Cooktellsastory

Home

Recipes and Entries

view:  full / summary

Soba Workshop Video

Posted on August 16, 2010 at 4:58 PM Comments comments (0)

;)Our wonderful friends Revis Meeks, Quyen Tran and Mike Tarantino put this video together. 

It was recorded during our first soba workshop in October of 2009.

How time flies!   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBZa9Z



Breadbar - Pop up soba bar and soba workshop

Posted on August 15, 2010 at 4:39 AM Comments comments (0)

I am in Japan to bring back some fresh buckwheat flour for our upcoming Pop up soba event and soba workshop at Breadbar, West Hollywood.  Here is the link to Breadbar. 

Sado, Japan

Taking flight - Artichoke seed

Posted on August 2, 2010 at 1:22 AM Comments comments (0)



Artichoke seed.  
We'e had a relatively cool summer in Santa Monica.  My vegetable garden was performing rather well in June, as you can see from the picture below, but the temperatures never rose high enough for the tomatoes, cucumbers and eggplant.  So I had to pull some of them out.  The peppers and zuchinnis are slowly coming along, and I planted more tomatoes and cucumbers this weekend. Let's see what's happens to the rest of our summer.  It was not all without hope though.  What did surprising well were the artichokes. I find artichokes tedious to eat but I love to have them in my garden.  The purple flowers keep my garden cheerful. Eventually, they turn brown and dry, but even then, I like them.  I had never paid much attention to ttheir seeds before until I saw them this afternoon. They were so beautiful, I had to run inside for my camera. Poor Ana had to wait for her walk until I finished taking pictures. But she never complains. She knows me.  Chelsea Clinton's Vera Wang's wedding gown was lovely but look at this one.  It took my breath away.


  
  Ready to take flight.


My last artichoke flower of this year Mass of seeds


Old beauty



My vegetable garden in early summer.   The artichokes are in the back to your right.

Small harvest - Apricots

Posted on August 1, 2010 at 8:30 PM Comments comments (0)




My apricot tree didn't produce much fruit this year.  But even a small 
basketful brightens up my kitchen.



Japanese Breakfast - Miso Soup brings me to my comfort zone

Posted on July 29, 2010 at 11:50 AM Comments comments (1)


    I
What's a Japanese breakfast?

Good morning!  Did you have a good breakfast this morning?  I did.  Here is a picture of my breakfast and a breakfast story I did for Zester Daily  (here is the link). Have a nice day! 

 

Wild Mushroom Rice - Cooked in a Donabe Clay Pot

Posted on July 27, 2010 at 1:28 AM Comments comments (0)


A basket of nameko, shitake and maitake mushrooms


A pot full of rice with maitake, shimeji, shitake, nameko mushrooms.


The most exciting thing that happened  at the farmers market in LA this summer is LA Funghi.  Maybe they have been around longer but I just discovered them at the Sunday farmers market in Pacific Palisades.  Their mushrooms are gorgeous - fresh and varietal. They look like they were just picked off the bark of a tree.  We have seen mushroom farmers with shitake, morels and chantrelles but not maitake, hen of the woods, "nameko".  I can't even get such fresh nameko in Japan!  I was so excited I spent about $20 buying mushrooms. That's easy to do. What is wonderful about mushrooms is how they can adapt to almost any dish.  I use mushrooms in soups, rice, salads, stews, etc.  With these mushrooms, I made rice  in a donabe clay pot.  Last year I blogged about Mushroom rice garnished with Shiso (here is the link to the recipe) It was also made in a donabe rice, and I also did a story for the LA Times about donabe rice cooking (here is the link to the story ).   I used enough mushrooms to cover the top of the donabe pot.  The mushrooms will shrink quite a bit so you can be quite generous.  The mushrooms add an excellent flavor and fragrance to rice.

Notice the double lid.  This inner lid acts like a pressure cooker.


My donabe clay pot is about 4 years old.
]

Here are the left over mushrooms in the brown bags. 
This is the way to store them. Don't use plastic bags.


