Frozen Tomato Pasta

Fast, Easy and Vegan

Sun-ripe tomatoes are flavorful and are great for snacking almost daily…I wish I could say that we grew them but these beautiful tomatoes are from a friend’s backyard…I’m a bit envious!

I had a planned to make Angie’s ‘Oven Baked Chicken with Italian Seasoned Tomato Sauce’ (looks fabulous, right?)…wait, no chicken?  We’re planning a trip very soon so we are limiting the number of grocery shopping trips lately…just buy the bare necessities…
Look for the bare necessities…
The simple bare necessities
Forget about your worries and your strife
I mean the bare necessities…
Old mother Nature’s recipes that brings the bare necessities of life!

What?…no song necessary?… I was about to dance….Anyway, I would like to introduce you to this very minimalistic dish so let’s put the candle…I mean tomato in the freezer!

Ingredients and Instruction for two servings (Print Recipe Here) Modified recipe from cookpad.com (recipe #3328313)

• 1 large ripe frozen tomato (put in the freezer overnight)
• 2 –3 cloves of garlic minced
• 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• Spaghetti noodle or angel hair pasta (I used about 200g/8oz)
• 5-6 basil leaves tear by hand plus 3-4 whole leaves for garnish
• Salt and pepper

1. Put the minced garlic in a microwave proof bowl along with the olive oil. Microwave for 2 minutes at 60% power. Let it cool. Set aside.
2. Cook the pasta 2 minutes longer than the package direction. Drain and soak in icy cold water until pasta is cold. This is my way of cooking pasta – put pasta in a skillet, cover with water then cook at medium heat.
3. Grate the tomato, skin and all ( I advise to wrap the tomato with paper towel… it is very cold).
   
4. Mix the cooled garlic with olive oil, grated tomato and basil well in a bowl. Salt and pepper to taste.
5. Drain the noodles and shake off the excess water. Combine well with tomato sauce (#4). Garnish with basil. Add more salt and pepper if you like.

A not-vegan arrangement: Add cooked bacon and grated cheese

My favorite way to eat tomato is actually oven-baked tomato…yum!

We have seedless grape vines in our back yard which wild birds love…Hey, leave some for us!I made grape clafoutis and posted the pic on Instagram (#todaystapas). It’s French but resembles Dutch Baby pancake.

I saw a Watermelon Shark on the internet and I wanted re-create but my watermelon was round not oblong…I had to improvise…right?

The haze (from the wildfires) is gone for now… we’re grateful that we had some rain in the last few days.
This photo was taken two weeks ago when it was still hazy. My husband and I are leaving for Japan to see our newest grandchild. I hope I’m able to resume my blog when I get back though I just would like to say to all my readers ‘Thank you’ You’re truly my inspiration.

Sweet Sesame Dumpling

Japanese Summer treat ごまみつ団子

There were 43 (as of Saturday) wildfires in Oregon and Washington causing the haze in the vicinity of Portland last weekend. We were saddened by the news of firefighters’ death and at the same time we appreciate their courageous efforts...sincere condolences to the families.

Instead of the usual sweet azuki bean paste in the center, this unique dumpling uses black sesame paste and to me has just the right amount of sweetness. I‘m sure many of you have heard about its beneficial components (check here). I stock this in my pantry and on some mornings I spread it on toast with a little bit of honey…I know I have been blessed so much.

Ingredients and Instruction for 12 dumplings (Print Recipe Here) The recipe credit goes to Japanese food researcher and cookbook author Maki Watanabe

For filling -

• 1/4 cup black sesame paste
• 4 Tablespoons dark brown sugar
• 4 Tablespoons water
• 1/2 teaspoon powdered agar-agar powder

For dough -

• 150g (1 bag) shratamako (白玉粉/refined rice flour)
• 130 to140ml water

Ground black sesame seeds for garnish

1. Making filling - Put all the filling ingredients in a small pan, stirring continuously, cook at low heat until it almost starts to boil. Spread in container of approximately 6 inch by 5 inch. Smooth out with spatula. Freeze for 2-3 hours.
   
