Japanese Potato Salad おいしいポテトサラダ

Good morning. I'm listening to Mike Cavanaugh writing this post with my favorite Caffè Latte in the kitchen. Since today Summer break's started until the 3rd week of August. I have 6 weeks! Woo hoo! I'll spend 3 weeks back in Tokyo to see my family and my friends. I've been waiting for it long long time since John got me the tickets last November. I always feel so lucky to have him (I'm always proud to have you John, of course) especially when it comes to flight and all that process. This time I can fly on both way for about 700 bucks even though it's the middle Summer season. And sure, I can get flight tickets 90% off because he's a cabin attendant. So I'm thinking of a surprise visit for my mom ;) Where are you flying this Summer?

Do you know Japanese potato salad? Have you had it before? No? You should give it a try. Not only John loves it but also both of his parents loved it, too! I am sure that German people would like it more than their Kartoffelsalat (potato salad) ;) From my experience of having potato salads here, they're way too sweet, out of seasoning performance, and boring to eyes : lack of a variety of color. Food should be, in my opinion, determined by how it looks and food should make people think "I want to eat it" at the first glance. What do you cook for? You probably want to make nice food to please your partner or your family with a satisfaction, don't you? Then Dish & color & seasoning performance is very important. It's not cool that food is made only to make people stuffed, is it? I am always serious about what I cook, what I eat with people, and what foods give us.

Japanese potato salad itself doesn't actually have cheese in. If you'd like to have original one, skip cheese part and enjoy its flavor! Have a wonderful Friday!

4 Portion (4人分)

10 small Potatoes, peeled, cut small (じゃがいも 小10個) 

2 small Yellow Onions, thinly sliced (たまねぎ 小2個, 薄くスライス) 

1 medium Cucumber, thinly sliced (きゅうり 1本, 薄くスライス )

1/4 cup/ 50g powdered Parmesan cheese (パルメザンチーズ 50g, スライスチーズ2枚程度でも可)

2 boiled Eggs, separate egg white & yolk, cut into pieces (ゆで卵 2個, 細かく切る)

1 small Carrot, thinly sliced (人参 小1本, 薄くスライス)

1 teaspoon powdered Dashi (=Japanese stock) (和風だし(顆粒)小さじ1)

4 to 5 Tablespoons Mayonnaise (マヨネーズ 大さじ4~5: 量はお好み) 

Freshly ground pepper (粗挽き胡椒 少々 )

1 to 2 Tablespoon Salt: salt slices of cucumber and then soften them by squeezing. Wash cucumber. Drain well. (塩(塩もみ用) 大さじ1~2ぐらい) 

Directions......>>>>>

Spicy Champignon garlic butter sauté マッシュルームのバターにんにく唐辛子炒め

Thursday evening. In Germany, at 8:45pm..can you guess what I'm doing right now?
Watching Europe Football Champion 2012!!
No, I'm not football freak and not ever using a horn thing at my balcony for each goal like John does..but I can't believe myself yet that I've started to watch it for each game.
If you're not interested in football at all like I was just until very recently and you ever come to Europe, you couldn't really help getting involved in watching Champions League.
You'll see how insanely crazy people get, how the whole country heats up, and all broadcasts keep you updated each second for football news and playing hot music.
How could I resist it? The whole town has been so excited.

Here are my mushrooms. Buttery sautéed, spiced up with garlic and red hot peppers. There's no other side dishes than this. Seriously super easy to make and you can't stop bring it to your mouth. I used 300g (1+1/2 cup) for 2 portion but I thought we'd need twice more of it. You could slice them up, please it on baguette, toast with cheese on. Oh that's going to be perfect snack for football watching.


1+1/2 cup/ 300g Champignon (マッシュルーム300g)
1 Tablespoon Butter (バター 大さじ1)
2 coloves Garlic, minced (にんにく 2つ, みじん切り)
1 small Red pepper, remove seeds (小さい鷹の爪 1個, 種を除く)
1 Tablespoon White wine OR 1/4 cup/ 50ml Chicken broth (白ワイン 大さじ1又は50mlの水に小さじ1の鶏ガラスープを溶いたもの)
Salt & freshly ground pepper (塩・黒胡椒 少々)
1/3 teaspoon Parserey (パセリ 小さじ1/3)
1 Tablespoon Powdered cheese (I used Parmesan) (粉チーズ 大さじ1)

Directions.....>>>>

Japanese Teriyaki Chicken 照り焼きチキン

OH. This was so good. This is Japanese Teriyaki chicken...I have to declare it. I just noticed that every time John comes back from his flight I cook chicken...and they're always from Western menus. He's original German and loves Western food of course, but luckily he also loves Japanese food. And I am Japanese and I miss the food. If you've cooked Japanese food, you probably know how easy actually to  cook it is. This is the one of these easy dishes no matter where you live in the world. 

