今日も暑い１日でした。といっても２５度なので日本の方には呆れられそうですが、湿気も高めな気がします。昨日と今日は、この暑い中、アイロンがけを頑張りました、昨日も今日も１時間以上していたと思います。ホリデーで夫が着たTシャツと戻って来てから変えたベッドのシーツや枕カバーやキッチンの布類などなど。いつもわたしのクラフトルームでしていますが、最近はクーラーをかけてしています。
It was another hot day. The temperature was only about 25C so I’m sure people in Japan cannot believe me saying ‘hot’ but it was a bit humid, too. I did work on ironing for a long time both yesterday and today as there were piles of my husband’s T shirts that he wore on holiday and we also changed the bed yesterday as well as a pile of tea towels etc needed ironing. I guess I did about an hour and a half over both days.
さて、今日の夕食は、Hello Fresh の「Japanese Style Miso Aubergine on Noodles with Teriyaki Sauce, Pak Choi and Peanuts」（和風味噌茄子、麺、照り焼きソース、パクチョイ、ピーナッツ）。書かなくてもわかると思いますが、見た目からして和風ではない。茄子は多分茄子田楽からインスピレーションを得たものかな、と思います、半分に切って切り目を入れてオイルを塗って塩胡椒してオーブンで焼いた後、味噌とメープルシロップを混ぜたものを塗って後５分オーブンで焼きます。パクチョイは夫が大嫌いなので使わずに、家にあったテンダーステム・ブロッコリーを代わりに使いましたが、ブロッコリーとサヤエンドウはフライパンでしばらく炒めて、ニンニクを加えて更に炒め、照り焼きソースとお醤油、お水を混ぜたものを加えて少し煮詰めます。別に茹でた中華麺（茹でた後、お水で冷やし）を加えて１、２分煮たらボールにのせて、茄子をのせて、上からシラチャソースをかけてピーナッツを砕いたものも加えて出来上がりです。
Today’s dinner was “Japanese Style Miso Aubergine on Noodles with Teriyaki Sauce, Pak Choi and Peanuts” from Hello Fresh. I think it’s obvious to most Japanese looking at the photos but it certainly isn’t “Japanese Style”. I guess that Aubergine Dengaku is the inspiration for the aubergine part. Aubergine was cut in half, scored, brushed with oil then sprinkled with salt and pepper and baked in the oven, then brushed with a mixture of miso & maple syrup then baked again in the oven for 5 more minutes. My husband hates Pak Choi so we used tender stem broccoli that we had at home instead. You stir fry broccoli and young pea pods for a few minutes, then add garlic and stir-fry for another minute before adding the mixture of Teriyaki sauce, soy sauce & water. You then let it simmer and reduce a little before adding cooked Chinese noodles, and simmer for further a couple of minutes. Then serve it in a bowl with a half of aubergine in each bowl, drizzle with Sriracha sauce and sprinkle with crushed peanuts.
これも書かなくてもわかると思いますが、食べにくいことこの上ない。「茄子はこんなんじゃお箸で食べられないと思うから切ってのせる方が良いと思うけど。」と言ったのですが、夫はついてきたレシピの写真通りにしたい。案の定食べにくくて大変でした。日本の茄子ならこの状態でも食べられると思うのですが、こちらの茄子は日本の茄子と違って皮がとっても分厚くて硬いのです、なので調理法によっては皮は食べられず、この場合もそうでした。でも、まぁ、味は美味しかったです。Hello Fresh のレシピを監修している方の味のセンスは良いと思います。和風ではないですが。
Again, I don’t think I need to point out but this is very hard to eat! I told my husband that we should cut the aubergine with a knife before putting it on the bowl but of course my husband wanted the dish to look like the photo on the recipe you get from Hello Fresh. Well, it was impossible to eat with chopsticks. If the aubergine was a Japanese one it is possible to eat it with chopsticks because the skin is very tender and melts but the skin of aubergines in England are in general very tough and is almost inedible when you cook it like this. So we struggled to eat and in the end used a knife and fork and tried to scrape the flesh out of the skin. Anyway, it did taste quite good. I feel whoever is making the recipes for Hello Fresh has very good sense of taste. This dish is far from Japanese, though… (The noodles are Chinese, we would never put such a huge piece of anything on top of noodles and we don’t use peanuts in our dishes. It’s closer to Chinese I suppose but again they would not put a large piece of something on top of noodles.)
