The Shepherd's Cheeseburger Pie

This is a classic “Bubble & Squeak” incident. Personally I must be honest & say that casseroles that involve mashed potatoes hold no real affection for me. Though nothing can surpass the deep loathing that both U.Masa & Nephew Travis hold dear, when it comes to potatoes. But since being short on time is something that I’m professional at, I had to throw something together for dinner. So here it is.

For the casserole:

8 large potatoes, mashed (& all that that entails)
1 large onion
2 cloves garlic
½ kg of ground beef (1 lb)
Salt & Pepper to taste
@ ¼ c. left over pizza sauce I made (If I didn’t have that I would have used a few tbsp of ketchup & 1 or 2 of bulldog sauce, for the gaijin that would be, Worcestershire sauce)
1 cup of cheese

And for the crust:

1 ½ c flour
3 tbsp butter
1 tsp oregano
½ tsp basil
1 tbsp b.powder
½ salt
2 eggs
1 c milk

So, for the crust, I mixed the drys & cut the butter into it (I prefer using my hands, not knives or pastry cutter) & set aside
Chop the onion & mince the garlic, Brown the beef w/ the onion & garlic, add the pizza sauce (really, I only used it cuz it was convenient, I would’ve used some other kind of tomato based sauce just the same, or ketchup for that matter.)

Next, slap the rest together! Well, more specifically, preheat your oven to 200C (400F), grease a 13/9” casserole dish. & mashed the mashed potatoes into the bottom, add the meat next (sprinkle w/ S&P).
Hmmm...that doesn't look so great. Now let's throw on some cheese.

Lastly, let’s finish the crust. Mix 2 eggs with 1 c milk & mix into the dry ingr. till just mixed. (it will be lumpy, if it’s not…..you’ve overmixed & are destined to have a tough cardboardy top!) Mix with a spoon, if you please, Spoon the topping over the casserole. And throw that sucker in your oven for about 15 min. or till you’ve got a golden top. Serve with ketchup...for all those condiment-dependant individuals. And lookie at that cute plate! Aww!
PS. Shepherd’s Pie is usually a “potatoes/ground beef/veggies/cheese” combo, Whereas Cheeseburger Pie is a “pie crust/ground beef/tomatoes/cheese/crust” combo. Thus the mangled name!

Nagasaki Cowboy Okonomiyaki

Just when you thought that I’d given up cooking for good & taken up a career in laundering socks & underwear, I have decided that dinner shall remain a staple in our daily diets. Truth be told, I’ve got plenty of pictures of food but not quite enough time to turn them into a simple blog bit. For example, I could take these here pictures & say, “ Okonomiyaki is a cabbage pancake that I'm crazy about, try it, you’ll like it!” But…..Oh, no, I’ve got to go & turn it complicated by adding 25 different toppings & turning it into some gourmet-dinner-of-science. I feel very neutral about this dish. Personally, it’s a favorite but I’ve had to deal with so many strong opinions on the matter that I’ve opted to make it very rarely if ever. And to make matters worse ever since my mom introduced me to “Nagasaki style” I just can’t make it right unless I’ve got the whole kit & caboodle. So join me now & let us make ourselves some Okonomiyaki.

Let’s just be honest here & say that when it comes down to it, Okonomiyaki IS indeed a cabbage pancake. If you want to get terribly crude about it, you could just make a generic pancake batter & throw some cabbage in there & that would be it. But thank God we've progressed since Combo cooking & now know that you can even add a carrot to the batter & it will taste a world better.

