Salmon Shrimp Pâté with Shiitake 椎茸入り鮭とエビのパテ

About 3 years ago, at the recommendation of my wife’s sister who used to live in the Philadelphia area before moving to California, we stumbled across an old cookbook called “Frog Commissary Cookbook”. In its hey day, this cookbook was a “must-have” especially in the Philadelphia area.

We completely forgot about this cookbook until a few days ago when my wife was looking through our blog for an “Appetizer” to make and she came across “Salmon and scallop pâté”.  We realized the recipe came from this cookbook. My wife quickly located the book and we started looking through the recipes. My wife found a few she would like to try. (You may expect to see them here at some later date.) We remembered that the salmon scallop pâté was quite good. So, I decided to make the pâté again but realized we did not have any scallops and we did not have any spinach to make the center layer. But we did have shrimp which I could substitute for the scallops and a cooked shittake mushroom/shallot mixture which I could substitute for the spinach used in the center of the pâté (#1B).  Making the layers this way was much easier than the original recipe. I served the salmon shrimp pâté with a wedge of Myer lemon and leaf of arugula from our window sill veggie garden (#1).

In the original recipe, the center is spinach and scallop mousse (#1B). Although it looks nice it is more work than my current variation and the spinach didn’t really add much flavor. In terms of texture, the original salmon/scallop version was a bit softer. But the scallops basically only contributed to the texture not the taste; The main flavor was salmon. In my salmon/shrimp version, you definitely taste the shrimp.

Ingredients:
(The original recipe was essentially restaurant sized and too large for our home consumption. When I made it last time, I scaled it down to 1/4 of the original amount which made one small loaf of  pâté. This time I essentially halved the original amount and made two loaves of pâté).

175 grams salmon, skin removed and cut into small cubes.
175 grams shrimp, shell removed and cut into small cubes.
1 whole egg (Original recipe called for just the egg white.)
120 ml cream (I used light cream, the amount of cream depends on the consistency of the mousse. You want a consistency that is not quite “pourable” but not too loose.)
salt, pepper, cayenne pepper (to taste)
14 ml brandy

(for the center layer)
4 tbs of minced and sautéed shiitake mushrooms (mostly chopped up stems) and shallots*

*When we get fresh shiitake mushrooms from Weee, I remove the stems and small caps and chop them up into small pieces. I sauté them in olive oil with finely chopped shallots seasoned with salt and pepper. This can be used in many other dishes such as meat balls, risotto etc. I put the remaining whole caps into a Ziploc bag with a paper towel. This keeps them fresh much longer than if left in the original packages.

Directions:
Add the salmon, shrimp, egg, and about the half of  the cream into a food processor (I used a mini-food processor) and make a smooth mousse. Add more cream to get the right consistency and season the mixture.

(for the center layer)
Take 1/3 of the salmon shrimp mousse and add the shiitake-shallot mixture and blend well.

I made the pate in 2 small loaf pans (14x6.5x5cm) (I used a silicone pan. No need to oil or line it with a parchment paper). Fill the bottom of one of the the pans with 1/4 of the salmon-shrimp mousse and smooth the surface with a silicon spatula (#2 right) and top it with half of the mushroom mousse to form the center layer (#2 left). As was done with the bottom layer smooth the mushroom layer with the spatula. Add another 1/4 layer of the salmon-shrimp mousse to form the top layer and smooth the surface (#3). Repeat the process for the second pan. Cover the loaf pans with aluminum foil.

I preheated the oven (I used the toaster oven in a convection mode) to 350F.

I placed the loaf pans in a larger baking pan with a high rim. Poured hot water to the middle of the depth of the loaf pans (bain-marie) and cooked for 35 minutes (internal temperature of 135F).

Un-mould and let it cool (#4).

Slice (#5) showing the center mushroom layer.

As far as I was concerned, this was as good as the original salmon-scallop pate. (My wife said she liked it better because in the original version the spinach layer didn’t “bring much flavor to the show”. In contrast the mushrooms in this version added a lot of complexity to the flavor which was very good. This version was also a bit firmer in texture and had a lovely shrimp flavor. The only mistake I made was salt. I pre-salted the mushroom mixture and also shrimp after thawing. All this accumulated and the pate was a lightly salty side for our taste but still extremely good. We had this without sauce or just with lemon juice which was all it needed.

Spanish Mackerel dumpling Soup topped with “Kinome” Japanese pepper leaves 鯖のつみれ汁

This is a variation of “Mackerel meat ball soup 鯖のつみれ汁”. When I made “Mackerel simmered in miso sauce 鯖の味噌煮” from two fairly large Spanish mackerels we got from Whole Foods, I made mackerel fish balls from the meat I scraped from the bones and tail ends. Since we had left-over cooked udon noodles, tofu, shiitake mushrooms and “kinome 木の芽”, (Japanese pepper tree leaves/sprouts), I combined these to make a soup I served for lunch.  The smell/flavor of the kinome made it something special. We removed the individual leaves from the stem before adding them to the soup. (But left them on the stem to garnish as shown in the next picture.)

Here is the mackerel meat ball clearly visible next to the kinome.

This was quite a filling lunch. The addtion of kinome made it something specail.

Mapo (sort of) Eggplant “麻婆風” 茄子

This is another one of the “use-up the eggplant dishes”. I have posted a similar dish “Mapo-eggplant 麻婆茄子” before. This is a variation. It is seasoned like “Mapo-tofu  麻婆豆腐” but uses eggplant instead of tofu. Although ground pork is usually used in both Mapo-tofu and Mapo-eggplant I used left-over roasted pork cut up into small pieces. I also added fresh shiitake and wood ear mushrooms since I had them. The appearance is similar to another eggplant dish I made (Eggplant stir-fry with oyster sauce), the seasoning however, is different. The hot smoked (in the Weber grill) pork roast adds a nice smoky flavor. I like this version better than the one using ground pork.

