Month: December 2020

Lemon squares for my birthday

It’s a kind of rule at home that A. cooks only when I am too sick to cook, which happens every 5-10 years or so, and for my birthday tea-time. I would select a cake and he would make it, usually with a little help of my mother when we are together at this time, or with mine when that’s the only help he can get. My favorite birthday cakes involve usually fruits: apples 🍎 or lemons 🍋. This year our lemon tree gave only one lemon, which we preciously watched growing and yellowing until we could harvest it just for my birthday. A recipe that would use the whole fruit was my target, and I have seen many but never tried lemon squares so I opted for it. Difficulty minimum, preparation quick enough for A. to get through it. The basic idea of the recipe comes from this french website, with a few adjustments made on the spot as we were not satisfied with it. So here is my version of it. For those who have never had lemon squares (like me until yesterday, as it hasn’t really made its way to Japan) or seen any (they are everywhere so I hardly can believe it!!!), they consist on a sweet sable dough topped with a kind on custard made with the whole eggs. So it’s kind of close to a lemon tart but a lot easier to make… maybe it could be called lazy lemon tart.

Lemon squares (9 large squares, 16 medium)

  • 1 lemon
  • 100g of brown sugar
  • 150g+40g of flour
  • 125g of butter at room temperature is easier
  • 2 eggs
  • 40g of icing sugar plus a bit to sprinkle for finishing

First task is to prepare the sable dough. Pre-heat the oven at 180 degrees. In a bowl put 150g of flour, the icing sugar and the butter and knead to obtain an homogeneous mix. It maybe rather sticky. Try making a bowl of it and move to a sheet of cooking paper 30cmx30cm. Gently squeeze flat and lay another similar sheet of cooking paper on top. Roll to a 25x25cm square and set on oven proof receptacle of that size (mine is Pyrex). If you don’t have a square oven dish of that size you can use a rectangle one. The sharper the edges the nicer the cuts will be. Bake in the oven until it starts to slightly become golden. It should take 15-20min.

While the first layer is baking prepare the second one. Take the zest of the lemon, the juice. In a bowl beat the eggs and the sugar, add the lemon zest (keep just a bit for decor )and juice, the 40g of flour and stir well. As soon as the first layer is baked, take out the oven, add the second layer evenly and bake for 18min or so. If you overcook it’s going to be dry, undercooked it will be hard to have clean cuts.

Wait until it has cooled down to move to a cutting board, sprinkle with icing sugar and a few zests, and cut to squares the size you like. Enjoy!!!

Christmas crazy, no more…

The frenzy of Christmas leaves me more and more perplexed and this year, having the opportunity (if one can says so) to spend it at home, just like a normal day off was actually more than welcome. Since we’ve been in Japan, rare are the years we haven’t spent Christmas with our families in Europe. While a family reunion is nice, Christmas is a time I dislike being in Paris, it’s dark, gloomy and cold. We are always suffering from jetlag, waking up at 5:00am when it’s pitch black outside and it will stay so for another 3 hours… better yet when we spend Christmas in the south of France, or even better in Italy. I love so much better the Italian spirit… But jetlag and dark mornings are not the only reason why I dislike so much this period, what I fear the most about Christmas are the long dinner and lunch that go with it, the sudden abundance in food like it were the only day we can eat and we have to eat them all from the appetizers to the mignardises… in magazines, instagram and wherever else… giant turkeys, creamy cakes, chocolate overdosed buches…

This is millions miles away from my conception of good food and good eating. Why shall you wait for Christmas or new year eve for champagne, caviar, foie gras and truffle and presents??? For fine chocolates and treats??? Why on earth would you get them all on one day??? For me, everyday is a cooking feast and every day is worth a present, I love the concept of unbirthday we should have an unchristmas too! I can’t wait 365 days and then just have to take it all in a snap! This is too ridiculous. Maybe also because my birthday is so closed from Christmas. Also, for me, a festive good meal doesn’t need to have fancy ingredients (actually I dislike most of them…), it just needs love in the kitchen and at the table and a few basic products. So the very best part of a European Christmas is undeniably the breakfast, really early, in the kitchen overlooking the garden still in the darkness: pieces of pompe a l’huile or slices of panettone dipped in a cup of hot black tea and tangerines peeled carefully and eaten slowly🍊 is what makes me the happiest. When all is still quiet.

