Cooking – Page 20

Lamb Shanks Braised with Lentils and Curry

March 12, 2012 mmm-yoso Cookbooks, Cooking, Recipes

Recently, the Missus made an interesting observation; telling me that I really hadn't "cooked" in a while. I was kind of flabbergasted, I'd catered a friends Sukiyaki dinner for twenty that swelled to thirty, even made a huge pot full of Oxtail Soup for my friends. I'd been making a lot of stuff at home. But the Missus quickly noted that much of it was "on the fly" or just stuff I'd made before. And She was right. So I made it a point to, well, really make something, spend some time in the kitchen, and fall in love with the process all over again. I had the perfect muse for my goal; we had just gotten a 9quart French Oven from Le Creuset. I'd coveted one for years, but dreaded spending the money, or to be more frank, asking to spend the money for one. So I did the smart thing, I just waited until the day the Missus said, "you know we need something good to braise in, like a Dutch oven." Man, I got on the Internet and ordered it so fast smoke was coming from my keyboard! I also ordered Molly Stevens James Beard Foundation award winning book, All About Braising: The Art of Uncomplicated Cooking. Even though I've done my share of braising, I love cookbooks, as they give me inspiration, and I really wanted to see what this one had to offer.

The first dish I tried out was the Lamb Shanks Braised with Lentils & Curry, which I paired with some on the fly couscous with sundried tomatoes and pinenuts toasted in roasted garlic olive oil. I'm sorry to say my photos don't do it justice.

My presentation in most of them looks kinda sloppy and the best one is the one above which is actually from a container that the Missus took to work with Her.

I'd made up my mind that I'd do it right this time around, no cutting corners. So things had to start with some lamb stock. On that Saturday, I had ot head of North a bit, so I stopped by PQ Market in Ranchos Penasquitos. A small unassuming market with shelves empty, but a freezer full of beautiful Halal lamb. I got five lamb shanks, about a pound each and three pounds of lamb bones which looked especially clean and the nice gentleman cut into pieces for me. I thawed the shanks in the fridge and the bones on the counter; the weather was very mild so I knew a couple hours would be just fine. Needless to say, I spent the late afternoon first roasting, then lightly simmering the bones making a nice, clear stock. With the French Oven I was able to maintain that light, undisturbed bubbling necessary to create a nice stock. Just strain, cool, and refrigerate overnight, skim off the fat the next morning, and you a stock with the essence of lamb, with a mild, almost sweet flavor.

There are a couple of key points that I enjoyed about the recipe, one was parcooking the lentils and setting aside until the last part of the braise. One of the reasons I dislike lentils is that they are usually served really mushy. The recipe calls for Le Puy Lentils, a highly sought after green lentil(which looks almost black/blue) grown near the town of Le Puy in France. I just went with some good quality green lentils and the results were fine. The other was reinforcing the seal of the pot by laying some parchment paper over the rim, pressing down close to the braise and covering the pot. I also loved the common sense steps in recipe, especially to check in on the braise while it's in the oven to make sure it's not boiling, something that will make the meat fall apart and mushy. It's something I normally do anyway, but it's good to see stuff like that in a cookbook…..it makes it more than a color-by-numbers experience.

I did diverge from the recipe in a couple of ways, I added a whole small can of peeled plum tomatoes which I crushed instead of measuring a cup. Next time, I think I'll add the juices as well as the recipe says to drain. I used six cloves of garlic instead of four, well, I could say because the number four is bad luck in Chinese, but really, if you've read long enough….we love garlic. I used a bit more stock because I knew we'd be running out of the wonderful braising liquid to pour over things, ditto with the lentils. Also, the recipe calls for Madras Curry powder, which I used. But instead of adding them after the aromatics, I added it straight to the oil to "bloom". I did end up cutting down on the total braise time because everything seemed to be coming together quickly and green lentils tend to cook faster than Le Puy lentils.

Anyway, enough with the blah, blah, blah…..

