Ramblings

Dinner tonight

Even though I'm so not a vegetarian, I frequently enjoy a vegetarian meal. Tonight was one of those nights.

Saturday is my Farmer's Market day. I love going there in spite of the crowds. There was a woman selling sweet corn. She said they were experimenting with a new kind. I bought a bag of 12 ears for $6. The Kona abalone people were grilling abalone so I couldn't resist trying two small grilled morsels for $5. They were delicious...I wished I had a glass of champagne to go with. I replenished my supply of salsa with spicy pickles from Andy, purchased beeyooteeful tomatoes and beets with the tops, of course.

So back to the vegetarian meal. I always have tons of food in the fridge and in the pantry. If there is a crisis, drop by and we can feed the masses. I looked for the oldest living thing and it was a half head of red cabbage. Perfect!

I sauteed the cabbage with pear vinegar and a bit of cinnamon sugar (leftover from a friend's major snicker doodle event). Then added some chopped and roasted hazelnuts. If you follow me on Facebook, you might have seen the mobile photo of our radishes. I chopped some up and added them with salt and pepper. Topped that off with crumbled goat cheese. Kris loves red cabbage so I knew he'd like this dish.

The corn on the cob was left in the husks and roasted in a 350 degree oven for thirty minutes. They were the sweetest, most tender corn kernels ever. Loved that with a little butter and chile salt. Yimmy!

Misoyaki scallops

For Valentine's Day, I made misoyaki scallops for Kris. No photo. I'm always so anxious to start scarfing food that I don't think about photos until the dish has been ravaged. Anyway, I loved the misoyaki sauce.

1/4 Cup sake
1/4 Cup mirin
2 T Soy sauce
1 Cup miso (I used red)

Put the sake, mirin and soy sauce in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat and add the miso. Combine well.

Marinate the scallops in the sauce (I did for three hours) and grill. Yimmy!!

Cranbery Chutney

I make this every Thanksgiving.  It's my mom's recipe:

Two 12 oz. packages of cranberries
8 oz. candied lemon peel
Two fresh pears - seeded and chopped
1 1/2 cups of sugar

Combine cranberries, pear, sugar, lemon peel in a large saucepan.  Heat, stirring constantly, to boiling, cover.  Cook 5 minutes or just until juice start to flow;  lightly skim off foam with spoon.  Simmer, uncovered, 15 minutes or until cranberries and pears are tender; pour into bowl.  Cool, then cover and chill.

This freezes well if you have leftovers.

Cabbage Soup from the Cabbage Soup Diet - my version

We're up here in Volcano Village on the Big Island and it's chilly enough to warrant the making of soup.  This is surprisingly flavorful and can be put together in less than an hour.  The recipe is my version of Judith Barrett's version of the cabbage soup recipe for the cabbage soup diet.  There is no way I'm going on the diet.  I'm just eating the soup!

Cabbage Soup

1/2 Head of cabbage - cored and sliced
One fennel bulb - bite size pieces
Two celery stalks - sliced thinly
1/2 round onion
Five ginger slices
One 14.5 oz. can of chopped tomatoes
Five cups of water or stock
Kosher salt and cracked pepper to taste
1/4 fresh lemon
1/4 c. chopped fresh herbs - basil, fennel fronds, parsley

Put all ingredients through the water/stock into the pot and simmer for 45 minutes.  If you like your veggies crunchier, simmer to taste.  Then add salt, pepper, and lemon to taste.  Add the fresh herbs right before you serve.

Serves four.

Winter Well-Being

This is from the Food Network website for the  New Year:

	Eat your fruit and veggies. Beta-carotene, an anti- oxidant found in yellow and orange produce like winter squash, carrots and mangoes helps your body repel infection-causing germs.
	Include a daily dose of raw garlic in your diet to boost immunity. Try crushing and swallowing it like a vitamin pill, or chop it and add it to salad dressing. If you find the taste too strong, keep in mind that cooked garlic has benefits too.
	Eat yogurt to get a daily dose of probiotics, good bacteria that guard against gastrointestinal infec- tions. Look for containers of yogurt, acidophilus milk and kefir that are labeled as including L-acidophilus.
	Get at least eight hours of sleep per night. Studies show that a good night's sleep increases your resistance to colds and flu.
	Keep exercising. Physically active people catch fewer colds and respiratory infections. Just be sure to dress warmly and look out for ice!
	If a cold or flu does get past your immune system, enjoy a delicious steaming bowl of homemade chicken soup. Studies show that "Grandma's peni- cillin" eases cold symptoms by thinning nasal secretions and clearing congestion.

Home Cooking for Geriatric Dogs

This is for dogs over eight years old.  Some dogs may need special consideration. 

I've been feeding my cocker spaniels home-cooked food for 12 years.

