Photos and Thoughts of My Homecooked Meals + some restaurants ones thrown in

Dinner the Other Night...Japanese Style Hamburg Steak Made w/Tofu :o)

Japanese Hamburg Steak Served w/Zucchini & Rice

I'm still trying to switch over to Wordpress, but it's just not happening yet ;o)  I'm not sure exactly why it's not working.  Maybe someone can enlighten me...  I registered the domain as a .com, but that's not showing up on my domain list.  The wordpress.com one does show up.  I got a receipt from Paypal saying that I registered the .com site. It's been a week since I registered it and I also contacted WP about it on Thurs, but haven't heard back from them. On their site it says it can take up to 72 hrs, but it's way over that type frame!    Ugggghhhhhh!

Ok, so about my Hamburg Steak :o)  It's another Japanese comfort food dish that I grew up with. I love how the Japanese come up with their own version of "western" stuff or they call it Yoshoku.  It's basically a meatloaf made into a burger patty. It's sort of like a Salisbury Steak.  My theory is that in Japan, people don't eat a lot of beef and a meatloaf would either just be too big for the family or it wouldn't fit in the oven to cook since their's are so small. Typically, it is made with just ground beef and the regular stuff you'd put in a meatloaf and then served with a plain brown sauce made with soy sauce, tonkatsu sauce & ketchup.  I mentioned that ketchup is used in unusual ways in Japan in my post of Roast Chicken stuffed with Ketchup Fried Rice.  Every family has their own recipe for Hamburg Steak. I kicked it up a bit by using the meat I ground for my Green Chile Cheeseburgers and adding tofu to it to lighten it up a bit.

Post about grinding meat...

http://myhomecookedmeals.blogspot.com/2011/06/dinner-last-night-green-chile.html

Post about ketchup being used in unusual ways...

http://myhomecookedmeals.blogspot.com/2011/06/dinner-other-nightroast-chicken-stuffed.html

Squeezing Moisture Out of Tofu...

When I add tofu to my meat mixture I squeeze out the water first.  I put it on a cutting board with paper towels then put more paper towels on top and then put something heavy on it like a saucepan filled with water and a pyrex measuring cup filled with water (I know, sounds complicated)  and  let it sit for about 30 mins.

Hamburg Steak Mixture...

I had ground my own meat when I made Green Chile Cheeseburgers the night before.  The blend was:  Beef Chuck, Beef Short Rib, Pork Butt & Bacon.  The bacon adds extra tastiness;o)  When I add tofu I don't use breadcrumbs in the mixture.  The mix was:  Ground Meat, Tofu, Eggs, Sauteed Onions & Garlic and seasonings including soy sauce, ajishio & Magic Dust.  I just noticed that I didn't put any milk in it...lol  I guess I really didn't need it since I didn't use breadcrumbs in it and I certainly did not miss it.

Blended...

Here in the US it seems like they always say not to handle your meat too much when you make meatloaf and meatballs, but in Japan they mix it up alot!  I made spaghetti & meatballs once and had my sister-in-law from Japan mix it up for me and she mixed it so much that it almost seemed like she put air into it, so the meatballs were super fluffy and light!  She mixes it by hand like I do, but I can't get it as airy as she can;o)  I like adding the tofu to make it a little healthy, I'm definitely not known for my healthy cooking, but I try a little sometimes...lol  You can't even tell that tofu is in it when it's done. It's about 50/50 tofu to meat...maybe just a tad more meat, so 60/40 :o)

Cooking in a Cast Iron Skillet...

I cook it about 3-4 mins on each side covered.  I don't want it over done because I put it back in the sauce to heat it through.

Mushroom Sauce...

After taking the "steaks" out of the pan, I sauted garlic, onion & mushrooms (I used Shimeji Mushrooms) then deglazed with a little bit of wine then added soy sauce, tonkatsu sauce, Japanese Worchestershire sauce,  ketchup & water.  You can add just about any flavoring that you like!  I then added a potato starch (Japanese use Potato Starch more than using Corn ) slurry to thicken it up and then added the "steaks" back in to warm them up.

Japanese Tonkatsu  & Worchestershire Sauce

Bulldog brand is the most common...  Love these sauces;o)

Japanese Version...

Hubby really enjoys this meal especially with the tofu added.  You can make the sauce a little bit more soupy if you like...

vs American Style Salisbury Steak ;o)

I made this about a year ago, see how similar it is to the Hamburg Steak...

Dinner Last Night - Green Chile Cheeseburgers w/Bacon Ground Beef!

Green Chile Cheeseburgers

So, I'm trying to transfer my blog over to WordPress, but have been having a little trouble with it;o)  I registered a domain, but it's taking forever to kick in.  I've emailed them to find out what happened.  I was waiting to make my new post over there, but since it's taking so long I'm going to post this here.  

