Rosemary Pine nut cookie ローズマリー松の実クッキー

Christopher Kimball, who is a founder of America's test kitchen, left there and started a new cooking site/publication called Milk Street. We started subscribing to his quarterly Milk street magazine. This cookie is from one of those issues. We always like savory and not sweet cookies like anchovy black pepper cookies and chili cheese shortbread, so this was a natural for us to try, so we made this one weekend (I did the grating and chopping and my wife did the rest).

It is topped with pine nuts and honey butter glaze.

Ingredients: Pictures #1 and #2 (by accident I included sesame seeds in the picture. They are for another dish).
1 1/2 cups (213 gm) AP flour
1/2 cup (85 gm) cornmeal
1/2 cup (99 gm) sugar
1 Tbs. finely chopped fresh rosemary
2 tsp grated orange zest or orange flavoring
16 Tbs (2 sticks) salted butter softened (14 tsp. for the dough, 2 tsp. for the honey topping)
1 cup pine nuts
3 Tbs. honey

Directions:
In an electric mixer with a paddle, mix the sugar, rosemary and orange zest until the moisture from the orange zest and rosemary makes the sugar form coarse clumps (#3, 2-3 minutes).
Add 14 tbs butter in small pats one-by-one until they are well incorporated making a wet paste (#4). Beat on high until fluffy. Add the flour gradually until a dough ball forms on the paddle (#5)
Break up the dough into small chunks and place them in an aluminum foil lined 13 x 9 inch baking pan  (excess edges of foil all around to facilitate the removal of the cookie) (#6)
Press the chunks (using fingers) into a flat sheet (#7)
Place the pine nuts in a single layer and press them hard into the dough (#8)
In a small bowel melt the remaining 2 Tbs. of butter. Add the honey and mis thoroughly. Brush the surface with the honey butter (#9)
Bake it at 325 F for 40-45 minutes (#10)
Let it cool for 15 minutes and lift out the sheet of cookies to the cutting board
Cut into small rectangles and let it completely cool on the cooling rack.

The aroma of the orange and rosemary while these were cooking was quite strong and very pleasant. The combination of orange, rosemary and pine nuts all works. It is sweet/savory with very complex flavors. The honey butter glaze is a nice finish. This cookie can be enjoyed while sipping wine.

Ginger lemon frozen yogurt 生姜レモンフローズンヨーグルト

A long time ago, we used to make ice cream and frozen yogurt. We first used a "Frozen cylinder" device which we kept in the freezer to chill. Then to make ice cream, we added the mix and hand cranked until the ice cream formed. We felt, at the time, that the effort and quality of the resulting ice cream was not worth it; never mind that the cylinder took a big chunk out of our precious freezer space. Then, we came across a self contained (with compressor) mini-ice cream maker on sale and bought it. This was much better. We have made ice cream and frozen yogurt a few times, but them we forgot about it for a long time. While we were trying to find more space in the cupboard, we came across this old ice cream maker occupying valuable cupboard real estate. We were not sure if it still worked and decided if it did not work it was "gone/history".  But, miraculously, we flipped the switch and it still worked after all these years of neglect. So, we made, ginger lemon frozen yogurt. We served a few scoops with our favorite girl scout cookies.

We did not make it too sweet. The lemon and ginger flavor was very refreshing.

The recipe came from Alton Brown (Food network). We made some changes and also reduced the portions to fit our ice cream machine (maximum is about 2 cups).

Ingredients:
Greek yogurt 2 cups (my wife drained plain whole milk yogurt).
Lemon juice from one lemon
Lemon zest from one lemon (micrograted).
Grated ginger, 1 tsp
1/8 cup sugar
1/8 cup corn syrup
Crystalized ginger

Directions:
Mix the ingredients together and place in the ice cream machine container #1.
Put in the paddle #2, Put on the machine's lid #3.
Stir about 20 to 25 minutes with the chill unit on. #4 and #5.
When the ice cream is formed fold in the crystalized ginger, put into a container and then put into the freezer #6.

This ice cream came out nice and creamy. After few days in the freezer, it was so hard, we could not scoop it out of the container and had to microwave it for 20-30 seconds to loosen it up. Nonetheless it was very good. The lemon ginger flavor was very refreshing and would be perfect on a hot summer day.

