While there are matsuri (festivals) all year long in Japan, summer is when they’re at their peak. Like a local fair, the dates vary from place to place with many festivals celebrated at the city or even neighborhood level.

Themes range from celebrating the harvest to remembering the dead. Bon Odori is a matsuri that’s typically held during Obon (known as the ghost festival in other parts of Asia) where locals come out dressed in yukata (a light cotton kimono) and dance to the beat of a taiko drum.

Whenever there’s a matsuri, there’s bound to be games for the kids. This one is called kingyosukui, which literally means “scoop the goldfish”. As the name implies, the object is to us a fragile paper “net” to scoop up as many goldfish as you can before the net breaks.

But for me, the most important part of a matsuri, is the food. It’s unhealthy, a little trashy, and about as far as possible from the food most people associate with Japan. Here’s a guide to some matsuri favorites both old and new:

Takoyaki – Literally meaning “grilled octopus”, takoyaki is made by pouring a savory batter into a hemispherical iron mold along with a piece of octopus in the center. As the outside of the batter cooks, someone with very fast hands uses a skewer to rotate the takoyaki so it grills up in the shape of a sphere. While the dough is fully set on the outside, the inside is soft and gooey and the whole lot is doused in chunou sauce, a sweet and tangy sauce that’s like a thicker, sweeter Worcestershire sauce. It’s garnished with green nori flakes and shaved smoked bonito before being served with two toothpicks to eat while scorching hot.

Furankufuruto- Japanese style frankfurters skewered on a stick and grilled. If you think hot dogs are mystery meat, these furankufuruto will put any Oscar Meyer to shame. They’re an iridescent shade of orange, and after being grilled, the thin skin crisps up around a moist spongy center that reminds me a bit of matzo balls. After being doused in ketchup, hot sauce or fake cheese sauce, you’ll finish eating it long before you figure out what it is you just ate.

Yakisoba – While it may have soba in the name, this noodle dish doesn’t actually use buckwheat noodles. Instead, yakisoba is made with Chinese style ramen noodles, which are fried on a griddle with vegetables and meat and seasoned with chunou sauce.

Okonomiyaki – Literally means “grilled as you like it” and is often described as a Japanese pizza. As the name implies you can put whatever you want into it, but it usually involves shredded cabbage, other vegetables and meat or seafood, held together with a thin batter. This is all topped with chunou sauce, green nori flakes, a few squirts of mayonnaise, shaved smoked bonito, and red pickled ginger. Some regional variations include a fried egg, or a layer of yakisoba folded between two layers of the pancake.

Oobanyaki – This is a specialty of the Kansai region of Japan but can be found almost anywhere there’s a Matsuri going on. Oobanyaki is made by pouring batter into a round mold, and then filling it with an assortment of meat and vegetables. Sometimes, it’s filled with sweet bean paste, which turns it into a dessert.

Wataame – Lest you think that Japanese people eat weird stuff at festivals, here’s one that’s shared in common with western fairs. Wataame or cotton candy is sold in colorful bags featuring pop culture icons, making them irresistible for kids (and the occasional grownup).

Marc Matsumoto is a food blogger and photographer who spreads his passion for food through his websites norecipes.com and wanderingcook.com. For Marc, food is a life long journey of exploration, discovery and experimentation and he shares his escapades through his blogs in the hopes that he inspires others to find their own culinary adventures. Marc’s been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today, and has made multiple appearances on NPR and the Food Network.

Homemade salsa in summertime is a beautiful thing. It adds the perfect touch to any backyard barbecue and is great to pack up in jars and take on a weekend camping trip (don’t forget the chips!).

Mango salsa has been popular over the past couple years, but I think this grilled peach salsa takes the cake. When you grill peaches, you caramelize the sugars in the fruit, thus giving savory dishes like salsa an unexpected punch.

Now, I’m a huge cilantro fan so the version below is a little cilantro-heavy. If cilantro isn’t your thing, you can reduce the amount or just omit it completely. Like most homemade salsas, this is best the day after you make it, once the flavors have a little time to meld in the fridge.

