Persimmon Coconut Cookies

In the mood for some cookies but wanted to get away from the typical seed and coconut flour based recipes. Can't do tree nuts due to allergies.

Out comes the coconut butter, 1 cup to be exact. Add to that 1/2c chopped dried persimmons, 1 egg, 1tbsp honey, 1tsp baking powder, 1/4tsp sea salt. 

Mix thoroughly

Compress into a ball and place silicone mat or parchment

Smash to 1/2in thickness

Bake at 350deg for 8min. Let cool completely before moving, crumbly while still warm but firms up nicely at room temperature

Flavor and texture is surprisingly like shortbread

Persimmon bread, grain fee, nut free, sweetener free

A friend gave me a grocery bag of hachiya persimmons and I have been experimenting. Have been wanting to try a grain/nut free bread but I can not eat almonds. I tried sunflower flour but the was hint of that flavor. This time I tried pumpkin seeds. Ran them through my Vitamix

With the persimmons I prefer crushing so there is some texture

Also mixing by hand 

1.5c persimmon pulp

3 eggs

1/4c lard melted

2c pumpkin seed flower

1tsp cinnamon

1/2tsp ground nutmeg

1/2tsp powdered ginger

1tsp baking powder

3/4tsp sea salt 

Mix wet ingredients and set aside, mix dry ingredients. The combine thoroughly using a spatula. Pour into your favorite bread pan.

After 65min in a 350deg oven the bread moist and delicious...especially with butter!

Chicken Heads and Feet

Tara Firma Farms has lessor wanted parts for a reasonable price. Heads, feet, gizzards and hearts for $3 a bag. Brought home a few of each to try them out. Extremities 1st and innards another time.

First up was bone broth. Tossed the frozen parts in a pot of water. 

Added an onion, a 1tbsp cider vinegar and a tablespoon of salt. Then simmered for 24hrs. Let cool and strained out the solids. Made a solid gelled broth.

Next day I made Sotanghan, a Filipino chicken sabaw (soup). A lime and ginger based broth with carrots, onions, your favorite dark green leafy veg and noodles, kelp used here.

Had a bag of feet and heads left and decided to give Zenbelly's Better than take-out stir fry sauce a try. Made the sauce the nigh before

You need to remove the nails, those babies are sharp

Then simmer for 90min or until tender. Next time I'll got longer, the knuckle cartilage was a but tough. Remove from broth and set a side to cool and dry for about 2hrs. Preheat oven to 450deg. Once dry slather each foot and head in lard and place on baking stone. Roast for about 20min and turn pieces over, continue cooking for another 20min.

        

In a wok heat sauce over high heat. Continue stirring until sauce is reduced and thick

Serve on bed of shredded cabbage. Sauce was great! but I did increase the  Red Boat to 2tbsp

See the brain? Tasted like fatty dark meat. Eyes were a bit chewy

Butter Mochi with Mango filling

Perfect treat for the carb up day!

4oz mochiko rice flour
1/4c butter melted
1/2c sugar
3/4c coconut milk
1tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1/2c chopped mango (fresh or frozen)

Silicone muffin pan, or paper liners for regular pan. Preheat oven 350deg. Combine all ingredients, mix thoroughly till smooth. Fill cups 80% full with batter, top with 1 heaping tablespoon mango. Bake for 45min or until tops are golden brown. Makes 4 muffins

Pho with Chitterling Noodles

Recipe straight from Beyond Bacon. If you're into whole animal eating like I am this is the book for you!

I've been wanting to try this since I go the book and finally had the 2 days need for preparation this weekend. Did make an alteration due to ingredients on hand. The change was bones for the broth, did not have any, but I did have trotters. Made a dandy substitute if I do say so myself.

I've cooked pig intestines before so chitterlings were no challenge for me, cleaning was a breeze but cooking was another matter. Smelled up the house pretty good! After that everything was straight forward. Made the recipes as written. The broth due to the trotters is thick with gelatin, it was great!

 Can't see the the goodness hiding below...

The chitterling noodles in all their glory!

Mealworm Fried 'Rice'

Was cruising the inter-webs yesterday and came across this article cooking with insects and a recipe for fried rice. Unusual enough to peak my interest. Went grocery shopping this morning to pick up ingredients. One stop at the market, next the pet store. You're thinking to yourself "why the pet store?" 

To get these! Check out that protein content!!

 Preparation is like any fried rice recipe just worms are added instead of chicken or pork.

