Author: Gentiane

Pastizzi tal pizzeli

It is really interesting how much Maltese food has left a strong impression on me. I’ve already shared some of my favorite recipes from Malta, but one is still missing: that of pastizzi tal pizzeli, one of the three types of pastizzi, that with spicy peas. Why did it take me so long? Because I was waiting for the season of green peas to make them with fresh green peas. And now the season has come and I have gotten plenty of green peas so I tried making pastizzi. But for the genuine recipe you’ll have to wait longer, my attempt, though delicious, is a disgrace to the true Maltese pastizzi such that in the picture below.

If you look on the internet you’ll find several different recipes for pastizzi, one of the main difference is those that use spilt peas, and those that use green peas, but they all have in common that they are prepared with puff pastry and the inly spice they use is curry, hence they are often called curried peas pastries, but in my memory the taste was more complex than that, or the Maltese curry is different than that we have here… hum… anyway, the challenge was to start with the puff pastry, not something I am confortable making (I need a serious training for that!), in particular when I remembered how thin and delicious it was in Malta, almost like filo (something I should also try to make!), so I decided to go with a rough puff to save some time, and spare me the disappointment of a poorly done puff pastry. As for the filling, I used half of a new onion, two handfuls of green peas, curry, a bit of clove (after all this is the Maltese spice by excellence), salt and pepper. I boiled the peas, I chopped the onion thinly and cook it in a pan with olive oil at low heat until just golden and soft. In a mortar I puréed the peas, add the spices and the onion. Stir well. Then roll and cut the dough in 8 squares of 12cm and filled them. I used an egg batter and baked at 200deg until golden. Well that was it. It was tasty, delicious but it was not a pastizzi!!!

I’ll try again! 😉

One week…

This week was just like another, but it felt looooong and painful, busy with work (I’ve started a new online robotics course that keeps me busy, among the many other things I work on)… It was also our first week of telework for the both of us together in our new apartment with schedules not necessarily matching very well to have lunch together or go for a walk together. And the first week of really warm weather, summer warm, and of air conditioning. I always have a hard time adjusting to it and I felt little appetite for a few days, rare enough, and even more rare no appetite at all for chocolate. Instead I craved simple food and simple ingredients and in these situations rice, more particularly ochazuke, has been one of my best answer. Since ochazuke with vegetables is seasonal, ochazuke in May is different than ochazuke in December and the recipes I have posted so far, even if the base dashi could be similar. For a spring ochazuke I used a plain dashi of katsuobushi, but ichiban dashi would work as well, and if your vegan or vegetarian you can opt for konbu dashi only or shiitake dashi, in which I cooked some green peas (there will be more green peas recipe coming soon!!!) and some snap peas. I added after serving a bit of sesame seeds.

This dish is perfect eaten not too warm, it provides energy while having greens and liquid with strictly no fat. And it is tasty without being overwhelming.

And in a flash the week was almost over, passing with me not sharing any new recipe as I have cooked a little less or rather very simple food… I promise to do better next week!!

Yama udo

One of the wild spring green I like to cook is udo or rather yama udo ヤマウドウ. It is a kind of long stick that likes to grow on steep road sides and is very easy to prepare, with a distinctive taste but not strong such that of fukinoto. One preparation that is really easy is with miso in miso ae. Usually I would blanched it to soften it a bit and remove its bitterness or tartness, but I realized while doing a bit of reading, that vinegar water would work as well, which for the lemon-miso ae I wanted to make was more than perfect. Indeed, while I am waiting for my lemon tree to bear fruits (I lost all last year in early strong winds and heavy rains), I found some delicious lemons at the local market. Hence, recently there has been a lot of lemon in my recipe, the lemon cake, lemon pancakes, lemon pasta… The vinegar miso ae is taken to a new level of rich flavors with the addition of the lemon. It works the same way as yuzu miso. That said my recipe today is really super simple, and if you can’t go to pick yama udo yourself or find some, you can try with regular udo. Its taste is much milder but that works very nicely too. And if there is no udo where you live, try with wild asparagus or green asparagus, that will work fine as well.

Yama udo with lemon miso ae (2 servings as side)

  • 1 udo
  • 2tsp of miso (I used my homemade miso)
  • 3tsp of vinegar (I used rice vinegar)
  • 1tsp of sugar
  • a little bit of lemon zest
  • a little of lemon juice (about 1tsp)

Peel the udo and cut in 3cm long pieces. Then slice vertically with about 2-3mm thick, then make sticks. Set in a bowl with water and 2tbs of vinegar for 15min.

