Recipes – Page 23

Quick Saturday Dinner: Furikake Crusted Ahi Salad with Ponzu Dressing

March 31, 2007 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

Today it almost felt like summer, and we needed something pretty quick to eat, and I had a nice piece of good, but not quite sashimi grade(at least for me) Ahi. So I decided to make a really easy dish that I haven’t made for a while….it’s really easy, takes me less than 20 minutes!

Much of what I use is already prepared…the ponzu sauce, furikake, and the wasabi oil I made ahead of time for something else. I enjoyed making this, it’s been a while, I have a little story that I’ll mention at the end of the post. I also use a garlic press(I call it my ginger press, since I never use it for garlic) to juice small pieces of ginger…you don’t need much. It is kind of Asian-Fusion-ny…..it has also spoiled the Missus, She understands how really simple some of these Pacific Rim Asian Fusion Dishes really are.

Furikake Crusted Ahi

1 Block of Ahi(1/2-3/4 lb)
1/3 Cup of Furikake( Japanese condiment for topping rice)
3-4 Tb Sesame Seeds

2 Tb Soy Sauce
1/2 Tsp Prepared Wasabi
Ginger Juice

Mix last three items in a bowl and place Ahi in marinade, turn Ahi to coat. In a clean dry plate pour out Furikake and Sesame Seeds and mix. Place the block of Ahi and coat with mixture, I only coat three sides, we’ve found that coating all four sides of the fish makes it a bit too salty. Sear over high heat, do not overcook! Slice carefully and serve with mixed greens with Ponzu Dressing

Ponzu Dressing
1/2 Cup Ponzu(I used the bottled Kikkoman Ponzu)
1/4 Cup Sugar
3-4 Tb Soy Sauce
Ginger Juice
Canola Oil as desired

Mix first 3 ingredients until sugar is dissolved, add ginger juice(I use a garlic press to create ginger juice). Add desired amount of oil and mix in a jar. Dress greens well, and add some acidic and a few other items(in this case, I had some Jicama, and cucumbers are great as well). Really simple.

Wasabi Oil
1/4 Cup Wasabi Powder
1 Tb Mirin
1 Tsp Sugar
1/4 Cup Canola Oil
1/4 Cup Water

In a bowl combine the first 3 ingredients. Add water slowly(you may need less) until a pancake batter consistency is reached. Slowly whisk in oil, and whisk till smooth. Let stand at least 30 minutes. This great with Maguro or Tai Carpaccio, and other seafood, or even as an addition to salad dressings.

When I first met my future Father and Mother-In-Law, they wouldn’t eat rare fish or sashimi, in fact they wouldn’t eat fish that didn’t have a "head" attached, a bit suspicious that anything without a "head" meant it was less than fresh. I felt really bad, because one of the benefits of living in Hawaii is access to really great fresh fish. So one evening, I made this…and they enjoyed it!

So next time you have some xxx crusted Ahi or whatever…….it seems like doing the dishes takes longer than making this!

Misoyaki (Saikyo Yaki) Black Cod

March 9, 2007 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

Growing up we called this Misoyaki Butterfish, and it was something my Mom made on a regular basis. It seems that Nobu Matsuhisa, and a large contingent of popular chefs have made this into quite a popular dish. A few months ago someone requested my recipe, so here it is.

There are a few differences between my Mother's recipe and the Misoyaki I make nowadays. First, the Missus hated the grainy texture; my Mom's recipe called for just mixing several ingredients together. I've seen recipes where a Bain-Marie(double boiler for us…) is used to mix everything. But this didn't solve the problem of the excess alcohol flavor, so I've solved that problem by first boiling the sugar, mirin, and sake, this will ensure a smooth texture since the sugar is dissolved, and all the alcohol is burnt off. There is a another potential problem, miso should never, ever be boiled, this solved by just removing from heat before adding miso. My Mom used grated ginger in Her recipe, I've removed it from mine. But I've noticed that many Misoyaki recipes are much too sweet for my tastes, so I made a few adjustments. I've found that the addition of Aka ("Red" Miso) adds a bit of a salty flavor, and even some "depth" to the dish. One more note to "Nobu" fans out there…if you've had a problem with your miso glaze, it's because he uses a very high quality "Saikyo" Miso, I've found that the regular White Shiro Miso I use is not quite as sweet. In fact, when I did use Saikyo Miso, my recipe ended up tasting waaaaay too sweet! I just use a Mild White Miso, though I prefer the very mild Hawaiian Miso & Soy Company brand, I've found several others at Nijiya that do just fine.

