The Irascible Chef

Lifted from the IrascibleChef Blog>  http://www.irasciblechef.com/shrimp-parm-twist/

Twist of a classic where all the flavors explode in your mouth! And, healthier!!! Shrimp lightly dusted with my own seasoned breadcrumbs, olive oil, grated Parmesan cheese floating on a basil, fennel and garlic tomato sauce…

This dish rocked the house! Same basic ingredients—baked not fried and lightly coated—if you like the way it looks, you would love the way it tastes!

Technorati Tags: healthy twist, irasciblechef recipe, shrimp parm

Lifted from the IrascibleChef Blog>  http://www.irasciblechef.com/roughing-it/

Shrimp Oreganato…

Is it really a sacrifice to eat fish versus meat??? Well, only if you dislike fish, crave meat, or have problems with self denying… And then there’s the possibility you can’t cook, I guess.

You can’t go wrong with shrimp, olive oil, garlic, oregano, crushed red pepper, grated cheese, bread crumbs, wine, and lemon… Unless you over cook it! DEE-lish!

Technorati Tags: and lemon, Bread crumbs, crushed red pepper, garlic, grated cheese, irasciblechef recipe, Oregano, shrimp Oreganato, shrimp with olive oil, wine

Lifted from the IrascibleChef Bloghttp://www.irasciblechef.com/happy-valentines-day/

to all those enjoying someone else’s company tonight—enjoy it, for tomorrow we die!

Or not tomorrow—eventually…

Tonight however we dined on the delights of the gods: Fantastic Pinot and Sauvignon Blanc to wash down the filet mignon au poivre (peppercorn brandy sauce) sauteed portobello mushrooms, and sliced yams with a balsamic reduction—Ohhhh my!

I almost forgot the Alaskan king crab legs with lemon butter—sorry about that…

Were you lucky enough to have a seat at the table??? —maybe next year!

More pictures please!

I really think Bad Company was trying to say something about lobster in the song Can’t Get Enough, but at the time society was as progressive as we are today—so I have taken the liberty to change a couple of words and do what Bad Company could only wish to do…

Bad Company Can’t get Enough Lyrics:
one, two, one, two, three er four

Well I take whatever I want
And baby I want LOBSTER
You give me something I need
Now tell me I got something for you
Come on come on come on and do it
Come on n..er do what you do

I can’t get enough of your LOBSTER er huh
I can’t get enough of your LOBSTER
I can’t get enough of your lobster

Well it’s late and I want LOBSTER
LOBSTERS gonna break me in two
Don’t hang me up in your doorway
Don’t hang me up like you do yea
Come on come on come on and do it
Come on and do what you do woooo

I can’t get enough of your LOBSTER er
I can’t get enough of your LOBSTER er huh
I can’t get enough of your LOBSTER

What I say now

My grandmother used to make us fried shrimp as a special treat, so like everything else I had to push it! Fried lobster tail—O M G! I’m starting to tremble just thinking about it! Served with a quick homemade cocktail sauce with plenty of horseradish and lots of lemon—could it be more simple??? It couldn’t have tasted better!

I through together a spinach salad with corn, roasted garlic, and pancetta—oh, no here I go again—AAAAaaahhhhhhhhhhhh! OMG!

Technorati Tags: bacon and roasted garlic, Fried lobster tail, homemade cocktail sauce, irasciblechef recipe, Lobster tail, pancetta, spinach salad with corn

Lifted from the IrascibleChef Blog http://www.irasciblechef.com/you-scream-we-…am-for-lobster/

I have got to apologize upfront. I am so so sorry! Sorry you didn’t get to taste the amazing lobster dinner I had the other night! I still get shivers when I think about it!

Broiled Lobster tail with a lemon, vanilla bean, and cardamon infused beurre blanc.
Served with wilted baby spinach sauteed with garlic and bacon and glazed carrots reduced in kahlua and brown sugar.

The lemony beurre blanc was balanced with just the right amount of vanilla bean so that the lobster flavor and texture remained the star!

Broiled to PERFECTION, plump, moist, yet still complimented by all the subtleness of the vanilla bean and cardamon, and contrasted by the tartness of the lemon butter sauce… The flavors exploded like a symphony in your mouth soothing your very soul. Oh, it was fantastic!

Ingredients and instructions for broiled lobster beurre blanc:

• Lobster tail split and brushed cleaned with butter, lemon, and broiled
• Beurre blanc—standard white wine beurre blanc with lemon, Vanilla bean, and cardamon in the reduction.
• Garnished with lemon and orange zest.