Before I moved to Germany, I thought I would never miss Japanese food because I mostly chose and cooked Western food and had no problem with what I ate. But once I started to live here, I got the problem with what I eat. 

No matter how much I eat, no matter what I grab, nothing satisfied my appetite and I kept gaining weight. (Now, of course, everything I cook and eat satisfies me but at this time, I started to be anorexia and have eating disorder.) And I noticed how important the food which I've eaten while growing up was and the food that has made me was. I'm not a good cook yet but ahh...how tasty! When I have my Japanese food for the first time in a while, I feel like it fuels up inside me really and makes me real happy. What your mama cooked will always be what you cook and eat :) I guess. 

Enjoy and cook this teriyaki chicken. You'll love it.

600g Chicken thigh (鶏もも肉 2枚 (600g))

Salt & freshly ground pepper (塩・黒胡椒 少々) 

[MIX 混ぜる]-------------------------------------------------------------

1/4 cup 25ml Japanese Sake (酒 25ml)

1 Tablespoon Sugar (砂糖 大さじ1)

1/4 cup 25ml Kikkoman Soy sauce (醤油 25ml)

1 Tablespoon Sunflower oil (サラダ油 大さじ1)

Directions......>>>>>>

Summer, Tomato, Cold Spaghetti! 夏のボロネーゼ風冷製パスタ

2 to 3 portion 2~3人前 (2人で食べればたっぷりな量)
800g canned Whole Tomato (ホールトマト1缶 800g)
2 Medium Yellow Onion, minced (玉ねぎ2玉 みじん切り)
[Option] 1/2 100g Bacon, cut small (お好みで: ブロックベーコン 100g 小さく切る)
2 cloves Garlic, minced (にんにく 2片 みじん切り)
2 Capsicum annuum (鷹の爪 2本)
2 teaspoon dried Oregano (乾燥オレガノ小さじ2)
2 teaspoon dried Basil (乾燥バジル小さじ2)
1 cube Chicken broth/ Consommé (固形コンソメ1個)
Salt & freshly ground black pepper (塩・ブラックペッパー 適宜)
Olive oil (オリーブ油 たっぷり) オリーブオイルは太りませんのでたっぷり!
70g (1 portion) Spaghetti (パスタ麺 70g (1人分))
1 Tablespoon Fresh lemon  juice (レモン果汁 大さじ1)

1 In a large pan, pour in your favorite olive oil, minced garlic, and Capsicum annuum at low heat.
When it starts to smell good, stir minced onion at high heat, and toss diced bacon as onion gets transparent.

2 When bacon is cooked through, carefully dump tomatoes, oregano, and basil. Smash tomatoes with a wooden spatula into your favorite piece-size. I like tiny ones.
Bring the heat lower as tomato sauce starts boiling, drop cubed chicken broth, cook another 5 to 10 minutes.

3 Salt & freshly ground pepper to taste. Transfer the cooked sauce to a large bowl, chill in the fridge when it's not hot anymore. I made it in the morning and had it at the evening.

4 Boil spaghetti 1 minute longer than the package direction. Wash the noodle with ice cubes till completely cooled. Drain well.
Toss spaghetti into the tomato sauce bowl, sprinkle lemon juice over it, mix well.
Serve immediately.   Enjoy!

フライパンにオリーブ油をたっぷり入れ、にんにく、鷹の爪を入れて弱火で炒める。
いい香りがしてきたら強火で玉ねぎを炒め、 透き通ってきたらベーコンを加える。
ある程度ベーコンに火が通ったら、トマト缶とオレガノ、バジルをを加える。
沸騰してきたら火を弱め、コンソメを入れ、5~10分程度煮込んだら味見して、塩・ブラックペッパーで味を調整する。 味が決まったら、粗熱を撮りボウルや保存容器に移し冷蔵庫で冷やす。私は朝作って、夕食にいただきました。

表示時間より1分長く茹でた麺を冷水でしめよく水を切る。トマトソースのボウルにレモン汁を絞り、スパゲッティを加えて混ぜる。 味が薄ければ塩で調整。Enjoy!

xoxo

M

Chicken with Olives. Easy Summer dish

With only salt and pepper, chicken can be insanely delicious. They can make you drool like now.  I see youuu!
I was looking for an easy chicken recipe and I found this recipe in The Pioneer Woman.
Though the recipe called for Green Bell Peppers, I had to leave it out because they don't have it here in grocery stores. But I'm so satisfied with the outcome and how it tastes. Chicken got super tender, though I just quickly browned and boiled with other ingredients, and the combination with penne was another big pleasure of each bites (Ree's original recipe used Linguine) .
You should also give this a try. It really isn't complicated as these first pictures would make you think so, because I never cook something difficult, and needless to say I'm sure you'll love it.

