This Week's Menu and Shopping List

Here is this week's menu and shopping list:

Monday: Fried pork with eggs (Katsudon)
Tuesday: Sundried tomato stuffed chicken
Wednesday: Clam chowder
Thursday: Anchovy pasta
Friday: Miso marinaded fish

Shopping List:
Pork loin (7.5 oz) - fried pork with eggs
Skinless, boneless chicken breast (1, 6 ounce) - sundried tomato stuffed chicken
Canned clams (6.5 oz) - clam chowder
Snapper or perch fillet, preferably with the skin on (2 pieces) - miso marinaded fish
Shredded mozzarella cheese (3 Tbsp) - sundried tomato stuffed chicken
Sundried tomato (1/4 cup) - sundried tomato stuffed chicken
Eggs (3) - fried pork with eggs
Onion (1 medium) - fried pork with eggs, clam chowder
Fish stock + clam juice (2 cups) - clam chowder
2% milk (2 cups) - clam chowder
Celery (2 stalks) - clam chowder
Yukan gold potatoes (2 medium) - clam chowder
Garlic (4 cloves) - clam chowder, anchovy pasta
Your favorite pasta (enough for 2-3 people)
Canned anchovies (5-6) - anchovy pasta
Cherry tomatoes (2 cups) - anchovy pasta
Artichoke hearts in a can (5) - anchovy pasta
Dried wild mushrooms - anchovy pasta
Fresh basil - anchovy pasta

Recommendation for sides:
Katsudon - cooked greens or miso soup
Sundried tomato stuffed chicken - wild rice pilaf with wild mushroom, grilled zucchini
Miso marinaded fish - broiled spinach dressed with sesame sauce

Things that may or may not be in your fridge/pantry:
Flour
Panko bread crumbs
Salt
Pepper
Chicken stock
Dried basil
Dried oregano
Vegetable oil
Olive oil
Dashi no moto
Soy sauce
Mirin
Miso
Cookine wine
Sugar

Friday Dinner: Miso marinaded fish dinner

This miso marinaded fish is time consuming but is delicious especially with a bowl of rice.

Miso marinaded fish (for 2 people):
Snapper or perch fillet, preferably with the skin on (2 pieces) - I think cod would work fine also
Salt
Miso (3 Tbsp)
Cookine wine (1 Tbsp)
Soy sauce (2 Tbsp)
Sugar (1/2 Tbsp)

1. (Night before) Place fish on a strainer in a bowl. Sprinkle salt on and cover it with plastic wrap. Let it rest in the fridge overnight. Combine all the ingredients from miso to sugar in a ziploc bag and mix well. Store it in the fridge.
2. (In the morning) Pat dry the fish pieces and place them in the ziploc bag. Make sure the fish pieces are coated with the miso mixture. Let the fish marinade in the fridge for at least 5-6 hours.
3. (Before dinner) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Wipe off miso mixture from the fish with paper towel and place them on aluminum foil in a casserole or oven-safe plate with the skin side up. Bake for 10 minutes. Then boil for a minute or two on the top rack until you smell the miso.

On the side, I served broiled spinach dressed with sesame sauce, pickled celery, and broiled daikon radish with fried tofu. You could just do the fish, rice, spinach, and maybe miso soup.

The fish can stay in the fridge for up to 3 days, but the longer it sits, saltier it gets, so if you're worried about the fish getting too salty, you could marinade the fish for like only 3 hours.

This recipe was adapted from the recipe in a cookbook by Harumi Kurihara.

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Technorati Tags:perch, snapper,cod,miso marinade,Japanese cooking,Japanese dinner,misoduke

Thursday Dinner: Anchovy pasta

Tonight, I decided to make pasta with whatever that was in my fridge and freezer. It was actually pretty good!

