Shrimp and Spinach Soba Noodle and items from Trader Joe's

The other day, I made shrimp and spinach rice gratin but this time I made soba noodle using shrimp and spinach. I also used "vegetable bird nest"(vegetable tempura) which I bought from Trader Joe's.

I love Trader Joe's because they have so many useful and interesting food. This "Vegetable bird nest" is one of my favorite thing from Trader Joe's. Frying something at home is sometimes a pain. But when you make Soba or Udon, I want to add little bit of tempura in it and if I have this frozen vegetable bird nest, I don't have to fry anything and I always have great tasting soba with tempura in it.

This is the soba I made the other day. Well, it might not look too appetizing but it taste really good!

Well, since I talked about Trader Joe's, I would like to introduce some of my favorite Trade Joe's items which I haven't mentioned before. (I have already mentioned their Frozen Croissant. This is awesome. Please try)

First of all, every time we go to Trader Joe's, we buy this Edamame. It is soy beans and you just need to boil it for 5 mins and sprinkle with some salt. This is a great snack or appetizer. It is healthy and tasty.

Also, this is a Japanese favorite. Frozen baked rice balls (Yakionigiri). This taste exactly like the ones I used to eat in Japan. This is also great for snack or lunch.

Then, this is something we found quite recently. We call this "Flammkuchen" in our house since this taste exactly like the "flammkuchen"which we had in Germany. Trader Joe's call it differently but for us this is flammkuchen. It is creamy and crispy and great.

Also, this pork shumai was pretty good. This is also good for appetizer when you have some people over .

It seems like they have new items ever time I go there so I am always excited about visiting Trader Joe's. If I found something good again, I would like to report here again. One of the great things about Trader Joe's is that you can buy international food such as edamame or yakionigi with relatively affordable price. They have all different kind of food from all over the world so if you like food, you would love Trader Joe's, I think. If you have not been to Trader Joe's and found one near you live, please visit them once, it is a lot of fun!

Shrimp & Spinach Curry flavored Creamy Rice Gratin

Rice gratin is something quite popular in Japan. You can find all different kind of rice gratin. You just need to layer rice, sauce and cheese and heat them in the oven. My favorite kind is eggplant and tomato rice gratin but this time I made shrimp and spinach curry flavored rice gratin with creamy béchamel sauce.

Here is the recipe

Shrimp & Spinach Curry Flavored Rice Gratin with Creamy Sauce (2~3 people)
Ingredients
Cooked Shrimp     about 15
Spinach                 about 3 cups
Onion                    medium 2
Garlic                    2 cloves
Cooked Rice         about 1 1/2 cup
Vegetable Oil       2 table spoons
Butter                   3 table spoons
Flour                    2 table spoons
Milk                     about 2 cups
Curry Powder      2 table spoons
salt & pepper       for taste
Japanese bread crumbs  3 table spoons
Shredded cheddar cheese 1 cup

1, First, slice onions and chop garlic. If spinach leaves are too big, chop them into bite size pieces.

2, Add vegetable oil into a frying pan and saute onion and garlic.

3, Add spinach and saute.

4, Add cooked shrimp and sprinkle salt and pepper.

5, Add cooked rice and saute.

6, Add curry powder and mix well until everything is well combined. Then turn the heat off.

7, Meanwhile, make béchamel sauce. In a small sauce pan, melt butter.

8, Add flour and mix well.

9,  Add milk gradually and continue to mix with whisk. Keep whisking and adding milk until your desired consistency. Turn the heat off.

10, Transfer rice from the pan into oven dish.

11, Pour béchamel sauce on top.

12, Sprinkle cheese and bread crumbs on top.

13, In 400F (about 200C) oven, bake it for 20mins. I tried to brown the top with broiler at the end and burnt mine....

14, Serve while it is hot!

The curry flavored rice and creamy béchamel sauce was a perfect combination. If you don't like shrimp, you can also use chicken for this. I love rice gratin.

It is also great with meat sauce. Maybe I will make it with meat sauce next time. But first, I need to make my special bolognese sauce in order to make rice gratin with meat sauce!

Roasted Chicken Thigh with Mushroom Cream Sauce

I was checking one of my favorite Japanese blog and I saw this chicken with mushroom sauce. It looked really good and all the ingredients were easy to obtain here in the U.S. so I decided to give it a try. I came out pretty good!

First, seasons chicken and brown in the pan.

Make a bed of parsley in the oven sheet.

Add chicken on top of parsley and bake in the oven.

Take out from the oven

Make mushroom cream sauce.

Add cream sauce on top of chicken and serve. We had egg noodle and salad on the side. This was really good meal!

My husband loved this mushroom cream sauce and he wanted more. Maybe I will make more sauce next time. Also, I used bone-in chicken thigh but maybe I will use boneless because that will be easier to eat.

I loved this rich creamy mushroom sauce. I think this is a perfect dish in a cold winter night.