New York Izakaya-style restaurants ニューヨークの居酒屋風レストラン

We recently went to New York with the primary purpose of exploring Izakaya-style restaurants there since they are quite numerous. We did a 3 nights 4 day excursion. We chose the restaurants based on information I gleaned from the Internet. I chose three different style restaurants representing 1. robatayaki/Izakaya style, 2. Sake bar, 3. Yakitori-ya. If we had more time, we could have ventured out to smaller restaurants but we didn’t do that this time because very small places don’t take reservations. (We’ll explore them next time). One of the first places I tried to get a reservation was "Sakagura 酒蔵" which was featured in one of the Anthony Bourdain's episodes on the television show "No Reservations". According to the Sakagura website, they strongly recommended "reservations". (So did "No Reservations" have a "reservation"?) I called several times but no answer and the messages I left were never returned so we had “no reservation” and didn't go there.

This is by no means a restaurant review but more a record for ourselves of the great time we had. Although I took a camera, I did not take any pictures. Somehow, as the meal unfolds and I immerse myself in the enjoyment of the food and drink the idea of taking a picture of the experience becomes distracting and falls by the wayside (even though that doesn’t seem to be the case with the other people snapping pics to the right and left of us). I am sure most of those pictures are destined for Facebook and Instagram to "share" the experience with friends). So all the pictures shown here are either from Google street views (all the outside pics) and from the corresponding websites of the restaurants.

1. Aburiya kinosuke 炙り屋錦乃助
The picture below shows the outside of Aburiya. It is the left entrance of the building with the vertical stripes of green, blue, yellow and red. Despite the bright colors visible in this picture there is not much signage indicating the location of the restaurant except a demure blue "Noren" at the entrance. It was a 20 minute walk from our hotel to the restaurant. I was navigating using Google maps on my iPhone and I knew exactly where we were and where the restaurant was supposed to be located. But we couldn’t find it. We walked back and forth on the block several times but we could not see anything that looked like an Izakaya or Japanese restaurant. We saw the Wyndham Hotel (below left). Was the restaurant located in the hotel? I ended up calling the restaurant. The manager first tried to explain that the entrance was to the right of the Wyndam. There was in fact a restaurant on the right side of the Wyndham but it was definitely not an izakaya. Finally the manager said "just wait there". He came out to the sidewalk found us literally standing in front of the restaurant and ushered us in.  How embarrassing.

Inside is surprisingly large (deep). The front of the restaurant had tables and, in the back, (going down few steps) there was a L-shaped counter which can seat about 10 or more people. Inside the counter, there was a grill and 3 young chefs in Aburiya T-shirts busy at work. On the left side along the wall were a few shelves on which 10 or so individual "Kamameshi" 釜飯 vessels were placed. (see below, this pic is from http://store.shopping.yahoo.co.jp/kappabashi/m10-230.html).

We noticed that occasionally flames appeared under some of the "kama" vessels. This must be how they cook the individual "Kamameshi".  We were advised that if we wanted Kamameshi it would take about 40 minutes so get the order in early. We were seated at the counter in front of the "sashimi" station or #1 and 2. (I specifically asked for counter seating). The chef was busy cleaning and removing the fillets from whole fish which was a good sign. I tried to engage him in conversation but he was too busy. Another chef was in charge of grilling and yet another serving up other dishes.

We started with two cold sake "Uragasumi" 浦霞 (junmai) and "Kokuryu" 黒龍 (Ginjou). They　brought us a wooden box with ice in the bottom and two empty sake carafes (Probably Bizenware 備前焼 or imitation thereof—very nice). Then, they brought up the sake bottles, showed us the labels and then poured into the carafes. A very nice touch assuring us we were actually getting the sake we ordered.

We started with the sashimi three kinds (which were salmon, kampachi and flounder). The sashimi was good (although the salmon was the best sashimi which tells me that tuna and other good sashimi fish must be difficult to get or too expensive). One thing that struck us as different was the use of an artificial-appearing transparent thready thing made of agar-like material* (hope this is not plastic since I ate some of it) instead of the usual daikon "tsuma" 大根のつま garnish. We’d rather not to have any garnish than this stuff.

P.S. Later I came across this item on the Web. It is called "Kaisou-men" 海藻麺 or "Kaisou vidro" 海藻ビードロ (Vidro means "glass" in Portuguese) and made from sea weed.


Although the details of what we ate escapes me a bit, we had "smoked daikon pickles or "Iburi gakko" いぶりがっこ, homemade tofu with three different flavored salts (above picture on the right), firefly squid "okizuke" ホタルイカの沖漬け (excellent!), Tuna "nakaochi" yukke (鮪の中落ちユッケ,  tuna tartar Korean style) with a porched egg or "onsen" tamago 温泉卵. This was in good quantity and tasted good. We had few more items such as pork belly "kakuni" 角煮 (we could not pass up this item, good size and melt-in-your-mouth excellent with honey-flavor). We had more sake (Dassai 獺祭50) and some more food. We were too full for any rice dish to end the evening.

This is not an authentic robatakayaki or Izakaya but it is a very nice drinking place to visit and reminds me of some high-end chain Izakayas in Japan. The counter area, at times, got sort of smoky adding to the atmosphere. There was plenty of hustle and bustle that again added nicely to the atmosphere. It was a great place to “people watch”.

Information on Aburiya Kinosuke
213 E 45th St, New York, NY 10017
212-867-5454
Aburyakinosuke.com

2. Saka mai 酒舞
Since I could not get a reservation at Sakagura, I chose this place. The name "SakaMai" usually means rice specifically grown for making sake or 酒米 but they attached the ideograms 酒舞 meaning "sake" and "dance". It is on the lower east side in an area that apparently used to be a residential with old town houses lining the side streets. The restaurant was a renovated old town house (there was apparently another restaurant at this location previously as you can see in the Google street view below). The best way to direct a taxi cab to the restaurant is to say "Please take us to Katz's delicatessen at E Houston and Ludlow. The cab dropped us off in front of the delicatessen and we worked our way through the crowd of tourists standing out front taking pictures. It was a short one and half block walk from Katz's to SakaMai. The restaurant has been in business for about 6 months according to the Japanese bartender (or mixologist as he preferred to be called) who spoke with a Japanese-British accents (spent 7 years in London) . By the way, the lot next to the SakaMai was still empty as shown in the picture below.

Once inside the restaurant, it is a totally different world from what you may have expected from the streets and exterior. Again it is a large place since it is very deep. The front part had tables and the back had a bar counter as you see below. Nice warm light wood decor. We sat at the counter.

Although we did not come for the cocktails, we decided to take advantage of the expertise of the resident mixologist. The sake based drinks were unique and delicious. My wife had "Haizakura" 灰桜 and I "Sakoudo" 酒人. "Haizakura" is composed of sake, plum wine, salted plum (umeboshi) vinegar and peach liquor. It was interesting and quite good but a bit too sweet for us. "Sakoudo" is a type of "saketini" made with sake, Hendrick's gin, mirin, orange bitters. It has a faint but unmistakable citrus note. I initially thought it had a  "yuzu" flavor. I am not sure it is from the Hendrick's gin or orange bitters but must be the latter.

