Crabby!

Spicy Crab And Coconut Spaghetti

Days are getting short...I wish I could hang on to Summer a bit longer. I miss being in Japan..but the reality of that,  I have to tackle my lengthy ‘to do’ lists …no moping is allowed…one on the list - up the blog post, I must!
Relic of Summer…Spontaneous sun flower still blooming in our back yard.

When I came across this crab and coconut spaghetti recipe which is now a crumpled newspaper clipping, no way they go together. The deciding factor is that this is not a complicated dish, also coincidentally I only have to get coconut milk, everything else is in my p-o-w-e-r! (pantry)! And I love new challenges (recipes).

Ingredients and Instruction for 4-6 servings (Print Recipe Here)

• 1 pound spaghetti.
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced or chopped
• 1 teaspoon chili flakes, less or more depending on your heat tolerance.
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 pound crabmeat
• 1/3 cup coconut milk  Note: I add closer to 1/2 cup
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1/2 cup roughly chopped fresh basil
• 1/3 cup roughly chopped fresh parsley
• Freshly ground back pepper
• Grated Parmesan cheese

1. Cook pasta until almost al dente in a large pot of salted boiling water. How to cook pasta fast – break pasta to fit in a large frying pan (see the photo above), add cold water to cover the pasta, cook uncovered. 
2. Meanwhile, make the sauce. In a large frying pan over medium heat, combine olive oil, garlic, chili flakes and salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until garlic is soft but not browned.
   
3. Pour wine in and cook until reduced by half at medium–high heat.
4. Drain pasta reserving 1/2 cup cooking liquid. Add pasta to sauce, crab, coconut milk and 1/4 cup reserved pasta water. Simmer gently, stirring for 1-2 minutes. Note: Add more reserved water if you feel pasta is dry.
5. Remove pan from heat and stir in the lemon juice, basil and parsley. Seasoned with pepper and sprinkle with the cheese.

Other good eats -

Food tastes better in bento form…and it’s fun!Today’s menu – chicken and tofu croquets, kimpira gobo, Japanese style omelet. On top of rice balls, I put Midas touch with gold bits I bought at Kanazawa city - 98% of gold production in Japan.

My husband’s B-day last week – I made a strawberry shortcake.

One of his ‘honey-do’ list - harvesting the last of the crop – Asian pears- small but tasty!

This was a very interesting experience (in Karuizawa)…Those tiny fishes exfoliate your legs…ticklish…strange… and a bit gross.

Cap

Portobello Mushroom and Crab in Puff Pastry

Deja-vu, I think I have already seen this before…while my husband is working on this Portobello mushroom creation. I can’t shake the feeling of familiarity… it’s not identical but fraternal twins of one I made before…Stephen King? Return of  Dome recipe?….Hmmm.

However, this chef Chris Czarnecki of The Joel Palmer House recipe placed my ’dome’ dish as a cousin once removed rather than next of kin. The rich and creamy sauce and the Portobello’s wholesomeness stands alone as an impressive main course.

The size of the portobello was huge and thick, end up cutting in 4ths. With the absence of truffle oil and other substitute, perhaps it didn’t achieve a perfect 10, nonetheless, you leaned well grasshopper…I mean my dear.

Ingredients and Instruction makes 4 servings (Print Recipe Here) ( in parentheses was what he actually used)

Sauce

• 1/2  cup fish stock (Japanese dashi)
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 medium onion, halved and thinly sliced
• 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• kosher salt
• 4 ounces tomato paste (2 ounces)
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream (1 cup)

1. Combine stock, bay leaf, onion, pepper and wine in a medium, heavy bottomed saucepan at medium- high heat.
2. Season to taste with salt and bring to a boil then reduce the heat to simmer. Cook until the onions are translucent, 5 to 7 minutes.
3. Whisk in tomato paste and cream and simmer until sauce has thickened. 5 minutes.
   
   The onion looks like noodles.

Portobello Wraps

• 4  4 to 5 inches diameter Portobello mushrooms, brushed clean, stems removed
• 1  1 pound package frozen puff pastry thawed (takes about 40 minutes to thaw)
• Flour for dusting
• 4 ounces Havarti cheese, cut into 1 ounce portions
• 4 ounces Dungeness crab meat, divided
• 1 egg beaten with whipping cream below in a small bowl.
• 1 tablespoon heavy whipping cream
• White truffle oil

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Line the baking sheet with parchment paper and place Portobello mushrooms, gills facing up. Bake for 10 to 20 minutes, until tender. Set aside mushroom but keep oven on.
2. Unroll the thawed pastry and cut into 6-inch squares. Dust work surface with flour. Roll each square out with rolling pin so that you can wrap around a Portobello cap, approximately  7 inches square.
3. In a center of the pastry, place 1 ounce of cheese, and a fourth of the crab meat. Top with baked Portobello cap, gills facing down.
4. Fold each corner of the puff pastry up and over the stack so that none of ingredients is exposed. Pinch the edges together. repeat the rest.
5. Turn over the wraps and put on the parchment lined baking sheet seam side down. Brush with egg mixture all over. Bake for about 30 minutes, until golden brown.
6. Divide warm sauce in 4 bowls, drizzle with truffle oil. Place pastry on top and serve immediately.

 

Relic of Easter…I gave some away but we still had left over ham. Put roughly chopped ham on the tomato along with cheese and bread crumbs bake in the toaster oven for 10 minutes (385F). Voila! We relished this for breakfast.

Sadly with accelerated speed, April passed by…Cinco de Mayo, Japanese Children’s Day is just around the corner. I made carp windsock sushi..

May health and success be upon all children!

