Salmon and avocado cubes and Yamahai sake 鮭とアボカドの角切と山廃純米酒

Most of the mid-West and Eastern U.S. are having very hot and humid summer days. One of these very hot weekends, I decided to go grocery shopping early in the day to avoid the mid-day heat. At our gourmet grocery store, which opened up just before I arrived, the sushi case had only a few items prepared. One of them was tuna and salmon sashimi. So I got a package intending to serve it for the evening. Both sashimi were rather thickly sliced. Since I happened to have Japanese nagaimo 長芋, I decided make "Yamakake" 山かけ from the tuna (left in the picture below)  and make  a variation of tuna and avocado cubes using salmon cubes (which would make it salmon and avocado cubes) (right in the picture below).

Since the tuna was yellowfin tuna キハダマグロ, I marinated it after I cut it into  small cubes in concentrated Japanese "men-tsuyu" noodle sauce 麺つゆ for several hours in the refrigerator to make it taste better.  I seasoned grated nagaimo or "tororo" とろろ with wasabi dissolved in soy sauce,  and placed the tuna on top after draining the excess marinade. I garnished it with strips of nori (I served more nori on the side). This is, of course, is a very common way to serve tuna and nagaimo and we both really like it. We added more nori as we enjoyed this dish.

Since I had limes, after I cut avocado into small cubes, I dressed the cubes with lime juice to prevent discoloration. Cubes of salmon were also marinated in Japanese concentrated noodle sauce in exactly same way as the tuna. I dressed them with finely chopped garlic, dark sesame oil and soy sauce and garnished it with chiffonade of perilla and finely chopped scallion. Since the salmon was much fattier than the tuna, it did not absorb the marinade as much but, over all, this dish really worked. Both the salmon and avocado had a similar oily texture.

As a third dish, I served  4 items on the small plate. Only one that is slightly new is the chicken tenderloin dressed in soy sauce, yuzu-kosho 柚子胡椒 and finely chopped edible chrysanthemum 春菊 (blanched, which I happened to have). The chicken tenderloin was removed from sous vide chicken breast. This was very good. The chrysanthemum gave a slightly bitter taste and went well with the moist tenderloin and yuzu-kosho flavor.

The remaining three items are "our usual suspects", Japanese dashi-maki omelet 青海苔入りだし巻きwith aonori, sugar snap blanched and soaked in salt-seasoned Japanese dashi broth スナップ豌豆の塩びたし, and simmered taro 里芋の煮付け.

This evening, we tried a new sake (although we had it before in Japan). It is Tengumai but not "daiginjo". This is Yamahai Junmai 山廃純米天狗舞. The label has a formal name of this old way of making sake 山卸廃止酛仕込(やまおろしはいしもとしこみ). Compared to our new house sake Tengumai daiginjo 天狗舞大吟醸, this is a quite different sake. I think we had this for the first time when we visited Kanazawa 4 years ago. This sake is savory/rich and dry and has earthy/mushroomy background flavor. Some sake expert suggested that this sake should not be served refrigerator cold but at room temperature and suggested the taste will change as it warms up. I took this bottle out a few hours prior to tasting for that reason. It has a nice golden hue (as opposed to clear as in daiginjo). In general, we prefer clean, fruity and dry sake (daiginjo profile), but we liked this sake. It has much more characters and is not too yeasty like other jumai sake can be. We got this sake from a new sake-specialized internet merchant called "Tippsy sake". I will post more about this place in more details in the near future.

Zucchini muffin ズキニマフィン

I was not familiar with zucchini when I arrived in U.S. many years ago. (I wasn't the only one who didn't recognize zucchini. When my mother came for a visit and I made fried zucchini, she asked me why I was frying the cucumber). To me, even now, I find it it to be a rather taste-less vegetable. So when I encountered "zucchini bread", I did not quite understand the idea of putting this vegetable in bread. For that matter, carrot cake was also strange to me. Why put vegetables in cake?  But I learned that both zucchini bread and carrot cake are really good. You really do not taste the vegetable (especially zuccchini) but it makes a very moist cake and bread without adding too much fat or eggs. (I also surmise that this would be a good vegetable delivery system for kids since they would be eating vegetables without knowing it). My wife got zucchini and egg plant and I made ratatouille  as per her request but we had one more zucchini left so my wife decided to make zucchini muffins (using a zucchini bread recipe from "Beard on Bread").

If you would like to hide the fact it has vegetables, you could peel the green skin but we did not.  You can see some green zucchini and walnuts. Walnuts definitely add taste and texture in a very positive way.

The picture below shows them just as they came out of the oven and the muffin tins.