And if you are a gaijin who is put off by that then just stop reading here because I won’t subject myself to paragraphs of defense against this great Japanese dish. Nuff Said! And even if you are of the understanding nature depending on where you are from or your heritage you may have a totally different idea of what a good okonomiyaki consists of. There are so many different types but this is the type that I made for dinner. And if you’re wondering where the cowboy part comes in; I used bacon slices instead of beef or pork strips, Okey-dokey? So…..on we go. MY list of ingredients is as follows:

For the batter:
Water
Suiton Flour (conveniently donated for suiton dumplings & wonderful for our okonomiyaki pleasure)
¾’s Cabbage
2 carrots

Filling:
250g. bacon, sliced & pre-cooked (we got several bagfuls donated, this has made for some Veeerrrry pleasant pasta experiences going on recently!)
5 packs of yakisoba (fried up & kept warm)
a pack of eggs (10-12)

Now for the fun! The batter was made with about 1 c flour & ½ c water ratio. I used about 6 cups of flour. Shred & dice cabbage & carrots (I personally like the cabbage very FINE, to avoid big hard uncooked chunks)
So mix that up & try not to think of the work “pancake” while doing so.

Next is assembly time. Turn the heat on low on an oiled frying pan (or better yet a yakiniku hot plate) spread a ladleful of batter out & flatten it out. Be careful if it’s too thick it will be raw & gummy inside before you’re done & that is a NO-NO!!
Now put some yakisoba on top of the batter & a few slices of bacon.

Here comes the fun part, if you don’t like timing your cooking perfectly, then this is going to be BIG FUN for you. Hee hee!! Crack an egg next to the okonomiyaki and poke the yoke. Check out mine, all it’s missing is an eyeball & it looks like a regular embryo. Let the egg cook for long enough so that it’s not yet, like a really wet sunny side up egg with the yoke broken. (NOT how I like my eggs)
Ready for the fun part? Put your spatula under the okonomiyaki & flip it (yakisoba/bacon & all) on top of the egg. It may take some practice to get it right, but it should hold together pretty well, with only a stray bacon bit here or there. Let it cook a minute or two longer & then flip it over again (back to the “batter-side down” position) to let the batter cook a bit longer.
Caution: don’t let the flame be too high or you’ll end up with a raw inside & believe me, (as I’ve already said) that’s not the way we like it in Japan.

This is the end result. Ain’t that purrrty?And, here’s the fun bit….TOPPINGS. Here are the traditional toppings you can choose from generally the sauce & mayo go first & the rest follow in whatever order you like:

- Mayo
- Bulldog sauce (Okonomiyaki sauce, for that matter, yakisoba sauce & tonkastu sauce will work fine too, they’re nearly all the same thing, anyway)
- Fish flakes
- Ao nori
- Normal nori (cut into tiny strips)
- Tempura bits
- Negi, diced
- Beni-shoga

And that’s the end of the story folks. Pull up a chair, turn on your Masturi music & be sure to wash it down with a glass or two of Nama-beru!! Enjoy your Okonomiyaki.

Highlights of a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!

Well, I thought I'd put up a few pics of the Christmas/New years Highlights. Sorry, folks but I'm neither very good at taking photos nor very faithful to take them. (Particularly when there are multitudes of children running around & lots of hungry parents to feed)

In case you don't have 3.5 children, you don't know about the house of chaos which all happy children in this neighborhood seem to enjoy so much. I'm still wondering why some of my friendly friends would join forces to chase roughly 15 children around while singing rounds of "Oh-Praise-the-Lord". I'm NOT complaining, my kids voices are now gone & Vesna & I are not altogether sorry.

Gosh, golly, gee-whiz, there was a lot of memorable moments from our New Years. Many friendly faces & screaming children. I guess I ought to dredge up a couple from the fuzzy recesses of my brain. (I'm suffering from a cold along with the other 8 sneezy children in this house):

- Cozy New Years with familiar faces & lots of excitingly named cocktails (involving Tabasco & shot glasses) and vats of gyoza & karage (which, I'll admit, I did eat one or two of).
- Children let loose in "dress up" euphoria, each in thier own make believe world & the parents hiding their faces in shame as their ladybug/fairy/chef/samurai daughters played mommy & daddy.
- Having all my kids asleep by 10:15 (the parting of the Red Sea & now this) so that I could make plate-loads of hours de vours that I had to force my friendlies to eat. (I'm afraid they though it was some kind of art exhibit instead of a late night snack)
- Somehow ending up with 35 men, women & children eating dinner in our little house. Arms, legs & forks were everywhere, phones ringing & babies crying. It was memorable!
- Getting to actually "hang out" with one of my girl-friends! (gosh, 10 years ago I'd be ashamed to say that!!)
- Having a house full of happy/tired/confused parents always on the look out for some way to help me in my hour (ok, several hours) of distress.


