Simmered “Satoimo” taro with squid 里芋とイカの煮物

This is a variation of “simmered squid and daikon イカ大根” which I posted sometime ago. This dish came together because we had Japanese taro or satoimo 里芋 from Suzuki farm and some frozen squid from Vital Choice that needed to be used. The squid was in good condition. The bodies were cleaned and skinned. I made two dishes to use up the squid. One was squid and celery sautéed in garlic butter and the other was this dish. I used blanched Japanese “kabu” turnip greens (also from Suzuki Farm) as a garnish. It really added to this dish with its color, texture and distinctive flavor. I cooked the squid very quickly (for less than one minute. It will cook a bit more when it is combined with the satoimo in the simmering liquid). Then using the same simmering liquid, I cooked the satoimo. When it was done I combined it with the cooked squid. This is a good combination and we liked the texture of the satoimo. The squid was not chewy at all (thanks to short cooking).

Ingredients: (2 small servings)
170 gm frozen squid, thawed, legs separated and the bodies cut into rings
6 small Japanese taro “satoimo”, peeled, and soaked in water
Blanched daikon or kabu green for garnish (optional. any greenery will do such as broccoli or green beans)

Simmering liquid
1 cup Japanese broth (kelp and bonito flakes)
2 tbs or more (to taste) x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce

Directions:
Bring the simmering liquid to a simmer, add the squid and cook until color of the squid turns opaque and firms up (less than 1 minute), take it out and set aside. In the same simmering liquid add the satoimo and simmer for 15-30 minutes or until the satoimo is done (when it is tender when tested with a skewer).
Add back the cooked squid and warm them up for 20-30 seconds and serve.

This is a classic Japanese comfort dish. The squid adds a nice umami to the broth which is absorbed by the satoimo.  Japanese “kabu” turnip green also adds color as well as its unique flavor.

Table of Contents 2026

January 2026
January 1     Happy New Year 2026 明けましておめでとうございます
January 2    “Ozoni” New Year’s Soup お雑煮 2026
January 5    Osechi from Sushi Taro 2026 すし太郎のお節
January 8    Chocolate Brownie Pudding チョコレートブラウニープディング
January 11    Japanese “Kabu” Turnip Simmered in Broth 蕪の煮物
January 14    Japanese Sweet potato Blini さつまいもビィリニ
January 17    Simmered “Satoimo” taro with squid 里芋とイカの煮物
January 19    Grilled Beef Tongue 牛タンの焼肉
January 20    Persimmon in Tofu Dressing 柿の白和え
January 23    Cauliflower-puree Blini カリフラワーピュレー　ビィリニ
January 25    Gingerbread Pancakes with Date Sauce ジンジャーブレッドパンケーキ
January 26    “Bento” Lunch Box 弁当
January 29    Chestnuts and Apple Blini 栗とリンゴ味のビリニ

Small Dishes or “Sake-no-sakana” 酒の肴

This is another presentation of small dishes (#1) I served one evening as starters. They are perfect little nibbles to go with sake. On the left of the white rectangular plates are skewers of Nibuta 煮豚, marinated boiled quail egg ウズラの味玉 and Ginko nuts 銀杏. All toasted in the toaster oven and then skewered using small bamboo skewers with knots called “noshi-gushi のし串*” (The skewers were for decorative purposes and I used them just because I had them.)

Note: I did not toast/grill the food on the skewers since the bamboo skewers would burn. Instead I toaster-ovened the food and after cooked put it on the skewers for presentation.

*Noshi-gushi are a take-off of a better known item called “Noshi-bukuro のし袋”  which is the special envelope containing money given as a gift at happy/festive occasions (wedding etc) or at funerals. The envelope has two decorations; one is called “noshi” and another is called “mizuhiki 水引”. Mizuhiki is a traditional Japanese decorative knot. The knot on the “noshi-gushi” is thought to be reminiscent of the  “mizuhiki” of  the “noshi-bukuro”. Make sense? 

