Soft Boiled Duck Eggs 半熟アヒルの卵

This is continuation of the duck eggs we got from Weee. Since we do not want to worry about a potential Salmonella problem, I pasteurized the duck eggs. I managed to make soft boiled duck eggs with runny yolk (see below). I somehow cut across the egg rather than usual halving the egg length-wise. In any case, the yolk was very rich and creamy. Interestingly, egg white clearly (more pronounced as compared to hen egg) showed two layers; an inner layer that did not congeal as firmly as the outer layer egg white.

I topped this with “ikura” salmon roe and a bit of soy sauce. This is a very luxurious appetizer.

Actually, this was part of the evening offerings. I made “bo-zushi” 棒鮨 of pickled mackerel with kelp. a very small sashimi assortment.

1. How to pasteurize duck eggs: Since duck eggs are larger than hen eggs (in our case no more than 30%), I used 57C for 2 hours instead of 75 minutes for hen’s eggs. As before, when the 2 hours were up, I immediately soaked the eggs in ice water for 30 minutes or more and placed them in the refrigerator.

2. How to make soft-boiled duck eggs with runny yolk: According to the on-line instructions I found, place the duck eggs in cold water and when the water starts simmering, cook another 6-7 minutes. I was not sure if I should pierce the shell on the air cell side (bland end) to prevent the egg from cracking. In the end, I did. One of the eggs extruded a thin thread of yolk. Next time, I will not pierce the shell and see what happens. After 7 minutes, I soaked the eggs in ice cold water. We peeled the shell after 30 minutes and the eggs were cooled down. It was difficult to peel. My wife did a better job.

We are quite satisfied with the soft-boiled duck eggs only if we can peel it more easily.

Canned Mackerel, Cabbage and Egg Stir-fry サバ缶とキャベツの卵炒め

We found a few cans of mackerel (Japanese.style cooked in water) which were approaching the BUB (best-used-by date) tucked away in the pantry. We bought these and other canned items during the height of COVID when protein shortages started to materialize. Those times have thankfully passed so I decided I could use the “emergency” mackerel to make a small appetizer. I have made and posted a few dishes made from canned mackerel. This is not particularly original but it worked well. Since I recently got fresh quail eggs, I used them to make miniature fried eggs and topped this dish. As a result, in the picture the mackerel part of the dish, is a bit obscured by the fried quail egg.

The below is the picture of another serving a few days later. I added boiled quail eggs which had been marinated.

This is based on the recipe on line (in Japanese).

Ingredients:
One can of mackerel in brine or “Saba-no-mizuni” 鯖の水煮
3-4 leaves of cabbage, thick vein removed and cut into bite-size square
2 shiitake mushrooms, stem removed and sliced (optional)
1 egg
1 tbs vegetable or olive oil
salt and pepper

Directions:
Make scrambled egg and set asdie
sauté the cabbage for few minutes
Add the mackerel and stir for few more minutes
Plate and top with the scrambled egg
Season with salt and pepper

This is an ok dish to use up the canned mackerel…actually tasted pretty good. It was even better the next day with the marinated quail eggs.

Nattou ball 納豆つくね

This recipe also came from a YouTube episode by the original Japanese Iron chef Rokusaburo Michiba 道場六三郎. He made two dishes from nattou 納豆, the infamous sticky and smelly Japanese dish of fermented soybeans, which often appears as part of breakfast. Nattou is most commonly eaten over rice for breakfast. Another less common but popular way is in miso soup for a dish which is called “Nattou-jiru” 納豆汁. Even among the Japanese, some (especially from “Kansai” 関西 west part of Japan) do not eat it and some love it. (I belong to the latter category). 

For many years my wife referred to nattou as the one Japanese food she just could not eat—the smell, the sliminess, the fermented taste.  (Every culture seems to have a dish like this; an acquired taste developed in childhood. Think ripe French cheese or Australian vegemite. And for me, believe it or not, cooked oatmeal).  Then my mother learned that the natto-nastiness could be alleviated by stirring it. She recommended several hundred turns would do the trick. The stirring apparently enters air into the natou that helps remove the smell and stringy sliminess. All of a sudden natto was on my wife’s menu. 

I have made quite a few dishes with nattou, many of which are focused on reducing the stickiness and the smell. In any case, Michiba made a miso soup but, instead of mixing nattou into the soup, he made nattou into balls which he called “nattou-tsukume*”  and then put it into miso soup. I made it as a small appetizer one evening.  I put a small amount of miso soup (made it a bit stronger) as a sauce and topped it with Japanese mustard (see picture below)

* “Tsukune”, “Tsukuneru” which means “knead” or “mix”, and is usually made from ground chicken and a most common item in “Yakitori” 焼き鳥.

