Friday, October 21, 2011

love hearty soups ♥

It's been chilly these days.
Warm soups really ease our bodies & souls.
Here is one of my favorite soups of all time :)
Hope you'll like it!

Potato Leek Soup in Bread Cup
To Make 10 cups
3 potatoes, peeled and diced
1 leek, sliced
1” X 3” kombu
water
2 cups soy milk
1 teaspoon fresh thyme
1 tablespoon sea salt
2 tablespoons brown rice syrup
safflower oil for sautéing
soy margarine for sautéing
French bread

1.  In a pan, heat the safflower oil and soy margarine. Sauté the leek until tender.

2.  In a pot, put the kombu, leek, potatoes and water to cover. Bring to boil and cover. Lower the heat and simmer until the potatoes are cooked. Add the soymilk, sea salt, brown rice syrup and thyme. Bring to simmer and turn off the heat. Purée with a hand mixer until smooth.

3.  Preheat the oven to 375°F. Cut off the tops of the rolls. Using fingers, make holes to make bread cups. Pour the soup into the bread cups and bake them in the oven for 10 minutes or until the rolls become warm and crispy.

4.  Place them on plates or bowls and serve. Enjoy!



Saturday, July 23, 2011

summer nigiri sushi

Caliente!
Heat...
Need something light but still filling.
Trying to create sushi menu starting next week, I made some samples yesterday :)

Red bell pepper, collard green, zucchini flower, shiitake mushroom, tomato, spicy tofu & avocado, yellow zucchini... on brown rice seasoned with ume vinegar and brown rice syrup.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Ms. Donuts ミスド

Something missing in my heart was donuts.
I go hyper right after taking white sugar, cannot digest milk and get itchy with eggs...

OK. Time to make macro donuts :)

Just made some adjustment with my cannoli dough recipe I was working on and they came out beautifully.


Here is how to make;

to make 8 donuts
1 cup unbleached flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 pinch seasalt

1/2 cup maple syrup
4 oz extra firm tofu (appx. 1/4 of a package)
2 tablespoons soy margarine
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

safflower oil for deep frying

1. In a bowl, combine all the dry ingredients.
2. In a measuring cup, put all the wet ingredients except for the oil and mix with a hand mixer.
3. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and knead gently.  Set aside for 30-45 minutes.
4. Divide the dough into 8 pieces and form balls. Flatten each ball, poke the middle of each round with index fingers and make circles. If the dough tends to stick, use some flour to prevent it from sticking.
5. Heat the oil to 325°F.  Gently drop each circle into the oil. Fry until slightly brown, flip them over and keep frying until they turn golden brown.
6. Drain excess oil on a sheet of paper towel. Arrange them on a plate. Sprinkle with maple sugar or enjoy with your favorite jam, cream, fruits, etc. if you like ;)

 Fresh Strawberry Tofu Cream ♥

Green Tea Mint Chocolate ♪

Crunchy Almond Chocolate ☆


My fav was the strawberry :p



Next time, I would add some orange zest to my dough and bake them instead of frying...

Enjoy!

  Love, Peace and Gratitude.

Friday, June 10, 2011

sweet as a tomato


Heat. This NY weather and the city make me yang.  Craving something to cool off.
Every time I go to Greenmarket, these organic tomatoes talk to me, so I had bought a few. They are still very expensive.

Chilled Tomato Soup with Broccoli Raab and Fava Beans
トマトの冷製スープ ブロッコリーラーブと空豆添え
Had this about two weeks ago when it was so hot and humid.
Today, I made a simple pasta dish using a tomato from the same farmer and it was heavenly...
They are so sweet by themselves and it's such a treat to enjoy them at this time of year.
Hope they will be less expensive when summer begins.

Still enjoying this late spring season ♪

Saturday, June 4, 2011

pancake time - ホットケーキの時間♥

Rhubarb - what a strange name!

I needed to do something about this. (ずっと気になってしょうがなかった。)
Finally, I asked one of the farmers at Greenmarket how I should cook it.
She kindly told me it would be good in jam or sauce because of its tartness and great on ice cream, cheesecakes or in a pie. Sounds good.
Hmm...  but I wasn't in a mood of making ice cream or baking, ... OK.  How about on top of pancakes?


Coming back with the rhubarb and a pint of beautiful strawberries, made this sauce and pancakes right away.

The tangy sauce was a perfect match with my bitter and sweet green tea pancakes ♥ a happy moment :)

RHUBARB:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhubarb
rubarbについて:
日本語の説明

Friday, May 27, 2011

first guest

Lots of shopping for my kitchen. Pots and pans, steamer, wok, table for photo shooting, cutting board, bowls, plates, silver ware, trash can, etc. Have to like whatever I buy and luckily, I'm easy to get lost and happen to find something I've been looking for wherever I go ;)
After running around all over the city for a week, macro kitchen kitty is almost ready and I did the first photo shooting!
Right after I finished taking photos and ready to eat, my roommate called me and asked if I had dinner already, so I invited her...


greenmarket vegetable penne with cilantro pesto sauce
香草ペストソースのペンネ・グリーンマーケット風


We enjoyed the pasta and the flowers from Greenmarket.
It was a nice early dinner.
If you happen to be in NYC, please let me know.
You might be my next guest ♥

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

back to basics

いただきます!itadaki-masu (a Japanese phrase before meals, which shows appreciation for the cook, food, farmers, the sun, etc. )

This is a simple breakfast - soft grain, veg and shiitake miso soup, water sauteed greens and an umeboshi plum. Haven't had this kind of breakfast for such a long time... Working as a chef for 3 and 1/2 years, didn't care much about the food for myself. Now is the time to get back to the basics!
After eating this, I felt sooooo energized and almost flew into the sky ;)

 "VIVA MACRO"
Thank you :D

Saturday, May 21, 2011

sun and moon

After sleeping for a few hours in my airplane, I suddenly woke up and saw this lovely sky and the moon. 15 minutes later, I met the sun. The sun and the moon are always with us. 
It's a new beginning and I'm not alone because I've got you and you've got me :)