Archive for the ‘#1 Go-To Recipes’ Category
Ham-O, Egg-O, Cheese-O Sandwich
I don't know why I thought of this last night, I must have been chatting with some of my Navy friends. For anyone that has been in South Korea, in the bar districts when the Navy visited, there was a street vendor with a cart, they made and sold Ham-O, Egg-O, Cheese-O sandwiches. This is a basic sandwich, and they made bank with these! These were made when you ordered, wrapped in paper and placed in a bag. I recall these were $1 each.
Ingredients
- 1 slice ham
- 1 egg
- 1 slice cheese
- 1 hamburger bun
- mayo, as needed
Instructions
- Keep in mind this was done on a large griddle, the woman running the cart was probably making up to 6 of these at a time.
- Fry the ham, while the ham is cooking, fry an egg hard, breaking the yolk, flipping it once.
- Spread mayo on the top and bottom bun, add the fried ham slice on the bottom bun.
- Top the ham with the fried egg.
- Top the egg with a slice of cheese (I used Gouda).
- Add the top bun. As simple as that. Enjoy.
Notes
Low cost.
Have enjoyed these many times in South Korea.
Chicken Meatballs in Cream Sauce (Tefteli)
These sound great and you could call them the Slavic version of Swedish Meatballs. Paired with mashed potatoes, this sounds perfect. I made these on 5 Sep 2017, and they are excellent! Highly recommended.
Ingredients
For the Meatballs
- 500 grams ground chicken, thighs would be perfect
- 1 cup cooked rice, room temperature
- 1 egg
- 1 small onion, grated
- 1 clove garlic, smashed and finely minced
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- ½ cup all purpose flour, for dredging
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, for frying
For the Sauce
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 2 cups chicken broth, fresh or make from powder
- ¼ cup Greek yogurt, or sour cream, or heavy cream
- ½-1 teaspoon paprika
- salt and pepper, to taste
- fresh parsley, chopped for garnish
Instructions
- In a large bowl, prepare the meatballs. Combine the chicken, egg, rice, onion, garlic, salt and pepper.
- Just mix with a large spoon.
- Roll the meatballs into 1 to 1¼ inch balls, ice cream scoop would work and I will get one to do this to verify the size. Roll each ball in flour and set on a lightly floured plate or surface.
- Heat a large pan over medium heat and add the oil. Use a regular stainless pan if you want a darker sauce or feel free to use a non stick pan which will give a lighter color sauce, this does not change the flavor of the sauce. When the pan is hot, add the meatballs and cook for 4 minutes without turning them, then flip over with tongs and cook 3 more minutes or until nice and golden brown and cooked through. Remove to a plate.
- To make the sauce, using the same pan on medium heat add the butter and when melted whisk in the flour and whisk until golden in color, then add the stock and whisk until it starts to thicken then whisk in the Greek yogurt (or sour cream or heavy cream) and season to taste, a good starting point would be ½ teaspoon paprika, ⅛ teaspoon pepper, and salt to taste.
- Bring the sauce to a simmer and whisk until the sauce thickens, remember the sauce will also thicken as it cools. When the sauce will coat a meatball, add all the meatballs to the pan and turn each one to coat with the sauce.
- Serve with mashed potatoes or pasta once all the meatballs have heated and sprinkle with parsley for garnish.
Notes
Chicken thighs (you would grind or mince yourself, as I have never seen ground chicken here) would cost about 40 Baht/500 grams. For 4 servings, this is about 28 cents per serving. Outstanding value.
Pan Fried Enoki Mushrooms & Bacon
Enoki mushrooms are long and slender with very small caps, in the US these would be known as Golden mushrooms. Enoki goes well in soups also as they maintain their crispiness well. This is a make as much as you want recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 package Enoki mushrooms
- 1 package bacon
- olive oil, as needed
Instructions
- Trim off the root end of the mushroom bundle(s) and quickly rinse them.
- Divide the mushrooms into smaller bundles.
- Cut the bacon slices in half. Wrap half a slice of bacon around the middle of a mushroom bundle and secure with a toothpick.
- When you have all the bundles of mushrooms you want, heat a non stick pan to medium heat with a splash of olive oil, then as the bacon cooks you will have enough oil in the pan.
- Add the mushroom bundles to the pan, turning as needed to cook the bacon through.
- When the bacon is cooked, they are ready to serve and enjoy as a side dish or appetizer. I had some leftover bacon so I just cooked that as well.
Notes
Low cost.
From a family member.
Homemade Ravioli
I love ravioli, when we lived in Phuket, we bought fresh made ravioli from an Italian producer, excellent ravioli. Where I live now, no ravioli, so I decided to make some yesterday, 26 Aug 2017. No servings are given, the only items with measurements is the egg pasta dough. Feel free to use any filling you like, and any sauce you like, this is what I prepared.
