Blue Hubbard "Cheese"

A "Cheese" of Blue Hubbard Squash puree

Squash juice.... maybe I should call it "tea" and it is more appetizing? 

So, I just steamed 1/4 of a 32lb blue hubbard squash... Yes, 8lbs.... . Then I mashed it with my handy fork, and oh my goodness, what a wet sloppy mess that was. The last two pies I baked with this mix took 2x the normal baking time.

Then I remembered how to make yogurt cheese- just add some herbs to plain yogurt, dump it into a clean handkerchief, hang and drain.... could it work for squash too?

So I decided to make a "cheese" of the steamed squash. I lined a colander with a clean handkerchief, and put the pureed pumpkin into it. Wow, did it drain! Amazing!  Then I tied the handkerchief and hung it by some twine and let the water drain into a bowl. Wow did it drain more! Totally amazing the amount of water in steamed pumpkin! I have the other 1/4 in the oven baking at 350 F. (our oven is from the US, so it cooks in F, not C.)

I wonder how long I should suspend this "cheese" of squash. Overnight seems excessive, but 20 min in, it is still draining pretty steadily....
The pyrex measuring cup was up to 500ml when I decided I needed to do something- and thus the Squash-Sweet Potato cocktail was invented (don't try this at home, it really isn't that tasty).
I took 150ml of the squash and added 50ml of 60 proof imo-jouchu (distilled sweet potato liquor) to it. The fruity blend of the..... forget it. It is not a good drink. Might be better with a cleaner liquor like vodka.
Maybe as a hot breakfast tea.... without the liquor of course!

I turned off the oven, the rest of the squash should be tender by morning.... I hope!

Kudzu Blossom Jelly

It is that time of year again. The smell of Kudzu blossoms is everywhere, and the cheery purple flowers are hanging down like bunches of grapes. Bees are everywhere, and there is Eric, stripping kudzu blossoms with his right hand while catching them in a bowl held in his left.

The past few tries have ended up in Kudzu syrup, due to either a lack of pectin, lack of acidity, lack of sugar, or lack of skill (I think maybe all four..) This year I think it is different. I had a nice box of quality pectin, lots of sugar, and a real lemon to squeeze for juice.
This is a really small recipe- I want to make sure it works before I make liter upon liter of it. Since it is only 500 ml or so, I just used an old jam jar since the kids can eat that much jelly in an afternoon if not supervised. If you make lots and lots of it, follow proper canning proceedure and sterilize.

Here is how I did it:

1. Collect about two cups of kudzu flower petals. You can just strip them off the flower stalk into a colander or bag as you collect them. 
2. Wash the blossoms in cold water. I like to fill the bowl with water to the top to make the bugs float to the surface. Then I can skim them out. Bugs mean healthy kudzu, so don't freak out. I would probably freak out if there were no bugs... "OMG! Why aren't there any bugs? What is wrong with these blossoms?"
3. Drain the blossoms and return them to a bowl. Now pour 500ml of boiling water over them, and put the bowl in the fridge for 8 hours. 
4. Strain the blossom water into a kettle and throw away the spent blossoms. The water will look brown or gray. That is fine, it is not the final color.
5. Add 1/2 Tbsp of lemon juice, and the pectin. Stir and heat on high to a full rolling boil. 
6. Add 2 1/2 cups of sugar and stir and return to the rolling boil. Boil one minute more.
7. Remove from heat and skim off the pink foam.
8. Pour into sterile jars (or just clean ones if you are going to be refrigerator jelly people like we are) and cap. 
9. Cool on wire rack.
10. Enjoy.

Kudzu blossoms after steeping- Looks terrible now, right?

The liquid is not so bad of a color. Now to add some lemon juice and pectin...

Pink!

Ummm.... jelly! (I hope, let's see if it sets....)

Espresso Pancakes

This morning I was making pancakes for the kids and drinking some espresso (well, OK, it was Italian Coffee) made in my new Moka Pot. More on that later. Anyhow, the daughter came over and said how wonderful the coffee smelled. She asked me if I had ever put coffee into pancake batter before. I immediately dumped a bunch into the batter.
Folks, you should try this. It was very delicious. I didn't measure, just added what was left in the pot. Probably about 3 Tbsp.

