KOREAN GRILLED PORK CHOPS.. my style

While I'm in my writing mood, here is another recipe I want to share, and I need it for my future reference

Korean foods are so popular now, I went to eat at Korean restaurants several times, not too often and I love them, esp the grilled and BBQ meat, I don't know for sure how the real authentic taste of them, all of the restaurants claim they have authentic taste.. I tried to cook some of them, in my way, yes I browsed the net to get the ideas and put them together, here is one of the delicious ones

I used pork chops as they are much cheaper than beef short ribs

- 4 bone in pork chops, I like them with fat and lots of marbling
- for the marinate: 1 Korean/Asian pear, pureed, add shallot, some Thai chilies, ginger, garlic, dark soy sauce, sesame oil, brown sugar/honey, some rice wine, blend well
- marinate the chops for a few hours, covered in the fridge
- grill to perfection

serve with rice or lettuce leaves with shallots, garlic and whatever desired

EASY PEASY CHEESY EGG MUFFIN

It has been ages since my last post, I actually have so many ideas and pictures for recipes to post, but haven't got around to post them.. read.. I'm so lazy and not in my writing mood

Today I woke up with my stomach growling, demanded some foods, but I knew I did not have any good leftover for this purpose, I imagined myself dunked my nutter butter in my coffee like I usually did for my easy breakfast, no problem for me, but I was thinking about delicious breakfast for my DH, I've seen these egg muffin pics on the net and thought about making them. I had leftover sausage, I had plenty of eggs and cheese.. so here they are, easy, simple and yummy

for the ingredients, I used whatever I had handy
- 1 cup or more brown sausage, I used my leftover Jimmy Dean sausage, browned with shallots and red bell pepper ( I used them for my favorite pizza topping)
- 1 cup of shredded Mexican Blend cheese
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup of milk ( I used 2% milk)
- 2 tbsp of potato flakes ( for instant mashed potato)
- salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes
- for 9 muffins

- generously greased the muffin tin with baking spray
- add 1 tbsp of sausage
- add bunch of cheese
- in a big measurement cup, mix milk with potato flakes, stir well, then pour in the milk, mix well, sprinkle with salt, black pepper and red pepper flakes
- pour the milk mixture onto the meat/cheese
- bake in preheated 400'F for 12 to 15 minutes
- set the oven to broil, add another 2 minutes to brown the top
- let them cool a bit before taking them out of the pan

Enjoy those beauties

with a dash of Tabasco

LOBSTER/SHRIMP ROLLS

Starting yesterday.. Lenten season began.. in our family tradition, among other things we choose to give up meats except seafood.. and this year I promise myself to stay away from potato chips, I don't know why, lately I love snacking potato chips, it's always on my counter, one gone, and one more came ( from the stores )

Today we'll talk about lobster rolls.. I saw it on a food website and right away I was determined to make some, I found 1 lobster tail in my freezer, a 5 oz, no way it would be enough for the 2 of us, so I decided to add some shrimps, I have bought the veggies I liked for the salad.. Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, no meat day for us, and this rolls were on my mind since last week, here was our supper

Ingredients needed:
- 1 lbs of lobster/shrimp meats
- 2 tbsp of butter, 1 tbsp of roasted garlic oil, salt, pepper, chopped cilantro
- 3 stalks of celery, small diced
- 1 red bellpepper, small diced
- 1/2 half medium onion, chopped
- 1 jalapeno, finely chopped
- bunch of cilantro, roughly chopped
- 3 inches of cucumber, small diced

butter, garlic oil, salt and pepper

for the sauce:
- 1/2 cup of mayonnaise
- 2 tbsp of mustard
- 2 tbsp of tomato ketchup
- 2 tbsp of fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp of chili sauce ( tabasco or others..  I used my homemade chili sauce )
- 1 tbsp of sweet chili sauce ( from Thailand, for the sweetness, or can be substituted with 1 tbsp of honey )
- pinch of salt and freshly ground peppercorns

- 4 hot dog buns

Method:
- mix all ingredients for the sauce, save 1/4 of it for the meat, add the rest in the chopped veggies, mix well, let them sit for a few hours in the fridge

- 30 minutes before serving them... place lobster/shrimp meat in a bowl, add butter, garlic oil, salt and pepper, microwave them on high for 3 or 4 minutes until the meats turn pink, do not overcook them, roughly chopped them, mix well with the juice, add in the 1/4 dressing sauce, chopped cilantro, mix well, set aside

- just minutes before serving:  heat a pan, add a bit of butter, then add heat/grill the buns

- assemble them as you wish

microwave

chopped and cilantro added

dressing sauce added

lobster shrimp roll

Thailand sweet chili 

BANANA BREAD/CAKE

I'm not good in baking and I hate baking, esp baking cakes, cookies, pies, though I'm getting better in baking various breads, but I still suck at baking cakes, even sometimes I failed in making muffin or cupcakes :) .. but once in a while I was challenged when I saw  interesting recipes and was willing to try again..

