Cold Jade Eggplant in broth 茄子の翡翠煮

When we get “Asian” eggplant from Weee, I try to make as many dishes as I can so they don’t go to waste. Although the eggplant I got from Weee is not the genuine Japanese variety, I still made it as “Hisui-ni 翡翠煮” . “Hisui” in Japanese means “jade”. The name comes from the subtle green hue of Japanese eggplant cooked this way, although my rendition did not have this color because of the type of eggplant I used. The jist of this dish is to precook the eggplant; either microwave, deep fry or simmer. Then however, it is cooked it is further simmered and soaked in light broth then served cold topped with bonito flakes.   I took the easiest route and microwaved the eggplant first and then simmered and soaked it in the broth. This is a very light and refreshing dish. 

This is not based on one particular recipe. This is how I made it and is note so that I can reproduce it.

Ingredients:
1 Japanese (Asian) eggplant (long light purple one) or more authentic Japanese eggplant, peeled and cut into segments (about 2 inches in length)
Bonito flakes for topping

For broth
1 cup Japanese kelp and bonito broth (I used my usual dashi pack
1-2 tbs shiro-dashi 白出し*
1 tbs mirin

*shiro-dashi is a type of seasoning liquid made of Japanese broth,  white and light colored soy sauce,  and mirin. Although one can make this from scratch, commercial bottled ones are available which I use.

Directions:
Place the eggplant in a silicon microwave safe container and microwave it for a few minutes or until the eggplant is soft. Cut into half inch buttons.
Put the broth in a pan on low heat, add the eggplant and simmer for 5-10 minutes. Let it cool to room temperature in the broth and then refrigerate (at least several hours or overnight).
Top it with “katsuo-bushi 鰹節”  bonito flakes and serve cold.

This is a very gentle and refreshing dish and perfect for the very first appetizer.

Peanut butter pancake ピーナッツバターパンケーキ

We made this one Sunday morning when we had a big snow storm and decided to make it a special day with a pancake breakfast. My wife found this recipe on the Washington Post web site. Since we had just gotten a new jar of peanut butter to replace the one in the fridge that had passed its “best-use-by” date several years ago, she decided to use some of the new jar for these pancakes. They were very nice with a prominent  peanut butter flavor. Maybe a bit too sweet and a bit too much peanut butter flavor for us but it was nice to have especially on a snowy Sunday morning.

Ingredients
Servings: makes 4 pancakes
1 cup (125 grams) all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
1/3 cup (83 grams) creamy peanut butter
1 large egg
1 tablespoon vegetable oil or melted shortening, plus more for greasing the skillet or griddle
1 1/4 cups (300 milliliters) whole milk

Directions
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt until combined. In a large bowl, whisk together the peanut butter, egg and oil until smooth; whisk in the milk until combined. (We found that we had to use the “motor boat” hand mixer to get the ingredient thoroughly mixed.) Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until just combined (a few small lumps are okay). If necessary add more milk to make the batter into pancake consistency. 

Preheat a frying pan on medium heat. (We use 4 pans and make 4 pancakes simultaneously) Coat the pan lightly with oil.

Using a large ladle pour batter into the pans, and cook until you see a few small bubbles rise to the surface of the pancake and the bottom is golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Flip the pancakes and cook until golden on the other side, 1 to 2 minutes more. Transfer the pancakes to a platter, cover loosely with foil and repeat with the remaining batter, adding more oil to the skillet if it looks dry. Serve warm.

These were nicely fluffy with a soft texture. They were very heavily peanut butter flavor. (My wife thought she should add jelly to mimic the PBJs of her childhood.) We thought a whole pancake of peanut butter flavor would be a bit too much for us adults but the half pancake we ate for breakfast was the perfect size.

P.S. Over time the peanut butter flavor calmed down and became nicely mellow.

Persimmon and “Kabu” turnip salad 柿と蕪のマリネ

This is a quick impromptu dish I made one evening. This dish came about since I had a small fresh Japanese “kabu 蕪” turnip from Suzuki Farm, and “Fuyu” persimmon 富有柿 from Weee. In addition, I had leftover “Kabosu miso カボスみそ”. So I made a quick marinated kabu and persimmon with added  wakame わかめ dressed in “Kabosu miso”. This was a refreshing small dish with interesting texture and flavor. The raw kabu turnip has a nice crunch with distinctive flavor (pungent in a good way) combined with the sweetness of persimmon in a dressing made of mixture of home-made sweet vinegar and olive oil. All worked well together. Although wakame is usually dressed with “Sumiso 酢味噌”, “Kabosu miso” worked as well or even better.

