Corn pudding (bread/cake ?) コーンプディング/ケーキ

This is the season for fresh corn. We got a large batch that was very sweet. After making our usual fresh corn dishes we still had some left so my wife found this recipe on the internet. Corn pudding seems to be a staple dish in the south. Most of the recipes involved frozen corn and packaged corn bread mix. This was one of the few that didn't involve those components so my wife decided to try it. It really accentuates the sweetness and taste of corn and is much easier to eat than corn-on-the-cob. 

 

Ingredients:
2 cups of corn (1 cup to puree, 1 cup raw corn = 3/4 cup puree) (1 cup to add whole to the batter). Cooked and removed from the cob. There is flexibility in the amount of puree you use. See 2X below)

8 Tbs. (115 g.) butter
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper or to taste
3/4 cup (180 g.) sour cream (or 3/4 cup ricotta cheese results in a firmer cake. We prefer this texure) or (1/2 cup sour cream and 1/4 cup ricotta cheese this results in a softer cake; more like a mixture between pudding and cake)
2 large eggs
1 1/2 Tbs. (20 g,) granulated sugar
2 1/4 Tsp. baking powder
7 Tbs. (55 g.) AP flour
6 Tbs. (55 g.) cornmeal

Ingredients X2
2 cups of pureed corn (I made this with 1 cup of puree. Because I miscalculated and that was all I had and it came out just fine)

16 Tbs. (2 sticks) or (230 g.) butter 
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper or to taste
1 1/2 cup (360 g.) sour cream (or 1 1/2 cup ricotta cheese results in a firmer cake. We prefer this texure) or (1 cup ricotta  and 1/2 cup sour cream this results in a softer cake; more like a mixture between pudding and cake)
 4 large eggs
3 Tbs. (40 g,) granulated sugar
2 1/2 Tsp. baking powder

14 Tbs. (110 g) Ap Flour

12 Tbs. (110 g) cornmeal 

(use medium sized pyrex baking dish) 


Directions:
Take 1 cup of the corn and puree it in a food blender and set aside. (if you are not going to use the corn right away heat it to boiling in a pan to kill any potential bacteria. )Brown the butter in a sauce pan. Reserve 2 Tbs. of the browned butter and set aside (to be put on the pudding once it is cooked). Mix the pureed corn, whole corn, butter, salt, pepper and sour cream together. Let cool. Once cooled whisk in the eggs. Then the baking powder, flour and cornmeal. Pour mixture into a greased 6 X 10 inch pyrex baking dish. Cook in a 350 degree oven for 40 to 45 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean. Pour the reserved Tbs. of browned butter over the top.

With all the butter, sour cream and eggs this is not the most dietetic dish but it sure is good. It is more like a moist corn bread (cake?) than a pudding. The sweet corn flavor permeates. The whole corn gives a nice crunch and an additional burst of corn sweetness. Hard not to eat the whole thing in one sitting. 

Mint panna cotta ミントパナコタ

 Now that my wife is making buttermilk she has to come up with ways to use it. It is an heirloom culture so it can be used over and over again but it has to be used every week or so to stay healthy. So she is experimenting with different variations of dessert panna cotta. Or as she refers to it “variations on a theme by Paganini*”. No hardship for me. Keep them coming.  

*  This expression refers to a work by Johannes Brahms based on the caprice No. 24 in A minor by Niccolo Paganini. The work consists of two books. Each opens with the theme Paganini’s caprice No. 24 followed by fourteen variations. Hence variations (of panna cotta) based on a theme. 

Ingredients:
1 tsp gelatin
1 1/2 tsp water
1/2 cup 4 % milk
1 cup fresh mint leaves bruised with a meat pounder or torn into pieces (to release more flavor)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup buttermilk

Sauce:
1/2 cup water
1 cup fresh mint bruised
1/4 cup sugar

Directions:
Bloom the gelatin in the water. Add the milk and mint to a sauce pan and gently heat to infuse the milk with the mint flavor. Continue gently heating until mint flavor is to taste (as shown in the second picture). Strain the milk mixture and put it back in the pan. Add the sugar and gently heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Let the milk mixture cool to room temperature. Add the buttermilk and vanilla. Distribute to the serving jars. Chill in the refridgerator until the mixture is firm.

For the sauce:
Put the water and mint in a sauce pan. Heat until the the water has a mint flavor to taste. Drain and return liquid to the sauce pan. Add the sugar and heat the mixture until the sugar has melted. When it has reached room temperature top off the serving jars with the mint sauce.

Again, this a very nice dessert. It is very creamy in texture. The mint flavor infuses throughout and very refreshing. Another good way to finish a meal.

Strawberry panna cotta いちごパナコタ

 My wife is into making panna cotta in some small jar we cam across recently. The amount is perfect for us as dessert. This time she made strawberry panna cotta. When we get fresh strawberry, I usually wash the strawberries, hull, cut into small pieces (small one quartered and large ones quartered and then halved). I place the strawberries in a sealable container, add some sugar (depending  on how sweet the strawberries are) and and triple sec  to taste. Then marinate them for a while in the refrigerator. This makes even not-so-good strawberries palatable and we eat as is or add it to the yogurt.  She used these marinated strawberries for panna cotta.

