This recipe was an inspiration from Food & Wine Magazine. I came across Roasted Broccoli Steaks with Tomato Butter and Tapenade by chef Greg Vernick. I looked at the photo, read the recipe. While I was cooking I thought another onion would benefit the recipe. I cut the amount of stock to add but my sauce still came out too loose so I added a Tablespoon of tomato paste to make it right. I didn’t like the idea of adding tapenade so I added olives instead. And lastly instead of toasted crumbs I thought crushed Taralli crackers would be tastier. ANYWAYS****It came out FORKING DELICIOUS. Chef Greg Vernick’s recipe in Food & Wine Magazine gave me the inspiration to come up with what I got here. This recipe makes around 4 servings.

Ingredients for around 4 servings

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

sea salt – to taste (I used my home made lightly pecan smoked sea salt)

fresh ground black pepper – to taste

3 medium-small broccoli heads – cut in thirds threw the head like steaks

10 oz plum tomatoes – quarter

2 small red onions – cut in wedges

4 oz vegetable stock

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter – cut in small cubes

Optional – 1 Tablespoon tomato paste (if sauce is too loose)

4-6 olives – remove pits, slice or cut off of the pits ( I used cured black olives)

5 taralli crackers crushed

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F with a grill pan on the middle rack. Let this heat up at least 10 minutes.

In a large mixing bowl add the broccoli, tomatoes, and onions. Add the olive oil and salt and pepper to taste (around 2 teaspoons salt, 1 teaspoon pepper. Mix and arrange in a single layer on the grill pan. Turn everything over after 10 minutes and mostly everything will be done in another 10 or 15 minutes.

The tomatoes get blended with 1/2 of the onions (this should be done with a stick blender or you have to wait for this to cool with a regular blender) Slowly blend in the cubes of butter. If this is too loose add the tomato paste. Season to taste with salt and pepper. (I used around 1/2 teaspoon H.M. smoked sea salt and around 1/2 teaspoon black pepper.)

Arrange the plates

Put tomato butter on bottom of plate. Then add broccoli and onions, add olives and crushed taralli. I also added some cherry peppers stuffed with cheese.

A SPECIAL THANKS!!!!! To Food & Wine Magazine and Chef Greg Vernick for an amazing recipe to inspire what I’ve done here.

About once a year I make my pastrami, rye bread or rolls, some sort of mustard and a slaw. This year I used sake instead of beer in my mustard so I did a little Asian Twist on slaw and it came out really great! Serving size is always difficult to judge because I don’t know if you want a tiny side cup or a true side order. This stuff really is tasty. You might eat more slaw than you normally do. I will guesstimate 6 large servings (large to me for slaw) but you might really get 8.

Ingredients for around 6 servings

1/2 small cabbage – shredded thin on mandolin

1 carrot – shredded

1/2 onion sliced thin on mandolin

2 small avocados – mashed

1/2 cup Greek yogurt

1/2 cup mayonnaise

4 Tablespoons bonito flakes – split onto 2T& 2T (sold at Asian Markets) (2T for salad and 2T for finishing)

1 teaspoon dry dill

1/2 teaspoon granulated onion

1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic

1/2 teaspoon dried chives

1/2 teaspoon dried parley

1 Tablespoon wasabi powder (or to taste..)

1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 lemon – just the fresh squeezed juice

2 teaspoons sherry vinegar

1 teaspoon shiso fumi furikake (sold at Asian Markets) (for finishing)

1/4 cup scallions – either sliced thin or on a diagonal (for finishing)

Directions

In a large bowl mix up the dressing. Combine the avocado, yogurt, mayonnaise, dill, granulated onion, garlic, chives, parsley, wasabi, pepper, salt, lemon juice, and vinegar. Mix well. Mix in the cabbage, carrot, and onion. Mix well.

Serve

Finish with bonito flakes, furikake, and scallions

ENJOY!!!!

