Hiyaoroshi Sake “Shichi Hon Yari” 七本槍 純米ひやおろし

“Shichi Hon Yari” 七本槍純米ひやおろし is the second hiyaoroshi we tasted. This one is from Shiga prefecture 滋賀県 (near Kyoto on the shore of lake Biwa 琵琶湖, the largest lake in Japan). This is “junmai 純米” made from “Yamadanishiki 山田錦” sake rice. We tasted it cold. To us, this sake tasted dry, clean and fruity and the taste profile close to ginjo. We didn’t think it had a pronounced “rich” umami flavor. We felt that the previous hiyaoroshi we tasted (Shonai Bojin 庄内美人) had a richer and umami-laden taste profile. Interestingly both sakes are located in a similar place on the Tippsy sake’s profile charts. 

As before, I prepared “sake-no-sakana 酒の肴” or drinking snacks which go well with the sake. We defrosted “Ootoro 大トロ” fatty tuna (from Riviera Seafood Club). It was slightly sinewy and layers tended to separate but the sinew was not bothersome to us. The quality was quite good. I served in three ways; straight sashimi, salted and seared with one side torched or “aburi 炙り” and marinated or “Zuke 漬け”. All were pretty good but I liked “aburi” the best. Also we had scallop sashimi ホタテの刺身 also from  Riviera. We also had the last of “uni shuto ウニ酒盗” from Maruhide 丸秀 and “squid shiokara イカの塩辛” (my wife calls it “squid and guts”) we got from a Japanese grocery store frozen (from Hakodate Hokkaido 函館北海道).

 

All these sashimi and shuto and shiokara all went well with cold hiyaoroshi sake. This was a great way to celebrate the change of season to fall. 

Miso-marinated Firefly Squid ホタルイカの味噌焼き

Firefly squid or “hotaru-ika” ホタルイカ is one of our favorites. Spring (April-June) is the season for it and we realized we have some from last year vacuum packed and frozen (the squid we received was pre-boiled). Since the new season started for some time ago I decided it was time to eat the batch we had been storing. I quickly checked and defrosted the batch. Although enjoying with sumiso 酢味噌 is the classic way, to eat the squid we like it re-cooked. We had some sautéd in butter and soy sauce with asparagus and really enjoyed it. I am always on the look out for other ways to serve it and came up with this miso marinated grilled hotaru-ika (I “grilled” them using a dry frying pan). I served this with cucumber and wakame わかめ in sumiso dressing (picture #1).

The reheating process plumps up the squid (picture #2) and miso marinade added nice flavor and some saltiness. This was a very good starter indeed.

I got a hint from “saikyo-miso marinated grilled hotaru-ika recipe I saw on line. Since I did not have “saikyo-miso” 西京味噌, I made with white miso, mirin and sugar. Again, this is not a recipe but a note for myself.

Ingredients:
Firefly squid, eyes and beak removed, if previously frozen, thaw and remove the excess moisture using paper towel.

Marinade
2 tbs miso
1 tbs (or more ro make the miso soft enough) mirin
1tsp sugar

Directions:
Marinade the firefly squid for 1-2 hours
Remove the miso as much as possible using a spatula
“Grill” using dry non-stick (or parchment lined) frying pan on low flame until the squid plumps up and fragrant but burned.

Cooking makes the squid plump and the marinade adds nutty and salty and slightly sweet flavor. I added 
cucumber and wakame with sumiso  dressing which went well.

Firefly Squid Scallion Pancake ホタルイカ入りネギ焼き

Firefly squid season is upon us and we got some from Regalis. I am repeating myself  here but when we visited Kanazawa 金沢 in early summer many years ago, we were introduced  to firefly squid or “hotaru-ika” ホタルイカ. Our favorite way to enjoy firefly squid is “okizuke” 沖漬け but that is difficult to get here in the U.S. The ones from Regalis are boiled. We got two trays, froze one tray and enjoyed the rest. We had this with sumiso 酢味噌 dressing which is the most common and simplest way to enjoy this. The texture of the small squid and very rich flavor from the liver really makes this squid special. This evening I made two dishes; one was our favorite stir-fry of the firefly squid and asparagus shown on the right and another, (new one), was scallion pancake with nagaimo and firefly squid ホタルイカ入りネギ焼き shown on the left. This recipe came from E-recipe

Ingredients (make 4 pancakes)
12 firefly squids (3 per pancake) or more if you like
50 grams grated nagaimo (mine was near 80 grams)
9 tbs chopped scallion (I used 5 stalks)
1 egg (I used 2 eggs)
2 tbs AP flour
1 tsp granulated bonito dashi (I used “Hondashi”ほんだし)
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tbs vegetable oil

Directions:
Since I was using more grated nagaimo than the amount called for in the original recipe, I changed the amount of eggs as a binder. I did not add the firefly squid into the batter initially. I divided the batter into 4 portions and added 3 squid to each batch.

