Sake Ochazuke (porridge with broiled salmon)

At a glance, a bowl of porridge with a piece of no-dressing, no-marinade salmon sounds almost sad. As in, it's-Saturday-night-I-am-home-alone-slurping-instant-ramen sad. But in fact, this dish is full of rich and nice flavors and has quickly become a staple at my house.

The key is to get the right ingredients and not under- or over-cook the salmon. Once you assemble the porridge with a hint of green tea and that dashi stock umami with the fatty crispy salmon skin and slightly salty salmon flakes, the flavor combination just doesn't get better than that. Oh wait, it does, put some roasted seaweed on top. Now you've got the texture, the taste, and the warmth all from a single bowl of pure goodness.

Ingredients
4oz Salted Salmon Belly
1/2 sheet Roasted Seaweed ( like Yamamoto nori)
2 cups Cooked Rice (use Nishiki brand rice)
1 cup Green Tea (use Japanese green tea such as genmaicha for its nuttiness)
1 cup Dashi Stock
Canola Oil
Salt

Direction

• Rub the salmon with a generous amount of salt
• Cover and let it refrigerate overnight
• Remove the salmon and rinse under cold water to remove the salt
• Dry the salmon with paper towels or a kitchen towel
• Drizzle oil over salmon and place under a broiler in low setting
• Broil for 15 minutes until a nice crust has formed; if the skin is still not brown enough, you can turn the broiler to "high" for a couple of minutes and monitor closely to make sure the salmon doesn't burn
• Break apart the salmon into flakes and set aside
• Add rice to a bowl with salmon flakes and seaweed on top
• When you are ready to serve, mix the hot green tea with the stock. You can add as much liquid as you would like, as long as you remember to use it in the ratio of one part tea one part dashi stock.

Nobu style Miso-glazed Black Cod

My friend Vincent and I used to work together. Often when we were sitting in our cubicles looking at spreadsheets of numbers and graphs, we have another window open with pictures of beautiful food on them. We would trade recipes, tips on the newest and hottest restaurants, and our current cravings. Anyway, this year Vincent invited me to guest blog and I am going to start it with one of my favorite dishes.

In fact, if I had a last meal, it'll certainly include this as an entree: Miso-glazed black cod. Everytime I order this in a restaurant, I close my eyes and go "mmmmm" (at least in mind I do). The succulent buttery tender fish is indescribably good. Once you've had cod, all the other fishes taste like overcooked dry pieces of chicken.

Unfortunately, it took me a while to realize how easy it is to make it yourself! It's far cheaper, way easier, and no one will care if you want to lick the plate clean afterwards.

Here is the recipe I used from TheKitchn. All the Nobu inspired miso-glazed black cod recipes online are pretty much the same.

Ingredients for two:

1 black cod fillet (half a pound)

2 tablespoons sake
2 tablespoons mirin
2 tablespoons white miso paste
1.5 tablespoons sugar

Directions:

• Two to three days beforehand, make the Nobu-style Saikyo Miso marinade and marinate the fish.

• Bring the sake and the mirin to a boil in a medium saucepan over high heat. Boil for 20 seconds to evaporate the alcohol. Turn the heat down to low and add the miso paste, mixing with a wooden spoon. When the miso has dissolved completely, turn the heat up to high again and add the sugar, stirring constantly with the wooden spoon to ensure that the bottom of the pan doesn’t burn. Remove from heat once the sugar is fully dissolved. Cool to room temperature.

• Pat the black cod fillets thoroughly dry with paper towels. Slather the fish with the miso marinade and place in a non-reactive dish or bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Leave to steep in refrigerator for 2 to 3 days. If you don't have enough time, marinating it for 24 hours is okay too, but 3 days yields a much tastier result.

To cook the fish:

• Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C, gas 6). Preheat a grill or broiler. Use "high" for broiler. Lightly wipe off any excess miso clinging to the fillets but don't rinse it off.
• Place the fish on the grill, or in a broiler pan, and grill or broil until the surface of the fish turns brown and the marinate starts to bubble. Then bake for 10 minutes.

To serve with rice and bok choy:

• Serve with Japanese rice. For bok choy, you can put them in the oven along with the cod. Drizzle them with olive oil and a little salt. Roast for about 5-7 minutes.

