Green Beans with Sesame Miso Dressing

The following recipe is a sample course of a kaiseki meal. It is adapted from Kyo-ya Restaurant of San Francisco.

2 cups green beans, trimmed and cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
Sesame Miso Dressing:
2 tablespoons shiro miso (white miso)
3 tablespoons white roasted sesame seeds + more for garnish
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce

Parboil green beans in a large pot of rapidly boiling water for 45 seconds. Drain and immediately plunge into a bowl of ice water.
Using a mortar and pestle, blend together shiro miso, sesame seeds, sugar and soy sauce. Smash and mix until the sesame seeds are not visible when stirred.
Drain green beans and blot dry. Transfer to a bowl and fold in the dressing until the beans are evenly coated.
Serve in small bowls and lightly sprinkle with sesame seeds.

More antioxidant-rich greens my way

[Easy Brocolli Salad]

Can't get enough of life-enhancing and age-rejuvenating greens? No problem. There's an easy way to make sure your fridge is stocked with a delicious tiny meal or snack packed with vitamins and antioxidants.

This brocolli-themed salad has all the health benefits associated to this produce. Traditionally used in Chinese medicine to treat eye diseases, western medicine have also proven that frequently adding this green into your diet will help fight against anemia and cancer. If you're like me, just barely grazing meat, than this important iron-source of the vege world needs to be a regular on the dining table.

[A good dose of beta-carotene and potassium]

A recipe given to me by an ex-colleague in the States. She told me that this was the only way she was successful in getting her kids chow down a bowlful of brocolli without them wincing the whole time. I love the fact that it could be a healthy snack alternative because of the raisins and sunflower seeds added.

Having brocolli raw in this salad also means that the vitamin-content is in its fullest. But don't worry, it's really pleasing to the palate because the apple cider works its wonder to soften the vegetables just to the right texture overnight. And here you go, the really easy recipe, in a low-fat version...

Easy Brocolli Salad
1/2 cup mayo (Original recipe calls for 1 cup, but I think that's too much!)
1 tablespoon mustard
2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup and 2 tablespoon sugar
2 heads of brocolli, cut into tiny flowerets and pieces.
a handful of sunflower seeds (I used black sesame seeds instead in the pic above)
1/2 onion finely diced
a handful of raisins
salt and pepper to taste

Mix everything up and keep covered in the refrigerator overnight. Serve cold.

*If you are not at all anxious about training for a beach-ready body, you can add the original 6 bacon strips that the recipe calls for. Just pan-fry them till crispy and cut them into tiny pieces and add them in with the rest of the ingredients.

(A Weekend Herb Blogging post hosted by Kalyn's Kitchen.)

Fresh Endives with Homemade Hummus

[Endives with Chickpea Dip]

A few nights ago, I was wondering what I would do with some fresh endives on hand. I decided to make a hummus dip to go with as an appetizer. The result is wonderful. Not too heavy without the usual pita bread, the chickpea paste pairs beautifully in the mouth with the light and crunchy texture of the raw endive leaves and neutralizes the raw vegetable's slightly bitter taste. I added some curry powder and cumin seeds which added a nice punch.

This dish is also completely healthy -- low-carb, low-cholesterol, fiber-rich and high in vitamins B6, A and C. What's more, it will wow your guests as it makes a really nice presentation for the dining table. Here's sharing with you the improvised recipe if you're up for it.

Note on endives: It is known as chivory greens in the States, which I had no idea before researching for this entry. (I don't remember coming across this vege in the States.) This is an important salad green in western Europe. They are everywhere in the green grocers here in Barcelona. You won't miss it.

Homemade Hummus
1 jar of cooked chickpeas a.k.a. garbanzo beans
1/4 cup of tahini (sesame paste)
1 teaspoon curry powder
2 cloves garlic
juice of one lemon
some water
salt and pepper

Garnish:
some cumin seeds
a dash of curry powder
a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil

Drain chickpeas and place in blender. Add all ingredients and blend until you get a nice consistency. Add more water as you go and according to your preference of how thick you like the paste to be. Garnish with cumin seeds, curry powder and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil before serving.

Serve it cold with endives and carrot sticks if you like, or wedges of pita bread. Store the rest in an airtight jar in the fridge for up to 3 days.

