Published at 4th of April 2023 8:47 am

Chapter 310: Grilled Skipjack Tuna Onigiri

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

In addition to making Eleonora-neesan’s lunch box, I proceed to work with Bartolo in order to make our lunch in the kitchen.

「Well then, since we already have the thinly-sliced fish tuna, Bartolo will have to roughly chop that with a knife」

「Ou, leave it to me」

When I said that, Bartolo starts to chop the thinly-sliced tuna with a knife.

Bartolo uses the knife with such delicate knife handling while giving the feeling of being brisk. I guess the constant sounds of *tontonton* prove his familiarity with using a knife. It sounds pleasant to listen to.

I put the sesame seeds in the frying pan and slightly fry them while listening to Bartolo’s melody, then dip the kombu I got from Kagura in water in order to make the soup stock.

After that, I wash the spring onion and cut it into small pieces.

And after the sesame seeds’ flavor has fairly drifted in the air, I pick up the frying pan and put it into a small plate, and then return to cutting the spring onion.

Sure enough, there is a great difference between the sound of my knife and Bartolo’s. I guess there is a difference between the skill of a professional and someone who only dabbles in cooking in the end.

「Boy, I’ve chopped up the tuna. Is this roughness enough?」

While I’m cutting the spring onion, Bartolo seemed to have finished chopping the tuna as he showed them to me.

「Un, it will decrease the fillingness of the meal if you chop them too fine. Can you grate the ginger next?

「Okay」

Bartolo immediately started to grate the ginger when I ask him that.

After that after chopping the spring onion and grating the ginger for our lunch portion, I put the rice in a bowl, then the minced tuna, spring onion, ginger, roast sesame, and also add a bit of salt, and have Bartolo vigorously mixes them all up.

「Nice, niceー. They all mix so well」

「……I’m telling you now, if I mix them then you should also shape them」

「Ah, so I should do it too?」

I was thinking if Bartolo will just shape everything just like this though, guess I will also have to shape them all, huh?

While I was thinking about such a thing, the tuna rice in the bowl has been mixed completely. The grain of rice is crushed in just the right condition.

「Yosh, next will just shape it into onigiri」

After properly washing my hands, I take the tuna rice and place it on the palm of my hand, and start shaping them into onigiri.

Roll it around with my whole palm and continue to apply strength to my palm evenly. After that, put the triangular-shaped onigiri onto the plate.

「You’ll know right away who made the onigiri」

「Hahaha, the sizes of your palm and mine are so different in size」

There are obvious differences in the sizes of the onigiri on the plate. The onigiri I made is extremely small.

Oh well, I have the hand of a seven years old kid, after all, can’t be helped.

Despite taking a little more time in making the onigiri, I carefully shape the rice and make the grilled tuna onigiri.

After doing that for some time, the onigiris are complete and they filled the large plate.

「Yosh, this is enough right」

「……no, I think we need a little more」

「Eh? Do you need that much onigiri for a lunch box?」

There are easily over twenty onigiris on the large plate already. With this much onigiris, it’s going to be enough for Eleonora-neesan’s lunch box to share and our family’s lunch.

「First of, we have to make a lot of onigiri for jouchan’s lunch box. Since they will exchange meals or offer some to others」

「Ah, is that so? She sometimes shares her food with Ema-oneesama and Sheila」

In addition, this is Bartolo’s delicious meal. Setting Ema-oneesama aside, if they hear that it’s a meal made with sea fish, it’s unavoidable that Sheila will want to have some.

「Eh? Even if you pack fifteen of them for the lunch box, it looks like there is going to be quite enough onigiris left, you know?」

「Try looking behind us」

When I looked back after Bartolo told me, I saw Mina’s face peeking out from the door.....

「I see. So there's also the maid’s share, huh」

「Well, I can just make that person share later」

The moment Bartolo said that, Mina’s expression turns into that of someone who received a shock.

The maids always eat their lunch after we are done eating, after all. Inevitably, it’ll be decided that they will have to wait.

「Su, such a thing, two....no, just one is fine for me! Could you please let me eat first?」

Perhaps she wants to eat it immediately, Mina whispers from the door.

「So she said, what to do?」

「……well, it’s fine if it’s just one, right? I mean, she will taste it after us anyway」

Bartolo said while scratching his forehead when I entrusted the decision to him.

I feel like Bartolo is a bit soft on Mina as usual, but we’re going to taste it anyway so it’s just a matter of increasing the person by one.

