Chestnut risotto

Last winter I trimmed our chestnut tree to try to improve its production, because we usually have very few chestnuts, despite it being a rather large tree. And it work perfectly, we had plenty of chestnuts, I could enjoy seeing them growing slowly, and I was already thinking about all I would do with them, and give away. But in early August with the drought (since July 10 it’s been 32deg at least every day and it rained may be twice or thrice just a little), most of the beautiful chestnuts felt when they were still small. In the end I only collected 10 chestnuts 🌰…. Basically the same amount as usual… just enough for one or two meals.

Instead of the classic Japanese kuri gohan, I prepared a western version with Carnaroli rice, olive oil, and a bit of kale. I replaced the Parmigiano by fresh grated comté cheese. Super easy, and very delicious! Here is my recipe.

Chestnuts risotto (2 servings main dish)

  • 10 fresh raw chestnuts
  • 1 go of carnaroli rice, or other risotto rice you like
  • 2 leaves of kale (tender is better)
  • 1tbs of olive oil
  • Salt and pepper
  • Comté cheese (optional)
  • Water

Boil the chestnuts for 50min. Let cool and peel them.

In a large pan heat the olive oil, add the rice and stir until the rice is translucent. Cover amply with water, add salt and pepper and the chestnuts roughly broken into bite size. Let cook under cover for 15min. Wash and chop the kale, removing the hard parts. Add to the pan. The liquid must have almost all reduced, and the rice should be almost cooked. If that’s not the case: if the rice doesn’t seem cooked yet and there is no liquid anymore, add a bit of water and cook under cover. If there us still too much liquid and the rice seems cooked, remove the cover, and slightly increase the heat.

In the end, the rice should start grilling in the bottom of the pan. That’s when you want to serve, with just a bit of crisp in the bottom.

Serve, add grater comté cheese if you like and enjoy.

Goes well also with prosciutto or better with Speck. Unfortunately recently Japan has a ban on Italian cured meat so that’s not an option…

Sakura risotto

As I was writing last time, it’s just the peak season for sakura viewing. And therefore I thought of using sakura flowers in some recipes again. The classic would be sakura rice or sakura rice balls, but since my parents are staying with us and my dad was crying for a risotto, in remembrance of the first risotto: porcini risotto, I cooked when I was still in high school… So to please him a risotto I cooked, with carrots, a few shiitake and leeks for the base, some turnip tops for the green, and a sakura broth as seen below. Given how quick the plates were wiped, I guess everyone liked it!!! So here is my recipe (below the picture)

Sakura risotto (4 servings)

– 1 cup of rice, either Japanese or Italian

– 2 or 4 new carrots depending on size, mine were big so I used 2

– 2 small leeks

– 2 shiitake

– 12 sakura flowers in dry salt

– olive oil (not too fruity)

– 10 pink pepper seeds

– a bit of ground pepper

Start with the base: wash and cut the leeks and the shiitake in small pieces. In a heated pan add some olive oil and the vegetables and stir once in a while until slightly golden.

In a cup put the sakura flowers in salt and fill the cup with water to make the broth.

Wash and dice the carrots, add to the vegetables in the pan, and add the rice, roast for some time. Add the sakura broth and cook at low heat until the water is almost gone. Add then 3-4 cups of water, the pink pepper, some ground pepper, 8 of the sakura flowers. Cook at low heat. When the water is almost gone add the turnip tops cut in 2cm long pieces. Cook and stir until all the water is gone, but the whole thing is still moist. Serve immediately and use the remaining flowers to dress the plates.

Italy meets Japan again

Saturday I spent some time browsing cookbooks, looking at their beautiful pictures and slowly moving from the winter mood to the spring mood. I was focusing on two very different books: a Japanese macrobiotic cookbook from Brownsfield owner elder daughter Shinema Nakajima, and a Sicilian cookbook by bloggers Maria Teresa di Marco and Marie Cecile Ferre. The first one reminded me its been too long since we last ate brown rice, the second one made me crave for tomatoes, fresh anchovies, fennels and artichokes. But from the mix of both came this very simple recipe of a macrobiotic risotto made from Japanese brown rice and fresh local vegetables. Here is my recipe.

