Sauces Archives - Page 4 of 5 - My Lilikoi KitchenMy Lilikoi Kitchen

Dinner, Japanese, Lactose Free, Pork, Recipes, Sauces

Grilled Teriyaki Pork Tenderloin

May 5, 2016

Virtually anything grilled with Granny’s teriyaki sauce is terrific. Sometimes we grill tofu, sometimes chicken, occasionally fish, or in this case for the first time, pork tenderloin. It’s such an easy meal to whip up on a week night and leftovers are more than welcome the following day. Pork tenderloin is lean and because of its compact size, it cooks quickly which means dinner is on the table in no time. A side of Japanese rice and baby bok choy makes the perfect meal.

Place the sauce and pork in a bowl, or even better, a Ziplock bag. Refrigerate for a few hours, turning occasionally.

Use a gas or charcoal grill. This time we used our gas grill and started cooking over indirect heat (to about 95 – 100 degrees internal temperature) then finished over direct heat to 145 degrees, basting occasionally with sauce. Our favorite digital thermometer the Thermapen is essential for perfect doneness. This cooking technique is also known as the reverse sear. The traditional method is to sear the meat first and finish in the oven or on the grill over indirect heat. The reverse sear method prevents an over done “gray” rind and the meat cooks more evenly with a consistent doneness and color from edge to center. Voila! In less than half an hour our pork tenderloin is ready.

Grilled Teriyaki Pork Tenderloin

Save Print

Author: Kiyo Miller

Serves: 2 generous servings

Ingredients

1 pork tenderloin, about 1 pound
Granny's teriyaki sauce
Reserve ¼ cup sauce for basting pork
Save remainder for finishing as described below

Preparation

Trim pork tenderloin removing any visible fat and silver skin. Trim off the ends if they are very thin so that the pork tenderloin is of uniform size. The trimmings can be frozen for another meal (tacos!).
Place pork tenderloin in a Ziplock bag with ½ cup of teriyaki sauce. Seal bag and place in the refrigerator for 3 - 4 hours. Turn bag occasionally so the pork is well marinated.
When you are ready to grill the pork, remove it from the bag and discard marinade. Grill the pork by reverse sear method, basting occasionally with the reserved ¼ cup sauce, until the internal temperature reads 145 degrees on a digital thermometer.
Meanwhile, simmer the reserved teriyaki sauce in a saucepan over medium-low heat until the sauce becomes a bit thick and syrupy. Set aside.
Let pork rest for 5 minutes then slice into ½ inch pieces. Drizzle with teriyaki sauce and serve with rice and steamed bok choy.

Appetizers, Chicken, Dinner, Fish, Lactose Free, Recipes, Sauces, Vegan, Vegetarian

Avocado-Lime Sauce Vierge

January 31, 2015

This fantastic recipe from Bon Appetit is a winner. Sauce Vierge is a French sauce literally meaning virgin sauce because it is not cooked. There are so many variations, often using tomatoes as the base of the sauce. The main ingredients found in most of the recipes are olive oil, fresh herbs and lemon juice. This recipe includes luscious avocado, the juice and pulp of a lime, and jalapeño pepper. Brilliant!

The original recipe calls for 1/2 cup olive oil and a half of an avocado. I switched it around a bit and used a whole avocado and 1/4 cup of olive oil. I don’t care for sauces or dressings that are heavy on the oil so this worked out perfectly.

The article suggests serving this sauce with grilled fish, roast chicken, or huevos rancheros. We served it with a roast chicken and dipped tortilla chips in the leftover sauce the following day. It was so good, I made more right away.

Avocado – Lime Sauce Vierge

Makes about 1 1/2 cups

Adapted from Bon Appetit

Ingredients

1 medium avocado, pitted, diced

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 small jalapeño, seeded, finely chopped

1 small garlic clove, finely chopped

1 teaspoon finely chopped shallot

1 – 2 limes, halved (our limes from the garden are large and juicy so I used just 1 lime, taste as you go)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

1 tablespoon coarsely chopped fresh cilantro leaves

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

Dice avocado and place in a medium bowl. Coarsely crush some of the avocado. Stir in olive oil, jalapeño, garlic, and shallot. Squeeze limes into avocado mixture. Using a spoon, scrape pulp out of limes into mixture. Stir to combine. Do Ahead: Sauce can be made a few days in advance. Press a piece of plastic wrap directly on surface of sauce. Cover and refrigerate. Bring sauce to room temperature before continuing.

Stir basil and cilantro into sauce just before serving. Season with salt and pepper. Drizzle with extra olive oil if desired.

Dinner, Fish, Lactose Free, Mexican, Recipes, Sauces

The Best Ever Crispy Fish Tacos with Avocado Crema

December 25, 2014

Tacos are one of my favorite foods regardless of the filling. Corn tortillas fried briefly until crisp or warmed on a comal are simply delicious. I’ve yet to meet anyone who doesn’t love Mexican cuisine.