I served two other small dishes; from left to right simmered “Kabocha” squash, miso simmered mackerel and nattou tsukune.

Ingredients (4 tsukune balls):

2 small individual packages of nattou (if frozen, thawed) with packets of sauce and mustard
1 stalk of chopped scallion
1 tbs katakuriko potato starch
2 cups of Japanese dashi broth
1-2 tbs miso
Japanese hot mustard (from tube) slightly diluted with water for topping

Directions:
Prepare the natou by adding the sauce, mustard and the scallion. Mix well (stir over 100 time if you have the time), add the potato starch and mix.
Using two spoons, moistened, I made four quenelles (or moisten your hands and make small balls) and drop them in the simmering broth.
Cook it for several minutes (see below).
You could dissolve the miso and serve this as “miso soup”. I wasn’t ready to serve the dish so I separated the nattou balls and the broth and placed them in a sealed containers and in the refrigerator.
Before serving, I warmed up the nattou balls in the preserved broth. I took out a small amount of broth and dissolved the miso to taste.
I served the miso broth in a small dish, with the nattou ball and topped with the mustard

This is a very interesting dish. The hot Japanese mustard made this dish. Although the nattou balls tasted like nattou to me, the texture and smell is quite acceptable (especially for my wife’s palate). “Mikey liked it!”

“Canned mackerel and hanpen” Satsuma-age like fish cake 鯖缶とはんぺんの薩摩揚げ

Canned mackerel or “saba-kan” 鯖缶 is a very popular canned fish item in Japan and is readily available in the U.S. Upon inspection, of the canned mackerel in our pantry, I realized that the “Best used by” date had just passed on one of the cans. (I thought canned food lasted forever but that is apparently not the case). I needed to use this can fast and I then saw a perfect  recipe of fried fishcake on the Japanese website I follow using canned mackerel and “Hanpen” fishcake はんぺん.  This type of fishcake is called “Satsuma-age” さつま揚げ, which is a very common dish served grilled in Izakaya. Although I attempted to make Satusma-age from scratch, it was not quite authentic due to the lack of appropriate kinds of fish. The current version is interesting because instead of using ground fish meat “surimi” すり身 which is the authentic way to make Satuma-age this recipe used a mixture of canned mackerel and hanpen.  I served this with the usual grated ginger and soy sauce. It does not have the texture of authentic Sastuma-age but this was good; crispy outside and tender inside with the firmer texture of edamame and carrot. It all worked. The inclusion of ginger and deep frying toned down the otherwise strong flavor of the mackerel. This is a perfect dish with sake.

Ingredients:
One can of boiled (Mizu-ni 水煮) mackerel (190 grams with the liquid, about 150 grams fish meat), drained and crumbled
2 hanpen steamed fish cakes, frozen, thawed (240 grams), cut into small pieces.
1 tbs potato starch
1 tsp sugar
30 grams julienned carrot(1/3 of medium carrot), boiled or microwaved for 30 seconds
60 grams cooked and shelled edamame
1/2 tsp grated ginger

Peanut oil for shallow frying

Directions:
Mix all the ingredients until completely incorporated (The original recipe placed everything in a plastic bag and hand massaged it to make the dough, I did not have the patience to do that so I used an immersion blender, #1).
Mix in the edamame and carrot and make flat ovals (I made 8) (#2)
Add the oil to the frying pan to the depth of 5mm and heat to around 350F and shallow fry for 3 minutes (#3)
Turn over and fry the other side for 3 minutes (#4)
Drain and serve immediately (or once refrigerated, toaster-oven to warm).

This is not Satsuma-age but it is a nice fishcake and we really like it. Since the ingredients (hanpen and canned mackerel) are easy to get, this is a good and easy dish to make.

