Category: Cooking

It'll take longer to read this post than to actually make this. But first, a word from our legal department:

Consuming raw or undercooked meats, poultry, seafood, shellfish, or eggs may increase your risk of foodborne illness.

Now that we got that out of the way….yes, I use raw eggs…well, egg actually, for this.

I also use an immersion blender and a Ball Jar.

The eggs are either pasteurized or the best we can find – pasture raised and all that. I also use whole eggs, which makes this much lighter than just egg yolks. As for the science; if you love that kind of stuff, get Harold McGee's classic – On Food and Cooking.

I've read where having all ingredients at room temperature, but I've done this with cold eggs and mustard and the results has been fine.

It is of course, a main part of my Copycat Radicchio Salad.

Ready to whizz? Ready, set, go:

– In a ball jar crack 1 egg, add 1 Tb White Wine Vinegar, 1 tsp Dijon mustard, 1/2 tsp sugar, 1/2 tsp kosher salt

– Add 1 cup neutral oil – I used avocado oil

– Place head of the immersion blender at the bottom of the jar and turn on. Slowly lift the head of the blender up until totally emulsified. This makes just under a cup.

Keep refrigerated. The longest I've kept this stuff is about 5 days.

That's it. Really.

Then you can start having some fun….next time add some fish sauce or other items and you'll come up with some interesting flavors.

Hope you're having a great week! 

If you've been reading my posts on Portland, you should know that it would only be a matter of time before I made this. The Missus loved the Radicchio Salad at Tasty N Alder so much, we went twice. The Missus wanted to go on our last morning as well, but they opened a bit too late so we ended up somewhere else. I knew that Chef John Gorham, has a cookbook out named after his Spanish inspired restaurant; Toro Bravo. Taking a quick look at the Amazon page for the book; I quickly saw "Radicchio Salad" in the index….so guess what? I bought the book. The recipe for the salad at Toro Bravo is different from what is served at Tasty N Alder. The book version is dressed with a vinaigrette….though I like the idea of macerating onion in the vinegar for added punch. I'll surely use that idea later on. It also uses a tapenade and is served with baguette. The version at TNA is dressed with mayo with slices of bacon; they call it lardons, but it's a pretty wide slice of bacon. All was not lost however, as there were two take-aways from the recipe in the book; using a microplane to grate the manchego cheese, which makes it light as air and which allows the cheese to incorporate itself into the dressing adding another layer of flavor. The second, soaking the radicchio in ice water to remove some of the bitterness. This was key. The Missus had never taken to radicchio because of its bitterness. In addition, I decided to make my own mayonnaise, a light, whole egg version…..which I call my "three minute mayo"…..like it says, it takes about three minutes to make and is very light and creamy. I also mixed in 3 tablespoons of rendered bacon fat for that extra kick. I'm thinking you can add some anchovy, or some extra acid component if desired. The Missus enjoys this version.

So here's what I made……four times in ten days!

This is what we had twice at Tasty N Alder.

Radicchio Salad (Inspired by Tasy N Alder):

3 slices thick cut bacon

1/4 Cup Mayonnaise (I make my own very light version with whole eggs)

3-4 Tb Rendered Bacon Fat

1 tsp Agave Syrup Salt and Pepper to Taste

1 Radicchio (about 3/4 pound)

1 cup Manchego Cheese grated with a microplane

2 boiled eggs crumbled (optional)

– Cut radicchio into four and remove core portion. Cut into 1 inch pieces. Separate leaves and soak in ice water for 30 minutes

– Slice bacon into 1/2" wide slices. Cook slowly to render off bacon fat and let bacon crisp. Let bacon fat cool but not harden

– Combine mayonnaise, bacon fat, agave syrup. Taste and add salt a pepper as necessary. Chill.

– Drain radicchio and spin dry in a salad spinner. It's important to get the radicchio faily dry. This will let the dressing coat it evenly.

– Grate machego cheese, crumble boiled eggs

– Combine radicchio with dressing, coat evenly

– Top with bacon and grated manchego cheese

– Bring to the table and mix well.

