I have just returned home with Normita and I am on my way out the door to a business meeting as I start to write this, but I need to put some of my thoughts down right away when the experience is still fresh. I was returning from Colonia Polanco, where Normita works, back home and we were looking for a place to have a nice lunch, our main meal of the day. My parents left back to Canada this morning and we did not have much to eat at home, and I was too tired to cook as I had a very long and tiring week.
We were on our way to fill-up the car, as we were running on empty, and we passed in front of a very popular fish and seafood restaurant in our neighborhood. The place is called Fisher’s and it is part of a chain of restaurants. There is always a crowd there, so we assumed that it might be decent. Trouble started when we left the car at the valet parking, and they promptly took the car somewhere else to park it. Normita is very protective of her new car, so she was upset, but I managed to calm her down as they were doing the same with all smaller cars as their main parking lot was full.
The place was very busy and most of all extremely noisy due to the poor acoustics of the various rooms. The center of the restaurant is some form of geodesic dome with prep area and bar in the center, and various rooms around the periphery. The decor is in white and blue maritime tones and the ambiance frenetic and noisy. Not a good start if you are tired and want to relax for a meal. The noise level was so high that there was no way to talk at the table unless you shouted.
We were passed from one staff person to another until we were seating in a corner table that was probably one of the quietest places in the whole restaurant, but this was not saying much as it was still very noisy. They have system for the waiters that seems to have been designed to look like it is efficient to the patrons, but overall it leads to some of the worse service we have ever had in any restaurant, including a certain fish place in Vancouver years ago when we were there with the Padrino and we were inflicted with the most stupid waitress in the Universe. That was a totally different experience as it was mainly the stupidity of a single person, not an entire restaurant system designed to be totally inefficient.
Their serving system rotates around the writing pad where they take the orders, and they leave it on the corner of your table. Various waiters and waitresses come and go and grab it and look into it and make notes in it and generally make a nuisance of themselves throughout the meal. At the end of the meal I looked at the pad to see what secrets it held, and there was simply a checklist of table preparation and opening, as well as service, and an individual sheet for each single item ordered. They seem to be making everything in triplicate and bringing a copy to the kitchen to place the order. The system must have been designed by a bureaucrat…
As we were waiting to be served we noticed the service at the neighboring tables, and in most tables the service was very strange. For example at the table on our left there were 3 people waiting for their main course. The woman at the table got hers first, then the gentleman on her left got his about 10 minutes later, and the one on her right resorted to nibbling at her plate until he got served about 20 minutes later. A very nice way to share a meal…
During that time about 5 different waiters passed in our areas with plates and they were looking at the order pads at each table, including ours, to find out which table the plate they were carrying belonged to. At times it belonged to a table totally across the room. I have never seen such confused service in my life. I can see one new person being lost, but not the entire staff. Also the fact that about 5 different waiters and waitresses attended us added a lot to the total confusion in the place. Luckily we were served at the same time so one of us did not have to wait for the other while his or her plate cooled down.
Another trait of the place, where they want to make it look like they are attending to you closely, is that they come and look at your table every few minutes and remove every little bit of stuff you put aside. I do not mind that if it is done smoothly, but the various waiters just nose over the table to check and intrude in your privacy and normally reach across the table in front of you to grab things at the other end. That is not very polite. Add to that that at least 5-6 times during the meal some janitorial person came and swept some crumbs from under the tables with a broom between your feet, making it impossible to relax from the constant distraction. I like the idea that they keep the place spotless, but they could at least let you finish your meal before cleaning the breadcrumbs from under the table.
As you have noticed I have rambling on and on and I have yet to talk of the food. If the food had been exceptional I would have been more lenient on the entire experience. As it stood we had some seafood and it was very fresh but totally uninspired. Normita had some ‘camarones al mojo de ajo’, some large shrimps with butter and garlic, and the shrimps were decent, but the portion was small for the price, and the side dish of white rice, seemed like microwaved precooked rice and was not very nice. Not a great meal for the price as the portion was pretty small. I had some stone crab cakes, and the cakes themselves were more of an appetizer portion at a main course price. There were three small crab cakes less than half an inch thick, that were presented on 3 slices of tomatoes and some slices of tomatillos, with a bit of shredded lettuce in between. There was a bit of something that looked like soy sauce on the tomatoes, but I did not even taste it as the tomatoes looked horrible and the plate looked like a mess and very unappetizing. The lettuce was undressed and totally bland so I did not touch it either. The three small crab cakes were actually quite good, though they had some pieces of shell and cartilage in them. As you might have guessed both Normita and I were still hungry after that, but we did not want to spend more money there.
