Where is the Japanese autumn?

One thing that is really beautiful in Japan is the autumn sunny days called akibare-秋晴れ. They are usually warm and the blue of the sky contrasts vividly with the changing colors of the nature. This period usually streches until mid-November even December sometimes. This year, after the rainy summer we had, I was longing for this period, enjoying gardening and walks in the nature. But after just a very few days, we’ve entered a series of rainy days that seem simply endless. And any time I watch the weather forecast it seems it is stuck with the rain mark… but not only does it rain, it is also chilly. So nothing better to warm up than a little soup and some brown rice. For the soup I chose a cauliflower. Simply blanched it until just tender, not over cooked otherwise the taste changes. They blended it with the water and added some soya milk. Finished with salt, pepper and curcuma. The cauliflower just cooked as above, and well blended is creamy enough and doesn’t need further addition of cream or whatsoever ingredient. The brown rice, I took the time to cook it in the rice cooker, on the brown rice menu. It takes about 2h30 but it is worth doing so because it becomes very soft. Then I made rice balls, topped them with a small table spoon of miso just to cover them thinely and grilled them in a fry pan miso face down. You can also grill them in a grill or an oven. That’s it!!

Have a beautiful week! And don’t forget your umbrella if you’re in Tokyo!! 

Muesli pancakes

Since A. is away, I was thinking of having muesli and fruits for breakfast, so I stopped by the supermarket last night to buy some nuts muesli and some soya milk. But then this morning I was up at 6:15 and decided that after a bit of workout I would rather eat pancakes. So basically I prepared my muesli in a large bowl, covered it with soya milk, added a mix powder of black sesame, almond and kinako (grilled soya beans), add 2tbs of flour, a bit of baking powder and stirred well. Then cooked on both sides in a frypan. Finished with my uncle’s honey, added a kiwi sliced and I got a delicious breakfast, or rather two! Because I prepared a bit too much… I so much used to cook for two people… it’s hard to be alone!

Simply simpler

No time to fix dinner? Don’t worry, I’ve just found a new preparation for sweet potatoes, and it’s so simple and delicious that it surprised myself. This is a sweet potato soup. But usually sweet potato soup means, that first you cook the potatoes, then blend them, add some cream or whatever and then eat. Last night I didn’t want a soupy soup, but rather something with a mix of textures. So here is what I did and turned superb! 

Sweet potato rough soup   2 servings

– 2 sweet potatoes

– black pepper

– parmegiano (optional) 

I washed 2 sweet potatoes and sliced them. Then in a pan I started to cook them, with just a bit of water to cover. I cooked them at high heat under cover without touching them once until all the water had disappeared and the potatoes started caramelizing in their own juice. Only then I stirred well and started to break them with a wooden spoon. Finally added water again to cover them, and bring to a boil. Add some black pepper, and served. Topped with parmigiano slices.

Simple food

There is one thing that I always think about cooking when in a rush to prepare our meals and want to eat some Japanese food, it’s simple seasonal vegetables sautéed, deglazed in a bit of soya sauce, served with rice and pickles. It is so very simple and yet so delicious that it beats any other recipe. It requires no thinking, a very short preparation for the vegetables and then everything in a pan with a few drops of oil, under cover, just stir once in a while. Which frees the hands to do something else! Perfect when the week is super busy with many deadline at work, friends and family visiting, a weekend away in preparation and A. leaving for Europe for 10 very long days…

Autumn version of sautéed vegetables (one plate dish for 2 people)

– 1 Japanese sweet potato

– 3 shiitake

– 2 little turnips (long or round) 

– any other seasonal vegetables: a little piece of kabocha, a few green beans, gingko nuts, shishito, eringi…

– 2tbs of soya sauce

– some vinegared pickles: I love rakkyo (Chinese onions) which are served with curry.

– 1 cup of Japanese rice

Star cooking the rice. Wash and cut the vegetables. In a pan greased with a bit of oil add all the vegetables (except if some have very short cooking time like green beans) cook at high heat for two minutes and stir. Lower the heat and cover. Cook for 12min and stir once in a while. Add the soya sauce, and stir for one minute. Serve all together.

Kabocha soup

Autumn seems to have arrived. Mornings and evenings are much chillier and days are getting really shorter already. So it’s time to prepare some warm simple soups. After eating so many butternut squash, now I have started to cook kabocha. This little Japanese pumpkin with very green skin that can be eaten too. And making soup with it is really simple and it always make a good starter or a whole meal if accomodated a bit with crouton or grilled bacon. Here is my basic recipe. 

Kabocha soup for 2 or 3 people. 

– 1/2 kabocha

– 1L of water

– 1 little pack of fresh cream

– 1tbs of soya sauce

If you want your soup orange remove the skin, if greenish is ok for you wash the kabocha and keep the skin. Remove the seeds and cut in pieces. Boil in 1L of water under cover. Check the cooking with a toothpick. When very soft stop. With a wood pestle work directly in the pan and purée the kabocha (you can use a blender also if you want!). Add the cream, the soya sauce. Heat before eating. Add black pepper, bacon, parmegiano or whatever you like!!!

