Bread made with cooked oatmeal オートミール入りパン

This is my wife's baking. Again this is from the "Beard on Bread" cookbook. It is rather unique in that it is made with "cooked" oatmeal.  The oatmeal isn't visible in the final product but the texture is nice and while raising and cooking, we can definitely smell oatmeal. Instead of making a loaf which was in the original recipe, my wife made it into rolls. Mainly because it is easier to take a roll to work for breakfast than a loaf or slice of bread.

Ingredients:
2 packages of dry yeast
1 tsp granulated sugar
1/2 cup warm water

1 cup rolled oats (toasted, optional)
1 cup boiling water
1 cup warm milk
2 tsp salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
4 - 5 cups of bread four

Directions: Bloom the yeast in the 1/2 cup warm water with 1 tsp. of sugar. Add the 1 cup water to a sauce pan. Dissolve the salt and brown sugar in the liquid and bring to a boil. Add the milk and the rolled oats and cook until the oats are softened and thick. Let cool to room temperature. Add 3 cups of bread flour to the bowl of a stand mixer with a dough paddle. Add the oat mixture and blend. Add additional flour 1 cup at a time until a nice smooth, elastic dough is formed. Knead on speed 2 for 7 to 10 minutes. Turn the dough into a bowl and lightly coat with vegetable oil to keep it from drying out. Cover and let rise until doubled in size. Punch the dough down and using a scale form into 2 1/2 oz. balls. Place in a well buttered baking dish (picture below).

Cover and let rise until doubled in size and the rolls are touching each other (about 30 minutes) Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cook the rolls for 18 to 20 minutes or until they are golden brown and sound hollow when tapped.

To make the crust more tender, paint the tops with melted butter immediately after the bread comes out of the oven (picture below).

We really like this bread. If I had not been told  this bread contains cook oatmeal I would never have guessed. The oatmeal added a tender but just lightly chewy very pleasant texture. This bread had a very distinctive and divine yeasty oatmeal smell as it proofed in the bowl and later cooked in the oven which really added to the enjoyment of the baking process.  This is a very versatile roll. You can eat it for breakfast or dinner. It is also a great way to use any left over breakfast oatmeal that may be hanging around. The addition of raisins would also be nice.

Fried vegetables やさいの素揚げ

Since I had Kabocha Japanese pumpkin カボチャ, shishi-tougarashi 獅子唐芥子 or shishitou (both were from our regular grocery store) and "Gobo" 牛蒡 burdock root (from the Japanese grocery store), I decided to make this simple vegetable fry. It came our a bit too oily for our taste but still it was still quite good.

I precooked and seasoned the Gobo since I used a part of it for another dish. Alternatively, I could have used raw gobo just salted in acidulated water and then drained.

Ingredients (#3 below):
"Gobo" burdock root, about 1/3, skin scrabbled clean with a food brush but not removed.
Japanese "shishitou" peppers, 5-6, stem removed and slits cut in to the middle to prevent explosion in hot oil.
Japanese "Kabocha" squash, 1/4, innards removed and skin shaved off, cut into half inch thick pices
Oil for deep frying
Kosher salt

For preparing Gobo
Rice vinegar (making acidulated water for initial cooking)
Japanese dashi broth seasoned with soy sauce and mirin

Directions:
Cut the gobo into 3 inch lengths. First cook in water with a splash of rice vinegar for 10 minutes and then in plain water for another 10 minutes. Finally, cook in a seasoned Japanese broth (Kelp-bonito broth seasoned with soy sauce and mirin) in 10 more minutes.
Let it cool down in the broth and then cut into 4 long pieces and return to the broth to soak (#1) (I soaked it overnight in the fridge but it could be fried immediately).

I deep fried each items separately. Kabocha takes the most time (4-5 minutes) and shishitou takes the least time (1 minute). I served these sprinkled with a bit of Kosher salt. The kabocha came out very sweet. The gobo was still a bit fibrous but not bad. My wife removed the skin and seeds from shishitou and I ate all. Fortunately, none of them was atomically hot.

Fried taro root cake in broth 里芋まんじゅうの揚げ出し

This recipe is again from "a Buddhist  Monk" which regularly appears in Asahi-shinbun Japanese newspaper. Since I got taro root or "sato-imo" 里芋 from our regular grocery store and saw this recipe video, making this dish was a "no-brainer". I did not follow the original recipe precisely since I only had oyster mushroom (it calls for shimeji mushroom).

For  greens, I used blanched rapini instead of spinach just because I had it.  Of course, I did not used vegetarian broth and instead used bonito and kelp broth. I also did not have edible lily roots called "Yuri-ne" 百合根 or wood ear mushroom "ki-kurage" 木耳 which were called for in the original recipe.

