Nori and butter fried noodles 海苔とバターの焼うどん

This was sort of our (mostly my wife's) invention. One evening, we needed something to finish the meal (shime〆). We found leftover precooked very thin udon noodles or "Ito udon" 播州糸うどん, which we happened to have since we had "cold pasta with fresh tomato sauce" earlier. My wife suggested that we simply fry it in butter and soy sauce (reminiscent of how she adds butter and soy sauce to her rice). The reasoning being 'if butter and soy sauce taste good on rice why not noodles?' I also added strips of seasoned nori. I added the nori as the noodles were cooking not as garnish.

The garnish I used was finely chopped chives.

The udon is extra thin and the nori is well incorporated into the noodles.

This is not a recipe. Just add a thin pat of unsalted butter to a non-stick frying pan on medium flame, add cooked udon noodle, fry for a few minutes, add strips or hand-crushed seasoned nori or "ajituske nori" 味つけのり and keep frying. then add a small amount of soy sauce to finish. The amount of the ingredients and seasoning is totally arbitrary.

This is a simple and very satisfying dish. Perfect for the shime at the end of the meal. This has become our "go-to" dish whenever we have left over udon. As a variation, I also used "nori tuskudani" 海苔佃 which was ok but did not particularly add much.

"Nori" tsukuda-ni and natto 海苔の佃煮納豆

I saw this recipe in one of the food blogs I follow. It involves natto and "nori tsukuda-ni" 納豆と海苔の佃煮.   I am all for new recipes involving natto. So, I had to try this.

"Nori" 海苔 is several types of edible seaweed which are mostly aqua-cultured. If one hears "nori", most people think of a black sheet of paper-like dry product, which is an essential ingredient in making sushi especially rolled sushi. But fresh or salt-preserved "nori" is available in Japan and my favorite was its use in "fresh nori miso soup" なま海苔の味噌汁. Another popular "nori" product is "nori tsukuda-ni" 海苔の佃煮. When I was growing up (or even now), one particular "nori tuskudani" brand by "Momo-ya" 桃屋 called "Edo-murasaki" 江戸むらさき (meaning "Edo purple*") was most popular.  It was/is sold as a condiment for rice or "go-han" ごはん. As a kid, I did not like it since it tasted almost "chemical" to me. I've known for some time that I could get "nori tsukudani" at our Japanese grocery store but I did not even consider it until I read this recipe. I just had to try it. So, I got a jar, mixed it with natto and topped cold silken tofu with the mixture. For  "just-to-make-sure", I added a healthy dollop of the nori tsukudani on top as a garnish (shown as dark jelly like substance in the picture below).

*"Edo purple or Edo-murisake": Is the brand name for  "nori tsukuda-ni". It's made by cooking and reducing seaweed in mirin and soy sauce among other ingredients. Japanese refer to the color of soy sauce as "purple" which is also considered an auspicious or regal color. In certain situations, "murasaki" could mean "soy sauce". The method to make "tsukuda-ni" is said to have originated in "Tsukuda island" 佃島 which is located in Chuo ward 中央区 of current day Tokyo or Edo (the old name of Tokyo). In addition, Tokyo bay was (or may be "is") famous for cultivating "nori".  So, it is apt to name "nori tsukudani" as "Edo purple".

The below is a picture of the jar of  "nori tuskudani" I got. In addition to the brand name "Edo-murasaki", the package has an additional name; "Gohan-desuyo!" ごはんですよ！.  According to Japanese Wikipedia and the company website, this version was added to their usual product line-up  in 1972 (or 1973) . "Gohan-desuyo!" was added to the name to represent a variation from the original product (which they still produce) resulting in something that was not cooked as long and was more moist. This phrase could be translated as "Dinner is served! or YO! Chow-time!". "Gohan" literally means cooked rice but "cooked rice" is also equivalent  to "dinner" for Japanese. The label also states made with 100% domestic "nori" (in this case domestic must mean Japanese).

This appears to be an improved version from the one of my childhood. I tasted a bit before mixing it into the natto. It tasted better than I remembered. I am not sure if this is purely due to a change in my perception i.e. adult taste buds, or the changed and improved recipe mentioned in Wikipedia. I mixed it into the natto using my handy-dandy natto stirrer (shown here as white sticks). I also added finely chopped scallion. I did not add any soy sauce since "nori tsukudani" is salty.

