Collard Greens Roll-ups with Peach Compote

It’s peach season in the Peach State; the season runs from mid-May to August, approximately 16 weeks.  Like most locavores, I eat, cook and preserve as much as I can until they run out.

H.T. Chen and Dian Dong from Chen Dance Center in New York were here a couple of weeks ago for a residency at Alternate ROOTS to explore the possibility of working with artists in the South  and the Chinese-American community to create new work about Chinese-American immigrants. I brought Dian to the market after picking them up from airport, and she was all glee and happiness when she found some Georgia peaches.  Ahhh, but who wouldn’t be, right?  Georgia peaches are the sweetest, juiciest and most plump in the world.  Fun fact:  Peaches were first grown in China, then they spread to the western world via India and Persia, and was brought by Christopher Columbus to the new world.  It finally found its way to middle Georgia and planted on acres of land which later became Peach County.  I bet H.T. would enjoy that bit of information as much as he enjoyed the peaches.

Tilapia stewed in Coconut Cream with Sprouted Bhutanese Red Rice

Banana leaf wrapped Tilapia in Coconut Cream with
Sprouted Bhutanese Red Rice and Sauteed Turnip Greens

I prefer simple food over ones with highfalutin' names.  Don't get me wrong, I love all food, but it's always the simple ones that give me the most satisfaction.  I prefer my meals simple, balanced, nutritious and ready in 30 minutes.

I didn't invent 30 minute meals, but that's the average time I spend on a weekday dinner.  My secret:  planning and prep work.  

Of Food Waste, Earth-friendly Dating and Bean Salad

Vocabulary lesson today-- food waste.

Food waste is food loss occurring during the retail and final consumption stages due to the behavior of retailers and consumers – that is, the throwing away of food.

Consumers, meaning you and me.  I learned from my readings and watching many documentaries that we waste tonsa tonsa amount of food daily, making it the third largest waste stream after paper and yard waste.  And get this, 27% of that waste is available for consumption; yet, 14.5% (or 1 in every 7) of every household is food insecure.  This freaking blows my mind!  I won't ramble on the subject; instead, I urge you to visit and read Jonathan Bloom's blog, since he has a wealth of information on this issue (after you finish mine of course).  His book, American Wasteland, is a great read.

Repost: Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It's festive yet not as hectic as Christmas; it's predictable, since it always on a Thursday, thus I know I can actually rest after two days of cooking and baking; and it comes during my favorite time of year, autumn.

Every year, I have 6 people over for Thanksgiving, to complete a group of 8, including me and Bill. These are friends who, like myself, have no family in Atlanta and we have each other for family.

Thanksgiving preparation starts on Sunday before. I shop for the ingredients and order in my meat and turkey for pickup Wednesday. Wednesday night is when I make the pies, soak the cornmeal for the cornbread and brine the turkey & crown roast. Some of the Thanksgiving guests spends the night to help make the pies. I usually prepare a light dinner, but this year, Nikita took care of dinner and she prepared an authentic "Chinese Hot Pot" for us, yummy!!

Texas Red-Braised Beef Short Ribs

Confession: I have been sleeping with the Lee Brothers these past two weeks-- I mean The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook.  Their adventures and stories of growing up in the South is very entertaining. I have prepared since, their different versions of grits, the bird’s head biscuit, and have a couple of jars of the Pickled Peaches in my pantry. By the way, the bird's head biscuit-- the best biscuit I ever had! And that’s saying a lot since I live in the South and have had my ample share of biscuits

Today, I am making their Texas Red-Braised Beef Short Ribs, which is mole-based. I am in the process of developing my personal mole recipe, after sampling the tastiest Guatamalan Tamale Negro from a hole in the wall Mexican Tienda in Buford Highway. I love this tamale so much; I had been driving 16 miles per way every Saturday to get my fix.

Veal Chops with Cherry-Port Reduction and Saffron Polenta

I learned from a really early age from my grandmother (my Dad's mom) to save rendered fat-- drippings from bacon, turkey, beef, pork, chorizo's/sausages and of course, duck.  My family is very frugal (not cheap) that they would save anything worth saving.  My Papa, God bless his soul, used them as substitute for Vicks(tm) and rubbed us with rendered grease when we have colds or fever when we were little.  It used to drive my mother crazy since we would be smelling of chorizo or adobo, *LOL*!

Roasted Leg of Lamb




Roasted Leg of Lamb

I met Biljana through my friend Yusuke.  I was having some friends over for a game night, and Yusuke asked me if he could bring some friends with him, one of them being Biljana, whom he described as hailing from Macedonia (which was funny since Biljana had been living in the States for almost 2 decades by then).  Biljana and I hit it off that night,  exchanged numbers, planned to go for a walk the following Sunday, and just like that, we were friends. It's like a match made in heaven.  