We asked for the check and they brought it about 20 minutes later. I gave them my debit card to pay, and then the girl had to go get their wireless terminal and swiped it and show me that they inputted the right amount and she returned my card. This is nice in itself, but then she left with the terminal and returned about 10 minutes later with the card receipt to sign. I have no idea why they invested in the wireless technology if it actually makes the transaction much slower than the usual method. I assume that it is to show you that they care and do not screw you with the card, but…
Of course when we went out it took over 20 minutes to get our car from the valet parking, even though everybody else got their’s in a few minutes. I guess that the gods were not in my favor today.
I just returned from my business meeting as I am writing those last lines and it seems that the bad luck in the restaurant was nullified by a good meeting and some potential contracts and on top of that another contract signed by a distributor today, and even better paid next Monday. I’ll gladly take the bad meal in stride, except that the hunger I had when we left the restaurant is now converted into starvation.
To resume things, Fisher’s is a seafood restaurant that is mainly flash and show, where they do a lot of needless things to make it look like they are serving you well, but where the substance of that leads to horrible service. The food seems of good quality for the fish and seafood, but uninspired and pricy for what you actually get. It seems to be very popular as there is always huge lines, but I think the people going there are more interested in the show and to be seen there, than actually wanting a good dining experience. Like those perennial movie reviewers would say I gave them two thumbs down.
Lucito
Last week I was writing about a recipe that did not turn out as planned, because I had left the shrimps marinate too long, and then the sauce was a bit unbalanced to my taste. Today we left early for some shopping and one thing lead to another and we returned home late in the afternoon totally exhausted. I was planning to make some simple chicken ‘bistecs’, butterflied chicken breasts pounded thinly, with some mashed potatoes. When we were putting away all of the fresh fruits and vegetables we bought at the market, I ended up with much more pineapple than the plastic container I use to refrigerate the slices can hold. I normally buy one large pineapple or two small ones every week when they are in season, and then trim and slice them, then store them in an airtight container if the refrigerator for the week. This week I bought a large one and tried a small one of a new variety that our fruit merchant had received this week.
Since I had more pineapple that I could easily store, Normita suggested that I prepare the chicken a bit like the shrimps I had made last week, as she liked them a lot. In this way I can revisit the recipe, with a small change of ingredients, and see if the new ideas I have for the sauce will be better to my taste. If it is a success I will post the recipe in the coming days.
The other week I posted the simple recipe of a mango mousse that Normita had made when my parents had visited us from Canada. It made for a very tasty but rich dessert. I had mentioned that I had put it to freeze in the refrigerator, but I did not say that I had totally forgotten about it especially in the first few hours in there. I totally forgot to stir it during that time, and it ended up being a solid piece of mango ice, and you need to take it out of the freezer for 30-40 minutes before you can serve it. It is still very good, and I will see if I can think of something to do with the leftovers…
Normita, who thought it was too rich for her, just made a simple mango purée with some leftover manila mangos we had from last week. She just pureed it in the blender and we will see how it turns out. Maybe this time it will make some nice ‘sorbet’ or ‘granita’ instead of solid ice cubes…
Lucito
I am in the process of researching various technologies to create short cooking videos for the blog. I am looking at the technical side of things now, and we already have some of the equipment here in Mexico. It is too bad that most of our stuff is still in storage in Canada as we have a full professional video-editing suite up there, but it is not much good to us right now, as we cannot ship our stuff south until we get ourselves a place big enough to store it all.
My plans are to use what we have on hand here to start, and about the only thing missing so far is a solid tripod for the video camera. I have yet to try the video-editing software we have here, but that should be a simple fix if it is not up to the task. We plan to also get a decent still camera to replace the one that died on us last winter, so that we can start posting pictures of all the dishes and preparation.
