Pork-Ricotta meatballs リコッタチーズ入りミートボール

I often make pork or chicken meatballs. I usually add eggs and panko to make them light and tender. Instead of frying, I usually bake them. I came across this recipe in the Wall street Journal. The original recipe was for lamb meatballs. Since I had my usual hand-chopped ground pork from the trimmings of pork tenderloin, I made meatballs with pork and my usual seasoning but added Ricotta cheese instead of bread crumbs. I served the meatballs with tomato sauce I made from fresh and skinned Campari tomato. I added blanched broccoli as a side.

My wife added some sweet potato Gnocchi she made some time ago and froze. She just cooked them simply in butter. This made it a complete dinner but I took the picture before the gnocchi was added so it does not appear.

Ingredients:
For meatballs:
1 lb ground pork (I used  hand chopped trimmings of pork tenderloins.)
1/3 lb whole milk Ricotta cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded, de-veined and finely chopped
3 fresh shiitake mushrooms, stem removed and finely chopped
2 eggs
1 tsp smoked paprika
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For tomato sauce:
1/4 cup olive oil
6 skinned fresh Campari tomatos, quartered  (I usually have this prepared over the weekend but when we do not finish them during the week, I use them to make tomato sauce)
3 cloves of garlic, finely minced
1/2 medium onion, finely minced
1/2 tsp each of dried oregano and basil
2 bay leaves
Pinch of red pepper flakes
Kosher salt
(Optional) 1/4 tsp baking soda (Although made form fresh Campari tomatos and the sauce is not too acidic I still add baking soda to further reduce acidity) and 1/4 tsp of sugar.

Directions:
For meatballs:
Sautee the onion, jalapeño and shiitake mushroom in olive oil until the onion is transparent. Season with salt and pepper. Let it cool to room temperature.
Mix all other ingredients into the onion mixture (I was going to adjust the consistency if it was too soft by adding bread crumbs or flour but it was just right and I did not add them).
Using a medium size ice-cream scoop, make meatballs and place it in a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil coated with olive oil.

The green is from jalapeño pepper.

I cooked it in a preheated 350F oven toaster in convection mode for 30 minutes. The bottom became flat but that does not bother me.

For tomato sauce:
Put the olive oil in a deep sautée pan on low heat and add the red pepper and garlic.
When the garlic is fragrant, add the onion and sautée for several minutes on medium flame until soft and transparent, add the campari tomatos with its juice, add the oregano, basil and bay leaves, mix and simmer until the sauce is reduced to the consistency you like (30-40 minutes).
Taste and add salt and sugar (optional).  I also added the baking soda. It causes the sauce to start foaming.  Keep stirring and let it simmer further until all the bubbles subside.

Adding Ricotta and Parmesan cheese made the meatballs very tender and flavorful. This is definitely more high fat meatball but certainly good. I may make this with ground lamb and more closely following the original recipe some day. By adding my wife's gnocchi, this was a well balanced and satisfying dinner that goes so well with red wine.

Fried tofu ball がんもどき

Ganmodoki is one of the common items used in oden おでん. Usually I buy this ready made and  frozen but since I had 1/2 tofu left over and happened to have the other ingredients to make "ganmodoki" or "ganmo" for short, I gave it a go. Hot freshly fried ganmo is very different from what you eat as an oden item. 

Here I served it hot with grated ginger and soy sauce. (You can see a ginko nut peeking out of the cut surface.) There appear to be many theories as to the origin of the name. The corresponding kanji letter for ganmodoki is 雁擬き meaning "imitation goose" but this certainly does not resemble, in any way, shape or form, goose meat.

I had 1/2 a block of soft tofu to use. I wrapped it in a paper towel and microwaved it for 1 and half minutes and let it cool down, allowing the excess water to be absorbed into the paper towel. I placed the tofu and a whole egg (1 large) in a plastic blending container and homogenized using an immersion blender (#2 in the image below). You can use a food processor or Japanese mortar, suribachi すり鉢, for this as well.

Other ingredients included; dried shiitake mushroom (1 large, hydrated, stem removed and thinly sliced), black sea weed called "hijiki" ひじき (dried 1 tbs), gobou (1/4 tail end, leftover from the New Year) and carrot (1/4 medium). For hijiki sea weed, this time, I used "me-hijiki" 芽ひじき which is shorter and smaller than long hijiki or naga-hijiki 長ひじき I posted before. After hydration (with several changes of water for 30 minutes), hijiki increased in volume by almost 10 fold. I squeezed out the excess moisture and combined with shredded gobout and carrot.*  I added the soaking liquid from the shiitake (100ml) and simmered (#1 in the image below). I added mirin (2 tbs) and soy sauce (1 tbs) and further simmered on a low flame for 5-10 minutes until almost all the liquid was gone. I let it cool down and further removed any remaining liquid by squeezing. I added the mixture to the homogenized tofu and added potato starch (1 tsp or a bit more depending on the moisture level) and mixed well. Since I seasoned the vegetables, I did not add salt to the batter.

