What to cook for your friends visiting Japan when you are back from work past 21:00 and everyone is starving? A soba salad with spring veggies of course!!! Spring veggies: asparagus, snap peas, green peas, are very easy to prepare and require very little cooking, just blanching them for 2min. Soba are also quick to cook, so in 15min I can have a dinner plate ready for 4 people. To the spring veggies I’ve added some cucumbers and a bit of brocoli sprout, as for the dressing, I mixed a bit of soy sauce with vegetal oil and just add a bit to prevent the soba for getting too sticky. You can also top the plate with some Japanese salmon, shredded nori…
Yes! Spring is here for sure and aspargus start to be seen on the market stands. Nothing simpler and more classic then an asparagus risotto, and still so delicious, I never miss to make one. I used a new onion for the base, for sweetness and melty texture, that I chopped roughly and slightly cook in olive oil. Then I added the rice, and rolled it in the oil until almost golden. Finally added water or vegetables bouillon if you have one. Once almost all the water has been absorbed by the rice, I added the asparagus chopped. And cooked until bright and shiny green to keep then perfectly crunchy. Served right away.
Having all these beautiful cabbages in the fridge, I’m always wondering which one to chose and to cook, so tonight I opted for a duet: cauliflower and broccoli.
Again this time, the recipe was not decided when I started to cook and I changed my mind ten times in the process. So first I steamed half a cauliflower and a broccoli, because I wasn’t sure of what I was to prepare I kept them separately all the time. Then with the cauliflower I prepared a roux with quite a lot of flour to obtain a thick dough, seasonned with nutmegs, salt and pepper, and decided to make pancakes with that. For the broccoli I decided to make a soup, so I also prepared a roux but with very little flower, then I blended the steamed broccoli and added enough water for two servings, salt, and a little of sesame seeds.
I baked the pancakes in a greased pan, and served. An other seeving option is with some prosciutto and Parmegiano with the pancakes.
Last week end at the local farmers market they had tones of super nice veggies so we came back to Tokyo with the trunk full of veggies (our car has a fairly small trunk though!). And now any time I open the fridge to cook I have plenty of ideas to prepare all these beautiful veggies. I experimented quite a bit with juices and smoothies but my equipment in Tokyo is not appropriate for that. And then I came up with the idea of having a good soup for dinner made with this huge celery I bought. Since I like the simple taste of one ingredient I didn’t mix it with any thing. I simply boiled 3 branches of celery in some veggie consommé, then blend the whole thing, add a little of cream (vegetal cream is perfect) and serve hot. For those who like you can add a slice of grilled bacon or some croutons.
“La soupe au pistou”, pronounce ” la souuuupopiiiiistuu” (or pesto soup) is a traditional summer preparation in Provence. Like any traditional food each family has her secret recipe and variations are quite Infinite. Shall it include small pasta or king of cut spaghetti, or none; shall it be served with grated Parmigiano or grated Gruyere; how many types of bean should be used etc… Honestly I would say that each version tastes different but cannot be bad. For me this soup is synonymous of summer, holidays, family gatherings… I can’t even recall when I first it it, probably at an age whe it is not possible to recall. The recipe comes from my grand mother that probably came from her mother and so on, my mother is using the recipe. For us the pesto is made of fresh basil leaves, pine nuts, gratted garlic, grated Parmigiano and ollive oil, a lot of olive oil. The soup consists in tomatoes (big, red ripe summer tomatoes), green beans, broad beans, zucchini, white beans and marbled beans. The beans are inserted by cooking time and it’s cooked during a long time at low eat, and it is served with grated gruyere. No pasta… Though I recall some argument about that!
Reinvention of the soupe au pistou in the making
I’ve been preparing a lot of this soup even in Japan, though I can’t find fresh marble beans and white beans, it is easy to have some dry, and broad beans are really easy to find, fresh and delicious. I adapt the recipe to circumstances and when I serve it as a single dish I usually add a few little pasta. I never use garlic, fresh or dry, so I took it off the recipe, and my husband doesn’t like pine nuts nor cheese so usually I take them off as well… hum… well my pesto is just basil and olive oil and just as good! This time I was about to prepare one when I realized I had no white beans nor marble beans and I was not really in the mood to eat soup on my own, since my husband was out for dinner for work. So I decided to treat myself with a recipe that I just invented on the spot (missing ingredients are the best inspiration!) and went for a dry soupe au pistou. In a pan I diced a tomato and cooked it with olive oil, then added the green beans and the braod beans, finally I added the chopped basil leaves, salt pepper and olive oil and cooked under cover 15min. The served it with pine nuts, and finally topped with Parmigiano (which is totally optional). Perfectly delicious though a bit far from the original recipe but that is evolution!
And ready to eat (I spare you the Parmigiano topping!)
In Japan, fish is really delicious and it is not so difficult to find fresh wild fishes from safe places. Spending time in Chiba’s prefecture Sotobo we have access to really amazing products, when the weather allows it. Recently flounder has been really abundant. And with my parents visiting us I must prepare a lot more non vegetarian food than usual. So I prepared this flounder just grilled, with fava, beans and snap peas for lunch on the wok with olive oil. Very simple, fresh and seasonal, all I love!
A donburi in Japan is basically a rice bowl topped with something, anything. I really like the concept and you’ve seen a few of my original recipes yet. With each time changing in what I top it with depending on the market and time available.
This time it’s a 100% green topping with avocado, cucumber, cresson and lettuce. A bit of sesame oil and sesame seeds and lunch is ready in just the time to cook the rice!
Every one knows wasabi, this green paste very hot eaten usually with sushi. Actually wasabi is a plant and the green paste is obtained from the stem, peeled and grated. In spring, the leaves of wasabi can be eaten. It’s a delicate vibrant green leaf that is better slightly steamed or boiled and that accomodates very well rice and Japanese dishes.
I cooked it in a vegan version of a Japanese meal, with miso and sesame eggplants, pickled vegetables, rice with cereals and the wasabi leaves just steamed and served with ponzu.
In winter, when it’s cold and dark I really love to eat cabbage based recipes. One of my favorite yet simplest is steamed cabbage. Basically I steam a whole cabbage so that the inside is still a little crunchy while the outside melts in the mouth. I usually accomodate it with only a fruity olive oil, thyme from Aix garden and salt. Today on the plate I’ve added a few slices of crunchy grilled bacon, but it’s optional.
