Spinach, broccoli, and zucchini are the three mostly used green vegetables in my recipe (excluding herb-like items such as cilantro and scallion). Last week at the grocery store, next to my usual bundle of spinach was something called "mizuna." Marked as $1 extra compared to $0.99 spinach, this green veggie is a rare find in Taiwan, sometimes in the states too.
I've tried mizuna before; it comes with a distinct aromatic taste. If you have to compare, maybe slightly close to celery. The leaves are soft but not as smooth as spinach, and its stems are crunchy, but not as tough as celery.
As for my first homemade mizuna dish, I think a simple garlic stir fry will do -
Ingredients?
3 small bundles of mizuna
3 garlic cloves
1 cup of grape tomatoes
1 pack of beech mushroom (bunashimejii)
Some olive oil
Some sea salt
Some freshly ground black pepper
How?
Our main ingredients -
Remove the very bottom stems from the mizuna. Thoroughly rinse the veggie and give it a few chops, just to shorten the length so it'll be easier to cook and eat,
Remove the stems from the mushroom and thoroughly rinse under water then drain well and set aside,
Peel the garlic cloves and cut into slices,
Halve the tomatoes.
Drizzle some olive oil in the pan,
Add in the garlic slices, some salt, and freshly ground black pepper,
Cook till the garlic about to burn, toss in the mushroom and cook for about couple minutes.
Add the halved tomatoes and sprinkle just a little bit more salt to draw out the liquid and flavor, cook for about 1 minute then add in the mizuna.
Cook till the greens wilted a little bit, taste and see if more seasonings are needed. Quick and easy, my first aromatic mizuna stir fry is ready -
Hopefully more mizuna will be available for purchase so at least I get more choices other than spinach and broccoli!
Cindy's Rating: 8
Such an easy dish, yet easily top all my recipes from the past two month.
Shabu shabu Black Angus beef slices with ponzu garlic dipping sauce -
Ingredients:
10 to 12 slices of good quality thin beef slices
3 tablespoons of ponzu sauce
2 tablespoon of hot water
2 red chili peppers
1 stalk of scallion
1 garlic clove
How?
Since this is such a simple dish, the quality of the beef and the dipping sauce become the key to its success.
My thin beef slices were purchased from Mitsuwa - a local Japanese grocery store in California. I find it hard to come across thin beef or pork slices in American grocery stores. If you can't get a hold of such ingredient, maybe try to purchase large chunks and ask the butcher to slice it for you.
Definitely no brainer to prepare the meat,
Just bring a small pot of water to a boil, take one slice at a time and "shabu" in hot water for few seconds. Place the meat onto the plate once cooked but still remain that slightly pink hue throughout.
For the ponzu garlic dipping sauce,
Peel and mince the garlic,
Remove the stems from the chilies and finely chop them, keep the seeds to add some flame to our sauce.
Remove the stem from the scallion and finely chop it,
Mix everything together, but the beef slices of course, then you'll have a lovely dipping sauce.
It seriously taste like heaven, much credits to the fine quality beef slices I got there. Those marbled fats just melt in your mouth, immediately followed by garlicky yet refreshing scent from the ponzu sauce.
I will definitely have this treat like...once a week?
Cindy's Rating: 9
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