Volume 8: (1/1/16-12/31/16)
Volume 7: (1/1/15-12/31/15)
Volume 6: (1/1/14-12/31/14)
Volume 5: (1/1/13-12/31/13)
Volume 4: (1/1/12-12/31/12)
Volume 3: (1/1/11-12/31/11)
Volume 2: (5/1/10-12/31/10)
Volume 1: (9/5/09-4/30/10)
Tuesday, January 10, 2017
Norio's new Izakaya cookbooks 2015 and 16
Apparently I forgot to add the link to my 2015 Izakaya cookbook (volume 7 1/1/2015-12/31/2015). I added the link below (1/9/2017). 2016 version is also coming which you can purchase. PDF files of all cookbooks are also available from the link posted under the image. These links are available in the "Norio's Izakaya cookbooks" tab in the header.
Volume 8: (1/1/16-12/31/16)
Volume 7: (1/1/15-12/31/15)
Volume 6: (1/1/14-12/31/14)
Volume 5: (1/1/13-12/31/13)
Volume 4: (1/1/12-12/31/12)
Volume 3: (1/1/11-12/31/11)
Volume 2: (5/1/10-12/31/10)
Volume 1: (9/5/09-4/30/10)
Volume 8: (1/1/16-12/31/16)
Volume 7: (1/1/15-12/31/15)
Volume 6: (1/1/14-12/31/14)
Volume 5: (1/1/13-12/31/13)
Volume 4: (1/1/12-12/31/12)
Volume 3: (1/1/11-12/31/11)
Volume 2: (5/1/10-12/31/10)
Volume 1: (9/5/09-4/30/10)
Monday, January 9, 2017
100% buck wheat soba 十割蕎麦
As a part of the Sushi Taro Osechi box, we also got Chef Kitayama's 100% buckwheat flour soba noodles or "Juwari soba" 十割蕎麦 ("Juwari" in Japanese means 100%). This year, a concentrated sauce was also provided. As I mentioned before, making soba from 100% buckwheat flour is very difficult (20% regular wheat and 80% buckwheat flour is most common). Using 100% buckwheat represents Chef Kitayama's prowess and passion for soba making. As before we could not eat it as "Toshi koshi soba" 年越しそば or "Welcoming-New-Year soba", so we had this as a lunch on January 2, hoping it would bring us the same good luck as having the soba on New Year's eve.
Since it was rather cold outsdie, we decided to have it warm.
It does not show well but I added mitsu-ba ミツバ as garnish.
The picture below was before pouring in the soup. I diluted the accompanied sauce with my dashi broth (from kelp and bonito flakes I made few days ago).
As a topping, I used red and white fish cake 紅白蒲鉾 in a decorative cut. I also added New Year's omelet roll or Datemaki 伊達巻 that I made. I garnished it with chopped scallion and mitsuba.
The 100% buckwheat flour noodles had a unique texture unlike standard soba noodles. It was nicely firm, slightly brittle with a lovely fresh soba smell. We also detected a slight nutty flavor. We really enjoyed this distinctive artisan soba very much.
Since it was rather cold outsdie, we decided to have it warm.
It does not show well but I added mitsu-ba ミツバ as garnish.
The picture below was before pouring in the soup. I diluted the accompanied sauce with my dashi broth (from kelp and bonito flakes I made few days ago).
As a topping, I used red and white fish cake 紅白蒲鉾 in a decorative cut. I also added New Year's omelet roll or Datemaki 伊達巻 that I made. I garnished it with chopped scallion and mitsuba.
The 100% buckwheat flour noodles had a unique texture unlike standard soba noodles. It was nicely firm, slightly brittle with a lovely fresh soba smell. We also detected a slight nutty flavor. We really enjoyed this distinctive artisan soba very much.
Friday, January 6, 2017
Addendum to Sushi Taro Osechi 寿司太郎おせち料理追加
I said I may have missed some items in the Sushi Taro Osechi box and I indeed missed one very good dish. (We are still working on the box and finding additional goodies as we go). The dish we missed was the oysters smoked in-house at Sushi Taro 牡蠣燻製. They were wrapped in a pouch and somewhat hidden (I think they were under the duck).