Misoyaki Black Cod

3/4 Cup White Shiro Miso
1-2 Tb Aka Miso
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/4 Cup Sake
1/4 Cup Mirin
1 Tsp Real Soy Sauce – the kind really made from soybeans, not synthetic.

Combine Mirin, Sake, and Sugar in a small pot. Bring to a simmer stirring constantly until sugar is dissolved. Simmer for 2-3 minutes, until all the alcohol burns off. Remove from heat, and add Soy sauce to stop boiling. Slowly add Miso mixing until sauce is creamy. Do Not ever boil miso…..When sauce is cooled marinate black cod completely coating the fish. Marinate for at least 2 days, but 3 days is best. If using a conventional oven, pre-heat at 450 and bake fish for 5-8 minutes. When fish is almost cooked broil for an additional 2-3 minutes until well caramelized.

If you are doing batches over time, divide miso sauce into 2 "batches", brush misoyaki over fish and wrap each in plastic wrap. When broiling or cooking brush on miso glaze as necessary.

The Missus's favorite way of cooking Her fish is to use the toaster oven, she bakes until almost cooked than toasts it.

Why no good photo…well as is the norm, the fish usually doesn't make it to "full-term", and I'll return from work smelling the remnants of Misoyaki on the Missus's breath. At least this time She took a photo as she removed the fish from the toaster oven….not the most artistic photo, but I guess it'll do! Here's the Misoyaki Black Cod eaten 2 days earlier than it should be…..

As you can tell, nothing is written in stone…..have fun with it.

Reid of 'Ono Kine Grindz has a wonderful recipe here. A few years back I shared my recipe with Ed from Yuma, and I think he's become the Yuma Misoyaki Master……..

The Buta Kakuni Experiment

February 25, 2007 mmm-yoso Cookbooks, Cooking, Recipes

*** I’ve had a few emails and several comments below asking about the origins of Buta Kakuni…best that I can tell is that Buta Kakuni is based on a Chinese Dish that the Japanese call Tonporo. Which to me means it’s probably Dong Po Rou(Dong Po Pork), if you follow the link, you’ll see that it looks very similar. Dong Po Rou is named after the poet Su Dong Po, you can see a translation of one of His poems here.

The other day, I was paging through a cookbook I had lying around titled The Japanese Kitchen, authored by Hiroko Shimbo. The recipe I just happened upon (lucky me!!!) was for Buta Kakuni, the Braised Pork dish that originated in Nagasaki Prefecture. Apparently, Buta Kakuni is based on a Chinese Pork dish, and Nagasaki was a busy port city where ships from all over the world docked. So somewhere between the sixteenth and eighteenth century Buta Kakuni arrived(lucky us!!!)……..

There are two Buta Kakuni recipes that I have used in the past. In the first recipe, the pork belly is first fried, than simmered for several hours. In the second recipe, the pork belly is first boiled in Okara(tofu lees) for several hours before a short braise in a sake-soy sauce-mirin-sugar liquid. What caught my attention was that Hiroko Shimbo’s recipe first steamed the pork belly, before cooking in the flavoring liquid. And what was even more interesting was that the pork belly was first covered with grated daikon! According to the book, Daikon contains two digestive enzymes, protease and diastase which help to remove excess fat and tenderize the pork belly.

What you see above is the result. I used the steaming technique in the book, but the flavoring is the one I’ve used before from other recipes. I’ve had some recipes from Hiroko Shimbo’s book not turn out really well. Since this was an experiment, I only used a 12oz portion of pork belly, which waaay more than enough for us! Buta Kakuni is pretty rich anyway, and I can only eat maybe 3 pieces….before the extreme remorse starts.

