I think “fig” is a strange word.  I don’t know why, but the more I look at the word fig, the more I think I’ve spelled it wrong.  Anyway, fresh figs are tasty and they are an excellent source of nutrition.  Unfortunately, fig season in Japan is only during the fall.  I wish they were available year-round!

No recipes with this post…just enjoy the beauty and taste figs in their natural form! 

Carrot Salad

1 pound carrots – peeled and cut into ¼-inch slices

Boiling salted water

¾ cup homemade tomato juice

½ cup honey or raw sugar

½ cup oil

¼ cup vinegar

2 tablespoons water

¾ teaspoon sea salt

Fresh thyme leaves or ¼ teaspoon dried thyme

1 small green pepper, seeded and sliced thinly

1 small sweet red onion, sliced thinly

Directions

• Place the carrots in a saucepan.  Add boiling water so it comes 1/4 the way up the carrots.
• Cover and simmer until the carrots are crisp-tender, about 10 minutes.
• Drain the liquid from the carrots.  (You can also save the liquid and use it in a soup or broth.)
• Combine the remaining ingredients and mix well.
• Pour the remaining ingredients over the hot carrots and cover.
• Store in the refrigerator overnight.
• Stir well and drain before serving.
• Yield: 6 servings
• Other ingredient ideas: apples, raisins, pine nuts, walnuts, and more!

I’m still wondering how Larry got the turkey to fit in the oven…

Our neighbors from Australia made Lamingtons, a traditional Australian cake covered in chocolate and coconut.  Don’t they look cool!?  They were quickly consumed and the reviewers gave them 5 stars!

Don’t forget the pumpkin cheesecake…

This photo is a little fuzzy (oops!), but I wanted to show you the crew…

Baby Sophia, Larry, Rieko, Nico, Yee, Paula, Pei, Shawn, Beth

We are looking forward to the next celebration!

To all of our family and friends…we hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Would someone please eat something with fresh cranberries in it for me?  Fresh cranberries are non-existent in Tokyo!  Maybe they’ll still be in the stores when we are in the U.S. for Christmas and I can get my fill in a few weeks! 

Some of the other strange things that are ‘missing’ when you’re in a foreign country for Thanksgiving include: the buzz in the grocery store of people picking up last minute items, looking through 10 inches of “Day After Thanksgiving Sale Ads” that are stuffed in the newspaper, watching A Christmas Story and It’s a Wonderful Life, football (of course!), watching the local news coverage of all the crazy people who slept outside their favorite store in order to buy a computer for $3.99…the list goes on…

One more thing…

What would Thanksgiving be without A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving?  Thanks to YouTube, Charlie Brown can still make his way to Tokyo!  (The audio and motion are out of sync, but it’s still good to watch a classic!!

[youtube=http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=42u0TiZZPCY]

Have a great day!

I wanted to show a quick photo from tonight’s dinner. Sorry, but I don’t have a recipe to post (yet). I combined a few “Jerk Chicken” recipes, but didn’t write down the specifics!

The combination of lime juice, soy sauce, allspice, cinnamon, garlic, fresh ginger, green onions, and hot peppers made for tasty and tender chicken. The pineapple, green peppers, tomatoes, corn, green peppers, black beans, and lime juice were a refreshing side dish.

I will have to recreate the dish and post the recipe at another time! Enjoy the photo for now!

A new spice has entered my world of cooking.

Curry powder.

I used to be intimated by curry powder. Everything about curry seemed so intense.

The aroma.

The flavor.

The color.

While I had previously enjoyed eating meals prepared with curry, I never attempted to cook with curry. Since we moved to Tokyo, this has changed.

Curry is not just a spice used in Indian cuisine. Curry is a very popular dish in Japan, but the preparation and flavor is often different than when people associate curry with Indian cuisine. The Japanese preparation often includes a dark brown sauce, which is often milder than the intense flavor accompanied with the traditional Indian preparation. Curry is not limited to Japan and India. In fact, it is commonly found in dishes prepared throughout Asia, S.E. Asia, West Asia, and Britain.

The versatility of curry is the perfect reason why I am adding it to my spice rack. Don’t get me wrong, I still believe curry is an intense spice, but the more I cook with it, the less intimidated I become!

I have so much to learn about cooking with curry, but I think this recipe is the perfect introductory recipe for those wanting to enter into the world of curry. This is a simple recipe and the blend of honey, Dijon mustard, soy sauce, and curry makes an excellent combination.

If anyone has a favorite recipe using curry, please post a link and I will have to try it out!

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Curry and Dijon Baked Chicken

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons soy sauce
½ tablespoon curry powder (increase the amount for a more intense and spicy flavor)
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

1. Prepare the chicken by removing any skin and flatten the pieces so they are an even thickness.
2. Mix the honey, Dijon mustard, soy sauce, curry powder, black pepper, and crushed red pepper flakes in a bowl.
3. Add the chicken to the bowl and mix until the chicken is evenly coated.
4. Allow the chicken to marinate for at least 3 hours. The longer, the better!
5. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
6. Lightly grease a baking sheet or dish and lay out the chicken pieces in the pan.
7. Bake the chicken for 20 minutes.
8. Remove the pan from the oven and turn the chicken over.
9. Return the chicken to the oven and bake for an additional 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.
10. Note: As the chicken bakes, keep an eye on the pan to see if the juices begin to brown. As the browning begins to form, add water to the pan. I often use about 1 to 1½ cups of water. The water will loosen the brown parts from the bottom of the pan, thicken with a little additional cooking time, and make an excellent sauce to pour over the chicken after it bakes.

