Matsutake rice 松茸ご飯

This is the last installment of Matsutake dishes. Because Japanese consider rice to be the main stay of the meal or "shushoku" 主食, "Takikomi goahnn" 炊き込みご飯 or rice seasoned with other ingredients is something special, especially if seasonal items are incorporated such as mushrooms (especially matsutake 松茸) and chestnuts 栗 in fall and bamboo shoots in spring. As I mentioned earlier, we got 1 Lb of of North American (Oregon) matsutake mushrooms. One of the dishes I made was a type of seasoned rice, "Matustake rice" 松茸ご飯. I made this with only matsutake so as not to cover up the subtle but distinctive aroma and flavor of the mushroom.

Matsutake: Among the matsutake we got, I picked a very large one for this dish (left upper in the image below). After clearing the matsutake as I described before, I separated the stem and the head since this was a large one. I torn the stem in the direction of the fibers (right upper in the image below). I made rather fine shreds of the stem and then halved the head and sliced it (left lower). I doused the pieces with sake and light-colored soy sauce or usukuchi shouyu 薄口醤油 and let it be absorbed for few minutes.

Cooking liquid: I could have used just water but it is better to use a very mild dashi broth and sake to enhance but not cover up the flavor of the matsutake. I soaked 5-7 inches of dried kelp 昆布 in about 500ml of cold water (I used filtered water) and let it stand overnight or, at least, several hours. The kelp will absorb water and assume its original state. It imparts a subtle kelp flavor to the broth. For 360 ml of rice, I used 400ml of the cooking liquid consisting of the kelp broth, 2 tbs of light colored soy sauce and 2 tbs of sake.

Rice: Many people like to add a small amount of glutenous rice (mochigome もち米) but I only used regular short grain Japanese rice from California (a brand called "Kagayaki"). I washed 2 cups (Japanese cups) or 360ml of rice. I washed the rice until the water came out clean not turbid. In the last few washes, I again used filtered water and drained the rice in a fine mesh strainer. I let it sit for 20-30 minutes. This appears to let the rice grains absorb just the right amount of water before cooking.

Cooking rice using an earthenware rice cooker:  I could certainly have used my electric rice cooker but this time I used "Donabe" 土鍋 or earthenware rice cooker called  "Kamado san". You can see the final product (right lower in the above image). When I removed the outer lid (see image below), I could really smell the matsutake. This type of rice cooker has an inner lid and an outer lid which make the pot act somewhat like a pressure cooker. As per the instructions that came with the cooker, I added the washed and drained rice (the original 2 Japanese cups or 360ml) and the cooking liquid (400ml). I placed the pot on a medium flame for 14 minutes and then turned off the heat and let it stand for 20 minutes.

I do not use the donabe cooker that often just because it is a bit of work to clean and dry (especially drying) it after use.  But there is no doubt it produces better cooked rice. The matsutake rice turned out really well with lots of flavor and a nice slightly firm texture-- it was perfect. Usually a special Japanese herb called "mitsuba" 三つ葉 is called for but I did not have any. I used the thinly sliced green part of a scallion instead for garnish. We were not able to finish all the rice, so we put the leftovers into small packages and froze them. We'll let you know how that works out. You should taste this at least once a year.

Auntie N's no-crapple scrapple with Pennsylvania Dutch sweet coleslaw スクラップルとペンシルバニアダッチコールスロウ

We were expecting a visiting dignitary to come to "Chez Norio" recently, Jon of EOITWJ, but things did not work out and we will have to wait for another chance. In any case, said dignitary is quoted as saying  "Now Scrapple, it's cool because you know it's full of crap, or rather is made of nothing but crap, and that's expected". In response to this statement, I let him know of the existence of Auntie N's no-crapple scrapple. So, we thought it would be most appropriate that our visitor should try her scrapple. Since it is a two-day process to make no-crapple scrapple and weekends are the only time she can do it, I asked my wife to make her specialty before we learned that our visitor could not make it. Actually, she made the best scrapple ever.

