Al Pastor Tacos

I've been obsessed with al pastor tacos of late, and whenever I go out of town I return home with a serious craving for Mexican food, so I thought I would finally try to make my own.  I did some research and came up with my own recipe for the marinade consisting of rehydrated Guajillo and Arbol chilis, cumin seed, Mexican oregano, pineapple chunks and whole garlic cloves, which I pureed into a loose paste.  Next I took a pork shoulder and sliced it into 1-inch steaks, which I combined with the marinade for a few hours before searing them in a cast-iron pan and setting them aside to rest.  I finished it by chopping the rested pork and putting it back in the pan with salt and more pineapple chunks to give it a nice crust, and then I served it in warm tortillas with some fresh chopped onion for some extra bite.  These turned out amazing!  The pork was smoky and savory from the chills and cumin, yet sweet from the pineapple.  I would put these up against any Mexican grandma's age-old recipe.  Bring it on, Guadalupe!

Ahi Sashimi

A 1:00 flight back to the mainland meant one last morning food excursion.  After picking up coffee, a breakfast burrito and Spam musubi for the road, I had to have a final serving of fresh fish.  This time I went for the Ahi tuna, sliced sashimi style with the serrated bread knife that turned out to be a worthy kitchen workhorse this week.  In the spirit of letting fresh, local ingredients shine on their own, I served it with just some Aloha brand soy sauce.  It was so simple, yet melt-in-your-mouth satisfying.  A perfect way to end a great vacation.

Pan-Seared Opah with Pineapple Salsa

I've been trying to cook with only local ingredients while on vacation, so that means no tortillas or other comforts of home.  The opah belly (aka moonfish) looked particularly good, so I seasoned it with s&p and pan seared them in butter.  I also made a salsa with locally-grown pineapple, tomatoes, onion and lime juice.  I finished off the dish with leftover brown rice from another unfinished plate lunch.  The fish was buttery with a firm texture, and the salsa gave it a perfect tropical accent.  I am sure Roy's would charge at least $35 for this entree, and it cost me under $15 to put out two of them...f Roy's!

Seared Albacore - Part 2

After a few minutes in the marinade, I seared the steaks rare in a non-stick pan (the only one available) and served them with some leftover rice from my plate lunch and a quick avocado salad made with a locally-grown avocado seasoned with salt and pepper (brought my own salt and a disposable plastic pepper grinder).  As expected the tuna was super fresh, and the avocado -- a classic compliment to tuna -- gave it a nice creaminess to round it out.

Seared Albacore - Part 1

The family is on vacation in Maui this week, and our condo has a full kitchen, which I have been putting to good use.  The local market has a really good selection of fresh fish, and since the kitchen is not as well equipped as I would like (I've been using a bread knife, if that tells you anything), I've been keeping the preparations simple.  This was an amazing piece of albacore tuna -- glistening and smelled like the ocean -- so all I did with it was cut it into steaks, which I marinated in soy sauce.  Stay tuned for the finale...

Salmon and Collard Greens

I was walking around the Virginia Park farmer's market, and the collard greens caught my eye.   Collards are commonly known as a Southern ingredient, and they are usually stewed down for a long time until tender.  For my version I stewed them in a Dutch oven with water, chopped onion, garlic, bacon (already cooked), red chili flakes, salt and pepper.  To top them off I roasted some salmon with salt and pepper.  The collards were surprisingly good.  The trick was the bacon, which gave it a smoky, savory flavor.  The salmon was a bit of an afterthought, but it was nevertheless tasty.

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

Nijiya was running a special on organic wheat flour, and I had some leftover ricotta cheese in the fridge, so I made lemon ricotta pancakes for breakfast.  The pancake batter was a combination of dry and wet ingredients.  The dry ingredients consisted of the wheat flour, baking powder, salt and sugar, and the wet ingredients included the ricotta, eggs, milk, lemon juice and lemon zest.  After a few minutes on each side in a hot buttered pan, I plated them with some maple syrup and they were ready to go.  They came out really good...they had a light, airy texture, and the zing of the lemon took it over the top.

 

Pulled Pork with Zucchini Slaw

I saw a really nice pork shoulder at Sprouts that inspired me to make bbq pulled pork.  I started with a dry rub made with brown sugar, paprika, pasilla chili powder, garlic powder, cumin, salt and pepper, which I rubbed liberally onto the pork before slow roasting it in a roasting pan with mango juice, apple cider vinegar and water.  Next I made a bbq sauce with crushed tomatoes, the left over dry rub, apple cider vinegar, ketchup, brown mustard, brown sugar and a can of Coke, which I simmered in a pot and then pureed and strained into a squeeze bottle.  Finally, you can't have pulled pork without slaw, but I'm not a big fan of cabbage, so I made mine with grated zucchini and carrots dressed with a mixture of mayo, dijon mustard, apple cider vinegar (a common flavor profile throughout the dish) and the secret to any good cole slaw: celery salt.  The traditional way to serve it is to mix the pork and sauce together and put it in a hamburger bun with the slaw on the side, but I wanted to plate it with a modern twist, so I broke out a makeshift ring mold and layered the pork and slaw, and then I finished it by drizzling the sauce over the top.  This dish was a big hit.  The pork was tender and succulent, the slaw added a cold, creamy contrast and the sauce had that perfect sweet/tangy balance that brought it all together.

 

Mama's Meatballs

This is a classic meatball recipe made with ground beef, eggs, bread crumbs soaked in milk, chopped parsley, Worcestershire sauce, dried oregano, ricotta cheese, salt and pepper.  I've said this before, and I will say it again: the art of making meatballs is in creating a tender, light texture.  This is where the milk-soaked bread crumbs and ricotta come in.  I rolled the mixture into balls using an ice cream scoop and broiled them in the oven in a cast-iron pan.  I served them tapas style with a drizzle of olive oil, cracked black pepper and some minced red onion for crunch and some heat.