July Food Swap

I was so very excited to participate in the pen pal foodie food swap. Here is my summery card that was the pen pal part. Don't you just love sunflowers? And that color blue - it's like the sky on a crisp day.

This is what I received. I requested savory, though I hinted I special like of jam. Thus, crackers, chips, peanuts, dip mix, and mango salsa, and peach (!) jam. Yay!

This is what I sent. All locally grown products. Almond bark, honey, chocolate almonds, cashews, pistachios, pomegranate jelly, and apricots.

Roasted Frogs

Not really.

Roasted garlic and chicken

I'm starting a new tradition called Sunday Supper. New to us, that is.

Actually we have been sort of doing this off and on with our sometimes Sake Sunday, but I want to make more formal proclamation and a button too. I like making buttons, so if you do too, be on the look-out!

Super Sake Sunday Supper

Last Sunday was a Sake Sunday Supper. I roasted cut up chicken thighs with a whole bulb of garlic.

Roasted garlic is really mellow compared to raw or even sautéed garlic. One can just cut off the pointy top, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper, and roast with meat or root vegetables (or all by themselves which I'm currently doing for today's supper). I'd say roast for about an hour, and I flip them over halfway through the process. The roasted cloves can be squeezed out and mashed (delish on toast) or fished out one by one and eaten whole.

Other dishes here are rice, shredded cabbage, both savoy and purple, tossed in a light mixture of soy sauce and olive oil, and a fruit bowl of pomegranate, plum slices, and a half of a fig.

Pizza Dough made with Beer

I was in need of a quick dough for two medium sized pizzas, one a garden vegetable, and the other pepperoni. I found a couple of contenders in a search on the web. I have 200 cookbooks but my first thought is Google. Always.

I found a recipe that called for a bottle of beer and that totally reminded me of my mom's beer bread recipe. She photocopied her recipe card and paper clipped it to the bread chapter page in the Betty Crocker's cookbook she gave to me at my very first dinner party.

The pizza dough recipe asked for 4 cups of all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons of quick yeast, 1 teaspoon of baking powder and salt, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil, as well as the beer.

Kneaded for 7 minutes by the mixer and let rise for a half to 2 hours.

Good dough however the house smelled like a brewery for the day.

Pastys

Gotta love a meat pie. Especially after a hike up a mountain.

Years ago I used to live in Santa Cruz, and there was this fabulous little eatery on River Road called the  River Inn. The River Inn specialized in meat pastys. (Not to be be confused with pasties.)

They are made with simply lovely concoctions of minced meat wrapped in pastry. We would get a few and travelled up Highway 9 to do a bit of hiking in the redwoods.

I've always like to try to recreate most meals I've enjoyed, and meat pies have been on the list since the River Inn. They are easy and a crowd pleaser. Quite successful to miniaturized too. So perfect for bento!

Recipe alert!

Miniature Chicken Pastys

one shallot, minced
three garlic cloves, minced
two medium-sized little Bella mushrooms, minced
a knob of butter

Saute the above ingredients and seasoned with salt and pepper.

Add one half of cup of minced cooked chicken breast and a couple of spoonfuls of pre-made gravy to the mixture. Stir well and place in glass bowl. Cover and put in freezer.

(When working with pastry, everything must be cold.)

Next I used pre-made pastry. I know a lot of this recipe is looking like processed food, and you can certainly make fresh pastry and gravy, but it was getting late so I cheated. And really these were meant to be fun little treats not a gourmet meal for the Queen.

Unrolled pastry and using a small round biscuit cutter (1 1/2 to 2 inch diameter) make as many discs as you can. Ball up dough, roll out, and repeat. Save a few discs at the end of process for decoration.

Lay these pastry discs on parchment on cookie sheet and retrieve meat mixture from freezer and put a small spoonful in the center of each disc.

I thank the fungi gods I got over my fungus aversion. Mushrooms cooked in butter with shallots and garlic are heavenly!

Pinching them up is a study in meditation. At first I did the classic side fold, then some that look like pot stickers, then open ones like canapes. A few were topped with pine nuts, and some got little cut out stars and flowers.

Cooked at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes. I have a cool oven. Let them get a touch golden but not brown. We want a crunchy bite not a bullet.

Sorry no "after photos." You will have to view my bentos this week to see them.

These are delicious cold by the way. Pastys as summer food. Outrageous!

Pretz

Not too long ago, I hooked up with a friend of a friend, well a friend of a blog friend. I guess the friend has a blog too and he became one of my early followers (love all you early followers!) and anyhoo I heard from my blog friend that the happy Hello Panda crackers were something that he turned her onto, so when I said Hello!, I asked him what his favorite Japanese snacks were.

He said Pretz.

And this is why I went to the Asian store and bought a boatload of snacks.

It turns out that Pretz are not available at this store and really the only place I had ever seen them was at J-List. So a orderin' we shall go. High Ho the merry O. A orderin' we shall go. (Who knew that the O stood for online.)

I also got some Sake drops, Beer drops, and gyoza drops. Gyoza are pork dumpings, and the drops taste just like that, only candified. One word: Awful.

But I love the beer drops and the bacon Pretz. Love bacon!

