Minestrone soup ミネストローニ スープ

This is my version of Minestrone soup but it is more like a vegetable stew than soup. When I serve it in a small quantity, it is perfect as one of the small dishes in the Home Izakaya.

You can use any vegetables but these are ones I usually use.
1. onion, 2. garlic, 3. carrot, 4. yellow squash, 5. zucchini, 6. cabbage, 7. canned kidney beans (Other beans such as cannellini beans, navy beans, and chick peas can be also used instead or in addition), 8. canned Italian plum tomatoes. You could also add celery, green beans, peas etc. The vegetables are all cut into small cubes except for garlic which are finely chopped.

I first saute finely sliced and cut salt pork (or pancetta if you have one or bacon). The amount of the vegetables and salt pork is arbitrary. One of the problems of this type of soup is, as you keep adding the ingredients, the soup keeps increasing in volume.  It is difficult to control the final amount (at least for me, I even had to change the pot to a larger sized one during the cooking in the past). If the amount of fat rendered is not enough, add olive oil. I saute onion first, then add garlic, cabbage for 5 minutes or so and add other vegetables. I drain and rinse the canned beans under the running cold water before adding to the pot. I add half of the juice from the canned tomatoes depending on how acidic it is (you may want to add all the juices). Some acidity is good to counter balance with sweetness from the vegetables. I use my usual Swanson no-fat, low-sodium chicken broth to cover the vegetables. I add several bay leaves (do not forget to remove all of them at the end, I make a mental note of how many bay leaves I put in), dried majorum (or oregano), and basil (Do not overdo these herbs). I let it simmer for at least 30 minutes. I adjust seasoning by adding salt (if needed) and black pepper.

I like to cook the pasta separately rather than in the soup. I add a small amount of olive oil to coat the cooked pasta (to prevent them from sticking to each other) and put it in a sealed container after it is cool. I add it just before serving since pasta keeps absorbing water and will get very soft and soggy after some time in the soup. I suppose one can use any pasta but I happened to have "Rotini". I cook the pasta on al dente side and warm it up with a portion of the soup you are serving.

To serve: Here I used a small Japanese bowl to conform to the Izakaya theme and topped it with grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and chopped chives  (or Italian parsley) and freshly cracked black pepper. Since it is rather like a stew, it will go with any drink but a nice Italian red may be the best match. Depending on the amount of vegetables, soup and pasta you serve, this could be a starter or an ending dish. Perfect for cold snowy days.

Foil-baked potatoes じゃがいものフォイル焼き

Foil-baked potatoes じゃがいものフォイル焼き, Mark's book p44

The combination of potato, butter and soy sauce is a good one and if you add sour cream to this, how can it be bad. This can be a good side dish as well as as a nice accompaniment for a drink. Any drink will go well with this; beer, sake, or wine.

I followed the recipe on Mark's book fairly closely except for substituting sour cream with Crème fraiche which made this dish a bit more deadly. I used small red new potatoes (8). I microwaved the potatoes until done and removed the skin. I place the potatoes in double layered aluminum foils shaped into a box. I added fresh shiitake mushrooms (I used 4), asparagus tips (4), salt (1/3 tsp), butter (several thin pats, a bit less than 1tbs), and soy sauce (1 tsp). I deviated a little and also added sake (1 tsp) to make sure, all the ingredients will steam inside the pouch. I left some space for the steam to expand and closed the aluminum foil by double folding. I place the pouch directly on the cook top on the lowest flame and cooked it for 15 minutes. I opened the pouch and added a small quenelle of creme fraiche (using two teaspoons to make the quenelle) and freshly ground black pepper. The creme fraiche melts and makes a wonderful sauce on the bottom. This is a simple but very satisfying dish.

Japanese winter stew おでん

"Oden" おでん is classic Izakaya food. Yakitori 焼き鳥 and oden are the two main pillars of drinking food in Japan.  Although any given Izakaya may serve up oden and/or yakitori among other items,  there are drinking places specialized just in "oden" or "yakitori".  Often I used to go to a drinking place that specialized in oden, "oden-ya" おでん屋, in Sapporo, called "Katsu-ya" かつや.  The original and name-sake proprietor has passed away, and it has moved from a quaint blind alley off the Oodouri 大通 to the basement floor of a building near Sapporo train station. One of her daughters has taken over the business. It appears that the quality of the oden and atmosphere are unchanged. It is still a very cosy welcoming place and always very crowded with salary men on the way home. I found the image of inside Katsuya on the Internet in one of the blogs (hope the author will not mind my using his picture here). Once, my wife and I visited Katsuya in this new location long time ago when we visited Sapporo. This picture really brings back memories.

