Cheesy spinach squares

My wife is into making small cheesy appetizers--particularly green cheesy appetizers. This recipe fulfilled both conditions and she had to make it.

The cheese squares were fairly easy to make but despite all the cheese and other ingredients that went into it, we felt, in general, it was pretty bland. The spinach gave it a green color but didn't add much flavor. To jazz it up a bit we tried it with my tomato sauce which was made from skinned Campari tomatoes. The addition of the tomato sauce added more flavor and really helped.

My wife was on the look-out for other ways she could improve the cheese squares and one evening when she was frying up some scrapple for an appetizer she decide she would fry up the cheese squares the same way since she had peanut oil in the pan and it was hot  .

She dredged the squares in flour and fried them on all sides until they had a nice brown crust as shown in the picture below. This was an improvement. The crust had a nice crunchy toasted flavor and the inside was soft with a slight cheesy flavor.  It was okay but not outstanding.

Ingredients (#1 in the composite picture):
1 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup milk
1 and 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese
2 eggs, lightly beaten
4 tbs butter, melted
1 cup chopped fresh spinach (original recipe calls or 1package or 9oz frozen chopped spinach).

Directions:
Mix all the ingredients (#1 in composite picture) together (#2 in composite picture) . Place the mixture in a greased 9 inch square pan lined with parchment paper and greased again. (This makes it easier to get out after it is done.) (#3 in composite picture)  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 to 35 minutes. Loosen the edges from the sides of the pan as soon as it comes out of the oven (#4 in composite picture) . Let it cool slightly before cutting.

This wasn't bad and certainly went together quickly. It was quite edible but not exciting. If we make it again we will have to make some significant alterations.

Basil cake bread バジルブレッド

My wife came up this as a variation on Mint cake. We have a forest of basil on the kitchen window sill and we are hard pressed to keep up with its production. After making a batch of mint cake my wife looked at the basil forest and thought, ‘if we can make a cake using mint how ‘bout a cake made with basil?’ This is how Basil cake came to be. 

The basil cake as shown below (sans icing) tastes very good and we were quite satisfied to eat most if it this way. 

Then my wife came up with the idea of making an icing of goat and cream cheese. This is very good too. (The icing is optional). 

Ingredients:
one 5.5 oz package of baby spinach cooked (about 1 cup when cooked and moisture drained off)
1 1/2 to 2 cups raw basil (packed)
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup olive oil
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt


Icing (Optional)
4 oz of cream cheese
4 oz of goat cheese

Directions:
Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl and then set aside. Put the spinach, basil, eggs, and vanilla, in a blender and puree. Then with the blender on a slow speed add the olive oil to make an emulsion. Add the vanilla and mix in. Add the spinach/mint mixture to the flour. Put into a greased 6" x 10" inch baking pan that has been lined with parchment paper (to made it easier to get the cake out of the pan when it is done.) Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean.

For the icing. Put the two cheeses in a stand mixer bowel. Using a paddle, cream the two cheeses together. Split a piece of the basil cake in half and spread on the cheese blend

This was a very good innovative cake/bread. It has a nice moist texture. The main thing, however, is the rich robust flavor the basil brings to the show. It “sings” a note of almost meat-like umami savoriness which contrasts well with the overall slight sweetness of the cake. (I wondered if this is because when I taste basil it is generally in association with a meat rather than a sweet dish?) 

The cake tastes very good just “as-is” and after contentedly eating half of it that way my wife came up with the idea of making an icing out of cream cheese and goat cheese whipped together. A sweet icing such as the one used for mint cake would not have gone well with the robust flavor of the basil but this alternative really works because it is some what savory. Whatever, this is a great and surprising way to gain some constructive control over the basil forest. 

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.

Puff pastry cheese swirls

My wife decided she had to use up some old frozen puff pastry which passed “best-by date” by a year. She found a recipe for broccoli based cheese swirls on the back of the puff pastry box and decided to make them. In addition, she found some pesto we had made and frozen sometime ago and decided to use the pesto to make a pesto based cheese swirl. Sort of killing two birds with one stone approach. 

