A week in the clouds – yogurt cake

December is going in a flash this year… busy days leave room to busier days and the gloomy and cold weather adds to the impression of being overwhelmed. The weather reminded more of Parisian winter than that of Tokyo, giving an awkward feeling, and missing the fireplace very much. My head has been in the clouds lately, a lot to think about at work, the plan for constructing something on our new plot of land, the cat that we haven’t seen in 3 weeks and who haunts my dreams… but finally today the bright sun, the Mount Fuji fully covered with snow now, and the crispy morning air seem to remind me that we are in Japan and that things ought to be taken as they come. Nonetheless, a healthy, warming and nourishing breakfast is always a great way to start the day, and with all the big apples I had seating on my kitchen counter I wanted to use them. After debating about an apple pie, an apple tart or an apple cake, I finally opted for a lighter and healthier option: an apple compote and a yogurt cake. The compote with me is easy, I peel and chop the apples, put them in a pan with a very little bit of water and cook at low heat until they have soften. I don’t add sugar, sometimes a bit of vanilla or spice, but I was in the mood for simplicity, so added nothing. The yogurt cake is like the pound cake, of of this recipe that I have learned at primary school and I have kept making ever since. It is so simple and so easy to eat and it keeps well, I love it for breakfast when in a rush. Here is my recipe as I remember it… the units are the yogurt packaging.

Yogurt cake

– 1 yogurt (100-125g)

– 3 units of flour

– 1 unit of sugar

– 2/3 unit of vegetal oil

– 3 eggs

– 1tps of baking powder

– vanilla

In a bowl stir all the ingredients until creamy. In a greased pue dish pour the mix. Preheat the oven to 140, bake at 140 for 15 minutes, than raise to 160 and bake another 15min or until a knife comes out clean. That’s it!!!

December 14, 2018

Rough puff

With the terrible weather on Saturday, I thought it was a good occasion to work and cook. And for cooking, I was thinking of making something that I usually don’t have time to do when the weather is nice and we spend most our time outdoor gardening or playing tennis or swimming. My objective was to make puff pastry. Since I have never really made puff pastry (only a version for pain au chocolat, with yeast…) I decided first to browse a few recipes, before deciding what to do, and that’s how I found a recipe of “rough puff” on by Clotilde Dusoulier on her blog Chocolate and Zucchini, a quick version of the real puff pastry, that doesn’t require to insert the butter layer by layer and to be rolled every hour or so. This version only require one hour in the fridge. The layering is done before. Since I had to work and I am always looking for sustainable recipes that I can repeat easily, trying rough puff was a must for me! So instead of classic puff pastry, here I am trying this new recipe. Of course I slightly changed the proportions because I like it less buttery, I used only 100g of butter but may be 115g would have been good for a more golden finish. I use soya milk instead of water or milk. Contrarily to what announced it gave me much more pastry that expected so I made an apple tart, two half moon apple pues and with the rest a bowl of sesame crackers. Making the pastry was really easy and it was really quick (quicker is better because the butter need to stay cold and hard). The pastry was indeed puffy, but not as much as a regar puff pastry, as expected. The taste and crispiness was great. For the sweet version I would have definitely add a bit of sugar. May be it’s because I use nothing but apples without sugar nor flavoring. The sesame salty crackers were addictive (top picture)!!! A great recipe that needs a little improvement to fit my taste but so easy to make that I will use it againand again!!!

May 15, 2017

Treasures from Nagano & soba recipe

One of the thing I love in traveling is to find new products or locally produced natural products that are not easy to find otherwise. Shinshu – 信州, the region of Nagano, is quite well known for the production of apricots, apple and buckwheat. So after our weekend in Hakuba I could not come back without some of these local products, bought on the way between Nagano and Hakuba (that’s when it comes handy to rent a car!). Of course the season for apples and apricots is way past but I found some dried fruits, which are perfect for breakfast or snacks and will perfectly accompany my Sicilian almonds. I also found some natural honey and some wheat meal.

Soba (buckwheat noodles) are something I really love but finding good soba is not always easy, so I barely cook some. And I haven’t tried to make some yet. But in Nagano, it is quite easy to find hand made noodles. And since spring is in the air these days I cooked them in a very simple fresh and green manner.

Soba with tofu and spinach:

– 180g of dried buckwheat noodles

– 1 small bundle of fresh spinach

– 1 pack of baby spinach salad

– 1 block of thick fried tofu – 厚揚げ

– some broccoli sprouts or some pumpkin or sunflower seeds

– 1/4 of lemon juice

– 1tbs of soya sauce

In a large pan boil water. Wash the bundle of spinach and cut them in 2cm pieces. Add to the boiling water, add the noodles. Cook them until al dente or as you like them. Drain them.

While the noodles are boiling, cut the tofu and wash the baby spinach. Set the baby spinach in the plates. Heat the tofu in a fry pan for a few minutes at medium heat. Serve the noodles mixed with the spinach, add the lemon juice, the soya sauce, the tofu. Finish with the broccoli sprouts or the seeds.

And have a beautiful Friday!

