Recipes – Page 9

Guajillo Adobo Grilled Chicken

September 23, 2012 mmm-yoso Cookbooks, Cooking, Recipes

The Missus has noted that I really don't do many Mexican inspired dishes, so I figured why not do something for the grill on this lazy Sunday. A recent impulse buy at Northgate Market were some Guajillo Chilies, which are quite common in many recipes.

I decided to do something simple from Roberto Santibanez's cookbook, Truly Mexican. There's a recipe for a Guajillo based adobo that sounded like it would be great with chicken and there is indeed a recipe for grilled chicken using this sauce a few pages later in the book. As I usually would do, I initially followed the recipe, which means that several steps that I'd usually take were bypassed; I didn't use the chili soaking liquid for the sauce, nor did I toast the garlic like I'd usually do. When I got the sauce together I tasted it….and though the smokiness of the peppers came through, along with the mild tart-puckeriness, I ended up adjusting to our taste by adding a whole bulb of garlic and twice the amount of apple cider vinegar. The flavor was now more complex, but still lacked something……I ended up raiding the Missus's "healthy stash" and using some agave syrup to give it a bit more umph…. Guajillo's aren't especially hot, but don't get fooled there's a mild sneaky heat. The sauce came out a beautiful smokey red……looking like a good barbecue sauce……and with mild spice, smoke, and sweet, you could probably make one with a few adjustments.

The book says a two hour marinade is good enough, but I think more is warranted. Anyway, the chicken still came out nice and was topped with some of the extra sauce. The Missus is going to use the leftover sauce for shrimp, which I think will be quite good.

Adobo de Guajillo
12 Guajillo Chilies – each about 3 1/2/ – 5" long, wiped clean, stemmed, slit open with seeds and veins removed
water
1 cup water
4-8 cloves garlic
3 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 tsp sea salt
2 tsp white sugar
2 Tb agave syrup
1 tsp ground cumin
black pepper to taste

– heat a heavy skillet or griddle (I used my cast iron pan) over medium heat
– toast the chilies for a few minutes, pressing down frequently, turning several times until fragrant and the chilies have slight changed color and even blackened in a few spots.
– tear chilies in half and over with water, soak for 30 minutes
– after 30 minutes, drain the chilies
– place chilies along with 1/2 cup water and the rest of the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth
– add more water as sauce becomes too thick
– make sure to taste and adjust flavor

Pollo Adobado
2 pound chicken thighs
salt
1/2 cup Adobo de Guajillo

– mix all items together in a ziploc bag and marinate for at least 2 hours (I recommend more)

– Grill to your heart's content

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

The Smoked Greek Style Lamb Chop Experiment

August 31, 2012 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

Well, I did need something to accompany my beans, right? Plus, every once in a while I like to experiment around….play with my food if you will. Plus, I've been getting quite a bit of mileage out of my stove top smoker….so why not? When thinking this out, I thought the biggest problem would be getting a nice caramelization on my lamb loin chops….a bunch of pretty inexpensive stuff from Costco….I wasn't going to play around with anything too pricey.

So I decided to do a quick marinade while waiting out my beans.

1 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil – everyday variety, not the good stuff
3/4 Cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 bulb of garlic (yes, bulb)
2 bay leaves
1 tb Turkish oregano

I threw everything into the food processor and let rip. Combined with lamb in a gallon ziploc for two hours. After the allotted time, I poured everything out into a large bowl, removed the chops, scrapping off excess marinade and set in the smoker.

I'll admit, not the prettiest thing in the world….two hours was good as the lemon juice hadn't "cooked" the meat too much. Of course this is hot smoking, I used oak this time around.

While the chops were smoking, I poured the excess marinade into a small pot, added a bit more olive oil, salt, and fresh ground black pepper, heated to a boil, then simmered for a few minutes. I decided to sear my chops after smoking and would use this to baste.

After 20 minutes of smoking, I opened up the smoker, got my trusty cast iron pan onto the big kahuna and some ripping high heat and quickly seared the chops. Actually, these were not bad…….

