Sweet Onion Bread Pudding 玉ねぎのブレッドプデｨング

I do not know how my wife decided to make this dish. She apparently saw this recipe on line and decided to make it.  The recipe calls for cubes of bread. She did not feel like using our home-baked milkbread or other breads we baked. So we ended up getting a loaf of whole wheat bread from Whole Foods. Although the original recipe was called “soufflé”, this is not a souffle. My wife decide to call it “bread pudding”. In any case, this is a good side dish. For the first time we tasted it, onion flavor was sort of strong (even though we used sweet onion and sautéed for a long time). But it calmed down and eventually tasted just right. It heats up  nicely by briefly microwaving. As shown in the picture we served this as a snack with Greek rice stuffed grape leaves (dolma or dolmadakia, store bought)

The recipe came from “Southern living”.

Ingredients: Recipe X 1/2
1 tablespoon butter
2 cups chopped Vidalia onions
1 cups fresh bread cubes (crusts removed) 
6 oz. evaporated milk
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cups shredded Parmesan cheese (or combination of other cheeses)
1/2 teaspoon salt

Ingredients (Original recipe)
2 tablespoons butter
4 cups chopped Vidalia onions
2 cups fresh bread cubes (crusts removed)
1 (12-oz.) can evaporated milk
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/4 cups shredded Parmesan cheese (or combination of other cheeses)
1 teaspoon salt

Directions
Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat; add chopped onion, and sauté 10 to 15 minutes or until tender.
Place onion and bread cubes in a large bowl. Stir in milk, eggs, 1 cup cheese, and salt. Pour into a lightly greased soufflé or baking dish. (For 1/2 recipe I used the smallest pyrex baking dish). Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup cheese.
Bake at 350 ̊ for 25 minutes or until set.

This is basically an onion flavored bread pudding. It is very flavorful (and very rich). Initially the onion was quite strong. It got better with time as the onion flavor blended into the cheese and bread. The 1/2 recipe was perfect for us.

Grated Lotus Root and Tofu Ball レンコンと豆腐まんじゅう

This is a variation of “renkon ball” (renkon manju レンコン饅頭) I posted before.  Besides grated renkon lotus root, it also uses tofu. Since I had the last of the lotus root and half of the tofu, this was a perfect dish to make. I got the idea watching one of the YouTube cook shows. This is a basic version but I could add more items to make it more interesting. I could have made some kind of broth or sauce but this was pretty good as is. Picture #1 shows the cut surface with small chunks of tofu. This has nice soft interior and crunchy crust. When I made this dish I also made “nagaimo” fries which turned out really good and will be the subject of separate post (picture #1 right lower).

Ingredients:
200 grams lotus root, peeled and grated, moisture drained out naturally
300 grams tofu, moisture drained
3 tbs Potato starch
1/2 tsp grated ginger
1 tsp miso (original recipe calls for 1/2 tbs soy sauce, I used miso since the dough was bit runny)
Flour for dredging.
Oil for deep frying.

Directions:
Add the grated lotus root, tofu, potato starch, ginger and miso and mix well until smooth. Add more starch if too watery/soft.
Using the ice cream scoop, make equal sized balls, dredge in the flour and deep fry at 160-180F oil for 3-4 minutes turning a few times until the outside is nicely brown (picture #2).

Initially, I served these hot but it can be heated up nicely in the toaster oven. It is seasoned but you could add soy sauce with grated ginger or some type of hot broth. If I make this again I could add chopped scallion, cut up shrimp, ginko nuts, mushrooms etc to make it more interesting.

A few days later, I tried to make a dish (soup) with the leftover renkon balls (picture #3). I made this for lunch. I made it a few hours ahead and re-heated just before serving. The idea was good but the execution was not so great. While the renkon balls were sitting in the broth they absorbed the broth and mostly disintegrated as you can see in the picture #3. It still tasted good.

This is mostly leftover control and there is no recipe but this is how I made it.

Ingredients: (for the soup)
4 Renkon balls, cut in half
Half package of brown shimeji mushroom, root end removed and separated
1 inch daikon, peeled and drained
1 spring onion, finely chopped
Cooked udon noodle, amount arbitrary, this was leftover

For broth:
2 cup Japanese broth (from dashi pack)
1 tbs each of  sake and mirin
1/4 cup of x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce (or taste)

Directions:
Add the ingredients for the broth in sauce pan and heat to simmer
Add the grated daikon, renkon balls and mushroom and simmer.
Add the noodles and scallion
Serve while hot*

* as I mentioned, I made this ahead of time and reheated before lunch. That was a mistake, the renkon balls absorbed the broth and mostly disintegrated. Nonetheless it tasted good and the addition of grated daikon added flavor and cut the oily taste from the renkon ball.

Chestnut, Brown Butter, Sage Muffin 栗の粉とセイジマフィン

This fall we bought a new batch of chestnut flour. It was to replace the previous batch we had been storing in the freezer that had a Best-Use-By (BUB) date of 2015. The new batch came in bulk; 3 bags of flour. Given this “plenitude”, my wife was trying to come up with new dishes to use the chestnut flour. She came across a recipe for “chestnut and sage muffin” at the “Serious eats” site.  This was a perfect recipe to use for 2 reasons: 1) as previously stated we had an abundance of chestnut flour and 2) The sage bush in our herb garden still had nice lush green leaves despite several cold days and snow. The muffin was really good. Nice sage and brown butter flavor and chestnut flour made this muffin very light and moist.

I ask my wife to continue as usual.

