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!

Baked Cod

Preheat oven to 425 degrees (or just a tad shy - might be my oven, but I get a better result) and line a baking pan with foil (this is simply to aid cleanup.)

Put the cod in a bowl along with olive oil, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and mix it around to coat the cod.

Transfer cod to baking dish, squeeze half a lemon over it, garnish with a sprig of Italian parsley and a lemon slice. Bake for about 15 minutes - the rule is to allow 10 minutes per inch and fish is done when the flesh flakes and is opaque, yet still moist.

Satsumaimo Oven Fries

Pretty much the same as regular Sweet Potato Fries, only using the purple skinned Japanese sweet potatoes.

Oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with parchment. Wedge the sweet potato and toss into sip-top bag along with oil and seasonings (salt/pepper - add what you like - remember that spicy compliments sweet ... cayenne would not go amiss!) and shake it around to coat evenly. Spread evenly on parchment and back 20-30 minutes, flipping once.

Satsumaimo Amani

• Japanese sweet potato (1/2 lb) in 1/2" slices
• 1.25 C dashi
• 1.5 T sugar
• 2 t soy sauce

Soak sweet potato slices in water for 10 minutes. Place slices and dashi in a pot over medium heat - bring to a boil. Add sugar and soy sauce and reduce to simmer - heat reduced to low. Put foil or a drop lid over potatoes, simmer on low for 20 minutes or until the liquid is almost gone. Makes 4 servings.