Category: Vegetarian

Blanquette… don’t misunderstand with blanket!!!

Blanquette (pronounce “blanket”, but don’t get confused) is a very French, very traditional dish that my grandmother would often prepare when we had family lunches. She would make it with veal meat. But I guess everyone has its own recipe. Hers would also includes some green olives. It’s been a long time since I have quit eating veal… and a few times, long ago, I prepared some with chicken breast, but to be honest this is something I have not prepared in years if not a decade!!! Yet with carrots and mushrooms in the fridge, it suddenly reminded me of blanquette, and felt like I would do a vegetable only version, and eat it with steamed basmati rice for a change. When you use only vegetables it is rather quick to prepare and ended up being a great dinner dish after work and workout. So here’s my recipe, and a few variations possible to twist it to your liking! Enjoy!

Blanquette (2 servings as main dish)

  • 3 carrots
  • 5-10 mushrooms depending on size
  • 1 leaf of laurel
  • Salt and pepper
  • 15g of butter
  • 1tbs of flour
  • Water

All the following are optional

  • 10 green olives
  • 1 chicken breast
  • 1 leak…

Melt the butter in a pan. Wash and cut the vegetables. Cut mushrooms in four, carrots in bite size, leak in small chunks, chicken in bite size. Add to the melted butter and stir well to coat them, at low heat. Add the flour little by little while stirring, to make the roux, then add water to just half cover. Add salt and pepper and the laurel. Cook at low heat until the liquid turns into a thick and creamy texture (if too thick just add a bit of water and cook a bit longer, same if you think you want your vegetables more tender). Add the olives if you use some, stir again. And serve hot with rice (not Japanese rice, better with long grain rice)

I hope you love lemons!!!

As much as I do!!! I’ve always loved lemons, and lemon juice. In France and in Italy when every one goes to the cafe to have an expresso, I would either have a freshly squeezed lemon, when it’s cold in winter, with some hot water in it. That’s really something I love about cafes, and that, with freshly squeezed orange, is probably the only fresh thing you can have.

Our lemon tree this year had a lot of flowers but none went to maturity so we’ll have no fruits. So when my secretary sent me a giant box filled with giant lemons from her garden, I can only be thankful, and super happy. Who doesn’t love no chemical at all grown vegetables or fruits???

It took me a bit of time to think about what to cook… I love lemon tarts, lemon cakes, lemon squares… but I wanted to try something else… so while sipping hot lemon, I browsed the net for some recipes and found a lemon brownie recipe. Buttery and sweet, that would be a hit with A. No doubt!

Except that the recipe I found was a little odd: they didn’t say when to put the sugar, the proportion of butter was just too much and all sounded a bit awkward, so while using a classic chocolate recipe I came up with my own lemon brownie recipe, and it was great (lucky I cut the butter by a fourth, it is already very buttery!!!)

Enjoy! It is really super easy!!!

Lemon brownie (makes a large pie dish for at least 6 pieces)

  • 180g of flour
  • 150g of sugar
  • 150g of butter
  • 4 eggs
  • The zest of one large lemon or two small
  • The juice of one large juicy lemon or two smaller or less juicy
  • A pinch of sal
  • A pinch of baking soda

Melt the butter. In a large bowl mix the flour, the salt, the baking soda and the lemon zest, add the butter and stir.

In another bowl, whisk the eggs, the sugar and the lemon juice. Add to the previous bowl and stir. Set in a buttered and floured pie dish to have about 1.5cm thickness.

Bake 30min at 180degrees. That’s it!!!

Chickpea velouté

Every time I receive a parcel from my parents from France, there is inevitably some of my favorite staples in it. Chickpeas and chickpea flour are part of them. They are made by an acquaintance and I love cooking with them. So yesterday I decided to cook a big batch of chickpeas and I used most them in raggu with other vegetables etc… but I ended up with about two handfuls remaining and it was lunch time… and it was a bit of a chilly wind outside, I have had a long walk so wanted something warming… it would be soup. While minestrone with chickpeas is quite common in Italy, I opted for a version where the chickpeas are blended to obtain a creamy consistency. I added an hard boiled egg on top may be because I wanted one but it is totally optional.

Want to try my recipe of the chickpeas velouté? Here it is!!!

