When I was a kid my grandfather had a terraced kitchen garden where he would grow in the summer green beans, tomatoes, salads, radishes, strawberries, raspberries, red currants, herbs, there was also a fig tree, a verbena tree etc… I have vivid memories of eating the tomatoes on the plant while warm from the sun and full of the smells of the tomato leaves, of picking red currants and eating half of them before they even reach the basket… one thing that I really loved was picking potatoes with him, not only because it was fun picking them, but because of the promise of one of my favorite dish at that time: new potatoes sautéed. The main difference with new potatoes you can find on the farmers market is the size pf the potatoes. My grandfather never waited until the potatoes where big to harvest them, he harvested them whem most where still very tiny, and the tiniest was always in my plate. Today, I went to visit our old neighbor. Since her dog has passed she doesn’t come mear our place as often as she used too so I meet her much less. And she was in her kitchen garden harvesting potatoes. She offered to give me some and while discussing she told me that most people criticize her for harvesting also tiny potatoes but I told they were my favorite so she gave me plenty and I was very happy. It is rare to find tiny new potatoes and they are really delicious. I washed and brushed them and cooked them with some pork belly slices and rosemary. A very simple meal, very nostalgic. Thanks Mrs. K. For the tiny potatoes!!!!
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!
Fresh corn
Yesterday one of my students at the university brang some fresh corn he has received from his family and he gave me one. Corn for me immediately calls for Tex-Mex food, why I don’t know… and when I say Tex-Mex it is a bit of an extrapolation. It just mean tomatoes, spices and sometimes avocado and beans. So back home with my corn I first boiled it, then separated all the grains and in a pan I cooked the corn with fresh tomatoes and pork for A., added chilly pepper, all spice and salt; and for me I cooked the corn with tomatoes, hard tofu drained and cheese and the same spices. Just before serving both I added a bit of olive oil. Served with a few nacho chips just for the fun (I didn’t have corn flour to make some)
Colorful salad
Sometimes a very simple meal is welcome, but something different than usual. And for no specific reason I don’t cook potato salad very often, even though it’s super easy and delicious. I don’t mean mayonnaise base potato salad that is very common here in Japan, but rather olive oil base. Something with plenty of fresh vegetables. This time I had red cabbage and celery, so I simple shredded the cabbage, cut the celery, boiled and peeled the potatoes. Added some black sesame, a dressing with olive oil and white miso. And here was my vegan salad. For those who like, you can add pan grilled bonito to it. Super delicious. Have a great week!!!
Japanese style quiche
Today we were invited at our neighbors places for a group session of Vipassana meditation and a dinner aftewards. I was busy all afternoon harvesting plums and didn’t see time flying, but absolutely wanted to prepare some food to bring rather than simply buying drinks. So in a rush, the thing I am the best at is making quiches. So I prepared a Japanese style quiche. Japanese style meaning that I used buckwheat flour, katsuo bushi flakes and soya sauce. For the topping I used tomatoes and red onions, with a egg base of soya milk and soya sauce, making it taste a bit like chawanmushi, this Japanese egg-base preparation that is steamed. It was simple to prepare and cooked in 30min in the oven, which is hand-free to continue doing what I was busy with.
As for the meditation, it was my first group meditation and I was curious to see what it was, even if I am a total novice and know very little about the different methods except for a bit of Zazen, so trying Vipassana was interesting, but I guess it requires a steady practice to feel any benefit from it and I not sure I am ready for that… we’ll see. Yet discovering it and discussing with some steady practitioners was very interesting. A great experience!
Stuffed zucchini
Summer = zucchini plenty! Of course there are many ways to prepare them (see the zucchini recipe week from 2 years ago!). One of my favorite is stuffed zucchini. Classic meat stuffing would be my grand mother recipe, cheese stuffing would be my mother recipe. But yesterday night I invented a new recipe with some fresh local ingredients plus a bit of quinoq for texture. So here is my new recipe, and I loved it!!!
Cod and quinoa stuffed zucchini
– 2 large zucchini
– a piece of cod filet
– a block of tofu (silk or hard, both work)
– 2/3 of quinoa (I had tricolor one)
– 2-3 eggs
– salt, pepper olive oil
Pre-heat the oven to 200deg. Drain the tofu. In a pan grill the cod briefly then add the quinoa and cover with water. Add salt and pepper. When the quinoa is cooked and it’s dry stir well to mix the fish with the quinoa. Add the tofu and stir again well to obtain a rather creamy paste. Add the eggs. Wash the zucchini and cut them in 3-4cm trunks. Carve them to remove a bit of the center part to add the filling. Fill them. Set in an oven proof dish add some olive oil and bake until golden (30min or so). That’s it!!!
Horse beans cold soup
Spring vegetables are getting close to the end of the season and we’re moving towards summer vegetables: zucchini, tomatoes, eggplants, melons… but before it ends, I wanted to eat a little bit more of these greens! I love so much green peas and horse beans. With the horse beans I prepared a cold soup with some croutons. It is a very simple recipe, but really delicious. Of course peeling the horse beans can be a bit of time consuming but personally I love this kind of tasks. Once it is peeled simply blend with a bit of water, add salt and pepper, if you like a spoon of yogurt, and top with freshly made fried croutons (recipe is available here). Isn’t that simple?
Have a beautiful week!
Two way meal
Or two recipes with the same ingredients. One the original version and the second a leftover version. Both delicious and easy to prepare. The original recipe is a Japanese one: rice with green peas and red miso grilled cod. This recipe is made with simple and easy to find fresh ingredients. You need fresh cod filet, red miso (work with other miso if you can’t find red one), Japanese rice, a handful of green peas. Additionally I served also horse beans and green beans just blanched, but optional. Cook the rice in a rice cooker or in a regular pan. Add the green peas about 7min before the end of cooking. With a flexible knife spread 1tbsp of miso evenly on the fish (opposite to skin side). In a heated pan or in the oven grill the miso side of the fish. Serve when cooked to your liking. I served the fish on top of the horse beans and the green beans on the side.
With the leftovers of rice and fish I decided to make some rice croquettes, something between arancini and accras. I mixed the rice with green peas with the fish, added one egg, a little of flour and pan fry them until golden. Served with a fresh lettuce and tomatoes salad.
Have a great weekend!
Quiche
Now that work is getting back to normally busy I have more time to cook for dinner. And sometimes things turn out better than expected, may be because I haven’t cooked for a while. A quiche is very easy to make and always delicious but sometimes it turns out even better than that. Yesterday night that’s exactly what happened to me. While I was preparing it I had a good feedback but after tasting it it was so much over the top that I couldn’t understand why. For the pie crust I made a dough with a mix of buckwheat flour, rice flour, regular flour, 2 eggs, a bit of vegetal oil and water. I rolled it thick because I wanted to make a large quiche with plenty of vegetables and tofu. The tofu was amazing. I have tried a new hard tofu and it was crazily delicious with crumbs like goat cheese or feta cheese, but a much softer taste of course. I used also my new favorite organic soya milk that since now available in most supermarkets. And for the vegetables I chose asparagus and zucchini, and twisted the taste with some green shiso (perilla) leaves. I baked the whole thing for 30 minutes. And then it was magic!!!
I am so glad we didn’t eat the whole thing and I have my lunch all set!
