yuzu kosho chicken, so good and so easy

I had just bought a bottle of the awesome condiment yuzu kosho and was looking for a recipe to use it in. I searched for a recipe with yuzu kosho and chicken and settled on a recipe for chicken cooked with yuzu kosho and mayonaise, mostly because it was easy and I had all the ingredients. I only did the chicken and not the rocket and oil/balsamic vinegar part, but OMG it was beyond easy and sooo tasty. I highly recommend it. Translation below for the non-Japanese:

Ingredients (for one person):

Skinless chicken thigh 80-150 g
salt and pepper to taste
mayonnaise 1 tbsp
yuzu kosho 1 tsp
low-salt shoyu 1 tsp
sake 1/2 tsp

the pretty bit
rocket one handful
olive oil 1 tbsp
balsamic vinegar 1 tsp

1. Mix the mayo, yuzu kosho, shoyu, and sake together in a bowl.
2. Make diagonal cuts in the thigh and lightly salt and pepper it. (I recommend putting a good amount of salt and pepper, actually.)
3. Heat some oil in a pan and fry the chicken so both sides are well browned. It doesn't have to be cooked all the way through. (I used medium heat.)
4. Put the chicken into an oven with the sauce on top and bake until the top is browned. (I initially went with about 400 deg F but lowered it to 300 deg F after about 5 minutes because it looked like it was browning faster than the thigh was cooking. I think I cooked it for maybe 10 minutes total in the toaster oven.)
5. Mix the olive oil and balsamic vinegar in a bowl and add the washed and dried rocket. Plate the rocket and thigh on a plate.

Seriously, so easy yet so tasty. I need to find more recipes to use my yuzu kosho (and also buy more since I only bought a small bottle...). ♥ ♥ ♥

random stuff

Amazon Japan sent me a rec for a really stupid-sounding novel called Love guard wa owaranai by Kouyama Kenko and illustrated by Takarai Saki. Just the cover made me chortle, but the first line of the blurb: "...Yes. I am a bitch that loves to be fucked." The "bitch" is a gorgeous bodyguard in his forties who has been having an affair with the president of his company. He's also having sex with a yakuza in exchange for intel. Last but not least is a newbie bodyguard who reminds bitch man of a love who'd died because(for?) him...

It doesn't sound like a book I'd like, but it gave me three minutes of joy reading the blurb and laughing at the cover. XD;

I don't quite understand how Ryanair can get away with getting rid of toilets and making people pay for using the one left. There are laws that require a certain number of toilets per seats for spaces where lots of people gather on the ground....Why isn't there something comparable for airplanes? I hope this fee (and the fee for carry-on baggage) doesn't catch on.

I keep meaning to read The Secret Language of Signs: They're the most useful thing you pay no attention to. Start paying attention. by Julia Turner on Slate because stuff like this fascinates me. XD;

Also on my to-read list: Can Animals Be Gay? by Jon Mooallem on NYT. There's a slide show that is subtitled, "The Love That Dare Not Squawk its Name." If this article doesn't kick ass I will be disappointed.

not martha mentions some books on her desk right now: Now I want to check out Grow Great Grub: Organic Food from Small Spaces and The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook: 101 Asian Recipes Simple Enough for Tonight's Dinner.

Things that make me hate being an adult: paying taxes, searching for and determining the necessary amount of insurance (car, home, medical, life), and thinking about how to save enough to retire at some decent age