Bartolo will be the one to increase the amount of onigiri later.

「You’ve heard it」

「Aha! Thank you very much!」

When I turned around and said that to her, Mina entered the kitchen with a beaming face after being wary of her surroundings.

Looking at her surroundings properly before entering, she must’ve been quite used to this.

The moment a person showed such an open expression of joy, will be the moment of them letting their guard down though.

「Boy, the stock soup is good enough now, right?」

「Right. It’s slightly boiled and seasoned」

While Bartolo is preparing the plates, I heat the water where I steeped the kombu1before.

And before they boil, I take out the kombu and lightly season it with mirin2and thin soy sauce.

When I use a small plate to taste it, I could taste the gentle taste of the kombu soup stock, and the mellow taste of the soy sauce.

「Ahー, I can keep on drinking this soup stock」

The delicious stock soup passes my throat quickly like a drink. Good grief, the kombu is doing a great job here.

When the stock soup is done, I pour the stock soup into the bowls Bartolo prepared. Later when you want to eat, you can put it here and eat it.

And when I’m done preparing the soup stock, I see Bartolo and Mina already sitting there on the simple kitchen chairs with drinks lined up and fully prepared.

I raise the bowls with Psychic, sit on the prepared chair, and place the bowls on the table.

「Yosh, shall we try them now?」

「Yes!」

「Ou!」

After I said that, Mina and Bartolo replies with cheerful voices, and reaches out for the tuna grilled onigiri on the large plate.

I picked up the still slightly warm onigiri with my hand and took a bite out of it.

The taste of tuna and the faint flavor of ginger spreads inside my mouth. The compatibility of rice and tuna goes without saying, with the proper amount of salt and ginger gives it a refreshing boost in flavor.

Even when it’s the hot summer, it is relatively easy to eat and delicious.

「I knew it, tuna and rice really go well together」

「Yeah, it also has enough amount of salt」

While the three of us chew on the tuna-grilled onigiri, Mina suddenly opened her mouth as if she comes to her senses.

「Ah! Alfried-sama! Don’t you think this will be delicious if you give it the salty-sweet soy sauce just like the grilled onigiri you made before!?」

「Certainly, I think it will also be delicious if you smear soy sauce on the onigiri’s surface and then grill it」

「Tuna also goes well with soy sauce after all. Shall we also make that then?」

Hearing what I and Mina said, Bartolo stands up from his seat and starts preparing the soy sauce tare3.

Then he continue to smear the soy sauce on the onigiri and started grilling their surface.

Though I think it will be fine to do that after you finish eating this, so I guess he was curious about the taste as a chef.

While Mina and I sniff the fragrant smell of soy sauce, we continue to quietly and quickly eat the salty tuna grilled onigiri.

「Ahー, the smell of burnt soy sauce is so violent. Mou, with this kind of smell drifting in the air, I won’t be able to do my work in the evening....」

「It’s gonna get tough to smell this kind of scent when you’re hungry, doesn’t it」

When such a smell drifts into my room, I would often unable to resist it and end up in the dining room, even if I want to continue to laze around in my room.

Sleeping and being lazy is important, but eating is also important.

And then, as we finished eating a tuna grilled onigiri, Bartolo came over bringing the soy sauce-smeared grilled onigiri.

「Yosh, it’s done!」

「Uwaaaa! That looks so good!」

As Mina tries to reach out for them with a smile on her face, I keep the plate away from her reach.

「Hey? Wasn’t it enough for Mina to have only one?」

「Aaah! Please don’t be mean like that, Alfried-sama. It’s my greatest request!」

Oi oi, will it be okay for you to use your greatest request here?

「Come now, it will be fine isn’t it, boy. I can just make a lot more later, it’s fine」

「Ba, Bartolo-san....!」

Mina has twinkling eyes after hearing Bartolo’s reliable words.

It feels like watching a pet and its owner.

Oh well, whatever. I just want to mess around with Mina a bit, I don’t mean to be mean to her.

And when I quietly place the plate on the table, Mina quickly takes an onigiri as though snatching it from the plate.

「Ahh! It’s hot!」

「Haha, that’s cause I’ve grilled it just now!」

Bartolo laughs seeing Mina suffering from the heat.

「That was dangerous. I was also about to reach out for them, being tempted by the delicious-smelling fragrant」

「Tha, that’s sly of you. I feel like it is always me who has to go through this kind of experience.....」

That should be because Mina is the one who always acts first, isn’t it? It’s not like I’m intentionally doing that.