Ingredients:
1 Asian Eggplant (long skinny kind), skin peeled into two strips, cut into relatively large (1 inch) “rangiri 乱切り”
3 tbs + 1/2 tbs vegetable oil
1 tsp each finely chopped ginger and garlic
2 scallions, white parts finely chopped and green part thinly sliced
5-6 fresh shiitake mushroom caps, cut into quarters or halves, depending on the size
5-6 fresh wood ear mushrooms (previously blanched and washed), cut into small strips
5-6 slices of smoked and roasted pork, cut into small squares
1 tbs potato starch in 1 tbs water (for thickening)

Seasonings (mix in a small bowl):
1 tsp toubanjan 豆板醤, more if you like it spicy
1 tsp tenmenjan 甜麺醤
1 tsp Japanese “koji” miso 麹みそ
1 tbs Chinese cooking wine 紹興料理酒
1 tbs mirin
1-2 tsp soy sauce or concentrated Japanese noodle sauce
2-3 tbs water

Directions:
Add the 3 tbs oil into a frying pan on medium flame. Add the eggplant. Toss to coat all the surfaces of the eggplant.
Turn the eggplant pieces skin side down and cook a few minutes and then turn them over to the fresh sides to lightly brown (another 2-3 minutes).
Set aside.
In the same pan, add the remaining 1/2 tbs oil, sauté the scallion (white parts), ginger and garlic.
Add the shiitake and wood ear mushrooms and sauté for a few minutes.
Add back the eggplant and add in the pork, toss to mix.
Add the seasoning mixture and simmer for a few minutes.
Add the green part of the scallion.
Drizzle in the potato starch slurry in several batches and mix until thickened, let it come to a rapid boil before turning off the heat.

This was a very savory satisfying dish. It also used the last of the eggplants we got from Weee this time. 

Impromptu Eggplant Mushroom Stir-fry 茄子と椎茸のオイスターソース炒め

This is an eggplant dish I came up using what I had on hand (#1). I got some ideas from other recipes I saw but I did not base this dish on any one particular recipe. I made simmered pork or “Nibuta 煮豚” the other day. So instead of ground pork, I used finely chopped nibuta. Since we got groceries from Weee this week, I processed fresh shiitake mushrooms by removing the stems. Then I chopped up the stems into small pieces and sauted them with olive oil and finely chopped scallion. I seasoned them with salt and pepper. (This can be used to make other dishes). I placed the shiitake caps in a Ziploc bag with a paper towel to absorb any moisture which comes out of the mushrooms while they are in the fridge. I also washed and blanched fresh wood ear mushrooms and placed them in a Ziploc bag with paper towel too. I have found that processing the mushrooms this way makes them last much longer. Unfortunately, I have not come up with a way to make fresh eggplants last longer, so I have to use them up fairly quickly. So this is my impromptu eggplant stir-fly with shiitake and wood ear mushroom, finely chopped nibuta pork, ginger, scallion and seasoned with Chinese “Shoko-shu 紹興酒” cooking wine, mirin, concentrated noodle sauce and oyster sauce. This was not particularly special but certainly more than edible. All the ingredients I used gave it a lot of flavor

Ingredients:
One large Asian eggplant, stem end removed, and cut into long “ran-giri 乱切り” (#2).
3-4 fresh shiitake mushrooms, cut in half or quarters
4-6 fresh wood ear mushrooms (previously branched and washed), cut into strips
2 scallions, white and green parts, finely chopped
4-5 slices simmered pork “Nibuta 煮豚”, finely diced
1 tbs of finely chopped shiitake mushroom stems and shallot sautéed in olive oil (optional)
1 tbs finely chopped ginger
2 tbs + 1/2 tbs oil
1 tbs potato starch slurries for thickening the sauce

Seasonings (mix all seasonings in a small bowl)
6 tbs water
2 tbs Chinese “shoko 紹興料理酒” cooking wine
1 tbs x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce or soy sauce
1 tbs oyster sauce

Directions:
Add the oil into the frying pan on medium flame, add the eggplant, toss for a few minutes to coat with the oil. 
Turn the skins side down (#2) and cook until skin side browns, turn over and brown the fresh sides and set aside

Add 1/2 tbs oil in the same pan, add the shiitake stem mixture, ginger and stir for 30 seconds, add the mushrooms and sauté for a few minutes
Add back the eggplants and sauté for one minute.
Add the seasonings and cook for a few minutes
Taste and adjust the seasoning
Add the potato starch slurries and mix until thickened (#3)
Add the scallions and serve (#1)

Notes to self:  it was a bit too sweet for me. Next time I should consider reducing the mirin. The chopped simmered pork has almost disappeared. Probably, I should have added more. But overall, this is not too bad.

Nappa Cabbage Cream Stew 白菜のクリームシチュー

This is my effort to use up whatever we had on hand. The first item was nappa cabbage or “hakusai 白菜” I got from Weee. It was fairly big and it was time for me to start using it. We also had one link each of chicken and pork sausages which we got from a local gourmet grocery store fresh (uncooked). I boiled them few days ago. Several carrots started sprouting and needed to be used. After some thought, I decided to make “cream stew”. I did not follow any specific recipe. This was our lunch one day and it was quite good, very comforting dish. The chicken sausage flavors were apple and sage but in the stew, a subtle, pleasant spiciness which we hadn’t noticed before came out and was very pronounced. 

This is not really a recipe but notes to myself.

Ingredients: (makes about 6 servings)
6 leaves of nappa cabbage, the white stems and leaves separated. The stems halved lengthwise and then cut in an angle (“sogi-giri” or “shave-cut” 削ぎ切, see #1 in the composite on the right most side), the separated leaves (#2)  cut into about 1 inch wide
1 each chicken and pork sausages (previously boiled) cut into medallions (#3)
4 caps of fresh shiitake mushrooms, cut into small bite size
1 tbs olive oil
2-3 cups of chicken broth

For béchamel sauce** (#4)
One shallot, finely chopped (#1 on the left)
2 tbs finely chopped shiitake stems and shallot, sautéed in olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper* (optional)
4 tbs flour
2 tbs butter
salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste
about 100 ml or so milk

*When I receive fresh shiitake mushrooms (from Weee), I separate the caps and stems. The caps are packed in a ziploc bag with paper towels which makes the fresh shiitake last longer. For the remaining stems, I cut off the very ends, then shred and finely chop them. I saute this in olive oil with chopped shallots. This concoction is handy to have for making other dishes such as mushroom risotto. 

**The usual béchamel uses same amount of butter and flour but by adding finely chopped onion/shallot  in butter before adding the flour, you can reduce the butter in half. The flour clings to the surface of the onion/shallot which prevents the flour from clumping up. No need to add the milk gradually. Just dump all at once.