Ingredients (for 12 muffins):
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups grated raw zucchini (#1 and 2)
3 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups AP flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup coarsely chopped (toasted) walnuts

Directions.
Beat the eggs until light and foamy. Add the sugar, oil, zucchini and vanilla and mix. (This appears to be the "secret" of this bread. In effect it is an emulsion of the eggs, sugar and oil--almost a sweet mayonnaise #3.) Combine the flour, salt, baking powder and soda, cinnamon and add to the egg-zucchini mixture. Stir until well blended (#4), add nuts. Using an ice cream scope fill the muffin tin (#5). Bake pre-heated 400F oven for 22 minutes (#6). (For loaf, two 9x5x3 inch loaf pans and bake at 350F for one hour). Let the muffins cool a bit and remove from the muffin tins to finish cooling (#7 & #8)

This is a really great muffin. It is very moist and not too sweet (my wife reduced the sugar). The egg sugar emulsion results in a very nice texture. The nuts provide an additional flavor as well as texture. These are perfect for breakfast.

”Otsumami” appetizer snacks 酒の肴（おつまみ）

This is another rendition of the appetizer snacks we had. I went to our Japanese grocery store the day before which made serving many small dishes easy. I used small lidded bowls and small crane plate we got from Nishiki marker 錦市場 in Kyoto 京都 sometime ago.

We both get filled up quickly so I try to serve small portions. In small bowls from left to right are cold tofu or hiyayakko 冷や奴, grated "Tororo" nagaimo とろろ with "ikura" salmon roe and "Chinese -style" squid salad 中華風イカサラダ

On the black rectangular plate are boiled octopus leg thinly sliced with sumiso sauce タコの酢味噌, my usual dashi-maki Japanese omelet with aonori sea weed 青海苔だし巻き玉子, store bought small fish cake re-heated in the toaster oven.

The gyoza 餃子 I made a few days ago heated up in the toaster oven (skin becomes really crispy) cut in half with a small amount of Ponzu sauce ポン酢 poured into them. This replaces the separate dipping sauce and makes it a bit easier to eat the gyoza.

This store-bought boiled squid salad with Chinese flavors.

This is grated nagaimo (which is called "Tororo"とろろ). I dissolved wasabi into soy sauce and mixed into tororo and topped it with ikura and chiffonade of perilla.

 This is cold silken tofu. I added blanched edible chrysanthemum 春菊. Instead of straight soy sauce I dressed it with concentrated noddle sauce and topped it with bonito flakes かつお節.

We had these small dishes with our house cold sake "tengumai" daiginjo 天狗舞大吟醸. Nothing really new here but very enjoyable.

Blueberry almond muffin ブルーベリー アーモンド マフィン

My wife was binge baking different kinds of muffins one weekend. She claimed she was into making muffins because she finally found the secret to baking in muffin tins. Even though the recipes universally call for filling the cups 3/4 full, as far as she was concerned, this resulted in wimpy muffins. According to her, the secret is to OVERFILL the cups. That way the batter rises above the cup and you get nice caps such as the ones shown on the muffins below. Since we had rather plump and sweet blueberries, she made these blueberry almond muffins. This was the last batch she made on "binge" weekend. (This will have to be the last for a while since we are running out of freezer space for baked goods). Among the many blueberry breads and muffins she has made, this is one of the best. She found this recipe in the "Pastries from the La Brea Bakery"

This is a bit unique because it includes pulverized almonds. (Pulverized is not as fine as "almond flour" you can buy and gives it a bit of texture). The big plump blueberries were quite nice.

My wife fit all the batter into the muffin tins which made a nice big top.

Ingredients:(for 12 muffins)
1/2 cup (3 oz.) almonds toasted.
3/8 cup sugar (a total of 3/4 cup of sugar is used; half goes the nut mixture half goes into the creamed butter mixture, #3)
1 tbs. grated orange or lemon zest
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbs. plus 1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 stick plus 2 tbs. (5 oz.) butter
3/8 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cup buttermilk (#2)
2 cups blueberries (#3) or 1 to 1 1/2 cup chopped strawberries, nectarines, peaches or pears.

Recipe doubled (makes 24 muffins)

1 cup (6 oz.) almonds toasted.
3/4 cup sugar (a total of 1 1/2 cups of sugar is used; half goes in the nut mixture half goes into the creamed butter mixture, #3)
1 tbs. grated orange or lemon zest (or 1 tbs. vanilla)
6 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbs. plus 2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 sticks plus 4 tbs. (10 oz.) butter
3/4 cup sugar
6 large eggs
3 cups buttermilk (#2)
4 cups blueberries (#3) or 2 to 2 1/2 cup chopped strawberries, nectarines, peaches or pears.

