New Fitz and Floyd Japanese Crane Plates 鶴と松模様のお皿

My wife has been getting decorative figurines and china from a Fitz and Floyd overstock website (I call it Frick and Frack) for some time. In addition, since both our china and flatware patterns have been discontinued, she discovered that she could fill in missing pieces from a place called “Replacments, Ltd”. She really hit the “jackpot” when she learned that old discontinued Fitz and Floyd pieces are also available at Replacements. The convergence of these two sites materialized in the form of the beautiful Japanese plates with a crane pattern which were originally produced by Fitz and Floyd, have since been discontinued but were available at Replacements (shown in the picture below.) Since we are particularly fond of the crane motif and have several plates with crane pattern, she got them. We got “bread and butter” size since we tend to use smaller plates more often. They are beautiful; with a crane and pine pattern (both of which are auspicious symbols in Japan).

Immediately after we received them we used them for a lunch (as shown in the picture below). We made Mozzarella cheese mochiマツレラチーズ餅 served on this plate with side of couscous salad クスクスサラダ and “hoshigaki” persimmon daikon namasu 干し柿入り大根なます.

This is close up of this plate. They are labeled “made in Japan” but the exact manufacturer was not specified. They are very well made and we are delighted with them.

My wife found out that Replacements. Ltd also had three larger salad plates available (quantities at Replacements tend to be limited) in the same crane pattern. She bought them out. They are heading our way.

Mackerel simmered in miso on new crane plate サバの味噌煮

The purpose of this post is to show our new acquisitions from Japan. These items are from Kyoto. I served mackerel simmered in miso.

This plate depicts a Tancho crane 丹頂鶴 famous in Hokkaido with red head and black wing tips. This one came from Kawazen touki 河善陶器 in Nishiki market 錦市場, Kyoto 京都.

We also got hashi-oki 箸置きor chop stick rests. These came from a small store called "Gallary Chihata" ギャラリーちはた in Arashiyama 嵐山, Kyoto, which is on the main street to the famous bridge called "Togetsu-kyo" 渡月橋 on Katsura river 桂川. We got four of these all depicting vegetables (Artist name was associated with these but we lost the information).

At the same store, we also bought two sake cups of "Kiyomizu-yaki" 清水焼 which is the kiln in Kyoto.

One appears to depict some flowering tree but we are not sure what it is.

The other one depicts iris.

It is always nice to have these new cups and plates from Japan. Even the same sake and food taste better.

Mock Tofu 擬制豆腐

I saw this recipe of “Mock tofu” or “Gisei-dofu 擬制豆腐” on Youtube by Chef. Kasahara 笠原. It looked interesting and I happened to have extra tofu and fresh shiitake mushroom which needed to be used up before going bad. Supposedly, this is a common form of “shojin-ryouri 精進料理” or vegetarian cooking done by Buddhist monks. The name “mock” or “gisei” reportedly comes from the fact that tofu was crumbed, other ingredients are added,  formed into an original rectangular shape of tofu and cooked. No eggs should be used in the original shojin-ryori but modern renditions use eggs as binder and some recipes even call for ground meat. 

While I was making this, I realized a U.S. block of tofu is larger than a Japanese block so I was afraid that the final loaf which had more tofu may not firm up but it did. The cut surface looked more like tofu than omelette (picture #1). I did not make it too sweet but this is a very good looking dish and tasted very gentle with nice texture.  Adding more tofu appeared to work. According to Chef Kasahara, this is his regular osechi “new year” dish. I may add this to my osechi next year. Since this could be a new year osechi dish, I served the slices on a small crane design plate we bought in Kyoto some years ago since the “crane” is very suitable motif for new year cerebration.

Ingredients: (made two loaves measuring 2 1/2 and 5 1/2 inch)

1 package (14oz or 400gram*) tofu (I used medium firm), drained, wrapped in paper towel with a weight on the top (I used two cutting boards as weights) for 20 minutes, crumble by hand

3 large eggs, beaten

4-5 caps of shiitake mushroom, thinly sliced

1 small carrot, julienned

3 scallions finely chopped

1 tbs vegetable oil

*Apparently Japanese one block of tofu is smaller. The original recipe used one block which was 300grams. 

Seasoning*:

1 tbs x 4 concentrated noodle sauce or soy sauce either light colored or regular

1 tbs mirin

* Original recipe calls for soy sauce and sugar. The above is not as sweet.

