Tag: avocado

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! 

The avocado curse

This morning I went back to work. I hate when the clock rings, but when it rang this morning I was dreaming that it would rang as many times as there are fountains in Rome, and I just didn’t bother… But after a while I had to go back to real life… to open the curtains and see a beautiful blue sky and mount Fuji in the background. Hum… Not too bad after 17 days of the same weather to have another one. In the train, surprisingly empty I was thinking about writing something about Sicily, or about Rome, and share some of these beautiful things we’ve seen and amazing places we’ve been, but I quickly got immersed in my emails and forget to write anything. When the train arrived in Koganei, I got off mechanically and headed to the supermarket to grad something for my lunch later. That’s when I got stricken by the fact that really in winter the only thing I find suitable enough to eat is the sandwiches I make with wholewheat and seeds bread, cream cheese and avocado. I got a bonus apple for my snack and then I realized that I AM going back to work and that I NEED to break this avocado-sandwich routine to something else, but right now I’m unable to figure out which substitute could work for me and I have the impression to be under the avocado curse (like in Kid Icarus, a game I used to play on my gameboy when I was a kid where you get cursed by an eggplant!!) … What do you have for lunch at work? I’m open to ideas… Pleazzzz

Sunny Japanese autumn – 秋晴れ

I love these autumn days when the skies are so blue and the light is so bright, these “akibare” days. This is an invitation to wake up early and be outside all day long . So I spend little time cooking during the day and we need some quick fix for lunch, yet full of energy to enjoy a few more other hours out gardening, hiking, playing tennis or whatever. Pasta provide a perfect base, and since temperature are still warm if not hot at this time of the day, acold salad is perfect: penne with avocado, radish, cucumber, sesame seeds and sunflower seeds, olive oil and ready!

Enjoy the autumn! It’s so beautiful outside! 

Quinoa bowl

A pure bowl of yumminess! With quinoa simply boiled, baby leaf salad, diced avocado and dried salted konbu (shio konbu – 塩昆布), and the juice of a local lime for a late Friday evening dinner in the country. I love shio konbu, it accomodates very well with Japanese and non Japanese dishes. It tastes slightly like salted licorice, and I am still imagining ways to use it in my recipes.

Smoked mackerel and salad

Today, for a quick healthy meal, I made a really simple salad. Of course the main base is with seeds (as always), here it’s a mix of lentils, quinoa and brown rice, then I add tomato, avocado, beetroot, balsamic vinegar, goji berries, a few of sunflower seeds and on the top: smoked mackerel. 

Bon appetite.  

And an other salad/donburi/one-plate

I’m in a constant quest for new food combinations and freshness, while at the same time I keep things simple and try again and again. That’s what I love about cooking: nothing exactly the same but yet not completly different. Always delicious because I cook what we love. And so many chances to try since we need to eat a little every day, right?

After loving my bulgur donburi, I decided to try a Japanese rice one-plate. I love the combination of the crispy chirimen and the creamy avocado, so I used that base, added some sesame seeds for the taste. Since rice is drier than bulgur and I don’t like to use any dressing with it (it makes it slippery abd impossible to eat with chopsticks) I just added some juicy tomatoes and fresh cucumber. An other delicious and refreshing combination!

One more salad, or bulgur donburi

In my search of the perfect summer salad I’m making a lot of trials, never twice the same. Of course as I was writing in my earlier post all have in common a cereal or carb base: bulgur, rice, pasta, couscous… Tons of fresh vegetables: mainly tomatoes, ocra, cucumbers, a very light or non existing dressing. My salad today ressemble more a donburi for two, with Japanese style accomodation. I boiled some fresh edamame, added some sliced ocra and a perfectly rippen avocado, and a finish with grilled chirimen (very tiny half dried and a bit salty fishes). A perfect combination of softness and crispiness, of sweetness and saltiness. A really delicious mix and a great variation from regular rice donburi.

One-plate salad

Spending the week-end in Tokyo we’ve been eating out a bit and I’ve had time to do some cooking reading, and it inspired me for this vegetarian one plate (though eggs are optional and it can turn out vegan easily). I boiled 2 new potatoes, 1egg and 3 asparagus, and 3 okras. In order to spare time, I first put the potatoes in the boiling water, washed but with peel. Then when the potatoes are half cooked (I use a little bamboo toothpick to check) I add the egg to hardboil, after 4min I add the hardest part of the asparagus and after 1min I finally add the head of the asparagus and the okras. After less than 1min I drain everything and rince in cold water. In a bowl I roughly cut one avocado, the egg, the hard parts of the asparagus, mix with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper. In a plate I slice the potatoes, mount the avocado-egg-aspara mixture in a circle and line the okras, finish with the asparagus heads, a bit of olive oil and salt. Bon appetit!

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