2011年2月28日月曜日

Winter #4: California Love / 冬#4:カリフォルニアのラブ

It was my great fortune to be able to spend some time in California this February. California in February makes me wonder why I ever bother to go anywhere else. And not least of all because of the glorious produce. Kale, chard, brussel sprouts, citrus... I was in a tizzy. For seasoning, all I had to do was step out the back door to find lavender, parsley, laurel, and modest jungle of rosemary.
2月に出身のカリフォルニアに帰ることができた。あ。。。2月のカリフォルニア。確かにカリフォルニアドリームだよ。冬の青物もオレンジやレモンもおいしいよ!パーブが必要ならうちの庭でもラベンダー、ゲッケイジュ、パセリー。ローズマリーももちろん。



Beets fetched an extravagant 10USD a root at my local supermarket in Tokyo, so I set out to eat as many beets as possible. My friend Namita (not this Namita) told me about a beet recipe from a show she keeps yapping on about called "Diary of a Foodie". At first I misheard her, and thought the show was called "Diarrhea of a Foodie." That made perfect sense to me, given my experiences with street food from Mexico City to Phnom Penh, but it did seem a rather daring title for a mainstream cooking show. In any case, the point is that once Namita had me thinking about salt-encased beets I knew I had to make some.
東京でビーツを買おうと思っても880円ぐらいかかるのでカリフォルニアに着いてからすぐビーツを食べたかった。友人のナミタから塩に包んだビーツというレシピを聞いたら、是非そのような食べ方を試したいと思った。

A little research yielded the following: mix egg whites with salt, black peppercorns, and herbs (I opted for lavender and rosemary). 塩に卵の白身、ペーパー、ハーブ(私はラベンダーとローズマリーにした)。

Mix it up...混ぜる。。。
Stick your unpeeled beets in a pan with this grit (oh, and I added a celery root).
ペーツ(セロリーの根も仲間に入れた)をこの塩砂に入れる。。。

 Now encase what looks like an alien creeping up from the mud in the salt mix. それでこの蛸のようか宇宙人のようかベーツを塩砂に包む。

 
Bake about 2 hours. 2時かんほど焼く!

Now it looks like your martian is firmly buried on the surface of the moon. それで宇宙人みたいのビーツは月面みたいのスフレに入っているみたいになるとできた。

These beets ended up in a wilted chard and salad for a potluck reunion hosted by Bonnie. このベーツは大学の友人のボニーが行った集まりのサラダに使った。

But I had other plans for the celery root. でもセロリー根に特別な計画あった。

When I'm home, sometimes it's nice to flip the generational relations and pretend to be my parents' grandmother. I guess that would make my parents siblings. Well: maybe I'd just be an affectionate old auntie. But I do like to spend all day in their expansive kitchen, making up goodies in anticipation of them coming home from school. たまに帰るとき、両親のためにおばあちゃんの役割を演じるのが好き。一日中うちの広い台所でおいしいもののいろいろを作りながら。。。

This time I went for the Italian grandmother thing. Tonight the focus would be fagotelli -- stuffed pasta -- with a celery root, parsley, walnut filling.
今回はイタリア系おばあスタイル。フォゴッテリパスタ:セロリ根、パセリ、クルミ入り。

Using the salt-baked celery root, I blended it with parsley, walnuts, olive oil. Basically until it tasted like the most luscious avocado. 塩で焼いたセロリ根にパセリ、クルミ、オリブ油。

To make fagotelli: Prepare the pasta dough (from scratch, naturally) with the egg yolks left from the egg white used in the salt bake, and cut into rectangles. 長方形に切った手作りパスタ生地。
Stuff. 中身を入り。
Fold. 折り。
Repeat. 終わり。
Here are my cute little fagotellis. ジャーン。

To go with these, I planned heaps and heaps of vegetables. First of all, the beet greens I had reserved from the beets could not go to waste. パスタに合わせる野菜のいろいろも作らなきゃ。まずはビーツの青物。

The red stalks of the beet greens made a nice relish when finely chopped and sauteed withvinegar.
赤い部分を細く切って、お酢で煮た。
I wilted the leaves, reserving only the cutest ones for garnishes.
Kale: wilted for salad. Tomatoes: pan roasted for a side. Beef: broiled. (Beef is a vegetable, right?)
ケール:焼いた。トマト:焼いた。ビーフ:焼いた。
At hand I had a colorful California palate to paint the plates. それでお皿に。
It's an interactive medium.
So eat your greens...
And your reds and your yellows.
Buon appetito! ごちそうさま!