Directions:

Prepare loaf pans (I used two 2 1/2 x 5 1/2 inch silicon loaf pans) by lining with parchment paper and lightly oil for easy lifting (see “A” in the composite picture).  Preheat oven to 350F*.

In a frying pan on medium heat, add 1 tbs vegetable oil and sauté the carrot and mushroom. After few minutes, add the crumbled tofu and keep stirring for another 5 minutes or so until water is not seeping out from the tofu. Add the seasonings and cook until no liquid is visible on the bottom. Add the scallion, mix and shut off the flame.

Add the half of the eggs and mix. The residual heat will semi cook the eggs. Add the remaining eggs and mix.

Pour in the mixture to the loaf pans and press and flatten the surface with a silicon spatula.

Place the loaf pans in the 350F oven for 30 minutes (“A” in the composite picture) .

*Original recipe calls for 250C oven which is over 480F. I thought this was way too hot. Using my own discretion, I baked at 350F (about 180C) using the toaster oven in convection mode.

After cooling down for 10 minutes, I lifted the load out of the pan using both ends of the parchment paper (“B” in the composite picture). I sliced it after it cooled to near room temperature.

As I mentioned before, because of the larger proportion of tofu in my rendition (albeit by accident), the cut surface looks more like tofu than omelette. I do not think this dish should be omelette with tofu mixed in. More like tofu dish hiding the use of eggs like some Buddhist monks may have done. 

Obviously, you could alter the vegetables you can use in this dish. Renkon, wood ear mushroom, green beans, hijiki, ginnan, mitsuba etc were suggested. I also saw the recipes adding ground meat but I do not particularly like that idea.

In any case, we really like this dish as I made it (by accident??).

P.S. I made this dish again with few modifications. 

1. Seasonings: I used 2 tsp sugar and 2tbs x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce making it sweeter thatn the first. This appears to have worked. Both of us liked the a bit sweeter taste better.

2. I used three silicon loaf pans without parchment paper lining but coating the inside with a small mount of oil. The giese-tofu came out without problem. I am not sure the oil is needed.

Hanami with Latest Blooming Tree 遅咲きの桜で花見

This year’s cherry blossoms have been a bit unusual. Our three cherry trees bloomed at different times.  As a result, while hanami arrived early, the staggered bloom made the “hanami” season really long. The last cherry tree to bloom was the oldest we have in our backyard. It was here when we moved in.  I am not sure what type of cherry this is but it’s blossoms are a more classic old fashioned variety such as those that appear in old Japanese wood cuts and painting. This cherry tree can be admired from the second floor window (as shown in the picture below.) As an aside; the spring cherry blossoms are a contrast juxtaposed to the Poinsettia shown in the bottom left hand corner. This plant is several Christmases old. My wife tends the plant through out the year (trimming it, feeding it, finally in the fall putting it through the required 12 week darkness setting by placing it in a closet where it is not exposed to any light for at least 8 hours at night) all to get it ready for it’s display of red, as shown in the picture, the next Christmas.

We moved to our deck and started hanami.

I just thawed a block of yellow-fin tuna. In the pic below on the left is marinated (zuke) 鮪のずけ and on the right is also zuke but one side has been torched. We used a beautiful crane-motif plate to serve this. Unfortunately, the face of the crane is covered up. The green is blanched edible chrysanthemum in Japanese noodle sauce with bonito flakes.

The second dish was cubes of tuna and avocado鮪とアボカドの角切り.

We had psuedo-negitoro 擬制ネギトロ after this.

Watermelon ribbon salad with wasabi スイカのワサビ入りリボンサラダ

Because of Covid-19, we are having groceries delivered. This creates some problems because we can't inspect the items before we receive them as we would if we were picking them out at the store. In addition, because of substitutions, what we actually receive can sometimes be unexpected such as getting cilantro as a substitution for celery, which occurred in a recent delivery. One such case occurred this week. We ordered a small seedless baby watermelon but instead we got two quarters (actually 1/2) of a full sized melon. This was much much more watermelon than we were expecting. So, besides eating the watermelon as is, my wife made watermelon soup スイカの冷製スープ, pickled watermelon rind, スイカの皮のピクルス and watermelon ribbon salad スイカのリボンサラダ.　Although the recipe for the watermelon ribbon salad shown here is basically the same as the one we posted before, my wife changed the amounts to make a smaller portion (using a 5x7 inch casserole dish instead of the usual 6x10) and wanted to record the recipe. The white layer is made of cottage cheese with a good amount of wasabi added which really makes the dish giving it a nice "zing". We served it as a first appetizer of the evening on a crane plate we got in Kyoto sometime ago.

