Now You Can Eat Mikan in Seattle
Now that it's officially New Year's Eve in Japan, we're missing all the festivities that we usually enjoy when we spend Oshogatsu there. The New Year celebration is an important one for the Japanese, a multi-day affair spent with friends and family.
This is a time of soba noodles for long life, trips to temples, o-sechi ryori, and some relaxation. As it's winter and the houses can be cold, many like to relax at a kotatsu, which is a low coffee table covered by heavy blanket (futon). The best part of the kotatsu: It's heated. Put your legs inside the kotatsu, and it's easy to get lazy and sleepy. We can stay for hours.
Therefore, it's important to have life's necessities on the table, and for us that means the telephone, the television remote control, a beverage, and a bunch of mikans. 'Tis the season of the mikan, which is related to a satsuma. They're easy to peel and generally sweeter than the clementines that are popular in these parts.
We've only eaten them out of hand, but at a recent Japanese Mandarin and Pear Expo ("mandarin" being the adopted name for mikan), we learned that they (and the featured tottori, 20th century pear) are great when used in recipes, too. Chef Dean Shinegawa and Pastry Chef Nikol Nakamura of Tulalip Resort Casino (we've raved about their food in the past) prepared a variety of dishes using the mikan, including:
- Fresh Spinach Salad and Japanese Mandarin "Aoshima"
- Japanese Mandarin "Aoshima"; Braised Wagyu Beef Brisket
- Japanese Mandarin "Aoshima" Creamsickle
The Aoshima mikan comes from Shizuoka, and the big news is that they're now available in the States. We're told that they'll be available in various stores around town, though our only confirmed sighting has been at Uwajimaya. Buy a box, sit back and relax, and enjoy a healthy start to the new year.
