Kalua Pork

Hawaiian Style Smoked Pork

Despite the calendar saying that Spring is here, the not so spring like weather dampens the (sprit of the) barbeque grill. My husband braved the rain to go out and light the first of many barbeques to come .

No hole in the ground nor banana leaves required for Cook's Country’s Kalua Pork recipe, took about 5 hours to complete (excluding the 24 hour dry rub marinating time). Salty meat is great companion for hot cooked rice, OK let’s have Luau night…I wish that Jake Shimabukuro was entertaining us with his Jimmy Hendrix like ukulele awesomeness (He got a gig in Portland, Oregon on 3/16 which we couldn’t get tickets to)!

Ingredients and Instruction for approximately 4 servings  (Print Recipe Here)

Equipment: charcoal grill or gas grill, disposable aluminum pan, heavy–duty foil

• 3 Tablespoons green tea leaves Note: I used decaffeinated tea
• 2 - 3 teaspoons Kosher salt
• 1 Tablespoon baked brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 2 - 3 pounds boneless pork butt roast
• 6 cups mesquite wood chips, soaked in water for 15 minutes.

1. Combine tea, salt, sugar and pepper in bowl. Dry pork with paper towel and rub with tea mixture.Wrap meat tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 6 to 24 hours
   
2. Prepare wood chips – wrap 2 cups soaked chips into heavy duty foil. repeat process to make 2 more wood chip packets for a total of 3 packets. Cut several vent holes in each packet. Set aside.
3. Place pork in a disposable aluminum pan then cover the pan loosely with foil. Poke lots of 1/4 inch vent holes (20 or so) in foil.
4. Ready for charcoal grill – Open bottom vent halfway. Light large chimney starter three-quarters full with charcoal briquettes. When top coals are partially covered with ash, pour into steeply banked pile against side of grill. Place wood chip packets on coals. Set cooking grate in place, cover and open lid vent halfway. Heat grill  until hot and wood chips are smoking about 5 minutes. Go to step # 6
5. Ready for a gas grill  - Place wood chip packets over primary burner. Turn all burners to high, cover and heat grill until hot and wood chips are smoking about 15 minutes. Turn primary burner to medium–high and turn off other burners. Adjust burners as needed to maintain grill temperature at 300 degrees
   . 
6. Place pan on cool part of grill. Cover and cook for 2 hours. See that wood chips are charred black.
    
7. Position the oven rack to lower-medium. Heat oven to 325F Remove pan from grill. Cover pan tightly with new sheet of foil, put in the preheated oven and bake until tender about 2 hours. Let pork rest, covered for 30 minutes. Unwrap and when meat is cool enough to handle, shred into bite-size pieces.
   
8. Strain the juice through fine mesh and pour juice the over meat. Serve with rice. (pork can be refrigerated for up to 3 days).

I was excited when I received 1st place prize of Chocolate Lover’s Recipe Contest from Marcela. The macaron making kit was really neat!Ta-da! Looks professional, ya? Thank you fabulous blogger friend!

I saw this on Youtube, ‘Frozen fried egg’.  I challenged it too and posted it on instagram. #todaystapas – this is tempura egg.
Amazing right? Loaded with calories for sure.

Also on #todaystapas - Inspired by amazing blogger Angie’s Recipes…I didn't have the right ingredients like black quinoa though my compromised version was not bad. The coral color tulip I nipped from backyard.

Our backyard weeping cherry tree…blooms last only a week., this is where I get melancholy…everything moves so fast..wait! Why don’t you stop and smell the roses or somethin…

Enjoy the Spring!

Steak Irish Pie

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

 

My part Irish husband and I celebrate this day by wearing green outfits, maybe listen to his favorite Irish music from Enya, Gaelic Storm, Corrs, Great Big Sea…while having dinner consisting of corned beef, cabbage and potato. Perhaps do River Dance afterward…just kidding!