Ingredients: (makes 12 small muffins)
Several bunches of sage (with about 5 leaves on each, one of which used in the browned butter the other steeped in the milk).
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
2/3 cup milk
3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup chestnut flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup yogurt
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract


Ingredients X2: (suggested to make larger muffins)
Several bunches of sage (one of which used in the browned butter the other steeped in the milk. The more leaves use the more intense the sage flavor).
12 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/3 cup milk
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 cup chestnut flour
1/2 cup sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoon baking soda
1  teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cup yogurt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Combine milk and sage in small saucepan and heat to a bare simmer, then remove from heat and cover. Allow to steep at least 10 minutes, then remove sage, squeezing as much milk as possible from sage before discarding.
2. Place butter and remaining sage in small saucepan and heat over medium until melted and foamy. Allow to cook until liquid butter is golden brown and solids at bottom are deep brown and smell nutty. Transfer to a heatproof container, remove the sage and make sure to scrape out as much of the browned butter solids as possible.
3. Combine all purpose flour, chestnut flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in medium mixing bowl. Sift if necessary, or simply whisk together. In separate mixing bowl, combine sage milk, sage butter, yogurt and vanilla and whisk until smooth. Gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry until all streaks of flour are incorporated and batter is fluffy and slightly lumpy. Divide evenly between cups in a 12 cup muffin pan lined with paper cups. Bake 7 minutes, then rotate pan and bake another 3-5 minutes, until a skewer inserted into muffin comes out clean. Be careful not to overbake. Allow to cool in pan slightly before transferring to rack to finish cooling.

These are truly remarkable muffins. They are a combination of unexpected tastes that work extremely well together. The combination of browned butter and sage came through with a pleasing robustness. The chestnut flour added a slightly nutty dimension. The chestnut flour also contributes to the very light and tender texture of the muffin. While these muffins were a bit of surprise flavor-wise they were also a great new discovery. Next time we’ll double the recipe so the muffins are a bit larger.

P.S. In early February, the plum tree in our yard started blooming. It is always amazing and nice to see this when it is still winter and the weather is still cold. It is such a nice early harbinger of hope for the upcoming spring.

Beef with Kon-nyaku and Vegetable “Kimpira” Stir-fry 牛肉と蒟蒻の金平

We were having some very extremely cold and snowy weather recently. One of the best dishes for this kind of cold weather is sukiyaki すき焼きand similar nabe 鍋 dishes. We recently got thinly sliced (2mm in thickness) beef rib eye for sukiyaki from Weee. This is not top quality beef but it is very reasonably  priced and quite good. So, one very cold evening, we cooked sukiyaki at the table and had it with hot sake 燗酒.  The package included 1lb of beef, which was more than we could eat in one sitting so besides the leftover sukiyaki, we had leftover uncooked beef as well. Thinly sliced beef is used in many Japanese dishes but we usually do not have beef (we usually have chicken or pork and occasionally lamb) so I did not have a favorite “go-to” recipe to use the beef.  I looked through some beef recipes on the web but ended up with my own variation (picture #1). We had a cake of kon-nyaku (konjac) 蒟蒻, and an end piece of daikon 大根. So I included those in this dish. Many Japanese dishes call for small Japanese green pepper called “pea-man” ピーマンwhich is quite different from American green pepper. Instead I used, seeded and deveined Jalapeño pepper.  For the seasonings, I added “Douban-jang”. 豆板醤 to add slight heat. For an impromptu dish, everything came together rather nicely. This is a just note to myself so that I can recreate it in the future.

Ingredients:
150gram thinly sliced beef, cut into thin strips (picture below, this was rib eye) (picture #2)
One cake  of kon-nyaku 板コンニャク, washed, par-boiled
One small carrot
2 inch of daikon
One large Jalapeño pepper, seeded and deveined
1 tbs vegetable oil and 1 tsp dark sesame oil

Seasonings:
1 tsp douban-jang (or more if you like spicy)
2 tbs sake
1 tbs mirin
2 tbs soy sauce (I used x4 Japanese noodle sauce)

Directions:
I tried to cut all the vegetables in the same, thin rectangular pieces. I halved the  kon-nyaku cake in thickness, added shallow criss-cross cuts on both sides and cut into the similar rectangular shape but some came out a bit thicker and larger. (Picture #3 from left to right are kon-nyaku, carrot, Jalapeño pepper and diakon).

I added the oil in a non-stick frying pan on medium flame (vegetable plus sesame oil). I added the beef and cooked until almost done and added the remaining vegetables and the kon-nyaku and stir fried for 2-3 minutes.

I added the sake, mirin, and soy sauce. When coming to the boil I added douban-jang (picture #4) and mixed well. Placed the lid on and let it simmer for 5-7 minutes.

I removed the lid and turned the flame to medium high and stirred until the liquid was almost gone. I tasted and adjusted the seasoning. In this case, it came out slightly sweeter than I intended but it had a nice sweet and salty flavor and a mild spicy kick. Certainly, the beef added more flavor. I could have cut the daikon into thicker pieces since it became very soft. The kon-nyaku absorbed the seasonings and added nice texture. We like this dish. It will go with rice or drinks. In our case, probably the latter.

White “Pineberry” and Red “Koyo” Strawberries 白いイチゴと昂揚イチゴ

We have noticed that some of the gourmet food sites are now carrying Japanese white strawberries which are extremely expensive. (For example, at one site, a tray of 8 strawberries was $135. At another, 400 gm were on sale for $98.99). This was certainly not the strawberry scene when I was growing up in Japan. For one thing edible white strawberries did not exist; if they were white they were not ready to eat because they were not ripe. Also peak strawberry season was in the summer. Now, the best strawberry season is in the winter.  (This is because all the strawberries are grown in high tech labor intensive green houses). Nonetheless even the red strawberries (ichigo イチゴ) we ate in Japan on our various trips, there were not the same “animal” they are here. They were extremely flavorful and very sweet. Not even the most sweet strawberries we’ve ever eaten here hold a candle to the ones we got on recent trips to Japan.* We are not as familiar with the white Japanese strawberries as we are with the red and therefore considered ordering the Japanese white strawberry but the price is astronomical and we decided even as good as we knew they would be it was not worth it.

