Factoids/cooking tips/fancy terms:

- A perfect sausage ratio is 60/40; that is 60% meat, 40% fat.  That also happens to be the flesh to fat ratio on a whole pig.  Pretty neat, huh?

- Vegetable blanching: green vegetables are always greener after blanching (as long as it’s not overdone).  And I have to correct the chef here, who said, “the oxygen inside the vegetable goes to the surface making it more green”.  What actually happens is (according to some research I did, thanks Hank from Cuisinology), the green chlorophyll of the veggie is surrounded by microscopic air pockets (i’m picturing bubble wrap used for shipping things) and when it’s heated, the pockets basically “pop” revealing the…tada!  greener broccoli, green beans etc.  Of course, too much and you go completely to the other side of nasty looking mushy vegetables.

- Roasting beets – add water.  Beets come out super juicy and easy to peel when you fill 1/3 of a roasting pan with water along with rosemary, drizzled olive oil, salt and cover with aluminum foil.  Luscious!

There are a lot of fancy words that kitchen use that I had to learn:

1) garde manger - the no-cook cold station chef (and probably the lowest of the totem pole in the kitchen making salads and cold appetizers) has literal French translation of “to guard/watch food” loosely translating to a cool well-ventilated pantry area or refrigerator.  Basically, a chef that doesn’t really cook with heat.  Almost everyone starts here and pays their dues.

2) amuse bouche – my fav, literal translation, to amuse/tease the mouth.  A (usually) complimentary little taste of something at chef’s selection brought to your table.  A “here’s a little something from the chef”…changes almost every day.

3) quenelle – refers to an oval football shape, usually serving ice cream, mousse etc at a restaurant.  Apparently takes a lot of practice with one hand quenelle-ing being the most impressive.  The pastry chef Amy said, “someone decided that the shape was a lot more palatable than, say, a round ice cream scoop” so everyone does it now.  I’m indifferent.  I guess it’s more special as not everyone can “quenelle”.

4) can you “brunois” this onion?  um…what?  ”bru-nuah”?  yes – that would be one of the basic knife skills where the thing is first julienned, turned a quarter and then diced so that each cube is 3mm or less (that would be 1/8 of an inch), one of the smallest cuts creating a “pleasant presentation”.  For my duties, it was used to make pate and sausage.  I ended up making the smallest cuts as possible but it was not a cube 3mm x 3mm.

I understand fancy food but outside of all that – know that food.  should.  taste.  good.

Caprese on a bamboo stick was a good way to start the evening, complete with fresh basil pesto, heavy on fresh garlic of course;)  Then things got a little more interesting, serving roasted tofu lollipops with korean ponzu, cherry bacon bits and toasted quinoa.  I even converted tofu haters to think twice about tofu!  The secret is in roasting it with olive oil and turmeric for ~1 hr – it gets it crispy and chewy making you almost not miss meat.

But then of course, you have to have some savory meat.  After all, it’s cocktails and apps~

After soaking chicken in buttermilk all night, I quickly tossed little chicken bites in japanese panko and flour and deep fried them until golden and crispy.  Wrapped in strips of korean perilla leaves (aka korean basil or “kkaennip” – see?  Isn’t “korean basil” easier?) and drizzled with korean red pepper sauce to give it a kick and a sweet/sour tang.  It was a crowd pleaser.  But then again – who doesn’t like fried chicken?  Isn’t it…

Golden?

Followed by what’s becoming my signature coffee and star anise rubbed pork belly served with pickled daikon – a fav among many.

The night was complete with warm, comforting, chocolate coconut scones freshly baked with gooey chocolate chips.  Comfort food CAN be good for you – well – somewhat;)

made with 2 tbsp of love; love for food, love for life.

-ck

Satisfying and beautiful – looks like you slaved over a stove for HOURS!  but NOT.  Take advantage of sun-kissed juicy tomatoes now available at your local farmers market.  You can get them at a grocery store but they seem lifeless and so sterile.  No umami tomato taste and that’s what you want.

It’s great as a meal in itself or makes for a wonderful side dish.  Mine came out tasting bit like Spanish rice – so I guess you could use it instead of that too.  Certainly easier, I think…

Like two peas-in-a-pod – I only needed to make two of them for me and honey.  Yes – I was doubtful but one per person will get you full.

