Marinated Bonito bowl with poached egg カツオのツケ丼温玉のせ

This was a lunch we had one weekend some time ago. At our Japanese grocery store, we can get a package of frozen Katsuo-no-Tataki 鰹のタタキ or Bonito sashimi that has been precooked on the surface using a flame fueled by straw. This is the typical way of preparing bonito.  This piece of bonito was marinated over night. I made a small donburi or rice bowl and served it with scallion and wakame sea weed miso soup ワカメとネギの味噌汁 and "asazuke" 浅漬け pickled (salted) cucumber and daikon.

I topped the marinated bonito slices with blanched broccolini and poached egg with runny yolk (I used Pasteurized eggs).

For this dish, I quickly mixed soy sauce, mirin and sake in 2:1:1 ratio and marinated the bonito tataki slices and kept it in the refrigerator until lunch time the next day.

This was a very satisfying lunch. "Zuke" ずけ or the marinating process added flavors as well as changes the texture of the raw fish. Marinated tuna マグロのずけ being most popular. The combination of sushi rice, marinated bonito and warm runny egg yolk went very well indeed and felt like a "comfort" food.

Pork tenderloin with sautéed peaches 豚ヒレ肉と白桃のソーテー

We frequently cook pork tenderloin. I usually make some kind of dry-rub and cook it at 350 F for 30 minutes in our toaster oven on convection mode which is easy to do even on weekdays especially if I have already prepared the tenderloins. This was one of these quick weekday dinners. Since peaches were in season, I added sautéed  peaches as a side.

The meat was just slightly pink but properly cooked.

The peaches added sweet and sour tastes which are perfect for the pork. I also served blanched green beans which were sautéed in butter and seasoned with salt and pepper.

For sautéed peach:
Ingredients (for two servings):
2 white peaches, skin and stone removed and cut into small wedges
3 tbs of port wine (I used Taylor ruby port which I keep for cooking)
1 tsp honey
1 tsp Balsamic vinegar
1 tbs of butter, unsalted, for sautéing  and additional several tbs of butter for the sauce

Directions:
Melt the butter and sauté  the peaches turning several times until the surface caramelizes, remove from the pan and set aside.
In the same pan, add port wine and reduce in half, add honey and Balsamic vinegar and reduce it again in half.
Finish by adding butter in small increments until a saucy consistency is reached.
Return the cooked peaches and coat them with the sauce and serve warm.

The sauce is also  perfect for the pork.

For pork tenderloins.
Ingredients:
Dry rub: (I do not measure, sometimes I add other spices)
Roasted cumin powder
Paprika powder
Cinnamon powder
Ground black pepper
Kosher salt
(Instead of dry rub, sometimes I use minced fresh rosemary, salt and pepper.)

Directions:
I trim both ends and remove the silver skin (I use the trimmings for other dishes).
Coat the surface with olive oil and coat the surface with the dry rub.
Roast it in a 350F toaster oven on convection mode for 30 minutes and let it rest for 5-10 minutes before slicing.

Pork and fruit are a good combination. The peaches were not mushy and added a nice texture and sweetness which combined well with the sour taste of Balsamic vinegar. This was a quick and satisfying dinner.

Crispy Roasted Potato with thyme クリスピイローストポテト

This is a variation of Hasselback potato. We were having filet mignon steak for dinner. My wife likes to have some kind of potato side dish with steak to maintain her "meat and potato" aficionado credentials.  We felt a bit too lazy, however, to make oven fried potatoes. She came up with this recipe from Wililams-Sonoma web site.

It looks a bit "over-crisped" but it was quite good.

Ingredients:
4 small/medium Yukon Gold potato, skinned and thinly sliced (2 -3 mm thick).
1 stick (4oz) butter, melted (we used non-salted)
1/2 tsp dried Thyme (we did not have fresh thyme 1 tbs, chopped)
1 tbs Kosher salt

Directions:
Preheat oven 374F (we used convection toaster oven).
Bush melted butter on the bottom of the baking pan, arrange the sliced potato and pour the remaining melted butter.

Sprinkle with thyme and salt.

Bake it for 1 hour and let it stand for 10 minutes before serving.

It appears that our toaster oven has a bit uneven temperature and a portion of the dish got a bit over crisped but this was a good, easy potato dish to make. Our steak was cooked to perfect medium rare.

