at home japanese tapas…

the next seven recipes will be very different ideas for sushi at home.  these are simple, super yummy, and will definitely impress whoever you’re making them for.   none of the usual boring california rolls or spicy tunas here. (not that they aren’t good or anything hehe)

PS.  have a blow torch handy…

japanese tapas: wagyu beef nigiri, grilled maitake mushroom

ingredients:

wagyu beef- buy the super marbled
sushi rice- see recipe in "sujiki, uni, sushi rice" post
maitake mushrooms
meyer lemon
scallions
shabu shabu sauce
ponzu
olive oil
fine sea salt
freshly cracked black pepper

tools:

blowtorch

directions:

1.  drizzle maitake mushrooms with olive oil, toss with salt and cracked black pepper.  place on grill. you
want it to be slightly charred for a nice smoky flavor.

2.  make sushi rice into nigiri.  you can always look at youtube to leanr how to make nigiri. practice makes
perfect. top nigiri with slices of the marbled wagyu.

3.  thinly slice scallion tips and meyer lemon for garnish. mix half parts shabu shabu sauce and ponzu together.

4.  torch the top of the beef until the top is slightly charred but still a bit rare underneath.  season with fine sea
salt and garnish with scallions.

5.  plating: place grilled maitake mushrooms on the side of a white plate. garnish mushrooms with a slice of
meyer lemon. place wagyu nigiri next to mushrooms and top beef with shabu/ponzu sauce. serve
immediately.

japanese tapas: trio of tartare: tuna, salmon, hamachi

there are three components to this dish.  I will give separate directions for each.

I. tuna tartare

ingredients:

sashimi grade tuna

scallions (white part only)

wakame salad

orange tobiko

sesame oil

rice crackers

fine sea salt

directions:

1.  mince up scallions and wakame salad.

2.  finely chop tuna

3.  mix tuna, scallions, wakame salad, orange tobiko, a light dash of sesame oil, and salt to taste. garnish with rice crackers

II. salmon tartare

ingredients:

sashimi grade salmon

Japanese cucumber

ponzu

orange tobiko

chives

directions:

1.  brunoise the Japanese cucumbers. 

2.  finely chop salmon

3.  mix salmon with the cucumbers and tobiko.  add a dash of ponzu to taste and garnish with snipped chives.

III. hamachi tartare

ingredients: 

sashimi grade hamachi

scallions (green part only)

orange tobiko

lemon ponzu

nori

fine sea salt

1.  slice scallions.

2.  finely chop hamachi

3.  mix hamachi with scallions and tobiko. add a dash of ponzu to taste and fine sea salt.  garnish with nori.

japanese tapas: ika noodles, caviar, uni, uzura

ingredients:

ika noodles - squid noodles, can be bought at japanese grocery stores
caviar - sevruga pictured above
orange tobiko
uni
sujiki
uzura - quail egg
kaiware
meyer lemon
ponzu
wasabi

directions:

1.  in a bowl, mix ika noodles, black tobiko, ponzu, wasabi, kaiware leaves, and meyer lemon juice together.

2.  plating: place a mound of the ika noodle on a white plate.  off to the side put a quail egg yolk in the egg
shell and meyer lemon wedge.  garnish the ika noodles with a bit of fresh uni, orange tobiko, and sujiki.
serve immediately.

japanese tapas: salmon belly, caviar, white truffle oil

ingredients:

sashimi grade salmon belly
caviar - sevruga pictured above
japanese cucumber
kaiware
chives
ponzu
white truffle oil

directions:

1.  slice japanese cucumber super thin.

2.  slice salmon belly into 1/2 cm thick slices.

3.  plating: place salmon belly on a white plate. top each piece with a slice of cucumber and top cucumber
with a nice dab of caviar. spoon ponzu around salmon pieces and drizzle with white truffle oil.  garnish
with chives and kaiware.  serve immediately.

japanese tapas: tuna cubes, wakame salad, japanese cucumber, meyer lemon

ingredients:

sashimi grade tuna
japanese cucumber
wakame salad - seaweed salad
orange tobiko
fine sea salt
meyer lemon
shichimi - japanese style chili powder

directions:

1. slice tuna into cubes about 2 cm x 2cm

2. thinly slice japanese cucumber into rounds

3. slice meyer lemon into thin wedges

4. plating:  put a bed of wakame salad in the middle of a white plate. place cucumber rounds around the
wakame. put tuna cubes on top of cucumber- season with fine seal salt, and top with more cucumber rounds. garnish with orange tobiko, a sprinkle of shichimi for some kick, and a lemon wedge.

japanese tapas: miragai sashimi, meyer lemon, tobiko

sometimes the best ingredients need nothing at all to enjoy to the fullest.

ingredients:

miragai- geoduck clam
meyer lemon
orange tobiko
fine sea salt

directions:

1.  slice meyer lemon into thin slices.

