Japanese

Though I’ve been cooking plenty, I haven’t done a food email in a long time. I also keep intending to set up a blog for this but constantly get sidetracked. Anyway, here’s the food email I know you’ve all been absolutely dying for:

I’ve enjoyed cooking as far back as I can remember; my first cookbook was a gift at the age of 5 or so, and I was the only teen I know of in high school that cooked dinner for their prom date instead of going to a trendy restaurant. Years later, Japanese was the cuisine that made me get serious. The first high end cookbook I opened was “Practical Japanese Cooking Made Easy and Elegant” gifted to me by Kara. Many sushi rolls and dozens of cookbooks later, I still love the cuisine. I gravitate toward Asian flavors and I’ve branched out specifically to Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, and some Chinese, but Japanese is still where my heart is.

This is a collection from the past few months with my latest favorite cookbook, “Mastering the Art of Japanese Cooking” by Morimoto. One particularly interesting thing he explains in the book is that most Japanese follow the principles of ichiju sansai which translates to “one soup and three dishes.” I tried to include a soup with every meal if the main course wasn’t already similar.

Also, of note when discussing Japanese cuisine, is dashi. This is the broth that builds the base in as many dishes as chicken broth does in Western cooking, but it’s much simpler to make and more delicate—yet equally complex—in flavor. It’s really just seaweed (kombu) steeped in water, and then usually adds bonito flakes, which is essentially dried and smoky tuna shavings (removed before serving). It takes minutes to make, and even in the U.S. the ingredients aren’t too hard to find.

Shrimp Shumai, Miso Soup, Ingen No Goma Ae (Green Beans with Sesame Dressing), and Ginger Rice

I have a handful of shumai recipes on standby and these are really good, but here, making a miso soup from scratch really is worth it- that’s the stand out. Neither Kara or myself were fans of the very sweet room-temp green beans though.

Kaisen Yaki Udon (Stir-Fried Udon Noodles with Seafood)

Thick noodles, shrimp, squid, mussels, snow peas, and shiitake mushrooms in a broth with typical Japanese flavors like sake and soy sauce. Can’t go wrong.

Shrimp and Scallops with Lemony Soy, Karashi Ae (Brussels Sprouts and Mushrooms with Mustard Dressing), and Ginger Rice

Kara LOVES Brussels sprouts, mushrooms, and mustard, so not only was that a no brainer recipe to try, I enjoy the coincidence that the Japanese name for the dish has her name in it, phonetically, at least. The “lemony soy” marinade is not from Morimoto and the ginger rice is an old simple standby inspired by Vongerichten.

Tamago Supu (Japanese Egg Drop Soup), Sake Shioyaki (Salt-Grilled Salmon), and Yasai Itame (Stir-Fried Vegetables)

Everything I love about Japanese cooking here. Quality ingredients treated simply and with love. The salmon is rubbed with LOTS of salt, rests for an hour, rinsed, and is then grilled or broiled. The salt brings out the flavor beautifully.

Nikujaga- Japanese Beef Stew, and Crispy Asian Brussels Sprouts (not Morimoto)

I was really excited to try this recipe, as Morimoto relays memories of trying his first pot roast in America and wondering where the flavor is. I have to admit, we must have different tastebuds here. I found this dish to be delicious, but its delicate balance of salty and sweet, and carefully chosen variety of textures (including shirataki noodles, made from yam) just can’t be described as a stronger flavor than a good old Western pot roast, Texan, French, or otherwise.

Food and Photography

I haven’t sent out a food email in quite a while, though I’ve been cooking plenty and just haven’t gotten around to writing anything up yet. In the meantime, here’s a very interesting article about photography’s influence on food and vice versa. It’s long and is mainly a history lesson, but I found it to be fascinating and at least worth skimming for my foodie friends. Enjoy.

http://www.foodandwine.com/lifestyle/40-photographs-moments-changed-way-we-eat

The Process

Over Labor Day weekend, I cooked each evening—probably more on that coming later—but this series of pictures from the last night sums it up. I took the first one as I was just starting on our third big meal and Kara took the next two snaps. One is a nice shot of food in progress and the other is how pretty much all my cooking endeavors end.

Smoked Turkey Breast

Barbecue sauce

Low Country Hoppin’ John

Skillet Cornbread

Green Beans and Asparagus

I brined the turkey with my new favorite go-to brine: 1 to 1 to 1: one gallon water, one cup kosher salt, one cup brown sugar, an hour per pound. Elaborate brining recipes are not worth the trouble or expense in my experience, and I’ve tried many. But I DO like to brine. I smoked the bird for about 4 hours on the Big Green Egg hovering around 250º with lump charcoal and a bunch of mesquite wood chips.

One of my favorite homemade barbecue sauces is Memphis style from the Neelys. Tart and tangy. Don’t worry, Texas, I do your spicy style too.

I’ve written about it before, but Hoppin’ John is basically a rice dish with peas. You can make it simple, which is not very good, or you can put some love into it with the right ingredients and make it a standout. I use Sean Brock’s recipe from Heritage and in this case I used purple hull peas from summer roadside stands along Southern interstate highways and a couple of New Mexico Hatch chiles from the end of the season.

One of my favorite techniques for green beans—and in this case, asparagus, too—is essentially sautéing in a bit of hot olive oil until just starting to blister, then splash a few tablespoons of water in and cover for a few minutes. Season with minced garlic, salt and pepper, and throw in a pat of butter for perfect crisp-tender veggies.

