De-Constructed 