Leon's Fish Dishes

I returned to the magistrate's residence from the market. For now, I'll have the shells put in the garden and make dinner first. It's already evening, so I need to start soon.

I went to ask Richard-sama for permission to use the kitchen.

Roger knocked on Richard-sama's door. I wondered if it was all right to visit so suddenly, but apparently we'd been told that we could come by anytime if we had business with him. In that case, there was no need to hesitate.

"Leon-sama is here."

Richard-sama's attendant opened the door for me, and I sat on the sofa when invited.

"I'm sorry for coming by so suddenly, Richard-sama."

"Don't worry about it. You can come anytime, Leon-kun. What is it?"

"Yes. There are some seafood dishes I'd like to make for dinner. Could I have permission to use the kitchen?"

"You're going to make them, Leon-kun?"

"Yes, but..."

Why was he so surprised?

"Can you cook?"

Oh, right. He didn't know that I could cook, did he? Well, I wasn't skilled enough to say that I was a good cook.

"My family runs a restaurant, so I can cook a little. I'd like to make some seafood dishes. Would it be all right if I used the kitchen?"

"Your cooking, Leon-kun? That sounds exciting. I'll tell Tony-san and the head chef that you're going to use the kitchen. You can go there after a little while."

"Thank you very much."

I killed a little time before heading to the kitchen. A kind-looking, middle-aged man was there. Was he the head chef?

"Leon-sama, my name is Nasser. I'm the head chef."

"I'm Leon. Thank you for letting me use the kitchen."

"It's no trouble. I'm looking forward to your cooking, Leon-sama. If there's anything I can help with, just let me know. These wooden crates contain the things you purchased."

"Thank you, Nasser-san. I don't really know how to prepare seafood, so could I leave that to you?"

"Of course."

Nasser-san smiled warmly as he said that. I was glad he seemed like such a kind person. With his help, preparing the dishes should go smoothly!

First, I checked what I had bought: octopus, Spanish mackerel, horse mackerel, yellowtail, and scallops.

I was going to fry the octopus, Spanish mackerel, and horse mackerel. I wanted to make karaage with the octopus and breaded fried fish with the other two. First, I needed to prepare them.

"Nasser-san, could you prepare the Spanish mackerel and horse mackerel?"

"Certainly. How would you like me to prepare them?"

Hmm... Fried fish had the tail attached and was shaped somewhat like a triangle, right? Was that what they called a three-piece fillet?

"Could you fillet them into three pieces? So that they're thin like this. And please remove the bones, too."

"Certainly."

Nasser-san began preparing the fish with impressive efficiency.

All right, I should get ready too. First, I'll prepare the breaded fish. If I remember correctly, you coat it in flour, egg, and breadcrumbs before frying it. I put flour on a flat plate, cracked eggs into a bowl, and asked Nasser-san for some leftover bread from yesterday. Then I worked hard to turn it into fine crumbs.

It was incredibly difficult without a grater... I did my best with a knife, but the breadcrumbs ended up somewhat coarse.

Well, that should give them a nice texture.

"Leon-sama, I've finished preparing all the fish. What should I do next?"

That was fast! Maybe I'll have him cut up the octopus next.

"Could you cut the octopus into chunks next? Bite-sized pieces, please."

"Certainly. Octopus requires some preliminary preparation, so it will take a little time. Is that all right?"

Octopus needs to be prepared first? I suppose I only knew the octopus sold in supermarkets. That had already been prepared. Actually, was supermarket octopus even raw in the first place?

"Yes, please. Would it be all right if I watched how you prepare it?"

"Of course."

I watched Nasser-san's hands closely, hoping to learn how to prepare it from him.

Nasser-san used a knife to efficiently remove something that looked like the innards, then coated the octopus in salt and kneaded it. After kneading it for a while, a great deal of slime came out, which he washed away with water. Once that was done, he cut the octopus into chunks one after another. He was incredibly efficient. Amazing...

"Is this about the right size?"

"Yes, that's perfect."

"Certainly."

Nasser-san quickly cut up the octopus. I seasoned it with salt. I didn't know whether it would taste good, but since we didn't have soy sauce, it was better than leaving it completely unseasoned. All I had to do now was coat it in flour before frying it. That took care of the octopus.

Next... Wait, breaded fried fish doesn't really have any flavor on its own, does it? Using salt again would be a little bland... Could I make some kind of sauce?

Hmm... The only sauce I could think of making with what was available in this world was tomato sauce, but were tomatoes even in season now? I remembered that vegetables like daikon and napa cabbage had been common in my family during the colder months. We hadn't had tomatoes, had we?

"Nasser-san, are there any tomatoes available at this time of year?"

"Tomatoes? I believe they're no longer in season..."

"I see... Then tomato sauce is out of the question."

"Do you want tomato sauce rather than fresh tomatoes? If so, we can make it."

"Really!?"

"Yes. We preserve dried tomatoes in oil, so I think we can make a delicious tomato sauce with them."