These are the layers of the ribbon salad. Looks like nice pink and white ribbon.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/8 cup milk or cream
3/4 + 1/8 cup cottage cheese mashed
1/8 cup mayonnaise
1/8 tsp salt
1 lime or lemon squeezed
2 tsp. wasabi (or to taste)

Directions:
Puree the watermelon. Add the buttermilk and lime. Take 1/4 cup of the puree and use it to bloom the gelatin. Heat the bloomed gelatin in the microwave for 30 seconds. Add the gelatin to the rest of the puree. Pour 3/4 cup of the puree mixture into the bottom of the 5x7casserole dish and let it jell in the refrigerator until solid. (Keep the remaining puree at room temperature and it will stay liquid.)

Mash the cottage cheese using an immersion blender. Add the mayo and salt. Take some of the cottage cheese mixture, add it to a small bowl and use it to soften the wasabi. The amount of wasabi is basically to taste. I found that the cottage cheese tends to calm it down so I end up putting in a fairly large amount. Once it has been homogenized into the amount in the small bowl add it to the large bowl and stir until it is incorporated. Bloom the gelatin in the lime juice. Heat in the microwave for 30 seconds until melted. Add to the bowl of cottage cheese. Pour the cottage cheese over the watermelon layer and cool until solid.  Add the remaining 3/4 cup watermelon puree on top of the cottage cheese layer and cool until solidified.

This is a very summery refreshing salad. The wasabi in the white cottage cheese layer really works well.  The sharpness of the wasabi flavor somehow complements and accentuates the sweetness of the pink melon layer. Without the wasabi this dish would be pretty bland. We had this with chilled pink wine (always good to color coordinate whenever possible), Aix Rose 2019, Rosé from Coteaux d'Aix-en-Provence, Provence, South of France. It went perfectly.

”Otsumami” appetizer snacks 酒の肴（おつまみ）

This is another rendition of the appetizer snacks we had. I went to our Japanese grocery store the day before which made serving many small dishes easy. I used small lidded bowls and small crane plate we got from Nishiki marker 錦市場 in Kyoto 京都 sometime ago.

We both get filled up quickly so I try to serve small portions. In small bowls from left to right are cold tofu or hiyayakko 冷や奴, grated "Tororo" nagaimo とろろ with "ikura" salmon roe and "Chinese -style" squid salad 中華風イカサラダ

On the black rectangular plate are boiled octopus leg thinly sliced with sumiso sauce タコの酢味噌, my usual dashi-maki Japanese omelet with aonori sea weed 青海苔だし巻き玉子, store bought small fish cake re-heated in the toaster oven.

The gyoza 餃子 I made a few days ago heated up in the toaster oven (skin becomes really crispy) cut in half with a small amount of Ponzu sauce ポン酢 poured into them. This replaces the separate dipping sauce and makes it a bit easier to eat the gyoza.

This store-bought boiled squid salad with Chinese flavors.

This is grated nagaimo (which is called "Tororo"とろろ). I dissolved wasabi into soy sauce and mixed into tororo and topped it with ikura and chiffonade of perilla.

 This is cold silken tofu. I added blanched edible chrysanthemum 春菊. Instead of straight soy sauce I dressed it with concentrated noddle sauce and topped it with bonito flakes かつお節.

We had these small dishes with our house cold sake "tengumai" daiginjo 天狗舞大吟醸. Nothing really new here but very enjoyable.

“Imo-ni” Stew famous in Yamagata 芋煮庄内風

When we had “Hiya-oroshi” 冷やおろしsake this year, one of them was from Yamagata prefecture 山形県 and is called “Shounai-bijin 庄内美人” or Shounai beauty. The name is based on the geography of the area where it is brewed. This sake was  brewed by “Watarai Honten 渡會本店“ which is located in the central plane that extends to the coastal areas of Yamagata called “Shounai flat  庄内平野”, hence the name “Shounai Beauty 庄内美人” (see picture #4 for the sake label and area map). While I was checking the brewery’s website, it states that  the best dish that goes with this sake is “Imo-ni*” 芋煮 a stew characteristic of the area and referred to as “Shounai-style”. It is made from pork and seasoned with miso. Other areas of yamagata make imoni with beef and seasoned with soy sauce.  I had a bag of frozen taro or satoimo from Weee and just thawed thinly sliced beef. So I made “Shounai-style” with miso seasoning and beef.