Tsukiji Fish Market, Tokyo

Wow... what a busy few weeks it has been - mountainous work loads, dealing with the burglary on my storage area (lost my new All Clad pots and pans... bummer), setting up a new 50-gallon ADA aquarium and going to Tokyo with Porgy for a well-deserved vacation. Now I'm somewhat back to my routine again although I haven't been inspired to cook lately. Thankfully, Porgy stepped up and cooked for us in the past few days.

I'm blogging our Tokyo trip as a two-part series because we had so much good food there and of course the infamous Tsukiji Fish Market. We arrived at the market around 10 am so we didn't get the chance to check out the early morning auction. However, we were lucky enough to still see the bustling and feel the pulse of the market. It was fantastic in a way that is hard to describe. In addition to checking out the market, we also had a fresh delicious salty sushi donburi. Needless to say, I had a big smile on my face for the couple of hours that we spent there.

Clockwise from top left: Tsukiji market scene, the wooden cart they use to transport the fish, dissecting a whole tuna, selection of knives at one of the vendors.


Clockwise from top left: Wonderful and logical sense, variety of fish on display, front shot of the trucks that they use for transportation (I was smiling like that), octopus.


Whale meat kiosk (I didn't try one).


Various shots of fish and prawn. Look at the high quality of the products!


Cockles clam - i used to have steam cockles back at home in Indonesia. Yummy!


The restaurant that we went to for our sushi donburi breakfast


Clockwise from top left: amaebi (raw shrimp), tamago (egg), hotate (scallop), maguro (tuna), chopped tuna with scallions, ika (squid). Center: ikura (salmon roe), uni (sea urchin).

Sushi, Sashimi and Macaron

Today I went to see the new Disney Pixar movie, Up. It was really beautiful and it reminded me of Hayao Miyazaki's movies and Pixar's Ratatouille . After the movie, I felt that I should honor them by getting some sushi and sashimi from Nijiya Market and French macarons from Patisserie Delanghe.

Japanese sushi & sashimi (Inari, tuna, salmon, uni, hiyashi wakame seaweed salad, hijiki nimono seaweed)


French macarons (chocolate, vanilla, mocha, lemon, pistachio, strawberry)

Stir-Fried Shrimp and Cabbage

Today, I made a stir-fried of shrimp and cabbage with tofu and mushroom. I got the idea from Mark Bittman's recipe in NYTimes. Since I could not find fresh or frozen chestnuts, I used firm tofu and crimini mushroom instead. Although it seemed like there's a lot of prep work, I really love the result - a light and refreshing stir-fried dish.


Ingredients:
1/4 cup and 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
1 head of cabbage, shredded
1 package of firm tofu, cut into 2-inch pieces
1 package of sliced crimini mushroom
4 cloves of garlic , 2 sliced and 2 minced
1 tablespoon of grated ginger
12 large shrimp, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of sesame oil
salt and white pepper

Directions:

• Cook the shredded cabbage and sliced garlic with 1/8 cup of the vegetable oil in a large pan over a medium high heat, stirring until cabbage begins to brown.
• Add 1/4 cup of water and tofu pieces and continue cooking for another 5-6 minutes until the tofu is cooked and the cabbage has softened. Remove and set aside.
• Heat another 1/8 cup of oil in the pan and then add shrimp, minced garlic, ginger and a pinch of salt and white pepper. Cook until shrimp is just pink, remove and set aside.
• Heat the 1 tablespoon of oil in the pan, cook the mushroom for 4-5 minutes until all mushroom juice has evaporated and season with a little bit of salt and white pepper
• Return the cabbage and shrimp to the pan along with a couple tablespoons of water and the soy sauce. Cook, scraping up any brown bits from the bottom of the pans. Drizzle with sesame oil, adjust seasoning and serve.
  

