Asian Inspired Tuna Burgers

Yoh Yoh Yoh people! Sorry I've been away lately. I'd like to say I was busy with a cool project or something, but to be perfectly honest, I have been just extremely fucking lazy, oh and I moved to a different flat and all that boring stuff but no matter, I am back! And I am back with a recipe that is guaranteed to put a smile on your face and make your belly full of happy thoughts.

So, the other day I was thinking: "It would be so could if I could get minced tuna steak" So I decided to go to the supermarket and ask. They usually have a pretty sweet selection of fish. However, their answer was no. But before I turned around and left, they told me: " But I can chop it, and it will be pretty much the same", I was skeptical but decided to give it a try. And the result was pretty awesome!

So when I made sure that the texture was right, I proceeded to make this awesome Asian-Inspired Tuna Burgers, sharp, sweet, sour and savoury burgers that will appeal to the adventurous and will surprise the most conservative.

Anyways, enough chitchat, here is the recipe. Enjoy. Thank me later.

Seriously, how awesome does that look?

Japexican goes Italian, Manicotti.

I have been meaning to write down this recipe for a long time. And this weather and mood seems perfect. Manicotti is a bit of a controversial recipe (Actually, once you have started to cook Italian and you have Italian friends you will realise that virtually ALL dishes in Italian cuisine are subject to controversies, interpretations and the fact that each friend will say that their mamma's version is the best one), some people prepare it with a pasta shell similar to cannelloni, and some other use crespelle (the Italian version of Crepes). I use the crespelle, in my opinion it gives the dish a silkier consistency and that feeling of comfort food that we all need right now!

This recipe was given to me by the mamma of a very good Italian friend of mine, and as such, I regard it as the best, so, if you disagree, you suck!

Anyways, here is my (slightly adopted version of the Mamma's recipe) Manicotti recipe.

The Beauty of Simplicity. Asian Noodles for Lunch.

Today I was wondering why some people consider cooking something hard to master, or why people overcomplicate their lives when it comes to food (well,  they do it for a fuck load of other reasons but I cannot help you with that). My experience living in Asia thought me something important: there is much beauty to be appreciated in simplicity. And let me tell you, they take it to a whole new level, it was just a confirmation of a belief I have had for years: if you have good ingredients and are prepared in the right way, your food will be great and more often than not it will not take a shitload of time or effort.

If there is something that really caught my eye about Asian Food it would be that most of the food joints that serve the best tasting food have a couple of things in common:

1. They are small places. 
2. They have spent years, if not decades, perfecting just a couple of dishes, which means that their menu is often limited to those few awesome things. 
3. Their food is dead simple to make (provided you have the right method and technique)

Anyway, all this reminiscing made me think (and crave) of my favorite breakfast/lunch I had whilst living in Taiwan, 'Cold Noodles' one of those dead simple recipes so I decided to make some, and while gathering the ingredients I recalled some traditional Japanese food that I usually have with my family during New Year's time, 'Mochi' and since I am now stuck in a small village in Spain and getting Mochi  is, to say the least, a complicated task, I decided to make some Mochi inspired noodles (a common dish in Japan as a matter of fact). 

So without further ado, here is my recipe for 'Taiwanese Cold Noodles' and 'Mochi Inspired Butter Soy Udon'.

Butter Udon

Lets Talk Ribs

There are very few pleasures in my life that can top the joy of biting a soft, moist, fall-off-the-bone piece of ribs. Seriously!

The rib is a beautiful cut of meat, packed with flavor and awesomeness, but unless it is prepared in the correct way it could be very tough. That's why must of the people (including myself up until a few years ago) rather have this amazing meat in a restaurant where (must of the times) they serve it properly. But I'm here to change all that, so Fuck the restaurants! (figure of speech; for those of you who like to take things literally) this is simple, fool-proof way of cooking the perfect rack of ribs every time.

So, whether you are entertaining friends during a match of (insert whatever sport you watch, I could not care less) or you want to have some alone time while indulging yourself in the pleasures of meat and TV (my choice of activities) this is the recipe for you.

Fuck Yeah!

Red Curry

Sooooo, after a bit more of a month upon my return to Europe, and after stuffing my face with all the Mediterranean goodness that Spanish food represents, I started to crave a little bit of those spicy, sweet and sour deliciousness that is Asian food. However, I live now in a pretty small town in northern Spain, where people tend to be very conservative about their food and well, as it always happens in small towns, the Asian food is scarce to be the least brutal on the definition (The guys at the Oat Meal have it pretty much figured out: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/asian_food). So, what to do? What to do? Well, I tried to find out where the Asians living in town got their things, most of them ordered in bulk from big places, which to be honest didn't really work for me. It was until after a couple of weeks of continuous research (and by research I mean carefully harassing every single Asian looking person I could find; which is ok, I am Asian-ish myself) that I heard the rumors of a pretty well stock Asian Supermarket in a town nearby. So, armed with the sole promise of Asian goodies and some sort of "directions" I embarked myself on a journey (not really, it was, in fact, pretty easy to find) and the bounty was plentiful:

• Pho Noodles
• Fish Sauce
• Oolong Tea
• Sesame Paste
• Dark Soy Sauce
• Udon Noodles
• Lo-Bao
• Egg Noodles
• Szechuan Pepper
• Dry Chili
• Miso Paste
• Pickled Daikon
• Hard Tofu
• Red Curry Paste
• Rice Cakes
• And fresh chilies (a generous gift from the owner of the joint)

The Bounty

Butternut Squash & Roasted Garlic Soup

The summer is just over, I was walking down the street minding my own business, when suddenly, in the corner fruit stand, I saw it; A magnificent Butternut Squash, an orange coloured reminder that the summer is over, of the fact that even though the sun was still shinning strongly and the temperatures are nice and warm, any minute now, it can all go to shit without so much as a 'how do you do'. Holly shit, its Fucking Autumn! 

Without giving it much thought I get that magnificent bad boy. To be fair, I spent around 4 to 5 days having an internal debate about the future of the squash. Everything sounded appealing but somehow I could not make up my mind, would I make a pasta? Roast it and eat it like a mash? Soup? And then, my fears of the bad weather came true, I wake up to a fucking storm, gray skies, rain and lightning… and then, it stroke me… not the lightning(duh!) I was in the mood for a fucking SOUP!!!!

So, without further ado, here is my recipe for an Awesome Butternut Squash and Roasted Garlic soup with a bacon, nut and Gamoneu Asturian cheese (Awesome and smoky).

Plate it.

Pickled Watermelon Rinds

Hey Dudes! So, this is my first recipe posted in this blog, please don't be brutal. Enjoy!

For a first recipe I chose something super simple to make; seriously, there is virtually no complications with this dish, anyone can make it, it tastes awesome and it actually looks quite fancy, so you will be able to impress all your friends and brag about your culinary skills (at least to those chumps that have no clue about anything foodie).

The other day I was sitting on my ass (as I normally sit) thinking how much I fucking love pickles and how amazing they are, I mean, seriously, I don't know when they were invented but it was probably a fucking great step forward in food preservation. Come on, a cucumber lasts for a few days before it rots, but if you pickle it correctly it will go for months.

*Full Disclosure:  I'm presenting to you, a very simple pickling recipe to make what in the 'Pickling World' is known as 'Refrigerator Pickles', which basically mean you will get all the flavor but not all the preservation effect, for that you will have to do some proper bottling, the recipe would be kept pretty much the same tough (with the exception of the bottling part of course), so, anyways if there is any of those Pickling Nutheads out there reading this amazing post, well, chill the fuck down.