Snack Happy

I returned to my castle with the goods. My expedition was successful. Hello Kitty sticks, check. Hapi party mix, check. Kiwi gummy fruit, double check. I also bought many things I've never tried before. Oh wait! Everything here I've never tried before. It's all new to me. But you know if the package says, "WANT WANT Rice Crackers," then I got a feeling I'm going to want want them.

Kimchee

When I mentioned to The Mister that I was going to make kimchee, he said, "Oh good! more food for me!"

That is because kimchee can be spicy, and I have to be careful with spicy food - lest my stomach might up and leave town.

So I looked at various recipes hoping to find one where I didn't need anything too exotic and found one where many of the items were optional. All I really needed was red pepper, garlic, and ginger.

Here is what I did.

Washed and cut into chunks one head of cabbage, the Napa variety, fresh-picked. Brined overnight in 3/4 cup of salt and one gallon of water. I used a plate to press down to floating cabbage and placed my garlic smasher rock on top of the plate.

This morning I rinsed the soaking cabbage with cold water and drained.

I boiled one tablespoon of rice flour with 3/4 cup of water. Set aside to cool.

Smashed a diced knob of ginger (peel removed) and five cloves of garlic in mortar and pestle.

In large bowl added rice mixture with garlic/ginger paste, one tablespoon of red pepper powder, one tablespoon red pepper flakes, diced carrots, diced radishes, and gave it a good mix, then I added the cabbage. Stir to combine.

Packed in glass jars and top with salt water (one tablespoon per one cup of water).

Now the trick here is to wait. Store in the fridge for one to two (or two to four) weeks depending on the recipe. One recipe said it's ready for immediate consumption.

The Mister tasted it, as did I. He thought it was hot (spicy), but it didn't seem to register that high with me.

We shall see...

Mr. & Mrs. Puffy Bear and the disaster that turned into a delight

Puff pastry is becoming one of my go to's for fun food. Certainly not something one should eat every day, but once and a while...

I love savory biscuits and pies. Ham and cheese anything sounds good to me. So I made Mr & Mrs. Puffy Bear. You can tell the girl from the boy because she has a bow in her hair.

And the boy has a very trendy pointed head hair style.

I also made little ham and cheese turnovers decorated with a lovely flower.

Ack! What a disaster! The cheese leaked out even after my careful pinching at the seams.

Fortunately crispy cheese with puffed pastry is quite the ticket in Yummyland!

Spicy Pork Meatballs Are God

So last week I'm driving all over town with my significant other, The Mister, picking up items for our meals for the coming week and stuff for a gift basket I made for work and we made like ten stops and that is very wearing on a person especially in 95 degree heat and we finally got to our last stop which was the grocery store to pick up our protein which is what they call on Top Chef I mean we've always called beef, pork, chicken but now we call it protein like we're foodies or something and the checker and the box boy which is what we used to called them but they're now probably called "associates" so they feel better about being paid $6.80 an hour were very talkative not to us mind you but amongst themselves and this has always annoyed the heck out of me because here I am spending my money or rather his money and lots of it so give us some respect but no and the box boy who was a girl announced she was getting off work in an hour to another associate as she tossed over her shoulder bags of our groceries then we hit a snag a daikon snag the checker I mean associate first didn't know what it was and then couldn't find it on the price list and after five minutes literally I could see steam emit from The Mister's ears blah blah blah it went around to the checker the box boy and another checker and then the manager and then the checker wanted to know why I even *wanted* the daikon.

In the parking lot now:

I can't believe how stupid people are, he said.

And slow, I said.

I thought I was going to .... (trailed off).

Now we go home, I said.

Finally, he said.

[Driving in silence]

[for a long time]

[hitting every darn redlight across town]

[last light]

[turns red just as we get there]

God must hate you, I said.

Oh you know it, he said.

God is punishing you, I said.

He's been punishing me ALL DAY, he said looking at me when he said ALL DAY.

{pause}

{I laugh}

{pause}

What?

Just what makes you think God's a He, I said.

Spicy Meatballs

2/3 lb. ground pork

1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground pepper (or more to taste)

1 egg

2 tablespoons of soy sauce

a dash or two of Worcestershire sauce

In a bowl mix all ingredients using a butter knife to cut and fold. Cut, scoop, and turn the bowl a quarter turn. This will keep the meatballs from becoming buckshot. Take your time. When fully mixed, take a teaspoon amount and roll out little balls, place on parchment in a cooking pan and bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 55 minutes.

Mashed Potato Chicken Pot Pie

For lunch today I decided to make these little pot pies. I have a set of six little ramekins purchased at the kitchen store awhile back. They are about the size for creme brule. 

  

This is sort of a Shepard's pie interpretation. First I make the mashed potatoes and set aside. I finely dice shallots, celery, and carrots, and saute them in butter. Add cubed cooked chicken that was leftover from our chicken dinner the night before. 

  

Next I assemble the pot pies. I add some meat and vegetable mixture to each ramekin, filling it up about halfway. To each ramekin I add a tablespoon of jar chicken gravy. 

  

Now I get a Ziploc or such large baggie and scoop in a good amount of mashed potato. Snip off a corner and extrude the potatoes in a way where each dish will have little peaky peaks that will get golden brown. Add finely grated Parmesan to the top.

  

Cook in a dish that will collect any overflow at 350 degrees F for 50 minutes. 

A small tasty bite for lunch.

My Favorite