This is the perfect dish to embrace two of my favorite savory ingredients in pork belly and mushrooms. Even before I lived in Boston, I always liked chowder for some reason. The idea of a warm, creamy soup with fun, random ingredients running through it was just reminded me of congee, but super Westernized. That…
Tag: Mushroom
Kale Crespelles with Mushrooms and Hazeluts
This dish has been on my to-make list for ages. I always loved the combination of hazelnut, brown butter, and thyme, mostly because it is woodsy and earthy. While I usually make desserts with that flavor combination, it made just as much sense to do something savory with it as well(since it is an inherently…
“Forest Floor” Mushroom Tart
This recipe was what I made for the 2023 LoveWorks dinner in Oklahoma City(thank you, Gabriel Lewis for the invite to cook once again!). Last year, I was lucky enough to get the dessert course, but this year, I wanted to be a little bolder, and venture back into savory. Truthfully, after Masterchef: Back to…
Chawanmushi with buttered vegetables
Growing up in Torrance, we would go to Japanese restaurants all the time. Whenever they would serve us chawanmushi, it would be my favorite part of the meal. Served in these little tea cups was this soft, delicate egg custard that broke apart when you put a spoon to it, giving way to silky steamed…
Loco Moco with Mushroom-Miso Gravy
This recipe was inspired by two different instances where I had really good loco moco. One was when I was in Hawaii, specifically at Moena Cafe in Oahu, and the other from Ryla restaurant in Redondo Beach! Moena Cafe had a short rib loco moco with this rich, deep demi glas gravy that made me…
Lu Rou Fan Rice Bowls
Lu rou fan, or 滷肉饭 as it’s written in Chinese, is a Chinese/Taiwanese dish that consists of braised meat, usually pork, with rice, and it’s usually served with pickled daikon and an egg that is usually braised or cooked with the stew. At least that’s how I was raised to eat it. The stew is…
Trio of Onigiri
This recipe in a lot of ways is my play on a charcuterie board, but featuring onigiri. I wanted to make three different kinds of rice balls, featuring pork belly, salmon, and mushrooms, two sauces, one that was creamy and garlicky and another that is sweet-sour-smoky, and some Japanese-style pickles to garnish with. When I…
Herb and mushroom focaccia
So this recipe was actually inspired by a dinner I had at Etta in Culver City. Originally from Chicago, Etta is a modern Italian restaurant that features a lot of upscale versions of Italian classics, namely pizzas, pastas, and bread. The focaccia I had there was super pillowy and light, while speckled with tons of…
Buckwheat noodles with mushroom tare
I literally came up with this recipe because I was craving soba noodles, and I happened to heat a ton of buckwheat groats, so I figured, why not make my own. For those who aren’t sure what buckwheat groats are, they are basically the unhulled seed of a buckwheat plant. You grind those to form…
Chicken cacciatore with egg noodles
This was literally a simple dinner that I whipped together after I butchered a chicken and had to figure out how I was going to cook the thighs. I love chicken cacciatore, the latter word in the term being the Italian word for “hunter”, because it is this super hearty dish. Think of chicken stewed…
Pearl in Hiding: a plated dish
So this was one of the five dishes I made for my “Namie” pop-up dinner during the summer for my friends from 4Foodie(special shoutout to Kate and Victoria for the amazing photos from this!). Originally, it was just going to be three dishes, but I extended it to five, and this was a super last-minute(two…
Roasted cabbage with pork belly and mushroom dashi
So this is a dish inspired directly from mille feuille nabe. I wanted to do a dish that featured layers of roasted cabbage and pork in an umami-rich mushroom broth. I could imagine these soft, tender layers of cabbage that are steamed with the rendered pork fat from the belly slices between each leaf, sponging…
Vegan tofu gnocchi with shiitakes and chili oil
I came up with these gnocchi when I had the epiphany that tofu, being so similar to cheese, is whippable. Because it is whippable, you can use the tofu just like a ricotta or mascarpone, and in the case of the former, ricotta gnocchi is a thing, so surely tofu gnocchi could work, right? And…
Keep on keeping on: a roll cake
I have wanted to make a vertical roll cake again for quite a while. They’re a lot of fun because visually, they resemble trees! Whenever I think about Christmas, I obviously have to think of yule logs or bouche de noels. Those are roll cakes that are decorated to look like a freshly cut log….
Chawanmushi with edamame, mushrooms, and radishes
So I actually made this dish for my parents on their anniversary. What had happened was that they were out playing golf, but they did not have any dinner plans, or even anything special planned. I didn’t realize this until maybe 4pm, so I decided that I would make them at least something special to…
Pork belly and mushroom cream stew
I love making cream stew. In Japan, they make it all the time, and it’s this velvety, creamy(as the name would suggest) sauce with braised meat and vegetables in it. If you have ever had Japanese curry before, it’s like that, but without the spices, making for a very delicate flavor profile. Truthfully, it has…
Pork and mushroom san choy bau
I feel like san choy bau is a Chinese dish a lot of people have either eaten or seen, but they did not know the same of. It is basically a lettuce wrap, with minced and stir-fried meat inside. It is such a simple recipe, as with most Chinese dishes, but it is one of…
Braised rabbit leg with mushroom risotto
In honor of Easter and April, I wanted to make another dish using rabbit. So I decided to embrace buying a full rabbit by making two dishes with it, this risotto being the first. Risotto has always been such a fascinating dish for me, just because I was used to eating either steamed rice or…
Echoes of seashells: a plated dish
One of my favorite proteins to cook is clams. They’re juicy, succulent, full of beautiful, ocean-y brine, and they lend themselves well to flavoring anything that they’re cooked in because of that. For this particular dish, I wanted to make something that captures the delicate nature of seafood in general, while packing a huge punch…
Prince of the Dawning Sky: a plated dish
This would have been my main course for the finale. Inspired by the sun-filled sky, and the morning, it is duck and mushroom congee with ponzu-black garlic puree, duck egg yolk, braised duck thigh meat, crispy shallots, cilantro duck fat, caramelized mushrooms, and micro cilantro to garnish. The idea has multiple folds behind the inspiration….
Freddy's Harajuku 