The Buta Kakuni Experiment

2 1/2- 3 Cups Grated Daikon(liquid and all)
1 – 1 1/2 Lb Slab of Pork Belly
1/2 Tb (or more) Grated Ginger
1 1/2 Cup Water
1/2 Cup Sake
1/3 Cup Soy Sauce
1/3 Cup Sugar
4 Tb Mirin

1 – Set steamer over a pot of rapidly boiling water
2 – In a heatproof dish(make sure that it will fit the steamer) place 1/3 of the grated daikon and liquid over the bottom of the dish. Place the pork belly on top of grated daikon. Cover the pork with the remainder of grated daikon.
3 – Transfer dish to steamer and steam for 2 to 2 1/2 hours. I use a bamboo skewer after about 90 minutes to see how tender the pork belly is. Remember to keep replenishing the steaming liquid as necessary.

4 – Once the pork can be easily pierced with a bamboo skewer, remove the dish (carefully) from the steamer. Place the pork belly in a bowl of lukewarm water and gently rinse the pork.

5 – Dry the pork with paper towels, and cut it into 2 inch cubes.
6 – In a pot large enough to hold the pork in a single payer mix together the rest of the ingredients. Place pork in pot and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to a simmer.
7 – Simmer for 30 minutes, and check flavoring and texture. Make adjustments and simmer for at least 30 more minutes.
* On this day I added slices of daikon and boiled eggs before the last 30 minutes of simmering. Oh, and don’t forget the Hot Mustard!

The Pork Belly was very tender, and the remaining fat was smooth and velvety. The Missus thought it a bit too sweet, but I could have done with something cooked a bit longer, but I think the pork would have started falling apart. Of course, I’ve heard of places simmering their Buta Kakuni for 12 hours or more, but I don’t think I’ll be doing that in the near future.

Lest you think I was living on pork belly alone…..

I made the Missus some Karei Karaage:

And some Chicken Karaage:

And to cut the fatty flavors, some Pickled Onions with Ogo:

And followed it all with a double shot of Lipitor(I’m kidding, of course)! I did have a bit of one of my new favorite sakes, Yaegaki "Mu"…why they would name a sake "emptyness" is beyond me. This sake has a bit of a sweeter profile(not as sweet as Kurosawa), though I think it goes really well with food.

I did wish I still had another bottle of this on hand though!

Local Kine Chili

January 20, 2007 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

It’s quite amusing sometimes, when talking to ex-pat Kama’aina’s here on the Mainland…once you get past all of the initial pleasantries ("Wea you wen’ grad?"), without fail the conversation drifts to food, and what we miss ("ohhh man W and M Burgers"), and where to get what ("eh, you seen Purity Port-o-gee Sausage?"). In these conversations there are a few items that have reach iconic status, I’m talking about eye-rolling, lip smacking(taste memory is an amazing thing), stomach growling, iconic status. And what may seem to be surprising to some, is that one of these items is Chili….really, Chili. More specifically, Zippy’s Chili. Somewhere between 1966 when the first Zippy’s opened, to say 1971 when the second Zippy’s opened, in Kaimuki, just a block from where we lived(in the old Crown Drive In location), Zippy’s Chili had already won the stomachs of many locals. At the time of this article in 2004, Zippy’s was selling 150,000 of chili a month. Not only through the restaurants, but Zippy’s Chili had become a big time fund raising item, and of course there is online sales, and you can even get the frozen version at places like Marukai here on the mainland. Now that’s alot of chili…in Hawaii?

Strangely enough, my favorite "local kine" Chili is from Rainbow Drive In, also pretty close to where I grew up. Even the Missus will get into the action, Her favorite is from Cafe 100. But still, the King of the Hill is Zippy’s chili.

