Tag: Japanese

Plum works

A story of great success and massive failures…

Like every year in June I did my share of plum works. With a garden that produces a lot more fruits that I can handle, I actually spend more time picking fruits to give away rather then cooking them. This year I prepared umeboshi like every year, one for Tokyo and one for Isumi, one plain, one with red shiso. Things were looking really good with both until 3 days ago when I discovered that my preparation in Tokyo was covered with mold. And way too much of it to attempt any rescue operation. Everything went down the thrash… Hopefully the one in Isumi seems to have been doing well and with the beautiful hot weather this weekend it was the perfect day to take them out to dry.

One other thing I made this year was plum and red shiso syrup. Usually I prepare plain syrup, but this year I had some extra shiso so I decided to use it in the syrup. Plum syrup is delicious with cold or hot water and with sparkling water too. With the shiso I find it is much better cold. I gives a beautiful color to the drink too. A nice pink.

Finally, there was one thing I didn’t tested before but I have heard so much about is ume-su 梅酢, not to mistake with ume-shu 梅酒. Ume-su is the liquid you obtain when pressing the plums with salt and in which umeboshi bath until drying. It is basically a mix of fermented plum juice and salt. Ume-su is well known to combat summer heat and because of the salt and mineral it makes the perfect recovery drink. It is used like syrup diluted in water. The salty and plum flavors are super delicious, the one with shiso also. Now that I have tested it I love it and often use it together with syrup to have a good balance of sweet and salty flavor, a perfect drink to use after long time gardening in the heat or playing tennis!

The ume-su can be used to pickle vegetables: cucumber in plain ume-su, daikon, turnips, myoga… in the the shiso one. It will color the vegetables in pink so it’s better to use white vegetables. The ume-su can be kept indefinitely in the fridge for further use, so don’t trash it! If you didn’t have a chance to pickle plums this year, you buy ume-su only at JA shops and local coop shops.

Umeboshi, after 2days sun drying

Nimono – 煮物

There are things that I love but never cook. I only have them in restaurants or cooked by someone else. One in particular is nimono – 煮物 a simmered Japanese preparation, often used for vegetables and fishes, or at least for those I eat. The base for the simmering is almost always the same: sake, mirin, sugar, soya sauce. As I don’t use mirin I replace it by a mix of rice vinegar and rice oil. This preparation is a classic in most fish restaurants and more particularly on the sea side. Kakui – かくい, near Katsuura was a very good place for that, but there are plenty everywhere they have fresh local fish. The simmered preparation suits many fishes, best when they have skin and bones. You can make a whole fish or large cuts. So when A. told me to buy this beautiful cut olive flounder (ヒラメ) and we ended with it in the fridge as I was at first a bit annoyed with the cutting and how to prepare it… To be frank, I don’t like cutting and preparing fish too much or rather I don’t mind doing it but then I don’t like eating it anymore so I didn’t want to touch the raw fish too much. A. was suggesting to cook it with soya sauce, so I thought grill… but then we both agreed on simmering. I think that’s what A. had in mind from the beginning but he just didn’t know the term… and I never do it because I thought I took much time than it actually does, so it didn’t come to my mind. So here I am preparing my flounder. And because simmered fish goes well with greens, I added some summer vegetables: okahijiki and green bell peppers. Served with or without rice, but honestly the sauce with rice is just divine, and I’ll do it again and again!

So here is my recipe. Ginger is optional but I highly recommend it.

Simmered fish and greens (for 2 servings)

– a fish or a large piece. I used olive flounder.

– some greens: I used okajiki (salsola), green bell pepper, but okra are also a common pairing

For the sauce

– 3tbs of soya sauce

– 3tbs of sake

– 1tsp of rice vinegar

– 1tsp of rice oil

– 1tsp of sugar (optional)

– finely cut fresh ginger (optional)

In a fry pan mix all the ingredients for the sauce, add the fish and cook at low heat under tight cover. After 8min add the vegetables washed and adequately cut. Cook under cover for 5min. Remove the cover and cook at high heat if there is too much liquid until a bit only is left. Serve with a bowl of rice.

Urui

In the series of spring greens now is the time to talk about urui – うるい or hosta in English is not really a wild plant but rather something that grows freely in gardens. Their beautiful leaves and flowers are a nice ornament but what is most interesting is the leaves right after sprouting as they are edible and particularly delicious.

In Kanto area the season is much past for that and I don’t recall seeing any at the farmers market, and we don’t have any (yet) in our garden, however our friend K. in the Niigata mountains has plenty in her garden, so we left her with a huge bundle of freshly cut leaves.

After removing corollas and washing the leaves carefully they are ready to be prepared.