We had this as a part of an eclectic series of small dishes for the evening (mostly leftover from the weekend). The other small dishes included Yakitori-style drummetts and wings, and stewed daikon, pork spare rib (left over from the scrapple making) with the addition of tofu and broccoli. Since I had only a small amount of tofu left after the daikon, pork spare rib, tofu and broccoli dish, I made it as tofu dengaku (in a toaster oven) to use it all up. I served it with the scrapple and Pennsylvania Dutch sweet coleslaw (it may look too eclectic but, at least, it has about the same dimensions as the scrapple) as shown below.

This was the best scrapple ever! Nice mix of spices and porky flavor. Jon, you missed a good one. But don't worry there is more where that came from.

Look at this lovely mud/sewer water color. The addition of buckwheat flour really added flavors and made the color authentic but since this is no-crapple scrapple, no mystery meat or crap is in this one.

Shrimp boil at Hilton Head Island ヒルトンヘッド島での茹で海老

We stayed on Hilton Head island in South Carolina for one week for our vacation. Numerous shrimp boats were visible in the coastal waters. Sometimes, they came very close to shore during the day. At night, they tended to stay off shore with their lights visible beacons on the horizon.

On a previous visit several years ago I saw they were having a special on local white shrimp at the grocery store. I put two and two together figuring that with all these shrimp boats around, the shrimp should be pretty good. I suggested we buy a pound and my wife who had experienced only previously frozen shrimp in the grocery store at home suggest a 1/4 pound.  We settled on 1/2 pound. We cooked them up and discovered one of the absolute delights of the region. The shrimp were very, very fresh, very sweet, tender and succulent--we had never tasted anything like it before. We were hooked. We now buy them by the pounds. They became a culinary focus of our visits to the island. 

The best way to eat this fresh shrimp is to simply boil them in salted water with the shells on. I sometimes de-vein the shrimp (without taking the shells off) but other times, I do not. The secret to de-veining shrimp without removing the shell is to use a serrated small knife to cut into the back side of the shrimp through the shell. If I see a dark vein (intestine, actually), I take it out. To boil the shrimp, I use just enough salted water to cover them. After the water comes to the boil, I put the shrimp in and cook them for 1 minute or less. I sometimes make a separate dipping sauce but I usually just pour melted butter over the cooked shrimp, add more salt if needed, and freshly squeezed lemon juice. Just shell the shrimp and eat.This is such a good dish because the basic ingredient is so fresh and special it shines even with the simplest preparation. This is also a classic American finger food, "Peel 'n Eat shrimp". For example local bars along the beach have "shrimp by the bucket" specials. It's great fun to sit in the sun, next to the beach peeling and eating shrimp. The shrimp makes this a particularly wonderful appetizer or, in our case, even dinner with a good Ciabata bread from a local market. We use the bread to soak up the juices that gather in the bottom of the bowl. Beer or white wine, such as Sauvignon blanc, are the usual pairings but we stuck with a red wine, Orin-Swift Papillon 2007. This came in the heaviest body builder bottle for 750ml that I have ever known. It was overpriced in the local wine store to boot but it is a big wonderful red.

Matsutake Tempura 松茸の天ぷら

This is another classic dish made of matsutake 松 茸. I have to confess that this is my least favorite way to enjoy matsutake but in order to post something new, I have to explore many permutations of matsutake dishes. I do not particularly like making tempura of matsutake because, in my opinion, deep frying overwhelms the subtle flavor of the matsutake. Nonetheless, it is a popular way to cook matsutake

I used small sized matustake (two for two small servings like those shown above) which were cleaned and sliced. I made a tempura batter which was relatively thin. I used cake flour with the addition of a small amount of potato starch and added cold water until the thin batter was formed. But I was careful not to over mix, otherwise the gluten will develop and the result will be tough crust. Although I used peanut oil from force of habit, retrospectively, I should have used a flavorless oil such as canola or vegetable oil. The peanut oil adds an essence of peanut flavor to the matsutake--a somewhat confounding element. The oil temperature should be a bit higher (about 180C, I guess, I used my put-a-drop-of-batter-and-it-floats-back-immediately method of judging the temperature of the oil) ), so that the matustake will cook quickly and a nice crust is formed. It may splatter a lot (mine certainly did), so be careful.

I served this with a lime wedge and my ususal green tea salt. It is a very nice dish but the subtle flavor of matsutake is somehow lost. (That extra peanut taste didn't help). The texture is nice; a good contrast of slightly chewy matsutake and crisp crust.

