Simmered Greens with Soy Dashi and Katsuobushi (Ohitashi)

Last week I made the Simmered Greens with Soy Dashi and Katsuobushi (Ohitashi) recipe from J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s The Wok.

The recipe was super easy, and I thought tasted fine, but Megan did not like it. 2 stars ★★☆☆☆

Last week I made the Simmered Greens with Soy Dashi and Katsuobushi (Ohitashi) recipe from J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s The Wok.

This recipe was super easy. Tender greens, Kenji suggests spinach, baby kale, beet greens, watercress, or mizuna, but notes that “any tender greens that are suitable for blanching” work, are blanched for a minute in boiling salted water. I went with baby spinach.

The greens are rinsed under cold water and then squeezed of all of their moisture by twisting in a kitchen towel.

The sauce is a mixture of mirin, sake, soy sauce, and dashi. The greens are tossed in this sauce.

To serve, the greens are arranged in a bowl with the sauce poured around and topped with sesame seeds and katsuobushi.

I thought it was pretty good. The flavors are delicate and the preparation couldn’t be simpler. Megan was not a fan. She didn’t like that it was cold, the texture, or the flavor. So probably won’t make this again!

A photo of the final dish. The spinach sits in a mound in the middle of a bowl with the sauce around it. Sesame seeds are scattered on top and then large flakes of katsuobushi.

I am cooking my way through J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s The Wok cookbook. Read more about it.