This was pretty good but I am not sure this is particularly outstanding from the regular way of preparing natto. Or as my wife said, "It's edible but I wouldn't walk down the block to get seconds". Nonetheless this re-introduced me to "nori tuskudani". I may try it on freshly cooked white rice next time.

Otoshi 5 kinds お通し５種類

I served this 5 kind of otoshi お通し appetizer on our relatively new five compartment plates. This was the evening I also served perilla-wrapped marinated tuna tempura 漬けマグロの青紫蘇包み天ぷら but I diverted a few of the tuna skewers to be served as is (see below) which was pretty good. This multiple otoshi to start was inspired by izakaya in Japan, "Suiko"酔香 and "Shuhai" 酒杯, where they regularly serve otoshi consisting of 6 dishes. Having store-bought items makes putting together 5 otoshi easy. Actually I had more than five I could have served as starters but this plate only had 5 positions.

The left two are composed of spicy clam salad and seaweed salad. Both were store-bought and fairly good. If you avoid eating the conspicuous red peppers  (seen at the upper left edge of the dish) the "spicy"clam salad is not too spicy. The seaweed salad appears artificially dyed but has a nice crunch.

The center two otoshi are sea food; boiled octopus leg 茹で蛸足 dressed in sumiso sauce 酢味噌 (I made the sumiso to my wife's spec "not too vinegary". I used dashi to get the consistency of the sauce). The dish on the right is perilla-wrapped "zuke" marinated tuna which I "stole" from the skewers destined to be made into tempura.

Although the tuna was marinated, I put on a few drops of wasabi soy sauce. I am now making different sauces ahead of time and storing them in the refrigerator in small squeeze bottles; (sauces like sumiso, wasabi soy sauce, mustard soy sauce, and sesame dressing.) This makes assembling multiple dishes more efficient. The last dish is eggplant and broccoli seasoned with black bean garlic and toubanjan (or Duabanjiang) sauce. I made this dish a few days ago to use up Italian eggplant leftover from making ratatouille. I made it sort of Chinese stir-fri-ish but I cannot even remember how I made it (I also used Japanese miso, come to think of it). It is not spicy and I added blanched sugar snaps for a color. Although I cannot reproduce it, my wife liked it.

So, this was a great start. I served few more small dishes and planed to finish with perilla-wrapped zuke tuna tempura.

Tuna and natto with wakame sea weed 若芽鮪納豆

In my quest to make frozen yellowfin tuna more palatable, some time ago I made this combination of natto and tuna . The picture below shows the second dish I made with a combination of natto and tuna. This time I added salt preserved wakame seaweed 塩蔵わかめ.

The only drink that could possibly go with this type of dish is cold sake.

I made sure the natto was mixed very well with my natto-stirring contraption to reduce the smell so my wife literally wouldn't "turn her nose up" at it. I used the mustard and sauce packets that came with the natto and also added finely chopped scallion. I washed the salt preserved wakame and hydrateded it for 5 minutes. After squeezing out the excess moisture I dressed it with soy sauce and sesame oil.

As before, the sliced of tuna was marinated in concentrated "mentsuyu" Japanese noodle sauce 麺つゆ for several hours before the excess marinade was blotted off with a paper towel and the tuna was cut into small cubes.

This combination makes the tuna much better and even my wife is fond of this dish,

Hanpen stuffed with cheese はんぺんのチーズ焼き

This is a slight variation on what I posted before. "Hanpen" fish cake stuffed with cheese cooked with olive oil and seasoned. I served this with chicken liver simmered in red wine as a starter one evening.

When I made oden おでん a few days ago, I used kelp to make broth. I recycled the used kelp into "tsukudani" 昆布の佃煮 and used it as a topping.

The cheese melted nicely and this was also seasoned with concentrated noodle sauce and grated ginger.

This is the second time I made this chicken liver dish. Although the liver was a bit mangled up into pieces rather than whole lobes and it may not have looked as nice as the last batch I made, it still tasted really good. The red wine I used this time was California cab (I think it was Louis M Martini Cab from Napa  2014). It is not as tannic as what I used last time and the overall dish came out better than the first batch.

I just thawed the "hanpen" fish cake. Cut it into 4 pieces and made a pocket using a small knife and stuffed the pocket with cheese (I think I used double Gloucester). I fried both sides in a small amount of olive oil until golden and the cheese melted. I added a small amount of concentrated noodle sauce (or soy sauce). I added a dab of grated ginger and the kelp tsukudani. This combination is always good. The kelp's slight saltiness went well.