Ingredients:
1 tsp gelatin
1 1/2 Tbs. water
1/2 cup 4 % milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup strawberry puree (marinated strawberries as described above pureed)
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup buttermilk

Sauce;
Strawberry puree to top off the jars

Directions:
Bloom the gelatin in the water. Warm the milk and sugar in a saucepan until the sugar is dissolved. Use the hot milk mixture to temper the bloomed gelatin until it is completely dissolved then add it back into the warm milk mixing to thoroughly combine. Add the strawberry puree and vanilla to the buttermilk and stir completely. When the milk sugar mixture has cooled to room temperature add the buttermilk mixture. Distribute to the serving jars (or containers). (Fills about 6 of the small jars). Put in the refridgerator until it becomes firm. When it is firm top with the rest of the strawberry puree.

This is a lovely refreshing dessert. The texture is very creamy. The bright slightly sweet strawberry flavor completely infuses the milk mixture and is very nice with the slight tang of the buttermilk. A perfect way to end a meal.

The 4th of July Pacific saury barbecue さんまの塩焼き、焼きおにぎり

 This year, instead of celebrating the 4th of July (Independence day) by firing up the Weber grill, we decided to fire up our ”Hibachi*" or "charcoal konro" 炭火コンロ. And, instead of grilling chicken, we decided to grill some pacific sauries or "sanma" さんま which had been hanging out in the freezer for some time. (My wife refers to these as "torpedo fish"). In the past, “sanma” which is a very bony fish was not considered “prime” eating and was very cheap. But in recent years, they are getting scarce and much more expensive.  According to the label on the package this group of three came from "Taiwan". Traditionally, fresh sanma is cooked with the innards intact but I cleaned these fish after thawing. I had posted and pontificated about sanma previously.  I salted them before grilling and served them with grated Daikon 大根おろし. We even found an appropriate long oval dish serving dish which appropriately accommodated this long heads-on fish as shown in the next picture.

*Digression alert: A Japanese style small charcoal-fired grill is called "hibachi" in the U.S. (or may be elsewhere also). But in Japan "hibachi" 火鉢 is not used for cooking but as a source of heat used in winter for warmth in traditional Japanese rooms. (Not in Hokkaido because it is too cold and an hibachi is not an adequate source of heat). The grills used for cooking are traditionally called "shichirin" 七輪. The modern name would be "charcoal or sumibi-konro".  In the old days, if grilling fish at home,  you would do this outside using a "shichirin" and charcoal fire. More recently, however, most of Japanese cook tops have a built-in fish grill which prevents smoking while grilling fish making "shichirin" obsolete. But, in my opinion, charcoal grilled fish is still the best!

Since the fish is oily, it makes a quite a good amount of smoke but cooks rather quickly.

Whenever we fire up the Japanese charcoal grill, my wife asks me to make grilled rice balls. I usually make a simple rice ball without any filling but this time she specifically asked for stuffing- mayo and mustard dressed salmon. So, I obliged. Since grilled rice ball takes much longer to cook than the fish, I started grilling the rice balls first while we enjoyed several small appetizers and cold sake. I posted how to make perfect grilled rice balls before. As far as we are concerned the best way to cook a rice ball is over a charcoal fire. Such perfection is displayed in the next picture. The high heat sears the outer layer into a toasty brown crust enhanced by the taste of the soy sauce mixture brushed on while it is cooking. The inside is soft and moist. The addition of the salmon stuffing further infuses a mayo/mustard/salmon/salty flavor. 

Once the rice balls were finished, I set them on edge over a cooler part of the grill to keep them warm while I grilled the fish. Our holiday meal is shown in all its splendor in the next picture.

Sanma are extremely boney fish and my wife is not as good at spitting out fish bones as I am. (This was demonstrated early in our marriage when I had to remove a fish bone from the back of my wife’s throat using a long nose plier.) But she is much better at deboning a fish with a knife than I am. So although “bone-out” is not quite the traditional way of serving "sanma", in the interest of safety, that is how we served it.  Seeing the pile of lovely fish meat next to the pile of recently removed bones somehow reminded me of the "Meguro-no sanma" story 目黒のサンマ which, again, I pontificated on before. In any case, this was very enjoyable holiday celebration; grilled sanma with grated daikon and soy sauce followed by grilled stuffed rice balls (we each finished one. My wife thinks the remaining rice balls will nicely heat up in our toaster oven. We will see).

Boursin cheese muffin ボーシンチーズマフィン

This is my wife's muffin project. This is rather unique. The muffin has Boursin cheese, scallion and garlic. Despite scallion and garlic, it is not too strong and has a nice moist cheesy texture. 

Ingredients: The original recipe did not fill a standard 12 muffin pan so I am showing the ingredients increased to 1 1/2 and and 2 times the original amount. The first increase would at least fill the pan. The second would make a full pan of generous muffins.

