Mix one package of the goat cheese with approx. 4-5 TBl of Kirkland Pesto. You may need a little more or less, add a little at a time to get the flavor you want.
Form into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap for an hour and refrigerate. You can top with extra pesto to serve or not.
This got RAVE reviews tonight. Served with my almond cracker recipe in Files.
My favorite way — we’ll call it the best way — to make iced tea is a cold-brew method. It’s the easiest way to make tea in the world. You don’t even need to know how to boil water.
All you do is throw some tea leaves in a pitcher or jar at bedtime, fill it full of tap water, and throw it in the fridge. Use about 2 tablespoons of tea per half gallon of water. Put the leaves in a strainer or a filter bag. In the morning, voila, you have a whole pitcher full of iced tea.
You never even heat the water. It extracts the flavor over the course of the evening while you’re sleeping, and in the morning you have beautiful iced tea.
An ice-brewed tea will be a little bit softer. It will be a little bit gentler. It comes out so beautifully smooth. It has no edge to it whatsoever.
You can get more of an edge if you like an edge. If you like astringency, brew hot tea. If you like a really strong tea with a little bit of a bite, I would choose a ceylon tea or an Indian tea. Do it with a hot brew method; then cool it down afterward.
But I’ll tell you, the cold brew is what got my wife off of Diet Pepsi every morning as she left for work. She’d just make a pitcher of iced tea at night.
This method works for all teas. Green teas are tough to brew for iced tea with hot water because it’s so easy to turn green teas bitter with water that’s too hot. That’s why they’re perfect for the cold-brew method.
INGREDIENTS: 1 (5 oz) cans of solid white albacore tuna (i.e. Wild Planet Wild Albacore Tuna, from Whole Foods) 1 slice of onion, finely chopped 2-3 tablespoons olive oil 1 teaspoon vinegar (e.g. Vinegar of Banyuls) 1/4 tsp. Salt & 1/4 tsp. pepper 1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish 3 tablespoons mayonnaise 1 celery rib, finely chopped
DIRECTIONS: 1. Microwave onion and oil in a small (pyrex) bowl until onion begins to soften (about 40 seconds). 2. Drain tuna, transfer to medium bowl, and mash with fork until finely flaked. 3. Add onion mixture, vinegar, sweet pickle relish, salt, and pepper to tuna. Stir to combine. Let sit 10 minutes. 4. Stir mayonnaise and celery into tuna mixture. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Optionally, stir a chopped hard boiled eggs into salad with mayonnaise.
DIRECTIONS: 1. De-stem and wash greens beans.
2. Steam green beans for 6-8 minutes. 3. Thinly slice and sprinkle mushrooms with soy sauce and mirin. Marinate for few minutes. Saute mushrooms for a few minutes, and transfer to bowl.
4. Transfer green beans to pan, and stir fry with black bean sauce, some water (or chicken broth), and mushrooms for a few minutes.
5. Serve.
INGREDIENTS:
8 chicken drumsticks (1.8 lbs), chopped (or whole)
1/4 cup sesame oil
1/4 cup rice cooking wine or Shaoxing rice wine
1/4 cup light soy sauce
1 Tablespoon rock sugar (raw cane sugar) 黃冰糖
1 oz ginger, peeled & thinly sliced
14 garlic cloves, peeled & crushed
3 dried Chinese red chili
1/2 Tablespoons dark soy sauce
10 – 16 fresh Thai basil leaves (optional)
DIRECTIONS:
1. Peel and thinly slice the ginger. Peel and crush the garlic cloves.
2. Chop the drumsticks in pieces
3. Set Instant Pot to saute, and saute the ginger and garlic in 1/4 cup of sesame oil for 30 seconds (until fragrant).
4. Add in the chicken, 3 dried Chinese red chili, and 1 tablespoon rock sugar. Saute for 3 minutes.
5. Pour in 1/4 cup of rice cooking wine, and let boil for a minute to evaporate some of the alcohol.
6. Add 1/4 cup of light soy sauce.
7. Close the lid and pressure cook on high for 6 minutes + 10 minutes natural release. If using whole drumsticks, high pressure for 8 minutes + 10 minute NPR.
