It’s the Girl in the Red Top, Charlie T

“wow, no one’s told me to poke stuff for a long time…”

i met Charlie about four years ago, a few months before i transferred to the school i’m in now. before that i’d sort of seen her around singing ABBA’s Chiquitita (very nicely too) onstage or walking in the corridors, and we might never have talked if it hadn’t been for some guy she liked at the time and i had liked. we do owe him something, i guess! i remember being a little intimidated; she seemed cool and discerning, the deceptively meek sort who in reality could crush you with a few devastating words. she is indeed all of those things (dear lord, you don’t want to be on her bad side), but she is also snarky, literary, creative, cynical and hilarious, and is one of the best friends anyone could ever ask for.

after the initial awkwardness of first conversations in the library (“yeah, he has nice teeth.”), subsequent conversations grew even odder – i’ve often doubled up in laughter in front of the computer at msn conversations with her, much to the bemusement of my family – and while they have been very infrequent since she started university in the US of A last year, she never fails to crack me up as well as listen to my whining from time to time. suffice to say, she is one of my favourite people in the world. not having seen her for a lo-o-o-ng time, i figured lunch should be a singularly enjoyable affair with lots of catching up and good food.

i’d like to say that preparing lunch was a piece of cake, but since i’m horribly disorganised and slow in the kitchen, it took a leisurely, messy 3 hours on the day itself to finish preparing lunch, not to mention pottering around in the kitchen till about 2am last night making carrot furikake. still, the chilled tofu with roasted tomatoes from Jane Lawson’s Yoshoku is a snap to prepare – it’s simply a matter of roasting cherry tomatoes and a few garlic cloves tossed with some olive oil, salt and a dash of sugar at 160C for half an hour and letting it cool. plating it takes all of 3 minutes: slice some chilled tofu more neatly than i did, top with tomatoes, garlic and the oil in the baking dish, then drizzle with balsamic vinegar, sesame oil and shiso, if you have it. it’s a Japanese twist on the insalata caprese, and as long as you have good, fresh ingredients, it’s one of those recipes with maximum taste for minimal effort. make sure your tofu is very cold.

F: “just beet it.”
C: “…” *facepalm*
4th One: “gonna beet her up?”

there were roasted beets the Thomas Keller way, sweet and kind of fruity with lemon juice and red wine vinegar (well, some leftover Cabernet Sauvignon that’s been sitting in the fridge for ages…waste not). the Fourth One wasn’t a big fan of them, though.

rich, sweet, insert superlative adjectives – these unassuming little slow-cooked shiitake mushrooms from Emi Kazuko’s Japanese Cooking were very nom-worthy, so much so that Charlie and the Fourth One were sneaking slices when my back was turned. (“what is it…” *giggle* “…WOI STOP STEALING!”) known as fukume-ni, this dish is excellent with some rice or even added to stews or stir-fries. slow-cooking them in their soaking liquid and some flavourings makes them intensely juicy, and the leftover soaking liquid can be strained and used to make a really lovely, earthy miso soup. nom!

Fukume-ni, or Slow Cooked Shiitake with Shoyu
since this can last a few weeks in the refrigerator (if you don’t live with my little sister, that is – she requested a full recipe to herself), it’s worth making extra for convenience. i’d use less sugar next time, but the quantities given here are the original. you could probably use any fragrant dried Chinese mushrooms. this recipe is virtually impossible to screw up. serves 4 normal people.

start soaking 20 dried shiitake mushrooms the day before. put them in a large bowl almost full of water, and cover with a plate or lid to stop them floating to the surface of the water. leave to soak overnight.

measure 120ml (1/2 cup) liquid from the bowl. drain the shiitake into a sieve. remove and discard the stalks. heat 3 tbsp vegetable oil in a wok or large pan. stir-fry the shiitake over high heat for 5 minutes, stirring continuously.

reduce the heat to the lowest setting (but high enough to let it simmer slowly), then add the measured liquid, 2 tbsp shoyu (or soy sauce) and 1 1/2 tbsp caster sugar. cook until there is almost no moisture left, stirring frequently. add 1  tbsp toasted sesame oil and remove from the heat. leave to cool, then slice and arrange on a large plate.

