Chicken and chestnuts stew 鶏肉と栗の煮込み

For some years we have gotten fresh North American chestnuts from California. It is a lot of work to peel/clean chestnuts. It is particularly hard to remove the internal brown membrane or “shibukawa” 渋皮 that extends into the meat of the chestnut and is a particular characteristic of North American chestnuts.  The chestnuts we got from California last year were a bit disappointing. They were kind of dry and chalky. So this year we got prepared chestnuts in a jar. According to the label they appear to have been packaged/processed in France but the chestnuts themselves originated in unspecified EU countries. It said “roasted chestnuts” but in fact they were steamed. When we opened the jar, many of the chestnuts were fragmented with a few whole intact chestnuts tucked in at the top. They were not sweetened and tasted fairly good with nice texture**. So I decided use the chestnuts for this stew dish I saw on line. Since I had leftover daikon and burdock root I need to use up this recipe was a perfect choice. Although the recipe calls for “renkon” 蓮根 lotus root, I did not have it. I made this one weekend morning and served this as a lunch with kinpira-gobou 金平牛蒡 and rice.

**Interestingly, my wife discovered while eating the dish I made that several of the chestnuts indeed had the internal  brown membrane. These membranes were left in the nut and the nut was just processed as if they weren’t there. It was a rather unpleasant surprise to bite down unexpectedly on the hard shell-like substance. After that she recommended checking the chestnuts as they come out of the jar and if necessary dismantling them to remove any membrane left. We saw this as a sloppy element of the processing. 

Not all the items I put in the dish are seen in the picture. I also put in konjack or konnyaku こんにゃく．The seasoning is typical Japanese but the kobou flavor comes through strongly. While simmering, the chestnuts broke into large chunks but tasted good.

According to the recipe the chicken was to be cooked in water with sake and scallion before adding to the rest of the ingredients. I would have just put the cut up chicken into the stew. I suppose this extra process would reduce “chicken-ness”.

Ingredients (at least 4 fairly good size servings).
For pre-cooking of the chicken
Two chicken thigh, bone removed (I left the skin on) .
2 tbs sake
2 scallions
several slices of ginger
12000 ml water

For stew
2-3 inch daikon, peeled, cut into 1/2 inch thick rounds and then quarters
2-3 carrots, peeled and cut into bite sized pieces (“rangiri” 乱切り cut at 45 degree angle as you rotate the carrot)
1/2 “gobou” burdock root, skin scraped off using the back of the knife and also cut into bite sized pieces using “rangiri”
2 inch long renkon, skin peeled and cut into 1/4 inch thick half moon (I did not have renkon).
1/2 Konnyaku, torn into small bite sized pieces by hand (irregular shapes increase the surface areas), parboiled and drained
10-15 parboiled green beans
12-15 chestnuts (original recipe calls for roasted and sweetened chestnuts called “Tenshin amaguri” 天津甘栗.

For cooking liquid
250ml of the water in which the chicken was cooked
250ml dashi broth
100ml sake
3 tbs mirin
3 tbs soy sauce
1-2 slices of ginger cut into julienne

Directions:
For pre-cooking the chicken
Add the sake, ginger and scallion to the water and let it come to a boil then place the chicken into the water.
Turn down the flame to simmer and let it cook for 5 minutes and then turn off the flame. Let it stand for 15 minutes (the original instructions said cook for15 minutes but I thought that would be overcooking especially since the chicken will be simmered again with the vegetables).
Take out the chicken and cut into bite sizes pieces.
Keep the water which was used for cooking the chicken to  cook the vegetables.

For stew
Add the chicken cooking liquid to a pan
Add the chicken, vegetables and konnyaku
Cook them on medium high flame
Once it starts boiling, turn down to simmer, add the chestnuts and cook for 20 minutes.
Add the green beans in the last 5 minutes.

This has a typical Japanese flavor profile. I am not sure pre-cooking the chicken is necessary. The prepared chestnuts had a natural sweetness and the entire dish was really nice if not outstanding. The quality of the jarred chestnuts was not the best we have ever had but it was still a lot easier then trying to process the raw chestnuts and tasted better too. 

Matsutake from Maine メイン州からの松茸

We have been getting fresh Matsutake from the Oregon mushroom for many years and I have made all the dishes I can think of. This year when I looked on their web site matsutake was listed “out of stock”. So I decided to look into alternatives sources. I found fresh matsutake available from Maine at a site called  “Foraged”. It appears this is the web hub for individual foragers. I ordered some matsutake from the site and ours came from a forager in Bangor, ME. One of the forager’s ad even states “Picked to order”. I did not know Maine has matsutake (I know Oregon and Colorado produced North American Matsutake). Oregon mushroom has different grades for matustake and I have been getting “grade #1” which has unopened caps. “The Foraged” did not have different grades.  As shown in the picture below what arrived were large with opened caps (These are after I cleaned). 

Because of the open caps and gills, it is a bit more difficult to clean and also had more “worm holes” than the ones from the Oregon mushroom.

