Soft-Boiled Soy Sauce Eggs

I got hooked on soft-boiled eggs because of a girl I knew in Japan who would eat them every morning for breakfast.  Her name was Jane and she was had the worst senses of direction and time of anyone I have known.  But she had a great attitude and sort of just took things as they came.  They sell soft-boiled soy sauce eggs in every convenience store in Japan, and I started wishing I could get them here.  Luckily, they are not that much harder to make than to buy.  They still remind me of Jane.

Ingredients

• eggs
  (you can do any number, really, though I usually settle on four)
• soy sauce
  (about 1 Tbsp. per egg)

Directions

1.  Choose a pot that has plenty of room for all of your eggs to sit in without touching one another.  Fill it with enough water that the eggs will be completely covered, plus another centimeter or so, when you drop them in.  Set the water on the stove (without the eggs) to boil.

2.  Once the water is boiling, gently set the eggs in the pot using tongs or chopsticks.  If one drops too hard and cracks, it will spew egg whites into the water and grow a little tumor on the side.  This happened to one of mine in the picture and it was pretty much unsalvageable.  Keep the eggs as apart from each other as you can.  Turn off the heat, and put a lid on the pot.  Let the eggs sit for 20 minutes.

3.  Meanwhile, prepare a large bowl of ice-water with lots of ice.  When the 20 minutes are up, remove the eggs from the pot and place them in the ice water.  The idea here is to make the eggs shrink a little from the cold and hopefully separate from their shells.  Also, it makes them cool enough to handle.  Swish them around for several minutes to make sure they get cool, then remove them.  Crack open the shells and peel them as carefully as possible, though they'll still taste good no matter how they look.

4.  Place the peeled eggs back in the pot and add the soy sauce.  Turn the heat on to low and simmer the eggs in the soy sauce until it has almost all been absorbed.  You don't really want the soy sauce to boil, and make sure you move the eggs around quite a bit so that they get evenly soy sauce-y.  I think it took me about 5-10 minutes for these four eggs.  They should be a nice rich brown color when they are done.  Discard any leftover soy sauce, and store the eggs in the refrigerator for up to a couple days.


With this preparation, the eggs are perfectly seasoned with the salty sauce, and since it is already absorbed into their skins, they make excellent items for packing lunches.  I highly recommend them with rice, but they make a good snack on their own.  Here is my delicious meal, complete with the pickles from the last post (the kimchi was store-bought, though).  A perfect lunch!

Pickles! Green Tea Daikon and Basil Green Beans

If I'm not crazy for making my own marinara sauce, then I am probably guilty for making my own pickles.  I guess I always have something to say when I have to do that "say something interesting about yourself" icebreaker game.  But seriously, I love me some pickles, and I love almost anything pickled.  I've loved sweet pickled cucumbers since I was little, but I was opened to a whole new world of pickling after I started exploring Japanese cuisine.  Traditional Japanese meals are accompanied by several small dishes of pickled vegetables, usually whatever has been in season.  I like the variety, the colors, the seasonal aspect, and the flavors from sour to salty to sweet.  I finally decided last year that I had to try it for myself.  Most pickles are surprisingly easy and don't require fancy canning mechanisms or presses (though I got embarassingly excited when my parents got me a pickle press from Japan for Christmas last year).  The simplest involve just a few ingredients shaken together in a bag and left to sit for an hour.  These are two pickles I made recently, though they aren't exactly typical examples.  I'm sure I'll get to my stand-by pickle recipes soon! :)

Green Tea Daikon Pickles

Ingredients

• 1 small daikon radish (about 1/2 lb.)
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. green tea leaves
  (you're supposed to use Japanese green tea, called sencha, and I jut cut open two tea bags, which provided exactly the right amount)

Directions

1.  Peel the daikon and cut it into matchsticks of roughly the same size. 

 






2.  Place the daikon, salt, and green tea leaves into a plastic bag and shake well to combine.  Let the sit until the daikon softens, about 20 minutes, then seal the bag and place in the refrigerator. These pickles will be ready in an hour or so, and should stay good for several days.

These pickles were ok, but not great.  I think they turned out a little salty, and the daikon was very spicy.  If I try these again, I will consider par-boiling the daikon first to mellow it out a little and reducing the salt.  I didn't really get much of the green tea flavor, either.  Maybe I used the wrong kind?  Anyway, these sadly fell under the realm of "edible," but I am intrigued enough by the recipe that I may give it another shot.

Basil Green Bean Pickles

Ingredients

• enough green beans to fill a wide-mouthed jar (I think it was about 1/2 lb.)
• 3 Tbsp. basil simple syrup
  (directions follow)
• 4 Tbsp. white vinegar
• 1 tsp. salt
• a few basil leaves

Directions

1.  Snap the ends off of the green beans, rinse them in cold water, and then blanch them in boiling water for 2-3 minutes.  Drain.





2.  While the beans are still hot, line them up in the jar so that it is completely full.  Pour the remaining ingredients over, then fill with water.  Screw the lid on tightly, and shake the bottle to combine, making sure all of the salt dissolves.  Once it cools, put the jar in the refrigerator.  The pickles will be ready to eat the next day.






