Oden

Itadakimasu!!!!!  The finished oden!

It was cold and miserable today - it snowed for a bit and then started raining like it was the end of the world (... still is ...ugh.)  I had intended to make oden today anyway and had purchased all the ingredients the day before (and had the dashi left over from earlier in the week when I made udon), but it was lucky I had chosen today, because this was the perfect meal for a cold, wet winter's day!

Makes 4-6 servings - depends on how much veg and fish cake you add!

6 Cups Dashi
3 Tbsp Usukuchi soy sauce
1.5 Tbsp Soy sauce
1.5 Tbsp sake
1.5 Tbsp mirin

1 Leek - white and light green parts only, 1/4 - 1/2" cuts on the bias
1 HUGE carrot - sliced 1/4 - 1/2" cuts
1 Daikon, peeled, sliced in 1-2" rounds, bevel edges top and bottom to keep it from breaking up
4 scallions - white ends and light green parts only
Fish cakes and balls (And you can use your imagination - add other veg, meat, konnyaku, etc. )

Combine all liquid ingredients - if you have a donabe use that, I already had an enamel cast iron dutch over and it worked great.  Bring to simmer - covered - over low heat and simmer 2-3 hours minimum.  It was suggested that additional salt could be added to taste, but my broth was seriously perfect!  (I recently learned that hard water is not good for making dashi ... an my town has the hardest water on the planet.  My dashi always looked perfect and didn't taste bad ... but it did not have a lot of flavor.  Using a gallon of store brand water instead - the difference was night and day!  So much more flavor!!!)

Just the veggies and broth!

Peel and slice the carrots and trim the scallions and add to the pot.  Wash the leek well, slice and add to the pot. Peel and slice the daikon, but add to a separate pot!  I saw someone recommending to simmer in dashi and someone saying to use the white water from washing rice, but in either case, simmer until you can easily slip a butter knife into the center of the daikon slice.  I elected to go with the white water - mainly because I was intrigued by the promise that it would make sure the daikon was not bitter and that it would give it a nice color, but also because I did not have the dashi to spare - I had just enough for the oden!  Once cooked, add daikon to pot.  Then let all of that simmer!

Fish cakes added!

The various fish cakes and balls I purchased came frozen - I portioned out what I would be using and let it thaw a bit on the counter, about a half hour before I intended to toss it in.  And then I tossed it in!  I let it all simmer together for about a half hour and then it was time to eat.

This oden was AMAZING!  The broth was delicious, the daikon tasted like the most perfect and mild turnip I had ever tasted (a good thing! love turnips), the carrot was soft and sweet and the leek and onion had nearly dissolved into the broth - no exaggeration, the broth alone would have been delicious and satisfying.  But the fish cakes and lobster balls took the broth to the next level and it was such a delicious and filling meal!  It was the kind of meal that made me think of all of the people I want to make oden for, it was that good!  I am seriously excited about leftovers for tomorrow!  Scott asked if he could bring some to his mom!  I am unreasonably happy thinking about the rest of the fish cakes in my freezer just waiting for me to make this again!

Perfection!  Look how much the fish cakes and lobster balls puffed up!

Soup tips

http://www.thekitchn.com/50-tips-for-making-the-best-soup-136033

Roasted Red Pepper Soup

http://freshdirect.com/shared/recipe_print.jsp?recipeId=rec_tc_betty_tuscan_portomelt

Butternut Squash Soup

1 large butternut squash
4 granny smith apples
1 large onion (yellow or vidalia - your choix)
Sage (the leaves from several sprigs of fresh sage are best, but a couple of shakes of dried powdered will do in a pinch
salt/pepper/honey to taste
chicken broth (enough to cover all the veg in the pot - for me it was about 4 cans, ymmv)

Peel and cube (1/2" cubes should do it) the squash, apples and onion and put them in a large stock pot. Add enough chicken broth to cover the whole works, bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer for about 30 minutes - until the veg is soft and cooked through. You can use a regular blender, but I put my immersion blender right into the pot and puree until smooth (its not perfectly smooth - I am sure you can get it there, though - but I like the texture!), then add the sage, a few pinches of salt and a few grinds of pepper. From there, give it a good mixing/blending and add in honey to taste.