I heated up a non-stick frying pan on medium heat and added the oil. I poured in 4 potions as seen below.

After a few minutes or when the bottoms are set and brown, I flipped the pancakes and lowered the heat and continued cooking for another 2-3 minutes or until the center was done.

I served this pancake with firefly squid and asparagus stir-fly (the first picture). The pancake was very good but we did not see the point of adding the firefly squid. We did not think it did justice to the firefly delicacy since its flavor was somewhat lost in the pancake. We thought adding shrimp would have been more appropriate and that is what we may do next time. In any case, it is nice to enjoy the firefly squid which symbolze spring to early summer.

Take-out sashimi from Tako Grill タコグリルからのテイクアウト

We have been taking out omakase sushi and sashimi 刺身と寿司おまかせ from Tako Grill since March of 2020 after it closed for dining-in. I have posted a few of these take-out sashimi and sushi dishes. I usually re-plate them on two plates for one serving each. I usually use rectangular plates but this time, I used round plates we got recently which are currently our favorite.

Today’s sashimi was Oo-tro tuna 大トロ, hamachi はまち and botan-ebi ボタン海老 (could be Argentinian red shrimp). All were quite good. I also use all the trimmings such as the daikon or perilla from the take-out box.

I re-arranged the uni and squid sashimi  rolled in perilla leaves ウニとイカの刺身大葉巻き into a small dish with julienne of perilla 大葉 and nori 刻みのり, dressed with wasabi-jouuyu ワサビ醤油.

We also got 4 deep dried shrimp heads (extra benefit of Botan ebi sashimi) which were also great. We got nearly filled up with these assorted sashimi but we finished with the serving of sushi  (including one California roll with real lump crab) that was the last part of the take-out. We really enjoy this sashimi and sushi feast at home with cold sake. It is a great to kick back, relax and enjoy our meal with sake libation in the comfort of our home without having to worry about a drive back from the restaurant through traffic. 

Firefly squid sautéed in butter and soy sauce ホタルイカのバター醤油炒め

Firefly squid or “hotaru-ika” ホタルイカ is very seasonal and, in the past,  the only way we could enjoy it was to visit Japan especially Kanazawa 金沢 in the spring. On exceptional occasions far and few between we had firefly squid at Tako Grill. A few years ago, however, we learned that we could get boiled firefly squid from “Regalis food” in spring. This year, I ordered two trays  which was a bit too much for us to consume all at once so, I froze a few small batches in vacuum packs partially as an experiment to see if it would work. Turns out it worked. We defrosted a batch in August and prepared a few dishes. This one (below) was particularly  good. The firefly squid is sautéed  in butter with deveined and deseeded Jalapeño pepper, shallot, seasoned with soy sauce (Actually I used x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce). I topped it with bonito flakes. This was inspired by one of the Japanese recipes I saw on line but I improvised based on the ingredients we had or did not have on hand. 

Ingredients: (For 2 small servings)
Boiled firefly squid, about 30
1/2 Jalapeño pepper, deseeded and deveind and cut into thin juliennes
1/2 shallot, sliced into thin strips
1/2 tbs unsalted butter
2 tsp soy sauce (or x4 “Mentsuyu” 麺つゆ Japanese noodle sauce)
bonito flakes for topping

Directions:
Melt butter in a frying pan on medium flame
Add the jalapeño and shallot and sauté for a few minutes
Add the firefly squid and sauté a few more minutes
Add soy sauce (or x4 noodle sauce)
Serve immediately with a topping of the dried bonito flakes

The combination of butter and soy sauce flavor cannot go wrong. You can really taste the unctuous  flavor of the firefly squid. This is a good and simple firefly squid dish. Interestingly, the jalapeño added a mild but definitive slow heat towards the end.

