Thursday, August 15, 2019

Wednesday, August 14, 2019

Honey Cashew Chicken with Broccoli and Rice

Tonight was a honey cashew chicken with broccoli. It was a great recipe and we will definitely make again, but ours came out too sweet, so watch the honey amounts. It might also be that our hoisin sauce was on the much sweeter side. We used a portable burner (which we first saw at a restaurant called Nagomi, where we tried hot pot, or swish swish for the first time). This burner was able to get the wok hotter and faster, and resulted in a very pleasant stir fry. The nuts actually caramelized and were like candied nuts almost.













Ingredients:

1 lb broccoli florets
1 cup cashews
1 lb chicken breast
1 cup bell peppers or mini bell peppers, sliced
2 cups rice - prepared per cooking instructions, depending on the type of rice you use
canola oil to fry

Sauce:
2 tbs hoisin sauce
6 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp honey
sesame seeds
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp sesame oil

1 teaspoon corn starch
2 tbsp cold water

Directions:

1. Slice the chicken into strips or cubes, as desired. We did strips.
2. Mix together the sauce.
3. Marinate the chicken in the sauce for at least 30 minutes.
4. Remove chicken from sauce to fry in wok
5. Wok fry the chicken, using canola oil 
6. Wok fry the veggies, adding the sauce and corn starch dissolved in coldwater about halfway through to thicken it up.
7. Add cashews. 

What we liked:

It was probably the best cashew chicken we have ever had. 

What we didn't like:

Too much honey (2 tbsp) the recipe above is adjusted with less honey. 

What Kaspian thought about it:

He actually seemed to like it. 

Next time:

No changes other than the honey decrease which is reflected in the recipe above. 

Tuesday, August 13, 2019

Plum Preserves.

So, this year we had quite the plum harvest. Not really quite knowing what to do with the plums, we opted for plum preserves. We had about 7kg, aprox 15 lbs of plums and ended up making quite a bit of the preserves! It turned out great!























Ingredients:

1 to one ratio of sliced plums to sugar - e.g. 5 lb plums to 5 lb sugar

Directions:

1. Cover sliced plums with sugar. No need to mix, just let it sit overnight to produce to the syrup.
2. Separate the syrup and plums the next morning and put the syrup into a large pot.
3. Bring syrup to a boil, just until sugar dissolves. Add plums.
4. Let sit for a few hours.
5. Bring to a boil and let cool a few times, this can be done over the course of several days Remove the "foam" every time. You may eat the foam, some people enjoy it more than the actual preserves :)
6. Before canning, bring to a slow boil, on the lowest setting and can while the liquid is hot.
7.  Sterilize the jars & can!

What we liked:

Using our plums!

What we didn't like:

Well.... it was a lot!

What Kaspian thought about it:

Astrid loved it!

Next time:

no change. 

Takumi

We have found the best sushi in Albuquerque. Chef Jose, at Takumi makes the most amazing sushi. It looks and tastes absolutely amazing. We have not yet been disappointed! Highly recommend. The chirashi is amazing. We also tried the octopus salad, which was a special and it was the best octopus ever! 





Tobbaco Hornworms!

They have come to invade our greenhouse and eat our tomatoes. Luckily, we noticed them much earlier this year than last and it seems like we have decimated them before they got to our crops!