Magazines and Miami

I never thought of my dishes ever gracing the front page of a fancy food magazine until I saw a recent Barefoot Contessa episode and saw how much effort is put into making that perfect shot for the cookbook or the magazine that captures the attention of the reader.

Today I stumbled upon a very useful app that makes the dream possible with my simple 5 megapixel shots.

Take a look see ....Not bad huh!

This weekend I am flying to Miami with my family where we'll spend a couple days in Doral and then another few days in the heart of Downtown Miami in the swaggy spanking new JW Marriott Marquis.

I hope to cop tons of shots of all the food I always wanted to consume that are signature Americana. I hope to hit all the who is who if American Family Dining and capture all these shots for future reference when I attempt to Pseudo those mouth watering recipes for this site.

Look out for updates by the weekend of the 12th November.

This will truly be a Foodie November to Remember!

Peanut Butter Mini Cheesecakes....Butterfingers inside!!

Japanese Texan Chicken...let the powers combine!

I am usually confused by the chefs of Food Network when they make the statement that chicken is boring. I am like all my life I have had this meat in stews, baked, fried, sandwiches, pastries during the week, as Sunday meals and even as a substitute for the traditional bird at Christmas. So what's with all this no flavor?

To me the flavor is all in the seasoning - which goes way beyond boring salt and pepper.

For this oven fried chicken I seasoned the pieces generously with a Cajun rub, salt and crushed black pepper. They were then marinated in salad dressing before being coated by the secret ingredient in the yellow package in the background. Baked for 1.5 hrs at 180C. If you want the chicken to be a more moist go for 1 hour instead. But these were really really good.

Mixed Fruit Pseudo Cheesecake

Sometimes I am completely stunned by some of the desserts I create. In many instances the ingredients, colors, plating and especially the response from those who had the opportunity to share makes it all worthwhile.

This particular dessert is a spin on the traditional cheesecake recipe as it uses basically the same ingredients but in different proportions. As you can see the the fruit and crust are exaggerated as compared to the cheesecake centre.

The next time this is prepared I have to remember to add all fruits colors except red after the gel sets so that their vibrant colors are not thus adding more beauty to the dessert's presentation.

Coming Soon- Mixed Fruit Pseudo Cheesecake

My apologies for posting these teasing images. This recipe will by far be my most ambitious dessert because of the many levels and layering of this cold delight.

By Monday afternoon the fruits will set and I will show you all the goodness thats sits below that gelatinous crimson tide topping.

1/2 BBQ CHICKEN+ 2 SIDES - $45.00 TT

The prices we have to pay for a barbeque lunch or dinner is becoming more and more ridiculous. Its not the price I am taking issue with but the tasteless carbonized rendition that every goat feels they can make.

There are some businesses that need to be closed as their ingredients and food preparation and presentation are super sub standard.

If only persons took the patience and pride to prepare in the Pseudo Chef manner folks will easily fork out more for a better quality BARBEQUE.

Gourmet Doubles....Assembly Required

Americans have hot dogs, the Lebanese have gyros, Africans have Accra and Saltfish, but Trinidadians have identified Doubles as the number one fast food that's good at anytime of day.

This dish has made persons wealthy because of its simple ingredients and usually low overheads required to set up shop.

I never thought it would have been a dish I'd prepare until I choose to stun my family at a recent gathering. I made close to 55 of these and they went in less than 20 minutes! Makes me wanna setup shop on a weekend and earn extra cash!

So ow yuh want it? With or without? Yuh eating or is to go?

I'm on a roll.....Currants Roll!

Unless you are allergic to currants you must have had these before. I always though there preparation was so complex given the multiple concentric circles of this pastry until I discovered short crust pastry in the freezer section of t he supermarket!

Once you've got the crust all you need is basic flour rolling skills and you too can be on a roll !

Note to self next time sprinkle sugar and simple syrup to glaze.... Yummmmm!

Shrimp Wontons...the more you have - the more you wont!

Tried my hand on these Chinese appetizers and they were amazing! Usually you cant tell whether its shrimp or chicken they use as the filler because it mixed with so much filler but these were on the absolute contrary.

I puree 16-20 peeled deveined shrimp along with garlic onion, shadowbenni and ginger. This made for the most sumptuous wonton I have ever had.

