Back to Bakas

.
.
Serves 4

INGREDIENTS
5 cups greens such as watercress
1/3 cut rice vinegar
1 TBSP finely chopped Walla Walla sweet onion
¼ cup finely chopped Fuji apple
4 TSP soy sauce
3 TBSP olive oil
1 ripe avocado
1 TSP sugar

In small bowl mix together vinegar, olive oil, onion, apple, sugar and soy sauce.
Trim greens keeping thin stems and leaves only.  Toss greens with enough dressing to lightly coat greens.  Quarter, pit and peel avocado then cut crosswise into 1/4-inch thick slices.  Toss with greens.  Serve on a chilled salad plate.

Wine Pairings: This is a pretty straight forward recipe that’s quick, healthy and tasty. There’s some nice tanginess from the soy and rice vinegar, which is offset by the creamy texture of a nice ripe avocado. You want a white wine, and probably one with some acidity that cuts through the avocado without tasting weird with the tanginess.  The apple helps bring it all together with a white like a French white like a Pouilly-Fuisse or Chablis.  Those are likely to be grown in limestone soils in climates that provide more acidity.  I recently had the Louis Jadot 2008 Pouilly-Fuisse and thought it was decent for the price:

Jadot is pretty widely available.  If you want to try something that’s domestic, check out what they’re doing in Washington’s Horse Heaven Hills appellation.  Great stuff starting to come out of there at very reasonable prices.  One of my favorite places to visit is Walla Walla because the drive from Portland, Oregon to Walla Walla is incredible.  Woodward Canyon is one of the first wines I started collecting back in the day.  Their 2008 effort is awesome (like all their other wines).

Related articles by Zemanta

• Walla Walla in June: Wine Bloggers’ Conference (passionatefoodie.blogspot.com)
• Golf and wine a great duo in Walla Walla (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• 4 Walla Walla doctors go to Haiti (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Walla Walla Washington Wine (wannabewino.com)
• The French Doctor ) (slideshare.net)

.

.

Serves 4 people

INGREDIENTS
4 6-OZ salmon fillets with skin
¼ cup miso paste
¼ cup mirin
3 TBSP low sodium soy sauce
2 TBSP minced green onions
2 TBSP rice vinegar
2 TSP toasted sesame oil
2 TBSP minced fresh ginger
Salt and Pepper

In a small bowl, whisk together miso, mirin, soy sauce, vinegar, green onions, ginger and sesame oil. Place salmon skin side down in glass baking dish, pour mixture over salmon. Flip salmon over with skin facing up and marinate for 1 hour in refrigerator.
Sprinkle salmon with salt and pepper then grill over high heat skin side down for 4-5 minutes. Flip salmon over and grill 4-5 minutes. For salmon grilling tips go here.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Grilled Salmon (thehappyhousewife.com)
• Recipe: Spicy Roasted Chicken Thighs with Miso and Ginger (thekitchn.com)
• Soup and Asian dumpling fixings make fine meatballs (pbpulse.com)

MARINADE:
2 cups chicken stock
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup dry sherry
2 TBSP brown sugar
1 TSP fennel seeds, crushed
8 black peppercorns
OTHER INGREDIENTS:
1 rack of baby back ribs
3 green onions, chopped

In a saucepan, Bring marinade ingredients to a boil. Simmer 10 minutes, then cool.
Place ribs in a shallow pan, cover with marinade. Refrigerate over night, or at least for 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 350ºF as ribs come to room temp. Bake ribbs for 45 minutes, basting occasionallly.
Heat grill to medium. Cook ribs for 5-7 minutes each side basting with marinade. Serve garnished with green onions and marinade on the side.

Serves 4 people

2 6-OZ salmon fillets with skin
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
1 TSP adobo sauce
¼ TSP garlic salt
Hollandaise (mix or from scratch)

In small bowl whisk together maple syrup, soy sauce, adobo and garlic salt.  Place salmon skin down in an 8×8 glass dish.  Pour mixture over salmon, flip salmon over and marinate skin side up for at least 3 hours (marinating longer will cover up fishy flavor).

Cook salmon on grill over medium heat 4-6 minutes skin side up, then about 4-6 minutes skin side down.  Salmon grilling tips here.

Remove salmon from grill, make sure to remove skin thoroughly.  Serve with hollandaise on the side or spooned over salmon.

To pair with this recipe I like Pinot Noir.  Pinot is a great wine to pair with salmon anyway, but the maple-soy flavors really work well with the nuances of a quality Pinot Noir.  Some of the Pinots I’ve found to be ideal with this are Soter Beacon Hill from Oregon, Klee from Oregon, Aresti from Chile or Sebastiani Pinot from CA.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Quick Sip: Willamette Valley Vineyards Tualatin Estate Pinot Noir 2007 (vinespot.blogspot.com)
• Sushi and Red Wine? You Must Be Kidding. (chicagoist.com)
• Lafond Winery releases 2006 Lafond Vineyard Pinot Noir (lafondwinery.com)

.
.

Serves 4 people

1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1 TBSP soy sauce
1 TBSP rice vinegar
1 TBSP sesame oil
1/2 TSP hot pepper sauce
3/4 cup dry Sherry
1 4-1/2-pound chicken, fat and giblets removed, rinsed and patted dry
2 TBSP (1/4 stick) butter, room temperature
1/2 orange, cut into 4 pieces
4 1/2-inch slices fresh ginger, smashed
2 garlic cloves, smashed

Preheat oven to 375°F. Whisk maple syrup, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and hot pepper sauce in small bowl for glaze. Simmer Sherry in small saucepan until reduced to 1/2 cup, about 3 minutes.

Run hands under chicken skin to loosen; rub most of butter under skin over breast and thighs. Rub remaining butter over outside of chicken. Sprinkle cavity with salt and pepper. Place chicken in roasting pan. Squeeze some juice from each orange piece over chicken. Stuff cavity with orange pieces, ginger, and garlic. Tuck wing tips under. Pour Sherry over chicken.

Roast chicken 20 minutes. Add 1/4 cup water to pan. Roast 15 minutes longer. Brush chicken with glaze. Roast chicken until thermometer inserted into thickest part of thigh registers 170°F, brushing chicken with glaze every 10 minutes, about 40 minutes longer. Tilt chicken to allow juices from cavity to run into roasting pan. Transfer chicken to platter. Let stand 10 minutes (internal temperature will rise).

Spoon fat from surface of pan juices. Add any remaining glaze to pan juices. Place roasting pan over 2 burners; bring sauce to boil. Serve sauce alongside chicken.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Tired of Chicken? Try 7 Other Poultry Dishes (lifescript.com)
• 7 Chicken Dishes You’ll Devour (lifescript.com)
• Yakitori chicken wings – Yakitori de poulet (ckenb.blogspot.com)