eringi ragout #2

Remember I re-created a favorite, eringi ragout?

Well, I recently had the dish at Capricciosa and realized they add pancetta to theirs.

So, I tried making this again adding pancetta (50 grams) and lessened the ground beef a little.

I also served this with toasted baguette instead of over pasta.

I didn't have leftover creamy tomato soup like I used the first time making this, so instead I added 1 cup of canned diced tomatoes and a pinch of thyme.

NOTES: this was good! even more flavorful with the addition of the pancetta. You need to simmer it a little longer so that most of the liquid evaporates...I only wish I had had more baguette.

meatless

Made taco rice the other night. I made it meatless this time, but to make it have some substance, I used eggplant and eringi as the "meat".

Meatless Taco Rice : 2 servings

"Meat"
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1 eggplant, diced
2 eringi, diced
1/4 onion, diced
1 tablespoon taco mix
*Cook until onion is transparent and eggplant cooked through
Add taco mix and stir to coat well

Black Bean Dip
1 clove garlic
1 jalapeno
1 can black bean, rinsed
1/2 yuzu, juiced　(about 2 teaspoons)
*Whizz

Avocado Dip
1 avocado, mashed
1 yuzu, juiced (a little over a tablespoon)
*Mix well

Salsa
3 scoops of canned chopped tomato
2 jalapeno
*Whizz

Lettuce, sliced or torn into bite sized pieces.
2 slices cheese
Rice, cooked

Put some hot rice into two bowls and add a slice of cheese on top of each.
Then put some lettuce, salsa, black bean dip and avocado dip on each.
Top with the "meat"
Enjoy with a fork or spoon!

NOTES: I thought doing this meatless would leave me feeling hungry, but it was delicious and filling too.

I'd definitely make this again.

eringi ragout

There is a dish at Capricciosa (a chain Italian restaurant) that I like to get, their spicy eringi ragout with pappardalle.

I tried to recreate it the other night for dinner and I think I came quite close.

Here's what I did: makes 2 servings

1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1/8 onion, minced
1/2 clove of garlic, minced
pinch of chili flakes
1/4 red bell pepper, diced
180 grams ground beef pork mixture
2 small bunches of spinach, cleaned and cut to bite sized pieces
5 eringi, sliced thin

1 tablespoon tonkatsu sauce
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 cup leftover creamy tomato soup
salt, pepper

2 servings pasta, cooked

Heat oil in a frying pan and add the onions, garlic and chili.
Then add the red bell pepper, meat & spinach
When the meat changes color, add the eringi
Then when the eringi starts to cook through add the tonkatsu sauce, tomato paste and leftover soup

The sauce should start to get thick after a couple of minutes.
Add salt and pepper to taste.

Cook your pasta according to package directions and drain but do not rinse.
Scoop sauce over your pasta and serve.

NOTES: I liked this, it was similar to the one at Capricciosa and had more "stuff" in it than theirs. Plus with the addition of eringi, you can cut back the amount of meat you add to this sauce. If you don't have tonkatsu sauce, use worcestershire sauce.

I'm making this again.

millefeuille

You won't find many nabe (hot pot) dishes on this blog for three reasons...on weekdays, most times Satoshi and I eat at different times. On weekends, we mostly eat out. And I don't have a proper donabe (doe-nah-bay = deep ceramic pot).

After seeing a similar dish on television, I was itching to try this, but not wanting to go out and buy a donabe, so I made do with what I had...a 10-inch non-stick pan with a cover.

Millefeuille means a thousand leaves in French and is usually found as a dessert with layers of puff pastry and custard cream.

This recipe is a savory version.

Kat's Pork Kim chee MilleFeuille Style "Nabe"

300 grams pork belly, thinly sliced
100 grams kim chee
1/4 hakusai (chinese cabbage)
1 pack maitake (hen of woods mushroom), broken up into pieces
1 pack eringi (oyster mushroom), sliced thinly
1 chicken consomme cube
1.5 cups water

Cut the core of the cabbage and wash each leaf, leaving it as much intact as possible
If the base of the rib of the leaf looks thick, use a peeler and shave off some of it
Also, if the leaf is too wide, cut it to a 3-inch width

Layer cabbage and pork, then slice to about 3-inch squares.
Arrange the layers into your pan or deep pot
Add maitake, eringi and kim chee into the gaps.

On low heat, add part of the water and cover.
Cook for 10 minutes then add the consomme cube.
Add more of the water then cover and cook for another 10 minutes.