As usual, I ask my wife to provide how-to.

Ingredients:
two sheets of frozen puff pastry

For the Broccoli based cheese swirl
The amounts of all the ingredients are arbitrary and are generally enough to cover the sheets.
Cooked broccoli finely chopped (spinach could also be used)
Scallion finely chopped
Various cheeses grated your choice (I used smoked gouda, mozzarella, and Parmesan.)

For the pesto based cheese swirl
Pesto to cover the sheet of puff pastry
Various cheeses grated. (I used Monterey Jack, Cheddar and Parmesan

Directions:
Thaw the sheets of puff pastry. Spread the ingredients to cover the sheets (#1 & 2 for the pesto) and (#3 for the broccoli) based. Roll up the sheets and slice into 1 inch thick pieces. Cook in a 400 F degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes until the swirls are golden brown.

These make a wonderful alternative to the traditional cheese tray. The pastry was light and crunchy. The cheese was nicely melted and toasted. The scallion flavor came through and really made the broccoli based rounds. While both cheese swirls were very good, in a contest of pesto versus broccoli I am completely biased in favor of pesto. (Actually it may not even be a contest). 

Baked egg on Indian-style spinach オーブン卵とほうれん草カレー

We gave up "baking" eggs such as "oeuf cocotte".  Eggs never cook properly ending up with overcooked yolks and under cooked whites. So, we usually substitute "baking" eggs with poached eggs. Then we came across the article and recipe on perfectly "baked" eggs in a paper copy of Cook Illustrated by America's test kitchen. They tested many different ways of baking eggs They listed a spinach florentine recipe with baked egg. Instead of making spinach Florentine, we used my wife's Indian style spinach without cheese curds.

The picture above shows perfectly cooked egg white and still runny egg yolk. So their method of baking eggs really works!

My wife garnished this with small chunks of Reggiano Pamigiano cheese and fresh basil leaves.

The secret of success is that the item that goes under the egg has to have a certain around of moisture to produce steam during cooking (such as this dish or florentine). It also has to support the egg white and yolk in the proper way. So, my wife made the circular indentations as you see above. The center crater will hold up the egg yolk. In addition, you need to bake the base first so it is piping hot before placing the egg on top. This allows the white to cook first while the yolk is insulated by the spinach mixture and cooks more slowly

We preheated our convection toaster oven to 400F and placed the ramekins with the spinach sauce in a glass pyrex baking dish and cooked ifor 10 minutes before placing the egg on the top. We then continued baking for 10 more minutes. After removing from the oven we garnished with chunks of parmesan and fresh basil. We had this as a breakfast with toast of my wife's home baked white bread and freshly brewed Cappuccino (we home roast green beans and use Italian-made espresso machine, I may be able to post about our coffee when my inventory of the Izakaya dishes are low).

P.S. Later, we also tried this using spinach florentine which was also very good and the eggs were baked perfectly.

Salmon-Spinach Tortas 鮭とほうれん草のケーキ

My wife is into making small appetizers. When she saw the recipe called “Tuna-Spinach tortas” at Washington Post on-line, it was a “must-do”. Although she liked the idea of a small tortas, canned tuna does not grace our pantry…ever.  (Instead, we keep frozen sashimi-grade tuna in the freezer). We also like salmon and almost every other week we get a half-salmon filet (A special available from the local grocery store only through home delivery). I scale it and using the main portion, make several fillet portions. I then separate the belly portion for an appetizer and use the resulting small irregular trimmings including the tail portion of the filet to make salmon cakes. After we cook the fillets (usually cooked in a frying pan to make crispy skin), I make salmon salad from the leftover portions.

This time my wife used the salmon salad I made from the left over salmon fillets instead of the canned tuna called for in the original recipe. The salmon salad was a bit different from what I usually make since we did not have enough cooked salmon fillets so I oil-poached the irregular bits of fresh salmon to make about 5oz of salmon. The oil poached salmon was much softer and more moist than our usual cooked salmon.  In addition, we did not have home-made Greek yogurt. So I used all mayo instead of mixture of mayo and Greek yogurt.

