Fireflies season

The end of May in Ohara is a beautiful season. The greens on the hills change from fresh greens to rich ones and the paddies from the typical yellow green if very young rice plants to a beautiful shamrock green. It is also the beginning of the rainy season, of hydrangeas blooming and warmer days. At bight it is possible for a few weeks to see fireflies.

Japanese have something for fireflies 蛍 hotaru. I didn’t recall seeing fireflies often as a child, a rare few times in Lozere, but not much. And since we moved to Japan and went to see fireflies at Chizanso in Tokyo with our friend I. who always had the best info about things to do, I kind of understand the sweet magic and the kind of nostalgia they bring. Seeing fireflies at Chizanso was great, but it is an orchestrated event when they release fireflies in the garden. While the magic is there, the artificiality of it is hard to neglect. It’s like seeing lions in a zoo…

In Ohara we are blessed with rather clean streams of water and great nature (I can’t say it is everywhere when I see the palettes of glyphosate at the garden center…) and we can see fireflies in their ecosystem. We first saw some in our garden one Sunday night, and since then every year we go for a walk when the season comes. And for sure with a bit of patience and the habituation to darkness you can spot a little green light blinking. If we want to be lazy, we walk to the nearest stream in the paddies, and there we can see plenty.

A firefly in our garden

The fireflies season is the perfect transition between the end of spring and the beginning of the summer. It brings many greens in the plate broad beans and zucchini. Tomatoes from the green house that are ripe, sweet and juicy. It inspired me for the recipe of the simple plate on the top picture: soba, fava beans and zucchini in soya sauce and a peeled tomato, also with soya sauce. I love when the juice of the tomato mix in the soya sauce, eaten together with the cold soba it is divine.

May 30, 2021

Sourdough rescue 🚑

Just as I was talking very proudly of my sourdough in my last post, it has decided to scare me like crazy by almost dying…

Indeed, I used it over the weekend to make some delicious giant campagne bread, and I found it Monday morning inert and unresponsive. Probably the lack of food and warmer temperatures it’s not been used to but the diagnosis is still unclear. It was smelling perfectly fine and I feed it as I should except that bubbles didn’t come out and texture was rather unusual. So I started to worry and panic. I devised a rescue plan of the rather large amount of sourdough starter I had. First, I split it in two, one in a dough the rest in intensive care: food every 1.5 hours for 12 hours, lots of love and mixing.

It was breaking my heart to imagine I’ve let it die, but after 9h of intensive care, the starter showed a few bubbles… it was going to be ok!

The dough… well it stayed doing nothing for 12h and then after 24h it finally was doing something. Except that in the meantime we left the country and were back to Tokyo, where I still don’t have an oven. So there were a few options: flat breads in a pan, bread in a skillet, or steamed bread. I opted for the latter and was planning to make stuffed steamed breads, except that work was too busy and I didn’t have time to prepare the filling. So I simply prepared 8 balls of dough, and after work I steamed them to obtain round little breads that we enjoyed with a mix of peas, asparagus, chopped pork filet and onions from the garden and soya sauce, that would have been the perfect seasonal filling, but it ended up outside as a side. When cooking while working one needs to be flexible…

So not only did I rescued my sourdough, but we had delicious little buns to eat!!!

May 25, 2021

Giant breads…

When I started making bread I was so unsure of the results that I was making bread for a single breakfast, basically with 160-180g of flour. After I became more confident I increased slightly and went to double, but baking with yeast, the bread had a hard time keeping fresh in the Japanese weather: too dry in winter and too humid almost all the rest of the time. So my basic flour amount stayed around 300g for a loaf most of the time, unless we had guests and the bread would go in no time. But I felt it was such a waste of time and energy. Kneading 300g or 500g of flour is not much different, and heating the oven once is so much more energy efficient.

Since I’ve baked with my sourdough Lois, as I was experimenting I went down to smaller loafs again for a bit, and increasing their size little by little, I also got rid of the scale. I do everything using my feeling, learning to understand how the dough is rather than trusting the scale always. Indeed, I feed my sourdough also without a scale, more than often I keep rather hard but when I want to wash its home I then liquify it to move it before making it hard again when moving in again. And with the weather changing really quickly, the scale was no good to tell me how much hydrated should be the dough, but my hands are rather good. It also helps when working with different kind of flours, like I do.

