Otoshi 5 kinds お通し５種類

I served this 5 kind of otoshi お通し appetizer on our relatively new five compartment plates. This was the evening I also served perilla-wrapped marinated tuna tempura 漬けマグロの青紫蘇包み天ぷら but I diverted a few of the tuna skewers to be served as is (see below) which was pretty good. This multiple otoshi to start was inspired by izakaya in Japan, "Suiko"酔香 and "Shuhai" 酒杯, where they regularly serve otoshi consisting of 6 dishes. Having store-bought items makes putting together 5 otoshi easy. Actually I had more than five I could have served as starters but this plate only had 5 positions.

The left two are composed of spicy clam salad and seaweed salad. Both were store-bought and fairly good. If you avoid eating the conspicuous red peppers  (seen at the upper left edge of the dish) the "spicy"clam salad is not too spicy. The seaweed salad appears artificially dyed but has a nice crunch.

The center two otoshi are sea food; boiled octopus leg 茹で蛸足 dressed in sumiso sauce 酢味噌 (I made the sumiso to my wife's spec "not too vinegary". I used dashi to get the consistency of the sauce). The dish on the right is perilla-wrapped "zuke" marinated tuna which I "stole" from the skewers destined to be made into tempura.

Although the tuna was marinated, I put on a few drops of wasabi soy sauce. I am now making different sauces ahead of time and storing them in the refrigerator in small squeeze bottles; (sauces like sumiso, wasabi soy sauce, mustard soy sauce, and sesame dressing.) This makes assembling multiple dishes more efficient. The last dish is eggplant and broccoli seasoned with black bean garlic and toubanjan (or Duabanjiang) sauce. I made this dish a few days ago to use up Italian eggplant leftover from making ratatouille. I made it sort of Chinese stir-fri-ish but I cannot even remember how I made it (I also used Japanese miso, come to think of it). It is not spicy and I added blanched sugar snaps for a color. Although I cannot reproduce it, my wife liked it.

So, this was a great start. I served few more small dishes and planed to finish with perilla-wrapped zuke tuna tempura.

Another five "otoshi" appetizers お通し５種類

This is another example of 5 starting appetizers. This time, all five items were made by me--no store bought. Again, I used the long rectangular plates with five depressions.

From left to right; spicy tofu cubes ぴり辛豆腐, chicken square with dried fruit and gorgonzola cheese *ドライフルーツとゴルゴンゾーラチーズ松風焼き topped with figgy cranberry sauce イチジククランベリーソース.

*Instead of the usual dried figs, I used a combination of hydrated dried fruits (peach, pear, apricot and prune)

Sugar snaps blanched and soaked in dashi seasoned with salt スナップ豌豆の塩びたし and Cauliflower Montparnasse モンパルナスのカリフラワー. The next is  blanched  broccoli rabe and dressed with mustard soy sauce and wedge of Campari tomato skinned.

Finally, pork meat ball with ricotta and parmesan cheese  リコッタチーズ入りミートボール with my home made marinara sauce.

I heated up the tofu, chicken squares, and meat balls in the toaster oven. This is a good combination of vegetables and proteins.

Five appetizers on a five compartment plate 新しいお皿とお通し５種

Some izakayas are known for giving multiple "otoshi" お通し appetizers to guests at the start of a meal.  For example we had six ostoshi at "Suiko" 酔香 and "Shuhai" 酒杯. We really love these types of dishes and often make similar ones at home. But sometimes multiple small bowls and dishes are a bit of work to arrange and clean. When I was browsing the "Korin" website recently, I found a long rectangular dish with five small square indentations and thought it would be a perfect way to circumvent the multiple-small-dish-cleanup issue. So, this is my first attempt at serving 5 small appetizers on this new plate. None of appetizers; only the dishes are new.

Shown below from left to right; #1 miso marinated cream cheese クリームチーズの味噌ずけ, and #2 "Jako" hatchling fish arima-ni ジャコの有馬煮. #1 was almost 10 days old and the flavor really got better over time as the cheese absorbed the salty nuttiness of the miso. I served this on thinly sliced mini-cucumber. #2 is the last of the leftovers from the Sushitaro osechi box (I heated it up in sake and soy sauce to make it last). This time since I was heating up other items in the toaster oven, I decide to include this. The result was a bit surprising and very good. The surface of the little fish got really crispy (nearly burnt) and they became nice crunchy bits.

