Stewed Japanese pumpkin かぼちゃの煮物

Stewed Japanse pumpkin カボチャの煮物 

Although this vegetable is called Japanese pumpkin, "Kabocha" カボチャ, it is a type of winter squash. This dish is the most common way to serve kabocha. Again, like many Japanese dishes most of the work for this dish is in the preparation of the squash. It appears that kabocha is grown in North America especially in California and Florida and, reportedly, many are exported to Japan. You can sometimes get kabocha even in regular grocery stores. The quality of the kabocha can vary a lot and success of this dish depends on the quality of the kabocha.

Cut the kabocha in half using a heavy chef's knife or cleaver and remove the seeds and "guts". I cut the halves into 8th or to a large bite size pieces. I "shave off" the skin just leaving a hint of green behind (meaning the remaining layer of skin is extremely thin). I do this by securely placing the piece of kabocha on the cutting board and using a heavy chef's knife or vegetable cleaver "nakiri" 菜切り包丁. I use a paring knife and bevel all the sharp edges 面取り and soft parts (near where the seeds were). This is to prevent the kabocha from crumbling while cooking. Do not discard these scraps. I always use them to make a wonderful kabocha pottage (see below).

In a saute pan large enough, put all the kabocha pieces in a single layer with skin side down. Add "dashi" broth so the kabocha pieces are half submerged. Sprinkle sugar over the kabocha pieces (for the amount of kabocha which will fit in a 12 inch saute pan, I use about 2-3 tbs of sugar but but you can use more), and 2 tbs each of soy sauce (if you do not want the kabocha to color too dark, you could use "usukuchi" or light colored soy sauce) and sake. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes until kabocha is cooked through.  Remove the lid and turn up the flame, gently shake the pan and reduce the liquid until it just coats the bottom of the pan and glazes the kobocha.  Let it cool down in the pan and serve at room temperature.

Kabocha Pottage カボチャのポタージュ

I make Kabocha pottage from the scraps when I make the above kabocha dish. The recipe is very standard for any type of pottages. I mince one medium onion and saute in melted butter in a deep pan until soft and semi-transparent, season with salt and pepper. Peel and cut up one small potato into small cubes. Add to the pan with the kabocha scraps, saute briefly and add chicken stock to cover (I used a commercial, 1/3 less salt, non-fat variety from Swanson which comes in a carton). Add two bay leaves and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until all the ingredients are soft. Take off the pan from the burner and make sure to remove the bay leaves. Using an immersion blender (or food processor), process until smooth consistency is achieved and no solids remain (you may add more chicken stock to adjust the consistency). Add 1/3 cup (or whatever amount you prefer) of cream, mix and put the pan back on the burner, adjust the seasoning. I often add a small amount of white miso as a "hidden taste" 隠し味 for some Japanese touch but it is optional. I often serve this with the leftover stewed kabocha as seen above. Here, I garnished it with minced parsley.

Kabocha hors d'oeuvres three ways カボチャのオードブル三種類

I found a rather good looking Japanese winter squash "kobocha" being sold as a "butter cup" squash in a near-by grocery store. I do not think this is a "butter cup" squash since the "cup" on the blossom end is not present but I do think this is a Japanse "Kabocha". In any case, I could not resist buying one. So I ended up with a rather large amount of kabocha. After I made my usual simmered kabocha かぼちゃの煮物 and pottage かぼちゃのポタージュ, I still had at least 1/3 of the kabocha left. I thought about making kabocha tempra etc but settled on these three quick dishes.

Kabocha and oninon with red miso sauce かぼちゃとタマネギのしぎ焼き

I was supposed to make this dish using a small Italian eggplant that I thought I had in the refrigerator. "Shigi-yaki" usually uses an eggplant braised in a sweet red miso sauce. I thought I would use Kabocha to accompany the eggplant--the kabocha should not have been the main ingredients of "shigi-yaki" dish. But as I was cutting the egg plant, it became obvious that this one had had a better day and I had to discard it. So, out of necessity, I came up with this dish. The sauce is a mixture of 1 part red miso, 1 part mirin, one part sugar and Japanese seven flavored pepper powder 七味唐辛子. This time, I used sake as well (instead of 1 part mirin, I used a mixture of sake and mirin) to make this dish not too sweet. I sauteed thinly cut (1/4 inch) kabocha pieces in light olive oil until slightly brown on both sides. I put the lid on the pan, turned down the heat and cooked for 4-5 minutes or until the kabocha is soft. I then added one onioun thinly sliced ( the proportion of onion to Kabocha is arbitrary) for few more minutes until soft. Then I added enough mixed sauce to coat all the ingredients. I braised until the sauce thickened and coated the ingredients. Although, this dish was not how I planned it initially, it turned out OK. Nutty sweet miso sauce was a good match to kabocha. We had this with a good everyday California Cab, Ghost pine 2007.  It was bit surprising that sweet miso and kabocha flavors go very well with red wine.

