New year's day sashimi, marinaded salmon and salmon skin roll 元旦の刺身, ロシア漬けと手巻きサーモンスキンロール

This is a repeat of last year but we were again lucky enough to receive the shipment of sashimi from Catalina offshore products on December 31. This time we got fresh farm raised "Toro", which had "akami" 赤身, chutoro 中トロ and Ootoro 大トロ on it. In addition, we got anikimo, uni, and salmon roe. Ootoro was quite good. In the picture, the left back is "namasu" なます大根 topped with salmon roe. This year, I added yuzu juice in addition to rice vinegar which added a nice flavor. The golden uni was also excellent as usual (right back).

I also served marinated salmon which is my mother's recipe (right front). This salmon dish is called "Russian marinated salmon" ロシア漬け and my mother does not know how the dish got the name or where she got the recipe*. Of course, I made my contribution (read modification) to the recipe since I think the pith of the lemon imparts a bitter taste to the dish.  Essentially, I slice fresh salmon (the original recipe uses salt preserved salmon "aramaki shake" 新巻鮭) fillet paper thin, layered with sliced onion, lemon zest (grated by a micrograter), lemon slices (without the rind and pith). As I lay on the new salmon layer I salt it. The marinade is a mixture of sake, vegetable oil and rice vinegar (1:1:3) but I reduced the amount of oil. I tightly pack the salmon in a sealable container and let it marinade for a few days. The picture below is this dish served stand alone on the next day.

When I made the salmon dish described above, I removed the skin with a bit of the meat attached. Using the skin, I made salmon skin rolls as a "shime" dish.  This is a very popular hand roll item in the U.S. but I do not know if any sushi bars in Japan serve this. We like it very much. It is very simple to make, I cooked the salmon skin seasoned with salt, in a frying pan instead of a toaster oven (which is how most sushi bars in the U.S. cook the salmon skin). The skin should be nicely crunchy. I cut the cooked crispy skin into long strips. I used a half sheet of nori crisped up by passing over the gas flame. I smeared real wasabi, added sushi rice, perilla leaf, julienned cucumber and several strips of the salmon skin and made it into a cone shaped hand roll as seen below.

This is a very nice end to your new year's day Izakaya feast.

* I googled (google.co.jp) "鮭のロシア漬け" the marinated salmon recipe and found this blog (in Japanese). The recipe is a very similar to my mother's.  According to this blogger, her mother got the recipe from a Japanese magazine "Kurashi no techo" 暮らしの手帖. The recipe is reportedly published in the section called "Apron memo" quite a number of years ago, although the exact year is unclear. Even though the blogger mentioned the recipe was published some time ago, I was eating this as a kid and it is possible my mother's recipe predates even that publication.

Happy New Year 2011 明けましてお目出度う御座いました 2011

Saying the New Year's greeting in the past tense must be Hokkadio dialect. My father used to say it this way and my wife somehow picked this up as the correct way to say Happy New Year. Most people, however, will say the greeting in the present tense "明けましてお目出度う御座います".

It seems I have made excuses concerning the New Year feast for 2 years running. Last year, I said I had to work until December 31 and could not make the New Year Boxes or "Juubako" 重箱. This time, I have two major excuses both of which led to a paucity of food products; First one of our favorite Japanese grocery stores closed unexpectedly this year and second because of the recent package bomb scare, my mother's annual New Year's "care package" exceeded the new restrictions to be sent by air--it had to be sent by sea and even though it was sent over a month ago it did not arrive in time. In addtion, we are remodeling our house and the Japanese tea room we usually use to celebrate is not available. In any case, I essentially made everthing in one day on December 31. Although I had to "punt" and use frozen premade vegetables for "Umani" New Year stew (left upper) and used a boiled packaged lotus root "renkon" 蓮根 for sweet vinegared renkon 酢蓮根, the rest is homemade (except the fish cakes and black beans).

Here is our new year soup or "ozouni" お雑煮. We used a hybrid broth of vegetable chicken broth my wife made and kelp and bonito stock.

In any case, we started the new year with a good new year breakfast. Happy New Year!

