Tag: lemon

Back to the kitchen!!!

After a break away from my kitchen and obviously from Tokyo-Paris sisters, I’m pleased to be back and cook for A. and me. I hope you have enjoyed Prunellia’s posts while I was away and the website renewal just before I left (we’re still open to hear what you think!). I’m starting back in the kitchen with a very simple classic leek and Japanese mushrooms quiche. Nothing difficult, a classic I could say, just added a twist of fresh lemon juice with the mushrooms, and thought afterwards that I should have added a lemon zest in the piecrust sablé dough. So I’m going to give you this recipe without having tried it for resl myself but I’m sure it is delicious since the lemon would fit perfectly the sablé dough and the olive oil. I wish you a happy continuation for this week!

Leek and Japanese quiche with a lemon twist: 

a recipe for 2 as a single main dish or for 4 as a starter

– 200g of flour of your choice

– 4 eggs

– 3tbs of olive oil

– 1/2 lemon

– salt, pepper

– 3 leeks

– oyster mushrooms, shimeji… 

Pie crust: in a bowl mix the flour, 1 egg, the olive olive oil, salt pepper, and the zest of the 1/2 lemon. Knead until smooth, with the olive oil it shouldn’t take long. Roll to the size or your pie dish. It’s nice to have it a bit thick and that the pie dish is a bit high.

Filling: wash and cut the leeks in little half or quarter trunks and set in the dough an homogeneous layer. Beat the 3 eggs with salt, pepper and the juice of the 1/2 lemon. Add on top of the leeks. Wash and cut the mushrooms and set on top. Bake for 25min at 180deg, or until just golden. Serve and eat write away!

Tip: it is never easy to cut leeks cleanly so think of how many pieces you’re going to cut and arrnage them to avoid cuts as much as possible. 

Warm soup for cold day

Since I was in France in November when it snowed in Tokyo, today was the first snow of the winter for me. It only snowed to be cold, wet but not white, but I don’t mind because we ste going to the mountains soon and we will have plenty if snow and white there! But damn, how this rainy-snowy weather plus A. Away make me feel cold and gloomy!!! I needed a warm colorful soup to cheer me up before my late night meeting. So after browsing the fridge I decided to prepare a warm soup with some fresh sunny taste. I used coconut oil, fresh ginger and a zest of lemon for the sunny and warm side, together with a red carrot and two leeks for the winter side. And because I’m busy running here and there, I added some green lentil. That’s it! So simple to cook. In a large heated pan I put 1/2tsp of coconut oil,agg the leek cut in small sticks, then add the carrots cut in small sticks too. Then 2 large zest of lemon, and a piece of ginger peele and cut in small pieces. When the water comes to a boil I add 2 small handfuls of green lentils, a pinch of salt. Cook for 10min (the lentils must not be over cooked and too soft, it’s better if they are slightly undercooked). Serve and eat rigt away!!!

Curry-quinoa

Here is again a recipe based on quinoa. Because it cooks rather quickly, quinoa is always a good option when running short of time and a good alternative to rice and pasta. Since I discovered this quinoa soup recipe last year in my vegetarian cookbook I have found new ideas to use quinoa rather than simply boiling it. I also find that it goes very very well with lotus roots. This time I prepared it in a spicy version. Simple, warm and tasty.

Vegan curry-quinoa: 

– 100g of quinoa (adjust depending on the size of your portions, mine are usually not big)

– 1 large lotus root or 2 or 3 small ones

– 1 large sato imo or if not available 1 potato

– 1 large carrot

– 2 tomatoes

– 1tbs of curry powder

– a pinch of nutmeg

– a pinch of cardamom

– a pinch of salt and pepper

optional: fresh lemon and fresh ginger

In a large pan set the quinoa, cover with water with about 1cm more water. Start cooking. Peel the carrot, the lotus root, the sato imo, cut in the shape/size you like and add to the quinoa. Add salt. Add the spices and the fresh ginger. Then add the tomatoes. By then the water should have almost disappeared. Check with a tooth pick for the sato imo (or potato) if cooked. Serve immediately with the juice of the lemon. Have a beautiful week!