Lamb Shanks Braised with Lentils and Curry

2-3 Tb Extra Virgin Olive Oil
5-6 Lamb Shanks – about a pound a piece
1 large red onion chopped
3 small-medium carrots peeled and coarsely chopped
1 large stalk celery coarsely chopped
6 cloves garlic minced
1 1/2 Tb Madras Curry Powder
1 1/2 Tb chopped fresh thyme
2 Bay leaves
1 14oz can peeled plum tomatoes drained and crushed
3 Cups lamb stock
1 1/2 Cups green lentils
Salt and fresh ground black pepper

– Preheat oven to 325
– Trim lamb shanks if necessary
– Heat the oil in braising pot over medium-high heat. Season the lamb with Salt and Pepper then brown. Do this in batches, turning with thongs. Remove shanks to a plate or pan.
– Pour off all but 2-3 Tb of oil from the pot. Add curry powder stir and allow to bloom for a minute or two.
– Add the onion, carrots, celery to the pot stirring to coat well. This should take 7-9 minutes, it's ok if the vegetables have slightly browned edges.
– Stir in the garlic, 1 Tb of thyme, and bay leaf, stir and cook for 1-2 minutes.
– Add tomatoes and stock. Stir and make sure to scrape off all those lovely bits on the bottom of the pot.

– Bring the pot to a boil and keep at low boil for a few minutes.
– Return the lamb shanks to the pot arranging them in layers if necessary. Don't forget any juices from the lamb on that plate/pan.
– When the liquid returns to a simmer cover with parchment ten the lid and place in the 325 degree oven.
– Check after 15 minutes. The liquid in the pot should be at a gentle simmer. If it is not lower the temperature.
– After one hour, check on the shanks and rearrange, turning the lamb shanks over, and moving the ones on the top to the bottom if layered.
– Continue braising for another hour
– Meanwhile place lentils in a saucepan with 3-4 cups of water, the remaining 1/2Tb of fresh thyme, the remaining bay leaf. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer for ten minutes.
– Drain the lentils and spread on a sheet pan, with the bay leaf and let cool.
– After the second hour as passed, remove the lamb shanks from the pot. Skim fat from the liquid then adjust for seasoning.
– Stir in the lentils and place shanks back into pot. Place parchment back on along with lid and braise for additional thirty minutes.
– Check after thirty minutes, the lentils may need another 15 minutes.The lamb shanks should be tender but not falling to pieces off the bone.
– Transfer the shanks to a pan and cover loosely with foil.
– Taste the lentils and liquid and adjust.
– Serve the way you feel like. We served over couscous made with the remaining lamb stock, sun dried tomatoes and pine nuts, along with lemon wedges.
You can garnish with parsley or other herbs to make more colorful….I was just too darned hungry to even care.

You know, this waiting until the Missus "just needs" something has been working out rather well.We recently finally got an immersion blender because She absolutely couldn't live without it. What do you think about my chances of Her needing a Sous Vide Water Oven? Yeah, I might be waiting for a while for that one……

Thanks for reading!

Stuff for a slow Saturday: Recently Made at Home, Revisits to Tan Ky Mi Gia and Los Pueblos

March 10, 2012 mmm-yoso Cooking, Mexican Restaurants, Vietnamese Restaurants

It usually happens around this time of the year. I kinda hit a "slump" of sorts……we've been eating more at home recently. While the Missus can eat the same thing for several days (even weeks) in a row, roasted vegetables or lentil soup (she;s loving our new Dutch Oven), I need a bit of variety. So here are the two items I managed to take photos of this past week.

I decided to drop by Seisel's tp pick up some calf's liver as a treat for Da' Boyz. Not quite sure what to make, I bought a half pound of ground chuck. Funny thing is, my ground beef cost two bucks, while the liver cost seven. I always tell the Missus that our household is going to the dogs. This is just further evidence of that.

I still didn't have any idea of what to make when I got home. Opening the cabinet, the bag of cumin fell out on the counter……..it must have been a hint from somewhere. Using my Cumin and Sichuan Peppercorn Skirt Steak recipe as a base. I minced onions and mixed that along with ground cumin, dark and light soy sauce, sambal olek, with the ground beef. While that sat, I toasted cumin and Sichuan peppercorns, which I then ground. I made patties then seasoned the surface of the ground beef with salt, cumin and Sichuan peppercorns. I didn't incorporate thatinto the meat because cumin tends to keep form and stay hard when mixed into ground beef. The cumin powder took care of that. Cooked in my cast iron pan and topped with Sriracha, it came out better than I thought.

