Innie or Outie

Here’s another homemade meal that’s easy and flavorful, Rosemary-Garlic Pork Roast Dinner:

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The meal consisted of a pork roast infused with fresh rosemary leaves and garlic chips; then sprinkled with white pepper and powdered thyme; baked and topped with whole grain mustard; chopped white onion and potatoes sautéed in pork fat with white pepper and red wine vinegar added, then garnished with chopped chives; and sliced red pepper, carrot, zuccini, and pine nuts sautéed in sesame oil.

For more complete directions, check out this first attempt at an original foodie video totally from scratch.

A quick and easy way to add a little extra spice to a supermarket pizza, Papa’s Frozen Pizza Plus Dinner:

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To one frozen pizza, hubby added fresh eggplant slices, chopped Spanish olives, Japanese pizza toast cheese, fresh basil, and grated parmesan cheese. As a side dish he made Papa’s Frozen Pizza Plus Salad:

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The salad consisted of homegrown salad greens and arugula, iceberg lettuce, cucumber slices, red onion slices, halved cherry tomeatoes, and chopped chives topped with a creamy cheese dressing.

Here’s another quick and tasty use of leftovers, Curried-Tuna Roll:

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Simply half a whole grain roll; spoon on some Curried-Tuna Rice; top with crumbled baby cheese, fresh whole basil leaves, and halfed cherry tomatoes; then microwave for 1.5 minutes.

Now that the somen has run its course, I’m experimenting with other pantry items, Curried Tuna-Rice Pocket Meal:

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For the meal, I preheated the oven to 180 degrees Centigrade; formed a stuffing of powdered curry, flaked canned tuna, precooked rice, almond slivers, dried parsley flakes, powdered thyme, chopped black olives, white pepper, and diced red onion; coated one side of a tortillas with egg wash; filled with stuffing; sealed, coated outside of stuffed tortillas with egg wash; placed pockets in greased baking dish and cooked for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, the finger salad dip was made by mixing 1/2 sodium red miso paste, toasted sesame oil, minced garlic, white wine vinegar, toubanjyan sauce, soy sauce, and minced ginger paste; then set aside.

The finger salad was plated; consisting of iceberg lettuce leaves, topped with julienned carrot, cucumber, and red onion; black olives were added and the dip spooned into a lettuce cup bed then topped with grated black sesame seeds. The pockets were plated and the meal served.

This is a supermarket version of traditional local cuisine including tofu, konbu, kamaboko, pork, gobo, konyaku, and a daikon-seaweed mixture.

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A simple, yet tasty, way to use leftover rice, Papa’s 10 Grain-Pork Risotto:

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For this dish, hubby used 10 Grain-Kamaboko Rice, added cream, pizza-toast cheese, sliced pork sausage, and grated parmesan cheese; then garnished with chopped arugula and chives.

To accompany the entrée, a simple a side dish, Papa’s Red & Green Salad:

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The salad consisted of homegrown salad greens and arugula with iceberg lettuce, julienned red onion, quartered cherry tomatoes, sliced red radish, and bacon bits, topped with a creamy cheese dressing.

Well here it is the end of another summer and to celebrate, a final new dish using the last of the twenty-five 70 grams somen packets, Shrimp Noodle Crunch:

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The dish consisted of shrimp and diced red onion sautéed in sesame oil; with blanched mixed veggie (cauliflower, broccoli, and carrot) medley, diced red bell pepper, diced yellow bell pepper, and sliced shitake mushrooms; in a sauce of miso, honey, white wine vinegar, minced garlic paste, minced ginger paste, toubanjyan sauce, soy sauce, chicken broth, black sesame seeds, and corn starch; on a bed of deep-fried somen tossed with julienned red cabbage sautéed in olive oil.

Hubby was really in the mood for something a little different from our normal cuisine and decided to go washyoku (traditional Japanese cooking), Papa’s Shibui-Chicken Soup:

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Presoak chopped chicken chunks in sake and sea salt; in a large pot of water, simmer konbu (seaweed) sheet until soft; remove konbu and add katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes), mirin, white pepper, soy sauce, and chopped shibui (Winter gourd); bring to rolling boil (remove one cup of stock and set aside); add presoaked chicken with liquid; reduce heat and simmer until shibui is tender and chicken thoroughy cooked.

Meanwhile, prepare the accompanying dish, Papa’s 10 Grain-Kamaboko Rice:

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Cook rice adding one 10 grain rice packet, chopped shitake mushroom, diced carrot, diced gobo (burdock root) stuffed kamaboko, soy sauce, and substituting the one cup reserved konbu stock for one cup of water; plate and garnish with chopped scallions.

Plate soup and garnish with fresh arugula. Serve.

As summer comes to an end, so is the supply of 70 gram somen gift packets. Here is another new idea where East meets West, Miso-Tomato Sauce Somen:

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Sauté spicy pork sausage slices and diced red onion in sesame oil; add minced garlic paste, tomato paste, 1/2 sodium red miso paste, chicken broth, frozen grilled Mediterranean vegetable (zucchini, red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, eggplant, and potato) medley, dried red chili pepper flakes, dried parsley flakes, dried oregano flakes, and dried thyme flakes; bring to boil then reduce heat and simmer until sauce is reduced. Cook somen; strain and toss with miso-tomato sauce mixture; plate and garnish with julienned nori. As an accompaniment, I served Toasted Olive-Basil Bread.

Here’s a quick and tasty way to beat the munchies and make use of leftovers, Chili Steak Wrap:

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Simply place some cheddar cheese, fresh salad greens and arugula, and Chili Steak on a tortilla; heat in microwave, roll, and garnish with two small fresh arugula leaves.