Directions:
In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade, combine the almonds, the fruit zest and half of the sugar (3/8 cup) and process until it is the consistency of a fine meal (#1 above).  In a separate bowl mix the flour, nut mixture, baking powder, baking soda, salt (#2). In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter. Add the remaining sugar (3/8 cup) and cream until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and whip until frothy (#3). Pour in the buttermilk and mix until completely incorporated. Pour the butter mixture into the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Fold in the blueberries (#4). Put batter into a greased muffin tin(#5, 6). Bake at 350 degree for 20 to 25 minutes (#7).

These are indeed very nice blueberry muffins. They came out really moist with a nice crunchy top. When my wife took the muffins out of tin, the texture was so tender they started to collapse under the weight of the generous tops. So she had to cool the muffins upside down (#8). Once they cooled, however, we could stand them right-side-up. The almond flavor was very subtle--just a slight nuttiness. But a nice lemony flavor came through.  This combined with the sweet and juicy blueberries was a winning combination. She can make these again (once some space opens up in our freezer.)

Italian-style squid salad イタリアンカラマリサラダ

When I was getting our usual filet of salmon, I could not resist getting cleaned squid. Since I did not have much time to deal with the squid when I got home, I decided to boil the entire one pound (tubes and tentacles).   Since cleaned squid we can get here is previously frozen and thawed ("for your convenience"), it can not last long and needs to be cooked immediately.  From the prepared squid, I made two dishes. One is Italian style squid salad. I made a similar dish before without any recipe. This one is loosely based on the recipe I saw on line.

The base green is our home grown arugula. It was getting a bit tough but it has so much flavor even without any dressing. I let the squid marinade for several hours in the refrigerator before serving.

This must have been the next day. I just made it to our usual sumiso 酢味噌 dressed Japanese-style salad with cucumber and wakame seaweed.

Ingredients (this will be 4 servings for us as a small appetizer).
• 2/3 lb cleaned squid
• 1 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 tablespoon red-wine vinegar (I used balsamic vinegar)
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 large garlic clove, minced
• salt and black pepper to taste
• 1/4 sweet (Vidalia) onion, halved lengthwise, then thinly sliced crosswise
• 1/4 cup pitted Kalamata olives, halved lengthwise
• Skinned Campari tomatoes (4-5), halved or quartered if large
• 1 celery ribs, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
• Parsley, several sprigs, stem removed, chopped

Preparation of squid:
Rinse squid under cold running water. Halve tentacles lengthwise and cut bodies  crosswise into 1/3-inch-wide rings.

Cook squid in a boiling salted water with a splash of sake, uncovered, until just opaque, 40 to 60 seconds. Drain in a colander and immediately transfer to a bowl of ice and cold water to stop the cooking. When squid is cool, drain and pat dry.

Directions for salad:
Whisk together lemon juice, vinegar, oil, garlic, salt, and pepper in a small bowl, then stir in onion, squid, olives, tomatoes, celery, and parsley in a large bowl. Toss with dressing and season with salt and pepper. Let stand at least 15 minutes to allow flavors to develop (I refrigerated for several hours).

Both preparations were good. The Italian-style has more complex flavors with a burst of saltiness when you bite into the olive. For this we choose to have American brewed G-sake on the rocks.

Cheesy muffins with prosciutto and chives プロシュートとチャイブ入りチェダーチーズママフィン

This recipe came from the Washington Post. Since we had some prosciutto, my wife pounced on it and made these muffins. The first time around, we quickly devoured the muffins then when they were all gone we remembered that we forgot to take any picture. So this is the second batch my wife made. This is a self-contained breakfast in muffin form with prosciutto and cheddar cheese. We added scrambled eggs and sautéed rapini (pre-blanched) and had it as a lunch. Actually, the plate below is the serving dish for the two of us. After the photo shoot, we divided this into two portions.

Cut surfaces show prosciutto  and chives.

This is few minutes after it came out of the oven. Melted cheddar is visible.

The top has a nice crunchy crust.