French Stories 3: Chez Zol, Le Cordon Bleu

[Sautéed Tuna Steaks with Daikon Salad]

The neat thing about Spain, even to the envy of its French neighbors, is that Christmas holidays span an entire three-week. At the end of the first week of January, I was still savoring the last bit of my get-away in Provence. The first host that I’ll dedicate this post to is Zol, a guy known for both his musical and culinary talents.

For lunch that day, in his apartment in a town right outside of Marseille, Zol, Le Cordon Bleu, whipped up a simple lunch with incredibly healthful proportions and surprisingly matches the four criteria I look up to in a good meal: taste, texture, nutrition and presentation. The entrée was sautéed tuna matched with a light and tasty daikon salad. Next up, the plat principal was seared scallops served with a pasta made with spinach.

I love how he served the tuna by dividing the steak into four elongated pieces elegantly presented in a rectangular Japanese-inspired plate. It went really well with the Daikon salad that was simply grated and seasoned with a dash of Chinese dark vinegar (made from fermented glutinous rice) and some light soy sauce. Zol added that this Chinese dark vinegar has a very similar taste to balsamic vinegar, which lends a zesty touch that plays well with the lightly sweetened flavor of the grated daikon.

We finished the meal with a plateau de fromage and dessert. A neighbor upstairs had presented him with a decorated cellophane bag filled with home-baked goodies. HE made them all from scratch! We happily walloped them down as we chatted over a cup of green tea.

Here are the imagined and improvised recipes of the dishes described above:

Sautéed Tuna Steaks with Daikon Salad
2 tuna steaks
1 teaspoon grated ginger, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
a dash of white or black pepper
1 small daikon radish, peeled and grated
Chinese dark vinegar

Combine ginger, pepper, and soy sauce in a small bowl. Marinate fish with mixture for 5 minutes.

In a heavy-bottomed nonstick skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the fish and cook for 1.5 minutes on each side. Fish should not be completely opaque.

Serve with a Daikon Salad. Simply grate Daikon radish and place in individual mounds. Season each mound with a dash of Chinese dark vinegar (or balsamic vinegar) and some light soy sauce.

Seared Scallops with Pasta

Recipe for 2:
12 scallops
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon curry powder
Juice of half a lemon
1 tablepoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and pepper
Italian Pasta (Spaghetti or Penne Rigate)

Bring a pot of water to boil. Meanwhile, season scallops with soy sauce, curry powder and 1 tablespoon lemon juice, and a dash of salt and pepper. Set aside.

When water is boiling, add a pinch of salt. Once water gets to boiling point again, add pasta. Follow instructions on the package. Real Italian semolina pasta usually takes about 12 minutes to cook.

Heat pan over medium heat for about 2 minutes. Add a little olive oil and wait till it heats up a little. Gently place scallops on pan and space them out a little. Do not move them as it might ruin the searing process. Cook each side for 2 to 3 minutes, until scallops are browned. Turn them over, and repeat the process.

When scallops are cooked and opaque, deglaze the pan by adding the rest of the lemon juice over the scallops. Toss scallops and accumulated pan juices with freshly cooked pasta. Add more salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

Le Pissenlit

[Dandelion Greens]

During the Christmas season, I spent an entire week in Southern France, the land known for its rich local produce. One of the things I tasted was a simple salad made with Pissenlit. This leafy vegetable literally means "piss in bed" in French, aluding to the duretic effects of this herb.

Known as dandelion greens in the States, the young tender shoots are cultivated in winter to make simple salads. While later in early spring, the mature leaves are cooked. Dandelion derives from another name of the plant in Old French which means lion's tooth: Dent-de-lion. In France it is common for people who live in the country to gather them in the wild.

Pissenlit has long been prized for its medicinal benefits that includes eliminating excess body fluids, reducing blood pressure, and dissolving gall stones. Due to its many wondrous benefits, people have used the herb in wine-making and beer-brewing. I was told while plunging into a bedful of the slightly bitter herbs tossed with a mustard dressing that the leaves are high in vitamin A, vitamin C and a good doseful of iron, more than found in spinach. If you come across these leafy goodness in your local markets, eat them up to your health!

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Easy Mustard Dressing
2 parts extra virgin olive oil
1 part (whole grain) Dijon mustard
1 part balsamic vinegar
sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste



This is my first participation in Weekend Herb Blogging hosted by Kalyn's Kitchen.