Natto with canned mackerel in miso sauce 納豆さば味噌

I saw this recipe using canned mackerel in miso sauce サバの味噌煮 and natto 納豆.  Since I had one can of mackerel in miso sauce and one package of frozen natto, I decided to give it a go.  We had this with cold sake.

Since I made this from my memory of the recipe. When I finally found the recipe again I saw I had modified it a bit.

I garnished this dish with chopped chives.

Ingredients:
Mackerel in miso sauce, one can (#1).
Nattou, 1 package (#2), the original calls for 3 packs but that would have been too much (especially for my wife).
Miso paste, 1 tbs
Sugar, 1/2 tbs
Sake, 2 tbs (this was not in the original recipe).

Directions:
1. Add the mackerel with its sauce to the pan (#3) and add the miso and sugar (#4).
2. Add the sake and stir mashing the fish into small pieces (#5).
3. When the mixture starts to simmer add the nato (#6).
4. Keep stirring until the liquid evaporates and the desired consistency is attained (about 10-15 minutes on low flame).

The original started with dark sesame oil and finely chopped ginger. It also included the addition of Japanese dried red pepper which could have added more complexity to the flavor. While I was cooking the mixture with the kitchen exhaust fan on high, my wife came back in from the deck where she had been sitting and told me it smelled pretty bad out there (apparently all the smell of natto was expelled into the outside air over the deck--sorry neighbors). I served this warm with a garnish of chopped chives. This was ok but the smell of natto was still there albeit faint. My wife suggested it would probably be pretty good served cold which may reduce the smell a bit.

Chicken beer stew 鶏のもも肉のビールシチュー

This is my wife's valiant effort to "save the day" while I was at work. I bought some chicken thighs the previous weekend but I ran out of time and could not cook them. I was afraid they would go bad but my wife came to the rescue. She had a day off during the subsequent week and she had this dish steaming hot ready to eat when I got home. What a pleasant surprise! She looked up chicken thigh recipes on the internet and found one using beer and bacon. She figured this could not go wrong and made this chicken beer stew.

It is a complete meal on its own but we served it over rice and topped with crumbled bacon. My contribution was to add florets of rapini and to make a semi-dark roux to finish the dish (this portion is not in the original recipe). My wife also made a number of alterations to the original recipe.

Ingredients:
4 slices of thick cut bacon
2 onions sliced
4 chicken thighs
1 (12-ounce) bottle beer (preferably brown ale)
3  potatoes peeled and cut into bite sized pieces
2 tablespoons whole-grain mustard
4 sprigs fresh thyme
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Directions:
Cook the bacon until browned in a pan over medium high heat.
Remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate.
Add the sliced onions and cook until translucent in the bacon drippings.
Add the chicken thighs and cover with the beer, making sure it is fully submerged. add the mustard, and potatoes.
Simmer until the chicken is cooked through and fork tender. Serve with the crumbled bacon as garnish

This was quite good. Although we were not sure the beer did much of anything. (My wife, not being a beer connoisseur, thought she had a very dark beer but it was actually a pale ale--she used Samuel Adams pale ale).  Probably a stronger dark beer would have had more impact. The original recipe called for skinless thighs which dredged in flour and then browned. Instead, I finished with medium dark roux (flour 2 tbs cooked in 2 tbs of melted butter until light brown and added liquid from the stew to make the roux and then put int back into the stew and mixed). This was a very good comfort food. My wife can make this dish for me again anytime.

Cinnamon bread シナモンパン

This is another one of my wife's baking. She is always on the look out for interesting bread recipes. Finally she found a block of time to make this one weekend. This is an interesting bread. It is a cross between a quick bread and a yeast bread containing both yeast and baking powder as leavening agents. The original recipe came from King Arthur flour web site.

I forgot to take a picture of the loaf when it came out of the oven.

