Another three appetizers お通し３種類

Here are other examples of drinking snacks--3 kinds. From left to right are blanched okra, burdock root salad and edamame.



I made the okra dish just before serving. The rest were prepared ahead of time.



1. Okura
Most of the time the okra I see at our regular grocery store is blemished and generally not good. This time, when I went to the grocery store, which is not our usual one, for Pasteurized eggs, I saw really fresh good looking okra and could not resist buying it. I first rolled the okra on the cutting board with Kosher salt to remove the fine hairs on the surface. I washed off the salt and blanched them in salted boiling water for 15 seconds and then cooled them in ice water. After they were cooled, I blotted the water from the surface and kept them in a sealed container in the refrigerator.

Just before serving, I sliced them into thin slices and dressed with soy sauce and dried bonito flakes.

2. Burdock root
I made this at the same time I made Kimpira. Instead of  braising the burdock root, I boiled it in salted boiling water for a few minutes. I let it cool down and dressed in mayonnaise with a bit of soy sauce.

3. Edamame
This is just boiled frozen edamame. Since I had broth left over from the simmered atsuage  and nagaimo dish, I just cut off the ends of the pods and soaked the edamame in the broth. I kept it for a few days in the refrigerator.

This threesomes was not bad (but not great either). Although I liked the okra, my wife did not like the residual sliminess (in general okra is not one of  her favorites). The burdock root salad was good but I think the classic kimpira is better. The broth did not season the edamame as much as I thought it would. As a starter, however, this was more than adequate.

Teriyaki chicken breast with shio-koji 塩麹照り焼きチキン

This was another impromptu dish. It was made using the split chicken breast from which I made the tenderloins cooked with miso glaze. The breast meat was marinated in shio-koji 塩麹, soy sauce, and mirin for 5 days. This is a sort of teriyaki chicken breast but because of the shio-koji, it has a unique flavor. In addition, the shio-koji tenderized the meat and kept it moist. I served this with my wife's holiday bread stuffing (put in a small ramekin and baked for 10 minutes to warm it up) and blanched green beans sautéed in butter.



I first cooked the chicken breasts skin side down in a frying pan with a small amount of olive oil for 7 minutes and then flipped them over. I cooked them meat side down for another 5 minutes and placed the pan in a preheated 350F oven for 10 minutes or until the thickest portion of the meat reached 160F (below). Because of the sugar in the mirin, the surface of the meat became dark (although it looks burnt in the picture it was not). I let it rest for 5 minutes before slicing.



For a dish without any recipe, this was a good dish. The chicken was moist and flavorful. We had leftovers which we used for sandwiches the following week.

Chicken tenderloins with miso glaze 鶏ささみの味噌焼き

Often, our eyes are bigger than our stomach. We frequently buy food thinking we will cook it over the weekend but end up not cooking it because we either have too many other dishes for the week or we run out of time. This was one such weekend. Although I had bought split chicken breasts (bone in skin on), we did not cook it. Instead, I removed the meat from bone and separated the tenderloins from the breast meat. I marinated the tenderloins in sake and the breast meat in shio-koji, soy sauce and mirin. I placed the two packages in the meat drawer of the refrigerator. I cooked this chicken tenderloin dish on a subsequent weekday evening as a starter.

I often grill the tenderloins with pickled plum paste and perilla but this time I used sweet miso glaze.

I also garnished it with chopped chives.

Miso glaze: This is similar to the sauce I use for dengaku. I mixed miso, sugar, sake and mirin with grated ginger and a splash of sesame oil and mixed it in a small sauce pan over the low heat until everything was combined and the consistency was spreadable but not runny.

I skewered the tenderloins and grilled them in the toaster oven for 5 minutes on each side. I checked for doneness then smeared the miso glaze on one side and put it back under the broiler until the miso glaze bubbled and became fragrant.

This was nothing special but perfect starter for the evening.

