Iwashi no Kabayaki

This is seasoned Pond smelt that is cooked in a similar style to Unagi. It requires a lot of patience but has a good taste and the Tare Sauce can be used for many other dishes.


Ingredients:
One Pack of Smelts
1/2 cup of flour


Tare Sauce:
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup mirin
2 Tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup shoyu (soy sauce)
6 Tablespoons vegetable oil

Steps: first off mix all of the ingredients for the Tare Sauce together inside a bowl. After that stir the bowl so that the sugar gets fully dissolved into the sauce. Then put the sauce into a pan and heat until boiling, after it boils over leave it to simmer on low heat while cleaning the fish.

Now comes the Meticulous Part, meaning that you have to clean the fish before it can be used. Cleaning a Smelt: 

Step 1:Cut off the head behind the gill cover on a slight angle so that the pectoral fins are removed in the cut.

Step 2:Insert knife or scissors into anus and cut along the belly to the point where the head was removed. With finger or spoon, remove entrails by starting at the anus and scraping forward.

Step 3: and rinse by running under cold water. Scaling or skinning is not necessary, but can be done by scraping with a toothbrush or finger.

After you have finished cleaning the smelt, slice them in half and then cover in flour and let it stay for 5 mins. 

 

Then fry some oil on a pan and then fry the fish until it is golden brown. Then let the fish set while the Tare Sauce is simmering. Then Place the fish into the Tare sauce and boil until it sticks to the fish.

When the fish is finished cooking plate it and then garnish it with some sliced nori or any green that you have available. There you go Iwashi no Kabayaki. You will notice that the Tare Sauce tastes exceptionally good even though it is quite simple, you can reuse this sauce with any other meat or fish dish that suits your taste.

Chicken Quesadilla with Smoked Onion Dip

This is a recipe that I incorporated from restaurant. Its a good value meal because you can reuse the chicken again. It has three parts and is quite a good and easy dish (somewhat).

Chicken Quesadilla
Ingredients:

2 Tortillas
Butter

Baked Chicken-
One full spring Chicken
Black pepper
Cajun Spice
Salt
Red Wine
Honey


Dipping Sauce-

One cup of white Onion
Mayonnaise
Sour Cream
Milk
Worcestershire Sauce





Filling
Ketchup

Tabasco Sauce
Black Pepper
Honey
Diced Tomatoes
Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
Red Onion




Steps:
First off, marinade the Chicken with the Honey, Black Pepper, Cajun Spice and Salt. Add the Red Wine to the bowl and taste to check if the flavors balance each other well. Then Leave the Chicken within the Marinade for at least 2 hours so that the flavors will seep into the Chicken. Next bake the chicken in the oven for an hour. The texture of the chicken will be nice and covered and the meat will be tender.

                                   

Secondly focus on making the dip. Chop the White Onion into slices and then smoke it for at least an hour preferably over Hickory wood chips. The flavors of the Onion will be brought out after smoking it . Then get a blender and Put in the White Onions, Mayonnaise, Sour Cream, Milk and Worcestershire Sauce and blend it for a while. Make sure that the sauce is smooth and creamy as the dip.

                   









When the Chicken has fully baked, shred the breast meat for the Quesadillas filling. You can eat the rest of the Chicken on it's own or as Chicken Sandwiches. Then prepare the other filling ingredients, Grate the Mozzarella cheese, Dice the Red Onions and the tomatoes.

Now to Prepare the Filling Sauce. Get a bowl and mix together the Ketchup, Black pepper, Honey and Tabasco. Alter the amounts depending on your taste. (as in spicy or sweet). Then add all of the filling ingredients except the cheese into the sauce and mix together well.


Now your ready to make the Quesadilla. First Fry some butter on the Frying Pan and then put the Tortilla flat onto the pan. Then Immediately Put your mixed Filling onto one side of the wrap. Add the cheese and then cover it with the other side of the wrap. Press it down so that the Tortilla will hold together. After the bottom side is cooked, flip the whole tortilla again so that the other side will be nice and brown.

