Scallion Goat Cheese Muffins

I think I am back. I am done with cooking school and doing an internship at a restaurant. I still don't know what I am going to do, but I know what I want to keep doing: I want to keep cooking and I want to keep finding nice ways to use CSA ingredients.
This is the 5th week of CSA, unbelievable, how fast summer is passing by. We are getting lots of scallions and they look so beautiful, fresh, they smell awesome, how can you let this go unused? I found this wonderful recipe from Gourmet Magazine and I want to share it with you. It calls for 1 cup of chopped scallions, I would use an additional 1/2 cup next time.
Serve it with sauteed spinach, kale or beet greens and you will have a wonderful complete meal!

Scallion Goat Cheese Muffins

Makes 12 muffins. Gourmet

Ingredients:

1 cup whole milk

4 ounces soft mild goat cheese

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter

1 large egg

1 bunch scallions

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 F. and butter twelve muffin cups.

Prep Goat Cheese:

In a small bowl stir together 2 tablespoons milk and goat cheese until combined.

Mix Wet, Dry and Scallions:

Into a bowl sift together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt.

Melt butter and in another small bowl whisk together with remaining milk and egg. Finely chop enough scallions to measure 1 cup.

Stir butter mixture and scallions into flour mixture until just combined.

Bake:

Divide half of batter evenly among muffin cups and top each with about 2 teaspoons goat cheese filling. Divide remaining batter over filling.

Bake muffins in middle of oven until golden and a tester comes out clean, about 20 minutes.

Source: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/reviews/Scallion-Goat-Cheese-Muffins-100599

Oyako Donburi (Chicken and Egg Rice Bowl)

Hi all, it looks like I am into another Japanese dish. It's just that I am craving for Japanese foods every day, weird! But not to worry, I will come to other foods, such as Brazilian, soon.

The Japanese name for dish means “parent and child”, which I think is super cute. This dish was very common at my parents house, and everybody loved it. It’s easy and quick to make too. The picture of this dish looks very similar to the Soboro but it tastes totally different.

Some restaurants and recipes call for too much sugar. I prefer less, just a hint, like the authentic Japanese food should be.

Oyako Donburi

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon sesame or vegetable oil

1 onion, thinly sliced

12 oz chicken breast, cut in ½” cubes

4 eggs

mushrooms such as shiitake or oyster, cut into strips (optional)

4 tablespoons light soy sauce

2 tablespoons mirin

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 C water

Mitsuba as a garnish (optional)

Chrysanthemum as a garnish (optional)

Nori seaweed as a garnish (optional)

4 tablespoons green onions, chopped very thin

Directions:

Heat oil In a large skillet, add onion and stir fry until soft, about 5 minutes. Add chicken and simmer for about 2 to 3 minutes. Add water, soy sauce, mirin, sugar and mushrooms (if using) and simmer over medium heat, about 5 minutes or until the chicken is tender. Beat eggs in a bowl. Bring the soup to a boil, pour over chicken, turn the heat down to low and put on a lid. Cook until the egg is set, about one minute. Add mistuba and/or chrysanthemum to the chicken. To serve,  put about 1 cup of steamed rice in a deep bowl, then lay the chicken and egg on top of the rice. Top with green onions and nori seaweed if using.

Soboro (Meat and Egg Japanese Style)

I love this dish. It is the typical Japanese comfort food. The combination of ginger with the teriyaki in the meat and the slight sweetness in the egg is delicious. You can use any meat: beef, chicken, pork, turkey. I used organic turkey. The eggs were super fresh from the CSA box that I've got on the same day. I am assuming you know by now that everything I use is organic. Well, maybe 99%...

