It was 13 years since I left Tokyo University for Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, and started my own research lab. The beginnings were hard but the past few years I really reached a stable balance… maybe too much balance… it was time to change… I’m back at the university of Tokyo… and starting from 0 again!!! You may call me crazy but I need some challenges to feel good. So as you can imagine the transition is keeping me busy and I don’t have much time to spend in the kitchen. Even though…
I can’t help spending 10min to prepare something to eat, and improvise a little new recipe with what was in the fridge: tiny potatoes, komatsuna and eggs. The preparation is very simple, it takes just a bit of time to cook it, which is perfect, hands are free to work!!!
Komatsuna jagga 小松菜じゃが (2 servings as full course)
10 small potatoes
3-5 bundles of komatsuna
1 piece of thin aburage
20g of katsuobushi flakes
2tbs of soya sauce
1tsp of oil
2 eggs (optional)
Peel the potatoes and slice them, wash the komatsuna and cut them 2cm long. Slice thinly the aburage. In a greased (with the oil) pan put the potatoes and komatsuna and cook at high heat for 2min. Then add the aburage and cover with water, add the katsuobushi flakes, the soya sauce, and the eggs, stir well and cover. Let cook for 10min or until the potatoes are soft. You can serve as a soup or remove the cover and let the liquid evaporates before serving. Eat hot, because spring may be around the corner, evenings are still cold!!!
Two weeks without a post is a grand premiere here… For the past 7 years I have been posting a few times a week and at most every 10 days when I was busy at work and on travel. So why 2 weeks this time? Well… travel is definitely not what is taking any of my time, even though we had a failed attempt to go back to France back in November, and the planning took a lot of our time, only to cancel everything 5 days prior departure because the situation was not looking too good in France then… but that’s a long time ago! I can tell you that work has been busy but nothing out of the ordinary. So what? Have I quit cooking??? For sure not! But what did I cook then? Well, first a lot of things that were delicious but definitely not photogenic. Then a lot of cruising dishes: quiches, bread and scones but I bet you don’t need another recipe of any of these…
Then we harvested all our hassaku and I went into a little plan of making several recipes…
But in the end we love the raw fruits so much, plain and simple, that apart from a little batch of marmelade, but I’m no good to teach anyone how to make it, rather I should learn myself, I made a lot of candied peels after we’ve eaten the flesh. Though we eat little sugar, I love candied fruits and citrus peels of sorts candied. At that, I think I can proudly say that I am not bad! I have learned patience and it is paying off! So here’s my recipe, but if you don’t have hasaku, it works with any other citrus fruits. I personally like the thick skin of hassaku, but lemon, orange, yuzu… they all can work perfectly too. You just need to be sure that your fruits are untreated before and after harvest, that’s why I only candy peels of fruits I am sure about.
Citrus fruits candied peel
Untreated citrus fruits of your choice
Sugar ( I use only untreated brown cane sugar)
Water
Patience
Dark chocolate (optional)
Candied peels work in any batch size. Wash and dry your fruits. Peel them being careful to be as close to the flesh as possible. Remove any possible fibers layer. Cut the size you like. I like thick ones so that they are almost a square section.
In a pan set the peels. Pour water in a measure cup. From that cup pour into the pan to cover the peels. Check how much you poured in. Add the same volume of sugar to the preparation. Bring to a boil, let on low heat for 15 min. Let cool down in the pan for two hours at least, longer is good. The peel will start to loose their opacity. Bring to a boil again, and cook at low heat for 10 min again. If the liquid is to little add just a bit of water. Let cool down again, and repeat the heating/cooling until the peels are translucent adding just a bit of water not to burn them and such that the syrup doesn’t turn into caramel. When perfectly translucent, heat a last time and move the peels from the pan to a clean surface. I use cooking paper. Let cool down. Now they are ready. You can store them or dip them in chocolate, roll them in cristal sugar (but really, they don’t need anymore sugar!)… I love them just the way they are, A. likes them coated with chocolate…
A., and I too, are big fans of Brussels sprouts. Anytime there are some at the farmers market I would bug some even ic sometimes there are sold in tiny portions of 5 or 6! A few years ago we tried growing some in our kitchen garden, hoping for a consistent harvest, but once again the slugs and caterpillars were too quick at first and since then the plants grow leaves every year but never sprouts… I keep them thought, just in case!
Another winter favorite is turnips. The small and firm turnips of all possible shades from white to purple. That we never tried to grow yet… but they are easy to find by rather big bundles.