Ingredients (for 5 dumplings):
Sato-imo "taro", 4 medium, peeled, parboiled and washed in cold running water (to reduce the slimy surface).
Fresh mushrooms (Original recipe calls for Shimeji mushroom, I used oyster mushroom), arbitrary amount.
Green vegetables (Original recipe calls for spinach, I used blanched rapini), arbitrary amount.
Dashi broth 200ml (I used a "kelp and bonito flakes" dash pack but to make it a vegetarian dish one can use kelp broth)
Soy sauce 1 tbs
Mirin 1/2 tbs
Prepared chestnuts, 5, (I used bottled preserved chestnuts in syrup called "kuri-no-kanroni" 栗の甘露煮 (#1 below), cut into small chunks.
Potato starch or "Katakuri-ko" かたくり粉 for dredging.
Oil for deep frying

Directions:
I added the parboiled sato-imo into the seasoned broth and cooked for 15-20 minutes or until a tooth pick goes through easily.  I let it cool down in the broth and mashed it in a Japanese suri-bachi mortar すり鉢 then mixed in the chestnuts (#2).
I made small flat rounds (#3), dredged in potato starch and deep fried in 350 F oil for 3-4 minutes until the surface was nicely browned (#4).
I addeds the green and mushroom in the broth the sato-imo was cooked in and heat it up for a few minutes. I tasted and adjusted the seasoning (I added a small amount of additional soy sauce).
I placed the sato-imo cake in a serving bowl and arranged the mushrooms and the greens then
poured the warm broth over everything and served.

This is a very nice and interesting dish. The sato-imo cake has a thin crust, very soft creamy texture with the chestnuts being nicely firm and sweet. I think the blanched rapini with its slight bitter distinctive taste went better than spinach would have. This is also a rather filling dish.

Burdock root wrapped in prosciutto プロシュート巻きごぼうの照煮

This is a modification of a Japanese recipe. Japanese really like to wrap cylindrical vegetables in meat or ham. I read a recipe in which whole burdock root or gobo 牛蒡 was first simmered in seasoned broth and then wrapped in thinly sliced pork belly and cooked in "teriyaki" 照り焼きsauce. Since I bought a package of gobo which contained 2 good sized root stalks, I needed to come up with new way of serving it. So, inspired by the recipe I had read I made this wrapped gobo. Since I didn't have thinly sliced pork belly, I used prosciutto as the wrap. This was the first dish for one evening. It went fairly well with the red wine we were having.

I used whole gobo cooked skin on.

Since I also made my usual "Kinpira-gobo"金平ごぼう, I served it as well.

Ingredients (for 2 servings seen above):
Gobo, three 3 inch lengths, skin scrubbed with a vegetable brush but skin not removed.

For initial cooking:
3-400 ml of water
1 tbs rice vinegar

For final cooking
Japanese dash broth about 300 ml (I used my usual bonito flakes and kelp dash pack)
Soy sauce, 1 tbs
Mirin 1 tbs
Sake 1tbs

Prosciutto, three slices

For Teriyaki sauce
Soy sauce 2 tbs
Sugar 2 tsp (Optional, I did not use).
Mirin 2tbs
Sake 2 tbs

Directions:
1. Cook the pieces in water with vinegar (to prevent darkening) for 10 minutes on low flame.
2. Wash the pieces in cold running water and cook it in plain water for 10 minutes to remove the vinegar taste (water may turn dark).
3. Simmer in the seasoned dash broth for another 10 minutes (#1) and let it cool down in the broth.
4. Separate one thin slice of prosciutto (#2) and wrap the gobo (#3 and #4)

5. In a dry non-stick frying pan, brown the prosciutto starting with the seam side down (#5).
6 Add the teriyaki sauce and cook shaking and rolling the gobo rolls until the sauce thickened (#6).
7. Let it cool and cut each gobo roll into 4 pieces and serve.

Despite the rather long cooking the gobo maintains a nice crunch and the prosciutto added nice flavor as well as some saltiness. I could have used more prosciutto to make a thicker layer but this was just fine as it was. The original recipe used thinly sliced pork belly which may have been better but we really liked this version.

Japanese "Kabocha" pumpkin salad カボチャサラダ

I occasionally see Japanese pumpkin which is a type of winter squash in our regualr grocery store and when I see it I buy it. This time, I made pumpkin salad with the squash I brought home. I read the recipe somewhere but I could not find it again when it came time to make the salad so I made it from memory.  It came out quite good and its easy to prepare especially since I used the microwave to cook the squash. Since I had a "Kabocha"-shaped "hashi-oki" 箸置きor chopstick pillow that we bought in Kyoto last year, I used it in this picture to complete the Kabocha theme.

I added cottage cheese on top (I remember this was a part of the recipe I read). I added freshly ground black pepper.

Ingredients :
Kabocha pumpkin, half, innards removed and skin shaved off but leaving some (or you could just leave the skin), cut into a bite sized pieces, microwaved in a silicon container for 3-4 minutes or until a bamboo skewer went through easily.
Salt and pepper for seasoning while it is cooling.

