New Year's eve soba noodle from Sushi Taro Osechi 寿司太郎の年越しそば

This should have been posted earlier but somehow got delayed. New year's eve soba noodles or "Tosh-koshi soba"年越しそば appears to be a common custom in Japan (with about 57% of the population participating according to Japanese Wikipedia). When I was growing up, however, our household did not have this custom at all. We usually had a feast on New Year's eve that did not leave any room to eat soba even if we wanted to. It appears that the custom started in Edo period 江戸時代 for good luck/longevity (longevity because soba is thin and "long" and to "cut" bad fortune from the previous year as soba is brittle and easily can be cut). In any case, Sushi Taro Osechi also included hand cut or "teuchi" 手打ち "Toshikoshi soba". We were too full to eat this on the New Year's eve but we ate this as a  lunch on the second day of the New Year.



There appears to be many variations of toshikoshi soba (cold or hot in a broth etc), I made it to "zarusoba" ざるそば as you see above. ("Zaru" means "bamboo basket" as the noodles are served a special flat bamboo basket or in a special container like I used).

The Sushitaro soba came in a separate box with instructions. According to Chef Kitayama's description, it was made from specific soba and wheat flours produced in Hokkaido. A pieces of kelp and "Katsuobush" 鰹節 dried bonito flakes (real "MaCoy", probably shaving from the ends of the dried bonito or katsuobushi were included and were perfect to make dashi). I followed the instructions and prepared the soba and dipping sauce. For garnish, I served thinly sliced scallion and nori strips. I also added Japanese red pepper flakes ("Ichimi tougarashi" 一味唐辛子)



The noodles had a nice al-dente texture and we enjoyed it although it was not the "end-of-the-year" but "beginning-of-the-year" soba.

Kampachi collar dressed in grated daikon カンパチかまのみぞれ和え

The package of frozen amber jack collars I got from the fish for sushi contained three. I grilled all three in the toaster oven at the same time and served two. That left one over. A few days later, I decided to make this dish. I briefly warmed the fish up in the microwave oven and asked my wife to debone it (since she is the resident expert in this area).



I mixed the fish meat with grated daikon (drained), (the amount is arbitrary) and soy sauce. I garnished with finely chopped chives.

As a small starter dish, this is simple and good.

Grilled Amber Jack collar カンパチのカマ焼

One of our favorite dishes at Tako Grill is grilled "Hamachi" collar and whenever it is available we order it. We have found frozen Hamachi collar at the near-by Japanese grocery store but it happened only once. When we got frozen tuna and kampachi sashimi for "Fish for Sushi", they also had "Kampachi" collars カンパチのかま so we ordered them along with the sashimi fish.

Since it has been bitterly cold in Washington, DC, grilling these small items on a charcoal grill outside in the evening was out of the question. Not to be deterred, I decided to grill them in our toaster oven (on "broil" mode). Half way through the cooking, it started smoking. “Eau de Fish” started permeating the house. On my wife's advice, I hastily moved the entire toaster oven under the hood vent for the stove and turned the vent on high. The smoke cleared and I managed to finish the cooking (see below).  Next time, I will move the toaster oven under the hood from the start. (Born of necessity we actually found a method to cook other “smelly” items in the toaster oven such as roasted Brussels sprouts which taste good but leave the house smelling of sprouts for days.) I served this with grated daikon and wedges of lemon. It is not as oily as Hamachi but almost equally good. Since it is smaller than Hamachi collar, I served one each.



One package contained three collars (see below). I thawed them slowly in the refrigerator (for 2 days). I salted them and started cooking them on the meat side using the toaster oven on broil after 7 minutes I turned them over so it was skin side up. That’s when it started smoking. After moving the toaster oven under the hood, I continued broiling for another 7 minutes until the skin was crisp and brown and the meat was done.



Japanese kitchen stoves usually have a "fish grill" which appears to do a better job than my toaster oven. But we will be prepared next time, the toaster over will go under the hood the minute I even think of broiling fish.

A Pinot noir we can love with two curries 気に入ったピノノワールと合いがけカレー

We usually do not particularly like Pinot noir including Burgundy. (We are not sophisticated enough to enjoy the subtleties of these Pinots). But occasionally, we come across a Pinot we really like such as the one we had recently.  So I decided it was worthwhile to post something about it. This wine was a bit unusual for Pinot (may be that is the reason we liked it). It was unusually dark in color for a Pinot—it was almost dark like Cab. The wine is called "Belle Glos Pinot Noir" Clark and Telephone from Santa Barbara. The grapes are from the vineyard located at the corner of Clark and Telephone roads. This is a young wine (2012 harvest, 9 month aging in an oak cask). It bursts with dark cherry, blueberry, caramel and vanilla up front  leading to a smooth silky tannin. We can really enjoyed this Pinot.