(3.)  To make basil simple syrup, dissolve one cup sugar in one cup boiling water, and continue to simmer until the liquid is reduced by about half.  Turn off the heat, stir in a large handful of basil leaves, and cover.  Leave overnight to infuse.  In the morning, strain the leaves from the syrup and store it in the refrigerator.  (This also makes really good lemonade).

These pickles were much more successful than the first ones, and I would definitely make them again.  Since I kind of made them up, I used what I had on hand, though, which included some basil syrup I had made a while ago (before starting this blog, so sorry for the lack of pictures).  I think I could make something similar without the syrup, though.  Can you tell I had too much basil on my hands this summer?  I don't really have the dedication to grow an entire herb garden, but the basil I did grow left me kind of grasping at straws for how to use it.  I guess I should grow some dill, since I've been into pickling.  Anyway, basil pickles well and goes nicely with green beans, as it turns out.  Look forward to some more pickling recipes in the future!

All Day Marinara

For some reason, this is one of those recipes that seems to shock people: "You make your own pasta sauce?"  Maybe it's something to do with our generation growing up with jars of sauce readily (and cheaply) available at the grocery store.  Don't get me wrong, I love a good jar of pasta sauce, but they don't quite compare to a sauce made simply with fresh ingredients.  The house smells wonderful, and if you cook in large quantities you can freeze it and pull a package out on any night of the week for a taste of summer.  My recipe is for a simple marinara--only four main ingredients--but a slow, all day cooking renders the flavors very intense and totally unlike anything that comes out of a jar.

However, that "all day" qualifier can make this recipe a bit of an endurance test.  Because I make it in vast quantities with fresh ingredients, this sauce requires a LOT of peeling and chopping.  Since we moved to Chicago, we have lived a few blocks from the Maxwell Street Market, where every Sunday I can buy tomatoes for 2 pounds per dollar.  So in the summer I buy a big box of tomatoes on the cheap and make a vat of sauce.  It is often my go-to recipe for Sunday company, especially as the last half of the cooking is largely unattended.  Yesterday I got ambitious and bought a 20 lb box of tomatoes.  I should have known by the sweat dripping down my face after carrying it home that I was getting myself into a huge ordeal.  I will present the recipe for my usual amount, as 20 lbs is somewhat suicidal, though this would of course work on a smaller proportionate scale.  Though usually not my motto, here I think I have managed to keep it simple, stupid, with delicious results.

Ingredients

• 10 lbs tomatoes, peeled and roughly diced
  (Roma tomatoes are supposed to be the best as they have the least liquid, but they also take forever to peel since they are small. We're going to cook them into submission anyway, so any variety should be fine)
• the cloves from an entire head of garlic, sliced into thin slivers
• a glassful of red wine
  (whatever kind you will be happy to drink the rest of, though perhaps nothing overly sweet)
• 1 large bunch of basil leaves, roughly chopped
  
• salt and pepper
• olive oil

Directions

1.  Chop the garlic.  My mom taught me an easy way to remove the skins, in case you don't know it:  Place a clove on the cutting board and lay the flat side of a knife on top of it.  Hit it with the palm of your hand, and the papery skin should peel right off.  Pour enough olive oil into a large stock pot to just cover the bottom.  Turn the heat onto its lowest setting and add the garlic.  You want the garlic to soften in the warm oil but not brown. 

It will get very fragrant.  Move it around a little once in a while to make sure it isn't sticking.  Cook the garlic for about 30 minutes, when it should be almost starting to darken.  That is your cue to start adding tomatoes.

2.  Usually I start peeling and chopping the tomatoes while the garlic cooks.  If you don't remove the peel, it rolls up into tough little sticks during cooking, which can get stuck in your teeth and generally annoy me to no end.  It's up to you if you want to leave them in, but now that I bought a tomato peeler, I feel that I have no excuse.  The only other way I knew how to peel tomatoes was to plunge them in boiling water for a minute and then shrug the shriveled skin off.  Not only is this method tedious, but I always burned my fingers to hell.  I highly recommend investing in a peeler.  Anyway, you'll want to add the tomatoes to the pot before the garlic gets brown.  If you haven't finished peeling and chopping all the tomatoes yet, just throw in what you have done and continue adding tomatoes as you chop them.  This may take you a while, but do not lose heart.  Turn the heat up so that the tomatoes begin to boil.

3.  Keep stirring, and once all the tomatoes have been added let out a sigh of relief.  If you used watery tomatoes, you may notice quite a bit of liquid floating at the top.  Feel free to skim some of this off.  You need some liquid to cook the tomatoes in, and it will thicken over time.  But we don't want the end result to be really watery, so if it seems particularly soupy at this point, drain a little off.  Add the wine and salt and pepper to taste.

4.  Turn down the heat and allow the sauce to simmer uncovered for about 2 hours, or longer if you have time.  You want it to bubble enough so that the excess liquid is evaporating, but not so much that it is splattering all over your kitchen.  Stir every 10-15 minutes or so to make sure that nothing is burning to the bottom of the pan.  The tomatoes should eventually lose their shape and turn into a delicious red sludge.

