Squid salad Japanese style 和風イカサラダ

Again, I got cleaned squid. I asked for 1 pound but I ended up with a bit more since the fish monger at our grocery store threw in the reaming squid since not much was left after my purchase. Again, I was not sure what I would make. I decided to quickly boil them so that they would last until I could decide. So I cooked the squid in boiling water with sake and salt for 30 seconds and drained. I kept the cooked squid in a sealable container in the refrigerator and served them as an appetizers over the next 5-6 days until we finished them.  Apparently the quick blanch helped to keep them from going bad over that time. Although with karashi-sumiso sauce 芥子酢味噌  have been our most common way to have this, we had it like sashimi with soy sauce and wasabi ワサビ醤油, sautéed in butter with garlic, celery seasoned with soy sauce イカとセロリの炒め物,  with black olive, olive oil and balsamic vinegar カラマリサラダ and this dish, seasoned with soy sauce and grated ginger.

The pickled myouga 茗荷の甘酢ずけ in sweet vinegar really made this dish, I also added sliced scallion.

Although the squid was tender due to the initial short boiling, I cut up the squid ring and also tentacles especially for my wife.

This is not a really a recipe.
I washed the squid, cut the body into rings and cooked for 30 seconds in boiling salted water with a splash of sake, drained and cooled. I placed then in a sealable container and refrigerated.

The dressing was a mixture of grated ginger and soy sauce. I sliced pickled myouga thinly and sliced scallion on bias thinly. This was really a simple and good dish. I thought the boiled squid I prepared was really good way to make it last for almost one week. Even the sautéed  dish came out really good. Since the boiled squid does not exude liquid, it does not produce much sauce but the cooking time is short and the squid remained very tender. I found it sometimes better to prepare squid this way rather than making one dish since we enjoyed it several different ways during the week.

Banana Bread バナナブレッド

We thought we must have already posted my wife's banana bread recipe but realized we did not. This time, she made it from red bananas instead of regular bananas. The red bananas have a denser sweeter texture. When using regular bananas my wife found the the bread tasted best if the bananas were extremely ripe--as in almost completely black. On a number of occasions, I saw the blackened bananas sitting in a bowl on the counter and went to throw them out.  My wife would object claiming they were almost ready for banana bread. Another technique she used was to freeze the ripened bananas (after peeling) until she had enough to make the quantity of bread she wanted. This is a classic quick bread which she has been making for long time and we have been enjoying as a breakfast bread.

This post is mostly to have her recipe on line so that she can refer to it easily. Beside using red bananas, she added pecan nuts.

She let it cool down just a bit before removing the loaf from the pan.

Bananas add flavor as well as moist texture without adding too much fat.

Ingredients.
3 cups All Purpose flour
2 Tsp. salt
2 Tsp. baking soda
2 cups mashed bananas
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup butter melted
2 Tsp. vanilla
Toasted pecans, chopped (optional)

Directions:
In a bowl stir together the flour, salt and baking soda. In another bowl, stir together the remaining liquid ingredients. Mix the liquid ingredients with the dry ingredients. Pour into a greased loaf pan (this recipe makes 2 loaves). Bake in a 325 F oven for 50 to 60 minutes until a wooden skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes then remove from the pan.

This recipe is extremely easy to scale up. The amount is all based on the quantity of bananas available. My wife has made up to 10 times the recipe which is the maximum our large bowls can handle. 

As far as I am concerned this is the best banana bread! It is moist, sweet, and tastes of vanilla and bananas. Over the years, my wife has tried other recipes but keeps coming back to this one. It tastes great in the morning with a cup of coffee.

Country pate version 2 田舎風パテ第二弾

This is my second attempt at making "Country pate". One weekend, I got ground pork and chicken liver to make the pate but the chicken liver looked really good so I made "Yakitori" and liver simmered in red wine instead. Since I had the ground pork, I decided to make country pate using bacon instead of the chicken liver. I read a few recipes and came up with my own rendition. It came out quite nice. The texture was better than my first attempt. I served this with Dijon mustard, thinly sliced cornichon and skinned Campari tomato.

Besides pork and bacon, I added shelled pistachio nuts, shiitake mushroom and onion.  Seasoning included thyme, black pepper and reduced brandy.

