recreated

Sometimes when you taste something, you know exactly how to make it again when you get home.

Such was the roasted onion dish we had in Awajishima last month.

All you need to make this is:
sweet onions
your favorite bolognese sauce
shredded cheese
a little olive oil

Grease the dish you will be baking this in with some olive oil.
Peel your onions then make an "X", don't cut all the way through.
Drizzle a little olive oil into the "X"
In a 400F (200C) oven, roast the onions (uncovered) for about 30 minutes.
Add the bolognese sauce and cheese (amounts up to you), then put back into the oven for another 20 minutes.
The cheese should be a little browned at the end of the 20 minutes, if not put it in a couple more minutes.

NOTES: super easy and super delicious! Satoshi gave this a thumbs up. I'm making this again.

roasted brussels sprouts salad

I forgot to mention that growing up in Hawaii, we had to work in the cafeteria once in a while, I enjoyed these times, because our lunch was free for that day.

Also, as far as cleaning went, we used to have to "clap" the chalkboard erasers to clean them once in a while, but never had to do the whole class room.

Thanks for all the great comments on yesterday's post.

Now onto today's post...after French class on Tuesday, I went to Daimaru to pick up a couple items for dinner.

Upon looking at the veggie section, I found a little pack of brussels sprouts (10 orbs for 298 yen). In Japanese, brussels sprouts are called Me-kyabetsu (literally sprout cabbage).

It was my first time cooking with it and I winged it.

After cutting off the stems and washing them, I cut them in half then drizzled some olive oil and roasted them at 420F (220C) with a half of an onion for about 15 minutes.

While I was waiting for the sprouts and onion to be done, I sauteed some pancetta (3 thin slices) that I had cut into bite sized pieces, and drained it onto a paper towel.

Then, I put a handful of dried fruit and the drained pancetta into a container and drizzled one mini container of olive oil basil-balsamic dressing (20 ml, about a tablespoon).

After the sprouts and onion were done, I added them to the fruit and pancetta then drizzled one more mini container of the olive oil basil-balsamic dressing (20 ml) because the dried fruit and pancetta soaked up the first "drizzle".

And since I had some marcona almonds in my freezer, I toasted them in the a 300F (150C) oven for 10 minutes and added them to the mix.

NOTES: a little tangy from the dressing, crunch from the nuts though I think I overcooked the brussels sprouts because they were a bit bitter (which I read about online). Still, I really enjoyed this. It was good warm and even better the next day cold. I hope to see more reasonably priced brussels sprouts in the future so I can make this again.

roasted red bell pepper hummus

Hummus is really easy to make, especially if you have a food processor.

I recently threw together a roasted red bell pepper hummus and we have been enjoying this as pupu (appetizer) for dinner and I also have been eating this for lunch.

This recipe is based on what I used...

Roasted Red Bell Pepper Hummus makes about 1.75 cups

2 cloves garlic, unpeeled
1 red bell pepper, washed
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
230 grams (8 ounces) canned chick peas, rinsed
1 lemon, juiced
1 teaspoon cumin
1.5 tablespoon sesame paste
3 tablespoon olive oil
grinds of pepper to taste

Drizzle olive oil over garlic.
Roast garlic & red bell pepper in a 220C (425F) oven for 40 minutes.

Take skin off of bell pepper and de-seed. Peel garlic.
Whiz in food processor with chick peas.
Add sesame paste, cumin, lemon juice, pulse.
Drizzle in olive oil while running food processor.
Add grinds of pepper.
Whiz until you get the consistency that you like.
Enjoy on pretzels or pita.

NOTES: just the flavors that I remember! yummy!

roasted garlic and red pepper dip

I had some cloves of garlic sitting out and wanted to use them up, so I roasted them with a red bell pepper and made a simple dip out of them.

3 cloves of garlic, unpeeled
1 red bell pepper, washed
1/2 tablespoon EVOO

72 grams of cream cheese (about 2.5 ounces)
grinds of pepper (to your liking)
handful of Italian parsley, chopped, leaves only

Heat oven to 220C (425F)
Drizzle oil over garlic
Roast red bell pepper and garlic for 40 minutes.