I had the best Green Chile Cheeseburger when we were in NM about two years ago.  It was at a small place called Bobcat Bite.  It just wasn't the best Green Chile Burger, but it was the BEST burger I've ever had.  I tried to make this one similar to their's, but Bobcat still wins...lol  

http://www.bobcatbite.com/

I heard that my favorite butcherettes, Lindy & Grundy, have a ground beef & bacon mix, but have never seen it, so I decided to make my own :o)  I love to grind my own meat!  Hubby got me a grinder a couple of Christmas' ago, but I don't use it nearly as much as I should!  For the burgers I ground a mix of...Beef Chuck, Beef Short Rib, Pork Butt & Bacon!!  I ground about a total of 3 lbs with maybe 1/8 pork, 2 slices of bacon (home cured at L&G;) and the rest beef. I put the pork in for extra richness & fat, but the mixture gets too soft if I put in too much...the burger would have a meatloaf consistency then.  I pretty much use all parts of the hunks of meat!  I make cubes for stew, use scraps & bones for stock & render the fat.  It's kinda therapeutic cutting up the meat;o)

Pork Butt

I like to get it with bone-in, so I can make stock out of  it...

Beef Chuck

I like to use Chuck for ground beef and stews because it has a nice fattiness to it...

Cubed Chuck

I froze this for later use, maybe for stew or chili...

Beef Scraps & Bones

The round brown things are the bones from the Flanken Short Rib.  I also froze this to make stock later.

Cubed Pork

Also froze this for later use...

Rendering Fat...

Since there wasn't that much, I rendered the pork & beef fat together.  I really need to be more healthy, but I just can't resist rendering fat and using it for certain dishes;o)  I used this to fry up the burgers!

Chuck, Short Rib, Pork Butt & Bacon ready to be ground...

Grinding...

I like coarse texture...

Love Fresh Ground Meat!!

Formed into Patties

They are about 6 oz each.  I seasoned it with Magic Dust, salt & pepper right before cooking it for about 3 mins on each side and flipping it only once for med rare :o)  I made them in a cast iron skillet and I covered them while they  cooked and added the cheese the last couple of minutes...

Veggies...

w/Tater Tots!

No, I did not make the Tater Tots;o)  I did look up a recipe once and tried it, but it was a disaster!  It all just fell apart on me...lol  I love "tots", I love how they got resurrected in the movie NAPOLEON DYNAMITE!! It's much easier and consistent buying Ore Ida!  I used an Aged White Cheddar for the cheese.

Really Yummy!!

The Green Chile Mixture was leftover from the Hatch Green Chile Enchiladas I made a few weeks ago.  I just froze the mixture...I love freezing things;o)  I didn't add any mayo or ketchup or other condiments to the burger, the juicy meat and green chiles were enough!  The taste of the burger was delicious, adding just the little bit of bacon pumped it up.  You could really taste the bacon, but you may miss the crunch of it.  It saves on calories grinding the bacon into the meat because you usually would get two slices on one burger, but this had two slices in 3 lbs of meat!

http://myhomecookedmeals.blogspot.com/2011/05/dinner-tonighthatch-green-chile-chicken.html

Pork Chops w/Scratched Potatoes AND my 2 Month Blog Anniversary :o)

Pork Chops & Scratched Potatoes

You know what they say, "Time flies when you are having fun...", well today is my 2 months anniversary since I started my blog.  It's hard to believe how fast the time has gone, it's seems like I've been doing this much longer!  It could be because I did start posting my food photos about a year and a half ago on Facebook.  I had registered on Blogger about 5 months ago, but never did anything with the blog. Then 2 months ago I couldn't sleep and was tossing and turning and thinking that maybe I really should start the blog.  I got up at 3 am and went on my Facebook account and I saw that one of my friends "liked" about 20 of my food photos at once and that is why I made my final decision to start the blog (thanks Blair!!).

I think I've improved my blog tons since I first started.  Especially my photos!  The first person I showed my blog to was my brother since he likes my food and is into photography.  His comment was "You need better photos and don't do a half assed job!"...lol..I was very offended then, but now I completely I understand what he was talking about. Criticism is hard to receive most times, but it can be helpful at times:o)  You really do need a thick skin when writing a food blog since there is so much competition out there.  My thorn is Tastespotting & Foodgawker, they are such great sites, but I have such a love/hate relationship with them.  I think the people that have submitted know exactly what I'm talking about;o)  I'm so happy when I get accepted, but so miffed when I get rejected.  After the rejections I start mumbling and yelling at the computer and Hubby thinks I'm bonkers.  He just nods his head and smiles and acts like he agrees with me...lol  He's been the best with supporting me and my blog.  He still helps me a lot with taking photos and is not peeved even when the food is half cold by the time we sit down to eat it some nights!  

