I was having lunch at Tomukun Noodle Bar the other day and ordered their summer rolls. They were great and I thought, these would make great portable picnic fare. A total healthy meal that you can hold in your hand! These rolls are Vietnamese in origin and the ingredients vary but are built usually around lettuce with fresh basil, mint and cilantro, rice noodles, maybe julienned carrots, cucumbers, and sometimes sprouts. Shrimp, roasted pork, chicken or tofu can be used and are added in any combination. You can have a lot of fun in creating your own summer roll! You’ve got everything in one package, your seafood or meat protein, your rice noodle starch, your salad of lettuce, carrots and herbs and with no added fats they’re so light and delicious! We used wild gulf shrimp and believe it or not king crab in ours. We have broken pieces and knuckles of king crab at the market that we sell for a lot less than the legs and they were fantastic in this recipe. You can also add lightly poached squid and/or thinly sliced poached scallops.

When we first decided to give these rolls a try at home I looked at several recipes that looked pretty cut and dry. Looks can be deceiving. We had all these wonderful ingredients laid out before us. Super fresh cilantro and basil, mint right out of the garden, beautiful organic red lettuce, julienned carrots and cukes, rice noodles ready to go, and lovely shrimp and crab. Now just follow the simple directions and time to EAT! Submerge rice paper in hot water for 15 seconds, place ingredients in the center and roll ‘em up.

Lettuce wrap or a salad?

Yeah right! The rice paper stuck to my hands, stuck to the cutting board, holes were exposing the gaping stuffing. Disaster! After about 5 tries I realized that I didn’t know all you need to know to do these things right. My wife had all her photo equipment set up for the big shot. Props, lights, camera all ready to go. I’m getting frustrated, cranky and hungrier by the minute. All these great ingredients and I can’t even figure out how the restaurants make these rolls look so perfect with their transparent skins showing off all the contents. The heck with it!

Now I’m not usually a quitter but it was getting way too late for a work night. Then Lisa had a great idea! Since these rolls are basically a wrapped up salad, why not make lettuce wraps out of them and we’ll use the sweet chili lime dip. Nothing like a little flexibility with good ingredients. We could have thrown everything in a bowl and had a fantastic salad too.

The next day the thought of my failed attempts at summer rolls was really bugging me. How hard can this be? A little less tired and a little more patient I brought out the ingredients from the night before and gave it a go. It didn’t take long before I realized three major mistakes that I had been making. One was that 10 seconds at most was plenty of time to soak the rice sheets. Any longer they get too flimsy. Another was to lay them on a lightly dampened towel to make them a little easier to work with and the biggest mistake was over stuffing them. I made sure I had a good inch of space on either side of ingredients, rolled them tight and made a few more than originally planned.

Just goes to show ya, If plan A doesn’t work try plan B and then maybe C and if at first you don’t succeed – give up (?), but try again! And in the case of these summer rolls, once you get it down, they’re really pretty easy. Serve for light dinners, picnics or appetizers. You’ll love these with Bernie’s Thai peanut sauce or sweet chili lime dip!

Substitute lettuce for the wrap if desired

8 – 9 inch diameter round rice papers

4 oz. rice noodles

16 jumbo wild gulf shrimp (10-15 cnt per lb.) boiled and cut in 1/2 lengthwise

1/4 cup cooked crabmeat (lump, Jonah or king crab)

1/2 cup cucumber cut into 2-inch long matchsticks

1/2 cup carrots cut into 2-inch long matchsticks

16 basil leaves

16 mint leaves

1/2 cup cilantro leaves

8 red lettuce leaves, tear into 5-6 inch lengths

In a large bowl soak rice noodles for 10 min. in hot water, cool in ice bath, drain and set aside

Submerge rice paper sheets, one at a time, in hot water for around 10 seconds (no longer) and place on a clean dampened towel

Arrange 4 shrimp halves colorful sides down lengthwise in center of paper

Spread crabmeat over and between shrimp

Top with some rice noodles, 2 basil leaves, 2 mint leaves, cilantro leaves, carrots and cucumber

Tightly roll lettuce leaf and place on the top

Do not overstuff!

