Apricot and Sesame Seed Pie

New easier crust recipe

Who said  ‘ Easy as pie’? I never conceded that is true, wait, compared to what? Anyway, the key element of pie in my opinion is of course the CRUST. You need to have a flaky, buttery, biscuit like crust. I tried many crust recipes over the years…I have a few favorites…check my past crust recipe here, here and here.
Less fussy though the taste is as good as other professional recipes. The fruits I incorporated is apricot because I had to do something with the leftovers…ah, oh…some are already too ripey!…You can use any of your favorite stone fruits for this. The aroma of toasty sesame seeds is really something.

Ingredients and Instruction for one 8 inch tart ring or pie pan (Print Recipe Here)

Make the crust (I recommend making the dough the night before)

Necessary equipment: food scale, sifter

• 1 medium egg yolk (about 20g)
• 20g cold water
• 3g sugar
• A pinch of salt
• 100g butter room temperature
• 160g low viscosity flour(薄力粉), sifted

1. In a small bowl, put egg yolk and beat well, add water, sugar and salt and mix well. Refrigerate the egg mixture for 30 minutes.
   
2. Put butter in a large bowl and cream it with a wooden spatula. Add flour all at once and incorporate by cutting in with spatula’s edge but never swirl until the mixture resembles oatmeal, do not over mix.
   
   
   
     
3. Add chilled egg mixture and combine by cutting motion until the mixture just comes together. Again, do not over mix here either. Do this as fast as possible before the egg warms up. Form a disk, wrap tight with plastic sheet. Refrigerate for 4 hours or more.
   
   
     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fruits compote

You may skip this ‘compote’ process for a less-calorie version

• Stone fruits – number of fruits determine by it’s size – lay the halved and pitted fruits (do not peel skin) inside of pan plus two more (fruits will shrink in cooking process). Weigh the fruits.
  
  
• Sugar – about 30% of fruits weight.  Note: I used less than 30% and it was still too sweet!
• Water – 10% of fruits weight

1. Place fruits in the pot. Add sugar, water the put lid on to cook fruits on medium heat. 
2. When the steam starts coming out between the pot and the lid then reduce heat to low. Simmer for 5 minutes and turn off the heat. Remove the lid and cool completely in the pan.

Almond cream

• 80g butter, room temperature
• 70g sugar
• 65g eggs (about 1 and 1/2 eggs), beaten. keep in the refrigerator until needed, Note: beat two eggs very well in a bowl then weigh, take away the potion you don’t need.
• 80g Almond flour, whisk to remove large lumps.
  

1. With the same whisk you used for almond flour, cream butter in a large bowl. Add sugar, whisk until the mixture turn to light color and fluffy.
   
2. Add chilled egg 1/3 at a time. beat well after each addition.
   
3. Add almond flour. Mix well with spatula.
   

Assemble and bake

1. With the crust dough in between plastic wrap, roll the dough with rolling pin and fit in the ring or pie pan you’re using. Note: take out dough from refrigerator 10 minutes before start of assembly, other wise dough will be too cold and tough to handle.
2. Heat oven to 390F. Spread 1/2 of almond cream in the bottom of crust. *Pat dry the fruits compote with paper towel and lay on the top of almond cream. *Not necessary but it may be too watery.
   
   
   
   
3. Spread rest of almond butter cream on top of the fruits.
   
    
4. Sprinkle evenly with white sesame seeds 1/4 cup or more on top. Bake for 1 hour. Cover the pie with aluminum foil halfway through. Serve warm with a scoop of  vanilla ice cream if you like.
   
   
    

From last week’s Tapas instagram post (#todaystapas) – Blabassoppa (Swedish blueberry drink) is a thick, warm juice I’ve come to love! The recipe I discovered from “Thirsty for…’ YouTube video, thanks to Linda’s Peaceful Place blog.

And this Fruits Gyoza made from fresh mango, cranberry relish, cream cheese, lemon, cinnamon…Truly scrumptious!…Honest! (love the movie!).

Garden jewel..semi-wild strawberries on our front yard….precious!

Wishing you pleasant weather!

P.S. Somehow the tool I have used for years to write my blog is not working, so this is not as good looking as my usual posts. I hope they get it fixed before next week's post.

Cold Front

Chinese Bean Thread Salad

It seems as though Thanksgiving was rushed and now we’re officially allowed to turn on the Christmas Machine! Not that I hate Christmas…just not as thrilling as when we were young parents…wrapping presents late on the night of Christmas Eve, rushing to get one more stocking stuffer or batteries, the giggles or joyous looks of our children on Christmas morning, that is the sort of thing I am nostalgic about. Now that I’m older and wiser I’m telling my husband lately that All I want for Christmas is you in a singing format. However I’m not going to deny him the joy of giving. Ooh ! I love surprises!

