Category: Italian food

Ashitaba gnocchi

This is far from being the first time I post about ashitaba (明日葉), or if you prefer angelica. I love this herb and the magic combination with potatoes and pork. I know I should be trying new combinations, but you have a solid recipe, it’s great to do it again and again with small variations. This new gnocchi recipe is even simpler than the previous one I posted a couple of years ago and as delicious! I served with pork filet cooked in olive oil and use the cooking juice as dressing for the gnocchi, with just salt and pepper. Of course olive oil is enough!

Ashitaba gnocchi (4 servings as side)

– 3 large potatoes

– a bouquet of ashitaba

– flour

– salt, pepper, olive oil for the dressing

As usual boil the potatoes with the skin. When the potatoes are tender, let them cool down a bit, peel them and mash them with a fork. Blanche the ashitaba and drain them very very well (as soon as they are cool enough squeeze them in your hands), then chop them finely with a knife or scissors. Add to the potatoes. The mixture should be creamy. Add flour and knead until the mix is dry enough to shape the gnocchi. As always the less flour the better, hence the need to avoid excessive moisture. When dry enough shape your gnocchi. I usually line them on a piece of cooking paper. Boil them until they float when you want to eat them. Dress with olive oil, salt and pepper or like me this time with pork filet juice.

Sakura risotto

As I was writing last time, it’s just the peak season for sakura viewing. And therefore I thought of using sakura flowers in some recipes again. The classic would be sakura rice or sakura rice balls, but since my parents are staying with us and my dad was crying for a risotto, in remembrance of the first risotto: porcini risotto, I cooked when I was still in high school… So to please him a risotto I cooked, with carrots, a few shiitake and leeks for the base, some turnip tops for the green, and a sakura broth as seen below. Given how quick the plates were wiped, I guess everyone liked it!!! So here is my recipe (below the picture)

Sakura risotto (4 servings)

– 1 cup of rice, either Japanese or Italian

– 2 or 4 new carrots depending on size, mine were big so I used 2

– 2 small leeks

– 2 shiitake

– 12 sakura flowers in dry salt

– olive oil (not too fruity)

– 10 pink pepper seeds

– a bit of ground pepper

Start with the base: wash and cut the leeks and the shiitake in small pieces. In a heated pan add some olive oil and the vegetables and stir once in a while until slightly golden.

In a cup put the sakura flowers in salt and fill the cup with water to make the broth.

Wash and dice the carrots, add to the vegetables in the pan, and add the rice, roast for some time. Add the sakura broth and cook at low heat until the water is almost gone. Add then 3-4 cups of water, the pink pepper, some ground pepper, 8 of the sakura flowers. Cook at low heat. When the water is almost gone add the turnip tops cut in 2cm long pieces. Cook and stir until all the water is gone, but the whole thing is still moist. Serve immediately and use the remaining flowers to dress the plates.

Tofu

I am a big fan of tofu… most of you may say that tofu is an insipid, watery, white thing, but it is actually much more than that. I was convinced very quickly when we went to a tofu restaurant near Nezu (we used to live in Nezu) the very first months we lived in Tokyo. There was tofu in every single dish of the kaiseki course menu and it was amazing to discover all you can do with tofu. After that of course we’ve been to many other tofu restaurants, and for the scenery (though they serve not so much tofu actually) Ukai, at the foot of the Tokyo tower is without mistake a great pick. And regarding the preparation of tofu I learned a lot thanks to my cha-kaiseki classes. On thing that is always important is to drain hard tofu (momen tofu – 木綿豆腐) well. But what I realized recently is that a very well drained tofu, when heated in a pan for a short time ressembles ricotta in texture, without the milky taste. Perfect for A. who doesn’t like the taste of cheese and for me who live cheese. We have a compromise!

That’s how I’ve stared using very well drained tofu in many preparation where I may have used cheese. So, how does that work?

Drained tofu, rucola, shiitake for ravioli filling

You need to cutting boards, and a clean cloth. First start draining the tofu by pressing it between the two boards. Slightly incline the bottom one towards the sink, put the second on on top with a non breakable weight… anything you can find in the kitchen… I use miso packs or flour packs. Leave for an hour or so. Gravity will do the work.