At first I want to put together some short basic cooking technique videos and to experiment with the format and the tools until we have the production side well broken-in. Once we achieve that we might start creating slightly longer videos featuring simple recipes. We will judge what the reaction will be from those and then figure out how to proceed from there with both content and format.
If you have any suggestions on what simple cooking techniques you would like to see featured in the first few videos, please leave them in the comment section, or send us an email at suggestion@igourmand.com. I am looking forward to read your feedback and suggestions on this.
Lucito
I was reading this morning about someone being asked about what was their best restaurant meal in a particular city. It got me thinking as I am not a regular restaurant fiend to start with, as most of the time the food is better at home than in most restaurants, and there is more to the dining experience than the actual food. I have the same problem answering the question ‘what is my favorite food’, as it always depends on my mood at the moment I am asked, how hungry I am, the phase of the moon, and velocity of the wind, and other more esoteric factors.
I have eaten in revered restaurants where the cooking was so good that there is no hope in this lifetime that I will ever be able to attain this perfection in my kitchen, in overrated restaurants living only on their reputation and/or ‘inness’ factor, in restaurants that serve solid-but-uninspired food, in fast-food joints, in food stalls on the street or in markets where I ended up with food poisoning, and in places that fit anywhere in or out of this spectrum. What makes the dining experience is not the food itself, though it is a major part of it, but it is a combination of food, service, atmosphere, and who you are sharing the meal with.
By nature I tend to stay away from the new ‘Trendy’ places as from past experiences they seem to rely on glitziness, gimmicks, and at times shock food to generate their often undeserved reputations. I know that it is difficult to differentiate yourself from the crowds, but spending millions in decor and nada in the kitchen does not make for a nice restaurant. Also the noise level in a lot of trendy places makes enjoying even the best food in the world very difficult. I also dislike the fact that most of the times you have to reserve a long time ahead to get in. Since most of the time I have no idea what I will be doing in the next hour, let alone in 3 months time, and if I will even be in the mood to go out for that type of food that night. I normally go the reservation route only when I am traveling out of town and I know I will be in need of a restaurant on such and such dates, thus reserving is a no-brainer at those times.
Back to the subject of the dining experience, I have noticed that to have an exceptional experience you need to first have well prepared and presented good food that is pleasant to eat. If for shock value the chef is into weird combinations of food, just for sake of being different, I tend to stay away from their place. The same is for experimental cooking, I am all for experimentation, but if you cannot find focus in a dish you should not serve it to paying clients until you finish playing with the ingredients. I have seen chefs bringing you small serving of dishes they are working on to get feedback, and I am all for that, but I would not build a menu with untried recipes, just as I would not serve untried recipes to guests at home. I have ranted already about dishes that are presented for the ‘picture’ look, but that are difficult to eat and enjoy, so I will not go there today.
I also tend to stay away from the cult of the ‘Star Chef’. Some of their restaurants are stunning and serve sublime food, but a lot tend to lack in the personal touches. If they are at the head of a culinary empire, chances are that they are not the ones supervising the daily running of their restaurants, and whoever is doing a stellar job at it does not get the recognition they deserve, and normally stays in the background as not to take the stardom from the ‘Star Chef’. It is nice to think about your favorite TV Chef preparing your meal for you in the kitchen, but they are probably at some cocktail party, on the set of their TV show, or on another continent when your visit their restaurants. That does not mean that I have not had exceptional dining experiences in their restaurants…
Now that we have a nicely prepared meal on our plates, we now need good service. The staff should be attentive, and not overbearing. They also should know about the food and the chef’s philosophy. There is nothing more annoying than asking how a dish is prepared, or what an advertised ingredient in a recipe is is, and seeing the staff running to the kitchen to ask. If the menu specifies an ingredient it would be good idea to let the staff know what it is before letting them loose on the public. That is, as long as it does not go to the other extreme and they start pontificating about the type of salt they use, or refuse to bring you salt because the chef does not want you to ruin his dishes with it.
