Category: Cooking

So you remember that Fermenting Crockpot from a previous post?

Well, we've finally put it to good use. The water seal on these works really well….except for the periodic "bloop" of gases escaping from what you're storing in the crock. After a couple of days it stops.

I gotta say, I had to block the Missus form actually opening this too soon to "to just have a peek" or to "make sure it isn't rotting". You just have to chill and let nature do its thing.

I could get all scientific on you, but lets just say this turned out real well.

As a whole 6 grams per kilo of kosher salt massaged into finely sliced cabbage. We packed it tightly into the crock. We used food service gloves for the task. We placed the stone weights on the well packed cabbage and pressed down firmly. The Missus didn't feel real comfortable with the amount of liquid. Luckily we had that covered. We had boiled up a liter of purified water with 6 grams of kosher salt which we then cooled in a sterilized container. We used this to top off the liquid, making sure to fully cover the cabbage. The temps seemed right the last couple of weeks.

10 days later I was sterilizing Ball Jars and packing tightly with cabbage……viola, sauerkraut. For some reason, the Missus loves this stuff…to the tune of a large jar a week! Me, well, I like it on something like the beer braised-seared bratwurst on a pretzel bun with whole grain mustard…..

The Missus? Well, She's keeping a tight reign on our inventory and is itching for our next fermentation project. This was a fun first project. What's next? Suan Cai perhaps?

Thanks for reading!

It seems like a pretty easy question….poke or some sashimi, right? But what if you're given a challenge, to make "something good for a change"?

I was faced with that on a recent evening…..granted, I've been really busy with work recently, so I really wanted something special for the Missus.

So I came up with this.

Bluefin three ways……

The cut of bluefin was very fresh, though not particularly outstanding. The perfect 20 minute challenge for me.

Here's the play-by-play…..

I decided on doing a very quick, hot smoke, so I got my trusty stovetop smoker going. I didn't want this to be a hot dish, but also wanted a fairly aggressive smoke flavor without cooking the fish. So I used mesquite and instead of starting high then turning low, I just turned the flame up high, seasoned the block of tuna with Maldon Smoked Salt and fresh ground pepper, covered the smoker briefly and when a good amount developed, placed the fish in the smoker, replaced thecover, and just let her rip!

I went into the garden to pick the veggies and herbs, washing then drying them on paper towels. Seven minutes had passed. I removed the tuna from the smoker, placed it on a plate and putting it in the freezer to quickly cool. I wanted to maintain the firmness of the fish.

At this point I decided on making three different items; for the first, I chopped the uneven part of the block, mixing it with some pretty good Maui onion and minced avocado……I then added a few drops of my roasted ghost pepper hot sauce and stuffed the avocado. Something I used to do when I helped a friend of mine cater a few dinners many years ago. A couple of slices of red serrano, sliced scallions, minced cilantro, and a touch of mint from the yard finished things. The Missus loved this combination of meaty-smoky-pungent-creamy-crunchy-mildly spicy. I was amazed that the ghost pepper hot sauce added just enough heat with a wonderful flowery fragrance.

The second item were just slices of the smoked tuna on lettuce from the yard. This I paired with some blanched, then grated garlic, grated ginger, yuzu kosho, and wasabi. I was so proud of the Missus, She never touched that wasabi from a tube. She loved placing tiny dabs of the salty, mildly spicy yuzu kosho on the smoky fish, never feeling a need to add soy sauce.

The third item was a play on a caprese, with tuna replacing the standard mozzarella. I placed the cuts of fish between slices of cherry tomato and basil, drizzling on some 0.3% acidity extra virgin olive oil. I also seeded a cherry tomato and filled it with olive oil creating a "shot" homage to our visit to Peza Union, where the tasting of each olive oil was presented in cups like a shot! The Missus enjoyed this the least.

This was only half of everything as there was a imrror plate also created. The Missus really enjoyed this…..which turned out pretty well. One of the most interesting responses I got from the Missus was when I had Her eat a slice of the Maui Onion with a touch of smoked salt…….I love good Maui onion with just some Hawaiian salt…this was the way I ate it growing up and the Missus enjoyed this as well.

The funny thing was….I was also finishing up Her main courses for dinner at the same time…….perhaps that's a future post…..

Still, like that surf and turf challenge, I lived to cook another day……

I had about 4-5 ounces of lamb and a some rice left after making my lamb loco moco. Not much really. I've been swamped at work and didn't want to make a special trip to the market, so what to do? I looked out into the garden and around the kitchen and decided to make some stuffed peppers….lamb, rice, herbs, onion….we had a bunch of red bell peppers lying around, why not?

It turned out pretty well……

I also made a Shakshuka like sauce which brought everything together for the dish, which is so easy it's criminal. The only thing was the wait which was 45 minutes in the oven, but gave me time to make the sauce.

I actually went ahead and measured everything out except the oil, salt, and pepper. This is for two, you can just multiply everything out for more peppers.

Red Peppers Stuffed with Lamb and Rice:

2 Red Bell Peppers
1/4 lb ground lamb
1 1/2 cup cooked jasmine rice
2 Tb minced mint
3 Tb minced cilantro
2 Tb thinly sliced scallions
2 Tb finely minced or grated garlic
1 tsp crumbled Turkish oregano
1 tsp Spanish paprika
1 Tb ground cumin
1 tsp ground chilies
1-2 Tb olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
water

– Preheat oven to 375
– Cut the tops off the peppers and level off the bottoms of the peppers. Remove the center, discard the seeds, and trim out the interior of the pepper.
– Combine the all the ingredients except the peppers and water in a bowl.
– Stuff the peppers
– Place the peppers in a pan, I used a small cast iron pan I have and add about 1/2 inch of water.
– Place tops back on the peppers and place in the oven for 30 minutes.
– After 30 minutes remove the tops of the peppers, these should already be pretty soft.
– Drizzle olive oil on the meat filling and put back in the oven for 15-20 minutes.

