Lifted from the IrascibleChef Blog  http://www.irasciblechef.com/cant-get-enough-of-your-love/

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

Smoked ham steak broiled with a honey mustard and maple syrup glaze and served with a new concoction that I JUST LOVE—lentil chili with carrots, celery, green peppers, barley, and my secret chili ingredient—dark unsweetened chocolate.

The lentil chili was inspired from some colleagues that are vegetarian’s—OMG was it good!

Technorati Tags: Friday Night Comfort Food, irasciblechef recipe, lentil chili, Smoked ham steak broiled with a honey mustard and maple syrup glaze

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

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.

A new quick feature!

Edibles and drinkables sometimes even a mix of the two like tonight…

I tried a very affordable very local wine from Wente Vineyards—a 2007 SYRAH from Livermore California. First of all, on its own, it kicks ass! Combined with creamy Cambozola cheese on a water cracker—oh my! Fantastic!

The richness of the Cambozola cheese, which in itself is a combination of a soft French triple cream cheese and Italian Gorgonzola.

Very tasty! Very tasty together indeed!

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

Heck it’s good for everybody—soothes the soul and is just plain delicious! This has been reprinted from The Road letters, and yes I do have the authors permission!

The memories this soup conjures up…

Being with my grandmother as a small boy, standing on a step-stool, while she or my aunt made the soup, or at the dinner table with the entire extended family enjoying each others company, or on cold nights with a fire in the next room reheating a frozen Polly-O container full of the liquid gold with some orzo, or the delight on the faces of the friends I’ve since made it for… I know I’m not alone in these memories because everyone that was lucky enough to have been served my grandmother’s chicken soup (and there are MANY) knows exactly what I’m talking about and has their own memories to recall…

Technorati Tags: Chicken Soup, Grammy's soup, irasciblechef recipe

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

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

Where do I start??? Okay, you decide:
It was late 9:30pm, but they don’t close until 10:30pm and they were still collecting money from the food and drink they served.

The bartender was occasionally attentive and sometimes not… When asked, and in not so many words, he told me that the fried calamari usually looks like a greasy, undercooked, small portion of partially coated, and unclean (still had the cartilage inside it—looks like plastic,) mess of scattered squid rings.

No wasabi aioli, not hot, small portion, undercooked, not cleaned—$11.00, "that's the way it usually is," that's nerve!

Oh, and it was served with a plastic cup of cold tomato sauce on a cheap plastic plate with plastic utensils—quality could be much better for something they charge restaurant prices for. No wasabi aioli as mentioned on the menu. The calamari was warm at best. However, even with a MAJOR lack of appeal, it still managed to have good flavor.
Calamari: FAIL!

The Double Bock seasonal brew was very good! The bartender said it was hoppy, but not close to the hoppiness of Hop Goes the Weasel Ale!
Beer: PASS!

The manager sat at the bar eating and drinking, but not engaging the guests or even asking how everything was.
Manager: FAIL!

I kept hoping to end on a positive note and ordered a grilled turkey sandwich with garlic fries. You gotta have garlic fries at Gordon Biersch! Looked like there were two spots of butter or oil that wasn’t grilled or even toasted. Very lacking in the cheese that the description on the menu mentioned “overflowing.” The inside of the sandwich was grilled in a shoemaker grilling technique. the fries were soaked in oil, cold, and didn’t have any parsley that the picture showed and I’ve had in the past. So, as it turns out you don’t always “gotta” have the GB Garlic fries!

Soggy signature fries, hardly any cheese let alone overflowing, grilled more on the inside than on the outside, 2 sips of beer left to finish all that food with? $11.80—and no offer for more beer???

Garlic fries: FAIL!
Grilled Turkey Sandwich: FAIL!
Menu Truth in advertising: FAIL!

Then the bartender never came back to see how it was or get me another drink, and even after I asked for the check he had to be reminded a second time that he had to get me the check because he was talking to his friend at the bar.
Bartender: FAIL!

I’ve been eating at GB since 1994 and this is the worst ever! I would start with a new manager and crew. I’ve even had better fries at Giants stadium at a baseball game. For the prices they charge and the brand name they are selling everything should be soooooo much better! I would highly recommend that you do not give this GB outlet your business!

Awful! Simply awful!

Gordon Biersch… San Jose Airport JetBlue Terminal
FAIL!

Fly by it!

Technorati Tags: Awful, Garlic fries: FAIL!, Gordon Biersch... San Jose Airport JetBlue Terminal. FAIL!, iChef Review, truth in advertising