Miso soup made with previously frozen Maitake and tobanjan 舞茸のピリ辛味噌汁

This was a lunch one weekend.  Since we still had extra maitake which I bought when I bought the matsutake and I saw this very interesting recipe for maitake miso soup, I  decided to make it. The mushrooms in and of themselves were very filling and combined with the other vegetables in the soup plus the freshly cooked rice and  simmered "kabocha" かぼちゃの煮物 and blanched broccolini I served along side, this turned out to be a very good but very big lunch. (as a result, my wife and I couldn't eat dinner that day.)

The bowls I used were much larger than regular miso soup bowls. The picture doesn't show the ingredients in the soup very well. The unique thing about this recipe, and the thing that caught my attention, was that it called for freezing the maitake (to enhance its flavor) and the addition of tobanjan 豆板醤. This, I just had to try because if it was possible to freeze the mushroom resulting in improved flavor that technique could come in handy for other recipes. I had to make some variations to the recipe, for example, since I did not have Japanese "Kabu" turnip which was suggested in the original recipe, I used daikon, carrot, wakame seaweed, and scallion.

The picture below shows the kabocha and broccolini. To make a typical "teishoku" 定食  i.e. dinner or a lunch set, we would have needed stukemono 漬物 or pickled/salted vegetables which we did not have.

Ingredients:
One package of maitake (1/4 lb), hand torn into bit sized pieces, quickly rinsed in water with the moisture removed using a salad spinner. Place mushrooms in a Ziploc bag and freeze overnight. (the recipe indicates that this process enhances the flavor of the maitake).

Daikon, peeled and sliced  in 1/4 inch thick rounds and cut in half (amount arbitrary)
Carrot, peeled and sliced in 1/4 inch thick diagonally (amount arbitrary)
Salt preserved  (or dry) "wakame" seaweed, salt washed and hydrated, cut into bite sized pieces (amount arbitrary)

Scallion, finely chopped

2 cups dashi broth (I used a dashi pack which included small dried fish called "iriko", which is more appropriate for miso soup)

1 tbs of miso
1/2 tsp of tobanjan (or more if you like it spicy)

Directions:
I added the broth, maitake (not thawed), daikon and carrot into a pan. I simmered it until the vegetables were cooked (for 10-15 minutes).
I added the wakame and dissolved the miso and tobanjan. I tasted and add more miso or tobanjan.
Add the scallion and when it comes back to a boil, shut off the flame and serve.

Although I added just a small amount of tobanjan, the soup was still rather spicy. It was ok with me but my wife thought it was too hot. She added yogurt to the soup. She said it calmed it down and tasted good. We are not sure freezing made any difference. I was afraid ice crystals would form in the maitake and make it spongy when it was frozen but that did not happen. It maintained a nice firm texture. This is a good soup and the freezing technique will be useful for making the maitake last longer. However, my wife said maitake is best if it was cooked with some oil.

Maitake and chikuwa kinpira 舞茸と竹輪のきんぴら

Since I got maitake 舞茸 (hen of the woods) when I got matsutake 松茸 from Oregon mushrooms, this is the second dish I made from the maitake. This is loosely based on a recipe on-line. I made this as a first "otoshi" appetizer of the evening. I also served dried and seasoned squid strips or "saki-ika" さきいか.

This is a perfect  dish for sake. Fish cake and maitake are a good combination with contrasting texture.

Saki-ika is the last remaining from the package I opened a few days ago. This is a good very popular drinking snack in Japan. We think this goes best with Bourbon and water but sake will do as well.

Ingredients:
One package (1/4 lb) maitake, torn into bite sized pieces, rinsed in water and excess water removed by a salad spinner (#1).
One medium carrot, peeled, sliced on the bias and cut into julienne (#2)
One package (six) small yaki-chikuwa 焼き竹輪 fish cakes, thawed, one cut into 4 long strips (#3)
1 tsp of peanut oil and a splash of dark roasted sesame oil
A pinch of  dried red pepper flakes (as much as you like)
1 tbs mirin
1 tbs soy sauce
Roasted white sesame for garnish

Direction:
In a non-stick frying pan on medium flame, add the peanut oil with a dash of sesame oil and add the red pepper flakes and let it cook a little until fragrant.
Add the carrot and the mushroom and sauté for several minutes until the mushrooms start showing few brown spots (#2).
Add the chikuwa fish cake (#3) and keep sautéing for a few more minutes.
Add the mirin and then soy sauce and braise until the liquid is almost gone. Taste and adjust the seasonings (I added a bit more soy sauce).
Serve immediately or at room temperature with a garnish of roasted white sesame.