Since this was a rare occasion to have steak, we opened 2011 Joseph Phelps Insignia. This is a very elegant and complex red wine. We enjoyed a simple steak dinner with crispy baked potato with thyme and sautéed green beans with this wonderful California red. We equate this wine to the good left bank Bordeaux without any funkiness. We continue to be impressed with this wine.

Country pate 田舎風パテ

This is a country pate. The recipe came from a Japanese web site and used chicken livers and pork. Since we are partial to chicken livers, I decided to try this recipe. I previously made pate with Japanese twists using chicken liver, tofu and "edameme"  soy beans which I posted 2010.

I served this with sliced cornichon pickles and flat bread crackers.

As usual, I deviated from the original recipe.

Ingredients:
1.25 lb of ground pork (original recipe calls for hand chopped pork loin and pork belly)
1.25 lb of chicken livers, washed, cleaned, and soaked in cold milk
1 medium onion, finely diced
1tsp olive oil for sauteing
3-4 tbs Panko Bread crumbs with milk to moisten
2 eggs
1/2 cup shelled pistachio nuts, coarsely chopped
salt and pepper
1/2 tsp thyme (I used dried) and several bay leaves

Directions:
Sautee the onion and crushed garlic in olive oil and season with salt and pepper, remove the garlic and let it cool down. Chop the chicken livers and mix into the ground pork.
On a bane marie of ice water, mix the chicken liver, pork, onion, panko crumbs, pistachio nuts and eggs, dry thyme, salt and pepper and mix well.

In a rectangular loaf pan lined with plastic wrap (this is as per the recipe but I will not use plastic wrap next time, the top which touched the aluminum foil melted), pour in the mixture to 80% and place few bay leaves on top. Cover it with a sheet of aluminum foil tightly.

Bake in a 350F oven in a bain marie (larger rectangular baking pan half way filled with boiling water) for two hours. Let it cool down. (As per the recipe, you are supposed to put weight on the top of the pate but when I did that the juice gushed out so I didn't use the weights).
After 1 day in the refrigerator, I sliced and served it with conichon pickles.

This was not bad but I need to improve on the texture and the flavor (it was a bit too coarse) and (reduced brandy may be nice). Since I made too much, I froze most of it. It thaws out OK but the texture was more "watery" than when it was just made. This was a perfect accompaniment for the cab wine we were enjoying.

Pork and barbecued pork walnut loaf ウォールナット入り豚肉のローフ

This is a variation of "Matsukaze-yaki" 松風焼きchicken loaf which also serves as leftover control. I am always looking for ways to use up the leftover barbecued meat we make almost every weekend. I found that chopping up the BBQed pork is a good way to use the leftover pork. This pork loaf was made using both raw ground pork (hand chopped from the trimmings of pork tenderloins) and hot smoked BBQed pork. I also added roasted walnuts for additional texture and flavor. I served this as a drinking snack with spicy tofu and broccoli with melted cheese and my figgy cranberry sauce.

This is quite good. The smokey flavor from the BBQed pork really added to the taste.

I made this without following any recipe and did not measure anything but the below measures are my best guess.

Ingredients:
Ground pork (hand chopped from the trimmings of pork tenderloins) about 150grams.
Hot smoked pork (left over) chopped finely about 150gram
Walnuts, toasted , skin removed by rubbing in a kitchen towel (my wife has dedicated kitchen towels for this) and chopped coarsely (amount arbitrary)
Miso 2 tbs
Soy sauce 1tsp
Mirin 1 tbs
Panko bread crumbs, 2-3 tbs
Eggs, 2 medium, beaten

Directions:
Mix the above ingredients in a bowl and mix well.
Prepare the shallow baking pan, coated with olive oil and parchment paper placed on the bottom.
Place the meat mixture and spread to half inch thick.
Bake in 350F oven (I used my toaster oven on convection mode) for 30 minutes (below)
Wait until it is cool enough to handle and remove from the pan by tipping on a cutting board (because of the parchment paper), the loaf will come out easily.
Cut the loaf into small rectangles.

Combining cooked, smoked pork with raw ground pork is a good idea. It added an infusion of smokey flavor to the very tender texture provided by the raw pork. This version made with all pork, miso and walnuts created quite a different flavor profile from the chicken and pine nuts of the original "Matsu-kaze-yaki".

