Squid stuffed with rice いか飯

A few weeks ago, I found frozen squid at our Japanese grocery store. I am not sure what the actual name is of this creature but I would say this must be "Surume-ika"スルメイカ or "Yari-ika" ヤリイカ. I have no idea what the English name would be. The only thing I do know is that this is a relatively large squid. While this type of squid is widely available in Japan we never see them at the regular grocery store in the U.S. Since many squid dishes can be made from the more commonly available small squid, I decided to make something different which requires the use of a large squid such as this one. I decided to make rice stuffed squid or "Ikameshi" イカ飯. Actually, in Hokkaido, this is the “star” of the most famous station-box-lunch or ekiben 駅弁 at Mori-machi 森町 station near Hakodate 函館 where squid is one of the famous local catches from the sea.



I served this as a small drinking snack with the side of blanched broccolini. We quickly switched to sake for this dish.



After serving 4 slices for both of us, this is what remained.

The frozen squid was about 10 inches long (just for the body or head portion). I let it thaw out at room temperature for a few hours since I did not have much time (upper left in the picture below). Since this was not cleaned, I had to clean it. I just separated the innards from the body using my fingers then gently pulled the legs until all the innards came out in one piece. I then removed the "cartilage" (transparent long and narrow structure) by just pulling on the end. I cut and separated legs and innards just above the eyes and discarded the innards. There was a hard "beak" in the center of the base of the legs which I removed. I then cut the legs into individual pieces*. I further cleaned and washed the cavity of the body of the squid (upper right in the picture below). I pondered whether I should remove the skin. In the end I did using paper towels to get traction.



* I marinated the legs in the 1:1 mixture of mirin and soy sauce and then grilled them over a charcoal fire when we did "Yakitori" the next day--but did not take pictures. The legs can be cooked with the rest of the squid or even used as a stuffing (cut into small pieces) with rice.

Cooking liquid: I made the cooking liquid with dashi broth (2 cups made from kelp and bonito flakes), sake (1/3 cup), mirin (3 tbs), sugar (3 tbs), and soy sauce (1/2 cup).

Rice: I washed and soaked  "mochi-gome" 餅米 or "glutinous" rice over night in the refrigerator  (1 cup, this can be had in a Japanese grocery store. It is sticker than regular Japanese rice. This is a particular kind of short grain rice from which "mochi" 餅 or rice cake is made).

I stuffed the squid with the drained glutinous rice. The amount of the rice is crucial. I just filled a bit less than half of the cavity (do not try to use up all the rice). I closed it using a toothpick. Not over filling is important since, when cooked, it will swell up and if overstuffed, it will burst.

I then placed the stuffed squid in a shallow pan and poured in the cooking liquid. I placed an "Otoshi buta" 落とし蓋 and a regular lid and cooked it on a very low flame for over 1 hour turning it once (lower left in the picture above). I took out the cooked squid and let it cool a bit before slicing.

This was a good dish. The rice is very sticky and absorbed all the flavors of squid and the cooking liquid. Just before eating I  poured a small amount of the cooking liquid over the rice. I could have made a sauce by reducing the cooking liquid but I did not.

For the leftover piece, a few days later I micro waved  it to warm it up a bit which worked well. I hope I can get this type of squid again but this happens only sporadically.

Sesame Mayonnaise Chicken salad 鳥胸肉のゴママヨネーズ和え

On a recent warm, spring-like weekend, we barbecued a whole chicken. From the leftovers, I made chicken noodle soup (using some skin and dark meat). I also made chicken salad (from the breast meat). I was going to make chicken gomaae 鶏肉の胡麻和え but at the last moment, I realized I was out of Japanese white sesame paste or "nerigoma"  練り胡麻. Instead, I made some sesame mayonnaise and used that to dressed the chicken.



Chicken: I used the breast meat of a barbecued chicken. I teased the meat, using my hands, along the grain to make thin strands.

Dressing: Goma-Mayonnaise is a rather common Japanese -style dressing. I dried roasted white sesame seeds (1 tbs) in a dry frying pan constantly moving them around until they became fragrant. I tipped off the roasted sesame into a Japanese "suribachi" すり鉢 mortar and ground it until the oil came out but it was not pasty.

I mixed the ground sesame into mayonnaise and mixed. I added light colored soy sauce to taste and just a splash of lemon juice (I used Yuzu juice from the bottle, which added a more assertive citrus flavor). I dressed the chicken meat with the dressing. The chicken absorbed the moisture and the dressing got a bit thick so I added a very small amount of water (optional) and mixed.