Right about now, all you Chili Purists should probably come back another day…..what you may read in the following paragraphs may be graphically disturbing. I’ve been told by many mainlanders that what Zippy’s serves, "isn’t Chili". In fact if I may digress…..Once while still working back home we took one of our mainland contractors to lunch at Zippy’s. Now this guy was one of those everything is bigger and better where I come from (guess the state? it begins with a ‘T’) kinda guy, the other thing was, he wouldn’t ditch the suit and tie, a big no-no. So we took him to "Zip’s" for some local flavor. And he orders the chili…when he get’s his chili and crackers, he makes a face, and spits it back into his bowl, and goes off on a little rant, "this ain’t chili, You People, don’t know what chili is…." Now we were kind of used to Him, but the very large and muscular Polynesian Dude eating his Chili-Spaghetti Plate(with two scoops rice and macaroni salad) was not amused. So Bruddah with the biceps like coconuts, and trapezius muscles like the Koolau’s, walks over and tells our guest; "eh, maybe wea’ you come from, dis’ isn’t chili, but ova hea’ it is. You think if any of these guys went visit you, and nevah like the food, dey would spit ’em out at the table? How do you say it…..you was raised in one barn!" And thus the nickname, "Barn-ey" was born…….. He did learn what the term "No make A" meant after that.

Back to the Chili I made, to be very clear, it’s not Zippy’s Chili, but I think it’s pretty close to many "local" versions. The best that I can determine, it’s a bit similar to Cincinnati style Chili. And many people enjoy it on top of spaghetti, or with cheese and onions on it. It isn’t very spicy(though we like to add Tabasco), and uses a few different items, like ginger. As with items of iconic stature there has been much discussion as to the secret ingredient in Zippy’s Chili, the items I hear the most often is Mayonnaise, and believe it or not Cream of Mushroom Soup, for this recipe I used some Mayo at the end, and it added a nice rich finish. Another item I used is the liquid drained from the canned Kidney Beans, I think the canning liquid adds great flavor, and you won’t need to add any salt. But, if you suffer from a pernicious reverse post-bean reflux…….I wouldn’t add to your flatulence woes by using the canning liquid, and use water instead.

Local Kine Chili

1 1/2 lb Ground beef
1/4 lb Bacon, chopped into 1/4"x1/4" cubes
2 Medium Onions, Chopped
1 C Celery, chopped
1 Large Bell Pepper, finely chopped
3 Cans Kidney beans drained, save liquid(see below)
3-4 Cans Tomato sauce
1 Can Tomato Paste
1 – 1 1/2 C Bean "liquid" or water
2 Tb Ketchup
2 Tb Red wine
2 Bay leaf
3-4 Tb Chili powder
1/2 Chicken Bullion Cube
1-2 tsp Sugar
1 Tb Oregano
1 Tb Paprika
1/4 tsp Cumin
1/4 tsp Grated Ginger
3-4 Cloves Garlic, minced
1 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1-2 Tb Mayonnaise(Best Foods or Hellman’s)

1 – Brown bacon over medium heat, when the bacon starts getting crisp add the Onions,

Celery, Bell Pepper, Ginger, Pepper Flakes, and Garlic, stirring to prevent browning.

2 – Once the onion turns translucent, add the Ground Beef, and brown.

3 – When the ground beef is browned add beans, tomato sauce, tomato paste, bean liquid(start with 1 cup), beans, bullion, sugar, oregano,bay leaf, and cumin. Bring to a low boil, than reduce to a simmer.

4 – When chili has been simmering for 5-6 minutes, add in Worcestershire, chili powder(start with 2 Tb), red wine, and paprika. Let simmer for a few minutes, taste and adjust flavor.

5 – Simmer for 30 minutes, and mix in 1-2 Tb Mayonnaise.

Tailgate! The San Diego Holiday Bowl

December 28, 2006 Cathy Cooking, Recipes, Stuff, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso is not on vacation. Cathy is blogging away and Kirk is taking a day off. You checked in, so stay and read for awhile.

Hello again. Football. College football. Bowl games. Yes, its that time of year. Ten years ago there were only 18 Official Bowl games, now there are 32. The Holiday Bowl is played here in San Diego.

The Mister and I have gone to every Holiday Bowl since 1984….we meet with "100 of our closest friends"and have a feast in the parking lot before the game. One couple smokes a turkey, looking for a 30 pounder every year. We don’t care who is playing. We eat, go in and watch the game, then come back out and fire up the burners, have hot cider, turkey soup, Irish coffee and leftovers and watch the parking lot empty. Yes, we go for the food.

