Eggplant and Green Pepper in Miso

This is from Japanese Women Don’t Get Old or Fat: Secrets of My Mother’s Tokyo Kitchen which I’ve been enjoying.  I just used one small Japanese eggplant and half a green pepper because I was only feeding two people, and I cut back a bit on the sauce ingredients as well. It came out quite good. Well, I liked it. My youngest wasn’t so crazy about it but then she likes neither eggplant or green peppers, so I didn’t have high expectations!  I’ll post her quantities below since I winged and eyeballed my adjustments.

Oh, I just realized I forgot to garnish mine with the sesame seeds and oil!  Still tasted good.

• 1 pound Japanese eggplant
• 2 Tbs mirin
• 2 Tbs red miso
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp sake
• 1 cup canola oil
• 1 green pepper, cored and seeded, cut into bite size pieces
• 1 tsp toasted white sesame
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil

Soak the eggplant in some salted water while you prepare the sauce.

In a small bowl, mix together the mirin, miso, sake and sugar. Set this aside for the end of the recipe.

Start the oil heating in a wok if you have one. I used a medium saucepan so I could get by with using less oil and still having some depth. Drain the eggplant and blot dry with a paper towel. You want the oil about 350. If you drop a cube of bread in, it should sizzle.

Gently slide some of the eggplant pieces in and fry a few minutes until golden brown and cooked through. (A fork or skewer should easily go through.) Remove and drain on paper towels as small batches are done.

Now if you’re not frying anything else, drain the oil from the pan and reserve for another use. Since I was also going to fry some chicken, I just added a small bit of oil to a small frying pan.

Cook the pepper until crisp-tender, about 2 minutes. Add the eggplant back to the pan, then stir the miso sauce over it all and cook while stirring a few minutes to blend flavors and coat the vegetables.  Transfer to a serving dish and garnish with the sesame seeds and sesame oil.

You can see my whole menu here.

I am on a self-imposed challenge to use up some odds and ends, trying to make room for our Thanksgiving but also just something I do every few months to clean out the freezer of older things.

We had some hot dogs left from my daughter’s graduation party in June and some neighbor’s had a party recently and gave us their leftover hot dog buns, which I froze (having had a miscount for the party so luckily NOT left with too many hot dog buns!). Anyway, the menu tonight was for barbecued hot dogs and a can of Bush’s baked beans, which we love. I decided to augment that with a very simple vegetable soup, which I might spice up later in the week but left very simple tonight.

• 1 Tbs oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 stalks of celery, diced
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4 cups homemade chicken broth
• 1 can of green beans, drained
• 1 potato, peeled and diced

This is the very simple version.

Heat the oil and saute the onion a few minutes, until softened. (I do this while I’m prepping the garlic, carrots, and celery.)  Add the garlic and stir, cooking a  minute or so. Add the celery and carrots and stir.  (At this point I peel and dice the potato, letting the other vegetables cook.)  Add the potato and green beans, if using, and whatever seasonings you like (thyme in this case). (I don’t normally use canned green beans and can’t remember why I bought these, hence they were great fodder for soup. I might also, at this point, add some chopped cabbage and/or zucchini and/or peas or corn or … you get the idea.)

I didn’t even bother thawing my chicken broth but just put the 4 cups of it in frozen and let it melt while the vegetables finished sauteing. I let the whole thing simmer 20 minutes or so, long enough to get the potatoes soft.

Had I wanted a heartier soup I might have added some rice or beans or pasta. If I’d wanted something spicier I might have added some salsa or pesto or even some spicy sausage.

If  you like, you can make this very simple the first night, as I did here, then spice it up a bit another night later in the week to go with something else.  Sausage and shrimp and okra could make it into gumbo. Chicken and black beans and salsa and some crushed tortilla chips could go great with a Mexican meal.

I do think the key is good broth. I haven’t bought chicken broth in years. I make my own homemade chicken broth or turkey broth and freeze it.

Cauliflower and cucumber pickles

This is from a Japanese cookbook, Bento Boxes: Japanese Meals on the Go but it could easily accompany any meal where you wanted a small side dish. I love little side dishes like this. I had actually steamed cauliflower the other night to make this cauliflower with salsa verde. I had some plain steamed cauliflower left over so this little pickle dish went together very quickly.

• a few small pieces of steamed cauliflower florets
• a few inches of cucumber, thinly sliced
• 2 tsp rice vinegar
• 1/2 tsp sugar

The recipe also called for 1 tsp citron juice and 2 slices citron zest but I had neither of those.

Sprinkle the cucumber slices with salt and rub in, then squeeze to remove as much liquid as possible.  Toss the steamed cauliflower with the rest of the ingredients.