Here is the close up (#2) of the skewered nibuta, quail egg and ginko nuts all toasted/grilled (the ginko nuts were coated with salt before toasting). Since the noshi-gushi are very thin, the ginko nuts can be skewered without splitting them. This combination worked well. The marinated boiled quail egg had a nice creamy yolk and savory flavors from the marinade they were soaked in.  I also served “Mock tofu 擬制豆腐” (#2 right). Since I thawed “ikura イクラ” salmon roe the day before, I served some on cucumber cups (#3). I seasoned the cucumber with sweet vinegar and also added a bit of Japanese noodle sauce on the ikura. Although not shown in the picture, just before serving I garnished this with threads of dried nori seaweed or “kizami-nori 刻み海苔”.

In a small covered container resembling a miniature Japanese lidded soup bowl, I served squid shiokara イカの塩辛” (frozen in a pouch) (#4).

The variety of flavors and textures were a treat thoroughly enjoyed with our favorite house sake.

Izakaya in Sapporo Part 5 札幌の居酒屋パート5

6. Isari 酒菜家漁　いさり

北海道札幌市中央区南７条西３丁目　セブンビル1Ｆ

Seven Bldg 1F
Minami 7 Nishi 3, Chuo-ku
Sapporo

For reservation 011-551-7733, Credit card accepted, Smoking allowed

One reason we went this place is that it was located in the “Seven building セブンビル”. This building used to be a hospital with the residence attached to it. It was owned/run by a physician who happened to be the father of my good friend’s wife. The building has been converted into a commercial building housing multiple izakayas and drinking places. The last time we were inside the building, however, we spotted some institutional hallmarks of its past as a hospital such as the stairs which are characteristic of  a medical center rather than general commercial place. They were wide, solidly made of concrete with metal treads suggesting institutional strength and cleaning  Some years ago, when we were in Sapporo, we had dinner with my friend and his wife in one of the drinking places housed in the building. My friend’s wife kept us regaled with very interesting stories about growing up this building part of which was the family residence and part of which was the hospital run by her father. The front facade is very distinctive with multiple round windows. My wife notice this building while we were riding past in a taxi. When I was searching for the next izakaya to visit, this one came up. I noticed this izakaya was located on the 1st floor and could be entered at the side of the building so you wouldn’t have to go through the main part of the building (i.e. the hospital).  (This  would have been the entrance to the family residence). I decide to pay it a visit and made a reservation.

The name of this izakaya “Isari 漁り” means “to fish” in old Japanese. Only reference to “isari”  I know was “Isari-bi 漁火” which is the fire/light used to lure fish at night. In any case, the name implied seafood was the main focus of the izakaya. We got a small low table with the “leg hole” underneath.

The first round of ordering had to be done by writing our orders on a small slip of paper. I am not sure what was the purpose of this but I obliged. Since assorted sashimi often included items we, especially my wife, did not particularly like (such as chewy octopus or sinewy white fish), we decide to order individual sashimi items which was a good choice. The sashimi was served on a bed of ice (#1). Tuna, hamachi and, especially ama-ebi sweet shrimp were really good. (We were tempted to have the shrimp heads fried).

We also ordered “kaki-age of white shrimp* 白海老のかき揚げ*” . But the last of the white shrimp had apparently been ordered by the customer at the next table so they were out of it.  The server suggested “seafood kaki-age” instead. It was a bit greasy but quite good with small scallops and shrimp. We also had “dried hotaru ika 干しホタルイカ”or firefly squid which was served slightly grilled with a side of mayo with red pepper flakes (#2). We really liked this especially since it was a bit late for the fresh hotaru-ika season**. When we took the picture (#2), we had already eaten most of the squid. We like it so much we even ordered seconds.

* “Shiro-ebi or shira-ebi” is small transparent shrimp exclusively harvested in Toyama bay 富山湾 where hotaru-ika is also famous. 

