Good Eating, Good Living

Eggplant and Red Pepper Salad

2010-11-16T16:13:00.000-08:00

I thought my physical strength had not been changed since I was a teenager. I was wrong. After two decades have passed I am no longer a teenager and I cannot run like I used to. But I still considered I was physically in good shape. I recently realized I was totally wrong and I need to work out more.

A few months ago, I started playing soccer and joining tournaments with ladies over 30’s. At a glance, these ladies look like just women next door. But I was mistaken. They (some are over 50’s!!!) are extremely energetic and move like I used to when I was a teenager.

So I continue my vegetarian diet and hopefully I will get into good shape for the games. Here is one of the vegetarian dishes I like. Broil eggplants and red peppers and peel the skin off. Chop the eggplants and red peppers and mix them. Add copped parsley and green onion. Pour a lot of olive oil and lemon juice and mix with the mixture. Season it with salt and pepper. If you like, mix with ground garlic. This dish is very refreshing and can be a great side dish for Thanksgiving ;)

Leek with Rice

2010-10-19T14:33:00.000-07:00

Since my cholesterol level was more than I expected, I have started strict vegetarian diet. I thought it would be a torture because I love meat. But I started liking it. I enjoy trying vegetables I have never tasted before. Indeed, I am amazed by some vegetables, which are really delicious.

A several years ago, when a book, “French Women Don't Get Fat", was introduced, my girlfriend cooked leek soup. She said the recipe was from this book. The sweet taste of leek has fascinated me since then.

A few years later, my husband taught me this leek with rice dish. It is very simple and healthy, yet very yummy. Sauté chopped leek, garlic and onion well. Add rice and cook them until the rice becomes soft. Add chopped dill and season with salt and pepper. Greek people usually eat this dish with feta cheese. I often spread Parmesan cheese on the top of this dish.

Leek helps lower the bad cholesterol. I should cook this healthy vegetable more often!

Fried Tofu

2010-09-14T12:43:00.000-07:00

One of the things I am proud of was my cholesterol level, which had been 170 for years. I ate various vegetables, soybeans and soybean products. Also I avoided red meat and fried food. Of course, I worked out a lot.

However, the result of my recent blood exam shows that my cholesterol level increased! My doctor said, “Don’t worry! It is still below the red sign. It just indicates you are aged.” No way! So I decided to say “Good bye” (at this moment) to juice Cajun sausages and delicious fried food.

Perhaps, I should temporary farewell to one of my favorite dishes, which is fried tofu. Simple coat it with potato starch and fry them with oil. Pour soy sauce and ginger juice over the hot fried tofu. Yummy!

My “Back to 170” program has already started. While I am looking at this delicious fried tofu picture, I determine I will do it in order to have this dish again!

Onion and Japanese Basil (Shiso) Salad with Tofu

2010-08-15T12:14:00.000-07:00

Recently I found ponzu, a citrus seasoned soy sauce/dressing in a local supermarket. I just did not expect I would find one of the must-have Japanese seasonings if you cook Japanese food. I am very excited and eager to use this seasoning.

It is very hot in Louisiana, which causes me to lose my appetite. I do not want to eat oily or heavy food. So I decide to make simple salad using ponzu. I used my favorite herb, shiso, and onion for it. You can eat this salad with cooled/hot tofu, which has a lot of healthy benefits. It is amazing that I can eat a few cup of rice with this simple and delicious salad.

Ingredients:
1 onion, thinly sliced
10 Japanese basil (Shiso) leaves
3 tablespoons of dried bonito flakes
3-4 tablespoons of ponzu

Direction:
1. Wash shiso leaves and pad with paper towel. Thinly slice the leaves.
2. Soak the sliced onion in the cold water for about 15 minutes. Drain them well.
3. Mix the onion slices, shiso, dried bonito flakes, and ponzu. Leave them in a refrigerator for 30 minutes or more.
4. Serve it on drained tofu!

Granola Bar

2010-08-05T11:25:00.000-07:00

I hardly eat or make desserts unless there is a special occasion. The other day, I was invited to a social event where tasting snacks and chatting are main activities. I brought my homemade granola bars for the party.

It might be not a good idea to bring these bars because they started melting under the hot weather. However, I received a lot of compliments about my simple homemade snack. Many people asked me the recipe. I am pleased to share it with you here :)

Ingredients (8x8 inch pan):
3 cups of granola, pumpkin seeds, chopped dry fruits, or nuts, etc
60 g of marshmallows
50 g of unsalted butter
1 tbsp of honey

Direction:
1. Place the marshmallows and unsalted butter in a bowl and let them melt completely using a microwave.
2. Add the granola and honey in the bowl. Mix them well.
3. Grease a flat pan (I used 8x8 inch pan). Place the mixture in the pan. Lay a wax paper on the top of the mixture and press into the bottom of the pan evenly.
4. Refrigerate it for 15 to 30 minutes. Cut into bars.

Heirloom Tomatoes

2010-07-31T20:52:00.000-07:00

I tasted heirloom tomatoes for the first time last year. I had seen them in stores before　but never tried them. This was because they were quite expensive comparing with other tomatoes. In addition, their black, yellow and green colors and strange shapes looked artificial to me.

Last year I found out heirloom tomatoes was introduced before 1920’s. They are non-hybrid and have a genuine tomato aroma and taste. After I tried them, I cannot think of buying other tomatoes when heirloom tomatoes are available.

I kept some heirloom tomato’s seeds from the tomatoes I ate and this spring I planted in my vegetable garden. It is time to harvest. The more ugly figures and weird colors they are, the better their taste are. Hope I can harvest enough to preserve some for winter!

Star Fried Bitter Melon with Pork, Egg, and Onion

2010-07-29T20:18:00.000-07:00

Last year I planted two bitter melon plants in my garden. Unfortunately I was able to harvest only a few bitter melons. However, this spring I found ten bitter melon plants coming up from the soil. It seemed some fruits dropped the seeds last year and came up! They grew and I already picked up 6 or 7 fruits and more to come!

Bitter melon is extremely high in vitamin C. Recent studies show bitter melon can be effective for treating diabetes. Lately supplements of bitter melon are available, which regulate blood sugar level.

The taste of this vegetable is very bitter. But this can be addictive. I usually star-fry bitter melon with pork or chicken, eggs and onion. This dish gives you not only a delicious flavor but also many of the healthy benefits.

Insalata Caprese (Tomatoes, Mozzarella and Basil Salad)

2010-07-21T18:51:00.000-07:00

Basil green, mozzarella white and ripped tomato red remind me of the flag of Italy and hot summer days in the Mediterranean. Insalata caprese is the ultimate summer dish and my most favorite salad. It is very simple to make but amazingly delicious.

Usually I use *garlic-infused olive oil, which makes this dish lovelier. Do not forget to serve this with lots of slices of toasted Italian bread!

* Please note that garlic-infused olive oil may carry botulin toxin, which is very deadly. There is a lot of information available about the products and how to make garlic-infused olive oil. Make sure garlic-infused olive oil you use is safe!

Fried Cod Wrapped with Japanese Basil

2010-07-20T11:22:00.000-07:00

I am crazy about perilla, a member of mint family, and sometimes called Japanese basil. If you have tried sushi or sashimi in Japanese restaurants, you might have tasted this extremely aromatic herb. Some people say it tastes like cilantro or basil. Other says it feel like cumin. I do not know how to describe this aroma to you but I can tell this plant has an irresistible flavor.

It is difficult to find perilla. Perhaps they are only available in Asian supermarkets in US. Even though you can find them, I am not sure if they are fresh or aromatic. The best way to obtain this herb is to plan in your garden or a big pot. I found the seeds on Amazon.com or other website. It is very easy to grow and disease resistant.

Since I am able to harvest them in my yard, I enjoy them as much as possible. I mix them with fresh vegetables and make salad. Also I use them with cold noodles as a garnish.

Wrap perilla leaves around cod fillets and coat with corn starch/ potato starch. Then, fry them and pour my original sauce, which is soybeans sauce based. I have a good appetite. Especially with these delicious pieces with perilla taste, it cannot be better!

Ginger Tea

2010-07-17T20:52:00.000-07:00

I had been sick for a few days a week ago. It started a sore throat. When I realized I got some flu bacteria, I immediately began taking ginger tea. I felt the tea was efficacious right away. Next day, the pain became worse. I continued taking ginger tea every couple hours. I also took lots of rest and ate nutritious food, which is easy to digest. A few days later I completely recovered from the summer flu.

Before I discovered the power of ginger tea, a sore throat was usually a sign of horrible distress. Typically it developed fever and runny nose and more than a week of suffering.

I was always depending on medicines when I had a sore throat. But when I stopped taking them, the flu symptoms always came bake and became worse. But one day, I decided not to take any medicine. Instead, I frequently took ginger tea and gargled with salt. Surprisingly, these ancient treatments really worked for me. Since then, when I have a just minor throat pain I try not to use medicine and support my own power to cure my sickness.

Ingredients:
1 cup of hot water
½ teaspoon of grind ginger
1 teaspoon of honey

Directions:
Mix all of the ingredients.

Oil Spill

2010-06-29T20:18:00.000-07:00

Checking my vegetable garden in early morning is my usual task during the summer time. This morning I followed my routine. It was a less humid and cloudy day. The wind was gently blowing from the South. Then I noticed the subtle gasoline stink. Yes, the smell was the oil from the Gulf. We live in Baton Rouge, which is 80 miles away from the sea. It is unbelievable but sadly our life is affected by the oil spill.

The small particles of oil must be everywhere around the Gulf. We breathe the contaminated air and no one knows the long-term result of it. It is scaring.

Omelet with Zucchini Flowers, Dill and Feta Cheese

2010-06-25T14:12:00.000-07:00

“Zucchini flowers are so flavorsome,” said my husband, who is native to Greece. Indeed, there are many dishes using zucchini flowers in Mediterranean counties. I have never tried zucchini flowers before and I was always fascinated about eating them.

So I planted six zucchini plants this spring and was looking forward to harvesting the flowers.

However, a few weeks ago, when they were ready to blossom, the plants suddenly started dying. After searching webs for the cause, I found out they were attacked by squash vine borers. In fact, I found the babies and eggs lying on the zucchini leaves. Yikes!!!

Fortunately, several flowers were surviving and I was able to eat them! Certainly they are very delicious. It is sweet and has a delicate flavor. The flowers could be better than zucchini fruits!

Plum and Blueberry Clafoutis

2010-06-22T19:08:00.000-07:00

Our plum tree produced a lot of fruits this year. My husband enjoyed eating them. But they were too sour for me. In front of tons of plums, I thought about many possibilities to cook and eat them. Then, making clafoutis suddenly flashed into my mind. It was already ten o’clock at night. But I decided to just do it!

The dessert was done before the midnight. My husband and I ate all before the next day of afternoon!

Clafoutis is a French baked dessert. It is very easy to make. Mix with eggs, milk, heavy cream, sugar, and flour. Pour into the tart pan. Add fruits such as cherries, berries, apricots and plum. Then put it into the preheated oven. 30 to 40 minutes later you are eating this delicious dessert.

Do not remove pits of fruits. They give a special flavor to this simple sweet!

Chicken Tikka Masala with Chickpeas

2010-06-13T10:31:00.000-07:00

When the weather gets hot, I long for curry. Since my neighbor gave me a lot of fresh jalapeño peppers, I decided to make tikka masala.

Usually I roast chicken, which is marinated with yogurt, ginger, garlic and species over night, and add it in tikka masala. This time I boiled marinated chicken wings along with my homemade tikka masala paste, vegetables and chickpeas. Of course, I used a lot of jalapeño peppers, which make this dish extremely hot and flavorsome :)

Pita Sandwich with Hummus Dressing

2010-06-10T21:04:00.000-07:00

It has been very hot with no rain in Louisiana. I am very afraid that this heat will produce multiple huge hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico. Indeed, the weather forecast warns that we will have a several major hurricanes this summer. When I think of this, I feel a chill go down my spine.

The summer heat reduces my appetite. But I have to eat in order to get going. So I made this simple pita sandwich with delicious hummus dressing. Use various kinds of summer vegetables. It is very refreshing and recovers my good appetite!

Shrimp with Orzo in Tomato Sauce

2010-06-09T14:34:00.000-07:00

If the current oil spill continues more than 50 days, it would be the worst oil spill in the U.S history. This was the article I heard a month ago. Today is the 51st day after the oil spill started. It is already the worst oil spill in the U.S. history. Yet, no one knows when the spill stops. Depressing.

The shrimp dish I made before the oil spill was Shrimp with Orzo in Tomato Sauce. It was so delicious because of the tasty and big shrimps from the Gulf. But now it makes me very sad since many of the shrimp beds in the Gulf are destroyed…

Shrimps from the Gulf of Mexico

2010-05-02T20:47:00.000-07:00

I am very upset about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It has been leaking for several days and it is already the 2nd worst oil spill in the history. If this situation continues more than 50 days, it will be the worst oil spill. So far no one can predict when this ends. I feel extremely sad and afraid of environmental and economic damages from this horrible disaster.

As I always mention on this blog, I admire delicious shrimps, crabs and oysters from the Gulf. Some expert says once oil pollutes the sea, it will take 20 years or more to clean up. I feel desperate that I may not be able to enjoy shrimps, crabs and oysters from the Gulf in 20 years or more!

Yesterday I went to buy a few pounds of the Gulf shrimps. I grilled, boiled, and baked them. They were so big and delicious. While I became satisfied, my anger against this devastation escalated. I do hope we will continue to enjoy beautiful shrimps and oysters from the Gulf of Mexico…

Beet salad

2010-04-29T12:47:00.000-07:00

My friend, Maria, was the first person to introduce the flavor of beets. She was originally from Spain and loves cooking. She used to boil beet roots, slice and simply season them with lemon juice and olive oil. I was fascinated its rich taste as well as the beautiful vivid color.
Since then, I am a big fun of beet salad. Today I prepared this beet salad using a Turkish recipe. Grind garlic and chop dills. Mix them with smashed beets and olive oil. Then, add a tablespoon of yogurt. No salt or pepper necessary. It is very refreshing and delicious.

Spaghetti in Meat Sauce

2010-04-27T20:41:00.000-07:00

My husband, Greek native, taught this meat sauce recipe. He put a touch of cinnamon to give a subtle sweet flavor. Sweet meat sauce is a Greek standard. Some people put sugar. Others add cinnamon. I had never thought of using cinnamon in any meat dishes. But after I tried this, I loved the idea and delicate taste.
Cinnamon is one of the popular seasonings in Mediterranean cuisine. Add a pinch of cinnamon in meat sauce. It will give you a distinctive and delicious essence!

Cabbage Soup

2010-04-03T20:49:00.000-07:00

My husband, who is a Greek Orthodox Christian, and I observe a fast before Easter. So we had this simple but very delicious cabbage soup. I found this fresh and tender cabbage in a local farmers market. Cabbage is excellent for soup. Use it with various kinds of vegetables so that the soup becomes very rich and flavorsome.

Pralines

2010-03-22T19:40:00.000-07:00

Pecan pralines are one of the Louisiana’s landmarks. They are a very sweet flavor with crunchy pecan nuts. I love to eat them with a cup of coffee au lait or milk tea.
It is quite expensive if you buy. But it is very easy if you make. Try this sweet, which was originally from Franc!

Gumbo Soup

2010-03-21T14:32:00.000-07:00

It is already the middle of March. But it is still cold in Louisiana. It was 41 degrees F when I woke up this morning!!!
I need hot soup. So I decided to make this gumbo soup, which is one of the traditional Louisiana dishes. I was told that guineas fowl are the best to make gumbo soup. They are not familiar birds in regular super markets and I only found it in the local farmers market. It was quite expensive comparing to chickens. However, the soup became more flavorsome and thick.

After eating this soup, I checked the temperature. It is still 43 degrees F. Yet, thanks to this delicious soup, I feel much warmer.

Stuffed Cabbage with Egg and Lemon Sauce

2010-03-20T21:46:00.000-07:00

Stuffed Cabbage is one of my favorite dishes since I was a little kid. This is a Greek version of stuffed cabbage. Rice, tomato, onion, beef, lamb and lots of dill leaves are used for the stuffing. The egg and lemon sauce is called avgolemono, which is a traditional Greek sauce. It was a lot of work to make them. But it was definitely worth it!

Salmon and Squid in White Wine Sauce

2010-02-17T21:25:00.000-08:00

Pasta with Oyster Mushrooms and Spinach

2010-02-16T19:45:00.000-08:00

Happy Mardi Gras!

These beautiful fresh oyster mushrooms are from the local farmers market. I used a little bit of soy sauce for seasoning, which makes this simple Mediterranean dish extraordinary. It was yummy :)

Eggplants with Mint

2010-02-01T18:19:00.001-08:00

We had lost many of the plants in our vegetable garden because of the cold fronts. However, several herbs, such as mint, theme, rosemary and Greek oregano, did not get any damage. I am amazed by their vital power. Since these herbs are only things I can obtain from my vegetable garden, I decided to use them as much as possible.

I enjoy the flavor of mint leaves as much as appreciate their health benefits. This herb enriches meats, fish and many kinds of vegetables.

Because of the mint aroma, eggplants get an additional essence. When I invite my friends, I frequently make this eggplants-with-mint dish as a side dish since it is very easy to prepare. Amazingly I got a lot of compliments on this simple dish (ironically more than the main dish…).

Ingredients:
2 eggplants (Holland eggplants)
2-3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
3 tablespoons of fresh mint leaves, chopped
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1-2 tablespoon of organic balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons of breadcrumbs

Directions:
1. Slice the eggplants lengthwise. Soak the sliced eggplants in the salty water for about 15 minutes. Drain them well and pad them with paper towel.
2. Mix 3-4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, the vinegar, the chopped garlic and mint leaves in a shallow plate.
3. Heat plenty of olive oil in a large fry pan and fry the eggplants until they become tender. Season with salt and black pepper. Drain the eggplants. Then, transfer them to the shallow plate.
4. Stir the eggplants and the olive oil, vinegar, garlic and mint mixture. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs on the top. Let them cool. Then, chill in the refrigerator for a few hours to several hours. Serve at room temperature.

Roasted Sweet Bell Peppers

2010-01-22T21:00:00.000-08:00

After the cold fronts a few weeks ago in Louisiana, all of our lemons and kumquat fruits were miserably ruined. Also many of our plants had seriously damaged. It is sad to see that the garden lost many colors.

A variety of bright colors always give me energy. So everyday I try to have colorful food items as many as possible. Of course, they must be no artificial.

I love the vivid colors of bell peppers. Their various colors, such as red, yellow and orange, make me very happy. Also I enjoy their delicious flavors and healthy benefits. Indeed, they are an excellent source of vitamins A and C.

Our garden looks dead at a glance. But if you take a careful look, there are a lot of small buds, which are almost ready to come out.

These days I often make this dish while dreaming of coming spring.

Ingredients:
4 bell peppers
2-3 cloves of garlic
3-4 tablespoons of organic balsamic vinegar
4-5 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 F degrees. Place the red bell peppers on the oven pan and roast them until the peppers become tender and the skins turn blackened.
Or place them on the barbecue grill for 15 to 20 minutes until the peppers become tender and their skins become blackened.
2. Remove the peppers from the oven or grill and transfer to a glass bowl. Cover it with a plastic wrap and let them cool for 20 to 30 minutes (or leave the bowl cover with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator for 20 to 30 minutes or overnight.).
3. Transfer the peppers into a serving plate. Peel the skins and remove the seeds on the pan so that the delicious juice would not be wasted. Cut them into stripes. Place them on the serving plate.
4. Add the sliced garlic, vinegar and extra virgin olive oil. Chill in the refrigerator for a few hours to several hours. Serve at room temperature.

Pastitsio

2010-01-20T15:48:00.000-08:00

Pastitsio is one of the most popular dishes in Greece. Also this is one of my most favorite Greek dishes. I always wanted to try to cook this. But each time I decided, my husband, who is native to Greece, stopped me. He thought it was very difficult --almost impossible-- for me, non-Greek, to cook this traditional Greek / Mediterranean food. Um, my challenging sprit became awake.

When we found various goat meats (shoulder, chop and ground etc.) in the local farmers market, we were excited. Then, I suggested making pastitsio. He was too excited to say “No” to me. So he immediately agreed on me making pastitsio. Luckily I also found bucatini, pasta used for pastitsio.

I admit that it was very time consuming and a little bit tricky. But it was defiantly worthwhile. I made it in a big oven pan so that we could enjoy three times or more Unfortunately it lasted less than three times. Indeed, our appetites were more enormous than I thought.

