The following is a blend of two recipes, one from Harumi’s Japanese Home Cooking (review) & the other from Let’s Cook Japanese Food!, a solid, bubbly intro to Japanese cooking. So you know, these are not verbatim write-ups: I modified the chicken teriyaki recipe, and condensed the rice instructions.

Chicken Teriyaki (serves 4)

boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1 1/4 pounds, or two large breasts)
salt & black pepper
1 1/2 tbsps sesame or vegetable oil
teriyaki sauce (recipe below)
2 or 3 cups cooked sticky rice (recipe below)

[Read more…]

Another favorite dish that’s easy, healthy, & fast. This one’s an amalgam of a Parade recipe & one from Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Simple to Spectacular. You can leave out the anchovies to make it vegan; just add a touch more salt.

Roasted Peppers with Tomatoes & Anchovies

Serves 6

6 bell peppers (mix of red, yellow, & orange)
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 tin anchovy fillets, sliced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 pints grape tomatoes
2 to 3 tbsp drained tiny capers
1 to 2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Cut the bell peppers in half lengthwise; carefully remove the core and seeds. Place aluminum foil on a large baking dish, and arrange the peppers cut-side up.

Distribute the anchovies, garlic, capers, thyme & grape tomatoes evenly to the pepper halves (usually 4 tomatoes per pepper, so you should have some left over). Drizzle each pepper half with olive oil and season lightly with salt and pepper. Bake for 35 minutes, then serve.

UPDATE: I tried this again, using the tomato sauce recipe. Much better!

Tonight I made tonkatsu, or breaded fried pork cutlet. It’s the first time I’ve deep-fried anything or used panko (Japanese bread crumbs), so that was exciting. I used this recipe, and substituted arugula for the rice. You could also substitute tofu for the pork to make it vegetarian (use a mix of soft tofu & soy milk instead of the egg).

Everyone found it tasty, but a little bland. Possible tweaks:

• Flatten the pork chops with a meat mallet or cut them in half. These cuts were too thick, and it was impossible to cook both the outside & inside properly. I’ll aim for 1/4 to 3/8-inch thickness next time.
• Fry the cutlets in either peanut or sesame oil instead of vegetable.
• Experiment with the breading seasoning. This recipe only called for salt and pepper; other recipes add chile powder or fresh herbs.
• Bake instead of fry the meat.
• Marinate the meat in advance (examples here and here).
• Top with a good sauce. Tonkatsu sauce is the standard (we tried substituting regular Worcestershire, it didn’t work); I might also try something like this chili-ginger sauce, or even a tomato sauce.

A extra tip from On Food and Cooking: “oil-fried meats are generally cooked until bubbling in the oil ceases, a sign that their juices have ceased to flow.”

Finally, a close-up:

Another successful Cooking Light recipe. This one, Pasta with Five Fresh Herbs, looks nothing like the magazine photo, but it was delicious. Several tweaks, of course–I read some reviews that said this was bland, so I went overboard on the seasonings. Specific changes:

• Used slightly less tomatoes and pasta than the recipe indicated.
• Overloaded on all the herbs and used 3 garlic cloves, not one.
• Let the tomatoes simmer covered for about 5 minutes, then smooshed them.
• Omitted the goat cheese.

Very fast, light, and good.