Fresh Fish Tacos

This recipe was actually more of an impromptu recipe, that was inspired by a trip to the farmers market with two wonderful friends of mine.  At UCI, every saturday morning UTC hosts a farmer's market with great produce and all sorts of goodies including fresh seafood.  When i first made this recipe, I was still a freshman in the dorms and I remember taking any chance I got to cook in an upperclassman's apartment.  So as I was walking around the farmer's market, I found inspiration from one of the fish mongers who tried to sell these great looking sole filets at discounted price.  I bought the fish and decided to make a fresher-tasting fish taco that wasn't battered and deep-fried like u would find at say Rubio's, but rather fish easily grilled to perfection to really capture the taste of fresh fish and make it a lighter meal.  Please enjoy.  Cook.Eat.Love.Smile. 

04.30.11: Fresh Fish Tacos 

Fresh Fish Tacos

2 Sole Fish Filets (any white fish will work)

6 small tortillas

1 cup of Mexican cheese blend (or favorite cheese)

1 cup of shredded lettuce

2 tomatoes

½ large onion or 1 medium onion

3 cloves of garlic

1 stalk of green onion

½ tbsp of basil

¼ tbsp black pepper

¼ tbsp salt

Prep-work:

1.     Dice the tomatoes with the juicy insides

2.     Dice the onion

3.     Mince the garlic, chop the green onion

4.     Sprinkle the pepper, salt, basil on both sides of the fish filets

Procedure:

1.     Heat non-stick pan with a little oil to medium – medium high

2.     When the pan is hot enough, place the filets and cook about 3 min on each side or cook until you start seeing the filets turn white on both the side on the pan and on the edges of the fish, then flip

3.     Once finished cooking, take the fish off the pan and roughly chop into large chunks of fish

4.     Then take the pan with a light coating of oil and heat to medium high. 

5.     Add the onions and cook until almost translucent

6.     Add the garlic and green onions and cook until fragrant

7.     Then take the mixture off the pan and to the side with the fish

8.     Heat the pan again to medium-high heat without the oil

9.     Add 2-3 tortillas onto the pan depending on the size, but do not allow the tortillas to touch each other. (Cook in batches)

10. Sprinkle cheese and on top of the tortilla and allow to melt slightly

11. Then when melted, take off the heat and build the taco adding the onion/garlic mixture, fish, lettuce, and tomatoes.   

Valentine's Day Chicken Parmesan

This dish was inspired by my tendency to be a romantic both in the heart and in the tummy.  It was valentine's day almost two weeks ago and as a single college student, I was faced with the inevitable of not having plans while so many of my friends had plans with significant others and what not.  So my roommates and I decided to open up our apartment to others in our Christian fellowship (AACF) who did not have any plans for the night for a night of some good food, good company, and watching a sappy movie.  I had an excess amount of oil and pasta from the retreat (last post) so i decided to make chicken parmesan.  And earlier in the day, as I was sitting in class trying to pay attention, my hopeless romantic side got hold of me and decided that in light of valentine's day I could try to make the chicken shaped as a heart.  So that is precisely what I did, but this recipe is the same if you dont want hearts and just regular chicken breast filets instead; it will taste just as great.  Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's day and may this recipe inspire you all to cook together or for your significant other.  Please enjoy.  Cook.Eat.Love.Smile.  

02.14.12: Heart-shaped Chicken Parmesan

Valentine’s Day Chicken Parmesan

2 large boneless/skinless whole chicken breasts

2.5-3 cups of vegetable oil

1 cup of Mozzarella cheese

1 cup of plain breadcrumbs

½ cup of flour

1 egg

2 tbsp of Parmesan cheese

1 tbsp of garlic powder

1 tbsp of parsley

1 tbsp of salt

1 tbsp of black pepper

1 tbsp of cream cheese

1 tbsp of honey

1 package of spaghetti

1 jar of favorite tomato sauce

1 can of diced tomatoes

1 garlic bread (optional, but in the picture)

Prep-work:

1.     Position the chicken breast so that the shorter side (or middle of the heart) is towards your left and the longer side is towards the right. 

2.     Take a sharp knife and carefully butterfly the chicken breast in half, from right to left leaving the opposite side intact.

3.     Unfold, and the shape should be a heart **This takes some practice (videos on youtube could probably provide some more information and tips)

4.     Place the chicken breasts and salt/pepper in a gallon freezer bag and make sure the chicken is evenly coated

5.     Then, close the freezer bag and pound the chicken breasts into about ¼- ½ in thick.  Let the chicken rest for a few minutes. 

