Mushrooms already…

Though it’s still hot in Tokyo, evenings are getting chillier and mushrooms are proliferating on the market shelves… impossible to resist to the temptation and difficult anyway to shop something else as the summer vegetables are finished and there is little transition between the summer vegetables and the autumn ones. It’s either okra and tomatoes or mushrooms and pumpkins or other orange squashes. So mushrooms are a way to slowly enter the new season.

I love the classic chicken and mushroom takikomi gohan and always tale the opportunity to cook some when I miss Japanese food. It is so simple. And it is good hot or cold, so it makes the perfect content for a lunch box.

But mushrooms are also delicious with pasta! And to try the delicious pine nuts from Pisa I decidedly to make a JapanesexItalian recipe with linguine. And because mushroom only may be boring, I added burdock for it has a little bit the taste of artichokes and makes a rather nice replacement (though it doesn’t have the tenderness). So here is my new recipe!

Linguine for the early autumn (for 2 people as main)

– 120g of dry linguine

– 4 shiitake

– 4 white mushrooms

– 1/2 burdock

– 1 handful of pine nuts

– olive oil

Wash and cut the mushrooms. I like to cut the different types in different shape for a nice texture and taste experience. Peel and cut in small sticks the burdock. In a heated pan with olive oil cook all the vegetables. Add the pine nuts. Boil the pasta as you like them, drain and add in the pan, add a little olive, salt and pepper if you like and stir well before serving. Enjoy!

Food in Tuscany

There is so much to say about it…

Food in Italy is always simple, fresh and great… I love to go shopping on the markets (there are markets pretty much everywhere) and find some local delish, I love to cook the simple fresh vegetables in season. My favorite Italian vegetables are zucchini, with the flower even better), fennel, artichokes, celery, radicchio, ceps and tomatoes. I love also the fresh pasta, the million varieties of cheeses and the prosciutto and the speck… but Italy is also great for herbs and dry fruits: pine nuts, hazelnuts, pistachios depending on the region. Pisa province is a region where pine nuts are produced and I couldn’t help but try them and bring some back to Japan! Recipes using them coming soon!

While in Italy I cooked a few different and very simple meals. I am a big fan of pesto soup and minestrone, so as soon as I can I usually cook one. In particular when the fresh beans are in season. It is really simple: celery, tomato, zucchini, fresh beans is the base, then add whatever: spinach, chard, carrot, onion… cook in salted water, serve with olive oil and grated Parmigiano. Enjoy warm or cold.

Fresh pasta are always good at least so much better than anything you can find elsewhere that there is no need to make tour own!! And stuffed pasta are always my favorite. Ricotta-spinach ravioli is on the top of the list, served with either a tomato sauce or chards and basil simply blanched and then cooked in olive oil with the ravioli. An other quick and delicious recipe!

When I have more time I like to prepare risotto with fresh and seasonal vegetables. Fennels that can hardly be found in Japan make a fresh risotto served with fennel flowers picked during a stroll in the garden. An onion to start with, plenty of olive oil, the perfect risotto rice, a large fennel, vegetable broth, and here is a beautiful risotto after 30 minutes!

Here it is for my selection of simple recipes for a little dinner fix in Italy!

Tuscany

Well… I’m just back to Tokyo after spending one week in Tuscany, one beautiful week.

It was A. 5th trip and my third in the span of 9months and now is time to share a few addresses and places I really loved.

One of my strong requirement during our trips was to have a kitchen, and for all our trips except that one we stayed in Florence downtown in a very nicely furnished and large enough appartement at the Domux home Ricasoli. The location is ideal to visit the city, go shopping at Sant’Ambrogio market, San Lorenzo market as all detailed in post on Florence. It is also close to the station and to the Duomo.

This time we wanted to avoid crowd and heat so we decided to rent a house in the countryside, something a little typical of Tuscany: a farmhouse on top of a hill. The villa I picked: villa Monterosoli (top picture) didn’t disappoint us. Remote location but still less than 1h drive from all good places and my work places, very quiet and a nice view. A pool for the morning swims, and a cat visiting, some vineyards and olive groves around.

Pip, the cat of the house

As for visiting options they are endless. I usually work in Florence and in Pisa, but there are so many options a short drive away to go for a visit for a few hours. From this summer visits I would say that San Gimignano was a great discovery, Siena’s duomo with the full pavement visible this time was amazing, and Lucca a beautiful small and lively town.

Lucca on top of its historical and classic attractions has a nice vibrant downtown with many shopping options, nice cafes, a cinema in the old villa Bottini with a broad movie selection (old and new), a contemporary art biennale which exhibited large paper sculptures in the street. It felt more crowded than the other places we visited.

Lucca contemporary art biennale: paper-art-design
A small bike repair shop in Lucca
San Gimignano from afar
View from San Gimignano’s fortified path

San Gimignano was a really great discovery, the scenic going there, the beautiful towers in the city, the churches with beautiful paintings, the paved streets, the view from the fortified path. Everything there was Tuscany at its top. And curiously it was not crowded!

And of course Siena was as beautiful as it was in February when we first visited. The Duomo this time had the full marble mosaics visible (only from mid-August to mid-September) and that was s great surprise. The modernity in the drawings and the beautiful scenes depicted with only white, ocre and black were really stunning.

And of course there are many other small villages to stop by on the way, to discover, to take a short walk, drink a coffee or a freshly squeezed orange juice (my favorite drink in Italy), such as Palaia, Monteriggioni, Greve in Chianti to only cite a few.

There are also the many farmers markets in the morning to go grocery shopping and discover some of the local products. Talk about that in my next post!!!

Sienna’s duomo pavement colors
Sienna’s duomo sculpture
Walking in Sienna

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

Up ↑

Verified by MonsterInsights