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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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