Monthly Archives: March 2009

Meet the newest member of the Sound Bites Crew this weekend at: The Proctor Farmers Market in Tacoma, WA

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Who is it??? Why should I????? What????

Hi, my name is Eric Rivera and I like to speak in the third person! Today, I am officially an employee of Sound Bites Sauce and Spread Company (Insert backflip and high five here).  You’re going to be seeing this product a lot more on here because it truly is some of the best stuff out there. What stuff????

Chardonnay White Bean Hummus
Merlot Red Bean Hummus
Riesling Garbanzo Hummus

Chimichurri con Cabernet Sauvignon Oil
Chimichurri con Lime Riesling Oil

That is the current line-up but there are more products to come that are in various stages of development. Do you know who will get a chance to see them first? Me, and you too if you come on down to the Proctor Farmers Market!!!!

(I sound like an infomercial…..if you call in the next five minutes!!!)

Anyway, I’ll be working their farmers market stand this weekend so if you’re anywhere near Tacoma then stop on by and say, “hello”. I hope you say more than that but “hello” is a good start.

Opening Day for the Proctor Farmers Market is this weekend so get yourself down there, come say “hello”, and try our product.

http://www.proctorfarmersmarket.com/

I’m going to be posting a few recipes with these products so be on the lookout!!!

Visit their site and learn for yourself or come to the Proctor Farmers Market and I’ll tell you why these products are the best thing to happen since sliced bread. Why are they better than sliced bread? Spread these products on top of  sliced bread and you’ll understand what I’m talking about.

http://eatsoundbites.com/

Eric

Month O’ March Wrap-up

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p3270015Stats:

79 Posts

2,733 Hits

Most Popular Recipe of The Month:

Dulce De Leche

Most Popular Recipe of All Time:

Salmon White Cream Sauce Pasta

New Members To My Blogroll:

Nancy Leson’s: All You Can Eat, A Seattle Times Blog
United Way of King County
Shizuoka Gourmet
Seduction Meals
Bread + Butter
My Last Bite
Fark

New Recommended Places To Shop:

Jerky.com

This site is growing fast in my opinion. In January, I was excited that I had 10 visitors in one day, now we’re averaging 50 per day. Whether I make great food or not isn’t really my concern, I just like to share my ideas in order to get a little feedback in order to progress into being a great chef for my wife.

There is some cool stuff out there in the food world and I’m excited to be a small part of it.  I am inspired by all the people on the blog roll and everyone new that stops by this blog with kind words of encouragement. Thanks for all the support!!!

Eric

United Way of King County has a featured post about this blog:

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They also have the details of what I will be doing for their campaign. If you would like to join the campaign then let them know you want to be a part of it by contacting their blog.

Also, I’m going to ask a favor from some of the people who follow this site.  I will be doing this $7 per day challenge for them and I think it would be awesome if you could donate $7 to their cause by visiting their blog and/or website and clicking on their donate button.  You don’t have to tell them it was because you saw this blog, just give whatever you can…..even if it isn’t $7. $1 even helps. If you would like to donate $7 per day or $49 total then that would be even more awesome!

Again, there is no obligation to send anything. I think it would be cool and you can send it anonymously.  The United Way does great work and with everything else going on they need more help now than ever.

Thanks,

HERE’S A LINK TO THEIR BLOG:

http://uwkc.wordpress.com/2009/03/31/could-you-feed-yourself-for-only-7-a-day/

Eric

p.s. I’m a Seattle Food Blogger!!!! How cool is that!!!

Puff Pastry Stuffed with Sun Dried Tomato Pesto, Blue Cheese, and Sausage

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My wife, Mindy, helped me out with this one. I’m not very good with pastries.

Ingredients:

1 packet puff pastry
1/2 cup Sun Dried Tomato Pesto   (use my recipe)
2 tbsp. blue cheese.
1 sausage removed from casing and cooked
Olive oil

Arrange the puff pastry on a baking sheet and cut in squares. Brush the inside with olive oil then start spreading the tomato pesto, blue cheese, and sausage on each sheet as shown in the pictures.  Pre-heat oven to 400F. Brush the outside of the puff pastry with olive oil once you pinch each side together, as shown in the pictures.  Place the baking sheet with the puff pastry in the oven for 15 minutes or until outside of puff pastry is golden brown. Remove from oven, let rest for 2-3 minutes then serve.

