Chawan-mushi flavored with lobster bisque ロブスター味の茶碗蒸し

Whenever we have lobster, I make lobster bisque from the shells and carcasses. This time I used the lobster bisque to flavor chawan-mushi 茶碗蒸し and added crab meat to make a sort of hybrid dish. I garnished it with julienne of radish and snow peas.

I put crab meat in the bottom and also on the top (I placed the top garnish including crab meat after the egg had set).

Ingredients: (6 small containers as seen below)

3 large eggs (about 150ml)

450ml Lobster bisque (or three times volume of the eggs)

Crab meat (more the better)

Snow peas and small red radish for garnish.

I beat the eggs, added the lobster bisque and mixed well. I placed crab meat in the bottom of each container and poured the egg mixture through a fine strainer into the containers. I placed the containers in a wok and steamed for 15 minutes. I checked and turned down the heat so the steam was steady but not so strong the egg mixture would developed bubbles. Once the custard set, I placed the garnishes on top including additional crab meat and steamed for another 5-10 minutes (see below).

This was good. I thought the lobster flavor would overwhelm the delicateness of the dish but it did not. It did not look any different from my usual chawan-mushi but on tasting it, the lobster bisque flavor came to the front in a nice subtle way. The sweet crab meet was also nice.  This variation of chwan-mushi will make our regular (or "teibann" 定番) dish.

Good sake from Niigata and drinking snacks 越の誉 純米大吟醸 槽搾り

Somehow I forgot to post this.  One evening in the first week of the new year (which is called "Matsu-no-uchi" 松の内 and considered to be still within a period of official New Year's cerebration in Japan) we still had some good stuff from the New Year's Osechi Box and other New Year items I made and I opened a special sake which was kept in the back of the refrigerator and I almost forgot that we had. This sake is called  "Koshi no Homare" (Pride of Niigata) Junmai daiginjo, funa-shibori 越の誉 純米大吟醸 槽搾りfrom Hara Brewery in Niigata 新潟原酒造.

I don't recall how I happen to have this sake. In any case, this was a good "daigin" with nice fruity and clean daigin flavors plus more depth to it from (?) a pleasant "umami" component. According to the brewery, this was pressed in the old traditional way in which fermented rice or "moromi" もろみ is put into cloth bags and pressed in a wooden vessel called "fune" 槽. The first sake that comes out without pressure is called "arabashiri" 荒走り. This sake is made from the middle of pressing called "nakabashiri" 中走りwhich is supposedly the best balanced sake you can have.

Anyway, good sake deserves good drinking snacks. The below was the first appetizers or otoshi I served. The left is a combination of daikon namasu (bottom), ikura salmon roe, Russian marinated salmon, boiled octopus leg, and kazunoko herring roe.

I also broiled tarako cod roe 焼きたらこ (only surface is cooked).

With these, we could have had quite a good amount of sake but since we had so much good food, I served this "Hassun" 八寸 assorted appetizers from the Osechi box. The marinated and grilled fish pieces were warmed up in a toaster oven which made them 100% better than stone-cold.

In this assortment, there are so many good snacks and everything went so well with the sake. Enjoying small morsels of different flavors and textures with good sake is by far our most favorite way of enjoying food and sake. We thought we were not a great fan of Niigata sake but this one was excellent and we really liked it.

Chicken patty with dried fig and Gorgonzola いちじくとブルーチーズの松風焼き

Matsukaze-yaki 松風焼きis one of the classic new year's osechi dishes 御節料理. It is usually seasoned with miso and includes pine nuts 松の実 (the name of this dish means "pine breeze grill").  It is essentially ground chicken loaf/patty and many variations are possible. We tried replacing the pine nuts with walnuts, which gave it a very different flavor and color (gets darker) and we liked this variation. This year, I added one more variation which I saw on line, which is making it with dried fig and gorgonzola cheese.

The combination of blue cheese and sweet dried figs is indeed great and makes it more "Western" in flavor. I served by it by itself with red wine which was a good combination.

Another time I served it with Champagne. It was one of many other items on the plate including stuffed fish cake (one with cod roe and shiso leaves and the other with thin slices of radish and guacamole), boiled octopus, herring roe, shibukawa-ni chestnuts, datemaki Japanese omelet, kumquat in syrup. (these items came from the Sushi taro osechi box combined with the dishes I made for New Year).

I also made kimisu 黄身酢 and dressed the octopus.

We had Champagne Lemile Leclerc a Mardeuil Brut Reserve NV with this. The champagne had a nice deep straw color and  was a bit assertive with a nice acidity and minerals with some fruity flavor (green apple etc) and quite good and went perfectly with all these assorted snacks.

Ingredients:

Ground chicken: About 400grams.

Dried figs: We used dried mini mission fig. The amount was arbitrary but as fa as I can tell, the more the better.

Gorgonzola cheese: we tried American made from goat cheese (mild) and one from whole cow's milk (stronger). Both worked fine but we liked the stronger one, crumbled the amount arbitrary.

Egg: two large

Olive oil: 2 tsp.

Directions: Using a silicon spatula, I mixed the ground chicken, gorgonzola cheese, dried figs, and eggs and olive oil. I oiled the bottom of a small rectangular baking sheet lined with parchment paper. I spread the mixture to make about half an inch thick layer (see below).

I baked it in a toaster oven (in convection oven mode) preheated at 350F for 20 minutes or until done.*

Because of the parchment paper lining, it came out easily in one sheet. I cut it into  rectangles.  This is a totally new flavor for this dish. Sweet nutty dried figs and salty and a bit sharp Gorgonzola is indeed nice flavor combination and made this dish more Western than Japanese. It goes well with wine or Champagne.

