Pork and Beans with a Fried egg

A good ol' fashioned meal. Think back to the pioneer days. Ok...maybe not that far. Or just imagine those days of camping and all you have a canned goods. Although, this has nothing to do with my I made this dish. Anyway... This is actually one of those  "I'm on a super budget with nothing in the kitchen and the fridge yet a can of ____ is staring at me to make something of it."

That can for me was of pork and beans. I remember eating them slightly heated when I was a kid. This time around I turned it into a little quick "stew" of sorts. I wanted to use bacon, but I didn't have any. Then I remember that I had saved the bacon fat from the last I had cooked bacon. W00T! It give is a nice taste. I kept the bacon fat in the freezer. I knew I'd be using it again. Ha! Here ya go! You can use vegetable or olive oil if you'd like. I served it up with a nice fried egg and a couple slices of toast that i sopped up and sandwich all the delicious liquid. Yum!!

Serves 2

Pork and Beans with a Fried egg

1-2 Tbsp bacon fat or olive oil
1 12oz can pork and beans (Van Camp's)
1 small sweet onion - chopped
1/4 c tomato sauce
1 Tbsp yellow mustard
1 tsp sugar
1/4 c shredded cheese - your choice
pepper to taste

2 eggs
4 slices of bread

In a small sauce pan, heat the bacon fat or oil and saute the onions until tender. Add the pork and beans and the tomato sauce. Raise the heat and bring the mixture to a slight boil then add the mustard and sugar. Stir occasionally.  Once boiling, lower the heat and let it simmer. Stirring occasionally as well.

In a clean skillet, heat up a little drizzle of oil and fry up the egg. The yolk should still be slightly runny.

Toast the bread.

Serve up the pork and beans in a bowl and sprinkle some of the cheese. Top with the egg and serve with the toast.

Pineapple POM Smoothie

Summer's not going to be here for another couple of months or so and I figured I'd give my self a taste of what I'll be having during that time. To get the party -- sort of -- started, I made myself a smoothie.  Smoothies are good, tasty and healthy.  I guess from having that fresh fruit smoothie on the set of Hawthorne, a craving kicked in and I had to make me one. This one is simple. I have a bunch of those canned pineapple tidbits. I popped one open. Had some POM juice in the fridge and used that as well.

I had minimal ice, but that didn't matter. Does ice evaporate in the freezer? I've noticed that over time ice trays that were once full have dwindled down to near nubs. But luckily, whatever was left had enough to make two glasses worth. I just stock piled the fresh fruit which I like anyway. Smoothies are probaby the easiest drinks one can make.

Serves 2-3

Pineapple POM Smoothie

2 c pineapple chunk or tidbits plus some juice
1/2 c POM juice
1 c ice

Combine everything in the blender until smooth.

Seared Ahi Sandwich

After a day of hiking, I arrived home and went straight for the kitchen. I open the fridge and what do I see? (Besides a nearly empty shelves) ... A fresh slab of sushi grade ahi tuna. My eyes widened with delight. *twinkle sparkle* But I would have to wait the next day as it was already late for me too cook something up. Plus, I was tried from the day. I had done a 3-mile hike location scout for a project I'm doing this summer. *hint hint*

The next day rolls around and excitement sets in as I prepare lunch. I turned it into somewhat straight forward sandwich. No lettuce or tomato filling. Just a simple fresh ginger mayo spread. I do a quickly marinate the tuna in some soy sauce with lemon. That's it. Nothing else. Then sear it for close to a minute on each side. Toast up a couple pieces of bread or a nice big roll. Spread some of the ginger-mayo, place a few slices of the ahi tuna and chow down. It a little something I like to consider as sashimi in a sandwich.

Makes 2 sandwiches

Seared Ahi Sandwich

1 fresh fillet ahi tuna - sushi grade
4 slices of bread or 2 kaiser rolls
1/2 soy sauce
Juice of half lemon

Mayo-Ginger Spread
1 1/2 Tbsp mayo
1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp hot sauce


Combine the soy sauce and lemon juice in a shallow dish and marinate the ahi tuna on each side for a few minutes.

Heat some olive oil (just enough to coat the bottom) in a skillet. Place the ahi tuna in the skillet and sear the meat for 30-60 second per side. You'd still want the inside to be nice and pink. Once the fish is seared. Let is rest for a couple of minutes on a plate covered with foil to let the juices redistribute then slice into 1/2-inch pieces.

Combine the ingredients of the spread in a small bowl and toast the bread.