And the best part? This salsa really goes on anything. Try it on tacos, scrambled eggs, tortilla chips, burritos, enchiladas or even a burger! As I sit typing this I am absolutely salivating at the idea of a juicy burger topped with this sweet and spicy salsa. I think I might have an idea for my dinner tonight!

Grilled Peach Salsa

This grilled peach salsa recipe will top any mango salsa. Food blogger Jenna Weber suggests letting the recipe sit in the fridge overnight to meld the flavors. She shares her ideas in a full post on the Fresh Tastes blog.

Ingredients

• 1 sweet yellow onion, minced
• 1 lb yellow peaches
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
• juice of 1 lime
• 1 large tomato, minced
• 1 bunch cilantro, minced
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• pinch of sea salt to taste

Directions

1. Preheat your grill to medium high heat. Rub a little olive oil over the grates.
2. Slice your peaches down the middle and discard the pit. Once the grill is hot, set peaches (cut-side down) on the grill and close the top. Grill for 8-10 minutes, until peaches are very juicy and have those nice charred lines running across. Remove peaches from the grill and turn off grill.
3. Set grilled peaches aside to cool. Meanwhile, combine the minced sweet onion, jalapeno pepper, tomato, cilantro and garlic in a large bowl. Once peaches are cool enough to handle, chop them up and add them to the bowl.
4. Squeeze a lime over everything, toss well and season with sea salt to taste. This salsa is excellent on anything from chicken tacos to chips to scrambled eggs. It tastes better once it has time to marinate in the fridge for a bit, though, so I suggest letting it sit overnight before serving.

Jenna Weber is half of the Fresh Tastes blog team. She graduated from Le Cordon Bleu in 2008 and, since then, has worked as a pastry chef, bread baker and freelance food editor. Currently, Jenna blogs full-time on EatLiveRun.com where her delicious daily recipes and quirky culinary musings appeal to thousands. She lives in Northern California and, when not in the kitchen, can usually be found on her yoga mat.

Along with orange chicken, green beans with garlic black bean sauce is one of my favorite Chinese American dishes. Next to other battered and fried meat in sticky sweet sauces, there’s something pleasantly refreshing about a savory vegetable dish. Sure, it’s a long way from healthy, but the color and flavor contrast lures me in every time.

If you’ve planted a patch of green beans this year, you may be finding yourself with fully matured beans that are a little too tough to eat by now. But before you let them go to seed, try using them in this dish. The high temperature oil renders even the most mature green beans tender, while preserving their vibrant green color.

To make this dish vegan, you can substitute the pork for crumbled firm tofu that’s been drained for an hour in a sieve, and the chicken stock for vegetable stock.

If you like it spicy, try adding your favorite Asian hot sauce. I used doubanjiang (chili bean paste) because it goes well with the black beans, but sriracha or sambal ulek would work too.

As for the black beans, before you run out and buy a can of beans, I should tell you that the black beans used in this dish are something very different from the black turtle beans used in Latin American cuisine. Also known as douchi (豆豉) in China, these “black beans” are actually soybeans that get their color and distinct flavor from a fermentation process. The pea-sized beans are salty, relatively dry, and have a pungent earthy aroma along with an abundance of savory umami compounds.

You can usually find them sold in small vacuum-sealed bags in most Asian grocery stores, but if you can’t find them you can substitute the more common black bean sauce that comes in jars and is sold in the Asian section of most supermarkets.

