No average cheeseburger

Not much time for cooking today so we ended up with what is our standard cheeseburger. Most of the ingredients are as you would expect them to be with the exception of raw carrots. This is how it's put together:

Layers working upwards from bottom:

4 Hamburger breads
Ketchup / chili sauce
4 burgers
2 finely grated raw carrots
Cheese

Now they should look something like this:

Now it's time to put it under the grill for 10 - 15 mins (or until the cheese is done to your liking).

Once it's out of the oven, add lettuce, top piece of hamburger bread and that's it.

Sliced through:


The carrots might seem like a strange addition, but they add sweetness and increasing the amount of vegetables in anything is always a good idea. But, please note - they must be finely grated otherwise it's best to leave them out.

Enjoy

Appearances can be deceiving

is the thought that struck me as I was preparing todays dinner, spicy meatballs with cream sauce, rice and a side salad. Basically, frying the meatballs nicely golden they look pretty much as you'd expect, but once they're covered by the cream they lose their golden and highly appetising appearance. When it comes to taste though there are few things that can beat them.


















(click pic for large size)

2 packages (800 g) minced beef
1 teaspoon salt
1 dl milk
2 tablespoons starch (potato or corn etc)
1 heaped teaspoon baharat
1 egg
Oil/margarine for frying
3 - 4 dl cooking cream (or whichever type you prefer)

You can do this by hand if you want - I prefer the Major's help. Mix beef and salt well, then add milk, starch, baharat and egg. Mix well.

Next you need to get a frying pan ready and also a heavy bottomed casserole. Frying pan should be on max heat, dont forget to add the oil/margarine to it and add the cream to the casserole and keep the casserole on low heat.

Once the frying pan is hot, get a tablespoon and drop spoonfuls of the meat mix into the pan. Meatballs should not be cooked through, they should only be fried until they are nicely golden on both sides. As soon as they are golden on the outside, transfer them to the waiting casserole (to which you should already have added the cream). When all meatballs are in the casserole cover with tightfitting lid and leave for 10 mins to cook through (still on low heat).

Serve with rice and any salad. Shown on pic is plain basmati, salad is just tomatoes, cucumbers and koriander (cilantro), dressed with limejuice, oil, salt and black pepper.

Enjoy

Big fat Udon noodles

Yet another simple meal, simple boiled udon noodles and sauteed vegetables, omelette and Japanese pickles.

















(click on pic for large size)

Approx 300 g Ishimaru thick Udon noodles
1 large carrot, cut into matchsticks or grate with lemon zester
1 1/2 cups frozen peas, boiled
1 omelette (made from 3 eggs), sliced finely
Leek, green part finely sliced
Japanese Shittake Konbu pickles (mushroom & kelp)
1 tablespoon dark sesame oil
3 tablespoons neutral oil

Boil noodes in salted water together with frozen peas, drain. Saute carrot in oil (sesame + neutral) until it softens slightly, then add leek, cook for another minute or so, then add omelette, keep stirring just long enough to let the omelette get heated.

Add the noodles and peas to the rest of the vegetables and also add a tablespoon of the pickles, mix well to get the pickles evenly distributed throughout. Should serve 2.

Enjoy

Something fishy

Somewhat inspired by both onigiri and stuffed rice balls rolled in sesame salt, the result was this:




















(click pic for large size)

Rice/fish mixture:

Cooked cold rice (2.5 dl uncooked basmati)
10 sliced smoked salmon, finely chopped
125 g cream cheese, black pepper type
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
5 tablespoons cream (any kind, or creme fraice or sour cream etc)


Sesame salt for coating:

8 parts sesame seeds, lightly toasted
1 part salt (I used maldon)
Breadcrumbs, freshly toasted

Sesame seeds and salt shold be given a quick whiz in a spice grinder, keeping in mind that you dont want powder but a coarse mix. In a bowl mix 1 part ground sesame seed/salt mix with 3 parts fine breadcrumbs. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, mix cream cheese, mayo, cream and stir until smooth. Add salmon and mix well again. Add boiled rice and mix well (depending on how dry the mix turns out you might not want to use all the rice). The mix should make about 16 balls or so, using oiled hands to form the mix into balls will make it easier. After shaping, roll in sesame salt and you're done.

Fast food aka noodles

To everyone whose only experience with noodles are those awful cardboard noodles (otherwise known as instant noodles), you have my deepest sympathy. They might work well as a stomach filler which is what they were designed for in any case, but noodles are so much more than those. The variety of noodles is almost endless, unfortunately I live in a part of the world where there isn't a lot of variety in this area which is where Internet shopping comes in. Most of the noodles consumed in this household are delivered by mail from Japan Centre, we also use some amount of chinese noodles (mostly egg noodles and rice noodles), but they are easily available here.

