Innie or Outie

This original dish combines several Asian flavors, Papa’s Spicy Miso-Pork on Sesame Rice:

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For the dish, hubby used chunked pork roast, sliced red and green bell peppers, white onion, and carrot sautéed in sesame oil; with toubanjyan sauce, oyster sauce, dried garlic slivers, minced ginger paste, powdered chicken broth, white pepper, arugula, salad greens, 1/2 sodium red miso paste, and cracked toasted sesame seeds added; ladled on a bed of cracked toasted sesame seed rice.

This is a simple way to have home cooked pizza as a snack or an entrée with in-the-pantry items, Mini Pizza:

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For each pizza, use one flour tortilla with 1 tablespoon of Italian herb tomato paste spread on it; add one sliced sautéed spicy sausage link, 1 tablespoon chopped onion, mushrooms, and bell pepper previously sautéed in sesame oil; one sliced cherry tomato; one crumbled teaspoon-size baby cheese chunk; and three chopped fresh basil leaves. First microwave for 1.5 minutes; then fry in 1 tablespoon olive oil until the bottom is light brown. Remove, slice, and add garnish (3 Spanish olives or whatever you desire).

Hubby came up with this unusual and flavorful in-the-pantry meal, Papa’s Mustard Sauce-Pork Dinner:

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For the meal, he boiled pork roast in water with dried rosemary and thyme flakes; sliced the pork and plated it on a bed of homegrown salad greens; and topped with a sauce made of whole grain mustard, fresh rosemary leaves, minced ginger paste, minced garlic paste, finely chopped arugula, dried thyme flakes, nira (garlic chives), and milk. To go with the pork, hubby sautéed frozen spinach and asparagus in sesame oil adding a little butter and soy sauce. To completed the meal by adding rice sprinkled with cracked toasted sesame seeds; and garnished the plate with chilled whole cherry tomatoes.

One of my favorite aspects of home cooking is taking whatever can be found in the pantry and creating a dinner with the items. This is one such meal, Grilled Mini-Meatball Kabob Dinner:

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What I found readily available in the pantry to use for this meal was:

2 medium potatoes
1 slice bacon (diced)
1 slice large onion (thinly diced)
1 small carrot (sliced)
1 teaspoon-size chunk baby cheese (diced)
1/2 cup heavy cream
7 medium frozen shrimp without shells (coarsely chopped)
1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon powdered nutmeg
1 teaspoon powdered paprika
1 package 10 frozen cocktail mini-meatballs in sauce (defrosted)
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 small bell pepper (chunk-style diced)
1/8 large onion (chunk-style diced)
5 small cherry tomatoes
5 bamboo skewers (soaked in water to prevent charring – something I forgot to do, ugh…)

When I first envisioned this meal, I wanted a version of twice-baked stuffed potatoes. Unfortunately, the pantry potatoes were the wrong type. Instead, I created Baked Creamy Shrimp-Potatoes:

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Microwave potatoes until tender (about 8 minutes); remove skin; coarsely mash with baby cheese, cream, shrimp, parsley, white pepper, and nutmeg; put mixture into a baking dish and sprinkle with paprika; place in preheated oven at 200 Centigrade for 15 – 20 minutes (until lightly browned).

To accompany the potatoes, a side dish with a twist, Baked Glazed Carrots:

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While potatoes are in the microwave, sauté bacon and thinly-diced onion until browned; place bacon mixture with fat on top of carrot slices and, after the potatoes are finished microwaving, microwave for 3 minutes; place microwaved carrot mixture in an aluminum foil packet and top with cocktail sauce gently scraped from defrosted mini-meatballs; seal and bake in oven at the same time as the potatoes.

For the entré, something a little different, Grilled Mini-Meatball Kabobs:

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As the potatoes and carrots bake in the oven, sauté bell pepper and chunky-diced onions in sesame oil until onions are slightly translucent; alternate sautéed bell pepper and onion, cherry tomatoes, and meatballs on skewers (use a salad fork’s prongs to slide the bell pepper and onion into place if too hot to handle); grill until lightly charred (about 5 minutes each side on low heat in a gas pair-broiler).

The kabobs, potatoes, and carrots should be done at about the same time. Simply plate and serve.