What I am targeting is a large loaf that can make 3 breakfasts and eventually a few extra slices for tea-time, for this I use the equivalent of 500g or slightly more of flour, which happens to be perfect to use a large part of my sourdough before it becomes too voluminous!!!

My all-time favorite is definitely campagne bread using about 20% of whole wheat flour or of buckwheat flour. The others that I love baking are the boxed whole wheat bread with nuts, seeds and dry fruits, I love the shape of its slices and the patterns the fruits etc… create in it. or the naturally very sweet whole wheat and chestnut flour bread. While chestnut flour contains no gluten you obtain a denser crumb but all the same delicious.

What is your favorite bread recipe?

May 23, 2021

Henon – 淡竹

Probably the very last of the wild spring vegetables, undeniably not the easiest to find in a shop, and a very fun one to go and pick in the forest. We discovered henon 淡竹 (hachiku) when our friends in Tsunan invited us to go and pick them in late May 2010, and I remember it at as a lot of fun foraging them. Unfortunately after that, rare were the times we had a chance to eat some. And I longed for eating some, but didn’t venture in unknown forest to try to search for some. So you can easily imagine how happy I was when I found some at one of the local farmers cooperatives we shop in Chiba. Henon is a sort of bamboo shoot. But contrarily to takenoko the are thin and even more tender. And they don’t have such tartness. They are much more refined.

With more than 10 years since I last helped K. preparing them, I was a bit unsure about how to proceed and how to dress them, but I decided to do it my way: simple and rapid.

So, as for other bamboo shoots, I peeled them carefully, blanched them until tender, which takes only about 10min.

Then cut and dressed them. As I was roasting a piece of pork filet I decided to use the jus and deglazed the henon in the jus, where I added 2tbs of soya sauce. The result was exactly what I wanted. I know I could have made a more Japanese-cuisine like preparation, but the pork juice and the soya sauce are a sublime mix for pretty much any vegetable, and the magic worked again this time.

Unfortunately there might not be too often henon recipes here, unless we find a spot to harvest some, but if you happen to find some I more than recommend you try cooking them!!

May 18, 2021

Whole wheat bread

Having a nice loaf of bread waiting for you for breakfast is one of the many reasons I started making bread. Controlling what is inside and where ingredients come from is also as much important. I have had a hard time finding nice flour, I started with using flour I would bring back from France and shifted to Japanese flour, but honestly finding organic or chemical free local flour has been quite a challenge. And when I finally found it (アオヤギ製粉), discussing with the owner to see if they provide me with whole wheat flour, he told me there will be no harvest for the next 3 years because they need to replace some of their equipment… huge deception… so I order pretty much all their stock to support them (hoping it would enable them to fix their equipment faster) and be sure I would have enough for a year (that’s how long I think I can keep it in the Japanese weather). But I am pretty sure I won’t, now that I realized I use about 5kg of flour per month!!!! So I have turned back to the more commercial organic flour I’ve been finding at the supermarket, made in Japan but sold in tiny 500g bags (and this is the big size, the normal being 300g!!!). But at least there is some whole wheat flour which makes me happy. Indeed one of my favorite bread is pumpernickel and the other is a rich whole wheat bread with nuts, seeds, raisins etc… very dense, energetic and delicious! It reminds me some of the breads we often had at home, toasted with butter. So let me share my recipe.

Some of my flour stock… 20kg of flour is basically 4 months of bread making and pasta, quiche, scones, crepes…

Energy packed bread

500g of whole wheat flour
10g of salt
150g of sourdough
30g of brown sugar
70g of sultanas
70g of whole hazelnut
30g of pumpkin seeds
You can add more but I like it that way….
Water

In a large bowl mix together the flour, the sourdough, the salt and sugar. Add water as needed when kneading to obtain a soft slightly wet dough. Then add the nuts, seeds, sultanas. Knead to obtain an homogeneous mixture. Leave to rest for 6 to 24h depending on temperatures. After it has grown, shape it and leave again for another 2-3h. Bake 30 min at 230deg.