Pompe a l’huile and tangerines

This year, no travel, no jetlag, no dark morning , no family reunion, and no Christmas party with friends, it was just the two of us in our country house. Perfect. I prepared rustic potatoes and smoked ham ravioli for Christmas eve, and pompe a l’huile for the morning breakfast, which wasn’t dark as in Japan the sun sets early, and early enough to catch up with family still on Christmas eve. Luckily Isumi is well stocked in tangerines groves, so it’s really easy to find some good ones… ours from our tree are long eaten! And that was a perfect Christmas.

I wish you all a happy holiday season!

Christmas ravioli, just the usual ravioli filled with smoked ham and potatoes, dressed with onion and shiitake

Koyadofu simmered with winter vegetables

You may remember that in October I introduced a very Japanese ingredient: Koyadofu-高野豆腐 in a post with a very simple recipe of curry. This was just one of the many examples of using koyadofu. Some may definitely claim that it is spongious and tasteless, I wouldn’t argue much, but I could also say that it is packed with proteins and it adds a very interesting texture to many preparations. The recipe I want to present today is a very simple recipe of Koyadofu first slightly fried and then simmered. It is basically a preparation that could be done with hard tofu as well. The vegetables I chose for the recipe are those I had around but you can also change slightly and add greens or vegetables of your choice. I must admit that lotus root and shiitake are really perfect for this preparation: the fresh shiitake are soft and a bit chewy, the renkon is crunchy, and the koyadofu just perfectly spongy, but the prior frying avoids it from sucking all the juice.

So without further delay, let me share this recipe, that is really simple but holds all the best Japanese flavours.

Simmered Koyadofu (serve 2 people as a side of rice)

  • 5cm of lotus root, a bit big
  • 10 cubes of 1~2cm of koyadofu. If you use large blocks of koyadofu 2 should enough
  • 10 little shiitake, or 5 large
  • a 1cm piece of fresh ginger
  • 3tbs of soya sauce
  • 3tbs of cooking sake
  • 1/2 of water
  • some katakuriko 片栗粉 or potato starch
  • a bit of oil for frying

First of all return the koyadofu to a soft texture by bathing it into water for a few minutes. Drain well by squeezing it like a sponge. If you use large blocks cut them in 1~2 cm cubes. Roll them in the katakuriko. In a oiled and heated frypan fry the cubes until white golden.
Peel the lotus root and cut in 5~10mm slices, cut in 2 if the root is really large. Add to the pan and cook in the remaining oil. Wash the shiitake, remove the stem, cut them in 2 or 4 if large. Add to the pan. Grate the ginger, add to the pan, add the soya sauce, the sake and the water and simmer for 10min or until the liquid is almost gone. Serve with a bowl of rice for example.

Kwarezimal… again and perfect!

A few months ago I made Kwarezimal and posted the recipe. Kwarezimal are these Maltese vegan treats usually for easter that we had in Valetta last year when visiting. My first attempt at recreating these delicious sweets was tasty but I wasn’t quite happy. The recipe posted reflected the slight modifications needed to improve it but I haven’t tested it fully: a little overcooked and not enough moist from the honey. Also a slightly too strong taste of almond compared to what I wanted and the other ingredients. As these treats are rather rich and nourishing they are perfect in winter with a hot tea after working outside in the cold in the garden or after playing tennis, or both. So I decided to prepare them when the thermometer hit the 5degrees in the house in the morning. What best than working in the kitchen near the oven while the house warms up. I used the recipe posted earlier this year with a few modifications in the process, the shaping (made a smaller double bite size, faster cooking) and the topping: honey dip + hazelnut + pistachio. And made one slight change in the ingredients amount: double tap of cocoa powder. So here is the new recipe. To be honest it was perfectly delicious. Hard to stop eating them!!!

Kwarezimal (makes 18 double-bite size pieces)

  • 150g of almond powder (or hazelnut powder)
  • 100g of flour
  • 60g of brown sugar
  • 1tsp of orange blossom flower
  • 2tsp of cocoa powder
  • 1tsp of cinnamon
  • 1tsp of clove
  • 1/2tsp of cardamom
  • the zest of half an orange or any other citrus fruit (I used yuzu this time)
  • a bit of water

For the topping:

  • a small handful of pistachios
  • a small handful of hazelnuts
  • 3tbp of fragrant honey

Pre-heat the oven to 180 while mixing all the ingredients (but those for the topping) together. Add a bit of water and knead until you obtain a dense but not sticky dough.

Roll the dough to a 5-7mm thick and cut the double-bite size with a shape or with a knife. Other option is to take small balls and shape them the way you want. A flat surface is better for the topping. Set on cooking paper in the oven for 15minutes.

