"Hanami" Cherry blossom gazing 花見

The cherry blossoms are in full swing in Washington, DC. This is much earlier than usual years.  Even in our back yard, the cherry blossoms are in 80% in bloom. The trees in our back yard are usually 2 weeks behind the district but this year our trees are in sync with the tidal basin. The cherry blossoms aren't the only things blooming--the forsythia, the magnolia, the plum, the bradford pears and even the dogwoods are all clamoring for center stage. Usually it is a multi-act show with each plant having its own solo but because of the unusually warm weather all the acts combined into one grand display.  

We had to transplant the smallest cherry tree this year. We had planted two trees next to each other on the same day twenty some years ago. One thrived and grew to almost 3 stories high (big brother)(shown in the picture above) while the other remained about the same size as when we planted it (little brother). Last fall we discovered why. The poor thing had spent its life planted in a shallow layer of soil above a highway "jersey wall" and other trash that had been used as land fill when the house was built.  We cleaned out the trash filled void and refilled it with soil.  We also transplanted little brother to a new site on the property. Despite it's diminutive size little brother did bloom valiantly next to big brother and as a result of his transfer to better soil, the display seems a bit sparse this year. Nonetheless we hope little brother thrives in his new location and admire his will to survive under such, unbeknownst to us, adverse conditions.  

I could not get decent sashimi items to have with Hanami, so I had to rely on frozen items. Beside in this nice weather, it is difficult to leave the deck and go inside to cook. I was planning to have a bit more elaborate array of dishes but that did not happen.  This is an opening drinking snack which is another variation of "Namerou" なめろう made of frozen saku (block) of sashimi-grade yellow fin tuna. This time I added several new twists and made it a Japanese-Mexican fusion dish. This is a hybrid between "ceviche" and "namerou". 

For two servings, I used 1/2 of tuna block or "saku". Other ingredients included scallion (3 including some green parts finely chopped), Jalapeño pepper (1/2 medium, seeded and veined, finely chopped), lime zest (one, grated using a micro-grater), juice of one lime (add in increments), fresh cilantro leaves (1 tbs, finely chopped), miso (1 tsp to start and added more as I tasted).

I started with all the herbs finely chopped and mixed in cut strips of tuna sashimi and miso as seen in the left. Using a sharp knife, I started "hitting" or "tataku" たたくthem changing directions and gathering, mixing and turning over so than all the ingredients were well mixed and chopped. I added the lime juice and miso in several increments as I tasted it until I was satisfied with the texture and taste. 

I just decided to make it this way on a whim but this turned out to be an excellent Japanese-Mexican fusion tuna tartar. Some people may not like the cilantro flavor but we love it. The jalapeño pepper was not hot but gave a nice fresh peppery taste since I removed the seeds and veins. Just as a reminder and for whomever needs an extra kick I topped this fusion namerou with a slice of Jalapeño pepper with some veins (white stuff) remaining and a wedge of lime. Other dishes to follow.

We have a total of 4 cherry trees in our yard. Two were on the property when we moved in and may be between 30 and 50 years old. In addition to these we planted two--big brother and little brother. We planted them so we could enjoy hanami on our deck. Of the previously existing trees, the largest is a native American choke cherry tree. It blooms in late May and produces small sour cherries that the native indians are said to have harvested--now it is the favorite of only the birds. The other is an ornamental cherry that is a cultivar different from the kind we planted and blooms later than they do. The following picture is of big brother. 

The cherry trees all went from bud to full bloom in about 2 days. We hope the flower will last for several more days or hopefully until next weekend. Unfortunately spring and cherry blossoms come only once a year.

P.S. This is little brother...he seems happy in his new home

Chikuwa fish cake with cucumber and cheese, avocado sashimi 竹輪の射込みとアボカド刺身

This is another padding post. One weekend, I did not have much available for making drinking snacks and this was what I came up with. Besides, as you can see, from the light of the setting sun in the image it was a beautiful early spring day perfect for eating al fresco. 

I just used leftover chikuwa 竹輪 fishcake and stuffed it with cheese (I used smoked cheddar this time) and cucumber which I posted before.

