Good Luck Deluxe

I love Jamaican ginger beer. For those who are like - ginger what? - I didn’t say
ginger ale; I said ginger beer.

Desnoes and Geddes (D&G) ginger beer, though non-alcoholic, has a much stronger, spicier and assertive taste than plain ginger ale. D&G brand, while imported from England, is made in the authentic Jamaican style of preparing ginger beer. I love it!

Jamaica makes some wonderful things, I tell ya.

I drink mine cold and straight from the can, without ice. The canned version is better than the bottle for some reason. Sometimes I’ll throw a slice of lime into my ginger beer. Yummy.

For grilling: ginger beer also makes a kicky addition to a marinade or BBQ sauce.
I’m all over this stuff!!!

Click the picture above to join me and toast a glass!

Lest anyone accuse me of being a careless writer, I am well aware there should be a question mark after the word “pizza” in the headline of this post.

However, I chose an exclamation point because I am making a statement;
an emphatic one, at that. Everyone loves pizza!

If, by some chance, you don’t like pizza - please don’t tell me about it. I don’t want to hear about your wheat allergy, dairy intolerance, allergy to tomatoes and dislike of pizza toppings.

Just humor me and pretend for the duration of this post that all is well in Pizza Land and we all adore it…m’kay?

I think I’ve blogged about my thrilling life in Italy ad nauseum on this blog, so I suppose I’ll bypass my extensive sermon on whose pizza is better: Italy vs. the U.S. I think you can guess where I stand on the topic.

Hint: it’s pretty safe to assume that I prefer a thinner, crisper crust, less sauce, and only a smidgen of cheese.

Give me an authentic Pizza Margherita, and here’s my facial expression:

Give me a spongy, heavy, sauce-drenched, greasy pile of mushy goop called a pizza,
and not only will my face grimace as such: , but you better duck because you might be covered in sauce and pepperoni in less than two seconds flat.

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way…I’ve heard great things about this incredible pizza contraption -

Outdoor Artisan Pizza Oven, by Kalamazoo Gourmet

Per their site…

Ovens lined with stone and topped by an arched roof are found across Italy for baking pizza and bread. Why? The stone delivers superior heat transfer characteristics and the low, arched top reflects radiant heat back to the pizza for even baking from both the top and bottom.

Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet has taken this classic design and updated it for worry-free outdoor use. The Outdoor Artisan Pizza Oven is hand fabricated entirely of stainless steel. The countertop design is a perfect addition to your outdoor kitchen.

The baking surface is a professional composite baking stone. Its heat transfer performance exceeds that of natural stone, and it will never become brittle like quarry stone can after repeated heat cycles. The precision digital thermometer measures the temperature of the stone so you can do both low-temperature deep-dish pizza and high-temperature thin-crust pizza with equal confidence.

The convenience of the 30,000 BTU stainless steel gas burner means the oven is always at the ready, while the integrated smoking drawer imparts the flavor of a wood-fired pizza oven.

Start a tradition at your home of baking artisan pizza in your backyard! Thick or thin crust, pan pizza or stuffed, even calzones or artisan bread… The Outdoor Artisan Pizza Oven helps you cook like a seasoned professional.

I’m certainly ready!

You’d never know it by reading my blog for the past few weeks, but I’ve mainly been eating breakfast food…for all three meals and two snacks. I can’t get enough of it!

Breakfast food is just great, man. It really is. It’s so nutrient-dense and really sustains the human body. I’ve been eating so much of it lately, not only for its taste and texture, but for the way it makes me feel. Add the fact that I also take a great multivitamin and fish oil, and my brain can bend a bow of bronze.

Before I go to sleep at night lately, I’ve been hitting my pillow with visions of the breakfast foods I’m going to savor the next day running to and fro in my head.

Peeled oranges are suddenly extra ap-peel-ing. I see big breakfast burritos stuffed with eggs, peppers and salsa, well…salsa dancing. Bowls of oatmeal with raisins and cinnamon are doing The Electric Slide. Home fries and hash browns are batting homeruns and knocking the bottle of hot sauce out the park. Wild mushroom
omelettes are doing the Moonwalk better than Michael Jackson in my mind.

