Italian-style squid salad イタリアンカラマリサラダ

When I was getting our usual filet of salmon, I could not resist getting cleaned squid. Since I did not have much time to deal with the squid when I got home, I decided to boil the entire one pound (tubes and tentacles).   Since cleaned squid we can get here is previously frozen and thawed ("for your convenience"), it can not last long and needs to be cooked immediately.  From the prepared squid, I made two dishes. One is Italian style squid salad. I made a similar dish before without any recipe. This one is loosely based on the recipe I saw on line.

The base green is our home grown arugula. It was getting a bit tough but it has so much flavor even without any dressing. I let the squid marinade for several hours in the refrigerator before serving.

This must have been the next day. I just made it to our usual sumiso 酢味噌 dressed Japanese-style salad with cucumber and wakame seaweed.

Ingredients (this will be 4 servings for us as a small appetizer).
• 2/3 lb cleaned squid
• 1 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 tablespoon red-wine vinegar (I used balsamic vinegar)
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 large garlic clove, minced
• salt and black pepper to taste
• 1/4 sweet (Vidalia) onion, halved lengthwise, then thinly sliced crosswise
• 1/4 cup pitted Kalamata olives, halved lengthwise
• Skinned Campari tomatoes (4-5), halved or quartered if large
• 1 celery ribs, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
• Parsley, several sprigs, stem removed, chopped

Preparation of squid:
Rinse squid under cold running water. Halve tentacles lengthwise and cut bodies  crosswise into 1/3-inch-wide rings.

Cook squid in a boiling salted water with a splash of sake, uncovered, until just opaque, 40 to 60 seconds. Drain in a colander and immediately transfer to a bowl of ice and cold water to stop the cooking. When squid is cool, drain and pat dry.

Directions for salad:
Whisk together lemon juice, vinegar, oil, garlic, salt, and pepper in a small bowl, then stir in onion, squid, olives, tomatoes, celery, and parsley in a large bowl. Toss with dressing and season with salt and pepper. Let stand at least 15 minutes to allow flavors to develop (I refrigerated for several hours).

Both preparations were good. The Italian-style has more complex flavors with a burst of saltiness when you bite into the olive. For this we choose to have American brewed G-sake on the rocks.

Cheesy muffins with prosciutto and chives プロシュートとチャイブ入りチェダーチーズママフィン

This recipe came from the Washington Post. Since we had some prosciutto, my wife pounced on it and made these muffins. The first time around, we quickly devoured the muffins then when they were all gone we remembered that we forgot to take any picture. So this is the second batch my wife made. This is a self-contained breakfast in muffin form with prosciutto and cheddar cheese. We added scrambled eggs and sautéed rapini (pre-blanched) and had it as a lunch. Actually, the plate below is the serving dish for the two of us. After the photo shoot, we divided this into two portions.

Cut surfaces show prosciutto  and chives.

This is few minutes after it came out of the oven. Melted cheddar is visible.

The top has a nice crunchy crust.

Ingredients (made 1 dozen muffins):
(See #2 below)
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the pan
1/4 cup packed (50 grams) light brown sugar
2 large eggs plus 1 large egg yolk
1 cup low-fat (or regular) sour cream
2 cups (270 grams) flour
1 tablespoon (8 grams) baking powder
1/4 teaspoon (2 grams) baking soda
1 teaspoon (4 grams) table salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (original recipe called for black pepper).
6 ounces shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese, loosely packed (a generous 1 3/4 cups)
3 ounces prosciutto, chopped (2/3 cup; see #1 below)
About 15 chive stems, minced (1/4 cup) (or to taste)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Generously grease the wells of the muffin pan with softened butter or cooking oil spray. Melt the 6 tablespoons of butter in a large microwave-safe bowl, covered with paper towel, on LOW in 15-second bursts. Add the sugar and whisk until well incorporated (#3), then add the eggs and egg yolk one at a time, whisking after each addition (#4). Add the sour cream, whisking a final time.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and pepper. Pour the wet ingredients into the butter-egg mixture (#5). Add the cheese, prosciutto and chives, folding just until incorporated to form a shaggy batter (#6) Do not over mix.

Fill the muffin pan wells (#7). Bake (middle rack) for 18 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a moist crumb or two. Remove from the pan as soon as they are cool enough to handle (#8).

This is probably one of the most decadent muffins ever. (We found it humorous that the original recipe called for low fat sour cream and then went on to add almost a full stick of butter, almost a full block of cheese and oh yes an extra egg--hold the egg white). But they were also ridiculously good. These are great for breakfast. The prosciutto, cheddar and chives permeate the muffin with savory flavor. My wife added cayenne pepper (1/4 tsp) which gave a light zing to the muffin. Adding the scrambled eggs and rapini with its slight bitter taste made this a very satisfying breakfast (or lunch in our case).