Cooked mushroom rice. It is very fragrant.  Even better with
yuzu or citrus zest, or sliced shiso leaves


Recipe:

(This recipe works for both donabe rice cooker and electric rice cooker)

2 cups medium grain rice plus 1/4 cup sweet rice (equals 3 cups Donabe 180 ml cup)

15 oz water

3 Tbls Sake

3 Tbls Light color soy sauce (Usukuchi shoyu)

1 package of shimeji mushrooms, 3 medium size shitake mushrooms and 1/2 package of Maitake mushrooms

Garnish options:

1 Tbls yuzu or lime rind  

Roasted sesame seeds, shichimi pepper, sansho pepper, chopped Mitsuba leaves, Cut Nori seaweed


 

Rinse rice and sweet and let stand in the strainer for 15 minutes.

Trim ends of mushrooms and separate them into individual pieces. If using shitake mushrooms, slice them into 1/4 inch pieces. Set aside.

 

Put the rinsed rice, light color soysauce and sake in the donabe or electric rice cooker. Mix the sauce and sake into the rice. Let stand for 15 minutes.

Cook donabe over medium high heat for 15-17 minutes or until the steam comes out "vigorously" from the ventilation hole. Turn off heat and let stand for 15 minutes.

Open the donabe, using pot holders so you don't burn your hands. Add the sliced mushroom and close both the inner and upper lids. Let stand for another 5 minutes.

Open the donabe and gently toss the rice with the mushrooms. You may have some toasted rice on the bottom which is good.

Garnish with yuzu rind and/or other recommended garnishes.

 

The rice tastes best when served right away.


Green Tea Soba - Matcha Soba

Posted on July 20, 2010 at 7:21 PM Comments comments (2)


Humidityy 52%
Gozen Soba Flour  400 grams
Wheat flour: 100 grams
Seasoning: Matcha powder 3% of weight of the flour
Water: 52% (boiling water)

Most soba you can get at the market or restaurant is made with buckwheat flour mixed with some wheat flour. But when a seasoning like Matcha is added to soba, it becomes Kawari soba. Kawari means variationThe seasoninng can be a vegetable or a fruit.  On some festive occasions, seafood like shrimp is used to make a cheerful red soba.  The possibilities are many but Matcha is probably the most popular Kawari soba.

I've been wanting to make Kawari soba for a long time. But with what seasoning was the question. I thought of making it with Yuzu, but I missed the chance during wintertime. Then came spring and I saw someone make Kawari soba, using pickled cherry blossoms.  The hint of pink in the noodles, the salty taste and the perfume of the flowers made the noodles very attractive.  But before I got around to getting the pickled cherry blossoms, summer came. But that's okay.  I decided to make my Kawari soba with Matcha powder, which is readily available at Japanese markets or on-line.

Gozen flour, also called Sarashina flour, is used for making Kawari soba.  This soba flour is made with the core part of the milled buckwheat seed. The texture is smooth and fine but on its own, Gozen flour has very little flavor or nutrients. That's where the seasonings come in to brighten it up.  

Matcha soba was the treat I got whenever I visited my great aunt and uncle in Setagaya, a suburb in Tokyo. They always ordered in the soba for lunch, and with it came a big shrimp tempura.  Come to think of it, maybe it was the shrimp tempura that I was more interested in than the matcha soba but the combination of this dish plus me being there alone with my relatives made this occasion super special.   

A little can of Matcha powder cost me an alarming $18 at Nijiya market but I had to have it to make this soba and I used about half of the can. Dealing with matcha powder can be messy if you spill it on your cutting board or get it on your white shirt. But I like how jade green these noodles turned out.  I can say that despite my anticipation, however, I couldn't  taste the Matcha flavor in the noodles all that much.  Maybe the Matcha soba I ate when I was a gril tasted more intense because I was younger. I am also too familiar with matcha tea, having sat in many of my grandmother's tea ceremonies. I expected my matcha soba to be more fragrant.   Akila Inouye suggested serving the matcha powder on the side and let people sprinkle it over plain white gozen noodles.  He thinks this is a more effective way to taste matcha than putting it into the dough.  That is an option but then it would take away the fun of making these green noodles.  In all honesty, I got  spoiled by the nutty flavor of plain buckwheat noodles that if I had a choice between plain and Kawari soba, I would choose the plain.  It was an interesting excercise though. Sakai liked the color of the noodles, and ate a plateful. I would make kawarisoba again, maybe with shiso or yuzu next time.  