The tortas came out very nice and the salmon filling was moist but made a nice crispy shell. Although we cannot tell how the original canned tuna version would have been, this is pretty good.

As you can see in the picture below, the top portion is mixture of spinach, tomato and egg. The bottom is mixture of cheese and the salmon salad.

Ingredients: (12 cupcake sized servings)
2 bags of baby spinach cooked and drained
5 oz. Cooked salmon made into salmon salad (end amount about double the amount of salmon)
1/4 cup Parmigiana-Reggiano cheese grated
1/4 cup smoked gouda grated
3/4 cup plain panko (bread crumbs)
4 large eggs
4 Campari tomatoes
1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
1/8 to 1/4 cayenne pepper

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease the wells of the muffin pan with cooking oil spray. Combine the salmon salad, cheeses and panko in a mixing bowl. Divide it equally among the muffin pan wells, packing it in firmly. (I used second to largest ice cream scoop).

Lightly beat the eggs in a bowl. Coarsely chop the tomatoes (to taste), then add to the eggs, along with the salt and pepper. Add the spinach to the bowl. Stir until well incorporated, then spoon equal amounts of the mixture on top of each tuna portion in the individual muffin pan wells (#1). Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until set and lightly browned (#2). Let cool for a few minutes before carefully inverting the tortas on individual plates. (#3 & #4)

This makes a great little dish that can be used as an appetizer or even part of a lunch. We were amazed at how it came out. Somehow the panko combined with the egg mixture makes a nice crisp crust on the bottom so the salmon salad seems like it is a pie filling. The salmon salad itself made a great filling. It was moist but held together. The flavors of the celery, onion and mayo used in the salad fused beautifully. The topping added a fresh note of tomato which went very well with the salmon filling. Overall this is an amazing little torta. 

Herring roe and cream cheese with wasabi 数の子クリームチーズ和え

Whenever we get herring roe or Kazunoko 数の子 for New Year, we have to finish it by the end of the first week of the year before it gets spoiled. Eating it just "as is" sometimes gets old so I tried to come up with different ways to serve kazunoko. Apparently other people think along similar lines as evidenced by this recipe.

The recipe calls for small cubes of kazunoko and cream cheese served on the bed of greens. For greens, I used baby spinach slightly sautéed (wilted) in butter and seasoned with salt and black pepper. I am not sure if the cream cheese (American invention) in Japan is different from the U.S. version--Philadelphia cream cheese, but my version was soft even straight from the cold refrigerator. As a result, I could not make neat cubes from it. I added a dab of real wasabi but did not add any soy sauce since the kazunoko had enough saltiness.

This is a nice small dish which goes well with sake. The combination of crunchy kazunoko and soft cream cheese gives a nice contras

Fluffy Omelet ふわふわオムレツ

My wife is really into breakfast recently. Every weekend, she suggests something different. This weekend morning, she saw this fluffy omelet  recipe in the printed version of "Cook illustrated" and asked me to come up with the topping (or stuffing) for it. Although the recipe included two examples of stuffing, we did not have the ingredients for either of them. So I decided to "wing-it". This is something between Spanish "Tortilla" and French "soufflé".

Ingredients for one 8 inch omelet:

For Omelet:

Eggs (two large, yolk and white separated)

Butter, Melted unsalted (1/2 tbs)

Butter, unsalted (1/2 tbs)

Salt (1/8 tsp)

Cream of tartar (1/8 tsp)

For stuffing:

Shallot (1 medium, finely chopped)

Shiitake mushroom (fresh, two medium, stem removed and finely sliced).

Roasted pork filet (arbitrary amount, sliced and cut into wide strips or bacon)

Spinach (baby spinach, one handful)

Cheeses (smoked gouda, finely diced and parmisiano reggiano (grated), amount arbitrary).

