Cuttlefish legs with simmered vegetables イカの足いり根菜の煮付け

Some time ago we got some really nice large boiled octopus legs from the HMart Korean grocery store. Unfortunately they have not been available for some time. Alternatives may include "baby octopus" and "Cuttlefish legs".  One day, when I saw boiled octopus was not available again I got "Cuttlefish legs" to see if they could be a substitute for the octopus legs. The short answer, at least as far as I am concerned, is "NO". While they are both good, lets face it Octopus and Cuttlefish are different "animals". If you are craving octopus leg cuttlefish won't "cut it" for you. The package of cuttlefish legs consisted of a collection of small cuttlefish legs, frozen in one large block. It was impossible to thaw just a part of the block. So, one weekend, I thawed the entire block under running water. (Although they were small, that was a lot of cuttlefish legs). I immediately boiled them, in salted water with a splash of sake. To keep the legs from getting too tough I boiled them just enough for them to cook through (1-2 minutes). Using the boil cuttlefish legs I made several dishes but I did not take pictures. I mostly made dishes in which I usually use squid legs such as a small "sumiso-ae" 酢味噌あえ Japanese salad with cucumber and wakame seaweed. I also made simmered dishes with vegetables and the cuttlefish legs. I realized that the dish shown below would use up the last of cuttlefish legs so I decided to take a pic and post. On the left is the cuttlefish with simmered vegetables (daikon and carrot). I added blanched broccoli just before serving. I also served "aji nanban" 鯵の南蛮漬け or fried jack mackerel in sweet vinegar shown on the right.

This is not based on any recipe but sort of basic Japanese home cooking. I peeled and cut the daikon into half moon shapes about 1/4 inch thick. I peeled and cut the carrot using "rangiri" 乱切り to make bite size chunks. I first sautéed  the vegetables in neutral oil such as safflower oil to coat and then added just water and a splash of sake to just cover. I then added the previously prepared (i.e. thawed and blanched) cutttlefish legs. I seasoned with "shirodashi" 白だし which I got from "the rice factory". I did not season the dish strongly so that the flavor of the ingredients could stand out. I simmered it for 30-40 minutes or until the cuttlefish legs were tender. Using the shirodashi kept the ingredients lighter in color than if I had used soy sauce. It also resulted in a gentle tasting simmered dish.

The package of frozen jack mackerel "aji" 鯵 I used for the next dish was getting old, so I decided it was time to cook it and made "nanban-zuke" 南蛮漬け. Although "nanban" refers to red pepper, I omitted the red pepper flakes since my wife is not fond of spicy food. For vegetables, I used carrot, celery, and red onion. I dusted the "aji" with flour and deep fried it before putting it into sweet vinegar with the vegetables. Just before serving, I also added sugar snaps which had been soaking in salt broth スナップ豌豆の塩びたし。

These two appetizers are great with cold sake. Although the cuttlefish legs do not substitute for the octopus legs, they were not bad in their own right. Nonetheless I managed to use them all up although it took several dishes to accomplish that feat.

Sushi Taro "regular" kaiseki box "普通”の寿司太郎会席弁当

We have gotten several "Special" kaiseki boxes 特別会席弁当 from Sushi Taro which we enjoyed immensely. This time because of a large catering job in which Chef Kitayama was involved, they could not provide us with a "special" version but a "regular" kaiseki box was available. Since we never had a "regular" kaiseki box we went ahead and ordered it. This was quite good but also quite different from the "special" kaiseki box we had been getting. Everything comes in elegant one-time-use paper boxes and plates which closely emulate Japanese lacquer ware boxes and china dishes as you can see below. In contrast to the special Kaiseki, instead of all kinds of little different dishes, this one focused more on sashimi and sushi. Each of the two boxes were identical and each contained 4 pieces of sashimi, as well as 9 nigiri plus one half “negitoro” roll and one half rainbow roll equaling the equivalent of one whole roll . The kaiseki part of the box contained 3 dishes.

The Sashimi assortment was composed of "akami" red meat of wild bluefin tuna, flounder, arctic charr and sweet shrimp, all excellent in taste and quality.

One of the 3 kaiseki dishes shown below was "Goma-dofu" 胡麻豆腐 sesame tofu topped with blue crab and "ikura" salmon roe and I think small cubes of "ankimo monkfish liver. This was lovely with a smooth texture and the salmon roe and monkfish liver really added an elegant touch.

