Cooking with Fresh Herbs

I have always heard about cooking with fresh herbs. How this really enhances the flavors of your menu items. Well I have dabbled with fresh herbs in the past but this year I decided to get serious and plant a herb garden with as many herbs as possible.

We have been doing this and using the fresh, garden picked herbs on our BBQ, Grilling and general cooking. Man let me tell you what....fresh, garden picked herbs takes it all to another level. Store bought herbs just don't compare. All I can say if you are ready for a mouth explosion, this is the way to do it!!! 

Here are some pictures of our herbs...

Dill

Cilantro

Mint

Thyme

Oregano

We have more herbs that we are waiting on to sprout. We are adding new ones all the time as I am able to obtain the seeds. Rosemary, sage, marjoram are just a few that we are waiting on.

You don't need a whole lot of room for this type of gardening. Just a few small containers and a little bit of your time and you will experience the outstanding flavors of garden fresh herbs in your cooking.

Use your own fresh herbs and elevate your cooking another level!!! You will definitely taste the difference.

Until next time....

White Chicken Chili

Do you want to try a different type of Chili? Well here's one I recommend. White Chicken Chili!!

My good buddy and neighbor, Harold Fellows, turned me on to this fantastic chili recipe. This is a great chili if you want to go light colored for a change of pace. And it's made with chicken. The Serrano chili peppers give it some kick.

Also great for the health conscious person... 

Here is the recipe for the chili:

Ingredients:

1 tsp olive oil

1/8th cube butter

2 Serrano Chiles, sliced cross-ways (burned on the stove first before slicing)

3 tbsp all-purpose flour

3 tsp cumin powder

2 cans of Great Northern Beans (15 oz. cans)

16 oz. water

6 chicken bouillon cubes

½ medium size red onion - diced small

6 pieces of chicken tenders, cut into ½ to 1 inch chunks

Directions:

Using a min. 4 quart pot, sauté the chicken in the olive oil/butter over medium to high heat;

Add in the onions after about 2 minutes and stir;

After another minute add in the chilies, flour and cumin. Cook for about 2 more minutes stirring constantly;

Add the 2 cans of beans with their liquid, 16 oz. of water and all the chicken bouillon cubes and bring to a boil stirring this constantly so it will not burn;

Once this is boiling, reduce the heat to simmer and cook for another 10 minutes or you can reduce the liquid to your desired consistency or you can use less water at the beginning.

You can garnish this with coby/jack cheese, cilantro, and green onions (all optional). And there is no salt needed due to the chicken bouillon which is salty.

The two Serrano chilies give this dish a spicy, but not flaming, heat. 4 Serrano peppers would give this some good heat. 

I also add a tbsp of bacon fat with the olive oil for extra flavor!! Of course this is optional.

Enjoy. I just finished up a bowl. Only took about 30 minutes total to prepare and cook. Sinimple!!!!

Serve this at your next BBQ. It definitely will spice up the menu.

Until next time....

Guam BBQ for our Hong Kong Guests...Island Style!!

We hosted a BBQ for our friends from Hong Kong. They came to Guam for a wedding. The newlyweds are the young lady with the blue sweater and the young man with the white t-shirt. They are also from Hong Kong. Guam is a popular wedding destination. Four of them also went deep sea fishing. They had a great fishing trip. They hooked up a marlin, caught Mahi Mahi and bonita (skipjack) tuna. They all said they had a blast. Super nice and humble people..

Here are pictures of the BBQ...

Here is a picture of our Hong Kong guests. My wife, Lupe is in the middle with the pearl necklace and my good buddy, Vince Santos, is in the middle of the back row with the ball cap. Everyone else is from Hong Kong. 

Here is they view our guests had as they came up the driveway to the Olivas household, complete with Tiki torches for that nice tropical setting. 

Closer view of the eating area supplemented by lighting on the pugua (betelnut) trees. 

Some of the food. As the night wore on we came out with freshly caught Mahi Mahi, and Shrimp Kebabs, Spanish Rice and a few other items. Here we have white rice, marlin kelaguen, cabbage cold slaw (Lupe's Slaw), fresh pan de sol dinner buns, mustard fried chicken, BBQ ribs, homemade chili beans with top sirloin chunks, smoked yellowfin tuna deviled eggs....

Moving on we have fresh honeydew melon, fresh papaya, Manila banana, rakyo, diago, of course the fresh lemon finadenne (hot dipping sauce). 

Here we added the hot pepper and calamansi lemons.. 

Then we brought out the chilled Mangoes... 

Group picture before everyone really tore into the food. 

Another group picture. I am in this one. Guess which one is me? 

My good friend Vince Santos from Santa Rita, explaining some of the menu items....At least I hope he was... 

The Newlywed Bride is spooning some chili beans... 

