Clean and refreshing~

Feeds-6 people

Once all the veggies are room temp, mix them in a large bowl, add citrus, S&P and serve.

Yum!

Ingredients:
2 each 2-3 pound chickens
1 bunch celery
2 white sweet onions/ peeled and quartered
8 carrots
1 bunch curly parsley
1 head chopped fennel
1 cup peeled garlic
1# dried pasta- your choice
1# sliced smoked bacon
1# fresh shucked green peas
2 cans sweet corn- or 5 ears shucked sweet corn
2 cans cooked white beans

-add the chopped carrots, celery,  and fennel to the broth and simmer for 10 minutes.
-add the sweet peas, sweet corn and white beans. (*note- if you are using canned corn and beans, rinse them off with cold water in a strainer)…
Bring the mixture to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes.
- in a separate sauté pan- render sliced and chopped bacon until crispy – discard half the fat and then add the crisp bacon and fat to the soup.
- in a separate pot of salted boiling water, cook the small pasta pieces, strain an then add to the soup. (*note- if you are not eating all of the soup in 1 seating, just add a small amount of cooked pasta to the soup and save the remaining pasta in a separate bowl for the next time you serve the soup. Otherwise, the pasta will continue to grow, get mushy and soak up all of your soup.)
Season with sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper and add the shredded chicken.
Serve with roasted olive oil soaked sourdough bread and a good bottle of dry white wine!
Enjoy!

Yum~

My mother in law has been living with us for over two years. Some people look at my and roll their eyes and ask me if I am crazy. Well, first of all my wife negotiated this deal ten years ago, so when it finally happened, it was smooth as silk. My mother in law has added so much fabric and layers to our warm and loving home.

Not only does she always make me laugh, but boy can she cook. One of my favorite dishes she makes is Sopa de Hueso. It is common in many Latin American countries and this is her version, with a little twist from me. Listen to this song, while you are getting your soup on………..

My favorite request from her when I asked her for the recipe was, “Please arrange this recipe in your professional way.” Would I do it any other way?

5 pounds Beef neck bones or oxtails, cut into 2 inch pieces
1 bunch of fresh coriander
1 whole onion medium-cut into quarters.
Beef stock (optional)- 2 ounces
1 head of white Cabbage cut into 3 inch wedges
5 ears of  Corn on a cob, cut into halves
1 pound Yuca- (to make things easy, buy the pre-cooked frozen product)
1 pound String beans

Method-

Simmer the bones, coriander and onion at least an hour
After the hour, remove the onion and coriander from the broth
Add vegetables and cook until tender

Season with crushed red peppers, sea salt, cracked black pepper and a wedge of lemon.

Lobster, Shrimp and wild mushroom pasta

~garnish with grated cheese and enjoy!

Voila!

And so it begins~

Of course my adaptation is slightly different, so here we go:

Method-
* I found that marinating the Snapper for two days gave the best results…
~In a small bowl, mix all of the dried spices (NO SALT)  with a splash of XVOO.
~Take half of the shallots, cilantro, ginger and garlic and rough chop the entire mixture

Snapper on marinade~

~Coat the snapper filets with the spice and olive oil mixture (NO Salt) and then lightly pack the fish in between a layer of the chopped cilantro mixture . Think of the snapper as the meat of a sandwich and the cilantro mixture as the bread.
~Cover the fish with saran and leave in the fridge for 2 days.

On the day that you are going to serve the fish, take the remainder of the garlic, ginger, shallots and cilantro and chop the mixture very fine. * Note- chop everything separately.
~Sweat the garlic, shallots and ginger until tender.
~Add the white wine and reduce  the mixture until ⅓ of the liquid evaporates.
~ add the lemon juice and Cilantro and simmer for 1 minute.
~season with Salt and Pepper.

The sauce~

Take the fish out of the fridge and discard all of the marinade. You just want the fish filets and spices on the fish. Season the fillets with sea salt and Cracked black pepper, and place on an oiled sheet tray.

Place the fish in a 400 degree oven for about 8 minutes.

Serve fish with a healthy spoon of your Cilantro sauce, some nice roasted red bliss potatoes and some stir fried spinach!