Ingredients: (My wife doubled the recipe and left out suggested cinnamon chips and cinnamon sugar topping.)
6 cups All-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
4 Tsp yeast
2 Tsp. cinnamon, ground
2 Tsp. salt
2 Tsp. baking powder
2 cups warm milk
1/2 cup melted butter
2 large eggs

Instructions:
In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, yeast, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, butter, and egg. Combine the wet and dry ingredients, beating until smooth. Let the batter rest at room temperature for 1 hour, covered. Towards the end of the resting period, preheat the oven to 350°F. Spoon the batter into 2 greased 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" loaf pans.
Bake the bread for 35 to 40 minutes, until it tests done; a cake tester inserted into the center will come out clean.
Remove the bread from the oven, let it rest in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer it from the pan to a rack to cool completely. Note: Don't slice the bread while it's hot! It'll slice much better when it's completely cool.

(Yield: 2 loaves)

I am not sure about the rationale for using yeast and baking powder but the dough was very soft and sticky and no kneading was required. It had the consistency of quick bread. It was let to rise for an hour (below).

Then, it was punched down and scooped  into the loaf pans like quick bread.

The resulting bread had an interestingly pleasant tender texture. It was similar to quick bread but was firmer with larger holes which I assume was due to the yeast. With this process not much gluten was developed. This bread was flavored with cinnamon and is a perfect breakfast bread. Toasting made it a bit on the dry side and microwaving worked better.

Figgy cranberry sauce Version 3 イチジク、クランベリーソース V3

Last time I made "Figgy cranberry sauce", I could not get fresh or frozen cranberries and used dried and sweetened "Craisin". The other day, we were at a near-by Whole foods and I found frozen cranberries and decided to make figgy cranberry sauce from the frozen cranberries. I have never used frozen cranberries before. This time, I followed the recipe more closely and used orange peel during the cooking. We tasted the one I made from "crasin" and the one I made from"frozen cranberries" as an informal taste test. The consistency and the taste between them is a bit different but both are quite good. The frozen cranberry version is a bit more tart but has a fresh taste.

Ingredients:
Frozen cranberries (10oz bag) (Do not thaw).
Dried figs, coarsely chopped (1 cup)
Sugar 1/2 cup
White wine 3/4 cup
Orange peel, 2 long strips without pith
Salt, a pinch
Orange flavored liquor (I used triple sec), 2 tbs

Directions:
1. Soak the figs in hot water for 20 minutes.
2. In a sauce pan, add the wine and sugar on medium flame. Once it starts to boil reduce the heat and mix to dissolve the sugar.
3.Add, the cranberries, drained figs, orange peel and cook for 10 -15 minutes stirring occasionally until the sauce thickens.
4. Cut the flame and add a pinch of salt and the orange liquor and mix (I also added a bit of fresh orange juice since I had an orange from which the peel was made).

Below is after 10 minutes. You can see the sauce thickened.

Although finding frozen cranberries is a bit difficult (our regular grocery store did not have it), using it to make the figgy cranberry sauce is almost identical to the one made with fresh cranberries. The one I made from dried and sweetened "Crasin" is not bad either with less tart taste and a bit firmer consistency.

Rapini and scrambled egg 菜の花と卵のからし醤油あえ

I have posted a similar item before. When spring comes, one of the items many Japanese associate with the season would be "nanohana"菜の花  or rapeseed flower which I discussed to some extent before. Around here, nanohana is not available so we have to turn to two possible substitutes; rapini or broccoli rabe and broccolini. Broccolini looks similar to nanohana but does not have its bitter taste. While rapini does not quite look like nanohana, it does have a similar bitterness. This time I prepared rapini in the style of nanohana and served it with scrambled eggs.

The contrast of green and yellow feels like spring to me. The rapini is dressed in mustard soy sauce and the scrambled eggs have a slightly sweet seasoning.

For this dish, I cut off only the blossom end and blanched it in salted water, then shocked it in ice water to fix the green color. This process also tames the bitterness (since a lot of people don't particularly like the taste if it is too strong). I then squeezed out the moisture.

The dressing is a mixture of prepared Japanese mustard (from the tube), sugar and soy sauce. After tasting, I diluted it with Japanese "dashi" broth but that is optional.

Scrambled eggs were seasoned with sugar and salt.

This combination is a good one. The rapini has a sharp  mustard taste and a bitterness muted by the addition of sugar which was also carried by the scrambled eggs.

