Japanese – Grow. Cook. Eat.

August 28, 2011

Cooking Up a Storm (Recipe: Eggplant with Miso and Spicy Mayo)

Despite all the panic inspired by the TV hype of Hurricane Irene, I went about my usual routine for the most part. Since I live in the city, I know all the markets will be open come Monday morning and I can easily walk, even if I need to climb over a few tree stumps, to Whole Foods. All summer, I’ve been loading up the freezer with kale from the garden and corn from the farmers’ market. I have a hefty stash of canned tomatoes. And just last week, I bought several steaks from two different meat CSA farms that I’m thinking of joining. Along with a well-stocked liquor cabinet, I could easily survive a week.

The one preparatory step I took was to harvest as much as I could from the garden. The only plant I’m really concerned about is the tomato – the harsh weather could bring an untimely end to the growing season. The rest of the veggies will be okay. But knowing that I won’t want to venture outside in the sheeting rain, I picked plenty of eggplant, broccoli, kale and herbs so that I could cook up a storm while I waited out Hurricane Irene.

Taking a Japanese theme, I cooked up variations Nasu Dengaku (miso rubbed eggplant) and Gomae Spinach (chilled spinach salad with sesame dressing). I topped the eggplant with spicy scallops, and used kale instead of spinach. The recipe for the sesame dressing on the kale can be found here.

Eggplant with Miso and Spicy Scallops
Adapted mostly from The Farmer’s Kitchen with the additional inspiration from Nobu .

Eggplant from my garden has no bitterness. The step of salting keeps the eggplant from absorbing oil when being fried.

2 eggplants
½ cup miso
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup mirin
¼ cup sake or dry sherry

½ cup mayonnaise
1 tbs. lan chi chili paste
½ pound dry sea scallops

½ cup oil
Salt
Scallions to garnish

1.    Cut eggplants in half lengthwise. Generously sprinkle salt on the cut side and let sit for 20 minutes.
2.    Make the miso sauce: combine the miso, sugar, mirin and sake in a small sauce pot. Cook over low heat until well combined and the sugar is dissolved.
3.    Brush the excess salt off the eggplant. Heat a large skillet over high heat. Add the oil. Cook the eggplant, cut side down, for 5 minutes or until deeply golden brown. Turn the eggplant over and cook for one minute more. Remove from pan, at put on a cookie sheet, cut side up.
4.    Mix the mayonnaise with chili paste. Cut the scallops into chunks. Toss the scallops with the spicy mayonaise. Top the eggplant with the scallop mix.
5.    Broil the eggplant for 5 minutes or until mayo starts to glaze. Remove from oven and drizzle miso on top. Continue to broil for another few minutes before serving. Garnish with scallions.

From the garden: eggplant, kale, scallions, garlic
From the Farmers' Market/Freezer: scallops
From the pantry: everything else.

December 28, 2010

Shock Value (Recipe: Ankimo with Ponzu Sauce)

If chicken feet were as pedestrian as chicken wings, I probably wouldn’t like them as much as I do. I only eat them when I’m out for dim sum. Half the fun is watching the look of surprise in the waiters’ eyes when I order them. They glance at me sideways, questioning if I really know what I’m getting myself into. I nod eagerly, “yes, yes, please.” The other half of the fun is gnawing around the bones and then spitting them out with my chopsticks – completely acceptable behavior in Chinatown. The chicken feet don’t have much flavor beyond the sauce they are cooked in.

Ankimo may not have the same shock value as chicken feet, but it certainly elicits similarly odd reactions. I’ve taken to calling it monkfish “foie gras” instead of liver to minimize people’s discomfort. It doesn’t taste fishy or liver-y – just like duck foie gras doesn’t taste of duck. It’s just rich, creamy goodness. And I like monkfish liver, shock value or not.

You won’t see the liver until winter, when the water temperatures drop and the liver fattens up. Then you can find it at sushi bars and fish-markets. Though all the Japanese markets in Cambridge have closed in the last few years, I can still find ankimo at New Deal or Capt. Marden’s by special order.

Traditionally, the liver is formed into a cylinder, steamed and then served with grated daikon and chilies. I poach it in dashi – a cook it slightly under-done. I’m told I shouldn’t do this, but the texture is a bit creamier and I like the flavor a bit better. I serve it in Japanese soup spoons for an hors d’oeuvre, or in little bowls as an appetizer. Either way, I garnish it with Ponzu sauce, scallions, wakame seaweed and cucumbers.

Ankimo with Ponzu
1 pound monkfish liver.
1 3” piece of kombu
½ cup bonito flakes
¼ cup soy sauce
3 cups water
Ponzu sauce
1 tsp. Dried wakame
1 small cucumber, sliced thin (or radishes)
2 scallions, cut into thin rounds

Put monkfish liver in a pot with the kombu, bonito flakes, and soy sauce. Add enough water to cover. Over a medium heat, bring the pot to a simmer, remove the kombu, and continue to simmer for a minute. Remove from heat and let liver cool in the liquid.

While the liver is poaching, soak the dried wakame in cold water. It will explode in size, so make sure you have it in a decent sized bowl.

