Food Maker, Chef, and Traveling Diner
I’d like to introduce you all to my little brother Kyle. He’s a little brother/fireman/married/ condo owner/foodie/wearer of plaid. But those are just a couple of little things about him. Most of all he’s my little brother who likes to think I’m his little sister …
I love going out almost as much as I love eating in. It isn’t uncommon for me to spend a good chunk of money supporting my favorite local eateries or going to try somewhere new on the map or at least new to me. My …
Lets just make this quick and dirty. well not too dirty
I made these with the absolute intention of making space in the fridge. I used to make “Fuji wraps” which is what my co workers would ask me for when Italian wasn’t cutting it for the evening. They were a mixture of diced veggies and meat in a soy and spicy Asian sauce piled into Romain lettuce. This is actually a play on a spinach salad this wrap. It can be mixed into a more Italian style by using balsamic vinegar instead of Sriracha , pancetta instead of turkey bacon , and extra virgin olive oil instead of soy sauce.
I hope you fill your lettuce with all things yummy and enjoy the spring with some fresh veggies.
4 pieces of turkey bacon sliced
1 cup of shredded cooked chicken
2 1/2 cups of spinach leaves washed
1/2 small onion minced
1 clove of garlic minced
1/2 cup of corn cut from the cob
1 tablespoon of oil
1 tablespoon of soy sauce (this is adjusted more or less regarding salt of your bacon and how your chicken was cooked)
Sriracha to taste
black pepper to taste
5-7 pieces of Romain lettuce
put oil in the pan heat till hot add sliced pieces of turkey bacon cook till crisp and set aside on a paper towel
to the pot add onion and saute till translucent then add garlic and cook for 5 minutes
add spinach and corn and cook till spinach is wilted and corn is heated through
last add the cooked chicken and turkey bacon so it doesn’t get dry. heat it through and incorporate all ingredients
If you want the turkey bacon to be really crispy top the lettuce wraps with the bacon and don’t mix in with the other moist ingredients
Add soy sauce and black pepper
Taste and adjust seasoning
Scoop into lettuce leaves and Top with Sriracha to your preference.
Easy!
if you make it the Italian way then you just render the pancetta like the turkey bacon, set it aside
add balsamic to the chicken to season
and top with very good extra virgin olive oil to finish
Cheers
A couple of Saturdays ago I was lucky enough to take part in a fashion blogger get together. As you know I’m not a fashion blogger but one of my very good friends Stephanie from the-loudmouth.com is and she had invited me to dine with …
These women are the core of my heart. They have taught me more then I could ever imagine. My family is created of these die hard matrons who make everything in their lives about their families. These are the people who taught me my love …
In Los Angeles its spring in full motion, the clouds are peaking from the top of the sky for the weekend with a bit of rain but the weather reached over 100 one day this week and in the last couple of days it has been at least 85 degrees and I’ve been sun bathing and taking in the glory of the season.
I love cooking for the weather. If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s hot heavy foods that stick to your ribs when its 100 degrees out.
I’ve been looking for very light delicious options for food these days that are fast and clean up easy. Having a new baby in the house has dramatically affected my kitchen situation. She is so beautiful and worth it but its very hard to food blog at times and devote the time to cooking, writing, photographing so all you out there doing so with your busy lives I commend you on all your hard work.
I think I’m starting to get the hang of it a bit. I’m still looking for kitchens to use whenever possible so if you’re in the LA area and would like to cook or have someone cook for you let me know.
These spring rolls are something my sister in laws mother had made around Christmas time. I thought the flavor of the peanut sauce and the ingredients were so wonderful that I would have to make them sometime. I knew that I would probably make them for cooking class which I did but also ended up making some for friends at a dinner party, vegetarian ones for my best friend, and some sausage and shrimp for my family. The ingredients are fairly simple there is a different way to prepare them for everyone so I definitely believe this is something anyone herbivore carnivore alike should try. This is a pretty inexpensive appetizer or light meal you can make these beautiful spring time rolls and stun your family and friends. I hope you enjoy.
