"Aji" Jack mackerel sashimi 3 ways 鯵の刺身3種類

It is most difficult to find the equivalent English names for fish named in Japanese. For example, the fish called "Aji" 鯵 アジ in Japanese is a member of the Mackerel family but whether the English equivalent name should be "Jack mackerel" or " horse mackerel" is unclear. In any case, I found a package of frozen "Aji" filets  tucked away in our freezer.  I must have bought it at our Japanese grocery store some time ago but I do not remember when. The package was also labeled in English as "Wild jack mackerel" (see #4 in the last composite picture below). Since such fish (or other things for that matter) do not improve spending lengthy time in the freezer, I decided to use it immediately. This package of aji was already prepared; filleted with skin removed. I thought of making a fry 鯵のフライ but this aji was rather small I decided to serve it as sashimi in three ways on one weekend.

From left to right on the bottom row are "namerou" 鯵のなめろう, "goma-mabushi"  鯵のごままぶし, and "sunomono" 酢の物.

"Aji-no-namerou" 鯵のなめろう or "chopped aji seasoned with miso" is a very common way of preparing mackerel. I have posted a similar dish using low-quality tuna.

"Aji-no-gomamabushi" 鯵のごままぶし or "aji covered with ground roasted white sesame" was inspired by the recipe I saw on line.

"aji-no-sunomono" 鯵の酢の物 or "aji and cucumber in vinegar dressing" is also a classic dish. The addition of ginger root is also common to counter the sometimes strong flavor of the fish.

The aji was frozen and vacuum packed (#1). It was filleted with skin removed. I have to assume it was first salted and prepared in the usual manner of "San-mai oroshi" 三枚おろし(three pages preparation consisting of two fillets and a layer containing a backbone).  After I removed the fillets from the package, I washed them in cold filtered water, dried them with a paper towel. I then placed the them between the sheets of paper towel on the cutting board. I sprinkled sushi vinegar so that the paper towels were saturated with the vinegar (became transparent, #2). I let it sit for 10 minutes.  This technique is called "sujime" 酢じめ which is commonly done for blue skinned fish to preserve and reduce any "fishy" smell and taste. The fresher the fish the less amount of "sujime" is needed. This one was not too bad and I only vinegared it for 10 minutes. After that, I removed the center line of the fillets which contained small bones to make 20 small half fillets. I divided these into three portions (I apportioned two extra half fillets to the "namerou" since I knew this dish would be good).

Aji-no-sunomono 鯵の酢の物　

1. I cut the aji filets into small bite sized pieces.
2. I prepared "nihaizu" 二杯酢 by mixing rice vinegar, light colored soy sauce and dashi broth (3:2:2 ratio but the ratio can be modified based on your taste).
3. As an additional item, I made "jabara" 蛇腹 cut cucumber, which was first salted, let to stand for 5 minutes then excess moisture squeezed out.  I dressed it with sushi vinegar (from the bottle) and set it aside until I assembled the dish. (I could have added wakame seaweed but I did not).
4. I also prepared "hari-shouga" 針生姜 as a garnish. By first removing the skin from ginger root, thinly sliced, and then julienned (#5) and soaked in water (#6) to make it less strong. The longer you soak the ginger root and the more frequently you change the water the less potent the ginger becomes. You have to taste and decide when to stop. I strained the ginger using a fine nylon strainer and squeezed out the excess water using a paper towel.
5. I assembled the dish in a small bowl, first putting in the cucumber (excess sushi vinegar squeezed out), then the aji. I poured the "nihaizu" around and topped with "hari-shouga" ginger (picture above).

Aji-no-goma-mabushi 鯵のごままぶし

1. I cut the aji filet into a bite sized pieces and sprinkled enough soy sauce to coat all the surface and let it stand for 5-10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, I dry roasted the white sesame seeds (about 2 tbs) until fragrant and just starting to turn color. I tipped the seeds into a Japanese mortar or suribachi すり鉢 and let it cool a bit.
3. Using a pestle or surikogi すりこぎ, I ground it into coarse powder.
4. I place the marinated aji  in a bowl and coated the all surfaces with the sesame powder and served (picture above).

Aji-no-namerou 鯵のなめろう

1. I coarsely chopped the aji.
2. I finely chopped chives (or scallion), perilla leaves, and miso (amount is arbitrary but you could taste during the preparation and add more) and mixed with the aji while chopping with the knife.
3. For a change, I added a bit of mirin to make the mixture loose and added some sweetness.
4. I did not add ginger since I had ginger in the other dish.
5. I placed decorative perilla leaves on top as garnish and served in a small bowl (picture above).

