[caption id="attachment_2274" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Beef Bourguignon - Click To Enlarge"][/caption]
This week I am making Beef Bourguignon in a slow cooker. I was at work all last week wondering what it was that I was going to make for my next weeks video. You know as a foodie I am surrounded by a world of food and there are still times when I kick myself in the head wondering what the heck I am going to make for the coming week. This week I was saved by a guy named Paul in the East Coast of England who sent me a private message on my Youtube channel and just asked a basic question. "Hows about a slow cooker recipe?"
I wrote him back saying C'mon you just throw a piece of meat and some spuds and such in the crock and there it is your easy slow cooker recipes! He replied to me that he is now only getting into cooking and that he's been living off of fast food and his George Foreman grill for years and now he wants to improve his diet and cooking skills. So I gave it some considerable thought and decided that I just wasn't going to throw a chicken in the crock pot with veggies and go from there.
I decided to cook Beef Bourguignon in a slow cooker. Now there is only one Beef Bourguignon recipe out there and that belongs to Julia Child in her classic book "Mastering The Art Of French Cooking." Well I was going to build my Beef Bourguignon recipe and adapt mine from hers. There are many easy slow cooker recipes out there but this one is special because Beef Bourguignon is a classic French dish and I was asked by someone to do this and so I wanted to make something special. . My Beef Bourguignon recipe will NOT be an exact copy of the classic by Julia Child. My recipe will have some subtle changes. One of the layers of flavor that I will be putting into this Beef Bourguignon recipe is a charred half of onion. Another changes is I am not going to be using "lardons" or blanched bacon to spice my sauce. Rather I am going to be using some French Andouille sausage in it's place as this adds a different spice set to the Beef Bourguignon. I will also be using some Cognac to fortify the red wine and some baby yellow potatoes at the end as well. So let's watch the video for my Beef Bourguignon one of my new favorite easy slow cooker recipes!
This week I am back to doing a Knife Sharpening video. For a very long time now I have been getting tons of private messages and emails asking me to do some moreKnife Sharpeningvideos. So this week I am going to sharpen a kitchen knife for you and I am going to be using a stroke that I call the "Western Style" stroke of Knife Sharpening!
I will be sharpening my 8 inch Japanese kitchen knife on a series of DMT diamond plates and finishing the blade on ceramic stones and a black surgical Arkansas whetstone. I have said before that there is no mystery to sharpening and I still say that today! I have in other Knife Sharpening videos said that there are many ways to sharpen a knife but not all of those ways is the best way to perform Knife Sharpening. On the other hand I will also repeat myself here and say that not all sharpening mediums will sharpen all knives and not all knives can be sharpened on just one sharpening medium type. In other words as an example a knife made of a really hard Japanese steel like Aogami Super which Rockwell tests at 70RC will not necessarily get sharpened correctly on traditional Arkansas whetstones. This is why I use diamond sharpening plates because diamonds are the hardest thing on the planet and they will sharpen just about any knife on the market!
[caption id="attachment_2213" align="alignleft" width="300"] Pasta Salad Recipe: Soba Noodle Salad - Click To Enlarge[/caption]
This week I am going to be doing something with some Japanese buckwheat noodles called Soba Noodles. I am going to make a Soba Noodle recipe that is a Thai inspired Soba noodle recipe. This is a very easy pasta salad recipethat can be made in minutes and is delicious and healthy to eat! I am doing this recipe for a reason. It's spring time again and the weather if finally warming up into the eighties. That means that it is time for social gatherings and friends and food! Time to breakout the old barbecue grill again! I love summer gatherings with friends because it is a really great way to relax and catch up with each other that we don't normally get to do because of our busy workaday world and hectic lifestyles. The best part of the parties whether they are here at my place or at a friends is that everyone makes something to bring! It's generally the usual fare like steaks for burgers or chicken made of course in many ways. Then there are the side dishes like potato salad, coleslaw and pasta or macaroni salad.
