Grilled Matsutake

This is another recipe worked out with my Japanese friend Miho. When I asked her about the principles of Japanese food, she said the most important aspect was the freshness of the ingredients (although various dried items are used mainly for flavour), followed by presentation and the look of the dish, followed by taste, flavour and, but no less important, texture.

This is possibly the simplest of all the recipes, although it has a great deal of sophistication. Naturally you start by