Ingredients and instructions for the glazed carrots in Kahlua:

• Carrots cut into planks, olive oil, onion, garlic, Kahlua, and brown sugar, FC S&P

Ingredients and instructions for the wilted spinach:

• Spinach, garlic, crispy crunchy bacon, olive oil and FC S&P

Technorati Tags: Beurre blanc, Cardamon, glazed carrots in kahlua, IrascibleChef, kahlua, lobster, Recipe, Vanilla bean, wilted spinach

Lifted from the IrascibleChef Blog http://www.irasciblechef.com/spin-on-another-family-favorite/

Baked stuffed bell peppers, the way I’ve had them since I was a child was delicious and I still enjoy them to this day.

The family version of the baked stuffed pepper had an Italian accent of course. The original was half a bell pepper stuffed with a seasoned rice, ground meat, and grated Parmesan cheese filling, topped with a thick tomato sauce and baked in the oven.

Just writing about it brings my grandmother and my great aunt right back here by my side… I can hear their voices, see their cooking techniques, and feel a closeness with them. It is great to spend some time with them again—Ohh, I miss those times, but I do feel lucky enough to have had them in the first place…

My new spin on their classic dish has a Mexican accent. I substitute corn tortillas for the rice and it really is something special!

Ingredients:

• Bell pepper cut in half
• Taco seasoned meat
• Enchilada sauce
• Diced corn tortillas
• Sharp cheddar cheese

Instructions:

• Saute ground beef or pork or turkey in olive oil
• Season with chili powder, cumin, paprika, onion and garlic powder, and cayenne pepper, FC S&P
• Add Chicken Stock
• Add Enchilada sauce
• Add diced tortillas (will end up melting in the pot with all the other ingredients and act as a binding agent)
• When thick and cooled down add shredded cheddar
• Fill peppers and baked until golden brown

Serve with sour cream, jalapeno, and cilantro.

Technorati Tags: and cilantro, baked stuffed pepper, corn tortillas, Enchilada sauce, grandmother and my great aunt, irasciblechef recipe, jalapeno, Mexican accent, Sharp cheddar cheese, sour cream.

Lifted from the IrascibleChef Blog
http://www.irasciblechef.com/impignolata-1-2-3%e2%80%a6/

Impignolata!    What the … ?

Impignolata is a savory stuffed baked bread, rolled up like a pinwheel, cut into pie shapes and served hot.

How about we call it sausage bread to make it easy. But why give it an easy name when there’s nothing easy about pronouncing it, spelling it, and especially making it???
Of course Impignolata is easy to eat because it’s so goooood, but it’s not easy to stop eating once you start, unless you run out—which is easy…

Let’s start by making it easy to say:  imm  Peen Yo  l a t a

Finding the exact spelling or standard recipe (other than our family recipe) was close to impossible. I couldn’t imagine trying to find out information about this bountifully filled-baked-bread-wheel outside my family without the Internet. Even on the Internet information was extremely limited, but based on the information available from remaining living family members and slim pickings from the world on the web I’m going to be creating some standards. What I did find out is that Impignolata has Sicilian origins and can have many different fillings.

Starting with spelling, the official IrascibleChef spelling is now: “I m p i g n o l a t a.”
Second, although my family won’t like the sound of this, I’m going to say it anyway—shocker! Like pizza can have many different toppings and still be called pizza, Impignolata CAN have different fillings and still be called Impignolata… (—this is due to my global research and personal experimentation.) Let me also say during an experimental tasting my family did like the taste of my spin on this baked cornucopia overflowing with flavors. My family doesn’t like change. They didn’t even like when I referenced Impignolata as sausage bread, even to people who wouldn’t have a clue what Impignolata was (and since Impignolata is a type of sausage bread I’m not sure what their problem was—Are you getting an idea what I have to deal with…)

Based on all the effort, trouble, and labor, maybe Impignolata means impossible… But let me assure you it’s not impossible and well worth the work! I like to think it means pinwheel because it always has that pinwheel look, whole as well as individual portions.

I will be talking about our original recipe and then give you some ideas of other variations and then you can do what you want including riffing off of mine—up to you!

Ingredients:

• Caramelized onions: sliced and slowly caramelized in margarine (you will find out why if you use olive or canola oil…) the onions are probably the most important ingredient. Requires patience and time to get it right (both the slicing and sautéing.)
• Ground pork and beef: browned and seasoned with FC S&P
• Crackles: *optional—haven’t used them in years.
• Romano cheese: grated
• FC S&P
• Pizza dough: 1 dough per Impignolata rolled out like you were making a thin crust pizza.
• Olive oil: to brush the outside of the Impignolata before baking.

Instructions:

Have all the ingredients prepped and ready in separate containers and assemble like a pizza assembly line.
On the thinly rolled out dough spread assorted ingredients liberally across the entire dough like a pizza without sauce—start with the onions or you will have problems (based on that last instruction you can figure out the order of the rest of the ingredients and try not to make any holes in the dough!)

Starting anywhere roll the dough into one long strudel-esque log and then take one end and (with the seam on the inside as you go) wrap the log around itself forming a pinwheel shape.  The dough should stick to itself, but you could use long shish kabob sticks to keep it together (make sure you remove them prior to cutting and eating!)

