i hope you eat good food, grow beautiful things, and have more love than you know what to do with.
I didn’t think there could be a better way to eat raw crabs other than the spicy variety–but I was wrong. I’ve never actually had the soy sauce marinated version, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I think a part of me thought that …
It’s midwinter and I was suddenly hit with the craving for raw marinated crabs. Don’t ask me why but my appetite told me I needed to get me some of that delicious and succulent sweet treat or else I wasn’t going to be in a …
This milk colored broth pairs perfectly with a black earthenware bowl. I used the black to show the contrast of how white the soup is. I found that in order to make it extremely rich and flavorful, I baby it over a rolling boil with just enough water to cover all the broth ingredients, so I’m constantly adding water as it boils down. This is a super simple bone broth soup with a very clean and refreshing flavor.
Unfortunately, the rolling boil is necessary for the color, as I found out it doesn’t gain this milky opacity if I use a pressure cooker. The violent movement of the water allows everything to emulsify so it’s good for a day I’m staying at home.
I used some baby radishes I got from last week’s misfit market box, but you can use Daikon or white Korean radishes.
I had an overabundance of lemons one week and in my quest to use them up, discovered pasta al limone. Whether by itself or as a base, it’s a delicious brunch that I can’t get enough of. Some people only use the pasta water rather …
Oh there are so many ways to use karasumi (dried cured mullet roe), that briny, delicious gift from the oceans. Today it tops my breakfast to elevate my first meal of the day into decadence… Ingredients 1 slice of Homemade Hokkaido Milk Bread, toasted (recipe …
Every Autumn I import a few boxes of cured Mullet roe, also called bottarga-karasumi-wu yu zi, from Taiwan to give out as gifts during the holiday season and it’s always a hit. Karasumi is a delicacy in Asia, made from the sacs of the mullet fish who begin their Fall run right into eager fisherman. Their roe sacs are salted and then dried in the sun until they become briny, crumbly, and so very umami, sticking to your teeth as you munch on thin slices that have been lightly toasted, sandwiched with garlic, daikon, or scallions. Slightly bitter, sweet, and salty, the complex flavors are a great accompaniment to alcohol.
Italians lovingly use it grated over pasta or eggs (or… anything), and at nearly $10 an ounce, it’s quite an expensive delicacy. In Japan, it can cost up to $120 for a single portion.
While most pasta recipes for Karasumi call for grating it, I prefer it shaved instead, especially when I want to treat myself with decadence on a crisp, winter day. This recipe is very simple, calling for just good olive oil, a nice flaked sea or himalayan salt, pepper, sliced scallions, and of course, Karasumi. Unfortunately I didn’t have daikon, but a little grated radish would go a long way too, but a wedge of lemon for a hint of acid and citrus does wonders too!
This past year I was given a bunch of miscellaneous peppers from our friends, which was great because for some reason my pepper plants failed to thrive so I had all but given up on them. However, the question then became “what do I do …
Yesterday, my sister came by with a box of supposedly “ugly” produce from Misfit Markets, which delivers said produce that didn’t make the cut right to your door (in NYC at least.) Up to 20% of produce are thrown away because they aren’t good looking …
A lot of my childhood memories of breakfast and late night snacks surround these fluffy, sweet, steamed breads that would accompany rice porridge and all sorts of salty pickles and other cured fare. We’d dip them in spicy doufuru (fermented tofu) drizzled in sesame oil with a dusting of freshly ground szechuan peppercorn. Or they’d be eaten with pork sung (pork floss), douchi (fermented soybeans), preserved bamboo shoots, soy sauce cucumber pickles, and salted duck egg. We’d use it to soak up soup, or cut in half as a makeshift guabao bun.
I now live about an hour away from the Chinese grocery store, and while much of the pickles and fermented foods I still keep in my fridge, I don’t often have reason to eat or use them. But today the craving for freshly steamed man tou overtook me, and I dedicated the morning to making them. It’s real easy with a bread machine that has the dough function, but mixing it by hand isn’t an issue either. It came out delicious and punched me in my nostalgic gut. You’ll have about 10 – 12 total, and they freeze well–just microwave wrapped in a wet paper towel and voila!
The dough is also suitable for making steamed buns, with both sweet and savory fillings.
My mom gave me a beast of a Zojirushi bread machine that she no longer planned on using. I had been making bread by hand at home, and this was a welcome change. One of the breads that I could never make quite right is …