Dinner with Andre and Tom

When I told Tom and Andre about my newfound love of miso soup, they decided that Andre needed to make two of his specialties: miso soup and beef sukiyaki. Andre, a former pop star in Brazil (really!), is a great cook. He can make sushi (wow) and he figured out how to make miso soup by trial and error. He wanted to replicate his favorite miso soup and developed this recipe. It's much more complex than the soup I've learned to make (miso paste, boiling water, add scallions, voila!) . . . and it's quite delicious.

Andre's Miso Soup

Put four bowls of water in a pot (use the bowl that you will eventually eat the soup in). Add shimeji mushrooms to the pot and bring to a boil. Meanwhile, cube a block of tofu (broiled, firm is best) and set aside. Slice the green stems of scallions (reserve white part for another use) and set aside. When the water comes to a boil, add 4 large wooden spoonfuls of miso and 4 teaspoons of fish powder. Then, add tofu and 2 T. tamari/soy sauce. Sometimes, Andre adds sake, as well. Turn off heat and add 4 healthy pinches of thinly sliced seaweed. Let sit until the seaweed expands (about 5 minutes). Sprinkle with scallions and serve.

The main course for dinner was beef sukiyaki, which, according to Andre, is a common dish in Brazil. The ingredients are prepared, then everyone sits around a table where an electric skillet cooks the ingredients. After a few minutes, people extract what they want to eat with chopsticks. When there's just broth left, one could add more ingredients, cooking until everyone has eaten their fill. Andre and Tom know that I don't eat a lot of red meat, but they thought I would at least enjoy the veggies. Turns out, the meat was my favorite part of the meal: it's thinly sliced and the broth gives it such a nice flavor. And it was such fun to sit around the table, talk and eat.

Beef Sukiyaki

Prepare the following vegetables:
Whole cherry tomatoes, halved
Shimeji mushrooms
Cucumber, sliced
Yellow onion, thickly sliced
Yellow pepper, sliced lengthwise
Napa Cabbage, thickly sliced
Thinly sliced beef (see picture)
Firm tofu, cubed

Sauce:
1 T. crystalized raw sugar
1 t. granulated sugar
1/2 glass soy sauce
1/2 glass cooking sake

Dissolve the sugar in the soy sauce and sake.

Melt several tablespoons butter in an electric skillet (at about 300 degrees). Cook beef on both sides for a couple of minutes (it will brown, but not be done all the way through). Push to one side and add veggies and tofu. Pour sauce over top, making sure you hit all the ingredients. Cover and cook until done to your taste (you may want to turn up to 350 degrees after the first few minutes of cooking the vegetables). As described above, take food from the skillet, place in a bowl of rice and eat. Add more vegetables and beef, if desired, and eat to your heart's content.