Another was shrimp cream croquette in lobster sauce which also contain small chunks of crunchy cauliflower accompanied by crunchy deep fried sweet potato and "renkon" lotus root. There is no way one could go wrong with this crowd pleaser. What is not to like about the smooth creamy texture and sweet taste of crab wrapped in golden crunchy crust accompanied by crunchy renkon and sweet crunchy sweet potato?

Grilled miso-marinated "Gindara" 銀鱈 sable fish or black cod topped with mushrooms and chestnuts. This one was "off the charts". The fish was succulent, melted in the mouth and was covered with a wonderful sauce surrounded by complementary mushrooms.

The sushi section of the box shown below included Nigiri-zushi 握り寿司 included ikura, Maine uni, "anago" sea eel, "aji" horse mackerel (upper row, left to right), "kohada"gizzard shad, bluefin tuna "chutoro", " madai" Japanese snapper, King salmon, and kampachi  (middle row, left tp right), Negitoro roll and rainbow roll with spicy tuna in the center (bottom row, left to right). All of it was excellent. It was also quite a substantial meal. No one would walk away from this hungry; it would satisfy even the heartiest eater in the crowd. (remember we got two sets of this since we ordered boxes for two which is a minimum order).

The regular kaiseki box is quite different from the special kaiseki box but we really quite enjoyed it. Nonetheless, although it is a bit more expensive, our absolute favorite and top choice remains the "tokubetsu" or special kaiseki box. The regular Sushi Taro kaiseki box, however, would, definitely be the next runner-up.

Basil and pine nuts quick bread バジルと松の実の速成パン

 My wife made this quick bread as an effort to use more of the basil we are growing in our windowsill herb garden. In addition to the basil, it has pine nuts and parmesan cheese. So it is a kind-of disaggregated “pesto” bread.  This is a savory quick bread which is good for breakfast or even as an hors d’oeuvre with wine.

The cut surface shows basil and pine nuts.

Ingredients: (three small loaves)

2 cups AP flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder<

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 cup buttermilk

1 large egg

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

3 tbs minced fresh basil (or more to taste)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F.

Butter the three small loaf pans (5x3 inch).

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir in the cheese and minced basil.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the butter milk, egg and olive oil.

Pour the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients, stir together until just combined.

Fold in the pine nuts.

Bake 30-35 minutes at 350F

Let it cool down for 15 minutes and remove the loaves

This bread is very flavorful. It is really good lightly toasted with melted butter. Since it is late in the season, the basil taste was a bit muted but still present. 

Lemon basil shortbread cookie レモンバジルクッキー

This is a continuation of my wife’s attempt to use more of the basil we are growing in our window sill herb garden. This is a savory cookie/shortbread which goes very well with red wine. My wife found the original recipe on line somewhere.

We had this with DAOU Vineyards Pessimist Red Blend 2018 which is Petit syrah based. Our recent favorite/house wine.

Ingredients: (18 cookies)
1 cup AP flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold, cut into pieces
2 tbs sliced basil (or more to taste)
grated zest from one lemon

1 tbs lemon juice (or more to taste)
1/4 tsp kosher salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375F
Line cookie sheet with parchment paper
Add all ingredients to the food processor and mix (#1)
Using a small ice cream scoop, portion out the dough (#2)

Using the palm (or the lightly floured bottom of a glass) , press the ball into flat disks (#3)
Bake 7-8 minutes at 375F (#4)
Let cool on a cooling rack

The lemon flavors come through strongly contrasts nicely with the sweetness and is pleasantly refreshing. After one day in the refrigerator, the basil flavor began to surface more strongly. Somehow this cookie went well with the red wine we were having. My wife has made quite a good variety of savory cookies. This is another good one.

Renkon salad 蓮根サラダ

This is a simple salad made using renkon. This is not even a recipe. 

Besides the renkon, I added blanched broccoli and skinned Campari tomato and dressed them with Yuzu mayonnaise which I concocted from Hellman’s mayonnaise. 

Ingredients: (amounts are all arbitrary)
Fresh renkon, skinned and cut into wedge-shaped bite-size chunks (called “rangeri” 乱切りby cutting on bias,  turn 45 degree again cutting on bias.
Boil it in water with a splash of rice vinegar for 10 minutes, drain and let cool.
Blanched broccoli floret and skinned Campari tomato.

Dressing:
1tbs Hellman’s mayonnaise
1 tsp of Yuzu juice (from the bottle)

1/4 tsp. sugar

This dressing tastes really similar to the commercial Yuzu mayonnaise we bought recently. This combination of vegetables works well—the nice crunchy texture of renkon and slightly less crunchy broccoli.