6.     In the meantime, take the breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, parsley and mix well into a flat plate.  Take the egg and whisk in a separate plate.  Take the flour and place onto a separate plate.  Order the plates so that 1^st you coat the chicken breasts with flour, then egg, then breadcrumb mixture

7.     Also, place the oil in a large frying pan that can withstand frying temperature

Procedure:

1.     Take a large pot and boil water for the pasta, and cook until desirable. 

2.     Meanwhile, take the flattened chicken breast and coat it lightly with the flour.  Then coat the floured-chicken with egg.  Then coat the chicken breast with the seasoned bread crumbs generously

3.     Drop the chicken one breast at a time into the hot oil and fry until golden brown.  Be careful and make sure to rotate the chicken so that it becomes evenly golden brown and not burn on one side.  When the chicken is cooked through, place on a plate lined with a paper towel to soak up the excess oil

4.     Meanwhile, start heating a saucepan and add the tomato sauce and diced tomatoes. 

5.     Then when the sauce comes to a boil, add the honey and cream cheese and wait until everything is incorporated

6.     Now that everything is cooked, take the chicken and put half a cup of cheese on top of each and bake in an oven at 400 F just to melt the cheese on top. 

7.     Plate to your own desire.  

Easy BBQ Pulled-Pork Sandwich and Coleslaw

This dish was actually first made during the AACF Winter Retreat 2012.  The retreat was at a beach house in Oceanside with two decent sized kitchen and I was put in charge with another friend helping me out with providing food for the retreat.  Which meant, 5 meals with 50 or so people for the whole trip.  This recipe was inspired from the fact that we had 4 crock-pots to our use and as I was trying to decide what to make for lunch...I wanted to make something that was relatively easy to make and low maintenance since I had to worry about the two other meals that day and I wanted to participate in as many activities as well.  After much deliberation I decided to make pulled pork sandwiches as an easy go to meal that tastes great and very easy to feed a large crowd.  This recipe is not to compete with authentic BBQ, but rather give a chance to a hungry college student who wants something to hit the spot for that BBQ craving.  The recipe here was reduced to from a serving size of about 60 to about 10 servings, but i promise it still tastes great.  Please enjoy :] Cook.Eat.Love.Smile

01.21.12: Pulled Pork Sandwich with Coleslaw
Photo Credit: Christine Be

Easy Pulled-Pork Sandwich and Coleslaw

1 2-3lbs  Pork Shoulder or Pork Butt

1 32oz Low Sodium Beef Stock

½ head of green cabbage

½ head of purple cabbage

1 cup of mayo

1/3 cup of apple cider vinegar

1/3 cup of honey

favorite BBQ sauce

hamburger buns or sandwich bread

crock-pot

Prep-work:

1.     Cut the pork butt into more manageable sizes and trim that fat if needed to fit into the crock-pot. 

2.     Pour the entire package of beef stock into the crock-pot with the meat inside it or until all the meat is completely submerged

3.     Turn on the crock-pot and set the mode according to the time that can be used to cook the pork.  i.e. (low if you can leave it cooking for 8-10 hours overnight or high if you need it as soon as possible at around 4 hours)

4.     Let the crock-pot do most of the cooking and leave the meat be. 

Procedure:

1.     Cut the cabbage heads both green and purple into strips as thin as possible around ½ cm thick and place in a large mixing/serving bowl. 

2.     In a bowl mix in the mayo, honey, and vinegar constantly until very smooth creamy consistency. 

3.     Pour the mayo mixture over the cabbage and toss well so that all the cabbage is evenly coated

4.     Place it in the fridge to cool

5.     Take out the pork from the crock-pot and place it in a large flat bowl

6.     Shred each piece of pork with two forks to the consistency you would want (more chunky is less shredding vice versa)

7.     Pour in as much of your favorite BBQ sauce as you want, careful to not to add too much as you can always add more but not take out

8.     Combine the meat and the sauce well. 

9.     Toast the bread either in the oven at 200F or in the toaster oven. 

10. Place the shredded meat on top of the bread with a heap of coleslaw on the meat or on the side

11. Serve while the pork is warm and coleslaw is relatively cool .  

Caramelized Onion and Mushroom Tart

If it weren't for the ridiculous studying the week before finals and then the actual finals week, I would have gotten this up earlier; so I apologize in advance.  I had actually made this for another AACF event, the joint freshwomen and women's small groups potluck and our small group were assigned appetizers.  I wanted to do something that was different, something a little fancier but no funny tasting things so this is what I came up with.  This dish isn't exactly the fastest dish to make, but it is easy to make and easy to impress others :]. Please Enjoy, Cook.Eat.Love.Smile. 

