News from Hiroko; 1. New website construction is over; new, clean, updated site is up; Please visit www.hirokoskitchen.com 2. Summer has come in New York area after long weeks of cold spring; I have been enjoying early spring delicacies such as ramps, fiddle-head fern, rhubarb and asparagus. If you live in the area where season changes do not miss consuming spring vegetables now. Each vegetable growing in specific season offers us specific nutritional benefits which we need...
Read MoreDashi is POWERFUL
Dashi does magic. I enjoy cooking tender spring greens such as ramps, broccoli rabe and mustard greens from the farmers market with dashi, shoyu and butter. They are the golden team. I parboil the firmer stem of these greens in salt added boiling water first. In order to do this I hold the greens upright so that the top leaf part is not submerged into the water. When the stem is partially tender, remove the...
Read MoreEssentials of Japanese Cuisine Day 1 and Day 2
I am back on the Essentials of Japanese Cuisine teaching at French Culinary Institute. Day 1’s highlight was the preparation of dashi stock (requires a state of zen mind), fun home-made udon noodles and perfect tempura using seasonal vegetables. Here are some of the photos from the class. To roll the dough out I had to stand on a stand….short person’s dilemma. Everyone rolled out the udon dough into perfect thickness, resulting delicious cold udon dish...
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