Moistening my hands with vegetable oil, I made small round disks (eight 2 inch diameter) and I also inserted ginko nuts (from a can) into the center (#3 in the image below). The batter was very soft and sticky. You could use two spoons in a manner similar to making quenelle and directly drop it in the oil.

* These were cut in  "sasagaki" ささがき. In Japanese curinary parlance, sasagaki is to shave off vegetables (mostly thin long items such as gobou) as though you are sharpening a pencil. Supposedly, the shape of the resulting pieces resembles small bambo ("sasa" 笹) leaves.

I deep fried it in 170C (340F) vegetable oil until golden (#4, turning a few times, total time of 4-5 minutes).

Homemade and hot freshly fried ganmo has an all together different taste and texture from the frozen variety we are used to. Hot and crunchy on the outside you can't go wrong. Although, we have to admit, this does not remind us of goose meat, it is quite good on is own right. A perfect drinking snack especially with cold sake.

Steamed Lemon Chicken 鶏のレモン蒸し

Steamed Lemon Chicken 鶏のレモン蒸し

I am not sure if this dish really belongs to Izakaya food but we often eat this dish over rice as the last item at our home Izakaya. The last dish you order in Izakaya is generally a starch, a rice or noodle dish and this dish could be that rice dish. It is very healthy, mild, refreshing, and comforting. The original recipe was from one of the Japanese cook books (Now, I do not remember which one this was). I have modified it substantially during the years. It is rather simple and you could prepare the dish one or two days ahead up to the point just before it is cooked and keep it in the refrigerator. Sake, lemon, and salt appear to preserve chicken meat but acid may turn the meat white after 2 days. Although, it is best when freshly made, this dish will re-heat very nicely in a microwave oven.

I use a skinless, boneless chicken breast. I cut the breast into bite size pieces cutting obliquely across the grain of the meat そぎぎり. (I remove the tenders and use then for another dish.) The thickness (about a quarter inch or less) and size (bite size) of the chicken should be uniform so that all pieces cook evenly. Cut fresh Shiitake mushrooms (after removing the stems) in a similar manner. One mushroom should be cut into two or three pieces but not too small. I like the size of mushroom rather large to be more substantial. Grate the lemon zest using a micro-grater (this is my preferred method) or use your knife if you so prefer but the zest should be very finely chopped. Remove the remaining skin and pith (white part of the skin, because it imparts a bitter taste) from the lemon and thinly slice the meat of the lemon into thin round slices. (for the amount in the above picture, I used two halves of a chicken breast and one lemon). I remove the seeds from the lemon before adding it to other ingredients. If you do not like to bite into lemon slices in the dish, you could add the juice of lemon instead but you need to use zest for a bright lemony taste without being too sour. The amount of chicken, lemon, mushroom are arbitrary and to your liking. You can also add finely chopped scallion or garlic chive (both optional). Put everything in a bowl, add sake, salt, black or white pepper, a dash of dark sesame oil, and sprinkle potato starch and mix well (again, I just mixed these up by eyeballing but the most crucial part is the ratio of starch and liquid...too little starch, the sauce produced after steaming is too runny and too much you will have a glue (I suppose this can be precisely measured and mixed in a measuring cup and then poured over to the chicken-shiitake mixture (I may try this method to make this dish more reproducible. Sorry but I am not a precise cook). I season lightly here since I usually add "Ponzu Shoyu" (recipe is in Mark's book p145 or use a commercial one in a bottle) just before serving. Mix well and place them in a serving bowl like one seen here.  The bowl must fit inside your steamer. I cook this in a high steam for 10 minutes and then mix. Continue steaming another 10 minutes or meat becomes opaque and the sauce is set in nice consistency. Just 5 minutes before finishing, I add any greens available. I used snow peas this time but I also use broccoli or green beans (Green beans takes a bit longer to cook. You can cook these separately for the better control of doneness). Serve over cooked rice. I use a little bit of "ponzu shoyu" or if it is sour enough just soy sauce on the top to add fresh taste but you might want to taste the dish before adding these additional seasonings. If you are the chopsticks Jedi, use chopsticks, otherwise a spoon (for Japanese guests) or fork (for Westerner guests) might be better.