I sure learned a lot from Chef Claudette Zepeda’s recipe for Strawberry (and Radish…..online the radish is omitted from the name of recipe ) aguachile recipe. I had no idea that you can lightly cook strawberries and come up with such an amazing strawberry sauce that is truly amazing. I just had to do parts of the recipe different. I also didn’t want to throw out vegetable and fruit solids that tasted so good and added healthy fiber and nutrition to the dish. I cut out some of the straining. I also cut out picking out seeds from tiny chitepin peppers (who does that?), and icing up and drying chopped scallions before serving (it really is a nice touch but………). Also picking off cilantro leaves one by one. The big one that I couldn’t agree with was not using one third of a roasted pepper because it was just too much roasted red pepper…….(how could that that be?….the roasted pepper is so darn delicious. By not doing all those things I guess what I made is no longer aguachile and really is a cold soup. >>>>>>>>Also I think I simplified the cooking of the strawberries. It is also very hard to keep a simmering bowl of water under a bowl with 2 pounds of strawberries for an HOUR…..I made that easier by cooking them in a low oven. This recipe was based from chef Claudette Zepeda’s Food & Wine Magazine Recipe. It came out delicious anyway. You need to know that this is a very time consuming recipe…I cut out some steps and it still is very time consuming. You are welcome to strain everything all you want if you care to. If you strain everything you will have a true aguachile but you also will end up with much less.

Ingredients for around 4 servings

1 red bell pepper – roasted – stem, skin, seeds, removed and chopped

2 1/2 pounds strawberries – stems removed, quartered divided into 2 pounds and 1/2 pound that is reserved for topping the aguachile

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

3 medium scallions – root cut off – white and light green chopped – separate the dark green part and trim thin on a diagonal

1/4 cup fresh cilantro – leaves and fine stems – chopped and reserve 6 of the thicker stems, chop the stems but keep them separate

2oz cucumber flesh – diced

2 limes – just the fresh squeezed juice

1 lemon – just the fresh squeezed juice

5 dried chiltepin (or easier to find pequin) dried peppers – crushed

4 regular radishes sliced thin or use any radish you want. You just need a little to garnish each bowl.

radish micro greens for garnish

optional sea salt flakes for finishing

Directions

Set your oven to 180 degrees F.

In a large baking dish or pan add 2 pounds (remember you should have reserved 1/2 pound) strawberries. Sprinkle the strawberries with salt and sugar. Cover the pan and place on the middle rack of your preheated oven. This stays in the oven for an hour.

Take a break…or do the next step and put it off to the side and into the refrigerator.

Combine the cucumber, lime juice, lemon juice, chiltepin peppers, bell pepper, white and light green scallions, reserved cilantro stems. Blend till smooth.

By now your strawberries should be out of the oven. You need to place them in a colander over a bowl to catch the juices that leak out. This will take another HOUR.

All the strawberry juice gets added to the cucumber/strawberry juice mixture. Blend up the strawberries till smooth and add that also to the cucumber mixture till smooth.

This needs to chill in the refrigerator a few hours before serving.

Assemble – divide the aguachile into 4 servings. Top each bowl with the remaining strawberries, radish slices, cilantro, scallions, radish sprouts. Add flaked salt if you like.

A Special THANKS!!! to chef Claudette Zepeda and Food & Wine Magazine for inspiring me to do my twist on their amazing recipe.

I recently did one of Kwame Onwuachi’s recipes for jerk chicken and I thought that was an exceptionally good recipe. So it made sense to do his braised cabbage and carrot recipe to go with the jerk chicken. Incase you don’t know Kwame Onwuachi is a James Beard Award Wining Chef and also was a competitor on Bravo’s Top Chef TV Show. This recipe is very easy. Also the cabbage comes out all melted and very soft. You might want to serve something like rice with it. It’s not very seasoned but is tasty. It will help to cool you off after the fireworks from the jerk chicken. I cut his recipe in half so depending on your portion size it will make 4-6 servings. The cabbage does shrink a lot as it cooks.

Ingredients for around 5 servings

1/2 head medium cabbage – core removed julienne cut

2 carrots – shredded

1 1/2 Tablespoons garlic – ground to paste

1 1/2 Tablespoons ginger – ground to paste

1 onion – diced

6 oz coconut milk

1 tablespoon sea salt

6 Tablespoons butter – cut in slices

1/2 lemon – just the fresh juice (this gets added at the end for finishing)

Directions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

In a small bowl mix together the coconut milk, ginger, garlic, salt.

Get a large pan and the cabbage, onion, carrots, and butter slices. Give it a little mix. Add the small bowl of liquid. Try to pour it all over.

Cover the pan.

Put on middle rack of the oven for one hour and forty minutes.

A Special THANKS!!!! to Kwame Onwuachi for sharing this family style recipe.

