Mamma's Green Bean Salad

This is one of many entries, to come in the future, dedicated to my Mamma, whom I also like to call Om-ma (the Korean version). If you have had a chance to read my "About Me" section, you may have caught a glimpse of how important and truly special this person is to me. My Om-ma is the single most influential person in my life for a multitude of different reasons. Because of her I am the woman I am, everything I know is because of the principles and fundamentals of life she has taught me. I couldn't possibly be more blessed and grateful to have spent my formative years around such a spectacular woman. With every passing day of my life, I become more aware of the magnitude of adversities she has overcome in her life and all the vast accomplishments she has achieved. Her physical stature is so little, as she barely measures 5 feet and yet her personality and strength measure that of a giant. In her lifetime she has grieved the death of her father at a tender age of 12, dropped out of middle-school to help her mother raise a family, fought hunger in a post-war, 3rd world South Korea, escaped the claws of an abusive husband and given her own children the kind of opportunities she only dreamed of as a child.

She is my mother, she is my heroine, she is my friend. I miss her dearly every day as she lives thousands of miles away in Germany. It is also she, who inspires me to cook and keep on dreaming. I am honored to share with you one of her German inspired recipes: green bean salad. She made this when she came to visit in Hilton Head and it was a hit! Even SB, who hasn't seen, let alone, eaten a green bean in his life loved it.

Now, if I were to give you the recipe in the words of my mother it would read something like this "cooked green beans, minced garlic, chopped onion, salt, pepper, oil, vinegar, titch of light soy sauce, pinch of sugar, flavor to taste." You see, my mother doesn't believe in measuring anything. All the measures come to her intuitively as she cooks and that is at times hard to replicate. However, I have tried just that, in hopes that it tastes as close to the real thing as possible.


Here it goes:

• 2 lbs fresh green beans
• 1/4 medium sized red onion, finely chopped
  
• 1 1/2 - 2 cloves of finely minced garlic - depending on the size (feel free to use your microplane if you have one)
  
• 2 tablespoons of vegetable or canola oil
  
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of distilled white vinegar (white wine or apple cider vinegar should be ok too)
  
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt
• 1 teaspoon of sugar
• a splash of soy sauce
  
• 2 pinches of pepper

In a mixing bowl add the finely chopped onion, minced garlic, veggie oil, vinegar, low sodium soy sauce, and a pinch of salt, pepper and sugar. Set aside. In a pot bring water, seasoned with salt, to a boil. In the meantime wash and trim the ends of the green beans and cut them in half. Add them to the boiling water. Cook until tender. Approximately 10 minutes and drain. DO NOT shock them in ice water. Add the HOT green beans into the bowl containing the onion, garlic and seasonings and toss everything together. This step is important because the temperature of beans will help the seasonings to come together and also to cook the garlic and the onions ever so slightly. Enough to bring out the essential oils. Taste it, make sure it doesn't need another pinch of salt and you are ready to serve and eat!!!

I really hope you try this recipe as it is truly one of my favorite by my Om-ma.

Happy eating!!

J

Pappa Dukes' Famous Ham Salad

Ham salad in a sweet soft roll

So far I have brought you two hit recipes by Momma B. I am now presenting to you another family favorite: the ham salad, by none other than Pappa Dukes. If you know anything about the B-clan you know that Pappa Dukes is the resident chef in the household. Any major holiday he is your go-to guy. He cooks the Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners and many of the other 362 dinners a year.

I love love LOVE this ham salad. First of all, I like ham (how can I not!), but I am obsessed with pickles! Ham meets pickle, pickle falls in love with ham, ham and pickle live together happily ever after. To me this recipe is a match made in heaven! It's sweet, it's salty, it's juicy, soft and crunchy. It's perfection. Pappa Dukes serves it in a soft sweet roll but as far as I am concerned I could just spoon it out of the dish and eat it just like that. What?!? I don't see anything wrong with that!

SB actually is not a huge fan of ham but he looooooves this ham salad. It's that good.

Here we go:

• 2-3 lbs of boneless sugar (or honey, or maple) cured ham, not the sliced deli meat, get a whole chunk
• 1 (16 oz) jar of gherkin pickles
• Hellmanns mayo

Cut the ham into big cubes. Add the ham and pickles into a food processor and pulse together. Don't puree - you don't want it to be mush. You still want to know and see what you are eating. Transfer mixture into a bowl and stir in the entire jar of pickle juice (I KNOW!! How awesome!! Music to my ears!!). Stir in Hellmanns mayo until the salad is moist (about 1/4 cup). Use your judgment. You don't want the mayo to overwhelm the salad. It really is only there to bind the ham together. You want to err on the side of less rather than more. You can always add but not take away! There you go! Serve in a sweet bun and you are ready to eat! YUM!!!


This ham salad keeps for about 7 days in the fridge.

Happy eating!!

JThis entry is dedicated to executive chef Pappa Dukes

Momma B's Taco Salad

As promised I am bringing you the coveted Taco Salad. I have heard so much about this salad over the past few months. I was so excited to finally try it! Let me tell you - it did not disappoint!! On the day of our arrival to Hilton Head SB's parents had prepared a wonderful feast for us. It was such a perfect welcome for us because after traveling for 11 hours my stomach was ready to eat itself! I just couldn't wait to dig my fork into the mountains of shrimp cocktail,

ham salad (recipe by Pappa Dukes still to come!), brats, blueberry salsa and of course, the taco salad. It is a classic family favorite in the B-clan and it is simply scrumptious. Needless to say we all went back for seconds, maybe even thirds, but honestly - who is counting anyway. This recipe was passed down to Momma B from her mother, and Momma B was gracious enough to share it with me so I could share it with all of you.


Here it is:

• 1 1/2 - 2 heads of iceberg lettuce, chopped
• 1 - 1 1/2 lbs of ground beef
• 1 pack of taco mix seasoning
• 4 tomatoes, diced
  
• 1 small (or 1/2 large) Vidalia onion, diced
• 16 oz. pack of Taco shredded cheese
• 1 bag of Nacho Doritos, crushed
• Kraft Catalina dressing

Break up the ground beef in a skillet with a tablespoon of olive oil. After it is fairly broken up, add the taco seasoning and finish sauteing in pan. (This is optional: I like to dice half an onion and one minced clove of garlic and lightly saute it with a tablespoon or two of olive oil before I add the ground beef.) Drain any excess fat and let the cooked beef cool in fridge for a few hours or overnight.

Take your chopped lettuce, diced tomatoes, onions, shredded cheese, cooled beef, 1/2 a bag of the crushed Doritos, and toss together in a salad bowl with an entire bottle of the Kraft Catalina dressing.


Pour the rest of the Doritos over the top right before serving. Voila - all ready to eat!!


The great thing about this salad is that is so tasty and simple to put together. It involves minimal cooking but is still so flavorful. You can also eat it in a variety of different ways. You can put it in a wrap (KG, SB's brother in law likes to do that), you can put it into a hard shell corn taco and serve it as a traditional taco, but you can also served it as a side salad, or have it as your main entree with a slice of buttered bread. No matter which way you serve it or eat it - it is equally DE-LISH!!

I really hope you try it!!

Happy eating!!

JThis entry is dedicated to Momma B