Month: January 2017

御年賀 – o nenga

It is a tradition in Japan to exchange small presents at the beginning of the year (these mist be inexpensive presents of about 500yens), and these small presents are usually food. It is of a great variety and most department stores or food shop offer to prepare such items. They must be wrapped and have the proper 御年賀 paper on them. Only paper, no ribbon or other decoration, and eventually the name of the person offering it written (to make it easier to identify from whom it comes from and return the gift).  Yesterday at the yearly shamisen’s concert we have exchanged many 御年賀 and it is always fun and nice to discover what we have received. Classic gifts are rice crackers, dry fish, taukudani (seaweed or small fishes cooked in soya sauce), sweets of all kind… I really love this custom, finding what to offer and opening all our presents and thinking about how to eat them. It’s a good occasion to discover products we don’t usually eat since I don’t usually buy prepared food, and then to learn how to cook them!!!

7 herbs – 七草

Every year in Japan, on January 7th it is a custom to eat 7 herbs rice porridge おかゆ. Since I am not a huge fan of rice porridge I develop a new recipe every year (other recipes). Last year I prepared a 7 herbs rice omelet. This year I prepared it with grilled cod. I cooked some plain white rice. I grilled some fresh Hokkaido cod cut in pieces, and the turnip, then I simply washed the herbs and chopped them roughly and add both the cod and the herbs to the rice. Simple, tasty and delicious! How do you eat your 7 herbs???

Japanese simple dinner

Cooking Japanese is not necessarily difficult and it can be really quick. In winter I love daikon cooked in konbu (kelp) dashi and served with white miso, but this is not a whole meal so I prepared also in the same dashi some warm thick fried tofu served with little raw spinach and for the energy a bowl of rice mixed with 16 types of beans and seeds.

Prepare a konbu dashi with a piece of konbu in 1l of water, bring to boil and keep under cover. Cut 2-3cm high slices of daikon, one pr person is usually good, and cook them in the dashi. Check with a toothpick and remove them when soft.  Serve in a bowl with one tsp of white miso on top. In the dashi still heated, add the thick fried tofu (atsu-age 厚揚げ) and cook for 5min, it washes away the oil from the deep fry. If you cannot find thick deep fried tofu you can warm momen (hard) tofu. When warm serve with baby spinach and a bit of soya sauce or a bit of ponzu sauce, or just a bit of the warm dashi. For the rice, I use a mix of seeds and beans that can be found in any organic supermarket or similar (if you cannot find some leave a comment I can help providing with some). That’s it. Keep warm and have a good weekend!

Speck and shimeji ravioli

When Japan meets Italy and Gentiane is cooking, it gives a new recipe of ravioli. Now well equipped with my new ravioli rack for large pieces I can prepare ravioli with more granulous and rough filling. The first thing I tried back in Japan was speck and shimeji. Shimeji are a very Japanese type of mushrooms with a typical taste, speck brings in a salty-smoky note. I prepare the filling first and always wait until it has cooled down to make the ravioli, otherwise the pasta dough melts with the heat and moisture and the ravioli break. I chopped thinly a bundle of shimeji and a little piece of speck, and cooked them in a heated frypan. Add salt and pepper to your taste. No need to add fat, you want the filling to be rather dry. Once it is well cooked, let cool down. In the mean time I prepared the pasta dough with my classic recipe (100g of flour, 1egg, a pinch of salt, a litlle of olive oil), rolled it. If the air is dry, like in Japan in winter, you can moist it a bit, otherwise by the time you’ve rolled it, it is dry and cracks. Then I made the ravioli. Finally, when diner time has come I boiled them and served with freshly grated parmegiano, olive oil and grilled shimeji.

Souvenirs from Sicily

After one week in the south of Sicily trying local products and visiting historical sites, it was obvious I would not come back to Japan with empty hands.  And with both Christmas and my birthday I was spoiled. Here is a bit of the Sicilian delights and gears I took back with me. Starting from the top right corner and going clockwise. First a new ravioli rack and the wooden roller, for large ravioli this time. I already tried it for the foie gras ravioli and for the ricotta ravioli, amazing! Very easy to use, larger ravioli seems much easier to make than smaller ones! Then a cooking book of Sicilian cuisine: “la cucine Siciliana”. My rusty Italian has gotten much better this year, so reading in Italian would not be a problem. Then some speck, some fresh ricotta salata. A little gnocchi rack to shape my gnocchi instead of using a fork! Sicilian flours for bread and pasta, polenta. A ceramic fruit plate from Caltagirone, I am totally in love with these ceramics, but I had a hard time finding some vintage ones. And in the background a new apron! So, very soon on Tokyo-Paris sisters some recipes using all these! And you, what do you bring back when you travel?

Proudly powered by WordPress | Theme: Baskerville 2 by Anders Noren.

Up ↑

Verified by MonsterInsights