Pan fried ravioli

In an attempt to practice my gyoza dough making and rolling I decided to make some pan fried ravioli using a vegan dough recipe which is only water and flour, and therefore the recipe of gyoza skin, and filled with Japanese salted salmon, spinach and ricotta. So I found it hard to know how to call them… these are not strictly speaking ravioli, nor gyoza either… but a kind of mixture of both. Well what is important is that they were really delicious and it doesn’t take much time to make them and it was a good rehearsal for making gyoza soon. Indeed, ravioli are made from a flat sheet of pasta, but for gyoza they are rolled one by one, so I needed a bit of practice to remind myself how much dough is needed to roll one skin. All you need is just a nice top well dusted to roll them quickly. So here is my recipe…

Pan fried ravioli (for 16-20 pieces)

For the dough:

– 100g of flour

– water

– a pinch of salt

– more flour for dusting

In a bowl mix the flour and salt, add water bit by bit while kneading. Stop when the dough is soft and smooth. Leave to rest for an hour if you have time.

Filling:

Choose what pleases you, I used Japanese salted salmon, spinach and ricotta. I boiled and drained very well the spinach. Add the salmon, and a bit of ricotta. As the salmon is already quite salty, I used nothing but a bit of black pepper.

Ok, then! Now the fun can start!!!

You need a clean top or a wide wooden cutting board. Dust it generously. Pick a 1cm diameter ball of dough and roll it with a rolling pin to the thinness and diameter you like. I like thin, but not too thin as filling is then a pain. So I rolled to about 8cm diameter. Then filled and closed the ravioli. When I made enough pieces to fill a frypan I heated it, and greased it with olive oil. Then throw the ravioli. I cooked at medium heat until golden, flipping them regularly. That’s it!

February 9, 2020

Why I love Instagram… inspiration…

There are few social media I really like or use… I joined facebook a longtime ago to try and as an alternative to my first blog, but never get too convinced except that my professional community is very active there and it helps to get the hot news quickly… Twitter never attracted me, and I only created an account when forced at work as part of my role of publicity committee member… this account is now closed… Pinterest was great when we were refurbishing our house to make idea boards… until the next house (maybe sooner than I think!) I probably won’t use it anymore… The rest… not even tried… my bad… but only Instagram won my heart and I have a steady instagrammer for now a little more than 7 years. Posting 1 picture a day has been my routine since I opened my account. But more than sharing my daily life and food recipes, it has been a tremendous source of inspiration. I love to browse the pictures of seasonal food that echoed to what I have in my fridge or in the garden; from the picture to guess how it could prepared, or plated and how I could recreate or adjust it to our liking… sometimes it just creates a craving… seeing 3 or 4 pictures in a row of beautifully golden quiche, or replete ravioli and dinner is all decided! Sometimes it takes more time to mature and after I thought it over for a few days I test something… That’s how I tested handkerchief pasta, stuffed bread etc…

Yesterday while going to work, after my usual morning post I was scrolling down my IG feed and got captured by a sweet potato and coconut milk soup (don’t ask me which account… I can’t remember :()… and miracle, I just had a large sweet potato waiting to be cooked in the very bottom of my fridge and bought coconut cream the day before… stars were aligned! So what did I do when I came home last night????

I prepared a fragrant sweet potato soup, and here is the recipe, perfect for a cold day like we have right now in Tokyo.

Sweet potato & coconut fragrant soup (for two, as main dish)

– a large sweet potato

– 200ml of coconut cream

– a large pinch of salt

– 1tsp of turmeric

– 1/2tsp of chili powder

– 1/2tsp of ground black pepper

Peel and boil until very mushy the sweet potato in enough water. Add salt. In a blender add the potato and cover with the cooking water. Blend. Add the coconut cream and blend. If too thick add more of the cooking water. Move to a large pan, heat again and add the spices. Serve very very warm.

