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Posts Tagged ‘white rice’

Sukiyaki Bulgogi

Posted in beef, Home Cooking, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 9, 2011| Leave a Comment »

This dinner I made the other night technically isn’t Sukiyaki. Nor is it really Bulgogi. However, it’s close enough to both of the dishes that I really couldn’t think of any other way to describe it. So to all of you purists out there…deal with it!

I made this dinner after taking Yuki’s parents to the Joong Boo Korean Market. None of us were sure what we were going to do, but Uichiro had asked that I cook something. When we got to the meat counter and he saw the thin sliced ribeye he got a sparkle in his eye, looked at me, and said, “can you make Bulgogi?” I can and I did!

A true Bulgogi has grated asian pear in the marinade. I didn’t have any asian pears so I improvised a little, but did keep relatively close to a classic Bulgogi. We had picked up almost a pound of the thin-sliced ribeye. I also used 4 green onions thinly sliced, about 1 tablespoon of minced ginger, 1 large garlic clove minced, 4 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar, 4 tablespoons of soy sauce, 2 tablespoons of sesame oil, and some black pepper.

Before adding the meat to the marinade I gave it a real good mix and then tasted it. I decided to add about 1 tablespoon of sake and a good pinch of sugar. Then I added the meat and let it sit covered in the fridge for about an hour or so. For a marinade like this you should allow the meat to sit for at least 30 minutes, but not longer than 2 hours. If you let it sit too long the meat will absorb too much soy and become extremely salty.

While at the market we also picked up a few ready-made pickles. We got some classic cabbage kimchi, wilted water spinach, and mung bean sprouts.

If you look at the top pick of this post you’ll also see a little stir-fry on each plate. To add another dish to the meal Uichiro quickly whipped up this little number. It contained bacon, red bell pepper, haricots vert, bean sprouts, and eryngii mushrooms. Of course, we also had white rice.

To eat it I brought out our table-top propane burner and put a large skillet on top with a little bit of vegetable oil. Once heated up we just put pieces of the ribeye in to cook. Then, we took red leaf lettuce and wrapped everything up.

While Yuki and Tamiko had some beer with dinner, Uichiro and I enjoyed some sake.

Not only is table-top cooking a lot of fun, but meals like this are extremely healthy and flavorful. That nutrition is only enhanced by the mental healing properties of good cold sake!

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Chikuzen Ni

Posted in Home Cooking, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 30, 2011| 2 Comments »

Sorry I haven’t put a post up in a while, been kind of busy the past week with my beautiful baby boy, Otis. Yeah, I know, badass name. He is a handsome little badass though, so it fits.

At any rate, Yuki’s parents came in from Japan a week ago to help us out. They’ve done all of the cooking and I absolutely love it! I do want to cook, and will in a day or two, but I am definitely enjoying their Japanese homestyle food. The other night they made this classic dish for us, Chikuzen Ni. Chikuzen is the old name for Kyushu, one of Japans main islands. Ni means simmered. It’s basically a simmered dish that comes from Kyushu. Tough to figure that one out, eh?

I don’t know exact measurements because I was busy changing diapers while they cooked. What they did was make a bonito dashi and added soy sauce, sake, mirin, and a touch of sugar. In that they simmered some chopped up skinless chicken thighs, carrots, gobo (burdock root, a root vegetable native to Japan and other countries in that region), lotus root, bamboo shoot, haricots vert, and konnyaku. It is absolutely heartwarming deliciousness!

To go with the Chikuzen Ni they made some pan-fried tofu. After pressing the water out of some silken tofu they chopped it up and fried it in my big skillet with some vegetable oil. After they took it out they poured in a mixture of bonito dashi, soy sauce, sake, mirin, sugar, and potato starch. Basically, it’s the same as the broth for the Chikuzen Ni. The added starch gives it a nice gelatinous texture. On top they put a little fresh grated ginger.

White rice was on the side and a cold beer was in hand.

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Cod with Artichoke Tomato Sauce

Posted in Home Cooking, seafood, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 20, 2011| Leave a Comment »

After spending hours cooking heavy foods for Passover I wanted something lighter for dinner last night. Oh, and something that I could easily whip up without spending too much time hunching over the counter. When I saw cod on sale this idea hit me. It is also a good way to use up veggies in the fridge.