Shiitake, Shrimp and Watercress Udon

I was 100% inspired by laziness - I only wanted to visit one grocery store and decided on the Asian grocery! Usuaully I add Kale to udon to get some green in there (... and I LOVE kale ...), but since it is unavailable in the Asian grocery, I went with the green, peppery thing that IS available - watercress. I had noticed the shiitake mushrooms there when I was last in and had been thinking about them ever since. To be honest, the shrimp were added for color and for protein, but they tasted fantastic in this mix. I really enjoyed this and will make it again. It also proved to me that I CAN be creative with my udon and that I have gained a lot of confidence with both cooking techniques and flavors in Japanese cuisine.

• Udon soup base
• 10 shrimp - cleaned and boiled (I boil them in the udon water before I cook the udon)
• 1/4 to 1/2 a bunch of watercress - trimmed of thicker stems
• 2 scallions - greens sliced thin, whites trimmed but left whole (put the whites in the soup base while heating up - yum!)
• 1/2 lb shiitake mushrooms - remove stems and slice - then brown them in a tiny amount of butter on the stove
• Udon noodles

I take care of all of the chopping first, then set up a pot to boil water for the shrimp and the udon while I start heating the soup base over low/medium heat (just for timings sake - I don't know of a reason you can't bring it to temp quicker!) The shrimp take only a minute or two to cook - when they are opaque and pink, they are done! Cook noodles according to package instructions - I use prepaclaged fresh noodles and they only take a minute - really I am just reheating them. The mushrooms smelled wonderful while I was browning them on the stove - about 5 minutes. To assemble, noodles go into the serving bowl, top with watercress, scallions, mushrooms and shrimp, pour broth over it all and enjoy!

Note - I do make subtle changes to the soup base depending on the ingredients I am adding - I add a bit extra soy sauce and skimp on the sugar when I want it salty and savoury, I make it exactly as written when I want it on the sweeter side.

Udon with Shrimp, Renkon, Wakame, Scallion and Naruto

This is an Udon inspired by what I happened to have in the house. I followed the Udon Soup Base that I always use, but to each bowl after popping in a generous serving of noodles (follow package directions) added in about 5 pieces of prepared Renkon, 3 pieces of sliced naruto, a handful of boiled shrimp (I was going to boil them in the soup base, but the soup base was slow to heat and the water for heating the udon was at a raging boil, so I used that water!), a heaping tsp of dried Wakame and roughly cut scallion greens (the whites were tossed into the soup base while it heated for extra flavor. As always, the Udon is assembled with the noodles at the bottom of the bowl, all of the additions resting on top and then the soup is poured over everything. It tastes as good as it looks and I am not just being an egomaniac. I could eat this every day, but Scott and I have decided that Wednesdays will be Udon night from here on out! And the decent pictures? Scott took them! No more crappy phone pics!

Udon Soup Base

This is more or less the soup I used whenever I make Udon - it is the perfect backdrop to whatever you can dream of adding to your Udon! This is enough soup to feed two people well (and possibly leave lunch for one of them the next day!)

• 4 C dashi
• 2 T soy sauce
• 1 T mirin
• 2 t sugar
• salt to taste

Put the dashi, soy sauce, mirin and sugar into a pot and heat to a simmer - taste and add salt if needed.

Enoki Mushroom Miso Soup

This is a slight variation on standard miso soup - white Enoki mushrooms were used instead of tofu. Everything is the same except I leave out the tofu altogether and I slice the enoki mushrooms into thirds, reserving the caps to add directly to serving bowls and adding the 2/3 that are stem to the broth while it comes up to temperature. I do this with regular miso soup too, but it is worth mentioning again: I chop the scallions and reserve the green portions to add as the soup is finishing, but I toss the whites in the pot while the broth is coming up to temperature - they add flavor and when cooked like this get really sweet and delicious. I can't wait to try this with Shitake mushrooms and other, more flavorful varieties!

