Paella..in all it’s stages beachside at the Royal Solaris Los Cabo!
Chorizo,chicken, pork, shrimp, scallops,mussels,saffron,white wine,rice,peppers, onion, garlic…..
Bien Provecho!
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Beachside Paella
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Go Green…Go White..Go Dakgangjeong
Tailgating for the MSU vs UofM game tonight with one of our family favorites. Go Green. Korean chicken wings (Dakgangjeong), roasted shishito peppers, Asian Cole slaw, and deviled eggs japonaise. Go White. So good and never a leftover. Victory for MSU.
Soak hard boiled eggs in soy sauce for 10 minutes (after removing yolks). Pat dry. Mix yolks with Japanese mayo and sriracha. Fill the shells and garnish with a slice of jalapeño pepper.
Roast shishito peppers at 400 degrees for 15 minutes drizzled with a little sesame oil and soy sauce. Sprinkle with salt and white pepper and sesame seeds.
Shredded cabbage and carrots topped with a ginger dressing and roasted black sesame seeds. Go Sparty go!
And the Dakgangjeong! so crispy…so good…the secret is in the double fry in peanut oil with a cornstarch dredge….and then a dip in a pool of sticky sweet spicy goodness! Victory for MSU!!
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Chiles, Chiles, Chiles…
Latin American food fiesta featuring…Chiles. Jalapeños in the guacamole. NM Hatch in the sausage. Guajillos in the salad dressing. First try at arepas was surprisingly easy. I baked mine rather than frying to save some calories. Only to be completely negated when I topped them with the wonderful hatch chile sausage I recently found at Food Lion !! Of all places!! Very close to a Mexican style chorizo without as much paprika/annato. Topped with a little cheese and some crema, these little corn pillows are my new faves!
Here is the recipe:
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal, finely ground in a rocket-type blender
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup grated cheese (cheddar, Mexican blend, mozzarella)
1/2 cup milk
1Tbsp butter + 1Tbsp vegetable oil
Warm milk, butter and oil in a pan or microwave. Pour over remaining ingredients. Stir well. If too loose add more cornmeal. Mixture must be thick enough to roll into a ball. Let mixture rest,covered for at least 15 minutes. Roll mixture into approximately 6-8 balls. Flatten balls into 3 inch discs about 1/3 inch thick. Place on greased pan and bake in a 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes until puffy and lightly browned on bottoms. Top with chicken, or sausage as mentioned above..or just cheese, if desired.
I rounded out the meal with a simple salad dressed with a guajillo dressing that is a knockoff of a recipe from “Pati’s Kitchen” that is simpler and yet so good you’ll want to put it on EVERYTHING you eat!
My guacamole is a fan favorite around here….Psst…the trade secret for great guacamole….crush 1 clove of garlic for every two avocados with some coarse salt and pepper in a mocajete or your favorite shallow bowl BEFORE adding the avocado, jalapeños, scallions, lime juice and a pinch each of cumin and chili powder.
Finally, this most excellent guajillo chile dressing:
Blend together in a NutriBullet 3-4 guajillo chiles cut into 2-3 pieces, with stems removed
1/2 cup oil (I like to use a blend of olive and vegetable oil)
2Tbsp water
1/8 cup cider vinegar
2tsp turbinado sugar
1/2 clove garlic
1tsp salt
Blend until a beautiful bright orange shade with peppers in tiny pieces
This dressing is good on salad but can be used to top bruschetta, as a drizzle in soups, as a sauce over rice and noodles, over a taco, over mac and cheese, as a bread dip…you get the point, it’s addictive!
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Someday…..Vietnam
I was first introduced to the wonderful cuisine of Vietnam while living outside of Washington, DC in the early 90s. So different from other Asian cuisines, but still similar. French influenced, but retaining enough of its simplicity to make it approachable. Spicy, salty, sour, sweet and herbaceous. Sadly, that restaurant in Arlington is no longer around. Sadder still is the fact that this cuisine hasn’t quite caught on in my home state of North Carolina. Last night, dinner took me there again…and reminded me why visiting Vietnam is on my bucket list.
While watching an episode of “Bizarre Foods”, I became intrigued with a new street food sampled by Andrew Zimmern while in Ho Chi MInh City. Bahn Trang Nuong is Vietnam’s answer to the street taco craze. I’ve been wanting to make them for a time because they present a new way to use the rice paper wrappers most commonly seen in the fresh rolls so popular in Vietnamese cuisine. My local Asian Market sells packages of the wrappers in large quantities. It takes months to use them up unless I make them for a party. Making Bahn Trang Nuong for dinner gives me an easy, delicious way to use them up. You can basically fill them with whatever suits your fancy, although the most traditional fillings are a thinly sliced protein, scallions, herbs and a quail egg. Mine are gluten-free and vegetarian. I filled them with smashed fresh baby peas, scrambled egg, scallions, and mint leaves and accompanied them with a classic Nuoc Cham for dipping. I cooked mine over fairly high heat in a cast iron skillet instead of grilling them outside as they do in Vietnam..(alas, my local weather was iffy). The wrappers soften first and then crisp up as they turn from translucent to white to slightly brown.
