Teriyaki Sauce

Aloha. This is my teriyaki, it might not be the most traditional sauce, but it is Brok' Da Mout (tastes delicious - yummy grinds)! It's also gluten free, for those that are into that.



3/4 cup Light Soy Sauce (gluten free)
1/4 cup Rice Wine Vinegar
3/4 cup Pineapple Juice - with or without crushed pineapple chunks
1/4 cup water
1 tsp Ginger Root - freshly grated
2-4 garlic cloves - crushed or minced
pinch of CRP
4 Tbls Brown Sugar - firmly packed
1 Tbls locally produced Honey
1/4 cup Cold Water
2 Tbls Corn Starch
1 Tbls Green Onion or Chives - thinly sliced on a bias

Mix all but the last three ingredients together in a medium sized saucepan.




Bring mixture to a boil, whisking occasionally.



When the sauce begins to boil, mix your cornstarch into the ice water until it's completely dissolved.

Whisk the slurry (ice cold liquid and a thickener) into your saucepan and immediately turn the heat down to medium low - low.



Let the sauce lightly simmer until it's at your desired thickness. The longer it cooks the thicker it will get. If it gets too thick, stir in a little more pineapple juice or water to thin it out.



I cook the sauce until it sticks to my spoon and leaves a line when I slide my finger down the spoon.





Either stir the scallions/chives into your sauce or sprinkle them over it after plating your dish.



This sauce has so many great uses: over chicken and rice with a side of macaroni salad (memories of my Hawaiian days), on a chicken sandwich or a hamburger, on pineapple skewers, as a marinade, in pasta salad, over grilled oysters, in a stir fry, over fish or tossed with noodles. I prefer ramen noodles with teriyaki, they hold up to the flavorful sauce.

Teriyaki makes a wonderful dip for stuff like spring rolls and dumplings.


Chicken Potstickers Recipe


Ramen Noodles topped with Teriyaki and Scallions


Tossed Noodles with Vegetables




Salmon Hot Pot Soup



Teriyaki over Poached Fish

Mahalo!

Fresh Pineapple Sweet and Sour Chicken

I learned to make this tasty dish when I lived in Hawaii. I make it in a wok, but it's also great cooked in an electric skillet, stove top, or on the grill outside. When I cook with my wok, I like to cook in stages, that way the wok doesn't cool down too much. When you're cooking in a wok you want to cook the food quickly at a high temperature, so cut the food into large, bit sized pieces before cooking and don't over crowd the pan.



This dish is versatile (and gluten free), so add or subtract the foods that you do or don't like. For instance, for a vegetarian meal, subtract the chicken and add extra veggies like broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, bok chow, mushrooms, snow peas, or any that you prefer.

Marinade
14 oz Chicken Tenders (breast or boneless thighs also work well)
1 T Onion - chopped
2 cloves Garlic - smashed
1/4 cup Pineapple Juice
3 T Soy Sauce
1 T EVOO
1/4 Serrano Pepper
Splash of Water

Slury
1/3 cup Pineapple Juice
1 T Brown Sugar
1 T Seasoned Rice Vinegar
1 T Soy Sauce
1/4 t Tomato Paste
1 T Cornstarch

Vegetables
5 Cloves of Garlic (split) 2 cloves sliced (optional) and 3 chopped
2 small or 1 large Carrot -sliced
1/2 Green Bell Pepper - diced
Serrano Pepper - very thinly sliced or finely chopped (optional)
1/2 Onion - diced
2 Roma Tomatoes - diced (seeds removed)
1/ fresh Pineapple - diced (skin/rind and core removed)

You'll also need cooking oil and a 1/4 cup of chicken stock or a combination of stock and sweet white wine.

Stroganoff

I used ground turkey for my stroganoff but you can use any ground meat or steak instead. I think that using steamed or roasted cauliflower in your stroganoff sauce, instead of meat, would make a great vegetarian dish. You should make it with whatever ingredients sound best to you.



2 T Butter or EVOO - split
1 small or 1/2 a large Onion - diced
5-10 Baby Portabella (Cremini) Mushrooms - cleaned with a damp cloth and sliced
3-6 cloves Garlic - chopped or pressed
1-1.5 lb Ground Meat
s/p - to taste
CRP - to taste
1/4 t Smoked Paprika
1 heaping T fresh oregano
1 heaping T flour
1 cup Stock (or 1/2 cup wine and 1/2 cup stock)
8-10 oz Sour Cream
Egg Noodles



Sauté the onion and mushrooms in EVOO and/or butter over medium low heat until they are cooked. Then add the garlic and cook for another couple of minutes. This will take about ten minutes all together.