*digression alert. The most sweet strawberries we ever ate here came from a field in California near the condominium we were renting at the time. During harvest time they were being sold right out of field at a small fruit stand. They were ripe to perfection and warm having been kissed by the sun in the field. Nonetheless they were very acidic compared to the ones we have had in Japan.

The other day, however, when we went to Whole Foods, my wife found “white” strawberries called “Berry de blanc” and small red strawberries called “Oiishii” meaning “delicious” in Japanese which appears to suggest its Japanese connection (picture #1). The label also listed the red strawberry as “Koyo berry”. Although we were not sure what they were, they sure looked like the Japanese varieties we had just been looking at on the web so we bought them since they were not too expensive.

We first opened the white strawberries (picture #2). They were a good size, pale white with red seeds and looked exactly like the Japanese white strawberries.

The “Oishii” strawberries (picture #3)  were small but bright red and carefully packaged in a plastic case with an individual recess for each berry.

We also bought some green grapes called “Cotton candy” grapes (these were from Peru). We bought these one time before and liked them. So we had the two kinds of strawberries and the grapes (picture #4) as a desert for our lunch.

The white strawberry was sweet but not as sweet as the “Oishii” strawberry and it had a different (not-strawberry) flavor. Later we learned this variety of white strawberry is called “pineberry” because it has a slight pineapple flavor. We were not sure that we could recognize the different flavor as pineapple but it was definitely different. The “oishii” strawberry was very sweet and tasted like a strawberry. Both are much better than regular strawberries available in the supermarket. The cut surfaces (picture #5) are interesting; the white strawberry is white all the way through and the “Oiishii” strawberry is completely red. Many American strawberries are red on the surface but the center is pale/white (not fully ripe?).

The white strawberry (pineberry) we got is grown in Florida and “Oishii” strawberry is grown in New Jersey using Japanese vertical cultivation techniques. Do we buy these strawberries again? The answer is “probably”. It is a bit more expensive but not outrageous (like the ones from Japan) and taste better than regular strawberries.

Digression alert: We were curious about how these white strawberries were developed, how they could be ripe but still white. We also wanted to know what was the difference between Western and Japanese white strawberries? The strawberry genetics appear complicated and beyond me but the mechanisms for the strawberry that is ripe but still white is due to the genetics, i.e., the lack of a protein called “Fragaria allergen A1” which prevents the berries from producing “anthocyanin” which gives it the red color. There appear to be many white strawberry varieties including wild ones. The version of white strawberry we got is called “pineberry” which is a cross between North and South American strawberries (Fragaria x ananassa and Fragaria chiloensis) which was reportedly introduced to the U.K. market in 2020.

The Japanese white strawberries are apparently different (genetically and flavor-wise??). The first Japanese white strawberry varietal was reportedly registered in 2009. Since we have not had a chance to taste many different varieties of Japanese white strawberries (it appears they come up with new varieties often), we do not know how the flavors differ.

Goat Cheese Scallion Muffin ゴートチーズと青葱マフィン

My wife found this recipe for “Muffin with goat cheese and chive” in the Washington Post. Since we are big fans of savory cookies and muffins and we happened to have a log of fresh goat cheese getting older in the refrigerator, my wife decided to make this muffin. The only problem was we did not have chives. So we used the green part of scallions and made it goat cheese scallion muffin. This is a nice muffin with soft and moist center and crunchy outside. Probably we could have used less scallion.

Ingredients(makes 12 muffins)
1 1/2 cups (200 grams) whole-wheat pastry flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/3 cup (80 milliliters) mild-tasting olive oil, plus more for brushing the pan
2/3 cup (180 milliliters) buttermilk
1/2 cup (113 grams) plain Greek yogurt (homemade)
1 large egg
1 teaspoon honey
4 ounces (115 grams) fresh goat cheese (chevre), crumbled
1/4 cup green part of fresh scallions, finely chopped (original recipe calls for 1/2 cup or 22 grams of finely chopped fresh chives)

Directions:
Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees. Brush a nonstick muffin tin with olive oil.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients; the flour, baking powder, onion powder, baking soda, scallions, pepper and salt until combined.

In a large bowl whisk together the wet ingredients; goat cheese, buttermilk, yogurt, oil, egg and honey until everything is mixed and creamy. Add the flour mixture to the milk mixture and stir until just combined.  

Using a 1/4-cup (60-milliliter) measure, divide the batter among the muffin tin cups; each should be filled about three-quarters of the way.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick or cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for 5 to 10 minutes, then run a small offset spatula or butter knife around the perimeter of each muffin before removing them from the tin. Serve warm.
The muffin had a nice scallion flavor which became better and more mellow with time. We are not sure if using chives may have been a bit gentler flavor. In any case, we used shy of 1/4 cup which can be reduced further, although we do not mind the scallion flavor at all. The texture was extremely tender. This was a hardy muffin with a nice robust flavor. Great with eggs for breakfast of with soup for lunch.

Tomato and Egg Stir-fry with Wood Ear and Natto 納豆、トマト、木耳の卵炒め

This is on the theme of “stir-fried tomato and egg”. We also added fresh wood ear mushroom which made the crunchiness of wood ear quite a nice contrast to the soft scrambled egg and tomato. The current dish came about because I found several small packages of natto 納豆 (dreaded Japanese fermented soybean) in the freezer. I have posted quite a few dishes using natto. Mixing well (400 stirs) using a special natto mixing contraption is the key to making it less pungent and (as far as my wife is concerned ) edible. For a number of years or until my mother discovered and introduced us to the “400 stirs” method my wife would not even consider eating natto.  But now she certainly can eat it, although this is not her most favorite. Upon the news of finding natto in the freezer, I proposed several dishes I made previously including “natto omelet”. She then suggested adding the natto to the stir-fried egg dish with wood ear and tomato. So, I complied willingly. Since the natto was seasoned with the sauce and hot mustard that came with the package, I omitted the ginger I usually use for this dish. This was an unqualified success. The natto gave a nice nutty flavor but no pungent smell or sliminess. We had this as a drinking snack for cold sake and it was perfect.

