Fried Turkey
We had Thanksgiving at a good friends house with five other families. It was especially great as it is was our first Thanksgiving back in San Francisco after having lived in Los Angeles for the past nine years. Great friends are always great friends. It was like we never left. I brought the chorizo and hatch chile stuffing as well as a harissa cranberry sauce but that was all I had to do (besides carve the turkey). The best part was the fried turkey. I had never seen that live. Check it out! This guy has the process down!!! Happy Holidays!!
Using the egg to stretch the holiday dollar!
Happy Egg Tuesday!
It’s the end of the month and time to start pulling together a grocery shopping list. Eggs are not only delicious and nutritious but a great way to stretch the dollar and feed the family,
especially when you’re trying to save up for holiday shopping! Here is what a week’s worth of eggs looks like in my house for breakfast, lunch or dinner (Four recipes below). So grab an extra dozen, give it a try and have a delicious week!
Don’t forget, you can help feed the hungry this holiday season by making a pledge (no cost) to “Eat good. Do good every day.” For every pledge, America’s egg farmers will donate one egg, up to one million eggs, to feed the hungry.
Monday morning quick Mexican scramble
4 Large eggs
4 Tb water
Pinch of Kosher salt
1 tsp butter
3 Tb shredded Mexican cheese blend
3 Tb your favorite jarred salsa
In a medium bowl whisk the eggs, water and salt to combine. In a 10” non-stick skillet over medium heat melt 1 tsp butter.
Add egg mixture. “Paint” the bottom of the pan (don’t stir) creating large folds of light, tender, fluffy egg. When there is still a little shine on the eggs turn the heat off. Fold one more time and plate. Top with cheese and salsa and serve.
Yield: 2-3 portions
Wednesday Mid-Week Treat – Quick Greek pan quiche
4 large eggs
4 Tb water
Pinch of Kosher salt
1 Tb olive oil
1 C unseasoned breadcrumb
2 Tsp dried or fresh oregano
2 tsp fresh or dried mint
¼ C pitted black olives
1 Roma tomato, chopped into ½” cubes
¼ C Feta cheese, crumbled
In a 10” non-stick skillet over medium heat add the olive oil. Once hot add the breadcrumbs and herbs. Stir and then press down flat in the pan.
Gently pour the egg mixture on top of the breadcrumbs. Sprinkle the olives, tomatoes and feta cheese evenly over the top. Place the pan in a 300-degree oven until the eggs are set and cooked through. Slide onto a platter and cut into triangle slices. Garnish with additional shredded fresh mint if desired. Serve.
Yield: 3-4 portions.
Friday 10-minute Asian steak and eggs
6 oz. skirt steak
Kosher salt and pepper to season
2 tsp peanut oil
2 Tb hoisin sauce
1 Tb low salt soy sauce
1 tsp Sriracha sauce (or any red chile sauce)
1 tsp butter
2 large eggs
Pinch of Kosher salt
Fresh chopped cilantro for garnish
In a 6” non-stick skillet over med-high heat add the oil. Pat the steak dry and season with salt and pepper. Place in pan and sear until dark golden. In a small bowl mix together the hoisin, soy and sriracha sauce to create a glaze. Flip steak over. Rub hoisin glaze on top of steak. Flip over and cook 30 seconds more or to desired doneness. Remove steak and set aside to rest. In a clean 6” non-stick skillet over medium heat add the butter. Once melted crack the eggs in and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. When the white starts to set flip eggs over. Cook to desired doneness. Remove from pan and let rest on a cutting board for ten minutes. Cut in half and place half the steak and one egg on each plate. Garnish with cilantro and serve.
Yield: 2 portions
Brunch Time! It’s Been a Good Week! – Egg bruschetta with “quick version” hollandaise sauce.
2 large 1” thick slice of rustic country bread
2 Tsp olive oil
3 hard-cooked egg yolks
2 Tb milk
1 Tb lemon juice (1/2 lemon)
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
2 Large eggs
Kosher salt to season
2 Tb fresh chopped flat leaf parsley
1 tsp fresh lemon zest
Rub bread on one side with olive oil and toast in a non-stick skillet or grill press. Set on a plate. Add the egg yolks, milk, pinch of salt and paprika to blender. Puree until smooth. Set aside. In a 6” non-stick skillet melt the butter over medium heat. Add the eggs and season with a pinch of salt. Once white starts to set flip eggs and cook to desired doneness. Flip eggs back over and place on top of grilled bread. Drizzle egg with sauce and garnish with parsley. Serve.
