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Posts from ‘April, 2009’

I Heart Pork Katsu!

Apr 9th, 2009
by Princess Risa.
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This afternoon, I fried some pork cutlets Japanese style.

I used some pork tenderloin I had in the freezer which I pounded into cutlets.

Not having a fryer has never stopped me from deep frying in my own kitchen. You can fry anything Japanese-style by liberally salt & peppering, dredging in flour, egg wash, and panko. Allowing the breaded item to sit for a bit in the fridge helps the frying process. Make sure there is enough oil and that it is hot. I test by dropping a bit of panko into the oil to make sure that it bubbles on the surface instead of floating down into the oil. Don’t use utensils to put items into hot oil because accidentally dropping your breaded morsel can result in oil splashage, burning and fire. I find that using my hands to gently slip the items into the oil works the best. Be careful not to fry the tips of your fingers!

Weekday Dinner

Apr 9th, 2009
by Princess Risa.
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Squid Ink Pasta with Shrimp in Saffron Cream Sauce

Microwave 1/2 cup of dry white wine until hot to touch, add saffron threads and let it sit.

Saute 2 cloves of crushed garlic in 2 turns of olive oil on low heat. Once garlic is soft, turn heat to medium high and cook 1/2 lb shrimp, salt & pepper. Take shrimp out and keep covered.

Add 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes to pan and saute for 30 sec. Add wine saffron mixture and 2 tbls of heavy cream. Bring to simmer, lower heat and simmer for 5 min. Season to taste and return shrimp to pan.

Boil 1/2 lb of pasta and reserve some pasta water. Drain pasta and add sauce with chopped parsley, and pat of butter. Add pasta water if needed to coat pasta.

Preparation time: 30 min.

Almost Summer?

Apr 6th, 2009
by Princess Risa.
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Biscuit + Clotted Cream + Strawmaberries

Okay, it’s supposed to be whipped cream
but something happened to it … still tasted good.

Potatoes Dauphinoise

Apr 6th, 2009
by Princess Risa.
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Potatoes rock! They are cheap, filling and you can mash, boil, saute, bake, and FRY them. Personally, any fried potato product is a friend of mine. Last fall, while driving across the country with Little Miss, I ate 10 McDonald’s hash browns in 5 days and loved every single one of those salty, crunchy, greasy potato yumminess……drool. I digress. This post is about my current obsession with the french classic potatoes dauphinoise. My mom got me a potato cookbook with 50 potato recipes from various culinary traditions. I saw this French classic and remembered how I liked it even when I found it crammed next to some mystery meat in a plastic airplane meal container back when they served those.

I found this potato dish to be an easy accompaniment to many dishes. It’s a great dish for dinner parties because of its long oven baking time which frees you up to cook the rest of your dinner.

Potatoes Dauphinoise

Grate 3 cloves of garlic in a saucepan with 1/2 cup milk and 1 cup heavy cream. Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Slice up 1-2 lbs of peeled, floury potatoes (I use Yukon golds) into 1/4 in thick round slices. Butter a casserole dish and layer potato slices in dish sprinkling salt and white pepper over each of the layers.

Pour the garlic cream mixture over the potatoes and bake in the oven at 325-350 degrees for 1-2 hours gently pressing down on the potatoes with a spatula every 30 min. Bake until golden brown on top and test to make sure potatoes are cooked using a knife. Allow to cool for 10 min before serving.

Lamby Goodness. baaa….

Apr 6th, 2009
by Princess Risa.
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People generally have a strong opinion about lamb. Baby sheep … fluffy, white, cute. But let’s get serious here, we like to eat all sorts of charismatic fauna. The thing with lamb is that when it is not prepared properly, it has that distinct, slightly acerbic lamb stench. But lamb can also be something special.

After a hectic work week, Little Miss came to visit me and I dragged her to Costco. As we wheeled past the meat section, we could not resist the lamb chops.

I generously salt and peppered the chops and Little Miss made a yogurt, dijon mustard, garlic, parsley, rosemary, lemon marinade for them.

We left the marinade on for about 2 hours, then we seared the chops in some olive oil and then stuck them in the oven at 400 degrees for about 15 min. We let them rest for about 10 min and sliced them up!



The result: Flavorful, beautifully browned on the outside and moist medium rare on the inside with no weird lamb stench. Only lamby goodness.