I wanted a soup to go with my Uzbek samsa. I had originally thought about a white bean soup, but I have been cooking a lot with beans lately and I thought Jan would object. I noticed that the chive in our garden has come back from the winter and we had some sour cream in the refrigerator (this is not a staple in our house—too high fat). These ingredients started me thinking about baked potatoes. Could I make a soup version of a baked potato? Yes, I could.
Karl’s Baked Potato Soup
Filed under Main Dishes, Soups, Vegetarian MD
Some assembly required. Many cultures have a festival dish that is something wrapped in dough that can be stored and then cooked quickly (so the moms can enjoy the festivals). The Hispanic countries have tamales, the Asians have jiaozi (pork dumplings) and the Eastern Europeans have perogi. However the price for this festival freedom is sometimes days of preparation. Making the dough, the filling(s) and assembling the final product are painstaking tasks. Usually this is made easier by making it a group activity. In China we would be treated to jiaozi parties. Our host would bring over the prepared meat and dough and then everyone would pitch in to make (and eat) the jiaozi. For a fun idea of how the Mexican culture does this, I recommend the children’s book Too Many Tamales! (for the hearing impared.)
Jan and I were watching Triple D and one of the featured restaurants was a Mexican place that always has 15 different moles. Jan loves mole and the show expanded my mind on what was possible in the way of mole and how to use it. One of their signature dishes was tamales with mole.
Karl’s Pork Tamales with Mole Poblano
Karl’s Green Mole Rice
Karl’s Refried Beans II
Filed under Main Dishes, Pork
A few months ago I had tried making molé for the first time, based on a recipe by Ty and Juels. This was one of our Sunday challenges before I started writing this blog. I found Ty’s recipe, but I could not help myself, I had to make some changes. That is just the kind of cook I am, I even have trouble following my own recipes. I rarely make the same dish the same way twice, I am constantly tinkering.
Mole Poblano
Filed under Sauces and Spices
I wanted a new side dish to go with my Pork Tamales with Mole Poblano. In Mexican cuisine beans and rice are the standard side dishes. Refried beans do not really lend themselves to a lot of variation. This left me to do something with the rice, but I wanted to do something other than my usual Mexican Rice. I thought about making a green mole rice, but when I Googled “Mole Verde” most of the recipes were on how to use this sauce on chicken with rice as a side dish.
Karl’s Green Mole Rice (Arroz Mole Verde)
Green Mole (Mole Verde)
Filed under Side Dishes, Starches, Vegetables
Adapted from a recipe by Chelsie Kenyon, About.com Guide
The epazote is a key ingredient to this dish adding a distinctive flavor. It is a Mexican herb that when raw smells reminiscent of citrus, savory, or mint, but is not any of them. It culinary purpose is as a carminative, i.e. it helps stop gas from forming. Left over epanzote may be used as a tea, like fresh mint.
Filed under Side Dishes, Starches
I am planning to make Pork Tamales with Mole Negro this Sunday, but I have used all of the roast pork I had in my freezer. As a result, I need to roast some pork this week. If I am going to spend hours, if not days, making roast pork I see no reason to cook only a pound or two for the one meal. Go big, there are lots of things you can do with left over roast pork. It is a sad task, but someone will have to eat it.
Karl’s Slow Roasted Pork
Pulled Pork
Filed under Main Dishes, Pork
I have only recently braved the world of pork roasts. In the past my attempts at pork have been met with dismal failure (think: dry, chewy and stringy). This is my first attempt to make my own pork dry rub. Looking on-line the spices for pork rub are all over the map. I did not want too much sugar. One recipe I found called for two cups of sugar for a two pound roast (that is not a roast, that’s meat candy).
I have spices in my cabinet from all over the world. I mixed Mexican oregano with Indian red chili power and Spanish paprika. Time will tell if this rubs works.
Filed under Uncategorized
I am spending hours roasting a pork shoulder to have the pulled pork for tamales on Sunday. I wanted something more than my usual boiled parsley potatoes to go with it. Stuffing came to mind. However, my thanksgiving stuffing is enough for a crowd and it has been a while since I’ve used instant stuffing. Since this will be for pork I am using cornbread and I have reduced the proportions, because this is just for the three of us.
Karl’s Cornbread Stuffing
Filed under Side Dishes, Starches
Fun question: I was watching A Taste of History and I found out a bit of American history.
Who introduced tofu to America?
(hint: It was not Thomas Jefferson. Answer below the recipe.)
This dish is not what I went to the store to prepare. As I was sitting and thinking about dinner I remembered the stir-fried lettuce stem I was served in Chengdu. When I got to Lion Market, I found that they did not have it. I had seen it there before, so I guess it simply is not in season. What was in season was Chinese broccoli (gai-lan in Mandarin). What I normally do with this vegetable is make Spice Chicken and Noodles, but that is a real production number and takes hours to prepare. I wanted something simpler for a week day meal.
Twice-Cooked Tofu
Filed under Main Dishes, Vegetarian MD
I needed a vegetable side dish to go with my twice-cooked tofu. In China, it is a very poor household indeed that has only one dish to go with their rice. Variety is the spice of life and the Chinese take their food very seriously. Like the French, if they are not eating, they are talking about food or thinking about food.
To make a change from what I made to go with the twice-cooked pork, I used celery as the foil to the giant bamboo in my side dish.
Spicy Giant Bamboo and Celery
Filed under Side Dishes, Vegan, Vegetables
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Miriam
Jabberwocky Stew 