Category: Uncategorized

Chicken Vindaloo

vindaloo is a bold, authentic Goan-style spicy curry—tangy from vinegar, deep with garlic and spices, and properly hot (but adjustable). This version stays true to its Portuguese-Goan roots: no tomatoes, no cream, no sugar unless you intentionally balance heat at the end.

It begins with the marinade. First using these ingredients:

For the Vindaloo Paste

  • 8 dried Kashmiri chilies (or 4 Kashmiri + 2–4 Thai chilies for extra heat) 🌶️
  • 6 cloves garlic
  • 1 tbsp fresh ginger
  • 1½ tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 tsp coriander seeds
  • 6 black peppercorns
  • 4 cloves
  • 1-inch cinnamon stick
  • ½ tsp turmeric
  • 2 tbsp white vinegar

They all go into the food processor and make a thick paste that you marinate the chicken in. I prefer bone in thighs, so I skinned them, cleaned the fat off and chopped them into pieces before applying the marinade. They sat in the marinade in the fridge overnight. Thats the best way! Then in the morning, I chopped a big onion and caramlized it before adding just half of a roma tomato chopped to help build the sauce. I added the chicken and browned it a little before adding some broth and half a bottle of spicy vondaloo sauce before letting the whole lot simmer on a very low heat all day.

What happens is that the first flavor you smell is the vinegar. The vinegar-forward aroma is exactly what you want at this early stage. It means the dish is still in its early vindaloo phase—sharp, bright, and angular. Over the next few hours it will round out as:

  • garlic sweetens
  • onions dissolve into the sauce
  • chili deepens
  • fat emulsifies
  • acidity integrates

Vindaloo almost always smells too sharp midway through a long cook—and then turns magical later. Its pretty hot and so that will be the thing I watch. We like it hot, bet too hot is not good either.

Naturally, when you make curry, you make smosas. These are potato and peas with chicken vindaloo

Classic Spaghetti Bolognese (Ragù alla Bolognese)

Spaghetti Bolognese is a comfort dish for me. It’s pretty easy, uses a few ingredients and tastes delicious. It’s very moreish. To make classic spaghetti bologneses, you use:

Soffritto base

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 1 medium onion, finely diced
  • 6 cloves of galric finely chopped
  • 1 carrot, finely diced
  • 1 celery stalk, finely diced

Meat layer

  • 1 lb ground beef (80/20 ideal)
  • 4 oz pancetta (finely chopped)

Liquids & body

  • ½ cup dry white wine
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 1 can crushed tomatoes

Flavor depth

  • Salt
  • Black pepper
  • Pinch nutmeg
  • 1 bay leaf
  • Pinch of red pepper flakes

To finish

  • 1 lb spaghetti
  • Fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano
  • Extra butter (magical)

Method (the secret is patience)

1. Build the soffritto

Cook onion, carrot, celery in olive oil + butter over medium-low heat for 8–10 minutes.

They should soften—not brown.

This creates the signature sweetness of real ragù.

Add the red pepper flakes here.

2. Add pancetta, then beef

Cook pancetta 2–3 minutes.

Add beef, break it up finely, cook until just browned.

Season lightly with salt and pepper.

3. Deglaze with wine

Add white wine.

Simmer until almost completely evaporated.

This removes harshness and adds aroma.

4. Add milk

Pour in milk and simmer gently until mostly absorbed.

This step makes the sauce silky and mellow, not acidic.

Add a pinch of nutmeg here.

5. Add tomatoes

Stir in crushed tomatoes and bay leaf.

Reduce heat to very low.

Simmer uncovered 1½–2½ hours.

Stir occasionally.

If it dries out, add a splash of water or stock.

6. Cook pasta + finish

Boil spaghetti in salted water.

Reserve ½ cup pasta water.

Toss pasta with sauce and a knob of butter.

Add pasta water if needed for gloss.

Finish with Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Magic on a plate

Focaccia

I have been wanting to make Focaccia for a whlie now. Watching the 2019 series of the Great British Baking Show inspired me. Giuseppe Dell’Anno, who won the show, made a fantastic focaccia and that is what got me going. To make my first focaccia, I used

  • 500 g of bread flour
  • 320–340ml warm water (increase slightly)
  • 50ml warm milk
  • 7g instant yeast
  • 4g sugar
  • 10g salt
  • 40 g olive oil

Its a wet dough, so it rests for 45 min, then I stretch and fold, and repeat that several times (30-45 min rests) then it goes into the oiled pan and into the fridge covered for about 7 hours. After that, it comes out for an hour before it gets dimpled and topped, in this case with kalamata olives, Roma tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes, and garlic with a litle rosemary and flake salt for seasoning

This was a home run!

