Aburi and amaguri, oregano seafood pasta

Seafood pasta. I could eat some everyday. I know there are no pasta on this photo. I have not eaten them before shooting. They are under :

Ballerina pasta alle vongole, bianco e oregano.
That’s the name in my kitchen. Don’t trust my skills at Italian language, but trust me to adapt the recipe to Japanese context.

First, let’s prepare salmon. It’s salmon trout to be exact.

Aburi sushi is midway between raw sashimi and grilled fish, so you get the great texture and the nice taste.
For more details on this technique :

aburi DIY (click here)

hamaguri is a sort of local clam.

First let them refresh in salty water.

The hamaguri clams are opened in white wine with negi (green parts) and oregano. Then ballerina pasta are added and let 2 minutes with a covered lid, the time they swallow the flavors.

The plate is crowned by bok choi, that was blanched with the pasta. I place the pasta in the middle, the seafood and more oregano on top. Black pepper and a drizzle on olive oil on top.
Mmmmm…..

Ryori, a Japanese classic menu… (compilation by cooking techniques)

Quick list of Japanese “classics” to help you navigate on this site. That’s not complete at all. I tried to make it representative. I often make them with a twist, but I tell you in the post.

Short memo about the Japanese meal

-all dishes are brought at the same time, ideally served in individual dishes, one plate per item.
-there is rice + soup + three items. Or more.

The items, called okazu tend to be side-dish sized. On the menu in restaurants, traditional style was to present the okazu by cooking technique.

ONE :

GOHAN, rice
rice cuisine list ***** sushi list

and ONE :

吸い物,SUIMONO
A soup to drink !

DASHI (basic stock tutorial)
vegan dashi tuto
misoshiru (miso soup, in many posts)
shijimi miso soup
clear soup
O-zoni New Year soup
sake kasu Winter white soup

And THREE, FOUR, FIVE… many :

OKAZU LIST

お造り o-tsukuri
Normally, that’s a term for seafood sashimi, raw seafood. I don’t *cook* it of course.

scallop sashimi
calamari sashimi noodles
hamo no aburi (flamed sashimi)
hiya yakko (chilled tofu cubes)
konnyaku faux-sashimi

和え物,aemono
Cold dish with sauce.

shira-ae veggies
goma-ae kogomi (sesame fiddle heads)
snappy beans and shrimps in kimizu-ae (yolk sauce)

蒸し物, mushimono
Steamed.
egg tofu
dobin mushi (steamed soup)
okowa kabocha (steamed pumpkin with rice)
steamed scallop

御浸し, o-hitashi
Blanched.
mustard green o-hitashi
green leaf maki
reishabu (poached meat)

揚げ物 agemono
Fried dishes.

tempura (tutorial)
kakiage (mixed tempura)
karaage fish
agedofu, fried tofu DIY
kaki-furai (fried oysters)

焼き物, yakimono
Grilled dishes.

shioyaki (salt grilled fish)
kabayaki conger eel
yakiniku, beef BBQ
yakitori (chicken skewers)
teriyaki chicken(the “real” thing, recipe)
teriyaki fish
miso yaki chicken
miso yaki fish
dengaku (skewers)

鉄板焼き,teppanyaki
Grilled on the hot plate.
Beef liver teppanyaki
okonomiyaki (compilation)
ika-yaki (calamari)

煮物, nimono
Simmered.

pumpkin kabocha no nitsuke
kakuni (pork)
beef shigure
buri daikon (fish and radish)

炒め物 itamemono
Stir-fried.

champuru (Okinawan scramble)
kinpira

漬物, tsukemono
pickles
wasabi leaf tsukemono
daikon radish leave tsukemono
dashi’t, Obanazawa pickle
pink lotus root tsukemono

酢の物, sunomono
Quick vinegar pickles. Salads with lots of vinegar.

potato sarada
daikon ume sarada
kabocha sarada

Black delights… (via GiO)

Black is beautiful. In Japanese cuisine, that’s really a precious color…

Ideal for the cooling weather :　炙り寿司 (aburizushi) aburi sushi. It’s fire leached sushi.
If you never had them, you must try. The transformation of taste of the fish is dramatic…

Hamo no aburi – flames on fish – la murène en flammes

Hamo (Pike Conger, Murene Japonaise) is a popular fish for Summer in Kansai, particularly in Kyoto. It’s a second rate fish for many, but in Japan, it’s considered a delicacy.

A modern way to prepare it is “aburi”. Aburi is bathed by flames. It’s between grilled and raw sashimi. See this for recipe :
Aburi-zushi (flamed)

A piece of hamo. It’s a long eel type fish, so the fishmonger opened it, took away the bones by making many parallele indentation :

That’s why it look as if it had rays.

When you cook the skin, it retracts and the fish slightly rolls on itself… OK, not a pro result. I’m working on it.

It is served simply with a little point of condiment. For instance….

Pasted umeboshi. Take one of those plums (dried and pickled), pit it and mash in a mortar. You can also buy some in tube like mustard and wasabi, which I also used, but really the whole plums are more polyvalent.