Hiroko’s Kitchen | Blog

I was so excited when I heard Stephanie on WNYC last Wednesday. She was giving tips on how to cook their catch. She and her husband, Alex, owns Blue Moon Fish company. Alex is a fisherman and has been in the business for 40 years. According to Alex he started to bring fish to the Greenmarket 25 years ago. TriBeCa location became a huge success. Alex expanded the sales of his fish to other Greenmarket locations, and eventually he is selling his fish only to the public. Stephanie confirmed me that their small business never survived without Greenmarket. They are grateful about the market.

I have known Stephanie for several years. She is a beloved fishmonger’s wife and Mother for people who work at her company. I buy fish from them because I know that fish is local, wild and seasonal. In addition, the quality of Blue Moon fish is always excellent. They know how to treat and store fish properly. Fish is so excellent that I sometimes prepare a dish for raw consumption. We, consumers, are grateful that they come to sell their fish no matter what the weather condition is.

Today I bought sea trout (weakfish) from Stephanie. About 2 3/4 pounds. I first cleaned and filleted the fish. As you can see here, the blood is concentrated along the center bone (opened belly). The fish is very fresh so that the blood is flowing. I always rinse off the blood with a tooth brush; the bet equipment for this job.

When you fillet the fish you can also tell the freshness of the fish. The fresh fish muscle meat sticks to your knife during working. Not-fresh, spoiled fish has a mealy muscle meat and crumbles on slicing.

I cut each fillet into 3 1/2 ounce portions – Japanese size! I portioned triangular shaped tail end part for fish noodle making.

The fish cooking tips: you can find the same info. in Hiroko’s American Kitchen
1. Lightly salt the fish for 20 minutes
2. Thoroughly rinse off the salt under cold tap water
3. Wipe dry fish and marinate it in BBC (Best Baking and Cooking Sauce) or the mixture of mirin, sake and shoyu
4. Roll the thinner belly part of the flesh before putting it on a skewer for even cooking
5. Paint the surface of the fish with the remaining marinade towards the end of cooking for rich flavor and glossy appearance

I served the grilled fish with sautéed spinach and pickled ramps. Thank you, Stephanie, Alex and Greenmarket.

Direct translation of ‘WAGASHI’ is Japanese sweet. There many sweets covered under WAGASHI, including rice cracker, mochi cake, steamed bun stuffed with sweet azuki bean, steamed cake, candy,…I am not going to define it right now in this small space.

After moving to America what I miss from time to time is Nerikiri-gashi. Nerikiri-gashi was developed during Edo period for the tea ceremony occasion. The cooked and sweetened white beans are strengthened with gyuhi rice, colored and shaped in seasonal theme. The inside stuffing of Nerikiri tends to be sweetened azuki bean paste. So, no matter how beautifully colored and shaped they are every piece you enjoy taste….exactly the same….it is not, though, disappointing, but rather exciting. I posted here one photo of collection of nerikiri which I took at Nishiki Koji market in Kyoto.

This rainy Saturday was perfect to force myself to prepare Nerikiri, whose preparation takes long hours, labor and attention to detail. Anyway I could produce 2 colored Nerikiri base – purplish pink one and green one. I also made the azuki paste for stuffing.

Here is the photo of the result.

The color of my nerikiri reminds people of the color of Upstate NY spring scenery with rush, tender greens and purplish pink tree flower. For the maximum enjoyment of nerikiri you should have a bowl of whisked, foamy matcha green tea after enjoying a piece of this sweet. The sweetness which lingers in your mouth is washed off by astringent, grassy tasting green tea. A beautiful sensation in your mouth and perfect match.

This morning We went to Greig Farm in Red Hook to pick and purchase ($3/pound) asparagus on receiving our neighbour’s strong suggestion. The farm is located on Pitchen Lane and has been operating in the past 60 years. Norman Greig and his business partner Erina O’Neill opened an adventurous local farmer’s market, Hudson Valley Farmer’s Market, in December last year by the farm. Their mission is to support local family-owned farmers. Every Sat. the market is open from 10am to 3pm. Let’s spread the words of this wonderful market!

Here are the photos of asparagus field. We leaned that most of the asparagus were already picked by mobs who arrived here much earlier days or time than us. But, our careful search soon found just-came-out-of-the-ground-looking, thick and energy-packed shoots one after another. After 8 minutes of wondering the field the cardboard carten was almost full. We picked a little over 3 pounds.

I steamed the asparagus and served it with my White Sumiso Sauce (Hiroko’s American Kitchen) for lunch. Please use the recipe page 83 in the book. Tangy, slight garlic and anchovy fillet-scented Sumiso sauce highlight the very mild flavor of the just picked asparagus. I have never tasted the asparagus so fresh and better in my life.

[caption id="attachment_2518" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Chef Tanaka\'s Beef Takikomi Gohan"][/caption]

(Photos of this blog will be posted next)
One of my favorites Corn and Ginger Takikomi Gohan (introduced in Hiroko’s American Kitchen) is so easy when I do it in my Zojirushi’s Micom/IH. I love it. But, from time to time I get bored with easy, convenient tasks. I always love challenges, or at least I want to keep my skills honed. So, the other day I cooked takikomi gohan in the traditional way which my mother taught me – using an earthenware donabe pot. The result was what I expected – super tasty.