Shumai with daikon 大根入り焼売

This was my first attempt to make shumai 焼売 and I am posting this as an example of how things don't always work out well in the cooking world. (I can only hope my next attempt may be better). I followed a recipe I saw in a Japanese newspaper on line (Asahi shinbun). Although the meat mixture was just fine, the wonton skin did not stick together or to the meat and the dish became "meatballs with wonton noodles". In any case, I served several examples with two sauces; on the left is rice vinegar with white pepper and the right is soy sauce.

As you can see the skin got loose and separated from the filling after steaming. In any case, it tasted great.

I followed the recipe closely. One unique item in this recipe was using pre-cooked small cubes of daikon in the filling.

Ingredients: (make 14-15 shumai)
Minced (or ground) pork 200 grams (I used my usual hand minced pork tenderloin trimming but meat from the fattier portion may work better).
Daikon 100 grams
Shiitake mushrooms; 1 dried (I used two fresh including the stems torn lengthwise and then chopped. I am sure the dried mushroom may have more umami flavor but I did not have time to rehydrate some).
Wonton skins

Seasoning:
Salt 2 grams (probably 1/2 tsp)
Soy sauce 1 tsp
Ginger juice 2 tsp
Sake 2 tbs
Dry shiitake soaking liquid 2 tbs (I used dashi instead).
Sugar 1/4 tsp
Sesame oil 1tsp
Potato starch (Katakuri-ko) 1/2 tsp

Directions:
1. Peel and cut the daikon into 7 mm cubes and cook in boiling water for 2 minutes. Drain and cool.
2. Mix the seasoning into the pork starting with the salt and mix well.
3. Add the daikon and mushrooms and mix (#1 and #2).
4. Prepare the steamer for continuous steam (#3).
5. Meanwhile, make the shumai by placing the filling in the middle of the wonton skin placed on a circle made from the index finger and thumb, push it in and add more filling to make a cylinder (#4).
6. Place them on the steamer (#5) and cook for 10 minutes (#6)

I think I made 2 mistakes. When I formed the shumai, I needed to pinch firmly so that the side of the wonton skin would adhere better to the filling. When steaming, I should have placed the shumai slightly apart so that they would not stick to each other.

In any case, despite this, they tasted really good. The addition of the daikon added a nice texture and taste. The dipping sauces were also nice. I ended up dipping the shumai in both. I also used some Japanese hot mustard. Later, based on the philosophy that when an unsuccessful attempt at something results in lemons make lemonade, I converted these shumai into another dish. Stay tuned more to follow.

Japanese "Yakiyaki-san" smoke-less earthenware grill やきやきさん

In one of the Milk Street magazines, I saw an article about this Japanese smoke-less (or at least smoke reduced) grill which is made from the same type of "Iga" earthenware 伊賀焼 as "Kamado san" かまどさん rice cooker which we have and really like. We also found YouTube footage introducing this by chef Ming Tsai.  What makes this grill special is the way it is constructed; the lower "bowl" has a large groove around the periphery which is filled with water to form a kind-of moat. So during the grilling the oil runs down the grooves on the top plate into the water filled moat rather than onto hot metal or ceramic as it would on a traditional grill. As a result the run-off oil or grease doesn't get heated and start smoking. In addition, according to the manufacturer, the temperature of the earthenware disk does not go above 350C (on medium flame). This is unique to this product since other grills made of either metal or earthenware easily go over 350C and start smoking. Further they claim that the combination of the earthenware disk and its black glaze results in far-infrared heat which gives a "charcoal-fire" like effect or taste.

Being somewhat  of a "gadget" lover, the YouTube discussion convinced me I had to try this and I ordered one. After its arrival, it sat for some time but finally we had a chance to use it.  We were not sure how "smoke-less" this was so we tried it on the stove under the exhaust fan. I followed the instructions. First, I filled the moat to 80% with water and preheated it for 5 minutes on high flame and then turned the flame down to medium. I brushed the grill surface with olive oil and started cooking.

The picture below shows the end products. We grilled filet mignon, shiitake mushrooms, onions, small red potatoes and zucchini. (My wife added a pat of butter to the onion and zucchini when I wasn't looking). Since the meat was filet mignon and very tender I didn't want to overcook it so I did not leave it on the grill for long as a result, there were no char marks.

The meat was one medium sized filet mignon cut into 1/4 inch slices and seasoned with salt and pepper. I put a bit of olive oil on the gill sides of the Shiitake mushrooms and seasoned with salt. I sliced the the onion, and zucchini into1/8 inch thick pieces. I secured the sections of the onions with toothpicks and coated the vegetables with olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper.

