A Hot Brown

Thick slices of roasted turkey breast over texas toast, then covered in mornay sauce (a bechamel sauce plus cheese). The whole thing is circled with tomatoes and broiled until cheese is browned and bubbly.

a cross-section

To make a mornay sauce, brown some butter and add flour, whisking until pale golden. Add warmed milk (you’re making a bechamel) and then add big handful of pecorino romano (turning it into a mornay sauce).

 

Onion Tart

Lentils for stuffed portabellas

Finished product: this was just so good

Toasting bread cubes and fresh rosemary. This goes into making the spinach, chickpeas, and tomato dish. The bread brings the dish together... kind of like a gazpacho.

Beautiful! and vegan

Cooked down, it becomes a dish that goes so well with roasted turkey/protein.

Classic green beans and shallots

Honey ginger glazed carrots

Pasta salad.

Theo's apple salad was a big hit - and a deliciously tart and cooling palate cleanser

Cranberry sauce

Vegan turkey - requiring vast amounts of mushrooms, a block of seitan, and a savory, coconut based jamaican sauce

Lobster apple pie ;p One of my two contributions

My other contribution... turkey! I followed Alton Brown's recipe and brined it for 24 hours, then let it sit in the fridge, covered with only a paper towel to let the skin dry out. I rubbed the skin with homemade chive compound butter and stuffed it with apples and onions.

Chicken pot pie with drop biscuit dough

I had originally intended to make some Matzo Ball soup after a late-night, post-dance trip to b.o.b bar last Friday. Suffice to say, I couldn’t find any matzo meal and instead opted for a simple chicken soup. That ended up being too unchallenging (celery, carrots onion in a slow cooker with a quartered chicken), so to complicate things up a bit, I took a couple of cups of broth, shredded left over chicken removed from the soup, and whipped up a quick chicken pot pie.

To make it, I sauteed some chopped celery, carrots, onion, and garlic. Then I added some of the chicken broth I just made, shredded some leftover chicken, some milk, and carefully dissolved some flour to thicken the sauce up. I seasoned it with salt and pepper, and then set the sauce aside. Time for the biscuit dough. Taking a half cup of whole wheat flour, half as much regular flour, 2 tbsp olive oil, 3 tbsp butter (I used chive compound butter that I made from R’s garden), salt, pepper, and enough buttermilk (or milk + a bit of vinegar) to bring the dough together. Set the sauce in a casserole dish and plop balls of dough over it. Let it bake in an oven set to 375 degrees. The dough will expand in the oven and turn golden brown when ready.

All in all, it took  me about an hour from start to finish.

About three years ago when I was last studying abroad in Japan, Manneken Belgium Waffle kiosks were the hottest thing in town. Lines of 10 people or more in front of the shop was pretty common, especially in places like central Tokyo. Made fresh and handheld, these are pretty damn solid portable snacks. Rob got choco-dip, I got roasted sweet potato (not pictured).

Visiting the majestic Arashiyama area again, and for all I knew the last time, I had to get kuro-goma (black sesame) ice cream. The one I got from this shop mixed whole toasted black sesame seeds into their dense, creamy soft serve so you'd get a nutty and smokey pop-crunch with every bite. Good, good, stuff. One of the snacks I miss the most, though Mitsuwa Market in N.J is almost as good

THIS WAS IN A SUPERMARKET. Sold by THE POUND. In a regular supermarket!!! Be still my sluggist, fat-clogged heart 8)

Giant pasta dishes for $7 at Pastamore, a couples pasta spot in the epic Kyoto Station. Possibly one of the most rewardingly romantic meals I've had. Thinking back to junior year as a study abroad student, I remember eating here with a girl friend and the two of us wishing and laughing off the idea we'd have dates to come here with. This is my pasta-concentration eating face.

More ramen photos to come!

In no chronological order, I present:

All you can eat shabu shabu in Osaka! I ate so much I threw up while laughing. Luckily it wasn't much, and my $30 meal didn't go to waste. No regrets whatsoever.

Plastic food at the Osaka Aquarium

Monk-made sesame tofu, Koysan

Parfaits! They have over 200 combinations of ice cream, cakes, cookies, fruit, jellies, and other toppings!

Unbelievable! I remember paying upwards of $6 for poorer quality sushi back in the day when I used to buy sushi packs from Wes-shop.

Soup base:

• A piece of konbu (dried sea kelp, it’s one of the bases for a standard miso soup)
• About 5 or 6 little dried shrimps
• A handful of dried shitake mushrooms
• Thai seafood clear soup base (this I got from a jar for about $2 at an Asian grocery. It has no preservatives or additives, just thai lime leaves, lemongrass, shallots, and garlic)
• Optional tamarind sauce

Soup ingredients, all optional depending on preference:

• Julienned carrots. Small handful.
• Julienned napa cabbage. Same small handful.
• 1 egg
• Frozen shrimps
• Wide Vietnamese rice noodles, precooked if you like your broth to stay clear, as I do.

Instructions:

Bring soup base to a boil. Add soup ingredients. ENJOY.

And there you have it: a pescatarian-friendly (*please note: I am in no way shape or form vegetarian) meal in about thirty minutes. To cut down cooking & prep time even further while maximizing flavors, try soaking all your dried ingredients in advance. I try to keep mine in big tupperware in the fridge- that way everything is ready when I need it.

• Mu-Er (dried woodear mushrooms)
• 5 spice pressed tofu
• chicken breast, cut into small chunks or strips.
• peppers (optional)
• soy sauce

“Lettuce Sung”. I’ve come here more times than I can remember, and every time we get this crispy, refreshing dish of fried mushroom and gluten bits, wrapped with lettuce and a smear of hoisin.

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