Olive brine marinated pork tenderloin with cuscus オリーブブライン漬け豚ヒレ

This is continuation of my search for another way to cook pork tenderloins. A few days ago I used the trimmings from two pork tenderloins, I prepared to make "Pork, potato, and green bean stir fry". The next day, I made "Seared Pork tenderloin with smoked paprika and oregano 焼き豚フィレ肉、薫製パプリカ、オレガノ味" from one of the tenderloins. That left one last tenderloin. I came across this recipe in "Food and Wine" magazine. It uses the brine from a jar of olives (I suppose it is made of water, vinegar and salt with added olive flavor from the marinated olives) as a marinade for pork tenderloin. We were inspired by this recipe so we made this dish and served it with couscous. The original recipe called for white beans as the side but we happened to have a box of couscous which recently passed its "best used by" date. (Actually that date was one year ago but in our household that is "recent"). The brining did make the pork more succulent but did not add much flavor despite the addition of ground sage and lemon zest to the brine.

We added all the juice, olives and roasted garlic from the roasted pork to the couscous which made it very flavorful and moist. (We tend to avoid dry flakey couscous which we found from experience can easily become uncomfortably air borne if you happen to inhale slightly at the wrong time while eating it). Although the color could have been a bit better, we will call this dish a sucess.

Since we do not believe in "searing" the surface of the meat before baking, I skipped the searing step.

Ingredients:
One trimmed and prepared pork tenderloin
Several green olives, pitted and smashed
Several cloves of garlic, skin on
1 tbs olive oil

For marinade:
1/4 cup of brine from a jar of olives (we had sweet red pepper stuffed green olives which I use when I have a martini).
1 tbs extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp ground sage
Lemon zest from one lemon using a micrograter.
1/2 tsp Kosher salt

Salt and pepper for seasning.

Directions:
Place the marinade and the tenderloin in a Ziploc bag. Removed the air, close the bag and marinate for 3 hours in the refrigerator.
Preheat oven (I used our toaster oven in convection mode) to 375F.
Remove the pork from the marinade, blot with a paper towel, coat with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Coat the garlic cloves with olive oil.
Place the pork, olives, and garlic on a baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes or until the temperature in the thickest part of the pork registers 145F.
Let it rest for 5-10 minutes on the cutting board.

Meanwhile, we prepared a box of couscous according to the directions (we used chicken broth and pats of butter). When done, we fluffed up the couscous using a fork, added the roasted garlic by squeezing out the soft center of the clove leaving the skin behind. Then we added the olives and whatever juice from the meat that accumulated while it was resting.

Since we are not really into brining meats, this is a quick and easy way to do it. As far as we could tell the main impact of the brining was on the texture of the meat rather than its flavor. The meat was moist and nice. This is a new for us but we are not sure we will do this again.

Tomato and egg stir fry トマト炒り卵

This is the second dish I made using a recipe in  "The real Japanese Izakaya Cookbook". This is a rather simple dish but we like the result very much. Since we had pasteurized eggs and skinned Campari tomatoes on hand, this is an easy and quick dish.

Ingredients: One serving but we shared this dish.
2 eggs (since eggs are not cooked completely, I used two pasteurized eggs)
2 skinned Campari tomatoes, each quartered
1 tsp dark sesame oil (the recipe said 1 tbs but I thought that was too much).
1/8 tsp minced fresh ginger (I may have used more like 1/4 tsp).
pinch of salt

Directions:
Add the sesame oil to a non-stick frying pan on medium flame and stir fry the wedges of tomato for 2 minutes.
Add the ginger and stir.
Add well-beaten eggs and stir until softly set. Stop stirring and let the bottom cook for 10 seconds and slide onto a serving dish. Season with salt to taste.

The combination of fresh tomato, ginger, dark sesame oil and eggs works nicely. A bit of salt makes everything come together. This will go with any drinks you are having. We really like this dish.

P.S. Our plum tree which suffered the last couple of years due to a fungal disease and a transplant to a different location in the yard which required quite an extensive pruning. We were really worried that we would lose it. But it seems to be holding its own and we are glad it is surviving. This year, mid February, it started blossoming. It is nice to see the early sign that Spring is coming.

