Hiyashi-shabu no Goma Dare

22Aug09

Again I’m repeating a favorite summer recipe from the past. This meal can be prepared ahead of time. Prepare it in the morning while it is cool, and cooking is not unpleasant; or cook the beef, cut the fruit and vegetables, then chill the sauce for a dinner to host without stress. The colors of the fruits and vegetables arranged on a serving platter are stunning.

Filed under: Beef, Japanese Food, Nabemono, One Pot Cooking, Salads, Dressings, and Sauces, Vegetables   |  2 Comments
Tags: Sesame Sauce

Dumplings and Mung-Bean Noodle Hot Pot

31Mar09

Round, round, round… making meatballs is relaxation. My mind moves ’round from one topic to another, settling to meditate on an idea—how a compliment from a stranger can brighten a day. Oh, love sought is good, but given unsought, is better. A surprise is to be wondered at just because it is unexpected, and so [...]

Filed under: Harusame Mung Bean Noodles, Japanese Food, Nabemono, Noodles, One Pot Cooking, Pork   |  2 Comments
Tags: dumplings, hot-pot, Japanese Cooking

Tori-nabe: Chicken Hot Pot

12Jan09

Sharing a large pot of chicken and vegetables cooked in broth at the table is entertaining, fun, and soul-warming. —Hiroko Shimbo
And so it’s true. You might ask why I’d make a hot pot meal for only me! Good question. I’ve not been cooking much since Mr. Tess and Miss Tralita flew off after the holidays. After eating a (small) bag of chocolates for dinner one evening, I’m hungry for real food again. This meal may be best enjoyed with company, but it’s satisfying and warm. And being a soup of sorts, it’s good for a second and third meal.

Filed under: Japanese Food, Nabemono, One Pot Cooking, Tofu, chicken   |  2 Comments
Tags: hot-pot, Japanese Recipes, tori-nabe

Tuna Hot-Pot two

05Jan09

These past few weeks have been wonderful with having us all together: Mr. Tess suggested that this occasion was suitable to open the bottle of apple brandy we got in Normandy, in 1999.
In the autumn of 1998, we got a phone call from a man asking to speak to “Jack” (Mr. Tess’s father), who had died in 1972. The stranger was a paratrooper in Normandy on D-Day, as was “Jack.” The fellow had a picture from “Newsweek” magazine with a picture of “Jack” carrying an injured French boy—and he knew that boy, now grown up, who wanted to meet and thank “Jack.”

Filed under: Asian Influenced Food, Fish and Seafood, Japanese Food, Nabemono, One Pot Cooking   |  4 Comments
Tags: hot-pot, tuna

Oden: Hot Stew with Assorted Fish Cakes

29Dec08

Today my daughter and I went to a local Japanese/Asian store to find ingredients to make our oden. There were packages of pre-selected ingredients assembled for making oden (including a powder to make the broth). But using the recipe below as a quide, we choose some interesting-looking things: konnyaku, fried fish balls, sardine dumplings (iwashi tsumire), chikuwa, and narutomaki. Mr. Tess kindly went to another store to find hanpen which is described so charmingly in the book.

Filed under: Fish and Seafood, Japanese Food, Nabemono, One Pot Cooking   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: hanpen, iwashi tsumire, Japanese Cooking, Japanese Recipes, kannyaku, oden, satsuma age