This dish goes well served with brown rice and Roasted Vegetables with Soy Sauce and Ginger. Watch for a future post on the perfect way to cook brown rice. It does not involve a rice cooker or the stove top…
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I have often prepared this vegetable combination with an Italian flavor, but recently adapted the recipe to an Asian flavor. Both styles taste very good. I will have to post the recipe for the Italian version sometime! This is such a simple recipe…just add the flavors you like best and you can’t go wrong!

Roasted Vegetables with Soy Sauce and Ginger

2 small eggplant (Japanese-style eggplant is preferred, but not required)

2 carrots

½ onion

1 clove garlic

1 tablespoon fresh ginger, chopped (I often add more than this!)

¼ teaspoon black pepper

1 to 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce

1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil

1. Slice the eggplant, carrots, and onions into long, thin strips.
2. Finely chop the clove of garlic.
3. Slice the fresh ginger into small sticks.
4. Place the eggplant, carrots, onions, garlic, and ginger into a heavy baking dish. I prefer to use a dish from LeCreuset’s Traditional Stoneware collection.
5. Pour the soy sauce, olive oil, and black pepper over the vegetables.
6. Stir to cover.
7. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
8. Roast the vegetables for 10-15 minutes.
9. Remove the pan from the oven and gently turn the vegetables.
10. Return the vegetables to the oven to roast for another 10-15 minutes or until they just begin to soften. The carrots will still have a slight crisp-ness to them. (Depending on your oven, you might not need to roast the vegetables too long after turning them the first time.)

A closer look at a dish from the LeCreuset Traditional Stoneware collection.

It’s strawberry season in Japan! The markets in Tokyo are currently filled with perfectly ripened and packaged strawberries. They look so good, that you almost do not want to eat them. Haa – not a chance!

I made a quick smoothie with a few strawberries, oranges, banana, and plain yogurt. Yum…

We did not have yeast at home, so I decided to make the crust from a breadstick recipe. This gave the crust a thin, rustic texture which we enjoyed. Our oven in Tokyo is extremely small, so the recipe is tailored to fit a 9×13 inch pan.

Be creative with this recipe! Use the recipe as a general guide, but I recommend opening your refrigerator and using what you have on-hand for ingredients.

Rosemary and Cornmeal Pizza Crust (1/2 recipe – perfect for a 9×13 pan)

¾ cup all purpose flour

¼ cup corn meal

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon granulated sugar

1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped (or ½ tablespoon dried rosemary or your favorite seasoning)

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

2 tablespoons cold butter

¼ cup milk

1 egg white

1. Preheat oven to 400° F
2. Combine the flour, corn meal, baking powder, sugar, rosemary, salt, and pepper in a bowl.
3. Cut in butter until the mixture resembles a coarse meal.
4. Stir in milk and egg whites to flour mixture.
5. Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and knead for 1 minute.
6. Roll out into the size of your sheet pan(s).
7. Pre-bake the crust for 10-15 minutes or until the edges of the crust just begin to turn golden brown.

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Pizza Topping

2 teaspoons olive oil, separated

½ large onion, sliced

2 small Japanese eggplant, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

2 asparagus spears, chopped

2 thin pieces of pancetta, chopped (omit for vegetarian version)

1 can tomato sauce

1 tablespoon Italian seasoning

Salt

Pepper

Grated cheese

1. Pour 1 teaspoon olive oil into a pan over medium heat.
2. Slice the onion and place into the pan.
3. Cook the onions until they are soft and golden brown.
4. Remove the onions from the pan.
5. Pour 1 teaspoon olive oil into the pan over medium heat.
6. Chop the eggplant, garlic, and asparagus.
7. Cook the vegetables in the oil just until they begin to soften.
8. Remove the vegetables from the pan.
9. Chop the pancetta and place into the pan which was used to cook the vegetables.
10. Cook until golden brown.
11. Pour the tomato sauce into the pan that which was used to cook the vegetables.
12. Add the Italian seasoning, salt and pepper to taste.
13. Cook over medium-low heat for 7 minutes.
14. After the crust has baked, pour the tomato sauce over the crust.
15. Evenly spread the sauce over the crust.
16. Sprinkle the cooked onions, vegetables, and pancetta over the sauce.
17. Sprinkle grated cheese over the pizza.
18. Return the pizza to the oven for 10 minutes.

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Rosemary and Cornmeal Pizza Crust (full crust recipe)

1 ½ cup flour

½ cup corn meal

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon granulated sugar

2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, chopped (or 1 tablespoon dried rosemary)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

4 tablespoons cold butter

½ cup milk

2 egg whites

The recipe for the crust was inspired by a recipe for Rosemary and Polenta Bread Sticks.