Insalata Caprese [Tomaten-Mozzarella-Salat]

361 days to go, 242 recipes

From my pizza margherita I had some tomatoes and mozarella left over. So I checked, what to do with it and ... no ... basically I knew what to do with it, but I didn't know if the cooking guide had it as recipe. Of course they have. It's a classic.

Insalata Caprese for 4 [232kcal/person]:
400g tomatoes
150g mozzarella
pepper to your taste (right, here they're using it)
basil to your taste
Dressing:
4EL olive oil
1TL balsamico
salt

1. Wash the tomatoes, cut in half, remove stem and then cut into half moons.
2. Pat the mozzarella with a kitchen towel. Then cut it into half moons like the tomatoes.
3. Arrange on a plate - tomatoes and mozzarella in turn. Put on basil leaves. (if not eaten immediatly put in the fridge)
4. In a bowl combine salt and balsamico. Add olive oil and whisk! If not mixed properly some black bubbles will swim in the oil. If mixed well you'll get a evenly brown dressing.
5. Pour dressing over the salad with a small spoon. Add freshly crushed pepper.
6. Buon appetito!

Pizza Margherita

As planned on Sunday (Who needs some intelligent forward looking planning when you can think everything through in less than 24 hours?... not me!) I went for groceries yesterday to buy everything for Pizza Margherita - invented in 1889 for Queen Margherita to resemble the colours of the Italian flag.

The recipe told  me to get pizzadough, basil, mozzarella and tomatoes. I don't think you usually put fresh tomatoes on a pizza, but I wouldn't argue with the recipe.

What I got was also very delicious!

Recipe for 4 [400 kcal/person]:
400g pizza dough (I was lazy and bought mine)
100g tomato sauce (not in the recipe, but came with the dough so I was using it)
fresh basil (as much as you like)
400g tomatoes
160g mozzarella
Salt, Pepper (it's not in the recipe but you'll need it)

1. Depending on your dough and oven type (mine's electric), preheat the oven. 220°C usually is a good temperature.
2. Wash the tomatoes, cut them in half, remove the stem and cut into half moons.
3. Pat the mozzarella with a kitchen towel, then cut into 5mm cubes.
4. Spread the dough on a baking tray. Mine's rectangular, but of course you can take a round one.
5. Spread the tomatoe sauce evenly.

6. Lay on the tomatoes, mozarella and basil and cover the pizza evenly.

7. Now put the tray in your oven an bake until the dough is done and cripsy and the cheese is melted. In my oven at 220°C it took 17 minutes. When you buy dough, it usually says on the package how long you need to bake it.
8. When done, sprinkle salt and pepper to your taste. Cut into pieces and buon appetito!


Well, what can I say? That's not it. In the end, I had some left over tomatoes and mozzarella cheese. Luckily I'm smart enough, what else to do with it. Check the next post for more!

Can't Decide What to Eat?

So, I'll try it again!

I've started a new blog about food. The other one is now just about me and this one is about cooking, bento and everything food related.

So, I'll try again!

Another recipe countdown and this time I'm being a lot more realistic, not trying to cook too much in too less time and choosing a cookbook, that doesn't contain things like snails or expensive stuff like lobster.
Actually it's not even a book.
It's a game.

I'll try to cook all the recipes from the DS game "Cooking Guide: Can't Decide What to Eat?" in one year.

It's 245 recipes, I think I can do it. I'll start tomorrow with the Spanish omelet.

So.
245 recipes
365 days

I think that's possible...

Tutorial: Smart Bento Packing

Lots of people don't know how to pack their bentos effectively. Packing is very important and when done wrong, the food might mix and all your work wasted. You don't want that. Believe me.
So this time, I'll show you how to smartly pack your box, that your bento looks and tastes fine!
There are 7 easy steps with pictures!.

Pack in a shallow box.

Make sure to completely fill the box. If it's not fully packed, the food will get out of place during transportation, look unappetizing and maybe mix tastes. Be sure, that the foods abut and they won't move.

