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.

Sweet Potato and Chestnut Rice サツマイモ、栗ご飯

My wife got three relatively small Japanese sweet potatoes or “Satsuma-imo” さつまいも from Whole Foods.  She was vaguely thinking of making sweet potato muffins but the amount was not really enough. I suggested making sweet potato rice instead (I ended up using all three potatoes for three different dishes). Since we also had prepared chestnuts, I made sweet potato chestnut rice. To extend the autumnal theme, I also made miso soup with mushrooms and lily bulb. Since I also made new batches of pickled daikon and “asazuke” 浅漬け cucumber, I served those on the side.

This is a close-up of sweet potato chestnut rice. I sprinkled “goma-shio” ごま塩, a mixture of black sesame and salt.

For the miso soup, I added shimeji しめじand shiitake mushroom along with lily bulb 百合根 which sank to the bottom. We picked the lily bulb up with the chopsticks so they got their place in the photo op.

Ingredients:
2 cups (using the cup came with out rice cooker) of short grain rice (we used “Yumepirica” ゆめぴりかHokkaido rice we got form NY rice factory).
1 inch square kelp
1 Japanese sweet potato, peeled, diced and soaked in cold water
10 prepared chestnuts
1 tbs x4 concentrated “Mentsuyu” Japanese noodle sauce

Directions:
Wash the rice, place it in the rice cooker, add the specified amount of water, add the seasoning, sweet potato and chestnuts and turn on the switch.
When it is done (see below), remove the kelp and gently mix.

This is a very autumnal and nice rice. Nice sweetness from both the sweet potato and the chestnuts with contrasting texture of soft and somewhat crunchy. I just sprinkled the “goma-shio” and my wife, as usual, added butter and soy sauce. The soup also went very well. The nice sweetness and crunchy texture of the lily bulb and mushrooms worked well together. We were also pleased with the daikon tsukemono.

Sweet Potato and Tuna Salad サツマイモとツナのサラダ

This is dish is on the theme of using up a can of tuna. We had one more can of albacore tuna which we bought during the Covid protein shortage, aging in the pantry. The idea for this dish is very similar to the tuna and daikon salad ツナと大根のサラダ but I replaced the daikon with sweet potato. Again mayo saved the canned tuna. This is also a good dish for a small appetizer.

The recipe came from e-recipe.

Ingredients:
1 small Japanese “Satsuma-imo” sweet potato, microwaved for 3-4 minutes until soft in a silicon container, peeled and mashed leaving some small chunks
1 can of tuna
1 tbs mayonnaise
1 tbs Greek yogurt (strained home-made yogurt my wife made)
salt and pepper to taste
chopped parsley

Directions:
Add the tuna and mashed sweet potato in a bowl, add the yogurt and mayo and mix
Season with salt and pepper and mix in chopped parsley.

This is another good dish using canned tuna. It is quite different from the tuna and daikon salad I posted before. The sweet potato has nice soft texture and sweet taste which went very well with tuna containing dressing.

Kabocha Squash Cookies

Recently we got a kabocha かぼちゃ (Japanese) squash by the grocery delivery which was quite large. I made simmered “Kabocha” and potage but still half remained. Since it was near halloween, pumpkin recipes were appearing everywhere. My wife found a recipe for pumpkin/buttercup squash cookies on the Washington post web site.  She thought since buttercup squash and Kabocha are close squash relatives this recipe may be a good way to use up the remaining Kabocha. Also, we were both curious as to how a squash could be used to make a cookie. The picture below shows the 3 variations of the cookies my wife made. As suggested by the original recipe there were 3 coatings: cinnamon sugar (upper left), pine nut (upper right) and  toasted coconut (bottom). These were surprisingly good. They were just bite sized and somewhere between a cake and cookie.

Ingredients
1/2 cup flesh from cooked/roasted winter squash* (may substitute yam, sugar pumpkin or sweet potato. We substituted kabocha squash)
1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups almond meal/flour, or more as needed
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
Pine nuts, for coating (optional)
Shredded coconut, for coating (sweetened or unsweetened; optional)
1/4 cup sugar plus 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, for coating (optional)

*We used kabocha squash, cooked in a microwave oven and mashed. We further use a ricer to make it smooth.

Ingredients (X2)
1 cup flesh from cooked/roasted winter squash* (may substitute yam, sugar pumpkin or sweet potato. We substituted kabocha squash)
2 large egg yolk, lightly beaten
3 cups almond meal/flour, or more as needed
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Finely grated zest of 2 lemon
Pine nuts, for coating (optional)
Shredded coconut, for coating (sweetened or unsweetened; optional)
1/4 cup sugar plus 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, for coating (optional)
Sesame seeds for coating (optional).

Directions:
Combine the squash, egg yolk, almond meal/flour, sugar, vanilla extract and lemon zest in a mixing bowl, stirring to form a smooth, very soft dough. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes or up to 1 day. If the dough seems too pasty and wet, add a little more almond meal/flour, keeping in mind that the dough will firm up further as it chills.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners.
Divide the dough into 24 equal portions (about 2 teaspoons), rolling each one into a ball. Before spacing them on the baking sheets at least 1 inch apart, roll some of them in one or more of the coating options listed below. Bake (middle rack) for 15 to 20 minutes, during which time the cookies should not spread much.
Cool completely on the baking sheets before serving or storing.