*Digression alert: You can look up description in Wikipedia for “Imo-ni”. My understanding is that this is a stew in Tohoku 東北 northern main land Japan especially in Yamagata. It has more social aspect than just a dish. In autumn, they have a big social gathering/party often outdoor sometimes making a gigantic “nabe” 鍋 which has to be hoisted using a crane. No matter which variations, the-must-have ingredients are “imo” or “potato” specifically “Satoimo 里芋” or taro and beef or pork.

Besides “satoimo” and beef or pork, “kon-nyaku” こんにゃく, “negi” 葱 Tokyo scallion and “gobo” burdock root are the most common ingredients but it appears one can also use carrots and mushrooms. 
We really liked this dish and it naturally went very well with “Shounan-bijin hiyaoroshi” sake. 

I happened to get a fairly large (especially for us) cast iron pot with a cedar lid (picture #2) which is perfect for this dish. This is the first time we used this pot.

I sort of followed a recipe from a NHK cooking program called “Today’s dish” or  “Kyou-no-ryori 今日の料理” which is also available on-line.

Ingredients: (makes 6-7 servings)
1 lb satoimo 里芋 (I could have used fresh but I happened to have prepared frozen ones)
1/2 lb thinly sliced beef cut into small strips
1 cake of kon-nyaku コンニャク, hand torn into small bite size pieces, parboiled and drained
1/2 gobo burdock root, skin scraped off using the back of a knife and cut into small strips”sasagaki ささがき (you shave off the “gobo” into the small strips as though you are sharpening a pencil with a knife producing thin strips in the shape of small bamboo leaves). Soak in cold water and drain just before putting into the pot.
2 scallions, cut on the bias
2 large fresh shiitake, cut into a bite size (optional)

Seasonings
2 tbs miso
1 cup sake
2 tbs mirin
6 cups Japanese broth of kelp and bonito (or water)
1-2 tbs soy sauce

Directions:
Cook the beef in the pot (I used a small amount of vegetable oil to prevent sticking).
When the beef is cooked add the miso and cook for one minute until fragrant.
Take out the miso and beef and set aside
Add the satoimo, kon-nyaku, gobo, mushroom in the pot and add the sake to remove any fond on the bottom of the pot
Add the water (or broth) and simmer for 20 minutes or until the satoimo is cooked through.
Add back the beef (and miso), scallion, mirin and cook 10 more minutes (picture #3)
Add the soy sauce to adjust the seasoning.

We had Shounai-bijin Hiyaoroshi cold with the imo-ni dish. Among the two hiyaoroshi we tried this year, we like this one best. Just for your information, the pin is in the “shounai” region.

Senkin Muku Modern 仙禽無垢モダーン純米大吟醸無濾過

 I have not done a post just about sake for a long time but this one is worth a special post. This is called "Senkin Muku Modern Junmai daiginjou" 仙禽*　無垢　モダーン　純米大吟醸 from Senkin sake brewery from Sakura city in Tochigi prefecture 栃木県さくら市. The sake rice is Yamada-nishiki 山田錦 from the local area. According to their website, they emphasize "Domaine" like French wineries, making sake reflecting their “terroir” 風土, water 水, rice 米, and brewery 蔵. 

As soon as I took a sip of this sake I noticed a very crisp acidity reminiscent of a crisp Sauvignon blanc. It was almost effervescent. This was followed by a floral fruity taste. The crisp acidity mellowed somewhat after some time in the glass. The difference in taste between most sakes, especially “daiginjou” class, is very subtle but this one really stands out. We quite like this sake. The pictures below are of the front and back labels.

*Digression alert: “Sen-kin” 仙禽 

“Sen” in ideograms “仙” is composed of two components; one of the left means “man or human” 人 and the right means “mountain” 山. Although it appears redundant, this person also called   “sen-nin” 仙人 it is “a man living in a mountain”. This is based on an old Chinese mythology that an old man with long white hair carrying a staff  living in a high inaccessible mountain sustaining himself just on air or “kasumite” 霞. I am not sure he is a type of deity or holy man but he is immortal. 

“Kin” 禽 means “bird” since this bird is accompanying “sen-nin”, it is assumed to be a crane. The label (the picture above on the left” for exported sake), therefore, includes “immortal wing”.