[1vertical]

But the pin feathers look so soft!

[capozzoli]

Italian, again.

Pan seared scallops and jumbo lump in a rosa sauce.

[capozzoli]

Here is the recipe for the above dish. Start with fresh or pasturized jump lump and fresh sea scalops. Or any seafood will work, shrimp, lobster, even flounder or something.

Make a simple marinara sauce. Ingredients for one 24 ounce can of crushed tomato, 1 small can of tomato paste, one whole head of garlic chopped fine, three table spoons of chopped fine onion, 1 stalk of celery chopped fine, peas, bay leaf or two, teaspoon of rosemary,  oregano, basil, nutmeg, black pepper, salt. red pepper seeds to taste.

Brown garlic and onions and celery till they are golden, then add the herbs and spices, deglaze with white wine,stir and then add the cans of tomatoes. add water as needed, it should be on the brothy side cause you will thicken later.

While this simmers start a small amount of bechemel' melt a few table spoons of butter and then add some grated nutmeg and salt. Then add some flour and toss the flour around in the butter so it gets a little toasty. Add more butter as needed it should not be that thick. Then add about a cup or two of milk.Let this simmer on low while stiring till it gets thick.

At this time or before, season your scallops with salt and pepper. Get a saute pan really hot. Then add some veg oil immediately before adding the scallops. (hot pan cold oil food wont stick.) brown on both sides and set asside. Deglaze with a little wine and water and pour into the tomatoes. Lots of good flavor in that pan.

After the tomato sauce has simmered for a half hour or forty five mins, stir the bechamel into it. The sauce should come out rose or blush in color.

Take out a few ladles of sauce and set asside keeping warm.

Start cooking your pasta. After pasta is cooked strain and return to pot. Add the retained sauce that you have set asside and stir.

About five or ten mins, before serving add a 1lb can of jumbo lump to the sauce and bring it up to temp. stir carefully after this so not to break up those beautiful lumps. Then add the pan seared scallops. and a few chopped fresh tomatoes. and some chopped parsley (optional)

Place the pasta on the plate a ladle some of the sauce on top.

OMG...the stuff of dreams I promise. Scallops and jumbo lump pricey? Yes, but it is so worth it, especially on occasion.

[redbeerman]

Very nice Cap.  Also good with a mixture of crimini, oyster, and s***ake mushrooms in there!

[blatz]

Thanks cap - i will have to make this very soon!

[bluesman]

Thanks cap - i will have to make this very soon!

+11,000,000,001

[smurfe]

Chiles Rellenos

[cowstick]

Hey everyone,  Im new to this forum but far from new to cooking. Cap and some of you others know who I am from NB. Good looking food guys your making me hungry. 

On another note. Cap I am now a Corporate chef. I canned the my own place thing, better benefits and job security this way. Thanks for bringing me this way Cap.

[bluesman]

Hey everyone,  Im new to this forum but far from new to cooking. Cap and some of you others know who I am from NB. Good looking food guys your making me hungry. 

On another note. Cap I am now a Corporate chef. I canned the my own place thing, better benefits and job security this way. Thanks for bringing me this way Cap.

Welcome to the forum and congrats on the promotion. What's been cooking your way?

[capozzoli]

Hey Cowstick, welcome to the forum. Congrats on the top position. Hope ya got good hours.

Are you still at the same place?

Oh man, Ill tell you guys, I want to look more into Puerto Rican food. I love it. I went to this famous place in North Philly today; Freddy and Tony's, OMG it was unbelievable. First off the food on the menu for either eat in or take out is sold by the LB!
It is all served family style. They are in there roasting up whole pigs. Or breaking down whole pigs for the other specialties.

Ill tell ya I havent been this impressed by a resturaunt in a long time. It is cheap and it is wonderful.

The roast pork we had was sliced up with the skin on perfectly cooked and juicy with the shimmer of the garlic and oil that had been drizzled on top. We had the blood sausage which if you have never had the PR variety it is wonderful. Sweet and savory fried plantains. Rice and beans where beautiful. And we had a monfongo.

Other things on the menu were octopus salad or lobster salad. Pork chop and lobster. Meat pies. It goes on and on.

