Saturday, November 18, 2023
11 (or 12) Appetizers 11種類の酒のつまみ
To highlight a few the one shown below is Name-take mushroom なめ茸 (top row right),
simmered taro “satoimo” 里芋 potato and carrot with “Kouya-dofu” 高野豆腐* and sugar snap スナップ豌豆の塩びたし (middle row right)
and two small bowls; tofu and shimeji with oyster sauce 豆腐としめじのオイスターソース(top),
simmered shirataki and deep fried tofu 白滝と油揚の煮物 (bottom).
*Kouya-dofu is freeze dried tofu (for preservation I suppose) which creates unique texture and absorbs whatever liquid it is cooked in.
These appetizers are mostly comprised of vegetables and provide so many different textures and tastes. We really like this type of classic Japanese multiple appetizers.
Sunday, November 12, 2023
“Name-take” as a part of 9 Appetizers 自家製なめたけ
*I thought I have not posted home-made Name-take but when I searched my blog I found two enoki mushroom dishes one is home-made name-take in 2011. I will list the recipe again for my own convenience. Nametake is most commonly available as a rice condiment in a jar.
** It may be spelled as “gingko”. We used to be able to get a small can of boiled ginko nuts but in recent years, it has disappeared. This may be due to the fact that ginko nuts contain a small amount of toxin called MPN, or 4'-methoxypyridoxin. If consumed in a large quantity, especially among children, could produce intoxication. We could harvest ginko nuts since ginko trees are around, the preparation (to remove the meat of the fruit) is messy and smelly which I am hesitant to do). Very recently, however, we could get boiled and packaged ginko nuts (China product) from Weee.
Nametake:
Ingredients: (the seasoning can be more stringer/salty (more soy sauce)
I package (200 gram) Enoki mushroom
2 tbs sake
1 tbs mirin
2 tbs soy sauce (or x4 concentrated Japanese “mentsuyu” noodle sauce
Directions:
Cut off the end of the enoki, cut in half, separate the bottom parts
Place it in a small pot and add sake on low heat with a lid on. After 5 minutes, stir to mix. The consistency changes and thickens. Add the seasoning and increase the heat, stir until no free liquid remains.
Imitating the commercial products, I put the home-made nametake in a jar (below) after sterilizing the inside of the jar with 50 proof Vodka.
Seasoned quail eggs: (I think we figured out how to boil and peel)
How to boil and peel the quail eggs
In a pan add enough water and boil. When the water started boiling, add small mount of cold water to stop rapid boiling and add the cold (refrigerated) quail eggs using a slotted spoon. Gently stir in first 1-2 minutes so that the egg yolks center. Cook in gentle boil for 4 minutes then soak the eggs in ice water (mixture of ice cubes and cold water).
After 10-15 minutes, make multiple cracks on the shell (I used the back of the knife) and put them back to the ice water for 10-15 more minutes.
Peel the shells using a thin stream of cold water could help peel the shells.
Marinading the eggs:
I simple marinate the eggs in x4 Japanese concentrated “Mentsuyu” 麺つゆ noodle soup. Alternetively mix equal amount of mirin and soy sauce as a marinade.
Before serving, I toaster oven for 5-6 minutes.
We like these small dishes. The quail eggs have delicate seasoning from the marinade and creamy yolk. The grilled ginko nuts with salt is unique texture and taste for autumn and a quintessential drinking snack in Japan.
Monday, August 7, 2023
Nine appetizers served in nine divided plate version 2
The top row left is blanched edible chrysanthemum or “shun-giku” 春菊 shown in detail below, dressed with x4 Japanese noodle sauce and mixed with generous amount of dried bonito flakes or “kezuri-bushi” 削り節. It has very distinct flavors which we really like.
The 1st row, middle is my ususal “dashi-maki” だし巻き Japanese omelet. This time I added dried green nori or “aonori” 青のり. I garnished it with julienne of green perila or “aoziso” 青紫蘇.
