Butternut squash week day 4

All these pumpkin and butternut squash muffins in magazines and on instagram were just looking too good not to try something. I wanted something for dinner that could be eaten with simple greens like a fresh salad. Indeed the autumn vegetables may be coming one after the other, in Tokyo fall only arrives in mid November or later… so while it’s still 25 degrees outside it is hard to go for warm soups and rich recipes. My butternut squash savory cake had to be fluffy and refreshing somehow!!! I achieved that by using a lot butternut squash both puréed in the mix and whole pieces also here and there like in an apple cake. And to give it a little crispness I topped it with grilled bacon and served it with a simple rucola and spinach leaves salad, and a bit of olive oil.

So here is my recipe:

Butternut squash cake

– 150g of flour

– 1tsp of baking powder

– 1 pinch of salt

– 3 eggs

– 1/2 of oil

– 200g of boiled butternut squash cut in chunks

– 3 slices of bacon

In a bowl mix the flour, the baking powder, the salt and the eggs. Then add the oil, 2/3 of the butternut squash and stir well to purée the butternut squash. Pre-heat the oven to 160deg. In a greased pie dish or cake dish pour the mix, add the remaining pieces of butternut squash.

Cut the bacon and grill it rapidly in a pan, top the cake with it and bake for about 30min or until a knife comes out clean and the top is golden.

October 12, 2018

Winged beans

As I was explaining on IG yesterday, at the farmers market I found a new (to me) vegetable, it is green, fancy shaped and called 四角豆 shikakumame in Japanese. As it is a 豆 mame (bean) I figured I would like it, and after discussing with the farmer who told me it is easy as okra to prepare, I immediately put them in my basket. I wasn’t sure what to do with them but a quick browsing of the web inspired me. And rather than preparing something Asian style, which seems to be what it is mostly used in, I decided to go for something more western style: pasta with butternut squash and crispy bacon and the famous winged beans. That was simple and a great discovery! The winged beans taste like green beans but greener. And the wings are a bit like mushrooms in texture but green… I really loved them! I hope I’ll find more in the future!

Winged beans pasta (for 2people)

– 4 or 5 winged beans

– a piece of butternut squash

– 3 slices of bacon

– 120g of pasta

While boiling water for the pasta, cut the ban and grill it in a pan. Peel the butternut squash and cut in bites. Add to the bacon and cook at medium heat under cover. Wash the winged beans and cut them in bites. Add to the pan, and cook for 8min under cover while the pasta cook. After straining the pasta, add to the pan, stir well and serve. Add a bit of salt and pepper if you like.

PS: I had to remove the comments option from the page because it was trashed with spam… sorry… please use fb or ig or dm me!

September 29, 2018

Corn

Despite a very busy week at work, I wanted to try preparing some nice food, simple but nice… and because we haven’t been to the country, I still had to adjust to what I could find in Tokyo’s supermarkets. One thing I found that was nice was fresh corn… something I don’t cook to often because I totally lack of imagination when it comes to cooking corn. Luckily I was browsing a cooking magazine in the train and found a nice recipe of a creamy corn soup (one of the classic use of corn), with rolled asparagus in bacon. I had corn, I had asparagus, I had bacon, I didn’t want to prepare a creamy soup… but the combination inspired me for a new recipe of pasta.

Orecchiette with corn and asparagus (for 2 people, main dish)

– 120g of orecchiette

– 1 fresh corn

– 4 slices of bacon

– 2~4 green asparagus

– olive oil

– paprika powder

– chili powder

– salt and pepper

I boiled one corn and then I shuck it. In a pan I simply grilled some bacon cut in pieces, added the corn and when the bacon was golden added some chopped asparagus, a tsp of paprika, a bit of chili powder, salt and pepper.
Then I boiled the pasta, drained them, added them to the sauce and stirred well, adding a bit of olive oil, and served to eat right away!

June 1, 2018

3 days without cooking!

I was in France for work for the last 3 days and I didn’t have a chance to cook while away, so I was very excited to go to the country right after getting of the plane. A. came to pick me at the airport and we drove straight to Ohara. Even if it was already late, there is a family mart shop on the way that sells additionally some local fresh vegetables and fruits, very handy because all the other shops close between 20:00 and 21:00. So we stopped to pack on a few staples for dinner: spinach, tomatoes, bacon. And the dinner was all decided: pasta. I first cook the bacon in a fry pan, then add the washed and chopped spinach with still some water in it, and finally add the cherry tomatoes cut in quarters and a bit of olive oil. I then boil the pasta and afrer draining them I add them to the bacon-spinach-tomatoes, add a little of olive oil if needed, salt and pepper. And serve.

I wish you a great Sunday! For me there is nothing better than being outdoor all day to recover from jetlag.

December 3, 2017

Shiitake week! Day 4!

Some time ago I was writing about my worst culinary failure ever when I made my first miso eggplants. The recipe came from the very Japanese cooking book I bought. And this book has been very precious for us when we started to live in Tokyo. “Simple & delicious Japanese cooking” by Keiko Hayashi has been my Japanese cooking bible for almost one year. And the very first recipe I tried was a shiitake recipe: takikomi gohan, it was also the very first recipe I shared on our blog back in 2004, one that everyone can make, everywhere there are shiitake. And if 13 years ago you could only find them in asian supermarkets, now they are much easier to find.