Gozen flour comes from the inner part of the milled seed.
It's the finest flour. It's basically like white rice. It is not particularly
rich in nutrients but it's has a pearly white color when cooked into
noodles, and the texture is smooth.

Kawari soba is mixed with hot water.  A fan is used to cool
off the hot water quickly, so as not to dry out the flour.

I use a traditional wooden shamoji paddle and artisanal fan.
I adore my Japanese kitchen tools. The 4x 6 are used to raise 
the kneading bowl to speed up the cooling process.

The fan in action.

The soba dough with matcha powder.  The green color looks delicious. 
It's a gigantic green kiss.  Hershey should come up with Matcha Kisses.
I bet people would love it.

The dough is on the softer side compared to regular soba dough.

I put uchiko (soba flour) to prevent the dough from sticking.

I fold the dough two more times.

The dough is ready to be cut.
I use the dull edge of the knife to scoop up the noodles.

The noodles are ready to be cooked.


I cooked the noodles for 1 minute.  A quick rinse in cold water
and then I shocked the noodles in ice water. 

Voila! Matcha noodles ready to be served with a dipping sauce
and condiments - grated daikon radish and sliced negi.

On a Galette roll - My First Arabiki Galette

Posted on July 20, 2010 at 11:44 AM Comments comments (0)


Buckwheat galette with maple syrup

On Sunday, I made Breton Galettes, using stone milled Japanese soba flour. They came out so nice that last night, around 10 pm, I suddenly felt hungry for more.  It was actually the perfect time to crave for them because I can make the batter in the evening, and let it rest in the fridge overnight.  Yes, it would be awhile before I can eat the galette but this batter does improve with some resting, just like people. 

The flour I used to make these galettes is very special.  I milled the buckwheat seeds myself, using a German engineered electric  Howa's grain miller , which is a marvelous machine to make wholegrain flour.  I had never used a mill in my life until I started milling flour at the Tsukiji Soba Academy this winter, and let me tell you,  milling flour can become an obsession.  

Whole grain buckwheat flour is called Arabiki.  It contains all the nutrients in the flour so it's the healthiest way to enjoy the seed, and while Arabiki is quite grainy in texture and difficult to handle, especially when making soba noodles, the flavor is unbeatable. 

Post note: Was it worth the wait?  You bet.  I ate three galettes!



For this recipe, I used butter.  Between oil and butter, I like the flavor of butter in these galettes better.  I love butter period but be careful, butter tends to burn so don't turn the heat too high.  


Galettes in the making
Recipe:

Serves 2


1/4 (1/2 stick) cup butter or vegetable oil

3/4 cups buckwheat flour, preferably stone milled soba flour

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

1 cup whole milk


Maple Syrup or powdered sugar


If you tilt the pan while the batter is runny, you can achieve a

nice round galette shape.

Preparation:

If using butter, melt the butter in a small saucepan and set aside to cool.


In a large bowl, sift together the buckwheat flour, all-purpose flour and salt. Make a well in the center.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg and the milk, and gradually add it into the flour to make a smooth batter.

Add half of the melted butter or oil, an d mix well. Allow to stand in the fridge for at least 1 hour or overnight.


Just before cooking, stir and check the consistency of the batter. It should be like thin cream. If necessary, add more milk to achieve the right consistency. Use the remaining butter or oil to coat the pan.

 

Heat a cast iron skillet or non-stick pan over med-high heat. Sprinkle a few drops of water on the pan.

Brush with melted butter or oil.  Lower heat to a medium.


Using a ladle, pour enough batter into the skillet to make a gallete, about 5-6 inches in diameter.

Loosen the edges of the crepe with a metal spatula. Turn the galette over when one side is cooked, and brown on the edges. Unlike pancakes, galettes will not rise and will remain thin.


Cook the other side until lightly brown, about a minute and slide it out onto a plate. Repeat with the remaining batter.


Serve like you would pancakes, with maple syrup or powdered sugar.



