Hoisin-Ginger Basting Sauce

Here's another recipe from Grill Every Day. It's a sauce recipe. I'm a huge fan of sauces because they're a great way to add new twists to the standard meat dishes. The first time I tried this was on a grilled chicken breast over coconut rice.

Hoisin-Ginger Basting Sauce

1/2 cup hoisin sauce
1/4 cup plum sauce
1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
2 Tbsp asian sesame oil
1 Tbsp pelled and minced fresh ginger
1 large close of garlic minced,
1 tsp red pepper flakes

Additional tips: If you don't have the plum sauce lying around I found it's fine to leave it out. The hoisin is a must though, it's very good. Also sped the chopping and mincing by making ginger-garlic in the food processor.

Grill Every Day Spice Rub

I picked up a great grilling book, Grill Every Day by Diane Morgan. Here's a good rub that I just tried out that can be used on fish, shellfish, poultry and beef. This recipe makes about 1 and a quarter cups. Store this in a jar and save for later!

Mix the following

1/4 cup kosher or sea salt
2 Tbsp ground pepper (coarse)
1 Tbsp ground corriander
3 Tbsp ground cumin
2 Tbsp (sweet) paprika
2 Tbsp tried thyme
2 Tbsp chili powder
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon


Additional Tips:

Don't be afraid to add more Chili powder.
Have tried this on steak and shrimp.

Mediterranean Fish Casserole

Here's an easy recipe that we found in Family Circle magazine (Feb 09). It takes a little longer to than most of the other recipes I do, due to the roasting step.

Ingredients:

4 Roastint potatoes cut into 1 inch pieces
1 Red Pepper or Italian frying peppers cut into strips
4 or 5 cloves of garlic, chopped.
2 3/4 inch cod or halibut fillets, between 5-6 oz each.
1/4 cup of pitted and chopped kalamata olives
2 plum tomatoes seeded and cut into quarters
1 lemon
Parsley

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a casserole dish with olive oil. Spread potatoes and peppers over bottom of dish. Season the veggies with salt and toss to cover with oil. Roast for about 45 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Stir occasionally.

Scatter garlic over potatoes and peppers. Season fish with salt and pepper and place on top of the potatoes. Scatter olives and tomatoes over the casserole. Drizzle with lemon juice and oil. Sprinkle with Parsley.

Roast for 25 minutes or until the fish flakes easily.

From Tails of the Cocktail 2010: Aukland Summer Punch

This kiwi-vodka drink was Kat's favorite...

• 1 ripe kiwi
• 2 oz Sauvignon Blanc
• 1/2 oz simple syrup
• 1 oz Square One Cucumber
• 1/2 oz Dry Sake
  
• juice of 1/2 lemon
  
• kiwi for garnish
  
• lemon peel for aromatic

Muddle kiwifruit wine and simple syrup. Add remaining ingredients, stir and chill. Double strain into a rocks glass. Garnish with half moon slices of kiwi and lemon peel.

FromTails of the Cocktail 2010: Martini Bianco and Soda

Simple mixed drink, thought it was refreshing:

Equal parts of Martini Bianco and soda with a squeeze of lemon. Use a big lemon rind as an aromatic.

From Tails of the Cocktail 2010: Some stuff to try

Here's a list of some products I liked this year:

• Karlsson's Gold Vodka - really good served neat with a big cube of ice and fresh cracked pepper.
• Zacapa Rum
  
• Glace Luxury Ice Co. - They make spherical ice.
  
• Coole Swan - Dairy Cream Liqueur.
• Corzo Agave
• Casa Noble Tequila (They have this one at the Cantina Mayahuel).
• Bluecoat Gin
• Macchv pisco
  

What this is about...

This is my off-line blog for culinary related posts. This is primarily for myself, to keep track of ideas, recipes and such. Editing will be kept to a minimum, but if you find something useful here all the better.