Zucchni are delicious in soup hot or cold. In summer I prepare a cold soup with mint. For two I just boil a large zucchini with the skin (the skin gives a nicer color to the soup and it is full of nutriments, but only do that if you know your vegetables are grown without chemicals or organic). Then I smash the boiled zucchini with a fork until it looks like a puree (you can blend it too), add chopped fresh mint leaves, salt, pepper and olive oil. For a creamy taste you can add some greek style yogurt or some fromage blancBut I usually don’t. Keep in the fridge before serving with freshly grinded pepper and mint leaves.
Summer is here and so is the zucchini season. In the first few years we were living in Tokyo I found that it was not easy to find nice zucchini in Tokyo but then I realized that if in supermarket you have pretty much always the same little zucchini in local farmers market and in the country it’s much easier to find some delicious ones. It started with our friend living in Niigata prefecture and growing their own delicious zucchini, then in Ohara, and now in Koganei. The day before yesterday at Koganei local farmers market (Friday evening at Higashi Koganei station, but I am not sure if it’s every Friday because I usually leave work after the shops have closed) I found beautiful round zucchini yellow and green. The season is short, so we’re eating zucchini almost every day now! (Too bad they don’t sell small zucchini with the flowers, but rather large zucchini) And when it’s not zucchini it’s green beans, since it’s the right season now in Tokyo and around too.
There are plenty of ways to prepare zucchini and one can never get tired of them. They are nice with rosemary, thyme, basil, mint, curry, roasted, fried, sautéed, stuffed or just steamed. So this week let me introduce a few of my favorite recipes new and classic using zucchini. I hope you like them as much as I do, and if you don’t try s few of my recipes, you may start to like them!
The week-end was supposed to be all rainy so I had in mind to do a lot of cooking but in the end it’s a beautiful sunny day ahead! For breakfast I wanted something new to try, and since I bought nice ham and free range eggs, I’ve been thinking about English muffins. I love English muffins, but until now I’ve only bought processed ones. So it was time to give it a try. When cooking British (scones, crumpets…) the BBC website is always my best resource and I found there a recipe for English muffins. It is incredibly simple and the result is just stunning!
Of course I had to adjust a bit the recipe to my taste and the available ingredients in my cupboard. So I changed the white flour for whole wheat flour, and prepared without the finish with semolina. The recipe is vegetarian: milk-egg-butter are needed. I love the fact that it is baked on a hot plate or in a pan, in summer I like not to have to lit the oven. The preparation is also quite quick because it needs only 1h proving and 30min rest. So basically in 2h you can have your muffins ready. For breakfast I served them with egg and ham, or butter and jam but there are so many ways to serve them! And to complete a fresh fruit salad with seasonal fruits. The perfect start for a Sunday in the garden trimming trees.
Recipe: – 300g of whole wheat flour – 6g of instant yeast – 6g of salt -1 egg – 15g of butter – 15g of brown sugar – 150ml of milk – a little bit of oil In a bowl set the flour, and in the middle the yeast, the sugar, the milk, the egg, the salt and the butter. Knead until soft and smooth. Move the dough in an oiled bowl and leave for prove for 1h. When the dough has doubled volume, of a dusted surface roll-out the dough on a 2cm thick rectangle. with a 8cm to 11cm circle cut-out the muffins and leave for prove an other 30 min. Pre-heat a hot plate or a pan at very low heat and set the muffin, bake until golden (5~7min) and flip on the other side and bake again until golden. It’s ready to eat!
There was again nice fresh flounder for sashimi at the market, so I decided to pick one piece for our weekly big animal proteine source. Indeed, most of the time I only shop meat and fish at our local farmers in Ohara and none in Tokyo, where we eat mainly vegetarian or vegan except for some San Daniele prosciuto or some pancetta and bacon. With such a beautiful filet of flounder I only wanted to have it sauted in a bit of olive oil and served with fresh vegetables sauted too. Just a few new potatoes, green peas, purple asparagus, mini tomatoes seasonned with a few fresh basil leaves chopped. And finished with salt and olive oil. A table!
