Miso-Glazed Eggplant

This week Fair Valley Farm will be at the Fairmount Farmers Market with their pastured meat, along with gorgeous fresh produce of Camas Swale Farm and lovely flowers from Tiger Lily Art Company.

Our favorite eggplant recipe these days comes from the Lucky Peach 101 Easy Asian Recipes cookbook and it's dead easy. Halve eggplants (Japanese or otherwise), bake them a bit (and you can do this in a toaster oven if it feels too hot to turn on your real oven), then slather with a miso and mirin paste and bake some more. This makes a substantial vegetarian entree, and is also a nice accompaniment to other Japanese-inspired dishes. With some Fair Valley Farm boneless pork chops, we made Melissa Clark's recipe for breaded and fried tonkatsu, which she points out is essentially the same and German weiner schnitzel, a dish of my youth. To round out the meal we had crunchy quick pickles (tsukemono) and sweet and sour zucchini.

Miso-Glazed Eggplant

from Lucky Peach 101 Easy Asian Recipes 

4 Japanese eggplants or 2 regular eggplants, halved lengthwise

1 Tbsp neutral oil

1/4 cup red miso

2 Tbsp mirin

sesame seeds

1. Heat the oven (or toaster oven) to 450 degrees. 

2. Slick the eggplant halves all over with oil and arrange them cut side up on a baking sheet. Roast for 10-15 minutes until they are just wilted, a very light roast. 

3. Meanwhile, whisk together the miso and miring in a small bowl.

4. Smear the cut side of the eggplants with the miso mixture and roast until the eggplants are tender and the miso is browned and bubbling, about 10 minutes longer. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve.

Baby Turnip Pennies

Last week at the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market, my son picked out the cutest bunch of baby turnips from Camas Swale Farm. When trying to think of a pleasing turnip preparation for the eight and under crowd, I turned to Mollie Kaizen's children's cookbook classic Pretend Soup, source of our family's favorite popover recipe.  

I remembered that Katzen had a recipe for carrot pennies, which I thought might work for baby turnips. On closer inspection, I realized this was a version of the Japanese cooking style of kinpira or sauté and simmer, as in this kinpira gobo, which  produces an addictive sweet and salty syrup coating for the vegetables. This preparation proved to be just the thing to make turnips fun to eat for all ages.

Baby Turnip Pennies

adapted from Mollie Katzen’s Pretend Soup

1 bunch baby turnips
2 Tbsp butter
juice from 1/2 lemon
2 tsp sesame seeds
1 Tbsp brown sugar
generous pinch of salt
1/4 cup water

Trim the tops and tails from rinsed baby turnips and slice them into thin rounds. Place a skillet over medium heat and melt the butter. Add the turnips and a pinch of salt and toss to coat. Add the lemon juice, sesame seeds, and brown sugar and saute until the turnips start to soften and brown. Add the water and allow to cook down to a syrup. Serve warm.

Simple Miso Soup for a Cold

 

Being at the tail end of my second nasty cold in the past month, I've been craving nothing much but soup. Steaming pots of long simmered chicken broth are wonderful, but when cold viruses have sapped every last drop of energy from your body, such a broth can seem like a mirage. In contrast, a restorative miso soup, prepared with a quick kombu broth, is well within reach. 

As described in Elizabeth Andoh's Washoku: Recipes from the Japanese Home Kitchen, Japanese broths made with kombu, or dried kelp, takes just as long to prepare as to bring water to a boil. I've shared both her dashi (made with bonito flakes) and a vegetarian version made with shiitake mushroom. These broths can be the backdrop of a flavorful soup when you layer in greens and mix in miso paste (avoid cooking, to preserve the full benefits of the fermenting microbes). A few bowls of this soup (with any number of variations in vegetables and protein) can do wonders for restoring one's spirits and health. 

Dashi (basic sea stock)

12 square inches kombu
2 cups cold water
1/4 cup loosely packed dried shaved bonito flakes (katsuo-bushi)

Place the kombu in a pot of cold water and heat over medium heat. When small bubbles begin to break the surface, remove from the heat. Sprinkle over the bonito flakes. Allow the flakes to settle, and then remove the kombu and strain the broth through a fine mesh strainer. You can scale up this recipe for more stock,which can be stored for 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator, but the flavors will not last if frozen.

