Admittedly, the garnishes are pretty spare, but is this not a sexy plate of dinner? I made a customary stop at Mitsuwa on the way back from a recent trip to the city and picked up hamachi, kampachi, fluke, and yellowfin tuna (bluefin is verboten. Don’t buy it). I got a bunch of other goodies, too, per usual: noodles, sake, condiments like mirin and usukuchi, and these fresh yuzu. I also got shishito peppers, from which I made ugly but wicked tasty tempura for an appetizer to this platter. After, sanuki udon in miso-chicken broth. I wish we lived closer to this store, and yet I’m pretty glad we don’t. Who wouldn’t want this for dinner all the time?
Seafood is definitely one of my big locavore hangups with this region. So much of what we have to eat is as good as it gets anywhere in the world, but strictly local fish isn’t happening. Our freshwater fish is polluted by Midwestern power plants, so we can’t eat too much of it. And the good seafood landed in New England still has to get on a truck to come here. It’s annoying, especially since if one is to eat animals, ocean animals are the healthiest ones to eat. It’s almost enough to make me consider living in Connecticut.