They had a nice, light smoked, almost cured flavor, light lemon tones, and surprisingly, not very strong garlic flavor.

I gave several of the chops to one of the Missus' coworkers, who is not a big fan of lamb and he really enjoyed it.

Who said that we shouldn't play with our food?

Happy Friday everyone!

Greek Style Giant White Beans

August 28, 2012 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

Much like the smoked swordfish, this was something the Missus wanted me to make since we got back from Rhodes this past year. She enjoyed the version from Taverna Kostas (to the right), but wanted something more hearty and moist. At first this seemed like a pretty easy task….but it took me three tries to get something that the Missus enjoyed. First problem; where to get "gigantes", Greek Giant White Beans. I tried large limas, but it wasn't quite the same. I eventually luckily found some dried giant white beans at Balboa Market, not quite the same, but passable. The bean portion is pretty routine….soak overnight. The combination cooking portion I found interesting. The straigh simmer, saute, than bake just didn't do it the first two times. The last time, I played around a bit and made the adjustments for the Missus' tastes. I also went against the old wives tale of not adding acid during the simmer….I added 7 roma tomatoes and two whole heads of garlic with the tops chopped and didn't find that it prolonged the cooking time of about 1-1/2 hour. I ended up heating a ddukbaegi (Korean earthenware pot) in the oven, coating with olive oil then added the beans with a light layer of extra virgin olive oil on the top to finish.

Anyway….here goes.

Soak 1 pound giant lima or giant white beans overnight.

The Simmer
Drained beans
Water to cover
7-8 roma tomatoes with an 'x' sliced on the bottom
1-2 whole bulbs of garlic, loose "skin" removed, top chopped off
4-5 whole sprigs fresh dill
1 tablespoon crushed dried oregano
2 bay leaves

– combine all items above
– simmer for 1 hour, then check for doneness
– remove garlic, tomatoes, dill sprigs, bay leaf, and any skin that has come off tomato
– when tomatoes are cool enough remove all skin, squeeze garlic out off bulb, chop tomatoes, reserve
– simmer until beans are done
– drain beans saving 1 cup of simmering liquid
– preheat oven to 450 (I also placed the ddukbaegi in the oven to heat)

The Saute
Drained beans
chopped tomatoes
garlic
1 – 1 1/2 jars of tomato paste. (I like the brand to my left – it's very tangy)
3-4 Tb chopped fresh dill
1 tsp dry oregano crushed
1/2 tsp sugar (if necessary)
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
reserved simmering liquid (if necessary)

– in the same pot used for simmering the beans, heat olive oil over medium heat, add chopped roma tomatoes, garlic, oregano, tomato paste.
– when the tomato mixture becomes fragrant, add beans, dill, salt and pepper and set the heat at low and mix to combine well.
– taste, add sugar if necessary, adjust flavor, add more tomato paste, salt, and pepper.
– heat through. If the mixture is very dry add a bit of the bean simmering liquid.

The Bake
– Coat the pan, pot, whatever with olive oil
– place beans in pot and heat or broil to finish.

For our taste, the beans should be well coated and fairly dry. What you on top is a light layer of extra virgin olive oil that was bubbling away. Once mixed it was all incorporated into the dish. Again, maybe not traditional, but made to our tastes!

Local Kine Stovetop Smoked Swordfish

August 21, 2012 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

The Missus requested one thing for Herself on my last trip home….no it wasn't (almost tho') jewelry, shoes, a handbag, or gasp, heaven forbid mac nuts. She wanted some smoked fish. So a small cooler and some gel packs later, She got a pound of smoked marlin and some smoked taco….which She proceeded to wack in a couple of meals.