The upside of the foodie blogging world is that there are so many nice people out there!  I've already made some good friends from all over the world.  Everyone is so supportive of each other.  I've heard that their are some catty people out there, but fortunately, I  have not run across anybody like that yet.  Thank you, to all the super sweet people I've met so far!!

Pork Chops

I mentioned in my Roast Chicken post that I've been "dry brining" lately and is what I did with these pork chops.  I think with pork I need to stick with the wet brine.  They tasted good, but I think they would have been more tender if I had brined them in salt water.  I scored the fat, so the chops wouldn't curl up during the cooking process.

Scratching Yukon Gold Potatoes...

My hairdresser loves eating and cooking ALMOST as much as I do.  I think we spend half the time discussing dishes that we've made.  He is really great at baking which I am not and makes the best cookies during Christmas time.  I got the idea of "scratching" the potatoes from him.  He said that he learned this from an English friend of his.  I don't remember exactly how he said it was done, so I improvised...thanks, Mark!!  

I boiled the potatoes with the skin on for about 20 mins until I could easily poke a chopstick in it.  I didn't want to cook it too much because I'd be roasting them too.  After taking them out of the water I peeled them, cut them in half and then scratched them with a fork.  I then seasoned them and rubbed with olive oil and then roasted them for about 40 mins @400 degees in the toaster oven.  The scratching helps them to get crisper and more flavorful.  This is even better when you roast them with a chicken and you get all the luscious flavors from that!

Searing in Cast Iron Skillet...

I seared the pork chops in a hot skillet for a few minutes on each side...

Nicely Browned...

After turning the chops over, I seared the other side until it was browned then put the whole skillet in a 450 degree oven until the chops reached 135 degrees.  I then covered with foil and let it rest.

Scratched Potatoes

Ready!

Dinner the Other Night...Roast Chicken Stuffed w/Ketchup Fried Rice :o)

Simple Roast Chicken

Who doesn't like Roast Chicken, right?  It's one of my Hubby's favorite meals.  He says that he could eat it everyday! I don't do anything fancy to it, I don't even truss the legs and stuff and I usually don't stuff it ;o)  My mother rarely made it for us when I was growing up, but when she did, it was such a treat!  She turned it a little Japanese by stuffing it with Ketchup Fried Rice...lol  I know that sounds a little odd and gross, but it is very tasty!  It seems that most of my favorite meals are comfort foods from my childhood.

I got this chicken from the Butcherettes that I've been raving about, Lindy & Grundy.  They are seriously the nicest ladies that you can ever meet!  This was only my second time at their store and they remembered me!  They even said they'd give me a tour of the meat locker next time I come in.  I know it doesn't sound that exciting, but I love getting tours of the kitchens at restaurants and I've never been in a butcher's meat locker and there,  I may get to see half of a steer!  The closest I've come was going inside the dry aging chamber of a steak place near us called Wolfgang's:o) Oh, I've also been in the meat locker at Lawry's restaurant too!  It's customer service like that that will keep me coming back!  It just makes you feel special when store owners and restaurant people remember that you've been there before.  It's sad, but such a rarity nowadays.

http://lindyandgrundy.com/

The chicken was only about 2 1/2 lbs, what chickens are supposed to be!!  Why is it that at the grocery store you can't find a chicken that is under 4 lbs??  Some are even 5 lbs, and they are frying chickens not roasters.  The taste of this was much nicer than a normal chicken too.  

Chicken w/Feet & Neck...

I was so happy to see that the feet were still attached when I got it home! I would have been ecstatic if the head was still attached too...lol  But I was happy with just the neck.  I love adding feet and neck when I make stock, it adds extra unctuousness to it!  The stock is even better when I use all the roasted bones too. I'm going to have a separate bag of bones in the freezer from L&G; chickens...  I chopped up the other chicken and froze it.

Feet & Necks...

There's a place in Chinatown where they have live chickens and they slaughter them right there at their store.  Those chickens have both their feet & head!  When you take the chicken home, it's still body temperature warm;o)  It's just a little bit of a pain to drive down there for me, so I'm glad that L&G; is only 15 mins away from me!

Seasoned...

I don't usually brine my chickens in salt water anymore, it's much easier to "dry brine" it.  There's a restaurant called the Hitching Post II about an hour away from Santa Barbara that was featured in the movie SIDEWAYS, I actually talked about it in my very first food post on my blog.  I love their seasoning called "Magic Dust" and always have some on hand.  I buy their product, but add some more of my own seasonings  to it and use it on just about everything I make.  I gave some to my sister-in-law in Japan and now she can't live without it too...lol...it's that good;o)  

The chicken has the "Magic Dust", salt, fresh ground pepper, ajishio, & olive oil.  I try to season it at least a few hours ahead of time.

http://myhomecookedmeals.blogspot.com/2011/04/my-first-food-post.html

https://hitchingpost2.com/giftsS.html

Ketchup Fried Rice

I know that this sounds very odd, but it's so good!  It's something that kids in Japan grow up with.  It's usually in a dish called "Omu Raisu"...Omelette Rice.  It's the fried rice that's covered in a thin egg omelette and served with ketchup on top.  The ketchup is "cooked", so the rice doesn't taste ketchupy. If you ever saw the Japanese movie TAMPOPO, they had the OmuRice in that.  It was the scene where the homeless man sneaks into a restaurant kitchen with a little boy to make him something to eat.

