Tag: persimmon

Cruising in the kitchen

Not that I have been more busy than usual, nor that I have less inspiration these days… but I’ve been cruising in the kitchen… probably because of the season sudden change and this in between moment when you don’t want to shit to the new seasonal staples too quick, but yet you have explored enough with the past season ones… eggplants, okras and cucumbers are slowly making way to pumpkins, carrots and lotus roots.

And by cruising I mean Saturday ravioli, Sunday quiche, Monday chocolate cream, Wednesday steam buns etc… etc… hopefully Sunday was rainy, so after a nice bodyboarding session in a rough ocean I spent the afternoon browsing some of my very old cookbooks that were left in Paris 20years ago, and that I just received with our cargo…

The Reboul, a must for Provencal cooking, the first edition dating back to the 19th century, that I have been using to check basic recipes when my grandmother or mother were not available… I read it with a new eye and learned many many things!

Les recettes faciles, also plenty of basic ressources that help a lot for remembering how to make a good roux, or a creamy sauce… it’s nice to go back to the basics again once in a while.

Les recettes de la table franc-comtoise is probably the most alien to me. It was a gift from A. grand mother who was from Franche-Comte, a place in France I have never stepped foot, and where cooking is based on cream… but there are some great recipes and inspirations to gather from there too and the food A. grand mother would prepare for us!

In the meantime, Japanese seasonal cooking has never been more attractive to me and I have been thinking about how to level up… while I don’t feel like going to in-person cooking class yet, I still think about Shojin cuisine…

I tested new ways of using Koyadofu, I mean new may not be the right word, but at least without any cookbook nor guidelines and made this soya sauce based stew of vegetables and koyadofu that was just a hit! The recipe yet needs a bit of polishing before I can share it with you.

The other big hit this week was my classic persimmon and cucumber tofuae. A. often complains about all these persimmons we have in our garden… and doesn’t seem too happy when I serve one for dessert, but with the less ripe ones when I make this simple dish I learned at my Chakaiseki classes, he surprisingly always asks for more!!!

I’m hopping to be able to share a few new recipes in the coming days/weeks and in the meantime I’ll continue to cruise in the kitchen with all the classic recipes and the new ones that’ll pop in my head!

See you soon!

Persimmons

When the season for persimmons comes it means that autumn is clearly here and with shorter days, the chilly evenings will be coming soon. And here they are. Not cold enough to tuen the heater on yet, but it’s coming.

While we are not big fans of raw persimmons, like pretty much everyone in Chiba Sotoboso, we have persimmon trees in our garden, two that give sweet persimmons and one that gives bitter ones. Persimmons are like plums in June, impossible to give away!!! Most people don’t even harvest them and their leave-less branches are decorated with beautiful orange fruits. I our gardens the fruits don’t last long as birds happily eat them and that is great. Still I always harvest a few fruits for us as there is one recipe that is my total preferred way of eating persimmons: tofu ae with cucumber.

So here it is:

Persimmon, cucumber and tofu ae: 

– 1 persimmon not too soft

– 1 Japanese cucumber  

– 1 small block of drained tofu

– 2tbs of sesame seeds

– a bit of salt

Peel and dice the persimmon, slice the cucumber. Grind the sesame seeds, drain very well the tofu* and mix with the salt. Add the persimmon and the cucumber. Stir well and it is ready to serve.

Oh! By the way, I’m testing new mini videos to explain the recipe… checkout below and on IG!!!

* draining tofu is crucial to obtain the perfect creamy consistency. To drain tofu (hard or soft) first press it gently between two boards with a weight on top. Gravity will make it work perfectly for you after 1h. Then in a clean cloth with thin weaving press the tofu to remove the water has shown in the third video below.

http://gentianeetantoine.com/igk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/video.mov

http://gentianeetantoine.com/igk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/video-1.mov

http://gentianeetantoine.com/igk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/video-2.mov

http://gentianeetantoine.com/igk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/video-3.mov

Persimmons harvest

Together with the gingko nuts, the season for persimmons has also started, and our two trees in the garden are literally covered with fruits this year. Since this is way to much to eat them all, that pretty much everyone has a persimmon tree in their garden, contrarily to gingko nuts, they are difficult to give away. I tried jam but it was not a huge success, and I run out of ideas on how to preserve them. These are not really persimmons you would dry, like shibui kaki… So I harvest a few, give a few to friends who don’t have a garden, and usually offer the rest to the birds, bees and butterflies who seems to be loving their sweetness and juiciness. 