Fold bottom half of paper over ingredients, making sure that the stuffing is tightly stuffed, fold the sides in then tightly roll

Store on a sheet tray covered in saran wrap until ready to serve

Bernie’s Thai Peanut Sauce

1/2 cup peanut butter

3 T soy sauce

3 T rice vinegar

2 T peanut oil

1 T brown sugar

1 clove garlic, minced

1 t ginger

pinch red pepper flakes

Sweet Chili Lime Dip or Dressing

1/4 cup rice vinegar

2 T fish sauce

2T sweet chili sauce

Juice of 2 limes

1 small serrano chili pepper thinly sliced (optional, if you like it HOT) or a light squirt of sriracha sauce

Although the classic preparation for soft shell crab is pan-fried, this is a great variation for summer. Super easy. Just serve with the dipping sauce of your choice or a simple squeeze of lemon.

• Soft Shell Crabs
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Lemon Juice
• Sale & Pepper to Taste

Clean your soft shell crabs or have your fish monger do it for you. (VIDEO)

Heat your grill and make sure it is clean and oiled. Brush the crabs with olive oil, season with salt & pepper and place them on the grill at a 45 degree angle so that the claws and legs are not hanging down below the grate. Grill the crabs for about 4 minutes per side. Remove to a platter and serve with lemon wedges and the dipping sauce of your choice: cocktail, tartar, peanut, etc., all available at Monahan’s.

The amazing story of the love life of Callinectes, Greek for beautiful swimmer, Sapidus, Latin for savory, is a noble and romantic tale…
A male, Jimmy, will approach a female, or Sook after molting, knowing that she is about to peel (molt). While trying to entice her with a sexy dance on the tips of his legs, he sways tall, waving his claws around, even flipping backwards and kicking up sand! If she thinks he’s worthy she’ll sway to and fro and wave her claws around. After displaying the love dance for a bit she’ll decide whether or not to succumb. If she is taken by him she will turn around and back up under his body where they will click claws for a time until things settle down a bit. He then clasps his legs around her, cradling and carrying her, while searching for a safe place for her to molt for up to a week. He stays with her not only to protect her during this very vulnerable time but also to make sure that he is with her at the moment she peels—and it’s time for some lovin’. Gently he flips her over to begin mating followed by another 48 hours or so of cradling and carrying until her shell hardens. What a crab will go through for a little romance!

As you can see there is a very short window of opportunity to harvest soft crabs. Watermen know how to read for coloration or a reddish line on the paddle fins when crabs are getting ready to peel. Stored in holding tanks they must be monitored 24 hours a day until they peel. After which they are taken out of the water where they cease to harden and are shipped off to market. This is why soft shell crabs are such an expensive (although we’re seeing some great prices right now) and wonderful seasonal treat.

If you would like to read the most comprehensive blue crab book ever, check out William W. Warners, Beautiful Swimmers, Watermen, Crabs and the Chesapeake Bay. It’s a classic.

Cooking soft crabs is easy. As far as I’m concerned the best way to prepare them is either pan fried, deep fried, or grilled. We often grill them and here’s a simple recipe. Enjoy!

Grilled Soft Shell Crab

VIDEO: How to Clean a Soft Shell Crab

Cinco de Mayo Celebration in Detroit, MI

Cinco de Mayo falls on Saturday this year and so does the Kentucky derby! How about a refreshing tequila mint julep?  We Americans like any excuse for a good party. The derby is a great American springtime tradition that has been a great party theme for years. The celebration of Cinco de Mayo keeps getting bigger, here, every year! Bars and restaurants all over the country will be pushing the theme, big time, this fifth of may. Now don’t get me wrong, I like an excuse to eat great food and have a couple of drinks as much as the next guy but lets take a moment to appreciate what Cinco de Mayo is all about.

La Battala de Puebla took place on May 5, 1862 when Napoleon III sent in troops during the attempted French colonization of Mexico. Heading towards Mexico City the French troops, at least 6,000 of them, encountered a poorly equipped army of around 4,000 Mexicans in the town of Puebla in the state of Puebla. The Mexicans won the battle against great odds. The bravery, determination and resourcefulness have been a source of national pride, especially in the Puebla region. The growing Mexican and Latino population in the U.S. celebrates the day as a time of pride in their people and their culture. Parades and festivals are held all over the country.