I thought we needed one more item. So I just sliced avocado and served it sashimi style.

I served this with real wasabi and soy sauce. As I mentioned before, the problem with real wasabi is that, towards the end of the tube, only the liquid comes out and the solids remain in the tube. I cut the tube open and removed the somewhat dry appearing wasabi and add back a bit of filtered water to make it whole again. Although this one is at least one month old after thawing, it still had a nice fresh somewhat pungent smell of fresh wasabi. I cannot help but think that avocado and wasabi soy sauce is the wonderful combination. The smoked cheddar was also good with this fish cake. 

Actually, this was an unusually warm March weekend and we enjoyed this outside with sake while waiting for barbecue chickens being cooked in the Weber grill. The smell of cooking chicken mixed with hickory smoke added to the enjoyment.

P.S. Spring has sprung with a vengeance in Washington. All the flowers and trees are tripping over each other to bloom first. The cherry blossom buds are plump and ready to go. This is just a preview of upcoming blogs...Hanami (Cherry blossom gazing)!

German omelet ジャーマンオムレツ

As I said before, any good breakfast could be a good drinking or mid-night snack. I made this German omelet as a breakfast one weekend but this is also perfect for a late night or drinking snack. I used to make similar omelets often on weekends when we were young, reckless and unconcerned with things like cholesterol but I have not made this for quite some time. This is essentially an open (as opposed to stuffed) omelet made out of potato, onion, and bacon.

This is a two-egg omelet for two of us but, for most people, this will serve one.

Eggs: I beat eggs (two large, brown) and seasoned with salt and pepper.

Bacon: I cut the bacon into small 1 inch pieces (one strip)

Potatoes: Baby Yukon potatoes (5 small) which my wife baked with onions and carrot for another dish--but for some reason only the potatoes were leftover. I cut these into small chunks. You could used any precooked (either boiled, steamed or microwaved) potatoes.

Onion: I halved and sliced yellow onion (one medium).

Tomatoes: I used Campari tomatoes (5)

I first fried the bacon in a small non-stick frying pan on low flame turning several times until the the fat rendered and the bacon became crispy. I set it aside on a paper towel lined plate. Using the bacon dripping left in the pan, I sautéed the onion, seasoned with salt and pepper, for 4-5 minutes until soft and browned. I then added the potatoes. I washed and scored a cross on the stem end of the Campari tometo and also added to the pan*. I put a tight fitting lid on and let it cook for 5 minutes. I removed the tomatoes from the pan and removed the skin (removing the skin is optional but we do not like tomato skin, be careful it is hot) and cut it in half. I poured in the beaten egg to make sure it was well distributed throughout the bottom of the pan. I put back the skinned and cut tomatoes on the top and covered with the lid. I let it cook for another 4-5 minutes on the lowest flame. When the eggs were just cooked, I garnish it with the bacon.

* I could have blanched the tomatoes to remove the skin but I was taking a shortcut here.

I slid the omelet on to the cutting board and cut it into quarters. I served it with some greens and a side of ketchup. This is a combination which cannot go wrong.

Fried Marinated tofu "tatsuta-age" with sesame crust 豆腐のすりごま竜田揚げ

Tofu is a versatile item to make a drinking snack--this dish is an example of its versatility. I am basing this dish on a recipe I read in a Japanese vegetarian cookbook (in English) that I have had for a long time. I previously posted the mock eel dish from this same cookbook.

The name "Tatsuta-age" 竜田揚げ is usually applied to marinated and fried chicken, which is a teiban 定番 or regular dish in Izakaya. I have mentioned the origin of the name previously when I posted chicken tatsuta-age. In any case, this dish is similar in that the tofu is first marinated, then fried. 

Tofu: I used half a block of silken tofu which was left over from making red wine-marinated tofu. I cut it into 4 rectangular blocks.
Marinade: I made it simply with soy sauce and mirin (1:1). I marinated the tofu overnight in the refrigerator.