I had posted all matsutake dishes I can think of as I mentioned earlier. I prepared the classic dishes from the Maine matsutake such as “Matsutake rice” and “Grilled matustake on a toban yaki grill”.

This Maine matutake had good flavor and we had a "Matsutake feast" one evening which included  "Matsutake toban-grill” 松茸の陶板焼き, "chawan-mushi" 松茸の茶碗蒸し, "Dobinmushi-like soup" 松茸の土瓶蒸しもどき and ended with "Matsutake rice" 松茸ご飯 . 

The below are the first group of matsutake dishes. Since I could not get a Japanese citrus called “Sudachi” スダチ, which is typically used with matsutake dishes, I used wedges of lime which is closest among the readily available citrus.

I cooked touban-yaki on the stove with the lid on so the matsutake grilled and steamed at the same time keeping the aroma in. I happended to get shell-on ginko nuts or “ginnan” 銀杏 from Tako Grill, which I prepared a few days before, I coated the nuts with salt and grilled them with the matsutake. 

This chawan-mushi is mostly matsutake and a few ginko nuts and shelled edamame, and small chunks of shrimp. I also added chopped chives since I had it.

I also served edamame.

Then, I served the matsutake soup somewhat like a traditional “dobin-mishi” but since I do not have proper "dobin" 土瓶 I made dobin-mushi -like soup in a mini-donabe.

For the broth, I made #1 broth or "ichiban dashi" using kelp and bonito flakes. I also added steamed renkon ball, shrimp, daikon, carrot, shelled edamame and ginko nuts.

The matsutake-rice was prepared the night before. So I just microwave but it came back really nicely. So we think this feast did justice to the celebration of autumnal dishes ushering in the new season. 

Tofu and egg stir fry 炒り豆腐もどき

 I have been making small Izakaya dishes recently but nothing new to post for a while. One evening, we wanted one more small dish. When I surveyed the fridge, I found somewhat fragmented silken tofu which was leftover from  making “Age-dashi tofu” 揚げ出し豆腐 the other day. Also I found the remainder of “name-ko” ナメコ mushroom after I made “nameko and tofu miso soup”なめこの味噌汁. So, I came up with this dish.  I got the idea from a standard Japanese tofu dish called “Irido-fu” 炒り豆腐 but added an egg and the seasoning is more for drinking snack than a side dish you have with rice.

It came out better than I expected. I topped this dish with chopped chive since I had some. 

Ingredients:
1/2 silken tofu, water partially pressed (fragmented tofu works)
1 egg, beaten
Mushroom, arbitrary amount, sliced large ones such as shiitake (any mushrooms will work such as shimeji, shiitake but I happened to have name-ko mushroom from a can. I rinsed them in a colander to remove viscous liquid).
1 tsp neutral oil such as Canola.
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp concentrated noodle sauce (or soy sauce)
1/4 tsp grated ginger root
1 tbs chopped chive

Directions:
In a frying pan, add the oil and tofu. Stir. The tofu will further fragment and get somewhat dry (at least no exuding moisture), add the salt and the egg and the mushroom, stir until egg is cooked. Add the ginger and noodle sauce and stir until no liquid remains. Serve with the chopped chive immediately. If not adequately seasoned add soysauce or more noddle sauce,

The consistency of the tofu and scrambled egg is similar and the tofu assumes the taste of the egg. This is  a good way of enjoying egg taste without much egg. This went rather well with cold sake we were enjoying.

“Hoshigaki” (dried persimmon) muffins 干し柿マフィン

 We bought dried persimmon or "hoshigaki" 干し柿 from Japan through the Japanese taste. We ate some and made a few small dishes. Although they were still good they were not getting any younger in the refrigerator, so we decided to make a concerted effort to use them. My wife tried to find recipes for dried persimmon on the U.S. (English language) internet and there seemed to be a few for fresh persimmon but basically none for dried aside from ‘eat them as-is for a snack.’ In contrast I found numerous recipes for dried persimmon on the Japanese internet. (I guess they are used more commonly in Japan.) In the dried fig stuffed muffins blog, my wife warned that a variation on the recipe using dried persimmon could be in the future so she decided to make good on her threat and use a variation of that recipe for the persimmon muffins.  Since many of the Japanese recipes paired dried persimmon with rum as a hydrating agent my wife decided there must be a good reason that combination appeared so consistently so she decided to use rum too. These muffins were very good. Since we used rum to flavor and loosen up the hoshigaki, the muffins were a bit rummy/boozy but had a nice subtle sweetness and texture.  These could also be a very nice dessert.

Ingredients (hoshigaki stuffing):

1 lb dried persimmon (#1 they are dusty white from the sugar that came out) trimmed and chopped
1 cup rum 

Directions (for hoshigaki stuffing)
Carefully remove the seeds (#2), some had seeds and some did not.
Finely chop (they are sticky and it is not very easy but using the heavy chef's knife, I was able to finely chop them.  The final weight was about 390 grams which made the stuffing for 17 muffins and some leftover).
In a small sauce pan, add the chopped hoshigaki and the rum and gently heat/mix.
Using a submersible blender, further chop it fine but not completely pasty (#3).

