I am doing a fusion Mexican theme this Labor Day. Spices from South of the (U,S,) Border, but in ways that are probably non-traditional. Jan and the kids have been pushing me to make more vegetarian dishes. I decided to make a second vegetable dish to go with my cauliflower. I had used an annatto sauce to make a bright red cauliflower. I am using the same sauce on zucchinis before I barbecue them.
Karl’s Annatto Barbecued Zucchini
Filed under California Fusion, Side Dishes, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian
I am doing a fusion Mexican theme this Labor Day. Spices from South of the (U.S.) Border, but in ways that are probably non-traditional. As an additional vegetable dish I decided on cauliflower. As I was looking around I saw that someone had used annatto to make a bright red cauliflower. That gave me ideas.
Karl’s Annatto Cauliflower
Filed under California Fusion, Side Dishes, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian
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
I needed a vegetable to go with my barbecued Sichuan Turkey. One of the soy sauces I have been experimenting with is Chinese dark soy sauce. It is thicker and has a more complex and less salty flavor than Kikoman’s. A few weeks ago I made a dish with green beans that my family really liked.
Karl’s Leek and Bell Pepper with Dark Soy
Filed under California Fusion, Chinese, Green Vegetables, Side Dishes, Stir-fry, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian
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
With the kid’s on the Atkins Diet, I decided to make some sugar free dill pickles. A bit of this, a touch of that. A week in the fridge and voilà dill pickles.
Karl’s Garlic Dill Pickles
Filed under Pickles, Sauces and Spices, Side Dishes, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian
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
I have some bananas on the counter that are too ripe for just eating, time for banana muffins. I usually put dried apricots into my banana muffins, but today, I had a fresh peach sitting on the counter getting old. I peeled it, chopped it into small bits and added it to the mix.
Karl’s Peach Banana Oat Mini-muffins
Filed under Breakfast, Desserts & Treats, Treats
A bierock is not now, nor has it ever been haute cuisine, it is essentially a workingman’s lunch. When you are working, traveling, or having some kind of festival event, you do not always have time to sit down for meal. Having a meal in a neat, sealed package that you can slip into a pocket or pouch is a solution that many cultures have discovered.
Karl’s Better Bierock
Filed under Beef, bread, Main Dishes, Vegetables
My son-in-law is on the Atkins Diet, which means cooking with little or no starch and sugar—except for artificial things—of which I am rather suspicious. He had requested pork loin and I had been thinking “Italian,” until Miriam said she wanted bok choi, as well. Jumping half a world away, I decided on “Chinese.”
Karl’s Char Siu Flavored Barbecued Pork Loin (Atkins Friendly)
Filed under California Fusion, Chinese, Main Dishes, Pork, Sauces and Spices
karllueck
Miriam
Jabberwocky Stew 