percyn

Smoked Duck breast with free-range, hormone-free, farm-fresh egg, over-easy in some duck fat and clarified butter (hey, nobody said this was diet food !! Actually since breakfast seems to be a weekend meal for most of us, why not splurge ??) Seriously, if you have not tried the D'Artagnan smoked duck breast, run to your grocer or order it from the D'Artagnan website, it is just fabulous. I usually eat this for breakfast (instead of beacon) or sometimes get their duck (leg) confit. Cheers Percy

Egg white omlette with chedar and smoked ham....and of-course a starbucks coffee.

I haven't had the privilege of cooking lately, so when I returned home just as the sun was setting on this crisp, clear, fall evening, I decided to light up the grill, char some rack of lamb and open up a bottle of 2000 Trilogy from Flora Springs. (Note to self : buy a case of Trilogy) While the herbed lamb was being grilled, I made a ragu of sautéed shallots, pearl onions, garlic, shitake, morels, tomatoes, roasted eggplant, demi glace and some red wine (2000 Trilogy), basically whatever I left like experimenting with from my pantry. Couscous sounded good so I decided to make it along with some blanched and sautéed spinach to separate the ragu from the couscous. I might have been over-enjoying the beauty of the stars under the clear, moonless sky, as it appears that in awe of the night (and its darkness), I left the lamb on the gril a touch too long (it was still nice and juicy, but not medium rare, as I like it) . This is what the final product looked like and it paired perfectly with the smooth, luscious Triology....hhhmmm...left overs for tomorrow Edited - Forgot to mention the roasted eggplant in the ragu - Duh !

Eunny, I think you sold me on buying a wood-fire smoker....trying Nat Bo is another story :-)

Lexica, Have you tried an egg timer (the one that is heat sensitive, changes color to indicate state of egg and goes into the water with the eggs)? I also find that putting the eggs in gently boiling water for 4 minutes gives me a good soft boiled egg.

Hayasaka, Are you sure you are a noob? Those pictures look quite good and I am sure the food tasted even more scrumptious. BTW, I have been thinking about creating a breakfast topic on this forum (surprised I could not find an existing one) and took your lead to create one. Folks, feel free to post your breakfast creations in the Breakfast! Topic

OK, so what do you make when you have some farm fresh, organic, hermone free, free range eggs, Russian caviar and truffles in your pantry? Why...boiled eggs (soft and hard), topped with caviar, accompanied with truffle butter toasts, of-course !! Hint: If you want perfect looking non-gray yolks in your boiled eggs, make a small hole on the larger end the egg, taking care to just go through the shell, but not puncture the egg's membrane. This will allow air from a natural pocket to escape and not press the iron into the egg yolk.

Having enjoyed reading about what people's dinner creations at Dinner! Topic, I thought we could do the same for breakfast !! So, feel free to post what you made for this important meal of the day !! Cheers Percy

Adam, Do you mind posting your goan curry recipe? You are correct, Goan curry is best with almost over-cooked basmati rice (can substiture with Jasmin if you don't have basmati).

Eunny, I have an idea (and you should all be shocked)... You can make a slightly bigger batch of your wonderful daily dinner, freeze the extra portion, post the dinner de jour here and then take online orders for overnight delivery for dinner the next day I can be your first customer (and business consultant, if needed)

Long week at work, so tonight I ate some left-over Dhansak (a Indian Parsi dish), which I had made over the weekend with some lamb and brown rice. Dhansak recipe can be found here.

Susan, What a coincidence...my colleague at work (who is originally from Russia) went to the Russian store over the weekend and brought me some caviar as I had requested, which I also had tonight, on crackers (no dark rye) and butter, as an appetizer. Main course was minced lamb burgers, which I converted into lamb kabobs by adding some cumin, spring onions, etc. Sorry, no pictures...too hungry. Can you explain why you referred to the caviar as "hurricane food"? I am sure it is a pain to clean up after these hurricanes, but at least you can enjoy the dishes which look so spectacular, after a long day's work. Cheers Percy

