Now that I am cooking from scratch again, I am actively
seeking out things I miss from my youth.
In July I made the meatloaf recipe I grew up with. In July I also finally
made Filipino adobo, although it was chicken not pork like I had planned in
May. Filipino adobo was my signature
dish back pre-old life. I had not made
it in over a decade. The last time I
made it, I struggled because I used old white vinegar that had become more
potent sitting around. This time I used
rice wine vinegar. I was extremely proud
of the results. In September I finally
made Filipino pork adobo. My version is
not traditional. I cut the meat in bite
size pieces and thicken the sauce to gravy consistency. I also tend to simmer the meat from 45 minutes
to an hour, for more tender meat.
In August, I made Filipino chicken pancit with mung bean
threads for the first time. I was
happily surprise with how well the first attempt went. I learned a few things, especially since this
was the first time I used mung bean thread noodles. In June and August I made
my maternal grandmother’s zucchini casserole. Each attempt leads to me
perfecting things. In May I used a
microwave and in August I baked it. I
need to cook it longer and beat the eggs better in the next attempt. For the first time using a new cooking method,
things went well. Another old favorite
that I cooked as a youth I revisited in August was homemade taco meat. I made ground turkey tacos; this was my first
time using ground turkey. They came out very good, so good I ditched the plan
for ground turkey steaks for another batch. August I was shown how to make my mom’s pot of
beans, this time we use smoked pork shank.
I learned a wonderful trick to thickening the beans take the vegetables
and puree them, then add them back to the cooking liquid. It came out wonderful. I made it again by myself and mom gave it her
seal of approval.
A Facebook friend noticed that my dishes are extremely
eclectic with ethnic origins. Part of
that is growing up in an ethnically diverse family and in an ethically diverse
town in Southern California . I have cooked dishes from or inspired by the
following cuisines: Mexican, Tex-Mex, Cal-Mex, Indonesian, Filipino, Greek,
Middle Eastern, Thai, Russian, Cuban, Spanish, Irish, classic American, Indian
(as in India
One of the growing pains is not having some equipment. When I ended my old life in December of 2011,
I left all my cooking utensils and equipment. I work my way around that
stuff. My mother has been gifting me
equipment almost every gift giving occasion she can. I have a few kitchen appliances I have no
clue to use. I also have a few that are
a godsend. My Vitamix and my microwave
rice cooker are wonderful. Originally I
was going to make sorbets with my Vitamix, but I really enjoy the yogurt fruit
smoothies I have been making instead.
Since I do not have a whisk the Vitamix at low has been doing the job
for eggs. I started doing this after the
fact the whites and yolks were not complete mixed in August’s version of
Grandma’s zucchini casserole.
In August I finally had a culinary stumble. I made Hawaiian chicken Teriyaki. I found the version I made too sweet, almost
cloyingly. The plan is to add more soy
sauce and reduce the honey and the pineapple juice. Enough honey and pineapple juice will be in
it for flavor, but not to be the overpowering.
I am not sure the overly sweet flavor profile was from too much honey,
too much pineapple juice, or both. I did
learn that honey as a sugar substitute is not 1 for one but 2/3rds
to 1. This was bigger than something that needed tweaking. This was making the dish something I was not
happy with. In September I made Greek
spanakopita, and the phylo dough seemed burnt to me. My family thought it was wonderful.
One of the things I missed about cooking was cooking on the
fly. In May, I had planned Filipino pork
adobo, but ended up making slow cooked pork in barbeque sauce. In August, I had left over stuffing (Mexican
chorizo, onions and cheese mixture) from the stuffed Anaheim Madras Madras
I had originally in August planned on making a turkey ham
and cheese scramble with onions, eggs, turkey ham and cheese. I ended up making several different dishes
with it: turkey ham and eggs with hash browns, and turkey ham with corn and
mashed potatoes. I had originally
planned to make a version of lasagna with zucchini and summer squash as noodles
with spinach, but I have used spinach in spanakopita. It seemed like too much of one thing. I decided I would use mushrooms instead of
spinach, which works better as a meat substitute.