Mackerel hand-shaped sushi 鯖の棒鮨

Shime-saba しめ鯖 is vinegar pickled mackerel and a very popular item in Japan. The best is fresh local “branded” mackerel (such as “Seki-saba” 関鯖) prepared in-house but, nowadays, the risk of Anisakis is rising possibly due to warming of the sea water. (The fresher the mackerel the higher the Anisakis’ risk. In addition, curing the fish in salt and vinegar does not kill the Anisakis but freezing does). We can easily get shime-saba in the U.S. packaged and frozen. Although there are so many varieties of  mackerel, most frozen packages coming from Japan to the U.S. use mackerel from Norway as I understand it. I have posted molded sushi made of shime saba which is called “baterra” バッテラ or “oshizushi” 押し寿司. This type of sushi is famous in the Kansai region 関西. In that post, I said that the classic preparation requires a thinly shaven sheet of kelp called “Shiroita konbu” 白板昆布 placed on top of the fillet of fish. Such a preparation is next to impossible to get here in US. Some days ago, however, I found a package of frozen mackerel with a sheet of kelp already on it in Tako Grill’s frozen case and got it. This must be a new product which became available recently since I saw the identical item at the Japanese grocery store as well as at Catalina Offshore products. 

Instead of using a mold to shape the sushi, I made it freehand which is called “Bou-zushi” 棒鮨 (“bou” means a rod or stick). The picture below shows the “saba-no-bouzushi” 鯖の棒鮨 I served as the ending shime dish one evening. As you can see, the surface of the fish is covered with a layer of thinly shaven kelp.

Ingredients:
One package of frozen vinegar cured mackerel as described above, thawed, tail portion cut and tucked in to make an even width.
Sushi rice (my wife made fresh rice for this).


Directions:
Instead of using oshizushi mold, I formed a log of the sushi rice about the same length and width as the mackerel by hand (you need to wet your hand).
Using a silicon sushi rolling mat (relatively recent acquisition, you could use a regular bamboo mat covered with plastic wrap or wet tea towel), place the mackerel skin or kelp side down.
Place the log of the rice onto the mackerel.
Press the rice lightly against the mackerel and roll the silicon mat (top image in the picture below)
Tighten the mat and also press on both sides of the rice to make the rice and the mackerel form a slightly flattened cylinder and unroll (bottom image in the picture below).

Wet the knife and slice about half inch thick (below).

In this cut surface, you could see bottom rice layer and top mackerel layer and surface kelp layer.

This was a very satisfying dish. The layer of mackerel was very thick, but very tender and well seasoned. My wife really like this and said the ratio of sushi rice to fish was perfect. With the addition of kelp layer, it is authentic and tastes better (I think). Since I did not have to find and soak the mold ahead of time, this method was a bit easier to make.

Simmered eggplant and shime-saba with grated daikon 茄子の忘れ煮としめ鯖のおろし和え

These are four appetizers we started with one evening. I tend to make the same things we like but this time, for a change, I made two new dishes. In the picture below, clock-wise from upper left are vinegar cured Japanese mackerel or "shime-saba" in grated daikon dressed in ponzu しめ鯖のおろし和え, long simmered Japanese eggplant or 茄子の忘れ煮, squid "shiokara" 塩辛 and salmon "nanban" 鮭の南蛮漬け.

I bought a package of frozen vinegar cured Japanese mackerel or "shime-saba" from the Japanese grocery store and realized I already had another package in the freezer. So I decided to use the old package. I have served this several different ways including simple sashimiしめ鯖の刺身, ceviche  鯖のサビーチェ, and moulded sushi 鯖の押し寿司. I saw this recipe on line and made some modifications. This is very similar to what I made using tuna sashimi 鮪のおろし和え, previously. I garnished this with chiffonade of perilla and a wedge of lemon. I served this the evening I made it and then, again the following evening. After some time in the fridge, the flavors amalgamated and it got much better.

Ingredients:
One package of shime-saba, thawed, lightly washed with sake, patted dry, thin skin removed, and then cut into thin (1/4 inch) slices.
2 tbs ponzu shoyu ポン酢醤油 (from the bottle, or equal mixture of rice vinegar or citrus juice and soy sauce)
2 inch long daikon, peeled and grated and excess moisture drained*
Rehydrate dried seaweed mixture, arbitrary amount (optional)
Chiffonade of perilla and lemon wedge for garnish

*I use a grater with a meshed receptacle inside the bottom container which automatically drains excess moisture from grated daikon (or any other items). I made  sure to taste before assembling into the dish since some daikon is atomically hot. This one was ok.

Directions:
In a bowl, add the shime-saba, grated diakon, seaweed and ponzu and mix, I also added additional yuzu juice (from the bottle) for a good measure. I let it marinate for several hours to overnight, then topped it with the perilla and lemon.

This is a good dish. The daikon really makes this dish and goes perfectly with cold sake.

