Dishes from Yellowfin Tuna Sashimi Block キハダマグロ刺身の柵

We had a fairly large sashimi block of yellowfin tuna in our freezer from Great Alaska Seafood and time had come to finish it.  I planned to have the tuna 4 different ways. So we had the three dishes shown below one evening and had the fourth dish the next evening (tuna and avocado cubes).

#1: I made a portion of the block into a cutlet. I seasoned it with salt and pepper and breaded it in the usual way (flour, egg, and panko). I shallow fried it until the surface was all golden and crispy but the center was still raw. I did not make any special sauce and had it with Japanese mustard and tonkatsu sauce. I served it with baby arugula and some baby artichoke I prepared a few days ago dressed with olive oil. This was quite good and rather filling.

#2: Marinated “zuke” tuna and sashimi with Yuzu zest since we had one more “ao-yuzu 青柚子” we got from Suzuki Farm. For “zuke”, I did “yubiki 湯引き” (briefly plunged the tuna block into boiling water). This prevents the surface from becoming “soft” or “sticky and also slippery” during the marinating (Japanese call this “nettori ねっとり” . It may also reduce any fishiness if present. For the marinade, I took a short cut and just used x4 Japanese noodle sauce and marinated for 30 minutes. Besides yuzu zest, I served it with “yuzu kosho 柚子胡椒” and wasabi (both are from a tube). I served this with “cucumber and nappa cabbage asazuke きゅうりと白菜の浅漬け”. On the right, I served three slices of the tuna sashimi as is.

#3: Pseudo “negitoro ネギトロ” served with Korean nori seaweed. The addition of mayonnaise and soy sauce and finely chopped scallion make this tuna taste more like fatty tuna . I previously pontificated about negitoro. We like Korean-style seasoned nori with this dish. If I had it I served it with slices of fresh cucumber but we were all out of cucumber. (How did that happen?)

At this point, we were quite full and a ended with a piece of focaccia bread that I had baked few days ago, toasted and dipped in our favorite Spanish olive oil. Not quite a Japanese  “shime” ending but since we started with small snacks including cheese with red wine, this was a perfect ending for us.

Moon gazing 10/6/2025 月見

Mid autumn full moon or “Chushu-no-meigetsu 中秋の名月” happened this year (2025) on October 6. As usual, to celebrate, I made “moon gazing” mochi rice balls “Tsukimi-dango 月見団子”. In addition, I re-discoved that we had a rectangular plate that was decorated with hand-drawn “Kikyo 桔梗” flowers (shown in the picture below). Kikyo* is traditionally associated with “Tsuki-mi” because its buds are round like the moon and it’s blue flowers are star shaped. So this was the perfect plate on which  to serve the “Tsukimi-dango”. By the way, the autumn full moon this year was spectacular. It was a super moon.(This seasonal moon is called the Hunter’s moon in U.S.). It was big and bright even when in mid sky. Unfortunately, it was also a late riser this year not reaching its Zenith in the mid sky until 3AM.

*I learned that the English name for this flower which is balloon flower or “Platycodon”

As usual, we warmed up these dango in the microwave oven and served it with the traditional “mitarashi sauce” as a dessert.

This year, we also celebrated using the special sake glasses we got from Kitaichi Glass 北一グラス in Otaru 小樽, Japan. These may not be meant for drinking cold sake but for us they are perfect. As you can see they are nice deep blue with the traditional Japanese symbols for the moon; rabbits, falling stars and cherry blossom motifs on the sides.

The other side has a round transparent moon-like window from which you can see the rabbits with the shooting star on the other side of the glass. 

And rabbits with cherry blossoms.

And in the bottom of the glass you can see the rabbits running aroung the “moon”. (Too cute) 

While folks in the west typically refer to the figure seen in the moon as the  “man-in-the moon” according to Japanese folklore the figure is referred to as a rabbit pounding mochi. Therefore, rabbits are the symbol associated with the moon. So we thought it was entirely appropriate to use these glasses depicting rabbits for the moon gazing occasion.

Cucumber with Miso Sauces 味噌胡瓜

As far as we are concerned the best way to enjoy the fresh Japanese cucumbers we got from Suzuki Farm (see picture), is to eat the chilled fresh Japanese cucumber sticks with miso 味噌. Typically, the special miso called “Moromi-miso* もろみ味噌” is used and the entire dish is called “Moromi-kyuri もろみ胡瓜 or often abbreviated as “Moro-kyu” もろきゅう which I posted previously.

*Moromi-miso is meant to be eaten as a condiment rather than to be used for cooking or making soup. It has a liquid component mixed with ingredients such as soybeans and barley which are still visible in it.

I had some moromi-miso but it was fairly old. Upon tasting, I found it had oxidized so I couldn’t use it. Since I had already made two kinds of flavored miso from other ingredients we got from the Suzuki Farm, I used those flavored miso instead. On the left side I served “Yuzu” miso (dark) and “Kinome” miso (light). Although many Izakaya cut the cucumber into fancy shaped pieces for this dish (to justify the higher charges?), I just made it into sticks. One of the secrets to making this dish great is to chill the cucumber throughly in ice water before serving.

