Cauliflower and broccoli

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.

December 3, 2015

Veggies sautéed with yuzu

Simple, warm and fruity, the perfect meal for a rainy day, when for the first time of the season it feels cold despite the light coat.

I prepared this recipe on the fly, adding ingredients while cooking. I first started with some potatoes diced that I started to cook in a bit of oil. Then I hesitated between red cabbage and cauliflower and opted for cauliflower, that I added to the pan. Inspired by the pale whitish color, I added half a yuzu squeezed, then some shiitake sliced. Once the potatoes were cooked I serve (the cauliflower and the shiitake can still be crunchy). I added the redt of ghe juice of yuzu and some yuzu zest.

December 3, 2015

Kidney beans and cod

Monday is workout day! To start the week in shape and full of energy, on Monday evening, before dinner, I practise 1h of Pilates. Once I am done, it’s way time to think about dinner, and if we want to eat before 22:30, it’d rather be quick to prepare. One plates are usually what I go for, but tonight I was more in the mood for a warming dish. I had this beautiful piece of cod from Hokkaido, so I prepared a very simple kidney beans raggu.

In a heated pan I added olive oil, a big ripe tomato diced, 2 little laurel leaves, salt and pepper, once the tomato was soft enough I added the cod cut in big chucks, pepper again, and cooked under cover for 3-5min at medium heat. I rarely use canned food but I must admit that when in a hurry canned beans are really handy, so I almost always have a can of chick peas, a can of red beans and a can of kidney beans, these cans are also my emergency food in case of natural disaster, i.e. earthquake because in 2011 when the big earthquake stroked we didn’t have any ready-to-eat food (neither anything to eat because I was shopping day to day) in case it would be necessary, so I’ve learned my lessons. So back to our dinner recipe, I drained the kidney beans and rinced them, then in a heated pan with olive oil I cooked them quickly. I added two or three spoons of the water from the tomato. Then I served. On the side I prepared sautéed leek and shiitake.

December 1, 2015

Cardamom and vanilla madeleines

I am still looking for the perfect madeleine recipe, so I have tried a new one. And because it’s getting cold and I wanted something really sweet I opted for adding vanilla and cardamom to the madeleines and finished with a sugar frost where I added cinnamon.

Taste-wise the cardamom and vanilla is always amazing, the additional cinnamon in the sugar frost, made the final taste something like sweet chai, which was exactly what I wanted. As for the madeleine, I won’t share with you my recipe because I didn’t find it satisfactory enough. The delicious taste was unfortunately not accompanied by the madeleines typical shape and was disappointing in that respect. A good reason to try again!!!

November 30, 2015

Macrobiotic Sunday lunch

Beautiful weather this Sunday morning, so we woke early and spend most of the morning in the garden cleaning and grooming shrubs, by the time we were hungry it was cloudy and chilly, so I decided to cook us a warm lunch and got once again inspiration from my macrobiotic recipe book. It’s a simple collection of veggies and koyadofu that are first cooked in water and soya sauce, then lightly fried and serve with rice.

In my version for 2, it is 2 pieces of koyadofu, 1 carrot, 1 purple sweet potato, 1 shiitake, and the rice is brown rice to which I added red rice, black rice and barley. I cut the veggies in four and boiled them for 7min in one cup of water where I added 1 table spoon of soya sauce, I also cook the koyadofu with the veggies. Then I removed them from the water and let them rest on kitchen paper to drain the excess of water. Then I roll them in rice flour and lightly fry them, and serve them directly with the rice.

November 29, 2015

Donburi

The donburi or one rice bowl is a very convenient alternative to one-plate, and I like the rice base lunch because it provides tons of good energy necessary to stay outside all day long, now that it’s gotten colder.

For this donburi I cooked plain white Japanese rice that I topped with sautéed purple sweet potato, carrot brocoli, and finished with some proteins croquettes: I mixed rice flour with a mix of seeds, an egg and dome chicken meat. The egg and meat can be replaced by tofu for a vegan option.

November 28, 2015

Sesame fougasse

Oil base breads are probably what I am best at and what I enjoy the most to knead. After I’ve through the classis foccacia, fougasses etc, I wanted to invent my own recipes. My first one is a sesame fougasse. I used 250g of flour, 120g of water, 14g of sordough, 3g of dry natural yeast, 50g of sesame (grilled and soaked in water), 5g of salt, 10g of sesame oil, 10g of olive oil. I proceed exctly as for regular fougasse. And once baked I applied sesame oil instead of olive oil. Delicious with pretty much anything, sesame suits well cheese like brie, and salads.

November 23, 2015

Purple salad

At the local farmers market I found this beautiful purple mizuna that I already used in a recipe Sunday. I love mizuna because it’s fresh, crunchy and easy to prepare, and this purple one is particularly pretty. I also found some beautiful purple sweet potatoes (紫芋-murasaki imo) and decided to prepare a big salad for our guests visiting us. I baked the potatoes in the oven wrapped in aluminum foil until soft, then I peeled them and cut them in small pieces. I washed a lettuce, a tomato and some mizuna, cut all in bites, and added some black sesame, olive oil, salt. Additionally you can add grilled tuna, smoked chicken…

November 22, 2015

Kabocha and mushrooms tart

An other tart with another composition, and another tart crust.

This one is largely inspired by chef Georges Ennis (@chefgygglz) kale-nutternut-shiitake tart last week, but my recipe is much lighter, quicker and features no cheese (not that I wouldn’t like, but my husband yes). I like very much the addition of the kabocha, first visually, then tastewise because it’s soft and sweet.

For the dough I prepared a classic simple sable dough that I rolled thinly in a large circle to fit my tart dish. I washed and sliced the mushrooms: shiitake, shimeji, oyster mushrooms and cooked them in a bit of olive oil and salt. I then topped the pie crust with them. Added 1/4 of kabocha thinly sliced. I finally prepared a batter with eggs, soya milk, salt and pepper and added to the rest of the tart. I baked the tart 30min at 180deg. You can serve warm or cold, both are delicious!

November 22, 2015