Buckwheat crepes - Breton Galette

Posted on July 18, 2010 at 3:28 PM Comments comments (0)




Breton Galettes



I can eat soba everyday, but there are other ways to enjoy buckwheat flour.  The French make a delicious buckwheat pancake called galettes.  A few years ago, I spent the whole summer at my friend Caroline Forbes' farm in Becavin, which is a small village in Brittany not far from the walled city of St. Malo.  This region is known for their galettes.  Galettes are much larger in size than crepes, and usually served with some type of filling, such as ham, cheese, onions, mushrooms or a sweet filling like honey, chocolate, etc.  Caroline made me this dish on the day I arrived to Becavin; we also tasted gallettes in the nearby villages.  I got hooked. Galletes are delicious with a cold glass of cidre, a sparkling apple cider; it's a typical Breton beverage.  


My galette in this picture is made with stone milled Japanese soba flour. I made them for my friend Mimi who was visiting from Kansas city. I served these galettes like pancakes, with hot maple syrup. They are also nice with powdered sugar. Mimi also wanted to try my soba noodles, so I cooked those, too.  Our breakfast turned into a brunch.


Recipe:

Serves 3


 

1/4 (1/2 stick) cup butter or vegetable oil

3/4 cups buckwheat flour, preferably stone milled soba flour

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

1 cup whole milk


Preparation

If using butter, melt the butter in a small saucepan and set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, sift together the buckwheat flour, all-purpose flour and salt. Make a well in the center.

 

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg and the milk, and gradually add it into the flour to make a smooth batter.

Add half of the melted butter or oil, an d mix well.  Allow to stand in the fridge for 1 hour.


Just before cooking, stir and check the consistency of the batter. It should be like thin cream. If necessary, add more milk to achieve the right consistency. Use the remaining butter or oil to coat the pan.


Heat a cast iron skillet or non-stick pan over med-high heat. Sprinkle a few drops of water on the pan.

Brush with melted butter or oil.


Using a ladle, pour enough batter into the skillet to make a crepe, about 5-6 inches in diameter.   

Loosen the edges of the crepe with a metal spatula. Turn the crepe over when one side is cooked, and brown on the edges.  Unlike pancakes, buckwheat crepes will not rise and will remain thin.


Cook the other side until lightly brown, about a minute and slide it out onto a plate. Repeat with the remaining batter.


To serve:

Serve like you would serve pancakes.  I had butter and maple syrup on the table.  Also, some mixed fruit and yogurt. 



Roses in a Mexican Copper Vase

Posted on July 17, 2010 at 10:09 PM Comments comments (0)









Another dog day afternoon

Posted on July 15, 2010 at 11:59 PM Comments comments (0)










Soba Noodle Chips

Posted on July 15, 2010 at 12:03 AM Comments comments (2)






While making soba for lunch today,  I made some fried soba chips with fresh dough.  I love these chips. They can be salted or sprinkled with sugar.  I like them with salt.  

It later got scorching hot this afternoon.  I didn't feel like doing much cooking in the evening. And I didn't have to. I found a beautiful fresh Dungenous crab at the market, all cooked and ready to be cracked.  It was a perfect evening to sit outside in the patio to have dinner.  I laid out some newspapers and we had the crab with the freshly made soba chips, cucumber asazuke pickles, and a nice white  wine from Spain - Albarino do Ferreiro(2007) from Galicia.The wine was crispy and fruity.  I love these kinds of easy summer nights.


Recipe:
Enough chips to feed 4 people

8 oz Soba dough -left over from making soba, cut into strips - random is okay
3 cups of vegetable oil

Heat oil to about 320F in a heavy cast iron pan.  Drop 1/4 of the dough into the
heated oil and fry until brown on both sides.  Be Careful not to burn them.
Pat dry on paper towels.  Season with salt or pepper. 

Best served fresh but they also keep well in a sealed container.

Braised Duck Leg with Ginger

Posted on July 13, 2010 at 1:39 AM Comments comments (0)






I never thought I would be cooking with so much duck this year. It all happened because of soba. When I started making my own soba noodles, I acquired a new taste for duck as a topping for soba. Braised Duck with ginger is nothing that resembles a duck confit; it's more like caramels of duck meat. These gingery sweet little cubes of meat make a nice topping, especially on plain cold soba.  Other wheat based noodles and rice work, too.