On close-up, you could see the natto among the tomato and wood ear mushroom.

There is no recipe per-se but this is how I made it (just a note for myself)

Ingredients:
2 large eggs, beaten
3 skinned Campari tomato, quartered
1 package of natto, prepared with the season packets  (tare sauce and hot mustard came with the natto), mix well (I used the special the “400 stir” natto mixing contraption)
Wood ear mushroom, cut into smaller size (amount arbitrary)
2 scallions, finely chopped
1 tbs peanut oil plus 1 more tsp for frying the tomato
1/4 tsp dark sesame oil

Directions:
Mix the prepared natto, eggs and wood ear mushroom
Heat up the peanut and sesame oil in a frying pan on medium heat
Make loose scrambled eggs and set aside
Add the sesame oil in the same pan and fry the tomato for 1 minutes and add back the cooked egg mixture and cook another 1 minute.

In addition to the “400 stir” method, cooking the natto, further reduces its pungency and stickiness. The combination worked well. We had this as a snack but it would also be good over rice.

Happy New Year 2024 明けましておめでとう2024

Like the last year, we put the New Year’s decoration including “Kagami-mochi” 鏡餅 and dragon or “tatsu 辰” zodiac figurines shown in the picture #1 in the room we spend most of our time rather than in the tokonoma 床間 in the “tea-room”.  Upon waking New Year’s day, we learned of the magnitude 7.6 earthquake that hit Ishikwa prefecture 石川県. We hope for the wellbeing of the people affected.

On New Year’s eve, we started the evening with a plate of assorted sashimi, most of the sashimi came from “Riviera Seafood Club”, our most recent favorite source of “home freezer” sashimi or sashimi that we can store in the freezer here at home and thaw at any time we want sashimi. Since the portions are smaller than sashimi we can get from other sources, we can eat more than one kind of sashimi at a time. On the New Year’s plate (picture #2) we had chutoro tuna 中トロ, hamachi はまち, scollop ホタテ, and octopus leg タコの足 (which was from D’artagnan). I added wasabi with chopped wasabi plant stalk (from tube) and yuzu kocho 柚子胡椒 (from tube).

On New Year’s day, we had only coffee (cafe latte and macchiato with a bit of steamed cream) rather than our usual breakfast so we wouldn’t be too full for the large lunch we planned of “Ozhoni” お雑煮 New Year’s soup. As usual, I served the soup in real lacquer ware bowls (gift from my mother many many years ago) with a side of some New Year’s dishes I made (picture #3).

This year, I precooked all the vegetables and proteins that went into the soup. This included “gobo” burdock root 牛蒡, shiitake 椎茸, shimeji しめじ and wood ear 木耳 mushrooms, carrot 人参, daikon 大根, and “kinu-saya” 絹さや snow peas. The protein included sous vide chicken breast (a few slices) and poached shrimp. As usual, I encased the “mochi” 餅 rice cake in “abra-age” 油揚 deep fried tofu pouch (peaking out of the bottom right of the soup bowl). I made the broth from the dashi packs I usually use as well as by poaching the shrimp in the dashi broth. I seasoned it with x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce. By precooking the vegetables and the proteins, I had better control over cooking everything just right. It also made it possible for me to make a better arrangement of the ingredients in the final soup bowl serving. Just before serving, I added frozen yuzu zest which added a nice yuzu 柚子 citrus favor (picture #4).

The side dishes (picture #5) included the usual New Year’s dishes I like to make including: salmon kelp roll 酒の昆布巻き, salmon “Russian” marinade 鮭のロシア漬 garnished with “ikura” イクラsalmon roe, daikon namasu  大根なますand poached shrimp.

We also had a few small glasses of  sake with this as a libation to the New Year. Now, this evening we will be hitting the Sushi Taro Osechi box すし太郎お節箱. The below is a preview (pictures #6 and 7).

We expect some good New Year’s feast to come with the osechi box. Already salivating!!

Classic Pumpernickel Bread 伝統的パンパニッケル パン

We used to get Pumpernickel boule at Whole Foods. We used it for certain sandwiches such as beef tongue and Lebanon Bologna. We did not see Pumpernickel boule or Russian rye bread at Whole Foods for some time and my wife asked if they had any. The answer was that they are not making them any more.  When we asked, “Why” they didn’t give us an answer.  (Subsequently, we went to two other of our local grocery stores and found they didn’t have any rye breads either). So since we had recently gotten pumpernickel flour from King Arthur we resorted to making pumpernickel bread ourselves. This time I volunteered. It was by far the most convoluted bread I’ve ever made. The recipe also came from King Arthur and is titled as “classic” Pumpernickel. The recipe also warned that this bread was dense and suggested slicing it thinly. I decided to make this as a baseline. Indeed this is dense but very flavorful bread.

Next day when the loaf was completely cooled, I sliced it. It is very dense. As you can see below. I sliced it thinly and tasted. It has lots of flavors and the inside is moist.

The recipe is from King Authur. I followed the recipe weighing the ingredients. Exception was  mashed potato. Since we found that all our potatoes were sprouted, we used Japanese sweet potato instead. Some of the instructions appear to be missing the details. Maybe this recipe was meant for an experienced baker. (With common baker’s knowledge-CBK- I added a few extra steps and details in notes to myself).