Vegan burger

A. is always asking for burgers so I prepared him a special vegan burger with homemade vegan patties, avocado spread and plenty of salad, really plenty, as he lives salad a lot. I guess what he really wants when he says burger is a bloody steack and fries… but I tried to be inventivd and to have a very tasty combination and if worked cery very well. Beware, contrarily to most of the recipes I post this one takes a bit more time, but is very simple. I used what I had in the fridge for that so yoocan adjust easily with yours!

For the patties, inspired by Prunellia’s recipe of pancake seeds:

  • 1 cup of quinoa, mind was black, but red or white works well, can be replaced by bulgur, red beans, rice… 
  • a handfull of pumpkin seeds
  • a handfull of sunflower seeds
  • 1/2 cup of flax seeds, here I used brown, but blond work too, 
  • 2 large sato/taro imo, can be replaced by boiled chickpeas, boiled red beans… 

For the filling:

  • 1 ripe avocado  
  • lemon juice
  • salt and pepper  
  • green beans sprouts or any other sprouts: brocoli, alfalfa… 
  • a lettuce

First grill the sato/taro imo in the oven with the skin until soft and creamy inside. In the mean time boil the quinoa until slightly softer than usual and drain if needed. Peel the sato/taro imo and cut in pieces, add to the quinoa. Add all the seeds, stir well to obtain a thick paste. In a frypan greased with olive oil make 1-1.5cm thick patties of about 8-10cm diameter and cook them until golden on both side. I prepared 2 per person.  They are good cold or warm. You can rheat them in the oven if needed. Manipulate with care because they can break easily. 

Chop the lettuce, smash the avocado and add lemon juice, salt and pepper. Wash the sprouts. Now you are ready to make the burgers. I used half of the avocado spread per person. I spread a thick layer on on patty, added the sprouts and flipped over the other patty. Served on top of the lettuce, finish with a little of olive oil. Et voila!!!  

The sato/taro imo give a very good texture to the patties and help them to keep their shape, the creamy avocado it perfect with the crunchy patties, and the sprouts add freshness.  I’ll do it again!!!!

Lemon and ricotta tart

A. proud of his cake! 
A. proud of his cake! 

A. cooks once a year and it is for making my birthday cake. I like to have it with tea, because then it all about the cake rather than having it for dessert. Every year I choose the cake I would like to eat and he makes it the way I like it. He usually searches for recipes on the internet, and from this base adjusts it to the gears and ingredients we have, and to my taste. Since he has little experience he usually gets a bit of help or some advises from who is available around. This year, since we were in Sicily, country of citrus fruits, I chose a lemon tart with meringue. But I like my cakes not too sweet, not too buttery, not too creamy, so my mum and I helped him a bit. The result was amazing. So here is what he did for a 25cm tart: first pre-heat to 180deg ghe oven.

for the dough:  a classic sablé dough with 200g of flour, 1 egg, 75g of butter. Mix all the ingredients and roll the dough to the size of your pie dish. Bake for 10min, the dough must not change color too much.

for the lemon filling: instead of preparing lemon curd we opted for something easier. The zest and the juice of 2 lemons is mixed with 2 egg yolk and 1 egg, 120g of brown sugar, and 4tbs of fresh ricotta. Mix all the ingredients to obtain a smooth creamy texture. Set in the dough. And cook in the oven at 180deg for 30min.

for the meringue: 2 egg white, 70g of icing sugar, a pinch of salt.  Beat the egg whites and the salt until firm, continue beating and add the icing sugar slowly until all is smooth, shiny white and firm. Put the mix in an icing bag and decorate the tart as you like. Bake at 180deg for 10min. Check to be sire the meringue doesn’t burn.

We finished the decoration with some very thin slices of Sicilian sweet lemon grilles on the oven for a few minutes.
We finished the decoration with some very thin slices of Sicilian sweet lemon grilles on the oven for a few minutes.

Best wishes!!! 

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