30 December 2005

An ode to the yuzu

I have long admired J.'s blog, she of the gastroporn site, Kuidaore. One of her recent posts particularly stuck out, the cookie swap one. I am convinced this woman should produce food this beautiful (and surely as delicious as it looks) for a living, but in the meantime, I will try to learn, humbly, from her site.

I was in Lafayette Gourmet in Paris ten days ago and happened across some fresh yuzu. An ingredient I was vaguely familiar with in Japanese cuisine, I had never handled it myself. So I bought a few and brought them home. There they sat, knobbly and green in my fridge.

I tried to decide what to do with them until I remembered J.'s post. Et voilà! My slightly more rustic version of the beautiful sablés seen on Kuidaore. Still taste good though. Now I have to experiment further with this intriguing citrus fruit, any ideas anyone?...

7 comments:

Joycelyn said...

hi viv, those look utterly gorgeous! yuzu is also terrific in any ponzu-style sauce to go with seafood. i especially love grating the zest over things like salmon or tuna tartare...can't wait to see what else you'll use it for!

Anonymous said...

hi viv, these are not at all 'rustic'. They're be-yoo-tiful!

obachan said...

Great job! Absolutely beautiful looking sablés.
If you like Japanese dishes that use miso, one idea is yuzu-miso. It is good with boiled daikon like this, or good for glazing meat/fish. (But to make this miso,you need to wait until the yuzu turn yellow.)

BTW, I tagged you for the Too Much Information Meme. Thanks for participating! :D

Anonymous said...

Hi Vivlicious, these cookies look beautiful indeed. I miss Yuzu so much, I can't get them here in the UK.

Anonymous said...

try using yuzu in a glaze for poultry. I have had guinea hen in a yuzu glaze/sauce at Blackbird here in chicago and the two flavors work very well together. as in, spectacularly yummy. :-) mmmm... I may have to try those cookies, if i can lay hands on some yuzu somehow.

Vivilicious said...

Hi there Foodnerd!
Thanks for droppin' by my site. Yuzu is indeed delicious and I also use it in a doy dipping sauce for shabu shabu or grilled meats, really lovely and piquant. The guinea hen dish at Blackbird sounds amazing,I'll have to try it next time I am in Chicago.
Can you buy yuzu easily?

Vivilicious said...

J., Thanks for your kind words, you were my inspiration after all!

S., I appreciate your comments as well, given the fab-looking food you turn out.

Obachan, the MEME is done, thanks for letting me play along. And for the great yuzu ideas.

Keiko, I know, too bad you can't find them here in the UK, that's why I was so shocked to see them in Paris and had to get them.