Ingredients-
1 head of fennel sliced very thin
12 red radishes sliced very thin
The juice of ½ lemon
Sea salt and cracked black pepper to taste
¼ tsp crushed red peppers
2 ounces Extra Virgin Olive oil

~ENJOY~

Ingredients:
Lorina Sparkling Pink Lemonade
Ice Cubes
Vodka
Pink Sugar
Salt
Cayenne pepper
Lemon juice
Lemon slices for garnish

The secret weapon for The Olivia Cocktail~

Method:
-In a small bowl, mix 95% pink sugar, a dash of salt and a dash of cayenne pepper. Your goal is to get a sweet/ spicy and mildly salty taste.
-In another bowl, put freshly squeeze lemon juice in it.
-take a glass and place the rim of the glass in the lemon juice, about 1/4-1/8th of an inch and then coat the rim of the glass with the pink sugar mixture.
- once the rim has been coated with your delicious sweet, spicy and salty mixture place 4 iced cubes in the glass.
- add 2 ounces of vodka and the rest of the glass, fill with sparkling pink lemonade.
-garnish with a lemon wheel and enjoy!
* be careful, they are strong!

Method-
-Place diced bread on a cookie tray and coat with olive oil, salt, pepper and dried red peppers.
-put the bread in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees and toast for about 7-8 minutes.
* you want the bread to be hot and chewy, not crispy, through and through.
-in a small bowl. Make your vinaigrette- 3 parts olive oil, 1 part lemon juice and salt and
pepper to taste.
- take all of your other ingredients (minus the bread)  and place in a large bowl and toss together.
-add the vinaigrette and then place warm bread on top of the salad and serve-
YUMMY!

YUMMY~

After finishing 4 open houses yesterday at

194 Riverside dr #6B

230 Riverside Drive #16B

2025 Broadway #17F

240 East 35^th street #5B

……………………………….and the Super Bowl about to begin, I needed to come up with a quick refreshing pasta dish for my 8 month pregnant wife and hungry little baby in mommy’s tummy.

I zipped over to the local fine food store and picked up the following:

1 pound dried spaghetti

2 lemons

16 ounces chicken stock

1 pound peeled garlic

1 bunch chives

1 head of watercress

4 ounces of parmesan cheese

Sea salt, cracked black pepper and a pinch of crushed red peppers

1 loaf of sourdough bread

Method:

In a large sauce pot, caramelize the garlic pearls in olive oil

Add the chicken stock or vegetable stock to the garlic and reduce the broth by 50%

Season with salt, pepper and crushed red pepper flakes.

Cook the spaghetti in a large pot of salted boiling water until al dente.

Once the pasta is cooked perfectly- add the watercress and chives to the garlic broth and heat until the greens wilt and then add the pasta.

Your simple sauce~

Mix thoroughly and serve pasta bowls. Garnish with grated parmesan cheese, cracked black pepper and serve with crispy hot sourdough bread!

Congrats to the Giants!!!

YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!

Cous cous can be such a delicious side dish, salad or entrée, if you cook it correctly.

Ingredients-
1 pound dry cous cous
Vegetable broth equal the volume of the 1 pound of dried cous cous
3-4 ounces of sundried tomato and basil presto- can probably get this premade at the supermarket or you can make your own.
1 sliced red onion
1 sliced white onion
1 red pepper- slice into julienne pieces
1 green pepper- slice into julienne pieces
1 yellow pepper- slice into julienne pieces
1 pinch of crushed red peppers
Sea salt and cracked black pepper to taste
2 ounces whole sweet butter
3 ounces XV olive oil

1 bunch chopped chives

Method-
Sauté all of the vegetables in Olive oil and season with salt, pepper and crushed red peppers- place the vegetables once they are tender and brown on a cookie tray to cool.

Place the vegetable broth in a sauce pot- remember it is a one to one ratio based on volume to cous cous.
Bring the broth to a boil, and then stir in the pesto.
Add the cous cous to the boiling liquid and keep on a high heat for 1-2 minutes.
Stir the cous cous one time and then turn the heat off and place a cover on the pot, for 3-4 minutes or when the cous cous is tender.
Place in a casserole dish and mix in the sautéed vegetables, whole butter, and remaining olive oil and season the mixture again.

Garnish with chopped chives and serve~

Enjoy!