Equipment
- Dumpling Press
Ingredients
For the Egg Pasta Dough
- 1½ cups all purpose flour
- 2 eggs
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon sugar
For the Filling (this is what I used)
- 500 grams bulk Italian sausage, (1 lb), Shortcut
- fresh mushrooms, as desired
- Mozzarella Cheese, shredded, as desired
For the Sauce (this is what I used)
- 1 can tomato paste
- 2 cans water
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning, Shortcut
- meat and mushroom filling, optional
Instructions
For the Egg Pasta Dough
- In a large bowl, add the flour and mix in the salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and crack in the eggs. Use your fingers to slowly mix the eggs and flour together until it forms a ball, it will come together. Knead the dough for just a few minutes, adding flour if it starts to get sticky. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place in the fridge while you prep the filling.
For the Filling
- Heat a skillet and crumble in the sausage and cook through, pour the meat into a strainer to thoroughly drain any fat.
- While the sausage is cooking, prep the mushrooms, can be any mushrooms you like, just rinse, and chop. I used two handfuls of small Shiitake mushrooms, stems and caps, chopped.
- After you remove the sausage from the pan, use the same pan, heat a splash of olive oil then add the mushrooms. cook until browned.
- Add the mushrooms to the strainer with the sausage to let that drain a bit, then add a handful or so shredded Mozzarella.
- Once the sausage and mushrooms are drained, pour that into a mixing bowl and stir together and let cool.
To Assemble
- Take your dough from fridge and cut into quarters. Using 1 piece of dough, flour a a work surface and roll out the dough with a rolling pin, get it as thin as you can.
- I used a dumpling press (3 inch size), you can use any method you prefer. When the dough is rolled out, cut circles just a bit larger than the press.
- Take a circle and flip it over and place on the press, push down in the center to fit the press, then press along the edges to make sure dough it tight on the press.
- Take about a teaspoon of filling and place in the center of the press. Use a brush and brush one side of the edge of the press with water.
- Fold the press in half and squeeze to crimp the edge, any of the dough that comes out from the press, just scrape off with a knife. Open the press and remove the ravioli and place on a lightly floured plate.
- Take the leftover dough, form into a ball, roll out and repeat the steps. I used 2 pieces of dough from the original ball and made 15 ravioli.
- For the sauce, just whisk together the paste and water. The ratio for sauce is 2 cans of water to 1 can of paste, I used a 220 gram can. Whisk in the Italian seasoning and put on stove on low heat to simmer while you cook the ravioli. (I also added several large spoonful's of leftover filling to the sauce.)
- Heat a pot of salted water to boiling. Add some ravioli using a slotted spoon without over crowding the pot, I cooked 15 ravioli in two batches. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes or until they float, then remove with a slotted spoon to a plate.
- Serve with sauce over the ravioli, enjoy.
Notes
Ground pork if using the shortcut is about 50 Baht/kilo. This is actually a low cost meal.
Shortcuts: Italian Sausage, Italian Seasoning.
Dough recipe adapted from an internet recipe. The filling I just made since that combination sounded good, and I have been making pasta sauce using paste for years.
Sauteed Mushrooms
This comes from a good friend and respected chef. Think button, Cremini, or small Shiitake mushrooms. No serving size is given as I am just winged this with what I had on hand for the first try at this. I made these on 26 Aug 2017 and they are excellent!
Ingredients
- fresh mushrooms, button, Cremini, or small Shiitake
- garlic salt, to taste
- lemon pepper, to taste
- 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice, or lime juice
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons butter
Instructions
- Cut off the stems of the mushrooms (button and Cremini) flush with the bottom of the mushroom. For Shiitake mushrooms, small size it would be ok to do the same, for larger Shiitake, remove the stem completely. Quickly rinse and dry the mushrooms with paper towels.
- Heat a large pan over medium heat and add the butter and olive oil. Once oil is hot, add mushrooms in a single layer, stem side down. Sprinkle with garlic salt and lemon pepper. Cook until bottoms are browned about 5 minutes, then flip over, season again with garlic salt and lemon pepper and cook until browned on the second side, also about 5 minutes. Squeeze or dribble in the lemon or lime juice and sprinkle on the parsley and mix together and cook for 1 to 2 minutes more. Adjust seasonings to taste.
- Serve as an appetizer or side dish.
Notes
I will price this when I pick up mushrooms again, this is easily low cost per serving though.
Inspired by the recipe Sauteed Mushrooms from Natasha's Kitchen.
