Salmon Thai Style

Salmon Thai Style

     Just Jeremy here.  But Thomas is here through choice of ingredients.  I asked Thomas to give me a "mystery box."  For those of you unfamiliar with mystery boxes, they are when a cook is given a list of ingredients they must use in a dish.  The ingredients Thomas gave me were Snapper (I subbed Salmon because I couldn't find Snapper fresh, and I wasn't about to pay $10 for frozen), Rice vinegar, Ginger ale, Peanuts or Cashews, jasmine rice, and daikon raddish. So I got to thinking, I've got vinegar, I've got rice wine, I've got jasmine rice, I've got peanuts, I've got daikon radish, and I've got seafood, what do I make?  I was thinking this has Thai written all over it.  So I googled a simple peanut sauce and put my own spin on it.  Then I thought about the raddish.  A raddish has a nice bit to it, and if I added some cabbage to it, it could be a delightful Asain slaw.  Well....Here it is.  

You will need:

Fresh salmon fillet

1 tbsp Olive oil

Salt

1 ½ cup Rice vinegar

1 cup Ginger ale

Juice of three limes

½ cup peanut butter

¼ cup chopped green peanuts

1lb daikon radish

1 small head of cabbage

1 can lite coconut milk

Water

This is the order you should do it in so all the ingredients are ready at the same time:

Rice:

-In a rice cooker add the jasmine rice (about ½ cup).

-Add 1 cup of water.

-Turn on rice cooker.

(if you can get both sauces going at once, do so)

Peanut Sauce:

-Begin by peeling about 7 green peanuts in a food processor (I use the Ninja).

-Chop peanuts with the processor.

-In a sauce pan add ½ cup rice vinegar and peanuts and bring to medium high heat.

-Add half the can of coconut milk and whisk well.

-Add two large spoonfuls of peanut butter to the mix whisk till blended well.

-Add juice of one lime whisk well.

-Add water a little bit at a time until it reaches the consistency you want and blend.

-Reduce heat to low until serving.

Slaw Sauce:

-In a sauce pan begin with 1 cup of ginger ale.

-Turn on medium heat.  Stir it.

-Add juice of two limes.  Stir it.

-Add the remaining coconut milk.  Stir it.

-Add 1 cup of the rice vinegar.  Stir it.

-Place in freezer to cool.

Slaw:

-Using a cheese shredder, shred your daikon radish and cabbage in a large mixing bowl.

-Add the slaw sauce a little bit at a time and toss the slaw.

-Add until the slaw is saturated.

-Strain the slaw.

-Place slaw in fridge.

Salmon:

-Score the salmon skin.  You do this by slicing down about half way through the filet on the skin side of the salmon.  Place your scores as close together as you can.

-Season the scores with salt.

-In a medium hot pan add the tablespoon of olive oil.

-Place salmon skin side down and season the top the filet with salt and pepper.

-Cook on this side until the color has changed from orange to a cloudy pink ¾ of the way up the filet.

-Flip the filet and cook for about 2 more minutes.

Plating (begin once you’ve flipped the salmon):

-Place about ½ cup or the jasmine rice on the plate.

-To the side of the rice, place about one cup of the slaw.

-Salmon should be ready now, place it on top of the rice.

-With a ladle scoop your peanut sauce on top of the salmon.

-Now enjoy, it’s delicious.

Herb and Garlic Butter Rubbed Chicken

Finished Dishes

Close up on the finished chicken

Pre-cook chicken rubbed and ready to cook.

Herb and Garlic Butter Rubbed Chicken With Homemade Stuffing and Vegetable Caserole

You will need:

1 handful of fresh thyme

1 handful of fresh parsley

4 cloves fresh garlic

1 stick of butter salted

Olive Oil

1 whole chicken

1 baguette

1 whole red onion

3 yellow squash

4 cups of snow peas

½ cup of shredded cheese

Salt and pepper

Begin by finely chopping your herbs and garlic.  Divide your herbs and garlic in half.  In a microwave safe bowl heat a cold stick of butter for 1 minute.  Keep the butter in the bowl.  Add half of the herbs and garlic to the bowl of butter and mix with a whisk, then place in the fridge.  Add the rest of the herbs and garlic to a large mixing bowl.  Rip your baguette in half.  Begin tearing half of the baguette into a food processor.  Then process your bread and add to the bowl.  Continue with the remaining baguette and add to the bowl.  Now drizzle the bread crumbs with olive oil.  Mix the bowl contents, drizzle and again and mix again.

