Spaetzle with tongue stew シュペッツレとタンシチュー

When I made beef tongue stew, I mentioned to my wife in passing that spaetzle (Spätzle) may go well with it. So, one day when I was at work and she was home, she made spaetzle. But she did not have the right tool to physically form the spaetzle. She ended up cutting the corner off a Ziploc bag and dropped the batter into the boiling broth by cutting the lump of dough extruded from the bag into the broth, but it made a rather clumsy large spaetzle that looked more like gnocchi. Although it tasted good, the shape and size were not quite right. Recognizing that I was on the receiving end of a good thing I got her an appropriate spaetzle maker in the hope of encouraging the production of more spaetzle. This is her second attempt and the spaetzle came out much better.

I sautéed the spaetzle with butter and finely chopped parsley to accompany the tongue stew. After a few days in the refrigerator and reheated, the stew was better and the spaetzle went so well with it.

This is the contraption I got for my wife.

Ingredients:
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cup AP flour
1/2 cup water (add more to adjust the consistency to loose pancake batter).
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
Grating of nutmeg (#1)

Directions:
In a large sautéed pan, boil the water and add bay leaves and add salt to taste.
Place the spaetzle cutter over the pan, pour the batter into the hopper on top (#3).
Move the hopper back and froth and let the batter drip down into the boiling water (#4).
When the spaetzle floated up on the surface (#5), let it cook for another 30 seconds.
Scoop them up using a slotted spoon (#6)
Dain and then coat them with light olive oil to prevent from sticking together (#7 and 8).

The combination of the tongue stew and spaeztle really works well. The spaetzle had a mild bay leaf flavor. Also this is a proof that you need the right tool for the right job. It was well worth it to supply the appropriate tool to make a dish like this.

Beef tongue sandwich 牛タンのサンドイッチ

This is an attempt at recreating the beef tongue sandwiches of my wife's childhood. She wanted one made exactly how she remembered . So we made it very simple. No fancy items such as lettuce or cheese. Just mayonnaise and mustard on pumpernickel. I added skinned Campari tomato and my cucumber onion salad on the side. This was lunch on the weekend.

I sliced a mid-portion of the tongue thinly and made several over lapping layers. I did not put on the second layer of bread for the picture to show the tongue meat.

This wife was very satisfied with this sandwich. She said this was exactly how she remembered the tongue lunch meat from the local PA dutch grocery store. The meat was very tender (due to marbling with fat) and flavorful. I have to admit this was a very good sandwich.

Miso flavored silken tofu with green beans 味噌味の豆腐とインゲン

At our Japanese grocery store, I bought this silken tofu called "Sincere silken tofu, just right firmness" 誠実の絹 from "Otokomae tofu" 男前豆腐. This is made from Hokkaido soybeans called "Pride of snow" or "Yukihomare" ユキホマレ. Since I am originally from Hokkaido, I am partial to a product like this. Since good tofu is impossible to get at the regular grocery store (the tofu we get there is pretty bad by Japanese standards but I still make some dishes from it). In any case, I had this tofu from the Japanese grocery store for a few days in the refrigerator. I thought about what kind of dish I could make to enjoy this good tofu. Cold cubes (hiyayakko 冷や奴), warm cubes in kelp broth (yudoufu 湯豆腐) or tofu miso soup (tofu-no-misoshiru 豆腐の味噌汁) came to mind but I ended up making this impromptu tofu and green bean dish with ground pork and miso. This happened because I had blanched green beans and hand chopped pork which was a by-product of when I prepared bone-in pork shoulder for pork roast. It is remotely similar to "mapo tofu" but this is not spicy at all which suites my wife better.

The quality of green beans is really hit or miss but these were especially good. They had a nice firmness and crunch but were not tough at all.

Since the flavor was very gentle, I added Japanese red pepper flakes (iccimi tougarashi 一味唐辛子) to add some zing.

Ingredients (this made 6 small servings):
Silken tofu (320 gram), Cut into cubes
2 tbs white miso
3 tbs sake and mirin
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp vegetable oil (or dark sesame oil for stronger flavor)
Ground pork (amount arbitrary but I probably used about 100 grams)
1/2 tsp Ginger root, skinned and finely chopped
Blanched green beans, cut in half, about 10

Directions:
In a frying pan, add the oil and when heated, add ginger and then the pork.
Stir until the pork changes color
Add the miso, sake, mirin and soy sauce. Dissolve the miso and stir until the sauce comes to a boil.
Add the tofu and gently toss until the tofu gets warm and the sauce gets somewhat thick
Taste and add more soy sauce or salt if needed.
Serve warm with a sprinkle of Japanese red pepper flakes.