Green Beans with Garlic Black Bean Sauce

Enjoy this savory, colorful vegetable dish of green beans with garlic black bean sauce for a delicious Chinese American dinner. Food blogger Marc Matsumoto shares why this dish is one of his favorites in a full post on the Fresh Tastes blog.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup low sodium chicken stock
• 2 teaspoons potato starch
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 9 ounces green beans, ends trimmed off
• Vegetable oil for frying
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 2 large cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2" piece of ginger finely minced
• 3 green onions, white parts minced separately from green parts
• 1 1/2 tablespoons fermented black beans (or 1 tablespoon black bean sauce)
• 3.5 ounces ground pork
• 1 teaspoon doubanjiang (optional)

Directions

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the chicken stock, potato starch, soy sauce and sugar until there are no lumps.
2. Prepare a wire rack with a double layer of paper towels. Add 1/4 “ of oil to a frying pan or wok and heat over medium heat. Making sure the green beans are very dry, carefully add half of them to the frying pan. If they’ve been thoroughly dried, they shouldn’t spatter too much, but they may pop and splash hot oil, so be careful.
3. Use a set of long tongs to turn the beans over. When they’ve turned a vibrant green, transfer the beans to the paper towel lined rack to drain. Once they’ve cooled enough to handle, cut them in into thirds.
4. Drain the oil from the pan and wipe the pan out. Add the sesame oil and heat over high heat. Add the garlic, ginger and the white part of the scallions. Sauté until fragrant, and then add the black beans and continue to fry until the black beans smell toasty. Add the pork and doubanjiang (if you want it spicy), then continue to stir-fry, breaking up the pork until it is fully cooked.
5. When the pork is cooked through, add the chicken stock mixture, stirring until it is thick and bubbly. Finish by adding the green beans and coat them with the sauce. Plate the green beans and garnish with some of the minced scallion greens (you can save the rest for another use). Serve with hot rice.

Yield: 2 servings

Marc Matsumoto is a food blogger and photographer who spreads his passion for food through his websites norecipes.com and wanderingcook.com. For Marc, food is a life long journey of exploration, discovery and experimentation and he shares his escapades through his blogs in the hopes that he inspires others to find their own culinary adventures. Marc’s been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today, and has made multiple appearances on NPR and the Food Network.

I have a problem.

I love the idea of eating fresh apricots, but not so much the reality. The reality is that they are never as juicy as I make them out to be in my head, and not as sweet either. Now I really love dried apricots, though! I could eat those all day. When I was training to become a yoga instructor earlier this year, I practically lived off dried apricots and almonds for snacks during our long days of training.

But back to fresh apricots. They’re everywhere right now! And I so wanted to learn to enjoy them, so what did I do? I made a pie! Lesson number one: if you think you don’t like something, just add sugar.

Seriously though, I used a combination of fresh apricots, dried apricots and dried bing cherries in this crumble-like pie. It’s pretty old fashioned! Something my grandma would make for sure. But absolutely delicious when topped with mile-high pecan oat streusel and a big scoop of creamy vanilla ice cream. I’m a fan.

Use your favorite packaged (or homemade!) pie crust recipe for this. You will only need one crust instead of a double. The topping for the pie is entirely made out of crunchy streusel—my favorite!

It’s meant to be “rustic”, so to say, so don’t expect it to look like a picture perfect apple pie. Rather, serve it in bowls topped with ice cream and maybe even some whipped cream to boot.

Dried Stone Fruit Pie with Pecan Oat Streusel

Make this dried stone fruite pie recipe with a combination of fresh apricots, dried apricots, and dried bing cherries in this crumble-like pie from n a Jenna Weber who shares why she loves this recipe in a full post on the Fresh Tastes blog.

Ingredients

• 1 cup chopped dried apricots (6 oz)
• 1 cup chopped fresh apricots (5 oz)
• 1/2 cup dried cherries
• ¼ cup sugar
• zest of 1 lemon
• 2 tsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 ¼ cup water
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1.5 tbsp cornstarch mixed with ¼ cup cold water
• For streusel topping
• 1 cup old fashioned oats
• ½ cup roasted, salted pecan halves
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 4 tbsp cold butter, cut into small chunks
• Additional Ingredients
• Vanilla ice cream for serving
• 1 prepared pie shell (unbaked)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prick your pie crust all over the bottom with a fork. Set aside.
2. Combine the dried apricots and dried cherries in a medium sized saucepot with 1 ¼ cup water. Bring to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes. Then, add the fresh apricot, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice and salt. Bring the mixture back up to a simmer and slowly drizzle in the cornstarch and cold water mixture. Continue to simmer until very, very thick---about 10 minutes.
3. Remove fruit from the stove and let cool slightly while you prepare the streusel topping.
4. Roughly chop the pecan halves. Place in a large bowl with the oats and brown sugar. Work in the butter using your fingertips until mixture is only slightly clumpy.
5. Place pie crust on a baking sheet then pour fruit into prepared pie crust. Top generously with streusel.
6. Place pie in the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes until both streusel and crust is golden brown.
7. Let cool for 45 minutes then serve with vanilla ice cream.