I served it with a garnish of watercress and roasted white sesame seeds. Actually, the flavor profile is very similar to the more traditional "goma-ae" with sesame paste. Perfect small "otoshi" dish.

Cherry blossom gazing, Day2 花見２日目

The cherry blossoms this year will not last long. This is the second day of hanami.

It was a nice sunny warm day requiring a "fan" and umbrella.

My wife wanted red wine rather than sake to start. So we started with my wife’s miso-flavored carrot and cashew nut spread on crackers. I asked my wife to fill in the recipe.

The amounts are basically arbitrary:
Four carrots peeled, cut into pennies and microwaved until soft. About 3/4 cup of salted cashew nuts gently toasted to golden brown in the toaster oven (even though they came toasted in the jar the additional toasting really brings out the flavor). I pureed the carrots and cashews in the food processor using several tablespoons of chicken broth until the mixture reached a spreadable texture. We then stirred in miso and soy sauce to taste. This mixture was particularly good the second day when the flavors had a chance to meld. The carrots added a sweetness and the cashews their usual nuttiness. The miso and soy sauce added an additional dimension that was pleasant but indefinable. This tasted really good with sesame crackers.


We started with  a glass of Havens Black and Blue 2011, Mt. Veeder, Napa Valley which is a cabernet sauvignon and syrah mix like the ones from Australia. This is not bad as an everyday wine.

Although I was planning a line up of dishes for sake, I had to make some changes to accommodate the red wine.

For the first dish, I had to use up the leftover portion of frozen yellow fin tuna block I thawed yesterday.  I was going to make “namerou” なめろう initially, but since we started with red wine, I decided to make tuna “carpacccio”. I make carpaccio without any particular recipe and on a whim so that every time I make it, it is slightly different.

I started out drawing lines on the plate using a good fruity extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) and syrupy aged balsamic vinegar. This time I happened to have smoked sea salt (which has a wonderful smoky aroma). I ground the salt scattering it on the bottom of the plate. I then layered paper-thin slices of sweet onion (like Vidalia but since it was not from vidalia was labeled generic “sweet onion”) using a Japanese mandolin "Benriner".

I then put on a layer of thinly sliced tuna. I added more thinly sliced sweet onion, garnished with thin slices of American mini-cucumber. I then again dribbled zig-zag lines of the EVOO and balsamic vinegar. I added fresh grinds of black pepper and the smoked sea salt on the top.

This carpaccio was very good. The balsamic vinegar was sweet and not too acidic and did not compete with the red wine. The coarsely ground smoked sea salt gave a burst of saltiness with a smoky note which added a lot to this dish. The onion was very mild.

Now for the second dish for red wine. I had a left over bamboo shoot “wakatake-ni” 若竹煮 in the broth I made yesterday. Since a repeat of yesterday’s dish would not do especially since we were having a red wine, I came up with this Italian stir fry of bamboo shoot, asparagus and tomato.

Bamboo shoot, asparagus and tomato stir fry Italian-style:
Bamboo shoot:  I just removed the bamboo shoot I made the previous day from the pan and blotted off the broth (which is soy sauce, mirin and Japanese dashi flavor) and cut them into smaller pieces.

Asparagus: These were rather thin pencil aspara-gi (guses). I blanched these the previous day thinking I would make sesame dressing for it. I just cut them into 1 inch lengths.

Tomato:I skinned and cut it into small wedges.

I first put olive oil in a frying pan on low heat with flakes of dried red pepper, I also added crushed whole garlic and slowly cooked in the oil for 5 minutes and removed the garlic (I wanted some subtle garlic flavor but not too much for this dish). I then added the bamboo shoot, asparagus and tomato and stir fried them for a few minutes then seasoned with salt and pepper. I served this with freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese on the top.

My wife was impressed with this dish especially that I made an Italian-style dish from bamboo shoots. The bamboo shoot was still crunchy with a nice slow heat from the red pepper flakes. With green asparagus, this dish represented spring. This went very well with the red wine we were drinking.

At this point we are getting filled up. We sipped more wine (we opened Heavens Cabernet sauvignon 2010, which was better – a classic Napa Cab wine profile). We enjoyed the cherry blossoms and the rest of the warm evening. A beautiful full moon (paschal moon; harbinger of Easter) rose in the clear sky making the cherry blossoms glow in the soft moon light. Unfortunately this will probably be the end of this year’s hanami. But what a fitting ending!