I just might do this again.

A couple of nights later, I dropped by Seisel's again, this time, I thought I'd use up some blue cheese and left over tapenade that we had in the fridge and stuff a chicken breast. Unfortunately, they were out of chicken breast. I decided to try to do the same thing with chicken thighs. I usually have a couple of dried items in my pantry, so I made a mixture of sundried tomatoes, morel mushrooms, tapenade, and blue cheese. I pounded out the chicken thights, then, feeling too lazy to skewer the thighs, I simply rolled them, seasoned the chicken with sea salt and fresh ground pepper and cooked them off in the frying pan. There was some loss, but not too much.

This came out pretty good, it smelled heavenly, and I managed not to overcook the chicken. I prefer dark meat to white meat anyway, but just never thought of stuffing thighs.

I'll definitely do this again.

Other than that, here are some short revisits.

Tan Ky Mi Gia:

**** Tan Ky Mi Gia has closed

My sinuses have been taking a beating this year. I really wanted something with a alot of flavor, so we decided to head up to Mira Mesa. I really wanted the Beef Sate Egg Noodle "dry" from Tan Ky Mi Gia.

I'm not sure if it was because I just wanted it so much or what. But this was better than I ever recalled having here. The meat was tender, there was a good amount of heat and spices, which cleared up my sinuses. The accompanying soup was a bit too salty, but that's just what I needed. Sometimes it's all about timing. Strangely, our favorite "server" wasn't working this evening……

Tan Ky Mi Gia
9330 Mira Mesa Blvd #A
San Diego, CA 92126

Los Pueblos:

**** Los Pueblos has closed

Yep, again. The Missus enjoys the Mole Poblano and also the tortilla soup here. Here's the Mole Poblano with Huarache Chips (sorry, forgot the soup photo):

This time I went with the carne asada smothered in Mole Poblano.

If you're used to $2 steak carne asada, you might find this an improvement. They used skirt steak, which I may just have without the mole next time. Combined with black beans, guacamole, tortillas, and arroz verde (green rice) this was a nap inducing meal. I guess Los Pueblos has established a place on our rotation.

Check out Cathy's post here.

Los Pueblos Regional Cuisines of Mexico
7081 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111

I hope everyone is having a great "spring forward" weekend. I hope losing that hour of sleep doesn't affect you too much!

Peruvian Chicharron de Pollo – Fried Chicken

January 26, 2012 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

Speaking of fried chicken…well, we were speaking of fried chicken, right? Recently, I had just deep fried some tofu for the Missus and really wanted to maximize my use of the oil for deep frying. I'd been keeping the Chicharron de Pollo recipe from Copeland Mark's The Exotic Kitchens of Peru marked for a while and this was the perfect chance to try out the recipe.

While Pollo ala Brassa rules the poultry scene, I'd say Chicharron de Pollo runs a decent second place. Though you can't turn a corner without running into a rotisserie chicken joint in Peru, the Chicharronerias have "the sell" down pat. During lunch hours on Pampas de Castillo in Cusco the Chicharronerias will wheel their portable fryers out onto the sidewalk and the smell of frying chicken and pork will create a mouth-watering, almost edible cloud of deliciousness……

The recipe from Copeland Marks is quite basic, but I appreciated the mild "Chifa" influence in the recipe. I've mentioned the wonderful Chinese influence in many posts before, so I won't go into it again.

The recipe calls for chicken breast, but I prefer dark meat and a good skin to meat ratio so I went with boneless chicken legs from Marukai. I also added some oregano and cumin for a more complex flavor, though I think I'll pass on the cumin next time. The recipe also uses both lemon juice and white vinegar, which turned out to work fairly well. The chicken is dredged in cornstarch which gives it a lighter, very crisp coating which doesn't take anything away from the skin.

Anyway….here goes….