The next dish is a Chinese-style octopus salad or 中華風タコサラダ. It is pretty good and we like it.
The center row, left is hijiki seaweed, deep fried tofu and carrot stir fry or ひじきと油揚の炒め物.
The 2nd row center is one I just made this morning. Fried egg plant and mushroom simmered in broth or ナスと椎茸の揚げ浸し. The mushrooms include fresh shiitake and brown shimeji. This is served cold with garnish of blanched green beans.
The 2nd row left is my usual burdock root stir fry ゴボウのきんぴら.
The 3rd row left is a cold skinned Campari tomato. I cross cut the top halfway-through and poured on some Irizake 煎り酒 and special sushi vinegar (both from the Rice Factory). Irizake is boiled down sake seasoned with “umeboshi” picked plum 梅干し, kelp and bonito flakes. The sushi vinegar is a special kind from “Echizen 越前” or present day Fukui 福井. It tastes milder and better than our usual (Mizkan brand). I topped this with fine julienne of “Gari” がりsweet vinegar marinated thinly sliced ginger root (usually use to accompany sushi) and perilla. I got this idea from one of the food blogs I follow but I did not follow the recipe exactly.
The 3rd row center is store-bought fish cake which I heated up in the toaster oven and dressed in x4 Japanese noodle sauce and yuzukosho.
The 3rd row right is my usual “asazuke” 浅漬け picked (salted) vegetable which includes cucumber, carrot, nappa cabbage and daikon radish. I also added “shio konbu” 塩昆布, and ginger. The asazuke is about two weeks old but still tasted fresh (I attribute this to the fact I added a bit more salt - more than the usual 3% - and added a small amount of Vodka when I made it. While it didn’t alter the overall taste, I think this makes the asazuke last longer without becoming sour).
After enjoying these 9 small dishes both of us were quite full and did not eat anything else. All the wonderful different flavors and textures made a really enjoyable dinner.
Monday, July 17, 2023
New Divided Plate and 9 Otoshi Appetizers 9つ仕切り皿にのせたお通し9種類
In the 1st row, left, is a sugar snap in salt broth スナップ豌豆の塩びたし. We used to be able to get decent sugar snaps from our regular grocery store but recently, we have had to go to gourmet grocery stores to get decent ones This was crunchy, sweet soaked in salt dashi broth.
In the 1st row, center, are cucumber onion salad and stir fried shirataki, jalapeño pepper and enoki mushroom.
In the 1st row, right, is the cheese curd my wife made but instead of jalapeño pepper, she added “Yuzukosho” 柚子胡椒, soy sauce and cream. I added a dab of yuzukosho on the side to provide an added “schmear” of yuzukosho flavor if desired.
Tsukune on a slice of lotus root 蓮根つくね.
“Uni-shuto” ウニ酒盗 from Maruhide. As I stated before this is the best uni aside from fresh uni. I served it with cucumber and perilla leaves.
I refried the shrimp head kara-age which was part of take-out from Tako Grill a few days ago. Shrimp head has a good amount of meat and is very crunchy but you have to be careful how you eat the prickly legs so as to not injure your mouth.
Recently, we discovered that Whole Foods carries fresh quail eggs. We really like boiled quail eggs. Although we can get canned boiled quail eggs, boiled eggs prepared from fresh quail eggs are much much better. I served it with marinara sauce, basil and sprinkle of salt.
Blanched asparagus with sesame mayonnaise. The dressing is a mixture of mayo, Japanese sesame paste or nerigoma 練りごま and soy sauce.
Salmon salad. My usual. The dressing is mixture of mayo, Greek yogurt and Dijon mustard.
We really like our new plates. If I serve 9 appetizers for two of us in small bowls, we have to wash a total of 18 bowls but here we had to wash only two plates. We really like the many small dishes we had here; true Izakaya-style.
