Here and There

Thursday, April 28, 2016

Sauerkraut

My aunt who is in her nineties and lives in a senior's apartment still mades her own sauerkraut. In talking to her, she told me how she made her sauerkraut now. The important thing was to buy a plastic container that is hard and safe for food. In researching this, the recycling symbol was important to find as the best food grade containers are HDPE or those that have the symbol #2. The molecules in this plastic are tightly packed so less plastic leaches into your food.

My Aunt stressed the important ingredient in making sauerkraut is coarse salt which is not iodized but called Pickling Salt. The iodized salt, regular salt will make your cabbage turn color. My Aunt does add thin slices of onion and allspice to her mixture, something I don't remember my Mom doing.

The cabbage is finely shredded with a mandolin cutter. My Dad had made my Mom a Mandolin cutter that looked like the pictures I found on the net for sale. The blade on her slicer looked sharpen which leads me to believe the blade could be taken out to be sharpen.

While living on the farm my Mom had a huge garden, I saw her shredding the cabbage for sauerkraut and placing the cabbage into a large stoneware crock.

The cabbage was pounded down as it is layered in the container. My Mom would salt the layers as she went along. She as my Aunt placed a few whole heads of cabbage at the bottom of the container to use for cabbage rolls.

My Mom had a stone that fit perfectly in the crock that she used to weigh down the cabbage to keep it submerged in liquid as it ferments. A piece of wood cut to fit the crock fit over the stone.

My Aunt weighs the cabbage down with a gallon of water in a plastic milk jug in a plastic container. Saran wrap covers the plastic container loosely then a white cloth.

In speaking to her today, she uses a large stainless steel bread bowl to mix her shredded cabbage. I had added the shredded cabbage to a smaller bowl but couldn't mix the cabbage well in the smaller container so did end up using my large bread bowl. When I mentioned that I had 3 pounds of shredded cabbage she said that wasn't very much! LOL! She also laughed when I asked her for a recipe saying there ready wasn't any but to keep things clean.

Although she did not measure the amount of salt, she thought it would be about a 1/2 cup added to the shredded cabbage in the bread bowl. She also added about a handful of whole allspice and thinly sliced onions.

Any scum that developed over the fermentation process would be removed. After a week, she tasted the sauerkraut and would package it in ziplock bags and freeze for later use if it had fermented enough. She felt this was the best way to keep the sauerkraut once it was fermented to her taste.

I used a knife as only had one cabbage to shred!

I did weigh out the amount of shredded cabbage and I had 3 pounds so to this I added 1 1/2 Tablespoon of Kosher salt.

I had come across a large glass bowl that I thought would be perfect for fermenting a small amount of cabbage.

Ingredients

3 pounds of shredded cabbage ( one large cabbage head)
1 1/2 T Kosher salt
handful whole Allspice
1 thinly sliced onion
handful of peppercorn

My aunt strongly advised against using caraway seeds

My solution for weighting down the shredded cabbage. I covered it with a tea towel to keep it dark!

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Hawaiian Spicy Mango Glazed Pork Ribs and Chicken Drumsticks

With the weather being dreary and wet, thoughts of our recent trip to Hawaii come to mind and especially the fruit glazed pork ribs that we sampled at Duke's on Kauai'i and the Kiki Grill and Bar in Honolulu.

Duke's Kauai
3610 Rice St, Lihue, HI 96766, United States

From the Restaurant's web site

In his lifetime, Duke Kahanamoku traveled all over the world and introduced people to the Hawaiian lifestyle and the sport of surfing. Duke visisted Kauai' and enjoyed the beach and bay right out in front of what is now Duke’s Kauai. He was a friend and mentor to Kalapaki Beach’s own legendary Beach Boy, Percy Kinimaka. You are invited to enjoy this stunning beach setting with views out to the crystal blue waters of Nawiliwili Bay and the Hoary Head Mountains beyond.

