Simmered “Shirataki” Konjac Noodle and Deep-fried Tofu しらたきと油揚の煮物

A few days ago, we had sukiyaki すき焼き. I thought the whole bag (400 gram or 14.1 oz) of “shirataki” 白滝 (meaning white cascade) or noodle form of konnyaku (or konjac) was too much to use all of it for sukiyaki. So after I preparing it (i.e. washed, boiled, washed again and cut into convenient length) I kept 1/3 in water in the refrigerator. I was pondering how I could use this and came across this recipe on-line and decided to make it. This appears to be Kyoto “o-banzai” おばんざい style home cooking and has nice gentle and comforting flavors.

Ingredients:
1/3 package (about 100 grams) of “shirataki”, washed, boiled, washed again and cut into convenient length
1 small carrot, peeled and julienned
1 abura-age, hot water poured over (to thaw and remove excess oil), water squeezed out and then cut into thin threads
1 scallion finely chopped
300 ml Japanese dashi broth
30 ml sake
15 ml mirin
20 ml soy sauce (I used x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce)

Directions:
Add, the shirataki, carrot, and abura-age in a pot add the broth and cook for 5-10 minutes.
Add the seasonings and cook until the liquid is reduced by 1/3.

The original recipe calls for sugar but I did not add it. Japanese noodle sauce does have some sweetness which compensated for not having any sugar. This could be a side dish for rice but it is also perfect for a drinking snack.

“Name-take” as a part of 9 Appetizers 自家製なめたけ

This is another installment of 9 appetizers served on 9 divided plate. There are a few repeats but no store-bought items.  Among these 9 items, the new ones are home-made “name-take” なめ茸* (in the center) and seasoned and grilled quail eggs 味付けうずらの卵 (in the bottom row, center). 

The top row from left to right are fig and edible chrysanthemum イチジクと春菊の和物 (I added sesame dressing this time), sugar snaps in salt broth スナップ豌豆の塩びたし,  simmered mushrooms “tsukudda-ni” キノコの佃煮.  The he middle row left to right are “hoshigaki” dried persimmon with daikon namasu 干し柿大根なます, nametake なめ茸, “kinpira gobo” burdock root 金平牛蒡.  The bottom row left to right are grilled “ginnan” ginko-nuts with salt 銀杏**, grilled seasoned quail eggs 味付けうずらの卵   lilly bulb with ikura salmon roe 百合根のイクラ載せ.

*I thought I have not posted home-made Name-take but when I searched my blog I found two enoki mushroom dishes one is home-made name-take in 2011. I will list the recipe again for my own convenience. Nametake is most commonly available as a rice condiment in a jar.

** It may be spelled as “gingko”. We used to be able to get a small can of boiled ginko nuts but in recent years, it has disappeared. This may be due to the fact that ginko nuts contain a small amount of toxin called MPN, or 4'-methoxypyridoxin. If consumed in a large quantity, especially among children, could produce intoxication. We could harvest ginko nuts since ginko trees are around, the preparation (to remove the meat of the fruit) is messy and smelly which I am hesitant to do). Very recently, however, we could get boiled and packaged ginko nuts (China product) from Weee.

Nametake:

Ingredients: (the seasoning can be more stringer/salty (more soy sauce)
I package (200 gram) Enoki mushroom
2 tbs sake
1 tbs mirin
2 tbs soy sauce (or x4 concentrated Japanese “mentsuyu” noodle sauce

Directions:
Cut off the end of the enoki, cut in half, separate the bottom parts
Place it in a small pot and add sake on low heat with a lid on. After 5 minutes, stir to mix. The consistency changes and thickens. Add the seasoning and increase the heat, stir until no free liquid remains.

Imitating the commercial products, I put  the home-made nametake in a jar (below) after sterilizing the inside of the jar with 50 proof Vodka.

The way this is cooked and seasoned are identical to mushroom tsukuda-ni but the difference is that “Enoki mushroom” cooked this way produced unique texture on the surface of the mushroom (somewhat slippery coating).