8. Remove lid, and place chicken pieces in large serving bowl.
9. Press saute button, and bring sauce back to boil. Add about 1/2 tablespoon dark sauce to give color, and sweeten.
10. Taste the sauce, and adjust with more light soy sauce if needed.
11. Stir in 10-16 fresh Thai basil leaves.
12. Pour the sauce into the bowl with chicken. Mix well.
13. Serve immediately with rice.
1. One thick steak (e.g., bone in ribeye). At least 1″ thick. The thicker, the better. Otherwise, just pan sear it.
2. Salt & pepper to taste
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 250°
2. Place well-seasoned steaks on a rack over a baking tray (with foil).
3. Put in oven and cook til an internal temp of 125°-135°. Usually takes around 20-40 minutes.
4. Remove when at temp and rest for 10-15 minutes under foil
5. Preheat a skillet (e.g. cast iron) to hot temperatures
6. Sear steaks about one minute each side
7. Serve immediately
INGREDIENTS 4 skin-on salmon fillets, about 6 ounces each
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable, canola, or light olive oil
DIRECTIONS
1. Press salmon fillets between paper towels to dry surfaces thoroughly. Season on all sides with salt and pepper.
2. In a large stainless, cast iron, or carbon steel skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat until shimmering. Reduce heat to medium-low, then add a salmon fillet, skin side down. Press firmly in place for 10 seconds, using the back of a flexible fish spatula, to prevent the skin from buckling. Add remaining fillets one at a time, pressing each with spatula for 10 seconds, until all fillets are in the pan.
3. Cook, pressing gently on back of fillets occasionally to ensure good contact with skin, until skin releases easily from pan, about 4 minutes. If skin shows resistance when you attempt to lift a corner with spatula, allow it to continue to cook until it lifts easily. Continue to cook until salmon registers 110°F in the very center for rare, 120°F for medium-rare, or 130°F for medium, 5 to 7 minutes total.
4. Using spatula and a fork, flip salmon fillets and cook on second side for 15 seconds, then transfer to a paper towel–lined plate to drain. Serve immediately.
Ingredients:
2 lbs pork belly
3 green onions
1 inch of ginger
1/2 cup water
Kakuni Seasoning liquid:
¼ cup sake
½ cup water
½ cup mirin
½ cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
Optional: Red Cooked Pork Seasoning liquid
3 tablespoons rock sugar
3 garlic cloves, peeled
2 scallions, cut into 2-inch pieces
2 whole star anise
2 tablespoons Chinese dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon Chinese light soy sauce
¼ cup Shaoxing rice wine
1 cup water
Directions:
Slice the pork belly. Slice the green part of the green onions in half. Slice the ginger into thin slices. Place ingredients in Instant Pot, and cover with water. Cook under pressure for 35 minutes.
Release pressure, and discard water, green onions, and ginger. Rinse the pork belly under warm water. Clean out Instant Pot, and return pork belly.
Pour seasoning liquid over the pork, and put Instant Pot in “saute” mode. Simmer to evaporate the alcohol. When alcohol smell is gone, turn Instant Pot off. After the pot has cooled a bit; cover, lock, and seal the lid. Cook under high pressure for final 10 minutes. Release pressure, and serve (e.g. over rice).
Ingredients: Rack of pork ribs – ~ 2.5 lbs Salt and pepper Garlic powder
Sauce ingredients: 3/4 cup water 1/4 cup Japanese bbq sauce (see below) 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
Directions: Cut ribs into sections. Season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder (if available). Mix the sauce in Pyrex cup and pour the sauce into the pot. Layer in the seasoned ribs. Cover and cook on high pressure for 35 minutes. Natural release for about 10 minutes (in those 10 minutes, stir fry some veggies). Remove (falling-off-bone tender) ribs carefully with tongs.
