Chawanmushi-Savory Egg Custard

Chawanmushi is a savory egg custard, "steamed in a tea cup". That's what chawanmushi means, literally. When I was growing up, my Japanese language skills hadn't progressed to the point of multiple meanings based on kanji, but consisted mostly at the level of baby talk. I knew an o-chawan was a rice bowl, and mushi meant bugs--so I thought chawanmushi meant--bowl of bugs!

I think you need to see this closer.

Chawanmushi is a savory egg custard with bits of meat and vegetables, made differently by season and by family. This one has shrimp, chicken, mushrooms, spinach and carrot, in an egg custard seasoned with dashi.

I got some new chawanmushi pots recently. Rick and Jessica got this same set for a wedding shower gift, and I told myself that when they went on sale I would treat myself. They are so pretty!

Chawanmushi

adapted from Japanese Cooking for Health & Fitness by Kiyoko Konishi

Ingredients:

1 boneless, skinless chicken thigh or breast, cut into small pieces and season with 1 teaspoon soy sauce and 1 teaspoon sake
5 to 10 medium shrimp
2 fresh shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced
1/2 package shimeji mushrooms, separated into pieces
1/2 small carrot
1/2 bunch fresh spinach
4 eggs
2 cups dashi mixed with 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce and 1 tablespoon sake

You can use powdered dashi, or you can make your own by putting a large piece of dashi kombu into a pan of water, remove the kombu before it comes to a boil and remove from heat.

 Add 1/2 cup dried bonito flakes and let steep until cool, about 30 minutes. Then strain through a fine-meshed strainer and discard pulp.

Slice a carrot and cut into shapes using a shape tool. Then blanch the spinach, squeeze out excess water and cut into 1-inch lengths.

 Crack 4 eggs into a bowl mixing gently, but do not beat air into them. Add dashi stock mixed with 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce and 1 tablespoon sake. Mix, then strain through a fine-meshed strainer to remove the slippery part of the egg white.

 Place into each bowl, shiitake and shimeji mushrooms, 1 or 2 shrimp, 2 seasoned chicken chunks, spinach and carrot flower.

 Fill about 2/3 with egg mixture, leaving some of the ingredients exposed.

 Boil water in a large pot. Turn off to add chawanmushi pots, then cover and simmer on lowest heat setting for 20 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean or custard is set.

 You can also cook them in the oven. Preheat oven to 350ºF, place chawanmushi into a roasting pan,

 Cover the pots,

 Place into the oven and fill the pan about half-way up the chawanmushi pots with boiling water. Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

 Some people put slices of kamaboko into their chawanmushi. You can use whatever you like or whatever you have on hand.

I think it might be good with bacon.

Itadakimasu!

***

This is my son, Rick.

If you saw the Italian Wedding Soup post, you know he and Jessica got engaged.

They are now married!

It was a beautiful day!

Most of these photos were taken by others. I had given my camera to my niece Connie and she passed it off to nephew Garrett at the reception. My appreciation goes out to them and also niece Kelly and cousin David for shooting video of the ceremony and reception. Without all of you, I would have no media to pour over and relive these special moments. Thank you all for so generously giving your time and talents.

 Rick hasn't been a dancer, but has become one, with Jessica. I was wonderfully surprised and seeing this photo brings a tear to my eye.

 Jessica's mother, Elyse, decorated the wedding. Jessica wanted a winter wedding with a forest theme. Elyse and her crew decorated the ranch beautifully.

 Remember Bachan's Cheese Macaroni? This is Obaachan with Rick, Karen and baby Rachel. Bachan's got a new look, pretty, isn't it!

You met Rachel in my Cheese Straws post. She's growing fast!

 Elyse added beautiful touches to the ranch, with lots of pine branches and pine cones. When we put out the call to our friends and family for pine cones, we were amazed at all the boxes of them that came in. Thanks, everyone!

This is the area where appetizers will be served during the cocktail hour, while the bridal party is being photographed.

 This pretty area is where guests dropped off their gifts.

The rustic furniture Elyse brought in perfectly matched the charm of the ranch. The windows and accessories added touches of elegance throughout.

 After Rick and Jessica said their vows, they put them in this time capsule and nailed it shut, to be opened sometime in the future.

 This is the entrance to the big barn where the reception was held. Guests found their table seating here.

Nancy was in charge of the place cards. She had birch branches cut in half and a slit sawed into them to organize & display the place cards.

 Table favors were these pine tree seedlings, the wrapping also designed by Nancy. Ours are planted in our yard, it will be fun to watch them grow.

Thank you to cousin Tim for use of his photos. Remember Tim? He made Chile Relleno.

Elyse comes from a family of painters and brought several paintings to decorate the ranch. Jessica and her brother paint also. This picture was taken the day before the wedding, before the final touches of flowers and pine greenery were added to the tables. The little ceramic love birds on the tables added a sweet touch.

The finished table-scapes were beautiful!