MANGO BBQ BABY BACK RIBS

Slow cooked, mango barbeque sauce glazed, grilled Big Island style, with steamed white rice and coleslaw

Tiki's Grill & Bar

2570 Kalakaua Avenue, Honolulu, Hawaii 96815
at the ResortQuest Waikiki Beach Hotel, Second Level ... Fabulous views of Waikiki Beach

From the restaurant's website

A hip, open-air restaurant with a retro South Pacific design and experience, Tiki's Grill & Bar features a menu highlighting the flavors of the islands prepared in an open exhibition kitchen. The restaurant appeals to residents and visitors alike and draws the late-night crowd with live contemporary Hawaiian entertainment every evening. Tiki's Grill & Bar provides a casual American and Pacific-Rim menu with flavors of the islands, using fresh local produce. Tiki’s offers lanai seating with beautiful sunsets on Kuhio Beach. Established in October of 2002 as a family restaurant and bar, Tiki's is located on the second floor in the newly renovated ResortQuest Waikiki Beach Hotel. Lined with 13-foot tiki torches and topped with a 30-foot, red-glowing volcano, capping the outside bar area. A full service dining establishment, Tiki's is only a brief drive from Honolulu International Airport and offers the finest in Hawaii regional cuisine, wine and spirits.

Guava Glazed Baby Back Ribs

A rack of St. Louis-style baby back ribs glazed with our

signature guava barbecue sauce

Roll your own Korean Taco's

Thinly sliced & marinated beef ribeye, served sizzling

on a cast iron skillet. Island made Sinaloa white corn

mini pups, lomilomi tomatoes, Mrs. Chengs tofu, Nalo

Farms honey & ko chu jang dipping sauce, housemade

kimchee & Kula butter lettuce for you to roll & eat.

Yesterday, I saw Caribbean Pot do Spicy Mango Chicken Wings and I did follow his recipe for the Mango sauce but used chicken drumsticks and pork recipes in place of chicken wings.

I marinaded the meat in the juice of two orange in place of lime juice, chopped fresh spring onions from the garden, salt and pepper.

Spicy Mango Sauce

2 cans of Mango puree
Chopped Jalapeno pepper
Fresh chopped thyme from my garden
1 T corn syrup/honey
2 T butter
salt and pepper
1 T fresh ginger

The mango puree was placed in a sauce pan and simmer to reduce the volume. I was not pleased with the reduction as it was not thick or sweet, very bland. I usually use honey, but had used it up at Christmas so used the corn syrup which Caribbean Pot does suggest. He also uses thyme for this sauce, but I did find the Thyme too earthy for this sauce. Maybe it was the freshness of thyme from my garden.

Since I also did not have a lime, I used oranges instead which did not give it the zip that a lime would, so I added freshly chopped ginger to the sauce. The butter finished off the sauce nicely.

The meat baked in the oven for 30 minutes at 325 until cooked, uncovered.

After the meat was cooked, the meat was covered in the sauce and returned to the oven for 5 to 10 minutes to be browned.

Interesting enough, Murder She Wrote the murder mystery show last night was filmed in Hawaii!

The glaze used did brown nicely but lacked flavor.. A mango or peach jam or the spicy Mango chutney I have in the refrig would have worked much nicer. Definitely the lime would have given better flavor and acidity to the sauce.

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Garlicky Oyster sauce Gai Lan, Chinese Broccoli

The best recipes are those that you get from others. Yesterday I picked up some Chinese Broccoli, Gai Lan and asked the Chinese lady who was stocking the fresh vegetables on the shelves how she prepared the vegetable at home. She happily told me the steps she used to prepare this leafy green vegetable. The recipe is very much how our friend prepares it for his family in Regina. Garlicky Oyster Sauce Chinese Broccoli is my favourite dish to order at dim sum. So easily done at home!