I first microwaved the small red potatoes in a silicon container until they were cooked then I cut them in half and seasoned them with salt and pepper.

I started cooking with the vegetables since I figured they would take much longer than the meat to cook. At medium flame, char marks did not develop so I cranked up the heat to high flame and finally the food started cooking with char marks but still there was no discernible smoke .

The picture below shows the nice crust that started forming on the potatoes and onions. When the veggies were cooked I added the meat. The meat took only few a minutes to cook to medium rare but with this short cooking no char developed. The juices from the meat added to the flavor of the veggies.

Certainly this is a good way to grill without decernable smoke. It is possible to use this grill on the table with a portable gas burner but we are not sure if the heat would be high enough. Besides, we just got rid of our aged portable cassette because we were worried about how safe it was given how ancient it was.

The food tasted really good. Although we did not use any sauce, there was enough seasonings on the food. Both the veggies and meat were perfectly cooked. Washing the grill afterward was not too difficult but we have to make sure it is totally dry before using it again.

Broccoli Cups ブロッコリーカップ

When we order broccoli using our grocery home delivery service, we usually get three giant heads (see picture below). It is not possible to consume everything before it spoils so I separate it into florets, steam them and freeze them in Ziploc bags in small batches for future use.

Recently we saw an interesting recipe on YouTube which uses a large amount of broccoli. Although the original recipe uses fresh broccoli, we figured blanched and frozen broccoli should work. As usual, we made substantial changes mostly due to the ingredients available. We really like the idea of making broccoli cups. We could come up with different kinds of stuffings. In any case, this was our first try.  The stuffing was a bit crumbly.

The broccoli cups retained their shape well.

Ingredients: (made 9)
For the broccoli cup
4 cup finely chopped broccoli (we used blanched and frozen, separated each frozen florets and chopped up in a small batches using the food processor fitted with cutting blade. If using fresh broccoli, the original recipe grated the broccoli using a box grater) 
2-3 eggs (2 eggs may have been better, excess egg pooled on the bottom of the cup when baked but we did not use 2 chopped boiled eggs in the stuffing which was in the original recipe. So, it sort of worked out)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

For stuffing
1 cup finely chopped onion
2 Jalapeño peppers, seeded and veined, finely chopped (or green pepper)
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 small carrots, peeled and cut into small dice
1/2 cup fresh shiitake mushroom stems, finely chopped (optional, since we had this. First tear length wise and then chop)
1-2 tbs olive oil
1 package feta cheese, crumbled
1/2 cup each grated smoked Gouda and Cheddar cheese

For the sauce (a type of aurora sauce)
Greek yogurt and Mayonnaise equal amount
Ketchup
Parsley and chives, chopped

Directions:For broccoli cups
Mix the broccoli, eggs, and Parmesan cheese
Divide the broccoli mixture in 12 equal portions and place in a muffin tin lined with  paper muffin cups (#1)
Using fingers or spoon, spread the mixture to make a cup (#2)
Bake at 350F for 15 minutes (#3, note the egg pooled on the bottom and cooked)
For stuffing
Sauté the stuffing ingredients except for cheeses in the olive oil for 2-3 minutes and turned down the heat with the lid one for 7 more minutes. Season with salt and pepper
Let it cool down a bit and mixed in the feta cheese

Final assembly
Place the stuffing in the baked broccoli cups (#4)
Top each with the grated cheeses (#5)
Bake 15-20 minutes at 350F (#6)

This is a surprisingly good dish. Next day, we reheated this in the toaster oven and had it as a lunch. Compared to freshly baked, the broccoli flavor it less intense and tasted better. stuffing tended to crumble but tasted great especially the umami the shiitake imparted. We can play with the stuffings to our liking. This is a great recipe to use a large amount of broccoli.

Crumbled tofu with miso and sesame くずし豆腐汁

I again got silken tofu labled "Sincere silken tofu, just right firmness 誠実の絹" the last time I made a dish on a whim without following any recipe. This time, I used 1/4 of the tofu in mackerel ball soup. I decide to use up the remaining tofu the next day. This is based on the recipe but with some modification. It is sort of a soup with tofu, deep fried tofu, shiitake mushroom and seasoned with miso and sesame.