Check to see that the rib of the cabbage is at least a little cooked through, it doesn't have to be limp.

And as long as the soup comes up to near the top of your layers, the pork should be cooked through after the 20 minutes.

NOTES: this was so good! If I had a deeper pot or larger frying pan, this would have been easier to cook.

I know this blog has a lot of pork and kim chee combination recipes but the two go so well together.

The last picture is of what was leftover in a 4-cup Ziploc container, by the way, Satoshi had 4 servings and 2 bowls of rice.

I'm making this again.

It's Friday here, hope you have a good weekend!

eating "local"

Last Monday, after my dentist appointment, I went into Hanshin department store to pick up something for lunch.

I also needed some celery so I went to their produce area. Now, I don't usually shop for produce at the department stores because they tend to be on the pricey side.

Surprisingly, they were having a sale and everything was rather reasonable and an even bigger bonus was that the items on sale were grown in Japan.

I found a bunch of celery for 298 yen (about US$2.98). Usually when I buy celery, they have 1 stalk packaged and it is usually 158 yen (about US$1.58)...so I was excited to pick up 3 stalks for the 298 yen.

The zucchini was of good size too and were 2 for 298 yen (about US$2.98). Usually when I buy zucchini, they are scrawny and cost 298 yen for 1.

Lastly, the asparagus were unbelievably cheap also...189 yen (about US$1.89) for 11 stalks. Usually they only have 3 woody local stalks for ranging between 158 yen and 198 yen (about US$1.58-$1.98).

When I went to pay for them, the cashier said to me, "how shall I cut it?", pointing to the celery. I told, "just cut it in half." She immediately pulled out a produce knife and cut it in half, this actually surprised me.

The good/bad thing about shopping at the department store was that they wrapped everything in this brown paper, though I guess it was better than a plastic bag.

I've already used some of the celery and one of the zucchini for 3 bean salad and vegetable soup.

And I've used the asparagus with some eringi and shimeji mushrooms for a stir-fry with a little butter and tarragon. We've also eaten the leftovers for breakfast with a sunny-side up egg on top and toast.

I also tried Ellie Krieger's "Grilled Zucchini Roll-ups with Herbs and Cheese". This was delicious, only problem I had was getting the zucchini slices thin.

Though we aren't truly eating local, we are eating more items from Japan. Have you been eating local and/or more items from your country?

making fizz and "stuff"

Thanks for all the great comments. I was surprised to hear about all the different types of drinks and snacks that everyone has at their Starbucks. And I was also happy to hear that, not everyone hangs out there. For me, I like them only because it is smoke-free, if I really had a choice, I know I wouldn't go there because they are quite pricey. In fact, they recently raised the price of their beans and drinks. 10 yen..but still.

Anyway, enough about Starbucks for now...In a recent post, I wrote that I was craving fizz and sugar. Since then, I have been trying to wean myself off of soda (since there is tons of sugar in it) and tried to make something as natural as possible.

On Thursday, at the supermarket, I debated over the lemons. They were selling 3 tiny lemons for 150 yen from the U.S. Versus 1 big lemon from Chile for 129 yen. I chose the 3 for 150 yen about US$1.50 and bought 2 bags. Then I squeezed the 6 lemons (about 1/2 cup lemon juice--not much juice as they were teeny) and added 2 cups of fizzy soda water. Then in a glass, I added ice and a teaspoon of blueberry honey.

I mixed it well to make sure that the honey dissolved. It was really refreshing and having it in the morning really wakes you and your tastebuds up! (You can adjust the sweetness if it is too tart, but we really liked it this way.) I am definitely making this again.

Did I say enough of Starbucks? Well, yesterday, I tried these blueberry-yogurt pancakes. Delicious, light and fluffy and on their "Wellness Selection" menu. I guess having yogurt in the pancakes make them "healthy", but I think it was counter-acted by the whipped butter...which I used the whole little container of (there is a butter shortage here, couldn't let it go to waste, could I?)

This year's summer has been really hot which may not be a good thing for us humans, but it has been a good thing for the veggies. They are HUGE! Take for example this eringi, (was about 6 inches long and 2 inches in diameter) usually they are skinnier and half this size.

I saw a television program once that said that Japan measures their produce by weight, them packages them for sale at about 100 to 150 grams per package, so most times they mix small veggies with big ones.

When I bought this (for 98 yen about US$.98), there was just this one inside, though I don't think it was 100 or 150 grams.

p.s. something is wrong with Blogger...I cannot access my blog to answer comments. Hope this gets fixed soon!