Author: Gentiane

Anise bread

Anise, fennel, star anise, and also cumin, carvi seeds and caraway seeds are some of my favorite seasoning seeds. Maybe because I grew up in the south of France where fennel grew everywhere on the path sides and it was so easy to harvest while admiring the beautiful shape of the flowers and the little white snails that would gather on the stems, that I used to call “colimaçon” but are in fact “caragouille rosee”, and chewing a piece of flower… or because of my grand mother homemade pastis, this very distinctive drink made from anise and also typical from the region. My mother would use ample fennel to stuff a fish we would have fished, and bake it with potatoes and tomatoes. A dish every one loved very much.

Funnily, in Japan this is not something so common. And I hardly have seen fennel growing anywhere in the wild. Maybe some areas do have some, or my eyes haven’t been opened enough. So most of the fennel and anise I use is either coming from my parents, or bought from the grocery. Recently I have bought quite a bit more often than usual, probably since we’ve been to Malta, to make Qagħaq tal-Ħmira… so I decided to use them to make straightforward anise seeds breads. Less elaborated than the Maltese breads and I was very very much please with the result. I must say that it is thanks to a very healthy sourdough and warmer temperatures. It goes like below for the recipe and I hope you will enjoy!

Anise breads

  • 300g of flour
  • 80g of sourdough
  • 1tsp of salt
  • Water
  • 1tbs of anise seeds

The recipe is simple as can be. In a large bowl mix the sourdough the flower, the salt. Add water little by little and knead to obtain a smooth dough. Add the anise seeds and knead a little further.

Let rest under a wet clothe until the dough grows. Mine was really growing happily.

When quite fluffy move to a flat surface dusted with flour. Flatten the dough gently with your palm. Cut into 6 pieces. Make 6 balls. Then flatten and cut three ribbons and braid then. Leave to rest for an hour then bake at 240deg until golden.

First spring of my sourdough Lois!

I’m still new to the sourdough owner community and a novice still learning many things with my 6months old Lois. We have had a difficult start, very… but I must say that I am impressed by its behavior for the past few weeks. I am keeping exactly the same regimen and treatments, keeping it in the fridge during the week and outside during the weekend to bake that I have always had. But now Lois is responding in a beautiful way… is it that spring is in the air? I can’t yet explain it and wish it will last… It doesn’t starve in the fridge after 2 days (Lois is/was a glutton), rather the contrary. And anytime I use it to bake it has a much better taste and smell and a faster process. It’s making baking easy and very very enjoyable. So pleased that I decided to use it to make bao again. I filled them with what I had in the fridge: onions and smoked sausages. Chiba prefecture has quite a few pork farms and some make rather delicious sausages, that A. likes very very much so I always have some in the fridge, just in case. So here is the recipe of the bao.

Bao (makes 8 pieces)

For the buns

  • 200g of flour
  • 50g of sourdough
  • A pinch of salt
  • Water

For the filling

  • 1 onion
  • 4 little (smoked) sausages
  • A large pinch of cinnamon

First prepare the bun dough as it needs a few hours to raise. In a bowl mix the flower, the sourdough and the salt. Add water little by little while kneading to obtain a slightly wet dough. Soft and smooth. Leave to raise for some time (a few hours depending on your sourdough, room temperature…). It should raise and at least become elastic with an homogeneous texture. While it’s raising, peel and chop the onion rather thinly. In a pan cook the onions at low heat, with a bit of water. They shouldn’t change color much. Add a bit of salt and the cinnamon. Continue cooking under cover until very soft and tender. Add a bit of water if needed to avoid roasting them. Once cooked, let cool down.

Now your dough should have raised enough. Cut it in 8 equal pieces, and make 8 balls. Roll each of them a floured top into 15cm rounds. Split the onion in 4, and fill 4 of the dough rounds. Roll the 4 sausages each in a dough round and roll them. Let them rest for an hour our two.

Prepare a steamer and steam them for 15min. I put them on a square of cooking paper to avoid them to stick, and put a lot of space between as they will inflate quite a bit.

Finally I served with soya sauce. The sausage bao could be nice with a bit of karashi (Japan kind of mustard), but I didn’t have any…

Stuffed bread or kind of calzone

It’s past 20:00 and A. is done working. I know because I can hear him play a tune on his guitar from my “office”, meaning he is waiting for me to stop working and he is hungry… now is going to be a good time for me to think about dinner if we want to eat anytime soon! I am not in the mood for a Japanese recipe, nor for pasta… I was thinking about a quiche but that will take too much time to bake… so what then?

The rainy day makes me crave for a sunny recipe… I have this ball of campagne bread proving since the morning that has risen to a lovely volume. And this mozzarella from a local cheese farm I am slowly eating into bites as I think… diner is all decided! It will be a stuffed bread or a kind of calzone, with fresh vegetables in and mozzarella.