It's the macaroni or pasta salad recipe that brings me to this weeks Soba noodle recipe. so as stated this week I am going to make a pasta salad recipe with an Asian flair or Thai style to this Soba noodle recipe. The Soba noodles are Japanese but I'm going to make this pasta salad recipe using Thai flavors although for the most part many dishes of Asian culture are so very interchangeable to begin with and that is why I LOVE Asian food! You see to me regular old macaroni salad recipe or pasta salad recipe is just to darn "pedestrian" and boring and you find them at all the gatherings and it never really changes. This Soba noodle recipe will change the way you look at and make your pasta salad recipe for your social events in the future. You can make this pasta salad recipe with just about anything you have in your refrigerator which is a good thing because it doesn't need to always be "Asian" in style and you can add whatever vegetables you have on hand and you can also decide whether or not to make this pasta salad recipe vegetarian or not as well! If you don't have Soba noodles on hand you can use whole grain or whole wheat pasta as well! It's all good! I’ve made this pasta salad recipe or some variation of it for countless parties and barbecues, and I almost always get asked for the recipe.
From what I am to glean Soba noodles are a good choice for this pasta salad recipe especially if you are trying to go or need to go gluten. Soba noodles are made from buckwheat and have a nuttier flavor than other pastas but I would check the ingredients on the back of the package to make absolutely sure as there are many brands out there. There is also the option of using wheat free soy sauces if you need to go gluten free as well and some of the liquid amino acids out there would make a good substitute for the soy sauce. I use a brand of Tamari sauce that is gluten free so if you can't find the amino liquid just go to you market and find some Tamari. This Soba noodle recipe is by no means a main course! It is a side dish although I am sure if you eat a big enough plate you could call it a main course. This pasta salad recipe goes great as a side dish to homemade sushi or just about any meat main dish.
Asian have certain criteria when it comes to foods, herbs and spices and in Japan it's not different. Soba noodles are used in a myriad of ways like the way I am using them. In other words Soba noodles are eaten cold in the summer(although this is not writter in stone for all Japanese.)And eaten hot in the winter like in soups or hot in a soba noodle recipe of some kind. I like the nutty flavor of Soba noodles and I always buy the big 18 serving box to have on hand to make ramens and other hot pasta recipes. Try this Soba noodle pasta salad recipe and work with it and make it your own way. Let's check out the video! Enjoy!
[caption id="attachment_2166" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Thai Red Curry - Click To Enlarge"][/caption]
This week the weather here in Vegas turned cold again as the weather patterns across much of the country seem to be a bit out of whack. I was going to make a summery cool salad this week but because of the high winds 50mph and rain it got cold so I wanted to eat something hot and comforting. I went looking around my fridge and found a jar of Thai red curry! As many of you know I LOVE Thai food. If you have seen my video called "Tag Your It" on Youtube then you know that my fridge is LOADED with things like chicken and shrimp. So there it was! Thai red curry in the making using chicken and fish as the protein component. I LOVE curries in just about any form I can get them and Thai red curry is no different it is one of my favorite Thai recipes when I go out to eat. It's truly a fave dish in restaurants all over the place and the paste is made of so many delicious herbs and spices. Most people are familiar with Indian curries being made of things like mustard seed, tumeric, coriander, black pepper, masala powder etc. I love the South East Asian flavors of Thai red curry. Generally speaking Thai red curry is made of ingredients like Thai chilies(of course!), garlic, lemongrass, galangal, shallots, cilantro, kaffir lime leaves(Oh those are so hard to get at the Asian market cuz the restaurants snag em all!),cilantro, and shrimp paste. Now we are cooking! For anyone who has never had Thai red curry................You are in for a big fragrant and delicious treat! This is one dish I love to make because in under an hour it's gonna be BANG! ZOOM! Time to eat a great chicken curry recipe!