My ingredients include about 1/4 cup of chopped parsley, 1 14oz can of diced tomatoes, about 1/3 cup of frozen peas thawed, 3 cremini mushrooms diced (would have used more but that’s all that I had in the fridge), 1/2 onion diced, 3 garlic cloves minced, 1 carrot diced, 1/2 bag of frozen artichokes rinsed, and about 2/3 pound of cod cut into three pieces (Yuki didn’t need lunch today, so only leftovers for me).

I heated up my large skillet and poured in about 2 tablespoons of olive oil. I added the garlic, onion, and carrot. They sweat down for about 6 minutes before I added the mushrooms. Once the mushrooms started to release their liquid, about 3 minutes or so, I poured in the can of tomatoes. When the tomatoes started to boil a little I stirred in the artichokes, laid the cod on top, seasoned with salt and pepper, covered the skillet, turned the heat down to med-low, and let it all simmer for about 8 minutes. That’s just enough time for the fish to cook through.

Then I took the fish off, carefully so it wouldn’t flake apart, and stirred its juices into the sauce. I let it boil lightly for about 3 minutes and then added the peas. When the peas were hot, about 2 minutes more, I turned off the heat and stirred in the parsley. Then I adjusted the seasoning and served it with white rice. A sprig of parsley for garnish.

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Papa’s Cache Sabroso

Posted in Restaurant, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 18, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Yuki and I were cruisin’ around this weekend and ended up passing through the Puerto Rican strip of Division Street. Right about that time both of our stomach’s started to growl. Her’s may have been the baby kicking, but mine was definitely something else. While neither of us were all too impressed with the food we ate in Puerto Rico, with the exception of a few spots, we never really explored the Puerto Rican food in Chicago. Funny thing is we used to live 2 blocks east of it and frequently rode our bikes past it on our way to Humboldt Park, yet never made it down there for eats. When we saw Papa’s we had to stop in and give it a whirl. Honestly though, we thought it was Papa’s as in potato, but it was all about the bald guy in the pic below. Oh well, it was very busy, mostly with Puerto Rican/Chicagoans, so that was a good sign. They do have papas fritas on the menu though.

Papa’s is a small little place run by Papa and Mama. I love the palapa over the counter, gives it a nice tropical feel. The menu is mostly based on rotisserie chicken, as you can see the numerous birds rotating behind Papa. Not having had a Jibarito in a long time, and with them claiming to have the best in town, that seemed like the way for us to go. So, we grabbed a seat as soon as one opened up, and Mama came by to serve us.

Yuki got the rotisserie chicken breast and I got the steak. The plantain was the perfect thickness and fried just right. Fresh lettuce and tomatoes, garlic mayo, and some sort of white cheese rounded out the garnish. Hers came with Spanish rice and pigeon peas while mine came with white rice and beans. I have to say, they may be right, it could very well be the best damn Jibarito in town! Granted, I’ve only had three in my life, but these were by far the best I’ve had. As good as the steak was the chicken was outstanding! They may also have the best rotisserie chicken in town! Juicy and flavorful!

When Mama brought the bill there was this bumper sticker with it. I won’t put it on the green machine anytime soon, but they certainly do have every reason to be proud of the chicken. We will definitely go back for more sometime, only next time we’ll probably get a whole bird and rip that thing to pieces in a matter of seconds!

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Gyu-Kaku

Posted in Restaurant, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 15, 2011| 3 Comments »

So, yesterday one of Yuki’s supervisors decided to take her crew out to dinner at Gyu-Kaku, a yakiniku joint downtown. That left me by myself to eat, drink, whatever. My plan was to meet up with a buddy of mine from the Playboy Pilot at Five Star for a couple of drinks, then pick Yuki up around 7 or so and grab a jumbo char dog from Portillo’s on the way home to absorb the alcohol in my stomach. Things didn’t work out as planned. About 7 I got a text that they JUST got to Gyu-Kaku! What? How long would I have to wait for a friggin char dog! Hungry, I took a couple of Chinese Steam Buns out of the freezer to tide me over for a couple of hours. Shortly thereafter I got a text asking me if I wanted to join them. Absolutely! So I cruised on down and got there as they were about to order dessert. Oh well, that didn’t stop me from eating some beef.