In the meantime, in a bowl, mix the miso, 1tbs of vinegar and the rest of the ingredients. Stir well.

Drain well the udo and add to the miso mix. Stir well and serve. That’s it, really simple isn’t it?

I served it with grilled sawara (Japanese Spanish mackerel) and plain white rice.

Green peas

I love spring greens and new vegetables, but among them I love green peas more than the others probably. I love the taste and texture, the color and the versatility, but I also love to shell them, I’ve always had. I remember as a child how many times I helped my mother or my grand mother doing it… it’s the season when days become longer and warmer, the approaching end of the school year…

In Japan green peas are not sold by the kilo, rather in tiny amount, and used as a small green touch in rice or here and there. You don’t eat a plate of green peas… so it has always got me a little frustrated to only have a handful of green peas. Japanese prefer them snap peas, which I love too… but it’s not the same.

So when our British friend came to enjoy tea in our garden and arrives with 3 kilos of green peas he just harvested in his garden, I was as happy as could be!!! First because I wanted to eat green peas so badly, may be because the Maltese pastizzi were too good, and I haven’t found any yet at the local farmers, and because now I could play with peas for real!!!

Despite the classic recipes I love to make with green peas, I wanted to test new things… May be pastizzi themself if I manage to make a good puff pastry… but also I had some cornmeal sitting in my fridge (remember I keep most things in my fridge to avoid pest) and I wanted to cook something with it… a bit of digging in recipes with cornmeal made me lean towards croquettes, and adding peas and spices was the next thing that I found would be nice… or here is what I did plus a few recommendations to make them even better…

Cornmeal and green peas spicy croquettes
– 100g of green peas, shelled
– 150g of cornmeal
– water
– ground cumin
– a pinch of ground clove
– salt and pepper
– a bit of oil to cook the croquettes

In a bowl add the cornmeal and a bit of water and let rest while you shell the peas. This will soften the cornmeal and avoid the croquettes to be too dry. Then add the peas and add water a bit to obtain a paste rather sticky and hard. Add the spices, stir well and heat the greased pan. With two tea spoons set the dough in small mounts in the pan and cook until golden, then flip and repeat. You can either eat like this or make a tomato sauce or a yogurt sauce to dip them…


Have a good day!

Inspiration from the kitchen garden

The fancy of a beautiful kitchen garden, abundant in vegetables, berries, herbs and flowers that I’ve always had, may be because both my grand fathers had beautiful ones… may have been just a dream. The kitchen garden we created last year and that gave some beautiful potatoes, peas and peanuts last summer, didn’t deliver up to my expectations. While I was very excited about the harvest, most of the plants didn’t produce anything, didn’t grow or just died… instead of being a place like the rest of the garden, of surprises and enjoyment, it’s been a place of great frustration. In most of the places in our garden, things and edibles grow almost unattended: plums, citrus fruits, spring wild vegetables, shiitake.., but in the kitchen garden, regardless of my constant efforts, things are not working as they ought… I know I am totally inexperienced and I am learning, but I found my efforts completely vain. My onions that I shall harvest now are too small, the celeriac that was supposed to grow this winter is only starting now to finally grow, even my seedlings don’t really go well. The soil should be good and I make a lot of efforts… but I am slow at learning and not so many chances once I missed a season.

Luckily the winter was rather warm and none of the herbs froze, so I still have abundant parsley, fennel tops, and celery branch, mint and rosemary, sansho too. So while it is frustrating not to harvest properly what I had planted, at least these ones surviving for more than a year now are a great source of inspiration in their scarcity. While being simple, they add a great flavor to simple ingredients, more particularly on Friday evening when we arrive, that the fridge is close to being empty and we are starving. They help me twist a simple recipe into something new, great, fresh and green.

My last idea was an olive oil sautéed new potatoes pot to which I added celery and parsley freshly cut in the garden. That was divine.

To boost cooking time I cut the potatoes thinly, and cook them in a bit of olive oil. Then add the celery washed and chopped, stir. Finally toss in the chopped parsley. Salt and pepper and all set for dinner. So no mater how irritating or saddening it is to work in my kitchen garden, I will continue learning and trying, because even for a few parsley leaves or a handful of peanuts… it is worth the effort, as the pleasure of going down there and thinking of the next recipe counter balances everything else.

May be one day, in a far future, I’ll finally manage to obtain one of these beautifully curated kitchen garden where colorful flowers and perfectly grown vegetables are lined and create an amazement of the eyes and the promise of a generous and rustic taste.