The maitake has a meaty texture and earthy flavor. The chiku-wa is soft and slightly sweet. The contrast in textures is very intriguing.The red pepper flakes gave a slight heat to the basic "kinpira" flavor of soy sauce and mirin. Everything comes together. This is a good starter. We had this cold later and it was still quite good.

Baked maitake オーブン舞茸

When I ordered fresh matsutake from Oregon mushrooms, the shipping was almost the same as the price of the matsutake. So I decided to include some "mai-take" 舞茸 or "Hen of the woods" to better even out the costs between the product I was buying and the shipping. One evening, I came up with this dish which is not particularly based on any recipe. We like this mushroom. Especially the large ones. The stem or base part almost tastes like meat when cooked. I separated/tore one large bunch into small bite sized pieces and cooked them in an aluminum foil pouch in the toaster oven.

To add some charred taste after it cooked/steamed in the pouch, I opened the pouch and put the mushroom on the surface and broiled it for 10 minutes so that the edges of the maitake got charred a bit.

This is quite good and nice meaty taste and texture. I used whatever was available when I made this. Since I just winged it the ingredients shown below are my guess.

Ingredients:
One package of fresh maitake (1/4 lb), torn by hand into bite size pieces.
Onion, previously cooked in the Weber cut into small pieces (this was cooked by taking a whole onion with the skin still on, piercing it several times to prevent the onion from exploding as it cooked and wrapping it in aluminum foil), (I think raw onion will do as well)
Previously baked garlic, one clove (or thinly sliced raw garlic)
Salt to taste
Butter, unsalted, two pats
Chives for garnish

Directions:
Place all ingredients except for the salt and butter in the middle of a sheet of aluminum foil. Top it with the butter and sprinkle salt.
By folding four ends, make a pouch and crimp the opening.
Place the pouch in the 350F convection toaster oven for 30 minutes.
Open the pouch, mix, and expose the maitake pieces and broil (500F) for 10 minutes or until the surface of the maitake charrs a bit.
Garnish with finely chopped chive.

For an instant dish, this was very good. I could have made a mixture of butter, miso and mirin and added that as another possible variation. The maitake especially the stem parts have a good meaty texture and earthy "umami" flavor. This may be perfect for serving to our vegetarian friends.

Hen-of-the-Woods Grilled Cheese 舞茸のチーズ焼き

We like “hen of the woods” or maitake 舞茸 mushrooms. They have a nice firm meat-like texture and flavor. We cooked maitke many different ways and posted them in the past. Currently, maitake cooked in sage brown butter seems to be our favorite. Recently I saw, this simple but very good recipe on YouTube  (in Japanese) and tried it. I forgot to take a serving picture but picture #1 shows how it looks when serving. The idea is very similar to “cheese mochi rice cake”. We really like this dish. It is easy to make with crispy cheese and mushrooms. We thought we really do not need any kind of sauce.

Ingredients:
One package (85grams) of hen of the woods “maitake”, torn and separated into small fronds
5-6 slices of low-moisture Mozzarella cheese

Directions:
In a non-stick frying pan on medium-low flame add a few slices of cheese and place the maitake on it (I made two as seen in picture #2)

As the cheese melts and the bottom browns for a few minutes, flip it over using a silicon spatula (picture #3) and brown the other side for a few more minutes (picture #1).

This is a really good dish. We will add this to our regular maitake dishes. It is full of umami and almost feels like eating a piece of meat.

“Maitake” Hen of Woods Mushroom in Brown Butter and Sage 焦がしバーターとセージ風味舞茸

We like mushrooms. We used to get fresh mushrooms from Oregon mushrooms (on-line order) and Whole Foods but recently, we have been getting many different kinds of fresh mushrooms from Weee. Besides the usual kinds of mushrooms, we can get from any grocery store, we can get shiitake 椎茸 (Good quality), enoki エノキ, kikurage 木耳 (wood ear), shimeji しめじ, king trumpet, and maitake 舞茸 (hen of woods), and hiratake 平茸  (oyster).We usually get several kinds of mushrooms when we order groceries from them. This time beside the usual shiitake and shimeji, we got maitake. When we had shad roe, I served maitake cooked in brown sage butter as a side which was really great. (My wife may have liked the mushroom more than the shad roe.)

This recipe came from “Foragerchef.com”. The original recipe calls for a large amount of mushrooms. I scaled it down.