Mac-N-Cheese Stuffed Meatballs

I used a box of macaroni and cheese when I made these balls. Next time, I would make my own. The cheese wasn't as gooey as I would of liked it to be. Overall though, I was very happy with the outcome of this crazy idea that I literally dreamt up one night.



Macaroni and Cheese
Fresh Basil
1 Egg
1/2 package Italian Dressing Mix or 1 T Italian Seasoning
Dried Oregano
CRP
s/p
3-4 cloves Garlic
1 Onion
Italian Style Bread Crumbs
1 lb Ground Meat (I used turkey. Beef, pork, chicken or a combo would also be tasty.)
Cooking oil

Cook your mac and cheese as you normally would, weather with a box mix or by scratch. When the mac-n-cheese is cooked, stir in a handful of chiffonade basil (thinly sliced or ribbons).

Then put the prepared mac and cheese in a storage dish. (I sprayed the dish with non-stick cooking spray first.) Cover and place the dish in the fridge for a few hours or overnight.



After the mac-n-cheese has completely cooled, turn it out of the storage dish onto a cutting board.



Cut the macaroni into cubes about the size of a large die and set them on a tray. Loosely cover the tray and place it in the freezer while you season the meat.

Garlic Basil Oil

This oil is super easy to make yet it's packed with flavor. I like to drizzle it over so many foods: lentils, chicken, fish, potatoes, salad, and toast all benefit from the oils fresh flavors.

Fresh Basil - about an ounce
3-5 Garlic cloves - peeled and roughly chopped
EVOO
White Balsamic Vinegar
Salt



Place the basil and garlic in a food processor or blender.

Pour just enough oil in to top the herbs and garlic.



Use the pulse setting, if you have one, to blend the basil and garlic together.

Pasta, Green Bean and Tomato Salad

The al dente pasta in this salad makes it nice and hardy, while the vegetables keep it fresh and light. This salad is great to take to a party, or at the dinner table as a main or side dish.



Large Pot of Water
s/p
handful of Green Beans - ends trimmed, cut into bite size pieces
1/2 pint Cherry Tomatoes - cut in half
1/2-1 Yellow Hot Chili/Hungarian Wax pepper - thinly sliced, seeds removed
Green Onion or Chives - use scissors a sharp knife to cut into thin slices
2 cloves Garlic - pressed or finely chopped
Lemon Zest
Lemon juice from half a lemon
Fresh herbs - chopped (I used Sage. Basil, Oregano, Rosemary, or Thyme would also taste great.)
EVOO
Ziti or any bite size shaped pasta
Fresh Spinach or any hearty leafy green such as romaine lettuce, watercress, endive, young mustard greens, arugula, or a blend of greens



Cover the pot of water and bring it up to a boil over medium-high to high heat. When the water boils remove the lid, heavily salt the water, and add the green beans. Cook the beans for about two minuets, no longer.

In the meantime, put the tomatoes, hot peppers, green onion, garlic, lemon zest and juice in a large bowl.

Tip - How to Roast Garlic

To roast garlic, this one's for you Tim, you take a whole head and cut the top off of it.



Place the garlic on foil cut side up.

Drizzle oil over the garlic.

Rice and Veggie Balls

I used a combination of left over rice and vegetables from the night before to make these little vegetarian rice balls for lunch. The rice was cooked in apple juice, chicken stock and thyme, but you can use any cooked white rice. You can also use any vegetables that you want, I used these because they were in the fridge.



Oil for frying
Onion
Garlic
Parsnips
Apple
Cauliflower
Carrot
Fresh Thyme
Rice - cooked
1 Egg - beaten
1/8 cup Flour
Italian Seasoned Bread Crumbs



Heat the oil over medium high heat.

The onion, garlic, parsnips and apple were cooked in a little olive oil just until the onion became clear. They were left over from another meal. The other veggies were used raw.

Dice all of the vegetables into very small pieces.



Stir the vegetables, herb and rice together.



Mix in one egg and just enough flour to bind the mixture.

Pinch some of the mixture out of the bowl and form it into a ball about the size of a racquetball or golf ball.



Spread the bread crumbs on a plate.

Lightly roll the rice ball in the bread crumbs. Then set it aside, on a plate.



After you have formed one ball, rolled it and set it aside, do another. Continue this until all of the mixture is rolled and breaded.