Susan, Are those figs baked with honey and (pine nuts or) almonds? I am assuming the mascarpone cream was not baked The Osso Bucco looks good too, do you mind sharing the recipie for the figs and oso boco? And speaking of "oh-ma-god good" wines I opened a "2002 Fire Station Red" Shiraz (from California) yesterday, which had come a few months ago as part of shipment from a wine club I belong too. The packing on the bottle is so simple looking that it looks like someone bottled it in their garage, but this is a BIG wine. Very strong flavors of rasberry and blackberries with a super long finish....wish I had that Osso Bucco to go with it Made a note to visit Marky's Caviar next time I am in Miami. Chef Shogun, that sea bass looks good...broken or not

Mike, I just bought a couple bottles of the 2000 Trilogy. If you are still looking for a case, PM me and I will tell you were they have a couple cases left. Has anyone tried the Miner Syrah for $16.99 (normally $35)?

Ok, I found a Cherimoya at my local Wegmans. This is what it looks like: I must say that though it looks like a custard apple and taste a bit like a custard apple, I prefer the taste of a real custard apple as I find the custard apple to have a "silker" taste. BTW, got some fabulous asian pears (also from North Star Orchard ) at the West Chester farmer's market. Cheers Percy

Susan, Where did you buy the foie gras from? I used to buy them raw (as you seem to have them) from D'Artagnan, but they have recently been unable to import them. I also noticed that you are using Ghee, do you use it to sear the foie gras or do you use a dry frying pan? Do share...

Monica, Looks delicious...is this recipie in your book? Also, this murgh makhanwala (butter chicken) seems to have a bit less gravy than the ones I typically indulge in, do you prefer it so? Cheers Percy

Susan, youre welcome, hope you will enjoy it (I have recently found this topic and enjoyed many of your posts). To answer your question, these are store bought "Pick-Nik" brand. You could make it with the frozen hashbrown, but this recipe is an Indian (Parsi) recipe, and the frozen hashbrown is not available in India, so I improvised with the canned shoestings, which is very similar to something called "Sali" in Gujrati. Here is a pic of what I used: And another pic of when I was making it: Sorry about the pictures on the original post,. If you want, I can repost with the images uploaded again. Each post has a "Post #" next to it on the top right corner, that will give you a URL that takes you straight to the post. Cheers Percy

Miguel, Your posts are funny . Makes me want to fly over just to see what other tricks you have up your sleeve Cheers Percy

Ok, So this is not from today, but a few weeks ago, I made some ginger infused short ribs (marinated in ginger, guiness extra stout, ginger beer, soy sauce, shallots and garlic): Don't worry, I did not eat it as is, the pic is from when they came out of the oven. I skimmed the fat and made some couscous. Hmmmmm....sticks to your ribs. A few days before that I had made eggs on shoestring potatoes (the recipe is posted here).

Yesterday..hmmm.. Salad with duck confit (gently warmed) Seared skirt steak - seasoned with fleur de sel and pepper and seared in a cast iron frying pan (it was raining, so could not grill) To drink - glass of landmark chardonay, another 1/2 glass of BV Pinot Noir and some sprite with grappas (yes, grappas and sprite...try it). What shall I make today??

Found a topic devoted to PawPaws and Custard Apples here....very interesting.

Forineverything, I never knew you could custard apples in this area, I have had them in India and some far east countries !! I understand that they is a mexican verity called Cherimoya, but have not been able to find them in any of the markets I visit. Here is an image of a Cherimoya: Do you know which variety the ones you bought were? Which one did it resemble in the figure below? Did you say they are grown in Lancaster? I don't mind driving there to pick some up....they are yummy !!! Cheers Percy

Laksa, I think you are correct about Chen's Father. When did this event take place? I did not hear anything about it and don't live to far from the sponsors either. I have been to SF's for the wine dinner series, but would have loved to attend this event....next best thing to being in Kitchen Stadium's tasting panel. Cheers Percy

If you like Sichuan, you have to try Szechuan Chinese Restaurant 1721 Route 27 Somerset, NJ 08873 Tel: (732) 937-9330 I had started a post here on dumplings I order from there.