04/19 Dinner: Bamboo shoots and steamed clams

Takenoko no tosa-ni (fresh bamboo shoots simmered in a soy sauce based stock and topped with bonito flakes); kyuuri to mame-moyashi no miso-ae (cucumbers and soybean sprouts with miso dressing); asari to toufu no saka-mushi (clams and tofu steamed in sake).

This light springtime meal took a lot of prep work: the bamboo shoots needed to be slowly boiled with rice bran before cooking, to remove their natural bitterness; the clams needed soaking in salted water to remove the sand; and good dashi (Japanese stock) had to be prepared. Instant dashi is not an option for the delicate flavours these recipes require. But all that fuss paid off, and the clams, tofu and bamboo shoots were delicious.

Comments

[jimbob]

Hi Amy,

So, what kind of clams were they?

[Amy]

You're the ONLY person who would ask that. They're called "asari" and are translated as "Japanese littleneck" or "short-necked clam". This is the season for them here, and if removing the grit wasn't such a hassle I'd eat them all the time.
Hey, wanna come over and make us some linguine vongole?