Gaijin Friendly Hijiki Salad & Anchovy Dressing

In each of my pregnancies I would more often than not turn up to be anemic & have fantastically dramatic kitchen/ofuro/jam-packed-train fainting spells so when it comes to hijiki it usually reminds me a little too much of being a substitute for iron supplements.  Along with spinach & liver of course.  I've only eaten it in the usual way simmered with thinly chopped abura-dofu, carrots, konyaku & soybeans.

I found this recipe in my "Harumi's Home Cooking" cookbook and finally tried it out.  I think it's the perfect introduction to hijiki for anyone whose never tasted it & therapeutic for anyone who has bad memories of gritty smooshy black goop.  It's so basic that when you think about it, all it really is comprised of is tossing a salad with hijiki.  And the dressing is one that I'd definitely make for any other salad, thankfully all my kids love anchovies too.  Here's the basic recipe:

10-20 grams of dried hijiki
a variety of vegitables, lettuce, celery, carrots, cucumbers & onions to taste

Anchovy Dressing:

10g anchovy fillets
2 tbsp sunflower/veg oil
1 tbsp wine vinegar
a little sugar (I put in a few pinches)
pepper
1 teaspoon soysauce

Soak the hijiki seaweed in warm water for about 10 min.  Drain well and dry.  Cut into short pieces if they are too long.  Cut the vegetables into thin strips, soak them in cold water for 5 min. drain & pat dry.
Mince anchovy and mix it with the other ingredients for the dressing.  Mix the hijiki and cut vegetables and put on a serving dish.  Pour over the anchovy dressing just before eating. 

That's all I got today....now, "ON TO THE THEATER!!!"

Crunchy Munchie!

I'm not gonna get whiny about it or anything but seriously, if you ever feel like you're salad is just missing that "something" to make it something other than an obligatory food group, I'll tell you what I personally feel that something is.  Ready?




All you need is CRUNCH!!!

Not kidding, if I had to choose between dressing & crunch. Close race, but I'd go for the crunch.  I mean that really is what makes salad so boring, is the "samey-ness" of it all.  Everything is sort of chewy and fiberous and before you know it you start feeling like the "Nom-nom-nom hamster".  And if you're thinking, "well, veggies are crunchy, aren't they?", forget it, must be an oil filled crunchiness.

Isn't that just what the world needs more of?  All we need is crunch.....and oil!  Do you feeeeeeel me?  (metaphorically)

 And if you're gonna whine to me about how you have nothing in your kitchen that's crunchy.  To that I say, "YOU LIE!!!".  Check it out:

- Nuts & seeds like: pecans, almonds, cashews, walnuts, pine nuts, pumpkin seeds
(roast them up in a dry skillet till theu're just the tiniest brown, letm cool before chopping & serving)
 - Croutons: use old bread, chop it/rip it, throw it in a bowl, drizzle a little EV olive oil, salt & dried spices, throwm' on some tinfoil in the grill or toaster & TADA!!  Croutons!!  And we can't leave out the mother of all Lebanese salads Fattoush with grilled/toasted day old pita or flat bread. 
 - Bacon: fry it & crumble it up....I'm telling you if you're in a kitchen crisis, there's almost NOTHING bacon won't fix.  Or in a jiff I'm sure no one will squirm about commercial bacon bits.
 - Bread crumbs: if you make Chicken Parmeasan or Penguin Chicken & have left over bread crumbs, throw them in a bowl
 - Potato chips?  SURELY without question! My DH has a special love for chips so I constantly & without question raid his stash for some extra crunch.  The chips in the pic are those lovely spicy "karamucho" chips.  But how good are tortilla chips too? Heck, I'm willing to try sembe or kakinotane.
 - Don't forget the fried renkon chippies too.
- And we're not even wading into the "meats" territory because you can take any grilled, bbqed or fried meat or fish & top your salad with it and you're ready to rumble.


I mean it's really all a mind game, isn't it?.  Because the truth is we'd probably all just rather down the bowl of crunch rather than eat our serving of salad....I literally make twice as much salad if I'm gonna add something like pecans & bacon to it.

Well, that's it for now.  Hope you get inspired to ransack your pantry & dig out some salad worthy CRUNCH!!!!

Salad Fix: Apple, Cucumber & Shiso

I do love this salad. I think I learned it from my slightly eccentric neighbor who was always cooking up a storm & insisting that come over & eat with her. But I loved it & have been making it for the last 7 yrs.