Matasutake "Dobin-mushi" style clear soup 松茸の土瓶蒸し風

This is a classic dish utilizing matsutake 松茸. It is a type of clear soup but you enjoy the broth and the items in the broth separately. This dish is made in a special "dobin" 土瓶 container (a type of rustic teapot) with a small sake cup or guinomi ぐい飲み so that the exquisite broth can be poured into the cup and enjoyed. Then diving into the pot, the matsutake and other ingredients can be savored. Since I do not own a "dobin", I served this in a mini-donabe. In the classic method, after putting the ingriedents and broth in the dobin, it is steamed ("mushi" means "to steam") but I made everything in a sauce pan. I served this with a porcelain spoon ちりれんげ and a small guinomi sake cup so that we could enjoy the broth and the matsutake and other items separately.

Matsutake: I chose two rather small matustake for two servings. I cleaned and then sliced it thinly without separating the head and the stem.

Broth: For this dish, I think you have to make the dashi from scratch. I made a classic ichiban dashi 一番だし with kelp and bonito flakes. I seasoned it with light colored soy sauce, sake, mirin and salt. I did not want a very strong seasoning here. The main ingredient is matsutake--you have to let it speak for itself. When matsutake is cooked with other ingredients in the borth, it becomes much more complex albeit still very subtle.

Other items: Many cooks use chicken meat for this dish but I do not. Chicken is too strong even breast meat. Instead I used thinly sliced pieces of fluke (a type of flounder or other white meat fish without a strong flavor), boiled ginko nuts or "ginnan" 銀杏 (from a can in my case), small shrimp (frozen) and thinly sliced scallion. In a gently simmering seasoned broth, I placed the fish first, shrimp, ginnan and matsutake and gently cooked (or warmed through) for a few minutes. I then put sliced scallion (More traditional condiment will be "mitsuba" 三つ葉 but I did not have it.) If available, a Japanese citrus called "kabosu" カボス, which is very similar to "yuzu" 柚子 is traditionally used.　Since I do not have easy access to those, I served it with a wedge of lime. Just before eating, I squeezed the lime juice over the dish. The way to enjoy this dish is to sip the broth and then have some mushroom etc. (Did I say etc? I was told nobody uses "et cetra" any longer. My wife told me etc. means "entire thought collapse"). This was a reasonable approximation of the classic dish. You definitely need cold sake for this delicate dish.

Matsutake steam baked in sake 松茸の酒蒸し焼き

Certain mushrooms are highly prized among gourmands. For the French, it is truffles. For the Japanese, it is matsutake 松 茸 . Japanese domestic matsutake is very scarce since it only grows in pine forests which are apparently disappearing from the Japanese countryside.  I learned that Chinese and Korean matsutakes are more common in the Japanese market nowadays. Here in North America, we can get North American or Mexican matsutake. The latter is more expensive since the shape is more similar to the Japanese domestic variety. The flavor, mostly smell, is very subtle but distinctive. Last week, when we were at Tako Grill, we had this season's first matsutake, grilled or "yaki matsutake" 焼き松茸,  which prompted me to look into ordering our own supply of matsutake.

We used get matsutake (either North American or Mexican) from a Japanese mail order house but they charge an arm and leg. So this year, I did a web search, found a company in Oregon called "Oregon mushroom, LLC" and decided to give their product a try. This (left upper in the image below) is 1 lb of matsutake, which was sent to us overnight by FedEx and arrived in good condition. It is not too expensive (relatively speaking) at $28/lb but it took almost the same amount of money for the overnight delivery. The matsutake was quite fragrant--more so than what we received previous years from other places. The lovely, characteristically earthy smell wafted out the minute we opened the box. The Matsutake was also quite dirty when it arrived as you can see. Washing it in water is not recommended. I used a moist paper towel and gently rubbed the surface to remove as much of the dirt as I could. I then used a sharp paring knife and sliced off the very bottom, then removed the surface of the bottom end as if I were sharpening a pencil (lots of sands attached). I also removed any embedded dirt and sand (I would rather sacrifice a bit of the mushroom than bite into dirt and sand--something we experienced at some restaurants in the past.) The upper right in the image below is after this cleaning process.

