Every one knows wasabi, this green paste very hot eaten usually with sushi. Actually wasabi is a plant and the green paste is obtained from the stem, peeled and grated. In spring, the leaves of wasabi can be eaten. It’s a delicate vibrant green leaf that is better slightly steamed or boiled and that accomodates very well rice and Japanese dishes.
I cooked it in a vegan version of a Japanese meal, with miso and sesame eggplants, pickled vegetables, rice with cereals and the wasabi leaves just steamed and served with ponzu.
A few years ago we went to visit Hachijojima, an island down south of Tokyo in the Pacific that belongs to Tokyo actually. Besides being a lovely place, famous for their handwoven beautiful fabric used to make kimonos, their is one typical product from there: angelica, or ashitaba (明日葉).
Ashitaba is a green leaf that doesn’t smell much but once cooked as a very typical taste. Something that once you have tried you want to eat again! In France it is use to make sweets (the green slighly discusting sticks Of candied fruit on gateau des rois for example). While we were in Hachijojima we had ashitaba tempura, ashitaba sherbet and a few other variations. Completly enfatuated with this taste I bought a cooking book of ashitaba there, which presents a great variety of recipes, from rice with ashitaba to green smoothies, so not just typically Japanese recipes. They grow some ashitaba in Chiba prefecture, so when spring comes I easily can buy some in Ohara. In Tokyo, department stores and Yoshiike definitely have some. I tried a few recipes from the book at home to get used to processing ashitaba and came out with a few simple recipes on my own now. My super favorite is ashitaba-mashed potatoes. It makes a perfect combination, and it is really a great match with scrambled eggs, grilled pork…
Ashitaba mashed potatoes and scrambled eggs
An other nice combiniation is to use ashitaba as a substitute for basil. With tomatoes and olive oil, perfect to top with some pasta.
Ashitaba tomato sauce
I’m still trying new recipes while the season of ashitaba goes on, so you may from it again!
Making croissants takes much more time than making bread, because every hour during 5 hours there is a manipulation to do. Not a difficult one, but you need to make yourself available. Last Saturday was the perfect day for it: grey, cold, gloomy, and making you wish that Sunday will be a better day and start with a good breakfast. So, I decided to challenge myself with making croissants. using my usual book, I followed the steps.
And made a few croissants for breakfast. The taste was perfect. Really the right balance of butter, sweetness and beautiful golgen crispy outer shell. But the dough didn’t grow enough (probably because the kitchen is too cold), so they remained tiny and a little compact. The cooking time also was not right. It took almost twice the time.
So, there much room for improvement, even if liked them very much. Sunday was sunny and warm, and the breakfast delicious.
If you have a good croissant recipe or hints I’m happy to learn!!!
A quick recipe for a power lunch: buckwheat flour, 2 eggs, some cheese, a few spinach. Mixed altogether and cooked as a thick galette. Prepared in 1 min, cooked in 7 min, perfectly delicious and full of energy for busy afternoon.
As I was telling you earlier, spring means a lot of fresh wild vegetables. After the fukinoto the bamboo shoot is probably the next to be found in Isumi area. In particular, the area close to Ohtaki is particularly great for delicious takenoko (bamboo shoot in Japanese). It’s also a great fun to go and pick them. This variety of bamboo shoot is the large one (8 to 15cm diameter), there exists a small one (1 to 3cm) that arrives later and that is even much more fun to pick.
Freshly cut bamboo shoot
Preparing fresh bamboo shoot is really easy, though a bit time consuming. First of all you need to peel the hard and hairy skin. It peels like a artichoke, so it’s really easy.
Peeled bamboo shoot
Then you need to boil it in something that would remove the bitterness of the wild shoot. In supermarket they often sells nuka (what is used for the pickles) and I was using that until I learn from an old lady at the local farmers cooperative that the first wash of rice was perfectly efficient. Since then I’ve usjng that, and believe me it’s much easier to clean than nuka. You need to boil for 30 to 60min, until soft (you can pick a toothpick easily in). Once cold you can cut and then boil in dashi for 15min. I used katsuo dashi. You can eat now, or add to rice for a “takenoko gohan”. For this I start cooking the rice as usual, then at mid cookjng time I add the bamboo shoot sliced vertically and a little of soya sauce. Delicious to accompany red snapper or bonito.
Takenoko gohan
Ideally you would serve takenokoto with leaves of “ki no me” the leaves of the mountain pepper tree (sansho), mine in the garden is not yet ready…
Finding delicious natural cheese, not industrial in Japan is not easy task. By pure chance, our country house in Ohara is very close to a cheese factory. Yes yes! a cheese factory in Japan! and not in Hokkaido! But, sadly it is impossible to just go there and buy cheese… At least all my trials didn’t success. But, at last, I have found a place where to get some: Na no hana local products shop!!! They have a selection of cheeses from Komagata and so far what I’ve tried was really good. On the picture only the fresh one, because they have a selection of wilder things that are impossible to capture with a camera! Each was a perfect match to my cereal favorite homemade bread! A French girl, even in Japan is still French!!! And if you love cheese there is still means to find some (took me 10 years though!).
And you, what are your plan to find delicious locally made cheese??
I have a beautiful Staub cocotte that I use not often enough. It’s a pity because I love vegetables cooked in the cocotte, when the juice and extracts mix together. So today I decided to use it and prepare a Japanese style pork filet in cocotte with new onions and carrots.
In the cocotte I put a little of sunflower oil, 2 new onions cut roughly, 2 little taro potatoes and one carrot, then I lay a large pork filet on top, salt, pepper, laurel and cooked for 30-40min. (In my case the vegetables were perfect for two, but I served only half of the filet)
Once finished, I opened the cocotte and added a little of soya sauce to dilute the extracts, which gave a dark beautiful and delicious glazing, almost tasting like miso. Served with rice with soya beans and fresh pickled vegetables.
I love vegetable sauté and all the possible combinations.
I tried a new one, with sticks instead of slices. I cut the carrots, sweet potatoe with a mandolin, cook them in a bit of olive oil under cover, then added na-no-hana, and served with scrambled eggs.
Perfect brunch plate for a Saturday!
I love this thick and rich dessert called “flan patissier”, which basically is a milk pudding on a dough. It’s been years I haven’t eaten any, and recently I’ve been thinking about making some. Chance was on my side with a special issue of “cuisine actuelle” on homemade cooking, and a lot of classical French recipes, and the one of the flan patissier!!!
It is really easy to make and a delicious dessert or a perfect breakfast served with fruits.
The dough is a “pate brisee”, so just flour, butter and water. The pudding part is vanila flavoured milk, eggs and sugar like for a regular pudding. And it is baked 45min in an oven at 180.
