Tag: new potato

Mironton

As I was explaining in a previous post, my grand mother was really good at cooking leftover and that of meat in particular. I have kept the tradition and I cook once in a while some mironton. But I make often some variations from the original recipe. This time I didn’t use regular onion, but green onions with leaves. They are from Kujukuri, the northern part of Chiba by the ocean, and they are very soft and very sweet. I’ve used some already in some quiche and miso recipe, and I was really happy with the result. Using them in mironton kind of came naturally then. I simply used a bit of olive oil and vegetal oil mixed together. About 5 new potatoes, and a piece of pork filet diced. I cook everything in a pan at medium heat first then high heat, and add the green onions with leaves just halved. Stir once in a while until potatoes are done and onions are soft. That’s it.

Japanese spring

Here I am! Back to warm and blossoming Tokyo! What a difference from Canada! Not only it is warm and all the cherry trees are blossoming, people are out to enjoy the weather and the flowers, there is this very special euphoria in March in Japan. The season for graduation, for endings and soon new departures. And we are no exception to that. April is going to be busy, full of novelty and surprises.

When I left Tokyo almost two weeks ago we were only having a few spring veggies: new potatoes mainly and a few greens from the south of Japan, by the time I’m back new carrots, onions, green peas, all the wild vegetables are displayed at the fresh food corner. Bamboos shoots also will be there soon! Since both A. and I are coming back from long separated trips and we are both suffering from jetlag from different time zones, the first things we did was to go grocery shopping to indulge ourselves with a nice dinner that will make us feel the season and prepare our mind and bodies to the Japanese time. It is quite rare I shop for food in Tokyo recently, but I have a few favorite places: Mitsukoshi Nihonbashi, Seijo ishi Tokyo Dome or Isetan Shinjuku. This time we stopped at Mitsukoshi and got some fresh new vegetables and a piece of fresh red sea-bream. It’s not always easy to find wild fish but at least I know each of these three places usually have some. And the dinner then was just simply decided with a classical preparation of sautéed vegetables slightly deglazed in soya sauce and pan grilled fish. And I am so happy to be back.

Summer salad

Well well summer is really here and it’s just the beginning, temperature are going to rise even further I guess. So preparing simple fresh food is really my main cooking focus, yet each time I want to prepare something different, new, even if most of the basic ingredients are the same: new potatoes, green beans, zucchini, cucumber, okra, tomatoes… 

So for this simple salad I pan fried a few new potatoes, then added some boiled green beans, a cucumber, some beautiful tomatoes and, finished with hard boiled eggs and sesame seeds. Dressed with some olive oil and sesame oil. That’s it!!!

Today I am going to Ngoya for work where it’s going to be even hotter!

Tiny new potatoes

When I was a kid my grandfather had a terraced kitchen garden where he would grow in the summer green beans, tomatoes, salads, radishes, strawberries, raspberries, red currants, herbs, there was also a fig tree, a verbena tree etc… I have vivid memories of eating the tomatoes on the plant while warm from the sun and full of the smells of the tomato leaves, of picking red currants and eating half of them before they even reach the basket… one thing that I really loved was picking potatoes with him, not only because it was fun picking them, but because of the promise of one of my favorite dish at that time: new potatoes sautéed. The main difference with new potatoes you can find on the farmers market is the size pf the potatoes. My grandfather never waited until the potatoes where big to harvest them, he harvested them whem most where still very tiny, and the tiniest was always in my plate. Today, I went to visit our old neighbor. Since her dog has passed she doesn’t come mear our place as often as she used too so I meet her much less. And she was in her kitchen garden harvesting potatoes. She offered to give me some and while discussing she told me that most people criticize her for harvesting also tiny potatoes but I told they were my favorite so she gave me plenty and I was very happy. It is rare to find tiny new potatoes and they are really delicious. I washed and brushed them and cooked them with some pork belly slices and rosemary. A very simple meal, very nostalgic. Thanks Mrs. K. For the tiny potatoes!!!!

Golden week

So, here we are, right in the middle of the golden week. All our friends have left and we’re planning to spend a few days doing some DIY and gardening. Having friends at home I spent a lot of time in the kitchen to prepare them my classics: breakfast with freshly baked bread, creamy scrambled eggs, local products: ham, fresh fruits… For lunch, it is more about vegetables and salads, and for dinner, since evenings are still chilly, cocotte cooked Isumi pork filet with new potatoes and angelica. And the little bonus for dessert: fruits tarts with coconut custard. All my recipes are meant to take the best of the local ingredients with simple preparations.

