Sauteed chicken

Absolutely the easiest way to cook chicken, and one of the most delicious :)

1. Heat a non-stick pan for a few minutes.
2. Put one boneless chicken fillet skin side DOWN, into the center of the pan.
3. Sprinkle over some freshly chopped herbs and black pepper.
4. Cook on medium heat until the skin is golden and crunchy.
5. Turn over and cook the meat side for a few minutes.
6. Take out of the pan and leave it to sit on a warm plate for a few minutes.

NOTES:
1. Please use a non-toxic pan. If you don't have one, don't heat your regular teflon pan to high heat.
2. You MUST put the skin side down first. This way you don't need any oil at all and the skin will be crunchy.
3. You can skip the herbs, or change them for grated lemon rind, etc.
4. & 5. Don't cover the pan or the skin won't be crunchy. That means it is better to choose a flat fillet, not a thick one. Flat fillets will cook quickly and evenly.
6. Resting meat at the end is very important.

In this photo I'm serving the meat with mango chutney. It is breaking three of my rules: imported, unhealthy, and processed :(  But the ingredients are only spices, mango and sugar. Sometimes it is okay to be bad if the main dish is very good!

This chicken is very nice cold or in a lunch box.

Pumpkin with sage

Here is another easy recipe for you. It can be for any meal, and even to pack into your lunch box. Roasted pumpkin is great but this is much faster.

1. Cut a small pumpkin in half, and scoop out the seeds. Rinse with water. 

2. Wrap with damp kitchen paper, microwave for 3 minutes.

3. While it is cooking, put a tablespoon of olive oil in a non-stick pan.

4. Add fresh chopped sage and thyme to the oil. (Dry herbs are ok.)

5. Heat the oil gently until the herbs are fragrant.

6. Cut the pumpkin into 1.5cm wedges. Add to the pan.

7. Cook the pumpkin until it is golden on both sides. Remove from the pan.

8. If you would like to cook meat, such as chicken or pork, add it to the herb oil.

NOTES:

1. It is easy to microwave pumpkin a little before you cut it, so it is a little softer. It will also cook faster. Japanese people eat the skin, which has a lot of fiber and tastes okay. If you prefer, after microwaving you can easily peel the pumpkin.

3. I always use my non-toxic pan from Cuisinart, but you can use another pan or even grill.

4. Sage is great with pumpkin! Fresh herbs are really easy to grow in a pot. Sage is a bigger bush so you can plant thyme around it in the one pot. They won't die in winter if you keep them out of the frost. If you don't have fresh herbs, buy some bunches from the supermarket. Wash and dry them, and put small amounts into very small ziplock bags from the 100yen shop, then put them in the freezer. 1 bag = for one time

7. The pumpkin will stay warm for a while, or you can keep it under a fish grill set to low, or in a toaster oven.

8. Thinly sliced pork cooked in the pan is nice with the pumpkin.

Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

A "one vegetable" side dish that can easily be cooked while you are making the mains.

1. Wash one punnet of cherry tomatoes. Drain.
2. Shape a piece of foil into a shallow dish.
(Or you can use an aluminium tray, baking dish or glass dish.)
3. Put the tomatoes into the dish.
4. Drizzle 1 teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil over the tomatoes.
5. Season with a little black pepper.
6. Sprinkle on some herbs if you have any - thyme, oregano, rosemary.
7. Bake in a toaster oven or in the fish grill for about 5 minutes.
8. Finished!

They will be very sweet. If you want to, you can season them with salt, but I never do.

Alternative ideas:
1. Add a few pieces of Japanese negi leek. Just the green part will give a nice flavor and fragrance.
2. Roast some garlic the same way, and add it to the tomatoes.
3. Don't use the oil, but put chopped bacon on the top.

How to eat them:
1. Simply - just as a side vegetable.
2. As a topping sauce - mash them a little and put them on top of sauteed chicken.
3. As a pasta sauce - put them in a pan, mash them, and toss with pasta.
4. On toast - mash a little and eat on French bread toast. Just tomatoes or with anchovies.
5. As pizza topping.

Asari clam soup

I love clam soup and it is so easy to make ...

1. Buy some asari clams and put them in fresh water for a few hours.
2. Put some water in a pot and add a piece of konbu (kelp) at the same time as you do the clams.
3. Put the pot on low heat and slowly bring the water to just under a boil. Take out the konbu.
4. Allow the water to cool for 5 minutes.
5. Put the clams in and bring back to a simmer. (Clams taste better if they slowly get hot!)
6. Simmer the clams (not boil) until they pop open. You can take the first popped ones out, and put them back later. Don't overcook them.
7. When they are all popped open, throw away any closed ones - they are dead.


