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!

April 23, 2017

Sakura rice v2

Now that I understand a bit better how to use the salted sakura, I decided to prepare a new version of sakura rice (the fridge being almost empty before our departure to Europe today). I decided to prepare it not with greens as I did last time but with sweet potatoes. So I basically prepared a sweet potato rice in which I added salted sakura flowers from the beginning of cooking. I didn’t washed them this time because I wanted to keep the salty flavor. What happened and was amazingly surprising is that the flavor of the sakura transferred a lot to the sweet potatoes and gave them a very flowery taste very close to rose. It was really delicious. A combination that has given me new ideas of recipes! Coming soon probably! In the meantime enjoy spring and blossoms every where!

April 7, 2017

Vegetarian quiche

We love quiches and I think I don’t cook some too often! There are so many variations that I can’t do twice the same one! Recently I’ve been using a lot of wheat bran in my breads, cakes, pancakes and quiche or tart doughs. It gives a fibery texture that I really love on top of being rich in nutrients. I simply add two large table spoon of wheat bran to the dough when kneading. For this very simple quiche with lotus root and shiitake I used also tried using okara in the egg base instead of tofu, which is also rich in fibers and protein and it gives a drier texture, a bit that of a fish cake that I really loved. So simple and delicious!

April 5, 2017

Eclair ⚡️

With this horrible rainy and cold Saturday there was nothing else to do than cook some sweets and drink hot tea. After browsing a few recipes of things I wanted to cook, the unanimous choice was chocolate eclairs! And here I am in my kitchen, preparing pate a chou and custard. Of course chocolate eclair is not just enough so I also prepared two other variations: macha and chai. Each was just perfectly delicious. So here is my recipe. Eclairs consist in three preparations: the pate a chou, the custard and the coating.

For the pate a chou:

10cl of water; 10cl of milk; 3 eggs; 70g of butter; 110g of flour; a bit of salt and a tea spoon of sugar.

In a pan heat the milk and the water. Add the butter, the sugar and the salt. When the butter has melted add the flour all at once and stir well. Continue cooking and stirring until the dough is smooth and doesn’t stick. Cool down a bit and add one egg. Stir until the dough is smooth again. Add the second egg and do the same and then the third egg and repeat again.

Pre-heat your oven at 180 deg. Use a pipping bag to shape the eclairs. Remember they will double almost size so tiny is better. Cook for 25 to 30 minutes.

For the custard:

30g of flour; 50g of sugar; 2 egg yolks; 25cl of milk.

In a pan heat the milk. In a bowl mix the eggs with the sugat, add the flour all at once and mix well. Add half ofthe milk and stir well. Add the mix to ghe rest of the milk in the pan and cook at low heat while stirring for 5min, or until it thickens. Add the flavoring of your choice: cacao powder (2 tbs); macha powder (1tsp); chai spices: cardamom, cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg… up to your liking. I personally like it with a lot of cardamom.

Cut the eclairs from the previous step in halves and fill with the custard.

For the coating:

I didn’t use the usual butter cream but rather a simple sugar coating made with ice sugar, water and macha or cacao powder for the coloring. Add water little by little to obtain a rather thick mix, and apply with a spoon.

Keep refrigerated.

April 2, 2017

Soumen primavera

I can’t believe that yesterday I was preparing soumen with spring vegetables and that today I dream of a hor rich soup. Yesterday was spring today is winter! Anyway, spring is just to arrive for sure soon, so a little spring recipe is always good, in particular when it’s that simple and tasty. I have received soumen-素麺, thin wheat noodles from a colleague and I prepared them in my primavera style: tons of greens, fried tofu, a little bit of soya sauce. That’s it!

I used fava beans (blanched), asparagus (blanched), cucumber and fresh chopped coriander. Thick fried tofu heated in a pan and a few mm of water to remove some of the oil. And the simply boiled soumen. For the dressing soya sauce cut with dashi or water. Have a nice weekend!

March 31, 2017

Sakura rice

The other day I was so happy with cherry blossom rice in my bento that I couldn’t help trying to make some. It’s just the right season for it, cherry trees start to bloom, though it seems they are rather late this year. Making sakura rice is very simple. You need only four ingredients: white Japanese rice, soya sauce, some fresh greens: spinach or canola, and some salt preserved sakura flowers. In Japan it is very easy to find them in little bins in supermarkets, in small boxes or packs at the farmers market. Wash the greens, and blanche them. Slightly and delicately rinse of the sakura flowers. In a pan or rice cooker add the rice and about 5 to 10 flowers. Add a tbs of soya sauce. Cook your rice as usual. Cut the greens in 1.5 cm pieces. Add to the rice when cooked and stir. Add a salted flower for decoration. That’s it!

March 29, 2017

Kumquat and mackerel pasta

This recipe is inspired by my Sicilian cookbook and I wanted to make it auite sometime ago but I couldn’t find the proper fresh fish. Not the right season. But I finally got it!!! The recipe works with anchovies, sardines or little mackerels (what I got). I used fish prepared for sashimi so it’s very easy to make. The original recipe used some chapelure (dry bread crumbs, or panko) but instead I used hazelnut powder. The spinach and pasta are my addition too.

Kumquat and makerel rolls:

– 5 to 10 anchovies, sardines or little mackerels (鯵-アジ) depending on the size

– 10 wooden toothpicks

– 4 tbs of hazelnut powder

– olive oil for the cooking

Wash the kumquats and cut the stem and bottom. Wash and prepare the fish in filets. Roll the filets around the kumquats and fix with a toothpick. Depending on the size of the filets you may need 1 or 2 to wrap the whole fruit. Put the hazelnut powder in a small dish and roll the fish in. In a heated and olive oil greased frypan cook until almost golden. Serve like this, or as I did with pasta, spinach…

March 21, 2017

Friday evening pasta

It’s late, we’re tired and the house is cold. A nice plate of colorful pasta or gnocchi is my favorite dish in that situation!! I had some snap peas, some cherry tomatoes and a bit of bacon left, together with olive oil and pepper, it made a great sauce for short pasta. I choose conchiglie, but orrechiete or penne would work good too as they would get soaked in the sauce and become little recipients which would bring all the flavors and consistency at once in the mouth. Another simply delicious recipe.

March 17, 2017

Colorful vegetables

Well after taking a bit more time and cooking for 4 people it’s now back to crazy at work and coming back home late, working weekends. So dinners have become simpler. It goes together with a typical March weather, when one day is rainy and cold and the next is warm and sunny. When you crave for spring vegetables but it feels like winter. In these times my best dinner solution us a plate of olive oil sautéed vegetables: sweet potatoes, new carrots, beet root and some boiled chick peas. Add a bit of curcuma, and a few snap peas for spring greens and it is ready. Simple, warm, colorful and vegan!

March 17, 2017