Beat the egg yolks and mix in the melted butter and set aside. In a standing mixer, add the egg white and sprinkle cream of tartar and beat it to stiff peak stage (#1). Fold in the egg yolk mixture until no white steaks are visible (#2). Melt the reaming butter in a 8 inch non-stick frying pan on medium heat until foam forms and add in the egg mixture and add topping and cheeses (#3). Place the pan into the pre-heated 375F oven (#4) and bake for 5 minutes (We did not use pasteurized eggs and wanted it to be completely cooked). If it springs back when lightly pressed it is complete done (#5). Tip the omelet onto the cutting board and let it rest for 30 seconds before cutting (#6).

Note: The original recipe for 2 servings called for 4 eggs and folded the omelet into half and then cut it into two portions. We used 2 eggs and did not fold the omelet.

Stuffing: I added olive oil (1 tsp) and butter (1/2 tsp) into a non-stick frying pan and sautéed the shallot for few minutes. I added the shiitake mushroom and sautéed for another minute or two. I then seasoned it with salt and pepper. I added the pork and then the spinach and cooked until spinach wilted.

This is a very good omelet with a unique texture. It is rather fluffy and the topping I made was great. We may have put on too much cheese but there is no such a thing as too much cheese in general.

Cauliflower puree with parmesan cheese パルメザンチーズ味カリフラワーのピューレ

This is based on a recipe that appeared in the Washington Post. I decided to make this since I had a head of cauliflower in the fridge which I bought a week ago. I followed the recipe exactly and it was not good. It had an unpleasant mealy consistency and was not smooth and creamy. We figured out why this was. The recipe calls for using a food processor. No matter how long your run the food processor, the cauliflower will not become smooth and creamy. Instead of a cuisinart you need to use a blender on high speed (puree mode). Once I fixed this, the end product was nice and creamy with good Parmesan flavor.

As suggested, I garnished it with finely chopped parsley fresh grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and freshly cracked black pepper. 

The below are the original recipe with one important modification; instead of a food processor, use a blender.

INGREDIENTS

1 medium head (2 pounds) cauliflower, cored and cut into 11/2-inch florets (7 cups)

1/3 cup low-fat milk (1 percent), plus more as needed

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more as needed

Generous pinch freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiana-Reggiano cheese, plus 4 teaspoons for garnish

1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Freshly ground black pepper

STEPS

Place the cauliflower florets in a steamer basket set over a pot of boiling water. Cover and steam until the cauliflower is just tender, 5 to 7 minutes.

Transfer the cauliflower to a blender along with 1/3 cup of the milk (I needed more milk, probably 1/2 cup total), the butter, the 1/4 teaspoon of salt and the nutmeg; puree until very smooth.  Add extra milk a tablespoon at a time, as needed. Immediately add 1/4 cup of the cheese and pulsed just until the cheese melted and was incorporated.

When I first made it, using the Cuisinart as specified in the recipe, it was grainy and mealy. When my wife made cauliflower puree to make her cauliflower/spinach panna cotta, the cauliflower puree was really silky smooth. I initially thought cauliflower must be cooked in milk and butter as my wife did. But when we made English pea panna cotta, it became clear to us, the use of the blender made the difference. So I placed my previously made cauliflower puree into the blender and pureed it again. I needed to add a bit more milk but the end result was night and day different. Now the puree was nicely smooth, creamy and incorporated more air and became fluffy. This can be served warm or cold. I served it cold the second time with some good Spanish olive oil on the top. This made it better still. This can be eaten as a side vegetable dish, drinking snack or even as a spread for a cracker or a slice of bread. 

"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.

Stuffed Omelet オムレツ

This may not look like something you see in an Izakaya, but any good hearty breakfast item, in our opinion, can be had as a "shime" 締め or a mid-night snack after drinking--for those who are young and reckless. Stuffed omelets are very popular in Japan including ones stuffed with rice seasoned with ketchup called "Omuraisu" オムライス.

We are not big omelet eaters anymore but, in our reckless days, we often looked for nice brunch/omelet places over the weekend. While we were living in Los(t) Angles, our friend introduced us to one such place near the famous La Brea tar pit. We cannot remember the name of the place and I am sure it does not exist any longer. After that, I emulated how they made omelets at home. Omelets were cooked to order in front of the customers. There were many kinds of fillings to choose from, which were kept in a warming drawer.