(NOTE: Although this meal sounds difficult, it really was quite uncomplicated because of the timing and rhythm of the preparation and cooking of the individual dishes.)

Getting down to the final three meals making use of that package of 25 (70 gram) servings of Japanese pasta, Apple-Pepper Pork on Almond-Mint Cream Sauce Somen:

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This entrée consisted of somen tossed with toasted almond slivers and chopped fresh mint cream sauce; topped with julienned onion sautéed in olive oil with sliced pork and apple, julienned yellow and green bell peppers, tarragon, cornstarch, white pepper, and finely-chopped fresh basil; garnished with fresh basil leaves; accompanied by Basil-Baby Cheese Garlic Brown Bread to complete the meal.

Finally getting down to the last few servings of somen. This is another original dish with a mild Spanish-influenced flavor, Golden Chicken in Tomato Sauce on Almond-Basil Somen:

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For the dish, thoroughly mix turmeric, dried tarragon flakes, white pepper, dried parsley flakes, paprika, dried oregano flakes, minced garlic paste and olive oil in a zip-style plastic bag; add chopped chicken breast chunks and completely coat in olive oil mixture; place in refrigerator to marinate.

About 30 minutes prior to serving, brown chicken mixture in frying pan; stir in diced onion, diced yellow bell pepper, and diced green bell pepper; cook until onion turns translucent.

Meanwhile, in a small frying pan, sauté sliced spicy sausage and start boiling somen water; remove sausage and toast almond slivers in remaing grease; add chopped stewed tomatoes with sauce and sausage to chicken mixture bringing to a light boil; reduce heat, add sliced black olives, and simmer until somen is ready.

Cook somen; remove toasted almonds from heat; strain and toss with chopped fresh basil, almonds, and olive oil; plate and ladle-on chicken mixture; top with fresh basil leaves. Serve.

Hubby decided to try something a little different in the stir-fry department, Papa’s Chinese-Style Pork Dinner:

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Hubby sautéed thinly-sliced pork, julienned carrots, and julienned bell pepper in vegetable oil; added minced ginger paste, dried garlic slivers, fresh mushrooms, garlic chives, white pepper, and oyster sauce; and thickened the mixture with cornstarch. To go with the pork entrée, he chose rice with cracked toasted sesame seeds.

So, here I am still trying to come up with dishes that will help us use up a little more of that enormous gift of twenty-five 70 gram servings of somen. This is the latest creation, Sausage-Pepper Medley on Bleu Cheese-Basil Somen:

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To make this very simple dish simply use the desired amount of hot somen tossed with chunks of room-temperature bleu cheese and chopped fresh basil, topped with julienned onion sautéed in olive oil and minced garlic paste stir-fried with julienned spicy sausage, red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, chives, and kamaboko. To complete the meal, I decided to go with a cool refreshing fruit instead of greens, Spiced Pear Salad:

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Peel and grate pear, then toss with chopped fresh mint leaves. Chill in refrigerator until almost ready to serve. About five minutes prior to serving, line bowl with iceberg lettuce, top with pear mixture, and sprinkle with desired amount of powdered all spice, nutmeg, or cinnamon. (If desired, you can make mini lettuce wraps instead of a salad with this recipe.)

Another fried rice recipe from hubby making use of Obon leftovers, Papa’s Everything But the Kitchen Sink Fried Rice:

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For the dish, hubby sautéed diced white onion in sesame oil, and stirred in diced precooked boiled pork roast, steamed shrimp, diced kamaboko, chopped leek, white pepper, precooked rice and soy sauce. After plating, the mixture was topped with cracked toasted sesame seeds and julienned pickled ginger.

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As an accompaniment to the dish, hubby chose a canned “oriental-style” (similar to egg drop) soup.

This is a tasty outdoor meal hubby prepared, Papa’s Grilled Baby-Back Pork Ribs Dinner:

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For the ribs, hubby used honey, minced red chili peppers, rosemary, white wine vinegar, white pepper, soy sauce, and Mirin allowing for several hours to marinade prior to placin on the grill.

Accompaning the entrée was Papa’s Basic Grilled Sweet Corn on the Cob:

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Hubby simply sliced the cob in half and grilled as is and added a serving of Papa’s Grilled Foil-Wrapped Mushrooms and Bell Peppers as the finishing side dish of the meal.