NOTES:
1. You need to put them in fresh water so they spit out the dirty water and any sand. I try to buy clams that are packed in water.
2. Putting the konbu in the water lets it infuse slowly.
3. Don't boil the konbu in the water or some bitterness will appear.
5. It seems that if you suddenly cook the clams, they become tough.
6. This is troublesome, but taking out the first ones, means they don't overcook.
7. Hmm, it is hard to know if they are dead or just taking a long time to open, but if all the others are open and just one or two are not, throw them away.

I like to cook clams in my stainless steel fry pan, which I don't use for frying now. It has a large bottom so all the clams can cook at the same time.

You can season this soup with sake or soy sauce, but I just like plain soup. Sometimes I put it on top of other vegetables, for example, steamed carrots and Chinese cabbage.

Yellowtail fish (buri)

I love yellowtail - it is so flavorful that you don't need to add much seasoning. It is also very easy to cook. In these pictures I am serving it with a Japanese lime/lemon (sudachi) or topped with dried yuzu citron skin.

If you can, please try to buy wild yellowtail, not farmed fish.

Here are two different ways to cook it. The whiter color one is done under the grill, and the golden one in a pan.

GRILL:
1. Tear a piece of foil to fit on top of the net in your grill.
2. Wipe some olive oil on the foil, so your fish doesn't stick.
3. Put on one fillet for each person.
4. Grill on the first side for about 5 minutes, on a medium heat.
5. Turn over the fish and grill for 3 minutes.
6. Be very careful the flame is not too high on the gas, because buri is an oily fish and will burn.

PAN:
1. Heat a non-stick pan and add a little olive oil.
2. Put in the fillets and push them about a little at first, so they don't stick.
3. Cook on the first side until golden, (3 minutes).
4. Turn and cook the other side until golden.


Of course you can cook most fish fillets in the same way. Yellowtail is good because it is flat and doesn't fall apart. Sometimes I cook it and put it in my lunch box, and it is okay at room temperature.

Free range eggs

What kind of eggs do you eat? For the past five years or more, I've only bought free range eggs. 

These eggs taste wonderful. I get them from the small farmer's shop near my house. From memory, I think they are 210yen for six. They taste so good that I can't eat any other eggs nowadays. Anyway, I think keeping chickens in tiny cages is horrible and cruel, so I refuse to eat regular eggs. I also won't buy regular chicken meat.

Please think about where your food comes from and how it is raised. If everyone was a little more thoughtful, we'd all be much healthier and the world would be a much nicer place. Industrial farming is horrible for the animals and will end up killing YOU slowly. 

The picture of the chickens is from another place that sells eggs. Those ones are also nice but more expensive and the shop is a little far. 

Brussel Sprouts

Do you like brussel sprouts? I really hated them when I was a child, but now I know that was for 2 reasons:
1. They were not fresh, and
2. my mother overcooked them :(

So how do I cook them? It is really easy. The easiest way is to wash them, drain them and cover them with damp paper towel (kitchen towel) and cook them for a few minutes in the microwave oven. This is also a good method for cooking broccoli. It keeps all the vitamins and doesn't make them bitter. Another way is below:

1. Wash the sprouts. Don't drain or dry them.
2. Put them in a non-stick pan. ***
3. Put a lid on the pan. This will help them steam.
4. Steam them for about 3 minutes, rolling them around a few times by shaking the pan. Don't open the lid or the heat and steam will escape. Most of the water will be gone.
5. Take off the lid and cook for another minute until all the water is gone.
6. While you are cooking them, chop one clove of garlic.
7. Put about 1 teaspoon of virgin olive oil in the pan with the sprouts.** Shake them around.
8. Add the garlic. Cook for about 1 minute until the garlic is golden.* Garlic will burn easily so be careful.
9. Finished!

*** I'm using my new, non-toxic Cuisinart Pan.
** You can use 1/2 teaspoon of olive oil plus 1/2 teaspoon of butter. This will give a richer taste.
* The total cooking time from start to finish is 5 minutes. Please don't cook them more.

If you think this dish is too "green" or if you want a stronger taste, add chopped bacon to the pan and don't use any oil or butter.