Yield: two servings.
Homemade chorizo recipe for my Hatch Chile Stuffing!
Happy Holidays! I hope this finds you with a pleasantly full stomach and an even fuller heart! I love the holiday vibe. Cooking is always the essence of my joy so getting to see so many friends and family enjoy the food and wine of the holiday is a special treat. 
I thawed out my bag of green Hatch chiles for the holiday season. My first dish was Thanksgiving stuffing. 
The base of this stuffing is fresh (raw) chorizo vs. the dried salami style. I have always loved chorizo for its mouth-watering orange hue and bright chile flavor. I decided to make some from scratch. It turned out great! Give it a try. It is really quick and easy as long as you have a kitchen aid grinder attachment.
2 lb. Pork Shoulder cut into 1” cubes
8 oz. bacon (pork belly would be even better) cut into 1” pieces
1 Tb chopped garlic
1 Tb kosher salt
In the spice grinder: 2 tsp black pepper, 1 tsp coriander seed, 3 allspice berries, ½ tsp cumin seed – grind finely.
1 tsp dried thyme
1 Tb smoked paprika
1 tsp cayenne powder (double if you like it hot!)
2 Tb apple cider vinegar
1 Tb olive oil
In a large bowl mix everything together. Grind in your kitchen aid grinder. By mixing everything in BEFORE you grind the spices get fully integrated into the ground meat instead of trying to work the spice blend in after it is ground which is harder and also forces you to overwork the meat. Cover tightly with plastic and place in refrigerator. Let marinate overnight and then you are ready to use it as a base for stuffing, with eggs, to make a killer spicy sauce, tortilla soup, the list is endless! I think this is going to become a habit for me.
I placed the chorizo in a large sauté pan and within minutes the fat, chile and spices bleed together to create a bright orange/red “sauce”. The perfume from the fresh ground spices made my mouth water as they toasted in the pan! Like anything homemade the flavors were so clean and there was a natural balance of meat/fat. I added a cup of chopped hatch chiles and a quart of chicken stock to the chorizo. It became a rich sauce with the bright piquant heat of the green Hatch chiles and the deep, spiced laden heat of the paprika and cayenne. I tossed this mixture with some 1” cubes of dried rustic bread and baked it until moist but not mushy. I took the foil off and broiled it for just a couple of minutes so that the edges of the bread became crispy. Enjoy!
Eat well, Enjoy life, Be happy!
Breaking bread family style!
There are eating experiences that literally make me feel like I am having an outer-body experience! The rustic country loaf from San Francisco’s Tartine 
is one of those. It is a huge loaf with a crust that is so crisp only the sharpest of bread knives will cut through it without smashing the pillow like crumb inside. The good news is that the soft, incredibly chewy crumb does bounce back due to the perfect development of the gluten (the protein strands that give bread it structure and chew). The flavor is naturally sweet, mildly sour, and fully yeasty with such a great chew.
The crust is like no other bread I have had. It is super crunchy (like you could chip a tooth) yet incredible thin. The crust tastes like a dark roux with a toasty nuttiness and almost clay-like earthiness. My wife and I had a coffee and pastry at Tartine in the morning and placed our bread order. The bread is ready at 5:00 and gone by 5:30 every day. My son and I drove across town in the pouring rain to 
fetch our pre-paid loaves from heaven! You know it’s good when the bag of fresh made bread warms your lap. My son 
couldn’t wait until we got home to eat it. He tore off a chunk and said, “wow dad, it is so crispy and flavorful, it melts in your mouth”. When is the last time you heard a kid get that excited about bread? 
I love it! The bread is so moist that when I put it in the grill press to make pan y tomate (bread grilled or toasted and rubbed with super ripe tomato pulp and olive oil) it took 5x longer for the bread to get crisp.
