Inarizushi!

A favorite snack in  Japan, inari is probably the least challenging item you can order at a sushi restaurant, but at certain moments it can also be the most sublime. This was  my first time making inarizushi, and I have to admit I was a little intimidated. The hardest part was seperating the delicate inari skins. I used a chopstick to accomplish this and it worked like a charm. To be honest it’s not so much making inari, as it is assembling it. I don’t think it’s necessarily traditional, but I have to have eel sauce on my inari! I wash my inari down with either Momokawa Pearl Nigori Sake or Saan Shoju if it’s been an especially rough day.

Ingredients:

• Inari skins
• cooked sushi rice
• unagi (eel) kabayaki sauce

Technique:

1. Seperate inari skins and remove any excess liquid with by patting with a paper towel.
2. Gently open the pocket of the inari skin with a chopstick.
3. Hold inari skin open with one hand fill the skin with a spoonful of rice with other hand.
4. Place assembled Inarizushi on a plate and drizzle with eel sauce.

Ricotta Gnocchi

Pasta… made from cheese. I know it sounds like some sort of food that only exists in the sweet dreams of a food enthusiast, but it is real. The fact that it exists in the plane of our reality  doesn’t diminish it’s dreaminess in the least. Even more astounding, is how easy it is to make. No pasta machine, no exotic ingredients. Its simplicity is what makes it so appealing. Parmesan, and toasted pinenuts add the finishing touch. This dish is beautifully complimented by a simple grilled pork chop and a glass of Cinzano Prosecco.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 5 TSP flour(sifted)
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1/4 cup grated Parmaggiano Reggiano + enough for topping
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 2 TSP olive oil
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• 1 TSP unsalted butter

Technique:

1. Combine ricotta, flour, egg yolk, parm reg and salt in a bowl. Mix until dough forms.
2. Flour surface and hands. Shape dough into long rolls. Cut into gnocchi sized pieces.
3. Add gnocchi to boiling water on at a time. When they float to the top the are done. Remove done gnocchi and set aside.
4. In a skillet,  toast pine nuts over medium heat, when nuts are slightly brown, add butter and olive oil to skillet.
5. Add boiled gnocchi to skillet and toss with other ingredients until lightly browned.
6. Top with as much extra Parm Reg as you desire and serve.

Chilled Charcoal Somen Noodles with Black Sesame Wasabi Dressing

This is a great light, cool dish to come home to after a long day in the hot PHX sun. Charcoal has a myriad of health benefits, but the most important is that it absorbs toxins. Apart from absorbing toxins, the charcoal adds little to no flavor to the somen, which is where the Black sesame and wasabi come into play. The sesame seeds and oil add texture and a nutty depth to the flavor, while the wasabi excites the tongue (and sinuses). The heat from the wasabi also contrasts with the noodles cold temperature in a very interesting way. Enjoy with an icy cold Hakutsuru Draft sake or a Sapporro. Sayonara!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cooked charcoal somen(available at most Asian grocers)
• 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup + 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp toasted sesame oil tsp soy sauce
• 1/4 to 1 tsp wasabi paste (to taste, I used around 3/4 tsp but will be using the full tsp next time)
• 1 tsp sake
• Black sesame seeds

Technique:

1. Cook noodles in water with 1/4 cup soy sauce. Usually 3 minutes is just about right.
2. Drain noodles and rinse with ice water.
3. For dressing- combine vinegar, 1 tsp soy sauce, sesame oil, wasabi and sake . Mix until well blended.
4. Toss noodles with dressing then top with black sesame seeds.

The Silver Dragon

Shochu is Japan’s answer to vodka. It has a smooth flavor and fewer calories than vodka. Unlike vodka, shochu has the distinct flavor of koji. The koji flavor isn’t as pronounced in shochu as it is in saké and lends itself well to cocktails. The Silver Dragon is a variation on the Greyhound, replacing the vodka with shochu and changing the grapefruit-to-liquor ratio to a more martini-like stiffness.

Ingredients

• 3 parts shochu
• 1 part nigori saké
• 1 part grapefruit juice

Technique

1. Combine all ingredients over ice in a cocktail shaker
2. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass

Vanilla Olive Oil & Fennel Sausage Pasta

Arizona has a lot to offer, but premium olive oil was one of the last things I imagined would be locally made. Today I toured the Queen Creek Olive Mill and came away with two oils- an extra virgin and a vanilla bean infused extra-virgin. Down the street from the olive mill is a place called The Pork Shop, where I bought a pound of fennel sausage(the same fennel sausage Chris Bianco uses at Pizzeria Bianco) and a half pound of pepperoni. So I came up with a pasta dish that utilized the fennel sausage and the vanilla bean oil. The floral vanilla essence perfectly complements the sweet, herbal fennel in the sausage. The pistachios give a little extra texture and adds another layer of flavor to the dish. 

