Innie or Outie

If you’ve been keeping up with the latest posts, than you are aware that we haven’t had time to do much cooking this week. Sometimes large quantities of bentos are acquired for group events, and occasionally we end up with leftovers. Here is a recreation hubby came up with for the onigiri bento, Papa’s Onigiri Fried Rice:

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Hubby chopped-up the various meats; divided the onigiri; added some curry powder; and quick fried all the ingredients in a wok.

Here is one use for the Crockpot Paella leftovers, Crockpot Paella Croquette Dinner:

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Simply form the paella into balls, roll in flour, dip in raw beaten egg, cover with panko, and freeze until needed. Partially defrost prior to deep frying.

Placed on a bed of blanched cabbage and apple strips with crushed walnuts added and tossed in a cinnamon-orange sauce, the croquettes are topped with a honey/mustard-toasted almond/mint sauce then garnished with fresh parsley. To complete the meal, I served a Japanese style clear broth with leeks, seaweed, shrimp, and scallions.

Here's another leftover idea for the Couscous Skillet Paella with beans, 3 Sauce Couscous Paella Wraps:

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The mini-wraps consisted of blanched cabbage leaves or halved tortillas, filled with paella, and topped with one of the three sauces: creamy guacamole, honey-mustard, or creamy lemon with mint and toasted almonds. I served this with bacon-potato soup garnished with freshly snipped parsley.

Crockpot Paella Gone Wrong

We’ve all had an occasion when, even with the best of intentions, the dish just goes horribly wrong. A car breaks down, traffic is outrageous and unrelenting, a late last minute meeting at the office, or whatever – you get stuck far away from the cooking crockpot meal. Well this is one of those dishes when I couldn’t get to it in time and the crockpot just kept steaming the rice until I ended up with a Crockpot Paella Mushy Mess:

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But that doesn’t mean it can’t be saved, Baked Crockpot Paella:

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Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Place the mushy mess in a small paella pan (or pie dish) and bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Remove the paella from the oven and using a fork turn the mixture. Return to the oven and bake for 15 more minutes.

Remove from oven, sprinkle with approximately ½ cup crushed tortilla chips for added texture, ½ teaspoon capers, and freshly snipped parsley.

Serve with a salad of fresh crunchy salad greens and veggies (such as radishes) dressed with a vinaigrette.

It’s Grammy night. Hubby and I felt like being able to relax at the dinner table and munch away while watching the show. Sooo, here’s another tabletop dinner idea:

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Tabletop Veggie Tenpura Dinner

You can use almost any type of vegetable in which ever proportions meet your needs.

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For our platter we used:
1/2 medium onion (thinly sliced)
1/2 medium carrot (julienned)
1/2 bunch nira (according to hubby this is a veggie similar to chives that is a cross between garlic and onion)
1 small bell pepper (julienned)
Frozen chicken wings (semi-defrosted)
Frozen chicken nuggets (semi-defrosted)
3 tablespoons freshly snipped basil

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For the batter we used:
1 egg
250 milliliters iced water
1 1/3 cups tenpura flour

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk egg and water together. Fold in flour, but only to the point of moistness. (The batter looks like lumpy and slightly runny cake batter, but you can adjust the amount of flour to reach your desire consistency.)

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Other equipment needed:
Deep fryer

Heat oil in deep fryer as suggested by manufacturer.
Meanwhile, thoroughly toss one-third of veggies in batter.
When oil is ready, alternate cooking between chosen meat and battered veggies. Beginning with the items that require longest cooking period. (I use a laddle to spoon the veggies into the deep fryer).

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For this dinner menu we also chose to include rice (sprinkled lightly with soy sauce) and nori (dried seaweed) as extra munchies to the main platter.

You can use home fries or any other favorite food item that goes well with deep fried foods. You could even include miso soup as a beverage. This dinner course is very flexible.

This is a chunky and hearty chicken recipe:

Crockpot French-Country Style Chicken Stew

3 medium potatoes (quartered and sliced)
10 slices bacon (julienned)
3 skinless chicken breasts (cut into bit-size pieces)
1 medium onion (quartered and sliced)
1 cup frozen green beans (cut into bit sized pieces)
1 15 ounce can kidney beans (drained)
1 14 1/2 ounce can stewed tomatoes (with juice)
1 tablespoon minced garlic paste
1 tablespoon thyme flakes
1 teaspoon rosemary
1 teaspoon pepper
1 pinch salt
2/3 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup flour
1 10 1/2 ounce can chicken broth

Place potatoes on bottom of crockpot. Add bacon, chicken, onion, green beans, kidney beans, stewed tomatoes, garlic, thyme, rosemary, pepper, salt, and wine. Mix flour and chicken broth, then pour mixture on top of other ingredients in crockpot. Cover and cook on high for 8 – 10 hours. Serve over rice or with bread.

Texiken Pasta

Guacamole flavored tortilla chips (crushed)
3 chicken breasts (precooked and sliced in bite-sized pieces)
1 large bell pepper (diced)
1/2 large onion (diced)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 small can sliced mushrooms
1 can diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon red pepper powder
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 tablespoon minced garlic paste
4 slices sandwich-style cheddar cheese
Grated parmesan cheese
Dried parsley flakes
Cravattine or farfalle (bow) pasta

Preheat oven to 250 degrees centigrade.
Line the bottom of a 10 x10 x 3 inch slightly greased casserole dish with a thin layer of the tortilla chips.
Combine chicken, bell pepper, onion, cream of mushroom soup, cream of chicken soup, mushrooms, tomatoes, red pepper, white pepper, and garlic paste in a large bowl. Pour mixture over tortilla chips in casserole dish. Place in oven and cook for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, remove casserole from oven, top with cheddar cheese slices, put back in oven and cook for another 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare pasta according to directions.

Place drained pasta into serving bowls, top with casserole, sprinkle with desired amount of parmesan cheese, and then sprinkle with parsley. Serve

This is a dish that combines German and Okinawan style cooking.

Crockpot German-Style Oden

3 medium potatoes (thinly sliced)
1 medium onion (sliced)
One 9 pack of frozen chicken dogs (can substitute regular beef hot dogs or pork sausage)
Two 16 ounce cans sauerkraut
2 tablespoons white pepper
Mustard

Place potatoes and onion in the bottom of crockpot. Put chicken dogs on top of potatoe/onion layer. Spread a layer of sauerkraut on top. Sprinkle white pepper over the sauerkraut layer.

Cook on low for 8 to 9 hours.

Place each serving in a bowl and top with one teaspoon of mustard.

Crockpot Creamy Chicken and Mushrooms

3 chicken breasts (deboned and skinned)
1/2 cube butter
1 tablespoon oregano
1 tablespoon basil
1 tablespoon parsley
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon white pepper
One 8 ounce can sliced mushrooms (drained)
1/2 medium onion (diced)
1 teaspoon minced garlic paste
1 can cream of mushroom soup
One 8 ounce package cream cheese

Cut chicken breasts into bite-size pieces. Put butter and chicken into crockpot and sprinkle oregano, basil, parsley, thyme, white pepper, onion, and mushrooms over the chicken. Heat on high for 4 hours. After 4 hours, turn crockpot down to low.

1 hour prior to serving, mix garlic, cream cheese, and soup in a small saucepan until cheese is melted. Then stir into the chicken and butter mixture in the crockpot and continue heating on low for 45 minutes.

Serve over rice or pasta.