Ingredients:

Whole tomatoes

Arborio Rice (~ 1/2 cup)

Parsley, Basil

Salt/Pepper

Olive Oil

Onion

It goes like this.

1) Take a juicy ripe tomato and cut the stem top and set aside.  This will be your “cap” that you will put back unto the stuffed tomato later.  Scrape out all the “inner tomato” leaving the tomato “shell”, reserving the juice and the tomato “meat”.

2) Sautee 1/2 of a minced onion with olive oil until slightly brown and translucent.  You could also add & sautee some shiitaki mushrooms for extra flavor and texture.

3) In a bowl, mix arborio rice that’s been rinsed twice (to minimize the extra gluten, great for risotto, less so for stuffed tomato rice, I think) with the sauteed onion, minced fresh garlic, olive oil, chopped parsley/basil, salt and pepper to taste.  I happen to have some extra tomato juice from a canned tomato which I added to make the rice bit more flavorful and moist.

4) Stuff the rice mixture into the tomato, drizzle some olive oil on top and cap it with the tomato stem.

5) Roast at 375 (convection) for ~50 min.  Cool for ~20 min before diving in.  You can also bake any extra in a casserole next to the stuffed tomatoes like I did which cooks up nicely and crusty (for those of you who like the crispy rice at the bottom of dolsot bibimbap or paella with socarrat.

two tablespoons of love; one for food, one for life.  bon appetit!

Adopted and inspired by a recipe for Caramel-Lacquered Pork Belly with Quick-Pickled Honeydew in a Food & Wine magazine, I bought my first pork belly at Whole Foods since what seems like over a decade ago.  The trick is to season it close to 24 hours and to roast lo and slow~~  and my proud, awesome secret?  Fresh ground coffee & star anise rub – yup.  That was Me.  KICKS!  AZZ!  It was so tender and succulent that I almost cried… and so did my hubby ^ ^

Coffee & Star-Anise Rubbed Pork Belly (with Roasted Khulrabi)

Ingredients (serves 4):

Belly:

- 1 lb pork belly

- 2 tbsp sea salt, fresh ground black pepper to season

- 1 tbsp evap cane juice/sugar (tenderizes, seasons and browns the meat)

- 2 tbsp fresh ground coffee & 1 whole star anise (ground)

Sauce:

- 1/2 cup evap cane juice/sugar

- 1 tbsp tamarind paste (optional – most difficult to find even at Asian grocery stores.  Look for it in a compacted block form, sorta like whole bunch of dried plums smashed into a 6×6 cube)

- 1 tbsp asian fish sauce

- 1 tsp fresh grated ginger

- 1 tbsp fresh lime juice

- 1 small Thai chile (minced)

((You can prep it the night before (~8-9pm), tuck it away in the fridge, sprinkle coffee bean/star anise mixture the morning of, season it for another ~6 hrs and then braise it for dinner))

1) Mix salt, sugar and black pepper in a bowl.  Sprinkle over pork belly, wrap twice tightly in plastic wrap and store in fridge.

2) After ~12 hours of marinating, unwrap the belly, sprinkle and rub the coffee bean/star anise mixture, wrap it again and marinate it for another ~6 hrs.  Rinse belly and rub dry.

3) In a pre-heated 375 oven, set pork on a shallow baking/casserole dish with 1/4 cup of water at the bottom, fat side up.  Roast for 35-40 min.  Reduce temperature to 300 and roast for 1 hr.  Turn off oven and leave for 30-40 min to cool.

4)  Making caramel sauce:  Melt 1/4 cup evap cane juice in medium heat sauce pan until melts and starts caramelizing (stir occassionally).  Add another 1/4 cup evap cane juice to melt until it becomes a rich brown caramel.  Add 1/3 cup water to dilute and stir until caramel is smooth.  Cool for 1 minute, add fish sauce, tamarind paste, ginger, chile, and lime juice.  Turn off heat.

5) Cut the cooled pork belly into 2.5 x 2.5 squares and scrape the fat skin lightly (should fall right off).  Sear (no oil needed) on a cast iron pan until brown (about 3 min).

6) Drizzle caramel sauce and serve with your favorite sides.  Vegetable menu for the night – roasted kohlrabi tossed with olive oil, salt/pepper and drizzled lemon juice.  Roasted at the same time as the second 1/2 time of the pork belly.

made with 2 tbsp of love; love for food, love for life.