Ingredients
One package (35g)  fresh hen of the woods (This was the size of the package I got), separated into a few fronds each in thin, long pieces

2 tbs (or about 40grams) unsalted butter

1 garlic clove finely chopped 
5-6 fresh sage leaves (from our herb garden, I used whole leaves, since they would be easier to remove from the browned butter later)

2 tbs dry white wine (I used sake)
2 tbs chicken stock (our usual Swanson low salt no fat)
1⁄4 teaspoon kosher salt
A few turns of the pepper mill to taste
A squeeze of fresh lemon juice to taste

Directions
In a frying pan with high sides, add the butter and the sage. Heat the butter on medium heat until melted and sizzling and brown bits appear (usual brown butter process). When the butter has reached the desired level of brown, remove the sage leaves. Then add the stock or water, salt, a few turns of fresh pepper from the pepper mill and the mushrooms. Cover with a lid, increase the heat to medium high and cook, stirring occasionally to coat the hens with the pan juices for about 10-15 minutes.

Finishing and serving

Continue cooking the mushrooms until the liquid is gone and there’s only butter. Stir the mushroom to coat with the juices, then taste a piece and adjust the salt as necessary until it tastes good to you.

Cook until the mushrooms have just started to brown lightly on the edges. Turn the heat down a bit. Add the garlic and cook for a minute or two more. Add the wine and the squeeze of lemon, simmer for a minute to cook off the alcohol.

This maitake is very good with sage and brown butter and garlic flavors are nice with the almost meaty texture and flavor of the mushroom. 

Hybrid Katsu-don "fried pork" bowl 煮カツ丼ソースカツ丼ハイブリッド

When we get pork tenderloins, we most often make, at least a main portion of it, to "ton-katsu" トンカツ or "hire-katsu" ヒレカツ. We then make "Katsudon" カツ丼 from the leftover tonkatsu. I have made some variations of it depending on what ingredients are available but there are two main variations. The most common one is onion and tonkatsu simmered in soy sauce-based broth then topped with a lightly beaten egg (most people like the egg to be semi cooked) and then placed on the top of cooked white rice. The other is sometimes called "so-su katsudon" ソースカツ丼 . In this variation "tonkatsu sauce" or some other Japanese-Western style sauce such a mixture of catsup and Worcester  sauce is used. The tonkatsu is either simmered or dipped in the sauce or is topped with it. I made a hybrid of the traditional and the so-su katsudon then topped it off with a poached egg made from pasteurized eggs. This was a lunch. I served it with salted cucumber and daikon or "asazuke" 浅漬け.

Since I did not have any shiitake mushrooms which I usually use for this dish I used frozen "maitake" 舞茸 or hen of the woods. I also had blanched broccolini florets so I added that mostly for color.

Ingredients: (for two servings).
Cooked rice (freshly cooked is the best but microwaved frozen rice will do).
2 hire-katsu or pork tenderloin cutlets (if you fry them just before assembling the dish, that will be the best but that never happens in our household).
1 medium onion, halved and thinly sliced
Some mushrooms, I often use fresh shiitake but this time I used frozen maitake, amount arbitrary.
1/4 cup Japanese broth (made of kelp and dried bonito flakes)
1 - 2 tsp concentrated "mentsuyu" めんつゆ noodle sauce or mirin and soy sauce
2 pasteurized eggs
Some greenery such as snow peas, I added blanched broccolini (optional)

Directions:
1. In a small frying pan, I added olive oil and sautéed the onion and maitake (still frozen) until slightly soft (optional step, you can skip this and go to #2)
2. Add the broth and mentsuyu, when it starts boiling, turn the heat down and simmer with a cover on for 5-minutes or until the onion and mushroom are cooked and the sauce is slightly reduced.
3. Meanwhile, Put the rice in two bowls and microwave to warm it up.
3. Since this is leftover tonkatsu, I reheated it in our toaster oven using the toasting function, which is almost like re-frying. The crispy crust comes back. Cut into bite-size strips.
4. Start making poached eggs 4-5 minutes before everything comes together. The yolks should still be very runny.
5. Using a perforated spoon, place the cooked onion and mushroom on the rice (only small amount of sauce remains in the pan. I reserve this in a small serving bowl just in case my wife needs more sauce)
6. Place the sliced and reheated tonkatsu, broccolini and poached egg on the top.
7. I topped everything off with some tonkatsu sauce.

We like this hybrid katsudon. Since I poached the eggs, it is much easier to consistently get a runny yolk and cooked egg white compared to the traditional method of topping with lightly beaten eggs which often results in overcooked yolk and undercooked white. Because I do not cook the tonkatsu in the liquid, the crust remains crispy.

