Salmon sashimi 4 ways 鮭の刺身４種類

This was made with frozen sashimi salmon from Catalina. We got it for New Year but we did not eat it since we had so much other good food. We decided it wasn't getting any better with age and the ice crystals forming inside the package was probably not an improvement. So, we defrosted and enjoyed it. Since frozen sashimi salmon from Catalina usually comes in 1 lb. packages, I always have to come up with several variations rather than straight salmon sashimi.

The picture below shows what I came up with this time. From the left, straight sashimi with Meyer lemon juice squeezed on it. The next item (moving to the right) is salted and scorched on one side with a kitchen torch and then briefly marinated in concentrated Japanese noodle sauce. The rose shaped item is instant gravlax made from Umeshu 梅酒, and on the right most is several hour (instead of usual 3 days) marinated "Russian" salmon 鮭のロシア漬け. I could shorten the marination time since this salmon was sashimi grade.

The following pictures are close-ups of the individual preparations. Since I had Meyer lemons, I squeezed juice over the sashimi just before serving. In only a few minutes, the surface became slightly opaque and had a nice Meyer lemon flavor. This was so tender it was almost like eating salmon belly.

The below is salmon with one side salted and seared with a kitchen  torch and then marinated in concentrated Japanese "mentsuyu" 麺つゆ noodle sauce and garnished with the thinly sliced green part of scallion. The seared portion added an almost smokey flavor and a slightly denser texture which contrasted nicely with the soft un-seared portion. 

The below is the instant gravlax, probably the best I ever made.  The marinade is composed of 1 tbs each of brown sugar (I used regular sugar and drops of dark molasses) and Kosher salt, finely chopped dill, 1 tsp each zest of lemon and orange. I also added about 50 ml of vintage umeshu which I made in 1997, from the plums grown on the tree in our back yard, using 40% alcohol vodka. I mixed and coated the small block of salmon and covered it with plastic wrap and marinated in the refrigerator for 4-5 hours. Just before serving, I removed it from the marinade, removed the excess marinade from the surface by blotting with a paper towel and sliced it. This instant gravlax had nice complex flavors. Compared to regular gravlax, it was very moist since the it is mostly raw. We really liked it.

This is the classic Russian marinated salmon which I make every New Year using a recipe I got from my mother many years ago. (This used to be a regular in her line-up of NewYear dishes). I used the belly portion of the salmon and marinated for only several hours. So, the inside was raw. This was quite a contrast with the gravlax. It was lemony and slightly vinegary but not sweet at all. I garnished it with chiffonade of perilla.

Although this is a lot of salmon, because of the different flavors and textures, each preparation was uniquely varied so the entire dish was not monotonous as would have been the case if we ate everything as just salmon sashimi. (Believe me we tried it that way one time before and it was overwhelmingly too much of a good thing). This was infinitely better approach. There was a small amount of leftover Russian marinated salmon and gravlax. Since these preparations were particularly good we were glad to enjoy it again the next day.

Salmon sashimi and “Yukke” style salmon サーモン刺身とユッケ風

When we received our order of an assorted frozen sashimi from Riviera Seafood Club, they substituted salmon for the “Tuna chunks” (total of two sashimi salmon blocks instead of one salmon and one tuna chunks). We would have preferred the tuna chunks but we understand that they are probably a by-product of trimming tuna blocks and may not always be available. Not being discouraged, I served sashimi salmon as well as my own version of “Yukke” or “Yukhoe” style salmon chunks. I served them with cucumber wakame  sumiso-ae 胡瓜とワカメの酢味噌あえ. Since my wife has developed the taste for “Yuzu-kosho” 柚子胡椒, I served both regular wasabi (lighter green) and yuzu-kosho. The quality of salmon was very good (aqua-cultured New Zealand salmon super-frozen).

“Yukke” or “Yukhoe” is a Korean raw meat (beef) dish similar to steak tartar (but uses thinly sliced meat) with a sweet and spicy sauce. Yukke is very popular in Japan. Although strictly-speaking, it should be made with beef, it is widely adapted to use sashimi tuna, salmon and other fish in Japan. Another similar dish is called “Poke” which originated in Hawaii. Usually poke is made with cubes of ahi (or yellowfin) tuna. The sauce is soy sauce based and can be similar to Yukke sauce. I am sure there are many variations of Yukke sauce as well as poke sauce.  In my version, of Yukke sauce I use Korean chili paste “Gochijang” and in my version of poke sauce I use Japanese red pepper flakes (or “Ichimi-tougarashi”). I am not sure these differences define or differentiate the two sauces. Either sauce works for me. The one I made for the salmon sashimi (on a whim) was pretty good and I am posting this just for my record.

