Tag: recipe

Japanese cucumber with miso

Japanese cucumber are really tiny compared to the huge one in Europe or America. Their diameter is usually between 1 and 2 centimeters and they are 12 to 20 centimeters long. There are few seeds and the the skin is not too thick so you just need to wash the and can eat them.

In summer we eat cucumbers every day and I realized I should have started a cucumber week! I buy them either in Koganei or in Isumi at the local farmers, and this week I have a load of cucumbers from K. And S. From Tsunan. 

I love cucumbers in cold soup and salad, I also love them as pickles. I will soon present you my delicious pickles made in the 2-5-8 but so far I’ve been too busy with work to prepare any. 

But my favorite way to eat them is as a snack while dinner gets ready because it takes 3s to be ready: wash, dry in a cloth and cut in 4 sticks and cut the sticks in 4. And when I have an extra 2min I prepare a dip of miso paste. I use fresh organic mild miso but it works with red miso too, to which I add a little of vegetal oil and stir until creamy.

Ultimate simplicity

There are evenings when I don’t really have time to cook because I’m late from work or workout and I’m starving. Inicidently these evenings would coincide with a rather empty fridge (for some standards my fridge is always empty!). When this happens I need to fix dinner in less then 10min and I need carbs (no carb diet is definitely not for me). 10min is just the time it takes to boil some trofie, dice two large, super rippen fresh tomatoes, go outside to cut some fresh basil, seat back and snack a little cucumber. 

This ultimate simplicity seasonned with a delicious olive oil, for instance from my hometown in France, Camargue salt and grind pepper is just the perfect dinner! 

Pasta is just wonderful! 

Fig tart

There is one thing that I really love in the end of summer it’s figs. It is relatively easy to find beautiful purple figs in Japan and I usually cook them in tart. I use a very traditional and simple recipe with a classic dough sable and an almond powder base with very little sugar. It is always delicious with the crispiness of the dough and the sofness of the figs and the almond powder. I top it with a little of brown caster sugar for the perfect balance. 

My smoothies

I love to eat fresh fruits for breakfast every day, and when seasonal fruits are not too good (autumn and winter) or I have some fruits that got a little too rippen for a fruit salad I prepare a lot of smoothies. My idea is not to have a “super drink” with a whole week of veggies in it, but rather a tasty and delicious drink for breakfast or snack. My rules for delicious smoothies that keep the taste of each fruit are simple:  

 – always fresh fruits (I don’t use frozen food). At least one very juicy like pineapple, melon, watermelon… The rest depending on the market: strawberries, blueberries, passion fruit, kiwi, nashi, peach, pear…

– 3 or 4 fruit types at max (usually I stick to 3) for better taste of each of the fruit, after more all the tastes are just blended and it’s hard to say what is in.

– no bananas, they thicken the smoothie too much.

– only add water if needed, no other complement.

It gives super easy to drink smoothies, very tasty and always different.  Sometimes I top it with a few chia seeds.

Blueberry-cantaloup-green melon
Blueberry-cantaloup-green melon
Watermelon-peach-blueberry
Watermelon-peach-blueberry
Kiwi-green melon-bluberry
Kiwi-green melon-bluberry
Strawberry-pineapple-green melon
Strawberry-pineapple-green melon

Cucumber cold soup

With all the nice cucumber I got from K. I imagine I should try to use as many as possible quickly. We usually eat a lot of cucumbers just raw cut in stick as snack while I cook dinner. This time to use a little more cucumber I prepared a cold soup by just blending 3 cucumbers with a bit of cold water, olive oil, salt and pepper. I finish it with a line a paprika.

Spelt and mozarella salad

OK! I promise this might be the last post about summer salads!!! But this past days I’ve really tried a lot of new things and each was a great match. This spelt and mozarella salad is an other example. 

Simply boiled spelt, cucumber, ocra, boiled edamame and fresh mozarella diced, a lot of pepper, and always delicious olive oil.  

And an other salad/donburi/one-plate

I’m in a constant quest for new food combinations and freshness, while at the same time I keep things simple and try again and again. That’s what I love about cooking: nothing exactly the same but yet not completly different. Always delicious because I cook what we love. And so many chances to try since we need to eat a little every day, right?

After loving my bulgur donburi, I decided to try a Japanese rice one-plate. I love the combination of the crispy chirimen and the creamy avocado, so I used that base, added some sesame seeds for the taste. Since rice is drier than bulgur and I don’t like to use any dressing with it (it makes it slippery abd impossible to eat with chopsticks) I just added some juicy tomatoes and fresh cucumber. An other delicious and refreshing combination!

One more salad, or bulgur donburi

In my search of the perfect summer salad I’m making a lot of trials, never twice the same. Of course as I was writing in my earlier post all have in common a cereal or carb base: bulgur, rice, pasta, couscous… Tons of fresh vegetables: mainly tomatoes, ocra, cucumbers, a very light or non existing dressing. My salad today ressemble more a donburi for two, with Japanese style accomodation. I boiled some fresh edamame, added some sliced ocra and a perfectly rippen avocado, and a finish with grilled chirimen (very tiny half dried and a bit salty fishes). A perfect combination of softness and crispiness, of sweetness and saltiness. A really delicious mix and a great variation from regular rice donburi.

More salad

One evening I was preparing a salad with a base of rice and I suddenly felt very nostalgic for the taste of the rice salad my mother was preparing when we were kids and that was often our picnic lunch. Something I can clearly picture tastewise but can’t remember the exact contents: of course rice, then cubes of ham, gruyere, tomatoes may be, corn, a sauce based on light mayonnaise or mustard may be… Well I reinterpretated it for a summer,  cheese-free version, though it was not the raste of my childhood it was really simple and delicious. 

Here is my recipe: American rice, tomatoes, cucumbers, ham cut in cubes, hard boiled eggs, olive oil, salt and a lot of pepper. 

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