This was a wonderful combination to have with cold sake. We like the namerou best, followed by one covered with sesame seeds. The sunomono was good but, among the three, it had the least impact. The problem is that we can consume a quite a lot of sake with dishes as good as these three.

Cold pasta with smoked salmon and tomato トマトと燻製サーモンの冷製パスタ

This is a variation of cold pasta with tomato. We really liked this dish and tried to make it again on one hot and humid weekend.  We already had cooked thin Udon noodles and we had Campari tomato but we did not have prosciutto. My wife suggested we substitute smoked salmon.  

Just to change the appearance, I garnished the top with a chiffonade of basil and strips of smoked salmon and freshly cracked black pepper.

I also added a bit of the Spanish olive oil we really like,

The sauce was prepared as I posted before. Instead of pasta, we used thin Japanese Udon noodle (this was "sanuki" udon 讃岐うどん). This combination worked well. The saltiness of prosciutto is probably a better combination but this variation is no slouch. 

Succotash サカッタシュ

We thought we already posted "succotash" but found out we did not. So, this is our version of succotash. This must be an archetypical American food which may have originated with native Americans (at least the name is from "sohquttahhash" in Narragansett language meaning "broken corn kernels"). Traditionally, lima beans are used in addition to corn,  but I used "edamame" 枝豆  soybeans. (digression alert: My wife commented that she was glad I substituted the edamame for the lima beans. She mentioned that lima bean succotash was a staple of childhood summer dinners and she remembered the tedium of carefully separating the corn, which she liked, from the lima beans, which she did not like. The alternative was suffering through the starchy large lima beans at the expense of enjoying the sweet corn.)

There are so many variations of this dish and I did not follow any particular recipe.  This could be a vegetable side dish for meat but it can also be served as a small snack like I did here.

Ingredients:

Corn kernels, corn on the cob briefly boiled in salted water and kernels removed using a knife (see second picture below).

Edamame soybeans, shelled and frozen, briefly boiled in salted water and drained (see the third picture below).

Tomato, skinned and diced

Onion, finely chopped

Garlic, finely chopped

Bacon, one strip

Salt and pepper to taste

(The amounts are all arbitrary)

Direction:

In a frying pan, I cooked a strip of bacon on low heat until the fat rendered and the bacon became crispy. I took out the bacon and kept it on a plate lined with a paper towel.  I left the bacon drippings in the pan and added the onion and garlic and sautéed them until cooked (a few minutes). I added the corn, edamame, and tomato and cooked them for few minutes stirring. I added the crumbled bacon and seasoned it with salt and pepper.

Cooked in bacon drippings with onion and garlic, this tasted pretty good. Although I only used one strip of bacon, the bacon flavor permeated the dish. We much prefer the soybeans rather than lima beans (even if they are small) which are usually used in this dish. 

Strawberries and Tuna with Wasabi Dressing イチゴとマグロのわさび和え

I came across a very interesting recipe using raw tuna and strawberries. I just could not imagine how this combination would taste and wanted to try it. Unfortunately, the strawberries I can get around here are not of the caliber available in Japan and the tuna I can get is frozen yellowfin tuna. In addition, nanohana 菜の花 or rape blossom cannot be had in US and I had to substitute broccolini. So, at best, this was a variation on the original recipes but this is the best I could do with ingredients available to me. I can only imagine whether the original tasted better.  

At least, visually it appears similar to the original recipe.

Ingredients:

Tuna, half block, (I used my usual frozen yellowfin tuna), cut into 5mm cubes (#1)

Strawberries, 5-6 (or about the same amount as the tuna), cut into 5mm cubes (#2)

Broccolini, one bundle, only top portion, blanched in salted water and then shocked in ice water (#3), using a knife to remove the buds (#4).

Salt 1/6 tsp

For Sauce

Sesame paste, white, 1 tbs

Wasabi (I used real wasabi) 1 tsp

Mirin 1 tbs

Soy sauce 1 tbs

For seasoning broccolini buds 

Japanese noodle sauce, concentrated (x3)

Directions:

1. I sprinkled salt over the tuna cubes, mixed and let it stand as I prepared the other items.
2. Although this was not in the original recipe, I seasoned the broccolini buds with a small amount of mentsuyu 麺つゆ, Japanese noodle sauce, mixed well and then squeezed out the excess sauce (#4).
3. I mixed the strawberries and tuna cubes.
4. Using a round mold, I first packed a layer of tuna-strawberry mixture (#5).
5. I then layered the broccolini, packed tight using the back of a spoon (#6).
6. I mixed, the sesame paste, wasabi, mirin, and soy sauce in a Japanese mortar "suribachi" and mixed it well. I added more wasabi after I tasted it.
7. I poured the sauce around the mold, garnished the top with slices of strawberry and carefully removed the mold.

