Quick and Easy Chinese Hot and Sour Soup

The Lunar New Year, often called the Chinese New Year, is next week and I take that as the perfect excuse to pull out some of my favourite Chinese recipes and to try some new ones. One of my favourite Chinese take out dishes is the hot and sour soup and a few years ago I shared a traditional Chinese hot and sour soup recipe but it required a few ingredients that you could only get on a trip down to Chinatown or a well stocked local Asian grocery store so I decided to come up with a more accessible or pantry friendly version. This version of Chinese hot and sour soup does not require any rare ingredients, it takes less 20 minutes to make and what's more is that it's still better than most take out versions! You really couldn't find a much simpler soup recipe than this one, you pretty much just throw everything into the pot, heat it, pour in the egg drop along with a few seasoning and you are done! If you are looking for a quick, easy and tasty Chinese hot and sour soup, this is it and it was perfect for me right now since it is far too cold out for me to head down to Chinatown to pick up some of those wood ear mushrooms and lily buds that are required for the more traditional version of the recipe!

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Eggplant Parmesan Boats

With all of the stuffing that has been going on with the stuffed zucchini and stuffed spaghetti squash it was time that eggplant got stuffed and what better way to start than with stuffed eggplant parmesan! It seemed only natural to stuff eggplant with the flavours of a dish that eggplant is normally used in and this eggplant parmesan boat recipe, adapted from Skinny Taste, is super easy to make and packed with flavour. You pretty much just need to hollow out the eggplant, roast it, cook the sausage along with the eggplant that was scooped out before adding the marinara sauce, stuffing the eggplant, topping it with cheese and baking it until the cheese melts. Stuffing vegetables is always fun and this stuffed eggplant parmesan is a new favourite! I can't wait to see what else I can stuff eggplant with!

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Quesadillas al Pastor

When I made the tacos al pastor the other week I made a double batch to ensure leftovers for use in quesadillas! The tacos al pastor taste great when filled with fresh ingredients like pineapple, onions and cilantro so they can only get better in quesadilla form with plenty of ooey gooey melted cheese! These quesadillas al pastor are filled with the al pastor pork, pineapple pieces, pineapple salsa, diced onions, cilantro and of course lots and lots of cheese before they are grilled until the cheese has melted and the tortillas a crispy and golden brown. Even if you do not make the tacos al pastor it's definitely well worth making the al pastor pork for these tasty quesadillas!

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Chorizo and Egg Breakfast Nachos

On Cinco de Mayo there is no reason to hold off on celebrating until later in the day; start it off with a Mexican inspired breakfast, nachos! Spicy chorizo sausage and scrambled eggs make for a tasty breakfast all by themselves but why not enjoy them nacho style on tortilla chips covered in melted cheese? These breakfast nachos are fully loaded with salsa, beans, tomato, avocado and jalapenos in addition to the sausage and eggs making them a hearty and tasty way to start the day!

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Tacos al Pastor with Pineapple Salsa Roja

Up next in my Cinco de Mayo line up is one of my favourites, tacos al pastor! Al pastor is a Mexican pork that is marinated in chilies and pineapple, layered and roasted on a vertical rotisserie similar to shawarma. Because cooking pork in this fashion is not easy for every home cook I like to use this slow cooker version that gives all of the flavours of al pastor using a method that is much easier to do at home. This recipe starts out by making a salsa with dried chilies and pineapple and it is used both to marinate the pork butt and in the final tacos. Once the pork has been marinated in the pineapple salsa it is cooked in the slow cooker until tender before being shredded to be used in the tacos. I like to keep the fillings for tacos al pastor nice and simple with the al pastor pork, onions, cilantro, grilled pineapple and the spicy pineapple salsa. Pork and pineapple is a beautiful combination and and it is simply amazing in these tacos al pastor which are definitely going to be the star at any Cinco de Mayo party!