12.19.11: Caramelized Onion and Mushroom Tart
Photo Credit: Jenny Wu

Caramelized Onion and Mushroom Tart

1 Standard box of White Button Mushrooms

2 medium white onions

4 sheets of puff pastry (or two boxes)

½ Cup of shredded Gruyere cheese (or Swiss of some sort)

½ stick of unsalted Butter

3 cloves of garlic

1 egg

1 tablespoon of water

1 teaspoon of dried rosemary

1 Flower cookie cutter

Dried Parsley

Prep-work:

1.     Thinly slice the onions and button mushrooms

2.     Finely mince the garlic and rosemary

3.     Make the egg wash by beating an egg and water together. 

4.     Use the cookie cutter to cut out flowers from the puff pastry

5.     Take a sharp paring knife and cut a small 1.5in x 1.5in square in the middle of the flower

6.     Take a fork and poke many holes in the square to prevent from puffing. 

Procedure

1.     Melt the butter in a nonstick pan and caramelize the onions until very soft

2.     When the onions are soft, add the mushrooms and cook until soft

3.     After onions and mushrooms are cooked well, add the garlic and rosemary and cook until fragrant. 

4.     When the filling is done set aside to cool. 

5.     Set the cut puff pastry pieces on a nonstick cookie sheet

6.     Brush the egg wash over the cut pieces to create a golden brown finish

7.     Fill the cut pieces with about 2 teaspoons of the onion and mushroom mixture within the small square with the holes. 

8.     Top the onion and mushroom mixture with a pinch of gruyere cheese. 

9.     Bake the pastries in the oven with the instructions given on the box of the pastry sheets. 

10. Top the tarts with a sprinkle of dried parsley.  

Hainan Chicken Rice

It was Monday of week 9, two more days until Thanksgiving break and i was running out of food to make.  I mean, I had food to make for the various potlucks to come (another story for another time) but as for food for myself, I wasn't sure what I wanted to make except I wanted some chinese home cookin' (perhaps it was my subconscious that was slightly homesick not being able to wait till I get to go home to family).  So inspired by a friend of mine who actually lives only a few minutes away, I decided to take a stab at making Hainan chicken rice, one of the main comfort foods I was so lucky to grow up with.  Just as a disclaimer, this is by no means the traditional way to make it. I cant tell you how much I respect and value the traditional way and would love to learn how to make it traditionally but I just dont know how.  So, I came up with this recipe with a college student mentality in mind who wants home food that's easy and tastes good. For those of you who dont mind the lack of tradition, I think this will suffice.  Approval from several apartment-mates, and foodies so I hope you can all agree with me that this isn't bad for the first try :].  Please enjoy,  Cook Eat.Love.Smile. 

11.21.11: Hainan Chicken Rice

Hainan Chicken Rice

1 lb or so of frozen chicken thighs or ¾ lbs of fresh chicken thighs

2 cups of rice

¼ cup of vegetable oil

4 stalks of green onion

2 large cloves of garlic

2 table spoons of fish sauce

¾ tablespoon of salt

1 tablespoon of honey

1 tablespoon of grated ginger root (peeled)

Prep-work for Chicken:

1.     Take the chicken thighs and thaw them in the refrigerator in a gallon Ziploc bag

2.     When thawed, pour the fish sauce and honey into the bag for at least 4 hours and marinate over night

Prep-work for Green onion-ginger sauce

1.     Finely chop all the green onion and set aside

2.     Finely mince the garlic and set aside

3.     Grate the ginger root if you haven’t done so already. 

Procedure

1.     Heat a large nonstick pan that has a good lid on medium high heat

2.     Meanwhile, start cooking the white rice in the rice cooker

3.     Meanwhile, heat the vegetable oil in a small sauce pan on medium high heat

4.     When the pan for the chicken is heated through, pour a little vegetable oil (not the one in the sauce pan) to lightly coat the pan and pan fry the chicken. 

5.     When the chicken is almost cooked through, add about a ¼ cup of water into the pan and put the lid on it to steam the chicken until it’s done. 

6.     By now the oil should be very hot.  To test this, place a wooden chopstick into the oil and if small bubbles immediately appear and the oil has ripples it is hot enough.  Then place the ginger in the oil to cook through

7.     Then add the garlic and salt and continue to stir so both the garlic and ginger are mixed well and saturated in oil

8.     Lastly add the green onion and cook briefly for only 4 minutes or so. 

9.     Take the sauce off the heat and place into a bowl for later use. 

10. When the chicken is cooked through, turn off the heat and leave the chicken on the pan to remain warm, don’t throw out the juices. 

