Two Bean Chili

 

The first chilly autumn days have arrived!

Fall is my favorite time of year- I love the cool weather, changing leaves, football, and sweaters. I also love transitioning into fall foods. Yesterday was the perfect day for a slow cooker pot of chili- I soaked black and kidney beans overnight and tossed them into the slow cooker with a bay leaf and a bunch of water in the morning. Canned beans truly have nothing on dried- the flavor and texture is so much better, and the amount of effort that dried beans take is minimal. Bonus- it's better for the environment (less shipping weight and packaging), and better for your health (no BPA lined cans, etc.). At lunchtime I sauteed an onion and some garlic and drained the beans, then put the beans back into the slow cooker with the onion, garlic, two cans of crushed tomatoes, a bit of water, and a liberal amount of cumin, chili powder, cayenne, basil, and oregano. Total preparation time- less than 10 minutes. By the end of the day the house smelled fantastic, and I threw together a quick batch of cornbread around 5:30 pm. I love trying new chili recipes, but this is my own stand by favorite. The best part was the huge hug I got from little dude, who proclaimed chili his favorite and thanked me for cooking "such yummy food." The greatest!

 

Shrimp and Grits

 

Soon I will be moving back to the U.S. All packing and moving stresses aside, this means I'm trying to go through my pantry and finish up any foodstuffs sitting around. Enter the last cup of a bag of polenta, or grits. I have a complete soft spot in my heart for polenta- I like it soft, grilled, sauteed, really anyway. Although I'm not really a fan of corn or other corn products, polenta is high on my list. It is easy to make, versatile, and relatively healthy. I also had half a bag of seafood mix in the freezer- so the natural result was Shrimp and Grits. I invented a recipe from looking at a few photos online, so I'm not sure how authentic this is, but is was amazingly tasty.

 

 

While the polenta cooked, I sauteed garlic, onion, and two peppers in olive oil for a few minutes. I then added the seafood mixture, a copious amount of cayenne, a dash of black pepper, basil, and oregano, some broth, and a dash of dried spring onions. After a few minutes I also included a healthy amount of Tabasco sauce and a bit of white wine, and let the mixture cook for another five minutes. I topped the polenta with the veggie and seafood mixture, allowing the broth to form a spicy sauce. The smell was heavenly, and taste perfect. Definitely a new addition to the regular menu!

 

Greek Stew

 

It seems like it's been a while since I've posted about a recipe. This isn't for a lack of food in my life (believe me!), but between traveling and family visits I haven't really had anything new going on in the kitchen. Enter tonight's meal of Greek Stew. This recipe was inspired by one I saw on Budget Bytes, a food blog that I frequently peruse for ideas. I modified the recipe a bit, partially due to available ingredients and partially because I was too lazy to actually reference the internet while shopping or cooking, but if you look at the original, it's not too different. This dinner got a big kiddo seal of approval (as in, let's eat this again tomorrow night), and was super easy to make, so a win-win.

First off, I sauteed a clove of garlic and a small onion in olive oil for a few minutes. Then I added a serving (one tin) of chopped wheat gluten as a chicken substitute, and a very generous amount of dried oregano. Next came a can of diced tomatoes, and a package of salad beans (soy, kidney, lima, and a mystery bean that I didn't look up before tossing the package, this was my Japanese substitute product for chickpeas), a splash of white wine, and about a 1/4 cup of water, plus sprinklings of basil and thyme, salt and pepper. I let it simmer on low heat for about half an hour while the rice and stock cooked away in the rice cooker. I served it with fresh parsley, cubes of feta (so expensive here, but totally worth it!), and a side of Greek olives. For a bigger meal or a dinner party it would be great with sides of pita and grilled veggies like eggplant or red peppers, a cucumber salad, or perhaps a veggie dip appetizer. Yum!

 

Red Beans and Rice

 

It's Mardi Gras! This isn't a thing at all here in Japan, but in honor of the holiday I made Louisiana-style Red Beans and Rice for dinner tonight. Kidney beans, onions, garlic, green peppers, spices, and simmered for three hours. It was complete perfection mixed in with rice and topped with spring onions. I wanted to make a tri-color slaw, but couldn't find the right veggies at my neighborhood market (the big supermarket is a bit further afield), so I improvised with tri-color pickles to represent the purple, green, and yellow of New Orleans. While the pickles made it a bit of a cultural mash-up, their crispy vinegar flavors made a nice contrast with the texture of the beans.