I made the eggplant dish since I got 2 Japanese eggplants at the Japanese grocery store a week ago and did not immediately use them. (My wife was kind enough to reminded me that eggplant, even the Japanese kind, does not improve with age.) The dish is also from the same web site I got the recipe for the mackerel dish. I decided to make this since it does not use any oil and looked healthy and simple. The Japanese name is "Wasure-ni" 忘れ煮 meaning "forgot that it was still simmering" indicating involving long simmering. The original recipe calls for "hoshi-ebi" 干しエビ, small dried shrimp, which is used to add "umami" flavor and fresh "myouga" 茗荷 but I did not have either one so I skipped the shrimp and substituted fresh myouga with vinegard myouga 茗荷の甘酢漬け we made almost one year ago as a garnish. I added slices of ginger in the simmering liquid whihc was not part of the original recipe. I served this with blanched broccoli rabe which is the closest we can get to "Nanohana" 菜の花.

Ingredients:
One Japanese eggplant (this one was on the larger side), remove the stem end, cut in quarters lengthwise, multiple thin slice cuts on the bias through the skin into the flesh but not all the way through and immediately soak in salted cold water for 10-20 minutes.
2 slices of ginger
Threads of ginger root for garnish (skin, slice thinly and then cut into thin threads).

For broth
1 cup Bonito broth (I made it from a dashi pack)
1/3 cup of concentrated Japanese noodle sauce (or mirin and soy sauce in equal amount).
two slices of ginger (original recipe calls for 1 tbs dried shrimp)

Directions:
Heat up the simmering broth until boiling
Put the prepared egg plant, the ginger slices and cover with a inner "otoshi" buta 落とし蓋 (I used a silicon "otoshi-buta" or cover it with an aluminum foil made it to a round, slight smaller than the pot opening, place the lid and simmer for 20-30 minutes.

This is a really good dish. The eggplant got really soft and absorbed the flavors of the broth. I served it cold which is perfect for summer.

The picture below is the usual salmon dish I make which is always good with cold sake.

Shown below is frozen "shiokara" from the pouch. Again, only the drink that goes with this is sake.

So, we enjoyed all four appetizers with a sips of cold sake. Our home Izakaya is not bad at all.

Tako Grill Take-out タコグリルからテイクアウト

Our Izakaya substitute "Tako Grill" has been close for dining-in for some time. Mr. Terry Segawa indicated that they would operate in a take-out rather than sit-in format. He also added a Japanese grocery section. Although we will miss being able to  interact with the sushi chefs and Mr and Mrs Segawa, we have been enjoying Omakase sushi and take-out all during covid. One of the pluses of take-out is that we do not have to worry about driving home afterwards. To make the experience more enjoyable, I usually re-plate the food. An example of which is shown in the next picture. Using the garnish they provided, I rearranged the sashimi into two servings; one for me and one for my wife instead of sharing the plate (which is what we used to do at Tako Grill at the sushi counter).

Today, we got nicely marbled “toro tuna” almost looking like Wagyu beef, in the center is “hamachi” and on the right is “aji” horse mackerel. Since aji sashimi is best eaten with grated ginger and soy sauce, I used sauce bowl which had two wells and served both wasabi (using Tako Grill provided one) and added grated ginger (from tube) soysauce

 

I rearranged “uni” sea urchin and squid sashimi into a small bowl and added a garnish of nori strips and wasabi dissolved in soy sauce.

Whenever, we get “Aji” sashimi, Sushi Chef  Santos always serves us deep fried aji skeleton. Even for the take-out, this is included. We heated it up in the toaster oven on toasting  mode. It comes out hot and crispy almost like just out of hot oil. Since there is only one, we share it. We essentially eat everything including the head.

Like we are dining in, we finish with some sushi. Today, we got Japanese “tai” red snapper, toro and eel sushi and our usual California roll made of real lump crab meat and addition of  tobiko roe.

Although someday, we may be able to dine-in again, we are quite happy with this arrangement. We also get some Japanese groceries which is definitively a big plus. We are regularly getting frozen edamame (they have the best quality edamame), Japanese crackers (especially my wife likes them), Tonkotsu ramen, and green tea ice cream daifuku among others.  We hope this new format will work for Tako Grill as a business. We are certainly very happy with this format.