**When we were in kanazawa 金沢 this time, hotaru-ika season had just ended and we could not have fresh ones. Instead we bought dried hotaru-ika at Oomi market 近江市場. We tried it as is with a bit of sake but it was rather fishy. This rendition was much better.

This place surpassed our expectation. We will come back but next time at the counter.

Izakaya in Sapporo Part 1 札幌の居酒屋パート1

We went from Tokyo to Sapporo by train rather than plane. We rode the Hokkaido Shinkansen 北海道新幹線 from Tokyo to Shin-Hakodate Hokuto 新函館北斗. (We rode the Hokkaido Shinkansen for the first time in 2017 from Oomiya 大宮 to Shin-Hakodate since we started in Niigata 新潟.) Initially I thought we would have to take a shuttle train from Shin-Hakodate back to Hakodate to catch the limited express narrow gauge “zairai sen 在来線” train to Sapporo. Then I discovered a zairai sen actually went through Shin-Hakodate. So all we had to do was get from the shinkansen platform to the zairai sen platform to get the limited express Hokuto 北斗 to our final destination Sapporo 札幌 (my home town).

We didn’t have much time, however, to get from one platform to the other at Shin-Hakodate. But we would essentially be on the train all day so we would need some food for the trip. The question was what to do about ekiben 駅弁? Should we get some in Tokyo or at Shin-Hakodate? We decided, we would not have enough time to buy ekiben  at Hakodate, so we bought two in Tokyo. It was a good thing we did because we just made the transition between the two platforms in time; if we had stopped to get an ekiben we would have missed our train.  Purchasing those two ekibens, however,  required a bit of effort. We were leaving Tokyo early in the morning and it was too early for the ekiben stores on the basement floor of the department store connected to the station to be open. Still, we got two decent ekiben from a small kiosk in front of the SevenEleven which was open. They came with an advisory that they needed to be consumed by 1 PM that day for safety reasons. We were able to comply by eating them just after we took off to Sapporo from Shin-Hakodate just making 1 PM deadline.

1.  Yakitori-no- Ippei Sappro Minani 4 Store 焼き鳥の一平南4条店

札幌市中央区南4条西3丁目9-1 12Mビル3階

12M bldg 3F
Minami 4, Nishi 3, Chuo-ku, Sapporo

For reservation: 011-281-0006, Credit card accepted, Smoking allowed

Since we were in Hokkaido, I thought going to a yakitori-ya 焼き鳥屋  that specialized in “Muroran” yakitori 室蘭焼き鳥 was appropriate. Muroran is a port town located south east of Sapporo about one and half hours by car or train. It had been famous for its steel industry but now it has been in decline. My mother’s relatives including her (my grand-) parents lived in the Muroran area and I remember visiting them as a small child, although I was too young for yakitori. Muroran yakitori differs from regular yakitori because it is made with pork and onion rather than chicken and negi scallion and side of yellow mustard

Later I learned that this izakaya is a family company started in Muroran with multiple stores in Muroran, Sapporo and other places in Hokkaido. There are two stores in Sapporo and the one we went is the smaller of the two.

It is located very close to the main Susukino intersection (picture above). We first tried Muroran yakitori (pork and onion). It came with yellow mustard. It was very good. We also ordered chicken yakitori. We had “shiro-reba or white liver which is sort of foi gras of chicken. It was soft in texture and something we have never tasted before. (We usually have and like regular chicken liver.) Besides yakitori, we tried some fried dishes. One of the recommended items was grilled shell-on boiled quail eggs 殻付きウズラの炭火焼き. I was tempted but was not sure how the shell could be eaten. One of the young customers sitting next to us ordered it and started crunching. I asked how it was. He said hard but good. We also had “cheese karikari-age” チーズのカリカリ揚げ or crunchy fried cheese (picture below). It was very good but appeared to be a  premade frozen product since we encountered exactly the same item at another izakaya. We had a dish of fried squid and ama-ebi which was also very good. We finished with “Nasu-yaki” a grilled eggplant. This was a variation of “Yaki-nasu 焼きなす”. It came with a small bowl full of bonito flakes. 