Seasoned quail eggs: (I think we figured out how to boil and peel)

How to boil and peel the quail eggs
In a pan add enough water and boil. When the water started boiling, add small mount of cold water to stop rapid boiling and add the cold (refrigerated) quail eggs using a slotted spoon. Gently stir in first 1-2 minutes so that the egg yolks center. Cook in gentle boil for 4 minutes then soak the eggs in ice water (mixture of ice cubes and cold water).
After 10-15 minutes, make multiple cracks on the shell (I used the back of the knife) and put them back to the ice water for 10-15 more minutes.
Peel the shells using a thin stream of cold water could help peel the shells.

Marinading the eggs:
I simple marinate the eggs in x4 Japanese concentrated “Mentsuyu” 麺つゆ noodle soup. Alternetively mix equal amount of mirin and soy sauce as a marinade.

Before serving, I toaster oven for 5-6 minutes.

We like these small dishes. The quail eggs have delicate seasoning from the marinade and creamy yolk. The grilled ginko nuts with salt is unique texture and taste for autumn and a quintessential drinking snack in Japan.

Broccoli Cups ブロッコリーカップ

When we order broccoli using our grocery home delivery service, we usually get three giant heads (see picture below). It is not possible to consume everything before it spoils so I separate it into florets, steam them and freeze them in Ziploc bags in small batches for future use.

Recently we saw an interesting recipe on YouTube which uses a large amount of broccoli. Although the original recipe uses fresh broccoli, we figured blanched and frozen broccoli should work. As usual, we made substantial changes mostly due to the ingredients available. We really like the idea of making broccoli cups. We could come up with different kinds of stuffings. In any case, this was our first try.  The stuffing was a bit crumbly.

The broccoli cups retained their shape well.

Ingredients: (made 9)
For the broccoli cup
4 cup finely chopped broccoli (we used blanched and frozen, separated each frozen florets and chopped up in a small batches using the food processor fitted with cutting blade. If using fresh broccoli, the original recipe grated the broccoli using a box grater) 
2-3 eggs (2 eggs may have been better, excess egg pooled on the bottom of the cup when baked but we did not use 2 chopped boiled eggs in the stuffing which was in the original recipe. So, it sort of worked out)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

For stuffing
1 cup finely chopped onion
2 Jalapeño peppers, seeded and veined, finely chopped (or green pepper)
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 small carrots, peeled and cut into small dice
1/2 cup fresh shiitake mushroom stems, finely chopped (optional, since we had this. First tear length wise and then chop)
1-2 tbs olive oil
1 package feta cheese, crumbled
1/2 cup each grated smoked Gouda and Cheddar cheese

For the sauce (a type of aurora sauce)
Greek yogurt and Mayonnaise equal amount
Ketchup
Parsley and chives, chopped

Directions:For broccoli cups
Mix the broccoli, eggs, and Parmesan cheese
Divide the broccoli mixture in 12 equal portions and place in a muffin tin lined with  paper muffin cups (#1)
Using fingers or spoon, spread the mixture to make a cup (#2)
Bake at 350F for 15 minutes (#3, note the egg pooled on the bottom and cooked)
For stuffing
Sauté the stuffing ingredients except for cheeses in the olive oil for 2-3 minutes and turned down the heat with the lid one for 7 more minutes. Season with salt and pepper
Let it cool down a bit and mixed in the feta cheese

Final assembly
Place the stuffing in the baked broccoli cups (#4)
Top each with the grated cheeses (#5)
Bake 15-20 minutes at 350F (#6)

This is a surprisingly good dish. Next day, we reheated this in the toaster oven and had it as a lunch. Compared to freshly baked, the broccoli flavor it less intense and tasted better. stuffing tended to crumble but tasted great especially the umami the shiitake imparted. We can play with the stuffings to our liking. This is a great recipe to use a large amount of broccoli.