Nagaimo dressed in cod roe 長芋の鱈子和え

I started going back to our Japanese grocery store again. The last time, I got a fairly good hamachi sashimi. This time, I hit the jack pot! I knew that the Japanese grocery store gets sashimi bluefin tuna or “hon-maguro” or “kuro-maguro” once a month but I did not try to find out when and never went specifically to get sashimi maguro. Just by happenstance I went just a day after they got the maguro. So I had a choice of chu-toro or akami maguro sashimi. I chose a package of “akami” with two good sized portions and also, as an added benefit, some hamachi. That evening, we had a combination sashimi feast of tuna 鮪, hamachi はまち, vinegar cured mackerel しめ鯖 (frozen). I also made imitation “negitoro” 擬制ねぎとろ from this tuna sashimi because the tuna portions were not regular “saku” 柵 blocks for sashimi and I ended up with some odd pieces after slicing the sashimi pieces.  Compared to our usual imitation negitoro which I make from a frozen block of yellofin tuna, this was much much better.  I did not take any pictures, however. Next evening, I served the remaining sashimi, deep fried fish cake or “satsuma-age” さつま揚げ which I also got at the Japanese grocery store (heated in the toaster oven served with soy sauce and grated ginger). I also made a sort of new dish from cod-roe and nagaimo.

Here is the close up of the sashimi dish which I served with dashimaki だし巻き Japanese omelet and sugar snap in salt broth スナップ豌豆の塩びたし.

The next picture shows the “new” nagaimo dish I made. I did this because I had thawed “tarako” たらこ cod roe and found out the membrane in the back was already broken. So, I removed the roe from the remaining sac, mixed it with a small amount of sake, although I did not have a firm idea at the time of what I would make from it. I then remembered that we had a small segment of  nagaimo 長芋 in the refrigerator which had to be used soon. So I just combined the two.  I garnished it with a chiffonade  of perilla and nori. This was a good dish. This tarako was a bit on the salty side but the addition of sake in combination of the crunchy refreshing nagaimo, really worked.

Ingredients:
1 inch segment of nagaimo, skinned, sliced and cut into fat match sticks.
1 tsp sake
One sac of salted tarako, cod roe
Perilla leaves and nori chiffonade for garnish

Direction:
Soak the nagaimo sticks in water with a splash of rice vinegar and gently wash to remove surface sliminess. Blot dry using a sheet of paper towel.
Remove the roe from the sac using the back of the knife and mix it with 1 tsp of sake. Taste and if not salty enough, add soy sauce (mine was salty enough).
Dress the nagaimo and garnish it with the perilla.

So every time I go to our Japanese grocery store, we have a number of  “goodies” for dinner that evening.

Sashimi from Japanese grocery store 日本食料店からのはまち刺身

I have not physically gone to a grocery store including our Japanese grocery store for almost one year because of the COVID. We are mostly satisfied with our main grocery store delivery service but especially for Japanese or specialized  grocery items, nothing replaces shopping in person. So, now fully vaccinated for sometime, one weekend, I decided to visit our Japanese grocery store and really realized nothing replaces being there and selecting items you are buying. I got so many good Japanese food items (I got a bit carried away). After coming back from the store, we had a lunch of grilled mackerel and rice balls. They were made at the store and were still warm fresh out of their kitchen. I made a miso soup (tofu, shimeji mushroom and abra-age 豆腐、油揚げ、ぶなしめじ) to complete our lunch. This was a very satisfying meal. In the evening, we had "Hamachi" はまちの刺身 yellowtail sashimi which I have not seen  previously at our Japanese grocery store. Since we had a frozen "Ankimo" 鮟肝 which I bought at the Japanese grocery store last time I was there, over a year ago, I decide it was the time to serve it. So, we started the evening with Hamachi sashimi and ankimo with ponzu sauce. I also got a special "Sashimi" soy sauce 刺身醤油 for this.

The hamachi in the picture one serving which is half of the tray I bought. So it is a good amount.  I served cucumber in vinegar dressing and wasabi from the tube. This was quite descent yellowtail sashimi.

I usually serve Ankimo with soy sauce and orange marmalade but the jar of marmalade we had was unopened but expired several years ago. So I served it with Ponzu sauce and green part of scallion as a garnish.

We somehow feel really good that we can get Japanese food items from our Japanese grocery store again. It made us feel like there may be light at the end of this covid tunnel. We really like to start our evening with a little bit of sashimi.