2. Susukino Kaisen Izakaya Kobachi すすきの海鮮居酒や小鉢

札幌市中央区南6条西4-1-11 TM 29 1F

TM-29 bldg 1F
Minami 6 Nhishi 4, Chuo-ku
Sapporo

For reservation 011-533-6555, Credit card accepted Smoking allowed

Judging from reviews and photos, this place is run by a chef who specializes in fresh seafood and is famous for live squid and crabs. When I called to make a reservation, I was told that they didn’t have any live squid today which was fine with us (we had live squid sashimi in Hakodate 函館 some years ago. We are not really sure if we like “live” squid sashimi.) In any case, this place was on the first floor of a small building. The entrance was far in the back after you enter the building.  Our expectations were high for some nice Hokkaido sourced seafood. We sat at a small table and across from us was a semi-private room with the sliding doors open. Four or 5 middle aged men were feasting literally; cult sake, crabs etc. The chef and his wife were appropriately paying close attention. In any case, we started with sake and assorted sashimi. The wife (waitress) recommend a few sakes which were pretty good. 

The chef himself delivered the sashimi for us and explained the various items. A few of them he specially prepared and recommended we enjoy them without the addition of any soy sauce. We also had sea urchin in salt water 塩水うに which, even though from Hokkaido, was not that special. The rest of the sashimi was good but not outstanding. We had some grilled fish and fried oysters. I am sure we had some more. The place was very smoky (thanks to guys in the semi private room). The sake and food were basically good.

Bottarga/Karasumi Taste Test 日本の唐墨とサルジニアのボタルガの味比べ

We enjoyed the fresh uni and karasumi 唐墨 from Maruhide 丸秀 a few days ago. We decided that while we still had some of the karasumi left, we would get some Sardinian bottarga and have a taste test. The last time we tried Sardinian bottarga was 11 years ago. The brand we bought back then was called bottarga Di Muggine from L’Oro di Cabras, Sardinia, Italy. We tried another one this time. The one we got is called “Sardinian Gold” from “Bottarga Brothers” through Amazon market place (picture #1, right). In terms of the price, the karasumi is 3.5 times more expensive than the bottarga. The color of this bottarga is about the same as the karasumi. I remembered that the bottarga we previously bought was darker in color and stronger in taste compared to Japanese karasumi I had eaten back then. The information brochure that came with the bottarga we just bought stated that when bottarga is exposed to air, the color it becomes darker and the taste becomes stronger.  So, to prevent that from happening, I separated the sacs and vacuum packed one for later use.

I sliced both and slightly toasted them. We had them with cold sake. In the picture #2, the left is karasumi and the right is bottarga. As you can see the bottarga is larger in size but the color is exactly the same. Both tasted good and about the same. We like this “Sardinian bottarga gold”.

Of course we needed some more items to go with the sake. In the picture #3, from left to right are karasumi/bottarga, squid shiokara イカの塩辛, Russian marinated salmon 鮭のロシア漬 with pickled cucumber topped with ikura, and daikon namasu 大根なます with slices of boiled octopus leg and also topped with ikura. The boiled octopus legs came from Weee (originated from China). This is excellent and as close as I can think of to a Japanese prepared boiled octopus leg. All these small dishes went so well with cold sake.

*Digression Alert: Although Sardinian bottarga is most well known, other cultures also make similar fish roe (usually gray mullet roe), salt cured and then dried under the sun. A small pamphlet came with our bottarga included the other types of bottarga the company sells which included Greek, Egyptian, French (two kinds) and Brazilian.  Japan, Korea and Chinese also make their versions.

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.