This is not a traditional preparation but we liked it very much. The oyster was succulent and infused with a lovely smokey aroma accompanied by grilled and skinned sweet red pepper and cubes of feta cheese; both were also infused with smokey flavor.
The picture shown below is what I came up with for the evening. All were chosen for imbibing sake. The left in the back is smoked oyster, left front is Daikon namasu 錦なます (cut in wider strips with nice yuzu flavor and kelp strips) topped with salmon roe marinated in soy sauce イクラの醤油漬け and herring roe marinated in miso 数の子味噌漬. On the plate are steamed sea urchin 蒸しウニ, (left back) and simmered sweet fish with roe 子持ち鮎の甘露煮 (I forgot this one as well since it was under the steamed sea urchin), The center are scallops braised in sweet soy sauce ホタテの甘煮, Steamed fish cake with matsutake mushroom 松茸真蒸 (both were cut in half) and the right back is karasumi カラスミ and right front is monkfish liver terrine あんきも豆腐.
As I mentioned before, the ankimo terrine is our absolute favorite and goes so well with cold sake as well as Champagne.
Of course, karasumi is the "ultimate" for sake sipping. Sake is a "must-have" with this.
The steamed sea urchin had a nice sweetness to it. We ate it like we would eat raw sea urchin; with wasabi and soy sauce.
These were what we had the night before. I reheated the small red snapper in the toaster oven. I covered the head but forgot to cover the tail with a aluminum foil which got burned. I think this was dried (probably overnight or "ichiya boshi" 一夜干し). It was a bit bony but my wife expertly deboned and removed the meat. We had it with a little bit of soy sauce.
I served karasumi sandwiched with thin slices of daikon.
I added a few items from my stash of new year foods. We had raw sea urchin from "Maruhide" 丸秀 (on the perilla leaf with nori strips), below that is octopus I prepared and served with sumiso sauce 蛸の酢味噌. The center are red and white fish cake stuffed with strips of perilla leaves and sea urchin shutoうに酒盗 also from Maruhide. The stuffed fish cake is the same as I served on new year's day.
We went back to the osechi box. For steamed head-on prawn 長寿海老, I peeled the shell and cut the tail before serving. Of course, sucking on the head was mandatory. Some vegetables, New year's omelet roll. I added salmon kelp roll I made as well.
As we say every year, this is an ultimate over-indulgence and we enjoyed every items with cold sake or Champagne (Taittinger Brut Prestige Rose, Blended from Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grapes). This is Rosé Champagne but very dry with strawberry and raspberry notes and went well with these food.
This is not a traditional preparation but we liked it very much. The oyster was succulent and infused with a lovely smokey aroma accompanied by grilled and skinned sweet red pepper and cubes of feta cheese; both were also infused with smokey flavor.
The picture shown below is what I came up with for the evening. All were chosen for imbibing sake. The left in the back is smoked oyster, left front is Daikon namasu 錦なます (cut in wider strips with nice yuzu flavor and kelp strips) topped with salmon roe marinated in soy sauce イクラの醤油漬け and herring roe marinated in miso 数の子味噌漬. On the plate are steamed sea urchin 蒸しウニ, (left back) and simmered sweet fish with roe 子持ち鮎の甘露煮 (I forgot this one as well since it was under the steamed sea urchin), The center are scallops braised in sweet soy sauce ホタテの甘煮, Steamed fish cake with matsutake mushroom 松茸真蒸 (both were cut in half) and the right back is karasumi カラスミ and right front is monkfish liver terrine あんきも豆腐.
As I mentioned before, the ankimo terrine is our absolute favorite and goes so well with cold sake as well as Champagne.
Of course, karasumi is the "ultimate" for sake sipping. Sake is a "must-have" with this.
The steamed sea urchin had a nice sweetness to it. We ate it like we would eat raw sea urchin; with wasabi and soy sauce.
