Baby artichokes braised in olive oil and lemon juice ベィビィアーチチョーク

While we lived in California, we developed a taste for artichokes. Whoever decided the giant thistle buds could be eaten must have been really hungry and other edible items must have been really scarce. We have posted few artichoke dishes including baby artichokes. In any case, it is very unusual to see good fresh artichokes in D.C. area and baby artichokes are rarer. My wife found a package of baby artichokes from California at Whole Foods on one of our visits there. This was a week after getting marinated baby artichoke hearts from the bulk self-serve counter at the same store which were essentially not edible. They were inedible because the fibrous inner petals were not adequately removed and when we bit into them it was like getting poked in the mouth with a pin. It was worse than fish bones. We ended up throwing out the entire batch. So, I was given the challenge to make better baby artichokes. Again, I proposed deep fried baby artichoke (Roman Jewish style) but as before, my wife declined. I was to  recreate baby artichokes marinated in olive oil, which we usually get commercially in a jar. Not being one to shy away from a challenge, after looking through a few recipes on line, this is what I came up with.

I served this as a small appetizer which goes with wine. I added oil cured black olives.

The below is a package of baby artichokes we got. It was not the best and some are too small and some had the inner petals all discolored to black but many were still good.

Ingredients:
For marinade (see #1 below):
4tbs olive oil
4tbs water
juice of one lemon
1/2 tsp Kosher salt and 1/4 fresh ground black pepper

1 package (2lb) of baby artichokes (#2);

Directions:
For preparing baby artichokes. (80% will be wasted through the preparation).
1. Wash the surface of the artichokes under running water with a brush.
2. Remove hard green outer petals until tender pale yellow inner petals appear. Cut off the stem and top 1/3  and peel off the bottom (where green outer petals were attached) and cut in half. (You need to be very aggressive in removing any green or fibrous petals, otherwise no matter how long you cook, it remains fibrous. The baby artichokes of this size have not yet developed the chokes, so you need not to worry about them).
3.  Immediately place the prepared baby artichokes in the marinade and coat the surface to prevent discoloration (#3).
4. Place the marinade and artichokes in a frying pan with the cut side down (#4) with a lid.
5. As the marinade evaporates, the cut surface browns, turn them over (#5) and continue to cook.
6. If the liquid evaporate too much, add a few tablespoonfuls of water and keep braising. You may have to add water few more time or until the bottom is soft and throughly cooked  and sauce forms (#6).
7. Taste and if needed season with more Kosher salt and black pepper.

When I tasted it warm, I thought it was too sour from the lemon juice. But the next day after being kept in the refrigerator, it had mellowed out and was perfect. This was infinitely better than store bought or even the ones in a jar. After eating these it will be hard to go back to the other kind. They went beautifully with red wine. We used to make pizza using marinated baby artichokes. I have to make one with this.

Pumpkin ginger rolls かぼちゃと生姜味ロール

My wife always makes some kind of pumpkin-themed food around Halloween. This year, she made these pumpkin ginger rolls.

Since we had a Japanese Kabocha left (the last 1/4 of a whole kabocha), she also included a cube of kabocha in the pumpkin rolls.

Ingredients:
For bread
4 1/2 cups bread flour
2 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbs yeast
1 (15 oz. can pumpkin puree)
2 large eggs
4 Tbs. butter melted
Finely diced ginger to tast (optional)
1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Directions:
For the cooked pumpkin (kobocha)
Cut the Kabocha in half inch thick slices and microwave in a lidded silicon container for 4-5 minutes or until soft. Remove the skin/rind and cut it into half inch cubes (see below).

For the pumpkin bread:
Put pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice in a sauce pan and cook on medium heat stirring constantly until pumpkin pulls away from the sides of the pan and the spices "bloom" (see below).
Let cool then add sugar, salt, eggs and melted butter. Bloom the yeast. Add the wet ingredients to the flour in a kneading mixer. Knead dough for about 2 to 3 minutes until ingredients are blended then let rest for 15 minutes.
Continue kneading, adding flour until the dough reaches a workable consistency. If adding ginger and raisins knead them in (we did not add them).
Transfer dough to a lightly oiled bowel. Turn the dough so it gets coated with the oil.
Cover and let rise until it doubles. Punch dough down and turn out onto a floured cutting board.
Cut dough into pieces weighing 2 1/4 oz. Add a piece of cooked kobocha pumpkin and form into a bun. Put the buns into a heavily greased baking pan.
Cover and let rise again (about 1/2 hour).
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook rolls for 20 minutes. Remove from pan immediately after they come out of the oven.

These rolls turned out with lots of pumpkin and pumpkin spice flavors--with cinnamon leading the pack. Because of the pureed  pumpkin, it came out really moist. The inclusion of cooked kabocha added a nice sweet taste and interesting texture. (next time my wife said she would add larger pieces). This may be the best pumpkin bread.

