Ratatouille

Ratatouille, from all accounts, takes a really long time if you want to do it right. It is a simple dish in that it doesn't require a huge amount of kitchen know-how and technique; however, it is quite complicated in the number of times you need to chop vegetables, add things to the pot, take things out of the pot, let the ingredients boil, etc. This dish takes time! Thus, though I truly wanted to try ratatouille in the traditional sense, I settled on this particular recipe because it looked like I could get something on the table in less than two hours. The flavors were delicious, but I think it could have used that additional time on the stove were we not in a rush to eat.

This recipe I took from www.epicurious.com: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Ratatouille-354344

Parmesan Couscous

This was a great and easy side to soak up the flavorful sauce of the ratatouille. In fact, it would go great with anything that had a spicy, tomato flavor like Italian meatballs perhaps. Give this a try if you want an easy starch to go with your main entree.

Ingredients:

4 cups chicken broth

2 tbsp butter

2 packages (10 oz.) plain, uncooked couscous

2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

Method:

1. Bring the chicken broth and butter to boil. Stir in the couscous, cover, and remove from heat. Let stand for 6-8 minutes.

2. Stir in the Parmesan cheese, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and ground pepper. Fluff with a fork, and serve immediately.

Potato Latkes

It's been a long time since my last post - apologies! I'm finding time now, as the holiday season starts up, to post these recipes from a month ago. You have here a potato latkes recipe that I first tried for a quick dinner. I later introduced this to the Dinner Meet crowd. Quick, delicious, and with a short list of vital ingredients - I think I might start putting this into my regular cooking rotation! The below recipe serves 2-3 people.

Ingredients:

2 cups peeled and grated potatoes

3 tbsp grated onion

1 egg, beaten

2 tbsp all-purpose flour or Matzo ball flour

1 tsp salt (slightly less than a full tsp)

1/2 cup canola or peanut oil

Method:

1. In a medium bowl, stir potatoes, onion, egg, flour, and salt together.

2. In a large, heavy-bottomed skillet over medium high heat, heat the oil until hot. Place large spoonfuls of the potato mixture into the hot oil, pressing down on them to form quarter-inch to half-inch thick patties. Brown on one side, flip, and brown the other side. Let the finished patties drain on paper towels. Serve hot with applesauce, chopped chives, and/or sour cream

Mochi Cupcakes

[An EurJean post, since I wasn't at their Dinner Meet.]

It helps to use two spoons to ball the an and scoop it into the middle of each cupcake. This cupcake does not rise as much as traditional cupcakes, so feel free to fill almost to the top. I bake them until the tops are very lightly golden brown. I also usually make a handful of no-an cupcakes for those who do not like red bean. I'm experimenting with making flavored mochi versions, like chocolate.

Ingredients:

1 box Mochiko (rice flour)
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 tsp baking powder
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 can soft or coarse an (Japanese sweet red beans)

Method:
Thoroughly mix the first six ingredients. Place cupcake paper in cupcake pan and fill half way with mix. Place one heaping tsp of an into center of each cupcake. Use remaining mixture to fill cupcake - about 80% full.

Bake at 375 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes or until done. Makes 24 cupcakes.

Note: If mochi cupcakes get hard or dried, place in microwave or wrap individually and heat. Can also be stored in freezer for later use.

Spam Musubi

[Another post by EurJean since I couldn't make their Dinner Meet. Thanks so much, EurJean, for making my life easy!]

We made a 1/3 cup ratio of sauce for 2 cans of spam musubi and it was plenty of sauce. Don't be grossed out by the mayo, it's surprisingly good! We also made a vegetarian version of spam musubi for Thomas using pressed teriyaki tofu (followed the same steps).

Ingredients:

1 can Spam
3 cups (measured uncooked) sushi rice
Equal parts sugar/soy sauce/mirin (preferably brown sugar)
Nori
Kewpie mayo (optional)
Musubi-maker (optional)

Method:

Slice spam into 8-10 pieces. Mix sauce (sugar, soy sauce, mirin). Fry spam until each side is crispy/browned. Add sauce to pan until it thickens and carmelizes. Assemble musubi: lay a 2-3 inch strip of nori down, put the musubi maker in the middle of the strip (horizontally), press a layer of rice down, sprinkle furikake and/or mayo layer, put in a slice of spam, sprinkle furikake and/or mayo layer, press a final layer of rice down, and fold over the pieces of nori (using a little rice to seal if necessary). This makes a sandwich style musubi (nori/rice/spam/rice/nori). You can also make a more traditional musubi (nori/rice/spam/nori).

Spinach (Korean inspired)

[Another post from EurJean since I wasn't at their Dinner Meet.]

I got this recipe online, since I don't measure anything when I make it myself (just eyeball to taste). I prefer my spinach with less soy sauce (only one tbsp) and more garlic. It is also good with a dash of mirin, red pepper powder, and ginger powder.

Ingredients:

1 lb spinach (preferably organic baby spinach, pre-washed)
3 tbsp soy sauce (preferably low-sodium)
1 tbsp sesame oil (preferably toasted)
2 cloves finely chopped garlic (pressed works as well)
2 tsp sugar (preferably brown sugar)
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sesame seeds (optional, preferably toasted)

Method:

Mix non-spinach ingredients together in a medium bowl. Blanch spinach in boiling water for 30 seconds (mix until entire bunch is mostly wilted). Squeeze excess water. Mix warm spinach with remaining ingredients in bowl.

Tonkatsu

[Everything below is written by EurJean since I was unable to make their Dinner Meet.]

Tonkatsu is traditionally served on cabbage (which is thinly sliced, soaked in cold water, then drained/dried). I also like to make this recipe with Italian bread crumbs, which is something my mom did growing up when we didn't have panko on hand. This is one of the first recipes my mom taught me.

Ingredients:

10 Thin-sliced pork cutlets
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Salt
Pepper
Flour (approx. 1-2 cups)
Lightly beaten eggs (approx. 3 eggs)
Panko (approx. 1-2 cups)
Vegetable oil for frying
Tonkatsu sauce (store-bought, my favorite brand is Bulldog)

Pork prep:
If thin-sliced pork cutlets are not available, you may cut pork chops in half or slice a pork tenderloin into cutlets. Wash and pat dry the pork. Slice and remove any bone or fat. For each pork cutlet, put between two pieces of plastic wrap (or wax paper) and pound with a meat tenderizing mallet (or the blunt side of a knife) until flattened to an even thickness. Sprinkle each cutlet with garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper on both sides. It's optional, but cutlets can be seasoned with grated onion juice instead of onion powder.

Tonkatsu assembly:
For each pork cutlet, dredge in flour, shake off excess, dip in egg, shake off excess, then press panko crumbs lightly until completely covered. Heat oil on medium-heat until panko crumb bubbles and browns readily (2-3 seconds). When frying tonkatsu, avoiding turning more than once. Fry each side for approximately 3 minutes until golden brown. Put browned tonkatsu on drying rack (or paper towels).