Today I have prepared a new version of the classic recipe that is in the book to share with new. It uses all the basic ingredients for takikomi gohan, and the same technique. It is very simple to prepare and it cooks unattended during 50min in the rice cooker, giving plenty of time for doing something else. Here is my recipe (the original recipe)

Shiitake takikomi gohan (for 2 people)

– 6 shiitake

– 1 cup of rice

– 1 cup of dashi

– 1tbs of soya sauce

– 1tbs of sake

– 4 slices of bacon (150g of chicken meat)

– 10 gingko nuts peeled (4 steamed or boiled chestnuts)

Wash and slice the shiitake. Cut the bacon and grill it in a pan until crispy. In the rice cooker add the rice, wash it, add the dashi, the shoyu, the sake, the shiitake, the meat the gingko nuts. Start cooking in normal mode. That’s it!!! Enjoy!

November 16, 2017

Fougasse bacon-mustard

I make fougasse regularly, and I regularly change the ingredients and try new recipes: fougasse, sesame fougasse, olive fougasse… This time I tested a new recipe with smoked bacon and mustard. Simply delicious for a quick bite! I used my reguler recipe base with plain white flour. And when shaping the fougasse I added bacon that I cut in small cubes and mustard. Then folded the dough and rolled it to trap the bacon and the mustard mainly inside. And shaped it as usual. Same baking time, same olive oil brushing after baking.

Have a great week!

June 19, 2017

Barley risotto

I’m a big fan of all kind of cereals and leguminous plants. I like to use them in many recipes. In Japan there exists many, such as adlay and millet and of course all the beans (豆) families: edamame, azuki, black beans… I also like the European or Asian ones too, barley, lentil, chickpea… that are less common. In particular barley is really nice to cook as a substitute of rice. I use it to make risotto (here is a winter recipe). It is more crunchy than rice and the texture goes very well with all kind of vegetables. This time I used in in a risotto primavera, with fresh green peas, fresh new onions, fresh green beans and fresh basil. I added some bacon for A. It is very simple to prepare. First in a. It olive oil cook the baconand the new onion. Then add the barley and rost it. Finally add water, and the vegetables. It cooks under cover for 20min and then it’s ready to eat! Don’t forget to add the vegetables in order of longer cooking time to avoid over cooking them.

May 11, 2017

No-name recipe

It’s neither a clafoutis nor a quiche nor a cake. It has the fluffiness of a cake, the moisture of a quiche and the edges of a clafoutis. This is simply what I have cooked last night for dinner. With my parents at home I try to come back earlier from work and t gives me the opportunity to cook food that I usually don’t cook because it takes too much baking time. I wanted to prepare a cake with plenty of vegetables but what I often don’t like in cakes is that they are too dry and so not too pleasant to eat. But clafoutis have no pretty shape. And a quiche for 4 won’t fit in my little oven in Tokyo. So I opted for a new option that fixes all the problems, and the result was awesomely delicious!!! The base is that of a cake with flour, baking powder and eggs, in which I have added a huge piece of silky tofu and olive oil. It gives this unique texture to the cake that make it moist and soft. I added some vegetables: 2 tomatoes diced, 1 new onion sliced, a handful of shiitake sliced, and for those who like, some grilled bacon. Except for the tomatoes, I grilled the vegetables in a little of olive oil to soften them. Add all to the mix, plus salt and pepper and bake for 30-40min or until all golden. I served it with a little green salad and sprouts.

Have a nice end of the week!!!

March 9, 2017

Simple pasta

Friday evening and Sunday evening we usually have dinner rather late and I like to have something that can ready quickly with short cooking time, yet still with fresh vegetables. Pasta and gnocchi are usually my best picks for their short and simple cooking, and their versatility in terms of topping and arrangement. Recently I’ve been attracted by green leaves, but not necessarily spinach, and by trying novel associations. So here are two recipes of gnocchi and pasta that use greens. The meat is optional and can be easily removed for the gnocchi recipe and replaced by hard tofu in the pasta recipe for a vegan option.

Gnocchi with rucolla, basil and grilled bacon: for 2 people as a one-dish meal, you need a bundle of fresh basil and a bundle of rucolla, in Japan that would be a bag of each since they come conditioned in bags. You need fresh gnocchi for two (for homemade one check the recipe here), olive oil, salt pepper and additionally bacon and gratted parmegiano. Boil water for the gnocchi. In a pan grill the bacon if using any. Wash the rucolla and the basil, remove hard parts and cut roughly with scissors. One the gnocchi are boiled, in a large bowl add the gnocchi, the greens, olive oil, salt pepper and the bacon, stir well, serve immidiately. Add a bit of gratted parmegiano if you like.

Mizuna and chicken fettuccine: for this recipe for 2 you need: 2servings of fettuccine (fresh or dry); a large pack of mizuna fresh leaves. The younger the better. 100g of grounded chicken breast or 100g of drained hard (momen) tofu, olive oil, salt, pepper. Boil water for the pasta. In a pan heat some olive oil and cook the chiken or the tofu to obtain small crumbles. Wash the mizuna, remove the hardest parts. Cut in 3cm length segments. Add the mizuna in the pan, start with the bottom parts, keep the leafy parts for the end since they do not need so much cooking, add salt and pepper. Drain the pasta serve and add the topping. Add olive oil, salt, pepper, parmegiano to your liking. Have a good week!!!

December 5, 2016