My main dish is Vietnamese Pork Chops, Thit Heo Nuong Xa, also cooked in my trusty cast iron skillet. The pork chops are marinated in fish sauce, sugar, lime, garlic and scallions and peppers. I added a tiny bit of shrimp paste to kick up the flavor even more. Make sure to squeeze with lots of lime juice and garnish with basil and mint!
Finally, a wonderful Du’a Chuat (I hope I got that right)…cucumber, carrot and radish salad. I have been making this refreshing salad for years, sometimes even sneaking it into a Thai meal because I love it so much! I like to top it with crushed peanuts and scallions.
Here it is, the whole meal…
The best thing about eating Vietnamese cuisine is that you feel satisfied afterward, but not full. This food hits all the right notes and I can’t wait for everyone to try it. As for me…Vietnam…someday!
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Middle Eastern Feast
Eating healthy with vegetarian middle eastern dishes is easy. Sunday supper with the bounty of our family garden and and a few extras. Fattoush salad with garden tomatoes, parsley and mint tossed with mixed greens, toasted pita and tahini dressing.
Kasseri cheese and oil cured olives.GF
My mom’s favorite cucumber salad.GF
Recipe to follow….Homemade falafel and green beans with onions and shatta round out the feast.GF
Vegetarian is so refreshing on a hot summer night!
Helen’s Cucumber Salad
2 cups thinly sliced cucumbers
1 tsp. Salt
1/2 red (or yellow)sweet onion, sliced thin
1/2 cup greek yogurt or labne
1/2 cup sour cream
Salt and pepper to taste
Sprinkle sliced cucumbers with salt and let sit for 30 minutes. Drain off all liquid.
Mix remaining ingredients and pour over drained cukes. Salt and pepper as you like…just be careful with the salt as the cucumbers do absorb some of it! Yiayia knows best!
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Local sources
Great finds today @portcityproduce2 and @seaviewcrabcompany just up the road from me in little old Wilmington, N.C.. Burgundy okra roasted in bacon fat was crispy and fun to eat.
Black sea bass from my favorite fish monger, broiled with a lightly browned butter sauce was flaky and moist. Tri-color quinoa with spring onions rounded out the meal.
Local is ALWAYS best! -
Poke-man!
Had some fantastic, fresh poke today from a local Lahaina purveyor! I love finding a place that lives up to its reviews and The Fish Market does.
Octopus poke with traditional seasoning.
And Ahi Poke with dynamite sauce.
Mahalo!
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Sansei sushi
First night dinner on the isle hits all the right notes at Sansei Sushi Restaurant. Hawaiian Poke, Pink Cadillac roll, Sunonomo salad with octopus and shrimp, and Sansei Special roll….Uni for dessert. Mahalo!
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Chopped at Home Challenge, Round Two
It’s time to vote for a Round 2 favorite in the Chopped at Home Challenge sponsored by Sargento Cheese. The Round 2 category is MEXICAN…Ole’! My close friends and family know that I’ve had a love affair with Mexico ever since I lived there during my college years. That is true. However, the inspiration for my entry is actually a dish from El Azteco, an East Lansing eatery that any true MSU Spartan knows well. My recipe, Chicken Enchiladas Suizas with Poblano Crema is an homage to one of my favorite dishes at El Azteco. This layered, cheesy, creamy chicken tower of Mexican goodness will turn anyone into a Mexican food lover. The poblano and hatch chile crema is so addictive you will want to lick your plate!
So…if you are a Spartan and you love El Azteco and you just plain LOVE Mexican food, please take the time to vote for me May 23- June 13 at http://www.foodnetwork.com/chopped challenge . You can find my recipe by typing my name in the search bar or by its name “Chicken Enchiladas Suizas with Poblano Crema”. You can vote up to 5 times per day. Go Green, Go White, Go Mexican! -
Pinpoint accuracy
Any day you find a fine, interesting hometown restaurant is a good day for a foodie. Downtown Wilmington, in particular Market Street has such a place in Pinpoint Restaurant. One year new on the night of our visit last Friday, the staff had reason to celebrate, and so they did. Drink specials and one year old coozies were distributed with abandon, but it’s the food that carries this place. We decided to graze our way through the menu that night, so I can’t speak to the main courses but if the plates to share are any indication of the chef’s prowess (and they usually are), we are all in for a treat!
The menu highlights locally sourced ingredients like oysters, crab and shrimp with some creative license. An apprenticeship under Top Chef contestant Hugh Acheson prepared Chef Neff for a place just like this. Many of the foodie favorites are available, like Steak Tartare, expertly hand cut and wonderfully seasoned and paired with hand cut potato chips, a black garlic aioli and some dainty pickled veg.
The house made charcuterie plate is nothing short of a revelation. The chicken liver mousse is so light and smooth that I felt like I had died and gone to heaven.Be sure to taste the mustard seed/strawberry accompaniment.The deviled duck and smoked trout rilllete equally surprised our party.
The cured yellowfin tuna was fresh and succulent accompanied by a salad of grapefruit, zucchini blossoms and other little goodies.
The house mixologist has some beauties up his sleeve, too. Don’t hesitate to try an interesting drink with this great food.
Pinpoint. Accuracy. Great. Food.
Betzabroad...My personal recipe for tasting our big, fat, wonderful world 