Ingredients:
Silken tofu 3/4 (this tofu come is a smaller package)which is roughly equivalent to 1/2 for regular size tofu)
Fresh Shiitake, 3, stem end cut away, stem torn along it's length in thin strips and the caps sliced in thin strips.
Deep fried tofu pouch or abra-age 1/4, cut into small strips.
Japanese dashi broth, 400ml (I made this from my usual dash packs)
Miso 2 tbs
Roasted sesame seeds, 3 tbs, dry roasted in a frying pan and ground with a Japanese pestle and mortar or suribachi すり鉢.
Egg, medium, beaten

Directions:
Add the mushroom to the broth and simmer for a few minutes and add the deep fried tofu pouch (below).

Add the tofu by crumbling by hand (below).

Simmer for a few minutes and add half of the sesame and the scallion (below).

Mix and cook for few more minutes and resolve the miso. At the last moment, add the egg and mix.

Serve immediately and add the remaining sesame.

This is a very gentle conforting dish with a nice sesame flavor. This can be a drinking snack or even ending "shime" dish.

Japanese-style stuffed omelet with saag インド風ほうれん草ソースいりオムレツ

My wife and I occasionally watch "Sakaba hourouki" 酒場放浪記 on Youtube. Beside the shows with the  host "Rui Yoshida" 吉田類, my wife particularly likes the female model, Yasuko Kuramoto 倉本康子 who occasionally hosts the female version of the show．In one of her shows, she visited an eel kushiyaki 串焼き place and had an unusual omelet stuffed with eel. I suppose it was a variation of a more traditional "Umaki" 鰻巻き (cooked filet of eel wrapped inside a Japanese-style omelet). My wife was impressed with the bright yellow color and homogenous smooth appearance of the omelet. I rose to the challenge by saying that I could make it that way easily. So here is my omelet.

Since I did not have eel handy and this was a weekend breakfast, I substituted the stuffing with my wife's "Saag", pork, shiitake mushroom and cottage cheese.

Stuffing (for one 2 egg omelet):
Onion, one small or half large, finely chopped
Pork, I used leftover barbecued whole pork loin, just cut into small match stick, 3-4 tbs
Shiitake mushroom, Thinly sliced, 6 small or 3 large
Spinach saag,  2-3 tbs
Cottage cheese, 2-3 tbs

I sautéed the onion in olive oil in a small frying pan, seasoned with salt and pepper. When the onion was soft and semi-transparent, I added the mushroom and pork and kept sautéing for 2-3 more minutes. I then added the saag and mixed well. I placed the cottage cheese on the top and kept the pan on "warm" or lowest simmer with the lid on.  The idea of using cottage cheese came from the fact that my wife initially made something similar to "Saag paneer" with home made cheese curd—the cottage cheese substituted for the paneer.

Omelet: I used two brown eggs, well-beaten. I did not seasoned the eggs because of the rather assertively flavored stuffing I was using.

There are many different ways to make omelet. For a stuffed omelet, I generally use the method I learned by watching omelets being made at one of the restaurants we used to visit in Los Angeles many years ago when we lived there. The restaurant specialized in brunch especially omelets. Using a spatula, I raise the side of the omelet after the egg on the bottom is set and let the uncooked egg mixture flow under the cooked egg. I repeat this on all four quadrants until I reached the desired doneness of the omelet. An omelet made in this style has a large soft curd.
The secret to making a Japanese style yellow smooth omelet is to beat the eggs well (if so preferred, you could add more yolk to the mixture to enhance the bright yellow color) and use a very low heat with the lid on the pan. It takes longer to cook this way but the result is as you can see here—there is no curd and the egg is homogeneous in texture. The same technique is used to make "golden thread egg" or "kinshi-ran 金糸卵".

After cooking the egg for 5-6 minutes or until the surface of the omelet was just barely dry, I mixed the cottage cheese into the remaining ingredients and placed in the middle of the omelet. Holding the plate in my left hand and the frying pan in my right hand, I slid the omelet onto the plate using the edge of the frying pan, to overlay the remaining omelet over the stuffing (see the first picture).

I do not think if this is a "better" omelet but it has a nice look.
By the way, I took this picture for the blog as though the whole omelet was for one person but, we shared this omelet. The saag is spicy but not too hot and the smoky flavor of the pork still came through. The cottage cheese had a very neutral taste but added a nice texture.