Bluefish "sanga" fish cake ブルーフィシュのサンガ

We are getting fresh whole fish from Hmart which has a wider selection at lower prices than other grocery stores in the area. We particularly like mackerel with bluefish as a very good mackerel substitute. Bluefish like mackerel is not considered a particularly prized fish because of its very strong flavor. There are various ways to cook it that turn its flavor into an asset which is why we like it. For that reason, bluefish or mackerel are often smoked in the US. I often simmer either fish in miso and ginger which reduces the fishiness. This time, we got a fairly large bluefish. Since this was a fairly big fish, I ended up with a good amount of fish meat scraped off the bone and tail. I was thinking about making “tsumire” ツミレfish balls cooked in broth but I came up with this dish called “Sanga” さんが which is a type of fisherman’s dish famous in Chiba prefecture 千葉県.  This is usually made from types of fish called “Hikari-mono” 光り物 including mackerel and sardine which have shiny blue skin and tend to get spoiled quickly and can have strong or “fishy” flavors especially when not fresh. Since bluefish to me is in the same ilk, I decided that this dish should  work. This dish is essentially a cooked version of  “namerou” なめろう. The main flavorings are miso and ginger. Here, I put perilla leaves on one side of the fish paddies and included a side of sugar snaps in salt broth スナップ豌豆の塩びたし.

This is the cross section. Some of the fish meat were not completely mashed. The yellow and white bits are chopped ginger and scallion.

Ingredients (made 6 small patties).
Blue fish meat scraped off the bone, tail and other parts, hand chopped using a heavy Chef’s knife, about 150grams (a guess)
Red miso 1 tbs
Ginger cut finely, 1 tsp plus ginger juice from grated ginger (about 1/2 tsp)
Scallion, 4 stalks, finely chopped
Potato starch (katakuri-ko) 2 tsp
Dark sesame oil 1/2 tsp
Perilla leaves (4-6 depending on the size)

Directions:
Mix all ingredients well except for the perilla leaves.
Divide the mixture into 6 equal portions.
Lightly oil hands and make the portions into flat discs and place the perilla leaves on one side (#1) in the third picture).
On a medium low flame with a small amount of neutral oil, first cook the side without perilla leaves until nicely browned (#2).
Flip it over and cook the other side for another 1 minute or so or until done (#3 and #4).

 This is a good way to use scrap fish meat from the bluefish. The double doses of ginger juice and finely chopped ginger add ginger flavor but not overwhelmingly so. The miso flavor and sesame oil are a good combination. I am not sure if I can taste the perilla leaves. It warmed up nicely by microwaving.

Tarako from Korean grocery store Hmart 焼きたらこ

 Lightly grilled salted "tarako" たらこ cod roe is not really a new dish as I posted it many years ago,  but it is a very common dish in Izakaya and goes perfectly well with sake. I usually get tarako (frozen) from our Japanese grocery store, but this time I got it from Hmart, the Korean grocery store, through Instacart.  The groceries were delivered while I was not at home so my wife received them. During a subsequent phone call,  she mentioned that it was not a completely successful grocery run since the three types of fresh mushrooms and the mackerel we ordered were not available. The good news was that the "tarako" did arrive. She said something was wrong, however, because it was covered with a red goopy stuff and suggested that maybe the little egg sacks had somehow ruptured spilling their contents. (Not good!) So when I got back in the evening and inspected the tarako I found it was coated with a Korean hot sauce "gochujang". We were both relieved and had a good chuckle. Since we are not into very hot spicy food, I quickly rinsed off the hot sauce. I made "Tarako" pasta たらこスパゲッティwith it and it was just fine. I made the dish shown below from the last sac of tarako. I just cooked it in the toaster oven until the surface was cooked but the insides were still raw. I served it with a Dashimaki omelet だし巻き I had made.

This was a part of several appetizers I served that evening (second picture). From left to right; Eggplant in seasoned broth 茄子のお浸し、deviled egg from pickled eggs my wife made,  salmon in sweet vinegar 鮭の南蛮漬け. The bottom right are oven-baked potato chips which my wife is in the process of perfecting and which will be subject of another post. The dish on the bottom left is a dipping sauce my wife made to go with the potato chips.

In any case, we started the evening with these small appetizers.

Hanami 2021 with healthy 4 Japanese appetizers 花見 ２０２１

This year the cherry blossoms were early. We read it was the earliest full bloom of cherry blossom in Kyoto in 1,200 years. We have three cherry trees in our backyard; two were here when we moved in and one we planted 30 some years ago which was destroyed by a Nor'Easter in 2018. We replace this with a small cherry tree and it has grown but is still small. Usually these trees bloom sequentially rather than simultaneously but this year all three bloomed with some overlap in timing. So we had a few days when all three trees were at various stages of blossom and we enjoyed "Hanami" 花見. One day was warm enough for us to sit outside on the deck. Other days were cold or rainy so we enjoyed Hanami from inside. 