Need to try with chicken someday

A Little Sunshine- Lemon Cornmeal Cake with Lemon Glaze and Blueberries.

As a child my mom always used to put a piece of lime rind into the butter and sugar before she started the creaming process. It always gave her sponger cakes a great citrus flavor.

Fast forward 20 something years and I am doing the same only with lemon and the use of zester to extract all the lemon's outer goodness.

This was a great cake and I have been wanting to try this recipe for sometime. The lemon glaze and blueberries contrast the semi sweet cornmeal sponge cake wonderfully.

I will have to work on a recipe to make these in a mini version.

Look out for a smaller ray of sunshine soon.

Chicken with Geera and Tamarind Chutney

Usually I would oven BBQ breast bones but the idea to prepare them this way came like a thunderbolt at 3am! I had to act so I quickly washed and seasoned the chicken left it to marinade for a few hours and after Sunday Lunch 4.0 I decided to give this Geera a shot from scratch. It was quite if I do say so but I believe what would have taken in out of this world would have been Garam Masala as opposed to the Amchar Massala which I had.

Ah well the next time will be better which is extremely difficult to imagine considering the taste of these fantastic cutters that happened to go quite well with the Arabic Rice

Sunday Lunch 4.0

Sunday is the day that we set aside for a complete family day. Its starts with the best breakfast of the week that takes us through to our usual late Sunday Lunch after 4pm.

Today's dishes were with a Lebanese theme. In the pictures there is Arabic rice, Arabic Potatoes - and let me say that I have finally found the right combination and method to make the local Arabic Potatoes pale in comparison. Anyways there is roasted peppers with red onions and celery and grilled honey lemon king fish steaks in and incredible made from scratch sauce.

That sauce was the perfect partner for that fish and would have gone well with most seafood. Perhaps I need to start bottling stuff as the Pseudo Chef Secret Sauce!

Hmmmm!

Pineapple Cherry Cinnamon Crunch Cake.

With a title that long and descriptive I don't need to add much more to this post. This post was meant to qualify the adage 'a picture is worth a thousand words'!

I had so much difficulty in deciding which picture to add I could not post the usual three per recipe.

So to add to the 6000 words that my pictures have 'written' I testify that this was an incredible taste experience.

The crunch in the title come from the roasted walnuts that you may be able to identify.

It doesn't get better!

Chicken Roulade - Delectable Treats Inside!

More and more I am discovering that to every complex looking dish there is a simple technique and this recipe holds true to that statement.

These are chicken breasts stuffed with parsley, chives, green onions,breadcrumbs and pepper jack cheese! The ingredients are easy to find and prepare just like the dish itself.

The next time I revisit this recipe I would use larger breasts and some unusual 'innings' (stuffing) to take this up a notch.

Oh yeah did I mention that there is also Bacon in those rolls?

Yum they were really really good!

Garlic Parmesan Chicken with Pan Roasted Herbed Potatoes and Panzanella - Sunday Dinner 1.0

I know I have said this several times before but this time it's on another level so bear with this last time! This is the best Sunday lunch ever. As a matter of fact we had this for dinner hence the 'Dinner 1.0' suffix in the title.

The plating just came together with all the right components adding the perfect balance. The taste was just incredible. The potatoes were soft and smooth like a perfect mashed potatoes. The panzanella had a great tart taste and the peppers added their unique flavors. The chicken was perfect in its taste,consistency and appearance. The mushrooms were an exceptional compliment with their hint of wine.

The title could not contain all the components of this dish as it would have been far too long, but I can tell you dish consists of

Parmesan Garlic Chicken Breasts

Sauteed Mushrooms in Home made wine.

Dutch Oven Herbed Fingerling Potatoes

Home made Croutons

Red, Yellow and Purple (that's right) Bell Peppers with Cucumbers and Red Onions in a red wine vinaigrette.

What a mouthful!

Slow Cooked Beef with Sauteed Mushrooms and Fettuccine

I am very proud to display my very first recipe developed prepared and plated without assistance.

It began as three hamburger patties being slowed cooked with dried seasonings and garlic and evolved into sauteed mushrooms with fettuccine blanched vegetables and flat bread.

The plating idea just came together on the cutting board and all the pieces literally fell together beautifully.

Already I am thinking of improvements and I can see the next time this dish is done I will use fresh mushrooms sauteed in a beautiful Pinot