Inspired by the new talent of Tokyo’s vibrant food scene, Tokyo-based photographer Andrea Fazzari will release Tokyo New Wave next month. This luxe collection is filled with portraits, recipes and profiles on 31 chefs shaping the future of eating out in Tokyo. Here, the predominant focus is a generation of young chefs redefining what it means to be a chef in Tokyo: well-travelled, embracing social media open to the world and its influences, but still distinctly Japanese in style, tradition and terroir.
Salmon & Trout, for instance, is an unconventional Tokyo restaurant. Opened by Kan Morieda and Shion Kakizaki, the restaurant is unequivocally informal, doubling up as a bicycle restoration and repair shop. The restaurant’s name, on the other hand, is taken from the Cockney rhyming slang for “gout”. On the menu, Morieda’s food is a mélange of multicultural influences. The chef’s take on fish and chips features tartar sauce made with the insides of ayu (sweetfish); while a take on Italian Caprese salad also incorporates nectarine and fermented tomato – a Southeast Asian concept. The chef’s nectarine and burrata salad recipe is just one of the delectable, boundary-pushing recipes included in Tokyo New Wave.
“I like to combine ingredients and ideas from different cultures. Of course, burrata is an Italian cheese, but the idea of fermenting tomatoes comes from Southeast Asia. I thought it would give the dish a twist. Tomatoes are a fruit, so the nectarine just added extra sweetness.”
Fermented tomato jelly
10 large tomatoes on the vine, with leaves
2 tablespoons sea salt
2 gelatin sheets
Salad
1⁄4 nectarine
6 cherry tomatoes
4 ounces fresh burrata
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
4 nasturtium leaves
1⁄4 cup purslane
12 grains of salt
1⁄4 teaspoon fresh black soft peppercorns, chopped (3 or 4 peppercorns)
Serves 2
To make the jelly, remove the tomatoes and leaves from the vine. Puree the tomatoes and then put the tomatoes, their leaves, and the sea salt into a ziplock bag, seal and shake to incorporate, and let sit for 3 to 5 days at room temperature to ferment. You will know when it is ready when the bag has puffed up.
Strain the mixture through a filter (such as a coffee filter) overnight to allow the juice to come out. (Do not force through a sieve.) The next morning, throw away the puree (or use for something else) and transfer the juice to a bowl.
Fill a small bowl with cold water, dip the gelatin sheets into the water, and soak for 5 minutes.
Pour 10 percent of the tomato juice into a pot and bring to a boil over medium heat. Turn off the heat. Add the gelatin sheets and mix. Add the rest of the tomato juice and mix well. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
To make the salad, slice the nectarine and cut up the cherry tomatoes and burrata into large bite-size pieces and combine them in a medium serving bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of the fermented tomato jelly and the olive oil to the bowl, and toss until evenly coated.
Garnish and season the salad with the nasturtium, purslane, salt, and peppercorns. Serve right away.
NOTE: This recipe requires three days’ advance preparation. Fresh black peppercorns are sold on the vine or in a jar.
Reprinted from TOKYO NEW WAVE Copyright © 2018 by Andrea Fazzari. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.
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