Camera B strikes again! Ugh.
I’ve done a few steak rubs but I don’t think it compares to this one. I’m not going to give you the exact measurements because I like to keep secrets.
Ingredients
Garlic Powder
Dried Onion
Paprika
Urfa Biber (and that’s when Eric went all “WTF?!?!” on you)
Italian Sea Salt
Yellow mustard seed, ground
Adobo (my own blend)
Eric
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Keep It Simple Stupid! When I have great ingredients it’s easy to try and turn them into complex creations. When it comes to steak there really isn’t much I should do to try and change the flavor. I keep it simple, stupid (you’re not stupid, sorry)
Ingredients
-2 1lb. top sirloin steaks (I used Stokesberry Farm grass finished steaks)
Rub
Sel De Mer
Pink Peppercorn
Rub the steaks with the rub……..rub a dub dub (Rub a dub dub will be the name of the spice rub company I start, don’t steal the name….ok, steal it….I have a better name just in case). Broil each side for 2 minutes then serve.
Enjoy,
Eric
I wanna rock and roll all night and eat steak everyday.
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In Seattle you can buy fresh fish anytime you want. Go to Pike’s Place Market and it’s there for the taking! There are other places where I buy fish from but I’ll get into that in another post, I’m just giving you the “tourist” location on where to start if you’re ever in Seattle. What did I buy this time? Huge halibut steaks! Side note, “fish” was my first word in English. My first word in Spanish was a cuss word, “cabron” (thanks grandpa!). Things really haven’t changed.
Ingredients
1 large halibut steak
Fish Rub
Italian Salt
Black Peppercorn
Green Peppercorn
Pink Peppercorn
Mango Pineapple Dressing (Click for recipe)
Rub the halibut steaks with the salt and pepper rub. Heat up some grape seed oil then cook the halibut about 3 minutes on each side. Serve with mango pineapple dressing over the top and on a bed of asparagus!
Enjoy,
Eric
I had another halibut steak that I blackened. It’s too spicy for you so I won’t post it.
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Looking for a pasta sauce that goes great with seafood? Look no further!!
Ingredients:
Saute ingredients with roasted garlic chardonnay grape seed oil for 15 minutes in this order then add spices.
4 cloves garlic
1/2 sweet onion
3 carrots
5 celery stalks
2 Heirloom tomatoes
4 grape tomatoes
5 black olives
1 cup shiraz wine
Spices-
1 tsp. grains of paradise
1 tsp. rosemary
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. thyme
1 tbsp. tarragon
1 tsp. basil
1 tbsp. poivron rouge
1/2 tsp white peppercorn
1/2 tsp. pink peppercorn
I purchase all my spices from Worldspice.com, blend all the spices together in a spice grinder a.k.a. a coffee grinder
Remove ingredients from pan and place in blender. Take juice from blender and place sauce in a crock pot and cook on low heat for 4-5 hours. Serve over pappardelle pasta with some red red wine clams (click) and grated manchego cheese.
Enjoy,
Eric
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Tzatziki is usually made with yogurt but I like to do things a little different. In comes Hotziki!!!!
Ingredients:
Chorizo sausage, cooked
Pita Bread
Lettuce, I used an organic spring salad mix
Tomato
Hotziki!
2 tbsp. Chardonnay White Bean Hummus (you can use sour cream or mayonnaise until you can buy it online from Sound Bites)
1/2 tsp. Hot Sauce, I used Tapatio
1 celery stalk, thinly sliced
1/4 bunch of fresh cilantro, broken apart
2 small slices cucumber, minced
A few drops of lemon juice
Mix it all together and spread it over the pita bread. Add the salad mix, tomato and chorizo. SERVE!!!
Enjoy,
Eric
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Most people don’t really consider a top sirloin to be a big deal in the steak world. What if I told you it tastes much better than any filet mignon or t-bone steak you’ll ever have when it’s a hormone-free, grass fed, steak grown in Olympia, WA. There have been a few great things that have come from Olympia, WA……This steak and me! I’m so lucky I don’t have confidence problems. 
Thanks again to Janelle and Jerry from Stokesberry Sustainable Farm for growing this awesome piece of meat!