Salmon "Ishikari-nabe" hotpot 石狩鍋

Ishikari 石狩 was a small coastal town which is located near Sapporo 札幌 where I grew up. Ishikari river 石狩川 drains into Ishikari bay 石狩湾 and to Sea of Japan 日本海 after winding down the ishikari plain. The river flooded often and meandered around. In the interest of efficiency, human intervention made shortcuts and straightened the water ways. As a result scimitar shaped lakes called "Mikazuki-ko" 三日月湖 were left behind. These lakes are mostly located in the area called "Barato" 茨戸, which is between Sapporo and Ishikari. They were separated from the main river but provided good fishing. Over the years Barato has become a suburbs of Sapporo 札幌. It is well developed but some pockets of wilderness remain.

Although Barato is now within commuting distance of Sapporo when my late brother and I were in grade school (9 and 6 respectively) getting there to go fishing was a great adventure--we had to take a bus, which ran infrequently from downtown Sapporo. On one such adventure we were supposed to meet a friend of my father's to go fishing at one of the lakes. He was supposed to wait for us at the designated bus stop in Barato but we somehow missed the stop and ended up at the beach of Ishikari, the terminus of the bus line.  The kindly female conductor (this was a time when all buses had conductors) took pity on us and promised to get us to the right bus stop on the return run to Sapporo. Unfortunately, as I mentioned, the bus ran only infrequently and the return trip did not occur until that afternoon. So there we were, two waifs, stranded at the desolate Ishikari beach for several hours getting hungry. The kind conductor once again took pity and bought us a bowl of Ishikari-nabe, for which the city is known, from the near-by eatery where she and the driver were eating lunch. I cannot tell you how great it tasted. The dish I made today was Ishikai-nabe. Making it, smelling it and eating it brought back the long ago memory and evoked this long preamble. 

Ishikari nabe was originally a simple fisherman's stew cooked on the beach using salmon caught in the mouth of the Ishikari river. In the past, salmon were extremely abundant and ran up the ishikari river. The salmon fishery declined drastically for some time but it is making a big come-back because of the continuos release of the hatchlings over many years and improved river management.

There are many variations of this dish but, the original form is very simple; put whatever ingredients are available (you must have salmon, though) in a pot. The broth is ususally seasoned with kelp broth and miso. The secret of making a good Ishikari nabe is to put the miso seasoning in after the vegetables are cooked. The other secret is not to cook the salmon too long.

The above picture of Ishikai-nabe is in a small one person pot (8 inch wide), which my wife and I shared. This time I used, daikon (2 inch long, peeled cut thinly in half moon shape), carrot (one medium, cut thicker than daikon in half moon shape), potato (one medium, cut into half inch thick half moon shape) and cabbage (3 leaves, hard veins removed and roughly chopped). In addition, I used fresh shiitake mushrooms (2), shirataki (1/3, parboiled) and scallion (3, cut in a slant) and salmon fillet (whatever amount you like). I thought of adding tofu but the pot was full and I decided not to use tofu this time. You could add other vegetables, sea food, fish cakes etc if you like. 

I started by soaking kelp (4-5 inch long) in about 3 cups of water for 30 minutes or longer or until it gets hydrated and soft. I put the pot on a medium flame and when the water started to boil turned down the heat and took out the kelp. I put the vegetables which takes a long time to cook in the pot first (cabbage, potato, daikon and carrot) and cooked them for 20-30 minutes on a low flame.

Preparation of the salmon: I had one medium size fillet of salmon (1 lb). After washing and removing any scales and bones if present, I removed the thin fatty belly part or "harashu" ハラス for another dish. I cut the remaining fillet into one inch wide strips and then cut the strips in half to make good sized rectangles. In order to reduce the strong or gamey taste of the salmon, I parboiled it in boiling water with a small amount of sake for just 10-20 seconds. Then I washed the pieces in cold running water and set aside.

Seasoning mixture: I disolved miso (3 tbs) in sake (1 cup) and mirin (3 tbs) in a measuring cup and set aside. You could adjust the sweetness by increasing or decreasing the amount of mirin.

When the vegetables were done, I added shirataki and shiitake. After few minutes of cooking (with lid on), I added the seasoning mixture above. After coming back to a simmer, I added the salmon and scallion and cooked it until salmon was just done (3-4 minutes). Some people add butter or milk at the end but I did not.