Firefly squid grilled in miso-scallion sauce ホタルイカのネギみそ焼き

 One of the delicacies of Spring in Japan is firefly squid or “hotaru-ika” ホタルイカ.  Like last year, we got boiled firefly squid from Regalis Food. Since I started seeing “Hotaru-ika” in the Japanese food blogs I follow, I checked the Regalis site but they were not available yet so I asked to be notified when they came in. A few days later, I got an email saying firefly squid was available. I looked for something else to purchase from their site but nothing drew my attention so I decided to fill out the order with two packages of the squid. A major part of the preparation of this squid is removing the stone hard eyes and beak before serving/cooking. (It is more difficult to remove the beak than the eyes. Unfortunately I was not completely successful in beak-removal on some of the squid as my wife so kindly pointed out to me after crunching down on several of the ones I accidentally left behind). I served the firefly squid with “sumiso” 酢味噌 with “wakame” 若芽 seaweed twice which is the most common and basic way to enjoy this. For some reason, this year’s firefly squid tasted better than the ones we got last year. Since this is such a simple way of serving the squid the quality really makes a difference. I then proceeded with other preparations to serve.

One of those new preparations is shown below;  “firefly squid grilled in miso scallion sauce”. This is a perfect drinking snack and went so well with the cold sake we were having. 

The recipe came from e-recipe (in Japanese).

Ingredient: (for two small servings)
Firefly squid, about 20, both eyes and beak removed.

For sauce:
Scallion, finely chopped, about 2 tbs
Miso 1tbs
Japanese “dashi” broth 1tbs
Sugar 1-2 tsp
Soy sauce and white sesame (small amount, optional)

Directions:
Mix the all ingredients for the sauce (taste and adjust the amount of sugar and broth).
Place the firefly squid in a single layer in a oven-proof ramekin (picture below).

Cover the squid with the miso sauce (picture below).

Cook in the toaster oven until the surface becomes brown (6-7 minutes in toast mode). If needed, broil the surface for additional browning. Serve immediately.

Since grilled miso by itself is great with sake, this combination with firefly squid makes this dish perfect. 

Uni shutou with salmon roe 雲丹酒盗いくら入り

The last time we bought fresh uni from Maruhide 丸秀, we also got a few “uni shutou” 雲丹酒盗including one with salmon roe 雲丹酒盗いくら入り which was a new choice for us. So, one weekend evening, I served this with our usual squid shiokara イカの塩辛. I also served chawanmushi 茶碗蒸し and simmered Kabocha squash カボチャの煮物. These were nice starters.

Left in the picture below is uni shutou with ikura. Obviously, this is a great combination and we, especially my wife, loves uni-ikura donburi ウニいくら丼. Right is our usual squid shiokara. Both are perfect for sipping sake, although you do not need much, just a bit of taste to go with sake.

I served this chawanmushi cold. I often top this with ikura or uni or both but not this time. I made the dish with shrimp and chicken in addition to shiitake. I added scallion and sugar-snap towards the end of cooking.

The picture below shows simmered Japanese kabocha squash カボチャの煮物. It’s a classic.

This was great start of the evening and the combination of uni and ikura shutou is definitely a favorite.

Octopus and cucumber in sumiso dressing 蛸のぶつ切りと胡瓜の酢味噌あえ

This is nothing new; just a continuation of frozen and boiled Spanish octopus from Great Alaska Seafood. This is a good example of how an octopus leg cut can make a big difference in texture.  Boiled octopus can be sliced thinly with a wave cut or cut into chunks called "Butsu-giri" ぶつ切り. The cut that is used depends on the firmness of the cooked octopus meat. Firm texture octopus it is quite chewy. A thick slice would be too difficult to eat. The thin wave cut provides a manageably chewy piece and the wave pattern catches any sauce that is used. Alternatively if  the octopus meat is soft, the thinly slice wave cut doesn’t have any texture and basically dissolves when eaten so cutting it into chunks is the better choice. Since this octopus was a bit on the soft side, I opted for the chunky cut and made this classic "octopus and cucumber  sumiso-ae" 蛸のぶつ切りと胡瓜の酢味噌あえ. I served this with store bought squid shio-kara (right)

Since this octopus leg was more tender than ones from Japan, this "Butsu-giri" cut really worked. It is not too chewy but has nice texture.

