Pea soup with fresh tarragon グリーンピース スープ タラゴン風味

Although fresh produce is generally better than frozen, we have one exception to this rule and that is green peas (English peas). In general frozen peas are harvested when the sugar content is at its peak then quickly processed and frozen. We tried many "fresh" green peas in pods including those from roadside stands but they tend to be starchy because the sugar quickly reverts back to starch after the peas are harvested. Among the frozen green peas, my wife insists on using Hanover brand "petite peas".  In this case, I have to agree. Since French tarragon was nicely growing in our spring herb garden, I was tasked to find "Hanover" frozen "petit peas", which, I am happy to report was completed successfully. (No they did not pay us for this endorsement...maybe they should.) My wife made this pea soup with tarragon a dish that represents spring at its finest.
 
Green peas: My wife used two bags (16 oz each) of frozen Hanover brand “petite” green peas. She simply put the frozen peas in a colander and ran warm tap water over them for few minutes until they were thawed. (These peas are so tender, boiling them would be a travesty.)
Onion: Finely chopped, one large
Chicken broth: low-sodium non-fat Swanson chicken broth, 48oz
French tarragon: Leaves removed and finely chopped, about 1-2 tbs

In a pan, she added olive oil and sautéed the onion until soft and semitransparent (for 5 minutes). She added the thawed green peas and added chicken broth and simmered for 10-15 minutes. Using an emersion blender (a.k.a. Motor boat), she blended the soup. We could have put this through a sieve but to make it smoother, but this time, we went for a more “rustic” soup and did not removed the “solids”.
She mixed in the French tarragon and seasoned it with a bit more salt.

This is a good soup warm or cold. We added a bit of cream and garnished it with a sprig of tarragon. The nice yellow green color was indeed the color of spring and early summer. The soup is sweet from the natural sweetness of the green peas. The tarragon adds a subtle bright note. Next day, we ate the soup cold which was also good. Depending on your preference, you could adjust the thickness by adding milk or cream.

"Saag Tofu" Indian-style tofu 豆腐のインド風ほうれん草ソース

We are not at all familiar with Indian cuisine but my wife likes the "spicy" but not "hot" taste of some Indian-inspired dishes. She started making this Indian-style spinach sauce/curry which must be similar to "saag". This time instead of "Saag paneer" which also contains Indian farm cheese, we made "Saag Tofu". We figured tofu would stand in for the cheese curd.

The amount of tofu is rather arbitrary. Here I used a half block of tofu. I cut the tofu into small cubes and parboiled it before putting it into an oven proof pan. We added "saag", mixed to cover the tofu. We baked it in a 400F oven (toaster oven, convection) for 15 minutes with a lid on the pan. We garnish this with coarsely chopped {roasted and cooled) cashew nuts.

The textured of cheese curd and tofu is obviously different but the tofu and cheese are essentially taste neutral. The crunch of cashew nuts and rather soft tofu makes a nice contrast. The sauce itself has the tastes of lots of spices but is only mildly hot (from Jalopeno pepper). We found this saag to be very versatile and can be used in many untraditional ways. This can be eaten with Indian flat bread (naan etc) but we enjoyed it by itself.

Crispy baked chickpeas カリカリひよこ豆

I saw this recipe on-line and thought this would make a nice snack and also thought this was the kind of thing my wife likes to make. So I suggested it to her one weekend. You could make all kind of variations depending on the spices you use.

Ingredients:
Chick peas: 14oz can, drained and rinsed, Olive oil
Spices: Many variations are possible. This time we used red (Cayenne) pepper powder and salt.

First, I drained and rinsed the can of chickpeas in a colander. On a cookie sheet, I placed a sheet of paper towel and spread the chickpeas in a single layer. I then placed another sheet of paper towel on top and rubbed gently to remove the thin transparent skin from the chick peas.  This is the tedious part: while the towel removed the majority of paper-like outer skins, I found I had to remove the remainder individually by hand. I took away the paper towel, added olive oil and coated the chickpeas by rolling them in the oil by hand. I seasoned them with salt, red pepper and baked them in a 400 degree F oven for 30 minutes.

The result was very satisfying. It is somewhat like Wasabi green peas but better. They are light, and crispy. The slow heat of the red pepper catches up with you but in a very pleasant way. This is a nice drinking snack.

Salmon salad on Belgian endive 鮭のサラダのチコリボート

This is another dish used for leftover control. One evening we had salmon. I made this salmon salad the next day from the leftovers. Since I happened to have Belgian endive, I placed the salmon salad on several leaves to make it a small appetizer we could pick up with our fingers.

Salmon: This was leftover from salmon cooked in a frying pan and then finished in the oven. I probably had 3-4 oz. I coarsely crumbled it by hand.

Other vegetables: I had leftover steamed green beans. I cut them into I inch portions (10-12 green beans). I also had a quarter of a ripe avocado. I diced it.

I dressed the above in a mixture of mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, and lemon juice.
I served it on the boat of Belgian endive leaves and “floated” the boat on a “sea” of baby arugula as a start dish for the evening.

Japanese-style stuffed omelet with saag インド風ほうれん草ソースいりオムレツ

My wife and I occasionally watch "Sakaba hourouki" 酒場放浪記 on Youtube. Beside the shows with the  host "Rui Yoshida" 吉田類, my wife particularly likes the female model, Yasuko Kuramoto 倉本康子 who occasionally hosts the female version of the show．In one of her shows, she visited an eel kushiyaki 串焼き place and had an unusual omelet stuffed with eel. I suppose it was a variation of a more traditional "Umaki" 鰻巻き (cooked filet of eel wrapped inside a Japanese-style omelet). My wife was impressed with the bright yellow color and homogenous smooth appearance of the omelet. I rose to the challenge by saying that I could make it that way easily. So here is my omelet.

