A very classic dish twisted

This preparation has the taste of my childhood… it is something my mum cooks often and very close to the first one she cooked when A. first visited them. Mum would cook it with rice, but without too much time polenta is a faster option. And the fish… it could be tuna or bonito. In the south of France we had a lot of delicious red tuna when I was young so that would be prepared with tuna slices. In Isumi we have delicious bonito from the nearby fishing port of Katsuura, so I use local and seasonal bonito. But the idea is exactly the same. My mum classic recipe uses a lot of bell peppers, red with a lot of flesh, a bit of onion and tomato and plenty of olive oil. Everything is simmered together in a large pan or a wok. You can also add capers to the preparation to add a bit of sourness. This can be eaten warm or cold, and it can be prepared ahead, so it’s a very convenient meal when you are not sure about dinner time!!

In my recipe since I served it with polenta I gave it an Italian twist using rucola instead of onions. The result was a much lighter version of the original but as much tasty! I love to twist and change a bit classic recipes to adjust them to my mood or the available products.

Polenta “pizza”

Maybe it’s because we’re going to Italy soon, maybe just because I love it, but there are two things I am craving for: Italian food and Japanese food. So I alternate Italian inspirations and Japanese ones, and sometimes mix the two. When you need a rapid base for dinner polenta is much better than rice. It cokks in no time and it is very versatile and fun to arrange with many vegetables. One of the things I like to prepare it with are mushrooms and tomatoes. Somehow very classic. But you can give it a twist and prepare it like a pizza (vegan, gluten free). Here is my recipe!

Polenta pizza (4 servings)

– 100g of polenta (more or less depending on the size of your pie dish, the thickness of the polenta you want etc…)

– 2 large shiitake or 5 small

– a bundle of rucola

– a hanful of cherry tomatoes

– a branch of rosemary

– olive oil

– salt and pepper

First cook the polenta, you want it slightly dry to hold when it is cold but not undercooked.  Then pour the hot polenta in your olive-oil greased pie dish to obtain an even layer. Since I’m making a “pizza” I don’t want it to be thick, but neither too thin. 5-8mm is the right thing for me. Let it chill. Wash the vegetables and cut them. Add a bit of olive oil on top of the polenta, rosemary, salt and pepper. Then add the tomatoes and shiitake. Pre-heat the oven 30min before serving to 180deg. and cook the polenta and vegetables. Finally when done, just before serving add the rucola. That’s it!

Shiitake week! Day 5!

And here is the last recipe of this shiitake week! I could have added many more like shiitake quiche, shiitake soup… But weekend is for new creative cooking… we’ll see tomorrow what the farmers market will inspire us… though I am craving for homemade gnocchi, rich quiche and more takikomi gohan… and I have a new cookbook to browse and some older to look at again (I thinking about my Sicilian cookbook and Shojin cuisine cookbook in particular and some older Japanese cookbooks I haven’t touch in years…) . So this last shiitake recipe is basically using shiitake as substitute for porcini. Of course they have a very different taste but in some preparations they can have a very similar texture. And since there is no porcini in Japan, that finding really delicious matsutake that actually come from Japan (they are usually from Canada, US, Korea or China) has become a challenge, regardless of the price you are eager to pay them, using shiitake is a very straightforwardly simple option. I used them with tomato, to serve with polenta and grilled marlin. I simply sliced them, cooked them in olive oil and add the tomatoes. Cooked until it’s all soft and almost dry. Served with the fish sliced and grilled in a pan, and some polenta. That’s it, and it was delicious! 

Have a good weekend! 

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

Up ↑

Verified by MonsterInsights