It's In The Seasonings!

I'm back but I guess not back in the swing of things.  It just occurred to me that I cooked almost every day this week and didn't take a single picture.

I normally don't cook that often but I think between being starved (no food for almost 42 hours) and then having to endure hospital food, I really needed something good.

Hospital food is usually sub par anyway but what I was subjected to served was even below that.  I've single-handedly fed 70 people three meals a day for three days working out of a kitchen with two burners and a half size oven.  It's not hard, nor expensive to make food taste at least decent.  Seasoning would help.  That said, I'd like to share with you some of my favorite seasonings.

Hawaiian Kine has been featured on The Food Network and one of their sauces has won a national award.  I love them!  My sister even uses some of their products in her restaurant.  I have to admit that the company is owned by my Aunt and Uncle but they really are GOOD!

This is the product they started out with:  (Click any of the pictures to go to the information page)

Hawaiian Kine Original Salt

My Favorite!  I shouldn't share that because it is the most labor intensive to make so harder to get.

Hawaiian Kine Lemon Grass Salt

These are my two favorite sauces:

Hawaiian Kine Spicy Plum Dressing

Hawaiian Kine Ono Pineapple Drizzle

Scovie Award Winner!

"Ono" means delicious and it really is.  These sauces are great on salads or drizzled on cooked fish and other meats but I like to pour some in a bag with chicken and marinate it overnight then throw it on a grill!  As they say in Hawaii "Brok' da mouth"

They make other flavors of salt and sauces.  Their lineup also includes rubs and flavored oils.  Take a look here for their full lineup.  Everything is made by hand with Aloha.

Try them and let me know how you like it.  Tell them Kar sent you!

Chimichurri Sauce

I love beef.  Although we've been eating a lot more poultry and seafood, I have to have a good steak every once in a while.  Sometimes just salt, pepper and garlic powder is good enough.  There are times you just want something more.

This is a great Brazilian sauce called chimichurri.  You will find a lot of different recipes for it.  Tweak the ingredients to suit your taste.

1 cup cilantro leaves
1 cup flat leaf or Italian parsley leaves
1/4 cup fresh oregano
4 cloves of garlic
1/3 c red wine vinegar
Juice of one lemon
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 cup olive oil

Toss everything but olive oil into a blender or food processor.  Turn the machine on and slowly add the olive oil, until every thing is chopped fine.

This is the first time I've used a blender.  My food processor got packed and put in storage in anticipation of our move.  The blender gave a smoother consistency.  Either way works and they both taste the same.

Blender   VS  Food Processor

Let sit at least an hour.  Serve it with the meat of your choice.

This time around, I used some to marinate some steaks.   I had to pan fry them as it's still too cold outside to BBQ   Also serve the sauce on the side too.  Chimichurri also makes an awesome bread dip.  The sauce will keep in the fridge for about a week.

Make mine RARE!

Things I Crave: Chili Pepper Sauce

Living out here in the Midwest US, there are things I crave and can't get.  I miss a lot of the food from Hawaii, but sometimes even the simplest ingredients are no where to be found here.  That's when I hit up my relatives.

My sister owns a Japanese restaurant so I can call her to look for Japanese items.  My mom will send some things from Hawaii.  My Auntie in Hawaii owns a seasoning company.  Even my ex will send things by mail or with the kids when they come during school breaks.

One thing he gets me is my favorite chili sauce.  There is only one store in the Sacramento area that sells it and we have never found it anywhere else.  It's from a fairly famous San Francisco restaurant, Yank Sing.  I remember eating at this restaurant when I was a kid, so maybe 40 years ago.  It's the first place I ever had dim sum.

Their chili sauce is salted turnip, black beans, garlic, sugar, peppers, shoyu, and oil.  It's a bit chunky and salty. I use it in everything!  In soup and stews, stir fry (try a spoonful in some sauteed green beans), on cold tofu and even in my oatmeal when I make it savory instead of sweet.

One of my favorite things, besides having the kids back is checking to see what they brought back with them.  Then I hoard them until next trip.  What is your favorite condiment?