Thai Beef Salad

Ingredients:

3/4 ~ 1 lb. steak, broiled and cut into strips
6 cups Romaine lettuce, shredded
1 cup cucumber slices
6 red radishes, sliced
1 yellow pepper sliced
1/2 red onion thinly sliced

Dressing:
1/4 cup olive oil
2 Tbsp. Soy sauce
2 Tbsp. rice vinegar or other mild vinegar
1 Tbsp. fresh lime juice (from 1 lime)
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh mint
1 tsp. fresh grated ginger
salt and black pepper

Mix dressing ingredients in a small jar and shake well. Arrange salad on a large platter or several plates. Pour dressing over. 

The recipe Kristen used is here: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/08/peruvian-style-grilled-chicken-with-green-sauce-recipe.html

And the results?

Things We Ate

At Azuma, with shiotan (grilled beef tongue)

A super dinner of grilled Japanese eggplant with ginger, stir-fried pork, and "rice" made of cauliflower.

Sliced cucumber, cream cheese, smoked salmon, and capers.

 Thai Beef Salad

Americanized Thai Beef Salad

Shopping list:

cilantro

mint

a lime (or lime juice)

a jalapeno

a piece of fresh ginger

a head of green or red leaf lettuce

a cucumber

a bunch of radishes

a yellow pepper

a red onion

½-1 lb. nice steak

Have on hand:

¼ cup olive or other oil

2 Tbsp. soy sauce

2 Tbsp. vinegar

Make Dressing:

¼ cup oil

2 Tbsp. soy sauce

2 Tbsp. vinegar

1 Tbsp lime juice

2 Tbsp. minced cilantro

2 Tbsp. minced mint

1 minced jalapeno, minus the seeds

1 tsp. grated ginger

a grind of fresh black pepper

Mix dressing in a jar and let rest while preparing the salad.

Cook steak rare, put in freezer for a few minutes to rest.

Tear up lettuce and place on serving plates.

Add sliced cucumber, radishes, yellow pepper and half the red onion, sliced thin.

Cut steak into thin strips and put on top.

Pour dressing over the salad and enjoy!

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Clam soup and sashimi for dinner

Kushiyaki

Beef tongue and shishito peppers





Chicken (leg and thigh) and skin, and green onions



Small shiitake mushrooms, asparagus, shishito peppers, and green onions

Ready to cook...and....





I sprinkled all the food with salt, put a bit of oil on the veggies, and cooked them in the broiler.
Delicious!

Click on pictures to enlarge them.

Food, Beautiful Food!

Christine, organizer of the knitting group at ECC, has been raving for years about the amazing "tea" put on by her friend Judy Sagami, and for her birthday, she organized a tea for a group of friends and co-workers.

(click on pictures for a larger view!)

The food that Judy creates is simply amazing! The savory course consisted of 5 sushi-sized tidbits of pure creativity. This is not sushi (it is not based on rice), and it is a wonderful cross of Asian and European tastes. Just for one example, the cucumber wrap in the picture had goat cheese inside and tomatoes on top. There was a sort of gyoza, a sort of mini-Vietnamese spring roll, and a combo of lotus root (renkon) with beef brisket.


This was followed by a dessert course that out-did the savory course, as if that were possible! Each guest received a plate of 5 different dessert bites. A mother and baby bunny made of strawberries and white chocolate? A mini apple pie with a rose made out of dried apple? Who could imagine such things?


And because our time was sadly limited, a favor box with two kinds of scone/biscotti type cookies, with actual live roses stuffed with maybe honey butter and apricot jam? Oh. my. goodness. Pure genius!

Christine and her son Eden served, and modest chef-genius Judy Sagami had to be coerced into having her picture taken.

Broiled Trout

So I went to Ranch Market in Gardena and purchased a 1.5 pound farm-raised trout for under $7.00. Not $7 per pound, but $7 total. Under $7. Had it scaled and gutted and brought it home. Placed it on an oiled broiler pan, sprinkled it liberally with salt, and then popped it in the broiler.


Maybe 10 minutes later, it was toasty on both sides (I flipped it halfway through.) It was so large I had to keep moving the broiler pan around to get it cooked on all sides.


To go with it, I made sauteed spinach--melt 2 Tbsp. butter in a frying pan, add a couple of smashed cloves of garlic and let the butter and garlic get brown and toasty but not blackened, then add a package of baby spinach (dry! from a bag.) and stir it around till it wilts. Crazy good.


I removed the head and tail and then cut along the back bone to create two fillets, and removed the rib bones (yes, there were still a few bones left. When you are eating with chopsticks, bones don't seem like such a big deal.) I poured some melted butter over the fish and a couple of drops of lemon juice. The flesh was silky and delicious. Fantastic dinner!

This meal was inspired by a similar meal I had last week at Fork in Chicago. But cheaper, and with a larger fish.


ETA: Another Friday, I made Chirinabe, a kind of Japanese bouillabaisse.

Buta No Kakuni

For years now, we have been ordering Buta No Kakuni (braised pork belly) at Azuma in Gardena (CA), and it is crazy good. Recently, after acquiring a slow cooker, and hearing of my daughter's success at making this herself, I decided to have a go at it.


Recipe:

2 pieces (3/4 lb. each) pork belly (the skin was already removed from this, but the layer of fat is intact, as it should be. This is what bacon is cut from) (Each piece cost approx. $6. They shrunk in the cooking)
a few coins of ginger
1/2 cup sake
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup mirin
water
a few slices of daikon (optional)

Combine the sauce ingredients in a saucepan and heat. I added 1 cup of water, but 1 and a half cups would probably work better. Put pork, fat side down. (not fried or anything else) in the slow cooker (3 qt. size) and pour the sauce over. Cook on low for a long time.

How long a time? Well, I cooked mine overnight, for 12 hours, and then I let it sit at room temperature during the day, and then reheated it on low for another hour. My thought was "The longer the better." This may not be true. The fat was succulent and melty, as it should be, but the lean meat was a bit dry, so maybe I overcooked it. Next time, I will stop after 8 hours and see how that works.

And there will be a next time!

I served this with mustard paste, as in the restaurant, but I did the spinach separately, oshitashu style, and served it in a separate bowl.

All in all, it was delicious. but Azuma's is still the best, perfection on earth.