Sunday, May 27, 2012

Meal worm quiche






Oof. My brain is mush. My life's been a spinning mess these past few weeks but I still made time to make something delicious with some mealworms I received in the mail from a vendor in S. California.


もう5月の終わり!忙しいと時間がたつのも早いものです。トホホ。しかし、この間、南カルフォルニアら注文したミールワームが届いたので、早速料理してみました。生きたまま宅急便でくるので、箱を耳に当てたらザワザワと音がしてくるから面白かったです!



Aren't they so cute?? You could hear them rustle in the box they came in. Ooohlala. 






























I wanted to do something a little more subtle with them so that they would be a bit more appeasing to more people....but I couldn't help sprinkling some on top.


普通の人がかまわず味わえるようにあまり目立たないようにしようとキーシュの中に入れることにしました。かなり美味しかったです。研究室の人も味見してくれました。

In the long run, it's probably cheaper to raise these on your own. I'm going to probably look into it, but a few websites I came across on google that may be of interest:
http://mealwormstore.com/raising_mealworms.php
http://www.sialis.org/raisingmealworms.htm

育て方のウェブサイトも色々あるみたいです。上のリンクはグーグルで最初にでた物。




The quiche recipe was an altered version of dough and innards from Smitten Kitchen, one of my favorite food blogs. I used whole wheat flour from a local mill so added more butter to the dough and used arugula instead of chard, since I had a ton of it in the fridge.

今度はうえの方にこんなにのせないようにしようと思います。
キーシュのレシピは英語版に書いてアルスミットキッチンのをちょっとかえて使いました。

Mealworm Quiche

Quiche dough (adapted from Smitten Kitchen's recipe, which was adapted from Le Pain Quotidien)
1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 Tablespoon + 2 teaspoon cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 Tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces
1 egg

In bowl, mix flour, cornstarch and salt.  Cut butter into flour with pastry cutter (or your fingers) until course chunks form. Add egg, mix well, and press into a 9-inch pie plate. Chill (I put in the fridge while I cooked up the insides).

Leek and Arugula Quiche-innard (adapted from Smitten Kitchen, which was adapted from Bon Apetit)
Butter or oil for cooking
A couple handfuls of fresh arugula (rinsed)
1/4 cup of fresh or frozen or dried mealworm

1.5 cups shredded extra sharp cheddar (or whatever type of cheese you like)

1 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream (it was a bit too creamy so I'm gonna use milk next time)
3 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon salt
pepper, to taste

Preheat oven 425.
Sautee leeks in butter or oil in a skillet until tender (I accidentally burned mine). In a separate skillet, sautee mealworms until crisp (I think both took like 7 minutes or so. You can probably cook the leeks and mealworm in the same skillet, but I decided to cook them separately to allow the mealworms to crisp). Add arugula to leeks and cook until it wilts (a couple minutes). Remove from heat.

Mix whipping cream, eggs, salt, and pepper together in bowl.

Line tart shell with shredded cheese, add leeks+arugula mixture and mealworms (all or reserve some to sprinkle on top). Pour egg mixture on top, put in oven for 15 minutes, lower temperature to 350, bake about 15 minutes more or until middle of quiche is set. Cool on rack for awhile (I left it over night but you can probably eat it warm).





Monday, May 7, 2012

Silkworm Breakfast

I've discovered I have a bad habit of hounding people for information when I get excited about something. When I found out that one of the senior lab technicians in my department ate silkworm, I basically ran back in to the lab and bombarded him when questions about recipes and where to purchase. Apparently, he was pretty weirded out entertained by the strange American girl flapping her arms up and down in excitement and so had his wife cook up some silkworm that night and brought them over the next day (they're Chinese).

先週、研究室の技術院のおじさんが桑子の料理をすると聞いたので彼にいろんな質問を聞きにいきました。親切なことに、次の日奥さんが作ってくれた桑子の炒め物を持ってきて下さいました。味はおいしかったけれど、肌触りがちょっと変でした。でも、興味が会ったので、サクラメントの中華食料品店に言って桑子のパケットを一つ買ってみました。

The flavor was good--kinda cashewy and nutty. The texture though...not so much. Too soggy and mealy. Despite the texture, though, I decided to get a packet from one of the several Asian grocery stores in Sacramento. 
mmm silkworm!
I really didn't dig the mushy texture from the stir-fry dish so was looking up ways to make it a bit more crispier and came across this ehow article that said to roast them.

もうちょっとパリパリした肌触りが欲しかったので、オーブンで焼いてみました。さくさくとしてとても美味しかったです!卵焼きとスイートポテトと一緒に食べました。

And roast I did! They tasted so much better. Nice and crispy, with a soft inside.

roasted sweet potato and silkworm, vadouvam
Breakfast!

Curried scrambled eggs with silkworm and sweet potato
Ingredients:
1 small sweet potato
1/4 c silkworm pupae
2 cloves garlic
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 eggs
1/4 tsp vandouvan (my awesome friend bought me some for a graduation gift from here)
you can use curry seasoning too if you don't have vandouvan.
oil to fry eggs (I used peanut oil)
salt to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 F
Cut sweet potato into 1/4" slices, mince garlic.
Place sweet potato, silkworm, garlic, and a bit of salt into small bowl, pour olive oil on top, toss to coat. Sprinkle some salt on top if you wish.
Place above into baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven.

