Category: Vegan

Chickpea pasta

When we traveled to Australia last May, I’ve totally fallen in love with lentil pasta and chickpea pasta found in an organic vegan shop. I’m not particularly interested in gluten-free food but taste wise it was really very interesting. So I decided to try to make my own ones from chickpea flour. I knew it wouldn’t have the consistency of regular wheat pasta because it is gluten-free, so I was expecting something hard to roll, but in fact it wasn’t as bad as I imagined. I was first thinking of making farfalle, but I ran out of time, so I just rolled it manually and made some short tagliatelle. Again I new that long pasta wouldn’t hold together and that the pasta machine wouldn’t help here. The result was amazingly delicious. Probably even better with a stronger olive oil and cold. I served them with bacon, zucchini and mallow jute.

Definitely a recommendation and much easier to make than I thought!

Chickpea pasta

– 150g of chickpea flour, plus some for rolling

– water

In a bowl ready with the chickpea flour, a water little by little to obtain a nice mix, not too sticky. Set for rest for 1h.

Then knead a bit shain and on a floured top rolle the dough, cut the pasta.

Boil them and enjoy!!!

Malabar spinach & okra

Now that the summer is blasting the green vegetables options are narrowing. Over the zucchini and the French beans… cucumber, jute mallow and okra are the most important green staples for me… but the Malabar spinach is curiously still on the market stands. I love Malabar spinach so much that I continue buying some anytime I see some… and I just discovered that Malabar spinach and okra are a perfect match, and even better when you add shiso.

I simply wash and cut the Malabar spinach and the okra and cook them at medium to high heat in a greased frypan. They both must stay crisp. I then add a few leaves of shiso chopped thinly. I serve it with soba or with falafel, but it can be used with anything else: grilled fish, grilled chicken, plain rice, grilled eggplants…

Have a great Sunday!!

Caponata

When you are super pleased to invent a new recipe that looks like delicious… and talk about it over the phone with your mom and she tells you that your brilliant idea not only already exists but is actually a classic Sicilian recipe!!! I must have Italian blood at some point!!!!

Anyway, this brilliant and delicious summer recipe is caponata! Serve with giant pasta and a bit of salad on the side. Here is my recipe.

Caponata (for 2 people)

– 3 Japanese eggplants

– 1 branch of celery

– 1tsp of capers

– olive oil

– 1tsp of vinegar

Dice in small cubes the eggplants. In a pan heated with olive oil cooked them at medium to high heat until golden. Stir often. Wash and dice the celery, up to the leaves. Add to the eggplants. Cook for 5-10 min at medium heat. Add the capers, and finish with the vinegar. Eat like that or with pasta as presented in the picture. Also good with grated Parmigiano.

Wafu pasta

The way of preparing pasta is unlimited and using Japanese ingredients with pasta may be really strange at first but it is not at all so strange in the end, it’s actually rather good. They are called wafu pasta (和風パスタ) and are actually quite common in Japan, they are regular pasta (most often spaghetti) with a dressing that uses Japanese typical ingredients such as meitaiko, nori… At first I didn’t like this mix too much, probably because it is often served in old not so nice cafe places, but I slowly got used to the idea and actually now enjoy preparing some.

I prepared a summer wafu pasta recipe with crushed edamame, jute mallow and tomatoes with olive oil. It is so simple but so fresh and summer like that I’m thinking I will prepare more wafu pasta in the future!

In the mean a typhoon is coming to Tokyo, keep dry and safe and have a nice weekend!

Some new greens

Every season brings a new kind of greens to the table, not just seasonal but also things I have never seen or cooked before. That’s what is fun with shopping at local farmers markets. Each one has some different products. When I shop in Ohara, I don’t find the same things than when I shop in Kuniyoshi, 10km inland or in Ohtaki, just a little further inland. There is always something I have never seen, or something rare in Ohara. For example cresson cannot be found easily in Ohara but inland yes!!! This time I’ve found a new type of green with beautiful thick and shiny green leaves and hollow stems. I used them like spinach somehow but it has a more grassy taste. And with the heat settling in Tokyo I prepared a simple dish with French green lentils, this new green blanched with okra, olive oil and curcuma.

Stay cool!

Gaspacho!!!