In the early morning on March 28 it was still a bit dark but through the cherry blossoms I spotted the full moon in the sky. This was the "Paschal moon"; the first full moon after the spring equinox. It is the moon on which the date for Easter is based i.e. Easter is the first Sunday after the Paschal Moon. True to form, Easter is next Sunday 4/4/2021. This moon is also known as "Worm moon". So named, supposedly, because worms start to emerge as the ground warms up. 

The picture below is of the cherry tree we planted in 2018 to replace the one that was destroyed in the nor’easter. It has grown a lot in the last 3 years but another 3 years will add to its role for hanami. Still it provided viewing enjoyment.

These are four appetizers I served one hanami evening. Before these dishes, we had Tuna sashimi made with frozen yellow fin tuna block from Great Alaska Seafood キハダマグロ.  As usual, I served it in marinated "Zuke" style ズケ; the surface charred with a kitchn blow torch in "Tataki" style たたき. I also  made a portion of it into imitation  “negitoro” ネギトロ,  We then had cold chawanmushi with marinated Ikura salmon roe 冷製茶碗蒸し. The four dishes shown below are the last dishes I served. They are vegetable rich and, hopefully, healthy items. 

This is a sort of salad made with dried persimmon 干し柿と大根の甘酢和え.  A recipe online was the inspiration of this dish but I did not follow the recipe. Besides the dried persimmon, which is cut into small bite sized pieces, I added daikon, carrot, sweet onion in sweet vinegar with added ground sesame and a splash of sesame oil. I garnished with roasted cashew nuts (or walnuts but the cashew happened to be available). The sweetness of the dried persimmon and the sweet vinegar dressing went well together. The dried persimmon got really soft and over time basically dissolved into the dressing.

This dish was a variation of the dish I made before from canned mackerel 鯖の水煮缶詰と大根. But in addition to daikon, I added cabbage and tofu and blanched broccoli just before serving.

This is “Hijiki” seaweed with carrot and deep fried tofu ひじきの炒め煮, exactly the same as I made before.

The last is a classic “mishime” 煮〆. It is simmered vegetables seasoned with soy sauce, mirin, and dashi broth. It includes shiitake, carrot, gluten cake “hanabu” 花麩. The rectangular pieces are freeze dried tofu or “shimidoufu” 凍み豆腐. I cooked this separately with much sweeter broth (I guess in Kyoto style). You cannot see it but there is renkon  on the bottom.

At this point, we were well fed and watered and gazing at the beautiful cherry blossoms. We were just enjoying existence.

Osechi day 1 and day 2, 2021 元旦と２日の御節

While the Sushitaro osechi lasts, the only “cooking” I have to do is to arrange the items and, as need, warm some of them up using either microwave or toaster oven and, of course, (this is the most strenuous part) open a bottle of sake.

The below was the first sampling. I tend to go for our favorites first. "Kazunoko" 数の子 herring roe, steamed sea urchin むし雲丹, roasted wagyu beef 和牛ローストビーフ are among them.

Here are three of our favorites; smoked oyster 牡蠣燻製 (left lower), karasumi botarga 唐墨 which is lightly toasted and wonderful cured "sawara" mackerel 鰆喜寿司.

This is the second plate;  in the center next to the ikura is monkfish liver terrine 鮟肝豆腐 which is really good.  I put wasabi and soy sauce on the red and white fishcake 紅白蒲鉾 before enjoying.

The yellow ball is soy sauce marinated egg yolk with walnut embedded in the center 黄身胡桃. The texture is really great. Next to the egg yolk on the right is "Koji-pickled Boston mackerel" 鯖麹漬. This is also a great dish with crunchy cubes of either daikon or radish. 

This was the evening of January 2. This time I served in Tsugaru-nuri bento boxes 津軽塗弁当箱 as I did other years. All came from the Sushi Taro box except the small bowl on the upper left.

How many different delicacies are in this box! Of course left lower corner is the karasumi, again lightly toasted.

This is my only contribution. Red radish and cucumber “sunomono”  酢の物, my version of daikon namasu, slices of octopus leg topped with ikura.

This is delicately seasoned in Kyoto-style. I briefly microwaved just to take the chill off.