Asia is a BIG place and there is curry all over Asia. Funny how many forms curries can come in but for the most part curry is a stew like dish whether it is thick or thin in nature. The herb and spice combinations uses to make Thai recipes and the curries used are endless. Most people and myself included consider curry to be native to India as most of us who have had curry have had curry in the form of Indian dishes. The basic recipe and method of making and cooking curry was brought to South East Asia by the people of India who immigrated to the south. In Thailand they have taken that ancient knowledge and made curry in their own form and image with a myriad of Thai recipes that are delicious and pleasing and isn't that what food is all about? Find a recipe, Thai recipes or any recipe for that matter and make it your own. The people of Thailand have done an excellent job of that when it comes to the various forms of curry in Thailand and the myriad list of Thai recipes that use curry of different types. If you are a curry lover then you could never get bored eating in Thailand!
Curry in Thailand is made one of two ways and that is with water or coconut milk and the addition of the curry paste itself. Other things are added to the dish along the way of course like meat, seafood, veggies! Just about anything you can think of can be made in Thai curry. The versions of curry from India are generally thicker than the Thai curry dishes which are a bit more liquid in nature. Don't get me wrong though, even though Thai recipes for curries are a bit soupier than Indian curries they are rich because of the pastes used. Just like hamburgers are a staple of American life the curries of Thailand are a staple dish of that country. Thai recipes in any form are a healthy dish that are an excellent combo of protein and vitamins like vitamin C. Curries whether they are Indian or Thai are really easy to digest to because they are made of so many digestive herbs and spices. Thai red curry is a great comfort food and healthy to!
In Thailand curry is referred to as "Gaeng Phet." Gaeng means a liquid base that refers to soups as well as curries. Phet refers to HOT! I mean really HOT! I come to find out that when it comes to curries that the water based curries of Thailand are grouped together with soups and that's because not all varieties of "gaeng" are going to be spicy. The mild gaeng refers to soups that have clear broths and are called "Gaeng Joot." Hence water based curries.
Here in the United States we are more familiar with the coconut based curries that we find in our Thai restaurants like Thai red curry. There are many, many varieties of coconut based Thai curries out there and of course these curries are the thicker of the two kinds found in Thailand. Some examples would be Thai red curry or "gaeng phet" or "gaeng Kiow Wahn" for Thai green curry and for Thai yellow curry that is called "gaeng leuang." There is a really interesting factoid about Thai curry recipes and Thai curry pastes and that little factoid is this: Thai green curry(gaeng kiow wahn) is made with fresh green Thai chilies and is the only one in Thai culinary practice that is, the rest of the curry pastes are made of Thai chilies that have been dried first! I find that interesting and I am sure there is a difference in the flavors of the paste because of it! There are also other varieties of Thai curry called panang and masamam and others. I could write a tome for all the different types of curries there are in Thailand but alas I only have this one blogpost.......for now! So go ahead and check out this video on how to make Thai red curry! It's one of my favorite Thai Recipes and a terrific chicken curry recipe to boot! Enjoy!
[caption id="attachment_2124" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Chicken Adobo - Click To Enlarge"][/caption]
Hi everyone! This week I am making Chicken Adobo and let me tell you why! Here we go! I was thinking about what I was going to cook this week for my Youtube channel video as sometimes with writing you get writers block and sometimes with cooking you get cooks or foodie block. Well let me tell you that when you write as well as cook those blocks can be like boulders. I was at work and the week was coming to an end and I was kinda stressing out! I was actually thinking about taking the week off again but decided against that. This last week on March 2nd my Youtube channel turned 1yrs old. On the 10th of March my blog here turned 1yrs old. I just want to thank everyone who has every come to my blog and I want to thank all of my subs and contacts at Youtube I really appreciate having all of you in my life and making this last year a whole lot of fun for me and making my life so much more creative and productive that I just want to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart! So needless to say I was not going to take the week off and party hard.