Boil for 1 hour or more - meat should be falling off bones:
2 Cups ox tails or pork rib bones
1/2 cup Chinese parsley (cilantro)
1/2 cup shiitake mushrooms
2 T. fresh ginger
1 cup azuki beans
10 cups water

Then add and boil for another 45 minutes (until root vegetables are cooked):
3 cups white rice
1 cup barley or millet
2 cups beets
1 cup celery
2 cups sweet potato
3 cups greens
1 cup carrots
1 cup broccoli
1 cup chicken livers

from Dr. Ihor Basko - All Creatures Great and Small

Roasted Potatoes with Carmelized Onions

I asked Kris the other night, "Should I start writing in my blog?"  He said, "No, it's a waste of time."

That is why I started this up again.  Such a contrary person.

Last night I made this potato dish that I adapted from a recipe in Chez Panisse Cooking by Paul Bertolli.  The Yukon Gold potatoes came from the Farmer's Market and they are a must to make this dish the best.

What you need:
A bunch of Yukon Gold potatoes
Sliced onions
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Herbes des Provence
Sea salt
Cracked black pepper

Preheat the oven 350 degrees.  Trim the potatoes to remove the eyes and blemishes (I like to use the peeler).  Toss the potatoes and sliced onions with the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, herbs, salt & pepper. 
Cover the potatoes with foil and roast for an hour and a half, turning the potatoes every 15-25 minutes.  They should be golden brown and onions carmelized.  YUM!

Asian Pasta

I haven't posted a recipe in ages.  Anyone who knows me, knows that I'm a foodie...love to eat, love to cook, collect cookbooks (over 500).

My brother invited us to dinner for Mother's Day and Auntie Faye (she's my age) made a wonderful pasta dish.  She shared it with me and I offer it to you.  She says it's from the Sun Noodle pamphlet and she dabbled with it a lot.  Fay is an amazing cook.

ASIAN PASTA

1  8  oz. pkg linguine noodles boiled and drained (the flavored Sun Noodle
ones work out well)
1/2 c. prepared taegu
1/2 bunch chopped and boiled watercress
1/2 c. chopped takuan or other picked vegetables
1 can flaked crab or imitation crab
1/2 bottle furikake
1/2 bottle Pietro's Miso Sesame Dressing

Mix the above together and top with cilantro, green onions and pickled
ginger.

Margaritas from the Border Grill

This is my favorite margarita recipe.  Kate at Cider Press Hill mentioned margaritas in her post this morning and got me going.

From the Border Grill:

1 limes, cut into five slices
Kosher salt
2 cups anejo tequila
1 cup orange liqueur (such as Triple Sec)
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 coffee cup ice cubes

Arrange 3 lime slides on a small plate and cover another plate with the salt to a depth of 1/4 inch.  Place martini glasses upside down on the limes and press and turn to dampen.  The dip in the salt to coat the rim.
Combine the tequila, orange liqueur, lemon juice and ice in a blender.  Prepare in 3 batches:  shake or blend a third of the mix with about 1 coffee cup ice for each batch.  Blend at high speed until smooth.  Pour into the prepared glass, garnish with the remiaing lime slices and serve.

Makes 8 margaritas.

Okonomiyaki recipe

Our favorite restaurant is Tokkuri-tei.  Kris and I go there so often that everyone who works there knows us and what we drink (scary).  We took our friend and fellow foodie, Mike Kemp, to visit.  He loved it, especially the Ika Yaki (grilled squid pancake).  I have a huge collection of cookbooks and recipes.  This is a recipe for okonomiyaki which is the closest thing I can find to Tokkuri-tei's ika yaki:

Okonomiyaki

NGREDIENTS:
    •     1 cup all purpose flour
    •     3/4 cup soup stock (dashi)
    •     1 egg
    •     1/4 of a small cabbage
    •     For Toppings: Thinly sliced pork or beef
    •     Squid
    •     Katsuo-bushi (dried bonito flakes)
    •     Sakura-ebi (dried shrimps)
    •     Beni-shoga (red ginger)
    •      Ao-nori (green seaweed)
    •     Okonomiyaki sauce (or tonkatsu sauce)
    •     Mayonnaise
PREPARATION:
Cut the cabbage into very thin slices. Beat an egg in a bowl and add dashi soup stock or water in it. Add flour in the bowl and mix well. Combine sliced cabbage in the flour mixture. Fry meat/squid/shrimps (your choice of toppings) in an electric cooking pan or a frying pan. Pour the flour mixture over the toppings in the pan.(Make a couple pan cakes.) Cook a few minutes and flip pancakes and cook for a few more minutes. Put okonomiyaki sauce and mayonnaise on top of the pan cakes.

Sprinkle katsuobushi flakes, aonori, beni-shoga on top.

Makes 2 servings