That's me, with my parents and my sister. The wedding venue, Hurst Ranch, is a special place to our family. My dad has been growing vegetables there for the past 40 years, and was a friend of Joe Hurst. All the grandkids have grown up going to help Grandpa harvest and grow vegetables and melons.

Congratulations to the newlyweds, Rick and Jessica!

***

Chawanmushi

adapted from Japanese Cooking for Health & Fitness by Kiyoko Konishi

Ingredients:

1 boneless, skinless chicken thigh or breast, cut into small pieces

1 teaspoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon sake

5 to 10 medium shrimp

2 fresh shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced

1/2 package shimeji mushrooms, separated into pieces

1/2 small carrot

1/2 bunch fresh spinach

4 eggs

2 cups dashi mixed with 1 teaspoon salt, 1 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce and 1 tablespoon sake

1. Put 2 cups water into a saucepan with a 4-inch piece of dashi kombu. Just before water boils, turn off heat and remove kombu. Add 1/2 cup dried bonito flakes and let steep until cool. Drain through fine-meshed strainer. OR, use powdered dashi stock, following package directions. Chicken broth may also be substituted. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce & 1 tablespoon sake to 2 cups dashi or broth.

2. Cut chicken into 1 inch squares. Put into small bowl and season with 1 teaspoon each, soy sauce and sake.

3. Peel and clean shrimp, peel carrot, slice and cut into flower shapes. Blanch spinach & squeeze out excess water, then cut into 1-inch lengths. Remove mushroom stems and slice shiitake thinly, separate shimeji.

4. Mix eggs well, but do not beat. Stir broth into eggs, then strain through a fine-meshed strainer to remove slippery substance from egg white.

5. Fill chawanmushi pots with ingredients, placing the colorful shrimp, spinach and carrot on top. Add the egg mixture, not covering some of the ingredients and cover. Use foil if necessary.

6. Boil about 3 cups of water in a large pot. Turn off heat and add covered chawanmushi cups. Water should be about 1/3 of the way up cups. Turn heat to lowest setting, place the lid on the pot allowing a little steam to escape. Simmer for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. The chawanmushi may also be cooked in the oven in a water bath at 350ºF for 20 minutes.

Creamy Chicken & Mushroom Stew

Do you ever start out making one dish and then change your mind in the middle of preparations?

That's what happened to me.

I started out making Chicken Pot Pie and then thought about how I'm not a real fan of the crust--so the dish changed to Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Stew.

I made the stew with leftover chicken, but you could buy a rotisserie chicken to cut down on the prep time.

I don't have pictures of the preparation of this dish because another one of my camera memory cards became unreadable.

Thankfully, I finally figured out what I have been doing wrong after doing some research online.

I had a habit of snapping the camera 'off' after taking a series of photos, and apparently the camera didn't have enough time to write the photos to the memory card--and the memory card became damaged.

Now I am leaving the camera 'on' and letting it turn off by itself after a minute or so--hopefully I won't damage any more cards!

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 large sweet onion, chopped

1 1/2 cups chopped celery, leaves and all

2 carrots, chopped

1 package mushrooms, sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 russet potatoes, diced

2 bay leaves

a pinch of dried rosemary, thyme and oregano

3 cups cooked, shredded chicken

4 cups chicken broth

1/2 cup white wine, if desired

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour

2 cups milk, half & half or cream

optional: 

2 tablespoons cornstarch mixed with 1/4 cup water if the soup needs further thickening

Shred or dice the cooked chicken and set aside.

Heat a soup pot and add 2 tablespoons olive oil and the chopped onion, celery, carrots, mushrooms, garlic potatoes and spices. Saute over medium high heat until the vegetables are wilted.

Add the chicken broth and white wine, if desired. Bring to boil and simmer gently until the vegetables are soft.

In another small pan, melt the 2 tablespoons butter, add 2 tablespoons flour and whisk together until evenly combined. Simmer for a few minutes, lower the heat if necessary, being careful not to let the mixture turn brown. Slowly add the milk, stirring constantly so lumps don't form. Mixture should be thick since you're going to add it to the stew. After mixture thickens and the consistency is even, add it to the stew and combine well.

Simmer for 5 minutes, season with salt and pepper, taste and adjust seasonings.

Add the 2 tablespoons cornstarch mixed with 1/4 cup water if the soup needs further thickening by bringing the pot to a gentle boil and adding the cornstarch mixture while stirring. Simmer gently for 5 more minutes.

Garnish with chopped parsley, chives or jalapeños.

Itadakimasu!

***

This is my sister Margaret.

This photo was on my Tuna Poke post, if you've been following along, you may have seen it before.

That was when I began to add something personal after the recipes.

As you can see, Margaret is a lot of fun.

Margaret is about a month old in this photo.

That year, all I wanted for Christmas was my two front teeth.

Because I already had a baby sister.

And my brothers Gordon and Warren.

Margaret has had long hair her whole life.

This is one of my favorite photos of Margaret and Ken.

This one, too.

Margaret is an athlete.

In high school she won the Wilson Award to honor the outstanding senior girl for scholarship, athletics and leadership.

These days Margaret's a runner.

