Spinach & Shrimp Udon Soup

Udon soup is on the menu for lunch today. I've posted the chicken version of this soup before, but something prevented me from actually posting the recipe that evening (probably just too lazy).

So, this is a dashi based broth, with fresh baby spinach, shrimp, poached egg, and spring onion. Cooked chicken works equally well in the place of shrimp.

Not so Humble Spinach & Shrimp Udon Soup:
Serves 4
3/4 lb large shrimp, cooked, shelled and tails removed
1 1/2 lbs fresh thick udon noodles
3 cups baby spinach
1/2 teaspoon granulated dashi
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
3 tablespoons light soy sauce
2 teaspoons mirin
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
green onion
cayenne pepper

4 eggs
1 teaspoon rice vinegar

In a saucepan with several cups of water and a teaspoon of rice vinegar, poach 4 eggs for 2 1/2 - 3 minutes. Remove the eggs from the hot water, place in a bowl of cold water to prevent them from cooking further and set aside. Meanwhile, heat 5 cups of water over medium heat and add the dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, vinegar, mirin and granulated dashi. Bring to a simmer, cover and reduce heat to low.

In a large pot of lightly salted boiling water, cook the udon for 3 minutes and divide into 4 bowls bowls. Refill the pan with more hot water and bring to a boil. Add the spinach and cook for 20 seconds until bright green and slightly wilted. Remove from heat and squeeze the excess water from the spinach. Divide the spinach between the bowls and top each with a poached egg.

Add the cooked shrimp to the simmering broth and poach briefly, just long enough to heat them through (about 20 seconds) and then ladle the shrimp and the broth into the bowls. If using raw shrimp, add them to the simmering broth and cover. Within about 3-5 minutes the shrimp should be opaque, bright pink and cooked through.



Top the bowls with a little chopped green onion, sprinkle the egg with a little cayenne pepper and serve.

Sushi Cupcakes

Sunday Morning Baking: Sushi Cupcakes! Or maybe this is more of a petit four? Well, they are adorable, whatever they are.

I found some gorgeous coal black, coarse sanding sugar at my local baking supply store this weekend and I knew what I had to do... make sushi from cake!

Usually I would use fondant or fruit leather to make the nori but as soon as I saw this sugar, I knew had to test out its seaweed-replicating powers. The sugar grains have a really interesting shape, they are broader and flatter than other coarse sugars I have.

To make these I took a basic sheet cake and cut out the appropriate shapes with a knife and a small biscuit cutter. However, next time I attempt to do frosted nori I'll use a denser cake, perhaps a pound cake (maybe even brownies) as frosting nearly the entire surface of such tiny, fluffy nuggets of cake was not very easy.

Anyway, I made up some butter cream, divided it and tinted it dark green, red and reserved some white to do the rice. To make the nori, I coated the sides of the rolls in the dark green butter cream and then rolled them in my black sugar. The rice is created by frosting the roll with white butter cream and pressing it into a plate of white sprinkles. I made the flying fish roe in the same manner, with red nonpareils and red-orange butter cream.

The shrimp and fillings are made from tinted and painted fondant, coated with a little piping gel to make them look fresh and glossy.

I wouldn't try to make dozens of these, but they really required less effort than I expected.

I'm probably going to head back to the kitchen now and make some more sashimi out of fondant just for fun. I think I may need to go find a little dark green fruit leather to wrap up some tamago too...

Cold Buckwheat Noodles

Trying to make up for all that cheesecake that has been going around the humble household with a light lunch today. Cold Japanese buckwheat noodles with green onion, sesame seeds and toasted crumbled nori. Served with wasabi, pickled ginger and a dipping sauce.

This is a very easy meal to throw together, just boil some buckwheat noodles and rinse well with cold water and let drain. Assemble a serving of noodles on a plate and top with freshly toasted sesame seeds (medium heat in a dry skillet) and chopped green onion. I quickly toast a sheet of nori over a gas flame and then crumble over the noodles.