Since this was a weekday night and we did not have the time or energy to grill matsutake on a charcoal fire, I decided to steam-bake it in an aluminum foil pouch. I first cut into the stem end of the cleaned matsutake and then tore off pieces by hand. I repeated this process until I got reasonably sized pieces (lower left in the above image). I then placed these in a square pouch I made from aluminum foil. I sprinkled sake over the mushrooms and let it be absorbed by the matsutake for a few minutes. I added light-colored or usukuchi shouyu 薄口醤油 (1 tsp) and closed the pouch with enough air space so the steam could rise as it cooks. I placed the pouch in a 500F toaster oven for 5-7 minutes. I did not want to overcook the mushrooms. When the pouch was opened (lower right in the image above), a heavenly earthy aroma of matsutake filled the air. The smell immediately evoked the image of colored leaves and the cool weather of fall.  I served the matsutake with the juice accumulated in the bottom of the pouch as a sauce. I added a bit more salt and some lime juice. This has such a subtle and delicate flavor but we have to have it at least once a year because it wouldn't be autumn if we didn't smell it and taste it. You need cold sake with this.

Fajitas ファヒタス

When we had the landscaping done for our new house in California many years ago, all the workers, except for the boss, were from Mexico. They asked if they could use our Weber grill which was kept outside to cook some meals. We said it was OK with us as long as they cleaned up afterward. We assumed they were using it occasionally to cook burgers for their lunch. One weekday evening when we came home from work, they were still there working. They asked if we would like to try "carne asada" with them. We felt a bit funny about this (being invited to dinner at our own house using our own grill). Nonetheless we were curious and accepted the invitation. They quickly and expertly made a fire in the Weber. They produced a skirt steak from the enormous cooler they had with them, seasoned it simply with salt then grilled it over the hot coals. They also warmed up tortillas and served the carne asada, thinly sliced, with a store bought but very tasty and spicy salsa on it. Obviously, they knew the best salsa and tortillas to buy. We all ended up companionably standing around the grill on the concrete slab patio amid the chaos of the on-going landscaping eating our fill. We learned something from that meal. It was very simple yet sophisticated--much more than the burgers we had imagined they were eating. It was also nutritiously well-balanced (meat, starch and vegetables). The best part was how it smelled as it cooked. I still remember how it made my mouth water.

A Tex-Mex version of similar dish is called "fajitas" which is extremely popular in the U.S.. Since I had a package of skirt steak in our refrigerator, I made my version of "fajitas" on Sunday. I was too lazy to fire up the grill outside and made "fajitas" in a skillet (which is the usual way to cook fajitas anyway). 

I first rubbed ground cumin, salt and black pepper on the surface of the skirt steak and let it sit for 10-15 minutes. The marinade is lime juice (2 tbs or one lime), olive oil (2 tbs), ground cumin (1 tbs, but use your judgement, we like cumin a lot but it is strong spice), jalapeno pepper (two, seeded and deveined and finely chopped), garlic (3 fat cloves, finely chopped), and fresh cilantro (2-3 tbs, finely chopped including the stem). I also sliced one large onion (halved and then thinly sliced). I placed everything in a Ziploc bag including the meat and let it marinate for several hours or overnight in the refrigerator. 

To cook, I took out the steak and if the surface is too wet, I blot it with a paper towel and season it with salt and pepper again (lightly). I use a "grill" pan which has ridges on the bottom to make char marks, and cook the steak for 1 minute on each side for medium (or to your desired doneness) on high flame with a small amount of olive oil. I set the steak aside on a plate and loosely cover it with an aluminum foil. I then cook the onion with all the marinade for 5 minutes on high flame stirring often or until the onion becomes soft and partially browned. I served the steak sliced across the grain, onion, guacamole (homemade), and salsa (store bought, this was not the best. I did not have good tomatoes to make salsa myself).

To eat, we warmed small flour tortilla, placed onion, steak, guacamole, salsa on the tortilla and top the whole thing with plain yogurt (or sour cream). We like yogurt, which cuts the heat (spice).

Roll it up and serve it with black bean corn salad, which was made by my wife a few days ago. We have not had this for a long time and it tasted very good--reminiscent of  the one we had in so long ago in California.