Cherry blossom gazing part 2 続花見

We continued with our hanami. We have mentioned before that, for some reason, the birds (and now other creatures) eat the cherry blossoms from the trees in our backyard. These are ornamental rather than fruit producing cherry trees so we’re not clear why they do this. In addition, we have not heard of similar behavior toward the trees on the Tidal Basin or anywhere else for that matter. It started some time ago with the house finches. Then apparently the cardinals learned from the finches and we have a few pictures here as “proof”. Sometimes it feels like a race to finish our hanami before the birds finish the blossoms we are celebrating. Often the petals are raining down around us at a furious pace as we raise our sake glasses in libation (Occasionally having to pause and fish out petals that plop into the up-raised glasses.)

 

As you can see this one got caught “red beaked” as it were. Come to think of it their beaks are always red.



They only eat the bottom of the flowers which must contain a sweet nectar or something.



Amazingly, some of our squirrels appear to have learned from the birds. This is the first year we caught one eating the flower. As a result, even before full bloom, cherry petals were dropping.



In any case, we continued with our feast despite this distraction. This one is "Nanohana" (broccolini) and shrimp dressed in “kimisu” 菜の花と海老の黄身酢和え. “Kimisu” is a sort of Japanese hollandaise sauce without butter. I also added cucumber cup with tobiko roe on the side.

I got this idea when Chef Kitayama of Sushi taro served a dish with “kimisu” the last time we dined there. His was very rich and thick. He said he attained that texture by freezing the eggs in the shell. This makes it easier to completely remove the egg white (after thawing I assume) and also removes extra moisture from the yolk. I, of course, did not take this extra-step. Here is my recipe (the standard recipe but I did not measure the ingredients, the below is my estimate).

“Kimisu” 黄身酢:
One egg yolk (I used pasteurized shell egg)
Sugar (1 tsp)
Salt (small pinch)
Sake and mirin (1  tsp each)
Rice vinegar (1 tsp)

I mixed everything in a small sauce pan, on the lowest flame. Using a silicon spatula, I continuously mixed until the sauce thickened. I moved the pan on and off the fire to prevent scrambling the eggs. Since I did not remove the chalaza completely from the yolk, it became white hard specks in the sauce. I used a fine mesh strainer to remove it. I placed it in a small sealable container and refrigerated until use.

“Nanohana” 菜の花: I have posted information about flowering rapeseed plants and possible substitutes in the U.S. The substitute is between broccolini and broccoli rabe.  I used broccolini for this dish. I just blanched it in salted boiling water for a few minutes and shocked it in ice cold water and drained.

Shrimp: These were shell-on frozen shrimp. I thawed them under running water. I rather severely salted it and let it stand for a while.  I then cooked them in gently simmering salted water splashed with sake for few minutes, let them cool in the shell and then peeled the shell.

Although the sauce was not as rich or thick as Chef Kitayama's it was rather luxurious with some tang and sweetness gently wrapped in. A perfect, subtle spring dish.



The 3rd dish was usual “dashi maki” 出し巻き Japanese omelet. I served it with grated daikon and soy sauce on the side.



We switched the sake glasses . These came from Kitaichi glass 北一グラス in Otaru 小樽. Left is with sake in it, the right is without sake. Once the glass is filled with liquid, the cherry blossom pattern around the base appear to float up but it is not easy to capture this in a photograph. In any case, these were more appropriate glasses for the occasion.



The 4th dish was Wakatake-ni 若竹煮. Although it is the season for bamboo shoots and fresh wakame seaweed in Japan, we could not get these seasonal items around here. I used packaged boiled bamboo shoot (I am sure from the last year crop) and salt preserved wakame sea weed (which was kept frozen in the freezer).



The 5th dish was  our usual yamakake 山掛け (cubes of marinated tuna and graded nagaimo). Since we did not have perilla leaves, I used fresh basil leaves we had growing on the window sill.  (I gave my wife the choice of fresh mint or basil leaves. She suggested basil). Unexpectedly, this combination was really good. I think we’ll use it again.

Although these were small dishes, we are getting quite filled up at this point. Since the day was so warm, we turned on the flood lights and went into night time cherry blossom gazing or “yozakura kenbutsu” 夜桜見物.

Cherry blossom gazing Part 1 花見

Finally, spring has sprung. This winter was one of the coldest we can remember. To add “insult to injury” we even had snow in late March. As a result, spring is “late” this year and is very compressed--all the flowering trees are blooming at once. The picture below is of magnolia in full bloom which usually occurs much earlier than cherry blossom but this year both are in bloom at the same time.