Where was I? A plate of nice food, attentive-but-not-overbearing staff… Next on the list is atmosphere. I tend to prefer a quiet relaxed atmosphere, to a frantic noisy one. That is in my nature, as I abhor noise and hyperactivity. If you have to shout to your dinner companions to get heard, it is does not make for a nice dining experience. I’m not really crazy about church-like atmospheres either, as they make you uncomfortable about having any conversation during the meal. I used to be more tolerant of this in the past, as before I met Normita, I used to travel the world on business alone, and dine in the best places by myself. I could concentrate more on the food, at the detriment of not sharing the experience in those days, but I would not go back to them. Your preference of atmosphere may vary, but you have to be comfortable to enjoy the meal.
Dining companions are important too. I find business meals, especially with new business acquaintances, to be normally strained, as you do not know the people, their tastes, and their ideas. It is a great way to get to know people, and it is one of my prime factors in doing business with anybody. I need to share a nice meal with them so that we can appreciate it together. I tend to stay away from doing business with people who do not share my love of food and wine, and the few times that I have not done so in the past, I paid for it dearly in the long run. Dining with loved ones and close friends is a rewarding experience, and it is one of the nicest things in life.
So, when faced with a question like ‘The best restaurant meal you’ve ever had in…’ my answer might disappoint the Trendy Foodies, as the place would most likely not be the latest trendy place or the place to be seen by the proper Foodie crowd. It would likely be a place where I had great food and service, in a relaxed atmosphere, with the people I love. I tend to collect restaurant experiences in my mind as the whole experience, not just the badge of being at the right address. I have been in great restaurants on bad nights, some of my favorite places have also disappointed me at times, and I might have just made the wrong choice on the menu, so the right address is not always the best. The reverse is true and I have had exceptional meals in places where you would expect it the least. With all the ingredients that make a great dining experience put in the equation, the answer might be a big surprise even to you. It is just where you did enjoy yourself the most. What else is there?
Lucito
Last weekend I was preparing a series of new recipes in my mind to try on Sunday. When doing our Saturday morning shopping at the Mercado de Jamaica, we found a new fish place that had nice fresh fish and seafood at a very reasonable price. We picked up a bit of shrimp for the meal on Sunday, and since I had some leftover clotted cream at home, I decide to make some nice scalloped potatoes with the shrimps, and a rich thick chile guajillo cream sauce to go with the shrimps.
When Sunday morning arrived, Normita had not slept well and had stomach problems when she got up. She was definitely not in the mood for a rich meal, so I had to change my plans. I decided to forego the chile sauce to spare her stomach, even though the guajillos are very mild. I now have half a pound of them to use on a later date when she feels better. Luckily they are a dried variety and they keep for ages.
To make a lighter meal I decided to briefly marinate the shrimps in some fruit juices. I had some pineapple, mango, and orange juices at hand, and first soaked the shrimps in a bit of reposado tequila to give them a nice tangy flavor. My plan was to simply marinate them for 15 minutes, and then stir-fry them quickly in the wok, flambé them with some tequila, and make a nice quick sauce with the juice marinade, and some extra ingredients.
The main problem was that things did not go as planned, and we ended up doing a lot of things in the afternoon, and instead of marinating for 15 minutes the shrimps marinated for close to 4-5 hours. Of course the shrimps became a bit rubbery from the too long marinade, and when cooked a lot of the accumulate juices came out, to further stiffen them. The juices were also a bit on the sweet side and lacked acidity, which did not help a bit.