Miso glazed salmon

 

I've been really into variations on this basic combination lately- rice, greens, fish. Today it was garlic bok choi with a hint of mirin, and miso glazed salmon. The fish that we can get here is amazing- the quality is phenomenal, the cuts are fresh, and the price is cheap. I got this large piece of salmon at the grocery store for about $3. Prices are slightly higher at my local fishmonger, but I also know that when I buy from them the fish came from the famed Tsukiji Fish Market that morning. Plus with the fishmonger I'm supporting a local business, and I get conversation, fish-related advice, and free samples to boot. But sometimes they are closed, and sometimes I have other things going on, which was the case today. I marinated the salmon in an impromptu blend of about 2 parts white miso, 2 parts sake, 2 parts mirin, 1 part soy sauce, a few drops of sesame oil, and a liberal heap of powdered ginger. It was the perfect blend of sweet and savory, and the nicest addition to a great piece of salmon.

Holiday Party- Egg Nog, Toffee, and Bruschetta

 

This past weekend I had a party for a group of friends here in Tokyo. It was a pot luck of drinks and snacks, and I provided egg nog, toffee, and bruschetta.

Egg nog is a holiday tradition in my family, but something that is not commercially available in Japan, so I decided to make it myself. It wasn't too difficult, but the beating of the eggs would definitely have been easier with a stand mixer. I started with 8 yolks, which I beat until they turned a lighter color of yellow. I then added about half a cup of sugar and mixed for a while longer. Add 2 cups of cream, 1000 milliliters of milk, and stir some more.

 

 

Then comes the good part- an entire bottle of whiskey. Our tradition is Southern Comfort, and many people use bourbon, but I went with the resources at hand.

 

 

Two tablespoons of nutmeg.

 

 

And the final step, beating 8 egg whites until they form stiff peaks, and then add another half cup of sugar. The egg nog was creamy and smooth, and the whiskey was hidden beneath all of the layers of dairy and spice. I will definitely be making another, though smaller, batch before Christmas.

 

 

I wanted to provide some sweets, but my tiny microwave-convection oven doesn't really lend itself to baking cookies. I went with a homemade toffee topped with chocolate- one batch with peanuts, one without. Toffee is just butter, sugar, salt, and water, so it is quite simple to prepare in the microwave, then pouring out onto a sheet of foil to harden. Melt some chocolate and pour on the top, and there it is. 

 

 

And finally, something savory- bruschetta. Something I realized in brainstorming appetizers is that so many holiday appetizers that we make in the US have cheese in them, something that is quite expensive and hard to come by here in Japan. I opted for roasting tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper, and basil in the oven for about an hour, until the tomatoes were roasted enough to crush easily into the olive oil. Mix it all together and it's an easy bruschetta or pasta sauce. 

Hope your holiday parties are full of joy and warmth this season!

 

Spinach Mushroom Tart

 

Tonight I'm going to a Thanksgiving party at a friend's house, and I offered to bring something with leafy greens in it. One of the challenges of cooking abroad isn't necessarily finding things you like, or adapting your cooking, but rather I find the challenge to be in the moments when I'm trying to cook American-style food, or cook things that are easy to prepare at home. Enter the tart. Enter my oven.

In my apartment I have a combination microwave-toaster-convection oven. It is the size of a small American microwave. I also own one large pyrex measuring cup, and one pyrex pie pan, both of which I inherited from friends moving back to the States. My usual pie/tart crust is a Pate Brisee, and my usual method is made on a large marble board with a rolling pin- two things I don't have. Instead I found a recipe for an easy dough (click here), that consisted of cooking together water, oil, sugar, salt, and butter. The recipe said for about 15 minutes, but mine took more like 25. Add flour, mix, and it worked to create a crust! Magic. Meanwhile, I chopped a mixture of three mushrooms, some garlic, and onion. This is a Japan bonus- there is a great variety of mushrooms here that are very inexpensive.

 

 

The crust was pinched into the pie pan, and then I baked it for about 20 minutes, twice as long as the recipe said, but it looked good.

 

 

I sauteed the mushrooms, onion, and garlic together with some spinach and a liberal amount of basil and some sage. Unfortunately I couldn't find thyme in my neighborhood, and didn't take the time to go to an import grocer.