We enjoyed this with sprinkles of 7 flavored Japanese red pepper flakes and warmed sake. We have not had warmed sake for ages but I just wanted to try it again. I thought Gekkeikan "Black and Gold" (US brewed) is perfect for drinking warm since it is very gentle sake. It took some effort to find the "ochoushi" お銚子 flask for waming the sake. My wife finally found one (Hagi ware 萩焼) in the back of the cupboard. I gently warmed the flask in a hot water to 118 F (I measured the temperature using a digital instant meat thermometer). Guinomi ぐいのみ is made by an American artist Peggy Loudon, which my wife acquired at one of the Smithonian craft shows held at the building museum in Washington, DC. The warm sake was perfect with this nabe on this cold night--especially since we were anticipating a big snow storm which luckily just missed the Washington area by a hair. We probably will go back to drinking cold sake...warm sake is good on certain occasions but in general we prefer cold sake.

P.S.  This recipe was featured in "The Jerusalem post" by Johanna Bailey.

Chicken noodle soup チキンヌードルスープ

Every time I make my version of chicken noodle soup, this "Far side" cartoon by Gary Larson comes to mind. I am sure this slightly "dark side" humor won't appeal to everybody but I found it funny. I have been a fan of Far side for quite some time. Unfortunately, Gary Larson retired some years ago after making more than enough money (I am sure). In any case, I also make a cold-fighting chicken noodle soup, although it may not be quite the same as a Jewish (hen) mother's.

(This cartoon is, no doubt, copyrighted by the Farside, Gary Larson, hope posting it in my blog is OK)

I decided to make this soup not because we had a cold but because my wife made a nice chicken stock from chicken bones (breast and thigh bones, which I produced while deboning chicken for other dishes) and vegetables (onion, carrot, ginger root, celery with bay leaves and black pepper corns). My chicken noodle soup deviates from the traditional in several ways.  I use Japanese udon うどん noodle (dry one) and also make my soup thickened. My wife's broth (fat and solids removed after overnight refrigeration) is very nice with the sweetness coming from the vegetables and with a hint of ginger giving an "Oriental or something" touch (no salt added at this point). I usually add either milk or cream at the end (optional). So, this is more a type of chicken noodle stew than traditional chicken noodle soup.

Here is how I made it this time (the recipe changes depending on my mood). The amounts of the ingredients are all arbitrary. I used raw chicken thigh meat with skin, bone, and visible fat removed (I could use precooked chicken but I like to use raw chicken meat). I cut into bite size chunks, seasoned with salt and pepper, and dredged in flour (a part of the crust will dissolve and help thicken the soup). I browned them in small batches in olive oil using the pan in which soup will be cooked. I took out the chicken and set aside. At this point you should have browned bits or "fond" on the bottom of the pan. I added coarsely chopped onion and celery and sautéd for 2-3 minutes and then finely chopped garlic and sautéed for another minute. I deglazed with a small amount of the chicken broth. I added back the chicken, the remaining broth, carrot and potatoes (I used baby red potates). For good measure, I also added three bay leaves. I let it simmer for 30 minutes or until all the vegetables are cooked. I then added Japanese dried udon noodles broken up into pieces a few inches long and let it simmer for another 15-20 minutes or until the udon noodle is done. Starch from the udon also helps thicken the soup. The udon noodle will not get too soft even if the soup is reheated later. I seasoned with salt and pepper and added milk (about 20% of the volume of the broth). Because of the brown color from the "fond", the color of the soup is "beige".  I served this as a starter, garnished with chopped chives. The broth is lovely and the soup in very comforting on a cold winter''s night. 

Baked mashed potato and celeriac with Parmesan cheese crust and stuffing マシュドポテトとセロリの根のパルメザンチーズオーブン焼きとスタッフイング

This is is a good side dish for any special occasion like Thanksgiving or Christmas but the leftovers can be perfect as a small drinking dish. This is a rather unique mashed potato dish since it includes a root bulb of a special type of celery plant called "celeriac" and has a nice crust of Parmesan cheese on the top.

We served this as a "drinking snack" along with my wife's holiday stuffing and bacon (which was placed over the stuffing when it was baked in a casserole. The bacon was further crisped in a frying pan before serving--decadent).

I learned this recipe from a friend who served this when we were visiting them a long time ago. I do not know where the original recipe came from. Making this dish is relativly easy except that you need celeriac (below left) which appears to be available in Japan, although I have never seen it there while I lived in Japan. After peeling off all the rootlets and skin, you get the object shown on the right.

