Wasabi-ha わさび葉

Tis the season for lots of fresh greens!  I noticed today that wasabi leaves are officially on the market, a specialty of the prefecture I live in.  Wasabi leaves are similar to arugula in that they have a bit of a spicy bite to them but they're not as bitter as arugula.  If you can't find wasabi leaves in your local market arugula makes a decent substitute.  Of course you could always try growing your own wasabi if your area is wet enough!

How to Prepare

Personally I'm not a fan of how wasabi leaves are usually prepared in Japanese cooking, stewed to hell and back.  Instead I go for the fresh approach; chop them up and throw them in a salad or wilt them in a pasta.  Just make sure to rinse them before you eat them.

Easy Wasabi Leaves Recipe

This recipe is as easy as it gets, seriously!

Pan Seared Salmon with Wasabi Leaves

Makes 2 servings

Prep Time: About 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 salmon fillets
• lemon juice from 1/2 a lemon
• 1.5 tablespoons olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 2 sprigs fresh dill, chopped (optional)
• 3 cups wasabi leaves, chopped
• 2/3 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Preparation:

1.     Toss salmon with lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, and dill.  Marinate 15 minutes.

2.     Cook salmon, skinside down, in a frying pan over medium high heat for 2-3 minutes.  Make sure to carefully lift the salmon from the pan from time to time to keep it from sticking.

3.    Reduce heat to medium.  Cover the pan and cook the salmon for another 3-4 minutes, or until it's cooked to your liking.  I usually cook my salmon medium rare; cook it a bit longer and it will be medium.

4.    While salmon is cooking, toss wasabi leaves, tomatoes, and red onion together.  Just before serving, toss with olive oil, vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste.

5.   Place salad on plate.  Top with salmon.  Serve with brown rice or some sort of pasta.

6.  Finished!

Seri セリ

Man have I gotten bad about updating.  I apologize.  If anyone can figure out a way for me to be able to post from work I'm all ears!

Seri, known as Japanese parsley or Chinese celery, is a springtime vegetable found for only a few short weeks here in Japan.  Seri is high in vitamins C and A as well as potassium.  It tastes great fresh just thrown in a salad and can also be used in stews, stir-fries, and soups.

How to Prepare
Make sure to select seri that is bright in color and not wilted or musty looking.  It should look similar to cilantro or other leafy herbs.  From there just chop it up and throw it in your recipe!

Easy Seri Recipe

While seri is best known for its role in the traditional spring dish nanakusa no sekku, all seven of those vegetables can kind of be a pain to get a hold of.  Instead will make a tasty fresh salad with our seri!

Seri and Chicken Salad
Makes 4 servings

Prep Time: About 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch of seri
• 300 grams chicken breast
• 1/2 a red onion
• 40 grams harusame (super thin rice noodles)
• 4 tablespoons peanuts, crushed
• pinch of salt
• 2 teaspoons and 2 tablespoons vinegar, divided
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon or lime juice
• 4 tablespoons fish sauce (also known as nam pla)
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 togarashi pepper, chopped or 1 teaspoon dried togarashi
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon minced ginger

Preparation:

1.     Roughly chop seri.  Thinly slice the red onion and place into cold water.
2.     Cook harusame according to package directions, then place in cold water to stop from cooking further.  Drain and chop into bite sized strands.
3.    Cut chicken into bite sized pieces.  Season with pinch of salt and 2 teaspoons vinegar.  Cook in microwave for two minutes or until cooked through.
4.    Mix together remaining vinegar, lemon juice, fish sauce, sugar, togarashi, garlic, and ginger.
5.   Drain red onions.  Toss together seri, onion, harusame, chicken, and dressing.
6.  Place into small bowls and garnish with peanuts.
7.  Finished!

Kogomi コゴミ

I'm on a roll so why not post another recipe lol.

Kogomi are the tender sprouts of the ostrich fern or fiddlehead fern.  It might weird you out to think of eating a fern but these are one of the most delicious plants you can sink your teeth into in the spring!  But you can usually only get them for about 3-4 weeks once you see them start popping up in the supermarket so make sure you grab them when you do see them!

They taste like a cross between asparagus and brussel sprouts, making them an easy addition to pastas, sautes, and so on (as my students would say).  In Japan they tend to be included in salads, tempura, and stewed dishes.