–ck

Coming from a species of sunflower, and unlike other root vegetable, jerusalem artichokes have no starch (or the kind of starch we’re used to anyways).  Instead, they have inulin, a fructose/glucose energy thing that helps with calcium absorption and does not raise your blood sugar which is great for diabetics.  It’s known to have caused some tummy discomfort in large amounts – so ease into it and see if it affects you.

In my first attempt, I decided to make a mashed jerusalem artichoke to really enjoy the artichoke hearts flavor.  In researching, it supposedly gets too mushy if you try to boil them, but I also found a recipe for jerusalem artichoke soup from Cook Sister! so maybe it’s good to try that as well.  Lastly – they can also be enjoyed raw, sliced and tossed into salads providing a nice crunchy texture similar to jicama but with a more artichoke taste.

See here for mashed jerusalem artichoke recipe, very very easy! Mashed Jerusalem Artichoke

Serves 4

6-8 jerusalem artichoke/sunchoke tubers

1/4 cup heavy cream or half -n -half

salt and pepper to taste

truffle-infused olive oil to taste

1) Steam jerusalem artichoke for 15-20 min.  To test for doneness, pierce with a fork until it goes through the vegetable without much force.

2) Cool for ~10 min, peel skin with hands (should come off easily) and mash well.

3) Turn on heat, add salt, pepper and heavy cream until mixed well.

4) Serve drizzled with coarse ground pepper and good olive oil.

You could also squeeze some lemon juice/zest, parmesan or bread crumbs for balance.

Either way – it’s a sure sign of spring – and seeing them on this month’s Bon Appetit made me salivate:)  The way it peeks up from the ground, some being reported to grow as much as ten inches a day!  And it’s certainly a cool vegetable to look at; vibrant green or white (those that doesn’t see the sun) and sexy.  Sexy?  Oh – come on!  You didn’t think it looked a bit phallic?  You know what’s funny?  It’s one of the oldest vegetables (think reptiles age) with distinctive male and female plants.  Get this – Sooooo – the Male asparagus spears are skinny (lol…) and the Female asparagus are plump & fleshy (yup – that’s right~;) ) Its nutritional value are that it’s an ayurvedic root for boosting female hormones, promoting fertility (so sorta like aphrodisiac) and relieving cramps, is an anticarcinogenic veggie and is even used to help with gout.  So eat up and welcome spring onto your plates~!

Since I don’t have an asparagus steamer (who likes it so much that they need a steamer just for that?) – I used twine to tie together some fat female asparagus (that sounds funny, eh?) so that I can steam them in my pasta pot.

With the fatties – it’s important to use your vegetable peeler to peel the outer layer to rid of the fibrous outer layer (just the non-spear side).  Otherwise – for the skinny (male) asparagus – hold the spear with one hand, bend it with the other hand until it naturally breaks off to ensure that you’re not gnawing on some fibrous woody stem.

You can simply steam them as I did here – or roast them in the oven for a sweeter and nuttier flavor.  Either way – be sure not too cook it too long or it’ll all be a limpy mess.

To steam – tie fresh asparagus (after peeling part of the stalk and washing it gently) in twine.  Drop into a steamer with the fat non-spear side down so that the the part that needs to cook the longest hits the heat first.  Steam for 3 1/2 to 4 min max.  Take out and cool.

For a simple drizzle – brown little butter by letting ~2-3 tbsp of unsalted butter boil gently on a saucepan until you start to see brown specs at the bottom.  Add some sliced fresh garlic and lemon juice and drizzle over asparagus.

Here – served with some osso bucco~

Leftovers were cut and saved in the fridge for some breakfast the next morning.  Here – with some sauteed fresh onion, asparagus and overeasy eggs.

Other pairing ideas:

Asparagus goes well with butter, cheese, eggs, lemon/lime, olive oil, salt and pepper.  Great tossed into a salad or a pasta dish, easy easy side dish.  Personally – because of the earthy “green” flavor of asparagus, I think it helps to add some acid (eg., lemon, vinegar, etc) to wake up the taste.  You could also intensify the flavor by sauteeing it with something else earthy, umami…like shiitaki mushrooms for instance or tomatoes.

