Mediterranean Pasta with Pork Meatballs

I have been craving for pork meatballs and the Spanish style ones that I make with pork are delicious. I also LOVE ground pork and use it all of the time. So there.

Need:
Meatballs-
Ground pork
grated onion
chunk of old bread
milk
1 egg
paprika
cumin
garlic powder
s+p

Pasta-
angel hair pasta
boiling, salted water
tomatoes
chopped onions
chopped garlic
baby kale
butter
olive oil
paprika
garlic powder
s+p

 

Preheat oven to 400°. Tear up old bread and pour some milk into it.

 

Squish bread and milk together. Sick.

 

In a mixing bowl, add ground pork, bread (squeeze out milk), an egg, grated onion, garlic powder, paprika, cumin, s+p. Mix well. If a little wet, add some dried bread crumbs too (I had some panko on hand, luckily).

 

Make balls. Not too big. Pop into oven for 25-30 min.

 

Chop all of your veggies for pasta. Italian flag colors. :)

 

Olive oil in a pan, add garlic and onion and saute on medium.

 

Add tomatoes.

 

Add paprika, garlic powder, s+p.

 

Add baby kale. Notice a theme of me using what's in the fridge? Remember the kale in the pasta from the other day? I just liked the green and I don't have any herbs. Also, kale is good for you. So there.

 

When pasta is cooked, add from water directly into sauteed vegetables. That's how they do it in restaurants. Seriously. Also, add a tbsp of butter to this and stir around because it tastes awesome.

 

Parmesan and chili flakes as needed. Always lots of chili flakes needed.

 

Oh shi-et... and it was good.

Hawaiian Garlic Shrimp

When we went to Hawaii a couple of years ago, there were some trucks out in the middle of nowhere proclaiming their shrimpy wares. I thought it was a little sketch, but then realized that we were on an island and that the shrimp was, likely, very fresh. Remembering that sometimes the best foods come from hole-in-the-wall places, I had Joe stop the Jeep and ordered some shrimp and rice. It was some of the best shrimp that I have ever tasted in my life. If you ever happen to be near the North Shore on Oahu, stop by one of these gems and enjoy the most delicious, buttery, tangy shrimp that you will ever eat. Here is my recreation:

Need:
Shrimp, peeled or not, doesn't matter (only cooking time will vary slightly)
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 stick of butter
2 heads of roasted garlic
4-6 cloves of chopped fresh garlic
2 tsp paprika
1/4 cup of white wine
lemon juice from 1 lemon

 

Split 2 garlic bulbs lengthwise and drop some olive oil on them.

 

Wrap them in foil and throw in the oven at 400° for 30-35 minutes.

 

Unwrap roasted garlic and squeeze out into pan of olive oil. Add fresh garlic to pan as well and smash.

 

Add shrimp, butter, and paprika and stir.

 

Add white wine and lemon juice.

 

Serve with rice. OHMYGOD so delicious. DO NOT waste that delicious sauce. If you have way too much leftover, save it for next time. Seriously.

Loco Moco

My friend Thomas inspired me today on this dinner. We talk about food all the time and he just so happened to mention making Loco Moco recently. I decided that it sounded perfect.

Need:
ground beef
grated onion
Worcestershire sauce
garlic powder
chopped onion
2 tbsp flour
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 white wine
s+p
eggs
cooked rice

 

In a bowl, add ground beef, grated onion, garlic powder, and Worcestershire sauce. Then form small-ish patties and s+p outside.

 

Pan fry.

 

Cook eggs however you want. I made mine hard boiled tonight, but over easy is really good too because the yolk gets mixed in with the gravy and rice. Yum!

 

Remove cooked patties and add chopped onions to the pan and start scraping a bit of the brown bits off of the bottom of the pan.

 

Add flour to onion and cook on low until flour is nice and brown colored.

 

Add white wine and chicken stock and continue to cook on low, stirring to incorporate. Theoretically, a whisk is a good choice of tool here, but I don't have a protective whisk for this non-stick pan.

 

Good Gravy!

 

Arrange rice on a plate, add patties, gravy and eggs. I made a side salad to go with mine and garnished with sliced green onions. Also enjoyed with some delicious home-made hot sauce, recipe courtesy of www.trinigourmet.com. I added some naga jolokia peppers to Bertie's recipe that I'd had in the freezer for a little extra burn.