How do you get your inspiration for your new recipes? Does a picture only inspires you like me? Or do you prefer a full story/recipe?

Has anyone tested Feedpost or is a user??? I just realized and was surprised they ranked In Gentiane’s kitchen in their ranking of top 100 home cooking blogs!!! And I was wondering if I should also use it for further inspiration…

February 6, 2020

Noodles

Last time I made gyoza A. complained because I didn’t make the wrappers. And I totally agreed with him. The homemade ones are thiner, tastier and so simple to make that I kind of felt a bit ashamed of it… When I cook in the evening on week days I usually like to prepare things I am sure about and won’t mess because I am too busy to mess. So I felt I needed to practice dough making.

What does it have to do with noodles???

Well the gyoza wrappers and the noodles I made are basically the same recipe: flour and water… and it takes literally 5min to make the dough for each. And for the noodles just 2min to roll and cut them. Perfect to enhance a simple vegetables soup! So here is my recipe for a quick, simple, energizing and warming soup.

Noodles soup (1 serving)

– 1 carrot

– 1 leek

– a pinch of turmeric

– a pinch of chilly pepper

– 4-5 coriander seeds

– a pinch of sesame seeds

– a pinch of salt

– a bit of ground pepper

– 40g of flour

– water

In a pan with 500ml of water, add the carrot and leek cut in the shape you like. Add the spices and condiments. Bring to a boil. And keep boiling at low heat under cover.

In a small bowl mix the flour with a little of water to obtain a soft dough, silky not sticky. Knead a bit. Roll with a pin onto a floured top to a flat 1mm or less sheet. Cut 5mm wide noodles, add to the soup and boil while sometimes stirring for 5min.

Serve and eat while hot!!!

Have a good weekend!

February 1, 2020

Indian cooking

A while ago, one of my former student from India offered me a set of Indian spices… It took me a while to know what to do, and finally, upon recommendation of a Canadian friend who cooked for me an amazing Indian curry some years ago, I asked for Vij’s at Home: Relax, Honey: The Warmth and Ease of Indian Cooking as a xmas present. I browsed it several times, looking for inspiration, and was overwhelmed by the abundance of recipes I wanted to test, not knowing where to start. But when I saw beautiful cauliflowers at the farmers market on Saturday, I remembered that cauliflower recipe I saw and rush for one. We are lucky that in Chiba they also grow tomatoes that in winter are perfect for tomato sauce: large, very ripe and sweet.

So back home in front of the pantry full of bins with so many spices I don’t know about yet… I started to cook following the recipe, more or less… oups I don’t have coriander seeds… nor fresh ginger…

So here is my version of Vij’s cauliflower steak, that I served with Japanese rice, like a vegetable curry-rice. It was super delicious, so I imagine that with the two missing ingredients it is probably even better… but now who cares!

Spicy cauliflower (for 2)

– 1/2 cauliflower

– 1 large ripe tomato

– 1/2tsp of salt

– 1/2tsp of ground tumeric

– 1/2tsp of ground chilly pepper

– 1tsp of ground cumin

– 4 cloves

– 1 stick of cinnamon

– a bit of oil (I used olive oil and rice oil)

In a bit of oil I first reduce the tomato to tomato sauce. Then add all the other ingredients but the cauliflower and stir well. When it’s all creamy, I add the cauliflower cut in 4 pieces. Cook at low heat under cover until tender but not mushy.

Serve and eat immediately!!!