Well, there's lots more where that came from but I haven't the time or brain cell. So....lets close with a few photos. And may you have a jolly 2008. I for one am going to crank up the coffee pot & get started on this school term.
Christmas Brunch
Cherry Pie. (if you look closely you might be able to find a bubble mid-pop!)
French Pear Tart!! OMG!!! That's me diving in there!!
Winter Salad! Did I already say I like pears?
The Brined Turkey who layeth down his life for the home!

Wow, the funky chicken ladies. No words!
Oli's genius dress up scheme. (I'm not sure what evil character Travis is trying to be, but you can be sure he's playing his part with all his heart, no doubt it's something from the "Revenge of Chinese Chef")
Awwwww!!! They had too much fun.
The boys waiting to get on the ice!
The popular game called: "How many peaunt butter sandwich eating kids can you fit on one tiny picnic mat"

PS: If you happen to have attended any of these blasty-blast events & have taken photos that are noteworthy -- Please think of me! I love you!

The Brining Test!

So you don't think I offed us all with turkey poisoning, I shall finish my report on the science experiment.

Ah yes, the "Brine Test".

Everyone needs a good shaking of their faith to get them back on their toes. And mine was a in the form of a little crispy brown fat looking bird.


So, there he was all nice & golden brown, looking plump & pleasant, and until then I hadn't given the taste a second thought. But upon pulling it out, a bit of the turkey stuck to to the oven rack & so I pop it in my mouth thinking "Yum, Turkey". And what does it taste like?


Well, like you'd expect something to taste if you've any brain at all & your turkey had been soaking it in salt for 13 hours.....SALTY. Oh no, not just SALTY but, I mean, SALTY!!! Suddenly I was struck with the thought that I had just made the dumbest mistake of my Christmas dinner life and a certain brother in law was on the other side of the world with his salsa & bean dip & having a good laugh on my account.

But just when I was about run away from home with stuffing and gravy in tow, dear Significant Other cut the turkey, and to my shock (though not his, I guess he had faith) it was not overly salty but just about the softest turkey you ever did eat. It cut like butter & it was smooth & soft, even the very outer breast parts.

So all that to say......I BELIEVE!!!

It worked great & I intend to try it out with other poultry in smaller increments. And if you're weak in faith...............Just grab yourself a turkey & brine it!

Post Script: My S.O. & I have concluded that I tasted the part of the turkey at the very bottom of it, probably the part that got all the salt & drippings into it. The gravy was the perfect saltiness without having to add anything either.

Merry Christmas!!

Thanks to my Jono-in-law I have decided to try brining my turkey. It's not yet baked so I'll tell you how it goes. It was all very "science experiment" like. The turkey. It's 13 lb. (6 kgs)
The container I'm using. Thank you Ashley, it's her treasure box washed out. (Can never be too sure about some of those treasures, you know)
The ENORMOUS amount of salt used. (2 1/2 c for my 2 1/2 gallons of water)
The spices
and seasonings

The brine (It's brown cuz of the brown sugar) I kept it in a cooler w/ ice cuz' I have not room in the fridge)
And here is poor Oscar in the bath. Makes me feel like going to the sento!! With onions floating with me.

Well, wish Oscar luck. And I'll have to fly to Mexico to strangle a certain brother in law if it doesn't!

Christmas dinner will be pulled off with 2 adults towing 8 children & a frying pan. Have a good one too.

And PS: if you wanna call me for a recipe or cooking advice, have the kindness to PRETEND that you're just calling to wish me a Merry Christmas first!!

Go Stuff Yourself! (in the non-Aussie sense!)