I own this donabe pot for over 24 years. This is not just for takikomi gohan preparation, but for winter time nabemono, hot pot, dishes.

Here is some tips how you do it using donabe. Your devoted attention to steam, strength of heat and cooking time are necessary all the time. Please also make sure that your nose can catch any wrongly burnt smell.

1. Rinse rice thoroughly followingntheninstructions in the book. Also follow the important soaking and drying instructions.
2. Add the rice to the donabe pot. Add the kelp stock and sea salt.
3. Sprinkle the corn kernels and ginger over the rice. Cover the donabe pot with a lid.
4. Cook the rice over high heat for 4 -5 M, or until the inside stock starts to boil. Then, reduce the heat to medium and cook about 6 minutes or so, or until the water is reduced to the level of the rice. 5. Then, reduce the heat to low and cook for 10 M. At the end of cooking I turn the heat to full strength and count 30. This helps to produce nice lightly burnt rice crust (okoge) on the bottom of the rice, and also to help to expel extra steam in the pot.
6. Follow the instructions on shoyu and butter in the book, and enjoy as is, or as an accompaniment to your fish, chicken or meat plate.

You will see here (photo) the delicious Beef! Takikomigohan which we enjoyed during my Curinary Tour To Japan 2013 with Hiroko Shimbo. Chef Tanaka of Shun no Aji Ichi served this rice dish to us after delicious seafood and vegetable course. He cooks his takikomigohan in traditional donabe. A grand dish to finish our memorable dinner.

At the Food Book Fair I demoed Edamame (fresh green soybeans) Soup – kelp stock, edamame, cucumber, green bell pepper and miso – from Hiroko’s American Kitchen. Soon freshly harvested edamame is returning to our farmer’s market, so I hoped that everyone who attended my demo will be enjoying this nourishing, cleansing, body cooling chilled soup made from fresh beans at home during this season.

Edamame – a young soybean – is known to be packed with many nutrients. So here in America varieties of food sites suggest that we should snack on it regularly for health benefit, because Japanese do it. Well, it is not true. We do not snack on edamame throughout the year. Edamame’s season is summer and this is the time when we enjoy it.

What comes to my mind first when I think of fresh green edamame is beer. When edamame becomes bounty hot and humid summer is rolling in Japan. After work business people head to beer gardens (outside functions where they serve light snack and lots of beer), beer halls (restaurant which specializes beer and beer friendly dishes) or casual restaurants to savor salt boiled edamame with glasses of beer to cool them off and relax.

Edamame is truly a good friend of beer. Its nutty and sweet flavor goes very well with pleasant bitter flavor of beer. But, edamame has more benefit than that. If you happen to sit next to Japanese at restaurant and enjoy edamame and glasses of beer together, he or she will preach you that vitamins and methionine in edamame assist breaking down alcohol in the blood, and protect the liver. This sounds like a good excuse of drinking more beer and eating more edamame.

Here is how you cook your edamame on vines bought at farmers market this summer.
Remove the pod from the vine using a scissors. Put them in a bowl of water and rinse. Drain the edamame and transfer it to a bowl. Add little salt to the bowl and rub the beans between your palms. Each bean is covered with downy fuzz, so this process removing them. Then, boil the pods in salted boiling water for 3 to 5 minutes. Drain the pods and spread them in a wide, flat bottomed colander so they dry quickly. Do not cool the cooked pods in cold water. While the beans are still hot, toss them with a generous amount of salt. Serve them as they are in their pods with a chilled glass of beer.

Getting the green beans out of the green pods and into your mouth is simple and amusing. Pick up a pod. Bring it close to your mouth, and squeeze the bottom of the pod. The beans inside will pop out into your mouth.

Please come to join my demo at Brooklyn Kitchen at Pure Kitchen at 12:30pm on May 5th. I will be cooking four summer dishes from Hiroko’s American Kitchen. Will give you tips and delicious sample tastings. Toward the end of the demo I will do several quiz. And the lucky one will receive a tub of miso, the best available miso in America. It is Miso Master miso. Authentic, traditional production; no MG; organic

Here is a travel tip if you are coming from Manhattan by taxi or car;

Take the Williamsburg Bridge as the 5 Boro Bike Tour is also happening that weekend. You will go down Bedford Ave., turn LEFT on N. 12th and then RIGHT on Wythe. Note KENT AVENUE IS CLOSED FOR BICYCLES.

The address is 80 Wythe Ave. We will unload across the street.

On Saturday’s farmers’ market I purchased four (4) spring wild greens/weeds. They are dandelion, chickweed (very grassy, slight bitter and also slight sweet), water cress (very spicy; completely different taste from the cultivated one) and upland cress (very bitter and has wasabi like spiciness; and also). Astringency and bitterness which all of these greens have are characteristics to wild spring glasses. I learned to appreciate these negative flavors since I was small. My mother always told me that eating astringent and bitter greens at the beginning of spring is a very good thing to our body. They work as detoxification of the body and also are high in antioxidant.