Anchovy pasta (for 2-3 people):
Your favorite pasta (enough for 2-3 people)
Canned anchovies (5-6) - I had them in my freezer
Cherry tomatoes (2 cups) - I had them frozen too, in a ziploc bag!
Artichoke hearts in a can (5) - from my fridge...
Dried wild mushrooms (few pieces)
Garlic (2 cloves)
Olive oil (1 Tbsp)
Salt
Pepper
Fresh basil - optional

1. Boil a potful of water and start cooking pasta.
2. Cut anchovies into halves. Cut artichoke hearts into quarters. If you're using cherry tomatoes that you have frozen, put them in water to defrost then cut them into halves. Soak dried wild mushrooms and cut them into bite sizes after they're soft enough. Peel and finely chop the garlic.
3. Heat olive oil in a pan. Saute garlic and anchovy until you smell garlic then quickly add artichokes and wild mushrooms in. Add cherry tomatoes. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. Mix well.
4. Add cooked pasta into the sauce and mix well. Put sliced fresh basil and mix well.

You could actually put any type of vegetables in as long as you keep the garlic, anchovy, and tomatoes in as the base. You could add like olives, spinach, broccoli, etc.

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Technorati Tags:anchovy, pasta,artichoke,wild mushroom,cherry tomato

Wednesday: Clam chowder

Last week, I had clam chowder at this soup place chain, and it was OK but it tasted too "creamy" (like whipping cream, I mean) to me and there were only few clams. So, I thought, if I make it at home, I can make it a lot chunkier and tastier. My clam chowder tasted great, but it didn't thicken quite like the way I hoped it would. I think I needed to add more flour, so if you're trying this recipe, you should add maybe 2-3 Tablespoons more flour. The taste was good though!

Clam chowder (for 3-4 people):
Canned clams (6.5 oz)
Fish stock + clam juice (2 cups) - I combined the juice that the clams were in with the fish stock I had
2% milk (2 cups)
Onion (1/2 medium)
Celery (2 stalks)
Yukan gold potatoes (2 medium)
Garlic (2 cloves)
Flour (2 Tbsp)
Olive oil (1 Tbsp)
Salt (2 tsp)
Pepper

1. Dice the onion and celery stalks. Peel and dice the potatoes. I wanted the soup to be chunky, but you can cut the vegetables small. Peel and finely dice the garlic.
2. Heat olive oil in a pot/dutch oven and saute onion and celery with a pinch of salt over medium heat until tender. Add garlic and keep sauteeing for 1 minute. Add diced potatoes and saute for 1 minute.
3. Add flour and mix really well until there is no lump and everything is well incorporated.
4. Add fish stock + clam juice and milk. Sprinkle in 2 tsp of salt and a pinch of pepper. Simmer until the soup is thickened to desired consistency.

Don't forget crackers!

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Technorati Tags:clam, clam chowder

Tuesday Dinner: Sundried tomato stuffed chicken

Tonight, I took a recipe from Cooking Light and made it slightly easier. The original recipe calls for fresh herbs, but I just used dried ones that I had, and it worked just fine.

Sundried tomato stuffed chicken (for 2 people):
Skinless, boneless chicken breast (1, 6 ounce)
Shredded mozzarella cheese (3 Tbsp) - the original recipe calls for feta cheese
Sundried tomato (1/4 cup)
Salt
Pepper
Chicken stock (1 Tbsp)
Dried basil
Dried oregano

1. Preheat oven at 425 degrees.
2. Boil water in a pot and add sundried tomatoes in. Remove from the heat and let stand for 5 minutes. I used already cut, small sundried tomatoes, but if you're using big ones, slice them.
3. Combine sundried tomatoes, basil, oregano, and cheese. Sprinkle in a pinch of pepper and mix well.
4. Using the smooth side of a meat tenderizer, pound the chicken breast to an even thickness. Cut a horizontal slit and make a deep pocket. Salt and pepper both sides and place it on aluminum foil in a casserole. Stuff the chicken with sundried tomato mixture.
5. Drizzle in chicken stock over the chicken. Seal the aluminum foil. Bake for 20 minutes then let it rest for 5 minutes before opening the foil.
6. Take out the chicken and slice it.