The tofu was really good. The flavoring was very gentle and really highlighted the texture and taste of the tofu. This is a good first drinking snack of the evening. The leftovers warmed up nicely in the microwave oven (requires only short time 20 seconds for two small serving together in our 600W microwave oven).

Beef Tongue stew 牛タンシチュー

Using the bottom portion of boiled beef tongue (called "tanshita" たん下) I prepared this beef tongue stew. I looked through Japanese recipes and came up with this stew. In Japan, beef tongue stew or "tan-shichu" タンシチュー is one of the dishes for "Yoshoku" 洋食 or "Western-style Japanese cuisine". It is rather popular. I happened to have blanched rapini on hand. I thought the slightly bitter taste would go well with the stew so I added it to the dish. To re-enforce the beef tongue theme to the meal, I also added a slice of the middle portion of boiled tongue (called "tan-naka" たん中), briefly sautéed in butter and seasoned with salt and pepper.

It appears, that it is customary in Japan to make lines of cream on the surface for this stew before serving so I followed suit as shown below.

Adding rapini was my idea.

Nice thick stew with very tender chunks of tongue is extremely satisfying.

We like tongue slices cooked this way much better than tongue sliced and grilled in the Japanese way. The tongue was so tender and flavorful. I served a slice of tongue in another dish with my cucumber onion salad and Campari tomato.

Ingredients:
Deep posterior portion of prepared beef tongue (tan-shita), cut into 1 inch cubes
One large onion, peeled and coarsely chopped
Three ribs of celery, cut into small cubes
Two cloves of garlic, skin removed and finely chopped
Four Campari tomatoes, skinned, cut into quarters (or two small tomatoes).
Three medium carrots, peeled and cut into small cubes
Two bay leaves
2 tbs olive oil
3 tbs AP flour
1 cup dry red wine
1-2  cup reserved boiling liquid from preparing the tongue, solids removed
Salt and pepper for seasoning
Cream for garnish

Blanched rapini (optional)

Directions:
Add the olive oil to a pot and sauté the onion, garlic, and celery for several minutes, add the carrot and keep stirring for another minute or two.
Add the flour and mix until the flour coats the vegetables and the flour coating the bottom of the pan becomes slightly brown.
Add the red wine and the boiling liquid from preparing the tongue.
Add the tomato and bay leaves and keep stirring until the flour amalgamates.
Add the beef tongue and simmer for 30-40 minutes (#1).
Remove the cubes of tongue and set aside (#3)
Remove the bay leaves. Using an immersion blender, blend the vegetables and the liquid (#2). If it is too thick, add more liquid to the appropriate consistency.
Add back the tongue and simmer for 30 minutes (#4).
Taste and seasoned it with salt and pepper.
Garnished with the blanched rapini (optional) and drizzle cream on the top.

OMG this stew was something else--very flavorful! The tongue was very tender but did not disintegrate. The stew had a very unique and pleasant texture. The flavor was rich, unctuous, full of umami.  This was so good there is no way it could be good for you.

My wife mentioned that the cold cut tongue she remembered was square in shape. We realized that if you slice the mid portion of the tongue, it is indeed square. The sautéed tongue was also very tender and excellent. My wife was more than quite satisfied with both tongue dishes; especially the stew. Now she wants to have this as a sandwich--with mayo and mustard on pumpernickel.

Beef tongue 牛タン

Beef tongue is not a very popular food in the U.S. It is more popular in Europe, South America including Mexico ("Lengua"). It is also much more popular in Japan where it is served thinly sliced and grilled. This dish called "Gyuu-tan" 牛タン is famous in the city of Sendai 仙台 located in northern Japan. My wife having grown up in PA dutch country, said she really liked the beef tongue she ate as a child, served as cold cuts particularly in sandwiches. Her favorite was tongue lunch meat that came from the local Ma&Pa grocery store down the street. She just remembers it as a sort of square shaped loaf that was a very tender and tasty meat.

Several years ago while we were in Sendai, we had the famous local delicacy grilled "Gyuu-tan" 牛タンの塩焼き which was served with "Ox-tail soup" or "te-ru su-pu" テールスープ. The meat was kind of chewy. My wife said it was nothing like what she had growing up and we did not like it. I have seen beef tongue from time to time at our regular grocery store. (Based on the labeling I'm assuming it is directed toward the "latino" clientele). I mentioned it to my wife and she was enthusiastic to get it so that we could recreate the beef tongue she remembered as a kid. The other day, I found a rather small tongue and got it. The below is sort of taste test. This appears to be very close to what she remebered.

This is basic preparation and other dishes can be made from this.