Margaret married her high school sweetheart, Andy, in my mother's wedding dress.

As I've said before, my mom and my sister have a lot in common. 

They are both gentle souls with a calm, reserved manner, fun, funny, talented, humble, thoughtful and patient.

I tend to be a little on the emotional side, and they are always such great sounding boards for me.

I don't know what I'd do without either of them.

It's funny that just recently, Margaret told me that she thinks I got all the talent.

I don't think so.

Margaret's very artistic--she can draw--and I can't.

She's crafty too.

Several years ago, her family moved to Hawaii.

I miss them.

I cherish their visits, they always seem so short!

When she was here visiting earlier this year, she got Warren and I to go to The Price Is Right with her.

Like I said before, 

She's a lot of fun!

Love you, Margaret!

Penne with Chicken & Mushrooms

Last night I was not in the mood to cook.

The weather's been hot and I was running errands all morning--so by the time dinner time came around, I had no energy to cook.

After I finally decided to make something and had put a pot of water on the stove to boil for some pasta, Karen called to chat on her way home from work.

Talking with Karen made the cooking easier and more fun.

It was nice, just like old times when the kids were home, chatting while cooking dinner.

 

Karen and I chatted right up until I had to try and take some photos of the food before the sun went down--she had just about reached her destination too.

This Penne with Chicken & Mushrooms is so simple and fast!

Ingredients:

1 box (14.5 oz) penne pasta, cooked

about 3 cups sliced rotisserie chicken

1 cup chopped onions

2 cups sliced mushrooms

1 head of roasted garlic, coarsely chopped

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 cup marinated artichoke hearts

1 tablespoon capers

1/4 cup sake or white wine

4 oz. softened  cream cheese

1/4 cup chopped parsley

 

Coarsely chop the roasted garlic, dice the onions and slice the mushrooms.

 

Add 1 tablespoon each butter and olive oil to a hot pan and add the roasted garlic, onions and mushrooms.

 

Saute until the onions and mushrooms are wilted, then add the artichoke hearts and capers.

 

Add 1/4 cup sake or white wine.

 

Using a rotisserie chicken--I got this one from Costco--makes the recipe fast and simple. 

 

I softened 4 oz. cream cheese for 30 seconds in the microwave to make it easier to incorporate into the sauce.

 

Add the cream cheese and mix thoroughly.

 

Add 1 to 2  cups of the pasta water to the sauce to make it soupy.

 If you're going to mix the pasta and the sauce together, add a little more pasta water to the sauce since the noodles will soak up a lot of the sauce, and you don't want the dish to be dry.

You could also add a little cream.

 

Sprinkle the chopped parsley on top.

Serve with some Parmesan cheese on the side.

 

Or sprinkle the cheese on top.

Itadakimasu!

***

These are two of Rick's good friends.

You've met Bobby before--on the left.

Now meet Bird.

 

The boys were in high school in this photo--it was one of those nights they were having so much fun-- singing.

When he was in high school, everyone called him "Bird" because of Larry Bird the basketball player.

Back then, I called him Justin.

Now that he's older and everyone calls him Justin, I call him Bird.

 

Here are the boys at Bird's wedding.

That's Bob's older brother Bryan on the right.

I still have the Mother's Day cards Bird has given me over the years.

 

Here are the boys at Bob's wedding a few years later.

That's Cosmo on the left.

All of these boys I think of as my boys.

 

Here's Bird with his wife Monica.

They have two girls.

 

Brooke.

 

And Madison.

 

The girls know me as Dixie's Mom.

 

They love the water.

 

Bird spent a lot of time at our house when the boys were in high school.

He slept here so often I had to get him a bed--and to this day it's known as 'Bird's Bed'.

 

Bird's all grown up with a family of his own.

We're proud of him and his career achievements.

 

I like seeing him with his girls best.

I love the curly hair they got from their dad.

I'm  happy he's spending so much time with them.

 

This is a picture of Bird & Monica at a recent wedding.

They have a Baby Bird on the way!

Bird brought his family over for a visit the other day--I'm so happy they think of us and visit.

It's always nice to see them--especially Brooke and Maddy!



***

Ingredients:

1 box (14.5 oz) penne pasta, cooked

about 3 cups sliced rotisserie chicken

1 cup chopped onions

2 cups sliced mushrooms

1 head of roasted garlic, coarsely chopped

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 cup marinated artichoke hearts

1 tablespoon capers

1/4 cup sake or white wine

4 oz. softened  cream cheese

1/4 cup chopped parsley

Cook pasta according to package directions. Reserve 3 to 4 cups of the pasta water.

Saute the roasted garlic, sliced mushrooms and chopped onions in the tablespoon each of butter and olive oil in a hot pan. When the onions and mushrooms are wilted, add the artichoke hearts, capers and sake or white wine.

Soften the cream cheese in a bowl in the microwave for about 30 seconds. Stir. Add to the sauce with the sliced chicken and stir until thoroughly combined, adding pasta water as needed to make the sauce soupy. Add salt and pepper to taste. Top with chopped parsley.