A few years ago while traveling to Milan I was shopping ｃooking ingredients and gears to bring back to Japan with me to extend my Italian experience. I may be French in Japan, Italian cuisine is, I think, what I love best. Useless to say that I came back with about a full suitcase of pasta, rice, semolina, dry porcini, olive oil and other magic ingredients. So during this Milanese grocery shopping spree I discovered Trofie. This rolled little pasta is just so good that it has been our favorite since then. I haven’t try yet to make my own, but I soon will for sure. In the mean time dry trofie are my favorite pick for a rapid fix, and they suit very well any time of pesto sauce or vegetables based sauce, or just with olive oil and salt and pepper it’s also perfect. I usually use Barilla trofie Liguri http://www.barilla.it/prodotto-barilla/trofie-liguri, and luckily recently trofie can be found in any good grocery stores worldwide, and Japan is no exception!
This time I just cut a small zucchini and half of a yellow sweet pepper that I cook a few minutes in a pan and finish with some delicious olive oil. That’s all it takes to prepare a delicious and colorful plate.
Me practising, a few years ago (picture taken by my uncle Bernard when they visited)
It’s been a long time I wanted to talk about it, but recently work kept me so busy that I felt bad writing about something that I had no time to do. Now that I have little business trips scheduled I can practice again more steadily and talk about it without having the impression that I should be in the dojo rather than writing about it. To make long stories short, I’ve practicing traditional Japanese archery, or kyudo, since I moved to Japan. Kyudo 弓道 that literally means “the way of the bow” is an ancient Japanese practice that as evolved as an art, where performance is less important than the form, and require a perfect balance of body and mind. Obviously this is not an activity to burn your extra energy and your anger from work, for that kendo must be more appropriate! But rather a meditative physical activity where breathing and body inner strength are crucial. The bow is much longer than a classic archery bow, mine is a long bow, so about 2.3m, and the strength adapted to it’s owner own strength. Same for arrows, their size and weight depend on the archer, when I started I had a 8K bow, now I have a 13K.
Target accross the yamichi
There are several things I love about kyudo. I guess the place where to practice is an important choice, and I am lucky enough to practice right in the middle of Ueno park, in the middle of ancestral trees and a quiet oasis in the city (except may be when it is hanami season). Actually, I practice it in a shinto shrine, actually, and it has been a great source of knowledge and understanding of Japanese culture to go so often there. Second it is not strictly speaking an indoor activity which I don’t really like: the dojo is wide open to the “yamichi” 矢道 and it is not heated nor cooled o you can clearly feel the seasons! Though you can practice any time, day or night, rain or sunny: no excuse not to go! I also like this balance you need to have between a clear mind and a strong yet relaxed body and I can clearly see the differences when I’m preoccupied or managed to totally clear out all thoughts that could impede my performance.
As any Japanese practice there are tons of cute goodies you need (OK, may be not really NEED, but that you can have!) like the under gloves in many different colors and patterns, the glove cover, the bow cover etc… And of course, the regular outfit to practice is a hakama 袴 like in kendo, and for ceremonial shooting kimono and similar. There are many places in Japan where to practice and now it’s becoming a popular practice among Japan fan in Europe and America, with dojo in many cities. For more information I recommend to check the International Kyudo Federation web site.
Ceremonial shooting (picture taken by dojo member)
So, last week I told you about these delicious and amazingly simple bagels I made for the first time. And since it was too good I couldn’t believe it was true, remember? I’ve tried the recipe again, with a few variations and yes! they are delicious and it’s really not difficult. So I’m ready to share the recipe now!
