Okonomiyaki-お好み焼き

The okonomiyaki is a preparation from the Kansai area. A straightforward translation of the work means “grill what you like”, and it is well rendered with the profusion of recipes and variations. In the Kanto area the equivalent would be Monja-yaki, but what I prefer with okonomiyaki is the consistence of the crepe rather then a kind of weird porridge! Okonomiyaki includes a base of Chinese cabbage (hakusai 白菜), some grinded pork meat, a preparation of flour, water and egg like a crepe, then a toping of mayonnaise and Bulldog sauce, finished with katsuobushi. Any addition of veggies, meat, seafood etc is possible, just as you like it!!!

Mine is the simplest. Chop on small Chinese cabbage or 1/4 of a large one. In a frypan put a little of oil and the cabbage, stir often untill soft; add some grinded pork meat (150g), and continue to stir. In a batter prepare a mix with flour and 2 eggs to obtain a thick dough, add a bit of water to liquefy (it should be slightly more liquid than pancake dough). Add in the fry pan, cover and cook at low heat, then flip and cook again a lityle more. Serve and top with what you like: usually bulldog sauce, mayonnaise, and katsuobushi but I removed the mayonnaise and bulldog sauce topping, just the katsuobushi remained in my version (I reckon that the white mayo and the dark bulldog sauce make a much prettier finish). You can make individual cute okonomiyaki or large one that you cut to serve. Tonight I was a bit running out if time so I went for the second option.

There is one extraordinary strange thing I love with katsuobushi toping on hot food, it’s when it’s moving like if it were alive, though of course it’s just dry flakes!!!

November 19, 2015

Wholewheat and seeds bread

As I told you, I back on baking breads and I am verry happy with the results I am obtaining, so I just don’t follow any tecipe anymore and use my experience from all the bread I baked to create my own recipes, and I have plenty in mind!!! This time it’s more a classic since it is a wholewheat bread with a mix of seeds: sunflower, pumpkin, barley… And this time I did it properly with grilled the seeds and then rehydrate them in water. A simple and delicious bread, easy to use anytime.

November 19, 2015

Pear tart “bourdaloue”

It’s been a long time I haven’t made cake or tart. With all the nice pears in the grocery store, I wanted to make one for tea time.

You need a puff pastry, 4-5 nice pears. spread out the pastry, and put the pears cut in small dices.

Mix 3 eggs with 3 spoon of brown sugar, 10cl of cream and 20cl of vanilla soy milk. You can add a drop of vanilla. And add 150g of almond powder. Pour this mix on the pears.

Then 35-40 minutes in hot oven.

You can add a pinch of slender almond on the top before the end of baking.

Wait 1h before eating

November 18, 2015

Gnocchi di zucca

I love Italy and Italian food and I’m very excited that we will spend xmas in Sicily and my birthday in Roma!!! So to get ready I working on my classics and some different variations, one I love particularly is gnocchi! So I made pumpkin gnocchi, or rather kabocha gnocchi! And because the skin of kabocha is very soft I kept it, adding a nice greenish color. I also added a potato to make the orange less vivid and more subtle and it gave something really nice, perfect with just a little of olive oil and pepper.

For 2 portions of gnocchi as main dish I used 1/2 kabocha, 2 small potatoes, as little flour as possible, 1 egg (so you’d rather make a huge amount of gnocchi so that the egg don’t moisten to much the preparation). I steamed both potatoes and kabocha, but I recommend to grill the kabocha to avoid also large quantities of moist. Then you just mix sll the ingredients and shape the gnocchi. Finally boil them in salted water, or fry them in a bit of olive oil!

November 16, 2015

Orange and chocolate sweet bread

For a rainy morning there is nothing better than a hot sweet bread just out of the oven. It’s been some time since I haven’t baked, but this rainy weekend was just the perfect moment to start again and go with some new originsl recipes. I also bought some new sourdough and natural yeast and I’m really happy with the result.

So for this first bread I wanted something sweet and fruity for breakfast so I used candied orange peels (recipe tomorrow!) and dark chocolate chips. For one bread I used 170g of whole wheat flour, 110g of water, 3g of natural yeast, 8g of dry sordough, 4g of salt, 40g of brown caster sugar, half a cup of candied orange peel and one table spoon of dark chocolate chips. I kneaded well until soft and smooth, then let it prove for 5hours (temperature is not really high in the house now). I then made two long sticks that I rolled together, I wanted to make breeds with it but reslized that 3 sticks wouldn’t be good. Then it prove the rest of the night and I baked it jn the morning, 10min at 230deg, then 20min at 210deg. I like to eat bread right out from the oven, so we had our breakfast right away.

And you know what?! The Parisian sister is back on tracks! Yeah!

November 16, 2015

Buckwheat tart

Rainy and gloomy Saturday calls for a comforting tart for lunch: 100% buckwheat dough for the base, leek, oyster mushrooms, tofu for the garnish. Simple, tasty and warm, just what we needed!

November 14, 2015

Corn pasta and veggies

I discovered corn pasta some time ago and I really like them very much, this taste of polenta, the nice texture, and easy to accomodate with plenty of things. The yellow color also is really pretty. I buy some often, and the easiest to find in Japan are penne.

I served them this time with fresh veggies and added a bit of bacon. I used 3 little leeks, 1/2 kabocha, 1 large tomato, cooked them in olive oil, and served with the boiled pasta for dinner. Simple, quick and perfect when again coming home late.

November 11, 2015

Chestnut and porcini ravioli

While browsing my ravioli pictures and recipes I found one I invented last year and that was just magnificent: chesnut and porcini ravioli. I love chesnut flour for its sweet taste and delicate flavor and I find it perfect to cook everything, bread, cake, crepes, pancake, crust for tarts or ravioli pasta. It is perfect with autumn veggies, prosciutto, parmegiano, melty cheese… I prepared porcini ravioli with a pasta made with chesnut flour. I simply replaced 3/4 of the regular flour by chestnut flour (more makes the dough hard to work). For the filling I used dried Italian porcini that I rehydrated, I chopped them and mix with a little of flour. You can add meat if you like too, or a bit of cheese. Then I filled the ravioli, boiled them and served with simply olive oil, salt and pepper. Super winner recipe that I really love! Of course if you have the chance to have fresh porcini I recommend to serve some too, just grilled in olive oil to top the ravioli!

Now wondering what will be my next ravioli!

November 10, 2015

A dinner with guests

The other night we had some guests at home, and when we do I need to be super-well organized to squeeze one hour to prepare dinner in my schedule, this usually my target time. So I need to think carefully the menu, the ingredients and once I enter the kitchen I know exactly what I’m doing. Usually I have some extra time or a few ideas on the fly, so that it turns I always improvise something. This time was no exception!

For the dinner it was simple: grilled delicious wild snapper with a little of sesame oil, rice with katsuobushi, white and pink turnip tofu salad with pumpkin seeds (similar recipe with the persimmon salad, but I replaced the persimmon with a little cucumber and the walnuts by kabocha seeds) and some pickled sweet ginger.

Then I realized that we didn’t have too much to snack while drinking so I decided to make a little extra, because it’s nice when you have dinner after work with friends to hang out and chat, to release the oressure of a long day at work. Well, with what I had in the fridge the best option was to make some kabocha chips, so I thinly sliced half a kobocha and cooked it in a bit of oil. Add some salt and served. That was a hit! Everyone loved it!

November 6, 2015