Recent Enteries
- Larb - Thai Pork Salad
- Crackers with Fresh Rosemary
- Grilled Pizza
- Fruit Smoothie
- Sisig - Reinvented
- Chicken Salad Sandwich
- Corn and Mango Salsa
- Green Salad
- Shish kebab
- Chicken Caesar Salad with Homemade Croutons
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About
Sisig - Reinvented
What a crazy sounding name for a dish; sisig. As many of you might not be aware, but my father-n-law is Filipino, and a great guy to boot. Rarely do I get to sample authentic Filipino food with him, however this past vacation to California allowed me to do just that. As my sister-n-law, Cindy, recently had her second child, we paid a visit to Oceanside, California, where family and friends gathered for the baby’s baptism. My father-n-law catered in local Filipino food from a restaurant consisting of pancit, mixed vegetables, whole fried fish, garlic fried rice, and sisig. While other guests arrived, they also brought with them dishes such as whole fried garlic shrimp, fruit, egg rolls stuffed with banana and honey glaze, and plenty more. One thing that stood out to me was not only the whole fried shrimp, but sisig.
As I came back for seconds, thirds, and fourths, my father-n-law and his brothers and cousins chuckled and laughed and asked ‘You like that?, Do you know what is in there?”. I had no idea what was in there and was hesitant to proceed in finding the answer. As a cook, I wanted to know. I found out that it was made primarly of pig parts including the ear, tongue, brain, heart, and liver. I must admit that I did get a small sign of nauseousness, however I quickly wiped the image of ears and brain from my mind. What I really enjoyed was the overall flavor of sisig. It packed a punch with ginger, garlic, vinegar, peppers, and lemon juice. It was truly a delight in my mouth, something I compared to the flavors of a thai larb salad.
I informed my Filipino elders that I would go back and reinvent sisig, and that I did. I was able to invite some local Filipinos over for my Friday Fish Fry last night, and as an appetizer, I served the sisig with cold beer. Both Sonny, Jen, and Mark said the flavor was spot on, and nearly ate the entire plate of sisig!
Ingredients:
- Pork Roast with fat; marinated with a bit of soy sauce, salt and pepper
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 1 cup of water
- Juice of one lime
- Half of a large onion, minced
- 2 inches of fresh ginger, peeled and minced
- 4 thai peppers, minced
- Fresh ground pepper to taste
- 3 tbs vinegar
- 1 glove of garlic, minced
To prepare the pork, I simply heated a large pot and added the olive oil. Keep in mind that when I sliced the pork roast, I kept some of the fat from the top of the roast to help with the texture that would replace the ears, snout, and other pig items. I then seared each side, and added a cup of water and slow cooked the pork for roughly 45 minutes. Once the pork was cooked, I removed it from the pot and set aside to let cool. In the meantime, in a bowl, I added the lime juice, garlic, ginger, vinegar, peppers, onion, and pepper. Once the pork is cooled, chop into very small pieces and mix into the bowl. I recommend you let this salad marinate overnight, or at least four hours. The outcome is a reinvented salad that packs a punch with fresh flavors. To my Filipino elders, thank you for the authentic sisig!
Chicken Salad Sandwich
My wife loves a chicken salad sandwich. It might be one of her top five favorite sandwiches. Personally, I think they are just ok, and as I have attempted to try chicken salad sandwiches at a few restaurants in my life, I found that what I did not like about them was their texture, or containing way too much mayonnaise. For the past couple of years I have attempted to make my version of a chicken salad sandwich, and one that I have truly come to love. What makes mine so good is the not only the texture, but the ingredients that go into it. Lets find out why.
Ingredients:
- Grilled chicken breasts, marinated with sesame and garlic, cooled and chopped
- 2 ribs of celery, cleaned and diced
- Fresh mint, finely chopped
- 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
- 1/2 cucumber, seeded, diced
- 1 green onion, sliced thin
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- Lots of fresh ground pepper
- Great bread
Basically, once you have grilled your chicken breasts (I did this the night before during a family get together), chopped to the texture that you desire; I prefer mine a bit on the chunky side. Prepare all of your vegetables and combine all of the ingredients into a large bowl. Add your mayonnaise, to build a light maynonnaise consistency. Now, get whatever bread you love, and build your sandwich, laying a couple of scoops of the salad on your bread. Serve with cheese if you prefer. The flavors of the onion, mint, and bell pepper really bring this sandwich to life. How do you make your chicken salad?