Cover under a towel in a warm place and let it rise.

Bake uncovered in 395 degree oven until done let cool slightly and cut into a pie shape portion. You want the outside golden brown and crispy and the inside flaky not raw doughy.

*****

You and your critics are your only limitations…

Variations: (Using the pizza dough and caramelized onions as the base and the same assembly and baking.)

Slight variation

• Sausage ground and roasted with fennel seed and garlic
• (Instead of ground pork and beef)

Mexican Flavor:

• Taco flavored meat
• Feta cheese
• Olives

Vegetarian:

• Sundried tomatoes
• Feta Cheese
• Olives
• Mushrooms

Technorati Tags: caramelized onions, Crackles, FC-S&P, Ground pork and beef, Impignolata, IrascibleChef, olive oil, pinwheel, Pizza, Pizza dough, Romano cheese, sausage bread, what is impignolata

Few delights are more delectable than filet mignon if it’s cooked right!

I made a quick sauté of some olive oil, bruoised onions, garlic, quartered baby portobello mushrooms, paper-thin sliced jalapeño, and FC S&P.

1 inch filet of beef steaks seasoned with FC S&P in a very hot sauté pan with olive oil—2 min per side, don’t play with it, let the meat sear and crust.

OMG—fan-dab-be-dosey Tastic!

Served with dollops of horseradish and garnished with rosemary.

Technorati Tags: and FC S&P, bruoised onions, filet mignon, garlic, garnished rosemary, horseradish, iChef, olive oil, paper-thin sliced jalapeño, quartered baby portobello mushrooms

Football has my mind on, you guessed it, some world class guacamole!

This recipe couldn’t be easier—COULD NOT!

Ripe avocado,
White onion (Fine brunoise),
Tomato (Fine brunoise),
Jalepeno (Fine brunoise),
Fresh Cracked S&P,
Lime Juice,
Cilantro,
*Tabasco,
*Garlic (pulverized),

Mash it up, adjust seasonings, and have at it with some warm corn chips, or warmed soft corn tortillas. That is the best recipe!

Don’t forget the frosty mug of beer or many icy margaritas!

**********

*Optional

Technorati Tags: cilantro, FC-S&P, Garlic (pulverized), Holy Guacamole, iChef, jalepeno, Lime Juice, Recipe, tabasco, Tomato, White onion

Traditions…

I’d like to share a few New Years Eve/Day traditions from my family. These family traditions go back almost a century. They originated with grandmother and her sister, (my second grandmother,) they passed them to us and I hope to pass them on to my children someday…

First you always start the new year going in a positive direction—UP! Start at the bottom of the stairs during the countdown on New Years Eve so that the first thing you do for the new year is ascend. Simple enough: you start the year off in an upward direction.

One of the first dishes I ever made was lentil soup (I was 3 or 4) and I was taught this dish by my grandmother and aunt. This is another tradition—at least a spoonful of lentils to start the new year off. Eating lentils, is supposed to mean a windfall of money for the coming year. (I don’t know about it bringing a windfall, however, I know I could have less money, so I’m too afraid to skip the spoonful of lentils to start each year…)

Last, but not least you need to eat a navel orange and save the peels. This represents good health for the new year. The reason to keep said peels under your bed for the entire year is still under scientific review. Speculation is that the natural oil and alcohol is medicinal and keeps viruses at bay… actually, I just made that last part up!

I needed to eat something for dinner so I through these two little numbers in! I made some bread sticks with fennel, black pepper, salt and olive oil, the perfect accompaniment—crunchy, zesty and a great dippable—They were delicious!

Mussels in a garlic, tomato, Champagne broth—oooh la la!
Garlic
Onion
Champagne (actually sparkling wine!)
Tomato
Fennel
Olive oil
FC S&P

Butter lettuce salad with a light vinaigrette
FC S&P
Olive oil
Balsamic
Oregano
Parmesan
Onion
Garlic

Lentil Stew (a chunkier version of the soup I used to make…)
Onion
Garlic
Prosciutto
Tomato
Fennel
Olive oil
FC S&P

*Topped with Grated Romano and braided bread sticks.

Hats off to my grandmother and her sister! I miss you both very much…

Don’t forget about tradition; traditions keep us connected—they keep people and memories alive forever…

******

Now, go and do!

Go upward, eat a spoonful of lentils, and an orange. I won’t hurt you—at the very least it’ll get you off the couch to get a small workout in, keep you nourished, and prevent scurvy…

Technorati Tags: balsamic, black pepper, bread sticks with fennel, Butter lettuce salad, Champagne, Champagne broth, FC-S&P, fennel, garlic, Grated Romano, Mussels in a garlic, olive oil, onion, Oregano, Parmesan, prevent scurvy, prosciutto, salt, Tomato, traditions