Squid and daikon, simmered イカ大根

This is a sort of standard dish using squid. I made this dish using the half of the squid package from Vital Choice. I posted a similar dish before. In that post, I mentioned that to make squid tender, you have to cook it either very briefly or a very long time. This time I cooked the squid briefly. I made a slight modification and included a grilled fish cake tube or "Yaki chikuwa" 焼きちくわ. The daikon and even the fish cake absorbed flavor from the squid and this is great "teiban" 定番料理 for the squid. The below is a picture of the serving immediately after I made this dish. 

The daikon was hiding in the bottom.

Ingredients:
170 gram (6oz) frozen squid, thawed, washed, body cut into 1/2 inch thick rings, tentacles separated
3 inch long daikon, peeled, sliced in 1 inch thick pieces
4 thin slices of ginger, cut into small match sticks
1 frozen fish cake tube or "yaki-chikuwa" 焼きちくわ, thawed and cut into bite size
Green beans, cooked, cut in bias, arbitrary amount

For simmering liquid
1 cup (240-50ml) Japanese broth (I used a bonito and kelp dashi pack)
50-60ml "x4 concentrated" noodle sauce (from the bottle) or half and half soy sauce and mirin

For pre-cooking the daikon
Water enough to cover the daikon
One pinch of uncooked rice (or water in which uncooked rice was rinsed "kome-no togijiru" 米のとぎ汁).

Directions:
Simmer the daikon for 30 minutes or longer until cooked though and soft, rinse off the rice grain if needed (you could prepare the daikon ahead and keep this for a few days in the refrigerator before using).

Add the simmering liquid and the ginger in a pan on medium high flame and let it come to the boil, add the squid and cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute or until the squid just becomes homogeneously white/opaque. Take out the squid and set aside.
Add the daikon and the fish cake and turn down the flame and simmer for 15 minutes.
Taste the simmering liquid and if needed add more noodle sauce (or soy sauce/mirin).
Add back the squid and simmer to warm up (30 seconds to one minute).
Garnish with the green beans and serve warm (or cold).

The next day, I served this cold with the other squid dish I made. This dish is usually served warm but even cold, this was a great dish.

The below was two  (quite different) simmered squid dishes both served cold as a starter.

These were a good taste contrast; one is very fresh bright tasting and the other is a very traditional flavor In both dishes the squid was tender due to brief cooking. In the squid-daikon dish, both the daikon and fish cake absorbed the squid flavor. The addition the chikuwa made it taste like you were enjoying more squid than was actually in the dish. 

Squid and potato, lightly simmered イカとじゃがいもの軽い煮込み

I found two packages of frozen squid in our freezer.  I got them from “Vital Choice” when we got frozen Pacific oysters. I did not have a chance to use them until now. These were quite good, much better than previously-frozen-and-thawed cleaned squid we used to get from our regular grocery  store. After thawing, I washed them in cold running water. They were cleaned including bodies and tentacles. No fishy smell and the body tubes were nicely intact. I have made quite a few dishes using squid.  Since I am running out of new dishes, I have been on the look-out for any new recipes. I found this recipe in the digital edition of one of the Japanese newspaper sites. This was a bit unusual in that no traditional Japanese seasonings (soy sauce, ginger, etc) were used. The original recipe calls for “parsley” sauce (mixture of chopped parsley, olive oil and salt). Since I did not have fresh parsley, I had to improvise. Despite that, this dish was really good.  The evening I made this dish, we had it warm (picture below).

Next day, I served this cold. It tasted equally good cold. We may even prefer to serve this cold especially in summer.

Ingredients:
170g cleaned and frozen squid and tentacles, thawed* (I used half of a12oz package), washed and the body cut into tubes, and tentacles cut into bite sized pieces
2 small potatoes (I used red potato), skinned and cut into 1/4 slices
150 ml water
1 tbs olive oil
salt to taste
1 tb white wine
1/2 garlic clove

For parsley sauce
5 sprigs of fresh parsley finely chopped (Since I did not have fresh parsley, I used combination of finely chopped scallion and Jalapeno pepper)
2-3 tbs olive oil
1 pinch salt

*The original recipe calls for a one large squid.

Directions:
Sprinkle the white wine on the squid. 
Add the water, olive oil, the garlic and the potato in a pot. After it reaches boiling reduce the heat and cook 15-20 minutes with the lid askew. When the potato is cooked, season it with salt.
Add the squid and cook for 30 minutes stirring. Then cut off the heat and let it steep to finish cooking.
Serve with the potato on the bottom top with dollops of the sauce.