Chicharron de Pollo:

1 1/2 lb boneless chicken leg (chicken prepped for karaage is good)
1 Tb premium Chinese soy sauce
1 tsp lemon juice
3 cloves garlic finely grated
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 tsp white vinegar
oregano and cumin if desired to taste

cornstarch
canola oil

– Mix all ingredients except for cornstarch and marinate chicken for 20 minutes
– Dredge chicken in cornstarch and fry in 350 degree oil until cooked

I made a little Salza Criolla and used some rocoto paste to add some zip….this brand is just ok.

Man, I was just thinking, has it almost been five years since we visited Peru. Looking through my posts, I noticed that I never posted a photo of anything in Lima's Chinatown aka Barrio Chino. Looking though my photos, I only have a couple of photos from the area, here's one.

You know, I'm kinda missing Peru right now…..

Monday Meanderings: Shabu World Opens, Izakaya Sakura Reopens, a visit to the new Northgate Market, and stuff recently consumed

January 16, 2012 mmm-yoso Cooking, Japanese Restaurants, Markets & Grocers

My list of odds and ends is just getting bigger and bigger so I thought I'd better do one of these posts.

SwabShabu World Opens:

I swear to god, the first time I saw the sign, I thought it said "Swab World". And doesn't it look like the place swiped the Nike Swoosh?

I gotta say, this place opened rather quickly. I recall emailing Dennis about just maybe two weeks ago. For some reason, the Missus wasn't too keen on checking the place out…..I guess I'll have to wait and go solo.

Here are the menus:

Shabu Shabu World
3904 Convoy St #117
San Diego, CA 92111

Izakaya Sakura reopens:

Perhaps the reason that the Missus didn't pay much attention to Shabu World is that after closed for repairs for over a month Sakura has finally reopened. I actually knew about it for almost two weeks, but made the Missus wait…..I wanted the place to work out any "kinks". So the Missus was really trying to scratch Her Ten Don itch. I guess we'll be back eating here once a week again.

The place looks much brighter and clean, making it look larger and more spacious.

A bar/counter area now occupies the window area across from the sushi bar adding more seating.

And my Negi-Maguro-Natto Don was as good as ever…….

Izakaya Sakura
3904 Convoy St #121
San Diego, CA 92111

A visit to the new Northgate Market on University:

I'd heard this place opened so one morning, after doing some shopping at North Park Produce and Minh Huong Market, I drove down to the corner of 54th and University to check the place out. Look at the vans for the free shuttle service offered by the market:

The place is not as humongous as the store on 43rd street, but it is big enough.

You gotta excuse me if I spent most of my time in front of all the prepared food……

This stuff just seems to be trying to speak to me….I gotta find myself a "pork whisperer", though I'm pretty sure of what it was saying to me.

I managed not to turn to stone at the sight of the fried medusa and went over to the meat department to pick up some beef liver for Da' Boyz…… but it doesn't mean I wasn't sorely tempted.

Don't fret my fair chicharron, I'll be back to free you on another day….

Northgate Market
5403 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92105

Recently consumed at home:

Just some simple stuff…don't even know why I took photos. But I was pretty lazy over the holidays…..

I made some kalua pork for a pot luck and saved some, which I ended using for a sandwich or two.

Earlier in the year, the Missus and some coworkers were eating at Sipz a lot. Curious, I wondered what the heck they enjoyed so much and was shocked to find out…..and then they told me the prices. I told the Missus that the dishes they enjoyed were no big deal…really, for ten bucks and up??? So She told me to prove it….which I did. But now I'm stuck making stuff not only for Her, but some of the folks She works with too….here's a black-bean tofu dish…the ingredients (other than the oil) cost about $2.50……

I didn't even have to use the Big Kahuna for this. I've made fake pepper steak with broccoli and other stuff as well. As for the oil, I'll filter then reuse for as long as I can. Start with tofu and in the end do your fish and shrimp dishes…..

And of course, not wanting to waste some leftover baguette…..here's a SPAM™ fritatta sandwich….