11. When the rice is ready, take out the chicken from the pan and scoop the rice into it to coat all the rice with the chicken juices. 

12. Once thoroughly mixed, place the rice onto a place. 

13. Take the chicken, chop into strips, and place it next to the rice. 

14. Then, pour the green onion-ginger mixture on the chicken and rice or dip on the side.  

Chilly Weather Chili

It's Veterans Day today, which means a day of remembrance of what our armed forces do for us, and also a much-needed day off of school for the college and non-college students out there.  The week before this, I was looking forward to some chilly weather with chances of shower and what not, so I planned on making chili for the rest of the first half of the week.  I have an o-chem midterm and a philosophy paper due within days of each other, so cooking in bulk was the way to go.  However, I woke up this morning and the weather was absolutely BEAUTIFUL: chilly but not too cold with gorgeous clouds and sunshine and I thought, heck it doesn't have to be dreary to make chili, it's comfort food for all the bipolar weather of socal (plus I already defrosted XD).  So after getting a lovely visit from a friend and watching Lion King, I went about to make my super simple chili, have a hearty dinner, pack some for that same friend for bible study, and knowing that I have at least 3 more meals of filling tasty goodness as my busy week approaches.  Please Enjoy.  Cook.Eat.Love.Smile. 

11.11.11: Chilly Weather Chili

Chilly Weather Chili

~1lbs of 85/15 ground beef

1 16 oz can of diced tomatoes

1 8oz can of tomato paste

1 16 oz can of black beans

2 cups of frozen corn

1 medium onion

3 large cloves of garlic

2 stalks of green onion

1 packet of McCormick Original Chili Packet

2 tablespoons of ketchup

1 tablespoon of cream cheese

1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon of honey

1 tablespoon of brown sugar

Optional: black pepper/chili flakes to taste

Prep-work:

1.     Dice the entire medium onion

2.     Mince the garlic

3.     Finely chop the green onion stalks (green and white)

Procedure:

1.     Sauté the onions in a little vegetable oil until translucent in a medium to large pot. 

2.     Add the garlic and cook until fragrant

3.      Add the ground beef and packet of chili mix and cook the ground beef thoroughly.

4.     Add the diced tomatoes (with the juices) and tomato paste and mix until evenly incorporated

5.     Add the beans (drained from juices) and mix until warmed through

6.     Add the frozen corn and cream cheese and cook until warmed and melted through

7.     Add the ketchup, Worcestershire, honey, brown sugar, and black pepper (optional) and mix thoroughly. 

8.     Add the green onion last to keep the color

9.     Serve in a bowl that retains heat.

Almond Pecan Craisin Granola

On a cold friday afternoon, me and a few of my sisters from my old freshman small group at aacf decided to try making granola to eat as a snack as well as spend some time of catching up.  Since none of us have ever made homemade granola, I looked at some random recipes online to get a feel for what should be in it and the ratios between oats to nuts to sweet etc.  and while I was at the super market one of my friends and I decided that almonds, pecans, craisins, and white chocolate would go well together :D.  So as we gathered at my apartment on that rainy afternoon, we quickly made this treat and had a good time of quality chitter chatter and fun.  By the time we had to split, there was so much granola that we each at a good sized bowl, and had plenty of leftovers to share, or keep for ourselves I guess ;].  This recipe is so easy to make, and honestly there's not that many things that go better with studying than granola, to make the time pass or keep you awake.  I hope that this good study snack or hearty breakfast helps those who are in the midsts of exams and papers.  Good Luck to you all :] Please Enjoy.  Cook.Eat.Love.Smile.  

Almond Pecan Craisin Granola
Photo Credit: Jenny Wu

Almond Pecan Craisin Granola

6 cups of Quaker’s Original Rolled Oats

2 cups of sliced almonds

2 cups of crushed pecans

1 ½ cups of Craisin

1 cup of white chocolate chips
1/2 cup of vegetable oil

½ cup of light brown sugar

3 tablespoons of honey

1 teaspoon of salt

Prep-work:

1.     Pre-heat the oven to 250 degrees F. 

Procedure:

1.     Combine in a large bowl, the oats, almonds, pecans, and Craisins

2.     In the same bowl, combine the Craisins, brown sugar, honey, and salt until they are well mixed

3.     Pour out the mixture onto two sheet trays, or make two batches. 

4.     Bake the mixture for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes for even cooking of the granola

5.     After an hour, let the granola cool and right before it becomes room temp, distribute and add the white chocolate chips  to the baked mixture.