For the dipping sauce I mix the following together:

1 cup water
1/4 teaspoon dashi granules
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
1/2 cup mirin
1 tablespoon bonito flakes

I heat this mixture to barely a simmer and let sit for a few minutes, then strain through a fine mesh sieve, discarding the bonito flakes. Let the sauce cool to room temperature and it is ready to serve with the cold noodles.

Oishii Salmon Ramen

I spent my freshmen year of college knocking out my degree's foreign language requirements, in my case this was Japanese. I spent a lot of time loafing around the school of Asian studies and hanging out in their lovely Japanese style garden. That's where I met Samurai Wannabe. Walking around campus with a karate kid like bandana tied around his anime spiked blond hair. He infused every interaction with utmost gravitas. This guy wasn't messing around. He was living the lifestyle; I'm pretty sure off campus he carried around a sword, if not two.

I miss that guy. He reminded me that maybe you shouldn't take yourself too seriously. Something that clearly I don't try to do here.

Well Seattle Samurai Wannabe, I'm sorry I never remembered your real name. This soup is for you.

Ramen with Pacific Northwest twist.



Not so Humble's Oishii Salmon Ramen:

8 oz fresh ramen noodles (Not the instant stuff. If you can't find these and don't feel like making them, substitute a thin chinese egg noodles or packets of fresh 'stir fry' noodles)

Soup
4 cups vegetable stock
1 clove garlic minced
1/2 teaspoon peeled and grated ginger
1 tablespoon light soy sauce

1 cup bean sprouts
1 green chili, seeded and sliced
2 cups baby spinach leaves (optional)
fresh cilantro

Salmon
1 pound of wild pacific northwest coho, skin removed and sliced into four filets.

3 tablespoons sake
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons of mirin
1 teaspoons grated ginger
1/2 teaspoon grated garlic
1/2 teaspoon hot chili sauce - sriracha (optional)

Cook the ramen according to the package directions.

Mix the ingredients for the salmon and glaze each piece. Place the salmon under the broiler for roughly four minutes on one side. The flesh should flake easily but the center should remain moist and pink.

Add the garlic, ginger and soy sauce to the vegetable stock and bring to a simmer.

Boil 4 cups of water in a small pan and add the spinach, cooking briefly till it has just wilted. Remove the spinach from the water and squeeze the spinach to remove any excess liquid.

Divide the spinach between four bowls, then add the noodles. Pour the broth over the noodles and add a filet of salmon to each. Sprinkle with the bean sprouts, chilies, and cilantro.

Potato Katsu

I love the inexpensive little plates of potato katsu served at my local sushi place. However, I find myself craving the things at the oddest hours so I needed to find some way to supplement my need for hipster tatter-tots. This is my spin on Seattle's Blue C sushi's potato katsu.

This recipe is pretty simple and versatile as it can be used for shrimp, as well as pounded pork or chicken cutlets. The tonkatsu sauce might not be as 'fruity' as some store brands (due to the difference between western and Japanese worcestershire sauces) but I prefer this style, if you like a sweeter fruiter tonkatsu feel free to add a tablespoon of applesauce to the mixture while cooking.

Not so Humble's Potato Katsu:

Potato Katsu:

1 large russet potato
1 cup panko
1/4 cup tempura mix
1 egg
salt

oil for frying

Tonkatsu Sauce:

4 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
2 tablespoons aji-mirin
2 tablespoons worcestershire
1 teaspoon hot chinese mustard
1 teaspoon tomato paste
1 pinch of allspice

Peel the potato and cut into several half-inch thick disks, boil until fork tender and promptly remove from water.

While the potato boils assemble the Tonkatsu ingredients in a small sauce pan over medium heat and a cook for a few minutes until bubbly and slightly thickened.

Assemble three bowls, one containing the tempura mix (or flour with a little cornstarch), one with the panko and the third an egg beaten with a tablespoon of water and a generous pinch of salt. Cut the potato disks into bite sized pieces and toss lightly in the tempura flour, coat the pieces in the bowl with the egg mixture and then with the panko.

In a wok heat oil for deep frying, working in small batches fry the potatoes till golden brown and drain on paper towels. Serve hot, drizzled with the tonkatsu sauce or on the side for dipping.