With these two in my basket I came up with a super delicious recipe, perfect for a side or starter. that can be eaten at room temperature or just warm: a beautiful and colorful plate of Brussels sprouts and tiny pink turnips. I dressed them in olive oil only bug you could easily think about adding a few drops of yuzu juice, or even more Japanese, a white miso and yuzu light sauce. So let me share my recipe.
Turnips and Brussels sprouts salad (2 servings)
6 Brussels sprouts
6 little turnips
1tsp of olive oil
Salt and pepper
Optional: a few drops of yuzu juice or grated yuzu peel, 1 tea spoon of white miso
Wash carefully the vegetables. Slice the Brussels sprouts in 4 or 5. Cut the turnips in 4. If you can’t find tiny turnips then slice them. In a heated pan add the olive oil and the vegetables. Cook while stirring gently for 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper. at this stage you can serve. Add if you want to use them, the yuzu juice and/or the grated yuzu peels. If you use white miso, stir well the yuzu juice with the miso and too the vegetables.
Voila! Really not difficult and soooo scrumptious.
If there is one traditional food I don’t care much about it’s the Epiphany kings’ galette, the “galette des rois”. Whether the brioche or the frangipane, I don’t care much about them. Not that I dislike them but I don’t like them either. They are not part of my must-eat food. And since I am bad at making puff pastry, that’s even easier to forget about it… but this year IG was covered with galettes and though I was insensitive to them A. wasn’t… and he asked me why we never have galette though he loves it so much!
What???? Why on earth would you wait more than 20 years to tell me???
How could I have not imagined he would love galette. He who doesn’t like almonds but loves calisson and financiers, he who doesn’t love butter but loves croissants and brioches… of course he loves galette… of course I ignored that…
Well then… I took all the courage it takes to make an attempt at puff pastry when I have failed so often.
So here I am folding and rolling and turning every hour my puff pastry by the book, hoping it will become something… probably because of the cold temperature inside it is not as tedious as I remembered, and no butter spill.
For the frangipane I used a standard recipe: almond powder plenty, 1 egg, a bit of sugar and a tiny bit of butter, stirred into a dense pomade.
The rest is just simple. I decided for a square galette, rolled one layer of dough, topped with frangipane, leaving enough room to close it. Rolled another layer of dough to put on top, sealed the borders well. Paint an egg batter. Made a little seasonal drawing: blooming camellia japonica as we have so many in the garden, and 30min at 200deg. Until just golden. A. couldn’t wait any longer!!!
The result was surprisingly delicious. It didn’t have the sticky sugary top it too often has in shops, it was not too sweet, actually very nice, and the puff pastry worked well! Beginner’s luck!!!
Many of you may be familiar with golden milk, this Indian drink with turmeric and milk, rooted in Ayurveda. Not that I am a fan of it, but borrowing the idea, I prepared myself a warming and bright lunch on a snowy day. Snow doesn’t fall often in Tokyo. Usually once or twice a year in January and March. It is very sudden, it snows a lot for a few hours to cover everything under a beautiful white blanket, and then the next minute is sunny and the blanket melts into a mess of mud and ice. But for a few hours it is magic. The city becomes suddenly quiet.
So before going outside for a walk, what best then having a warm lunch? A what if it is not only warm, it is also bright and full of flavors? That’s how I came up with this golden sautéed rice recipe.
Golden rice (2 servings as main dish)
1 cup of brown rice
1 or 2 leaks
3 little turnips or 1 large
1 little lotus root
1tsp pf curry powder
2tsp of ground turmeric
Ground black pepper
A punch of salt
1tsp of vegetal oil
6 rakkyo (optional)
Cook the rice. Wash and cut the vegetables. In a pan large enough, heat the oil, add the vegetables and cook while steering. Add the rice, the spices and pepper and steer very well. Serve and top with the rakkyo. Eat while watching the cold outside!!
If you have read Natsume Soseki’s novel the cat, watched Juzo Itami’s Tampopo or check the Japanese news today, you may not think highly of this Japanese new year specialty that is eaten widely, but kills about 300 people every year!!! No kidding! Despite the caution announcement every year before new year. And if you are more than 65 the risk maybe high that you suffocate eating mochi if you are not careful! But being careful is easy, and mochi is delicious. So let’s get passed the first bad impression, talk about mochi and let me share with you a few delicious ways to eat mochi.