Our little group, comprised of some great people from all over the world: Australians, Canadians, Japanese, plus a few good Lions, Optimists, Rotarians, Aggies, Bears and long time friends, gets together, each bringing enough food for themselves, plus a little more to share, in our "miracle" potluck feast.

So, yesterday we started cooking: Six pounds of bread dough to make rolls:

Which, when finished, were wonderfully browned and soft, light and just a tad crispy on the top:

Then, we have about 9 pounds of cross rib roast, 3 pounds of tri-tip and 7 pounds of ribs…

We usually buy small end rib roast, and its usually on sale between Christmas and New Year, but not this year and we kind of need a *lot* of meat…and we can cook roast beef, no matter the cut. Those 100 ‘close friends’ don’t really know our names, but they know that we are the "roast beef people"…and, trust me, all of this beef will be gone.

So, the infamous recipe: garlic, oregano, paprika…made into a paste with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Um, how much you say…well that’s 3 pounds of fresh garlic…and a liter of olive oil…and then the rest…to taste.

Oh you should smell my house right now!

You put the paste on the meat, into the oven that had been at 500° and drop the heat to 300° and put a thermometer in and wait for 118° and take the meat out of the oven. It continues cooking, trust me. We pre-slice and its, you know, medium rare.

Our seats will have this same view this year. I’ll report back about the rest of the food, later. Gotta pack up the pick up!

OK…its about 11 p.m. and we are home. here are a few photos of food from the tailgate…. the infamous 27 pound smoked turkey with rice stuffing and the waay infamous sweet potato casserole

There were 133 of us this year and it seems that everyone brought something, from tangerines from the yard and cucumber salad, lasagna, pizza, Subway sandwiches, chicken, chips, many-layered dips and desserts galore..to the chili, hot cider and Irish coffee we had while waiting for the parking lot to clear.

Oh, the game was good too and the opening ceremonies, starting with a moment of silence for the military who have died in the war as well as for President Ford was moving. The flyover of the F-18’s after the Star Spangled Banner was exciting and loud.

Halftime was as loud and bright as ever with fireworks and a show put on by local schools and their marching bands and dance teams.

I hope this sort of gave you a small glimpse into what a Southern California tailgate is like. I need to sleep now!

Midweek Madness

November 15, 2006 mmm-yoso Cookbooks, Cooking, Recipes

Wow, it's Wednesday already. Here are a few midweek odds and ends.

Kayaba

One half of the new food stands in the Mitsuwa Marketplace has revealed itself.

From what I understand Kayaba will be doing Soba, Katsu, and the like. I'm hoping for a Santoka Ramen as well. One can always hope……

The Missus had a hankering for Una-Don, so I purchased some Unagi from Nijiya, but decided to make my own quick and dirty Nitsume(Eel sauce). We've purchased the bottled stuff, and found it either to be too salty, or too sweet, or having strange flavors. So I decided to try a slight modification of an interesting recipe I found in DK Kodama's Sushi Chronicles from Hawaii, which I purchased on my visit to Sansei a few weeks back. The recipe is pretty easy, and after seeing the amount of Sake in it I had my doubts, but it turned out to be quite good. Maybe a tad on the sweet side, but not bad at all.

The recipe uses some short cuts, like hondashi…which worked out well, since I didn't happen to have a whole bunch of Eel trimmings lying around. The recipe also calls for the Hondashi to be boiled…which made it a fishy-bitter during the first pass, so I cut the amount in half, and added it right before the reduction process, and it worked. I'd been taught never to boil anything after adding Hondashi, but in this case it worked during the low boil. Purists may just want to skip the recipe, if it hurts too much.

Easy Unagi Sauce(Nitsume)

2 Cups Sake
1/2 Cup Mirin
1/2 Coy Sauce(Yamasa or Aloha)
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/4 Tsp Hondashi

1 – Mix all ingredients except Hondashi in a pot. Bring to a boil stirring to dissolve the sugar. Reduce heat to medium-low and add Hondashi.