Reminded me of dried shrimp but not as chewy or salty, these crunchy. Will get live worms next time, want to give those little buggers a try!

Ingredients;

2tbsp lard

300g 'riced' cauliflower

25g dried mealworms

2cloves garlic chopped

3 scallions chopped

2tbsp coconut aminos or tamari

1-2tbsp fish sauce

White or black pepper to taste

1-2 Red Jalapeno chopped (optional)

Why eating insects makes sense, by Mark Sisson

Filipino Fish Head Soup

In the mood for soup on this hot day, so stopped in at the Asian Market to see what I could find. They had some nice looking salmon heads and the price was right. $1.98lb, after weighing $2.08. Also picked up some baby bok choy, scallions, ginger and garlic.

Preparation is simple. mince ginger (1/2c), chop garlic (entire head), chop scallions (6pcs, bulb plus greens), 2 bunches baby bok choy (green separated from white), 6cups boiling water, 2-4tbsp fish sauce (patis), 1.5 tsp Hawaiian salt. and 2 tbsp coconut oil.

Heat oil over medium high heat, add garlic and ginger. Cook till fragrant but not browned, add scallions, mix thoroughly. Place head in pot, pour boiling water over the top. Season with patis to taste. Return to a boil, cover and cook for 15min depending on size of head. Flip head over mid way through and add salt to taste.

Place salmon bowl, add bok choy whites to broth, cook for 1min then add greens. Remove from heat and stir. Pour broth and veggies into bowl.

1st time eat head for me. Started with the eyes, nothing to write home about. Pops like roe when bitten. The best part was the flesh behind the eye socket and cheeks, fatty and succulent!

Thai inspired pig ear salad

Did I ever say how much I enjoy pig ears? Chewy, gelatinous and crunchy!

1 serving as a meal or 2 as side salad

water

1 large pig ear

1 stalk lemon grass smashed

4 cloves garlic

1/4c sea salt

Combine all ingredients in a pot and cover with water. Simmer for 2-3hrs till tender to your liking. I prefer the cartilage on the crunchy side so I cook about 2hrs. Drain and cool before slicing into 1/4in strips

1/4c mint chopped

1/4c cilantro chopped

2tbsp minced lemon grass

1/2 lime juiced

3tbsp fish sauce

2 cloves garlic chopped

1/2in piece ginger minced

2-4 Thai chilies

3 scallions chopped

Salt to taste

Combine all ingredients. Pour over ear slices and marinate 1hr for flavors to meld. 

Enjoy!

Sinqua-try a new vegetable dish

Sinqua better known as silk gourd or Luffa acutangula. That's right, the same thing you scrub your body with. When young they are edible and native to SE Asia. A member of the Curcubit (cucumber) family. Adds texture and bitterness to the dish, although not much as the Indian bittermelon I tried recently.

Just a quick stir fry with some bacon, onion, garlic, sinqua, chilies, shao hsing wine and a squeeze of lime. Another acquired taste, not sure if I'll try this again. Depends on the recipe

Dried Kimchi at Trader Joes

Pricey at $2.99 for .07oz

No funky ingredients

Tasty, decent kimchi flavor and slightly spicy

Young Thai Coconut Gellies

OK, 1st try.  Extracted meat and water from 1 Young Thai coconut, placed into the vitamix and pureed. Then heated to a low simmer and added 3tbsp Great Lakes Gelatin. Stir till dissolved. Pour into shallow container and chill. Once cold slice into 1inch squares. Flavor is kinda bland, although bringing it to room temp tastes better.

2nd attempt. Extract water only (save meat for another use) from 3 Young coconuts which resulted in 5cups. Placed that into a sauce pan over medium to heat to reduce. After 60min I was left with just over 2cups of liquid. Noticed some solid bits in the bottom of the pan so I strained it through some muslin and return to the pot. Heat to low simmer and add 2tbsp gelatin. Cool and slice. Much better, sweet coconut flavor and texture was like what I remember Jello being. Again flavor best at room temp.

Simple!

The best Coconut bread I've tried so far

.....and I've tried quite a few since going gluten free 2yrs ago. Most have an eggy flavor where this one does not. Got the recipe from Loving Our Guts and tried as written. Came out excellent tasting the first, although it did not rise as much as their photo.

Great toasted with butter

or as a grill cheese. Sharp cheddar was perfect for the flavor of the bread.

