Pickled “Takuan” daikon and cream cheese 沢庵とクリームチーズ

 Among the Japanese pickles, “Takuan or Takuwan*” 沢庵 is common and traditionally made from “Daikon” 大根. My mother (and many other “mothers’) used to make it at home in the traditional way. First the daikon was hung to dry and then mixed with salt, rice bran and other ingredients in a wooden tub. Weights (often river rocks) were placed on a wooden lid which was slightly smaller than the opening.  It was then left to ferment for several months.  (In my mother’s case, it was left in the root cellar). In my childhood, it was a common fall scene to see daikon out hanging to dry often on the rack used to dry clothes. Nowadays, the vast majority of takuwan is produced commercially. The takuwan has a characteristic yellow color which traditionally came from a type of fruit called “Kuchinashi” クチナシ or “Gardenia” (this is just for color not for flavor) but commercial products may use other yellow food coloring.

*Growing up in Sapporo, Hokkaido, we always pronounced it “Takuwan” but elsewhere in Japan, it may be pronouced as “Takuan”.

In any case, when I was picking up our take-out order of sashimi and sushi at Tako Grill the other day, I saw a package of “Takuwan”. I have not had takuwan for many years but I am sure I was influenced by seeing a YouTube episode which featured a dish made of takuwan with cream cheese which the host clearly announced he did not like and thought it was very strange. I thought it was a very interesting combination and wanted to try it. After coming home, I tasted the takuwan and it was kind of salty and sweet at the same time and nicely crunchy. After a quick Internet consultation, I made two variations and served them with crackers.

The first one (shown on the left) is cream cheese flavored with miso mixed with juliennes of takuwan and carrot. The second shown on the right is made with cream cheese, soy sauce, and takuwan.

Ingredients and Directions (Miso flavored):
50gram cream cheese, softened at room temperature
1 tsp of miso (I used “awase miso” 合わせ味噌 or mixture of “red” and “white” miso)
Takuwan and Carrot , thin juliennes, arbitrary amount

Mix everything.

 

The second one is a soy sauce flavored cream cheese with small dice of takuwan and topped with freshly cracked black pepper.

Ingredients and Directions (soy sauce flavored):

50gram cream cheese, softened at room temheprature

small dices of takuwan, amount arbitrary

A mixture of soy sauce and wasabi to taste

Freshly cracked black pepper to taste

Mix everything.

Unlike the YouTube sequence which inspired me to try this dish, our assessment which differed from that of the host was that both were quite good and went well with the Cabernet we were having. The first one with miso has more complex flavors and lots of umami. The second one definitely needed the cracked pepper. Sweet and salty and peppery with some crunch from the takuwan went well.

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. 

Salmon-Scallop Spinach pate 鮭と帆立のパテ

 My wife’s sister mentioned that recently she made a great carrot cake and apple pie. She said the recipes came from a cookbook called “Frog Commissary Cookbook” by Steven Poses which was published in 1985 (and presently out of print). While we were talking about the cookbook, I quickly searched for it and found a used one in good condition at Amazon and ordered it.

Digression alert: My wife’s sister originally lived in the Philadelphia area and was familiar with the Frog Commissary when it was in vogue back in the 1980’s. It was an exclusive catering service for the Franklin Institute which is the science museum in Philadelphia. The cookbook is based on Steven Poses former restaurant (called “Frog”) and his catering experience at the Franklin. Although we had never heard of it, back-in-the-day, the Frog Commissary Cookbook” was a “must have” in the Philadelphia area much like San Francisco a la Carte by the Junior League of San Francisco was about the same time while we were living in the San Francisco area. 

As my wife and I were browsing through the book we both thought this seafood pate recipe was worthwhile to try. The recipe as shown in the cookbook is of catering proportions and large enough to serve a multitude of people. As a result it required some scaling down. In my scaled down version, however, I was not aggressive enough in the seasoning; more seasoning would have been better. Although nothing was listed as a possible sauce in the original recipe we felt it called for one. After some experimentation I came up with two sauces that worked pretty well.  I served it with a side of tomato and cucumber dressed in olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  In any case, it is rather good looking and subtle flavored pate.