Filling: I use whatever is available at the moment. This time, for one two-egg omelet, I use red onion (thinly sliced, 1/3 medium), fresh shiitake mushroom (stem removed and sliced, 4-5 medium), leftover oven roasted pork fillet (4-5 thin slices cut into strips), baby spinach (a very small handful) and fresh goat cheese (3 tbs). I first saute the onion in the mixture of olive oil and butter, add the pork and shiitake mushroom. After they are cooked, I add spinach and saute until wilted. Season with salt and pepper. Since nice "fond" is formed, I deglaze it with a Marsala wine (1 tbs, optional) and cook it until liquid is all gone. I add crumbled goat cheese (I do not mix at this point) and leave the mixture on the stove on a very low flame (our stove has a very low simmer setting or use as a "warm" setting if you are using an electric stove top) (#1, image below).

Eggs: I used two brown eggs (for one omelet) beaten with the addition of cream (2 tbs) and seasoned with salt and pepper. If you use 3 eggs, it will be easier to form an omelet but you can do it with two eggs.

In a non-stick frying pan with low side or an omelet pan  (8 inch) on a medium low flame, I melt butter (1 tbs) and pour in the egg mixture. When the bottom is set, I use a small spatula to lift one side of the omelet and let the excess uncooked egg flow under the cooked portion. I repeat this on all four quadrants until the desired amount of  liquid egg remains (I like it almost all cooked). If you want to make pristine yellow, not-browned omelets, you have to cook the eggs on a very low heat with a lid on to cook the omelet through (for a stuffed kind not for a plain French style) but I like some brown markings on my omelets. I add the filling, which was kept warm allowing the cheese to melt, onto half of the omelet--the half opposite the handle of the pan (#2 in the image below).  Take a plate in the left hand and hold the frying pan in the right hand grabbing the handle from underneath (I am right-handed), angle the pan and slide it out and then fold over the omelet using the edge of the frying pan to cover the stuffing (I should have recruited my wife to take pictures). The omelet is done (#3 in the image below). I am not sure what this shot (#4) is called in food bloggers parlance (I have to defer to Jon), here is the cut section.

This is very satisfying dish. Since I am not making a living doing this, it is kind of fun to make omelets every-now-and-then. I had to admit that we had this as a breakfast not as a mid-night snack and we share one omelet.

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.

A Pinot noir we can love with two curries 気に入ったピノノワールと合いがけカレー

We usually do not particularly like Pinot noir including Burgundy. (We are not sophisticated enough to enjoy the subtleties of these Pinots). But occasionally, we come across a Pinot we really like such as the one we had recently.  So I decided it was worthwhile to post something about it. This wine was a bit unusual for Pinot (may be that is the reason we liked it). It was unusually dark in color for a Pinot—it was almost dark like Cab. The wine is called "Belle Glos Pinot Noir" Clark and Telephone from Santa Barbara. The grapes are from the vineyard located at the corner of Clark and Telephone roads. This is a young wine (2012 harvest, 9 month aging in an oak cask). It bursts with dark cherry, blueberry, caramel and vanilla up front  leading to a smooth silky tannin. We can really enjoyed this Pinot.

The appetizers may not have been a perfect pairing for this wonderful California Pinot but the threesome I served were (from left to right); Indian spiced braised cabbage with raisins (my wife made this, a subject of a future post), baked spicy tofu cubes, and baked chick peas. These dishes were not too spicy hot but had layers of spice flavors. For the tofu dish, this time I used Sriracha which added a nice flavor and heat.

For dinner, we had two quite different curries which my wife made. These two curries were made for a dinner for our friends; a mixed population of vegetarians and omnivores but because of bad weather they weren’t able to make it to the dinner. The left "red" curry is  lamb curry and the right "green" curry is spinach curry. For the spinach curry, instead of home-made cheese curd, we used cubes of Feta and smoked gouda cheeses. In Japan, "Aikake" curry 合いかけカレー is rather popular in which two different curries are served over rice on a single plate. The idea is you first enjoy the two curries and rice individually and then mix them up to create a new flavored curry.

