bbq season

The weather has been behaving recently which has allowed us to enjoy the evenings and to finally fire up the grill. For the first BBQ of the season, I decided to throw together some kebabs. Chicken and salmon (obviously) were the meats of choice. I marinated the chicken overnight in a Ziploc bag. The salmon kebabs only need to be marinated 30 minutes in advance. I grilled the kebabs for about approximately 15-18 minutes, flipping only once. And by "I", I mean Will. :) Salmon Marinade Soy Sauce (1/4 cup) Sesame Oil (1/4 cup) Chopped garlic (3 tbsp) Sesame seeds (optional) Chicken Marinade Olive Oil (1/2 cup) Chopped garlic (3 tbsp) Chopped Basil (1/4 cup) Salt & pepper (to taste)

miso glazed cod

With a partially used miso paste package in the fridge, I've been pondering what it could be used for besides an endless supply of miso soup. The first time I had miso cod was at Nobu. Having said that, I assumed I would never be able to replicate the dish. Apparently, it's not as complicated as I thought, pretty much the exact opposite. I love simple! Actually, I should probably clarify. The following recipe is nobu-"inspired." Miso Glazed Cod Ingredients: Atlantic Cod (1 pound) Brown miso paste (5 tbsp) Honey (3 tbsp) Brown Sugar (2 tbsp) Sesame Oil (1 tbsp) Mirin (1 tbsp) Sesame seeds (optional) 1) Mix together miso paste, honey, brown sugar, sesame oil, and mirin. Spread the mixture over the cod. Sprinkle sesame seeds and let marinate for about 20 minutes. 2) Bake the cod at 425 for 15-20 minutes or until fish is thoroughly cooked throughout. I also cooked up some baby bok choy and lots of garlic to serve w/ the cod. Nom nom nom!

homeade dashi

Who knew making dashi could be so simple to make? No more using instant dashi powder. Good dashi is the key to a plethora of Japanese dishes. This opens up a new realm of cooking for me. The best thing is there's only 3 ingredients needed for basic dashi. I'm all for minimalist cooking! Basic Dashi Ingredients: Dried kelp (10 x 6 inches) Bonito flakes (1 cup) Water (8 cups) 1) In a pot, soak kelp in water for 30 minutes. 2) Once soaked, bring the water to a boil. Instantly remove the kelp. 3) Throw in the bonito flakes and let sit for 20 minutes on low heat. Drain. There you have it! Add some miso paste, cubed tofu, and seaweed, and you've just made homemade miso soup sans the sweat. With the dashi, I also ended up making Oyako Donburi (Oyakodon) which is a Japanese dish comprised of chicken and egg over rice. Itadakimasu!

salmon tartare

Hands down, salmon wins the contest for my favorite fish. It's almost embarrassing b/c it's come to the point where my friends and I will order a sushi boat and they won't touch the salmon. You guys know who you are. Really, it's okay to eat the last salmon nigiri. Or is it? :) You can prepare salmon baked, steamed, grilled, seared, or raw. They're all good in my book, which brings me to the point of this post, Salmon Tartare. (Was that a run-on sentence?) I desperately scour every restaurant's menu for this appetizer/starter. Lucky for me, this blog has inspired me to challenge myself to learn how to prepare some of my favorite dishes. I attempted to make salmon tartare a couple of days ago. Salmon Tartare Ingredients: Sushi-grade Salmon (1 pound) Olive oil 2 shallots 1 lemon Cilantro (2 tbsp) Chives (2 tbsp) Salt & pepper (to taste) 1) Cut the salmon into small cubes. Pour olive oil over the salmon so each piece is lightly covered. Add a pinch of freshly ground salt & pepper. Place in the fridge. (Try to handle the fish w/ your hands as little as possible.) 2) Dice/mince the shallots, chives, and cilantro and grate the zest of the lemon. Add the juice of the lemon to a small bowl. 3) Mix the shallots, chives, cilantro, and lemon zest to the salmon cubes. Pour the lemon juice over the tartare right before serving. Why is it that the only thing I blog about is food?