Table of contents 2024

January 2024
January 1,    Happy New Year 2024 明けましておめでとう2024 
January 5,    Tomato and Egg Stir-fry with Wood Ear and Natto 納豆、トマト、木耳の卵炒め
January 22,   Goat Cheese Scallion Muffin ゴートチーズと青葱マフィン
January 25,   White "Pineberry" and Red "Koyo" Stawberries 白いイチゴと昂揚イチゴ
January 28,   Beef with Kon-nyaku and Vegetable "Kimpira" Stir Fry 牛肉と蒟蒻の金平

February 2024
February 3,     Chestnut Brown Butter, Sage Muffin 栗の粉とセイジマフィン
February 8,     Grated Lotus Root and Tofu Ball レンコン豆腐饅頭
February 11,    Sweet Onion Bread Pudding 玉ねぎのブレッドプデｨング
February 15,    Shad Roe from South Carolina 南カロライナからのシャドロウ
February 18,    Cranberry Camembert Cheese Bites クランベリーソース、カマンベールチーズ　バイツ
February 21,    Simmered Shad Roe with Vegetables シャドロウの煮付け
February 24,    Shad Roe Pasta  シャドロウパスタ
February 27,    Pickled Cucumber キュウリの漬物

March 2024
March 1,    “Maitake” Hen of the Woods Mushroom in Brown Butter and Sage 焦がしバターとセイジ風味舞茸
March 4,    Instant Pot BBQ Baby Back Ribs バーベキューベイビーバックリブ
March 7,    Salted Oatmeal Cookie 塩味オートミールクッキー
March 10,  Lobster Salad ロブスターサラダ
March13,    “Roman” Gnocchi ローマンニョキ
March 22,   Duck Tender Cutlet and Arancini 鴨ささ身のカツレツ
March 25,   Mary Walsh’s Currant Cake マリーウオルシュのカラントケーキ
March 28,   St. Patrick’s Day Dinner, Lamb Chops and Cabbage with bacon セントパトリックのディナー

April 2024
April 6,    Pumpkin “Kabocha” salad カボチャのサラダ
April 10,    Mini Fruit Galettes ミニフルーツガッレト 
April 21,    Spinach Soufflé (easy version) ほうれん草のスフレ 
April 30,    Frangipane Rolls フランジパンロール 

May 2024
May 13,    Pickled Micro Cucumber and Daikon 小さなキュウリと大根のピクルス 
May 15,    Steamed Carrot Buns with Ginger Custard 人参蒸しパン生姜カス... 
May 18,    Braised Eggplant with Oyster Sauce 茄子と椎茸のオイスターソース炒め
May 21,    Creamed Spinach with Cauliflower Puree カリフラワーピュレのク
May 24,    Anchovy Salad アンチョビサラダ
May 27,    Daikon Steak and Two Appetizers 大根ステーキ
May 30,    Focaccia Bread Baked in Breville Pizzaiolo Indoor Pizza Oven 

June 2024
June 2,    Steak and 2004 Joseph PhelpさんInsignia ステーキデｨナーと2004 インシグニア
June 5,    Gyoza made with New Round Gyoza Skin 日本風の餃子の皮で作った餃子 
June 8,    Filled Wool Bread 毛糸のパン 
June 11,    Shrimp Shumai 海老焼売 
June 14,    Pumpernickel Boule ドイツ黒パン 
June 17,    Ice Breaker “Summer” Sake 玉川アイスブレイカー酒 
June 20,    Carrot Panna Cotta 搾りたて人参ジュースのパナコタ
June 23,    Miso-marinated Firefly Squid ホタルイカの味噌焼き 
June 26,    Wood Ear Mushroom and Wakame Salad 木耳とわかめの和物 
June 29,    Nine “Otoshi” Appetizers お通し九種類

July 2024
July 2,    Egg roll 春巻き
July 5,    Red and Green Udon “Pasta” with Prosciutto 生ハムのせ赤と緑のうどんパスタ
July 8,    Pizza Made in Indoor Electric “Pizzaiolo” Pizza Oven 
July 11,    Garlic Chive Dumpling ニラ頭饅 or 韮菜万頭
July 14,    Mitsuba ミツバ 
July 17,    Dassai 45 and Dassai blue comparison 獺祭45とDassai Blue 50 飲み比べ 
July 28,    Cucumber in soy sauce 胡瓜の醤油漬け
July 31,    Tofu, Egg and Garlic Chives Stir Fry 豆腐ニラ玉、木耳入り