Wednesday, April 19, 2023
Broccoli Balls ブロッコリボール
Ingredients:
1 cup steamed broccoli chopped in the small food processor
1 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese (any cheese would work)
1 cup mashed potatoes
1 cup Panko bread crumbs
2 eggs
1/4 to 1/2 tsp onion powder (to taste)
1/4 to 1/2 tsp garlic powder (to taste)
1/8 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp salt (optional)
Directions:
Combine all the ingredients (#1). Using medium ice cream scoop drop scoop fulls into small muffin cups lined with muffin papers (#2). Bake in a 425 degree oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown (#3 and #4).
These were very flavorful, crispy bites perfect for appetizers. The garlic, onion and herb flavors were very rich and satisfying. The potatoes added a slightly creamy texture inside the crispness of the outside shell. One word of advice, go light on the salt. The cheese is salty. I used 1 tsp of salt and that was too much. I reduced it in this version of the recipe. These really crisp up nicely the toaster oven.
Tuesday, February 7, 2023
Marinated Camembert Cheese カマンベールチーズのかえし漬け
*Kaeshi: Kaeshi is the concentrated soba noodle sauce made of soy sauce, mirin and sugar. It is transformed into soba noodle sauce by diluting the kaeshi with dashi broth. So since this was a soba noodle restaurant, good kaeshi must have been readily available.
Since we had just gotten a wheel of Camembert cheese and we also had a bottle of concentrated noodle sauce which is equivalent to Kaeshi, we decided to try to make the cheese dish shown in the blog. The original dish was topped with freshly grated horse radish. Although we had prepared horse radish in a jar, in general we find it too harsh in flavor. So my wife suggested the next best alternative; grated daikon. I thought that was a great idea since the spiciness of both daikon and horse radish comes from the same/similar chemical substance called “allyl isothiocyanate (AITC)”. Usually daikon is not as spicy as horse radish but sometimes grated daikon can be extremely hot (atomic) which we have experienced in the past.
Since Camembert cheese is fatty and does not easily absorb liquid marinade, we sliced the cheese and marinated it in x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce. We marinated it in the refrigerator for several hours. It came to be rather firm.
Fortunately, the grated daikon had a just right amount of spiciness and went very well with the marinated Camembert. This is an unusual West/East hybrid dish akin to miso-marinated cream cheese. We really like this. (And it does go very well with sake).
Wednesday, November 16, 2022
Feta, spinach and pine nuts in phyllo dough フェタ、ほうれん草と松の実フィロ包
This is a small finger food based on a recipe from “Frog Commissary Cookbook“. It is phyllo-covered spinach, cheese and pine nuts filling. This is very good with crispy multiple layers of phyllo and cheesy savory center. As good as it is, this was a quite tedious work to make. Unfortunately, even for my wife who patiently makes various baked goods requiring tedious multiple steps, folding the phyllo dough was a bit too time consuming and tedious. I helped toward the end since she was getting very tired. When we finally got them in the oven we concluded that in the future it may be easier to buy this type of appetizer from a holiday season gourmet catalog rather than making it ourselves.
Spinach-cheese filling
1/4 lb feta cheese
1/2 log (4oz) fresh goat cheese
2 bags of baby spinach, cooked covered over low flame without adding water, squeezed and finely chopped
1/4 cup dill (we used a bit more), finely chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2-3 scallion finely chopped
1/2 cup pine nuts, dry roasted in a frying pan
Olive oil for sautéing
Directions:
Sauté the onion and garlic in olive oil for few minutes and let it cool in a bowl
Add the spinach and dill
Flake and mix the feta and goat cheese
Add the pine nuts
(we made this one day before and refrigerated)
Assembly:
One roll (15 sheets) frozen phyllo dough, thawed. Cut the 15 sheets in half making 30 half sheets.
Separate one of the 30 1/2 sheets of phyllo, paint with melted butter and fold it lengthwise in half (#1) and paint again with butter. Place one tsp of the filling (approximately shaped like an Isosceles Right Triangle i.e. a right-angle triangle with two equal sides) on the left corner of the beginning of the phyllo (#2) Fold like folding a flag until to the end (#3) and paint more butter.