First thing first, you may have heard about mochi but what is it exactly? In most places it is translated as rice cake, but I think it is a bit misleading. Mochi is made of mochigome 餅米 a round rice, slightly more glutinous than the rice you would eat normally, it is cooked them crushed into a paste, the paste is then shaped into a ball of various sizes (smaller are less dangerous to choke on). Making mochi for new year is a tradition and there are plenty of opportunities to go to mochi-dsuki 餅つき events in local communities. We went to our first one in January 2005 with our Japanese teacher. That was fun to pound the rice in a large wooden standing bowl called usu 臼, carved in a trunk, with a huge wooden mallet or pestel called kine 杵.
Me on the left pounding mochi with I. on the day we met for the very first time. (January 2005)
Of course we were scared to try eating it (for the above reasons ;)), but in the end we enjoyed it very much in many many ways: in soup (ozoni), with nori and soya sauce, with kinako, with red beans etc… Not everyone is equipped with a set to make mochi at home and not everyone makes at least 2kg of mochi at once, so there are other ways to get your hand on mochi and to try this very special Japanese specialty. Here are some options I recommend: steamed mochi rice hand crushed and pound in a mortar, fresh mochi in grocery shops (not so easy to find in the city, easier in the countryside) but it doesn’t keep for long, kirimochi 切り餅, it is basically dried mochi that is very easy to use and keeps much longer and is nice for also making grilled mochi (if you want some let me know I can arrange shipment wherever you are, DM me on Instagram or Facebook). Some websites offers to make mochi with a mixer, but it seems that without a powerful one all you may do is burn your motor, so I wouldn’t actually recommend it. Some others propose to make it from mochi rice flour, I have never tried and I guess it is OK but it will lack the slightly granulous texture that you can have with pounded rice.
Once you have your mochi ready it is really easy to prepare in one of the many possible versions savory or sweet. If you use kirimochi you may need to return it to softness by simply putting in a pan cover with water and boil it a few minutes on both sides until tender. Today I introduce two recipes, one savory ozoni, in a version with only clear broth inspired by a picture I saw on Instagram, but reinterpreted, but you can also add white miso to it to make it more Kyoto-style! and one sweet kinako mochi, but there are many others. Actually one I love is mochi with soya sauce, very simple but so delicious and perfect as a side for a piece of grilled fish or with some vegetables.
Kinako mochi
soft mochi (if you use kirimochi it needs to be returned to softness)
kinako (torrefied soya bean powder)
brown sugar
I a bowl mix 4/1 kinako/sugar (for example 4tsp of kinako and 1tsp of sugar). Cut the mochi into bite sizes. Dip the mochi in water and roll in the kinako mix, set in a bowl. You can make as much as you want it is very easy to eat and really delicious!!! The picture below is what I made for two for a tea-time snack. There was about 8-10 small bites.
kinako mochi
Ozoni (without miso) (2 servings)
500ml of dashi ( I use ichiban dashi (konbu & katsuo) but you can also do with konbu & shiitake dashi for a vegan version)
2 pieces of kirimochi
2 umeboshi
a few seasonal vegetables: 1 carrot, a few spinach leaves or 1 small bok choy…, 2 little turnips…
optional a zest of yuzu
In a pan, prepare the dashi. In another pan, return the kirimochi until soft. Prepare the vegetables (I used a cookie cutter to make the carrot in plum shapes). Cook them in the pan with the dashi, until just tender. In a bowl of your choice set the mochi, dress the vegetables, add the umeboshi, the yuzu peel and cover with the dashi. Enjoy while it’s hot.
Again send me a message on Instagram or Facebook if you want dashi, kinako or kirimochi.
I am not good at welcoming new years… Probably because it is too close to my birthday, and I just myself turned one more year and still try to understand what it means… also we celebrate more personal events than any other: birthdays, anniversaries… For many it is a time to look back at achievements and look forward to goals. I have no regrets , and as long as I can remember I never made a good resolutions list. I have no bucket list, nor list of things I want to fix in my life, bad habits I need to get rid of, diets I need to start, addictions I need to quit or things I could do better. Not that I am perfect of course not, but I don’t make lists. Usually when I need to do something I just do it and organize myself to stick to it! January 1st wouldn’t be the time I would particularly change and set goals for myself. So the welcoming of the new year is not so important for me. And for the past 17 years we’ve spent a lot of the new year eves either in a plane or with a big jet lag in the countryside, when it is cold and we usually go early to bed and wake up early too. Though I like the Japanese celebration of new year at a nearby temple or shrine for the festive simplicity of hatsumode 初詣, the first visit of the year to a shrine or temple, and have nice memories of so many spent with friends or family in so many different places in Japan they are also often memories of hours in the cold, waiting in crowded lines for the time to arrive, with bonfire to warm us once in a while. So we now often skip the midnight visit and go later in the day, when it’s less crowded.
