Tonkatsu

The most expensive Tonkatsu I have ever had was at Mai-Sen in the ritzy Omote-sando neighborhood. This was a special lean Black Pork cutlet and came with a spicy-sweet apple sauce for drizzling over the finely shredded cabbage and rice.

To make this at home, dredge pork cutlets in a cracked egg, then flour, back in the egg, then in panko and deep fry. Cut it into thick strips with a sharp knife, and serve with shredded cabbage. Tonkatsu sauce is key, and you'll probably have to find that at your local Japanese market. For those in my hood, check out Hana. What to do with leftover tonkatsu? layer it between slices of white bread with some sauce for some delicious sammies.

Salmon with Artichoke Slaw

Dave and I were so busy painting and shopping this weekend that we didn't get a chance to go grocery shopping. Good thing my fridge was stocked well enough to pull something together anyway! Today's meal turned out especially delicious, so I'll share the recipes with you. We had salmon topped with artichoke slaw and rice pilaf and green beans.

Salmon with Artichoke Slaw:
four pieces of salmon steaks
2 tsp creole seasoning
1 tbsp olive oil
1 can artichoke hearts
1 clove garlic
zest and juice of half a lemon
1 tbsp grated parmesan
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 a jalapeno, pitted
1 tbsp olive oil
1 loose cup cilantro leaves and stems
2 tsp capers
1/4 cup kalamata olives, sliced

Sprinkle creole seasoning on your salmon and place it in a baking dish. Drizzle olive oil on and cover with aluminum foil. Bake it in the oven at 350 degrees until desired doneness (check often, and remember it will continue to cook slightly in the inside after you have taken it out.
Julliene artichoke heart with the grate blade of your food processor. Put it in a bowl. Then with the regular blade, process the garlic, lemon zest, juice, parmesan, pepper, salt, jalapeno, olive oil, and cilantro until a pesto=like consistency. Add to the artichokes. Add capers and olives and mix with a spoon. Adjust seasoning as needed. Top it on cooked salmon and enjoy!

Rice Pilaf
Follow directions in Rachel Ray's simple rice pilaf recipe. When it's almost done, toss in other goodies. I tossed in a few strips of jarred roasted peppers, and diced tomatoes.

Mom's Green Beans (courtesy of my Mom-in-law)
four handfulls of green beans, cleaned and ends snipped
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp water
1 clove garlic, minced

Put all the ingredients in a microwave safe bowl, cover, and nuke for about 4 minutes. Shake. Serve. I had a portabella mushroom lying around and about to go bad, so I sliced that up and threw it in too.

Breakfast Ramen

On most Saturday mornings I wake up with some kind of craving or another. Sometimes it's hashbrowns and eggs, sometimes it's sausage egg McMuffins, and sometimes it's ramen. Lately it's been kimchee. A couple of ramen breakfasts I've had lately:

ramen with bacon and eggs

ramen with breakfast sausage and kimchee (not pictured)

ramen with pork belly and kimchee
This last one was sooo amazingly good. Here's how you make it.
Cut up 2 strips of pork belly (it's like unprocessed, unsalted, uncured, meaty bacon) into a fying pan and fry. Cut it into small pieces with scissors and dump out the grease. Add a teaspoon of brown sugar, a clove of minced garlic and two teaspoons of ponzu sauce (I bought mine at the store - make your own similar sauce by mixing soy sauce, rice vinegar, and citrus juice). Add cut up pieces of kimchee. stir fry. Top it on your ramen. Yuuummm....

A good salmon marinade

NWA canceled my flight out of Montana last Sunday. It was hard not to gripe about it, the only alternative they could offer us was a 6 am flight out the next day, with three stops (!!!). After countless wasted hours of trying to interact with their employees who must have gone through training on how to avoid customers, not answer questions, and not understand customers, we were able to cut that into two stops. The lady on the phone suggested our taking it, for our only other option was to accept a refund for the canceled leg of our trip. I suppose that is their way of saying, "Look buddy, you better take what crappy arrangement we have for you because in case you haven't forgotten, we don't need you. YOU NEED US!"

