Sushi Vinegar

• 1/4 C Rice Vinegar
• 1 T sugar
• 1/2 T mirin
• 1/2 T salt

Heat over low in small saucepan until sugar and salt is dissolved

Enough to flavor 4 cups of rice.

(Use extra salt and sugar when making filling for Inarizushi)

How to prepare Lotus Root (renkon)

• Peel the skin
  
• Slice about 1/8 " thick and put immediately into vinegared (or lemon) water to keep from turning color


• If using fresh or with only very little further cooking, they must be parboiled in vinegared water for about 4 minutes to get rid of the tannins.

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.

Abura-Age for Kitsune Udon

Pictures! I remembered to take pictures!!! These were taken on 12/28/10 - I made the aburaage the night before I intended to use them - saves time and effort! I also made the whole package instead of just the quantity I wanted to use - they freeze like a dream!

The first image was taken right after I got done de-oiling the aburaage. That rack is actually from my mini-grill - I figured that the rack would cool them faster and let the excess water drain a tad. (This is also the cooling rig I use when making tomagoyaki!)

The second image is during the flavoring step - those aburaage are boiling away in the soy sauce, mirin, sugar and niboshi! (If you look carefully, one of the niboshi is sitting on top of a square!)

The third image was taken last night while I was putting the udon together - I just slice them thin and it makes these easy to eat rings!

This picture was part of the original post - the only picture I remembered to take! Those are the niboshi - they really look like something bad happened to an aquarium, but I was thrilled to be using them. I figure that "intimidating" looking foods persist and make their way into other cultures because their taste outweighs the squick factor. I couldn't tell you exactly what the niboshi added to the mix, but I can tell you the Aburaage were delicious - the niboshi were part of the umami!

Would have been nice to remember to take a picture of the aburaage. sigh. (edited - yay! it IS nice! :) )

• 1/4 C H20
  
• 15 niboshi


• 2 T soy sauce
  
• 1 T mirin


• 1 T sugar


• 4 squares of abura-age
  

You need to de-oil the aburaage before anything else. It's simple - put them in boiling water for a few minutes, flip them around a few times, drain and even blot with a paper towel - you want to get a whole bunch of the oil out of them! Then I squeeze them out before I flavor them.

Bring everything except the abura-age to a boil in a small pot. Once the sugar has dissolved, add the abura-age and simmer - flip it several times. It is finished when most of the liquid is absorbed and the abura-age is a deep brown color. Allow to cool and then press out excess liquid so it is not too salty

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.

Linguine with Tomato-Almond Pesto [Pesto Trapenese]

Linguine with Tomato-Almond Pesto [Pesto Trapenese]Adapted from Gourmet

3/4 cup slivered almonds
1 large handful fresh basil leaves
1 to 2 large garlic cloves
Several sprinkles of sea salt
6 ripe plum tomatoes, quartered
1/2 cup grated Pecorino or Parmesan
1/4 to 1/3 cup olive oil
1 pound linguine

In a large skillet, sauté the almonds in a little olive oil until toasted. Let cool, then blend them in a food processor or blender until they are in coarse pieces. (“The size of orzo,” the original recipe suggests.) Scoop them out of the processor and set them aside.

Put the basil, garlic and a few pinches of sea salt into the food processor and chop. Add the almonds back to the food processor (keeping them separate will keep them from getting too finely chopped as you get the basil and garlic to the right texture) with the tomatoes, cheese and olive oil and whirl briefly. Season it with freshly ground black pepper.

Cook your linguine until it is al dente and could use another minute of cooking time. Reserve one cup of pasta cooking water and drain the rest. Immediately toss the hot linguine with the pesto and mix quickly so that it drinks the sauce up a bit. Add more pasta water if needed. Serve this lukewarm, or at room temperature, with a glass of wine, after you get the baby to bed.