New kitchen

Last weekend we moved in our new apartment in Tokyo so the past days have been pretty busy juggling with work and getting used to our new place. While we got familiar with it quickly, the kitchen may have been the biggest change. It’s a tiny apartment so the kitchen is also tiny but it is opened on the dining/living room with a direct view through the window. It means it’s a lot more enjoyable than my previous one that, though larger, was really dark and felt isolated from the rest of the apartment. It’s been only a few days I’ve cooked in there, but already I love the late afternoon light that bathes it (the perks of working from home). I’m now getting used to the gears, and I had to give up my oven until we do proper renovations. Hopefully both our previous and new apartment are in the same building, and we still have our former apartment for 2 more weeks, so A. uses it as an office during the day, we both use it as a pilates studio in the evening, and I still go to bake there!!! Honestly, I don’t know how I will survive without an oven… I need to start thinking about pot baking and steam breads… though I usually have a lit less time in Tokyo than in Isumi to make tests. But I see it as a great opportunity to learn and test new techniques, so if you have any experience I’ll be happy to learn from you!

You may not have noticed yet, but one thing that is new also is my setup for taking pictures of the food I prepare. I used to have a straightforward cooking-plating-picturing stream… now it has gotten a little bit more complex, but I kind of like the new setup. You tell me if you do to…

Regarding food… well I must say that the past days, I have been preparing very simple things: often Japanese rice, or pasta, because every minute I had available was used to unpack something, to hang artworks, and I am happy to say that we’re almost done!! A. has worked really hard to make it happen! And cooking has been a bit rushed these days!!

But I’m happy that spring is now coming fully with it’s collection of greens, new something and the freshness that goes with it. I’ve cooked new onion a lot these days, new potatoes and snap peas too. For example altogether in a pan fried version, separately with rice, in chahan, or in a quiche version.., and they are always delicious… the pictures speak for themselves, and I assume no recipe is needed!

Bamboo shoot again!

We are moving in our new apartment tomorrow, but getting everything ready and working doesn’t mean not cooking, we have to eat 😉 Luckily we are only moving vertically so it’s quite easy to go and meet with the workers in between two online meetings, and anyway we decided not to do a lot of renovations first rather wait to see how we live in that new place. Our main idea was that since we spend most of our week days at work and most of our weekends in the countryside, our Tokyo apartment was oversized, so we wanted a downsizing. Few people want to move to a smaller place but we did. So we found a smaller version without a guest room we decided to move… well that was before Corona and simultaneous telework, so maybe not the most judicious timing… but one has to take opportunities when they come!

What does moving has to do with bamboo shoots??? Nothing… it’s spring, the soft pink of the sakura season is over and made way to the bright pink and fuchsia azaleas, and bamboos are growing growing growing. I even saw some in Kitanomaru park during one of my daily walks. But as I said before, the season is very short, so it’s better to enjoy them without delay.

I presented in the past some bamboo shoot recipes but this week I came with a few more ideas and wanted to share them with you. Both recipe today are mixing Mediterranean and Japanese cuisine, and the key is a fragrant olive oil. The first one is a chickpeas and tomatoes ragu, the second is more of a leftover type of recipe. Indeed, because we’re moving I decided to empty the fridge and the pantry as much as I could. And because we’re moving also and our view won’t be as dramatic as the actual one I shoot a few more times my lunch plate with a view…

Chickpeas and bamboo shoots ragu

– 1/2 bamboo shoot

– 2 cups of boiled chickpeas

– 1 large ripe tomato

– a few capers

– fragrant olive oil

– salt and pepper

Prepare the bamboo shoot as usual by boiling it in rice water fir as long as it needs to be soft (a tooth pick should easily enter.

Boil the chickpeas.

Wash the tomato. In a large pan generously oiled with a good olive oil add the tomato roughly cut. Cook until you obtain a smooth tomato sauce. Add salt and pepper and the capers, the chickpeas, and the sliced bamboo shoots. Stir and add a bit if olive oil, serve and eat warm or cold. That’s it!!!

Leftover bamboo salad

– 1/4 of bamboo shoot boiled

– a handful of boiled chickpeas

– 2 large boiled potatoes

– 1/2 new onion blanched

– a handful of boiled green beans

– fragrant olive oil

– 1tbs of soya sauce

Cut the bamboo, the potatoes, the onion and the green beans, dress in a bowl. Add the chickpeas, the soya sauce, sone olive oil, stir gently and eat!!!