I recently mentioned being able to take time for a proper lunch on weekends again. Some of this means doing "component cooking", which is creating parts of dishes that can be put together in different combinations…….stuff that I used to do in a previous life a zillion years ago. Anyway, this is based on another recipe, used to create a sauce that keeps for a week or so and can be used in different ways. The one thing I've learned is to start this in a cold pan, versus dumping all the stuff with butter into a hotel pan over a couple of burners, which is what used to take place way back then. Maitake….or Hen of the woods mushrooms and shimeji mushrooms keep their shape and earthy flavor throughout the process, so this is a good sauce for composing dishes….like say….a Pan seared monchong, smoked potato-brussel sprout saute, maitake – porcini sauce, kinda thing….

Like I learned in my "hannabudda days" of cooking….it's all about prep, though I didn't realize it at the time.

Maitake – Porcini Sauce:

1 head of Maitake (Hen of the Woods) Mushroom, cleaned, trimmed, and separated
1 head of Shimeji Mushroom, cleaned, trimmed, and separated
1/2 ounce dried porcini mushroom
2 cups warm water 2-3 tb Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 tb minced shallot
1 tb grated garlic
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried thyme salt(truffle salt?) and pepper to taste
3 tb Creme Fraiche

– Steep porcini in the warm water for 20 minutes
– Place maitake and shimeji mushrooms into a cold pan
– Turn heat to medium high
– Allow the mushrooms to carmelize for 3-4 minutes mixing occasionally
– Remove porcini mushrooms from soaking liquid
– Strain porcini liquid
– Add Olive Oil and shallots to pan
– As mushrooms soften, add porcini, garlic, oregano, thyme
– Once fragrant, add 1 1/2 cup of the porcini soaking liquid
– Lower the heat and reduce by at least one-third
– Taste and add salt and pepper
– Remove from heat and thicken with creme fraiche 

No, I'm not calling it "dat kine" Barbecue, because a certain company has trademarked that name. But, much like my Teri Beef recipe, most folks back home have their own version of this.

Over the years, I've come up with a certain formula for this; one-third cup sugar, one-third cup sweet alcohol, one-third cup of a syrup type liquid to one cup of Aloha Shoyu. Oh yes, there's one-third cup of water….grated garlic and ginger juice. The water prevents the product from getting too salty….I've left chicken to marinate in this for up to 36 hours.

Each of the "sweetening" component will add its own little imprint on the dish. Currently, I'm enjoying things a bit sweeter, going with Dark Brown Sugar, Mirin, and Agave Syrup. There's even more you can do with this "base" – like adding guava jelly (perhaps a future post), fish sauce (delici-yoso)…..

You get the picture, right?

Local Kine Teriyaki (Barbecue) Chicken:

1 1/2 – 2 1/2 pounds chicken. I prefer boneless legs/thighs. Note that you can double-triple, the amount of sauce. I've done as much as 12 pounds of boneless skinless thighs with four times the marinade. Think in terms of volume rather than weight. You want to make everything is covered by the marinade.

1 Cup Aloha Shoyu

1/3 Cup Sugar – Dark Brown/Light Brown/Turbinado/Palm/White

1/3 Cup Mirin/Vermouth/Dry Sherry/Bourbon

1/3 Cup Agave Syrup/Honey/Mulyeot (Korean Malt/Corn Syrup)/Maple Syrup

1/3 Cup Water

1-2 Tb Grated Garlic  1Tb Ginger Juice

Other Stuffs: 1 Tb Good Quality Sesame Oil, 1-2 Tb Sake ,1/4 Cup Fish Sauce, Scallions

– Combine All ingredients except the water and chicken

– Remove 1/3 cup of the combined sauce

– Add water – Add chicken

– Marinate 6-12 hours

– Grill or saute

– Use the 1/3 cup removed earlier to baste/drizzle on/or to put on rice.

Have fun!

Over the last….well, almost ten years now, I've posted quite a few recipes. You'll notice that the number has gone down over the years, because, well, I've pretty much posted on "almost" everything I made as a kid and young adult, and after maybe 150+ recipes where do you go? You'll notice as the recipes diminished, the plain "cooking posts" have increased.

Anyway, there are about 15 or so recipes that get a bunch of traffic; many of them are "local kine" recipes, standards back home in Hawaii. Around this time of the year, I start getting a few hits for my Nishime recipe from back in 2006. Sheesh, do you even remember what you were doing in January of 2006? Nishime is somewhat of a pain to make…….but it's a labor of love I guess and it's a favorite during the holiday season back home….at least it used to be. Not sure about nowadays.