Wheat berry salad 全粒小麦のサラダ

This is one of my wife's grain salads which we often include as a side in our brown bag lunches with our sandwiches. Wheat berry is the entire wheat kernel sans hull and is considered healthier than refined grain (milled wheat berry is whole wheat flour 全粒小麦). It has a nice crunchy texture and we like this salad.

We added sweet dried cranberries called craisins to give it a sweet savory flavor. The chick peas make it more interesting. Olives give a burst of salty flavor.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups wheat berry
1 cup of Craisins
1 large can of chick peas (with soft outer shell removed)
1/2 cup of olives, assorted chopped,
1 cup walnuts toasted and brown skin rubbed off
1/2 red onion finely diced
3 ribs of celery chopped
parsley chopped

Dressing: We used our usual honey mustard dressing which is a combination of Dijon mustard, honey, rice vinegar (1 tbs each) mixed and then add olive oil in thin stream while whisking. I stop adding oil as the dressing reaches the consistency and taste I want (probably 1 cup). I seasoned it with salt and black pepper.

Directions:
Toast the wheat berry in the toaster oven until they turn darker brown and smell fragrant (they may also start popping and that means they are done). Quickly rinse in cold water. Put in a bowel and cover with several inches of water. Cover and put in the refrigerator over night. Next day drain off the water put into a sauce pan with 3 1/2 cups of chicken stock. Bring to a boil then cook on simmer for 50 minutes. When they are done they should be firm but chewy. Drain any excess liquid.

Addendum: Cooking using the Instant Pot 

1cup wheat berry (toasted then washed in cold running water)

4cup water (or chicken broth)

Cook with high-pressure for 50 minutes with natural decompression.

*This is the second time we cooked wheat berry in the Instant Pot. We sued more liquid (4 cups) and more time (50min). It was a bit soft, may be we can try 45minutes.

After the wheat berry has cooled, add other ingredients (below).

This salad has a nice nutty flavor and chewiness. The other ingredients give it contrasts in texture such as the difference in the softness of the chick peas and the crunch of the wheat berry and little bursts of alternate intense flavor such as the saltiness from the olives and sweetness from the craisins.

Pork chop "Tonkatsu" ロースとんかつ

I have posted pork tenderloin cutlet or "hirekatsu" ヒレカツ sometime ago. This time I made tonkatsu from pork chops which is called "rosu" ロース in Japanese. I assume it is derived from parts of pork used for "roasting". I think  Japanese "rosu"  pork is a loin and usually does not contain any bones such as ribs or shoulder blade. Compared to "filet", this cut has more fat and is considered to be the original pork cutlet in Japan. In any case, I used bone-less pork chops here.

I served it with sauteed spinach seasoned with Dijon mustard and wedges of tomato.

Although the chance of trichinosis in US pork is very low, I do not take any chances and cooked the thickest center portion to 140F.

There is no real recipe. If the pork chops have a layer of fat at the edge, I usually cut into the fat (but not the meat below) in half inch intervals. l seasoned these with salt and pepper. I dredged them in flower, egg water, and panko bread crumbs. I deep fried them in 350F peanut oil for 5 minutes and then turned them over and cooked another 3 minutes. I  make sure the center of the thickest part is 140F using either the "cut and peek"  method or using a instant digital thermometer.

This looked really large but we ended up basically eating it all. We like "rosu" tokatus. It has more "porky" flavor and the layers of fat are sweet and succulent.

Panettone Italian Christmas bread パネトネクリスマスブッレド

When my wife baked Stollen bread for Christmas, which is Germanic, she also wanted to make Italian Christmas bread, Panettone, to cover all fronts but got delayed since she did not have appropriate baking vessels. I quickly went on line and ordered Panettone paper molds in two sizes. This delayed her baking Panettone but she managed to bake it on Christmas eve.

Since she did not have enough time before Christmas, instead of a yeast recipe which requires making sponge the day ahead, she chose a "quick bread" Panettone recipe.

It has very good flavors both savory and sweet the bread was excellent.

She made the larger one for us to enjoy and smaller ones to give as holiday gifts for friends. 

