Saturday, January 10, 2009

Wicked Asian Noodle Soup

The other night after work my friend Will, and I stopped at the local Korean market to get some sashimi and sushi, but we were a litte late and they were out of sushi so I got some Ramen style noodles to go with the sashimi.

I also got some shrimp (21-26) to add to the noodles. The shrimp had to cleaned and peeled so I put the soup base up and chopped a some onions. After a quick marinade, I sauteed the shrimp in a small sauce pan.
As it turned out, the soup came out really good and wickedly spicy and hot. I chopped a few chives and added it to the soup as a garnish. All I can tell is the combination of the hot and spciy soup in contrast to the cool and clean raw fish was absolutely sublime. I take such pleasure in the consumption of sashimi, and savor every bite, particularly the tuna.


I thoroughly enjoyed a quickly and easily prepared meal after a day at the office...

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Kal's Egg Salad Sandwich


When I was a young boy growing up in Hawaii, my grandma used to live downstairs in our house and she would make all kinds of different foods for us kids, me and my two older brothers. Some of the food I fondly remember her making for me included buttermilk pancakes, avocado jam and the basis for this story, egg salad.

For something so simple, it's amazing how different egg salads can be. Every time I make it, I seem to do it differently. But the one that seems to work and taste best, also takes longer to make so it's not what I'd call fast-food.

Basically after hard boiling the eggs, I separate the yoke part and season with salt and pepper maybe a touch of paprika for color. The white are roughly chopped with sizable peices. I like the crunch of onions so I chop about a quarter of a sweet onion. I also like the sweetness of relish so I add a teaspoon and combine it all with a heaping tablespoon of light mayonnaise.

Spread between two slices of Arnold's Oatnut bread, topped with nice green leafy lettuce or spinach and a slice of tomato and voi·là! Kal's egg salad sandwich.

PS: My heart doctor recommends Arnold's as one of the best store bought bread, mainly because it is one of the only breads that do not contain high fructose corn syrup. And, it taste good too...

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Wednesday, January 7, 2009

My version of a Pulled Pork Sandwich


I've made a version of pulled pork before, and while it came out pretty good I wanted to try something different this time. So I took my basic recipe, which was basically a typical bbq style pulled pork and changed it up a bit...

I knew I was only going to make enough for two may three people so I didn't go crazy with the meat. At my local Korean market, I found 2 lbs. of what they called Pork Rib End Loin, it was nicely marbled and I knew it would make a nice pulled pork meal.

So I gave it a good rub of ginger powder, salt and pepper and sprinkled it with a bit sesame oil and placed it in a bowl with two roughly chopped garlic cloves, soy sauce, ginger sauce and bit of sugar. I let it marinate for about an hour, I'm sure it would be better if I had to time to let it go longer, even overnight. Any way, I browned the meat in a large skillet and then set it aside. In the same pan I added a little more olive oil and sesame oil and whole sweet vidalia onion julienned and another two coarsely chopped cloves of garlic. I sauteed them until they were nice and tender, and deglazed the pan a cup of white wine. I returned the pork to the pan and added another cup of chicken broth, covered the skillet, turned the heat way down and went to watch the tube.

After about two and half hours on low heat I checked the meat for tenderness and since it was a pretty small roast it was nicely done in that time. I took the meat out, let rest for a bit while I made a quick roux for the gravy.

Here's the pan after I took out the meat.
The roux was basic but it made a great difference to the sauce. Just gave it a nice creamy smooth texture that I was looking for. By this time the onions had pretty much dissolved right into the sauce and added more body.

By this time, the meat was so nice and tender, it pulled part easily with two forks.

All that was needed now was some good artisan bread to put it on and I found a nice long rustic loaf of Garlic Peppercorn bread. Very nice indeed...


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I Decided to Blog

This is my first attempt at doing a blog. I've been wanting to develop a venue where I could share my passion for food. So here is where I will post pictures of my encounters and endeavors with buying, eating and preparing various foods. I will share with you some of my recipes and ventures to various stores, places and restaurants where food is King.