I'm not sure why they started using ketchup like that in Japan, but they also have another dish called Spaghetti Napolitan.  The simple version is spaghetti sauted w/ham or even sliced hot dogs with ketchup...lol  It's really a child's dish, but I still crave it sometimes;o)  It's just not the same if you use real spaghetti sauce!

To make the fried rice I sauted onions & garlic w/salt, pepper, dashi powder, & ajishio.  After the onions softened, I added the rice and mixed that up then added just a little ketchup and stir-fried that then finished it off with soy sauce. I let this all cool down to room temp before stuffing it in the chicken.  I didn't want us to get salmonella poisoning or something;o)

Peeled Celery

I like to peel celery to get the stringy fibers off of it.

Tip for Celery...

I read this tip in Cook's Illustrated years ago to make celery last.  I wash and trim the celery (I don't peel until I'm going to use it) then place a paper towel on top of foil then wrap all the celery up in that and then put it into a large baggie and refrigerate it.  The celery can last up to two weeks this way!

Veggies!

I roasted celery, zucchini & carrots with the chicken.  It's seasoned with the same stuff as the chicken including the olive oil.  Since the chicken was so small it took less than 1 hour to make it.  I go by the color of the skin to see if it's done, but I do also use a temp probe;o)  

Roasted Veggies...

I added the veggies the last 30 mins of cooking, so it wouldn't be mushy.

Roast Chicken!

After the rice is cooked inside the chicken it gets the nice flavor of the chicken juices and doesn't look so orange;o) After stuffing it, I did use a prong to seal it up, so the rice wouldn't fall out while it was cooking.  I'll confess to my most favorite part of the chicken..the tail, it's called Bonbochi in Japanese and I think that American's sometimes call it the Pope's Nose;o)  What's your fav part??

Breakfast Today...Fried Duck Eggs :o)

Duck Egg Breakfast

I went back to the awesome Butcherettes' store near me, Lindy & Grundy, and this time they had Duck Eggs!  I've only had them at restaurants before, so was so excited to find that they sold them. I know some Farmer's Markets around here sell it, but have never seen them.  I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them, I just knew that I wanted it :o)  

I stocked up on other stuff from L&G; too...2 whole chickens (the type that are under 3 lbs, not the monster 5 lbrs that you find at the grocery), 6 legs/thighs, 2 huge pork chops & a flank steak.  Yes, I will be freezing most of the stuff.  I know it's better fresh, but I get uncomfortable when my freezer gets too empty...lol

http://lindyandgrundy.com/

Raw!

Since I read that the shells were a little harder than chicken ones, I cracked it into a bowl first.  The yolk is such a gorgeous yellow!

Fried Egg

I didn't want to make the egg over-easy because I was afraid that I might break the yolk.  I cooked it in a cast iron skillet with butter at med-hi heat and just seasoned it with salt, pepper & aji-shio then added a little water then covered it, turned off the heat and cooked until it was done.

With Toast for Hubby...

Look how tall the egg yolk is!  I love it!!  I should have picked up bacon at L&G; too, but I wasn't planning on making breakfast :o(  I just had deli ham, so fried that up...  I also was low on bread, so hubby had two types of bread...lol  One Japanese & One American.

With Rice for Me...

My favorite way to eat fried egg is with rice & soy sauce!  I cut it up and then mix it all together...yum!

Runny Yolk...

Look how much yolk there is in just one egg!  I know, I'm a pig, I ate 2 eggs...lol  The duck egg yolk had a much richer taste than a chicken egg and the white is also firmer.

Dinner Last Night - Gumbo!

Gumbo w/Chicken, Andouille, Okra & Shrimp

I know it's not really gumbo weather, but I can eat gumbo anytime!  I love gumbo!!  I'm so excited that we will be going to New Orleans again in July.  I love everything about New Orleans, especially the food!  There really isn't any good place to get gumbo here in LA, so the next best thing is making it at home.  I'm slowly getting better at making it too;o)  The first time I made it several years back I couldn't get the roux to get dark.  I read in one recipe that you need to cook it on low heat for about an hour and make sure to stir it all the time.  I cooked it for about 1 1/2 hours and the roux stayed a blondish color.  I called it my "White Gumbo" and it tasted pretty good, but just didn't have that nice rich flavor to it.  When I told someone that lives in LA, but was from NOLA about my gumbo they rolled their eyes and looked at me like I was an idiot...lol  I am much better at making gumbo now!   I still don't make it the traditional way, so I don't want anybody out there that is from New Orleans to roll their eyes at my gumbo because it's not authentic, I know it's not;o)

The Trinity...Celery, Onion & Bell Peppers

Fresh Okra

I usually just get frozen okra, but I couldn't find it at the store.  They had fresh okra instead!  What a nice surprise.  A lot of times when I find fresh okra it's too big and too woody and is the reason I get frozen.  This batch was the perfect size and texture!