The chicken cooked perfectly and it was so tender and juicy.

Wild rice pilaf with wild mushrooms (for 2-3 people)
Wild rice (1 cup)
Shallot (2 large)
Garlic (1 large clove)
Dried wild mushroom
Chicken stock (1-1/2 cup)
Water (1-1/2 cup)
Olive oil (1 Tbsp)
Salt

1. Dice the shallots. Peel and dice the garlic. Wash wild rice well.
2. Heat olive oil in a pot. Turn the heat down to medium and saute shallots and garlic with a pinch of salt until tender.
3. Add wild rice and keep sauteeing until everything is well incorporated.
4. Add chicken stock, water, and a pinch of salt. Throw in few pieces of dried wild mushroom.
5. Bring it to boil then turn the heat down to medium low. Put the lid on and simmer until there is no soup and rice is tender (about 45 minutes).

I found these dried wild mushrooms at a store last weekend and decided to use them. It was a success! They gave a nice flavor to the rice.

I also grilled zucchini and marinaded it with vinegar and olive oil.

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Technorati Tags:chicken, sun-dried tomato,wild rice,wild mushroom,stuffed chicken

Monday Dinner: Fried pork with eggs (Katsudon)

Caution! Dangerously delicious...

Fried pork with eggs - Katsudon (for 2-3 people):
Pork loin (7.5 oz)
Eggs (3)
Flour (as needed)
Panko bread crumbs (as needed) - They are not ground as finely as regular bread crumbs
Salt
Pepper
Onion (1/2 medium)
Vegetable oil (as needed)
Dashi no moto (1/2 tsp)
Water (1-1/2 cup)
Soy sauce (1-1/2 Tbsp)
Mirin (1 Tbsp)
Sugar (1/2 Tbsp)

1. Slice the onion roughly. Add all the ingredients from dashi no moto to sugar in a pan and put it on medium high heat. Once it boils, put the sliced onion in. Turn the heat down to medium. Cook until onion slices are cooked.
2. Cut pork loin into 1/2 inch thick pieces. Use the meat tenderizer and pound the meat little bit so all the pieces are about the same thickness. Salt and pepper both sides well.
3. Heat oil in a pot or wok. Make sure you have enough to cover the pork pieces completely (they don't all have to go in at the same time).
4. Form an assembly line of flour, an egg (beaten) mixed with 1 Tbsp of water, and panko bread crumbs. Put a pork piece into flour and coat it with flour. Pat it to get rid of excess flour and put it into the egg mixture, coating it with the egg mixture. Put it on a bed of bread crumbs then cover it with more bread crumbs. Press lightly to put as much bread crumbs on the meat as you can. Set aside. Do the same for all the pieces.
5. Put a wooden chop stick into the oil. If little bubbles shoot out from the tip of the chop stick, the oil is hot enough.
6. Put pork pieces into the oil and fry until they're gold brown. Cut into 1/2 thick slices.
7. Reheat the onion mixture in the pan. Once it boils, put all the pork cutlets in.
8. Beat two eggs and put them in the pan. Put a lid on and cook on medium heat until eggs are cooked.
9. Serve over rice.

The pictures are kind of deceiving because I actually made more fried pork. So just the fried pork is like for 4 people. But I cooked only enough pork pieces with eggs for 2-3 people.

If you're not a big egg fan, you can just have the fried pork with tonkatsu sauce, which is like this Japanese sauce for fried pork. It's kind of like thick Worcestershire sauce. Fried pork is typically served with really thinly sliced cabbage in Japan. It's good. I like it cooked with eggs too though. I highly recommend it.

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Technorati Tags:katsudon, fried pork,Japanese cooking,Japanese recipe,tonkatsu