I use white potatoes (6 medium) but Yukon gold is another kind you may like to use. I peel and cut the potatoes in quarters, parboil and rinse them in running cold water. This removes the excess starch and prevents the mashed potato from becoming too gooey or gummy (skip this step if you like your mashed potatoes gooey and gummy). I dice the celeriac (1/2 inch dice) and cook it with the potatoes in salted water for 20-30 minutes or until both are soft and mashable. I drain and mash them together. I season the mixture with salt. I could use cream or butter or both but I add creme fraiche (2-3 tbs) and mix. I put the mashed potato mixture in a shallow buttered baking dish (I used Pyrex as seen below) and smooth the top using a rubber (silicon) spatula. I grate Parmesiano Reggiano on it. You grate enough cheese to cover the surface of the potato so that it will make a nice crust. Broil it for 5-10 minutes until the cheese melt and developed brown crust (below). Let it stand for 5 minutes so that the parmesan cheese will harden to make a nice crust.

Using a small metal spatula, I cut out rectangles, lift, and serve. The mashed celeriac has a very intense celery-like flavor and the same texture of mashed potatoes. In addition, the dish has the crust of Parmesan cheese.  This combination of flavors and texture is much more interesting than usual mashed potatoes. You can heat up the leftovers in a toaster oven with a good results (actually it comes out even better). This picture makes the dish look bland and does not give a clue to the layers of flavors it contains. 

The stuffing was made by my wife and is baked, not in the cavities of a poor fowl, but in a separate baking dish. (As far as she is concerned the turkey is strictly a stuffing delivery system so she decided to dispense with the turkey and go straight to the stuffing). She sautés chopped celery, onion, and apple (cut a bit larger that the onion and cerely), season with salt and pepper. The sauteed veggies get mixed into herbed bread stuffing (she likes Peperidge Farm brand but you could use your own stale bread and herb mixture if you like.) She adds toasted and chopped walnuts and raisin as well. She then adds enough but not too much chicken broth with melted butter (in several stages allowing the broth to absorb. She uses low salt, no-fat Swanson chicken broth, which becomes fatty again with butter). Since the stuffing is baked separately from meat she puts strips of bacon on top to add flavor and keep the stuffing from drying out. She bakes it in a 350F oven for 30 minutes. When the stuffing comes out she finishes crisping the bacon in a frying pan.  

These leftovers work very well with any drink, albeit carb-heavy. We had Astrales 2007 from Ribera Del Duero, 100% Tempranillo, which is one of our favorites, with this. 

Egg plant and tofu braised in miso and pork 茄子と豆腐の肉味噌風味

This is a very tamed-down variation of Mapo doufu 麻婆豆腐. Mapo doufu is originally a Szechuan (Sichuan) dish but it has been modified and adapted to different tastes and countries. Japan has its own adaptation which is not all that spicy. It has been a very popular Sino-Japanese dish. More recently, Japanese are trying to make it more authentic (and spicy). I used to make semi-authentic one using both black bean garlic sauce 蒜蓉豆鼓醤, chili garlic sauce 蒜蓉辣椒醬 but my wife and Mapo doufu did not get along that well and I have not made this for a long time. I decided to remake this classic Szechuan dish in a non-authentic Japanese way.

I used to make two different version of Mapo doufu; One is with tofu and egg plant, which can be made as a vegetarian dish, and another, similar to the authentic recipe, with tofu and ground pork. This version is combination of these two; I used Italian eggplant, ground pork, and fresh shiitake mushroom in addition to tofu. If I get small Japanese eggplants, I will leave the skin on but, for Italian egg plant, I peel the skin.

For any Chinese-style stir fry, everything should be ready to go before starting.

Ground pork: As ususal, I hand chopped the trimming of pork tenderloins (about 1/2 lb). I sauteed in a wok with small amount of vegetable oil and dash of dark sesami oil on a high flame, so that it will cook quickly without exuding too much liquid and set aside.

Egg plant: I peeled and diced Italian egg plant (1/2 inch cubes, one medium).

Tofu: I diced firm tofu (one package, 1/2 inch cubes) and blanched, drained and set aside.

Additional vegetables: I sliced fresh shiitake mushrooms (6-7 medium) and blanched snap peas (8). 