Step 1: Carbohydrates
Fill 1/3 with warm rice (cool rice is hard to mold and pack easily), noodles, bread or whatever your carbohydrates may be.

Step 2: Fixed Shaped Food
Food that has an unbending shape like meat or deep fried food should be put in next.

Step 3: Juicy Food
Salads or moist food like cucumber salad should be drained before filling in a deep, waterproof containe (silicone muffin mold) to be seperated from the rest.

Step 4: Shapable Food
Food, that can be slightly squeezed like omelet should be added now.

Step 5: Room Fillers
Fill any space with preserved food like olives or small containers. Cherry tomatoes, pickles, fruit and sauce bottles work well. Mind the colours, so it looks appetizing!

Step 6: Finish
Upgrade rice with nori or sprinkles. Add party picks, shapes from cheese or sausage or patterns.

Step 7: Closing
Cool completely before placing lid. The steam from warm food makes the food soggy and perishable at warm temperature.

This is an easy bento with classics like sausages, omelet and cucumber! I hope you'll try this out and tell me about your results!

Restaurant Berlin: Ishin

Ishin

Das Ishin ist mein absolutes Lieblingsrestaurant zum Thema Japanische Küche. Und da bin ich wohl nicht die Einzige! Wieso? Weil es mittlerweile bereits vier Ishins gibt, von daher kann man es wohl getrost als Ladenkette bezeichnen.

Wie ... na ja, einfach jedes ... Japanische Restaurant der westlichen, freien Welt, hat sich das Ishin auf Sushi spezialisiert. Doch nicht nur das! Sie bieten auch Donburis an und das ist außerhalb Japans wirklich selten.

Donburi (jap. 丼) ist eine Mahlzeit in der japanischen Küche, bei der Reis in eine Schüssel gefüllt wird und dieser anschließend mit weiteren Zutaten – meist Fleisch – bedeckt wird. (wikipedia)

Ich liebe Donburis und vor allem hat es mir Katsudon angetan. Ich war also denkbar froh, endlich ein Donburi-Restaurant in Berlin zu finden. Leider hat das Ishin nur 3 fleischhaltige Donburis: Gyuudon (Rind), Buta Shouga Don (Schwein und Ingwer ... das günstigste Gericht der Karte mit 3,90€ und somit ein ideales Mittagessen) und Yakitoridon (Hähnchenspieße). Nur 3 Fleischgerichte ... offensichtlich nicht der beste Stand für Fischverachter ... zumindest hat man so nicht die Qual der Wahl.
Bei den Fischdonburis hat man schon eine größere Auswahl von 7 Gerichten.

Solltest du zu den Leuten gehören, die ihren Fisch nur gekocht mögen, so gibt es Cey-Ro Gerichte. Das sind Reis, Gemüse und eventuell Fisch gedämpft in Bambusdämpfern.

Zusätzlich gibt es im Ishin eines der größten, mundwässendernden Sushimenüs, die ich seit langem gesehen habe. Sie haben sogar Seltenheiten wie Otoro-Sushi, der teuerste und fettigste Teil des Thunfisches ... es schmilzt einem im Mund!

Oh und hab ich erwähnt, dass es 100% gratis Grüntee gibt?? Umsonst! So viel man will!! Und das in Europa!!!

Das einzige Problem ist, dass alle vier Ishins dieselbe Speisekarte teilen und es somit nicht überall alles gibt, was angepriesen wird. Das ist leider echt ärgerlich.

Aufgebaut ist das Ishin original Japanisch - neben einigen Tischen, gibt es Theken und man kann den Sushimeistern direkt bei der Arbeit zusehen ... dadurch kann man wunderbar auch allein essen gehen, ohne über den eigenen Versagerstatus peinlich berührt zu sein.


The first restaurant I'm going to show you is my absolute favourite. And I'm not the only one. Why? Because there are already four of those restaurants, so I guess you can call it a chain.

As the name hints the Ishin is a Japanese restaurant, specialized on sushi ... like basically every other Japanese restaurant in the western world. But they not only have the norm sushitypes like maki and nigiri, they also offer somethin special: Fish Donburi, that I never had anywhere else besides Japan.

