Miso-Mackerel (dinner 13 Sep)

Got a beautiful guest (sorry for no picture of her). 

Potato-headed Mr. Husband seemed excited, too.

 Had very fresh mackerel from local fish market, 

Hampstead Seafoods. 

 Miso-Mackerel is very popular autumn dish.

Directions

<Slice Mackerel into 3 layers>

1. Chut off the head, dorsal and pectoral fins. Make the angle of knife flat or close the horizontal and slice the layer by following the centre bone 

 2. Put the curved layer aside, turn over the rest of body and again, slice it in the same way

3. Curve the small side bones to remove

 4. Remove the remained centre bones (better to use bone removal tweezer) 

<Prepare for cooking> 
5. Cut one piece into half and make a small cross-shaped cutting in the middle of each piece 

6. Place all pieces in a net, power boiled water over them to both sides. This process helps to remove fishy smell

<Cook the mackerel>

7. prepare 

• 3 tablespoons of Miso
• 2 tablespoons of Sugar
• 3 Tablespoon of Mirin
• 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
• 120cc of water
• 5 pieces of thin sliced ginger

 8. Put all ingredients (except mackerel) into a large flat pan and allow them to boil

 9. Place mackerel pieces in the way the skin sides are facing up and bring them into gentry boil for 15-20 mins. Occasionally pour the sauce over the skin side.

Miso-Mackerel nicely goes with white rice. 

I cannot think any other thing to eat with at the moment. 

Perhaps I should explore such as miso-mackerel burger, etc.

The way to recycle head of mackerel was invented.

Mainly aiming to scare Mr. Husband.

 Total time to prepare: 35 mins
Total cost: 3 pounds (2 for mackerel, 1 for other veggies) 

By the way, 

I always wanted to say

thank you so much 

for reading my silly blog.

Japanese Pizza "Okonomi-yaki" in zombie (dinner 11 Sep)

I introduced Japanese pizza 

Okonomi-yaki (dinner on 29 July).

Last time, I drew Olympic rings on Okonomi-yaki.

This time, I made a strange face. 

I thought I didn't care.

But it became look like a happy zombie.

Then I was bit scared

because...

Mr. Husband has been away for business trip.

So I made a head of Mr. Husband to be my company 

to celebrate pre-Halloween 

with the zombie Okinomi-yaki.

I felt much better and less lonely.

When I was single and lived alone, I never felt this 

neither made heads of my boyfriends to be my company.

Being a housewife is innovative.

Total time to prepare: 25 mins

Total cost: very cheap

Cabbage, anchovy and Umeboshi (sour plum) capellini (dinner on 7 Sep)

Cabbage is rich in various kinds of vitamins. Especially it contains Vitamin U that supports to develop mucosa. Umeboshi, sour plum is nice resource for citric acid that helps antioxidation and detox. 

To gain (more) beauty and health, I made pasta with cabbage, anchovy and Umeboshi (sour plum). 

I also made salad with balsamic-pork. A tiny portion of meat in salad supports to digest vegetables and absorb the nutritions from them.

Cabbage, anchovy and Umeboshi (sour plum) capellini

Ingredients (for two)

• 200g of capellini or spaghetti
• 1 clove of garlic
• 4 pieces of oiled anchovies
• 4-5 large leaves of cabbage
• 1 Umeboshi
• 3 tablespoons of olive oil
• black pepper

Directions

1. Boil 3-4L of water in a large deep pan. Cook cabbage leaves for 30-40 seconds. Take them aside till they get cool

2.  Cut cabbage into roughly 2cm square. Chop garlic and anchovies into small pieces. Take out the stone from umeboshi and beat it with knife till becomes a paste

3. Heat a large frying pan at medium temperature, fry garlic pieces with olive oil for 1-2 mins. Turn off the heat and add all other ingredients (except pasta)

4. Add salt into the deep pan and boil pasta for 1mint and 15 seconds

5. Load pasta into the frying pan as well as 1 ladle-scoop of boiling water in the deep pan. Mix everything well to serve.

The crunchy texture of cabbage well communicates with pasta. The sharp flavour of anchovy is somewhat moderated by the fresh-acidity of Umeboshi and sweet taste of cabbage. 

This is very tasty, economical, nutritious!!