Usually the cherry trees in our back yard bloom about one to two weeks later than the ones at the Tidal Basin. This year, however, ours came out around the same time as the ones in the Tidal Basin. The buds started to ripen on Wednesday and by Saturday, they were in full bloom.



So, we had to have hanami 花見 cherry blossom gazing.



Since I did not have time to order any good sashimi items, I had to make something from what I had at hand--frozen yellow fin tuna from our freezer.  This seems to happen often for hanami.



I made this "zuke" of tuna.マグロの漬け. To make it interesting, I layered it with thin half moon slices of daikon which were salted, washed and dressed with sushi vinegar. I also made a "scallion"sauce with coarsely ground roasted sesame.



The sake glasses came from Asakusa craft center 江戸下町伝統工芸館. It has etched plum flowers on it.



Here is a close up of the zuke of tuna sashimi. I made a slightly different marinade with sake, mirin, soy sauce in 1:1:2 ratio and heated it up to remove the alcohol and then cooled it down. I added the juice of grated ginger (to taste) after it cooled to room temperature. I did “yubiki” 湯引き to the block of tuna and made rather thick slices and marinated them for several hours in the refrigerator. Just before serving, I made “negi” sauce which is a mixture of finely chopped scallion (soaked in water with the moisture then squeezed out using paper towels) and the marinade. I added coarsely ground roasted white sesame to the sauce as well as used for garnished on the top.  Considering the quality of original frozen tuna, this treatment really made this tuna palatable. Of course, this is the first dish and hanami went on (to be continued).

Savory breakfast bread pudding 朝ご飯ブレッドプディング

For some time, my wife has been into breakfast and Indian-style cooking. She is always on the look-out for new recipes for weekend breakfasts and I am the beneficiary. This is a savory breakfast bread pudding. My wife found it in, of all things, a mail-order catalogue for “kitchy” home furnishings. I suspect my wife was attracted to it because the recipe called for dry seasoned croutons--she used Pepperidge farm herb seasoned stuffing. I have to mention she loves this bread stuffing (as at Thanksgiving and Christmas) and according to her what better excuse could she have for introducing bread stuffing flavors to breakfast.

This is the final product. Nicely puffed up and surface is golden brown.



The inside is moist and bready.



Ingredients: 2 cups of dry seasoned croutons, 4 oz. grated cheese (parmesan), 4 eggs, 1 tsp. mustard, 2 cups milk, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp. pepper.

Blend eggs, mustard, milk, salt and pepper set aside. Divide dried croutons into 4 large single serving ramekins. Sprinkle the cheese on top of the croutons. Add the egg mixture. Cook in a 350 degree oven for about 30-45 minutes or until the eggs are set.



After baking it more than doubled in volume and nicely puffed up.

The combination of eggs, spiced bread and parmesan cheese cannot go wrong. Although the flavor of parmesan was not as prominent as we expected, this is a nice breakfast. Later, we served this as a drinking snack. My wife managed to "unmold" the pudding and served it as a little loaf after heating it up in the microwave. She served it with a dipping sauce made of a combination catsup and surachi hot sauce. This gave it a nice zing. Overall it was a very satisfying dish either for breakfast or as a snack.

Three "Otoshi" appetizers お通し３品

Ok, this is a sort of padding post. These were three small snacks I made on a weekday evening, using some left overs from our March birthday party. Since I forgot to take a picture of the asparagus with tofu dressing from Tako Grill, this is a good chance to show how this dish looked since I used some of it here. Of course, the idea of multiple small "Otoshi" came from "Suiko" 酔香 and "Shuhai" 酒杯.

From left to right; asparagus with tofu dressing アスパラの白和え, potato salad with rakkyo and pickled myouga ラッキョウと冥加いりポテトサラダ, chicken salad* チキンサラダ.

Here is the close up of asparagus with tofu dressing. For this presentation, I further sliced the asparagus pieces on a slant and also added drops of light colored soy sauce to add a bit more saltiness appropriate for a drinking snack.

You cannot see well but there are sliced home-made pickled myouga (this was the last batch from the last year’s harvest) and picked Japanese cocktail onion or "rakkyo".

* I did not take a picture of  the "chicken salad". I just used breast meat from a leftover Weber hot smoked chicken which I shredded in small strands by hand and dressed with mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, lemon juice with finely chopped  celery.
For a week day evening, this was a rather stupendous "otoshi" drinking snack—if I do say so myself.

We opened Havens Spring Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon 2010. This has a rather classic Napa Cab profile of nice black fruits and tons of vanilla upfront. These three "otoshi" are rather neutral and go well with either sake or wine and certainly went well with this California Cab.