As I mentioned I thought the original recipe was sort-of a restaurant size and I reduced it by 1/4. This was not easy since the original amounts were not in metric. I first converted the non-metric weight and volume to metric and then divide those by 4. The seasoning should have been more than just 1/4 of the original recipe. (The seasoning amounts below reflect the suggested increase).

Ingredients: (makes one mini-loafpan)
Salmon-scallop mixture
85 g scallops
85 g salmon filet
1 egg white
1/8 tsp nutmeg (or to taste)
1/2 tsp. salt (or to taste)
1/4 tsp pepper (or to taste)
1/8 tsp cayenne (or to taste)
1/2 tbs (7ml) brandy
100 ml heavy cream

Spinach-scallop mixture
3 g butter
3.7ml minced shallots (half of medium shallot)
1/2 cup packed fresh spinach (30 g, cooked, moisture squeezed out, finely chopped)
1/8 tsp salt
1/16 tsp pepper
1/2 tbs minced dill
25 g scallop
15 ml heavy cream

Directions:
Salmon-scallop mixture
Cut up the salmon and scallops into a small size and place in a food processor (I used a mini-food processor) and process for 1 minute or until all chopped up
Add the seasonings, egg white and brandy and process 10 seconds
Place in a bowl and add the cream in several increments and mix until smooth.
Cover and refrigerate.

Spinach scallop mixture
Sauté the shallot in butter for 4-5 minutes (I seasoned this with salt and pepper), let it cool.
I cooked the spinach in a wok, lid on, at very low heat without any liquid (our usual way) for 7-8 minutes occasionally mixing top and bottom portions of the spinach until completely wilted and cooked. Cool, squeeze out the moisture and cut it up.
Place the shallot, spinach, and dill in a food processor and process for 10 seconds, add the chopped scallop and process additional 30 seconds or util smooth.
Transfer to a bowl and mix in the cream and mix until smooth

Assembly:
I first lightly oiled all surfaces of the loaf pan with olive oil. I lined the loaf pan with two portions of parchment paper in the shape of a cross with all sides covered (#1 picture below).
Add half of the salmon-scallop mixture, make shallow trough using the back of a wet spoon and add the spinach scallop mixture to the center in a log shape (I used a spatula and spoon to do this) (#2).
Add the remaining salmon-scallop mixture and smooth the surface.
Cover the surface with parchment paper (which I forgot but no ill effect) (#3) and then cover the loaf pan with aluminum foil (#4).
Bake in the toaster oven on convection mode at 350F using a bain marie (larger pan with hot water covering at least half of the depth of the loaf pan) for 35 minutes or internal temperature registers 135F.
Remove the aluminum foil and let it cool on the rack until reaching room temperature.
Unmold the pate by gently lifting the ends of the parchment paper lining (#5).
I placed folded paper towel on the bottom of a tight fitting sealable plastic container and refrigerated.
The cut surface is very attractive with green center (#6).

This was very elegant and very good. But I think we can improve on this. Although the color contrast is nice, we are not sure if we need the spinach in the center. Just all salmon-scallop pate could be nicer and easier to make. In terms of the sauce, we tried three sauces; aged Balsamic vinegar, wasabi soys sauce, and yuzu-kosho ponzu. All worked well but we liked the classic wasabi-soy sauce best. The amount we made is just right for most people. I think the usual wine pairing would be a dry white or sparkling wine. We had it with our usual red.

Tako rice and Matsutake soup for lunch タコ飯と松茸のお吸い物昼食

 This was a lunch we had one day. We had leftover frozen octopus rice or “Tako meshi” たこめし made from a kit we got from the  Rice factory. Although the original was not bad, the amount of octopus was rather small. Since I made tender simmered octopus タコの柔らか煮 a few days ago, I added slices of octopus legs to the previously made rice. Also we had matsutake mushroom 松茸 from Maine and made clear matsutake soup 松茸のお吸い物. I added a dish of salted vegetable or “asazule” 浅漬け and simmered root vegetables and chicken similar to “Chikuzen-ni” 筑前煮.

I  just microwaved the rice to thaw it then added slices of tender simmered octopus with a small amount of the simmering liquid and further heated it. I also garnished it with fresh “myouga” 茗荷 from our garden. The addition of the simmered octopus made the Tako rice much better than the original.