Sauteing Trinity in Chicken Fat...

I started by seasoning the chicken parts from a whole chicken and then browned it.  For some reason all the chicken skin stuck to the bottom of the dutch oven.  I'm not sure what I did wrong because I do this all the time and usually don't have this problem.  I started with oil and then browned it.  The problem may have been that I didn't wait for the pan to get hot, but the second batch stuck too:o(  After taking the chicken out I added the trinity to it and that got all the nice flavors from the chicken and skin off the bottom! After everything was softened I set it aside.  It's seasoned with salt, pepper & some Creole Seasoning.  I just use the packaged Tony Chachere's seasoning. 

Sauteing Okra...

I like to saute the veggies first, so it gets the nice fond from the chicken parts.  I sauted the okra until it was softened and also set that aside.  I cleaned the dutch oven after that, so I'd have a nice clean pan for the roux.

After about 2 mins...

In Paul Prudhome's recipe he says to make the roux on high heat and be careful not to burn it or yourself because it's like liquid napalm.  I make mine on med-high heat now and make sure to constantly stir it.

After 6 mins...

Cooking it on med-high gets it cooking fast!  Nothing like that 1 1/2 hours I spent the first time I tried to make roux...lol

Done at 12 mins...

I always wonder how people come up with certain recipes. Who would think to add equal parts flour & oil and then keep cooking it until it looks like it's burning...lol  

Roux w/Trinity...

After the roux reaches the color I like, I turn off the heat and then add the veggies to it.  You need to be very careful at this stage because the roux starts bubbling and it also gets darker.  It's like you are deep frying the veggies!  I made sure to add just a little bit at a time and was careful about not adding any liquid in the beginning.

Roux, Chicken,  & Crab Stock

Even though I don't make a "seafood" gumbo I like to use seafood stock...lol  I like the flavor that the crab stock and chicken make.  I had frozen crab stock on hand from the last time I made crab.  The only problem is that I always forget that the stock is a little salty since I salt the water to cook the crab in.  I just end up adding more water at the end of cooking to make it less salty. This time I didn't even put crab meat in the gumbo;o)

After the trinity cooked in the roux I slowly added the warm stock and put the heat back on.  I then add all the chicken parts and a bay leaf and let it cook for about 45 mins.  I then take out the breasts & thighs and leave the rest to flavor the gumbo and cook for another hour or so.  I took the breasts & thighs off the bone and put the bones back into the gumbo.  I add the okra the last 30 mins.

Andouille Sausage

I don't like the Andouille to overcook, so I brown it separately and then add it right before serving.  I also do the same with the shrimp.

Shredded Chicken

I add the chicken & okra at the same time...about the last 30 mins of cooking...  At that time I fish out the wings, drumsticks & bones from thigh and throw them out.

Gumbo...Yum!!

I just used frozen shrimp for this.  I make sure to get the type that still has the shell on and is uncooked!

Gumbo served with Long Grain Rice & topped with chopped green onions and I love Jalapenos with everything!  

My favorite Jalapeno!

I used to be able to get these at the grocery store around here, but not anymore for some reason.  Trappey's used to be based in Louisiana, but I think they had troubles after Katrina, so they may have sold the company to B&G.;  I also love Trappey's Hot Sauce.  The story is that he used to work for Tabasco and stole some of the chile pepper plants and then started his own company.  

I mail order the jalapenos by the case now from My Brands.  I think I pay more for shipping than for the actual jalapenos, but so worth it for me!  They have a nice crunch to them where most pickled jalapenos are too mushy.

http://mybrands.com/Product.aspx?pid=321

Dinner the Other Night...Chicken Udon

Chicken Udon 

I wanted to make a simple, semi-fast, & light dinner for us and our friends, so I decided on Chicken Udon.  As usual, it's not a traditional recipe :o)  It would have been super quick if I had the chicken stock already made, but we were at the family's vacation place, so I made it from scratch.  For the soup I used homemade chicken stock, soy sauce, Mirin (Sweet Cooking Rice Wine), salt & pepper.  Most udon is made with dashi (light fish/seaweed stock), but I like the flavor of chicken stock.

My Frozen Chicken Parts Sculpture...lol

These are the chicken backs, wings, bones etc. that I had in the freezer and the base for the stock.  I try to get whole chickens when I need chicken and then chop it up and save the bones.