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef, lamb or goat
1 large onion, finely chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
4 large rip tomatoes, diced
2 tablespoons of tomato paste
1 cup of red wine
¼ cup of flat-leave flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
1 bay leaf
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
A pinch of cinnamon
1 lb of bucatini (According to Wikipedia: a thick spaghetti-like pasta with a hole running through the center. Please refer to my picture of bucatini)
1 cup and 3 tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese1 cup of extra virgin olive oil

Béchamel sauce:
½ cup of butter
½ cup of all-purpose flour
3 cups of milk
3 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon of nutmeg powder
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
1. Heat the 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a fry pan and fry the chopped onion and garlic until they become translucent. Add the ground beef (lamb or goat) and cook till well done.
2. Add the tomatoes and tomato paste and stir them well. Add the white wine and bay leaf. Stir the mixture well.
3. Season the mixture with salt, freshly ground pepper, and cinnamon. Simmer for 30-40 minutes. Turn off the heat and add the parsley and cover the pan.
4. For béchamel sauce: Heat the butter on another pan. Place the butter and let it melt completely. Add flour and mix with butter well. Add the milk little by little. Stir and simmer on low heat until the mixture is thickened.
5. Turn off the heat and add the eggs, lemon juice, nutmeg, salt, black pepper and Parmesan cheese. Mix them well.
6. Boil water in a large pot and cook the bucatini in the pot for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente. Drain the bucatini well. Toss them with 2 to 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.
7. Preheat the oven to 350 F degrees.
8. Pour the ½ of extra virgin olive oil. Place half of the bucatini and make a layer on the large oven pan. Sprinkle the ½ cup of grated Parmesan cheese. Pour and spread the tomato mixture. Next, place the rest of the bucatini and make a layer. Again, sprinkle the ½ cup of grated Parmesan cheese. Pour the béchamel sauce and spread evenly over the top. Pour the rest of the extra olive oil. Sprinkle the 3 tablespoons of shredded Parmesan cheese.
9. Bake it in the oven for 50 to 60 minutes until the top is brown.

Soybean Sprout and Seaweed Salad (Moyashi and Wakame Salad)

2010-01-13T17:31:00.001-08:00

Alfalfa sprouts are quite popular and can be found in any supermarkets in US. However, finding soybean sprouts in Louisiana is not easy. I have to go all the way to Asian supermarkets to obtain them. The flavor is delicate like alfalfa. The texture is crispier than alfalfa’s. This vegetable is one of the most popular vegetables in many Asian cuisines.

They contain two times more protein and three times more potassium than the amounts of alfalfa. They are an excellent sauce of vitamin C, fiber and aspartic acid, as well.

Boiled/steamed soybean sprouts can fit with any kinds of dressings. But this time I mix with Chinese flavored sauce. If you like Japanese style, stir them with soy sauce, sesame oil and lemon juice or ponze. Korean style, which is spicy with hot pepper and grind garlic, is my favorite, too.

Growing soybean sprouts at home is easy. It does not require a lot of sun, space or care. Lately fresh vegetables became very expensive because of the recent cold. So why don’t you grow this healthy vegetable at home and try this dish!

Ingredients:
3 cups of soybean sprouts (moyashi)
3 tablespoons of dried seaweed (wakame)
2 tablespoon of sesame oil
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
1 teaspoon of Sichuan spicy bean paste
½ teaspoons of sesame seeds

Directions:
1. Soak the dried seaweed into cold water for about 30 minutes (or follow the instruction on the dried seaweed package). Drain them well.
2. Boil the soybean sprouts for about 1 minute. Drain them well.
3. Put the soybean sprouts in a bowl when they are still hot. Add the seaweed, sesame oil, soy sauce, Sichuan spicy bean paste and sesame seeds. Stir them well.

Spinach with Tofu and Sweet Sesame Sauce

2010-01-12T17:40:00.000-08:00

Since I had a lot of meat during the holiday season, I decided to cook and eat vegetarian food as much as possible. This dish is one of these healthy and delicious vegetarian dishes.

As many of you may know, soybeans are one of the most essential food items in Japanese cuisine. Soy sauce and miso, which are made of soybeans, are primary Japanese seasonings. Tofu is made from coagulating soy milk and it is a very popular food item among not only Japanese people but also health conscious people around the world. Tofu is extremely healthy food. It is rich in tryptophan, manganese, iron and protein.

The taste of tofu is very delicate. I love simply boiled or microwaved tofu with a little bit of grind ginger and ponzu. But if it is too plain for you, try this dish. Delicious grind sesame mixture and spinach enhance the tofu flavor.

Ingredients:
1 bunch of spinach
150g of soft tofu
3 tablespoons of roasted sesame seeds
3 tablespoons of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of mirin (sweet rice wine with a low alcohol content)
1/2 teaspoon of sugar

Directions:1. Steam or boil the spinach until they become tender.
2. Drain the spinach well and cut the spinach into about an inch long.
3. Grind the roasted sesame seeds very well using a Japanese mortar and pestle (or regular mortar and pestle). Add the soy sauce, mirin and sugar. Mix them well.
4. Place the tofu on a plate and microwave briefly until well warmed. Drain the tofu. Smash it and add into the soy sauce mixture. Stir them well.

Fried Daikon (White Radish) Leaves

2010-01-11T21:48:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to all of you!
May the New Year bring these Wishes to you all.

Well, I had been busy cooking during holidays. Mainly I cooked Mediterranean food. Therefore, I had been eating mostly Mediterranean food. After all of the parties were over, I realized I missed Japanese food very much. I longed for a cup of white rice with miso soup and some simple Japanese side dishes.

I found daikon (white radish) in some local farmers markets. They did not come with the leaves. I was very disappointed because the leaves are one of my favorite vegetables. Luckily I found daikon with leaves in Whole Foods. So I decided to cook this easy but yummy Japanese dish.

I recommend you to cook only organic daikon leaves. If they are not organic, they may contain agricultural chemicals more than their roots. Daikon leaves are rich in vitamins A and C. I cannot believe they used to be thrown away and people did not eat them at all!

Ingredients:
1 bunch of daikon leaves (white radish leaves)
¼ cup of dried shaved bonito
1 teaspoon of roast sesame seeds
1-2 tablespoons of sesame oil
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
1 teaspoon of mirin (sweet rice wine with a low alcohol content)

Directions:
1. Steam or boil the daikon leaves until they become tender.
2. Drain the daikon leaves and cut small pieces.
3. Heat the sesame oil in a fry pan and fry the daikon leaves for 3-5 minutes.
4. Season them with the soy sauce and mirin.
5. Add the dried shaved bonito. Mix them well.

Cauliflower Salad

2009-12-20T18:59:00.000-08:00

This salad was one of the side dishes I made for the Thanksgiving dinner. The main dish in the Thanksgiving dinner is, of course, a big turkey. So I made all of the side dishes to be simple vegetarian dishes.

This cauliflower salad is originally from Sardinia, Italy. It is really easy to prepare and very tasty. I believe cauliflowers are not so popular in Japan. This is because I only remember eating boiled cauliflowers with mayonnaise – no other way. Many of my Japanese friends agree with me. Therefore, when I first tried this salad, I was very excited. Mixing simply olive oil, lemon juice and other spicy vegetables enhances the milk-like flavor of cauliflower and makes it a flavorsome dish.

Cauliflowers are extremely rich in vitamins C and K. They are a winter vegetable so they are in season right now. Do not miss an opportunity to try this easy yet healthy and delicious salad.

Ingredients:
1 cauliflower
1 teaspoon of capers
2 shallots finely chopped
¼ cup of flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped or ½ Anaheim pepper, finely chopped
Lemon juice
Extra virgin olive oil

Directions:
1. Wash the cauliflower and remove the stalk and green leaves. Cut it into small pieces.
2. Steam the cauliflower until the pieces become soft.
3. Transfer the cauliflower into a large bowl. Add the capers, shallots, parsley, lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil. Mix them well.
4. Transfer the mixture into a serving plate.

Tiramisu Mousse

2009-12-13T08:58:00.000-08:00

Last week a cold rain turned into a wet snow and then dry snow before midnight. It snowed in South Louisiana on December 4th! I remember my neighbor Wayne, who is native of New Orleans, said after a snowfall last year, “Last time I saw snowing was ten years ago”. So it is extremely rear to snow here two years in a row.

In Japan when you do something that you usually ignore, people tell you, “It will snow”. For example, lazy Johnny, who does not clean his room and does not care of living in mess, suddenly cleans his room very well. Then people would say, “It will snow because Johnny cleaned his room”.

I usually do not prepare or invent a complicated dessert. But I accidentally made this dessert on snow day. First, I intended to make tiramisu but later I found out that I ran out of eggs. I had to use the mascarpone cheese, which had little time left before the expiration date. Then, I came out with this fabulous dessert and also it snowed in South Louisiana! This might be because I made this delicious tiramisu mousse.

Ingredients:
250g of mascarpone cheese
150 cc whipped heavy cream
50cc espresso coffee
100cc milk
80g sugar
5g unflavored gelatin
1 teaspoon of liquor (Kahlua, rum, brandy, etc.)
3-4 tablespoons of coca powder
1 (9-inch) cookie crust

Directions:
1. Beat the whipped heavy cream well in a large bowl until it becomes foamy.
2. Add the milk and liquor in the bowl.
3. Mix the hot espresso coffee, sugar and gelatin in a small bowl until the gelatin completely dissolves.
5. Add the espresso mixture into the large bowl and mix them well. Pour into the cookie crust.
6. Refrigerate it over night. Sprinkle the coca on the top of the tiramisu mousse before serving.

Imam Baildi (Eggplants with Tomato Sauce)

2009-12-08T21:26:00.000-08:00

This dish is originally from Turkey. However, this is also one of the most popular dishes served in Greece. It is also a very familiar dish for my husband. He is native to Greece and was born in northern Greece where the border between Greece and Turkey was just one mile away from his village. Many of the homemade dishes in his village were influenced by Turkish cuisine.

Imam Baildi means “fainting priest” in Turkish. There is an interesting story behind this dish. One day a poor family generously invited a Muslim priest (or imam) for dinner. Then, they served this simple dish for the priest. It was extremely delicious so the priest eventually fainted. Another interpretation is that the priest started pouring lots of olive oil over this dish. Since olive oil was very expensive at that time for poor people like this family, they fainted in agony.

My husband told me a few tips about making this dish. First of all, do not hesitate using lots of olive oil. I mean “lots”. When I first saw him pouring a large amount of olive oil, I almost fainted. Second, use a pinch of cloves, which makes this dish irresistible. Cloves are one of the most essential incent substances in Japan. But personally I have never used or tasted this seasoning in cooking. A touch of this amazing seasoning makes this simple vegetable dish delicious. The priest might have indeed fainted of the extremely rich flavors.

Ingredients:
4 eggplants (Holland eggplants)
3 rip tomatoes, diced
1 large onion, finely chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons of tomato paste
½ cup of white wine
¼ cup flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoon oregano
1 – 1 ½ cups extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
A pinch of cloves

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 325 F degrees.
2. Slice the eggplants in half lengthwise. Add plenty of water and a pinch of salt in a large bowl.

3. Soak the sliced eggplants in the water for about 15 minutes. Drain them well and pad them with paper towel.
4. Heat plenty of olive oil in a large fry pan and fry the eggplants until they become soft. Transfer them to a baking pan.
5. Heat the olive oil in the same fry pan and fry the chopped onion and garlic until they become translucent. Add the tomatoes and tomato paste and stir them well. Add the white wine and stir the mixture well.
6. Season the mixture with salt, freshly ground pepper, oregano and cloves. Turn off the heat and add the parsley and ½ cup of extra virgin olive oil and cover the pan.
7. Pour the tomato mixture over the eggplants. Add ¼ cup of extra virgin olive oil. Bake it in the oven for 50 to 60 minutes.
8. Serve with feta cheese.

Stuffed Turkey

2009-12-05T19:44:00.000-08:00

A deep-fried turkey is a landmark in Cajun cuisine. Every year, our neighbor, Janet, makes a deep friend turkey and I join and enjoy a few bits. At the same time, my husband and I also cook a turkey for Thanksgiving. It is a traditional stuffed turkey with my unique Mediterranean / Cajun seasonings and Japanese / Mediterranean stuffing.

First, pour a lot of red wine, lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil over the turkey. Then season it all over the turkey with salt, freshly ground black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, cayenne pepper, chili powder, freshly ground allspices and a pinch of cinnamon. Put the turkey in a large Ziploc or cover it with plastic wrap and marinate it over night. All fragrances of the seasonings go into the meat and no injection is necessary.

My stuffing is not the traditional bread stuffing but rice stuffing. I first cook chicken liver risotto using Japanese medium grin rice (“Nishiki” rice) with lots of herbs and red wine. Do not over cook because it will be cooked more inside of the turkey. The turkey aroma extends to inside of the risotto and vice versa. I do not discard this stuffing but serve it as a side dish. Some people sprinkle Parmesan cheese and others enjoy it just as a risotto.

Seasoning and stuffing are very important factors for a truly delicious turkey. But the most important aspect is using a fresh turkey. I used an organic, non-frozen turkey this year. It was a good choice. The meat did not have the typical turkey odor and it was lean and yet juicy.

Thanks to my new gas oven, all of the gravy stayed inside of the meat. So it did not require a gravy sauce or any sauce.

A 15.5 lb big turkey was left with only bones and little meat. “You can make delicious gumbo soup with them,” said Janet. That sounds like another cooking adventure in Louisiana.

Japanese Sweet Potato Bread

2009-12-01T18:20:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving Day is the day to express gratitude to family, friends and harvest. This year I have special thanks to you, the many readers of my blog. Since I have started this blog, I received lots of feedback from all over the world, which astonished me a great deal. Someone like you, who does not know me and I do not know you, visited my blog by chance – via either Google or other reference sites. Then, spent sometime glancing on my blog. I thank you very much for visiting my blog.

I started my blog in order to collect useful ideas, tips and facts about healthy and enjoyable cooking from books, websites, food experts and also use my personal experience and that of my many friends and family members. So, I can go back anytime to remind myself of healthy eating and, at the same time, share this knowledge with others who may have similar interests with me. I am grateful to know that many people really enjoy my blog and spend their valuable time with me.

This Thanksgiving Day I made this sweet potato bread. I gave one loaf to my good neighbors, Janet and Bert, and served another one to our guests at the Thanksgiving dinner. So I would like to share this recipe with you.

I used Japanese sweet potato, which we call Satsumaimo. Satsumaimo (Ipomoea batatas in the formal scientific term) is different from yam or regular sweet potatoes one can find in a regular super market. I can found Satsumaimo in any Asian market. They are called Korean sweet potatoes, Japanese sweet potatoes or just Asian sweet potatoes. However, these potatoes are native to South America and came to Japan around early the 17th century via China. These sweet potatoes have a thin, reddish brown skin with a golden flesh. The taste is very sweet, almost like chestnuts, and has a crumbly texture. They are rich in vitamin C and fiber. Their vitamin C is hardly destroyed by heat.

Since the potatoes themselves have a sweet flavor, adding a little bit of sugar and butter make this simple cake incredibly delicious. I wish many stores could sell this tasty and inexpensive Satsumaimo in the US. If you are lucky to find this sweet potato, please try this delicious bread!

Ingredients:
300g of Satsumaimo (Ipomoea batatas)
½ cup of milk
2 eggs
50 g of butter at room temperature
1/3 cup of sugar
2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour
1 teaspoons of baking powder

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 320 F degrees.
2. Peel the skins of the sweet potatoes and dice then into small pieces.
3. Heat the milk, sugar and the sweet potato pieces in a pan and stir until the potato pieces become soft. Add the butter and mix them well.
4. Put the eggs in a bowl and beat them well. Add the flour and baking powder and stir them well. Add the potato mixture and mix them gently.
5. Place them in a baking pan. Bake it in the oven for about 40-50 minutes.
6. Take the cake out of the pan and let it cool off. Slice to serve.

Mediterranean Fish Soup (Cacciucco/Bouillabaisse)

2009-11-30T11:47:00.001-08:00

My husband and I replaced our old electric range / oven with a gas range / oven just a few days ago. Also, we changed from a microwave with hood to a professional hood. One of the reasons why I have not been updated my blog for a long time is that I was too hectic looking for good products and a good plumber to make the installations. Luckily, we found all of them. Then, I become busy admiring these fabulous range / oven and hood. Time flies fast and here I am writing a new update.

I love a gas oven, which cooks food evenly and keeps moisture inside of any meat. The day our new range / oven was installed we decided to bake lemon chicken using a whole chicken. I noticed that it did not produce much grease. Most of the grease stayed inside of the meat. Therefore, the chicken was extremely juicy and delicious.

I also love my new gas range. It is easy to adjust the temperature and simmer well. So, when I saw mussels, clams, and other seafood piling up on a seafood market, I decided to cook this fish soup on my new gas range.

This soup is a typical fish soup / stew in the Mediterranean region where various types of fresh fish and shellfish are available. The key to make this soup successfully is adding as many kinds of fresh seafood as possible. This delicious soup makes you warm throughout your body and mind. After a big Thanksgiving turkey, try this fish soup which can make you feel cheerful.

Ingredients:
1 lb mussels wish shells
4 big clams wish shells
¼ lb cod filet (if the one with the bones and head cannot be found)
½ red snapper with the bone and the head, if possible
1 lb squids
1 lb shrimps with their heads and shells on
1 big onion, chopped
3 carrots, diced
3 stalks of celery, diced
1 cup white wine
1 bay leaf
¼ cup flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
4 rip tomatoes, chopped
1 pinch of saffron
1 chill pepper
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ cup of extra olive oil

Directions:
1. Wash the mussels and clams very well. Soak them into salty water for about 30 minutes.
2. Put the mussels and clams in a large pot and add the white wine. Cover and bring to a boil. 3. After boiling, lower the heat and simmer for 5-10 minutes until the shells are open. Remove them from the pot. If a clam is not open, discard it. Reserve the white wine.
3. Put 4-6 cups of water in a large pot. Add the onion, carrots, celery, tomatoes, chill pepper, bay leaf, and saffron. Add the reserved white wine. Cover and bring to a boil. After boiling, lower the heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes.
4. Add the cod, snapper, squids and shrimps and simmer them for 10 minutes. Add the mussels and clams. Season with salt and black pepper.
5. Add the parsley and extra virgin olive oil and turn off the heat. Serve it with crispy bread to wipe out the delicious soup.

Banana Bread

2009-11-11T21:26:00.001-08:00

We have seven big banana clusters in our yard. This is like a total of 20-30 individual trees. Every year they produce a few bunches of bananas.

For the first few years my husband promoted his bananas and gave away most of them to his friends and neighbors. Unfortunately, our bananas are not sweet but very sour. So people who appreciate our bananas become fewer and fewer every year. These years none of them eats our bananas including my husband and I.

So, this year when I first tried this delicious banana yogurt bread, I was extremely pleased that our bananas are certainly valuable. Because our bananas are not sweet, I added honey, which enhances and gives them an extra flavor. Also I put yogurt to make the mixture smooth. Perhaps, adding some liquor brings extra richness on this delicious bread.

It is already November, but a few clusters of bananas will be ready for Thanksgiving and even Christmas! Indeed, Louisiana is a semi-tropical place.

Ingredients:
2 bananas, smashed
2 eggs
80g sugar
2 tablespoons of honey
1 cup and 3 tablespoons of all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/3 cup of yogurt
4 tablespoons of butter, soften

Optional: ¼ cup of crashed walnuts, pumpkin seeds, raisins and/or etc.

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 320 F degrees.
2. Put the eggs in a large bowl and beat them well.
3. Add the sugar and mix them well.
4. Add the honey, flour, baking powder, yogurt, butter, banana and walnuts and stir them well.
5. Bake it in the oven for about 30-40 minutes.
6. Take the banana bread out of the pan and let it cool off. Slice to serve.

Rice with Spinach (Spanakorizo)

2009-11-08T18:50:00.001-08:00

As I mentioned a long time ago, I cook for our cat, Ragus. He was a more-than-20 lb heavily obese cat. Recently, my husband and I took him for his annual check up. The doctor congratulated that he was healthy and in a perfect shape with 12.5 lb. I felt rewarded. He will be 15 years old, soon, which means the oldest pet in our neighborhood but perhaps the healthiest one too.

Each time I bake Ragus’ food, which contains beef, chicken, pork, turkey and catfish, the aroma from the oven drives us crazy. I do not know how many times I saw deeply disappointed my husband when I revealed that the food was not for us but for Ragus,

Usually, my husband and I eat simple vegetable / bean dishes during weekdays. Then, we eat meat / poultry dishes during the weekends. From time to time when I find a fresh fish and other seafood, we enjoy them no matter what day it is. However, Ragus enjoys gorgeous meat, poultry and fish every day. I became jealous and then thought of using Ragus’ food wisely. Making broth from Ragus’ food looked to be a fantastic idea.

This rice with spinach was made with the flavorsome broth. Onion, garlic and spinach plus mushrooms give enough taste. But using this broth becomes more tempting. My husband and I appreciated this simple yet delicious dish while Ragus enjoyed his food. I felt like I “kill two birds with one stone”.

Ingredients:
1 bundle of spinach
1 1/2 cup of rice
1 finely diced small onion
1-2 cloves of finely chopped garlic
Extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons of chopped dill
4-5 cups of broth
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Parmesan cheese or feta cheese
Optional: ½ cup of diced brown beech mushrooms

Directions:
1. Wash the spinach very well and drain it. Cut the spinach into inch long pieces.
2. Heat the olive oil in a fry pan and fry the chopped onion and garlic until they become translucent.
3. Add the mushrooms and cook for about a minute. Add the spinach and cook until the pieces become soft.
4. Add the rice. Pour the broth little by little and stir the rice until they become soft. Add salt and ground black pepper to taste. Then cook it until most of the broth is absorbed. Turn off the heat and add the dill and stir them gently.
5. Transfer to a saving plate and sprinkle Parmesan cheese or serve it with feta cheese and olives.

