SEARCH

Sakura lily bulb dumpling

For the fried course, the lily bulb manju: steam the lily bulb with sake, press it through a sieve, mix in glutinous rice flour at a ratio of 30-40%…

Conger eel straw-bundle roll

For the hot dish course, the conger eel tsuto (straw-bundle) roll: simmer the conger eel until tender, bind it with fish paste as a binder, and roll…

Scallop grilled with shuto / fat greenling grilled Nanbu-style with a sesame coating / small shrimp grilled with a grated-daikon glaze

For the grilled scallop with shuto (a salted fermented fish-innard paste), the scallop is marinated for about 20 minutes in shuto mixed with beaten…

Bush-warbler-style clear soup, cherry-blossom steamed clam

The soup course is a green-hued preparation named for the bush warbler. For the clam sakura-mushi, domyoji flour is reconstituted in kombu dashi…

Pinecone-cut small abalone / temari tuna with spicy miso / cherry-blossom small sea bream / horsetail shoots tofu-dressed / icefish and uni masago-style / clams and udo dressed with sansho leaf

For the pinecone-cut tokobushi, the tokobushi is simmered until tender, then finished by adding sieved liver at the end. For the temari tuna with…

Spring Daikon Simmered in Soup / Baby Octopus Tōza-ni / Cherry-Blossom Lily Bulb

For the simmered assortment's spring daikon in soup, the daikon is slowly simmered in chicken stock and left to soak up the flavor. For the roe…

Bamboo shoot fried futami-style with a snow-white coating / icefish deep-fried in a roasted-flour coating

For the accompanying dish's icefish fried in a roasted-grain coating, the icefish is soaked in a strong standing brine and drained, dusted with…

Grilled spiny lobster with sea urchin / seared fatty tuna / scallop and Brussels sprouts

For the grilled course's Ise lobster with uni, the idea was inspired by coquilles. Fresh-lifted tofu skin is combined with a little ground white…

Fat greenling kuzu-tataki

For the soup course's fat greenling kuzu-tataki, the fat greenling is filleted, boned, and split into two thin fillets so it resembles cherry blossom…

Lemon-cup assortment / vegetables dressed with sansho leaf / oil-cured kuruma shrimp / freshwater gudgeon in sweet glaze / kombu-cured flounder and crab roll / squid grilled with konoko / glossy simmered fava beans

For the appetizer's lemon-cup assortment, this season's delicious ark shell and gaper clam are arranged in a lemon cup, served with a citrus jelly…

Vinegared duck

For the vinegared dish's duck namasu, much like the salt-cured pork common in Okinawa, salt is well rubbed into the duck's fat and flesh; five to six…

Conger eel, Ohara firewood-bundle style

For the okoze yamabuki-ni, the okoze is coated in egg yolk; while it doesn't go as far as a full wax-finish grill, I think it comes out beautifully…

Mountain yam simmered in sweet white sake / kuruma shrimp dumplings

For the simmered course's nagaimo in shirozake (sweet white sake), since Shinshu has many sake breweries, I used the local shirozake to simmer it a…

Grilled Bamboo Shoot Hasami-Yaki / Himekawa Dorayaki

For the grilled bamboo shoot hasami-yaki, I used the leftover himekawa to make dorayaki. I make a dorayaki batter with reduced sugar, flavor it with…

Petal-style clear soup / kuzu-dusted fat greenling

For the clear-soup course's kuzu-dusted ainame, the ainame is filleted into two thin pieces and dyed with food coloring in two spots. Crisping cherry…

Hosta shoots set with soymilk

The urui set with soymilk is made by setting the in-season urui with soymilk, though I think it would also have a nice texture set with fresh yuba…

Clam and Japanese spikenard dressed with nori

For the clam and udo dressed with nori, the clam's gut is removed and the clam is cooked briefly in sake and salt. For the dressing, the firm part of…

Baby octopus and Japanese parsley with sea urchin miso

For the baby octopus and Japanese parsley with uni miso, since this was for display, this time the uni miso was ladled over the top rather than…

Turban shell and rapeseed blossoms with wasabi

For the turban shell and rapeseed blossoms with wasabi, store-bought pickled wasabi is pressed through a sieve, then lightly tossed with a light soy…

Pufferfish milt

For the appetizer, the fugu shirako and dried sea-cucumber ovary are simply seared and set on a warmed stone — but I think that alone makes for a…

Deep-fried crab in a shredded rice-paper batter, river shrimp in a coarse-ground coating, served in a potato basket

For the deep-fried course, the crab kasumi-age is fried using rice paper. For the potato basket, the potato is peeled into a continuous ribbon…

Fat greenling grilled with smartweed miso, basted-grilled surf clam

Whirlpool-cut wild rice stem, cherry-simmered baby octopus

For the simmered course's baby octopus simmered sakura-style: I don't simmer the baby octopus until firm — instead I quickly blanch it and let it…

Clear seafood soup with kaidori clam fish-paste dumpling

For the soup course, I made a clear seafood broth. The turnip has been carved into a cherry blossom shape.