Feature Meals I Create For Work

I've been cooking for approximately 26 years. I started at a very young age in this food industry. Working my way through schooling, small and large kitchens, mom & pop to franchise and corporate chains. Not to mention the differences between restaurant and pubs.

I also seem to have a knack for going into failing kitchens and turning them around. It is much easier to do with someone elses money than it is with your own. Yes, I've also owned my own and made a success of it. Perhaps again once our baby grows up.

 I know that I'm not the only one out there with great new ideas or a gentle twist on an old dish.

If you have variation of what I post, or a great dish you've created and can't help but satisfy a need to share, please do so here. I always welcome critiques of my recipies, as long as you've actually taken efforts to make them.

One of my philosophies is that: "Good Chefs borrow, Great Chefs steal!"

What do I mean by that? Well copy a recipie to the letter you've borrowed. Add or subtract an: ingredient, step, proccess etc... It's now yours and you stole it. I do always remember who I've stolen from and give a nod to these chefs, apprentices, cooks, housewives, amatuers and the hobbiest. It's only proper and usually offered as a scapegoat when a dish isn't received well. :)

 So here is the beginning of this from here on I will be sharing my soups, sandwiches and other dishes with you. Not just what they are or what I call them but the recipes as well. Just remember that my recipes are for restaurant volumes and approximate measurements as I cook to taste not by the book.

Here's to sharing and enjoying as we should with food.

 Today at work for some reason my food supplier decided to send me ten pounds of fresh mussels from Prince Edward Island. So I did what anyone would and featured them at lunch & dinner, so as not to waste them.

For lunch and dinner the dishes were very similar. At lunch I served them as an appetizer.

How I prepared them went as follows.

Ingredients:

Diced Bacon
Diced Onions
Minced Garlic
Cracked Black Pepper
White Wine
Lemon Wedge
Fresh Ginger - Peeled and cut into very fine match sticks
Julienned Sun Dried Tomatoes
Soy Sauce
Heavy Whipping Cream (not whipped) 33% Milk Fat ot higher.
Fresh Cilantro
Salted Butter

Process: Pre-heat a sauce pan or fry pan over a medium high heat. Once pan has heated add in the bacon, onions, garlic and pepper. You want to sweat the bacon until the onions become translucent. Stir constantly so as not to brown the bacon or the pan.

Next add the fresh mussels, ginger, white wine, lemon wedge and sun-dried tomatoes. Continue cooking at a medium high heat until the mussels open. Once the mussels have opened add the heavy cream and a couple of drizzles of the soy sauce. Keep the heat up and cook until the cream has reduced by half.

Remove from the heat and add a slice of butter and stir til it is melted and incorporated. Discard cooked lemon wedge. Place mussels in serving dish and top with everything else in the pan. Garnish with a fresh lemon wedge and the chopped cilantro. Be sure to add the cilantro while the food is hot to allow a better aroma.

The variation for dinner was to first place linguini in the serving dish and then top with the mussels and sauce.

So, give it a try and tell me what you think.