Shown below #3 is chicken patty with dried fig and gorgonzola cheese いちじくとブルーチーズの松風焼きwhich was topped with figgy cranberry sauceいちじくクランベリーソース. #4 is braised spicy tofu ピリ辛豆腐 with blanched sugar snap.

Below, #5 is blanched broccoli dressed in sesame dressing ブロッコリーの胡麻よごし. It was an attempt to add vegetables for a "nutritionally balanced" appetizer.

Since I cook multiple dishes over the weekend, keeping them in the fridge then heating them up in the toaster over when we are ready to eat I could easily have added a few more items. Maybe, I should aim for the type of "Hassun*" 八寸 appetizers we got at "Kappa" 小料理屋河童  in  San Francisco which had 15 small appetizer dishes on one square plate.

* "Su-n" is a traditional  Japanese measurement (one "su-n" 一寸 is about 3cm, so eight "su-n" or "Hassun" is about 24cm). The idea here is to serve several small seasonal dishes on a "hassun" or "eight su-n" square cedar tray (or plate) which is usually the second course of a traditional "Kaiseki" 会席 or 懐石 course dinner.

Table of contents 2024

January 2024
January 1,    Happy New Year 2024 明けましておめでとう2024 
January 5,    Tomato and Egg Stir-fry with Wood Ear and Natto 納豆、トマト、木耳の卵炒め
January 22,   Goat Cheese Scallion Muffin ゴートチーズと青葱マフィン
January 25,   White "Pineberry" and Red "Koyo" Stawberries 白いイチゴと昂揚イチゴ
January 28,   Beef with Kon-nyaku and Vegetable "Kimpira" Stir Fry 牛肉と蒟蒻の金平

February 2024
February 3,     Chestnut Brown Butter, Sage Muffin 栗の粉とセイジマフィン
February 8,     Grated Lotus Root and Tofu Ball レンコン豆腐饅頭
February 11,    Sweet Onion Bread Pudding 玉ねぎのブレッドプデｨング
February 15,    Shad Roe from South Carolina 南カロライナからのシャドロウ
February 18,    Cranberry Camembert Cheese Bites クランベリーソース、カマンベールチーズ　バイツ
February 21,    Simmered Shad Roe with Vegetables シャドロウの煮付け
February 24,    Shad Roe Pasta  シャドロウパスタ
February 27,    Pickled Cucumber キュウリの漬物

March 2024
March 1,    “Maitake” Hen of the Woods Mushroom in Brown Butter and Sage 焦がしバターとセイジ風味舞茸
March 4,    Instant Pot BBQ Baby Back Ribs バーベキューベイビーバックリブ
March 7,    Salted Oatmeal Cookie 塩味オートミールクッキー
March 10,  Lobster Salad ロブスターサラダ
March13,    “Roman” Gnocchi ローマンニョキ
March 22,   Duck Tender Cutlet and Arancini 鴨ささ身のカツレツ
March 25,   Mary Walsh’s Currant Cake マリーウオルシュのカラントケーキ
March 28,   St. Patrick’s Day Dinner, Lamb Chops and Cabbage with bacon セントパトリックのディナー

April 2024
April 6,    Pumpkin “Kabocha” salad カボチャのサラダ
April 10,    Mini Fruit Galettes ミニフルーツガッレト 
April 21,    Spinach Soufflé (easy version) ほうれん草のスフレ 
April 30,    Frangipane Rolls フランジパンロール 

May 2024
May 13,    Pickled Micro Cucumber and Daikon 小さなキュウリと大根のピクルス 
May 15,    Steamed Carrot Buns with Ginger Custard 人参蒸しパン生姜カス... 
May 18,    Braised Eggplant with Oyster Sauce 茄子と椎茸のオイスターソース炒め
May 21,    Creamed Spinach with Cauliflower Puree カリフラワーピュレのク
May 24,    Anchovy Salad アンチョビサラダ
May 27,    Daikon Steak and Two Appetizers 大根ステーキ
May 30,    Focaccia Bread Baked in Breville Pizzaiolo Indoor Pizza Oven 