Bake it in a 375F oven for 25 minutes (#4).
Friday, November 4, 2022
Salmon-Spinach Tortas 鮭とほうれん草のケーキ
My wife is into making small appetizers. When she saw the recipe called “Tuna-Spinach tortas” at Washington Post on-line, it was a “must-do”. Although she liked the idea of a small tortas, canned tuna does not grace our pantry…ever. (Instead, we keep frozen sashimi-grade tuna in the freezer). We also like salmon and almost every other week we get a half-salmon filet (A special available from the local grocery store only through home delivery). I scale it and using the main portion, make several fillet portions. I then separate the belly portion for an appetizer and use the resulting small irregular trimmings including the tail portion of the filet to make salmon cakes. After we cook the fillets (usually cooked in a frying pan to make crispy skin), I make salmon salad from the leftover portions.
This time my wife used the salmon salad I made from the left over salmon fillets instead of the canned tuna called for in the original recipe. The salmon salad was a bit different from what I usually make since we did not have enough cooked salmon fillets so I oil-poached the irregular bits of fresh salmon to make about 5oz of salmon. The oil poached salmon was much softer and more moist than our usual cooked salmon. In addition, we did not have home-made Greek yogurt. So I used all mayo instead of mixture of mayo and Greek yogurt.
The tortas came out very nice and the salmon filling was moist but made a nice crispy shell. Although we cannot tell how the original canned tuna version would have been, this is pretty good.
Ingredients: (12 cupcake sized servings)
2 bags of baby spinach cooked and drained
5 oz. Cooked salmon made into salmon salad (end amount about double the amount of salmon)
1/4 cup Parmigiana-Reggiano cheese grated
1/4 cup smoked gouda grated
3/4 cup plain panko (bread crumbs)
4 large eggs
4 Campari tomatoes
1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
1/8 to 1/4 cayenne pepper
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease the wells of the muffin pan with cooking oil spray. Combine the salmon salad, cheeses and panko in a mixing bowl. Divide it equally among the muffin pan wells, packing it in firmly. (I used second to largest ice cream scoop).
Lightly beat the eggs in a bowl. Coarsely chop the tomatoes (to taste), then add to the eggs, along with the salt and pepper. Add the spinach to the bowl. Stir until well incorporated, then spoon equal amounts of the mixture on top of each tuna portion in the individual muffin pan wells (#1). Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until set and lightly browned (#2). Let cool for a few minutes before carefully inverting the tortas on individual plates. (#3 & #4)
Tuesday, November 1, 2022
Salmon-Scallop Spinach pate 鮭と帆立のパテ
My wife’s sister mentioned that recently she made a great carrot cake and apple pie. She said the recipes came from a cookbook called “Frog Commissary Cookbook” by Steven Poses which was published in 1985 (and presently out of print). While we were talking about the cookbook, I quickly searched for it and found a used one in good condition at Amazon and ordered it.
Digression alert: My wife’s sister originally lived in the Philadelphia area and was familiar with the Frog Commissary when it was in vogue back in the 1980’s. It was an exclusive catering service for the Franklin Institute which is the science museum in Philadelphia. The cookbook is based on Steven Poses former restaurant (called “Frog”) and his catering experience at the Franklin. Although we had never heard of it, back-in-the-day, the Frog Commissary Cookbook” was a “must have” in the Philadelphia area much like San Francisco a la Carte by the Junior League of San Francisco was about the same time while we were living in the San Francisco area.
As my wife and I were browsing through the book we both thought this seafood pate recipe was worthwhile to try. The recipe as shown in the cookbook is of catering proportions and large enough to serve a multitude of people. As a result it required some scaling down. In my scaled down version, however, I was not aggressive enough in the seasoning; more seasoning would have been better. Although nothing was listed as a possible sauce in the original recipe we felt it called for one. After some experimentation I came up with two sauces that worked pretty well. I served it with a side of tomato and cucumber dressed in olive oil and balsamic vinegar. In any case, it is rather good looking and subtle flavored pate.
