greg cooks

nourishing the body

greg

Japanese Green Tea

I received a wonderful gift recently. One of my loves; fresh Japanese green tea. For me there is no better green tea than the first spring cutting from Japan. I do like Chinese teas as well but they just aren’t the same as this. I was so pleased to receive this gift of tea and more. In the can is a high grade new crop 2008 tea. This shin-cha, new tea, was picked in April from just the new growing tips of the tea plants. It is a special taste. In the bag is a green kukicha which is a blend of green tea made from the stems and stalks. Kukicha means twig tea. It has a nutty creamy flavor that is a little bit different than the tea leaves.

With the tea I also received a Japanese tea pot and set of five tea cups. What better way to enjoy the flavors of Japan than with true Japanese utensils. By the way, you always see Asian dishes in sets of five. Even numbers are bad luck.


I brewed up some of the kukicha. You can see it has a nice golden yellow/green color. It has a nice grassy flavor and aroma with a creaminess that coated the mouth.

Along with the tea I also received some special sakes. Two are shown in the “Aladin” bottles below. One is a clear sake and the other is unfiltered. Both are meant to be drunk cold. The large bottle is a Wakatake Onikoroshi Junmai Daiginjo sake. It is made from rice that has been polished 60%. The only other ingredients are water and koji, the mold that converts the starch in the rice to fermentable sugars. I can’t wait to try these.


Another pizza

I’ve talked about making pizza before so I won’t go into details about the dough and stuff. I just wanted to post a quick post to share my latest one. This one has an all white flour crust that was softened by the addition of some olive oil to the dough. I did use my sourdough starter along with some yeast to help boost it as I only had a day to raise this dough. Topped with a basic commercial pizza sauce and mozarella cheese. Underneath the cheese are pieces of a really nice hard salami that I picked up at Trader Joe’s. It added just the right hint of flavor.

Flan

I don’t make a lot of desserts but when I do I like them to be tasty. I am partial to anything creamy and custardy. Crème brûlée tops my list but I also love flan.

My recipe for this flan consisted of . . .

~1/2 cup sugar for the caramel
3 cups skim milk
2 whole eggs and 2 egg yolks
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup sugar

The caramel is simply made by placing the sugar in a pan and heating it until it has melted and browned. Careful not to scorch it. You can cook flan in one large container or in smaller single serving cups. I chose the latter and divided the caramel among six baking cups.

The eggs where mixed but not beaten too much as you don’t want to incorporate air into them. Meanwhile the vanilla, sugar and milk was heated to scalding temperature in the microwave. This was then added to the eggs very slowly at first while whisking to temper the eggs. You don’t want to cook them at this point. Once all the milk was incorporated it was divided among the baking cups. These were placed in a pan and hot water was added to surround the cups coming up a little over half way.

The custard was placed in a 350 °F oven for about 30 minutes until the custard was set. It should jiggle a little but a knife inserted in the center should come out clean. The flan was removed from the pan and cooled. Eventually it was placed in the fridge to chill. The longer it sits the more the caramel will dissolve to make a sauce for the flan.

To serve run a knife around the edges of the flan to loosen it from the sides. Place a serving plate upside down onto the cup and quickly invert it. Tap it on the counter if necessary to loosen the flan from the cup and carefully lift it up. Here’s my caramelly goodness.

Wedge Salad

I must admit that iceberg lettuce is not my favorite. I hardly ever eat it. It just has no flavor and no nutritional value. The only thing it has going for it is its wonderful crispness. This is my favorite way to eat iceberg lettuce. With lots of blue cheese dressing, fresh tomatoes and crispy bacon. The lettuce is just a carrier for the rest of this goodness. This quintessential American salad sure is good. I even managed to lighten the dressing by using fat free yogurt instead of sour cream and mayonnaise. The lettuce must be served as an intact wedge to take advantage of the full crunch when you bite into all the layers.

Light and almost healthy blue cheese dressing

1/2 cup blue cheese crumbles
3/4 cup nonfat yogurt
20 good grinds of black pepper
3 tbsp rice vinegar