Braised Tarako, shirataki and mushroom 白滝と舞茸のたらこ炒め

I had one set (two sacs) of salted cod roe leftover after I made "Tarako spaghetti". I also had maitake mushroom 舞茸 (hen-of-the-wood) which needed to be used. So one evening, I came up with this dish. This is a variation of the dish I previously posted.  This is a perfect small dish for cold sake.

I also served "Chicken Matsukaze yaki" 松風焼き (reheated in the toaster oven).

Ingredients:
Maitake, one package, bottom portion removed and separated (#1).
Shirataki*  白滝, 1 package, washed in cold running water and boiled in plenty of hot water and drained (#2)
Tarako cod roe たらこ: Two sacs (#3). Sacs opened and the roe scraped off removing the membrane (#4 and 5). Sake or mirin 1 tbs
Vegetable oil, 1 tsp with a splash or sesame oil
Soy sauce, 1-2 tsp (adjust depending on how salty the cod roe is).

*Shirataki is a thin noodle made of Kon-nyaku (Konjac) こんにゃく. Right out of the package it has a rather unpleasant smell. But the smell disappears after washing and par boiling. It does not have much taste and zero calories but adds a nice texture to the dish and delivers whatever seasoning you add. In this case, the added seasoning and flavor would come from the cod roe clinging to the Kon-nyaku noodles.

Directions:
1. Add the vegetable oil to a sauce pan on medium flame.
2. Add the drained shirataki and stir for a few minutes.
3. Add the mushrooms and stir another minute.
4. Add the sake (or mirin if you like a slightly sweet taste) and stir until only a small  amount of liquid remains (#6).
5. Add the tarako and stir until the roe becomes opaque (1 minute or less).
6. Season with the soy sauce, stir for 30 seconds.

This is a quick dish which goes perfectly well with sake. You can add other items such as "chikuwa" ちくわ fish cake, shiitake mushroom etc. You could also add a hot sauce  (Sriracha or Tabasco or Japanese hot pepper flakes) to add spiciness if you like. The matsukaze yaki had a nice nutty taste from miso. These two snacks went a long way to enjoying the sake.

Cod with tofu soba noodle 鱈ちり風かけ蕎麦

Some time ago, I prepared sake lee marinade or "Kasu-doko" 粕どこ and used it to make a few dishes.  I stored it in a sealed container in the refrigerator (meat drawer).  I happened to check if it was still good and it was. So, when I saw a good looking cod filet in the grocery store, I got one for sake lee marinated grilled cod.  It so happened that I had too much cod and I could not fit everything into the marinade.  I used the extra for this Sunday lunch.

This is similar to the clear soup with cod and tofu I posted before. To make it as a lunch, I decided to add noodles. My choice was between so-men ソーメン (very thin Japanese noodle) or soba 蕎麦. When I checked my dried noodle container, the soba package was already open so the decision was made.

Besides cod and tofu, I added two kinds of mushrooms; maitake 舞茸 (hen-of-the-wood) and shiitake 椎茸.

I garnished it with the skin of yuzu ゆず (frozen) and chopped chives. For color, I also added ribbons of carrot.

There is no recipe for this; I just put the ingredients together. I boiled dried soba noodles and rinsed them in cold running water and set aside.

I just used number one dashi (ichiban dashi 一番出し) I made some days ago from kelp and dried bonito flakes seasoned with mirin and light colored soy sauce. I placed fresh shiitake and maitake mushrooms in, as well as cubes of tofu and thinly shaved carrot (by a peeler). When the broth heated up, I turned it down to simmer and added the cod. I let it gently poach in the liquid for 5 minutes. 

I placed the cooked soba noodles in a bowl and arranged the cod, mushrooms and tofu over them. Then I poured in the broth. I garnished it with chopped chives and yuzu skin.

For mine, I sprinkled on a Japanese red pepper flakes (ichimi tougarashi 一味唐辛子). The broth was good and went well with the flaky moist cod. We could have made this as a soup, added a bowl of rice and called it dinner.  