When you walk up to the place there is a window fish tank like display showing off the fried and roasted pork treats.

Truly delectable. Puerto Rican food is seriously misunderstood and underrated.

I am definitely going to do some PR food soon.

[bluesman]

When I was a  kid I lived in Orlando, Fla. for about a year and we lived down the street from a Puerto Rican family.

I became friends with their son and we used to go swimming and have lunch almost every day.

My friends mother made this Puerto Rican Steak and Onions (Bistec Encebollado) steak with rice, beans and plantains. It was absolutely fantastic!

She made it regularly. It's a thin steak seasoned/marinated with garlic, sazon and vinegar that is seared and then simmered in a tomato sauce until tender.

I love puerto Rican food too.

[1vertical]

Somebody please detail the preparation of Plantains....
thanks in advance.

[nicneufeld]

I had some wonderful indian food at a somewhat humble and not expensive local restaurant last week.  The food was so good, I requested an armistice with indian food...I will no longer aspire to master it, I will just enjoy it. 

Armistice withdrawn officially.  I have a number of indian cookbooks I have been perusing...unfortunately most of the ones I've had have been "recipe books" which is not a terribly useful thing especially for learning an entire new cuisine.  Here are the ones I've recently read or started to read that I think very highly of:

Taste of India - Madhur Jaffrey.  This one is fairly prized by me not so much for its recipes, which are many, but for the way Jaffrey breaks it down by region and incorporates a number of pages and photographs regarding each region.  It discusses regional culture almost as much as regional cuisine.  It becomes clear at some times that Jaffrey is not a huge fan of the way most Indian restaurants outside (and often within) India tend to limit themselves to the northern mughal/royal style of Indian cuisine.

Classic Indian Cooking - Julie Sahni.  Just started my way through this...quite honestly this appears to be a bit of a Indian food sacred text, the near equivalent of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking.  A thoroughly useful book, that doesn't just list recipe after recipe, but focuses with deep intensity on process, which is much, much more important than recipe formulation...much like brewing...How To Brew is a more useful read to aspiring brewers than a compendium of clone recipes.

My wife has thoroughly sickened of dal.  I keep making it and end up eating almost all of it in leftovers.  So far I've been using toovar dal and masoor dal, although with the amount of spices and other ingredients I hit it with, I'm not sure I could tell the difference.

Samosas are on my list eventually...bit of a challenge, but the wife loves those things!

[capozzoli]

1vertical, there are several ways of preparing plantains. Most commonly they are made in to tostones. these are made with green or unripe plantains. peel them and slice into 3/4" slices. Get a fryer or pan medium hot with oil or lard. Fry the slices till lightly brown. remove them from the oil and set aside. Then take a plate or cup and mash them lightly but not all the way flat. Then fry these mashed pieces again till golden brown. Drain then sprinkle with salt. PR style would have a little oil and chopped fresh garlic on them.

There is also the "sweet" style of fried plantains, these are made with yellow or ripe plantains. Often sliced lenght wise they are fried till brown. I love them this way.

At the PR restaurant I was at their tostones were light and crispy. I dont know how they get them that way. Lard? I use veg oil and they are good just a little heavier and not as crisp.

[capozzoli]

Polish,

Pork knee braised in a dill pickle sauce served with perogies.

You can use beef or pork, or game or something for that matter but this time I used pork.








This gravy is really nice, different too. Start by browning the meat on all sides, remove it and set aside. and then throw in about two large onions chopped, two cloves of garlic chopped. Six (or more) deli style dill pickles. salt, pepper, bay leaf, marjoram, caraway seeds. Let ingredients brown a little. De glaze with a little pickle juice. Now add a cup of chicken broth. Stir and mix. Return the meat to the pot, cover and simmer till the meat is fall off the bone tender. I used the pressure cooker and it took about twenty min. Stove top may take two hours. after the meat is tender remove from the sauce. Now add a little flour roux until it starts to thicken, then add about a cup or more of sour cream. Mix. and bring back up to temp on low. Plate the meat and ladle some gravy over it.

Goes great with mashed potatoes too. But with perogies? Wow!