We hosted another Donabe & Japanese cooking class on Saturday, and it was a lot of fun!
All the dishes were made with different kinds of donabe. The theme/ main feature was the donabe smoker, "Ibushi Gin". I was so excited to show our guests how fun, easy, and delicious to make smoked dishes with the donabe.
The donabe pots were ready to go in my small stove area. We got the ingredients for the first course ready. They were the scottish salmon, shrimp, asparagus, and shiitake mushrooms.
Smoke chips (sakura - Japanese cherry blossom wood) were laid on the bottom of the donabe, then we placed the ingredients in three tiers.
After we had the amuse bouche - oil marinated donabe smoked jumbo scallops, the first course was ready. Everyone loved the smoked salmon!
For the meat course, we got the Muscovy duck breast and chicken drummets. We also smoked the eggs and Swiss cheese together.
The simple smoked duck breast was so juicy and tender, and so was the chicken drummettes. While these smoked ingredients tasted gorgeous on their own, we also made two kinds of dipping sauces to go with them. Vernay's Syrah from Northern Rhone made a very nice pairing with the meat.
The rice course was our home-grown orange and butter donabe rice. We also made the miso soup with satoimo, shimeji mushrooms and abura-age.
Here's the menu from the class. The new schedule of May cooking classes will be announced shortly. Please check back on our website sometimes. Happy donabe life.
Theme: “Ibushi Gin” Donabe Smoking
Date: April 24, 2010
Menu
Smoked jumbo scallop, marinated in olive oil
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Smoked salmon, shrimp, asparagus, and shiitake mushrooms,
served with Miso-mustard dipping sauce
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Houji-cha smoked duck breast, chicken drummettes, eggs and Swiss cheese, served with creamy wasabi-scallion sauce
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Home-grown orange and butter donabe rice
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Satoimo (Japanese taro root) and shimeji mushrooms miso soup
Wine Selection
2007 Domaine Georges Vernay, Syrah (Vin de Pays des Collines Rhodaniennes)
