8.31.2006

my food mission

i've been wanting to build a real food blog for a while. after stewing in my mind for the past few months, i've finally bit the carrot and initiated this blog, with a little bit of help from tawny. she shared an idea tonite that will become one of the main features of this blog: wednesday nite dinners. friends and their friends congregating at the dinner table every other wednesday nite to share good food, wine, and conversation. we are, afterall, in the age of social networking. =)


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this will also be a glimpse of what i cook for lunch and dinner every week, proving you can cook well for less even on tiresome weeknights. i like sharing my culinary point of view, but i won't ever claim to be an expert or professional. so please feel free to comment and add your thoughts. if it's about food, i always love hearing about it.

dining out is something i love and love to do as often as i can, money permitting. i'll do my best to post reports on restaurants i've dined at. you'll also find me actively posting on chowhound.com.

i'm of the self-proclaimed minority that lives to eat, not eats to live, and this blog is for all of you out there who share the same sentiment.



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8.30.2006

roasted pork shoulder pernil with sauteed carrots and garlic cilantro sauce

i think i can actually count the number of times i've done a roast on 2 hands. for some reason i tend to be quite timid with roasting a hunk of meat. i'm not sure what exactly it is, but i think it's similar to why i don't like baking: you can't actively control what's going on with that oven door closed. of course, that statement is up for debate, but that's what goes through my head everytime i see a big chunk of pork or beef on sale at the market. so like my recent forays into cooking fish, i also will explore roasting the perfect roast.

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this recipe actually comes from an adaptation of ted allen's cookbook, "the food you want to eat." (you know, the culinary guy from "queer eye for the straight guy") i've made several recipes from his book and find them to be relatively easy and straighforward, not to mention tasty. he writes in a very matter of fact way and is a big fan of learning the advantages (and ease) of subtitutions and variations. i actually attended a book signing he did last year at the W hotel in downtown SF. yes, i have my own ted allen autographed cookbook. woo hoo! and i will say, he's just as charsimatic in person as on screen.

pork roasts are amazingly easy to cook. as allen states in his book, the pork shoulder has a lot of connective tissue which breaks down and melts as you roast it, which means a very juicy and tender roast. if you're going to be cooking with pork, look for meat that is well marbled, as this will contain more fat and therefore more flavor. if you're watching your fat content, don't worry... just balance it out with a salad later on in the week. it's all relative.
this requires a little prep time ahead, but in actuality requires very little time overall. the marinade is also very simple to make. you just need to marinate overnight for a very flavorful and juicy roast. also, what really helps is a digital thermometer to measure the roast's temperature as it cooks. i got mine for $20 at bed bath & beyond. definitely worth investing in if you like to cook steaks and the such.

combine the following in a food processor or mini chopper (for ease):
1/2 c fresh oregeno leaves
6 cloves garlic
2 T kosher salt (use less if using regular table salt)
2 T fresh cracked pepper
2-3 T olive oil (eyeball it)
this will form a very chunky paste, similar to pesto, but drier.

take a 4-5 lb pork shoulder roast (can be bone in or not) and make several slits with a paring knife randomly in the roast. massage the marinade into the meat and slits and place into a 1 gal ziploc bag. add 3 T white wine vinegar, seal, and massage through the plastic to get the vinegar distributed. refridgerate overnight.

when you get home from work, take the roast out and let rest at room temp for a 1/2 hr (if possible). place in a shallow roasting pan in a preheated 350* oven, insert your themometer and roast until it gets to 150*. remove the roast and cover with foil for 10-15 min. slice and serve.
roasting the pork to only 150* will keep the roast med-rare, a bit pink in the middle. this results in very juicy and tender meat. any higher temp and the pork will start to overcook. remember that the meat will continue to heat while resting. if you don't have a thermometer, roast for approx 2 hrs or so.