Easy corn souffle 簡単コーンスフレ

My wife is very partial to spinach soufflé which we make for special occasions but it is a bit of work. She saw this easy corn soufflé recipe on the Washington Post site which was originally Jacques Pepin's recipe. Instead of separating and whipping egg whites, everything is mixed in a blender and simply poured into ramekins. It appears that using a blender is the secret since it mixes in a lot of air. I served this with skinned Campari tomatoes and black bean corn salad.

This was our weekend lunch. I garnished the soufflé with chopped chives.

In typical souffle fashion the mixture rose above the rim of the ramekin and after a few minutes out of the oven quietly and elegantly collapsed...it still tasted good.

Ingredients:
3 large eggs
1/4 cup light cream
2 ears of fresh corn
2 oz Gruyere cheese (we used smoked), cut into small chunks).
One Jalapeno pepper, seeded and veined, finely chopped (original recipe calls for Poblano pepper)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
3 tsp chopped fresh chives, 2 mixed into the egg mixture, 1 as garnish

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Use the butter to grease the ramekins. Place them on a baking sheet.
Discard the husks and all silk of the corn. Use a sharp knife to cut the kernels off the cobs. Transfer to a blender.
Seed the Jalapeno pepper, then cut into small chunks and add to the blender.
Cut the cheese into small chunks and add to the blender. Add the eggs, light cream, salt and pepper.
Puree for about a minute, or until smooth.
Meanwhile, mince the chives. Add three-quarters of them to the souffle mixture and pulse just enough to incorporate.
Divide the souffle mixture among the souffle dishes.
Bake (middle rack, on the baking sheet) for 25 minutes, until puffed, golden brown on top.
Garnish with chopped chives. Serve right away, in the souffle dishes.

This is a good dish. It is so easy to make compared to other souffle recipes. It has a nice sweet fresh corn taste and subtle smoky flavor from the smoked gruyere cheese.

Deviled pickled eggs ピクルドデビルドエッグ

When my wife made pickled eggs, she wanted to see how they would taste made them into deviled eggs. The egg yolk of the pickled egg was different from the consistency of regular hard boiled egg; it was fairly dense and we weren't sure how much we liked them. This is the pickled deviled egg shown below.

Since the pickled egg had a lot of flavor she thought the egg yolk filling should be fairly simple so she made it in a most classic way.

The stuffing was much more flavorful and also had a nicer consistency then the plain pickled egg yolk. The brown color of the egg white came from spices (cinnamon sticks and star anise) used in the pickling medium. We really like this rendition of deviled eggs.

Since we weren't sure if we would like this she made with only one pickled egg.

Ingredients:
1 pickled egg
1tsp. mayonnaise
1tsp. greek yogurt
1/2 tsp. mustard
1/4 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/8 tsp. onion powder

Directions:
Remove the yolk from the pickled egg and smash with a fork. Add all the other ingredients and mix until a creamy consistency is reached and all the ingredients are blended in. Put the egg yolk mixture back into the egg white.

This was very good. The egg yolk had absorbed some of the flavor from the pickling medium and this really added a pleasing taste element to the the deviled egg.  I couldn't help but ask "is it worthwhile to take the time and effort to make pickled eggs and then make deviled eggs from them?" But I do have to say the end result is probably one of the best deviled eggs I've ever eaten. From a practical view point the pickling process makes the eggs last longer. So, if we make a portion of it to deviled eggs, this may be worthwhile.

Diversion alert: A few days ago wife noticed that a frog had moved into the small fountain in our backyard. She identified it as an American Bullfrog mostly through the sound it made. (Although I did not hear it, my wife heard low rumbling croaks). Reportedly, Bullfrogs prefer large bodies of water. Our little fountain certainly didn't fit that description. We named him "millennial" since he had just moved into the bullfrog equivalent of a micro-apartment (about 10-15 gallon of water under our fountain). For several days he came out to sit on his front door step near the fountain (see below) to croak occasionally. We saw him jump back into the fountain through a small gap at the edge of the flat rock we use to cover the access to the pump. I appears that he moved out few days later. We thought maybe prospective mates were not enchanted with the micro apartment he had chosen. Or maybe it was the school district.