The people of Mexican heritage are very welcoming and hospitable. Celebrate with them if you can (we live not far from Detroit’s Mexican town and we’re heading down there Saturday night!) If you don’t live near any festivities, go to a good Mexican restaurant or have a fiesta with friends in your home. What Cinco de Mayo should really mean to us non-Hispanics is to have a day to commemorate the vibrant, colorful, festive, fun, delicious and rich culture that they’re sharing with us.

See below for links to some Mexican recipes on our site and here’s one for some tasty shrimp quesadillas.

¡Buen Provecho!

Salmon Quesadillas

Red Snapper Veracruz

Monahan’s Baja-Style Fish Tacos

Pico de Gallo

John’s Killer Margaritas

11/2 lb. wild gulf shrimp, 36 – 42 count per lb. peeled and deviened, tails off

2/3 cup olive oil

4 flour tortillas

1/2 cup onions, chopped

2 cloves garlic finely chopped

1 cup grated queso fresco, or jack cheese if not available

1 T chipotle chilies in adobo, finely chopped

1/2 t cumin powder

1/2 t chili powder

1 T honey

1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped

1 lime cut into 4 wedges

1 tomato sliced

1 avocado sliced

1 jalapeño

Combine olive oil, onions, garlic, chipotles, chili and cumin powder and honey

Add shrimp and marinate for 15 to 30 min.

Heat a large heavy pan or iron skillet over med. high heat and when pan is hot add shrimp with the marinade

Stir-fry constantly for about 3-5 min. or until shrimp is just opaque in center of thickest part

Spoon shrimp with some of the sauce from the marinade over a tortilla then

scatter cheese over the top and place another tortilla on top

Heat another large pan (or 2 pans if 4 tortillas won’t fit in 1) over med. heat

Coat pan with a small amount of olive oil and when hot add quesadillas

When nicely browned on bottom, flip and when cheese is melted and bottom is browned, remove to cutting board and slice into 4 triangles

Serve with sliced tomatoes, thin sliced jalapeño and sliced avocado

Top with chopped cilantro

2 lb. manila clams

2 C dashi stock- recipe below

2 C water

1 bunch scallions very thinly sliced and squeezed into tiny rings

1/4 C sake

2-3 T Aka miso (red)

Dashi Stock

2 C water

3” x 3” square kombu (dried kelp)

1/4 C bonito flakes (katsuobushi)

Ingredients available at local Asian stores

Place kombu in cold water in a pot

Over med-low heat slowly bring up to boil

Take out kombu and remove from heat

Add bonito flakes and when they sink to the bottom strain stock

There are many variations of a basic dashi stock. Many involve longer soaking and simmering for more flavor. This miso soup recipe will get a lot of flavor from the clam broth so it’s a little more delicate

To make the soup:

Rinse clams in bowl of cold running water until water is clear

Drain clams in colander

Bring water with sake to boil, add clams, cover and when clams open (about 2-4 min.) take off heat, remove clams with slotted spoon and divide clams evenly in 4 bowls

Strain clam broth into another pot and add dashi stock

Bring up to boil, turn heat to a low simmer and whisk in miso

Pour stock over clams and garnish with scallions

For years I’ve been selling manila clams to my Japanese customers knowing that they would be making miso soup with them. Called Asari in Japan, these clams came to the U.S. in the 1940s along with oyster spat and started to establish themselves in California.

The manila clams we sell are mainly raised in Washington and British Colombia and are the most widely distributed clams in the world. I love these sweet little guys but until now I’ve never attempted to prepare the famous Asari miso soup. We love them so much in the spaghetti con le vongole recipe (Italian style with garlic, white wine and parsley over pasta) or in paella, we never got around to preparing what turned out to be a rich, delicious and healthful clam soup. And what a beautiful dish! Each manila clam has a totally different pattern on it! When covered in the liquid of the stock the patterns and colors are brought out and really shine!

Like the last two fish report recipes and also countless other Japanese dishes, dashi (kombu bonito flake stock) are key ingredients. We used instant dashi granules that worked in those recipes but for this recipe I decided it was time to make my own dashi and really do this recipe justice. It’s really pretty simple and the flavor was great! Kombu (dried kelp seaweed) water and bonito flakes are basically all you need. There are different types of dashi. Some use shitake mushrooms or dried sardines. Aside from soup stock they are used for noodle stocks or simmering stocks. Recipes vary on how long to soak or simmer. This recipe is fast and easy with a light flavor. I knew we would get a lot of flavor and umami from the clams and their juice.

