Sweet and Sour sauce

 Tonight we had crab rangoon and I didn’t have a good dipping sauce so found this recipe from, “101 Asian Dishes You Need to Cook Before You Die” - Sweet and Sour Pork with Pineapple. It’s nice and tangy and slightly like bbq sauce but not off-putting as too much like bbq for the rangoon. 

3 Tb water

4 Tb sugar 

3 Tb vinegar (I used white)

1/2 cup ketchup (I used Trader Joe’s organic which is really good)

3 Tb Worcestershire sauce (Baldwin’s)http://www.baldwinextracts.com/baldwin-specialty-items.html

1 Tb cornstarch mixed with 1 Tb water

Bring mixture to a boil and simmer for 3 minutes to thicken. 

Makes about 1 1/2 cups. 

Eel Sauce

 Found this tucked in a cookbook. I couldn’t find it until recently! 

It’s meant to be drizzled on like a thick sauce. It’s been a couple years but trust me, it’s good. 

Eel Sauce

1 cup mirin

1/2 cup sake

1 cup sugar

4 teaspoons Hondashi pellets (Japanese product) 

Stir to dissolve. Boil.

Add 1 cup soy sauce, boil again then reduce to simmer 15 minutes. Bring back to boil then add a cornstarch slurry of 1 Tb cold water to 1 Tb cornstarch. Stir. Boil 5 min. Cool 1 hour then bottle. 

Buckeyes

 

INGREDIENTS

• 1 lb creamy peanut butter

• 2 sticks softened butter

• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

• 1 lb confectioners’ sugar

• 4 cups semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

• In a large bowl, mix together the peanut butter, butter, vanilla and confectioners’ sugar. Roll into 1 inch balls and place on a waxed paper-lined cookie sheet.
• Chill in freezer until firm, about 30 minutes.
• Melt chocolate chips in a double boiler or in a bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water. Stir frequently until smooth.
• Press a toothpick into the top of the peanut butter ball as the handle for dipping into the chocolate. Dip frozen peanut butter balls in chocolate holding onto the toothpick. Leave a small portion of peanut butter showing at the top to make them look like Buckeyes. Put back on the cookie sheet and refrigerate until serving!

Bánh mì By Mark Bittman

Makes: 4 servings

Time: 30 minutes

Bánh mì — a Vietnamese-style hoagie — is often a complicated affair with different components. Here it’s pared down to the absolute essentials: pork and pickled vegetables. Pretty cool for 30 minutes.

Ingredients

• 1 small daikon radish or 4 small regular red radishes

• 1 large carrot

• 1 small cucumber

• Salt

• 3 tablespoons sugar

• 1-inch fresh ginger

• 1 garlic clove

• 1 tablespoon peanut oil

• 1 pound ground pork

• 1 tablespoon fish sauce

• 1 tablespoon soy sauce

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise

• 2 teaspoons Sriracha, or more to taste

• 4 hard sub rolls

• Several sprigs fresh cilantro

Instructions

1. Trim and peel the daikon or 4 small radishes, carrot, and cucumber. Cut the cucumber in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds with a spoon. If you’re using a food processor for grating, cut the vegetables into chunks that will fit through the feed tube. Shred them by machine or by hand on a box grater. Put the vegetables in a colander in the sink; sprinkle with 1 tablespoon salt and 3 tablespoons sugar, and toss. Let sit.

2. Put a large skillet over medium-high heat. Peel and mince 1-inch ginger and 1 garlic clove. Add 1 tablespoon peanut oil to the skillet along with the ginger and garlic. After a quick stir, add the ground pork; let it brown in the pan, 2 or 3 minutes. 

3. Add 1 tablespoon each fish sauce and soy sauce to the pork. Stir and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated, 3 to 5 minutes. When the pork is fully cooked, remove the pan from the heat.

4. Turn the broiler to high; put the rack 6 inches from the heat. While it heats, stir together 1/2 cup mayonnaise and 2 teaspoons Sriracha in a small bowl. Split the sub rolls open and broil them until lightly toasted, 1 to 3 minutes. When the sub rolls are toasted, remove them from the broiler; spread with Sriracha mayonnaise.