After I did an update to my Sukiyaki recipe, which wasn't much of a change from the original, which was also from back in March of 2006, the Missus suggested that I update my Nishime recipe. Probably because She wanted some Nishime and this would guarantee I'd make it.

There aren't that many changes. I've just incorporated steps that just seem to make sense to ramp up the flavor. Mom really never went as far…..she probably was as tired of making this every year as I get. The one step missing is the one to make kombu maki. I just tie the kanpyo into strips along with the konbu nowadays….who knows, maybe after reading this, the Missus will request the return of the konbu maki. Also, note that we now will sometimes use chicken thighs, instead of just pork. But we have added pork/chicken bones to the recipe.

Anyway, version 2014 looks pretty much the same.

The flavor has been bumped up a bit. And yes, I still don't buy the frozen premade araimo/satoimo, gobo, or konbu maki. All have preservatives which change the flavor.

Nishime – version 2014:

1 pound sliced lean pork, boneless, skinless, chicken thighs, or a combination of both
1-2 pounds pork bones or a chicken carcass quatered with boiling water poured over to descum
2-3Tb canola/grapeseed/avocado oil
4 cups water
2 – 36" Strips Nishime(not Dashi) Kombu(Kelp)
1 Strip Kanpyo (Dried Gourd)
2 Packages Shirataki
2 Cups Daikon cut into wedges
1 Cup Carrots cut using a rolling cut
2 Cans Takenoko Tips(Bamboo Shoot Tips)
2 Stalks Gobo (Burdock Root)
12-15 Satoimo/Araimo/Dasheen(Japanese Taro)
6 dried Shiitake mushroom
1/2 Cup Soy Sauce
1/4 Cup Sugar
1/4 Cup Mirin
1 Cup of reserved, strained mushroom liquid
1 Cup of kombu soaking liquid
2 Tb Sake
1/2 Tsp salt
2 Cloves Garlic Minced

– Place one large pot and one medium pot of water on the stove and bring to a boil.

– Soak dried mushroom in warm water for 30 minutes

– Soak Kombu and Kanpyo in water for 20 minutes.

– Cut Gobo in half; and scrape "skin/bark" off of root using a spoon. Immediately place in water to prevent discoloration.

– Place whole Araimo in large pot of boiling water and blanch. (Blanching makes the taro much easier to peel)

– If the smell or slight bitterness of Bamboo Shoots bothers you, pour half the boiling water from the medium pot over Bamboo Shoots, drain, cut into slices lengthwise.

– Open the packages of Shirataki (yam noodles) and place in a colander. Pour the rest boiling water over Shirataki to remove the "smell".

– Rinse Kombu and Kanpyo, and strip lengthwise if wider than 3 inches. Tie into knots at 2 inch intervals. Reserve 1 cup of Kombu soaking liquid

– Cut Gobo into 1/2" matchstick lengths. Parboil in water for several minutes (I use a microwave for 3 minutes on high), reserve ½ cup of  liquid.

– Remove the Araimo from boiling water, rinse, peel (Be careful if cutting the taro, it is very starchy and slippery), and place in water to avoid discoloration.

– Cut Daikon into "wedges", cut Carrots using a "rolling cut".

– Mince garlic.

– In a large pot or Dutch Oven, heat oil over medium heat. Add garlic and pork/chicken/bones and lightly brown

– Add water, all the vegetables(except Shiitakes), sugar, sake, and mirin. Bring to a low simmer and cook for 15 minutes.

– Remove mushrooms from soaking liquid and slice in half. Reserve 1 cup of soaking liquid. Add to the pot.

– Strain mushroom and kombu liquid.

– Add soy sauce, taste and add salt as desired.

– After 15 minutes, taste, and add mushroom and gobo liquid as desired.

– Simmer until daikon is translucent, but not falling apart.

– As with most stews, this tastes better the next day.

So there you go……… Nishime version 2014!

Maybe I need update my older recipes….the ones that are really popular like the Cold Ginger Chicken sauce, local kine oxtail soup, local kine chili, local kine Portuguese Bean Soup, etc, etc??? What do you think?

Happy New Year!