Peel skin off of red bell pepper and take out seeds.
Peel garlic

Throw both into a food processor, whiz until a paste
Add in cream cheese, pepper & parsley

Whiz until you get the consistency that you want.

Eat with pretzels or bread.

Enjoy!

NOTES: too bad I had a dentist appointment Monday morning, this would have been perfect to munch on while watching the Super Bowl.

I want to try these two ingredients with garbanzos for a roasted red pepper hummus, I think it will taste like a pre-made hummus I used to buy in Hawaii...

p.s. today is Kenkoku Kinen no Hi (National Foundation Day), the day when the first Emperor, Jimmu, ascended the throne. It is a national holiday, hopefully the weather will be cooperative so we can get out and about, it has been raining here for the past couple of days.

cauliflower

The other day at the market, I ran across cauliflower. It isn't something that I normally see here, so I decided to get one...198 yen (about US$1.98) and grown in Japan.

I roasted it in the oven, with lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.

After it came out, I sprinkled it with ras el hanout...delicious!

so...

It's been a couple of days now, I still have a little jet lag, like getting up at 5:00 am, but at least I can kinda go back to sleep until 7:00 am (my usual wake-up time).

Sunday dinner was some pupus (appetizers)--including the seasoned pretzels my mom made, I also cooked some shrimp in sweet chili sauce and we bought some roasted veggies (which were really bland!).

Dinner tonight was pork with cranberry chutney and roasted veggies. While I was home, my mom made some cranberry chutney with fresh cranberries, onions and garlic....mmm this is good!

I roasted some zucchini, sweet potato, carrot and onion in some EVOO, salt, pepper, sage and thyme. I also roasted a red bell pepper.

The only actual standing by the stove was to cook the pork. Did you know pork chops here have no bone? I think it is because most of the cuts of pork are used for tonkatsu (pork cutlet). I have yet to see pork chops with the bone in it, in a market...

What did you have for dinner tonight?

tandoori chicken and couscous

The weather has been getting cooler. Some days are beautiful and sunny while others are kind of gloomy and rainy.

I think Autumn is almost here. At the market, they have started bringing in the chestnuts and pears.

Not sure why I was craving tandoori chicken, but I was.

The last time I made this, there was a slight "problem" in the kitchen.

This time around everything went okay, except that my lack of counter space made for balancing things here and there.

I bought chicken breasts with the skins on this time and marinated them lunch. (since they should marinate for about 4 hours)

The market had an awesome sale on chicken, 48 yen for 100 grams, so I only paid 172 yen (about US$1.72) for 358 grams.

Then at about 15:00 (snack time), I flipped them over in the marinade.

Previously, the pieces I had were smaller with no skin, so I cooked them for only 10 minutes then under the broiler for 17.

Since the pieces I had this time had the skin on them and were thicker, I put them into a 350F (180C) oven (skin side up) for 30 minutes then under the broiler for about 5 minutes.

The skin came out so crisp (of course I had to eat the one I had for dinner!), the meat was very moist.

I also made some carrot salad and couscous with dried fig, cranberries, apricots and nuts (pine nuts, pecan & cashew). I also roasted some red bell pepper and onion. Since I had some cucumber to use up, I cut it up and added it to the plate.

Not the most aesthetic plate, overall it was kind of labor intensive, it was a tasty dinner, which made it all worth it, plus we have leftovers so I don't have to cook tomorrow.

roasted stuffed peppers

The other night I wanted to make something easy for dinner. I had looked online for a roasted stuffed bell pepper recipe, but most were kinda time consuming (roasting the peppers then stuffing them, then putting them back under the broiler).

So instead, I threw several ingredients together raw, stuffed some red bell peppers and roasted them in a 350F (180C) oven for about 40 minutes.

Of course when I threw things together, I came out with more filling than needed.