The Gods must have been smiling upon me on one side and laughing their asses off on the other side. I say this because I got a visit from an old friend and it was this visit that helped me decide what I was going to cook this week. It was Friday and the door to the cutlery shop opens at about 3:30pm. In walks this guy I have known for the last 14yrs. Pabzz. Well, his real name is Lino but everyone calls him Pabzz. I see Lino about once a year he comes up from Fresno, CA and buys knives from me. Lino is Filipino and he and I are involved in a martial art called Kali Escrima! I have been into this art since 1996 and Lino even longer. Knives are a big part of Kali.
Usually Lino calls a week or so in advance to let me know he is coming to town but this time......no call! He walks in the door I see him and go to greet him. A quick "man hug" and a strong handshake and BAM! Just like old times. Not two seconds after that he says to me, "Hey man! I didn't know you were on Youtube!" I didn't know what to say. I told him that we only see each other once a year so I will tell you now. He said you could have called or emailed me you MF'er (I think you get the idea!) "I'm sorry Mano!" I tell him. "Man! You ain't got no Filipino food in your videos!" Oh Boy! I could see the shitstorm coming from a mile away on this one!
"I just haven't gotten to it yet Mano! Sorry! "Dude, you got Korean food, Japanese food and you even made Vietnamese food but you got no Filipino food man! You just ain't doing us right you know what I'm saying?" I apologized again and said, "Mano! Let's not get down to knuckles over this man!" "I'll tell you what! I make some Filipino food this week OK Mano? I'll make some Chicken Adobo will that do it for you Mano?" Lino was like, "OK Dude, but you better or you and me are getting down to the sticks!" I assured him that I would make it and we talked about how to make it because I only had a cursory knowledge of it. So he told me what I needed to get to make Chicken Adobo and my recipe for the week was decided right then and there!
I have added a couple of little tweaks that are not in standard straightforward Chicken Adobo but all in all it is a lovely and delicious dish! The fact of the matter is that every family in the Philippines has their own way of making Chicken Adobo. Like Lino had told me in Hawaii the Filipinos add sugar to the Chicken Adobo and if you add a star anise you will spice up your Chicken Adobo and give it a Chinese flavor. You can add onions to Chicken Adobo as I did and you can add potatoes to it at the end. Chicken Adobo is a very versatile dish in the fact that chicken stew is made all over the world and because of that each country can take from another to make a wonderful Chicken Adobo or chicken stew. So check out my video and enjoy!
[caption id="attachment_2088" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Lasagna: Click To Enlarge"][/caption]
This last week after I made Korean pajeon I was kind of in a funk about what to cook this coming week for my readers and youtube subbies! I was talking to my brother on the phone about it and he finally said to me, "Hey! why don't you make a lasagna?" I gave it some thought and decided to do it! I LOVE lasagna! Who doesn't? So the next thing I thought about was what kind of lasagna did I want to make? I mean I could have just made a run of the mill meat sauce and cheese lasagna recipe but I thought to myself "Nah!"
If I was going my make a lasagna I would at least want to make a lasagna recipe that was a bit more than just your plain meat sauce and cheese lasagna. There was no way I was going to make a lasagna recipe using cottage cheese! To me that just is not a lasagna in the true sense! If I was going to make a lasagna it was going to be with 100% whole milk ricotta the way Mama used to make it! It was going to have whole milk Mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses and be delicious!
So I decided to make a beef and spinach lasagna recipe with a homemade sauce and lots of good stuff in it. Now I know that everyone out there probably has their favorite lasagna from a home lasagna recipe or a favorite restaurant they go to but I am only offering this beef and spinach lasagna recipe as a simple and EZ lasagna that anyone can make at home. I am not going to say that this is the "worlds best lasagna!" Everyone else has done that one to death! My lasagna is just a rib sticking ooey, gooey, cheesy and flavorful lasagna! The best part of this or any lasagna is that the appeal to making one is that the ingredients used in the lasagna recipe are totally basic ingredients that you can get in any market in Anywhereville U.S.A!