Broiled Kabocha with Raclette cheese かぼちゃとラクレットチーズ

Broiled Kabocha with Parmegian cheese and panko　かぼちゃとパルメザンチーズ

These are also a spur-of-the-moment type dish. I cut the kabocha into slices 1/4 to 1/3 inch thick, 2-3 inch wide and sauteed them similarly to the previous dish until soft. (I suppose one can do this step in a microwave oven.) It needed to cook a bit longer than the "shigi-yaki" dish since the pieces were thicker. (I did this when I made the first dish) and set aside on a paper towel lined plate. Just before serving, I put these kabocha pieces on a cookie sheet (small one which fits into my toaster oven); Some were topped with slices of raclette cheese (left two) and others (right three) were topped with a mixture of panko (mixed with bit of good oilve oil) and grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (about half and half) and baked in the 450F toaster oven for few minutes until the raclette cheese melts and Panko-Parmesian becomes golden brown.

Kabocha ginger rolls かぼちゃ生姜ロール

 I got a whole Japanese "kabocha" squash the other day from Hmart via the Instacart. I made my usual simmered kabocha かぼちゃの煮物 and pottage かぼちゃのポタージュ. That left half a kabocha. I could have made other kabocha dishes but my wife wanted to make Kabocha ginger rolls/muffins and I gladly donated the remaining kabocha. This is a variation of pumpkin ginger rolls she made before. Instead of canned pumpkin puree, she baked the kabocha in the oven and removed the meat (actually I did most of this part). Using this, she made the roll as well as stuffing for the rolls.

Because the stuffing includes some moisture steam forms when the muffins are cooked resulting in the small space above the stuffing shown in the picture below. This doesn't adversely affect either the texture or flavor. 

I asked my wife to continue with the recipe.

Ingredients:
For bread
4 1/2 cups bread flour
2 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbs yeast
420 grams (or 15 oz.) of mashed Kobocha (all of this goes into the bread. If more is available that goes into the filling)
2 large eggs
4 Tbs. butter melted
1/2 cup raisins (optional)

For the stuffing:
Note: See below, for 20 muffins I used about 360 gm. combined weight of kobach and ricotta
remaining amount of mashed  kobacha  (this is in addition to the 420 that goes into the bread)
ricotta cheese
Finely diced candied ginger to taste (optional)
amounts discussed below

Another stuffing option:

A total of 360 g combination of mashed cooked kobacha, cream cheese and 1/2 cup finely chopped candied ginger.  

Directions:
For the cooked pumpkin (kabocha)

Cut the Kabocha in half, remove seeds and guts. Place cut side down on a cookie sheet. Cook in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes until it becomes soft. Remove the skin and mash to a puree.

For the pumpkin bread:

Put the kobocha puree and pumpkin pie spice in the bowel of stand mixer. Add the sugar, salt, eggs and melted butter. Bloom the yeast and add it to the pumpkin mixture. Using a paddle stir until completely blended. Switch to a dough hook and add the flour to the wet ingredients. Knead dough for about 2 to 3 minutes until ingredients are blended then let rest for 15 minutes. Continue kneading, adding flour until the dough reaches a workable consistency. Knead for 7 to 10 minutes. If adding raisins knead them in after kneading for 7 minutes and continue kneading the extra 3 minutes to incorporate them.

Transfer dough to a lightly oiled bowel. Turn the dough so it gets coated with the oil.
Cover and let rise until it doubles. Punch dough down and turn out onto a floured cutting board.