Since I did not have eel handy and this was a weekend breakfast, I substituted the stuffing with my wife's "Saag", pork, shiitake mushroom and cottage cheese.

Stuffing (for one 2 egg omelet):
Onion, one small or half large, finely chopped
Pork, I used leftover barbecued whole pork loin, just cut into small match stick, 3-4 tbs
Shiitake mushroom, Thinly sliced, 6 small or 3 large
Spinach saag,  2-3 tbs
Cottage cheese, 2-3 tbs

I sautéed the onion in olive oil in a small frying pan, seasoned with salt and pepper. When the onion was soft and semi-transparent, I added the mushroom and pork and kept sautéing for 2-3 more minutes. I then added the saag and mixed well. I placed the cottage cheese on the top and kept the pan on "warm" or lowest simmer with the lid on.  The idea of using cottage cheese came from the fact that my wife initially made something similar to "Saag paneer" with home made cheese curd—the cottage cheese substituted for the paneer.

Omelet: I used two brown eggs, well-beaten. I did not seasoned the eggs because of the rather assertively flavored stuffing I was using.

There are many different ways to make omelet. For a stuffed omelet, I generally use the method I learned by watching omelets being made at one of the restaurants we used to visit in Los Angeles many years ago when we lived there. The restaurant specialized in brunch especially omelets. Using a spatula, I raise the side of the omelet after the egg on the bottom is set and let the uncooked egg mixture flow under the cooked egg. I repeat this on all four quadrants until I reached the desired doneness of the omelet. An omelet made in this style has a large soft curd.
The secret to making a Japanese style yellow smooth omelet is to beat the eggs well (if so preferred, you could add more yolk to the mixture to enhance the bright yellow color) and use a very low heat with the lid on the pan. It takes longer to cook this way but the result is as you can see here—there is no curd and the egg is homogeneous in texture. The same technique is used to make "golden thread egg" or "kinshi-ran 金糸卵".

After cooking the egg for 5-6 minutes or until the surface of the omelet was just barely dry, I mixed the cottage cheese into the remaining ingredients and placed in the middle of the omelet. Holding the plate in my left hand and the frying pan in my right hand, I slid the omelet onto the plate using the edge of the frying pan, to overlay the remaining omelet over the stuffing (see the first picture).

I do not think if this is a "better" omelet but it has a nice look.
By the way, I took this picture for the blog as though the whole omelet was for one person but, we shared this omelet. The saag is spicy but not too hot and the smoky flavor of the pork still came through. The cottage cheese had a very neutral taste but added a nice texture.

Roast pork wrapped mashed potatoマシュポテトの豚肉巻き

This is another small dish I made one evening from leftovers. We had barbequed whole pork loin on the weekend. It was seasoned with a mixture of smoked Spanish paprika, cumin, black pepper, salt  with a small amount of cinnamon and cloves.  We used this roast pork for several dinners and sandwiches. I also made a stew out of it and still a small amount remained. When we roasted the pork we also roasted potatoes wrapped in aluminum foil. We removed the skins while the potatoes were still hot, mashed them, seasoned with soy sauce, cream and butter.  A small amount of the potatoes also remained.

I just sliced the roast pork and used the slices to wrap a small cylinder of mashed potato. In a frying pan I added a small amount of olive oil and placed the rolls with the overwrapping side down. I cooked them on a low flame until they were heated through. (Since everything was pre-cooked, I just needed to warm up the pork rolls). 

While the rolls were cooking my wife asked me in pleased surprise “You’re cooking bacon?” They really smelled like bacon—there was no doubt they were from the “pork family”. I served this with cucumber salad (thinly sliced cucumber, salted, kneaded with the excess moisture rung out and dressed with a mixture of Dijon mustard, mayonnaise and cracked black pepper). I put some “Tonkatsu” sauce on the pork and also added a small dab of Japanese hot mustard on the side.
For just leftover control, this is a nice small dish perfect for a start.

Grilled trout and fava beans 鱒の塩焼きと焼きそら豆

This is a continuation of the grill-out-side-while-mosquitos-are-not-out moment. I have posted grilled trout before. I have an excuse for posting this again because this was boned and butter flied trout and we used the “Yakitori” rather than the Weber grill. I prefer bone-in trout but only butter flied trout was available. I just salted it and grilled it in its simplest way.
One of the problems with trout prepared this way is that fishmongers usually do not scale them. Since we like to eat the skin, I scaled the skin. But once it was butter flied and deboned, it is more difficult to scale. In any case, I scaled it and put two long metal skewers through. The reason for this is seen below. I put the tip (where the fish head is) of the skewers into the grate so that most of the fish was floating over the grate. I did this to prevent the skin from sticking to the grate. Once the skin is cooked, it can be placed directly on the grate without worrying about sticking (above).
It is not photographed but I also grilled eggplant. Since this is the season for fresh fava beans, I also grilled fava beans (soramame 空豆) in pods (see below) and served with a small mound of Kosher salt We removed the beans from the outer skins and peeled off the inner skins before dipping into the salt. .
I served the trout with grated daikon and soy sauce. I took few pictures but they do not look very neat and am not showing them. It has been a long time since we had either the trout or fava beans. Nothing beats trout cooked over a charcoal fire. The fava bean were tender and sweet. The mosquitoes don’t know what they are missing.