"Oden" was said to be derived from "dengaku" 田楽 which I posted before. Dengaku is skewered squares of tofu, konnyaku and vegetables grilled and then eaten with miso-based sauce. Later, after the invention of soy sauce, instead of grilling, skewered items are cooked in a soy sauce flavored broth. Eventually, it lost even the skewers (some oden items, such as meatballs-- two or three skewered together, still keep their skewers). There are many variations including regional differences in oden. My oden is definitely influenced by the types of oden Katsuya served. In commercial establishments like Katsuya, they have a large stainless steel vats with multiple segments so that different items will not mix and cook properly as seen above, but at home, it is most common to use a large donabe 土鍋 or earthen pot like the one I used (below). You could use any pot with a wide opening. You could place a portable cooker on the table, place the pot on the cooker and let diners serve themselves. I ususally cook oden on the stove and serve whichever items I like on a plate returning frequently for a subsequent selection of different items. One of the reasons for this is that we rarely sit at the table to eat. I cut some of the items such as eggs and "Kinchaku" (see below) using a pair of kitchen scissors to make it easier to eat with chopsticks.

I usually prepare oden in the order below at least several hours before serving.

Broth: I used a piece of kelp (2x8 inches) which was first soaked in water for 30-40 minutes or longer (4 cups or about 1 liter) or whatever amount is appropriate for your vessel. I then put the pot on a medium low flame. When it comes to a boil, I reduce the flame to very low and add dried bonito flakes or "Kezuri (katsuo)bushi" 削り(鰹)節. I use a special large teabag-like bag called "Dashi bukuro" だし袋 in which the bonito flakes are placed and the opening sealed (about 20 grams). This is just for convenience so that I do not have to filter the broth later (I usually take out the bag with bonito flakes when the vegetables are all cooked). You could just put the bonito flakes in the pot and simmer for 10-20 minutes and then strain using a fine mesh strainer. You could also set aside a portion of unseasoned broth just in case the broth get too salty.

Daikon 大根: Daikon is a must in any oden and requires some preparation. I peel the skin and cut the peeled diakon into 1 to 1.5 inch thick rounds and bevel the sharp edges, mentori 面取り. I pre-cook the daikon in a separate pot with enough water to cover the daikon and one pinch of raw rice grains for 20-30 minutes and then transfer to the oden pot.

Carrot and potato: These items may not be most common items in oden but "Katsu-ya" served them and we like them very much. Just peel and cut into the size you like (not too small) and bevel the sharp edges and place it in the oden pot.

Boiled eggs: This is also the must-have item. I just boil eggs for 10 minutes, peel and place them in the oden pot.

Konnyaku コンニャク: It does not have much taste on its own and it is mostly for texture.  most of Westerners will not appreciate this item but it is nonetheless a classic oden item. I make multiple shallow crosshatch cuts on both sides so that the broth will penetrate better. I then cut it into bite sized pieces (I cut this into a triangle which is traditional) then, par-boil it in plenty of water for one or two minutes. I drain the konnyaku and then place it in the oden pot.

Seasoning: At this point, I  season the broth. I use soy sauce, mirin, sake and salt (I use salt to prevent the broth from becoming too dark which would happen if I added too much soy sauce to get the desired saltiness especially because I usually use a reduced salt soy sauce. Alternatively, you could use "light colored" soy sauce or "usukuchi shouyu" 薄口醤油. You may even like a dark broth, in that case, just use soy sauce. I cannot give you an exact amount but I will err on the side of under seasoning and go light on mirin (Vegetables add some pleasant natural sweetness). You can always adjust the seasoning later.

Now, I put on the lid and let it simmer about 1 hour. It really should not boil at any time. After the vegetables are cooked and soft, I add more items listed below which do not require long cooking. If they were frozen, thaw first and the items which have been previously deep fried should be treated by pouring hot water over them in a colander (called "abura-nuki" 油抜き) to remove any excess oil and off flavor before adding to the pot.

Chikuwa 竹輪: Cylinder-shaped fish cake (ground white fish meat with some binder and seasoning is boiled and lightly grilled and is sold frozen here in the U.S.) with a hole in the center shaped like a bamboo. Cut diagonally in the center (in the picture above it is shown in the center of the pot above the Daikon.  In the picture below it is shown on the lower right).

Ganmodoki がんもどき: Deep fried oval patty made of tofu, egg white, black sesame seeds and other shredded vegetables (tan oval item with black specs -sesame seeds- in the picture below). Often, this is shortened as "ganmo".