2 – Reduce mixture by half to a light syrup.

3 – Store in a tightly sealed container and refrigerate. According to the original recipe this will keep for up to 1 month.

I still don't quite know what to do about the Missus's other current obsession:

Have you ever known anyone who craved brussel sprouts???? With Nitsume??? And Rice???

One last item – mmm-yoso's very own Cathy Doe has been recovering from illness, so I'd like to make sure to tell Her to hang in there, and get well soon. She's still posting too..what a trooper!

Turnip Cake

November 12, 2006 mmm-yoso Cookbooks, Cooking, Recipes

Did I ever happen to mention the Missus’s obsessions? It really doesn’t take much…just a simple mention of an item, and a fast growing seed is planted. It’s something that demands immediate attention…if left alone to germinate, well, let’s not go there.

This past Saturday, we had a wonderful lunch at Chin’s with Ed from Yuma, mizducky, Howie from A Foodie’s Eye View, and last but certainly not least Codergirl. In the midst of the lunch Howie happened to mention that a friend of his makes Turnip Cakes at home. Now at the mention of this little comment, I saw the Missus perk up, and though I don’t think anyone else noticed it, with just the little "they make it at home…" I knew we’d be making turnip cakes.

And so it’s off to 99 Ranch Market we go……

We’ve always had pretty good outcomes with recipes from Ellen Leong Blonder’s book Dim Sum: The Art of Chinese Tea Lunch, and used the recipe as the basis for making turnip cakes, which turned out to be quite easy. We did make a few changes and adjustments in the recipe. The result is pictured below.

Turnip Cakes

2-3 Tb Small Dried Shrimp(optional – also soaking them in hot water for 20-30 minutes and draining is optional, we didn’t do this)
2 1/2 – 3 cups(lightly packed) Coarsely shredded Daikon Radish
1 Lup Cheong(Chinese sausage) finely diced
2 Green Onions (include white parts) finely sliced
1-2 Tb Cilantro – finely chopped
2 Cups Rice Flour (* Important note – use rice flour, do not use sweet/glutinous rice flour)
1 Tsp salt(adjust up if not using shrimp)
1/2 Tsp Sugar
1/4 Tsp Ground White Pepper
1 1/2 Cups Water
Vegetable/Canola Oil

1 – Place shredded radish in a small pot or saucepan with water. Bring mixture to a boil, than reduce the heat to a low and simmer for 15 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Remove radish from liquid(do not discard the cooking liquid) and place in measuring cup. Add in cooking liquid to bring the amount to approximately 3 cups. Let the mixture cool to a lukewarm temperature.

2 – While radish is cooking, heat 2 teaspoons of oil in a skillet or wok. When oil starts to smoke add the Lup Cheong,Green Onions, and Dried Shrimp. Stir fry for 1 or 2 minutes. Remove the mixture from heat and stir in Cilantro.

3 – Get the steamer going.

4 – In a bowl mix the rice flour, salt, sugar, and white pepper. Add the radish and cooking water, and stir to a batter-like consistency. Add the Lup Cheong mixture to the batter and mix. Pour mixture into a 8×8 cake pan, or a 9 inch round cake pan.

5 – Place cake pan into steamer, and steam at a medium-high boil for 35-45 minutes.

6 – Once done, remove the turnip cake from the steamer and let cool.

Once cool, you can cut into squares and fry, or fry, than add egg, or whatever preparation you desire.

I fried up a few squares, and the Missus told me, "you know what this means, don’t you?" "Wellll, I guess no more store bought, and we’ll cross this off our Dim Sum list, ala’ Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf?"

Thanks alot Howie…just kidding of course. Turnip cake turned out to be much easier than we thought.

I’ve had a few Emails asking if I still cook, and yes I am, but recently it’s been really simple things like Soboro, and other stir fries, but I thought this would be of some interest. I’ll be back with another restaurant tomorrow.

Episode 13-Week 2 Easy Weekend Breakfast

October 13, 2006 Cathy Cooking, Recipes, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso is on vacation. The part usually played by Kirk will be played by Cathy in the interim.