Put frying pan on high heat, add oil and vandouvan. Mix vandouvan until fragrant (about a minute)
Place roasted silkworm and eggs into bowl, whisk.
Pour silkworm and egg mixture into frying pan, scramble, add salt if you wish to taste.

Enjoy!
Serves: 2 smallish breakfasts, or one hearty portion.

桑子と卵焼き
スイートポテト(小)   一本
桑子           1/4こっぷ*
大蒜                                             2片
オリーヴオイル      大さじ1
卵            2個
ヴァンズバン       小さじ1
(カレー粉でもいい)
卵を焼く油

オーブンを230Cにする。1)大蒜をみじん切りにする 2)スイートポテトは薄く切る。1と2と桑子通り部オイル、塩をボウルに入れ、まぜる。
オーブンに入れ、10分やく。
フライパンに油を入れ、ヴァンズバン、あるいはカレー粉を合えて香ばしくなるまでまぜる。
卵と桑子をボウルに入れまぜる。フライパンに入れて焼く。

焼いた桑子と卵を小さなボウルに入れまぜる。






Saturday, May 5, 2012

Adventures Off the Grid

So. Off the Grid. The most amazing food truck event I've been to. I'm sure there are others, but wow. Let's just say if I lived in San Francisco I'd not only be broke but hopelessly obese with all the unbelievably delicious food available within arms' reach.

Off The Grid San Francisco


I actually went here for the sole purpose of trying out pre-hispanic insect cuisine offered by Don Bugito. During my search on entomophagy online, I came across their websites as well as several articles on the project begun by Monica Martinez (owner of Don Bugito) for an edible insect food cart in San Francisco. Several sources mention that she is actually the nation's first edible food cart (1, 2)!


The Don Bugito stand at OTG

Cricket Tostada! Sorry my macro setting was off when I was taking these... コウロギのトスタダ。


Mealworm taco ミールワームのタコス。

Yours truely enjoying a cricket tostada. Yum. 

Quenby eating a tostada. クウェンビーも美味しく食べています!

Oh man and was it so so so worth the 2 hour drive (Friday traffic = why I will never commute)! I got to try all three of the items on the menu (with the help of my eager insect-curious lady friends), which included: cricket tostada, mealworm tacos, and toffee mealworms on vanilla ice cream. Drool. The toffee mealworms totally tasted like bacon. No joke. 

I am in love. 

今日はサンフランシスコで毎週あるフードカートのイベント、オフザグリッドに友達と行ってきました。ここに言った理由はドンブギートというメキシコ料理のスタンドの食べ物を味わうためです。このスタンドの名物は、なんと、虫!古代のメキシコの料理は虫をよく使っていたそうですし、今も食べているみたいです。
Dessert! デザートのミールワームアイスクリーム

今回は、コウロギのトスタダ、ミールワーム(?日本語でなんて言うのか分からない)のタコス、と甘いミールワームが載せてあるバニラアイスクリーム。全部とても美味しかったです!皆様もぜひサンフランシスコに来る機会があったら食べてみて下さい。

1. http://blogs.kqed.org/bayareabites/category/street-food/
2. http://sf.nerdnite.com/2012/04/09/nerd-nite-sf-23-insect-eating-marijuana-farming-and-neuroendocrinology/

Friday, May 4, 2012

First Post!

Okay, this is it. I'm gonna start this blog. I've only thought about it for a few days but I'm jumping the gun (maybe) and just starting it.

This blog is going to be mostly about my adventures with insect cuisine, but will also cover some other food aspects. It might include some normal boring fare as well, depending on my mood.

I'm totally new to but absolutely fascinated by entomophagy. Mostly because I'm terrified of insects and I think maybe if I eat them, some of my fear will go away. Like some of my irrational fear of heights went away when I started climbing. I'm also really interested in entomophagy, as it's a far more sustainable means of acquiring protein and nutrients compared to eating meat from cows and other pasture-raised animals that emit insane amounts of greenhouse gasses and use up vital resources like land, water, and food. I know, becoming fully vegetarian would probably be the all encompassing answer, but maybe not! Insects use far less space and resources and have a lot more grams of protein per gram of flesh than meat. I'm not stating data here as I haven't researched the topic enough but have added links below that might be of interest.

皆様こんにちは。私のブログへようこそ。このブログではおもに虫食いに関する事事を書くつもりです。虫がかなり恐い私にとって昆虫食はとても興味深い物です。最近の予想では30−50年後世界の人口は百十億を漉すと言うそうです。この未来の世界では土地も水もその分少なくなってます。そんな世界で今のように牛、鳥、魚を育てると言うのはかなり無理になっていくと思います。

昆虫は牛肉よりタンパク質とビタミンがあるし、土地も水も餌もあまりいりません。しかも、餌になる物は普通廃品になる物をあたえられるので、その分生ゴミが少なくなるかもしれません。

このブログでは私の昆虫食の旅を記録するつもりです。日本語はかなり下手なので読むのが大変かもしれませんが、すみません。時々時間がないので英語だけで書くかもしれませんけど、もし分からない所があれば質問して下さい。

Interesting articles
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/06/insect-eating_n_950827.html
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2011/10/24/141661332/bugs-bugs-everywhere-even-on-your-dinner-plate
http://www.sciencewa.net.au/topics/agriculture/item/1384-insects-on-menu-to-feed-9-billion-humans
http://www.insectsarefood.com/