For dressing:
Mayonnaise 2tbs
Greek yogurt 2tbs (my wife makes it by straining regular yogurt).
Cottage cheese 2-4 tbs
Soy sauce to taste (optional and our addition)

Directions:
When the pumpkin cooled to room temperature I dressed it with the mayo and greek yogurt (see below). Taste and add salt or soy sauce to taste. I served it with topping of the cottage cheese and freshly grated black pepper (my addition).

This is a really good salad. The natural sweetness of the pumpkin really comes through. We found out it is actually rather filling--a small serving goes a long way for us. Since I microwaved it, it was really easy to make.

Pistachio nut bread ピスタチオナッツ入りパン

My wife has been making different kinds of  breads from a bread cook book entitled "Beard on Bread". This bread is a very interesting bread with pistachio nuts. It is a kind of a sweet bread but not too sweet and perfect for breakfast. You can see pistachio nuts on the cut surface.

One morning, we had a combination of the blueberry bread my wife made (it was frozen) and the pistachio nut bread. They went very well with a cup of cappuccino.

Ingredients
for bread 
1 Package active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1 Tbs. sugar (to bloom the yeast)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup warm milk
1/4 cup butter softened
2 tsp. salt
3 to 4 cups all purpose flour

For filling 
1/4 cup melted butter
1/3 cup (additional) sugar
1 cup shelled salted pistachio nuts roughly chopped

1 egg lightly beaten for egg wash

Directions
Bloom the yeast. In the bowl of a stand mixer with a mixing paddle add the milk, softened butter, salt and 1/2 cup sugar, yeast mixture and stir. Change to a dough hook. Add the flour one cup at a time until dough forms around the hook. Form into a ball and put into a bowl with a small amount of vegetable oil. Coat the surface of the dough with the oil (so it doesn't dry out) cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled.

Punch dough down. On the floured board covered with parchment paper roll it into an 18 X 12 inch rectangle. (Since the dough is very tender, to make the transfer to the cookie sheet easier,  I measured a piece of parchment paper the same size as the sheet I was going to use to cook the bread. I rolled out the rectangle and formed the loaf on the parchment paper. Then I dragged the parchment paper over onto the cookie sheet. I did not remove the paper, I cooked the loaf on it. ) Brush the surface of the rectangle with the 1/4 cup melted butter. Sprinkle on the 1/3 cup sugar and the pistachio nuts. Beginning with the long edge roll the dough like a jelly roll pressing the seams and edges together. Form into a circle. At 3/4 inch intervals slice 2/3 of the way down into the ring (#1). Twist each slice to the right so the interior the slice is facing up (#2 & #3). Let the ring rise until doubled. Brush with egg wash. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 30 to 35 minutes until browned (#4).

I was not around when she started and I have no pictures of the rolled out dough, filling or rolling up process. In any case, this was rather elaborate and will have some impact if it was served whole and cut into individual servings. Of course, for us, my wife cut them into a manageable size, double wrapped in a plastic wrap and then aluminum foil and froze it. This bread has a fairly dense but still soft texture. It is slightly sweet. The saltiness from pistachio  appears to enhance the sweetness despite relatively small amount of sugar in it. This bread is extremely good and would be perfect for a holiday.

Spinach Spaetzle ホウレン草スペーツル

After a great success of making spaetzle using our newly acquired spaetzle maker, my wife made this spinach spaetzle. (What's the old adage, "the right  tool for the job"). She made this basically because we had a bit of spinach left over from another dish. This was light supper and I served spinach spaetzle with meat balls in tomato sauce and green beans.

With the spaetzle maker, the size of the spaetzle is just right and it is much easier to make. By-the-way, it may look like there are peas on the plate in the picture above but it is actually the spaetzle as shown in the close-up below. I heated it up by sautéing in a bit of olive oil.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup thawed, drained frozen spinach (we used fresh spinach cooked without any addition of water).
1 cup low-fat (1%) milk
1 egg
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg
2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, for cooking spaetzle

Directions:
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil.

In a blender, combine spinach, milk, egg, oil and nutmeg (#1 and #2); blend until spinach is puréed. Whisk flour and salt together in a large measuring cup (using a measuring cup makes it easier to pour the batter into the hopper of the spaetzle maker). Stir in spinach mixture. (#3).  In several batches pour the batter into the hopper of the spaetzle maker.  Slide the hopper back and forth over the base plate with holes (#4 & #5). Cook until noodles float and firm up, about 1 minute. Lift spaetzle out with a strainer and transfer to a colander to drain and drizzle on some olive oil to keep them from sticking together. (#6)  Repeat with remaining dough.

When ready to serve, melt butter in a large skillet over high heat. Add spaetzle and cook, tossing frequently, until spaetzle just begins to brown.

Although we really did not taste the spinach, it adds a nice green color. This is a welcome change from our usual forms of pasta. Despite a good amount of nutmeg, it is not at all overwhelming. The texture was firm enough to hold together but still very tender.