I made the delightful Spring Salad with my spicy miso sauce dressing (Hiroko’s American Kitchen). The strong grassy, bitter and astringency flavor of these greens pair beautifully with the strong characteristic of the dressing. Every bite of this salad reminded me of early spring. I am going to include this salad on my May 5th demonstration for Food Book Fair in Brooklyn. Please join me at the demo. I will be giving out Miso Master Miso, best miso in America, to the people who answered my questions correct at the end of the demo!

One tip: after removing the rubber band or string from a bunch of each green, soak them in cold water for 20 minutes or so. It loosens up dirt and mud attached to the roots, so the cleaning is very easy.

A little more to go if you are with me: Here are some information on Chickweed from on-line source; www.wildmanstevebrill.com. I have never tasted/purchased this weed before, so am curious about it.

Excellent source of vitamins A, D, B complex, C, and rutin (an accompanying flavonoid), as well as iron, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, zinc, manganese, sodium, copper and silica.

Applied externally, finely chopped chickweed soothes irritated skin. It is good for cuts, minor burns, eczema and rashes.

Make chickweed infusion, pouring 1 cup of boiling water over 1/4 cup of chickweed. Cover and let it steep for 15 minutes. Strain and drink it hot. The tea promote the flow of urine. It also cleanse the kidneys and urinary tract.

I will continue to buy Chickweed at farmers’ market and enjoy it in other preparations as well until the season ends this spring.

Yesterday at a farmers’ market I found terrific wild, baby dandelion. So, I am thinking of making Tendon with these spring greens, instead of shrimp and conger eel version which we enjoyed in Asakusa.

Dandelion has a pleasantly bitter flavor, characteristic to many early spring wild greens. Here is the ingredients for my dandelion kakiage (recipe: page 181, Hiroko’s American Kitchen) Tendon – dandelion, carrot, red onion and white mushroom. This recipe uses also Super Sauce, page 170. The amount given is rough numbers for 2 servings.

1. Rinse and cook the rice – 2 1/2 cups (3 rice cooker cups): I cook my long-grain brown rice in the rice cooker which I own in the past 13 years. I cannot think of my life without a rice cooker. It is so handy.

2. In a saucepan add 6 tablespoons water, 2 tablespoons Super Sauce (page 170), 2 teaspoons shoyu (soy sauce) and 1 teaspoon sugar. Bring the mixture to a gentle simmer over low heat. Turn the heat to very low and cook the sauce for 8 minutes.

3. Soak the dandelion (3.5 ounce) root-side down in a plenty of cold water in a large bowl. This process loosens the mud and soil attached to the roots. Peel and cut red onion (2 ounce) into thin slices. Cut the carrot (1 small) into julienne strips. Cut the white mushroom (1) into half, then, each half into thin slices. Then, rinse the dandelion to remove the mud and soil from the root. Remove the roots and wipe-dry the greens with paper towel. Transfer all of the vegetables – at this time it weighs around 4 ounces in total – to a bowl and toss them with 1 tablespoon of tempura flour.

4. Add 1 1/2 cup sesame oil and 1 1/2 cup canola oil into a wok or deep skillet, and heat it until about 350 degree F.

5. Add 1/2 cup of tempura flour to another bowl. Add 1/2 cup minus 1 tablespoon water to the flour. As I have explained in the previous blog, Edomae tempura has thick crust. To make it thick we add egg to the flour & water mixture. Add half an egg per 1/2 cup of tempura flour to experience the authentic Edomae style. Or, without egg, you can create a lighter crust. Mix the flour and water (option: and egg) with a whisk. Then, add the floured vegetables to the tempura batter. With a pair of chopsticks or tong, toss the vegetables with the tempura batter.

6. For flying: follow the instructions on page 181-182. You will make 4 tempura pancakes.

7. Divide the cooked rice in an individual deep serving bowl and top each bowl with two (2) kakiage tempura. Pour the prepared sauce over hot kakiage and serve immediately. Enjoy!

http://foodbookfair.com/hiroko-shimbo-cooking-demo/

FBF + HIROKO SHIMBO

Sunday, May 5, 12:30PM-1:30PM
The Brooklyn Kitchen at Pure Kitchen

Hiroko Shimbo is an authority on Japanese cuisine with worldwide recognition and serves as a chef-consultant for restaurants and food companies. She is a trained sushi chef, author, media performer and instructor, operating Hiroko’s Kitchen LLC, a consulting company, in New York City. Hiroko’s books have become known as wonderful resources for both professional chefs and home cooks. Join us for Hiroko’s cooking demo as she prepares some specialty bites from her 2013 IACP award winning cookbook, Hiroko’s American Kitchen.

Hiroko Shimbo, Author, Hiroko’s American Kitchen

Book signing: 1:30PM-2:o0PM

Hiroko Shimbo, Hiroko’s American Kitchen – IACP 2013 Cookbook Awards Winner under American