Tom’s Tasty Tomato Soup

Posted on December 22, 2012 by Kelli

Had my Mom and Cousin Geri over to cook the other day. Since the holidays are so gluttonous, I thought it would be appropriate to do a simple soup and sandwich- YUM.

Lets start with the soup-

Now, technically, I didn’t make this- so I can only speak as an observer and consumer. Didn’t seem to tricky- sauté some onion, dump in some tomatoes, cream, and spices.

This simmers for about fifteen minutes.

Look at these little worker bees. We got matching aprons for the holidays. I know you’re jealous.

The soup then goes into the blender and can be kept warm.

The cookbook also has brown butter croutons which we did not make since we were serving a sandwich also.

This soup was certainly tasty and quick. The other homemade recipes I have involve roasting the tomatoes first which adds a certain depth of flavor, but takes time.

A little dip of a sandwich… mmmm…. Nice.

Curl up with some Glee and we have ourselves a night!

Posted in Kitchen Diaries, soup | 2 Comments

Chocolate Butter Pecan Sandwich Cookies

Posted on December 21, 2012 by Kelli

So, the recipe points out that these are more work than your average cookie- however- it may be one of the best cookies I have ever eaten-

In a nutshell…

Make a delicious chocolate cookie that has small chunks of pecans in them.

Next, sandwich two cookies with a BROWN BUTTER PECAN FILLING… tastes better than it sounds- and it sounds wonderful. Seriously. I could happily die while drowning in a vat of this filling.

Try not to eat too many- and put them on a festive tray for a holiday party.

The only trouble that I ran into were the extras- they didn’t store well- so I think they need to be kept flat- they all broke apart which only makes it more challenging to tell how many I snacked on during the day.

I decided to break these up and put them in some vanilla ice-cream because the holidays aren’t chubby enough…

Make these- you won’t be disappointed. Well worth the effort.

From the Dahlia Bakery Cookbook.

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Serious Biscuits

Posted on December 13, 2012 by Kelli

Time to make some Serious Biscuits. I halved the recipe because I knew I would probably eat them all myself… but who can resist a fluffy biscuit?

This recipe was great- and came together really quickly. Actually, they were ready to go in the oven before it was even preheated.

You’ll notice in the photo below, the melted butter that’s on top- yum.

Too bad the melted butter flowed into the bottom of my oven. The amount of smoke in this photo does not do justice to the billow that came out when I opened the oven initially.

Positive note- they look gorgeous. The texture is amazing. Too bad they taste awful from so much smoke. Wha-wha.

I thought I could mask it with a little honey and mason wouldn’t notice. No such luck. The only part of breakfast he ate were the apple slices.

Better luck next time. I’ll make these again- after I clean my oven.

Posted in Breakfast, Kitchen Diaries, Side Dish | Leave a comment

Hot Buttered Rum Apple Pie

Posted on December 12, 2012 by Kelli

The timing for this book could not be more perfect for me. I’m already scheduled to bring desserts to four different places this week, and I have a brunch as well. I’m not going to have any problem finding delicious things to make. First up, hot buttered rum apple pie.

Historically, I don’t fancy myself a pie maker- or even a baker for that matter, so when my crust dough came out of the bowl looking like this- I wasn’t real convinced that I was going to be successful. But no matter, shape into a disc and refrigerate. Fingers Crossed.

Now apples, I can manage- just peeled and cooked with sugar.

Two plus hours and a change of venue later, time to try the dough. It was really cold and hard to roll, but after a few minutes it seemed to be coming together OK.

PS- my Dad had this handy pastry board that has the circle size on there already so no guessing on how big to roll the dough- pretty nice.

The apples that are now room temperature are mixed with some brown sugar, dark rum, and spices. Tom also uses pectin to set up the center of the pie, which I’ve never done before- but I had some in my pantry, so I gave it a go.

Crust on top

Misc. embellishments from the leftover dough just to be festive- and into the oven.

