Category Archives: Food

A new recipe for my birthday

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Yesterday was my birthday, and I was having trouble getting celebratory. I was stuck in a condominium board meeting for a couple of hours in the middle of the day.

[text]Then Meda and I stopped over at Antique Alley to see our friends Paké Zane and Julie Lauster. Paké quickly dug through a pile of assorted stuff and came up with a stack of birthday cards for me to pick from.

“I won’t sign it,” he said. “Enjoy it and then you can regift it.”

What a deal!

The card said:

“You’re not getting old…

Hell, you were old last year!”

Perfect.

While Meda was looking at old jewelry, Paké took me towards the back of the store and pointed out a small black & white photo of local legend Larry Mehau back when he was active in Sumo.

That’s why we love Antique Alley. You just never know what you might find among the amazing collection of cultural artifacts.

In any case, it was already after 3:30 when we left. Now what to do? I decided it was time to just stop and pick up something for dinner.

No, we weren’t going out to celebrate. Cooking is almost always fun for us, and it also provides time to sit on the deck and enjoy the views after the sun sets over the mountains.

So there we were, wandering the aisles of the Foodland store in the Windward City Shopping Center. Then I had an idea and turned to my iPhone for a recipe. Aha! It could be done. Into the cart went a package of ground chicken breast and a bunch of mint leaves. I was pretty sure we had everything else at home. Luckily I was right.

I was ready to attempt chicken larb, also known as laab or laap. It’s always been one of our favorite dishes when we stop at our current favorite Thai restaurant. I’ve looked up the simple recipe before but had never actually attempted it.

Tonight was the night.

First step–collect the ingredients, then get out the old reamer and juice a couple of limes.

Cooking

Then I put the ground chicken in a bowl, and added about half the lime juice along with some hot red pepper flakes and a little garlic.

Cooking

Then I chopped a little bit of red onion and started one of our cast iron frying pans heating on the stove.

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When it was good and hot, I added a shot glass of water to the hot pan, then the chicken mixture and chopped onions. I cooked it until the chicken was fully cooked and any liquid cooked off.

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Then Meda helped chop a handful each of mint and cilantro.

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The cooked chicken mixture then went back into the bowl (after washing the bowl, of course) and I mixed in the mint and cilantro. Then I added several tablespoons of fish sauce and more lime, along with a couple of hot thai peppers, finely chopped. Balanced to taste.

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Some cabbage leaves went on the serving plate to scoop up the chicken mixture. Brown rice was served onto our plates.

Dinner is served!

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Ah, good enough to eat. I was going to dive right in when Meda reminded me to first get a few pictures of the final product.

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It looked pretty good, and tasted even better. An excellent culinary adventure and a great way to celebrate my birthday. Next time we’ll load the plate up with a few more vegetables when serving.

Cooking

As usual, click on any photo for a larger version.

Pizza when we’re feeling lazy

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Here’s a confession: Sometimes we’re lazy, cut corners, and turn to store-bought food.

Last night, for example. After getting home, feeding the cats, and giving the diabetic boys their shots, we walked down the street for a couple of glasses of wine and a few stories with friends who live just on the corner. When we got home, neither of us felt like getting into a big cooking thing. So we turned to the freezer.

Aha. A frozen California Pizza Kitchen pizza, BBQ chicken, thin crust. Not up to the standards of our homemade pizza, but not an unreasonable substitute on nights like this. Purchased on sale at Safeway recently. These have way less fat than any other brand we’ve been able to find locally. Not health food, but not a heart stopper, although I make a point of not reading the list of ingredients.

We doctor these up with a few additions–last night it was some chopped sweet peppers, low fat turkey pepperoni, and anchovies. Then I put in on the grill, close the cover, and let it cook for 12-14 minutes.

Meda made a salad. Romaine lettuce, little cherry tomatoes, avocado, anchovy, croutons. I opened a bottle of wine.

Time to eat.

Fast food

Fast food

That’s Ms. Harry, also known as Harriet, checking to see where there was any cat-friendly food served. She was disappointed but didn’t complain.

Spinach-cheese ravioli in spicy tomato sauce

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This is for Tim, who makes a special point of letting me know that he appreciates photos of our meals.

This is one of the quick and easy meals that I fall back on when we get home in the late afternoon after being in town all day, feed the cats, give the insulin shots to Duke and Silverman, relax for a few minutes on the deck with a glass of wine as we watch the color of the sun fade from the clouds, and then trade ideas for an easy meal.

I started with a can of low salt diced tomatoes. They went into one of my favorite cast iron pans along with some garlic, Penzey’s italian herb mix, several anchovies, and two hot peppers. Then I covered and let that simmer until thick and yummy.

Once the sauce was looking good, aided by a splash of red wine to help its color, I put a pot of water on to boil.

While the water was heating, I sliced half a zucchini, and several mushrooms.

Just as the water boiled, I added the zucchini and mushrooms to the tomato sauce. Then I dropped several handfuls of Costco’s spinach and cheese ravioli into the boiling water.

About nine minutes later, I drained the ravioli and dropped them into the tomato sauce, then served with Meda’s avocado and anchovy salad, and a bottle of Italian red wine.

The cats invited themselves.

Click either photo for a better view.

Ravioli

Setting the table

Pressing issue: Olive Oil

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It’s really too early in the day to be thinking about food, but…Mr. Mike, an old friend now living in Hilo, updated me earlier this week on his recent doings.

Among other things, Michael wrote: “I also have developed a keen interest in olive oil.”

Read on.

Last year, I bought a gallon of olive oil at the natural foods store where we shop. It is imported from Peru, is cold pressed at very low temperatures immediately after being picked, is unfiltered, blah, blah, blah. It was delicious and tasted very much like olives. I enjoy tasting it by itself. I have compared it with several other olive oils, but I have not found any with a comparable flavor. I wound up buying a second gallon by mail order from the importer. Now, everyday I eat a chapati with my olive oil for lunch..

I did a bit of research and discovered the UC Davis Olive Center (where the goal is “to do for table olives and olive oil what UC Davis did for wine”). They have done some fascinating evaluations of the olive oils that are available on supermarket shelves in California. According to those studies, many of the big name brands simply did not meet the international standards for extra virgin.

Just a few days ago, I bought a bottle of olive oil from the California Olive Ranch: their 2011, Limited Reserve–the first cold pressings from the first two weeks of harvest. It also is very interesting oil with an intense flavor very different from my Peruvian olive oil.

The Olive Center is worth checking out.

Anybody else deeply into olive oil? Share your experience and recommendations, please.