Mushrooms Udon Bowl きのこ沢山のかけうどん

“Udon” うどん are thick Japanese noodles made from wheat flour, salt and water. I’ve posted many udon dishes over the years. We usually use dried udon noodles because it is convenient. Udon appears to have many regioanl varieties. In Shikoku 四国 and Kansai 関西 (Osaka area),  Sanuki (-style) udon 讃岐風うどん is famous and is characteristically “chewy” as opposed to southern Kyushu 南九州 or Fukuoka 福岡 udon which is famous for its softness. The udon we usually get is somewhere in between. We tend to like thin udon such as “Inaniwa” 稲庭 udon or “Harima thread uson” 播磨糸うどん. I’m not sure what triggered it but we decided to get  frozen Sanuki-style  udon from Weee. The noodles are a bit on the thicker side with a square shape and straight edges (see 2nd picture below) which are characteristics of Sanuki udon or udon in the Kaisai region in general. For lunch, I made “kake-udon” かけうどん which is warm udon in broth. I used whatever was available for topping indluding three kinds of mushrooms (shiitake, maitake and simeji), soft boiled duck egg, simmered pork and edible chrysanthemum.

Underneath the toppings are the Sanuki-udon.

Ingredients: (2 small or half servings)
Mixed fresh mushrooms (I used shiitake sliced, mitake torn into small pices, and shimeji separated)
One package of frozen Sanuki udon, thawed and cooked in boiling water for 3-4 minutes
2 slices of simmered pork
Edible chrysanthemum, blanched
One soft boiled (pasteurized) duck egg, halved
Blanched sugar snaps
Dashi broth
X4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce

Directions:
Sauté the mushrooms in olive oil for a few minutes, add the broth (enough for two bowls) and simmer for a few minutes, add the noodle sauce to taste, place the pork, egg, chrysanthemum, and sugar snaps on the top to warm them up for few minutes
Divide the udon into two bowls, arrange the toppings and pour in the seasoned broth.
Add 7 flavored pepper flakes or “shichi-mi tougarashi 七味唐辛子 (optional)

The udon was really chewy. We like it but it requires a bit of effort (chewing). This type of udon may be perfect for “Nabeyaki udon” 鍋焼きうどん.

Shad Roe from South Carolina 南キャロライナからのシャド魚卵

Although fish roe are very popular in Japan, it is not common in U.S.. Few exceptions are, of course caviar, bottargo, and shad roe. We posted a shad roe dish in 2012 but since then we have not had it until now. Turns out my wife’s sister loves shad roe. (According to my wife when she was a kid shad was considered a “trash” fish but the roe were considered a delicacy. Her grandfather particularly liked shad roe and shad roe season was an eagerly anticipated event. He particularly like the roe sautéed with bacon and served with eggs for breakfast. Due to her grandfather’s enthusiasm my wife ate a fair amount of shad roe in her childhood.) My wife’s sister apparently inherited Grandad’s appreciation for shad roe and had an arrangement with a company called “Charleston Sea Food” in South Carolina. They call her every year to let her know when the season opened and she would immediately sign up for a delivery.  Although she would relay the information to my wife, my wife had not inherited Grandad’s level of appreciation and previously never pursued purchasing some. But this year we decided to try it. We got 4 sets meaning 4 pairs of egg sacs (minimum you could buy). It comes fresh vacuum packed and can be easily frozen for later use. It arrived in ice packs (picture #3). As before, we cooked in the very traditional way; pan fried in bacon drippings (#1). I fried blanched broccoli in the same frying pan as well as sage brown butter maitake 舞茸 “hen of woods” mushroom (subject to a separate post) as sides.

You can see the grain of the roe on the cut surface (picture #2). This is much coarser than “tarako” たらこ cod roe or “kazunoko” 数の子 herring roe. The texture and flavor are difficult to describe but we like it. To me this reminded me of the roe of a Japanese fish called “Hatahata” ハタハタ but the Japanese fish has a different texture (a bit slippery texture).

We cooked exactly the same as before (in the previous post) but I did not finish it in the oven. I repeat this again for my convenience.

Ingredients: (small servings for two of us, this will be one serving for most)
One sac (half of one set, picture #3 g one set, came fresh and vacuum packed ) of shad roe, removing attached vessels etc but keep membrane intact
2 strips of bacon
6 florets of blanched broccoli (optional)
Salt and pepper

Directions:
Fry the bacon until crispy and fat rendered, remove the bacon and set aside on paper towel lined plate leaving the bacon drippings in the pan.
Add the shad roe and adjust the flame to medium.
After one side is browned (5 minutes) turn it over cook for another 5 minutes (picture #4). Place the lid and cook 5-10 minutes until fully cooked (no pink inside)
Add the broccoli 5 minutes before the roe is finished and season with salt and pepper
Season it with salt and pepper
I cut into short segments and served.

This was not bad at all. I served it with sides of the broccoli and hen of woods mushrooms which went well. I will try cooking it Japanese style to see how that works. I have to say shad roe fits seamlessly into my Japanese fish roe palette…also, I have to appreciate that my wife’s Grandad was a man of fine taste.

