Monday, October 6, 2008

Eggs Andrea

This Late Breakfast is dedicated to my new Italian Landlord, Andrea. Its always a pleasure to have one of your Halfbreed Ghetto meals appreciated by some one from such high gastronomic breeding. Its basically a toasted brioche (which is a semi sweet, dry version of french croissant) ,
pouched egg, lots of parsley, smoked salmon, and topped with Dijonnaise. For those of you that are not familiar with Dijonnaise, let me tell you that this Mustard/Mayo French topping is a key ingredient in a lot of my ghetto meals, because of its diversity, and its ability to highlight almost every dish. It does not contain cheese, so it can pair with fish. Poultry, steak, bread, pasta, you name it, Dijonnaise is to Chris Cann, what ketchup is to America,,,hahah. Bon Apetito

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Polenta Bolognese

Polenta was the staple of my diet, the canvas so to speak, when I first started travelling. And this recipe is dedicated to my bro Adrian, we used to cook it up when we lived in Paris at Madame Tupi's place. I think it was my friend Colin who introduced me to polenta, I remember him saying he had an Italian Grandmother that used to feed it to him all the time, and she told him it was the poor mans steak in the South, haha.
Start by sauteing some onions, garlic, and chili some olive oil, than you add the ground beef, brown it for a bit than add some tomato sauce, bit of red wine and last the Rosemarie, and the broccoli, it don't need the broccoli but for health reasons I would say its essential, then turn to low heat and let simmer (don't really know if this is a real bolognese sauce, but I think its close enough). Salt your boiling water for the polenta and when it comes to a boil, stir in the polenta slowly a bit at a time so it don't clump up, but if it does it just adds more texture to the dish. When the polenta starts to look like bubbling porridge its ready ( I'm using a instant polenta mix so it only takes 3 minutes ). Spread it on a plate then add the bolognese sauce, garnish with parsley, parmigiano reggiano cheese, and a splash of olive oil. add salt and pep to taste.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Due Stagione Del Mare


Here it is people...who said you cant date two fish at the same time, haha. The name means "Two Seasons of The Sea", Your classic "Neapolitan Pizza" with anchovies and added mozzarella, meets Terroni Restaurant, "Al Salmone" with smoked salmon, tomatoes and I jazzed it up with "Robiola" (a fresh Italian cheese, similar to ricotta) . Who says you need a pizza stone or a wood burning oven this bad boy didn't need it, I found the crusts in Milan Italy to be too thick, under seasoned, and floppy in the middle, its like they were just missing the love. So I said F--k it I'm making my own. They key is not to be timid with the flour during the doe rolling process, it helps to keep the pizza from sticking to the rolling pin and the pizza pan, I picked it up by watching some of the pizza makers here, and they don't even use a rolling pins, just a lot of flour and messaging the doe. And don't get to fussy with placing the toppings, you should be; loose but decisive, free and confident, like painting, let the little mistakes become your stroke of genius. peace.