Tomato ribbon salad version 2 トマトリボンサラダ V2

This is another variation of my wife’s famous ribbon salad. The red layers are tomato juice based aspic but  the cream cheese-based white layers are a bit more complex than the previous version. I helped by chopping up and slicing the ingredients. Initially, my wife was dissapointed since she expected the white layer to be more flavorful. But a few days later when we had this again, the ingredients had melded together and we could taste much more flavor.

Ingredients for Tomato aspic:
3 cups tomato juice (we used V-8)
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
2 tsp. Sushi vinegar
1 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce
Onion juice to taste (About 3 Tbs.
2 envelopes gelatin

Ingredients for white section
1 envelope of gelatin
1/4 cup cream
1 tub (8 oz.) or 1 block (8 oz.) Philadelphia cream cheese
1/4 cup sour cream
3 tbsp. mayonnaise
2-3 ribs celery, minced
1 med. green pepper, (jalapeño) finely chopped
2 med. onion, finely chopped
1/4-1/2 cup pimento stuffed olives, sliced
1/4-1/2 cup ripe (black) olives, sliced (we didn’t use because we didn’t have) 
(Optional) 1 ripe avocado, peeled & sliced (we did not use) 

Directions:
Soften gelatin in 1/2 cup of the tomato juice. Add mixture to the top of a double boiler. Heat until the gelatin melts. Put the rest of the tomato juice in a pan. Heat until all ingredients dissolved. Add the gelatin that has been melted in the double boiler. Chill 1/2 of the tomato aspic until set, in a 9 x 13 inch pyrex dish (below).

 

Soften the gelatin in the cream. Add mixture to the top of a double boiler. Heat until the gelatin melts. Mix cream cheese, sour cream and mayonnaise until smooth. Add the melted gelatin then the chopped celery, jalapeño, and onion. Spread cheese mixture over the congealed aspic. Add the olives on top of the cheese mixture. (Next time it would be better that the olives are finely diced.  Cut like this they made it hard to slice the ribbon salad into servings). (If using avocado lay the slices on top of the cheese mixture.) Refrigerate until firm (below).

Pour the second half of the tomato aspic gently over the avocado slices, to cover all. Cover with saran wrap and refrigerate until set.

Although this is a variation on the previous tomato ribbon salad, it is clearly in the same tradition. The red layer is much the same. The white layer is much softer. The olives are a great addition. They add a burst of saltiness. The flavors get much more pronounced after a day or two when the ingredients have had a chance to meld together. In general, this salad and its precursor are a light cool refreshing addition to a meal on a hot summer day.

New Blueberry muffin 新ブルーベリーマフィン

Although we generally like home delivery of groceries, the quality of produce can be a bit unreliable. Since it was high-season for blueberries, we ordered some and several batches arrived in good shape and were delicious. But the last time, the blueberries that arrived had a hard life. Many were smashed or extremely soft. We had to discard about 1/3 of them and even the ones we saved were bit too soft to eat as whole fresh fruit on yogurt for example. So, my wife just heated them up in a sauce pan (no water or sugar, just gently cooked) until they were the consistence of soft jam. The next morning, I pureed them using an immersion blender. The blueberry puree was pretty good. We added a teaspoon of it to our morning yogurt. Somehow the blueberry taste intensified in the puree and actually tasted richer than the whole blueberries we had been adding. My wife, then expanded the blueberry repertoire by making this new version of blueberry muffin using both whole and pureed blueberry. The blueberry puree made the muffin really good with strong blueberry flavor. The puree was added to the top of the muffin. The cut surface looks like only a few whole blueberries were added to but the distribution was somewhat uneven. Other sections of the muffins had plenty of whole blueberries. This is based on the recipe called “America’s test kitchen’s best blueberry muffins”.

Ingredients
1 cup of whole blueberries (or optional substitute toasted pecans).  

1 cup of blueberry puree.
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs room temperature

4 tablespoons unsalted butter melted and cooled slightly
¼ cup vegetable  oil
1 cup buttermilk room temperature
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract 

(Optional) finely grated zest of 1 lemon. We did not use this.

Directions:
To make the blueberry puree, bring 1 cup of blueberries to a very low simmer in a small saucepan. Cook until the berries have broken down. Puree. Cool to room temperature.

Whisk the dry ingredients (flour through salt) in a large bowl. Whisk 1 cup sugar and eggs in medium bowl until thick and homogeneous. Slowly whisk in the butter and oil until combined. Whisk in buttermilk, lemon zest (if using) and vanilla until combined. Fold wet mixture and remaining berries into flour mixture until just moistened (lumpy is fine). If the batter seems loose, let it mellow for 5 minutes, and it will thicken up.

Divide among 12 greased muffin cups (batter should completely fill cups). Spoon 1 teaspoon of the blueberry puree into the center of each mound. (First picture below) Gently swirl into the batter using a toothpick and a figure-eight motion.

Bake at 425F until tops are golden and just firm, 17 to 19 minutes. (Second picture below). Cool in muffin tins for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and cool 5 minutes before serving.

These were really good muffins with a very intense blueberry flavor thanks to the addition of the puree. The texture of the muffin was very tender with a nice fine crumb and faint vanilla flavor. The delivery of the smashed batch of blueberries was a “blessing-in-disguise” now that we have learned about blueberry blueberry puree and it’s flavor advantages. 

Addendum:
My wife was impressed by how the blueberry puree added a good blueberry flavor to the muffins. We had some left over puree but no whole blueberries left. So my wife decided to substitute toasted pecans for the whole blueberries. (Toasted pecans as a substitute for whole blueberries is not a substitute I would have made or let alone even thought of ) but this really worked. The picture below shows the result. It’a almost like two muffins in one. The top is blueberry muffin and the underneath is pecan muffin. And the blueberries and pecans really work well together. The pecans add a nice crunchy textural element.