We decided to make the bread the centerpiece of our Tuesday night meal. We stopped at Bi Rite next door to Tartine and 
got some fresh whole sardines, prosciutto, cheese, olives and greens. I sautéed the sardines in chile flakes, herbs de Provence and olive oil. Their rich bodies gave off so much tasty juice it formed a sauce. Sometimes the best meal is the one you barely cook. It was about the best ingredients mixed and
matched as each person liked. The excitement over the bread turned into a great family evening that was about so much more than the food. Getting everyone around the table every night is the key to great family. Having great food at the table makes it truly unforgettable. Cheers! Enjoy your next meal with a star ingredient!
Eat well, Enjoy life, Be happy!
Egg Tuesday – Perfect hard-cooked eggs
Is it too early to say Happy Holidays? I am feeling it so I guess not. I hope this finds you eating well and enjoying life.
No green in these eggs. Bright yellow, creamy yolk and tender white. Hard-cooked eggs are one of the simplest, tastiest cold pantry items you can have. They are great for a 
quick snack; breakfast on the go and to use in brunch and appetizers recipes. They are also the perfect holiday savior for last minute entertaining. The key is to first make sure you have tender, flavorful hard-cooked eggs by following these simple steps.
- Place an even layer of eggs in the bottom of a pot and cover with cold water an inch above the top of the eggs.
- Place the pot on the heat and turn to high. The moment the water comes to a boil shut the heat off.
- Cover the pot and set a timer for 15 minutes.
- Rinse the eggs under cold water as soon as the timer goes off. This stops the cooking as well as allowing the egg to contract from the shell making it easier to peel.
Store the eggs in a bowl or container in the refrigerator until you are ready to eat them.
To Peel: Roll the egg on the counter while tapping to crack it evenly all around. Hold your thumb sideways and get under the shell AS WELL as the thin film under the shell. Once you get under the film you can slide your thumb across the egg and the shell will come off in large pieces. You can use a little cold running water to assist in the shell coming off.
Quick, easy recipe ideas:
Eat as is or with a touch of salt.
South of the border snack – Squeeze a little lime over the egg and dust with chile powder
Burrito – Break the egg up in a tortilla with hash browns (the freezer ready ones), a touch of cheese and your favorite salsa. Roll it up. Eat as is or place in a grill press to melt cheese and make tortilla golden brown and crisp.
Brunch – Break up over a piece of rustic toast. Take 3 hard-cooked yolks and puree in blender with 2 Tb milk, 1 Tb lemon juice, 1 tsp paprika, 1 Tb fresh chopped parsley and a pinch of salt. Drizzle over the top to create a “hollandaise type sauce”. (Enough sauce for three servings).
SECRET: Eggs that are in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks will be the best for hard-cooking. The egg contracts from the shell making them much easier to peel.
Feed the hungry by making a pledge (no cost) to eat good. Do good every day. America’s egg farmers are donating up to one million eggs to feed the hungry.
Eat well, Enjoy life, Be happy!
Indian seared scallops!
When I was in culinary school at the California Culinary Academy I worked for free at 3:00am for several days at a fish company on Fisherman’s Wharf so I could learn about fish and how to clean it. Ever since smelling the first plump, sweet scallop there I have been in love with them.
They sear like a steak yet their flesh is still tender. They have a unique sweet taste that is lobster-like yet unique. The contrast of the crispy golden top when seared properly and the off-white, creamy tender body is heavenly. The key to perfectly seared scallops:
Pull off the rubbery lip if it is still there. It looks like a 1” long piece of thick rubber band. Pat the scallops dry with a paper towel (if you don’t the moisture makes them stick and steam instead of sear). Salt and pepper them. Get a pan that is just large enough for the scallops you are cooking allowing about 1” between each one. Don’t crowd the pan. Get the pan hot over med-high heat. Add a TB of oil and get it hot until you see a haze. Add the scallops. After a few seconds slide them back and forth to make sure they are evenly seated and have oil under them. This way they wont be spotty but fully golden! 
Let them cook 2/3 of the way on one side to get a great crust. Flip them over. When you see the flesh go from translucent to opaque (white) take them out of the pan. Remember, the carry-over heat will cook them more. In this case I dusted them with garam masala before searing. To the same searing pan I added some roughly chopped super-ripe tomatoes and 2 TB of sugar. The tomato absorbed the scallop flavor from the bottom of the pan. I let it simmer for about ten minutes turning the broken tomato and sugar into a chutney. The acidity of the tomato replaced the need to add vinegar. The sugar was a sweet contrast to the warm earthiness of the garam masala as well as brining out the best of the baking spice element of the garam masala. I hope you find yourself falling in love with the scallop as well! Enjoy.