5.  About 10 minutes before serving (say when you start cooking the pasta), add the basil.  Basil is fragile and easily overcooks, so only put it in at the end.  It should still have plenty of time to get the sauce wonderfully flavorful.  Taste again and add salt or pepper as your heart desires.  The sauce has been boiling for hours, so be careful when you go to eat it!

Poached Plums with Ginger

I love desserts, but I rarely make them at home. Part of the pleasure of a dessert for me is having someone else bring it to me, on command, and then clean up afterward. It's about the presentation and the whole experience as much as the taste.  Ice cream, for example, tastes best on a hot summer afternoon when you're taking a walk somewhere scenic.  Plus, I don't usually keep things like fancy chocolate or heavy cream in the house. But not all desserts are complicated, and I do have a few that I get the hankering to make now and then. I started making this one when I found out that Phil had never eaten a plum before. Plums are among my favorite fruits, and though I usually just eat them like apples, I thought that something special was in order on this occasion.

Ingredients

• 6 or 7 plums, cut in half and pitted
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 tsp ginger
  (I used a whole teaspoon this time, and it was a little too much, so I think you should start with 1/2, tasting and adding a little more if it needs it)

Directions

1.  Combine the sugar, water, and ginger in a skillet and turn the heat to medium high.  Stir to completely dissolve the sugar and ginger.  When it starts to boil, turn down the heat until it is just slightly bubbling

2.  Place the plum halves in the syrup, cut side up.  Let them cook for 7-8 minutes, adjusting the heat if necessary so that the syrup continues to gently bubble.  Move the plums around once or twice so that they cook evenly.

3.  Turn the plums over and cook for another 7-8 minutes.  The skins will be falling off, but that's ok.  The fruit should be completely soft and the syrup nice and thick when it's done.




Serve the plums with the syrup poured over.  I usually make some shortbread (using Bisquick--I never claimed to be a baker) to go with it.  Poached fruit is pretty delicious cold the next day, too.  I imagine this recipe would work well for many fruits, including peaches, and I bet you could use different flavorings as well.  I've been meaning to try lemongrass some time, but the cashiers at Dominick's are always stopped in their tracks with confusion when I go to ring it up.  Oh, who am I kidding?  I'll probably get lazy and just buy a ready-made pumpkin roll anyway.
 

Chicken Thighs with Mustard and Herbs

My hatred for birds is perhaps well-known, but I must admit that it does not preclude their deliciousness.  Unfortunately, like a patriarchical society, I feel like we often focus too much attention on the breasts, while other delicious parts of the chicken are left to the trained chefs.  Well let me tell you that chicken thighs are more intensely flavored than the breasts, usually cheaper at the store, and in fact not all that hard to prepare.  You need a few extra minutes and a small, sharp knife to cut out the bone (which may not be necessary in some recipes), but then you can make a little bonus chicken stock out of them.  Not a bad deal.  Here is recipe number one for chicken thighs to keep in mind the next time you're at the store:

Ingredients

• 4 chicken thighs, de-boned
  (place the thigh on a cutting board, skin side down, slice the knife down either side of the bone, and then use a combination of the knife and your fingers to remove the bone)
• 1 Tbsp dried parsley
  (tarragon would probably also be good)
• 1 Tbsp fresh basil, chopped 
• 1 heaping Tbsp Dijon mustard
  (I used a coarse ground variety, which added a little texture)
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
• a little dry vermouth
  (or white wine, or stock, or water, I suppose)

Directions

1.   Combine all ingredients except the chicken and the vermouth in a mixing bowl.  De-bone the chicken thighs and toss in the mixture to coat.  Set it aside to marinate for 1-2 hours, or overnight.

2.  Get a large skillet hot over medium-high heat, so that you start to see wisps of smoke from the residual oils in the pan.  Shake off the excess marinade from the chicken pieces (reserving it in the bowl) and place all of them quickly into the skillet.  They will sizzle and pop at first, so be careful.  Cook the pieces for about 4-5 minutes on each side, trying to move them as little as possible in between turning.

 3.  Turn down the heat to medium and remove the chicken pieces to another dish.  Pour in the remains of the marinade from the bowl along with the vermouth--enough to coat the bottom of the pan.  Stir the pan sauce constantly, scraping up all of the darkened pieces at the bottom as you go.  Let it get hot and bubble for a couple minutes, then pour over the chicken.  You may want to garnish it with a little salt.

Phil and I really enjoyed this recipe.  I can't believe I made chicken without garlic, and we loved it!  The thighs taste much more "chicken-y" than the breasts, and with the mustard and herbs it is very full-flavored.  I think I may spend a little extra time to cut out some of the fat from the thighs next time, though.  The skin is pretty rich on its own, and the extra fat from my (apparently obese) chicken almost overpowered the dish.  Not quite, though, and I don't think it ended up greasy at all.  It was just a little decadent, which is something I always strive for.  Anyway, I served it with wild rice cooked in a simple stock from the bones, which I made by covering them with water in a pan, adding a peeled onion, and simmering for an hour.  Aren't I resourceful?

(thanks to Phil for photography assistance with this post!)