Ingredients:
Sashimi grade salmon, thawed if frozen, cut into 1 cm chunks (amount arbitrary)

For Yukke sauce
2 tsp x4 Japanese noodle sauce
1 tsp white sesame seeds coarsely ground in Japanese “Suribachi” mortar
1 tsp dark sesame oil
1/2 tsp (or more for spicier sauce) Gochujang (Korean red chili paste)
1/4 tsp grated ginger (and garlic)
Chopped scallion and sesame seeds for garnish

Just mix all the ingredients for the sauce and marinade the salmon chunks for a few minutes, garnish with the scallion (I used the green part) and sesame seeds.

Since Japanese noodle sauce has good dashi flavor and some sweetness beside soy sauce, it really made my version yukke sauce good. Although garlic is optional I did not add any because I didn’t want a strong garlic taste since we were going to consume this as part of the evening meal. Often, this dish is topped with raw egg yolk. I happened to have pasteurized egg but we skipped the egg as well as the garlic this time.

"Sashimi at home" superfrozen tuna and salmon 超冷凍鮪と鮭の刺身

At the nearby Whole Foods grocery store, we saw a frozen case with packages of tuna and salmon sashimi. I immediately recognized the products which are from "Sushi At home". This company appears to be a fish whole seller. Although they advertise their tuna, salmon, imitation crab, butterfly shrimp, and wasabi products on their website, those products can not be purchased directly from them.  They have to be purchased from a retail outlet. Whole Foods in our area carried tuna, salmon, imitation crab  and wasabi. We bought the tuna and salmon to try them out. The picture below shows the tuna and salmon sashimi I served.



The difference between the frozen yellowfin sashimi block we get from our Japanese grocery store and this item are two fold; first, this is not carbon monoxide treated and second it is super-frozen* at -76F. To get the color right, the tuna needs to be thawed as per the instructions.

*"Fish for sushi" called the same or similar process "Proton frozen".

The Atlantic salmon was also super frozen.

The pictures below show both the tuna and salmon blocks thawed. The color of the tuna was more natural dark red instead of the bright red of carbon monoxide treated fish.

It was a very cold day (the high did not go above freezing) and we decided to have  warm sake.

As before we placed the sake container in hot water bath to keep it warm.

The tuna had a firm consistency and was better than the one we get from our Japanese grocery store. The salmon was very disappointing. It had a very soft mushy consistency and did not taste that good. The salmon sashimi from Catalina was much better. I decided to make carpaccio from the leftover salmon the next day rather than serving it as sashimi.  From the remaining tuna, I made tuna and natto.

Instead of "hikiwari" natto ひきわり納豆, I used whole bean natto. As before, using my natto mixing contraption, I mixed the natto very well and seasoned with the seasoning packets that came with the natto (this came frozen). The small cubes of tuna were marinated with soy sauce briefly before mixing.

We liked this dish. Somehow, the natto flavor was better and tuna in this preparation was quite palatable.

Ahi tuna from Catalina カタリナオフショアからのアヒマグロ刺身

We tried "Fresh Wild sushi-grade Ahi tuna" from Catalina. According to them "Ahi" tuna could be Bigeye (Mebachi メバチマグロ) or Yellowfin (Kihada キハダマグロ).  Quoting from the Website "Ahi sushi is one of the most popular items among sushi fans. In the Hawaiian language, “Ahi” (ah-hee) refers to two species of tuna: bigeye and yellowfin." The one we got appears to have been "Bigeye" which is good since we like bigeye much better than yellowfin as sashimi. We also got fresh salmon and one tray of Pacific Northwest "Uni" or sea urchin roe. Obtaining decent uni from Catalina (or anywhere else) is more and more difficult and this was the first time we tried Pacific Northwest uni.

The tuna was about one pound. I first removed the skin. The white line separating the meat (sinew or fascia) is visible in the picture.

I made the piece into "Saku" blocks. You can see the sinew separating the meat especially on the right two larger blocks.

The first dish I made was  "tuna and avocado cubes" dressed in a mixture of dark sesame oil, soy sauce, sake and garlic ( I posted this before).

