Tako rice and Matsutake soup for lunch タコ飯と松茸のお吸い物昼食

 This was a lunch we had one day. We had leftover frozen octopus rice or “Tako meshi” たこめし made from a kit we got from the  Rice factory. Although the original was not bad, the amount of octopus was rather small. Since I made tender simmered octopus タコの柔らか煮 a few days ago, I added slices of octopus legs to the previously made rice. Also we had matsutake mushroom 松茸 from Maine and made clear matsutake soup 松茸のお吸い物. I added a dish of salted vegetable or “asazule” 浅漬け and simmered root vegetables and chicken similar to “Chikuzen-ni” 筑前煮.

I  just microwaved the rice to thaw it then added slices of tender simmered octopus with a small amount of the simmering liquid and further heated it. I also garnished it with fresh “myouga” 茗荷 from our garden. The addition of the simmered octopus made the Tako rice much better than the original.

I made this clear soup from broth made from a dashi pack (kelp and shiitake), with mirin みりん and light colored soy sauce 薄口醤油. I also added shrimp (sunk in the bottom), scallion and flower-shaped “fu” 花麩 gluten cake. I also added frozen zest of yuzu 柚子 citrus. This is a lidded soup bowl and when the lid was opened the subtle but distinctive aroma of matustake and yuzu wafted out. (The aroma of matustake is one of the joys of the matusake season).  I think Maine matsutake appears to have a better aroma than the ones we used to get from Oregon.

The below are basic simmered root vegetables including daikon 大根, carrot 人参, bamboo shoot 筍, shiitake mushroom (I used dried) 椎茸, lotus root 蓮根, kon-nyaku 蒟蒻 and sugar snap スナップ豌豆 (for garnish). This time I also included chicken thigh.

This is my usual “asazuke” 浅漬け. I just made myouga in sweet vinegar 茗荷の甘酢漬け. I thinly sliced and served next to the vegetables.

For a lunch, this was quite good.