Blanched Komatsuna in Dashi (小松菜のお浸し, Komatsuna no Ohitashi)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wide pot
• •Fine-mesh strainer lined with a clean cloth
• •Shallow dish for soaking
• •Kitchen tongs or long cooking chopsticks

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the dashi

   Wipe the konbu with a damp cloth, but don't wash it. Put it in 4 cups cold water and bring it up slowly over low heat. Pull the konbu when the water trembles and small bubbles climb the pot, before it boils. Add the katsuobushi, take the pot off the heat, and let the flakes sink for two minutes. Strain through a cloth or fine sieve and don't squeeze, because squeezing presses out the stronger oily taste that clouds a clean stock.

   You need only 1 1/4 cups for this dish. Save the rest for miso soup or a small clear soup.
2. 2

   Season the soaking broth

   Combine 1 1/4 cups dashi, soy sauce, mirin, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a small pan. Warm just until the mirin loses its raw edge, then cool to room temperature. The broth should taste slightly stronger than soup, because the greens will drink it and soften the seasoning.

3. 3

   Blanch the stems

   Bring a wide pot of water to a full boil and salt it lightly. Hold the komatsuna by the leaves and lower only the stems into the water for 30 seconds. The stems are thicker than the leaves, and this head start keeps the bunch from ending with crunchy stems and tired leaves.

4. 4

   Cook the leaves

   Lower the leaves into the same boiling water and cook 20 to 30 seconds more, just until the color turns bright and the stems bend without snapping. Komatsuna is forgiving, but don't boil the life from it. Ohitashi wants a clean green taste, not vegetable sighing in a bowl.

5. 5

   Cool and press

   Lift the komatsuna into cold water at once, swishing gently to stop the cooking and set the color. Gather the stems together, align the bunch, and press from root end to leaf end with both hands. Don't wring it hard. You want excess water gone so the dashi can enter, but the leaves should still look glistening fresh.

6. 6

   Cut and soak

   Trim off the root ends and cut the komatsuna into 2-inch lengths. Lay the pieces in a shallow dish, keeping stems and leaves roughly together, and pour the seasoned dashi over them. Soak at least 15 minutes, or refrigerate up to 1 day. The soaking is the dish: ohitashi means the greens are dipped and steeped, not dressed at the last moment.

7. 7

   Plate quietly

   Lift the komatsuna from the broth and press lightly so it isn't dripping. Arrange in small bundles with a little height, spoon over a teaspoon or two of the dashi, and finish with katsuobushi if you like. Serve cool or at room temperature, beside rice and soup, where a green dish like this does its calm work.

Chef Tips

• •Choose komatsuna with crisp stems, lively green leaves, and no yellowing at the edges. Sourcing first, always. A tired bunch will not become honest because you gave it better dashi.
• •For a meatless table, make the stock with konbu and dried shiitake. Soak one 8g piece of konbu and two dried shiitake in 4 cups cold water overnight, then warm gently and strain. That is honmono in the temple-kitchen line, not a lesser thing.
• •Do not skip the cooling water after blanching. It stops the cooking at the point you chose, which is the only way the stems stay bright and the leaves stay clear-tasting.
• •Press along the length of the greens, from stems toward leaves. Twisting breaks the fibers and muddies the shape, and this dish has so little adornment that the shape matters.
• •Komatsuna no ohitashi is best after 15 minutes and still good the next day. After that the color dulls and the leaves give up their clean edge.

Advance Preparation

• •Make the dashi up to 2 days ahead and keep it refrigerated. Warm only the portion used for the soaking broth, then cool before adding the greens.
• •Blanch, press, cut, and soak the komatsuna up to 1 day ahead. Keep it covered in the seasoned dashi, then lift and plate just before serving.
• •If making the meatless konbu and dried shiitake dashi, start it the night before with a cold soak for a rounder, quieter stock.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 160g)