Udon with spicy miso sauce 肉味噌うどん

This is a re-purposed spicy red miso sauce with pork (niku-miso with red miso and pork 肉味噌) I made a few days ago. Since I made it a bit too spicy (I am not sure if it was due to the Sriracha sauce or the jalapeno pepper), but it was a bit much for my wife. So we added yogurt like we often do for Indian curry which made it much milder. That led me to come up with this dish as a final "shime" 締め one evening. I made the sauce for the udon noodles from the spicy red miso sauce with pork and yogurt.

Although adding yogurt may be somewhat unusual for more traditional Japanese recipe of "Niki-miso udon 肉味噌うどん", it went well. I also added spinach which my wife prepared from fresh spinach for spinach soufflé (which we did not make because we ran out of time and energy and were too full to eat it anyway).

For a impromptu dish made from re-purposed ingredients, as leftover control, this was quite good.

I warmed up my spicy pork red-miso sauce, added yogurt (did not measure, plain non flavored) and mixed. When it was warmed up, I mixed in the cooked spinach.

We used dried thin udon noodles, Sanuki undon 讃岐うどん, cooked as per the package directions and rinsed in cold running water after it was cooked and drained.

The addition of yogurt made the sauce mild and creamy without adding much additional taste but a nice smooth texture. It easily clung to the noodles and was a perfect small ending dish for us.

Chicken and pork miso sauces 肉味噌2種類

Nikumiso 肉味噌 is a rather common Japanese condiment meaning "meat and miso". It is used to top simmered daikon or furofuki daikon 風呂吹き大根 or warn cubes of tofu. I had leftover barbecued pork and chicken and decided to make two different kinds of miku-miso; one was spicy with Jalapeno pepper (left) and the other with Yuzu ginger flavor.

I topped simmered daikon (cooked in water with a pinch of raw rice to 20 minutes and then simmered with water and a piece of kelp for another 30 minutes) with a side of broccolini (we can not get "nanohana" in the US).  This version was made with white miso and chicken and had a gentle Yuzu citrus and ginger flavor.

The second one is much more assertive with red miso and pork and spiced with Jalapeno pepper, garlic and Sriracha hot sauce.

Niku-miso is usually made of uncooked ground meat but I used cooked pork and chicken since this was leftover control.

Ingredients:

Niki-miso with white miso and chicken:
Barbecued chicken breast, finely chopped, 1/2 cup
White miso, 2 tbs
Sugar, 1tbs
Mirin, 1 tbs
Sake, 2 tbs
Grated ginger, 1/2 tsp
Sesame oil, 1 tsp
Yuzu skin, frozen, 1/4 tsp (or orange or lemon zest)

Niku-miso with red miso and pork:
Barbecued pork, finely chopped, 1/2 cup
Red miso, 2tbs
Sugar 2 tbs
Mirin 1 tbs
Sake 2 tbs
Garlic, 2 cloves, either pressed or finely chopped
Sesame oil, 1tsp
Jalapeno pepper, 1, seeded and veined, finely chopped
Sriracha hot sauce, to taste

Directions:

Both are made similarly. Combine all the ingredients (except for Yuzu skin in the chicken version) in a small sauce pan and mix and stir until the mixture develops the consistency of miso. Add sesame oil and mix. For the one with chicken, take the pan off the heat and the add  theYuzu skin.

The white miso one was very gentle with nice ginger Yuzu flavor. The red miso one was much stronger and I made this a bit too spicy (especially for my wife). She mixed in yogurt which calmed the spiciness down. Both sauces went well with simmered daikon.

Figgy Cranberry sauce イチジク、クランベリーソース

I usually make some type of cranberry sauce during the Holiday season, although we no longer cook turkey. My first encounter with cranberry sauce was the "canned and jelled" kind. Later I learned it is very easy to make cranberry sauce from fresh cranberries and it is much better than the canned stuff. Last year, I made "figgy cranbery sauce" from a recipe I saw in the Washington Post. I did not post this and we finished eating it several months ago. It was a pretty versatile  sauce, however, and went well with chicken or even pork. My wife asked me to make some more even though it was not the Holiday season. It may not be the Holiday season but it is also not the season for cranberries--none were to be had. My wife suggested I make a similar sauce using just dried figs and balsamic vinegar. But I thought it was essential to have cranberries in cranberry sauce and made this using dried mission figs and "Craisins", which are sweetened/flavored dried cranberries. I served the sauce with my "Matsukaze" chicken patties 鳥の松風焼き as an appetizer with a glass of red wine.