One of my favorite way is to cut it in bite size pieces, steam it, and then toss it with some korean hot pepper paste vinaigrette.  For a bundle of asparagus spears, 1 tbsp gochujang (hot korean pepper paste), 1 tsp evap cane juice or agave (to taste), 1 tsp white vinegar, 1 tsp minced fresh garlic, 1 tsp sesame oil and 1 tsp roasted sesame seeds.  Awesome with a hot bowl of rice~

Would love to hear about how you like to eat asparagus…do share!

-ck

made with 2 tbsp of love; love for food, love for life.

Deciding to make something festive and a one-pot crowd pleaser, I attempted at my first paella.  I tell myself that whatever paella I’ve had in my life will not compare to the “real thing” in Spain – so until I get there – I’ll have little to compare it to.  I started by purchasing a cast-iron skillet, an affordable Lodge one for $20 bucks at Sur la Table.  Not a real paella pan but getting a pan just for paella would be quite the commitment.  Besides, I thought I could use the skillet for frying chicken (not that I do all that much frying), baking corn bread, etc., etc.,  And it turned out to be a good thing, cuz it did just the job albeit I didn’t get the infamous socarrat, the crunchy rice layer at the bottom of the pan similar to dolsot bibimbap of Korean cuisine where rice is served on a heated stone bowl with all the fixings to get it nice and crunchy.  See what I mean about commonalities across countries?

I decided to make a mixed paella that has chicken breast, thighs, chorizo, shrimp, calamari and mussels.  To make chicken breast moist and tender, I borrowed Thomas Keller’s method of soaking the chicken in buttermilk beforehand which helped.  And per many of the recipes, arborio rice (also used for risotto) was selected although in retrospect, it probably had bit too much starch and resulting in a bit too creamy/starchy paella.  Nonetheless, the flavors were right and well-balanced, with 1/2 and 1/2 of fish stock to chicken stock, smoked paprika and saffron, of course.

Adopted from several sources online – see recipe below.

Mixed paella (serves 6-8)

Stuff:

- handful of each protein: chicken breast, chicken thighs, shrimp, calamari, mussels

- vegetables: 1 red bell pepper, handful green beans, 1/2 onion, handful baby artichokes (or canned artichokes), 1 large ripe tomato (peeled, grated), small handful of minced garlic

- spices: 1 tsp smoked paprika, 1 pinch of saffron, 1 tsp oregano, lemon zest, parsley and 2 bay leaves

- starch: 1 cup arborio or spanish medium grain rice (Valenciana rice)

- stock: 1 cup fish stock, 1 cup chicken stock

Cook:

1) Warm 1/2 cup of chicken broth in a small pot, stir in saffron and let soak for 15 min to bring out saffron color/flavor.

2) You’ll cook the proteins and each set of vegetables separately and then combine all of them with the rice later.  First step – brown chicken on iron skillet with oil on med-high heat and move to a plate.  Sautee 1/2 of garlic, peppers then move to same plate.  Sautee artichokes and green beans until slightly tender and move to a plate.  Sautee onions until tender, add tomato until reduced and broken down.  Add leftover garlic and rice and roast rice until slightly toasted.

3) Add back your chicken and vegetables, submerge the ingredients in skillet with fish/chicken stock, saffron mixture and the spices (minus the parsley).

4) Key is NOT TO STIR!  Set cooktop heat to lo-medium and cook for ~20 min until the rice is chewy and 1/2 of the stock has been evaporated.  Add your shrimp, calamari and mussels, cover lid and cook for another ~10-15 min until all of the stock’s evaporated and rice is tender.  You should start getting the crunchy socarrat browning at the bottom.  Mine burned a bit but all the while – it was pretty neat-o to have it come all together.

Serve in the middle of the table with sprinkled parsley, some toasted bread and avocado slices drizzled with olive oil.  Some salad would be nice to cut some of the fat and heartiness of the paella as well.  And of course, you have to have some Spanish wine to go along with all of that;)

Which is why I got all excited when my mom introduced me to the shockingly purple Japanese Okinawa(n) purple sweet potatoes.  It’s like the blood oranges of sweet potatoes.  By sheer chance, you may hit sly purple veins as you cut into it – or SURPRISE! and you are shocked with the vibrant candy-like purple color just popping out at you.

High in natural sugar and starch content than regular potatoes and as most sweet potatoes are higher in nutrition content with more antioxidants than regular mr/mrs potato heads (yay the craze of sweet potato fries!), they are simple and sometimes impressive sweets that can be served as desserts.  Sweet and nutty and more moisture than a potato, almost like a chestnut but velvety and a little sexy, a perfect bliss.