Then of course came my mission…..She didn't want to wait for our next trip back; it was time for me to make this at home….like pronto. So over the course of the last couple of weeks, I came up with something similar. The easiest fish to find was swordfish, though I prefer marlin. Tasting the smoked fish, I figured it to be a soy sauce-sugar/mirin/honey-H20-sesame oil-granulated garlic-ginger kind of thing. This was going to be a bit tricky since I was hot smoking using my Camerons Stovetop Smoker which had served me well over the years. So after the first try, I had pretty much got the marinade fairly close to a starting point for future fun. You can use this for perhaps 2 – 2 1/2 pounds of fish or more. My smoker can hold about a pound-and-a-half.

So here's the marinade sans the red food coloring……

Marinade:
3/4 cup Aloha Shoyu
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup Hoisin Sauce
1 tablespoon granulated garlic
1 teaspoon ground Korean chili powder
3-4 tablespoons ginger juice
3-4 tablespoons good sesame oil
3-4 tablespoons Mulyeot – Korean Malt Syrup
– Combine ingredients, mix well

I was surprised at how much sesame oil and ginger juice this recipe can handle. I'm sure we can bump up both and be perfectly happy.

I sliced the swordfish into strips and marinated overnight in a gallon ziploc bag - about 12 hours or so, before smoking. I used mesquite, because the flavor is somewhat similar to kiawe.

Smoking is interesting. For now I'm at about 35-40 minutes, but may try to cut that down a bit. The longer you smoke the drier the fish will become. Which leads me to the last thing. About 5 minutes before the smoking is complete, I mix 3 tablespoon sesame oil and 3 tablespoons honey and heat in the microwave for 20 seconds.

When the smoking is done, I immediately brush the sesame oil-honey mixture onto the fish. This adds flavor and seals in whatever moisture is left.

I let cool, then refrigerate.

I'd been wondering how the Missus has been eating this…it's usually pupus. I found that She uses it on salads, with even more sesame oil on top and whatever dressing She's feeling like….or even making Her own pseudo temaki.

Hey, who am I to argue. As they say…."Happy wife equals happy life!"

Happy Tuesday to you!

Cumin, Sichuan Peppercorn, and Five Spice Chicken

August 14, 2012 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

This has been my go-to recipe for a while. The Missus and Her ever changing eating habits….chia seeds, hemp seeds, sprouted raw almonds, no red meat, no cooked red meat, no chicken or turkey, but duck, coconut oil, agave syrup……..I'll never know what might appear when I open that refrigerator door. So on those nights when the Missus has Her meals set…..right now it's tons of salmon and having me perfect smoked fish, I'll often go to this pseudo-recipe, inspired by Yang Rou Chuan, those grilled skewers of lamb you'll find on street corners in China.

I'm lucky to have my own stash to go to……..ground cumin from Xinjiang, soon to be replaced by the good stuff from Penzey's, smoked salt, sea salt, Sichuan Peppercorn from Chengdu, Five Spice from QingDao, Korean ground chilies, good quality granulated garlic…….

I get my chicken skin on and dust the skin side with some potato starch before first searing, skin side down in my cast iron pan with some grapeseed oil. I found that you can get grapeseed oil for pretty reasonable prices at places like North Park Produce. For some reason a smear of Hoisin Sauce just brings everything together.

Of course, it's not for everybody….the flowery-anise-armpit smells can be a bit strong for some. For me, it's my go to chicken dish….for now.

This past weekend the Missus wanted some Grilled Tamarind Shrimp to eat in lettuce cups….oh, right now, carbs are persona non grata as well.

So I bought a couple of boned chicken legs from Nijiya and decided to see if these would really taste good over charcoal.

I seasoned these more heavily, especially with salt. I tried to keep the skin facing all one way……so I could start over the hot coals skin side down…..perhaps crisp them up a bit.

In spite of thinking that I had seasoned these pretty heavily; I think I could have used even more salt. Still, there was a nice savory-buzz(from the Sichuan peppercorns), with a touch of heat.

The Missus even went ahead and made the little lettuce and herb garnish for my plate….cute, huh?

I think I'll do these again…….

