There are certain foods that I can eat every day, and a good Thai lettuce wrap is one of them! The ingredient that always wins me over is the full fat coconut milk. Add a smooth peanut butter and some acid and spices like soy sauce, cider vinegar and red curry paste, and you’ve pretty much checked all the boxes for great flavor! Another ingredient used often in Thai cuisine is ginger. They can be a bit tricky to peel, and the very best way to do that is to take a teaspoon and simply scrape the skin off. You won’t lose a single bit of ginger! Enjoy this light and easy dish for lunch or dinner this week!
soy sauce
Korean Pulled Pork Tacos
With this recipe, you have the delicious flavor explosion of Far East meets the Southwest. If you’re after an out-of-the-ordinary variation of our favorite Mexican-style taco, the Korean Pulled Pork Tacos provide a scrumptious change of pace. So, let me start with a suggestion to avoid the 8-10 hours of slow-roasted pork. If you don’t have the time or desire to cook the roast that long, simply slice the roast in 2 inch strips. Add them to a hot skillet with a diced onion and sear them to a deep brown. Either way, you’ll be asked to make these again and again. It’s just another example of thinking outside the tortilla!
Shrimp and Broccoli Stir-Fry
It’s a proven key for success in the kitchen. Mise en Place (pronounced ME zon plus) is the French term for “putting in place” or “to gather”. You’ve heard the axiom, “If you fail to prepare, prepare to fail.” Mise on Place can certainly curtail numerous failures in the kitchen just by preparing your kitchen, you equipment and most importantly, your ingredients before you even ignite the cook top. It’s the golden rule for any chef, and should be for any home cook. Once you know you have your ingredients prepared, you will enjoy the cooking process so much more, and that’s a promise. Mise en place really comes into play with a stir fry dish. Once you have everything washed, peeled and sliced, cooking takes no more than a couple of minutes, which is why I think stir frying should be the official cooking method of summer in Arizona! Stir frying or sautéing brings out such lovely flavors and this Shrimp & Broccoli Stir Fry is no exception. It has all of the Asian flavors we love, like ginger, sesame oil and oyster sauce plus succulent shrimp and crisp broccoli. Remember, Mise on Place is a great place to start!
Polenta Two Ways & Calamari with Garlic Aioli Dipping Sauce
In this episode, we’ll make the best Italian accompaniment ever – Polenta! There are a few tricks to making Polenta smooth, rich and memorable. I’m adding a bonus: How to turn Polenta into a sensational breakfast treat! Then, we’ll fry up one of Italy’s favorite appetizers, Calamari. But what really makes this dish is the dipping sauce with its tangy, savory flavor.
Crockpot Glazed Pork Tenderloin with Apple Bacon Slaw
Thank you Irving Naxon, for inventing the Crock Pot. Your cooking wonder found a place in our kitchens in 1940 when you won the patent for it, and we’ve never given it up. In fact, slow cooking is as popular as ever, especially when it produces such delicious meals like the Crockpot Glazed Pork Tenderloin with Apple Bacon Slaw. (Perfect for next day pork sandwiches!) Also, if you ever wanted to know a bit about the iconic Crock Pot, here’s an excerpt from a Huffington Post article:
“Naxon called his devise the Naxon Beanery. He said his mother, Tamara Nachumsohn, inspired him. She had told him stories about a bean-based stew she used to make in her village bakery at home in Lithuania. The stew, known as cholent, is a traditional Jewish dish that cooks all day. It’s rooted in the Jewish Sabbath, the day of rest in which observant Jews aren’t supposed to work. The stew goes on the heat before sundown Friday night, when the Sabbath begins, and cook all the way until the end of Saturday services the next day. As the ovens were turned off for the Sabbath, the pot of cholent would be put in the oven, and that slow residual heat over the course of the 24 hours would be enough to cook the cholent.”
Naxon sold his design to Rival Manufacturing the 70’s, which rebranded his Beanery as the Crock Pot. It was marketed toward working mothers with the slogan, “Cooks all day while the cook’s away,”
Check out my How To Video for the Crockpot Glazed Pork Tenderloin here!
Over the Rainbow Cubed Ahi Tuna Salad
There is the classic Salade Nicoise with its lovely composition of tuna, tomatoes, sliced eggs, olives, potatoes, haricots verts and anchovies–or variations thereof. The tuna is generally canned, and there is very little in the way of lettuce leaves. Then, there is the more updated trend, the Ahi Tuna Salad, with its delicate strips of seared fresh ahi tuna, arranged in overlapping slices and serve on a bed of lettuce often with a wasabi-soy- mustard drizzle or a honey ginger vinaigrette. Combine the best of both salads, add a rainbow of color and crunch, and you have a hearty, healthful main meal dish with the unusual twist of fresh tuna served, not in slices, but rather in cubes to get the sear on all sides. If your New Year’s resolution is to eat healthy and somewhat preservative-free, the Over The Rainbow Cubed Ahi Tuna Salad is your creative and crunchy kick starter in a salad bowl!