I made this clear soup from broth made from a dashi pack (kelp and shiitake), with mirin みりん and light colored soy sauce 薄口醤油. I also added shrimp (sunk in the bottom), scallion and flower-shaped “fu” 花麩 gluten cake. I also added frozen zest of yuzu 柚子 citrus. This is a lidded soup bowl and when the lid was opened the subtle but distinctive aroma of matustake and yuzu wafted out. (The aroma of matustake is one of the joys of the matusake season).  I think Maine matsutake appears to have a better aroma than the ones we used to get from Oregon.

The below are basic simmered root vegetables including daikon 大根, carrot 人参, bamboo shoot 筍, shiitake mushroom (I used dried) 椎茸, lotus root 蓮根, kon-nyaku 蒟蒻 and sugar snap スナップ豌豆 (for garnish). This time I also included chicken thigh.

This is my usual “asazuke” 浅漬け. I just made myouga in sweet vinegar 茗荷の甘酢漬け. I thinly sliced and served next to the vegetables.

For a lunch, this was quite good. 

Spinach cheese puffs ほうれん草チーズパフ

This is one of those small cheesy appetizers my wife likes to made. She saw this recipe on line and also realized that one of the boxes of frozen puff pastry was getting old. On the top of that, she cooked 2 packages of baby spinach and was looking for the best way to use them. So, all converged to result in this dish. I helped in preparation and clean-up. This is cheesy with a nice lemony flavor from the lemon zest. The puff pastry was still good and made a light crispy shell. This is a bit on the larger side and half  per person is just perfect size for us.

As usual, I ask my wife to take over.

Ingredients:
One sheet of puff pastry
2/3 cup onions finely diced
4 garlic cloves finely diced
8 oz. Cream cheese
2 eggs
2 packages of fresh spinach, cooked and drained
1 1/2 cup feta cheese finely crumbled
4 tbs. Dill
4 tsp. Lemon zest

Directions:
Cook the onion and garlic in a frying pan. Set aside to cool. Soften the cream cheese by lightly microwaving it under the defrost setting. Cream the softened cheese together with the eggs. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir until completely combined.

Cut the puff pastry into 9 squares. Roll out the squares so they are large enough the put in the greased cups of the muffin tin with the edges hanging over the sides (#1). (It was a bit tedious convincing the pastry to go into the cups. Also, the 9 filled cups would leave 3 unfilled in the 12 cup muffin tin. So I thawed some regular pie crust dough and used it for the remaining 3 cups.) (Digression: I made the remaining pie dough into impromptu cookies; roll out pastry, put butter and cinnamon sugar on half, fold the other half over, cook in toaster oven 400 degrees 15 minutes.)

Fill the pastry shells with the cheese mixture(#2) and fold the pastry hanging on the side over the cheese filling (#3). (Cover the cups with the pie dough with a round piece of dough like a pie topping.) Refrigerate 30 minutes. Bake in a 400 degree oven for about 20 to 25 minutes until the tops are golden brown (#4). Picture #5 shows the puff pastry puff while #6 shows the one made with pie dough.

Whether made with puff pastry or pie dough the result is highly acceptable. Lemon was the first taste to come through which melded into a savory onion, garlic cheese combo. Both pastries added a nice buttery crunch. Interestingly, the cream cheese mellowed out the feta very nicely. After biting into it you wouldn’t say “oh cream cheese and feta” instead you would say, “ a nice creamy savory cheese combination. What cheese would that be?”

Chicken, navy and green bean curry 白インゲン豆、サヤインゲン入りのチキンカレー

This is my wife’s curry project. This chicken curry is based on the recipe in Madhur Jaffrey’s “Quick and Easy Indian Cooking”. The original recipe is called “Chicken, Red lentils and Green beans in one pot” (or “ek handi ka murgh aur masoor”). Of course due to the ingredients we did not have, this recipe was modified to “Chicken, navy beans and green beans”. We thought this was a quite good curry. We served it over rice with the side of cold cucumber buttermilk soup whch went extremely well.

I added blanched green beans (haricot verts) just before serving (so that they would not become “grey” beans instead of green beans). The navy beans mostly melted into the sauce and made it nicely smooth and thick.

As usual, I will ask my wife to continue. I have to say the numbers of different spices and herbs are quite impressive.

