a foot or Sow

Having moved into the new place i am starting to feel more at home as each day passes (or more like each meal) there is something to be said about cooking in your own place and in a new place at that. Everything is set up just the way you like it. Sea salt in a jar on the table all the selfs filled with the spices you love and a feeling of feng shui about the placement of each utensil and pot.

Sitting home this Sunday the feeling came over me to cook and being a good Italian and it being sunday .... i went to my local store and picked up some peeled plum tomatoes and pigs feet. Ok so i know allot of you are thinking "pigs feet... YUCK" and i say to all of you!!! don't knock it until you've tried it!!! The pigs feet are full of soft bone, fat and some very flavorful skin all wrapped in a thin layer of pig skin!!! Can you go wrong?? I think not my little lovers!!

SO here is the recipe

2 small whit onions medium dice

12 cloved of garlic sliced

1/4 cup of evoo

4# of cleaned and split pigs feet

5 2# cans of peeled plum tomatoes

1 bunch of fresh parsley

1/2 bunch fresh basil

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper

first scrub the pigs feet so they are nice and clean and you get out all the bone splinters

heat a medium sauce pan over a low flame and add your pigs feet skin down until they get golden brown and crisp then add the garlic and onion and cook until they are translucent.

Now add the red pepper flakes and cook for one more min

now add the tomatoes and i can full of water and bring to a boil.

Now lower to a simmer and cook for 2 hours or until the pig is soft. Stir the sauce every 20 min or so( you don't want it to burn)

at the end chop the parsley and basil and stir in to the sauce.

Now go cook some pasta and gnaw on some bones YUM

this makes a killer sauce!!! but nothing is better then the feet!!!!

so i wish you happy cooking in remember to stay a foot above the rest!!!

All new me

Hey folks sorry for the not blogging for soooo long.... but the last month has been crazy.

Well first off the restaurant is doing so well and as the Chef i spend allot of time there and the holidays also help make little Michael crazy. I also moved into my first new pad..... Ohhhh yes little Mike is all grown up and on his own. OK OK i'll be honest!!! i miss Betty (big time) but being in my own space is a lot of fun and i also started cooking at home allot more. Tonight i made a chicken breast stuffed with ham, provolone cheese, mozzarella cheese, basil and parsley. I then covered it in fresh pancetta (that i got at the new butcher shop in Chelsea market) then i baked it in the oven for 30 min at 375!!! ohhh honey it was yum. Also the cheese and the chicken made a great broth that i thickened up and poured on top of the chicken. (can u say YUMMMM!!!) then i mad a simple fried eggplant. First i salted the eggplant and let it sit in a strainer for 30 min the put it in cold water for another 20. This helps get the bitter taste out of the eggplant. I then floured, egged and then bread crumbs. I spiked the bread crumbs with garlic and some provolone cheese. I then fried it in 1/2 olive oil and vegetable oil until its nice and crisp.I had some leftover marinara sauce on top of the eggplant and thats it!!! That my friends is one hell of a meal.

I have a great kitchen here at the new "Casa De Homo" so i hope your looking forward to new blogg"s, new kitchen and a bunch of new videos!!!! so heres to a new beginning !!!!

XOXOXOXOX

Q&A X-Mas style

"Okay, so like I was saying on facebook, I have NO idea what to make for a Christmas Brunch, especially for my Puerto Rican family expecting rice and beans (I'm sooo not making rice and beans at 11am!). Any ideas? Love your stuff!!!"

Hey Thanks for the question.... and what's wrong with rice and beans at 11 am??? LOL ok maybe its a little early.

How about doing a cool frittair? kinda like a quiche without the crust!!! and you can add some interesting things to it!!

ummm im thinking a cumin, tomato and cheddar frittair with a cold black bean and cilantro salad!!! yumm i know what i'm having for breakfast!!!! the bean salad can be as simple as lime, cilantro, beans, tomato and olive oil!!! and the frittair can be eggs, cream, cumin, red onions, cheddar, parsley and some garlic!!! now thats simple and easy!!! If your looking for some meat you can grill off some chorizo or other sausage and serve it on the side! also a nice green salad would go great!! get yourself some mimosas and bloody mary mix and your done!!! xoxoxoxox hope this helps

Tiz the SEASON for Q&A

Hello folks!!! with the holidays here and the smell of burning food in the air... i feel the need to lend a helping hand!!! SO if you have any holiday QUESTIONS (or some tips for me) please post them below in the comment box and i will reply to them here on MVPCHEF.COM
What too cook? how too cook it? little tips! any thing!! so let the fun begin!! please include ur first name and location!!!
OHHH this is going to be fun XOXOXOXO
MVP

Too close for comfort

So as the holidays quickly approach i find myself looking for some new and fun things to do this holiday but always keeping the old favorites in mind. The first thing that came to mind was my Christmas Tree.... i always like to keep it kinda simple and elegant and this year will be no different. I am going to do a vintage style free with all whit light lace garland and real babies breath. I am going to keep it kinda simple. I think the fresh babies breath adds a nice lights (almost snow like) feel to the tree. Im going to do just white light and deep red Christmas balls. Ok so the cool thing about this is that it great looking and very inexpensive. The babies breath is about 4 or 5 dollars a bunch and the ribbon is about 4 dollars a roll you can find very simple christmas balls at a local craft store for around 6-8 dollars for 10....!!!! so thats kinda nice. In this case.. less is more. I will also finish off the tree with white iridescent glitter (one can never have enough glitter) and the trick to hold it all together and keep the glitter in place is (insert drum roll here) aqua-net hair spray (omg i am from the bronx!!) yup!! the hair spray holds everything in place and keeps from all the glitter from falling off.

another idea i was thinking was to do fresh white Easter lilies (have the florist put water caps on the end of the stems) with red roses and iridescent christmas balls. hmmm maybe a little to gay for even me!!!