The appetizers may not have been a perfect pairing for this wonderful California Pinot but the threesome I served were (from left to right); Indian spiced braised cabbage with raisins (my wife made this, a subject of a future post), baked spicy tofu cubes, and baked chick peas. These dishes were not too spicy hot but had layers of spice flavors. For the tofu dish, this time I used Sriracha which added a nice flavor and heat.

For dinner, we had two quite different curries which my wife made. These two curries were made for a dinner for our friends; a mixed population of vegetarians and omnivores but because of bad weather they weren’t able to make it to the dinner. The left "red" curry is  lamb curry and the right "green" curry is spinach curry. For the spinach curry, instead of home-made cheese curd, we used cubes of Feta and smoked gouda cheeses. In Japan, "Aikake" curry 合いかけカレー is rather popular in which two different curries are served over rice on a single plate. The idea is you first enjoy the two curries and rice individually and then mix them up to create a new flavored curry.

My being carnivore/omnivore, I liked the lamb curry better but the spinach curry was totally different in flavor and texture and was excellent. Both curries had complex layers of Indian spices but were not too spicy hot. For some reason, this Pinot really went well with these curries.

Tender simmered octopus 蛸の柔らか煮

When I made extra octopus legs to Galician octopus tapas, I also made a Japanese-style simmered octopus.



This is a rather simple recipe. I started simmering the octopus legs and head (body) in water with a dash of sake with an Otoshi-buta 落とし蓋 (see below) and a regular lid. I cooked it for over 1 hour before I seasoned the broth. I did not measure but added sugar first (1 tbs to about 3 cups of boiling liquid). I simmered it for 30 minutes and added soy sauce (about 1 tbs). I removed the lid and turned up the flame to low-medium and reduced the broth to 1/3 (took another 30 minutes).



The sauce became thick and clingy (The first picture). I cut  the cooked meat into bite sized pieces and served. We like this preparation better than Galician octopus. The meat became really tender after long hours of cooking. With this dish we congratulated ourselves for completely finishing the whole boiled octopus.

P.S. Once the simmer octopus was refrigerated, it got chewy again. heating up in the microwave did not improve.

Galician octopus tapas 蛸のガリシア風タパス

As I mentioned earlier, with a whole octopus in the house, we had a lot of octopus eating to do. As a result I had to come up with something totally different from my usual recipes. I was thinking of making "tapas" and looked for recipes. There are many "Galician" octopus recipes. Although they are essentially boiled octopus eaten with paprika and olive oil, how to boil the octopus ranges widely from just boiling it in plain water to boiling it in highly seasoned broth. I took a middle-of-the-road approach heavily influenced by Chef Eric Ripert's recipe.


I started with two legs of boiled octopus. I added salt (1/2 tsp), Fino sherry (1/2 cup), lemon (1/4, juiced), black pepper corns (5) and smoked paprika powder (1 tsp), and crushed garlic (2 cloves) into the water (3 cups) (below picture, left). I put on an "otoshi-buta" 落とし蓋 and then a regular lid and cooked it on a very low simmer for 1 and half hours (Picture below right).



When it cooled to room temperature, I sliced it rather thickly and sprinkled on smoked paprika powder and a good amount of good fruity olive oil (the first picture).

This was not bad but despite the long cooking, it was still a bit chewy. Initially I tasted some bitterness while it was hot, but the bitterness disappeared when it cooled to room temperature. Two of us quickly consumed the two good sized legs.  I don’t think I will buy octopus just to make this particular dish but if you should find your self in the position of having an excess amount of octopus, this is a good dish to try.

Japanese winter stew with octopus legs たこ入りのおでん

I posted that we got 2lb whole octopus for the New Year. I made this Japanese winter stew or "oden" おでん with the octopus. The way oden was made is exactly the same as my previous post, but I added the tips of the octopus legs on skewers to the oden. When octopus legs are cut for sashimi or other use, the tips remain. I usually cut the tips into small chunk or "butsu-giri" ぶつ切りand dress them with "sumiso" 酢味噌. I serve them as contrast in texture with the sliced octopus. This time, I decide to use the tips of the legs in oden.

As I add items to the oden pot, I usually end up having too much oden. So I restrained myself and did not add any fish cakes just the octopus legs, boiled eggs, tofu, daikon, konnyaku 蒟蒻, and shiitake mushroom.


This one small serving with a dab of Japanese hot mustard. Since I left the octopus legs for long time in the pot, they were rather tender and also imparted a nice “fresh ocean” flavor to the broth.


The picture below shows how I cut the tips of the legs and then skewered them. You do not have to skewer them but it looked nice and it prevents them from curling up when they cook.


This is a very good way of using tips of the octopus especially on a cold winter day.