Kanin:

Let's Start This One More Time

I'm going to try this again. Every other week, I'm going to visit a new restaurant and do a review. It will be based on an overall rating of 5, and also be rated on 5 separate areas: Food - Entree, Food - Appetizer/Beverages/Dessert, Service, Location/Atmosphere, and Value.

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Apple, Pear, and Sausage Cornbread Stuffing

I got home at 9:30 pm from working out and not having had dinner. This of course means one thing, I am rushing to get something cooked as quickly as possible. Since I've been thinking about the stuffing all day, I decided to make it as quickly as possible. I suppose that is a disclaimer to all this. I also used whatever I had since I was too lazy to visit the grocery store. I'll include at the end what I believe should have been in the dish as well. For now, this is what I actually made.

2 cups of crumbled cornbread (day old or at least not straight from the oven)
1 Aidells Apple and Chicken Sausage
3 tbsp butter
6 cloves garlic, crushed then chopped
1 medium onion, diced
1 pear, diced
1/2 apple, diced
1/2 cup frozen bell pepper strips
2 tsp Old Bay Seasoning
1 tsp part Cayenne pepper powder
1 tsp black pepper
2 tsp salt
2 tsp sage
Note: the spice measurements are estimations at best. I don't bother measuring spices because what's the fun in that. use your best judgement and add more of what you like, and less of what you don't.

Melt butter under medium heat. Add garlic and sautee until fragrant. Add onions and sautee until translucent. Add sausage, bell peppers, pear, and apple. Add all the seasonings until well mixed and apple has softened and sausage is heated throughly, about 5 minutes. Add the cornbread. Mix all the ingredients. Add chicken stock 1/2 cup at a time until stuffing is at desired consistency. If it gets too wet, you can add more cornbread or optionally add some chopped walnuts to dry it out and add more flavor.

You can either stuff a bird at this point, or turn off the heat and enjoy.

My own comments as I eat my third helping of the stuffing. It could use more sausages, but I only had one sitting in the refrigerator tonight. The two cups of cornbread in this recipe is probably a good amount for 2 or 3 sausages (1 package has 4 sausages in it). Also, the stuffing is a bit on the spicy side as I really liked the cayenne pepper. A good trade off between spiciness and sweetness should be achieved. I only used 1/2 an apple and probably should have used a whole one (esp. since that other 1/2 is turning brown as I blog).
I could have used celery as well, a staple ingredient in stuffing, but I was too lazy and hungry to buy some tonight. I added some chopped almonds that I had sitting around (from the almond-crusted catfish debacle) and it adds a nice crunch and variety in textures from the mushiness of the stuffing. The celery would have added that nice crunchiness as well. Now that I'm about to eat my 4th heaping spoon of this stuff, I'm going to add more sage and more almonds. I bet that it would make it taste even more flavorful. Overall, it's a decent stuffing. No one (except those from the South, like N'awlins) would probably mind this dish. It could use some improvements, but I was hungry. Try it, improve it, let me know.

Tonight's Recipe

I'm having a hard time keeping up with this blog with all the things I want/need to do. If I have time tonight, I will be making a cornbread stuffing with apple, pear and sausage. I hope it turns out well. I'll let you know.

Tofu Kare-Kare Version 1.0

The first try of this dish was on August 08, 2001. I tried to do it a second time, but I left the oil on the stove and almost burned San Francisco down. So, be careful when you deep-fry or more like when you forget that you were supposed to deep-fry.

2-1/2 lbs. of extra-firm tofu
1/2 lb. of long beans (cut to bite-sized pieces)
1 lb. of bok choy (cut to bite-sized pieces)
1 large eggplant (cut to bite-sized pieces)
1 medium onion (quartered)
1/2 cup of peanut butter (creamy)
2 cloves of garlic (crushed)
3 cups of vegetable broth
olive oil
fish sauce/shrimp paste or patis/bagoong (optional)

1) Deep fry tofu in hot olive oil (high heat) until crisp crust forms around each piece.
2) In large pot, heat some olive oil in medium-high. Sautee crushed garlic just until it starts to brown. Add onions and sautee until translucent.
3) Add vegetable broth, heat to boiling, and turn down heat to medium.
4) Add eggplant and long beans, simmer until tender.
5) Add peanut butter and stir until it is incorporated well into the broth.
6) Add bok choy, and tofu. Simmer for 5 more minutes.
7) If not making a vegan meal, use fish sauce or shrimp paste for better flavor.

I performed this the first time as an experiment, complete with observations. Fortunately, I can share those with you here:
a) I apparently added some corn starch to thicken the sauce. Use this sparingly as you don't want to make it overly thick.
b) I did not optimize the amount of peanut butter, you can very well use a bit less.
c) Make sure that everything is prepared and arranged since the cooking goes very quickly once you start the actual kare kare. You don't want to leave your vegetables in the stew too long else it'll be mushy.
d) I also don't know the best way to cook tofu, so if pan frying is better than deep frying, please let me know.

Overall, both my roommate and I enjoyed the dish. I remember not craving for the meat here and the tofu went very well with the flavor of the stew. Let me know if you try this dish and what you think.