Eat well, Enjoy life, Be happy!
I love my wok! Stir-fried noodles with scallops
I bought a wok in Hong Kong last spring. I could have bought a similar one here in San Francisco’s Chinatown but it wouldn’t have the same memories attached to it as this one. I walked in the pouring rain for blocks until finding a way to communicate through smiles via cab to a local restaurant supply house. When you buy the wok it is a bright shiny stainless steel. 
As you can see from the photo below my wok is getting more seasoned from every use until it becomes completely black. The key is to never wash it but to scrub it with a bamboo brush under hot water immediately after each use. Get the wok really hot with peanut oil. In goes chunks of scallops seasoned with salt and pepper. I keep them moving and jumping until crispy and golden but still tender; about two minutes. Out with the scallops and in with the chopped green onion and very small pieces of chopped broccoli (small pieces allow quick cooking and still keeps the veggies bright green). 
After about a minute I add the cooked “chow mien” style Chinese noodles (Any thin Asian style wheat noodle. Cook in boiling water for a couple minutes until tender but firm and cool under cold running water. Drain well and set aside to cool and dry completely). Add a touch more peanut oil and flatten the noodles out in a thin layer covering the bottom and sides of the wok. Let them sit for a good two minutes until they become slightly golden on the bottom. Add in a mixture of 3 Tb soy sauce, 3 Tb oyster sauce, and 1/3 C chicken stock and if desired a splash of hot chile sauce. Add the scallops back in and stir and toss with tongs until noodles are evenly coated in sauce. Plate and serve. Garnish with a sprinkle of chopped cilantro if you like. You can also add some chopped garlic and ginger to the oil when you sear the scallops if you want to take it up a notch. I love how the eating experience changes because the food came out of the wok and we ate it with chopsticks. The scallops are tender and sweet but with a great seared wok flavor. It is like the food picks up a little bit of the flavor of every dish that has come out of the wok. The noodles are tender but with a toasted wok flavor of peanut oil and a touch crisp. The oyster sauce/soy combo cloaks everything in a thin layer of sweetness, the perfect amount of salt and a deep flavor of the sea. A touch of heat keeps it light and bright. Enjoy!
Eat well, Enjoy life, Be happy!
Pork fat and chiles!
I love the burst of rich, clean pork fat laced with the piercing heat of dried red chiles when I bite into a freshly made hot breakfast sausage! The family woke up yesterday to a rainy San Francisco morning. I just got back from two weeks on the road and was so excited to just spend the day as a family and get back in the kitchen. I took a handful of fresh ground pork meat with a solid 20% fat content. 
I mixed it with some freshly ground, dried red chiles, an egg yolk and some salt and pepper. I pressed the meat into patties and fried them up in a touch of olive oil. 
I poured the excess grease off and then added the freshly cut sweet corn from one cob and a few chopped green onions. Once the corn was slightly colored (and super sweet!) I added a tsp of herbs de Provence and allowed it to toast for a moment (once you smell the herb or spice it is perfectly toasted). I then added a ¼ C. of chicken stock to bring the pan bits together to form a sweet onion/corn sauce. A few fried eggs and the family was enjoying a soul-warming breakfast with a backdrop of cozy SF rain. My family will never know the joy I get from watching them eat and smile. Cooking brings so much joy on every level.
The pork was slightly pink thus bursting with juice. The golden crust gave the sausage a slightly crisp texture. Moments after the juice of the sausage coated my tongue I got the perfect blast of heat. Chiles are my favorite ingredient because they offer such a huge range of flavor as well as heat. These chiles (I brought back from the South of France this summer) are super hot. You only need a couple for a whole batch. They offer a clean heat with a ton of bright chile flavor and just a touch of floral earthiness. It is no surprise they are a natural complement to their neighborly herbs de Provence. The yolk of the egg blended with the sweet corn and onion broth to form a slightly viscous natural sauce. Whether you have rain or sun I hope you are eating something that makes you stop and say wow with people you love!
Eat well, Enjoy life, Be happy!
Jeffrey Saad\'s Passion For Food 