Tofu pouch with cheese and nori のりチーズびりから焼き油揚げ

This is a variation on the theme of grilled abura-age or deep fried tofu pouch. I made this dish since I had rather "getting-old" frozen abura-age in the freezer. 

Instead of grilling it in the toaster oven, I fried it in a frying pan. For a change, I sandwiched seasoned nori seaweed and smoked gouda cheese.

Here you can see the first cheese layers covered half way by a seasoned nori seaweed.

I also spread a small amount of Sriracha hot sauce to add some kick. I simply fried both sides in a frying pan with a very small amount of vegetable oil until both side were crispy.

We ate this with a little bit of soy sauce. Sriracha really gave nice zing to this dish.

Kelp-cured salmon molded sushi 鮭の昆布締め押し寿司

The day we received sashimi-grade salmon, I made instant gravlax for lunch. While I was preparing the gravlax, I also prepared "kelp cured salmon" 鮭の昆布締め. Usually, white meat fish is used for this preparation but I wanted to experiment. After almost 3 days curing, I made molded sushi or "Oshizushi" 押し寿司 out of it. I served it with French style green beans dressed with sesame dressing インゲンの胡麻和え and simmered burdock root ごぼうのしぐれ煮. I also served my potato salad topped with salmon roe soaked in sake and soy sauce イクラの醤油漬け.  I served miso soup with tofu, and onion on the side.

Actually one mold made 7 pieces. Since it was an uneven number,  but wife and I split one before plating. I garnished it with fresh dill. You cannot see it well but I made two layers of sushi rice; one seasoned with dried "aonori" seaweed 青のり and the other with red perilla salt or  "Yokari" ゆかり(see #6 in the composite picture below).

Kelp cured salmon

Ingredients:

Sashimi-grade salmon, thinly sliced (#1).

Dried Konbu kelp, briefly hydrated until pliable,  moisture blotted (three 4 inch pieces of kelp).

Directions:

I placed the slices of salmon on the kelp (#2) and covered them with another piece of kelp. I added one more layer of salmon slices and topped with more kelp.

I wrapped the kelp and salmon in aluminum foil and placed the package in the refrigerator.

I cured it for 3 days.

Kelp cured salmon molded sushi

Ingredients:

Kelp cured salmon slices

Sushi rice

Dried "aonori" powder

Yukari (powder of dried red perilla leaves mixed with salt)

Directions:

I soaked the wooden mold in water for 10-15 minutes. I placed one layer of the kelp-cured salmon slices on the bottom of the mold (#3). 

I divided the sushi rice into two portions; I mixed one with dried "aonori" seaweed and the other with Yukari powder making green and red colored rice.

I first placed the aonori rice in the mold over the salmon piece and pressed using the wooden lid of the mold. I then layered the Yukari rice on the top (#4) and pressed using the wooden lid.

I cut the molded portion into 7 pieces (#5).

As you can see the rice layers are green and red (#6)

Since I had potato salad which I made a few days ago and "ikura" salmon roe which I marinated in a mixture of sake and soy sauce, I made the dish below (I put the potato salad in a round mold and topped it with the salmon roe)

With the combination of side vegetables, potato salad and miso soup, we were quite full. Compared to kelp-cured white fish, the salmon has too strong a flavor and is too oily to have a lot of kelp umani flavor transferred to the fish. But still we could taste the subtle difference between straight raw salmon and this preparation of salmon.  The combination of aonori and yukari rice was a great success and the saltiness of yukari rice and nori flavor really added to this dish.

Shrimp and cucumber salad with "Kimisu" egg yolk vinegar sauce 黄身酢の和え物

When I made shrimp balls (which required egg whites), I was left with two egg yolks. I was pondering how to use them. The yolks were from regular not from pasteurized eggs, so making mayonnaise was not feasible. Hollandaise sauce was another possibility but I settled for Japanese "Kimisu" 黄身酢 sauce. I have posted "kimisu" previously. That one came out a bit thinner than I wanted. This time, my kimisu sauce came out very thick and creamy. I made a small starter salad with shrimp, cucumber, wakame sea weed 若芽 and Campari tomato.

Since I had, tobiko roe とびこ I used it as a garnish on the top.