Boeuf Bourguignon 牛肉の赤ワイン煮

Sometimes we come across a wine that is OK but we would rather not drink (life is too short). Sometimes after returning the wine to the bottle, we classify it as a "Wednesday" wine-- meaning that although it wasn't good enough for dinner on Sunday, no matter how bad it may have tasted on Sunday, by Wednesday that wine (or any other wine for that matter) would taste good. In other cases the wine can not even classify as a Wednesday wine. We had one such bottle of wine and the only thing left to do was make beef stew. This dish probably does not qualify to be called "Bourguignon" since the wine was not burgundy but Chilean Cab. I did not look up any specific recipe. My recipe has some apparent deviation from the classic (if such a thing exists); one is not using bacon since I do not find too much difference in the end result except adding more fat. I did not have regular button mushrooms (we don't particularly like them), so I used fresh shiitake instead. Lastly, I did not have pearl onions or cippolini but  I did happen to have parsnips. Despite these deviations, the end result was quite good (allow me again to self boast).

Beef: I happened to come across some very reasonably priced beef for stew and bought it (about 2.5 lb). I suspect this could have been rump roast or round but I'm not sure. I salted and peppered the beef cubes and dredged in flour. In a large Dutch oven (or stock pot), I added light olive oil (3 tbs) on medium flame and browned the beef cubes in two batches so that all the surfaces get nicely browned and crusty leaving brown bits ("fond") on the bottom of the pan (#1, below).

Wine: Any semi drinkable dry red wine would do. I used the wine that failed to classify as even a Wednesday wine  (1 bottle or 750ml) as I mentioned above but, of course, you could use Burgundy.

I removed the beef from the pot and covered it with an aluminum foil and set aside. I added finely chopped onion (2 medium), garlic (5 cloves), celery (3 stalks and leaves) to the pot and sauté for 5-6 minutes. The moisture from the vegetables helps dislodge  the "fond" but I further deglazed it with a small amount of red wine to make sure all the "fond" gets incorporated. I added back the beef with the juice accumulated on the bottom of the plate and added the remainder of the red wine. 

Bouquet garni: I did not have fresh thyme. I initially made BG from two stalks of celery, 4 bay leaves, 3 sprigs of parsley, 2 stalks of fresh rosemary tied with a butcher twine, but, at the end, I decided to remove all the solids from the cooking liquid.  I really did not have to make BG and could have just thrown in everything. I also added 5-6 whole back pepper corns and dried thyme (1/4 tsp). I did not add any liquid but wine. When it came to a boil, I skimmed off the scum that formed on the surface. Then turned down the heat to simmer. I put the lid on and cooked for more than 1 hour (#2).

Vegetables: It is important to cook vegetables separately, not in the wine with the meat. The acidity of the wine appears to prevent starchy vegetables such as potatoes from getting cooked properly (i.e. they never become soft). I combined the meat and vegetables after both were properly cooked. I cooked the vegetables in salted water in a separate pot which included potatoes (6 small Yukon gold, peeled), carrot (3 medium, cut in 1 inch rounds), parsnip (3 small, cut in half inch segments) (to cook everything together, give the potatoes a 15 minute head start). If I had pearl onion or cippolini, I would have cooked them in water or chicken stock until they were soft or the liquid mostly evaporated. Then I would have sautéed them in butter to brown the surface before adding to the stew. For the shiitake mushrooms, I cut them into large chunks (6 large), sauteed in butter and deglaze with a small amount of brandy (be careful of flare ups). The cooked vegetables were drained immediately and set aside in a bowl.

After the beef became tender, I removed the meat to another container and strained the remaining simmering liquid to remove all solids pressing to extract all the juice. I put back the liquid in the pot (The liquid was now nice dark burgundy color and slightly thickened. I switched to a smaller pot at this point), added back the beef and the vegetables (#3). I simmered it for another 30 minutes (#4).

We tasted a little of the stew but we did not eat it immediately (because we had fresh tuna we had to eat that evening). I put the pot in the fridge after it cooled to room temperature. The next day, I reheated it on a low flame and adjusted the seasoning with salt and pepper. I served this with Pennsylvania Dutch noodles and green beans. The result was well worth the effort. The beef was fork tender and flavorful and the sauce is very rich and with layers of velvety flavor (may I say unctuous?). We really liked the parsnips in the stew. They added a slight sweetness.

The obvious choice of libation was a good red wine. We had this with Flora Springs Winery, Flora's Legacy, Cabernet Sauvignon 2006. This is a solid Napa cab, not too fruit- or vanilla-laden but with complex black fruit upfront with a nice backbone of tannin and went so well with this dish. Perfect!

Grilled sanma さんまの塩焼き

During this DC summer, we happened to have a rare low-humidity-not-too-hot couple of days. Since mosquitos on these days were less aggressive, we decided to have sanma 秋刀魚 (Pacific saury) grilled outside. I have pontificated about sanma previously so I will not repeat myself. I got frozen sanma from our Japanese grocery store but I am not sure if this came from Japan or somewhere else. It was still early in the sanma season in Japan (the catch had just started in Hokkaido) and these may not have come from Japan.