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Irish Nachos with Guinness and Irish Cheddar Sauce

I hope that there is time for one last recipe for St Patrick's Day and this one is a good one, Irish nachos in a Guinness and Irish cheddar sauce! Irish nachos are pretty much your regular nachos only they are made with home made potato chips, in this case crispy baked potato chips. The most important part of these nachos is of course the Guinness Irish cheddar sauce or fondue which allows you to get some Guinness right into your meal in addition to washing the nachos down with a pint! The sauce is pretty much a bechamel sauce where the liquid is Guinness which the Irish cheddar mellows out giving you a creamy and tasty sauce. Next up is the meat and I like to go for a spicy Mexican chorizo but any sausage will work and chopped up corned beef or even bacon would also be perfect. From there you can add your favourite nacho toppings and I like fresh tomatoes, onion, avocado, sour cream and cilantro. The perfect pub food for your St Patrick's Day celebration!

Happy St Patrick's Day!

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Chorizo and Sweet Potato Tacos with Apple and Pomegranate Salsa

Now that I had the homemade chorizo and the apple and pomegranate salsa made it was time to use them in some tacos! For these tasty winter themed tacos I started with the chorizo to which I added some chipotle roasted sweet potatoes and onions which was all topped off with the apple salsa along with some cool and creamy avocado and crumbled queso fresco. The spicy chorizo pairs perfectly with the sweet potatoes and the crispy and juicy apple salsa complements and contrasts them with flavours and textures and you rally cannot go wrong with the addition of the avocado and cheese!

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Mexican Chorizo

Mexican chorizo is a tasty fresh pork sausage stuffed with chilies, garlic and other seasonings. Unlike the Spanish sausage with the same name Mexican chorizo sausage needs to be cooked and you can find it along with the other fresh sausages in many grocery stores. Of course it is also easy to make at home, you pretty much just need to soak the chilies, puree them and mix them and the seasonings into some ground pork and let it sit in the fridge overnight. Of course you can stuff the chorizo into sausage casings but I generally just prefer to cook it like any ground meat in a pan, breaking it up. Chorizo is really convenient to have on hand since you just need to cook it in a pan and you are ready to go. Like a lot of Mexican meats it can be used in a lot of different dishes from tacos to quesadillas, tostadas, queso fundido or even just mixed in with your scrambled eggs for breakfast. Check out below the recipe for some tasty ways to use Mexican chorizo sausage.

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Pineapple Char Siu Pulled Pork Sliders

Pulled pork is definitely up there as one of my favourite foods and the other day when I was enjoying some char siu, a Chinese BBQ or roast pork, I thought that the char siu flavours would be amazing on pulled pork! Char siu sauce is primarily hoisin sauce and Chinese five spice with some staples like soy sauce, honey, garlic and ginger thrown in. I wanted it to be a bit more like a BBQ sauce which needs some heat so sriracha was required! When I was thinking about what I was going to use the pulled pork in, sliders were the first thing that came to mind and pulled pork sliders just scream for some slaw. With the Asian flavours going on, my mind wandered to pineapple and I figured that the juicy, sweet and tangy pineapple would pair perfectly with the rich and spicy BBQ pork. Of course adding some pineapple juice to the char siu BBQ sauce would also help tenderize the meat! Next up was what kind of buns to use for the sliders and King's Hawaiian sweet rolls were a perfect fit as their sweetness would complement the char siu BBQ pork and the tangy pineapple nicely! I have to say the the char siu pulled pork works really well and these pineapple char siu pulled pork sliders were definitely a hit!

Throwing an Oscar's party this weekend? These would be perfect for it!

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Shrimp Jambalaya

First up for new recipes for my Mardi Gras feast is jambalaya which is a classic Louisiana rice dish. There a probably about as many different recipes for jambalaya as there are people that make it but it's base is meat, vegetables and rice and the rice is cooked in the same pot as everything else. One of the nice things about jambalaya is that you can pretty much do whatever you want with it; use whatever meat you want, use whatever vegetables you want, etc. You start by cooking the non-seafood meat, add the holy trinity (onions, celery, pepper), followed by the broth, rice and seasonings and then you let it simmer until the rice has cooked and the sauce thickens before adding the seafood at the end. Jambalaya is definitely one tasty home cooking dish that is pure comfort food!