We then had flights (three small glasses each) of "genshu" 原酒 and "daiginjou" 大吟醸. I do not quite remember all the sake we tasted (taking pictures may have helped). One of the "Genshu" was "Kikusui" 菊水一番しぼり which was poured from an aluminum cup (one of the "cup sake") (see picture below). I do not remember the name of other two now.

The daiginjou flight included "Dassai 50" 獺祭, and Hakkaisan 八海山. We like the third diaginjou which I do not recall the name (despite my wife's telling me to remember the name). We had a cup each of daiginjou and genshu. These sake were not bad but none was extraordinary. We wished more information about the sake we tasted was provided to us especially since this is a sake bar.

For food, we started with "Kampachi" crudo. It is a small serving but nicely done. Good quality kampachi sashimi garnished with finely chopped perilla, myouga and wasabi with shoyu graze. Uni crostini was again small and grilling made the delicate flavor of uni to diminish a little. We also had egg-on-egg-on-egg (picture below). This is a very nice creative dish. Instead of a real sea urchin shell seen in the picture below, it was served in a porcelain bowl made to look like a sea urchin shell. The bottom was nice creamy scrambled egg topped with caviar and uni. You cannot go wrong with this combination but it was excellently prepared.The "chawan mushi" 茶碗蒸し was forgettable. The croquette was ordinary and we could not find any lobster meat albeit it was called lobster croquette. We also had grilled dried skate wings and renkon chips. Interestingly, the renkon chips were the only sizable appetizer we had all evening but they were crisp and addictive.

For the ending dish, we each had a pork bun which was very elegantly done. The pork filling was great--a large tender chunk of pork belly. They have a larger dish of steak and mushroom rice to be shared with 2 or three but we were stuffed so it was out of the question for us.

Information on SakaMai
157 Ludlow Street
New York, NY 10002
(646) 590-0684
sakamai.com


3. Torishin 鳥心
The last day, we went for Yakitori. We took a taxi cab. Having learned that traffic is generally bad at any time we took precautions and started early to get to our reservation on time. But, of course, this was one of those rare instances in New York when our taxi sped through the streets without slowing down (even for the stop lights) and we arrive there 30 minutes earlier that the designated time.

The outside was rather un-assuming. Since I did not take any pictures, this is from the Google maps street view (below). Once inside, the interior was quite nice with lots of light colored wood (second pics below which is from their website).

The restaurant was mostly counter seating with a few small tables. Even though it was fairly early the place was basically packed when we arrived (good thing we had a reservation). We sat at the corner of the counter next to the chef tending the grill.  The menu is very close to Japanese counter parts especially those of more modern/tame chain yakitori places which have proliferated in Japan (I do not indicate a negative here, it is clean and nice).

They had a special cold sake they recommended.  This is supposedly a seasonal special, un-pasteurized or "nama genshu" 生原酒 sake , I think, it was Ichino-kura namagenshu 一の蔵生原酒. There may have been "arabashiri*" 荒走り on the bottle label as well. This was quite good with nice crisp taste and clean fruity notes. Towards the end, we run out of sake and ordered a glass of "Nanbubijin daiginjou" 南部美人. They served us in a glass with a generous spillover into the "masu" ます saucer. Actually, this was the best sake for the evening.

*Arabashiri (meaning "wild runs") is the first portion of sake comes out without any pressure when it was filtered/pressed in the traditional way (not using a modern mechanized press). Supposedly it shows more wild and flavorful sake.


In front of the counter was  a cold display case similar to the kinds seen in any sushi bar. Many prepared skewers were displayed inside. There were two grills (or "Yakidai" 焼き台) one near the right corner where we were seated and the other at the opposite corner.They are boasting the use of Japanese lump charcoal called "binchoutan 備長炭 which is known to burn hot.  Despite the ventilation system just above the grill some smoke escaped every-now-and-then and added to the ambience but never became too smoky as can sometimes happen in small Yakitori places in Japan.

The vegetable skewers were displayed on the top of the cold case in the bamboo basket (see below, again the pic is from the Torishin website). Interestingly there was small sign in the middle of the basket saying "Display only (in English)". We thought these were fake skewers for display only (like realistic models of dishes seen in many restaurants in Japan) and admired how they looked so real. Then, we noticed the woman chef was taking theses skewers from the basket and giving them to the griller. Apparently these are real vegetable skewers. We have no idea, in that case, the meaning of the sign "Display only".

The yakitori menu is rather standard but rare parts are reserved for the "omakase " course and cannot be ordered as a-la-carte which included  two kinds  (from kiel and back bone) of "cartilage" 軟骨, neck meat せせり, kidney 背肝 etc. We just went with a-la-carte. the chicken liver 肝 was underdone (I am sure this was what the grill chef intended) which made us a bit uncomfortable since we had to assume they were from US chickens with the possibility of salmonella. (They said they were using "organic" chickens, whatever that means). Skin 雛皮, tail ぽんじり (ponpochi or ponjiri), heart ハツ, and tsukune つくね were good. Fatty pork belly "tontoto" 豚トロ was also good. Chicken thighs 腿 with different sauces, grilled quail eggs ウズラの卵 and ginko nuts 銀杏 were just OK. Chicken wings 手羽 were small but with a nice crispy skin and were great. As a special vegetable, they had a small radish or "ko-kabu" 小蕪 (which was simmered in dashi broth first, then grilled, and served in a small bowl with sweet miso and vinegar sauce. We were not sure if the grilling added anything.  The sauce was excellent and my wife detected honey in the sauce. For vegetables (we need the nutritional balance), we ordered assorted "tsukemono" 漬物 which was a bit disappointing especially the cucumber was over pickled and too thinly sliced. I do not remember how many more skewers we ordered but the size of the skewers were quite small compared to those in many Yakitori places in Japan. As a result, we ended up eating quite a few skewers. They also have rice dishes (Donburi 丼 or rice bowl affair) but we were quite full and well-watered at this point.  Instead, we went back to our hotel and enjoyed a nice glass of cava at the bar and interesting conversation with the bartender.

Information on Torishin

1193 1st Avenue

New York, NY 10065

(212) 988-8408

torishinny.com‎

Grilled Pork belly "Kakuni" 豚の角煮焼き

Whenever we go to our near-by gourmet grocery store, I cannot resist buying a block of pork belly. The last time was not an exception and I made the usual  "kakuni" 豚の角煮. We restricted the servings to one small piece at a time.  I decided to vary how I served it.

Recently, I found out that there were two cookbooks on Izakaya cuisine in English and bought them. One is called “Izakaya Japanese barfood” and the other is called ”Izakaya Hawaii, Tokkuritei cooking”.  I am planning to post them on the Izakaya cookbook section of this blog soon ("soon" could mean in several months). Flipping over the pages of these cookbooks, I saw a crispy grilled pork belly dish in which the meat was first braised in liquid and then grilled. Since I already had "kakuni" made up, I decided to grill it.

After I warmed up the kauni in the broth I grilled it in the toaster oven (on broil). For the sake of convenience, I skewered one piece of pork belly with two bamboo skewers so that I could easily turn over to cook the other side. I covered the pre-soaked bamboo skewers and also the exposed parts of the skewers with pieces of aluminum foil. Upon reflection I could have just grilled the meat and put the skewers on later. Oh, well.