May 11, 2021

Going blank…

Times like this one happen more then often… when we are so busy with “other things” that cooking comes last… it also synchronizes with lack in novel ingredients and a total blank in terms of inspiration. So I am back in autopilot mode. Cooking simple, ultra simple things that we love and that don’t take much time. I think also the technical issues I am facing with WordPress recurrently are not helping, as most of the pleasure of sharing a recipe or an experience here is destroyed by the “error uploading” message that pops again and again.

So, food has been nourishing so that a morning in the ocean can be followed by an afternoon in the garden. Spring brings a lot of work in the garden. Everything suddenly grows so quickly. And this year plums may be 2 to 3 weeks earlier than usual, so better be ready…

A simple chick peas and tomatoes spicy raggu with a generous slice of sourdough bread

But probably my most “creative” recipe of the past 10 days is a revised version of the cocoa cream for a vegan coconut all white dessert. This recipe of the cocoa cream really got me into making desserts, and it is so easy to make variations of it (I have a few others in mind). So while I’m trying to find new ideas, or rediscover old ones (which the original reason for which I started this blog), let me share this super easy one.

Coconut cream (4 servings)

200ml of coconut cream
20g of corn starch
30g of sugar
50ml of water

In a pan, warm the coconut cream, add the all the ingredients and stir until it starts thickening. Serve ib bowl, let cool down before eating.

See? That s’ simple isn’t it ?

May 6, 2021

Flounder – ヒラメ

One of the great advantages of living near the ocean is to have access to nice fresh, local fish. One may think options are limited as they depend on the weather and the season, but freshness of locally fished wild fishes is incomparable and price often too. So yes there are times when the only fish you find is bonito or tuna, sometimes snapper, and at the moment it’s flounder. But I must say that I have always loved flounder. My grandmother would make delicious ones. My mother too. So it’s a kind of “full of memories” flavor and texture. So every year when the flounder season comes I am always pleased with it. My favorite way of eating it, as for most fish we eat, is simply grilled in a pan without any fat.

Last night I decided to upgrade the recipe a bit by adding a large amount of chiseled parsley and a bit of panko grilled in a pan. It looks like a classic combination you would use for an oven grilled fish recipe, but my oven is way to big to grill only a tiny piece of fish so I created a pan roast version. It works amazingly well, and allows for better control of the fish cooking time and the parsley mix. Which in the end may actually be better. I served the whole with some leftover parpadelle with a thick tomato sauce. Here is my recipe.

Parsley crust flounder

A piece of flounder. I use a piece for sashimi from a big fish to have a thick piece
A handful of parsley
1 tbs of panko (I served with pasta so went easy on panko, but you can use up to double if you want for maximum crunchiness)
A drizzle of olive oil

Wash and chisel the parsley. Put in a pan, and turn on the gas to medium. Heat for a few minutes while stirring to remove all the moisture. Add the panko. Continue heating and stirring once in a while until the panko starts being golden.

In the meantime cut the piece of fish into portion of the size you want and grill them in a pan at high heat. Flip once.

When perfectly cooked serve the parsley and top with the wish, or the otherway around. Enjoy!

May 1, 2021

Double tap ashitaba gnocchi

For those who know me, it is no secret we love ashitaba 明日葉 since we visited Hachijojima a long time ago. Actually ashitaba is a native plant of Japan and more particularly Izu islands (Hachijojima…), Miura peninsula and Boso peninsula (where ouf country house is). So imagine how happy I am every year when the season comes!!! One of my all-time favorite is my recipe of ashitaba is ashitaba gnocchi, that in my opinion I don’t make often enough. And this time I decided to go for a double ashitaba gnocchi+ashitaba pesto.

Its taking the flavor to an extra level of green and refreshment. The recipe is simple as always and not very different than the previous ones. But just in case you would need one…

Ashitaba gnocchi & pesto (2 servings)

2 potatoes
A bouquet of ashitaba
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
Flour

Boil the whole potatoes until tender. Peel and mash. Blanch the ashitaba. Blend without water until smooth. Filter half of the blended mixture through a tea net, jeep both the juice and the leaf puree.