Normita liked the meal a lot, judging by the speed by which she emptied her plate. I was left disappointed as the nice shrimps had turned a bit too rubbery for my taste from the too long marinating, and the sauce lacked a bit of acidity to make it interesting for my taste. I guess that we cannot win them all. Since there was nothing wrong with the basic recipe, and only some small adjustments are needed, I will get some more shrimps in one of our future visit to the market, and I will correct and retry the recipe at that time. As long as I do not marinate the shrimps too much, next time should be a great success. When I am satisfied by the results I will post it for all to enjoy. Until then I will go pout in a corner…
Lucito
This afternoon Normita invented a fantastic dessert. We were shopping for things for supper, as my parents are visiting with us from Canada for some days, prior to us driving them down to Acapulco later in the week. We had already picked up some arrachera for the main course, with some large potatoes for baking, some nice string beans, and some mushrooms. We were looking for something simple to have for dessert when she remembered that we had some nice Manila mangos that were perfectly ripe at home, and some nice thick farmer’s cream that has a nice sweet aftertaste. The medium sized Manila mangos are of a stunning bright yellow and they are the ones that we find the tastiest and the sweetest. They are currently in season and Normita loves them with a passion, so much that I get jealous at time…
She decided to scoop the flesh of the remaining mangos and add the heavy cream, and simply puree them for a dessert that was a stunning mango mousse. She had put it in the freezer to cool it down, and we had it while it was still like a thick liquid. The texture and taste was incredible, and we will leave it to freeze overnight and see what it will look in the morning. Hopefully it will have turned into a rich mango ice cream. My mother liked it so much that she already had 2 bowls, and we are all worried that when we get up in the morning nothing will be left of what we put in the freezer.
Ingredients
2 pounds ripe Manila mangos
1/2 pound heavy clotted cream
Preparation
1. Scoop the flesh of all of the ripe mangos and place in a deep bowl or into a large water pitcher.
2. With a stick mixer puree the mango until you have a thick creamy liquid.
3. Add the cream and mix with the mango until well incorporated.
4. Place the liquid in a container and put into the freezer until it thickens.
Lucito
One late summer day, many years ago, I had found some nice fresh crab meat at the market and also some beautiful sweet corn. My original idea was to make some nice corn pancakes, and when I found the crab, I decided to combine the two and invent a crab pancake recipe. It was a great success, and for some reason I was thinking about them earlier today, and now I have to find some nice crab meat to make some over the weekend, as I suddenly have a craving for them…
This recipe can also be done with good quality canned or frozen crab meat, and I have made it successfully in the past with frozen corn kernels, and I am sure that canned kernels can be substituted without any problems. I like them by themselves, and they can be eaten with a nice tartar sauce, or even with salsa verde if you want to spice up things.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sweet corn kernels
3/4 to 1 cup milk
1 pound crab meat
2 eggs
2 tbs sour cream
2 tbs melted butter
1 tbs sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp white pepper
1 grating nutmeg
Butter for cooking
Preparation
1. In a bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, white pepper and nutmeg, and mix until uniform with a fork.
2. Add the eggs, the melted butter, and enough milk to make a fairly thick batter, and whisk together.
3. Fold in the corn and the crab meat until well incorporated.
4. In a non-stick pan melt a bit of butter over medium-low heat.
5. Place large spoonfuls off the batter in the pan to make several thick patties and cook until the edges are dry, then turn over and cook until set.
6. Keep the cooked pancakes warm and repeat with the rest of the batter.
Lucito
I was just watching some cooking and wine shows on TV and noticed that some of us in the food and wine business definitely take ourselves too seriously. I have to confess that I have a tendency to do the same thing myself at times, but it seems that the older I get the less I take myself seriously. By nature, being somewhat shy, I normally cover up the shyness by turning into a pompous bastard in social situations. I’m trying to control it more and more as I do not like myself when I do that, but it is difficult at time when the audience tends to be on the pompous side too. When I have to talk about subjects that are close to my heart and that I totally enjoy, be it food, wine, technology, or something else, I try to be less on the pontification side and more on the entertaining and preaching about my love of the subject side, as long as I do not get carried away too much.
I noticed that the cooking and wine shows I like the best are the ones where the hosts really like their subjects and seem to be enjoying themselves while presenting it. Enthusiasm tends to be contagious and if the host is truly enjoying himself, then you feel it and like to share this enthusiasm for the subject at hand. At the other end of the spectrum, the hosts that take the superior approach and sound like they are talking about a very serious subject as if they were in church, should remember that it is only food, and only fermented grape juice in case of wine, and that they are all destined to be eaten and drunk in the end. You know that happens a while after that part, do you?
I normally dislike the type of shows filmed in front of audiences, as they often time rely on gimmicks from the host, and tend to get repetitive after a while. The same is true of hosts who heavily rely on gimmicks of all sorts, often for shock value or just to cover the fact that they have nothing new to add to the genre, except for the gimmick.
