The last time I made blueberry scones Eilene did not like them. I had thought she simply did not like hot, cooked fruit. In talking to her, I found out that what she did not like was the soggy bread around the fruit. Using dried fruit was the solution.
Karl’s Blueberry Scones
Filed under bread, Breakfast, California Fusion, Side Dishes, Vegetarian
I have finally found a source for really good corned beef. Miriam, however, feels that all corned beef is too salty to eat. I explored ways to “de-salt” my cured meat.
Karl’s Corned Beef II
Filed under Beef, California Fusion, Main Dishes
Adapted from a Food.com recipe
Eilene has been sick, so Saturday I looked up a recipe for rice pudding. Jan thought it was such a success that I should make it again for our St. Patrick’s Day feast on Sunday (two days late). What would make a rice pudding Irish? Baileys Irish Cream.
Karl’s Irish Rice Pudding
Filed under California Fusion, Desserts & Treats, Rice, Vegetarian
Adapted from a Food.com recipe
Eilene is down with the British flu—nose and throat vs American flu, stomach. She thought that a warm rice pudding would feel good going down. I looked up a recipe and, of course, changed it to my liking.
Karl’s Orange Infused Rice Pudding
Filed under California Fusion, Desserts & Treats, Rice, Side Dishes, Vegetarian
I wanted a rice dish to go with my Asian cabbage rolls. Since I developed diabetes, Jan has pushed me to serve more brown rice. No Chinese meal is complete without some rice. You can eat until you are bursting, but if you have not eaten at least one bite of rice, then all you have had is a “snack.”
Karl’s Confetti Rice
Filed under California Fusion, Rice, Side Dishes, Vegan, Vegetarian
When my family does not issue me a challenge—a new cuisine, a particular meat, or an untried vegetable to explore—I sometimes struggle to come up with something new for my Sunday dinners. This dish came up in a roundabout way. Jan, my wife, mentioned the other day about how she really liked fresh pea soup. You might ask, “How does pea soup turn into Asian cabbage rolls?”
Karl’s Asian Cabbage Rolls
Filed under California Fusion, Chinese-American, Main Dishes, Pork, Sauces and Spices, Vegetables
Jan asked for this dish in the morning, as a result, I was not able to pre-soak my beans overnight. This left me with the “quick soak” method—bring a pot of water and beans to a boil and then let them rest for an hour off the heat. My variation to this method is that I make a rich ham broth and then soak the beans in this flavorful, salty liquid.
Karl’s Guinness Ham and Beans
Filed under Beans, California Fusion, Main Dishes, Pork, Stews
Jan is having another potluck with the relocated American Indians project. She asked me to come up with a dish that she could take to work in the morning that would still be nice after a day without refrigeration. It also needed to be tailored to Native American tastes.
Karl’s Wild Rice and Arugula Salad with Cranberries and Pecans
(Ready to transport)
Note: However, almost none of the people involved are from the same tribe, so you cannot just do something like Southwest Indian cuisine and be at all confident that everyone will like it.
My Asian pear-apple and arugula salad has become a standard dish in my household, since I came up with it a few months ago. It is a very versatile salad and I am constantly tinkering with it—adding shrimp or salmon to make it a dinner salad, etc. For this occasion, I thought I would add some Native American ingredients—such as wild rice, cranberries, and pecans.
Wild rice is actually an American grass seed. Unlike white rice, wild rice does not have the outer bran sheath removed and this coating contains a lot of pectin which slows the absorption of water. As a result, wild rice cooks very slowly and tends to look “blown out” when done.
Tip: A trick to cooking the wild rice more evenly and quickly is to add a bit of baking soda to the cooking liquid. The soda breaks down the pectin and allows the water greater access to the endosperm inside the hull.
There was still the problem of the time delay. As soon as you dress the greens they start to wilt and over time the rice would become soggy. If I simply made the salad in the morning it might be very unappealing by the time Jan planned to serve it.
My solution was to keep the parts of the salad separate until serving. I would put the greens in one bag, wild rice in another, pecan bits in a third, and the dressing with the pickled fruit and vegetables in a sealed container. When Jan is ready to serve, she would simply assemble and toss the salad—voilà, “instant” fresh salad.
Note: I had planned to use twice as much arugula—2 bags—but when Jan saw how much food other people had brought she ended up only using one.
After Dinner Note: One of the women commented that her husband had gone back for seconds and “…he never has seconds on salad!” I would count this as a success.
1 cup wild rice
1 tsp. thyme, separate uses
½+ tsp. Kosher salt, separate uses
¼ tsp. baking soda
3+ Tbs. Karl’s Micro Lemon Marmalade
3+ Tbs. vegetable oil
½ tsp. chervil
¼ black pepper
2 Asian Pear-apples
4 large red radishes (8 small radishes)
½ cup dried cranberries
7 oz. arugula
½ cup pecan bits
1. Rinse the rice and put it into a medium pot with four cups of water.
Tip: You cook wild rice more like pasta than regular white rice. The cooking time for different varieties of wild rice differ greatly and you do not want to risk scorching by adding too little water. When the rice is tender, you drain off the excess liquid.
2. Stir a half teaspoon of thyme and ½ teaspoon of salt into the rice.
3. Bring the liquid to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, and cover the pot.
Tip: Check the rice after 45 minutes—it may take as much as an hour to reach your desired tenderness.
Note: Do not worry about the steam escaping while you check the rice. There should be enough liquid in the pot that it makes no difference.
4. When the rice is tender, drain it well and set it aside.
5. Mix the marmalade, oil, ½ teaspoon of thyme, the chervil, and a pinch of salt in a medium bowl.
Tip: The dressing will seem very thick at this point. The moisture released by the vegetables will thin the dressing out.
6. Peel, quarter and slice the Asian pear-apples thinly and put them in the bowl.
Tip: If you have a mandoline, slice the vegetables directly into the bowl.
7. Slice the radishes into the bowl.
Tip: If they are very large radishes cut them in half pole to pole.
8. Mix the vegetables and cranberries into the dressing and let the melt for at least half an hour.
Tip: 2-3 hours is better to give the cranberries time to absorb the pear-apple juice.
Note: The salad may be put on hold at this point for at least 6 hours. It is easily transportable and quick to assemble at the last minute.
9. Just before serving toss the arugula and rice with the fruit, vegetable dressing to mix and coat.
10. Garnish with the pecan bits and serve.
Filed under California Fusion, Salads, Side Dishes, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian
I made sukiyaki this Sunday for the family dinner. The final simmer takes place on the table and I decided that I should have some pickles on the table for my diners to snack on while they waited for the dish to finish cooking. I made some salt cabbage (kyabetsu shio-zuke; キャベツ塩-漬け ) and some cucumber pickles.
Karl’s Japanese Orange Cucumber Pickles
Filed under California Fusion, Pickles, Side Dishes, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian
Jan asked for a “healthier” shepherd’s pie for dinner on a weeknight. By “healthier” she meant no lamb or beef and no white potatoes. I decided to use ground turkey as my meat and—since I still wanted a Russet potato topping—I would make a fifty-fifty topping with sweet potatoes.
Karl’s Ying and Yang Cottage Pie
Filed under California Fusion, Main Dishes, Potatoes, Poultry, Turkey, Weeknight
karllueck
Miriam
Jabberwocky Stew 