Potatoes, potatoes - Potatoes during COVID-19

 During these months, I learned to enjoy cooking with Potatoes.  I also learned that I need to be very careful with the bag of potatoes I buy.  Honestly, there are some produce grocers who are dishonest.  If you are not careful, you just bought a bag of potatoes that are repackaged.  Half of the bag of potatoes are exchanged, mixed, repackaged with old potatoes.  Very dishonest.  With those overhead lights in the produce section, you probably noticed those fluorescent light bulbs causes eyes not to be able to see clearly of the freshness of the produce.

Anyways, I learned to make French Fries baked in the oven instead of deep frying.  They turn out great.  Then, I learned to quickly boil the potatoes in the pressure cookers and make mashed potatoes for the Shepherd's pie or Croquettes, Stews, Hash Browns.  Sometimes, I slice them thinly and make potato chips.

How about you?

Baking sliced potatoes. 

In the Chicken Stew

Shepherd's Pie

In Cabbage Stew

Fried Potato Chips

Baked French Fries

 

Baked Potato Chips

These Croquettes/KORO'KE can be freezed and baked later in the oven by drizzling organic avocado oil on them at 400'F for 25 - 30 min or until browned.

Buttermilk Fried Chicken

 

Make the brine and cut organize whole chicken into pieces. 

Brine overnight.

Bayleaf

Chili Peppers

Lemon juice from 5 lemons

1 C Kosher Salt

Parsely

Cilantro

Ginger

Enough water to cover the chicken pieces

Whole black peppers

Prepare bowls with Flour, Buttermilk, and Breadcrumbs.

Coat with flour

Dip in Buttermilk

Coat with breakcrumb

Fry 10 min each side till brown.

and center of the chicken is at least 165'F ... I like mine dry...

 

 

 

2020 Bumper Crop KAKI - Poached KAKI, KAKI Roll Ups, KAKI Fruit Salad, KAKI Pecan Scones, KAKI Pudding

 There were enough KAKI for all the birds and whatever in the fields to share and more for me to share with my families.  I also found out that persimmons - KAKI is my side kick natural medicine I needed to help me with digestive system.  Since after the gallbladder removal surgery, I don't think I had a quiet day. I could not sleep well, eat well, and challenging to plan the day.  After finding out some food sources that could help me to regulate my digestive system - honestly - to "firm up" to be regular, I found KAKI to be one of the fruits to help me.  Other foods are - rice with wild grains, beans, potatoes.  KAKI is now part of my ingredients for my meals.

POACHED KAKI

Select smaller KAKI, wash and peel.

Add Sweet red wine Marsala and Pomegranate syrup.

Add the whole bottle of Marsala and enough pomegranate syrup to sweeten.

Add a stick of Cinnamon - you know how to tell the real cinnamon from the wanna be, right?

Poach in low heat for 4 hours if you want the red color of the wine to infused into KAKI.

Turn them over a couple of times during the 4 hours.

I served it with  my homemade Bourbon Vanilla Ice Cream.  The taste together with the Poached KAKI was a discovery to enjoy at least once to twice a year.

KAKI FRUIT ROLL UPS 

To make my KAKI fruit Roll Ups, I added one Granny Smith Apple, a pinch of salt, 1 tsp of Ball brand Fruit Fresh (Ascorbic Acid), 1/4 C Lime juice. A few shakes of Cayenne pepper.  Persimmon in general is bland.  It has a distinct taste of its own, but it not exactly a fruit that would stand out when cooked or mixed with some other fruits.  Acid bring out the flavor a bit more.

Puree them well.

 

 Spread a think coat of organic avocado oil on the dehydration sheet.  

Then spread a even layer of KAKI puree.

*I made a mistake by spreading them too thick.  It took a long long time to dehydrate when it is too thick.

Make sure the top of the fruit roll is dry before turning off the dehydrator.  Dehydrate longer if it looks mushy or tacky to prevent from fungus growth, etc.  Ply off and Slice with scissors into serving pieces and wrap up with plastic wrap.

 

KAKI Fruit Salad or with Chayote and Fennel Salad

KAKI slices goes very well in a salad with vinaigrette dressing. 

Banana, Dragonfruits, Pears, KAKI

Chayote, cucumber, fennel, pomegranate, KAKI with vinaigrette dressing

KAKI PECAN SCONES with Poppy Seeds

I think adding a tangy fruits like chopped dried apricots might have worked out good also.  Try to use the crispy KAKI instead of one that is already getting a bit soft.

KAKI PUDDING

It looks like KAKI pudding is quite popular in Japan.  I watched it in YouTube and tried it myself, but because I added Fruit Fresh - acid, it did not jell up as much.  The texture turned out more like a Smoothie than pudding like. 

Remove all the seeds

Add equal amount of Half-and-Half.  Blend together

Pour into containers.  Chill 2 hours.  Serve.