 

 

I mixed the veggies with an egg and some heavy cream, stirred in grated Parmesan, salt, and pepper, and baked for about 30 minutes. Voila! The apartment smells heavenly, and I now know a shortcut for tart or pie crust. I can't wait to see how it tastes!

 

Thanksgiving

 

Cheese!

 

It's a Fulbright Japan Thanksgiving! Although I spent most of the day working on research, Ti and I had a lovely dinner here to celebrate the holiday. We splurged on imported cheese, had some great wine, and a salad, as well as a homemade pumpkin-sage cream sauce pasta, and a store-bought chocolate chiffon cake. I hope that you have much to be thankful for this year, I know I do.

 

 

Thanksgiving dinner, plus my foot.

 

 

Cheese! (of a different sort than above)

 

 

Pumpkin sage cream sauce pasta.

  

 

Store bought dessert. YUM. 

Shimachu Fishmonger 島忠魚屋

 

Shimachu Fishmonger, Kajiwara, Kita-ku, Tokyo, 

amazing fish and fun conversation.

 I think I may have to change the name of my blog to fishyhiker. 

Today was mostly a Skype-with-the-fam-work-from-home Sunday, but I stepped out to run some errands and pick up some groceries in the late afternoon and early evening hours. I've long spied the fishmonger in my neighborhood, and today the selections in the case were so appealing, that I finally stopped by. My only wish is that I had done so sooner.

 

 

 Here, fishy, fishy. 

 

 

 I need to up my Japanese fish vocabulary.

 I selected the beautiful, but not so adventurous, toro (fatty tuna) from the case. The fishmonger then proceeded to engage me in conversation- asking where I'm from, what do I do in Japan, all the usual questions. He then invited me around the case and started giving me samples, telling me how to prepare certain fish, why they are popular, what's good and in season today, it was a rapid-fire crash course in Japanese seafood. I should have taken notes. I sampled a house-made veggie and fish dish first (you can see it at the bottom of the photo below). It was so wonderfully awkward- he held out a bunch on a chopstick, but I didn't know how to get it to my mouth (!), so we laughed and he gave me a towel to wipe my hands, and then I proceeded to eat it from my hand. It was delectable- slightly acidic from the mirin it was coated with (that softens the veggies and fish), with a bit of a kick from red peppers, and the density of the fish (I think saba, or mackerel), was nicely contrasted with the carrots and daikon. My next sample was the squid and squid ink that you see him holding below. After I got past the oddity of the pure black lump, I tasted it and it was even better than the other sample. Slightly salty, but really smooth and dense. The freshness was apparent in the taste. I need to integrate this into my cooking, and soon. Like, tomorrow. It was also funny to have squid ink on my hands, it is so black! The rest of the family was in the back of the shop, and we all chatted for a few minutes about the daughter's trip to America (Hawaii), and what Chicago is like, how I like Japan, and what my research is about. I paid for my toro, and my new pal threw in a huge bag of the veggie fish dish as a bonus. Kajiwara and Shimachu Fishmonger for the win.

 

Samples of deliciousness. 

Fall Soba 秋そば

 

Well, the temperatures today were high (low 80s, yuk), but last week we experienced some lovely cool fall weather, which had me thinking about autumn dishes. Most days I pass by a soba and udon restaurant in Uguisudani Station that currently has a poster up for fall flavors. One of the things the poster advertises is an autumn mushroom soba, which sounds so earthy and warm, highlighting my favorite parts of my favorite season. I decided to try my hand at it, and so I present, Fall Soba.

First, I stir-fried the mushrooms in a slight bit of oil, adding soy sauce and a hint of mirin, as well as some chopped garlic. I hard boiled two eggs while cooking the veggies. I then added a bunch of spinach to the stir-fry, and cooked the soba noodles.

 

 

To complete, I added a simple broth to the drained noodles, as well as the veggies, one of the eggs, some nori, and a big helping of grated daikon. The daikon added a bit of zip to the otherwise rich and savory dish. Next time I will likely add a bit of sliced spring onion as well. My new favorite fall dish!

 

Sara udon 皿うどん

 

Sara udon, or Nagasaki udon, is a favorite dish of mine. Similar to chow mein, it's easy to make, and can be customized to one's taste. I generally like to use cabbage, carrot, yellow peppers, mushrooms, and tofu, but any veggie or seafood combination works. Above, stir-frying the veggies, below, fried tofu.