Although I could not make the parsley sauce, this was a very refreshing and nice dish. Actually the combination scallion and jalapeño may have been more flavorful than a parsley sauce. The squid was tender since it was cooked for a short time. It was sort of Western-style and perfect for hot summer when served cold.

Firefly squid kara-age ホタルイカの唐揚げ

 This is the dish I served using the third and the last tray of  "hotaru-ika" ホタルイカ firefly squid. This is a standard "Kara-age" 唐揚げ. This also came from e-recipe.

It is a simple recipe but requires deep frying. Since the squid contains some moisture, it splatters when it hits the oil. But it cooked rather quickly. (It was already boiled).

Ingredients: (for 2 servings).
Firefly squid, boiled, 100grams
Flour and potato starch 1 tbs. each
Salt and pepper to taste
Oil for deep frying.
Lemon wedges

Directions:
Heat the oil to 160C (or 320F)
Place the squid, flour, starch mixture, salt and pepper in a sealable bag and dredge the squid.
Deep fry for 1 minute or until the surface gets crispy. Drain and serve with wedges of lemon.

This is a great way to serve this squid. The surface and tentacles get crispy but the inside is soft.

The only problem of this dish is that the oil splatters.  Among the three dishes I made, we like the kara-age the best. Second was stir frying the squid and asparagus with butter and soy sauce. That one however, was perhaps a bit better than the kara-age in terms of ease of preparation in addition to great taste. 

The first dish of boiled hotaru-kia straight from the packing tray served with sumiso sauce was by far the easiest in terms of preparation but was not as flavorful as the other two preparations. Nonetheless we had absolutely no trouble “choking down” any of the 3 preparations. What a great way to celebrate spring.

Firefly squid and asparagus sautéed in butter and soy sauce ホタルイカとアスパラのバター醤油炒め

This is the dish I made from the second tray of "hotaru-ika" ホタルイカ firefly squid. This is stir fried hotaru-ika and asparagus in butter and soy sauce. The recipe came from e-recipe.  I happened to have pencil asparagus and butter and soy sauce combination is our favorite, so this was a no brainer.

Stir frying made the tentacles crispy which gave nice contrast to the texture of the softer body. Still crunchy asparagus also made a nice texture and flavor, a perfect combination for spring.

Ingredients: (this is the amount I used for this dish for two servings)
Firefly squid, boiled 100grams (eye or beak removed)
Pencil green asparagus, 10-14, root potion snapped off by bending the bottom end until it snaps naturally. (I did not bother to peel and cut the stalks in a slant as suggested in the original recipe).
Butter 1 tbs (or 15 grams)
Soy sauce 1tsp or to taste

Directions:
Melt the butter in a frying pan on medium flame.
Sauté the asparagus for a few minutes.
Add the firefly squid and soy sauce and stir for 1 minute.

This was a simple but quite good dish. We liked this more than the previous dish with sumiso dressing.

Sashimi big eye tuna "akami" and "Hotaru-ika" firefly squid メバチマグロの赤身とほたるイカ

 Spring is the season for a species of small squid called "Hotaru-ika" ほたるイカ or Firefly squid. It is so-called because it emits a bioluminescent light like a firefly. Some years ago when we traveled to Kanazawa 金沢 and Kyoto 京都 in spring, we really enjoyed “Hotaru-ika” at various Izakayas 居酒屋. Because this squid has parasites, it must be cooked (boiled) or frozen at -30C for 4 days. That means a regular home freezer (-22 C or 0F) is not adequate. This is not a “ DIY (do it yourself ) home project”. The squid has to come from a commercial source with the resources to at least freeze it properly. While in Kanazawa, we learned, through multiple tastings that our favorite way to eat it is “Okizuke” 沖ずけ. Although this dish is made of uncooked marinated squid it is special to Toyama prefecture 富山県 (Kanazawa city is the capital) where they know to make it safe by appropriately freezing it before making it into okizuke 沖ずけ.  “Oki-zuke” literally means “offshore marinated”. Traditionally, fishermen took the marinade with them on the boat and as they caught the squid , threw it into the marinade. By the time, they got back to shore, it was perfectly marinated. Although traditional, this method is not safe since the parasites will not be killed in a marinade. 