Ed’s Easy Looozanna Style Greens

August 4, 2012 ed fromyuma Cajun, Southern, and Soul Food, Cooking, Recipes, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!

mmm-yoso!!! is a foodblog. Kirk posts the most about his cooking and eating at home and in restaurants around the world. He lets Cathy and Ed (from Yuma) post about eating and cooking as well. Today, Ed is sharing a favorite easy meal he likes to fix.

I still remember the first time I ever tasted stewed greens. I was picking up an order of fried chicken to go, and the clerk asked which two side dishes I wanted. On a whim, I decided to try the greens because I had heard about greens but never tasted them. It was love at first bite.

Since then, I have worked at learning how to make greens. Nowadays, some version of stewed greens is my default choice to bring to a Super Bowl party or other potluck. Of course, I never make it exactly the same, but I thought I would share my basic recipe with my friends at mmm-yoso!!!

To make a mess of greens as a main course for two or three people, I would start with a couple of bunches of greens:

The greens on the right are collards, the ones on the left mustard greens. Collards tend to have a firm texture and a very mild cabbage like flavor. To my taste about 1/2 to 1/3 of the greens should be collards. Mustard and turnip greens have a more pronounced flavor and a softer texture. I usually choose whichever one is available and looks the best in the store. It is perfectly okay to mix all three.

Then I remove all of the large central stems. I know some people leave them in, but the stems have little flavor and cook at a different rate:

Then I always wash the greens:

One thing that can really ruin greens is having dirt and grit in the final product. Rinsing also gets rid of any dust and reduces lingering pesticide – if any – I hope.

I then spread the leaves on top of each other on a cutting board and cut through them horizontally and vertically so that most pieces will be 1-2 inch squares:

The other ingredients are even easier to prepare. I cut an onion in half, peel it, lay it down on the cut sides, and slice it lengthwise:

Then slice it horizontally to produce a pile of onion:

Half an onion would have been sufficient for two bunches of greens, but little extra onion doesn't hurt.

To make good greens, I always use some type of smoked/salted meat. My absolute favorite is Bruce Aidells Cajun Style Andouille smoked pork sausage:

This sausage adds complex spicy notes to the smoked meat flavors. I think of it as Looozanna style greens when fixed this way. This particular evening, I sliced up three links to put in the pot:

The number of sausages can vary without changing the basic recipe. In general, one to two sausages per bunch of greens is great if I'm serving the dish as a main course. If I'm bringing it to a potluck or serving it as a side dish, I might use one sausage link for every 3 or 4 bunches of greens.

The cooking process for the greens is very simple. On this evening, I used Tina's 12 inch Dutch oven:

I began by sautéing the onions in a couple three tablespoons (I actually did not measure) of oil:

After they were softened and turning translucent, I added the sliced Andouille sausage and just cooked long enough to warm the sausage slices:

I then put in the collards, nearly filling the pot:

After I stirred them quickly, I dumped in the mustard greens:

Now you can see why using a large Dutch oven or similar stewpot comes in handy.

At this point, I always add some chicken stock. This particular time, I used Kitchen Basics unsalted broth since the sausages are salty themselves:

Two scant cups of stock were plenty of liquid:

I also added a half teaspoon (or so) of black pepper and at least as much red pepper. Sometimes I have used Korean crushed red chilies, sometimes Italian style hot pepper flakes, but Tina's friend Krystal had sent us some excellent spicy and flavorful Basque ground red peppers, which added a nice zing to the dish:

When the greens began to stew, they still had a fresh green color:

45 min. later, the greens were cooked tender and looked like this:

Just before it was time to serve them, I added 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar:

The finishing touch was some freshly grated nutmeg:

A bowl of the greens looked like this:

Tasty. Even the broth (called pot liquor) is really flavorful. Add a pan of cornbread, and this is a meal for 2 adults and a couple of kids easy.

Written out, this is the list of ingredients.

2 bunches greens (1 collard, 1 mustard)

3 Aidells Andouille smoked pork sausage links

1 chopped onion

3 Tbs olive or other cooking oil

2 cups chicken stock

Black and red pepper to taste

Salt to taste

2 Tbs cider or red wine vinegar

2-3 pinches grated nutmeg

I hope you like this easy recipe as much as I do.