2. Making the dough - Put shiratamako in a medium size bowl, add water little by little while kneading the dough well to make a soft, moist dough, add little bit of water if the dough seems too stiff. Divide in 12 portions and form into balls. Note: shiratamako is lumpy and has big chunks so you need to crush the lumps as you knead it.
3. Shaping  dumplings - Boil plenty of water in a pot.Take out the frozen filling and cut in 12 pieces, set aside. Ready a moist paper towel nearby for wiping your fingers. Take one ball and flatten on your palm to about a 3 inch round. Put filling in the center of flattened dough and gather the dough and close tight at the top. Anytime your fingers get black with the filling, wipe with paper towel so that the dough won’t get messy…you definitely like to keep the dough neat and white! Do this step as quickly as possible so that filling won’t melt but if it starts melting put it back in the freezer
   
   
4. Cook the dumplings – Prepare the icy water in a large bowl. With slotted large spoon, gently place  3-4 dumplings in the boiling water. When the dumpling floats to the top of the water surface, cook for additional 2 minutes. Scoop up the dumplings with slotted spoon and put in the icy water until cool. Repeat the process with rest of dumplings. Sprinkle with ground black sesame seeds.and serve cold.
   Warning! dumpling get hard after a while especially If you keep in the refrigerator. Microwave for 15-20 seconds….then of course it is no longer a cold treat!

 

Blame it on the unusual Summer weather (?), something caused our Asian pears to drop on the ground it seems like all at once. My husband was able to save some..

The shiso/perilla leaves are dwindling…a sure sign of the end of Summer right?…I made juice (concentrated) for #todaystapas instagram post. Refreshing!

I gave in to my ramen craving the other day…

This is a healthier version of the ice cream sandwich recipe on the back of Honey Graham Cracker box.

Wishing you a wonderful week!

Chinsuko

Okinawan Cookies

The Holiday is approaching with record speed. We try not to do too much as to gift giving…yet when I’m in a mall or some boutiques, my heart rate climbs up and I get sucked into a whirlpool of Christmas buy, buy buy…that has something to do with the music that they are playing insensitively. I rarely bake Christmas cookies, though a hot steaming cup of my fav decaffeinated Earl Gray tea needs some accompaniment of sweet little thing to ease my exhausted body and spirit?…yep! And time to re-exam my purchases…mostly buyers remorse…how in the world? I must have been insane!

Chinsuko, an Okinawan cookie that originated in China 400 years ago, were a gift sent by by my son and daughter-in-law. They traveled to beautiful Ishigaki Island south of Okinawa to see my son’s in-laws in late October. This earthy, crumbly and just the right amount of sweetness brings back my sanity…. I wonder if I could re-create this cookie?…right.. I have plenty of spare time... I’m a bit delusional!But vegan chinsukos are surprisingly easy and only need 4 ingredients.

Ingredients and Instruction for 20 Vegan Chinskos, (Print Recipe Here)
I mostly followed Kimihide Machino (町野仁英) ‘s recipe.

• 75g low Viscosity 薄力粉 flour
• 75g whole wheat flour
• 60g sugar or more to adjust sweetness.
• 60g vegetable oil

1. Lay the parchment paper on the cookie sheet. Sift flours together Set aside. Pre-heat oven to 356F
   
2. Put sugar and oil in bowl. Whisk until sugar is almost dissolved.
3. Add sifted flours in the bowl of sugar, oil mixture and combine.
4. Knead the dough by hand until the dough comes together. Note: if the dough is overly dry add a few drops of oil. Shape the dough to your choice
   
5. Place shaped dough onto cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes. After it bakes leave on the cookie sheet until it cools down.

Variation – Yomogi chinsukos

• 70g of low viscosity flour
• 70g whole wheat flour
• 8g yomogi flour (Japanese mugwort) Note: may substitute with green tea powder( 抹茶パウダー), roasted green tea powder (ほうじ茶) or ginger powder
• 60g sugar
• 60g vegetable oil

Add yomogi powder in the sifted flours combine well.then follow the instructions above.

My husband usually opts out of Christmas shopping. Instead he worked on Kulebyaka, a savory Russian pie from a blogger milkandbun. It was a quite construction. He had to make crepe-like pancakes first…and it took him almost the entire Saturday afternoon to build. We had this for supper next three nights plus bonus of cinnamon rolls he made from left over bread dough…yeah I know we were over loaded with carbohydrate but it was sooo good.

It’s time to hit my favorite nursery for Christmas greenery…coincidently, reindeers were visiting also. OK, it was not the most famous reindeer of all but it’s Prancer!

 And a baby Cupid!

Here are some photos (imported from his FB) of my son, his wife and her parents. And a new monkey friend of Yaeyamamura (八重山村)Her parents own a restaurant Kurashita. Her father is an executive chef

My son is lucky to have really cool in-laws.