Bonito tataki teriyaki カツオたたきの照焼

This is just a left-over control dish and not really a recipe. I found I had quite a large package of frozen bonito tataki カツオのたたき in the freezer and decided it wasn't getting any better with age. So, I defrosted it. That evening, we finished 2/3 as a carpaccio-style rendition of bonito tataki . Since the piece was very large rather than forcing ourselves to finish it, I marinated the remainder in soy sauce, mirin and sake with grated ginger to use the next night. The next evening, I blotted the fish with a paper towel to remove the excess marinade, then I cooked it in a frying pan with a bit of oil. I cooked it for one minutes each side and removed it from the pan and set it aside. I added the marinade to the pan and reduced it. When it thickened I put the fish back in and coated it with the sauce. I served it with blanched green beans with sesame dressing, skinned Campari tomato and cucumber (American mini cuke) and wakame seaweed dressed in sumiso 酢味噌 dressing

Teriyaki 照り焼き, "teri" means "glistering" or "shiny" and "yaki" means "grilled". After the marinade is reduced, the coated surface of the fish becomes shiny because of the sugar content of the sauce .

For some reason, I automatically sprinkled on "sansho" powder 山椒.  For leftover control, this was quite a good small dish to start the evening.

Seared Pork tenderloin with smoked paprika and oregano 焼き豚フィレ肉、薫製パプリカ、オレガノ味

When I made "pork, potato, and green bean stir fry" from pork tenderloins trimmings, the two prepared pork tenderloins remained. I marinated them in sake (mostly to preserve the meat a bit longer). My default dishes for pork tenderloin are tonkatsu or hirekatsu ヒレカツ, baked in the toaster oven or scallopini. I happened to see this recipe in Milk Street magazine recently, I decided to try it for a change. It is called "seared pork tender loin with smoked paprika and oregano". My wife made PA dutch egg noodles with cream cheese and chopped chives as a accompaniment. This turned out quite good if not outstanding.

This came out just right and tender.

Ingredients: Since this was a sort of test, I only used one pork tenderloin.
One trimmed and prepared pork tenderloin, cut in half crosswise and then cut along the length of the segment leaving 1/4 inch intact (#1). Pound it lightly to flatten to 1/4 inch thick. Season with salt and pepper.
1 tbs neutral oil for searing (I used vegetable oil)

Sauce/marinade (mix all ingrediets):
3 tbs olive oil
1 tbs smoked Paprika (powder).
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp dried oregano

1tsp chopped fresh oregano (I did not have it so I didn't add it).

Directions:
Add the oil to a frying pan on medium high flame. When the oil is simmering/near smoking, add the pork and sear one side for 2-3 minutes without moving (#2), flip it over and sear the other side for 2 more minutes (#3), brush the sauce/marinade (I used a spoon to coat the surface with the sauce) (#4), flip again and repeat with the sauce.

I placed the pork on the plate. poured on any juice/sauce from the pan and covered with another identical pate as a lid to let the meat rest. (It could also be covered with aluminum foil for several minutes).

Although the smoked paprika flavor or oregano did not come through strongly (I am sure fresh oregano would have added good oregano flavor but I did not have it), the meat was done perfectly and was flavorful. The next day, I used the meat with avocado slices for sandwiches which was also very good. We may have to repeat this using fresh oregano. This was a different and good way to prepare pork tenderloins.

Japanese Izakaya Cookbook

I meant to post about this cookbook but somehow got waylaid. This is done by a Japanese chef, Wataru Yokota. The book covers quite many "teiban" 定番 or classic Izakaya dishes plus more innovative new Izakaya dishes. It is well illustrated including pictures of steps on how to make the dishes. The beginning section describes and illustrates basic techiniques of how to prepare vegetables and fish.

This book covers all classic authentic Izakaya dishes. It also suggests substitutes for the specific ingredients which may be difficult to get outside Japan. I only made one dish from the book because many of the recipes are already part of my regular repertoire.  The dish I made was quite unique called "Tofu namerou" which I already posted.  I would like to make some more of the innovative dishes this book offers sometime soon.

For somebody who started making Izakaya dishes, this is one of the best English Izakaya cookbooks and I highly recommend it.

Pork, potato and green bean stir fry 豚じゃがインゲン

This is a variation of Japanese style "meat and potato" dishes. Since I had baby red potatoes that were  getting old and some partly shriveled  up, one-week-old blanched green beans and vacuum packed pork tenderloin which had just passed its "best used by" date, I came up with this variation of pork, potato and green bean dish. My mother used to make a simple variation of this dish using braised potatoes and green beans seasoned with mirin, sugar and soy sauce. In this version I expanded on my mothers recipe by adding pork. As is often the case with Japanese braised dishes, this one was seasoned "ama-kara" 甘辛 or "sweet and salty" with "salty" coming from soy sauce.

