Category: Vegetarian

Marmalade and muffins

The other day seeing the natsumikan trees plowing under the weight of their fruits I decided we needed to harvest them. Our garden is an intricate mess of trees and access to all the fruits was not possible, hopefully the birds will eat some (though with the thick skin it’s not one of the birds favorite). Yet we managed to harvest about 100 fruits!!! This year has been incredible for harvesting fruits: plum, ginko nuts, tangerines, and now natsumikan. They are also super delicious. Usually they be quite sour but this year it’s pure sweetness!!! Yet, it’s too much for just for us. So I’ve given away 2/3 of the fruits, made marmalade with half of the remaining fruits, and kept the rest for eating raw. For the marmalade I used the seeds of an apple to gelify and it worked super well. And since we have now delicious marmalade to eat, We just needed something to spread it on, so this morning I made English muffins. So simple and so delicious!!!

Oups! I made some ravioli again!

“Yahhari”  as we say in Japanese, I made some ravioli again! We love ravioli so much I could have some every day! This time spinach ricotta with some spinach in the pasta for a green finish. I just over-steamed some spinach and add some off the green leaves in the dough. For the filling chopped steamed spinaches with 1 large spoon of fresh ricotta, salt and pepper. Boiled and served with olive oil, salt and pepper, as simple can be! 

Breakfast time

When we were in Karuizawa, they would serve delicious scrambled eggs for breakfast, so this morning when I asked A. What he wanted to eat he asked for creamy scrambled eggs to accompany the dried tomatoes fougasse I was making. Perfect since I just bought fresh eggs. For the fougasse I used my classic recipe, just add Sicilian dried tomatoes. For the eggs, simple, pre-heat a small pan and grease it a bit, keep a low heat during the whole process, add 2 eggs per personne in the pan, and with cooking chopstick start to mix gently, to obtain an homogenous batter. Then anytime the bottom and the edges start to harden mix again and again until the eggs have the consistency you like. Serve immediately, add a bit of salt and pepper on top. Have a good Sunday!!!

Short but intense week

Yup!! Today is the last of the week for me!!  But squeezing in a whole week of work in 3 days is quite a challenge. Plus this is the end of the year for students in Japan and that means a lot of thesis reading, preparation for presentations and grading. So from 8:00 to 22:00 it’s all busy. Adding a few round-the-world meetings late at night and the cup is full. So we’ve decided to retreat for a few days in the mountains, probably snowboarding, ice skating and hiking. Being so busy is ok for me, it’s kind of normal, but having to break my sleep habits is really the worst for me. My body stops to regulate its temperature and I feel cold often. So last night I wanted a warm and fresh, soft and crispy, colorful, and ready in 10min. It turned out in a one-plate with steamed spinach, sautéed shiitake, raw celery, chickpeas and creamy boiled eggs.

Butternut squash ravioli

This butternut squash was definitely a good source of inspiration for making new recipes, and the last thing I tried with it was ravioli, I really have a thing for ravioli. And that was awesome! For the pasta I used the same recipe as last time, and rolled it with my pasta machine. For the filling I just steamed a peeled piece of butternut squash, smash it and add salt and pepper, that’s it. I served it with just olive oil and gratted Parmegiano. The butternut squash sweetness add a perfect touch to the taste of the olive oil, and the simplicity of the preparation is just perfect to enjoy the taste of the butternut squash. It really surprised me how simple it was to make too!!

A warming one-plate dinner

When Thursday and Friday arrive, usually the fridge is getting empty of fresh veggies, but this week since we had some guests for dinner I bought more than usual last weekend to have a wide choice of possible menu, and so there’s still a few deliciously fresh veggies wauting to be cooked. In particular it’s rate to find things different from kabocha in the pumpkin-squash family, but last week I found a beautiful butternut squash. And after all the looking delicious pictures found on IG this autumn, I was really excited to cook it. I just roasted it with yellow carrots, and made a fluffy whipped omelette (which almost tasted like a quenelle and made me think that I really should cook some!!). All in orange tones, the whole plate is served warm and with just a bit of salt and pepper on top. Have a nice Friday!

Gnocchi & romanesco

When comes the end of the week (Thursday or Friday) our resources shopped the previous weekend in the country are almost all gone and only a few things remain. This week it was the case gor the romanesco. So beautiful but we had other things to eat first. So easy to prepare that it’s always perfect for late dinners. I tried the combination gnocchi-romanesco-Parmegianno and it was just sublime. As you may guess these are not homemade gnocchi unfortunately, but it work as well if you have some. Boil the gnocchi and 1min before they are ready add the romanesco in little bouquets. Serve altogether when the gnocchi are ready (they float in the water) add so freshly gratted Parmegianno (mine is a souvenir from our holidays in Italy), olive oil, salt and pepper. Enjoy right away. 

Mexican inspiration

It’s cold in the evening and I am glad the week is almost finished, I can only look forward the days to come in the country with some discussions for the reform of the bathroom! So to cheer us up for the last draw I prepared a colorful plate with plenty of yummy fresh veggies. It started as being vegan, but in the end I added some scrambled eggs with coriander.

From left in counter clockwise order: fresh heirloom tomatoes, chopped red cabbage, tofu and avocado spicy mix topped with fresh coriander, coriander scrambled eggs, corn flour galettes.  For the tofu avocado I drain a firm (momen) tofu and mix it with one avocado, add some spices of your choice, and some fresh coriander. For the corn galette I mix corn flour and water and fry them in a pan, you can also add one egg for better and quicker cooking. The scrambled eggs are simple scrambled eggs into which I added chopped coriander. The rest is just raw tomatoes and cabbage. No dressing.

Colorful winter plate

It’s incredible the sudden change in temperature and weather, one day is winter, one day spring. Some of the plum trees in the garden ate already starting to bloom which is incredibly early. So for the food it’s one meal winter one meal spring and a colorful is always welcome and with a beautiful red cabbage a plate is always a feast, with tomatoes, baby leaf salad, avocado, whole rice and scramble eggs with sesame.

Just the perfect boost before a new week! 

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