Samosa

When I was a kid, I loved when we had samousas. Since we have all these Indian stores in our neighborhood, we have access to any ingredient needed in that realm. One day, I went to the local grocery store and in their delly they had samousas, so I tried one. It wasn’t bad at all, but it was not quite the taste I was used to. So, I set about making samousas!

I started with making a ground beef stuffing with peas, garlic, ginger and onion. The spice I mainly used was garum masala and some red chili powder along with cumin and cardemom. I also used cumin seeds along with cilantro, lemon juice and jalapeno peppers. After I cooked that up, I put it in the fridge to cool, then set about learning how to make the dough to make Samousa.

It’s an enriched dough made with peanut oil and the secret ingredient are the Ajwin seeds.

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • ½ tsp salt 1–2 tbsp oil (or melted ghee) ~
  • ¾ cup water (as needed)
  • Extra flour for dusting
  • 1/4 tea spoon of Ajwain seeds.

The secret to this dough is to get it together, let it rest a while then divide it into seperate balls, (I used 50 g), keep them coivered, then roll each one out as thin as possible, around a 1mm thickness. Once rolled, it gets dropped on the hot plate for 15 sec a side then layed out under a cuver to keep it moist.

Once rolled out and cooked briefly on each side, you use the pizza cutter to cut rectangles. Then, make a four paste for glueing the sides before folding. To fold, make a pocket. Fill without over filling, seal the pocket and set aside, covered.WHen all the samousa are made, they go in the freezer till its time to fry.

Nest is the oil. I used peanut oil and tried the first batch in the wok, which got too hot. They tasted great, but I needed to get better control of the heat. So, I went to a sauce pan with a candy thermometer, and did these at 350.

They really need to be at 300 first then finished at 350

These are MUCH better, also delicious, but I still do not have the blistering I am looking for. Next time!

Here are the potato and peas with chicken vindaloo version

Bonsai Burgers

It starts with the sauce.

Classic Teriyaki Sauce (Restaurant-Style)

Ingredients

  • ½ cup soy sauce
  • ¼ cup mirin (or substitute below)
  • ¼ cup sake (or water/stock)
  • 2–3 tbsp sugar (adjust to taste)
  • 1–2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated

Instructions

  1. Add everything to a small saucepan.
  2. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat.
  3. Stir until sugar dissolves.
  4. Let it simmer 5–8 minutes until slightly reduced.
  5. For a thicker glaze: mix 1 tsp cornstarch + 1 tbsp water, stir in, and simmer another minute.

Dial it in like a pro:

1. The Patty

  • Salt & pepper right before cooking (not too early)
  • Cook hot → get that crust
  • Brush with your teriyaki sauce in the last minute so it caramelizes

2. The Pineapple (this is clutch)

  • Grill or pan-sear until caramelized
  • Light brush of teriyaki while cooking = 🔥
  • You want edges slightly charred, not just warm

3. The Cheese Move

  • Cheddar works great, but melt it after glazing the burger
    → gives you that sticky, glossy, lava situation

4. The Bun (don’t skip this)

  • Toast your brioche in butter
  • Light swipe of teriyaki on the bottom bun for flavor layering or
  • Add a thin smear of mayo + a touch of teriyaki + lime juice

Red Beans and Rice

We LOVE food from NOLA. That Big Easy feel in every bite. A heat that grows, with textures and flavors that demand you take another bite on your way to cleaning the plate. Because beef is getting really expensive, we made the choice to try to make less expensive meals. Red beans and rice NOLA style is a very good and tasty strategy.

Ingredients

  • 1 lb dried red kidney beans (soaked)
  • 1 smoked ham hock + ½ lb thick-cut bacon (or pancetta)
  • 1 lb andouille sausage, sliced
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 1 green bell pepper, diced
  • 2 celery stalks, diced
  • 5 cloves garlic
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 tsp dried thyme
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • ½ tsp cayenne (adjust later)
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 6–7 cups low-sodium chicken stock
  • 1 tbsp Worcestershire
  • 1 tsp soy sauce (secret umami boost)
  • 1–2 tsp apple cider vinegar (finishing acid)
  • 2 tbsp butter (finish)

Rice:

  • Jasmine or long grain rice
  • Add 1 tbsp butter + 1 bay leaf while cooking

. Render & build flavor

  • Cook bacon slowly until fat renders and it’s lightly crisp.
  • Remove bacon (leave fat).
  • Brown sausage in that fat → remove.
  • Add the trinity (onion, pepper, celery). Cook longer than you think—you want slight caramelization.

Garlic + spice bloom

  • Add garlic and spices.
  • Let them toast 30–60 seconds in the fat (huge flavor payoff).