Thought I should post at least one Christmas recipe since I haven’t put up anything for Christmas cooking. But if you want to snoop around my Dec 2006 archive you’re sure to find a few good pie recipes at the very least.

It turns out I already put this one up as well come to think of it. (oh well, I’m tired) Here’s my “Al’s messed up stuffing”. I don't know about you but nothing says stuffing for me like dried cranberries. I don't think it would be the same without them. Or apples, or pecans for that matter. I'm putting this up for Gabe (of Winny) who asked me what I do for my stuff. Here you go bro. In true authentic "Al" fashion (aka: total chaos) right next to (what else) nikujaga! Don't stress about getting the bread incriment right. It's about 6 1/2 c. of bread of whatever type. My main tip: DON'T OVER MIX! OKEY-DOKEY?

Though you’re already eating it tonight at M/F’s Party. Which BTW, was great fun cooking for & I do NOT envy the clean up crew. YIKES!!! My contribution was a drop in the bucket but it was great fun. Can you believe it, I didn't even take any pics of my food. Darn!

Thanks everyone at home for letting me have some “hobby time”. Now it’s on to C’mas dinner, FOR REAL!

Love, Peace & Turkey Grease!

Cooking for Fun!

The Lord must love me today!! I offered to help a Mark & Faith with their Christmas dinner party & I’m going to help with a few things. Believe me, it’s just a drop in the bucket, they have a few other helpers, but I got to choose the desserts. I picked some good Christmassy ones. I couldn’t help it with the Grasshopper Pie, it just has got great coloring. So anyway here’s what I’m making. I know it sounds wacky but it’s just so darn fun to cater, esp. when you have a flexible budget & menu. It’s like playing ‘food toys’. Though I’ll have to do most of it in my spare time I think I’ll be able to cover it OK. So here’s the list:

Roast Turkey
New England apple nut stuffing
Gravy
Cold Tuna Mozarella Pasta
Mushroom & Bacon Pasta
Raspberry Cheesecake
Trifle
Grasshopper Pie
Pumpkin Chiffon Pie
Avocado Salsa
Bacon Sour Cream Dip

And for you in the United States of America, cranberries are like GOLD about ½ a cup of frozen cranberries for about 4.00$. That would mean it would cost about 30.00$ to make cranberry sauce. So I guess I won’t be having any this year. PTL!!

I’m wishing I could get some real solid advice about Trifle, for example, what’s the closest thing to the Ladyfingers, or whatever you use for the “biscuity” part. And what’s the traditional liquor to use, I’ve read for the most part Sherry or Brandy? Gee, I wish Nick was around, that dude knew pretty much all there was to know about Trifle.

OH, & BTW, if anyone has a tried & proven cornbread stuffing recipe please email me.

Nighty night!!

Eggnog Night

I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s a tradition, (That word makes me squirm just a little too much) but it’s something that my kids sure enjoy. Bake a couple of batches of cookies & whip up a batch of eggnog, put them all in their PJ’s & watch a Christmas movie or sing some Christmas songs.

Then, when all the cups are washed & the kids are occupied in goes the rum & out sneak all the sneaky mommy & daddy ‘noggers’. It does mystify me though that something as simple as basic custard with whipped egg whites & cream with some nutmeg could become a favorite. No doubt it was invented by some Puritan over-indulgent-whip-cream-snitching lady who had 18 children & added a little rum to calm her frayed nerves. (Sounds like something I would have invented)

So since I shall be busy hosting an Eggnog Night for the hoards I don’t have time to expound on a recipe per se. And since I don’t even use one I won’t bother. I’ve seen several varieties & people seem pretty protective of their eggnog groove, I won’t make any blanket statements. I’ll just leave you with a few noggin thoughts.

Thought 1#: LESS IS MORE! If you ever want to think kindly of eggnog, please don’t drink more than 2 cup fulls. Unless you are like a certain Gene-ious with good hi-Gene, who shall remain anonymous --- and who easily downed 8-9 cup fulls and nearly jumped into the punch bowl to lick the remains. JUST DON’T!

