On Saturday evening I often prepare bread to have something fresh and delicious for breakfast on Sunday morning. This time it’s a bread called gâche. I used half whole wheat flour (83g) half white flour (83g) to prepare it, then the usual 8g of sourdough, 2g of yeast, 3g of salt, 100g of water. It takes about 90min for the first rise, 60 for the second, and in between plan about 45min. Baking time is about 18min. If you’r in Japan I would recommend to prepare your bread right before being eaten because the weather is so humid that the crust gets soft very quickly, and originaly the crust of that bread is quite soft.
Well, if this bread was just perfect for breakfast, I then went to Eataly (I mentioned it in an earlier post) . Eataly is my best provider for delicious fresh Italian products, in particular San Daniele ham, pancetta and fresh cheese. They use to have fresh ravioli, but it didn’t last long. This gâche bread with a little La Tur cheese was just stunning!
I love bulgur and it’s very handy because it takes little time to cook it compared to rice for example. So I find it very convenient when I want to fix something for lunch after playing tennis. And this time the fix was really quick: pork and parsley balls, mini tomatoes, cucumber and bulgur. For the balls I roughly chopped parsley, mix it with an egg and grinded pork and cook then until golden in a pan. Ready in a very short time, full of energy, proteins and colorful! Yummy!
I’ve always loved oat bran, may be because I’m a horse girl and it reminds me when we were feeding the horses at the club, and sometimes trying the horse food (though I never tried hay!); or may be just because I love this kind of dry, little taste food. Anyway, I’ve been using oat bran often, and even more since I bake breads and even even more since I know that it is a good source of proteins and fiber. One of my favorite use of oat bran is in tarts dough. I gives a granulous consistency that fits perfectly with the sable of the dough and the softness of the vegetables and the egg custard.
Perfect with a rye or whole wheat dough, but even with plain white flour. Here is a butter based dough with oat bran, and the tart is garnished with green beans, brocoli and cherry tomatoes. I apply the dough in the pie dish directly with the fingers, so that explains the rough edges. A simple and delicious recipe for a late diner.
What is your favorite recipe with oat bran? I’d love to test it!
This bread looks a lot like foccacia but is shaped in a ball shape and is thus less oily and more fluffy. The recipe is basically the same, but a little less olive oil and fresh chopped basil leaves are mixed in the dough. Delicious with a summer salad, grilled vegetables, or just olive oil…
We’re not talking about food here! Though there is this trend that eating insects is good for the planet and healthy, and actually there is a tradition in Nagano prefecture to eat a type of grasshoper that lives in the rice paddies, prepared with soya sauce, mirin, sugar, I pass. I can’t eat anything that has the shape or features of a living animal. No here I talking of a little DIY. When Prunellia was here and found these metal broches at a nearby old shop, I immediately though of using them to make an insects collection. And here it is. I’ve made several and these are my first boxes so maybe not the best.
I bought thick frame boxes, colored paper for the back, I punched two small holes in the metal broches and pick a pin in each hole, fixed it with a drop of liquid transparent glue, and ready!
OK we’re talking a lot about food, but what about drinks?
I’ve always been a heavy tea drinker may be because in my teenage years I wanted to be British for the pony rides in Hide Park and the tea-time at the Brown’s, the check pants and the Dc Martens boots for Carneby street, and the cabriolet as soon as the sun is out! I have had all of it, but my overall favorite drink is still definitely Earl Grey tea. My taste varies with years and seasons but it is always what I go back to. I had a post earlier about one of my favorite Earl Grey from Marks and Spencer, but I also like very much the Clipper organic Earl Grey, and the Mariage Freres Imperial Earl Grey. The Tazo Earl Grey is nice but never in a paper cup and it has to be lightly infused and is better with milk.
Loose leaf new green tea-新茶 from Miyazaki prefecture
Of course being in Japan my taste for green tea as developped a lot and I am quite picky with it too. If black tea works well for me all year round, I find green tea much better in warmer days. Because the water should only be around 60deg, and it has a fresh taste I find it less warming and comforting in winter. In Japan buying green tea is really simple. There’s already a lot of loose leaf tea in supermarkets, but tea shops offer a greater variety in quality. One delicious tea is “new tea” (新茶=shincha) the tea freshly collected, it’s much sweeter and soft than regular tea and can only be bought in spring and needs to be quickly used. There are many regions in Japan producing tea: Shizuoka, Uji, Miyazaki to cite only a few. Luckily we have friends with family everywhere in Japan and receive gifts from them often. This time it’s delicious shincha from Miyazaki that I enjoy every morning! But if you don’t have this chance I really love the tea from Mikuniya Zengoro which original shop is from Fukui prefecture.
What is your favorite tea?
Freshly prepared new green tea (tray from a flea market, the teapot from Kappabashi dori, the tea bowl a present from our Japanese teacher)
There are days when the market offers a new recipe ideas instantaneously: beautiful salmon filet for sashimi + fennel + red onion + new potatoes (I’ve decided to buy more potatoes). Finding fennel is quite rare in Tokyo and usually the only place you can get some imported is Nissin or National Azabu. Local one? Never seen any. But this time at the local farmers cooperative they were having fennels from Isumi! I jumped on the occasion. And then when looking at my purchased back home the combination of red onion, new potatoes, fennel and salmon all cooked in the oven together came instantenously.
The raw ingredients ready to be cooked
So I finely sliced one red onion, two new potatoes, one fennel, the salmon filet then added dill, pepper, salt and olive oil and cooked 30min in the oven. And the result was just as expected, perfectly juicy and tasty, perfect for a casual diner.
It’s funny because I like potatoes but I seldom cook some except to make gnocchi and I have no idea why I don’t prepare more potato-base recipes. So I had two potatoes in the fridge that were waiting there, and suddenly I come up with a potato salad idea. Here in Japan usually potato salad (just like macaroni salad) means a lot of mayonnaise and I hate that. My potato salad is completely different: for 2 I used 2 new potatoes (about the size of an egg) boiled with the skin; 2 branches of celory; 1 cucumber (Japanese cucumber, right?); one boiled egg chopped; a few slices of smoke salmon; pumpkin seeds; flax seeds; olive oil. Et voila! A super delicious salad, but that doesn’t look so on the picture! And many more ideas for potato salads!
Et voila! Busy weeks, long working hours, the one-plate dinner is back!!!
Quinoa and bulgur for the energy, salad for the green, cherry tomatoes for the red, momendofu (hard tofu) for the white and a little shiso omelet fr the taste. Seasonned with just olive oil and we’re set.
Remember to always drain your tofu, and cook the omelet under cover at slow eat to avoid the flipping task!