These were what we had the night before. I reheated the small red snapper in the toaster oven. I covered the head but forgot to cover the tail with a aluminum foil which got burned. I think this was dried (probably overnight or "ichiya boshi" 一夜干し). It was a bit bony but my wife expertly deboned and removed the meat. We had it with a little bit of soy sauce.
I served karasumi sandwiched with thin slices of daikon.
I added a few items from my stash of new year foods. We had raw sea urchin from "Maruhide" 丸秀 (on the perilla leaf with nori strips), below that is octopus I prepared and served with sumiso sauce 蛸の酢味噌. The center are red and white fish cake stuffed with strips of perilla leaves and sea urchin shutoうに酒盗 also from Maruhide. The stuffed fish cake is the same as I served on new year's day.
We went back to the osechi box. For steamed head-on prawn 長寿海老, I peeled the shell and cut the tail before serving. Of course, sucking on the head was mandatory. Some vegetables, New year's omelet roll. I added salmon kelp roll I made as well.
As we say every year, this is an ultimate over-indulgence and we enjoyed every items with cold sake or Champagne (Taittinger Brut Prestige Rose, Blended from Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grapes). This is Rosé Champagne but very dry with strawberry and raspberry notes and went well with these food.
Tuesday, January 3, 2017
Sushi Taro Osechi Box 2017 寿司太郎おせち ２０１７
Once we got used to having a Sushi Taro Osechi Box, it is difficult to cerebrate New Year's without one. We started getting the Osechi box from Sushi Taro in 2012.
This is the top box. It was nicely packed with all kinds of goodies. I just wanted to share the excitement we had enjoying this box and provide some trivia concerning Japanese "Osechi" dishes. These Japanese New Year's dishes are traditionally prepared as auspicious dishes to have at the beginning of the year. They are for the family to eat during the first 3 days of the year which are considered the most auspicious and are called ”Shogatsu Sanganichi" 正月三が日.
Each of the dishes through their color, shape and number, among other things have symbolic celebratory meaning often in multiple layers or as puns/plays on words. For example, red combined with white is considered an auspicious color combination. Thus, red and white is a traditional color motif for New Year's dishes as exemplified by the red and white fish cakes (#2 in the annotated picture below). Red snapper is an example of a dish that has multiple layers of symbolic meaning; not only does it incorporate the venerable color red but also includes a play on words because it is called "Tai" which in Japanese rhymes with "Omede-tai" おめでたい commemorating "celebration" (#6). Many small fish and roe are symbols of prosperity and numerous offspring and are represented multiple times through out these boxes by such things as salmon, cod, mullet and herring roe. Herring roe incorporates an additional layer of meaning since it is also "gold" in color and gold would be considered the color of fortune in almost any culture. Dishes rolled in kelp represent a pun on words since "kelp" or "Kobu" rhymes with "Yoro-kobu" 喜ぶ which means "to rejoice". So cod roe wrapped in kelp (#17) incorporates the symbolism of numerous offspring and rejoicing. Black "kuromame" beans are eaten because "beans" in Japanese are called "mame" 豆 another play on words because it sounds similar to the word which means being "attentive, truthful, and helpful". (All this symbolism gets complicated but the degree of thought that goes into the choice of these particular dishes becomes evident). All these auspicious foods are thought to set the tone for the upcoming new year. Of course, many of these dishes are great with sake which flows more readily during New Year and what would a celebration be without it?
1. Kuromame 黒豆 black beans, 2. red and white fish cake "Kamaboko" 紅白蒲鉾 3. Bottarga "Karasumi" 唐墨 (our favorite!) 4. "Jako" hatchling fish simmered in "Sansho" 山椒 Japanese pepper flavor 雑魚の有馬煮 (In a plastic container wrapped in white paper) 5. Pickled "renkon" lotus root cut in a decorative flower shape 花輪酢蓮根 6. Grilled whole small red snapper "tai" 子鯛姿焼 7. Stem lettuce or celtuce marinaded in miso チシャトウ西京漬け (this is new this year. Crunchy and sweet miso flavor is nice) 8. Soy sauce marinated salmon roe いくら醤油漬け 9. Daikon julienne picked in sweet vinegar 錦なます.