August 2024
August 9,    Home Coffee Roasting 緑コーヒー豆の自家焙煎 
August 12,    Icelandic Pumpernickel (Rye) Bread アイスランドのライ麦パン

September 2024
September 2,    Smelt Fry シシャモフライ
September 5,    Pesto Blini ペストビリニ 
September 8,    Yakitori de le Canard 鴨ささみで焼き鳥 
September 11,    Vegetables in Cold Broth 冷製のトマトの煮浸し 
September 14,    Pesto Blini Prosciutto Cheese Sandwich ペストビリニの生ハムチーズサンド
September 17,    Chicken Tender Fry with Salted Plum Sauce and Perilla ささみの梅大葉揚げ 
September 21,    Simmered Dried Daikon Threads 切り干し大根の煮物 
September 24,    Fresh Corn Blini コーンビリニ 
September 27,    Stir-fried Eggplant and Shiitake in Oyster Sauce 茄子と椎茸のオイスターソース炒め... 
September 30,    Mashed Potato Blini マシュポテトのビリニ

October 2024
October 3,    Five appetizers お通し５品
October  10,    Hen-of-the-Woods Grilled Cheese 舞茸のチーズ焼き
October 13,    Strawberry Blini いちごビリニ 
October 16,    Enoki mushroom frittata エノキ　オムレツ/フリッタータ 
October 19,    Kabocha salad カボチャサラダ 
October 22,    Matsutake (from Weee) Touban-yaki 松茸の陶盤焼き 
October 25,    Black Cod Marinated in Saikyo miso 銀鱈の西京(味噌)焼き
October 28,    Egg-wrapped Kabocha カボチャの黄金焼き 
October 31,    Almond Olive Oil Cake アーモンドオリーブオイルケーキ

November 2024
November 3,    Hiyaoroshi Sake Dewanoyuki “Sho-nai Bijin” 出羽ノ雪　冷やおろし庄内美人
November 6,    Hiyaoroshi Sake “Shichi Hon Yari” 七本槍　純米ひやおろし 
November 9,    Prosciutto-wrapped Haddock 生ハム巻きハドック (コダラ) 
November 12,    Marinated Chicken Tender Cutlet 鳥のささみのカツレツ
November 15,    Crispy Enoki Mushroom エノキのパリパリ焼き
November 18,    Bagel ベーグル 
November 21,    Chestnut Apple Soup クリとリンゴのスープ 
November 24,    Norwegian Mackerel Teriyaki 冷凍ノルウエイ鯖の照り焼き 
November 27,    “Imo-ni” Stew famous in Yamagata 芋煮庄内風 
November 30,    Matsutake and beef cooked in an Aluminum Foil Pouch 松茸と牛肉のフォイル焼き

December 2024
December 8,    Chestnut olive oil bread 栗とオリーブオイルケーキ
December 11,    Marinated Tofu and Egg Sir fry 味付け豆腐の卵炒め 
December 16,    Braised daikon with carrot, wood ear, and fried tofu 大根と人参の炒め物
December 19,    “Taco Carnitas”-ish タコ カルニタもどき
December 21,    Tofu in Warm Broth ミニ湯豆腐

