Kale & Tomato Soup

Kale - I have a love hate relationship with this deep green legume. It is sooo insanely healthy for you, its something I've grown to love through the years. Honestly, you can only eat soo much before the taste becomes like chalk in your mouth. So with that, I devised a healthy soup to feed your body and tastebuds.

First the key to this recipe is fresh and clean homemade chicken broth. I can not express the importance and the deliciousness that is accompanied with fresh chicken broth to any dish. Yes, the canned stuff and the expensive one from Whole Foods is good, but none can COMPARE.

To make your own chicken broth, I usually take scraps of drumsticks and scapula bone (that bit alone proves that I'm a science nerd!) from breast meat (the bones that are left after you cut off the meat you want). This DOES NOT include chicken skin, if you put fat into the broth, you will get fat back. So with your scraps, stew with water in a pot and you'll see your broth forming slowly. Remember to remove the bubbles (dirty boiled off fat) from the top of the broth. 

You can usually keep the broth up to a week. Probably longer but mine never sticks around that long. Chicken broth is good to add to almost every dish cause it adds a richness of flavor without adding salt.

Kale Soup

INGREDIENTS:
Kale leaves - cut off the stems, you can always saute them with some other dish

3-4 Diced Tomatos

1 Chopped up carrot

3 Minced Pieces of Garlic

1/2 chopped onion

2 TSP cooking oil

3 C Chicken Broth

Pepper  (optional - just to taste)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1) Lightly Saute garlic and onions with cooking oil in a pot (Cooking them before brings flavor to dish)

2) Add the rest of the ingredients

3) Cook at medium - low heat until the carrots are soft

And there you go! A simple tasty Kale & Tomato Soup. I usually eat this with a slice of multigrain toast. Seems hippiesh, but as the saying goes 'when in rome...' :D

Thit Kho Xương

This is one of my FAVORITE Vietnamese dishes, however, I'm very hesitant to write a blog entry on Vietnamese Cuisine for fear that I don't serve my heritage enough justice. But I will try to share you my takes on some of my favorite Vietnamese dishes. My mom is from the south and my dad is from the middle. There are many differences in the style and overall cooking techniques between the different regions of Vietnam. I mainly know the southern style, so bear with me. 

Please note that I learned a lot about cooking through watching my cousin, Phoung, as I was growing up. She is only 6 years older but she took care of me, my sister and her little brother while we were growing up at our aunt's house in Trabuco Canyon. 

We didn't have the shiniest toys or the coolest clothes or even cable, but we managed and builded strong family bonds through those years and I couldn't imagine my life any different. Because of our parent's sacrifices, all four of us went on to college. Phoung is now a successful clinical pharmacist, married and has two hairy trolls. My cousin, Evan, is a teacher whom his students adore/ fear. LOL. Christina, my sister, is about to graduate this year with a Bachelors in Nursing. And I am a lost soul with a chemistry degree "pretending" to be a scientist.

Anyway, back to the recipe. I hope you try it and tell me what you think or what your version of this recipe is. :) Also, from my understanding, this is a very southern dish. 

INGREDIENTS:

1-2lb Pork Short Spare Ribs 

3-5 TBSP Fish Sauce

3 TBSP Agave Syrup (I use this in lieu of sugar because I feel agave has a deeper and roasted taste which transfers to the dish)

4-5 diced Garlic pieces

2 TBP cooking oil

1/2 C Water

Chopped cilantro (optional - I say that but honestly it is NOT a Vietnamese Dish without the cilantro)

*make sure your pan has a lid

INSTRUCTIONS:

1) Cut the pork into bite size pieces and mix with fish sauce and agave syrup in a mixing bowl for about 45 min. (You want to lightly marinate the meat...not saturate the pallet) 

2) In a pan lightly sauté the garlic with cooking oil until translucent

3) Add marinated meat at medium heat, so you can lightly toast the outside of the meat (> 3min)

4) Add water to pan and cover the pan with the lid

5) Reduce the heat a bit (not too low) and leave the meat to cook for 30-45 min (You want the water and marinate to soften the meat as well as the cartilage)

6) Once the meat is to your liking, take off the lid and bring the heat back up. The water will vaporize and caramelization will begin. (>10min)

7) Add cilantro and serve with rice and sliced veggies like cucumber and tomatoes.

<3

Tofu FOREVER

I love tofu, and its probably because I'm Asian, but that's alright with me. Anyway, I tend to play with different ingredients when I get bored. This is probably an actual dish out there but here goes nothing.

INGREDIENTS

Firm Tofu

Mushrooms

Yellow Onion

Tomatoes

Ketchup - weird I know but TRUST ME!!!