Black Spaghetti with Sun-Dried Tomato Paste

2009-10-26T18:23:00.001-07:00

“There are numerous ghost stories in Louisiana”, said Patricia, who is native to New Orleans. Old plantation houses, massive oak trees with hanging Spanish moss, heavy fog over mysterious swamps and sudden rain are Louisiana’s familiar sights. They are already creepy enough. But Patricia continued, “one day, one of my girlfriends visited an old plantation house as a guest. She arrived late so the owner of the plantation house briefly greeted her and took her to a room. Then she heard rain started falling. Also she heard children started playing in the hallway. Next day, she politely mentioned to the owner about that incident. The owner was wondering and said there was no child living or invited there. As a matter of fact, she was the only guest the owner had at that day.”

The other day, my husband was startled at me eating this incredible black spaghetti with sun-dried tomato paste. He said it was peculiar. It was scarier than Patricia’s story. This black color came from natural squid ink. I love the aroma. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to obtain fresh squid ink in Louisiana. But I found this spaghetti made with squid ink. It has a slight flavor of squid ink, which is irresistible.

I made sun-dried tomato paste to mix with this black spaghetti. This paste can also be used as a spread on crispy bread. Adding parmesan cheese and chopped fresh basil leaves enhances the delicious flavor of this paste and any pasta. Also this dish may give you a perfect frightening presentation for Halloween.

Ingredients:
Sun-dried tomato paste:
1/2 cup of sun-dried tomatoes
1-2 olive oil marinated set of anchovies
6 black olives
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
A pinch of chili pepper
¼ cup of extra virgin olive oil

1 lb of black spaghetti
2-3 cloves of finely chopped garlic
¼ cup of chopped fresh basil leaves
Extra virgin olive oil
Parmesan cheese

Directions:
1. Soak the sun-dried tomatoes in water for 30-40 minutes. Drain them and transfer to a food processor. Do not discard the water.
2. Add the anchovies, black olives without their seeds and extra virgin olive oil. Process the mixture until it becomes smooth. Season it with salt, black pepper and chili pepper.
3. Meanwhile, boil water in a large pot and cook the spaghetti in the pot for 8 to 10 minutes or al dente. Drain the spaghetti well. Toss them with 2 to 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.
4. Heat 3-4 tbsp of olive oil in a large fry pan. Fry the garlic until sizzling. Add the spaghetti and sun-dried tomato paste. Mix them well. Turn off the heat and add the basil leaves. Stir them well.
5. Transfer them into saving plates. Sprinkle a lot of parmesan cheese. Serve with crispy bread!

Chickpeas with Beef Soup

2009-10-22T20:59:00.000-07:00

The first snow of the season came last weekend in the northeast of the USA. I remember when I lived in New York City this time of the year a heater started working. It seems winter is arriving a bit earlier than usual.

We also are having a very cold October in the south. Unexpectedly, we started using our fireplace last weekend. According to my husband who has been a residence of Louisiana for more than a decade, it is one of the coldest Octobers if not the coldest one.

I long for hot soup when I feel the air become cold. So I decided to make chickpea soup. Chickpeas are very common and popular in Mediterranean cuisine. They are high in protein so it is one of the essential food items for vegetarians.

Most of the time I cook simple vegetarian chickpea soup. However, this time my husband asked to add a few short beef ribs. They give a wonderful broth to this soup. Plus the meat, which cooked slowly, is amazingly tender and delicious to add an extra joy eating this soup in a cold day.

Ingredients:
2 cups of chickpeas
1 onion, finely chopped
3 carrots, diced
3 stalks chopped celery
3 rip tomato, diced
2-3 cloves of garlic
1 bay leaf
½ lb of short beef ribs
¼ cup of finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Dried oregano
¼ cup of extra virgin olive oil

Directions:
1. Place the chickpeas, onion, carrots, celery, tomato, garlic, short beef ribs and bay leaf in a large soup pot.
2. Add water and bring to boil on medium heat.
3. Reduce the heat to low after it boils. Cover and simmer for 60 to 90 minutes until all vegetables, chickpeas and the meat are soft. Season it with salt and pepper (or Cajun seasoning).
4. Turn off the heat. Add the flat-leaf parsley and the olive oil. Cover and leave it for 5 to 10 minutes. Serve hot!

Bitter Melon with Sesame and Soy Sauce

2009-10-16T20:32:00.000-07:00

When my friend, Pete, asked me if I need something from Japanese grocery stores in NY before his visit from NY to Louisiana this spring, I immediately requested suribachi and surikogi. Suribachi (grinding-bowl) and surikogi (grind-powder-wood) are Japanese mortar and pestle. These tools are mainly used to grind sesame seeds.

“ゴマをする” means “grinding sesame seeds” in English. Its metaphorical meaning is “to flatter ” in Japanese. I am not flattering. But, hey Pete, the wonderful kitchen tools you brought me made my life much more delicious! I did not realize how flavorsome ground sesame seeds are.

Of course, I knew about these tools and the fantastic taste of ground sesame seeds. My mother was using them all the time when I was a kid. Also, I frequently ate them while I was in NY. But I did not pay much attention to it. Then, after I moved to Louisiana, I recognized I was missing this crispy flavor and regretted that I did not buy the Japanese mortar and pestle (you may use a regular mortar and pestle or spice grinder to produce the same result as the Japanese ones).

Surprisingly, ground sesame seeds with soy sauce enrich the taste of many kinds of just steamed / boiled vegetables. Steamed / boiled spinach, boiled bitter melon, boiled green peas are some of these vegetables. Use roasted sesame seeds. If they are raw, just roast them on a fry pan. Then, simply grind them. You will be amazed by the crisp and magnificent sesame aroma.

Ingredients:
1 bitter melon
2 tablespoons of roasted sesame seeds
1 tablespoon of soy sauce

Salt

Directions:
1. Slice the bitter melon into small pieces. Soak them into salty water for about 10 minutes. Drain them.
2. Boil the bitter melon pieces into boiling water for about 3 minutes. Let them cool and drain them well.
3. Grind the roasted sesame seeds very well. Add the soy sauce and mix them well.
4. Add the bitter melon pieces into the sesame mixture and stir them together.
5. Serve this dish as an appetizer or side dish with steamed rice!

Fried Shrimps in Tomato Sauce

2009-10-12T20:09:00.000-07:00

My husband and I tried not to eat shrimps frequently because they are high in cholesterol. But recently, one of our friends said that shrimp’s cholesterol is “good” one. So I did a little research on Google. Indeed, I found a lot of articles mentioning that shrimp’s cholesterol is “good” cholesterol. As a result, I think we can be more generous when eating shrimps.

My most favorite way of eating shrimps is simply steaming/boiling them with just some lemon juice and olive oil. To fry shrimps in tomato sauce is the next preferred way. A crispy garlic flavor, sweet tomato and wine enhance the taste of juicy shrimps. They can be good with pasta or rice.

Of course, steamed / boiled shrimps are healthier than fried ones. Eating shrimps may be healthy but it should not be done everyday. Certainly, variety and moderation may be the keys to enjoy this healthy seafood.

Ingredients:
1 lb shrimps with their heads and shells on
3 cloves of chopped garlic
2 ripe tomatoes, diced
1 tablespoon of tomato paste
¼ cup of white wine
¼ cup of finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil to fry

Directions:
1. Wash the shrimps well and cut off their whiskers.
2. Heat the olive oil and the garlic in a fry pan until sizzling. Add the shrimps and fry them until their color turns to pink. Add the white wine and stir.
3. Transfer the shrimps from the fry pan to a plate. Using the same fry pan, add the tomatoes and tomato paste. Simmer them together for 10 to 15 minutes. Season the mixture with salt and black pepper.
4. Add the shrimps, again and stir them well with the tomato mixture.
5. Before turning off the heat, add the parsley. Stir them well.
6. Serve with crispy bread to wipe the delicious juice!

Leek and Feta Cheese Quiche

2009-10-06T19:20:00.001-07:00

Having a quiche at Balthazar restaurant in NYC was my most favorite and luxurious weekday breakfast while I was in NY. The sweet onion filling was so delicious. The combination of this filling and the crunchy pastry crust made me crazily happy. Not to mention the lavish ambiance inside of the restaurant. After the fabulous breakfast at Balthazar restaurant, I remember that I always became generous to some of the rude colleagues of mine and forgave their bad manners.

Quiche is a very popular breakfast dish in Louisiana. Many Creole/Cajun people are proud of being French descendants and enjoy this French dish. Many plantation houses and restaurants serve magnificent quiches. I have tried many tasty quiches since I moved here.

I love a quiche. However, a butter flavor is sometimes too heavy for me because I do not frequently use butter in cooking. Therefore, when I make a quiche, I use extra virgin olive oil instead of using butter. Olive oil is much healthier. Moreover, if you use olive oil for the pie dough, it would be much easier to deal with.

Leek has been cultivated for thousands of years in Mediterranean countries. This vegetable becomes very sweet and flavorsome after frying or boiling. It is a member of the onion family. Using leek and feta cheese for filling adds Mediterranean aroma on this delicious yet simple quiche. Now having this healthy Mediterranean quiche while watching wild ducks and herons in our back yard is my most favorite and relaxing weekend breakfast.

Ingredients:
2 leeks
4-5 large brown mushrooms
1 cup of heavy cream (or milk plus 1 tablespoon of cornstarch)
3 eggs
¼ cup of feta cheese, broken into pieces
A pinch of nutmeg
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil to fry
Pie dough for a 9 inch-pie pan

Directions:
1. Cut off the roots and remove the dark green parts of the leaves. Wash the leeks very well. Slice the leeks into small pieces.
2. Wash the mushrooms and slice them.
3. Roll the pie dough and press it into the pie pan.
4. Preheat the oven to 350 F degrees.
5. Heat the olive oil in a fry pan and fry the chopped leek and mushrooms until they become soft. 6. Fill the leeks and mushrooms into the pie pan.
7. Place the eggs and beat them well. Add feta cheese, nutmeg, salt and black pepper.
8. Fill the egg mixture into the pie pan.
9. Bake it in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes until the top is slightly brown.

Chicken Ham

2009-10-02T20:40:00.001-07:00

My husband, who is very health conscious, wants us to avoid eating processed meats, such as ham, sausages and bacon. Processed meats are high in fat and sodium. Also many researches show strong connections between processed meats and cancers of the digestive system (liver, intestines, etc).

I know that I should stay away from processed meats. But I like them. They give nice flavors to sandwiches, salads, soups and many other dishes.

Luckily I found a local famer selling organic and freshly harvested chickens. Instantly, I knew their meats would be wonderful for homemade ham.

I got this homemade chicken ham recipe from a friend, who is a professional nutritionist. She also gave me a few useful tips. First, use honey instead of using sugar. Honey/sugar make meats tender. But only honey eliminates the typical odor of chicken meat. Second, do not discard the water, which is used to boil chicken breasts. It would be a fantastic chicken broth to make a soup, stew or gumbo (I usually freeze this tasty broth for later use)! Third, add different kinds of herbs and seasonings to make specially flavored ham.

Indeed, homemade chicken ham is extremely delicious and very easy to prepare/cook. After I tried it, I cannot think of eating again ham from any store.

Ingredients:
1 chicken breast
1 tablespoon of honey/sugar
1 tablespoon of salt
A pinch of freshly ground black pepper
Optional: Herbs such as thyme, oregano, rosemary and etc.

Directions:
1 Wash the chicken breast and remove the fat. Pat it dry.
2. Spread the honey first and then the salt around the chicken breast. Season it with a pinch of ground black pepper.
4. Put the chicken breast in a zip lock bag and remove the air from the bag as much as possible. Let it marinate from overnight to 3 days in a refrigerator.
5. Take out the chicken breast from the bag and soak it into water for 30 minutes. Pad it dry. Sprinkle the herbs. Roll the chicken breast and compactly wrap it with plastic wrap. Tight it with cooking twine.
6. Boil it into water for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and let it there from 4 to 6 hours until the water completely cools down.
7. Slice the ham and enjoy it!

Moussaka

2009-09-29T20:24:00.001-07:00

I was very disappointed when I read an article long time ago. The article was on a food website mentioning about “What to eat” and “What not to eat.” It was about food from all over the world. It said, “Don’t eat moussaka when you visit Greece because it is oily.”

Moussaka is one of the classic Greek dishes. In my opinion you got to eat moussaka when you visit Greece.

First of all, it is very delicious. Beef/lamb meat in sweet tomato sauce matches tasty tender eggplants and potatoes. The béchamel sauce, which is used on the top of the layers of the meat and vegetables, is very flavorsome with aromatic nutmeg seasoning. All of the layers rouse my appetite a great deal.

Next, it is time consuming if you cook it by yourself at home. Frying eggplants and potatoes, cooking meat sauce and béchamel sauce require lots of time and effort. Not to mention, cleaning after the mess in the kitchen (I love my dishwasher!). Usually it takes 2 to 3 hours for preparing/cooking and 50 to 60 minutes for baking moussaka. By the time I serve my moussaka, I am generally exhausted.

Finally, Greek restaurants use olive oil to fry (I believe) eggplants, potatoes and meat. Everyone knows olive oil is good for you since Goddess Athena sent an olive tree to the citizens of Attica as a gift for naming their city after her! So, don’t hesitate to consume olive oil.

Thus, if you visit Greece, please try this traditional Greek / Mediterranean dish!

In case, you do not trust the oil that Greek restaurants use or you do not have a plan to visit Greece soon, plus you do not mind spending lots of time and effort to cook moussaka, please refer to my recipe here and enjoy this delicious dish!

Ingredients:
5-6 sliced eggplants
5-6 peeled and sliced potatoes
1 lb of ground beef
1 chopped onion
2-3 cloves of finely chopped
3 cups of diced ripe tomatoes2 tablespoons of tomato paste
1 cup of white wine
½ cup of chopped flat-leaf parsley
A pinch of cinnamon
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
½ cup of breadcrumbs
3 tablespoons of shredded/ground Parmesan cheese

Béchamel sauce:
5 tablespoons of butter
½ cup of all-purpose flour
3 cups of milk
1 freshly ground nutmeg
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons of shredded/ground Parmesan cheese

Directions:
1. Add plenty of water and a pinch of salt in a large bowl. Soak the sliced eggplants in the water for about 15 minutes. Drain them well.
2. Heat plenty of olive oil in a large fry pan and fry the eggplants and potatoes well. Transfer them from the fry pan. If you do not like the idea of frying the vegetables, bake them in the oven after you have sprinkled then with olive oil.
3. Heat the olive oil in the same fry pan and fry the chopped onion and garlic until they become translucent. Add the ground beef and cook till well done.
4. Add the tomatoes and tomato paste and stir them well. Add the white wine and stir the mixture well.
5. Season the mixture with salt, freshly ground pepper, and cinnamon. Turn off the heat and add the parsley and cover the pan.
6. For béchamel sauce: Heat the butter on another pan and let the butter melt completely. Add the milk and flour little by little. Stir and simmer on low heat until the mixture is thickened.
7. Turn off the heat and add the egg, lemon juice, nutmeg, salt, black pepper and Parmesan cheese. Mix them well.
8. Preheat the oven to 350 F degrees.
9. Place half of the potato slices and make a layer on the large oven pan. Next, place half of the eggplant slices and make a layer. Pour and spread half of the tomato mixture. Make one more layers in the same way. Pour the béchamel sauce and spread evenly over the top. Sprinkle the bread crumbs, the 3 tablespoons of shredded Parmesan cheese.
10. Bake it in the oven for 50 to 60 minutes until the top is brown.

Castella (Honey Sponge Cake)

2009-09-19T20:53:00.000-07:00

Castella is a very simple but delicious sponge cake made of sugar, flour, honey and eggs. It does not require any dairy products. Some in Japan say that this cake was brought from Portugal. Others say it is from Holland. Yet, it is certain that this cake was introduced in Nagasaki, Japan around the early 16th century and spread to all over Japan. Since then, it has been one of the most popular desserts in Japan.

Japan had a strict foreign policy, which isolated it from foreign countries, between 1616 and 1858. However, there were a few exceptions. Some limited places were allowed to have diplomatic relations and trades with confined foreign countries under the government of Edo. Dejima, which is a small man-made island in Nagasaki of about 3.7 acres, was one of them. Dejima was mainly open to Holland and Portugal. During the restricted foreign policy era, this tiny island became a very important site to introduce not only foreign commodities but also western medical and astronomy knowledge, and new ideas about equality and freedom. These new ideas influenced people, who eventually ended the government of Edo in 1867.

Even today, castella desert from Nagasaki is distinctive and famous for its rich honey flavor. If you ever go to Nagasaki in Japan, try castella and visit the Dejima island, which is preserved as one of the most historic sites in Japan. However, up till then, try my recipe to enjoy this simple honey sponge cake.

Ingredients:
110g of sugar
100g of all-purpose flour
4 eggs
2-3 tablespoons of honey
1 tablespoon of hot water

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 F degrees.
2. Place the honey in a small bowl and add the hot water. Mix them well.
3. Beat the egg s in a large bowl until they become foamy. Add the sugar and beat them well.
4. Add the honey mixture in the large bowl. Mix them well.
5. Add the all-purpose flour and fold them evenly.
6. Transfer the mixture into the pan and spread it evenly. In order to remove air inside of the mixture, drop the pan from a height of a few inches.
7. Bake it for 10 minutes and reduce the temperature to 300 F degree. Continuously bake it for about another 40 minutes. Do not open the oven during this process!
8. Take it out from the pan and let it cool. Wrap it with plastic wrap or aluminum foil. Refrigerate it for one or two days so that it would be richer and more flavorsome like the one in Nagasaki.

Boiled Lobster

2009-09-17T18:43:00.000-07:00

Lobsters in Greece are extremely tender, juicy and delicious. Unfortunately, they are very rare and expensive too. So when my husband and I found lobsters served at a restaurant in Amorgos Island, Greece, we were very excited. Most of the restaurants in Greece display fresh fish, shellfish, and meat, which are available on that day, in front of their kitchens. At that seafood restaurant, we are also welcomed to check their seafood. Sadly, the lobsters we saw were the last ones.
“Come back tomorrow. We may get them from a fisherman,” the chef said.
We came back the next day.
“I am sorry but no lobster today.”
Later, we tried again two times, but no luck.

Unluckily, my dream to eat a lobster in Greece did not come true during this summer. However, after my husband and I finished a small project for our house, we decided to celebrate with lobsters.

Our favorite local fish market carries live lobsters from Main. The store offers a boiling for the lobsters right in front of you with spicy Cajun seasoning. We bough two big lobsters and asked to boil them. They were fantastic with flavorsome Cajun seasoning. Of course, it can be also nice to simply boil and eat them in a Mediterranean way according to the following recipe.

Ingredients:
1 lobster
1 lemon
Extra virgin olive oil

Directions:
1. If the lobster is alive, put them head first into boiling water with a pinch of salt. Boil it for about 20 minutes.
2. Take the lobster from the boiling water. Remove the meat from the shell. Sprinkle the lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil. Enjoy it!

Myoga Pickles

2009-09-15T21:18:00.000-07:00

The other day I received a small package from my good friends in NY. I was so delighted when I opened this package filled with a lot of myoga buds and other Asian vegetables, which I hardly find in Louisiana. Especially, myoga is very rare. This is my most favorite Japanese herbal vegetable.

Myoga, or Zingiber mioga, is native to Japan and the buds are harvested these days --late summer to early fall. They smell like ginger but their flavor is very unique and totally different from ginger. The taste is distinctive -- crispy, slightly spicy and addictive. Finely chopped myoga buds can be used as garnish on top of salads, miso soup, tofu and many other Japanese dishes. Also myoga tempura is a very popular dish in Japan.

Since I received lots myoga buds and I do not want to spoil any of them, I decided to make myoga pickles. Finely chopped myoga pickles can be also used as garnish. They can be preserved up to two to three weeks in a refrigerator. However, I am sure they will be gone into my stomach before I realized.

If you ever find myoga buds, please try to make myoga pickles!

Ingredients:
300g –500g of myoga buds

Rice vinegar mixture:
1 cup of rice vinegar
1 cup of sake (rice wine)
1 tablespoon of sugar
A pinch of salt

Directions:
1. Place the rice vinegar, sake, sugar and salt in a pot. Bring to a boil. Then, turn off the heat and let the mixture cool.
2. Wash the myoga pieces very well. Boil water in a large pot. Add the myoga and boil them for 30 seconds to one minute. Drain them well.
3. Add the myoga in the rice vinegar mixture while the myoga pieces are still hot.
4. Fill the myoga along with the mixture in a jar/jars after the myoga cool down. Refrigerate over night and serve them with hot rice! They can preserved up to two to three weeks.

Tiramisu

2009-09-06T19:22:00.000-07:00

My husband and I occasionally go for grocery shopping right after working out at a local gym. The other day we were following this routine. While I was busy selecting tomatoes from the big pile at the grocery store, my husband put some items in our cart. Later I found three pieces of tiramisu there.
“It is more calories than we have just spent in the gym! Put them back!” I yelled at him.
He disappointedly stared at the tiramisu and said, “Yeah, that’s right… “
Then, he put them back.

I felt guilty after that. We have not had any sweets after we intensively started our exercise program in order to get rid of our extra fat we have obtained during the summer. Tiramisu is my husband’s most favorite desert. It might be too tough for him not to have his favorite sweet more than a month.