R&G Lounge

Last night, I went to R&G Lounge with Danny, Mo-Fo and ShunBun after having a drink at Tunnel Top. I was supposed to go to the gym, have a good workout and eat salad at home but they twisted my arms so I had to oblige. =)

House Combination Chow Mein - Pan Fried Hong Kong Style


Ma Bo Tofu


R&G Special Beef


Water Spinach in Fermented Tofu Sauce

Dinner at Chow

After having beer at Pilsner Inn with ShunBun and Danny for happy hour, the three of us went next door to Chow Restaurant on Church for a mellow Friday evening dinner. It was still pretty early in the evening so we didn't have to wait for a table.

Fennel-Sausage Pizza with mozzarella, escarole, tomato, red onion, oregano and ricotta.


Sustainable seafood of the day - Halibut with asparagus, peas, pea-shoots and mashed potatoes


Slow pot-roasted Beef Short Ribs with mushroom-herb gravy and mashed potatoes

Fideos with Langoustine and Broccoli Flower in Safron Cream Sauce

Today, I made Fideos with langoustine and broccoli flower in saffron cream sauce. It was my take on Ilan Hall's recipe in Bravo TV's Top Chef season 2.


Here is the recipe courtesy of Bravo TV with my changes...

Ingredients:
1 pound fideos (or capellini pasta)
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup half-and-half
2 teaspoons saffron
2 cups broccoli flower florets
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
8-10 cloves garlic, peeled
1 pound langoustine
1/2 cup dry sherry
Salt and pepper for seasoning
Grated parmesan cheese
Chopped fresh parsley for garnish

Directions:

• Heat oven to 375F.
• If using capellini, break them into 3-inch pieces. Arrange fideo (or capellini pieces) in an even layer on top of a silicone pat on a rimmed baking sheet. Toast in oven until golden brown (approximately 10 minutes). Remove from oven and set aside to cool.
• Heat broiler in oven.
• In a small saucepan, combine heavy cream, half-and-half, saffron and 1 teaspoon salt. Whisk to dissolve saffron. Bring to a boil over high heat. Remove from heat, stir in broccoli florets and set aside.
• In a medium straight-sided skillet, heat olive oil and garlic over low heat until garlic begins to soften. Add langoustine, sherry and fideos to the skillet. Season with salt and pepper and stir to combine. Increase heat to medium and cover skillet. Cook about 4 minutes and remove from heat.
• Put langoustine and pasta mixture in an ovenproof dish, filling about half full. Top with broccoli florets and cream mixture.
• Transfer the dish to oven and broil for about 10 minutes until golden brown.
• Grate some parmesan cheese on top of the dish.
  
• Garnish with chopped parsley and serve warm.

Friday Sushi

A relaxing Friday evening started with Rye Manhattans at 83 Proof ...


... and followed by a sushi dinner at Daimaru Sushi.

First round (from the top, clockwise): Amaebi (sweet shrimp), Sake (salmon), Hamachi (yellow tail), Uni (sea urchin) and Aji (spanich mackerel).


Second round (not shown): Walu (butterfish) and Caterpillar Roll (unagi with avocado roll).

Chili Crab and Garlic Noodles

I decided to take advantage of the crab season in San Francisco as it's nearing the end. At first, I was planning to make simple steamed crabs with garlic bread. But after browsing food blogs Friday night (yes, I'm 'that' fun...), I decided to make a simplified version of Chili Crab and Garlic Noodles. I invited Mo-Fo for this full-on cholesterol feast.

I wanted to thank Rasa Malaysia for her recipe of Crustacean-inspired garlic noodles. Since I didn't have a few ingredients for her Chili Crab recipe, I used the one at Madison Magazine instead.

The spices...

After putting the crabs in the freezer for 15 minutes to make them unconscious, prep them. Here's a video on how to clean a crab.


Sebastian and friend... sorry guys

A plate full of goodies...

Since we ate so much crabs and noodles, we had to wait for an hour or so before we could enjoy her Cream Puffs. They were so delicious... thanks Mo-Fo!

Pasta with Garlic Shrimp and Roasted Broccoli

Tonight, I decided to make Pasta with Garlic Shrimp and Roasted Broccoli. The idea came from a couple of sources:

• The Garlic Shrimp from Dragon's Kitchen
  
• The Roasted Broccoli from NYTimes
  

It turned out pretty good but next time I would add more seasoning on the shrimp, fewer coriander seeds on the broccoli and cook the shrimp on a higher heat for more caramelization.