I did a bit of pre-treatment/seasoning to the pork to prevent it from getting dry, since these were the trimmings from tenderloin which tends to get dry when cooked. For an impromptu dish, this turned out to be quite good.

Ingredients:
10-12 baby red potatoes, skinned.
1/2 package of green beans, blanched in salted water, cut into 2-3 inch long pieces.
1 lb thinly sliced pork tenderloin (or pork belly may work better).
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 cup dashi broth (I used bonito-dashi pack)
1-2 tbs soy sauce
1-2 tbs mirin

For the pork marinade
1 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs sake
1 tbs mirin
1 tsp potato starch
1/2 tsp grated ginger (optional)

Directions:
Add the marinade and the pork into a ziploc bag, remove the air and close. Massage it well so that the marinade and potato starch permeates the meat (the potato starch keeps the moisture in the meat).  I marinaded the meat for 30 minutes.

In a wok on medium flame, add 1 tsp olive oil and the meat (marinade was totally absorbed). Stir and cook for a few minutes until done. Take out the meat and set aside. Wipe clean the wok, add 1 tsp of olive oil and add the potatoes. Stir for a few minutes until the surface of the potatoes are coated with oil. Add the dashi broth, the soy sauce and mirin, put on the lid and simmer for 10-15 minutes until the potatoes are cooked. Add the set-aside cooked pork and green beans, stir for several minutes until the liquid is reduced. Taste and add more soy sauce and/or mirin if needed.

Because of the marinade and potato starch, the meat came out moist tender and well seasoned. The green beans were still slightly crunchy. This is a really homey comfort dish.

Grilled atsuage "fried tofu" 焼き厚揚げ

There are two kinds of fried tofu: "Abura-age" 油揚げ, literally means "fried in oil" and "Atsu-age"  厚揚げ, fried thick tofu. The difference between the two is that "abra-age" is a thin tofu piece  completely cooked with no raw tofu left in the center. It can be opened into a pouch which can be stuffed with other ingredients. "Atsu-age" or sometimes called "Nama-age" 生揚げ is a much thicker tofu piece and the center is still uncooked tofu. I usually do not buy this since the ones available are very poor quality since the tofu itself is rather poor quality.  This time, however, I found a Japanese brand atsu-age in our Japanese grocery store and bought it. I thought I never posted "atsu-age" and started writing this post but when I searched for "abura-age" in my blog, I realized that I did blog "atsu-age" 6 years ago. So, this is a bit of a repeat. This one comes from "Soumo-ya" 相模屋 in Maebashi, Gunnma prefecture 前橋市群馬県. This one is made from "Kinugoshi" 絹ごし or silken tofu.

The package contained two squares as seen  below. I toasted this in our toaster oven for 5 minutes on each sides  (I placed in metal grate on aluminum foil lined metal tray).

When you cut it, the surface is fried and brown but the center is still uncooked.

I garnished it with finely sliced scallion and ginger soy sauce.

I also added blanched rapini buds with sesame soy sauce ごま醤油.

Especially since I have not had this for some time, this tasted really good. The surface is nicly crunchy after tasting and the center is hot and silky soft. Hope our grocery store will regularly carry this.

"Shime saba" cured Norwegian mackerel しめ鯖

"Saba" 鯖 is one of the "Hikari-mono" 光り物 fish which has a smooth skin with a blue grey sheen  to it. This group of fish can be strong flavored and may spoil quickly. Japanese call it "iki-gusare" 生き腐れ or "starts rotting while it is alive". Therefore, it is most common to have it as "shime-saba" しめ鯖. "Shime-ru" しめる in this context means "cured" or "salted and vinegar-ed"  しめ鯖.  Because of recent advancements in shipping logistics, however, eating "raw" or "lightly cured" local saba is possible and commonly used especially in the southern parts of Japan. In addition to its freshness, depending on the water temperature and/or where it is caught, the fish may  have a parasite called Anisakis (Ironically, the fresher the fish, the higher chance of Anisakis). So it is a bit of a risk eating this fish raw even in Japan.  Cooking and freezing make it safe but "vinegar" apparently doesn't kill Anisakis immediately. Most of the mackerel we get fresh here is Spanish mackerel. "Shime-saba" available in our Japanese grocery store is Norwegian mackerel imported and prepared ("vinegar-ed", packaged and frozen) in Japan and exported to US. So these are quite safe without any chance of Anisakis still surviving, albeit the quality of the fish may not be the best and tends to be "over cured". We (especially I) still like this. I realized that I posted variations on how to prepare shime-saba but never posted Shime-saba simply served with condiments and soy sauce. So, here it is. I served it with grated ginger, finely chopped scallion (which I  soaked in water and then strained and removed the excess moisture). I also made cucumber and wakame seaweed salad with sumiso dressing 胡瓜とわかめの酢味噌和え and salt broth marinated sugar snaps スナップ豌豆の塩びたし.