I don’t want a lot for Christmas, There is just one thing I need… make my wish come true…

After consuming an alarming volume of rich food last week. I made a refreshing light salad which I can prepare in flash (not really). I love the kick from  doubanjiang, a spicy fermented paste and the nice acidity of the dressing. Omit a few ingredients and this could serve as vegan as well as gluten free.

Ingredients and instruction for 4 servings

• White toasted sesame seeds 1 Tablespoon
• Black toasted sesame seeds 1 Tablespoon
• Sesame Oil 1 Tablespoon
• Soy sauce or tamari soy sauce for gluten free dish 1 Tablespoon
• Rice vinegar 1 Tablespoon
• Oyster sauce 1/2 Tablespoon
• Doubanjiang (豆板醤) 1/2 teaspoon
• Crown daisy (春菊) 2-3 stems. Wash well. cut off tough ends of stem.
• Bacon 3 strips.
• Bean thread 1 bundle or 30g
• Pine nuts 3-4 Tablespoons lightly toasted.

1. Make dressing first: Combine both sesame seeds*, sesame oil, soy sauce, vinegar and oyster sauce in large bowl. Taste the dressing and adjust to your taste. Chill in refrigerator until needed.
   * If the sesame seeds are not toasted, toast in a non-stick pan for 1-2 minutes, move the sesame seeds rapidly so as to not burn it.
2. Ready an ice bath in a large bowl. Boil Crown Daisy for 20 seconds and immediately immerse in prepared icy water. Gently squeeze  to remove water then pat dry with a paper towel and roughly chop. Set aside. Note: Fresh crown daisy is quite bitter in my opinion though there is option of not boiling it for a more crunchy bite, just wash well and dry. Cut off hard end.
   
3. Place bacon on top of a layer of 2-3 paper towels. Cover with 1 sheet of paper towel and microwave for 2 to 2-1/2 minutes on high till crispy. Cut up in half inch strips.Set aside.
   
4. Prepare very hot water in a bowl and soak bean threads for 8 minutes or so to soften. Drain well and cut in a  tic-tock grid. Set aside.
5. Toast pine nuts till golden.
   
6. Whisk chilled dressing with fork to mix well. Add Crown Daisy, bacon, toasted pine nuts and bean thread and toss the ingredients until well coated with dressing.

Vegan spinach version – No need to boil spinach.Omit bacon and oyster sauce (I used ketchup in its place).

See isn’t that easy?

Different looks - I had lotus roots. I deep fried it for garnish. Pushed the salad in the round mold then I made a slit for place to lotus roots to go in.
 

We ended up going to ‘Higgins’ for Thanksgiving. Although we did not have a reservation, the host escorted us to the bar/lounge area right away. We had same five course Thanksgiving meal as the main restaurant just at the counter. Well, that was different. We had a nice chat with people sitting next to us.

Pumpkin bisque was excellent.So was everything else. We just couldn’t eat another bite so we took our dessert home. We passed on the traditional pumpkin pie and Apple pie and instead selected Hazelnut cheese cake and double chocolate cake.

We parked our car front of Samurai, I mean Portland Art Museum – Samurai exhibit is on right now. Cool, Right?

Driving a rural road and saw this corn field. Looks like the stalks are bowing down for coming of Winter General (冬将軍). Day’s low temperature in mid 20’s is awfully cold for Portland.

Wishing you a nice cozy, warm, hot chocolate kind of day!

A FANtastic!

Tempura Inari Sushi/天ぷらいなり

Enormously popular in Japan, singer/actor Takuya Kimura’s 40th birthday is today (11/13). I had a huge crush on him and the group ‘Smap’  that he belongs to for a long time. He goes by the nickname ‘Kimutaku’ which almost belongs in the Japanese dictionary, he has that caliber of famousness. Sometime ago, I couldn’t wait to listen to the newly purchased female artist’s CD while my husband was driving, one of her song phrase went like-  I will find a new boyfriend better than Kiumutaku (what the heck???) - then he whispers “I love you”  it was so unexpected to hear his voice, I freaked-out and released a small scream. That was not a small scream my husband says now-What? What’s wrong? was my husband’s reaction. Oh! it’s nothing , I thought you were gonna hit that squirrel back there.  I got information that Smap was on tour at the same time that I was in Japan in 2002. I asked my cousin in Fukuoka to obtain a precious Fukuoka Dome ticket. With neither of us belonging to their fan club, it was hard to come by. My cousin called the ticket center for three straight days and no luck. It was a huge let down but the tour was traveling upward and so was I. Determined, I called my friend in Tokyo for help. Hallelujah! Her husband found it on line - someone selling just one ticket for regular price. Usually, tickets were sold as pair and more than the list price so I was really lucky. My proper, well educated friend was not interested in that sort of silly thing, so she just lent me her coat and wished me luck. I managed to ignore her sigh behind my back. She was a bit worried that I would get lost but the special concert train was scheduled and I followed a sea of people walking toward the magical kingdom, I mean stadium.