I served one cucumber between the two of us. It was extremely good and quite filling. The two kinds of miso I prepared were a great accompaniment. I thought the flavored miso tasted a bit better than the traditional moromi miso.

By the way, you can tell if a cucumber is fresh if the skin still has small prickles.

Although American mini-cucumber is a good substitute for Japanese cucumber, it is no comparison to a genuine Japanese cucumber. We were so happy to get these fresh Japanese cucumbers from Suzuki farm.

Spanish Mackerel dumpling Soup topped with “Kinome” Japanese pepper leaves 鯖のつみれ汁

This is a variation of “Mackerel meat ball soup 鯖のつみれ汁”. When I made “Mackerel simmered in miso sauce 鯖の味噌煮” from two fairly large Spanish mackerels we got from Whole Foods, I made mackerel fish balls from the meat I scraped from the bones and tail ends. Since we had left-over cooked udon noodles, tofu, shiitake mushrooms and “kinome 木の芽”, (Japanese pepper tree leaves/sprouts), I combined these to make a soup I served for lunch.  The smell/flavor of the kinome made it something special. We removed the individual leaves from the stem before adding them to the soup. (But left them on the stem to garnish as shown in the next picture.)

Here is the mackerel meat ball clearly visible next to the kinome.

This was quite a filling lunch. The addtion of kinome made it something specail.

Japanese “Mizu” eggplant Asazuke 水茄子の浅漬け

We got some Mizu-nasu 水茄子from Suzuki Farm. This is a special type of Japanese eggplant which can be eaten raw. I used one of them, to make asazuke. Instead of just salting the eggplant, I used a brine and also some threads of kelp called “Kizami Konbu 刻み昆布” to marinate it. We first tasted it after it had been marinating in the fridge for a few hours (#1). While that was good we liked it best after it had been marinating for one or two days.

This is how we received the eggplant from Suzuki Farm (#2). It was very fresh without any blemishes. After removing the stem end, I tore it lengthwise (#3) into pieces. Supposedly, the irregular surface this creates makes better asazuke but I am not sure.

Ingredients:
1 Muzu-nasu eggplant, stem end removed and torn lengthwise into several pieces (#3)

Brine:
200 ml water
1 tbs salt
1/2 tbs sugar
1/2 tbs rice vinegar
Dried kelp strings (kizami-konbu 刻み昆布) or small rectangle of dried kelp

Directions:
Mix the water, salt, sugar and rice vinegar for the brine until all the ingredients dissolve. Add the dried kelp. Add the brine into a Ziploc bag and add the eggplant.
Squeeze out the air from the bag as much as you can and let the eggplant marinate in the fridge for at least a few hours to a few days.

You could serve the eggplant with a garnish of bonito flakes, thinly sliced myoga or spring onions. You could also add soy sauce or ponzu sauce just before eating.

Green Yuzu, “Kinome” Japanse pepper leaves 青柚子と木の芽

We mail-ordered Japanese vegetables from “Suzuki Farm” in Delaware for the first time. Since the farm is located in Delaware, UPS ground shipping is essentially overnight. We ordered several items: 1) Japanese cucumber, 2)“Mizu-nasu 水茄子” which is a special type of Japanese eggplant, 3) “Kinome 木の芽”, the young twigs/leaves from the Japanese “Sansho” 山椒 pepper tree, 4) green Yuzu citrus 青柚子 , and 5) “Shishi-togarashi シシとう” a type of (usually not spicy) Japanese green pepper. We also received two Zucchini (freebees).  In the past we could occasionally get some of these vegetables (except for the fresh yuzu and kino-me). I previously posted the recipes I made with them. The vegetables from Suzuki farm, however, were extremely fresh.

For some time, I have wanted to plant a Japanese pepper tree so that we could get the young leaves/tips called “kino-me 木の芽” which means “tree sprouts” to use as a flavoring. These sprouts have a distinctive smell and flavor which compliments many Japanese dishes. Likewise yuzu is a Japanese citrus that also has it’s own distinctive smell and flavor. (Previously, I have only been able to get frozen chopped-up yellow yuzu skin). The ripe yuzu is yellow but the unripe or young yuzu is green (Japanese often call “green” as “blue” and  “green yuzu” is called “ao-yuzu 青柚子” literally meaning “blue yuzu”). Ao-yuzu zest is actually stronger in flavor than yellow yuzu.

So, the first batch of dishes I made included “miso sauces” one made with the kinome and one with the yuzu. I cooked two medallion shape pieces of the mizu-nasu (even though it can be eaten raw) and topped one with the kinome miso (right in #1) the other with Yuzu miso (left in #1) essentially making a japanese dish called “nasu dengaku ナスの田楽”. Although using mizu-nasu for dengaku is a bit of a sacrilege, the two pieces I made were exquisite.  Each miso imparted the distinctive flavor of yuzu or kinome” with which it was made. They went perfectly with the flavor and texture of the cooked eggplant. Since misu-nasu can be enjoyed “raw”, I amended my “sacrilege” by using it raw in the second dish I made. This was an “asazuke 浅漬け” which is a raw vegetable (in this case the misu-nasu) salted/or pickled for only a few hours in a brine. I served the asazuke with the dengaku (#1 upper right).