How to Prepare
With kogomi you want to cut off the bottom inch of the stem where it has hardened and then give them a quick rinse.  From there you can fry, saute, stew, basically any way you would prepare asparagus you can also prepare kogomi.

Easy Kogomi Recipe

Garlic sprouts are easy to include in just about any recipe.  This stir-fry recipe is super easy and only takes about 45 minutes to make including marinating time.

Kogomi Pasta
Makes 2 servings

Prep Time: About 45 minutes

Ingredients:

• 8-10 kogomi heads
• enough pasta for 2 people (about 150 grams)
• 5-6 small shiitake mushrooms, destemmed and sliced, or maitake mushrooms, chopped
• 1/2 small onion, thinly sliced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1.5 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Preparation:

1.     Add kogomi to a large pot of boiling salted water. Cook until just crisp-tender. Transfer to bowl of cold water using slotted spoon. Cool kogomi slightly to stop it from cooking and drain. 
2.     Add pasta to same pot of water and boil until just tender but still firm to bite.  Drain well.
3.    Heat olive oil over medium heat in a saucepan.  Add onions and saute until starting to brown.
4.    Add garlic and saute 1 minute.
5.   Add mushrooms and lemon juice and saute until just starting to become tender.
6.  Add kogomi and pasta.  Stir well.
7.  Add cheese and stir until full incorporated.
8. Finished!

Konnyaku こんにゃく

Konnyaku is a curious thing.  Is it a vegetable, an animal, an amorphous blog of atoms?  Turns out it actually is a plant, and an ugly one at that.  I'd be curious to know why the first human who ate it decided to even approach the thing.  Maybe he was starving and delirious in the jungle.  Apparently it's called konjak in English, but as I've never heard that word in my life, I'm content to call it konnyaku.  Konnyaku doesn't have much of a taste and comes in a variety of shapes and sizes, all of them gelatinous in nature.  You can also get konnyaku that has been infused with such things as mushrooms and cayenne pepper.  My favorite is the spicy konnyaku, particularly the noodle shaped one.

As far as nutrition goes, you know the cabbage diet?  The one where you eat lots and lots of cabbage because it has very little calories or nutritional value  so you can eat as much as you want?  Konnyaku is Japan's answer to the cabbage diet.  It's fat free, contains next to nothing in calories, and has lots of fiber.  So it's a great filler food but don't rely on it as your sole sustainance.  Probably the greatest thing about konnyaku is it's cheap, so you can throw it in to just about any recipe to bulk it up without affecting its flavor.

How to Prepare
Konnyaku comes packed usually in fish broth so you'll want to drain that.  You can find varieties that are packed in water as well.  Once it's drained it's ready to go!  If you buy a big block you can cut it into any shape you want.  Or you can buy ones shaped as noodles, balls, on a stick, if you can imagine it, konnyaku has been shaped into it.  Konnyaku can be eaten hot or cold, stewed, steamed, boiled, frozen, just about any way you want.

Easy Konnyaku Recipe

My favorite way of eating konnyaku is in nabe, but you can also throw it into stir-fries and other dishes easily.

Pork and Konnyaku Miso Stir-fry

Makes 4 servings

Prep Time: About 1 hour

Ingredients:

• 2 sheets of konnyaku, cut into triangles
• 150 grams pork, cut into 4 cm strips
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 small pack shiitake mushrooms, destemmed and cut into halves
• 2 green peppers, cut into strips
• 1/2 onion, thinly sliced
• 2 cups cabbage, chopped
• 3 tablespoons cooking sake, divided
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce, divided
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoons garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoons ginger paste
• 1 teaspoons togarashi
• 1 tablespoon water
• 30g miso paste 味噌

Preparation:
1.  Mix together 2 tablespoons sake, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, miso paste, sugar and water.  Add pork and konnyaku to the marinade.  Allow to marinate for about 20 minutes.
2.  In a frying pan, heat sesame oil over medium high.  Add onions to frying pan.  Saute until starting to become translucent.
3.  Add green peppers, cabbage and mushrooms to frying pan.  Saute for 3-4 minutes, or until green peppers being to soften.
4.  Add garlic, ginger, togarashi, remaining sake and soy sauce.  Saute for 1 minute or until fragrant.
5.  Add pork, konnyaku, and sauce.  Saute until pork has browned and sauce has begun to thicken.
6.  Serve with rice.
7.  Finished!

