Cucumber and Vidalia onion salad キュウリとタマネギのサラダ

We made this for the 4th of July barbecue among other salads. This is a perfect dish for Swedish Smörgåsbord judging from its white color especially next to marinated herring in sour cream. (Japanese call this type of all-you-can-eat buffet "Viking" which is a catchier name and easier to pronounce, especially for Japanese, while suggesting its origin). My wife said, however, that this is not a Swedish but a Pennsylvania Dutch recipe. She grew up eating this salad in the summer and it was one of her favorites. In any case, this is a very cool refreshing salad for hot muggy summer days. In the original recipe sour creme is used. We substituted yogurt for the sour cream, making it is very healthy to boot. The major flavoring is dill.

I helped by slicing and chopping and did other prep works. My wife essentially was in charge of dressing and seasoning this. The amount and proportion of onion and cucumber is arbitrary.

I washed the cucumbers (American mini-cucues) then rubbed the cucumber skin with salt, rinsed and dried with a paper towel. Since we had 6 cucumbers, I used a Japanese mandoline and sliced it thinly. I added a small amount of salt (1/2 tsp), kneaded it and let it stand for 10-15 minutes. I wrung out the excess moisture but I did not wash away the salt (below left). My wife seasoned it with rice vinegar (about 2 tbs or to taste).

I used Vidalia onion (1 medium) thinly sliced. I added a relatively large amount of salt (3 tsp), kneaded and let it stand for 10 minutes or more (above right). I washed and drained several times in running cold water. I then wrung out the excess moisture and soaked in ice cold water (with ice cubes) for 30 minutes (skip this process if you really like strong onion flavor).

Dressing: My wife added Greek yogurt and finely chopped fresh dill (as much as you like).

The salad becomes better after one day in the refrigerator. Especially since we used yogurt, excess whey may develop, just pour it out before serving. Since we used Vidalia onion and salting and soaking all contributed to very mild almost sweet flavor of the onion. Using American mini-cucumber which is closest we can come to a Japanese cucumber also makes this salad much better than using ordinary American cucumbers. 

Pairing with drinks is not easy. Sake and beer will go with this salad but not any wines.

Breakfast burrito 朝ご飯ブリト

I believe that a hearty breakfast is also a good mid-night snack after excessive imbibing. Although I am over with mid-night snacks these days, this was our breakfast. Some Izakaya could served this, minus the too-healthy-looking fruit. This is inspired by some recipes for breakfast burritos and wraps we saw, but I just made it without following any specific recipe.

We thought we would just wrap hash browns and scrambled eggs in tortillas. I made the hash browns and my wife made the eggs. This is for two small wraps or burritos

Hash browns: This is my cutting-corner version of hash browns. I first sauteed onion (half medium size, finely chopped) with olive oil (1 tbs) in a frying pan on medium flame until edges are brown. Meanwhile,  I cooked small, new or baby red potatoes (4-5) after removing the "eyes", in a microwave oven, covered, for 2 minutes or until a skewer goes through easily. I diced the potatoes and added them to the frying pan. I seasoned them with salt and pepper and let it cook for several minutes. I mixed and flipped after the bottom turned brown so that all the sides of the potato were browned (5-6 minutes). I then made a bare surface in the frying pan by pushing the hash browns aside and added ketchup (1-2 tbs). I folded ketchup several times using a silicon spatula until the color became dark and brown rather than red (Maillard reaction). I mixed the ketchup with the rest of the ingredients in the pan. I tasted and adjusted the seasoning (a bit more salt). You could add other seasoning and ingredients such as Tabasco or jalapeno pepper and, of course, crispy bacon, if you like.

Scrambled eggs: My wife made scrambled eggs seasoned with Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper and with an addition of a small amount of cream. This is the reason the scrambled eggs below were not bright yellow but they tasted very good.

Assembly: I placed the hash browns, scrambled eggs and small amount of cubed cheese (I used smoked Gouda but cheddar may have been better), and rolled it up and secured it using  toothpicks. On both ends, I also tacked in the tortillas and secured using toothpicks. If you used a large tortillas, you may not need toothpicks but I hate to bite into tortillas all bunched up (folded into multi-layers) at the ends of rolled wraps.

Salsa: This is a quick salsa without jalopena pepper (I did not have one). I just mixed chopped scallion, diced tomato, and chopped fresh cilantro. I dressed it with lime juice, olive oil, salt and pepper (I did not use garlic .. .I am not into eating garlic as a breakfast).

I grilled the tortila rolls using a Foreman's grill until the tortilla surface developed brown marks and the cheese melted (2-3 minutes). Once the rolls were heated up, the tortilla will stay put so that you could safely remove the toothpicks without worrying about unravelling. By my wife's request, I cut the rolls in half and served. On the side, we served fresh mission figs (our favorite), blueberry, and the salsa.

