Before I left home for the first time, I sat down with my mother’s recipe box and wrote down my favorite dishes. This is everything that was written on the original 3×5 card. Continue reading
Tag Archives: recipes
Karl’s Shrimp and Clam Chowder
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
Karl’s Barbecued Chicken Teriyaki Skewers
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
Karl’s Celtuce Pickles
I bought some lettuce stem for a Chinese stir-fry that I ended up not making. This is a vegetable that I learned to cook while I was in Chengdu. I have always called and thought about it as lettuce stem, but its proper name is celtuce (or wōsŭn; 莴笋 ; asparagus lettuce).
Karl’s Celtuce Pickles
Filed under Pickles, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian
Karl’s Carrot and Daikon pickle II Namasu 紅白なます
I love Japanese pickled vegetables and I frequently get the urge to make them. The day before my Sunday dinner I started to make a bunch. Sometimes the side dishes leads you to the main dish, rather than the other way around. Today, pickles, fresh tofu and rice balls led to teriyaki chicken skewers.
Karl’s Carrot and Daikon pickle II
Namasu 紅白なます
Filed under Pickles, Side Dishes, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian
Karl’s Onigiri (Rice Balls)
Onigiri are the Japanese equivalent of a PB&J sandwich, something to take for a school lunch or on a picnic. One of Eilene’s Japanese class friends taught her how to make these a couple of years ago. While they are commonly formed into triangles and may have savory or salty filling, they may also be formed into simple round balls.
Karl’s Onigiri (Rice Balls)
Filed under Rice, Sauces and Spices, Side Dishes, Vegan, Vegetarian
Karl’s Miso Soup II
I am made a Japanese meal last Sunday. Chicken teriyaki skewers, rice balls, inari and various pickles. No Japanese meal would be complete without miso soup.
Karl’s Miso Soup II
Karl’s California Fusion Barbecued Tri-tip
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
Karl’s Moro Beans
I am doing a Cal-Mex barbecue for labor day and I decided to make beans to go with my tri-tip. Moro Beans are a Mexican heirloom varietal. When Jan and I went to Napa, she bought me a package of these beans from Rancho Gordo. They describe Moro beans as a cross between pinto and black beans. They say that these beans are flavorful enough to stand on their own with few additional flavors. I decided to take them at their word and keep it simple.
Karl’s Moro Beans
Filed under Beans, Holidays, Side Dishes, Starches
Karl’s Pocket Tacos
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
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Miriam
Jabberwocky Stew 