Pork and Veggie Rolls

For lunch today I made my own variation of the Summer Rolls that you get at Vietnamese restaurants. The outcome was a little labor intensive but very, very tasty.

Note: This recipe made way more then we could possibly finish between 2 people. It would have been enough to feed about 6 people with my guessimate.

1 pound ground pork
½ pound bean sprouts
1 bag of coleslaw (prepackaged at most supermarkets)
1 Tbsp Salt
1 Tbsp Dried Cilantro
1 lime, juiced
1 cup of water
1 package Rice Paper Wrappers
Sweet Chili Sauce

1. Make an assembling station on your table consisting of 2 large ceramic plates with lips, a cutting board or clean wooden surface and a pair of chopsticks. Using plates larger then your rice paper will make things easier later on.
2. In a small saucepan, boil the water while cooking the meat.
3. Mix the ground pork, salt, dried cilantro and lime juice in a medium skillet and cook until the pork is crumbly.
4. Add the bean sprouts and coleslaw and mix it all up.
5. Let it cook for about 2-3 minutes and then move the entire skillet to your assembling station.
6. Pour out ¼ of the boiled water into one of the plates. Add enough cold water so that the water is hot to the touch but will not scald you. Repeat this process as the water gets cold while you are assembling. Boil more water if needed.
7. Place 1 rice paper wrapper into the plate and let it sit submerged for about 30 seconds. If it doesn't fit all at once, hold one side submerged in the water until it gets pliable and then submerge the other side.
8. Place the chopsticks near the bottom of your cutting board. Lay the now pliable rice paper wrapper on the cutting board with just a little bit resting on top of the chopstick.
9. Using a large spoon, scoop the pork mixture onto the rice paper and form it into a half in wide log about half an inch from the bottom and sides.
10. Using the raised portion at the chopsticks, fold the sides of the rice paper in over the pork mixture. Then fold the bottom lip over the pork and begin rolling it like a burrito towards the top of the wrapper.
11. Place the finished rolls into the other large plate. Serve with sweet chili sauce.

Tomato Broth Soup

It’s Autumn now. That means the days of the sun ripened tomatoes straight from the garden are behind us. With a forecast of unbearably cold temps accompanied by a lot of rain, I was forced to pick the last few unripe tomatoes left on the vines just barely starting to get a rosy complexion. I brought them inside and placed them near the stove where the warm temperatures will help them finish ripening. Essentially what I’ll end up with is the equivalent of a tasteless supermarket tomato.

Luckily for me, these non-vine ripened tomatoes are perfect for my Tomato Broth Soup. Here’s what you’ll need and how to make it.

2-3 Tomatoes, quartered
2 slices of fresh Ginger
1 Egg
½ Tbsp Salt
½ Tbsp Oil
1 Tbsp Sugar (optional)

1. Put all the ingredients except for the egg into a medium sized pot and fill the pot about 2 inches from the top with water (the more water, the more soup).

2. Bring to a boil and lower heat to simmer for 20 minutes. The tomatoes should be very soft but still hold their shape.
3. Increase the heat and crack the egg into the soup.
4. Whisk the egg into the soup until it comes back to a boil. The egg should become broken up and look similar to egg drop soup.
5. Remove from heat and serve in bowls.

As a final side note: You can add meat to this soup as well. Traditional Tomato and Beef Soup is made by adding raw slices of beef to the soup after whisking in the egg and then bringing back to a boil.

Chinese Pepper Sauce

There's a really big difference between Chinese pepper sauces and American hot sauce. Although both can usually be used interchangeably, pepper sauce is noticeably chunkier in texture and will not contain vinegar.

After harvesting the last of the Chinese Five Color Peppers from garden for the season, we decided to make out own pepper sauce at home. By now all the peppers had ripened to a bright red.

We went out and bought some green chilies to added contrast to our red chilies. We gathered all the ingredients and chopped everything up into nice even pieces. Here's most of the ingredients clockwise from the top: Green Chilies, Chinese Fried Black Beans, Chopped Garlic, Red Chilies. There was approximately equal portions of each.

Next we filled a wok with about 1 cup of vegetable oil and heated it just until a piece of garlic thrown in would start to sizzle. We threw everything in and mixed it well. The delicious aroma quickly filled the kitchen.

After letting it fry up for about 5 minutes, we poured in a jar of Soy Bean Paste and mixed it all up. We let everything cool off and packed it into glass jars with wide mouths. I think some of them used to be salsa jars.