Hi. It was a nice, rainy day. Hope yours went well. This will be a relatively short post. I am going to the Asian Film Festival with the Mister tonight to seeAsian Stories, Book 3 which is directed by DietChiliCheeseFries. Considering I have not ventured into a movie theater, nor rented a DVD or movie in more than ten years, this is kind of major for me.

One thing Kirk and I have in common is that each of us married people who were not born in the USA. Kirk’s Missus is from China and my Mister was born in Finland. This may help explain why most of my posts are not totally Asian in content. I only know what I like, not the intricacies of each ingredient or style in which to eat.

Oh, and Kirk was born in Hawaii and I was born in Detroit and I am mostly Polish, with some German and Russian thrown in. That said, the Mister and I are kind of ‘hearty’ eaters… Here is a common Finnish breakfast treat…it works wonderfully for guests. You can make the mix the night before and leave in the fridge, pouring the mix into the heated baking dish once the butter in it has melted.

Finnish Oven Pancake

9×13 pan.. Put a stick of butter in it, put into oven and turn heat on to 425°. Let butter melt and start mixing:

5 large eggs (7 or 8 small)

1 Tbs sugar

1/2 tsp salt

2 1/2 C milk

1 half pint container of cottage cheese

1 C all purpose flour

1 Tsp baking POWDER

Pour mix into the buttered hot pan. Bake at 425° for 25 minutes. When you take it out of the oven, it will be puffy, like the above photograph. It will then collapse. Cut it and it looks like this:

The Mister likes it with maple syrup; I like it plain. It can be eaten hot or cold. We serve with bacon and fresh fruit.

This recipe was featured in the "Chefs of the West" section of Sunset Magazine in August 1985. If you find that issue of that magazine, you know the Mister’s name. You also will be considered a stalker….

……………………………………………………………………………………………………

The Mister and I just got back from Hazard Center and seeing Asian Stories, Book 3. It was great! It will be played again this Tuesday October 17 at 4:30. If you get the chance, don’t miss it! It is a dramatic comedy, with a girl. The food references are almost too numerous to count…but I am going to look for the artichoke goat cheese empañadas at Trader Joe’s the next time I go…..

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Beggar’s Chicken

September 18, 2006 mmm-yoso Cookbooks, Cooking, Recipes

This recipe is based on the recipe for Beggar’s Chicken found in Eileen Yin-Fei Lo’s hefty cookbook, The Chinese Kitchen. I’m sure many of you own this cookbook. It has quite a few elaborate and somewhat complex dishes in it. What I have found with many of the dishes in this book, is that the seasoning of the dishes are quite mild. Still, it’s fun to play……..

I find more than a bit of irony in the name Beggar’s Chicken, as it is a fairly elaborate dish. And I would really have to stretch my imagination to believe, that if I were a beggar, I would even be considering making this chicken dish……

One more key note. Even though the presentation of the chicken in this dish can be pretty stunning; it’s the stuffing that makes this dish. As wonderfully juicy as the chicken is, without the stuffing, it would be quite bland.

So on the day before making the chicken prepare the stuffing. There is a stuffing recipe in the book, but I prefer something like the Glutinous Rice Stuffing here. The chicken will be amazingly juicy, so all the juices soaked up in the rice is so…delici-yoso!!!

Part 1 – The Lotus Leaf

Trim and soak 2 lotus leaves in hot water for 30-45 minutes(the book says twenty, but that’s not enough time), unfolding and turning every 10 minutes, until leaves are saturated.

Part 2 – The Chicken – here’s what we worked with.

1 – 4lb Chicken
1/4 Cup Salt

Remove excess fat from the chicken and wash under cold water. Dry, then rub salt over the outside of the chicken, rinse again, and dry well.

Part 3 – The Marinade

4 Tb Gin
1 3" Piece Cinnamon broken into 4 pieces
2 Star Anise
2 Tb Sugar
1 Tb Salt
Dash on White Pepper

In a bowl combine marinade ingredients, and rub the exterior and interior of the chicken.