In any case, recently, I mentioned to my wife (who is particularly fond of firefly squid), that  it was the season and I was reading that many of the food bloggers I follow, were enjoying this seasonal delicacy. We had hotaru-ika at Tako Grill some years ago so we thought we should be able to get this in the U.S. A quick search of the internet turned up a company called “Regalis food”. They sell boiled firefly squid among other gourmet food items. They are more geared up for supplying restaurants rather than individual customers, however, so the minimal amounts required for purchase are a bit large. Nonetheless we ordered the minimum 300 grams (or three trays) of boiled firefly squid (which was shipped from Long Island) and the minimum 3 lbs. of big eye tuna akami  (which was shipped  from California). Although coming from different places both shipments arrived at the same time; (over night delivery).

The first picture shows one of the trays of hotaru-Ika.

 

This picture of the tuna akami is the tail portion near the back with skin on. The piece arrived whole; I cut it into portions before this picture was taken. Since I did not have much time, I did not cut the tuna into sashimi blocks (or “saku”). I just removed “chi-ai” 血合い cut it into 4 portions with skin on.  I only prepared one portion for sashimi.  The rest, I vacuum packed and froze for a later time. 

I served the akami with some vegetables. After removing the hard “eye” or “beak” from the firefly squid, I served them with sumiso 酢味噌 dressing.

The Akami of big eye tuna is not too bad. Certainly much better than frozen yellowfin tuna we often have.

Serving the squid with sumiso sauce is certainly a very common presentation. The plate of hotaru-ika shown here is half of one tray (so, the two of us finished a whole tray or 100grams). I think what makes hotaru-ika so special is that the squid are very small and each squid makes one pleasant mouthful. The first part of the experience is the pleasing texture of biting into the soft squid body followed by the  release of the lovely taste of the squid meat then the rich flavor of the innards especially the slightly bitter taste of the liver. Trust me, it tastes much better than the description sounds. 

We feel very fortunate we can enjoy the firefly squid in U.S. Hopefully we can visit the Iizakaya in Kanazawa and enjoy local sake with okizuke firefly squid again sometime soon.

Cuttlefish legs with simmered vegetables イカの足いり根菜の煮付け

Some time ago we got some really nice large boiled octopus legs from the HMart Korean grocery store. Unfortunately they have not been available for some time. Alternatives may include "baby octopus" and "Cuttlefish legs".  One day, when I saw boiled octopus was not available again I got "Cuttlefish legs" to see if they could be a substitute for the octopus legs. The short answer, at least as far as I am concerned, is "NO". While they are both good, lets face it Octopus and Cuttlefish are different "animals". If you are craving octopus leg cuttlefish won't "cut it" for you. The package of cuttlefish legs consisted of a collection of small cuttlefish legs, frozen in one large block. It was impossible to thaw just a part of the block. So, one weekend, I thawed the entire block under running water. (Although they were small, that was a lot of cuttlefish legs). I immediately boiled them, in salted water with a splash of sake. To keep the legs from getting too tough I boiled them just enough for them to cook through (1-2 minutes). Using the boil cuttlefish legs I made several dishes but I did not take pictures. I mostly made dishes in which I usually use squid legs such as a small "sumiso-ae" 酢味噌あえ Japanese salad with cucumber and wakame seaweed. I also made simmered dishes with vegetables and the cuttlefish legs. I realized that the dish shown below would use up the last of cuttlefish legs so I decided to take a pic and post. On the left is the cuttlefish with simmered vegetables (daikon and carrot). I added blanched broccoli just before serving. I also served "aji nanban" 鯵の南蛮漬け or fried jack mackerel in sweet vinegar shown on the right.

This is not based on any recipe but sort of basic Japanese home cooking. I peeled and cut the daikon into half moon shapes about 1/4 inch thick. I peeled and cut the carrot using "rangiri" 乱切り to make bite size chunks. I first sautéed  the vegetables in neutral oil such as safflower oil to coat and then added just water and a splash of sake to just cover. I then added the previously prepared (i.e. thawed and blanched) cutttlefish legs. I seasoned with "shirodashi" 白だし which I got from "the rice factory". I did not season the dish strongly so that the flavor of the ingredients could stand out. I simmered it for 30-40 minutes or until the cuttlefish legs were tender. Using the shirodashi kept the ingredients lighter in color than if I had used soy sauce. It also resulted in a gentle tasting simmered dish.

