What's for Breakfast in Your House??

Well the most memorable breakfast that I had this week was the leftovers from a BBQ that we had Thursday night. We hosted a BBQ for some friends from Hong Kong who were here for a wedding of one of their family members. I jumped on the opportunity of having some of those leftovers for breakfast.

Here is what I ate:

What we have here is marlin kelaguen, similar to ceviche, Spanish rice and corn tortillas. This was very tasty.

You may or may not know that fish kelaguen is raw fish that is cooked with fresh citrus juice. In this case I used the fresh lemons that I have growing here on my property. Add in some chopped green onions for flavor and diced hot pepper and salt to taste and you have a winning combination.

The Spanish rice is also homemade. Here is the recipe:

Spanish Rice 

Ingridients: 

2 cups of Jasmine Rice 

1 8 oz. can tomato sauce 

2 tomato cans of homemade chicken stock 

3 cloves of garlic (minced very fine) 

2 tbsp of oil 

Instructions: 

In a fry pan add the oil and brown the rice over medium heat stirring constantly; 

About the last minute add the garlic; 

When done, add the tomato sauce and the two cans of chicken stock; 

Bring everything to a boil stirring constantly; 

Once the rice starts to thicken, turn heat down to simmer; 

Stir occasionally until rice is fully cooked to your desire. 

Note** Some like their rice a little moist, some like it fluffy. Either way is fine.

All this served with hot corn tortillas. I like this kind of breakfast. I am getting a lot of protein and a touch of tanginess from the kelaguen. Gets me going for the day anyway.

Give this a try. It might be your new way to start the day!!!!

Until next time....

Smoking Yellow Fin Tuna....Guam Style!!

Here is my latest post on my BBQGuam blog. I thought you might enjoy it.

Smoking Yellow Fin Tuna....Guam Style!!

Until next time....

Baked Reef Fish the Island Way

On the island of Guam, seafood is always at every BBQ. And of all that seafood, fish is the most popular. I want to showcase a different way to cook fish. This is a style that was completely new to me when I first came to Guam, about 27 years ago. This involved baking the fish. Though there are quite a few varieties for this style, here is a very common method.

First thing you have to do is either catch or buy the fresh reef fish. Click here to view reef fish.

On this occasion we baked parrot fish. These fish are called parrotfish because they have a beak similar to a parrot.

Here are a number of Parrotfish. The heads have been removed to be used in soup later.

I am pointing to the beak of the fish.

Closeup of the head.

Parrotfish are very meaty.

A cut is made along the lateral line and salt is applied.

Then the entire fish is rubbed down with a mayo mix that includes garlic powder and black pepper.

The entire fish is completely rubbed down.

As you can see the mayo mix is applied very liberally.

Then the fish is stuffed with tomatoes and onions.

Now this is ready to be wrapped in the tin foil.

The fish is on the tin foil and ready to be closed up.

Front view of the fish. Then the fish is wrapped up, folding the tin foil seams so that the steam does not escape. And once that is completed baked at 375 F for 45min. to 1 hr. depending on the size of the fish. At this point you can either take the fish out or open up the foil and continue baking to allow the fish to brown. This is a personal preference.

Here is the finished product. Served with tartar sauce or my favorite, lemon finadene.

There you have it. Baked stuffed fish, the island way.

Until next time....

Deep Fried Manahak (Guam Juvenile Rabbit Fish)

Juvenile Rabbit fish (Manahak)

Typically two times a year the Juvenile Rabbit fish or manahak as they are called in Guam make their runs. The runs are similar to a salmon run up the river, except the manahak run onto the reef flats from the open ocean. These runs usually occur around April to May and again in October. And the schools can be quite large with millions of these small fish. Here is a link to a video on one method used to catch the manahak:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXVg7tiRPjs&feature=related

Manahak are one of the island delicacies. They are eaten numerous ways such as fried, soaked in a salt brine, and also served in finadene with vegetables. But this post is all about frying the manahak.

Here are the photos of this process.

First the manahak is rinsed off. Doing the honors here is Chef Jeff Soriano, our resident cultural cooking expert.

The manahak are allowed to drip dry before being fried.

The wok is the preferred pan used for frying. It is fast to heat up and offers a lot of working room.

The manahak are carefully dropped into the hot oil. Cooking time is about one minute.

Here you can see the manahak frying in the hot oil.

After about one minute of frying, the fish are removed.

They are then placed onto paper towels to help soak up any excess oil.

Closeup of the fried manahak.

The menu is simple. White rice and fried Manahak. The fried Manahak is crispy and has a great but not too fishy flavor. It is almost like eating potato chips. Once you start it is hard to stop.

Master Chef Jeff multi tasking.

The harvesting, cooking and or course the eating of this island delicacy only comes a couple times a year. But is definitely enjoyed by all.

Hoped you enjoyed this as much as we enjoyed eating the manahak.

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....