Creamy Cucumber Salad
This is a German style cucumber salad and it is delicious. Greek yogurt can be used in place of the sour cream but when doing this, leave out the lemon juice. I made this on 20 Aug 2017 and it is delicious! Link to the shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 7-10 small cucumbers, sliced into thin rounds
- 1 small red onion, quartered, sliced thin
- 1 tablespoon fresh dill, chopped
- ¾ cup sour cream, see Step 1
- 1½ teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 cloves garlic, pressed
- ½ teaspoon sea salt, see Step 2
- pinch black pepper, or to taste
- ½ carrot, julienned, optional
Instructions
- For the sour cream, you can substitute Greek yogurt but omit the lemon juice.
- For the salt, you can make the dressing with the salt included but the salad will need to be consumed just after making or within just a few hours as the salt will cause the cucumbers to weep. An alternative is to salt the cucumber slices in a sieve and let them set for an hour, gently squeeze out remaining moisture, then proceed as directed, which will result in crispy cucumbers for 2-3 days with the dressing. This photo is of the cucumbers salted and draining.
- Using a small bowl, add the sour cream (or Greek yogurt), lemon juice only if using sour cream, garlic, salt and pepper. Mix and refrigerate until needed. Best results if you mix the dressing into the vegetables just before serving. If using the salted cucumber method, omit the salt in the dressing mixture.
- Place the cucumber and onion in a bowl, add the dressing and mix and serve then or within 2-3 hours, keeping the salad refrigerated until use.
- If using the salted cucumbers, mix in the dressing and refrigerate until use, store leftovers in the fridge for 2-3 days. I used salted cucumbers so everything is mixed and goes into the fridge to chill. I also added the julienned carrot for a bit of color.
- Serve as a side as is or on a bed of lettuce for a nice presentation and a light meal.
Notes
Shortcut: Sour Cream.
Fish & Shrimp Soup (Ukha)
This is an excellent soup! This is a Russian soup with a light broth. I used 3 Pangasius fillets (Shark Catfish) and small White shrimp. Link to the Shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 10 cups water
- 2 cups vegetable stock, pork or chicken stock also works well
- 1 tablespoon sea salt
- 3 medium potatoes, diced
- 1 large carrot, halved and sliced thin
- 350 grams whitefish fillets, boneless, skinless, (12 oz)
- 250 grams shrimp, peeled, deveined, tails removed, (9 oz)
- olive oil, as needed
- 1 small onion, finely diced
- 2-3 stalks import celery, thinly sliced
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon Mrs. Dash Seasoning, Shortcut
- â…› teaspoon black pepper
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped or 1 tablespoon dried
- Straw mushrooms, optional, as many as you like
Instructions
- Add the water, stock, and salt to a large pot and put on high heat and add the potatoes. Bring to a boil and reduce to a high simmer for 10 minutes. Then add the carrots and reduce to a simmer for another 10 minutes.
- While the potatoes and carrots are cooking, heat a large pan with a splash of olive oil and saute the onion and celery until softened and starting to brown, then add this to the pot.
- Add the shrimp to the pot. I used small White shrimp from a local farm, you can use any type of shrimp or prawn you like. I measured the weight after the head, shell, and tails were removed.
- Add the fish to the pot. I used 3 Pangasius (Shark Catfish) fillets, you can use any whitefish you like, Tilapia and Sea Perch (Barramundi) would also work well, keep in mind, boneless and skinless.
- Add the bay leaves, Mrs. Dash seasoning, parsley, pepper, and if using the optional Straw mushrooms, just slice those in half lengthwise and add those to the pot as well.
- Cook on a high simmer for about 10-15 minutes to cook the mushrooms, important, skim off any foam on the surface to give a clear broth. Taste and season with additional salt if needed, serve.
Notes
Figure about 50 Baht for the whitefish (Pangasius) and about 150 Baht for the shrimp. Even though the celery is import, only 2 or 3 stalks are used so that is low cost. For 8 servings, this is about 74 cents per serving.
Shortcut: Mrs. Dash Seasoning.
Salmon Cakes
This not only sounds really good, it is good! I have not had salmon patties (cakes) in many years, made these on 11 Aug 2017, outstanding. Link to the Shortcut is listed in the Notes section.
Ingredients
- 500 grams salmon, see Step 1, (1 lb)
- olive oil, as needed
- garlic salt and pepper, as needed
- 1 medium onion, finely diced
- ½ red bell pepper, diced
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
- 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 3 tablespoons mayo
- 1 teaspoon Worcherstershire sauce
- ¼ cup fresh parsley, minched
Instructions
- For the salmon, you can use a 500 gram (1 lb) fillet, use 4-5 smaller fillets, use leftover cooked salmon, or even canned salmon, well drained and the approximate weight stated. The salmon has to be cooked and flaked, you can bake or steam the fillets, up to you. Season with garlic salt and black pepper before cooking, if baking, brush with olive oil as well. Let the salmon cool to room temperature. Then flake the salmon with two forks and remove and discard the skin and any bones, depending on the cut you use.