10. Herring roe marinated in miso 数の子味噌漬け 11. Mustard stuffed burdock からし牛蒡 (our favorite, the best way to enjoy gobo as far as we can tell) 12. Steamed sea urchin 蒸しウニ 13. Steamed fish cake with matsutake mushroom 松茸真蒸 14. Simmered small whole shrimp 小海老艶煮 15. Burdock root in sesame dressing たたき牛蒡 17. Cod roe wrapped in kelp タラコの昆布巻き 18. Kumquats simmered in syrup 金柑蜜煮 19. Simmered chestnuts with brown skin 栗の渋皮煮 (We had inside information that these are North American chestnuts and only the ones without deep creases are chosen for this dish) and underneath are "scallop braised in sweetened soy" ホタテの甘煮.
"Karasumi" is our favorite and really encourages sipping sake with each nibble. This was prepared in house at Sushi Taro. We like the Japanese preparation of this, especially Sushi Taro's, as compared with Bottarga from Italy. As previously mentioned, the Japanese preparation goes especially well with sake. Although not the best with sake, grated on the pasta, Bottarga is mighty fine.
Of course, ikura salmon roe marinated in soy sauce is another dish that goes so well with sake.
I made salmon kelp roll this year and this dish is similar but uses cod roe "tarako" wrapped in kelp instead of salmon. It was a very nice variation.
Of course, raw sea urchin is the best but steaming is a good way to make sea urchin last longer.
Small red snapper is peaking through.
This is the bottom box.
1. Monk fish liver terrine あんきも豆腐 (Another of our favorites) 2. Mashed sweet potato with chestnuts 栗きんとん 3. New Year Omelet roll 伊達巻 4. Pickled renkon with decorative flower cut 花輪蓮根 5. Yellow tail sushi wrapped in picked turnip 鰤かぶら寿司 6. Grilled pompano marinaded in sweet miso まながつお西京味噌焼 7. Steamed head-on prawn 長寿海老 (this is the first time we had head on prawns. The bent "back" of the shrimp symbolizes longevity as represented by the bent backs characteristic of the venerable elderly in Japan in the old days) 8. Grilled Japanese snapper with "kinome" miso paste 真鯛の木の芽焼き 9. First spring harvest bamboo shoot 新筍土佐煮 10. Duck breast teriyaki 鴨照り焼き and other wonderful simmered vegetables. I think I may have left out a few items.
The prawns were really good with firm texture and sweet taste. Since these were head-on prawns, we could "suck" out the tamale from the head (which we did).
The grilled fish was best heated up in the toaster oven before enjoying. "Kinome" miso (green stuff) has a very distinctive flavor. This is the young shoot (leaves) of Japanese "sansho" (or Chinese) pepper tree.
The duck breast was great. I think that, underneath the duck, there may have been small dumpling made of edible lily bulb and grated renkon.
These vegetables are good but especially unique is "Kuwai" くわい, best seen bottom right, which is an unusual vegetable for Westerners and has very interesting texture. This is mostly served as a New Year dish because of the shape, it was equated with "me-ga-deru" 芽がでる meaning "sprouting" that sounds like "me-de-tai" めでたい meaning "auspicious' or "celebratory", another "pun".
In any case, I may have gone on longer than I probably should have but I just wanted to convey what a joy it is to delve into these boxes. All the multiple layers of symbolism and meaning entailed in these celebratory New Year's dishes are given justice through the attention to detail and careful execution by the chefs at Sushi Taro making it especially memorable. Luckily, we will be feasting on these boxes for some days to come.
This is the top box. It was nicely packed with all kinds of goodies. I just wanted to share the excitement we had enjoying this box and provide some trivia concerning Japanese "Osechi" dishes. These Japanese New Year's dishes are traditionally prepared as auspicious dishes to have at the beginning of the year. They are for the family to eat during the first 3 days of the year which are considered the most auspicious and are called ”Shogatsu Sanganichi" 正月三が日.