Assembly:
This gets a bit complicated. When making stuffed muffins I got tired of eye-balling the amount of filling I needed only to have it run out before I had filled all the rolls or have some left over, so I came up with a system to measure out the right amount. I do this by first measuring the total weight of the dough. In this case the dough weighed 1420 grams. I knew a muffin weighing about 71 grams is a good size so I calculated how many muffins I would get out of the dough; 1420/71 = 20 muffins. Next I calculated how much filling I would need. I knew from experimentation that an 18 gram ball would make a good ratio of filling to bread so I calculated the total amount of filling I would need; 18 x 20 = 360 grams. I took the leftover kabocha and supplemented it with ricotta cheese and about 1/2 cup of finely chopped candied ginger until the total equaled 360 grams. With this method the ratio of kabocha to other ingredients in the filling can vary but the total should be enough filling for all the muffins. The actual weights will vary each time the muffins are made depending on the combined ingredients. Only the method would be consistent.

I started by making each of the filling balls for the muffins and setting them aside. This makes assembly more efficient. Then I cut the dough into pieces, weighed them and stuffed them with the pre-measured stuffing balls. (The stuffing was just enough to fill each muffin!) I put the muffins into a heavily greased baking pan. Covered and let rise again (about 1/2 hour). Meanwhile, I preheated the oven to 375 degrees. I cooked the rolls for 20 minutes. Remove from the pan immediately after they come out of the oven.

These are great rolls. The crystalized ginger in the stuffing really makes this roll. It provides a nice burst of sharp but sweet flavor. The creamy texture of the filling really went well with the surrounding dough and the raisins added an additional burst of tender sweetness. Compared to canned pumpkin puree, kabocha really tasted better.

Kabocha dressed in garlic sauce with bacon かぼちゃのガーリックマリネ

When my wife spotted Japanese yams in the gourmet grocery store, she also found Japanese pumpkin (or squash) or kabocha かぼちゃ. We usually get kabocha at our Japanese grocery store but have not seen it in the regular grocery stores for some time. I made my usual simmered dish which we love from half the kabocha. For the other half, I decided to make a new dish. I described several dishes I found on Japanese websites to my wife. When she heard "bacon" as one of the ingredients, she asked 'what's the question that's the one'. I followed the recipe except for some minor changes in the dressing.

Bacon and garlic are a fail safe combination.

Besides lemon juice which was called for in the recipe, I added lemon zest (using a micro-grater) which added a nice citris flavor and acidity.

Ingredients:
Japanese "kabocha" pumpkin (#1). I used half for this dish, The seeds cleaned out, cut into half inch thick and 1-2 inch long pieces. I sliced off most of the skin using a heavy chef's knife.
Bacon, two nice smoky and rather thickly cut strips.

For dressing: 1 tbs olive oil, 1 clove garlic, minced or pressed, 1 tsp lemon juice and zest, salt and pepper to taste.

Directions:
1. I microwaved the kabocha in a silicon container. I checked it several times until soft or cooked through (it took a total of 5 minutes) (#2).
2. Meanwhile, I fried the bacon until crispy and rendered the bacon drippings (#3). I left the bacon drippings in the pan and set aside the bacon strips on a paper towel lined plate.
3. I browned the kabocha pieces on both sides (#4).
4. I transferred the kabocha to a bowl and added the dressing and gently mixed (#5 and 6). I tasted it and added more lemon juice.

This was quite good. The bacon added nice porky and smoky flavors. The garlic with acidic lemon flavors combined with the sweetness of the kaboch are good match. We will definitely add this to our regular kabocha dishes.

Kabocha salad カボチャのサラダ

We regularly get Japanese/Asian groceries from Weee. This time we got a Japanese “Kabocha” かぼちゃ squash. It was larger than usual. I made my usual simmered kabocha and pottage かぼちゃの煮物とポタージュ but some still remained. I thought about tempura but that was too much work for such a small piece. So I decided to make this “kabocha salad”. I did not follow any particular recipe but sort of combined two different recipes. This is curry flavored and turned out to be quite good highlighting the natural sweetness of the kabocha.

This is just a note for myself.

Ingredients:
Kabocha squash, seeds removed, skin shaved off (optional), cut into half inch cubes
Raisins

For the dressing
Greek yogurt
Mayonnaise
Curry powder
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Boil the kabocha in salted water for 5-7 minutes until cooked but not too mushy
Mix the ingredients for the dressing (about the same amount of mayo and yogurt, the amount of curry powder is to your liking)

For an impromptu salad, this was much better than I expected. The natural sweetness of the kabocha was complemented by the curry flavor. The mixture of the yogurt, mayo and kabocha made a nice creamy texture with some tartness. I will make this again.