Silly, I know…but it tasted pretty good……

And finally, just some other silliness:

I'm not sure you know this, but I enjoy some music now and then. I've got a bit too much of it, like about 5,000 songs on my iPod…a bit crazy I know. A good amount are from the thousand or so CD's I own, but I'm always on the hunt for music. The list is slowly shrinking; every year I find a couple….this past year was no exception. I'm really dating myself, but here are a couple that I'd been hunting for years and finally found this year:

I was stoked when I found out that Seawind's music from the mid-late 70's was finally released. I guess the music was tied up…… But man, I saw them play several times and really think they were ahead of their time.

I'm not sure why I really like this one by a band named Q…….but I remember it fondly:

Lastly….well I hated the movie this was from, Xanadu. I remember seeing it and calling it Xana-du-du. But I really enjoyed this piece by Olivia Newton John and the Tubes.

Kinda Embarassing…but heck, I'm too old to really care anymore! The Missus hears this stuff and doesn't quite know what to make of it…….it's kinda funny. Though at least these have words…you should see the look on Her face when I listen to Hank Garland or The Haggis Horns…..

When you have Lamb, you make…..Lamb-aide??? Nah, you make Lamb Hash and Lamb-Bulgur Soup

January 13, 2012 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

Shades of my What to Do kinda Ali Nazik Kebab post. A couple of weeks past I decided to roast a leg of lamb.

Not wanting too much, I bought half a leg fro Seisel's, though in retrospect I should have gone to one of the many Halal markets in the greater San Diego area to pick this up. I rubbed the lamb with a paste of garlic, salt, pepper, rosemary, and thyme. Same with the potatoes….I also threw in some leftover daikon as well. I decided to roast everything in my cast iron pan letting the fat from the lamb render off onto the root veggies.

Man, did the root veggies taste great….unfortunately the flavor lamb wasn't strong enough for the Missus. It was too tame and She refused to eat it. Then She uttered those fateful words…"I'm not eating it, but you better not waste any of it!"

Ohhhh-kay….there were a couple of pounds of lamb left after I had my fill, so what to do????

Duh…..one of my favorite things to do with leftover prime rib, ham, rotisserie chicken….not so much turkey though, is to make a hash. However, I wanted to roast more potatoes…so it was 86 on the potatoes in the hash. In the end, I minced up a bunch of the lamb, added minced onions, garlic, cilantro, oregano, and thyme. I used a couple of tablespoons of Greek yogurt as a binder and it crisped up pretty good. Finished with some salt and pepper, it was delici-yoso…..

Roasted some red potatoes, sauteed off some collard greens and used the rest of the yogurt in a sauce, combining it with dill, lemon juice, garlic juice, salt, and pepper. Topped with a poached egg (of course), this was a heck of a brunch. For some reason the lamb flavors came through much better when caramelized in nice crunchy bits. I can't believe I've had years of cold lamb sandwiches (pretty darn good though), when I should have been making this.

I didn't stop there, though. Based on the Missus criticism, I decided to take this one step further and saved a small amount of meat and the lamb bone. Recently, I had been leafing through Jaque Pepin's latest cookbook, the huge Essential Pepin. I recalled the lamb-barley soup recipe.

So into the pot went the lamb bone, no beef broth for this version. Of course, the Missus requested it done to Her taste so no barley in this one. I replaced the barley with bulgur, which I added during the last half hour of simmering.

Flavored with some leftover fresh thyme, cilantro, and celery hearts (freeze the buggers instead of throwing them away – they have great flavor). This ended up being quite good, with no complaints from the Missus.

The Missus often takes credit for "inspiring" what I make in the kitchen……and She's probably right.

Roasted Parsnips and Kabocha with Caper Dressing

January 8, 2012 mmm-yoso Cookbooks, Cooking, Recipes

The Missus has been trying to cut down on meat consumption over the last year and I'm really trying to support Her. However, there's just so much roasted vegetables, which we make twice a week one can really deal with. This started me off on trying other vegetables and greens, stuff like Chard, Kale, Celeriac, Rapini, even sauteing Collard Greens. Mushrooms now is a big part of the Missus' diet. I'll often now make protein for me and a large shared veg dish for us, or even something just for the Missus. We're also trying not to waste as much….and I had half a Kabocha staring me in the face. For New Years I'd made Kabocha Nimono using half the squash…..now I needed to do something with the other half. I'd also bought a bunch of parsnips most of which I roasted with potatoes….