I simply 1) scrubbed them 2) baked them for 45-55 min in the oven at 350 degrees, cooled, peeled and sliced them 3) pan-fried them with some coconut oil and 4) dolloped maple syrup, greek yogurt and roasted sesame seeds for a simple dessert.  enjoy!

the eyes – it CAN be a super tasty vegetable.  A “grandmother of the cabbage family” , it comes in many varieties including purple kale and cool names like dragon kale and Tuscan kale.  Try and see which ones you like, as they vary in texture and colors.  I personally like the dragon kale as it tends to be smaller, more tender and bit smokey in taste.  As it cooks up, the rather tough and even plastic-y kale leaves transforms into this hearty, savory, bitey goodness that will have you do a headturn and say, “this is kale?”

In honor of Meatless Wednesday, I served a kale penne pasta.  Enjoy!

(what to cook with kale – quick and easy healthy dinner):

Kale penne pasta with sauteed leeks, onions and truffle oil

Ingredients:

4 cups Kale (leaves removed from stalk – hold middle of the stalk with one hand, pull the leaves with the other – no knife needed) and julienned

1/2 cup sliced leeks (white part only – which is tender and sweet)

1/2 onion sliced

3-4 cloves garlic, olive oil and salt to cook/season

1/2 lemon (zest and juice)

1) Boil water in pan for pasta.  Cook penne or other pasta al dente – about 10 min.  And while it’s cooking…

2) In a pan (big enough to add all the veggie and the pasta) – sautee garlic, leeks and onion in olive oil with a 3-finger pinch sprinkle of salt until translucent and slightly caramelized.  Add kale and stir.  Pour a ladle-full of pasta water into the vegetables tenderizing the kale.  Cook until most of the water evaporates, about 5 min in total.

3) Add the pasta to pan #2, toss to warm/coat pasta with the vegetables.  Squeeze lemon/add zest and drizzle extra olive oil and stir again.

4) Right before serving, drizzle some truffle oil (I actually use a truffle-infused olive oil since the real stuff is pretty pricey) and serve hot.

Being on the west coast, with constant alarming headlines of nuclear radiation danger – I can’t help but feel helpless.  On the net, on TV and radio – videos, interviews, pictures – it’s just unbelievable how bad it is.  And sometimes you just want to turn it off and look the other way.  Crawl into a ball and just cozy up with the ones you love sharing some comfort food along the way.

Japan, the land of the rising sun, with the tenacity and the goodness of the people – the sun will rise again soon.  Even as the world continues to turn, sun rising and setting, I would guess that tomorrow’s St. Patrick’s Day will be somewhat subdued.  Inspired by friend, Kim’s post – Hot Chocolate in sharing all things warm and fuzzy that connects us – here are some Green Day dishes to share some happiness, to your body and with those whom you love.  No pinching, no drinking green beer til you pass out, just some flavorful healthy food, continued on the theme of Meatless Monday and Meatless Wednesday.

Challenged by British pubs’ bubble and squeaks – this is the ultimate comfort food that you actually feel good about eating (first left pic)

Asian bubble and squeaks -

Boil sweet potatoes & carrots until soft.  Sautee finely minced onion and garlic in olive oil.  Smash vegetable mixture with the onion mixture.  Pan fry the mixture on a non-stick pan or skillet along with brussel sprouts and shiitaki mushroom.  Serve with lemon juice/garlic/cumin yogurt dollop.

5 other GREEN DAY St. Patrick’s Day dishes (left to right):

Warm swiss chard salad with shoyu, olive oil and lemon juice.

Korean cucumber salad – salted English cucumber, baby carrots, garlic, Korean red pepper flakes, evaporated cane juice and roasted sesame seeds.

Sauteed sugar snap peas – blanched sugar snap peas, sautéed in garlic, ginger, salt and Aleppo pepper.

Japanese gobo (burdock roots) – sautéed gobo, ginger, garlic, shoyu and agave syrup.

Warm purple broccoli salad – sauteed purple broccoli with garlic, roasted beets, kumquat, walnuts and meyer lemon dressing.

Tossed edamame – cooked edamame tossed with fresh cumin, sesame seeds, Aleppo pepper and light shoyu.

With two tablespoons of love,

-ck