Asparagus and herbs ravioli

It’s been weeks I wanted to make ravioli and I totally felt in love with the IG picture of Zucchero e zenzero‘s ricotta and asparagus ravioli just before the golden week. The events during and after the golden week being what they’ve been I didn’t had a chance to make ravioli until last night, and because I found some nice local asparagus I decided to go for asparagus ravioli. Since A. doesn’t eat cheese I skipped the ricotta and used only basil and parsley in the filling. Super easy and really delicious.

For the pasta dough as usual 100 of flour or semolina, one egg, a bit of olive oil and salt. I rolled the dough up to number 8 on my Atlas 150. Thinner for ravioli is quite risky since the way I do it, my filling is not totally smooth. For the filling I blanched the asparagus (I kept the heads for later), drained them well, then add parsley and basil, and grinded all together manually. Then I just prepared the ravioli, boiled them and serve with olive oil, salt and pepper. Simple and too delicious we want to eat ravioli every day!!!!!!

May 29, 2016

Back to normal… Socca lunch

Hectic weeks, busy week ends, when we arrived in Ohara last night it felt like we haven’t come for months. Everything in the garden has grown tremendously high and green, no cat was waiting for us… Of course H. came today but we are more a food supply than anything else so far… There is such work to do in the garden that we started early this morning and work until lunch, without even going to shop for frrsh veggies. So when lunch time came and we needed energy before our afternoon tennis game I had to fix something with what I had in stock: sokka and a few vegetables: tomatoes, cucumbers and avocado. Sokka is a traditional dish from Nice in the south of France. It is extremely simple to make!

Socca (chick pea flour galette)

– 100g of chickpeas flour,

– a cup of water,

– a bit of olive oil,

– salt and pepper.

Mix all the ingredients. Preheat and grease with a bit of olive oil a frying pan. Pour some dough in the pan to obtain a 3-5mm thick layer. Cook, flip, cook again, serve immediately. It is also possible to do it in the oven but the pan is much more convenient for me.

May 28, 2016

When A. is out

There are weeks like this week when we have westerners visiting for work as I was mentioning yesterday. This week actually both I and A. do have visitors and this means a lot of eating out, and usually working late (the regular work still has to be done, right?), so when the opportunity after a long day at work to dine at home (alone) finally arrives, it’s only to eat things I love, simple, fresh, and full of cheese that A. wouldn’t eat :)!
I was lucky to find beautiful tiny zucchini in Koganei and I had a few cherry tomatoes waiting in the fridge, I quickly roasted both of them in a hot pan, just a few minutes, I added pieces of mozzarella, the fresh juice of half a lemon, a bit of olive oil, salt, pepper and went out on the terrace to cut some fresh mint, and my dinner was ready, together with a taste of summer!

May 26, 2016

Summer plate

The very first days of sudden hot weather always make me happy but I have a hard time adjusting with the temperature and never know what are the proper clothing. I feel kind of feverish without being sick. When this happens I like super simple a freshfood, eating melon and grapes a lot, and preparing some very simple dishes. Brown rice is a real treat in that case. Simple to prepare, both delicious warm or cold, easy to accommodate with all the vegetables and herbs. I love shiso for its fresh taste and its herbal texture, thinely chopped and mixed twith rice is just a perfect match. As for the vegetables I take what is available on the market, and because we didn’t go to Ohara, it’s not that fancy: mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, salad. The dressing is a simple olive oil plus a bit of fresh lemon and a few drops of soya sauce. Simple as can be!

May 24, 2016

Cherry clafoutis 🍒

We unusually spent the weekend in Tokyo because A. promised his shamisen group to play with them at a volunteer concert in an old folks day care. And I had to go and sing too!!! I like these concerts because giving a bit of our time for these people, it’s always a nice. Though it can be a really depressing moment (I really don’t want to grow old). And this weekend was also the first giving a real taste of summer. I’ve craved for outdoor swimming but outdoor pools will only open in June… I’ve craved for summer fruits and summer recipes. So for once I bought some non-local products: American cherries and prepared a traditional cherry clafoutis for our breakfast. Clafoutis can never go wrong and are always perfect for breakfast with tones of fresh juicy fruits and a simple base of flour-sugar-egg-milk. I use brown sugar only and soy milk, but one can use whatever is available. Now the question of pitting the fruits arises and of Prunellia always pit them, I never pit the cherries. When pitted they have a tendency to shrink and melt in the dough and dry, while not pitted they just bake in their own juice under the skin, ready to deliver it when in the mouth. How do you like yours?

May 23, 2016

Snap peas and onion risotto

We are slowly going towards the rainy season and it’s getting towards the end of the season for spring vegetables in Tokyo area, soon we will have melon, zucchini, okras… But before it ends really let’s enjoy some more spring greens!!! Snap peas are very easy to cook, they just need to be blanched, and extremely easy to accomodate with other seasonal vegetables: new potatoes, other greens, tomatoes… Today I opted for an other risotto recipe (yes, I know, we eat a lot of rice and risottos!!!). A large onion cut thinely and slightly cooked in olive oil, then I added the riso, a bit of water (no bouillon to keep the taste mild), then in the very last minute of cooking I add the snap peas cut in big chunks. I add some fresh chopped basil leaves, salt and pepper, a last touch of olive oil.

Have a nice weekend!

May 21, 2016

Quinoa salad

Nothing too fancy here but just a very simple fresh recipe that is very rapid to prepare, colorful and tasty. Perfect when the weather is warm and nice as it was yesterday. I just boil quinoa, rince it in cold water and drain it well, add the fresh vegetables I have available, here a cucumber and two tomatoes, really nothing new… And cover the whole thing with fresh herbs: mint, coriander, or what pleases you and suits the vegetables. Finish with a little of olive oil, salt and pepper.

May 20, 2016

Tomato and broad beans in broth

In Isumi they grow tomatoes that are super delicious and can easily compete with Mediterranean tomatoes. They just start to be in season and they are perfect for any kind of preparations, raw, cooked, grilled because they are well ripen, sweet and juicy.

One thing I love to do with this tomatoes is to peel them and serve them in a broth made with dashi and a bit of soya sauce, sugar and vinegar. And because it is still spring, I added a few blanched and peeled broad beans. Served with delicious brown rice.

May 16, 2016

Comfort food: cacao madeleines

I consider most of what I cook as comfort food because I only cook what we love and we indulge in some delicious breakfast everyday. But today I needed something special for tea, something sweet and warm, because the weather was chilly, because we had a short night and a long day, because I was sad we split our 4 kittens into 2 groups to deliver to their new homes and one group has left already. So I decided to prepare madeleines. I used the recipe I presented before, but slightly changed it: I added plenty of cacao powder, refrigerated 90min and cooked all the time at 200. I managed to obtain pretty bumps ans the taste of cacao was well present which is not often the case with cacao taste sweets.
Now it’s time we go deliver our last two kittens. En route to Hayama! It’s gonna be a long trip for them!

May 14, 2016