Next day, we went to the gym, again. When I started running, I realized that the TV on my treadmill was on and I tuned in on the Food channel, which was showing various kinds of fabulous sweets. Perhaps someone is telling me I should give some sweet reward to my husband and also myself. Afterward, I decided to make tiramisu.

Luckily, we got super fresh and organic dozens of eggs from a local farmer family; Jim and Carolyn.

There is no comparison between homemade tiramisu and tiramisu in most of the stores or restaurants. This is because they use substitutes for eggs, cheese, and coca. Homemade tiramisu is way much better if you use the real and fresh ingredients.

Use whipped heavy cream instead of the egg whites if you like a richer taste. Note that it would be more calories, but they are worth it ;)

Ingredients:
500g of mascarpone cheese
4 eggs at room temperature
¼ cup of sugar
40-45 of ladyfingers
1/3 cup of espresso coffee
1 teaspoon of liquor (Kahlua, rum, brandy, etc.)

3-4 tablespoons of coca powder

Directions:
1. Separate the egg whites from the yolks. Place the egg yolks and the sugar in a large bowl (if the eggs are not super fresh and not organic, I recommend you to use a double boiler). Beat them well. Add the mascarpone cheese and mix them well.
2. Place the egg whites in a medium bowl and beat them well until foamy.
3. Add the whipped egg whites into the mascarpone mixture. Mix them evenly.
4. Combine the espresso coffee and the liquor in a flat pan. Dip the ladyfingers in the coffee mixture (do not soak them!). Place them in a single layer in the baking pan. Spread half of the mascarpone mixture evenly on the ladyfingers. Repeat the second layer of the dipped ladyfingers and the rest of the mascarpone mixture.
5. Reregulate this tiramisu mixture for about 8 hours. Sprinkle the coca on the top of the tiramisu before serving.

Caponata / Ratatouille (Mediterranean Simmered Summer Vegetables)

2009-08-27T20:25:00.001-07:00

I was about to make briami, which is an oven-baked summer vegetable dish and a traditional Greek food. However, baking this dish in the oven takes more than one hour. This discouraged me a great deal. Therefore, I decided to cook this dish in a large pan.

This simmered vegetable dish is called Caponata and/or Ratatouille. Caponata is a traditional Sicilian and Neapolitan dish. Ratatouille is the typical South French dish from the Provençal region. Even though these two dishes have some differences, both of these Mediterranean dishes use many different kinds of summer vegetables.

This Caponata / Ratatouille dish has many benefits. First of all, you can eat many various vegetables all at once. Second, it is very easy to prepare and delicious. Third, it can be served either hot or cold! Finally, it is very-very healthy.

Some people add sugar, vinegar, wine or bacon/meat in Caponata and Ratatouille. However, I like simply cooked summer vegetables with salt and pepper. These vegetables produce plenty of juices. The flavors of basil and oregano enhance these delicious summer vegetables. Thus, no need for additional seasoning.

Ingredients (4 servings):
2 ripe tomatoes
2 zucchinis
2 Japanese eggplants (or Holland eggplants)
1 squash
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
½ teaspoon of dry oregano
3 strings of basil leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
Optional: other summer vegetables!

Directions:
1. Cut the eggplants into small pieces. Soak them into salty water for about 10 minutes. Then, drain them well.
2. Cut the tomatoes, zucchinis, eggplants, squash, and onion into small pieces. Cut the garlic finely. Wash the basil leaves.
3. Heat the olive oil in a large pot and fry the chopped onion and garlic. Add eggplants, squash, zucchinis and tomatoes. Add the dry oregano. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes until all of the vegetables become soft.
4. Season with salt and black pepper. Before turn off the heat, add the basil leaves and cover the pot.
5. Transfer to the serving plates. Serve either hot or cold!

Shumai

2009-08-24T13:13:00.001-07:00

I had the first dim sum meal when I visited Hong Kong for the first time. It was still under British occupation. But once I entered the local dim sum restaurant, where my Hong Konger friend took me, I felt like I was in mainland China. The atmosphere was so vibrant. The waitresses passed by with carts shouting the names of the dim sum dishes they carried. All in the Chinese language. If you were shy or hesitant to stop them, you would not get any food to eat. I remember I enjoyed very much the ambiance of the restaurant along with many delicious dim sum dishes.

Dim sum is one of the traditional Chinese cuisines. It implies various kinds of steamed and fried foods. Steamed shumai is one of these dishes and my favorite dim sum dish. There are many kinds of shumai dishes available in dim sum, such as shrimp, crab, and pork shumai.

Shumai is also very popular in Japan. It regularly appears as one of side dishes in lunch and dinner tables.

My favorite shumai recipe is not the traditional Chinese dim sum. It is more like a Japanese version of homemade shumai. You can make a lot of the shumai pieces and steam them. Then, froze the pieces for later use. It can be stored in a refrigerator up to a several days.

Ingredients (For 4 servings):

Shumai filling:
1 lb ground pork
1 carrot
1 bunch of green onions
3 shitake mushrooms
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
1 tablespoon of sesame oil
¼ cup cornstarch
1 tablespoon of freshly ground ginger
A pinch of salt and black pepper

1 pack of shumai skins or wanton skins

Dipping sauce:
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
1 teaspoon of rice vinegar or lemon juice

Optional: mustard

Directions:
1. Cut the carrot, green onions and shitake mushrooms into very small pieces.
2. Place the ground pork in a large bowl. Add the chopped carrot, green onions, shitake mushrooms, and the rest of the ingredients for the shumai filling. Mix them well.
3. Put one teaspoon of the filling on the center of the shumai (or wanton skin) and wrap the filling.
4. Place the shumai pieces in the steamer. In order to prevent them from sticking on the steamer, I recommend you to blush oil on the bottom or place lettuce or cabbage. Steam them for about 15 minutes.
5. Transfer them to serving plates. Serve with dipping sauce with mustard!

Steamed Shrimps

2009-08-19T11:49:00.001-07:00

The other day, my husband and I went to the seafood restaurant that my friend had recommended. She said the restaurant served some good crabs and shrimps. So I trusted her recommendation.

We ordered king crabs, shrimps and some shellfish. Unfortunately, all of the dishes betrayed our expectations. They were over boiled or over steamed. I felt like I was chewing rubber bands.

Then, my husband and I decided to steam shrimps from the local seafood market. The market is well known about carrying super fresh and big shrimps from the Gulf Coast. We were so excited to get a few different kinds of fresh shrimps.

Since over boiling or over steaming was the reason of the failure of the shrimps at the restaurant, I was very careful about how long they should be steamed. So, we put the shrimps in the steamer and took them out immediately after all of them had changed their color to red. Do not use cocktail sauce but simply lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil to season them. My husband, who is a native of Greece, said, “I feel like I am on a Mediterranean island” while eating the butter-like very tender and juicy shrimps.

Ingredients:
1 lb shrimps with their heads and shells on
Lemon juice
Extra virgin olive oil

Directions:
1. Wash the shrimps well and cut off their whiskers.
2. Steam the shrimps until their color changes to red. Do not over cook!

3. Transfer them to the serving plates. Sprinkle with lemon juice and add the olive oil.

Sweet Pork Butt Roast (Yakibuta)

2009-08-15T10:44:00.000-07:00

To tell the truth, before I moved to Louisiana I was a horrible cook. I still recall the many times that I was feeling desperate of my cooking skills and my food.

When I was in Japan, I lived with my family. So I had hardly cooked for myself or somebody else. There was always someone who could prepare something nice for me to eat. However, after I moved to New York City and lived alone, I realized that I had to learn cooking. My family is gourmet and great cooks. So I used to the delicious and healthy homemade cooking, which made me picky of what to eat. Therefore, taking out junky food or purchasing frozen food was unacceptable. Buying fresh and healthy vegetables, meat and fishes and cooking for myself was the only option I could think of keeping myself on healthy eating habits.

Unfortunately, my very busy life in New York City (just think of “Sex and the City” to get an idea of what I mean) prevented me from spending time to learn how to cook. As a result, I had cried so many times alone about my awful food.

After I moved to Louisiana, I have more time to cook for my family, friends and myself. Their compliments and suggestions about my food encouraged me and improved my cooking skills tremendously. Actually, beyond my wildest dreams!

This sweet pork butt roast is one of the dishes I learned after I moved to Louisiana. It is very easy to prepare and delicious. I am wondering why I had never tried to cook this while I was in NYC. Maybe cooking healthy and tasty food is not that difficult or time consuming after all. It may be a matter of attitude towards how serious you are about what you eat and how to prepare.

Ingredients (for 4-5 servings):
2.5 lb pork shoulder / butt roast
1/2 cup of soy sauce
1/4 cup of sugar
3 tablespoons of sake (rice wine) or white wine
1 teaspoon of freshly ground ginger

Optional: 1 clove of sliced garlic

Directions:
1. Add the soy sauce, sugar, sake, oyster sauce, ginger and garlic (optional) in a large bowl. Mix them well.
2. Cut the pork butt roast half if it is a big piece. Place the meat in the bowl and marinate the meat with the mixture overnight to three days in the refrigerator (I recommend you to marinate for three days. So that the meat becomes tender and tasty).
3. Preheat the oven to 370 F degrees. Place the pork butt roast along with the mixture on the oven pan and bake it for 30 to 40 minutes until the meat is cooked.

4. Slice the meat and transfer to serving plates. Pour the sauce from the oven pan.

Grilled Chicken with Rosemary

2009-08-13T21:33:00.001-07:00

When I was a kid, eating chicken legs with bare hands was one of my ultimate pleasures. While I bit into the chicken legs I felt like I was one of the ancient wild Viking fighters. The chicken legs were simply seasoned with salt and pepper and grilled or fried. But using bare hands added a special flavor on this simply dish.

So when I found freshly harvested young chickens and hens at the local farmers’ market, I suggested grilling the whole chicken and/or hens on charcoal and eating them with bare hands like the Vikings. My husband agreed. Therefore, we purchased one chicken and two hens.

Since our rosemary tree (it is huge and no longer called just a plant!) is having a lot of new leaves, I decided to use them for seasoning the chicken. Rosemary originally came from the Mediterranean area. This plant has been variously used for medical purposes and cooking. This healthy herb is necessary in the Mediterranean cuisine.

Rosemary’s remarkable flavor matched with the wine marinated chicken and hens. The chicken and hens were incredibly tender and juicy with a marvelous charcoal aroma. My husband and I enjoy the amazing taste and also eating them with bare hands like the wild fighters, which satisfied not only my stomach but also one of my childhood fantasies.

Ingredients:
1 whole small chicken
2 cloves of sliced garlic
¼ cup of red wine
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary or 2 tablespoon of dried rosemary
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Lemon juice

Directions:
1. Wash the chicken and drain well. Put it in the large oven pan or bowl.
2. Insert the sliced garlic between the chicken skin and meat.
3. Pour the red wind and olive oil over the chicken. Season with salt and black pepper. Add the 2 springs of fresh rosemary and marinate it for one hour in the room temperature.
4. Prepare the charcoal for barbecue.
5. Before grilling, insert the rosemary between the chicken skin and meat.
6. Grill the chicken until it is well done.

7. Transfer the grilled chicken to a serving plate and sprinkle them with lemon juice. Serve with French fries and salad!

Eggplants in Tomato Sauce (Melanzane a fungetiello)

2009-08-02T20:47:00.001-07:00

It was a cozy neighborhood restaurant in my parents’ hometown where I first tasted eggplants in tomato sauce (Melanzane a fungetiello). I found out very recently that this restaurant is one of the first Italian restaurants in whole Japan, if not the very first one. Mr. Abela from Sicily, Italy, found the restaurant in 1946 and since then “Amore Abela” (as the restaurant is called) has been successfully run by the Abela family.

At this historical restaurant, I had very delicious spaghetti with eggplants in tomato sauce for the first time. It was more than two decades ago but I still clearly recall the little surprise I felt about the combination of eggplants and tomato sauce. Our family had never thought that they could turn out so well with each other on top of pasta. After that, pasta with eggplants in tomato sauce became one of our family’s favorite dishes.

When I recently found small eggplants in the local farmers’ market, I immediately recalled my favorite dish, pasta with eggplants in tomato sauce, and decided to cook this dish. I added fresh mozzarella cheese to enhance the tasty flavor of eggplants, tomato sauce and basil leaves. You should try it too. Buon appetito!

Ingredients (4-5 servings):
7-10 small eggplants
1 finely chopped onion
3 cloves of garlic
3 cups of finely chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoons of tomato paste
½ cup of fresh basil leaves
8 oz. fresh mozzarella cheese
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
1 lb linguine

Directions:
1. Wash the eggplants and slice them. Place them in a large bowl and add water to cover the sliced eggplants. Add a pinch of salt. Leave them for about 15 to 30 minutes.
2. Heat 3-4 tbsp of olive oil in a large fry pan. Place the eggplants, finely chopped onion and garlic in the pan and fry them well until the eggplants become soft and onion becomes transparent.
3. Add the chopped tomatoes and tomato paste. Simmer them for 15 to 20 minutes.
4. Slice the mozzarella cheese. Chop the basil leaves.
5. Add the mozzarella cheese and chopped basil on the top of the sauce and turn off the heat. Cover the pan and leave it for 5 to 10 minutes until the sliced mozzarella cheese melts.
6. Boil water in a large pot and cook the linguine in the pot for 8 to 10 minutes or al dente. Drain the linguine well. Toss them with 2 to 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.
7. Transfer the serving plates and pour the sauce. Serve with pieces of crispy bread! Buon appetito!

Grilled Eggplants (Yaki Nasu)

2009-08-01T19:04:00.000-07:00

Since I moved to Louisiana, I have tried several varieties of eggplants that I had never seen before. I found them in the local farmers’ market.

My great neighbor, Janet, told me about this farmers’ market. This market opens on Saturdays at the downtown in Baton Rouge and Tuesday and Thursday in two different locations. Many local farmers sell their newly picked vegetables, fruits, and flowers and freshly harvested eggs, fishes and meats. Also baked delicious bread, cakes and deserts are available there.

Among many of the eggplants I have tasted, I particularly like two kinds. One type is a very small size of eggplants. They have white and dark purple striped skins. Because of their tiny size, it is easy to grill and bake them. I also like their taste. They have a milder flavor and less harshness than the big American eggplants or Holland eggplants I usually buy from regular markets.

The other one is a big round-shaped eggplant. Their skins are dark purple and the taste is also mild with no bitterness.

Unfortunately, I am not able to remember their names. Therefore, if some of you know their names, please kindly let me know. I would appreciate your help very much.

Grilled eggplants (yaki nasu) were essential on my family’s dinner table during summer time when I was a kid in Japan. Bonito flakes may be difficult to obtain if no Asian grocery store or Whole Foods Market is around your neighborhood. Without bonito flakes, these grilled eggplants are still delicious. This dish is very simple but flavorsome and can be a great cold appetizer.

Ingredients (2 servings):
10 small eggplants or 2 big round-shaped eggplants
2-3 tablespoons of bonito flakes
¼ teaspoon of freshly ground ginger
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
1 teaspoon of lemon juice

Directions:
1. Wash the eggplants and dry them well.
2. Prepare the charcoal for the barbeque.
3. Grill the eggplants until they become soft and well done.
4. Remove the eggplants from the grill and transfer them to a glass bowl. Let them cool for 20 to 30 minutes and remove the skins.
5. Put the eggplants in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
6. Place the eggplants in the serving plats. Place the bonito flakes and ginger on the top of the eggplants and pour the soy sauce and lemon juice.

Meatballs with Rice in Tomato Sauce

2009-07-21T20:56:00.000-07:00

Tomato sauce was my grandfather-in-law’s favorite. He loved tomato sauce with a lot of extra virgin olive oil and black pepper. Whenever I make tomato sauce, I think of him with high regard, a person I have never met and have known only through my husband’s descriptions.

My grandfather-in-law was born in northern Greece when it was still under the Ottoman Empire’s occupation. Including his native language, Greek, he fluently spoke, wrote and read English, French, Slavic and Turkish, and he was able to read and understand Ancient Greek, Latin, and Arabic. While none of the people in his village hold a high school degree, he earned a college degree in Education. Later he became an elementary school teacher. He was excessively simple, honest and faithful for his entire life.

This simple man loved gardening, the “Les Misérables” by the famous French author Victor Hugo, and tomato sauce. Because of the Ottoman influence on the cuisine in his region, he especially loved spicy tomato sauce.

I usually cook meatballs with rice in spicy tomato sauce, which became our family’s standard. Certainly, a lot of extra virgin olive oil and black pepper are essential. I enjoy this dish under the blue sky indulging myself in imagination of my grandfather-in-law’s humble life.

Ingredients:
3 potatoes
3 cups finely chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato paste
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Water

Meatballs (about 40 meatballs):
1 lb ground beef
1 finely chopped onion
2 cloves of garlic
¼ cup finely chopped mint
1 egg
½ cup rice
1 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cumin
½ cup all-purpose flour

Directions:
1. Place all of the ingredients except the all-purpose flour for meatballs in a large bowl. Mix them well.
2. Break off pieces of the mixture and make very small meatballs (the size of walnuts). Coat the meatballs with the all-purpose flour.
3. Peal the skins of the potatoes and chop them small squares.
4. Heat the olive oil in a fry pan and fry the chopped potatoes for around 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes and tomato paste and stir them well.
5. Add 2 to 3 cups of water and bring to a boil. Add the meatballs one by one. Add more water if all of the meatballs are not covered by water.
6. Season with salt. Simmer and stir time to time for about 30-40 minutes.
7. Serve them hot!

Sweet Kidney Beans

2009-07-18T20:25:00.001-07:00

I do not remember the name of the fresh beans I purchased from a farmer at the local farmer’s market. But I am sure this is a kind of kidney beans. They are two to three times bigger than regular red kidney beans, which are frequently used in Cajun/Creole cuisine in Louisiana.

First, I cooked a Cajun bean soup using these beans. It was very good. However, when I tasted them, I immediately felt they might also be good for sweet beans.

Usually, Japanese black beans are used for this dish. These simmered sweet beans are considered a special dish and typically are served in the New Year’s Day. I love these black sweet beans since I was a kid. Therefore, my mother cooked this dish for a few times a year.

My instinct was correct. These particular kidney beans went very well with the sugar and soy sauce. They can be served as a great appetizer or nice cold dessert.

Ingredients:
1 and ½ cups fresh or dried kidney beans
½ cup sugar
2 tablespoons of soy sauce

Directions:
1. If you use dried kidney beans, soak them in water overnight.
2. Wash the beans well. Put them in a large pot and water until all of the beans are covered by water.
3. Bring to a boil. Then discard the water. In order to remove the harshness of the beans, repeat this process for two to three times.
4. After step 3 is done, add water until all of the beans are covered by water. Also add the sugar and soy sauce. Bring to a boil. After boiling, lower the heat. Simmer for one hour to one and half hours until the beans become very soft.
5. Refrigerate the simmered sweet beans and serve them cold!

Linguine in Pesto Sauce

2009-07-16T19:43:00.000-07:00

Basil, whose name comes from the Greek word for “king,” is one of the most essential herbs in Mediterranean cousin. However, the origin of this herb is none of the Mediterranean countries. According to Wikipedia, “Basil is originally native to Iran, India and other tropical regions of Asia, having been cultivated there for more than 5,000 years.” No wonder that this herb is used in many dishes from India, Thai and Vietnamese cousins.
In fact, basil was brought by Alexander the Great during his expedition to India.

Recently, there are many kinds of basil seeds and plants available in stores. Yet, my most favorite basil is sweet and aromatic Genovese basil from Genoa region in Italy. This basil reminds me of summer and this simple, yet, delicious pesto sauce.

Pesto is not only tasty but also very healthy food. Basil is high in vitamin K, which helps a body absorb calcium and other beneficial minerals to improve the bones. Parmesan and Romano cheese are excellent sources of calcium. In addition, pine nuts are rich in Vitamin B1 and B3.

Since my basil pants are big enough to be harvested, I decided to make lots of pesto sauce. It can be tossed with pasta or used as spread on crispy bread. Also pesto goes well with meat and fish. It can be stored in a refrigerator up to a several days.

Ingredients (4-5 Servings):
3 bunch of fresh basil leaves
1/3 cup pine nuts
½ grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
3 cloves of garlic
A pinch of salt
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 lb linguine

Directions:
1. Wash the basil leaves and drain them well.
2. Add all of the ingredients in the blender or food processor to grind them until they become creamy.
3. Boil water in a large pot and cook the linguine for 8 to 10 minutes or al dente.

4. Toss and mix the linguine with the pesto sauce. Serve with a piece of crispy bread!

Steamed Rice with Hijiki Seaweed (Hijiki Gohan)

2009-07-12T10:45:00.000-07:00

When I came to New York City for the first time in the early 90’s, eating healthy Asian food was already a boom among yuppies. I found out numbers of trendy restaurants serving seaweed, including hijiki, and other exotic Asian foods. However, I had noticed that many chefs were still learning and experimenting on how to cook using such ingredients. I realized that when I tried some tasteless hijiki because it had not been soaked or spiced enough by the chef. This happened in one of the most stylish restaurants in New York City.