Root Vegetable Stew 根菜の煮しめ

“Nishime” or “Nitsuke” 煮付け, 煮しめ is a type of traditional Japanese cooking method in which food items are simmered in seasoned broth. I have posted many variations mainly based on what was simmered in the seasoned broth. I understand that there are differences between “Nishime” and “Nituske” but that is too esoteric for me. The broth can be based on either vegetarian (kelp, dried mushroom and vegetables) or more commonly including  bonito flakes, kelp, and other dried fish. The basic seasonings are soy sauce, mirin, sake or sometimes sugar. Food items in nitsuke could be vegetables especially root vegetables, mushrooms, fish cakes, tofu, chicken or fish. I made this because I had a package of boiled renkon lotus root 蓮根 which I needed to use. I also got assorted frozen fish cakes for oden and boiled frozen “satoimo” 里芋 taro root (this is the first time I got this, I usually get fresh ones and prepare them myself) and also a package of “shirataki” noodles tied into a knot called “musubi-shirataki” 結び白滝.  Using these ingredients, I made this without much effort. It was nothing special but a homey, gentle and comforting dish. The picture below shows daikon (left), renkon (center), satoimo (bottom left), fish cake (bottom righ). I also added blanched green beans and carrot.

The layer below shows three different kinds of fish cakes (straight chikuwa ちくわ), chikuwa with squid ika-chikuwa イカちくわ, ganmodoki がんもどき(all cut in half) and a knot of shirataki “musubi-shirataki 結び白滝”. Please notice, the taro “satoimo” is perfectly shaped since this is frozen packaged one.

Using prepared vegetables and assorted fish cakes, makes it much easier to make this dish. Beside using prepackaged items, the recipe is essentially the same as I previously posted.

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.

Clam Chowder 子ハマグリのチャウダー

 Recently while talking to my wife’s sister, she mentioned that she had made clam chowder using frozen baby clams. In the past, we used canned baby clams to make clam sauce for pasta as well as chowder. We always avoided using canned chopped clams which were very chewy and rubbery. Since we could not get our preferred brand of canned whole baby clams, we have not made either pasta sauce or chowder for a long time. We checked our regular grocery store (home delivery) and found that they carry frozen baby clams from Pana Pesca. We have had frozen squid and octopus from them before. We decided to try the clams. Around the same time, I came across YouTube video of New England clam chowder by Kenji Lopez-Alt. So it appeared that all the stars and the moon were aligned for me to make clam chowder. I made a chowder based on Kenji’s and my old recipes. I used a strip of bacon and used the bacon bits and chopped parsley as garnish.

The baby clams are pretty good and the best among the PanaPesca frozen seafood we tried.

Ingredients:
10.6oz (300gram) frozen baby clams, thawed and juice preserved
One medium onion, finely chopped
3 stalks of celery, finely chopped
1/4 cup of AP flour
2 bay leaves
5-6 baby red potatoes, peeled and cut into small dice
1 medium carrot, peeled and cut into small dice
1-2 strips of bacon (or salt pork)
2, 8oz bottles of clam juice
2 cups or less whole milk (amount adjusted based on the thickness of the chowder you like)
3 tbs olive oil + 1 tbs butter
Salt and pepper to taste
Fino sherry (optional)

Directions:
In a soup pot, add the bacon and cook until crispy and set it aside leaving bacon fat in the pot.
Add the butter and oil and sauté the celery and onion until cooked but not browned (4-5 minutes on medium to low flame. I also seasoned this with salt and pepper)
Add the flour and cook for a few minutes (do not brown), add the clam juice and about1 cup of milk and stir on medium flame until thickened add more milk to adjust the thickness to your taste.
Add the bay leaves, the clams and simmer for 7-8 minutes.
Meanwhile cook the potato and carrot in a separate pot in salted water (I would have cooked the potato and carrot in the same pot in which chowder was cooking but I took the suggestion from Kenji to cook them separately so that the potatoes would not dissolve).
Drain the potato and carrot and add to the chowder.
Season with salt and pepper (you could use white pepper but I used black pepper)

For garnish, I crumbled the bacon strips and finely chopped the parsley
I also added a small amount of Fino sherry to the bottom of the soup bowl.

We were quite pleased with the quality of the clams. We had this as a lunch with several slices of rustic apricot cranberry bread which went very well.

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.