Kitsune Udon

• 4 squares of prepared abura-age (cut into thin strips and/or quarters - halves are delicious, but can be overwhelming. Qty and cut are to your liking, they are not crucial to the recipe!)
• 4 C dashi
• 2 T soy sauce
• 1 T mirin
• 2 t sugar
• salt to taste
• 2 scallions cut on the bias
• 4 slices of naruto or kamaboko (fish cakes), cut on the bias (or more - I love the naruto for the taste and because it is adorable.)
• Blanched Kale - about a handful per serving - removed desired amount from stalk, cook in boiling water for about 3-4 minutes, remove and drain.)
• Enoki Mushrooms about 3.5 oz for 2 large servings - trim the ends, cut the stalks into thirds. The top third with the cap waits in the serving bowl to have broth poured over it, the bottom 2/3 are part of the stock!
  

Boil a large pot of water and cook the udon as instructed on package - they should be al dente so they don't get soggy in the soup. Run them under cold water to stop the cooking! Put the dashi, soy sauce, mirin and sugar into a pot and heat to a simmer - taste and add salt if needed. Add the noodles to heat through, then divide into 2 bowls. Top the noodles with the scallions, fish cakes, kale, Enoki and abura-age and then pour the broth over everything.

Dashi

Dashi is easy enough to make as needed, but freezes well for up to a month. Frozen dashi is very convenient and has several times spelled the difference between cooking the Japanese meal I would like to eat and cooking something else because I didn't think ahead to make dashi! I know you don't have to soak the konbu quite so long - some Japanese cooks say 20 minutes are enough - but I initially made dashi soaking the konbu for 30 minutes and then made another attempt after soaking it overnight. Perhaps it was some other beginner's mistake I didn't notice I made that accounted for the lack of flavor and color, but my latter attempt with the long soak was VASTLY superior.

• konbu - about 2/3 sheet, broken only enough to fit in pot
• 2.5 Qt of H20
• 1/2 oz katsuobushi (bonito flakes)

Soak Konbu is the water for at least 8 hours. Over medium heat, bring the water/konbu to about 150 degrees (small bubbles appear around the sides of the pot - about 9-10 minutes) Remove the konbu (and save it!!!) and increase heat to high and bring to a boil - about 5-6 minutes) Reduce heat to low and sprinkle in the katsuobushi. Keep stirring at a gentle simmer for about 10 minutes, then strain out katsuobushi (but keep it!!!)

Use now, refrigerate for a week or freeze for a month.

Miso Soup

• silken tofu, pressed and cut into 1/4" cubes


• 2 quarts dashi


• 6 T akamiso (red)


• 2 T shiromiso (white)


• 4 thinly sliced scallions (toss white ends in along with miso - they get sweet!)

Heat dashi to 100 degrees over medium heat. Ladle about 1 cup of dashi into bowl containing all the miso and whisk until smooth. Bring the remaining dashi to a light simmer for about 10 minutes. Add the miso and return to simmer - DO NOT BOIL!!! Add tofu and scallions, cook additional minute to heat them through. Serve

For a variation, see Enoki Mushroom Miso Soup.

Carrot Soup

Serves 4-6:

• 1(+) Tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 onion, peeled and chopped
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 1(+) lb. carrots, peeled and sliced
• 1(+) Tbsp fresh grated ginger
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Most recipes call for heavy cream, sour cream, etc. but I will try it without – I mean, my red pepper and tomato soup calls for 2 cups of heavy cream but it tastes really rich and satisfying (to me) without adding a drop! I have some 2% milk in the fridge … if I decide that its seriously lacking in the dairy department I will add a touch more butter and some of the milk.

In pot over medium high heat, melt the butter, add the onions and stir them/cook them until soft. Add broth, carrots and ginger – cover and bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer until carrots are tender. From here, use your immersion blender, regular blender or food processor until the soup is smooth – remember, the soup is hot and it would be dumb to fill your blender or work bowl more than halfway – do it in batches. Or get an immersion blender – that thing is awesome!

From here you can add heavy cream and what have you – this is also where you add the salt and pepper. But taste it first! Add only what it is missing! You might find that nothing is missing and you love it as is or you may start cursing me and have to run back out to get heavy cream because you prefer it really creamy. But either way, make it your own! (Note: I wound up adding honey to this - a good healthy squeeze! - it was kind of bland. It actually seemed to improve as it sat, looking forward to trying it as a leftover to see if it has further improved. The pepper and ginger were the saving graces - the heat mixes well with the sweet!)