First Place Win in the Sizzlin’ Summer Recipe Contest

Posted on | November 6, 2009 | 2 Comments

First of all, I’m sorry for the lack of posts.I’ve started a new site for food photography that you can view at BigShot Images. I’ve been enjoying photography so much that I wanted to put together a place people could go to see my photography alone without all my entertaining stories and incredible wit Actually, I’ve been exploring other photography subjects and wanted a place to keep them. I’ve also been entering recipe contests for the past couple of months with potential winnings to include everything from $25,000 prizes to trips.

Category: Bread, Meat, Sandwich, Simple and Quick

Big Eye Tuna, Watermelon, and Cucumber Tartare

Posted on | October 1, 2009 | 2 Comments

A bunch of friends and I got together to celebrate a sophisticated sixties party for a dear friend who shall remain nameless ~~Maggie~~. Our hostess had a fabulous kitchen complete with Mesquite butcher block countertops and a Viking range with a wok burner that would make the entire county of China envious. All of this with maestro Michael Cerza on the Steinway belting out some incredible tunes.

I came up with this appetizer dish and I think I may have put the ingredients together in my mind although I’m sure I got inspiration from someone or magazine. The mind is always the second thing to go; I forget the first. This is a tuna tartare with watermelon and English cucumber although I guess regular cucumber could do, especially if it was fresh from the garden. This dish uses Big Eye tuna although I prefer the darker red of yellow fin tuna but you get to use what the fishmonger gives you. This may seem an odd combination, and I’ve been told that after my guests have tried it. People see and expect the taste of tomato only to find something delightfully sweet on their palate. It has always been a hit.

Pan Roasted Salmon with Wilted Spinach

Posted on | September 1, 2009 | No Comments

My fishmonger had some beautiful wild caught Coho Salmon fillets and I couldn’t resist this sweet fish. People seems to have some trepidation when cooking fish. The two most difficult things to master with fish, salmon in particular, is touch and doneness. Touch has to do with the actually feel of the fish when lightly pressed with the index finger. Doneness has not only to do with touch but also carry over cooking time and I will discuss that in a moment.

If you think of a raw hamburger patty for a moment, imagine the feel when pressing your finger into the raw meat. There isn’t much of a rebound and it leaves a hole where you’ve pressed it. Now picture that patty cooked well done. If you press this one, it rebounds leaving no indentation. Animal proteins all have this built-in cooking indicator.