After blowing the onigiri enough to cool it down, I took a bite of the soy sauce-smeared tuna grilled onigiri.

The surface of the onigiri is crispy due to being grilled, and the insides softly crumble in my mouth. The fragrant taste of the soy sauce perfectly matches the tuna, and the sesame and spring onion also secretly strengthens them.

「Fuwaa.....this one is also tasty. It’s crispy outside」

「Yeah, just like Mina said, it was such an excellent compatibility」

The combination of salt and tuna is great, but the combination with soy sauce is also the proper method.

As we continue to steadily eat the grilled tuna onigiri.

「Oh, we also have stock soup we have to try this too」

「Aaah! You certainly that it will become delicious if you add stock soup to this!」

It was so delicious that we almost finish eating them without trying to eat them with the stock soup.

「Then, I’ll use Ice magic to cool it down a bitー」

「Pleaseー」

Then I use Ice magic on the bowls with soup stock at the center of the table. Instead of using the Ice magic to freeze things, I use the cold air to slowly hit the bowls to lower the temperature.

After that, I use a spoon to get a little taste of the soup.

「Un, they have cooled down enough」

「Thank you very much! It feels nice to have the bowl pleasantly cold like this」

「Your Ice magic is as convenient as usual, boy. It will take some time if we were to use the Ice magic tool to cool them down, and it’s also hard to do the minute adjustment」

Fufufu, that’s the privilege of those who can use Ice magic.

Although, it would be great if everyone can use it in the future.

That said, let’s just eat the grilled tuna onigiri rather than thinking about such a thing.

I drop the half-eaten onigiri into the cooled-down dashi, then I break the onigiri a bit with my spoon.

The onigiri absorbed the cool soup, it completely crumbles despite leaving the crispy outside texture behind.

I scoop that out with the spoon and bring it to my mouth.

The taste of cold kombu soup spreads inside my mouth. And while that happens, the grilled tuna onigiri continues to softly crumble. I can feel the texture of the rice and other ingredients continues to crumble away, however, the taste was softly wrapped up in the kombu soup. Even the savory soy sauce is perfectly harmonized with them all.

「「「…………」」」

Everyone is not saying anything, and only the sounds of people sipping on the soup and moving their spoons resound inside the kitchen. When people eat delicious food, they won’t say anything. This is currently that kind of situation right now.

I too, of course also don’t say obvious words like ‘Delicious!’, I just continue to be absorbed in eating the food.

I quickly sip on the cold soup while enjoying the taste of soy sauce and tuna.

There is no happier meal to have than this in this hot season.

Bartolo and Mina finished eating at the same time, then I finished later than them and put the bowl on the table.

Then, we exhale and say.

「「「......fuuhh,that was delicious」」」

There are no more words to repeatedly say than this. It was the word I said filled with the most emotion today.

「It’s decided then, today’s lunch box and lunch meal will be this」

It’s also not a nice-looking or girly lunch box at all, so let’s trick them with a brand that tells them this is made from sea fish that can’t be found in Koryatt village. Or rather, it is this delicious, I’m sure they won’t complain.

「Yeah, I have to quickly pack it into jouchan’s lunch box. I’m sorry boy, but can you also cool the soup stock in the pot down and then put it into the thermos?」

「Sure. You don’t have much time since you made various things and tasted the food, huh」

Actually, we still have more time, but a lot of time had passed since the three of us tastes the food and then grilled the onigiri with soy sauce while talking.

We won’t make it in time if we don’t prepare and deliver the lunch box fast.

「Ahh, I will also help in packing the lunch box」

While Bartolo and Mina put the grilled tuna onigiri, tuna steak, and vegetables for the garnish into the large box one after another, I put the soup stock into the thermos.

「Now then, I will bring these to Eleonora-sama’s place!」

「Ah, bring this while you’re at it」

「What’s this?」

「They are soup stock, cold fruit juice, and chilled towel. It’s so that the lunch box won’t spoil」

The contents of the lunch box might be spoiled since it’s summer. So you have to make sure to close it tightly in order to maintain the freshness.

「I see! Well then, I’m going!」

「Yeaー」

Mina leaves the kitchen with a basket while Bartolo and I send her off with our eyes.

「……you’s so kind for your jouchan for some reason, eh, boy. It’s usually the other way around normally」

「No, it’s not like that, it’s because the hungry Eleonora-neesan is more ferocious than usual so I have to treat her delicately」

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