Chestnut Soup 栗ときのこのスープ

We used to get fresh chestnuts from California every fall. The preparation, especially removing the inner brown membrane is time consuming and difficult. So we decided to try commercially prepared chestnuts sold either in a jar or a plastic pouch. As a test to see if the prepared chestnut tasted any different from the fresh, I made chestnut rice 栗ごはん with it. The final dish came out similar to using fresh chestnuts with the added advantage of much less effort of preparation required. (Since we posted  making chestnut rice with fresh chestnuts and this preparation tasted exactly the same we did not post it again.) But this exercise proved to us that fresh and commercially prepared chestnuts are interchangeable.  After making the rice we were left with one and half bags of prepared/roasted chestnuts (about 7-8 oz or about 200 grams.) My wife came up with this chestnut soup recipe which she found on-line. Again I had to modify the recipe because of the ingredients we had. The original calls for dried porcini and fresh button mushrooms but I only had fresh shiitake mushrooms.

Ingredients
5-6 fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and caps sliced.
2 tbs. unsalted butter and 2 tbs. olive oil
1 large leek, white and tender green parts only, finely chopped
1 carrot, thinly sliced
2 celery stalks finely chopped
1 teaspoon minced rosemary (from our herb garden)
7 oz. (200 grams) peeled roasted vacuum-packed chestnuts (see picture below)
3 cups chicken stock
Salt
Freshly ground pepper

For garnish
1 tbs each of olive oil and unsalted butter
5-6 fresh shiitake mushrooms, stem removed and caps thinly sliced
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh rosemary, finely chopped up

Directions
In a saucepan on medium heat, add the olive oil and butter. Add the sliced shiitake mushrooms, leeks, carrot, celery and rosemary and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are cooked; about 15 minutes. Add the chestnuts and stock, season with salt and pepper. Bring the soup to a boil and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes. Using an immersion blender, puree the soup until smooth.

For garnish
In a frying pan, heat the oil and butter. Add the sliced shiitake mushrooms, cook over moderately high heat until lightly browned (6 minutes). Season with salt and pepper. I served the soup warm and garnished with the sautéed shiitake and the chopped rosemary.

This is an excellent soup/potage. The chestnuts and leeks imparted a nice sweetness and distinctive chestnut flavor. Although the original recipe calls for heavy cream, I served this warm without any cream. It really didn’t need it. We had this as a lunch with slices of my home baked baguette. I am sure certain chestnut dishes cannot be made using these kinds of prepared chestnuts but I will try to use them in more of our favorite chestnut dishes

Braised “Tsukuda-ni” Mushrooms きのこの佃煮

We like mushrooms especially shiitake mushrooms 椎茸. Since Weee offers a wide variety of mushrooms we tend to go “over board” and order too many when we get groceries from them. This time we ordered shiitake, wood ear 木耳, and brown shimeji mushrooms しめじ. Among these mushrooms, shimeji last the longest (about 2 weeks) in the original package in the refrigerator without doing anything. For  shiitake, I removed the stems. (I tear them lengthwise, then chop them finely and sauté with finely chopped onion. I use this mixture in meat balls or other dishes. It adds a lovely umami flavor). I place the caps in a ziploc bag with a small sheet paper towel which absorbs moisture and keeps the mushrooms dry. The wood ear, I wash and blanch, wash it again and dry spreading them out over a dish towel for a few hours. I then pack them in a Ziploc bag like I do for shiitake. Even with these preparations, we need to use up the mushrooms within 1-2 weeks. So at the end, I need to cook them in some way. For the shiitake, I slice the caps thinly and sauté them with finely chopped shallots. We can used this for making “shiitake risotto” or other dishes. This time we had left-over shiitake, shimeji and wood ear. So I made this simmered dish which is similar to “Tsukuda-ni” 佃煮.

Ingredients:
Any mushrooms (Here I used shiitake, shimeji and wood ear), amounts arbitrary, cut into bite size pieces,
small amount of  water
Mirin and soy sauce (I used x4 concentrated Japanese “Mentsuyu” noodle sauce),

Directions:
Add the mushrooms to a small pan with a lid. Place the pan on low heat and add a small amount of water (more water will come out from the mushrooms, so just a small amount is needed so that the bottom will not scorch) and place on a tight lid.
After 10-15 minutes, the volume of the mushrooms reduces.
Add mirin and soy sauce in about equal amount (You could add more later if needed, so start with a small amount)
Without a lid, simmer and stir occasionally until the liquid almost all evaporated (see picture below)
Taste and if not seasoned enough add more seasonings and repeat the process*

* the name “Tsukuda-ni” 佃煮 derived from a small island called “Tsukuda-jima” 佃島 in  Sumida river 隅田川 in tokyo. In edo-era 江戸時代, it was famous for simmered and seasoned (sweet and salty or “ama-kara” 甘辛) seafood mostly small fish and “nori” seaweed or other items such as meat.)  This was good for “preserving” fish and meat and mainly consumed as condiments for rice.