Kombu Jiru (basic vegetarian stock)

12 square inches kombu
1 dried shiitake mushroom
2 cups cold water

Place the kombu and mushroom in a pot of cold water and heat over medium heat. When small bubbles begin to break the surface, remove from the heat. Allow to sit 3-4 minutes, remove the kombu and mushroom, and then strain the broth through a fine mesh strainer. Reserve the mushroom cap for cooking. You can scale up this recipe for more stock,which can be stored for 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator, but the flavors will not last if frozen.

Simple Miso Soup for a Cold

makes 1 large bowl

2 cups broth
1 rehydrated shitake mushroom cap, sliced
1 slice baked tofu, rinsed and diced
1 handful tender greens like baby spinach
1 Tbsp miso

Heat the strained broth to a simmer. Add the sliced mushroom cap and tofu to the simmering broth. Place the greens in a large soup bowl. In a small bowl, mix the miso and a ladle full of the broth. Pour the rest of the simmering broth into the soup bowl and mix in the thinned miso. Eat right away.

Kinpira Gobo (Stir Fried Burdock)

The burdock root in our Good Food Easy CSA share was the first example of this vegetable that I had encountered. Luckily Elin England's treasure trove of seasonal recipes, Eating Close to Home: A Guide to Local Seasonal Sustenance in the Pacific Northwest, provided a suggestion: the Japanese dish of kinpira gobo. Although the hey day for burdock root in European cuisine was the Middle Ages, it is still widely consumed in Japan, where "gobo" is often prepared in a style called "kinpira" which refers to stir frying followed by simmering. Carrots can be included or substituted. The main work of the dish is the chopping, after which the julienned vegetables cook up quickly, with the simmered liquids producing a delicious glaze. Burdock has a distinctive flavor that contrasts pleasantly with the sweet and salty glaze and was a big hit at our dinner table. Now I'll be scouring our farmers markets for burdock roots to make this again.

Kinpira Gobo

adapted from Elin England's Eating Close to Home

3 medium burdock roots
1 large carrot
2 Tbsp canola oil
3 Tbsp sake
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1 1/2 Tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp sesame seeds

1. Scrub the burdock root with a brush and trim the ends. You can also use the edge of a knife to scrape off a bit of the skin, but don't remove too much, because this part of the root contains many of the nutrients. Cut the burdock into 2 inch julienned matchsticks, submerging the pieces into a bowl of cold water as you work, to prevent discoloration. Scrub, trim, and cut the carrot into similar julienned matchsticks.

2. Mix together the sake, soy sauce, and sugar. Heat a pan or wok over medium heat and add the oil. When it is hot, add the drained burdock. Stir fry for about a minute. Add the carrots and continue to stir fry for another couple of minutes, until the vegetables start to soften. Add the sake mixture and continue cooking over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has reduced. Remove from heat, drizzle with sesame oil and sprinkle with sesame seeds and red pepper flakes if you like. Serve at room temperature. Keeps about a week when refrigerated in a sealed container.

Ume Grill's Japanese Style Rice Balls

Neighborhood food cart aficionados have been happy to see the return of Ume Grill to the Sun Automotive lot on the corner of 19th and Agate (now located in back, away from 19th). In addition to an expanded menu with chicken and tofu teriyaki, a new Ume offering is beautifully prepared bento boxes to go. On Thursdays, Ume will deliver pre-ordered bento boxes to Edison Elementary and Roosevelt Middle Schools as a welcome alternative to the unfortunately dismal cafeteria fare.

Ume co-owner Helen (aka Mama Ume), who in the past has graciously shared her recipe for tsukemono, was kind enough to help the Edison Girl Scouts earn their cooking badges by teaching them how to make their very own rice balls (example above). Helen even brought each girl her own bento box kit, complete with fun rice ball molds.