Next time I make this recipe I'll be adding my twist to it

Huevos con Verdolagas

 Something new to try from the farmers market. Verdolagas or purslane (Portulaca oleracea), an invasive succulent weed to most gardens. Propagated by it's many seeds from tiny yellow flowers. The young leaves stems are preferred over the tough old growth. Flavor is similar to watercress.

2tbsp lard

1/2 yellow onion chopped

150g purslane

1 medium tomato diced

3 pastured eggs

salt and pepper to taste

cilantro

Melt lard over medium high heat, add onion and salt, cook till translucent. Add tomato and purslane stir fry till wilted, mix in egg. Cook till eggs are no longer runny. Garnish with cilantro and salsa.

Enjoyed the purslane, will need to try it in more recipes.

Fried bitter melon

Picked up a couple bitter melon at the farmers market to try. Had it once years ago at a restaurant and thought I'd give it a try 

Slice in half and remove pulp and seeds

Chop into 1/4 thick pieces

Heat cast iron pan for 5min over medium high heat. Add 1tbsp lard, then spread melon into single layer. Stir occasionally, not too often because you want pieces to caramelize and stay crisp. When most pieces are browned add another tablespoon lard and 3cloves chopped garlic. Stir fry for to garlic is fragrant. Next comes fish sauce, 1tbsp (was not enough for me, 2tbsp was just about right) and 2 serrano chilies chopped

Definitely an acquired taste, strongly bitter, garlicky, salty with a little heat. Will try again!

2 small bitter melon (200g)

2tbsp lard

3 cloves garlic chopped

1tbsp fish sauce (or too taste)

2 serrano chilies chopped (optional)

Fermented Pico de Gallo

It's that time of year...for local tomatoes! and fresh salsa or pico de gallo. 

Every summer I make several batches, this time I wanted to try fermenting. Everything else is the same, ingredients and amounts. It just sits on the counter for 3-7days depending on the level of tang you like.

6 large tomatoes chopped
1 large red onion chopped
10 serrano chilies
1 bunch cilantro chopped
juice from half lemon
2-3tbsp sea salt
1-2tsp habanero chili flakes (optional)

Place all ingredient in your processor and pulse to the desired chunkiness. Adjust seasonings (salt and heat level). Pour into a gallon mason jar and leave on counter, start checking tartness at 3days.

Serve with your favorite dipping vehicle. I used potato slices sous vide to 130deg, giving that resistant starch a try. Actually wasn't bad, similar texture to cucumbers.

Beyond Bacon

Got my copy a day earlier than expected!

 

As we all know the book is gorgeous and while it's great to look at yummy food photography I'm more interested in recipes. Just thumbing through their are quite a few I want to try. The Pho with chitterling noodles does look intriguing...I want to make something now but we are going out of town tomorrow (4th of July). 

Rummaging through the freezer to see what I have...pig tongue, Perfect! I'm making Lengua carnitas!! Instead of the crockpot I'm going to Sous vide for easier transport (just leave it vacuum sealed till ready to caramelize and eat). Being tongue no one else in the family will touch it, so there will be more for me!

If I had one nit to pick....I wish there were more offal recipes. Likes uses for liver, kidney, spleen and other odd bits. The book does give me plenty of ideas to expand to offal consumption.

Great work Stacy and Matt!

Seasoning and cooking in claypot, Sinigang Na Isda

This post is a continuation of claypot cookware that I made a few weeks ago. Now we get to the serious stuff....cooking!

After the pot has been fired (1800deg) and cooled enough to handle it is soaked in water for 2hrs.

Remove from the water and dry. Rub interior surface with 2 cloves of garlic.

Preheat oven to 225deg and fill pot with water

Cover and place in oven for 3hrs.

Being earthenware the pot can not tolerate extreme fluctuations in temperature, it it does it can crack or explode. So prior to cooking soak pot for 1hr in water. Drain and add your ingredients.

I'm preparing Sinigang Na Isda (Filipino sour fish stew). The broth is made from 35g tamarind pulp, to that 50g eggplant, 1 tomato, 50g daikon radish, 30g scallions and 2cups water.

Cover and bring to a boil, about 30min over hot coals. Once steam starts to escape continue cooking for 10min. Uncover and add 200g milkfish and 50g spinach. Replace lid and cook for another 5min.

Garnish with scallion tops and Thai chilies, season with fish sauce then serve.

Smoky, sour, salty, spicy and very good! Can't wait to cook another dish this way.