Despite using only dried fruit, the sauce came out pretty well and went perfectly with this chicken dish.

Ingredients:
Dried mission figs, coarsely chopped, about 1/2 cup (left below).
Craisins, about 1 cup (right below)
Japanese Yuzu citrus skin (frozen) about 1 tsp (or orange peel or zest)
Orange liquor (I used triple sec), 2 tbs
Sake (or white wine), 1/2 cup.

Directions:
Soak the figs and Craisins in hot but not boiling water (I used hot water from our InstaHot) and let them sit for 20-30 minutes. I drained the liquid reserving 1/4 cup.
In a sauce pan, I added sake and when it came to a boil added the drained figs and Craisins. I stirred and mashed the fruit. During this process I thought it may need more liquid and added the reserved soaking liquid. After 10 minutes or so, the sauce thickened. I tasted it and decided no sugar was needed (Craisins are rather sweet). Off the heat, I added the triple sec and Yuzu skin and mixed well.

This was a success! Without using any additional sugar, it was just right. The yuzu and triple sec added a nice burst of citrus flavor. Now I can make my figgy cranberry sauce any time of the year.

Mayonnaise cake マヨネーズケーキ

This is a very moist and chocolaty cake and the ingredients include a surprising item--mayonnaise!. This is a Pennsylvania Dutch recipe that my wife got, from a neighbor on a recent visit to the town in Pennsylvania where she grew up. Many Pennsylvania Dutch cakes and pies are unique and a bit unusual. My wife loves collecting these old recipes as nostalgia for tastes of her childhood and admiration for the creativity of the cooks who invented them. My wife made a few of them such as crumb cake, wacky cake, shoofly pie and funny cake. But, as far as I am concerned, the mayo cake is the most unusual. My wife also admitted that she never had this cake before. It came together very quickly and it was really good. If you happened to be a "mayoler*" マヨラー, this is a "must" recipe.

*"Mayo-ler" is a Japanglish word meaning "somebody-who-really-(really)-likes-mayonnaise". Apparently mayonnaise is quite the craze in Japan. We have seen TV reviews of restaurants in Japan for Mayolers in which all items are made with mayo even including mayo drinks! While we certainly appreciate mayo as a condiment on sandwiches or in salad dressing we have never gone to one of these restaurants. (And in all honesty, since we are not that crazy about mayonnaise, I doubt we ever will).

This is a small serving and, just for pics, we decorated it with whipped cream and Maraschino cherry.

Ingredients:
Dry:
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
5 tbs. Hershey's cocoa (being a PA dutch recipe, it has to be Hershey's chocolate of course).

Wet:
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup hot water

Directions:
Sift dry ingredients together 3 times (#1). combine the mayo and water until smooth (#2).  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until incorporated (#3 and #4). bake in a greased 13 X 9 inch pan at 350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes (#5 and #6).

It doesn't get any easier than this. This cake is lusciously moist and chocolaty. Truly amazing!!  Oh! I just realized we did not post shoo-fly pie, wacky cake or funny cake. Maybe, my wife would like to make these so that we can post them (hint, hint).

Cabbage rolls with "gomoku" tofu 五目豆腐の春キャベツ包み

This is another vegan recipe from the Buddhist monk who appears regularly on a Japanese newspaper site.  Since I do not subscribe to this newspaper, I cannot get all parts of the recipe but I could watch a short video accompanying the recipe. It gave enough information for me to make, at least, a similar dish. This is a variation of Japanese cabbage rolls or rolled cabbage ロールキャベツ. This is, however, totally vegan. This is a Japanese-Western fusion and uses a interestingly different type of tomato sauce.

To carry on the Japanese-Western fusion 和洋折衷 theme, I garnished with fresh basil leaf and chiffonade.

Inside the roll is tofu and a combination of vegetables. Using a combination of many food items is sometimes called "Gomoku" 五目. "Gomoku" literally means "five items" but, in Japanese culinary parlance, it just means many items. I took the liberty of coming up with my own vegetable combination for this dish.