Spring Rolls with pickled vegetables, fresh herbs, shrimp, and longanizas
Medium sized Rice Paper
Vermicelli noodles
2 Carrots peeled and cut into ¼ inch strips
½ small Cucumber cut into ¼ inch strips
Small piece of Dikon radish peeled and cut into ¼ inch strips
½ cup of rice wine vinegar (you can use seasoned if you want a simple way to pickle the vegetables)
If using unseasoned add about a teaspoon and ½ of salt and 3 tablespoons of sugar to vinegar and dissolve then add carrots dikon and cucumber let soak at least an hour in fridge or for longer if you want a more intense pickling . This step can be omitted and the carrots and dikon can just be steamed or boiled for about 5 minutes instead then placed in a ice bath.
Shrimp Peeled Deveined and sautéed in oil salt and pepper to taste
Longanizas (philipino chorizo) grilled or baked till warmed through, then cooled, and sliced into strips or omitted
Cilantro picked from stems
Mint leaves picked from stems
Once you prepared all vegetables and meats that you want in your spring rolls
place vermicelli noodles in extremely hot water and let soak till pliable about 3-4 minutes drain
In a dish large enough to hold your rice paper place hot- very warm water. Make sure it’s not too hot that you are unable to place your hands in the water to soften the rice paper.
Take a piece of rice paper and place the 1st edge of the paper in the water then rotate the rice paper around so that its outer edges have been soaked all the way around in one rotation. Then place the paper completely submerged in the water and flip once. The paper should now seem very pliable, be care to not have it stick to itself when taking out from water. Place on a flat surface so that the paper is not folding over on itself.
About ½ way in the middle of the paper put down 3 or 4 shrimp on the wrapper
Then place rice noodles
pickled vegetables
herbs
and sausage
Then to roll the spring roll
Lift the edge of the rice paper closest to you and cover the ingredients you placed in the center of the roll.
Be careful not to pull the wrapper too hard or it will tear, cover the ingredients with the rice paper and tuck the one side under
Then tuck the right side of the paper over toward the center And then the left
Continue to roll the center closed and press the sides of the spring roll in tightly
Finally you’ll reach the other side and the roll will be complete
Peanut sauce
¾ cup peanut better smooth or chunky depending on your preference of smooth or chunky sauce. I made it with both its good each way
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon of rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons of sambal chile sauce or Sriracha (change this for your preference of heat)
½ to 1 cup of water (depending on how thick you want your sauce to be)So I Mix these ingredients together to form a slightly thick sauce that is sweet spicy and salty the combination of flavors goes very well with this spring roll.
These can also be done vegetarian no meat inside and some roasted peanuts for crunch.
I hope these seem a little more approachable to you all
Cheers
Unrivaledkitch
½ Pig head including eye, Beef Tongue, Lamb Neck, Bone Marrow, meaty amazing indulgence, I believe so. I’ve wanted to go to The Gorbals for a very long time. This restaurant and its Chef Ilan Hall have always intrigued my mind and interested my senses …
Easter was really wonderful I hope you all had a beautiful day with loved ones or just a relaxing day of rest. I know not everyone is allotted that time but i hope you were or if not you get a day like that soon. We …
I’m not really a huge fan of breakfast. But there are times when the breakfast mood does strike me and making myself breakfast is always the only way to cure it. I don’t wake up early unless I have to. I did while I was going to yoga classes and I might try making myself go in the morning but it’s so hard to get out of bed when I don’t normally go to sleep until after 3AM.
When I was growing up my mom would fix us breakfast. She always made these little potatoes she micro waved with seasoning salt and mixed eggs and Chorizo with them. To this day that’s still one of my favorite breakfast items to eat, though I always roast potatoes in the oven. I’m going to make homemade chorizo soon. And I’m talking about Mexican chorizo not Spanish. On occasion my mom used to also make Nopales and eggs. Nopales are cactus pedals; they are cleaned from their spikes and boiled till tender. Cactus has a flavor unlike anything I’ve ever had before; it’s tangy and has a bit of a slimy texture to them. The slime can be avoided by fresh cactus and double boiling but it’s always going to have a little of that characteristic difference.