Then the Mahi Mahi came off the BBQ. As I mentioned earlier, four of our guests had been out on a charter fishing boat with a good buddy of mine. They hooked up a marlin and a few other fish. This was one super fresh Mahi Mahi that Lupe prepared and I BBQ'd in foil. They simply loved it. One of our guests told me a fish like this would cost them about $300 in Hong Kong. As much as they love to eat fish, they can only afford certain kinds. Needless to say, we all tore this up!!!! 

My wife,Lupe, is refilling the marlin kelaguen (similar to fish ceviche). Our guests loved everything. We were so happy that they enjoyed all the food. I can't tell you how many times our guests went back to the table. And we were all doing the same thing. Just like how we do it here all the time. They were eating practically the whole time they were here!!!! Just like island style. Hey that's what we do and so did they. It was a pure joy to have our guests enjoy themselves. I hope they come back again!! 

Yep, the Mahi  was definitely hit hard!! 

Hitting Lupe's slaw again... and you can see the BBQ'd shrimp kebabs next to the marling kelaguen. We all must of ate at least 40 of those alone.... 

Group pic around the Mahi..... 

The chili was also very popular. Our guests don't typically eat this kind of food in Hong Kong. Reminds them of the western foods. 

My next door neighbor, Harold, was definitely enjoying the chow. He especially loved the mustard fried chicken with my little kick in there (smoked paprika) 

Harold getting into some Mahi. And a whole lot of picture taking went on all night. These are some of their memories of Guam...

More Mahi.... 

This is the Auntie, caught in the act. She loved everything and showed it many times...Hehe!! 

This is the grooms Mother. Loved the fish... 

The Auntie biting into a donne' sali (a type of hot pepper). I waited for her reaction. Hardly anything at all...not hot for her!!! 

The groom's father loving the mango. There isn't a whole lot of fresh mango like this in Hong Kong. His son, Stanley, my friend, said that this mango was the best mango he ever had eaten. And they were cold.

Mom is liking the fresh Manila bananas..... She is giving her seal of approval. Can you tell? 

This is the bride's Mother. She is having some more fish.

Auntie is eating mango now. When I brought the bowl out, it never made it to the table before she picked hers. She was trying to peel it with her fingers, but I recommended the tooth method. Bite and tear... too easy... 

Lupe brought out the chilled coconuts for a very refreshing drink. This amped up the conversation. It was obvious that they loved it. 

Lupe and the Auntie showing off their "guns". Lupe had the ladies going all night long. Lupe is so friendly. 

Lupe is still talking and..... 

The ladies are still listening. They followed Lupe everywhere. Lupe took them for a tour of the yard showing them all the different trees, plants and flowers...They were amazed.

Hong Kong is all city and Stanley told me that the cost of living is very high there. Gas costs almost $9/gal. Now that is expensive. I recommended that he move to Guam. 

Groom's Mom is loving that juicy, sweet mango.. 

The newlywed bride enjoying the mustard fried chicken. 

You can tell how close we all became in such a short while. Vince and the Dad, with his son Stanley on the other side of Vince, showing that friendship. They won't soon forget us or Guam... 

Our last group photo and cover shot. I love this photo as they all shot up with the "Shaka" on their own. The young man in the white t-shirt on the their right is the Groom and Stanley's brother.

Stanley (pink shirt) told me this that surprised but touched me. He said that this is the best family gathering that he can remember. This is the first time that the family had ever traveled together (it is very expensive for them) and the best ever BBQ or party that they have attended. They just don't do these things in Hong Kong due to the expense. Gatherings are small and it is very hard to get the family together due to everyone's schedules. Stanley said that this was the trip of a lifetime and they will never forget it. Stanley also told me that all of his family members were saying the same thing and could not believe the hospitality. 

As we say on Guam, this is the Hafa Adai Spirit!!!

So ends the trip and memories of a lifetime. 

We were so honored to have met and hosted our special Hong Kong guests. We are waiting to do this again!!!

That's Island Hospitality!! 

Until next time...

Guam Labor Day 2011 at Art Toves Family Beach, Agat, Guam ...Firefighter Style

This past Labor Day, firefighters, their families and friends got together at the Art Toves Family Beach in the beautiful southern village of Agat to celebrate Labor Day 2011. We had a great time. Toves Beach is a great location to hold functions and I feel fortunate that we were able to secure permission to use this beach for our celebration.

Here is the video/slideshow of that celebration....

I think it is safe to say that we know how to celebrate!!!

We really want to thank Mr. Art Toves, (Mr. T), for being so gracious to allow us to use his family beach. God bless you Mr. T.

Well all I can really say right now is,

Until next time....

BBQ'd Chicken Wings in Sweet Chili Sauce

Everyone loves chicken wings. You can bake them, barbecue them, even broil them. There are many ways to enjoy one of our favorite snack foods. But one of our favorites here on Guam are the Asian Sweet Chili Sauce BBQ’d Chicken wings.

Here is all you need:

2 ½ to 3 lbs of chicken wing drumlets and winglets.

2 cups of homemade sweet chili sauce.