 On my Facebook I've been posting pretty much of photos of what I cooked and foods that I don't post here the recipes of. These are so easy that anyone could wing without a recipe once you know the gist of what it’s supposed to taste like or from ingredients that you see in photos.
Thankfully more of you started to be curious about my cooking and baking and ask how I cook and it keeps me motivated to make nice foods. So please tell me about what you think on the comment section below or on my Facebook. Help me make more yummy :)

[Makes 2 to 3 portions]

4 Tbsp Butter
4 Tbsp Olive Oil
6 pieces Chicken (I Used Thighs And Legs) With Skin
1 whole medium Onion, diced
5 cloves Garlic, minced
5 medium Tomatoes, diced
1 cup Low Sodium Chicken Broth (or White Wine)
Salt & freshly ground Black Pepper
1/4 cup/ 50ml Heavy Cream
1 cup/ 200g Whole Green Olives
1 cup/ 200g Penne

Directions From The Pioneer Woman.......
&
Step by Step photos that I did >>>>>

Quick Crispy Churros. 簡単カリッもちっチュロス

Found out I'd been wanting deep-fried, hot, crispy, cinnamon sugar coated Churros. Exactly this. To satisfy my sugar-desire, I sneak into the kitchen, open nutella lid, and enjoy 1 tablespoon full of chocolate bomb. But it actually doesn't satisfy my desire...but unfortunately I'm out of fruits and even nutella. How sad. I started to brows Japanese food recipe site and came up with making churros. Why the hell didn't I think of it? I didn't know how easy and quick to make them. The worst part is only after frying when it comes to cleaning all these mess in the kitchen. but that's a price of delicious snack :)

55g Bread flour (強力粉 55g)

80g All-purpose flour (薄力粉 80g) 

1/2 cup/ 100ml Milk (牛乳 100ml)

1/4 cup/ 50ml Water (水 50ml)

1/8 cup/ 25g Butter (バター 25g) 

1 Medium Egg, beaten (卵 M1個、溶く) 

Vanilla extract (バニラエッセンス 少々) 

Cinnamon & Granulated sugar (シナモン・グラニュー糖 適量)

Sunflower oil (揚げ油) 

Directions.....>>>>>

No Knead Bread. Moist, rich, flavorful. 捏ねないパン

I've been baking breads.  We found it tastes better, is more flavorful, nicer texture than grocery breads that are already dried out and get quite hard in a couple of days. Last weekend I baked 2nd no knead bread for John (I eat rice these days). Baking bread is my new discovery last 2 months. How happy it makes me as it is freshly hot out of oven. The smell has been loved through the ages and never changed. And it always brings us a smile. I love a moment I put the knife down through the bread and rich, moist, puffy dough shows up with a little left steam. No nutella, no sugar-flooded jam required. I like to enjoy the new baby loaf simply with a butter. Do you like it too? You're my friend.
I keep trying to make better breads, cakes, cookies, and of course meals.

This video from Kitchen Vignettes helps. ビデオ観ると全体の流れがわかるよ。

3 cups All-purpose flour (薄力粉 600g)
1 tsp/5g Dry yeast (ドライイースト5g)
1 tsp Salt (塩 小さじ1弱)
2 cups to 2.5 cups/400~450ml Water (水 400~450ml), depends on how dry it still is. I put 450ml total.

1: Roughly mix all ingredients together. The dough will be wet and quite sticky than regular bread dough. Cover and let sit between 18 to 24 hours.

簡単に全ての材料をボウルの中で混ぜる。普通のパン生地よりかなり手にくっつくけど、ビデオ観てわかるように、問題なし! 18時間から24時間ラップをした状態で放置。私はいつも18時間。お昼に作れば翌朝焼きたてが食べられる。

2: On the floured surface, bring the dough out of the bowl and fold a couple of times *NO KNEAD*.
Bring back it onto the bowl, cover and let sit for another 2 hours.

ふるいをした台の上に生地を取り出し、3、４回生地をたたみ、再び蓋をして2時間放置。捏ねないこと。


3: Preheat oven to 230℃ (450°F). Put a lidded dutch oven / cast iron pot in the oven for about 15 minutes before starting to bake.
Remove from the oven and sprinkle flour or cornmeal in the pot to prevent the bread from sticking.

オーブンを230℃に予熱。蓋付きの耐熱鍋をオーブンに入れて、15分温める。
オーブンから出したら鍋の底に薄力粉かトウモロコシ粉をまいて生地を入れ、蓋をする。


4: Dump your dough in there and immediately put the lid on.
Bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid. Bake for another 15 minutes. Let the bread sit for an hour before cutting into it.

焼き時間合計30分。最初の15分経過後、鍋の蓋を取って、また15分。1時間休ませてからカットしてね。

xoxo

M