My resident Girl Scout was eager to teach me her new skills. We prepared rice, baked tofu, and edamame beans, and I cut up some leftover roasted parsnips and rutabaga. She demonstrated the proper rice packing, complete with finger dipping in salty water, and we sprinkled the rice balls with black sesame seeds (on hand from making gomae sauce). I was the only taker for cooked purple barley mixed into the rice, but the heart shaped rutabaga slices were consumed with enthusiasm, making me think that there is room for a rutabaga lover badge in the Girls Scout pantheon, between "entertainment technology" and "social butterfly." Thanks Ume Grill for sharing these delicious treats.

Ume Grill's Japanese Style Rice Balls

The beauty of these rice balls is that you can improvise and tailor them to any taste. This recipe gives the basic outline but you can pack them with whatever strikes your fancy.

You should gather together:

cooked rice (about 1/2 cup per rice ball, Helen recommends "hapa" rice: 3 parts medium grain white rice and 1 part brown rice)
a small bowl of sea salt water for finger dipping
rice mold (or use a teacup or ramekin lined with plastic wrap) 

any of the following fillings:
baked tofu (recipe below)
teriyaki beef or chicken
cooked edamame beans
carrots, cucumber, and other vegetables sliced into pretty shapes by hand or with a cutter

and some toppings:
nori seaweed sheets
sesame seeds
more sliced vegetables

Scoop some rice into the mold. Wet your fingers in the sea salt water and pat down the rice into a firm layer. Add some fillings (protein and vegetables). Add another layer or rice and pat down with wet fingers. Close the mold firmly to completely compress the rice ball. Open the mold and carefully dislodge the rice ball by inverting over your hand and pressing on the release tab on the back. Decorate the rice ball with strips of moistened nori, sesame seeds, and more sliced vegetables. Enjoy.

Baked tofu
1 package extra firm tofu
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp rice vinegar
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp sesame oil

Slice the tofu into 3/4 inch thick slabs. In a shallow baking dish, mix the marinade ingredients. Place the tofu slabs in the marinade and flip to coat both sides. Marinade for 30 minutes or so. Bake at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes per side, until the tofu has dried and firmed. I do this in a toaster oven. Once baked, cut the tofu slabs into desired sized pieces, or use a small cookie cutter for fun bento shapes.

Beet Green Gomae

Recently my husband and I indulged in a rare adults only evening out. We enjoyed the neighborhood tavern feel of Izakaya Meiji, where we sampled an addictively delicious spinach gomae, a dish of steamed spinach with a salty and sweet sesame sauce. I wanted to try making this at home and attempted to puree toasted white sesame seeds in a mini food processor, but was thwarted when they stealthily slipped beneath the blade and remained defiantly intact. The resulting dish was light and refreshing, speckled with toasted sesame seeds, but it didn't capture the rich nuttiness I was trying to recreate.

For my next attempt, I procured some roasted black sesame seeds from Sunrise Asian Food Market. This time I took the seed grinding into my own hands and smashed them in a molcajete, which produced a satisfying paste. The only problem was that in my excitement about the black sesame seeds (an 8 ounce jar for under five dollars!), I had forgot to pick up any spinach.

Luckily, this gardening assistant was helping pull up overwintered beets, which provided an abundance of fresh beet greens for me. I blanched them, like spinach leaves, in boiling water and then quickly transferred them to an ice water bath to halt the cooking process. 

After squeezing out the water and chopping them, I tossed them in the inky, grainy paste that resembled the black dirt from which they had so recently been plucked. As if by magic, the flavors were just what I had been dreaming about. I may even prefer the beet greens to spinach with their extra bitterness as a foil for the sweet nuttiness of the sauce.

Beet Green Gomae
makes two appetizer-sized servings

I bunch beet greens or spinach leaves
2 Tbsp roasted black sesame seeds (or toast some sesame seeds yourself)
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1 Tbsp rice wine
1 1/2 tsp soy sauce

1. Smash the sesame seeds into a paste using a coarse mortar and pestle (a Mexican molcajete works well for this) or a spice grinder. Mix in the sugar, rice wine, and soy sauce.

2. Boil a pot of salted water and prepare a bath of ice water. Rinse the greens. If using spinach bunches, you can keep them intact during the blanching process and trim off the stems and roots afterwards. When the water is boiling, submerge the greens into the water for just under a minute and then quickly drain and toss into the ice water bath. 