Ingredients

• 1 lb cooked pasta
• 8 oz sweet fennel sausage
• 1/2 stick butter
• 2 oz vanilla bean olive oil
• 1 oz extra virgin olive oil
• pistachios (crushed)
• 1 tsp sugar
• parmagiano reggiano
• salt & pepper

Technique

1. Cook pasta to al dente
2. Form sausage into a patty shape and grill
3. Drain pasta and add butter, extra virgin olive oil and S&P to pasta pan
4. Toss hot pasta in mixture and place servings in bowl
5. Thinly slice sausage patty and place slices atop pasta
   
6. Shave cheese over pasta and sausage
7. Mix sugar and pisachios and place on top of sausage for garnish and texture

Chimayo Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients

• 1.5 lbs chicken(roasted and shredded)
• 2 cups monterey jack cheese
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 cups Chimayo red chilis
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 tsp cumin
• corn tortillas

Technique

For Enchiladas: 

1. Mix chicken, 1 clove of garlic, cumin, cream and 1 cup of cheese in a bowl
2. Heat tortillas on a nonstick skillet over low-medium heat
3. Fill tortillas with chicken mixture and roll
4. Place enchiladas in a baking dish and cover with remaining cheese
5. Bake at 350F for 35 minutes.

For White Sauce:

1. Mix mayonnaise and yogurt
2. Chill
3. Drizzle over enchiladas immediately before serving

For Red Sauce:

1. Process chili pods in food processor
2. Make a roux using olive oil and flour
3. Add chili puree and remaining garlic to rue and thin with water until desired consistency is acheived
4. Drizzle over enchiladas immediately before serving

Salt Whip

My dad told me about a treat he enjoyed as a boy- Whipped cream with a little salt on bread. It’s almost butter, but it’s soft and spreadable when cold  and has a shorter shelf life. It’s otherworldly good. 

Ingredients

• Heavy whipping cream
• Salt to taste

Technique

1. Add whipped cream and salt to chilled bowl
2. Whip until it’s just beyond stiff peaks
3. Serve on fresh bread.

Vanilla Ginger Saketini

A cocktail for people looking for something different.

Ingredients

• 1 part vodka
• 2 parts nigori sake
• 2 parts natural ginger ale
• a few drops vanilla extract

 

 

Technique

1. Pour all ingredients into cocktail shaker filled with ice.
2. Shake.
3. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and serve.

Millionaire Mac & Cheese

 The ultimate comfort food that is filthy rich.

Ingredients

 

• 1 lb cavatapi pasta
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella
• 1 cup shredded cheddar
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 stick butter
• 1/2 cup panko
• 2 eggs 
• 1 TBS olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic (finely minced)
• S&P to taste.

 

 

Technique

 

1. Cook pasta until al dente
2. In a bowl, mix heavy cream, sour cream, 1 clove garlic, S&P and eggs. 
3. After straining pasta, retiurn to hot pan and toss with shredded cheeses and butter
4. Pour cream and egg mixture over pasta and stir until pasta is coated
5. Transfer to greased baking dish (9″x12″)
6. Mix panko, remaining garlic and olive oil,  then sprinkle over pasta
7. Bake at 350F until browned and gooey

Samoas Cheesecake Cupcakes

Samoas were the first variety of Girl Scout cookies I ever tasted. When I was in the 2nd grade, my best friend was a boy named Matthew, but everyone called him “Silver” and to this day I don’t know how he got that nickname. He had two sisters, Loretta and Faith. I don’t remember the details, but Matthew ”Silver”  and I ended up being sent to the Principal’s office for some mischief. Well the entire student body was abuzz, and Loretta and Faith rushed to the office to defend our  innocence. Well Loretta happened to have a backpack full of GSCs and a few Samoas fell out on the floor of the principal’s office. When the principal walked in to punish Matthew and Me, she stepped on one of the Samoas and its sticky sweet goodness actually adhered her sensible pump to the floor and as she approached her foot slipped right out of the shoe and she looked at her shoe stuck to the ground and then at the four of us STRUGGLING not to burst into laughter. She then started laughing herself and dismissed us. Later we ate the rest of the Samoas in the playground. It was a moment I’ll never forget- the chocolate, the carmel, the coconut and the cookie crunch was like heaven to my young palate. But enough with nostalgia…

Ingredients

 

• 2 boxes of Samoas (Girl Scout Cookies)
• 4 8oz cream cheese
• 6 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 TBS coconut extract
• 2 TBS Sour cream
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp amaretto 
• pinch of salt
• 2/3rd cup shredded coconut(toasted)
• 1 cup whipped cream
• 1/2 tsp almond Extract

 

Technique

 

1. Preheat oven to 350 F and line cupcake pans with cupcake paper liners.
2. Place one Samoa cookie into the bottom of the cucpcake liners. Place in oven for about 3 to 5 minutes, just to melt the chocolate to fill in the hole.
3. Cream eggs and sugar together, then fold in cream cheese. Mix in all othe ingredients. 
4. Ladle cream cheese batter into cups and bake for aboout 30 minutes. 
5. Remove from oven and when colled plave in a covered container and chill for several hours. 
6. Top chilled cupcakes with whipped cream then  sprinkle with coconut just before serving.