For the Sweet Chile Sauce:

1/3 cup of apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup of water
1/2 cup of sugar
2 fresh hot peppers minced
2 cloves of fresh garlic minced

1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cornstarch, dissolved in 1 tsp water

Procedure:

1. In a saucepan, combine together the water, vinegar and sugar.
2. Mix together until well blended. Bring to a boil until the sugar has been dissolved.
3. Add the hot pepper, garlic and salt, and boil for another 1 minute.
4. Add the cornstarch and boil until everything has blended together.

5. Allow this to cool before you use it for a marinade.

If you are going to use this sauce for a barbecue glaze, cooling is not necessary.

This makes about 1/2 cup of sauce.

You can adjust the vinegar, sugar and hot pepper to your particular taste however this recipe is usually friendly for all.

This BBQ recipe will take 2 cups of this sauce.

Putting it all together:

Wash and allow the chicken wings to drip dry.

Place chicken wings in a re-sealable plastic bag.

Add in one (1) cup of the sweet chili sauce.

Seal the bag and rotate to make sure the wings are well coated with the sauce.

Chill for at least 4 hours before barbecuing.

Start the fire in your BBQ pit. You want to BBQ with medium heat. This is at about 350° to 450° F. Use the thermometer in the lid/cover of your BBQ pit to measure the heat.

If you do not have a lid thermometer, here is another way to measure your heat. Hold the palm of your hand about 5 inches above the grill. If you can hold your hand there about 5 to 7 seconds, you can consider your heat to be medium.

Take you wings out of the chill box and allow them to reach room temperature before BBQing. This should take about 20 minutes.

Grease up your grill and place the chicken wings down. Barbecue your wings about 15-20 minutes per side but make sure that you constantly turn them so that the sugar from the sweet chili sauce marinade does not burn. Total cooking time should be 30-40 minutes.

The last 5 minutes of cooking, coat the wings with the remaining one (1) cup of sauce for a nice, thick glaze.

Serve with white rice and your favorite sides.

I hope you enjoy this very simple recipe for a great Asian BBQ experience.

Until next time....

BBq'd Pork Spareribs Because It's Thursday

Just posted BBQ'd Pork Spareribs Because It's Thursday here:  http://bbqguam.blogspot.com/2011/05/bbqd-pork-spareribs-because-its.html

BBQ'd Pork Butt Kabobs

Just posted BBQ'd Pork Butt Kabobs here:   http://bbqguam.blogspot.com/2011/05/bbqd-pork-butt-kabobs.html

Vinegar Marinated BBQ Chicken Anyone???

Just posted Guam Style Vinegar Marinated BBQ Chicken recipe here:  http://bbqguam.blogspot.com/2011/05/vinegar-marinated-bbq-chicken-anyone.html

Guam's BBQ Marinade for Beef, Chicken and Pork Spare Ribs

I am originally from Santa Maria, California, known in those parts for Santa Maria Style BBQ. Tri-tip is probably one of our most famous cuts that we use there. But it is not the original cut. Here is a web link for a little history on Santa Maria BBQ: http://santamariavalleybbq.com/.

Anyway, when I moved to Guam in 1986, I was literally taken back by the delicious flavor of the island marinade. You have got to try this out.

Beef short ribs marinaded island style.

Here is the recipe:

1 cup of soy sauce (we use Kikkoman)
1 cup of vinegar, either white or apple cider
1 medium onion, sliced
6 cloves of garlic, minced
1-2 tablespoons of freshly minced ginger (optional)
Freshly ground black pepper to taste.
Allow your meat to marinade....the longer the better.

There are many variations, some will put a little sugar, but it is all about individual taste. It's all good!!!

Marinaded BBQ'd Pork Spare Ribs.

I hope you try this out. I think you will enjoy something different.

Until next time....

BBQ'd Oysters

BBQing or going to a BBQ is one of our favorite pastimes. You get great food, great company and generally have a great time. What's not to like? One of my favorite appetizers at any BBQ are BBQ'd oysters in their shells.

BBQ'd properly, and eaten island style, is a win-win for you and it's so easy. Here is what I do...

Cook the oysters with the larger part of the shell down on the grill. When you look at an oyster, of course the shell has two halves. One is larger and more pronounced than the other. You want to cook it with the larger shell half on the grill so that it will hold in all the oysters natural juices while cooking. If you BBQ it with the smaller, shallow side down, all the juices will drain out.

You will know when the oyster is finished cooking because the shell halves will separate. Do not overcook as this will dry the oyster meat out.

Once done, then pry off the top thinner shell half. Pour a little bit of lemon finadene and suck it all down.

The finadene tastes a lot better if you make it hotter by smashing more hot pepper in the sauce.

Go to my BBQGuam blog site for the recipe and instructions for the lemon finadene: http://bbqguam.blogspot.com/2011/04/lemon-finadene-guam-bbq-dipping-sauce.html

BBQ's oysters are a great sampler, or "chase-sa", as we say on Guam. It goes great with a nice ice-cold "cocktail" as well. Enjoy.

Until next time....