Ingredients:
Whole beef tongue (#1), washed well and bottom fat removed (#2).
One medium onion, coarsely cut up
2 bay leaves
Several whole black pepper corns

Direction:
In a duch oven, add enough water to cover the tongue
Add the onion, bay leaves and pepper corns and boil gently for several hours (#3).
Take it out and let it cool for few minutes (#4)
Using a tong or fingers peel off the skin (#4 and #5). It comes off rather easily.
I sliced it thinly for the taste test (#6).
After testing, I separated the bottom of the tongue (which has more fat and other structures) for stew and the tongue proper for sandwiches.

This was simply boiled but the meat had a very nice soft texture and the flavor from the black pepper I used came through strongly. My wife said this is very close to what she remembered. She commented that if you could have beef tongue like this why would you eat the stuff served in Sendai?

Octopus and avocado salad たことアボカドのサラダ

When we buy a boiled leg of octopus, it takes at least 3 separate sittings for us to finish it. So, beside the usual sashimi, I usually come up with a few variations. Since we had a ripe avocado, I decided to make something similar to tuna and avocado cubes. I garnished this with chiffonade of perilla.

I used both slices and small chunks of the octopus to finish up the remaining octopus leg.

For the tuna and avocado dish, I used minced garlic and dark sesame oil, for this I used finely diced red onion and olive oil, instead. I was aiming for a more gentle tasting dressing.

Ingredients (2 servings):
Boiled octopus leg, cut thinly as well as in small chunks, amount arbitrary but I used about the half of the leg.
Ripe avocado, half, skin and some removed and cut into small cubes
Red or sweet onion, half, small, finely diced

For dressing:
1/2 tbs light olive oil
1 tbs soy sauce
1/2 tbs rice vinegar or Yuzu juice

For garnish
2 perilla leaves, cut into thin chiffonade

Directions:
I mixed the ingredients for the dressing.
Mixed the octopus, avocado, onion and the dressing.
Garnish with the perilla.

This was a good salad. Since octopus does not have a strong flavor, I toned down the dressing and replaced the garlic with red onion which worked well. This was a good drinking snack and also we finished the boiled octopus leg in time before it went bad.

Unexpected early Hanami 予定外の早めの花見

A Nor'Easter (winter hurricane) tore through our area recently. Winds gusted in the range of 40 to 60 MPH. My wife was standing in the kitchen making a cup of coffee when a branch the size of a small tree split off our neighbor's white pine and crashed into our 30 plus year old cherry tree splintering the trunk in half. My wife who observed the whole thing said the branch did not fall but flew into our tree--it was airborne. The cherry tree died heroically. I would like to think it gave its life to narrowly divert the white pine from crashing directly into our house causing even more damage. Nonetheless this was very heartbreaking. Later in the day our neighbor's 60 foot Leland cypress joined it's collegue by crashing into our backyard taking out our back fence which like the cherry tree gave its life to keep the massive tree from hitting the house with even greater velocity than it did. At the end of the day; death toll--3 huge trees and a backyard so full of dead trees it was almost impossible to move in it.

We tried to see if we could save the cherry tree--it was such an important part of our backyard. It was central to out yearly hanami and shaded the deck from the sun in summer. But it was too severely damaged. We had no choice but to take it down and replace it with a 6 foot tall "young sprout". This was particularly sad because the tree would have bloomed in only a few weeks. We gathered up some branches and placed the cuttings in vases with the hope that some would bloom and they did.

These blooms were a much earlier hanami than we were expecting.

Since this was the last Hanami for this cherry tree, in its honor, we decide to do an unexpected early hanami. I quickly put together six kinds of otoshi dishes for the occasion. They were octopus sashimi タコの刺身 (upper left), cube of silken tofu with garnish of perilla and salmon "Ikura" roe or "hiyayakko" 冷奴 (upper center) and store-bought "Chinese-style" squid  salad (イカの中華風サラダ). On the plate (all heated up in the toaster oven) were store-bought fish cake, spicy tofu cubes, and chicken liver simmered in wine.

In addition, we had just recently received a very thin "usuhari" うすはり glass sake carafe and sake cups from Japan sold by ”Sake-talk"  through Amazon. Several years ago when we visited Japan, we got "usuhari" tumblers and we really like these thin glass vessels. In any case, we opened American brew Shochikubai Yamadanishki Daijinjou and poured it into the carafe.

It was a bit sad to see the remaining few twigs blooming in one last gasp of this valiant tree. We still have two cherry trees in our backyard which were there when we moved in. When they bloom in a few weeks it will provide some solice for the loss our beautiful tree. We will raise a cup of sake to its memory (and maybe pour a cup at the base of the young tree we planted as a replacement, just for good luck).

Update: My wife got the idea that we might be able to root some of twigs we salvaged from the downed cherry tree. We got some rooting medium and set up 5 pots (shown below) in the hope one of them would form roots. We know it is a "long shot" but how sentimentally satisfying it would be to propagate another tree from one of the twigs...we would have to name it Phoenix.