We have lovely Mahi Mahi available at our local markets and it makes the best crispy fish tacos. You may substitute any other mild, white fish in this recipe. I purchased about 3/4 lb. Mahi Mahi and sliced it into 10 pieces. You could slice your fish into 8 pieces if you prefer. This is my special version of a baja fish taco.

What makes it uniquely good is the incorporation of some basic Japanese ingredients and technique. Dip the filets in a tempura batter mix, and dredge each piece in panko and you’re ready to go.

In just a few minutes you will have yourself a platter of crispy, fish filets. Sometimes I’m tempted to dip them in tartar sauce, but tacos are just too yummy to pass up.

The Best Ever Crispy Fish Tacos with Avocado Crema

Serves 4 – 5

Avocado Crema

1/2 large avocado

2 tablespoons sour cream (I use Green Valley Lactose Free Sour Cream)

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

few sprigs of cilantro

An immersion blender works perfectly for this. Place all ingredients in a blending cup and blend for a few seconds until the ingredients are well combined. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Fish Tacos

Ingredients

3/4 pound fresh fish filet, sliced into 8 – 10 pieces

salt & pepper

4 tablespoons tempura batter mixed with just enough ice-cold water to create the consistency of thin pancake batter

1 cup panko flakes

canola oil for deep-frying and warming corn tortillas

8 – 10 corn tortillas

Preparation

Heat canola oil for deep-frying. Most suggest heating the oil to 360 degrees. I usually skip the temperature reading step and test the oil by drizzling a tiny amount of batter into the oil. If the batter crisps up nicely, I start frying! I use a small sauce pan, 7 – 8 inches wide and 3 1/2 inches in height, and add canola oil 2 inches up the side of the pan. A small Dutch Oven would work perfectly as well.

Place tempura batter in a wide bowl, add ice water and stir just until ingredients are combined. Remember to keep the batter light, and don’t over mix.

Place panko in a wide plate or shallow bowl. Season fish strips with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Dip fish pieces into tempura batter, letting excess batter drip off. Place fish into panko bowl and coat well.

Once oil is hot, fry half of the fish until nicely browned and crisp, about 1 minute. Keep in mind that you don’t want to over crowd the pan when frying. This will drop the oil temperature drastically and your fish fillets won’t brown quickly.

Drain on paper towel lined plate. Continue to fry the remaining filets. Warm tortillas in lightly oiled cast iron skillet or sauté pan on medium high heat. Cover with foil and keep warm.

I like to serve the fish with avocado crema, finely shredded cabbage, cilantro, hot sauce and pickled jalapeños. Delicious!

Dinner, Italian, Recipes, Sauces, Vegan, Vegetarian

Homemade Pizza Sauce

September 20, 2014

One of my favorite meals is homemade pizza. John has perfected a recipe for really good pizza crust, one that is both tender yet chewy with a bit of those crispy edges that we all love. There are a number of ready-made pizza sauces available and I found one that was acceptable, but not perfect. Most of the prepared pizza sauces are a bit too “tomato pasty” and just don’t have that fresh tomato flavor. One of our favorite Wine Country restaurants, Redd Wood, makes some of the best pizza we’ve had. Their sauce is very simple but delicious. With that in mind, I decided to make my own pizza sauce and now I shall never go back to prepared sauce.

With just a few good ingredients, you’ll have a delicious pizza sauce that takes just about 45 minutes to prepare. I am very fond of Rao’s Italian Peeled Tomatoes. They are by far, the best canned tomatoes I have found. I once bought them at our local Whole Foods market, however they no longer carry them. Mail order is the way to go.

Rao’s tomatoes are always beautiful. They are peeled well, plump and juicy with a rich puree.

I use a food mill to puree the tomatoes. If you don’t have a food mill, squish the tomatoes with your hands or whirl in the food processor.

Best Homemade Pizza Sauce

Makes 1 3/4 cups – Enough for two large pizzas or four small pizzas

Ingredients

1 28 oz. can whole peeled tomatoes in puree, Rao’s brand if available

2 tablespoons minced onion

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano

1 teaspoon kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

Puree the tomatoes (tomatoes and puree) using a food mill (I used the coarse disc). Alternatively, puree the tomatoes in a food processor (quick pulses) or smash the tomatoes with your clean hands for a chunkier pizza sauce. Pour in a bowl and set aside.

Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large deep sided sauté pan. Add minced onions, turn the heat down to medium low and sauté for about 5 minutes, until the onions are soft but not browned, stirring frequently.

Add the pureed tomatoes to the onions and mix to combine. Cook the sauce for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. The sauce will have reduced and thickened up nicely. Add the oregano, salt, and a few grinds of black pepper. Continue to cook the pizza sauce for another 10 minutes or until the sauce is as thick as you like it. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.