Lately, not only professional chefs but also many regular people are already familiar with these Asian vegetables and food items. When I discovered a delicious hijiki salad, which was prepared by a non-Asian and non-professional cook, in a potluck party in New York City, I was amazed and pleased at that same time.

Hijiki is a kind of seaweed and it is an ultra nutritious food item. It is very rich in calcium. Actually, it contains 10 times more calcium than whole milk. Also, it is an excellent source for iron. It has 5 times more iron than chicken livers. In addition, it is high in dietary fiber.

Using a rice cooker, this dish of steamed rice with hijiki seaweed is extremely easy and healthy. If you do not have a rice cooker, use a large pot and cook and steam the rice along with the other ingredients. This dish also contributes a nice color opportunity to your table.

Ingredients (4 servings):
2 cups rice
1 carrot
2 tablespoons of hijiki (seaweed)
¼ cup of fresh/frozen soybeans (or fresh/frozen baby lima beans)
2-4 dried/fresh shiitake mushrooms
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of mirin (rice wine without alcohol)
1 tablespoon of sake (famous Japanese rice wine)A pinch of sugar

Directions:
1. Wash the rice and put it in the rice cooker. Add 1½ cups of water.
2. Soak the hijiki seaweed in cold water for about 30 minutes (or follow the instructions on the hijiki package). Drain it well.
3. If you use dried shiitake mushrooms, soak them in cold water for about 30 minutes (or follow the instructions on their package). Drain them well. Cut off their stems. Chop them into small cubes.

4. Chop the carrot into small pieces.

5. If frozen soybeans or frozen baby lima beans are to be used, defrost them.
6. Put the chopped carrot, soaked hijiki seaweed, the beans, the chopped shiitake mushrooms, soy sauce, mirin, sake and sugar in the rice cooker. Mix them well with the rice.
7. Cook them in a rice cooker or a large pot. Serve them hot!

Udon Salad

2009-07-10T21:05:00.000-07:00

July 7th was tanabata, a star festival, in Japan. This seasonal festival originally came from China. It is a sad but lovely story behind this celebration.

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful lady, named Orihime, who was a daughter of the Empire of the Sky and an excellent cloth waver living on one side of the Milky Way. One day she met Hikoboshi, who was a hard-working cow keeper and lived on the other side of the Milky Way. They immediately fell in love with each other. Soon after their encounter, with the Empire’s permission, they happily wedded. However, soon after that they abandoned their working duties. Orihime stopped waving clothes and Hikoboshi let his cows free, which made the Empire extremely angered. Therefore, he separated them across the Milky Way. Yet, the Empire only permitted them to see each other once a year on July 7th. For that reason, you can see Orihime (Vega) and Hikoboshi (Altair) meet in the middle of the Milky Way once a year on the 7th of July. But, in general it is raining on that day, which makes the lovers’ rendezvous private. So you are not able to see the two stars approaching each other.

This was the story I have known throughout my childhood from my mother. I was a little astronomy geek when I was a kid. Therefore, I was enormously fascinated about these two bright stars, Vega and Altair, coming across each other. I remember that I stared at the sky for hours to try to locate this amazing phenomenon once a year. However, of course, it never saw it myself. Plus, unfortunately it was very difficult to see any stars in the light polluted Japanese urban sky. Soon enough, I realized that it was just one of the many mythologies, which disappointed me very much.

July 7th of this year, I prepared this udon salad dish to celebrate this star festival. I used udon to resemble the Milky Way and vegetables and wakame (seaweed) to make look like stars (too much twisted?!). This cold udon salad can be an excellent dish for one hot summer day.

Ingredients (2-3 servings):
3 bunch of udon
1 tomato
½ cucumber
2 tablespoons of wakame (seaweed)
5-7 leaves of Japanese green perilla or 2-3 tablespoons of finely chopped green onions
¼ teaspoons of wasabi or freshly ground ginger

Soup:
4 cups of water
3 square inches of dried kombu sheet (dried seaweed)
¼ cup of dried bonito flakes
½ cup of mirin
½ cup of soy sauce

Directions:
1. Put 3 cups of the water for soup in a large pot. Put the kombu sheet and leave it for about 1 hours. Bring to a boil. Before it is boiling, take out the kombu from the pot. Add the dried bonito flakes. Lower the heat and cook for a minutes. Turn off the heat. Take out the bonito flakes. Add the rest of the ingredients for the soup. Mix them well and leave the mixture in a refrigerator from 30 minutes to one hour.
2. Soak the wakame into cold water for about 30 minutes (or follow the instruction on the wakame package).
3. Boil water in a large pot. While it is boiling, add the udon. Cook them for about 10 minutes (or follow the instruction on the udon package). After it is done, place them in a bowl filled up with cold water and ice cubes. Drain them well.
4. Cut the tomato and cucumber into pieces. Chop the Japanese green perilla or green onions.
5. Put the udon in serving plates and decorate them with the tomato, cucumber, wakame and Japanese green perilla. Put the wasabi or ginger in the soup and mix well. Pour the soup on the udon and vegetables.
6. Before you eat, mix them well with this delicious soup!

Lamp with Orzo in a Clay Pot (Youvetsi)

2009-06-30T19:36:00.001-07:00

In Greece lamp with orzo in a clay pot is often served on Sunday, which is the special day of the week among Greek Orthodox Christians. I usually cook this dish on a special occasion too. This month I made this dish twice for serving two of my good friends.

One of them is my new friend, Akiko, who is a professional nutritionist and recently moved to the USA from Japan. She is also an expert on Japanese cooking. Her ideas and tips about cooking are always fun and useful. Also her professional advice regarding diet and many kinds of food products are very valuable.

Since Mediterranean cuisine is totally new to Akiko, I decided to cook this special dish for our lunch. Unlike her tiny figure, she ate up the big portion of a lamb chop, Greek salad that I additionally made, and a big piece of crispy ciabatta bread. She congratulated my cooking and enjoyed my dishes very much.

Therefore, when Peter, who is a good friend of mine from New York City, decided to visit me in Louisiana in the middle of June, I immediately chosen to cook lamb with orzo in a clay pot, too. He is a gourmet, coffee lover and also good cook. Furthermore, his parents and sister are amazing cooks. Their creative table settings and fabulous ways to present food are incredible and astonish me any time I visit them.

Thanks to the tender and juicy lamb chops and ripe tomatoes, I was glad that Peter liked this dish very much.

Two food experts plus my husband, who is a native Mediterranean and foodie, applaud this dish. Thus, I proudly recommend you to try for your special events.

I already decided to cook this dish for my next guest and I started thinking what I am going to cook when Akiko and Peter visit me next time.

Ingredients:
4 pieces of lamb chops
1 finely chopped onion
3-4 cloves of garlic
3 cups chopped ripe tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 and 1/2 cups of red wine
1 lb orzo
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
A pinch of cloves
1/3-1/2 cup Ground Parmesan cheese
Extra virgin olive oil

Directions:
1. Season the lamb chops with salt and black pepper.
2. Heat 3-4 tbsp of olive oil in a large fry pan. Place the finely chopped onion and garlic in the pan and fry them for 3-4 minutes. Add the lamb chops and fry them till the surfaces of the lamb chops become slightly brown and crispy.
3. Add the chopped tomatoes and tomato paste. Add 1/2 cup of the red wine. Season with salt, black pepper and a pinch of clove. Simmer them for 30 to 40 minutes.
4. Transfer them into a large clay pot.
5. Preheat the oven to 370 F degrees. Bake the clay pot for about 20 minutes.
6. Add the orzo, 1 cup of the red wine and about 1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil. Note that the orzo should be covered with the lamb chops and sauce.
7. Bake in the clay pot for 15 minutes. Sprinkle the ground Parmesan cheese when it is almost done.
8. Bake them for another 5 minutes. Transfer them into serving plates.

Cucumber with Spicy Soy Sauce

2009-06-28T10:27:00.000-07:00

When I was a child I ate anything except cucumbers. They were the only vegetable item I disliked. According to my imagination of that childhood time, this was because I thought they smelled like snails.

Snails were one of my favorite creatures. I kept them in a small container as pets when I was a kid. My pets were not only snails but also many kinds of insects, such as butterflies, cicadas, beetles, crickets and so on. Most of the insects died before fall naturally. However, snails stayed alive throughout the year. Therefore, snails were always present in my room.

I enjoyed my routine job taking care of them, like cleaning the containers, giving them fresh water and feeding them with fresh vegetables. Especially, I loved observing them eating cucumbers. Their small mouths stuck to cucumbers and crawled slowly on the surface of the cucumbers. After that there would be many small cute dents left on the cucumbers. Whenever I saw cucumbers, I thought of my snails eating them. Eventually, I disliked eating cucumbers.

I do not remember exactly when I released my snails from my small cages. But after I become a high school student, snails had been totally disappeared from my life. Not only snails, but the other insects had also been completely gone. Then, in a little while later, I started disliking insects. I felt disgusted seeing or touching them.

My snails are gone for two decades now. These days I exterminate snails without much thought when I find them in my garden. On the other hand, I enjoy eating escargot, which is a snail in French and also the name of a famous and delicious French dish based on snails. However, at any time I eat cucumbers, I still recall the friendship I had with these cute little creatures. Now I love cucumbers. They smell like summer and remind me of my innocent childhood.

Ingredients:
3 cucumbers
2 tbsp pine nuts
Optional:
2 tbsp dry goji berries

Spicy Soy Sauce:
4 tsp soy sauce
4 tsp lemon juice
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 tsp minced green onion
1 red chili pepper
1 teaspoon sesame oil
½ clove of sliced garlic

Directions:
1. Place all of the ingredients of spicy soy sauce in a large bowl. Mix them well.
2. Optional: Place goji berries (they are red and can be found in any major market store that sells vegetables) in a small bowl and add water. Let them soak for about 20 minutes until they become soft. Remove them from the water.
3. Cut off the ends of the cucumbers. Partially peel off the skins of the cucumbers. Cut the cucumbers lengthwise into four pieces each. Then cut them around 2-inches long.
4. Using a roll pin or pestle, crush the pieces of the cucumbers and make crack them.
5. Put the cucumbers in the spicy soy sauce in the large bowl. Add the pine nuts and goji berries. Mix them well.
6. Refrigerate it from 30 minutes to a few hours. Serve as a clod appetizer or salad!

Fried Shrimps and Fried Soft Shell Crabs

2009-06-17T22:37:00.000-07:00

About 4pm in June 4, 2009 at a parking lot in Ishikawa prefecture in Japan, a person encountered a mysterious incident. It was a clear and calm day. But he heard noise sounded like raining behind him. He turned around and found out approximately 100 tadpoles fall from the sky. Some were alive and others were dead. This strange incident happened one after another. Two days later, June 6, 2009 around 7:30 am, 50 miles south from the place of the first incident took place, an old woman witnessed roughly 40 tadpoles fall from the sky.

The local weather station denied the possibility of tornado, which might take away tadpoles and small fishes from rivers and rice pads and release them from the sky. Some people hypothesized birds might be the cause. Birds might drop them from the sky. But is it possible to be approximately 100 tadpoles at once from the sky?

In the book, “Kafuka on the Shore” by Haruki Murakami, one of the popular novelists in the recent era, there are a few incidents in which thousands of fishes suddenly fell from the sky. There is no rational explanation about the cause or effect of these events in this story. They just happen and become forgotten, which makes readers anxious and uncertain about the realities and fall into the Murakami’s unrealistic world.

One summer day in 2007, while I was eating fried shrimps and fish with my husband under the big oak tree in our back yard, the same kind of episode occurred on front of us. A small fish suddenly fell from the sky. We knew there was a big bird nest on the oak tree. So we immediately identified the source of this fish. My husband quietly and quickly moved the fish and we in a minute continued eating without any concern. Delicious crispy shrimps, a fish from the clear blue sky and our pleasant lunch surrounded hysteric chicks’ voice. All of them reminded me of the Murakami’s world.

When I read the recent articles about “tadpoles rain from the sky”, I can’t help but cooking fried shrimps, eating them and waiting for something felling from the bright blue sky. I called this picture surrealistic but my husband called it is grotesque.

Ingredients:
4 soft sell crabs
1 lb shrimps with their heads and shells on
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 lemon
Salt and freshly ground black pepper (or Cajun seasonings)
2-3 cloves of garlic

Directions:
1. Wash the soft shell crabs and shrimps well and cut off shrimps’ whiskers. Season them with salt and black pepper (or Cajun seasonings).
2. Coat the crabs and shrimps with the flour.
3. Chop the cloves of garlic half. Heat the olive oil and the garlic in a fry pan. Fry the crabs and shrimps for a few minutes.
4. Transfer the crabs and shrimps into a serving plate and sprinkle lemon juice.

Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

2009-06-16T21:04:00.000-07:00

I hate Stelios, who was one of my husband’s high school classmates in Greece and he is still a good friend of my husband. Stelios is very pleasant to be with and I am always happy to see and talk to him. However, I have a reason to hate him.

When I was still living in New York City, Stelios visited my husband in Louisiana. During that time, he cooked spaghetti for my husband.
“It was mindboggling, “ my husband said.
“He boiled the spaghetti for nearly 20 minutes and it became just like the one I used to have when I was in Greece. It was so good!” He congratulated Stelios for his spaghetti. Since then he calls overcooked spaghetti, the “Stelios’ spaghetti.” This has impressed my husband very much but has made my life so difficult.

Long time ago, one of my Italian friends taught me how to boil spaghetti. First, boil plenty of water in a big pot. Add a pinch of salt. Then, coil a bunch of spaghetti and release them at once in the pot. In order to boil them the spaghetti evenly, stir them from time to time and cook for about 10 minutes or until it is “al dente” (which is Italian for having it a little bit hard on the inside). I thought this was the Mediterranean standard to boil spaghetti for a long time and more importantly, I like the “al dente” spaghetti very much.

Since Stelios made spaghetti, my spaghetti preparation became very complicated. I have to take out half of the spaghetti what I boil after about 10 minutes, and them continue to cook the rest for my husband for more than 10 minutes.

Meatballs in tomato sauce are excellent with spaghetti. However, since cooking spaghetti for my husband and myself gives me a lot of work, one day I served them with steamed rice. It went very well with meatballs in tomato sauce. Also pilaf (butter fried rice) goes well with them.

Maybe I should appreciate Stelios instead of hating him. He was the one who gave me an incredible opportunity for me to try steamed rice and pilaf with meatballs in tomato sauce, which are excellent combinations after all!

Ingredients:
Olive oil for frying

Meatballs (about 20 to 25 meatballs):

1 lb ground beef

½ cup panko (bread crumbs)

1 finely chopped onion2 cloves of garlic

¼ cup finely chopped flat leaf parsley

¼ cup finely chopped mint

1 egg

½ cup red wine

1 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground black pepper

A pinch of cumin and cinnamon

Lemon juice
½ cup all-purpose flour

Tomato Sauce:
3 cups chopped ripe tomatoes
1 finely chopped onion
3 cloves of chopped garlic
2 tbsp tomato paste

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
1. Place all of the ingredients except all-purpose flour for meatballs in a large bowl. Mix them well. Leave the mixture for 10 to 15 minutes in room temperature.
2. Break off pieces of the mixture and make small meatballs. Coat the meatballs with the all-purpose flour.
3. Heat the olive oil in a fry pan and fry the meatballs until they are well done. Take out the meatballs from the pan.
4. Using the same pan, heat the olive oil and fry the chopped onion and garlic for tomato sauce till the onion becomes translucent.
5. Add the chopped tomato and tomato paste. Season with salt and black pepper. Occasionally stir and cook them for 5 to 10 minutes.
6. Add the meatballs and continuously cook for 20 to 30 minutes.
7. Serve over rice/pilaf or pasta!

Sweet Bell Pepper Gratin

2009-06-03T11:41:00.000-07:00

“Let’s have a potluck party! I will teach you how to make gumbo soup there!” one of my girlfriends proposed after I had asked her for a gumbo soup recipe.
“That’s wonderful! I will bring fruit salad” another girl immediately responded.
Then, the other girls followed her by saying what other favorite dishes they would bring with them. I was the only one who did not come up with anything. I felt shame of myself. I am cooking and writing about food everyday but I cannot propose any dish for such a casual event!

After I came back from the lunch, I asked my husband for advice.
“How about dolmadakia?” Dolmadakia is a famous Greek / Mediterranean appetizer, sometimes called stuffed grape leaves, in which rice is stuffed in grape leaves.
It sounded like a good idea. So I sent an email to my friends that I would bring a Mediterranean appetizer.

One day before the potluck party, I went for grocery shopping for my cooking. Then, I found out some beautiful and huge red bell peppers on sale.

Things happened for a reason. After I bought a bunch of the gorgeous bell peppers, I decided to make this sweet bell pepper gratin, which is very simple yet, tasty and can be an impressive Mediterranean appetizer.

The day of the potluck party, I brought this dish with one Italian baguette. It is needless to say but the people loved this gratin. I was very happy that I received a lot of compliments about my cooking skills.
If you plan to have a potluck party and do not know what you would cook, this may be an excellent choice. I bet your people would love it and you would be proud of yourself.
Ingredients:
4 red bell peppers
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
½ cup panko (bread crumbs)
2 cloves of finely chopped garlic
3 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
Salt
Optional:
1 tbsp capers in wine vinegar
5 black olives
1 tbsp dried or fresh oregano

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 F degrees. Place the red bell peppers on the oven pan and bake them for 40 to 50 minutes until the peppers become soft and the skins turn blackened.
Or place them on the barbecue grill for 15 to 20 minutes until the peppers become soft and their skins become blackened.
2. Remove the peppers from the oven or grill and transfer to a glass bowl. Cover it with a plastic wrap and let them cool for 20 to 30 minutes (or leave the bowl cover with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator for 20 to 30 minutes or overnight.).
3. Transfer the peppers into a baking pan. Peel the skins and remove the seeds on the pan so that the delicious juice would not be wasted. Cut them into stripes. Place them on the baking pan.
4. Place the ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil, panko (bread crumbs), the chopped garlic, the capers, chopped olives, oregano, chopped flat-leaf parsley and a pinch of salt in a bowl Stir them well.
5. Spread out the panko mixture over the bell peppers.
6. Bake it for about 20 minutes until the panko mixture become brown.

Rice with Shrimp Scampi

2009-06-01T10:27:00.000-07:00

Whenever I go to a seafood restaurant or Italian restaurant, I look for shrimp scampi in the menu. Most of the time, I am disappointed to see “Linguine with Shrimp Scampi” or some kinds of pasta with shrimp scampi. Shrimp scampi must come with rice.

In the early 1990’s, my younger sister, Risa, moved to Long Island in New York to study for a few years in college. During that time, I visited her and she took me to her favorite seafood restaurant in Port Jefferson on Long Island. It was a cozy local seafood restaurant facing the port and surrounded by small cute souvenir shops.

Risa suggested to me to have her favorite dish; rice with shrimp scampi. I followed her advice. The moment the waitress brought the dish, I knew it was an excellent choice. The aroma of the shrimp and garlic made me crazy. The flavor of butter, garlic and rice brought out the delicate taste of the shrimps. That was a perfect combination for a shrimp dish.

After Risa came back from New York, I moved to New York to pursue my study in collage. Then Risa visited me and we decided to go to the restaurant in Port Jefferson, hoping to get the delicious dish, rice with shrimp scampi. However, the restaurant seemed totally different. The prices, inner and outer interiors were scaled up. Sadly rice with shrimp scampi was replace by spaghetti with shrimp scampi in the new menu. Furthermore, the taste of shrimp scampi was downgraded.

Since Louisiana shrimps are famous for their big size and fine flavor, I decided to try my dream dish, rice with shrimp scampi. I prefer to use shrimps with their heads and shells on, which gives me incredible flavor and a beautiful saffron-like color. However, if getting your fingers dirty while you are eating is not very appealing to you, use peeled and deveined shrimps. Nevertheless, they are still superb. I usually hesitate to use butter in cooking. However, butter is essential for this dish.

Rice with Shrimp Scampi Recipe

Ingredients (4 servings):

Shrimp Scampi
2 lb shrimps with their heads and shells on
1 cup finely chopped green onions
¼ cup chopped dill
3-4 cloves of finely chopped garlic
1 cup white wine
3 tbsp butter
2 lemons
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Pilaf (Butter Fired Rice)
2 cups rice
3 tbsp butter
2-3 cups water
Salt

Directions:
1. Wash the shrimps well and cut off their whiskers. Salt them.
2. Heat the 3tbsp of butter and the garlic in a large pan over medium heat. Add the shrimps and chopped green onions and fry them evenly for 2-3 minutes until the shrimps become pinkish. Add the white wine and lemon juice. Season them with salt and black pepper and simmer them for 2-3 minutes.
3. Transfer the shrimps into a plate and keep them aside.
4. Wash the rice well.
5. Using the same pan, heat the 3tbsp of butter and place the rice. Fry them for about 3 minutes. Add the water and a pinch of salt. Cover the pan and bring to a boil. Then, lower the heat and continue to simmer for 20 to 30 minutes until the water is absorbed.
6. Add the shrimp scampi into the pilaf (butter fried rice) and stir them well.
7. Turn off the heat and sprinkle the chopped dill.