P.S. Hawk joins us for Hanami 花見!
This year was a bit unusual for the cherry blossoms. The trees bloomed early and the blooms lasted for a long time. Since we have three trees with different bloom timing, we had a very long time to enjoy cherry blossoms or “Hanami”. One afternoon, a hawk joined us for Hanami! We looked out the window and there he was in all his magnificence sitting not ten feet from the window on the railing of the deck. We marveled at the image of such an awesome creature juxtaposed to the delicate loveliness of the cherry blossoms.

Kabocha Squash Cookies

Recently we got a kabocha かぼちゃ (Japanese) squash by the grocery delivery which was quite large. I made simmered “Kabocha” and potage but still half remained. Since it was near halloween, pumpkin recipes were appearing everywhere. My wife found a recipe for pumpkin/buttercup squash cookies on the Washington post web site.  She thought since buttercup squash and Kabocha are close squash relatives this recipe may be a good way to use up the remaining Kabocha. Also, we were both curious as to how a squash could be used to make a cookie. The picture below shows the 3 variations of the cookies my wife made. As suggested by the original recipe there were 3 coatings: cinnamon sugar (upper left), pine nut (upper right) and  toasted coconut (bottom). These were surprisingly good. They were just bite sized and somewhere between a cake and cookie.

Ingredients
1/2 cup flesh from cooked/roasted winter squash* (may substitute yam, sugar pumpkin or sweet potato. We substituted kabocha squash)
1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups almond meal/flour, or more as needed
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
Pine nuts, for coating (optional)
Shredded coconut, for coating (sweetened or unsweetened; optional)
1/4 cup sugar plus 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, for coating (optional)

*We used kabocha squash, cooked in a microwave oven and mashed. We further use a ricer to make it smooth.

Ingredients (X2)
1 cup flesh from cooked/roasted winter squash* (may substitute yam, sugar pumpkin or sweet potato. We substituted kabocha squash)
2 large egg yolk, lightly beaten
3 cups almond meal/flour, or more as needed
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Finely grated zest of 2 lemon
Pine nuts, for coating (optional)
Shredded coconut, for coating (sweetened or unsweetened; optional)
1/4 cup sugar plus 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, for coating (optional)
Sesame seeds for coating (optional).

Directions:
Combine the squash, egg yolk, almond meal/flour, sugar, vanilla extract and lemon zest in a mixing bowl, stirring to form a smooth, very soft dough. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes or up to 1 day. If the dough seems too pasty and wet, add a little more almond meal/flour, keeping in mind that the dough will firm up further as it chills.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners.
Divide the dough into 24 equal portions (about 2 teaspoons), rolling each one into a ball. Before spacing them on the baking sheets at least 1 inch apart, roll some of them in one or more of the coating options listed below. Bake (middle rack) for 15 to 20 minutes, during which time the cookies should not spread much.
Cool completely on the baking sheets before serving or storing.

All three version were very good. The cookie itself is moist and soft with a mild slightly sweet squash/pumpkin flavor. Not quite a typical cookie but very good. And three different coating worked excellently. We really like this cookie.

Sauteed kabocha with pancetta, curry flavor カレー味のパンチェッタかぼちゃ炒め

I have posted Kabocha Hors d'oeuvres previously. This is another variation and is the best so far. This is based on a recipe from e-recipe but I made some changes.

I used the upper half of the kabocha where the meat is thinner than the bottom half. After removing the "guts" from the kabocha, I sliced it into 1/2 inch thick slices. Before sautéing, I microwaved it, covered, for 1-2 minutes or until just barely cooked.

I added a small amount of olive oil (1 tsp) to a frying pan on low heat and fried up chopped pancetta (the amount is arbitrary) until crispy and the fat is rendered. I set aside the crispy pancetta bits on a paper towel lined plate. I added the cooked kabocha slices in the same frying pan and fried them for one to 2 minutes each side on a medium flame until nice brown marks appeared. I added back the pancetta and seasoned it with Japanese curry powder (not too much), black pepper and salt (taste first, pancetta may be salty).

The combination of salty pork fat and curry flavor works very well with Kabocha. the only complaint is that while the skin is quite edible, the sharp contrast in consistency between the skin and meat of kabocha is not pleasant. I will remove most of the skin next time. A very nice drinking snack which will go well with any drink.

Pumpkin salad かぼちゃサラダ

Since we enjoyed some nice pumpkin dishes while we were in Japan this time, when my wife found a Japanese kabocha pumpkin (or squash) at Whole Foods store, we had to get one. I made my ususal simmered pumpkin and potage but still half of the pumpkin was left. So, I made this pumpkin salad from the quarter of the pumpkin.

