JAKARTA (Reuters) - A hotel in Indonesia is dishing out a hamburger that costs more than twice the monthly minimum wage in some parts of the country.
The $110 (56 pounds) hamburger offered by the Four Seasonss is made of Kobe beef with foie gras, Portobello mushrooms and Korean pears -- served with french fries, of course.
More: http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type
Orange-Glazed Snow Peas
An easy and exotic glaze with a rich flavor.
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
2 Tbs. julienned orange zest
2 Tbs. honey
1 Tbs. butter
1/2 teaspoon grated ginger
1/8 tsp. ground cardamom
Dash ground cloves
1 1/4 lbs. snow peas, strings removed
In Small Saucepan, combine all ingredients except snow peas. Bring mixture to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer until liquid is reduced to about cup. Blanch snow peas in boiling water about 30 seconds; drain.
Immediately transfer snow peas to serving dish. Pour orange sauce over snow peas and toss to coat.
Serve hot. Serves 4-6
Coffee Roasts
• American (regular) roast: beans are medium-roasted, resulting in a moderate brew, not too light or too heavy in flavor.
• Viennese roast: one-third heavy-roast beans blended with two-thirds regular-roast.
• European roast: two-thirds heavy-roast beans blended with one-third regular-roast.
• French roast: heavily-roasted beans, a deep chocolate brown which produce a stronger coffee.
• Italian roast: glossy, brown-black, strongly flavored, used for espresso.
• Decaffeinated coffee: caffeine is removed from the beans before roasting via the use of a chemical solvent (which disappears completely when the beans are roasted) or the Swiss water process which steams the beans and then scrapes off the caffeine-laden outer layers.
Sautéed Collard Greens With Balsamic Vinegar
submitted by Susan Dash
2 pounds collards, washed and drained
2 cups water
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Remove and discard the woody stems from greens. Stack the collard leaves, a few at a time, and roll. Cut them crosswise into 1/4-inch wide strips.
Bring water to a boil in large saucepan. Add collards, cover and cook over medium heat, stirring often until greens are slightly tender, about 10 to 12 minutes.
Drain greens well. Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium heat until hot.
Add leeks, garlic and crushed red pepper, cook and stir until leeks are tender, about 5 minutes.
Add drained collards and sugar, cook and stir until collards are tender, about 10 minutes.
Sprinkle balsamic vinegar over collards and toss to coat. Serve immediately.
Serves 4
How To Peel Shrimp
Not the sexiest food video from the LookinAtCookin.com list.
But certainly one of the most useful.
Salads and Wine
For a single woman living in New York City, surrounded by new restaurants to discover and hence eating out practically 5-6 times a week there is nothing like taking the time to cook a simple and nutritional meal at home.
And that is what Saturday and Sunday are about for me. Getting out of bed very late, making myself a pot of tea and then trying to decide what to have for lunch. Usually it is not a hard decision to make. I love salads....and yes they are wonderful to enjoy with a glass of wine anytime in the afternoon or evening!
Salads are fun and easy to make and a brief respite from my week eating out in restaurants. A chick pea salad with a beautifully chilled glass of Rose or a Sauvignon Blanc next to my kitchen window just about brings the weekend in. Salads are also wonderfully easy to pair with wines. Preferably lighter whites or rose wines because you do not want the wine to overwhelm the food. You just want a hint of flavor with an adequate amount of acidity to go with fresh vegetables, lentils, herbs and fruits.
Rosés make a surprisingly good salad match. They are light, fresh and completely uncomplicated! And fortunately in the past few years are enjoying a welcome revival. Usually they are simply wonderful during the summer but for me - enjoyed all year round!
What is a rose? Brief skin contact or the blending of a little bit of red wine to white are the two simple ways in which a rose is made. It is the degree of the contact between the skins and the juice that determines the final colour of the wine. The qualities I'd look for in a good rosé would therefore probably be crispness and freshness just like a good salad, buy the most recent vintage, and a good balance of fruit and acidity.
A lovely Rose is the Hill Family Estate Rose of Malbec. It has watermelon and a slight whiff of strawberries on the nose with a hint of spice and then it bursts in the mouth with wild cherry and more watermelon! It is also unique in the fact that this is one of the only roses I have had that is made with juice from the malbec grape.
You can enjoy roses with most white fish and chicken, they are heavenly with cold cuts, Indian food and most Asian cusine...Remember they are not meant to be complex wines but to be enjoyed for their fresh and fun appeal. So try something new...!
Priya Singh Lilliput Enterprises, Inc. 9 Desbrosses Street Suite 525 New York, NY 10013 Ph: 212 343 4202
The Smoke Detector
Little Johnny's preschool class went on a field trip to the fire station.
The firefighter giving the presentation held up a smoke detector and asked the class: "Does anyone know what this is?"
Little Johnny's hand shot up and the firefighter called on him.
Little Johnny replied: "That's how Mommy knows supper is ready!"
Russian Borsch
8 medium beets
1/2 cup cider vinegar
2 pounds beef chuck
3 cracked soup bones
1/2 pound lean fresh pork
1 bay leaf
8 peppercorns -- bruised
2 sprigs parsley
2 cloves garlic, crushed
3 carrots; scraped, sliced
2 medium onions, peeled and chopped
3 leeks; white parts only, cleaned and sliced
1 small head green cabbage, shredded
3 medium tomatoes; peeled, chopped
1 teaspoon sugar
11/2 cups sour cream
Salt as needed
1 cup chopped fresh dill
Wash beets and cook 7 of them, whole and unpeeled, in 1/4 cup vinegar an salted water to cover until tender, about 30 minutes.
Drain; peel and cut into julienne strips.
Put beef, bones and pork with 10 cups water in a large kettle.
Bring to a boil; skim. Add bay leaf, peppercorns, parsley, garlic, carrots, onions, and leeks.
Cook slowly, covered, 1 1/2 hours, until meat is tender.
Add cooked beets, cabbage and tomatoes. Continue to cook slowly another 30 minutes, until all the ingredients are tender.
Remove from heat. Remove bones, gristle, and discard along with bay leaf, peppercorns, parsley, and garlic.
Cut meat into bite-sized pieces. Return cut up meat to kettle. Season with salt.
Peel and grate remaining beet. Put into a saucepan with 1 cup hot soup stock, remaining 1/4 cup vinegar, and sugar. Bring to a boil. Stir into soup and reheat.
Ladle soup into soup bowls and garnish with a spoonful of sour cream and fresh dill.
Serves 8 to 10.
Optional: Two peeled, diced medium-sized potatoes may be added to soup 20 minutes before it is finished, if desired.