Boiled Crawfish

2009-05-31T16:23:00.000-07:00

When you smell boiled crawfish around your neighborhood in Louisiana, you know spring arrives. The season of Louisiana crawfish is from early spring to early summer. The best crawfish boil is done at home using a big pot with Cajun spices, potatoes, onions, corns, garlic and other vegetables and eat with many friends and family. This is one of the typical Cajun dishes. Do not hesitate to use your fingers to get dirty because this also brings the dynamic sprit of Cajun culture. Actually, it is impossible to eat crawfish without using your fingers!

Acadians, as the Cajun ancestors are known, originally came from France. In the early 1600’s, Acadians moved to settle Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island in Canada when France established its colonies there. However, after British took over the colonies from France, in 1755 many of the Acadians were brutally deported. According to Wikipedia, more than 12,000 Acadians were expelled from Canada between 1755 and 1763.

Eventually, many of the Acadians escaped to Louisiana where France had colonized. First, they arrived to New Orleans, which was already occupied by other immigrants. As a result, they were forced out further southwest of New Orleans, which were undesirable swamp areas. They had to live in horrible conditions in which the summer was terribly hot and humid and malaria and yellow fever were constantly present.

Living in an unwanted swamp region was challenging. However, this circumstance gave plenty of “spices” into the distinctive Cajun cuisine.

Crawfish has been used for just bait for a long time. They had been considered as smelly and ugly creatures. However, throughout the tough life living in swamps, Cajuns discovered their unique taste and turned them into an exquisite Cajun dish. Adding Cajun spices, vegetables and, sometimes, Cajun sausages brings out the fine flavor of crawfish in an excellent way.

Once a year, my husband and I decided to eat boiled crawfish to celebrate whatever we wish. This spring, we celebrated my fist spring in Louisiana and have a high regard for Cajuns who amazingly survived, thrived in this region and developed their own unique culture.

Çoban Salata

2009-05-30T20:37:00.000-07:00

When Erika, one of my girlfriends, was dating with an Arabic boyfriend, she took me to a Turkish restaurant in Boston. I was very excited because it was the first time for me to taste Turkish food.
“Let’s start with Turkish salad and rice. They are really good, “ she said.
So we started with Çoban (pronounced “tso-ban”) Salata and pilaf. They were supposed to be appetizers. However, after we finished them, we decided to order the same dishes, again. I just fell in love with this simple yet delicious salad. The salad simply consists of tomatoes, cucumbers, onions and parsley. But there was some particular spice I could not figure out at that time.

Turkish food is famous for various kinds of spices. That was why I believed the salad had some special spices until just a few weeks ago when I took the first Turkish cooking class. Unexpectedly, the menu was Çoban Salata, pilaf and two other dishes. I was thrilled. Then I found out that the secret of the delicious flavor was a popular herb, mint.

Mint is very easy to cultivate. In my garden, mint grows like weeds and out of control. It had never crossed my mind that this herb gives such a precious flavor.

By the way, Erika is still a beautiful and joyful bachelorette living in Boston. Her current boyfriend is Italian. So she takes me to Italian restaurants in Italian District whenever I visit her. She introduced me to numerous kinds of good food. I admire her excellent choice of food and, of course, her patient and generous men.

Ingredients:
4 tomatoes
2 cucumbers
1 green pepper
1 cup chopped green onions
¼ cup finely chopped flat leaf parsley
¼ cup finely chopped mint
3 tbsp chopped dill
Extra virgin olive oil
2 lemons
Salt
Optional: Feta cheese

Directions:
1. Dice the tomatoes, cucumber and green pepper. Place them in a large salad bowl.
2. Add the chopped green onions, parsley, mint and dill. Pour the olive oil and sprinkle lemon juice. Stir them well.
3. Add salt and stir right before you serve. Serving with feta cheese is optional but it is good.

Green Beans with Tomato Sauce (Fasolakia)

2009-05-27T20:32:00.000-07:00

One thing that extremely surprised me about my husband’s cooking is the use of lots of olive oil. His olive oil consumption is about 500ml per week. This is equivalent to mine for a few months.
“It has to be Greek, cold pressed, extra virgin olive oil,” my husband, whose native country is Greece, said and poured plenty of olive oil on meat, fish, vegetables, breads and even many of the Japanese dishes I make.

Fasolakia (or baby green beans in English) is one of the typical Greek summer dishes and requires lots of olive oil. Usually, I try to use less olive oil than my husband wishes. But for this dish, I do not hesitate to use tons of olive oil. Green beans match with tomato sauce and olive oil flavor very well.

Although green beans are a very popular summer vegetable in Japan, I did not know they are very nutritious food. Green beans are an excellent source of vitamin K, which prevents blood clotting, osteoporosis and oxidative cell damage. They are low in calories and very healthy food.
Fasolakia is usually served with feta cheese or anchovies. If you would like to try in a Greek way, cut down the salt in this dish and enjoy it with salty anchovies or feta cheese!

Ingredients:
1 lb green beans
1 chopped onion
2-3 cloves of garlic
3 cups chopped ripe tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 bay leaf
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Optional: 3-4 chopped potatoes

Directions:
1. Wash the green beans well. Cut off both ends. If they are too long, cut them half. If they have strings on the sides, remove the strings.
2. Heat 3tbsp of olive oil and the garlic in a large pot. Add the chopped onion and fry them until they become transparent. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste and bay leaf. Add the green beans and the chopped potatoes (optional). Season the mixture with salt and black pepper and simmer for about 30 to 40 minutes until the green beans become soft.
3. Add the 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil and simmer for 3 to 5 minutes. Serve this with feta cheese!

Burdock Kinpira (Kinpira Gobo)

2009-05-15T21:40:00.000-07:00

Kinpira is a traditional Japanese side dish, in which small striped vegetables are fried with sweet soy sauce. Burdock kinpira is the most well known among all kinpira dishes. People started eating burdock roots about 300 years ago and at the same time kinpira became a typical home made dish. It was named after Kinpira whose father was Kintaro. Kintaro lived more than one thousand years ago and is famous from many children fair tales because of his supernatural capabilities. Since burdock is very healthy and believed to be an excellent source of energy, people named this dish after Kinpira.

Roots of young burdock are one of the most popular root vegetables in Japan. In China dried burdock roots have been used as an anti-fever and cough remedy for centuries. This vegetable is an excellent source of dietary fiber, zinc, potassium and vitamins B1 and B2. It helps to clean the stomach and intestines and to avoid constipation. Also it is high in inulin (a type of naturally occurring sugar in some plants not to be confused with insulin which is a hormone that affects metabolism), which can help to manage diabetes. However, in most of the European countries, they are treated just as weeds.

Sadly, I have not seen burdock roots in any regular grocery store here in Louisiana except in some Asian stores. Even thought I can find them in one local Asian store, most of the time, I always question the freshness of the vegetable.

The other day, I found some nice looking burdock roots at one of the Asian markets in my place. My friend, who is a nutritionist from Japan, suggested that they were fresh enough. Thus, I purchased one bag of burdock roots, nearly 2 lb, and decided to cook burdock kinpira.

Although burdock roots were not as fresh as I wanted, I really enjoyed burdock kinpira. I do not remember when I had kinpira for the last time. When I was in Japan, this dish was a common one on our family’s dinner table or in a lunch box. It reminds me of my mother’s cooking. I truly wish that people can appreciate the benefits of eating burdock roots and in the near future this vegetable would be available in many stores.

Using burdock roots and carrots is a typical combination. However, adding chicken, pork, or green beans can be more nutritious and also may become the main dish. Serve with rice!

Ingredients:
1 lb burdock
2 carrots
1 red pepper
2 teaspoon roasted sesame (both white and black sesame are fine.)
3 tbsp sesame oil (any oil for frying is fine.)

Ingredients for sweet soy sauce:
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sake
2 tbsp mirin
1 tbsp sugar

Directions:
Scrape off the skin of the burdocks. Do not peel off since the skin has a lot of flavor.
Cut into 1.5 inch-long small sticks. Put them in a bowl and add water until all the burdock sticks are covered. Add 1 tbsp of rice vinegar. Leave them for about 10 minutes in order to remove their natural harshness.
Peel the skin of the carrots and cut them into small sticks of the same size as the burdock sticks.
Slice off the stalk and remove the seeds of the red pepper. Cut into small rings.
Heat the sesame oil in a pot. Drain the burdock sticks well. Fry them along with the carrot sticks for 2-3 minutes. Add the ingredients for sweet sauce and the red pepper. Continuously fry for another 5 munities until all the sauce is gone.
Transfer to serving plates. Sprinkle them with the roasted sesame before serving.

Grilled Blue Fish

2009-05-12T19:42:00.001-07:00

A “Buy One, Get One Free!” advertisement always reminds me of a grilled fish in my family. When I cook a grilled fish, I usually make Greek version and Japanese version at the same time, which makes me feel that I get an extra for free!

Grilled fish is one of the very basic dishes in both Japan and Greece. Every time I visit Greece and order a freshly grilled fish, I always regret for not bringing with me a bottle of soy sauce. When we are in Japan, my husband always asks me for olive oil and lemon juice on front of a juicy grilled fish.

Therefore, when we cook grilled fish at home, we make a friendly decision for each other. We grill a fish and add different flavors for each other. Olive oil and lemon juice are necessary in Greek cuisine. Seasoning a fish with a lot of oregano and sprinkling olive oil and lemon juice makes the grilled fish authentic Greek / Mediterranean cuisine. Concurrently, soy sauce and sake (or mirin) are essential in preparing most Japanese dishes. Adding spicy ground daikon and ponzu or soy sauce on a grilled fish creates a perfect Japanese dish. Try both ways and decide which one you like!

For the Japanese version
Ingredients:
3lb of a whole blue fish
Salt
Sake
½ cup freshly ground daikon (Asian white radish)
Ponzu sauce (or soy sauce)
§ 1cup soy sauce
§ ½ cup lime juice
§ ½ cup rice vinegar
§ 3 tbsp mirin
§ 5 tbsp dried bonito flakes
Mix them and leave the mixture overnight or for a few days. Strain.

Directions:
1. Remove the guts, gills and scales of the blue fish. Wash it well and wipe water around the surface. Spray sake or brush sake on the fish.
2. Sprinkle with olive oil and lemon juice. Season the blue fish with a lot of salt both sides.
3. Prepare charcoal for barbeque.
4. Grill the fish until the fish is done.
5. Transfer them to a serving plate.
6. Drain the ground daikon. Place it on the serving plate. Pour 3-5 tbsp of ponzu or soy sauce.

For the Greek version
Ingredients:
3lb of a whole blue fish
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
Oregano
Lemon juice

Directions:
1. Remove the guts, gills and scales of the blue fish. Wash it well and wipe water around the surface.
2. Sprinkle with olive oil and lemon juice. Season the blue fish with the salt, black pepper and oregano both sides.
3. Prepare charcoal for barbeque.
4. Grill the fish until the fish is done.
5. Transfer them to a serving plate. Sprinkle the fish with olive oil and lemon juice. Serve with yogurt dip!

Meat Balls (Keftedes)

2009-05-11T19:05:00.001-07:00

After I watched the 2003 Greek movie, “Politiki Kouzina” (“Istanbul Cuisine” as it is directly translated in English or “A Touch of Spice” as it better known internationally) my Greek meatballs became spicier.

This is a story about a Greek boy who was born in Istanbul, Turkey. His grandfather had a small store selling spices in Istanbul and giving lessons to the little boy about not only spices and cooking but also about life and faith. When a political conflict between Greece and Turkey erupted, his family along with many other Greek families were deported from their hometown of Istanbul with just a few belongings. However, his grandfather was left behind. His family escaped to Athens, Greece, yet they were not fully embraced by their own people in Greece. After more than three decades, the boy, later became a world renowned astronomer, went back to see his dying grandfather for the first time since his family had left Istanbul. Throughout of this journey, he realized there was a touch of an important spice missing in his life.

In this beautiful movie, there was a scene in which the grandfather gave this little boy a tip of how to make delicious meatballs. Adding a little bit of cumin and cinnamon gives them incredible flavor. Right after I watched the movie, I tried to cook Greek meatballs and followed the grandfather’s tip. It came out excellent! I loved it and since then my Greek meatballs cannot be done without these hidden flavors.

The traditional Greek meatballs are usually fried coated with flour. However, this time I baked them in the oven, which made my life much easier. These meatballs can be served as an appetizer or part of a sandwich.

Greek meatballs Recipe

Ingredients (about 20 to 25 meatballs):
1 lb ground beef
½ cup panko (bread crumbs)
1 finely chopped onion
2 cloves of garlic
¼ cup finely chopped flat leaf sparsely
¼ cup finely chopped mint
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil plus 3 tbsp olive oil for frying the onion and the garlic
1 egg
½ cup red wine
1 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper
A pinch of cumin and cinnamon
Lemon juice

Directions:
1. Heat 3tbsp of olive oil and the garlic in a large pot and fry the chopped onion until the onion becomes transparent.
2. Preheat the oven to 360 F degrees.
3. Place the onion and garlic with the rest of the ingredients in a big bowl. Mix them well. Leave the mixture for 10-15 minutes in room temperature.
4. Break off pieces of the mixture and make small meat balls and place them on an oven pan.
5. Bake them for 25-30 minutes. Transfer them to a serving plate. Sprinkle them with lemon juice. Enjoy them!

BBQ Pork Loin Ribs (Like Paidakia)

2009-05-09T19:33:00.000-07:00

“It tastes like paidakia,” my husband said.
Paidakia means “little kid ribs” in Greek. When my husband and I went to Greece for the first time, Stelios, my husband’s childhood friend, took us to a local restaurant in Marathon City (yes, this is the place where the first Marathon run took place, almost 2,500 years ago) where we had delicious paidakia. The barbecue pork loin ribs we had last week was the closest taste to the paidakia we could get in the US. They were as tender and juicy as paidakia.

I got these pork ribs from Target. I paid $6.16 for 4 chops with a $3 coupon. So it was $3.16, which was a great deal!

The real reason I went to Target was to buy meat for our cat. When one of our beloved cats died of cancer a few years ago and one woman told us that she cooked for her healthy 18-year-old cat, my husband and I decided to cook for our surviving cat. At that time, the news about toxic dog/cat food became a big issue. That incident also made us think that cooking for our cat might help him be healthy. We have bought chicken, pork, beef and catfish meats from a regular super market and baked them to feed our cat. As a result of this, our cat, which used to be obese and weighted more than 20 lb, lost lots of extra weight and now he is a healthy 13.5 lb. He is healthier than ever. He is now 14 years old but he is much more active than ever before.

Eating homemade food may help him to be fit and active. Buying meat and fish and cooking for a cat is a little bit pricier than just buying cat food. Yet, thinking of taking him to a hospital due to his overweight problem and other related problems, we simply believe this is a much cheaper and wiser option. I believe this healthy diet can apply to humans. Buying good food supplies and then cook at home may cost and take you some extra time but eventually it would pay off. You may be able to save a lot of money by not having serious health problems.

Eating good food does not mean eating expensive food. Cooking and eating $3.16 for 4 pork chops was a fantastic experience. Moreover it reminded me of that beautiful summer night in Greece.

BBQ Pork Loin Ribs Recipe

Ingredients:
4 pieces of pork loin ribs
½ cup red wine
1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 clove of sliced garlic
Oregano, salt and freshly ground black pepper
Lemon juice

Directions:
1. Make some incisions in the meat and insert the sliced garlic in the pork ribs.
2. Place the pork ribs in a flat dish. Sprinkle the wine, ¼ cup of olive oil and 2-3 tbsps lemon juice. Turn to coat well. Season them with salt, pepper and plenty of oregano. Marinate them for about 15-20 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, prepare charcoal for barbecue.
4. Grill the pork ribs until they are well done. Then, transfer them to a serving plate and sprinkle them with lemon juice. Serve with French fries and salad!

Greek Yogurt with Honey and Walnuts

2009-05-04T19:45:00.000-07:00

According to the Global Sex Survey done by Durex, a British condom maker, every year, Greece has ranked No. 1 as the most sexually active nation in the past few years. My husband, whose native country is Greece, said, “This might not be accurate because Greek men are more likely to exaggerate how macho they are.” He may be right. It is difficult to tell this survey is correct since the questions are so intimate and it is impossible to verify the results are true.

It is said that this simplest Greek dessert, Greek yogurt with honey and walnuts, is an aphrodisiac. Couples eat this sweet before going to bed. Is this dessert really an aphrodisiac?

Surprisingly, yogurt, honey and walnuts contain high amounts of “fertility vitamins”, such as vitamins C, E, essential fatty acids (EFA), and zinc.

As stated by Bell Online:
Vitamins C, E and EFA are important for women.
Vitamin C “helps to protect cells and strengthen the immune system.“
“Vitamin E may increase egg quality. “
“EFA can help the health of your reproductive system, insulin levels, heart and brain.”

For men, Vitamins C, E and zinc are essential.
“Vitamin C has been shown to reduce DNA damage in sperm by 91%. It is also shown to reduce agglutination and abnormalities.”
“Studies show that vitamin E can increase sperm potency by 2 ½ times.“
“Even a mild zinc deficiency can cause drastically lower sperm counts. Zinc may also improve sexual function.”

Yogurt is rich in zinc. Walnuts are high in EFA and also they contain some good amounts of vitamin E. Honey is an excellent source of vitamin C. Some vegetables and fruits are high in vitamin C. However, after harvest, they rapidly loose their vitamin C potency. As compared with these vegetables and fruit, honey keeps its vitamin C well.

So, is Greek yogurt with honey and walnuts an aphrodisiac? Honey is rich in tyrosine, which helps reduce stress. Eating this simple, yet, extremely healthy dessert may help relax. As result, people may feel intimate with their partners and this may be consistent with the results of the Global Sex Survey.

Greek Yogurt with Honey and Walnuts Recipe
Ingredients:
1 cup Greek yogurt
¼ cup walnuts
3-5 tbsp honey

Directions:
Place the Greek yogurt in a bowl. Add the walnuts and honey. That’s it. Enjoy it!

Hummus dip

2009-05-03T21:35:00.000-07:00

It was no so long ago when I first tasted hummus dip. I was a graduate student in New York City and one of my classmates, who was from Israel, took me to a falafel fast food, yet authentic Middle Eastern restaurant. Falafel is a fried ball made of chickpeas. This is very popular fast food in Middle East. Usually, falafel balls are served as part of a sandwich. Such sandwiches are stuffed in pita bread along with fresh tomatoes, lettuce, onions and hummus (or chickpeas in Arabic). It is totally vegetarian food.

However, when I tried it first time, I thought it was ground chicken liver. It had a very rich flavor and texture. Also the seasonings that I had never teased enriched chickpea paste. After knowing it was made of chickpeas, I was amazed.

Making a GOOD hummus dip was not easy. Later, I become addicted to hummus.
I bought many kinds of hummus dips already packed and sold in stores. However, none of them was right. When I spoke about my hummus experience, my classmate, Jonathan, said, “It is very easy to make it. You just boil chickpeas and put them in a mixer with some tahini, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. That’s it!”

Therefore, I decided to make hummus. It had been quite challenging to make it just right. Each time I made it, I felt something was missing comparing with the hummus I had in the authentic falafel restaurant. It has been already a few years since I first made it. Now it feels pretty close to the authentic flavor! Hummus can be a good dipping sauce with vegetable sticks!

Hummus recipe

Ingredients:
1 and ½ cups dried chickpeas
3-5 tbsps tahini
3-5 tbsps lemon juice
3-5 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon fresh ginger
1/8 ~1/4 teaspoon of cumin, coriander, cayenne pepper, paprika, salt and freshly ground black pepper
¼ ~ ½ cup extra virgin olive oil

Directions:
1. Soak the dried chickpeas overnight.
2. Wash the chickpeas. Place them in a pot and fill with water.
3. Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Then, lower the heat and continue to simmer for 40-50 minutes until the chickpeas become soft. Strain the water and keep it aside. Put a few chickpeas aside for decoration.
4. Place the boiled chickpeas in a food processor along with all of the other ingredients and ¼ cup of the water from 3.
5. Process until smooth. Add more seasonings or water, if necessary.
6. Spoon into a serving plate. Add some paprika and decorate with a few boiled whole chickpeas and olives. Serve with pita bread!

Risotto with Calamari and Scallions

2009-05-02T21:58:00.000-07:00

“May 1st is the Festival of Flowers Day” uncle George from Greece said over the phone the other day. Like Greece, there are already a lot of flowers blossoming everywhere in Louisiana. It is the best time to be in the South! My husband and I bought a lot of plants to fill out the empty spaces in our garden this spring. Some plants already have many flowers. Their sweet fragrances and stunning colors make me very happy.

A Japanese proverb says, “dumplings are better than flowers”, which is similar to the sayings “pudding before praise” or “bread is better than the songs of birds.” This means that eating dumplings may satisfy you more (in a materialistic way) than just watching beautiful flowers. In order to make myself fully satisfied and also celebrate the “Festival of Flowers Day” on May 1, I decided to cook this seafood risotto.

I used ripe tomatoes in this risotto, which were grown in Louisiana that I found at a local market. They look a little unattractive, but very juicy. As I mentioned before for the Greek Salad dish in this blog, tomatoes are a very healthy vegetable. They are rich in vitamins C, A and lycopene. Unfortunately, cooking tomatoes may damage their vitamin C potency, because vitamin C is easily destroyed by heat. But humans can absorb lycopene in tomatoes more successfully (three to four times more!) if they are heat processed.