My being carnivore/omnivore, I liked the lamb curry better but the spinach curry was totally different in flavor and texture and was excellent. Both curries had complex layers of Indian spices but were not too spicy hot. For some reason, this Pinot really went well with these curries.

Ravioli with wonton skin ワンタン皮のラビオリ

My sister-in-law gave me a cookbook called "Perfect Pairings"(special issue of "Food and Wine"). One weekend, my wife and I were browsing through it and found several interesting recipes. My wife really wanted to try this ravioli recipe which was paired with champagne in the book. Since it was a very hot summer day, we had this with a rather inexpensive rose wine from Provence called Domaine du Garde Temps 'Tourbillon' Côtes de Provence Rosé 2016 (made of 50% Cinsault, 30% Grenache, 20% Syrah). We started by trying to follow the recipe. When we realized the recipe used 12 oz. of cheese and made over 60 ravioli, I intervened and decided to "wing-it" in my usual style. I used most of the ingredients for the stuffing (without measuring) and took a shortcut using store-bought "wonton" skins instead of making a pasta dough. We served this as a first dish with the aforementioned (a bit over-chilled) rose wine.

For sauce, I simply made a brown butter sauce with capers and Meyer lemon juice with a side of basil leaves. I included a quarter of Meyer lemon just in case we needed more acidity in the sauce.

The next day, I made a sauce of finely chopped shallots sautéed in butter with basil leaves added at the end just to wilt them. I topped with grated Parmesan and just before eating squeezed on some Meyer lemon juice. This was a better sauce for the ravioli.

Ingredients (made about 32-35 ravioli):
For filling
1/2 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
1/4 lb prosciutto, thinly sliced and then minced into small pieces (We used Boar's Head brand which appears to be imported from Italy).
1 whole egg
1/4 cup Parmigiano Reggiano, grated
One package of baby spinach, cooked without adding additional water, moisture pressed out and chopped.

Instead of using a pasta sheet I used one package of Wonton skins (We ran out of the skins leaving a small amount of filling which we cooked in a ramekin in the toaster oven).
Mixture of flour and water to form a glue to seal the ravioli

For sauce
3 tbs unsalted butter
1-2 tsp of capers, drained, roughly chopped
1/2 Meyer lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Mix all the ingredients for the filling in a bowl (#1).
Using a small ice-cream scoop, place the filling in the center of the wonton skin and paint the skin with the flour and water mixture (#2).
Take another wonton skin, paint one side with the flour glue and press both wonton skins around the filling try to not to trap any air (#3).
Using an appropriate sized cookie cutter cut around the filling making the square into a round  (#4).
Repeat until either all the filling or all the wonton skins are used up.  We ran out of wonton skins a tad earlier than the filling) (#5 and 6).
Boil the ravioli in rapidly boiling water (salt and olive oil added) for 2-3 minutes or until they float (#7).
Drain and let it cool briefly on metal rack (#8)
After they cooled we stacked the ravioli on a large square plate with parchment paper brushed with olive oil to make multiple layers and keep them from sticking together.  At this point, I suppose you could serve, refrigerate or freeze them.

For serving:
Melt the butter in non-stick frying pan until slightly brown, add the capers.
If needed season it with salt (prosciutto is rather salty, so do not over season).
Add the ravioli and warm it up, squeeze on the lemon and serve immediately.

Making ravioli even when using pre-made pasta skins is a bit of work. My wife and I worked as a team. I filled and sealed the ravioli and she cut them into rounds with the cookie cutter. She over saw cooking them and I prepared the "landing pad" so they would not stick together. But it was worth it. Although I thought I may have used a bit too much prosciutto when I was making the filling (I was trying to use it up), it was just the right amount.  It amalgamated into the Ricotta and spinach mixture adding a nicely complex meaty, salty flavor. The Meyer lemon added a bright note which was both lemony and orangey. This went well with our rose from Provence. The wine is very light with some acidity which went well with acidity provided by the lemons.  The fresh basil leaves were also great. Next time, I may just add few basil leaves to the butter sauce itself. Since we serve only a few ravioli at a time, we will be enjoying them for some time to come. (Good thing we didn't follow the recipe and make 60!)

