Tag: homemade

Multigrain risotto with burdock

As I was telling you, I really love the mix fresh parsley and burdock. May be because it makes the burdock taste even more artichoky, a vegetable I love but that is not common in Japan (though I’ve spotted some lovely artichokes plants in my neighbor’s potager garden!). As we will be traveling to Sicily, I know I’ll have opportunities to eat plenty of delicious artichokes very soon! Yet, I prepared burdock with parsley in an Italian manner with a mix of grains for Italian soup (from last year Italian holidays!) and carnaroli rice, prepared like a risotto. I cooked in a bit of olive oil the burdock peeled and sliced, then add the rice and the grains, finally cover with water. Cooked until the liquid has vanished, add generously some fresh ciseled parsley, serve immediately. Perfect with freshly grated parmegiano if you like.

Butternut squash ravioli again

Last winter I made some butternut squash ravioli  with a very simple filling and in small size, with the ravioli plate I bought in Roma last year. This time I decided to add some nutmeg to the filling and to make large ones, where there is plenty of filling. And since I had plenty of sage in the garden seeved them with olive oil and sage. Simple and soooooooo delicious! How do you prefer your ravioli?

Red onion and pickled plum chutney

That may seem an odd combination but it really was delicious and simple. I love to prepare some sour mix, one of my favotite is probably chrisanthemum chutney. This time I wanted to use pickled plum, umeboshi, in a non Japanese recipe, so I opted for some red onion kind of chutney. I used one large red onion and two large pickled plum with a lot of soft flesh and a bit of umeboshi juice if any. I slice thinely the onion by halves. Then I cook it in a pan at low heat, I add a bit of water if needed. When very soft and fairly dry I add the flesh of the plums and stir well. It’s ready to use. Perfect with pork, chicken, white fish, potatoes… I served it with boiled potatoes, spinach and grilled swordfish. Perfectly balanced.

Stuffed lotus root

It’s been quite a while I wanted to try making stuffed lotus root, but somehow, I never did… Probably because usually I buy rather small and thin lotus roots and I cannot imagine how to stuff them. Finally, I found some huge lotus root, very fresh and nice, so it was THE chance! I hesitated with different option for the filling, but finally opted for chicken. Just chicken. I peeled and washed the lotus root. Stuffing was very easy then I cut them in large slices and cooked them in a bit of oil in a fry pan, flipping them a few times and until golden on both sides. I served them with rice and nori, and with a few little pickled plums. And will try again to stuff lotus roots with some vegetarian or vegan options very soon!!!

Carrot soup and almond cake

Carrots and tomatoes could both be on top of my favorite food and favorite infredients. I love how it is easy to prepare them in many different ways, raw, grilled, simmered, in puree, sauce, with herb, just with salt… I could continue endlessly the list of options they offer. Yet, I don’t think it is easy to find delicious fresh products after tomatoes pick season in summer, and carrots, which season for the big sweet ones is now on, are often too hard and a little bitter. So when I find some big, soft, juicy and sweet carrots, I prepare them in the most simplest way: a soup which is just made of carrots and a bit of water, eventually a bit of sea salt and black pepper for the final decoration. Nothing more because the taste is just perfect like this. For two, I used two large carrots, peel them, boil them, blend them, add a bit of water if needed to obtain the preferred consistency. Serve hot or cold.

And because after a long day a soup is just not enough for dinner for us, we need carbs, I prepared a very strange thing that actually was perfect with the carrot soup (I must say that I am a bit in an inventive period now, so I try new recipes I invent on the spot and things have been working pretty well so far!). I made a kind of vegan almond bread, or almond cake:  it’s basically the base recipe of the scones, where I replaced half of the flour by rough almond powder, butter by vegetal oil, sugar by salt (much less though) and milk with soya milk,  and set in a cake pie to bake for 30min at 160deg. It gave a very crumbly bread texture a bit between scones and brioche and the almond taste was perfect with the carrot soup. 