After washing the Gai Lan, trim off the leaves so you have manageable pieces to eat with chop sticks. I left the pieces whole but one could cut them even smaller.

The vegetable is par-boiled in hot boiling water for 2-3 minutes, until the leaves wilt. The Gai Lan is then dropped into icy cold water to keep the vibrant color.

Oyster Sauce

3 Tablespoon water
3 Tablespoon Oyster Sauce
1 Teaspoon soya sauce
1Tsp Sesame seed oil
1 tsp sugar
Black pepper and red pepper chilies
garlic cloves, minced

Mix together and beep in Microwave 1 -2 minutes until sauce is hot

Pour sauce over the parboiled broccoli. Sprinkle sesame seeds over the veggies.

My friend did stir fry the parboiled vegetable in hot oil, after he had browned the minced garlic and chile flakes in the hot oil. Since I was braising beef chunks in the oven, I placed the serving dish with the Chinese broccoli and sauce to warm up before serving!

The recipe was a winner, and I will be making it again. Although my 4 1/2 year old grandchild was most disappointed that when I said I was serving dim sum, it was not steamed BBQ pork buns!

Sunday, March 13, 2016

French Onion soup au Gratin with Meatballs

This recipe came through one of the food sites on FaceBook on National Meatball and then I couldn't find it. Basically it is baked meatballs in French Onion Soup.. The meatballs were suppose to be stuffed with cheese cube and caramelized onions.. But the slices of onions were too large so I just used a cube of cheese, which if I was to do this again would use cooked chopped mushrooms and onions. I remember doing stuffed cheese burgers when they were the rage, but only once, this time, I can't say I could see the cheese!

My hubby is always assigned to do the meatballs and patties as he always very precise and the meatballs are uniform as are the patties.

I use one package of beef and pork which made about 50 meatballs, 40 of which I froze for later use.

To the meat mixture, add one egg, dried mustard and Worcestershire sauce, mix and form into small meatballs.

Caramelize 1-2 onions using water or wine. I use a Canadian Chef ( Michael Smith) method of steaming the onions until soft and golden. The use of a lid and liquid helps the onion cook slowly and caramelize to a golden color. Add the onions to a broth, I never use prepared broth, use homemade broth if you have or just add more water. Check out MIchael Smith's video for the soup.

To assemble, layer the onions in the broth into a cast iron skillet, then the uncooked mushroom, I added whole mushrooms which my hubby took out and sliced! Then the uncooked meatballs.

Bake at 325 to 350 for about 20-25 minutes, then add the grated mozzarella cheese and bake until meatballs are cooked and the mozzarella bubbly! Add parsley, which I didn't have but fresh grated parmesan was added!

I used mini skillet cast iron pans for individual serving, but will be making this dish in a larger skillet as an appetizer for a group. Enjoy with French Bread.

Saturday, March 12, 2016

Vietnamese Spring Rolls

This is a recipe that I have been doing since we lived in another city and used to eat these delicious Vietnamese Spring rolls in a restaurant. The wrappers were filled with fresh vegetables, pork and shrimp and then deep fried!

My whole family loved these spring rolls which we all dissected to see what was in the wrappers. The stuffing was not minced so easily identified and easily made at home.

I have been making these for my daughter in university as a quick supper. They are her favourite and I still continue to have a supply in my freezer.

There is no real recipe other than using a package of ground meat, chicken or pork, thinly sliced Chinese cabbage or regular cabbage, grated 2 -3 carrots, diced small onion, grated ginger, handful of chopped cilantro. Mix well. The filling is a very mixture and you can add more to create a very colourful filling.

Sauté the meat and finely chopped onion.. Thinly sliced pea pods, green onions are nice.. However, bean sprouts are a pain as they poke through your wrapper!!
Chopped shrimp can also be added to the filling. I don't put garlic into the filling as I can't stand the smell in the deep freeze as they are first frozen on a cookie sheet before packing them in a covered container.