Ingredients (see above):

6 cups AP flour

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 cups milk

4 eggs

1 cup sugar

2 sticks butter melted and cooled (one cup)

the grated lemon peel from 2 lemons

2 tsp crushed anise seed

1/2 cup slivered almonds toasted

1/2 cup raisins

2 tsp anise extract

2 tsp lemon extract

Directions: 

In a small bowl mix together the flour, baking powder and salt. In a mixing bowl beat the eggs and sugar until fluffy and light yellow. Beat in the butter until it forms an almost mayonnaise consistency. Then add the lemon peel, crushed anise seeds, slivered almonds, raisins and extracts. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture alternating with the milk. Fill the molds about 2/3 full. Bake in a 325 degree oven. The small ones took about 45 minutes. The larger was about an hour or until it tests for done. (Sorry the times aren't more exact. I wrote them down on a sticky note and then promptly lost it.)

This is a very festive bread. The texture is very rich and all the flavors come through. Happy Holidays!!

Unboxing Sushi Taro Osechi Box すし太郎の御節重箱

Again this year,  we got an osechi box 御節重箱 from Sushi Taro すし太郎. In addition to the box, we also got hand-cut "Juwari-soba" 手打ち十割そば for "Toshikoshi soba" or "End-of-the-year soba" 年越し蕎麦 and even a desert. The desert was a Japanese style black bean steamed bread with "maccha" green tea 抹茶 and white sweet bean paste (I may be wrong just a guess, see the last picture).  This was how unwrapping and unboxing went on new year's eve.

The menu is in both Japanese and English. The soba and steamed bread are not listed on the menu.

The upper box looked like this (picture below). All the "good luck" new year foods and more. Miso marinated kazunoko 数の子の味噌漬け, and baby mackerel nanban 豆鯵南蛮漬け were among some of the new items this year. I have never tasted miso-marinated kazunoko. It had a nice sweet nutty flavor. This one also had a really nice crunchy texture.

This was the lower box (picture below). Among the simmered dishes simmered conch/whelk バイ貝の柔らか煮 was new and very good. This year's daikon namasu 大根なます included sweet dried persimmon. This combination is also a first for me and the sweetness and soft texture of the persimmon created a good contrast. (I made a more traditional daikon namasu, myself, this year).

The plate below shows the first serving of the new year's eve feast. Everything was good as we sipped cold sake. The monk fish liver terrine あん肝豆腐 (front row second from the left) was our favorite as before. But everything on the plate was a treat. 

And we went back for seconds. The version of matsukaze-yaki 松風焼き (square chicken loaf) was sherry flavored. Indeed, we could taste the sherry and it was a pleasing variation. This year, we ourselves tried a variation on matsukaze-yaki including one with dried fig and Gorgonzola cheese (subject for future post). The daikon namasu  with dried persimmon 干し柿 is shown on the right in the back), we really liked it 

Although I was thinking about serving the soba as an ending dish or "shime" 〆 we had to pass on it because we were quite full. (We never seem to be able to eat soba on new year's eve for the same reason every year--too full). 

On the second day of the new year, we had the soba. We knew Chef Kitayama 北山料理長 was into making hand-cut "Juwari" soba from 100% buckwheat flour without any binders or "tsunagi" つなぎ such as wheat flour or mountain yam. "Juwari soba" is indeed the pinnacle of soba making prowess that only a real soba master can accomplish. His soba was just such an accomplishment. It was slightly thicker than usual soba, but had a more delicate texture with subtle soba flavor. I made warm soba with cooked vegetables or shippoku soba しっぽくそば but in the haste of enjoying it before the soba got soggy, I completely forgot to take a picture. The soba was fantastic. But I did take a picture of his steamed bread or "mushi pan" 蒸しパン which we had as a dessert with our short-drawn espresso (green beans are from Sweet Marias, Espresso Workshop#37 blend, home roasted to full city roast).

This was a perfect combination. Although I am sure green tea instead of espresso could also have been an excellent accompaniment, the contrast of the coffee really accentuated the flavor of green tea in the bread. This was indeed an elegant desert.