Sometimes I’ll just envision a plump poached egg perched mightily atop hot, buttered toast. The funny thing? I spent the last 30 years hating poached eggs, but all of a sudden I’m craving them like mad…crunchy buttered wheat toast, too.

These cravings have gotten so intense that I’ve made mad dashes to Carl’s Jr. first thing in the a.m. before they even open so I can be first in line to order one of their spicy loaded breakfast burritos stuffed with crispy Tater Tots. I haven’t summoned the nerve to request one of those puppies mid-afternoon or early evening, though.

Now if that ain’t a public confession, then I don’t know what is!

As if all that weren’t extreme enough, I’d like to introduce my new food fixation: Breakfast Blogger. But be forewarned, the authors of that site review breakfast spots in Canada. Even that factor isn’t a deterrent to me.

Yes folks, I am obsessed with breakfast food! And for the record, I am NOT pregnant.

In my culinary fervor, I happened upon the following recipe from the Irish Food Board’s site that makes good, creative use of breakfast food ingredients. I’m having this baby for dinner tonight!

Poached Eggs on Tomato and Mushroom Toasts

Olive oil
2 large flat mushrooms, thinly sliced
Pinch of salt and black pepper
1 Tbsp. white wine vinegar
4 eggs
4 thick slices of good bread, toasted on one side
4-6 cherry tomatoes, thinly sliced
4 slices of your favorite white cheese

Directions
Heat a little of the olive oil and sauté the mushrooms for a minute or two and season.
Set aside. Bring a shallow pan of water to simmer, add the vinegar and salt. Break one egg onto a saucer, stir the water to create a whirlpool, tip in the egg and leave to cook for 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, lift on to a plate. Repeat with the remaining eggs. Keep the water hot.

Heat the grill to high, arrange the mushrooms on the untoasted side of the bread, cover with the tomatoes and then the cheese, grill for 5-6 mins until the cheese has just melted. Place the toast on warmed plates. Slide all the eggs back into the hot water and leave for 30 seconds, lift out and drain on kitchen paper, then put one on top of toast. Season and serve.

I am on such a food-blogging roll lately.

One thing I sincerely miss about living in Washington, D.C. is the tremendous diversity of cuisines. Here in L.A., you have your occasional ethnic pockets. But most of the time it’s do you want salads, sushi, or Mexican food?

I’m not saying we don’t have our occasional ethnic cuisine variances in L.A., and I do know about Pollo ala Brasa in Koreatown, but one must search diligently for these gems. Case in point: a good El Salvadoran pupuseria.

Look, I like Mexican tamales as much as the next chick. But I’d much rather have
El Salvadoran queso-stuffed pupusas, grilled all hot and gooey!

Note: In other Latin American countries, such as Venezuela, a pupusa is called an “arepa.” Call it what you will, but just don’t call me late for dinner.

Click the pic below to order an excellent arepa/pupusa maker by Oster:

In the D.C. Metro area (especially in Arlington!), you can find a million El Salvadoran pupuserias, and Peruvian pollerias too, for that matter.

I really, really love El Salvadoran food. It is SO delicious! There’s a spot on Columbia Pike in Arlington that makes the most amazing Salvadoran food, but I haven’t been there in a while and can’t recall the name of the restaurant.

Since D.C. is a mecca for El Salvadoran food lovers, as well as Peruvian chicken addicts,
I would have to give two huge thumbs up for the restaurants all along Columbia Pike in Arlington.

There is also a spot on the Pike (can’t remember the name, sorry!) that serves the BEST crunchy steak tacos I have ever had in my life. Each crunchy white corn taco comes filled with slices of marinated and grilled steak and is topped with fresh pico de gallo and crumbly queso blanco. They don’t speak a lick of English in this joint, but the servers always knew what to bring me, along with an ice-cold Corona with a lime.

If I were back in D.C., I would know exactly where each of these places are and I could point you in the right direction.

My best advice? If you’re craving Latin food and you’re in the D.C. area, pick any Latin restaurant on Columbia Pike and you’ll be pleased. It’s all very authentic, affordable, and most of all - very, very good.

