Pan Fried Okra with Sriracha

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Okra seems to be pretty polarized in the food world, with it’s champions and detractors holding pretty strong positions at their respective ends of the spectrum.    I have a personal affinity for the aloe like mucilage that hides in the prehistoric looking pods, but I know many recipes have you soak the okra to remove the “slime.”  Not this girl…bring on the slime!

This particular incarnation keeps the okra fresh and crunchy on the outside, so  you get the contrast of the silky center and the pop of the seeds to tantalize your taste buds. The light crunch of the cornmeal and the zest of one of the most coveted condiments ever just moves this one into the realm of veggie Valhalla.

I can thank Kathryn Lovell, the best mother-in-law a girl could ask for, for this recipe inspiration.  She made this for us  one night–sans the sriracha– on their house boat, and I have been obsessed with it ever since.  The key here is fresh cut okra.  You just season and use the okra’s natural aloe like center to make the fine cornmeal adhere.  Frozen okra does not work in this particular situation, so make sure you are using fresh.  Also make sure to discard the giant woody pieces as this doesn’t cook long enough to tenderize that tough old shit.

Ingredients:

8 cups of fresh cut okra

1tsp garlic salt

1 tsp fresh ground black pepper

1 tsp paprika

1/2 cup fine yellow cornmeal

1/4 cup of oil for frying (your choice as I know some of you hippies will only use coconut oil or yak juice). 

sriracha as a condiment

 

Directions:

Season fresh cut okra with garlic salt, pepper and paprika and toss well.  Then toss in fine cornmeal until well coated.

Heat frying pan or cast iron skillet and then add okra and sautee for 3 – 5 minutes just until bright green and crunchy.

Serve with sriracha drizzled over the top or on the side for dipping.

 

 

Larb Gai

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon oil
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger root
1 stalk lemon grass, chopped
2 red chilies, jullieaned
2 cloves garlic, minced
500 g minced or ground chicken
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
3 tablespoons fish sauce
1 teaspoon soft brown sugar
2 Shallots sliced
1 cup chopped cilantro chopped
1⁄2 head of cabbage or butter lettuce, leaves separated

Directions:
Heat oil in a large nonstick frying pan over medium heat. Add ginger, lemon grass, chilies and garlic. Cook 1 minute, stirring. Add chicken and cook, stirring, 5 minutes or until chicken is cooked.
Remove from pan into a bowl.
Add onion, shallots, mint and coriander, reserving a few leaves for garnish. Toss gently.
In a small bowl, combine lime juice, fish sauce and sugar; pour over chicken salad and toss gently

Serve with cabbage or lettuce leaves.

Roasted Acorn and Butternut Squash Soup

At Sprouts tonight I was very successfully marketed to by the huge fall display of colorful squashes.  As soon as I saw them I could taste the  sweet, hearty flesh of a season roasted squash.   I knew at that point that a squash soup was in my very near future.

I couldn’t decide between them all, because they were all so unique and beautiful, so I grabbed a few different varieties and a bunch of carrots for some added depth.  On the drive home I formulated my game plan so that I didn’t waste time once I was in the door.  I needed soup in my facehole…STAT!

I was so greedily anticipating that first buttery, velvety bowl, and too impatient to let the roasted squashes cool,  that I burned my friggin’ finger tips off trying to the peel the damn things.  They were too hot  for even my asbestos fingers…

I may have destroyed the nerve endings in my finger tips, but it was well worth it!

INGREDIENTS
  • 3 pounds whole butternut squash (about 2 medium or 1 large), halved lengthwise and seeds removed
  • 1 acorn squash halved and seeds removed
  • 8 carrots peeled and trimmed
  • 5 tablespoons olive oil
  • 3 cups vegetable or chicken stock
  • 3 cups of water
  • 2 teaspoons garlic salt
  • 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more as needed
  • 1 cup sour cream (for vegan soup use 1 cup almond milk in place of sour cream).
  • 1/2 cup toasted sunflower seeds for garnish
INSTRUCTIONS
  1. Heat the oven to 400 degrees with the rack in the middle of the oven.
  2. Line  baking sheets with aluminum foil. Place the squash pieces and carrots cut-side up on the baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Season generously with garlic salt and pepper. Roast until knife tender, about 50 minutes to 1 hour depending on your oven.  Remove carrots from oven after 30 minutes or once fork tender.
  3. Cool the squash and scoop out the inside into large stock pot discarding the skins.  Add roasted carrots.
  4. Add the broth, water, salt and pepper to the squash and carrots, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 15 minutes.
  5. Turn off the heat and using an immersion blender, blend until the soup is a creamy consistency.  Then stir in the sour cream. Taste and season with salt, pepper and cayenne as needed. Garnish with pumpkin or sunflower seeds and a sprinkle of cayenne.

Sushi Mito すし美都 “Beautiful City”


Calling Sushi Mito a sushi restaurant doesn’t really do it justice. Their menu consists of everything from tsukemono and kushiyaki to ramen, bentos and of course sushi. There are so many umami wonders I don’t even know where to begin. The service is fantastic and the atmosphere delivers a serene dining experience-even on the busiest of nights.  Evidently I am not the only one that knows how fantastic they are, and that’s just fine by me, as long as it keeps their business prosperous and their noren open!