Chili Crisp is this amazing condiment that adds flavors, textures, crunch, and heat to food. It makes anything interesting and flavorful. It’s great on plain vegetables, grilled meats, and as a spread for sandwiches. I’ve made Asian chili crisp. Recently I made Italian Chili Crisp so this time I made an Indian Inspired Chili Crisp. I based the flavors on Indian five spice that is usually equal amounts of toasted cumin seeds, brown mustard seeds, fennel seeds, nigella seeds (also called black cumin), and fenugreek seeds that are usually kept whole. I did a mix of ground and whole seeds for this recipe. I also added a few other things that chili crisp needs like oil, garlic, shallots, and nuts. Serving size is difficult to judge. I don’t know if you want a small amount for a sandwich or a lot for a big piece of grilled meat. I will guesstimate based on the amount of oil 12 servings. Also I need to add that I recommend wearing gloves and a mask for grinding the spices and picking the dried chilies.

Ingredients for around 12 servings

1 oz dried chili peppers ( I used japones) – crushed (Be careful and put in a bag, wear gloves and a mask and bash up the bag with something hard to break down the chilies)

1/4 cup cashews – lightly broken

2 1/2 Tablespoons course sea salt

1 Tablespoon cumin seeds

1 Tablespoon brown mustard seeds

1 Tablespoon fennel seeds

1 Tablespoon nigella (black cumin) seeds

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 1/2 cup canola oil

1 cup shallots – sliced very thin on a mandolin

1/2 cup garlic cloves – sliced thin on a truffle slicer

1 teaspoon cumin seeds (kept whole)

1 teaspoon brown mustard seeds (kept whole)

1 teaspoon fennel seeds (kept whole)

1 teaspoon nigella (black cumin) seeds (kept whole)

1/2 teaspoon fenugreek seeds (kept whole)

Directions

Toast till fragrant on medium heat the chilies, cashews, salt, and first batch of seeds (cumin, mustard, fennel, nigella, fenugreek, and black pepper. Let cool.

Tost till fragrant the smaller second batch of seeds (cumin, mustard, fennel, nigella, fenugreek) Let it cool off and keep to the side.

Heat up the oil on medium high.

Cook the shallots till brown but not burnt and use a strainer to get them out and let them drain on a paper towel lined baking sheet. They will take at least five minutes and during that time you can blend (preferably with a stick blender) the first (bigger) batch of seeds. PLEASE WEAR A MASK AND USE GLOVES FOR YOUR SAFTY. GOGGLES AREN”T A BAD IDEA EITHER. Keep this to the side.

Next use the oil to fry up the garlic slices till light brown and crispy. Use a strainer and take out the garlic chips and let them drain on a paper towel lined baking sheet.

Take the oil off of the heat. You can add both batches of seeds to it. Let it sit on the counter till room temperature. Then you can add the drained shallots and garlic and mix. Put in a container and refrigerate.

ENJOY on vegetables, eggs, grilled meats, and sandwiches.

This is sort of a combo of recipes that I found in Food and Wine Magazine. I wanted to try a new recipe for shishito peppers. The shishito peppers are based on Nancy Singleto Hachisu’s recipe from Food and Wine Magazine called Blistered Shishito Peppers with Miso Sake. I thought that is a good idea. I’ll try it…something different. I didn’t change to much there. But instead of dried chile I used a fresh serrano pepper and also instead of brown miso I used white miso because that is all I buy. I also found a recipe called Ginger-Miso Sweet Peas…by Grace Parsi also from Food and Wine Magazine. I thought that recipe would elevate the first recipe…But that recipe I had to change some. I do need to let you know that the flavors do fad a little by day two but the shishitos are so darn flavorful it really doesn’t matter.

This recipe makes 4 or more servings

1 lb frozen peas (thawed)

1/2 cup scallions – sliced thin

1 Tablespoon minced ginger

1 jalapeño – sliced thin or rough chopped

3 Tablespoons white miso

3/4 cup water

3/4 lb shishito peppers

1 1/2 Tablespoon white miso

1 1/2 Tablespoon sake

1 Tablespoon canola oil

1 serrano chile – sliced thin (or to taste)

1 Tablespoon minced ginger

Directions

Make the ginger-miso sweet peas. Blend together the peas, scallions, ginger, jalapeño, miso with some of the water. Blend and add water as desired. You will want to warm this up to serve with the shishitos. You can warm this up at 350F in your oven for about 30 minutes. Or you can warm this up on your stove top on medium high in around 5 minutes. Or you can microwave in around 4 minutes.

Make the Miso Sake Blistered Shishitos. Stir the miso and sake in a bowl till smooth. Heat oil in a skillet till shimmering. Then add the shishitos and ginger on high heat and keep tossing them till blistered. (2-3 minutes(. Remove from heat and add the miso sake and toss and serve.

Plate the shishitos and the ginger-miso sweet peas together.

A Special THANKS!!! To Food and Wine Magazine so that I could do what you see here!