2.  carefully slice miragai horizontally into thin sashimi pieces.

3.  plating.  arrange meyer lemon on a plate.  top with miragai sashimi, a light sprinkle of fine sea salt, and
garnish with orange tobiko. serve immediately.

japanese tapas: sujiki, uni, sushi rice

ingredients:

sujiki

uni

short grain sushi rice

kaiware

nori

rice vinegar

mirin

sake

soy sauce

wasabi

fine sugar

fine sea salt

directions:

1.  get the sujiki ready first.  carefully dunk whole lobe of sujiki into warm salted water. carefully separate eggs from the outer membrane.  after eggs are removed, drain off excess water and marinade eggs with sake, soy sauce, and mirin. refrigerate.

2.  for sushi rice, add sugar, a pinch of salt, mirin, and rice vinegar to hot cooked rice.  mix well and allow it to cool.

3.  to plate, place a bit of the sushi rice at the bottom of a bowl.  top with a good portion of the sujiki, a lobe of uni, and garnish with wasabi, kaiware, and nori. 

crab and shrimp vermicelli, roma tomato, roe filled fish balls, thai basil

ingredients:

crab paste in soy bean oil
shrimp paste in soy bean oil
fish balls with roe - you can buy them at ranch 99
eggs
chicken broth
roma tomatoes, cubed
bean sprouts
thai basil
scallions
cilantro
lemon wedges
rice vermicelli
noodles
fine sea salt

directions:

1.  in a big soup pot, heat up chicken broth and cubed tomatoes to a boil.
2.  beat 2-3 eggs in a bowl and add two huge spoonfuls of both the crab and shrimp paste. mix together.
3.  when the chicken broth is boiling, slowly pour in egg/crab/shrimp mixture. after egg mixture comes together and is cooked in the broth, throw in the fish balls and reduce heat to a medium flame. season with salt.
4.  heat up another pot of salted water and cook vermicelli noodles.
5.  prepare side accompaniments. blanch the bean sprouts, cut lemon wedges, pick basil leaves, chope the cilantro, and slice the scallions.
6.  when noodles are cooked, put a moundful in the bottom of a bowl. top with hot soup and garnish with side accompaniments. serve immediately.

 *you can dip with fish balls in hoisin sauce and siracha. it's reallllly good.

caviar canape, potato rosti, crème fraiche, crumbled egg, chive

ingredients:

caviar- sevruga pictured

potatoes

white onion

eggs

panko

crème fraiche

chives

kosher salt

freshly cracked black pepper

extra virgin olive oil

directions:

1.  make the potato rosti first.  grate peeled potatoes into a bowl of water.  this prevents browning/ graying of potatoes. strain potatoes and plop the potatoes onto a clean towel.  squeeze out as much of the water as possible then put potatoes back into a bowl.  grate a small white onion, squeeze some of the liquid out, and add to the potatoes.  the potato to onion ratio I used is about 4-5 smallish medium potatoes to onesmall white onion.  add about 3 egg yolks, and season with kosher salt and cracked black pepper.  mix.  depending on how wet the mixture is, add panko to hold it together for frying.  in a flat pan, heat up olive oil over a medium flame. press the potato mixture into a very flat pancake and fry the potatoes for about 5-8 minutes on each side till gold brown.  drain on paper towels and let it cool.  once cooled, you and use a cookie cutter to cut out individual mini rostis.

2.  prepare the crumbled eggs.  fill a small pot with cold water and place eggs in pot.  set your stove to medium heat and after about two minutes, turn up the heat to medium high.  this prevents the eggs from cracking due to drastic temperature change.  once it begins a rapid boil, set a kitchen timer to five minutes. 

large eggs may need six minutes.  when the timer is up, put eggs in an ice water bath to stop the cooking process.  when eggs are cooled, peel and crumble the eggs into small pieces. 

3.  get your mise en place ready. caviar, potato rosti, crumbled egg, crème fraiche, and chives.  dab a bit of crème fraiche on each potato rosti.  top with some crumbled egg, then top with caviar.  garnish with chive. then enjoy with some champagne. 