Ingredients (made 3 small loaves):
1.25 lb ground pork
2 strips of thickly cut bacon, uncooked, finely chopped
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
4 fresh shiitake mushrooms, stem removed, bottom cut off, torn length wise into thin strips, caps and stems, finely chopped
2 tbs light olive oil for sauteing
1 large egg
2 tbs cream
1 cup brandy (I used Christian brother VS which I use for cooking) reduced to 1/3 cup (#2)
1/4 tsp thyme (I used dry)
1/4 tsp Freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp Kosher salt
1 cup shelled pistachio nuts
3 bay leaves

Directions:
1. Cook the onion and garlic in olive oil. When cooked, add the shiitake mushrooms and continue cooking for several more minutes. Then season with salt and pepper and place the mixture in a metal bowl and let it cool to room temperature (#1)
2. Meanwhile reduce 1 cup of brandy to 1/3 cup (#2), be careful not to ignite the alcohol while reducing.
3. Mix together the bacon, ground pork and #1 and #2, pistachio nuts, egg, cream, thyme, black pepper, salt, and mix well (#3).
4. Grease the bottom of a small loaf pan and place a piece of parchment paper on the bottom and one bay leaf (#4).
5.  Place the meat mixture in the pan, tapping a few times to remove any trapped air (#5) and tightly cover the opening with aluminum foil.
6. In a 350 F oven, cook the pate in a  bain marie (fill a large baking dish with boiling water which comes to half way up the depth of the loaf pan) for 1 and half hours (or until the center of the pate registers 166 F).
7. Let it cool down to room temperature and refrigerate overnight.
8. To remove the pate from the pan soak the bottom of the loaf pan in warm water; the pate comes out easily (#6).
9. Wipe off the excess fat and gelatin from the surface and wrap the pate in plastic wrap and refrigerate for one more day before serving.

We like this version much better than the first version I made. It has a better texture. Although we did not taste the shiitake mushroom, it must have contributed to the texture. We are not sure that the reduced brandy did anything either. In any case. this pate is perfect accompaniment for red wine.

Kamo eggplant with pork miso stuffing 賀茂茄子の肉味噌詰め

The other day, I found a round Japanese eggplant at our Japanese grocery store. This was either Kamo-nasu 加茂茄子 or Mizu-nasu 水茄子  but it had no label. I asked the cashier and was told it was "Kamo-nasu". Kamo-nasu is often used in Kyoto cuisine 京都料理 and has a nice firm flesh. Dengaku 田楽 is the most common way to serve this vegetable. (While I am writing this I realized I never posted eggplant "dengaku". When I made this, I thought I must have already posted the usual miso-dengaku and decided to make this variation using pork meat).

It is miso flavored but I also added ground pork and white sesame paste. I garnished it with roasted white sesame seeds.

I served this one evening with pork belly "Kakuni" 豚の角煮 I made recently.

Ingredients:
One Kamo-nasu (#1) (or you can use regular American eggplant), cut into four disks after removing the skin in an alternate pattern. I removed some of the flesh of the eggplant to make space for the stuffing (#2).
Light olive oil, as need, to bake the eggplant (or you could deep fry).

For stuffing:
1/4 lb of ground pork (I used trimming from pork tenderloins and hand chopped)
1/4 tsp finely chopped ginger
1/4 tsp finely chopped garlic
2 tbs miso (I used white miso)
2 tbs mirin
2 tbs sake
1 tsp roasted white sesame paste "nerigoma" 練りゴマ.
1/2 tsp of dark roasted sesame oil
1 tsp vegetable oil
Finely chopped flesh removed from the eggplant as discussed above.
1 tsp potato starch slurry (potato starch and sake in equal amount)

Directions:
For eggplant,
I decided to bake rather than either cook in a frying pan with oil or deep fry.
I lined the baking sheet with aluminum foil and coated with the olive oil.
I painted all the surfaces of the eggplant slices with the oil and baked at 350F for 30 minutes in the toaster oven (convection mode) (#3 and 4 above).

For stuffing:
In a non-stick frying pan, I added the vegetable and sesame oil on low flame and sautéed the ginger and garlic until fragrant. I added the finely diced flesh of eggplant, pork and turned up the flame and cooked the meat until cooked and separated.
I first loosened the miso with sake and mirin by adding the liquid in increments while mixing in a separate container. I added the sugar and mixed well. (If the consistency was not liquid enough, add water or more sake).
I added the sauce into the cooked meat mixture and cooked until the liquid was reduced in half about 10 minutes.
I added the sesame paste and a splash of sesame oil and mixed well.
I tasted the stuffing (you can adjust sweetness by adding more sugar or mirin at this point).
I finished with the potato starch slurry to thicken the stuffing. Make sure to cook for about one minute before cutting off the flame.

Assembly:
I kept both the baked eggplant and the stuffing in the refrigerator until just before serving.
I layered the miso-pork stuffing on the top of the eggplant slices and placed in a preheated 350F toaster oven for 15 minutes or until warmed up completely.
I garnished with sesame seeds and served hot.