Time to prepare: 20 mins
Total cost: 2.6 pounds (60p for pasta, 2 for the veggies and pork)

Collagen Charge: Rice Porridge from Chicken wings' stock

Dinner on 5 Sep: Chicken wings, Broad beans and shrimp with sesame-tofu dressing, rice and miso soup

As introduced before, Broad beans and shrimp with sesame-tofu dressing is very rich and elegant side dish.

Blend tofu, sesame paste (tahini), soy sauce and sugar and then mix it with boiled shrimp and broad beans.

(Photo from 23 July)

Chicken wings are the source of collagen as I advertise every time. We use our hands to devour the piece into the joints therefore a finger bowl with a paper towel are essential item. Unromantic but very yummy.

This time I introduce another dish to enjoy chicken stock, 

Rice Porridge. 

After boiling chicken wings, the stock is strained through a net.

Direction of Rice Porridge with chicken stock (for 1 person)

1. Add 1 cup of cooked rice and 2 cups of chicken stock into a pan

2. Bring it into boil at high temperature

3. turn the heat at low temperature, bring it gently boil for 10-15 mins to make rice gruel down to a paste

4. Add grated ginger, sesame oil (1 teaspoon each), salt (1/4 teaspoon), black pepper

5. serve it with thin sliced spring onion and Chinese pickles (if available).

Rice porridge is very mild and easy to digest. It is common in China to have rice porridge for breakfast. Personally, I love to have rice porridge with chicken stock for breakfast when I got a hangover. 

Total time to prepare: 1 hour (Dinner), 20 mins for rice porridge
Total cost: 5.73 pounds (4.23 for 8 pieces of chicken wings, 1 for shrimp, 0.5 for other veggies) 

Overcoming Iceberg Lettuce Tragedy_2 Iceberg Lettuce and Meat Mille-Feuille (dinner 3 Sep)

As introduced in Japanese Hamburger Steak known as "Hambagu", I stored pre-heated Hamburger Steak pieces (made of minced meat mix) in my freezer. 
This time, I used them for 
Iceberg Lettuce and Meat Mille-Feuille.


This dish makes iceberg lettuce as a principal ingredient while usually a supporting when it is cooked.

Ingredients

• 10-15 large leaves of Iceberg Lettuce
• 400-600cc of Tomato juice
• minced meat mix

<minced meat mix>
Mix all ingredients as the following
Minced meat (beef and pork) 400-500g 

Large round onion  1/2 (chopped into small and pan-fried for 3-4 mins until they get translucent)

Breadcrumb  1 cup
Milk 1/2 cup

Beaten egg 1

Chicken stock 1/2 cube

Paprika or nutmeg  1/2 teaspoon

Salt and pepper
Vegetable oil

Directions

1. Flatten each piece of meat into 5 mm thickness. Place a piece in between cling films and spread it with a rolling pin

2. Place 2-3 pieces of iceberg lettuce to cover the bottom of a small pan and place the flattened meat over it. Make layers of lettuce and meat one after the other as Mille-Feuille. Make sure to complete the top layer with iceberg lettuce

3. Add tomato juice until to the level of the top layer

4. Make 4-5 small holes on a sheet of aluminium foil then cover the top of the Meat Mille-Feuille with it. Bring the pan into boil then turn the heat at small temperature and cook it for 15- 20 mins.

5. Place the entire piece of the Meat Mille-Feuille with a spatula on a large deep dish. Divide it with a knife to serve. 

The crunchy texture of cooked iceberg lettuce is enhanced by the smooth meat layer then the rich and sour tomato sauce perfectly unites these two!! 

This is very economical, easy to prepare and yummy dish!!

As I made only small portions of Meat Mille-Feuille, I add one more main dish.

Just season salmon fillet with salt, grill it at 250C temperature for 6-7 mins and drop soy sauce to serve.

Salad was also enjoyable. 
Fry the paprika and tomatoes in a small amount of vegetable oil for 30-40 seconds each.
Dress them with sugar (1 tablespoon), salt (1/2 teaspoon), vinegar (1 tablespoon), sesame oil (1 teaspooon). I mixed them with cucumber,  coriander leaf and pine nuts.

Total time to prepare: 40 mins

Total cost: 5.7 pounds (1.5 for meat mix, 3.2 for salmon, 1 for veggies)

Next morning, I made tomato risotto with the tomato sauce from the Meat Mille-Feuille remained in the pan. Boil 1 cup of cooked rice and 1/4 chopped onion with the Meat Mille-Feuille sauce for 10 mins in a pan. Add parmesan cheese and poached egg and top with dill and a tablespoon of truffle oil to serve.