Spread a generous helping of the spread on the bread and divide the slices between the two sandwiches. Enjoy warm,

Production Eats - No. 21

This week i worked on the show Hawthorne. It stars Jada Pinkett Smith. I'm not too familiar with the show, but it airs on TNT.  But it also has Michael Vartan aka Vaughn from Alias. For the lunch served it was like Thanksgiving in April. It really was. :)

Top clockwise: Butternut squash, wild rice, carved turkey with cranberry sauce. a little pasta with alfredo sauce, fresh carved honey baked ham, dinner roll.

I put some of the ham and turkey into the bread and made it into a sandwich. There was also, I think, grilled mahi mahi, some sweet potato. mashed potato. I really enjoyed the ham quite a bit. The guy who did the carving gave me a nice portion, too.

Fresh made fruit smoothie for dessert!!!! Sweet!!! For sure I know there's strawberry in there. and maybe another fruit. But it was delicious!!! I haven't been on many sets that made fresh smoothies. That's a plus n my book.

In-N-Out

In-N-Out. That's what all hamburgers...all about. Dang right it is. Well...in California. I played tour guide for an afternoon yesterday to a visiting friend. Took him to the Griffith Observatory, Kodak Theater, and Grauman's Chinese Theater. He had an enjoyable time seeing the sights of LA. For dinner, we took him to...

The famed In-N-Out burger. It's like the west coast rival of the east coast White Castle. Their menu may be limited, but they've got themselves a tasty burger. I order the #1.

A double double cheeseburger. Animal style. (two beef patties, lettuce, tomato, cheese, grilled onions, secret sauce on a bun)

I gobbled that right down. A lot of the time I like to eat the lettuce and tomato first, the eat the rest like a sandwich. It's a weird habit, but I like it.

The #1 also comes with french fries. Also had those animal style. Grilled onions, secret sauce and melted cheese. Eat that right up with a fork. and a drink.

I would have gotten a chocolate shake, too, but I knew I'd fill myself up pretty quick. I usually just get them regular without onions, but since I don't eat out for burgers as much and with this be a semi-special occasion, I figured...why not, right? Deliciousness.

I want an okonomiyaki

I'm happy to say that a little under a month from now I'll be traveling to the Philippines for two weeks in May. I'm really excited as I'll get to see my family and eat some really awesome eats. Which would mean a food adventure waiting to happen. Street foods, home-cooked meals, restaurants, eateries. I can't wait to share it with you all.

With my endless fascination with Japanese cuisine here's a little something I really really really really want to try and make. Okonomiyaki!! Japanese pancake. The video below is the same people who made that bento tutorial I posted a couple weeks ago. I love the fact that there's a poodle sitting there.
It looks so good. I remember the Osaka episode of No Reservations where Anthony Bourdain had a feeding fest with a banzai duo. This was one of the things he had eaten. Its just too tempting no to give it a try. I'm trying to find a decent place in LA that serves this.

Panera - French Onion Soup

Thanks for all the support yesterday after my check fraud incident. It's a total bummer that it happened, but there's nothing I can do now. It's being handled by the bank, but the process of dealing with it just sucks.

Yesterday, I woke up with one of those really aweful aura migraines. Also known as a silent migraine. You know when your vision looks like your seeing swiggly-wavy lines, which is accompanied by a headache and possibly other symptons. I've been a sufferer of that for many years. It sucks when it happens. But luckily it isn't as frequent as it used to be. *knock on wood* By coincidence, a friend of mine offered to buy lunch. I was well enough to not to pass up that opportunity. Plus, it gave us time to catch up and chat chit.

We decided on Panera in Pasadena, CA. As much as I love their sandwiches, I wanted something relatively on the light side. I decided soup was the way to go.

I order the french onion soup in a sourdough bread bowl. Onion goodness with croutons and pieces of swiss cheese on top. I mix the cheese in to get it melted good. and scoop up the soup with a scoop of the bread. Yum!! The cap of the bread bowl and insides were also served along with a nice piece of crusty crisp fresh french bread. It's not like I had enough bread as it is, why not add a little more right?  Good thing I love my breads. Go carbs!!!

It was really a soup kind of day with the clouds and rain. The spring rain has been sporadic these past few weeks. I'm not complaining, it's good to have the water for all the trees and plants. I actually like rainy days. Since discovering Panera a couple years ago, it has been one of my favorite place to eat or even...

 

...do some afternoon writing with a cup of their fresh brewed hazelnut coffee with a little milk.

You know...I've always wondered... why do some people order soup in a bread bowl and never eat the bread, when there is that option to have it served in a regular bowl? It's a waste of perfectly edible bread.  I've seen it happen many times. I like to eat up every bit that absorbed the soup. Soft and mushy. I'll even tear pieces of it apart. That's just me and my random oberservation on the bread bowl. It sparked my curiosity.