So, I cooked the rest of the filling on the stove and served it on the side of the roasted peppers.

Here is what I put into my filling:
2 small chicken breasts, cut into small cubes
part of a zucchini, small dice
part of a carrot, small dice
part of an onion, small dice
some leftover cooked rice (about a handful)
some leftover iberico cheese (about a handful grated)
1 eringi mushroom, cut into small cubes
1 tablespoon EVOO
1/4 teaspoon herb de provence

Bake at 350F (180C) for about 40 minutes.

I also had forgotten to add the asparagus I had, so I chopped it up, cooked it on the stove and added it to the remaining filling.

Be careful when you cut the roasted bell peppers open to eat, all the juices from the chicken, and veggies will gush out.

It was delicious, simply seasoned--lots of veggies, some rice, some chicken and not too much work.

addicted to...

Recently I've been addicted to roasting red peppers and then combining them with caramelized onions, eringi, a cheese and olives.

I wash the red peppers then put them into a 220C (425F) oven for 40 minutes. I've seen recipes which instruct you to coat them with oil before baking, but I don't. The oven does all the work and all I have to do is wait to peel them (oh, I do turn the peppers over halfway through). The peppers get so sweet and tender!

Last week, one dinner was a veggie wrap. I steamed some thinly sliced cabbage, then on a tortilla I added the cabbage, some caramelized onions, kalamata olives, feta cheese, roasted red pepper and eringi mushrooms....mmm.

For yet another dinner, it was my first time making a savory tart.

With a defrosted puff pastry sheet, I cut it in half then pricked it with a fork leaving a border.

I added goat cheese, caramelized onions, kalamata olives, roasted red peppers and eringi. I baked it for 30 minutes in a 200C (400F) oven.

As I was eating the tart, I wondered why I hadn't tried making this before...it was so delicious!

Flaky pastry plus that combination of flavors that I am hooked on at the moment....yummy! I paired it with a green salad and it was a simple, yet delicious dinner.

And on yet another night, we had goat cheese, eringi, caramelized onions, roasted red peppers and red leaf lettuce toasted on a tortilla like a pizza.

Toasting the tortilla in the oven, the edges get really crispy....mmm.

Is there a flavor combination that you are hooked on at the moment?

spring veggies

With Spring, there are the "new" veggies...like shinjagaimo (new potatoes), these are tiny fingerling type (the photo shows the difference).

And shintamanegi (literally new onions), these are tender and sweet. I tried making caramelized onions (more on this in a later post). Both are great for roasting.

With the weather sort-of warming up, we've been eating more veggies as salads lately.

We also had hummus with tandoori chicken wraps.

Greek salad.

Roasted veggies with grilled chicken.

A small rant on asparagus. Would you pay 258 yen (about US$2.58) for 3 asparagus stalks from Japan or 99 yen (about US$.99) for 8 asparagus stalks from Mexico? I know neither is really a choice, but I really like to buy Japan when I can, but 3 versus 8....price wise and amount wise, I chose the Mexican asparagus.

Dark beer beef stew.

I found the recipe for the stew in a gas pamphlet at my MIL's.

500 grams gyumomo (beef top round)
salt/pepper
flour to coat
oil to brown
250 grams onion, sliced
150 grams carrot, chopped
1 celery, chopped
1 package shimeji (tricoloma)
celery leaf
350 ml dark beer
******************************
(a)
2 cup bouillon
100 grams tomato puree
1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoon sugar
1 bay leaf
******************************
40 grams butter
salt/pepper
Italian parsley

1. Cut meat into 4 cm cubes, salt and pepper and coat with flour, brown in oil.
2. Cut vegetables, wash shimeji
3. After browning beef, add veggies and coat with oil, add beer and let alcohol burn off (about 10 minutes).
4. Add (a), celery leaf, scrape off scum.
5. Simmer for 15-20 minutes.
6. Add butter, turn off heat.
7. Top with parsley.