I made this dish as a drinking snack but it was bit too weakly seasoned. So I added more seasoning and re-cooked it a few days later. If this is to be used as a condiment for rice or over a block of tofu, I would have seasoned it a bit more. This is a good dish to use up left-over mushrooms and works well as a snack with either red wine or sake.

Mushrooms Udon Bowl きのこ沢山のかけうどん

“Udon” うどん are thick Japanese noodles made from wheat flour, salt and water. I’ve posted many udon dishes over the years. We usually use dried udon noodles because it is convenient. Udon appears to have many regioanl varieties. In Shikoku 四国 and Kansai 関西 (Osaka area),  Sanuki (-style) udon 讃岐風うどん is famous and is characteristically “chewy” as opposed to southern Kyushu 南九州 or Fukuoka 福岡 udon which is famous for its softness. The udon we usually get is somewhere in between. We tend to like thin udon such as “Inaniwa” 稲庭 udon or “Harima thread uson” 播磨糸うどん. I’m not sure what triggered it but we decided to get  frozen Sanuki-style  udon from Weee. The noodles are a bit on the thicker side with a square shape and straight edges (see 2nd picture below) which are characteristics of Sanuki udon or udon in the Kaisai region in general. For lunch, I made “kake-udon” かけうどん which is warm udon in broth. I used whatever was available for topping indluding three kinds of mushrooms (shiitake, maitake and simeji), soft boiled duck egg, simmered pork and edible chrysanthemum.

Underneath the toppings are the Sanuki-udon.

Ingredients: (2 small or half servings)
Mixed fresh mushrooms (I used shiitake sliced, mitake torn into small pices, and shimeji separated)
One package of frozen Sanuki udon, thawed and cooked in boiling water for 3-4 minutes
2 slices of simmered pork
Edible chrysanthemum, blanched
One soft boiled (pasteurized) duck egg, halved
Blanched sugar snaps
Dashi broth
X4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce

Directions:
Sauté the mushrooms in olive oil for a few minutes, add the broth (enough for two bowls) and simmer for a few minutes, add the noodle sauce to taste, place the pork, egg, chrysanthemum, and sugar snaps on the top to warm them up for few minutes
Divide the udon into two bowls, arrange the toppings and pour in the seasoned broth.
Add 7 flavored pepper flakes or “shichi-mi tougarashi 七味唐辛子 (optional)

The udon was really chewy. We like it but it requires a bit of effort (chewing). This type of udon may be perfect for “Nabeyaki udon” 鍋焼きうどん.

Fig and Edible Chrysanthemum Salad 無花果と春菊の甘酢あえ

A few days ago, we got some mission figs. Since figs tend to get moldy rather quickly, I processed them meaning I quartered them and then marinated them in Triple Sec (this is our standard method for prolonging the shelf life of many fruits). Since we had a lot of other fruit (especially grapes) to eat, we forgot about the figs for a while. When I checked, they were still good thanks to the liquor. Instead of eating them as is, I made this small salad with edible chrysanthemum. This was inspired by this blog I follow. The edible chrysanthemum is from Weee. Some time ago, we got it for sukiyaki but somehow we did not have the sukiyaki. So, I blanched and froze it. I thawed and used it for this dish. The fig was quite nice and sweet which made this dish.

This is not a quite a recipe but I used my home-made sweet vinegar and a dash of x4 concentrated noodle sauce for dressing. I served this one evening as part of an “Otsumami” drinking snack line-up. The figs were sweet and slightly sour from the vinegar in the dressing with a slight crunch from the seeds. The chrysanthemum provided a slightly bitter contrast that added to the overall complex flavor of the dish.