Poached Chicken Breast with Cucumber Salad

Here's a very refreshing, yet protein-rich side dish for the upcoming warm season. I'm listing the basic soy sauce + sesame oil flavor, but you can be creative by adding mayonnaise, mustard, miso, minced umeboshi, or hot chili sesame oil (ラー油).

Poached Chicken Breast with Cucumber Salad

• 2 Persian cucumbers, thin-sliced 
• 1 Chicken breast
• 1/2 tbsp ginger, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 tbsp Sake
• White sesame seed
• 1 tsp Sesame oil
• 1 tsp Soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Rice Vinegar

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makes 2 servings

1. In a heavy bottomed pot ( I use Le Creuset pot), place a piece of chicken breast, add sake and just enough water so that chicken won't stick on the bottom. Cover with a lid and cook in a low heat.
2. Once water start boiling, cook for another 5 minutes, then turn off the heat. Keep the lid on, and let it steam for about 5-10 minutes.  
3. In a bowl, add sliced cucumber, sprinkle some salt and mix. After 5-10 minutes, squeeze the cucumber and drain extra water. 
4. Take out the chicken from the pot, shred it with your hand, and add them to the cucumber. 
5. Add chopped ginger, sesame oil, soy sauce and vinegar to the bowl and mix them well.
6. If time allowed, chill for 15-30 minutes, sprinkle sesame seed at the end.  

Note: .

Tomato Red Sauce with Meat Balls

This is the very basic way of making home-made red (tomato) sauce for stocking. In order to feed my Italian descent husband, I make a batch of red sauce bi-weekly, usually on Sunday (so called Sunday sauce). We'd eat freshly made sauce with meatball over spaghetti or ravioli. Then I separate the left-over meatballs from sauce. I keep a jar of sauce in a fridge, and another jar in a freezer. A jar stored in a fridge can be used for a quick pasta dish during the week. The left-over meatballs can be used to make meatball sandwich for lunch. I sometime add italian sausage, chicken on bones, or pork ribs to the sauce to give a richer flavor. Ideally, you want to cook the sauce at least 3 hours.

The"Red Sauce" ~ basic tomato sauce 

• 3 large cans of peeled tomatoes (I used 3-35oz cans)
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 small carrot, shredded or grated
• 4-5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• a few bay leaves
• about 1/5 a can of water, to clean the inside of each can and add it to the sauce
• Red wine (optional)

Meatballs 

• 1lb ground meat (I used pork, beef, veal mix)
• 1 egg
• bread crumb
• milk
• garlic powder
• onion powder
• dried oregano
• nutmeg
• dried red pepper 
• black pepper and salt
• a dash of worcestershire sauce
• grated parmesan cheese

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to make about 10 servings

1. Heat a heavy-bottomed pot, sauté chopped garlic and onion in low/med heat. 
2. When onion looks golden and fragrant, add carrots and bay leaves, cook for few more minutes.
3. Open cans and add all the contents to the pot, clean the inside of each can with water, and add it to the pot as well. Bring it to boil with high heat, uncovered.
4. Once boiling, scoop out the foamy scums on the surface, lower the heat.
5. After 30 min of so, smash the tomatoes with potato masher, continue cooking in low heat.
6. Make meatballs - In a large bowl, let the bread crumbs soak in cold milk. When the bread crumbs get fluffy, add the rest of ingredients, mix well until it gets sticky. Let it sit.
7. After 1-2 hours, throw in meatballs, cook another 1 hour or so. Add red wine. (optional)
8. When the sauce reaches to your preferable thickness, stop the heat and serve over your favorite pasta, topped with chopped fresh parsley or basil, and grated parmesan cheese. 

You can use the red/tomato sauce to make dishes like:

• pizza 
• tortilla soup
• chili con carne
• lasagna

Using Stocked Red (Tomato) Sauce: Chili con Carne

Heres's one way to turn your stocked Italian red (tomato) sauce into a hearty & warming, Tex-Mex style chili. Can be served by itself with some tortilla chips or bread. You can also use it for tacos, Chili Nachos, or filling for quesadilla. Great stocking food during cold winter.

Chili con Carne

• 1lb ground meat
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 jalapeño pepper, chpped
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 cups red (tomato) sauce
• 1 can kidney beans, drained 
• 1-2 bay leaves
• 1 cup beef broth (or chicken broth, or water)

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makes about 6 servings

1.  In a saucepan or Dutch oven (I use Le Creuset pot), cook garlic and onion till they turn golden and fragrant, add jalapeño and bell pepper, continue over medium heat-high heat. Once they are soft, add ground meat.
2. Add all of dried ingredients (chili powder, paprika, cayenne pepper, dried oregano, cumin, cocoa powder, and bay leaves), stir occasionally and brown the meat.
3. Stir in Tomato (red) sauce, bring to boiling. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer for 30 min, stirring occasionally.
4. Stir in beans. Simmer for about 20 minutes, or until desired thickness.