Crabbing in Long Island

I took my mother and brother out for an evening of crabbing off the pier at Captree State Park in Long Island, NY. We got on the road around 5:00pm and watched as the sun started setting quickly along the side of the road. By the time we arrived at the pier, it was completely dark out and the wind began howling. The current was so strong we had to move a few times in order to find calmer water so that our crab traps would reach the bottom. We managed to get about 5 blueclaw crabs and a handful of what the other fishermen called ladycrabs.

A Few Pictures of the Garden

The garden is chugging along very nicely. The noodle beans and shishito peppers continue to be the most prolific crops this year. Here are a few pictures I took today of various plants around the garden.

Shishito Peppers. I said they were very prolific but just see for yourself how amazing they really are! I have about 3 of these planted in the ground and I have marigolds and celosias planted in between them. The flowers' grow a little taller then the peppers to shade some sun and branch out right up against the pepper plants to increase humidity. Pepper plants like to be in the sun but too much and the leaves start to shrivel. Pepper plants also love humidity so bunching plants together increases the humidity. There are a few reasons why I chose to plant the flowers between the pepper plants. Marigolds are about the most beneficial companion plant you'll find. Their roots are said to release chemicals that repel nematodes and other garden pests. I planted the celosia because the vibrant colors of the flower stalk attracts tons of bees to pollinate them and nearby flowers. They also look pretty cool!

Black Beauty Eggplants. Back in late June, early July, this plant had completely shriveled up and looked dead. I watched for 2 weeks as the leaves continues to shrivel up and no new leaves seemed to be emerging. I was about to pull the plant from the 5 gallon bucket it was growing in but got lazy and just left it in the corner of the garden for the following weekend. Lo and behold when I came to pull the plant, I found a bunch of buds forming at the top of the plant. Not just new leaf buds, but flower buds as well! Now a month later and look how healthy the plant looks and there's four fruits hanging off the stems.

Chinese Five Color Peppers. These are edible ornamental peppers. Aren't they just awesome looking? I have a ton of them growing in the yard, about 5 in little flower pots and 4 more in the ground. The fruits start out a pale cream color, then change to purple, then yellow, orange, and finally a fiery red. Sometimes if you're lucky you might have fruits of each different color on one plant. Also making cameos in these pictures are my Tiny Tim Cherry Tomatoes and the Cilantro that's growing at the foot of my Thai Bird Chili and Sapporo Pepper plants.

First Harvest!

Well everything has been growing slowly in the garden. Bees are buzzing about and the magic of nature is going on inside the plants to form the wonderful crops to come. Here's a picture of the first harvest of the season. So far the noodle beans and the shishito peppers seem to be the most prolific.

In this harvest we have: Noodle Beans, Scallions, Shishito Peppers, Banana Peppers, Chocolate Bell Peppers and Momotaro Tomatoes

Spring Is In The Air

Just wanted to share this picture I snapped in my front yard this morning. Its a monarch butterfly enjoying my zinnias. It's rare to see monarch butterflies up in my area this early in the year.

Enjoy! =)

Gardening in the Office

We had a pretty mild winter this year. It never really hit freezing temperatures here in New York City. Well it probably did get to that point, but only for a few days at most. The unusually warm temperatures have had me thinking about all my summer time activities all season long. Up until just last week I’ve actually been able to stop myself from cleaning all my fishing gear, putting air in my bicycle and prepping all my other sports equipment. One thing I couldn’t stop myself from thinking of and doing though, was planning my Spring and Summer gardening.

On Leap day, February 29, I finally had enough with the somewhat warm weather taunting me. I had amassed a bunch of seeds through seed swaps and purchased from stores and online. This year I’ve decided that peppers will be the star of the show at my Summer vegetable garden. I’ll be growing my other staple crops too (Tomatoes, Asian squashes, string beans, cucumbers, scallions, etc) but the majority of it all will be many varieties of hot and sweet peppers.

I like using the coffee filter and baggy method to start my seedlings. These seeds are from Shishito Peppers, a Japanese variety of bite sized peppers. I’m working on a disposable plate so I don’t make a mess. Then I just stick the filter in a Zip-Lock Bag and toss it in a drawer where I’ll forget about it for a few days. In this case I’ve tossed it into my snack drawer at work. A neat trick I learned is to stand the filter up so all the roots grow downwards instead of all on top of each other.