Sadly I ran out of dill and I was not able to find any in the market (our own dill in the garden is still to young to be harvested). So I used green onions instead of dill. However, using dill is highly recommended!

Ingredients:
1 lb calamari
1 lb scallions
1 chopped onion
1-2 cloves of garlic
3-4 chopped tomatoes
1 bay leaf
2 cups rice
¼ cup green onion (dill is better!)
½ cup red wine
2 tbsp tomato paste
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Directions:
1. Wash the calamari pieces and scallions well. Cut the bodies of the calamari into rings.
2. Heat 3tbsp of olive oil and the garlic in a large pot and fry the chopped onion until they become transparent. Add the tomatoes and fry them for 3 to 5 minutes. Add the wine, tomato paste and bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper and simmer for about 20 minutes.
3. Add the rice in the tomato mixture. Stir and simmer for 5 minutes.

4. Add the calamari pieces, scallions and green onions. Stir and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or "al dente" (Italian for having it a little bit hard on the inside). Turn off the heat and add ¼ cup of extra virgin olive oil.

Culinary Travel to the Uontana Arcade (魚の棚商店街 - Uontana Shouten-gai), Japan

2009-05-01T07:51:00.000-07:00

The Uontana Arcade (i.e., a covered market place) is one of the oldest arcades in Japan. It is located in the city of Akashi, Hyogo prefecture of Japan. It is operating for nearly 400 years. They say when the Akashi castle was built in 1619, the Arcade was created to provide fresh supplies to the people living around the castle. It is incredible that this Arcade still actively supports the daily life of the local population. The overall length of this Arcade is about 350 meters and there are about 110 stores selling everything from fresh fish, vegetables, fruits, freshly cooked/processed food, kimonos and traditional kitchenware, and so on. The city of Akashi is one of the primary fishing locations in Japan and especially the Akashi octopus and red snapper are well known all over Japan for their big size and delicate taste.

Since the fishing areas and the Arcade are very close to each other, fresh fish is brought from the sea twice a day, in early morning and afternoon. It is a very unique place while most of the Japanese fish markets have only one shipment in early morning. As result, this promotes the high quality of fishes in the Uontana Arcade. Although this is a very historical and attractive spot, many of the guidebooks for travelers in English, sadly, do not mention about this exciting tourist attraction.

One early summer day, when my husband and I visited my hometown of Takarazuka in Japan, we visited the Uontana Arcade along with my family. When my sisters told my husband, whose native country is Greece, that they would take us to a great fish market, he was very excited. Especially he was thrilled that the famous Akashi octopuses were in season. He immediately suggested cooking Greek food with the famous octopus for my family.

When we arrived at the Arcade , it was before noon. There were already many people looking around and shopping. People at the stores were energetically calling at us to attract our attention and trying to sell us their newly arrived fish, selfish, squid, and of course, the famous Akashi octopus. My husband said with high excitement that the fish markets reminded him of the fish markets in Greece where also fresh fish, selfish, and octopus are available. That is when he discovered the similarity between Japanese and Mediterranean cuisines, which mainly use fresh seafood and local vegetables. I also realized that people in Greece and Japan prefer to purchase a whole fish rather than buying a piece of fish fillet because with the fillet it is difficult to tell if it is fresh or not.

Before buying some fish for dinner, we decided to have lunch at one of the many sushi restaurants in the Arcade . It was an old traditional-looking restaurant. They let us sit on a traditional Japanese floor, or tatami, which is made of rice straws, and brought us oshibori, which is a wet hand towel usually offered in not only sushi restaurants but also in many restaurants in Japan. Each of us ordered a deluxe sushi set and some pieces of nigiri-sushi.

Big pieces of extremely fresh and delicious fish were used to make this sushi, which satisfied us in great deal. Particularly all of the sights and details fascinated my husband since it was the very first time for him to be in such a restaurant. “I feel like I am in a movie directed by Akira Kurosawa!” he said. Please do not forget to click on the slide shows about the Uontana Arcade and the Himeji Castle to the right of this blog.

After lunch, we went for shopping. We purchased an ultra fresh large octopus, some rockfishes and tuna sashimi. Of course, my husband cooked a delicious Greek food with them at that night.

Actually the world renowned Himeji Castle was the main spot we visited that day, which is the most visited castle in Japan. It is a famous UNESCO World Heritage Site and become internationally even more famous after it appeared in a James Bond film “You Only Live Twice” and also at two of Akira Kurosawa’s films, namely “Ran” and “Kagemusha”. The recent film ” The Last Samurai” had also scenes from this castle. This has been my most favorite castle in Japan and we enjoyed the many buildings, views from the castle and the stories behind this castle (including some stories about hunted places in the castle). The Himeji Castle is located only a few station stops away from the Uontana Arcade. If you are going to visit the Himeji Castle, you should definitely consider stopping by the Uontana Arcade. I bet you will have an amazing experience that most of tourists visiting in Japan are missing.

Sardine Casserole

2009-04-27T20:56:00.001-07:00

Because I regretted very much not to buy enough sardines last time when I got only 4 sardines (fried sardines with horta), I swore myself I would buy ENOUGH next time. Unfortunately I had not seen them in any fish markets since then. Yet, finally I found them. They were from Portugal and looked OK. So I ordered 20 good-looking sardines. Then, a lady waiting to be served next to me in the fish market suddenly approached me and asked me how I cook sardines.
“I have never tasted or cooked this fish,” the lady, around age 60, said.
“It is very good. You can fry them.”
She said, “Oh, I don’t eat fried fish.”
She seemed health conscious.
“You can bake them, too,” I suggested.
She smiled and ordered 2 good-looking ones. At that time, I also decided to bake the half of the 20 sardines I purchased. This dish, sardine casserole, is very easy to prepare. Other fish fillets, such as red snapper, cod, sea bass and drum fish, can be used equally fit for this dish.

Ingredients:
10 sardines

2 cups panko (bread crumbs)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup finely chopped flat leave parsley
2-3 cloves of finely chopped garlic

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

Lemon juice

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 420 F degrees.
2. Remove guts, gills, scales and backbones of the sardines. Wash the sardines well.

3. Season the sardines with salt and pepper both side.
4. Put the panko, parsley, garlic, salt and pepper in a bowl and mix well.
5. Coat the sardines with the panko mixture and place on a casserole pan.
6. Put the rest of the panko mixture over the sardines. Sprinkle the olive oil.
7. Bake in the preheat oven for about 20 minutes.

8. Transfer to serving plates and sprinkle olive oil and lemon juice. Enjoy it!

Pasta with Clam and Tomato Sauce

2009-04-23T23:05:00.001-07:00

When I had the most delicious pasta with clam and tomato sauce, it was cold early spring in Venice. I was a poor college student and traveling Europe for about a month with one of my girlfriends. Unfortunately she became sick when we arrived Italy. We found a cheap but clean and cozy hotel in Bologna. Then she decided to take a break for a few days and I chose to travel alone. I took a train and headed for Venice, which had been my dream.

I still remember the amazing sight suddenly appearing on front of my eyes while the train was approaching to Santa Lucia Station. I was so excited to be there and decided to absorb the city as much as possible. After getting off the train and stepped out of the station, I ran to cross the bridge, Ponte Tre Ponti. I walked narrow streets to see the people’s lives. I went to a few museums and stores selling beautiful Venetian art pieces. Every moment and every sight enormously fascinated me.

When I realized it was time for me to go back, I also felt starving. Then I recognized I skipped lunch. I was missing one of the most important factors of Italy, FOOD! I jumped to a small restaurant, which looked a cheap Italian fast food restaurant for tourists. At that time I had the most amazing pasta with clam and tomato sauce. I was young with an empty pocket but full of energy and dreams. Maybe I was hungry for anything. Since then, I have been to Italy, again, and many Italian restaurants around the world. However, the dish I had in Venice at that day has been still the tastiest pasta dish I have ever had.

Ingredients:
1 lb fresh clams with shells
1 lb pasta (I used large conchiglie)
1 chopped onion
2-3 chopped tomatoes
½ cup white wine
2-3 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp tomato paste
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil

Directions:
1. Wash the clams very well. Place the clam in a large pot. Add 1 cup of water. Cover and bring to a boil. After boiling, lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove the clams from the pan. If the clam is not open, discard it. Strain the water and keep it aside.
2. Boil water in a large pot and cook the pasta for 8 to 10 minutes or al dente.
3. Heat the olive oil and the garlic in a large pot and fry the onion until it becomes transparent. Add the tomatoes and fry them for 3 to 5 minutes. Add the wine and tomato paste. Season with salt and pepper and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.
4. Add the pasta and clams in the tomato mixture. Add ½ cup of the water from 1.
Stir and simmer for 3 minutes. Serve hot!

Greek Salad

2009-04-21T20:11:00.001-07:00

It is has been said: “When tomatoes become red, doctors become blue”. You may not need to visit a doctor very often if you eat enough of this notorious vegetable. Indeed, there are so many health benefits when eating tomatoes. It is rich in potassium, which may prevent high blood pressure. Also it is a good source of vitamins C and A. The red pigment of tomatoes is because of lycopene, which may help avoid prostate cancer (for men) and cardiovascular disease (for everybody). Last summer I was travelling in Japan where I gave a lecture about Mediterranean culture and food. During that event I served Greek salad and some other dishes to the audience. They were surprised by this simple, but nevertheless very exciting, salad! They were thrilled about the wonderful flavor that the combination of tomatoes, cucumber, feta cheese and olives produces. Moreover, this amazing and super delicious dish is very easy to make. Eating and enjoying healthy and delicious food may be one of the keys of long and healthy life in Mediterranean communities (just watch the CNN series on this very issue these days by Andersen Cooper to see what I mean). Enjoy this simple, delicious and healthy Greek salad!

Ingredients:

2-3 tomatoes

2 cucumbers

1/2 red onion (or 2 shallot)

½ green pepper (I use Anaheim pepper)

Lemon juice

Oregano

Freshly ground black pepper

Black olives (Kalamata Greek olives are recommended!)

Slices of feta cheese Extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

1. Chop the tomatoes and cucumber. Cut the onion (or shallots) and green pepper into rings.

2. Place them in a salad bowl. Sprinkle the lemon juice, oregano and black pepper and toss.

3. Add the olives and feta cheese. Pour a lot of olive oil. That is it. Enjoy it!

I ran out of cucumbers the other day, but I was still able to make a wonderful Greek salad like below!

Roast Lamb with Oregano

2009-04-20T19:16:00.000-07:00

I love the moment when I see the sign of spring in a filed after long winter. I feel like I see the light at the end of the tunnel. I sense strong optimism. In Easter, people honor hopes and confidence and celebrate new beginnings. I love this spirit of Easter. So I celebrate this holy event.
Easter is the biggest religious holiday among Orthodox Christians. This year’s Orthodox Easter was yesterday, April 19. My husband, a Greek Orthodox Christian, and I celebrated this holiday along with a guest.
Traditionally people serve lamb or kids at Easter in Greece. Unfortunately I was not able to find kids in any local meat markets but I was lucky enough to find fresh lean lamb legs.
Lamb meat is a good source of high quality protein and iron. After our one week of fasting (should be 40 days though…), this gives us a lot of energy and important nutrients, such as vitamins B1, B6, and B12 and zinc, too.
Easter morning began with a lot of cloud. However, around 11am, the sun started showing up. The time we started our Easter lunch, it became a perfect sunny Easter day. After about 2 hours of cooking, the roast lamb became very tender with astonishing oregano and wine flavor. We enjoyed this masterpiece under the sun and had a great time!

Ingredients:
1 leg of lamb (about 5lb)
3-5 cloves of sliced garlic
Oregano
Salt and freshly ground pepper
5-8 potatoes
2 cups red wine
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
Lemon juice

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 450 F degrees.
2. Make deep cuts and insert sliced garlic in the lamb.
3. Place the lamb in an oven pan. Pour the 1-cup of wine and ¼ cup of olive oil. Turn to coat well. Season with salt, pepper and plenty of oregano all over the lamb.
4. Peal the potatoes and cut them 1/4-inch wide wedges.
5. Roast the lamb in the oven for 15 minutes and turn the lamb. Continue to roast for another 15 minutes. Lower the heat to 375 F degrees and turn the lamb over again.
6. After 20 to 30 minutes, add the potatoes in the same pan under the lamb. Pour the rest of the wine and olive oil over the lamb and potatoes. Season with salt, pepper and oregano.
7. Continue to roast for another 60 to 75 minutes until the meat become done and potatoes become soft. Turn over the lamb a few times.
8. Transfer to a carving plate. Slice the meat and sprinkle plenty of lemon juice. Serve with the potatoes!

Eggplant dip/salad (Melitzanosalata)

2009-04-17T20:22:00.001-07:00

The best way to prepare this dish is baking eggplants in a traditional Mediterranean wood fired oven, which my husband and I plan to build in our garden sometime soon. In the oven, eggplants are cooked slowly and evenly. Eventually they become very soft like butter with an amazing natural wood flavor. Cooking eggplants in a fireplace using real woods or grilling them with wood charcoal can be as good as baking in a Mediterranean oven. Unfortunately, it is already too hot to use a fireplace. Also I am lazy to cook it outside on a charcoal fire. Therefore, I have no choice but to use my electric oven to prepare this dish. Nevertheless, it is still gorgeous! One more point attention: it might be a good idea to penetrate it with a fork or a thin knife so vapors do not built up during the baking process. Some people wrap them in aluminum foil so they will not burn. This is a must if you use a fireplace to bake them but optional for regular ovens.
There are many kinds of eggplants in markets these days. The most common one is an American eggplant, which is huge, purple and pear shaped. I prefer narrower shaped Chinese eggplants (or sometimes called Japanese eggplants) or smaller sized Italian eggplants (or sometimes called Holland eggplants). In my opinion they are more aromatic and less bitter than American eggplants. Also, from an economic point of view, it takes less time to completely bake smaller sized eggplants.
This eggplant dish can be an excellent appetizer. Like the yogurt salad/dip (tzaziki), I love to dip pita bread into this! Eating eggplants is good for maintaining a healthy heart and coronary system. It is believed it lowers the bad cholesterol. Also, it has many compounds which may protect against various forms of cancer.

Ingredients:
4 eggplants (Chinese or Italian eggplants are recommended)
¼ cup finely chopped Italian parsley
2-3 cloves of ground garlic
1 tbsp lemon juice
Salt
Extra virgin olive oil

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 F degrees.
2. Wash the eggplants and dry well. Bake them in the preheated oven for about 1 hour until they become very soft.
3. Remove the eggplants from the oven. Peel the skins.
4. Puree the eggplants until they are smooth.
5. Mix the rest of the ingredients with the eggplant puree. Make sure you use lots of olive oil!
6. Decorate it with a few whole olives. Serve with pita bread!

Yogurt dip/salad (Tzatziki)

2009-04-16T17:22:00.001-07:00

Greek style yogurt, which is richer and creamier than regular plain yogurt, has been popular in US for the past few years. When I first tried to prepare this Greek dish a several years ago, the rich and creamy yogurt was not available in the US markets. So I had to drain regular plain yogurt overnight to make it like the Greek one. Thanks to many companies making and selling Greek style yogurt in local markets, I no longer wait overnight to prepare tzatziki! Health benefits of yogurt are numerous. It is well known that yogurt is an excellent source of calcium and protein. Also it is rich in vitamins A, B, D and E. Moreover, a recent study shows eating yogurt can enhance the immune system to prevent from hay fever and allergies! This dish can be served as an appetizer. Dipping pita bread in it is my favorite way of eating tzatziki. Also it goes well with grilled meat or seafood as a yogurt sauce.

Ingredients:
500g Greek style yogurt (If you cannot find it, use regular plain yogurt which should be drained overnight.)
½ cucumber
½ cup chopped fresh dill
2-4 cloves of ground garlic
Salt to taste
¼ cup olive oil

Directions:
1. Wash and finely chopped or roughly ground the cucumber. Squeeze and drain the water well.
2. Place the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and mix them well.
3. Refrigerate it for at least 15 to 30 minutes. Sprinkle additional olive oil. Serve with olives, pita bread or grilled food!

Stuffed Tomatoes, Bell Peppers and Zucchinis (Yemista)

2009-04-15T20:17:00.000-07:00

The most fun part of cooking this traditional Greek dish is making its stuffing. There are a lot of possibilities to prepare it. Therefore, you can explore your own creativity. Basically onions, parsley and rice are used for the stuffing. But depending on family’s tradition and region, the stuffing may change (for instance, it may include ground meat or be purely vegetarian). When I first tried to cook the stuffing, I simply used rice, onions and dill. The stuffing came out OK but I felt something was missing. Then my imagination was challenged. I added green onions, chopped mushrooms, raisins, and various kinds of nuts, herbs, and meats. Some were very good but others were not so good. However, I truly enjoyed these experiments. This week my husband and I decided to eat only vegetarian dishes until the Orthodox Easter coming this Sunday. Therefore, today’s dish is a vegetarian version of yemista (or “stuffed” in Greek). The stuffed tomatoes require ripen large tomatoes, which is hard to be found in markets at this time of the year; early spring. The tomatoes I used might had been picked when they were still green. So they were a little bit sour. However, the stuffed peppers and zucchinis were so delicious! Unfortunately, I ran out of potatoes so I was not able to bake them with the rest of the yemista vegetables. But adding also sliced potatoes together with the other stuffed vegetables is highly recommended.

Ingredients:
4 large ripen tomatoes
4 bell peppers
4 large zucchinis
2 chopped onions
4 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 ½ cups rice
1 cup chopped mushroom
1 cup finely chopped fresh dill
2 cups tomato juice
1/4 finely chopped fresh mint leaves
3 tbsp and 1 cups extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Optional:
1/2 cups crashed pine nuts
3-5 potatoes

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 F degrees.
2. Wash well tomatoes, bell peppers and zucchinis and cut a slice off the top to form a lid. Put the lid parts aside.
3. Scoop out the insides of the tomatoes and zucchinis. These insides will be used for the stuffing. Take out the seeds of the bell pepper and clean them. Place the tomatoes, zucchinis and bell peppers in an oven pan.
4. Heat the 3 tbsp olive oil and the garlic in a large pot and fry the onion until it becomes transparent. Add the chopped insides of the tomatoes and zucchinis you just scooped out. Add the rice, tomato paste, 1-cup of the tomato juice, chopped mushrooms and pine nuts. Fry them till the rice becomes half cooked. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Fill the tomatoes, zucchinis and bell peppers with the rice mixture. Sprinkle the mint leaves and cover them with the lids
6. Add sliced potatoes. Sprinkle the 1-cup of olive oil and 1-cup of tomato juice.
7. Bake them for about 1 hour. Serve them with Greek yogurt and feta cheese!

Bean Soup (Fasolada)

2009-04-14T13:55:00.000-07:00

Since my husband is a Greek Orthodox Christian, and Orthodox Easter is on this coming Sunday, my husband and I decided not to eat any meat this week. Traditionally, people observe the Great Lent in which they are supposed not to eat any meat or animal products. Also olive oil, seafood and wine are restricted during this period.
Luckily I found fresh baby green Lima beans in a local market, so I decided to make Greek bean soup. This is one of the simplest Greek dishes, yet, an ultimate dish to be proved that you are a good cook.
Lima beans are rich in soluble fiber, which helps to reduce high cholesterol. If you do not eat meat, they are a very good source of protein and iron.
I am not a big fan of bean soup. However, I admit I loved today’s soup. My husband was especially amazed how authentic the flavor was. Probably, it was because the Lima beans were fresh. Or maybe because I am a good cook ;) or we were just too hungry?

Ingredients (4 to 5 servings):
1 lb Lima beans (Either fresh or dried are fine. Dried Lima beans should be soaked overnight.)
1 chopped onion
3 cups diced tomatoes
3 chopped carrots
3 stalks of chopped celery
2 tbsp tomato paste
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 bay leaf
1 cloves of garlic
1 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
½ cup extra virgin olive oil

Directions:
1. Place all of the ingredients except the parsley and olive oil in a large pot and add water till the ingredients are covered.
2. Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Then, lower the heat and continue to simmer for 30 to 40 minutes. Add water if necessary.
3. Season with salt and pepper. Add the parsley and the olive oil and turn off the heat. Cover and leave for 10 to 15 minutes. Serve hot!

Drum Fish with Sweet Soy Sauce (Kabayaki Drum Fish)

2009-04-12T19:37:00.000-07:00

“I want to eat that kabayaki eel, again,” my husband said. Whenever we talk about our last trip to Kyoto, in Japan last year, we eventually come up to the day when my husband and I had the most delicious eel I had ever had. The eel was farmed, which is very close to being like wild cough in Japan. In that particular restaurant in Kyoto, they cook eel with a specially selected charcoal on front of you. The eel was very crispy and juicy in a wonderful sweet soy sauce. Ah, I want to eat the kabayaki eel again! Although it is impossible to get fresh and healthy eel here, sardine can be found in Louisiana and it is good when prepared in the kabayaki way. However, I was not lucky to find sardine last time. Yet, I came across fillet of fresh wild drum fish. So I decided to try this fish fillet in kabayaki sauce. Surprisingly, the fish was cooked very nicely with sweet soy sauce and we enjoyed every bite of it while recalling our unforgettable days in Kyoto!