As I mentioned I thought the original recipe was sort-of a restaurant size and I reduced it by 1/4. This was not easy since the original amounts were not in metric. I first converted the non-metric weight and volume to metric and then divide those by 4. The seasoning should have been more than just 1/4 of the original recipe. (The seasoning amounts below reflect the suggested increase).
Ingredients: (makes one mini-loafpan)
Salmon-scallop mixture
85 g scallops
85 g salmon filet
1 egg white
1/8 tsp nutmeg (or to taste)
1/2 tsp. salt (or to taste)
1/4 tsp pepper (or to taste)
1/8 tsp cayenne (or to taste)
1/2 tbs (7ml) brandy
100 ml heavy cream
Spinach-scallop mixture
3 g butter
3.7ml minced shallots (half of medium shallot)
1/2 cup packed fresh spinach (30 g, cooked, moisture squeezed out, finely chopped)
1/8 tsp salt
1/16 tsp pepper
1/2 tbs minced dill
25 g scallop
15 ml heavy cream
Directions:
Salmon-scallop mixture
Cut up the salmon and scallops into a small size and place in a food processor (I used a mini-food processor) and process for 1 minute or until all chopped up
Add the seasonings, egg white and brandy and process 10 seconds
Place in a bowl and add the cream in several increments and mix until smooth.
Cover and refrigerate.
Spinach scallop mixture
Sauté the shallot in butter for 4-5 minutes (I seasoned this with salt and pepper), let it cool.
I cooked the spinach in a wok, lid on, at very low heat without any liquid (our usual way) for 7-8 minutes occasionally mixing top and bottom portions of the spinach until completely wilted and cooked. Cool, squeeze out the moisture and cut it up.
Place the shallot, spinach, and dill in a food processor and process for 10 seconds, add the chopped scallop and process additional 30 seconds or util smooth.
Transfer to a bowl and mix in the cream and mix until smooth
Assembly:
I first lightly oiled all surfaces of the loaf pan with olive oil. I lined the loaf pan with two portions of parchment paper in the shape of a cross with all sides covered (#1 picture below).
Add half of the salmon-scallop mixture, make shallow trough using the back of a wet spoon and add the spinach scallop mixture to the center in a log shape (I used a spatula and spoon to do this) (#2).
Add the remaining salmon-scallop mixture and smooth the surface.
Cover the surface with parchment paper (which I forgot but no ill effect) (#3) and then cover the loaf pan with aluminum foil (#4).
Bake in the toaster oven on convection mode at 350F using a bain marie (larger pan with hot water covering at least half of the depth of the loaf pan) for 35 minutes or internal temperature registers 135F.
Remove the aluminum foil and let it cool on the rack until reaching room temperature.
Unmold the pate by gently lifting the ends of the parchment paper lining (#5).
I placed folded paper towel on the bottom of a tight fitting sealable plastic container and refrigerated.
The cut surface is very attractive with green center (#6).
Wednesday, October 26, 2022
Spinach cheese puffs ほうれん草チーズパフ
This is one of those small cheesy appetizers my wife likes to made. She saw this recipe on line and also realized that one of the boxes of frozen puff pastry was getting old. On the top of that, she cooked 2 packages of baby spinach and was looking for the best way to use them. So, all converged to result in this dish. I helped in preparation and clean-up. This is cheesy with a nice lemony flavor from the lemon zest. The puff pastry was still good and made a light crispy shell. This is a bit on the larger side and half per person is just perfect size for us.
As usual, I ask my wife to take over.Ingredients:
One sheet of puff pastry
2/3 cup onions finely diced
4 garlic cloves finely diced
8 oz. Cream cheese
2 eggs
2 packages of fresh spinach, cooked and drained
1 1/2 cup feta cheese finely crumbled
4 tbs. Dill
4 tsp. Lemon zest
Directions:
Cook the onion and garlic in a frying pan. Set aside to cool. Soften the cream cheese by lightly microwaving it under the defrost setting. Cream the softened cheese together with the eggs. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir until completely combined.