Finally, let the food digest as you fall asleep on the couch in an embarrassing and weird but somehow comfortable position with a Labrador retriever by your side, if not on top of you. Be sure to wear your old clothes reserved for cooking and painting only.

Golden Zucchini

You know those HUGE zucchinis you see this time of year? Yeah, we miss growing our own, but we picked up a couple of beautiful gold ones at the farmer’s market that weighed about a pound each. I stretched it out to three dishes—nearly a week of zucchini—about ten servings in total.

Cannelloni with Scallops and Zucchini

This was our favorite. Homemade pasta wrapped around a filling of sweet scallops and sweet golden zucchini, lightly coated with a creamy sauce reigned in by earthy thyme and bright lemon juice. Divine combination of flavors.

Summer Vegetable Casserole

Vegetables arranged in layers: yukon gold potatoes, heirloom tomatoes, vidalia onions, orange bell peppers, and golden zucchini, tossed with olive oil, garlic, thyme, and topped with a bit of Parmesan cheese. Roasted in the oven to make the house smell amazing.

Pasta and Fried Zucchini Salad

I’ve made this before and mentioned it in emails, but this time I used the gold zucchini and the proper pasta, which I worked hard to hunt down, finally finding it at an Italian market/deli called Jimmy's. The pasta is called strozzapreti, which means “priest choker”. It has all the ingredients a Kara should love- pasta, edamame, basil, zucchini, lemon zest, and capers.

 

 

 

A Comedy of Yummy Errors

I set out to do a quick, inexpensive, and healthy fish dinner. I should have read the instructions first (which I normally do, obsessively).

Steamed Red Snapper with Ginger and Scallions

I already had almost everything I needed in my pantry from the ingredients list for this Asian-inspired recipe. It called for wild striped bass which I knew would be pricey, but I figured I’d just get something comparable that looked good. I wanted the skin on the fish and ended up limited to red snapper when I was at the market—less expensive than the bass, but not exactly cheap.

Then I realized the scallions, ginger, and jalapeños were to be fried in batches (plus the ginger needs to be cut into matchsticks). Now it’s time-consuming and slightly less healthy… and smokes up my house and makes it smell like frying oil. As for health, at least they’re just garnishes.

Then—and this was the kicker—I found out I needed a covered steaming vessel that would fit a heat safe plate large enough to hold all these filets and the sauce. After about 30 minutes of experiments, I had devised a contraption using strategically broken bamboo skewers straddling a wok that would hold a pie plate that would hold the fish and could still be covered.

The recipe was tasty, though not quite worth that effort, and I failed on most of my original goals, but I did get it done.

Served with baby bok choy over ginger basmati rice...

 

The Most Popular Food in Every State (On Pinterest at the Moment)

Hey Guys-

I enjoy Food & Wine’s free daily emails much more than my (expired) magazine subscription, and I found this list fun. Most are not what you’d expect and you have to understand how the list was created. From the top of the article:

"Pinterest has released its Foodnited States of America list, featuring the recipes and ingredients that rank higher in a certain state than they do anywhere else. Compared to the other 49, each state has a keen interest in one particular product or dish that sets them apart.”

THE MOST POPULAR FOOD IN EVERY STATE

Rosé

Kara and I are not really wine connoisseurs. We understand the basic differences between varietals, enjoy wine tastings, and can recognize a really good wine, but for our tastebuds, it can often boil down to red, white, and her favorite… ROSÉ.

When we saw an episode of Ayesha Curry’s show that was based all around rosé wine and featured lemon, raspberries, and capers—many of Kara’s faves—I had to do the whole menu.

An interesting tidbit about rosé is that it is most likely the earliest type of wine ever made (the earliest evidence is from around 7000 BCE). I’m paraphrasing here, but aside from the type of grape, wine gets much of its color and flavor from the amount of time it spends with the skins of the grapes. Pull the skins out early and you have a white, leave them in and you get a rosé, use darker grapes and other processes with the skins to get a red. In the early days, they didn’t quite have the techniques down well enough to make what we now consider red or white, so the first wines were probably rosés. It’s a much different process now, and that was a very basic overview, but I find it interesting.

Roasted Pepper and Goat Cheese Bruschetta

A fantastic appetizer—and one we plan to keep in the books—the name pretty much describes it, but the bell peppers are marinated in a simple but tasty sauce. These things are good!

Rosé Lemon Caper Salmon + Cauliflower Rice

You guys know I've got my salmon cooking technique on lock, and this is just a new treatment with the herb sauce- reduced rosé wine with capers and parsley. The cauliflower “rice” consists of cauliflower that has been pulsed in a food processor until it’s about the same size as rice, then sautéed with green onions and thyme and other spices. It doesn’t really taste like rice, but it is very good.

Lemon Olive Oil Cake

I am not a dessert guy, but this just sounded too much up Kara’s alley to pass on. Yellow cake with lots of lemon zest, using olive oil instead of vegetable, and for the frosting, which is usually confectioner’s sugar and water, I subbed fresh lemon juice rather than water. Topped with raspberries. Pretty yummy, even for a guy who doesn’t like desserts.

Rosé Spritzer

And of course you have to have rosé wine with the meal. We mostly drank plain rosé, but we tried this spritzer which is half rosé and half sparkling lemon water, garnished with raspberries and a gently rubbed sprig of thyme. It’s a unique experience when you catch the thyme in the aftertaste of this beverage.