Ingredients (4 rolls):
1. Spring cabbage leaves, four, separated and boiled for 10 minutes until pliable. Shave off the thickest part of the veins and set aside.
2. Vegetables for stuffing: I chose white and brown "shimeji" しめじ mushrooms (white and brown beech mushrooms), separated and the bottom cut off, thin rectangles of carrots, thin squares of daikon (I happened to have simply simmered daikon in kelp broth) and julienne of hydrated and cooked kelp (again this was a byproduct of making simmered daikon). The amount was arbitrary (#1 picture below).
3. Firm (momen-goshi 木綿漉し) tofu 1/4, parboiled
4. Soy sauce (2 tbs), Kelp broth (1/4 cup), sake (2 tbs), vegetable oil and dark sesame oil for sautéing.
5. Tomato juice (I used V8 juice for more interesting flavors), 5.5oz
6. Campari tomato, skinned, and cut into quoters, 5. 7. Potato starch, 1 tsp

Directions.
1. In a small sauce pan, I added a small amount of vegetable oil and a splash of sesame oil and sautéed the vegetables. I added a small amount of kelp broth, soy sauce and mirin and braised (#2) until the liquid was almost evaporated.
2. Meanwhile, I parboiled the firm tofu for 2-3 minutes. When both the vegetables and the tofu cooled down enough to handle, I added the tofu to the vegetables crushing it into chunks by hand (#3). 3. I divided the filling into 4 portions and placed each portion in one of the four base cabbage leaves (#4) and rolled (#5).
4. In a pan in which the cabbage rolls could snugly fit, I added 5-6 oz of kelp broth and V8 juice (1 can or 5.5oz) and seasoned with soy sauce and sake (regular V8 or tomato juice contain a good amount of salt, so I adjusted the soy sauce by tasting.) (#6).
5. I put the cabbage rolls into the sauce, put on the lid and cooked on simmer for 15-20 minutes (#7).
6. I took out the rolls and kept them warm. Meanwhile, I added the cut-up tomato to the sauce and cooked on medium flame for  5-10 minutes reducing the sauce slightly (#8).
7. I added a potato starch slurry (with sake or water) and thickened the sauce. 8. I tasted  it and added a pinch of sugar (optional).

Since this is vegan, it does not have an impact of meat containing cabbage rolls but the tomato sauce was very gentle and not too acidic (may be the benefit of using fresh and skinned Campari tomatoes). This is a very good and healthy way to enjoy spring cabbage.

Buttermilk panna cotta バーターミルクパンナコッタ

My wife likes to use buttermilk for many dishes. She even likes to drink it (especially the high-octane kind from Harrisburg farms in Pennsylvania). We have never seen buttermilk in Japan. Originally buttermilk was leftover from churning butter out of cream and as a result had some small chunks of butter floating in it. This type is known as traditional buttermilk. The buttermilk used today is known as cultured buttermilk and is produced from cows milk fermented using one of two species of bacteria; Lactococcus lactis or Lactobacilliu bulgaricus. The fermentation creates lactic acid which is what gives buttermilk its characteristic tart taste.  The fermentation also means it lasts a long time. (My wife found, for example, that buttermilk marked with a due date of Jan 30 was perfectly good in April of the same year). In any case, one day, she decided to make this buttermilk panna cotta (She first called this "pudding" but since there is no egg involved this is more like panna cotta).

I myself would never like to "drink" buttermilk by itself, even though I have tasted it,  but using in baking or this type of dish it is quite good.

Ingredients:
2 tsp. powdered gelatin
2 tbs. water
1/2 cup half and half plus 1/2 cup milk (or you could use 1 cup of heavy cream instead for a really luxurious pudding).
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups buttermilk

1/2 recipe ingredients:

1 tsp. gelatin

1 Tbs. water

1/4 cup 4% milk

1/4 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup buttermilk 

Directions:
Bloom the gelatin in the water. Put the half & half, milk and sugar in a sauce pan and heat until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and add the gelatin stirring until it is dissolved. When the milk mixture has cooled to room temperature add the vanilla and the buttermilk. Mix thoroughly. Pour into small ramekins or Pyrex dessert bowls. Put into the refrigerator until set.