I noticed a bit of root beginning to emerge from most of the seeds by March 9. At that point I plucked the seeds off the filter and placed them into peat pellets. By the next week they looked like this with their seed leaves. The seedlings in the pint containers are Momotaro Tomatoes and Shishito Peppers in the container on the right.

After the first set of true leaves emerged I brought them all home and transplanted them into red plastic cups with holes poked in the bottom. I just filled the cups with good potting soil. Then back to work they went to sit on the sunny window sill at my workstation. Here's some Anaheim Peppers and Black Beauty Eggplants by the window today.

Creamy "Flamin' Hot" Chicken Thighs over Ziti

I went over to a friend's house today to catch the Giants vs Packers game. The game was on right around lunch time so I decided to make some food to bring over. I didn't have too much at home in terms of ingredients so I just pulled what I had. I had a small bag of the new Flamin' Hot Cheetos laying around so that went right into the recipe as well.

Creamy "Flamin' Hot" Chicken Thighs over Ziti
Boil ziti (or another type of pasta) to al dente. Drain, rinse, and put into a casserole dish. Cut a few slits on the meat side of the chicken thighs perpendicular to the bone and then rub salt and pepper onto both the skin side and the meat side. In a medium skillet, melt 2 tablespoons of butter over low heat. When the butter is all melted and begins frothing, carefully lower the thighs into the hot butter and cook on each side for 3 minutes. Use tongs to transfer the chicken to the casserole dish. At this point, preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Pour about half a cup of heavy cream into the skillet of butter. Stir to remove any chicken bits in the pan. Heat it under low heat while stirring until the mixture starts to bubble. Once it begins to bubble, pour it over the chicken and pasta. Now for the secret ingredient! Open the bag of Flamin' Hot Cheetos halfway and then begin crushing the chips within. Mash it as best as you can and then pour it into the casserole dish. Pop everything into the oven for 20 minutes. Take it out, marvel, and enjoy!

New Year's Eve Dinner

Happy New Year!

There's no better way to ring in the new year then to end the old one with a bang. I spent New Year's Eve with my girlfriend and we made a romantic home cooked meal before heading off to meet with friends to watch the ball drop in Time Square.

Our dinner consisted of beautifully pan seared Prime Rib Steaks with a Creamy Red Wine Reduction Sauce, Sauteed New Red Potatoes, Parsley Lime Rice, and Sauteed Bell Peppers and Red Onions. Recipes below.

I seared the steaks for about 4-5 minutes per side. I didn't really worry about them being too dry because prime rib cuts have a high fat content. Just had to make sure to let it get to room temperature so everything cooks evenly and then added some salt and pepper right before cooking.

Creamy Red Wine Reduction Sauce

Melt a tablespoon of butter in the pan and add some chopped red onions. Sauteed until the onions begin to caramelize and then add 1/4 the bottle of red wine. Let it bubble and cook off the alcohol. Give it a few minutes to reduce and then stir in light cream. The more liquid you have the more cream you'll need to add to thicken the sauce. I used the "Project Happiness Syrah" from Oreana Winery that I bought at Trader Joe's.

Sauteed New Red Potatoes

Clean the potatoes and then boil them for about 20 minutes or until a fork can easily go through them. Fish them out of the water and cut them in half. Melt a tablespoon of butter in the pan and sprinkle in some rosemary leaves to let the oils mix with the butter. I used the dried rosemary. Add the potatoes and sauteed for about a minute. Make sure to coat the potatoes in the butter and rosemary.

Parsley Lime Rice

Ok I know it's usually supposed to be cilantro lime rice but I didn't have any cilantro on hand and the two herbs are quite similar anyway. Make 2 cups of rice in a rice cooker to make things easier. Pinch off all the parsley leaves and discard the stems. Roll up all the leaves into a tube shape and slice across to cut the parsley into smaller pieces. Mix well with the freshly cooked rice. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in the pan. Dump the rice into the pan and mix to coat well. Roll a lime between your palm and the counter. This somehow gives you more juice. Cut the limes in half and squeeze the juice all over the rice. I then used a sea salt grinder and added a bit all around. Mix it well one last time.

Sauteed Bell Peppers and Red Onions

Cut up the peppers and onions into bite sized pieces. Sauteed with a little bit of oil or butter until peppers turn translucent and onions begin to caramelize. This is optional but before plating this I added a dash of authentic sriracha sauce that my girlfriend's friend brought back from Thailand for me.