 

 

The package of noodles and gravy that I used, Kata yakisoba. Some day I will learn how to make this dish from scratch, but until then (and until I have a deep fryer for the noodles), the packages available at the market are quite tasty.

 

 

 The gravy and veggies, getting ready to mix with the fried noodles.

  

When added to the noodles, the warm veggies and gravy soften the noodles, making for a delightful cool weather dinner. This dish seems to lie somewhere between Chinese and Japanese food- it's a specialty of Nagasaki, but was originally inspired by Chinese food. To my palate, the gravy of sara udon is lighter than that of chow mein, and the noodles are thinner, plus there are a greater variety of veggies, I think of chow mein as being mostly cabbage, sprouts, and chicken.

 

Udon うどん

 

 Earlier this week I made a big batch of curry. To mix up the leftovers (of which there were a lot), I bought a 3-pack of udon noodles. Tonight I used one of the packages to make kakiage udon with kakiage that I picked up from the supermarket on my way home. Not having a deep fryer, I can't easily make my own kakiage, but the mixture of diced veggies fried into a fritter of sorts is readily available here. I cooked the udon, added it to a simple light Kansai-style broth, and topped it with spring onions, serving with a side of tsukemono (pickles). Although I love the doughy consistency of udon, the real reason to eat this meal is as a vehicle for shichimi togarashi, a savory and slightly spicy mixture of seven spices.

 

Tuna and Wasabi 鮪とわさび

 

Today while walking home from an afternoon of working at the coffee shop, I came across a new (to me) grocery store. This is the fancy kind of grocery store- the one with.... wait for it... taco shells, imported cheese, and real salad mix (as in not iceberg lettuce or cabbage slaw). Oh, the joy. I haven't been here quite long enough to be craving such import goods, but I did pick up some fresh tuna for dinner, along with fresh spinach. I stir fried the spinach with garlic, prepared some white rice with shiso furikake, and briefly cooked the tuna with a generous coating of pepper. I then made a light sauce of Japanese mayo and wasabi, with a hint of soy sauce, and grated up some daikon to place under the fish. 

Dinner 晩御飯

 

Tonight I cooked my first meal in my apartment. 

It's been a hectic two days of starting work, getting business cards made, getting furniture delivered, acquiring groceries, and generally settling into life. I've been eating from the convenience store, something that I would not consider in any other country, but which is pretty acceptable and relatively healthy here. Of course, I'm concerned about chemicals and processed additives, and generally prefer to cook my own food, so it felt really good to be in the kitchen.

I started simple with a Tuna Rice Bowl- white rice, egg, tuna, soy sauce, and mirin stir fried together and then topped with Japanese mayo and cut nori. I cheated and bought the hijiki side dish prepared from the market. This simple rice bowl is a staple in our house in the US, and makes a great lunch. Plus, it's a nice base to which a variety of vegetables can be added.

 

 

Tuna Rice Bowl how to:

For one person, I generally make 1 cup of rice, which gives me a meal plus leftovers. This amount also works to make a portion for myself and one for my small kiddo. The dish highlights rice, so it really needs to be a quality sushi rice.

Once the rice is completed (in a rice cooker), heat a small amount of vegetable oil in a skillet or wok pan.

Crack one egg into the pan and add a dash of mirin. Scramble for a brief second and add a can of tuna (preferably flake, no salt, packed in water). I often make this dish without the tuna as well.

Before the egg sets, add the cooked rice and a few dashes of soy sauce to taste. Turn the heat off and mix everything together.

Serve with the topping of your choice- I like plain nori, but any furikake will do, and there are a variety readily found at any Japanese market, or you could make it yourself (here). I also like Japanese mayo (kewpie!), as it provides a bit of tang, and helps to keep everything together.

Greens

We had a bumper crop of kale this year. With unusually cooler temperatures,  and lots of rain, there are more greens than we can keep up with. This week we made Creamed Indian Farmer Greens with some of the 

harvest. Adding paneer (cheese), browned onions, and spices, as well as a finish of cream makes the otherwise tough kale smooth and savory. We served it with curried potatoes and saffron rice for a lovely summer meal. 

The weekend in photos

It was a great summer weekend-  marked by amazing food, great drinks,  time spent with family,  and time spent outdoors. A few photos sum it up nicely- margaritas,  farmers market veggies,  a magical little door discovered while biking the neighborhood, good local beer,  and a Sunday KC-style veggie cookout. Happy summer!