Wednesday, December 11, 2013

New Beginnings

This post has no recipe. Just wanted to get that out of the way, so you can stop reading if you like.

So I mentioned in my last tomato leek (and feta! and tofu!) recipe that we moved. To Japan.  Specifically, we moved to the beautiful little subtropical island of Okinawa. From Alaska. To say the climate alone (negating the huge culture and lifestyle change) was different is a massive understatement. We left knee-deep snow and arrived to capri weather and palm trees. And a million percent humidity. But I digress.

What does this all have to do with a cooking blog? Well, you may see some mentions of strange-sounding ingredients. Or hear about my trials and tribulations deciphering food labels or finding good substitutes for things we don't have access to here. Otherwise though, like always my focus is fairly easy, good, healthy food for a family. So to all two of the people that maybe read this blog, keep reading. Share in our adventure on the other side of the world. It'll be fun!

Some of the local, fresh-caught fish choices at a market. We have had to say goodbye to our huge self-caught bounty of Alaskan salmon and halibut, but made some new friends. The blue fish are amazing.

More mystery ingredients at an open-air market for us to learn about. We have found that generally Okinawans will gladly explain what all of these goodies are.

This isn't Okinawa. I don't believe we ever really get fall here. This is a side trip to mainland Japan, in Nara, this fall. Fantastic fall foliage.

An Eisa drummer performing for Obon, warding off bad spirits from our home.


This is a little church at Zanpa. I think it's mostly utilized for destination weddings. Okinawa is a popular tourist destination for mainland Japanese. Maybe you can see why, it's kind of the Hawaii of Japan.


Tomato Leek Tart, Part 2 (With Tofu)

I keep coming back to this recipe. I haven't blogged in forever, in part due to moving to Japan, but that's beside the point. Leeks are in the markets very frequently here (quite a bit less often back in Alaska where we lived before), and so often when I see them, their crisp white and green selves beckoning beneath the tidy plastic parcel everything comes in here, I think of tomato leek tart.

I was at a shop down the road from my house and saw a huge bunch of leeks, and decided to make a couple tarts. Nevermind tomatoes are not at quite their best here lately. I didn't have the cheese my original recipe called for (people used to shopping in Japanese supermarkets will feel my pain on the cheese issue), so I modified the recipe. 

I also added a bit of protein in the form of tofu. Many of you will stop reading there. I promise, though, my tofu-loathing husband didn't know there was tofu in there until I told him. Try it, you may find you like it. 

Here are the bulk of the ingredients, all chopped up. If you use a stone, you definitely want the filling all prepared beforehand, as the crust will immediately begin to melt and then crisp when it's plopped on the hot stone.

Here we are assembled, ready for the sides to be tucked up. My second stoneware pan broke on my concrete floors here, so I had to sub a silpat-covered baking sheet. It still turned out fine.

All cooked. Moving to a new oven, which is now electric, and operating on slightly lower voltage that it was designed to, I found my stonewear-baked tart needed two extra minutes and the one on the cookie sheet needed another 1-2.
Again, you want to let it rest a bit before slicing so all the veggie juices don't run amok. 

Tomato Leek Tart, Part Two (With Tofu)

Ingredients:

1 package refrigerated pie crusts
3 medium tomatoes, diced
3 leeks, thinly sliced
1/2 package firm tofu, cubed
1/2 c. Crumbled feta cheese
4 T. Grated Parmesan cheese
Garlic powder
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 425 F. If using a pizza stone, preheat that as well. 

Unroll the pastry crusts and arrange 1/2 of each ingredient in an even layer in the center 3/4 of the crusts. Fold up the edges. 

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.