Since I did not have chives, I used chopped scallion instead for garnish.

Since the tuna was cut into small cubes, this tasted good without much problems with the sinew.  But when I served it with the salmon and uni as sashimi, the sinew became very unpleasant. Usually, more noticeable sinew or "Suji  すじ is present in Ootro or a very fatty potion tuna but this red meat or "akami " 赤身 had lots of "suji".

The salmon* was very nice and was the best among the three sashimi items we bought. The uni was certainly acceptable but the consistency is a bit too soft or liquid. It also had a gamey taste akin to but even greater than Maine uni. It is far cry from the nice firm but creamy California Gold uni we used to get.

* Digression alert: Salmon sashimi or sushi did not exist while I was in Japan. The reason Japanese did not eat raw salmon was because of the parasite called Anisakis which produced acute GI problems if ingested. It is killed after the salmon has been frozen (-4F for at least 24 hours) but marinating with vinegar does not get rid of it. About 1995, Norwegian purveyors convinced Japanese customers that their salmon was safe to eat raw since anisakis are not present in their farm raised salmon. Pacific Northwestern salmon has anisakis (I am not going into the life cycles of anisakis but where seals and other sea mammals are present, anisakis infestation is a problem.) The one we got was from New Zealand. As per Catalina website "Mt. Cook Alpine salmon is pure king salmon. It is naturally free of parasites, GMO, antibiotics, chemicals, mercury and other heavy metals due to being sustainably farmed in the pure glacial waters of New Zealand’s Southern Alps. " The salmon as sashimi is not our usual choice but, among the three we got, I prefer the salmon (meaning the tuna and uni weren't that good).

Salmon sashimi 鮭の刺身

This was the last serving of sashimi fish (tuna, salmon and uni) we got from Catalina. I served all that was left. We have enjoyed the contents of this shipment for lunches and evening repasts for the past 3 days.

Besides Sashimi, I also served cucumber cups with moromi-miso もろみ味噌 and soy sauce marinated salmon roe いくらの醤油漬け.

I served two kinds of salmon sashimi. The rolled up one is kelp-cured and the flat one is straight salmon sashimi. 

Because the tuna had a bit of unpleasant sinew and only a small piece was left, I made "tuna nuta" マグロのぬた. I cut the tuna into small cubes and served it with wakame seaweed 若芽 and thinly sliced rings of red onion and dressed it in nuta or sumiso 酢味噌 sauce

Although we enjoyed the sashimi fish we got this time from Catalina, the tuna was a bit disappointing because of the unpleasant sinew in the meat. The Northwestern uni was just OK; with its gamey flavor and soft texture it was nothing comparable to California Gold Uni we used to get. The highlight was the salmon. 

Salmon "Zuke" bowl サーモンのずけ丼

The day after our hanami was cold and rainy so we could not do another day of hanami outside. Since we had to finish up our sashimi salmon, I made a salmon "Zuke" bowl for lunch.

I first sliced the salmon sashimi a bit thinner than I would if I was serving it as sashimi. I then marinated the pieces in a concentrated noodle sauce (from the bottle. I was a bit too lazy to prepare a "Zuke" sauce myself) for 2 hours in the refrigerator. Since salmon is rather oily, it did not absorb the marinade as much as tuna would. I warmed up some frozen rice from our stash in the freezer and dressed it with sushi vinegar for an instant sushi rice. I added the rice to a bowl (this was a baby size), topped it with the marinated slices of salmon. I garnished with sugar snaps (boiled and then cooled in seasoned broth. The recipe is from "Otsumami Yokocho" おつまみ横町 cookbook), thinly sliced green part of scallion and dried nori strips.

As a side, I served cucumber and radish "sunomono" 酢の物 salad.

I also served miso soup (julienne of daikon, "abura-age" deep fried tofu pouch, and scallion). This was a good light lunch for us. Now only half of the salmon sashimi is left.

Salmon-Spinach Tortas 鮭とほうれん草のケーキ

My wife is into making small appetizers. When she saw the recipe called “Tuna-Spinach tortas” at Washington Post on-line, it was a “must-do”. Although she liked the idea of a small tortas, canned tuna does not grace our pantry…ever.  (Instead, we keep frozen sashimi-grade tuna in the freezer). We also like salmon and almost every other week we get a half-salmon filet (A special available from the local grocery store only through home delivery). I scale it and using the main portion, make several fillet portions. I then separate the belly portion for an appetizer and use the resulting small irregular trimmings including the tail portion of the filet to make salmon cakes. After we cook the fillets (usually cooked in a frying pan to make crispy skin), I make salmon salad from the leftover portions.