Spicy Tuna Poke

July 7, 2012 mmm-yoso Cooking, Poke, Recipes

I'm feeling quite sheepish as I type up this post……..you see I'm not a big fan of spicy tuna rolls. In fact, if you do a search on "Spicy Tuna Roll" on this blog, I don't think you'll come up with much. And yet, on our last trip home, the Missus really enjoyed the spicy ahi poke from Lana'i Ohana Poke Market and She asked me to make it. What could I do?

I felt kinda bad using such good quality maguro for this, but it's what She wanted. I also warned Her that mayonnaise is a key ingredient, the Missus claims a total aversion to it, but I've always thought She was closet mayo lover and this proves me right again. Anyway, I saw spicy poke everywhere on my last couple of trips home.

This one is easy…..the spicy tuna thing is very basic stuff. You could add something like Mad Dog Habanero Extract and really do some damage. Perhaps after finding out how easy it really is, you'll just make the stuff at home and eat the good stuff when you get sushi.

I'm really not sure what the Missus will want next.

Spicy Tuna Poke:

1/2 lb diced ahi or maguro
3-4 tb minced red or sweet onion
2 stalks scallions minced – green parts only
2 tb tobiko (flying fish roe) plus more for use as a topping
1/3 cup mayo (Hellmans or Best Foods)
2-3 tb shoyu
3-4 tb Sriracha (or more to taste)
ground chilies to taste
1 tsp sesame oil

– Combine mayo, shoyu, sriracha, and ground chilies
– Gently mix together tuna, onions, and green onions
– Add mayo mixture and tobiko, mix gently
– Add sesame oil, taste an adjust flavoring

As you can tell, I had some fun with my food and plated on a bed of finely diced cucumber. I used a Spam musubi mold to get the shape.

I made some typical shoyu poke for me. While the spicy tuna was a rectangle on a round plate….I did a circle on a rectangular plate……..

Jus' fo' fun…you know?

Smoked Portobello Mushroom with Crab, Avocado, and Smoked Corn salad

July 5, 2012 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

I'm kinda behind this year………I haven't even started grilling yet. Maybe I'm just a bit lazy; who knows? What I have been using quite a bit is my Cameron Stovetop Smoker. Since I bought it over 7 years ago, I've gotten quite a bit of use out of it. Of course, there's just so much smoked corn you can make. I've made so much corn and smoked salmon, that it's gotten kind of, well, boring…..

Still, the Missus loves Her smoked corn…… So I tried to think of something I'd really never made before and decided to smoke some portobello mushrooms. Of course there's the smoked corn. I ended up making a sort of salad/salsa/relish using the smoked corn, avocado, tomato, and red onion. And what goes better with corn and avocado than some crab meat….it was a nice exercise in cleaning out what I had in the fridge and came out pretty good as well.

Actually, the one I made for the Missus had a bit more crab meat…….

Super easy as well. I took the stems off the mushrooms and using a skewer poked about 5-7 holes in the cap of the mushrooms. I covered with a couple of tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, seasoned with some smoked salt and smoked for about an hour.

The salad is really easy:

Crab, Avocado, and Smoked Corn Salad
2 cups smoked corn
2-3 roma tomatoes seeded and finely diced
1/2 medium red onion finely diced
1-2 avocados finely diced
3 Tb minced cilantro
4 Tb extra virgin olive oil
salt, pepper, and balsamic vinegar to taste.
4 ounces lump crab meat
smoked paprika and cayenne

– Gently combine first five items
– Add olive oil and gently combine
– Season to taste. Let sit at least 20 minutes in the fridge before using
– Top salad with 1 ounce of crab meat
– Sprinkle on paprika and cayenne to taste

You could make about 4 smoked portobellos with this recipe….you could probably do well with grilled mushrooms as well. Heck while you're at it, I'm thinking that celery or cucumber might be nice in this salad as well. Of course, if you have leftover salad you can eat them in lettuce cups…..or be kinda strange like me and use it as a dip for pop chips…….