Directions:
For béchamel sauce
Melt the butter in the non-stick frying pan on medium-low flame, sauté the shallot until soft, add the shiitake stems and shallot mixture and sauté for one more minute. 
Add the flour and cook until no dry flour is visible, add the milk (at once) and start mixing (first with a whisk and then with a silicon spatula) until thickened. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg and set aside (#4)
In a pan on medium flame, add the olive oil.  When hot, add the sausages and lightly brown both sides, add the cabbage stems, carrots, shiitake mushrooms and sauté for few minutes (#5)
Add the chicken broth so that the vegetables and sausages are just covered and cook 20-30 minutes.
Add the béchamel sauce and mix. Simmer fro 5-10 minutes and add the nappa cabbage leaves (#6)
Season with salt and pepper if needed.

I made the stew several hours before serving. The green color was nicely vibrant right after I finished cooking the stew but the green color faded (the top serving picture) before I could serve it. This was a rich savory stew with a complex range of flavors. The creamy texture was luxurious. The combination of the precooked shitake mushrooms and shallots was an outstanding addition to the soup. The sausage was a nice meaty addition as well. This was a very comforting soup.     

Mock Tofu 擬制豆腐

I saw this recipe of “Mock tofu” or “Gisei-dofu 擬制豆腐” on Youtube by Chef. Kasahara 笠原. It looked interesting and I happened to have extra tofu and fresh shiitake mushroom which needed to be used up before going bad. Supposedly, this is a common form of “shojin-ryouri 精進料理” or vegetarian cooking done by Buddhist monks. The name “mock” or “gisei” reportedly comes from the fact that tofu was crumbed, other ingredients are added,  formed into an original rectangular shape of tofu and cooked. No eggs should be used in the original shojin-ryori but modern renditions use eggs as binder and some recipes even call for ground meat. 

While I was making this, I realized a U.S. block of tofu is larger than a Japanese block so I was afraid that the final loaf which had more tofu may not firm up but it did. The cut surface looked more like tofu than omelette (picture #1). I did not make it too sweet but this is a very good looking dish and tasted very gentle with nice texture.  Adding more tofu appeared to work. According to Chef Kasahara, this is his regular osechi “new year” dish. I may add this to my osechi next year. Since this could be a new year osechi dish, I served the slices on a small crane design plate we bought in Kyoto some years ago since the “crane” is very suitable motif for new year cerebration.

Ingredients: (made two loaves measuring 2 1/2 and 5 1/2 inch)

1 package (14oz or 400gram*) tofu (I used medium firm), drained, wrapped in paper towel with a weight on the top (I used two cutting boards as weights) for 20 minutes, crumble by hand

3 large eggs, beaten

4-5 caps of shiitake mushroom, thinly sliced

1 small carrot, julienned

3 scallions finely chopped

1 tbs vegetable oil

*Apparently Japanese one block of tofu is smaller. The original recipe used one block which was 300grams. 

Seasoning*:

1 tbs x 4 concentrated noodle sauce or soy sauce either light colored or regular

1 tbs mirin

* Original recipe calls for soy sauce and sugar. The above is not as sweet.

Directions:

Prepare loaf pans (I used two 2 1/2 x 5 1/2 inch silicon loaf pans) by lining with parchment paper and lightly oil for easy lifting (see “A” in the composite picture).  Preheat oven to 350F*.

In a frying pan on medium heat, add 1 tbs vegetable oil and sauté the carrot and mushroom. After few minutes, add the crumbled tofu and keep stirring for another 5 minutes or so until water is not seeping out from the tofu. Add the seasonings and cook until no liquid is visible on the bottom. Add the scallion, mix and shut off the flame.

Add the half of the eggs and mix. The residual heat will semi cook the eggs. Add the remaining eggs and mix.

Pour in the mixture to the loaf pans and press and flatten the surface with a silicon spatula.

Place the loaf pans in the 350F oven for 30 minutes (“A” in the composite picture) .

*Original recipe calls for 250C oven which is over 480F. I thought this was way too hot. Using my own discretion, I baked at 350F (about 180C) using the toaster oven in convection mode.

After cooling down for 10 minutes, I lifted the load out of the pan using both ends of the parchment paper (“B” in the composite picture). I sliced it after it cooled to near room temperature.

As I mentioned before, because of the larger proportion of tofu in my rendition (albeit by accident), the cut surface looks more like tofu than omelette. I do not think this dish should be omelette with tofu mixed in. More like tofu dish hiding the use of eggs like some Buddhist monks may have done. 

Obviously, you could alter the vegetables you can use in this dish. Renkon, wood ear mushroom, green beans, hijiki, ginnan, mitsuba etc were suggested. I also saw the recipes adding ground meat but I do not particularly like that idea.

In any case, we really like this dish as I made it (by accident??).

P.S. I made this dish again with few modifications. 

1. Seasonings: I used 2 tsp sugar and 2tbs x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce making it sweeter thatn the first. This appears to have worked. Both of us liked the a bit sweeter taste better.

2. I used three silicon loaf pans without parchment paper lining but coating the inside with a small mount of oil. The giese-tofu came out without problem. I am not sure the oil is needed.

Grilled “Tai” Perch Seasoned Rice 鯛飯もどき

Among the items in the Sushi Taro osechi box, was a grilled small “Tai” perch 小鯛の姿焼き that looks very nice and makes the osechi box festive and special. In the past, I used it to make a bowl of rice (a type of donburi 丼) by removing the meat and making it into “Soboro そぼろ ‘or finely crumbled seasoned fish meat topping the rice along with “Braised small ice fish seasoned with Japanese pepper じゃこの有馬煮” from the box. This year, in the Japanese menu or “Oshinagaki お品書き” accompanying the osechi, Chef Kitayama suggested cooking the Tai over rice. I thought this was a great idea. It immediately reminded me of “Tai-meshi 鯛飯” we had in Matsuyama, Shikoku 松山、四国.

This worked very well. It was much easier to remove meat since it was sort of steamed while the rice cooked. The resulting rice was flavorful and, as far as we can tell, this is the best way to enjoy the grilled Tai perch fish from the osechi box (picture #1).

I did not follow any recipe but just made it like I make seasoned rice or “maze-gohan 混ぜご飯”. You may not like to add any other items or add more items to the rice beside the perch.