This time my wife used the salmon salad I made from the left over salmon fillets instead of the canned tuna called for in the original recipe. The salmon salad was a bit different from what I usually make since we did not have enough cooked salmon fillets so I oil-poached the irregular bits of fresh salmon to make about 5oz of salmon. The oil poached salmon was much softer and more moist than our usual cooked salmon.  In addition, we did not have home-made Greek yogurt. So I used all mayo instead of mixture of mayo and Greek yogurt.

The tortas came out very nice and the salmon filling was moist but made a nice crispy shell. Although we cannot tell how the original canned tuna version would have been, this is pretty good.

As you can see in the picture below, the top portion is mixture of spinach, tomato and egg. The bottom is mixture of cheese and the salmon salad.

Ingredients: (12 cupcake sized servings)
2 bags of baby spinach cooked and drained
5 oz. Cooked salmon made into salmon salad (end amount about double the amount of salmon)
1/4 cup Parmigiana-Reggiano cheese grated
1/4 cup smoked gouda grated
3/4 cup plain panko (bread crumbs)
4 large eggs
4 Campari tomatoes
1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
1/8 to 1/4 cayenne pepper

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease the wells of the muffin pan with cooking oil spray. Combine the salmon salad, cheeses and panko in a mixing bowl. Divide it equally among the muffin pan wells, packing it in firmly. (I used second to largest ice cream scoop).

Lightly beat the eggs in a bowl. Coarsely chop the tomatoes (to taste), then add to the eggs, along with the salt and pepper. Add the spinach to the bowl. Stir until well incorporated, then spoon equal amounts of the mixture on top of each tuna portion in the individual muffin pan wells (#1). Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until set and lightly browned (#2). Let cool for a few minutes before carefully inverting the tortas on individual plates. (#3 & #4)

This makes a great little dish that can be used as an appetizer or even part of a lunch. We were amazed at how it came out. Somehow the panko combined with the egg mixture makes a nice crisp crust on the bottom so the salmon salad seems like it is a pie filling. The salmon salad itself made a great filling. It was moist but held together. The flavors of the celery, onion and mayo used in the salad fused beautifully. The topping added a fresh note of tomato which went very well with the salmon filling. Overall this is an amazing little torta. 

Parent and offspring "salmon and salmon roe" bowl 鮭いくら親子丼

This is a less common version of parent and offspring bowl 親子丼 but it is popular in Hokkaido. This is a rice bowl dish with a combination of salmon and salmon roe topping. As long as you use salmon and salmon roe, it will qualify as a Hokkaido-style Oyakodon. You could use salmon ashimi or even grilled salmon. For salmon roe, you could use "ikura" イクラ as is or marinated in soy sauce and sake. I had salmon roe いくら I bought last weekend and needed to be used up soon, hence this dish. Instead of salmon sashimi or raw salmon, I used smoked salmon.

Salmon roe: I made marinated salmon roe. I simply made a mixture of sake and soy sauce (1:1 ratio) enough to cover the amount of the roe I had. I marinated it overnight in the refrigerator. Because the skin of the salmon roe is semi-permeable, it will absorb the marinade and swell up. This is called "Ikura no shouyu zuke" いくらの醤油漬. This also makes salmon roe last longer and is a good condiment eaten with hot rice or even as a drinking snack with sake by itself.

Assembly: This is very simple. I made sushi rice. I took a shortcut and used bottled sushi vinegar for this. I placed cold smoked salmon and the marinaded salmon roe on the top of the sushi rice. I also made dashi maki Japanese omelet and used it with a garnish of chiffonade of Perilla and nori. 

This is a very nice "shime" 〆 dish. For a regular person, I suggest serving a much larger portion.

Kelp-cured salmon molded sushi 鮭の昆布締め押し寿司

The day we received sashimi-grade salmon, I made instant gravlax for lunch. While I was preparing the gravlax, I also prepared "kelp cured salmon" 鮭の昆布締め. Usually, white meat fish is used for this preparation but I wanted to experiment. After almost 3 days curing, I made molded sushi or "Oshizushi" 押し寿司 out of it. I served it with French style green beans dressed with sesame dressing インゲンの胡麻和え and simmered burdock root ごぼうのしぐれ煮. I also served my potato salad topped with salmon roe soaked in sake and soy sauce イクラの醤油漬け.  I served miso soup with tofu, and onion on the side.