Fresh duck leg meat is not very expensive, about $5 for two legs at Wholefoods.  With two legs, you can make enough toppings to serve 3 to 4 people.  This dish has lots of ginger so it's quite spicy.  You can cut it back if you prefer a milder flavor.  The last bit of soup is caramelied to give the meat a nice glaze finish.  It keeps in the fridge for about a week, so make a batch.   It also makes a nice appetizer.
Recipe:
Braised Duck Leg With Ginger
Kamo no Shigureni
Makes 2 -4 servings

2 Duck Legs (Kamo no Momo), de-boned
2 -3 tbls, peeled and thinly sliced Ginger (Syoga)
1 tbls Sugar, optional
3 oz Sake (Sake)
10 oz Soba Broth (Kake Jiru)


Chop the duck into ½ cm cubes. Blanch the duck meat in hot water to remove odor.
Drain.

Comine ginger and duck in a medium size pot. Add all the seasonings and cook over low heat until most of he liquid is absorbed and caramelizes the meat.  Let cool to room temperature.  
Serve as toppings for soba or udon. It's delicious at room temperature.



Cut it into even cubes. Leave the fat on the meat for good flavor.

Miso Soup with Peas, Turnip and Pearl Onions

Posted on July 10, 2010 at 12:32 PM Comments comments (0)






We have yet to have a real summer day in Santa Monica.  A cup of coffee is not enough to warm me up in the morning. So here comes the miso soup.  I found some nice fresh peas and pearly onions at the market yesterday. The white pearly onions can be eaten raw. I sliced them into quarters and threw them into my soup along with the peas, turnip, and age-tofu.  No chopsticks here.  The peas sit better in a big spoon. Yummy.

Recipe:

3 1/2 cups Dashi or Dried shitake and konbu seaweed Dashi

3 1/2 to 4 tablespoons Mugi, Koji, white or red miso

1/4 cup, shelled peas

1 age-tofu, sliced into 1/4 inch pieces, crosswise

6 small pearl onions, peeled and quartered

1 baby turnip, sliced into 1/4 inch pieces


 

 

Bring the Dashi and the turnip o a boil in a medium saucepan, then reduce the heat to maintain a simmer for a couple of minutes.  


 

 

In a small bowl, dissolve 3 1/2 tablespoons of the miso paste in a few tablespoons of the warm Dashi. Add the mixture to the saucepan. Taste and add more miso paste, Dashi or water, depending on how strong the soup tastes.

 

 

Add the Age tofu and peas and simmer  for 1 minute. Turn off heat.


Pour the soup into individual bowls.

 

Serve immediately.

 

 

 

 



Brown Rice with Azuki Beans

Posted on July 10, 2010 at 1:41 AM Comments comments (0)


Brown rice with azuki beans served with gomashio

There are several ways to cook brown rice. In our vegan class, we made the rice two ways -in the electric rice cooker and pressure cooker . But unexpectedly, we  had an equipment glitch with both cookers during class. The electric rice cooker didn't get switched on properly (or somebody accidentally pulled the chord out) and the pressure cooker was leaking steam from the side.  We had tested the brown rice before class so we had rice to serve but I hope we don't have this kind of double trouble again.

Akila uses the standard electric rice cooker to cook brown rice. We used my rice cooker that can be set to brown rice cooking.  I  like to use an electric pressure cooker or a donabe rice cooker to cook brown rice.  The textures come out differently depending on what equipment you use.  The electric rice cooker makes a soft  fluffy brown rice. The pressure cooker method keeps the grains nutty and mochi-like in texture, and uses less water to cook.  If you use a donabe rice cooker, the texture is somewhere in between the electric rice cooker and pressure cooker.   The brown rice in this picture was cooked in the rice cooker, Akila's way. I think you will have to experiment on your own to see what you like the best. They are all good, especially with the azuki beans, which adds a tint of red to the rice and azuki flavor.



Soak the rice and azuki beans for 4-6 hours.  

Recipe: Rice with Azuki Beans - Electric Rice Cooker method
Serves 6-8

Brown rice plus 3 tbls of azuki beans to make a total of 2 cups
4 cups water  
1 knob of ginger, peeled and sliced into tiny slivers. This is the hidden ingredient which will disappear into the cooked rice.
Roasted sesame seed topping (Gomashio) Coarse salt – Okinawa salt, Maldon from Britain, Fleur de sel In a very small frying pan, toast coarse salt to reduce its moisture content. Add sesame seeds and toast them, too but be careful not to burn them.