This is a pretty good breakfast or mid-night snack depending on your situation.

Sauteed kabocha with pancetta, curry flavor カレー味のパンチェッタかぼちゃ炒め

I have posted Kabocha Hors d'oeuvres previously. This is another variation and is the best so far. This is based on a recipe from e-recipe but I made some changes.

I used the upper half of the kabocha where the meat is thinner than the bottom half. After removing the "guts" from the kabocha, I sliced it into 1/2 inch thick slices. Before sautéing, I microwaved it, covered, for 1-2 minutes or until just barely cooked.

I added a small amount of olive oil (1 tsp) to a frying pan on low heat and fried up chopped pancetta (the amount is arbitrary) until crispy and the fat is rendered. I set aside the crispy pancetta bits on a paper towel lined plate. I added the cooked kabocha slices in the same frying pan and fried them for one to 2 minutes each side on a medium flame until nice brown marks appeared. I added back the pancetta and seasoned it with Japanese curry powder (not too much), black pepper and salt (taste first, pancetta may be salty).

The combination of salty pork fat and curry flavor works very well with Kabocha. the only complaint is that while the skin is quite edible, the sharp contrast in consistency between the skin and meat of kabocha is not pleasant. I will remove most of the skin next time. A very nice drinking snack which will go well with any drink.

Pork, tofu, mushrooms stir fry 豚肉、豆腐、きのこの炒め物

This is a dish I made from whatever I had on hand in the fridge one evening.  This is nothing noteworthy and there is no real recipe but was not bad.

I had pork (trimming from two pork tenderloins), mushrooms (royal trumpet, shiitake and oyster) and tofu which I had to use very soon (left over from another dish). I decided to make a simple stir fry dish somewhat like chanpuru. The amounts were all arbitrary.

I first thinly sliced the pork (more fatty cuts like belly may have been better). I marinated the meat in soy sauce, mirin, sesame oil, scallion (4 small, finely chopped), garlic (grated*), and ginger root (grated). The amounts are all arbitrary. I mixed into the meat and let it stand for 10-15 minutes at room temperature. I had about 2/3 of a piece of tofu which was cut into 1 inch cubes. I tore the trumpet mushroom from the bottom of the stems into several pieces, oyster mushroom was separated and shiitake mushroom stem removed and cut into 4 or 2 pieces depending on the size.

*if you "grate" garlic, it is potent. The best way you could grate garlic and ginger is to use a Japanese small porcelain grater. Metal graters will not work well.

I put peanut oil (1 tbs) plus sesame oil (1 tsp) in a frying pan on medium high flame. I drained the pork of excess marinade (not much left in the container) and sauteed until the meat was browned and almost cooked. I pushed the meat on one side and browned all sides of the tofu cubes. I made some more space by pushing the tofu aside in the frying pan and added the mushrooms. After a few minutes, turning the mushrooms few times, I mixed everything together crumbling the tofu as well. I added whatever marinade was left to the pan and added black pepper. After a few more minutes of stir frying, I tasted it and added salt (or soy sauce) and splashed in some sesame oil.

I garnished it with chopped chives. This is not an exciting dish but very enjoyable. The three different mushrooms with different textures and the fresh ginger and garlic notes were nice. We switched to sake for this dish.

Parent and offspring "salmon and salmon roe" bowl 鮭いくら親子丼

This is a less common version of parent and offspring bowl 親子丼 but it is popular in Hokkaido. This is a rice bowl dish with a combination of salmon and salmon roe topping. As long as you use salmon and salmon roe, it will qualify as a Hokkaido-style Oyakodon. You could use salmon ashimi or even grilled salmon. For salmon roe, you could use "ikura" イクラ as is or marinated in soy sauce and sake. I had salmon roe いくら I bought last weekend and needed to be used up soon, hence this dish. Instead of salmon sashimi or raw salmon, I used smoked salmon.

Salmon roe: I made marinated salmon roe. I simply made a mixture of sake and soy sauce (1:1 ratio) enough to cover the amount of the roe I had. I marinated it overnight in the refrigerator. Because the skin of the salmon roe is semi-permeable, it will absorb the marinade and swell up. This is called "Ikura no shouyu zuke" いくらの醤油漬. This also makes salmon roe last longer and is a good condiment eaten with hot rice or even as a drinking snack with sake by itself.

Assembly: This is very simple. I made sushi rice. I took a shortcut and used bottled sushi vinegar for this. I placed cold smoked salmon and the marinaded salmon roe on the top of the sushi rice. I also made dashi maki Japanese omelet and used it with a garnish of chiffonade of Perilla and nori. 

This is a very nice "shime" 〆 dish. For a regular person, I suggest serving a much larger portion.