Actually one mold made 7 pieces. Since it was an uneven number,  but wife and I split one before plating. I garnished it with fresh dill. You cannot see it well but I made two layers of sushi rice; one seasoned with dried "aonori" seaweed 青のり and the other with red perilla salt or  "Yokari" ゆかり(see #6 in the composite picture below).

Kelp cured salmon

Ingredients:

Sashimi-grade salmon, thinly sliced (#1).

Dried Konbu kelp, briefly hydrated until pliable,  moisture blotted (three 4 inch pieces of kelp).

Directions:

I placed the slices of salmon on the kelp (#2) and covered them with another piece of kelp. I added one more layer of salmon slices and topped with more kelp.

I wrapped the kelp and salmon in aluminum foil and placed the package in the refrigerator.

I cured it for 3 days.

Kelp cured salmon molded sushi

Ingredients:

Kelp cured salmon slices

Sushi rice

Dried "aonori" powder

Yukari (powder of dried red perilla leaves mixed with salt)

Directions:

I soaked the wooden mold in water for 10-15 minutes. I placed one layer of the kelp-cured salmon slices on the bottom of the mold (#3). 

I divided the sushi rice into two portions; I mixed one with dried "aonori" seaweed and the other with Yukari powder making green and red colored rice.

I first placed the aonori rice in the mold over the salmon piece and pressed using the wooden lid of the mold. I then layered the Yukari rice on the top (#4) and pressed using the wooden lid.

I cut the molded portion into 7 pieces (#5).

As you can see the rice layers are green and red (#6)

Since I had potato salad which I made a few days ago and "ikura" salmon roe which I marinated in a mixture of sake and soy sauce, I made the dish below (I put the potato salad in a round mold and topped it with the salmon roe)

With the combination of side vegetables, potato salad and miso soup, we were quite full. Compared to kelp-cured white fish, the salmon has too strong a flavor and is too oily to have a lot of kelp umani flavor transferred to the fish. But still we could taste the subtle difference between straight raw salmon and this preparation of salmon.  The combination of aonori and yukari rice was a great success and the saltiness of yukari rice and nori flavor really added to this dish.

New year's day sashimi, marinaded salmon and salmon skin roll 元旦の刺身, ロシア漬けと手巻きサーモンスキンロール

This is a repeat of last year but we were again lucky enough to receive the shipment of sashimi from Catalina offshore products on December 31. This time we got fresh farm raised "Toro", which had "akami" 赤身, chutoro 中トロ and Ootoro 大トロ on it. In addition, we got anikimo, uni, and salmon roe. Ootoro was quite good. In the picture, the left back is "namasu" なます大根 topped with salmon roe. This year, I added yuzu juice in addition to rice vinegar which added a nice flavor. The golden uni was also excellent as usual (right back).

I also served marinated salmon which is my mother's recipe (right front). This salmon dish is called "Russian marinated salmon" ロシア漬け and my mother does not know how the dish got the name or where she got the recipe*. Of course, I made my contribution (read modification) to the recipe since I think the pith of the lemon imparts a bitter taste to the dish.  Essentially, I slice fresh salmon (the original recipe uses salt preserved salmon "aramaki shake" 新巻鮭) fillet paper thin, layered with sliced onion, lemon zest (grated by a micrograter), lemon slices (without the rind and pith). As I lay on the new salmon layer I salt it. The marinade is a mixture of sake, vegetable oil and rice vinegar (1:1:3) but I reduced the amount of oil. I tightly pack the salmon in a sealable container and let it marinade for a few days. The picture below is this dish served stand alone on the next day.

When I made the salmon dish described above, I removed the skin with a bit of the meat attached. Using the skin, I made salmon skin rolls as a "shime" dish.  This is a very popular hand roll item in the U.S. but I do not know if any sushi bars in Japan serve this. We like it very much. It is very simple to make, I cooked the salmon skin seasoned with salt, in a frying pan instead of a toaster oven (which is how most sushi bars in the U.S. cook the salmon skin). The skin should be nicely crunchy. I cut the cooked crispy skin into long strips. I used a half sheet of nori crisped up by passing over the gas flame. I smeared real wasabi, added sushi rice, perilla leaf, julienned cucumber and several strips of the salmon skin and made it into a cone shaped hand roll as seen below.