To look on the bright side, if I had to be stranded anywhere for another day, Montana is quite a good option. I was able to stay for my Aunt and uncle's Sunday BBQ, and it was a feast! My Aunt made margaritas, potato salad, and a great guacamole salad. Then she asked me if I had any ideas for a good salmon marinade. For the BBQ, teriyaki sauce immediately came to mind, but how to tie that into the margarita and guacamole salad theme? Add a touch of tequila, lime, and spice, of course. So here is the Southwest Teriyaki sauce that I made up for the salmon. I was worried at first, but people liked, it, so it is now tried and tested. Also because it went so well with the guacamole salad, I've regurgitated the recipe for that as well as I can remember it.

Southwest Teriyaki Salmon
4 cloves garlic, minced through a press
3 tbsp Tequila
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne or chipotle pepper
zest and juice of 1 lime
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp olive oil

Whisk all the ingredients together, brushing most on the salmon for BBQing, and leaving some in a little bowl with a spoon for those who want extra topping at the table.


Guacamole Salad
cherry tomatoes, halved
half a yellow pepper, cut to 1/2 in. cubes
1/2 a red onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
zest and juice of 2 limes
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
3 tbsp olive oil
3 ripe avocados

Mix the first three ingredients in a large serving bowl. Whisk the next six ingredients in a smaller bowl, and toss with the salad. Right before serving, scoop the avocados in and fold into the salad.

This is all so good with Margaritas!

The Art of Dressing Ramen

Ramen is quick and easy to make, but the lack of nutrition and substance can really leave something to be desired. The solution? Dress up your ramen with eggs, vegetables, and meat, and you can have a full quick-fix meal in just minutes.

My Neoguri Spicy Seafood ramen with napa cabbage and fishballs.

Vegetables:
Napa cabbage – break the leaves into bite sized pieces and put into the boiling water with your noodles.
Mushrooms – slice or cut into quarters and boil with your noodles.
Keep in mind that if you are making really spicy ramen, cabbage and mushrooms are very absorbent, so it will soak in all the spiciness.
Green beans – same thing.
Snap peas – same!
Frozen corn or any frozen vegetables – same thing!
Onions – fry them in a pan and top on your ramen.
Kimchee – just lay it on your cooked ramen.

Protein:
for meats, this generally works best if it is already cooked. This is a great way to use up leftovers.
Cooked chicken or turkey – cut up and add to your noodles.
Spam – fry in a frying pan and top it on noodles (I know Spam sounds gross, but Asians love Spam. Have you ever had Spam sushi? It’s pretty good. The best has got to be Hawaii McDonald’s spam burger)
Fishballs or beefballs – plunk them in your boiling water. Add your ramen noodles when the balls float to the top.
Ground beef, chicken, or lamb – brown in a frying pan and top it on your ramen.
Bacon – fry it up and crumble over cooked ramen.
Tofu – cut into squares and add to the boiling water with your noodles.
Egg – This one can be tricky, but there are several ways to do it. The easy way is to fry it any way you want in butter in a frying pan and top it on your ramen. For a really yummy way, boil some water with a splash of vinegar. When it is boiling hot, slowly crack an egg in, being careful not to break the yolk. The vinegar makes the egg whites stick together. Boil for a couple of minutes until the whites are cooked, but the yolk is still soft. Pout out the water and carefully transfer your egg to your ramen without breaking the yolk.

Crepes like San Francisco's

When Dave and I visited SF over spring break, we had the pleasure of eating at both Crepes on Cole (17th and Cole) and the The Crepevine (7th and Irving). Unfortunately we didn't get a chance to hit Ticouz this time, but as we dined in the little bohemian chic creperies, two thoughts occurred to me:
1. Why the heck can't anyone open a crepe place in DC, it can't be that hard to do, and DC needs more better eateries.
2. I bet I can figure out how to make these crepes and it would be perfect for Dave's mom's birthday brunch.

So, having not the startup cash or restuarant business know-how to open a creperie in DC, I settled for making it for brunch this last weekend. On the menu were home fries and chicken pesto crepes. Here's houw you do it:

First of all, you need a good flipper. My flipper is named Dave. I can't flip a thhing in the kitchen without it either breaking into a pathetic crumpled mess or flopping naked onto the stove-top.
Then, you need a basic crepe recipe, like this one. Make a bunch of crepes and set them aside.