Two and a half hour later- it came out like this:

Pretty lovely. If you look carefully at the top edge of this pie, you’ll notice the star crust is gone. We were in the house with twelve people and no one confessed eating it- but I know someone snacked…

Who can blame them? The crust was as one person put it, “heavenly” and I would agree. Ever so flaky and tender- and the innards were equally delicious. I was worried it would taste too rummy- but not the case.

My only complaint was my inability to cut it and have it look presentable on a plate- but I suppose under a scoop of ice-cream no one cares about that anyway.

Two thumbs up.

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Japanese Farm Feast

Posted on December 11, 2012 by Kelli

We just got together for our discussion about Japanese Farm Food by Nancy Singleton Hachisu. It was a great afternoon with some food loving friends and unpolitical correct Kamikazies. We had a pretty thorough discussion about our likes and dislikes of the book-

We all agree that it was beautifully photographed and that the recipes were somewhat easy to follow and to cook. We also appreciated her recommendations in brands of ingredients. There were also a lot of vegetable recipes. That was great since most books focus more on proteins and starches.

We would have liked to have had a bit more instruction as far as cooking times go in the book. Not only what it should feel or look like, but more approximations around how long things take to cook- especially since we are dealing with ingredients that are generally unfamiliar. Another hiccup was the difficulty in finding ingredients outside of Seattle proper. In the city- no problem, everything was at the neighborhood grocer- but get 20 minutes outside of town, a different story. Also, although we found that nearly everything we tried we enjoyed, there wasn’t the overwhelming desire to make something out of the book every time we opened it. The food was good- but not the comfort food that we crave. We also collectively felt that although the author came across as interesting and relatively amicable, she didn’t seem like someone you want to throw back a bottle of sake with and become fast friends. There was some speculation as to whether our ambivalence to her personality translated to our general ambivalence in the food.

At any rate, we had a fun afternoon with some pretty great food. A lot we hadn’t tried before, and mostly, were glad we did!

Pork Katsu

Zucchini coins with Roasted Sesame

Salt Massaged Cucumbers with Miso and Sesame

Carrot and Mitsuba Salad with Citrus

Foil Wrapped Broiled Salmon with Butter

Cauliflower with Miso and Sesame

Tomato Wedges Drizzled with Soy Sauce

Japanese Potato Salad

Brittle

Pound Cake with Blackberry Ice Cream

Next up? Dahlia Bakery Cookbook. We’re going from mostly vegetables… to mostly not. Here is our before picture… Not sure how chubby we will be after, but I think we’ll be happy munching our way through!

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Sunday Night Feast!

Posted on November 1, 2012 by Kelli

The weekend preparations for this meal were a bit extensive…but worth it in the end!

I started off visiting Uwajimaya. I went prepared, with brand names written down on my shopping list. I soon discovered I needed to look a few things up on my cell phone. Bing.com images to the rescue! I wasn’t exactly sure was Bonito or Konbu was, so looking at images helped. Plus I had to pick up some steamed Hum Bao cause it’s my favorite. I walked away with just under $100 worth of groceries.

I started off making the Dashi on Sunday morning. The recipe called for one 6″ piece of Konbu and a “handful” of bonito flakes however I found that it didn’t make enough cups worth for the Katsudon recipe so I made two batches. Kind of a weird process but pretty easy to make. At first I was thinking what is this going to make? But once it started smelling it was familiar. Strain the bonito and refridgerate.

Konbu in the Package

Konbu out of the Package

Bonito Flakes come in these individually wrapped packages.

Boiling the water and bonito Flakes

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Second task, making the Sweet-Vinegared Daikon and Carrots. I treated myself to a new mandolyn, and after a little trial and error it went fairly fast julienning the carrots and daikon. Sprinkle the veggies with a little salt and then squeeze it out. Heat up the vinegar and sugar and then mix and let sit in the fridge (overnight.)

mixing the sugar and the rice wine vinegar

Daikon

Carrots and Daikon

Carrot and Daikon Salad

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Third task, making the Simmered Gyoza. Kelli inspired me to do this one…and boy was it tasty! I sucked at making the gyoza wrappers but ended up making due after a second go-around. Kelli did give me the heads up that it makes WAY more filling than dough, and she was right. I have a big tupperware full of filling in the freezzer so I’ll be making these again soon. The dipping sauce was DELISH! Just perfect, exactly how it tastes in restaurants.

