Left over diner

We had friends at home for diner the other night, and I over spec the diner portions, so, rare enough, I had enough left overs for a second diner. But because I don’t like eating twice the same thing I arrange it in completely different maner.

The original dinner consisted in plain white rice, Japanese autumn veggies (sweet potatoes, litus roots, carrots, eringi mushrooms, turnips…) in dashi and sake, salt-grilled sawara, and a mushrooms and tofu miso soup.

The new version was a cha-an (sauteed rice) with sawara and sauteed veggies, with sesame. For that I fried the rice in a bit of oil, added a table spoon if sesame seeds, added the veggies, and stirred often. I removed the skin and bones of the fish and crumbled it in the rice, stirred again and served. A super delicious diner, ready in 5 min, just perfect after a long day at work!

October 16, 2015

Experimental tart

I was running out of flour and wanted to prepare a leek tart, so I made a little experiment for the dough and give a Japanese twist to my tart. I prepared the dough with rice flour (2/3) and soy flour (1/3), vegetal oil and soy sauce, and of course water. The mixture was incredibly soft and nice to work, so I made a rather thin dough. For the leek it’s Japanese thin ones, so I just halved them and set them in the dough. I baked for 30min at 180deg.

The result? Taste-wise it was just somptuous, a mix of crispy, melty, juicy and dry. Amazing! Plating and eating wise: the sides of dough were really crispy, so hard to make a clean cut. The whole length leeks are difficult to cut, so not optimal. Need some work here, but couldn’t help sharing the recipe of that delicious dough, very likely perfect with shiitake and other Japanese vegetables.

October 15, 2015

Rye baguette

It’s been some time I haven’t posted a simple bread recipe. Not that I haven’t made any, on the contrary! But I made a lot of my classical breads: whole grains… Now that it’s becoming chilly it’s going to be difficult to control accurately the proving time. For this rye baguette for example the recommended proving time was 1h, but the house is now about 18-19deg so I had it prove for 5h. The result was perfect.

The basic ingredients are: 175g of rye flour, 75g of flour, 13g of dry sordough, 180g of water, 5g of salt, 2g of yeast. The process is just as usual. I shaped my bread as a baguette, but any shape can do. For the baking, 30min at 225deg.

October 14, 2015

Gingko nuts rice

There are several ways to use gingko nuts in cuisine. The simplest is probably to grill them, for that you just beed to break the hard shell roughly, grilled them in a pan and serve with salt. It’s the easiest because no need to remove the hard shell, everyone does while eating. Perfect as a snack. But definitely not the most elegant way. So first if all renoving the shell without breaking the nuts is important. It’s not too difficult. Then there is a brownish skin that you don’t want to serve. To remove it it’s easy, boil a dew minutes the nuts then roll them in a metal net or drainer. The peel will go away with the friction. Now you have the perfect yellow nuts that you can use for any recipe. One of my favorite use issimply with white rice, to accompany a Japanese dinner. Jusr add the nuts in the rice after it is cooked. Count 3 to 7 nuts per person. Finish with a bit of salt when serving to enhance the taste of the nuts.

October 13, 2015

Variation of the mushrooms tart

For a slightly more elegant plating, the mushrooms tart is also nice in individual little shapes, with simply the dough and the veggies on top. And served with a little kabocha purée in a Parmegiano millefeuilles.

The dough of the tart is again using a base of chesnut flour. For the kabocha purée I just washed and grilled under cover kabocha cut in pieces (with the skin), then mashed them with a fork. I then cut slices of vintage parmegiano and make layers of kabocha purée and parmegiano.

October 11, 2015

Pink veggies in cocotte

With the autumn settling down and the rainy day, It was high time to get the cocotte back on the cooking range! At the market there was a lot of pink and white veggies: sweet potatoes, little pink turnips, lotus roots, red onions… So I just guessed they would make a perfect and beautiful combination for a light vegan meal.

I sliced the red onion to make a thin layer at the bottom with a bit of olive oil. Then added a layer of leek finely sliced, then I just washed and halved the sweet potatoes, washed the little turnips and just removed the leaves, finally peeled the lotus root and cut it in large pieces. I cooked in the cocotte for 30 minutes at low heat and just served with a bit of salt. Super delicious!

October 10, 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

Mushroom and tofu tart

Again mushrooms on the menu and sure more to come! I simply love them all! This time a big combo of shiitake, white shimeji, maitake, mushrooms, eringi slightly sautéed, then mix with tofu and eggs and set in a chesnut flour dough. Topped with a bit of grilled bacon if you like. A delicious tart with sweetness and crispiness of the chestnut dough that perfectly contrasts with the filling!

October 8, 2015

Autumn is here!

Perfectly sunny days, chilly wind in the morning and in the evening, warm temperature during the day, beautiful colors and beautiful light,

Yes! Autumn is here and it’s beautiful in Japan! Before the leaves turn red there is yet so much to enjoy! While Europe is turning gloomy, rainy and cold, Japan is bright, quiet and perfectly warm. Probably the best season to visit the country.

And with autumn coming fruits and veggies are slightly changing, fish too. Sanma, green yuzu, matsutake, lotus roots, sweet potato, kabocha, kaki… are now the most available seasonal ingredients and I love to cook them!

I love to prepare autumn veggies sautéed in a wok for lazy lunch or dinner. So simple, so colorful and so yummy. The one on the picture is just made out one sweet potato, one carrot, a quarter of kabocha, and a handful of shimeji, a bit of oil and salt. Served alone or to accompany something, all option are possible!

October 7, 2015