Looking for some inspiration, I opened Yotam Ottolenghi's wonderful cookbook, Plenty. I really trust this cookbook, ever since I tried out the Mushroom Ragout with Poached Egg recipe and it turned out to be one of the best things I made all year. As fate would have it, I opened up the book to a recipe for roasted parsnips and sweet potatoes with caper vinaigrette…….I guess it was meant to be. I basically subbed the kabocha for the sweet potatoes and adjusted the cooking time.

For me, cookbooks tend to be a set of ideas and guidelines, though many times I'll follow the written recipe the first time through, making adjustments later. To me, Ottolenghi's book is more of an idea book. Using items I had on hand and adjusting for taste, this came out real well. The adjustments? I used 12 cloves of peeled garlic rather than a split bulb, kabocha for the sweet potatoes of course, replaced the fresh thyme and rosemary with dried thyme and oregano, two fairly large red onions instead of four, two vine ripened tomatoes instead of cherry tomatoes, and I used honey instead of maple syrup in the vinaigrette. The recipe times the addition of the vegetables into three stages to make sure that everything is cooked, but not overcooked.

Speaking of the vinaigrette, the Missus initially didn't want me to use it, but I eventually wore Her down and She ended up loving what it added to the dish…..just a slight acid and mild sweetness, not enough to interfere.

Roasted Parsnips and Kabocha with Caper Vinaigrette

About a pound or a bit more of (peeled)parsnips cut into 1 1/2" – 2" long by 3/4" pieces
2 medium-medium large red onions cut into wedges
12 cloves garlic peeled but left whole
1/2 kabocha pumpkin sliced into pieces about the same size as the parsnips (leave the skin on)
2 tomatoes cut into eighths
Dried Thyme
Dried Oregano
3/4 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil (I used Spitiko)
Salt and Pepper

– Preheat oven to 375
– In a bowl coat the parsnips, onions, and garlic with 1/2 cup of the olive oil, salt, pepper, thyme, and oregano.
– Spread on a baking sheet or roasting pan
– Roast for about 20-25 minutes.
– Coat kabocha with more olive oil and add to the pan, combining with the other ingredients.
– Roast for about another 30 minutes
– Add the tomato wedges to the pan and roast for about another 15 minutes. You may want to give everything a gentle stir then finish off. Taste and adjust salt and pepper.

After adding the tomatoes put together your dressing.
Combine:
4 Tb Capers chopped
1 Tb Honey
1/2 Tb Dijon mustard
3 Tb Extra Virgin Olive Oil – I used a low acidity Picholine Olive Oil for this
2 Tb fresh squeezed Lemon juice

Whisk ingredients together to emulsify.

Remove vegetables from the oven….I put everything into a nice cast iron pan which I intended to use at the beginning bt proved too small.
Pour dressing over the veggies and lightly mix.

This turned out well….I can only imagine what other combinations of root vegetables and herbs can be done in this manner.

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Natto Okonomiyaki

January 6, 2012 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

Strangely, one of posts that I most often get emails and comments about is the one on making Okonomiyaki. It's quite interesting, I'd get stuff telling me that you don't need the yamaimo, saying it doesn't make any difference in the texture, always from folks that had never even tried using it for making okonomiyaki(I have tried not using yamaimo – the result is fine, but it ain't the same)…so if you've never even tried using it, how would you know if it makes any difference? But hey, okonomi means "what you like", so whatever floats your boat…..I know what floats mine…a couple of tablespoons of gooey, grated yamaimo. Secondly, it's about the folks who tell me to use a non-stick…….I've never gotten the kind of wonderful caramelization you get with my cast iron pan on any non-stick…even the new expensive non-stick pan I have is basically for crepes and items that don't need a nice crust. Personally, I prefer mine to look something like this.

The Missus had been looking through a couple of recipes in Elizabeth Andoh's new cookbook Kansha. The one She found most interesting used this…..