As you can see the kimisu sauce did not just run down the sides and had almost a soft mayo texture.

I used salt-preserved (not dried) wakame which tasted better.

Chef Kitayama of Sushi Taro told me that he froze the eggs he used for his sauce and then removed the egg yolks for kimisu to make a thick creamy texture. It was too late for that and, rather than winging it, I looked up recipes to accomplish thick and creamy kimisu sauce.  Among the many variations of recipes I settled on this recipe by a professional Japanese cooking teacher. He suggested to use a whisk and double boiler and whisk in air to make it creamy. In addition, the seasoning was slightly different from what I was doing. The original recipe used 3 egg yolks but I had only two. I had to make proportional changes in other ingredients to accomodate. I also reduced the sugar (my instinct told me otherwise it would be too sweet).

Ingredients (enough to dress 6 of these small salads):

Egg yolks, two

Rice vinegar 2/3 tbs

Mirin 2/3 tbs

Sugar 1 tsp

Light colored soy sauce  2/3 tbs

Dashi broth 1 1/3 tbs

Salt to taste

Directions:

In the upper pan of a double boiler, I combined all the ingredients. When the water in the lower pan started boiling, I turned it down to simmer and put the upper pan over the boiling water and started whisking vigorously.  I occasionally removed the upper-pan to prevent the sauce from becoming scrambled eggs. After it started thickening, I kept it on the heat and kept whisking for two more minutes. I cut off the heat and kept whisking for another minute or two and let it cool down. After it cooled, I put the sauce in a small seal-able container and kept it in the refrigerator until I was ready to use it  (According to this recipe, it will keep 2-3 days refrigerated).

Shrimp: I thawed frozen shrimp, then cooked it by gently boiling it in salted water with a dash of sake for 2-3 minutes. I sliced the shrimp in two lengthwise and cut the resulting strips in half.

Cucumber: I used one American mini-cumber washed and salted, rolled on the cutting board and let stand for 10 minutes, then washed and dried using a paper towel and sliced thinly. I salted it and kneaded it and let it stand for another 10 minutes. I squeezed out the excess moisture and dressed the cucumber in sushi vinegar. I squeezed out the excess dressing before assembly.

Wakame seaweed: I used the "raw" salt preserved kind. I washed off the salt and soaked in filtered water for a few minutes. I squeezed out the excess moisture and dressed it in sushi vinegar.  Excess dressing squeezed out before assembly.

This was certainly a nice thick and creamy kimisu sauce. When I took it out of the refrigerator, the sauce was stiffer than I wanted it too be, so I added a small amount of broth and mixed it in to loosen it. In retrospect, I should have added more vinegar to loosen the sauce. I could have used a more assertive vinegar flavor in this sauce. In any case, using a whisk and introducing air made this kimuzu sauce very thick and creamy. The entire small salad tasted great.

Miso soup panna cotta 味噌汁のパンナコッタ

My wife came up with the idea of making miso soup in a solid form. (This was a natural progression from the various other panna cottas she has made recently. Also this is what happens when she is turned loose with gelatin; she was well-known in the past for her various "gelatin" concoctions). The idea appealed to me because I like to have miso soup with any meal (even breakfast). My wife on the other hand does not like having soup in the evening. So, if we could come up with a dish which had the taste of miso soup but was not liquid it would be a win-win for both my wife and myself.  This recipe was my first attempt. I intended to recreate miso soup with potato, onion, and wakame seaweed ワカメ、ジャガイモと玉ねぎの味噌汁. The reason I choose this particular combination of ingredients is a long story.*

*Digression alert: When my late-brother and I were small (probably I was a just in 1st grade), my late-father was home but my mother was out (probably attending a PTA meeting or something). My father almost never cooked but when 4 pm came around, he suggested "we must be hungry" and decided to cook something for us (in retrospect, I suspect he was the one who was hungry and could not wait my mother to come home). In any case, he made rice (using an electric rice cooker) and miso soup made of potato, onion, and wakame seaweed. When my mother arrived back home with some ready-made side dishes for supper, she was mighty miffed to find us finishing up a supper of rice and soup. But somehow, the taste of this miso soup remains a favorite for me.

The picture below shows the miso soup panna cotta, which included potato and onion, served with cucumber, wakame seaweed, and red radish as garnish. To make it interesting I included unflavored soy milk and silken tofu (the white squares).