The food…lets start there, because lets be honest, that’s what really matters right? The food is wonderful. It is fresh, the selection is extensive and everything I have ever tasted has been perfection.  They always have the fatty tuna, which every other sushi place has on their menu, but never seems to actually HAVE.  Ohhh how the unctuous buttery silk of fatty tuna makes my heart and taste buds sing.  In my humble estimation, it is second only to pork belly in the grand hierarchy of fatty deliciousness.  If you have never had the fatty tuna you should stop what you are doing right now and go find some.  Now…go now!

If you ignored my suggestion to run towards the fatty tuna, and you are still reading this nonsense, you should know that they also have two full pages of crunchy, briney tsukemono to sink your teeth into. So whether you are vegan, or just a lover of all things fermented like myself, there is an array of deliciousness to prime your taste buds and heighten your appetite.

Mito also does  kaiseki ryori, which is a traditional Japanese course meal artistically designed with seasonal and local ingredients.  The seasonality of the ingredients is an integral part of the menu; the theory being fresh and local is going to be aces without the need for a lot of tinkering. That level of freshness combined with the ceremony that is a Japanese dinner makes for a very memorable evening.  The Japanese truly elevate the art of dining with their predilection for ceremony. Kaiseki ryori is a perfect example of this, with it’s delicious and beautiful all encompassing sensory spreads.  This is a foodie bucket list entry for sure!

Now let me be clear on something, if Mito’s glory were served in shitty styrafoam take-out containers, by a rude waitstaff, in a loud dirty shit stain, hole in the wall, it would still blow your f’ing mind.  In most cases I would say that I would probably like it more if it were said shit hole.  My friend Matt and I always joke that you shouldn’t eat any place that gets a health inspection rating over 75 points, but that is for the Buford Highway joints that fully cook their food.  Raw fish does not apply to this rule.  Please for the love of all things tasty, and the lining of your viscera, make sure your sushi place gets a high score!

That being said, Mito has impeccable Japanese service in a traditional and pristine environment.  I haven’t seen a tatami room yet, but they do have private rooms that may be tatami adorned. The staff is wonderful and polite, and the environment is set-up so that no matter how crowded the restaurant is, you never feel overwhelmed.  Mito is a class act and shouldn’t be missed!

 

Lobster and Green Pea Risotto

For George’s birthday I wanted to make him something special that combined some of his favorite things in a less than common way. Hence the lobster and green pea risotto idea. He loves his rice and green peas, and seafood always excites his flexitarian palate. I topped it with a simple pan seared red snapper and accompanied with a homemade caesar salad.

Risotto seems to frighten/impress people that have never made it, but it’s really actually very easy to make. It is time consuming and requires your full attention from ineception to ingestion, but it is not difficult, I promise!

This risotto is perfectly creamy and velvety; rich in a melange of butter, olive oil and stock. There are sweet chunks of lobster meat and the firm delicious pop of fresh green peas in every decadent mouthful. Are you turned on yet? This risotto is the best risotto I’ve ever made, and probably the best I’ve ever eaten. I know what you’re thinking “she probably broke her elbow patting herself on the back like that.” And yes…yes I did!

Ingredients

1 medium sweet onion
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons butter
6 cups chicken broth or stock
2 1/2 cups arborio rice or other short grain starchy rice
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
2 cups green peas
1 cup cooked lobster meat chopped
1/2 cup cream cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Peel and chop the onion.
Add the butter and olive oil to a 4-to-5-quart saucepan over low to medium heat, stirring until melted and combined.
Add the onion and cook until it is soft and translucent, but not browned.
Meanwhile, pour the chicken broth into a separate saucepan, set over medium heat, and bring to a gentle simmer to keep the broth hot  for ladling while you are making the risotto.
Once the onion is soft, add the rice and cook over medium heat. Stir constantly for about 3 minutes, and do not let the rice brown.
Ladle in 3/4 cups of broth  at a time, continuing to stir until the liquid is absorbed. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the pan as you go.

When most of the liquid is absorbed into the rice, add another ladle of broth to the pan and stir constantly. Continue ladling in the liquid and stirring for approx 20 minutes, or until the rice is creamy and tender. If the rice is not finished in 20 minutes or you run out of liquid, you can add water in 1/2 cup increments until it is the right consistency (creamy and porridgey, but not mushy).

Once the rice is done, gently stir in the lobster, cream cheese, parmesan  and peas.  You really just want to heat through and or melt these last few ingredients. This will keep the texture of the lobster and the bright green of the beautiful peas.

Let me know how it goes and if you make any changes or have suggestions!

Introduction

Shortly before our wedding in 2007, we were given a small travel journal. Starting with our honeymoon in Thailand, we began keeping daily notes of our overseas trips, just for our own memories. Since then, we’ve continued the custom on every overseas trip we’ve taken. Our practice is for Joie and me to take turns writing journal entries describing the day’s events, at least one per day. In the case of especially eventful days, or if we both want to add our own perspective on something, we may both write an entry for the same day or event.

George and Joie's travel journal
As of September 2014, we’ve filled in about half the pages

About a year ago, we got the idea of entering all our old travel journal entries from the paper book into some kind of computerized digital format, for ease of backup and preservation.  That evolved into the idea of just putting everything up on a website. That evolved into the idea of having a website, not just for travel stories and pictures, but for general thoughts, ideas, recipes, and other things we don’t mind sharing with anyone who’s interested.

Why “The Facehole?”

Wherever we go, we’ve noticed that Joie (the skilled chef) tends to notice and remember the details of the food and the cuisine, whereas I (the amateur linguist) tend to pay more attention to language-related things. “The Facehole” (don’t forget the definite article!) is intended to reflect both of our personalities and interests, the mouth being, of course, the place where food goes in, and words come out.