Nectarine bundt cake ネクタリンバントケーキ

We received a gift for New Year which was a one-year-membership to Harry's & David monthly fruit club.  Although some of it is a bit hit-or-miss, most of the fruit was excellent.  This month was Dulcevida nectarines. A card with the recipe for nectarine pound cake came with the fruit. (It specified the use of a bundt cake pan, so it could be classified as a bundt cake). In any case, my wife made this cake one day using the last three nectarines.

We cut a wedge to taste.

I added fresh blueberry and mint sprig just for a photo shoot.

This is a quite good cake. Nice fresh nectarine taste.

Ingredients:
For fruit
2-3 nectarines (she used 3), peeled, pitted, and cut into slices.
2 tbsp, AP flour
2 tbsp light brown sugar (my wife used white sugar with molasses)

For cake batter
3/4 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
2 1/2 cup of AP flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
8 oz lemon yogurt (my wife used plain yogurt with the addition of lemon extract)(lemon zest would also work)
1 egg
1 egg white

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325F. Grease a 10 inch Bundt pan and dust with flour (My wife only had an 8 inch bundt pan, so she made additional cakes using some mini Bundt pans she had).
Blend 2 tbsp flour and brown sugar together, add nectarines and toss until well coated. Place the mixture in the bottom of the pan. In a bowl mix the the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In a mixer, cream the butter and white sugar. Add the egg and egg white and blend until mixed. Add the vanilla, yogurt and lemon flavoring (or lemon zest) beat for 3 minutes at medium speed. Add the liquid mixture to the dry mixture and mix until combined. Distribute the batter over the nectarines (the recipe said pour the batter over the fruit. Don't know what they were using but pouring was not an option. The batter came out very thick and stiff and had to be dolloped into the bundt pan.) Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes clean.  Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes. Invert onto a wire rack and cool completely before serving.

The cake is not too sweet and is very moist. The nectarines are nicely sweet and refreshing. This is a good cake. We can eat this even for breakfast.

"Tsumami" appetizers 酒のつまみ

I am still cooking Izakaya-style small dishes but generally nothing particularly new. The dishes below are what we had after the perilla wrapped chicken dish 鶏胸肉の青紫蘇巻き. Often, we roast pork (loin or shoulder) in our Weber grill, but sometimes, the roast is really big so I divide it into two roasts; one to roast in the Weber and another to make into  Chinese style "Nibuta" 煮豚. For the dish pictured here I just served small pieces of one such nibuta, with ajitama 味玉 (a soft boiled egg marinated in concentrated noodle sauce) and blanched sugar snap. After a few days the egg yolk of the ajitama becomes more congealed but maintains a nice soft texture.

For the third  dish of the evening, I used one of the chicken breast halves left over after making the perilla wrapped chicken. Both are marinated in the same way but this one I pounded further into thin slices, coated in potato starch and gently poached (called "suisho” 水晶).

I cut it into small bite size pieces and served it with a side of thinly sliced cucumber (American mini-cucumber) dressed in ponzu sauce. Because it was coated with potato starch before poaching, it has a nice smooth (slippery) texture. Marinating with sake, soy sauce and potato starch made the meat moist and tender.

None of these are new but we still enjoy having many small dishes.

Chicken breast wrapped in perilla 鶏胸肉の青じそ巻き

This is inspired by a recipe in one of the food blogs I follow. I have previously posted yakitori 焼き鳥 dishes made with a combination of chicken meat, perilla and "umeboshi" 梅干し salted plum paste (this is a classic combination). One such dish used chicken tenderloin  another used chicken made into a roll with shiso and umeboshi paste, cut into medallions and skewered. This is the same combination of flavors with some different twists.   I cut the chicken into bite sized pieces, pound the pieces to break down the fibers, and marinate them before making the skewers as the recipe suggested. This preparation really made the chicken breast much more moist and tender. (My wife asked if this was sous vide chicken breast). I served the pieces un-skewered and instead of adding plum paste in the marinade as suggested in the recipe I put it on the top which has a more direct impact.

Ingredients (For the three skewers seen here):
One half of boneless and skinless chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces, pounded with a meat mallet to break down the fibers.
Perilla leaves (We have a forest of perilla in our herb garden, 4 feet tall!)
Light olive oil for cooking.

For marinade
2 tbs sake
1tbs light colored soy sauce
1 tsp potato starch (katakuri-ko)

Directions:
I placed the chicken in a Ziplock bag with the marinade ingredients. I kneaded the bag to mix the meat and the marinade. I removed the air as much as I could before closing the bag. I refrigerated it for a few hours.
I cut the perilla leaves to the width of the meat and long enough that it wrapped the meat all the way around (some of our perilla leaves were quite large and had to cut them into several pieces). I wrapped the chicken pieces and put them on a skewer. (Althouhg I cooked the chicken in a frying pan rather than over charcoal, it was much easier to flip the skewers and keep the perilla leaves on the meat) (#1).
I added a small amount of light olive oil to a non-stick frying pan on low flame (#2), Put on the lid and cooked it for several minutes and then turned them over (#3). I used an instant thermometer to make sure it read 165F and the chicken was done before taking the skewers off the heat.  (#4).