Dredging: This is a mixture of sesame seeds and potato starch or katakuri-ko 片栗粉. I first dry roasted white sesame seeds (2 tbs) using a dry frying pan. I then ground them coarsely using a Japanese mortar and pestle (suibachi すり鉢). I mixed the ground sesame seeds with about the same amount of potato starch.

After blotting the excess marinade from the tofu using a paper towel, I dredged the tofu in the above dredging mixture and shallow fried in peanut oil on medium low flame for 2 minutes on both sides or until nice brown crusts formed. Meanwhile, I reduced the marinade until a syrupy consistnecy was obtained.

As a side, I microwaved asparagus tips and dressed them with a sesame mayonnaise (mixture of white sesame paste or nerigoma 白練り胡麻 and mayonaise - about 1:2 ratio, with a small amount of soy sauce. I added water to adjust the consistency) garnished with sesame seeds. Just before eating, I added the reduced marinade on the tofu and severed extra sauce on the side in a small bowl.

The crust really made this dish, It had a nice crunch with a good sesame flavor. Tofu was nicely seasoned but the addition of the reduced marinade was also perfect. The only thing is that this has to be eaten immediately while it is piping hot otherwise the moisture from the tofu wilts the lovely crunch of the crust. 

Cold tofu marinated in red wine 赤ワイン漬け冷奴

This dish was prompted by our opening a bottle of Bordeaux. Although the label said it got a "Gold Medal" in Paris, this one did not even reach our Wednesday night wine quality guideline (which is the lowest we will go). It sat on the kitchen counter for a few days. I thought about making the ususal stews with this wine but I somehow remembered seeing the recipe for red wine marinated tofu. I could not find the recipe but I decide to just wing it as I often do.

Marinade: Here is the bottle of Bordeaux (the identity was concealed to prevent any negative percussions from Francophil wine drinkers) which I used. 

Tofu: I just cut a half of silken tofu into four cubes.

I poured the wine into a sealable container and marinated it overnight in the refrigerator. I did not add anything else.

I was quite impressed with the looks of this tofu dish when it came out of the marinade! It attained a beautifully stunning Burgundy (or Bordeaux in this case) color. So, the next question I faced was how to garnish and season this tofu. I decided to go with a bit of a Western twist while keeping Japanese seasoning.

Toppings: I finely chopped green picholine olives (to keep with the French theme, 5-6 finely chopped), black walnuts* (2 tsp, roasted and finely chopped), and chives (2 tsp, finely chopped).

*My wife baked bread earlier in the day and this happened to be  leftover from that.

I placed the tofu on a bed of baby arugula sprinkled with a dressing of soy sauce and olive oil. I also added wasabi and soy sauce on the side.

Despite the stunning color, the red wine did not penetrate much deeper than the surface of the tofu and did not impart a strong flavor (which may be a factor of its less than sterling basic quality). Nonetheless, there was something I could not quite put my finger on--a "je ne sais quoi" quality to this tofu. Savoring this subtle flavor as well as the enhancements from the salty olives and crunch of the walnuts, we added soy sauce and wasabi and cleaned the plate. (There is something quite intriguing about the crunch and taste of walnuts with tofu which is worth trying in other venues).  I will make this dish at least once again with more variations in the seasonings and toppings next time we have a wine which does not pass our minimal criteria for drinkability.

Pork Cutlet curry with rice カツカレー

This is another Japanese invention of "Yoshoku" 洋食 or Japanese-style Western (not cowboy Western) dish. Japanese like anything "curry" and put curry sauce even on noodles such as udon. This dish,"Katsu curry" is Japanese-style curry with rice which is topped with a cutlet of pork chop or "tonkatsu" トンカツ. This is a rather high-fat and high-calorie dish. I decided to make this dish one weekday evening since I had leftover curry sauce I made on the prior weekend and frozen pork chops in our freezer which, I deemed, were "aged" enough.

Curry: I made the curry sauce in a similar maner as I posted before using S&B brand mild curry roux. the only difference was that the amount of sauce I need to prepare (we had guests) was more than one package of the roux could handle. I supplemented the packaged amount with my own brown roux (olive oil and flour, onion, and Japanese curry powder). The vegetables included potatoes (small red new potatoes), carrots, and onion. It originally contained chicken thighs.