For 10 large bagels I use 500g of flour (white, whole…); 200g of water; 20g of sugar; 1 egg; 25g of butter; 25g of sourdough; 5g of yeast; 10g of salt. For the topping 1 egg and seeds you like. In a bowl I set the flour, add the water, sourdough-yeast-salt, sugar, egg and stir well. Then add the butter and mix until the dough is soft and smooth. It takes about 10 to 15min. Then let the dough rest under a wet clothe for 1h. After that time flatten the dough and roll it to obtain a tube. Cut it in 10 equal pieces and let rest under a wet clothe 15min. Make balls with each piece of dough, flour littly the top. Now, let’s form the bagels. With your index, punch a hole in the middle of the ball and roll it around to increase the size of the hole until it reaches about 3cm. Take care to keep the dough uniform all around. Repeat for each ball, and let rest under a clothe for 30min. Prepare a Pan of biling water, boil each bagel on both sides for 1min30, and drain them. Now the topping part can start. With a brush spread the batted egg, then chose the topping of your choice, set in a plate and roll the bagel in. Line the bagels on a cooking plate covered with cooking paper. Bake at 200deg for 15min.
Et voila! Ready to eat in less than 2h and so delicious that eating industrial bagels is not an option anymore!!
One of the plum tree in the garden, covered with plum
Prunellia’s post on her favorite Japanese drink is timely because it is just the season to harvest plums and to prepare umeshu. In our garden we have a lot of plum trees and each year they produce a lot of fruits. Last year for the first time the fruits were harvested and used to prepare umeshu. As Prunellia mentioned, Umeshu is prepared from still green plums and usually with shochu (a white traditional alcoholic drink made of rice, potato, sweet potato…). The recipe used here to prepare the Umeshu uses nihonshu, which is regular Japanese sake or rice wine and gives a milder taste to the preparation. I’ve got the recipe from a lady living nearby. Actually last year she prepared the umeshu with our fruits, but this year I was very much tempted to prepare some myself, so she gave me her recipe and helped me out for my first time.
Umeshu from 2014 harvested plum just ready!
The recipe is really simple, but be aware unlike a lot of alcoholic preparations that are ready in 60 or 90 days (peach wine, verbena liquor… that I used to prepare according to my grand mother recipes), this one takes a whole year (you can try earlier but one year guaranties the best taste/color).
You need Japanese hard plums, rock sugar, sake or shochu, and a large jar (usually plastic or glass) with a tight lid and a big mouth to fit the plums in. First wash the plum and remove the stems, then wash again and dry them properly. Weight the plums that can fit 3/4 of the jar, weight the half amount of rock sugar. Clean and dry perfectly the jar and then pick the plums with a fork a few times around and make layers of plum and rock sugar until the 3/4 has been reached. Cover with the sake or shochu up to 2-3cm higher than the level of fruits and sugar. Close the lid tightly, store in a cool and dark place for almost a year. Once in a while you can shake the jar to help the sugar melt.
Prunellia, I’m counting on you to come next spring or summer to try my homemade umeshu with the plums from the garden!
Thought it is not yet super hot, summer fruits start to appear everywhere in the garden and at the market. Shiny pinkish plums, soft and pink peaches, melons, blue-berries, addictive cherries. Soon to come also the delicious nashi, watermelon etc… So I’m happy because it means fresh and juicy fruits every day that are going to replace the usual kiwi and pineapple! It means new recipes of smoothies and of clafoutis.
Clafoutis are so simple to prepare, and so delicious for breakfast, dessert or snack that I prepare many during the summer. It’s a very simple mixture of any kind of flour, a bit of sugar, eggs and milk or equivalent. Proportion vary depending on the aspect you want the clafouti to have. More milk and egg for a flat custard like type, less if you want it to look like a Brittany’s famous “far”. In a buttered pie-dish set the mixture, and then add the fruits. Finally baked in the oven around 180deg for 20 to 30min depending on the size (if no oven, you can bake in a greased pan under cover at low eat). You can add any type of fruit in that support heat: berries, cherries, plums, peaches, apricots… You can eat warm or cold.