5. By now, the shredded vegetables will have released some water; squeeze out the water through the colander. Divide the vegetables among the sub rolls. Lay the pork on top of the shredded vegetables. Top with several cilantro sprigs (stems and all) and serve.

Tofu Banh Mi
Skip the ground pork. (If you also skip the fish sauce and use eggless mayo, this becomes vegan.) In step 2, crumble 1 ½ pounds (1 ½ blocks) firm for extra-firm tofu into the skillet. Cook, stirring, and scraping the bottom of the skillet occasionally, and adjusting the heat as necessary, until the tofu browns and crisps as much or as little as you like it, anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger and cook until fragrant, about a minute, then stir in the fish sauce and soy sauce. Proceed with the recipe.

Potato Asparagus Soup

Delicious springtime soup! 

 

INGREDIENTS 

2 Tb butter

1 chopped shallot

2 cups or 1 bunch asparagus, chopped into soup-sized pieces

1 russet potato (or red potato), diced up

1 cup milk

1 cup chicken broth (I used boillon in water

1 can Campbell's cream of chicken soup with herbs (don't add water)

Saute the shallots in butter until soft/beginning to brown. 

Add 2 Tb flour and another pat of butter if it turns into a big lump. Cook for a minute. 

Add the liquid slowly and stir to a smooth consistency then add the veggies. Cook to a boil then cover and simmer 10 minutes. Make sure to stir every couple minutes because the potatoes will stick to the pot. 

Pepper to taste. I don't think it needs salt. 

Top with sour cream and grated cheese. 

I don't cook with Campbells soups much- in this soup it lends it some creamy body. It's not notably herbal but perhaps adds a depth to the flavor. The potato bits are like little pillows when you get them. Like baked potato soup in a way but not so heavy. 

Soy and Honey Glazed Salmon

 

Soy and Honey Glazed Salmon

INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons honey (like Spring Blossom from Carlisle Honey)
2 tablespoons soy sauce (like Whisky Barrel Aged Shoyu )
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (we like using meyer lemons)
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard (like Fallot Dijon Mustard)
1 tablespoon water
1 taablespoon sesame oil
2 6-ounce salmon fillets

PREPARATION
1. In a small bowl whisk together honey, soy sauce (shoyu), lemon juice, mustard, water and oil. 

2. Place glaze in a flat dish and put salmon skin side up in the dish. Let sit for 20-30 minutes in the marinade.

3. Preheat oven to 475. 

4. Remove salmon from dish (reserve the glaze) and place salmon on a sheet pan lined with parchment. 

5. Bake until salmon is just cooked through, 8-12 minutes.

6. While salmon is baking, add reserved glaze to skillet and simmer, stirring, 1-3 minutes. 

7. Pour glaze over salmon and serve. 

From Formaggio Kitchen where you can find the cheese & chile sauce. 

Marc's Queso Dip

February 3, 2021

Marc Hernandez

INGREDIENTS
8oz Reading cheese, grated
1 cup of a light lager beer
1/4 cup Zia hatch green chile sauce
1 onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon cornstarch
Salt and pepper  

PREPARATION
1. Sauté onion and green bell pepper in butter on medium high heat until softened.
2. Add garlic and sauté until aromatic.
3. Add spices and hatch green chile sauce and cook until fragrant.
4. Add 1 cup of beer and bring to a simmer.
5. Meanwhile, toss cheese with cornstarch.
6. Turn down heat to medium low and slowly add cheese, whisking to incorporate.
7. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
8. Serve with a dollop of guacamole, cilantro, sliced jalapeños and crumbled chorizo.

 

 

Blue Cheese Dip

INGREDIENTS
8oz Bayley Hazen Blue cheese, crumbled
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon grated garlic
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Season with salt to taste

PREPARATION
1. Crumble the blue cheese.
2. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl, preferably a couple hours before you want to serve the dip.
3. Store in the refrigerator until ready to use.