Cold tofu with scallion miso and green tea salt ネギ味噌載せ特濃ケンちゃん豆腐

This is not even post worthy but tasted really good. When I checked the cold case in our Japanese grocery store, this particular tofu drew my attention and I bought it (three small containers are attached together as one package). This is one of the variations of tofu from "Otokomae tofu" 男前豆腐 from Kyoto 京都 called "Toku-no Ken-chan" 特濃ケンちゃん.  This is very soft tofu with extra high protein content (toku- no means extra-thick). It showed topping suggestion on the package.

Although I did not follow the suggestions from the package, I came up with this toppings based on what I had at hand. It was topped with green tea salt, negi-miso (ネギ味噌 scallion miso), perilla and small cubes (concasse) of fresh tomato (skinned and seeded).

Negi-miso: One scallion finely chopped, 1 tbs miso, 1tbs mirin, 1/2 tbs sugar, 2 tbs ground white sesame seeds, 1/2 tsp soy sauce).

Green tea salt: Mix kosher salt and maccha 抹茶 green tea powder (about 2:1 ratio). This can be kept in a small sealed container in freezer for a long time.

I first sprinkled on the green tea salt. I then placed the megi-miso and tomato concasse, and finely chopped perilla leaves over the salt.

The consistency of this tofu is like thick cream or egg custard and has intense soybean flavor which almost tasted like peanuts. The combination of toppings and this tofu was really good. This will go with any drinks even with red wine.

Sanma rolls two kinds サンマ巻き揚げ２種類

I found 2 frozen pacific saury or sanma サンマ in the freezer which I bought a few months ago. Since they do not improve with prolonged freezing and the weather is not conducive to grilling outside, I decided to make something different. Since I already made sanma fry, I looked for other recipes. These are based on the recipes I saw on line. Both dishes are made from filets of sanma, rolled and deep fried. I made some modifications, of course. In the picture below, the left is cheese filled with scallion miso and perilla, breaded and fried. The one on the right is filled with pickled plum paste or "bainiku" 梅肉 and perilla. It was coated with potato starch and deep fried like kara-age 唐揚げ.  Initially I was debating which dish to make and was leaning toward the pickled plum since it seemed simpler and I was afraid the cheese would melt and run out of the other one.  When I described the recipes to my wife she said, "live on the wild side; go for the cheese". So I decided to compromise and make both; if worse came to worse at least the pickled plum one would probably come out ok.

Since the inside of the roll with cheese, could not be seen, I sliced off the bottom to display the center of melting cheese, a green layer of perilla and dark brown line of the scallion miso below. 

I thawed two sanma and filleted them or "sanmai ni orosu" 三枚におろす in Japanese culinary parlance as I posted before. I then cut one filet into two making 8 pieces.

I lightly salted both sides and let them rest in the refrigerator for 1 hour or so. I divided half of them into the two kinds of sanma rolls.

Sanma rolls with perilla and picked plum paste:

I smeared picked plum paste on the meat side, cut perilla in half and laid it on the top and rolled it and then place a toothpick to secure. I dredge in potato starch and deep fried it in 350F peanut oil for 3-4 minutes turning frequently (below).

I drained the excess oil, removed the toothpicks (first using a turning motion to free the toothpick from the meat and then pulled to remove).

Sanma roll fry with scallion miso and perilla:

Scallion miso: Mixed finely chopped scallion (one), miso (1tbs), mirin (1tbs), sugar (1tsp), ground white sesame (1 tbs) or sesame paste or both.

I smeared the scallion miso on the meat side, cut the perilla leaves in half and laid them over the miso and placed on a small button of cheese (I used smoked gouda) and rolled. I secured the roll with a toothpick. I dredged the roll in flour, egg water and panko bread crumbs (I made sure both ends were sealed) and deep fried in 350F oil for 4-5 minutes turning frequently.

I drained the excess oil and removed the tooth picks.

The original recipe used only potato starch for this but I was afraid the cheese would melt and ooze out. So, I made this a "fry". The other one was supposed to be a "fry" but I only used potato starch since there was nothing to melt and come out from inside the rolls.

In any case, both were good but a bit fishy and strong tasting (that may have had more to do with the original quality of the fish rather than the style of preparation). The melted smoked cheese went very well with the miso. The scallion miso and pickled plum paste gave the roll a very distinctive salty taste but we still prefer simple grilled saury the best.

We served the rolls with coleslaw and sake. For 20 some years,  our favorite sake cups were red and blue ("meoto" 夫婦 husband and wife) cut crystal cold sake cups (by Hoya).  One day we took them out to use them and found that, somehow, the blue one was damaged and couldn't be used any more. Somehow using the red one alone just didn't seem right. It was a bit of a loss and we sorely missed them. Recently, however, my wife found some substitutes on eBay and "surprised" me with them.