NOTES: this is rich and delicious, I used 1.5 onions, 1 carrot, 250 grams meat and only 12 grams butter (40 grams of butter seemed too much). I also used Yebisu black beer.

the past couple of days

Thank you for your Christmas wishes. Satoshi was able to take the day off so we spent the day together. (Christmas is not a national holiday here, so if it falls on a weekday, most times Satoshi has to work--I think this was the first time in 7 years of living here that he was able to take the day off.) To our family and friends, we appreciate all of your cards and gifts.

This Christmas was rainy and cold. I was hoping to see some flurries but there were none to be seen.

We had our annual Christmas party on the 23rd with two other families. I brought two cream cheese dips. One with smoked salmon and one with roasted garlic and served them with Ritz crackers. It was a nice gathering and nice to see our friend's children who are getting bigger each year.

Our Christmas dinner last night was a pupu (appetizer) party. I made a version of Deb's ahi, avocado, crab towers. For some reason, the market didn't have maguro today, so I subbed salmon cut for sushi. I did it a bit chunky but it was still delicious.

We also had slices of apple with smoked cheddar.

There was also some chips and a glass of Two Oceans pinotage, a South African wine.

Dessert was chocolate dipped strawberries.
Recently, I bought a fondue pot by Vanilla Patisserie, which I found out is a shop in England. DHC, which I have written about before, was selling these pots in dark 70%, milk with hazelnut and white at an introductory price of 800 yen (about US$8). Of course, I bought the 70%. Just warm up the pot in some hot water for about 10-15 minutes and you are good to go.

Despite the rain, it was a great day. We hope you had a Merry Christmas and were able to enjoy it with family and friends.

new friend, new recipe, new flower

Yesterday I met a new friend. She contacted me through Flickr. Since she's travelling through Japan, she emailed me and we met for lunch and lots of sweets. (sorry no photos of the food) She gave me a mini bottle of her favorite liquer, which I hope to make ice cream or bon bons with!...thanks for a great time, Maui Luna!

The new recipe is something I tried for dinner.

Spring potato kinpira -- serves 2 from "Soshoku no susume-Spring recipes" by Hideo Makuuchi

400g new crop potatoes (about 1 pound?)
a pinch of dry chili
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/4 cup sake (rice wine)
2 tablespoon mirin (sweet rice wine)
2 tablespoon shoyu (soy sauce)

Wash the potatoes and keep the skins on (dig out any of the eyes--if any)
Cut the potato to about 4 or 5 mm.
Heat a pan and put in the oil
Toss the potato with chili around in oil until transparent
Add the sake, mirin and shoyu and simmer on medium until all liquid disappears.

This other recipe is adapted from a recipe I've used from Jamie Oliver. Cut an onion (preferable new crop as these are tender and sweet) into quarters but don't cut it all the way through.

Put a teaspoon of oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Put into a 400F (200C) oven for about 30 minutes.

Lastly, I wanted to show you my new flowers. They are called "forget-me-not". They were really inexpensive, less than 100 yen each. I thought the little flowers were so cute.

odds & ends

Last night, I decided to roast some veggies for dinner. I just drizzled olive oil, salt, pepper and oregano. After the veggies came out of the oven, I drizzled a little balsamic vinegar on top.

For the main dish, I baked some salmon and topped it with an idea I got from the Honolulu Advertiser. The recipe was for a lavender-thyme butter, but I didn't follow it because it was a bit too late to take some butter out to soften it (plus it is too cold to soften butter...), so I just took all the ingredients and placed them on top of the salmon. It made the house smell wonderful and it tasted great!

Well, today is a dreary Saturday, it is very overcast and very cold! Satoshi's German language class has moved from its previous location, so they had an open house. One of the presentations was by a local confectioner, Masashi Taniwaki, who makes German sweets. He lived in Germany for about 14 years before coming back to Japan. His shop is located in Ashiya, a high-end neighborhood, just outside of Osaka.