I was also wondering what is it with all of those shows where the host cooks on a rickety table in the middle of a field or at the edge of the sea, with wind blowing things away, and flies all over the place? Is there a reason why those shows are done like that, besides looking at the nice scenery? Most of the time the host looks so uncomfortable, and seems to miss his real kitchen a lot.
While I’m on a roll, I really appreciate shows by hosts who knows how to cook well, but I cannot believe that some of those supposedly professional chefs, at least from the publicity surrounding them, barely seem to know basic preparation techniques, or at times seem to not have enough coordination to prepare a sandwich without injuring themselves, or even worse are not using a sharp knife, one of my pet peeves… There nothing more laughable that seeing a cooking show host who does not seem to know how to hold a knife, and that cannot cut something that should cut very easily with a sharp knife. I tend to lose confidence quickly in those cases.
Another thing, what is it with the Napoleon complex? Napoleon is a French dessert that is composed of layers of cookies and filling pile up high on a plate. Now it seems, especially amongst younger chefs, that food requires height, and they pile up stuff, Napoleon style, on the plate until they have a shaky sculpture that reaches the roof of the restaurant. It might look mighty nice on the close-up shot at the end of the show, but has any of those ‘Chefs’ tried to eat one of their creations? There is no way to eat one of these monstrosities without first disassembling it, and then eating the bits and pieces. That is if you are lucky that it can be transported to your table without collapsing into a singularity.
Yet another thing, when they prepare their pile-o-food that is sky high, why do they paint only about 1 tsp of that very complex beautiful sauce that they are so proud of, in the bottom of the plate where it is impossible to taste it? I know that I am of French extraction, and that my genes are programmed to love my sauces to excess, but can we get more than 1 tsp of sauce so that we can actually enjoy and taste them?
I am just rambling on now, so I will try to cut it short. First, to all the cooking show hosts out there, try to look like you are enjoying yourselves while preparing the food and that you really enjoy eating the food that you cook. Second, try to not be too repetitive and please do not rely only on gimmicks. Third and most important of all, stop taking yourselves too seriously as it is only food and wine, not a bloody cure to all that ails the world that you are talking about.
Great, now I go it off my chest…
Lucito
Today we did some extensive food shopping at the Mercado de Jamaica as over the last 8 months the price of food in and around the area we have moved to, has increased dramatically. Now that we are finally motorized again we can easily go back shopping to that fantastic covered market that specializes in flowers, but also has a huge amount of fruits and vegetables, as well as some decent chicken merchants. We also know a good butcher in the area, so we can buy there about 80% of what we need, and Normita is doing the accounting and we saved about 50-60% compared to shopping in our neighborhood. It is well worth going there, and we will start going regularly every Saturday morning.
We bought a huge pair of chicken breasts and had them prepared into what is locally called ‘bistecs’. Each individual breast is cut in half and spread open then pounded between two sheets of plastic to make a nice large thin piece of meat. Today’s ‘bistecs’ were huge considering that that both came from only a single breast. Normally we like to prepare them simply by seasoning with salt, pepper, and herbs, then squeezing some lime juice on them. You can then cook the ‘bistecs’ on a hot grill pan and have a tasty light meal.
Normita was in the mood for ‘milanesa’, which is the local name for taking one of those ‘bistecs’ and breading them. It is then cooked by pan frying. Those ‘bistecs’ can also be made with beef, veal, pork, and other meats. I decided to surprise her and prepare a gourmet version of the common ‘milanesa’. I quickly invented a nice tasty breading and we came out of the table just a while ago satisfied by a very tasty meal that turned out fantastic. The ‘milanesas’ were juicy with an incredibly crisp breading. I served the ‘milanesas’ with simple side dishes, some nice mushrooms sautéed in butter, and creamy mashed potatoes.
