No Recipes – Techniques, inspiration and cooking tips from my Japanese kitchen

Wheat berry and quinoa salad

Here’s one of my favourite summer salads. I like making different variations of it using different grains and pastas such as Bulgar wheat, cous cous, orzo, brown rice, etc. For this incarnation I decided to go with a blend of wheat berries (for their high fiber content and pleasantly chewy texture) and quinoa (for its [...]

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Lamb and Vegetable Kebabs

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It’s really started heating up in NYC and I’ve been getting the itch to BBQ. Sadly, I’m not allowed to hang a BBQ out my 7th floor window, so I have to make due with my broiler. It’s not quite the same as a charcoal grill, but you can get results close to that of [...]

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Faux Gras (or more accurately Faux Foie Gras)

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I’m celebrating with a glass of Riesling right now. Why the celebration? Well, there’s lots to celebrate: the beautiful weather in NYC, my company getting funded, the fact that this blog blew past it’s previous record of visitors in one day today (currently at 1,565 and counting), but this is not what I’m celebrating. I [...]

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Asparagus linguine with mint pesto

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I guess I’ve been on a bit of mint kick as of late. It’s yummy in desserts and makes a great garnish, but more over it’s an herb that’s entirely underutilized for savory dishes. This dish came together in my head while spec’ing product at work this afternoon (a not-so-creative left brained activity). The right [...]

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Daring Bakers: Fire and Ice Opera Cake

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For the past two months I’ve watched Tastespotting fill up with Daring Baker’s Challenge photos towards the end of the month. Last month, curiosity got the best of me and I decided to join. When the May challenge was revealed, I was both excited and horrified by the challenge… to bake an opera cake. If [...]

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Roast olives with kumquats and almonds

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Huge thanks to Michelle and Brian over at Thursday Night Smackdown for inviting us over to their Memorial Day smoke-a-thon. I think I must have eaten half my body weight in pork and the other half in beer. I don’t want to steal her thunder, so I’ll let you mosey on over there to read [...]

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Roast duck with mango riesling glaze

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Normally I could go on waxing poetic about the wonders of duck, but as of right now our relationship is tenuous at best. So to is my unflagging admiration of the Cooks Illustrated publications. I just spent over 2 hours of my weekend preparing what has to be the most complicated roast duck recipe ever [...]

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Chocolate orange martini

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The flavour of oranges and chocolate almost always take me back to childhood eating Jaffas by the bagful. In case you’ve never had them, Jaffas are Australian candies that are a bit like round M&M’s but coated with crunchy orange flavoured candy. The other day, a few packs of lunch-sized cartons of chocolate milk were [...]

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