 

Angel Hair Pasta with Garlic and Anchovy

This is one of my favorite simple meals because it is so quick to throw together and I always have garlic and anchovies lying around.

Need:

garlic
anchovies
olive oil
angel hair pasta
salt for pasta water
mushrooms
baby kale
chili flakes
parmesan cheese

Get the pasta boiling and chop up ingredients.
This time I had mushrooms and baby kale to throw in. I also love it with blanched cauliflower, escarole, or spinach.

 

baby kale, mushrooms, anchovies, garlic

 

put a bunch of olive oil in pan, add chili flakes, garlic, and anchovies

 

add mushrooms and saute

 

add baby kale and saute

 

add pasta to pan with veggies and toss with parmesan cheese (and more chili flakes)

 

By the way, salt is represented by the anchovies and the salting of the water you did for the pasta. No need to add more. With the whole wheat pasta that I used, this recipe might **gasp** be considered healthy!!!

Sukiyaki

So, Joe's Grandma has gone back to Japan and every year that she does, we end her visit with a delicious Japanese dinner. She is the best cook, after all.

This is one of her specialties. Its a Japanese hot pot called Sukiyaki that's eaten with a sweetened soy sauce and dipped in raw egg and eaten with a bowl of rice. I barely got pictures because I was busy eating. Don't hate.

Need:

Thinly sliced meat
Udon noodles
Fish cake, sliced
Tofu, cut into rectangles
napa cabbage
scallions
enoki mushrooms
yam noodles

Sukiyaki can be made with just about anything, but the important thing is the sauce:

Sukiyaki sauce

Udon Noodles

Sliced beef

 

Napa cabbage, enoki mushrooms, scallions

fish cake, yam noodles, some kind of green veg that I forgot what its called

tofu

Hot pot after some cooking. This is gonna be good.

Nuoc Mam Fish Sauce dip

No pictures for this one, but its pretty basic-

Need:
Fish sauce
Water
Sugar
Garlic
Thai chili peppers
Lime (optional)

Water and sugar together in a pan and make a simple syrup. Crush the garlic and chilies and put in syrup with A LOT of fish sauce. The warm simple syrup draws out the spicy and garlickyness and makes the sauce stellar for dipping. Can be made in big batches and bottled for future use too. Lime is always nice to brighten it up per meal, but is not necessary (I'll put lime on almost anything). :)

Banh Xeo - Vietnamese Crepes

This is one of my favorite Vietnamese dishes because it is so yummy and so fresh. I love the way my people eat.

Need:
Banh Xeo mix
water or coconut milk (water is less fattening, but coconut milk is all flavor)
2 egg yolks
sliced pork
cleaned/peeled shrimp
mung beans (boiled) OR sauteed bean sprouts
sliced onions
chives
lettuce or mustard greens for dipping
nuoc mam - dipping fish sauce



Back of package

                        Follow directions on package: basically empty contents into a bowl, add turmeric powder (included) and egg yolks, water or coconut milk, and chives and stir well. It looks just like crepe batter.

 

In a frying pan, add pork, shrimp, onions and mung beans (or bean sprouts, which are sprouted mung beans) and saute in vegetable oil.

 Add the batter to the mix and cook through. No need to flip.

 

This is what they should look like when ready. The last one got a little messed up, but that's okay. Its all good in the hood.

 

Take a chunk of crepe, wrap it in a lettuce leaf or mustand green and dip it in fish sauce mix. HALLELUJAH!

Burgers

I always get a little nuts when it comes to pizza and burgers. I don't know why, but I just get excited about all of the possibilities and then I put every possibility on top of one burger/pizza as if its the last one that I'll ever eat.

 

 

I had a little arugula pesto in the freezer (arugula, garlic, pine nuts, parmesan cheese, olive oil then put in food processor) and decided to add a little mayo to it to make it an aioli-type of sauce.

 




 

 

I always put a little Worcestershire sauce and garlic powder in my meat, then mix, make patties THEN salt and pepper. I don't know why, but I like that order.

 

 

 

Joe grilled the burgers, bacon and a portobello mushroom for me. Added some mozzarella on top. I also put sliced onions and lettuce on mine with the arugula pesto mayo.

 

Joe is much simpler. Meat, cheese, bacon-meat, bbq sauce (mine, of course).