はまち．．．ぶり night

We had ぶり, yellowtail fish, prepared two ways for dinner last night. One was たたき　lightly seared yellowtail steak, cut and served in shallot and tomato sauce；the other being yellowtail sashimi on a bed of shredded 大根, Japanese white radish.

Yellowtail fish is called はまち, hamachi, when it is still relatively young...as it gets older its name changes to ぶり, buri. It is really confusing for me, especially when I am shopping in the fish department.

The いんげん, string bean and asparagus crab salad is from Harumi Kurihara's cookbook. I wanted to use real crab meat but that cost 500% what the かまかに, kamakani, imitation stuff did. Moreover the real stuff was sold in unrealistic large portions - there is no way I could finish it in two days.

NOT PICTURED: さつまいも, sweet potato mashed with milk, butter, and pickled plum, was a surprising hit...straight out of the 'breakaway kitchen' book on Japanese fusion cuisine. Japanese egg drop soup was made from Harumi's book too...homemade だし, soup stock is much better than the powdered kind for such a delicate soup.