This Week's Menu and Shopping List

Beet
Scallopini

Every week, I try to use ingredients from the local market that look unfamiliar. This week, it was scallopini and beet. When I bought scallopini, I thought it was some type of zucchini, but it apparently is a type of squash... I also found yellow and red beets at the market with the leaves. I made salad with the root and boiled the leaves and dressed them with Japanese sesame sauce.

Here is this week's menu:

Monday: Mackerel cooked with miso
Tuesday: Simple sausage and tomato sauce pasta
Wednesday: Sake steamed fish with ponzu
Thursday: Pork with red currant sauce
Friday: Spinach Parmesan chicken with beet salad

Shopping List:
Spanish mackerel (1 fillet cut into 2 pieces) - mackerel cooked with miso
Julienned ginger (about 1/4 cup) - mackerel cooked with miso
Konbu seaweed (about 2 inch piece) - mackerel cooked with miso
Good sausages (enough for 4 people) - simple sausage and tomato sauce pasta
Canned whole tomatoes (28 oz can) - simple sausage and tomato sauce pasta
Onion (1 medium, diced) - simple sausage and tomato pasta
Your favorite pasta - simple sausage and tomato pasta
Sole/flounder fillet (2) - sake steamed fish with ponzu
Chopped green onions (about 3 Tbsp, green part) - sake steamed fish with ponzu
Pork loin - pork with red currant sauce
Shallots - pork with red currant sauce
Gralic - pork with red currant sauce
Boneless, skinless chicken breast (1 large) - spinach Parmesan chicken
Frozen spinach, thawed (about 1/3 cup) - spinach Parmesan chicken
Freshly-grated Parmesan cheese (about 1/4 cup) - spinach Parmesan chicken
Beet (2 large) - beet salad
Tomato (1 medium) - beet salad
Red onion (1/4 medium) - beet salad

Recommendations for sides:
Mackerel cooked with miso - broiled beet leaves with sesame sauce, miso soup and rice
Simple sausage and tomato pasta - salad
Sake steamed fish with ponzu - salad with Asian dressing or miso soup and rice
Pork with red currant sauce - grilled scallopini and roasted red pepper marinaded with lemon juice, salt, pepper, and olive oil

Things that may or may not be in your fridge/pantry:
Cooking wine
Miso
Ponzu (as needed) - If you can't find ponzu, you can substitute it with 3 part soy sauce, 2 part rice vinegar, 1 part freshly squeezed orange juice, and 1/2 part sesame oil
Sugar
Bay leaf
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Dried or fresh thyme
Cider vinegar
Beef broth
Red currant jelly
Corn starch
Red wine vinegar
Dijon mustard

Friday Dinner: Spinach Parmesan chicken with beet salad

This chicken recipe is simple, healthy, and delicious!

Spinach Parmesan chicken (for 2 people):
Boneless, skinless chicken breast (1 large)
Frozen spinach, thawed (about 1/3 cup)
Freshly-grated Parmesan cheese (about 1/4 cup)
Salt
Pepper
Water (1 tsp)

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. Wash chicken well and pat dry. Make incision on the side and make a big "pocket." Salt and pepper both sides of the chicken.
3. Squeeze any liquid out of the thawed spinach and mix well with grated Parmesan cheese. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. Stuff the pocket with the spinach mixture.
4. Place chicken on an aluminum foil and put 1 tsp of water on the chicken. Fold in the edges of the foil. Place it on an oven-safe plate or casserole. Bake for 20 minutes.

