Breakfast - CCC (Creative Cooking Crew Challenge)

This months challenge for The Creative Cooking Crew is BREAKFAST - now if you have been following this blog even a little bit you will know just how fond I am of breakfast and brunch and brinner (which is Breakfast for Dinner). I love to make poached eggs.

Eggs benedict with quail eggs, steak, shrimp, wilted spinach asparagus and a salad of grape tomatoes and cucumbers. This is a breakfast sure to delight even the most seasoned of "brunchers" with its wonderfully seasonal variety.

 

I froze the steak so that I could cut it into perfect little squares and then I grilled it while it was still a little frozen so I could get it nicely rare while still giving it deep grill marks. If you have never poached a quail egg before let me just tell you that it happens in less than a minute so be prepared. This breakfast  was a hit and I would serve this to anyone at anytime. Thanks again Creative Cooking Crew for another great challenge.

Lets throw one more into the mix - this was so good I had to make it again.

Lets Call This Dish The Marco Polo - When East Meets West

Most of us know the story of Marco Polo - gone 24 years discovering Asia only to return to become imprisoned then released and became a wealthy merchant - but I don't think most knew he was a Virgo. Lets be clear that he was not the first to discover Asia but he was the one to leave the most detailed chronicles. I don't think anywhere in his writings will you find this delicious wild mushroom risotto with garlic shrimp and snow peas.

I went out to Chinatown today with one thing in mind - get what looks fresh and come home and make a nice lunch for a rainy New York Saturday. 

These big fat shrimp caught my eye and snow peas for a 67 cents a pound is always a nice price. I didn't want to just go the traditional route with steamed rice and I knew I had some dehydrated wild mushrooms and some Arborio rice so a meal was born.

A couple of pounds or so of snow crab can't hurt either. A dozen raw oysters were also knocked back but after I jabbed myself with the oyster knife I didn't feel like glamorizing those mollusks not one little bit.

So there you have it - just think of me as a modern day Marco Polo.

I cook therefore I am - I ergo sum coquus

I dont know how many of you are aware how much I like the whole food process - I know its a given since this is predominately a food blog that the interest lies in that general direction but I need to tell you that this interest has been going on since I was in grade school, and I have mentioned that before too. Well, with all this history in mind I should say that I have gone through several plateaus in this quest of mine and I am happy to say that once again I have reached a new plateau. I love to learn, I love to grow and I love to change. If you are one of my friends on Facebook then you are probably seeing more constant posts from me than you are here at the blog - and if you arent one of my friends on Facebook I dont know how thats possible since I have over 4000 - and dont think I dont keep a handle on all of that - I am well aware that at least 1000 of them are Chefs in Malasyia and all points East that I barely interact with. Anyway - ChezWhat? will be getting a little more attention from me - I promise - Migrating Feast is going through another edit and hopefully those videos and that documentary will take things to another plateau and that about sums up my little sum up...here is a whole bunch of pictures taken with my phone.

I have been nice and busy and I love it and I hope it never stops I have been cooking and working and working and cooking in all kinds of settings in the last year and even more so in the last few months.

I have been making all kinds of fun and exciting things.

I made some "secret" ingredients

I made some salmon

I get 90% of it done on my bike

I have been all over this city....

...and when I get home I make a sandwich.

Tan My My

The 'agitated' fish market. I went - again - this morning to get more Tilapia and some wild Louisiana shrimp, they werent agitated today mostly because I helped myself and left them to tend to the other customers.



Not much to look at from the sidewalk.



Crabs and other shelled items.



Fish steaks.



The shrimp selection.




Whole fish and whole red fish.



Partial look of the filet selection - highlighting the super cheap Tilapia.



The LARGE fish.



Mussels, clams and oysters.



Squids and other undefinables.

This is just the fresh fish section, there is also a frozen section with crab legs and whatever else is frozen, and a complete butcher shop with butchers showcasing beef, pork and poultry. There is a dumpling lady offering samples of dumplings and a sushi guy (he's new) and wrapping around the outside is fresh produce. So 5 pounds of shrimp and 4 pounds of tilapia later its on the blog.