Tender simmered octopus たこの柔らか煮

I have to admit that I really like octopus (tako) and am on a constant prowl to find places to get decent tako. I have gotten octopus from a few different places with varying success and I’ve cooked it several different ways over the years. Among the seafood vendors, recently, we have been getting fairly good frozen  seafood from  Great Alaska Seafood . This time, they were selling frozen Spanish octopus legs and we tried them. (At another time, they were also selling Alaskan octopus -uncooked and frozen- but we did not try it.) The legs were from Spanish octopus, boiled and frozen (see the picture 2nd from the last below). It came as 4 pounds of octopus in 8 half pound vacuumed sealed packages. After thawing a package in the refrigerator, I thinly sliced it and tasted it. It was fresh tasting but compared to Japanese products, it was much softer. So I decided the first dish I would make would be simmered octopus  or “Tako-no-yawaraka-ni” 蛸の柔らか煮 literally meaning “tender simmered octopus”.  I tried this before with tako from other sources and despite long simmering, the octopus never got really tender. This time I have two elements which would make this dish successful; 1. This particular octopus had been pre-cooked before we received it and it was much more tender than the boiled and frozen octopus I tried before and 2. I now have a Instant pot which allows me to make this dish using pressure cooking. The combination of these factors resulted in a dish that was quite a success. The octopus was very tender and flavorful. 

I served this with fried shrimp heads (they were from Tako Grill takeout). Whenever we have shrimp (“bonanebi“ 牡丹海老) sashimi, we get fried heads which we heat up in the toaster oven and serve with wedges of lemon and salt broth soaked sugar snaps. On the right in the picture below is squid shiokara イカの塩辛 (frozen which comes in a plastic pouch). This is certainly a good line-up for starting the evening.

Here is the close up of the octopus.

The picture below shows how the octopus legs came. Two good sized legs in one package.

Since this was a trial, I used only one leg for this dish.

Ingredients:
Boiled octopus leg, thawed
200ml Japanese dashi (I made this from dashi pack).
1tbs soy sauce
2tbs mirin
2tbs sake
several think ginger slices

Directions:
I used an Instant pot with a small metal container insert with a silicon lid (you could use the inner pot of the instant pot).
I added the octopus and the seasoning liquid into the insert and put on the lid.
I added 1/2 cup water to the pot and using the metal holder that came with the insert, lowered it into the instant pot.
I cooked it on high pressure for 30 minutes with natural depressurization.
The picture below is after cooking.
One of the problems with the Instant Pot cooking is that the simmering liquid does not reduce at all.
So I decided to put the leg and the simmering liquid in a frying pan and cook it on medium flame for 15-20 minutes until the liquid reduced by half.

I cut the leg into bite sized pieces and served it at  room temperature. This is a most tender and flavorful octopus leg. Next time I will make a larger amount since the entire leg was just enough for two small servings.

Home-made Ricotta cheese marinated in scallion Jalapeño sauce

When my wife made Ricotta cheese, she served it with the scallion jalapeño sauce I made for the potato and squid dish.  Then she suggested marinating the cheese in the sauce. So I made a larger amount and my wife cut the cheese into small blocks and marinated it (see the last picture).  Comapred to just topping the cheese with the sauce, this was much more flavorful. The oil penetrated the cheese and tasted better and over time, the flavor became richer.  Excess sauce/oil, however, puddled on the bottom of the plate (as shown in the following picture).

So my wife immediately came up with the idea of serving the marinated cheese on squares of toasted bread to soak up the flavored oil (shown in the next picture). This was great. (She cut the ears off the bread when making the bread sqaures. She even soaked these pieces in the flavored oil). The combination of the crunch of the bread, the softness and slight saltiness of the cheese all permeated with the flavor of good olive oil, scallion and jalapeño worked out well. 

This is how these marinading cheese blocks looked.

For scallion jalapeño oil/sauce.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Extra virgin olive oil
3 scallions finely chopped
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and deveined, finely chopped (leave veins if you like hot).
salt to taste

We kept this in the refrigerator. After a days, the flavor got better. This goes well with red wine.

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.