So here are my recipes:

Cocotte pork filet

– 1 pork filet, the size depends on the number of persons you are cooking for

– 2 large new potatoes/person

– a bouquet of fresh angelica (ashitaba)

– olive oil

– salt and pepper

Cover the bottom of your cocotte with 1mm of olive oil. Set the pork filet and start cooking at low heat. Brush the new potatoes undr water to remove soil and dust and the thickest skin. Cut them in 4, add them in the cocotte. Cook under cover for 25min, stir regularly. Wash the ashitaba, cut the hardest part. Add to the cocotte with salt and pepper, and continue cooking until the bottom is all golden, and stir a few times while cooking at high heat. Finish with a bit of olive oil to melt all the extracts. At the moment of serving cut roughly the ashitaba with scissors.

Coconut custard fruits tart 

The recipe is basically the same as here except that I  added some fresh coconut in the custard, and added mangoes to the strawberries. The result was 12 superb little tarts! I now often do individual fruits tarts to avoid having to cut them and damaging there beautiful balance and aspect. I also find it easier to keep them that way.

Soya sauce recipe contest

So… apparently the Parisian sister has again let us down once again, and despite her promise to contribute every week steadily, she didn’t keep it more than 2months…  Sorry, no sweets and cake recipes because I myself rarely cook or bake some. I am more interested in meals and breads! Recently with the spring coming I’ve been using a lot of greens, and in particular I am working on a new recipe for the soya sauce recipe contest, which deadline is approaching rapidly. I thought I was almost ready with a receipe inspired from my mother spring glazed vegetables and it would definitely includes some spring greens, most certainly some extra thin green beans, because I found some lovely ones at the farmers market Saturday and prepare this delicious dish which was not very picturesque. And likely features also some new onions… I love their sweet taste and the texture they bring to a dish! So many options now… The problem, now that I know how the contest works, is that the finale is in August and these vegetables are not going to be found easily then… but I have a hard time thinking of an all season recipe… with what? Mushrooms, potatoes, cucumber, carrots, leek… hum… nothing too fancy here… so I still need to work on it a bit and I’ll let you know what will be my entry to the contest soon!

In the meantime here is my killing soya sauce recipe from yesterday dinner: sea bass with soya sauce glazed new vegetables  

– a sea bass filet

– a handful of green beans

– a handful of snappeas

– 1 large new potatoes

– 1 new onion

– 2 tbs of oil

– 1 tbs of soya sauce  

Wash the vegetables, don’t peel the potatoes, just brush them. Cut the fish filet into cubes or slices as you like. Remove the stem of the greens. Remove the first skin of the new onion, cut in 4 or 8. In a pan, heat the oil, add the onion, then the potatoes. Stir and lower the heat when it starts to be golden. Then add green beans. Cook at low heat under cover for 2-3min. Stir well. Add the fish, the soya sauce and cook under cover for 3min (abit more if your fish cubes are large). Finally add the snap peas. Cook under cover one minute. Serve and eat immediately!

Have a good week! 

New potatoes omelette

For the first time in a week my head didn’t spin and seeing the world so still is quite strange now! I kind of got use to living in a spinning boat and adjusted to it. My appetite is coming back too! But I still prefer to eat simple food. So I made a new potatoes omelette. Some kind of comfort food. I just used two new potatoes washed and brushed that I cut in small cubes and cooked in olive oil until golden, then added 4 eggs beaten with black pepper and salt and cooked under cover. I flipped the omelette when the top is almost dry and cooked a little longer before cutting and serving. Really nothing amazing about that recipe bit honestly delicious.

Spring in the plate!

It’s getting warmer, out the winter coats! And the spring vegetables are everywhere on the market shelves!  I couldn’t resist to preparing the first spring vegetables sautéed of the year. A classic in our house that can accompany fish, meat, tofu, eggs, or just be eaten like that. Choose the spring vegetables of your choice: new potatoes, asparagus, green peas, snap peas, new carrot today for me, but you can add new onion, green beans… a bit of olive oil in a pan and start to cook the potatoes, then the carrots, the green peas, finish the asparagus hardest part and later the heads and the snap peas. Add kosher salt and pepper and serve!

Baby corn

I like corns but I don’t know too many ways to prepare them: butter grilled, boiled, in salad, in soup, with rice… I don’t really like the butter grilled or simply boiled when you have a whole chunck and need to use your fingers. Plus they often come in bundle of 3 or 4 corns, and for two it’s really too much. So basically I don’t buy corn. Last week on top of the big sweet corns they had fresh baby corns at the farmers market. Baby corns are to me a typical ingredient of Asian food in Western countries, together with square bamboo shoot, glutamate slimmy shinny sauce. So I don’t recall having the opportunity of eating fresh baby corns before. They come with the leaves just like the big ones and are very easy to prepare. For the first try I simply grilled them with new potatoes and pork filet. So that they roast in the juice. They were tender crisp with the typical taste and texture of baby corns. Delicious!!

And now I am in Paris reuniting shortly with the Parisian sister before some Provence cooking postings! Have a nice Sunday! 

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