This was very good. The eggplant was soft and sweet which was well complemented by the ginger miso and pork flavors of the stuffing. The only problem was the skin of the eggplant--it was tough. I could probably leave the skin alone rather than making an alternate peeling pattern since we had to remove the skin to eat the eggplant anyway. This combination of the pork belly dish and the miso-pork stuffing dish went very well together.

Corn Buttermilk bread コーンバターミルクブレッド

Right now, it is peak local corn and blueberry season. Occasionally we get fresh local corn. The quality can be hit or miss but this week we found some decent fresh corn. My wife decided to incorporate the fresh corn in her baking and made this corn buttermilk bread.

Beside using cornmeal, she added fresh corn on the top.

The fresh corn stayed on the top and didn't sink to the bottom of the batter.

Ingredients:
1 cup cornmeal (or corn flour)

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/3 cup white sugar
1 Tbs. baking powder
1 Tsp salt
2/3 vegetable oil
1/3 cup butter melted
2 Tbs. honey
4 eggs beaten
2 1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup of fresh uncooked corn cut off the cob

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F and grease a 9 x 13 inch baking dish.
Picture #1 shows the ingredients. In a bowl combine the vegetable oil, melted butter, honey, beaten eggs and buttermilk (#2).
In a separate bowl stir together the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt(#3).
Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just moistened (#4).
Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish and sprinkle the fresh corn kernels on top(#5).
Cook in the oven for 45 minutes until the top of the cornbread starts to brown and show cracks (#6)

This bread has nice fresh corn flavors and a lovely moist texture. The fresh corn kernels got a bit chewy. Next time, my wife said, she will mix the corn kernels into the batter.

Chicken livers simmered in red wine 鶏レバーの赤ワイン煮

Although chicken livers may not be a very healthy food, both my wife and I like them. So sometimes we buy a small plastic tub full of chicken livers when it is available at the local grocery store. I was thinking of making a re-match of country pate with pork and chicken liver but when I examined the livers, they were pretty good quality without any broken pieces. I changed my mind and decided to make "Yakitori" style with my tare sauce 鶏レバーの焼き鳥. I made this dish from the livers that remained after I made the yakitori. It looks very dark almost black and reminded us of whole truffles, but the inside was still the color of liver. I added freshly ground black pepper just before serving.

The white specks on the surface is ground pepper.

Ingredients:
230 grams (0.5 lb) fresh chicken livers, cleaned, soaked in cold water, cut into bite size.
130 ml red wine (I used Tempranillo since I happened have an already open bottle)
1 tbs Mirin
1 tbs Soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp ginger, finely julienned

Directions:
In a sauce pan, add all simmering liquid ingredients and let it come to a simmer.
In a large amount of boiling water, add the livers and wait until the water comes to a boil again. Remove the livers and place them in the simmering liquid (see below).

Cook/reduce the liquid to a small amount 30 minutes or more (see below).

I did not add freshly ground black pepper while cooking but added it just before serving. I served this dish cold next day with a glass of red wine. This liver had very pleasing dense texture; almost pate-like with some sweetness and nice red wine/tannin flavors. It went perfectly well with a good sturdy red wine. We both really liked this dish.

Fresh Corn Risotto 新鮮トウモロコシリソト

This risotto was my wife's idea. I just made it. We were heavily indulging in fresh corn since it was local fresh corn season. We enjoyed corn souffle, corn rice, corn pudding, and corn "cob" soup. We posted all previously. So, my wife suggested we make corn risotto using leftover corn rice and corn "cob" broth. We also added fresh corn kernels to make sure all the corn flavors were concentrated in this dish. I suggested adding jalapeno pepper or parsley (mostly for color), but my wife vetoed the suggestion; she wanted "pure" corn flavors. We did not even use shallots or onion.

So, it does look a bit monochromatic but this is the ultimate fresh corn experience.

Ingredients:
About one cup Corn rice made from fresh corn kernels and corn "cob" broth.
Corn "cob" broth, as needed (probably close to 1 cup).
Fresh corn kernels, about half a cup
Butter, unsalted, 1 tbs
Salt to taste

Directions:
Since our leftover corn rice was frozen, we thawed it by microwaving for 30-45 seconds.
In a non-stick frying pan, I melted the butter and cooked the rice and fresh corn kernels until coated.
I added the corn broth in increments as I stirred until each addition of the liquid got absorbed.
I repeated this until I reached the desired creamy consistency.
I added a few more pats of butter and seasoned it with Kosher salt.

This is indeed the ultimate corn experience. It was a very comforting dish with lots of fresh corn flavors. I thought that we had made too much and there would be left-overs...but it did not happen. Both my wife and I were members of the "clean plate" club. This was the perfect dish to finish the evening.