Mizuna and Mushroom Ohitashi

By Yorinobu Yamasaki, Kai

Serves 2

Dashi Base
1 quart water
2 inch square dried kelp
1 ounce bonito flakes
cheesecloth
1 ½ cup baby mizuna (Japanese mustard greens)

Ohitashi
5 caps shiitake mushrooms, stems removed
5 caps, oyster mushrooms, stems removed
¼ of a small 2 ounce package of enoki mushrooms, remove only base of stems
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon soy sauce
½ teaspoon sake

For the Dashi
Add kelp to 1 quart water in a pot. Just before the water starts to boil, take out the kelp. After the water is boiling, add bonito flakes and remove from heat. Strain dashi with the cheesecloth into another pot. Bring 1 cup of dashi base, salt, soy sauce and sake to a boil.

For the Ohitashi
Blanch baby mizuna with lightly salted water, cool in ice water and drain. Slice shiitake and oyster mushrooms. Then, boil all the mushrooms for 1 minute and drain. Combine mizuna and mushrooms with dashi. Chill for 1 hour in a refrigerator before serving.