Part 4 – The Dough

5 Cups High Gluten Flour
11/2 – 2 1/2 Cups Hot Water
Canola Oil
Additional Flour as necessary

Place flour on large cutting board or another surface. Make a "well" in the center of the flour. Add the hot water slowly while mixing the flour with one hand. Knead dough for 2-3 minutes, coat hand with oil to prevent sticking, and add flour to keep from sticking to kneading surface. Roll out dough to a size large enough to wrap the chicken. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Part 5 – Stuff that Bird!

And close openings with skewers.

Part 6 – Wrap it up.

You’ll need the Lotus Leaves, Flattened Dough, and 2-3 feet heavy duty Aluminum Foil.

Shake Lotus leaves dry. Wrap the chicken in Lotus Leaves, make sure leaves overlap, and the edges of the leaves are on the bottom. Place the Lotus Leaf wrapped chicken(breast side up) in the middle of the dough and wrap, sealing the top completely.

Place dough wrapped chicken in the middle of foil and seal completely.

Part 7 – Cook that Bird!

At 350 degrees F, for 1 hour, then lower the temp to 325 degrees F for 3 hours. Great time to make some side dishes…maybe some Crab and Corn soup, and Spicy Stove Braised Eggplant.

After the time is up(at last!!) remove chicken from the oven, and fold back the foil.

You can now either cut right down the center of the dough and separate, or cut around the dough and remove the top.

You’ll find the chicken to be very, very tender and moist. In fact, you just stick your spoon right into the middle of the chicken, and scoop out both the chicken and stuffing.

Mid-Week Meal – Katsu Don

September 13, 2006 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

You know, I got an email last night over a remark in my post on Yoshino’s about how deceptively hard it is to make good Katsu Don. Basically, the email called my remark silly, and "called me out." Though I usually will ignore Emails, this time I went to the freezer, and started to defrost some Chicken Breasts.

Tonight we had Chicken Katsu Don. I wish I took a better photo:

2 Fried Breaded Pork Cutlets(Tonkatsu) or Chicken Cutlets(Chicken Katsu)
1 Onion Sliced lengthwise into wedges
3 Eggs lightly beaten(don’t over-beat, the eggs will become "stiff")
Cooked Rice
1/2 Cup Water
2 Tb Sake
2 Tb Sugar
3 Tb Mirin
3 Tb Soy Sauce
1/4 tsp Instant Dashi

1 – Pour water into a small pot and bring to a boil(note: The Missus enjoys alot of sauce on Her Katsu Don, so I usually double the sauce recipe), and add Sake, Sugar, Mirin, and Soy sauce. Stir to dissolve sugar. When the Donburi sauce returns to a boil, remove from heat and add Instant Dashi(do not boil), and stir to dissolve.

2 – Slice Cutlets crosswise into bite sized pieces

3 – Fill two good sized Donburi(bowls) with hot rice.

4 – Pour 1/2 the sauce into a small-medium sized frying pan(make sure you have a lid), or even better, an oyako-nabe pan(these are pans especially made for making Donburi dishes – I don’t have one). Over medium heat, bring sauce to a simmer. Add 1/2 of the onions, and briefly simmer. Place one of the sliced cutlets into the pan on top of the onions and sauce. Pour 1/2 of the beaten egg in a circular motion around the cutlet. Cover and let simmer for 20-45 seconds.

5 – Uncover the pan and remove from heat. At this point I fold some of the egg, onions, and sauce over the cutlets. And transfer to the Donburi bowl, covering the rice. Make sure you get all of the "good stuff".

Top with benishoga, green onions, nori, furikake, string beans, or whatever…….

Repeat with second cutlet.

The verdict? The Missus thought the sauce was good, as well as the egg. The texture of the chicken was okay, though She wants me to brine the chicken before cooking to create a dense texture. The Katsu was a bit too salty, so I’ll have to cut back on the salt next time.

Simple stuff, really(I could’ve used even more egg)……the cutlet shouldn’t be saturated and mushy, the egg shouldn’t be stiff, and the sauce should have enough of a salty-soy-sweet taste to flavor the rice.

Tomorrow it’s another restaurant!