You don't need to go hunting for fresh organic basil leaves or some kind of fancy schmancy mozzarella that some people call "buffalo." You don't need to go to an Italian grocer for handmade sausage from Italy or buy a chunk of Grana Padana! This lasagna recipe can be made in your home anytime and it is one of the easiest comfort foods around! I have made many lasagna's in my life for all kinds of people and all kinds of events and not matter what type of lasagna I make the look on the faces of the people that eat is tells me all that I need to know! They love it! So lets make a beef and spinach lasagna! Enjoy the video!
Well it has been about two weeks since my last blog post and video. Sorry about that guys! I was down with the flu for about five days and then when I finally got better I went to visit my brother out of town for about a week. I have not seen him in about two years so I thought it was about time we hang out and catch up on things. I had a great time. I even brought my new best friend Riley with me. Riley is my Havanese puppy! He is a Cuban water dog and he is the the bestest buddy I could ever have! He had a great time to!
So now that I am back and feeling better I feel like cooking something! I had to decide what I was going to make this week for my video recipe and in true fashion and love of Asian foods I decided to make a great little snack or "banchan" as they call it in Korea a dish called "Pajeon." (pa jun) Pajeon is a Korean scallion pancake recipe, a "jeon." There are many names for different kinds of pajeon or Korean scallion pancake recipe or "jeon" out there and are called many different names like buchimgae, jimi, chijimi, kimchijeon, kimchi jeon and jijimgae. These are but a few of the different kinds of pajeon in Korea. Your basic pajeon is made with a batter and scallions and is the basic pajeon recipe. In fact scallions are the predominant ingredient in Korean pajeon. No matter what type of pajeon you make you will find scallions as a main ingredient! The "Pa" in pajeon means onion as in pa kimchi or jook pa kimchi hence the scallions in the pajeon. Many people mistake Korean pajeon pancakes and Chinese green onion pancakes to be the same thing but they are not! They may look alike but the difference is that the Chinese green onion pancake is made with a dough and the Korean pajeon is made with the batter of eggs, flour, rice flour, or cornstarch and in some cases people even use potato flakes added to some kind of flour to make pajeon gluten free!
You can make pajeon, the Korean scallion pancake recipe with just about anything you can think of and the different batter recipes are just about endless. As with any kind of cuisine there are as many recipes for the cuisine as there are people making the recipes. This is the same when it comes to making pajeon. So this week I thought I would make three pajeon recipes.
The first one that I will make is the standard vegetable pajeon, the standard Korean scallion pancake recipe which I make with scallions of course and I add some finely shredded zucchini for texture and a nutty flavor in a batter of flour, eggs, cornstarch, gochugaru(Korean coarse ground chili pepper) salt and pepper and a touch of sesame oil to boot! This will be the batter I use for the other two pajeon varieties that I will be making in this video as well.
[caption id="attachment_2066" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Pajeon: Korean Scallion Pancake - Click To Enlarge"][/caption]
The second pajeon that I will make is called "Haemul pajeon." Haemul pajeon is the standard Korean pajeon vegetable recipe with the scallions but it also has the addition of minced clams, oysters, surimi or baby shrimp. You can also add some chili pepper to this or any pajeon recipe. Haemul pajeon is a delicious seafood pancake.
[caption id="attachment_2067" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Pajeon: Haemul Pajeon Korean Seafood Pancake - Click To Enlarge"][/caption]
I would have to say that my third choice is my favorite pajeon recipe. My third pajeon recipe in this video is called "buchimgae" or "kimchijeon." This pajeon is made with my standard batter and the scallions and also has the addition of finely chopped bae chu kimchi and pork sausage and sliced red and green chili peppers. It's a delicious pajeon. So let's make some pajeon. Enjoy the video!
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[caption id="attachment_2068" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Pajeon: Buchimgae Or Kimchijeon Pancake - Click To Enlarge"][/caption]
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