mochi madness

Can I just post a recipe? Is that blog-appropriate? I'm new to this and I don't think anybody reads my blog anyway so I'm just gonna get straight to the point. Here goes! Daifuku Mochi Ingredients: Glutinous rice flour (2 cups) Sugar (3/4 cup) Water (1 3/4 cup) Red bean paste (1 can) Cornstarch 1) Roll small round-shape pieces of red bean paste w/ your hands. Place on wax paper and place in the fridge to harden while working on the batter. 2) In a bowl, mix together the glutinous rice flour, sugar, and water thoroughly w/ a wire whisk. Steam for 35 minutes. 3) Find a flat working surface and sprinkle w/ cornstarch. After the mixture has been steamed and is cool enough to handle, remove from the bowl. Mold small pieces of the dough into flat circles and place a red bean piece in the center. Fold the dough around the red bean so that it's fully enclosed. Remember to coat your hands w/ cornstarch as the dough will be annoyingly sticky. While you are working w/ the mochi, cover the remaining dough w/ a damp cloth. I also made some plain mochi w/o the red bean filling. This should make about 25-30 mochi. Enjoy!!

kaiseki at sushi taro

I'm obsessed w/ a lot of things. Sushi is one of them. For Valentine's Day, Will treated me to dinner at Sushi Taro in Dupont. They were only serving their Kaiseki set menu. It was 9 courses of authentic Japanese perfection. Surprisingly one of my favorite dishes was the goma tofu w/ uni. Usually I think uni (sea urchin) tastes like "farm" if you can imagine that. Not that I've ever tasted an entire farm but I've always thought this. Luckily, this one didn't taste farmish. Another of my favorites was the sukiyaki w/ kobe beef. That was an entire meal in itself and they served it right at the end, before dessert. Stuffed. Will's favorite was the kasu-jiru soup. I really liked that it had mochi in it. I never had savory mochi before but it was surprising in a good way. My pictures don't do justice of the presentation of their dishes but they'll have to do. I'm happy to say that Sushi Taro isn't just another overpriced sushi restaurant. I can tell a lot of dedication went into each one of their dishes. I definitely appreciate that.

kimchi guo tie

Let me preface this post by saying I'm no Rachel Ray or Giada de Laurentiis. The only thing I probably have in common w/ them is that I like to eat. With that said, once in a while I like to experiment in the kitchen. Yesterday, I decided to try my hand at making guo tie (chinese potstickers). My friend was having a Chinese New Year potluck last night so I thought this would be fit for the occasion. Ingredients: Filling: Ground Pork (1 pound) 5 cloves of Garlic Kimchi (1 cup) Green onions (1/2 cup) Sesame oil (1 tsp) Soy sauce (1 tbsp) Rice vinegar (1 tsp) Cornstarch (1 tsp) Sugar (1 tsp) 1 large egg Salt & pepper (to taste) Remaining ingredients: Gyoza wrappers Water Vegetable oil 1) Filling: Chop/mince kimchi, green onions, and garlic. Place ground pork into a large bowl and combine w/ the rest of the filling ingredients. Mix thoroughly w/ hands or preferably a food processor. 2) Wrapping the Dumplings: Take one gyoza wrapper at a time and place a generous tsp. of filling in the center. Use a small amount of water to seal the dumplings. 3) Cooking: Pour a small amount of vegetable oil in a nonstick pan. Once hot, place about 8-10 dumplings at a time. Fry for about 1-2 minutes until the bottoms of the guotie are browned. Throw in a half cup of water and cover the pan. Let steam for about 6-8 minutes until all of the water has evaporated and pork is fully cooked. I was able to make about 35 dumplings w/ these ingredients but this will vary. Enjoy! Gong hay fat choy!