Morel mushroom pasta and pork scaloppini モレルマッシュルームパスタ

We like mushrooms in general (except for button mushrooms). Shiitake is our main stay. Occasionally we branch out to maitake 舞茸 or enoki えのき茸 or shimeji しめじ. Of course, once a year, matsutake 松茸 is a must have. This time my wife found a package of fresh morel mushrooms at our near-by Whole Foods. So one weekend evening, we had morel mushroom pasta and a pork scaloppini-like dish.

The pasta was PA dutch egg noodle. My wife made a sauce. This is a simple sauce with sautéed fresh morel in butter and cream simply seasoned with salt and pepper. Pork scaloppini was just pork tenderloin cut into medallions and pounded very thin, seasoned with dried basil and oregano, salt and pepper. I dusted with flour and cooked in olive oil. I did not make the traditional sauce that goes with scaloppini. The pasta had a lovely morel mushroom taste that was absorbed and extended by the pasta. The creamy sauce added an unctuous element. This was a great way to eat pasta. The pasta also went very well with the pork scaloppini.

Since we have started to open up the old wines we collected over the year, this bottle was up next. This is Barnett Vineyard 2006 Pinot Noir.

We got this bottle when we visited the vineyard. This was a reserved personal tasting and the guide (a bit grumpy guy) let us taste their wine in a gazebo on the top of the mountain on their property overlooking surrounding vinyards and mountains. The view was spectacular. We bought several bottles of cabernet and a few Pinot. We must have had them send to us but I do not remember the details. Long time ago, we finished all of their cabs but this pinot was left. This bottle was kept in our wine refrigerator not in the basement. So we were hoping this was better kept and aged.

I carefully decanted it one hour before. Although, edge was brownish indicating age, it had surprisingly fresh fruit; cherry and a bit of strawberry and tannin was mellow. We really enjoyed this aged Pinot. This was particularly good paring with morel mushroom pasta and the pork scaloppini. Since I did not make any sauce (like caper and lemon) but just herbs, salt and pepper, it went better with this wine.

Nabemono 鍋物

Nabe 鍋 means "pot". Nabemono is an all inclusive term of any hot pot dish but often the dish itself is called "nabe". Any dish you cook (usually on the table) in a pot (most often earthenware) with broth is called "nabe" or "nabemono". Sukiyaki  すき焼き, shabu-shabu しゃぶしゃぶ and oden おでん may be considered types of nabe in a broad sense but I do not think it is appropriate to include them in "nabemono". Depending on the ingredients and seasoning of the broth, you have many variations and many names of "nabe". Whatever the name, in cold winter days, nabemono is one of the most comforting  and warming dishes. The types of broth seasonings could be;

1) Dashi without seasoning; When your broth is not seasoned, you use a dipping sauce such as ponzu. Tarachirinabe タラちり鍋. Mizutaki 鶏の水炊き, and Yudoufu 湯豆腐 are three such examples.

2) Dashi and soy sauce based; Yosebabe 寄せ鍋 is the best example.

3) Dashi and miso based; Chankonabe  ちゃんこ鍋, Ishikarinabe 石狩鍋, and Dotenabe 土手鍋 are three such examples.

Since other ingredients will impart lots of flavor to the broth, the starting broth is usually a simple kelp broth. In terms of the ingredients, you could limit them to only a few items (like yudoufu in which only tofu or tofu and nappa cabbage are usually used) or you could add anything including sea food, meat, vegetables, tofu, fish cake and more, as is done in chankonabe and yosenabe. There are no rules (although there are some guide lines). The name of the nabe changes based on the ingredients, locality, and types of broth.

Here is one example I made one evening in a small one person pot. I am not sure what I should call this. A type of yosenabe but I used mostly vegetables and at the very end decided to add shrimp. I first made dashi from kelp and a "dashi pack". This is like a tea bag but instead of tea, combination of pulverized bonito flakes, dried fish and kelp (there are several different kinds) are placed in the bag. It is much better than granulated instant dashi but still very convenient. I seasoned the broth with mirin, sake and soy sauce (to taste, since I did not measure). I started with the ingredients which take the longest time to cook. In my case, I added daikon (halved and thinly sliced) and carrot (sliced a bit thicker than the daikon) first, then after 10 minutes or so, I added the white part of Nappa cabbage or Hakusai 白菜, tofu 豆腐, followed by (after 5 minutes) maitake mushroom 舞茸, green parts of Nappa, scallion, and finally shrimp.