Italian x Japanese risotto (2servings)

– 70g of brown rice

– 3 shiitake

– a handful of fresh rucola

– 3-5 small tomatoes, ripe

– olive oil, salt and pepper

First of all cook the brown rice in the Japanese way. Use left over if you have some.

In a large pan heat some olive oil, wash and slice the shiitake and cook them at low heat in the oil. That will make the base of the risotto stock. Add the rice and stir well, add a 2tbs of water. Then wash and chop the rucola and the tomatoes, add and stir well. Cook for a few minutes while stirring. Add salt and pepper. I served it with daikon pickled with yuzu, that was perfect!!

Orange risotto

Sometimes the weather feels like eating something warm and with vibrant colors… this weather is just now! Rainy, getting chilly and tired… a bright orange risotto was just what I needed!!!

Carrots for the crunch, butternut for the soft, salmon for the salt and kabosu for the fresh and acid taste. That’s as simple as this! I cut the vegetables in rather small pieces to obtain a good mix and balance of texture in the mouth. I used olive oil as a base and a little of pepper. Nothing else. No broth, no salt. And just the time to have a call meeting and it’s ready to eat.

Have a great Friday!

Food in Tuscany

There is so much to say about it…

Food in Italy is always simple, fresh and great… I love to go shopping on the markets (there are markets pretty much everywhere) and find some local delish, I love to cook the simple fresh vegetables in season. My favorite Italian vegetables are zucchini, with the flower even better), fennel, artichokes, celery, radicchio, ceps and tomatoes. I love also the fresh pasta, the million varieties of cheeses and the prosciutto and the speck… but Italy is also great for herbs and dry fruits: pine nuts, hazelnuts, pistachios depending on the region. Pisa province is a region where pine nuts are produced and I couldn’t help but try them and bring some back to Japan! Recipes using them coming soon!

While in Italy I cooked a few different and very simple meals. I am a big fan of pesto soup and minestrone, so as soon as I can I usually cook one. In particular when the fresh beans are in season. It is really simple: celery, tomato, zucchini, fresh beans is the base, then add whatever: spinach, chard, carrot, onion… cook in salted water, serve with olive oil and grated Parmigiano. Enjoy warm or cold.

Fresh pasta are always good at least so much better than anything you can find elsewhere that there is no need to make tour own!! And stuffed pasta are always my favorite. Ricotta-spinach ravioli is on the top of the list, served with either a tomato sauce or chards and basil simply blanched and then cooked in olive oil with the ravioli. An other quick and delicious recipe!

When I have more time I like to prepare risotto with fresh and seasonal vegetables. Fennels that can hardly be found in Japan make a fresh risotto served with fennel flowers picked during a stroll in the garden. An onion to start with, plenty of olive oil, the perfect risotto rice, a large fennel, vegetable broth, and here is a beautiful risotto after 30 minutes!

Here it is for my selection of simple recipes for a little dinner fix in Italy!

Half risotto

In Japan people born from one Japanese parent and one foreign parent are called “half” (ハーフ) by Japanese people. Using the same idea I use like to use this word for my cooking recipes. Some would use different words such as ethnic food, fusion food or any other that means nothing to me. But “half” really captures my way of cooking. Whether it is French-Japanese or Italian-Japanese, it’s cooking “half” to me. When I make a Japanese quiche, or foie-gras suigyoza… This time, it’s a risotto I prepared, that is perfectly half, in ingredients and inspiration. Half Japanese and half Italian. The rice: 1/2 brown Koshihikari 1/2 Carnaroli; the vegetables: 2 small leeks for the base, then fresh shiitake and some olive oil preserved Italian purple artichokes (you can use fresh one if you can find some… but really in Tokyo it’s not easy…). I topped my risotto with some freshly gratted Parmigiano but it’s optional, A. prefers his risotto straight!