Cut the puff pastry into 9 squares. Roll out the squares so they are large enough the put in the greased cups of the muffin tin with the edges hanging over the sides (#1). (It was a bit tedious convincing the pastry to go into the cups. Also, the 9 filled cups would leave 3 unfilled in the 12 cup muffin tin. So I thawed some regular pie crust dough and used it for the remaining 3 cups.) (Digression: I made the remaining pie dough into impromptu cookies; roll out pastry, put butter and cinnamon sugar on half, fold the other half over, cook in toaster oven 400 degrees 15 minutes.)
Fill the pastry shells with the cheese mixture(#2) and fold the pastry hanging on the side over the cheese filling (#3). (Cover the cups with the pie dough with a round piece of dough like a pie topping.) Refrigerate 30 minutes. Bake in a 400 degree oven for about 20 to 25 minutes until the tops are golden brown (#4). Picture #5 shows the puff pastry puff while #6 shows the one made with pie dough.
Whether made with puff pastry or pie dough the result is highly acceptable. Lemon was the first taste to come through which melded into a savory onion, garlic cheese combo. Both pastries added a nice buttery crunch. Interestingly, the cream cheese mellowed out the feta very nicely. After biting into it you wouldn’t say “oh cream cheese and feta” instead you would say, “ a nice creamy savory cheese combination. What cheese would that be?”
Monday, September 26, 2022
Cheese bites, two kinds チーズバイツ、2種類
My wife is into making small cheesy and eggy appetizers or bites. These are some she made recently. The green one is made with spinach and golden one is slightly sweet with honey. (My wife was not planning on making the golden one but the recipe for the spinach bites was short of filling the pan. She didn’t want to cook a pan that was not full so without a specific recipe to go by she came up with the golden bite.) Both are eggy and cheesy with different flavors and we like these small bites with a sip of red wine.
For spinach (green) cheese bites
One bag of fresh spinach cooked and drained
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese
2 eggs beaten
1 garlic clove minced
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
For spinach (green) cheese bites (X2)
Two bags of fresh spinach cooked and drained
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese
4 eggs beaten
2 garlic clove minced
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
For golden cheese bites
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1 egg
1 Tbs. honey
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 cup grated cheese (I used smoked gouda and Monterey Jack)
For golden cheese bites (X3)
1 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
3 egg
3 Tbs. honey
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cup grated cheese (I used smoked gouda and Monterey Jack)
Directions:
For spinach bites: Pulse the spinach, garlic, salt, cayenne and eggs in a food processor until finely chopped and mixed. Add the spinach mixture to the combined ricotta and Parmesan cheese. Using the second smallest ice cream scoop put the mixture in mini cup cake tin lined with paper cups. As shown in the picture below I didn’t have enough spinach mixture to fill the tray so on-the-fly I came up with the golden mixture to fill the remaining cups. (As you can see the amount was perfect to complete the tray.)
For golden bites. Blend all the ingredients together and scoop into the paper lined cups.
Cook at 400 F for about 20 minutes until they are fairly firm when touched. Let rest for about 5 minutes and remove from the muffin tins.
