Nikki's Cilantro Cornbread

Nikki, a friend of many years has a rather strong obsession with cilantro. So for Valentine's Day I prepared a meal with cilantro in everything. The surprise hit of the meal was the corn bread. It was so well received that I tried it a number of times after that and always to rave reviews. So here is the recipe so you too can make Nikki's Cilantro Cornbread.

1 cup unbleached white flour
1 cup blue or yellow cornmeal (blue gives a great look)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
combine above ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Set aside.

1 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
combine these in another bowl and allow baking soda to dissolve. Then add the next set of ingredients.
2 eggs
1/4 cup brown sugar
and 1/3 cup melted butter or light oil. Butter is recommended. Than add 1/4 cup fresh squeezed lime juice and 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro. Combine this bowl with the dry ingredients, mixing only enough to combine. Pour into what ever pan you like. Bake at 400 degrees for about 15 to 20 minutes.

Chappy' Deli web page

I am so happy to announce to everyone, that recipes of mine will be appearing on the Chappy's Deli web page! This should begin in March, with the launch of their redesigned site.
Each month two recipes and possibly an article will appear. The recipes will be my own and based on National food holidays. My first will be a smashing recipe using artichokes. As you guessed artichokes have a day in March as a "National Day Of".
If you are not a fan on the Chappy's Facebook page become one now. So much is coming down the road from Chappy's starting in March. As Chappy's Deli says Eat, Live, Laugh!

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Cooking for a small group of Church of Highlands

Monday night I offered to cook for a small group of people. The group it's self is named " Soul Food" and is faith based. The group leaders Dathan and Dillan have a gift for helping others reach thier full potential in Christ.
For this group I prepared Roasted Red Pepper and Corn Chowder as a starter. A very simple sauté of the veggies, which included onion, corn, peppers and spices. To this add chicken stock. Do NOT use bullion cubes or some dry package of dust to make chicken stock. Such products taste terrible and have way to many questionable ingredients. For goodness sake use store bought stock if you can not make your own! Once the stock has been added bring it to the boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer then add cream, rice and diced pre-cooked chicken.
The main course was a splendid piece of Loin of Pork. This I got at my local butcher shop "The Cajun Cleaver". I cut an opening down the length of it so I can stuff it with fresh ingredients. I filled the opening with cilantro, minced fresh ginger, garlic and seasoning.
I roast it till almost done. Remove it from the oven, slice it and then return to the oven covered in coconut milk. The coconut milk I make while the pork is cooking. It's a simple combination of ginger, green onion, chili peppers and lime juice.
Once again I learned so much from the experience. Most of what I learned was about transporting hot food. Not so easy by the way. In the end all was well. With good food our bodies were fed and by the word of God our spirit nurished as well.

Life Is Over When You Stop Learning

No matter what you do in life, you must challenge yourself. With that in mind I set out to try a new recipe, technique or food every week. Each week I have come away from the experience with something new. This weekend while flipping through endless pages of the same old thing, I came across a recipe for Plum Kuchen. A German dessert with, you guessed it plums.

This dish was so very simple and the idea of plums appealed to me. I don't know if I have ever cooked with plums before. I went to my local market and did my very best to look like I knew what I was doing while selecting my plums. Yes, I could have asked for help and often do, but not this time. I wanted to learn. I choose four plums that were so dark in color as to be almost black and two that had a more red to their color. While cutting and removing the pits from them, I noticed that the very dark plums cut easier and the pit came out with ease. The redder ones took a bit more work. The real difference came at the time of tasting. The redder plums were still a bit firm after forty minutes of cooking, while the darker ones were much softer. As for actual taste the redder ones were more tart, which was a nice contrast to the egg and sour cream custard that covered the plums.

So you may be asking, what did I learn? One dinner guest loved the more tart flavor, while another the melow flavor of the darker plums. It's all a matter of personal taste.

The First Breaking Bread with Christopher

I have been very blessed by our lord God with great friends. One such friend has been so helpful to me with this project. Steven and his wife played host to some friends of theirs and asked me to cook. What a treat the night was for me.

I went with a Indonesian theme of sorts for the menu. Here is where I learned a valuable lesson. Don't experiment on an assignment, cook what you know. Everything turned out fine, but it was risky. I realised what a bad move it was mid way through making the main dish.

The starter I choose was a favorite of mine, Pumpkin and Coconut Curry soup. I love this! Chicken stock and the coconut milk added to the pumpkin alone is good, but the red curry gives it a remarkable lift. Garnished with basil and green onion, this is a great winter soup.

I am a great fan of the cooking show and style of "Two Fat Ladies" and they were with me that night as well. Using a recipe of Jennifer Patterson as a foundation, I made a version of Kedgeree. This is a rice, turmeric, gar am marsala and smoked fish dish, that I adapted as follows. To keep the smoky flavor of the fish I substituted smoked chicken. Other touches to the basic recipe were the addition of roasted red pepper, assorted olives and French's brand fried onions. I was pleased with the results and even went so far as to write it down.

Dessert was another of my favorites. Once again this basic concept come from a Jennifer Patterson recipe, but I change the fresh fruit on it. That night a used cherries, red raspberries and blackberries with sweet tasting results.

Discovering a Talent

I started cooking when I was very young. I, like so many had a working mom. Her job required a significant commute every day. As a result my sister and I took up the job of preparing the evening meal. My sister we discovered had little natural talent. She mistook sugar for salt on one occasion and ruined our fathers steak. Before long I found myself the official cook when mom was not at home.





I do believe anyone can cook. Follow the instructions given and you should be able to get the desired results. Its like painting by numbers. We can all paint in that way, but few are gifted with a talent for painting. I have never been formally trained and therefore I am not a chef, but I do have a real talent for cooking. A talent I believe comes from God.





I found my way into the restaurant industry in my mid twenties and have been having great fun with food ever since. God played his part in this as well by directing me towards a career with a local deli named Chappy's Deli. The owner, David Barranco allowed me much creative freedom which served as a spring board to new experiences in food for me.



Recently I stumbled onto a clip of vintage 90's video of a cooking show called "Two Fat Ladies" and fell in love. I loved every thing about the show. Jennifer Paterson became a mentor of sorts, helping me too be bold with cooking and life. So with Jennifer as my muse and God my guide I take a new step in life and food.