ANN/THE JAPAN NEWS – Chilled dishes are a refreshing way to beat the heat on hot days. Satoshi Ogino, owner of a Japanese restaurant, has shared his recipe for a summer vegetable aspic – an ideal dish for the season. Its appearance alone is enough to make you feel cooler.
At his restaurant, Ogino serves this dish as an appetiser. “You can savour a variety of ingredients and experience the essence of the season. I prepare the aspic using seasonal produce,” he explained.
The vegetable aspic is crafted by cutting vegetables into bite-sized pieces and soaking them in a dashi broth infused with dissolved gelatin.
Here are some tips to get the best results from his recipe.
The trick is to carefully prepare the vegetables, allowing them to absorb the broth. The grilled eggplant adds a savoury flavour. Boil the edamame, drain in a colander and sprinkle with salt to prevent them from becoming watery.
Add a twist when soaking the vegetables in the broth by seasoning them with light soy sauce and then chilling them. Baby corn, for example, can easily absorb flavours while the vegetable is still hot after being boiled.
Instead of using a special mold, use a small, deep bowl to make the vegetable aspic.
Spread a 30 centimetres (cm) by 30cm piece of plastic wrap in the bowl and place the vegetables, cut into bite-sized pieces, in a well-balanced manner.
“The bottom part of the ingredients in the bowl will be on top when served. Try to visualise how the dish will look when it is finished and arrange it accordingly,” Ogino said.
Arrange the small tomatoes, baby corn and asparagus on the outside, with the edamame filling in the gaps, and the eggplant at the end. Pour in the gelatin-dissolved broth and carefully lift the plastic wrap from its four corners. Seal to prevent air bubbles from entering, wrap with a twist tie, and chill in ice water to set.
Spread sweetened sesame sauce in a bowl, remove the vegetable aspic from the plastic wrap and top with green yuzu zest.
Enjoy the different textures of the vegetables soaked in a rich broth. The aroma of the yuzu is refreshing and the sesame sauce adds umami flavour.
SUMMER VEGETABLE ASPIC
Ingredients (Serves four):
– Two asparagus
– Two green beans
– One eggplant
– Four baby corn cobs
– 50 grammes (g) edamame
– Two small tomatoes
– 300 cubic centimetres (cc) dashi broth
– One teaspoon (tsp) light soy sauce
– 7g sheet gelatin
– 40g white sesame paste
– Green yuzu zest as needed
DIRECTIONS
Peel the lower half of the asparagus with a peeler and divide into four equal parts. Cut green beans in half.Roast the eggplant over high heat until all sides of the skin are charred.
Put the eggplant in ice water, remove the skin, and split in half.
Put the dashi broth, light soy sauce, and one-third tsp salt in a bowl and mix. Chill the bowl in ice water.
Boil water in a pot and add a pinch of salt. Boil the edamame for five minutes, drain in a colander and sprinkle with salt.
In the same pot as the one used for boiling the edamame, boil the asparagus, baby corn and green beans, but not past the point where their texture is lost. Then add them to the chilled broth along with the eggplant and soak for five minutes.
Take out the vegetables, drain any excess broth and cut into bite-sized pieces. Remove the edamame from the pods and remove the thin skin. Chop the small tomatoes into quarters.
Strain the remaining broth and reserve 200cc. Blanch gelatin sheets in water and squeeze. Add the gelatin to the broth and heat until it becomes hot, then remove from heat.
Spread out plastic wrap in a small bowl. Separate the vegetables into four equal portions.
Put one portion into the bowl and add enough strained dashi to fill to the brim. Wrap the vegetables in plastic wrap and tie the wrap with a twist tie. Chill in ice water for 30 minutes. Make the remaining three servings.
Mix the white sesame paste, one tablespoon soy sauce and two teaspoons sugar. Pour a small amount of the mixture into a bowl and place one of the four portions of vegetable aspic on top. Garnish with grated yuzu zest if desired.
MARINATED VEGETABLE DISH
Ogino also taught us how to make another dish using summer vegetables marinated in dashi broth.
Mix 50cc of dashi broth with the juice from half a sudachi Japanese citrus, a few drops of soy sauce and a pinch of wasabi. Mix the dashi broth with an adequate amount of summer vegetables. Serve in a bowl and sprinkle with green yuzu zest.
The aroma and acidity of the sudachi and the spicyness of the wasabi enhance the flavour. – Miho Kibiki