I decided I wanted to pick some up from the store and to my surprise fresh cactus is amazing. My mom used to use the kind out of a jar which I think is still good too. Fresh cactus is a little laborious to prepare but once it’s done it’s really amazing. Here’s my recipe for preparing blanched cactus.
Pick Cactus pedals that are not too large or to wilted or shriveled.
The larger they are the tougher they tend to be
Run a knife over the pedals to get off each of the pricks then wash with water to make sure their all gone
Take the cactus and cut it into strips and then into bite sized pieces
After all the chopping and dicing is handled, rinse with water twice.
Place all cacti in a large pot
Cover with cold water
Add about a teaspoon of salt
Boil until just about fork tender about 10-12 minutes depending on how large your pot of water is and how much cactus is in it this time will vary so go off the tenderness of the cactus you don’t want them to be hard but they can’t be mush
The water will be really thick drain it off
Add fresh water to nopales and cook for about 5 minutes
Drain again
Use cooked cactus in any way you’d like
With this cactus I made a quick Frittata with Cotija cheese, spinach, tomatoes and cactus.
I love Cotija cheese, it’s a Mexican cheese that is called Cotija because that’s the city in Mexico… Cotija, Michoacán where it was first made. Cotija is a hard cow’s milk cheese that can have a similar flavor to a mixture of feta and Parmesan. I love both hence loving this cheese as well.
If you ever venture out of your comfort zone please try a delicious Mexican style frittata such as this one.
This frittata is not as eggy as traditional ones are because of the moisture of all the veggies. I like mine that way because I don’t like a whole ton of egg so adjust accordingly. I also used some sliced peeled and seeded tomatoes on the bottom of the frittata for freshness. This recipe can be modified to do the same thing or just scrambled instead of the other steps its all delicious.
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1/2 small white onion minced
1 clove of garlic chopped
1/2 cup of chopped tomatoes
1 1/2 cups of prepared cactus
1 cup of chopped spinach
1/2 cup cotija cheese add more or less depending on how much cheese you like in your frittata (this is a strong cheese so taste it before you use it) it can be substituted with queso fresco or for milder flavors
8 eggs
1/4 cup milk
preheat oven to 400 degrees
Place oil in bottom of pan (either use an oven safe pan or you can transfer the vegetables to a 9 inch baking cake pan) on medium high heat. Add onion and garlic and saute till translucent, add tomatoes and cook for couple of minutes then add spinach and cook till wilted and most of the liquid is evaporated ad cactus and mix together till thoroughly combined add salt and pepper to about a pinch of each. Set aside with fire off. In a bowl mix together cracked eggs, milk, and cheese setting aside about a couple of tablespoons to sprinkle over the top.
Top the vegetable mixture with the egg mixture use a spatula to kind of pull away at the edges so the egg goes to the bottom of the pan sprinkle the rest of the cheese over the top and place in the oven for about 10 minutes
Flip out of pan and eat.
I hope you enjoy and even if you don’t maybe your exposed to something new.
A little reminder. If any food bloggers are interested.
As I’ve mentioned previously I am partaking in this wonderful food blogger event at Nancy’s blog spiciefoodie called Your Best Recipe. Each month i’ll post a link to spiciefoodies blog and she and many of my other fellow food bloggers come together that month to feature their favorite recipe they featured on their blog. Mine for this month are my Vegan clementine blueberry cupcakes with candied blueberry compote. This is a very important recipe to me so if you haven’t taken a look you should and you should also make the cakes, their awesome. If your a blogger please click this link and sign up to take part in the event yourselves. On the 30th i’ll post a link back to her post so you can check out the beautiful food others have made. Thank you Nancy for hosting this awesome event.
This is what the round up looked like for March YBR MARCH
Cheers guys
Much Gratitude
Unrivaledkitch
One of the most precious gifts I’m able to give is being a teacher. But one of the most difficult things for me is to be taught. My inner teacher can often be a cruel bitch but it’s getting better. Teaching brings about a level …