Three Squash Soup

Three Squash Soup 

I love this soup.  It is reminiscent of those cold rainy days when I was growing up in the Philippines.  It’s my version of my Mom’s Squash Soup she calls “Dinuyduy” which literally translates to ‘mashed’ in her Ethnic Ilocos Sur tongue. She makes it with a beautifully-ripened golden calabaza squash that she sautés with browned garlic and fried pork belly pieces before she adds water and reduces until thick, that she then garnishes with bitter melon leaves.  Spoon this over some steamed rice and man, I would not care at all if it rains all day long and a half. 

Sauteed Bitter Melons (Guinisang Ampalaya)

I was browsing the produce at the Marietta Farmers Market the other day when one of the vendors asked me if I am "Filipino".  I was surprised as to how he singled me out as Filipino (turned out he lived in the Philippines when he was with the army) but even more surprised when he brought out some beautiful and newly harvested bitter melons -- I didn't think twice about buying the whole lot.. it's one of my favorite vegetable.

Summer Grilling

Bone-in Rib Eye Steak

Grilling is very primal, yet sheer genius! I can imagine how our ancestors must have felt when they first bit into that grilled meat... must have been same time they came up with the word orgasmic! Everything tastes better grilled, and these days, just about anything can be grilled.

Roasted Pork Loin with Orange-Maple-Rosemary Glaze

For the longest time, I've been scared of this cut of meat, the pork loin. I don't have fond "cooking" memories of it -- mine always come out dry, chewy and tasteless, that is why I haven't prepared it for almost a decade. But now that I am better cook, I aim to tackle this fear.

Herb-Crusted Rack of Lamb

Herb-crusted Rack of Lamb with Roasted Fingerling Potatoes

I love lamb, as much as L.A.M.B (Gwen Stefani), ha-ha! In my hierarchy of meat, it's on the top three, interchangeable with duck and NY strip steak.

While tending to my herbs this morning, I was reminded of lamb while gathering some mint, thus I made a mental note to stop by my local butcher today to see if they have lamb. So, imagine my bliss when the butcher brought out the last of the lamb rack he had-- beautiful, sexy frenched rack of lamb. I was shamelessly salivating over its succulence and rawness. Ha ha!

Roasted Stuffed Cornish Game Hen Wrapped in Bacon

Cooking for one, or two, is challenging, especially if one is not a big fan of leftoverses (too much leftovers). That's why I love cornish game hens. Aside from the fact that they are tastier than a regular chicken, there is just enough left over for another meal or two; unlike with regular chicken, you can lay eggs by the time you are done finishing up the leftoverses, LOL!

I was craving roasted chicken and bacon earlier today, thus for dinner, chicken wrapped in bacon, yum! Heck, I feel guilty already. I feel guilty when I eat bacon or anything really good. The feeling of guilt about enjoying anything and everything extra good is the Catholic in me. I'll balance it out by making brussels sprouts (my penance, ha ha!). I got some brussels sprouts this weekend when I was at the market; I want to serve it as a side dish for Thanksgiving this year, so I am going to "test kitchen" the recipe I will be making of the brussels sprouts.

Wrapping bacon on the chicken for roasting lends it a dramatic smoky flavor, plus the chicken always comes out moist and juicy. I usually brine my chicken, to make it moist and flavorful, but in this recipe, the bacon does the trick.

Roasted Stuffed Cornish Game Hen Wrapped in Bacon

For the chicken:

1 cornish game hen

4 pcs bacon

For the stuffing:

1/2 cup herbed croutons

1 celery stalk, minced

1 carrot, minced

4-5 roasted french chestnut (optional), minced

1/2 of an apples, minced

3 T chicken stock

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Wash chicken. Pat dry with paper towel inside and out, rub with salt inside and out. Set aside.

Put herbed croutons in a freezer bag and crush just to break it down but do not pulverized. Add chicken stock to moisten the croutons. Add all the other ingredients and shake in a bag to mix.

Stuff and truss the chicken. Transfer to a roasting pan breast side down. Bake for about 40 minutes (20 minutes per lbs as a rule), then crank the oven to 425 degrees and roast breast side up for another 5 minutes or until browned. Remove from oven and let it rest for about 5-7 minutes.

Charred Brussels Sprouts and Apples

225 grams brussels sprouts

1 1/2 Fuji apples, diced

2 T fat drippings (or olive oil)

2 T applesauce

2 T fried shallots

sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

Bring 4 cups of water to boil, add salt, add brussels sprouts and cook for about 3-5 minutes. Drain into a strainer. You will notice that the brussels sprouts will still be medium cooked but the residual heat will cook it to perfect tenderness. Heat skillet, add 2 T of fat drippings, stir in brussels sprouts and apples, until charred and caramelized. Toss in fried shallots, apple sauce, add salt and freshly ground pepper, give a couple of stirs and remove from heat.

I save all my meat/fat drippings in a jar and keep it in the reefer. I learned early on in life by watching my family cook that it's the best way to flavor stir fry, fried rice and sauces.