Spinach with Dashi and Bonito Flakes (Hōrensō no Ohitashi)
Two of our favorite spinach recipes come from Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art, the seminal 1980 work by Shizuo Tsuji. In this one, which Tsuji called “Soused Spinach,” parboiled spinach gets bathed in a stock of dashi, mirin and soy sauce, then chilled, topped with more chilled stock then finished with shaved bonito. Tsuji gave preference to ito-kezuri-katsuo — dried bonito thread-shavings — offering conventional bonito flakes as a suitable substitution.
The same technique, he writes in the headnote, “is successful with any mild green vegetable.” (Asparagus! Broccoli!)
Serves 4.
Ingredients
1 pound baby spinach
Salt
1 1/4 cup Dashi
1 teaspoon mirin
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1/3 cup lightly packed bonito flakes
Instructions
1. To parboil the spinach, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Drop in the spinach, and cook very briefly — just until the leaves turn dark. Drain in a colander and rinse with cold water until the spinach is cool. Drain well, and gently squeeze the water out of the leaves and place it in a bowl.
2. Have a large bowl of ice-water ready. In a medium-small saucepan, bring the dashi to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low to simmer briefly. Stir in a pinch of salt, along with the mirin and soy sauce. Remove from the heat, transfer the liquid to a small metal mixing bowl and force it to cool by swirling the small bowl around in the ice bath. Once it is cool, pour the liquid over the spinach and combine thoroughly. Cover the bowl and chill in the refrigerator for 5 or 6 hours.
3. To serve, divide the spinach equally into four small dishes. Pour some of the liquid remaining in the bowl over each portion, and garnish each with a big pinch of bonito flakes.
Spinach with Dashi and Bonito Flakes (Hōrensō no Ohitashi)
Ingredients
- 1 pound baby spinach
- Salt
- 1 1/4 cup Dashi
- 1 teaspoon mirin
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 1/3 cup lightly packed bonito flakes
Instructions
- To parboil the spinach, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Drop in the spinach, and cook very briefly — just until the leaves turn dark. Drain in a colander and rinse with cold water until the spinach is cool. Drain well, and gently squeeze the water out of the leaves and place it in a bowl.
- Have a large bowl of ice-water ready. In a medium-small saucepan, bring the dashi to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low to simmer briefly. Stir in a pinch of salt, along with the mirin and soy sauce. Remove from the heat, transfer the liquid to a small metal mixing bowl and force it to cool by swirling the small bowl around in the ice bath. Once it is cool, pour the liquid over the spinach and combine thoroughly. Cover the bowl and chill in the refrigerator for 5 or 6 hours.
- To serve, divide the spinach equally into four small dishes. Pour some of the liquid remaining in the bowl over each portion, and garnish each with a big pinch of bonito flakes.
