Homemade Truffled Popcorn

This time I just popped a bag of store bought butter flavor popcorn.

When popped, drizzle it with truffle oil liberally and grated Parmesan cheese. I grated my own.

Now, watch TV!

MUSSELS WITH THAI TWIST

You can use any kind of mussels as long as the date in the bag is not its last day for use.  Yes, a bag of commercially harvested mussels always has a date on its tag.  Read it so you know how fresh your mussels are.

For a change, I wanted my mussel dish with a Thai flavor twist to it.  So i used the following ingredients I had:

HOW TO MAKE IT:

Ingredients:

1 small shallot minced

3 cloves of garlic minced

1/2  can of unsweetened coconut milk

3 TB safflower or canola oil

2 TB chili paste basil

2 TB Thai basil leaves

1 or 2 stalks of lemon grass cut in 1-1/2 inch lengths

Juice of 1/2 lime

Fish sauce to taste (1 tsp)

1 bag of fresh mussels

Sauté The garlic and shallot till translucent.  Add the coconut milk and all other ingredients except the mussels.  Cover pan and simmer for 15-20 minutes.  Add in the clean fresh mussels, and squeeze the lime juice over.  Cover the pot and cook for about 20 minutes till all the shells open.  Serve.

If you cook a long time, the meat of the mussels start falling off into the pot and they will appear dry.  Best served right away.

May eat it with rice or toasted baguette with garlic rubbed on it.

AFTER WORK DINNER

For a quick healthy meal within an hour, I had a salmon trout and zucchini squash with cheese.

Instead of slicing and arranging my zucchini squash, I just chopped the zucchini, and Vidalia onion.

INGREDIENTS:

3 small to medium size zucchini squash

1/2 large Vidalia onion

1/3-1/2 c imported Parmesan cheese (preferably freshly grated)

Salt and pepper to season

1/3 c olive oil

2 TB butter

Melt butter with the olive oil in a fireproof baking dish.

Put the chopped vegetables in the dish, season with salt and pepper and mix well with the butter/olive-oil.  Grate your Parmesan cheese over the dish and bake at 350 degrees F oven for 40-44 minutes. Serve!

FOR THE FISH:

I used 1lb of Ocean Trout Salmon (I wanted to try this).  Or you can use any salmon. Season with salt and pepper and broil for 6 minutes.

Serve with lemon.

HOME COOKED BROILED DORADE

Dorade is a small while fish of Mediterranean origin.  It's one of my favorite fish.

One of the ways I enjoy preparing it is simple.

INGREDIENTS:

1 whole DORADE fish

Salt

Pepper

1 Tb minced peeled fresh ginger

2 Tb minced fresh onion

3 TB chopped tomato ( preferably Romano)

Cut slits on each side of the whole cleaned fish. Season with salt and pepper.

Combine the ginger, onion and tomato with salt and pepper to season. Stuff the belly and head of the fish with mixture. Skewer the fish to close.  Pour olive oil and coat both sides of fish.

Broil fish 5 minutes on one side and 3 minutes in the other side.  Remove and let it sit in pan for about 3 minutes.

Serve with a nice healthy salad and sliced lemon.

I like eating it with a fish sauce-lemon mixture with sliced Thai mini hot peppers.

You can also use branzino, pompano, or milk fish.

BLT for Breakfast or Brunch

I woke up at 9AM this Saturday morning deciding whether to make French Toast stuffed with berries or not.

Between the decision of going to the BBQ fest at Madison Park today or not in NoMad (stands for North of Madison) area or not, I decided to make a hefty BLT sandwich.

The photo below shows you how I've assembled the ingredients to make my brunch.

MY BLT SANDWICH:

Use a good quality brioche bread

Cooked bacon free of sodium nitrite

Avocado

Tomato

Bib lettuce

Onion sliced thinly 

Mayonnaise

Beecher's flagship cheddar cheese

Fleur de Sel and freshly ground pepper

Lightly toast the bread. Spread mayo on both pieces of bread.  Layer one side with lettuce, onion, avocado, tomato - then, season it with fleur d'sel and freshly ground pepper.  Top with about 3-4 pieces of slightly crisp bacon*  and slices of the cheese.  Top with the other piece of bread with mayo.

*I bake my bacon in a racked roasting pan lined with foil in the bottom (for easy cleaning - you just throw the oiled foil at the bottom after using) and arrange the slices on top for fat to drip on the foil.  Bake at 450F degree oven on middle rack of oven for 6 minutes on one side; turning it over after, and baking it for another 4 minutes on the other side until crisp but not burned.

I use the left over bacon for other uses and keep it in a plastic bag.  You can reheat quickly when needed.

PORK CHOPS - FRIED #Recipe

This is one pork chop dish that I've concocted.  It's been one of my favorite old time dish I prepare and serve at home.