Pork cutlet: (This was made from pork chops I had sliced from the whole loin of pork and froze immediately some time ago). After I seasoned the pork chops with salt and black pepper, I dredged with flour, coated with egg water and Japanese panko crumbs. This time, instead of deep frying I shallow fried (half inch of peanut oil) (left in the image below). I cooked them on medium-low heat for 5-6 minutes on each side or until done. According to a French cook, Madeline, if you freeze pork for 21 days or longer, there is no more danger of contracting cysticercosis or pork tape worm even from undercooked pork. Althouhg my pork chops were safe by the Madeline's criteria, I was not taking a chance here and made sure the pork was fully cooked.

There are many different ways to serve the pork cutlet in this dish (on the top of curry and rice, additional curry sauce on the top, with shredded cabbage underneath, etc) but I just put the rice with side of regular Japanese condiments of pickled cocktail onion or "rakkyo" ラッキョウ and mixed pickled vegetable, "fukushinzuke" 福神漬け as you see above and then placed the cutlet of pork chops (pre sliced) on the side (the first picture).

My wife did not see the point of combining curry and rice with pork cutlet. She prefered eating the cutlet separately. So, I added Japanese hot mustard and "Tokatsu" sauce on the rim of the plate as well.

We had this with a very unususal and good Italian red from Umbria called Sportoletti Rosso Villa Fidelia 2008. This is a Bordeaux blend (Merlot and Cab Saub) of Italian wine. This one had lots of fruit upfront and was remarkably good. It tasted like a Bordeaux blend from Napa (coming from us, this is a compliment). This one also got 93 from Wine Advocate. I wonder, though, whether this is meant for export (especially to the U.S.) rather than for domestic consumption in Italy.

Mixed mushroom stir fry with "shiokara" squid しめじとエリンギの炒め物塩辛いり

This is another example of making something out of whatever is available. I made a stir fry of three mushrooms and added squid "shiokara" 塩辛 or "squid and guts" to add interest. I had a combo package of three mushrooms which included white and brown clamshell (shimeji しめじ) and royal trumpet (simialr to eryngii エリンギ) as seen in the bottom picture (#1). I bought this at least one week ago and needed to use it quickly. Although these mushrooms, especially royal trumpet, will last a long time, aging does not improve the flavor. In addtion, I found a small pouch of "shiokara" or fermented squid and guts leftover in the refrigerator, which was thawed sometime ago. I checked it and it was still Ok but moving past its prime. So, the combination of these two ingredients culminated in this quick dish.

Mushrooms: I separated the white and brown clamshell mushrooms at the root end (left half in #1). I cut into the end of the royal trumpet and tore it into two or four pieces depending on the size the mushroom. (#2).

I first sautéed a shallot (one medium, thinly sliced) in olive oil and dark sesame oil (1 tbs) on medium high flame for s few minutes until soft and slightly browned. I then added the mushrooms. After an additional few minutes of sautéing, I added garlic (one small clove, finely chopped). When the garlic became fragrant I added sake (1 tbs) mirin (1 tbs), and soy sauce (1/2 tbs) and put on a tight-fitting lid and turned down the flame to let it steam for several minutes.

After the liquid was almost all gone (#3), I added "shiokara" squid and guts (2 tsp) and quickly mixed in then cut the flame (#3). After cooking, the volume of the mushrooms reduced quite a bit and the amount was just perfect for two small servings (#4).

I further garnished it with chopped chives and sprinkles of Japanese 7 favored red pepper powder or Shichi-mi tougarashi 七味唐辛子. This was a good dish for cold sake but, to me, it was too sweet (from the mirin and sautéed shallot). The addition of shiokara gave some saltiness and subtle and interesting sea food (or "fishy" if you prefer) flavor. I am not sure adding shiokara was particularly successful. Next time, I may stick to more simple butter and soy sauce with sake to make this dish.