Day 350: Sushi - Well Lit & Tasty

Before I even get into the details of this meal, can we just talk about how beautiful this plate looks?  We had a window seat at Asa and the natural light just hit the food perfectly.  I mean, this is food magazine cover quality!

I was treating my hubby to dinner tonight for helping out so much and for being so patient when our house was Grand Central this past week.  We had three different sets of guests over the course of a week.  It was fun, but hectic.  He chose Asa, our favorite neighborhood sushi restaurant.

At Asa, we primarily eat rolls, usually accompanied by some salmon sashimi and edamame.  Our favorite roll is the Red Dragon, the one to the far left in this photo:  tempura shrimp through the middle, spicy tuna and eel on top and tobiko on top of that.  I adore tobiko - those crunchy little eggs just make any roll better.

We also regularly enjoy the Honey Roll, on the right on the plate - avocado and tobiko inside and salmon on top.  The new roll we tried tonight was First Love (middle of the plate) - spicy hamachi (yellow tail) inside with eel and salmon on top.  For me, it was just shy of being too spicy, but it was good.

After this beautiful, classy meal, we went and saw The Hangover, which was neither beautiful not classy but it was freaking hilarious.  Feel free to steal out date night plan for yourself!

Day 310: Asparagus & Peas Part 1

It's asparagus season and I just can't get enough of it this year!  I grill it, I roast it, I throw it into pasta.  There are a million great ways to eat asparagus.  Tonight I made it into soup!

Ingredients:

2 pounds fresh asparagus, ends removed and stems cut into 2-inch pieces

1 shallot bulb, cut into large pieces

6 spring of fresh thyme

Small box or bag of frozen peas, defrosted

2 14-ounce cans of chicken broth (or vegetable broth to make a vegetarian version)

High quality olive oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Toss asparagus, shallot, and thyme with 1T olive oil and a generous dose of S&P.  Lay veggies out in a single layer on a non-stick baking sheet (coated with non-stick spray) and roast for 15 minutes.  

Allow the veggies to cool for a couple of minutes and then place the asparagus and shallot pieces in a food processor (do not include the thyme).  Add defrosted peas and puree everything together.  Stop occasionally and scrape down the side of the bowl with a spatula.  

Once you have a consistent puree, transfer vegetable mixture to a medium sized pot.  Add broth and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.  

Run soup through a very fine strainer, pressing gently to separate the liquid from the solid.  Return the liquid to a pot and simmer for a few minutes.  Ladle soup into bowls and drizzle some high quality olive oil over the top.

I paired a bowl of soup with a spicy tuna roll (store bought) and a glass (or two) of sauvignon blanc.  What a great, fresh and refreshing meal!

I refrigerated the soup solids and plan to use them later this week, either as a ravioli stuffing or mixed with some pasta.  It could also be used as a brushetta topping or if mixed with some sour cream, as a dip for fresh veggies.  These fresh flavors are just too good to throw away, so I'll find something tasty to do with them!

Day 291: A Work Perk

I'm fortunate in that from time to time, my job allows me to enjoy some very good meals on some very nice expense accounts. Tonight was one of those nights.

Some work associates and I had amazing sushi at Ozumo where I had my first roll wrapped with soy rather than seaweed. Interesting, but I prefer the more traditional seaweed route. The soy is rather tasteless and slightly rubbery.

The four of us shared lots of dishes - far too many to remember them all. We had some delicious rolls: tempura, lobster, spicy tuna. Yum, yum, yum. We also had some some addictive garlic edamame, some soft and supple soy glazed black cod, and various pieces of sushi. Everything was wonderful, including the ice cold sake I drank throughout the meal.

I go through waves with sushi. Sometimes I crave it constantly and can't get enough. Other times the thought of it makes me kind of sick. This meal was phenomenal and made me want sushi again soon! Next time I'll probably be paying for myself, however, so Ozumo may not see me again for awhile. Any wallet friendly sushi recommendations in SF? Leave a comment and let me know!

Day 244: A Fishy Love/Hate Relationship

I have a strange relationship with sushi.  Sometimes, the thought of it makes me queasy.  Other times, I crave it like a drug.  Even stranger, I do not even realize that I am in the love phase until someone mentions sushi.  I hear the word and all I can think about is gettin' me some.

Yesterday, a colleague mentioned that he had eaten sushi for dinner the night before.  The lights and sirens went off.  Mmmmmmmm....sushi.  Unfortunately, I had already purchased some steaks for last night's dinner.  I could have put them off until tonight, but we seemed to be having a short break from countless days of rain and it was a good night to grill.  So, sushi night was put on hold until tonight.