Then you make the filling. this can be anything you want, sweet or savory. I like browing onions, garlic, and chicken pieces with some red pepepr, mushrooms, and olives.

Then you put the crepe back on the pan, and fill it with your chicken filling, some tomatoes, a ton of shredded cheese for melting, and some pesto sauce* (or tomato sauce or salsa, or whatever) on one half, fold the other half over, and let it sit until lightly brown on one side, and flip to the other side for a few mintes too. Then it's ready for serving!

* for the best fresh pesto sauce, put a bunch of basil, some olive oil, lemon juice, a handful of pinenutes, some grated parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper in a food processor and process until smooth.

blueberry almond butterscotch cookies

I finished a major paper today on what we should do if we discovered Japan had a covert nuclear missile program. It was the longest paper I've written since my senior seminar papers in college. And I was so happy to be done I made cookies tonnight. the first time I made these cookies I did only because Dave had a random bag of butterscotch chips in his fridge for some reason, and it was clear that he was never going to use them. So I decided to bake cookies. First I took a standard chocalate chip cookie recipe but used the butterscotch chips instead. Then right before dalloping the dough onto the cookie sheet, I decided it was too boring so looked around our tiny sliver of a pantry for more goodies to toss in. I found sliced almonds and dried blueberries and tossed in a whole bunch. And they turned out to be sooo good, I now have a new original recipe...kind of.

Rainbow Fried Rice

What to do when you are required to bring a dish representing your culture to International Student Night and you are 1. lazy, 2. not sure which culture you want to represent, and 3. still wanting to wow everyone with your culinary capabilities?

Make Rainbow Fried Rice! A.K.A. Asian American Fried Rice.

3 tbsp cooking oil, partitioned (I use either olive or canola)
4 eggs, beaten
1/4 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 -5 chinese sausages, sliced
6 cups cooked rice (please don't use Uncle Ben's. I use either Japanese or Thai rice.), fluffed
1 tbsp Asian dried mini shrimps, ground in a food processor
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp mirin
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp blackpepper
1/2 cup frozen corn
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 carrot, shredded
1 tbsp sacha sauce

In a wok, scrabmble the eggs in a little less than 1 tbsp oil until almost done, but still soft. Put into a bowl and put aside. Put rest of oil in wok, and add onions. Stir-fry until lightly browning. Add garlic and sausages, and stir-fry until lightly browing. Then add rice and stir fry, making sure the grains don't clump together. Add the next seven ingredients and stir fry. Taste the mixture and add more of whatever you want until it fits your taste. I personnally like to load on the black pepper and sugar. Then add the next four ingredients and stir fry until all cooked. Add the scrambled eggs, and mix together.

That's all! If you like, you can throw in a handful of chopped cilantro or chopped chives at the end too. Makes it extra yummy. You can also substitute some curry powder for the sacha sauce, or go without it completely.

Valentine's Day Dinner

Dave had made reservations at restaurant Nora for Valentine's Day, but he was unsure of them, since the earliest they had available was for 9:30 pm. A week earlier while shopping around with Josie, we spotted a beautiful heart-shaped chocolate torte at Marvelous Market and she convinced me that would be the most romantic accompaniment to a home-cooked meal. I have long been wanting to try the lobster macaroni and cheese recipe I found in Bon Appetite magazine a year ago. So Dave canceled the reservations and I made dinner. On the menu was lobster macaroni and cheese, and crab fritters with lemon aoli and herb salad. What I didn't calculate into my Valentine's Day was homework. So by the time I was ready to leave school, it was 6:30. After a dash to Safeway and an affair with the kitchen, I realized I forgot the pick up the heart-shaped torte. Oh well. The seafood dishes turned out to be amazing. Which was a relief, considering I spent $24 on two lobster tails, $6 on shrimp, and $15 on crab meat, in addition to all the other ingredients needed. At least it was cheaper than what would have cost Dave at restaurant Nora. Let me know if you want the recipes, I'll send them to you.

