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Vegetarian Moussaka

Posted in Home Cooking, Meatless Monday, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 5, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Alright, another Meatless Monday in the books. Yesterday I made Moussaka for dinner. Traditionally made with lamb, I omitted the meat and made my own version. It was a lengthy process, but the results were delicious!

I sliced an eggplant into about 1/8th inch slices. Then I layered them on a colander and sprinkled some salt all over them. I put a heavy bowl on top and added some weight and let the bitter juices drip out for about a half hour.

While that was going on I simmered about a half cup of green lentils in vegetable stock with a bay leaf for 20 minutes, just before they became tender.

I prepped my other veggies while all of that was going on. One onion sliced, two large portabella caps sliced, two cloves of garlic smashed, two medium potatoes sliced to 1/8th inch, I opened up a 14oz can of chopped tomatoes, and one can of chickpeas.

I rinsed and dried the eggplant slices and drained the lentils. I heated a pot to medium-high and sautéed the onion and garlic in olive oil. During that time I also heated up a large skillet to medium-high. In the skillet I added a little olive oil to coat the surface and added the sliced eggplant in batches until they were all browned, about 3 minutes on each side. Then I did the same with the potato slices adding a little oil as necessary. Once the onions in the pot were soft, about 6 minutes or so, I added the mushrooms for a couple of minutes until they started to give off some of their moisture. Then I added the chopped tomatoes with a couple tablespoons of tomato paste and stirred that in. After that I added the chickpeas and lentils along with a few tablespoons of water and some rosemary and thyme, salt and pepper. I let that simmer for about 10 minutes.

In a baking dish I layered the potato slices to cover the bottom. I removed the herbs from the stew and poured that on top. Then I layered the eggplant slices on top.

Then I beat three eggs with a cup and a quarter of greek yogurt, salt, and pepper. I poured that on top. Finally, I grated a half cup of mozzarella and sprinkled that all over. I threw it in the oven at 350 and baked it for 45 minutes until the top was starting to brown.

I had some buttermilk in my fridge that needed to be used up so I made some biscuits to serve alongside.

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Ushiyama

Posted in Restaurant, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 25, 2009| Leave a Comment »

In light of my great respect for the fine art of Kaiseki, Yuki’s mom decided that she wanted to take me out for another style. That woman loves me! Frankly, I can’t blame her. At any rate, a friend of hers had recommended Ushiyama in the Meguro neighborhood of Tokyo, so we gave it a shot last night. And what a shot it was! Slam dunk!

It started off with a plate of carrots, shiitake, and mibuna with grated apple. Who would have thought of putting grated apple on mushrooms? Ushiyama, that’s who. I’m damn he did, it was amazing!

After that came a dish of four. I ate them clockwise from bottom left. Ama ebi (sweet shrimp), raw sardines with thinly sliced onion that’s been soaked in cold water to remove the sharpness, warm salted ginko nuts skewered on pine needles on top of seitan (wheat gluten) cakes on top of grilled sweet potato that was shaped like a ginko leaf, and uni in a lily blossom. No, I did not eat the maple leaf in the center of the plate nor the pine needles.

Next was the soup course. I heavily bonito flaked dashi broth that was nice and smokey with a rinkon (lotus root) and mochi dumpling and a bok choy leaf with some yuzu zest. It ranks right up there with the best soups I’ve ever eaten, next to the one I ate a few years ago at Iron Chef Michiba’s restaurant.

After the soup course was the sashimi course. It consisted of suzuki (sea bass), melt-in-your-mouth tuna, and ika (squid). It must be ika season because the ika I’ve eaten on this trip is by far the softest and sweetest I’ve ever had.

Then they served us home-made soba noodles in a light soy-dashi with some thinly sliced negi (green onions) on top. I’m telling you, there is absolutely nothing like top quality freshly made soba noodles. I don’t know if I can go back to store-bought dried soba when I get home. I mean, of course I can, but it just won’t be the same. So chewy and clean tasting.

Next up was the grilled course. Sawara (a cousin of the spanish mackerel) grilled with yuzu-miso and served with yuzu-miso konnyaku and daikon that was cut into a flower with a small slice of red pepper. I’ve never had yuzu-miso before, I’m a huge fan!

After that was the simmered course which was kinmedai (splendid alfonsino) in a ginger sauce. It was served with spinach and daikon radish with chawanmushi in the middle.