Mochi in fried tofu pouch or mochi kinchaku 餅巾着: "Kinchaku" is a transitional Japanese purse. If you stuff anything in a tofu pouch or "Abura-age" 油揚げ, it is called "Kinchaku". Mochi 餅 is a rice cake made of pounded cooked rice.  I cut one end of a small rectangular abura-age and place mochi inside and close the pouch with tooth picks (This pouch is shown between the eggs and kelp in the picture above). This is the same type of preparation I do for the new year soup. (If you are an oden officinado, you would order this item using its short form name "mochikin"). After 5-10 minutes, the mochi will become soft and sticky but contained in the tofu pouch it is easier to eat. (They are seen in the picture above between eggs and kelp.)

Tied kelp 結び昆布: I happend to find this kelp preparation in a bag (cut in small size, tied in knots, steamed and dried) called "Musubi Konbu" or tied kelp at a Japanse grocery store. I put them in the pot after hydrating for 15 minutes. It does not taste that good and disintegrated after some time so this is the first and will be the last time I use this.

In the above picture, the dark triangles are konnyuku, tan oval ones with black specks (sesame seeds) are ganmodoki and tubes on the right are chikuwa. In the back, you see potato, kelp,  and carrot.

Just 10 minutes before serving, I add large cubes of tofu. Tofu should just be warmed through.  As seen in the above picture, I garnish the tofu with chopped chives (or scallion). the daikon here is very soft and you can cut it with just chopsticks. The yellow stuff at the far right corner is Japanse mustard which is very hot but a necessary condiment for oden.

Eggs are wonderful especially the egg yolks mixed into some of the broth and mustard. In the above picture, on the right is "mochi kinchaku", which is cut and showing the mochi inside. Between the eggs is chikuwa and the center front is potato.

This is a perfect dish for cold winter days with sake. Warmed sake is the classic accompaniment but we like cold sake even with oden. Depending on what you like, you could use many other items in oden such as tough sinewy parts of beef, "Gyu-suji" 牛筋 cooked for long time, octopus leg "Tako" 鮹 (these are Kansai 関西 or West of Japan items), thick Japanese omelets with crab meat ("Kanitama" かに玉), many other types of fishcakes especailly white soft square ones called "Hanpen" はんぺん, and satsuma-age 薩摩揚げ. A bit unusual are "tara no shirako" タラの白子, which is the sperm sac of cod fish (It does not sound appetizing but it does taste very good), a Japanese style stuffed cabbage ロールキャベツ, a type of small conch or sea snail called "Tsubu" つぶ and so on. We really like oden but only problem for us is that there are so many goodies in one pot and it fill us up too quickly.

Beef and potato stew 肉じゃが

I meant to make this dish much earlier and I finally managed to make it now. This is a Japanese version of "meat and potatoes" and is the ultimate home cooked comfort dish. As such, it is also one of the most popular Izakaya dishes. As usual some variations exist but I think my recipe is middle-of-the-road. One of the major variations of this dish is what kind of meat to use. Most commonly it is thinly sliced beef (for sukiyaki) but some make it with pork (bara or sanmai niku バラ肉、三枚肉). Actually, when I was growing up, my mother made it with pork. Here I took a more traditional way and used beef.

The ingredients are 1) potates, 3-4 medium size, peeled and cut into a large bite size, and sharp edges beveled (called "mentori" 面取り to prevent the potatoes from crumbling while cooking), 2) beef, thinly sliced for sukiyaki, 250 grams, cut into a bite sized pieces, 3) onion, 2 large, cut in half and then cut into half inch wide wedges, 4) carrots, 2 small, cut into small half moon bit sized pieces, 4) "konnyaku" thread 糸蒟蒻, one package, cut into 2-3 inch long and parboiled for 1 minutes and drained, 5) green beans or snow peas (I used snow peas 15-20), ends trimmed.

In a large sauté pan, add 2-3 tbs of light olive or vegetable oil on a medium high flame. When the pan is hot, I first saute the onion until it is wilted (4-5 minutes). Then add and saute the beef until it loses its red color.  Add the carrot, konnyaku thread, potatoes (including the scrap from beveling the sharp edges of potatoes) and coat the vegetables with oil. Since some brown "fond" will develop on the bottom of the pan, I deglaze using 2-3 tbs of sake and then add dashi broth to cover the vegetables (I did not measure but I guess about 500ml or more). As it started boiling I turn it to simmer and skim off any scum that floats to the surface several times and let it cook for 15 or more minutes until the potates are cooked (test with a skewer). Now it is time to season. I often "eyeball" everthing and add sugar, mirin, sake, soy sauce directly into the pan but this time I tried to measure and premix the seasoning; sake, mirin, soy sauce (3 tbs each) and sugar (1 tbs). I added the seasoning mix to the pan and, with the lid off, cooked another 20 minutes on a medium flame, occasionally shaking the pan. The liquid should be reduced in half or more at the end of cooking. I taste and add more soysauce and/or sugar if needed (I added a few more tbs of soy sauce toward the end). I then add snow peas and cook an additional five minutes (you could pre-cook green the beans or snow peas, in that case, add just at the very end and mix).