Ingredients:
1 lb Drum fish fillets
¼ cup cornstarch
Olive oil
Red pepper

Marinating sauce:
3 tbsp sake (or mirin, which is sweet rice wine with a low alcohol content)
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp freshly ground ginger

Sweet Soy Sauce:
3 tbsp sake (or mirin)
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sugar

Directions:
1. Place all of the ingredients for the marinating sauce in a small bowel and mix well. Place the drum fish fillets in a shallow dish and pour the marinating sauce. Marinate for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
2. Place all of the ingredients for the sweet soy sauce in a small bowel and mix well.
3. Take out the marinating sauce with paper towel from the fillets .
4. Put the cornstarch in a shallow dish and add the fillets and coat well.
5. Heat oil in a fry pan. Place the fillets and fly both sides on medium heat until the surface becomes brown.
6. Add the sweet soy sauce and continue cooking until the sauce slightly caramelizes.
7. Transfer the fillets to serving plates. Season with red pepper and serve it over rice or with rice!

Chicken with Okra (Kotopoulo me Bamies)

2009-04-10T09:25:00.001-07:00

Fanni, my husband’s cousin living in Greece, was the first person to introduce me to this gorgeous Greek dish; okra in olive oil / tomato sauce (“bamies laderes”). “This is one of my favorites,” she said and served us this delicious food. It had a little bit of vinegar taste, which went very well with the okra and tomato sauce. Since then the dish became one of my favorites, too. Of course, I knew okra and ate them many times when I was a kid in Japan. But this vegetable had never fascinated me until the time we visited Greece. Today’s recipe includes chicken along with okra. If you are vegetarian, just ignore adding chicken. Remarkably, okra comes with lots of health benefits. It is rich in dietary fiber, which helps reduce high cholesterol. Moreover, it contains vitamins A, B1, B2, C, various minerals, calcium and potassium, which helps to beat the summer heat. Also for women who expect to be pregnant, it is a good source of folic acid. Thanks to Louisiana, where Cajun people frequently use okra in many kinds of dishes, I am able to find this vegetable easily almost anytime and at any market. Okra is a summer vegetable. It will be in season, soon. Please try when you find this vegetable in your local market!

Ingredients:
40 – 50 pieces of okra
¼ cup vinegar
4 legs of chicken
1 chopped onion
3 cups chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato paste
3 cups red wine (or water)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Olive oil
3 cloves of garlic
1 bay leaf

Directions:
1. Wash the okra and cut off the stems. Place them along with the vinegar and 1 teaspoon of salt in a large bowl and fill it up with water. Leave it for 10 – 15 minutes.
2. Season the chicken legs with salt and pepper.
3. Heat the olive oil and add the garlic in a large pot and fry the onion until it becomes transparent.
4. Add the chicken legs and fry them till they become brown. Add the tomatoes and okra and fry them for 2-3 minutes.
4. Add the wine, tomato paste and bay leaf and stir. Bring to boil on high heat.
5. Reduce the heat to low after it started boiling. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Cover the pot and simmer for 40-50 minutes. Serve hot with bread or rice!

Rice with Vegetables in Cajun Flavor

2009-04-07T17:02:00.000-07:00

The first kitchen tool I purchased after I moved to US was a rice cooker. It was around $20. It was cheap but did not work the way I expected. It cooked rice but only the rice on the bottom part of the pot. The rice on the top part was half cooked. I mixed the rice and cooked it again. But it still did not work well. After a few attempts, I gave up and donated it to Salvation Army. Then I purchased a rice cooker made by a Japanese well-known company with around $100. It worked nicely! For more than a decade I used this rice cooker simply for cooking white rice or brown rice. However, recently I discovered this machine gives me more varieties of cooking than I have imagined. Today’s recipe is one of my discoveries. I put rice, vegetables, Cajun seasonings, and olive oil in the rice cooker. Then switch it on. 15 to 20 minutes later, your appetite would be crazy about the aroma of this dish! I use mushrooms, green onions and dills in this recipe. But you can use many kinds of other vegetables, too. If you are health conscious, please use brown rice instead of white rice. Brown rice is rich in fiber, manganese and many kinds of vitamins. Again, the rice cooker saves my energy and hours being in kitchen. This is a MUST kitchen tool. I will introduce other recipes using this machine in another time!

Ingredients:
2 cups rice (I use Nishiki rice, which is a form of Japanese rice. Any other medium-grain rice is fine)
2 cups water (Please note this is based on rice you use. Some rice requires more water to be done well and others are less.)
1 cup chopped mushrooms
½ cup chopped green onions
¼ cup chopped dill
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp Cajun seasoning

Directions:
1. If you use a form of Japanese rice, please the rice wash well.
2. Put all the ingredients in a rice cooker. Mix well.
3. Switch on and wait till the switch is off.
4. Transfer to the plates and sprinkle olive oil. Serve hot!

Baked Blue Fish with Tomatoes (Psaria Plaki)

2009-04-06T17:02:00.000-07:00

Plaki is my “"juuhachi-ban", which is literally my "18th" and means my “best” dish in Japanese. (Please refer to this site if you want to know more about “juuhachi-ban”). To tell the truth, I wanted to keep this recipe a secret so that I can always surprise my friends with this delicious dish, which is very easy to prepare and never failed me as long as the ingredients are fresh. Plaki was the first Greek dish I learned from my husband whose native country is Greece. Before I met him, I knew only one Greek dish, moussaka, which I never had tasted. After I started seeing him, he took me to many Greek restaurants and also cooked for me. I gradually learned how to cook Greek dishes. Then I realized Greek cuisine is very similar to Japanese cuisine. We both enjoy lightly-seasoned seafood and fresh vegetables. "Plaki" is one of these dishes. Using a lot of olive oil and tomatoes is not common in Japanese cooking but the taste of plaki reminds me of Japanese food. One day I even poured soy sauce on plaki and made my husband mad! Traditionally, in Greece, people cook plaki with mackerel fish. But red snapper, cod, sea bass and drum fish can be used equally well for this dish. The secret is to have very fresh fish, lots of tomatoes and onions and extra virgin olive oil.

Ingredients:
1 lb fish (both a whole fish or fish fillets are fine)
3-4 cups of diced tomatoes (or thinly sliced tomatoes)
1 cup chopped green onion
2 cloves of garlic
1-2 cups of extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup white wine Salt and freshly ground black pepper Oregano
Optional: 2 cups thinly sliced potatoes

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 360 F degrees.
2. If you use a whole fish, scale it off, take out the guts and gills and wash the fish well.
3. Place the potatoes and the fish in an oven pan.
4. Pour the white wine and half a cup of olive oil over the fish. Season with the salt and freshly ground pepper.
5. Put the green onions, garlic and tomatoes over the fish. Sprinkle the oregano.
6. Bake in the preheat oven for about 30 minutes till the fish is done.
7. Transfer to the plates and pour the rest of the olive oil. Serve hot!

Horta (green vegetables)

2009-04-04T21:58:00.001-07:00

Like buying loafs of bread or milk, green vegetables, such as dandelions, red dandelions, spinach and arugula, are necessary for my shopping list in order to make horta. This is an extremely simple Greek dish. Just steam green vegetables and sprinkle a lot of lemon juice, olive oil. In Greece, usually people have a big lunch and simple dinner. Horta with feta cheese or anchovies are often served in dinner.
Generally people in Greece prepare horta with dandelions. Yes, it is the weed you remove or kill without any mercy in your gardens! Yet, they are amazingly nutritious. Dandelions are good for cleaning the intestines. It helps against polyps or intestine cancers. I found this site, which describes more details about the health benefits of eating dandelions.
Some people Greece go to get wild dandelions in the mountains, which have bigger leaves and more flavor than cultivated dandelions. My husband’s friend, whose native country is also Greece, says there are eatable wild dandelions in Louisiana! You have to pick them December through January before they get flowers. We already miss this year’s season. Cannot wait to try them this winter!

Ingredients:
1 bunch of green vegetable such as dandelions, red dandelions spinach and arugula
Olive oil
Lemon juice

Directions:
1. Wash the green vegetables very well. Cut into half.
2. Steam the vegetables for 4 to 8 minutes.
3. Transfer to plates and sprinkle the lemon juice and plenty of olive oil.

Fried Sardines with Horta

2009-04-02T19:04:00.000-07:00

Sardines were the cheapest fish in Japan when I was a kid. Yet, they are rich in omega 3 fatty acids, calcium and protein. My mother prepared sardine sashimi, sardine tempera, sardine teriyaki and grilled, broiled, and backed, etc, to try my sisters and me to eat this nutritious food. However, I did not like them. I remember each time when I see them on our dinner table I was immediately disappointed and lost my appetite. After more then a decade of not living in Japan I miss sardines very much. Especially now through the early summer when sardines are in season I want badly this fish. Then I found the ones in Whole Foods Market. They were from Portugal this morning. If the eyes of a fish are transparent and its gills are red, the fish is fresh. So I observed them very carefully. They were not super fresh but considering of coming all the way from Portugal, it was reasonably fresh. Therefore, my husband and I decided to try 4 pieces of the sardines. Later we deeply regretted. Yes, we were very sorry not to buy more of these tasty fishes! I simply fried the fishes with salt, freshly ground black pepper and oregano and sprinkled lemon juice. This dish with horta reminds me beautiful summer days in Greece. I ate the sardines’ bones and heads. My mother won’t believe me eating like this!

Ingredients:
4 sardines
½ cup all-purpose flour
Olive oil
Lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Oregano

Directions:
1. Remove guts, gills and scales and wash the sardines well.
2. Season with salt, pepper and oregano. Dredge the sardines in the flour and coat well.
3. Heat the olive oil in a fry pan and fry the sardines until they become brown.
4. Transfer to plates and sprinkle the lemon juice. Serve with horta!

Teriyaki Chicken

2009-04-01T20:23:00.000-07:00

Teriyaki sauce is very popular among not only Japanese but also non-Japanese. I am glad to see many kinds of Teriyaki sauce are available in regular American supermarkets. However, unfortunately, none of them pleases me. It is not right that garlic is in Teriyaki sauce. Moreover they are too sweet! It is very easy to make delicious homemade Teriyaki sauce without putting any chemical. The sauce can be good with grilled, broiled, backed, roasted and BBQ seafood, meats or vegetables. I personally like backed Chicken Teriyaki because it is extremely simple but yummy.

Ingredients:
4 chicken legs
2 onion, sliced and separated into rings
3 tbsp olive oil

Teriyaki sauce:
4 tbsp soy sauce
4 tbsp sake (or mirin, which is sweet rice wine with a low alcohol content)
4 tbsp honey
2 tbsp ground fresh ginger

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 360 F degrees.
2. Prepare Teriyaki sauce. Place all of the ingredients for Teriyaki sauce except honey in a small bowel and mix well.
3. Spread the honey on the chicken legs. Place the chicken legs and onions in a backing pan and pour the Teriyaki sauce. Sprinkle the olive oil.
4. Bake in the preheat oven for about 40 to 50 minutes till the chickens are done and become brown.
5. Transfer the chicken legs and onion to serving plates.

Calf’s Liver with Rosemary

2009-04-01T14:30:00.000-07:00

I thought I was about to receive an oracle when I first saw small silver stars blinking in front of my eyes and became dizzy at the age of 8. But my mother said, “It is one of the symptoms when you become anemic.” Indeed, I frequently became anemic. I was a weak child. So my mother often cooked chicken livers with a lot of vegetables. Livers are rich in iron and Vitamin A, which help my body demands. Also it is very tender and delicious food.
“Let’s have Sykoti!” said my husband the other day. Sykoti is a liver in Greek. He said he knew a store selling good beef liver stakes. I had never have beef livers except chickens. When I saw them in a supermarket, they looked a bit disgusting. But my husband said it is tender and juicier than chicken livers. Unfortunately the store had no longer carried the livers. But the butcher recommended frozen calf’s livers he carried. It was $4 for 4 slices. So we decided to try.
Thanks to the butcher, as my husband mentioned it is taster than beef livers’. I added chopped rosemary leaves, which compliments the taste of the livers. We ate two stakes each but we immediately become hungry after an hour or so. This is the sign of easily digestible food and less fat. Just be careful not to overcook. It will become tough.

Ingredients:
4 thin slice of calf’s liver
1/3 cup all-propose flour or as needed
Leaves from 4 fresh rosemary springs (oregano, sage or thyme are recommended, too)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Lemon juice

Directions:
1. Dredge the calf’s liver slices in the flour and coat well.
2. Chop the rosemary leaves.
3. Heat oil in a fry pan. Place the calf’s liver slices and season salt and pepper. Sprinkle the rosemary leaves. Fly the calf’s liver slices both side for 5 to 6 minutes. Please make sure it is not overcooked because it will be tough.
4. Transfer to plates and sprinkle the lemon juice. Serve with fried onions!

Fried Salmon with Japanese Flavor Sauce

2009-03-31T09:54:00.000-07:00

I did not like fried salmon although I love salmon sashimi. When it is fried, I felt the fish gets dry and tasteless. It was just a few years ago I realized dredging in flour prevents from losing salmon’s flavor and stays juicy. Since then I like fried salmon very much.
The other day I found a wild frozen salmon fillet from Alaska on sale. Today I decided to thaw it out and make Fried Salmon with Japanese Flavor Sauce. Usually I make tartar sauce for fried seafood. However, today I prepare a different sauce, so called, “Japanese Flavor Sauce”, using ginger, soy sauce, lemon juice and green onion. This sauce can be used for beef stake or pork sauté, too.

Ingredients (3-4 servings):
1 lb salmon
1 cup all-purpose flour or as needed

Japanese Flavor Sauce:
4 tsp soy sauce
4 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp minced green onion
Chill pepper

Directions:
1. Prepare Japanese Flavor Sauce. Place all of the ingredients for Japanese Flavor Sauce in a small bowel and mix well.
2. Cut the salmon pieces. Dredge them in the flour and coat well.
3. Heat oil in a fry pan. Place the salmon pieces and fly both sides on medium heat until the surfaces become brown.
4. Cover the pan and reduce the heat to low. Steam the salmon for 3 to 4 minutes.
5. Take the salmon out of the pan and transfer them to serving plates. Pour this mixture over the fish.

Tandoori Chicken

2009-03-30T16:04:00.000-07:00

I love curry, especially curry rice, which may NOT be served in regular Indian restaurants. I have seen this dish as “Japanese curry” in a few American restaurants. Using curry roux and curry mix sauce, which are available in any Japanese or Asian supermarkets, makes so easy to make this dish. Also you can mix with a lot of vegetables. Many Japanese mothers cook this curry in order for their kids to eat vegetables.
This tandoori chicken recipe is from my sister in Japan. She uses many kinds of Indian seasonings. I make simpler to use curry powder and paprika since I am not able to find some of the seasonings. She learns Indian cooking from an Indian cook. So this is not Japanese Tandoori. But the chef may arrange for Japanese people. Therefore this may not be the same as the one in India.
Anyhow, I found it is very easy and tasty. This is quite different from tandoori chicken in Indian restaurants that I have been. But I love this more than the ones in restaurants!

Ingredients:
8 chicken drumsticks
1tsp minced garlic
1tsp minced ginger
1 cup plain yogurt
3 tsp curry powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1 tsp lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
Ground pepper

Directions:
1. Place all of the ingredients except the chicken drumsticks in a bowl and mix well.
2. Pour this mixture over the drumsticks and marinate for at least 1 hour at room temperature or refrigerate overnight.
3. Preheat oven to 370 F degrees.
4. Cook in the preheat oven for about 30 to 40 minutes till the drumsticks are done.
Serve with rice, Nan or bread!

Gâteaux Chocolat (Chocolate Cake)

2009-03-28T22:08:00.002-07:00

March 25 is Greece Independence Day and my husband’s name day. As I mentioned before, people in Greece eat cod fried in kourkouti. Of course I made this dish but beside this I decided to make something special, Gâteaux Chocolat. This is a very simple and easy chocolate cake, yet delicious. Make it a day before so that the taste would settle and be better.

Ingredients (a 9.25x5.25 loaf pan):
100g chocolate (semi-sweet dark chocolate is recommended)
50g butter
50 ml heavy whipping cream
3 eggs, separated
100g sugar
40g unsweetened cocoa powder
20g all-purpose flour
*Optional: 1tsp rum or brandy

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 F degrees.
2. Break the chocolate into small pieces and melt it with butter over hot water or using a microwave.
3. Beat the egg yolks with half of the sugar, mix with, heavy whipping cream, cocoa powder, flour, and rum (or brandy). Mix with the melted chocolate and butter.
4. Whip the rest of the sugar into the egg whites in a separate bowl until stiff and in peaks.
5. Slowly mix 3. with 4.Cook in the preheat oven for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, low the heat to 330 F degrees and back for 30 to 35 minutes.

Kumquat Marmalade / Jam

2009-03-23T16:02:00.000-07:00

When my husband moved to the house we currently live in, there was no tree or flower but only grass in the back yard. One day he found a bunch of banana tree roots dumped by one of his neighbors on the street. They were half dead and in very miscible shape. He brought it and planted on his back yard. A few years later it clustered and produced a lot of fruits. Someday one of his neighbors saw them and said, “I had banana trees but they could not grow at all and started dying. So I threw them away. But yours are amazing.” That was when my husband realized who had dumped those semi-dead banana trees. When he explained the amazing story of the trees to the neighbor, she could not believe it! Most of our plants are doing better than their standards. Our kumquat tree is not exception, either. According to Wikipedia, a kumquat tree, from 8 to 15 fl tall, produces 80 to 100 fruits each year. But a kumquat tree in our garden produced more than 500 fruits just this year! You eat them with the skin on along with the seeds. They are rich in vitamins, including C. Kumquat fruits are not my favorite. One day Andy, a skilled carpenter, fixing our roof came up an idea to make kumquat marmalade/ jam. He picked up plenty of kumquats and a few weeks later brought a big jar of kumquat marmalade. It was unexpectedly yummy. It is less bitter and much sweeter than orange marmalade. This is the recipe Andy gave me. I tried and it was fantastic! Now I appreciate our kumquat tree.

Ingredients (about 3 and half of 8-oz jars):

4 cup minced kumquats without seeds

½ cup lemon juice 4 cup sugar or more if desired

1 pack of pectin (1.75-ounce)

2 cup water

Direction:
1. Wash jars, lids and rings well.
2. Clean and rinse kumquats well. Take their seeds out while mincing the kumquats.
3. Add the kumquats and water in a large pot.
4. Bring to boil on high heat. Reduce the heat to medium after it is boiled. Simmer and stir occasionally for 10 to 15 minutes until the kumquats are soft.
5. Add the lemon juice, sugar and pectin. Bring to boil, again.
6. Fill the mixture to within ¼ inch of the top of the jars and seal the lids and tight with the ring. Put them into the boiling water. Cover the jars with at least 2 inches of water for 10 to 15 minutes.
7. Cool the jars, which may take overnight. It may take two weeks for the kumquat marmalade/jam to set.

Lentil Soup

2009-03-20T12:32:00.002-07:00

I had never had lentil soup until last March of 2008. Of course, I had seen them in supermarkets but I had never tried. Shame on myself that I had not noticed this delicious and healthy ingredient for a long time! In March 2008 when I first had lentil soup, I was incredibly sick. I was working in NYC and my former boss sitting next to me had coughed for a few weeks. He did not take care of himself or cared about passing his influenza to others. So eventually I got it. It was one day before my weekend getaway to Washington D.C. I had planted with my husband. When I arrived in D.C. I was extremely weak and did not have any appetite at all. My husband took me to an Italian restaurant, Ristorante La Perla of Washington in Georgetown. He insisted me to eat. So I ordered a house salad and lentil soup. That was how I met lentil soup first time. The soup immediately cheered me up and gave me energy. It was extraordinarily delicious and delicate soup I had never tasted! I remember after the lentil soup, I ordered lasagna and finished it up. The chef and owner of Ristorante La Perla of Washington, Mr. Vittorio Testa, told us that lentil soup was the favorite soup of many Roman emperors. I asked the secrets of his delicious lentil soup but did not give me any of them. But he only gave me a tip to use mineral water and fresh vegetables. I followed his advice and innovated this lentil soup recipe after a several tries. I do not use chicken or vegetable broth. Yet it is very tasty and yummy vegetarian soup. Lentils are rich in dietary fiber, iron and folic acid but very low calories. I cook this soup at least twice a month to satisfy my appetite and nutrition.

Ingredients (5-6 servings):
2 cups washed and rinsed lentils
1 chopped onion
3 diced carrot
3 stalks chopped celery
2 cup chopped tomato
4 garlic cloves
1 bay leaf
1 cup fresh basil leaves (or flat leaf parsley)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper (or Cajun seasoning)
1/4 cup olive oil (extra virgin olive oil is always the best choice).
*Optional:
1 Anaheim pepper

Directions:
1. Place the lentils, onion, carrot, celery, tomato, garlic, bay leaf, and Anaheim pepper in a soup pot.
2. Add water and bring to boil on medium heat.
3. Reduce the heat to low after it boils. Cover and simmer for 30 to 35 minutes until all vegetables and lentil are soft. Season salt and pepper (or Cajun seasoning).
4. Turn off the heat. Add the basil leaves and the olive oil. Cover and leave it for 5 to 10 minutes. Serve hot!