I turn on the oven to 250deg. I take a piece of my dough, about 10cm diameter ball, and roll it into a 4-5mm thin circle of 40-50cm diameter. Cut my mozzarella into slices, top half of the dough. Wash a tomato, a bundle of spinach, cut them and continue topping the half. Then I fold gently the second half and close it. It kinda look like a giant gyoza!! A bit of olive oil on the top, a pinch of salt, a few tiny pick to make some holes and in the oven for 20min!

The result was really great, crispy crust on the outside, but still a bit melting on the inside, infused with the vapors of the vegetables. Something I will do again for sure!!!

Definitely in love with wafu pasta

As I was reading the Japan times the other day I discovered they have a monthly column called Japanese kitchen with some cooking tips and recipes and found an old recipe of natto and umeboshi pasta. Neither A. nor I are fans of natto but it was time to prepare lunch and I was planning to make tagliatelle but I wanted to eat umeboshi, so wafu pasta naturally, and the recently read recipe made me create this super simple version: replacing natto by seasonal vegetables, and using some soya sauce for dressing the pasta. As I mentioned in my earlier post on the topic, wafu pasta are something of their own kind that may be ignominious to the purists but once you have tried them they are quite exquisite and the mariage of flavors can be exceptional. I loved the one of this recipe. I hope you will too.

Umeboshi, nanohana and shiitake tagliatelle (serves 2)

  • 180g of fresh tagliatelle
  • 5 nanohana
  • 3-5 shiitake depending on size
  • 3 plain umeboshi medium size
  • 1tbs of soya sauce
  • A ponch of sesame seeds

Wash and slice the shiitake. Wash and cut the nanohana in 3. In a large pan slightly greased (I used sesame oil, but anything works) start cooking the vegetables under cover at low heat. In the meantime boil the pasta. Drain the pasta and add to the pan. Stir well. Add the soya sauce, the sesame seeds, the flesh of one umeboshi, stir again and serve. Top each plate with an umeboshi, enjoy!

Auto pilot in the kitchen…

There are times in the year like the one now: busy at work that leaves shorter times to cook, busy in the garden that leaves little time to cook too, end of the season and timid transition to a new one that force to use the same ingredients over and over and inventing new recipes or testing new recipes is not really on the agenda. I have exhausted my resources or almost. When time comes I put myself in autopilot for the cooking: I use as less resources as possible, working on the basic, classic versions of my registry. Spinach, shiitake, broccoli, carrots and bok choy are cooked in minimum time for the simplest recipes ever.

I have a few new recipes I’ve been loving to make in the past year. One is coconut milk curry, and it is one of my favorite super quick lunch fix. It is sooooo very simple and hands free that you can cook and work or cook and go for a walk while the pot is on the stove. And the result is always so colorful and tasteful that it’s a hit! I serve it with brown rice preferably but white rice would work too. Here is the recipe for today’s version, of course you can adjust the spiciness and the vegetables to the season, the location and your taste. I would usually use a combination of three vegetables: one crunchy, one creamy and one green…

Coconut cream curry (serves 2)

  • 1 large carrot
  • 1 bok choy
  • 5 shiitake
  • 100g of coconut cream or milk
  • 1tbs of turmeric
  • 1/2tbs of curry powder
  • 1 tiny pinch of red pepper
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • 1 pinch of black pepper

Wash and cut the vegetables to the shape and size you like. In a pan slightly greased, put the carrot and the shiitake and start cooking at medium heat, then add the coconut cream or milk and stir well. Cook at low heat under cover. It your vegetables pieces are rather large add 1/2 cup of water. Add the spices. Let on the stove for 15min still at low heat. Add the bok choy and cook for 3 minutes until leaves are still bright green. And that’s it… serve with rice.

If that isn’t super simple tell me what simple means for you!!!

Nabana, nanohana whatever you call it, it’s spring!

I remember reading Natsume Soseki’s novels more than 20 years ago and not fully understanding how he could write that the new year celebrations were also marking the beginning of spring with plum trees blooming… until I realize he was talking of the former calendar and the lunar New year which is basically in February. And indeed at this time of the year spring is in the air. Not only plum tree are blooming, the spring vegetables are sprouting, it’s time for fukinoto and nanohana.

Blooming plum tree: a sign of spring and the promise of many fruits in June

Nanohana, also called nabana 菜の花　or 菜花 that I often translated as canola is indeed a close relative indeed, but also of broccoli. The little yellow flowers at the top of this brilliant green stick and leaves, brings sunshine in any dish. And there can be many. It’s a very versatile vegetable, easy to prepare Japanese way or with western influences. I love nanohana in quiche or with pasta, in sautéed rice, with eggs, also cooked in dashi and topped with katsuobushi, and seasoned with soya sauce. As you can see I love it!