INGREDIENTS:
6 1/4 or 1/2 inch thick center cut pork chops
1/2 cup vinegar (preferably sugar cane or coconut vinegar)* found in Asian Food grocery stores
6 cloves of garlic peeled and minced
1/4-1/3 c soy sauce
1 piece of dried bay or laurel leaf
1/3 c of flour
1/2 c of safflower or sunflower oil

I usually use Philippine coconut or cane sugar vinegar found in Asian Grocery Stores or can be ordered from Amazon right in my site.  

Mix all ingredients together including the pork chops and marinate during the day.

Put flour in plastic bag to coat pork chops with flour

Put just enough oil in the frying pan to cook the pork chops in. 

Heat up oil in a frying pan.  Put 3 pork chops at a time in a plastic bag with the flour and shake the bag to coat the pork chops with flour and prevent it from splashing oil when frying.

In hot oil, fry coated pork chops about 6 minutes on each side in medium-high heat.  Repeat the process till all pork chops are cooked.  Do not over cook pork chops as it will get dry.  It is now alright to eat slightly pink pork chops if your source is trusted. (juice has to come out clear)

After frying, remove all oil in the pan except for about 2TB. Put about 1TB of flour in the marinade and mix well.  Pour the mixture in the pan where you fried the pork chops scraping the bits and pieces of residue left in the pan.  Continue stirring until the mixture comes to a boil and slightly thickens like gravy about 5-7.  Pour over the pork chops.

I usually serve this with rice and a a dipping sauce made of vinegar, minced garlic, black pepper and some Thai-style peppers or jalapeno peppers.

POPCORN with Truffles and Cheese

It's always handy to have packaged popcorn ready to microwave.  But it's also handy to have popcorn ready to make on your own and add what you want to flavor it with. It makes more popcorn!

One of my favorite versions is truffled and cheese popcorn with melted butter.  (If observing your diet, you may skip the butter - but it's a good treat to have it)

The popcorn above is so easy to make.  The gadget to make the always perfect popcorn can be ordered through Amazon right here on the right hand side column.  You don't even have to go outside and get it.

The ingredients I use to make my favorite popcorn are:  cheese (I used the freshly grated Parmesan or Parmaggiano cheese), truffle oil, and any popcorn condiment for salt or very fine salt made for popcorn, and melted butter.  (Not shown, truffle salt and melted butter)

Above is my old popcorn popper that I pulled out of the cabinet..  You can order one mailed to you.

Follow the instructions of your popcorn maker and catch it in a large bowl as it tends to expand.  A little measuring cup makes a lot of popcorn.

Immediately sprinkle it with MELTED BUTTER (the amount is up to you), popcorn seasoning if you don't have ultra fine salt for popcorn, 1/3 cup or more if you wish of parmesan cheese and dribble your truffled oil till you get the strength of flavor in your popcorn. (Sometimes, I add about 3/4 cup of parmessan cheese and skip the truffle flavor for another version)

You can also use truffle salt instead of popcorn seasoning and popcorn fine salt to heighten the truffle flavor.

Mix these ingredients in very well.  If you like truffles, you can finish up this entire bowl yourself.  We were 3 when we ate this one serving of freshly popped corn!

Peas Soup - Minted

This is definitely an all-year round healthy soup.  I've always liked peas even as a child.  You can imagine how I like this recipe without having to use any cream in it.  And without cream it will last a few days longer in your fridge.  I use Vita Mix, a blender that purees so fine you would think it was liquid in the first place.

INGREDIENTS:
1 to 1-1/2 lbs of frozen peas
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
2-3 TB of unsalted butter
3-4 cups of chicken stock
1-1/4 cups of fresh mint
Fleur de Sel (1-2 Tsp)

In a pot, melt butter and saute the chopped onion.  When translucent but not golden brown, add the frozen peas and chicken stock till it boils.  Soon as it boils, add the mint and cook only for 30 seconds more and remove from heat.

In batches, process in a food processor such as a Vita Mix.  Season with Fleur de sel, stir and serve.

Can be served hot or at room temperature.

May also dribble some heavy cream for decoration on top.  Or you could whip cream mixed with some sour cream to place a TB on top when serving.

Minted Peas Soup served

PAN CON TOMATE

This is a very easy and great idea to make for any side bread or accompaniment with cold cuts or cheese.  The trick is to find the right crusty bread from a good baker or boulangerie.

In this video I am using this Pan con Tomate as a Spanish-style tapa.

TAPAS:  There have been a few stories how tapas evolved.  One of them revolves around using a piece of meat to cover the bottle of wine so the smell doesn't go out.

Whatever the version of its origin, tapas in spain means bar hopping and eating small appetizers with a glass of drink.

Below is something I personally could serve or eat originating from a tapas idea.  Please watch the short video below.

If you should have any questions, please feel free to ask.

Sometimes, I would use prosciutto in place of the marinated sardines, marinated anchovies, Jambon Iberico (a special Spanish ham), or Prosciutto.

If you don't live in NYC, you can search Amazon on the right hand side for marinated anchovies,  marinated sardines, Jambon Iberico or Jambon Serrano.

www.despanabrandfoods.com/

408 Broome St
(between Cleveland Pl & Centre St)
New York, NY 10013
Neighborhood: SoHo

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