Fish Sauce

RECIPE:

- Lightly brown the sides of the sliced tofu in a pan with oil

- Add chopped onion and diced tomatoes and continue to sautee until onions are translucent

- Add sliced mushrooms (there should be a sauce developing from the dices tomatoes and oil)

- Add a little bit to ketchup and fish sauce to taste

I know its weird to have ketchup and fish sauce in one recipe but ketchup is like a tomato paste and sugar substitute all in one. 

Mexican Rice

My friend, Angelica, showed me how to make this a few months ago but I thought I would share the recipe and technique…the technique being the key component. When I was back in college, I failed at making this soo many times but I learned it was because I lacked patience which unfortunately is still a work in progress.

Ingredients:

1 cup rice

2 cup fresh chicken broth (you can substitute with a cube of chicken bouillon and 2 c of water)

5 diced Roma Tomatos

½ chopped yellow onions (or red onions)

5 cloves of diced garlic

3 tbsp olive oil

Directions:

1.       In a pot pour the olive oil and heat it up until it becomes viscous then add the garlic and onions at medium heat. Cook the onions until it becomes translucent.

2.       Add the dry rice into the pot and allow the oil to cook the grains – remember to stir or they will stick to the bottom.

3.       Add the 2 cups of the fresh chicken broth along with the diced tomatoes. Turn up the heat and let the stock start to boil with bubbles.

4.       Place the lid on top and reduce the heat to low

5.       Let the pot sit on low for about 20 min and then it’s done.

Brie Basil Tomato Pasta

So needless to say, its been about a month or so since my last entry. I am sorry, I've become consumed lately with other unnecessary dramas, but I'm back on course. My friend, Hitomi, who got it from her bf's mom showed me how to cook this a few weeks ago and I fell in love with it and gave my little twist.

Ingredients:
3 tbsp Fresh Basil
1 tbsp Fresh Parsley
4 cloves of Fresh garlic
4 Roma Tomatoes (you can use steak tomatoes but I'm partial to romas)
1/2 Whole Grain Spaghetti
3 Italian sausages
1 wedge slice of brie

Directions:
1) Boil water in a Pot for the spaghetti noodles as cook until al dente - most people do tricks like adding salt or olive oil to prevent the noddles from sticking but I mesh around with your plain carb palate. Once you have drained the pasta - take the brie and slice off the wax out layer (you should be left with the mushy stuff) and place it in with the hot pasta so the cheese will melt.

2) In another pot heat water until it boils and place the whole tomatoes in for about 5 min - this will slightly stew the tomatoes and make it easier to peel the skins. Once this is done slice the tomatoes into bite size. Then add to the pasta.

3) For the Italian sausages, I like to bake them so they have a crusty outter layer without the extra oil from pan fry cause sausages have soo much fat on their own. I bake them at 325C for about 30 min or until the casing is brown. Slice these up and add this along with the remaining ingredients into the pasta.

There you have some yummy sharp creaminess! <3

Salmon Puff Pastry

If anyone know me, you would know that I LOVE FRENCH CUSINE especially of its strong influence in Vietnamese Culture. I spent a majority of my childhood running from my heritage which I think coincides with growing up in the OC Bubble. In any case, when I went to college I began this journey in search of not only myself but food and culture that is soo closely associated with my roots.

Anyway, I have an on going love affair with puff pastry which can be found at almost any grocery store. I am very fortunate that down here there's Jon's which carries a lot of Mediterranean food and ingredients.

So this is my little fatty recipe or what I refer to as comfort food.

Ingredients:

1 pkg French Puff Pastry

1 Salmon Fillet

1 8 oz. Cream Cheese

Garlic Salt

Direction:

1. Let the puff pastry cool at room temperature for at least 10 minutes before you try to play with it.

2. During the mean time, slice your salmon fillet into 1/2" steaks. Then do the same with the cream cheese. (Note: don't let the cream cheese sit at room temp, return it to the fridge until you're ready to use it)

3. Once the puff pastry is at room temperature, it should be soft (not gooey) yet firm enough for you to cut out square shapes. 

4. Preheat the over to 325C

5. Then you assemble the ingredients like in the picture below and sprinkle the garlic salt on both sides of the fillet (I don't suggest having a lot of sodium in your everyday diet but once in awhile it should be okay) 

6. Then fold the ends onto each other so you get a little bun. Turn them over so the folded ends are hidden at the bottom and you're left with a smooth surface on top.
7. I used a butter knife to create the cross hash pattern.
8. Place individual buns at least 1/4" away from one another.
9. To the oven they go for around 35-45 mins or until the crust is golden brown. (Note: there's a point in the cooking phase where the buns will look as though they melted but don't worry, the butter must all melt before the individual layers of the puff pastry can rise)

Well, I hope you enjoy this! You will notice that I use puff pasty ALL the time. <3