These make very nice small bite appetizers. Both versions were very different but very flavorful and light in texture. The spinach bites were savory with a slight garlic cheesy flavor. The spinach flavor came through nicely. The yellow version was sweeter (obviously due to the honey). The cayenne pepper in this version was much more pronounced than in the spinach version. It resulted in a sweet/hot/peppery combined taste that really made the bite. We also discovered they heat up very nicely in the toaster oven
Saturday, September 17, 2022
Jalapeño cheese curd ハラペニョペッパー自家製チーズ
1/2 gallon of 1% milk (could be basically milk of any fat content)
1/3 cup vinegar (she used sushi vinegar)
(The recipe also suggests the juice from one or two lemons, or 1/2 tsp citric acid)
1 tsp salt (or more to taste)
Directions:
Slowly heat the milk to 200 degrees F stirring constantly. After it reaches temperature remove from the heat pour in the vinegar and stir gently to combine. Leave the pot undisturbed for 10-15 minutes. It should be separated into clumps of milky white curds and watery yellow colored whey. If there is still a lot of unseparated milk add another tablespoon of the vinegar. Line a strainer with cheese cloth and set it over a bowl. Using a large spoon transfer the curds to the strainer. Let the curds drain depending on how dry you would like the ricotta to be. (If it is too dry add some of the whey reserved in the draining bowl). Gather the edges of the cheese cloth and gently squeeze the curd to further drain the whey. Then using string tie the top edges together and hang the bag from the faucet to further drain. After the most of the liquid whey has been drained off put the curd in a bowl, add the jalapeño and 1 tsp. kosher salt. Stir until everything is incorporated. Put clean cheese cloth in the cheese press. Add the curd and clamp on the lid. After one day of pressing in the refrigerator, the cheese becomes rather solid (below).
Saturday, August 27, 2022
Instant Pot Egg Bites version 2 インスタントポットエッグバイツ
Ingredients (Recipe x1, 7 egg bites)
3 large eggs
1/4 cup cottage cheese
1/4 cup soft cheese, like cream cheese, Brie, Boursin, or Laughing Cow (we used cream cheese)
1/2 cup chopped mix-ins, like cooked meats and/or raw or cooked vegetables (we used jalapeños, shallots and prosciutto)
1/2 cup shredded cheese, such as cheddar, Monterey jack, or mozzarella (We used cheddar and Monterey Jack)
Ingredients (recipe x2, 14 egg bites)
6 large eggs
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup soft cheese, like cream cheese, Brie, Boursin, or Laughing Cow (we used cream cheese)
1 cup chopped mix-ins, like cooked meats and/or raw or cooked vegetables (we used jalapeños, shallots and prosciutto)
1 cup shredded cheese, such as cheddar, Monterey jack, or mozzarella (We used cheddar and Monterey Jack)
Directions:
Combine the eggs, cottage cheese, soft cheese and other cheeses in a blender. Blend at medium speed for about 30 seconds, until smooth. Pour into molds 3/4 full. Evenly distribute the chopped veggies into the molds. Stir to further incorporate.
Pour 1 cup of water into the Instant Pot or electric pressure cooker. Cover the egg molds and put into the wire steam rack. Grasping the handles of the steam rack, lower the egg molds into the pot.
Cook the eggs on “steam”: Secure the lid on the pressure cooker. Make sure that the pressure regulator is set to the “Sealing” position. Select “steam” then adjust the time to 8 minutes (for single batch and if making a double batch, increase the cooking time to 10 minutes.)
The pressure cooker will take about 10 minutes to come up to full pressure. Cook time begins once it has reached full pressure.
When the timer goes off, let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes, then perform a quick pressure release by moving the pressure release knob from “Sealing” to “Venting.” It will take a minute or two for the pressure to release completely. Remove the egg bites from the pressure cooker.
These were very good egg bites. They tasted more eggy than cheesy but the cheese flavor came through nicely enough. The shallots and jalapeño gave a nice spiciness while the prosciutto added some saltiness. The texture was very smooth almost like a very firm custard. These would be lovely as an egg substitute for breakfast or brunch as well as an appetizer with a glass of wine.
Thursday, August 18, 2022
Bacon cheese egg bites ベーコン、チーズ エッグバイツ
We like small bite-size items, either savory or sweet. We are not sure how we came to order these silicon moulds for the Instant Pot. Maybe we got an email ad or my wife read the recipe somewhere. We ordered the silicon moulds from Amazon and we made these small bacon cheese egg bites. When we tasted them just coming out of the mould, it was like egg custard but after it cooled down a more cheesy flavor came through. Overall it is very good but slightly too salty for us.