Various way to prepare nanohana

And maybe I love it that much because I believe that the first time I remember eating nanohana was at our wedding lunch, 14 years ago. Indeed, A. And I got married in winter, or rather early spring in the old calendar. And after the ceremony at the shinto shrine we celebrated with our guest in a ryoutei 料亭 we liked very much, in Ningyocho. And the chef who had carte blanche, impressed us with a combination of Japanese traditional and seasonal flavors, and some more western cuisine. Perfect given the mix of culture in our guests. So that’s when I remember eating nanohana.

Incidentally, nanohana is the emblem flower of Chiba prefecture, and the Isumi railway becomes picturesque when they bloom together with sakura (typically in a few weeks), I invite you to come and visit the area, it’s truly beautiful.

More Wafu pasta

I have a principle that I apply for pretty much anything and even more when I cook or think about cooking, it’s to be always flexible and opened to opportunities, or see change in plans as one. Nothing is definite. A recipe evolves and comes to life as ingredients are mixed together, taking the mood and the time into consideration… This is exactly how this wafu pasta recipe was created. It all started with a bicycle ride to go diy shopping. On the way back, if we take this road, I like to stop at the little stall that sells local fresh vegetables grown right on the spot. Sometimes the shelves are empty, and sometimes they have little treasures. They just had many little treasures this day. In particular a big bundle of tiny sweet leeks appealed me. I just picked it, slid a 100yen coin in the box and off we went.

But what to do with them… I had no plan… until a few days later when time for dinner came and it was decided we would eat pasta. Tagliatelle. A bit of sesame oil was remaining in the pan from some little rice crackers I made, so I decided to use it. Chopped the little sweet leeks, coated them in sesame oil, added a very ripe large tomato (that can easily be replaced by a good tomato sauce or preserved tomatoes), and cooked at low heat until I obtained a creamy tomato sauce with the delicious flavor of the fragrant sesame oil, slightly confit. Added the boiled pasta, stirred well and added a bit of sesame seeds before serving. A new version of the wafu pasta…

How do eat your pasta Japanese-style? Have you ever tried???

Scones x Qagħaq tal-Ħmira

The very special blend of spices, citrus fruits zest and sesame seeds of Maltese Qagħaq tal-Ħmira is still floating around me and inspires me a lot, but it’s not always that I can wait for my sourdough Lois to work slowly a dough which in this still cold season can be 12 to 24 hours… sometimes we need something to eat, QUICK!!!! So I came up with a scone version of Qagħaq tal-Ħmira… it may be a blasphemy to the true Maltese tradition, so I apologize for this rather crude recipe. But to my defense, this scone recipe brings in all the flavors of Qagħaq tal-Ħmira in only 25min: 10min of kneading & shaping and 15min of baking. The softness of the famous slightly brioché bread is replaced by a more crumbly dry scone one. Add jam, honey or butter to it, or it alone in bite version… it is truly nice! Really!!! Try it and tell me what you think!

Scones Qagħaq tal-Ħmira way

  • 150g of flour
  • 50g of butter
  • 30g of sugar
  • 1tsp of baking powder
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • 1tsp of ground cloves
  • 1tsp of anis seeds
  • 1/4 of orange zest
  • sesame seeds for the topping
  • a bit of water or milk

Pre-heat your oven at 180deg.

In a bowl mix all the ingredients except for the last two: sesame seeds and water/milk. Start kneading. Add a bit of water/milk while kneading until you obtain a homogeneous dough. Roll to 3cm thick and top with sesame seeds. Roll a little bit thinner and be sure the sesame seeds are well incrusted. Cut to the shape and size you want, and put on a sheet of cooking paper. Bake 15min, and enjoy as soon as you like.

Isn’t that super simple???

Warming up!

Sunny but cold days follow each others this week, so a warming and rich soup is always good, isn’t it? I had rice ready for lunch and a romanesco in the fridge, and I wasn’t sure about how to eat them together, when the idea of combining them in a soup came to my mind. I was a bit worried about how it would turn, but with a few well chosen spices it was really a great idea! Not very photogenic though… so let me share the recipe here with you. I hope you’ll like it and test it!

Rice and cauliflower soup

  • 1/2 cauliflower or romanesco
  • 1 cup of rice (cooked)
  • 1 pinch of nutmeg
  • 2 pinches of paprika
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 little pinch of red pepper (optional)

If your rice is not cooked yet, cook it, you can use leftover rice too.

Wash the cauliflower or romanesco and steam it. Then mash it roughly adding a bit of the cooking water, to obtain a rather liquid but not too though, mixture (blender works too). In a pan heat gently, add the rice, salt and pepper, the nutmeg, the paprika and if you like it a little spicier the red pepper. Stir and serve hot.

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