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups (340g) water
1/2 cup (71g) yellow cornmeal
1/4 cup (85g) molasses
1 tablespoon butter
1 1/2 teaspoons (9g) table salt
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons caraway seeds
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa, Dutch-process 
2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
3 cups (319g) King Arthur Organic Pumpernickel Flour
1 cup (113g) King Arthur Whole Wheat Flour
1 cup (170g) cooked, mashed potatoes

Instructions 
Combine 1 cup of water (the other 1/2 cup was supposed to be used to proof the yeast) * with the cornmeal in a saucepan and cook over low heat until thick, stirring often (about 5 minutes). Remove the pan from heat and add the molasses, butter, salt, sugar, caraway seeds and cocoa powder. Stir to combine and set aside to cool to lukewarm.

*I missed this instruction and used all 1 1/2 cups (or 340 grams) of water for making the cornmeal mixture but since we used “instant yeast” which does not require proofing, this worked out fine.

Add the cornmeal/molasses mixture and mashed potatoes in the bowl of standing mixer fitted with a dough hook.  Stir in the pumpernickel and whole wheat flours. Mix and knead the dough at medium speed for 10 minutes.

*To make the dough ball cling to the dough hook, I had to stop the mixer and push the dough toward the hook a few times and I also added a small amount of additional water.

Transfer the dough to a floured kneading board, quickly knead and make a ball (sticky but very dense dough). Transfer to a greased bowl, turn the dough ball to coat all surfaces. Cover the bowl, place in a 85Felectric proofing box. Let rise until the dough is not quite doubled; about 1 hour.

Shape the dough into a loaf and place in a greased (used butter) 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" loaf pan.

*Although no second rising was suggested, based on (CBK) I did place the loaf pan back in the proofing box and let it rise for 40 minutes (I am not sure this made any difference).

Slash the top*.

*As per instruction I did this but totally not needed. Only time this may make sense is for a decorative purpose after flouring the top of the loaf

Bake in a preheated 360 F oven* for 55 to 65 minutes, until the center measures 200°F when measured with an instant-read thermometer.

*Since I used my convection oven, again based on CBK, I reduced the temperature from the suggested 375F.

Remove from the oven, tip out of the pan, and cool on a rack completely before slicing.

As mentioned, this is a very dense bread but the inside is moist and very flavorful. Thinly sliced and cut into smaller squares, this may be good for making canapé but may not be appropriate to make a full sandwiches. Nonetheless it was extremely flavorful lightly micro-waved to warm it slightly for breakfast. We saw another recipe at the King Authur site called “Pumpernickel boule”. This may be very similar to what we used to get from Whole Foods. We (either my wife or I) will try this recipe next.

Tahini- Miso Cookies タヒニと味噌クッキー

As we mentioned before we are big fans of “savory” cookies which will go well with wine rather than as a dessert. My wife has made a few in this category before. Recently she I found her searching for savory cookie recipes. During this search, she came across “Tahini-Miso cookies” at a website called “kitchen stories”. Since we had tahini and miso, it was a “no brainer” to try making these. This recipe uses a lot of white sesame seeds. Good thing I just got a large jar of white sesame from Weee.  The cookies are great with a taste of saltiness from the miso and nuttiness from the tahini and sesame seed coating the surface of the cookies.

I will ask my wife for how this was made.

Ingredients (shown in the picture below)
225 g flour
¾ tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
115 g butter (room temperature)
220 g brown sugar
100 g sugar
80 g white miso paste
80 g tahini
1  egg
1½ tsp vanilla extract
100 g sesame seeds

Directions:
Add flour, baking soda, and baking powder a bowl and mix to combine, then set aside. Add butter, brown sugar, and sugar to a separate bowl and beat with a hand mixer until very light and fluffy, approx. 5 min.

Add miso and tahini to the butter-sugar mixture and mix until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again. Add egg and vanilla and mix just to combine, then add some of the flour mixture and mix in on low speed. Add remaining flour and mix just until combined.

Add sesame seeds to a bowl. Use an ice cream scooper to scoop some of the cookie dough, then add to the bowl of sesame seeds and cover the ball with the sesame. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat until all the cookie dough is gone, (first picture below). Then cover the baking sheet with plastic wrap and chill dough for at least 2 hours, or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350F. Remove some cookies from the baking sheet so there’s enough room for them to spread out while baking. Bake the cookies for approx. 8 min., then use a fork to gently flatten them a bit. Continue baking for 8 - 10 more mins. Let cool completely.

I did not remove any of the cookie dough from the baking sheet as advised in the instructions. They seemed evenly spaced even if they spread a bit. In addition, the instructions said to flatten them with a fork half way through which implied they needed that additional step to spread at all. I tried flattening them as instructed but it was a complete waste because the soft dough just stuck to the tines of the fork making a mess of the cookie so I stopped and just put them back in the oven to finish cooking. At the correct time I opened the oven door and…SURPRISE! The cookies had flattened into an almost solid mass as shown in the picture below; completely unexpected. (Why in the world did the original recipe require flattening them during cooking when they would do this on their own?)

Nonetheless I was able to break them apart into irregular cookie like shapes. Despite the shapes they tasted pretty good. These were not really savory cookies but they also were not as sweet as a desert cookie. They had a slightly chewy texture and deep rich flavor from the miso and tahini. The sesame added an additional nuttiness but they tended to continually fall off the cookie creating a bit of a crumby mess. I’m not sure I will use them next time.

Blue Cheese Walnut Cookies ブルーチーズと胡桃のクッキー

This is an additional installment in the continuing tale of “we are big fans of “savory” cookies which go well with wine.” My wife saw this recipe for “blue cheese walnut cookies” in the Washington Post website and decided she had to make it. We used Cambozola cheese which is a mild blue cheese; sort of a cross between blue (Gorgonzola) and Camembert cheeses. The cheese tastes better than it smells and while the cookies were baking in the oven, the entire house was filled with the smell of the cooking cheese which was not totally pleasant. In any case, the end result is worth it. The cookie is a bit crumbly with a mild cheesy and walnut flavor.

