Thursday, March 29, 2012

Stuffed Mushroom with Olive

Go to the Farmar's market, and you will find thicker asparagus = a sign of SPRING!

Now here comes a recipe for Mushroom and olive paste combination.
Trust me. This recipe cannot go wrong (^^)
So easy!  
Ingredients:
5 pieces of mushroom (remove and chop the stems)
Olive paste
1/2 stalk of celery, chopped
Black / white pepper
Olive oil.
   
Method:
1. In a small pot, place mushroom stuffed with olive paste.  Head at the bottom.
2.  Pour 1 tbsp olive oil at the bottom of the pan.  Close a lid and cook in mid-high heat.  (It's almost like steam cooking in the pot
3. Once the head of mushroom get a bit of burn mark, throw in chopped mushroom stem and celery.  Another shot of 1tbsp olive oil.  Then, stem cook it for another 5 minutes in lower heat.
4. Sprinkle black / white pepper.  

Enjoy natural juice from mushroom mixed with olive oil and salty flavor from olive paste...

 Now, cook home-made pasta...


Pork chop and spring veggies with miso, sake and sake kasu.
Home-made pasta with rosemary flavor.
stuffed mushroom with olive.

Dinner at Springy evening!

Enjoy!


Sunday, March 25, 2012

Official Recipe: Grilled Spring Veggies with Anchovie and Panko

Trust me and try this recipe (^^)
 Ingredients:
1. 4 stalks of asparagus, vertically sliced (stem and hard skins removed)
2. 1/2 white onion, sliced like an onion ring 
3. 5 pieces of mushroom, cut each piece into 4 pieces
4. 1 can of anchovy in oil with caper and salt
5. 1 cup of Panko and 2 tbsp of chopped rosemary, mixed.
6. Black / white pepper
7. 2 tbsp sake or white wine
Methodology:
1. On a aluminum foil, place sliced onion at the bottom, asparagus, then mushroom.
2. Pour rosemary and panko mix on top of it.
3.  Place anchovy on top then pour the anchovy oil evenly over the veggies.

4. Seal the aluminum foil, and place it in pre-heated oven 425 degrees for 20 minutes.
5.  Add sake or wine and seal it again.  Again, put it in the oven 450 degrees for 10 minutes.   

Have a nice day!

Anti-Health WKED: Grilled Pork Rice with Tea Sauce

Someone left grilled pork in the refrigerator.

Cook rice with pork juice / soup stock and black pepper.  
Pour creamy sauce with tea and soy flavor.
Finally, pour sizzling garlic oil.


Enjoy rest of the WKED!

Official Recipe: Asparagus Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Japanese Miso and Sesame Flavor.



Asparagus grilled cheese sandwich with Japanese miso and sesame flavor.

Recipe for 1 sandwich

Ingredients:
(1.) Any kind of  bread -  Thickness is approx.0.5 inch
(2.) Any kind of cheddar cheese, sliced - Thickness is approx. 0.20 inch.  Size should be same as the bread.
(3.) Asparagus - 3 stalks
(4.) Japanese white miso - 1 tea spoon
(5.) White sesame seeds - 1 tea spoon
(6.) Sesame oil - 1-2 drops
(7.) Crispy fried shallot - 1 tea spoon (If you don't have one, simply deep-fry finely chopped shallot in any kind of oil until the color changes  to crispy and golden) 
(8.) White / black pepper
(9.) Butter or margarine

Methodology:
1. Steam cook asparagus until the color changes to light green, and slice it.  (Make sure to remove stem and hard skin prior to steaming. )
2. Grind white sesame seeds and sesame oil in a grinder until creamy texture.
3. Marinate steamed asparagus (see 1) with grounded white sesame paste (see 2) and white miso.
4. Make  sandwich with marinated steamed asparagus (see 3), cheddar cheese, and crispy fried shallot.  Sprinkle white / black pepper.
5.  Add butter or margarine in a pan, then grill each side of sandwich for 1 minute per each side in medium heat.  Occasionally press down with spatula if necessary.

Friday, March 23, 2012

God Father in Hell's Kitchen

8:30 in the morning in Hell's kitchen.
Someone is playing "God father"'s theme on trumpet?
WHY???

Mar 23, 2012 Bento

Day 2 shrimp rice soup.  2nd day is even better.

Soy and sake simmered radish topped with fried shallot and green hot pepper

Steamed asparagus marinated with grounded sesame and honey.  Chopped radish skin and pepper in creamy brown sauce.


