i hope you eat good food, grow beautiful things, and have more love than you know what to do with.
My berries and other small fruits have been coming in with the full force of summer—raspberries, blueberries, serviceberries, red and white alpine strawberries, gooseberries, currants, blackberries, nanking cherries, and goumi berries have been shoved unceremoniously into the freezer. It seems like every other week I’m …
My tomatoes have gotten off to an extremely slow start this year, despite having had them in the ground since the beginning of May. They’re still green, and have made me impatient, so I decided to pull a few of them and make some fried …
There are loads of recipes for Japanese Steakhouse ginger dressings out there, and I’ve tried a lot of them… but unfortunately they always seemed to just be very slightly off to me and it drove me absolutely nuts since both myself and my husband love this salad dressing very much. I’ll admit, as a kid, I wasn’t so interested in it and would give my portion to my younger sister who would inhale the salads before we moved onto sushi or hibachi.
I was talking to my mom one day and lamented about the fact that I just couldn’t get it right, wasting ginger and carrots alike. While she didn’t know the exact recipe, she did mention a friend of her’s who owned a sushi restaurant told her that their secret ingredient was… oranges and pineapple! I excitedly went ahead and tried it, and by golly that was the missing piece!
The canned pineapple and fresh oranges gives the dressing enough sweetness that I don’t add any sugar, but you could always add either sugar or more reserved pineapple juice if you’d like. I usually add a tablespoon of miso for a deeper umami flavor, but you can skip it if you’d like.
There is another elusive Japanese salad dressing from my childhood (and I’ve only ever had it at one restaurant that has since changed ownership) I’ve been looking to recreate, made with daikon, but that will be another post for another day…
Summer is officially here and I took the kids (and one husband) down to the docks by our house for crabs. I live on the South Shore of Long Island where blue claws are bountiful between the end of June and the beginning of September. …
My Korean Bush Cherry gave me about a cup of fruit this year, and I had wondered what to do with them. They’re quite tart, but surprisingly has a bit of sweetness behind them, so I thought I’d prepare a compote with the rhubarb from …
I don’t normally make omurice (Japanese Omelette Rice) but had extra rice leftover. I’m not a fan of traditional ketchup based omurice fried rice, so this isn’t a recipe for that (my fried rice is a simple mixture of frozen veggies, butter, rice, garlic, onion, salt, pepper, and chicken pieces.) The omelette is made from eggs mixed with milk, cooked low, slow, fluffed, and not yet set in the middle so that it’s still creamy.
The demi-glace sauce is my favorite part of this dish, easy to make but deliciously savory poured hot over the omurice. It can also be used for dipping fried foods in as well. It’s not traditional demi-glace sauce and many chefs have their own spin for the omurice one, but I love the particular one very much.
Traditional demi-glace requires an equal mixture of beef stock plus espagnole sauce and then reduced until thickened. My recipe however, is for sure a bastardization—but comforting.
Every year, several flushes of Chicken of the Woods pop up on my lawn, and this year is no different. So I endeavored to make Japanese fried chicken (Karaage) with the one I found earlier today. I always tend to collect it young, before it …
It is shameful for me to admit that I had ever used Irish Butter before, and thus did not discover it’s greatness until the last month or so. It is deliciously creamy, fatty, full of buttery flavor, and I don’t know if I could ever …
I grow nagaimo (Dioscorea polystachya), also known as the cinnamon vine, Chinese yam, or Japanese yam here in my backyard—it’s a beautiful and funny perennial vine, growing little bulbils that you can stick into the ground or steam over rice. It is a pain to dig up though, so a lot of people will grow it in long boxes or pipes rather than in the ground (much like burdock root) to make it easier to harvest. I have it in the ground, where it will just grow bigger and bigger without losing quality for many years. It is an interesting yam in that it can be eaten raw without issue, compared to other yams. This is a traditional Japanese recipe that I absolutely adore that makes use of this wonderful root crop.
I admit, I love neba neba foods, that is, food that has a slimy, slippery, mucous-like texture such as natto (fermented soybeans), chopped okra, or raw egg and rice. Something about it just increases my appetite, especially when I have none and feel bloated. I understand those things might not be to everyone’s taste. I don’t like nagaimo cooked, as for whatever reason it develops a medicinal flavor (and takes on the texture of potato), but I’ll eat oodles of the stuff as tororo, where it’s grated and poured over hot rice or soba. The flavor I can only describe as crisp, with a slight sweetness, the closest cousin flavor would be jicama. Unassuming, but when paired with a few simple toppings, makes for a meal that gets me feeling refreshed and invigorated.
Be aware that some people have a reaction to the skin, so wear gloves when you peel it. I personally don’t react to it, but some people find it irritating. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Disclaimer: I’m out of cooking sherry and white wine so Armagnac tagged in. As the growing and foraging season gets underway, I’m looking to clear stuff out from my fridge and pantry. A young chicken of the woods has been sitting in the freezer all …