One evening, I served this as a part of the opening appetizers. From left to right, pumpkin salad, asparagus and Campari tomato with roasted sesame vinegar dressing and mackerel simmered in miso  with green beans.

The asparagus was boiled and the Campari tomatoes were skinned. The dressing is the same one I used for figs.

This is my usual and favorite miso simmered mackerel. I added boiled green beans for color.

Ingredients:
1/4 Japanese "Kabocha" squash, guts removed, cut into 1/2 inch slices.
1/4 cup raisins.
2 tbs Mayonnaise
2tbs Greek yogurt (my wife strained plain yogurt)
Salt
Cream and soy sauce (optional)

Directions:
I placed the kabocha slices in a lidded silicon container and microwaved for about 4-5 minutes or until cooked. While it was hot, I removed the skin and mashed the kabocha, added the raisins, mayonnaise and greek yogurt and mixed.

This was nicely sweet (without any sugar) from the kabocha itself and from the raisons. My wife liked to add a bit of soy sauce and cream to this which I agree. It was a nice small dish which can be used as a side or as an appetizer.

Pumpkin ginger rolls かぼちゃと生姜味ロール

My wife always makes some kind of pumpkin-themed food around Halloween. This year, she made these pumpkin ginger rolls.

Since we had a Japanese Kabocha left (the last 1/4 of a whole kabocha), she also included a cube of kabocha in the pumpkin rolls.

Ingredients:
For bread
4 1/2 cups bread flour
2 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbs yeast
1 (15 oz. can pumpkin puree)
2 large eggs
4 Tbs. butter melted
Finely diced ginger to tast (optional)
1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Directions:
For the cooked pumpkin (kobocha)
Cut the Kabocha in half inch thick slices and microwave in a lidded silicon container for 4-5 minutes or until soft. Remove the skin/rind and cut it into half inch cubes (see below).

For the pumpkin bread:
Put pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice in a sauce pan and cook on medium heat stirring constantly until pumpkin pulls away from the sides of the pan and the spices "bloom" (see below).
Let cool then add sugar, salt, eggs and melted butter. Bloom the yeast. Add the wet ingredients to the flour in a kneading mixer. Knead dough for about 2 to 3 minutes until ingredients are blended then let rest for 15 minutes.
Continue kneading, adding flour until the dough reaches a workable consistency. If adding ginger and raisins knead them in (we did not add them).
Transfer dough to a lightly oiled bowel. Turn the dough so it gets coated with the oil.
Cover and let rise until it doubles. Punch dough down and turn out onto a floured cutting board.
Cut dough into pieces weighing 2 1/4 oz. Add a piece of cooked kobocha pumpkin and form into a bun. Put the buns into a heavily greased baking pan.
Cover and let rise again (about 1/2 hour).
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook rolls for 20 minutes. Remove from pan immediately after they come out of the oven.

These rolls turned out with lots of pumpkin and pumpkin spice flavors--with cinnamon leading the pack. Because of the pureed  pumpkin, it came out really moist. The inclusion of cooked kabocha added a nice sweet taste and interesting texture. (next time my wife said she would add larger pieces). This may be the best pumpkin bread.

Japanese "Kabocha" pumpkin salad カボチャサラダ

I occasionally see Japanese pumpkin which is a type of winter squash in our regualr grocery store and when I see it I buy it. This time, I made pumpkin salad with the squash I brought home. I read the recipe somewhere but I could not find it again when it came time to make the salad so I made it from memory.  It came out quite good and its easy to prepare especially since I used the microwave to cook the squash. Since I had a "Kabocha"-shaped "hashi-oki" 箸置きor chopstick pillow that we bought in Kyoto last year, I used it in this picture to complete the Kabocha theme.

I added cottage cheese on top (I remember this was a part of the recipe I read). I added freshly ground black pepper.

Ingredients :
Kabocha pumpkin, half, innards removed and skin shaved off but leaving some (or you could just leave the skin), cut into a bite sized pieces, microwaved in a silicon container for 3-4 minutes or until a bamboo skewer went through easily.
Salt and pepper for seasoning while it is cooling.

For dressing:
Mayonnaise 2tbs
Greek yogurt 2tbs (my wife makes it by straining regular yogurt).
Cottage cheese 2-4 tbs
Soy sauce to taste (optional and our addition)

Directions:
When the pumpkin cooled to room temperature I dressed it with the mayo and greek yogurt (see below). Taste and add salt or soy sauce to taste. I served it with topping of the cottage cheese and freshly grated black pepper (my addition).

