Tonight’s Dinner – Japanese Gratin

Since the bite of Japanese-style gratin leeched off of a B. K.’s plate a few lunches ago I’ve been longing for an entire portion for myself.  There weren’t many recipes available online, and the ones I found mostly did not contain rice.  The closest I found was at Shizuoka Gourmet and that was good enough for me!

1. First things first, the rice.  It really defeats the original purpose of this meal which my friend calls “a lazy housewife dish”, but one of the most awesome parts of that bite was the rice.  So I made rice the night before and left it out to dry overnight (covered with a paper towel so heat and condensation could be released but keeping icky stuff out).  Putting it in the fridge during the  day helped harden up the rice before frying.

2. I didn’t feel like having a meaty dinner, so a good filling variety of vegetables (and a fungus) was crucial.  What I had on hand was zucchini, an eggplant from my garden and some onions.  I had to go out and get a few mushrooms to help complete this meat-less meal.  If I had more eggplants it would probably have sufficed, but look at how colorful it looked!

3. Sauteed the onions first…

4. Added the zucchini, eggplants, then mushrooms.  A bit of salt and pepper to taste…

5. Then it’s time for the rice!  To be honest I should have made the rice first and laid it in the dishes before cooking the vegetables, but I forgot about the butter and already put olive oil on the pan.  I remembered the butter the second time around.  Not only did it smell wonderful but the rice didn’t stick to the pan at all!  I seasoned the rice with some soy sauce and ketchup.  In my mind the combination sounded wonderful and I was right!

6. Here’s the part where I messed up.  The recipe didn’t give any measurements and I didn’t bother to look up a recipe for the bechamel sauce.  I figured since I was familiar with the concept, having seen dad do it a few times, that I would just wing it.  First mistake was putting in corn starch thinking it was flour.  Then I put way too much flour when I realized what I had done.  The sauce wasn’t white because what I had on hand was wheat flour, which was actually fine.

7. The dish ended up as two personal sized dishes because I didn’t have the right size dish.  Oddly enough the two 2-cup Pyrex containers fit everything pretty well.  See the tops of the dishes?  That was another bump in the road.  Apparently the grated cheese I thought was in the fridge had been thrown out this morning.  So I cut up some Laughing Cow creamy cheese wedges.  Don’t do it- it doesn’t melt.

8. The finished product!  Doesn’t look particularly impressive, but it was filling and flavorful.  Next time I will make more rice, follow this recipe for the correct sauce and double check to make sure I have cheese!

I hope this was amusing for anyone who has stumbled upon this page. Hopefully I’ll be chronicling more of my cooking, as well as the mishaps. Boy am I full. Time to relax and plan tomorrow’s meals!