In any case, this method adds a crunchy crust to this fatty pork. This is definitely worthwhile variation of pork belly "kakuni".

Daikon wrapped rice with diakon greens 大根葉の混ぜご飯

With this dish I I used up all the daikon greens I had left over. The idea came from "Izakaya Hawaii Tokuritei cooking". While the picture in the book showed the rice wrapped in a sheet of diakon, instructions for the presentation were not included in the recipe. So I had to “wing-it”. Since I was in innovation mode I also rearranged the presentation to my preference rather than those shown in the picture. From the picture, in the absence of instructions. I was not sure if the daikon was cooked or raw. In any case here is my version; Daikon green rice wrapped in simmered daikon sheets topped with nori and crispy jako (which was left over from another dish I made at the same time).

The picture below shows what the dish looked like before I put on the toppings.

This is a simple concoction. I mixed blanched and finely chopped daikon greens with dried bonito flakes or "katusobishi" 鰹節 shavings (I used the kind that comes in a small plastic pouch) dressed in soy sauce and sesame oil (to taste, dry bonito flakes do absorb soy sauce)．I mixed this with cooked rice in a bowl.

I shaved the Daikon in the manner of "katsura muki" 桂剝き a bit thicker than for thinly julienned "tsuma" つま granish for sashimi (see below). I boiled it for 10 minutes in water with some raw rice then let it cool. I did not further season it (just because I got lazy but I could have simmered in in light colored soy sauce, salt, sugar or mirin). The sheets broke into several pieces when I tried to take them out of the pan. On hindsight either I should have cooked them less or cut the daikon a bit thicker. Using a ring mold, I placed the strips of daikon inside the mold lining the inner surface. I then pressed the seasoned rice into the center and made a tightly packed disk of the rice with the daikon sheets on the periphery. I then gently removed the ring mold. I briefly microwave it just before serving so that the daikon and rice were warm.

The daikon needed some seasoning but overall this dish was good as a “shime” 〆 or ending dish for the evening. The topping also added flavors and textures to the rice. The daikon greens are somewhat like mustard greens and have a very slight sharp (not hot) taste and the combination worked very well.

Daikon greens, tofu stir fry 大根葉、豆腐、油揚の炒め物

This is another small dish I made from the daikon greens one evening. This is very simple and quick but a perfect drinking snack.

The amount of ingredients is all arbitrary, but I used enough to make two small servings such as the one seen above.

Daikon greens 大根葉: This was from the same blanched daikon greens I used for several other dishes. I just chopped them up finely to make about 4 tbs.
Tofu 豆腐: I used silken tofu but any tofu will do. I used about 1/4 block. I first wrapped it in a paper towel and microwaved it for about 45 seconds (800KW). This is to remove excess moisture from tofu. I then cut the tofu into small cubes (half an inch).
Abura-age 油揚げ: I thawed a small deep-fried tofu pouch or "koage" 小揚げ in hot water, squeezed out the moisture and halved it and then thinly julienned.
Seasoning: Dark sesame oil (1/2 tbs), soy sauce (1 tsp), mirin (1/2 tsp), sake (1tsp) and Japanese one flavored red pepper flakes ("Ichimi" tougarashi 一味唐辛子).

I placed a small non-stick frying pan on medium flame and put in about 1/2 tbs of dark sesame oil. When the oil got hot I put in the cubes of tofu. I should have kept it moving but I got distracted. As a result, one side stuck to the bottom of the pan (which I eventually worked into the dish by degrazing with sake and mirin). After a few minutes or when the surfaces of the tofu were slightly brown, I added the abura-age and the daikon greens and kept stirring for one more minute. I then added the sake,  mirin and scraped off the whenever brown bits were stuck on the bottom of the pan. I then added the soy sauce and kept stirring until all the liquid was mostly gone. I served the dish in a small bowl and sprinkled with the Japanese tougarashi powder.

This is nothing special but the combination worked well. The subtle but distinctive heat from the Japanese red pepper powder really made this dish perfect with a sip of sake.

Cold tofu topped with daikon greens and crispy Jako 掬い豆腐の大根葉とカリカリじゃこ乗せ

This is another small dish made with daikon greens. This time I happened to have soft tofu,  "Blowing in the wind Jonny" and decided to top the tofu with the daikon greens and dried crispy small fish or "jako" 雑魚, which is a variation on the theme of cold tofu with garnish.

I thawed  the "jako" blotting out the excess moisture with a paper towel. I then fried it in a small amount of sesame oil (below left) until the jako became crispy (1-2 minutes). I had prepared the daikon greens previously; blanched then shocked in ice water with the moisture wrung out (below right). I chopped the daikon green finely and mixed in a small amount of undiluted concentrated noodle sauce (from the bottle) and a splash of sesame oil.

I scooped the tofu out of the package into a small bowl and topped it with the seasoned daikon greens. I then placed a small mound of crispy "jako" on top. I added a small amount of the noodle sauce around the tofu in the bottom of the bowl.

There is nothing special about this dish but the quality of tofu was rather good with a nice creamy texture and almost peanut-like soy bean flavor. The creaminess of the tofu was in contrast to the pleasant crunchiness of the topping. The sauce and daikon greens gave a burst of crunch and pleasant bitterness.

Miso soup with Daikon and daikon greens 大根と大根葉の味噌汁

When I find daikon 大根 with the greens still attached like this (below), I know the daikon  is very fresh since the greens are the first to go--wilting very quickly. Diakon is usually sold with the greens trimmed off. Not that the greens are anything special, however, when I see the fresh greens still attached, I have to use it somehow since it is rather a rare event.

Since it was lunch time when I came back from the Japanese grocery store and I had to use the greens immediately before they wilted, I decided to use them in miso soup. In addition, I thought the soup would go well with the package of rolled and Inari sushi 太巻き，いなり寿司 I had also found at the store. (I have not seen rolled sushi at the grocery store since the close of "Daruma" so when I saw it at the store we now frequent, I decided to try it).

For two servings of miso soup, I used two stalks of daikon greens and one half inch round of daikon. I finely chopped the greens and briefly blanched them then shocked them in ice water and squeezed out the excess moisture. I sliced the daikon rounds thinly, then julienned (below).

Beside these two items, I also thinly sliced aburaage 油揚げ (half a small or "koage" 小揚げ) which was first defrosted in running hot water and then the moisture squeezed out.

For broth, I could have used granulated "instant" broth but I used a dashi pack (mixture of kelp and bonito flakes). I made more than I needed for the soup and kept the remainder for later use.

I simmered the julienned daikon for 5 minutes in the broth. I put the aburaage, then dissolved in miso using a sieve and spoon specially made for dissolving miso (miso-koshi 味噌濾し) to taste. I then put in the daikon greens and let the soup come to a boil and immediately shut off the flame.

The miso soup was quite good and the Daikon green added nice color.

In addition to usual stuff such as seasoned shiitake and kanpyou, the futomaki contained boiled spinach (no seasoning) and pink and sweet fish flakes called "sakura denbu" 桜田麩. (The pink fish flakes reminded me of the futomaki my mother used to make since they were one of the ingredients she used).The Japanese omelet was made in a very amateurish way. The rice lacked any vinegar taste. Since unlike Daruma this grocery store does not have a kitchen I suspect this was made for the store by someone such as the wife of a Japanese visitor working nearby. Of course, I could have made it   myself but the convenience of buying some for lunch is nice.

