July 2, 2013 Chirashi Donburi at Azuma and Dinner - Sautéed Bratwurst with Spaghetti and Squash with Onion

July 2, 2013 Chirashi Donburi at Azuma and Dinner - Sautéed Bratwurst with Spaghetti and Squash with Onion

I met Robert Mueller for lunch at Azuma and he agreed to order my usual, Chirashi Donburi lunch for $14.95.   Chirashi is a combination of raw seafood (sashimi) served in a box on a bed of sushi rice.  The lunch includes 12 pieces of raw fish, so I order 2 salmon, 2 octopus, 2 super white tuna (escolar), 2 Maguro (bluefin tuna) and 4 yellowtail (probably Japanese amberjack).

The lunch was very special because Anna Su, who owns the restaurant and was a client of mine, was assisting in the sushi section of the restaurant and came over to say hello to us.

I usually cut each piece of fish into five or six small pieces so a 12 bite lunch becomes a 60-70 bite lunch.  I also cut up the pieces of ginger into small pieces and eat each small piece of fish with a small piece of ginger.  This laborious process takes over an hour, but I love it.  It gave us lots of time to have a wide ranging conversation.

After lunch Suzette and I took my new Agnes Sims watercolor to Christine at El Mirador to have it reframed.  Actually we used the old Agnes Sims frame but put on a sheet of conservation glass and new mats.

When Suzette arrived at home she brought two pattypan squashes.  We had two bratwursts that I had bought at Sprouts last Wednesday that need to be cooked.  Suzette did her usual preparation for bratwurst.  She started by boiling them in about 1/3 inch of water for about twenty minutes until they softened and then grilled them with a bit of butter.  I sliced the pattypan squash and ½ of a yellow onion and Suzette arranged those two ingredients in a separate skillet and sautéed them in canola oil and butter and I went to the garden and picked three sprigs of oregano and tossed the oregano on the squash to flavor it and she covered it with a wok cover to steam it and cook it.  The squash became quite crisp in the middle of the skillet, which gave it an especially nice texture.   

Finally Suzette suggested that we add some spaghetti to the bratwurst and sauté it, so while she was discussing a pool problem at the spa, I threw PPI spaghetti into the brat pan and flipped it a couple of times to heat it. 

We already had beers in the fridge, so when she finished her calls, we were ready to eat.  Tonight we mixed ketchup, horseradish, mustard and mayonnaise to make a condiment to dip the brats into.

I was tired and went to bed shortly after dinner.

Bon Appétit