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Roasted Opal Apple BBQ Sauce and Grilled Apple BBQ Pork Tenderloin Medallions

A few months ago I had the opportunity to head out to Washington to visit the Broetje Ordchards and in particular to see their Opal Apple ordchards. Opal apples are a relativley new breed of apple that is a cross between the golden delicious and topaz, it is yellow, crispy and it has a sweet and tangy or tart flavour. Other than being super tasty one nice thing about the opal apple is that it doesn't brown after being sliced so it is great for packing for lunches pre-sliced.

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Pumpkin, Chorizo and Black Bean Soup

I can't believe that October is almost over and that means that the pumpkins will soon disappear so I wanted to get at least one more pumpkin recipe in and this time it's a pumpkin soup that is perfect for the cooling weather. Really this soup is just a combination of two of my other favourite pumkin soups the pumpkin and black bean soup and the pumpkin and chorizo soup but despite it's simplicity it is super tasty! I mean you really cannot go wrong combining pumpkin with black beans and spicy Mexican style chorizo sausage in a warm and hearty soup! This soup has it all, the pumpkin and partially pureed black beans make it nice and thick and creamy, the chorizo sausage and remaining black beans give it a nice hearty texture and the chipotle chilies in abobo make it nice and smoky and give it a healthy amount of spicy heat to keep you warm! This pumpkin, chorizo and black bean soup is a great way to enjoy the last of the pumpkins this season and a great way to keep warm in these cooling days!

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Pork Tinga Quesadillas

I have been on a quesadilla kick lately so when I made the pork tinga tacos the other day I made sure to make a large batch of pork tinga so that I would have leftovers for quesadillas. At it's base a quesadilla is simply melted cheese in a toasted tortilla so I kept these quesadillas nice and simple filling them with the pork tinga along with the cheese. Although these quesadillas are great just like that, while I was enjoying one I could not help but think that I could make them even better with the addition of some avocado. Instead of just throwing some avocado into the quesadillas or serving them with mashed avocado for dipping I decided to go with something a little different and I treated the quesadillas like a base and topped them with an avocado spread, almost like a pizza. Of course I could not stop there and I mixed some salsa verde into the mashed avocado and sprinkled on some diced onions, crumbled cotija cheese and fresh cilantro. I have to say that these 'pizza' like quesadillas were certainly fun to eat and so amazingly good! The cool and creamy avocado topping plays beautifully well with the spicy chipotle pork tinga and all of the melted cheesy goodness!

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Pork Tinga Tacos

Today is national taco day! I am a huge fan of tacos and of course I have some tacos to share with you today, some tasty pork tinga tacos. Pork tinga is a Mexican style 'stew' with moist and tender shredded pork along with chorizo in a tasty chipotle tomato sauce that is just perfect for filling tacos. I like to keep my tacos nice and simple and a great place to start after adding the meat is some cilantro, onions (fresh or pickled) and a splash of lime juice. You really cannot go wrong adding some creamy avocado to cool your mouth down and cheese is almost always welcome! Once the tinga is made these tacos only take a few minutes to throw together making for one really quick, easy and tasty taco meal!

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Tinga de Puerco (Pork Tinga)

Today is national taco day and of course that means that I have some tacos to share with you but before we get to the tacos lets talk about the meat, pork tinga. Tinga is a Mexican style 'stew' where the meat is simmered in a chipotle and tomato sauce and it is commonly made with chicken or shredded beef but I am really into this version with moist and tender shredded pork and Mexican style chorizo sausage. Although the list of ingredients is rather long, this recipe is actually quite easy to make. You start out by simmering the pork butt until fork tender and then you make the actual stew along with the chorizo, chipotles and tomatoes and the stew itself only takes about a half an hour to make. This recipe is also slow cooker friendly and you can throw the pork butt/shoulder into the crockpot in the morning and then you just need to shred it and make the stew in the evening for dinner. Despite the simplicity of this dish it is quite tasty and to goes well served over rice and beans and of course in tacos, quesadillas, burritos, etc.