*This was the second try. I made this in a rectangular frying pan covered with aluminum foil as the original recipe suggested. It became sort of steam/baked and produced a large amount of liquid and when I opened the lid, it was floating in the liquid. All the cheese appeared to have leached out and it was dry and did not taste good. My toaster over baking method worked much better. If I am going with a frying pan method, I will not cover it while it is cooking.

Salmon fries 鮭のフライ

Although we have salmon frequently, I have never made this dish before. It is a rather common dish in Japan. Since we had extra raw salmon left over after making the new year's salmon dishes, I decided to make salmon fry especially since my wife said she has never had it. I served it with my potato salad and cucumber onion with dill salad. It is usually served with tartar sauce, but I served it with just wedges of lemon.

I made rather smallish fries with a nice light and crunchy outside crust.

Making this dish is rather straight forward and there is really no recipe. I made about 1/2 inch thick salmon pieces (skin removed; I used the skin to make hand rolls later). I seasoned the salmon pieces with salt and pepper. I breaded it as per usual using flour, egg water and panko bread crumbs (see below)

I deep fried it in 350F oil for few minutes turning once. Since it was not thick it cooked rather quickly. I drained the excess oil and served immediately while it was piping hot (below).

This was a pleasant surprise for my wife. It was nicely light and crunchy outside (or "saku saku" サクサク in Japanese expression) and nicely cooked juicy salmon inside. My wife always liked pan fried or grilled salmon with crispy skin, but this is the second best way to cook salmon for her. The cucumber onion dill salad especially went well with this.

Another three appetizers お通し３種類

Here are other examples of drinking snacks--3 kinds. From left to right are blanched okra, burdock root salad and edamame.



I made the okra dish just before serving. The rest were prepared ahead of time.



1. Okura
Most of the time the okra I see at our regular grocery store is blemished and generally not good. This time, when I went to the grocery store, which is not our usual one, for Pasteurized eggs, I saw really fresh good looking okra and could not resist buying it. I first rolled the okra on the cutting board with Kosher salt to remove the fine hairs on the surface. I washed off the salt and blanched them in salted boiling water for 15 seconds and then cooled them in ice water. After they were cooled, I blotted the water from the surface and kept them in a sealed container in the refrigerator.

Just before serving, I sliced them into thin slices and dressed with soy sauce and dried bonito flakes.

2. Burdock root
I made this at the same time I made Kimpira. Instead of  braising the burdock root, I boiled it in salted boiling water for a few minutes. I let it cool down and dressed in mayonnaise with a bit of soy sauce.

3. Edamame
This is just boiled frozen edamame. Since I had broth left over from the simmered atsuage  and nagaimo dish, I just cut off the ends of the pods and soaked the edamame in the broth. I kept it for a few days in the refrigerator.

This threesomes was not bad (but not great either). Although I liked the okra, my wife did not like the residual sliminess (in general okra is not one of  her favorites). The burdock root salad was good but I think the classic kimpira is better. The broth did not season the edamame as much as I thought it would. As a starter, however, this was more than adequate.

Teriyaki chicken breast with shio-koji 塩麹照り焼きチキン

This was another impromptu dish. It was made using the split chicken breast from which I made the tenderloins cooked with miso glaze. The breast meat was marinated in shio-koji 塩麹, soy sauce, and mirin for 5 days. This is a sort of teriyaki chicken breast but because of the shio-koji, it has a unique flavor. In addition, the shio-koji tenderized the meat and kept it moist. I served this with my wife's holiday bread stuffing (put in a small ramekin and baked for 10 minutes to warm it up) and blanched green beans sautéed in butter.



I first cooked the chicken breasts skin side down in a frying pan with a small amount of olive oil for 7 minutes and then flipped them over. I cooked them meat side down for another 5 minutes and placed the pan in a preheated 350F oven for 10 minutes or until the thickest portion of the meat reached 160F (below). Because of the sugar in the mirin, the surface of the meat became dark (although it looks burnt in the picture it was not). I let it rest for 5 minutes before slicing.



For a dish without any recipe, this was a good dish. The chicken was moist and flavorful. We had leftovers which we used for sandwiches the following week.

Chicken tenderloins with miso glaze 鶏ささみの味噌焼き

Often, our eyes are bigger than our stomach. We frequently buy food thinking we will cook it over the weekend but end up not cooking it because we either have too many other dishes for the week or we run out of time. This was one such weekend. Although I had bought split chicken breasts (bone in skin on), we did not cook it. Instead, I removed the meat from bone and separated the tenderloins from the breast meat. I marinated the tenderloins in sake and the breast meat in shio-koji, soy sauce and mirin. I placed the two packages in the meat drawer of the refrigerator. I cooked this chicken tenderloin dish on a subsequent weekday evening as a starter.

I often grill the tenderloins with pickled plum paste and perilla but this time I used sweet miso glaze.

I also garnished it with chopped chives.

Miso glaze: This is similar to the sauce I use for dengaku. I mixed miso, sugar, sake and mirin with grated ginger and a splash of sesame oil and mixed it in a small sauce pan over the low heat until everything was combined and the consistency was spreadable but not runny.

I skewered the tenderloins and grilled them in the toaster oven for 5 minutes on each side. I checked for doneness then smeared the miso glaze on one side and put it back under the broiler until the miso glaze bubbled and became fragrant.

This was nothing special but perfect starter for the evening.