This is a classic! Such a wonderful combination of flavors and textures. For potatoes, the starchy kind such as white or Russet works best. We ended up getting a second helping and filled ourselves up. This is a whole meal in a bowl. This goes well with any drink.

Stewed plums from plums used in making of plum wine 梅酒の梅の甘露煮

After bottling the umeshu, we always have to decide what to do with the remaining plums. My wife aksed me to share this story. When we first started making umeshu, my mother suggested that we take the plums used to make plum wine, bake them in a "musui-nabe" 無水鍋, which is a Japanese invention, somewhat like a cast iron Dutch oven, for several hours to make them soft and then eat them as a kind-of jam. Following her advice but since we do not have a "musui-nabe", we put the alchohol soaked plums left over from making umeshu into a pyrex baking dish, covered the baking dish with a glass lid and put it into a 350 degree oven to bake for several hours.

We were sitting in the other room watching television when there was a massive explosion in the kitchen. We rushed in expecting to find shards of glass and plums all over everything. Instead we saw the pyrex baking dish sitting quietly on the wire rack of the open oven. Apparently the alchohol fumes seeped out of the dish as it heated up and built up in the oven with enough force to blow open the oven door but didn't affect the baking dish. Word of advice that this method of making plum jam is not recommended.  

Instead, I make "Kanro-ni" 甘露煮. I just make a simple syrup (equal amounts of sugar and water heated to dissolve the sugar) and just simmer the plums on a very low flame for 30 minutes or until the plum is soft. This is rather sweet and can be used as a sort-of snack when you are having Japanese green tea or you can serve this in-between dishes as a palate cleanser as shown above.

I store this in a glass container with a tight lid in a refrigerator. As long as you use a simple syrup (very sweet), this will keep a long time. Actually, this one is two years old. Other usages of the Umeshu plums is to make it into jam. I see that you can use the Umeshu plums in stewing meat such as pork or chikcen, which I have not tried.

Baguettes バゲット

Baguette by itself is obviously not Izakaya food but as more Western-style food is served in Izakaya, baguettes are often served (For example Marks' book p95, Herb Garlic baguette served with Beef Intestine stew). I have posted few dishes served with a piece of baguette. Sometimes, we may start our home Izakaya feast with small bruschetta and end with pieces of baguette rather than rice or noodle dishes. Although good quality breads including baguettes can be had in many boulangerie or gourmet markets, we still like to make our own breads on occasional weekends. The smell of baking breads and tastes and textures of freshly baked breads are difficult to resist and can be only enjoyed if and when you bake them at home. I used to make all yeast breads and my wife made quick breads. I got a bit lazy recently and have not made a loaf of white bread or English muffins for some time. My wife got a bit impatient with me and started making some yeast breads including white bread (back of the picture) and English muffin loaf (with my helpful suggestions), which is very good (for me in particular) but she leaves baguette for me to make. 

My baguette is very simple. I do not use any fancy natural yeasts or special flour, just bread flour either Gold Medal brand or King Aurthur. I do not have any secret, inherited starters. I am sure mine is not the quality of true artisanal breads but we like it, so I keep making it. There are only a few things which are very important in making decent baguettes at home. These are: a baking stone, a water sprayer, and a razor blade.

This is the rare occasion when I actually measure the ingredients rather pricisely. First I proof the yeast in a glass measuring cup (1 or 2 cup size). I add 1 package (1/4 oz) or 1 and 1/4 teaspoon of active dried granulated yeast (I use Fleischmann's or Red Star active dried yeast) in 1/4 cup of warm water (about 110F or when you put your finger, it feels just tepid) in which 1/3 tsp of sugar has been dissolved. Mix well and let stand for 3-5 minutes to make sure the yeast is active as will be indicated by the surface bubbling up. 