Ingredients:
1 grilled small Tai perch (from the Sushi Taro osechi box).
1 small carrot, peeled and julienned.
1 inch square of Dashi Kelp, surface cleaned with dump paper towel.
3-4 small fresh shiitake caps, thinly sliced
2 cups of Japanese short-grain rice. I used “Nanatsuboshi ななつぼしfrom Hokkaido” (a cup came with the rice cooker which is smaller than US cup)
2 cups or a bit more of water including 1 tbs x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce (or light colored soy sauce) and 1 tbs mirin (see directions below how to determine the liquid amount).
Thin strips of nori or “Kizami-nori 刻み海苔” for garnish.

Directions:
Wash the rice and drain.
Add the washed rice to the rice cooker.
Add the noodle sauce and mirin.
Add water to the mark in the rice cooker for 2 cups of rice and gently mix to distribute the seasonings.
Top the rice with the kelp, carrot and mushroom and place the grilled fish on the top and start the rice cooker in the normal white rice mode (#1 in the composite).
Remove the fish and the kelp. Remove the meat from the bone. I did not remove the skin which has good flavor. Carefully inspect for the bone (#2 in the composite)

Mix and fluff up the rice (#3 in the composite). You could mix the fish meat at this time or just top the rice in the serving bowl (#4 in the composite).

Garnish with the nori strips (#1 picture).

Making this rice was a great suggestion. The flavor of the fish permeated the rice with a rich umami. the mushrooms added yet another umami dimension. Great end to the New Year’s osechi box. 

Sushi Taro New Year Soba 手打ち蕎麦

When we got the Sushi Taro osechi box, we also got two orders of hand-made soba or “teuchi-soba 手打ち蕎麦” (Chef Kitayama is into making soba—which is our gain). As usual, we did not eat it on New year’s eve as “Toshikoshi Soba” 年越し蕎麦 or “Good luck going-over-the-year soba”. Instead, we had the soba as a lunch January 2 as our good luck new year soba. We have had this either cold or warm depending on the year. Since it was cold outside, this year we chose to have warm soba.

The soba kit included the dipping sauce, condiments (thinly sliced scallion and fried tempura batter or “age-dama/ten-kasu” 揚げ玉・天かす), wasabi, and cumquat in syrup. The wasabi is for cold soba with dipping sauce. So I preserved it for other occasions.

I first diluted the dipping sauce with the kelp-bonito broth I made for the new year “ozouni” soup to taste (about the same amount as the sauce), added fresh shiitake mushrooms (caps only), wood ear and oyster mushroom (since I had all these mushrooms) and heated it up and gently simmered while I was preparing  the soba. I also “borrowed” two slices of duck breast from the osechi box. I placed them in the warm soup for just 30 seconds before serving.

As per the instructions, I boiled the soba for 1 and half minutes, drained and washed gently in running cold water. I added the soup through the sieve in a pot on low flame so that the toppings would be separated (for better presentation). I added the cold washed soba into the soup and warmed it up for 30 seconds or so.

I placed the noodles and soup in the individual bowls, arranged the duck breast, mushrooms and garnished it with the age-dama and scallion. I served the cumquats as a side.

This was a very satisfying warm soba bowl. It is an upgraded version of “kake-soba” かけ蕎麦 or “tanuki-soba” たぬき蕎麦.

Happy New Year 2025 謹賀新年2025

Happy New Year! This is the year of  the snake 巳年. We put out a small Japanese “Kagami-mochi” 鏡餅 decoration with three snake figurines. The center is actually a “netsuke” 根付 we purchased some years ago from a shop in Nakamise, Asakusa 仲見世、浅草.  They specialize in miniatures (the shop is also very small almost a miniature itself.)

As usual, we started the day with our regular breakfast of Cafe Latte and some bread/muffins. We have our new year’s soup or “Ozouni” お雑煮 for lunch with a few side dishes I made. (We will wait until evening to open up the Sushi Taro Osetchi Juubako 寿司太郎の御節重箱). The picture below, shows the dishes I served for lunch. They include ‘datemaki” 伊達巻, salmon kelp rolls 鮭の昆布巻き, “kazunoko” 数の子 herring roe (store bought*), wakasaki わかさぎ (store bought), Russian marinated salmon 鮭のロシアずけ folded into the shape of a rose with marinated ikura on top, and daikon namasu 大根なます with slices of octopus leg.

The “ozouni” お雑煮 “new year soup” is our usual. I added daikon, carrot, shrimp, shiitake mushroom and gluten cake or “fu”. In addition, I added chopped renkon to the tsukune balls 蓮根つくねだんご　 which worked well. We like this better than pieces of chicken meat.  It goes without saying that we had a ceremonial glass or two of sake to celebrate the new year 2025! Nice beginning of the new year.  We will open up Sushi Taro Osechi Box this evening.

Tofu in Warm Broth ミニ湯豆腐

It is getting cold. We decided to have a hot tofu dish called “Yu-dofu” 湯豆腐.  “Yu” means “hot water” and “dofu” is “tofu*. I am surprised to find out I never posted “Yu-doufu”. I deviated from a traditional “yu-dofu” a bit by seasoning the broth lightly and adding fresh shiitake mushrooms and scallion to the broth. I also served it with “Ponzu” ポン酢 as a dipping sauce. I served individual portions in mini-donabe  ミニ土鍋 (picture #1). This is the perfect dish for a cold night. 

*This is another example of “rendaku” 連濁, “yu+tofu”  becomes “yu+dofu” when making a compound word.

Ingredients (for 2 small mini-donabe servings)
2/3 block of medium firm (you can use silken or firm as well), cut into one inch cubes
450ml Japanese broth (I used a dish pack which contains kelp and bonito and re-enforced the flavoring by using additional squares of kelp)
1-2 tbs x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce
2 scallions, white parts chopped finely and the green parts cut into 1.5 inch segments
2 caps of fresh shiitake mushroom, sliced thinly

Directions:
Add the seasoned broth to individual mini-donabe on low flame.
When the broth is warm, add the cubes of tofu, shiitake mushrooms and chopped scallions.
Simmer gently for 5-10 minutes until the tofu cubes are throughly warmed. Add the green parts of scallions and simmer for another 2-3 minutes or until the greens are wilted.
Serve with the ponzu if desired.

I think using lightly seasoned broth and ponzu as a dipping sauce made the tofu a bit more flavorful. You can add more vegetables but then it may not be rightfully called “yu-dofu”. 

