July’s Washoku Warriors challenge was to make one of two dishes: Hiyashi Chuka (Chilled Chinese Noodle Salad) or Somen (Thin Noodles on Ice). I chose to make the hiyashi chuka because it was very flexible and came together in just a few minutes.

The recipe had two different dressing recipes and I chose the one that required no prep time and had the least amount of ingredients. I added a little more sugar and a little less sesame oil for personal preference. Next time, I would add a splash of plum vinegar or citrus juice to brighten the dressing a tad. The original garnishes called for were red pickled ginger, tomato, cucumber, shitake mushrooms, egg, ham, and sesame seeds.

I wanted to keep with the color scheme, so replaced the tomato with red pepper and switched out sesame seeds with flax seeds and some black sesame seeds. I omitted the ‘shrooms since I don’t care for them, and replaced the red pickled ginger (beni shoga) with regular pickled ginger. I also don’t care for cucumbers so next time I’ll replace it with zucchini. I don’t really like sesame oil, so I was very worried about adding it into the dressing. In the end, I was surprised that the smell of sesame was so strong, but the taste was just right!

This dish came together so quickly, yet was satisfying and light–there will definitely be a “next time” for this.

Noodles with Clear Dressing & Garnishes

• chilled, hydrated noodles (dried ramen) according to package directions
• 1/3 cup rice vinegar
• 1 heaping tablespoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• scant 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• thinly sliced garnishes

Combine sugar and vinegar in a saucepan over low heat until dissolved. Remove pan from heat and stir in soy sauce and oil. Place in fridge to cool. Garnish noodles with toppings, drizzle dressing over. Toss to combine and enjoy!

One note on the name, as it is misleading. Originally I thought that “noodle salad” meant salad greens with a few noodles mixed in. This is a salad in the sense that it has toppings and a dressing that are then tossed together in the “style” of a salad.

Also, this blue container is actually my lunch for tomorrow! I picked up these nesting containers at Borders and this is the first journey it will make to my office. This is a great dish for bento because it’s meant to be eaten cold–straight from the fridge.

A few weeks ago my doorbell rang and I opened it to find a large box from San Francisco. I opened it to find three packages of Nature’s Pride Premium Harvest Hamburger Buns and Deli Rolls from the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program! Three packages of bread is a lot for us to eat, considering we’re a household of only two, but we tried our best! We ate sandwiches every day and grilled yummy Snappys on the weekend.

Unfortunately, we don’t like white bread, so the Country White buns didn’t really get eaten. I ate the Whole Wheat buns for lunches, and thought they were quite yummy. Many rolls we buy at the store for lunch sandwiches have too much bread and have a bad, chalky powder on the outside, leaving you with white-dusted lips. Not these! These were just the right amount of bread and I loved the dark, rich color.  I liked the fact that the buns were dense, but my boyfriend did not. I could see this bun standing up to a hamburger in strength, but it might stuff you until you were about to explode.

We like to think of buns and rolls as “treats” for a fancy sandwich, not for every day use. These would be great buns to buy for a grill-out, but my family is a potato-roll family! We can’t get away from that nice, orange-y color and mild, sweet after taste. I’m fine eating regular sandwich bread, or even sandwich “thins” since I like to taste my sandwich innards first, before the bread.

I’ve been to events like this before — Washingtonian’s “Best of” party, and just the week before (via Yelp) Toast of the Town. This is by far the best event of this sort that I’ve been to. Maybe it’s because of my sweet tooth, but I loved every moment of it. Thankfully there were some savory stations–lest I go into a diabetic coma–but most of them were sweet. There were so many options that were so delicious that I didn’t have time to photograph everything.

My boyfriend (my +1) and I reached a consensus that Chef Geoff’s espresso brownie was the best dish of the night, followed by the dishes from the Ritz. Another great thing that set this event apart from others — the bar. This event was 100% open bar with beer, wine, and mixed drinks. The event was the whole bottom floor of the Mandarin Oriental, which contained many different rooms and hallways. Since it wasn’t just one big open space, there were a lot of different areas to explore and discover.

The end of the night was capped off with awards, a live auction, and a fashion show. The fashion show all had models wearing clothing that was a hybrid of chocolate, marzipan, and/or sugar and fabric. I think the theme was “movies” since there was a Cruella DeVil, “Birds”, Tinkerbell, and a few warriors.