These were made by Kagami crystal and are a pretty close substitute to the ones we had before. If anything, we like these glasses even better. They have a graceful shape, are well weighted on the bottom and the rim is pleasingly thin. Somehow they really added to our enjoyment of the fried fish rolls. 

Grilled cod marinated in sake lees 鱈の粕漬け焼き

Sake lees or "sakekasu" 酒粕 is the residue of fermented rice or moromi もろみ after the sake is pressed. There are many forms of sake lees but it usually comes in sheets like the one I got. It consists of  fermented rice, sake yeast, with some residual alcohol. I bought this some time ago. I froze it and completely forgot about it until a few days ago. I can immediately think of three dishes to make from this; 1. Amazake 甘酒 which is sake lees sweetened and diluted with hot water. It is a classic drink of choice for girl's day celebration (March 3rd). It is too sweet for me and I never liked it. 2. Kasu-jiru 粕汁 is a soup made with dissolved sake lees (with or without miso) with vegetables and fish. This is much better than amazake and perfect for a cold winter's night and 3. Kasuzuke 粕漬け meaning "sake lees marinated". For this dish, the marinade is called "Kasudoko" 酒粕床. Fish, meat or vegetables can be marinated with this. If fish or meat is used it can then be grilled. The most famous vegetable kasuzuke is "Narazuke"  奈良漬け which originated in the oldest capital of Japan "Nara" where sake brewing as we know it may have originated.  Among these dishes, I like the sake lees marinated grilled fish best. So, I decided to make sake lees marinade base and then marinate cod and grill it. The fish needs to be marinated for at least 2-3 days in the refrigerator before grilling. 

I grilled the marinated cod in our toaster oven. This has to be done very carefully because it is very easy to "burn".

I served this with cucumber onion salad and cucumber, daikon and red radish asazuke 浅漬け.

Sake lee marinade base "Kasu-doko" 酒粕床
Ingredients:
Sake lees: one package, 300grams, frozen.
Miso: 30grams
Sugar: 3 tbs
Salt 1/2 tsp
Sake and hot water: as needed depending on how dry sake lees is (see direction).

Direction:
1. I broke the sake lees in to small chunks (#1). Since my sake lee was kind of dry, I added about 50ml of hot water and covered and let it steep to soften. 
2. I added miso, sugar and initially using a potato masher and then switched to a silicon spatula to mix as I added sake in small increments (probably ended up using about 100ml, #2).

3. I mixed it well until the sugar dissolved, then mixed in the miso until I attained the consistency of soft miso. The amount of hot water and sake totally depends on how dry the sake lees was to start with (#3).
4. I placed the sake lees mixture to sealable flat container (#4).


Preparation for cod:

I got two pieces of cod filet; serving for two. I washed and patted it dry using sheets of paper towel. I salted both sides and let it sit in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

I dried the surface again using paper towels and placed the filets in the sake lees marinade above (making sure all the surfaces of the fish were covered, see picture below). The fish needs to be marinated at least 3 days to have a nice somewhat pungent (but not fishy) flavor.

This is after three days. I carefully scraped off the sake lees marinade. Depending on your preference, you could leave some sake lee marinade attached but it is very easily burnt. I quickly washed off and then dried the fish it by blotting with sheets of paper towel before grilling.

I grilled it using our toaster oven.  Some moisture will develop during grilling so I placed a metal grate on a shallow baking pan and placed the fish 1 inch below the grilling element. I cooked one side 5-7 minutes until occasional brown spots appeared. I carefully turned it over and grilled the other side for several more minutes.

This technique can be used for other fish such as salmon but I like cod the best. Since cod or white fish does not have a strong flavor but does have a nice flaky texture, kasuzuke treatment really adds a nice albeit a bit pungent (but not fishy) flavor to the fish. This was somewhat nostalgic to me since I have not had cod kasuzuke for a long time. This is a lot of work but kasudoko can be frozen and can be used multiple times. I divided the kasudoko into two sealable containers; one for fish or meat and the other for vegetables (I am making cucumber kasuzuke as I speak). The only problem for us is to find space for it in our freezer.

Mac and Cheese with cauliflower puree カリフラワープピュレー入りマックアンドチーズ

When my wife made baked cauliflower with cauliflower puree, we were impressed with how creamy the puree was without much fat. My wife suggested making Mac and Cheese with cauliflower puree instead of Bechamel sauce. So, one weekend, we made this new cauliflower puree Mac and cheese. We made two versions. One was topped with a mixture of panko bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese (see below). It came out nicely browned with a crunchy crust.

Under the crunchy topping was a creamy cheesy sauce clinging to the macaroni.

The second version was topped with grated cheddar cheese.

Again, underneath was the warm, cheesy sauce with macaroni.

Ingredients: (this makes about 8 servings in small ramekins such as the one seen above).

One head of cauliflower, separated into small florets.

Enough milk to cover the florets.

