i hope you eat good food, grow beautiful things, and have more love than you know what to do with.
I’ve had smoked trout and smoked cheese conserves in a Costa Rican resort when we visited my parents last year and had wanted to do something similar, and then in passing I saw a recipe for Hungarian smoked quail eggs in oil. Try as I …
This “dish” is usually what’s considered ”accidental” as in it’s a byproduct of cooking or braising fish, rendering a gelatinous broth that is cooled and solidified (although now there are places that make it specifically)—often done with eel but it can actually be made with …
My sister bought 12lbs of A5 Wagyu for a pretty and decadent penny and then gave me a hunk of it after we had a barbecue. This level of marbling in the wagyu makes it a slightly difficult ingredient to work with–heat it for too long and it renders the fat and shrinks to nothing, and you can’t eat too much of it because of how rich it can be (between the 8 of us, we ate just a few bites each and was full for the rest of the day!) So eating it as “steak” can be a bit overwhelming.
I decided to go traditional with it and this is still my favorite method of eating a nice marbled piece of beef–Adam had some and said it’s like the toro of red meat. I made a small bento of it for Hagihara-sensei, who, like Adam, compared it to eating really amazing sushi. This particular dish is why I decided to bite the bullet and get a kitchen torch–something I saw as a useless extra, but torching ingredients really does make it better, with a slightly smokey flavor reminiscent of having done it over charcoal.
Yuzu sansho is a condiment I keep, a little jar goes a long way. It’s a delicious condiment made by using yuzu, chilis, and sansho peppercorn (sometimes the leaves) and salt. It really provides an extra tang that cuts through the richness of the wagyu. A dab of it in sukiyaki sauce provides a surprising burst of freshness that makes me miss my sansho pepper tree at my old place, and has reminded me I need to plant some here.
The quail egg yolk is from my quails, of course.
My mom gave me a package of octopus before she left for Costa Rica–I’ve been meaning to make something with it but never got around to the doing part, mostly because octopus has a long prep time and I wanted to make sure I gave …
My sister came over today much to everyone’s (especially the kids’ who are obsessed with her) delight and of course, being two foodies who love to cook (and one an actual chef), we got to working on shucking a baker’s dozen (plus an extra one) …
Sometimes I get venison from friends who are hunters which is always a treat. I find raw venison to be less gamey than cooked, so it’s one of my favorite ways to eat it. Obligatory warning that consuming raw meat can lead to food-borne illnesses. Carpaccio tends to be simple—a drizzle of olive oil, a spritz of some sort of acid (lemon or vinaigrette), and some greens. It’s sort of like a deconstructed tartare. Sometimes salty little capers or cheese show up for a burst of flavor.
For this recipe I wanted to showcase the things I grew at my new place, one that my own two hands had a part in making. Thinly sliced venison with a quail egg from my quails, topped with basil, chives, salad burnet, a tiny tomato quarter from an itty bitty tomato, salt cured lemon, a sprinkling of parmesan, olive oil, cracked black pepper and smoked sea salt.
As it is, there are no measurements mainly because it’s all to taste. It satisfied my (and the kids) love for tartare, and we were sad when it came to an end. There’s no reason why it can’t be done with another mix of herbs, but that’s just what I had on hand.
The whole house came down with some vengeful stomach virus for almost two weeks (it went around TWICE) and that meant that we had an overflow of eggs from the chickens that hadn’t been used (try keeping down eggs—it’s not fun.) What was I going …
I dried a bunch of lavender last year and between syrups, jams, and baked goods, I always enjoy adding a bit of this floral treasure to give a subtle hint of irresistible deliciousness that makes me think of spring. These tasty bars with a crumbly …
It’s spring and one of the first things to pop up in my garden is garlic chives—different than onion chives, the leaves are flat and the flavor similar to ramps but less intense. It’s a popular Asian vegetable and dead easy to grow. With my poultry in full egg production mode, I love making scrambled eggs with it, dumplings, and these fried pockets.
Traditionally, it’s made with dried salted shrimps, chives, scrambled egg, and mung bean noodle, but you can actually use other things like chicken, pork, shiitake mushrooms too, or just omit the shrimp for a vegetarian version. If you don’t have mung bean noodle, that’s no big deal, rice vermicelli can be used or omit it.
Honestly, it’s most delicious piping hot out of the pan, and everyone in the house runs around with one. For the dough, I use boiling water which makes the dough less elastic and easier to roll out. It’s basically a dumpling skin type dough and you can use it as such. If you stir just a little and let it hydrate/cool slightly before kneading, there will still be some elasticity.
Dough:
Filling
It’s no secret my kids are fiends for sushi so I often make handrolls at home for them—usually avocado and smoked salmon or some California since they keep well. They also love steak tartare so I always have some nice sirloin or skirt in the …