Ingredients (2 servings or 4 small servings like the one in the picture).
One small Japanese “kabu” turnip, top removed, skinned, halved and sliced thinly (depending on your preference; the thicker the crunchier)

One “Fuyu” persimmon, (firm one), peeled, halved and sliced similar to the “kabu”
1/2 tsp salt

Marinade/dressing:
1 tbs “amazu” sweet vinegar*
1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

*Amazu 甘酢: there are a few variation (see “daikon namasu” section of Norio’s New year dishes”). The one I had was made some time ago and kept in a jar. It was made of equal parts rice vinegar and water as well as sugar equal to half the amount of vinegar used and a pinch of salt.

Directions
Add the salt to the kabu, knead and let stand for 5 minutes and squeeze out any excess moisture.
In a small bowl, add the kabu and persimmon. Add the dressing and mix.
Refrigerate for 5 minutes before serving.

Because of the acidity in the dish, sake is the libation of choice.

Crispy Cheese Rice Puffs チーズライスパフ

I am not sure how my wife decided to make this. (Note from wifey: I decided to make this particular dish because by mistake we bought a box of rice krispies to make rice krispies treats at Christmas - for nostalgic reasons; they were one of my favorites as a kid - that was humongous. It had much more rice krispies than were needed for the treats. So, I was looking for other recipes to use up some of the excess.) (Note from Hubbie: Oh! I never had a rice Krispies treat before.) In any case, using the rice krispies cereal, she came up with this dish which is more suitable for a snack with a drink of wine than a dessert. The original recipe was called “crispy cheese wafers” came from Southern Living website. She made two versions; one using a muffin tin (left in picture #1) and the other flattened into a cookie or wafer-shape (right in picture #1).  This is a nice cheesy bite. She warmed them up in the toaster oven which made them crispy and warm. I ask my wife to contenue.

Ingredients:
2 cups (8 ounces) freshly grated extra-sharp cheddar cheese (I used a combination of smoked gouda, sharp cheddar and parmesan cheese
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. ground cayenne pepper or to taste
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup crisp rice cereal

Directions
Mix together the cheeses, butter, flour, red pepper, Worcestershire and salt in a large bowl until mixture forms a ball that lightly sticks together and pulls in all the flour. (Hands worked best for this). Gently fold the rice cereal into the dough. Shape mixture into 1-inch balls using medium sized ice cream scoop. The original recipe called for placing the balls about 1 inch apart on a baking sheet and flattening each ball with a fork, making a crisscross pattern. I made several like that (#2) but I was afraid they would fall apart when cooked so I made some in mini cup cake tins lined with paper cups. I gently pushed the dough into the cups with my fingers (#3) Bake in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes or until firm. Cool on pan on wire rack.

These made very satisfying savory bites. As you can see from the pictures the ones made free standing on the cookie sheet did not fall apart when cooked. They just spread out. The krispies in the dough formed a nice light crunchy crust and the interior texture was very tender and tasted richly cheesy. These got much better with time as the flavors melded together. They also toasted up nicely in the toaster oven.

Valentine’s day cake バレンタインデイケーキ

Although my wife has previously made this cake, Ricotta-filled Valentine's day "Wacky" cake, some years ago for Valentine’s day, this year she wanted to make the same cake in small individual bite-sized heart-shapes. Problem was we didn’t have any heart shaped pans that were small enough. This led to an internet search which resulted in the purchase of two red silicone heart shaped muffin sheets. Although my wife only filled the muffin cups half full the little cakes rose above the edge of the cups and came out looking round like the one in picture #1 with the cherry on top. The bottoms of the cakes appeared heart shaped as shown by the upside down one on the left in the pic. Bummer! If they were going to come out looking round we didn’t need to buy heart shaped “tins”. Our existing mini muffin tins would have done the trick. Nonetheless, regardless of their shape, they tasted very good. 

Ingredients:
For the cake
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tbs. vinegar
1/3 cup oil
1 cup water

For the ricotta filling
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 egg
1/8 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions:
Mix all the ingredients for the ricotta filling until smooth and set aside. Mix the dry ingredients from the flour thru the cocoa powder in a bowl. Mix the wet ingredients in another bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients until smooth. Fill the heart shaped “tins” with the cake mixture and top them with a scoop of the ricotta filling and half a maraschino cherry (#2). (Nicely heart-shaped). Cook at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes until the ricotta topping firms up and a skewer comes out clean. (My wife noticed that the silicone pan did not conduct heat the same way a metal muffin tins would so it took about 10 minutes longer for the cakes to cook.)

Although the final product was not heart-shaped these little cakes were a perfect bite-sized treat to celebrate the end of the Valentine’s dinner. PA Dutch Wacky cake topped with ricotta cheese icing is a Valentine’s Day classic (at least for us).