To prepare a frozen package of shime-saba as sashimi, first thaw it in the refrigerator in the package (I usually leave it overnight), remove it from the package, rinse and blot it with a paper towel and cover it with a sake-soaked paper towel for 5-10 minutes (I do this in the hope of reducing any excess fishiness that may be present). This fish does not have any scales but has a thin semi-tranparent skin which needs to be peeled off starting from the head side's edge. Although not really needed but I added several parallel shallow cuts along the length of the filet and then cut crosswise as seen below.

Soy sauce, grated ginger and scallion all work well with this fish and of course, the only drink that goes with this fish is sake. This was the very first dish of the evening and we enjoyed it.

Smoked salmon, potato, cheese loaf and cheese bites スモークサーモン、ポテト、チーズローフ

We had some leftover cooked spinach, mashed potatoes and a small amount of smoked salmon so my wife came up with this. It is a combination of several recipes; "egg and smoked salmon in puff pastry", "spinach cheese loaf"and mashed potatoes with cream cheese and chives. The egg and smoked salmon recipe inspired the use of smoked salmon. The spinach cheese loaf was the basis for the center cheese and spinach layer. The mashed potato layer was a variation of gnocchi.

The layers are shown here from the bottom, the smoked salmon, cheeses mixture and mashed potato encased in puff pastry..

Since the cheese filling was too much for the loaf, my wife put the excess into small muffin tins with a small piece of smoked salmon on the  bottom to make little cheese bites (shown below).  They came out very nicely.

Without pastry shell and potato, these by themselves were quite a good small bite.

Ingredients:
1 frozen puff pastry sheet, thawed
1 cup mashed potato with cream cheese with chives
Smoked salmon, enough to cover 1/2 of the puff pastry (or whatever amount available)
6 oz. double Gloucester cheese grated (original recipe calls for Mozzarella, we did not have it).
block of feta cheese, crumbled (or to taste).
10 oz. ricotta cheese
One bag spinach (or whatever available) cooked without adding any liquid, excess moisture squeezed and finely chopped.
red pepper flakes (optional)
3 eggs (2 for cheese layer 1 for potato layer)

Directions:
On a piece of parchment paper roll out the puff pastry. Combine the cheeses and the spinach (#1). Stir in the 2 eggs (#2). Put the mashed potatoes in a bowl. Stir in the egg. Add enough flour so the spinach has the consistency of gnocchi i.e. has a firm consistency and is not runny.

Assembly: Lay the smoked salmon on 1/2 of the puff pastry. Spread the cheese and spinach layer on top (#4). Spread the potato layer on top of the cheese (#5). Fold the other half of puff pastry over the half with the cheese mixture. Seal the edges with some water and press with a fork. Dock the pastry with the tines of the fork (#6). Transfer the puff pastry on the parchment paper to a baking sheet. Bake in a 425 degree oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown.

Directions for the cheese bites
Since there was too much cheese stuffing to go into the puff pastry my wife used it to make little cheese bites. She greased a tin for mini muffins. Put a small piece of salmon in the bottom of the cup and scooped in enough filling to fill the tin. She baked these with the puff pastry loaf at 425 for about 18 minutes. When they came out of the oven the cheese stuck to the side of the tin. She used a spatula to loosen the edges while the cheese was still hot. Luckily because of the salmon on the bottom the little bites just fell out when the tin was inverted and tapped gently on the counter top.

This was a very good variation on the "cheese-in-puff-pastry" theme. The salmon gave a salty smokiness. The ricotta spinach feta combo is always winning. The layer of gnocchi like potato on the top was a lovely surprise. The cream cheese chive flavor really came through and smooth texture of the potatoes was a nice contrast to the somewhat firmer texture of the cheese layer. The little cheese bites were also very good. Again the salmon added it characteristic salty smokiness, the cheese layer was very good but it was different from the cheese layer in the puff pastry loaf made with the same ingredients. The outside of the cheese had gotten toasted in the mini muffin tins so it was somewhat crunchy and the flavor of the toasted portion was somewhat deeper than the un-toasted portion. It made a very satisfying single mouthful. These would definitely be worth making in their own right.