January 29, 2020

Steamed gyoza – 水餃子

As I was saying in my previous post, I’m a big fan of dumplings of all kind. But recently I have a crush for sui gyoza-水餃子 which are simply steamed gyoza. And because I want to make some more often, last time we went to Kappabashi (to buy bowls for my sister xmas present) A. offered me a set of bamboo steamers: two levels, that would allow preparing dinner for two in one batch. And I have been longing to test them. It’s been three weeks now that I have been on my new schedule but as A. was traveling last week, I waited for him to come back. So finally I did make steamed gyoza, and tested my new bamboo steamer. Well, it’s super easy to use and works very well, and it gives a slightly fancier look to the table to serve the gyoza directly in. It also keeps them warm. I am not a fan of cooking goodies at all and have very very few (a blender, a pasta machine, a mandoline, and two bamboo steamers) but I must admit that those steamers are not just goodies, they are actually perfect. Not only the are made just of bamboo, but they adjust easily on a pan and work like charms. Well, of course if you make steamed food only once in a while and steam in small quantities you don’t need one and a foldable stainless steamer is surely enough, but I am planning to make a lot more often sui gyoza with all the seasonal vegetables, so it is worth the investment and the space it takes. So back to sui gyoza, I opted for sweet potato for some, and shiitake/carrot for the others. A great winter vegetables option. Here is my recipe for 20 pieces.

Vegetables sui gyoza

– 20 pieces of gyoza skin ( making your own is so much better, I’ll share this next time!)

– 1/2 sweet potato

– 4 carrots

– 1 large shiitake

– soya sauce

Steam and purée the sweet potato. Add a bit of soya sauce. Keep.

Boil the carrots and puree. Dice thinly the shiitake and add to the puree.

Fill each skin with a tea spoon of filling and close tightly.

Cut kitchen paper to the steamer inner diameter and set in the bottom of each layer. Steam for 10-15 min or until the skin is translucent. Serve.

January 25, 2020

Taking time

The past two years have just gone in a flash. Since A. changed jobs and we moved, it’s been a continuous flow of things: 2 jobs for A., a cross appointment for me (which is basically a new job on top of mine), we started pottery classes, we had a giant garage and workshop built, we started paddle surfing and surfing, we started a kitchen garden with less rather than more success and I got more confident at baking breads. These have been for sure 2 amazing years, but they also left me with an impression that I have done nothing but running from one work appointment to the other, from one work task to the other, and when the work week was over either we flew to the countryside or we had to stay in Tokyo because I had some work related events to attend. Business trips were plenty as well. This resulted in working days of 12 to 14h with a lot of moving here and there, spending time in trains and metros which in Tokyo can easily be an hour or more. Both of us coming back home often past 22:00 and I then start to cook for dinner, a dinner that needs to be quickly made to satisfy our empty stomachs. While I still dream of country life in a sense, I believe that by changing my habits I could just as start by improving our Tokyo life. Being sick with fever and bed ridden for the first time in more than a decade and then working at a very low speed has taught me to be super efficient again. When your efficient brain time is just a tiny portion of what it used to be you have to use it wisely! I realize I could work differently and I have started as soon as I got back last week. I need to process information on a priority base, and for that refuse all extra work that is not exciting and to help someone I care for. Being sick was a good excuse to start with, now I just need to continue. Time with my students and with my colleagues for projects I care for should be valued over administration. That said it won’t make days shorter.

So the other major change concerns cooking. I was tired of rush cooking so my new schedule is that no matter what I leave the lab between 17:30 and 18:00, go back home, start cooking dinner, and then work again from home. I am lucky enough that most of the work I do can be done everywhere. It means I can cook things that take more than 10min such as spelt, lentils, brown rice and all the others alike.

So when A. comes back dinner is ready and we can eat a much better prepared dinner and at least 30min to 60min earlier!!

This has been really great to finally cook a lot of cereals and products I bought on our trips and they end up in the fridge waiting to be cooked. For example pearled barley from our trip to Italy a year ago… This recipe is highly Mediterranean with capers from Greece that my parents bought me when they went there last spring, sun dried tomatoes from a farm in Gozo I brought back from Malta and olive oil from my home town. The fish comes from our local fishing harbor in Katsuura.