Soboro (Meat and Egg Japanese Style)

4 Servings

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon sesame oil

16 ounces ground chicken or turkey (or any other meat)

2 tablespoons mirin

2 teaspoons sugar

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon grated ginger

1 teaspoon vegetable oil

4 eggs

2 teaspoons sugar

½ tablespoon mirin

pinch of salt

2 cups cooked short grain brown or white rice

2 tablespoons thinly chopped green onions

1 nori seaweed sheet cut in thin strips

Directions:

Heat oil in a skillet. Add the meat, mirin, sugar, ginger and in a medium to low heat, break the meat.  After the meat is cooked, about 15 minutes, add the soy sauce. If there is too much liquid, turn up the heat until the meat looks moist but there is no excess liquid.

While meat is cooking, beat eggs in a medium bowl and add sugar, mirin, and salt. Heat a skillet with vegetable oil, add the eggs, and scramble until cooked. Don’t overcook the eggs.

Serve ½ cup of short brown or white rice into four bowls. Top with soboro, then the egg, green onions and nori. You can optionally add hot green tea to this dish. Serve immediately.

Tonjiru (Pork and Vegetables Miso Soup)

Tonjiru or butajiru is a soup made with pork and miso, but its taste is very different from the traditional miso soup. This is the only dish I remember I liked when I was a baby. I mean it, I was a baby. My mom would serve it in a shallow plastic dish with some short grain rice, and I was delighted.

My version has some variations from the original dish. I added ginger and sesame oil instead of vegetable oil. I do not use konnyaku just because it’s a little hard to find and not everyone likes it. I am using potato instead of baby yam because of the same reason. However, I love baby yam! For Brazilians that are interested, the baby yam is called “inhame” in Brazil. Today I also added some left over tofu.

Mi’s Tonjiru (Pork, Vegetables and Miso Soup)

4 Servings

Ingredients:

1 tsp sesame oil

1 teaspoon grated ginger

1/4 lb lean pork, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1/2 gobo (burdock root), peeled and shaved into very thin slices

(I use the vegetable peeler to shave them)

1 medium potato (or 5 baby yams), peeled and cut into bite size pieces

1/2 carrot, peeled and cut into thin quarter-rounds

1/4 daikon radish, peeled and cut into thin and small rectangles

4 cup dashi soup stock (see miso soup recipe)

2 - 3 tbsp white miso

2 green onion springs, thinly sliced

Seven-spice chili mix (optional)

 Directions:

Soak gobo strips in water for 5 minutes in plenty of water and drain.

Heat sesame oil in a stock pot and quickly saute pork and ginger over high heat. Add potato, carrot, gobo, daikon radish to the pot and stir fry for about 1 minute. Add the dashi soup stock and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat to low, skim off any foam that rise to the surface, and simmer for about 10 minutes. Dissolve miso in the soup and add chopped green onions. Remove from heat just before it starts boiling. Serve immediately.

Shake Ochazuke (Salmon with Rice and Green Tea)

Ochazuke is one of my favorite Japanese dishes. It can be as simple as rice, nori, tea and some savory protein or vegetable. Since my mom is here and can direct my cooking, today I am making a more sophisticated one, with sushi grade salmon, yummmm!!!!! I am serving it with kinpira (cooked burdock root) on the side.

Shake Ochazuke (Salmon with Rice and Green Tea)

Servings 4

Ingredients

4C white or brown short grain rice, cooked

1 lb sushi grade salmon

2 tablespoons wasabi

¼ cup light soy sauce

¼ cup green onion springs, very thinly sliced

1 sheet nori cut into thin ribbons

2 tablespoons toasted white sesame seeds, slightly crushed

(In Japanese cuisine we use a sesame grinder)

Very hot, high quality green tea, prepared in a teapot

Directions

Prepare rice in a rice-cooker or boil as instructed on package.

Cut salmon sashimi style. In a medium bowl, mix soy sauce, wasabi, sesame and green onions. Pour on the fish and toss. Marinate in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Serve 1 cup of rice in a medium bowl, top with the seasoned salmon and pour green tea to cover the salmon.

Cover and wait a couple of minutes so that the fish gets slightly cooked with the tea heat. Top with nori right before serving.