Ingredients

• 1/3 cup filtered sake (Sho Chiku Bai)
• 1/3 cup mirin
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup white miso (Cold Mountain Kyoto white miso)
• Grated ginger (optional)

Instructions

• Bring the saké and the mirin to a boil in a medium saucepan over high heat. Boil for a few seconds to evaporate the alcohol.
• Turn the heat down to low and add the miso paste, mixing with a wooden spoon.
• When the miso has dissolved completely, turn the heat up to high again and add the sugar, stirring constantly with the wooden spoon.
• Remove from heat once the sugar is fully dissolved. Cool to room temperature.
• Reserve some sauce for dressing later.
• Wash fish and pat dry with paper towels.
• Slather the fish with miso-sake sauce, place in a non-reactive bowl, and cover tightly with plastic wrap.
• Marinate for 2 to 3 days.

To cook:

• Preheat a broiler. Lightly wipe off any excess miso clinging to the fillets but don’t rinse it off.
• Place the fish in broiler, broil until the surface of the fish turns brown. Takes appx 4-5 minutes each side
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Then bake for 6-7 minutes. Fish should flake easily.
• Add a few drops of miso sake sauce to each plate.
  
• Garnish w/ scallions.

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This recipe was modified from allrecipes.com. It takes some time to make (the sauce is what takes the longest). So, not “Power Cooking” per se, but you’ll be happy with the results.

Makes enough for 4 people.

Ingredients

• 3 egg yolks from extra large eggs
• 2.5 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 pinch ground white pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 stick butter, melted
• 8 eggs, extra large
• 8 strips Canadian-style bacon
• 4 English muffins, split
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar

Instructions

1. Hollandaise sauce: (also see shortcut down below) Fill the bottom of a double boiler part-way with water. Make sure that water does not touch the top pan. Bring water to a gentle simmer. Put a heat-proof glass bowl on top of the double boiler. Whisk together egg yolks, lemon juice, white pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and 1 tablespoon water.
2. Melt butter in a small saucepan, then add the melted butter to egg yolk mixture slowly while whisking yolks constantly. If hollandaise begins to get too thick, add a teaspoon or two of hot water. This will make it smooth out a bit.
3. Continue whisking until all butter is incorporated. Whisk in salt, then remove from heat. Place a lid on pan to keep sauce warm.
4. Preheat oven on broiler setting.
   
5. Poach Eggs: Fill a large saucepan with 2-3 inches of water. Bring water to a gentle simmer, then add white vinegar.
   
6. Break each egg into a 1-cup measuring cup, then slowly pour it in to the boiling water. Allow the egg to cook for 2 1/2 to 3 minutes. Yolks should still be soft in center.
7. Remove eggs from water with a slotted spoon and set on a warm plate.
8. Brown the bacon in a medium skillet over medium-high heat.
9. Toast the English muffins on a baking sheet under the broiler; make sure they aren’t too crisp. Probably 2 minutes is enough or even less.
10. Top each muffin slice with bacon, followed by one poached egg.
    
11. Place 2 muffins on each plate and drizzle with hollandaise sauce.
    
12. Sprinkle with chopped chives and cayenne pepper and serve immediately.

Shortcut way to make Hollendaise:

This was a reader tip on allrecipes.com. Tried this on 3/1/08 but it ended up too watery. I think it’s probably because the egg doesn’t cook enough with just the hot butter alone. Maybe try adding a couple of teaspoons of boiling water next time while blending?

“An easier way to make Hollandaise is in the blender. Place egg yolks in blender with the lemon juice (1 tablespoon is what I use) and other seasonings, turn blender on high speed for 5 seconds to blend. Melt butter in microwave until completely melted and hot. Turn blender back on high speed and gradually pour in butter. It will thicken into a beautiful yellow hollandaise in 20-40 seconds.”

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Pan-fried Mahi Mahi

This recipe was adapted from one found on Food.com. Used mahi-mahi because that’s what the supermarket had, more garlic, and the next time we make this, we’ll toss the tomatoes in dry, white wine as well.

Take note, mahi-mahi has a firm, meaty texture – kind of like tender chicken meat.

Ingredients

Instructions

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Pan-fried Sole

This recipe was adapted from The Santa Monica Farmer’s Market Cookbook.