Since they were already drunk and I was a little drunk I didn’t really care what I ate. Doug, one of two white guys in Yuki’s group, ordered one of the Kalbi’s for me along with a beer. They’re having a Sakura Festival (Cherry Blossoms) special with $3 beer and 50% off harami skirt steak so I’m sure that’s what I got. All I know is that a dish with some beautifully marbled beef covered in sesame seeds showed up alongside a nice cold draft beer.

Then, the waitress showed up with some white rice, red leaf lettuce, and red miso so that I could eat the beef properly.

Since I was too busy helping Doug make fun of Eric, the other white guy in the group, Yuki grilled my meat for me. That’s how you know you got a good one…when she grills your beef so you can drink and have a laugh.

I took the lettuce, smeared some miso on it, topped it with the beef, and chowed down! Oiishii!!! No offense to Koreans, but the quality of the meat is so much better than anything I’ve had at a Korean BBQ. Tender and juicy, the way a good cow should be. I do have a groupon for Gyu-Kaku that I can’t wait to use so that I can eat other cuts of beef along with different animals, both with legs and with gills. Oh, some veggies too. Yuki told me that their ramen was pretty good too.

At any rate, the dessert they ordered were a bunch of different doriyaki ice creams. Bowls of ice cream with red bean paste served with pancakes and mochi that you grill. Good ice cream, but they burnt the mochi. (No Eric, it didn’t taste like shwag, it just tasted burnt)

As we were getting ready to leave another co-worker of theirs who wasn’t part of this group sent over two little bottles of sake for us. Between Doug, Eric, and myself it didn’t take long to polish those babies off. Mmmmm, sake!

The best part about Gyu-Kaku is that they use really strong down-draft ventilation systems for each grill. Those things suck that smoke right down. Unlike Korean BBQ’s what have over-table hoods, you don’t have to hop in the shower and wash your clothes immediately when you get home to rid yourself of the smoke. If you have a Jewfro sponge on your head like me, your hair will definitely appreciate that!

I do have a back story regarding Gyu-Kaku. It’s a chain that started in Japan and there’s one off of the train stop near Yuki’s parent’s house. A few of years ago Yuki and I had dinner there with her sister and brother-in-law. I remember the basil marinated chicken to be fabulous. I thought that this would do really well here in Chicago because all we had were Korean BBQ joints up on the northwest side of town. There wasn’t anything downtown. So, I went to their website and saw that they’ve already hit the west coast, that really got my hopes up that I could bring them here to Chitown. I sent them a nice long e-mail letting them know about the niche they could fill here, yada yada yada. I hear nothing back from them at all. A couple of years go by and Yuki texts me, “Gyu-Kaku is coming to Chicago”. Eh? Those bastards cut me out of the deal! That’s my idea! I felt like Kramer with his ocean cologne. The least they could do is feed me for free for life since coming here was my idea from the start. Oh well, what can you do. The food is good so I will definitely go back, especially since I’ve already paid for a groupon.

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Fennel Grilled Chicken Breasts with Ginger Carrot Soup

Posted in Home Cooking, poultry, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 12, 2011| Leave a Comment »

There are two seasons in my world…winter and grill! Grill season has just begun and I could not be a happier man for that. Well, I could, but this is certainly a happy moment. I actually opened up the grill a couple of weeks ago for a skirt steak, but the weather hasn’t been good enough to really start firing it up until this weekend. I know, some people think they’re more of a man because they grill in 30 below wind chills with 2 feet of snow on the ground. Personally, I think they’re morons! Every time they lift that lid they lose every bit of heat. All you do is end up with poorly cooked food. Not now though, the time is right for my clothes to smell like grill!

We had an appt this afternoon so I only made two portions last night since we had no need for lunch. First thing I did was get the chicken marinating. I mixed together 1 fennel frond chopped up, the juice from 1/2 lemon, 2 garlic cloves minced, and 3 tablespoons each of soy sauce and olive oil. A few cracks of black pepper and then I rubbed it all over the chicken and let it marinate, covered, in the fridge for a couple of hours.

Then I got the soup ready. I put 4 carrots chopped, 1/2 onion chopped, 1 inch of ginger diced, 3 garlic cloves diced, and 1 cup of chicken stock into my pot. I brought it all up to a boil, covered the pot, turned the heat to med-low, and let it simmer for about 20 minutes. Then I turned off the heat and let it cool down for about a half hour.