He talked about making different types of German sweets and of course, there was taste testing too. The first one we got to try was baum kuchen and is supposed to look like the rings of a tree when cut. This cake was a bit dense and has many layers and I was surprised at how this one wasn't too sweet. This cake is usually found at special occasions such as weddings or birthdays. You need a special baum kuchen oven to make this, so I can see why it might be found only at special occasions.

The next one was called land kuchen--which means country cake. This cake is usually found out in the country side and quite eaten regularly. This cake was also quite dense but had a fruit and nut topping. It was really good and also not too sweet.

The last one that we tried was called mohn kuchen. Mohn is poppy seeds. This cake was quite light and had a layer of poppy seeds, raisins and nuts. As you ate it, you could feel the little poppy seeds popping in your mouth.

I also want to share with you a new chocolate. This is called salt chocolate made by one of my favorite local chocolatiers, Ekchuah. It was sold last year at their shop, but I hadn't gotten around to getting some until now.

The back-side of the chocolate has the store's name in gold on it. This dark chocolate is laced with a natural salt that complements the chocolate, it is perfect while sipping a glass of red wine.

Lastly, this time of year bring sakura (cherry blossom) flavored treats. It is hard to describe the flavor because it doesn't not taste like cherries that we're used to in America. The flavor is delicate like the cherry blossoms themselves. This treat was made by a Kyoto shop called Kogetsu and we got them from a friend, Kathy. (Thanks Kathy!)

After opening the wrapper, you find this pink, gelatinous ball, which is flavored with sakura.

Then cutting into it, you find the sweet bean paste inside...delicious!

Hope you are having a great weekend!

dinner

Tonight's dinner was roasted chicken with onions (both red & yellow) and fresh thyme. Oh, and some wilted spinach. Remember I got some fresh herbs? which I wrote about (here) .

Well, the watercress that I also got was dead this morning, all shrively dead. 

So I cut off the dead stems and leaves and gave it some water and what do you know? It revived, in the same day! Wow!

So, anyway, after seeing the "dead" watercress, I figured, I better do something with the other herbs that I got. I looked in "The Naked Chef" cookbook by Jamie Oliver.

I've always enjoyed his shows when they were on the Food Network. 

His accent was really cool and even though half of the time, I didn't really understand what he was saying, his style of cooking looked fun!

The best part about this cookbook is that he indexes everything by the ingredient, I just looked under "thyme" and there were all kinds of recipes listed!

Anyway, on page153 of the cookbook there is a recipe for "Roasted Red Onion with Thyme and Butter".

I followed the recipe--somewhat and ad-libbed a bit too.

Here's the original recipe:

Roasted Red Onion with Thyme and Butter
Serves 6

Try to get 6 equal-sized medium to large red onions. Remove the first layer of skin.

With a knife, just take the bottom of the core end of the onion off, to give it a flat base, and make 2 cuts in a cross-shape in the top, cutting half-way down (do not cut right through into quarters).

Push some chopped or pounded fresh thyme into these gaps with a good pinch of salt (it's important to get the salt right into the gaps) and a little piece of butter.

I prefer to cook the onions in an earthenware dish on a thin layer of sea salt or I put them in with my roast chicken or lamb and they cook quite happily in the same tray.

Place in the oven at 400F for 30-35 minutes. These onions are great with a roast, so tasty and sweet.

Note: Since I was only cooking for 2, I got 2 onions, one red and one yellow and halved both. With half a red and half a yellow, I cut these into half again.

I then lined two pyrex dishes with foil and put one fourth of each onion in. 

Then I cut 170g of chicken into 4 pieces and put two pieces in each dish and put some minced garlic on top, then I dotted each piece in the dish with butter, sprinkled some sea salt , ground some fresh pepper and then laid the fresh thyme on top.

I cooked it for 30 minutes in a 200C oven (actually I used the "cooking with foil button" on my oven and it is like putting it into a toaster oven for the 30 minutes). 

The onions were so soft and very tasty and the chicken was cooked just right. 

Try it, it is an easy dish to make especially when you working moms who come home from work and don't really feel like standing in front of the stove!

Enjoy!