In any case, I charred the fish a bit too much. It tasted good, though. I served it with traditional grated daikon. This time I gutted the fish but left the head just for esthetics. I even found a long plate which accommodated sanma in one piece. The plate was made by one of the local artists which we got at one of their yearly sales.



I also grilled Japanese pepper "shishi-tou" 獅子唐芥子 (miraculously none was atomically hot) and fresh shiitake mushroom. I brushed the shiitake with olive oil and after I turned the gill side up, I poured a small mount of soy sauce on just before removing from the grill.



Using lump charcoal and Looft lighter, it is easy and mess free to prepare the fire in our yakitori grill.



Within 15 minutes, fire was ready.



I cleaned and gutted the sanma after thawing. I salted and placed them on a paper-towel lined  aluminum pan and kept them (uncovered) in the refrigerator for several hours before grilling.



The fire was a bit stronger than I intended and the skin charred rather quickly.



I brushed olive oil and then salted shishi-tou  before grilling.  It took only few minutes on each side to grill.



This was a definitely bonus day for us as we could grill sanma outside.

Buta-jiru 豚汁

Every time we go to our nearby gourmet grocery store, we can not resist getting some pork belly. This time we got about a 1 lb block. I made most of it into "Kakuni" 豚の角煮 but I sliced off some thin strips (called sanmai niku 三枚肉) to use in something else.  I ended up making "buta-jiru" 豚汁. The reasons are multiple. When I posted "Rice with butter and soy sauce", somebody left a comment introducing us to a Japanese TV series  called "Shinya shokudo" 深夜食堂 or "midnight diner" since one of the episodes was about "rice with butter and soy sauce". We managed to watch all episodes available and also a movie. More recently, new, at least we have not watched, episodes called "Tokyo series" became  available on Netflix as a Netflix original series. The opening sequence of all these episodes shows "the master" making buta-jiru 豚汁.  On the top of that, when I posted pork and vegetable stew (recipe from Mark's Izakaya book), I reminisced about "Buta-jiru" and cook-out picnics 炊事遠足 I had when I was in grade school. So, one weekend, I made buta-jiru for lunch.

There is no  precise recipe for this. This is a sort of glorified miso soup with thinly sliced pork belly cooked with Japanese root vegetables and kon-nyaku こんにゃく.

Here you can see daikon, carrot, kon-nyaku and mai-take 舞茸 (hen-of-the-wood) mushrooms. I had just used up all the burdock root so this dish did not include any.

In the Shinya shokudo opening sequence,  "the master" uses shiitake mushroom 椎茸 but I used mai-take since I happened to have it.

Ingredients (amounts are all arbitrary):

Sam-mai niku (thinly sliced pork belly)

Daikon,  Carrot, mushrooms (shiitake or mai-take), kon-nyaku, gobo burdock root, onion (either regular onion or scallion. If you have it Japanese or "Tokyo" scallion is better).

Japanese Dashi broth

Miso (I used a mixture of Koji-miso and Aka-miso). 

Vegetable oil for sautéing.

Directions:

I peeled and cut the root vegetables into bite sized pieces. I soaked the Gobo in acidified water for 10-20 minutes, washed and then drained. I parboiled the Kon-nyaku in water, then washed it in cold running water. Like the master, I hand torn the kon-nyaku into pieces. Hand tearing makes irregular surfaces on which the flavor can cling to (kon-nyaku does not have any flavor just texture so the clinging sauce gives it some flavor). I sliced the scallion on the bias.

I put a small amount of vegetable oil in the pan and sautéed the pork. When some fat rendered out and the pork changed color, I added the root vegetables and kon-nyaku (sans scallion) and mixed so that oil coated the surfaces. I then added the broth to cover the vegetables. I simmered it with a lid on for 20-30 minutes or until all the vegetables were cooked. I dissolved the miso using my miso-koshi 味噌漉しcontraption and added the scallion. Once it came to a boil, I turned off the flame. We had this as a weekend lunch. Although a bowl of rice and small pickled vegetable are usual accompaniments, we just enjoyed this soup/stew which was more than enough for us. By the way, this type of combination of dishes is called "Teishoku" 定食 or predetermined multi-item meals very popular in "public eateries" or 大衆食堂. In this particular case, "Butajiru teishoku" 豚汁定食 which is the only set menu item at the midnight diner.