Seasoning: I chopped scallion (3-4 tbs, with some set aside for garnish), garlic (1 tsp or one fat clove) and ginger (1 tsp). I used a Japanese miso* (2 tbs), mirin (3 tbs) and chicken broth (about 1/2 cup), soy sauce (1/2 tbs). As a thickener, I dissolved potato starch (1 tbs) in sake (3 tbs) in small container and set aside. (* I could have used Chinese fermented black bean garlic sauce but I am making this in a Japanese style.)

Stir frying: I added vegetable oil (3 tbs) with a dash of dark sesame oil in a hot wok on a high flame and add scallion, garlic and ginger. When they were fragrant, added miso, then the egg plant and stir fried for several minutes and added mirin. After the alcohol has evaporated, add the cooked ground pork, tofu, and mushroom. Use your fancy "Iron Chef" moves to stir and flip (optional). I added the chicken broth and put on the lid, turned down the heat and let it simmer for 5 minutes. I stirred in soy sauce and the potato starch slurry to thicken the sauce. I taste it and adjust seasoning (you could add sugar or more soy sauce). I added a small amount of freshly ground white pepper at this point (I had to remember the whole exercise here is to not make it spicy). I splash a little bit of sesame oil on the surface, garnished it with chopped scallion (or chopped cilantro if you prefer) and arranged the blanched snap peas (or any green such as blanched broccoli or no green).

This is a totally Japanized version and is very mild in taste but still very good as is or over hot white rice. This one gets along better with my wife.

Chicken Paillard with tomato, fennel, and olive 鶏胸肉パイヤードのオーブン焼き, トマト, フェネルとオリーブのせ

We saw this on one of the episodes of "Avec Eric" and thought this was a perfect small dish to go with wine. I mostly followed his recipe. This dish requires a lots of ingredients and chopping but is relatively easy to cook and tastes great. One chicken breast (picture below) will be perfect as a main dish per person. You could cut it into wedges like a pizza and that will be the perfect as "Otsumami" おつまみ or drinking snack. Fresh fennel may be a difficult ingredient to get in Japan. We like its unique anise-like flavor.

I did not really measure each ingredient as usual and the amounts are guesstimates for two chicken breasts. Please refer to Eric Ripert's original recipe for more precise instructions.

Chicken breast: I used boneless skinless breasts. I butterflied them and then pounded the thicker parts with a meat pounder to make the thickness even as well as sort of round in shape. I seasoned it salt and pepper.

Toppings: Place all the ingredients in a bowl; fennel (1/2 cups, sliced paper thin. I used a Japanese mandolin called "Benriner"), shallots (2 small, thinly sliced), garlic (one fat clove, finely chopped), caper (1 tbs, packed in oil), tomato (4 Campari, skinned and thinly sliced), pine nuts (2 tbs, dry roasted on a frying pan), fresh thyme (very small amount from our garden, finely chopped), green olives (10 small pitted and sliced) and raisins (2 tbs, plumped up by soaking in sake, the original recipe uses, more appropriately, white wine). Season with salt and pepper and good olive oil (few tbs) and mix.

Baking: I placed two chicken paillards in a 12 inch non-stick flying pan (or a large baking dish), put the toppings on, drizzled good olive oil over and around the paillards. I placed the pan in a convection oven (top rack) preheated to 450F for about 15-17 minutes or until the chicken is done.

I placed the paillard on the plate, spooned the pan juice over and drizzled good extra-virgin olive oil and garnished with finely chopped parsley and basil (very pitiful looking basil --the last of the season from our herb garden).

Au jus from the chicken and vegetable mixed with olive oil makes a wonderful sauce. We mopped up the sauce with my wife's home baked rye and whole wheat boule.  Although white wines such as Chardonnay or lighter reds (Rhone, Languedoc or Pinot noir either from new or old worlds) may have been a better pairing, we had this with William Knuttel Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2005. This is a very decent California cab, if not spectacular but medium bodied, and went very well with this dish. Despite so many ingredients, all the individual flavors came through with a nice rounding taste of fresh fruity olive oil. The veggies on top kept the chicken moist and succulent. Overall this is a very nice dish. Although I have not tried it, if you can not get fresh fennel, I think, celery may be used instead. The flavors will be different but it may work.