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i served mine with steamed rice (was going to a red potato smash with cilantro but got lazy), sauteed carrots in garlic and evoo, and a garlic cilantro sauce.

in a mini-chopper, combine the following:
1/2 bunch cilantro
1 T capers
1 T white wine vinegar
2 garlic cloves
1/4 c evoo
s/p



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this roast came out pretty good actually. i overcooked it slightly because i let it stay in the oven until 155*, not knowing the sanitary boundries of pork very well. my "kitchen science" book recommends cooking pork roasts to 150* only and letting it rest another 10 min, which will raise the temp 5*. it's a safe tradeoff between sanitary and tenderness. i'll know better next time. the marinade made the meat very tasty and tender. the green sauce was a little too salty for the pork, but can be adjusted by adding less salt to the cilantro sauce recipe. carrots were nice and sweet but i think some other veggie might complement this dish more.

had a great time making this one. i've gotta keep making roasts. they're so cheap ($5 for this roast) and i have plenty of leftovers for a couple lunches and another dinner. mmm...

8.28.2006

sweet soy pork loin with kabocha and ginger

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thus is the result of scavenging one's fridge on a monday night. i returned home hungry and scarfed down some TJ's tzatziki and flat bread and munch on a few handfuls of TJ's veggie chips (love this stuff). a quick glance into the fridge revealed much less ingredients than i thought i had. but i'm pretty good with making do with what i have and, flexing my culinary creative, i came up with this rather tasty and hearty dish. a sweet soy and sesame marinade seasons the sliced pork loin and the same is used in creating the sauce. ginger is always a nice compliment to pork and perks up the dish a little, as does the whole thai chiles. what's missing though is some kind of green note. i originally wanted to throw cilantro or perhaps thai basil into this, but alas none. i need to get a basil plant like edmund has. anyway, on to the recipe...

slice 3/4 lb pork loin and marinate for 15 min in the following:
2 T soy sauce
1 t sesame oil
1 T sugar
fresh cracked pepper

while marinating, prep the following:
1/2 kabocha squash, deseeded, sliced into thin C shaped wedges, green rind trimmed
4 cloves garlic chopped
1 inch ginger root julienned
6 thai chiles, stems trimmed

place the squash in a bowl add a splash of water and cover with plastic wrap. microwave for 3 minutes to precook. add a couple swirls of olive oil to a hot wok and add half the garlic and ginger to fragrant the oil. drain the marinade and add the pork to the wok, stirfrying quickly until med rare. add the squash, remaining garlic and ginger, and the chiles and combine. in a small bowl, combine 2 T soy sauce, 1 T sugar, 1 T fish sauce, and 1 T water. add this to the wok and stir to coat. plate up and serve with steamed rice.

i would add rough chop cilantro to this and perhaps some sliced white onions too. the other route is to throw in a good handful of thai basil at the end (regular basil wouldn't match the sauce's flavor profile). if it's too salty, adjust the soy to water ratio, but the sugar does a good job of balancing the saltiness. if you want more spiciness, slice open and deseed the chiles before adding.

8.23.2006

soba noodles with sesame chicken, red peppers and cilantro

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don't you just love it when your dish plates up so well? i love the movement of noodles and its ability to nestle little culinary gems in its strands. tonight's dinner reflects just that. the rustic brown of the soba noodle provides a nice base for the golden chicken, ruby red peppers and bold green cilantro. hot.

this dish is amazingly simple to make. i basically took leftover ingredients and created stir-fry noodle concoction with a simple 4 ingredient sauce. the soba soaks up whatever flavor you add. just be sure to undercook the soba by a minute or you'll have a soggy, gloopy mess instead.

slice 1 large chicken breast into short strips (across the grain for tenderness) and marinate for 5 minutes with s/p and a splash or two of sesame oil.

prepare 2 servings of soba according to package. make sure to drain the noodles a minute early to prevent overcooking. they will finish cooking in the sauce.

heat a few tablespoons of evoo in a large saute pan. add 2 cloves of garlic slivered and 3 thai chiles slivered and deseeded/devained. let both fragrant the oil. add the chicken and let brown slightly, stir-frying to cook almost all the way through. add 2 red bell peppers sliced and stirfry for a minute.

blend 3 T fish sauce (i use the three crabs brand), 1 T oyster sauce, 3 T water, and 1 T sugar, then add to the pan to deglaze. stir to combine. add the pasta and 1/2 bunch cilantro with bottom inch of stems discarded. stir to combine with sauce for 1 min only. transfer to a serving bowl immediately (or the soba will start sticking to the pan, it gets very starchy).