This is a really good salad. The natural sweetness of the pumpkin really comes through. We found out it is actually rather filling--a small serving goes a long way for us. Since I microwaved it, it was really easy to make.

Fried vegetables やさいの素揚げ

Since I had Kabocha Japanese pumpkin カボチャ, shishi-tougarashi 獅子唐芥子 or shishitou (both were from our regular grocery store) and "Gobo" 牛蒡 burdock root (from the Japanese grocery store), I decided to make this simple vegetable fry. It came our a bit too oily for our taste but still it was still quite good.

I precooked and seasoned the Gobo since I used a part of it for another dish. Alternatively, I could have used raw gobo just salted in acidulated water and then drained.

Ingredients (#3 below):
"Gobo" burdock root, about 1/3, skin scrabbled clean with a food brush but not removed.
Japanese "shishitou" peppers, 5-6, stem removed and slits cut in to the middle to prevent explosion in hot oil.
Japanese "Kabocha" squash, 1/4, innards removed and skin shaved off, cut into half inch thick pices
Oil for deep frying
Kosher salt

For preparing Gobo
Rice vinegar (making acidulated water for initial cooking)
Japanese dashi broth seasoned with soy sauce and mirin

Directions:
Cut the gobo into 3 inch lengths. First cook in water with a splash of rice vinegar for 10 minutes and then in plain water for another 10 minutes. Finally, cook in a seasoned Japanese broth (Kelp-bonito broth seasoned with soy sauce and mirin) in 10 more minutes.
Let it cool down in the broth and then cut into 4 long pieces and return to the broth to soak (#1) (I soaked it overnight in the fridge but it could be fried immediately).

I deep fried each items separately. Kabocha takes the most time (4-5 minutes) and shishitou takes the least time (1 minute). I served these sprinkled with a bit of Kosher salt. The kabocha came out very sweet. The gobo was still a bit fibrous but not bad. My wife removed the skin and seeds from shishitou and I ate all. Fortunately, none of them was atomically hot.

Stewed kabocha and red bean カボチャのいとこ煮

This is a variation on the theme of azuki dishes. Instead of sweet potatoes, Japanese squash or kabocha is used. This is sometimes called "Itoko-ni" いとこ煮 meaning "cousin stew" but why it is called that is not clear to me or if any stewed dishes with azuki would be called "Itoko-ni".

In any case, I do not think this is one of our favorite dishes. I cooked the kabocha exactly same as before. Toward the end of the cooking, I added cooked and unsweetened red beans and dissolved a small mount of miso paste to taste. This dish needs something more. Somehow unsweetened azuki does not work well here for us.

So I made another version few days later (image below). I added my version of slightly sweetened azuki instead. I also added a bit more miso at the end than before.  This tasted much better. The sweetness was contrasted with some nutty salty tastes. We liked this much better than the original version.

Japanese pumpkin potage with chestnut 栗入りカボチャのポタージュ

This is nothing really new. The other day, I got a Japanese pumpkin or kabocha カボチャ at the Japanese grocery store. As usual, I made simmered pumpkin or カボチャの煮物 (second picture below).  I also made chestnuts simmered in syrup 栗の甘露煮.  So, I just combined all three into one dish.



I prepared the kabocha as usual. I removed the skin and rounded off the sharp edges of each piece to prevent the edges from crumbling during the cooking process (called "nikuzure 煮崩れ). So, I used these scraps and the portion of kabocha which was too thin to be made into individual pieces to make the potage. I made the simmered pumpkin  exactly the same was as before seasoned with sugar, mirin, and soy sauce.



For the potage, I added finely diced onion sautéed in butter, small cubes of potato simmered in chicken broth (my usual Swanson no fat low sodium) with a few bay leaves for 20 minutes or until everything was cooked and soft. After removing the bay leaves, I pureed the pumpkin mixture using an immersion blender until all the solids were gone. (picture below).



I added cream, mixed, seasoned with salt and white pepper and warmed up before serving. Since I  made chestnuts simmered in syrup, I placed the simmered pumpkin and chestnut in the bowl and poured the potage and garnished with finely chopped parsley.



The potage was sweet and velvety. With the addition of the simmered pumpkin and chestnut, this is really the taste of autumn.