Renkon balls レンコンまんじゅう

This dish is the result of an unexpected “silver lining” derived from the Covid epidemic. Because of Covid, we decided as a safety precaution, not to go to the grocery store but rather have groceries delivered. This forced us out of our usual routines and by necessity introduced us to new options. One of which was buying groceries from HMart Korean grocery store via the Instacart. As a benefit, we are now getting items which were not available from our usual grocery stores. One such item is fresh “reckon” 蓮根 or lotus root. (It is the floating stalk, not the root of a water lily). Even at our Japanese grocery store, the only reckon we could get was cleaned, boiled and sold in a package. It is easier to use than fresh renkon but it limits the dishes that can be made from it. For example, I could not have made this renkon ball or dumpling  dish レンコンまんじゅう shown below from packaged prepared renkon. But with fresh renkon available I could. I served the dumplings in a very gentle broth, with garnishes of edamame 枝豆, and simply fried reckon slices.

Reckon is an interesting vegetable. Even after cooking, it remains crunchy but grated and made into dumplings, the consistency changes completely into the consistency of “mochi-mochi” もちもち or like-fresh rice cake. I added shrimp and edamame to the dumpling. As a garnish I added simply fried renkon  which gave a nice contrasting  crunchy texture.

The other evening, I served three renkon dishes. From the left, Nitsuke 煮付け, the center is this renkon ball or dumpling dish but I added one fish ball made from blue fish, the right is renkon salad れんこんサラダ. 

In this nitsuke dish, renkon remains crunchy.

Boiled  renkon (again remains crunchy), blanched broccoli and skinned Campari tomato dressed in Yuzu mayonnaise. Since we used up the store bought Yuzu mayonnaise, I made my version by mixing Hellman’s mayo, yuzu juice (from the bottle) and a pinch of sugar . This really emulated the commercial Yuzu mayonnaise we got earlier.

Instructions for the renkon balls

Ingredients:
One segment of fresh renkon (#1) (after grated, #4, it was slightly more than 700grams)
2 tbs potato starch
3 large shrimp, thawed, shell removed and cut into small chunks then salted
10-15 shelled edamame

For broth
1 cup kelp and bonito broth (I used a dashi pack)
1 tbs of white dashi “shirt-dashi” 白だし seasoning or 1tbs each mirin and light colored soy sauce (or to taste).

Directions:
One segment of fresh renkon (#1).
Remove the ends of the segment of renkon and peel the skin (#2 and #3)
Finely grate the renkon and drain to remove excess moisture (#4)
Mix in the corn starch, shrimp and edamame. Make small balls about one inch in diameter.
Deep fry at 300-320 F for 7-10 minutes (#5)

I also fried sliced and quartered renkon
Drain (#6)

Assembly:
I cut one renkon ball in half and placed the halves in a bowl. I added the fried renkon and edamame and poured in the hot broth. You can also reheat everything in the broth and serve.

This is a very good dish. The contrast of elastic texture of the renkon balls and crunchy fried renkon is wonderful. The shrimp has similar texture to the renkon ball and since it was salted, it imparts briny salty burst of flavors. I made the broth very gentle and light which also went well.

Yellowtail marinaded in sake lee ハマチの粕漬け

This was the last of the whole fresh yellowtail. I marinated the filet in sake lee 酒粕 or "Kasu-zuke" 粕漬け. Since I did not have a time to cook this during the week, the fish marinated for a week which was a bit too long. I also made Japanese stewed vegetable  "nituske" 煮付け as a side.

I broiled the fish in our toaster oven.

The Japanese vegetable stew included lotus root  or "renkon" レンコン, daikon 大根、carrot, and "konnyaku" こんにゃく. I added blanched and salt broth sugar snaps スナップ豌豆の塩びたし at the time of serving.

Ingredients:
Sake lee 300grams
Red miso 30grams
Sugar 3 tbs
Salt 1/2 tsp
Sake to loosen up the marinade if too stiff,

Directions:
I added half of the sake lee mixture in the bottom of a sealable container and placed cheese cloth (after washing to remove any lint). I put in the filets and then covered them with another layer of cheese cloth. I put the remaining sake lee mixture on top. I let it marinate in the refrigerator (for a week as it turned out).

This was a bit over-marinated. I started broiling on the flesh side first as shown below in the toaster oven.

When the fish is 70% done, I flipped it and broiled the skin side. This would have been perfect if I cooked the fish after 2-3 days. Nonetheless this was good . The fish flesh was firmer than if it was marinated for less time (moisture was leached out). Still, we enjoyed this.