to plate, using tongs or chopsticks, grab some noodles and "swirl" down onto the plate. add a layer of chicken and peppers, then another layer of noodles and cilantro, etc.

if you don't know what fish sauce is, you're missing out. used heavily in southeast asian cuisine, notably vietnamese and thai, fish sauce can be used as a sauce base, splashed as an accent, or on its own for dipping fried foods. i believe its made from fermenting small fish. the flavor profile is salty, sweet, and pleasantly fishy. it smells rather offensive, but once it's been incorporated into the dish, the odor disappears and the flavor is amazing. you'll notice i never added salt to this dish, except to season the chicken before cooking. if you find the dish too salty, adjust the concentration of fish sauce to water.

8.14.2006

sliced pork sirloin with shitakes and white onion and fresh salmon sashimi

after a rather chill and relaxing weekend, i decided to make another meal sunday nite since i was no longer invited to borders where i could've eaten at the ghetto yummy international marketplace. this dinner was rather easy to make and sometimes i wonder why i don't make stirfry more often. i guess it's one of those comfort zones/food that i can always fall back on when i don't know what to do with a hunk of meat. the salmon sashimi i picked up at 99 ranch on sat for the snapper dinner, but didn't have enough time to prep it for that meal. here's my recipe (sort of, i just wing it with stirfries) for the pork dish.

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slice a 1/2 - 1 lb pork sirloin (or whatever boneless chunk of pork is on sale) and marinate for 10 min in the following:
1 T oyster sauce
1 T soy sauce
1 t sesame oil
splash of rice vinegar
cracked pepper

also prep the following:
1/2 white onion sliced
8-10 fresh shitakes sliced in half stems removed
a few leaves of basil chopped
1 inch block of ginger julliened
1 clove garlic smashed

in a large pan, heat some olive oil and toss in the garlic and ginger for 1 minute. add the pork and stirfry, letting the pork brown a little. add onions after a couple of minutes then the shitakes. the add the following to the pan (or you can premix in a bowl):
2 T oyster sauce
2 T soy sauce
1 T sugar
less than a 1/4 c water

add the basil, stir the sauce into the pan and add more ground pepper. let the sauce thicken for a couple of minutes. dot the pan with siracha hot sauce and mix. plate and serve with rice and a big asian soup spoon to get the sauce to your rice.

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shitake mushrooms and pork complement each other well, having very earthy tones. the white onion gave a sweet accent (along with the sugar) and the basil caps it all off. i love using oyster sauce as a base because it's so easy and so tasty and it thickens the sauce. it's what i grew up on at home; my mom used it to cook everything.

the salmon is sushi grade and comes in a block that you'll need to slice yourself. using a very sharp knife, slice the fish at a diaganol to produce slender but meaty slices. this particular fish was nice and fatty; it melted on your tongue and tasted very fresh. for $3.60 you'll be sure i'll be eating more sashimi at home vs the 15 bucks you'd have to pay for that amount at a sushi restaurant.

i made quite a meal for myself and i have 2 lunches worth of leftovers, all for about $4/meal. gotta love them stirfries.

8.12.2006

mediterranean-style ehu with penne pasta, anchovies, and tomatoes

ok so this one was TOUGH. turned out pretty tasty but the prep was long and rushing out for groceries only to have to visit 3 different markets because each one was out of something or more was FRUSTRATING. however, i will try this again because 1) i'm trying to learn how to cook fish well, 2) it tasted pretty good, and 3) i'm competitive and will not go down like dat!

ahem. so anyway, ehu is hawaiian (i think) for red snapper. it's a very hearty dish and jeff and i were very full afterwards. the pasta sauce is so light and does not overpower the delicate fish at all. my version above is adapted from roy's fish & seafood cookbook. i forgot to buy the anchovies, thai chile (substituted red serrano) and found only thin slice pancetta vs block. a bit frustating as previously stated.