Ingredients: (For muffin batter)
2 1/2 cup AP flour

1 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
2  tsp baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter melted and cooled
1 cup sugar plus 2 Tbs. molasses (original recipe calls for dark brown sugar)
1/2 cup honey
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups rum

Directions:
Liberally grease the muffin tins (or use paper muffin cups #4). In a large bowl mix the dry ingredients. In another bowl mix the wet ingredients. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Add half the dough to the bottom of the muffin cups. Top with the fig mixture. Don’t let the fig mixture touch the side of the muffin cups (#4). Top the fig mixture with the remaining half of the dough (#5). Bake in a 400 degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown. Let cool for about 5 minutes and remove from the tins to a cooling rack.

The hoshigaki-stuffing made a really nice and unique muffin. The butter used in the dough really came through in the final product and surprisingly the butter flavor really complemented the rum flavor. The flavor combination of dried persimmon, butter and rum really worked well together. (Those Japanese recipes really knew the right flavor combination to use with dried persimmon). Since my wife used rum, the muffins were slightly boozy; maybe not the breakfast choice for everyone (although no problem for us) they would be perfect for dessert.

Potato and pork curry 馬鈴薯と豚肉のカレー

 This is one of my wife’s curry projects. Since we are now buying bone-in big pieces of pork (either butt or shoulder) which I divide up into one large roast (for cooking in Weber grill), one small roast (to make pot-roasted pork or “nibuta”). I cut up the remaining odd pieces and cook them in a chicken broth and then task my wife to come up with some kind of curry/stew. This is her variation (instead of lamb, she used pork) on a recipe in a cookbook by Madhur Jaffrey called “Indian Cooking”. I forgot to take a serving picture of this curry before we finished it. I love having these curries over rice especially for lunch. She makes it “spicy” as in many spices but not spicy hot.

Ingredients:
2 to 3 onions peeled and chopped
1 to 2 jalapeño chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1 tbs. ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp. Ground turmeric
1/4 tsp. Cayenne pepper
2 tsp. Salt
2 to 3 peeled fresh tomatoes (or to taste)
5 to 6 small round red potatoes peeled and cut into bite sized cubes.
Several cups of pork trimmings previously cooked with the liquid they were cooked in.

Directions:
Sauté the onions until they are wilted and partially caramelized. Add the garlic and jalapeño and cook them until they become fragrant. Add the spices (the picture below) and bloom them until they become fragrant. Add the tomatoes, potatoes and the pork along with the liquid from cooking the pork. Cook for about 30 minutes or until the potatoes are done.

This was a very satisfying curry. The potatoes absorbed the flavor of the spices and made a good addition. The pork was tender and tasted wonderful in the combination of spices. This dish had a lot of flavor which unfolded in various levels but was not too hot. 

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.

Home-made cheese 自家製リコッタチーズ

My wife has been making yogurt and buttermilk ever since we couldn’t get them for a while during covid. Recently after making the supply of yogurt and buttermilk she found she had over estimated how much milk she needed and had about a half gallon left over. Since it was getting close to it’s expiration date she decided to use it to make ricotta cheese. She made the cheese then pressed it to make a more firm block. We served it with a jalapeño scallion sauce I made recently. Later we cut the block into squares and marinated the cheese in the sauce. Yum!

Ingredients:
1/2 gallon of whole milk
1/3 cup vinegar (she used sushi vinegar)
(The recipe also suggests the juice from one or two lemons, or 1/2 tsp citric acid)
1 tsp salt (or more to taste)

Suggested additions:

Add 1 1/2 tsp salt to curd after whey has been drained away

Add chopped jalapeño to curd before pressing

Add 2 Tbs. Olive oil to curd before pressing.  

Directions:
Slowly heat the milk to 200 degrees F stirring constantly. After it reaches temperature remove from the heat pour in the vinegar and salt and stir gently to combine. Leave the pot undisturbed for 10 minutes. It should be separated into clumps of milky white curds and watery yellow colored whey. Using a spoon gently stir the mixture. If there is still a lot of unseparated milk add another tablespoon of the vinegar. Line a strainer with cheese cloth and set it over a bowl. Using a large spoon transfer the curds to the strainer. Let the curds drain for 10 to 60 minutes depending on how dry you would like the ricotta to be. (If it is too dry add some of whey reserved in the draining bowl).

My wife then pressed the curds to form a block of cheese. (Since we didn’t have a cheese press she used the tofu press and it worked just fine.) The final block is shown below after we sliced off a piece to see how it tasted.

By-the-way, the whey drained from the cheese is very good. It has a slightly milky, slightly tart, slightly salty taste. It would be good to add to soups or use in breads.

The cheese was very nice. It had a slight tartness from the sushi vinegar which was a nice addition. The overall taste was accentuated by the salt that was added. Since the cheese was fairly mild we served it with the jalapeno sauce I had made recently and the combination was so good we decided the marinate pieces of the cheese in the sauce. We then served it with the marinade on small squares of toated bread. It was excellent.