Isn’t that super easy???

Kwarezimal, my way

When we decided to go to Malta last winter I didn’t know what to expect… the history of the island is so much different than this of the neighbouring places such as Sicily and Greece… I imagined that the landscapes and the culture would overwhelm me with beauty and mystery but I didn’t expect that the Maltese food would have such a strong impact on me and on my cooking. More than the food, in general, it’s been breads, pastries and sweets that completely bewitched me. The mix of spices: clove and cinnamon more than any, the citrus fruits, the almonds, pistachios and hazelnuts, the dates, figs and honey… well I am still under the charm and cloves have made their way back to my pantry. When we were in Valetta our friends had in mind to test many of the pastizzi, so we stopped at several places to taste some and ended up rather full, but the kids didn’t seem that full, or the adults eat all the pastizzi and left nothing to them… ??? and so when after hours of walking up and down the city we stopped at caffe Cordina, they ordered some sweets. A. ordered Kwarezimal. At first, I wasn’t much interested in them but after a pause, my appetite was back and when she offered me to try I couldn’t resist. The small pastries attracted me, with the crushed nuts topping and the promise of a taste of honey. And yes, as soon as I had a piece in my mouth, there was something else on my to-do list of things to bake when back home. The one thing special at caffe Cordina is that their Kwarezimal is made from hazelnut powder and all the recipes I found afterwards were made with almond powder. The good point for me, it’s that it is a lot easier to find almond powder than hazelnut powder in Tokyo, the bad point is that the Kwarezimal I made didn’t match my experience at caffe Cordina, but it’s a good reason to try again with hazelnut powder, would I find some!

None the less the almond base treat was truly delicious. I used a combination of recipes I found on the internet to make my Kwarezimal and I was very happy with the results. Having eaten Kwarezimal only once in my life I cannot claim that they were true to the Maltese taste, but at least taste-wise and texture-wise it was delicious. So let me share my recipe here because not only it is delicious but it is super simple to make and vegan: no butter, no egg and no yeast or baking powder… I think it could easily become an energy bar for active days!

Kwarezimal (makes 8 pieces)

– 150g of almond powder (or hazelnut powder)

– 100g of flour

– 60g of brown sugar

– 1tsp of orange blossom flower

– 1tsp of cocoa powder

– 1tsp of cinnamon

– 1tsp of clove

– 1/2tsp of cardamom

– the zest of half an orange or any other citrus fruit

For the topping:

– a handful of crushed pistachio

– some zest of citrus fruit

– 3tsp of honey

Pre-heat the oven to 180 while mixing all the ingredients (but those for the topping) together. Add a bit of water if needed until you obtain a very dense and not too sticky dough. Cut in 8 and make oblong shapes slightly flatten on top (easier for the topping!). Set on cooking paper in the oven for 20minutes. As soon as out of the oven, spread the honey on top of each Kwarezimal, sprinkle the crushed nuts and zest. Let cool down before enjoying (it’s hard to wait, it smells so good!!!!!).

Gynura bicolor – 金時草

Riding our bicycles has given us a new perspective on the neighborhood. Circling a 15km radius from home we have discovered a few new things and stopped at new places that we may have driven through many times bit didn’t really stopped by. When you cycle it’s easy to take a small street or a narrow passageway, to stop, turn back and get a bit lost… every detour is a discovery, and a surprise.

The new beach walk & ride path between Ohara beach and Misakichoizumi park
  • Reclining Buddha at Umioji
  • Walled park of an old beautiful house
  • Surfing spot
  • Skate park at Chibafornia
  • Swamps
  • Entrance of an old house
Discoveries we made cycling around…

Riding we discovered a nice swamp, a reclining Buddha in a tiny temple, a new ride along the beach, a busy surfing spot, an old house with a beautiful park enclosed by walls… we also stopped for shopping in a few places: cheeses and fromage blanc at fromagerie Haru, fish at Onjuku, and vegetables at local organic place. That’s where I found these beautiful purple and dark green leaves I didn’t know about. And as usual a locally grown green I don’t know must go in my basket! So here I am with this gynusa bicolor (which name I didn’t know until a few minutes ago). Of course I always ask the local people what they do with a vegetable I don’t know and try it that way first. She said with soya sauce and okaka… which I understood as blanched and then seasoned with soya sauce and katsuobushi. And so that’s what I tried. And that was really very very delicious. So I bought some again today and I will test it again ;)!!!

Have a good weekend!

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