Napa Cabbage Millefeuille with Pork Belly

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On impulse I bought some nice sliced pork belly. I searched for a recipe for what to do with it, and found this most surprising and delicious steamed casserole of pork and cabbage. The secret umami flavor in this dish is provided by umeboshi (pickled plums)! It’s adapted from Katsutoshi Saito of Blue Ribbon Sushi Brooklyn

Mille–feuille (pronunciation: \mēl-ˈfwē, mēl-ˈfœ-ē\) is an interesting word, coming from French, means a thousand leaves. It is usually a dish composed of puff pastry layered with a filling (as salmon or cream). In this case however, cabbage leaves are layered with the sliced pork, mashed umiboshi, and kombu. Then they are arranged edgewise in a heavy pot: the layers look like petals of ruffly flower. Like many casseroles, it is not so beautiful on the plate, but the rich and savory flavor is more than enough compensation…

• 1 pound of pork belly, thinly sliced • ½ napa cabbage, The number of leaves equals the number of pork slices • 1 pack enoki mushrooms roots trimmed off • 5-6 umeboshi mashed to a paste • 2” x 6” long piece dried kombu soaked for ½ hour, sliced into strips equal to number of slices • 2 ounces of sake

Spread umeboshi paste onto thinly sliced pork. Remove the thick ribs of the napa cabbage leaves. Each leaf will then be cut in half. Make layers of cabbage, pork, enoki, kombu, cabbage. Place cabbage / pork layers edge-wise around a heavy bottomed pot. Begin on the outer circumference and work toward the center. Pour in sake. Steam for about 15 minutes at low to medium heat. Serve with black pepper and a little sesame oil.

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