I decided to add "sumiso" 酢味噌 (miso, rice vinegar and sugar) sauce as well.

I also put sumiso sauce on the top of the panna cotta.

The panna cotta had a smooth texture and a gentle miso flavor. We could taste the sweetness of the onion but the addition of soy milk may have made it taste a bit vague or muted. The sumiso sauce also overwhelmed the dish. So, next day, I served the panna cotta simply with wakame seaweed and thinly sliced scallion.

This tasted better and closer to the original miso soup taste but there is room for improvement.

Ingredients (about 2 servings):

1 cup Dried fish and kelp broth (from bashi pack).

1 cup unflavored soy milk

1 large white potato, peeled and cut into a dice.

1 large onion, cut into thin strips

1/4 cup wakame seaweed (I used "raw" salt preserved one).

2 tbs Miso

2 envelopes of unflavored powdered gelatin

1/3 silken tofu

Directions:

1. I cooked the potato in the broth until soft (15 minutes) and added onion and cooked another 5 minutes (left in the picture below). 

2. I dissolved the miso. I added more as I tasted. I needed to season it rather strongly since it would be diluted by the addition of soy milk.

3. I added the miso soup into a blender and pureed it smooth.

4. Meanwhile, I put soy milk in a pan, sprinkled unflavored powdered gelatin (two envelopes) on the surface to bloom. I gently heated up and dissolved the gelatin using a wire whisk (right in the picture below). I combined the miso soup and soy milk  with the dissolved gelatin.

5. I placed small cubes of tofu in the bottom of a small ramekin and poured the mixture on top.

6. I refrigerated until set.

7. Like the other  panna cotta dishes we made,  it will come out without any problem by running the thin blade of a knife around the perimeter and introducing air to the bottom of the ramekin. 

The two serving variations above were certainly "edible" but we were not satisfied. My wife suggested leaving out the soy milk. She also suggested serving the potato around the panna cotta rather than pureed in it. I will certainly incorporate her suggestions.  I am now on a mission to make the perfect miso soup panna cotta. 

Octopus 2 ways たこのお通し２種類

Again these two appetizers using boiled octopus leg are not new. But these were what we had one evening.

The first one is sort of octopus carpaccio (Carpaccio de pulpo). I posted a similar item in the past. I first made zigzag lines of good fruity olive oil on the plate and then criss-crossed with lines of syrupy aged balsamic vinegar. I scattered Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Since I had a leftover fennel bulb which was used for making chicken paillard, I first thinly sliced fennel using a Japanese mandolin Benriner and placed them as a base. I thinly sliced  boiled octopus leg and placed in one layer on the  top. I added a few slices of fennel, thin slices of cucumber and scattered oil cured back olives (after removing the stone). I finished with lines of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, Kosher salt and black pepper. Fennel added anis-like  flavor and oil cured olive gave a burst of saltiness. This combination was quite good.



Using the tips of the octopus leg, I also made a small Japanese style salad with karashi-su-miso 芥子酢味噌 dressing. I just cut the tips into small bite size chunks. I sliced cucumber, salted it and squeezed out the moisture. I then took salt preserved (not dry) Wakame sea weed, washed it to remove the salt and soaked in water for a few minutes then cut into small pieces. The dressing is a mixture of white (sweet "Saikyo" 西京味噌) miso, rice vinegar, Japanese mustard and sugar.



Because of the acidity in the dishes, sake was the best choice although the first Carpaccio dish could go with wine. These were good starters with cold sake.

Three appetizers お通し三種

This is another one of my otoshi お通しappetizer threesome. We got small covered containers and divided wooden trays  at a small shop in the Nishiki Market 錦市場 in Kyoto 京都 some years ago. Square and pentagonal bowls were from Gumps in San Francisco. This was one of the warmer days so far this year and for the first time, we were having this outside.



When you open the lids, it is ”fermented squid and guts” or shiokara 塩辛 . When written out in English it sounds very un-appetizing but it is one of the delicacies perfect for sipping sake and my wife's favorite. This one came frozen in a small pouch and. It is not as salty as ones we had before and was quite good.

The left is wakame seaweed 若芽 and cucumber salad (dressed with sushi vinegar, sesame oil and light colored soy sauce), the right is onsen egg 温泉卵 (cooked in my Sous Vide machine), dressed with ponzu sauce and garnished with finely chopped scallion and salmon roe or ikura いくら.