The ingredients I could have added include fish (usually a white meat, hardy fish such as cod), chicken (cut up thigh meat), fish cakes, and shell fish. As a condiment, I used seven flavored Japanese red pepper powder 七味唐辛子. To finish the meal, I could have added cooked rice to make porridge, or noodles such as udon noodles but I was too full just eating the items I cooked. Traditionally, warm sake is the choice of drink but we like cold sake even in winter and with nabe.

"Ozouni" New Year Soup お雑煮

We started having New Year's soup or "ozouni" お雑煮 as a lunch rather than breakfast a few years ago. We need coffee in the morning even if it's New Year's day. So, we started the day with our cappuccino and the assorted holiday breads such as stollen and panetonne that my wife baked for the holidays. The ozoni made its debut at lunch. Ozoni varies among regions and even families. Sometimes husbands and wives may have grown up with totally different types of ozoni and it can be a source of contention. In our household, however, there is no problem since mine is the only ozoni we both know. (Ozoni was not part of my wife's childhood menu so the only ozoni she has ever eaten was based my mother's recipe which is also the ozoni I grew up on). My wife suggested several modifications early on in our marriage, so our ozoni varies slightly from the original and is rather uniquely our own. The base is clear soup seasoned with mirin, soy sauce and salt. I make a stock base from  kelp, dried bonito and chicken. The items in the soup include shiitake mushrooms, freeze dried tofu (kouya-dofu 高野豆腐), daikon, carrot, burdock root 牛蒡, chicken, shrimp, fish cake 蒲鉾, snow peas, and mitsuba greens みつば. As per my wife's suggestion, we put the Mochi 餅 rice cake in the deep fried tofu (or "abura-age" 油揚げ) pouch, tied with "kanpyou" 干瓢 so that it won't dissolve or stick. (Unfortunately, it is on the bottom of the bowel and can't be seen in the picture). The items vary from year to year as well. This year, I forgot to get freeze dried tofu and shiitake so I used maitake instead.

I also served the usual new year food I made. All except for the gobo dish are in "Norio's New Year's dishes" tab in our blog.

Left is "Russian" marinated salmon 鮭のロシア漬け and the right herring roe 数の子.

Daikon namasu 大根なますwith ikura salmon roe. Since we could not get octopus leg, I had to be satisfied with head (body) of octopus this year.

Datemaki 伊達巻 egg roll and "gobo" burdock root with sesame dressing.

We had only one small cup of symbolic sake with this.

Exotic mushrooms and wild rice soup きのことワイルドライスのスープ

I am again drifting from the Izakaya theme but this is one of our favorite soup for special occasions. It is almost a cross between porridge and soup depending on how much wild rice I add. It can be certainly served as either "shime" (ending) or "opening" dish.

The original recipe came form the cookbook called "Openers", which has recipes and very artistic pictures of the appetizers and soups, i.e., "openers". We got this some years ago and it appears that this book is not available any longer. This soup can be a bit expensive to make depending on what kinds of exotic mushroom and types of wild rice are used. 

Mushrooms: For making soup stock, regular white button mushrooms are used, which will be pureed into the soup stock (see below). For the mushrooms in the soup, I used chanterelle, oyster (maitake, 舞茸), shiitake シイタケ, trumpet royale (very similar to eringi エリンギ or eryngii), alba clamshell, and brown clamshell (hon shimeji ホンシメジ) mushrooms this time. Cut them into relatively large pieces so that you can see and taste the mushrooms. Trumpet royale may be cut or torn along its length relatively thinly since it is rather firm. The amount and kinds of mushrooms you can use are totally up to you but using at least one exotic wild mushroom will make this soup special. Chantrelle and morel are two of my favorites and tend to be rather expensive.

Wild rice: Use 100% wild rice either true wild rice from the lakes of Minnesota or cultivated ones. I used the latter. Before adding to the soup, soak it in a hot water for one hour. Do not use a mixed wild rice and regular rice, which is often sold as "wild rice" in a ready-to-use box. You can not substitute wild rice with any other rice. The result will be totally different. So use wild rice. 