Making Chicken Stock...

Usual way of making chicken stock with chicken parts, onion, celery, carrots, garlic, bay leaf, peppercorns etc.  I cooked this one for about 2 hours.  It's great when I have my pressure cooker because then it only takes about 35 mins!

Before...

Chicken legs & thighs from this great butcher near my house...Lindy & Grundy.  I wrote about getting their pork for my tonkatsu in my last post.  They are a traditional old-fashioned butcher that's owned by 2 fabulous women!  A couple nights before this, I baked the legs/thighs with just salt and pepper and it was the best tasting chicken ever :o)

http://lindyandgrundy.com/

Tonkatsu Post...

http://myhomecookedmeals.blogspot.com/2011/05/dinner-last-nighttonkatsu-japanese-pork.html

After...

I boned the chicken then cut it up and used it for the udon.  The bones are saved for my next batch of stock:o)  I like to keep the skin on  to add more flavor to the dish.

Napa Cabbage & Daikon Radish

The udon had chicken, Napa, Daikon, Eryngi Mushrooms, & Tofu.  I love that you can put just about anything in udon!  

Blanched Napa & Daikon

I first blanched the Napa & Daikon in salted water, so that the broth wouldn't get cloudy then used that same  water to boil frozen edamame in it.  I also blanched the chicken pieces in a separate pot of water.

 Sanuki Udon

This is my favorite Udon.  You can get it at many Japanese & Asian Markets. Sanuki Udon is from the Kagawa area and is thick and stiff compared to some other types.  I used to get frozen udon, but they all seemed to fall apart on me when I cooked it and I'd end up with noodles about 2" long, so now I always use the dried kind.

Package Label...

I like this brand because it's not too thick or too thin, it's just right!

Perfect Comfort Food!

I topped it off with sliced green onions.

Dinner Last Night...Tonkatsu (Japanese Pork Cutlet)

Tonkatsu

This is another of my favorite Japanese dishes.  It's a very homey dish in Japan that you eat often at home   or  you can go out and get it because there are so many restaurants that serve it!  In Japan, many of the restaurants are specialized.  For instance, a place would mainly serve Tonkatsu or Sushi or Yakitori or Ramen  etc.   Traditionally, tonkatsu is served with raw, thinly sliced cabbage and rice. There are many restaurants that serve the Tonkatsu with all-you-can-eat rice & cabbage!

The sauce that is used for it is "Tonkatsu Sauce", it's similar to a Worchestershire Sauce that's sweeter and thicker. My favorite brand that I grew up from childhood is Bulldog.  Some restaurants make their own gourmet sauce.  It's also good with a little Japanese yellow mustard.

Pork Round

There's a new butcher in the area called Lindy & Grundy and I've been wanting to try it, but I heard that when they first opened it was very crowded, so I waited until now to go.  OMG, they are the best!  It is run by two sweet young ladies and they are actually the butchers that break down all their meats!  The night before I went, they said that they had just cut up 2 whole steers!!  I had a nice conversation with both of them and they both have the friendliest and best personalities!  One of them is half Japanese and grew up in Japan, so she is the one that advised me about what cut of pork to use for my tonkatsu.  Oh, and the store has free parking in the back...a rarity in LA!!

http://lindyandgrundy.com/

Seasoned w/Salt & Pepper...

I usually use pork loin and get it at the Japanese market, but I didn't have time to go there so I ended up at Lindy & Grundy.  The butcherette recommended the round and she even pounded it for me:o)  It turned out really good! Their pork tastes like old fashioned porky pork not the bland grocery store type pork!  I was thinking about it on the drive home and next time I would get the pork chops and that way I can use the loin as the tonkatsu, make stock out of the bone and then use the outer meat for the Tonjiru Soup!

Floured & Egged...

I seasoned the flour, egg wash & panko with salt and pepper.  The egg has a little bit of milk & water added to it.  Just like I did with the eggplant parm, I used dry, wet, dry method...flour, egg, panko...

Ready to be fried...

Deep Frying in the Wok...

Since these were so thin, I fried the tonkatsu in 350 degrees oil until they were nice and brown.

Yummy!

It kinda looks like a sandal...lol

Slicing the Cabbage...

I'm not that great at slicing the cabbage super thin, but the Benriner (Japanese mandoline cutter) usually makes it too thin for my liking ;o)  The bigger chunks of cabbage, I put in the Tonjiru.

Soaking in Ice Water...

I put the cabbage in ice water to crisp it and clean it...

Drying...

After draining the cabbage, I wrap it in a dish towel and then put it in the refrigerator until it's ready to eat.

Pork for Tonjiru Soup

Tonjiru is a common soup served at tonkatsu places.  It's a miso soup with pork and veggies.  It's usually made with a simple dashi stock, but I like to make it with pork stock.  I wanted to use pork belly for this, but I forgot to get it at the butcher, so I used up one of the pork rounds.  