June 2024
June 2,    Steak and 2004 Joseph PhelpさんInsignia ステーキデｨナーと2004 インシグニア
June 5,    Gyoza made with New Round Gyoza Skin 日本風の餃子の皮で作った餃子 
June 8,    Filled Wool Bread 毛糸のパン 
June 11,    Shrimp Shumai 海老焼売 
June 14,    Pumpernickel Boule ドイツ黒パン 
June 17,    Ice Breaker “Summer” Sake 玉川アイスブレイカー酒 
June 20,    Carrot Panna Cotta 搾りたて人参ジュースのパナコタ
June 23,    Miso-marinated Firefly Squid ホタルイカの味噌焼き 
June 26,    Wood Ear Mushroom and Wakame Salad 木耳とわかめの和物 
June 29,    Nine “Otoshi” Appetizers お通し九種類

July 2024
July 2,    Egg roll 春巻き
July 5,    Red and Green Udon “Pasta” with Prosciutto 生ハムのせ赤と緑のうどんパスタ
July 8,    Pizza Made in Indoor Electric “Pizzaiolo” Pizza Oven 
July 11,    Garlic Chive Dumpling ニラ頭饅 or 韮菜万頭
July 14,    Mitsuba ミツバ 
July 17,    Dassai 45 and Dassai blue comparison 獺祭45とDassai Blue 50 飲み比べ 
July 28,    Cucumber in soy sauce 胡瓜の醤油漬け
July 31,    Tofu, Egg and Garlic Chives Stir Fry 豆腐ニラ玉、木耳入り

August 2024
August 9,    Home Coffee Roasting 緑コーヒー豆の自家焙煎 
August 12,    Icelandic Pumpernickel (Rye) Bread アイスランドのライ麦パン

September 2024
September 2,    Smelt Fry シシャモフライ
September 5,    Pesto Blini ペストビリニ 
September 8,    Yakitori de le Canard 鴨ささみで焼き鳥 
September 11,    Vegetables in Cold Broth 冷製のトマトの煮浸し 
September 14,    Pesto Blini Prosciutto Cheese Sandwich ペストビリニの生ハムチーズサンド
September 17,    Chicken Tender Fry with Salted Plum Sauce and Perilla ささみの梅大葉揚げ 
September 21,    Simmered Dried Daikon Threads 切り干し大根の煮物 
September 24,    Fresh Corn Blini コーンビリニ 
September 27,    Stir-fried Eggplant and Shiitake in Oyster Sauce 茄子と椎茸のオイスターソース炒め... 
September 30,    Mashed Potato Blini マシュポテトのビリニ

October 2024
October 3,    Five appetizers お通し５品
October  10,    Hen-of-the-Woods Grilled Cheese 舞茸のチーズ焼き
October 13,    Strawberry Blini いちごビリニ 
October 16,    Enoki mushroom frittata エノキ　オムレツ/フリッタータ 
October 19,    Kabocha salad カボチャサラダ 
October 22,    Matsutake (from Weee) Touban-yaki 松茸の陶盤焼き 
October 25,    Black Cod Marinated in Saikyo miso 銀鱈の西京(味噌)焼き
October 28,    Egg-wrapped Kabocha カボチャの黄金焼き 
October 31,    Almond Olive Oil Cake アーモンドオリーブオイルケーキ

November 2024
November 3,    Hiyaoroshi Sake Dewanoyuki “Sho-nai Bijin” 出羽ノ雪　冷やおろし庄内美人
November 6,    Hiyaoroshi Sake “Shichi Hon Yari” 七本槍　純米ひやおろし 
November 9,    Prosciutto-wrapped Haddock 生ハム巻きハドック (コダラ) 
November 12,    Marinated Chicken Tender Cutlet 鳥のささみのカツレツ
November 15,    Crispy Enoki Mushroom エノキのパリパリ焼き
November 18,    Bagel ベーグル 
November 21,    Chestnut Apple Soup クリとリンゴのスープ 
November 24,    Norwegian Mackerel Teriyaki 冷凍ノルウエイ鯖の照り焼き 
November 27,    “Imo-ni” Stew famous in Yamagata 芋煮庄内風 
November 30,    Matsutake and beef cooked in an Aluminum Foil Pouch 松茸と牛肉のフォイル焼き

December 2024
December 8,    Chestnut olive oil bread 栗とオリーブオイルケーキ
December 11,    Marinated Tofu and Egg Sir fry 味付け豆腐の卵炒め 
December 16,    Braised daikon with carrot, wood ear, and fried tofu 大根と人参の炒め物
December 19,    “Taco Carnitas”-ish タコ カルニタもどき
December 21,    Tofu in Warm Broth ミニ湯豆腐