Enjoy,

Eric

How many more times can I say puff pastry?   The world will never know.

United Way of King County, WA

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I’ve been approached by the United Way of King County to work with them on their Hunger Action Week campaign. Basically, they want me to live off of a $7 per day food budget for a week. I think I can do this. It’s going to be hard but there are people that live with much less than $7 per day for food so it’s not impossible.

I never thought my blog would turn into something where I could have an impact through cooking food. They want me to develop recipes that are beyond just eating Ramen so I’m sure I can do that. I might have to tone it down on my beloved spices but it’s worth it.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know about this great news. Of course, I’ll keep you posted!

Eric

Visit their site:

http://www.uwkc.org/

logo_uwkc_pages

Sauteed Sofrito On A Bed Of Baked Plantains

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Great colors, aromas, and tastes.

Ingredients:

Annatto infused oil

3 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp. annatto seed

Plantain

1 plantain sliced in half horizontally then sliced about a quarter of an inch thick, as shown in pictures
Olive oil
Salt

Sofrito

1/2 white onion, diced
1 garlic clove, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
4 ounces sliced salted cured pork
1 tomato, diced
1 tsp. fresh oregano, broken apart with your hands
1/2 bunch cilantro, minced
1 tsp. cumin

6 ounces beer

In a small bowl stir together the annatto seed and olive oil, cover then place in a cupboard for two days. In a large skillet on medium heat pour in the annatto infused oil. Stir for 3-4 minutes then remove seeds from pan. Turn the heat up to high heat then add the onion, garlic, and bell pepper.  Saute for 2-3 minutes then add pork and cover, reduce heat to medium then cook for 7 minutes.  Add tomato, oregano, cilantro, and cumin. Remove pork from pan and place in another large skillet on high heat. Brown the pork then remove and place back in the sofrito mix, turn the heat down for the sofrito mix to low.  Pre-heat oven to 400F. De-glaze the pan you cooked the pork in with beer then place the plantains in. Cook one side for 3 minutes then flip plantain, and place entire pan in the oven for 5 minutes.  Remove pan from oven then place plantains on a plate and pour sofrito mix over. Serve

Enjoy,

Eric

Puerco Pibil: From “Once Upon a Time In Mexico” DVD bonus section:

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My sister’s fiancee, Dave,  showed me this video over the weekend and I took a few things away from it.

#1  Pork is awesome….that’s obvious
#2 Why has this been out for 5 years and I haven’t seen it?
#3 I like the whole first person point of view filming technique.  I might try it one day. If only I knew how to edit….
#4 I must try that recipe…..
#5 I guess this blog is like a menu. If anyone ever wants to visit then take your choice. There are over 100 recipes on here for your choosing.  Specialties of the house, I like that idea.
#6  Hey, I grind my spices in a coffee grinder too!! I’m cool.
#7 Robert Rodriguez is F’ing cooler.

So watch the video and sorry for the cuss word he says. I couldn’t find an edited version. So if you’re at work then check it out at home.

Late to the party, I hate that. 5 years later……wow.

eric
I am making pork butt this week.  Not this version so if you like fall apart slow cooked pork then check back.  I have another slow cooked pork recipe on here so if you can’t wait for another variation then click here.

Sun Dried Tomato Pesto Baguette Bite

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Did you really think I was going to post a sun dried tomato pesto without additional recipes? I don’t even think I know you anymore. Ha!

Ingredients:

Baguette sliced to 3/4 of an inch thick
1 celery stalk thinly sliced
1 tbsp. sugar
1 carrot, peeled and thinly sliced
6 pickled cherry tomatoes, thinly sliced
Sun dried tomato pesto                (use my recipe)
Parmesan cheese
Garlic salt

Set oven to broil. Saute celery, sugar, and carrot for 4 minutes in a large skillet on medium heat. Stir in pickled cherry tomatoes, cook for another 2 minutes.  Remove from heat. Spread sun dried tomato pesto on each baguettte then place celery, carrot, and cherry tomato mixture on each baguette as show in pictures.  Place a pinch of parmesan cheese on top of baguette along with a dash of garlic salt. Place in oven on broil for 3-4 minutes. Remove then let rest for 2-3 minutes. Serve

Enjoy,

Eric

Steak Gyro with a Sour Cream Tzatziki

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Real tzatziki is made with yogurt. Real Gyros are usually made with lamb. I do things a little different. My mom says I’m special.