My favorite way of eating them to enjoy their fresh and crispy texture is to simply cut them in 4cm parts and cook them first in a little of olive oil while stirring, then add a bit of water and a few pink peppercorn and stop cooking when they are a vibrant green. Served as a side dish they are perfect.

Wild mountain plants

More than 10 years ago our friends K. and S. invited us to their home in the Niigata mountains to go picking wild plants – 山菜 – sansai with them, and to cook and eat them together. Of course we couldn’t say no, and we had an amazing time with them walking deep in the forest, picking all the different kinds of wild plants, seeing wild animals and then learning how to prepare them…

With the super long golden week, we decided to go and visit K. for a short trip to Tsunan and to go wild plants picking again. Since S. has past, we didn’t go as deep in the woods as we did before but we went for a long walk in the woods and picked enough wild plants for a nice lunch. The winter has stretched rather late in April with huge snowfalls and there was still quite a bit of snow, so we were a week or so too early. Here is an illustrated list of what we found though:

– つくし – tsukushi – horsetail

This little white flower can be easily found everywhere. Always take those that have no pollen. For preparation see my post here.

– こごみ – kogomi – fern sprouts

They are easy to spot, easy to pick and super easy to cook. I find them as easy to prepare than wild asparagus: in omelets, with pasta… they are really the simplest of the sansai and the more accessible in terms of flavor and texture.

– タラノメ – taranome – angelica buds

They grow at the head of wood sticks. The one in the picture is a little young and they need to have a few leaves out. These ones are really delicious in tempura and require little handling.

– 木の芽 – kinome – chocolate vine

This little green sprout that grows in the midst of other trees sprouting is the hardest to find, but once you’ve spotted a tree, easily recognized by its leaves, it is easy to find the sprouts. Washed and eaten raw, or cook, it is fresh and crunchy.

– 蕗の薹 – fukinoto

In the mountain fukinoto grow right after a patch of snow has melted. So spot a patch of snow, and look at the edges. They are best when just sprouting. They can be as big as a ping pong ball. There taste is very strong and specific. Probably the most difficult to accommodate and cook of all. See my posts on fukinoto here.

There are many others wild plants such as zenmai – 薇 – osmunda japonica (with me on the below picture), yama udo – 山ウド, tori ashi shouma – 鶏足升麻… we also harvested a bit of some, so some others… we also found morels. we had taranome, fukinoto and kogomi tempura, kinome salad and tsukushi just heated in soya sauce and dashi.

Now the golden week is getting to its end… time to go back to work soon!

Spring is here!

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!

Tofu

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.

Italy meets Japan again

Saturday I spent some time browsing cookbooks, looking at their beautiful pictures and slowly moving from the winter mood to the spring mood. I was focusing on two very different books: a Japanese macrobiotic cookbook from Brownsfield owner elder daughter Shinema Nakajima, and a Sicilian cookbook by bloggers Maria Teresa di Marco and Marie Cecile Ferre. The first one reminded me its been too long since we last ate brown rice, the second one made me crave for tomatoes, fresh anchovies, fennels and artichokes. But from the mix of both came this very simple recipe of a macrobiotic risotto made from Japanese brown rice and fresh local vegetables. Here is my recipe.

Italian x Japanese risotto (2servings)

– 70g of brown rice

– 3 shiitake

– a handful of fresh rucola

– 3-5 small tomatoes, ripe

– olive oil, salt and pepper

First of all cook the brown rice in the Japanese way. Use left over if you have some.

In a large pan heat some olive oil, wash and slice the shiitake and cook them at low heat in the oil. That will make the base of the risotto stock. Add the rice and stir well, add a 2tbs of water. Then wash and chop the rucola and the tomatoes, add and stir well. Cook for a few minutes while stirring. Add salt and pepper. I served it with daikon pickled with yuzu, that was perfect!!

Simple food: rice

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…

How do you like your rice???

Fukinoto miso

I harvested a few fukinoto very early in January, but now is the pick season in Isumi. We have quite a lot growing in the garden, so I just have to walk around where the fuki grow and search under the fallen leaves for the little yellow-green buds. Can you spot them in the below picture???

I usually prepare them in miso soup, but this year There were really many so I decided to prepare some fukinoto miso, a way to keep them for a week or two. Fukinoto miso is delicious with plain Japanese rice, tofu or with grilled pork.

Here is my recipe.

Fukinoto miso (makes a small bin)

– 50-70g of fresh fukinoto

– 6tbs of miso

– 1tsp of sugar

– 1tbs of oil

Wash gently the fukinoto to remove earth and fallen leaves pieces. Chop them in 5-10mm pieces.

In a heated pan with the oil, add the fukinoto and stir gently at medium heat. When all are shiny in oil add the miso and the sugar. Cook at medium low heat for 5min while stirring. Put in a sterilized jar and close with the lid. Eat when cold. Keep refrigerated for 1-2weeks.

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