 

 

 

Dome

Crab and Brie Bake

May you have warm words on
a cold evening, a full moon on a
dark night and a smooth road
all the way to your door.

This gentle Irish prayer reflects my thoughts for those who were affected by the tsunami three years ago today. The enormity of the aftermath is still evident and lives of many were changed that day.

The anniversary happened to fall on Tuesday this year, my blog day. I went back to check my old post to see what I was feeling that day three years ago, more of the same feelings - sadness of course, powerlessness and fear…I pray that time is kind and people find hope and happiness even if it’s still in darkness.  My son and my husband (my son is in back wearing towel, my husband is next to him in dark shirt) traveled to Japan to volunteer for clean up efforts in 2011.

Oh hello there… I found Fillo sheets inside the freezer. It must be more than 6 months old. I think I had a plan for this but what was it? It’s time for plan B. I improvised one of the recipe in a ‘Award winning Fillo Recipes’ booklet.The recipe is simple however, fillo demands a most delicate touch which is not my strong suit.

Ingredients and Instruction for Crab and Brie Bake for 2-4 servings (Print recipe here)

 

• 1/2 cup crab meat

• 1 Tablespoon of fresh chives finely chopped
• 1-2 Tablespoons mayonnaise
• Lemon juice 1-2 teaspoons
• Cayenne pepper 1/8 teaspoon or more 
• Salt and pepper
• 8oz brie
• Fillo sheets or Puff pastry dough. Defrost over night in refrigerator
• Olive oil 1/4 cup or more or melted butter 
• 1 egg for egg wash

1. In a medium bowl, mix crab meat, chive, mayonnaise cayenne pepper and lemon juice. Salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
   
2. Prepare fillo –Unfold and lay flat for sometime to get crease out. Brush 1/2 sheet with olive oil and fold in half. Repeat 8 more times. Prevent the fillo sheet from drying by covering with plastic wrap and a moist towel. Lay the prepared fillo sheets in a sunburst design.
3. Remove rind from top of brie and place on the center of the sunburst. Top with crab meat mixture. Press to make dome form.
4. Fold over fillo sheets over from top layer sheets and so on. Trim fillo if needed as you go.
   
5. Heat oven to 375F. Lay foil on the cooking sheet or just simply grease the baking tray. Place fillo wrapped crab and brie on top of it.
6. In a small bowl beat egg and 1 Tablespoon of water. Brush fillo with egg mixture. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm. Garnish with mixture of mayonnaise and wasabi paste if you like.

The accompanying warm soup was not really that complementary. Spinach soup is vegan, gluten free and has 8 servings of vegetables in it. Although the color is wonderful, It tasted like a warm spinach smoothie. Get me some ice cubes! A Happy St. Patrick's Day to you!

 

I didn’t notice last week but cherry blossom is already happening.

Have a blessed week!

A year

Crab cake

I told my husband a gazillion times that I’m going to quit this food blog thingie since I started a year ago today. Naturally lazy, disorganized and unfocused me don’t always know where I’m headed yet I’m still on this journey. That is hard to believe. I drove my daughter (who helped me start my blog) insane with questions over the phone and I failed to understand the technical side of blogging my husband tried to teach me a hundred times the day before. On a few occasions, after spending 3 hours writing and rewriting stories I lost everything in the cyber world. I called my husband at work, told him it’s an emergency and he needed to come home right away but instead he asked questions like “what did you touch?”. I have no idea really. But the “I didn’t touch anything” answer only got me some sarcastic remark form him. And he didn’t come home right away. Somehow, I learned to be patient with him.

My husband and I love to eat good foods. This food blogging is making us more conscious of what we eat and challenges me to try new recipes always. My husband was a good cook before and he is an awesome cook today. I got many compliments for his cooking- Thank you it was easy!

I made crab cake today because for my very first blog I made crab croquette. I’m celebrating my 1 year anniversary this way. I love crab and all sea foods. Jake’s Famous Crawfish Restaurant offered this fabulous crab cake. I tweaked the recipe a little bit. I really don’t like onion that much so I anal about mincing it super fine.

Ingredients for 6 large patties

• 1 pound crab meat
• 2 cups plain bread crumbs (パン粉）divided.
• 2 ribs celery, finely minced
• 1 small onion, finely minced
• 1 small green bell pepper, finely minced
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
• 1 egg
• About 1/4 cup mayonnaise-I used Japanese style mayonnaise because I’m out of regular one.
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• About 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• Tatar sauce (optional)

1. Combine crab meat, 1 cup of the bread crumbs, celery, onion, green pepper, dry mustard, Tabasco, egg, mayonnaise, lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce.
2. Form mixture into 6 1-inch-thick patties. If the mixture won’t hold together, add a bit more mayonnaise.
3. Use remaining 1 cup bread crumbs to coat patties, slightly pressing crumb into patties.
4. Heat about half of 1/4 cup oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Place three patties in the hot oil and brown. Turn to brown the other side.
5. Keep first batch warm in the oven at 150 to 200 degrees while browning the remaining patties.
6. Start with fresh oil to repeat browning with remaining patties.
7. Serve with tartar sauce or just a squeeze of lemon juice.

Looking back the at the past year, I shared personal thoughts with my readers. The March 11th earthquake, my son’s divorce, my friend‘s passing. Somewhat embarrassing to disclose my feelings but at the same time it helped me to heal.The Strawberry Shortcake post seems to be the most popular one. My favorite part of blogging is to hear that someone saw my post and decided to make it and then tell me that it was delicious. Thank you so much, loyal readers! I don’t know how far I can go but I am still sailing.

There was a lot of frost on the ground when we woke up this morning. I’m afraid that these blueberries might not get ripe…