February 16, 2017

Apple, vanilla and cinnamon cookies

I love to eat freshly baked and still warm bread, pancakes, brioche or whatever for breakfast, but it is unfortunately not possible every morning. So sometimes I bake in the evening so that we have something ready in the morning. And for that tarts, cakes and cookies are the best. I love the classic mix apple-vanilla-cinnamon, so i made some kind of thick cookies with fresh apples on top for our breakfast. The trick is to have them not too sweet for breakfast, so I mixed the flour with oat bran and just a little of sugar and a little of butter, I added one egg and a little of baking powder, plenty of cinnamon powder and vanilla beans. I then roll the dough to 3mm thick and cut the shapes of the cookies. I peeled the apples and cut the shape too a little smaller and topped the cookies with it. Baked them at 170deg for 20min. And added a little of vanilla on top. Simple and perfect anytime of the day actually!

March 23, 2016

Autumn mode breakfast

What best after a perfect week-end to start a rainy Monday with a good apple and cinnamon cake, a hot chai and some fresh fruits? We’re heading to autumn a its full and slowly evenings are getting dark early and chilly, so I have plenty of time to spend in the kitchen. Yesterday I decided to prepare a treat for our breakfast with a very simple apple cake. It’s a basic yogurt cake recipe without yogurt, and I use very little brown sugar because I don’t like too sweet breakfasts and instead plenty of cinnamon, which suits perfectly my morning chai tea.

I wish you a good week!

November 2, 2015

Unpredictability

Well, well, well, Friday evening after an other long day at work and a busy week, I was really happy to get back home, finish packing for the week-end and go and pick-up the car downstairs to leave.

It was without counting on a little unexpected event: damned new car with tones of high tech sensors and the ones measuring tire pressure… OK, so let’s put some air in the damn tire, drive a bit, decide that it’s not a good idea to drive to the country in the middle of a rainy night with a defective tire, park the car back and go back home with the luggage and just a bit upset: it’s rainy, and I can sleep one more night on my dream pillows!!!

Saturday morning we went to had our tire check: flat tire due to a vis!!! And while it got repaired we walked in a nearby open house village, you know these places where they have models home you can visit. Found a nice one and decided to visit, and got plenty of ideas and hints for the reform of our bathroom in Ohara, a thing that we’ve had in mind for a few years already!!! First nice discovery of the day!

With our repaired tire and ready to drive car we finally head to the country but we decide on our way to stop at Ichihara lakeside museum to try their pizzeria with view on the lake. They serve homemade pizze prepared with local products, and really enjoyed it: fresh, simple, delicious, and local! Perfect, second nice discovery of the day!

We then decided to have fun and drive the small roads of inner Chiba: Naka Bosso (中房総) and took the long way to Ohara. We discovered the beautiful Yoro valley, its old fashioned onsen and a very mountain like landscape and atmosphere, extremely different than the one of the Pacific coast, though it’s only 30km away! A recommendation to enjoy soon the autumn colors and a good fun drive! Third discovery!

And we finally arrived home at tea-time, for which I quickly baked an apple tart with a thin sable dough and one apple thinly sliced on top, nothing else. This unpredictable flat tire just led us into a beautiful day!

October 18, 2015

Chai and apple cake

Delicious for a rainy day like today, I made an apple and chai cake with big apple from Aomori I bought at the coop market. For the chai I made a mix of cinnamon powder, cardamom seeds and fresh gratted ginger. The rest is just flour, baking powder, brown sugar and a bit of vegetal oil. All stired well and baked 30min at 170deg. Served with chai tea for breakfast or tea.

October 10, 2015

Apple ginger cider

The other day we went to Aoyama to pick up our new car and we stopped for lunch on our way in a little passage in Aoyama dori with food trucks and cafe barracks celebrating the chia seed week. Don’t ask me what it is, I didn’t really get the point, none of of the food served was using chia, probably some promotional event…

Still, they serve some decent vegan food and serve some drink, this is where we tried the apple-ginger cider. It was made out of French sparkling apple juice and ginger syrup, and quite good, though a little too sweet, so I decided to try making some today and invented my own recipe.

I had some fresh ginger root, so I made a syrup out of it by cutting into small bits one large root. I boiled it into 1/3L of water where I added some block sugar, once the syrup was ready I just let it cool down. For the apple juice, I don’t have a juicer, so I couldn’t make my own apple juice, so I bought some natural basic apple juice. And same for the sparkling water, just soda water. I mixed then in the following proportions: 1/4L of ginger syrup where I left the cubes of gingers for a better taste, but you can filter; 1/3L of apple juice and 1/3L of soda water. If you like you can serve with ice cube, I like it at room temperature.

September 21, 2015

Apple and loquat tart

In the very back of our garden we have a loquat tree. Most of the time it is impossible to eat any because the birds eat them much faster but this time I manage to save two! Loquats are a little lique apricots, but with a much milder taste and I really love to it them raw or prepare tart with them, just as apricot tart. Since two loquats is not going to be enough for a tart I decided to mix them with an apple and to make small tarts with just a brise dough with very little butter, oat bran, brown sugar and water, and add some apple sliced and half a loquat on top. This ultra simple recipe allows to fully enjoy each ingredient without any addition, the loquat brings a juicy note to the whole thing. The oat bran some granulosity to the dough without having to add an egg.

June 16, 2015