Once cooled, I poured it all into my blender and pureed it into a smooth soup. As it was blending I decided to pour in about 1/4 cup of olive oil to give it a silkier texture. Then I seasoned it with salt and pepper and set it aside. All I had to do to serve was simply heat it up again.

For my vegetables I used 3 radishes (I cut off the leaves) each cut into 6 wedges, 1/2 yellow bell pepper sliced with each slice halved, 2 garlic cloves diced, 1/2 head of broccoli cut into florets, and about 1/2 tablespoon of butter cut into little pats.

I mixed all of the veggies in some foil, laid the butter on top, sprinkled with a little soy sauce, and then closed it up.

I fired up the grill at med-high heat and let the grates get nice and hot. I put the veggie packet on first and let them start to cook while I brought the chicken back to room temperature from the fridge. After about 15 minutes I put the chicken on. I cooked it for about 8 or 9 minutes on each side and that was all she wrote. Of course, each grill is different, so just make sure your chicken is firm when pressed so that you know it’s cooked through.

Some white rice and a cold beer and Spring weather is officially here!

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Fennel Roasted Salmon with Artichoke Chickpeas

Posted in Home Cooking, seafood, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 5, 2011| Leave a Comment »

I’ve been wanting to do something with artichokes for a while, but fresh one’s are pretty pricey. I found these great frozen ones at Trader Joe’s that taste great and retain all of their nutrients. I whipped this salmon dish up to get them into our guts.

This is a really easy dish that can be made within a half hour or so. I took 1.5 cups of the frozen artichokes (about half the bag) and rinsed them real well, 1/2 cup of chicken stock, 1 red bell pepper diced, 1/2 onion diced, 1 carrot diced, 1 14oz can of chickpeas drained and rinsed, 1 container of cherry tomatoes, 1 large sprig of thyme, and 5 garlic cloves minced.

I poured about 2 tablespoons into a heated pot and added the garlic. I let that go for about 30 seconds and then added the onion. The onion sweat for about 3 minutes and then in came the bell pepper and carrot. Once that all sweat down for about 5 more minutes I poured in the chicken stock and seasoned with some salt and pepper. When the stock started to slowly boil I added the artichokes, chickpeas, tomatoes, and thyme. I covered the pot, turned the heat to med-low, and let it simmer for about 15 minutes.

For the salmon I simply used some chopped up fennel fronds and about 3/4 pound of salmon cut into 4 portions.

I seasoned the salmon with salt and pepper, then topped it with the fennel and drizzled some olive oil all over it. I threw it into a 375 degree oven and let it go for about 10 minutes just until it was cooked through.

I tasted the artichoke chickpeas mix and adjusted the seasoning accordingly then ladled a big scoop onto the middle of a plate. I placed a piece of salmon on top. White rice was on the side, along with a cold beer.

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Chicken & Quinoa Lettuce Wraps with Apricot Curry Sauce

Posted in Home Cooking, poultry, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 28, 2011| 1 Comment »

So, this recipe is loosely based on a Charlie Trotter. The sauce is his, and the overall flavor concept is his, but I added some of my own touches and served the quinoa mixture in lettuce cups. Honestly, I think he’d prefer that I use his recipe for inspiration rather than to have me follow it to the teaspoon.

First thing I did was make the apricot-curry sauce. I took 3/4 teaspoon of curry powder, 1/4 cup of rice vinegar, 3/4 cup dried apricots, and 1/2 cup of water and blended it all together in my small food processor until all of the little apricot chunks were hacked up to a pulp.

Then I strained it while pressing it through with the back of a wooden spoon. I covered it in plastic and put in the fridge while I cooked everything else.

For the quinoa I used a handful of fresh chopped parsley, some red leaf lettuce leaves, 1 clove of garlic minced, 1/2 inch of ginger minced, 5 green onions chopped, 1/2 red bell pepper diced, a handful of dried apricots diced, 1/2 cup of quinoa rinsed, and 1/2 lb of skinless boneless chicken thighs chopped up.

In a hot pot I poured in about 2 tablespoons of canola oil and added the garlic and ginger. I let them sizzle for about 30 seconds and then added the bell pepper and green onions. After about 5 minutes I added the quinoa and let it sort of toast in the hot oil for a few minutes. This brings out its nutty flavors.