“you know what would make these even better? no mushrooms.” — 4th One

i concede – bacon on its own is good, but y’know, Obimaki Enoki does have the advantage of being superficially healthier. (Charlie made these while i did other things in the kitchen) salty, smoky bacon + slightly chewy enoki –> with squeeze of lemon, dipped in ground white pepper = oral orgasm. in a completely gastronomic way, of course. get your minds out of the gutter, you philistines!

Obimaki Enoki, or Bacon-Rolled Enokitake Mushrooms
this is less of a recipe than a guideline. the directions below are culled from the book, and they’re there to ensure you get a pretty looking result, but we sort of disregarded them as you can see when comparing directions to photos. it will taste good regardless of what you do – this is absolutely impossible to screw up unless you burn it. how much enoki and bacon you use is up to you. half a rasher of bacon is enough to wrap a medium-sized bunch, though you can use more.

cut off the root part of each enoki cluster, 2cm from the end. do not separate the stems. cut bacon rashers in half lengthways. divide into bunches. take one, then place the middle of the enokitake near the edge of one/half a bacon rasher. you should be able to see 2.5-4cm of enokitake at each end of the bacon.

carefully roll up the bunch of enokitake in the bacon. tuck any stray short stems into the bacon and slide the bacon slightly upwards at each roll to cover about 4cm of the enokitake. secure teh end of the bacon roll with a toothpick. repeat using the remaining enoki and bacon.

preheat the grill/broiler to high (about 180C worked here). place the rolls on a lightly oiled wire rack (they’ll release a lot of grease during cooking though). grill both sides till the bacon is crisp and the enoki start to burn, 10-13 minutes. remove the rolls and chop each roll in half in the middle of the bacon belt. arrange the top part of the nokitake roll standing upright, the bottom part lying down next to it. serve with a wedge of lemon and a small heap of ground white pepper.

some 5-inch long fried fish, all salty spine and crispy skin -

really nice when flaked over some ochazuke, carrot furikake and chives.

one of my mum’s best dishes, min si ju yok – preserved soy bean (tauchu) minced pork. tauchu is probably an acquired taste, but everyone we know who’s tried it seems to love it – it’s not unlike miso, but more intense and robust, and lovely on steaming hot white rice. i can never get her to write down exact quantities since she goes by taste, so it looks like i’ll have to learn to cook it one day.

Matcha Panna Cotta

sometimes i wonder if some desserts deserve more interesting names. “panna cotta” doesn’t sound particularly appetizing unless you’re already acquainted with it – all those hard consonants don’t even come close to conveying its creamy glory, or hint at its quivering perfection. and it’s such a photogenic dessert, too – you could dress it up with a sauce or berries, flavour it differently, or just have a plain vanilla one. it’s like the little black dress of desserts.

i put a different spin on Jane Lawson’s version by adding more green tea powder and a centre of dark chocolate mousse – the matcha and chocolate complement each other beautifully. a sifting of cocoa powder on top adds an extra bittersweet note which i liked very much. delicious, but by no means perfect yet – mousse and panna cotta have different textures and set differently, so it’s kind of fiddly to construct and doesn’t make perfect eating straight out of the fridge. i didn’t want a chocolate panna cotta layer either – i wanted a chocolate center hiding beneath that beautiful celadon layer that would also work with a clear glass. more experiments with this one are definitely in order.

i have missed this one!

a long and leisurely lunch spent swapping anecdotes, giggling ourselves silly over the world’s worst fanfiction and its hilarious dramatic readings (enter world’s worst sex scene, chapter 4), watching the Buffy Musical, a Buffy vs Twilight Remix, miscellaneous awesome videos, and failing very epically at Rock Band. we couldn’t finish all the food, so there was plenty leftover for dinner. more days like this ahead? hello summer!

(and yes, the title is a reference to Peanuts.)