*this picture is shown with the same ingredients sans the potato rosti.  I used crispbread underneath for these.   

seared foie gras, red onion compote, white peaches, butter brioche

there are three different main components that you have to get ready first for this dish.  I will give directions for each component and then give plating directions.  this is just like how they have it at dankos. mm, mm, mm...

1. red onion compote
2. sauce for the foie gras
3. caramelized white peaches

ingredients:

foie gras- i prefer hudson valley grade A
brioche- i buy boulanger brioche
white peaches
red onions
one small white onion
mache- or any other mild green
thyme
dark veal stock
chicken stock
one bottle of moscato- i used fetzer 2010
brandy
sherry vinegar
balsamic vinegar
butter

agave sweetener

olive oil

kosher salt

freshly cracked black pepper

directions:

1.  get the red onion compote going.  you will need tons of onions because it cooks down to nothing.  in a

big pot, melt some butter and saute off red onions.  add salt to taste.  add in chicken stock, a hefty splash of  balsamic vinegar, a few sprigs of thyme, and agave sweetener to taste and let it stew, stirring here n there for about 4-5 hours. please note- don't add too much sweetener in the beginning because as it cooks

the flavor gets more concentrated, so I tend to do taste checks and seasoning adjustments towards the end of the cooking process.

2.   sauce for the foie.  in a medium saucepan, cook about a carton of veal stock till it's reduced by half.  that way it will be super dark. if you have good veal stock handy, use that.  add in chopped small white onion, a couple splashes of sherry vinegar, bout half of the fetzer moscato, a couple splashes of brandy, and some agave sweetener to taste.  bring mixture to a full boil and then reduce to a simmer.  simmer away until its reduced by more than half. 

3.  white peaches.  in a heavy flat pan heat up some olive oil.  throw in sliced peaches and cook until carmelized.  deglaze with the fetzer moscato and cook till it's reduced to a glaze.  set aside.

4.  toast brioche.  while brioche is toasting prepare the foie.  i like to score mine, it's supposed to help the fat render out more.  get a heavy bottomed nonstick pan nice and hot. searing hot. near smoking. season the foie gras liberally with kosher salt and cracked black pepper. quickly place the foie into the pan and sear for about five- ten seconds, then remove pan from flame- the residual heat is enough to keep cooking the foie. (you don't want to burn the fat) after about 30 seconds or so, flip over to other side and put pan back on the flame.  you can check for doneness by touching it- it should feel like a soft koniaku or firm jello. let the foie drain on paper towels.  don't be an idiot and keep cooking it on the stove- cuz you will end up with a  pan full of expensive fat or a shriveled, overcooked, foie.  not good. 

plating:

1.  arrange the ingredients however you'd like to.  be creative! if you like mine, place brioche on a white plate. put a bed of the red onion compote in front of the brioche and place seared foie gras on top.  arrange mache leaves under the white peaches off the the side and spoon hot sauce over the foie gras.  serve immediately.

salmon belly amuse bouche, sujiki, fried thai basil, lemongrass oil

ingredients:

sashimi grade salmon belly
sujiki- fresh salmon roe marinaded quickly in sake and soy sauce (or ikura will do)
thai basil
lemongrass stalk
lime ponzu
grapeseed oil
shichimi

directions:

1.  using a mortar and pestle - if you don't have one, use a bowl and the end of a rolling pin - mash up
chopped lemon grass stalk.  marinade lemongrass mashings in grapeseed oil and set aside.

2.  heat up oil in a small saucepan.  fry basil leaves one by one and set aside. careful- the oil really pops when you do this so have an oil mesh screen available.

3.  slice salmon into 1 cm thick slices. strain lemongrass oil.

plating:

1.  get your mise en place ready: salmon, sujiki, fried thai basil, lemongrass oil, lime ponzu, and shichimi.

2.  place salmon on a plate.  top with some sujiki, then top with fried basil leaf.  spoon lime ponzu around
each salmon piece and lightly drizzle lemongrass oil over it. sprinkle with a light dusting of the shichimi
and serve immediately.

rou zhou fan, swan tsai, gai lan

ingredients:

rou zhou- taiwan style minced pork (see recipe below in "tainan dan zhi mien" recipe)
swan tsai- pickled mustard green
garlic
red chili
soy sauce
sugar
gai lan- chinese broccoli
jasmine rice

directions:

1. cook jasmine rice. heat up salted water in a pot for blanching gai lan. trim, shave ends of gai lan.