2011年2月24日木曜日

Winter #3: Happy New Year! / 冬#3:明けましておめでとう!


Already two months into 2011, and just now crawling out of hibernation. Not that I've been fasting like an actual bear in a cave. No: I've been eating quite well, and inviting friends over to share the meals...and the body heat. やっと冬眠が終わるだろう。もうそろそろ春が来るので、その前に冬の食事を要約しなければなりません。寒い日々の中にはグループで食べる方がおいしい、暖かい。

The New Year in Japan means special food to usher in the year. The delicacies are symbolic -- long-whiskered shrimp to represent long life, fish roe to represent fertility -- and well preserved in sugar and salt to last for a few days of lazy grazing. It's not my favorite incarnation of Japanese cuisine, I have to admit. But it does mean that for a few days the supermarkets carry all sorts of mysterious wonder. Like this little guy:
お正月にはお節。和食が大好き。。。けど。。。お節は。。。ちょっと。。。ま、ね。。。せめてお正月の時スーパーに変わったものがたくさん。

I found this kuwai cozying up with some pals.





かわいいクワイ。

Yes, I invited the gang over. No, I didn't know how to prepare them.

But soon I realized they could be part of my latest plot: pork belly tacos.
作り方もわからずに買った。もしかしたら最近の夢に使えるじゃないか。スパゲッチタコスを作ったからずーっと豚バラタコスも作りたかった。


There are few things I enjoy more in winter than simmering things for long periods of time. The pork belly taco dream would allow me to truss up this little piggy and enjoy the aromatics for hours as I read my books.  冬にものを煮るのが好き。特にお肉。特に豚肉。特に豚バラ。




After a few hours in the pot with star anise, black peppercorns, an apple, vinegar, black sugar... this little piggy laid prone. On my plate.
ペーパー、スターアニス、リンゴ、お酢、黒砂糖で。。。


My research yielded the information that kuwai makes for delicious chips to crisp up the tacos. Sayaka, who hosted the meal, realized the vision of kuwai chips with her infinite patience.
クワイのチップスはおいしいらしい。ですので、さやかさんに任した。


Since I was simmering stuff already, I threw on some tea eggs.
煮るなら、お茶の卵も作った。

All these elements, were brought together with some cilantro, mayo, guacamole by Arthur-Nan, salsa by Ryan... all wrapped up in a homemade tortilla.
この材料でこのタコスを作れた。。。


In the frenzy that followed, there was little time for photography.


A million thanks to Sayaka for clean up!
ごちそうさまでした!

The next big get-together I decided I would try to host, as narrow as my quarters are. My classmates had expressed a desire (one called it her "long-awaited dream" even) of sampling sauerkraut and sausage, ever since reading about it in a children's book (Der Räuber Hotzenplotz).  すぎの集まりは私の狭い狭いところで。ゼミの友達の何人が子どものころからドイツ料理のザワークラウトとソセージほ食べたがっているらしい。絵本の「泥棒ホツエンプロツ」に出たみたいで。

That is one dream I can make good on for someone else. Although I warned them that they were not to, under any circumstances, expect some sort of epiphany from German home cooking. Although they could expect to be sated.
そのような夢は私の特徴でーす。それでも、あんまりドイツ料理を期待しない方がいいという注意も覚悟した。


Everyone contributed a little bit, and we cooked up some fabulous sausages from Kichijôji in dark beer. The result was not exactly high highbrow, but even with our brows lowered, we maintained a high velocity. Hence the blurred documentation:
みんながそれぞれの材料を持って来て、吉祥寺に買ったソセージをザワークラウトと黒ビールに煮た。


Not particularly colorful on its own, but add a side salad and some Rotkohl and...

Guten Appetit!

The last guest left as the sun was coming up, and when I stumbled out of bed a few hours after that, I found bits of Sauerkraut littered along my hallway. Not too timid a start to the year of the rabbit! I sure hope the year is just as delicious as a good rabbit stew, too!

ごちそうさまでした!