Creamy and summer don’t necessarily get along well together I reckon, but it’s not like we’re in Europe and temperatures are very high for the moment in Japan. It’s still the rainy season and the “real” summer will only start in 2 weeks (hopefully not later!!). While in the meantime the summer vegetables and fruits are not to be seen everywhere: tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers, melons, peaches, apricots… So how resisting in preparing some summer dishes?
Two years ago I felt in love with malabar spinach and really starting preparing many last year. So when I started seeing some at the farmers market I was really happy. This year, at the Blind Donkey, I discovered korinky コリンキー, this summer pumpkin also called サラダカボチャ which can be eaten raw. I tested it in the potatoes and cucumber salad I served to my guests last Friday. But with still quite a bit to eat I decided to cook it and mash it roughly, to eat with pasta. And because once in a while I like to eat light creamy pasta, I added cream and malabar spinach to obtain a delicious topping. Below follows my recipe.
Enjoy the rainy season if your in Japan!
Raw korinky in salad
Korinky creamy pasta (for 2 servings)
– 1/2 korinky
– 4 branches of malabar spinach
– 150ml of cream 45
– salt and pepper
– 125g of pasta of your preference or gnocchi
While boiling pasta. Peel the korinky and remove the seeds. Steam. When sift enough mash roughly in a pan with a fork or a wooden spoon. Add cream, salt and pepper and mash again. Cook at low heat for five minutes. Wash the malabar spinach and chop roughly. Add to the mixture. Cook an other 5 minutes. The cream should reduce by half. Add the pasta drained to the mixture and stir well. Serve and eat immediately or wait until it has cooled down and eat at room temperature.
After one week cooking potatoes in many different ways, we started missing pasta. So it was time for a change to cook some. I love all sort of pasta and often forget how delicious spaghetti are, in particular when well dressed. So with the garden producing a little more than potatoes, though I must admit we had quite a bit of failures… I harvested more peas, celery, and basil, and decided to prepare some pesto with a touch of celery and serve it with blanched peas to top my spaghetti. And it was damn good!
Well now the week is not yet over and it’s been a bit crazy with some traveling for the upcoming days, so I’m not sure I’ll be able to post as often as I would like… we’ll see!
Probably the last recipe of this potatoes week. I could have talked about gnocchi (but I have so many times done already), about hachis parmentier, or oven grilled potatoes, and I may some other times. But it’s true that with new potatoes I love simple recipes when they are steam or pan fried. Yet there was one recipe I had never tried before and I wanted to for quite a bit now: brandade. It’s a traditional recipe from Provence and Occitanie and I grew up eating some quite often. Like many traditional dishes it is rather simple to prepare, and it requires very few ingredients: salted cod, potatoes, milk, olive oil. It just requires to prepare in advance the salted cod that needs to bath in water for 12-24h or so. I made a very light version on brandade, and we ate it as a dip for steam vegetables. It can be used further in a few recipes too: with bread toasts, potatoes, tomatoes… But without further delay here is the recipe. I hope you’ll enjoy it!!
12 to 24h before eating bath the cod in water. Change the water once in a while. If you use Japanese salted cod, the quantity of salt is much less than in Europe so I only had mine bathing for 6h.
Now that the cod is soft and almost unsalted, boil it in a large pan and boil the potato to without peeling it. When cooked, remove the bones of the cod and peel the potato.
I used my blender but you can do it in a bowl too and do it manually. Put the cod and the potato and purée the mixture, add a tablespoon of milk and one of olive oil each time it’s needed to smoothen the mixture. Repeat until you have a creamy dry texture. It should not be liquid so be careful when adding the liquid, not to add to many. Add pepper and your brandade is ready!!
There are recipe stories that are longer than others and that reflect how “agile” I manage my cooking!!! Last week I was telling you how much I love new onions and that you will see more recipes with them because I had in mind to prepare some ravioli filled with new onion. Everything was clear in my head and I knew exactly what I wanted to do. Sunday late afternoon taking a break from work I went to my kitchen to prepare the pasta dough. Not the classic one, my ravioli would be infused with Japanese flavors. So I made a soya sauce pasta base. Then I started thinking of the filling and boiled a potato to smooth the filling that would consist in chopped new onion slightly cooked in a pan with katsuobushi flakes. And while the potato was boiling I went back to work and worked worked worked, with our new stray cat all cuddled on my laps… and I forgot the potato, time and preparing dinner. At almost 21:00 A. reminded me that we should actually go back to Tokyo… oups… nothing was ready and it was too late to start making ravioli. So we ate the potato, I packed my pasta dough, my new onions and we drove back to the city.