"Then could I ask you to make it?"

"Of course. Leave it to me."

Nasser-san accepted with a smile. What a relief! Now we'd be able to enjoy the fried fish with a delicious sauce.

Ah, but before that, I wanted him to prepare the yellowtail...

"Nasser-san, I'm really sorry, but could you prepare the yellowtail first?"

"Certainly."

Without Nasser-san, it would have taken me an incredibly long time to prepare the fish, and the results would have been clumsy. The food would definitely have tasted several times worse, too. I was truly grateful. I wanted to learn how to prepare fish myself.

I watched Nasser-san closely as he prepared the yellowtail, doing my best to pick up his technique. He noticed how intently I was watching and taught me how to do it as well.

There were also several horse mackerel that I hadn't bought myself, so I tried preparing one of them. The cuts were jagged, I wasted a lot of the fish, and the result was a complete mess.

I needed a lot more practice. I'd use this one for myself.

Since I planned to grill the yellowtail with only salt, I decided to prepare the scallops.

What I wanted to make with the scallops was oven-baked scallops! I loved them when I was in Japan and ate them every time I went to a nearby restaurant.

I'd tried to recreate them at home, so I had a general idea of how to make them. I didn't know how to use the oven here, but I'd leave that to Nasser-san. Thank you so much, Nasser-san.

Oh, right. To use the oven, it had to be heated first, didn't it? I should tell him early.

"Nasser-san, I'd like to use the oven. Could you prepare it?"

"Certainly. It will take a little while before it is ready to use. Is that all right?"

"Yes! That's fine. I'll start preparing things now."

"Then I'll get it ready."

"Thank you."

All right! Now all I had to do was prepare the scallops for baking.

First, I had to separate the scallop meat from the shells. Then I washed the concave shell halves, rinsed the meat with water, and patted it dry. I was pretty sure I was supposed to remove the dark parts of the meat, too.

Then I put the scallop meat back into the shells and seasoned it.

My favorite flavor was garlic, but... Did they have garlic here?

"Nasser-san, do you have any garlic?"

"Garlic? There's some over there, but that's used to mask the smell of beef, you know?"

Was that the only thing it was used for!? Come to think of it, there hadn't been many dishes with garlic in them until now.

"Don't you use it for anything else?"

"No, we don't. In fact, it only began to be used in cooking recently."

"I see. But garlic makes this dish taste better. May I use it?"

"I'll leave it to you, Leon-sama. However, may I watch how you use it?"

"Of course."

Garlic was such a useful seasoning. I hoped Nasser-san would learn how to use it and that garlic-based cooking would become more widespread.

"If you mince garlic like this and add it to your dishes, it makes them much more delicious. You can add it to tomato sauce or stews, too."

"Tomato sauce and stews... I'll try that next time."

"Please do! It goes well with basically any dish, so feel free to use it often."

I minced the garlic and placed it on top of the scallops. Then I sprinkled on some salt and covered them with breadcrumbs.

Done! Now all I had to do was bake them in the oven.

"Nasser-san, is the oven ready yet?"

"Yes. Are you going to bake those in it?"

"That's right."

"Then let me handle it. It would be dangerous otherwise."

Nasser-san placed the scallops on an iron tray and put them in the oven.

"We'll check on them after a little while."

"Please do. In the meantime, I'll finish the other dishes. The yellowtail is going to be grilled with salt. Could you take care of that?"

"You just want me to sprinkle on salt and grill it?"

"Yes. I want to eat something simple, too."

"Certainly."

While Nasser-san grilled the yellowtail, I moved on to the fried food.

I got some oil from Nasser-san, poured it into a pot, and began heating it. It was nice to be able to use so much oil.

Then I prepared everything while waiting for the oil to heat. I coated the octopus in flour, and the horse mackerel and Spanish mackerel in flour, egg, and breadcrumbs.

The oil was hot by the time I finished preparing everything, so I began frying them one after another. I had to be careful not to mess up.

The pleasant sound of food frying filled the kitchen... It was making me hungry.

I finished frying everything. The oven-baked scallops had finished a little while ago, and it seemed the yellowtail was done as well.

It was finished!! I felt like everything had turned out better than I'd expected. Now, if everyone thought it tasted good, it would be perfect.

"Nasser-san, thank you so much for helping me. I definitely couldn't have made everything this well without you."

"I'm a chef, so helping is only natural. I was the one who benefited from seeing so many new dishes, Leon-sama. It was very educational. Thank you. Now, please go to the dining room. The servants and I will carry the food there."

"I understand. Thank you very much."

I thanked Nasser-san and left the dining room. Roger was waiting for me outside, but as soon as he glanced at me, he frowned.

"Leon-sama, you should change your clothes in your room before going to the dining room. They're dirty."

"Are they?"

I looked down at my clothes. They were covered in flour and bread crumbs. He was right—they were dirty.

"You're right. If we don't hurry, it'll be time for dinner, so let's go."

I changed my clothes in my room, then headed to the dining room.