Note: Adjust the amount of broth or water, depending on the thickness of your tomato (red) sauce.

Mini Donut Balls with Pancake Mix

An easy solution to a sudden craving for old fashioned donuts.

Mini Donut Balls with Pancake mix

• 200g Pancake mix
• 2 tbsp milk
• 1-2 tbsp butter, melted
• 1 egg
• Vanilla extract
• Sugar to sprinkle at the end, 
• Cinnamon, with your preference

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makes 10-12 small balls

Mix all ingredients together (except sugar and cinnamon), keep them in a fridge for a while, to make the dough easy to work with later. Meanwhile heat oil enough to cover small donut balls. Take the dough out of fridge when it's harden a bit, scoop a drop of dough with a spoon, fry them till golden crispy in medium heat. Sprinkle sugar all over at the end. 

Note:  When heat oil, make sure not to heat too high, it will burn the outside too quickly.

Cripsy Potato Skin Chips

Utilizing saved peeled potato skins that come out of your typical potato dishes such as mashed potatoes, stews, etc. A great way to add an extra dish to your supper, or use them as a healthy snack.

Cripsy Potato Skin Chips

• Potato skins (picture above is from 4 potatoes)
• Flour
• Salt & Pepper
• Vegetable oil

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1. Save potato skins when you cook other potato dishes such as mashed potatoes.
2. Put them on a paper towel, sprinkle salt and let the paper towel soak moistures, let them dry.
3. Heat oil, sprinkle pepper and flour all over the skin to separate them each other.
4. When the oil is hot, throw in the skins, make sure to separate them. Cook a portion at a time.
5. When they're golden crispy, take them out. 

Tool recommendation:

OXO Good Grips Swivel Peeler

Pasta with Italian Sausage and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

A simple supper that's ready in 30 minutes.  Refreshing sun-dried tomato and green herbs works great with the rich flavor of Italian sausages.

 Fusilli Corti Bucati with Italian Sausage and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

2/3 box of pasta of your choice ( I used Fusilli Corti Bucati this time, farfalle will work well, too. )
4 or 5 links of sweet Italian sausage or broccoli rabe sausage
3 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
6-7 sun-dried tomatoes, finely chopped
a handful of chopped basil or Italian parsley
crushed red petter
white wine or sake
truffle oil
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makes about 3 servings

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  While you wait for the water to boil, chop all vegetables. Take sausage meat out of casings, heat a pan or thick bottomed pot (I use le creuset pot). Once hot, oil the surface, cook garlic in low/medium heat until fragrant, add sausage and brown them. Add onion and sauté them together. Throw in crushed red pepper and sun-dried tomato, drizzle some white wine or sake, cook them covered for a while.
Once pasta is ready, drain the pasta, toss them with sausages, drizzle some truffle oil, add basil, mix together.  Serve. Sprinkle generous amount of parmesan cheese.

Daigaku Imo (Glazed sweet potato sticks)

Daigaku-imo （大学いも）literally means University potatoes. The snack itself probably originated as a cheap high-calorie, affordable snack sold to students on budget. It is characterized by crispy outer shell with creamy interior, glazed and coated with crunchy black sesame. I am introducing a  quicker/ healthier modification of the original recipe.

Cut Japanese yam potato (Satsuma sweet potato) into sticks. Microwave them for 2 mins. Toast black sesames on frying pan till you smell the sesame. Empty the sesame out of pan, melt butter in a pan, saute potatoes till crispy outside. Blend black sesames into potatoes, drizzle maple syrup, sprinkle dash of lemon juice at the end.


揚げずにカリッと炒めたお芋に煎った黒ごま、メープルシロップ、最後にレモン汁を絞る。

手順：サツマイモの細切りに少し塩をしてレンジで２分。その間に黒ごまをフライパンで軽く煎っておく。煎ったごまを皿に取り出して、フライパンにバターを溶かす。チンしたお芋を強火でかりっと焦げ目がつくまで焼く。最後にメープルシロップとレモン汁、ごまを絡めて出来上がり。頂き物の川根茶と一緒に食す。ああ、幸せ。

ポイント：かりっと炒め焼きをするのと、ごまを煎ること。