Getting back to cooking has done wonders for me. I get to experiment with flavors, cuisines
and techniques. It fills a creative void I have had for years. I did not know I
missed it. It is one thing I plan on
never giving up again. When I left the
old life, a dream I had was possibly to my own food cart or truck. In recovering my passion for cooking I want
that even more. I am going to work to
get more cooking tools to make that possible. I have a few recipe ideas I need
to play with, three dishes and a condiment.
Here are the past Menus:
May 2015
Chile relleno casserole, sopa de lima (Yucatan chicken and
lime soup), jalapeño jelly slow cooked pork tacos, Carroll Shelby’s chili con
carne using stew meat (with beans, corn, tomatoes, and Ortega chiles), Zatarain’s
dirty rice, slow cooked pork in barbecue sauce with mashed potatoes and corn, Mexican
chorizo and eggs, Greek tzatziki (yogurt, cucumber, garlic and dill sauce), roasted
garlic hummus (Middle Eastern garbanzo beans/chickpeas pureed with roasted
garlic, lemon juice, tahini{sesame seed paste}, olive oil, paprika), salsa,
guacamole, olive oil baked tortilla chips, sandwiches and bratwursts with
mashed potatoes.
June 2015
Thai Lemongrass and chicken soup, grandma’s zucchini casserole,
Zatarain’s Black beans and rice with linguiça sausage, Cuban mojo sauce
marinated roasted pork in mojo sauce with Zatarain’s Caribbean rice, Russian
style beef Stroganoff with rice, hamburger steaks with mashed potatoes, Polska
kielbasa scramble with hash browns and onions, Indonesian sweet pork with rice,
tzatziki, roasted garlic hummus, salsa, guacamole, olive oil baked tortillas
chips, and sandwiches.
July 2015
Zatarain’s red bean and rice with andouille sausage,
Filipino chicken adobo with rice, tortilla Española (Spanish tortilla: an
omelet of eggs, slice red potatoes and onions), Carroll Shelby’s chili con
carne using ground beef (with beans,
corn, tomatoes, and Ortega chiles), California scramble (eggs, onions, mild
green chiles, Spanish chorizo with avocado and salsa as garnishes), Quaker oats
meatloaf with Irish colcannon (mashed potatoes with leeks and kale), Dublin
Coddle (potatoes, onions, ham , parsley, Irish sausage, and nutmeg), Tamale pie
(corn bread type dish with tomatoes, green chiles, olives and onions, garnished
with cheese and enchilada sauce), tzatziki, roasted garlic hummus, salsa,
guacamole, and olive oil baked tortillas chips.
August
Indian Madras beef curry with Basmati rice, Filipino chicken
pancit with mung bean thread noodles, turkey ham with hash browns and eggs,
turkey ham with mashed potatoes, stuffed Anaheim peppers (stuffed with Mexican
chorizo, cheese and onion garnished with enchilada sauce and cheese), Mexican
chorizo and eggs with hash browns, onions and cheese garnished with enchilada
sauce, Hawaiian chicken teriyaki, Mexican pork chile verde with refried black beans
and homemade red rice (AKA Spanish/ Mexican rice), ground turkey tacos with vinegar based
coleslaw, Indian Madras chicken curry with jasmine rice, beans with smoked pork
shank, tzatziki, roasted garlic hummus, salsa, guacamole, and olive oil baked
tortilla chips.
September 2015
Chile relleno casserole, beans with smoked pork shank,
salsa, tzatziki sauce, Zatarain’s dirty brown rice with ground turkey (diced
tomatoes, corn, mild green chiles, roasted garlic and sweet onion added), Greek
spanakopita (spinach and feta cheese pie in phylo dough) with Greek tzatziki
sauce, Filipino pork adobo with jasmine rice, and Carroll Shelby’s Guilt-Free
turkey chili (with beans, corn, tomatoes, and Ortega chiles).
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