I was going to use a tube of salted plum paste but it was near-empty and looked old. So, I made plum sauce or "Bainiku" 梅肉 sauce from "umeboshi" 梅干し salted plums (my mother's last batch sent to us a few years ago) (#5). I removed the meat from the stones and chopped it finely and put it in a Japanese "suribachi" すり鉢 mortar (#6). I gradually added mirin みりん until the ground plum became a thick saucy consistency. I smeared the sauce over the chicken (the first picture).

Although this is a variation of a "golden" combination of chicken meat, perilla, and salted plum sauce, this variation was really good because of the tender and moist texture of the chicken.

Morel mushroom pasta and pork scaloppini モレルマッシュルームパスタ

We like mushrooms in general (except for button mushrooms). Shiitake is our main stay. Occasionally we branch out to maitake 舞茸 or enoki えのき茸 or shimeji しめじ. Of course, once a year, matsutake 松茸 is a must have. This time my wife found a package of fresh morel mushrooms at our near-by Whole Foods. So one weekend evening, we had morel mushroom pasta and a pork scaloppini-like dish.

The pasta was PA dutch egg noodle. My wife made a sauce. This is a simple sauce with sautéed fresh morel in butter and cream simply seasoned with salt and pepper. Pork scaloppini was just pork tenderloin cut into medallions and pounded very thin, seasoned with dried basil and oregano, salt and pepper. I dusted with flour and cooked in olive oil. I did not make the traditional sauce that goes with scaloppini. The pasta had a lovely morel mushroom taste that was absorbed and extended by the pasta. The creamy sauce added an unctuous element. This was a great way to eat pasta. The pasta also went very well with the pork scaloppini.

Since we have started to open up the old wines we collected over the year, this bottle was up next. This is Barnett Vineyard 2006 Pinot Noir.

We got this bottle when we visited the vineyard. This was a reserved personal tasting and the guide (a bit grumpy guy) let us taste their wine in a gazebo on the top of the mountain on their property overlooking surrounding vinyards and mountains. The view was spectacular. We bought several bottles of cabernet and a few Pinot. We must have had them send to us but I do not remember the details. Long time ago, we finished all of their cabs but this pinot was left. This bottle was kept in our wine refrigerator not in the basement. So we were hoping this was better kept and aged.

I carefully decanted it one hour before. Although, edge was brownish indicating age, it had surprisingly fresh fruit; cherry and a bit of strawberry and tannin was mellow. We really enjoyed this aged Pinot. This was particularly good paring with morel mushroom pasta and the pork scaloppini. Since I did not make any sauce (like caper and lemon) but just herbs, salt and pepper, it went better with this wine.

Shrimp and avocado salad 海老とアボカドのサラダ

One of our favorite "salads" is tuna sashimi cubes and avocado but for a change I decided to substitute cooked shrimp for the tuna sashimi. We decided to dub this our version of shrimp cocktail.

For color I added Campari tomato (skined) on the bed of babay arugula.

This could have been an easy dish to make since we had a bag of frozen shrimp in the freezer, but complications arose. The frozen raw shrimp we had was a bit old. I prepared it but it had some off taste (iodine flavor common in cheap take out shrimp dishes). While I may have thought the taste wasn't that bad and considered using the shrimp they did not pass my wife's taste test so "that was that". I had to get some new shrimp for this dish. In our grocery store, I found shell-on but deveined red shrimp from Argentina (#1, below). This is the same kind of shrimp we used to have as sashimi at Tako grill.

Ingredients (4 appetizer servings):
6 large shrimp (frozen) shell on (#2), thawed by running water.
Avocado, half, skinned, stone removed and cubed
lemon juice from half a lemon

For dressing
Wasabi (as much as you like, mayo tames the spiciness down) and light colored soys sauce (1tbs) (#6)
1 tbs mayonnaise
Fresh dill, chopped (optional)

Directions:
Boil salted water with a splash of sake added. Turn off the flame and add thawed shrimp with shells on, place lid on and let them steep for 15 minutes.
Drain and peel shells and cool to room temperature (#3)
Cut into a bite sized pieces (#4)
Add avocado and lemon juice and mix (#5).
Make dressing by mixing mayo, soys sauce and wasabi (#6). Taste and adjust the ingredients.
Dress the avocado and shrimp mixture.

This was really good. Although I may prefer the tuna cubes and avocado slightly more, the combination of wasabi, soy sauce and mayo is a good one. The new shrimp was certainly better than the old frozen ones. They were sweet and succulent and I am glad I did not use the old one.