We went to Asa, our favorite neighborhood joint for raw fish.  After a bowl of edamame, we shared 4 rolls, including 2 Red Dragon rolls, our most beloved thing on the menu.  Shrimp tempura and crab down the center with spicy tuna, eel, avocado, and tobiko on top.  No roll on the planet can compare, but yet we always order other, lesser rolls as well.  Tonight those were a Honey roll (eel and avocado inside, salmon on top) and a Super Poke roll (spicy tuna inside, eel on top).

Of course, all of this was washed down with some ice cold sake and we received a couple of balls of mochi ice cream with our check.  The love affair is on!!

Day 147: No More Cooking, Please!!

After two straight days of cooking in preparation for our Thanksgiving meal, I needed a night off.

There's an unassuming but lovely little sushi restaurant called Asa Sushi just a few blocks from our house.  They have quite a vast menu of rolls but we have yet to find one that we like more than the Red Dragon, pictured above (with a couple of pieces of eel sushi on the side).  Tempura shrimp down the center, eel draped over the top, diced spicy tuna above that, and tobiko scattered all over.  Yum yum, you can never have just one.  We, in fact, had two.  I'm lucky I got any - you may have noticed my husband's eager and slightly impatient hand in the background.  

Day 140: Bi Bim Bap is Fun to Say!

We recently discovered a yummy Japanese restaurant called Umami a few blocks from our house.  Tonight we returned.

After a bowl of salty edamame, we shared some white tuna tataki in sizzling ponzu sauce.  We had think dish last time and it was so good we had to order it again.  The raw tuna slices are wrapped around each other in a spiral and topped with seaweed and frisee salad.  It's served in a hot iron pan and when the sauce is poured over the top tableside, it sizzles away - cool presentation and very tasty, too.

Next we had a couple of sushi rolls and a couple of slices of salmon sashimi.  But the highlight of the meal was the bi bim bap Korean hot pot, pictured above.  The pot contained finely shredded pork, a scoop of crunchy sticky rice, mushrooms, water chestnuts, thinly sliced carrots, brussels sprouts leaves, and a raw quail egg.  The server poured some spicy sauce over the top and mixed everything together for us.

The dish was extremely rich - I would never have been able to eat the whole thing myself - even without everything else we ate.  But it was the perfect thing to share - warm, spicy, and cozy - perfect on a cool evening.  I loved it.

What dishes comfort you on a cool night?

Day 118: Happy Birthday, Julie!

"Umami" has been quite a big buzz word this year. It's a difficult word to define so click here to see what Wikipedia has to say.

Tonight, to celebrate her birthday, our friend Julie arranged a group dinner at a Japanese restaurant in our neighborhood called - you guessed it - Umami! Despite the fact that Umami is just 3 blocks from our house, we had never been there before, but we will definitely be back.

My husband and I arrived early, so we sat at the bar and had a cocktail. Off to a good start.

Once the group had arrived, we sat down and perused the menu. The only strike against Umami the whole night is that they are part of that tired SF trend of "family style". Where I come from, family style means that the portions are huge and meant for sharing by whole table. Here, it basically means that the kitchen is too lazy to organize themselves appropriately to ensure that right order is delivered to the right diner at the right time. I'm kind of over it.

We decided to forego the whole table shares thing and my husband and I shared, as we usually do. Our first item to arrive was the mini tuna tartar tacos, which came three to a plate. We each had one and the third was eaten by the birthday girl. These little guys were totally adorable and yummy. What a great idea!

Next, we had albacore tuna sashimi, which arrived with some greens and seaweed salad on top. In the bottom of the very hot bowl was some ginger over which the waiter poured some ponzu sauce. It sizzled and slightly cooked the tuna - hard to describe, but a visually lovely dish and very tasty, too.

After these appetizers, we got rolling. Not out the door - there was too much good food left to eat! We got our sushi rolls on. The Three Samurai had tuna, yellowtail, and salmon with avocado inside. It tasted fresh but was a bit bland - nothing special there. The Geki-Kara roll, however, was divine: tempura shrimp, avocado, and cucumber inside with spicy tuna, tobiko, jalapeno, and eel sauce on top. That was a real winner.

And of course - because this was a celebration - there had to be dessert! We ordered two items for the table: pineapple crumble, which was far too sweet and a dessert roll. There was gelato wrapped in chocolate cookie dough, sliced like a sushi roll, with a chocolate dipping sauce and wasabi whipped cream. The reaction around the table to the whipped cream was quite negative so I didn't even try that - but the roll itself was delicious and such a creative and fun idea.

All in all - this was a great dinner and a fun night. It had been awhile since we tried a new place in our neighborhood. Welcome to our restaurant rotation, Umami!