Each of the dishes through their color, shape and number, among other things have symbolic celebratory meaning often in multiple layers or as puns/plays on words. For example, red combined with white is considered an auspicious color combination. Thus, red and white is a traditional color motif for New Year's dishes as exemplified by the red and white fish cakes (#2 in the annotated picture below). Red snapper is an example of a dish that has multiple layers of symbolic meaning; not only does it incorporate the venerable color red but also includes a play on words because it is called "Tai" which in Japanese rhymes with "Omede-tai" おめでたい commemorating "celebration" (#6). Many small fish and roe are symbols of prosperity and numerous offspring and are represented multiple times through out these boxes by such things as salmon, cod, mullet and herring roe. Herring roe incorporates an additional layer of meaning since it is also "gold" in color and gold would be considered the color of fortune in almost any culture. Dishes rolled in kelp represent a pun on words since "kelp" or "Kobu" rhymes with "Yoro-kobu" 喜ぶ which means "to rejoice". So cod roe wrapped in kelp (#17) incorporates the symbolism of numerous offspring and rejoicing. Black "kuromame" beans are eaten because "beans" in Japanese are called "mame" 豆 another play on words because it sounds similar to the word which means being "attentive, truthful, and helpful". (All this symbolism gets complicated but the degree of thought that goes into the choice of these particular dishes becomes evident). All these auspicious foods are thought to set the tone for the upcoming new year. Of course, many of these dishes are great with sake which flows more readily during New Year and what would a celebration be without it?
1. Kuromame 黒豆 black beans, 2. red and white fish cake "Kamaboko" 紅白蒲鉾 3. Bottarga "Karasumi" 唐墨 (our favorite!) 4. "Jako" hatchling fish simmered in "Sansho" 山椒 Japanese pepper flavor 雑魚の有馬煮 (In a plastic container wrapped in white paper) 5. Pickled "renkon" lotus root cut in a decorative flower shape 花輪酢蓮根 6. Grilled whole small red snapper "tai" 子鯛姿焼 7. Stem lettuce or celtuce marinaded in miso チシャトウ西京漬け (this is new this year. Crunchy and sweet miso flavor is nice) 8. Soy sauce marinated salmon roe いくら醤油漬け 9. Daikon julienne picked in sweet vinegar 錦なます.
10. Herring roe marinated in miso 数の子味噌漬け 11. Mustard stuffed burdock からし牛蒡 (our favorite, the best way to enjoy gobo as far as we can tell) 12. Steamed sea urchin 蒸しウニ 13. Steamed fish cake with matsutake mushroom 松茸真蒸 14. Simmered small whole shrimp 小海老艶煮 15. Burdock root in sesame dressing たたき牛蒡 17. Cod roe wrapped in kelp タラコの昆布巻き 18. Kumquats simmered in syrup 金柑蜜煮 19. Simmered chestnuts with brown skin 栗の渋皮煮 (We had inside information that these are North American chestnuts and only the ones without deep creases are chosen for this dish) and underneath are "scallop braised in sweetened soy" ホタテの甘煮.
"Karasumi" is our favorite and really encourages sipping sake with each nibble. This was prepared in house at Sushi Taro. We like the Japanese preparation of this, especially Sushi Taro's, as compared with Bottarga from Italy. As previously mentioned, the Japanese preparation goes especially well with sake. Although not the best with sake, grated on the pasta, Bottarga is mighty fine.
Of course, ikura salmon roe marinated in soy sauce is another dish that goes so well with sake.
I made salmon kelp roll this year and this dish is similar but uses cod roe "tarako" wrapped in kelp instead of salmon. It was a very nice variation.
Of course, raw sea urchin is the best but steaming is a good way to make sea urchin last longer.
Small red snapper is peaking through.
This is the bottom box.