Ingredients (made 1 dozen muffins):
(See #2 below)
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the pan
1/4 cup packed (50 grams) light brown sugar
2 large eggs plus 1 large egg yolk
1 cup low-fat (or regular) sour cream
2 cups (270 grams) flour
1 tablespoon (8 grams) baking powder
1/4 teaspoon (2 grams) baking soda
1 teaspoon (4 grams) table salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (original recipe called for black pepper).
6 ounces shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese, loosely packed (a generous 1 3/4 cups)
3 ounces prosciutto, chopped (2/3 cup; see #1 below)
About 15 chive stems, minced (1/4 cup) (or to taste)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Generously grease the wells of the muffin pan with softened butter or cooking oil spray. Melt the 6 tablespoons of butter in a large microwave-safe bowl, covered with paper towel, on LOW in 15-second bursts. Add the sugar and whisk until well incorporated (#3), then add the eggs and egg yolk one at a time, whisking after each addition (#4). Add the sour cream, whisking a final time.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and pepper. Pour the wet ingredients into the butter-egg mixture (#5). Add the cheese, prosciutto and chives, folding just until incorporated to form a shaggy batter (#6) Do not over mix.

Fill the muffin pan wells (#7). Bake (middle rack) for 18 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a moist crumb or two. Remove from the pan as soon as they are cool enough to handle (#8).

This is probably one of the most decadent muffins ever. (We found it humorous that the original recipe called for low fat sour cream and then went on to add almost a full stick of butter, almost a full block of cheese and oh yes an extra egg--hold the egg white). But they were also ridiculously good. These are great for breakfast. The prosciutto, cheddar and chives permeate the muffin with savory flavor. My wife added cayenne pepper (1/4 tsp) which gave a light zing to the muffin. Adding the scrambled eggs and rapini with its slight bitter taste made this a very satisfying breakfast (or lunch in our case).

Nectarine bundt cake ネクタリンバントケーキ

We received a gift for New Year which was a one-year-membership to Harry's & David monthly fruit club.  Although some of it is a bit hit-or-miss, most of the fruit was excellent.  This month was Dulcevida nectarines. A card with the recipe for nectarine pound cake came with the fruit. (It specified the use of a bundt cake pan, so it could be classified as a bundt cake). In any case, my wife made this cake one day using the last three nectarines.

We cut a wedge to taste.

I added fresh blueberry and mint sprig just for a photo shoot.

This is a quite good cake. Nice fresh nectarine taste.

Ingredients:
For fruit
2-3 nectarines (she used 3), peeled, pitted, and cut into slices.
2 tbsp, AP flour
2 tbsp light brown sugar (my wife used white sugar with molasses)

For cake batter
3/4 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
2 1/2 cup of AP flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
8 oz lemon yogurt (my wife used plain yogurt with the addition of lemon extract)(lemon zest would also work)
1 egg
1 egg white

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325F. Grease a 10 inch Bundt pan and dust with flour (My wife only had an 8 inch bundt pan, so she made additional cakes using some mini Bundt pans she had).
Blend 2 tbsp flour and brown sugar together, add nectarines and toss until well coated. Place the mixture in the bottom of the pan. In a bowl mix the the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In a mixer, cream the butter and white sugar. Add the egg and egg white and blend until mixed. Add the vanilla, yogurt and lemon flavoring (or lemon zest) beat for 3 minutes at medium speed. Add the liquid mixture to the dry mixture and mix until combined. Distribute the batter over the nectarines (the recipe said pour the batter over the fruit. Don't know what they were using but pouring was not an option. The batter came out very thick and stiff and had to be dolloped into the bundt pan.) Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes clean.  Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes. Invert onto a wire rack and cool completely before serving.

The cake is not too sweet and is very moist. The nectarines are nicely sweet and refreshing. This is a good cake. We can eat this even for breakfast.

"Tsumami" appetizers 酒のつまみ

I am still cooking Izakaya-style small dishes but generally nothing particularly new. The dishes below are what we had after the perilla wrapped chicken dish 鶏胸肉の青紫蘇巻き. Often, we roast pork (loin or shoulder) in our Weber grill, but sometimes, the roast is really big so I divide it into two roasts; one to roast in the Weber and another to make into  Chinese style "Nibuta" 煮豚. For the dish pictured here I just served small pieces of one such nibuta, with ajitama 味玉 (a soft boiled egg marinated in concentrated noodle sauce) and blanched sugar snap. After a few days the egg yolk of the ajitama becomes more congealed but maintains a nice soft texture.

For the third  dish of the evening, I used one of the chicken breast halves left over after making the perilla wrapped chicken. Both are marinated in the same way but this one I pounded further into thin slices, coated in potato starch and gently poached (called "suisho” 水晶).

I cut it into small bite size pieces and served it with a side of thinly sliced cucumber (American mini-cucumber) dressed in ponzu sauce. Because it was coated with potato starch before poaching, it has a nice smooth (slippery) texture. Marinating with sake, soy sauce and potato starch made the meat moist and tender.

None of these are new but we still enjoy having many small dishes.