Monday night I came back home around 22:00 and it was really not a descent hour to make ravioli… I knew it… so I decided to roll my pasta manually and make tagliatelle and use the onion just as a topping. The result was so awesome that I am now thinking of making it a new entry to the Soya sauce contest…
Here is what I did:
Soya sauce pasta
– 1egg
– 120g of flour
– 3tbs of soya sauce
– 1 new onion
– 2-3 shiitake
In a bowl knead the flour, soya sauce and egg together to make the pasta dough. Keep for 1h.
Roll the pasta, and make tagliatelle.
Wash the vegetables and slice them. In a pan greased with a bit of oil, throw the vegetables and cook at low heat. Boil the pasta and drain them. Add to the vegetables, stir well, serve and eat immediately. You can add a bit of grilled pork to the vegetables…
Spring and fall are the perfect seasons for hiking in Japan. The temperatures are just right not to get a sweat but not to freeze or die of over heat, bugs are fewer and either the flowers and tender greens, or the crimson colors of fall make a picturesque scenery. There are plenty of options to go hiking in Chiba and I won’t overview them here. There are few things I take in consideration when searching for a hike: the path needs to mainly be a non drivable road. What’s the point walking on the road side?? The path should be a loop or as much as possible not use twice the same route. There are very few hiking trail in Isumi to my knowledge, and one of our favorite is now impracticable as bamboos grew all over the path. So our favorite options are in Otaki and Katsuura. We’ve been to Yorokeikoku 養老渓谷 in the fall many times, for the maple trees, the monkeys… and for the spring we could never find something that was satisfying. I usually like the sight of the ocean in the spring as a remembrance that the swimming and bodyboarding season will start soon for me (though some people surf all year round, I find it hard to get in the water when it’s freezing cold outside). Actually Katsuura, about 20-30min drive south of Isumi, has quite a few hiking options, and this time we found a scenic short hike I thought was really worth mentioning.
South of Katsuura is the small town Ubara 鵜原 mainly a fishing port and a nice little hike called Ubara utopia 鵜原理想郷 that takes you up the hills with a stunning view of the ocean and the cliffs and down the beaches and tiny fishing harbors in coves.
The hike is rather short, count 1h maximum, but is really worth. It takes you through tunnels carved in the very soft rocks and going up and downs in a beautiful vegetation and to scenic views. Everything is very well indicated so no headache about which way to go, and the parking space at the starting point is large enough and easy to find (other parking options are also possible on the beach side). We came by scooter so it was even easier for us to park.
If you plan to come for the weekend, there is a small ryokan just at the beginning of the hike: Ubarakan 鵜原館 which seems to have a nice rotenburo (outdoor bath) and a few bathes in the carved stone caves and room with ocean view!!! We haven’t tried it yet so I have no idea how good it is…
Starting point of the hike
On top of one of the cliffs
After the hike we rode back home and it was time for tea and a little snack, so I decided to make one-bite scones. I am recently testing a new scone recipe and I think now I have the perfect balance to share with you. And with all the spring greens around I prepared a seasonal classic: macha white chocolate. Here is this version but it works with anything.
Scones
– 150g of flour
– 30-40g of sugar (depending on what you use for flavoring, for white chocolate use 30)
– 1tsp of baking powder
– a pinch of salt
– 40g of butter at room temperature
– milk (quantity will slightly depend)
– 2tsp of macha powder
– 2 handfuls of white chocolate chips
In a bowl mix the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, add the butter and knead to mix everything together. Add the milk slowly while kneading. If you want a uniform green color add macha now, otherwise wait until the end. Stop adding milk when the dough is moist but not sticky. If you’ve added to much milk just add a bit of flour!!!
I wanted a non uniform green color so I added the macha at the end and the white chocolate. Shape the scones and bake at 180deg for 10-15min depending on the size of your scones.
I surprise myself with this title actually! Yes all the young leaves start to sprout and the cherry trees are blossoming, but the blossom are lasting for a rather long time just because the sunny weather keeps going on but it is actually freezing cold these days! The city has turned pink and green and with my parents visiting I couldn’t help going for a walk with them to the nearby park to see the cherry blossoms. It turns out that the closest park to our place is Chidorigafuchi 千鳥ヶ淵, one of the most famous spot to see cherry blossoms and stroll under a pink tunnel of flowers. Blossoms are going to last a few more days in Tokyo so enjoy them!
Cooking wise, things have been a little more quiet since they arrived with some of their favorite classics: buta shoga yaki, gyoza… and mum who can’t help wanting to cook for dinner while I’m at work!!!
But I wanted to go back to that recipe of somen 素麺 with vegetables I prepared because it was so simple and delicious that it is worth sharing. Somen are thin wheat noodles eaten often in the summer in Japan, but I see no reason why not to eat them in other preparations all year round. They are something just in between spaghettini and vermicelli. In the summer they are eaten with cold broth deep and cucumber etc.. but I prepare them in many different ways. This time for the beginning of spring I decided to prepare them with sautéed carrots and spinach and plenty of fresh coriander, dressed with a bit of white soya sauce. Oh!? Can you guess what is the pink thing in the plate?
