faithvine

It's Cinco de Mayo today and I wanted to share two of my favorites I make. Recipes are at chef-think.com The first is a breakfast chili relleno stuffed with eggs, cheese and pancetta served over a tomato chili sauce with queso fresco and a spicy (depending on the chorizo you use) chorizo hash browns with poblanos, red peppers and onions which is great with a poached egg on top.

Ham Steak and Cappuccino Gravy I wanted to make a version of Ham and red-eyed gravy using flavors of cappuccino. Recipe is on my blog chef-think.com

What technique do you use to stuff the gnocchi?

For tough cuts, I prefere the sous vide method which combines the benefits of braising and marinating, still giving a medium rare product. I use a hot butane torch to give a quick crust or you can use a pre-heated cast iron pan.

Fish is a protein best prepared simply to bring the most out of the ingredient. That said one book I turn to is "The Romagnolis' Italian Fish Cookbook" because I believe the Italian preparation methods best showcase superior product. Good Luck!

If you are currious concerning the Chinese only sites, use the AltaVista bable fish translator. http://babelfish.altavista.com/ Enter in the webpage address and select Chinese_trad to English. After a bit of practice and a bit a research you will be able to decode the recipie. GOOD LUCK

Try steaming parsley for 30 seconds to 1 minute and shock in ice water to set the color. That might help a bit.

I was just using leftovers and I came up with this yesterday. I opened the breast to about 1/2 inch thichness and flatened it to be 1/4-1/3 inch thich. I removed the casings from some sweet italian sausage and browned it; grilled some asparagus and sweet red pepper spears. put the sausage then some parmesean cheese slices, the peppers and asparagus. I seasoned with salt and pepper then rolled them up and chilled. To cook, I poached in chicken stock then reduced the liquid after the chicken was done, and enriched with butter for the sauce. I was out of cream but I'll try that next time. I let rest a while and sliced for presentation around vegetable rice pilaf. Watch the salt, it's too easy to make too salty when reducing the sauce, so season after! Sometimes using what's on hand is the best souce for inspiration. You could also brown and finish in the oven. Deglaze with white wine, then some good chicken stock; finish with butter and/or heavy cream.

I have two favorites both unfortuately out of print: 1. Chinese Technique, An Illustrated Guide to the Fundamental Techniques of Chinese Cooking , Ken Hom (1981) 2. Chinese Gastronomy, Hsiang Ju Lin and Tsui Feng Lin (1969) The first covers basic techniques and ingredients used in Chinese cooking and the second covers the essence of Chinese cuisine delving into textures and flavour. Of the more then fifty books concerning chinese cuisine these two I always have close at hand. Both instruct and inspire me to take my cooking to the next higher level.

From a purely personal note. I suffer from allergies to some of the preservatives they are using for fruits. I bought the Vegi-wash and have experienced no problems while a simple cold water rinsing just doesn't seem to get the job done. Soap and warm water is my second route (for wax based coatings). I'd like to know more about what preservative are being used and on what types of produce. Are peaches and appricots (where I experience most problems) treated different then apples or vegetables?

It's becoming an obsession. At last count just over 220. Most are in storage but I rotate through about 50 at a time mostly Chinese at the moment.