Ok so food!!! ummmm i'm still working on it!!! but i see lots of honey, pomegranates, got to have lots of roasted nuts (chestnuts are my fave) and eggnog!!!! ohhhhhhh i can give you guys the NOG recipe i just put together!!!!!! yum!!!

ok

u need

12 eggs separated

2 cups sugar

1 tablespoon real vanilla extract

1 whole nutmeg

2 cups milk

get your eggs to room temp

In a mixer beat egg yolks and one cup sugar until light yellow and very fluffy. now set that aside

Beat the whites with one cup of sugar until stiff peaks.

now fold in the egg whites to the yolks. Then mix in the milk, van extract and grate you nutmeg into this mix. Let this sit in your fridge for an hours or so.

This is a very light and foamy version of egg nog and omg is it good!! yea you can add rum if you like!!!!

check back for more holiday recipes!!!

you say potato...... i say boniato

We all know how good a piping hot bowl of mash potatoes can be on a cold winter day. Or the taste of a orange fleshed sweet potato right out of the over or drenched in marshmallows and maple syrup. I think allot of us are always searching for the middle ground. Sweet potatoes can be way to sweet, and str8 up mash can be just plain old dull. Yea i know we can dress them up with truffles, parmesan cheese. Well for you folks that need some thing new in way of a starch i introduce my friend the boniato (sometimes called cuban sweet potato or batata) This is not the sweet potato we know of here in the states.....ohhh no!!! this potato has more of a underlay of sweetness and does not have a punch of sugar like our American SP. Its the perfect balance of sweet and rich. When mashed it has a thick velvet texture that cannot be matched by the watery American SP. Ohhh no our latino potato holds its own.

For your first romp with the Boniato i suggest you take it easy!! just boil it and mash it with some cream and a touch of butter... i promise once you go boniato you will never go potato!!

Boniatos can be found in most latino markets and look for ones that are firm and not soft. They have deep red skin and can range in size from a american potato to a small melon.

A tree burn in Brooklyn and smoke the lands at home

So as many of you may know i have this new obsession with bbq, not just bbq but smoked foods. So i have set out to find some good old BBQ right here in NY. I have been to alot of bbq joints but most of them smother there ribs in a sweat BBQ sauce and lack any real smoke flavor. I did some research and heard of a place in Brooklyn... not just Brooklyn but in the heart of hipster land Williamsburg. Well needless to say i was very skeptical of any kind of "real deal bbq" coming out of this place. So i hopped in the truck and took the ride over to BK (i picked up a friend along the way) we soon arrived at Fette Sau (fat Pig in German). So i was expecting a full service restaurant but soon noticed we had to wait on line to get our grub then find a seat at a picnic table. Ok i can handle this. So my friend grabbed a seat an i waited on line. When i arrived at the counter i orders a bit of everything.... Burkshire pork belly, Ribs, Brisket, sausage and some beans.
The food was placed on butcher paper and on a metal tray... (this better be good, the metal tray thing kinda freaked me out and i was in the mood to be served) so i made my way through the sea of hungry hipsters to my pal sitting at a table. We started in on the ribs. They had a thick and rich smoke flavor and NO bbq sauce!!! this was "real deal BBQ" the ribs just melted in your mouth OMG heaven. The brisket and sausage where just as good. The pork belly was good but just a little too fatty.. (i know i know.. its pork belly.. I still ate it!!!!) So here in the heart of a land where on would think BBq was old news and not "hip" lives a place where the swine is fine.
I woke up this morning with the smell of smoke still in my nose and headed off to work. I need more smoke!! and driving to BK at 11:00 on a Wednesday was out of the question. So like any junkie i found a way to cop some more. I found a deep hotel pan and place it on top of 2 burners then put some wood chunks we use for our pizza oven in the bottom of the pan and put the burners on medium. I then searched my inventory and found some fresh chicken that came in for a party later today. I cut the chicken in 1/2 and patted then dry. I made a rub of smoked paprika, cumin, chili powder and black pepper. I rubbed the birds down with the magic rub. So i then placed a shallow hotel pan with holes in it (we use it for steaming things) ontop of the now lightly smoking wood. I arranged my chickens and covered the top with tin foil and another hotel pan to hold in all that fab smoke flavor. (Don't be too impressed i have done this before!!!) I let the birds smoke on low for about 1 and 1/2 hours. I then took them off and placed them on my gas grill just to get a little char and color. The end results where killer!!! well maybe not as good as i had in Sayville LI but they where hell-au good. So whats the point... IDk i guess its... yea i don't know!!!! i'm off to Vermont on Sunday and look forward to what they have to offer me on my search of culinary treasures.
MVP