Tarragon Steak Rub (I’ll give you the ingredients but I’m keeping the proportions to myself):
Kosher Salt
Tarragon
Garlic Powder
Thyme
Crushed Black Pepper
Crushed Green Pepper
Poivron Rouge Vinaigrette
3 tbsp. garlic infused grape seed oil
1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 tsp. poivron rouge (worldspice)
2 thyme sprigs
dash of salt and pepper
Mix all items together then let rest for 20-30 minutes then serve over a salad!
Cook the steak medium rare or less, stop overcooking it!!!!!!!!
Enjoy,
Eric
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Foodbuzz sent me some Buitoni Wild Mushroom Agnolotti and I’ll be honest, I have no idea what Agnolotti means. It looks like a half moon shaped ravioli to me. Does that change my excitement level??? NOPE! The Agnolotti is amazing and this sauce works so well with this. It’s a match made in heaven without having to pay for a monthly membership fee.
Ingredients:
Sauce
2 tbsp. roasted chardonnay grape seed oil
2 tbsp. diced onions
12 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 carrot, shredded
1/2 aji mirasol pepper, ground
1 1/2 tsp. dried tarragon, ground
1 tsp. Italian Sea Salt
1/2 teaspoon Turkish Oregano
2 Turkish Bay Leaves
1 tomato, diced
4 sprigs of fresh thyme
4 fresh basil leaves
Heat up the oil then saute the onions, garlic, and carrot. Once the onion is clear add the rest of the ingredients. Then simmer, covered for 45 minutes. Remove from heat then strain. Pour juice over Agnolotti
Pasta:
1 package Buitoni Wild Mushroom Agnolotti
Cook with 2 quarts of water and add 1 tbsp. grape seed oil then add a pinch of salt and use a soft boil to cook for 4-5 minutes. Serve
The meat in the middle of the plate is thinly sliced Iberico Ham.
Enjoy,
eric (mr. pasta, thanks for the name Greg)
Salt and Pepper
It’s Hunger Action Week (click), so the only spices I am allowed to use unless I want to purchase them are salt and pepper. Regular table salt and black peppercorn will see a lot of use this week!
Side Note:
It’s going to be 70+ degrees today in Seattle. Do you know how bad I want to BBQ right now? I’ve been working on a BBQ sauce recipe for 2 years now………..it’s sunny……..in Seattle……..must resist temptation to BBQ.
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Taking a cheap cut of meat and making it sound extravagant. All I need to do is give it a French name and people would consider it a hit! I’m going to make a stew with this cut next time, I just wanted to dress it up a little bit.
Ingredients:
2 veal chuck steaks
4 pepper steak rub No exact recipe for this one yet, it’s a work in progress
1 fennel bulb, sliced thin with core removed
1 green bell pepper
2 jalapeno peppers
Pre-heat oven to 250F. Rub steaks with 4 pepper steak rub. Place vegetables in a 9×9 baking dish then place steaks over the top of the vegetables. Cover with aluminum foil and cook for 45 minutes to an hour. Remove from oven, let rest for 5 minutes then serve as shown in pictures above.
Enjoy,
Eric
I’m experimenting…….as always
I don’t know what to call this. I wanted to make an eggs benedict but I wanted to change things, as always.
Ingredients:
Ham
Cut uncooked ham into 1/2 inch slices
Brine with 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 salt, and 1 gallon water for 3 hours BRINE?!?!!
3 tbsp. honey
1 tbsp. fresh ginger mix with honey
Pat dry the ham once you remove it from the brine. Pour 1/2 tbsp. olive oil in a large skillet on high heat. Place the ham in the skillet and cook for 3 minutes then flip. Pour the honey and ginger mix over the ham. Cook for three minutes then remove from heat. The ham is now glazed!
Coconutdaise
1/2 cup coconut milk
4 egg yolks
1 tsp. urfa biber
1 tbsp. yellow mustard seed, ground with a tiny bit of vinegar
1 tsp. garlic salt
1 tsp. Italian Sea Salt
1 1/2 tsp. ground tarragon
Combine all ingredients together in a medium sauce pan. Cook and reduce mixture by half, stirring frequently.
Poached Eggs
Arrange all ingredients as shown in picture. Serve with a little pink peppercorn over the top.
Enjoy,
Eric
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I love deviled eggs. I was going to go in a different direction with these but I was afraid to test it myself, ghost chili. This is the tame version.