NOT CheapCooking but quite good.

• 1 Tbs oil
• 1 Tbs minced onion
• 1 cup rice
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 pinch saffron

Put the rice cooker on cook and heat a Tbs of oil, then add 1 Tbs of minced onion and cook a few minutes until softened. Stir in the rice and cook a few minutes, then add the broth and saffron, Stir then put the lid on and reset to start the rice cooking process if needed.

For my rice cooker, it automatically turns itself to warm. 20 minutes later I can stir and keep on warm for a while or serve.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Apples

Okay, most of you are wrinkling your noses already aren’t you?  But for some reason I like Brussels Sprouts. I grew them one year in the garden as well and they were totally carefree and easy. Hmmm… probably about time to plant them again.

I found this recipe in the latest Cooking Light magazine. I’ve recently resubscribed and am enjoying it.  The combo of the apples and apple juice (I didn’t have cider like the recipe called for..is there really a difference?) and the roasting made this quite good. Even my 15 year old liked it!  I didn’t actually measure the sprouts, just used what I thought we would eat.

• 8 ounces (?) Brussels sprouts, ends trimmed and then quartered
• 1/2 cup diced apple
• a good splash of apple juice, 2 Tbs or so
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• a dash each of salt and ground pepper

Mix everything together in a bowl, then put in a shallow pan for roasting.  I used half a small jelly roll pan and filled the other half with some cut up red potatoes and roasted them at the same time.

Kielbasa, potatoes, apples and Brussels sprouts

Heat the oven to 375 and roast about 25 minutes, stirring now and then.   These were done slightly before the potatoes so I just pulled them out sooner, put them in a small bowl, and left it sitting on the oven to keep warm while everything else finished up.

This went great with the roasted red potatoes (cut into cubes and tossed with olive oil and Penzey’s Salad Seasonings), sliced and browned Kielbasa sausage, and some fried apples and onions.

A neighbor shared some hot dog buns leftover from her party the other night and I had hot dogs in the freezer left over from my last party so it was barbecued hot dogs tonight for dinner!   I wanted to make some fries to go with and saw I still had a sweet potato so did a combo of 2 small regular russet potatoes with 1 sweet potato for the fries.

For all of the potatoes, I peeled them first. I don’t always but did tonight for some reason. I cut them into 1/3″ slices or so, not quite thin fries but not thick either. Then I tossed with some olive oil until lightly coated. I put them in two different small bowls so i could season them differently.

For the sweet potatoes, I sprinkled with salt, cinnamon and paprika, as inspired by Sarah’s Cucina Bella blog.

For the Russet potatoes, I also sprinkled with salt and then some Penzey’s Sandwich Sprinkle.

I baked them on a jelly roll pan at 425 for about 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so and watching at the end to see when they hit my desired crunchiness. Your mileage will vary of course depending on how small you cut the potatoes and how hot your oven really is. I pulled some of mine out early as they were thinner than the others and were done sooner.

Both kinds of fries were excellent and the perfect accompaniment to a barbecued hot dog, along with some sliced tomatoes and cucumbers from the garden.

A while back I bought this Zojirushi 6 Cup Rice Cooker / Steamer and have been playing around with it a bit. It’s my first rice cooker so I can’t compare to others, but I have been happy with it. I’m usually only cooking for 2 or 3 and it suits our needs great.    I have been fine with cooking rice on the stove for years and it comes out good BUT it doesn’t “keep” well if you’re timing is off in terms of your other dishes. What I like about this is that once the rice is done, I fluff it a bit, put the lid back on, and it keeps warm without getting mushy for quite a while. (They say one to two hours but I haven’t pushed it that far!)

Last night I was making tacos for 7 and I was worried perhaps I didn’t have enough taco meat and shells so in addition to refried beans I wanted some Mexican rice as well. I have a recipe for Mexican rice I like that I do on the stovetop but I decided to try one in the rice cooker. I used the one in The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook : 250 No-Fail Recipes for Pilafs, Risottos, Polenta, Chilis, Soups, Porridges, Puddings and More, from Start to Finish in Your Rice Cooker and it came out great!  I especially liked that it used fresh tomato since my garden is still producing.  And just like on the stove, it was a one-pot recipe!

• 1 Tbs olive oil
• 1/3 cup onion, diced
• 1 medium garlic clove, minced (about 1 tsp)
• 1 cup long-grain white rice
• 1/2 cup peeled and chopped tomato
• 1 3/4 cups water
• 2 tsp ground chili powder
• salt to taste (maybe 1/2 tsp)

Turn the rice cooker on and put the oil in. Add the diced onion and stir for a few minutes, then add the garlic and cook another minute, stirring. Note: I had to put the lid to weigh the cooker down enough to keep the heat on but could then lift it up to stir.