I used to prepare a lot of gaspacho in the past, using canned tomatoes… “in the past” was probably 15 or 20 years ago. Then I stopped buying canned tomatoes and never felt that the tomatoes in the supermarket were good enough for such a simple recipe that requires very good tomatoes… and then we started to buy tomatoes in Isumi, the giant very ripe ones, full of sun, flavor and sweetness, the perfect tomatoes for tomato sauce and gaspacho. So now I can make gaspacho again!!!

The recipe I make now is really ultra simple. Before I was using more ingredients in particular shallots, now I make it with only tomatoes and cucumbers, and add a bit of spices: paprika and chilly pepper, salt and olive oil. Here is my recipe for a cold and refreshing starter for the summer that you is best prepared a few hours or more before and kept refrigerated until serving.

Gaspacho (4 medium size servings)

– 3 large ripe tomatoes

– 1 small cucumber

– 2 tbs of olive oil

– 1 tsp of paprika

– 1/4 tsp of chilly powder

– salt and pepper

Boil some water and boil the tomato 30 to 60s to peel them. Peel and cut roughly the tomatoes. Wash and cut roughly the cucumber. In a blender mix all the vegetables until liquid. Add the spices, salt and pepper. Keep refrigerated. When serving add olive oil, stir and serve.

Enjoy the summer!!!

Potato gnocchi x olive oil

I’m a great great fan of potato gnocchi. I love them just boiled with olive oil, or with tomatoes and basil. I love them grilles in a pan with olive oil and salt. I love them in more complex dressings (all my gnocchi recipes here!)… I also enjoy preparing them a lot, the texture of the potatoes and the flour together is quite unique and enjoyable to knead.

So when one our neighbor gave us a dozen of large potatoes, my first idea was to make gnocchi!

My first gnocchi recipe had egg in it, but once I tried without and discovered after discussing with an Italian friend that sone Italian recipes of gnocchi don’t have eggs in it.

So it’s really just potatoes and flour, and as little flour as possible makes the taste of the gnocchivery potato like which I kind of like.

I serve them most of the time simply with fresh tomatoes and basil from the garden. What I realized recently is that to be perfect, a tasteful olive oil, a bit of salt and pepper are mandatory. Last time I made gnocchi I only had some “regular” very mild virgin oil and it didn’t work well. The flavor of the olive oil was too bland, just an average olive oil, and it didn’t highlight the taste of the potato. For gnocchi you want an olive oil that has a good backbone, a strong olive taste without being bitter or too blazing either. That’s the key to enjoying gnocchi!

Parmigiano is optional…

Kohlrabi and edamame salad

As I was telling you, kohlrabi is my new best cooking ingredient. Sautéed it is great with other vegetables, pasta… but kohlrabi is also delicious raw. Many recipes I saw on the internet inspired me while looking for ideas how to cook it. And if the weather is called one day it is warm and sunny the next, so a simple salad with raw kohlrabi is always a great option. When the kohlrabi is juicy and crunchy and very refreshing. As I said in my previous post, it is really nice with olive oil, so no headache about the dressing. To make the salad a little Japanese style I added boiled edamame (the season is just starting), some brocoli sprouts and a bit of sesame. For the kohlrabi I grated it with a mandolin and remove the extra juice by gently pressing it. Simple and super delicious…

The next thing I am wondering now is with which herbs and spices to try it… If you have any idea, please share with me! I’ll be happy to try.

Sansho

One of the first thing I planted in the garden 6 years ago was herbs: rosemary, mint, sage, parsley, basil and a sansho shrub. I wanted to be able to go down the garden when I was cooking and puck whatever herb I needed. The rosemary and mint did really well, and they are still there, growing and spreading! The basil and the parsley never survive the winter so I replant some every year. The sage survives the the mild winters but not the cold ones. The sansho? It grows at a pace I didn’t imagine! Actually after a while I realized there was already a sansho shrub in the garden but at a very inconvenient place so I took it and gave it to our neighbor. Sansho is great because you can use both the fruits and the leaves.

After trying a few recipes of simmered sansho with konbu… I decided to prepare them in a manner that will allow to keep them longer and eat them all year round. Indeed, the shrub is growing and the number of fruits too, but it is difficult eating more than four of five grains at the time because it is really very fragrant. I found a recipe of saumure for sansho so I have decided to try it. It was awfully simple to prepare but it needs to be kept 3 months before eating… so we’ll see in September…

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