Half risotto (for 2 servings) :

– 60g of Carnaroli rice (or any risotto rice of your choice)

– 60g of brown Japanese rice  (I use Koshihikari from Isumi, but it’s up to you to use the brown rice you like)

– 1 or 2 leeks depending on size

– 4-10 shiitake depending on size (I prefer smaller ones)

– 10 small purple artichokes  (I used olive oil preserved ones)

– olive oil, salt, pepper, Parmigiano…

First chop the leek and cook in a large pan at low heat in a bit of olive oil, stir regularly so that they don’t change color. Wash and cut the shiitake. Prepare the artichokes if fresh and cut in halves unless very small and tender, if in olive oil drain them. Add the rices in the pan and a bit of olive oil. Increase the heat and stir often. When the rice becomes translucent add about 600ml of water (I don’t use broth because the leeks and mushrooms are alrrady bringing enough flavor), salt, pepper, the mushrooms and the fresh artichokes (if in olive oil, wait until the end). Cook under cover at medium-low heat until the liquid has almost disappeared. Add now the artichokes if they were in olive oil. Stir and serve rapidly. Add gratted Parmigiano if you like!

Leftover Italian cooking

Since we’ve arrived in Florence, everyday I’ve been cooking something different for dinner: simple vegetables and salad, pasta, risotto, cereals… I’ve tried them all. And I’ve been using as much as possible things I don’t usually find in Japan, and that I love extremely: artichokes, fennels, lamb lettuce and a great variety of cheeses. And what I’ve been doing is make sure that each time I would have some leftover for my lunch the next day. Indeed, what’s better than working all morning, going for a walk at noon, coming back at two cold and starving, and having already the lunch half prepared? And what’s better than olive oil pan roasted pasta or risotto when them become all crispy and golden? For me leftovers are a real treat! And top them with some new sort of cheese everyday and it’s pure happiness, and pure energy for working the rest of the day!

Here are my two favorites from this week: leftover pasta with newly added artichokes, and fennel risotto with newly added plenty of tomme cheese. For the first one (top picture), simple pasta leftover is good. Then boil one or two artichokes remove the leaves and keep the hearts, slice or chop them. In a heated pan generously add olive oil, the pasta, the artichokes. Stir once in a while until the pasta are golden crispy. Top with a bit of parmigiano and eat right away!

The second one (bottom picture) is even simpler. I actually made some fennel risotto with some pork roast, so I just cooked it again in a pan with a lot of olive oil and didn’t stir until it got really crispy on the edges, then I served it with plenty of some tomme cheese I bought at the market, a much softer cheese than parmigiano but not less fragrant.

Brown rice risotto

Summer is here right? We’re past June 21st already! But in Japan June is not summer as westerners could imagine it, rather I could say that the rainy season has finally started, with pouring rain one day, and humidity level increasing noticeably. Summer will start later in July for us! In the meantime the summer vegetables are  getting better every day, more ripe, more tasty. And I love to make summer risotto that can be eaten hot or lukewarm with all the summer vegetables, in particular zucchini!

A. doesn’t like brown rice as much as I do, or rather I would say he loves as much brown rice than white rice so I have to cook both evenly! What is nice with Japanese brown rice is that it is easy to cook in many ways, much more than white rice I find. In particular pilaf and risotto suit it very well. With fresh summer yellow zucchini, red onions, and sage from the garden, the dinner was all set. Simply chop the onion and cook until soft in olive oil. I’ve added some thin slice of pork because I had them, but it’s optional. Add the brown rice, stir. Add water, sage chopped, salt and pepper. Finally when most of the water is gone add the yellow zucchini diced. Cook and stir for 3min. Serve, add more sage, gratted cheese… as you like. 

The weekend is arriving soon, but before TV shooting this afternoon about my research work and the exhibition at the museum. I have a huge stage fright for TV shootings as I find it deforms us so much and spaking in Japanese to TV is going to be even worse… 🙁

Barley risotto

I’m a big fan of all kind of cereals and leguminous plants. I like to use them in many recipes. In Japan there exists many, such as adlay and millet and of course all the beans (豆) families: edamame, azuki, black beans… I also like the European or Asian ones too, barley, lentil, chickpea… that are less common. In particular barley is really nice to cook as a substitute of rice. I use it to make risotto (here is a winter recipe). It is more crunchy than rice and the texture goes very well with all kind of vegetables. This time I used in in a risotto primavera, with fresh green peas, fresh new onions, fresh green beans and fresh basil. I added some bacon for A. It is very simple to prepare. First in a. It olive oil cook the baconand the new onion. Then add the barley and rost it. Finally add water, and the vegetables. It cooks under cover for 20min and then it’s ready to eat! Don’t forget to add the vegetables in order of longer cooking time to avoid over cooking them.

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