I realized I have a special perforated spoon and fork for serving yu-doufi as well as the container for dipping sauce which is used  half submerged  in the cooking broth in the center of the pot. We used them long time ago but almost forgot about it. I managed to find them (picture #2). 

In the traditional/classic “Yu-dofu”, add the water and kelp in the donabe pot, fill the dipping sauce container and place it in the center of the pot. Add the cubes of tofu in the kelp broth and let it simmer so that the tofu and the dipping sauce are both warmed up. The tofu is scooped up using the perforated spoon and fork and placed in the dipping sauce in the center and then moved to the your small bowl. The condiment is  usually chopped scallion. But bonito flakes, grated daikon and Japanese red pepper powder can be added. If you omit bonito flakes (in the broth and dipping sauce), then the dish is vegan.

We like the modification I made to this dish. The broth the tofu is cooked in has a nice “dashi” favors of kelp and bonito and seasoning it with the Japanese noodle sauce makes it nice to drink. Dipping the tofu in ponzu adds an additional dimension.

P.S. Merry Christmas

Marinated Tofu and Egg Sir Fry 味付け豆腐の卵炒め

Good tofu is difficult come by here.  There was a Kyoto-based tofu maker called “Kyozen-an” 京善庵 which used to produce good quality tofu we could get at our Japanese grocery store. Unfortunately, it closed their factory in New Jersey and went out of business because it was not meeting US regulation. “Otokomae tofu” 男前豆腐 is another kyoto brand of good tofu we could get but not any longer.  Currently the best tofu we can get is “House Food” ハウス食品. They make fresh tofu in the factories located in California and New Jersey from US soy beans. We found that their “medium firm” tofu is the most versatile which we get from Weee. This blog is a variation on the theme of tofu and egg stir fry. This is vaguely based on the recipe I saw on Youtube. The main idea is that the tofu is marinated before stir frying. The seasonings are oyster and soy sauce. I also added the last of  the fresh shiitake and wood ear mushrooms I had on hand. I ended up using a block of tofu cut in half for this dish and another one. I started out intending to make a whole block of tofu into “braised spicy marinated tofu”. So I accordingly marinated one block. Then I changed my mind and made half the block into the spicy tofu and the other half into this dish. This was a hearty and very filling lunch for us (picture #1).

Ingredients (2 servings):
1/2 block tofu, cut into half inch cubes and marinated overnight 
3 eggs, beaten
3 scallions, chopped fine
1 tsp garlic, finely chopped 
1 tsp ginger, finely chopped
1 stalk of garlic green* (optional garnish)
3 caps of fresh shiitake mushroom (optional)
1/2 cup wood ear mushroom (optional)
1 tbs vegetable/peanut oil
1tsp sesame oil

Tofu marinade:
1tbs soy sauce
1tbs mirin
1tsp sriracha
1tsp rice vinegar
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp each grated ginger and garlic

Seasonings:
1 tbs oyster sauce
1 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs shaoxing cooking wine
white pepper to taste

*my wife recently learned about garlic greens. According to what she read, she took a head of garlic we got from our grocery store separated it into individual cloves and planted them in a pot of soil on the window sill. Green leaves sprouted out quite quickly.  These taste of garlic and can be used in cooking. We tasted them and they had a mild but distinctive garlic flavor. These sprouts however, will never develop garlic bulbs because a certain number of “cold units” (cold days) are needed to trigger bulb formation. (Luckily they will never get those cold units sitting on the window sill in our kitchen). Last year we planted some garlic cloves in the herb garden in October (before the first frost) and in the spring harvested a very nice crop of garlic cloves. 

Directions:
Drain the marinade from the tofu
Mix the tofu, eggs and half the chopped scallions (white part)
Add half of the oils in the wok or frying pan on medium high heat
When the oils are hot, add the egg-tofu mixture and cook until the bottom is set. Turn it over using a silicon spatula. Toss and let the eggs coat the tofu. Remove from the wok and set aside (picture #2).

Add the remaining oils to the same wok. Add the garlic, ginger cook for 1 minute until fragrant, add the mushrooms cook for another few minutes and add the remaining scallion and stir (picture #3).

Add back the tofu and egg mixture and stir and toss. Add the seasonings and stir for 1-2 minutes.
Garnish with either chopped green part of scallion or chopped garlic green.

We had this as a lunch and it was quite filling. Although the tofu did not absorb much of the marinade, the combination of seasonings, eggs and tofu and mushrooms worked well. The egg and the tofu have very similar soft textures but very different flavors. The mushrooms introduced yet another set of textures; meat-like from the shitake and crunchy-chewey from the wood ear mushrooms.  Overall a very satisfying dish. 

P.S. This is a picture of a sunset we had recently. This is what we saw outside our window. It is probably the most beautiful sunset we have ever seen here and we had to commemorate it by including it in this blog.

“Imo-ni” Stew famous in Yamagata 芋煮庄内風

When we had “Hiya-oroshi” 冷やおろしsake this year, one of them was from Yamagata prefecture 山形県 and is called “Shounai-bijin 庄内美人” or Shounai beauty. The name is based on the geography of the area where it is brewed. This sake was  brewed by “Watarai Honten 渡會本店“ which is located in the central plane that extends to the coastal areas of Yamagata called “Shounai flat  庄内平野”, hence the name “Shounai Beauty 庄内美人” (see picture #4 for the sake label and area map). While I was checking the brewery’s website, it states that  the best dish that goes with this sake is “Imo-ni*” 芋煮 a stew characteristic of the area and referred to as “Shounai-style”. It is made from pork and seasoned with miso. Other areas of yamagata make imoni with beef and seasoned with soy sauce.  I had a bag of frozen taro or satoimo from Weee and just thawed thinly sliced beef. So I made “Shounai-style” with miso seasoning and beef.

*Digression alert: You can look up description in Wikipedia for “Imo-ni”. My understanding is that this is a stew in Tohoku 東北 northern main land Japan especially in Yamagata. It has more social aspect than just a dish. In autumn, they have a big social gathering/party often outdoor sometimes making a gigantic “nabe” 鍋 which has to be hoisted using a crane. No matter which variations, the-must-have ingredients are “imo” or “potato” specifically “Satoimo 里芋” or taro and beef or pork.