One of my favorite recipe with persimmons is in salad with cucumber, turnip, sesame and tofu. This time I had no turnip so it was just persimmon and cucumber. 

Persimmon, cucumber and tofu salad: 

– 1 persimmon still a bit hard

– 1 Japanese cucumber  

– 1 small block of drained hard tofu

– 1tbs of sesame seeds, or sesame powder

– a bit of salt

Peel and dice the persimmon, sluce the cucumber. Grind the sesame seeds, mix with the tofu and the salt. Add the persimmon and the cucumber. Stir well and it is ready to serve.

persimmons on the tree, with giant bee and tiny frog!
persimmons on the tree, with giant bee and tiny frog!

Breakfast

Usually my morning routine in Tokyo is very simple: after waking up I do a little pilates workout, then take care of the laundry, in the mean time A. prepares breakfast for us and takes care of the dishes.  So when A. is away my morning routine is quite busy since I have to squeeze in everything… 

Hopefully this weekend end I made a huge German black bread and we packed on fresh produce at the farmers market: persimmons, early tangerine (which green color is normal, not that they are not ripe!!!) and cheese from Komagata factory. And I am very lucky because my uncle in France has a few hives and makes delicious honey. Perfect for an Autumn morning!

Persimmmon and turnip salad

We harvested some more persimmons today and I really have a lot!! So I’m trying a few recipes with persimmons, after the not too conclusive jam experiment. Back when I was going to cha-kaiseki classes there was a really nice autumn recipe of persimmon in salad. Later I found other recipes that inspired me, and today I would like to present you my original recipe of persimmon, turnip and tofu. 

The recipe is ultra simple. For 4 servings, 1 still hard persimmon, 2 turnips or a piece of daikon, 1/2 block of hard tofu, sesame seeds, a few walnuts, salt. Start by draining the tofu, since it takes some time. Then peel the turnips and cut them in small sticks (thin slices can also work); set them in a bit of salt to remove the water. Peel the persimmon, and cut similarly to the turnips. In a bowl, roughly squeeze a tea spoon of sesame seeds and the walnuts. Once the tofu is drained, press it in a clean clothe to remove the additional water and once quite dry mix it with the sesame and the walnuts. Drain the turnips and add ghem to the tofu, add the persimmon. And serve.

Persimmon jam

One of our persimmon trees about 2 weeks ago
One of our persimmon trees about 2 weeks ago

In Japan, persimmons are quite popular and common. Everywhere in the country at that season you can see their trees with little or no foliage, just magnificent orange fruits against the blue sky. And this year there are so many fruits on each tree that it is really amazing! There exist a few varieties from the very sweet used in different recipes more often in salty versions, to the sour ones (shibui kaki – 渋いカキ) used dried: hoshi kaki (干しカキ). Since the season is just starting there’s going to be many opportunities to prepare persimmons.

In our garden we have three persimmon trees, two sweet and one quite old sour one. I don’t use the sour ones I leave them to the birds, because old ladies from area told me that Ohara is too warm to dry kaki properly without them rotten. But I use the sweet ones in several recipes. And this year because there are so many I’ve decided to make jam and jelly. I used only persimmon, brown caster sugar and a bit of agar agar. I peeled a dozen of persimmons, cut them in pieces, remove the seeds, add a bit of water, brown caster dugar and cooked at low heat for 1h. In the last few minutes I added a bit of agar agar because I had no natural pectin to really make it jelly like.

I then prepared the bins and and wait until cold to try on my original bread! I’m not very much used in making jam and preserves so I’m still learning, but the persimmon jam is nice, but as expected the taste is very subtle. I may have tried to add some flavor with vanilla beans may be. I made two variations: one pure jelly, and one with large chunks of fruit as on the picture. So if like me you have plenty of persimmons that could be a good manner to use them, if not I wouldn’t buy any to make jam with, unless you have a better recipe than mine, which I’ll be very happy to try because I’ve only harvested a 10th of our persimmons yet!

Proudly powered by WordPress | Theme: Baskerville 2 by Anders Noren.

Up ↑

Verified by MonsterInsights