#contains meat

[shoku-and-awe]

Miso ramen! Not my usual ramen choice, but a VERY good one on a cold night!

[altercooking]

Cheesy Rice and Chicken Casserole

Although I usually avoid poultry and beef, I got a rotisserie chicken as part of a free promotion when I moved. Not wanting to waste it, I decided to do a spin on a classic chicken casserole. Although the use of a pressure cooker speeds things up, this is a real waste-nothing recipe.

Where we gnolls lived, rice wasn't especially common -- we usually ate millet. Millet is a great swap in this recipe, and cooks in the same amount of time, but my roommate doesn't really love it. So I mixed it up. (Similarly, the cheese here would be more likely to be goat cheese.)

This recipe includes home-making stock and will produce more than is needed for the casserole itself. You can use the extra for a soup or other recipe.

Ingredients for stock

1 rotisserie chicken carcass (bones and skin, and any little bits of whatever -- use the meat below in the casserole)

2 medium carrots

2 stalks celery

A small onion

4 cloves garlic

Ingredients for casserole

Meat from one rotisserie chicken, chopped into bite-sized pieces

2 cups of above stock

4 oz cream cheese or soft goat cheese

4 oz cheddar cheese

2 cups white rice

1/2 small onion

1/2 tsp kosher salt

2 tsp jarred garlic (about 4 cloves)

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp chili flakes (optional)

Special equipment

6 quart electronic pressure cooker, such as an Instant Pot

Silicone trivet that fits in the Instant Pot

Cake tin that fits inside the Instant Pot, at least 7". I use the official Instant Pot one

Fine strainer

Serves: 4, plus additional stock

Prep Time: 5 minutes for stock, 5 minutes for rice

Cook Time: 2 hours 30 minutes for stock, 45 minutes for rice

Directions for stock:

First, make the stock. Remove meat from the rotisserie chicken and set aside.

Chop the onion into quarters and the celery and carrots into 2" pieces.

Add rotisserie chicken carcass, celery, 4 cloves garlic, and carrots to your Instant Pot. Fill to 1/2 mark on the Instant Pot.

Set Instant Pot to cook on high for 1 hour 30 minutes. It will take a while to come up to pressure, so the real time will be longer.

Allow natural pressure to release for at least half an hour, after which you can release any remaining pressure.

Directions for casserole:

Finely mince onion

Add pepper, salt, rice, stock, chili flakes (if using), and minced onion to the 7" cake tin.

Add 1 cup of water to the Instant Pot. Put the trivet in the Instant Pot, then put the rice-filled cake tin on the trivet.

Close the Instant Pot. Pressure cook on high for 13 minutes, ensuring Keep Warm is turned off.

Let pressure release naturally for at least 10 minutes. Quick release any remaining pressure.

Add rotisserie chicken meat and cream or goat cheese to rice and stir until it becomes creamy.

Add cheddar cheese to rice and stir to melt.

[gottastim]

sushi stimboard

🍣 🍣 🍣 | 🍣 🍣 🍣 | 🍣 🍣 🍣

[dekitateyo]

New Tantanmen Honpo Motosumiyoshi, a regional ramen born in Kawasaki. Chicken soup with ground pork, egg, chilli powder and a large amount of garlic. Looks nothing like a regular tantanmen and it is actually very homey. (I’ve already returned to this place more than once!)

[shoku-and-awe]

More cilantro for noodles, this time on souki soba! Which is a dish that I looooved in Okinawa, but Tokyo always seems to make it heavy and kind of bland. But the herbs make it bright and tasty, even if it's not traditional...

[shoku-and-awe]

Lunch set at a place I’d been meaning to try: beef tendon stewed with grilled tofu, daikon, and egg. Excellent quality and surprisingly inexpensive. They will be seeing me again!

[shoku-and-awe]

Some unusual pastas of recent memory! Squid ink lasagna, kimchi carbonara, peperoncino with egg goo (very striking), and two uhhhhhhhhh giant piles-o'-stuff.

Bottom left: Chinese-style peperoncino and white rice, topped with deep-fried gyoza, mabo glass noodles, and yurinchi (油淋鶏 / fried chicken in a sweet vinegar sauce). Bottom right: Regular peperoncino and rice cooked in tonkotsu broth, topped with Japanese fried chicken, cheese sauce, pork back fat, and garlic mayo. In case you're into that kind of thing.

[shoku-and-awe]

From last winter, something for the tableware enjoyers: a post-sumo dinner at a chanko nabe restaurant! It was plainly seasoned but very elegant. On a cold day like today, that steaming hotpot looks sooooo appealing......