Let the sauce cool while you prepare your pizza toppings and roll out your dough. The sauce can be made a few days in advance and freezes nicely for a couple of months.

Breakfast, Eggs, Lactose Free, Recipes, Sauces, Vegetarian

Eggs Benedict with Avocado Hollandaise

June 25, 2014

I came across this simple and surprisingly delicious recipe in the February issue of Food and Wine magazine where each month one ingredient is featured in their clever article “Green Market Math.” The four recipes are accompanied by photos of the finished dish along with a short paragraph on how to prepare it. This particular recipe caught my attention because “hollandaise” evokes creamy, luscious, saucy, goodness and this version is dairy free, perfect for those of us who are lactose intolerant. Yet for those of you who have no such restriction, you’ll love this sauce as well.

The avocado and olive oil combination gives this sauce a creamy, rich, flavor and texture. It’s so good, we had this for breakfast two consecutive weekends. Stay away from watery avocados and choose creamy types such as the Green Gold we used here. Hass avocados are a good choice and readily available at most markets.

Making this sauce is very simple. All the ingredients go into one container and are blended up in a minute or two. Though the original recipes calls for using a blender, I prefer to use my immersion blender. The recipe makes a small serving and the immersion blender cup is just the right size and clean up is quick.

Avocado Hollandaise

Food and Wine Magazine

2 – 4 servings (depending on the size of your avocado)

Ingredients

1/2 ripe avocado, chopped

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1/3 cup hot water

2 tablespoons mild flavored olive oil

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt and a few grinds of black pepper

Preparation

In a blender or immersion blender cup, purée the avocado with the lemon juice and hot water until smooth. With the machine on, drizzle in the olive oil until combined. Season with salt and pepper and serve over poached eggs.

Breakfast, Dinner, Lactose Free, Recipes, Sauces

Shakshuka Breakfast

April 9, 2014

I am obsessed with eggs, and I regularly search for new egg recipes that I can serve for breakfast. Shakshuka, a savory tomato sauce with hints of cumin, chile pepper and onions topped with eggs sounded perfect. Though I didn’t get around to making it right away, it never left my mind. So finally when I made it for breakfast one morning it was a revelation!

There are so many versions of Shakshuka, you can’t go wrong creating your own. I used fresh tomatoes to make the sauce however you can use good canned whole tomatoes. Most importantly are the spices that you add to the sauce that makes it so special. Cumin and paprika are essential as is garlic, onions and mild or spicy peppers. I sautéed the Anaheim pepper separately since I wanted them to be nicely browned before adding them to the tomato sauce.

Some recipes call for baking the eggs and others cook them on the stovetop. I tried both and found that there’s no need to heat up your oven since the eggs cook perfectly in a covered pan on the stovetop.

Crack fresh eggs into the sauce, cover the pan and wait patiently…

We sprinkled feta cheese over the sauce on one occasion. It was delicious and we sopped up the sauce and egg yolks with John’s country sourdough bread.

Shakshuka Breakfast

2 generous servings

Ingredients

2 1/4 pounds fresh tomatoes, peeled, seeded, coarsely chopped

1 large anaheim pepper, finely chopped

1 cup finely diced onion

1 jalapeño, finely chopped

4 medium garlic cloves, minced

2 teaspoons paprika

1 1/4 teaspoons cumin

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

olive oil

4 large eggs

a few sprigs of cilantro or Italian parsley

crumbled feta (optional)

Preparation

Puree tomatoes in a food processor keeping the sauce slightly chunky. Set aside.

In a 10-inch cast iron skillet or other heavy skillet, sauté Anaheim peppers in a bit of olive oil over medium heat until they are nicely browned, about 10 minutes. Remove to a plate and set aside.

In the same skillet over medium heat, add a tablespoon of olive oil and sauté onions and jalapeño until slightly soft, about 8 minutes. Add sautéed Anaheim peppers, garlic, paprika and cumin and sauté another minute. Pour in tomatoes and stir in the salt. Let sauce simmer, stirring now and then until thickened slightly, about 15 minutes.

With the back of a large spoon, make four indentations in the sauce. Crack an egg into each indentation. Over medium-low heat, cover the pan and cook the eggs until the egg whites are set but the yolks are still runny, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle crumbled feta over the sauce if using and garnish with cilantro or Italian parsley. Don’t forget the bread. You’ll need it to sop up all of that delicious tomato sauce and runny eggs.

***You can easily add two more eggs to the sauce to serve three.

Older Posts

Newer Posts

Sauces

Grilled Teriyaki Pork Tenderloin

Share this:

Avocado-Lime Sauce Vierge

Share this:

The Best Ever Crispy Fish Tacos with Avocado Crema

Share this:

Homemade Pizza Sauce

Share this:

Eggs Benedict with Avocado Hollandaise

Share this:

Shakshuka Breakfast

Share this:

Follow My Lilikoi Kitchen