 When both sides are finished cooking Cut the Quesadilla into three slices and then Plate. Add the dipping sauce into a small plate and put it into the center. Garnish the top with Mozzarella cheese and some Scallions then add Basil leaf into the Dipping Sauce. Voila you got Quesadillas.

Ratatouille

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons dried parsley
• 1 eggplant, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• salt
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 zucchini, sliced
• 1 large onion, sliced into rings
• 2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
• 1 green bell pepper, sliced
• 2 large tomatoes, chopped

Steps: Prepare all of the Ingredients. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat bottom and sides of a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Saute garlic until lightly browned. Mix in parsley and eggplant. Saute until eggplant is soft, about 10 minutes. Season with salt to taste.

Spread eggplant mixture evenly across bottom of prepared casserole dish. Sprinkle with a few tablespoons of Parmesan cheese. Spread zucchini in an even layer over top. Lightly salt and sprinkle with a little more cheese.




Continue layering in this fashion, with onion, mushrooms, bell pepper, and tomatoes, covering each layer with a sprinkling of salt and cheese.

 

Bake the dish in the oven for 45 minutes. When it is finished baking remove and serve. You might want to garnish it with basil.

Voila, Ratatouille just like the movie.

Beer-battered Fish and Chips

Ingredients

For the fries:

• 1 gallon safflower oil
• 4 large Russet potatoes
• Kosher salt
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• Dash Old Bay Seasoning
• 1 bottle brown beer, cold
• 1 1/2 pounds firm-fleshed whitefish, cut into 1-ounce strips
• Cornstarch, for dredging
• Cajun Spice
• Powdered Cheese
• 
• Heat oven to 200 degrees F.
• Heat the safflower oil in a 5-quart Dutch oven over high heat until it reaches 320 degrees.
• Using a V-slicer with a wide blade, slice the potatoes with the skin on. Place in a large bowl with cold water.
• In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cayenne pepper, and Old Bay seasoning. Whisk in the beer until the batter is completely smooth and free of any lumps. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. Note: The batter can be made up to 1 hour ahead of time.

Drain potatoes thoroughly, removing any excess water. When oil reaches 320 degrees, submerge the potatoes in the oil. Working in small batches, fry for 2 to 3 minutes until they are pale and floppy. Remove from oil, drain, and cool to room temperature.

Increase the temperature of the oil to 375 degrees. Re-immerse fries and cook until crisp and golden brown, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove and drain on roasting rack. Season with kosher salt while hot and hold in the oven.

Allow oil to return to 350 degrees. Lightly dredge fish strips in cornstarch. Working in small batches, dip the fish into batter and immerse into hot oil. When the batter is set, turn the pieces of fish over and cook until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Drain the fish on the roasting rack. Serve with malt vinegar. Season the Fries with Cajun Spice and Powdered Cheese.

Serve with Tar tar sauce and garnish with slices of lemon. Voila, you got  Beer-battered Fish and Chips. 

Risotto Frutti Di Mare

This is a risotto that I invented because my sister did not like Prawn Thermidor, but she likes rice so I made something using the ingredients of Prawn Thermidor but adding some of my own. Overall the secret ingredients of this dish are caviar and sour cream.

Ingredients:
Arborio Rice
Mushroom sliced
Bacon sliced
Scallop
Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
Prawns peeled and cut into threes
Butter
Sour Cream
Lungfish Caviar
Green Mussels
Garlic minced
White Wine
Italian Herbs
Basil

 

Steps: First Take a Pan and fill it with water and boil the arborio rice grains until they are soft and mix together well. When the rice has completely absorbed the excess water remove cover it and put it on low heat.

Prepare all of the ingredients. Put some butter in a pan and fry until it is golden brown. Then add the bacon to the pan and cook together well. When the bacon is half cooked add in the scallop and the mushrooms to the pan. Make sure that the scallop does not get crushed when your mixing it. Season it with Black Pepper

Add in the prawn to the pan and fry until it turns orange. Add in the Italian Herbs and Basil to the pan. Then add the Green Mussels on the half shell and the white wine to the pan. This will give the ingredients a good smell and taste. By this point some steam should be rising from the pan because of the mixture of liquids. Remove the ingredients from the pan

By the time that you finished cooking all the ingredients the rice should be cooked. Increase the heat of the pan with rice and then add the ingredients that have just been cooked. Mix all the ingredients except the mussels with the rice well and then add sour cream. When the rice has fully absorbed the sour cream add in the Lungfish caviar. 