You may want to serve this with a salty tomato based sauce, or something similar….think of the flavor profile of lamb. This was fairly gamey and went real well with the sauce I made. I'll probably do this again soon.

Well, it seems that "pepper season" is just about over for our impulse buy ghost pepper plant. The branches are full of peppers so I better get off my butt and figure out what to do with these. I've killed off all my friends already, so I gotta figure something out soon!

So far I've made some guacamole and BBQ Sauce, even infused vodka, I've even tried these in a stir fry…..talk about a butt burner. And yet, the initial flavor when you eat one of these is so good, flowery and fragrant…..

 So I decided I better make some hot sauces. I thought I'd start with a basic Louisiana style hot sauce, since it's pretty easy to make and all. Plus, a couple of these style hot sauces are always in our kitchen. Plus, it's pretty easy to make a basic version. There were a couple of things to contemplate. Because of the heat factor, there ain't no way I'd be using more than a couple of these for a batch, so I had to figure some way to maintain that reddish-orange hue. I wanted to emphasize a bit of smokiness as well without losing the integrity of the flowery-heat. I decided to roast the peppers and only use 4, seeds and all…..why waste all that heat, right?

Anyway, I looked in the fridge tonight and this is all I have left, so I thought I'd better get posting…….

You can, of course add more, or less peppers, or even mix and match. I figure I'd be using about a pound of regular chilies to about 2 cups of vinegar. I don't have to mention using gloves when working with these peppers, right? Be careful after as well…..contact burns are not fun.

As for uses. Well, anywhere you'd use Tabasco, Crystal, or Frank's….. I used some on a Lamb Loco Moco I made.

It was really good. The hot sauce goes well with eggs…….

Roasted Ghost Pepper Louisiana Style Hot Sauce:

4 Roasted Ghost Peppers
1 Red Bell Pepper chopped coarsely
1 1/2 Cup Distilled White Vinegar
6 Cloves of roasted garlic smashed
1 tsp Liquid Smoke

– Put everything in a non-reactive saucepan and bring to a simmer.
– Hot your breath, otherwise you'll start sneezing like crazy
– Simmer until red bell peppers soften about 7-8 minutes
– Pour into a blender…be careful with this!
– Process until smooth
– Pour into a sterilized jar, let cool, then steep for 10-14 days
– Once everything settles, strain into sterilized bottles

I'm saving the last of this batch for some wings and I'll probably do this again. Next though, I'm going to try to make that other indispensable hot sauce/condiment, Sriracha.

Stay Tuned!

This is a recent favorite of the Missus. One day a couple of weeks ago I bought some of those golf ball sized green Thai eggplant. I thought we'd eat them raw with maybe a Thai Style Beef Salad, or something like that. The Missus on the other hand had a different idea….She wanted me to try and stir fry them with some shrimp, Thai style, in a sweet garlic type "sauce"….actually more of a coating as She didn't want these too wet. After making it a few times, I've finally got it down to the way the Missus enjoys it. It actually reminds me of those multi-part Chinese style stir-fries, which means it's the prep that really matters.

I found that this type of eggplant isn't the "oil sponge" that I'm used too. It really doesn't need much oil. It also stays fairly firm.

I use palm sugar for these, which, unless you know how to handle can be a pain. I first microwave the hard discs for about 20 seconds then grate it.

This looks like a lot of steps, but it is not.

Thai Garlic Shrimp and Eggplant:

For the Garlic – Palm Sugar mixture
4 Tb Palm Sugar
7-8 Cloves of Garlic minced (equal the amount of sugar)
1 Tb Fish sauce

– Combine grated palm sugar, garlic, and fish sauce – I actually grind up in a small food processor

For the eggplant
5-6 Thai EggplantSliced
2-3 Tb grapeseed oil
2 Tb Chili Paste
1 Tb Fish Sauce
1 Tb White Sugar
1 Tb Shaoxing
White Pepper

For the Shrimp
1/2 Pound Shrimp shelled and deveined
2 Tb grapeseed oil
4-8 Thai Chilies chopped
1 medium shallot minced
1 Tb Fish Sauce
3 kaffir lime leaves sliced in a thin chiffonade
1/3 cup cilantro leaves roughly chopped
3 Tb scallions sliced – green parts only

– Heat wok until smoking
– Add grapeseed oil for eggplant, quickly add chili paste, and stir till fragrant
– Add eggplant and stir fry
– Add Shaoxing, white pepper, sugar, and stir fry until eggplant is well coated
– When eggplant softens slightly add fish sauce.
– When eggplant is heated through remove to a plate and wipe down wok and bring back to temp

– Add grapeseed oil for shrimp.
– When the oil starts to shimmer add Thai Chilies, shallot, and kaffir lime leaf.
– Stir fry until fragrant
– Add shrimp and stir fry
– Add fish sauce.
– When shrimp starts turning translucent add the Garlic-Palm Sugar mixture and stir fry until it bubbles. Add eggplant back ot the wok.
– When shrimp is  cooked through remove from heat and add all but 1-2 Tb of cilantro and all of the scallions and combine

– Top with the rest of the cilantro when serving

We served the shrimp on some lettuce from our garden.
And lots of rice of course