When Foodbuzz and Kikkoman announced that they would be allowing Foodbuzz Tastemakers a chance to sample a new Ponzu Lime Dressing Sauce, I immediately had a flashback to a dish that my Mom used to make at home that called for green beans, pork, and soy sauce. Why? Kikkoman Soy Sauce was a staple in our home. We used it for everything. Also, the green beans and pork dish mainly used soy sauce for its flavor. I was curious to see how this new Ponzu Lime Dressing Sauce combined with my Mom’s recipe would turn out.

This was one of my favorite dishes growing up. I haven’t had it in so long, so the opportunity to recreate a childhood favorite dish using Kikkoman’s Ponzu Lime Dressing Sauce was something that I was excited to try.

Ingredients
1-2 Pounds of Green Beans
1-2 Pounds of Pork Belly or Pork Loin
1/4 Cup of Kikkoman Ponzu Lime Dressing & Sauce
1 Large Diced Onion
5 Crushed Garlic Cloves
2 tbs. of Honey
1 tsp. of Salt
1/2 tsp. of Pepper
Olive Oil
3-4 tbs. of Kikkoman Soy Sauce
Water (Optional)

Steps
First prepare the green beans by cutting the stem ends off and wash them under cold water. After they are cleaned, take a large pot and boil the green beans for 10 minutes. Strain them after they are done cooking and set them aside.

Take the pork and cut it into small chunks, about 1 inch in size. Place the chunks into a large bowl.

Combine the Ponzu Lime Dressing Sauce, half of the diced onion, crushed garlic cloves, honey, salt, and pepper into the bowl of pork. Mix everything together and let it marinade. I marinated the pork for about half an hour. You can do it longer if you wish.

Now it’s time to cook the pork. In a large pot, heat up some olive oil under medium high heat. Pour the bowl of pork belly and marinade into the pot and let it all cook together. 5 minutes into cooking, place in the other half of the onion into the pot. Be sure to keep stirring everything together. After another 10 minutes of cooking, take the green beans and combine that with the onions and pork. The onions should begin to caramelize, which is what you want to do. You can combine the soy sauce with the dish now. You will notice a sauce forms from all of the ingredients cooking together. Let everything cook for another 15-20 minutes. In between that final time for cooking, continue to taste the sauce. If you feel that it’s getting too salty, add in some water to balance out the saltiness.

After everything was done, I finally sampled my recreation. It definitely tasted like what my Mom made years ago. It was funny how inspiration for cooking can come from looking at a label and just thinking back to food that you grew up with.

During special holidays, we often cook Chicken Relleno. Just this last Thanksgiving, we roasted a total of three of these deliciously stuffed chickens. With Christmas and New Year’s Day nearing, we’re expecting to cook even more.

Chicken Relleno is a roasted chicken that has been deboned and stuffed with a mixture of ground pork, Filipino hot dogs, and eggs. The pork stuffing is the key component to the dish. I first learned how to make the pork stuffing recipe from my Dad. With Chicken Relleno, the hardest part is to debone the chicken. Once you’re able to do that, this recipe is fairly simple to follow.

Continue Reading » Cooking Chicken Relleno

For being a part of Foodbuzz’s Tastemaker program, we are excited to be able to sample Nature’s Pride’s latest freshly baked breads. We received two loaves, a 100% Whole Wheat and a 12 Grain. With Nature’s Pride Breads, I noticed how the sweet the slices of bread were. You’re getting a nutritious loaf of bread that contains no artificial preservatives, flavors, or colors. This bread is definitely an upgrade from the plain old Wonderbread that I grew up with.

With the First Annual Foodbuzz Blogger Festival approaching, an opportunity arose to become Nature’s Pride brand ambassadors. To become eligible, we had to come up with a recipe featuring slices of Nature’s Pride bread. Rose and I sat around thinking how we could best feature the bread by making it one of the major components in the recipe. Then, Rose suggested a recipe for a dish that she did years ago for Roll-Ups. Her description of Roll-Ups reminded me of Pigs in a Blanket, but instead of using regular hotdogs, it uses classic Filipino hotdogs. Filipino hotdogs have a distinct sweeter taste and just catch your eyes with their bright red color.

With this recipe, we ended up using the 100% Whole Wheat bread.

Ingredients
2-3 Slices of Nature’s Pride Bread for Breadcrumbs
3-5 Filipino Style Hotdogs
3-5 Slices used for the Wrap
2 Shallots
Mayonnaise
Your Choice of Cheese
1 Egg

Steps
Begin by first preparing the breadcrumbs. Take your slices of bread and cut it into smaller pieces. Preheat your oven to 350°F and bake the bread pieces for 10-15 minutes or until they’re toasted.

Grind the toasted bread pieces in a food processor until they become breadcrumbs. Spread out the breadcrumbs on a flat baking tray and set them aside for later.

Next, it’s time to prepare the wrap, which is made by using a flattened slice of bread. With a rolling pin, take a slice of bread and flatten it as much as possible. For every hotdog you have, make the same amount of wraps.

After you have the wraps done, in a pan, cook the hotdogs and shallots together over medium high heat. Once they are cooked, set those aside and prepare for the rolling.

It’s time to assemble the final Roll-Up. Take a wrap and spread it with a layer of mayonnaise. Then, take a slice of your choice of cheese and place that on the wrap. Place the hotdog and some shallots on the edge of the wrap and begin to roll it tightly together.

In a large bowl, beat one egg. Dip the Roll-Up into the beaten egg, coat it on all around, and roll it onto the breadcrumbs. The breadcrumbs should begin to stick to the Roll-Up and will be ready to be fried.

In a pan, fry the Roll-Ups until they are a golden brown. Try to make sure it fries completely all around. You will notice that the cheese will begin to melt and the wrap begins to get toasty. When that happens, the Roll-Ups should be ready.

Continue Reading » Hotdog Roll-Ups Recipe with Nature’s Pride Bread

Mario Batali believes that olive oil is precious as gold…

With that said, I wanted to find a dish that would highlight California Olive Ranch’s latest product, Everday California Fresh Extra Virgin Olive Oil. This olive oil is made from a blend of Arbequina, Arbosana, and Koroneiki olives. Each of the three varieties of olives are 100% California grown.

So, what’s special about California Olive Ranch’s olive oil? Freshness is just one of the features that comes to mind. The California olives used in their olive oil are pressed within hours of their harvest which maximizes the freshness of their oil. The freshness and quality of their olive oils has earned them various industry awards, most notably, two gold medals from the California Olive Oil Council for their 2008 harvest.

So, when I was trying gather ideas for a dish to use the olive oil on, a Caprese salad struck me first. With a Caprese salad, I could combine a few simple ingredients that would still allow the buttery smooth olive oil to standout. So, just this past weekend I picked up a few Cherokee Purple heirloom tomatoes to use in the salad. Feel free to use any type of tomato for this recipe.

Ingredients
1-2 Large Tomatoes
8-10 Basil Leaves
1 Small Mozzarella Log
2-3 tbs. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper

Steps
Take your tomatoes and slice them 1/4 inch thick. Take a plate and arrange the tomatoes. Sprinkle a dash of salt onto each tomato slice.

Next, cut your Mozzarella log into 1/4 inch slices. I went for a 1 to 1 ratio of tomato to cheese. Take the slices of Mozzarella and place them on top of the tomato slice. Take some freshly ground pepper and season the cheese.

Take your basil and place one leaf on top of each Mozzarella slice.

Finally, drizzle the extra virgin olive oil over the dish, making sure that everything is getting a generous coating from the oil.

Continue Reading » Caprese Salad with California Olive Ranch Extra Virgin Olive Oil