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Lastly, making the Katsudon (Pork Cutlets with Soy Sauce-Flavored Egg.) I’ve often had this in restaurants and can’t seem to find a place that does it well. This was sooooo good, and exactly how I dreamed it would be. It was pretty easy, just a little preparation ahead of time.Making the Dashi was the first step. Then pounding out the pork cutlets and dipping them in flour, egg and panko. I didn’t make my own Panko as she suggested, cause I already had too much on my plate. I just bought it in a box at Uwaji. Fry up the cutlets in a little peanut oil and then slice them. Meanwhile cook the thinly sliced onion, ginger and dashi in a pan. Once I smelled this cooking, I realized that I was on track! Mix in some soy sauce and mirin. Then place the cutlets on top and pour (swirl) the beaten egg over the top. Once it’s pretty much cooked scoop it up on top of rice. I served it with some Sapporo beer and ta-da! It was soooo good.

Dip the pork in the egg.

Coat it with Panko…

Panko crusted pork Cutlets!

Fry up the pork cutlets

Simmer the onions in ginger and Dashi.

Swirl in the egg on top.

YUM!

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My kitchen is a total mess, but i have some great leftovers for tomorrow. Overall, I wouldn’t do all these things in one night again, but I would definitely make all of them again solo. The one thing I noticed about her writing style is that she says things like “boil for a few minutes…and then a few more.” I need specifics. However it ended up working out and I guess I just have to experiment to get the right timing. Plus a trip to Uwajimaya doesn’t seem so foreign to me anymore. 🙂

Posted in Appetizer, Asian, Kitchen Diaries, Main, Salad, Side Dish, Vegetable | Leave a comment

Go Go Gyoza

Posted on October 20, 2012 by Kelli

There are few things I love more than Asian Dumplings. I actually have a cookbook called Asian Dumplings that I love that is devoted to nothing but them. One thing I have learned though is they are more fun to make when you have a little help from your friends.

Had some ladies over the other night- perfect time to try the Gyoza.

I made the dough in advance- just flour and water- easy-peasy.

This rests while making the filling- pork, ginger, soy, sake, and cabbage-

Usher in your help and token sous chef-

Put everyone to work-

roll out dough into small circles

Put some filling in the middle

And close up tight! (Note that gyoza taste equally delicious whether or not you get the technique down… ahem- see below)

When they are all done, you can start batch boiling.

When they are all cooked, pop them on a plate and serve with the delicious dipping sauce.

They are REALLY good. I recommend this one whole heartedly. I might even try pan frying them next time around. YUM.

Posted in Asian, Kitchen Diaries | 1 Comment

Peas and Carrots

Posted on October 17, 2012 by Kelli

(Sayaendo no Itame & Ninjin no Kinpira)

When looking for a side for the Teriyaki Burgers, don’t want anything too crazy. These are an easy, tasty way to get some veggies.

Snow Peas with Salt? Really- that’s it. Nothing flashy- also nothing to write home about. You can imagine what these taste like…Um… Snow Peas… with salt. I will say the peppers added a little heat. May be a bit too much a sensitive pallet.

Carrot Slivers in Soy Sauce I have made before. It was crowd pleasing the first time, so I figure why mess with success. We had them on hand- whip up some carrots. I will say that my mandolin was sort of a mess in the kitchen. We had carrot slivers everywhere.

Good Stuff right?

The point is, both the peas and the carrots were easy to make right at the end of the meal while we were resting the burgers.

And they looked colorful on the plate. Both were tasty in a clean veggie sort of way.

Plus, who does’t like to eat carrots with chop sticks?