Ao-shiso is one of my favorite Japanese herbs. It's called Beefsteak in English (I have no idea why) but it's got a light, fresh & clean taste. It goes great with everything from salads, dressings, to onigiri, tempura & sushi. It's so pretty too for garnish. Better fresh than cooked and grows like a weed with very little care. And you ought to if you like it cuz' they sure charge for it at the store. Don't mistake it for red shiso which is mainly used in making umeboshi.

So hopefully this salad can speak for itself. Grate the cucumber, Salt with a few pinches & leave for about 5 min. then squeeze by handfuls to drain the liquid. I like doing that part, (this is a much used Japanese way of making quick pickles, the cucumber will keep the salt so don't overdo it with the salt) add sliced apples (keep the peel for color) & about 1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar (or rice vinegar) a tbsp of granulated sugar or honey (if you're so inclined) chop the shiso & mix thoroughly & that's it. You may want to adjust the taste according to your preference. Nothing to it! I think this goes great with a light summer meal like, dashi maki, sushi, tofu etc..

Gosh, that looks good.

PS: this doesn't keep too well in the fridge so better try to pawn it off in one sitting. Maan, this is making me want to eat cucumber & wakame salad too, or moyashi & wakame...ooh....or daikon & wakame......hey....and there's that new korean one I found with Daikon & carrot....OK, that one I HAVE to post. (yeah right, school is starting in few days, I'll be lucky if I can make myself instant coffee) Catch you later!

Midevial NOT Capon salad

I wanted to write something dramatic & romantic about this salad. I mean look at it? Who cares if it was just one dish out of 250 dramatic & romantic dishes on the table that night. That just looks good to me!

Well, I guess, to the untrained eye it can be construed as a pile of over boiled chicken breast with bloated raisins smashed on top. And maybe I'm the only one who can really look at & appreciate the time & effort it took.

Before I tell you about this venture let me just clarify that I did NOT find capons. Which I'm sure you knew already, is(and I did too once I googled it & nearly spewed coffee all over the computer) a castorated male chicken!! So yeah, I would've felt awful about using capons, as if their life wasn't bad enough already, poor guys!!

The recipe was roughly 2 pages long. I normally stay away from long lists & instructions but I couldn't help it, it was just fun from start to finish. I started this dish 4 days before the party. First off I prepared a broth with a bouquet garni of Italian Parsley, rosemary & laurel leaves (from my garden, and the neighbor's laurel tree, eh-hum), 10 whole black pepper corns, 2 onions, & 4 celery stalks, 4 carrots. I feel medieval already, grrr. Oh, mustn't forget the 1 kg worth of chicken wings.
After an hr or so the broth looked like that -- and it smelled sooo good! At this point I indulgently poured 1/2 a bottle of white wine in & simmered some more. (As if it didn't smell good enough already) Now comes the part where we give the chickens a nice warm bath (one at a time of course), for about one hour & then set for another 2 till cooled. Skimming off the top. See, this picture makes me want to skim, see that gunkus on the right side? Tsk tsk!
Now to dry off. Well, not so glorious looking now are we? Into the fridge and then stripped down to the bone. Of course I got to hog the broth strained & froze it and I'm saving it for a cool rainy day to make a great soup, just you wait. (though it stands great on it's own, with just a little sea salt, DH kept coming back for samples)
Oh goodie, here's my favorite part. I just felt so happy making this. And I will use this dressing regularly. Peeled the rind of 2 lemons & 2 oranges, 2 cinnamon sticks & 3 laurel leaves, 1 c of red wine vinegar, 1 c raisins, 1 tsp crushed pepper, 3 tbsp powdered sugar
Bring this all to a ever so slight simmer to infuse the vinegar, then leave to soak for a while, discard the laurel & cinnamon sticks. (or if you have a silly 2 year old let her walk around the house sucking on them saying "I'm eating cinanin bark"). Toss the chicken & dressing & let the flavors mature for 3 whole days. Yeah, you heard me, I guess that's the medieval part, huh? Garnished with 1 c of pine nuts, 1/2 c of chopped Italian parsley & 1/2 c extra virgin olive oil. If you happened to be there & taste this, I hope it was any good. I sure enjoyed it. It was the fact that the orange & lemon rind gave it an extra zing & the raisins were quite soaked through with the vinegratte that made me love it. Not to mention the chicken itself was tender & flavorful. Mind you, I don't know if I'll ever make it again. As you can imagine it's not a very cheap salad. But that's my story & I wanted to tell it.

Oh & PS: if any one has a good "why-did-the-castorated-male-chicken-cross-the-road" joke I'd love to hear it.

Salad fix: Coleslaw

Coleslaw! When I was a kid I couldn't stand it, now I love it. There was a moving conversion involving a pregnancy & a KFC craving. OK, so this is all pretty standard stuff, but I've done it enough time to toy with the mayo mix to get it the way I like it which is a little more vinegary & of course, sweeter.