But oh yeah, wasn’t this post supposed to be strictly about pupusas? How about I leave you with a great recipe!

I found this recipe on Mi Cocina Latina. You can change the language preference at the top of that site to English, if necessary. If you don’t like pork, substitute according to your preferences.

Pupusas Stuffed with Pork

* 1 tablespoon olive oil
* 1/2 lb. ground pork
* 1 small onion, chopped
* 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
* 1 medium tomato, chopped
* 1 jalapeño, seeded and finely chopped
* 1 tablespoon MAGGI Granulated Chicken Flavor Tomato Bouillon
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
* 1 cup (4 oz.) shredded manchego or Monterey Jack cheese
* 4 cups corn tortilla mix
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 2 2/3 cups hot water
* Curtido (see recipe on site)

Directions
HEAT oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add pork, onion and garlic; cook, stirring occasionally, until pork is no longer pink. Drain. Add tomato, jalapeño, bouillon and cumin. Reduce heat to medium; cook, stirring occasionally, for 4 minutes or until liquid is evaporated. Remove from heat; cool.

COMBINE tortilla mix and salt in large bowl. Stir in water to make a soft, pliable dough, adding more water if necessary. Shape into twenty-eight 1 1/2-inch balls, keeping covered. Press each ball into 5-inch diameter circle between pieces of plastic wrap.

STIR cheese into filling. Spread about 1 rounded tablespoon filling on a tortilla to within 1/2 inch of edge. Place a second tortilla on top, pressing lightly to seal edges. Repeat with remaining tortillas and filling.

HEAT griddle or skillet over medium heat. Brush with oil. Cook pupusas for 3 to 4 minutes on each side or until lightly browned. Serve hot with Pickled Cabbage Relish (Curtido).

Wow, I just drooled on my shirt.

This fabulous recipe comes from the highly-talented Croatian chef, Dennis Valcich.

I received permission directly from Mr. Valcich to post this recipe, so have a go at it and let us know how you like (love!) it.

You could even serve this as a wedding cake!

Wine and Ricotta Torte with Grapes

130 gr butter, softened
130 gr icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
grated lemon skin
4 eggs
3 Tbsp. milk
170 gr strained flour
200 gr icing sugar
Soft butter and bread crumbs for baking tin

Filling

250 mil Treminer Riesling wine
40 gr gelatin powder
250 gr fresh Ricotta cheese
80 gr icing sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla sugar
500 gr white and black seedless grapes, mixed
250 mil thickening cream
grated almonds for dusting

Directions
Preheat the oven to 180 C. Take two cake tins without the bottom part. Place them on backing tray, on top of greased paper, lift excess paper to outside the tins.

Inside part of the rings, spread with butter and dust with bread crumbs.

Separate egg yolks from whites, and smoothly beat butter with sugar, vanilla sugar and lemon rind. Slowly keep adding one egg yolk at the time, add flour and milk; mix well. Divide mixture evenly and pour into both tins.

Beat egg whites until hard, slowly adding sugar. Evenly add egg whites to mixture in the tins and smooth over.

Bake the mixture for 25 minutes. Remove from oven, let cool, and remove the paper. Cut mashed seedless grapes in half. Dissolve gelatin in warm wine, leave to cool down, add Ricotta, sugar, and vanilla sugar.

Thicken the cream and add to the mixture together with grapes. Return one baked base to the tin lined with greased paper, add half filling, spread evenly, sit second baked base, which you cut in half and add the rest of the filling. Sit other half of base, place torte in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours. Remove the tin ring and paper. Spread same cream around the torte, dust with minced almonds and decorate top with cream and grapes.

This dessert will leave your guests speechless. Speechless, I say!

I lucked out in finding an awesome Caribbean caterer in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) for your private jets and yachts: Blue Iguana Catering!