Strawberries and tuna are indeed an interesting and good combination. If both the strawberries and tuna were better quality, this could have been spectacular. The sauce was good but had a predominantly sesame flavor and the wasabi was not very forthcoming. I may change the proportion of the ingredients in the sauce if I make this dish again.  But this dish was still very good and unique. We had cold sake with this, which went very well,  but I wonder if chilled champagne might have been a better pairing. We'll just have to make this again to see. 

Blueberry bread with pecan ピーカンナッツ入りブルーベリーパン

This is a continuation of my wife's quest of  blueberry bread/muffins. This time, the major addition is a layer of pecans on the bottom which formed an almost fried in the butter pecan crust. Certainly. this is a good bread but we wondered if it might not be good to just mix all the pecans directly into the batter.

The pecan layer is on the bottom and is nicely crunchy with a pecan flavor.

Ingredients:

3 cups pecans

3 cups blueberries

6 cups whole wheat or AP flour (I used AP)

2 1/2 cups sugar

8 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 cup butter melted

2/3 cup Greek yogurt

1 1//2 cup milk

4 eggs

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat the inside of two loaf pans with butter and evenly sprinkle 1/2 cup of pecans over the bottom of the pans. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl. Mix the wet ingredients in a bowl. Combine the dry and wet ingredients. Add remaining pecans and blueberries. Spread into prepared pans. Cook in oven for 25 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. (The original recipe said to cook for 75 to 90 minutes which would have been way too long). 

This bread is very good. It has a very moist consistency and the blueberries give a nice fresh burst of blueberry flavor. The pecan crust is also very nice. 

Beef Donburi 牛丼もどき

Sometimes the standard portion of beef you will get in the US can be rather large, either at a restaurant or at a market. I bought a good sized NY strip steak the other day. It was almost 1 pound and I was told by the butcher that was considered one portion! I thought one portion would be enough for the two of us but we ended up using it in three additional dishes (aside from enjoying it as a steak on the first day). This was the third dish I made from the steak. I did not follow any recipe. This is a cross between beef donburi or gyu-don 牛丼 and roast beef donburi ローストビーフ丼. Instead of a raw egg, I topped it with a soft poached egg. I added fresh corn and spinach since I happened to have them available. 

The yolk was almost totally runny but the egg white was cooked (Of course I used pasteurized eggs from Davidoson).

Again, I did not measure anything so this is not a recipe. I started with Japanese dashi broth (Bonito and kelp), added mirin, sugar and soy sauce to make a rather strong sweet and salty simmering liquid. I added thinly sliced onion and let it cook until the onion was translucent. I added fresh corn kernels (leftover from making shrimp balls) and spinach and cooked it until the spinach wilted (about 1 minute). At this point, the simmering sauce was a bit reduced too much so I added a small amount of hot water (from my InstaHot) and re-tasted it. 

I sliced the NY strip streak thinly which was cooked medium rare. I placed on the top of the cooked vegetables and placed the lid and let it sit for 1 minutes to warm it up (not to cook). I placed the vegetables with the simmering liquid (it was just right amount of two servings) on the top of warm rice (I used microwaved previously frozen rice for this) as seen in above picture.

I covered the surface with warmed steak slices. Meanwhile I poached eggs (using pasteurized Davidson eggs) and top each donburi. We broke the yolk and let it mingle with sauce and meat. This dish was not roast beef don (which is usually served with Japanese style onion sauce) and flavor is more similar to gyu-don. This was our lunch on our off day and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

Blueberry bread with rolled oats 押し麦入りブルーベリーパン

To celebrate the season (this was in July), my wife is on a quest to test all possible blueberry bread recipes. This is another variation she made. The difference between these blueberry breads is rather subtle.  This variation includes rolled oats 押し麦. For breakfast, we served this with yogurt and cherries.

Actually, if you look carefully, you can see the rolled oats in the bread.

Ingredients:

2 cups blueberries

4 cups flour

2 cups sugar

4 tsp baking powder

2 tsp salt

2 cups Greek yogurt

2 eggs

1 cup butter melted

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup oats

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter and dust 2 loaf pans with flour. Toast the oats in the toaster oven until they become brown and fragrant. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. Mix the wet ingredients in a bowl. Combine the wet and dry ingredients. Fold in the blueberries (the batter will be stiff so it may be difficult to get them evenly distributed as indicated by the picture above.) Bake for about 50-55 minutes. 

This bread tastes like a very rich pound cake with moist texture and a crunchy cookie crust (at least when it just comes out of the oven. Over time the crust is not as crunchy but is still good.) The oats kind-of disappear, although they do add some nuttiness because of the roasting and some additional texture. This bread is an appropriate celebration of blueberry season.