Then put the tofu in the clean cloth and gently knead while squeezing to take the water of. Don’t be scared of squeezing hard. Once done you should obtain a rather dry to creamy texture. That’s it! Now you can use it in traditional Japanese recipes such as tofu balls with vegetables (I’ll post a recipe about that when the edamame season will arrive), or as I do, in replacement of ricotta, in quiches, in ravioli, or in pasta sauce, in salad…

Filled ravioli

Last night I used the same drained tofu for a simple pasta recipe. I had fresh and tender radish tops, and beautiful fresh anchovies and prepared penne. After draining the tofu and washing the greens I cooked them in a pan at low heat. I boiled the pasta and drained. Add to the greens and tofu, add salt, pepper and olive oil. In a small pan I grill the anchovies, add a few drops of olive oil. Served in the plates and enjoyed. That’s it, simple right?

The only issue is that draining tofu is a bit tedious, and takes time, so if you don’t have much cooking time, I recommend starting draining in the morning, by using a tea pot and a tea filter and leave in the fridge, by night it should be almost perfect.

Italy meets Japan again

Saturday I spent some time browsing cookbooks, looking at their beautiful pictures and slowly moving from the winter mood to the spring mood. I was focusing on two very different books: a Japanese macrobiotic cookbook from Brownsfield owner elder daughter Shinema Nakajima, and a Sicilian cookbook by bloggers Maria Teresa di Marco and Marie Cecile Ferre. The first one reminded me its been too long since we last ate brown rice, the second one made me crave for tomatoes, fresh anchovies, fennels and artichokes. But from the mix of both came this very simple recipe of a macrobiotic risotto made from Japanese brown rice and fresh local vegetables. Here is my recipe.

Italian x Japanese risotto (2servings)

– 70g of brown rice

– 3 shiitake

– a handful of fresh rucola

– 3-5 small tomatoes, ripe

– olive oil, salt and pepper

First of all cook the brown rice in the Japanese way. Use left over if you have some.

In a large pan heat some olive oil, wash and slice the shiitake and cook them at low heat in the oil. That will make the base of the risotto stock. Add the rice and stir well, add a 2tbs of water. Then wash and chop the rucola and the tomatoes, add and stir well. Cook for a few minutes while stirring. Add salt and pepper. I served it with daikon pickled with yuzu, that was perfect!!

Crepes or cookies

I wanted to talk about one or the other in my post today but I decided to do otherwise because my cookies recipe is great but the baking time wasn’t good (I slightly over baked them) so it needs another trial before being shared. And crepes… well… it was Chandeleur on Saturday and I thought about making crepes, but I didn’t have buckwheat flour anymore to make savory crepes so I made a few sweet crepes for tea time, but that’s not something special as I probably make crepes once a month or more. So today I wanted to talk cheese and pizza! Indeed, after all the beautiful sunny days I found some tomatoes at the farmers market. I assume they grew in a green house heated by the winter sun only. They were a beautiful red full of ripeness. I couldn’t resist… after all the winter vegetables, that would be different! They also had a little of rucola too, so instantly the idea of eating an homemade pizza came to my mind. And for that I needed some nice cheese, so we drove up to Takahide farm to buy some mozzarella.

We stayed to see the cows and the heifers, and we came back not only with mozzarella but with a new version of one of my favorite cheese there, in an aged version… simply delicious!!

Oh! For the pizza dough I use always the same recipe as here. It always works perfectly.

Ravioli with Japanese flavors

By now you must know that I love ravioli, that I love both making and eating them. With the end of year/new year holidays in Japan, most of the farmers market were off until today, so I had to buy some long lasting vegetables that would last 7-10 days and enough for having friends at home and unscheduled meals to cook, just in case… so I packed on shiitake, spinach, sweet potatoes, daikon, cabbages and carrots mainly. So when I wanted to make ravioli I was a bit falling short of options at first… but then I decided to use the ravioli recipe I learned in Florence last year: a base of potato and a sauce with mushrooms. I just twisted the recipe enough to make it Japanese style: filling of Japanese sweet potato and soya sauce, and the sauce with shiitake, spinach and a bit of grilled pork for those who like it. The result was really up to my expectations, even though I could have added a little more soya sauce. But each vegetable flavor and texture was remarkable and I and A. were both very happy with the result. So here is my recipe:

Sweet potato ravioli (2-4 servings depending on serving size, for it was 4)

For the pasta as usual:

– 100g of flour

– 1egg

– a bit of olive oil, a bit of salt

Mix all and knead until soft. Wrap and leave to rest for 30-90min.

For the filling:

– 2 medium sweet potatoes

– 2tbs of soya sauce

Boil them, when soft, drain, peel, and mash. Add a bit of water if too dry.