In the meantime, crush the pistachios and hazelnuts of the topping, and set in the plate. In another plate a bit deep, put the honey. As soon as the Kwarezimal are baked and out of the oven, flip a few of them in the plate with the honey, and leave for a couple of minutes. Then dip the sticky side in the pistachio-hazelnut mix and flip on a dish or back on the cooking paper, repeat with the others and let cool down before enjoying!!

New local cheeses 🧀

On rainy days when we can be outside in the garden, in the ocean or elsewhere there are a few things we like to do. One of them is to look at real estate agencies websites (that’s actually how we found our house), and simultaneously look at google map satellite view and see the properties, the local terrain… and usually find new things around, hiking spots or roads to explore by bicycle. That’s exactly what happened the other day. While we were searching for woods to acquire (without success) we found the cheese factory called Ikagawa that is just 8km away from home on a nice small road, so a perfect short ride by bicycle. Not that Ikagawa farm is new. They’ve been around for at least 10 years. Just we never found out before…

As soon as the weather got better we took out bicycles, went up and down the hills inland and found the place. From the website it seemed tiny, but it looked like the cows were there. They weren’t, they are in the farm 10min ride away, and as it was late and getting dark we didn’t go. We only saw a very friendly dog and a goat. And the tiniest “shop” that is barely a counter. We were nicely welcomed and presented with the cheeses. A few varieties, but the ones I came for were the hard cheeses 🧀. They have two varieties of hard cheese. I got both.

I baked a sourdough bread back home. Oh! Yes! Sourdough… you read well. I cook everything sourdough now and I am very pleased with it. I start to get things well now!!! And breakfast for the next day was all set! Both cheese were delicious and we’ll be back for sure! We are so lucky that Isumi has such delicious cheeses factories and it is really great to see that there are many farms doing different cheeses. If you come around Isumi, I recommend you get a cheese factory tour!!!

Wafu pasta 和風パスタ

If you’ve been following me for a bit you are no stranger to the fact that I LOVE pasta. All kind!!!

Wafu pasta are a common thing on our table, even if for Italian people I reckon this is a terrible thing. But honestly… it is delicious, and since it mainly involves spaghetti or capellini, one could almost consider them as noodles… sorry if I make a big leap here!!!

Wafu pasta to me are a mix of Japanese vegetables, soya sauce, sesame oil, sesame or nori topping etc… this time my recipe is super simple and really tasty: leek, mizuna, sesame oil, sesame seeds and a good doze of soya sauce, with half whole wheat spaghetti. That’s how much simple lunch can be!!

How do you like your wafu pasta???

Lotus root burgers

I often talk of recipes with lotus roots. It’s a Japanese staple easy to find when in season and super very versatile to cook and delicious. I love it in Japanese classic preparations such as stuffed or with vinegar, but also in more western style like on pizza or in quiche… lotus root is reaching the end of the season but there are still a few more weeks to enjoy it luckily!!!

Lotus root in pizza and quiche

In Japanese supermarkets, you pack your shopping goods after the cashier on dedicated tables that have small bags, tapes and usually a few advertisements for local things or recipe cards. I like to look at these recipe cards, they sometimes remind me of a recipe long forgotten, an ingredient cooked last too long ago or just an idea for a new recipe. That’s how the lotus root burgers came to my mind. The recipe is rather simple and very tasty, it is made with chicken meat but it can easily be replaced by hard tofu for a vegan version. So let me share it with you.

Lotus root burgers (2 servings)

  • 10-15cm of lotus root, about 4-5cm diameter
  • 100g of ground chicken breast or drained hard tofu
  • 2tbs of miso
  • 50g of panko
  • 1 egg
  • A bit if oil for frying

In a bowl mix the meat or the tofu, the miso, the panko, the egg. Stir well.

Peel the lotus root and cut 12 regular slices of 4-6mm. Chop the rest of the lotus root and add to the mix.

Pick one slice in your hand. With a spoon cover with the mix to obtain about a 10mm layer, sandwich with another slice.

In a non sticky pan slightly greased with oil, fry the 6 burgers in both sides. Serve with rice, and add the juice of a yuzu for an even tastier experience. Et voilà!!!

Little forest’s walnut rice

It is rare enough for me to talk about what I read (except cook books) or watch here, but once in a while I stumble on something that I find inspiring (cooking wise I mean).

