Well, at least in the farmers market! Because it’s still quite cold in Tokyo… but all these greens were so appalling that I couldn’t resist making a little green risotto for everyone! Simply with one leek for the creaminess, and then fava beans, green peas and snap peas. That’s the vegan base. But with my parents at home I need to adjust to everyone taste, so basically I prepared 4 different risotto. For the vegetarian I added some Italian parmegiano cream cheese, for the macrobiotic version I added some horse mackerel cut in bites, and for those who like everything they add both, even topped with gratted parmegiano. Everyone was very happy with their personalized version!!
Risotto “fond de frigo”
Sometimes there are a few things remaining in the bottom of your vegetables drawer in your fridge, and you don’t know what to do with them… typically a leek, a little piece of kabocha, a tomato, a little piece of cauliflower… well it makes a very nice base for a vegan risotto.
First, a bit of olive oil in a large frypan, add the leek cut just the way you like, and stir at low-medium heat until it is all soft and melty. Add the riso: arborio or carnaroli and raise the heat. Stir. Once the rice is translucent add water to cover the rice and salt and pepper, some herbs if you like: thyme or rosemary. Cook at low heat. When the water is half gone add the kabocha cut in small bites and the tomato, diced. When there is almost no water add the cauliflower (I personally like it crisp rather than too soft), and finish the cooking under cover. Serve and season with pink pepper, you can additionally add grated cheese. Have a nice weekend!!!
Kabocha-mushroom risotto
This is the perfect winter dish for a busy evening! Super simple to prepare in a short time and you can prepare it before and reheat it just before eating.
For two people I use 1/6 of kabocha, 5 mushrooms, risotto rice of your choice, olive oil, salt and pepper and I finished my plate with freshly grated parmigiano, but it is optional. I sliced thinly the kabocha and the mushrooms. In a fry pan I heated a bit of olive oil and through the vegetables and roasted them until golden and crispy. Then I add the rice and grilled it a bit before adding water and salt. Let cook at low heat until the water is almost gone. Remove from heat and keep until you want to eat.
Before eating add a bit of olive oil, re-heat in the pan and stir softly if needed. Serve, add pepper, et voila!
Multigrain risotto with burdock
As I was telling you, I really love the mix fresh parsley and burdock. May be because it makes the burdock taste even more artichoky, a vegetable I love but that is not common in Japan (though I’ve spotted some lovely artichokes plants in my neighbor’s potager garden!). As we will be traveling to Sicily, I know I’ll have opportunities to eat plenty of delicious artichokes very soon! Yet, I prepared burdock with parsley in an Italian manner with a mix of grains for Italian soup (from last year Italian holidays!) and carnaroli rice, prepared like a risotto. I cooked in a bit of olive oil the burdock peeled and sliced, then add the rice and the grains, finally cover with water. Cooked until the liquid has vanished, add generously some fresh ciseled parsley, serve immediately. Perfect with freshly grated parmegiano if you like.
Home cooking again at last!
I made it through! I was organizing with some colleagues and friends a conference in Tokyo and it was quite an intense week to be sure that everything would work right and attendees will be pleased. Of course this kind of work is not my main work and it’s just on the side of regular work, so my days have been pretty busy and on top of that I’ve had plenty of lunch/dinners out and some official events to attend on the side. So when it was over yesterday afternoon I passed out in the train back home and it took me a good hour to be able to do something again! But most of all I was impatient of eating some homemade food. Not that eating out in Tokyo is bad, it is usually easy to find healthy food, but I always find that it lacks vegetables or fruits. But of course I was facing an empty fridge and had no strength to go out too far for shopping, so my only option was the small supermarket down the house. They have very little choice of decent quality products (couldn’t find any domestic tofu, it had to be American or Canadian…) so I passed on that one, and so the only things that were good enough were some mushrooms and some leeks. Good enough to make a meal for two with enough options. Then tart? pasta? or risotto? It ended being a risotto. And I was the happiest in my kitchen cooking for A.. Now one more day at work before we can head to the country with our friend D. visiting. Expecting a lot of good work done, good chat and good cooking!!!!
Have a nice end of the week!
Snap peas and onion risotto
We are slowly going towards the rainy season and it’s getting towards the end of the season for spring vegetables in Tokyo area, soon we will have melon, zucchini, okras… But before it ends really let’s enjoy some more spring greens!!! Snap peas are very easy to cook, they just need to be blanched, and extremely easy to accomodate with other seasonal vegetables: new potatoes, other greens, tomatoes… Today I opted for an other risotto recipe (yes, I know, we eat a lot of rice and risottos!!!). A large onion cut thinely and slightly cooked in olive oil, then I added the riso, a bit of water (no bouillon to keep the taste mild), then in the very last minute of cooking I add the snap peas cut in big chunks. I add some fresh chopped basil leaves, salt and pepper, a last touch of olive oil.
Have a nice weekend!
Having fun with broad beans
I had a few broad beans left and had this idea of making soup with them, so I boiled them, peeled them and blend them and instead of water I used some cream. What happened is that it became a broad bean whipped cream! Oh oh! What a nice thing! So I really made broad beans whipped cream, adding a little more cream and a little salt. And decided to serve it with an asparagus and an asparagus risotto with Parmegiano. This was probably the simplest and funniest dis to prepare, and taste wise it was awesome. The very subtle taste of broad beans in the cream goes perfectly with both the rice and the just blanched jumbo green asparagus. I’m not very good at plating because I don’t like to waste food, but the cream thing, I must admit helped a lot to give texture, color and fixation.
Cauliflower risotto
Though I love risotto and I cook some often, I don’t post recipes as often as I would like just because I really fond it hard to photograph. I already mentioned that before, I’ve tried several techniques but I am not often satisfied with the results. In particular because I cook chiefly for dinner and don’t use professional equipment, lighting is hell. Plating is not always easy too. Anyway, I managed to get my hands on a lovely little cauliflower, probably the last for this year, and with chilly evenings a warm dish was much needed. I prepare a simple risotto with nothing extra. I roasted the cauliflower cut in little bouquets in olive oil, the added the rice, some vegetables bouillon and cook without cover until the bouillon was all gone. And serve with grinded pepper. Nothing more.
Asparagus risotto
Yes! Spring is here for sure and aspargus start to be seen on the market stands. Nothing simpler and more classic then an asparagus risotto, and still so delicious, I never miss to make one. I used a new onion for the base, for sweetness and melty texture, that I chopped roughly and slightly cook in olive oil. Then I added the rice, and rolled it in the oil until almost golden. Finally added water or vegetables bouillon if you have one. Once almost all the water has been absorbed by the rice, I added the asparagus chopped. And cooked until bright and shiny green to keep then perfectly crunchy. Served right away.
