Well, Japanese is may be a little to much but at least it’s Japanese taste and local products! I don’t like fatty meat but I must say that pork belly is always perfect to flavor simple vegetables. It’s very easy to find thin slices of pork belly in Japan, they ressemble a lot bacon slices. They are perfect for cocotte cooking for the bottom layer. Once they are cooked and the fat has melted it is a perfect base for cooking vegetables. It goves an incredible taste. Most of the time I use it mainly as flavoring and don’t eat the meat myself (A. does) but when the fat has completely disappeared and the meat gets crunchy then I don’t mind eating it! I actually find it quite good!!! It’s nice also because it’s perfect any time with seasonal vegetables. This time I cooked capsicums and in the end of the cooking added green beans cut in 3cm bites and finally deglazed in soya sauce. Delicious with plain white rice!
The quick trip to France followed by a weekend in Ohara to recover from the jetlag, enjoy the fresher air in the country, see friends and celebrate Sea day with a swim in a warm and beautiful ocean, it’s time to go to the lab again, stay seated 12h in front of my computer and regret there is no outdoor pool nearby (why on earth would they shutdown the beautiful pool we had on campus just when I arrived????)… Hopefully there are the colorful one-plate full of Japanese tastes with fresh shiso, soya sauce, rice, grilled tuns and raw summer veggies! While everyone here and there will go on holiday, we will keep working and moving: next biz trip already planned and departure in 10 days!
The last recipe from this little stay at my parents’ place. As I was telling you yesterday, my mother is really good at preparing zucchini flowers and she not only prepared tempura she also prepared stuffed zucchini flowers. One way is with cheese and mint (vegetarian; on the right of the picture), the other with only vegetables (100% vegan; on the left of the picture). Both are delicious and worth trying!
For the cheese stuffed recipe you need zucchini flowers, cheese like goat cheese, ricotta cheese or sheep cheese, fresh mint, a bitten egg, salt, pepper that’s all. Mix the cheese with chopped mint the bitten egg (you may need only half of it if you stuff only 4 to 6 flowers. Add salt and pepper to your taste. Wash softly the flowers and stuff them with the preparation, set then in oven dish. Bake until golden.
For the vegetables filled zucchini flowers you need zucchini flowers, a carrot, an onion and a small zucchini. Cut the vegetables in brunoise (small dice), in a heated pan with olive oil, cook the vegetables until golden and dry. Wash the flowers, stuff them with the brunoise. Set in an oven dish and bake until golden. Enjoy hot or atroom temperature.
After the bouillabaisse the second thing I really wanted to eat while in Provence was zucchini flowers. My mother is really good at preparing them. She has several recipes for them and I gonna share three with you. Zucchini flowers are really hard to find in Japan and it’s a pity but it is not impossible and they are really easy to prepare. The first recipe is a Japanese inspired recipe it’s simply zucchini flowers tempura. The flowers are cut delicately into long strips and then dipped into tempura dough before being fried. This simple preparation is perfect for the flowers to enjoy their very subtle texture and taste. They are served here with little green bell peppers from Marseille, something that ressembles a lot the Japanese green bell peppers.
As you may have noticed I am not in Tokyo now but in France after two days in Paris we went south and are now spending a few days in my hometown: Aix en Provence, at my parents’ place. Prunellia and I grew up in a beautiful environment. Prunellia probably didn’t enjoyed it as much as I did but we were very lucky. And now that time has passed I see myself even luckier because we can stills enjoy that. A large family house in the middle of pines and oaks, a pool in the middle of lush greens, a tennis court, friends nearby and always ready for a coffee, and nearby the moutain Sainte Victoire and a little (touristic and posh) city with plenty of history.
The museum hotel the Caumont in Aix city center
There are plenty of things to do in Aix en Provence, starting with walking around the city center, its gothic cathedral, the narrow streets of the old center, the farmers markets, the hotels particuliers or mansions with their typical architecture and the numerous foutains. Then there is Cezanne and all the painters, the atelier and the beautiful landscapes around that inspired them with amazing little hikes (not always possible in summer because of forest fire prevention). Recently a few new museums have opened one in the countryside, in a vineyard: chateau Lacoste, contemporary art outdoor, a must see place. The other one in one of the old mansions in the city and the renovation and exhibition are really nice: hotel de Caumont (don’t misunderstand with a hotel where to spend the night!!!).