Slow simmer with structure

  • Add beans, ham hock, bacon, sausage, and stock.
  • Simmer low for 2–3 hours.
  • Skim occasionally, stir gently—don’t rush this.
  • When beans are tender:
    • Remove ~1–2 cups of beans
    • Blend or mash them smooth
    • Stir back in

This gives that silky, gravy-like body instead of watery beans.

Final layering

  • Stir in:
    • Worcestershire
    • Soy sauce (you won’t taste it—just depth)
    • Butter
    • Splash of vinegar

Taste and adjust:

  • Salt (now, not earlier)
  • Heat (cayenne or hot sauce)

Rice (don’t neglect this)

  • Cook rice with butter + bay leaf.
  • Fluff and let steam off slightly → you want distinct grains, not mush.

Plating like a pro

  • Rice first (tight mound)
  • Beans ladled around and slightly over
  • Slice of sausage on top
  • Finish with:
    • Green onions
    • Parsley
    • Few drops hot sauce

The process from start to finsih was simple but involved. The first step is to soak the beans for 24 hours. Then you start by making pancetta with the chopped bacon. Next you brown the sausage coins, and only then do you start to build flavor. Yook the holy trinity in the bacon and sausage fat till its pretty caramlized before adding the garlic, then the spices. After that you add the meats and the ham hock along with the stock and the beans, and it cooks very slowly on a simmer for about 3 hours. After that, you mash a cup or two of beans to get that silky smoothness before adding the liquid flavoring. We let it sit ovenight, and ate it the next day after finishing it with butter. We served it with chopped green onion and parsley along with a thick slice of sourdough bread. I am certain we will make this again!

Death by Chocolate!

I recently watched a show where Christina Tossi, from Milk Bar in NYC, made a cake and she inspireed me to make Heather a birthday cake. I tole her I am going to make her a chocolate cake. She smiled and said, “Nobody ever made a cake for me for my birthday.” So, I decided to go all out. I made a 4 layer cake with icing and oreo and chocolate crunch in every layer along with a rum soak, and rum flavored icing. Naturally, she was quite impressed!

Shepards Pie

There are times when you want to put together an inexpensive and tasty dish that is easy to prepare. Shepards pie is that dish

It’s super easy and super delicious

Ingredients:

Base Ingredients

  • Ground beef
  • Frozen mixed vegetables
  • Leftover steak & mushroom gravy
  • Onion
  • Garlic
  • Marmite
  • Mash potato
  • Parmesan

Tamagoyaki (Japanese Rolled Omelette)

I Love Japanese food. There is so much technical skill involved in preparing Japanese food correctly, and I realize I do not have those skills, but, that does not stop me from trying to improve my skills.This is one of my favorite brekfast dishes. Lightly sweet yet savory, Tamagoyaki (Japanese Rolled Omelette) is flavored with dashi stock and makes a delightful Japanese breakfast or side dish for bento lunches. Primarily enjoyed in the Kansai (Osaka) region, this tamagoyaki is a dashi-forward Dashimaki Tamago.

Ingredients:

  • 3 Large eggs
  • 3 Tsp Dashi
  • 2 tsp sugar
  • 1 tsp soy sauce
  • 1 tsp mirin
  • 2 pinches of kosher salt
  • 1 sheet nori seaweed

Roast Beef and Swiss on Sourdough

I used to live around the corner from Hoagies Corner, a prominent convenience store and deli chain in the Pacific Northwest during the 1970s and 1980s, famous for its signature “Cheesy British” sandwich. One of the things I loved, and was new for me, was the idea of building a sandwich that they would make for you on the spot. Recently arrived from South Africa, this was not a thing I was familair with. The sandwhich I built became an instant favorite. Let’s call it “the accidental favorite”. Why accidental you ask? Because having built the sandwhich that first day, the server asked me if I wanted it heated, and I said, “W,hy yes, please!” assuming that he had a press or some other mechanism to heat it. He did not. He wrapped it and put it in the microwave. I took the sandwich home (a couple of block away on my bike), and dived right in. It was alchemy.

So the sandwhich is

  • Roast beef (thin sliced and rare)
  • Lettuce
  • Tomato
  • Pickles
  • Swiss cheese
  • light mayo

It has to be a hot sandwich. And, its best if its wrapped in wax paper and heated in the microwave. Every time I have one of these sandwiches, I am transported back in time to the day where I introduced this bite to my friend Will, who worked with me at the Nursery when we were pretty darn stoned. He said, “That is the best thing I have ever tasted!” and I feel that way every time I make the sandwhich and bite into it. Now that I have created that San Francisco sour taste, I cannot wait to try it!