Octopus three ways 鮹、三種類

Recently I saw a rather good looking boiled (probably previously frozen and thawed) octopus leg (see the second picture, below) at our Japanese grocery store. So, that evening, I served octopus three ways. I may have been influenced by watching episodes of “Yasuko Kuramoto” 倉本康子 in “Onna sakaba hourouki”  女酒場放浪記 in which she always orders “tako” たこ or octopus if it is available.
1. Deep fried octopus たこの唐揚
The octopus leg I purchased is shown in the picture below, upper left. I cut the middle portion of the leg into sizable chunks or “butsugiri” ぶつ切り and marinated in a sake and soy sauce mixture (1:1 ratio, shown below upper right) for 30 minutes or so in the refrigerator. I removed the octopus pieces from the marinade, blotted them dry with a paper towel and dredged them in potato flour (below, lower left). I then simply deep fried them in hot oil for 4-5 minutes (below, lower right).
I served them with a wedge of lemon. The pieces had a nice crust but they were sort of chewy. I do not mind “chewy” but my wife was not particular fond of this dish.

2. “sumiso-ae” たこの酢味噌和え (below right) and
3. “sashimi” たこの刺身with soy sauce and wasabi (below right).

I posted sumiso-ae previously. I used mostly the tip portion of the octopus cut into small chunks. The dressing is a mixture of saikyou-miso 西京味噌, Japanese hot mustard, rice vinegar or “karashi sumiso” からし酢味噌.

For the sashimi, I used the thickest portion of the leg, cut very thinly diagonally with a wavy pattern (action). Of course, I used freshly thawed “real” wasabi. (They must have changed something with the tube wasabi because the current ones are much easier to squeeze out).
I think this was enough “tako” for one evening. We finally can use our own “perilla” leaves or “aojiso” 青じそ since it is growing profusely in our herb garden now.

Vermilion Snapper baked in miso and butter 鯛のバーター味噌味オーブン焼き

Since the "nitsuke" or simmered vermilion snapper was not a great success, I was pondering what I would do with the second fish. I thought of "papillote" (baked in parchment paper) but the fish was too big for the width of parchment paper I had. So I abandoned that idea. I could just bake or grill it but that was too mundane. So at the last moment, I used aluminum foil to make a pouch and seasoned it with miso and butter as I often cook shimeji or enoki mushrooms on the grill.

I used whatever vegetables were at hand; I used onion, shiitake mushroom, and green asparagus. I first put a long piece of aluminum foil on a large, rimmed cookie sheet (just in case juices spilled out). I made the piece long enough so that after folding it in half it would accommodate the entire length of the fish. I then made a bed of sliced onions (1 small or 1/2 large), asparagus, stem ends removed and skin peeled from the stalk, and sliced fresh shiitake mushrooms (5 large) (#1 below). I then placed the fish on top of the bed of vegetables (#2).
Miso sauce: In a small bowl, I added brown miso (4 tbs), sugar (1 tbs), mirin and sake in 1: 1 ratio until the miso reached a consistency I could smear on the skin of the fish without having it run down the sides. I also added a small amount of soy sauce for no reason. I smeared the miso concoction on the top of the fish and placed thin pats of cold unsalted  butter on top (total of about 2 tbs) (#3 below).
I folded the aluminum foil in half which covered the fish and vegetables loosely leaving enough space for expansion. I crimped the two wider sides and the end to make a tightly sealed pouch and baked it in a preheated 400F convection oven for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, some of the miso mixture was still clinging to the top of the fish but a nice sauce had developed on the bottom of the pouch with liquid coming from the vegetables and fish (#4). I gently scraped the miso from the skin of the fish and mixed it into the accumulated liquid on the bottom to further expand the sauce.

After placing the fish on a serving plate, I served the vegetables on either side of the fish (the first picture).

This turned out to be a much much better way to cook this fish than the previous method I had used (simmered or "nituske"). After my wife deboned the fish and served the meat and the vegetables on individual plates, I added a small mound of rice on the side and poured the sauce from the bottom of the aluminum foil pouch over the rice and fish.

The fish tasted much richer than it had when cooked the previous way--with sweet (not too sweet) miso flavor. We did not actually taste the butter but it definitely added to the rich flavor and texture to the fish. This was a very satisfying dish.

Simmered whole Vermilion snapper 鯛の煮付け

The food you can make really depends on what is available at the store. We went to a local gourmet grocery store one weekend and found a small red snapper called Vermilion snapper. The fish before cleaning was just the right size; weighing about 1 lb. It also looked really fresh. Upon reflection I thought it also looked really lonely in all its freshness so I bought two. My plan was to use them in separate recipes for two dinners. This was a just the right sized fish for me to present as a whole head-on fish (or "okashira-zuki" 御頭付き). It was a much more manageable size than "sea bream" which I posted before. Since the size and appearance were somewhat similar to "Kinme dai" 金目鯛, I decided to try simmering the whole fish or "nitsuke" 煮付け.

Digression alert: I am not sure about the English name for "Kinme dai" but "Splendid Alfonsino" appears to be the corresponding English name. Although the Japanese name bears "dai", (which is the same as "tai" only changing the "T" to "D" sound when making a compound word), they are not related to "tai" 鯛 or "sea bream". Kinme dai are deep water fish with large eyes (Japanese name means “golden eye” red snapper). They are suited for “sashimi” and "nitsuke" with firmer and oiler meat than red snapper but I have never seen this fish in markets in the US.

I had the fish monger scale and gut the fish. Japanese generally keep the fins on for decorative purposes but I forgot to tell the fish monger not to remove them so as you can see in the picture they are gone. After I did a little bit of touch-up cleaning and scaling, I made cross cuts on the skin on both sides to prevent the skin from rupturing during cooking (below #1).

Simmering broth: I soaked a 5 inch square of kelp (not the eating kind but the broth making kind) in about 2 cups of water.  After 30 minutes of soaking, the kelp was soft and pliable. I placed the kelp on the bottom of the square Pyrex pan (which just accommodated the fish diagonally) to prevent from the fish skin from sticking to the bottom of the pan. It also added a "umami" flavor to the broth.  I put the kelp-soaking water (2 cups), soy sauce (4 tbs), sake (2 tbs), mirin (2 tbs) and sugar (2 tbs) in a separate pan and let it come to a gentle boil for few minutes to let the tastes amalgamate and the alcohol to evaporate.  I poured it  in the Pyrex dish with slices of fresh ginger and placed the fish and precooked daikon (see "Daikon" below) (#1 in the picture below).

I placed my favorite "pink" silicon otoshi-buta 落とし蓋 (#2) on top and put the glass lid on (#3). So, this was a cross between simmering and steaming. After 15 minutes of gentle simmering, I turned the lid slightly askew to reduce the simmering liquid. After a total of 30 minutes, the simmering liquid had reduced in half. I turned the flame up a little, and spooned the simmering liquid over the fish repeatedly for 5 minutes to further season the fish and reducing the simmering liquid (#4).