Thought 2#: COOKIES, ANYONE! If you don’t have time, make some dough in advance & freeze it, (roll it into a cylander & wrap it with wax paper) that way you can slice it up & bake a batch for your nogg nite. I would recommend a simple spice filled cookie, or gingersnaps.

Thought 3#: BLEND BABY! That is to say, give the flavors a chance to blend, make it the night before & let it sit in your fridge with a huge menacing sign to ward off midnight snack hunters. But beware of adding egg whites too far in advance.

And with that I shall put in a personal plug. If ever you happen to find a nutmeg tree, please be so kind as to cut down a few pods for me. To heck with that, saw down the tree & drag it my way & I’ll be eternally grateful. Thank you, and good night!

Soup & Scones (Pt 2)

So, here’s the “scones” part of the “Soup & Scones”. I know that the onion topping sounds a bit radical (or at least it did to me) but I ended up really enjoying these. Even though I had a "consistancy" issue & didn't even try to roll & score these, nonetheless they were great as "dropped" scones.

According to the cookbook I got these from they were called "Savory Scones". Aptly named too. The word “Savory” totally describes these. The brown sugar in the topping gives it a slightly sweet hint & I used fresh rosemary (my favorite) in the topping & that to me set this in a class of it's own. The scone itself was crispy on the outside & inside almost similar to cornbread in texture. Not bad!! So here’s how I did it. First the topping:














Butter or margarine 2 tbsp
1 large onion thinly sliced
rosemary 1 tsp (or 1 tbsp fresh)
thyme ¼ tsp
Brown sugar

Melted the butter in frying pan & sautéd the onions with the rosemary & thyme & brown sugar till clear & soft. Apparently according to the recipe I was supposed to add the spices & sugar at the end (after I was done w/ the onions) but I was in a hurry & in typical fashion didn’t read the recipe properly. OK, well…big deal!

On to the Scones:














Flour 3 c.
Sugar 1 tbsp
B. Powder 4 tsp
B. Soda 1/2 tsp
Salt ½ tsp
Oregano 1 tsp
Basil ¼ tsp
Garlic Powder ¼ tsp
Butter or Margarine 6 tbsp

1 egg
1 c milk















This part was simple, in typical biscuit/scone fashion. Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl, cut butter till crumbly. Add beaten egg & milk stir & make soft dough. Here’s the part where I had to deviate from the recipe. It claimed you could kneed it 8-10 times, on a floured surface,--- NO WAY!! I just had to add 1/3 c more flour & then turn it over in the bowl & put heaping spoonfuls (@ 2 heaping tbsp per scone) on the baking try about 2 cm apart. Preheat oven to 220c for 20-25 min makes about 15-18 scones. And there you have it. Not the best lookers, I'll admit, but they sure tasted great!

Ah, and of course here comes the professional “goof up” part of the recipe. I did not grease the baking pan & had a rather mortifying time trying to pry these babies off of the pan, while the kids were sitting at the table banging their plates with their silverware & singing rounds of “Oh-Thank-you-Jesus” in keys A-G at various tempos (just to remind me they were waiting). At least that’s how it seemed to me. But all in all, I liked these, and I would make them again. Definitely would recommend adding these to a simple chicken or beef stew meal. Just the kinda thing to have on a cold winter day!

The Last Birthday Cake of the Year

Here's Travis' 4th B'day cake. It was the 2nd Lightning McQueen cake I had to make. Although I abhor encouraging the whole obsession with one particular animation character I couldn't help it with this cake. I've only had to make 2 "decorated" cakes this "birthday season". So I was willing to take it on. The two girls opted for pies for their birthday. Lani, raspberry cheesecake & Ashley, Lemon Meringue. So that made my job a lot easier this year.

I'm really not one for originality when it comes to cakes. Take for example this one, c/o Fay (I'm assuming) look at it. It's a virtual movie set. Check out the car wreck, in the middle. Pure genius. Well, in any case.. Hat's off to all mommies who juggle Birthday hysteria & cake decorating too.
All I can do is the-color-by-number-type cake. Well, in any case, he liked it. Thank God I have black food coloring from the US.