Mmmm... Chili-cheese dogs

I was studying late last night. So Dave made me Chili-cheese dogs for dinnner. For yummy and easy semi-home-made chili, just brown a poulnd of ground beef or turkey in a pot, add a packet of chili mix, a can of black beans, and a can of diced tomatoes with chilies. Stir it all up, and let cook a while. Goes great over hot dogs and shredded cheese, burgers, tortilla chips, sour cream, or just plain!

I need to figure out how to upload pictures on here and make my blog more pretty.....

Creamy Herbed Fish Pasta

Here is another recipe I thought up of during Stats class. I served it with a salad of procuitto and fresh mozzerella drizzled with olive oil and fresh ground pepper, and leftover Pillsbury breadsticks. I forgot to ask Dave how many stars he gives this one. Will let him comment on that.

For the herbed fish
1/2 cup fresh tarragon
1/2 cup fresh basil
1/4 cup fresh sage
4 cloves garlic
1/4 cup pine nuts
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
Dash of paprika
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
Some kind of fish (I used catfish just because that’s what Safeway had on sale.)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the fish into 2 inch chunks. Put all the ingredients except for the fish into a food processor and process until all chopped up and smooth. Coat the fish with the herb pesto and put in a baking pan and put in oven. Check on it frequently to make sure it does not overcook. If it looks cooked on the outside, take it out, because fish will continue to cook on the inside for several minutes after it’s been out off the oven. You don’t want it to be dry, you want it moist and tender.

Fpr the pasta
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 onion
3 cloves garlic
1/2 cup some kind of dry salty meat (I used some leftover turkey breakfast sausage that I found in the fridge, but this recipe would be good with something like smoked ham, bacon, pepperoni, or leftover sausages…)
1/2 lb Fettuccine
3/4 cup vermouth
3/4 cup cream
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 cup spinach
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Heat a saucepan with olive oil. Dice the onion and mince the garlic, and add to the oil. Dice the meat and add pan. Cook until onions are slightly brown. Boil a pot of water and add fettuccine. Add vermouth to saucepan and reduce to one half. Stir in cream, salt and pepper, and cook for five minutes. Stir in tomatoes and Parmesan cheese. Stir in Spinach, and let it wilt into the sauce. Stir in the cooked and drained fettuccine immediately so that the pasta does not stick to each other. Serve with the herbed fish on top and drizzle with some lemon juice.

Spicy Eggplant Sausage Pasta

I thought of this recipe during Stats class today and tried it out for dinner. Dave is my taste-test guinea pig, and he gave it five stars out of five. I always cook with my eyeballs, not measuring spoons, so for the purpose of relaying a recipe to you, I have just estimated all measurements.

Serves four, and great with crusty French bread or soft breadsticks (I love the Pillsbury ready-to-bake kind that comes in a tube).

1 medium eggplant
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 hot Italian sausages
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 cup fresh sage
1/4 cup fresh tarragon
1/2 cup fresh basil
1 box spaghetti
1 can (16 oz) crushed tomatoes
1/2 cup black olives (I like burgundy pearls)
1/4 cup vermouth
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes
1/3 cup fresh mozzarella, cut into half inch chunks
shredded parmesan, romano, or asiago for topping pasta

Put a large pot of water to boil with a dash of salt. Wash and cut the eggplant into 1 inch chunks. Place in boiling water. Heat a large saucepan with olive oil on medium high. Dice onion, mince garlic, and add to saucepan. With kitchen shears, cut 1/2 inch sausage pieces into pan. Let cook until half done, about four minutes, then add crushed peppers and stir . Finely chop sage, tarragon, and basil. When eggplant is soft but not too mushy and, drain and add to saucepan with the chopped herbs. Cook until sausage is completely brown. Refill the pot with water and salt and bring to boil. Add spaghetti to boiling water. Add crushed tomatoes to saucepan, and stir. Chop olives in half and add to sauce with vermouth. Reduce heat to medium and stir. Cut tomatoes in half and add to sauce. Simmer until spaghetti is ready. Drain spaghetti. Divide into bowls. Divide mozzarella pieces onto spaghetti. Spoon sauce on top and serve with shredded parmesan.