My toughest critic was pleased. That pleases me. I’d make these again- but I’m not sure that the peas really count as a recipe. (Not to be a nay-sayer)

Posted in Asian, Vegetable | 1 Comment

Teriyaki Burgers

Posted on October 16, 2012 by Kelli

Teriyaki Hambagu

Yesterday, we made the teriyaki burgers… but we called them “pork patties” as to not confuse those who believe that a burger must come with a bun.

Starts with making the teriyaki sauce. MMM… This stuff is tasty and just three ingredients- Mirin, Soy Sauce, and Ginger, reduced by half. Cool and done. It turns out pretty thick and delicious.

I had made these bread crumbs the day before, so we were good to go on that end too.

So these are made with ground pork, bread crumbs, onion, and an egg- sort of what you would do if you were making meatballs or meat loaf. All combined together. Then add the Teriyaki Sauce.

Mix this together lightly and form patties. The patties cook for about 13 minutes (according to recipe- ours took closer to 17) I don’t mess with pork.

And they are done! Serve with rice (and may be some more teriyaki on the side… it’s quite good)

This is a quick and easy recipe to try that doesn’t involve a trip to a specialty grocer. I enjoyed it with the rice, but I think that it could also be quite tasty on a bun. May be a slider on a King’s Hawaiian roll? I’m just brainstorming here…

This is a good one though. Everyone enjoyed it. Did I mention how good the Teriyaki sauce was? First time I’ve ever made that before. I’ll do that again. No more store bought when this is so easy and delicious.

Posted in Asian, Main | 1 Comment

New Seattle Japanese Gastro-Pub… Field Trip?

Posted on October 10, 2012 by Kelli

I propose this as a field trip. Who’s with me?

from Seattle Met Nosh-Pit Blog

Coming Soon

Former Chez Shea Chef Plans “Japanese Gastropub” in Wallingford

Miyabi 45th will serve Mutsuko Soma’s amazing soba noodles.

Published Oct 3, 2012 at 8:30 am | Updated Oct 3, 2012 at 11:38 am

By Allecia Vermillion

Mutsuko Soma promises Japanese-Northwest fare, and plenty of soba, at her new Wallingford restaurant. Photo via Miyabi 45th’s Facebook page.

UPDATE: I was just informed that the trio of adorable ladies mentioned below was none other than Jean Nakayama, matriarch of Maneki, and family. I am both embarrassed I didn’t recognize her, and giddy that the matriarch of Maneki schooled me on slurping.

Mutsuko Soma used to prepare French-inspired food as the chef at Chez Shea, but she has spent recent months putting on pop-ups around town, introducing diners to her passion: handmade soba noodles. Now Soma and the owners of Miyabi restaurant in Tukwila have taken over the former Rain Sushi space at 2208 N 45th Street. While the original Miyabi is a sushi restaurant, the new outpost will serve Soma’s “Japanese Northwest cuisine.” Miyabi 45th opens next month, Soma says the target date is November 4.

A number of Japanese or pan-Asian restaurants around Seattle have soba on the menu, but Soma isn’t aware of anyone else cutting them by hand. Soba noodles are made with buckwheat (Soma uses Washington-grown grains) and resemble linguini in thickness. The chef put on a lovely dinner at Skelly and the Bean Monday night, serving piles of cold soba noodles just begging to be dipped in an accompanying cup of hot bacon-curry (made with bacon from Hitchcock) or duck and mushroom dipping sauce, as well as hot soba dishes.

Always a good sign: Three older Japanese ladies were seated next to our party. On the way out they admonished us for not slurping loudly enough. The rule, one of them explained, is “three strands, dippity do, and slurp.” I mean, come on. Adorable.

Soma studied under a master soba maker in Tokyo (she’s back in Japan this week as well). Other highlights of her pop-up menu included a soup of hama hama clams with buckwheat matzo balls, and a cheesecake made with roasted organic kabocha pumpkin. Mibayi 45th will also serve cocktails, sake, and both local and Japanese beer. Follow Soma’s progress with the restaurant on its Facebook page.

Another nonsushi Japanese restaurant is popping up in Wallingford, at the former Joule address.Wallyhood reports that a yakitori spot called Dozo Yoroshiku.

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

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