Sushi taro Osechi and New Year's day evening 2018 元旦の夕べ

It was a mellow relaxing New Year's day. My wife wanted to see the first sunset of the year at our sunset gazing spot in our house. First rate sunset admiration requires food and libation. Rather than carrying up many plates and bowls,  however, I came up with the idea of using stackable "Tsugaru-nuri" 津軽塗り Japanese lunch box which my friend gave me many years ago.

Although we were ready to dig into our Sushi-taro osechi box 寿司太郎御節箱, I started with what I made, which, to my surprise, mostly filled the boxes. I only added shiitake-umani 椎茸旨煮 and "fu" gluten cake 梅麩 from the Sushi-taro osechi box. For the occasion, I used "Hagoita 羽子板*"-shaped chopstick pillows or "hashi oki" 箸置き.

*Hagoita is a racket for Japanese badminton-like game which was traditionally played in New Year. Now, almost nobody plays the game and "hagoita" rackets are a purely decorative item for New Year, there are special "ichi" or markets before the New Year which specialize in decorative "hagoita".

Recipes for most of the dishes I made are posted in the "Norio's New Year's Dishes" tab in this blog. #1=Salmon kelp roll 鮭の昆布巻, #2= salmon "Nanban" 鮭の南蛮, #3=Russian marinaded salmon 鮭のロシア漬, #4=Date-maki omelet roll 伊達巻き, #5=chicken patty with dried fig and Gorgonzola cheese いちじくとガルゴンゾラチーズの松風焼き (I garnished with my figgy cranberry sauce), #6="Matsukaze-yaki" chicken patty with pine nuts, 松風焼き#7=simmered shiitake mushroom 椎茸旨煮 and "fu" gluten cake 梅麩 (these are from the osechi box), #8=blanched green asparagus with mayo-sesame paste-soy sauce アスパラの胡麻マヨ, #9=Thinly sliced rib roast with wasabi/horseradish Greek yogurt sauceローストビーフ, and #10=spicy tofu cubes ぴり辛豆腐.

After watching the sun set, we came back downstairs and hit the osechi box. The picture below is the top layer. We were excited to find "Karasumi 唐墨" Japanese bottarga. As usual, the box is packed with goodies.

Here is the close up of sun-dried karasumi 天日干し唐墨.

The picture below is the bottom layer.

This is the plate I prepared from the osechi box. I served the karasumi slightly heated in a toaster oven and sandwiched between thinly sliced daikon. The other items are ginko nuts 炒り銀杏, pickled flower-cut  lotus root  花輪蓮根, steamed "uni" sea urchin 蒸し雲丹, caramelized small shrimp "Tsuyani" 小海老艶煮 and grilled Japanese "Madai" snapper with Japanese pepper tree leave/miso or "kinome" sauce 真鯛木の芽焼き. I also heated up the fish in the toaster oven.  Some items especially grilled fish are best enjoyed heated up slightly to take off the chill of cold. Karasumi is, of course, our favorite and we started with cold sake we brought from Japan on the last trip there.

Here is the close up of all the items which go so superbly with sake.

The sake we opened was the limited edition,  "extra premium Jurakudai" daiginjou from Sasaki-shuzou in Kyoto 聚楽第大吟醸エキストラプレミアム, 佐々木酒造、京都. It was brewed from Yamada Nishiki 山田錦 milled to 40% and a special artesian well water from the ruin of "Jurakudai" castle 聚楽第跡, hence the name of the sake. All sounded very promising but it was not as impressive as we had hoped. It has  all the characteristics of daiginjou sake. Very fruity and it almost tasted slightly sweet which may not have been our favorite type of sake. Since this was bought at the duty-free shop in Narita airport, we did not have a large selection and we did not have any foreknowledge of the sake we were buying. Still, this was an excellent sake, especially with karasumi, uni and grilled fish with kinome sauce. Kinome has such a distinctive flavor you cannot miss. So we were warming up for more goodies and proceeded to make a second  plate from the osechi box.

The below are the second plate which included "tarako" cod roe kelp roll 鱈の子昆布巻, flower-cut simmered carrot 梅人参,  sweet simmered chestnut with inner skin 栗渋皮煮, pickled myouga 酢取茗荷 (new this year), Kumquat in syrup 金柑, simmered sweet fish with roe 子持鮎甘露煮, herring roe marinaded in miso 数の子味噌漬. I am not sure if snow pea 絹サヤ came from my own or from the osechi box.

Herring roe was very nice with very subtle sweetness.

Japanese sweet fish "ayu" with it's roe was also perfect.

At this point, we were quite full. As a ending dish, we had my fuccacia bread with Spanish olive oil for dipping.

This was a pretty auspicious way to start the New Year but it's not over yet. There are many more goodies in the osechi box.