Chickpeas velouté (1 serving)

  • Two handful of boiled chickpeas
  • Water
  • 1tbsp of olive oil
  • Cumin powdered
  • Paprika
  • Turmeric
  • Black pepper grounded

In the bowl of your blender put the chickpeas, 1 glass of water and 1tbs of olive oil. Blend. If it is too thick add a bit more water. Add the spices and blend again. Move to a pan and heat slowly. Serve and enjoy!

I am sure you could add cream and other things to make the soup richer and silkier, but I like simple things and I prefer olive oil rather than cream… so that’s my way of doing it!

Fresh ginger

Just after myoga, fresh ginger season is starting. Both plants may look very similar, but in ginger we eat the root mainly. Unfortunately we don’t have ginger growing in our garden yet, so I usually buy fresh ginger at the farmers market. I’m big fan of candied ginger, and prepared some sometimes, but so far I didn’t get time. Work has been really busy, and everyday is full from morning to evening, if not with work, with surfing, gardening and trying to get familiar with Pistache. Progresses in any of the above are really slow: I’m getting better at spinning but it’s not quite yet very nice… the new garden soil is slowly shaping up, very slowly… and the cat… hum she’s around a lot but it is still too early to get anywhere close…

Pistache

All that to say that I didn’t make candied ginger, but instead used the fragrant roots for honey drinks, and for a delicious brioche. The drinks are easy, I just peel and slice thinly the root. Add a tablespoon of honey and top with hot water. For the brioche, the recipe is below.

Hot ginger

Ginger and lemon brioche

  • 400g of flour
  • 3 eggs
  • 100g of butter
  • 50g of brown sugar
  • 100g of fresh sourdough
  • 1 root of fresh ginger grated with its juice too or ginger powder
  • The zest and juice of one lemon or lemon extract

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and knead until smooth and soft. Leave for as much as it needs to grow. That will depends on the room temperature. Once the sourdough has clearly worked, flatten the dough, wait 15min and shape (I used a cake dish). Leave for another 1h or 2 before baking at 200deg for 40min or until golden.

Breakfast with the ginger and lemon brioche

Milk bread

I use to make a lot of fancy breads for breakfast, brioches, viennois bread, milk breads, sugar breads… but since I started using my sourdough Lois, almost a year ago, and was learning how it works, I focused on breads with less ingredients. Yet, milk breads for breakfast are really delicious. And since we now have milk in the fridge 4 days a week or so, I really wanted to make milk breads with milk and sourdough. Originally I planned to do a white flour milk bread but I soon realized that I had no more white flour and all I had was whole wheat flour, so it would be whole wheat milk breads. And rather than making several small breads that dry out rapidly I opted for a giant version that I baked in my panettone mold.

The result was a very soft and mildly sweet bread with a beautiful crumb. so let me share my recipe.

Whole wheat flour mills bread

  • 350g of whole wheat flour
  • 200ml of milk
  • 100g of sourdough
  • 40g of brown sugar
  • 8g of salt
  • Eventually a bit of water

Note that the above quantities are indications. They may need adjustment depending on the type of flour, the humidity in the air, and your liking.

In a bowl put all the ingredients but the water and knead. If the dough is too dry add a bit of water, or milk. Knead until the dough is smooth.

Let rest at room temperature for 4h or until the dough is significantly more voluminous.

I used a panettone mold lined with cooking paper to shape the bread. Made two cuts on top and waited 1h before baking at 200degrees for 40min (I used a bamboos stick to test if the core was well done). Adjust the baking time to the size and shape of your breads.

That’s it!

Potato salad with Japanese flair

I often forget how much we love boiled potatoes. I always have the impression it takes longer to prepare than other ingredients and usually our carbs end up being either pasta, or rice, or a dough of any kind: a quiche, a pie, a stuffed bread etc… You can argue that making a quiche or stuff bread takes more time than boiling and peeling potatoes and you are absolutely right!!!!

So, once in a while I remember how much we love them and boil a few. And when the season of cucumber is at its peak I love to make potato salad.

One can think of so many variations of potato salad that two are never the same! Once thing that I really love is the mix boiled potatoes and hard boiled eggs, and since I had a lot of fresh green shiso leaves I decided to prepare a potato salad with Japanese flavors. It was simple and quick to prepare, nourishing and tasty. I highly recommend you try it!!!