1 tbs unsalted butter

One large Jalapeno pepper, seeded and deveined, finely chopped (optional)

Cheeses (we used smoked gouda, fresh goat cheese, parmesan and cheddar) grated (#3)

Elbow macaroni, half box, cooked, drained, seasoned with salt, rice vinegar and then coated with olive oil (#5).

Directions:

Making cauliflower puree is exactly the same as posted before. Briefly; separate a head of cauliflower into florets, cook it in milk until tender with a pat of butter and red pepper flakes. I added one medium onion sautéed (instead of baked), adjusted the amount of milk to attain the right consistency while blending using a immersion mixer (#1). For variation, I added sautéed and finely chopped Jalapeno pepper (seeded and deveined) (#2). For cheeses, I used smoked gouda,  fresh goat and parmesan (#3) and mixed into the puree and cooked over the lowest flame until the cheeses incorporated (#4). I added the cooked macaroni (#5) into the cauliflower puree cheese mixture (#6). Then added the cheddar cheese (#7).  The reason for adding the cheddar at the last moment is to prevent it from being over cooked and getting grainy in texture. Meanwhile, I mixed panko bread crumbs, grated parmesan and olive oil (#8).

I placed the macaroni mixture in small ramekins (#9 and 10). I topped one with the panko/parmesan mixture (#11)  and the other with grated cheddar (#12). Baked in 350F oven for 15 minutes. If the top is not browned enough, place it under the broiler until the top browns nicely.

The end result: Both version were good but the sauce/puree was a bit grainy as compared to the cauliflower puree we made before. We were wondering if this is something to do with the cheeses we used, although we took precaution not to overcook cheddar cheese which get grainy after long cooking. We do not know how much calories/fat we are saving by substituting bechamel with cauliflower puree but certainly this is a good alternative. Compared to bechamel based Mac, this cauliflower puree did not get thick even after baking. We liked the one topped with bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese.

Baked cauliflower with cauliflower puree

We try to have some vegetable dishes on hand which we can tap into during work weekdays. During the weekend, I usually blanch broccoli and green beans so that we can use them during the week, either as is or by quickly sautéing them in butter as a side. The challenge is always to find new and interesting ways to prepare the veggies. For example we have cooked cauliflower many different ways. But, even so, we were getting into a rut.  (The Japanese expression would be "manmeri" マンネリwhich is reportedly derived from the English word "mannerism". Certainly "mannerrism" does not have the same usage or meaning as the Japanese word "manmeri".) So my wife went hunting on the internet to find some inspiration and a different way to prepare cauliflower. She perused many different recipes and came up with her own recipe inspired by several of those she found. It is really good but very visually white. She said she would make some improvements to further perfect this recipe. It is essentially au gratin dish made out of baked cauliflower and onion and instead of béchamel sauce, she used cauliflower puree. She also added panko crumbs with olive oil and chopped parsley on the top.

The Panko crust gave nice crunchy layer which contrasted with creamy puree underneath. The cauliflower florets were a bit too soft and we will improve on this next time.

Ingredients:
Cauliflower, one large head, separated into florets (#1).
Onion, two medium, cut into thin (1/4 inch) rings.
Garlic, several cloves skin still intact
Milk, 1-2 cups (see direction below).
Butter, 1 tbs
Red pepper flakes
Juice of one lemon

Direction:
1. Place a bit more than half of the cauliflower florets, the onion, and garlic on a cookie sheet, add several tablespoons of olive oil, and salt and coat all vegetables well (#2) and bake it in a 375F preheated oven for 30 minutes mixing once during the baking until some brown spots appear on the cauliflower.
2. Place the remaining cauliflower in a sauce pan and add milk to cover, pepper flakes and the butter. Simmer until the cauliflower is soft (#4) (yes we noticed picture 3 is missing but for various reasons it will stay that way).
3. Strain the cauliflower (#5) reserving the liquid (#5).
4. Add some of the baked onion and garlic (skin removed) (#7) to the strained milk cauliflower (#6).

5.  Add 1/4 cup reserved cooking liquid and the vegetables into the blending cup and puree using an immersion blender. Add more reserved liquid until the consistency of béchamel sauce is reached(#8). Taste and season with salt and white pepper.

6. In a small ramekin, place the baked cauliflower, onion, and any remaining roasted garlic (#9) and cover them with the puree (#10). Drizzle on some lemon juice if desired. 

7. Cover the surface with a mixture of Panko bred crumbs with olive oil (mix well using finger tips) and bake it in 400F oven until brown (#11).

The cauliflower puree is really silky and luscious. It tasted like a very rich béchamel. I can envision many other uses for this concoction. The combination of texture and flavor in this dish is really good. This time, the baked cauliflower was a bit over done but next time, my wife said she would bake it at a higher temperature (400F) and for shorter time to make the cauliflower more crisp with brown spots. The baked onions gave it rich sweetness and the garlic was done perfectly adding another flavor dimension.