1. Monk fish liver terrine あんきも豆腐 (Another of our favorites) 2. Mashed sweet potato with chestnuts 栗きんとん 3. New Year Omelet roll 伊達巻 4. Pickled renkon with decorative flower cut 花輪蓮根 5. Yellow tail sushi wrapped in picked turnip 鰤かぶら寿司 6. Grilled pompano marinaded in sweet miso まながつお西京味噌焼 7. Steamed head-on prawn 長寿海老 (this is the first time we had head on prawns. The bent "back" of the shrimp symbolizes longevity as represented by the bent backs characteristic of the venerable elderly in Japan in the old days) 8. Grilled Japanese snapper with "kinome" miso paste 真鯛の木の芽焼き 9. First spring harvest bamboo shoot 新筍土佐煮 10. Duck breast teriyaki 鴨照り焼き and other wonderful simmered vegetables. I think I may have left out a few items.
The prawns were really good with firm texture and sweet taste. Since these were head-on prawns, we could "suck" out the tamale from the head (which we did).
The grilled fish was best heated up in the toaster oven before enjoying. "Kinome" miso (green stuff) has a very distinctive flavor. This is the young shoot (leaves) of Japanese "sansho" (or Chinese) pepper tree.
The duck breast was great. I think that, underneath the duck, there may have been small dumpling made of edible lily bulb and grated renkon.
These vegetables are good but especially unique is "Kuwai" くわい, best seen bottom right, which is an unusual vegetable for Westerners and has very interesting texture. This is mostly served as a New Year dish because of the shape, it was equated with "me-ga-deru" 芽がでる meaning "sprouting" that sounds like "me-de-tai" めでたい meaning "auspicious' or "celebratory", another "pun".
In any case, I may have gone on longer than I probably should have but I just wanted to convey what a joy it is to delve into these boxes. All the multiple layers of symbolism and meaning entailed in these celebratory New Year's dishes are given justice through the attention to detail and careful execution by the chefs at Sushi Taro making it especially memorable. Luckily, we will be feasting on these boxes for some days to come.
Sunday, January 1, 2017
Year of the Rooster, Happy New Year 2017! 酉年新年おめでとうございます ２０１７
Happy New Year! As we get older, it seems the year is getting shorter and no sooner do we turn around and we are facing the start of yet another year. This year I finally gave up buying a plastic "Kagami-mochi" decoration 鏡餅 since we always ended up throwing out the rice cake inside (not to mention the Japanese grocery store was all sold out by the time I got there). This year is the year of the rooster (or hen or chicken). Accordingly, I decorated our "Tokonoma" alcove 床の間 with the roosters my wife collected for the occasion over the years on our various trips to Japan. The two large ones are "Dorei" 土鈴 or bells made of clay and the smallest one is carved from wood.
The small wooden rooster is part of a 12 zodiac animal set my wife bought in Kyoto on our last trip to Japan several years ago.
As before, we started the day with a cup of cappuccino and my wife's assorted home baked breads. We did our Ozou-ni お雑煮 and new year dishes for lunch. At this point, we refrained from digging into the Sushi Taro Osechi box (that is for the evening). I served several of the dishes I made as well as some I bought at the store.
I made the same dishes I always make such as "Datemaki" 伊達巻 (left upper), two kinds of chicken patties (one is with pine nuts and miso flavor or "Matsukaze yaki" 松風焼き and the other with blue cheeses - this year I used British Stilton and Shropshire Blue - and dried figs (left middle). I cut them in the shape of "Hagoita" 羽子板 ( the decorative item based on the traditional badminton like game that used to be played on New Year). My usual salmon kelp roll 鮭の昆布巻き (left bottom). Russian marinated salmon 鮭のロシアずけ (center top), Red and white "Kamaboko" 蒲鉾 fish cake stuffed with two kind of seasoned sea urchin or ウニの酒盗 from Maruhide 丸秀 (center bottom). Simmered freeze-dried tofu or "Koya-dofu" 高野豆腐 (right top) and two kinds of herring roe I prepared from salt preserved herrings 数の子の塩漬け; the one with bonito flakes is my usual one and the one below that was marinated in miso and sake lee 数の子の味噌漬け.
This is my usual daikon in sweet vinegar dressing or "daikon namasu" 大根なますgarnished with salmon roe ikura いくら and boiled octopus with sumiso dressing 酢味噌. This year, I could not get the type of octopus leg I usually get (sold out at our Japanese grocery store--I'm going to have to get started on this sooner next year). So I used frozen raw octopus from the regular grocery store. I prepared and boiled it myself--not a trivial task. They were rather small but tasted OK.