Yield: 9-inch pie

Jenna Weber is half of the Fresh Tastes blog team. She graduated from Le Cordon Bleu in 2008 and, since then, has worked as a pastry chef, bread baker and freelance food editor. Currently, Jenna blogs full-time on EatLiveRun.com where her delicious daily recipes and quirky culinary musings appeal to thousands. She lives in Northern California and, when not in the kitchen, can usually be found on her yoga mat.

With farmers markets around the country in full swing, a look around your local market will probably reveal all manner of colorful produce that you’d never see in a supermarket.

The long twisting tendrils of garlic scapes are one of the more unusual items that show up around this time and if you happen to see them, get them while you can. The pungent green stalks are the stems of the garlic plant and are best eaten while they’re still young and tender. They’re tamer than the bulbs, and when cooked they become sweet, with a texture similar to asparagus.

Garlic scapes are a delightful addition to stir-fries and pastas, but I love simply boiling them in salted water and having them in a salad. It makes for a unique appetizer or side, but it’s also hearty enough that you could have this as a meal with a slice of crusty bread.

The savory oyster sauce dressing gives the salad a wonderful depth of flavor with a pleasant sweetness and lingering umami. Since the oyster sauce is the star ingredient, try and find one that actually contains oysters as many of the cheaper ones rely on MSG and artificial flavors to mimic the flavor of the tasty bivalves.

Because the scapes tend to be pretty fibrous, they require a bit more cooking time than other vegetables, but for your patience, you’ll be rewarded with tender sweet stalks that are mildly perfumed with garlic.

Garlic Scape Salad with Shrimp

Garlic Scapes are now in season. Take advantage of the sweet and mild stalks with Marc Matsumoto's recipe for garlic scape salad in a full post on the Fresh Tastes blog.

Ingredients

• 5 ounces garlic scapes, tough bottoms trimmed and cut into 2" lengths
• 1/2 head of butter leaf lettuce roughly torn
• 4 ounces shrimp, shelled and cleaned
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds
• 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce
• salt to taste
• cilantro (optional)

Directions

1. Slice the shrimp in half lengthwise. Prepare a medium bowl filled with ice water.
2. In a separate bowl, add the lettuce and fill with cold water. The lettuce will absorb the cold water, making them crisp.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the vegetable oil, oyster sauce, sesame seeds and soy sauce to make the dressing.
4. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil, and then add the garlic scapes. Boil until tender (about 5 minutes). Remove the garlic scapes from the water with a slotted spoon and plunge in the ice water to stop the cooking and set the color.
5. Add the shrimp to the boiling water, and cook until the shrimp has changed color (about 30 seconds to 1 minute). Transfer to the ice water to stop the cooking.
6. Drain the scapes, shrimp and lettuce, pat dry with paper towels (or use a salad spinner) and add to the dressing. Toss to coat, then salt to taste if needed. Plate the salad, garnishing with cilantro.

Yield: 4 servings (as a side)

Marc Matsumoto is a food blogger and photographer who spreads his passion for food through his websites norecipes.com and wanderingcook.com. For Marc, food is a life long journey of exploration, discovery and experimentation and he shares his escapades through his blogs in the hopes that he inspires others to find their own culinary adventures. Marc’s been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today, and has made multiple appearances on NPR and the Food Network.