combine the following ingredients, add a couple of red snapper fillets and let marinate for 15-30 min.
1 c dry white wine (use dry, mine was too sweet and was too strong in the final taste)
1/4 c olive oil
half sliced white sweet onion (i just used regular white onions)
3 cloves garlic minced
1/4 cup coarse chop fresh basil
leaves of 3 thyme sprigs (i omitted this b/c the market was out)

cook penne pasta according to box directions for 4. seed 3 tomatoes and puree in blender. it'll be a light pink color. set aside.

in a large saute pan, add 1/4 c olive oil and saute the following until fragrant:
3 garlic cloves, finely sliced
1/4 c diced pancetta
3 anchovy fillets minced
2 t minced red Thai chile
2 shallots finely sliced

then add 1 cup chopped spinach, the tomatoes, and cooked pasta. saute until for a couple more minutes and season with s/p.

fire up a non-stick grill pan, take the fish out of the marinade and grill 2-3 minutes per side until opaque. (don't overcook here and remember the fish will continue to cook after you take it off the heat)

serve pasta with a fish fillet on top.
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so what took so long was the fact that i had to fillet my own fish. i bought a 2 lb red snapper from 99 ranch and had them cut off the head and clean it out. however, when i got back home, i realized i don't really know how to fillet a fish. i've seen it done and of course it always looks so much easier than it really is. but i made it through eventually, altho making a huge mess since some scales were still stuck after the fish monger had scaled it. grrr.... i think next time i'm just going to get some TJ frozen fillets instead. that would've saved about 10 frustrating minutes.

the pasta is great. light, fresh, flavorful. i will definitely use it as a base for other recipes. the "spruce up bottle of jarred sauce" thing was getting old. i had to add quite a bit of salt since i forgot the anchovies. it was also pretty spicy but not overly so. as for the fish, you could definitely taste the wine in the marinade, which i think was a little too much. i'll avoid this by choosing a drier wine. in the end, the marinade is all aromatics, and you can totally get away with not making such an elaborate marinade. but it's fun to try it once.

so even though i was tired and frustrated by this dish, it wasn't necessary the recipe that did me in but the grocery runSSS and filleting my own fish. i'll report again on the success of the 2nd run.

8.08.2006

pollo asada al ajillo (cuban garlic chicken)

i saw this recipe on sara moulton's show on food network a whiles back. never got around to making it until today. of course it's on my day off and while i have a sore throat, but oh well. here's the recipe.

combine the following in a blender until pureed:
1 lg white onion quartered
5 garlic cloves minced with salt
1/2 c white wine
1/4 c olive oil
1 T vinegar
salt
pour this over the chicken in a dish, cover, and marinate 2 hrs or so.

drain the marinade and pat the chicken dry with paper towels. rub in another 5 cloves of garlic minced with salt and squeeze the juice of 1 lime over it all. sprinkle both sides of the chicken with cumin, salt, pepper, and lightly dust with flour.

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brown the chicken to a golden brown on both sides in large skillet, then throw the whole thing into the oven at 375* preheated for about 30 - 45 min until juices run clear when pricked with a toothpick.

overall this dish came out ok. it has real potential though. the prep time (read marinade time in the fridge) can be lengthy and you'll have plenty of dishes to clean including the blender, but this is great for about 4 meals. i suggest seasoning well with salt and if you can, let it marinade longer, overnite, to let the onion flavor really soak in. mine was extremely moist but could've been more flavorful. also be careful of browning the chicken too much. i overdid it a little and ended up throwing some white wine in the bottom of the pan before throwing it in the oven to moisten up all the browned bits stuck to the pan. this caused the chicken skin to not roast as evenly, as the liquid was evaporating around the meat vs a dry heat searing the skin. i'd also add another lime to the equation since i like bolder flavors.

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i paired the chicken with some quick sauted mustard greens with garlic, S/P, and a splash of wine vinegar. healthy side, but add a sprinkle of sugar to it to cut the bitterness. the vinegar was a little too strong by itself. some kind of carb would also go well with this, maybe plantains. but i've been limiting my carbs where possible just to keep things in balance. a glass of the cheap turning leaf chardonnay i used in the marinade rounded off the meal, sort of.

will definitely make this again. but with the additions stated above. i usually will make a dish to the recipe once, then improve on it to my tastes by substituting or changing it up a bit. we'll see on the next one.