Ingredients

• 3 leeks, white part, chopped (tastes like green onions)
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• salt, pepper
• 1 cup, bread crumbs or crushed Ritz crackers
• 1/3 cup white wine
• 1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf (Italian) parsley
• Zest of 1 lemon
• flour
• 1 lb. sole fillets
• canola or olive oil

Instructions

• Heat 1 tbsp. canola oil in a skillet.
• Brown breadcrumbs (3-5 mins) making sure you flip them and prevent them from burning.
• Reserve breadcrumbs in a bowl
• Prepare parsley and lemon zest
• Wipe skillet clean, add 1 tblsp. canola oil.
• Heat oil at medium heat, add garlic and leeks
• Sautee until garlic starts browning
• Add white wine and reduce
• Add parsley and zest, then remove from heat, mix with breadcrumbs
• Wash sole fillets and pat dry
• Season fillets with salt and pepper
• Pat fillets with flour
• Add 1 tbsp canola oil to skillet and cook fillets for 3 mins each side
• Remove from heat and on to a platter
• Squeeze lemon juice over fillets
• Spoon breadcrumb mixture on to fillets

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PSA = Public Service Announcement

Hi everyone! Just a heads up, I dug up some posts from my old blog, mostly with recipes I’ve tried or made up. So, you’ll see a lot of those posts featured in the coming weeks. These were mostly written as a culinary diary, which i’m now sharing with you! -Tony

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Ingredients

• 6 large leeks, rinsed and quartered
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• About 1/2 – 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 cup sliced shallots
• 1 tablespoon thyme leaves
• 1/2 cup dry cooking sherry or dry white wine (wine that you’d drink!)
• 1.5 to 2 cups chicken stock (or 1/2 bouillon cube dissolved in water)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. With cut sides up, season with sea salt black pepper.
3. Heat pan (or dutch oven) over medium-high heat for a couple of minutes. Pour in 2 tbsps olive oil and wait 1 minute. Place cut side of leeks down in pan without crowding them. (Make in batches, and use more oil, if necessary.) Sear them 4 to 5 minutes, until golden brown. Season with salt and pepper, and turn over. Add shallots, thyme, lemon juice, lemon zest and cook 3 to 4 minutes more.
4. Add wine and stock, almost covering leeks
5. Braise in oven 30 minutes, until tender.

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Here’s a lamb chops recipe I put together that I feel is pretty straightforward.  The cooking technique is one I learned from another recipe and has always yielded very juicy steaks/red meat.  Also works with thicker cuts of fish.

Here it’s served with collard greens that were boiled for 30 minutes then sauteed in lamb drippings with shallots.  Enjoy!

Ingredients

• ~1lb lamb chops (about 5-6 chops)
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Meyer lemon, juiced
• 1/2 tbsp lemon zest
• 1 tbsp herbs de provence (dried thyme, basil, rosemary)
• 1 tbsp canola oil
• sea salt
• black pepper

Instructions

1. Make the marinade out of olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, herbs de provence, sea salt and black pepper.
2. Put lamb chops in a container or plastic ziploc bag – cover with marinade and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
4. Use an oven-safe skillet and heat the canola oil over high heat.
5. Sear lamb chops  for 1.5 minutes on each side.  Use a splatter guard per your desire.
6. Insert your leave-in meat thermometer in to one chop, put the skillet in the oven, and cook to 135 degrees F for a “chef’s” medium rare or 145 degrees for the “USDA” medium rare.
7. Remove from oven and let the chops settle for 5 minutes before serving.
8. Season with salt and pepper as desired.

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All you need is a jar with a lid.  I use Ziploc Twist ‘n Loc Containers which are available at your local grocery store.

1. Break the eggs and add them to the jar.  Make sure you leave some room for air in the jar.
2. Screw the lid tight.
3. Shake vigorously for ten seconds and voila!  Beaten eggs with air bubbles.

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* Note: this post assumes you have a dishwasher.  I lived without one for a couple of years before, and now I will never go back.

Do the dishes, forks, and spoons sometimes just sit in the dishwasher because you’ll “put them away later”?   This has certainly happened to me some times because it can feel like a chore.

Well, next time, be efficient in how you load the dishwasher.  Put all the forks together in one “slot”, all the spoons in another, and so on and so forth, grouped by where you actually put them away.   When the dishwasher’s done, simply pull out all the forks with one hand and put them in the right spot.  No need to sort out the silverware.

This isn’t quite as easy with cups, dishes, pots and pans though.  If you have any tips, please let us know in the comments!

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Do you find yourself constantly glancing at your recipe book while you’re cooking?   You think to yourself, “What’s next?  What ingredients do I need?  How much do I put in?”

If this is you and you want to take your cooking to the next level, you need to get the book, Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking by Michael Ruhlman.

The book teaches you about ratios – the fundamental underpinnings of any recipe.  Once you know the ratios, you can start tweaking recipes and be more confident about creating your own.  The author also gives tips on how to make the ratios work as well as the “why” behind it.

Some examples of ratios include:

• Vinaigrette – 3 parts oil : 1 part vinegar (or acid)
• Stock – 3 parts water : 2 parts bones
• Cookie dough – 1 part sugar : 2 parts fat : 3 parts flour

I did find that the book has a lot about baking and French style cooking, so if you’re looking for something specific, like Asian ratios, you’ll have to apply what you learn from this book and deconstruct Asian recipes you find.  Or maybe there’s a similar book for Asian foods?

In any case, this is a must have book for your kitchen.  Go read more now at Amazon!

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