To reinforce the philosophy of this blog, I want to remind our readers that all the recipes that we post are originals, family recipes, classic recipes that we have been doing for ages, or recipes contributed by friends that we have tested. A lot of effort goes into doing it like this, but I would not do it otherwise, as it is the only way for us to assure you that a recipe will yield good results. If we do not like cooking and eating it, we will not post it. I can safely say that we enjoyed this recipe that I just put together a few hours ago, and with a full belly tonight I bid you goodnight.
Ingredients
4 ‘bistecs’ of chicken breast
4 heaping tbs flour
1 heaping tsp onion powder
1 heaping tsp dried herbes de Provence, finely ground
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
1/2 tsp mixture of pink, green, white peppers, freshly ground
3 eggs
1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 tbs heavy cream
1 1/2 cups panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
1 heaping tbs parmesan cheese, grated
2 heaping tsp Spanish smoked paprika
1 heaping tsp dried parsley
Enough extra virgin olive oil to pan fry the ‘bistecs’
Preparation
1. Prepare 3 bowls wide enough to be able to dip the ‘bistecs’ in them.
2. In the first bowl place flour, onion powder, herbes de Provence, garlic powder, salt and peppers, and mix with spoon until well combined.
3. In the second bowl break the 3 eggs, the tbs of olive oil, and the tbs of heavy cream.
4. With a fork whisk the eggs gently until you have a smooth homogeneous mixture.
5. In the third bowl place the panko, the parmesan, the paprika, and the parsley and mix with a spoon until well combined.
6. Take a ‘bistec’ and place in the flour bowl until well coated on both sides.
7. Pass the ‘bistec’ through the egg mixture until well coated on both sides, then let drip the excess.
8. Place the egg-coated ‘bistec’ in the panko mixture until both sides are coated well.
9. Dip it in the egg mixture again and then in the panko a second time to create a thick coating.
10. Place on a wire rack to dry.
11. Rinse your fingers and repeat with the other ‘bistecs’.
12. Place the wire rack in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes for the breading to dry.
13. In a large frying pan, place about 1/4" of extra virgin olive oil and heat up on a medium fire.
14. Place the breaded ‘bistecs’ in the oil and cook about 3-4 minutes per side, until well browned.
15. Put on a plate lined with paper towels to drain, and then keep warm in a low oven until all the ‘bistecs’ are cooked.
Lucito
Last Wednesday I did not know what to prepare for my lunch for the next day as we did not have much time to go to the supermarket and we were running out of everything. I looked into the cupboard and found some cans of tuna and I decided to prepare one of my favorite dishes "Atún a la VizcaÃna". This time I decided to invent a new version "Pasta with Atún a la Vizcaina"; I prepared my tuna recipe and I then boiled some pasta with salt and when it was cooked I drained it and served it with tuna dish and added some parmesan cheese, it really became a great dish.
This tuna recipe we can be served by itself or presented in a wide variety of ways. Our nice Alejandra really likes it in empanadas or as a pie. This can easily be done by rolling out some fresh or frozen puff pastry dough and for the empanadas you cut 5" circles out of the dough and place a large spoonful of the tuna dish in the middle and fold in half and pinch the edges to seal well. You then cut some slits on the top with a sharp knife and place them on a cookie sheet and bake in a medium oven until golden. You can do the same thing as a pie, by lining a pie dish with the puff pastry, then filling it with the tuna dish and then placing another sheet of dough on top. You then seal the edges and cut some vents in it and you might even decorate it with some nice fish shapes cut from the dough. You bake it like the empanadas, and if you prefer a shiny crust you can paint it with a beaten egg white. Another nice way of serving this dish is to cool it and then make a nice sandwich with a nice large crusty bread roll.
Ingredients
1 can of tuna in olive oil
1 tomato, chopped
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1/2 chile jalapeño, finely chopped
1 tbs parsley, chopped
1 tbs soy sauce
5 stuffed olives, chopped
1 tbs capers, chopped
1 handful almonds, chopped
1 handful pine nuts
1 handful walnuts, chopped
1 tbs. olive oil
Preparation
1. Sautee the onion and garlic in the olive oil in a pan over medium heat until the onions are translucent.
2. Add the chile, parsley, tomato, and soy sauce.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients and the tuna can without the liquid.
4. Let it cook some minutes until the flavors melt together and serve.
Normita