Cabbage and sticky potato salad

12 years ago we arrived in Tokyo and moved in our first Tokyoite apartment in Nezu. At that time I was working at the university of Tokyo, a 5min walk from there. Settling in Tokyo without speaking Japanese was a lot of fun but not always easy. A. was not working at that time yet and he’s missions most of the days was to go and investigate for what we needed and then buy it and install it: washing machine, telephone, desktop computer, internet… We were very lucky to have friends to help us. The thing that took us the most time everyday was grocery shopping if you remember my post there. Thanks not only to my Japanese cooking book for beginners but also to our friend Shotaro, who is a very good cook and was living in Tokyo at that time. He came at home and we cooked together. For a reason very unclear, while I was grocery shopping yesterday I saw some nice sticky potato or yamaimo 山芋, and suddenly remembered about that salad we cooked together: cabbage, yamaimo and sesame dressing. And because before starting Tokyo Paris Sisters with Prunellia, I already had a site to share French recipes with our Japanese friends and Japanese recipes with our French friends, I just dug in to find that recipe back!!!! It was even simpler than I thought! At that time we used industrial sesame dressing but last night I came with a vegan homemade version that was really nice! So here is the recipe for 4 servings as starter:

For the dressing: a piece of yamaimo of about 1-2cm; 2tbs of sesame powder, known as surigoma-擂り胡麻 ; 1tbsp of soya sauce; water; salt.

Fir the salad: 1/2 cabbage; a large piece of yamaimo, or half one yamaimo.

Cut the cabbage in bite size chunks, if you like it crunchy use it raw, if you like softer, blanched it and cool it. Cut the yamaimo in 5-8mm x 4cm sticks. I a serving bowl put both ingredients. Now prepare the dressing. Grat the yamaimo to obtain what is called tororo-トロロ, a kind of slime that will give a creamy consistency to the dressing, add the surigoma, add the soya sauce, then mix well. The mix is quite dense and now you need to add water little by little still mixing (optimally with chop sticks) to obtain the consistency you want, it as to be creamy without being too much liquid. Top the vegetables and enjoy!!!

Some more Japanese bowls

Rice, rice more rice, white, brown, red, black, wild, arborio, carnaroli, koshihikari, camargues. Whatever, we love rice!!!  This time it’s a mix of koshihikari white and brown rice, served with enoki, these long, thin and white mushrooms so easy to find st that the time of the year, and lotus roots, cooked in a bit of oil until golden then glazed in soya sauce, and the all thing is topped by a poached egg for the creaminess. So simply delicious!

Back home!!!

I was in Toulouse for two days and it was not 2h since I landed back in Tokyo to be in my kitchen and prepare some simple meal for A. and me. I miss very quickly cooking, and preparing a nice little dinner is perfect to recover from the jet lag. In particular when the fridge is still well filled with some fresh vegetables. And after being away, I wanted to eat Japanese, so I opted for rice, and a dish of leek, sato imo and purple sweet potatoes, cooked in soya sauce and served with a large pickled plum. Colorful, tasty and light!!!

Rosemary and bacon scones

My passion for scones is endless and I love to test new variations. Largely inspired by the cooking magazine I brought back from Chicago this summer, and waiting for chillier days, I finally made some salted scones. I didn’t follow the recipe from the magazine, rather took the opportunity to have plenty of fresh rosemary in the garden to prepare these scones. And to give them a little bit more twist and consistency I added wheat bran in the dough. And everyone loved them so much, they disappeared in a flash!

I use regular flour, about 150g, wheat bran, 2 large tbs, 40g of butter, 12cl of milk, a large branch of fresh rosemary, a piece of bacon or a few slices, 1egg, salt and baking powder. I mix the flour, the salt, the baking powder, the wheat bran, the egg together, add the milk. If the dough is too sticky add a bit of flour, if too dry a bit of water or milk. Knead rapidly. Cut the bacon and the rosemary and add to thd dough. Knead 2min. Pre heat the oven to 200deg. Roll the dough to obtain a large dough of 2cm high max and cut the scones (knife, shape… everything can do!). Bake until golden (12 to 15min usually). Serve as bread, or eat alone!

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