Mix the leaf puree with the potatoes. Add flour to obtain a slightly sticky dough. Shape the gnocchi. Add a but more flour if needed while shaping them.

Pour back the juice in the blender, add olive oil, salt and pepper. Then move all to a pan and heat at medium heat while stirring once in a while.

Boil a large amount of water, and poach the gnocchi. When they float move them to the pan and roll them in the sauce to coat them. Serve and enjoy right away.

April 25, 2021

Pickling

I don’t know if it’s because of the sunny and warmer days, the abundance of vegetables that I love, or seeing the rapid growing of the plums on the trees that are the prospect of a new harvesting season and making plum fermented syrup 梅シーロップ, and salt fermented plums uneboshi 梅干し, but I’ve recently been in a mood for pickling. I think it is also because I realized I need to clear space for the new bins that will populate the shelf and the fridge soon, so it means emptying all almost finished jars and bottles. Rather than just tossing the precious ume zu in the drain, or the beautiful red shiso (parilla) leaves after they have served for the plum and their conservation I thought of a recipe I was taught by our Hakuba’s favorite restaurant owner and cook which consists of pickling cucumber in ume zu. I then extended it to red shiso leaves too. So my pickling repertoire is rather simple. Nothing about nuka, that stinks and is sometimes a bit difficult to control. As I said, I use the simplest pickling methods: salt pickling 塩漬け shiozuke, ume zu 梅酢 pickling called shibazuke 柴漬けand red shiso ume zu pickling. It is really quick to make if you do asa zuke 浅漬け which a rapid and “shallow” pickling and the result is always a nice add-on to a Japanese meal. I pickle only a small amount at a time and to make the process faster I usually cut the vegetables (otherwise the pickling time is longer and I forget that I had pickled something!!!). So simple and delicious that I’m not sure why I don’t pickle much! Anyway… here are a few very simple recipes to make your own Japanese pickles. You can adjust the amount of salt to you liking.

Salt “shallow” pickles 浅漬け

1 Japanese cucumber
1/2tsp of salt

Wash and pat dry the cucumber. Slice thinly. In a bowl, put the cucumber slices, sprinkle the salt on top. Put a weight on the cucumber slices to slightly squeeze them. What I would usually do is cut a piece of cooking wrap or similar and put a tinier heavy bowl on top. Keep for 2-4h at room temperature depending on the season and the pickling level. Beware, the amount of liquid in the bowl may increase quite dramatically, so either use a large enough bowl, or put in a tray to avoid overflow catastrophe! After 4h the pickles will be ready to eat. The longer the softer. Keep in the fridge after 12h and eat rapidly because it is already sliced.

You can use the same recipe with other vegetables that contain less water, in that case you may want to do a 5% salt brine with 5g of salt and 100g of water, and use the brine to just cover the vegetables. You can also pickle for longer, or not cut the vegetables and pickle the whole vegetables (pickling time would be 8-12h). In that case the weight to apply on the preparation is about twice the weight of the pickled vegetables and once pickled they apparently keep for a few days in the fridge, in a airtight container without the brine. Honestly I pickle just the quantity I want us to it, so never keep them!

Ume zu pickles shibazuke 柴漬け

Cucumber, turnip, daikon…
2tbs of ume zu

While this recipe requires ume zu, the salty juice produced by the plum when pickling them, it is a very delicious and simple recipe. Ume zu can be bought in local farmers markets in Japan or at cooperative. I use the one I kept from my plum pickling.

For rapid pickling I wash and cut the vegetables, pour the ume zu and then put a weight on top.

Red shiso ume zu pickling

White vegetables of your choice: daikon, turnip…
Red shiso leaves that have already served to pickle plum

Same as above, this recipe uses a by-product of plum pickling: the red shiso leaves that are added to plum to add flavor and color. This may not be easy to find of the shelf. But next time you pickle plums think about reusing it!

Same here, wash and cut the vegetables. Set them in a container top with the shiso leaves. Apply a weight on it for a few hours and enjoy!

April 20, 2021