Tag: recipe

Pork and vegetables in cocotte

I have a beautiful Staub cocotte that I use  not often enough. It’s a pity because I love vegetables cooked in the cocotte, when the juice and extracts mix together. So today I decided to use it and prepare a Japanese style pork filet in cocotte with new onions and carrots.

In the cocotte I put a little of sunflower oil, 2 new onions cut roughly, 2 little taro potatoes and one carrot, then I lay a large pork filet on top, salt, pepper, laurel and cooked for 30-40min. (In my case the vegetables were perfect for two, but I served only half of the filet)

Once finished, I opened the cocotte and added a little of soya sauce to dilute the extracts, which gave a dark beautiful and delicious glazing, almost tasting like miso. Served with rice with soya beans and fresh pickled vegetables.

Ready to eat! 

Colorful plate

I love vegetable sauté and all the possible combinations.

I tried a new one, with sticks instead of slices. I cut the carrots, sweet potatoe with a mandolin, cook them in a bit of olive oil under cover, then added na-no-hana, and served with scrambled eggs.
Perfect brunch plate for a Saturday!

Flan patissier

I love this thick and rich dessert called “flan patissier”, which basically is a milk pudding on a dough. It’s been years I haven’t eaten any, and recently I’ve been thinking about making some. Chance was on my side with a special issue of “cuisine actuelle” on homemade cooking, and a lot of classical French recipes, and the one of the flan patissier!!!
It is really easy to make and a delicious dessert or a perfect breakfast served with fruits.

The dough is a “pate brisee”, so just flour, butter and water. The pudding part is vanila flavoured milk, eggs and sugar like for a regular pudding. And it is baked 45min in an oven at 180.

Delicious!!!

One-bowl lunch

This is definitely the end of winter! But the spring greens and veggies are not yet ready, we’ll have to wait a few weeks, so in between, mizuna, brocolli, spinach, na no hana are the best options!
I find that mizuna really goes well with plain Japanese rice, so I prepared it on a rice bowl with some steamed brocolli, and I made some pork-okara-curry bites.
For the mizuna just wash it in clear water, the brocolli I steamed them on top of thd rice for 2 min, the bites, I mixed pork meat with 2 large spoons of okara, one egg, a spoon of curry powder, salt, pepper and cooked then golden. Served all in one bowl, topped with some sesame seeds.
I believed that the pork can be removed and replaced by a little of panko for a veggan experience.

Coconut-strawberry tart

Coconut ad strawberry tart with a bit of coconut and ice sugar for the decor
I love strawberry tart and I love to make some! Usually the best time starts end of March in Japan, but this year we’ve started to have delicious strawberry for a few weeks already, so I couldn’t wait!
I love to make variations with the dough, with the custard. This year I added some grated coconut in the dough and made the custard with soya milk and a lot of vanilla. I also wanted to try making the dough in circles and just top it with custard and strawberries. I need a little more practice but the result was not bad at all!
For the dough I used flour, brown sugar, one egg, butter, and added some coconut (I always make the dough without measuring anything, I like to “feel” it).
For the custard I used 2 egg yolks, a little can of soya milk, vanilla, a spoon of flour and brown sugar.

No-time-dinner and almost empty fridge

It is often that around Thursday the fridge starts to be empty because I shop mainly my fresh fruits and vegetables in the country on weekends. Adding a few dinners out for work and a busy schedule, I couldn’t refill at the local shops in Koganei, so I must say that it happens that I arrive home with pretty much nothing to eat and the only option is the little supermarket round the corner. Not too bad but not too great either. It ended up in cooking a tomatoes andbasil  pilaf. Boiled some rice, then in a frypan with olive oil add some roughtly cut tomatoes and basil leaves, salt, pepper, in a circle in a plate, and ready!!! If you have leftover of rice it’s even faster! If you want to top it with some parmegiano perfect!

Sticky millet croquettes

I discovered just recently while on a trip to Nagano prefecture that in Japan they grow some sticky millet. It looks very much like millet but once cooked it is much stickier.

I found this consistency perfect for vegan croquettes. So I mixed some boiled sticky millet with some vegetables sautéed I had in the fridge: a leek, half new onion, 2 small carrots gratted, one egg and a few linen seeds, and made croquettes that I cooked in olive oil in a frypan.

I also made a version with cheese but taste-wise without was really delicious and if the cheese makes the croquettes creamy and more golden, I don’t think it is a must.

Chai butter cookies

Nothing better after a day outside than hot tea and treats. Butter cookies are so delicious, easy to make and bake that they are a great pick!

Recently I am trying to look for the perfect Chai to drink and I think I found a very good one in Cape Town, unfortunately it’s a bit difficult for refill. After trying Starbucks (too blend), Pukka (too much cinnamon), Marks & Spencer… I think my favorite is M&S! I’m also trying to make my own Chai with soya milk and spices, not bad but needs some more research.
All this to say that since I have all the spices on the shelf I made some Chai butter cookies. Using the recipe in last week post, I added grinded cinnamon, fresh grinded ginger, cardamom seeds to the dough. And as the plum blossom season is at its peak I shaped the dough in plum flowers with a shape bought in Kappabashi dori.

Radish soup and miso grilled sea-bass

This litlle radish (little compared to giant Japanese daikon), or this big turnip, was so beautiful that I couldn’t help buying it at th coop shop.

I didn’t how to prepare it and what to do with it at first, but suddenly the idea of using it for a soup was obvious. So I peeled it and boiled it in consome and with a little piece of leek. Once soft enough I blended i into a creamy soup. I served the soup with a piece of local wild sea-bass that I grilled after rolling it in a mixture made with miso, oil and soya  sauce. Simply delicious!
For a 100％ vegan experience you can replace the fish by a piece of mochi (rice cake)

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