A few day ago I posted a berry hand pie recipe. One of my followers asked if I had done a savory pie with this dough. While I sent her links to my pocket breads with a raised doughs—bierock, taco, and baozi—I thought, “Why not?” I decided to do a California Fusion chicken curry in a biscuit dough hand pie.
Karl’s Chicken Curry Hand Pies
Filed under bread, California Fusion, Chicken, Main Dishes, Poultry
America’s Test Kitchen sends random episodes of their show to my email. The last one was for Beef Bourguignon. When I was thinking about what to make for Sunday, this seemed like a kind of dish that I had not made for a while.
Karl’s Beef Bourguignon
Filed under Beef, California Fusion, Main Dishes, Stews
Tomatillos are not an ingredient that I use very often. These hard green relatives of tomatoes may be eaten raw, but they are a key ingredient to salsa verde. This Sunday, I decided that I would try making the Mexican restaurant staple, chili verde. To go with my chili verde I made refried beans, Mexican rice, pickled red cabbage, and guacamole.
Karl’s Chili Verde
Filed under California Fusion, Main Dishes, Pork, Sauces and Spices
For weekday meals I have been known to take short cuts, like starting with a canned soup. Usually I boost the “tinned” flavor with some fresh seafood, but my daughter, Eilene, objects—“But fresh is so much better!” I have created a monster.
Karl’s Shrimp and Clam Chowder
Filed under Main Dishes, Seafood, Shrimp, Soups
When I make teriyaki chicken I usually use the traditional Japanese (and my mother’s) simple recipe—soy sauce, mirin, saki, ginger, and sugar. Years ago—like 30—I had a friend who added wasabi and brown sugar to his teriyaki sauce. For this meal, I decided to go a bit less traditional and do a variation of my friends recipe.
Karl’s Barbecued Chicken Teriyaki Skewers
Filed under California Fusion, Chicken, Main Dishes, Poultry, Sauces and Spices
A barbecue is very traditional for a Labor Day weekend, this year I decided to do tri-tip. Tri-tip is a very popular beef roast to barbecue in California—popularized in Oakland and Santa Maria in the 1950’s. The problems with this cut—it’s thick fat cap and odd shape—leads much of the rest of the world to slice this roast into steaks. The Hispanic world—of which California is really still a part of—knows better. Done right it is flavorful, moist and juicy—of course done wrong it is carbonized, dry and chewy.
Karl’s California Fusion Barbecued Tri-tip
Filed under Beef, California Fusion, Holidays, Main Dishes, Sauces and Spices
I love the very idea of a meal wrapped up in a neat package of bread. Anyone who has been following my blog recently will have noticed than I am on a pocket bread binge—Chicken Curry Pasty, bierock, better bierock, California Fusion guo kui. Today, I decided on a Cal-Mex Fusion taco bun.
Karl’s Pocket Tacos
Filed under Beef, California Fusion, Main Dishes
I love pocket breads. I have recently been experimenting with bierock, the Volga German pocket breads. I have settled on the right proportions of bread to filling and I have decided to start branching out. What other fillings could I put in my “pockets?” Today, the answer is Chinese pork.
Karl’s California Fusion Baozi (包子)
Filed under bread, California Fusion, Chinese, Main Dishes, Pork
This is not so much a recipe as a presentation—one does not actually cook sashimi. I make a Japanese dinner once or twice a month—sashimi, inarizushi, fresh tofu, miso soup, wakame salad, and fresh pickles. This week I had bought two different pieces of Maguro (tuna), some akimi and chutoro.
Note: Some might bring up tataki at this point, but while mostly raw, I would argue that it is cooked and therefore not sashimi.
It did not seem right just to slice the pieces of tuna up and throw them on a plate. That would be very much against the aesthetics of Japanese cuisine—eating should feed both the body and the soul. Looking at the contrasting colors, I decided on my arrangement.
Karl’s Sashimi
Filed under Fish, Main Dishes, Weeknight
When I made hamburgers—a long time ago—I simply took the meat out of the package, formed it into patties and threw it on the grill. While I still think there is a place for a plain burger, you can do so much more to make simple ground beef into something to write home about. Of course, fancy burgers require fresh buns.
Karl’s Barbecued Hamburgers
Filed under Beef, bread, California Fusion, Main Dishes
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Miriam
Jabberwocky Stew 