1 1/2 times increase
3 cups AP four
3 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Black pepper
1 1/2 packages (8.5 oz.) boursin cheese
3 tbs butter
1 1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
3/4 cup walnuts
4 1/2 tbs. finely chopped scallions
1 1/2 cloves garlic

2 times the original recipe
4 cups AP four
4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Black pepper
2 packages boursin cheese
4 tbs butter
2 cups milk
2 eggs
1 cup walnuts
6 tbs. finely chopped scallions
2 cloves garlic

Directions:
Mix the dry ingredients, flour through pepper in a bowl. Set aside. Cream the cheese and butter together. Beat in the milk and eggs. Add the cheese mixture to the dry ingredients. Stir in the walnuts, scallions and garlic. Scoop the batter into the heavily greased muffin tins. Cook at 400 degrees for 18 to 25 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into one of the middle muffins comes out clean. Let cool for 5 minutes before attempting to remove from the pan.

These are hearty savory muffins. They have a dense almost cheese like consistency. The scallion flavor predominates but is not overwhelming. These are great muffins to have with a soup or stew for lunch or dinner. 

Warm tofu with mushroom sauce 豆腐のキノコあんかけ

This was a dish I made sometime ago but somehow I did not post it. I made this dish one day to use up ingredients which need to be used quickly. I had portions of silken tofu which I kept in a sealable plastic container with water in the fridge, shimeji mushroom and fresh but pre-sliced shiitake mushroom (We specified whole fresh shiitake but we got a package of presliced shiitake mushrooms through the Instacart.) So, I came up with this dish which is a rather standard Japanese dish but I did not follow any recipe.

The sauce is thickened with potato starch slurry.  Dishes made with this kind of sauce are often called “an-kake” 餡掛け. This is a warm and soothing dish. It is basically vegetarian except for bonito in the dashi broth.

Ingredients (2 servings):
Half silken tofu divided into two portions
1 cup Japanese dashi broth (I made this from kelp and bonito flakes).
1/4 cup (or to taste) concentrated Japanese noodle sauce (from bottle)
1/2 scallion finely sliced
1 tsp potato starch or “Katakuri-ko” 片栗粉 make into “slurry” by adding 1 tbs water or sake.

Directions:
Heat the tofu in the simmering broth until warm (5-6 minutes).
Place the warmed tofu in bowels
Add the mushrooms to the broth and cook for 3-4 minutes
Add the noodle sauce and the starch slurries and thicken the sauce.
Add the scallion.
Pour the “ankake”sauce over the tofu and serve.

This is best served in cold weather but this is a very gentle smoothing dish with soft tofu and gentle taste of broth and mushrooms.

Hot and sour pork インドスタイルのホットサワー豚肉カレー

This is continuation of what to do with the  bone-in pork roast we have been getting. The roast is rather large and is either shoulder or thigh. After removing the bone(s), I make one large roast for cooking in the Weber grill and a smaller roast for Ni-buta 煮豚. The remaining odds and ends, I cut into small chunks for other recipes, mostly stewed dishes. We found out that once we cook the meat in chicken broth the meat tends to be much more tender and it is much easier to convert into other stewed dishes without long cooking. So, I cooked the pork in chicken broth and kept it in the refrigerator. The meat exuded collagen and the liquid congealed which is also used in the subsequent dish adding good mouth feel and flavors. In addition, if we do not have a chance to make the meat into another dish, we can reheat the meat in the broth. So this pork was 2 weeks old and re-heated once. I asked my wife to make this curry dish. She made it once before based on a recipe from her favorite Indian cookbook. We liked it but somehow we never blogged it.

We served the curry for lunch one weekend as shown in the first picture. We served it on previously made brown rice and added skinned Campari tomatoes, cooked broccoli and Japanese pickles; rakyo ラッキョウ, fukusinzuke 福神漬け.

Ingredients:
1 tsp ground cumen
1/8 tsp cayenne
1 tsp. gound cardamon
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. black mustard seed
1 tsp. Ground fenugeek seed
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. brown sugar
1/3 cup sushi vinegar (recipe calls for white wine vinegar)
2 onions peeled and roughly minced
1 inch cube ginger (finely chopped)
2 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
1 Tbs. ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground tumeric
1 lb. previously simmered pork butt/shoulder trimmings

The second picture shows all the spices lined up. My wife does this to keep track of what spices she has mis en place and as you can see there are quite a few. 

Directions:
Pour the spices from cumin through brown sugar into the vinegar and stir to make a slurry then set aside. Saute the onions in a sauce pan until slightly carmelized. Add the garlic and ginger and cook until fragrant. Add the spice slurry to the onions and stir until the spices bloom (smell fragrant). Then add the coriander and turmeric stirring until they bloom too. Then add the precooked pork and mix to cover with the sauce. If there is not enough liquid add water or chicken broth. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. The third picture shows the curry simmering in the pan. 

I think of this as not-quite a curry. It is spicy in terms of the layers of flavor of the many spice used but not particularly hot (depending on the amount of cayenne pepper). It does have a sweet/ sour undertone from the combination of the sautéed onions and vinegar which adds a brightness to the overall flavor. This is a good dish with rice or even bread.