Easy Roasted Eggplant with Tomato and Greek Yogurt

June 26, 2012 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

Well, it doesn't get much easier than this………

I was looking at the cover of Yotam Ottolenghi's fantastic cookbook, Plenty. And that eggplant dish on the cover looked really good. I'd had some success with other recipes in the book, so I thought I'd use his method for roasting the eggplant in the oven. I set the oven at 400. I had four medium small eggplant and cut them down the center. I then scored them, making sure not to cut all the way through the skin of the eggplant. I then placed the eggplant cut side up on parchment paper, brushed the slices with about a half cup of extra virgin olive oil, seasoned them with sea salt, pepper, and about a half teaspoon of dried oregano.

Roasted at 400 for about 40 minutes gave me this.

These were allowed to cool down completely and were then put away for the next day.

The recipe in the book uses lemon thyme in addition to the salt and pepper and tops with pomegranate and a buttermilk-yogurt sauce. I went with mixing a half cup of yogurt with two cloves of garlic confit. I topped with diced tomato and a good quality extra virgin olive oil. A slice of lemon provided the possibility of a bit more of an acid punch.

Doesn't get much easier than this……..

Gambas Al Ajillo – Garlic Shrimp

June 18, 2012 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

This one is for the person who once told me that, "if garlic extends your life, you're going to live forever!" Ha…….

It seems that it's very American to love big things, but sometimes that's just doesn't work right, like the guy who walks up to the raw bar and tells the oyster dude, "gimme your biggest oysters", which we've actually seen. Ranks up there with ""Marie, now just stay calm. Stay calm. Don't look down, don't look down! Look up! Just keep your eyes up and keep them that way, o.k.! Waiter there are snails on her plate. Now get them out of here before she sees them! Look away, just look away, keep your eyes that way! You would think that in a fancy restaurant at these prices you could keep the snails off the food! There are so many snails there you can't even see the food! Now take those away and bring us those melted cheese sandwich appetizers you talked me out of!"
"Can you believe this? First, they didn't have the bamboo umbrellas for the wine, and now snails on the food!"

Anyway, I saw some pretty good looking 41/50 shrimp, pre-frozen of course…what did you expect for $5.99 a pound. But quickly decided to try and make some Spanish inspired garlic shrimp….which came out pretty good. I deveined, but left the shell on, whew, that was something I won't do all the time…… Anyway, the small shrimp cooked to a wonderful opaque in about 3-4 minutes. For even a bit more, I marinated the shrimp in garlic, pepper, oregano, red onion, and olive oil to bring it to room temp for about 20 minutes. Remember to have your shrimp bone dry before marinating. Nice meal….or snack with some bread. Cut the amount of garlic in half if you like….This dish is NSFW…..DON'T take the leftovers to work, unless you're a vampire slayer. You don't want the pan raging hot on this one, the shrimp will end up being tough and overcooked, the olive oil bitter, and the wine flavor raw. Not much else…..just another easy recipe. Have fun!

Gambas Al Ajillo (Garlic Shrimp):

3/4 lb 41/50 shrimp deveined with the shell on

Marinade:
1 bulb of garlic minced
1/2 medium red onion minced
1/2 tsp dry oregano crushed
fresh ground black pepper to taste
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
dash of crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 cup crisp white wine
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp smoked Spanish paprika
sea salt to taste

– Marinate shrimp for about 20-30 minutes
– Place a saute pan over high heat and add 1/4 cup olive oil and crushed red pepper
– When red pepper starts to sizzle add shrimp mixing well
– As shrimp starts to turn color add paprika and white wine and let foam away
– Add lemon juice and salt to taste before removing from heat

I also let the dish cool just a tad before serving….it seems to help the flavors fuse together a bit more. Of course, it could just be my imagination….or all that garlic at work!

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