Pearled barley and bonito

– 120g of pearled barley

– 5 sun dried tomatoes

– 1tbs of capers salted or in salty water

– olive oil

– a piece of bonito or tuna

Wash and cover with water the barley. Boil under cover for 20min. If all the water didn’t go, drain it. Add a splash of olive oil. Cut the tomatoes, add to the barley, add the capers. Stir well. In a olive oil greased fry pan, grill the fish. Serve in plates with a last splash of olive oil.

So far I applied this new concept for a week and it worked very well. Let’s see how the second week will work!!

January 14, 2020

Ochazuke – お茶漬け

Those who are familiar with Yasujiro Ozu’s movies must know “The flavor of green tea over rice” or “お茶漬けの味”, while being a cinematographic beauty and a brilliant socio-cultural representation of the the Japanese society transition of the time, it also introduces to a large audience ochazuke. Literally, as in the movie, it’s a dish that consists of pouring green tea over rice. A warm and comforting dish. While for westerners this might sounds odd, this dish, well prepared is actually delicious. It is also very simple if you have the right ingredients: rice, a hot tasty liquid, some topping eventually.

Ochazuke as you can imagine, is not supposed to be eaten with freshly cooked rice, while it is ok to do so, it is rather a recipe to use rice leftovers that have cooled down. So what I usually do is cook more rice than I need once to guarantee leftovers and then keep them for the next meal. Of course I mean Japanese rice cooked the Japanese way!!! You can use white rice or brown rice, it is equally delicious.

Then you need a hot liquid. As the name may be misleading, the liquid can be, but does not limit to green tea. Of course a nice and tasty green tea will work very well, yet my favorite recipe is with a flavor-rich dashi. A dashi made from konbu and katsuo, or from shiitake for a vegan version. The liquid must be hot enough to warm the rice if you use leftovers as it might be just at room temperature.

Finally you need a topping. Something that brings in a new texture and a new flavor. The topping is in rather low quantity, about one~two table spoon for one bowl. And as the rice and the liquid have quite a fine and light flavor you can use a topping that contrasts vividly such as umeboshi, salty salmon, mitsuba or create new combinations. Well, to be honest umeboshi is one of my favorite, and it can be used with some other toppings as well.

Why is that that I suddenly I talk so much of ochazuke when in the past 15 years I barely made one and only have them in restaurants? I think its just a matter of interesting circumstances: (1) Finding a nice dashi made from natural ingredients (dashi bars and tasting are becoming more trendy but not all dashi are made from simple natural ingredients) (2) Having leftover rice (when I was sick I would cook rice for 2 or 3 meals to have always something ready in case I would be hungry) (3) Wanting to eat a warm meal (with the temperature changing rapidly and the days becoming chilly one needs a warm, light and comforting meal…)

Here are the ochazuke I made in the past couple of weeks, top to bottom: umeboshi and pickled red chiso, umeboshi and mitsuba, 7 herbs and salmon, umeboshi grilled mushrooms and salmon.

For all the principle is the same: serve the rice in a large bowl such that it uses not more than half of it. Top with the topping of your choice. I blanched the round turnips in the 7 herbs version and slightly grilled in olive oil the long ones. Same for the mushrooms, I grilled them before. Prepare the dashi of your choice and pour while hot gently to cover the rice. Eat right away!

January 8, 2020

Malta

After being in Italy several times around Christmas time, whether in Sicily, in Tuscany or in Rome, this year we decided to go a little further south and went to Malta. It was a destination that has always attracted me while in the meantime I didn’t know what to expect. And it was actually a nice discovery. First of all a place with a new language. Indeed, like the history of Malta, the language is a very surprising one mixing so many influences. Sometimes it feels like Italian, sometimes includes English with Arabic tonalities, others it looks like Greek or Eastern Europe languages. The cultural heritage is quite impregnated in the food culture as well. The proximity of Sicily provides the country with all the Italian produces I love so much, but Malta also has a cuisine of its own. Being a rather simple desolated island, and inhabited by a crowd of hunters and fishermen there is a lot of game and fish cuisine. The former that I wouldn’t try as game is not part of my diet, in particular they love rabbit and for me it is impossible to eat rabbit. For fishes that was easier. They have always nice way of cooking them, whether it’s grilled with a sauce made of tomatoes and capers or in a soup. But to be honest the thing that impressed me most and attracted me most was the Maltese breads and pastries.

