Fruity Warriors

As happens regularly when I bring up an idea, U wasn't too keen when I reminded him that this weekend was Washoku Warriors weekend and we had a meal to cook and photograph so I could get my blurb in to La Fuji Mama by this week.

And, as happens 99 times out of a hundred, despite his initial uncertainty, U ended up a very happy camper - he enjoyed cooking (and this time remembered the difference between a TEAspoon and a TABLEspoon) and LOVED the end result.

We cooked all three of the suggested dishes, unpen-jiru (Temple Garden Chowder), horenso no ohitashi (Spinach Steeped in Broth), and kajiki maguro no yuan yaki (Citrus-and-Soy-Glazed Swordfish).

I hadn't ready the directions fully so we ended up without daikon or carrot for our chowder, but added some spinach to the leek and shitake mushrooms we had bought and were surprised with how well it turned out.



(The most fun part of the cooking process was definitely the chowder, as U had never seen the oddness that is cornstarch and a small amount of water - is it a solid? a gloopy liquid? Good fun)

The spinach didn't end up getting finished quite soon enough to be included in the meal, but I love spinach so I am very excited to have it for my bento at work! I love the smoky flavour and simplicity of this dish.



By far and away the highlight of the meal, however, was the fish. U took one bite and then just about inhaled the rest of the fish right away (later complaining that he wished he had savored it more slowly!) It was delicious. The combination of citrus flavours (I used freshly squeezed grapefruit juice for the marinade and glaze, then yuzu peel for the garnish) with the sweet saltiness and then the meatiness of the swordfish... wow.


We both agreed we'd be making this recipe again - soon! And were thinking about perhaps trying it as a sauce for a stirfry - perhaps combining the swordfish with veggies like broccoli and snowpeas...