Category: Italian food

Butternut squash…

Since last autumn there has been a lot of butternut squash on the shelves at the farmers market, really a lot! I love to cook it because the taste is more subtle than that of kabocha. So since we came back from the summer holidays I have cooked plenty: in lasagna, in cold soup, in risotto, there is also ravioli… Since the summer seems to be completely finished: no very hot days anymore and the nights are almost chilly, it is a perfect ingredient to make the transition to autumn cooking. Last night I prepared it in a new variation. Instead of steaming it I cut it and cooked it in a bit of butter in frypan with fresh sage from the garden. I used it to accomodate some simple tagliatelle. Of course you can replace butter by olive oil, but sometimes it feels like cooking with butter. Add some fresh sage of top and some black pepper.

I wish you a happy September and a great week!

Butternut squash lasagna

With a tight schedule: in Nagoya yesterday, a rehearsal for the show next Tuesday where our robot appears, a few lectures and talks to prepare and the preparation for moving in less than a month, days are pretty short! But I am always happy to prepare a dinner for friends and never cancel an invitation! And with a bit of planning and organization and waking up 30min earlier to have the time to prepare the vegetables and start cooking nothing is impossible. Of course for week days dinner I usually cook simpler recipes, and to celebrate A. new job and our new life I prepared an Italian inspired dinner. In that case, lasagna are a very good option (though they are hard to plate!!!). This time, I had a beautiful butternut squash and used it as the base. I only added a bit of chicken breast and rosemary and topped with gratted mozzarella. Everybody loved it!!!

Butternut squash lasagna 

– 1 butternut squash  

– 2 skinned chicken breast

– 1 or 2 branches of fresh or dried rosemary

– lasagna pasta ( homemade, fresh or dry) 

– some cream

– some olive oil

– salt and pepper

– mozzarella to grat

First cut the butternut squash and steam it with the rosemary. Once it has cooled down, peel it and remove the seeds. In a pan greased with olive oil cook the chicken breast until golden. In a blender mix the chicken and the butternut squash, add a few leaves of rosemary, and a little of cream. It must not be liquid but rather a purée. If you use dry lasagna pasta poached them. In a large oven dish greased with olive oil lay a layer of pasta, cover with a layer of the chicken-butternut mix, add a bit of cream, add a layer of pasta, then of mix then a bit of cream… up to where you want. Finish with a layer of pasta, and cover with gratted mozzarella. Bake in the oven at 150 deg until the mozzarella is golden!

Enjoy! 

Two way meal

Or two recipes with the same ingredients. One the original version and the second a leftover version. Both delicious and easy to prepare.  The original recipe is a Japanese one: rice with green peas and red miso grilled cod. This recipe is made with simple and easy to find fresh ingredients. You need fresh cod filet, red miso (work with other miso if you can’t find red one), Japanese rice, a handful of green peas. Additionally I served also horse beans and green beans just blanched, but optional. Cook the rice in a rice cooker or in a regular pan. Add the green peas about 7min before the end of cooking. With a flexible knife spread 1tbsp of miso evenly on the fish (opposite to skin side). In a heated pan or in the oven grill the miso side of the fish. Serve when cooked to your liking. I served the fish on top of the horse beans and the green beans on the side.

With the leftovers of rice and fish I decided to make some rice croquettes, something between arancini and accras. I mixed the rice with green peas with the fish, added one egg, a little of flour and pan fry them until golden. Served with a fresh lettuce and tomatoes salad.

Have a great weekend! 

Salmon spinach ravioli

Ravioli, in particular jumbo ones, are one of my favorite dish, both to eat and prepare. Or may be I just enjoy making them because I enjoy eating them so much!!! 

This time I made spinach and salmon ravioli, a king of classic I guess, but so very delicious! 

The pasta is always the same for two as a whole meal: 100g of semolina or manitoba, 1 egg, 2tbs of olive oil, a bit of salt. For the filling I used 1 filet of fresh salmon and a bouquet of fresh spinach. In a small pan with 1cm of water I add the salmon and the washed spinach. I cook first under cover, then I dry the mixture at low heat after squeezing it into rough purée, add some black pepper. Once it is dry enough I put it too cool down. Roll the dough and male the ravioli. Finally just boil them and serve with cream, butter or olive oil, as you like!