Finally. my New year's soup Ozouni お雑煮. As usual, by my wife's request, I put the mochi 餅 in fried tofu pouches 油揚げ. This year, I did not add any meat protein such as chicken or shrimp (for no particular reason). I also happened to get some Mitsuba 三つ葉 which added a nice unique flavor to the soup.
Since these New Year's dishes would not be complete without it, we also had a small amount of sake (Shouchikubai Daiginjou 松竹梅大吟醸酒, US brewed from California Yamadanishki 山田錦). It was quite wonderful and we got quite full. Small dishes add up and mochi is very filling. But this was a good start of the New Year. Next, we have the opening of the Sushi-taro osechi box for the evening to anticipate.
The small wooden rooster is part of a 12 zodiac animal set my wife bought in Kyoto on our last trip to Japan several years ago.
As before, we started the day with a cup of cappuccino and my wife's assorted home baked breads. We did our Ozou-ni お雑煮 and new year dishes for lunch. At this point, we refrained from digging into the Sushi Taro Osechi box (that is for the evening). I served several of the dishes I made as well as some I bought at the store.
I made the same dishes I always make such as "Datemaki" 伊達巻 (left upper), two kinds of chicken patties (one is with pine nuts and miso flavor or "Matsukaze yaki" 松風焼き and the other with blue cheeses - this year I used British Stilton and Shropshire Blue - and dried figs (left middle). I cut them in the shape of "Hagoita" 羽子板 ( the decorative item based on the traditional badminton like game that used to be played on New Year). My usual salmon kelp roll 鮭の昆布巻き (left bottom). Russian marinated salmon 鮭のロシアずけ (center top), Red and white "Kamaboko" 蒲鉾 fish cake stuffed with two kind of seasoned sea urchin or ウニの酒盗 from Maruhide 丸秀 (center bottom). Simmered freeze-dried tofu or "Koya-dofu" 高野豆腐 (right top) and two kinds of herring roe I prepared from salt preserved herrings 数の子の塩漬け; the one with bonito flakes is my usual one and the one below that was marinated in miso and sake lee 数の子の味噌漬け.
This is my usual daikon in sweet vinegar dressing or "daikon namasu" 大根なますgarnished with salmon roe ikura いくら and boiled octopus with sumiso dressing 酢味噌. This year, I could not get the type of octopus leg I usually get (sold out at our Japanese grocery store--I'm going to have to get started on this sooner next year). So I used frozen raw octopus from the regular grocery store. I prepared and boiled it myself--not a trivial task. They were rather small but tasted OK.
Finally. my New year's soup Ozouni お雑煮. As usual, by my wife's request, I put the mochi 餅 in fried tofu pouches 油揚げ. This year, I did not add any meat protein such as chicken or shrimp (for no particular reason). I also happened to get some Mitsuba 三つ葉 which added a nice unique flavor to the soup.
Since these New Year's dishes would not be complete without it, we also had a small amount of sake (Shouchikubai Daiginjou 松竹梅大吟醸酒, US brewed from California Yamadanishki 山田錦). It was quite wonderful and we got quite full. Small dishes add up and mochi is very filling. But this was a good start of the New Year. Next, we have the opening of the Sushi-taro osechi box for the evening to anticipate.
Thursday, December 29, 2016
Aji 3 ways 2nd version 鯵3種類第二弾
This is the second time I got frozen "aji" or jack mackerel and decide to make three appetizers like I did before. I thought one had to be namerou なめろう(left) but I used a different kind of miso which made it quite different from the one I made previously. I also made "nanban" 南蛮 (middle) and "goma-saba" 胡麻鯖 (right). I served this in some newly acquired small bowls.
The picture below is "goma-saba" which is a similar combination of flavors to the one I made before but because of the way it was cut and the additional topping, it looked and tasted different.
This is "nanban". The fish was deep fried first and marinated in spicy sweet vinegar.