Mikan みかん

Right now it's peak season for mikan, those little citrus fruits that I could eat by the dozen if I'm not careful.  In English they're known as clementines or satsuma oranges depending on where you live.  I've heard the term satsuma orange has to do with one of the areas where mikan are grown in Japan, but the only place I know of where mikan are worth their snuff is Wakayama.  Like most citrus, mikan are packed with vitamin C so grab a couple if you want to ward off the scurvy, yarr!

How to Prepare
One of the best things about mikan is they're so easy peel.  I actually loath dealing with navel oranges now after having lived with mikan so for long.  The peel of mikan is also great for cooking and especially baking, so don't let it go to waste!

Easy Mikan Recipe

This may sound like a funky combo for a salad but it's actually delicious!  As an added bonus, endives are one of those random vegetables that for some reason are cheaper in Japan than in the US.  I don't really get how that one works.

Citrusy Endive Salad

Makes 4 servings

Prep Time: About 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon honey
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 to 5 mikan, peeled and segmented
• 2 to 3 endives (エンダイブ or チコリー)
• 2 inner ribs of celery (the pale white looking ones), including leaves
• 1/4 cup black olives, pitted and cut into slivers
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley or loosely packed flat-leaf parsley

Preparation:
1. Whisk together vinegar, honey, and salt in a small bowl until salt are dissolved, then add oil in a slow stream, whisking well. Season with pepper.
2. Remove the pith from your mikan segments but don't worry about being anal retentive, just remove the biggest chunks.
3. Halve endives lengthwise, then cut out and discard the cores. Cut endives diagonally into 1/2-inch-wide strips and put in a large salad bowl.
4. Separate celery leaves from ribs and cut ribs diagonally into very thin slices.
5. Roughly chop the celery leaves.  Add the leaves, ribs, olives, onions, parsley, and mikan to the endives.
6. Whisk dressing, then gently toss salad with enough dressing to coat.
7. Finished!

An easy salad for a light weeknight meal!

Shishito ししとう

Shishito, the longer, skinnier cousin of the green bell pepper. Shishito also happen to be much tastier than Japanese green bell peppers and I use them whenever I can in recipes that call for bell pepper. The most famous of the shishito are manganji tougarashi. These are shishito grown exclusively in Kyoto, so lucky for you if you're in the Kyoto area. Other shishito are just as tasty and can be readily found at the farmers' markets. For those outside of Japan, you can try looking in Asian supermarkets, or standard green bell peppers are a close enough substitute. And like bell peppers, shishito are a great source of vitamins C and A.

How to Prepare
With the smaller shishito, you can cook them whole, which is what I usually do because I'm lazy. Even the stems of shishito can be eaten so simply cut up the shishito however you want.

Easy Shishito Recipe

The snow-filled winds are encroaching on Shiga so pots of hot, tasty goodness are where it's at!

Jambalaya


Serves 4-6

Prep Time: About 1 hour

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 package of shishito, chopped or 1 large bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 2 celery stocked, diced
• 3 tablespoons parsley, minced
• 1 small package sausage, cut into bite-sized slices. (For people in Japan, I recommend going to Amica or the Brazilian market to buy sausage. Otherwise, the "chorizo" at the regular supermarket will do the trick)
• 1 chicken breast, skin removed and chopped
• 1 large bay leaf
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 can beans, drained
• 1 can tomato sauce
• 3/4 cup brown rice, uncooked
• 1 package medium sized shrimp, peeled
• 2 cups chicken broth

Preparation:
1. Add oil to a large saucepan.
2. Over medium heat, sauté onion, garlic, bell pepper and celery until onion is translucent.
3. Add parsley, sausage, chicken, bay leaf, and cayenne pepper. Cook, stirring often, 5 to 6 minutes.
4. Add tomatoes (with juice), tomato sauce, and 2 cups chicken broth. Gently simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes.
5. Pour rice and beans into the pan and stir well. Bring mixture to a boil. Lower heat and simmer, covered, 45 minutes or until rice is cooked and absorbs most of the liquid.
6. Stir in shrimp and cook 5 minutes more.
7. Remove bay leaf. Season to taste with cayenne pepper and salt.
8. Finished!

