Seared Tuna with soy sauce and Balsamic vinegar レアマグロステーキのバルサミコ醤油ソース

This was an on-the-fly recipe I came up with one evening. We had our usual frozen yellow fin tuna block thawed. Although I have made quite a few dishes designed to make this low-quality tuna sashimi palatable, I was pressed with time and came up with this quick dish. 

This is "shimo-furi" 霜降りor very rare tuna steak with the surface seared in with a small amount of oil in a frying pan. I made a sauce which was mixture of aged balsamic vinegar and soy sauce in the same pan.

This was not bad and went well with the red wine (I am sure it was California cab) rather well.

Enoki and shiitake mushrooms in miso butter sauce えのきと椎茸の味噌バーター

This is a variation of what I posted some years ago. For some reason, our regular grocery store stopped carrying shiitake mushrooms.  So, when we were at Whole Foods, I got enoki and shiitake mushrooms. I made this small dish to go with wine.

Some sweetness from mirin and nutty miso mixed with butter is a good combination.

This dish goes well with wine or sake.

I made this in an aluminum foil pouch in our toaster oven. So, the clean up was easy.

Ingredients:
1 package of enoki mushroom, root portion cut off and separated.
2-3 fresh shiitake mushrooms, stem removed and caps cut into thin strips.
2 scallions, finely chopped.
1 tbs of mirin
1 tbs of miso
1 tsp of butter

Directions:
In the center of a sheet of aluminum foil place the butter, scallion, mushrooms and fold to make a pouch. Before sealing, add the mirin and miso. Pinch the opening to close.
Place it in 350F toaster oven  for 30 minutes.
Open the pouch and mix the miso and liquid to make sauce and serve.

This is a quick comforting dish with nice texture and the flavors of enoki (with a texture almost like noodles) and shiitake (meaty and earthy) mixed with butter and miso tastes. 

Mackerel simmered in miso on new crane plate サバの味噌煮

The purpose of this post is to show our new acquisitions from Japan. These items are from Kyoto. I served mackerel simmered in miso.

This plate depicts a Tancho crane 丹頂鶴 famous in Hokkaido with red head and black wing tips. This one came from Kawazen touki 河善陶器 in Nishiki market 錦市場, Kyoto 京都.

We also got hashi-oki 箸置きor chop stick rests. These came from a small store called "Gallary Chihata" ギャラリーちはた in Arashiyama 嵐山, Kyoto, which is on the main street to the famous bridge called "Togetsu-kyo" 渡月橋 on Katsura river 桂川. We got four of these all depicting vegetables (Artist name was associated with these but we lost the information).

At the same store, we also bought two sake cups of "Kiyomizu-yaki" 清水焼 which is the kiln in Kyoto.

One appears to depict some flowering tree but we are not sure what it is.

The other one depicts iris.

It is always nice to have these new cups and plates from Japan. Even the same sake and food taste better.

steamed fig in sesame sauce 蒸しイチジクの胡麻酢あえ

This is the second attempt at figs in sesame sauce. This time, I removed the skin and steamed them instead of grilling them. This one came out very similar to what we had in Japan.

Steaming does not soften the figs but adds some texture and a subtle difference in taste.

The sauce was the same sauce I used for the grilled version.

Ingredients (2 small servings):
2 mission figs, stem removed and skin removed (see below.

For sesame dressing sauce.
2 tbs white sesame seeds
2 tbs white sesame paste
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp rice vinegar
1/2 tsp sake
1/2 tsp soys sauce

Directions: 1. Steam the skinned figs for 7 minutes (see below).

For the sauce:
1. In a small dry frying pan, add the sesame seeds and roast until slightly brown and fragrant.
2. Put the roasted sesame in a Japanese suribachi すり鉢 and grind them until oil comes out and they are evenly ground.
3. Add white sesame paste (nerigoma 練り胡麻), sugar, rice vinegar, sake, and soy sauce and mix well. Adjust the consistency and taste by adding more vinegar/sake or sauce.

This is much better than the previous version (skin on and grilled). It has a nice gentle flavor and texture which goes well with the dressing. This dish goes best with sake.

Grilled fig in sesame dressing イチジクの胡麻酢和え

We usually do not go to expensive restaurants when we visit Japan. We end up in Izakayas or similar establishments. Only a few exceptions occur when we dine with our Japanese friends. Most of our hosts would take us to more formal restaurants than an Izakaya. We really liked one appetizer dish we had in such a Japanese "ryoutei" 料亭 in Niigata 新潟. It was figs dressed in sesame, vinegar dressing. After coming back, I looked up recipes and tried to make a similar dish. This is the first try.

I used nice ripe mission fig.

This was good but not exactly the same as the dish we had in Japan. The one we had in Japan, appeared to have no skin.

Ingredients (for two small servings):
2 ripe mission figs
Sugar to coat the figs.

for sesame dressing:
2 tbs white sesame seeds
2 tbs white sesame paste
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp rice vinegar
1/2 tsp sake
1/2 tsp soys sauce

Directions:
For figs.
1. Cut the stem of the figs, cut into quarters. Roll the skin side in sugar to coat.
2. In toaster oven, toast the figs until sugar melts and starts bubbling (see below).
3. Take them out and let them cool down.

For sesame dressing:
1. In a small dry frying pan, add the sesame seeds and roast the sesame until slightly brown and fragrant.
2. Put the roasted sesame in a Japanese suribachi すり鉢 and grind them until oil comes out and they are evenly ground.
3. Add white sesame paste(nerigoma 練り胡麻), sugar, rice vinegar, sake, and soy sauce and mix well. Adjust the consistency and taste by adding more vinegar/sake or or sauce.
4. Dress the figs and serve.

This is not bad but the skin on the figs did not particularly go well. It was a little tough and distracting from the over all texture of the dish. I will try a different version.