Donburi (kanji: 丼; hiragana: どんぶり, literally "bowl", also frequently abbreviated as "don", thus less commonly spelled "domburi") is a Japanese "rice bowl dish" consisting of fish, meat, vegetables or other ingredients simmered together and served over rice. Donburi meals are served in oversized rice bowls also called donburi. Donburi are sometimes called sweetened or savory stews on rice. (wikipedia)

Donburi is one of my favourite dishes (I love katsudon most) and so I was very happy to get it in Berlin.
You get 3 kinds of meat donburi: Gyuudon (beef), Buta Shouga Don (pork and ginger - 3,90€ and a really low priced and good dish) and Yakitoridon (skewered chicken). Only 3 meat dishes ... not the best option for people, who don't like fish .. but hey, to be spoilt for choice, huh?
For fish donburis, you get a better choice of 7 donburis.

If you're one of the people, who like their fish cooked, you can also chose Cey-Ro dishes. That's rice and vegetables and optional fish steamed in a bamboo steamer.

In addition, the Ishin has one of the biggest, mouthwatering sushi menus I've ever seen ... besides Japan. They even have otoro-sushi, which is the best and most expensive part of tuna ... it melts in your mouth.

Oh, have I mentioned, that hot green tea is 100% for free! As much as you want! In Europe!

A little problem is, that the four Ishins share the same menu, but not every single restaurant offers everything. That's really annoying...

Mickey Mouse Takoyaki

Another part of the Disney Mickey Mouse Restaurant Mascots" series (ミッキマウスキャラめしマスコット).

I've got it 3rd out of the box and really like it. Not only that I love Takoyaki (octopus dumblings) but also is this dangler really creative.

There are four big takoyakis and eight smaller ones, so it looks like Mickey Mouse. The dumblings also have a nice texture, even with aonori on top. The pick is in Mickey shape too and everything comes in a cute bamboo boat. A really nice dangler

There are still some charms ahead and I'm waiting for the Onigiri Mickey and the Crepe charm.

Mickey Mouse Omrice Mascot

This is the 2nd charm, I've got from the box, from the "Disney Mickey Mouse Restaurant Mascots" series (ミッキマウスキャラめしマスコット).

It's an omelet rice on a white-red plate. The ketchup is arranged as Mickey's face, so is the vegetable (broccoli or something...)

Omrice is a very popular dish in Japan with combining Japanese and Western food. The omelet is filled with rice, stirred with vegetables and lots of ketchup. Decoration usually is some cute ketchup drawing or sauce. Additional vegetables on the plate are not necessarily needed.

This Omrice mascot has a nice texture but having only the ketchup topping, this charm is the most boring from the series. There are so many possibleties like a Mickey omelet, a Mickey plate or something else.... plus the drawn Mickey doesn't look very happy but sorta creepy...

Name: Mickey Mouse Omrice mascot
From: ミッキマウスキャラめしマスコット
Bought at: http://www.strapya-world.com/ as part of a set
Price: 2390JPY (19,95€ or 28,50 USD)
Status: Out of stock (16.04.2011)

Strapya Mickey Mouse Japanese Food Mascots

Hey, I haven't posted in a while because I didn't know what to do with this blog.
But now, I'd have an idea.

For years now I love charms, letter sets, stationery and everything else cute. So I'll be using this blog to let you know of all the cute things I can find and maybe where to buy them... if so, it'll mostly be Germany or online shops, of course.

Let's start with a really cute mascot I bought at http://www.strapya-world.com/

It's actually a miniature food set, called ミッキマウスキャラめしマスコット or "Mickey Mouse Character Food Mascots"

This is the triangular box, you'll get:

After opening, this small bags are looking it you. It's the way you'd see it in stores in Japan. In every box there are twelve bags, so you get every charm once and one as dangler to show, what they'll look like. In total you're getting 13 mascots in 12 designs.

The first one I got was the Mickey Mouse Curry Rice.

It's a white plate says "Mickey Mouse" the little carrots look like hands and the rice Mickey has a nice texture.