The pics speak for themselves, I hope.

Our Veggies! Chop chop!! Don't forget to get rid of those huge, really thick cabbage stems. Cut it Smmmmmaaall! No, smaller than that.....really small.
Yeah, there you go!
Grate the carrots not your fingers please. And now for the mayo-mix. Here are the ingr. Mayo (duh), honey, salt, apple cider vinegar & nutmeg
These are pretty rough estimates but I'd say about 1 c of Mayo, 3 tbsp vinegar, 3 tbsp honey, 1/2 tsp nutmeg & a few pinches of salt. Blend Blend!

And of course raisins go on just before serving unless you like those bloated soggy raisins, I don't!

Every once in awhile I use dried cranberries, which are even better (I think) cuz' they are more tart than raisins.

BTW @ 83% of my kids love coleslaw.

Happy Lunchy-munchie

Tomato & Mozzarella

Isn't it the most gorgeous/ simple combination of perfection on God's Green Earth? Red & white with a little green. I've told my kids the Italian flag is green, white & red because of basil, mozzarella & tomato. Correct me if I'm wrong Italians? (Hey, I also teach them Japan's flag is a obento with an umeboshi in the middle. Don't get me started on other countries)

This salad has my husband's stamp of 100% approval on it.

The story goes like this: The first time I invited Josh to dinner at our home was for Christmas Dinner so I was going all out trying to impress him. (of course I was) After working all day in the kitchen and then trying to look like I hadn't been working all day in the kitchen, I believe he was genuinely surprised. (you know, that face where he's impressed but trying not to look impressed? He didn't know I could) The part though where he decided to marry me & live happily ever after was when only a few guests nibbled at the tomato & mozzarella salad & by the end of the meal when everyone was packing in those last few desserts, he was contentedly sitting with two plates of tomatoes & mozzarella before him & happily scarfing down all the remainder. Murmuring his approval as he tilted the plate & downed the dressing as well.........and then of course we went & had 6 kids. THE END!!!

Juuuuust kidding!

Well, if you can't get it by looking at the pictures I don't really know how to help you. Slice it, arrange it, sprinkle plenty of salt & pepper on it, rip some basil onto it, drizzle olive oil over it & that's it. Generally it's proper to use red-wine vinegar & extra virgin olive oil but I agree balsamic vinegar will do great too if you like that strong-manly taste. The above picture has some mixed nuts left over from my another dish but I thought it was purty.

Here's the alternative "summer veggie salad". Which I'm sorry to say did NOT get the DH's stamp of approval. Due to the presence of eggplant & zucchini. Slice & saute the veggies in olive oil & add them to the process. Roughly 75% of my kids liked it. (that's lemon thyme in the middle & I bet it would taste awesome sprinkled over the salad in place of basil.)
And if it's winter & you don't have any fresh basil, I wouldn't substitute the dry basil with it's "sawdust" consistency on top, it really doesn't go over too well. Just have it as is! (Note the black balsamic vinegar)

Note: Don't refrigerate too long before eating if you've salted it or a lot of the tomatoes juice will drain out. Plus it looks so nice with that "I-just-took-a- shower-in- olive- oil" look.

SUMMER equals SALAD! --- Miso Mayo Dip!

What I wouldn't give for a Greek Salad w/ Feta Cheese!!!

Well, I’ve been delinquent in posting any recipes these days. Busy summer days & bouts of flu going around didn’t help. Hunter-bunter got Rosiolla, and I got to hug him & hold him for 3 loooong sweaty feverish days. Ewwww. Thank God he's better now!

Summer is not such a kitchen friendly season but someone’s gotta make food. Even if the food is eaten cool, usually it’s got to be heated first to get that way. Right?

I’ve got a catering event coming up & will be working on desserts & some side dishes for a party of 100+. Can you say “FLEXIBLE BUDGET”? I plan on trying a few new things & a few old favorites. Anyone know how to deal with a crown pork ribs roast?

What do you first think of when you think of summer food? I think of salad! Salad, Salad & more Salad! I was never really a fanatic per-se. But thanks to my fanatical S.O. we have spawned a brood of leafy-green munching offspring. I love that you can be forgiven for putting nearly anything in a salad, from eggs, tuna, beans or meats, to fruits, herbs, oils, spices, crumbs, breads, chesses and on & on & on the list goes.

I hope to celebrate the art of salad & dressings over the summer & I promise to stay away from any more coconut recipes.

So since I'm lazy here's a simple "Lunchie-munchie" for you.