Mushroom and veggie proteins wrapped in green hot pepper, then grilled in oven.  Added a drop of shallot oil for aroma.

Have a good WKED!

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Shrimp Rice Soup in Thai-Style "Home-Made" Version

Another recipe from mother-in-law in Thailand for shrimp rice soup = ultimate comfort food.
 Rice soup is different from congee.
You get to enjoy texture of rice as whole in the rice soup while you enjoy silky grounded texture of rice in congee.
Simple and comforting.  Either  you go to Thailand or Hell's kitchen to experience this heaven. 

Here is the original recipe from Thailand:
1.  Cook 1/2 cup jasmine rice in soup stock.  Bring it to boil.
2. Add 3 pieces of shrimps which were immaculately cleaned.  Remove shells and veins and chopped.
3. Add preserved salty Chinese veggies for 2 tbsps and 2 tbsps soy ssauce.
4. Once rice gets softened, add toppings such as chopped green onion, cilantro, crispy fried garlic...etc... basically whatever pleases you.

I was thinking about adding spicy cod fish eggs (mentaiko) to this soup.

What is your idea?

Have a nice day!!! 

Bootcamp in BKK: Anger Management Workshop in Hell's Kitchen

Spring is here in Hell's kitchen!
Flowers blooming...
 
Meanwhile, panic attack in the kitchen...
 
Attempt to finish making veggie buns 
 
 Dough did not rise as expected...
Who wants to eat FLAT buns?

Anger management...

Fried shallot and holy basil




Monday, March 19, 2012

Thai Congee in Bento Style

A note with a recipe on how to make "home-style" congee (rice soup) from mother in law... 
With a bit(?) of improvisation, here comes Thai congee bento.
 
Congee turned out to be brown as I used shitake mushroom etract as a soup base.  UMAMI!

Condiments for congee: Cilantro, ginger, green onion, fried shallot, stir-fried celery leaves, and minced pork.

Celery sticks with plum jam and chocolate paprika dipping.

For those you are interested, here is the original recipe for home-style congee:
 1/2 cup crushed jasmine rice
1/2 cup minced chicken / pork
5 cups  natural soup stock
1 egg - room temperature
Chopped cilantro, ginger, green onion... as much as you like
2tbsp fish sauce
2tbsp soy sauce

Cook crushed rice in soup stock then bring it to boiling point.  Make small meat balls of minced meat and throw these into the rice.  Once boiled again, reduce the heat to low.  Add fish sauce and soy sauce.  Cook in low heat until rice's texture turns out to be creamy.

Warm a ceramic soup bowl and crack open a raw egg in the bowl. Pour hot congee over the egg and cover it with a lid.

Add white/black pepper as you wish!

Have a nice day.   

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Bootcamp in BKK: Making a Filling for Famous Mushroom Bun

Following the JeNgor's recipe for her famous mushroom bun involves so many steps and efforts...
Too bad I cannot reveal all the detail - SORRY! (^^)

 Juice from shitake mushroom = UMAMI soup!  

 
Use of different types of mushrooms - Here I had to replace one of the ingredients with white mushroom instead as not all fresh mushrooms of dream are available in Hell's kitchen. 

Let's add some vegetarian protein



 Finally, here come mushroom filing for veggie buns.
I hope you can taste it
This is UMAMI heaven!!!

OK, I am exhausted now...

To be continued...




Bootcamp in BKK: Making of Vegetarian Protein


Thai cooking lesson with Chef JeNgor in BKK, Thailand.  PRICELESS experience!
This lady in her 70's - Her attitude is "no compromise" in quality and "tireless efforts" to achieve what she believes in.
YES, that is how I want to live.

She taught me how to make vegetarian protein from scratch - old style.
Did you know that you can make protein out of wheat flour?
 Make a wheat dough.  Then, extract gluten (=protein) only.


Protein can be cut into pieces and used for stir-fry, veggie pattie, veggie fillings etc. The elasticity of gluten gives wonderful texture to meal.

Sorry, gluten-free folks :)

Have a nice day!!

Friday, March 16, 2012

Spoiled in BKK.

Just returned from Bangkok where we had awesome cooking lesson with the TV celebrity chef Je Ngor. Still struggling with Jet lag. No motivation to cook YET. I was so spoiled in BKK where cooked food is everywhere.

So here goes - making fried shallot Fried shallot can be used for addition to noodle, congee, salad - pretty much anything.

...

Have a nice day.