Koi Japan

If you are ever at City Hall in Manchester and are looking for a mix between a greasy spoon and contemporary Asian food, look no further than Koi Japan.

This has been one of my haunts for years now, and it should be a regular stop for anyone who visits downtown Manchester regularly: the price is exceptional for the amount of food you get, which as you can see from the photo is nearly overflowing, even without the extra meat for a dollar option.

My personal favorite here is the Chicken Terriyaki lunch special, which if I had to describe it, would be something like the Chicken Terriyaki at one of those mall Japanese teppanyaki places, only cooked by an award winning chef. If you don't believe me, the plaque for the award the owner and head chef is up front, just turn your head 45 degrees left when you're at the cash register, it's hanging up there.

When they first opened up, they offered free peanut sauce as a condiment, but even at the dollar they charge now, it's worth it. Alone with fried rice, the Chicken Terriyaki lunch special is about equivalent to what you'd spend on a value meal at a fast food place, yet it is far superior in quality.



Meal: Chicken Terriyaki Special
Cost of Meal: $5.20
Time of Meal: 1:30 PM
Restaurant Entrance to Exit: 30 minutes

Pulled Pork & Sweet Potato Burritos

A modification of my mother's to-die-for burritos. She developed her recipe from the memory of a burrito place in San Francisco. I am dying to someday find that place...

Ingredients:

-Pork (about 1/2 a pound)

-Greek yogurt or sour cream (1-3 cups depending on how fattening you want these) (*Note: I lived in Greece once upon a time and tried to make the original version of these burritos. The recipe called for sour cream and I could only find Greek yogurt. The replacement turned out to be phenomenal.)

-Salt, pepper, paprika, cilantro to taste (go heavy on the cilantro)

-1 large onion

-Garlic to taste

-Olive oil (I practically bath in the stuff and can't imagine cooking without it. Maybe this is Greece's influence?)

-3 large sweet potatoes

-6 (or more!) burrito blankets.

-Cheddar cheese

Optional

-Rice (I use basmati)

-Salsa

-Beans (refried or black)

Directions:

-Slow cook the pork all day. Or until it is falling apart. (I'm not a huge meat-eater and I like this way of cooking pork because you can easily separate the fat from the meat.)

-Bake the sweet potatoes at 400 degrees F until soft. (Remember to poke holes in them before you put them in the oven.) (Wait until these are done or almost done before going on to the next step.)

-Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (or maybe it is already hot from the sweet potatoes? You'll have to deal with this on your own.)

-Saute onions (chopped) and garlic in olive oil (Seriously don't use another kind of oil). Do this in a wok or wide pot. Add some paprika, salt and pepper. Perhaps even throw in some red pepper flakes. My hubby said this would be better if it was spicier (I didn't use anything hot) but I'm not sure the hotness would go well with the sweetness of the sweet potato.

-When the potatoes done, peel them and chop them finely.

-When the onions are translucent add the sweet potatoes. Stir constantly. Add a dab of Greek yogurt (or sour cream). Let cook for about 10 minutes.

-Remove the pulled pork from slow cooker (if you haven't done so already) and separate it (or maybe you call this "pulling pork"? Take all the yicky fat away.

-Add the cilantro and pulled pork to the onion/garlic/sweet potato mixture.

-Add a little bit of salsa (optional) to the mixture and some more Greek yogurt (or sour cream). Keep adding the Greek yogurt (or sour cream) until you feel it tastes right. (Yeah, that's how I cook. Taste it. Otherwise how do you know if it is delicious?

-Cook this until the sweet potatoes are soft.

-Take a burrito blanket and put beans, rice (both optional), cheese (sliced) and pork mixture in. Fold and place in an oiled glass baking dish. Do this with all the burrito blankets. Cover with leftover mixture and cheese. Cover with aluminum foil.

-Bake for 30-45 minutes or until cheese on top it melted and burritos are crispy but not burned.

-Watch your family/friends/self melt from deliciousness overload.

Red Arrow in Milford

Hi, i'm Andy and i'm the "Book" part of the team with Elena, as in "Sometimes you need to book it out of the kitchen and go out to eat" or "don't forget your checkbook...because we're going out to eat" or "Me and Elena tried to think of something that rhymed with cook and this was the best we could do."




Today's meal comes from the Red Arrow Diner in Milford. Its Manchester location has long been known as a mandatory stop for any Presidential candidate tromping through New Hampshire during the Primaries, but the Milford location has its own Granite State pathos, sitting literally next to the Mill where the town of Milford gets its name.

The Red Arrow in Milford is slightly bigger than the miniscule diner in Manchester, but it's not incredibly huge either, making sure that whenever you're there you'll be rubbing elbows figuratively and literally with the locals.

Their food is standard traditional American/New England comfort food for the most part, and nothing too spectacular in terms of that genre either, but it's generally a solid bet when it comes to a quick, moderately priced, tasty meal.

Today's dish was no different, their Clam Strip Basket with French Fries and Cole Slaw. I had wanted to order their Buffalo Wings, but they had run out of chicken.

It was during the lunch rush, and the waitress seemed like waitress on call in the front was in over her head, so it can be forgiven that she got my order wrong (putting in shrimp rather than clam strips) since literally five seconds after she told me that she gave me the clam strip basket I had initially ordered.

The portion was fairly small, but again, different portions for seafood is to be expected, especially with seasonal fluctuations.

It was a good meal, but not a great one to be sure.


Price $7.99
Order Clam Strips with Cole Slaw and French Fries
Restaurant Entrance to Exit: 45 minutes
Time of Meal: 12:30 PM

Welcome!

Welcome to Cook & Book, a culinary blog from two perspectives.

My name is Elena. I will be writing the "cook" side of this blog. I will start with a swordfish recipe I made last night.

Ingredients:

-Three swordfish steaks (fresh, decedent)

-Butter (about 2 tablespoons)

-Olive oil

-Sweetened coconut flakes

-Toasted bread crumbs

-Lemon juice

-Pepper

-Salt

*Marinate the swordfish in a mixture of butter (melted), salt, pepper and lemon juice (I used the juice of 3 lemons) for at least 3 hours. I did this in a plastic Ziplock bag.

*Preheat oven to 450 degree

*Add a little olive oil to the marinade mixture and make sure fish is evenly coated.

*Mix together coconut and bread crumbs. The proportion is up to you. I used about half and half.

*Put each piece of fish in breadcrumb and coconut mixture until evenly coated. Place in oiled glass baking dish. If the mixture isn't sticking very well, press the mixture onto the fish. Some of it is bound to fall off but you want enough coating to keep that coconut flavor.

*Cover dish with aluminum foil and bake fish for twenty minutes for every inch of thickness. If it does not seem to be done when this time is up, flip and cook until the thickest part of the fish is done.

Serve!

This dish was born from a dish my neighbor Lisa served last spring. It was incredible and I wanted the recipe (and I think she gave it to me, but I couldn't find it when I wanted to make it) but she has been very sick and I didn't want to bother her so I did some research about swordfish online and made this up!