I ask my wife to take over.

Ingredients
3 1/2 ounces good-quality, mild blue cheese (we used Cambozola cheese)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (we used cayenne pepper)
1/3 cup walnuts, finely chopped

Directions
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Combine the flour, cornstarch, salt and pepper in a bowl and set aside.Combine the blue cheese and butter in the bowl of a food processor; pulse until thoroughly blended. We also added the walnuts to the mixture in the food processor and pulsed until they were cut up too. According to the instructions at this point we were to add the flour, cornstarch, salt and pepper into the cheese mixture and mix until a moist dough was formed. Since the food processor we were using was pretty small, we transferred the contents of the food processor to the bowl of dry ingredients to make the dough. Gather up the dough into a flat disk. Roll out the dough to a thickness of 1/4 inch. Use 2-inch cookie cutters to cut out shapes (We just cut the dough into 1 inch squares using a knife).

Transfer to the baking sheet, spacing the cookies 1 inch apart. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes until lightly golden on the edges. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before serving or storing.

As I mentioned earlier blue cheese cooking in the oven is not a pleasant smell. We were a little afraid of what the cookie would taste like after smelling it cook. (Not only did it smell bad but the smell permeated the entire house). Luckily the cookie tastes much better than it smelled. Initially the cheese taste was s bit strong but over time it mellowed into a tangy flavor that went very well with the included walnuts and above all goes well with the red wine we were having.

Arancini and Mini-Scotch Egg アランチーニとミニスコッチエッグ

My wife ordered some small appetizers from Harry and David. We were already going to order dried fruit medley from them to make fruit cakes and bread. So she added an assortment of small frozen appetizers to the order which included “arancini” among the other items. I told her that arancini is typically made from left-over risotto and I could make it very easily as long as we had left-over risotto. We tried the arancini we had ordered. During the heating, the cheese came out and it was ok but not great. Since we had made shiitake risotto a few days earlier, my wife took me up on my boast about how easily I could make arancini as long as we had left-over risotto and challenged me to make some. So with my feet accordingly held to the fire by this challenge I made arancini from the risotto. Since I would need hot oil for frying to make the arancini, I decided to also make mini-Scotch eggs from quail eggs and ground chicken. The picture below is not a great presentation—the arancini with the melted mozzarella in the center is shown on the left and the scotch egg with the quail egg in the center is shown on the right. We ate this immediately hot out of the oil with some Tonkatus sauce. Both the arancini and Scotch eggs had fresh shiitake in them and both were great.  The arancini had the melted mozzarella cheese in the center, a crunchy outer shell and soft risotto with a strong shiitake flavor.

For arancini

Ingredients: (made 8 arancini as seen below, the round ones are arancini and oval ones are mini-Scotch eggs)
Shiitake risotto (left-over) about 2 cups
Mozzarella cheese, 10 small cubes, low-moisture
Flour, egg, and Panko bread crumbs for breading
Oil for deep frying (I used peanut oil)

Directions:
Moisten your hands and make a ball about 1 and half inches in diameter and insert the cheese and encase it completely. If needed lightly squeeze to make sure the cheese is completely encased.
Bread the balls as usual; first coat with flour, then egg water and then with Panko bread crumbs (see picture below).

Deep fry in 180C (350F) oil for 2-3 minutes or until the surface is golden (everything is already cooked inside). See below picture.

The arancini I made were great straight out of the hot oil but they also warmed up nicely in the toaster oven. I would say the ones I made were much better than the store-bought and accordingly my wife has conceded that I met her challenge and has now commissioned me to make arancini whenever we have left over risotto.

Beef Barley Soup 牛肉と大麦のスープ

We really like beef tongue which is not popular in general, not widely available in US and requires some “courage” to try it. But we like it very much either boiled and sliced for a sandwich or made into stew.  Recently, we found that our Asian grocery delivery service “Weee” had frozen beef tongue so we got it.  My wife suggested to have it instead of the usual turkey for Thanksgiving. So, we thawed the tongue and cook it up. For the dinner we had thick slices of boiled beef tongue, which were extremely tender and flavorful, with red wine cranberry sauce I made and a side of stuffing balls made by my wife, and blacked Brussel sprouts. This really “hit the spot” and as far as we are concerned is much better than ham or turkey for sure. Using the remaining beef tongue and the liquid in which the tongue was cooked, we made beef tongue stew which we really enjoyed. Still half of the boiling liquid remained which has the nice flavors of the beef and aromatics. So we decided to make “Beef and barley soup” from it. We made this soup/stew with meat from a beef chuck roast. It turned out to be an excellent soup. We looked at a few recipe on line but, at the end, we just made it our own way (not standard way) and this post is just for our own record.

The chunks of the beef were very tender and the barley gave the soup a nice unctuous texture.

We ended up with a quite large amount of soup, probably a bit over 3quarts (or 12 cups).

Ingredients:
2.3 lb package of bone-less chuck roast, seasoned with salt and pepper, seared on both sides and then cut into about 1 inch cubes
4 cups liquid from cooking the beef tongue (the liquid)
3 cups chicken broth
1/2 box (8oz) medium pearled barley, toasted in the toaster oven, rinsed and then cooked in the 4 cups of liquid from cooking beef tongue for 1 hour
2 large carrots, peeled and cut into half inch cubes
2 onions, cut into large dices
3 ribs of celery, cunt into 1/4 inch thick
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper to taste
2-3 tbs vegetable oil

Directions:
Add one cup of the liquid and cubes of the beef in Instant pot, cook for 25 minutes under high pressure and naturally depressurize (we used 2/3 for the soup and 1/3 was added to the tongue stew to supplement the tongue)*
Add the oil in the dutch oven on medium flame. Add the onion and celery and sauté for 5 minutes, add the carrots. Add the cooked beef and barley with their juice. Add 3 cups of chicken broth, the bay leaves and cook for 30-40 minutes
Season with salt pepper to taste

*We cooked the beef one day prior. Placed the liquid and meat in a plastic container and refrigerated. Next day, we removed layers of congealed fat from the surface before using the meat and juice.