How it works, per their site…

IN-FLIGHT CATERING FOR PRIVATE PLANES AND JETS

We offer a wide variety of breakfast, lunch, and dinner items to suit all tastes. Blue Iguana Catering is more than happy to pick up any last minute items you and your guests may need, such as ice, magazines, papers, fresh flowers, etc. If it is on Tortola, we will find it. All of your gourmet items will be bulk packed to help save precious space. We’ll even wash your dirty dishes! Every effort will be made to fulfill any special requests. Substitutions may need to be made. Food is delivered directly to the plane. However, a 24-hour minimum notice is required.

Below is a brief sampling of the menu Blue Iguana Catering offers for airline catering:

Eye Openers
Fresh muffins and pastries with butter and preserves
Cornflake-crusted French toast
Tropical fruit crêpes
Fresh fruit platter

Salads
Lobster, chicken, Caesar, or spinach salad
Thai calamari ceviche salad
Balsamic vegetable couscous salad
Goat cheese, tomato and basil Farfalle salad

Cold Platters
Grilled beef tenderloin
Seafood sampler
Marinated vegetables
Ahi tuna carpaccio

Gourmet Entrées
Jerk chicken with black bean and corn salsa
Grilled marinated chicken breast with artichokes and sun-dried tomatoes
Beef Stroganoff with wild mushrooms and sour cream
Chargrilled strip loin steak with green peppercorn sauce
Seafood kebabs with mango chutney
Baked Mahi-Mahi with West Indian Creole sauce
Anegada swordfish with capers and sun-dried tomatoes

It’s not just great food that we provide. We at Blue Iguana Catering offer the complete catering solution, allowing you to concentrate on what you do best - flying and sailing!

CATERING FOR YACHTS

We can either drop the sumptuous meals off to your yacht, allowing you to enjoy your fine dining experience in a more intimate atmosphere, or we can send a chef out on our boat Mise En Place to cater to your every whim while you relax with a cocktail on deck. Watch the sun set as we deal with the food.

Here is a sample of Blue Iguana’s sailing menu…

Sautéed baby conch with fresh local mango, rum and cilantro
Mixed baby greens with a Vermont maple balsamic reduction and basil oil dressing
Pan-seared grouper with macadamia nuts and braised bananas
Fresh berry Sabayon

Enjoy your sailing vacation while we worry about the dishes. Your private chef caters to you on your yacht.

Our menus will please even the most discriminating palate. From succulent seafood to our farm raised exotic game, everything is prepared with only the finest and freshest ingredients.

Blue Iguana Catering will make your in-flight and nautical dining experience one to remember!

Let’s get our week off to a tasty headstart as we in the U.S. gear up for our exciting
Independence Day festivities this week.

Nothing says “4th of July” quite like the El Paso Chile Company. This company has everything to make your outdoor cookout anything but dull!

Take, for instance, their Beer BBQ sauce…

A hearty American Bar-B-Q sauce, tapped with dark beer, Texas mesquite smoke and molasses for a rich, smooth character. Pour it out, rub it on, eat it up!

I love beer BBQ sauce! Beer adds a whole new taste dimension when added to an already kicky BBQ sauce. You’ve gotta try it!

Cowboy Catsup

Rope your burgers and fries and slather on some of this jalapeño catsup. Onions, hot peppers, bell peppers and garlic add a kick to the tradition of catsup in a spicy, Southwestern style.

Now THIS is different - Mediterranean Salsa!

The stuff that myths are made of! Italian sun-dried tomatoes, Greek kalamata olives and capers, French Herbes de Provence, red roasted peppers and chipotle chiles are embraced in an impassioned mosaic of tempestuous flavors and colors.

Cuban Black Bean Dip

Waving palms and a cool island breeze. Visit a forbidden paradise of silky black beans, sweet red pepper and an undercurrent of rich authentic gold rum, resulting in a Cuban sensation that may taste mild, but is definitely hot, hot, hot!

Mexican Wedding Cookies

It’s got to be love at first bite with our simple, but delicious Mexican Wedding Cookies. Traditionally, these treats are given to guests attending the bride and groom’s happy day, but we think they are so good that it’s a shame to only serve them at special occasions. Just try one and you’ll agree, there’s nothing better than these yummy pecan cookies rolled in sweet powdered sugar. Definitely a match made in heaven.

Margarita Cookies!