Although each item is small, there are so many of them; the total was quite filling. We could get used to this.

Sushi Taro Osechi 2021 寿司太郎の御節 2021

We picked up our Sushi Taro Osechi box for 2021 on the last day of 2020. We opened it on the evening of January 1, 2021. I am doing this post just to remind us of all the wonderful items included in the box. Every year there are some changes although many "must-have" items remained the same. The SushiTaro osechi has been the highlight of our New Year celebrations since 2012. Before that I used to make osechi in a 3 layered juubako 重箱.  I had to spend almost the entire week before New Year cooking and the results were no comparison to the Sushi Taro box. In 2010 and 2011, (I apparently had excuses) I only made a few New Year items. On one other occasion, we tried frozen osechi from Kyoto, Japan. It was very expensive and just terrible. So, Sushitaro Osechi is indeed a God-send. Now I only make a few nostalgic items that I ate on New Year as a child. 

This picture is an overview of the upper layer of the Sushi Taro box.

 

The following pictures enumerate the contents of the box. Noteworthy is #1 smoked oyster in olive oil 牡蠣燻製. Large succulent oysters with smoky flavor are excellent and new this year. #2 is a sophisticated version of “daikon namasu” 錦なます. #3 is Kuro-mame  black beans in syrup 黒豆. #4 is grilled small "tai" red snapper 祝鯛姿焼き, #5 steamed sea urchin 蒸し雲丹.  #6 Kazunoko "herring" roe marinaded in miso 数の子味噌漬け.  #7 roasted A5 Wagyu (A5 is the top level wagyu) 和牛ローストビーフwhich is also new this year. Nicely marbled and tender.  #8 Cod roe rolled in kelp 鱈の子昆布巻.  I forgot to put the number but between the wagyu and the tail of snapper are chestnuts "shibukawa-ni" 栗渋皮煮, #9 is smoked salmon rolled in pickled radish スモークサーモン砧巻. #10 is our favorite "karasumi" botarga or sun-dried mullet roe 唐墨.  #11 is small ice fish simmered with sansho pepper 雑魚の有馬煮 (in plastic container) and #12 lily bulb dumpling 百合根まんじゅう which is new this year. Under #5 is red and white "kamaboko" fishcake 紅白蒲鉾,  under the roast beef is soy-marinated egg yolk with walnuts and truffle flavor which is also our favorite 黄身胡桃.  Somewhere under the tai fish is "gobo" burdock root with sesame dressing 叩き牛蒡. One more good dish wrapped in cellophane is hidden under the fish which is “Koji pickled Boston mackerel” 鯖麹漬. This may be also new this year. This reminded me of a Hokkaido dish called “iizushi” 飯寿司 which was made during cold winter fermented using koji/rice, dried herring, and vegetables. This version is using mackerel with crunchy daikon or kabu radish. We both really like it. 

And this is lower box.

#1 is Monkfish liver terrine 鮟肝豆腐, again our favorite, #2 pickled flower-shaped "renkon" lotus root 花輪蓮根、#3 is red and white shrimp dumpling 海老真蒸, #4 cured Spanish mackerel 鰆喜寿し, this is new and great, it is cured (with salt and vinegar, I suppose) but almost taste-like sashimi, no fishy taste and absolutely fantastic. #5 glazed duck 鴨照り煮, #6 caramelized crispy small shrimp 小海老甘露煮, #7 sake-steamed prawn 長寿海老, #8 Yellowtail sushi wrapped with pickled turnip 鰤かぶら寿し, #9 New Year's stewed vegetables (satoimo, carrot, bamboo shoot, shiitake, hana-fu,  snow peas, and "konnyaku", all individually delicately seasoned and cut into decorative shapes), #10 simmered "ayu" sweet fish with roe 子持ちあゆ甘露煮, #11 "Date-maki" New year's omelet 伊達巻 and #12 Burdock root, squid ink coated and stuffed with mustard からし牛蒡. Hiding underneath #1 and #2 is "kurikinton" mushed sweet potato with chestnuts 栗きんとん and underneath #5 is grilled yellowtail marinated in sake lee 鰤酒粕焼き.

　

Everything was carefully prepared and packed. All possible superlative adjectives can not begin to describe how wonderful each dish was.  I do not know how many orders they prepare but I got some glimpse of how much work this is from Chef Kitayama's instagram "chefmasayakitayama" and "togimax". Our only task now is to enjoy all these delicacies, something we are very good at.