Ingredients:
6 eggs, boiled for 6 or 7 minutes. I wanted runny yolks on purpose
2 tbsp. Chardonnay White Bean Hummus (Sound Bites)
1/2 tsp. ground green peppercorn
1 tbsp. sun-dried tomato, minced
1 tsp. smoked paprika
Dash of Italian Sea Salt
Dash of poivron rouge on top
Mix all ingredients together then spoon mixture over the top of egg whites as shown. Top with a small dash of poivron rouge. Serve cold.
Enjoy,
Eric
It’s getting to the point where it’s hard for me to go out and eat. Well that and I don’t have the money, ha!
Ingredients:
2 Star Anise seeds
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 tbsp. rice vinegar
1 tbsp. fresh ground ginger
1 1/2 tbsp. worcestershire sauce (gotta love spell check)
4 drops fish sauce
Sesame Oil
Chili Oil
This is a great marinade for chicken, beef, or just vegetables. All you have to do is marinade anything you are going to stir fry with this sauce for around 30 minutes. Get a wok on high heat then add 5 drops of sesame oil in the pan along with 1/2 tsp. chili oil. Let that start to smoke then add your vegetables, meat, or chicken then stir fry for 2 minutes then add the rest of the marinade and stir fry for another 4-5 minutes.
This is one of my favorite marinades because it is versatile. You can even use it as a dip for gyoza.
I’ve never posed a liquor shot before. It’s a work in progress!
Post #2 about the spice of the week, star anise. I got a lot of inspiration from doing a spice of the week from another blog that I visit almost every day. Greg. over at Sippitysup.com is blogging about mustard this week and is blowing me away with his creativity, recipes, and fantastic pictures. I’m going to get a little more involved with this whole spice of the week thing so be patient while I work out all the kinks.
Other uses for Star Anise. I’ve shown you a nice Pho broth recipe and now I’ll tell you what else you can find this spice of the week in. That green drink in the picture is Absinthe. If you have never heard of Absinthe before it’s probably because you live in the United States and for a long time it has been illegal, until recently.
I’ll keep it simple………..If you like the taste of black licorice then you will definitely like this drink. There are a couple ways to serve Absinthe. One, is straight up but I don’t recommend that because the taste will linger with you for about an hour, it’s pretty strong. Two, melt a sugar cube over the Absinthe as shown here (CLICK).
Give it a try, but be careful as always. The Green Fairy has a way of sneaking up on you if you’re not careful.
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I’m going to start doing a spice of the week. I have 30-40 different spices in my house right now so it’s time to start sharing these with you. You might have heard of these before. If you have then share some ideas on what you use them for. It’s that easy!
I love Pho Noodle Soup. It really is one of the foods I can eat everyday with no complaints. I probably eat it 2-3 times per month and every time I eat it I leave happy and I always want more. The key to Pho noodle soup really isn’t the ingredients added to the soup, it’s all about the soup broth. My favorite thing about Pho is that you can go to 10 different Pho restaurants and each Chef makes it a little different. I’ve asked a few Chef’s how they make their broth and none of them told me exactly what they put into each broth but they gave me an idea of what ingredients I should use.
#1, Star Anise. I’m not going to go into the whole history behind it so just click this Wikipedia article about it and let’s move forward (CLICK). Star Anise has a little licorice taste to it but when it is coupled with a few other ingredients it makes or breaks the Pho noodle broth. Too much and it tastes like black licorice and overpowers the rest of the broth. Too little and you might as well dump the broth and start over. The key is to add the right amount the first time….not add as you go. 5:2 ratio is what I use and it comes out nice every time. 5 full Star Anise for every 2 liters of water being used in the broth. You can pretty much add anything else you want after that and you’ll always have that hint of Pho noodle soup. Obviously, there are other ingredients to add but I’ll get to that in another post.
What else could you use Star Anise for? Next time you’re making Chinese food drop 1 or 2 Star Anise into the food as you are preparing and you will get that an authentic taste that will leave you floored with excitement. “WOW, this tastes just like the restaurant”. It’s amazing how easy it is to mimic flavor when you know what you’re looking for. It’s been a long time coming for me.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the spice of the week. I’ll be posting a recipe with Star Anise so make sure you check it out. If you have any additional uses for this spice then post in the comments and let your word be heard.
Eric
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One day I want to sell my own spice blends. This is another work in progress thing so here’s the ingredients with no actual amounts used. Still tinkering with things….
Ingredients:
Black, Pink, Green, and Black Peppercorn
Smoked Paprika
Dried Onion
Salt I used a three salt blend. Blend within a blend.