Mushroom Soup Stock: To make the soup stock, I sauteed the shallots, (thinly sliced, 5 medium), and carrot, rather finely chopped (one medium) in butter (2 tbs) in a large (12 inch) frying pan on a medium high flame for several minutes. It is ok to brown the butter in this process. I then add thinly sliced white button mushrooms (stem end removed, one package or about 15-20 small and medium ones) and sauté for 5-7 minutes. The reason I use a rather high heat is that the water exuded from the mushrooms needs to be quickly reduced leaving brown bits on the bottom of the pan. Deglaze with chicken stock (1/2 cup, my usual Swanson no-fat, low sodium) and turn down the flame to low. Put a tight fitting lid on the pan and simmer for 5 minutes. I add this to the stock pot with warm chicken broth (about 3 cups, again Swanson) on simmer. Using an immersion blender, I puree the solids in the soup stock. I put the pan in the sink to make spills easier to clean and blend. Once blended the pot goes back on the stove on simmer. 

I sauteed the mixture of the mushrooms from above in a large frying pan on a high flame with butter (2 tbs) for several minutes until the mushrooms are soft and browned without any liquid remaining in the bottom of the pan (picture on the left). I deglaze with brandy (2-3 tbs, I used Christian Brothers but it is up to you to use Remy Martin XO here). Be careful since it will ignite (I pour the amount of brandy in a metal cup before deglazing and flambe-ing). Let the flame die down and add the mushrooms to the soup stock. Add the drained wild rice (I only had 1/2 cup but you could use more, up to about 1 cup). I seasoned with dried leaf savory (1/4 tbs, if you have fresh savory, use fresh, 1/2 tbs, but I do not like to use "ground" savory) and fresh chopped thyme (sparingly, thyme can be strong, I used the ones still surviving in our herb garden). Actually, I add fresh thyme towards the end of cooking. I let it simmer for about 40 minutes until the wild rice is cooked. I adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. I served the soup garnished with chopped chives and freshly cracked black pepper.

This is a wonderful soup. In addition to all the flavors from the mushrooms, the wild rice really adds a nutty flavor as well as a thickness and unctuous mouth feel of the soup. We served this for Thanksgiving and Christmas in the past with great success. We had this with my wife's rye whole wheat bread tonight; an extremely satisfying combination. The wine we had was Bordeaux (unusual for us), Chateau Pavie-Macquin 2006. This is rather young and fruit-forward (for Brodeaux) without any funky nose. The earthy flavors of mushrooms went so well with this wine.

Sautéed mix mushrooms with butter and soy sauce きのこのバータ醤油いため

This is a typical cook-as-you-drink type dish. I had leftover oyster mushroom (maitake 舞茸), trumpet royale (similar to eringi エリンギ or eryngii), alba clamshell and brown clamshell (hon shimeji ホンシメジ) from when I made the exotic mushroom soup. Trumpet royal is, I suppose, very similar but different from eryngii (popular in Japan but not here) and has a nice firm texture and porcini-like flavor.

This dish is not based on any recipe but has the classic flavor (to me, classic but I am not sure it is classic to any cuisine) of soy sauce, butter and garlic. The mushrooms, especially trumpet royale has a nice meaty texture and flavor and is perfect for any accompanying drink. The amount of mushrooms I use is about twice as much as you see in the picture above (that is what I had left).

If you wash the mushrooms, they, especially oyster mushroom, tend to absorb water. You may choose not to wash the mushrooms. Regardless of whether I wash them or not, I spread them on a paper towel and let them stand for 1 hour or so at room temperature before cooking, so that the surface of the mushrooms is completely dry. This procedure also lets some excess moisture evaporate from the mushrooms themselves. I tear the trumpet royale lengthwise from the stem end. I just separate the oyster and clamshell mushrooms; if too large, I cut them into a bite size lengths.

In a large frying pan (I use a 12 inch non-stick, do not crowd the mushrooms) on a high flame and add peanut oil (1 tbs, I use peanut oil to begin and add butter later because of the high smoking point of peanut oil). When the oil is almost at the smoking point, I add the mushrooms. Any water left on the surface of the mushrooms will make the oil splatter. I do not salt at this time since it will draw out moisture from the mushrooms. I saute for several minutes or until the mushrooms develop brown spots on the surface. You should not see any liquid coming out at this point. I add pats of butter (less than 1 tbs) and turn down the heat to medium. When the butter melts, I add garlic (1 clove, finely chopped), salt and pepper and stir. At the end, I add soy sauce (2 tsp) from the side wall of the pan so that it will be heated and become fragrant before mixing into the mushrooms. 

This is a simple and satisfying dish but to make it right, you have to make sure that liquid does not come out of the mushroom while cooking; drying the mushrooms before cooking and using high heat as described above are two of the secrets for success. We had this with cold sake but wines will be wonderful with this as well. Instead of soy sauce, you could use other herbs such as tarragon or thyme and also deglaze with Marsala,  port, or sherry to make it more Western in style.