2.  soak the pickled mustard green in ice water for 2 hours. (without soaking it will be super sour) after
soaking finely mince mustard green.  mince garlic and slice some red chilis.

3.  saute garlic and red chilis in some canola oil, add in minced mustard green, a dash of soy sauce, and
sugar to taste.  set aside.

4.  blanch gai lan, and put on a plate.  add about a bowlful of rice next to the gai lan and spoon
minced pork over rice. garnish with the sauteed mustard green on side.  serve immediately.

tainan dan zhi mien

 


ingredients:

taiwan style minced pork (ingredients/directions see below)
shrimp
shirmp shells
pork soup bones
egg noodles
bean sprouts
chinese green chives
cilantro
garlic
black vinegar
hon-dashi
white pepper
salt

directions:

1.  make taiwan style minced pork.

ingredients :
   
pork belly, diced into small pieces by hand- food processor won't give you the same results.
ground pork
fried shallots (preferably the kind bought from taiwan street stalls- when you visit there, bring some back!)
soy sauce
rock sugar

directions:
  
heat oil in a pot and saute fried shallots.  if you don't have fried shallots, saute fresh shallots till browned and super fragrant.  add pork belly and saute for a bit then add ground pork. add soy sauce till
meat is browned and then add three times the amount of water. season to taste with rock sugar and let it
stew for awhile on low heat.

2.  boil pork bones for stock.  boil shrimp shells for shrimp stock.  make the shrimp stock super concentrated.  season pork stock the salt and hon-dashi.

3.   mise en place preparation:  mince garlic, cilantro, and cut chinese green chive into 1-2 inch pieces. cook shrimp and peel off the shells.

4.  cook noodles.  while noodles are cooking, put a bit of the minced garlic in the bottom of a bowl.  splash some black vinegar over garlic and top it with some white pepper.  using tongs, put noodles in bowl on top of the garlic mixture. blanch bean sprouts and chinese green chives in noodle water. ladle pork stock over noodles, add a bit of the shrimp stock in the bowl then spoon taiwan minced pork on top. add the blanched bean sprouts and chives, top with the cooked shrimp, and garnish with cilantro.  serve immediately.

bacon infused egg frittata, kale, yellow onion, potato

ingredients:

bacon (preferably applewood)

eggs (buy pastured if possible!)

potatoes

kale

yellow onion

garlic

cayenne pepper

fine sea salt

pepper 

*you can make this with mostly egg whites too for the health conscious; instead of using bacon, you can just use extra virgin olive oil

directions:

1. peel then cube potatoes and cook in salted boiling water.  set aside.

2. trim kale and blanch in salted boiling water.  set aside.  when cooled, squeeze out extra liquid and chop.  

3. slice onions and mince garlic.

3. whisk eggs with a bit of water and season with sea salt, freshly cracked black pepper, and cayenne pepper.

4. render bacon in a le creuset braising pan (or regular cast iron will work) over medium low heat.

5. saute onions in bacon fat, add garlic, kale, potatoes.  season as you go.

6. stir in egg mixture and cook for a bit.

7. bake uncovered in a 375 degree oven until eggs are set.  broil for a minute or so if you want to brown the top. serve with extra cayenne on the side/ tabasco/ ketchup if preferred.

yellowfin tuna tartare, avocado, shrimp chip, black tobiko

ingredients:

yellowfin tuna

avocados

shrimp chips (the kind you fry yourself at home)

black tobiko

chives

lemon

fine sea salt

shichimi

for sauce:

light soy

ponzu

sake

honey

lime 

sesame oil

grapeseed oil

directions:

1. brunoise avocado, squeeze lemon to prevent oxidation, and season with fine sea salt to taste.  refrigerate. 

2. in a bowl, whisk together light soy, ponzu, honey, splash of sake, sesame oil, and squeeze of fresh lime.  refrigerate.

3. dice yellowfun tuna into 1 cm x 1cm chunks, lightly toss with grapeseed oil (this prevents tuna from turning grayish) and season with fine sea salt.   refrigerate. 

4. in a small pot, heat up oil for frying shrimp chips.

5. cut the chives.  (you can do so by snipping the bunch with kitchen shears if you don't want to use a knife.)

6.  fry shrimp chips, crumble, and set aside.

to plate:

using a ring mold, spoon one layer of avocado onto a plate.  sprinkle shichimi on top of avocado then top with the tuna.  sprinkle chives and shrimp chips on top of tuna and garnish with black tobiko.  remove ring mold. gently spoon sauce around the plated tuna tartare and serve immediately.