Add the rice and cook 5 – 10 minutes, stirring, until lightly golden. Add the tomato, stir and cook a few more minutes. Add the water, chili powder and salt. Stir, cover and either reset to cook or leave it alone if it’s still on the cook setting.

When the machine switches to the Keep Warm mode (mine does, not sure what to do if yours doesn’t), cook another 15 minutes. Take the lid off, stir and fluff with a wooden or plastic spoon, then put the lid back on and leave on the warm setting until the rest of your food is ready.

This went great with my normal recipe for tacos, which I doubled for last night. It doesn’t use the seasoning packet so many folks spend a dollar or more on at the store but some garlic, onion and cumin. Just as easy and way cheaper than the packets! (But when I just reviewed that I realize I do a few things different these days. First, I always use diced fresh onion and minced fresh garlic. I’ve also gone to using just an 8 ounce can of tomato sauce and adding 1/3 cup or so of water, basically rinsing the can out and just eyeballing the measurement. But if I only have a 15 oz can I use it all up.) Either way it comes out good! And I use either ground beef or turkey, depending on which is cheaper.)

You can, of course, always make your own taco seasoning mix if you like it that way better.

If you have leftover taco meat (we did NOT last night!), make up some taco meat pies (great for lunches) or taco salad.

Beets from the garden

I planted beets a long time ago and then sort of forgot about them in the rush of tomatoes and cucumbers and basil and peppers and lettuce and such.  But they were patient and sat there waiting for me to remember them!

I washed them off and cut all but an inch of the greens of the beets, saving the greens of course.  For the beets themselves, I wrapped in foil and baked an hour or so at 350.  The time will vary depending on the size of your beets. Poke them with a knife and make sure they’re soft through.  When you unwrap them, you can easily pull the peel off, trim the root and greens ends off, then chop. Top with a bit of butter and salt. Yum!

I sorted through the greens and took out the big tough ones (because they’d been in the garden so long!) The tender greens I cooked like chard, with some garlic and oil, letting them wilt.   Served with a few wedges of lemon (also from the yard). Garlic was homegrown too.  The more things come from the garden the more I enjoy the meal!

Anyone have some favorite beet recipes to share? Borscht?  I have a dozen or so left in the garden.  Will be planting more since they were so effortless and easy and are patient!

A red rice goes nicely with Mexican food and in the past I’ve relied on this recipe, which is good. I wanted to kick it up a notch though and was making  a larger batch than normal for a wine tasting party so I found this version in one my old standby cookbooks, Desperation Entertaining!.  They said it serves 8 generously but we must not have had that many rice eaters last night, as it served 8 with TONS left over. So I would presume it can serve 12 easily as a side dish. I used a mild jarred salsa and the flavor was excellent.

• 3 cups rice
• 2 Tbs butter
• 1 quart chicken broth
• 1 16-ounce jar of salsa
• 1/2 tsp cumin

I used a 3 quart saucepan to cook this in and when I added the liquids it was just 1/2″ from the top so you might want to use a larger pan!

Heat the butter until it melts, then stir in the rice and cook until lightly browned, stirring constantly. Add the broth, salsa, and cumin and stir while bringing to a boil, then cover and cook 20 minutes. Fluff with a fork. If you’re not serving right away, you can cover with a tea towel then put the lid back on.  You can also make it ahead and then microwave to reheat.

Cucumber salad with sour cream and dill

I am growing the most fantastic cucumbers this year. I bought the starts from the local nursery so I’m not sure what variety these are but I remember that they are a Japanese variety. They are at least a foot long and not too full of seeds. Really fantastic.  I did seed the one I used for the salad tonight as it was a bit overgrown but if I stay on top of them, the seeds are very fine and small.

• 1 to 1.5 pounds of cucumber, peeled, seeded, and thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup sour cream or yogurt
• 2 Tbs lemon juice, preferably freshly squeezed
• a pinch of cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh dill or parsley ( I used parsley but sprinkled some dried dill as well)

If your cucumbers are seedy, peel them slice them lengthwise and then scrape the seeds out.  Slice thinly.

Mix the sour cream, lemon juice, cayenne and salt and pepper.

Toss the sour cream dressing with the sliced cucumbers and chill for an hour or two or serve right away.

Other favorite cucumber recipes:

• Cucumbers with Sour Cream, Lemon Juice and Vinegar
• Cucumber Salad with Green Peppers and Onions
• Cucumber and Mango Salsa
• Grape and Cucumber Salsa