We started discovering the breads at a morning market in Birkirkara, the little baker stand had so many varieties. I fell for the little sesame rings called Qagħaq tal-Ħmira.

While they look like a bagel they are so much more delicious!!! Slighly flavored with anis, cloves, and lemon, they are a little soft and slightly sweet, sonething closer to a very light brioche. I’ve already found the recipe and will try very soon making some. The other bread that was really nice was the ftira, a kind of flat bread, used often for sandwiches. It’s a bit like focaccia but much less oily. It can be served with all kind of things inside. I opted for an English contemporary version at Emma’s kitchen, a cafe recommended by my IG friend @junkikat who lived in Malta last year.

The other savory discovery was the pastizzi. A Maltese pastry filled with ricotta, or green bean puree, or sometimes chicken or meat. While the one with ricotta were super delicious, the one with green beans purée slightly spicy were just over the top! The mix of the buttery pastry dough, crunchy and light and the thick purée slightly flavored with clove and other spices… damned that was sooo…. delicious!!! Pastizzi are a big tourist thing so you can find some everywhere. Sphynx is a chain store making some, but not necessarily my favorite. The Crystal Palace in Mdina had a good selection and they were quite good. In Birkikara we had some from a small cafe that were really good. Each are different so you can try them all and find the one one you like best!!

Finally, let’s talk sweets! Maltese traditional sweets are made with honey, almonds, figs and are super delicious too. The most famous is probably Qagħaq tal-għasel. A ring with fig and honey in a little dough.

While they look rather dry and stuffy, the fig and honey filling is actually all creamy and soft. My favorite ones were from Parruċċan in Mdina. There are also sweets with almond base paste such as what they called macaroons and that can be found in any confectionary, and also the delicious Kwarezimal, normally for Lenten, but available all year round at cafe Cordina in Valetta.

Well of course we just didn’t spend all our time in Malta eating. We also visited many places, went horse riding and enjoyed the nice weather. I really loved Mdina for walking around the nicely renovated and clean city, all the places to visit, the vista of the island from up there, and the lack of touristic shops (may be because it’s winter…). There were also much fewer people than in Valetta hence it was very quiet.

January 3, 2020

Artichokes

One of the food I miss much in Japan as you already know, is artichoke. For some reason it is something that reminds me my childhood. From the simply boiled large ones that one of my grand mother would prepare to eat one leave after the other dipped in mustard vinaigrette, or the tiny purple artichokes barigoule of my mother or a recipe from my other grand mother “greek style artichokes” I love them all. When we lived in Paris I used to prepare some quite often and the greek style artichokes were always a good pick for casual dinners. When we go back home, my mother always prepare artichokes for me, usually for the very first day when we arrive, since they can be made in advance, and they are very good warm or cold it means lunch or dinner is always ready for us to eat anytime. Yesterday for a family lunch she made artichokes greek style. I thought I’d share that recipe today.

Artichoke greek style (for 2)

– 10 large artichokes (in worst case artichokes heart preserves)

– 10 bell onions

– 1 tbs of coriander seeds

– 2 leaves of laurel

– a branch of thyme

– 3 tbs of olive oil

– 3tbs of white wine (optional)

Boil the artichokes and extract the hearts.

Clean the bell onion by peeling one layer.

In a large pan put the olive oil, the wine, the artichokes hearts, the onions, the coriander, thyme, laurel. Add just a bit of salt and pepper, cover with water and cook at low heat under cover for 40min.

Perfect eaten with fresh rustic bread to enjoy all the delicious juice.

December 25, 2019