This is a very nice end to your new year's day Izakaya feast.

* I googled (google.co.jp) "鮭のロシア漬け" the marinated salmon recipe and found this blog (in Japanese). The recipe is a very similar to my mother's.  According to this blogger, her mother got the recipe from a Japanese magazine "Kurashi no techo" 暮らしの手帖. The recipe is reportedly published in the section called "Apron memo" quite a number of years ago, although the exact year is unclear. Even though the blogger mentioned the recipe was published some time ago, I was eating this as a kid and it is possible my mother's recipe predates even that publication.

New Year's Eve 大晦日

Usually we get good sashimi items for Catalina offshore products for new year's eve. This year, they did not have any good tuna or sea urchin. We had to do without them on the new year's eve. Since I bought the half filet of salmon (over 4 lb), even after making salmon kelp rolls as well as "Russian" marinated salmon, we had a good amount of  salmon left including the skin. So no sashimi this time and    we had salmon and filet mignon.

When I made salmon kelp rolls, I needed to trim the salmon to make it even square  logs. Using these trimmings  I made salmon cakes. Since some of the pieces were still large chunks, I finely minced the half of the salmon trimmings finely (which binds the other ingredients) and the remaining cut into small cubes. Other ingredients are finely chopped onion and celery (sautéed in butter, seasoned with sat ad pepper and cooled), finely grated zest of lemon, finely chopped parsley,  Japanese Panko bread crumbs,   Dijon mustard, mayonnaise and seasoned with salt and pepper. I then made a small flat cakes and  fried them with a bit of olive oil.


Using the more intact portions of the salmon left, I made cubes of teriyaki style salmon with separately cook crispy salmon skin. I just seared all surfaces of the salmon cubes and then braised in a mixture of sake, mirin and soy sauce (1:1:2 ratio) until liquid evaporate and sauce became somewhat thick.

Finally, we had a filet mignon, stuffing (re-heated in small ramekin with scripy bacon), and apple-blackend Brussels sprouts salad. Baked (blacken) brussels sprouts were sliced, red seedless grapes halved, apple (we used Fuji), skinned and cubed dressed in honey mustard dressing garnished with toasted walnuts. I made a quick sauce by degrazing the pan with port wine, reduce it in half. I then added balsamic vinegar and reduce it a bit and finished with several pats of butter.

For libation, we had NV Philippe Prie Brut with cheeses and salmons (the picture taken morning after). For us, differences in the quality of champagnes are very subtle after a certain price point but this was a quite nice one. Then with steak, we switched to 2008 Buccella Merlot . This is a quite amazing red! We really enjoyed this with filet mignon.


We managed to stay up until mid-night to see the ball to drop in on TV.

Salmon cake with rapini サーモンケーキ

 After we switched to grocery home delivery, we realized some of the items were different from the ones available at a physical store. One of them is a whole half filet of salmon with skin on (around 2.5 lbs.) which appears to be only available for home delivery. The price per pound is more reasonable compared to smaller filets available in the store. We like every part of the salmon even the skin particularly when cooked to crispiness.  Interestingly the salmon is not scaled when it arrives. So one of the first things I have to do is to scale it using a handy-dandy Japanese fish scaler. (I guess the grocery store reasons that most customers don’t like the skin. They just remove it and throw it away so why take the time to scale it.)  Another part of this type of fillet that we particularly like is the belly portion which we eat as a small hors d’oeuvre . We also like the main portion of the fillet dried in the fridge for a few days before panfrying it .  (Drying the salmon in the fridge was a technique my mother introduced to us. On one of our visits to Japan my mother offered to cook some salmon she dried with the enticing phrase “Totemo oishi WA” delivered with an emphatic nod of her head. Even my wife knew this meant, “it’s really good” and it was.) Drying the fish obviously removes some of the moisture and in so doing improves the flavor. 

I usually end up with several portions of salmon in irregular shape from both the belly and tail end of the fillet. I remove the skin and and make salmon cakes with these portions. I usually make 4 cakes which are perfect for lunch or snack. This time, I served this as a small dish to go with red wine. I heated up the cakes in a frying pan, added blanched and chopped rapini and made sauce with brown butter and lemon juice. To make it more interesting, I added yuzu-kosho 柚子胡椒 which went remarkably well with this dish.