All in all, the event had great people, great food, and it was for a great cause. I honestly would consider going again next year, on my own ticket!

A new Whole Foods opened near me recently. As part of their opening promotions, they invited Facebook users, Twitter-ers, and e-mail subscribers to take part in a “Rate the Recipe Challenge”. We were asked to visit their online Recipe section and pick a recipe that hadn’t been rated yet. After we submitted our recipes, we were given a $20 gift card to purchase ingredients and the promise of another $10 gift card as incentive to complete the challenge.

It was hard to decide on just one recipe to choose, but I ended up picking Almond French Toast. This recipe was french toast with a twist, it’s egg and dairy free! My review follows below.

One of my favorite foods of all time is french toast, and the best part is the spongy, eggy taste of the center paired with the crisp and sweet outside. This recipe came together very quickly and really delivered on the “french toast” experience. The protein and texture of the eggs are replaced with the almond butter and tofu, and the milk is replaced with almond milk. The batter for the last few slices in the batch had a more paste-like texture that sticks to the bread , but if you’re not afraid of getting your hands dirty, just wipe the bread down a bit between your fingers and this problem is solved. The bread is also a little dry because there is less liquid in this batter so it would pair great with some yogurt or extra syrup.

The best part of this dish was definitely the toasted almonds. I thought that topping the french toast with almonds wouldn’t taste good, but toasting them beforehand gives a wonderful crunch and brings out the natural sweetness of the nuts while providing a strong textural contrast.

The main ingredient in all french toast dishes is the bread, so this recipe can go all sorts of different ways depending on the type of bread you use. I made one batch using some whole grain bread and another batch using challah bread. I liked the challah bread better because it had a crispier outside and the lighter center of the bread soaked up the mixture better, but it really comes down to personal preference (and if you’re making an egg-free recipe, you should probably use an egg-free bread). The egg-free, whole wheat batch was served with some bananas drizzled with brown sugar syrup on the side while the challah batch was served with a smear of chocolate-hazelnut spread between slices.

This is a great recipe for those that love french toast, but can’t have it the traditional way due to dietary restrictions. This could be seen as a bit expensive to make if you didn’t have any of the ingredients, but most people have at least some of them. Also, this would be a great opportunity to utilize the “make your own nut butter” and bulk food sections at Whole Foods since this recipe only calls for a little of each ingredient.

• Friday Happy Hour: The Gin Gin Mule (We Love DC)
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• Kanji Wallpaper from White Rabbit Press (JapanNewbie)
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• Kitty Cat Crossanwich (AiBento)
• Lettuce in Creamy Dill & Garlic Sauce (Coffee and Vanilla)
• Carved Carrot Flowers (Bento Zen)
• Brown Bear Shoyu Egg Bento (Happy Little Bento)
• Bento Filler: 3-color Spring Vegetable Namul (Just Bento)
• Braided Lemon Bread (Smitten Kitchen)
• Chocolate Truffle Tart (La Fuji Mama through Daydreamer Desserts)
• Kiss & Hug Cookies (La Fuji Mama)
• Muffins for Spring: Ramp Pesto and Carrot Puree (Just Bento)
• SMS: Chocolate Malt Cake (Sweet Tooth)
• Around the World in 80 Eggs (Smithsonian)
• Open Face Salmon Sandwich with Sweet Mustard Sauce (Steamy Kitchen)
• Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake (Baker’s Banter)
• Deep-fry Fridays: Acorn Squash Egg Korokke (Momofuku for 2)
• Salted Caramel Brownie (The Pioneer Woman)
• Sunday Brunch: Buttermilk Glazed Donut Recipe (Serious Eats)
• Cream Puffs (La Fuji Mama)
• Daring Baker’s Croquembouche (Piece Montée) (La Fuji Mama)
• Apple Soju Cocktail Recipe (Momofuku for 2)
• Butterfinger Mochi Ice Cream from Daydreamer Desserts (La Fuji Mama)
• Root Beer Float Cupcakes (Smitten Kitchen)
• Thai-Inspired Turkey Burgers (Week of Menus)
• Happy Hour: Lychee Martini (eatmakeread)
• Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake (The Sweetest Kitchen)
• Chocolate Doughnut Holes (Smitten Kitchen)

Olga of Mango & Tomato is is hosting a recipe contest for her 2 year blog-iversary that requires the use of mangoes and tomatoes in a dish. We were only required to make one item, but I couldn’t calm my imagination and decided on three different dishes.