Beet salad (for 2-3 people):
Beet (2 large)
Tomato (1 medium)
Red onion (1/4 medium)
Red wine vinegar (1.5 Tbsp)
Dijon mustard (1 Tbsp) - I like to mix regular (smooth?) and whole grain
Olive oil (1.5 Tbsp)
Salt
Pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Slice beet into 1/4 inch thick pieces and peel them. Put them in an oven-safe casserole and sprinkle salt and pepper on them. Bake for 40 minutes or until tender. So, considering how chicken is also cooked in the oven at a different temperature, if you don't have a lot of time to cook, you can just boil the beet instead. I just like roasting vegetables...
2. While the beet is being roasted or boiled, slice red onion as thinly as you can. Slice the tomato into 1/4 thick slices. Combine Dijon mustard and red wine vinegar. Whisk in olive oil. Add a pinch of salt and pepper, and mix well. Let red onion and tomato marinade in the red wine dressing.
3. After the beet is cooked, put it in the marinade mixture while it's hot. Mix well. Chill in the fridge before serving.

I had never really thought about eating beet until the other day I had beet salad for lunch at a restaurant. Beet is actually really good! It has a very unique taste that is really hard to explain... I got wonderful red and yellow beet at the local market and decided to make salad. When I cut into the red beet, the inside was white but with red rings, very interesting and fun. I like to put colorful things on my dish to boost my already-boosted appetite:)

I didn't feel like adding another side today, but you can have roasted or mashed potatoes.

---

Technorati Tags:chicken, frozen spinach, Parmesan, beet salad

Thursday Dinner: Pork with red currant sauce

Tonight, I did another one of the recipes from Cooking Light magazine.

Pork was rubbed with coriander and salt then seared. For the sauce, chopped shallots, thyme, and minced garlic were sauteed in the same pan. Then cider vinegar, beef broth, and red currant jelly with black peppers were added. To thicken the sauce, corn starch was used.

Pork was OK. The sauce had an interesting taste with the vinegar, but it probably would have been much better with better quality red currant jam.

On the side, I made delicious marinaded vegetables. I burned the skin of a red pepper on the stove, put it in a closed container to steam it little bit, then peeled and sliced the red pepper. I grilled fun-shaped zucchinis (yellow, light green, and dark green) and roasted them in the oven to finish off. While the vegetables were still hot, I put freshly-squeezed lemon juice, salt, pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil.

---

Technorati Tags:red currant, pork loin, roasted pepper, zucchini

Wednesday Dinner: Sake steamed fish with ponzu

Ponzu is citrus-flavored soy sauce. It has a very refreshing taste and goes well with a lot of things. Simple steamed vegetables can turn into Asian hot salad with ponzu. Another one of my favorites is hot tofu with ponzu.

Sake steamed fish with ponzu (for 2 people):
Fish fillet (2) - it's best to use relatively firm fish that's not too fatty like sole or flounder.
Salt
Pepper
Rice cooking wine (2 tsp)
Ponzu (as needed) - If you can't find ponzu, you can substitute it with 3 part soy sauce, 2 part rice vinegar, 1 part freshly squeezed orange juice, and 1/2 part sesame oil
Chopped green onions (about 3 Tbsp, green part)

1. Wash fish fillet really well and pat dry. Place fish fillet on a large microwavable plate. Sprinkle salt and pepper. Put rice cooking wine over fish.
2. Cover the plate with plastic wrap loosely. Microwave for 6-8 minutes until fish is cooked.
3. Put green onions over the fish. Microwave for 10 seconds. Put ponzu on the fish or use it as dipping sauce.

I had miso soup, broiled daikon from the other night, and rice with the fish. Steaming fish with sake helps to get rid of the distinct smell of fish and is also a very healthy and easy way of cooking.

---

Technorati Tags:ponzu, steamed fish, Japanese recipe

Tuesday Dinner: Simple sausage and tomato pasta

I come home pretty late on Tuesday nights, so I made this pasta sauce over the weekend and kept it in the fridge. If you find really good sausage, this is a really nice way to enjoy that sausage flavor. I found a wonderful German butcher near my home that sells all sorts of sausages and smoked meats. I went there to sharpen my knife but couldn't resist getting one of their sausages...