On to the moka pot- this thing is wonderful! We got the three cup pot by Bialetti. I thought of Minnesota coffee cups when we bought it. Not quite the same! The three cup pot filled about half a Minnesota sized coffee mug. But it was so deliciously strong! I looked on Wikipedia for more information about it, and they said that it is not a true espresso maker, since they have to be made at 9 bar (atmospheric pressure at sea level), but moka pots have a maximum pressure of 1.5 bar. But I am not a foodie, and I could care less if it is "true" espresso. Now I just need some little tiny espresso shot cups and I am all set!

Popcorn Cornbread

I had a hankering for some good old fashioned cornbread this morning. But, here in Japan, I have never seen cornmeal for sale. Anywhere.
Then I had an idea- what if I took some popcorn kernels, put them in the blender, and hit the button?
I am proud to tell you that it worked like a charm. The noise was intense, but the effect was wonderful cornmeal.

My recipe- adapted from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook:

1c flour
3/4c cornmeal
3 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp. Baking Powder
1 tsp. salt

2 eggs
1c milk
1/4c veg. oil

Mix the dry ingredients in a medium-large bowl.
Mix the wet ingredients in a small bowl.
Add the wet to the dry and stir just until moistened.
Dump it in a cake pan, and chuck it in a 200C oven (400F) for 20 min.

That's good eating.

The Testening

I finally did it. I tested the solar parabolic cooker.
However, there are some problems- it is cold outside! Five degrees, and some clouds scudding the sky. But, I figured that I should get it done.

Outside temp was 5 degrees C.

Water temperature before starting was 12 degrees

Step 1: Prepare the target. I took a 350ml can from the recycling pile and spray-painted it matte black.
Step 2: Aiming the mirror. I have two strings running in an "X" over the top of the parabola. When the shadow X hits the small X I made on the base, it is focused.
Step 3. I filled the can with water and measured the temp- twelve degrees. Then I took some string and tied it to the ring-tab. Finally I suspended it from a 1x4 just above the "X" on the baseplate.

Can in place and ready to heat.

Step 4. I made a spreadsheet to record the data and began to measure.

You can see the can shadow over the target.

There were a few clouds in the sky.

Over the course of an hour, the temperature of the 350ml of water in the can did manage to rise to 45 degrees C. Perhaps more constant vigilance in aiming could have improved that. I did have to end the experiment early. The original plan was to continue until a stable temperature was reached for 30 minutes.

Observations:

1. The parabola is not very sturdy. It flops around and sags, causing a very soft focus I think.
2. You really cannot use it in windy conditions. It will blow it around and the wind will steal heat from your target. perhaps insulating the can inside a clear glass jar would improve efficiency.
3. Winter is not a good time for outdoor solar cooking in this thing. The sun is so low, that it is hard to suspend your target in the focal point, due to the angle. And the cold air also steals a lot of heat.
4. It is fun to experiment.

So, any geeky types out there who can help me understand my data from the spreadsheet?

Also, any tips or hints, or requests for other data?

New Year's Eve

On Dec. 16, I wrote about my buckwheat harvest and how I planned to make "Toshi Koshi Soba" for New Years Eve.
So we did it! We made "Go-Wari Soba." Which means that it is half buckwheat and half wheat flour (the gluten holds it together).
If you want to try it, you need:

Ingredients
150g Buckwheat flour
150g Wheat flour
129g water between 20-25 degrees C.

Start with 150g each buckwheat flour and wheat flour.
Measure the water into two cups- 90g in one, 39 in the other. 

Sift the flours together

Now you have 300g of flour ready to go

My helpers drizzle 90g of water while stirring with chopsticks.
Then mix it with your fingers to make it grainy.
Add the 39g of water a little at a time as you continue to mix it.
When the grains get bigger, stop adding water and make a ball.

Kneading the dough 100 times

Cover the dough and let it rest while you flour your rolling surface and get out the rolling pin.
In Japan, most serious foodies have a soba kit, with a big rolling pin and board.
I am not a foodie, I'm an eater. I use my table and a regular sized pin.