When liver is cool, but in the refrigerator to completely chill.

Slice thin pieces and serve with ponzu, cucumber slices, wakame and scallions.

April 29, 2010

Spring Fever, Part II (Fiddlehead Salad)

They say you shouldn’t go to the grocery store hungry because you will over-buy. A corollary to that adage would be, “Don’t go to Russo’s at the peak of Spring.” I’m like a kid in a candy shop, throwing everything in my cart – fresh English peas, morels, fiddlehead ferns, asparagus and ramps.

As I unloaded my bags at home, I thought about what I could make with my bounty. I could make a mélange of vegetables to serve with fish, but I wanted each vegetable to have a chance to shine. Instead, I opted to spread the wealth across several meals. The first meal, I wrote about here: a rather straightforward dish that I replicate in similar fashion every year.

For my second spring meal, I wanted to take a new direction. I found a recipe for fiddleheads that marinates them with soy sauce and sesame oil. This seemed like the perfect accompaniment to teriyaki. And when I make teriyaki, I usually add shiitakes, morels seemed like the logical spring substitution.

The vinaigrette for the fiddleheads is reminiscent of the bean sprout salads served in Japanese and Korean restaurants. I would use this same preparation in the future with bean sprouts.

Fiddlehead Salad

½ pound fiddlehead ferns
1 teaspoons sugar
2 tbs. soy sauce
1 ½ tbs. sesame oil
1 ½ tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted

Soak fiddleheads in water. Let the dirt settle to the bottom. Lift them out, and drain on a paper towel. Repeat this process two more times.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt generously. Add fiddleheads, and cook for three minutes, or until bright green. Drain well and shock them in an ice bath.
In a bowl combine sugar, soy sauce and sesame oil. Add drain the fiddleheads and toss to coat. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve with morels and teriyaki glazed fish or chicken.

March 23, 2010

Super Fresh

I never know what sort of adventure awaits me when I visit the farm. Brett may have a chicken “matanza” scheduled, some great tomato at peak harvest, or a wild animal that made its way into the walk-refrigerator.

This time it was (a rather tame) tuna belly that a friend had recently caught on a fishing trip. It was already a few days old by the time we got it, but even still, it was fresher than anything we could have gotten at the fish market.

And perfect for eating raw – as sushi or tartar. The tuna was a paler red than what I usually see at the market – this is from the fat that’s imperceptibly marbled through the meat. The tuna was more tender, and the taste more luscious.

When cooking on the farm, we make do with what’s on hand. He and his family prefer maki rolls. Their well-stocked pantry has plenty of rice, nori (seaweed) and wasabi on hand, making this an easy, go-to meal.

Our maki rolls were not traditional – I did not properly fan the rice as it cooled so it would glisten, though I did season it with rice vinegar, salt and sugar. I seasoned the tuna with a little soy sauce before rolling.

After using all the nori to make rolls, we still had some tuna. I used lettuce leaves instead to wrap the remainder.

An old favorite is tuna timbale with avocado and smoked salmon. Brett had a few ripe avocadoes, but no smoked salmon. The avocado was seasoned with scallions, cilantro, a touch of chipotle and lime juice. The tuna was seasoned with soy sauce and scallions. For an extra layer of color, I garnished the plate with a few sprigs of the greenhouse lettuce and a drizzle of wasabi. If I had wasabi peas, I would have sprinkled a few on the plate for textural contrast and a quick shot of heat.

December 19, 2009

Something Amazing

The other night, in need of a little pampering, I took myself to Oishii… Dining alone, I opted to sit at the bar so I could watch the sushi-chefs work their magic. I ordered the Truffle-Hamachi Make , and was quickly distracted into a "When Harry Met Sally" moment.

When I recovered, the couple next to me was struggling to understand and order from the menu. I felt bad for them since they seemed to expect a more traditional, "American-Style" Japanese experience. And I felt bad for the sushi-chef as he struggled to understand and accommodate their special requests.

I watched longer, the chef vacillating between indulgent creativity for a table enjoying the chef's tasting (omakase) and the restrained obedience of tuna tartar.

Most intrigued by the omakase, and desirous of something more, I asked the chef to make me "something amazing."

Indeed he did! Five spoons arrived on a plate… each filled with a most delightful taste — scallops with fried taro threads, a slab of tuna with mango and tempura seaweed, uni with ponzu foam, sea bream with ginger-daikon salad and otoro with truffle and gold leaf.

July 10, 2009

Bumper Crops (Recipe: Goma Spinach)

Last week, I visited Waltham Fields Community Farm for a reading by Lisa M. Hamilton, author of Deeply Rooted: Unconventional Farmers in the Age of Agribusiness. They asked me to prepare a few salads with their produce to serve the attendees.

With all this rain and cool weather, they had a glut of spinach. So much that they could not keep up with the harvest and the leaves were rather large by the time they did. They gave me 11 pounds for the event.

Such spinach is ideal for cooking, less so for a salad, because cooking reduces its mass considerably. My crate cooked down to about ¾ gallon in volume. I snagged a little off the top to eat with my own dinner the night before the event, and reheated it in garlic and olive oil. If I had more, I would have frozen it. The remainder I served with a Japanese style sesame dressing.