Baked crepes in Béchamel sauce クレープのホワイトソース オーブン焼き

Since I had leftovers from the large batch of crepes I made, I came up with two near near-identical dishes to have with wine in the evening. One was made with my leftover roasted pork filet (below). I served it with cucumber and onion salad with yogurt sauce. I also made a similar dish using my (leftover) sake-steamed chicken breast. I took only one picture of the chicken dish after it came out of the oven (the last picture) but I forgot to take pictures of the final plated product. So this time, I made a point of taking a few more pictures including some of the final dish. Both dishes are almost identical. The differences are types of cheeses and meat I used. 
Essentially, I made a Béchamel sauce starting with sautéing finely chopped shallots and shiitake mushroom adding flour, sautéed them together for few minutes. I added milk at once and stir until the sauce thickened. I seasoned it with salt , white pepper and freshly ground nutmeg as posted before. I then added cubes of sake steamed chicken or roasted pork filet and sautéed spinach into the  Béchamel sauce. I placed a small portion of this mixture on the crepes (#1) and rolled them into a tube. I placed these stuffed crepes in a small baking pan (#2) and covered them with the remaining Béchamel  sauce. I covered this with grated smoked cheddar and parmigeano reggiano cheeses. I baked it in a 350F oven for 10-15 minutes.
 
I used a mix of grated smoked Gruyere and cheddar cheese on the dish I made with the sake-steamed chicken (below).
For both dishes, I let it rest for 5 minutes before serving.This was a nice dish to have with wine. It was also extremely satisfying—bordering on comfort food (how could it be anything else with a nice Béchamel sauce and melted cheese). Although I do not remember exactly which wine we had with this, I am sure, one of our favorite reds.

Angel Biscuits エンジェルビスケット

My wife makes biscuits occasionally. Here, we mean US biscuits which are close to muffins and scones rather than UK biscuits which are basically cookies. She decide to make these angel biscuits one day. She used to make them regularly sometime ago but hasn't made them recently. They are interesting because they use three leavening agents; yeast, baking soda and baking powder.

Ingredients (15 small square biscuits ):

5 cups AP flour

1/2 cup warm water (100°F to 110°F)  (suggestion: replace water with buttermilk and don’t bloom yeast see below)
1 (1/4-oz.) pkg. active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp.)
1/4 cup sugar (1/2 cup sugar for sweeter biscuit) 
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup veg shortening (butter)
2 cups butter milk (2 1/2 cups buttermilk if replace water with buttermilk)

Directions:
Dissolve a pinch of sugar in warm water, add yeast and mix well in a small bowl. Let stand until the surface bubbles up (5-10 minutes). If the surface does not bubble after 10 minutes, the yeast may be bad (dead).
Stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and 3 tablespoons sugar in a large bowl; cut cold butter into flour mixture with a pastry blender or 2 forks until crumbly.
Add yeast mixture and buttermilk to flour mixture, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. Cover bowl with plastic wrap; chill at least 2 hours or up to 5 days.
Preheat oven to 450°F.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead 3 or 4 times. Gently roll into a 1⁄2-inch-thick square, and fold in half; repeat.
Gently roll to 1⁄2-inch thickness; cut into 2-inch squares (#1 and #3) (We used a knife to cut into squares which eliminated any scraps of the dough that would have to be reworked. You could use biscuit cutter, either round or rectangular).
Bake in preheated oven until golden, 15 to 20 minutes (#4). Note: cook 9 minutes at 450, then reduce heat and cook for another 8 to 10 minutes or until golden. 

We served this as a lunch with an omelet filled with spinach, shiitake mushroom and goat cheese. The biscuits were flaky, light and very satisfying.