Every evening while we enjoy a simple meal we watch a movie (or more often half of one, as we just collapse on the sofa, exhausted of our day). Finding a good movie that matches our mood is not always easy and after a bad match with an American movie two days ago, and a British movie the day before, we opted for a Japanese movie. While I was cooking dinner, A. told me let’s watch “little forest”, I said “yes, why not” without any clue about what it would be about. I trusted his judgment. So we sat with a hot plate of potatoes and cabbage, flavored with thyme and bacon and got on a trip in time with the movie: summer in the Japanese countryside. The sounds, the color… but what caught my attention was in the opening title credits a mention to “food presentation”. Then I understood that this will not be just a movie… and it is not at al, no plot, no story. It is organized around a few seasonal recipes (there are two movies: summer/autumn and winter/spring) based on local products mostly from the garden or foraged in the nearby woods. Amazake, gumi jam, simmered wild vegetables, kuri no shibukawa ni (I was mentioning in my previous post)… and this recipe of 胡桃ご飯 kurumi gohan walnut rice. When I heard the word I wasn’t sure I got it right, but I did indeed. And the recipe seemed really lovely so I had to try it! Of course I didn’t go to Iwate countryside (where the movie was shot) to forage walnuts, the season has past anyway, but I just wanted to give it a try as it is something I had never heard about, so I used the walnuts I had.

Walnut rice 胡桃ご飯

  • 1 go of Japanese rice (I always use Isumi grown Koshihikari)
  • 1 large handful of shelled walnuts
  • 3tbs of soya sauce
  • 2tbs of sake
  • 1tbs of sugar

In a mortar (ideally a suribachi) crush the walnuts until you obtain a mix of coarse and fine parts (in the movie she crushed them to a paste, but I prefer having some coarse pieces left). Wash the rice and set in your cooking recipient with the normal amount of water for cooking Japanese rice (rice cooker, pan with lid, donabe…). Add the walnuts, the soya sauce, the sake, the sugar and cook as usual. That’s it. Serve warm or keep to eat at room temperature.

I served it with spinach and pork sautéed, it is rather easy to accommodate with anything seasonal too: pumpkin, cauliflower…

If you want to watch the movies, I recommend the first one (summer/autumn) much more than the second (winter/spring). There is no story, just a slice of life, and many recipes. The movie is inspired from a manga which I haven’t read. Not a big fan of mangas…

There is a Korean remake as well…

Quick ravioli

“Lucky” store in Isumi not only sales wines, sakes and rare whisky (they still have some aged Hibiki, which is quite rare to find now), they also sale a few local products with a small stall of cheeses. So while A. browses the liquor shelfs, I usually check the local cheeses from a tiny cheese factory. I like their ricotta, their cottage cheese and the sort of dried mozzarella they make. More than often the shelf is rather empty… but last time I got lucky as there was some ricotta. Ricotta… hum… together with the spinach season starting… that means ravioli!!!

I planned to do them on Saturday night originally but I got busy and wanted to sleep early before my first bodyboard contest, meaning waking up before sunrise… so ravioli making was postponed… until last night when A. was having meetings until rather late so I had a bit of time to cook.

The longest wave I’ve ever ridden and got the highest score with in the first round of the contest!!

But I had not too much time either, so it had to be quick… and in Tokyo my kitchen is tiny and my pasta machine is in Isumi so it would be hand rolled pasta… I also realized I was out of eggs so that would be vegan pasta, a bit more difficult to roll, adding to the challenge. I decided that paper thin pasta would be for another time, so I prepared something almost like some Russian pelmeni… It was truly delicious!!! So here is my recipe below, enjoy!

Quick ravioli (2 servings)

For the vegan pasta

  • 100g of flour
  • 2tbs of olive oil
  • A bit of water

For the filling

  • 100g of fresh ricotta
  • A few bundles of spinach
  • A handful of walnuts
  • Salt and pepper

Mix the flour and the oil, add a bit of water and knead to obtain a smooth dough. Add water if needed drop by drop. This shouldn’t take more than 10min to make. I did it between two meetings!!! Let to rest for 1h or 2 under a moist cloth. That gives time to work a little longer!!!

For the filling, wash the spinach and blanched them. Drain very very well. In a bowl mix with the ricotta, salt and pepper. Squeeze the walnuts as fine as possible, and to the mix, and stir well.

30min before dinner time, roll the dough of a surface tipped with flour. Set about a tea spoon of filling for one ravioli. Save a tbs of filling for the sauce. Cover with a layer of dough, close and cut the ravioli. Cook a large pan of boiling water. In the meantime in a frypan add olive oil and the leftover filling, stir. When the ravioli are boiled move them to the pan without draining them properly, and cook them two more minutes in the pan, covering them well in the sauce. Serve and eat! You can add a bit of freshly grated parmegiano.

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