These are the ultimate for sipping sake. We gazed at our plum blossoms, tasting a little of these appetizers and sipping more sake.

Edible chrysanthemum roll 春菊ロールと煮浸し

The other day, I saw fresh edible chrysanthemum or "shungiku" 春菊 at the Japanese grocery store. Since this is my wife's favorite Japanese vegetable and only sporadically appears in the grocery store, I got it. Although the most classic way to enjoy shungiku is in sukiyaki すき焼き, we were not having sukiyaki this time. So, I made a small appetizer with shungiku and served it with a skewer of chicken tenderloin in yakitori style with pickled plum 梅肉 and perilla 大葉 as a starter one evening.



I decided to make it a bit interesting and made a roll wrapped with thin omelet and a nori sheet.



In addition, I made the thick stem part into "Oshitashi" おひたし or "Nibitashi" 煮浸し garnished with bonito flakes.



I should have taken the pictures while I was making the roll but I did not.

Preparation of shungiku:
I washed and removed any wilted leaves and cut off the very end of the stems. I removed the leaves with thin stalks and separated the thick stems.

Cooking:
In a large pot, I cooked the thick stems first in salted boiling water for several minutes until cooked but still crunchy in the center. I scooped them up with a large slotted spoon and let them cool on the plate until I could handle them. I cut them into 2 inch logs.

I cooked the remaining shungiku for less than 1 minute, drained, and let cool on a paper towel lined plate.

Seasoning:
Thick stems (3rd picture):
I immediately soaked them in warm seasoned broth (dashi broth, soy sauce and mirin). Once it came to room temperature, I placed it in the refrigerator. I served it garnished with dried bonito flakes.

Leaves (1st and 2nd pictures):
After I squeezed out the excess moisture, I dressed them in karashi shouyu からし醤油 (Japanese hot mustard, sugar and soy sauce). It could be served as is (after cut into a reasonable size) but I made a roll with thin omelet and then dried nori sheet using a bamboo mat. I let it sit wrapped in plastic wrap for few minutes or until the nori sheet adhered to itself. I cut it in 1 inch cylinders.

Shungiku has a very unique nice flavors. Using two different ways of preparing, both were quite good as small starter dish for sake.

Kelp caviar 昆布キャビア

Many years ago, we came across a "vegetarian" caviar. This was produced by a now-defunct company in the Los Angeles area and, If I remember correctly, was invented by a cardiologist. I am not sure what it was made of (probably seaweed like the current version we are showing here). We were rather impressed with the similarity in appearance and texture to real caviar. When we ordered caviar last time (from finecaviar.com), I noticed they also had "Kelp" caviar and ordered some along with other items. We served the kelp caviar on homemade blini, with homemade creme fraiche garnished with the green part of scallion (we did not have any chives).



This kelp caviar came in a 3.5 oz glass jar. This is said to emulate the appearance and taste of sturgeon caviar.



When I opened it, I noticed it had more liquid than real caviar or the previous vegetarian caviar we had.



I drained the kelp caviar in a fine meshed strainer as seen below. After which it looked more like sturgeon caviar. By itself, it tasted like kelp (of course this is made of kelp) and lacked the good "pop" mouth feel of real caviar.



However, when this was placed on top of the blini with creme fraiche (see the first picture), the kelp caviar tasted more like real caviar. This was certainly not bad for fake caviar and will be very handy if you have vegetarian guests. Apparently other vegetarian caviar products are also available. Although we must say we prefer real fish eggs and caviar, these vegetarian caviars are cheaper, available year round, keep longer, and taste better than you think. I got the idea for a future dish; serving salted kelp 塩昆布 on blini and creme fraiche which may taste similar to caviar although the texture maybe off.

Onsen egg with “Mozuku” in sweet vinegar 温泉卵とモズクの甘酢

This is a variation on the theme of “Onsen” egg 温泉卵. I put this dish together in a hurry on a weekday evening after work. I thawed a package of frozen “mozuku” もずく in sweet vinegar on the previous weekend but we did not eat it (we had other items and could not get to it). Since I also had a pair of "Onsen" eggs that  I had made using my Sous Vide machine, I decided to combine them into a starter dish.



I divided the mozuku into two bowls, cracked open and dropped an onsen egg into each bowl, garnished it with thinly sliced scallion, "real" wasabi and a drizzle of  "noodle" sauce or mentsuyu 麺つゆ from the bottle. That's it.



