polonaise ... another great idea for hard boiled quail eggs ...

today i decide to make a favorite of mine that i have not made in months, polonaise, bread crumb, herb and egg topping. this particular polonaise is a made from fresh bread crumbs, chopped hard boiled quail eggs, curly parsley, grated parmesan and gouda goat cheeses and seasoned with fresh milled black pepper, fresh milled sea salt, english mustard powder, garlic powder, shallot powder and the finest of hungarian medium hot paprika. i have left out the drizzle of melted butter trying to mitigate the cholesterol and fat implications. typically this is a topping for vegetables such as steamed broccoli and cauliflower, but today I will put it on fish. a fillet of white snapper I got at the thai fresh market down the street.

i first remove the crust form a “sturdy” white bread slices (a sour dough baguette is also good for this purpose but not wheat or grain breads) and cut them into small 1 inch squares. i then put them into the bowl of a food processor (follow this link and you will see a model i have had for 18 years and it still runs great, even after using it in a restaurant for many of those years) that has a basic s-knife blade installed. i then pulse the processor until the crumbs are fluffy. be careful to use a good white bread, and to make certain you do not over process the crumbs to the point where they become gummy and stuck together.

i remove the bread from the processor and then put in the quail eggs. note: they should be chilled so they too do not get over processed and pureed. pulsing the processor is best for this application. remove the eggs and add them to the breading.

next, finely chop your parsley, and grate both your cheeses. add them to the bread and egg mix and stir with a fork lightly making certain not to over work the mix and make it gummy.

now add your seasonings and mix again. if you wish to add melted butter, now is the time to drizzle that into the mix and give it a final turn. set it aside.

now get out an oven proof casserole dish and either moisten the bottom with a bit of oil, margarine or butter so the fish will not stick. you may also use a bit of tomato sauce if you choose; it goes quite well with the polonaise. place the fish in the casserole and top with the polonaise mixture. bake/broil until the fish is done and the polonaise is golden brown.

waa-laa, it be ready to eat. today I had mine with a small side of pesto pasta and sautéed zucchini squash.

note: dried bread crumbs are not good for this unless they are very large and started out like the breading described here.

bag of polonaise topping

baked and then broiled fish fillet with polonaise topping.

make certain the casserole dish is wiped clean of finger prints and oil residue so that it will not discolor when baking (also a good preventative measure if you intend on hitting someone over the head with the casserole before washing it). you can see i neglected to do that here on the inside of the casserole. that is what happens when you make lunch and work on the computer at the same time.

enjoy!

second day, am i already bored wth this gig? NAH, just gettin' started.

today was actually all day breakfast day, don't-cha just love all day breakfast. i can smell the denny's grand slam and the international house's big ass stack from here.

today's lunch was supposed to be an easy and fast one, but i do this not just for myself, but also 3 others. and they be up-stairs and down the hall, so 3 out of 4 of these get packed-up, trekked-up and then assembled on premise. took an hour's time to produce and serve. i guess the years of catering off-site are paying off finally. i say finally, cuz not many of my former employers ever really came across with the dough for all that work and injun-nuity.

anyways what we gots is a 3-egg fluffy omelet, or is that omelette? i never could get that right. nor brocolli and recipei either. i guess the former is correct as the spellchecker in this flog's control panel is puttin' that dotted line under the later. they were stuffed with a saute of shrimp, leeks (yes again), bermuda onions, garlic, red capsicum peppers, tomato concasse, fresh thai basil and curly parsley. all set to sweat in extra-virgin olive oil and de-glazed with thai sherry. the shit costs about two dollars a bottle, can not be drunk, but works great in the pain, i use it for most dishes that need wine.

on the side was some great local thai bacon rashers, a baked potato grown in china and dressed with sour cream. whole wheat toast from the yamazaki bakery, and a cup of nestle's instant 3-in-1 coffee. disgustingly sweet and full of powdered creamer, but it goes down alright and cuts the bacon fat quite nicely.

the eggs here in thailand are not like those back home state-side. the yolks tend to be much more orange in color than the very yellow ones i grew up with in new england, organically grown, and they are tasting just great too. further, i have never seen bermudha onions in the average thai market, and they were actually priced quite cheaply.

the potatoes that are available have vastly improved since i first started cooking here 16 years ago. these were nice and starchy and had a great fluff to them. the bacon is belucky brand. cut just a tad thicker than most and always more meat than fat. and, it actually is packed in a wrapper that allows you to see the bacon.

the bread, as i said, came from the yamazaki dudes. a japanese style bakery that is all over town, and the world for that matter. most of there products are too sweet for me, but the whole wheat and the 7 grain are spot on. i always spread it with olive oil margarine now, tastes great and better for us all. it really does have the taste of olive oil. i used to mix whole butter and olive oil in the pan, thinking i was cheating the cholesterol thing, so now i actually can, or at least kid myself that i am.

missing, a surprisingly not too sweet danish from yamazki.

i'm now trying to figure out what to have tomorrow, but no idea, maybe tuna sandwiches, i do have three cans of nautilus chunk white tuna packed in water, just like my my mom taught me. NO TUNA IN OIL! and i always do what my mom says when i am in the kitchen, after all, she and her mom got me started on all this food insanity by feeding only the best home-cooked foods i ever had the pleasure to enjoy.