Recipes

Moroccan Chicken Sandwich with Manchego Cheese and Preserved Lemons

May 11, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

After making Moroccan Chicken I had some leftovers that needed to be used. As I have said in previous posts, I make that dish pretty often so I am always trying to come up with new, tasty recipes for the leftovers. I decided to try the chicken on a grilled cheese sandwich along with Manchego cheese, caramelized onions and preserved lemons. The preserved lemons and caramelized onions are sauteed together with honey so their flavors can mingle. Manchego is a Spanish cheese that has the consistency of mozzarella and has a slightly tangy flavor. I had it once at a mexican restaurant and I was looking forward to having it again. It melts great so I thought it would work nicely on a grilled cheese sandwich. This sandwich was simple to make and the flavors were so good together.

…

Tofu and Wakame Miso Soup

May 9, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

Whenever I go to a Japanese restaurant I usually pick up a bowl of miso soup. I am a fan of soups of all kinds but this is one of my favorites and I’ve always thought about trying it at home. It turns out making miso is easy and the only trouble I ran into was finding a few of the ingredients. Luckily a local asian market carried the miso paste, seaweed and rice noodles. The other ingredients were easy to find at the grocery store. Making the soup was really easy and took less than 30 minutes to prepare. An important part of this recipe is not boiling the broth as it changes the flavor of the diluted miso. The result is a really great soup that is actually quite versatile–you can add tons of things and it would turn out great. Some examples could be cooked/shredded chicken, potatoes, carrots, bok choy, snap peas, spinach, etc.

…

Corned Beef Sandwich On Rye with Cider Caramelized Onions

May 6, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

After baking a loaf of rye bread, what better way to put it to use than making corned beef sandwiches? This sandwich is similar to the Reuben but with a few notable differences. I decided to use sharp cheddar and caramelized onions instead of Swiss cheese and sauerkraut. Since corned beef pairs well with more bitter ingredients I used cider vinegar to caramelize the onions instead of something sweeter like brown sugar or honey. I also mixed some horseradish and Dijon mustard together which tasted great with the corned beef. All the flavors worked really well together and I can’t wait to make it again! I served the sandwich with a side of Irish coleslaw.
…

Irish Coleslaw

May 5, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

This Irish styled coleslaw is a simple vinaigrette based mixture of cabbage, apples, chives, and carrots. The vinaigrette is composed of rapeseed oil, cider vinegar, grainy Irish mustard and sugar. It’s an easy process of grating the ingredients and tossing them in the vinaigrette. The result is fresh with flavors of sweetness and tartness from the apples and vinegar. I’ve always wanted to try coleslaw without mayo and I really enjoyed it. It’s a lot less heavy than mayonnaise based coleslaw. It worked really nicely as an accompaniment for my Corned Beef on Rye sandwich.

…

Caraway Rye Bread

May 4, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

It’s hard to find decent rye bread at grocery stores. That is part of the reason why I undertook this rye bread recipe. When I say ‘undertook’ I mean that it takes about 8 hours to complete so it is kind of an all day project. I enjoyed the process of making the starter, kneading, and watching the dough rise. It is neat to watch the yeast in action and at some point you realize that the bread is a live organism. The amount of yeast in this recipe is less than what I normally use for yeast bread. This is why the rye has a longer prep time than other recipes.

This recipe also uses a neat trick of tossing in a few ice cubes into the oven to create a more humid environment while the bread bakes. Even though the oven is humidified, the outside of the bread is golden brown and crusty, almost like a baguette crust. The inside is soft and the aroma of caraway and rye in the kitchen is fairly intoxicating!

…

Roasted Jalapeno and Avocado Grilled Cheese Sandwich

May 3, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

Grilled cheese sandwiches are a great way to use up leftovers from other dishes. I had some queso fresco, jalapenos and avocados from previous meals and I didn’t want them to go to waste. I decided to make a sandwich out of them and what better sandwich than grilled cheese? I never realized queso fresco was such a great melted cheese since I had only eaten it crumbled. It turns out it slices really well and melts perfectly on sandwiches. I was worried that all those jalapenos would overpower the other flavors so I roasted them in the oven until they were just starting to char. This mellowed the heat but concentrated the flavor of the peppers. To make things easier I added the avocado slices after grilling the sandwich because they tend to fall out. The sandwich was really tasty so I might have to start buying the ingredients instead of waiting until I have leftovers!

…

Korean Grilled Chicken Burrito with Pickled Onion & Cucumber Relish

May 2, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

For Cinco de Mayo I have been trying some tex-mex dishes with an injection of Korean flavors. So far I have been enjoying these recipes a lot. This recipe is all about the combination of spicy and sour flavors. The grilled chicken and salsa bring the spiciness while the cucumber relish brings the sour and sweet. The creamy avocado and queso fresco mellow everything out and the result is a really tasty burrito. It wasn’t hard to assemble but prepping the fillings beforehand does take time. To make it easier, I made the red salsa days earlier which shortened the prep time by an hour or so. I would recommend marinating the chicken for a few hours before grilling so the flavors can come together. Garnishing the burrito with a little lime juice at the end helps prevent the avocado slices from browning.

…

Pickled Red Onion and Cucumber Relish

May 1, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

This recipe was inspired by the Mexican pickled red onions that I had made for the Cochinita Pibil Tacos. This time I wanted to try a Korean/tex-mex fusion so I experimented with the ingredients and came up with a cucumber and red onion relish marinated in rice vinegar and apple cider vinegar. The relish was pretty bitter from the vinegars so I mellowed it with honey. Then I added the zest and juice of a lime which really added a nice touch to the relish. It turns out that it’s surprisingly easy to pickle veggies. I let the veggies sit in the vinegar for a couple hours and they came out just a little bit pickled with lots of flavor from the vinegar and lime. The result was a great condiment for the Korean Grilled Chicken Burritos.

…

Korean Pulled Pork Tacos with Kimchi and Queso Fresco

April 27, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

When I decided to make Korean/Tex-mex food the first thing I thought of were tacos. They are so easy to load up with any ingredient you like. I settled on pork shoulder for the meat filling along with two different salsas: a red salsa flavored with fresh ginger and sesame seeds and a refreshing cilantro and lime salsa. Then I decided on kimchi, a Korean fermented cabbage and crumbled queso fresco to complete it. The result was a delicious taco loaded with great toppings. The pork was cooked on low heat for about 2 hours which resulted in meat that fell off the bone. The pork was spicy and sweet which went along great with the red salsa and kimchi. The cilantro and lime salsa provided a nice crunch and the lime juice went along nicely with the other fillings. All the flavors worked so well together and I look forward to making this again!

…

Kimchi (Korean Fermented Cabbage)

April 26, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

Kimchi is a Korean dish made with fermented Napa Cabbage, Red Pepper, and Garlic. I have heard a lot of good things about Kimchi and I couldn’t wait to try it. The red pepper is a Korean crushed red pepper called gochugaru and can be found in Korean or asian markets. The fish sauce is easy to find and most grocery stores carry it. Kimchi is great as a condiment or a side dish for many different Korean foods. The cabbage needs about a week to ferment and once that’s done you can enjoy it! Kimchi is fairly spicy and has a really unique flavor. The great thing about Kimchi is that the more it ages the better it gets so you can make a large batch and keep it in the refrigerator for about a month.

…