The spring roll wrappers that I find are the easiest to use and do not tear are made in Singapore by Spring Home, TYJ Spring Roll Pastry. These can be found in the Asian section of your super market.

About 2 tablespoons of the filling were added to the centre of the wrapping.

The wrapper was folded up and then each side was folded inward to make an envelope. A trick I learned was to dab a bit of a flour and water mixture at the top end to help the wrapper stick together.

The package of 50 wrappers, even though I made a big bowl of filling, 5 wrappers were left over. Not a problem, wrap half a banana and enjoy it with maple syrup or ice cream!

!

Since I had Tourtiere filling leftover. I used this along with caramelized onion, hot mango sauce, slivers of pineapple , cabbage and cilantro.

This filling was very tasty and as always tasters are a favourite of my hubby and I!

The spring rolls can be deep fried but I have been baking them in my toaster oven for years. Lightly spray the uncooked spring rolls with cooking oil and bake until golden and crispy, about 20 minutes! Serve with a sweet and sour sauce, my husband loves Hoisin sauce.

Tourtiere Pies, Meat pies

One of the things I like to have in my freezer is frozen mini Tourtiere Pies. These little pies were always sent uncooked with my daughter when she attended university. All she had to do was vent the pie to allow steam to escape as she baked a pie for 30 to 40 minutes at 350. She said by the time she could smell the pie baking, she was ready to enjoy her supper. Gravy is traditional served with meat pies but Fresh Salsa is delicious and not as heavy as gravy!

A French Canadian friend who grew up in French Canadian village talk about this dish always been served after midnight Christmas Eve mass.

There are many versions of meat pies in Quebec using different meats and spices depending on the area.

The ground meat is cooked first and then layered into an uncooked pie pastry. I use a combination of beef and pork along with sautéing a small finely diced onion.

I used 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp cloves, 1 tsp dry mustard and tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce as the spices. It is a fragrant pie while baking.

Since this was a complete meal for my daughter, I liked to add peas to the meat pie which she liked or never complained about it!

From the standard pie pastry recipe, I am able to make six very packed meat pies. It occurred to me that I have never baked these pies in a mini size so do not have any pictures of a baked mini meat pie. I have prepared these pies for my new son in law's birthday this week, who also loves these pies. These pies are ready to be packed into a ziplock bag once frozen.

Thursday, March 3, 2016

Vegetable Noodle Bowl with Homemade Ponzu Dressing

This easy noodle bowl dish is refreshing and delicious. It is a good way to use up vegetables in your refrigerator. Perfect as a lenten dish or to reduce the amount of meat in our diet.

Ponzu dressing is a citrus based watery thin soya dressing which you can also buy in the Asian section of the Supermarket but easily made at home.

Ponzu Dressing:

1/4 c soya sauce
1/4 c water
2-3 T mirin/sake
2-3 T rice vinegar
3- 4 T lemon juice or lime juice
1 T dried Bonito flakes
1-2 tsp Chili flakes
Rind from the fruit

A combination of lime and lemon as the juice is very nice. I also used a small chunk of Jalapeños in place of chilli flakes.

Combine the ingredients in a sauce pan and bring to boil. Stain sauce into a jar.

For this noodle salad use a combination of vegetables.

I dehydrated Shitake Mushrooms in hot water until soft, then sliced them thinly as this mushroom is very meaty. White mushroom can also be used.

Pan fry the mushrooms in a bit of olive oil along with minced garlic clove and minced fresh garlic. You can add a hot chilli

Add finely sliced vegetables. I used cabbage, white onion and red bell peppers.

To assemble either in a single bowl or family style eating, add the cooked noodle, then the sautéed vegetables, grated carrots, finely chopped cilantro. I topped this with steamed shrimp, drizzled the Ponzu dressing, sprinkled sesame seed.

The combination is endless, other vegetables such as pea pods, bok choy, Chinese Cabbage, peanuts and green Onions.