Quick pizza

Finding some fresh rucolla at the farmers market suddenly triggered my craving for a vegan fresh pizza. Nothing more simple, with the delicious little new onions and the small very ripe tomatoes I had already. Making pizza dough for the crust is really simple, and with the warm weather the rising time and proving time are really short. This time I almost didn’t let if proof and the crust was thin and crusty, delicious.

Pizza dough

 – 170g of flour

– 6g of fresh yeast  

– 80g of water

– 15g of olive oil

– 5g of salt

– 1tbs of sugar

As for any regular dough, mix all the ingredients and knead until smooth. Let rise for 1h in a warm place. Work the dough on a flat surface and roll it to the size and shape you want.  

Now you can top it with whatever you want and preheat the oven at 200deg. For the topping I used small tomatoes halves and small new onion first, with a few drops of olive oil. I baked for 15min. Then rose the temperature to 230deg and baked an other 5-8min. Stopped the oven, add the washed rucolla and keep 2min in the hot oven before serving.

Have a beautiful weekend  

White asparagus with parmigiano cream

One ingredient again that is not that easily found in Japan and that you can find everywhere at farmers markets in France at this time of the year: white asparagus! Indeed, in Japan green asparagus are quite common but white are rather rare and most of the time imported, so I never buy some. But in France in spring it is really common.

One recipe I love that I tried when eating at Thoumieux (not the Brasserie, the Hotel Thoumieux restaurant) and prepared by chef Jean-Francois Piege, was white asparagus with just melted comte cheese. The dish was normally served with black truffle (a common pairing with white asparagus), which I don’t like so mine didn’t have it. And the balance between the creamy asparagus and the salty cheese was perfect. I really loved it. But white asparagus also go very well with creamy sauce. I had a delicious combination at Piere in Osaka the other day. But my mother had her own recipe that she taught me. Very simple, and a good combination: parmegiano cream! For that she first clean the asparagus and peel them, removing the hardest parts. Then simply steam them. In a little pan she warm some cream and add gratted parmegiano, about 1tbs per person. Once the parmegiano has melted she serves on the hot asparagus. Add a little bit of black pepper for the color if you want.

Now I am back to Paris, and hotel life so no more cooking in the next days.. 

Kumquat and mackerel pasta

This recipe is inspired by my Sicilian cookbook and I wanted to make it auite sometime ago but I couldn’t find the proper fresh fish. Not the right season. But I finally got it!!! The recipe works with anchovies, sardines or little mackerels (what I got). I used fish prepared for sashimi so it’s very easy to make. The original recipe used some chapelure (dry bread crumbs, or panko) but instead I used hazelnut powder. The spinach and pasta are my addition too. 

Kumquat and makerel rolls: 

– 5 to 10 anchovies, sardines or little mackerels (鯵-アジ)  depending on the size

– 10 wooden toothpicks  

– 4 tbs of hazelnut powder

– olive oil for the cooking

Wash the kumquats and cut the stem and bottom. Wash and prepare the fish in filets. Roll the filets around the kumquats and fix with a toothpick. Depending on the size of the filets you may need 1 or 2 to wrap the whole fruit. Put the hazelnut powder in a small dish and roll the fish in. In a heated and olive oil greased frypan cook until almost golden. Serve like this, or as I did with pasta, spinach…

Spinach-chicken ravioli

It is spring today and I am down with very strong pollen allergy, my head is spinning, my eyes are itching and I almost couldn’t move this morning. But I am talking at a public event and I hate to cancel my interventions, let people down. So A. has helped me take my things together, prepared breakfast, drove me to where I work today. Without him I’ll still be lying on the sofa. Now I’m getting ready. It’s going to be a tough afternoon but I’m gonna try! Well, while I wasn’t yet dying with pollen allergy I made some little ravioli. Same pasta asusual, with a filling of spinach and chicken. I wanted some cod or salmon but nothing that really attracted me at the supermarket so it ended being chicken. I cooked the chicken, the spinach and a tablespoon of cream cheese. Then filled the ravioli and served with olive oil. Super delicious!

Kumquat-shiitake-pork pasta

A new video testing with the preparation of a a singular recipe: pasta with a sauce made with shiitake, kumquats and thin slices of pork. A very nice and surprising combination that puts a bit of warmth and colors in a gloomy rainy day. Tell me how you like the video or what you would like to see. I’m testing several options.

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