The egg yolk was nicely creamy and this combination worked very well. For this dish, we had to have cold sake.

Cherry blossom gazing part 2 続花見

We continued with our hanami. We have mentioned before that, for some reason, the birds (and now other creatures) eat the cherry blossoms from the trees in our backyard. These are ornamental rather than fruit producing cherry trees so we’re not clear why they do this. In addition, we have not heard of similar behavior toward the trees on the Tidal Basin or anywhere else for that matter. It started some time ago with the house finches. Then apparently the cardinals learned from the finches and we have a few pictures here as “proof”. Sometimes it feels like a race to finish our hanami before the birds finish the blossoms we are celebrating. Often the petals are raining down around us at a furious pace as we raise our sake glasses in libation (Occasionally having to pause and fish out petals that plop into the up-raised glasses.)

 

As you can see this one got caught “red beaked” as it were. Come to think of it their beaks are always red.



They only eat the bottom of the flowers which must contain a sweet nectar or something.



Amazingly, some of our squirrels appear to have learned from the birds. This is the first year we caught one eating the flower. As a result, even before full bloom, cherry petals were dropping.



In any case, we continued with our feast despite this distraction. This one is "Nanohana" (broccolini) and shrimp dressed in “kimisu” 菜の花と海老の黄身酢和え. “Kimisu” is a sort of Japanese hollandaise sauce without butter. I also added cucumber cup with tobiko roe on the side.

I got this idea when Chef Kitayama of Sushi taro served a dish with “kimisu” the last time we dined there. His was very rich and thick. He said he attained that texture by freezing the eggs in the shell. This makes it easier to completely remove the egg white (after thawing I assume) and also removes extra moisture from the yolk. I, of course, did not take this extra-step. Here is my recipe (the standard recipe but I did not measure the ingredients, the below is my estimate).

“Kimisu” 黄身酢:
One egg yolk (I used pasteurized shell egg)
Sugar (1 tsp)
Salt (small pinch)
Sake and mirin (1  tsp each)
Rice vinegar (1 tsp)

I mixed everything in a small sauce pan, on the lowest flame. Using a silicon spatula, I continuously mixed until the sauce thickened. I moved the pan on and off the fire to prevent scrambling the eggs. Since I did not remove the chalaza completely from the yolk, it became white hard specks in the sauce. I used a fine mesh strainer to remove it. I placed it in a small sealable container and refrigerated until use.

“Nanohana” 菜の花: I have posted information about flowering rapeseed plants and possible substitutes in the U.S. The substitute is between broccolini and broccoli rabe.  I used broccolini for this dish. I just blanched it in salted boiling water for a few minutes and shocked it in ice cold water and drained.

Shrimp: These were shell-on frozen shrimp. I thawed them under running water. I rather severely salted it and let it stand for a while.  I then cooked them in gently simmering salted water splashed with sake for few minutes, let them cool in the shell and then peeled the shell.

Although the sauce was not as rich or thick as Chef Kitayama's it was rather luxurious with some tang and sweetness gently wrapped in. A perfect, subtle spring dish.



The 3rd dish was usual “dashi maki” 出し巻き Japanese omelet. I served it with grated daikon and soy sauce on the side.



We switched the sake glasses . These came from Kitaichi glass 北一グラス in Otaru 小樽. Left is with sake in it, the right is without sake. Once the glass is filled with liquid, the cherry blossom pattern around the base appear to float up but it is not easy to capture this in a photograph. In any case, these were more appropriate glasses for the occasion.



The 4th dish was Wakatake-ni 若竹煮. Although it is the season for bamboo shoots and fresh wakame seaweed in Japan, we could not get these seasonal items around here. I used packaged boiled bamboo shoot (I am sure from the last year crop) and salt preserved wakame sea weed (which was kept frozen in the freezer).



The 5th dish was  our usual yamakake 山掛け (cubes of marinated tuna and graded nagaimo). Since we did not have perilla leaves, I used fresh basil leaves we had growing on the window sill.  (I gave my wife the choice of fresh mint or basil leaves. She suggested basil). Unexpectedly, this combination was really good. I think we’ll use it again.

Although these were small dishes, we are getting quite filled up at this point. Since the day was so warm, we turned on the flood lights and went into night time cherry blossom gazing or “yozakura kenbutsu” 夜桜見物.