Note to all concerned mothers: Don't ever let your little 3 year old hyperactive boys watch a movie that says "I AM SPEED" for it's opening line. You & everyone else you live with will regret it.

Ikura

How to make your Happo-Jappo girl happy in 3 easy steps:

Step 1: Make some Japanese rice (Koshi no Hikari would be ideal) in a rice cooker….pleeeease don’t try any of that, frying the Japanese rice “business” it’s just not right!
Step 2: Purchase some salmon fish eggs. This will cost you about as much as your left pinkie. (but really who needs one of those)
Step 3: Mix the salmon fish eggs with the rice in a ceramic rice bowl & offer with real wooden lacquered chopsticks. (OK, waribashi, will do fine in a pinch)

And you’ve made yourself a friend for life. Or at least you can be my friend, if you follow these three easy steps.

Me!

SOUP & SCONES (Pt. 1)

Something about “soup & scones” makes me feel that winter is decidedly here to stay. Well, it’s here for a while at least & we might as well make a day of it. I have to say it’s one of my favorite cooking seasons of all.

Somehow Cream of Celery became one of my family’s favorite soups. It started when my Canadian brother in law declared that his mom makes the best Cream of Celery. (I shall not contest) So I wanted to give it a try. I was sadly the only one in my family who liked celery before this. So I dug around & found a recipe or two, tweeked it & of course, forgot the recipe all together, but just ended up making it how I like it. So if you don’t like my recipe…..tweek it, forget I ever said anything & enjoy your own private soup!

This estimation made a generous amount for 12 ppl

So…Off we go! First off grab:
a hunk of celery (normally expensive in Japan but husband found a great place where it’s cheap)
A few cloves of garlic (adjust according to your audience)
An onion (mine was smaller than I’d like)
3 bay leaves
3 bullion cubes
Salt & pepper
Butter (or margarine, if you must) a few tbsps. I used between 4-5, I think


Chop the celery & onion coarsely, (we’re gonna blend it later anyway) leaves or no leaves from the celery. (I personally like some of the leaves in there as it add the greenness. Smash & peel the garlic. (believe it or not there are some people who don’t know that trick)
















Melt the butter & saute the onion, garlic, celery & bay leaves on med-low for about 10 min. Next, shoo away everyone who comes to the kitchen thinking you’re making stuffing. Gosh-golly, that just looks real purty-like to me!

Now while the celery-business is sautéing put about 3-4 cups of water into your soup pot & bring to a boil & add your bullion cubes. (I’m sure for all you westerners, using canned chicken soup stock would work just great too but here in Nippon, we have no such thing for a Godly price, Amen?)

Next, let’s put about 1 tsp of salt & ½ a tsp of pepper. I’ve cheated & put some Celery Salt in there too. But I guess that’s kinda stupid cuz’ the whole point of that is to make your food taste more like celery. Hmm!!

Next, we shall dump the celery mixture (bay leaves too) into the simmering stock & leave that for a good 5-10 min. And then we’ll let it cool for a bit before we put some of the liquid & all of the veggies (NOT the bay leaves, please people) into the blender. Don’t try it boiling hot, unless you want a nasty surprise we shall call “Exploding Pain of Celery Soup Surprise”. Now, I like it really smooth (no innuendos) so I blend that for a min. or so. Ain’t that just the greenest stuff you ever did see?


Then it’s all back into the pot. Add about 2 cups or more of milk. Pls. don’t let it boil as that kinda changes the texture after the milk is put in & the taste too. And you’re done!! Serve hot. No one likes a cold soup. At least I don’t! And volia! If you’re feeling like being really un-healthy & really yummy, up your butter content & put actual “cream”, not more than ½ a c. at the end.

Well, that’s all I have time for today, as the monsters are loose in the chicken coop, but “PART 2 of Soup & Scones” will obviously tell the tale of the scones. Until then keep your toes toasty warm & your spatula in hand.