I Love You More Than Food

Category: appetizers

Going Japanese: Miso Marinated Black Cod, Carrots & Konnyaku in Tofu Sauce

Saikyo Yaki & Konnyaku to Ninjin no Shira ae

I’ve had a fabulous traditional Japanese cookbook for some years now, never really venturing into it. I was interested in it because an old friend used to cook, by nature, a lot of fusion food, and I loved the yuzu citrus so much that I”d go to the Japanese market in Berkeley with some regularity. Now that I live in SF, I have all the expanse of the Nijiya supermarket in Japantown, among other resources.

I’m not inclined to post a lot of the recipes, because they’re complicated, and require making sauces and broths and other things before cooking your actual item, but also because for most people, it will be difficult to find the ingredients.

That said, Japanese food photographs beautifully, and I hope to integrate some of the techniques and ingredients I am learning about into my more improvisational cooking in the near future.

Miso Fish

– Best to use Salmon or Black Cod/other oily fish

– Marinate for 1.5 lbs of fish; I like to do this on Saturdays or Sundays and use it throughout the week; later in the week the flavors are stronger so it’s best to use the cod last as the marinade will remove some of the oily, fishy flavors.

-Marinade must be applied for at least 1 day in fridge or up to 5

Cheesecloth or Japanese cooking cloth
3/4 cup light colored, sweet miso
1-2 T mirin
1 T freeze dried Yuzu peel, zest of 1 fresh yuzu, or zest of 1-2 fresh lemons or limes

Mix all ingredients together thoroughly. Wrap each piece of fish in 1-2 layers of cheesecloth or 1 layer of Saryachi cloth. Paint the marinade on TOP of the cloth, not touching the fish directly. Layer neatly and reasonably tightly (without aggrevating the fish flesh) into a glass, ceramic or plastic container with a lid. Coat each side of the fish and continue layering. It is OK to mix fish types in the same container.

To cook, after marinated at least 1 day in refrigerator, remove cheesecloth and scrape any clumps of marinade off the fish. Put into small foil pan or other pan that is broiler safe with skin side up. Broil for 2-4 minutes, until skin is crisped and blackened. Flip, and cook until colored and cooked through under broiler.

I like to serve this with something acidic, like a simple salad or impatient pickles, and sometimes some miso soup as well.

February 1, 2010
Sundried Tomato Reduction Pizza + Butternut Squash Pizza with Sage & Fontina val d’Aosta

Some of you know that I have stolen my go-to pizza dough recipe from Wolfgang Puck. Here it is for your convenience.

1 pack dry yeast, with an expiration date we have not yet reached
1 tsp honey or brown sugar
1 cup warm water (about 105-115 degrees)
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp kosher salt
1 T olive oil

In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in 1/4 cup of the warm water & the honey/sugar. Let it get a bit frothy while you gather your other ingredients.

In a large bowl, whisk together the remaining dry ingredients. Create a well. Add the yeast mixture to the middle and the olive oil. Add the rest of the warm water, using it to get any yeast that stuck in the bowl. Mix together. It may be quite sticky. Add more flour and knead dough until smooth and supple.

Cover with thin, damp towel (well wrung out) and put in a warm spot like on top of your gas range. Let it sit at least an hour but more if you can.

Cut it into fourths. Grab a fourth and punch it down, gathering it back into a ball. Roll it out on a large floured surface with a rolling pin, until thin but not too thin to handle and put onto a well dusted cookie sheet without a lip or a piel, if you are fancy enough to own one. I was, but I gave it away several moves ago. So back to the cookie sheet.

You’ll want to cook this on a pizza stone–if you’re going to bother making your own dough, you should get one. It makes a huge, huge difference in the texture and moisture of the pizza and how well it holds up to your toppings. It also is handy to leave in a stubborn or unpredictable oven because it will help regulate heat.

Cook it as hot as your oven goes. Don’t over fill it. Too much = hard to handle & won’t cook right. Your pizza, when ready to cook, should NOT resemble any restaurants “veggie” pizza. Too much!

Butternut Squash Pizza
Sautee cubes of fresh butternut sqash in butter or olive oil. Add salt & pepper. When tender, add some fresh or dried sage.
Thinly coat pizza skin in olive oil, and add thin slices of red onion. Add cubes of fontina. Lastly, squash.

Sundried Tomato Reduction Margarita Pizza
My mom visited a while back and left us with a sundried tomato reduction which she had made to use in a risotto. Fancy. We put it on our pizza with some mozzarella and some thyme and it was deliciousss.

My mom is pretty well known for reducing things, too. For example, demi glace. Or, port reduction for sauces on beef or pork. She’s been known to boil beef bones for days. We once had a golden retriever who would lay next to that pot for days. My mom taught her the words “reduction sauce.” She would react like you said “cookie” or “walk.”

January 18, 2010
Tuscan Crepes – Crespelle (from Osteria del Circo in NY)

I first learned about these Tuscan-style crepes while living in Florence, studying food and wine (both formally and inevitably informally) at Apicius. I rediscovered them when a pleasant little article popped up in the NY Times recently about them.

I made a pilgimage to Rainbow to get chestnut flour and good quality pine nuts (often rancid in my corner store). i went to work. I followed the recipe quite closely, save for the filling which I used a bit less boursoin and more sheep’s milk cheese. The rest was delightful. I wilted some spinich, squeezed half a lemon over it and we had a wonderful dinner. I’d recommend it and it’s a great one for a dinner party as you can assemble, and then pop in the oven for 10 minutes just before serving.