This past week I’ve been down in artichoke country. Monterey County, to be exact, which is affectionately called “The Salad Bowl of America”. I was down there for a few days learning all about salad, and yesterday drove through miles and miles of pure farmland on my way home. I don’t know about you, but to me there’s nothing more relaxing than driving through the country. It reminds me of home.

I love artichokes and after passing so many little roadside stands with names such as “The Thistle Hut” and “Hot Fried ‘Chokes”, I decided to cook some up at home. If you’ve never grilled artichokes before, you’re in for a real treat.

You always pre-cook the artichokes prior to grilling, and here I boiled mine for twenty minutes first. Then, I just rubbed them with some olive oil and sea salt before placing on the grill. I served these with a spicy lemon aioli and they were just fabulous! The perfect summer side dish, if I do say so myself.

Grilled Artichokes with Spicy Lemon Aioli

Why just grill any old vegetable when you have Jenna Weber's's recipe for grilled artichokes in a full post on the Fresh Tastes blog.

Ingredients

• Artichokes:
• 2 large artichokes
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• sea salt
• 2 lemons
• Aioli:
• ¼ cup mayonnaise
• juice of ½ lemon
• ¼ tsp sriracha sauce
• ¼ tsp minced garlic
• sea salt to taste
• pepper to taste

Directions

1. Trim your artichokes by slicing off the bottom “nub” and slicing each in half. Bring a large pot of water to a boil on the stove. Add the juice of 1 lemon to the water, along with a big pinch of salt. Once boiling, carefully drop in the artichokes. Let simmer for 20 minutes.
2. Preheat grill to medium/high while artichokes are simmering.
3. After 20 minutes, remove artichokes from the boiling water and place on paper towels to drain. Drizzle two tbsp olive oil over each artichoke, followed by another big squeeze of lemon juice and a sprinkle of sea salt.
4. Place artichokes on the grill, cut-side down. Close grill and let cook for about 8-10 minutes, checking occasionally. You want the artichokes to get really nice and charred.
5. While the artichokes are grilling, prepare your aioli. Mix together all ingredients and season to taste. When artichokes are tender and charred, remove from the grill, let cool then serve with the spicy lemon aioli.

Yield: 2 servings

Jenna Weber is half of the Fresh Tastes blog team. She graduated from Le Cordon Bleu in 2008 and, since then, has worked as a pastry chef, bread baker and freelance food editor. Currently, Jenna blogs full-time on EatLiveRun.com where her delicious daily recipes and quirky culinary musings appeal to thousands. She lives in Northern California and, when not in the kitchen, can usually be found on her yoga mat.

If she were still with us today, next month will mark Julia Child’s 100th birthday. She inspired a generation of home cooks and left an indelible mark on America’s culinary heritage. Her tome, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, set out to do what no other American cookbook had done before: to make French cuisine accessible to the masses.

But it’s been over 50 years since Mastering the Art of French Cooking was first published, and times have changed. Amazon’s 1-Click has replaced the Sears mailorder catalog, iTunes has replaced the movie theater, and the few people who still cook make semi-homemade-30-minute-meals.

No, I’m not some crusty old codger lamenting the decline of society due to the Interwebs, but I am a realist, and to today’s “serventless American cook”, Mastering The Art of French Cooking may as well be an instruction manual for a nuclear reactor.

Rather than send you on a scavenger hunt to find all the ingredients for Julia’s four page Bouillabaisse recipe, I’ve decided to give you a framework by which you can construct a seafood stew using ingredients that you can find locally.

It goes by many names: Bouillabaisse(French), Cioppino (American), Aldeirada(Portuguese), Maeuntang(Korean), Caldo de Mariscos(Mexican), Kakavia(Greek), but anywhere there’s an ocean and people who fish it, there’s almost certainly a local seafood stew. In many cases, it’s a dish that was created by fishermen trying to use up the unsold remnants of the day’s catch.

While the ingredients in each dish may vary based on what’s caught locally and to cater to the local palette, the similarities outnumber the differences which just goes to show that humans on opposite sides of the world really aren’t all that different.