Chicken breast wrapped in perilla 鶏胸肉の青じそ巻き

This is inspired by a recipe in one of the food blogs I follow. I have previously posted yakitori 焼き鳥 dishes made with a combination of chicken meat, perilla and "umeboshi" 梅干し salted plum paste (this is a classic combination). One such dish used chicken tenderloin  another used chicken made into a roll with shiso and umeboshi paste, cut into medallions and skewered. This is the same combination of flavors with some different twists.   I cut the chicken into bite sized pieces, pound the pieces to break down the fibers, and marinate them before making the skewers as the recipe suggested. This preparation really made the chicken breast much more moist and tender. (My wife asked if this was sous vide chicken breast). I served the pieces un-skewered and instead of adding plum paste in the marinade as suggested in the recipe I put it on the top which has a more direct impact.

Ingredients (For the three skewers seen here):
One half of boneless and skinless chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces, pounded with a meat mallet to break down the fibers.
Perilla leaves (We have a forest of perilla in our herb garden, 4 feet tall!)
Light olive oil for cooking.

For marinade
2 tbs sake
1tbs light colored soy sauce
1 tsp potato starch (katakuri-ko)

Directions:
I placed the chicken in a Ziplock bag with the marinade ingredients. I kneaded the bag to mix the meat and the marinade. I removed the air as much as I could before closing the bag. I refrigerated it for a few hours.
I cut the perilla leaves to the width of the meat and long enough that it wrapped the meat all the way around (some of our perilla leaves were quite large and had to cut them into several pieces). I wrapped the chicken pieces and put them on a skewer. (Althouhg I cooked the chicken in a frying pan rather than over charcoal, it was much easier to flip the skewers and keep the perilla leaves on the meat) (#1).
I added a small amount of light olive oil to a non-stick frying pan on low flame (#2), Put on the lid and cooked it for several minutes and then turned them over (#3). I used an instant thermometer to make sure it read 165F and the chicken was done before taking the skewers off the heat.  (#4).

I was going to use a tube of salted plum paste but it was near-empty and looked old. So, I made plum sauce or "Bainiku" 梅肉 sauce from "umeboshi" 梅干し salted plums (my mother's last batch sent to us a few years ago) (#5). I removed the meat from the stones and chopped it finely and put it in a Japanese "suribachi" すり鉢 mortar (#6). I gradually added mirin みりん until the ground plum became a thick saucy consistency. I smeared the sauce over the chicken (the first picture).

Although this is a variation of a "golden" combination of chicken meat, perilla, and salted plum sauce, this variation was really good because of the tender and moist texture of the chicken.

Morel mushroom pasta and pork scaloppini モレルマッシュルームパスタ

We like mushrooms in general (except for button mushrooms). Shiitake is our main stay. Occasionally we branch out to maitake 舞茸 or enoki えのき茸 or shimeji しめじ. Of course, once a year, matsutake 松茸 is a must have. This time my wife found a package of fresh morel mushrooms at our near-by Whole Foods. So one weekend evening, we had morel mushroom pasta and a pork scaloppini-like dish.

The pasta was PA dutch egg noodle. My wife made a sauce. This is a simple sauce with sautéed fresh morel in butter and cream simply seasoned with salt and pepper. Pork scaloppini was just pork tenderloin cut into medallions and pounded very thin, seasoned with dried basil and oregano, salt and pepper. I dusted with flour and cooked in olive oil. I did not make the traditional sauce that goes with scaloppini. The pasta had a lovely morel mushroom taste that was absorbed and extended by the pasta. The creamy sauce added an unctuous element. This was a great way to eat pasta. The pasta also went very well with the pork scaloppini.

Since we have started to open up the old wines we collected over the year, this bottle was up next. This is Barnett Vineyard 2006 Pinot Noir.

We got this bottle when we visited the vineyard. This was a reserved personal tasting and the guide (a bit grumpy guy) let us taste their wine in a gazebo on the top of the mountain on their property overlooking surrounding vinyards and mountains. The view was spectacular. We bought several bottles of cabernet and a few Pinot. We must have had them send to us but I do not remember the details. Long time ago, we finished all of their cabs but this pinot was left. This bottle was kept in our wine refrigerator not in the basement. So we were hoping this was better kept and aged.

I carefully decanted it one hour before. Although, edge was brownish indicating age, it had surprisingly fresh fruit; cherry and a bit of strawberry and tannin was mellow. We really enjoyed this aged Pinot. This was particularly good paring with morel mushroom pasta and the pork scaloppini. Since I did not make any sauce (like caper and lemon) but just herbs, salt and pepper, it went better with this wine.