Preheat the oven to 350

Now that the butter has had a chance to chill remove from the fridge.  Now get out the chicken.  Remove the gizzards and neck from the bird cavity.  Give the bird a rinse.  Now its time to rub the bird.  First we are going to rub under the skin.  Place your fingers up under the skin in between the meat and skin and loosen it all up.  Now liberally rub under the skin.  Try to get under the drum sticks too.  Now it’s stuffing time.  Stuff the bird with as much stuffing as you can fit in there.  You should have less than ½ a cup of stuffing left over.  After the bird is stuffed, you can rub the outside of the bird.

Put in the oven uncovered for 1 and ½ hours or until internal temp has reached 180.

Vegetable casserole

Cut one red onion and 3 yellow squash.  Add red onion yellow squash and snow peas to a mixing bowl.  Drizzle with olive oil, shake a good bit of salt to taste, and fresh ground pepper, mix up with some shredded cheese, add to a casserole dish and bake for 1 hour.

Plate it all up and enjoy!

Bourbon Pineapple Glazed Pork Chops

The finished dish.

The glaze cooking.

The magical ingredients.

Grilled Pork Chops with Bourbon Pineapple Glaze

You will need:

1 whole red onion

½ fresh pineapple

2 large cloves of garlic

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup bourbon

1 Handful of fresh rosemary

Let’s get started.  You will begin by chopping the red onion and the fresh pineapple.  Chop both the onion and pineapple into bite size pieces.  Place the onion and half of the chopped pineapple into your food processor.  Dice 2 large cloves of garlic and add to the food processor.  De-stem your fresh rosemary and add to the food processor.  Add 1 cup of brown sugar to the food processor.  Now blend finely the entire contents.

Next combine the pureed ingredients along with the bourbon into a sauce pan.  Heat to a rolling boil, reduce to medium heat and continue to cook for about 10 minutes stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat and let cool.  I placed mine in the freezer because I was pressed for time.  When your glaze has cooled it is ready to marinate your pork chops.  Next you will need to violently stab your pork chops with a fork on both sides.  Then combine in a bag or tuperware container with the glaze.  Marinate for at least an hour. 

About a half hour before you are ready to grill your pork chops get your grill ready.  I use charcoal so it takes me the whole half hour to get it ready.  Grill the pork chops till internal temp has reached 170 degrees or until you are sure they are fully cooked.

For my side dish I chose a very simple side, grilled corn on the cob in the husks.  I begin by unsheathing the corn from the husks, but make sure you don’t rip off the husks.  Then I take a stick of butter and rub it all over the corn.  Then close up the corn in the husks and grill. 

Plate up and enjoy.

Taste analysis:

If you like bourbon flavor, then this is the dish for you.  The pineapple and bourbon balance well.  It's not too heavy on the garlic flavor or the rosemary. I would definitely marinate the chops overnight if I was to do it again.  Overall it was pretty good.

We're back!

Well, at least Jeremy is...  I, Jeremy, have had this idea for a recipe up my sleeve for some time now.  So here goes the preview.  The wife likes when I grill.  I like when I grill, and tonight she wanted to grill some pork chops.  The sweet sweet recipe I've been cooking up in my mind is a pork chop recipe.  The ingredients are bourbon, brown sugar, rosemary, garlic, fresh pineapple, and pork chop.  You can use your imagination.

Brisket Chili, The taste analysis

Oh my dear Lord Jesus! That is the best chili I've ever had. The flavors balance so well with a mild heat. Improvements I would make may be a few cans of tomato paste to make it thicker, add more jalapenos or a hotter pepper to give it more heat, and maybe a can of beer to it. There is definitely the smoke flavor there from the brisket. It's not too salty, not over bearing. All around delicious. We'll see what the office has to say about it tomorrow.

Smoked Brisket Chili!

Smoked Brisket Chili Rough Draft

1lb Smoked beef brisket

2 8oz cans stewed tomatoes chopped with juice

2 Red onions Chopped

5 Jalapeno peppers sliced

3 8oz cans of kidney beans (strained)

2 cups water

¼ cup dry rub

Combine in slow cooker for 3 hours on high stirring occasionally add more rub to taste a tea spoon at a time.

Analysis soon to come. I've tasted some of the broth, and it's glorious, so we'll see.

Coming Soon, Smoked Brisket Chili

Right now I'm smoking a brisket for an experimental chili. It's the practice chili for the Camden Chili Cook Off. Taste testing by the office on Monday. Stay tuned.