Potato salad with Japanese flavors (2 servings as one plate dish)

  • 8 potatoes (ping pong ball size)
  • 1 Japanese cucumber
  • 2 eggs
  • 5 leaves of shiso
  • 1tsp of soya sauce
  • 2tbs of olive oil

Boil the potatoes, and the eggs. Once cool peel the potatoes and cut in two or four. Peel the eggs and chop them. Wash and slice thinly the cucumber. Wash and chisel the shiso leaves. In a bowl put everything, add the olive oil and the soya sauce. Stir well and enjoy!

Okara muffins

In Japan okara is a very easy to find and very cheap product. Indeed, as it is a by-product of soya milk and tofu, there’s quite a lot of it. Up-cycling it in your cooking is also very easy. Apparently it has a good nutritional balance, but what I like with it is the little something different it brings. Added to an omelette for example it makes it extra fluffy and slightly pancake like. In a batter it adds some texture and firmness. Okara flavor is usually very mild and it is really the texture it adds that is interesting .

Okara: soya pulp after pressing to make tofu or milk

Okara is used in traditional recipes such as u no hana, or often in croquettes. I had times when I bought some often, but it was months if not years I didn’t. Probably because I liked one specific brand that was sold near the university but the shop selling it has closed and Has been replaced by another one that don’t have it. So when we went grocery shopping the other day at the local store and with the tofu there was fresh okara from the tofu maker I jumped on the occasion. I made some of the usual recipes aforementioned, but I really wanted to test okara in sweet preparations. I opted for chocolate muffins. I simply added okara instead of part of the flour. Added chocolate chips for the tiny ones and made a melty chocolate heat for the larger ones. And bet what…??? A. just loved them!!! And so did I!!!

Bitter sweet…

Last Sunday, late afternoon, after surfing in the morning and gardening the whole afternoon I remembered that it’s been two days we have had no chocolate… well that is a HUGE problem for us, or for A.. We both do indulge in a bitter sweet treat after dinner. Indeed, unless we have guests or we celebrate we never have dessert, just a piece of chocolate… so when we forgot to refill our chocolate stock… there’s a bit of drama in the air! 😉

That’s when the magic of Instagram happen! While browsing my feed I stopped on @dans_ma_boite_a_biscuits post: a quick chocolate cream, with 4 ingredients that I always have (or almost… because her recipe uses dark chocolate, I used cacao) and that is so simple I couldn’t help trying!!! I never found it so easy to make a dessert. It takes 10min and then time to cool down, and it was so delicious that I will forget to buy chocolate more often!!! Because I slightly modified the original recipe (in French) I share mine with you… A. was so pleased with the result that he asked for more this weekend!!

Cocoa creamy pudding (4 servings)

  • 250ml of milk (vegetal or not)
  • 12g of corn starch
  • 50g of cocoa (I used cocoa from Plaq)
  • 25g of brown sugar or equivalent

In a pan, put all the ingredients, stir well, then start cooking at low heat while stirring. Increase to medium heat and stir well. It should start thickening, don’t over cook or you’ll get something too stiff. Once the consistency is creamy serve in 4 ramekins. Let cool down in the fridge for one hour or two and enjoy. I personally prefer eating them at room temperature rather than cool from the fridge…

Bamboo shoot pizza

I know that may seems strange… but there are some associations that work perfectly and need to be more explored. The one I totally love is bamboo shoot/tomatoes that I discovered last year by chance. The other thing that I love is grilled bamboo shoots. It reminds me of the grilled thin bamboo shoots we had first harvested with our friends in Tsunan ages ago now… something like 2008… So thinking about how both tomatoes and grilled bamboo shoots could be combined, obviously pizza was going to be a great combo. It just needed to be made. So the night before I prepared the pizza dough with my sourdough. Classic bread dough recipe in which you add a tablespoon of sugar and a generous drizzle of olive oil. You leave it to work gently. And once we get back from surfing in the morning I rolled the dough a bit thick for maximum softness, sliced two tomatoes, a new onion, the takenoko and a local piece of cheese, all in the oven for about 20min at 220deg. Once cheese was golden and crust too, I took it out of the oven, cut and served with a drizzle of olive oil and a bit of ground black pepper. As simple as it is I like my pizza with just 2-3 ingredients in addition to tomato and cheese and I like mixing seasonal vegetables. Many of the Japanese local vegetables actually work well on a pizza. I had already tested burdock, now I know that takenoko is great too!

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