Daikon: I also cooked daikon. I peeled and cut the daikon into 1 inch-thick rounds. I halved it into half moons. As a short-cut method, I placed the daikon in a microwaveable silicon container with a little bit of water on the bottom and microwaved it for a few minutes or until it became soft (do not over zap, it will become dry). I just placed the half moon daikon in the same pot as the fish turning once during the cooking.

As you can see in the first picture, I served the whole fish with the daikon and very finely julienned fresh ginger root or "ito shouga" 糸生姜 (soaked in water with the moisture wrung out) as a garnish.

The dish looked nice (even without the fins) but in terms of the taste and texture, it was a bit of a disappointment.  The meat was soft (too soft) and lacked good flavor despite the simmering liquid and ginger. As usual. my wife was the de-boning expert serving up the meat.  At the end of the meal, my wife readily acceded to my request for the eyes (gelatinous stuff behind the eyes are what I am going for) in exchange she got the "cheek" meat (she made it clear she thought she got the better end of the deal).  But otherwise the head was kind of too small to be worthwhile. Since we got two fish, I will try another cooking method on the other.

Red seedless grape soup 赤ぶどうのスープ

We like grapes but the quality is sometimes hit or miss. The other day my wife informed me that the recent batch of seedless red grapes I had brought home had very tough skins. When my wife “processes” fresh fruits she donates the culls (damaged or slightly bad) to the resident wildlife (mostly squirrels and birds). Soon after my wife made her pronouncement concerning the quality of the grapes I went out to the patio where she was feeding the culls to the squirrels. The patio was littered with what appeared to be grape skins. When I asked her why, she said that she had already told me the skins were tough and apparently the squirrels agreed with her. They had peeled and discarded the skins before eating the grapes!  So what do you do when you have a big batch of grapes with skins so tough not even the squirrels will eat them skin on? My wife decided to salvage the situation by making “red grape soup”. I was not looking when she made it so here she goes.

This is a very simple recipe. I put the grapes in a sauce pan with several spoonfuls of sugar (no water) and turned the heat on low. I cooked them until the juice came out and they were soft. Then I put the mixture through a sieve.

This turned out much better than either of us expected. It was surprisingly good warm and even better cold. It has some thickness to it and is more like grape puree than grape juice, jelly or jam. It had a very refreshing grape taste. For rescuing inedible grapes, this is a good solution…sorry squirrels.

Yuzu Japanese restaurant 柚子 日本料理店

I always have my radar up for any new (particularly Japanese) restaurant, that opens near us. I noticed a Washington Post article about a Japanese restaurant that opened about 1 month ago ("soft" opening) in our neck-of-the-woods. Judging from the WP article and the restaurant's website, I decided this was a place we had to try particularly since they have omakase ($80 and up). So one evening we signed up and tried it out.

The restaurant is much larger than you would expect from outside.
We were seated at the counter (Chef's table) which can accommodate 4 comfortably or 6 extremely good friends. The interior is nicely decorated with framed Japanese washcloths or "tenugui" 手ぬぐい along one wall.  (Washcloths is really an understatement because the Japanese have raised these humble household items to an art form--with nicely done colorful prints and whimsical subjects). The counter appeared to be a very impressive brand new solid slab of walnut wood.
We were greeted by a smiling Chef Yoshihisa "Yoshi" Ota (above). After a few dishes and drinks, we asked how he deiced to open this restaurant. He said, it was a long story that would take days to tell but he gave us the “cliff notes”  (truncated)  version. As a young sushi chef, he worked in Sushi Den in New York. After returning to Japan, he had an exclusive small Japanese restaurant in Ginza for 10 years. When "Kushi" Izakaya  was planning to open in DC he was contacted to be a chef there. Remembering his stint in New York, he wanted to come back to the US to serve "real" Japanese dishes to Americans and took the position as head Chef for Kushi. Fast forward a few more years and another stint at Sushi-ko in Chevy Chase, he realized his dream and opened his own restaurant Yuzu. He wanted a small restaurant where he would serve guests who appreciated and enjoyed real Japanese food. He thought about opening his restaurant in New York but there are so many Japanese restaurants in New York. Besides, he and his family had lived here for several years and developed an attachment to Bethesda. So he decided to open this restaurant here.

When faced with the selection of libations, we had to realize the hard fact that in Montgomery county, where this restaurant is located, the county controls the sale of alcohol. This makes it very challenging to stock good sake/liquors since the restaurateur has to go through the county liquor stores/board with all its rules and regulations rather than just purchasing through any wholesalers as is done in DC for example. Although Yuzu obtained the liquor license almost 1 month ago, Yoshi was disappointed that things were coming in very slowly and their sake list was rather small. We chose "Haiku" 俳句 which used to be our house sake. Slightly yeasty but still a rather agreeable sake.

Our course started with sunomono 酢の物 with “midorizu” 緑酢 (meaning “green vinegar” which is a vinegar dressing with grated Japanese cucumber) dressed thinly sliced conch and crab. Conch can be often too chewy but this was very nicely prepared. Next was flounder ヒラメ thinly sliced "Usuzukuri" 薄造り(below left). Other dishes included a simmered dish or "Nimono" 煮物 with homemade "Ganmodoki"  雁擬き with bamboo shoot and pork belly, vegetables dressed in tofu-sesame dressing or "shira-ae" 白和え (below right). All nicely done.

Although the order is not exact, another dish of deep fried "Kasago" カサゴ or scorpion fish in a broth with mushrooms (below) was also very nice.

At this point, we were really enjoying the dinner and I stopped taking pictures (I am not as dedicated as other food bloggers). We had a small sweet vinegar picked vegetables as a "hashi yasume" 箸休め meaning "to rest the chop sticks". This was very refreshing; not too vinegary and not too sweet.

After this, we went into a "sushi" course. All were good especially the fatty salmon "aburi" 炙り. Anago アナゴ was also memorable with a nice sweet and tangy sauce. Marinated "tuna" or “zuke” and regular "tuna" were served one after the other for comparison. Sea scallop was fresh. It tasted sweet and buttery. Shime-saba しめ鯖 was also excellent. Ama-ebi (done half-and-half with wasabi and yuzu koshou) was also good. I may have missed few more items. Chef Yoshi served us rolls of tuna (or salmon, I am not sure) and Japanese pickled daikon “takuwan” 沢庵 as "shime" 〆 or "ending" item for the sushi course with a very nice and hot miso soup with red snapper (meat and jaw bone in it) in  a good briny broth.

In terms of special seasonings, Chef used a real fresh “wasabi daikon” rhizome from Japan grated on the traditional shark-skin grater adding a nice fresh wasabi taste to the dishes. As for the name sake, a large fresh yellow yuzu, again from Japan, and yuzu-koshou 柚子胡椒 were used effectively in sushi and other dishes.

As a desert, "mizu youkan" 水羊羹 with, we think, a maple syrup-based sauce, which is a nice American twist for this traditional summer-time Japanese sweet. At this point, we were quite full.

This post was not meant as a review of the restaurant but rather our first impression of Yuzu. The restaurant is still in a "preview" or "soft" opening phase. Yoshi told us that he would like to do the "Grand" opening soon. As a result, the restaurant and staff were still "ironing out some of the kinks." For example, the front door kept locking and wait staff continually had to rush to let in customers who were vainly pulling on the door to get in (not good for business if the customers are locked out). Early in the evening when the restaurant was rather empty, everything went OK but as the tables started filling up, we could see that things got a bit frantic especially for the chef who prepared sushi and sashimi orders for the tables as well as taking care of us at the counter. His attention was drawn in so many different directions .