Chilled Spinach Salad with Sesame Dressing
(Goma Spinach)

1 pound fresh spinach, washed
8 tablespoons roasted sesame seeds
2 tbs. sake
2 tsp sugar
2 tbs. soy sauce
1 tbs. rice vinegar
¼ cup water or dashi

Heat a large skillet over high flame. Add spinach (no oil, just the residual water from washing). Cook the spinach just until it wilts, turning occasionally.

Chill spinach in refrigerator.

Meanwhile, in a food processor, combine the remaining ingredients together. Blend until smooth.

Squeeze out excess water from spinach. Drizzle dressing on top just before serving.

March 11, 2009

Cook. Eat. Grow? (Recipe: Salmon Teriyaki)

When I started this blog, I wanted to write all about the food cycle – from growing and raising our food in the fields, to cooking it in the kitchen, and finally enjoying the meal around the dining room table. When I referred to “grow”, I specifically thought of the beginning of the cycle – what happens in the fields; and not of the end of the cycle: what happens to our bellies.

With several friends on diets, I’m reminded that I can still afford to lose a few pounds, too, and have pulled out a few healthy recipes of my own.

One of my favorites is Salmon Teriyaki with Soba Noodle Salad. The teriyaki sauce has minimal added fat and makes a great marinade for the fish and dressing for the noodles. Soba noodles, which are high in fiber and protein, offer a great alternative to steamed rice or even brown rice. And mixed with julienne of vegetables, you have a complete meal.

Salmon Teriyaki with Soba Noodle Salad

1 teaspoon butter

1teaspoon chopped garlic

1teaspoon chopped ginger

¼ cup soy sauce

¼ cup sugar

2 tablespoons mirin

1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar

4 – 6 oz. salmon or arctic char files

8 oz. soba noodles

Lots of Julienne vegetables: carrots, scallions, cucumbers, red peppers and avocadoes are my favorites

1 kaffir lime leave, finely chopped

1. In a small skillet, melt butter over medium flame. Add garlic and ginger and cook until they become aromatic, about 3 minutes.

2. Add the soy sauce, sugar, mirin and vinegar. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Continue cooking on high heat for about 1 minute or until sauce starts to thicken. Let cool.

3. Use half the teriyaki sauce to marinade the salmon.

4. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add soba noodles. Cook according to package directions (this can vary from 4 minutes to 8 minutes, depending on the brand). When noodles are cooked, drain and rinse under cold running water.

5. Toss noodles with remaining teriyaki sauce, vegetables and kaffir lime leaves.

6. Put salmon in an over-proof dish and broil for 5 minutes, or until the teriyaki starts to brown and glaze the fish. Turn the oven to bake to finish cooking the fish – timing depends on the thickness of the filets, but can take another 5 minutes.

August 25, 2008

Garden Updates and Confessions

Each morning, while savouring my first cup of coffee, I inspect the garden for what’s ready or near ready to harvest. It’s been an exciting week: 3 Chinese eggplants, 2 Italian eggplants, 5 cucumbers, 4 tomatoes, 3 kohlrabi and lots of herbs. I had wanted to take a photo of the bounty, but I’ve been eating everything just as quickly as I harvest.

The cucumbers are surprisingly sweet. Cut in half or sticks, they make a great snack. I’ve sliced tomatoes with the intention of making a sandwich, but with a little sprinkle of salt, I can’t get them from the cutting board to a plate without “tasting” them first. Needless to say, I have yet to make a sandwich or collect enough cucumbers to make pickles.

The eggplant is too bountiful to consume on my own. On Thursday evening, my neighbors (who have since returned from vacation and reclaimed their CSA subscription) and I combined the corn from their farm share with my eggplant for a Japanese-inspired vegetable feast: Miso-Rubbed Grilled Eggplant and Chile Glazed (think Spicy Tuna Roll sauce) Corn on the Cob.

Last week, in a fit of discouragement, I started yanking up the non-zucchini producing zucchini plants to make room for my fall lettuces and broccoli raab. As I inspected the plants for squash blossoms that would be worth saving, I discovered that I had been premature: the plants had *finally* started to produce fruit. I immediately stopped, and now have two or three zucchini-ettes well on their way to become a full-grown zucchinis.

Miso-Rubbed Grilled Eggplant

(inspired by Nobu)

3 Japanese Eggplant, sliced in half lengthwise
3 cloves garlic
3 tablespoons olive or canola oil
1 cup white miso
½ cup sugar
¼ cup mirin (sweet rice wine)
¼ cup sake

1. Finely chop garlic. Toss eggplant with garlic and oil to marinate.

2. Combine remaining ingredients in a sauce pot. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until completely combined and sugar has dissolved.

3. Prepare a charcoal grill. Grill Eggplant, cut side down, for 3 minutes or until lightly charred. Flip over and brush with miso paste. Cook for 2 minutes more. If you’d like, flip again to char the miso paste onto eggplant.

4. Serve with rice, or shrimp or grilled corn.