August 13, 2009
Peruvian Potato Pancakes with Homemade Apple Sauce & Creme Fraiche

4 Peruvian Potatoes
3 large fingerling potatoes
1 medium yellow onion
2 eggs beaten
2 T salt
1 T fresh ground pepper
6-8 heaping T flour
1 tsp baking powder
vegetable oil
chives
creme fraiche
applesauce (store bought or recipe follows)

After washing, shred your potatoes and add to a bowl. Mince your onion, and add it to the bowl. Cover mixture with water and soak 10 minutes, then drain thoroughly.

Mix potatoes & onion with the eggs, adding salt, pepper, baking powder and 4 T of the flour. Mix and add flour as needed until you can see the mixture will stick together.

Heat oven to warm. In a nonstick pan, heat vegetable oil to medium high heat. Add heaping tablespoon full of batter and push flat, repeating without crowding the pan (in my 12 inch pan I put no more than 4 small pancakes at a time). Flip when it’s holding together well, cooking golden on both sides. Add more oil as is needed keeping just enough to give color/allow sizzling.

When cooked add to parchment lined baking sheet and keep warm in oven until serving. Serve with bowls of finely cut chives, sour cream or creme fraiche, and applesauce.

Spiced Home-made Apple Sauce

This recipe is forgiving and you may make a batch of any size with thoughtful adjustment. I used 8 or 10 apples of mixed varieties from my farm shipment.

minimum of 5 apples (don’t use all red, they don’t have enough pectin)
1-2 sticks cinnamon
4-10 cloves
2 T sugar – 1/3 C sugar
1 tsp – 3 tsp salt
Fresh grated nutmeg to taste

Peel and core your apples and add the cores & peels to a pan that will accomodate the apples eventually. Add water until almost covered. Add the cinnamon and cloves, and bring to a simmer, cooking until reduced and all soft (15-30 minutes). Strain. Keep the juice, discard the rest in your compost preferably.

Meanwhile, cube your apples. Add to the juice once you’ve made it, keeping the spices in. Cook at medium low heat or a slight simmer until softened, probably 1 hour. Stir in sugar, salt, nutmeg to taste. Put into clean or sterilized jars or containers. If canning, will keep for some months. If putting in a container to be used from refrigerator, will last up to 1 month. Throw out at first signs of changing taste, color, or visible molding.

Wine: We had the Peruvian potato pancakes with a delicious and inexpensive bottle of dry prosecco. Any apply, dry sparkling wine will be great and cleans the fat of the oil & creme fraiche out of the mouth.

March 1, 2009
Quinoa Salad with Butternut Squash and Pancetta

1 butternut squash
6 spears asparagus (large)
1/4 vidalia or other sweet onion
1 large eggplant
1 C quinoa
2 C water
1 slice 1/4 inch thick pancetta, cubed
olive oil
salt & pepper

Cube butternut squash, egglant. Dice onion. Section eggplant to 1/2 inch sections.

Wash quinoa and combine with water in saucepan. Bring to boil, cover, reduce heat immediately to low. Set 15 min until water absorbed.

Fry pancetta in seperate pan, dry, adding to medium hot pan until crisp.

Heat olive oil and onion to medium high. Once onion shrunk but not translucent or colored yet, add butternut squash cubes (salt & pepper at every stage). Let soften. Turn heat up, add eggplant cubes. Allow to color, continuing to toss occasionally.

Add asparagus last. Let get bright green, turn off heat. Combine cooked quinoa with mixture, top with fried pancetta and serve.

Wine: You could serve this with a light, bright wine like an Oregon Pinot Noir.

September 1, 2008
Spanish Chili Shrimp in Tomato Broth & Pan-Seared Chicken with Wilted Spinach

For two, Spanish Spicy Shrimp:

10 shrimp–shell & de-vein them yourself
8 slices baguette, toasted with raw garlic rubbed on them
5 cloves garlic, minced coarsely
1/2 cap san marzano tomatoes or package fresh cherry tomatoes (cut in 1/2)
olive oil
vegetable stock
1/2 tsp thyme
salt
pepper
chili flakes

Two skillets: start one cold with olive oil & chili flakes (about 1/2 tsp), heat on low until chili flakes start to brown, strain and put the oil back in the pan to pan-fry the shrimp later. In the other skillet, sautee the garlic in the oil until beginning to color; add tomatoes, 1 tsp chili flakes, & thyme, and let simmer. When reduced and broken down, add vegetable stock until “minestrone” consistency.

Heat chili oil to medium high, sautee shrimp. Serve shrimp on top of tomato “stew” with crotistin (toasted bread with raw garlic rubbed on) in a shallow bowl.

Pan-Seared Chicken with Wilted Spinach

1/3rd orange bell pepper, diced
1 small shallot, minced
1 large clove garlic, minced
olive oil
salt
pepper
spinach
zest & juice of 1/2 lemon
1 boneless chicken breast, skin on

Preheat oven to 375. Use a oven-safe skillet for the chicken. Sautee on medium low bell pepper, shallot, and garlic in olive oil with salt & pepper. On high heat, with 1-2 tbsp of olive oil in a separate skillet, sear chicken skin-down (season skin with salt & pepper), until skin is golden. Turn over, move skillet to oven.

When chicken is finished cooking (by sight; should become constrained on sides and generally thicker), remove from oven and place on cutting board to rest for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, add spinach to bell pepper mixture, and turn off heat. Zest the 1/2 lemon on top and add the juice. Put a lid on top of it and let it sit in the heat to wilt 70%.

Slice chicken and serve on top of spinach mixture.

March 28, 2008
Tonno Carpaccio con Yuzu (Tuna Carpaccio with Yuzu)

Last night I took my time and made myself an appertifo of sorts: Yellow Fin Tuna Carpaccio with Yuzu and Tarragon sauce. I let the sauce sit on the tuna for about 20 minutes before I ate it so it would all come to roomÂ temperatureÂ and the tuna would cook a little like ceviche.

November 30, 2006