It was the recipe for Natto Okyaki, a natto pancake of sorts. The reason I'm not linking to the cookbook is that the recipe really didn't work out…it uses soy milk and only two tablespoons of soba flour. Needless to say it really never really firmed up. It tasted pretty good…maybe a bit bland, but really made a mess and looked, well not very attractive. But the seed had been planted….plus, I still had a good amount of Soba-ko left over. I decided to use my base okonomiyaki recipe, replacing cake flour with Soba Flour and using natto as the main filling. I liked the idea of using zucchini in Ms Andoh's recipe so I cut back on the cabbage. I didn't think dashi and natto would make such a great combination, so I used plain water. I had thoughts of making and incorporating mustard paste, but had the idea of using wasabi instead. I also added some soy sauce to add another layer of flavor. It tuned out pretty well. It's also a nice way of having natto if you've never had it before or want to eat it, but find the look, smell, or sight of it rather unsavory.

I used a half recipe, but made two smaller okonomiyaki. After doing the first with the standard katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes), okonomi sauce, furikake, etc…the Missus found She preferred it unadorned using a simple wasabi-soy sauce mixture for dipping……as the name says, "as you like it"……

Natto Okonomiyaki

Batter:
1/2 Cup Soba flour, sifted
1/2 Cup water or Dashi
2 TB grated Yamaimo/Nagaimo(Japanese Mountain Yam)
1 tsp salt

1 – Sift Flour into a bowl.

2 – Add Water, yamaimo, and salt.

3 – Mix to a pancake batter consistency(do not over-mix). The batter will be sort of a gluey pancake batter

Filling:
2/3 Cup finely shredded cabbage
1/2 Cup finely julienned zucchini
2 scallions green parts only finely sliced
1/4 Cup finely sliced red onion
1-2 Tb Benishoga
2 – 1 1/2 oz portions (usually styrofoam trays) of natto
1 Tb prepared wasabi
1 Tb soy sauce
1 Egg

1 – Add natto to batter and using chopsticks stir in a figure eight motion to separate the sticky beans and incorporate into batter
2 – Add the cabbage, zucchini, scallions, onions, and benishoga. Crack an egg on top and stir to mix.
3 – Add wasabi and soy sauce and gently incorporate.
4 – Oil up your pan and your ready to go…..

My original okonomiyki recipe can be found here. Have fun and make it "your way"! Just don't tell me not to use yamaimo, or to use a non-stick pan…..

I think this is the Missus' new favorite………..

Happy New Year!

December 31, 2011 mmm-yoso Cooking, Markets & Grocers

We've decided to keep things pretty low-keyed for this New Years. Nothing too fancy or difficult for our New Year dinner.

Just some fried shrimp and Karei Karaage , which is kinda becoming a New Year tradition for the Missus. I needed to have some soba since it is New Years eve, so went with some Cha Soba. Marukai had some really lovely young watercress and for some reason I'd been craving it. While putting it together I wondered if the shoyu-mayo dip is a Hawaii thing, Japanese thing….or is it just something my Mom used to do? Regardless, other than tempura, it's my favorite way to eat watercress.

I did the usual rounds of Nijiya, Mitsuwa, and Marukai, and noticed that the amount of Osechi-ryōri to be even less than last year. I'm guessing changing demographics, tastes, and economics are creating less of a demand as time goes by. It's something I really started noticing in 2010. There was just a fraction of the amount at Nijiya.

And even less at Mitsuwa.

As we turn the page on another year, we just wanted to extend our warmest New Year wishes to everyone. It's been a tough year for many, I just hope the upcoming year is a better one.

Happy New Year!

Christmas Eve Dinner: Pan Fried Duck Breast with Char Siu Glaze and Blanched Watercress with Asian style dressing

December 24, 2011 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

The really nice looking duck breasts were calling out to me at Nijiya and I just couldn't resist buying them. This lead to something of a problem. The Missus doesn't believe that duck should ever be made without five spice….ever. In fact, until we got married, the Missus actually thought that duck naturally tasted that way! He-he-he…..five spice. While driving home I got the idea of doing the standard pan fry technique that I've used many times. I'd season the duck with salt, pepper, and a decent amount of the anise heavy, somewhat potent five spice we have from Qingdao. I decided to go with a glaze that is somewhat similar to what I make for Char Siu Lamb Chops and Chicken. The problem being, that was more of a marinade and glaze using sugar. I didn't want the texture of sugar, but wanted that strong Hoisin flavor. So I substituted mirin for the sugar, placed it over heat to burn off the alcohol flavor and added Kecap Manis, Honey, Hoisin, grated garlic, soy sauce, five spice, and ginger juice, reducing the glaze by about a fourth.