I’ve broken down seafood stew into five categories of ingredients that you can use to shop for everything you’ll need to come up with your own version of this global classic.

Aromatics – To use a musical example, the aromatics lay the bass line and the beat. They’re often diced very small and cooked long enough where they almost disappear into the soup, but they’re ever present and lay the foundation for your stew.

Ideas: onions, carrots, celery, green or red bell peppers, chili peppers, fennel, tomatoes, garlic, saffron, parsley, bay leaves, thyme

Liquids – Continuing with the musical example, the liquid is the air that sound travels through, without a liquid bringing everything together your stew is just a jumble of ingredients playing in a vacuum. Because the seafood is so flavorful, you could get away with using water, but why pass up an opportunity to add more flavor.

Ideas: water, wine, chicken stock, fish stock, clam juice, tomato juice

Flavor enhancers – Whether it’s a piano’s sustain pedal, a vocalists vibrato, or post-production “sweetening” , music is full of tricks to make something sound better. In cooking there are ingredients that can be added to increase the level of umami (savoriness) in a dish. One notorious example is MSG. But all MSG is, is a lab-synthesized glutamic acid that makes food taste good. The aromatics and seafood will release a lot of umami compounds into the stew, but there are many foods with high concentrations of flavor enhancing glutamic acids that you can add to make it even better.

Ideas: mushrooms, kelp, caramelized onions

Seafood – Since this is a seafood stew, the seafood is going to carry the melody like the vocals in a song. Just like a great vocalist can carry the tune a cappella, flavorful seafood (such as clams) can carry the stew by itself. But it’s the backup singers and a band that give the song breadth and depth. Your seafood stew is no different, and a different mix of seafood will give you a different stew every time.

Ideas: shellfish (such as clams, scallops, mussels, etc), crustaceans (such as shrimp crab or lobster), fish (such as cod, skate, snapper, etc)

Accents – While some herbs, like saffron, bay leaves, and thyme work better as an aromatic added in at the beginning; most are best thrown in at the end. In musical terms the herbs are the harmonies and added musical flourishes like cymbals and tambourine, they compliment existing melodies, while adding some bright notes of their own. They can also be used as a topping to add a bit of color to the dish as well.

Ideas: parsley, basil, lemon zest, fennel pollen, summac, cilantro, dill, scallions, minari

Secret Ingredient – You’re the music producer at the soundboard mixing tracks. Your job is to make sure all the elements come together smoothly and that no one ingredient is too loud or too soft. Like music, food preferences are largely subjective, so hopefully you learned enough to create your own seafood stew.

• From the aromatics category I used: 1 onion, 1 carrot, 1 celery stalk, 1 green bell pepper, 4 large cloves of garlic all minced in a food processor and sautéed in olive oil until just starting to caramelize. Then 4 sprigs of thyme and 3 chopped medium tomatoes went into the onion mixture after it was sautéed.
• From the liquids category I used: 1 cup of white wine, and 3 cups of water. Add the wine first and boil until it doesn’t smell like alcohol anymore. Then add the water.
• For flavor enhancers I used: 3 tablespoons of caramelized onions and a 5”x3” piece of kombu added in with the liquid.
• For seafood I used: a total of 3 pounds of seafood, which included skate, flounder, manila clams, whole shrimp, and sea scallops. I detached the shrimp heads and threw them into the stock at the beginning to get as much flavor out of them as possible without overcooking the shrimp. If you have whole fish you can also add the fish heads, bones and tails at the beginning. The rest of the seafood went in at the end, but since the fish, was cut into large chunks I gave them a 15-minute head start before adding the clams, shrimp and scallops.
• For the accents I finished the stew with some chopped fresh basil and a lemon wedge for squeezing.

Marc Matsumoto is a food blogger and photographer who spreads his passion for food through his websites norecipes.com and wanderingcook.com. For Marc, food is a life long journey of exploration, discovery and experimentation and he shares his escapades through his blogs in the hopes that he inspires others to find their own culinary adventures. Marc’s been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today, and has made multiple appearances on NPR and the Food Network.