One spoonful appetizers a.k.a baby food for adults 一口スプーンの前菜第二弾

This is another iteration of one spoonful appetizers. I am making more purées or what I refer to as “baby food for adults” to use as one gulp spoonfuls of food. In any case, the below are three such appetizers. From left to right: Kabocha potage カボチャのポタージュ, seasoned soft boiled egg 味卵 with ikura salmon roe イクラ and cauliflower puree with ikura.

I also strewed the plate with simmered kabocha カボチャの煮物 (left lower corner), braised cauliflower モンパルナスのカリフラワーand blanched sugar snap in salt broth スナップ豌豆の塩びたし.

The below was what I served for another evening. This time I made broccoli puree which I garnished with flowerets of blanched broccoli. The other two are the same cauliflower puree and Kabocha potage shown in the pictures above.

I made broccoli puree from the stem of broccoli, onion, and parsnip. It has very good and interesting flavors. When I ask my wife to taste it, she thought it had asparagus.

I made the broccoli puree without a recipe but the basic is very similar to any potage or puree.

Ingredients:
Broccoli stem, hard bottom removed and hard skin removed (I used stems of two broccoli heads), cut into small cubes.
One medium onion, finely diced
One parsnip (or maybe a potato), skinned, cut into small cubes.
1/2 cup of chicken broth or more depending on the consistency of the puree (I used Swanson's no fat reduced salt)
1 tsp unsalted butter and 2 tbs olive oil
Salt to taste
Two bay leaves (optional)

Directions:
Add the olive oil and butter to the pan on medium flame and sauté the onion until cooked (2-3 minutes).
Add the broccoli stem and parsnip and coat with butter/oil and add the chicken both to cover.

Add the bay leaves and simmer until soft (15-20 minutes)
Remove the bay leaves and puree using an immersion blender until smooth (add more chicken broth for desired consistency).
Season with salt

These appetizers are nice. The spoonful is just the right amount for a satisfying gulp. They provide a nice range of flavors although the consistency seems, well consistent. It is lovely and smooth but I can’t help but think of it as sophisticated “baby food for adults”. I’ll have to come up with something different.

Appetizers 4 kinds お通し４種類

These are 4 kinds of appetizers we had as starters one evening. Nothing really new. Below, from left to right, are; simmered Japanese eggplant 茄子の含め煮 or 煮浸し and simmered "kabocha" Japanese squash かぼちゃの煮物, salmon in sweet vinegar 鮭の南蛮漬け, "Kazunoko" herring roe with cucumber and "ikura" salmon roe 数の子、胡瓜の酢の物のいくら載せ, and the last is the Spanish mackerel simmered in miso 鯖の味噌煮 I usually make.

I usually take the corners of the kabocha pieces off to prevent them from crumbling during cooking but I was a bit lazy and did not do that this time. Nonetheless the pieces still kept their shape. The eggplant was a small long Japanese eggplant (this is the only kind we can consistently get). I also added blanched broccoli and heated up in the microwave.

The Japanese eggplant was from HMart Korean grocery store which we are using more often. As an innovation from my usual method of cooking eggplant I fried the skin side first. Supposedly, this  helps to retain the skin’s color. Although this is not much different from the previous post, I describe the recipe for my own convenience.

Ingredients:
3 Japanese eggplant
2 tbs neutral vegetable oil
two small pieces of ginger, crushed with the side of the knife.

250ml Japanese dashi broth (I made this with my usual bonito and kelp dashi pack)
3 tbs soy sauce
3 tbs mirin

(Instead of soy sauce, I am using "shirodashi" 白だしand light colored soy sauce).

Directions:
Cut the eggplants in half lengthwise. Shallowly cut the skin in crosshatching pattern and then cut lengthwise again to make 1/4 eggplant.
Add the oil to a frying pan on medium flame and add the ginger for a few minutes until fragrant.
Add the eggplants skin-side down and fry for 3-4 minutes and turn over to fry both of the fresh sides for 2-3 minutes each,
Add the seasonings and broth (below), put on the lid and simmer for 3-4 minutes.

This is good eaten hot right after it is cooked but it can also be stored in the broth in a sealable container in the refrigerator. The stored eggplant can be eaten cold or heated up in the microwave.

This is usual salmon nanban. This one was really good since the quality of the salmon (from Whole foods) was good and I did not over cook it. I served this with sugar snap in salt broth スナップ豌豆の塩びたし.

