my French-style grilled mahi mahi and zucchini served with fried lotus roots over seasoned sushi rice and kombu dashi...
The Culinary Connection Between France and Japan
There is no bond between the West and the East that is stronger than the bond shared by France and Japan. A mutual respect and appreciation for one another’s culture has been notable since the 1870s and still continues to this day, affecting tradition, culture, and undoubtedly, culinary style. These two diametrically opposed cultures are both shaped by their shared admiration and awareness of food and cuisine, tying them as the world’s top gastronomic leaders. However, rather than being competitors, Japanese and French cuisine are seen as foils, allowing each to prosper independently whilst also influencing one another through shared values. Today, French trained Japanese chefs, Japanese trained French chefs and the increasing number of French-Japanese fusion restaurants make apparent these shared values and reveal to us the bond that France and Japan hold. -- the French club
behind the scene...
"The mahi-mahi or common dolphinfish is a surface-dwelling ray-finned fish found in off-shore temperate, tropical, and subtropical waters worldwide. Also widely called dorado and dolphin, it is one of two members of the family Coryphaenidae, the other being the pompano dolphinfish." -- Wikipedia
"Kombu dashi is Japanese dashi stock made from kelp (kombu seaweed). Kombu contains decent quantities of glutamic acid which is one of the Umami flavors. Dashi made by extracting the umami from Kombu is particularly suitable for simmered dishes such as simmered Kabocha squash and one-pot dish (Nabemono). For extracting the umami, I also add a piece of Kombu to make Sushi Rice too. -- chopstick chronicles