I followed this with fried shrimp heads  reheated in the toaster oven (this was a part of take out sashimi/sushi combination from Tako Grill the night before)  and the usual simmered root vegetables I make (lotus root, burdock root, carrot, bamboo shoot, and shiitake mushroom (dried). The greens are blanched sugar snap in salt broth.

Salmon cakes

Ingredients: (make 4 small salmon cakes)
150 gram salmon meat, half finely chopped (to hold the cakes together) and another half coarsely chopped (to add texture), amount is variable, whatever I have when preparing the whole half filet of the salmon.
1 small shallot (or onion) finely chopped (#1)
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and deveined, chopped finely (#1, optional)
2 fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and caps finely chopped (optional, this time I did not have fresh shiitake)
2-3 tbs of panko Japanese bread crumbs (#4, adjust the amount based on the consistency of the mixture)
1 tbs mayonnaise (#2)
1 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard (#2)
Lemon juice from half a lemon
1 tbs chopped fresh dill (#2), I use the dill I cleaned and froze)
Olive oil for frying the vegetables and the salmon cakes

Directions:

Sauté the onion, pepper and shiitake mushroom in olive oil, season with salt and pepper, let it cool down before mixing with other ingredients.

Mix the remaining ingredients except for the panko (#3), add panko to adjust the consistency of the cakes (#4).

Make round disks (#5) and cook with olive oil in a frying pan, several minutes on each sides until brown and cooked through (#6).

This is a good dish to have. The leftover cakes can be warmed up in a frying pan or in a toaster oven. You could make some kind of sauce as I did here or just a squeeze of lemon juice. They go great with red wine.

Happy New Year 2024 明けましておめでとう2024

Like the last year, we put the New Year’s decoration including “Kagami-mochi” 鏡餅 and dragon or “tatsu 辰” zodiac figurines shown in the picture #1 in the room we spend most of our time rather than in the tokonoma 床間 in the “tea-room”.  Upon waking New Year’s day, we learned of the magnitude 7.6 earthquake that hit Ishikwa prefecture 石川県. We hope for the wellbeing of the people affected.

On New Year’s eve, we started the evening with a plate of assorted sashimi, most of the sashimi came from “Riviera Seafood Club”, our most recent favorite source of “home freezer” sashimi or sashimi that we can store in the freezer here at home and thaw at any time we want sashimi. Since the portions are smaller than sashimi we can get from other sources, we can eat more than one kind of sashimi at a time. On the New Year’s plate (picture #2) we had chutoro tuna 中トロ, hamachi はまち, scollop ホタテ, and octopus leg タコの足 (which was from D’artagnan). I added wasabi with chopped wasabi plant stalk (from tube) and yuzu kocho 柚子胡椒 (from tube).

On New Year’s day, we had only coffee (cafe latte and macchiato with a bit of steamed cream) rather than our usual breakfast so we wouldn’t be too full for the large lunch we planned of “Ozhoni” お雑煮 New Year’s soup. As usual, I served the soup in real lacquer ware bowls (gift from my mother many many years ago) with a side of some New Year’s dishes I made (picture #3).

This year, I precooked all the vegetables and proteins that went into the soup. This included “gobo” burdock root 牛蒡, shiitake 椎茸, shimeji しめじ and wood ear 木耳 mushrooms, carrot 人参, daikon 大根, and “kinu-saya” 絹さや snow peas. The protein included sous vide chicken breast (a few slices) and poached shrimp. As usual, I encased the “mochi” 餅 rice cake in “abra-age” 油揚 deep fried tofu pouch (peaking out of the bottom right of the soup bowl). I made the broth from the dashi packs I usually use as well as by poaching the shrimp in the dashi broth. I seasoned it with x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce. By precooking the vegetables and the proteins, I had better control over cooking everything just right. It also made it possible for me to make a better arrangement of the ingredients in the final soup bowl serving. Just before serving, I added frozen yuzu zest which added a nice yuzu 柚子 citrus favor (picture #4).

The side dishes (picture #5) included the usual New Year’s dishes I like to make including: salmon kelp roll 酒の昆布巻き, salmon “Russian” marinade 鮭のロシア漬 garnished with “ikura” イクラsalmon roe, daikon namasu  大根なますand poached shrimp.

We also had a few small glasses of  sake with this as a libation to the New Year. Now, this evening we will be hitting the Sushi Taro Osechi box すし太郎お節箱. The below is a preview (pictures #6 and 7).

We expect some good New Year’s feast to come with the osechi box. Already salivating!!