I cooked off the duck in the usual manner to render off the excess fat and crisp up the skin. At the end, I brushed on the glaze. Of course I spooned extra sauce on it….you can't have too much of it!

I served it with Purple Cabbage Slaw with Sesame Dressing and a namul like blanched watercress with a dressing made from rice vinegar, sugar, sesame oil, ground chili, soy sauce and water.

The Missus was taking a nap while I put this together…….

I did make an adjustment for the Missus' duck. The meat was pretty lean and much of the fat had rendered off….thus, it had a texture close to that of, say, venison. When I put together Her plate, I made thinner cuts on more of a bias. The Missus really doubted that I could make duck breast into something She'd enjoy…..but one whiff and one bite changed Her mind. And so things ended with the ultimate back-handed compliment; "it's much better than I thought you could do!" heh…..

I'm thinking that we'll be eating a bit more duck breast round these parts……

As darkness settles in on our street…….

And all the Christmas lights come on in the neighborhood……..

We wanted to wish you a……

Very Merry Christmas!

Sunday Stuffs: Asian Balsamic-Mirin Glazed Strip Steak and other “stuffs”………

December 11, 2011 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes, yoso-silly

While on Lana'i we had a chance to check out Lana'i City Grille at the Hotel Lana'i. As renowned chef Beverly Gannon is the Executive Chef, we had to try the place out. It was a decent, if not fantastic meal. One of the items that was a bit disappointing to both the Missus and I was the mushroom risotto, which I'll go into a bit more in a future post. So of course the first thing the Missus wanted when we returned was mushroom risotto. Which is what She got today……

She has been cutting meat out of Her diet. I on the other hand desired some red meat. Since I very rarely have a steak, I'll usually splurge on prime and/or aged cut. This time around, I wanted to play with a pseudo, almost wafu type steak, so I decided on doing a choice New York Strip seasoned with sea salt/ala'e, fresh cracked pepper, and granulated garlic. To finish, I did a balsamic-soy sauce-mirin glaze….I thought the glaze might be too much, but it turned out rather well.

Combined with some mushroom risotto and Asian style sauteed rapini on a braised mushroom, this turned out to be quite a meal. I finished the rest of the steak for dinner. I really didn't reduce the sauce too much, maybe by a third, but you can go farther if you want a really thick glaze. I used some of the remainder as a sauce for the leftover steak and it tasted quite good.

Balsamic-Mirin Reduction:

1 Cup Balsamic Vinegar

1/2 Cup neutral flavored soy sauce (Yamasa or Aloha)

1/2 Cup Mirin

3 cloves garlic smashed

Black Pepper to taste.

Combine ingredients over medium heat, bring to a boil then reduce as much as desired.

Other stuffs……

While on vacation, I reconnected with a "small kid time" favorite of mine:

Don't ask me why or how……I've been eating this stuff like crazy……I just finished one 26 ounce jug and am starting on my second. I better just finish that off and be done with the whole thing! Just call is PNS – Post Nostalgic Syndrome.

The other night we were at Zion Market and the Missus saw something that thrilled Her!

Placenta! Yikes….turns out that it is a pretty common ingredient in shampoos, lipstick, and lotion. The Missus was happy to be able to buy this stuff at such a good price! I on the other will be checking the ingredients on my bottle of shampoo tonight! For some reason this gives me the heebies……..

I spent a nice day watching Sammy's favorite shows on television. He loves Dogs 101 and Dog Whisperer. Here's his favorite seat.

So how's that for a wacko household? I'm stuffing my face with one ton chips, the Missus is rubbing placenta on Her face, and Sammy spends most of the day glued to the television………

One last thing…….

I know I always mention how beautiful the sunsets are in Hawaii; but they aren't so shabby here in San Diego either!

I hope everyone had a great weekend!