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.

July 6, 2016

Back to the basics

There is one thing I like but almost never cook because it takes to long to prepare for most of my evenings, and I don’t have the special gear required to make it look really good: it’s Japanese dashi-rolled omelette だし卵焼き(dashitamagoyaki). The preparation is really easy it’s just that to roll it correctly you need to cook one thin layer of eggs after the other and roll in between. So in the end this omelette takes 30min to cook and needs regular attention. But last night I was having a little more time than usual, A. being in a late meeting. You can find dashitamagoyaki in supermarket and most izakaya, and in bento but it’s too often sweet and the taste of the dashi that bring a delicate flavor is too often imperceptible because of the sweetness. My dashitamagoyaki only uses katsuobushi dashi and a little of soya sauce, I find that the dashi brings enough umami not to sweetnen additionally. So first thing is to prepare dashi with katsuobushi. Then in a bowl mix 1cup of dashi with 5 eggs, add a tbs ofsoya sauce, stir well. In a greased heated pan pour a thin layer of the egg mix, just like if you were making a crepe. Wait until the bottom is well cooked and almost golden. Then roll it tightly. Take it of the pan, grease a little and make an other “crepe”, add the one you just did before and roll the new one around the first one tightly. Repeat until all the egg mix has been used, or make 2 smaller ones. You can clearly guess that with a round pan the rolling is a pain, that’s why Japaneses have rectangular oan for that. Except that I don’t really have cooking goodies that have only one purpose so I keep using the round pan!!!

June 10, 2016

Japanese quiche

When the quiche lirraine meets Japanese ingredients it gives that:

The dough is made with plain white flower and olive oil, black pepper and soya sauce. The filling is made of seasonal vegetables: paprika, lotus root, tomato, green peas, broccoli, and an egg and cream base with plenty if katsuobushi and soya sauce again. A very good match of tastes, texture and a versatile dish.

April 23, 2016

Cauliflower soup x katsuobushi

Too happy with the mix cauliflower and katsuobushi in the tart the other day that I decided to try it in an other version: a warm soup for a cold evening. And the magic worked again!

It’s crazily simple and delicious: boil a cauliflower (I just removed the green leaves, washed it and boiled it all in one piece in 3cm of water under cover. Once soft I roughly crush it with a wooden spoon and mix it with the remaining water in my blender, add black pepper and the soup is ready. When I serve I add some thinly cut katsuobushi (usukiri), that’s it!

January 13, 2016

3 types of cabbage tart

At the local farmers market the other day I found beautiful cauliflower, romanesco and broccoli. Having all them together I couldn’t help but cook something mixing it. I love the idea of having ingredients close in shape but different in taste and color, and the first idea that I had was to make a tart with a piece of each. And becauseI really love the idea of mixing Japanese flavors with western ones I decided to add in the base some katsuobushi flakes. For the dough, I opted for a classic sable dough. A perfect balance.

January 12, 2016

A dinner with guests

The other night we had some guests at home, and when we do I need to be super-well organized to squeeze one hour to prepare dinner in my schedule, this usually my target time. So I need to think carefully the menu, the ingredients and once I enter the kitchen I know exactly what I’m doing. Usually I have some extra time or a few ideas on the fly, so that it turns I always improvise something. This time was no exception!

For the dinner it was simple: grilled delicious wild snapper with a little of sesame oil, rice with katsuobushi, white and pink turnip tofu salad with pumpkin seeds (similar recipe with the persimmon salad, but I replaced the persimmon with a little cucumber and the walnuts by kabocha seeds) and some pickled sweet ginger.

Then I realized that we didn’t have too much to snack while drinking so I decided to make a little extra, because it’s nice when you have dinner after work with friends to hang out and chat, to release the oressure of a long day at work. Well, with what I had in the fridge the best option was to make some kabocha chips, so I thinly sliced half a kobocha and cooked it in a bit of oil. Add some salt and served. That was a hit! Everyone loved it!

November 6, 2015

Okaka yaki onigiri – おかか焼おにぎり

Out of the multitude of recipes and usage of katsuobushi, one thing I love is okaka. Okaka is basically a mix of katsuobushi flakes and soya sauce, sometimes a few sesame seeds. It is often used as a filling of onigiri (rice ball). Today I tried a slightly different manner to serve these onigiri. Instead of using The okaka as a filling I decided to mix it directly with the rice and they grill the balls in a fry pan (small oven or grill can do too) to make yaki-onigiri. I served them with grilled vegetables: tomatoes, okras, shiitake, and with some marinated mackerel.

I baked 1 cup of rice, added 4g of katsuobushi flakes and a tea spoon of soya sauce, stirred well. Them I prepare the balls and flattened them in patties and grilled them in a greased fry pan until golden.

August 31, 2015

Shishito with katsuobushi

What I love with katsuobushi, it’s that it suits very well greens Simply prepared: delicious spinach topped with katsuobushi, green beans, and even shishito. Shishito is a sort of tiny green pepper with a typical taste, and sometimes they can be really hot, but not often. I usually prepare shishito for snacks, by just grilling them in a pan and serving with salt. But I discovered that adding some soya sauce and topping with katsuobushi make a delicious combination. So simple and yet so many tastes of Japan in one dish!

August 27, 2015

Quiche Japanese style

As I was thinking of preparing something about dashi and katsuobushi for a while, I imagined that I had to pay a visit again at Ninben to see if they were selling all of the different katsuobushi I learned about, and I found there a very nice recipe book. Of course all the recipes use katsuobushi. The recipes are all quite simple and perfect to prepare for every day. Since summer has faded away very quickly this year I’m starting to want to eat some fall typical ingredients: kabocha, mushrooms… So the first recipe that inspired me was a Japanese style tart. I of course changed the recipe to adjust it to my own taste (only Japanese can put potatoes into a tart filling!!!) and it came as a perfect tart with leek, eringi mushrooms and katsuobushi, in a home made brise dough. Delicious!

Basically you prepare the dough, then cut the leek and mushrooms, grill them a little in a pan, add soya sauce and 10g of katsuobushi, stir well. Add 3 eggs and set in the dough. Bake until golden. The mix can be starling at first if you are used to mote classic tarts or quiche but it’s really delicious. the original recipe was also includîg carrot and potato, bit I don’t think it is necessary.

August 25, 2015