But this year, out of normalcy, I bought a bottle of beer to made the Irish pie! It seems there is no good substitute for beer…Oh heck!  Standing in front of a specialty beer refrigerator for several minutes at a super market, I was totally lost.

Luckily, a gentleman beside me pointed me in the right direction…you need stout beer? Stout means dark beer…let me see… yep, that’ll work.

Whew…that was awkward. Next year, we’re having corn beef, cabbage and potatoes.

Ingredients and Instruction for 1 deep dish pie (Print Recipe Here)

Recommend equipment: Electric pressure cooker

• 2 pounds steak, cut into chunks
• 1 Tablespoon flour
• 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil or olive oil
• 8 slices bacon  chopped
• 2 large onions minced
• 10-12 fresh mushrooms sliced
• 12 ounce Irish stout beer
• 1 Tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
• 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 package double-crust frozen pie pastry, thawed – I made from scratch using Barefoot Contessa/ Ina Garten’s pie crust recipe.
  First step - chilling all the ingredients in refrigerator – Perfect!

I

• Egg wash (1 egg and 1 Tablespoon water, beat well)

1. Place meat on a large plate and sprinkle with flour or put meat and flour in a zip-lock bag bag, close tight and shake to coat. Set aside.
2. Set pressure cooker on brown mode then pour in oil, add bacon and sauté until bacon starts to sizzle. Add steak and continue to sauté till browned.
3. Transfer bacon and steak with slotted ladle to a same plate (#1), leaving juice and fat in the pan.
4. Put onion and mushroom in the pressure cooker, cook and stir occasionally until onions are lightly browned and mushrooms are tender.
5. Put meat and bacon back in the pressure cooker. Pour in the beer, add parsley. Set the pressure cooker on low pressure mode and cook for 30 minutes then switch to simmer and cook for 2 hours until gravy has thickened.
6. Heat oven to 400F.Line a deep-dish 9 inch pie plate with a pie crust and bake in the preheated oven until crust is partially cooked and lightly browned, about 10 minutes. ( I poked several holes then lined with aluminum foil and put pie weights in then bake for 10 minutes first. Remove pie weights and bake for additional 3-5 minutes). Remove it from oven. Keep the oven on.
7. Spoon cooked steak filling into the baked pie crust. Cover with another crust. Press the top crust and *bottom crust to seal tightly.* bottom crust is hot so handle with care.
    
8. Brush top with egg wash. Place pie pan on the rimmed cookie sheet to prevent spillage and bake for 10 to 15 minutes until golden brown. Serve with sour cream if you like. Variation: Add 1-2 Tablespoons of raisins for little sweetness.

My husband made beer bread using the rest. It resembles brioche.

As you know March 14th 2015 (3-14-15) was Pie Day.

Today’s TAPAS (#todaystapas) also I posted pies made with left over pie dough.  Happy Birthday Einstein!

3 more days to official Spring!

Eggplant Teriyaki Don

Speedy one skillet dish

While looking for something else in the refrigerator I spotted the PURPLE! Eggplant is my least go-to vegetable though, a store was having a great sale…I bought it…that was more than two weeks ago…oopsy but lucky! it still looks plump and elegantly gangling…opposite of me!

I think I mentioned it before but If I am stuck on what to make for supper then I search for clues at Cookpad.com. Type in the name of the ingredients in the search box (just like allrecipe.com, right?), and voila! Thousands of recipes to choose from….yowza!
What attracted me to this recipe is simplicity and quick clean up.

Ingredients and Instruction for 2 servings (Print Recipe Here)

Note: seasoning is suggestion, adjust according to your taste.