Then I added the chicken and let it just start to cook. I poured in about 1 cup of water, seasoned with a little salt and pepper, let it come to a boil, covered the pot, turned the heat to med-low, and let it simmer for about 15 minutes. Then, I turned off the heat but kept it covered for another 15 minutes. After that I took off the lid, added the parsley, and fluffed it up with a fork. I tasted for seasoning and that’s about all there was to it.

To serve, I simply laid some of the lettuce leaves down, spooned on some of the quinoa, then topped with the curry sauce.

I served some white rice and miso soup along side.

For this miso soup I used miso, 3 shiitake sliced, 3 green onions sliced, 1 block of fried tofu diced, and some wakame. I used my typical miso soup making method.

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Onigiri

Posted in Home Cooking, seafood, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 10, 2011| 2 Comments »

The other night we made Onigiri for dinner. Onigiri is great because you can pack in smaller amounts of protein which saves cash, while still making a very nutritious meal. It’s also fun to make and eat. We commonly make Onigiri to take with on bike rides and hikes.

Besides warm white rice the main ingredients are typically nori for wrapping and then some sort of cooked fish or dried seaweed. For the dried seaweed the idea is that the warm moist rice will kind of rehydrate it while leaving a little texture. I used some salmon and some of these rice mixes, Mazekomi, that are available at most Asian grocers. The mazekomi in our cupboard are wakame and sesame seed, wakame and cod roe, and wakame and dried sardine.

I made 2.5 cups of rice earlier in the day so that come time to make the Onigiri it’d be warm and not hot. I simply roasted the salmon with a splash of soy sauce at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes. Once it cooled down a little I broke it apart into pieces.

On a piece of plastic wrap I put down a little of the rice and spread it out. Then I topped it with some of the salmon and mazekomi. I covered it with a little more rice.

Using the plastic wrap I packed it down and formed it into a triangle. With 2.5 cups of rice you should be able to get 6-8 Onigiri no problem.

To eat it you simply wrap it with a piece of nori (if you have the regular sushi width nori sheets you’ll want to cut them in half) and let your chompers do their trick.

To go with the Onigiri I made some Miso Soup. I used about 3.5 cups of water, 3 tablespoons of dashi soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of miso, 1/2 onion sliced, some daikon chopped, 1 carrot chopped, 2 red skinned potatoes skinned and chopped, 3 shiitake sliced, and some salted wakame rinsed and soaked.

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Sole Meuniere

Posted in Home Cooking, seafood, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 7, 2011| Leave a Comment »

This past weekend Whole Foods had West Coast Sole filets on sale. I gots me sum soul, so I figured we oughtta eat some sole. I wanted to do something with cilantro and capers since I liked that combination at Blue 13 (Yuki actually made a dish a couple of weeks ago with those two ingredients, it was delicious but I didn’t take pics so I can’t blog it). I thought that I could do a simple riff on the classic Sole Meuniere, so that’s what I did.

The ingredient list included a few tablespoons of cilantro chopped, about 3 tablespoons of capers rinsed, a little paprika, zest and juice from 1/2 a lemon, 1/2 a tomato seeded and diced, 1/2 an avocado diced, 2 tablespoons of butter, some flour for dusting, and 4 sole filets.

I sprinkled the sole filets with salt, pepper, paprika, and some of the lemon zest and then set it aside while I diced up the tomato and avocado. Once all of my mise en place was all set I heated up my large skillet and melted 1 tablespoon of the butter. I let the butter go for a couple of minutes until it just started to turn a little brown. I didn’t want it to burn, but I wanted a little depth to the flavor. Then I dredged the sole filets in the flour and cooked them in the melted butter, about 2 minutes per side. When the fish was ready I put two filets on each plate and topped them with the avocado. After that I put the other tablespoon of butter in the skillet. Once it melted I added the tomato, capers, cilantro, lemon juice, and the rest of the lemon zest. I mixed it all around over med-high heat for about 30 seconds or s0 and then poured it right on top of the fish and avocado. Simple as that.

I served it with some white rice and some mushroom barley soup I had left from a trip to Kasia’s. Mushroom barley soup might not be the obvious choice for this dish, but it worked out alright.

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