You might have guessed as much by now, but I love shopping according to the seasons. When you buy seasonal produce, you not only save money (who wants to spend $10 on blueberries from Chile?) and support local farmers, but you also prepare the best tasting meals since the ingredients are so fresh. Who doesn’t love that?

If you don’t have a local farmers’ market near you, no problem. You can print this handy dandy list and take it into any supermarket to guide your shopping.

Vegetables in Season Now:

• Radishes
• Arugula
• Cucumber
• Beets
• Bell Peppers
• Carrots
• Zucchini
• Garlic
• Corn
• Rhubarb

Fruits in Season Now:

• Apricots
• Plums
• Cherries
• Blackberries
• Nectarines
• Strawberries
• Peaches
• Tomatoes
• Passion Fruit
• Melon
• Lemon
• Limes

Jenna Weber is half of the Fresh Tastes blog team. She graduated from Le Cordon Bleu in 2008 and, since then, has worked as a pastry chef, bread baker and freelance food editor. Currently, Jenna blogs full-time on EatLiveRun.com where her delicious daily recipes and quirky culinary musings appeal to thousands. She lives in Northern California and, when not in the kitchen, can usually be found on her yoga mat.

Salmon teriyaki along with Beef Teriyaki have long been a staple in American Japanese restaurants, so it may come as a surprise to many that these are not traditional Japanese dishes. Ask for salmon teriyaki at a restaurant in Tokyo, and you’ll probably be met by a blank stare followed by a profuse apology. If you’re lucky, you might find a shop making yellowtail teriyaki, but in general, teriyaki goes with “chikin” like steak goes with beef.

That said being, there’s nothing wrong with food that’s not authentic. The migration of food along with it’s adaptation using local ingredients to suit local tastes has been happening for as long as humans have roamed the Earth. America’s favorite condiment started out as a fermented fish sauce called kê-chiap in southern China. As it travelled to Indonesia, it became a sweet soy sauce called kecap manis, while a journey to the US through Britain created what we now know as ketchup.

While the use of salmon in salmon teriyaki may be new, teriyaki sauce has been around for hundreds of years. Teriyaki is composed of two words: teri means “shiny” and refers to the lacquered appearance of the thick sauce, yaki means “grilled”, referring to the preparation. While many cooks in Japan these days opt to pan-fry their teriyaki, a shiny sauce is a must. That’s why I don’t add any ginger, garlic, scallions, or anything else that would cloud the sauce. It’s thickened by the sugar and soy sauce caramelizing, which lends the sauce a much more complex flavor than the simple list of ingredients would imply.

I like the smoky flavor that grilling imparts, which is why I grill my salmon teriyaki. By starting the salmon off on the grill and finishing it on the stove with the sauce, it ensures your salmon is moist and tender, while absorbing all the great flavors of the sauce.

Salmon Teriyaki

Please your palate with flavors that are smokey and sweet with Marc Matsumoto's recipe for salmon teriyaki in a full post on the Fresh Tastes blog.

Ingredients

• 2 1” thick salmon steaks
• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 4 tablespoons sake
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce

Directions

1. Lay your salmon steaks flat and remove the spine by running a knife along one side of the ribs from the top of the salmon to the bottom. Repeat for the other side, and then discard the bones. Rub all four pieces of the salmon with the oil, then lightly salt.
2. If you are using a grill, get it nice and hot. Grill the steaks until they’ve got some good grill marks and no longer stick to the grill (about 3 minutes), then flip and grill until they are almost done (another 2 minutes).
3. If you are using a broiler, move the oven rack to the top position and preheat it on “broil”. Put a wire rack on a baking sheet and lay the salmon steaks on the rack. Broil on one side until it takes on some color, then flip and broil the second side until the salmon is almost cooked through.
4. To make the sauce, add the sugar, sake and soy sauce to a frying pan large enough to hold all four pieces of salmon. Heat over high heat until the bubbles get very large and the mixture is thick. Add the salmon steaks and coat in the sauce, turning a few times to coat evenly and cook the salmon through.
5. Serve the salmon teriyaki over hot rice drizzled with the remaining sauce.