Besides “satoimo” and beef or pork, “kon-nyaku” こんにゃく, “negi” 葱 Tokyo scallion and “gobo” burdock root are the most common ingredients but it appears one can also use carrots and mushrooms. 
We really liked this dish and it naturally went very well with “Shounan-bijin hiyaoroshi” sake. 

I happened to get a fairly large (especially for us) cast iron pot with a cedar lid (picture #2) which is perfect for this dish. This is the first time we used this pot.

I sort of followed a recipe from a NHK cooking program called “Today’s dish” or  “Kyou-no-ryori 今日の料理” which is also available on-line.

Ingredients: (makes 6-7 servings)
1 lb satoimo 里芋 (I could have used fresh but I happened to have prepared frozen ones)
1/2 lb thinly sliced beef cut into small strips
1 cake of kon-nyaku コンニャク, hand torn into small bite size pieces, parboiled and drained
1/2 gobo burdock root, skin scraped off using the back of a knife and cut into small strips”sasagaki ささがき (you shave off the “gobo” into the small strips as though you are sharpening a pencil with a knife producing thin strips in the shape of small bamboo leaves). Soak in cold water and drain just before putting into the pot.
2 scallions, cut on the bias
2 large fresh shiitake, cut into a bite size (optional)

Seasonings
2 tbs miso
1 cup sake
2 tbs mirin
6 cups Japanese broth of kelp and bonito (or water)
1-2 tbs soy sauce

Directions:
Cook the beef in the pot (I used a small amount of vegetable oil to prevent sticking).
When the beef is cooked add the miso and cook for one minute until fragrant.
Take out the miso and beef and set aside
Add the satoimo, kon-nyaku, gobo, mushroom in the pot and add the sake to remove any fond on the bottom of the pot
Add the water (or broth) and simmer for 20 minutes or until the satoimo is cooked through.
Add back the beef (and miso), scallion, mirin and cook 10 more minutes (picture #3)
Add the soy sauce to adjust the seasoning.

We had Shounai-bijin Hiyaoroshi cold with the imo-ni dish. Among the two hiyaoroshi we tried this year, we like this one best. Just for your information, the pin is in the “shounai” region.

Norwegian Mackerel Teriyaki 冷凍ノルウエイ鯖の照り焼き

We used to get fresh whole mackerel from Whole Foods or Hmart (via the Instacart) but we have not gotten whole mackerel for some time. At one time, I got frozen filets of Norwegian mackerel at our Japanese grocery store. I figured the time had come to use this. I was not sure if the filets were already salted (many frozen filets of mackerel appear salted), but there was no indication on the package. I thought about making salt grilled 塩焼きor miso simmered 味噌煮 but decided to make “teriyaki 照り焼き”. We served this with Shiitake mushroom risotto. A bit of a cultural mixture but both went well together. Since I took some care to reduce the fishiness, it had a good teriyaki taste (I did not use sugar in the sauce just mirin). The only problem (especially for my wife) is that these filets had quite a few small bones.

Ingredients:
2 frozen filets of Norwegian mackerel, thawed
2-3 tbs sake
Salt
AP flour
1 tbs vegetable oil

For teriyaki sauce
2 tbs mirin
2 tbs x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce

Directions:
After thawing, I wrapped the filets with sake soaked paper towels and let them sit in the refrigerator for 1 hour or so.
I then patted the filets dry with paper towels and salted them on both sides and let them sit at room temperature for 20 minutes and again patted dry the surface.
I cut a shallow oblique cut on the skin and then cut one filet into 4 portions.
I then dredged in flour.
I placed the filet portions skin side down in the frying pan with the vegetable oil on medium low flame.
I let it cook mostly from the skin side. After 5-6 minutes when the edges got opaque in the thick portions and top became opaque in the thin portions, I flipped it over to finish cooking (you can slightly under cook at this point since it is further cooked in the teriyaki sauce). Remove the fish and set aside. Wipe the oil from the pan clean.
Add the mirin and noodle sauce on medium high flame and let it reduce in half.
Add back the fish and coat all sides with the sauce until the liquid is almost evaporated.

I made the teriyaki sauce not too sweet. This was quite good especially for frozen mackerel and it was good to taste mackerel again after such a long time. But the bones were quite a botheration. When I filet the fresh mackerel myself, I remove most of the bones. I could have done this. Maybe next time.

Chestnut Apple Soup クリとリンゴのスープ

Some years ago, we gave up on preparing fresh chestnuts especially the North American variety. These have a characteristic tough inner membrane that goes deeply into the flesh of the nut and is extremely hard to remove. So we switched to already prepared roasted chestnuts that come in a pouch. These come from France and are infinitely easier to use. The only problem is we bought them last year in bulk (12 packages) and we have quite a few packages left. But this is chestnut season—time to bust into those packages of chestnuts. My wife suggested using them to make chestnut soup which we made before. In addition, we found several Fuji apples in the refrigerator. We bought them sometime ago but totally forgot about them. The surface of the apple was wrinkled and looked dry. When we tasted them after peeling the wrinkled skin and surface dried parts their texture was a bit mushy but sweet, juicy and certainly edible. My wife pointed out that we didn’t have parsnips which we often use in this type of soup and she suggested using the newly recovered apples instead. So, we made chestnut soup from the packaged chestnuts and apples and garnished with some left over sautéed shallot and shiitake mushrooms. Adding the apple made this soup sweet (in a very natural way) and great. We really like this. We had this as a lunch with slices of the baguette I baked sometime ago (frozen).

I essentially winged it although I did see some recipes using chestnuts and apples on the internet

Ingredients: (made a bit over 4 cups of the soup)

100 grams of the prepared chestnuts (we used the brand called Gefen)

2 medium onions, finely chopped

1 large stalk of celery, string removed and chopped fine

2 carrots, peeled and cut into small dice

2 apples, peeled, cored and chopped in small pieces

3 cups or more chicken broth

2 tbs olive oil and 1 tbs butter

Salt and pepper to taste

Garnish: (optional)

1 medium shallot, sliced

3 large cups of fresh shiitake mushrooms, cut into half and sliced

1tbs butter and olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

In a pan on medium low flame, add the oil and butter. When it is hot and the butter is melted, add the onion and celery and sauté for a few minutes,  Add the carrots and apples and sauté for few more minutes. Add the chestnuts (crumble as you add). Add the chicken broth and simmer for 30 minutes.