Corn and Mango Salsa
I have written about my salsas in the past (here and here), and they typically have a nice kick to them as they contain habanero peppers. This past week I wanted to do something different, in particular for my wife. She loves the sweet as I love the spice. I wanted to give her something refreshing, light, and delicious, and I quickly thought of corn and mango salsa. I had grilled corn the night before and I had several cobs left over, so that is why I wanted to make the salsa. This corn and mango was so refreshing and packed with great flavors from the mango, onion, garlic, cilantro, and more. What more could you ask for, especially that it only takes 15 minutes to prepare. Let’s get started.
Ingredients:
- Corn removed from 2 cobs of cooked corn
- 1/2 tbs Olive Oil
- 1 large, ripened mango, sliced and cut into small pieces
- Juice of one lime
- 1/2 onion, finely chopped
- 3 tbs fresh cilantro, finely chopped
- Salt and Pepper
- 1/2 tbs fresh ginger, finely chopped
- 3 tbs fresh mint
Heat your oven to 425 degrees. After cutting the corn off the cob, toss this with the olive oil, and add the salt and pepper. Lay out the corn on a baking dish and cook for roughly 5 minutes or so, just to reheat and get the flavors from the corn going. Meanwhile, in a bowl, add the remaining ingredients and wait patiently for the corn to be warmed. Remove the corn from the oven, let cool for roughly 5 minutes, then toss into the remaining mixture. Serve immediately or let the flavors marry for a couple of hours. This was so good and refreshing that it did not last very long. We simply ate the salsa with tortilla chips, however this would be really amazing with grilled fish or shrimp. Enjoy.
Green Salad
In our recent travels to California, we met (for the second time) Michelle. Michelle is a native Cameroonian, who is, by the way French, as well. I had many conversations with Michelle during our few days in Oceanside, and I found her to be very interesting, in particular in the ways she cooked. What I really enjoyed about Michelle was the simplicity she brought to her food, and something that I took away was the green salad. This brought back memories of when I would make salads and the dressing for my wife; really basic, but packed with flavors.
On one particular evening, I made grilled chicken, as well as assisted Michelle in making what I thought would be a salad. You know, the salad that contains mixed vegetables and tossed with dressing. I was soon wrong, however open to what Michelle was doing. I was learning how she preferred, as well as many Cameroonians, their dinners. Instead of tossing the vegetables with the lettuce, she simply kept those as a separate dish, which contained only cucumbers and tomatoes, tossed lightly with olive oil and sea salt.
In a separate bowl she had tossed greens mixed with a vinaigrette. While sitting down and eating with Michelle, she ate her cucumber and tomato mix first, then chicken, and lastly the green salad. I followed suit, and must say I was generally pleased, especially with the freshness and punch of the flavors of balsamic vinegar, garlic, and olive oil at the end. It was as though the green salad cleaned and cleansed the pallet. Upon arrival back to Wisconsin, I made my version of green salad with vinaigrette.
Ingredients:
- Green leaf lettuce, cleaned, dried, and torn into bite size pieces
- Romaine lettuce, cleaned, dried, and torn into bite size pieces
- Sea salt
- Fresh ground pepper
- Olive oil
- 1 tbs dijon mustard
- 2 tbs Balsamic vinegar
- 1-2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
In a large bowl, combine your garlic, vinegar, salt, pepper, mustard, and olive oil. You want to whisk in the olive oil, enough to make a dressing. You will notice the olive oil blend into the ingredients. Now, add your greens to the top of the dressing. When you are ready, simply toss the lettuce gently and lightly coat each lettuce piece. The flavors are so great as you get the tartness from the vinegar and mustard and the punch of the garlic. It creates a circus in your mouth, not only that but it is healthy.