The omakase course was quite good. The sashimi was fresh and the chef did many different treatments to extract the best out of them but nothing was unexpected or spectacular.  We understand the chef had to balance the quality and cost. We were a bit concerned that the restaurant seemed too large for the present contingent of wait staff and, particularly, for one chef, no matter how talented, to pay attention to all the details. We sincerely hope this restaurant will succeed. We look forward to seeing a few sous chefs, and an expanded sake list on our next visit. We will be back.

Pea soup with fresh tarragon グリーンピース スープ タラゴン風味

Although fresh produce is generally better than frozen, we have one exception to this rule and that is green peas (English peas). In general frozen peas are harvested when the sugar content is at its peak then quickly processed and frozen. We tried many "fresh" green peas in pods including those from roadside stands but they tend to be starchy because the sugar quickly reverts back to starch after the peas are harvested. Among the frozen green peas, my wife insists on using Hanover brand "petite peas".  In this case, I have to agree. Since French tarragon was nicely growing in our spring herb garden, I was tasked to find "Hanover" frozen "petit peas", which, I am happy to report was completed successfully. (No they did not pay us for this endorsement...maybe they should.) My wife made this pea soup with tarragon a dish that represents spring at its finest.
 
Green peas: My wife used two bags (16 oz each) of frozen Hanover brand “petite” green peas. She simply put the frozen peas in a colander and ran warm tap water over them for few minutes until they were thawed. (These peas are so tender, boiling them would be a travesty.)
Onion: Finely chopped, one large
Chicken broth: low-sodium non-fat Swanson chicken broth, 48oz
French tarragon: Leaves removed and finely chopped, about 1-2 tbs

In a pan, she added olive oil and sautéed the onion until soft and semitransparent (for 5 minutes). She added the thawed green peas and added chicken broth and simmered for 10-15 minutes. Using an emersion blender (a.k.a. Motor boat), she blended the soup. We could have put this through a sieve but to make it smoother, but this time, we went for a more “rustic” soup and did not removed the “solids”.
She mixed in the French tarragon and seasoned it with a bit more salt.

This is a good soup warm or cold. We added a bit of cream and garnished it with a sprig of tarragon. The nice yellow green color was indeed the color of spring and early summer. The soup is sweet from the natural sweetness of the green peas. The tarragon adds a subtle bright note. Next day, we ate the soup cold which was also good. Depending on your preference, you could adjust the thickness by adding milk or cream.

"Saag Tofu" Indian-style tofu 豆腐のインド風ほうれん草ソース

We are not at all familiar with Indian cuisine but my wife likes the "spicy" but not "hot" taste of some Indian-inspired dishes. She started making this Indian-style spinach sauce/curry which must be similar to "saag". This time instead of "Saag paneer" which also contains Indian farm cheese, we made "Saag Tofu". We figured tofu would stand in for the cheese curd.

The amount of tofu is rather arbitrary. Here I used a half block of tofu. I cut the tofu into small cubes and parboiled it before putting it into an oven proof pan. We added "saag", mixed to cover the tofu. We baked it in a 400F oven (toaster oven, convection) for 15 minutes with a lid on the pan. We garnish this with coarsely chopped {roasted and cooled) cashew nuts.

The textured of cheese curd and tofu is obviously different but the tofu and cheese are essentially taste neutral. The crunch of cashew nuts and rather soft tofu makes a nice contrast. The sauce itself has the tastes of lots of spices but is only mildly hot (from Jalopeno pepper). We found this saag to be very versatile and can be used in many untraditional ways. This can be eaten with Indian flat bread (naan etc) but we enjoyed it by itself.

Crispy baked chickpeas カリカリひよこ豆

I saw this recipe on-line and thought this would make a nice snack and also thought this was the kind of thing my wife likes to make. So I suggested it to her one weekend. You could make all kind of variations depending on the spices you use.

Ingredients:
Chick peas: 14oz can, drained and rinsed, Olive oil
Spices: Many variations are possible. This time we used red (Cayenne) pepper powder and salt.

First, I drained and rinsed the can of chickpeas in a colander. On a cookie sheet, I placed a sheet of paper towel and spread the chickpeas in a single layer. I then placed another sheet of paper towel on top and rubbed gently to remove the thin transparent skin from the chick peas.  This is the tedious part: while the towel removed the majority of paper-like outer skins, I found I had to remove the remainder individually by hand. I took away the paper towel, added olive oil and coated the chickpeas by rolling them in the oil by hand. I seasoned them with salt, red pepper and baked them in a 400 degree F oven for 30 minutes.

The result was very satisfying. It is somewhat like Wasabi green peas but better. They are light, and crispy. The slow heat of the red pepper catches up with you but in a very pleasant way. This is a nice drinking snack.

Salmon salad on Belgian endive 鮭のサラダのチコリボート

This is another dish used for leftover control. One evening we had salmon. I made this salmon salad the next day from the leftovers. Since I happened to have Belgian endive, I placed the salmon salad on several leaves to make it a small appetizer we could pick up with our fingers.

Salmon: This was leftover from salmon cooked in a frying pan and then finished in the oven. I probably had 3-4 oz. I coarsely crumbled it by hand.

Other vegetables: I had leftover steamed green beans. I cut them into I inch portions (10-12 green beans). I also had a quarter of a ripe avocado. I diced it.

I dressed the above in a mixture of mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, and lemon juice.
I served it on the boat of Belgian endive leaves and “floated” the boat on a “sea” of baby arugula as a start dish for the evening.

Japanese-style stuffed omelet with saag インド風ほうれん草ソースいりオムレツ

My wife and I occasionally watch "Sakaba hourouki" 酒場放浪記 on Youtube. Beside the shows with the  host "Rui Yoshida" 吉田類, my wife particularly likes the female model, Yasuko Kuramoto 倉本康子 who occasionally hosts the female version of the show．In one of her shows, she visited an eel kushiyaki 串焼き place and had an unusual omelet stuffed with eel. I suppose it was a variation of a more traditional "Umaki" 鰻巻き (cooked filet of eel wrapped inside a Japanese-style omelet). My wife was impressed with the bright yellow color and homogenous smooth appearance of the omelet. I rose to the challenge by saying that I could make it that way easily. So here is my omelet.

Since I did not have eel handy and this was a weekend breakfast, I substituted the stuffing with my wife's "Saag", pork, shiitake mushroom and cottage cheese.

Stuffing (for one 2 egg omelet):
Onion, one small or half large, finely chopped
Pork, I used leftover barbecued whole pork loin, just cut into small match stick, 3-4 tbs
Shiitake mushroom, Thinly sliced, 6 small or 3 large
Spinach saag,  2-3 tbs
Cottage cheese, 2-3 tbs

I sautéed the onion in olive oil in a small frying pan, seasoned with salt and pepper. When the onion was soft and semi-transparent, I added the mushroom and pork and kept sautéing for 2-3 more minutes. I then added the saag and mixed well. I placed the cottage cheese on the top and kept the pan on "warm" or lowest simmer with the lid on.  The idea of using cottage cheese came from the fact that my wife initially made something similar to "Saag paneer" with home made cheese curd—the cottage cheese substituted for the paneer.