Since we got two good size fresh whole Spanish mackerels from Whole Foods a few days ago, I made my usual “mackerel simmered in miso sauce 鯖の味噌煮”, I garnished this with a few leaves of the kinome (#2).

This picture shows part of the kinome we received (#3). Although the left most stalk has the classic or most desirable appearance of kinome, all had a nice distinctive smell/flavor. Ao-yuzu was labelled as  “mame-yuzu マメゆず” by the farm (“mame” mens “beans” and also “small”) (#4).

1. “Kino-me miso 木の芽味噌”
Ingredients:
90 gram Saikyo miso 西京味噌 (Kyoto-style sweet white miso)
10 grams sugar (or more if you like sweet)
1 tbs mirin
1 tbs sake
1 egg yolk
Kinome (as much as you like)

Directions:
Mix the miso and egg yolk in a small sauce pan
Add the remaining seasonings 
Place the pan on low flame and mix constantly with a silicon spatula
Once the miso mixture is heated up, taste and adjust the sugar and the consistency by adding more sake or water.
Remove the leaves from the stem of the kinome and grind up using Japanese mortar and pestle
Add the miso mixture and mix well
Let it cool and refrigerate

2. “Yuzu miso 柚子味噌”
Ingredients:
50 grams Awase-miso 合わせみそ(blend of red and white miso, you can buy it as a type of miso in a package) or red miso.
10 grams sugar or more (if you prefer)
1 tbs mirin or more to adjust the consistency
zest from one green yuzu, grated using a micrograter
Juice from one yuzu

Directions:
Mix the miso and the seasonings in a small sauce pan and mix
Place the pan on a low flame and mix constantly with a silicon spatula
Once the miso mixture is heated up, taste and adjust the sugar and the consistency by adding more sake or water.
Let it cool and refrigerate

3. Eggplant “dengaku” ナスの田楽 (Although I used “misu-nasu” other kinds of eggplant may be more appropriate.)

Cut two medallions from the eggplant about 1/2 inch thick, coat them with olive oil and either pan fry or cook in a toaster oven for a few minutes

Place the eggplant medallions on an aluminum foil covered tray and top with a layer of the flavored miso. Cook in a toaster oven until the miso is bubbling.

Although these are dishes I made before, the addition of fresh yuzu zest and kinome really made them much better.

Yellow Squash Garlic Bites イエロースクワシュ、ガーリックバイツ

The other day, my wife picked up two yellow squash from Whole Foods. This led us to question, “What is the difference between “zucchini” and “yellow squash?*” Our conclusion is that both belong to the squash family and “yellow zucchini” exists but “yellow squash” is not “yellow zucchini”. We ate one of the squash sautéed for dinner which meant there was one left. My wife decided to use it before it went bad by making this dish inspired by the recipe she saw on-line called “Zucchini Garlic Bites”. As usual, she made some changes mostly due to what we had on hand. (For one thing we had “yellow squash” on hand not zucchini.) I helped by prepping the veggies. This came out rather nicely; with crunchy outer crust and soft, moist interior with subtle garlic and onion flavors. The cayenne pepper added a nice zing. Perfect nice bites. They actually got better with time as the various flavors melded together. Instead of making a dipping sauce, we just used the marinara sauce I made which we keep in the fridge mostly for pizza. This went very well.

*It appears that ”Yellow squash” is not a common vegetable in Japan. I see descriptions and recipes for dishes made of “zucchini” but not yellow squash.

Ingredients:
2 cups shredded yellow squash drained well** (The original recipe calls for zucchini)
1 clove garlic grated fine
2/3 cup breadcrumbs (used Panko)
1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons chopped fresh green onion (the original recipe calls for chives)
(the original recipe calls for 1 tbs chopped parsley)
1 teaspoon chopped fresh basil (or 1/2 teaspoon dried)
1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano (or 1/2 teaspoon dried), we used dried
pinch of salt and cayenne pepper (1/8 tsp or more)
tomato sauce for dipping

** I use a potato ricer to squeeze out the moisture. This works better than other methods we tried.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400˚F. Cover a baking sheet with a sheet of parchment paper. Set aside.
Use a box grater to grate the yellow squash. Using a potato ricer, squeeze out moisture (in batches).
Mash the garlic using a garlic press.
Add the shredded squash, garlic, egg, breadcrumbs, parmesan, green onion, basil, oregano, salt and cayenne pepper to a medium bowl. Mix well to combine. 
Shape a tablespoon of the mixture into your hands, pat into small balls. (You may need to add more breadcrumbs if the mixture is too wet to hold its shape). Place on the baking sheet.
Bake for 15-18 minutes in the preheated oven until golden. Serve warm with marinara sauce. Recipe makes about 16 bites.