The package of frozen jack mackerel "aji" 鯵 I used for the next dish was getting old, so I decided it was time to cook it and made "nanban-zuke" 南蛮漬け. Although "nanban" refers to red pepper, I omitted the red pepper flakes since my wife is not fond of spicy food. For vegetables, I used carrot, celery, and red onion. I dusted the "aji" with flour and deep fried it before putting it into sweet vinegar with the vegetables. Just before serving, I also added sugar snaps which had been soaking in salt broth スナップ豌豆の塩びたし。

These two appetizers are great with cold sake. Although the cuttlefish legs do not substitute for the octopus legs, they were not bad in their own right. Nonetheless I managed to use them all up although it took several dishes to accomplish that feat.

"Udon" pasta with squid and marinara sauce イカとマリナラソースのウドンパスタ

 I ordered fresh whole squid from Hmart via the Instacart. Since there was a minimum of 1 pound for the order so I specified 1.5 pound to be safe. I was expecting one large intact squid. Instead I got a substitute; "cleaned and packaged" squid. Since this squid did not include innards 1.5 pounds translated into quite a lot of squid; three large packages, much more than I  expected. When my wife unpacked the bag she commented, "That's a lot of squid!" Since it was "cleaned" it was also more expensive per pound. I was thinking the body portion of the squid I bought would be intact so I could either stuff it or cut it into squid rings to fry. But the body portion had been opened to remove the innards. (Removing the innards even if the body has not been opened is not that hard and is what I do to prepare squid). In addition the thin skin (which is very hard to remove) and the small wings at the top were still attached. This all made it relatively easy for the person packaging the squid but not necessarily the customer left with the harder part of the prep. What I would have preferred is the body left intact but the thin skin and wings removed. Oh well, I kvetch.

I set to work and removed the wings ("enpera" エンペラ in Japanese. Supposedly, this word originated from "emperor" since the shape of the wings resembled Napoleon's hat) and removed the thin skin using a paper towel to grasp the edge of the skin and peeled it off. Most importantly, the good news was that the squid was fresh (i.e. no smell).  It was much fresher than anything we would get from Giant. It was a fairly good size with tentacles so overall I was pleased.  

I quickly boiled the tentacles in salted water with a splash of sake. (We enjoyed these as appetizers for several evenings with cucumber and wakame seaweed dressed in "sumiso" 酢味噌 vinegar miso dressing). I shallowly scored the body in crisscross fashion and cut it into one inch by a half inch rectangles. I used about a third of the prepared squid for squid in tomato sauce "udon" pasta. The rest I froze. This was lunch on Saturday.

I thought I used a quite a good amount of squid but once it was cooked, it did not feel like a lot.

 

Ingredients:
1/2 lb squid, body, cleaned, thin skin removed, apply crisscross shallow cuts on one side and then cut into 1 x 0.5 inch rectangles (see picture below).
1/2 cup marinara sauce (This was my usual homemade)
Cooked pasta (I used cooked udon noodles)
4-5 fresh basil leaves, cut into chiffonade,
Garlic, finely chopped (optional)
Salt and black pepper
Olive oil

Directions:
Add the olive oil in a frying pan on medium flame. Add the garlic (if using) and stir for 1 minutes or until fragrant. Add the squid and sauté for 30-40 seconds, add the noodle and the marinara sauce. Stir and warm up for few minutes. Garnish with the basil and splash good olive oil.

This was a good pasta dish. The squid was not chewy at all. 

Six "otoshi" appetizers お通し6種類

Although I secretly aspire to come up with 6 appetizers to start a meal like we enjoyed at two special izakayas, "Suiko" 酔香 or "Shuhai" 酒杯  in Japan, my appetizer count usually falls short. But one evening I found I could fairly easily come up with a set of 5 appetizers.  After giving it some thought I realized I could make one more for a total of six. Yay! The extra dish, however, did not make the group pic. Its portrait is, nonetheless, shown below.

The upper row from left to right are Chinese-style squid salad (store-bought) with my sugar snap in salt broth, grilled fish cake (store bought) with blanched broccolini dressed in mustard soy sauce, Russian marinated salmon (leftover from the previous evening). (It had been marinading for 2 days by then). The lower row from left to right are octopus leg, cucumber slices and Campari tomato dressed in sumiso sauce and "mizuna" oshitashi 水菜のお浸しtopped with bonito flakes.

Although it missed the group picture, the sixth appetizer was; salmon sashimi and avocado cubes dressed in soy sauce, sesame oil, chiffonade of perilla and finely chopped garlic. The salmon was leftover from the prior evening. I made a slight modification by salting one side and searing it with a kitchen torch before cutting it into cubes. This added an additional grilled flavor and slight crusty texture.