MISO-MAYO DIP

I first tasted a miso-mayo dip when someone gave me a taste of a combini carrot & kyuri dip. (You know those plastic cup shaped container with a little dip tray on top costing 220Y or something extravagant like that.)

So this is my staple carrot/cucumber/celery dip and it goes like this:

Measurements are total blatant estimates as I never measure, just taste & adjust

Mayo (1 c)
3 tbsp light miso
2 tbsp sweet chili sauce (Thai type)
Salt & freshly ground pepper
Tobanjan (1/4 tsp, or more depending on your spiciness level)

ignore the honey in the picture, it has nothing to do with the recipe.

PLOP-PLOP!MIX-MIX!!As you can see the mayo I had to work with was a little…eww.....watery, but usually when you whip it up it’s pretty thick. This dip is terribly popular with kids. You know…..a little carrots on your plate of dip.
So that's it! And remember, double dipping is uncool! Happy Lunch!

Gotta love those Italians!

When your husband says that something you made tastes like something in a restaurant, you must then go & blog about it.

I had the "creativity itch" & wanted to try out 3 new items in one dinner with 1 hr. to cook, not the best idea. But as I tend to think, hurried cooking is usually the best.

So, here’s what we had:

Courgettes & carrots “a scapece”
Italian tomato & egg torta
Iced tomato & bell pepper soup with salsa verde

I really want to expound on two of these so lets just get the first one over with & say it was “maa-maa”. I was never a zuchinni fan and would’ve never bought these if they hadn’t been on SUPER sale And what I thought would be reeeallly great was just “so-so” (I’d like to know how you say that in Italiano” BTW) of course I didn’t have any fresh mint so it really wasn’t the “real deal” anyway.

Thinly sliced & sauteed courgettes & carrots

Seasoned w/ S&P, & tossed with a wine vinegar & mint dressing with capers. (mine was mintless) I imagined a bright beautiful dish but it was dull in color & I think that seemed to brainwash my palate too & I just felt it was not that great. Though I must say that the caramelized courgettes were pretty darn good. Unfortunately I seemed to be the only one would was even gracious enough to give it an “OK” review. Husband & kids were not fans! Oh, well!

The Popular Torta:
It was a pretty simple dish and lovely of lovelies it can be served hot or cold. Though again, I had to stray pretty far from the recipe as I (unlike some) do NOT have a wheel of Parmesan & Romano cheese in my cellar (if you do, please let me be your friend?) I substituted with the fake Parma & a token amount of Monterrey Jack/Cheddar mix (from Costco). It was fun to make & just as fun to eat.

Basically layering, a little Parmesan, cherry tomatoes, olive oil, (I ended up cutting the tomatoes in halves)Pouring on the blended egg/cream/cheese/basil/salt & pepper mixture. Bake at 200 for 20-25
TA-DA!!! It was pretty good actually & I will be making it again, esp since my husband raved about it.
The SOUP & Salsa Verde:

Oh Joy, this soup made me happy on so many levels. Something about the redness of it & the ice just made me happy-happy-happy. As expected Josh & I were the only true fans, though the kids drank a token bit & tried to be kind about it. (Sweeties!) It tastes better with time (1 or 2 days). Not only that but we had some ice cold at the pool the next day. Then I made a Bloody Mary with it that night, I used the left over for pasta sauce the next day & then for chili sauce the day after.

This was not difficult but the salsa was a bit more time consuming. For the soup: Peeling the tomatoes, chopping red peppers, garlic & chili pepper.
Blending Adding olive oil & tomato juice. Boy, it don't get more red than that.Then the salsa (which will keep for a month) was a blend of: pounded garlic & salt (till it was creamy) chopped anchovy, capers, fresh parsley/basil (again no mint) olive oil, lemon & black pepper.

So you serve the soup with ice & top it with the salsa. Good Lord God Almighty, if you want a good summer soup, this is it. BROTHER, this is THE soup! And I tell you it wasn’t too bad with some vodka & a little xtra crushed pepper after a long day of playing Mommy.

We even brought some with us to the pool, something about sipping on something as gormet as that in plastic cups.

This soup & consequent left-over inventions drew some caveman-like grunts of approval from my tomato loving husband (I believe this is the highest form of appreciation man can give you, it shows his brain has shut down completely to enjoy the food, thus the pre-historic complements) & I have to say I wasn’t terribly disappointed with the pasta sauce it produced when I threw about ½ a cup in with some sautéed garlic & chili with ingen & basil & heated on high for a few min. Or the chilli it produced when I dumped the last of it in a pot with another can of tomatoes & added ground beef & other “chili” flavorings.

Can we just all move to Italy or something?