Asian Dressing/Marinade

First off, big apologies on not posting more recipes lately.  I don't really have a good excuse.  I've done some pretty excellent cooking (fried chicken, black bean soup, fried okra, etc.).  Just haven't been posting as much.  Let's get back on track.

This is a pure invention, because I had some sake that was starting to turn not so tasty.  Like I've said before, I really like to make my own salad dressings.  I'd argue this is just about the most delicious I've ever made.

You'll need (for 2 big servings or 4 smaller servings--as a dressing for a large side salad).  All of these measurements are definitely approximations

• 1/2 cup sweet sake.  I used the pretty cheap plum sake I'd gotten from the local grocery store.  
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1-2 tablespoons soy sauce
• a few dashes oriental seasoning blend (I use Tone brand Oriental Five Spice)

The steps:

• In a small sauce pan, boil the sake until the alcohol has burned off.  You'll be able to smell the booze in the steam that it gives off.  The sake will also thicken as the alcohol burns off.  You may also (carefully) taste it to be sure it as all burned off.
• While still on the stove, add honey and stir to combine.  Beware: when you add the honey, the sake may try to boil up over the side of the pot.  I had to repeatedly turn on and off the stove to avoid this overflow until I had the honey combined.
• Add rest of ingredients and taste.  Add more seasonings as needed.

I would serve this over a salad that has strong flavored greens (no iceberg here!).  A nice blend of red leaf lettuce, arugula, spinach, kale, and dandelion leaves is, I feel, the most delicious.  If you haven't tried all of these in a salad before, do!  You'll be amazed at how delicious salad can be.  I also love chopped apples in my salad and think they'd go well with this dressing.

In other news, I remade French Onion soup, a little modified from the recipe I posted awhile back.  The first time I made it, I used old port.  I didn't have any port sitting around, so I used some Cabernet Sauvignon and added about 3 tablespoons of brown sugar in order to get the sweetness that I had in my first recipe.  Not as good as the first batch, but still pretty delicious.

Soon to come recipes (hopefully):

• Caribbean-style black bean soup
• Butternut Squash & Apple Bisque
• French Fries (homemade!)