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.

Seawater Uni, uni shuto and fresh myoga 海水ウニ、ウニ酒盗、茗荷

Although there is nothing new here, it is not common to have a new crop of myoga 茗荷 harvested from our own garden (just started), fresh salt water (seawater) uni “Kaisui-uni” 海水ウニ and uni-shuto うに酒盗 from Maruhide 丸秀, all available in the same time. Myoga is best enjoyed fresh and the season is rather short and requires some effort to harvest. So, I served a small dish of myoga with cucumber, and wakame as well as two small dishes of each kind of uni. For the occasion, I pulled out the small lidded containers we purchased in Nihiki market, Kyoto 京都錦市場 some years ago.

These covered small dishes make a nice presentation since lifting the lid reveals the contents as a pleasant  surprise. (On this occasion, however, my wife knew exactly what the dishes contained). From left to right are original uni shuto, salt water uni and the myoga dish.

Fresh uni from Maruhide is frequently out of stock. Recently however, fresh uni in seawater (i.e. uni in salt water with a salt concentration equivalent to seawater; about 3.5 percent) became available which was fine with us so we ordered it. We already had original uni shuto frozen in the freezer so we decided to have an “uni tasting festival” of both the seawater uni and the original uni shuto. As I mentioned before, most of the fresh uni is treated with “alum’ which makes it a bit firmer. The salt water uni is not treated or processed at all; just placed in seawater equivalent. As a result, it is a bit softer but has a pure uni taste. Dipped in wasabi and sashimi shouyu it is sublime uni enjoyment.

The picture below shows the original uni shuto(u). Maruhide is the only place this is made. Compared to other preserved uni (classic are “ Neri-uni” 練りウニ, “Tsubu-uni” 粒ウニ and less commonly “steamed-uni” 蒸しウニ). The former two are readily available in Japan and come in small jars. They are salted and some alcohol is added and processed (the details are not clear). Neri-uni is homgenized and paste-like and Tsubu-uni retains its original shape. Maruhide Uni shutou is closer to tsubu-uni but it includes some additional proprietary process. In any case, it comes frozen in a jar and tastes much better than any other preserved uni we have tried. This should just be enjoyed without any additional seasonings .

Finally, we enjoy the very unique and distinct flavors of fresh myoga. We just harvested this in the morning. I combined the myoga with cucumber and wakame (salt-preserved one) dressed in sumiso 酢味噌.

Nothing comes close to fresh, especially saltwater, uni. But Maruhide uni shuto comes in a close second. Each has it’s own rich distinctive taste that goes extremely well with a sip of cold sake. Also, because of the rich taste intensity a little goes a long way. The myogo is such seasonal late summer taste harbinger of fall. Its distinctive fresh somewhat sharp taste complemented the the rich uni beautifully. 

Instant Pot Egg Bites version 2 インスタントポットエッグバイツ

This is the second version of Instant Pot Egg Bites. The last one which was supposedly a recreation of  Starbucks’ egg bites was good but tasted a bit too cheesy rather than eggy when it got cold. So this time we changed the ratio of egg and cheeses so that it would taste more eggy. This is based on a recipe but, as usual, we winged it a bit. We added finely chopped prosciutto, shallot, and jalapeño pepper. This turned out to be quite good. It was smooth with distinct shallot and jalapeño flavors. The prosciutto added slight saltiness which also worked well. While both versions were very good. We probably liked this version better than the first version.

Ingredients (Recipe x1, 7 egg bites)
3 large eggs
1/4 cup cottage cheese
1/4 cup soft cheese, like cream cheese, Brie, Boursin, or Laughing Cow (we used cream cheese)
1/2 cup chopped mix-ins, like cooked meats and/or raw or cooked vegetables (we used jalapeños, shallots and prosciutto)
1/2 cup shredded cheese, such as cheddar, Monterey jack, or mozzarella (We used cheddar and Monterey Jack)

Ingredients (recipe x2, 14 egg bites)
6 large eggs
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup soft cheese, like cream cheese, Brie, Boursin, or Laughing Cow (we used cream cheese)
1 cup chopped mix-ins, like cooked meats and/or raw or cooked vegetables (we used jalapeños, shallots and prosciutto)
1 cup shredded cheese, such as cheddar, Monterey jack, or mozzarella (We used cheddar and Monterey Jack)

Directions:
Combine the eggs, cottage cheese, soft cheese and other cheeses in a blender. Blend at medium speed for about 30 seconds, until smooth. Pour into molds 3/4 full. Evenly distribute the chopped veggies into the molds. Stir to further incorporate.

Pour 1 cup of water into the Instant Pot or electric pressure cooker. Cover the egg molds and put into the wire steam rack. Grasping the handles of the steam rack, lower the egg molds into the pot.

Cook the eggs on “steam”: Secure the lid on the pressure cooker. Make sure that the pressure regulator is set to the “Sealing” position. Select “steam” then adjust the time to 8 minutes (for single batch and if making a double batch, increase the cooking time to 10 minutes.)

The pressure cooker will take about 10 minutes to come up to full pressure. Cook time begins once it has reached full pressure.

When the timer goes off, let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes, then perform a quick pressure release by moving the pressure release knob from “Sealing” to “Venting.” It will take a minute or two for the pressure to release completely. Remove the egg bites from the pressure cooker.

These were very good egg bites. They tasted more eggy than cheesy but the cheese flavor came through nicely enough. The shallots and jalapeño gave a nice spiciness while the prosciutto added some saltiness. The texture was very smooth almost like a very firm custard. These would be lovely as an egg substitute for breakfast or brunch as well as an appetizer with a glass of wine.