Wash the brown rice really well and drain water completely before adding the measured water.

Soak in 4 cups of water for 4 hours. Cook the rice with measured water and ginger in electric rice cooker.

Garnish rice with roasted sesame seed salt.

Note:

You can also make the rice in a pressure or donabe rice cooker. Follow manufacturer’s instructions for cooking brown rice. The amount of water will vary depending on the cooker you use.

 


Pumpkin, Tofu, and Green Pepper Miso soup

Posted on July 9, 2010 at 3:31 PM Comments comments (0)






I made this miso soup with the intention of keeping the pumpkin in tact but I got distracted and walked away from the stove. When I returned, the pumpkin had overcooked and was beginning to fall apart, so I mashed them and made a puree, and then seasoned it with miso.  I actually enjoyed the flavor of this pumpkin miso soup. The sweetness of the kabocha puree blended nicely with the dashi.  I added some tofu and chopped green pepper from my garden, and  garnished it with sliced Negi. Sliced scallions will work too. I had this soup for breakfast, then for lunch and the last sip for dinner.


Recipe:

3 1/2 cups Dashi or Dried shitake and konbu seaweed Dashi 

3 1/2 to 4 tablespoons Mugi, Koji, white or red miso

1/4 kabocha pumkin, peeled and sliced thinly, 1/4 inch thick bite size pieces

1/2 of tofu, soft or firm.

1/4 green pepper, chopped

1/2  negi, sliced thinly or 1 scallion sliced thinly


 

 

Bring the Dashi and the kabocha to a boil in a medium saucepan, then reduce the heat to maintain a simmer until kabocha is tender and can be mashed into a puree. You should be able to mash the pumkin with a fork.


 

 

In a small bowl, dissolve 3 1/2 tablespoons of the miso paste in a few tablespoons of the warm Dashi. Add the mixture to the saucepan. Taste and add more miso paste, Dashi or water, depending on how strong the soup tastes.


 

 

Add the tofu and green pepper, and simmer 1 minute. Turn off heat.

Pour the soup into individual bowls.

 

 

Sprinkle each bowl with negi.  Serve immediately.

 

 

 

 


Vegetable Tempura - Give it a Fry

Posted on July 8, 2010 at 1:33 PM Comments comments (1)

When it comes to tempura, everyone loves it but some people don't want to bother making it at home because it looks too complicated.  But it really isn't it.  I wrote a story for the Los Angeles Times Food Section today that will give you further insight into the art of making Tempura. Enjoy! (here is the link to the LA Times story and recipes) 



Shishito peppers have pockets full of seeds. Make a slit and

remove the seeds before frying to keep them from popping

in the oil and creating unpleasant oil spills.


Asparagus is a good vegetable to practice making tempura.


For more, please read my story in the LA Times.

Salmon Rice Balls -Shake no Onigiri

Posted on July 7, 2010 at 2:47 PM Comments comments (0)




I made three cups of rice last night but we didn't get around to eating it.  When I got up this morning, I remembered that I had some left over grilled salmon from yesterday's lunch. The rice in the rice cooker was kept warm, so I tossed the salmon into the rice and mixed it to make Salmon Rice.  Then made Onigiri - rice balls. It was delicious.  The best way to eat Onigiri is to wrap them in crispy nori seaweed.  I ate one onigiri for breakfast.  I could have easily eaten another one but left the others for Sakai for lunch.

Simply put the torn grilled salmon into the rice and mix it.

Divide the salmon rice into three mounds, using one cup of
rice for each rice ball. 

Wet your hands so the rice doesn't stick to them. Make onigiri, using your palm and fingers to press the rice together.  Go for a triangle shape but
round is okay too. Wrap the onigiri in nori seaweed if you like.

To get more instructions on how to make Onigiri, read my old story.

View Older Posts »

Rss_feed

Send to a friend

Share on Facebook

Share on Facebook

Upcoming Events/Workshops

August 21-29 Soba Workshop

Santa Monica

http://www.mazumizu.com