Mixing and Kneading: I start my dough in a food processor fitted with a dough blade (of course you could use your hands as well as a mixer fitted with a dough hook). For two bauguettes, I place 3 and 1/2 cup of bread flour in the food processor and add 1/2 tsp of salt. I then add cold water to the proofed yeast (above) to 1 cup mark and mix well. While the food processor is on (I use the low-speed setting), I add the yeast mixture in a steady thin stream. After I add one cup of liquid, I get 1/3 cup more water and keep adding to the flour until, a ball of dough is formed above the blade. You do not need all the additional 1/3 of water. I stop and open the bowl to touch the dough. It should be soft but not too sticky. The amount of water you have to add varies depending on the weather or the flour. You have to decide when you have added enough by the look and feel of the dough. I then let it stand for 5 minutes so that the moisture will more evenly distribute. After 5 minutes, I run the processor for 30 seconds or so until a single mass of elastic dough is formed. I flour a large Kneading board and hand knead the dough to finish using the heels of my hands for 5 minutes or more until the dough feels nice and smooth. I finish the kneading by making a nice tight ball. 

Raising: I let the dough rise three times. You could do the first two in an oiled large bowl but I usually use a gallon size Ziploc bag sprayed inside with Pam or a similar non-stick spray  (just because I do not have to clean the bowl this way). After I place the dough in the bag, I squeeze out as much air as possible from the bag so that the dough will have a room to expand. I then wrap it using two or three towels and let it rise to double the size (about 1 hour but you should go by the volume not by the time as the room temperature, the potency of the yeast, the amount of salt etc change the time it takes to reach this point). I take the doubled dough out and deflate and fold it over several times and put it back to the Ziploc bag for the second rising (another hour or until volume doubles again).

Forming: After the second rising, I deflate and fold the dough over a few times and then divide into two identical cylindrical portions (weighing is the best way to make the two portions identical). It is not easy to describe how to form the loaves but I press using the side of my hand to indent a cut surface and the pinch them together. Stretch and fold over the dough along the long edge. Repeat this as you elongate the dough. If dough feels too elastic, you could let it rest for 10 minutes before forming baguettes. Cover with a floured dish towel and let it rise for the last time until the volume doubles. Move it to a peel (below) which is coated with corn meal (so that the dough will slide).

Using a sharp razor blade, make multiple oblique slashes on the top and spray water on the surface of the dough (see image below). This is to set the crust. I used to throw several ice cubes into the oven on a cookie sheet after I put the bread in.  But I am afraid that this may have damaged the oven (my old oven was not working properly towards the end). So I changed to the spray method before putting the dough into the oven. It works reasonably well and forms a good crust. 

I slide the slashed and sprayed dough in onto a hot baking stone (400F, should be preheated and left at 400F for at least 20 minutes so that the stone is throughly heated).

Bake it at 400F for 15 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 350F and bake another 30 minutes. I let the bread cool on a cooling rack as seen in the first picture. As it cools the bread makes a cracking noise ("music of bread" as per Julia Child) as the crust contracts. Cool to room temperature before eating. We usually slice and freeze the portion we did not consume by the next day. I am not sure what causes the difference but many commercial baguettes from the grocery store have a crust but the inside is spongy or mealy in texture. (I suspect they use some kind of additive in the dough). Ours has a better crust and texture as well as a nice nutty toasted flour taste.

Baby clams in garlic cream sauce with angel hair pasta エンジェルヘアパスタ小蛤クリームソース

Marks's book has a Japanese style Clam pasta dish (p121). This is a much simpler version but the idea is the same. We are not sure how we ended up with this receipe but this is fairly simple and quick pasta dish and will be ideal for the last starch dish in Home Izakaya.

Short of having fresh small clams, the important ingredient is good quality canned baby clams - not chopped clams (which tend to be too tough and chewy). We use a 10oz can of "Sun of Italy" brand (see photo) for 2 small servings. I am sure there are many similarly good brands. Drain the clams retaining the juice, set aside. I add olive oil (2 tbs) to a frying pan and add thinly sliced garlic (3-4 cloves, we like lots of garlic but use at your discretion) in medium-low heat until garlic is fragrant and lightly browned (again do not burn, it will become bitter). Add reserved clam juice and 3 tbs of sake (or dry white vermouth) and reduce to 1/2 to 1/3 of the original volume (5 minutes on high heat). Meanwhile, I cook the angel hair pasta (about 3 minutes in boiling water).  I add 1/3 cup of cream to the pan as well as the clams. I reduce the sauce briefly and add, usually, finely chopped parsley but this time I used baby arugula (as much as you like, it will cook down quite a bit). When sauce is reduced and the green is wilted, add the angel hair pasta. Although, parmesan cheese is supposedly not to be used for sea food pasta, we like it on this dish. Adjust seasoning with salt and black pepper. I happened to make Baguette a few weekends ago (which was sliced and frozen). It appeared as an accompaniment for this dish. The usual choice of wine would be white but we rarely drink white so this night, we had this with a very inexpensive but quite decent weekday red wine, South Eastern Australian Shiraz "Reddust" 2007.