Maitake 舞茸

You've probably noticed that the supermarkets have stepped it up in the mushroom department recently.  Fall means shrooms in Japan and the variety here is impressive.  This week we'll talk about maitake, which has weird, gross-sounding names in English like "Sheep's Head."  I don't know what kind of sheep the guy hangs out with that came up with that name but my sheep tend to be less mutated.  Like most mushrooms, maitake is a good source of selenium, B-vitamins and potassium.  It's also been shown in studies to help boost the immune system of cancer patients, so if you think you might have cancer stock up on maitake!

How to Prepare
Cut off the base of the mushroom where it still has some growing medium left on it (yuck).  After that, do whatever you feel like with it!  Chop, dice, shred, boil, steam, grill, the possibilities are endless.

Easy Maitake Recipe

One of my favorite recipe for autumn.  It's easy to modify with whatever you have on hand.

Mushroom Barley Soup


Serves 10 bajillion people (seriously, you'll get 8-10 servings easy from this)

Prep Time: About 1 hour

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 2 ribs celery with leaves, diced
• 1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped
• 1 carrot, peeled and sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 small package maitake mushrooms, chopped
• 1 small package enoki mushrooms, bottom 1/3 removed
• 1 small package shiitake mushrooms, destemmed and sliced
• 2 teaspoons fresh thyme, leaves removed from stems
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 8-10 cups water
• 2 beef or vegetable bouillon cubes
• 1 cup whole barley

Preparation:
1. Heat oil in a stockpot and sauté the onion, celery, 2 tablespoons of the parsley, carrot, garlic, thyme and fresh mushrooms until soft, about 5 minutes.
2. Lower the heat and add the flour, stirring every 30 seconds for about 5 minutes or until thick.
3. Add the water and bouillon cubes to the pot, constantly stirring, until vegetables are immersed.
4. Turn the heat to high, and add the barley. Stir well and add salt to taste.
5. Simmer, covered, for about an hour or until the barley is tender and the soup is thickened, stirring often.
6. Add additional chopped parsley, mix thoroughly, and adjust seasonings.
7. Finished!

You can add and subtract just about anything from this recipe.  I often like to skip the carrots and add zucchini when I can findthem on sale.

Kuri 栗

American chestnuts may be all but extinct, but chestnuts are alive and well in Asia.  You often find chestnuts in sweet and savory dishes this time of year and they probably remind your grandma of Christmas and the Rat Pack.  Roasted chestnuts have a slightly sweet and nutty flavor that lends itself well to soups, pastas, rice, and desserts.  Unlike other nuts, chestnuts are low in fat and are very similar in nutritional makeup to brown rice.  Maybe that's why chestnut rice is so popular here in the fall.

How to Prepare

The easiest way to deal with chestnuts is to buy a bag of them already roasted.  Every supermarket has them this time of year.  If you're Stateside, I've heard you can buy them at Trader Joe's.  If you decide to use fresh chestnuts, shell the nuts, cut them in half, and boil them until soft.  They won't have the same roasted taste but work just as well in soups and desserts.

Easy Chestnut Recipe

While chestnut soup is amazing, it can be time consuming for those not used to working with cream soups.  So instead I decided to post this delicious pasta dish.

Pasta with Chestnuts, Prosciutto, and Sage

Serves 4

Prep Time: About 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup prosciutto, chopped 生ハム
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh sage (can substitute 2tsp dried if your Heiwado doesn't stock fresh herbs)
• 1 cup crumbled roasted chestnuts
• 1 cup chopped mushrooms
• 225 grams dried flat pasta such as fettuccine (you can find fettuccine at Amica or Belsie, among other places.  If you can't find, just use the biggest mm spaghetti available at your store)
• 1 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or 1/2 cup of the powdered Parmesan cheese.
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley

Preparation

1. Cook onion and mushrooms in olive oil, stirring frequently, until mushrooms are beginning to brown, 2 to 3 minutes.
2. Add garlic and 1 tablespoon sage and cook, stirring, 1 minute.
3. Stir in chestnuts and prosciutto, remove from heat.
4. Cook pasta until al dente.
5. Reserve 1 1/2 cups cooking water, then drain pasta in a colander and add veggie mixture in skillet.
6. Add 1 cup reserved cooking water along with cheese and butter and cook, tossing constantly, over high heat until pasta is well coated (add more reserved water if necessary), about 1 minute.
7. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve sprinkled with parsley and remaining tablespoon sage.
8. Finished!