What in the world! I love deep fried foods but this is over the top. Inari sushi is near perfect as is and frying it sounds so wrong, right? Talk about extra gazillion calories added to it. However, I’ll hold my opinion until I taste it.

Ingredients and direction for 10 Tempura Inari Sushi

Preparing sushi rice

Special equipment : Kimutaku fan (just kidding) – something to blow the air.

• Just cooked warm rice about 2-1/2 cups
• Sushi vinegar 2-3 Tablespoons or you can make your own by mixing well 2 Tablespoons rice vinegar, 1 Tablespoon sugar and 1/2 teaspoon salt
• White roasted sesame seeds 1/4 cup or less

1. Put warm rice in a wooden pail or large bowl, sprinkle vinegar over the rice paddle. In a cutting motion, quickly move the rice around - do not press the rice with rice paddle - and cool by fanning at the same time -this step works better if you have assistance. Add more sushi vinegar if you like stronger flavor. Sprinkle in sesame seeds and combine. Cover the rice with a moist towel. Set it aside.

   This fan I bought at the concert. Others are a gift from a friend in Nagasaki. She is hard core fan, went to Smap concert three years in a row with her husband. Are you try to make me envious?

Seasoning the bean curd

• 5 Fried bean curds/油揚げ
• 1/4 cup Mirin
• 2 Tablespoons sugar
• 3 Tablespoons soy sauce
• 1-1/2cup water

1. Boil about 3 cups of water in medium pan.
2. Lay the bean curd on a flat surface then using chopstick or small rolling pin go back and forth for 2-3 times-this will open the inside. Cut in half.
3. Submerge bean curds in boiling water for 1-2 minutes to remove oily residue. Drain the water and let the curds cool until safe to handle.
   
4. Arrange bean curd in a spiral fashion on the bottom of pan, with the bean curds overlapping.
5. Add mirin, sugar and 1-1/2 cup of water to the pan and put a drop lid/落としブタ (see picture below) on it, cook over medium heat for 6-8 minutes.
6. Add soy sauce and put drop lid back on. Simmer for 6-7 minutes more at the lower heat. If you do not have a drop lid then make one with heavy aluminum foil to fit inside of pan. Leave the folded side up for easy removal.
7. Turn off heat and cool bean curds in the pan. Do not skip this process.
8. Make 10 small cylinders with sushi rice about 2-1/2 x1 shapes there might be some left over, it does not have to be neat, this makes easier to stuff into bean curds. Sandwich cooled bean curds with both hands and gently press out some of the juice over the pan.
9. Stuff each cylinder of rice into the bean curd and gently press into the corners, close by folding over the opening flaps. Repeat for remaining bean curds. Now that’s Inari Sushi!

Frying Inari Sushi 

• 10 Inari Sushi
• Flour or corn starch for coating 1-2 Tablespoons
• 1 Egg
• Nori powder (ao nori)/青海苔 about 1teaspoon (optional)
• 1 cup Weak power flour or cake flour
• 1/2 cup cold water
• Oil for frying

1. Heat oil in heavy skillet or pan to 338F
2. Beat egg in a large bowl then pour cold water in, mix well.
3. Add nori powder and flour. Mix just until blended. Set it aside.
4. Coat Inari Sushi with flour. Dust off excess.
5. Dip dusted Inari Sushi in egg mixture.
6. Fry in oil until crisp. Place on the paper towel to remove excess oil.
7. Serve with sliced lime or tempura sauce.Verdict-So so. It’s not worth  the extra effort nor the calories. Shoot! I should not fry all the inari sushi. Took too much time for above. I simply steamed Costco crab legs as a main dish.

Sushi from the past
kinpira gobo (burdock) inari sushiSeasoned tuna cucumber cupsSkinny Inari rolls From top- sesame seed, shibazuke and edamameAlthough I haven’t lost my ‘young at heart’ attitude, I try acting my age. I’m still his fan but in a not so exciting (crazy) way. After all, I’m married and want to be cool and not to be screaming. That’s called maturing.We’re having gray days lately but splash of color from nature is welcoming.There is moss growing on our Japanese maple tree. I discovered a seed poking through it. It will be interesting to see what kind of plant it is. I hope it’s a magic bean.Conversation on Saturday: I think we should clean up leaves, I suggested. What for? Not every leaf has fallen yet, said my husband. Right, you would think that. But you’re going to clean up this year, yah? Probably…it depends he replied. So...not gonna happen today? You got that right.