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Carnitas Eggs Benedict

On the weekend when I have more time on breakfast I often like to do something special and given my passion for them, it often involves runny egg yolks. I kicked this weekend off with some eggs benedict with a Mexican twist using moist, tender and crispy carnitas that I had made earlier in the week. Eggs Benedict is made with ham and a poached egg on an English muffin covered in hollandaise sauce but you can easily change things up by swapping the meat, sauce or even the muffin. Although I am totally into hollandaise sauce I felt that a nice salsa verde would be a better option to go along with the carnitas and I mixed a mashed avocado into it to thicken it up and because avocados are simply amazing! I finished the carnitas egg benedict off with some pickled red onions and some crumbled cotija.

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Carnitas Tacos

Carnitas, a crispy Mexican style pulled pork, can be used in a number of different dishes and sometimes simple is best, especially when you want to experience the carnitas in all their glory, and tacos fit the bill perfectly. My initial thought for tacos is almost always to simply throw some diced sweet onion and cilantro in along with the meat but carnitas and salsa verde are such a great combo that I cannot resist adding them to the mix. For carnitas tacos I very often go with the simple combination of carnitas, salsa verde, pickled red onions and the cilantro with an optional touch of crumbled cotija and this combo shows off the carnitas nicely.

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Carnitas (a Lighter Version)

Carnitas are a Mexican pulled pork dish where the pork is crispy on the outside and moist and tender on the inside. Traditionally a pork butt or shoulder is braised in lard until tender and then the heat is turned up so that the pork fries and gets crispy on the outside. For todays home cook looking to replicate carnitas an easier way is to simmer the same fatty cut of pork, a butt or shoulder, in a liquid until the pork is tender, then to turn up the heat until the liquid is gone and the fat has rendered and then let the pork fry in its own rendered fat until crispy. This is the way that I have been enjoying carnitas for a while but I wanted to try something a little lighter without having to sacrifice anything in the way of flavour.

The way I see it there are 3 required characteristics of carnitas including that it is a pulled pork, that it is moist and tender and crispy at the same time and that it is full of flavour, so that is what I was seeking with this new recipe. I decided to use the same cut of pork, the butt or shoulder, but this time I trimmed the excess fat to make it lighter. To start building up the flavour the pork is browned in the pan and then all of those brown bits of tastiness from the bottom of the pan are scraped up into the simmering liquid. The pork is then simmered in a simple orange, lime and garlic mojo style liquid until tender but this time it is simmered covered to retain the liquid which is just packed with flavour. After the pork has cooked the liquid is skimmed of ant remaining fat, reduced and concentrated and then mixed into the pork before it is broiled until crispy. The final result is indeed a super tasty pulled pork that is both moist and tender and crispy at the same time and simply irresistible!

Note: This recipe can easy be made in a slow cooker or crockpot and I have included the instructions for that in the recipe below.

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BBQ Pulled Pork Grilled Cheese

The National Grilled Cheese Month is coming to an end soon but I still have a few grilled cheese sandwiches up my sleeves including this tasty BBQ pulled pork grilled cheese! In my opinion it is hard to go wrong combining succulent pulled pork in a sweet, tangy and spicy BBQ sauce and then smothering it in ooey gooey melted cheese! BBQ pulled pork sandwiches are often served with the addition of a cool and creamy coleslaw right in the sandwich and I see nothing wrong with adding some to the grilled cheese version either, though it does make for a slightly messier sandwich. The next time you make some pulled pork, make a lot to ensure that you have some leftovers for these BBQ pulled pork grilled cheese sandwiches!

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Cuban Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Up next for National Grilled Cheese month is a simple grilled cheese take on the Cuban sandwich where instead of using a Cuban bun and cooking it pressed style we use bread and butter and cook it grilled style. The Cuban sandwich consists of a really tasty combo of roast pork (preferably Cuban roast pork), ham, pickle, mustard and plenty of melted swiss cheese. Although this is just a minor variation on the Cuban sandwich, it is a good one and one worthy of making an appearance National Grilled Cheese month; I mean you really can't go wrong taking an already amazing sandwich and wrapping it in toasted buttery bread.

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