Using the immersion blender or mixer, blend the vegetables, add cream (optional).

Garnish

Sauté the shallot until soft and edge is brown, add the mushrooms and cook for a few more minutes and season.

This soup is extremely good. The apple and chestnut are a perfect blend. The apple brings a fresh sweet slightly acidic sharpness while the chestnut is a deep nuttiness. The mushroom garnish is the final touch—bringing a mellow umami to the whole collection. The apple and the mushroom really made this soup special.

Enoki mushroom frittata エノキ オムレツ/フリッタータ

We like mushrooms. Our favorite is shiitake. Maitake 舞茸 or hen-of-the-woods is also great. Although it may not be one of our absolute favorites we also like enoki エノキ mushrooms and we have made many dishes using enoki mushrooms. Actually, many years ago, when we were dating, we went to a Robata-yaki restaurant in Japan town, San Francisco. One of the dishes we had was enoki wrapped in foil and grilled with miso and butter. My wife said it was first time she had enoki and later I recreated the dish many times. It was one of our favorites. In any case, this is a new enoki dish I saw on YouTube and made it for lunch one day. There appears to be some variations but it is essentially, an enoki omelet or frittata. It was really good. Since I had some roasted red pepper sauce, we added it on top and it went very well. On the side I served coleslaw and skinned Campari tomato (picture #1).

Ingredients:
1 package (200gram) fresh enoki mushroom, root ends cut and removed, separated and cut into one inch segments
3 large eggs
2 tbs “katakuri-ko” 片栗粉 potato starch
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tbs vegetable/olive oil

Directions:
In a bowl, add the enoki and the potato starch and mix to coat
Add the eggs and mix well
In a non-stick frying pan on medium low flame,  add the oil and when oil is hot, add the enoki/egg mixture, spread and flatten with spatula
Place the lid and cook for 5 minutes or longer until the bottom browns and the surface looks dry
Flip and cook the other side for another 3-4 minutes (picture#2) so that the mushroom is cooked and lighly brown
Remove from the pan and cut into wedges and serve

We had the remaining half later heated up in the microwave oven which came out very nicely. This is easy to make and we really like the texture and flavors of enoki with eggs. Interestingly the mushrooms loose their distinctive shape and meld into the egg mixture. They add a type of density to the mixture which has an unctuous mouth feel. We will make this again.

Five appetizers お通し５品

This is a plate of 5 appetizers to start the evening. Nothing particularly new but several good small dishes with quite a variety. Because of the ponzu in the eggplant dish and “ikura” salmon roe with qual eggs, we chose cold sake.

#1 Spicy (not really) marinated firm tofu ピリ辛豆腐. I usually do not get firm tofu but they did not have any other kind at the grocery store this week. I used the same marinade (soy sauce, sriracha, grated ginger and garlic, sesame oil, rice vinegar and mirin). The only variation is I coated the tofu with a mixture of AP flour and potato starch before frying. This worked well producing a crunchy crust and well seasoned center which was not too firm.

#2 Salmon kelp roll  鮭の昆布巻き. I started making this not just for New Years. This is a great appetizer We can keep it for some time in the refrigerator. It can also be reheated to last longer and with a good quality kelp (Hodaka kelp 日高昆布) which I recently got, this tastes better than before.

$3 Cold marinated eggplant 冷製レンジ茄子のポン酢漬け. This is an easier eggplant dish to make since the egg plant is cooked in the microwave oven. The bonito flakes 鰹節 topping is a must.

#4 Eggplant and shiitake stir fry with oyster sauce 茄子と椎茸のオイスターソース炒め. The addition of chopped fresh perilla leaves really makes this dish. Enjoying with a small perilla leaf adds to it.

#5 Marinated boiled quail eggs with pickled cucumber and ikura salmon roe 味付けウズラの茹卵. The quail eggs are served warm (skewered and heated up in the toaster oven). We boil fresh quail eggs rather than use canned eggs. Quail eggs have large yolks relative to the overall size of the egg. In addition the yolks have a very creamy texture even when the egg is completely cooked which we really like.

Even though these dishes are quite small they add up and are fairly filling. They are a great way to start the evening meal. 

Stir-fried Eggplant and Shiitake in Oyster Sauce 茄子と椎茸のオイスターソース炒め

This is another variation of stir-fried eggplant to which this version is very similar but I skipped a few steps to make it easier and quicker. Since we got very good fresh shiitake mushrooms which were very thick, I added to this to the stir-fry. It is difficult to see which is the eggplant and which is shiitake (Picture #1) visually but when tasting it, the differences becomes clear. The addition of the shiitake makes this dish more interesting than just eggplant. Thick, fresh shiitake almost tastes like meat. Perilla and ginger add their distinct flavors.

Ingredients: (about makes 8 small servings like seen in picture #1).
2 Japanese (Asian) eggplants (picture #2), each weighed about 110-115 grams, stem ends removed and cut into a large bite size by cutting on bias as you roll 45 degrees (“ran-giri” 乱切り)
2 fresh shiitake, large and thick, stems removed and cut into a similar size large chunks
1/2 tsp ginger root, peeled, and julienned, 
5-7 perilla leaves, finely chopped
1 tbs vegetable oil (I used peanut oil) with a splash or dark sesame oil

Seasonings:
1 tbs oyster sauce
1/2 tbs soy sauce (I used x4 Japanese noodle sauce)
1/2 tsp sugar (optional)
1 tbs Shiaoxing wine (optional)
1/3 cup chicken broth, low sodium

Directions:
In a wok, add the oil on medium high flame. When the oil is shimmering add the eggplants. Starting from the skin side cook/brown for several minutes turning as needed.
Add the shiitake and cook 2-3 minutes more.
Add the ginger and stir.
Add the wine and broth (careful it may ignite).
When the liquid starts boiling, turn down the flame to medium and add the oyster sauce, soy sauce and sugar.
Reduce the liquid a bit and add the perilla.
Check the seasoning and adjust

The combination of eggplant and shiitake work every well together with nice umami reminiscent of a meat dish. The addition of the perilla adds a nice bright taste which provides a good contrast. 