The dish shown below is Chinese-style squid salad 中華風イカサラダ  bought at our Japanese grocery store. The variation of this appears to be available at Catalina offshore products as well.

Below is a small deep fried fish cake which is almost always available at our Japanese grocery store. This appears to be locally made and is pretty good. We heat it up in the toaster oven. I dressed blanched broccolini florets with mustard soy sauce (I now make several Japanese sauces in small squeeze bottles and store them in the refrigerator for instant use).

This was leftover Russian marinaded salmon I made the night before. This marinaded a total of 2 days and was almost completely "chemically" cooked but the onion was better now (marinating just overnight,  the sweet onion was a bit too raw). I topped this with salmon roe and garnished it with perilla.

The dish below came about due to a mistake I made. I thought I got a bunch of edible chrysanthemum 春菊 but instead it was Japanese mizuna 水菜. I blanched it very quickly for 20 seconds, drained and cooled it down by fanning and squeezed out the moisture (I did this in the morning and kept it in a Ziploc bag in the fridge.) I made this to "ohitashi" お浸し("hitasu" in Japanese is to "soak", I made the sauce with equal parts Japanese dashi and concentrated noodle sauce and  "soaked" the mizuna) and topped it with bonito flakes. My wife preferred edible chrysanthemum but this was different and nice in its own right.

We still had the tip portion of the octopus leg left over. I just cut it up into small chunks and mixed the pieces with vinegared cucumber slices and quartered Campari tomato and dressed in sumiso (from the squeeze bottle I prepared earlier).

So with the help of store-bought and leftover items from the previous evening, I finally made a set of 6 appetizer to start the evening--mission accomplished!

Squid fritters イカのすり身揚げ

This recipe is from "The real Japanese Izakaya Cookbook". This dish is featured on the cover. I ended up, by necessity, having to modify the recipe. Despite the modification, this dish turned out to be very good. I served it, as per my wife's suggestion, with a wedge of lemon rather than "Japanese sauce" as the original recipe suggested. I served it with my usual sugar snaps and Campari tomato.

Since the squid legs were only coarsely chopped, you can see them in the cut surface which gave texture to this dish.

Actually, I made a soup using the squid mixture as per the original recipe. As I dropped the mixture into the broth, I realized the squid balls were not sticking together as well as I expected. For the soup, this was not much of a problem but I did not want the squid balls to fall apart in the hot oil. So, I had to modify the recipe by adding more "binders"(egg, more flour and panko bread crumbs).

This clear soup was made of dashi from my usual dashi pack, sake, mirin and light colored soy sauce. I made "quenelles" using two teaspoons and dropped them into the simmering soup. They did not maintain a quenelle shape but mostly stayed together. I added silken tofu and chopped scallion to the soup. Just before serving, I added frozen "yuzu" skin to the soup bowls. Despite the fact the squid mixture became a rather amorphous blob this was a pretty good soup.

The squid balls in the soup were based on the original recipe. When I saw how they cooked in the soup I realized I had to alter the recipe to make sure they did not dissolve when I put them in the hot oil. The instructions below are for the squid fritters and include my modifications.

Ingredients (This is my modification):
1lb cleaned squid, tentacles and body, half and half (the body hand chopped into small pieces , #1 and the tentacles cut into small chunks, #2).
2-3 tbs Panko Japanese bread crumbs
1 egg
2 tbs flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

For frying
Flour, egg+water, panko
Peanut oil for deep frying

Directions:
Mix all ingredients well and make small oval patties. Usual frying process; dredge in flour, dip in egg water, and coat with panko crumbs (#3)
Deep fry for 4-5 minutes turning occasionally (maybe because of the egg, the fritters puffed up into a ball (#4)

I think the reason I had to add more binders (flour, bread crumb and egg) is because the body of the squid was not chopped finely enough (to paste). Next time I will use a small food processor and make it more the consistency of mousse.  It is not easy to hand chop squid.

In any case, the end result was pretty good. We think just lemon is better than Japanese Worcestershire sauce for these rather delicate tasting squid fritters. During the week we heated up the remaining fritters in the toaster oven for a week night appetizer and that worked out very well.

My wife found the daffodils in the front yard with large buds on them. She brought two inside and put them in a Japanese style flower vase. A few days later it bloomed beautifully. Spring is coming!