Omelet: I used two brown eggs, well-beaten. I did not seasoned the eggs because of the rather assertively flavored stuffing I was using.

There are many different ways to make omelet. For a stuffed omelet, I generally use the method I learned by watching omelets being made at one of the restaurants we used to visit in Los Angeles many years ago when we lived there. The restaurant specialized in brunch especially omelets. Using a spatula, I raise the side of the omelet after the egg on the bottom is set and let the uncooked egg mixture flow under the cooked egg. I repeat this on all four quadrants until I reached the desired doneness of the omelet. An omelet made in this style has a large soft curd.
The secret to making a Japanese style yellow smooth omelet is to beat the eggs well (if so preferred, you could add more yolk to the mixture to enhance the bright yellow color) and use a very low heat with the lid on the pan. It takes longer to cook this way but the result is as you can see here—there is no curd and the egg is homogeneous in texture. The same technique is used to make "golden thread egg" or "kinshi-ran 金糸卵".

After cooking the egg for 5-6 minutes or until the surface of the omelet was just barely dry, I mixed the cottage cheese into the remaining ingredients and placed in the middle of the omelet. Holding the plate in my left hand and the frying pan in my right hand, I slid the omelet onto the plate using the edge of the frying pan, to overlay the remaining omelet over the stuffing (see the first picture).

I do not think if this is a "better" omelet but it has a nice look.
By the way, I took this picture for the blog as though the whole omelet was for one person but, we shared this omelet. The saag is spicy but not too hot and the smoky flavor of the pork still came through. The cottage cheese had a very neutral taste but added a nice texture.

Roast pork wrapped mashed potatoマシュポテトの豚肉巻き

This is another small dish I made one evening from leftovers. We had barbequed whole pork loin on the weekend. It was seasoned with a mixture of smoked Spanish paprika, cumin, black pepper, salt  with a small amount of cinnamon and cloves.  We used this roast pork for several dinners and sandwiches. I also made a stew out of it and still a small amount remained. When we roasted the pork we also roasted potatoes wrapped in aluminum foil. We removed the skins while the potatoes were still hot, mashed them, seasoned with soy sauce, cream and butter.  A small amount of the potatoes also remained.

I just sliced the roast pork and used the slices to wrap a small cylinder of mashed potato. In a frying pan I added a small amount of olive oil and placed the rolls with the overwrapping side down. I cooked them on a low flame until they were heated through. (Since everything was pre-cooked, I just needed to warm up the pork rolls). 

While the rolls were cooking my wife asked me in pleased surprise “You’re cooking bacon?” They really smelled like bacon—there was no doubt they were from the “pork family”. I served this with cucumber salad (thinly sliced cucumber, salted, kneaded with the excess moisture rung out and dressed with a mixture of Dijon mustard, mayonnaise and cracked black pepper). I put some “Tonkatsu” sauce on the pork and also added a small dab of Japanese hot mustard on the side.
For just leftover control, this is a nice small dish perfect for a start.

Grilled trout and fava beans 鱒の塩焼きと焼きそら豆

This is a continuation of the grill-out-side-while-mosquitos-are-not-out moment. I have posted grilled trout before. I have an excuse for posting this again because this was boned and butter flied trout and we used the “Yakitori” rather than the Weber grill. I prefer bone-in trout but only butter flied trout was available. I just salted it and grilled it in its simplest way.
One of the problems with trout prepared this way is that fishmongers usually do not scale them. Since we like to eat the skin, I scaled the skin. But once it was butter flied and deboned, it is more difficult to scale. In any case, I scaled it and put two long metal skewers through. The reason for this is seen below. I put the tip (where the fish head is) of the skewers into the grate so that most of the fish was floating over the grate. I did this to prevent the skin from sticking to the grate. Once the skin is cooked, it can be placed directly on the grate without worrying about sticking (above).
It is not photographed but I also grilled eggplant. Since this is the season for fresh fava beans, I also grilled fava beans (soramame 空豆) in pods (see below) and served with a small mound of Kosher salt We removed the beans from the outer skins and peeled off the inner skins before dipping into the salt. .
I served the trout with grated daikon and soy sauce. I took few pictures but they do not look very neat and am not showing them. It has been a long time since we had either the trout or fava beans. Nothing beats trout cooked over a charcoal fire. The fava bean were tender and sweet. The mosquitoes don’t know what they are missing.

Grilled shrimp with Yuzu-kosho marinade 海老の串焼き柚子胡椒風味

Since the mosquito-free period is limited, we are doing outside grilling as often as we can. This is one of those times. For a change, we grilled skewered shrimp. To make it interesting I made a marinade which contains yuzu-koshou 柚子胡椒.

This was good. It was a bit spicy but had a nice citrus flavor from the "Yuzu".

Marinade: I mixed yuzu-koshou (from a tube, 2 tsp), soy sauce (2 tbs) and mirin (1 tbs).
I brushed this several times on the both side of the skewered shrimp (above picture) and let it sit for 30 minutes.

I cooked on a medium charcoal fire turning several times and also brushing on the marinade (above). Doneness is somewhat difficult to tell but the best way is to remove one from the end and cut into it to make sure everything is opaque (Even that was difficult since it was getting dark).
In any case, this was a nice appetizer for the evening.

Broccolini in the style of "Nanohana" ブロッコリニの菜の花風おひたし

When Spring comes, many Japanese dishes reflect the season. One of those, in my mind, is "Nanohana" 菜の花. Although this plant is mainly cultivated for oil ("natane abura" 菜種油), similar to rapeseed oil, Japanese enjoy eating the young just-about-to-blossom buds as a symbol of Spring. It has a slightly bitter taste. Although rapeseed is widely cultivated in the West,  I have never seen "flowering buds" being offered for food.*

* Digression alert: My wife was shocked to learn Japanese eat the rapeseed plant because it was her understanding the plant, seed and oil were considered toxic to humans and livestock. She said that was probably why I had not seen flowering buds in the grocery store. I was sure "Nanohana" is related to rapeseed and has been eaten in Japan with no ill effect for quite some time so I decided to do some research.
Turns out, rapeseed contains glucosinolates which gives it a bitter taste and, in high doses, is toxic. The seeds of rapeseed apparently contain a higher level of glucosinolates than the leaves and buds. In addition cattle that were fed rapeseed meal (residue left over after the seeds were crushed for oil) didn't appreciate the taste, changed their feeding habits and lost weight further leading to the perception that it was toxic. Many vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts, however, also contain small amounts of the same substance which is the source of bitterness in their taste. Rapeseed also contains erucic acid. Between the glucosinolates and erucic acid, rapeseed was not considered suitable for human consumption or cattle feed in Canada, US and the European Union until the 1970's when the Canadians came up with a rapeseed cultivar low in toxin and acid called CANOLA (CANadian seed Oil Low-Acidity). There is now a rapeseed cultivar (rapeseed 00) which has much lower erucic acid and glucosinolates and is considered fit for human consumption.
Japanese "Nanohana"  may have its roots in ancient varieties of rapeseed which came to Japan from China centuries ago. It originated from west asian and northern european varieties that grew as weeds in barley fields. Also, since the leaves, which are eaten in nanohana contain lower concentration of glucosinolates it would be more acceptable for human consumption in Asia than in Europe where primarily the more toxic seed was use for oil production. Japan produced its own low glucosinolates and erucic acid cultivars as well as cultivars that are more suited as edible vegetables than for oil production. Nonetheless the vast majority of currently grown varietals in Japan are imported from the West. That was probably more than you ever wanted to know about the rapeseed plant.