Vegetables in Cold Broth 冷製のトマトの煮浸し

Cold vegetables soaked in broth is the perfect dish for summer. I have posted cold simmered tomato and sugar snap soaked in salt broth before. I made a tomato dish similar to the one I made before but it differed because I did not simmer the tomato (Picture #1). I skinned the Campari tomato (by briefly blanching) and then soaking (but not cooking) it in the hot broth. I let it cool to room temperature and then refrigerated it. I blanched the Sugar snap then soaked it in the broth. I topped it with very briefly blanched “mitsuba ミツバ”. This preparation allows you to taste a fresher tomato flavor. The broth is also slightly sweet containing mirin and soy sauce in addition to kelp-bonito broth.

A few days later, I added simmered daikon and shiitake mushroom (picture #2, right). I also served salmon kelp roll 鮭の昆布巻き and seasoned egg or “ajitama 味玉” (left). The green is arugula sprouts which were growing in the window pot but needed to be thinned. I dressed with truffle oil.

Directions:

Vegetables I used are simmered daikon and fresh shiitake mushrooms, skinned Campari tomatoes and blanched sugar snaps. The daikon was first simmered in water with added one pinch of raw rice for 30 minutes. The seasoning broth is my usual kelp and bonito broth (I made it stronger with two dashi packs with 500ml of water) which was seasoned with mirin and soy sauce (not too strong to bring out the natural flavor of the vegetable). I did not cook the vegetable further, just placed in hot seasoned both and let it cool down and then refrigerated.

This is a very light refreshing dish to serve on a hot summer evening. The veggies have a very fresh flavor but a slightly cooked texture that make them a bit easier to eat. This is the essence of summer.

Smelt Fry シシャモフライ

Smelt and Capelin (shishamo ししゃも) are all similar small fish and often (including myself) used almost interchangeably. Rarely I see “smelt” in a U.S. grocery store with head off and gutted. In oriental grocery stores, the whole fish is sold with head, gut and roe intact. If the fish has roe, all-the-better. Weee carries frozen “smelt” (label said capelin from Canada). We tried them twice so far and they are pretty good. The only problem is that it is sold in a package of 600grams (1.3 lb) of fish frozen together. I usually manage to semi-thaw them and divide it up into three or four smaller portions (7-8 fish per pack), vacuum pack and re-freeze them. It turned out these frozen smelt/capelin are quite good, probably best for frying rather than grilling. Japanese style slightly dried Capelin may be the best for grilling.

As suggested above, two common ways of cooking are grilled or fried. Frying can be “kara-age”; fried dredged with flour/potato starch, or tempura and fry with breading. The night I cooked the capelin I was also making arancini, so I breaded the capelin and fried it. I also fried  seasoned quail eggs. In the picture, the left two objects are halved arancini, center two are capelin fry and the right round one (half buried under the capelin) is a quail egg. Some of the capelin had roe and tasted especially good. The arancini was made from left-over shiitake risotto with a center of meting Mozzarella cheese which by definition could not taste bad.

There is no recipe for the Capelin fry. Dredge in flour, place it in egg water and bread it with Panko bread crumb and deep fry in 180F oil for several minutes. We are glad to now have reliable source  of smelt/capelin.

Dassai 45 and Dassai blue comparison 獺祭45とDassai Blue 50 の飲み比べ

“Dassai” 獺祭 is a well known and popular sake in Japan and US. We like it for its very clean, fruity flavors. We used to get  “Dassai 50” daiginjo 獺祭50大吟醸. But the Dassai 50 is not sold any more. It was replaced by “Dassai 45” in 2019 (In Dassai 50, the sake rice is polished to 50% of the original volume, in Dassai 45, it is polished to 45%).  We learned that Dassai (brewed by Asahi Sake Brewery 朝日酒造 in Yamaguchi 山口県) established a sake brewery in Hyde Park, NY some years ago. However, this is the first time we obtained several bottles of  the NY-brewed sake “Dassai Blue 50”.  Interestingly, Dassai Blue is labeled as “Type 50”. I assume that indicates 50% polish like the old Dassai 50. My understanding based on an article I read,  was that they used imported Japanese “Yamada Nishiki” 山田錦 sake rice. But another source of information (again, not their website) indicated the rice is grown in Arkansas. (Further more, I would have to wonder what water source* they are using in the brewing; NY tap water, Hudson river water, or Hyde Park artesian well water???) In any case, one evening we compared Dassai blue and Dassai 45 (picture #1).

*One on-line store website indicates the sauce of the water is a “local well”. But again, this is unofficial information.

The Dassai Blue, when first tasted, has a definitive tingling/prickly sensation on the tip of the tongue. It is like very lightly effervescent. Then comes a very subtly sweet and Dassai signature fruity taste.  As it sits in the glass, the tingling character diminishes indicating indeed this might be the effervescence. The “Dassai Blue” label indicated “keep refrigerated”. I wonder if the label “keep refrigerated” means, “Blue”may be  “Nama” sake 生酒** or not heat-treated and slight fermentation happened in the bottle producing the effervescence. (Again no details are available from the brewery and these are all our conjuncture).

**Another unofficial information indicated “Blue” only had one “hi-ire” 火入れ heat-treatment instead of  usual  two (after pressing and bottling).

The Dassai 45 is a classic Dassai, clean, fruity and smooth in the mouth—no effervescence or tingly sensation.

Which one do we like better? It is hard to say. Dassai Blue’s tingling sensation is not unpleasant (we had similar effervescence in other “non-sparkling” sake). According to the label (picture #2), they are aiming to surpass Dassai brewed in Japan but not just to reproduce it. We can certainly enjoy either Dassai.

To enjoy sake, we need some “otsumami” おつまみ appetizers. For Dassai tasting, I served warm chawam-mushi with ginko nuts, shrimp, shiiitake mushroom and the garnish was our home grown fresh “mitsuba” 三つ葉 which added a nice unique flavor (left in picture #3). The center is eggplant, shiitake and wood ear mushroom brased in oyster sauce and ginger 茄子と椎茸のオイスターソース炒め. The right is garlic chive “ohitashi” ニラのお浸し topped with golded thread omelet.

In the past we tried a few US brewed sake and Dassai Blue in definitely one of the best. Only one which is in the same class is “Sho-Chiku-Bai” daiginjou 松竹梅大吟醸 brewed from California-grown “Yamada Nishiki” sake rice. But these two cannot be compared in the same way. Sho-Chiku-Bai was produced in very limited quantity, is not readily available and has a much higher price point. On the other hand, the Dassai Blue 50 is very reasonably priced and relatively widely available.