All three version were very good. The cookie itself is moist and soft with a mild slightly sweet squash/pumpkin flavor. Not quite a typical cookie but very good. And three different coating worked excellently. We really like this cookie.

Tofu and Shimeji Mushroom with Oyster Sauce 豆腐としめじのオイスターソース

We had two packages of tofu 豆腐 and one package of shimeji mushroom しめじ which I needed to use fairly soon. I remembered seeing a YouTube episode of a tofu and shimeji dish.  I winged it from my memory so this may not be exactly the same dish. In any case, it was a good dish. It could be on rice but I seasoned it lightly and it is perfect as a drinking snack.

Ingredients:
1 package of tofu (I used house-brand semi-firm tofu which is currently our favorite tofu), cut into small rectangles, blanched, and drained well.
1 package (150gram) of brown shimeji mushrooms, bottom cut off and tops separated
2 tbs finely chopped shallot or onion
1 tbs finely chopped ginger
1 tbs finely chopped garlic
2 scallion, finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tbs vegetable oil with 1/4 tsp dark sesame oil
1tbs oyster sauce
2 tsp soy sauce (I used x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce)
2 tbs sake
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 tsp potato starch mixed with 1tbs sake or broth or water (slurry)

Directions:
Add half of the oil in a non-stick frying pan on medium heat. Add the tofu and brown one side (3-4 minutes) and turn over and brown the other side for 2-3 minutes, set aside
Add the remaining oil to the same pan, add the shallot, ginger and garlic. Sauté for a few minutes until fragrant. Add the shimeji mushroom and sauté until the mushroom become soft (a few minutes), season with salt and pepper. Add back the browned tofu and mix gently.
Add the sake, oyster sauce, soy sauce and mix.
Add the chicken broth and simmer. Taste and adjust the seasoning (more oyster sauce or soy sauce)
Stir in the potato starch slurry and mix well until it starts boiling.
Add more sesame oil if so desired (optional)
Add the scallion

I prefer the seasoning for Mapo tofu. I can make the same dish with the seasoning of Mapo tofu. As to the browning the tofu, I am not sure it is a great improvement. The time and effort to brown the tofu, this process may not be worth it. But this is a good dish in its own right.

11 (or 12) Appetizers 11種類の酒のつまみ

This is another version of multiple small appetizers dishes. I used the divided plate with space for 9 dishes. But I had more than nine to serve so I doubled up in the divided space.  But I still needed to add two more small bowls for a total of 11 small dishes. If you count each part of the doubled up item (lotus root tsukune 蓮根つくね was divided and served with quail eggs and ginko nuts) (bottom row left and center), it would be 12 appetizers. None of them are new recipes. Even though the single portion is small, we were quite full after working our way through 12 of them.

To highlight a few the one shown below is Name-take mushroom なめ茸 (top row right),

simmered taro “satoimo” 里芋 potato and carrot with “Kouya-dofu” 高野豆腐* and sugar snap スナップ豌豆の塩びたし (middle row right)

and two small bowls; tofu and shimeji with oyster sauce 豆腐としめじのオイスターソース(top),

simmered shirataki and deep fried tofu 白滝と油揚の煮物 (bottom).

*Kouya-dofu is freeze dried tofu (for preservation I suppose) which creates unique texture and absorbs whatever liquid it is cooked in.

These appetizers are mostly comprised of vegetables and provide so many different textures and tastes. We really like this type of classic Japanese multiple appetizers.

Simmered “Shirataki” Konjac Noodle and Deep-fried Tofu しらたきと油揚の煮物

A few days ago, we had sukiyaki すき焼き. I thought the whole bag (400 gram or 14.1 oz) of “shirataki” 白滝 (meaning white cascade) or noodle form of konnyaku (or konjac) was too much to use all of it for sukiyaki. So after I preparing it (i.e. washed, boiled, washed again and cut into convenient length) I kept 1/3 in water in the refrigerator. I was pondering how I could use this and came across this recipe on-line and decided to make it. This appears to be Kyoto “o-banzai” おばんざい style home cooking and has nice gentle and comforting flavors.

Ingredients:
1/3 package (about 100 grams) of “shirataki”, washed, boiled, washed again and cut into convenient length
1 small carrot, peeled and julienned
1 abura-age, hot water poured over (to thaw and remove excess oil), water squeezed out and then cut into thin threads
1 scallion finely chopped
300 ml Japanese dashi broth
30 ml sake
15 ml mirin
20 ml soy sauce (I used x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce)

Directions:
Add, the shirataki, carrot, and abura-age in a pot add the broth and cook for 5-10 minutes.
Add the seasonings and cook until the liquid is reduced by 1/3.

The original recipe calls for sugar but I did not add it. Japanese noodle sauce does have some sweetness which compensated for not having any sugar. This could be a side dish for rice but it is also perfect for a drinking snack.