Finally, our favorite "namerou". This time I made
it with "red miso" or aka-miso 赤味噌.
Fish preparation:
After I thawed the package of "Aji" or jack mackerel in the refrigerator overnight, I washed it in cold water and blotted it dry between paper towels. I saturated a sheet of paper towel with rice vinegar and placed the fish fillets on the towel then covered them with another sheet of paper towel. I sprinkled rice vinegar on the top towel until it was saturated and let it sit for 10-15 minutes. This time, instead of cutting off the center, I removed the small bones from the center line using a Japanese bone tweezers.
1. Gama-saba 胡麻鯖 or Goma-aji (胡麻鯵).
This preparation is famous in Fukuoka which is located in the southernmost island of Kyushu. Although the fish I used may not be exactly same as "ma-saba" マサバ, it is close enough considering my limited supply of fish of any kind. The flavor profile is very similar to what I made before (marinated in soy sauce and then covered with roasted white sesame seeds) but the way the fish was sliced and the premixed sauce made a difference. The sauce is a mixture of dry roasted and ground up white sesame seeds (1 tbs), soy sauce 2 tbs) and mirin 2 tbs). The fish was cut into thin strips and marinaded in the sauce for 15 minutes in the refrigerator. I garnished it with thin nori strips, julienne of perilla leaves and roasted sesame seeds.
2. Aji anaban 鯵の南蛮
I made it exactly the same as the other nanban dishes. I first prepared sweet vinegar marinade (2/3 cup sweet vinegar, 1/4 dashi broth, mirin and light colored soy sauce (1 tbs each) and red pepper flakes. I added julienne of sweet onion, celery, and carrot while the marinade was still warm and let it marinate until I was ready to fry the fish. I blotted the fish fillets dry and dredged with potato starch and fried in oil. While the fish was hot, I placed it in the marinade and made sure the fish was covered with marinade and vegetables.
3. Aji namerou 鯵のなめろう
I chopped fish, red miso, perilla leaves, scallion together. I also added small amount of mirin to adjust the consistency and also the taste. I served it with perilla flower buds or "ho jiso" 穂ジソ since they were available in our herb garden.
All three dishes are great for cold sake. The namerou was a bit on the salty side since I used red miso but had a nice nutty miso flavor which is better than the kouji miso I used before. The nanban was also very good. The fried potato starch crust became soft and gave rise to a nice texture. We liked the goma-saba preparation a bit better than "goma-mabush" I made previously. I'm sure our new Arita-kirn 有田焼 bowls added an additional "something" to our enjoyment of the dishes.
Tuesday, December 27, 2016
Christmas "Eggs Benedict" クリスマスエッグスベネディクト
This was what we ate for Christmas day lunch. For breakfast we had just a cup of cappuccino and assorted home-baked Christmas breads such as stollen and panettone. So for lunch, we decided to splurge and made this Christmas egg(s) Benedict with smoked salmon. We have posted this variation before. I added green (broccoli) and red (tomatoes) for Christmas color.
The bread was homemade English muffin bread which my wife baked on Christmas eve. I garnished the Hollandais sauce with chopped chives and paprika.
We had just enough Davidson's pasteurized eggs to make the Hollandais sauce and two poached eggs.
I made the Hollandais sauce as before (for 2 servings) with one egg yolk, lemon juice (I used juice from one Meyer lemon), cayenne pepper and half a stick of cold unsalted butter. I first mixed the egg yolk, a pinch of cayenne pepper and the lemon juice in a double boiler. I whipped the mixture for several minutes until it became frothy and doubled in volume. I added thin pats of butter and mixed until one pat completely got incorporated before adding the next. After adding half a stick of butter, the consistency of the sauce is like soft or slightly runny mayonnaise. I tasted it and I initially thought it was too spicy but on the poached egg, it was just fine. I seasoned it with a pinch of salt. This was one of the better Hollandaise sauces I ever made probably because I added enough cayenne pepper and the lemon juice was from a Meyer lemon.
So, this was a rather luxurious lunch. We liked this version with smoked salmon better than Canadian bacon or ham.
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