Even though we don’t celebrate much, I prepare a nice dinner (as I do every day ;)) and we spend a quiet evening together, as we always do. Nothing fancy… and I like it that way very much.
This year is just the same. At the time I write, everything is quiet outside, though the shrine is all lit up to welcome a few visitors during the night. A. is fast asleep, I am struggling to keep an eye open. We will wake up when the day breaks tomorrow. It will be cold and sunny. I have already baked the bread for our breakfast as I tested a new (to me) baking method using a cast iron pot, which has helped me understand why my breads are often too pale. I have an issue with moisture when I bake them. The cast iron pot just solved the problem and I finally could bake a golden bread, with a crust crunchy outside and well balanced crumbs.
So now I can sleep tight, wish you a good end of the year and see you in 2022!
I always feel excited when the days are becoming short and colder. Spending time outside when the sun is high, and as soon as the sun sets down, it is time to sit for hot spicy tea, a slice of cake or a piece of something comforting. I bake Provencal pompes a l’huile, panettone, or brioches. This is an habit I took when we were in Florence, and I cherish it very much. I also like to go for a walk at night and see the illuminations. Tokyo is really good at creating a festive atmosphere, would it be for the new year, the cherry tree blooming, the summer fireworks… there is always a good reason to decorate and makes us feel like little children.
Christmas decorations at Mitsukoshi Nihonbashi
But when I look at western magazines and IG feeds, it is all about festive food, or so-called, but it is just an accumulation of decadent food, that I must say is a mood killer for me. Rich buche de Noel or Christmas cakes, menus with heavy terrible food such as foie gras, or very creamy things I am just running away from these. I don’t like most of the fancy food: truffles, caviar, oysters, foie gras. and all these pictures instead of appalling to me they only make me crave for simple food, nourishing and warming yet elegant.
This is when I make more often than ever ochazuke and soups with vegetables and grains. I really love a warm bouillon with some nourishing pasta or rice or chickpeas, lentils, spelt, beans… Today I came up with a super delicious recipe, so I am very happy to share it now!
Farro winter soup
1cup of farro
1/4 of Chinese cabbage
1/4 of butternut squash
8 shiitake
1tsp of turmeric
1/2tsp of ground cumin
1/2tsp of cumin seeds
Wash the cabbage and chop it. Same with the shiitake. Peel and cut the butternut. Put them all in a pan and amply cover with water. Add the farro. Cook at high heat to bring to a boil, then cook for 30min at medium to low heat. Verify that there is still enough liquid, add some if necessary. Add the turmeric, the cumin powder and seeds, a big of salt and pepper. Give a good but gentle stir and serve. Eat hot. No need for an drizzle of olive oil in my opinion but you can add one if you want !
There are things I love I don’t make often enough. Among them are cha-kaiseki cuisine, ravioli, steamed buns and flat breads. Even though they are easy enough to make I just get distracted, or don’t have the right ingredients, or prepare something else. So last night when time to prepare dinner came I had my mind set on flat breads and couldn’t change it. But with what??? It took me a bit of time to come up with something that would be a good match, but suddenly spinach and sweet potatoes ragoût appeared as the only option. A bit pf spice and I knew it would be a hit! And damned it was!!! As simple as it you can improvise your own recipe, just in case, I share mine.
Flat breads (8 15cn pieces)
150g of flour
A pinch of salt
A pinch of baking soda
Water
Mix the flour, salt and baking soda together. Add water little by little while kneading until you have a smooth dough. Leave aside.
After you have prepared the veggies (see below) cut the dough in 8 pieces. Roll each to a 15cm and cook them in a pan on both side until golden.
Spinach ragoût (2 serving)
2 large bundles of fresh spinach
2 sweet potatoes
1 cinnamon stick
2 cardamom pods
1tbs of carvi seeds
3tbs of olive oil
Salt and pepper
Wash the vegetables. Cut the sweet potato in bite size. In a large pan heat the olive oil. Add the vegetables, and cover with water. Cook slowly. Add the spices. Let cook at low heat until all the liquid is gone. Stir sometimes.