That said, being in my hometown means a lot of local products for cooking and traditional recipes prepared both by my mother and I: soupe au pistou, bouillabaisse, fig tarts, flan (pudding), zucchini flowers… Many of the recipes have already been posted in the past because they are real classics and I cook them in Tokyo too, but some are just not possible. I will still share them with you in the next few days.
For this second special guest, we have picked our mother with a very traditional dish in our family: La bouillabaisse, or Bouillante. This typical Provence dish is a grand summer tradition in our family. Our great grand father used to go fishing near La Ciotat every Sunday and bring back the fishes, our great grand mother prepared it, our grand mother fished too and took over to prepare it , and now our mother prepares it too.
No one fishes anymore in our family and what was a fisherman’s hot pot to use all the small fishes and less noble fishes has now turned into a very high end and not so easy to eat/find dish. Of course a lot of restaurants in the south of France serve something they call bouillabaisse but nothing compares with our traditional and familial preparation. Bouillabaisse in our family consists in 3 separate dishes: the fish soup with bread, saffron potatoes and rouille; the fishes cooked in bouillon; the “ramichelle” with rouille. The first thing is to find the proper ingredients and even when living in the south of France it is not that easy! The rock fishes for the soup: wrasses and combers, the white fishes for serving in second: large red mullet, john dory, monk fish.
Soup with the saffron potatoes and bread and rouille
Once that is secured it is rather straightforward to prepare. The fish soup must be a clear bouillon. In our family that’s the way it is made and eaten. We use only fishes (no crab…) and don’t keep any flesh to obtain a brown golden bouillon. It is all hand made, no machine here. Large soft potatoes are sliced roughly and sickly and boiled in saffron water. The rouille is a kind of mayonnaise with saffron, paprika, red pepper and additionally garlic if you like it. The ramichelle are simply vermicelli boiled in the fish soup (not on the pictures because honestly not very photogenic!) eaten with rouille so delicious!
Thanks Mum for this amazing dinner and this familial recipe!
Bouillabaisse family table with croutons, saffron potatoes croutons again, fish soup and rouille
I like corns but I don’t know too many ways to prepare them: butter grilled, boiled, in salad, in soup, with rice… I don’t really like the butter grilled or simply boiled when you have a whole chunck and need to use your fingers. Plus they often come in bundle of 3 or 4 corns, and for two it’s really too much. So basically I don’t buy corn. Last week on top of the big sweet corns they had fresh baby corns at the farmers market. Baby corns are to me a typical ingredient of Asian food in Western countries, together with square bamboo shoot, glutamate slimmy shinny sauce. So I don’t recall having the opportunity of eating fresh baby corns before. They come with the leaves just like the big ones and are very easy to prepare. For the first try I simply grilled them with new potatoes and pork filet. So that they roast in the juice. They were tender crisp with the typical taste and texture of baby corns. Delicious!!
And now I am in Paris reuniting shortly with the Parisian sister before some Provence cooking postings! Have a nice Sunday!
Japanese purists would hang me for that recipe!!! In the edamame gohan I’ve added boiled chick peas, and served this “mame gohan” with blanched green beans, cherry tomatoes and hard boiled egg. A sort of “salade de riz” as we call it in France, (so 70’s tupperware cooking!!!) but with a Japanese touch. Of course for the dressing it’s just a little of soya sauce if the green beans and tomatoes, the sacrilege doesn’t go that far!
Speaking of soya sauce, I’ve been selected as a finalist for a cooking contest organized by the soya sauce association! The finale is on August 20th… Let’s see what I can do. It’s my first cooking contest. I have no idea how it is gonna look like…
There is something that I love in summer in Japan, it’s fresh edamame. A few weeks ago they’ve appeared on the market stands and I’ve already introduced one recipe with eggplants from the shojin cuisine tradition. Of course with just salt they are perfect too. One other way I love them it’s with rice. It’s better to peel them but not an obligation. I prefer to as much as I can. The flavour and texture is better. It melts with the rice. I cook the rice and the edamame separately and only add them a few minutes before serving. I always add a pinch of salt. Here it is served with a katsuobushi-soya sauce omelette and 25year old umeboshi.