This is a lovely panna cotta. It is not too sour or too sweet. It has a nice fresh tangy taste and smooth texture. It is also fairly easy to make.

Hot cross buns 2017 Version2 ホットクロスバンズ

My wife is very fond of making different types of bread rolls. Although she has made a total of 4 different kinds of hot cross buns over the years, she made one more this year (a total of 5 different variations of hot cross buns). This one is quite different from the others. It uses much less liquid and much more butter. Initially we were skeptical, given the proportion of flour to butter, that this recipe would work but, in the end it did. The left is the newest version and on the right is one she made  earlier this year.

The newest one has quite different texture and flavors.

The recipe came from Williams Sonoma

Ingredients:
1/4 cup (2 fl. oz./60 ml) warm milk (110° to 115°F/43° to 46­°C)
1 package (2 1/4 tsp.) active dry yeast
1/4 cup (2 oz./60 g) granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
Kosher salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten, plus 1 egg white (my wife just added the additional egg yolk to the dough).
2 3/4 cups (11 oz./345 g) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
12 Tbs. (1 1/2 sticks) (6 oz./180 g) unsalted butter, finely diced, plus more for greasing
1/2 cup (3 oz./90 g) raisins or dried currants

For the Icing (which my wife did not use)
1 cup (4 oz./125 g) confectioners’ sugar
1 1/2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice

Directions:
Have all the ingredients except the milk at room temperature. Coat a large bowl and a 13-by-9-inch (33-by-23-cm) baking dish with butter. Set both aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook add the granulated sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and 1 tsp. salt.

Proof the yeast in 1/4 cup warm water with 1/2 spoon full of sugar. Combine the milk and yeast and add to the flour. Mix on low speed until combined, about 30 seconds. Add the eggs and continue mixing several minutes more.  (The dough will be very very dry.)

Increase the speed to medium-low and add the butter a few pieces at a time, kneading after each addition until all of the butter is incorporated. Continue kneading, adding flour a little at a time scraping down the sides of bowl as necessary, until the dough is smooth.

Add the raisins and knead until combined. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and finish kneading by hand for 1 minute.

Shape the dough into a ball and transfer to the prepared bowl, turning the dough to coat it with butter. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

Punch down the dough, turn it out onto a floured work surface and knead for 1 minute. Cut the dough into pieces weighing about 2 1/2 oz.. Shape each piece into a ball, stretching the sides of the dough down and under. Arrange the balls in the baking dish, spaced about 1/2 inch (12 mm) apart. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until the balls of dough are doubled in volume and touching one another, 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Preheat an oven to 375°F (190°C).

In a small bowl, whisk together the egg white, 1 tsp. water and a pinch of salt. Using a pastry brush, brush the top of each bun with the egg wash. Using sharp scissors or a knife, cut a cross into the top of each bun. (This step was somewhat less than successful; it just served to partially deflate the buns.) Transfer the baking dish to the oven and bake until the buns are golden brown, about 20 minutes. Transfer the dish to a wire rack and let cool.

To make the icing, in a bowl, whisk together the confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice. Transfer the icing to a pastry bag with a small plain tip and pipe an “X” on each cooled bun along the indentations where you scored the dough.

This is a bit unusual recipe. Initially, the dough looked really dry and did not look like it would come together. As the butter was added (#1) it started coming together as a dough (#2). It is almost like short bread dough. My wife, as usual, weighed the dough to make perfectly sized buns.

This is 2nd best hot cross bun in my wife's repertoire but knowing the amount of butter that goes into them, the first hot cross buns my wife made this year may be better.

Japanese pork pot roast 煮豚

Although I have posted Japanese (Chinese) pork pot roast previously, this one turned out particularly well. One major reason is the cut of pork. Generally pork roasts that are available in the grocery store are loins which would become dry if cooked by this method; they are better grilled on the Weber. I occasionally can get shoulder or butt. This cut has more layers of fat between the meat. Some of these are bone-in, and not suited for pot roast so we frequently barbecue these cuts in our Weber grill. Sometimes, however, the fat is too much and I end up having to remove large sections of it from the meat after the roast is cooked. More recently different types of pork roast started appearing in our grocery store. This roast was sold as "pork roast" with no specific cut identified. I am guessing this is either shoulder or butt. It was boneless so I made it into a pot roast. It came out very succulent and good. Since I made this in the morning, I decided to serve it as a lunch. I served it with French-cut green beans, green asparagus, tomatoes and my potato salad.