Mango Bloody Mary
spicy tomato puree with mango juice, absolut peppar, mint and mango garnish

Spicy & Sweet Fish Fajitas
grilled red chile tortilla topped with tomato and mango fried rice, grilled mahi mahi, and mango & black bean salsa

Tomato Petit Fours with Mango Glaze
tomato cakes with a touch of cocoa powder drizzled with a sweet mango glaze and kinako-cinnamon

Most of these things were basically just assembled versions of the descriptions. The most successful were the fajitas and the petit fours. I took this opportunity to try a bloody mary for the first time (and use up some absolut peppar) and I did not like it. 2 parts tomato mixture, 1 part mango juice, 1 part absolut, and the drink was still too tomato-y! Some people like drinking tomato juice but I cannot stand it.

The fajitas were juicy, crispy, and acidic. The rice used some tomato soup, diced tomato, and diced mango. I crisped up the bottom before combining all the ingredients, which was a great textural contrast. I’m sure everyone has their own fried rice and salsa recipes, so I’ll leave that up to you. Mango salsa is one of my favorite things to eat, but I thought it was a predictable use of the ingredients so I tried to make a dessert. I was thinking about making a granita or sorbet duo using the mango and tomato, or even a tomato macaron with mango filling, but my laziness got the best of me and I chose to do a cake. I’ve heard of a tomato-soup cake before, so I adapted a recipe for donuts to be used for cake and subbed the milk for tomato soup. The result was spicy, savory, and paired well with sweet, sticky glaze I drizzled over the mini-cakes. The glaze came together easily and is an adaptation of a glaze I make when whipping up traditional petit fours.

Tomato Petit Fours with Mango Glaze

• 1¼ cups cake flour, sifted
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1¼ tsp. baking powder
• 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg and/or cinnamon
• dash salt
• ½ cup tomato soup
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1½ tbsp. butter, melted
• ½ c. powdered sugar
• 3-6 tbsp. mango juice
• 1-2 drops vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 425°F. Sift together flour, sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt. Add egg and butter, stir until combined. Measure out soup, whisk in baking powder until frothy. Fold into mixture. Cook 2tbsp portions of batter, either in squares or circles (you can do this in liners or pans, whatever you have laying around. I used a brownie bites pan). Bake around 8 minutes or until the tops spring back when touched. Let cool for 4–5 minutes.

While the cakes are cooling, combine the mango juice and sugar. Add a little at a time until you get the consistency you want, it should be thin enough to be drizzled or poured. When you’ve reached the desired consistency, add a dash of vanilla and stir.

Assemble the cakes, drizzle glaze, and sprinkle with cocoa powder and/or kinako-cinnamon mixture. Top with diced mango and tomato and mint leaf.

p.s. look at the snazzy header I designed for mango & tomato! Olga was nice enough to come to my apartment and teach a friend and me a knife skills class in April, so we worked on a mini-face lift for her site~

After seeing a recipe for mini bread pudding using leftover challah bread on Mango & Tomato, I decided to try my hand at it. I chose to go the savory route since I wanted to be able to eat these as snacks or pack in my lunches. I also didn’t have any of the sweet ingredients on hand, and took this opportunity to make a nokorimono (leftover) dish!

I mixed all the ingredients together and let them mingle in the fridge overnight before popping them in the oven the following day. I chose to bake them in muffin liners so they’d release from the pan effortlessly and would be easy to transport.

makes ~10 mini bread puddings

• leftover challah bread
• diced tomato
• parmesan cheese
• chopped savory marcona almonds (made by my friend, Stephanie)
• flax seeds
• ground black sesame seeds
• milk
• eggs
• soy sauce
• turkey

Cut or pull the challah bread apart into manageable pieces. The ingredient amounts will depend on the amount of bread you have. Mix eggs, milk, sesame seeds, and soy sauce into a bowl and combine. Add tomato, cheese, almonds, flax seeds, and torn turkey into another bowl. Toss with hands to combine. Pour liquid mixture over bread mixture, combine with hands. Line muffin pan with liners, fill cups 75-90% full, sprinkle with more cheese on top. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes, or until the “puddings” are done to your likeness. You can bake a little longer if you don’t like having spongey bottoms to the puddings.