As far as I can tell, we have two possible substitutes for Nanohana; one is broccolini and the other is broccoli rabe. Broccoli rabe, which is also called "Rapini" has a more assertive "bitterness" than "Nanohana" and broccolini, although similar in form and texture, has a very neutral taste and lacks the bitterness. I think, Rapini may be closer to Nanohana because of the bitterness. I have no idea which of these substitutes is more closely related to "Nanohana" taxonomically.

 I made two small dishes; one from broccolini (below) and broccoli rabe (the second picture below, two separate evenings) to represent spring.

Broccolini: I used only the top portion with flowering buds. The long stalks are edible but tend to be a bit hard. I boiled it in salted water for 4-5 minutes or until the thickest part of the stems were cooked but still crunchy. I shocked it in ice cold water to stop the cooking and maintain the fresh green color.
Broccoli rabe: Similar to broccolini in terms of the preparation. I removed the larger stems and leaves especailly the ones that started turning yellow. I blanched it in the same manner as the broccolini including  shocking in ice cold water.

Dressing: I had several choices; mustard soy sauce (karashi-zouuyu 辛子醤油) and sesame soy sauce (goma-shouuyu 胡麻醤油). Another choice is "ohitashi" お浸し meaning to "soak".  For this preparatio,  the vegetables are "soaked" in a mixture of dashi, soy sauce and mirin in 8-6:1:1 ratio for  5-10 minutes before serving
For the broccolini, I used mustard soy sauce. I put prepared Japanese hot mustard or neri-garashi 練り芥子 (1/4 tsp or to taste) in a small Suribachi すり鉢 or a Japanese mortar and added sugar (1/4 tsp). I added soy sauce in small increments as I mixed the mustard paste, sugar and soy sauce together using a pestle. I tasted it as I went until the combined sweetness and hot mustard taste was appropriate (about 1 tbs of soy sauce or slightly more).
For the broccoli rabe, I decided not to use any of the choices listed above and instead made an altogether different dressing. My wife had roasted walnuts for another dish and there were some leftover. So I decided to make a walnut soy sauce dressing. I ground about 2 tbs of roasted walnuts (dark skin removed by rubbing in paper towel) in a Suribachi Japanese mortar. When the walnuts released oil and became a bit pasty, I added sugar (1/4 tsp) and soy sauce (2-3 tbs). I also added mirin (1 tbs).
I simply dressed the blanched broccolini with  the mustard soy sauce and garnished with roasted white sesame seeds. I dressed the broccoli rabe with the walnut soy sauce and garnished with coarsely chopped toasted walnuts as shown below.

This is a nice small dish to start the evening. It is nice enough substitute for nanohana. The broccolini lacks the distinctive slightly bitter taste which is characteristic of "Nanohana" and broccoli rabe is closest to Nanohana.

Beef "Yakitori" 牛肉ステーキの焼き鳥

Spring is the best season in the Washington DC area. In addition to all the beautiful flowers and cool sunny weather there are no mosquitoes. This enables us to have a barbecue outside without become a meal ourselves for these pesky insects. During this mosquito free interlude we really enjoy sitting outside and doing “Yakitori” style cooking. This is one such occasion. We did not plan to do Yakitori but it was such a nice sunny day and when we checked the fridge we saw we had some ingredients that could be grilled so we did it on a whim. Instead of the usual chicken or pork, we grilled New York strip steak and also cooked mushrooms two ways.
We have this yakitori grill from Japan which was purchased from a New York company “Korin 光琳.  Given the ingredients I had, I knew I would not be grilling for a long time so I put just enough lump charcoal in the chimney starter to cover the bottom 1/3 of the grill (below left). Since it is still early spring, it gets a bit chilly when the sun goes down, so we wheeled out the infra-red outside heater which was very effective in keeping us warm and providing a golden ambient light while we cooked (below right).

Rather than grilling steak in usual way i.e. as one big piece, I trimmed the fat cap and cut it into cubes and skewered them (below, left). I seasoned it with salt and pepper. This was one American size serving of New York strip steak but perfect for two of us.

I also had a box of assorted shimeji (both white and brown) as well as Royal trumpet mushrooms). I cooked the shimeji mushroom with miso and butter with the addition of sliced onion in an aluminum foil pouch as before (below right).

I just tore the trumpet mushroom in half lengthwise, coated with olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper and put on a skewer. I grilled the pouch of mushrooms in miso, steak cubes, and royal trumpet mushrooms. As you can see all the trees were pushing new-growth leaves (below, right upper).

Once the beef, royal trumpet mushrooms (above, left) and shimeji with miso and butter in a packet (above, right) were done all I needed to do was to make grilled rice balls (below). I used the leftover miso sauce on the bottom of the mushroom packet which worked very well. As I mentioned before, this is the best way to make the perfect grilled rice ball. All the surfaces had a nice savory crust. This can only be accomplished by slow patient cooking on a hot charcoal fire.

Japanese often grill beef in small pieces such as in “Yakiniku” 焼肉 or “Dice” steak or “Saikoro steak” さいころステーキ in which cubes of steak are grilled. What I made is a sort of hybrid between them. The cubes increase the ratio of caramelized surface crust to tender meat inside. I think this gives the meat more flavor and dimension than when it is cooked as one large piece. The cubes were small enough that we (at least I)  could use only chop sticks to eat them. Although this was US prime not “Wagyu”, this was quite good.

Spinach rolled in thin omelet ほうれん草の卵巻き

This is a small dish I made from the steamed spinach my wife made. She cooked the entire bag of spinach (pre-washed) using a dry wok with a lid without any liquid. We kept this in a sealed container and used it for many dishes such as this one.

This is a variation of nori rolled spinach but instead, of using nori I used a thin omelet.

Spinach: I just seasoned the steamed spinach with Japanese prepared hot mustard (from a tube) and sugar mixed in some soy sauce (the amount is arbitrary, I use only small amount of sugar).  If you want it spicier you could increase the mustard. I also mixed in bonito flakes but this is optional especially if you want to keep it vegetarian.

Omelet: I made the  mistake of not watching it carefully and the flame was too high so it became a bit dry and browned. I just used one egg omelet seasoned with a bit of sugar and salt. I put a non-stick frying pan on low flame ( not low enough, apparently) poured in the egg mixture, put the lid and let it slowly cook until done (5-7 minutes). If the flame is low enough, the omelet is perfectly yellow without brown spots.

I placed the omelet on the cutting board and lined up the spinach mixture in the middle and rolled it up. I then rolled it in plastic rap and let it stand for a few minutes so that the omelet would not unravel. I then cut the roll into small disks as you see above, Both ends which are not perfect were eaten before serving by me and my wife.

This is nothing dish but quite good.