This is a very hearty and filling soup. The barley adds a creamy texture and a slight nuttiness from being toasted. The combination of broth used to cook the tongue and the broth used to cook the supplementary beef adds an unctuous and very meaty flavor. Another great soup for lunch on a cold winter’s day.

Burdock Root and Mushrooms 牛蒡とキノコの煮物

This is another dish I made to use up the mushrooms (Shimeji and shiitake しめじ、椎茸). I also had “gobou” 牛蒡  burdock root. I got the idea of cooking burdock root and mushroom together from a recipe I saw on line but I just made it in my own way. Burdock root can be very fibrous but this was a good one and the the combination of simmered burdock root and mushrooms worked very well. The shimeji was good but the shiitake caps worked well imparting very meaty texture and nice flavor.

The gobou gave a very distinctive flavor and nice crunchy texture but not fibrous. I seasoned it on the light and slightly sweeter side (than I usually do) and is a perfect drinking snack. As a side dish for rice, I would season it more strongly.

Ingredients: (The amount is arbitrary, I just used up all the mushrooms I had left)
10 inch long, medium-sized (diameter wise) “gobou” burdock root, skin scraped off using the back. of the knife, slice on angle 1/4 inch thick and immediately soak in acidulated water for 5- 10 minutes.
I package (100 gram) of shimeji mushrooms
4 caps of fresh shiitake mushrooms, quartered
300-400 ml Japanese dashi broth
2 Tbs. mirin
3 tbs x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce (or soy sauce with 1 tbs mirin)

Directions:
Drain the gobou and cook in a fresh water for 10 minutes and drain again
In a pan on medium low flame, add the broth, seasonings, the gobou, mushrooms and with a silicon otoshibuta, simmer for 20-30 minutes
Let it cool to the room temperature in the simmering broth
Serve at room temperature or warmed in a microwave oven especially after the refrigeration.

This is quite a robust dish. The mushrooms give it an almost meaty context. Especially the shitake mushroom which were very thick but tender and well seasoned. They tasted like a tender piece of meat. The burdock root was very tender and its distinctive flavor really came through. This is perfect for a cold evening with a warm cup sake.

Butter Swim Biscuit バターに泳ぐビスケット

Previously my wife made butter dip biscuit which may not be good for you but certainly tasted “good”. So when she saw the recipe in the Washington Post called “Butter swim biscuit”,  she had to try it. Is “swimming” in butter better than “dipping” in butter??? They are both basically a form of oven fried bread although butter “swimming” does it on steroids. “swimming” in butter has a soft, moist (absorbing the butter) pleasingly almost spongey center. The bottom and top are very crispy.

In this close-up of the cut surface, you could appreciated fluffy texture.

As usual, I will ask my wife to take over.

Ingredients
8 tablespoons (1 stick/113 grams) unsalted butter
2 3/4 cups (345 grams) all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon granulated sugar (or more for a sweeter biscuit. I added two Tsp.)
2 teaspoons salt 
2 cups (480 milliliters) well-shaken whole buttermilk

Directions
Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 450 degrees. Add the butter to a 9-inch square baking dish or cast iron frying pan and place in the oven while it preheats. (We did not have a 9-inch square baking dish so we used a 10 inch cast iron frying pan instead.) (If the oven is very slow to heat up, wait a few minutes to put in the baking dish so the butter doesn’t burn. Just keep an eye on it as it melts.)

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt until combined. Add the buttermilk and stir gently with a spatula just until combined. Do not overmix.

Remove the hot baking dish from the oven and gently pour the batter over the melted butter. Use a knife or offset spatula to spread the batter evenly in the dish (see picture below).

Quickly and confidently, use a knife to “cut” the dough into 9 squares. If the lines close up, go back and take another pass through, though you shouldn’t expect them to remain completely distinct. It can help to wipe or rinse off the knife in between cuts.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through, or until the tops of the biscuits are golden brown and the edges crisp. Following your scored lines, cut and serve.

As can be seen in the pictures above this bread is truly swimming in butter. It would be helpful if there was some way to turn it over half way through cooking because the bottom became almost too high done while the top was not yet brown. Although it is made with a few simple ingredients the flavor is fairly complex. The sweetness of the sugar combines with the taste of the butter, some of which gets browned and there is the pervasive undertone of the sharp taste of the buttermilk. In my humble opinion, both are good but “swimming in butter” is better. My wife said this one is easier to make

Eggplant, Avocado and Nagaimo Gratin ナスとアボカドの長芋グラタン

I made this dish for lunch one day from what we had on hand and what we need to finish before it went bad. I just winged it without any particular recipe. As a result I was not sure how it would come out but it was certainly edible and quite interesting (in a good way).

The main items are Asian eggplant, avocado and grated nagaimo mixed with an egg (in leu of Béchamel sauce). I also added tomato and shiitake mushroom sautéed with shallot, just because I had them.

Ingredients:
One Asian eggplant (pale purple and long), cut into a bite size by cutting at 45 degree angle as I turned the egg plant (“Rangiri” 乱切り)
One avocado, cut into a bite size pieces similar to the eggplant (I only had half of a leftover avocado).
Nagaimo, about 200grams, peeled and grated
One large egg
3 skinned Campari tomatoes, seeds removed and cut into small cubes
1 tbs of chopped shiitake mushroom and shallot sautéed in olive oil (I made this few says ago mostly from the stems of the shiitake mushrooms)
Cheeses (I used sharp cheddar and parmesan but any melting cheese will do), the amount is arbitrary
2-3 tbs olive oil

Directions:
Sauté the eggplant in 2 tbs of olive oil the skin side down first then brown all other sides (4-5 minutes)
Place the eggplant and the avocado in the bottom of a small Pyrex baking dish.  Add the remaining 1tbs olive oil.
Mix the grated nagaimo and the egg and pour over (see below)

Top with the mushroom mixture, the tomatoes, and the  cheeses and bake for 30 minutes at 350F (I used the toaster oven in convection mode) (see below).