For the fried course we got a dish with some tempura. Shishito pepper and ebi imo (a kind of yam) served in a light dashi with momiji oroshi and chopped chives.

Then came the rice and miso course. The rice was a glutinous rice with chirimenjako (baby sardines simmered in saltwater, dried in the sun, and covered in a sweet soy marinade), sliced shiso, and served on top of a cherry leaf. The miso had mizuna greens in it. There was also some lightly pickled cucumber and daikon on the side (yes Nick, I even ate the pickles!).

Finally, for dessert we got sweet potato mousse. It was so soft and lightly sweet, it was really more like a light sweet potato cheesecake. Served with a sweet potato chip on top.

This Kaiseki was Kyoto-style which is considered to be the most sophisticated and delicate of all styles. Hard to argue as the food was simply magnificent! Plus, all of that food for only $50 per person! I challenge anyone to find a deal half that good for a meal of that quality prepared with that caliber anywhere in the states. Thanks so much for bringing me here Tamiko!!!

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Koshary

Posted in Home Cooking, Meatless Monday, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 3, 2009| Leave a Comment »

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Meatless Monday continues. I went back to my days in Egypt for last night’s dinner. In Dahab, as in many parts of Egypt, they eat a dish called Koshary as a quick lunch. It’s usually sold from street vendors as opposed to restaurants. In Dahab, my dive shop was on the far north end of the bay. The Koshary guy, much like Chicago’s ice cream bike guys, came from the north so I always got the freshest Koshary. Besides Koshary, he also sold rice pudding, but I’d usually wait and get that for dessert as it was sweeter.

Koshary is a bowl filled with crazy goodness. Rice on the bottom, spaghetti noodles on top of that, lentils on top of that, all covered with spicy tomato sauce, then topped with chickpeas, and finally garnished with fried onions. All for about 30 cents ( in Egypt, it cost about $2.00 per serving last night).

I didn’t make a pure Koshary though. First thing I did was dice up a medium eggplant and let it sit in a colander with some salt for about a half hour. Then I rinsed it and dried it. This takes away some of the fruit’s bitterness. After that I sauted a chopped onion in some olive oil for about 4 minutes with a few chopped garlic cloves. I ground up about a teaspoon of coriander seeds with my pestle and mortar and added that along with about a teaspoon each of cumin and cinnamon. Then I added the eggplant chunks and let them cook for about 5 more minutes. I dumped in a 28 0z can of chopped tomatoes, seasoned with salt and pepper, then let simmer over a medium heat for about 15 minutes. After that I added a can of chickpeas and let everything simmer for another 15 minutes so that the tomato juices would reduce down to a thicker stew.

While the juices were reducing I friend a thinly sliced onion in extremely hot oil with some sliced garlic. The garlic burns quickly, but as long as you don’t eat it the aroma infuses the onion. You don’t want to burn the onion, but you want a nice crisp texture. Once their cooked set them aside on a small plate.

To serve, instead of throwing everything in a bowl, I put the rice on the side and ladled the stew next to it. I garnished it with the fried onions and some cilantro and had a mixed green salad along side.

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Simple Spaghetti – without meat

Posted in Home Cooking, Meatless Monday, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 29, 2009| Leave a Comment »

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I wanted to make my own spaghetti sauce this past Monday for our meatless dinner. I was disappointed that Stanley’s didn’t have any canned tomatoes Monday morning when I went shopping for my veggies. I was going to make a mushroom ragu with basil, but those plans went out the window because I didn’t feel like cruising to any other stores just for a can of crushed tomatoes. I knew I had an unopened jar of Whole Foods Marinara sauce, so I figured I’d just doctor that up instead of running around town all morning.

I diced up some onion, carrots, and cremini mushrooms then sauteed them in olive oil for about 5 minutes or so with garlic. Then I dumped half the jar of marinara and a half cup of red wine and let them come to a simmer. I tossed in some soft goat cheese and let it melt into the sauce. Seasoned to taste with salt and pepper. Turned off the heat and tossed in a bunch of fresh basil. Then I tossed it with al dente spaghetti. Easy as can be.

I still had a bunch of hummus left that I had to use, so instead of garlic bread we had toast with hummus instead. It worked well since there’s a ton of garlic in my hummus.