Today is a lazy Sunday, we woke up late, had a glass of fruit smoothie for breakfast then we went to the store and bought some reduced bananas, they looked so bad on the peels, but the flesh were still good, still smooth and clean.. I immediately  peeled them and stores them in bags for my frozen smoothies.. my DH suggested a fresh banana bread too, so I thought, why not, I have my favorite recipe and have tried it several times with good results.. 

Here is a Banana Bread recipe by Martha Stewart with a bit of modification by me.. oh BTW.. I love watching Martha Stewart cooking shows.. I must admit I learn a lot of cooking/baking tricks from her :)

banana + avocado + mango smoothie 

Banana Bread/Cake ( I prefer calling it cake, I think the texture is closer to cake than bread )

- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature, plus more for pan
- 1 cup granulated sugar ( I used 3/4 cup sugar)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups unbleached flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup mashed very ripe bananas
- 1/2 cup sour cream ( I use plain yogurt )
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

overripe bananas

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan; set aside.

-  In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy ( I used my hand mixer)

-  Add eggs, and beat to incorporate.

- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to the butter mixture, and mix until just combined. Add bananas, sour cream/yogurt, and vanilla; mix to combine. Stir in nuts, and pour into prepared pan.
- Bake until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Let rest in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool.

- NOTE: I added 1 tsp of cocoa powder and mixed it with 2 tbsp of cake batter, then added it on the middle of the batter, gently swirled with chopstick, then topped with the rest of the batter.. 

cocoa swirl in the middle 

JALAPENO, CHIVES AND CHEESE BREADS

Lately I have been baking more breads, by having fresh breads at home, it makes easier for me to think what to cook or eat for breakfast or brunch, I can have anything for my breakfast, couple pieces of cookies, granola bars, toasts or else ( except for cold cereal or oatmeal, or grits or or or :) ), my DH is not a picky eater, but I know he wont be satisfied with cookies or granola bars only .. so I mostly rotate breakfast quesadilla, hash brown, omelets, quiches but they always come with eggs, cheese and sausage/bacon/meat and I don't like the idea of eating eggs or sausage/bacon everyday, yeah.. sometimes he has a bowl of cereal or grits too..

I found out if I have a bag of fresh bread on my counter, he will take a couple of them and nuke them in microwave.. eats them with his coffee in front of his computer, a batch of bread can last for a few days, so we'd have easy or lazy mornings :) what I need now is try to bake different kinds of bread, one of the easy and delicious dough recipe is The Egg Bread recipe I posted in my previous post, it has become my favorite dough recipe for now

http://beyondfoods.blogspot.com/2014/01/egg-braided-bread_28.html

Today I made it again, I added some jalapeno, chives and cheese, I made it last week and he loves it, so today when I saw some homegrown red jalapenos that he picked yesterday, I decided to make it again, he picked some onion chives too, it perfect to be added in the bread

For this post, I only want to add some pictures to show the easy way to combine all the ingredients

after the second rising, deflate the dough, then divide it into 14 to 16 portions

arrange the pieces in a big circle or square form, depend on the form of the baking pan, then sprinkle the desired toppings, I used chives, jalapenos and cheese

with a scrape or a big knife, randomly cut and fold the dough

random cut and fold

then carefully transfer the whole dough on a greased pan, add more cheese if desired

cover with plastic wrap and let it rise for another 30 minutes

bake in a preheated oven, 350'F for 25 minutes

no knife needed, just pull

GRILLED PORK STEAKS IN LEMONGRASS AND SOY SAUCE

Here is another recipe I want to share today.. it's one of my favorite orders when I went to the Vietnamese restaurants... sometimes I got the good ones.. I mean the tender and juicy ones.. other times I got the tough and dried ones.. no good

We bought these pork steaks.. I don't really like pork steaks/chops, too lean for my taste.. but when my DH pointed and wanted to buy those, I just grabbed them and put in my cart.. I saw there were some fats on them so nothing could go wrong with them.. we are fat eater... and the idea of cooking this stuck in my head..

What we need:
- pork steaks, mine was Shoulder Blade ( I think, can't remember ) steaks with bones and fats on
for marinate:
- 1 stalk of lemongrass, thinly sliced
- 1 big shallot, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp of minced garlic
- 3 Thai chili, chopped
- 1 tsp of freshly ground peppercorn
- 1/2 cup of soy sauce
- 1 tbsp of fish sauce
- 2 tbsp of sweet soy sauce ( can be substituted with 1 tbsp of dark brown sugar or honey )
- 2 tbsp of cooking oil

lemongrass

Method:
- mix well all the marinate ingredients
- place pork steaks in a big zip lock bag
- pour in the marinate sauce, give them a gentle massage then let them sit for hours in the fridge
- grill on the char/wood grill.. I love how the fat melts right on the fire, my favorite part :)
- serve with steamed rice and some wine vinegar coleslaw
- or serve with vermicelli and lettuce salad

Vermicelli + lettuce + carrots + cilantro salad.. with fish sauce + wine vinegar + fried garlic oil