- In a medium skillet over medium heat, heat a tablespoon of olive oil, 1 tablespoon of butter and the onion and bell pepper. Cook until softened and starting to turn golden brown, about 6 to 8 minutes then remove from heat.
- In a large bowl, and the salmon, bread crumbs, eggs, mayo, Worcestershire sauce, 1 teaspoon garlic salt, ¼ teaspoon of black pepper, and parsley. Stir to combine.
- Add the onion and bell pepper, and mix that in then form into 12-14 patties. You can use either large tablespoons of the mixture or use an ice cream scoop. Flatten the portion out and form into about ½ inch thick patties.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 1 tablespoon of butter in a large non stick skillet over medium heat and once butter is done sizzling, add half of the salmon cakes and fry for 3 to 4 min per side or until golden brown. If salmon cakes brown too quickly, reduce heat. Remove to a paper towel lined plate to drain. Add remaining oil and butter and repeat cooking remaining salmon cakes.
- Serve with a tartar sauce or dipping sauces of your preference.
Notes
Four 140 gram fillets is 96 Baht each and is 560 grams. For 4 servings, this is about $2.82 per serving. High cost for Thailand, should be much less in the US or where fresh or even canned salmon is available. Great flavor and would be great for visiting friends and family.
Shortcut: Steamed Salmon.
Green Beans & Mushrooms
Perfect side dish and even got the thumbs up from my mother in law, and she does not give that out easily. Takes just a bit longer than most green bean recipes as you will need to steam some items and saute other items, but for the most part, you can do both at the same time. For those viewers not in Asia, a long bean is just a green bean but can be 1-3 feet long. Link to the shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 250 grams fresh long beans, cut into 1 inch pieces
- 2 fresh carrots, see Step 1
- 1 onion, sliced thin
- 2 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
- 250 grams fresh mushrooms, sliced, shiitaki or button would be good
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt, OR make from a shortcut
- 1/4 teaspoon white pepper powder
- 3 tablespoons butter
Instructions
- Cut the carrots into 1 inch pieces, then cut each piece into strips about equal in diameter to the beans.
- Steam the long (green) beans for about 3-5 minutes until tender to the bite, depending on how crisp and tender you like the beans. Remove and set aside. (You can steam the carrots for about 1-2 minutes, then add the beans and steam together until crisp, which is what I did.)
- Steam the carrots for about 3-8 minutes, depending on the size and how crisp and tender you like carrots. Remove and set aside.
- Melt the butter in a large pan over medium heat, Saute the onion and garlic until the onion is translucent, add the mushrooms and cook until almost tender, cover and reduce heat to low and simmer for 2-3 minutes, stir in the carrots and green beans, salt, seasoned salt, and white pepper. Cover and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally to heat everything through. (Mushrooms I used was a 150 gram package of Shimeji mushrooms, chopped.)
- Serve as a side dish.
Notes
Low cost.
Shortcut: Seasoned Salt.
Variants: Substitute daikon for the carrot. Add 1 teaspoon of dried rosemary or thyme, or both.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
Russian Style Crab Salad (Крабовый Салат)
This recipe uses imitation crab, aka crab sticks, but if you wish to use real crab, feel free. I personally like imitation crab so I will be using that. And this is the first recipe I have listed with the Russian text in the title as well, very cool I think. I prepared this on 30 Sep 2017, delicious! Link to the Shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 750 grams imitation crab, chopped or chopped and shredded, (1½ lbs)
- 6-7 hard boiled eggs, diced, Shortcut
- 1 small onion, finely diced
- 1 cup mayo
- 2 tablespoons horseradish sauce, or to taste
- 1 can corn, drained well
- 1 can sweet peas, drained well
Instructions
- In a large bowl, add everything except the peas and mix, add more mayo as needed to coat everything well.
- Add the peas and gently fold in, this keeps them from getting mushy. Store in the fridge for several hours before serving.
- Served along some Roast Red Pork, delicious! You can certainly serve this as a main dish as well.
Notes
Crab stick prices vary widely, from 90 to 270 Baht/500 grams, not sure of the taste or quality as I have only bought Tesco brand at 94 Baht/450 gram package and the taste is quite good, for 750 grams, figure about 150 Baht. For 8 servings, this is about 52 cents per serving.
Shortcut: Perfect Hard Boiled Chicken Eggs.