Next week’s Meatless Monday will be much more interesting. I promise.

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Japanese Curry with Tofu

Posted in Home Cooking, Meatless Monday, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 21, 2009| Leave a Comment »

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I took the easy way out for this past Meatless Monday adventure. I found a packet of Japanese Curry in my cabinet and decided to use it up. I don’t know if you can buy Japanese Curry packets at regular grocers, but it is available at almost any Asian market. It comes in a box with two packets and comes in different spice levels. I like the spicy, but it does come mild and medium.

At any rate, we usually eat this with either chicken, beef, or pork as the protein. Being Meatless Monday I used tofu instead. Not all that creative, but still delicious and healthy.

For this batch I chopped up a whole onion into about 1/3 of an inch chunks. I also cut up a green pepper, red pepper, carrot, and some potatoes (all about the same size as the onion chunks). I wanted them cut a little larger since they’d be stewing for a while. If they’re too small they can disintegrate.

In a hot stew pot I put in a little soy oil and then the onions and carrots. After they sweated a little I added the peppers so they could sweat too. Then I added the potatoes. After about 5 minutes or so I added 3 cups of water. That was a bit of a mistake on my part. The package said to add 3 cups, but my wife told me that in Japan a cup is much smaller. Not sure why that is, but it was a little too much water. To fix that I just boiled it down a little longer without covering to pot to let the water evaporate. If I had the proper amount I would have covered it. Next time I’ll only add 2 cups.

Once the veggies were cooked through I broke up the curry cube into 4 pieces and added them one at a time to mix them in completely. You’ll want to let it simmer for a little bit to let the curry sauce thicken, otherwise it’ll be too soupy.

All the while this was going on I had taken some silken tofu and pressed it to firm it up a little and rid it of some water. To do this I took a plate and lined it with a few paper towels. I put the tofu on top and then covered it with a few more paper towels and laid a cutting board on top. I put some weight on the cutting board and let it press the water out of the tofu in the fridge for about an hour.

Once the tofu was a little firmer I cut it into cubes and stirred it gently into the curry. I let the curry cook with the tofu for about 10-15 minutes over a lower heat to let some of the flavors absorb into the tofu.

I served it simply with white rice and drank it down with a cold beer. Just for my friend Tsutomu I did not add a hard boiled egg. Actually, I never do for this type of Japanese Curry.

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Grilled Kurobuta

Posted in Home Cooking, swine, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 28, 2009| Leave a Comment »

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One of my favorite pieces of flesh to grill is a Kurobuta Pork Chop (aka Berkshire Pork). Those pigs are so tender and juicy, enough to make a fat man drool. About the only place I can regularly find Kurobuta is at Mitsuwa, so I almost always grab some when I’m up there.

This time I marinated it in the classic soy, sake, and mirin mix with some ginger, garlic, and stone ground mustard. Grill it up and it’s good to go.

The veggies are a saute of onion, enoki mushrooms, and bok choy in a little bit of olive oil. The other thing on the plate is a fish cake with peas and corn in it.

Round out the meal with some white rice and a simple salad of mixed greens with back porch tomatoes and you’ve got a well-rounded, fresh, tasty dinner.

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Camping Soba

Posted in Home Cooking, tagged , , , , , , , , , on September 9, 2009| 1 Comment »

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My wife and I went camping at Starved Rock a couple of weeks ago. Unsure of the grill situation at the campsite we decided to bring our little propane burner. While they had a grill, I’m glad we brought the burner so we could use the grill as a campfire and keep the flames high as it got pretty cold at night. I’m also glad we brought the fixins to make some Soba Noodle Soup to keep us warm and replenish ourselves after a full day of hiking.

Before we left I had cut up some onions, carrots, mushrooms, and cabbage. We also brought some fried tofu, a delicious addition to almost any soup. So, when we got back to the campsite to make dinner, I got the fire going while Yuki started the soup.

She boiled the water with the veggies so that we didn’t need to add any oil. Once the veggies were tender she put the noodles in and then the tofu. That ‘s all there was to it. The only thing we would have done different at home would be to boil the noodles seperately to keep the soup from being starchy. It was a little starchy, but tasted great and was extremely healthy. It also wasn’t too heavy so we were able to sleep comfortably afterwords (although not as comfortable as our tempurpedic at home).

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Go camping, and eat healthy!

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