With this method of cooking the layers of fat between the meat are mostly rendered out but the pieces are still very moist and tender.

I also added a skinned and sliced Campari tomato as well as blanched broccoli. I dressed the veggies with sesame mayonnaise (sesame paste, mayo and soy sauce).

The recipe for the pork is the same one I used before.

Ingredients:
Pork roast, trussed (it came trussed in a plastic net but I removed and re-trussed it with a butcher's twine).
Marinade: (soy sauce, mirin and sake in 2:1:1 ratio) enough to cover 1/3 of the pork roast.
Star anise (2), whole black pepper corns (6-8), garlic, peeled and crushed (3-4), ginger sliced (3-4 sliced), scallion, bruised using the back of the knife (2-3 stalks).

Directions:
1. Place the roast in the pot with the marinade and spices.  The roast should snugly fit in the pot.
2. Put on the lid and let it marinate at room temperature, turning every 10-20 minutes for 1-2 hours.
3. Add water so that a bit more than half of the roast is submerged.
4. Place the pot on medium flame and cover loosely with the aluminum foil and put on the lid.
5. When the simmering liquid starts boiling, turn down the flame to simmer and cook for 2-3 hours, turning once or twice.
6. Let it cool down in the marinade.
7. Remove the roast and set it aside. With the lid off, reduce the marinade in half. Remove the  rendered fat floating on the surface of the liquid using a fat separator.
8. Place the roast in a Ziploc bag and pour in the reduced and defatted marinade.

This was a perfect lunch for a weekend. I may have to make some ramen noodles to fully take advantage of this nice pork pot roast.

Uni "ruibe" うに酒盗ルイベ

We got this with fresh "uni" sea urchin and other uni products from Maruhide 丸秀 sometime ago. Finally we got around to tasting it. This is called "Uni-shutou-ruibe" うに酒盗ルイベ.  I sliced it thinly while it was still frozen and served it with slices of cucumber and cold sake.

I'm quoting from my previous post: "Ruibe" is a word derived from the Ainu アイヌ, the endogenous people of my home island Hokkaido. Roughly translated, it means "thawing food". In the severe cold of Hokkaido, salmon harvested in early winter quickly froze. In its frozen state, it was sliced thinly and served semi-frozen or over hot rice where it thawed--hence thawing food.

"Shuto" 酒盗:  These two letters literally mean "sake" and "stealing". The origin of this name reportedly came from the allegation that shuto is so good with sake that when people run out of sake while eating it, they are compelled to obtain more sake even if they have to steal it. There is a similar preparation called  "shio-kara" 塩辛 or, as my wife calls it, "squid and guts". It is made of strips of raw squid salted and fermented with squid guts (mostly liver) which we really like and is also perfect with sake. Shuto appears to have originated and become popular in Kochi 高知 prefecture on Shikoku island 四国. This island is famous for "Katsuo" 鰹 or bonito fishing. Instead of discarding the innards (stomach and intestine), they cut them up, salt, and ferment for 1 year or more. According to what I read,  the digestive enzymes present in the innards ferment and preserve the fish guts. Many variations incorporating different flavorings and using bonito flesh instead of innards as well as other fish exist but I have not tried them. "Uni shuto" appears not to contain fish innards.

We really like this. It is a cross between fresh uni and uni product called "Neri-uni*" 練りウニ. The uni flavors get concentrated. What we really noticed was the texture transition that occurred after we placed it in our mouth.  It went from cold and frozen with little flavor to melt in your mouth flooding with fresh uni flavors.  We really enjoyed this on slices of cucumber followed by a mouthful of cold sake but it will definitely go well with fresh white rice. "Uni-shutou-Ruibe" is not a traditional Japanese product and according to "Maruhide", this is exclusively available at "Maruhide" in Los Angeles.

*Neri-Uni: This is a more traditional preserved "uni" product. The uni is mixed with salt and alcohol. The resulting paste is packaged in a small glass jar.