Little bites of heaven…each delicious cookie is infused with the juice of tart key limes, crushed almonds and then baked to flaky perfection. A dusting of fine powdered sugar puts the finishing touch on these sweet babies.

Mmm… Dulce Pecan Sauce

A perfect sauce for topping Dulce Cake or premium ice cream. Rich, smooth and totally delicious. Made with pecans and laced with Madagascar vanilla!

I’m psychic. In my crystal ball, I see a vision of El Paso Chile Company being inundated with gazillions of express orders just in time for the holiday.

I had been wondering what the heck happened to Asian chef Ming Tsai, who used to be on the Food Network almost 24/7. I loved watching Ming’s East Meets West show, and I would look SO forward to watching it!

I used to hate Chinese food (hated it!). Ming was the one chef who got me to explore that cuisine and learn to enjoy it. Although Ming’s Asian style of cooking is more fusion and experimental, that was the closest I could get to eating Chinese anything.

Japanese sushi, teriyaki, tempura and udon I’ll certainly do. I will be the first to order coconut lemongrass soup, Pad Thai, and Thai spring rolls at a Thai restaurant. Vietnamese food is incredibly pretty, and I love phở. Mongolian and Malaysian specialties - bring it on!

But for some reason, I just couldn’t get with Chinese food. Maybe because here in the U.S., Chinese food tends to be so Americanized and greasy.

Or perhaps it was all the heavy pseudo-Chinese food I inhaled in my late-night, bar-hopping college days that did me in.

Anyway, this post isn’t even about Chinese food. It’s about a wonderful French pear tarte tatin by amazing pastry chef Gale Gand. Ming featured this recipe
on his web site.

What an excellent 4th of July dessert!

Gale Gand’s Pear Tarte Tatin

Serves 6 to 8

1 sheet puff pastry
1 recipe Jasmine Caramel Sauce, reduced by 50 percent
1 cinnamon stick
2 tablespoons vanilla brandy
2 tablespoons orange juice
4 to 5 ripe pears, peeled, halved and seed packet removed with a melon baller
Whipped cream or ice cream for serving

Preheat oven to 425ºF.

Thaw the sheet of puff pastry and cut a round disk out using a 9-inch cake pan as your guide but cut it 1-inch bigger all around. In the same 9-inch cake pan, warm the caramel over medium heat until it starts to bubble. Add the cinnamon stick and stir to combine. Stir in the brandy and orange juice to deglaze the pan and continue cooking until it becomes a smooth caramel. Remove the cake pan from the heat and then place the pear halves in the pan in a spoke pattern.

Return the pan to the stove and cook on low for 20 minutes to tenderize the pears somewhat. Top the pears with the round of puff pastry, draping it over the edge of the pan (don’t worry, it will shrink during baking). Bake 20 to 25 minutes at 425ºF, or until the pastry is golden brown. Let cool in the pan to set the caramel. The pectin the fruit has given off will help set the juices. Turn upside down onto a plate and remove the pan to serve. You may need to warm the bottom of the pan slightly over a hot burner to allow the tart to release from the pan. Serve warm or at room temperature, in slices, with a dollop of whipped cream or scoop of ice cream.

Serve with Ambazillac Cuvée Mademoiselle or a pot of dark roasted coffee.

Mango salsa is always a good idea.

I found this great recipe on Food TV in Canada. I love its pairing of Cajun blackening seasoning with a fresh, fruity, Caribbean salsa. Your mouth will grow more pleased
with each forkful!

If halibut is too dry of a fish selection for you, I would certainly substitute it with Chilean sea bass or any other moist, light fish. Yum!

Blackened Halibut With Mango Salsa

For the Fish

* 4 x 7 ounce portions of halibut or cod filets with skin on
* 1 1/2 tbsp blackening spice
* 1 tbsp olive oil

Mango Salsa

* 2 x mangoes cubed into ½ inch pieces
* 2 x green onions sliced thinly
* 2 tbsp red onion, chopped fine
* 1 x Thai chili, finely chopped
* 3 tbsp cilantro, chopped roughly
* 2 tbsp red pepper, chopped into ¼ inch cubes
* Juice of 2 limes
* Salt and pepper to taste

Fish Directions
1. Place a large cast iron pan over medium high heat. Allow pan to preheat for 10 minutes. Meanwhile pat fish dry with paper towels and sprinkle with spice rub.