I brought these over to my house for memorial day weekend and got my sister to try one~ They taste pretty good and can be considered one of those “freezer stash” items to keep for rainy days, or nice picnic lunches. The small, individual size lends itself to sharing, but you could definitely cook this mixture in a pan and serve it up family-style!

I was lacking herbs in the kitchen and think some dill, parsley, or even some spinach would work well in this dish.

I chose to assemble:

- koshi an (store bought)
- brown sugar syrup
- nutty miso
- kinako/cinnamon
- cornflakes
- mochi
- 小桜 (sakura branch) candy

I could not find kinako anywhere near where I live, so I bought roasted soybeans (sold as “soynuts”) at Whole Foods and chopped them up in the food processor.

The brown sugar syrup was very easy to make, but I had no patience to wait for it to cool, so it was left out of the parfait.

I made the nutty miso using walnuts, but found it too salty to put in an ice cream parfait. Later, I found out it was because I forgot to add the sugar to make it a “dessert” sauce!

I also chose to use koshi-an I already had on-hand instead of making coarsely ground red bean jam as suggested in the original challenge.

I made these parfaits while a friend was over and set out all the toppings in individual containers so we could make the parfaits お好み-style (okonomi, “as you like”). She had: cinnamon buns ice cream + cornflakes + red bean paste + mochi + kinako/cinnamon mixture. I shared mine with my boyfriend (pictured above) and had: cinnamon buns ice cream + cornflakes + coffee ice cream + mochi + kinako/cinnamon + “sakura branch” candies.

While it was a bit time consuming to assemble or make the ingredients, the recipes all make large quantities so you can make parfaits instantly after the initial work ^_^. All of the ingredients keep for at least a few weeks. This is also a great alternative for those that don’t like Western-style sweets and prefer a more balanced sweet/savory dessert.

April’s Washoku Warriors challenge was Spring. We were given the option of making kajiki maguro no yuuan yaki (梶木鮪の幽庵焼き), spinach steeped in broth — hourensou no ohitashi (菠薐草のお浸し), and/or temple style chowder — unpen-jiru (雲辺汁). I wanted to try the soup, but decided on the easier fish and spinach combination.

There was an interesting story in the book about the fish — the chef chooses the different chinese characters to display on the menu, reflecting his interpretation of the dish. I chose to display the characters that are used in the wikipedia entry for this dish, but there are two other popular uses.

The fish was surprisingly very tasty, and very easy to cook. I was a little wary of this recipe since I don’t like tougher white fish like swordfish and mahi mahi (which I substituted for the swordfish in this recipe because it was less expensive). The quick marinade and high-heat cooking method made the flesh tender and it flaked apart like the fish my dad made when we were growing up. There is also very healthy because I used less than a teaspoon of oil to sear the fish in.

I really wish we had yuzu around where I live, but alas, we don’t. I also didn’t have grapefruit juice to mix with lime and lemon to mimic the flavor of yuzu, but this dish was fine with just lemon and lime. The flavors were simple and bright, but next time I’ll double the citrus amount or cut the soy sauce in half. The end result’s shoyu flavor was a bit too strong for my taste.

The fish was served with ohitashi, rice, and roasted asparagus.

The ohitashi was the least successful part of this dish–probably due to the shortcuts I took in the marinade. I didn’t have soy sauce concentrate on hand for the ohitashi, but wanted to make this dish very quickly so I estimated the ratio of salt to sugar and added some water and instant dashi granules. The result was a little too ocean-y and far too salty. I used the leftover glaze and zest from the fish and mixed it in with the spinach and it became more palatable. Unfortunately, I don’t think the ohitashi is for me, but it may just be my dislike for leafy greens. The bright green color after blanching was very attractive though.

One great positive about this meal is that I was able to make a bento out of the leftovers!

April 21st – Yuuan yaki swordfish; roasted asparagus; spinach ohitashi; kumquats; rice.
Pictured on a Wall-E notebook!

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