Time to get to the point maybe? Ok, the only condition for todays dinner was maximum amount of flavour in minimum amount of time and that's where the noodle entered the picture.

Took about 5 mins to get the vegetables chopped, noodles and seasonings ready.


















(click on pic for large size)

For two:

200 grammes of Soba Noodles with Yam Extract
2 carrots, sliced into fat matchstick shapes
1 tablespoon dark sesame oil
2 tablespoons neutral cooking oil
Leek, green part (about 10 cm)
Chinese cabbage, 3 large leaves (stem removed, green part sliced finely)
Thai fish sauce (just shy of 2 teaspoons)
Oyster sauce, 4 tablespoons
Water, 6 tablespoons

Boil noodles in salted water. As soon as you've put the noodles in boiling water, start sauteeing the carrots in the oil (sesame + neutral) over high heat. When they start to soften slightly add the leeks and saute for another minute. Add the chinese cabbage, keep stirring for another minute. Then pull the casserole off the heat, add water, fish sauce and oyster sauce, mix well.

Drain noodles. Put noodles on deep plates for serving, add the vegetable mix to the noodles and take care that all the liquid from the vegetables is also added to the plates and everything is mixed well. Enjoy.


















(click on pic for large size)

Warm potato salad

This was actually the first attempt at making something new with my recently arrived Nanami Togarashi, the combination of this with potatoes and vegetables turned out to be an excellent one and can be varied depending on whatever you might have available in the fridge. This was lunch on a day when I wanted something tasty in a hurry:


















(click on pic for large size)

Feeds 2:

1 avocado
3 large potatoes, sliced approx 1 cm thick
2 tomatoes
small package of sweetpeas, each cut into 2 or 3 pieces
1 red onion sliced into wedges
3 different types of lettuce (rocket, lollo rosso and gem lettuce)
oil/butter (or margarine)
Salt
Pepper
Nanami Togarashi

Saute potatoes in the oil/butter mix until they start getting tender, take care that they do not brown. Add about a cup of water (which will keep them from browning/sticking as well). At this point I usually add salt to taste, freshly gound black pepper and the Nanami Togarashi. Once potatoes are done, add red onions. Continue sauteing whilst stirring carefully until onions start turning transparent then add sweetpeas. A couple of minutes more and it's done. Distribute on two plates, add 1/2 avocado on each plate + lettuce and tomates. Enjoy.

Potatoes and lamb

I love potatoes in just about every shape and form except boiled - starting point for this dish was a couple of potatoes, some sweetpeas and lamb, this was the result:

















(click on pic for full size)

2 large Potatoes, sliced to approx 1 cm or little less
Oil + butter (or margarine)
1 Red onion, sliced as orange wedges
1 small package sweet peas each one cut in two or three pieces
1 sweet red pepper, thickly sliced
4 different types of lettuce (radicchio rosso sliced, mache leaves separated and lollo rosso and frisee torn)
Salt
Pepper
Nanami Togarashi

Lamb, 3 - 400 g, thinly sliced
2 - 3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 - 3 tablespoons sesame seed oil (dark brown, roasted)
2 - 3 tablespoons neutral oil (corn, sunflower etc)
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
More cooking oil for frying
2 tablespoons sesame seeds

First, prepare the meat which should be marinated for at least a couple of hours before cooking. Mix soy sauce and oils well, add bicarbonate of soda and mix well again and immediately add thinly sliced lamb. Mix everything well and leave for a couple of hours. The bic. might sound strange but it tenderizes the meat more efficiently than anything you might buy at your local supermarket (and it's cheaper and works equally well for all types of meat and poultry).

While the meat is marinading, prepare/slice vegetables and wash lettuce.

Saute potatoes in oil/butter mix until they start getting tender, take care that they do not brown. Add about a cup of water (which will keep them from browning/sticking as well). At this point I usually add salt to taste, freshly gound black pepper and the Nanami Togarashi. Once potatoes are done, add red onions. Continue sauteing whilst stirring carefully until onions start turning transparent, then add sweet red peppers and sweetpeas. A couple of minutes and this part is done - pull the potato/vegetable mix aside.

Now, add a little oil to a heavy frying pan, fry the lamb (over high heat) until it nicely golden/browned. Turn down the heat, add a couple of tablespoons of sesame seeds, mix well and fry for a couple more minutes. Pull aside.

Take the already cleaned lettuce and mix with the now slightly cooled potato/vegetable mix, distribute on two plates, put equal amounts of the lamb on top and enjoy!