2. Place oil into preheated pan then fish flesh side down. Allow to cook for 1 - 2 minutes or until a nice dark crust has formed on the fish. Carefully flip fish over and place into preheated oven for a further 7 minutes or until desired doneness. Remove from oven and serve with mango salsa.

Mango Salsa Directions
1. Combined all ingredients in a bowl and add season to taste with salt and pepper. Chill mixture in refrigerator for 20 minutes before serving.

This fish would go perfectly served with coconut rice and a carafe of chilled Riesling.

I recently took a look at the web sites and have read numerous reviews of the über-swank dining meccas, The Fat Duck in the U.K. by proprietor Heston Blumenthal, and El Bulli on the Costa Brava in Catalonia, Spain, by proprietor Ferran Adrià.
Both are notorious for their gastronomic appeal, of combining the art of food with science.

Although El Bulli has been named “World’s Best Restaurant” by Restaurant Magazine three times over (including this year), The Fat Duck is a close second on the list, including in terms of public hype.

Everyone’s been puffing up both El Bulli and The Fat Duck, and I thought I may as well throw my hat into the ring.

But there’s one problem: I don’t do trends. Ever. When magazines tell me a restaurant is all the rage, my brain’s amygdala shuts all systems down and I just freeze.

I. Can’t. Move. I. Can’t. Go. I can’t even consider going. This, of course, isn’t always the case. But usually it is.

I worked on babystepping it by at least allowing myself to peek at each of their web sites. No full-on commitment, nothing too intense, just a peek…

The Fat Duck’s tasting menu seems, oh I don’t know…kinda annoyingly la-di-da.
With culinary experiments such as Pommery grain mustard ice cream, snail porridge, salmon poached with licorice, Nitro-scrambled egg and bacon ice cream, and blackcurrant and green peppercorn jelly, you better put that contrived mess in a Petri dish, NOT ON MY PLATE.

El Bulli boasts its “Kellogg’s paella,” a concoction of Rice Krispies puffed rice cereal with a sprinkling of seafood added for good measure. Or how about vanilla-flavored mashed potatoes? Frozen whiskey sour candy, anyone? Cocoa butter with crispy rabbit ears?

Call me unsophisticated, a Neanderthal, or unrefined if you want, but kitschy foodie stuff just doesn’t sell me. Neither do foodie awards, celebrity spottings, or hefty food bills.

Look, I fully understand the dining public’s insatiable craving for the nouveau, unusual, and exquisite, but I think I may be the only one who isn’t fascinated by either establishment.

I know I’m supposed to want to dine at both because of the big fanfare, but I’m not budging. I have my nerve commenting on restaurants that I haven’t even frequented, but whatever. Their menus and the foodie press made me do it!

Oh go ahead and say it - “Your palate just isn’t that refined yet…that’s all, dear.”
Oh, I’m so hurt.

I know my palate well enough to determine immediately if something is going to work for me taste-wise or not. I’ve dined at enough trendy-Wendy restaurants to know better. “Best” can be found in any city, in any neighborhood, cuisine, or price range.

In Anaheim: In terms of the “WOW” factor, my vote is still for the Anaheim White House Restaurant…and they just so happen to serve white chocolate-laced mashed potatoes. So NAH!

In Los Angeles: If you’re looking for a truly sophisticated Northern Italian Gastrobar experience (creative pairing of food with wines), I highly recommend my favorite in the area - Il Moro Ristorante. The owner, Elio De Santo, runs an excellent operation.
Every Tuesday from 6-8pm, Il Moro hosts a lovely wine tasting. You can also enjoy
live jazz (not the cheesy-sounding stuff!) at Il Moro every Thursday and Friday beginning at 8pm. Definitely worth checking out. Il Moro serves awesome salads,
and even better desserts!

Il Moro’s attentive, personalized service (but don’t be a Diva about it!) is the best I’ve had thus far dining in L.A.

Enjoy!