• 4 Tablespoons soy sauce
• 4 Tablespoons of sake
• 4 Tablespoons mirin (seasoned cooking sake wine)
• 2 Tablespoons sugar, preferably *Sanonto (三温糖) sugar, fine to substitute with light brown sugar *In my old 2012 post I used this type of sugar in one of my favorite bread and see photos of the gorgeous hotel I stayed.
• 2-3 Tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 eggplant approximately 8 oz..Slice or cut in big chunks
• 1/2 pound thinly sliced pork, slice in half if it’s too wide
• 2-3 Tablespoons potato starch
• 8-10 shiso leaves sliced (optional but nice to have)
• Toasted white sesame seeds (optional)
• Cooked rice

1. Mix soy sauce, sake, mirin and sugar in a small bowl. Set aside
2. Dust eggplant and pork lightly with potato starch. I put eggplant in bag with potato starch to shake to coat.
   
3. Heat oil in nonstick frying pan at medium heat. Add eggplant and sauté till limp then add pork and sauté until cooked through, about 4-5 minutes. Note: add more oil if the pan seems too dry.
4. Give soy sauce mixture (step #1) one last stir and pour the mixture around the perimeter of the pan. Quickly stir to coat all ingredients, about 1 minute. Variation: Pour 1/4 cup water for saucy version. Add little bit of gochujang if you like it hot!
5. Serve over warm rice and top with shiso leaves or white sesame seeds..

Last weeks' Today’s TAPAS – Inari sushi fun! Chicks and peas in a pod, pickles.
Against definition of tapas – ‘You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means’ – I post dessert once in a while. Below is Vanilla and Chocolate Custard, fresh Mango rose.

The highlight of last week – Some from my husband’s office had an opportunity to volunteer one day to cook and serve for homeless youth at downtown Portland.

I think those are daffodils blooming in the distance… cheerful sight isn’t it?

Have a wonderful week!

Power Bread

Soybean and black sesame Bread

Although I posted this bread recipe in 2012, I would like to do a re-match! I didn’t have a ‘print recipe here’ thingy back then so re-posting is kind of nice and at the same time satisfies our craving for this unique bread.

I purchased the ingredients and handed them to my husband, here they are, Good luck! His came out fluffier and aromatic. Hey, what is your secret? What? New bread maker? When?

Ingredients and Instruction for 1 8x3x4 loaf pan (Print Recipe here)

Equipment: bread maker

• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup water
• 100 g soybeans
• 250 g bread flour plus extra for dusting work surface
• 4 g instant dry yeast
• 10 g sugar
• 15 g egg beaten
• 170 ml milk
• 15 g butter cut into cubes plus some for greasing the pan
• 5 g salt
• 20 g black sesame seeds

1. Dissolve salt in water in a medium size bowl. Soak soybeans overnight.
2. Next day - In a bread maker, place flour in a mound, make a little cavity in flour, bury the yeast and cover with flour. Add sugar, egg, then pour milk around the edges of flour. Add the butter and salt.Select dough course and run it.
   
3. About 20 minutes in, add drained and patted dry with paper towel beans and black sesame seeds then continue to let the bread maker finish the process.  
4. When the dough is ready, put on the flour dusted surface (he didn’t need since he did it on a on silicon pad). Divide the dough in half and make balls. Grease pan with butter and put the two dough balls in the pan. Grease top of the bread balls then cover with plastic wrap. Raise the bread for 2nd time about 50 minutes to 1 hour in a *warm place (122F). * Our kitchen was warm enough so he just let it rise at room temperature.
5. Heat oven to 356F. Bake it for 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on rack. Store the slightly warm bread in a plastic bag to keep moist. Serve with butter. Particularly nice toasted.

Variation – let the bread maker do all the work start to finish. We bake in the separate loaf pan because of looks.

Last week’s my best Today’s TAPAS instagram post (#todaystapas) – bite size menchi katsu (breaded fried hamburger)…love the juicy wholesome bite! I made a dozen and served them for supper…smart move! Right?

Happy Girl’s Day! Today, March 3rd is Hinamatsuri in Japan. I made temari sushi (temari means handball, sushi rice formed to mimic a ball) to celebrate.

Only 17 days to Spring! There are many signs of Spring in our neighborhood. I wish I could share this nice weather with you…