Simple sausage and tomato sauce (for 4 people):
Good sausages (enough for 4 people)
Canned whole tomatoes (28 oz can)
Onion (1 medium, diced)
Bay leaf (1)
Olive oil (1 Tbsp)
Salt
Pepper

1. Heat a dutch oven with olive oil over medium-high heat. Grill sausages until both sides are nice and brown. Take the sausages out.
2. Turn the heat down to medium-low then add diced onion. Add a pinch of salt and saute until onion is really tender.
3. Add back the sausages then add tomatoes (crush them as you put them in), bay leaf, 2 tsp of salt, and a pinch of pepper. Simmer for 20-30 minutes.

Cook your favorite pasta and put the sauce over pasta.

I made the sauce really simple, but you can add garlic, chili peppers, Parmesan cheese, etc. to make it more interesting.

---

Technorati Tags:sausage pasta, pasta saucetomato sauce

Monday Dinner: Mackerel cooked with miso

Tonight, I cooked Spanish mackerel with miso. It's a popular Japanese dish called, saba no miso ni. I think the key to making this dish well is putting a lot of ginger at the right timing.

Mackerel cooked with miso (for 2 people):
Spanish mackerel (1 fillet cut into 2 pieces) - You can usually find Spanish mackerel at an Asian store
Julienned ginger (about 1/4 cup)
Konbu seaweed (about 2 inch piece)
Cooking wine (2 Tbsp)
Water (3/4 cup)
Sugar (2 Tbsp)
Miso (2 Tbsp)

Cut parchment paper into a circle of the size of your deep pan. Make a small hole in the center.
1. Make two incisions forming a cross on the skin of the fish.
2. Boil water and cooking wine with konbu in a deep pan. Once it boils, put fish pieces in with the skin side up.
3. Once the edges of the fish start to get white, put gingers in. When it boils, turn the heat down to medium-low and skim off any foam on the soup. Add sugar and put the parchment paper in. Push down the paper as deep as it can. It should be touching both the soup and fish. This helps the fish get cooked evenly without submerging it in soup. Cook for 8 minutes.
4. In a small bowl, combine miso and some of the soup , and thin out the miso. Add the mixture into the pan. Cook for 7 minutes, putting soup over the fish with a spoon every minute or so. Once the soup reduces, throw away the parchment paper. Cook until the sauce thickens.

It was actually little sweeter than I hoped. Perhaps, only 1 or 1.5 Tbsp of sugar is needed.

On the side, I served broiled daikon radish, broiled beet leaves with sesame sauce, and rice. It's one of those dinners that makes you feel so healthy after eating.

---

Technorati Tags:saba misoni, mackerelbeet leaves

Last Week's Menu and Shopping List

Last week was a busy week, so I only have 4 recipes to share...

Monday: Crab fried rice
Tuesday: Almond crusted chicken
Wednesday: Seared pork with mango salsa
Friday: Fried fish in vinegar marinade


Shopping List:
Crab (1 6oz can) - crab fried rice
Jasmine rice (1 cup uncooked) - crab fried rice
Green onions (3 stalks) - crab fried rice
Egg (2) - crab fried rice
Chicken breast (1 large) - almond crusted chicken
Sliced almonds - almond crusted chicken
Center-cut loin pork chops - seared pork with mango salsa
Mango - mango salsa
Fresh mint - mango salsa
Lemon - mango salsa
Thinly sliced onion (1 cup) - fried fish in vinegar marinade
Julienned Carrot (1/2 cup) - fried fish in vinegar marinade
Chopped cilantro (a bunch) - fried fish in vinegar marinade
Rice vinegar (1 cup) - fried fish in vinegar marinade
Tuna (15 oz) - fried fish in vinegar marinade

Recommendations for sides:
Crab fried rice - Asian soup like seaweed soup, miso soup, or sweet & sour soup, or salad with Asian dressing
Almond crusted chicken - roasted asparagus and couscous
Seared pork with mango salsa - roasted sweet potatoes
Fried fish in vinegar marinade - rice

Things that may or may not be in your fridge/pantry:
Salt
Pepper
Soy sauce
Vegetable oil
Sesame oil
Dijon mustard
Honey
chili powder
allspice
chili powder
crushed red pepper
Sugar
Chili peppers
Potato starch