Add in some of the shredded cheese to give it a sticky texture. Then Plate it. Garnish the top of the rice with the Green Mussels and add the remaining cheese. Microwave the plate for 10 seconds so that the cheese will melt onto the mussels and the rice. There you have it Risotto Frutti Di Mare

Chili Con Carne

This is a recipe for Chilli that I deduced from the book American Gods. It is very good as an appetizer. This ones dedicated to you Neil Gaiman.

Ingredients
half a can of Kidney Beans
Half a bottle of Tomato Sauce
Half a red Capsicum chopped into slices
200g ground beef
Cayenne Pepper
Chili Powder
Cajun Spice
Doritos Chips
3 sprigs of dill chopped
Lemon juice
White Onions
Carrot
Black Pepper
Red Wine
Grated Mozzarella Cheese

Steps: Prepare all of the ingredients. Squeeze the lemon juice from the lemon. Slice up the sprigs of dill and dice the red capsicum. Chop up the white onions, and dice the carrot. When you are using the kidney beans, add in the juice for flavor.

Firstly fry a pan with butter and then add in the white onions until it is nice and fragrant.

When the onions are cooked add in the diced carrots as well as the red capsicum. Keep on frying them until they are cooked and the carrots are not too hard. Add in the Cajun Spice.

Put in the ground beef into the pan. Add the Cayenne Pepper, Chili Powder and black pepper. A good spicy type smell should be rising from the pan. Add in the Sliced sprigs of dill into the pan and mix it together thoroughly. 

When all of the ingredients in the pan are cooked add the tomato sauce to the pan. Mix the ingredients with the sauce so that they level out evenly. Put in some red wine for a good husky taste. Add the kidney beans with the juice to the Mixture. 

Add a small amount of lemon juice for the extra spike as well as to enhance the smell of the chili. Set the pan on low heat and heat the mixture until it reduces to about half and has a firm consistency. If its too watery add some of the cheese. Get a plate and arrange Doritos around the plate. Spoon in the chili on top of the Doritos Chips, Sprinkle the shredded mozzarella cheese over the chili in the plate. Add some sprigs of dill on top as a garnish. Voila you got Chilli Con Carne that tastes good. 

Pasta de Green Mussels and Caviar

This is a really simple recipe to make a restaurant standard pasta, Guaranteed

Ingredients
Green Mussels on the Half Shell
Scallops
Pasta Spaghetti
Pure Cream
Caviar
Spring Onion
Butter
Olive Oil
Minced Garlic
Black Pepper
White Wine

Steps: First Boil a pot of hot water and boil your Pasta. Boil the Pasta for 7 mins and then drain into a strainer. Add some Olive Oil and mix the pasta in the strainer so that it does not stick. Boil the Mussels and remove the half shell from them. Now fry butter in a pan and add some spring onions.

When the spring onions start to fry add the scallops and mix it together with the spring onions. Make sure that the scallops don't get crushed when your mixing it. Add some Minced Garlic into the Scallops until it becomes fragrant.

After the Scallops are almost cooked add the green mussels to the pan. Add some Black pepper to the mix, then add white wine for smell and taste.

When it is almost completely cooked steam will start to rise from the mixture. Remove it and put it into a bowl. 

Fry some Butter in a pan, when the butter is melted put the pasta into the pan.
Fry the Pasta. Add the Pure cream into the pasta and mix. When the Pure cream has completely dissolved into the pasta, add the caviar into the pasta.

Add back the mixture of Green mussels and scallops back into the pasta and fry. Make sure that the pasta is not too wet or too dry.

When the pasta is completely cooked remove it and plate it. It is suggested to put the Green Mussels on top for added effect.

There you go Pasta de Green Mussels and Caviar. This is a really tasty dish that is easy to make, most of the ingredients are cheap except for the Caviar. Enjoy!