Ingredients:

-6 ounces steak, thinly sliced    (I used my New York Strip Chipotle Recipe)
-2 pitas
-Alfalfa sprouts
-1 tomato
-small dash of oil and vinegar

Eric’s Fake Tzatziki

-1 tablespoon sour cream
-1/2 cucumber, peeled and sliced thin
-1 celery stalk thinly sliced
-pinch of dill
-3 drops lemon juice

Mix Tzatziki together then spread on pita. Build your pita, then eat it!

Enjoy,

Eric

New Contributor to Eric Rivera’s Cooking Blog:

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About a week ago I had the chance to visit with a friend of mine, Kenny, who was in town for a week to visit family and friends.  He is currently living in Vietnam and we got into a discussion about the different types of food available to him. After an evening of conversation, using his awesome Nikon camera, and bad karaoke we came to the conclusion that he needs to take that fancy camera and put it to use. Once he gets to Vietnam he’s going to start snapping pictures of the Vietnamese food fare and he will start posting them on this blog.

If he snaps a picture of something I have access to here in the states then I will be posting a recipe to go along side his posts. Wow, teamwork!

I’m really excited about the whole thing because he’s a fantastic photographer and I know he will bring a lot to this blog. We’re going global!

Eric

Penne and Cheese (Macaroni and Cheese for snobs, hahahaha)

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I’m lactose intolerant. I ate half of this by myself. It’s good, I’m willing to take the risks!

Ingredients:

-1 lb. sharp cheddar, grated               I used Tillamook cheese
-3 cups milk
-2 tbsp. butter
-1 tbsp. dried tarragon
-2 tbsp. arrowroot
-1 tbsp. paprika
-1 tbsp. dijon mustard
-1/2 cup cured pork, cooked in a small sauce pan on high heat then chopped into smaller pieces.
-1 tbsp. green peppercorn, ground
-1 tsp. salt

2 cups cooked penne pasta

Topping

-1 cup panko bread crumbs
-1/2 tsp. rosemary
-1/2 tsp. basil
-1/2 tsp. thyme
-2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

Take one sauce pan and melt butter on medium heat. Stir in the milk and cheese. Once the cheese is completely melted add the tarragon, arrowroot, paprika, and dijon.  Reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 15 minutes stirring frequently. Stir in the pork, peppercorn, and salt.  Fold in the penne pasta then place mixture in a 9×9 baking dish. Pre-heat oven to 350F. In a small sauce pan on medium heat pour in the olive oil then add the bread crumbs, rosemary, basil, and thyme. Stir very quickly and make sure all ingredients are evenly distributed in the topping. Remove from heat then place over penne and cheese that is in the 9×9 baking dish. Cover 9×9, then place in oven and cook for 25 minutes. Remove from heat, let rest for 5 minutes then serve.

Enjoy,

Eric

New York Steak with Chipotle Rub and Chipotle Butter

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I’m so full right now it’s not even funny. Steak, is there anything better? No.

Ingredients:

Rub

-3 Chipotle pods, ground
-1 tbsp. green peppercorn, ground
-1 tbsp. paprika, ground
-2 tbsp. dried chopped onion
-1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt

Combine all ingredients in a mortar and pestle. Crush it rough, not too powdery

Butter (I wanted to keep it simple instead of making my own)

-1 stick butter
-2 chipotle pods
-1 tbsp. dijon mustard

Melt all ingredients in the microwave for 1 minute. Stir together then place in the refrigerator.

Steak

-2 New York Strip Steaks
-1 tbsp. white vinegar

Brush the steaks with vinegar then rub the dry mixture into the steaks. Cover and place in refrigerator for 2 days. Remove steaks from the refrigerator and let them get to room temperature. Take a baking sheet a place it in the oven then set the oven to broil.  After 5 minutes place the steaks on top then cook for 4 minutes. Flip then cook for another 2 minutes. Remove from heat, place chipotle butter on top then let rest for 3-4 minutes.  Serve

Enjoy,

Eric

Tapas Episode #2: Green Olives with Anchovy and Pepper

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Yes, excellent

Ingredients:

Spanish Green Olives
Fresh Anchovy
Crush Green Peppercorn

Simple ingredients blend together to give you tastes of epic proportions.