Here are two recipes from this month’s book giveaway! Check back in July to see if you won this month’s drawing, but in the meantime please enjoy a delightful summertime supper of Japanese-flavored pesto noodles and seared fresh fish with a piquant tomato-ginger sauce, courtesy of chef and author Eric Gower.
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Mint-Cilantro Udon with Fresh Ginger and Meyer Lemon
From The Breakaway Japanese Kitchen by Eric Gower
Serves 2
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon (15ml) extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon shallots (10g), chopped
3 heaping tablespoons (46g) plain yogurt
1 cup (17g) fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
1 cup (17g) fresh mint leaves, chopped
1 tablespoon (10g) fresh ginger, diced
Zest of 1 Meyer lemon, 1 pinch reserved*
Juice of 1 Meyer lemon*
Sea salt
Udon for 2, about 1/2 pound (225 g)**
Set a pot of water to boil for the udon. heat the oil in a small skillet, sauté the shallots in it for a few minutes, and transfer them to a blender. Add everything else to the blender (except the udon, of course), and blend. Cook the udon until al dente, drain, return to the pot, and gently mix in the sauce from the lender. Taste for salt, transfer to warm plates, and sprinkle on the reserved zest.
*If you don’t have Meyer lemons, the regular kind is fine
**If you can’t get dried udon, italian pasta works fine too. I used linguine in the above photo.
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Hamachi Tataki with Tomato-Ginger Sauce
From The Breakaway Japanese Kitchen by Eric Gower
Serves 2
Ingredients:
1 medium tomato
1 T. light soy sauce
1 T. butter
2 T. extra virgin olive oil
2 T shallots, chopped
1 T. fresh ginger, diced
Sea salt
Sashimi-grade yellowtail, about 1/3 pound (150 g)*
Daikon sprouts or other sprouts, optional
Boil some water in a saucepan and blanch the tomato for about a minute, until the skin loosens. Rinse under cold water, remove the skin and seeds, and put in a blender. Add the soy sauce and blend. In a sauté pan, heat the butter and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, add the shallots and ginger, salt and pepper them, and sauté for about 5 minutes over low heat. Add to the blender, blend with the tomato, and return the mixture to the pan. Simmer on very low heat while you do the next step.
Heat the other tablespoon of oil in a heavy skillet over maximum heat until very hot, and sear both sides of the yellowtail. Be careful not to overcook it. Remove to a chopping board, and carefully slice it into bite-sized portions. Spoon a little of the sauce onto a heated plate and place the fish on it. Spoon more sauce over and top with the optional sprouts.
*If your market doesn’t carry sashimi grade yellowtail, you can substitute another favorite fish. I used salmon in the photo above.
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Jonelle Patrick writes novels set in Japan, and blogs at Only In Japan and The Tokyo Guide I Wish I’d Had
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