I don’t have notes for this tasty meal, but it can be approximated as follows:
Squash salad:
Combine all and mix.
It would be tasty to add slivered almonds and raisins (or similar) as well.
We also had summer gazpacho, like this recipe (only sans bell pepper).
Plus a plain fluffy omelette and green salad!
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This was an unusual stir fry, with celery as the main ingredient. It’s not Y’s favourite, but it was lovely here.
Steps:
Beat 5 eggs with:
Cook eggs to 90% done, then turn off heat and set aside.
Cook diced fresh tomato and sliced celery in the frying pan.
When almost done, add the eggs back and mix.
Served with white wine from Margaret River, Western Australia.
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This was a lovely raw salad.
The first step was to soak sliced white onions in water to make them a bit less pungent. After a while, the onions were drained and mixed with chopped tomatoes and avocado.
The mixture was marinated in the following:
You could also put a bit of sugar or honey if desired, but Yusuke opted out.
Yusuke noted that (as he learned from my mom), soaking avocado in lemon juice and/or vinegar helps it keep its colour and last longer.
He let the flavours percolate for about 30 minutes, but it could’ve gone longer (we were hungry). Very tangy, great with a meal of soup and fried rice (coming soon).
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Looks lovely, eh?
This was one of Yusuke’s weekend pasta creations.
The pasta of choice was spaghettini, imported from Italy, acquired from an Italian grocery. He cooked it to a perfect al dente.
To prepare the veggies, Yusuke started with TONS of garlic, to which he added four or so sliced portobello mushrooms and diced cherry tomatoes. Mid-way through the saute procedure, he sprinkled a tablespoon of sesame seeds into the mix.
At the end, he added the cooked pasta and tossed everything together. Last, raw green onions were added to the top!
He speculated that perhaps Italians wouldn’t recognize this as an Italian dish; instead, it’s definitely wafuu pasta—that is, Japanese style!
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Shown with my hand for comparison
I occasionally see the term aubergine here in Australia, but usually “eggplants” are eggfruits in grocery stores.
The other day, we came across a magnificent variegated globe (?) eggfruit in an Italian-owned grocery store. We were wary that it might prove to be full of seeds, but hurray! it was nearly seedless, smooth, and soft. Perhaps it was genetically modified…but it did indeed turn out to be tasty.
Yusuke prepared two dishes out of the large fruit.
For the first dish, shown above and below, he steamed large horizontal cross-section slices in olive oil and cooking sake. He added the liquid and then covered the pan with a lid to let the steaming magic happen.
He served the slices topped with chopped raw tomatoes and green onions. I also added raw baby spinach to mine. Delectable.
For the second dish, Yusuke cubed the eggfruit and made a spicy dish, sauteeing it with
Absolutely fantastic texture, very delicious.
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I finally remembered to snap a pic of our dinner.
This is sort of stone stew—that is, I dumped in everything that was left in our fridge because I didn’t have enough to make more than one dish that would go well with the others.
I began by cooking lentils and later added quinoa in a veggie stock broth. I also added some garlic for good measure.
After the grain alternatives began to soften, I added sliced white onions, green beans, and chopped potatoes.
I sprinkled in additional seasoning around this point as well: dried parsley, sea salt, and black pepper.
After everything was pretty well cooked, I added the final delicate ingredients: fresh tomatoes and avocados (both chopped into decent-sized chunks).
Yes, avocado is kind of a wacky addition, but it was getting really soft; I had to use it up! It actually was quite tasty in the stew and added nice texture. Plus it contributed some protein and good fat to our one-pot meal.
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Drat, I seem to have lost my notes for this dish. It was a lovely Japanese-style risotto with tomatoes, leeks, and cabbage. Given the ingredients, I suspect that it was designed to target symptoms of a winter cold… It was most certainly delicious.
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Why do I call this Halloween pasta, you might ask? Well, because it sort of looks like food fit for Dracula, garlic notwithstanding.
The beets dyed everything a deep pink reminiscent of blood, the tomatoes took on a nice red glow, and the brussels sprouts became brilliantly green in contrast.
Yusuke began by sautéing minced garlic in olive oil to bring out the aroma. He added chopped tomatoes and cooked them for a while to reduce the water. He also added a pinch or two of sea salt at the same time.
Next came sliced (fresh from the earth!) beets and (fresh from the earth!) brussels sprouts and let it all cook until soft. He seasoned the melange with pepper and a bit more sea salt and served it over pasta.
We looked suspiciously vampiresque with the traces of beet juice on our lips… Gross colour, perhaps, but great taste and fantastic viz. vitamins.
P.S. I learned this very morning that those funny round veggies are “brussels sprouts” rather than “brussel sprouts.” Who knew? Maybe I’ll stick with chou de bruxelles.
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Here we have かぼちゃサラダ, or squash salad. Well, it’s not really Japanese kabocha, but rather soft, flavourful acorn squash from our CSA basket.
For efficiency’s sake, Yusuke began by microwaving the squash for about 2 minutes. He then cut it into smaller cubes, which were microwaved for another 4-5 minutes. After that, he “smashed it a bit.”
Meanwhile, he thinly sliced a white onions and chopped some tomatoes, removing the seeds since they were too watery.
He also boiled edamame for about 5 minutes, until soft.
When everything was prepared, he mixed it all together in a large bowl.
Next, he poured in 1 tsp of almond milk, 1 tsp of mayonnaise, and a tiny bit of sea salt and pepper and mixed it all well.
The mixture was served over lettuce. (And Yusuke added more mayonnaise to his portion.) Sweet and creamy!
On the side, we had harusame soup. He first soaked the harusame in warm water to soften it. In a frying pan, he sauteed napa with sesame oil and ginger and then added water and chicken broth, along with salt, pepper, and sesame seeds.
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I’m surprised to discover that I’ve never written about おやこどん (oyakodon) on this blog. The name means “parent-and-child,” meaning chicken and egg…served over rice!
You can see traditional oyakodon being made in this video. It’s definitely a classic dish, and best cooked in a special copper pot.
Yusuke, though, took a tomato twist with fresh specimens from our CSA basket.
He began by sautéing white onions, pork, fresh chili pepper (from the basket)—about 5 cm worth—in a bit of oil. [He had to opt for pig-meat instead of chicken since we didn’t have any, so it wasn’t technically おやこどん. I, of course, picked it out.]
After it was cooked, he added chopped fresh tomatoes and glorious sweet tomatillos. After about 30 seconds, he added めんつゆ (mentsuyu) aka soba sauce and some water.
Next, he poured eggs on top in a circular pattern. He covered it to simmer until lightly cooked. The consistency is supposed to be a bit runny.
Served over rice!
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Chez Yusuke 