Bret’s Table was honored to have Hiroko Shimbo visit for a few days recently. She was in town to teach classes at Cooks of Crocus Hill. During her visit, I had a chance to talk to her about growing up in Japan. She gives her mother much of the credit for her love of cooking and her love for life in general.
Like so many other young girls, her mother taught her not only of the beauty of food, but of its nutritional value as well. Her father was a surgeon and his clinic and small hospital were attached to their home. Her mother would cook for the patients that were recovering from their illnesses, so Hiroko spent a lot of time at her mother’s apron strings learning what foods would assist in their healing.
In Japan, young girls are also taught of the importance of the color as well as the texture of food. They learn how to artfully arrange each food being served on a plate or in a bento box to create visual appeal as well as learn the nutritional balance. I was sad to hear from her that boys don’t learn these things from their mothers, only the girls in Japan. I hope that will change with time. It would have left me out in the cold, had I grown up in Japan.
Stateside, the importance of eating a wide variety of food “colors” is a relatively new idea. For example, we should be eating dark green vegetables, red fruits, purple berries, etc. You get the picture.
I was also fortunate to accompany Hiroko to a local Asian grocery store here in town. As we walked the aisles she pointed out for example, the best brown rice to purchase, which shoyu (soy sauce) I should be using and introduced me to Japanese pickled vegetables. Gherkins they are not! After shopping, I spent the evening learning how to make fresh Udon noodles and assisting in the preparation of the television spot on Showcase Minnesota. After returning home from the TV studio the next morning, we got down to work preparing dinner for those that would be sitting at Bret’s Table that evening.
Inspired by what was ripe in JT’s garden, Hiroko created an amuse-bouche of cherry tomatoes topped with a chiffonade of wilted and seasoned Swiss chard and drizzled with a peanut sauce.
While picking the tomatoes, the abundance of summer squash was staring us in the face, so we decided to make a cold soup using the squash, a little celery root, onions, kombu, and a couple of dollops of brown miso.
Some preserved figs that I had made were in the fridge, so the garnish for the soup was a slice of fig that was sautéed in butter (PastureLand, of course) and a couple of sprigs of leek greens.
For the entrée, Hiroko was recipe testing a variation of a Japanese curry which would take six hours to cook. It started with a couple of pounds of onions that were caramelized as one would for French onion soup. Added to them was a roux as dark as chocolate, along with apples, bananas, a lemon as its juice. To that, shrimp stock and dashi were poured into the pot and it all cooked together for about 4 hours. There was straining and pureeing and additional cooking before it was the consistency for which she was looking
We purchased a couple of pounds of U15 shrimp from Coastal Seafoods which were seared and laid alongside a timbale of steaming brown rice. All of these elements were laid on a pool of the curry sauce. The sauce reminded me of what I might enjoy as part in a gumbo if I were to replace the heat with notes of sweet and citrus.
One of the guests brought an ice chest full of various sakes that we tried with each course. The more I taste sake, the more I am enjoying the many flavor profiles and nuances. I will be teaching a Pairing Food and Sake class this autumn at The Chef’s Gallery. What’s going to be fun about this class is the fact that we will have non-traditional pairings to bring home the fact that sake can be paired with cuisines other than Japanese. Be sure to check it out and sign up if you’re interested. Regardless, spend some time in the kitchen and enjoy a meal with a loved one.
Savoring the Japanese Kitchen
Recently our friends Julie, Dean, Barb and Tim wanted to come over to Bret’s Table to cook and enjoy dinner together. Barb also wanted to show-off our kitchen to her son and daughter-in-law who were visiting from California. Of course, anytime friends call and ask, “Can we cook at Bret’s Table?” if we’re available, the answer is always, “Absolutely, come on over and bring a bottle of wine.”
Being inspired by Hiroko’s recent visit, I wanted to come up with a Japanese menu for the occasion. With both her books sitting on the counter, The Sushi Experience and The Japanese Kitchen, I picked up the latter and started thumbing through it, asking myself, “hmm what to have, what to have.” Due to the August heat, I was looking for recipes where the oven would not have to be used at all or if so, only briefly. Let’s just say, I wasn’t about to roast a whole stuffed salmon, when it’s 90 degrees outside.
Also, as with any multi-course menu that I plan, I was looking for flavor combinations that would compliment each other or at least tie each course together with a common thread. Sometimes I’m more successful than others in accomplishing that goal. This time, it seemed to work beautifully. Maybe it’s because I sent a quick email off to Hiroko to verify that my ideas would tie together or at least be successful enough so that if one was Japanese, one wouldn’t be offended.
I handed out the recipes and divided everyone into teams. Julie and Dean, after many taste tests, came up with the new version of the Edamame Pâté. Meghan rolled out and baked the crackers. Lance and I dug into the dumpling and consommé recipe and Barb and Tim tackled the sauce for the spinach and well as cooked the rhubarb soup. Last but not least, Jon was in charge of the dishwashing throughout the evening.
After much laughter and no kitchen mishaps, we sat down to enjoy dinner and several bottles of 2009 Shine – Heinz Eifel – Riesling. We took lots of pictures, but unfortunately, not one photo of any of the food. We were all too busy taking pictures of each other. You’ll have to trust me that it all turned out beautiful as well as delicious.
I have made another batch of the crackers. They are easy to make and could be enjoyed not only with the Edamame Pâté but also with a fresh tomato salsa. Making the salsa may be a challenge though if you happen to have a partner that turns every last tomato into a paste before you can say “fresh tomato brusschetta”.
Yields 32 crackers
2 ½ ounces (about ½ cup) cake flour
3 ounces joshinko (rice flour)
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt, stirred into a scant ½ cup lukewarm water
1 ½ tablespoons white sesame seeds
1 ½ tablespoons black sesame seeds
Cake flour for dusting
In a medium bowl, combine the flours and baking powder. Add the salted lukewarm water to the flour mixture little by little, stirring, until the mixture has a dough-like consistency.
Divide the dough into two portions. Flatten one portion, sprinkle the white sesame seeds on top and knead them in. Incorporate the black sesame seeds into the other piece of dough in the same way. Shape each piece of dough into a disk. Wrap the disks in plastic wrap and refrigerate them for 1 hour.
Heat the oven to 400ºF.
On a lightly floured counter, form each disk into a log about 2/3 inches in diameter. Cut each log into quarters, then each quarter into quarters, to make 32 dough disks. Dredge the cut sides lightly in flour to prevent them from drying out.
With a rolling pin, roll each disk into a circle 2 ½ inches in diameter. Arrange the thin disks on a parchment or Silpat lined baking sheet and transfer it to the heated oven. Bake the crackers until crisp and light golden, about 15-20 minutes, turning the crackers over halfway through the baking process.
Transfer the crackers to a rack to cool, and then store them in a jar with a tight-fitting lid. Serve the crackers with your favorite spread or salsa.