Quince jelly, cream cheese rolls ボケのジェリーとチーズのレバノンボローニャロールアップ

My wife found "Quince" jelly at Whole Foods and it evoked childhood memories, so she had to buy it. It was one of her Father's favorite treats. His parents would buy some on their annual winter trip to Florida and send it to him (it wasn't available in rural PA). It was stashed in a carefully guarded cache and distributed on only the most special of occasions.

When I was a kid in Japan, our neighbor had a quince tree. The Japanese name for quince is "Boke" ぼけ. I am not sure the origin of the name and may be totally unrelated but "boke" in Japanese may mean to become "senile" or "dumb".  I do remember the quince tree had nice flowers and good looking pear-like fruit but it was totally inedible. I have never seen quince jam or jelly in Japan but I never looked for it. In any case, after tasting the quince jelly, this is what my wife came up with as a snack to go with our red wine.

Any ham or cheese will probably work but she used sweet Lebanon Bologna*, and cream cheese with quince jelly for this roll up. Sweet Lebanon Bologna has a nice smokey flavor with spices which went well with the combination of cream cheese (neutral taste) and sweet with slight sourness from the quince jelly. It went perfectly with our Cab.

*Lebanon Bologna is nothing to do with the country "Lebanon" but rather Lebanon County in Pennsylvania. The company called "Seltzer" has been making this for many years. My wife grew up eating  this. So, when she found that it was available in our grocery store, we have to stock it at all times. Cream cheese is also from Philadelphia. So, this is sort of paying hommage to her childhood or more aptly "child-food".

Simmered Salmon head 鮭の兜煮

The other day, we were in our regular grocery store and found salmon heads for sale. We have never seen this before. Of course, my wife wanted to try it and asked me to come up with a dish.  Since I am originally from Hokkaido 北海道, she thought I would, of course, know a few recipes for salmon head. I decided to make it like a "Kabuto-ni" 兜煮 of red sea bream. I also added daikon and for color broccoli at the end.

As you can see the head contains quite a good amount of meat but you have to work to get to it.

Ingredients for two servings:
One fresh salmon head (see below).
Pieces of kelp for broth (two 1 inch squares)
Sake, mirin, and soy sauce for seasoning.
Salt
Daikon, peeled, cut into one inch round (since the daikon I had was large, I quartered it). Some green vegetable for color is always nice (I used broccoli).

Directions:
1. Place the diakon in a pan with cold water and a pinch of raw rice and simmer for 30 minutes, remove the daikon and set aside.
2. Clean the salmon head, first wash it throughly under cold running water, and remove any scales, gills or unidentifiable soft brown stuff attached and removed the "Kama" or frontal fin parts (on the left below) and halve the head using a heavy chef's knife (see 2nd picture below).
3. In a large pan, bring enough water to submerge the head to boiling. Blanch the head parts in the boiling water for 30 seconds and then wash them in cold running  water in a colander.

Just for information, the famous Hokkaido "Hizu" 氷頭 is made from the cartilage in the nose of the salmon (seen below) by freezing it. In its frozen state the cartilage can be shaved into thin pieces and then dressed in vinegar.

4. After blotting the moisture from the surface, I generously salted both sides and placed it in the refrigerator for several hours without a cover. Some juice came out, as expected and I washed it again in cold running water.

5. In a pan large enough to hold the salmon pieces and daikon comfortably, add water (including the water used to hydrate the kelp) to cover. Add  the hydrated kelp and bring the water to a gentle boil. If any scum appears on the surface, remove it and add sake, mirin, and soy sauce (I did not measure as usual but about 1:1:2 ratio). During the cooking I added soy sauce in two more stages after tasting.
6. Simmer for several hours (I ended up cooking it for 6 hours) with an otoshibuta. 5 minutes before serving, I added florets of broccoli.

Since the salmon has a strong flavor, I didn't need to season it strongly. Because I cooked it for a long time, many of the small bones were soft and could be eaten. It was a bit of work, but the head had a lot of tasty meat. This was an ultimate comfort food; a hot, steaming bowl of flavorful. I, of course, especially like the gelatinous tissue behind the eye balls. My wife gladly donated her share to me. The daikon pieces absorbed a nice broth flavor and were nicely tender. Although, it is lots of preparation, this was quite nice and different from our regular salmon dishes.

Pumpkin salad かぼちゃサラダ

Since we enjoyed some nice pumpkin dishes while we were in Japan this time, when my wife found a Japanese kabocha pumpkin (or squash) at Whole Foods store, we had to get one. I made my ususal simmered pumpkin and potage but still half of the pumpkin was left. So, I made this pumpkin salad from the quarter of the pumpkin.

One evening, I served this as a part of the opening appetizers. From left to right, pumpkin salad, asparagus and Campari tomato with roasted sesame vinegar dressing and mackerel simmered in miso  with green beans.