Pork sauteeing with Sake...

I seasoned the pork with salt, pepper & dashi powder then sauteed in Rice Bran Oil.  After it was cooked through, I added sake to it and let the alcohol evaporate.  I then took out the pork because I didn't want it to get overcooked then added the pork stock.  I had pork stock I'd made in the past in the freezer:o)  To the stock, I added potatoes and cooked until it was soft.  At the end, I put the pork back in and added some cabbage and the miso.

Tonjiru

This is one of my favorite ways to have miso soup!  It's a little bit time consuming to make since you need to cook the pork first.  Every family has a different way of making this soup and as usual, mine isn't the most traditional;o)

Cabbage & Tomatoes

I like to put a little of the tonkatsu sauce and kewpie mayo on my cabbage.  My girlfriend gave me these beautiful tomatoes!  They are called Kumato Brown Tomatoes, they have a nice acidity to it.  She is so sweet, she also got me a beautiful Basil plant too:o)

Tonkatsu w/Japanese Mustard & Cabbage

Panko

Bulldog Tonkatsu Sauce & Kewpie Mayo

Kewpie is a little different than American mayo because it uses only egg yolks and has a little bit of vinegar in it and is also a little thinner.

Rice Bran Oil

This is my favorite oil to use for Japanese dressings and for deep frying.  I can find it at the Japanese store only sometimes.  It has a very clean flavor to it.

Kewpie, Mustard & Bulldog

I slather this combo on bread to make sandwiches...

Tonkatsu Sandwich

My favorite leftover with Tonkatsu are sandwiches :o)  It just has thinly sliced Tonkatsu, the raw Cabbage and the mayo combo on Japanese white bread.  There's something about the Japanese bread that I really like, it's different than just having Wonderbread!  It must be nostalgia from childhood again.  This is the thin sliced one, but they also have ones that are sliced about 3/4" thick!  I forgot who, but I remember when the Winter Olympics were in Japan, one of the skiers was saying how much he hated the thick bread and was making fun of it...lol 

This type of sandwich is commonly sold as Bento (Lunch Box) at Japanese train stations.  They usually have the crust cut off and don't have the cabbage in it.  The most popular is sold by a restaurant called Maisen in Tokyo and of course they have the best tonkatsu sets too!

Breakfast Yesterday....Ricottta & Blueberry Pancakes

Ricotta & Blueberry Pancakes

I'm not really a breakfast person or even a brunch person.  Maybe it's because I like to sleep in and by the time I wake up and get dressed, it's lunch time;o)  Every so often, we do go out for brunch and found a great restaurant near us called BLD (it stands for Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner).  They serve the best Ricotta & Blueberry Pancakes!  This was the first time I had ricotta in pancakes and loved it!  

I got some freshly made ricotta over the weekend, so I decided I wanted to try to make these pancakes.  The problem was that I am TERRIBLE at making pancakes!!  I thought I can go the easy route and buy Bisquick and somehow incorporate the ricotta into it.  Wrong!  I was actually able to find Neal Fraser's (owner of BLD) recipe on the internet and after reading it decided I needed to make it from scratch because I needed to put whipped egg whites in it.  I don't think chefs share their true recipes because these did not turn out like the restaurant's pancakes and even the picture that was posted with the recipe looked more like the ones I ended up making.  After reading the recipe, I decided the freshly made ricotta was too nice to mix in with the pancake batter.  I also was out of baking powder and needed to go to the grocery store again anyway, so I got some of the grocery brand ricotta too.

Neal Fraser's Recipe...

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/ricotta-pancakes-with-blueberries

Dry & Wet Ingredients

Dry:  Flour, Baking Powder & Salt

Wet:  Yolks, Milk, Ricotta, Sugar & Vanilla

Egg White

Egg Whites

I've whipped egg whites with the immersion blender before and it worked fine, but for some reason it was taking forever for it to get stiff this time.  Duh, I was using the wrong attachment!  I needed to change it to the whisk attachment...lol  It worked after that :o)

Batter with Whipped Egg White & Extra Ricotta

In the recipe you mixed in the ricotta smoothly with the batter, but I wanted little pockets of ricotta. I used the grocery store ricotta for the main batter then I added a little bit of the fresh ricotta when I folded in the egg whites. 

Finished batter, nice & fluffy...

Almost ready...

Isn't it funny how they say that you always end up throwing out the first pancake.  They aren't kidding...I guess it's because the heat needs to adjust.  After the batter cooked for a few minutes I added the blueberrys.

Yum!

It looks a little underdone, but it tasted great with a lot of maple syrup:o)  I also topped it with a little bit more of the good ricotta and blueberries.

Fresh Made Ricotta

I promised the cheese man that I would not throw out the leftovers;o)  He said it would be good on toast with a little honey or on crackers with a little bit of olive oil.  It's so good, I like to just eat it plain too!  I will be using it on pasta later...

Grocery Store Ricotta

See the difference, the fresh one has a nicer color and isn't so smooth.  This one looks like vanilla ice cream!

Dinner Last Night...Deconstructed Eggplant Parmesan

My version of Eggplant Parmesan

I really like Eggplant Parmesan, but I don't like the soggy messes that most restaurants serve, so I came up with my own version and I like to call it Deconstructed Eggplant Parmesan.  I bread and deep fry the eggplant like I do with Japanese foods like Tonkatsu (Pork Cutlet) and use Panko (Japanese bread crumbs). I then put the eggplant on top of spaghetti with some cheese and tomato sauce.

Scratch Made Spaghetti Sauce

Spaghetti sauce is so easy to make if you have a little time.  It tastes much better than buying bottled brands like Ragu or Prego or even Rao's. I make it the typical way by sauteeing onions & garlic then add the seasonings while I saute to let the flavors bloom.  I add a little bit of chile flakes to give it a kick.  I also add a little bit of tomato paste (the kind that comes in a tube) and fry that up with the onions.  A couple of other stuff  I add that may be a little unique is a small piece of anchovy, the type you'd put in a caesar salad and little bit of beef bouillon...I know, I use bouillon a little too much, but I like that it adds more flavor and a richness to everything I use it in :o)  For this I used canned chopped tomatoes and tomato sauce and cooked it for about an hour, so it wouldn't be watery.  I cover it, but leave just a little bit opened, so it can vent and then uncover it for the last 30 mins.  I also added sauteed mushrooms at the end.

Slicing Mushrooms

When I get button mushrooms from the grocery store I take off all of the stem.  Alot of times, the stem is a little mushy.  I then slice it thin. Sometimes I go to a mushroom farm in Ventura and then I use the whole stem.  It's amazing what the flavor difference is when you get it from the farm!  I love eating those raw!

Sauteeing Mushrooms

Since these were going into a flavored sauce, I just put a little bit of salt and pepper to flavor it and of course used olive oil to saute it.  I add these to the tomato sauce about the last 15 mins of cooking.

Dry, Wet, Dry...

The tomato sauce was a little on the salty side since I used a different salt than I usually do, so I only flavored the egg wash with a little bit of salt & pepper.  I left the panko and flours as is.  I first sliced and then salted the eggplant and let it sit for about 30 mins, I'm not really sure if I even need to do this, but some people say that it gets the bitterness out.  I'm used to using Japanese eggplant, not these huge globe ones, so I'm definitely not an expert on this...lol  I like to leave the skin on because I think it looks prettier;o)  I like to use the Japanese panko instead of the Italian breadcrumbs because the panko gives it a fluffier texture.  I first dredge the eggplant in the flour (dry), then in the egg wash which has egg, a little bit of water and a little bit of milk (wet), then put it in the panko (dry).  I then deep fried in oil at about 370 degrees until it browned.  I usually try to use a thermometer in the oil to monitor the temperature or when I'm lazy, I use the chopstick method...stick a wooden chopstick in the oil and it's ready when a lot of bubbles stick to it :o)

In the Toaster Oven

I topped the fried eggplant with fresh Buffalo Mozzarella and then used the toaster setting until the cheese melted and was a little brown on top.  It's best to do this asap after frying the eggplant, but it can sit out for about an hour because it will crisp up some in the oven.  Of course if you are making a lot, this can be done in the regular oven.  It's just convenient using the toaster oven when you are making small batches.  The toaster oven is my best friend;o)

Spaghetti and Tomato Sauce

Deconstructed Eggplant Parmesan

First layer is spaghetti, then tomato sauce, then the fried eggplant with the Mozzarella cheese, a little more tomato sauce, some grated parmesan cheese, chopped parsley and then basil for garnish.

Cocktail Hour on the Beach...

When we spend time at the family vacation house, my favorite time to be on the beach is watching the sunset. We usually have martinis then I make some sort of nibbleys.  This night it was a charcuterie plate w/grapes & crackers.  Simple, but good;o)

Charcuterie...

There's an amazing cheese store in Santa Barbara called C'est Cheese. They make the best grilled cheese sandwiches using 3 cheeses.  They also have the greatest selection of cheese and dry meats.  That's where I got the Buffalo Mozzarella for the Eggplant Parmesan and they even had fresh ricotta cheese which I'm going to make pancakes with for breakfast.  This has: Jamon Iberico, Soppressata, Mahon Cheese, Rocinante Cheese & Quince Paste.

Another beautiful time on the beach...

I love the set up we have on the beach.  We found some short small tables a few years back and they are perfect for our cocktail hour;o)  This was an easy snack, the only thing I "made" was boiling the fava beans, I put a little salt on and eat it like edamame!