Ingredients:
6 tbs vegetable oil
3 bay leaves
5 whole cloves
1 tsp ground cardamon
2 inch stick of cinnamon
3 onions, roughly chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp garam masala
1 1/2 tbs lemon juice
generous pinch of asafetida
1 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
14 oz can of navy beans
24 oz can of whole plum tomato, stem end removed and crushed
6 chicken thighs (we put them in a pan whole without skinning or deboning. After they are cooked and cooled down we removed the bones)
(Juice from the plum tomatoes reserved to provide added liquid later as the dish cooks)

The picture below shows the line-up of spices and herbs; from left to right are whole cloves, bay leaves, ground cardamon, sticks of cinnamon, turmeric, salt, gram masala, asafetida, cumin seeds, ground cumin, ground coriander, and cayenne pepper.

Among the spices, was garam masala (we use an authentic Indian brand). The asafetida is a little unusual (at least for us). It comes from the rhizome of the ferula plant (or giant fennel plant). It is used in Indian cooking as a flavor enhancer. It is supposed to add a smooth flavor reminiscent of leeks and onions (although we are not sure we could identify what it added to the dish.)

Directions:
Put the oil in a pan and when it is shimmering add the bay leaves through cinnamon and bloom them until the bay leaves turn slightly brown and the smell becomes fragrant. Remove the cloves (so no one eats them by accident.) (The bay leaves and cinnamon stick are large enough it is not likely someone would eat them if left in the sauce). Add the onions and fry until translucent and slightly browned. Add the garlic and cook until it becomes fragrant (but not burnt). Add the spices ground turmeric through cayenne pepper. Bloom the spices until fragrant. Add the beans and tomatoes and stir until blended. Add the chicken, skin side down and cover with the sauce. Cook on low simmer for 1/2 hour. Turn the chicken over and cook for another 1/2 hour. Add the reserved tomato juice as needed to keep the sauce from scorching.

This is another really good curry. All the spices blend and meld together making for a complex dimension of flavor. It is not hot but the cayenne pepper gives it a pleasant slight “buzz”. The beans basically melted into the sauce making it very rich and creamy. The spices infused the chicken meat which was very tender and basically fell off the bone. 

Blueberry puree and pecan muffin ブルーベリーピュレー、ピーカンマフィン

This is another variation on the theme of blueberry muffins. When we got less than perfect (in terms of the shape/consistency and sourness) blueberries, my wife slowly cooked and then pureed them using the immersion blender. You could add sugar and the puree worked well when added to our morning yogurt.  My wife tried using blueberry puree in muffins and found that it really added a blueberry flavor in conjunction with the whole blueberries. 

At one point she found the whole blueberries were gone but she had more puree than she could use in the morning yogurt. She didn’t want the puree to go bad so she decided to made a blueberry muffin “sans” the whole blueberry but just using the leftover puree as the liquid in the batter. She made this blueberry muffin with the puree as the blueberry “representative” and the addition of pecans to see how it works.  As you can see below, the entire muffin turned sort-of purple.

Ingredients
1 cup toasted pecans).
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs room temperature
4 tablespoons unsalted butter melted and cooled slightly
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 cup combination of buttermilk and blueberry puree (i.e. however much puree is available combined with buttermilk to make 1 cup) room temperature

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
(Optional) finely grated zest of 1 lemon. We did not use this.

Directions:
To make the blueberry puree, bring 1 cup of blueberries to a very low simmer in a small saucepan. Cook until the berries have broken down. Puree using an immersion blended. Cool to room temperature.

Whisk the dry ingredients (flour through salt) in a large bowl. Whisk 1 cup sugar and eggs in medium bowl until thick and homogeneous. Slowly whisk in the butter and oil until combined. Whisk in buttermilk/blueberry puree, lemon zest (if using) and vanilla until combined. Fold wet mixture into flour mixture until just moistened (lumpy is fine). If the batter seems loose, let it mellow for 5 minutes, and it will thicken up (picture below).

Divide among 12 greased muffin cups (batter should completely fill cups) (picture below).

Bake at 425F until tops are golden and just firm, 17 to 19 minutes (picture below).  Cool in muffin tins for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and cool 5 minutes before serving.

This is not bad but blueberry flavor was not very strong. The amount of the puree you put in may be something to do with it but in it’s own right, this is a good muffin.