After the fukinoto and the canola which both announce the arrival of spring and the cold unstable weather that usually accompany the plum blossom end, the next step is the real arrival of spring in late March or early April with the famous cherry blossoms of course, Mole’s quince and the jonquils putting beautiful colors in the garden but also the bamboo shoots (takenoko 筍)and the other wild vegetables: fern (kogomi こごみ), horsetail (tsukushi つくし), angelica tree buds (tara no me タラの芽)…
We don’t have kogomi and tara no me in our garden, or not that I know of yet (I discover new things each year!), I found a few tsukushi in the past but never enough or at the right time to harvest them. This year I found really plenty, enough to consider cooking some. Tsukushi are a bit of a delicate plant and their pollen is not very good so it’s better to harvest them early. The one on the picture below is for example a bit too old, this can be seen by the dark color of the head: the pollen is already about to go out! The pollen of tsukushi is blue to black, and looks like mold!!! I have never seen tsukushi in supermarkets, I assume they are too delicate for transport and shelf time. Their flavor is very subtle so I like simple preparations: quickly sautéed, or simply blanched in dashi. To prepare them, simply wash them and remove the corollas parts using your thumb by simply rolling the stem with the corolla on top of your nail. Then cook them in a pan with a bit of butter or as said above blanched them in a regular dashi. Serve them right away with rice, scrambled eggs… nothing too strong.
I my case I made a simple fried takenoko rice with sesame oil, scrambled eggs season with a few drops of soya sauce. That’s it!
I am a big fan of tofu… most of you may say that tofu is an insipid, watery, white thing, but it is actually much more than that. I was convinced very quickly when we went to a tofu restaurant near Nezu (we used to live in Nezu) the very first months we lived in Tokyo. There was tofu in every single dish of the kaiseki course menu and it was amazing to discover all you can do with tofu. After that of course we’ve been to many other tofu restaurants, and for the scenery (though they serve not so much tofu actually) Ukai, at the foot of the Tokyo tower is without mistake a great pick. And regarding the preparation of tofu I learned a lot thanks to my cha-kaiseki classes. On thing that is always important is to drain hard tofu (momen tofu – 木綿豆腐) well. But what I realized recently is that a very well drained tofu, when heated in a pan for a short time ressembles ricotta in texture, without the milky taste. Perfect for A. who doesn’t like the taste of cheese and for me who live cheese. We have a compromise!
That’s how I’ve stared using very well drained tofu in many preparation where I may have used cheese. So, how does that work?
Drained tofu, rucola, shiitake for ravioli filling
You need to cutting boards, and a clean cloth. First start draining the tofu by pressing it between the two boards. Slightly incline the bottom one towards the sink, put the second on on top with a non breakable weight… anything you can find in the kitchen… I use miso packs or flour packs. Leave for an hour or so. Gravity will do the work.
Then put the tofu in the clean cloth and gently knead while squeezing to take the water of. Don’t be scared of squeezing hard. Once done you should obtain a rather dry to creamy texture. That’s it! Now you can use it in traditional Japanese recipes such as tofu balls with vegetables (I’ll post a recipe about that when the edamame season will arrive), or as I do, in replacement of ricotta, in quiches, in ravioli, or in pasta sauce, in salad…
Filled ravioli
Last night I used the same drained tofu for a simple pasta recipe. I had fresh and tender radish tops, and beautiful fresh anchovies and prepared penne. After draining the tofu and washing the greens I cooked them in a pan at low heat. I boiled the pasta and drained. Add to the greens and tofu, add salt, pepper and olive oil. In a small pan I grill the anchovies, add a few drops of olive oil. Served in the plates and enjoyed. That’s it, simple right?
The only issue is that draining tofu is a bit tedious, and takes time, so if you don’t have much cooking time, I recommend starting draining in the morning, by using a tea pot and a tea filter and leave in the fridge, by night it should be almost perfect.
Though when we were first traveling to Japan about 20 years ago, I would get tired of eating rice 3 times a day after one week, now I think I eat rice not enough and I am never tired of it, be it 3 times a day, every days!
It can be plain white rice with just a pickled plum, konbu, miso or salmon, or more elaborated recipes. Everything is good for me as soon as the rice is good. My favorite rice is Koshihikari, as I’ve earlier said, be it from Tsunan or Isumi. But one thing I love to do is to cook more rice than needed so that the next meal can be prepared rapidly using this extra rice. Because if plain boiled rice is amazingly delicious, sautéed rice is also amazing. I love it prepared with sesame oil, and many different seasonal vegetables, it is as versatile as risotto. This time I cooked it with shiitake, carrots and cabbage, and added some sesame seeds and a few lemon peels from the last lemon of these season. A perfectly light combination for both lunch or dinner where the sesame and the lemon are well balanced and the vegetables textures play with crisp and melt…