Persimmons harvest

Together with the gingko nuts, the season for persimmons has also started, and our two trees in the garden are literally covered with fruits this year. Since this is way to much to eat them all, that pretty much everyone has a persimmon tree in their garden, contrarily to gingko nuts, they are difficult to give away. I tried jam but it was not a huge success, and I run out of ideas on how to preserve them. These are not really persimmons you would dry, like shibui kaki… So I harvest a few, give a few to friends who don’t have a garden, and usually offer the rest to the birds, bees and butterflies who seems to be loving their sweetness and juiciness. 

One of my favorite recipe with persimmons is in salad with cucumber, turnip, sesame and tofu. This time I had no turnip so it was just persimmon and cucumber. 

Persimmon, cucumber and tofu salad: 

– 1 persimmon still a bit hard

– 1 Japanese cucumber  

– 1 small block of drained hard tofu

– 1tbs of sesame seeds, or sesame powder

– a bit of salt

Peel and dice the persimmon, sluce the cucumber. Grind the sesame seeds, mix with the tofu and the salt. Add the persimmon and the cucumber. Stir well and it is ready to serve.

 persimmons on the tree, with giant bee and tiny frog!
persimmons on the tree, with giant bee and tiny frog!

Gingko nuts – 銀杏

So, we have a gingko tree in our garden. The first few years it didn’t give fruits and we thought we won’t have the pleasure to eat fresh gingko nuts but also not the nuisance of the horrible smell. But then… it started to bear fruits and we started to harvest them, or sometimes it was more just to clean and limit the smell in the garden!!!! So the season has arrived again to collect fallen gingko nuts (about a bucket every day!), and to give away many (most) of them to our neighbors, but this year we also prepared some for ourselves with an enhanced technique! I remember having the nauseous smell in my nose for days after preparing them last time. So we came better equipped: masks with a drop of tea-tree essential oil. Then to remove the small bits of skins we used stones in a bucket and water and it was really easy. And dried them in the sun rather than the oven. Finally it was a bit long but not at all as terrible as I remember it was!!! Next is the cooking, but for that I know for sure we’ll have rice with gingko nuts, grilled gingko nuts, and probably vegetables stew!

 Gingko nuts drying in the sun
Gingko nuts drying in the sun
 The gingko tree in the garden, covered with fruits yet to harvest  
The gingko tree in the garden, covered with fruits yet to harvest  

All mixed inspirations

Sometimes that’s what happens… you have a fresh piece of sashimi red snapper, fresh baby leaf salad, homemade umeboshi and you want to eat them altogether. Now what would be the simplest carb to go with would be obviously Japanese rice. But when it’s late and hungry mouths are begging for food… rice is not such a good option: too long to cook. Pasta wouldn’t really fit, but quinoa would definitely! And yes it was a perfect match despite the very various inspirations. Here is what I did:

I simply cooked (boil/steam) a 3-color quinoa mix; I pan grilled the snapper; dressed the salad with olive oil; added an umeboshi on top. That’s it! That’s really not cooking actually but it’s a good way for me to get familiar with my new kitchen!!! 

New kitchen!

We moved in our new apartment this weekend and we have just finished emptying the last boxes. Now it starts to like home! I’m still not used to it and in particular to the kitchen. It was very difficult to find a place that checked all the boxes of our list of “must”  given the very long list and the very short time we had: the moving was motivated by A.  new job starting next week and by the fact that there is a highrise under construction right in front of our former place which would have blocked seriously our beautiful view of Mount Fuji and Nihombashi skyline. Anyway… it was time to move… after 8 years in the same place, the longuest we’ve ever been. So, I had to give away my precious terraces, the large window in the kitchen, the all white and bright interior, the 3 sides orientation and natural lighting, the no neighbors around… but we kept the view, or got even better! I got a kind of boudoir/dressing room, and a slightly larger kitchen, a new oven, but not much larger… I also kept the gaz cooking range, which is a must!!! And finding mansions where they have gaz cooking range is getting much more difficult. So I am ver very pleased with that! Would you imagine cooking on an electric range???? 

The thing I didn’t expect was a much better lighting in the kitchen to take pictures at night with much less reflections!!! So, while I’m slowly getting used to this new place, I prepared some very simple food, because when I come back to work we worked on boxes, hanging frames etc… And I prepared this a bit weird combination but really delicious dish with chickpeas, bunashimeji, butternut squash and tofu. Seasoned with papeika, salt and pepper. Each ingredient is diced (but the chickpeas) and all are pan cooked in a little of olive oil. I had the spices in the end and served right away.

 oh! Yes... there's also a dishwasher... A. is so excited about it!!! 
oh! Yes… there’s also a dishwasher… A. is so excited about it!!! 

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