Let it stand for 5 minutes and serve (the first picture).

I was not sure the grated nagaimo and egg ratio but it came out ok. This is a sort of healthy Béchamel sauce substitute. The eggplant and avocado went well together. The next day, we placed the remaining dish in smaller individual ramekins and added a bit more cheese and toasted it in the highest setting. It heated up very nicely.

Electric Sake Warmer 電気酒燗器

We usually drink sake cold. For drinking sake cold, we like a crisp, clean, and fruity flavor profile of daiginjo 大吟醸. Some junmai 純米 and junmai ginjo 純米吟醸 sakes also have this flavor profile. Our house sake, curretly, is “Tengumai 50 Junmai Daiginjo” 天狗舞純米大吟醸. We enjoy it cold and it has a nice clean, dry,  crisp, and fruity flavor. Now, not going into the details, somehow, by mistake (not mine), we ended up with a case of “Tengumai yamahai-shikomi junmai”天狗舞山廃仕込純米 instead of our favored house sake.  As I mentioned previously this sake has a more savory, yeasty and mushroomy flavor when tasted cold or at room temperature. Then I read that this sake changes its flavor profile if heated. Almost in desperation, we tried it warm (at 120F or “Atsu-kan” 熱燗). We were pleasantly surprised that the flavor profile changed completely and became smooth and mild. We thought “Ah-Ha” the secret is that this sake should be consumed warm which would be particularly appropriate during the winter months when we have dishes like hot pot “nabe” 鍋 dishes, “sukiyaki“ すき焼き, or  “oden” おでん. But the main reason we rarely drink sake warm is that one additional step of warming it up and the difficulty of maintaining the temperature while enjoying it warm.  So, we decided to splurge on an electric sake warmer 電気酒燗器.

We bought it at Amazon but it came from a seller in Japan. The sake warmer sits on top of the heating unit. The server holds about 240ml (1号半). It heats up to the specified temperature in10-15 minutes. The temperature control is continuous (not discreet steps) and ranges from about 35C to 60C (95F to 140F). Using my digital thermometer and water, the actual temperatures are higher (by about 5-10F) than it indicated. We usually like “Atsu- kan” *.

*ranges of warm sake temperature
“Jouon” 常温, room temperature 20℃ (68F)
”Hinata kan” 日向燗 sunny side 30℃ (86F)
”Hitohada kan” 人肌燗 skin temperature 35℃ (95F)
”Nuru kan” ぬる燗 luke warm 40℃ (104F)
”Jou kan” 上燗 warm 45℃ (113F)
”Atsu kan” 熱燗 hot 50℃ (122F)

The sake warmer works extremely well. We can have it sitting next to us and as we are enjoying the warm sake, we can add more sake to the server. By the time we are ready for the next serving, the sake has reached the proper temperature. The only challenge is to warm up enough but not too much sake and to consume it at just the peak of time it has been warming. This is because any leftover sake once heated will not be good the next day for example. Also,warming up the sake and keeping it warm more than 1 hour is not good either. In any case, this was a great improvement break through.  We are glad that we can now enjoy Tengumai junmai sake this way. So the mistake which had us end up with a case of tengumai-junmai instead of our favored house sake was indeed a “blessing in disguise”. It introduced us to a sake variation which we now enjoy but would never otherwise thought of trying.

Hazelnut Olive Oil Cake ヘーゼルナッツ、オリーブオイルケーキ

The other day, while we were grocery shopping at Whole Foods, my wife came back with “Hazelnut meal” and “Coconut flour”. She was obviously very curious about these fancy flours; specifically, what were they used for and what did they taste like? It appears that these nuts meal/flours are mostly used for gluten free (GF) cakes and cookies. In any case, she looked for recipes using that used hazelnut meal and found  this hazelnut olive oil cake recipe. This is a very moist cake with a distinctive hazelnut flavor and also slight olive oil flavor. We really like it and the flavors got better with time.

The cross section shows very moist and succulent interior.

This gluten-free and daily-free (GF, DF) recipe came from an on-line site called the recipetineats. I will ask my wife to take over.

Ingredients
150g / 5oz hazelnut meal (1 3/4 cups firmly packed) (almond meal can be substituted)
1/2 tsp baking soda sifted
Zest of 1 lemon, finely grated (about 2 teaspoons or so)
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup + 1 1/2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil (medium quality is OK)
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs , at room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat oven to 340°F. Grease a 20 cm/8" springform pan with olive oil then line with baking paper (parchment paper), then grease the paper. In a medium bowl, mix the hazelnut meal, baking soda, lemon and salt. In a large bowl, beat the olive oil, eggs and sugar for 2 to 3 minutes on speed 7 or 8 until it becomes pale and thick (like pouring cream or runny mayonnaise). Add vanilla and beat on speed one for 10 seconds. Add the Dry ingredients and mix in gently using a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes. It will puff up dramatically in the oven but it collapses as it cools. Remove from the oven and allow the cake to fully cool in the pan before releasing from the springform pan. This is a rustic cake that has higher edges and a flatter centre.

This cake is very moist and has a lovely slightly sweet nutty hazelnut flavor with a background flavor of olive oil. The olive oil adds to rather than overwhelms the overall experience. Interestingly, although this cake was very good right out of the pan it got better and better with time. The flavors melded together and got richer. This went very well with a morning cappuccino.