Press the dough flat with your palms.

Begin rolling the dough out. You are aiming for a rectangle.
After two or three times, roll the dough onto the rolling pin, and rotate it 90 degrees.
Then unroll it again, and continue. This should give you a relatively square piece.

When it is about 1mm thick, flour 1/2 of the sheet, and fold it in half.
It helps if you roll the sheet onto the rolling pin one last time before you fold it,
otherwise it will stretch and stick to your table surface.

Fold it in half again, (now it is four layers thick) and put it on a cutting board.
Use another cutting board as a ruler and cut the noodles about 1mm thick.
If you cut, and bump the ruler with the side of your knife, you can get a good rhythm going.

The noodles, cut and ready to boil.

Put a BIG kettle on the stove and get it boiling. 

Now you need to make the soup. I didn't take pictures of it, but it is so easy.

Ingredients:

6 cups of dashi-broth (made from dried bonito flakes, or "Katsuobushi". Look in an Asian Grocery. Most people use prepared granular bullion)

1/2 cup soy sauce

2 Tbsp of mirin

1 tsp of sugar

1 skinless chicken breast cut in bite sized pieces.

Dump it all in a pot and boil it until the chicken is done.

By  now the big kettle should be boiling. 

You will need a large bowl, with a smaller colander inside it, and a steady stream of cold water into the bowl.

Divide the noodles in four (I like to put them into the four bowls that we will use to eat with), and get ready, because this part moves fast.

1. Drop 1/4 the noodles into the boiling water, and stir it a few times to make sure the noodles don't stick to each other.

2. When the noodles float to the top and the boiling resumes, count to 15, scoop the noodles out, and put them into the colander. Rinse them lightly, drain, and transfer them to the bowl you will eat out of. (try one noodle to see if it is done to your preference, you can then adjust the time)

3. Repeat steps one and two for the other 3 bowls.

4. Ladle some of the soup into the bowls over the noodles, maybe sprinkle some green onions and tenkasu on top, and dig in. After finishing the noodles, put a ladle of the water used to boil the noodles into your bowl and drink it dry. 

A bit thick and thin, but delicious!
(We didn't have any green onion)

My Rice For Lunch

My homegrown Koshi-Hikari and my wife's "Saba no Miso-ni" (Miso Mackerel)

Well, I finally had a chance. I cooked and ate the rice.
It was so good! But I am not exactly an unbiased party.
According to my wife, who is Japanese and spent her entire life eating rice, the texture was "mochiri" (kind of springy) and the taste was different from the Koshi-Hikari rice that we usually buy. I think she is being polite when she says "different." But I loved it. The kids loved it, and the woman I love says she loves it just to make me feel good!
She is sitting behind me on the sofa and she says that I should have put the fish and rice on proper serving dishes if I was going to put the picture on the blog. So imagine the rice in a bowl, and the fish on a square plate, with the chopsticks balanced on a ceramic eggplant, with a lacquer bowl of miso soup behind them. (I just didn't want to do all those dishes)

If you want to make Miso Mackerel at home, here is my wife's take on the recipe.

Ingredients:
Mackerel (1, cut into fillets)
Soy sauce 1 tbsp
Japanese Cooking Sake (rice wine) 1/3cup
Water 1 cup
Sugar 3 tbsp
Miso 4 tbsp
Ginger (freshly grated 2 tbsp) or powdered ginger 1/2 tsp.

1. Pour some boiling water over the mackerel.
2. Bring the water, soy sauce, and rice wine to a boil, and put the mackerel (skin side up) in the pot. Cook on medium heat for 10 minutes or so.
3. Add the miso and boil it down until it is nice and thick.

Open Sandwich, Ulrich Sandwich, Bread Baser, or Tartine

 I love sandwiches. I love grilled cheese sandwiches. 

But I only had one slice of bread and about 3 minutes....

Behold with all proper awe and adulation, 

THE OPEN FACED GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICH!

Single slice of bread, buttered on both sides, some cheese...

Flip it quick

Browned cheese.

Necessity is the mother of invention.