3. Wait a minute and then drain the cooled greens, wringing out excess water. Lay the greens on a cutting board. Trim off the roots of the spinach if necessary and chop the greens into 1 inch strips. Toss with the sesame sauce and serve.

Carrot and Cucumber Sushi Rolls

This Sunday at the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market you can expect the following produce from SLO Farm, Sweetwater Farm, and Songbird Farm:

• apples, Asian pears, and prune plums
• pie pumpkins
• tomatoes: heirlooms, cherries, and San Marzano romas
• cucumbers, zucchini, eggplants, string beans
• peppers including bell peppers, poblano, and mariachi (mild red peppers) 
• root vegetables including beets, turnips, potatoes, and kohlrabi
• curly kale, chard, basil 
• onions, leeks, garlic
• eggs, honey

Songbird Farm sells these sweet, plump carrots, which became the core of a rainy day sushi rolling activity. The kids' renditions had none of the elegant symmetry of professional sushi, but they tasted delicious with our tsukemono (from Ume Grill's recipe), along with some teriyaki beef and sesame spinach and edamame beans. And the kids has so much fun rolling these that they made plenty of extras, solving the problem of what to pack for lunch the following day.  

Simple Vegetarian Sushi

1-2 carrots, peeled, julienned, and lightly steamed (about 2 minutes)

1 cucumber, peeled and julienned

1 cup short grain sushi rice, rinsed

2 cups water

pinch of salt

4 Tbsp rice wine vinegar

6 sheets nori

1. Combine the sushi rice, the water, and a pinch of salt and cook over low heat, covered, until the water is absorbed, about 20 minutes. Stir in the rice wine vinegar.

2. Meanwhile prepare the vegetables. 

3. Spread several spoonfuls of rice over each sheet of nori, arrange a stripe down the center of about 4 carrot and 4 cucumber matchsticks, roll up and use a little water to adhere the edge of the nori sheet back onto itself. Carefully cut into pieces with a serrated knife. Serve with wasabi, pickled ginger, and soy sauce.

Ume Grill's Tsukemono (Japanese Pickles)

The Sun Automotive lot on the corner of 19th and Fairmount has become a real neighborhood food hub. Not only does it house the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market each Sunday (running through October), but every evening, the Ume Grill cart sets up shop to offer delicious terriyake beef skewers and accompanying sides of wasabi spiked cole slaw, crunchy pickles and rice. 

A complete meal includes a dessert of handmade mochi, and even a tea bag for a pot of hot or iced tea.

Ume Grill owners, Helen Nahoopii and Rayton Takata, are committed to using the freshest, high quality ingredients in their food. I asked Helen to contribute a recipe for produce from the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market, and she shared this method for preparing cucumber or zucchini pickles with seaweed.

Helen writes: "In Japan, tsukemono or pickles are used as hashi-yasume, literally “chopstick resters”, side dishes that have a totally different texture and flavor. So for instance if you had some grilled meat with a sweet-savory sauce as the main course, you might have some simple, crunchy pickled cucumber slices to go with it. Here is a simple, yet nice side-dish to accompany your next grilled dish!"

Helen was so thoughtful that she even provided me with the seaweed for this recipe, which she purchased at King's Asian Market on West 11th. I tried the recipe with some slender cucumbers from Sweetwater Farm and delicate zucchini from SLO Farm. Both were delicious with a sweetly spicy, mildly briny crunch. 

Tsukemono (Japanese Day Pickle) 

4 servings

2 small thin English cucumbers or small Japanese cucumbers when available, or 4 baby zucchini

1/2 inch kombu (seaweed) cut into thin shreds with kitchen shears

7 T water

3 T rice vinegar

1 T cane or granulated sugar

1/2 tsp crushed chili peppers (adjust according to taste)

Rinse and then peel cucumbers, or simply rinse the zucchini, and cut into quarter lengthwise and then dice into 1/4 inch pieces. Place in bowl and in a measuring cup mix together other ingredients. Pour over diced cucumbers or zucchini. Cover and let sit in refrigerator for up to three hours before serving.

Provided by Ume Grill Owners

Helen Nahoopii and Rayton Takata