Tag: homemade

Summer?

The last days have been so chilly and rainy that it looks like the end of summer already, but not in Tokyo in Paris… And it calls for some nice warm dinner. I found some beautiful pieces of Spanish mackerel and I simply grilled them skin side without any additional and finished with 1min clean side for a golden touch. So simple and delicious. I served the fish with an edamame mashed potato. I boiled fresh edamame and one large potato. With a fork I mashed the potato adding a little of olive oil , add some peeled edamame in and stir before serving. Extra decoration with a few more edamame. Where is the summer? I want it back!

Zucchini spread

I really love “aperitif” time, this moment before diner when you can have a sit, sip a fresh drink and eat a few things. It is for me part of the dinner, so anytime we have aperitif, diner is much lighter: a salad, a soup… I love to prepare snacks for that moment that are tasty and healthy (no peanuts/potato chips at home) and vegetable spreads are always a good option when I prepare baguette. They are very easy to prepare and variations never make them boring. When in a hurry the avocado spread is the best, when I have more time and I have adequate veggies I can prepare new things. This time I had big zucchinis so I cutted one in big chuncks, put them in a pan and cooked under cover at medium eat without adding water, oil nor anything, I also keep the skin for a vibrant green spread. Once the zucchini is soft, I drained them well and blended them to puree. Add a very little bit of olive oil, and seasonned with plenty of thyme. Served with frshly baked baguette and a bit of fresh ricotta (from a local farm) with salt and pepper. Addictive!

Simple Japanese one-plate

Well, Japanese is may be a little to much but at least it’s Japanese taste and local products! I don’t like fatty meat but I must say that pork belly is always perfect to flavor simple vegetables. It’s very easy to find thin slices of pork belly in Japan, they ressemble a lot bacon slices. They are perfect for cocotte cooking for the bottom layer. Once they are cooked and the fat has melted it is a perfect base for cooking vegetables. It goves an incredible taste. Most of the time I use it mainly as flavoring and don’t eat the meat myself (A. does) but when the fat has completely disappeared and the meat gets crunchy then I don’t mind eating it! I actually find it quite good!!! It’s nice also because it’s perfect any time with seasonal vegetables. This time I cooked capsicums and in the end of the cooking added green beans cut in 3cm bites and finally deglazed in soya sauce. Delicious with plain white rice!

Back to normal

The quick trip to France followed by a weekend in Ohara to recover from the jetlag, enjoy the fresher air in the country, see friends and celebrate Sea day with a swim in a warm and beautiful ocean, it’s time to go to the lab again, stay seated 12h in front of my computer and regret there is no outdoor pool nearby (why on earth would they shutdown the beautiful pool we had on campus just when I arrived????)… Hopefully there are the colorful one-plate full of Japanese tastes with fresh shiso, soya sauce, rice, grilled tuns and raw summer veggies! While everyone here and there will go on holiday, we will keep working and moving: next biz trip already planned and departure in 10 days!

2-way stuffed zucchini flowers

The last recipe from this little stay at my parents’ place. As I was telling you yesterday, my mother is really good at preparing zucchini flowers and she not only prepared tempura she also prepared stuffed zucchini flowers. One way is with cheese and mint (vegetarian; on the right of the picture), the other with only vegetables (100% vegan; on the left of the picture). Both are delicious and worth trying!

For the cheese stuffed recipe you need zucchini flowers, cheese like goat cheese, ricotta cheese or sheep cheese, fresh mint, a bitten egg, salt, pepper that’s all. Mix the cheese with chopped mint the bitten egg (you may need only half of it if you stuff only 4 to 6 flowers. Add salt and pepper to your taste. Wash softly the flowers and stuff them with the preparation, set then in oven dish. Bake until golden.

For the vegetables filled zucchini flowers you need zucchini flowers, a carrot, an onion and a small zucchini. Cut the vegetables in brunoise (small dice), in a heated pan with olive oil, cook the vegetables until golden and dry. Wash the flowers, stuff them with the brunoise. Set in an oven dish and bake until golden. Enjoy hot or atroom temperature.

Zucchini flowers tempura

After the bouillabaisse the second thing I really wanted to eat while in Provence was zucchini flowers. My mother is really good at preparing them.  She has several recipes for them and I gonna share three with you. Zucchini flowers are really hard to find in Japan and it’s a pity but it is not impossible and they are really easy to prepare. The first recipe is a Japanese inspired recipe it’s simply zucchini flowers tempura. The flowers are cut delicately into long strips and then dipped into tempura dough before being fried. This simple preparation is perfect for the flowers to enjoy their very subtle texture and taste. They are served here with little green bell peppers from Marseille, something that ressembles a lot the Japanese green bell peppers.

Baby corn

I like corns but I don’t know too many ways to prepare them: butter grilled, boiled, in salad, in soup, with rice… I don’t really like the butter grilled or simply boiled when you have a whole chunck and need to use your fingers. Plus they often come in bundle of 3 or 4 corns, and for two it’s really too much. So basically I don’t buy corn. Last week on top of the big sweet corns they had fresh baby corns at the farmers market. Baby corns are to me a typical ingredient of Asian food in Western countries, together with square bamboo shoot, glutamate slimmy shinny sauce. So I don’t recall having the opportunity of eating fresh baby corns before. They come with the leaves just like the big ones and are very easy to prepare. For the first try I simply grilled them with new potatoes and pork filet. So that they roast in the juice. They were tender crisp with the typical taste and texture of baby corns. Delicious!!

And now I am in Paris reuniting shortly with the Parisian sister before some Provence cooking postings! Have a nice Sunday! 

Rice salad Japanese style

Japanese purists would hang me for that recipe!!! In the edamame gohan I’ve added boiled chick peas, and served this “mame gohan” with blanched green beans, cherry tomatoes and hard boiled egg. A sort of “salade de riz” as we call it in France, (so 70’s tupperware cooking!!!) but with a Japanese touch. Of course for the dressing it’s just a little of soya sauce if the green beans and tomatoes, the sacrilege doesn’t go that far!

Speaking of soya sauce, I’ve been selected as a finalist for a cooking contest organized by the soya sauce association! The finale is on August 20th… Let’s see what I can do. It’s my first cooking contest. I have no idea how it is gonna look like… 

Edamame gohan

There is something that I love in summer in Japan, it’s fresh edamame. A few weeks ago they’ve appeared on the market stands and I’ve already introduced one recipe with eggplants from the shojin cuisine tradition. Of course with just salt they are perfect too. One other way I love them it’s with rice. It’s better to peel them but not an obligation. I prefer to as much as I can. The flavour and texture is better. It melts with the rice. I cook the rice and the edamame separately and only add them a few minutes before serving. I always add a pinch of salt. Here it is served with a katsuobushi-soya sauce omelette and 25year old umeboshi. 

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