For the sauce:

– 1 bundle of spinach

– 4-6 large shiitake

– olive oil to your liking

– thin slices of pork if you like

Wash the vegetables, chop the spinach and slice the shiitake. In a heated pan with olive oil cook the vegetables, add the pork if you want. Add a bit of water if too dry. Keep.

Roll the dough and fill the ravioli. I used a 12-ravioli rack which has fairly large size ravioli (the dough quantities make for two racks: 24 ravioli). Mezze lune are also easy to make as in the recipe here. Fill them and boil them. Once they come to the surface take them out and add to the sauce. It doesn’t matter if a bit of cooking water comes too, on the contrary. Stir gently to cover the ravioli with the sauce and serve to eat right away.

Harbor market

Every Sunday morning from 8 to 12 there is a “harbor market” at Ohara fishing harbor. We don’t go very often because the main attractions there are fresh shellfish grilled on the spot, and there are more stalls that have ready to eat food than truly food to buy to take home and prepare. But once in a while, in particular in winter when it is much less crowded we like to go and check it out.

This time I had in mind to buy some ricotta from a local cheese farm, not Takahide, because they don’t make ricotta (and they don’t come to the market anymore) to make ravioli for lunch… a simple picture on IG had the instant effect of me wanting ravioli for lunch… craving… and because there is not much to do in the garden right now I can spend more time in my kitchen!

Not only did I find the ricotta I wanted but also some nice konbu and katsuobushi. I will write later about these two once I will start using them. So back to the ravioli: spinach-pork for A. and spinach-pork-ricotta for me. Prepared with whole wheat flour, and served only with olive oil, salt and pepper. We were so hungry and happy to have ravioli that I just forgot to take a decent shot of them. A. took a rapid one when I was about to through the last one in the water…

For the recipe, as usual for the pasta: 1egg, 100g of whole wheat flour, a bit of water. For the filling, I cooked 100g of ground pork meat with chopped spinach, added salt and pepper for A. and for mine added 2tbs of ricotta. That’s it! I rolled the dough manually and made half-moon ravioli for A. and flowers for me so that we knew which is what when serving.

Radish tops and salmon ravioli

Ravioli have always been in the very top of my preferred dish ever both to eat and cook. For me to enjoy them, they have of course to be fresh and with a green and tasty filling. Ricotta spinach are of course a classic that I enjoy all the time, but seasonally filled ravioli are always something I like to prepare and enjoy. With the autumn salmon in peak season and the beautiful radishes also, I decided to use super fresh and tender radish tops, simply blanched with grilled salmon as filling. The radish tops have a nice flavor that is very different from other greens. I already tried with spinach and dill in the past. And because it is nice for the final cooking and the final plating to have a little of a sauce I prepared a butter and pink peppercorns sauce. Here is my recipe:

Radish tops and salmon ravioli

For the pasta I used my usual recipe (1 egg for 100g of flour), but I used half of “semolina di grano duro” instead of regular flour.

For the filling:

– 100g of radish tops

– 100g of fresh salmon

– pink peppercorns

– 15g of butter

– salt and pepper

I first grilled the salmon and blanched the radish tops. Then once they had cooled down I chopped the tops thinly and crumble the salmon together, stir well, add a bit of salt.

Then I make the ravioli, rolling the pasta as thin as possible. I didn’t use a ravioli rack, but cut the dough with a medium round shape and used two to make one ravioli. In your left palm hold a small round of pasta, with the right finger, moisten in a glass of water moisten the edge of the pasta. Set half or more tea spoon of filling, then take an other round of pasta and close tight removing the air as much as possible.

Then I boiled the ravioli. In the meantime in a large pan I melted the butter, added the pink peppercorns and when the ravioli were coming out to the surface I catch them and add them to the pan. It is fine if there is still some cooking water with them. At hight heat I finished cooking them in the pan and served with a little of salt and pepper added.

Orange risotto

Sometimes the weather feels like eating something warm and with vibrant colors… this weather is just now! Rainy, getting chilly and tired… a bright orange risotto was just what I needed!!!

Carrots for the crunch, butternut for the soft, salmon for the salt and kabosu for the fresh and acid taste. That’s as simple as this! I cut the vegetables in rather small pieces to obtain a good mix and balance of texture in the mouth. I used olive oil as a base and a little of pepper. Nothing else. No broth, no salt. And just the time to have a call meeting and it’s ready to eat.

Have a great Friday!

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