Yield: 4 servings

Marc Matsumoto is a food blogger and photographer who spreads his passion for food through his websites norecipes.com and wanderingcook.com. For Marc, food is a life long journey of exploration, discovery and experimentation and he shares his escapades through his blogs in the hopes that he inspires others to find their own culinary adventures. Marc’s been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today, and has made multiple appearances on NPR and the Food Network.

I don’t know about you, but I happen to think the perfect accompaniment to green vegetables is bacon.

Yes, bacon.

And not just any bacon! Candied bacon.

Candied bacon is incredibly easy to make and goes so well in this delicious spinach salad with fresh blackberry vinaigrette dressing. Perfect for a 4th of July spread, if I do say so myself!

I have been really into making my own salad dressings lately and have been experimenting with some different and fun ones to mix things up a bit. When I saw plump, sweet blackberries on sale last week at my local market I knew what I wanted to do with them! I blended them with a little white balsamic vinegar (if you can’t find white balsamic, regular balsamic will do!), garlic, mustard and olive oil, and the end result was just lovely: a bright, colorful dressing that burst with flavor!

As for salad toppings, you decide. I loved slivered almonds and more fresh blackberries to go along with my bits of candied bacon, but really any topping will do. Next time I think I’ll try this with grape tomatoes and thin slices of crisp jicama. Yum!

You can prepare the blackberry dressing and the candied bacon the day before you plan to serve this salad. So on picnic day, all you have to do is just assemble and dive in!

P.S. you might want to make double (or triple) the amount of candied bacon. Just sayin’.

Spinach Salad with Candied Bacon and Fresh Blackberry Vinaigrette

Try this spinach salad recipe topped with candied bacon and blackberry vinaigrette for an extremely flavorful starter. Jenna Weber shares this recipe as part of a full post on the Fresh Tastes blog.

Ingredients

• For candied bacon:
• 4 slices bacon, preferably applewood
• 1 cup brown sugar
• For blackberry vinaigrette
• 1 cup fresh blackberries
• ½ cup olive oil
• ¼ cup white balsamic vinegar
• ½ tsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp whole grain Dijon mustard
• pinch of sea salt
• pinch of black pepper
• For salad assembly
• Fresh baby spinach
• Slivered almonds
• Additional fresh blackberries
• Sliced grape tomatoes (optional)

Directions

1. Make salad dressing first. In a blender combine the blackberries, garlic, mustard and white balsamic vinegar. While the motor is running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil. Continue blending until mixture is well combined. Season with sea salt and pepper to taste. This will make about a cup of salad dressing---store in a sealed mason jar or Tupperware container in the fridge for up to a week.
2. To make the candied bacon, preheat your oven to 375. Line a cookie sheet with tin foil and then place a rack on top.
3. Place the brown sugar in a shallow dish or on a plate. Swipe each piece of bacon in the brown sugar, really covering each piece well. Then, place each slice on top of the rack on the cookie sheet.
4. Bake bacon for about 15 minutes, until bacon is crisp, dark and beautiful. Let bacon cool completely.
5. When bacon has cooled, chop up roughly with a knife and set aside. Now you’re ready to prepare your salad!
6. Place the greens in a large serving bowl. Sprinkle candied bacon on top, along with slivered almonds and whatever other salad toppings you like. Drizzle with dressing and toss well. Scatter blackberries over top and serve!

Yield: 4-6 servings with additional dressing left over

Jenna Weber is half of the Fresh Tastes blog team. She graduated from Le Cordon Bleu in 2008 and, since then, has worked as a pastry chef, bread baker and freelance food editor. Currently, Jenna blogs full-time on EatLiveRun.com where her delicious daily recipes and quirky culinary musings appeal to thousands. She lives in Northern California and, when not in the kitchen, can usually be found on her yoga mat.