Cream Cheese, Butternut Squash & Nagaimo Fritters

Do you go grocery shopping with a list but end up buying mostly things not on the list? Happens to me all time. I just can’t help it. I see a beautiful butternut squash, I put in cart. I see plump fresh prunes, I put in cart. I see nagaimo…….you get the picture. I am a random impulsive grocery shopper! More often than not, half the stuff I buy gets forgotten in the fridge until they go mushy and fuzzy from the mold. Not that I don’t want to cook them but I somehow always run out of or lack the stuff to make that stuff. At one point in time I was throwing out more food than eating it. Lightning strikes me every time I do that. Well, my pre-New Year Resolution is to make good use of all grocery I buy. One way I try to salvage them is by mixing the various ingredients together. Needless to say, they usually end up in the garbage bin, too. Lightning strikes me twice harder when that happens. (Why is it that some chefs are capable of mixing a bit of this with a bit of that and churn out pristine dishes?????)

I happen to have a butternut squash and nagaimo in the fridge for quite awhile now. Luckily, they are such keepers. Luckier for me, they mix well! Initially, I was going to make two different dishes but my lazy arse wasn’t in the mood I didn’t have the time. I came up with the idea for the butternut squash filling based on the nagaimo and plum filling fritters that I saw on the internet. Butternut squash seems to pair favorably with sage. Even more luck for me, I had some in the fridge, along with a dollop of cream cheese. So, there I was with a decadent filling of squash, cream cheese, sage, and nutmeg. Even more luck for me, Hubby (a very picky eater) loved it! He ate 3/4 of it!

Ingredients

1 small butternut squash (mine was 300 grams)

1 small cut of nagaimo (about 300 grams, too)

3 tablespoon butter

2 tablespoons of cream cheese

1 tablespoon julienned or chopped sage

A pinch of nutmeg

Salt and pepper to taste

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 cups iced soda water (plain iced water is fine, too)

Oil for deep frying

1. Peel and slice the butternut squash and rub it with butter. You can bake it in the oven but I just stick in the oven grill for 20 minutes. When done put in a mixing bowl. Add the cream cheese, sage, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. (Actually, I would love to use parmesan and gruyere in lieu of the cream cheese, but alas, I didn’t have them at hand. Fortunately, the cream cheese gave great results!) Mash everything together into a fine paste and set aside.

2. Wash and peel the nagaimo. Slice them into about 3 milimeters thick round slices. When done, place about a tablespoon of the butternut squash filling spread out evenly in between two pieces of nagaimo. Kinda like making sandwiches.

3. Heat oil to medium hot then prepare batter. Prepare batter only when you are ready to do the frying. If the batter is left sitting for a long time, it will become doughy and heavy. Best to make it in small batches. Mix all-purpose flour with the iced soda water. It’s sorta like tempura batter. Doesn’t need to be mix till smooth. A few lumpy dry flour clumps will make it crispier.

4. Dip the nagaimo in the batter and slowly slide into frying pan. The nagaimo is very slippery so take care when putting it into the pan. Fry both sides golden. Remove, drain, and serve immediately!

Yuzu Miso Chicken

Paris has been enjoying a surprisingly warm weather for the past few days. Even my neighbors have donned on their sweaters and socks…. to sunbathe in the veranda. Maybe it’s because of the unusually warm weather, but I am thinking of the citrus fruit yuzu….or maybe it’s because I just ate a Chocoloate Yuzu Macaron. This, however, reminds me of the jar of yuzu miso that I lugged back from Japan. Along with all the other Japanese goodies, it’s been sitting in my fridge for about 5 months now. Luckily, the expiration date is still quite far away.

Yuzu is one of my favorite ingredients to cook with. I adore its sweet tangy smell. So when I saw the yuzu miso in Japan, I know it would be great for use as marinades, sauces, soups… The weather today is perfect for a warm tangy salad. Hence, the creation below:

Yuzu Miso Chicken Salad

1 deboned chicken thigh or breast (if you like dry meat)

1 small orange

Romaine lettuce

1 teaspoon of grated orange or lemon peel

The marinade:

1 tablespoon of yuzu miso

2 tablespoons of sake

1 teaspoon of sugar

Almond brittles:

½ cup of sliced almonds

3 tablespoons of sugar

Salad dressing:

1 tablespoon sesame paste

1 tablespoon lemon or yuzu juice

1 teaspoon sugar

Salt and pepper to season

1. Mix the yuzu miso, sake and sugar together. Use it to marinate the chicken for at least half an hour.
2. Grill or bake the chicken until done.
3. Heat up a pan. When it’s hot, pour in the 3 tablespoons of sugar. As the sugar melts, throw in the sliced almonds. Remove pan from heat immediately (do not let sugar burn.) Make sure the almonds are well coated with the sugar. Quickly pour onto a parchment paper or silicon sheet. Leave to cool.
4. Cut the orange into cubes.
5. Mix together the ingredients for the dressing.
6. Slice the chicken into bite sizes. Toss together with the orange cubes, grated lemon/orange peel, and dressing. Arrange on a bed of romaine lettuce.
7. Break the almond brittle into small pieces and sprinkle over the chicken. Serve.