1-1 1/2 lb whole flounder, scaled, gutted and gilled

Grated ginger for garnish

Simmering stock

2 cups dashi stock (we used instant hondashi granules (1 1/2 t for 2 cups water) – you can make fresh with kombu and bonito flakes but for ease and convenience the instant will work well for this recipe

1/3 cup mirin

1/3 cup soy sauce

2 t sugar

2-3 thin slices ginger

Make a slice down the center (along the spine) of flounder on the top, or dark side

Add stock to a shallow pan, large enough to fit the flounder

Bring to boil then turn heat to a low simmer

Add flounder and cover with lid

Simmer for 5 – 7 min or until fish is just opaque to the bone

Serve on a platter, spoon simmering liquid over fish and garnish center of fish with grated ginger

The meat of this flatfish will slide right of the bone. Slowly enjoy, watching for any small bones. When finished with one side, pull the spine out and the bottom half will be pretty much bone free.

Sometimes strange culinary coincidences happen.

Last Saturday night we had a fantastic dining experience with our friend and Webmaster, Wendy Williams (she designed the fish report for us), and her boyfriend Mike, at Kitchen Hanzo Izakaya in West Bloomfield. The I in Izakaya means “to stay” and zakaya comes from sakaya or sake shop.

Back in the olden days, sake shop owners in Japan would put out small snack foods to serve with their sake and eventually these places grew to become casual gathering places to relax, let loose, drink not only sake but beer, shochu (a clear liquor distilled from sweet potatoes, barley, rice or buckwheat), wine and even high end cocktails. The food that is served is mainly inexpensive small dishes that can be shared. The value is great and the offerings represent the best of a cross section of Japanese cuisine. We’ve dined in lots of Japanese restaurants and sushi bars; this was our first experience at an Izakaya. These are the pubs of Japan and are similar to Irish pubs in their friendly community meeting place atmosphere, or Spanish tapas bars for the same reason, plus their often amazing, varied, and delicious food offerings.

We walk into Kitchen Hanzo (located in a strip mall on Haggerty Road of all places) and quickly notice that besides Wendy and Mike everyone is Japanese- (I’m liking this place already)! It’s crowded, colorful and lively and decorated with old sake bottles, what looks like a slot machine is over in the corner. As far as I can tell, all the menu items are in Japanese, which was great ‘cause the dishes that kept coming out were chef’s choice and always a surprise, and so good!

Now back to the culinary coincidences: The first dish that was served was nanbanzuke with the same style marinade that we had just made at home two nights earlier! They used chicken instead of smelt and it was a great start. I didn’t really catch the names of all the other dishes that were served but they included a tasty tofu dish with quail egg; scallions and I think sriracha sauce; cuttlefish with fried garlic and garlic scapes; mackerel with miso paste; octopus and tuna sashimi; fried chicken gizzards and shrimp tempura over, I think, soba noodles (I’ll get the proper names for you in the future).

Watching the chefs working with great skill and efficiency of motion in their small kitchen, I noticed that the pots and pans were quite small and realized that most of what was being prepared was pretty much made to order in small or individual batches. I also noticed that the chef looked very familiar. I knew him from somewhere, probably sold fish to him in some Ann Arbor restaurant years ago. After an evening of gorgeous and tasty dishes, I walked up to the counter. The chef and I looked at each other and he yelled, “Monahan”! It was Yasu. Yasu actually worked for a short time at our market when he first arrived from Japan! We laughed at our both temporarily forgetting about each other (it had been 15 or 20 years). We took photos then thanked him for the delicious adventure.

Why not take a little trip to the Izakaya in your own kitchen? There is lots of great Japanese pub grub that you can prepare at home. Our recipe today is based on a simmered whole flounder dish taken from “Izakaya the Japanese Pub Cookbook” by Mark Robinson. There are many interesting recipes in this book. We tried the simmered flounder Edo style because we get the nicest whole Georges Bank flounder every week and we’re always looking for new ways to prepare them. They are also great fish to share. My wife and I picked away from the same plate and devoured every last morsel!