Pork chops + soy sauce, sugar and a few other ingredients = delicious. Right? Well for this Asian brother that’s a no brainer. But what if the equation was tilapia + peanut butter and a bunch of other stuff? Would the sum of those parts still be delicious? Well, click on the photos below for the answer as well as videos and recipes for both dishes. Here’s a hint: Um…. yes.
Nature's Candy
peanut stew? yes.
I have no qualms in admitting that this blog is decidedly meat-centric. But, in the interest of greater balance (and healthier bowels) I’ll sometimes include an entry sans meat. So in that vein, my friend Soojin brings to you a vegetarian option: vegetarian bibimbap. “But,” you say, ” how can this classic rice dish from Korea – home of one of the great meat eating culinary traditions – hold up without meat?” Well, I’m hear to say it holds up quite well. In fact it’s delicious and Soojin’s version is rather light and refreshing if one can consider a big bowl of rice with a bunch of stuff in it light and refreshing. Click on the photo below for the full recipe and to watch Soojin prepare her delightful version of bibimbap.
Fresh and delicious
Alright, here’s a little bonus video for the four or five people who actually looked at the last pork butt post. As you’ll recall, I served it with a red cabbage cole slaw. Well, dear reader, here’s the recipe and the instructional video. Now I must be honest. This cole slaw recipe has a couple of key inspirations: 1) the pickled cabbage served on top of Salvadoran pupusas; 2) the cole slaw at Bake Sale Betty’s in Oakland that comes on top of their ridiculous fried chicken sandwiches – and by ridiculous I mean fucking good. The cole slaw is really simple to make and because of the freshness of the cabbage and acidity of the dressing it is a nice counterbalance to grilled or fried meats. It’s also good on tacos and pupusas or anything else you want to eat. Without further ado, here’s the cole slaw recipe and the video. Enjoy.
Recipe
1 head of cabbage (red of regular)
1 medium to large jalapeño pepper
2-3 tablespoons of olive oil
1-2 tablespoons of vinegar (or to taste)
1/2 teaspoon of sea salt (or to taste)
1/4 teaspoon of black pepper (or to taste)
1/4- 1/2 teaspoon of oregano
… so delicious you can’t deny!
This is the story of how one and a half pork shoulders (butts) became numerous pulled pork sandwiches that were consumed by many people whom upon tasting the tender meat looked towards the heavens and asked the Creator, “Is this, oh All Knowing One, the secret to life?”
Intrigued? Well, click on the photo below for the full story and the video of how this transcendent meal came to be.
Tender pulled pork sandwhich with homemade barbecues sauce dill pickles and red cabbage cole slaw.
Summer is here and that means one thing: slow cooked, rich and hearty stew! Kidding. Yeah we all know summer is a time to eat a little lighter what with the warmer weather and increasing abundance of fresh summer vegetables. Also as newbies to the whole CSA (community supported agrigculture) movement we get a weekly supply of vegetables some of which are familiar and some kind of new. Our first week we got three different heads of lettuce and ended up eating big main course salads four nights in a row. Here’s one of them.
Salad with three different lettuces, grape tomatoes, onions and feta cheese. It think I made a simple dressing of olive oil, wine vinegar, salt, pepper and dijon mustard.
And then last week we got rubarb which I’ve never actually cooked. In fact, I know of only one thing that calls for rubarb and that’s strawberry rubarb pie. So, lacking originality and inspiration that’s what I made. I made my own crust (2 and 1/2 cups of all purpose flour, 2 sticks of butter, 1 and 1/2 tbspns of sugar, 1 tspn of salt and about 6 tbspns of ice cold water). For the filling I loosely followed this recipe. And here’s the pie fresh out of the oven:
I was pretty pyched to see how well this pie held up through the baking. Nothing overflowed or oozed out the side or over the top.
Oh snap! I guess a combination of the filling still being hot and not using enough thickening agent (I used 1/3 cup of corn starch - more than the recommended 1/4 cup), the filling just kind of came spilling out. I was pissed. But at least it was delicious. Next time though, I'd use less sugar. It was a bit sweet for my taste. Maybe one cup of sugar instead of the 1 and 1/3 cup called for in the recipe.
I figured by tilting the pie, the contents would be forced back into the crust. It kind of worked.