Ingredients (make 14 bites using the silicon moulds):
3 large eggs
4 bacon strips
1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1/2 cup shredded Gruyere cheese (we substituted Irish Cheddar).
1 cup cream cheese or cottage cheese (we used cottage cheese)
3 tbs cream
1 tsp unsalted butter, melted
1/4 tsp Kosher salt
1/2 tsp rice starch (flour)*
*we think the use of rice flour (starch) is to claim this is gluten free.
Directions:
Cook the bacon and break into smaller pieces. Place the bacon pieces in the bottom of each mould (#1)
Add the remaining ingredients to a blender and blend for 20 seconds
Fill the silicon mould to 75% full (#2)
Attached the lids to the silicon moulds.
Place 1 cup of water to the Instant Pot and lower the two silicon moulds with trivet
Place the lid on the Instant Pot with the pressure knob to seal. Using “Steam” function, set time to 7 minutes.
Let it depressurize (7-10 minutes) and open (#3).
Loosen the egg bites using small spatula and invert onto the plate to unmold (#4).
Sunday, July 10, 2022
Cheesy Lebanon Bologna bites チーズとレバノンボロニャ ミニマッフィン(バイツ)
Some time ago, my wife made some small muffin/bites with cheese and Lebanon Bologna which is the perfect small appetizer with wine. We kept them frozen and she served the last two. She wanted to make some more and we naturally assumed we could find the recipe in our blog but after some searching, we could not find it. So, we concluded we must not have posted it. We looked for the original recipe and had difficult time but finally my wife found the print-out of the recipe. The original recipe came from King Arthur Flour web site and called “Cheesy Pepperoni bites”. The original recipe calls for “Pizza flavor seasoning ” to make it taste like pepperoni pizza, I suppose. As usual she took the recipe as “advisory” and made some changes mostly based on what ingredients we had available. So she used Lebanon Bologna (she keeps some on hand frozen) instead of pepperoni, added chopped fresh chives and omitted the pizza seasoning (since we didn’t have it).
I ask my wife to take over.
Ingredients1 1/2 cups (180g) AP flour
1/4 cup (28g) Cheddar Cheese Powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons (57g) butter, cut in pats
1/2 cup (50g) Lebanon Bologna (or pepperoni, diced) (#1)
1 cup (113g) sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1/4 cup (14g) sliced chives (or scallions) (#1)
3/4 cup (170g) milk
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 425°F. Lightly grease a bite-sized tart pan; a mini muffin pan, or a baking sheet. If using the pop-up tart pan, have an ungreased baking sheet available to use as a base.
Add the butter, working it in until the mixture is crumbly.
Add the Lebanon bologna, shredded cheese, and scallions, mixing to distribute (#2 above).
Add the milk, mixing just until everything is evenly moistened.
Scoop the dough by the level tablespoonful (second smallest ice cream scoop we have) into the mini-muffin pan.
Bake the biscuits till they're a medium to deep golden brown, 10 to 14 minutes.
Remove the biscuits from the oven, and cool briefly on a rack. Use a table knife to pop the bottom of the pan off the biscuits
Friday, July 1, 2022
Cheese curd with Indian spices and yogurt
This is from my wife’s new Indian cookbook called “Thali” by Maunika Gowardhan. Since my wife made cheese curd (paneer) to use up milk approaching its expiration date, she decide to try this recipe. It is called “Achari Paneer Tikka” but as usual, some of the ingredients were not available such as nigella seeds and particularly “gravy and oil” from “store-bought Indian green chili pickles”. We couldn’t even imagine how this should taste so we improvised using the pickling liquid from a jar of capers. We have no idea how this may have changed the end product but it clearly didn’t “hurt” it. Also we pan fried the paneer rather than grilling it. It came out rather nicely (below) with a brown crust.
2 garlic cloves roughly chopped
Directions: