Miso Soup

Tokyo Fried Chicken

Eggplant and Peppers in Miso

Three recipes from Japanese Women Don’t Get Old or Fat: Secrets of My Mother’s Tokyo Kitchen tonight.   The tricky part is always timing things.  The Zojirushi 6 Cup Rice Cooker / Steamer I bought a while ago comes in handy here, as I don’t particularly have to worry about the timing of the rice so much as when I cook it on the stove.

I thought it might be useful if I sort of detailed how I approached this whole meal first, then gave the individual recipes in separate posts. When I was first learning to cook, I could manage any individual recipe. The trick was learning how to get 3 dishes on the table at the same time! I had 4 recipes I made tonight:

• rice (using a rice cooker simplifies this tremendously, although you can get along without)
• Miso soup
• Eggplant and green peppers cooked with miso
• Tokyo fried chicken

I soaked the eggplant in salted water while I prepared the miso sauce and chopped the green pepper. Set everything aside (on a large dinner plate), while I went onto the next thing I could prep.

Started the Dashi broth (I’m using these instant packets) which meant bringing 3 cups of water to boil, then adding the packet and cooking for 10 minutes. Sliced some green onions to garnish the soup with.

Cut the chicken in bite size pieces and began it marinating in the ginger/soy/mirin mix. in a small bowl. Put some cornstarch in a small bowl.

Peeled and sliced the daikon into matchstick sized slices. Cut some tofu into small cubes.

I placed each of the piles of little things (green pepper, daikon, tofu and green onions) onto a large dinner plate, just separated into piles as I prepped them.

I started a cup or so of canola oil heating in a small saucepan. I wanted the depth and don’t have a wok so I opted for a saucepan so I could get by with using less oil while still having some depth.

At some point the rice needed fluffing and the dashi broth was done. I fluffed the rice, took the dashi bag out of the water and added the sliced daikon into it to simmer for 5 minutes or so.

Drained the eggplant and started frying it. I had the oil too hot so lowered the heat a bit and watched it. Removed the eggplant bits as they were done onto their eventual serving dish, lined with paper towels. Did the eggplant in batches until done. Heated a small saucepan with some oil in it and started the green pepper cooking for a few minutes.

I drained the marinade from the chicken and dropped large spoonfuls at a time into the cornstarch and mixed until coated, then added the chicken to the hot oil.

At some point, I added the tofu into the soup while lowering the heat as I just wanted the tofu to get warmed up.

As the chicken finished, I pulled it out onto a paper towel lined serving dish and then started another batch of chicken frying

When the green peppers had cooked a few minutes, I put the eggplant in the pan and poured the miso sauce I’d mixed up earlier into it and stirred it together.

I stirred the miso paste into the soup during the final batch of chicken.

The rice was done and waiting.

The soup was nearly done, just needed to mix in the miso paste.

The eggplant and pepper dish was done.

I finished the last batch of chicken and dinner was ready!

I’m linking to the individual recipes as I post them, but I just thought this might help someone learning how to pull multiple dishes together. Basically, I looked first for what I could that could wait. Prep all the vegetables, marinade the chicken, get the cornstarch ready, make the dashi broth, make the miso sauce for the eggplant (which was delicious, by the way!). Then I thought about what could wait. Rice, especially in a rice cooker, can wait. Soup, to a point, can wait. I figured the one thing that really needed to be served fresh was the chicken so  I backtracked from that. Even the eggplant and peppers could wait a bit.

laying out the wrap

My eldest packed this for lunch for her first day of school. We bought some wraps and spread flavored cream cheese (chive and onion in this case but we often just use the “veggie” one), baby spinach leaves, grated carrots, chopped olives and turkey.

Spread the cream cheese on the wrap first, then lay out the ingredients you like. For mine, I added some Major Grey’s chutney.

Roll it up tightly starting at one the narrow end. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate if you’re going to slice it up.

It’s somehow more appetizing when cut into smaller pieces but that’ s strictly optional.

We serve these as appetizers at large holiday dinners to tide folks over until the big meal. We like to add some spicy stuff to some and keep a few vegetarian. Add sliced red peppers if you like ‘em and any thing else that sounds good!

We packed these for lunch today and my eldest thought they were good. I found them a bit bland but I think it’s because of the wrap we used rather than the ingredients. I like things with a bit more kick to them that she does though so for kids who like things plainer, these are great.

I was sent a review copy of this book. So full disclosure, we do NOT eat out near as much as the average family, which is 3 times or more per week according to the press release they sent me with the review copy.  So my review is not based on how “accurate” these recipes copy certain dishes but how they tasted.  And so far so good with one minor exception.

The first recipe we tried was from the Olive Garden, for Chicken Crostina. This has you cook  some boneless skinless chicken breasts in olive oil, then top with a mixture of shredded potatoes, Parmesan, garlic powder, parsley, and bread crumbs and put under the broiler for a few minutes, until the potatoes are cooked. This in itself was fantastic. And it worked well as leftovers, believe it or not. We just nuked the leftover chicken with some topping. Mmmm.  The full recipe called for a sauce of roasted garlic, white wine, cream (I used half and half), Parmesan, parsley and diced tomatoes. The pasta and sauce was so-so. I found it bland. The girls found it “winey.”  Perhaps using fresh garlic rather than roasted would kick it up a notch.  More something was needed anyway.

My youngest asked me to try the Kentucky Fried Chicken recipe next but I don’t have a pressure fyer, which the book said was key. So I did what I normally do for recipes. I took the “gist” of the KFC recipe, in terms of soaking in buttermilk (except I used sour cream thinned with some milk) and egg, then dipped in the flour and mix of 10 spices (flour, oregano, chili powder, sage, basil, marjoram, pepper, salt, paprika, onion salt, and garlic powder. I omitted the Accent because I don’t ever use that because I have reactions to it. )

Then I used the cooking method in the same cookbook for Church’s fried chicken. We don’t have Church’s around here but I can attest that the cooking method works great! Basically, you dip the chicken pieces in whatever–I used the KFC variant of egg and sour cream rather than buttermilk, the Church’s recipe in here calls for just egg and water. (The spice mix for Church’s is  self rising flour, cornstarch, seasoned salt, paprika, baking soda, biscuit mix, Italian dressing mix, and onion soup mix.) So I used the KFC mix mentioned above, but cooked it a la Church’s.

Basically fry in hot oil skin side down about 5 minutes, then turn and cook a few more minutes, then put on a foil lined pan and  cover 3 sides (so steam can escape) and bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes, remove the foil and bake another 5 minutes.

Oh yum!  Turned out great! I served with mashed potatoes and gravy I made from the drippings from frying the chicken so it had all those nice spices in it.  I actually did measure the oil, wondering how much oil the chicken would absorb when I was frying it, since we do try to be moderately healthy around here. I had cut up a whole chicken into legs, wings with meat, thighs, and breasts then cut the breasts in half so basically had 10 pieces.  I started with 1 cup of canola oil and ended up with over 3/4 of a cup after. Then I used 1/4 cup of it for the gravy, which made about 2 cups.

The recipes cover quite a range of restaurants and are well written and easy to follow.

How to Make Gravy for Chicken:

If you’ve cut up a whole chicken as I did, since whole chickens were .79/pound and the cut up ones were over $3/pound, use the neck and gizzards and such to make the broth for the gravy while the chicken is baking.  (If your family doesn’t eat wings, use those as well.)  Just cover the chicken parts with water and simmer. If you have a bit of onion and/or carrot and/or celery add it with some salt and pepper.  Simmer while the chicken is baking and use the broth for the gravy.

Heat 1/4 cup of the drippings in the same pan you fried the chicken. Add 1/4 cup flour while cooking over medium heat. Stir until absorbed and then cook another few minutes, stirring around. Add 1.5 to 2 cups chicken broth (or chicken bouillon and water) slowly, stirring it in until you have it a bit more runny than you like, then cook it down a bit, stirring. Allow about 5-10 minutes at the end for making the gravy. If you want milk gravy, use 1/2 broth and 1/2 milk for the liquid.

Really a great dinner, served with mashed potatoes and a green salad with avocados and tomatoes.

My daughter wanted a “simple” barbecue, that is hot dogs and hamburgers. But we were inviting lots of adults, including a few vegetarians and a few who eat no pork.   So first off, I bought all-beef hot dogs. I also decided to buy preformed hamburger patties to save time since we had a few other things going on around the same time.  I decided to add some chicken breasts and a few portobello mushrooms as well.  The hardest part was deciding about how many of each thing to plan on for 45 – 50 people. I figured two hot dogs per person and figured on about half hot dogs, slightly more than half hamburgers, half a dozen mushrooms, and a large tray pack of chicken breasts. (Note: I marinated the chicken breasts in my favorite chicken marinade and split them into two bags. I had one bag left over at the end so just froze them in smaller packs of 2 breasts per bag with some marinade in each bag.  I also had leftover hamburgers, still frozen, and leftover hot dogs, easy to throw in the freezer for later, so those will all get used up.)  We cooked a bit more than we ate last night but had hot dogs for lunch and green salad with sliced chicken and the leftover mushroom sliced up for dinner.

The menu I ended up with was:

• hot dogs
• hamburgers
• barbecued chicken breasts
• barbecued portobello mushrooms
• vegetarian baked beans
• potato salad (homemade and brought by my niece)
• pasta salad with veggies (homemade and brought by my niece)
• Chinese chicken salad (homemade and brought by my girls’ stepmom by request)
• fruit salad
• green salad

For appetizers we had:

• hummus and crackers (brought by a friend)
• chips and salsa (brought by a friend)
• veggies wraps (olives, red peppers, cream cheese, spinach leaves, grated carrots)
• spinach dip (bought at Costco) and French bread cubes
• pretzels and crackers and various dips and cream cheese (my youngest talked me into some raspberry chipolte sauce we sampled at Costco and I had some wasabi mustard dip I’d bought a while back)

And I bought a large sheet cake for dessert. This ended up at about $1 per person and was far better tasting and looking than I could have done! For smaller groups, I would have made dessert but for larger ones this works out great.

Oh I also made two large relish plates for the burgers which included a head of iceberg lettuce, sliced onions, sliced pickles, and sliced tomatoes. Ended up with leftover onions and tomatoes but those will easily get used up in various things or I can always just chop and freeze the onions.

I haven’t added up the cost but my main point was that you need to balance the time you have availalable and figure out what things might make sense to buy pre-made. While I normally make our namburger patties, for a large party I felt good about my decision to buy the preformed ones. Likewise the spinach dip. But I bought fresh fruit and made the fruit salad based on what looked good and ripe at the store (strawberries, blueberries, pineapple, watermelon, grapes and nectarines).  A neighbor was kind enough to loan me some fridge space (as well as outdoor table and chairs) so I made the salad up in the morning and refrigerated it till the party started. I did the same with the relish plates for the burgers.

Oh, for the bean dish I took this four bean casserole recipe in the crockpot and modified it to use vegetarian baked beans intead of the pork and beans and then left out the bacon. It was just as delicious as the original I think and might become my new standard since it’s a bit healthier.

Any of you have tips to share for large parties? This was fun but the largest one I’ve done that wasn’t a total potluck, although I did have some help as noted.  I don’t have an extra frig or freezer as some folks do so the neighbors’ offer of their spare frig space was a lifesaver. Same with the tables and chairs I borrowed. Oh, we did buy plastic table cloths to cover all the tables so they looked coordinated by the time we were done!  We bought a dozen helium ballons and tied a few to each table.  We lucked out with fantastic weather and I think the party was a success.

For each head of garlic, cut the tips off to open up the cloves.  So if you don’t grow garlic, you may wonder “What are the tips?”  The opposite of the root end!  Basically, the cloves grow up into a point and the green shoots rise up out of the ground from the pointy end. So the tips you want to cut off come to a point. (And if you haven’t grown garlic, try it!  it’s so easy! Where I live, in the SF bay area, we plant towards the end of October and harvest towards the end of June. Each year, I set aside my largest heads to replant so I basically haven’t bought garlic in however many years I’ve grown it. I’ve yet to run out before the next crop is ready.)

So preheat the oven to 375 and cut enough off the tips of the bulbs to expose most of the heads. Find a baking dish just large enough to fit all the heads you want to bake. Rub a bit of olive oil along the bottom of the dish and place the heads cut side up in there. Pour just a bit of olive oil across the top of each head.  Bake 20-30 minutes, testing that the cloves are done by poking a toothpick into the exposed side. They should be soft.

Use in dishes like Potato Soup with Roast Garlic, use for a softer garlic bread, make a fantastic baked Brie appetizer by spreading some roast garlic, olive oil and pine nuts across the Brie, barbecue some fish with roast garlic and butter and lemon juice in a foil pan, mix in with some mashed potatoes, …  The options are nearly endless!

What’s your favorite way to use roast garlic?

Fried Potatoes

For the potatoes, I scrubbed them and diced them and then parboiled them until just barely tender.  While they were draining, I heated up some bacon grease in a frying pan, then added the potato cubes, sprinkling with salt and pepper at some point.  When I first add them  to the pan, I stir them around so all sides get coated with a bit of the fat. You can use butter here instead of bacon grease of course.  Or oil.  Then let them sit without stirring so they get browned a bit, then stir, let sit, etc. If they all get browned before everything else is done, just turn the heat down and let them sit.

Fried Apples (and Onions)

I peeled and sliced some onions  while the water for the potatoes was coming to a boil. Put some butter in a frying pan (could use oil or bacon grease of course), then added the onions and cooked over medium low a good long while, stirring now and then. When they were all softened, I put them in a bowl, added a bit more butter, and added some sliced apples. (I leave the skins on but you can peel them first if you prefer.)  I let the apples cook over medium low until softened and eventually sprinkled a few spoonfuls of brown sguar over them (for 3 apples, so maybe 1 spoonful per apple).  Once they were all softened, I took some of the apples out into a bowl and added the onions back in to mix together for me.

Fried Sausage

In the meantime, I sliced up the sausage and browned in yet another skillet. The sausage is usually fat enough that I don’t add any fat to the pan. It makes its own.  Stir now and then and adjust the heat to match what’s going on with our apples and potatoes so it all is good to go at the same time.

Enjoy!

I decided that my meal was going to be a breakfast for dinner type thing. I made fresh squeezed orange juice in our Vita Mix, and I fried up some potatoes that my mom had already cubed, parboiled, and frozen. (When the potatoes were cooking in a bit of olive oil and butter, I sprinkled on garlic powder, a pinch of salt, and seasoned pepper.)

For my main dish, I wanted to make an omelet, because I have never had one before. I mixed up a lot of different recipes and techniques from a book called “How to Cook Without a Book” and I made my own recipe.

• 5 eggs
• 1/2 a chopped up onion
• 4 slices of bacon
• handful of chopped parsley leaves
• 2 table spoons of plain yogurt
• salt and pepper

cooking bacon

I started out by putting all the bacon pieces in my omelet pan and letting them cook until they were dark brown, flipping them over every couple minutes.

While they’re cooking, crack open all the eggs into a medium sized bowl and mix them until all the colors blend together. Set aside.

Chop the onion into about 1/4 inch pieces, put in a bowl, and set aside.

By the time you have done those, your bacon will probably be done cooking. Lay out a paper towel on a small plate and put the bacon on top, then cover them with another paper towel.

Leave all the grease in the pan and add the chopped onion, and saute until they become limp and darken a bit in color, then put them back in the bowl and dump out some of the grease.

Then you will pour your egg mixture into the greased up pan, still gently until it starts to set, then leave it alone until it’s a little soft and wet on the top, but not liquidy.

Take the bacon out and chop or tear it into small, half inch pieces.

On half of your eggs, sprinkle on the bacon, then the parsley leaves, then the onions and the yogurt.

When I put the yogurt on, I scooped some into a spoon and shook it gently over my omelet so that small portions could be distributed equally.

Then, fold the empty half of the eggs on top of the other half.

Mine broke, but it still tasted delicious.

• 1 Tbs oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 -2 cups leftover frozen vegetables (or diced fresh carrots, celery, squash, etc.)
• 1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 cup leftover frozen tortellini (or just add some pasta or beans or cubed potato)
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil and sauté the onion and garlic a few minutes, until softened. Add the broth and vegetables. Bring to a simmer and stir in the pasta or tortellini. Cook until the pasta is done.

Whisk the egg in a small bowl, then drizzle into the soup stirring constantly. Add the cheese, salt and pepper, then serve.

Who else has creatively used some bits of leftovers? I love reading these ideas from you all when we get a thread going about this. Soup’s an easy one.  Other favorites of ours include burritos, fried rice, and quiche.

But once you’re past that stage, you find lots of time where you have a spare 10 or 15 or 20 minutes while you’re waiting for something to happen. If your kids are young, this is fantastic! You can help with homework, engage with their play, or read a very short book.   But when your kids get older, you might find yourself wasting this time. Don’t!  Think ahead to the next meal or the one after that!

Tonight, I pulled out the other half of the filling for  a chicken pot pie I had made last week. I made up a fresh pie crust for the topping tonight since I didn’t have one in the freezer. (I often freeze any extra pie crust for later.)  I defrosted the pot pie filling partially in the microwave and the rest of the time on the stove on low while I made the pie crust. Poured the filling in a pie tin and topped with the crust and put in at 425 to bake for half an hour.

When I put the pie crust over the pot pie there was extra hanging over, so I cut it off and put it on a small cookie sheet and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar, then baked for 10 minutes or so. Makes a great snack or dessert.

I still had some time before dinner. Potatoes had been on sale this week, $1.99 for a 10 pound bag, the best price we ever see around here so I bought a bag.  I peeled 4 pounds or so worth and diced, then parboiled until barely done, drained them, and flash froze on a cookie sheet. After dinner I took them off the cookie sheet and put them in a gallon freezer bag. Now we’ll have some quick and easy fried potatoes for lunch or dinner.

I started one on Google Docs that you can view here: price book. I’m hoping you can copy that and update it for your own prices. I am trying to keep track of price per serving based on the servings I used when I built the calculator for various things as well as cost per ounce, pound, etc.

If you can’t save that and use it as your own, let me know in the comments and I’ll try to figure out another way.