Mr. and Mrs. Segawa of Tako Grill kindly gave us "kazunoko" herring roe 数の子. I prepared it as I described in my New Year dish tab. The half serving shown below was soaked in dashi broth with soy sauce and mirin seasoning. I marinated the other half serving in sake-lee and miso mixture  or "kasu-miso" 粕味噌. Since this preparation will last longer than the one soaked in dashi broth we will eat it closer to the holidays.

I also served Spanish mackerel in miso sauce 鯖の味噌煮. (The red dots surrounding the mackerel are part to the decoration of the bowel not part of the preparation.)

This was a quite a good starter line up for the evening.

Uni shutou with salmon roe 雲丹酒盗いくら入り

The last time we bought fresh uni from Maruhide 丸秀, we also got a few “uni shutou” 雲丹酒盗including one with salmon roe 雲丹酒盗いくら入り which was a new choice for us. So, one weekend evening, I served this with our usual squid shiokara イカの塩辛. I also served chawanmushi 茶碗蒸し and simmered Kabocha squash カボチャの煮物. These were nice starters.

Left in the picture below is uni shutou with ikura. Obviously, this is a great combination and we, especially my wife, loves uni-ikura donburi ウニいくら丼. Right is our usual squid shiokara. Both are perfect for sipping sake, although you do not need much, just a bit of taste to go with sake.

I served this chawanmushi cold. I often top this with ikura or uni or both but not this time. I made the dish with shrimp and chicken in addition to shiitake. I added scallion and sugar-snap towards the end of cooking.

The picture below shows simmered Japanese kabocha squash カボチャの煮物. It’s a classic.

This was great start of the evening and the combination of uni and ikura shutou is definitely a favorite.

Duck "Nanban" Soba 鴨南蛮

When I made the Japanese-style chicken escabeche, which is called "Nanban" 南蛮 or Southern Barbarian, I mentioned another totally unrelated soba noodle and duck dish called "Kamo Nanban" 鴨南蛮. Since I had leftover roasted duck breast after I served duck breast with orange marmalade sauce one weekend, I decided to make an abbreviated version of "Kamo nanban" on a following weekday evening.

As I mentioned before, Japanese think "duck" and "negi scallion" are the ultimate culinary paring and this dish is usually made of grilled and charred, Japanese or Tokyo scallion or "naga negi" 長葱 in addition to duck meat. 

Negi Scallion: Since I did not have a Japanese "Negi" scallion, I used a wedge of onion. I cooked it slowly in a frying pan with a bit of light olive oil, turning over once or twice for 10 minutes or until nice char marks developed on both sides and the onion is cooked.

Broth: I used one "dashi pack (The one I used had kelp and dried bonito, but no dried fish)" in water (about 1.5 cups) and simmered for 5 minutes to make dashi. Any dashi, including instant granulated ones, will do. I added mirin (1tbs) and soy sauce (2 tbs to taste, I could have added more in retrospect). I kept it just barely simmering or hot.

Duck breast: The leftover duck breast had nicely browned skin and was cooked to medium rare. I cut thinly (1/4 inch) and then dusted the pieces with potato starch, katakuriko 片栗粉. I placed each piece in the simmering broth (above) for 20-30 seconds so that the starch cooks into a slightly slippery coating on the surface of the meat.  It also very slightly thickens the broth. if I was cooking the duck from scratch, I would cook the skin side only in a frying pan rendering as much fat as possible while making the skin brown following the first step of my usual way of cooking the duck breast. Instead of finishing the duck in the oven, I would slice the meat and cook it in the broth as descried above for a slightly longer time. You can omit the potato starch, if you do not like the slippery texture.

Soba noodle: I just used dried soba and cooked as per the package instruction, washed in running water, drained and placed in the center of an individual serving bowl.

Assembly: In the bowl with soba noodle on the bottom, I added the broth, and arranged the onion and duck meat as seen above. I garnished it with chopped green onion. Just before eating, I sprinkled 7 flavored Japanese red pepper powder 七味唐辛子.

Up until this point, we were enjoying Orin-Swift "The Prisoner" 2009 (Zin and Cab mix). It was certainly a good wine but it is not as good as the prior vintages and we prefer "Papillon" 2007 (Bordeaux blend with predominant Cab) from the same winery.  But this dish cries out for sake and we obliged. I should have added a bit more soy sauce to the broth but otherwise it was a very nice dish and indeed went very well with cold sake.

We also enjoyed stewed "Kabocha" squash. As before this one was sold as "Butter cup" squash but I believe this is identical to a Japanese "Kabocha".