The asparagus was boiled and the Campari tomatoes were skinned. The dressing is the same one I used for figs.

This is my usual and favorite miso simmered mackerel. I added boiled green beans for color.

Ingredients:
1/4 Japanese "Kabocha" squash, guts removed, cut into 1/2 inch slices.
1/4 cup raisins.
2 tbs Mayonnaise
2tbs Greek yogurt (my wife strained plain yogurt)
Salt
Cream and soy sauce (optional)

Directions:
I placed the kabocha slices in a lidded silicon container and microwaved for about 4-5 minutes or until cooked. While it was hot, I removed the skin and mashed the kabocha, added the raisins, mayonnaise and greek yogurt and mixed.

This was nicely sweet (without any sugar) from the kabocha itself and from the raisons. My wife liked to add a bit of soy sauce and cream to this which I agree. It was a nice small dish which can be used as a side or as an appetizer.

Natto stuffed Tofu pouch納豆詰め油揚焼

Initially, I thought I did not post this item.  Since a search of my blog did not yield anything. But it turns out I posted this item many years ago (2009)  It was one dish among several I served that time.  Grilled deep fried tofu pouch or "Yaki abura-age" 焼き油揚 is a rather common Japanese appetizer or breakfast item. It can be eaten with soy sauce or stuffed with various items, melting cheese being one of the most common items（Kitusne Raclett)). I thawed a small package of natto without thinking about how I would serve it and came up with this rather easy solution.

Natto is a difficult food item for Westerners to approach and even some Japanese shy away from it. It took some time and effort before my wife could enjoy (tolerate?) natto. The secret is to mix it well (in my case, using a special Natto mixing tool). Mixing it well with air, appears to reduce the smell and stickiness.

After cooking, I cut it diagonally showing natto inside.

Ingredients (for two small appetizers):
2 small deep fried tofu pouches (abura-age) for Inari sushi or a rectangular one cut into two.
One package of natto
1 stalk chopped scallion
1 perilla leaf (optional, finely julienned)
Soy sauce and Japanese mustard (or use  packages came with the natto).

Directions:
If using frozen aura-age, thaw and then pour hot water over the tofu pouches to remove any excess oil, pat dry with a paper towel. If not easily opened, roll it with a rolling pin and open the pouch trying not to tear it.

Prepare the natto by mixing with the scallion, soy sauce and mustard. The more you mix the less oder and stickiness it will have. Stuff the pouch with the natto and close the opening using a tooth pick. You could grill this in a toaster oven but this time I cooked it in a frying pan until both sides were nicely browned and the natto was hot.

While it is hot, pour on some soy sauce and serve. This is still natto and may not appeal to everybody but we enjoyed it with cold sake. You need a bit of sake as a chaser after enjoying this dish.

Pork belly with spicy sauce 茹で豚のピリ辛ソース

We were served this dish at our friend's home while we were in Japan. It is a pork belly dish but quite different from my usual "Kakuni" 角煮. The hostess graciously shared the recipe with me and I made this dish.  The key is the spicy sauce. Without it, the pork is rather bland.

Compared to Kakuni, not much fat gets rendered out. The piquant sauce (mine turned out much spicer than we had in Japan) really makes the dish.

This is much simpler and easier to make compared to Kakuni. I made some changes to the original recipe for the sauce.

Ingredients:
About 1lb pork belly.
Several slices of ginger
Several stalks of scallion
Sake 1tbs

For sauce
4tbs of roasted sesame oil
4tbs soy sauce
2 dried Japanese hot peppers, seed removed and chopped
1/2 tsp finely chopped garlic
1/2 tsp finely chopped ginger
1 stalks of scallion finely chopped

Directions:
1. In a large pan, boil water and dunk the block of pork belly for 30 seconds, pull it out and wash it in cold running water.
2. Replace the water in the pan with fresh water and add the slices of ginger, the scallion, and the sake. Submerge the pork belly in the water and let it come to a boil and then turned down the heat to simmer (see below).
3. Remove the scum that will form on the surface of the water as it simmers and cook it for one hour.
4. Let it cool down in the cooking liquid to room temperature.

For the sauce:
In a small sauce pan, heat the sesame oil and add the red pepper, scallion, ginger and garlic. When fragrant, add soy sauce. When it comes to boil, cut the flame and let it cool to room temperature.

To serve, slice the pork belly and add the sauce.

This is a good pork belly dish. The red meat portion gets a bit dry but overall, it is nice and unctuous. Eating the meat alone, it is rather bland but the sauce really makes it. My sauce was much more spicy than the one we had in Japan. My wife usually does not like overly spicy sauce/food but she liked the sauce. It is sort of a variation of "Ra-yu" ラー油. We kept the meat in the cooking liquid in the refrigerator. After, slicing, I briefly micro waved it (20 seconds) to take off the chill. It was as good reheated as when just cooked. The sauce can be stored in a sealed container in the refrigerator.