Warming up!

Sunny but cold days follow each others this week, so a warming and rich soup is always good, isn’t it? I had rice ready for lunch and a romanesco in the fridge, and I wasn’t sure about how to eat them together, when the idea of combining them in a soup came to my mind. I was a bit worried about how it would turn, but with a few well chosen spices it was really a great idea! Not very photogenic though… so let me share the recipe here with you. I hope you’ll like it and test it!

Rice and cauliflower soup

1/2 cauliflower or romanesco
1 cup of rice (cooked)
1 pinch of nutmeg
2 pinches of paprika
salt and pepper
1 little pinch of red pepper (optional)

If your rice is not cooked yet, cook it, you can use leftover rice too.

Wash the cauliflower or romanesco and steam it. Then mash it roughly adding a bit of the cooking water, to obtain a rather liquid but not too though, mixture (blender works too). In a pan heat gently, add the rice, salt and pepper, the nutmeg, the paprika and if you like it a little spicier the red pepper. Stir and serve hot.

February 11, 2021

Romanesco

As you may have discovered along my posts and even more on Instagram, I am a big fan of all cruciferous vegetables. I couldn’t name my favorite!!

But when it comes to prepare romanesco cabbage I always feel sorry to crush the beautiful fractals. What’s the point of buying a romanesco to make a soup or a gratin out of it… a cauliflower would have been as good, even better as the color is nicer. So usually my romanesco end up boiled or steamed or slightly sautéed… but this week I was bored with this and wanted something that changes a bit. So I made a quiche with a special pie crust: very thin and crunchy, with garam masala and mustard seeds. The crunchiness was perfect with the softness of the baked romanesco just sliced and the egg flan. The slight spicy flavor of the crust was really nice and warming and we could still enjoyed the beautiful fractals.

One other thing I cooked then with the remaining half, was a soup… I could resist. I boiled the romanesco (but kept 2 slices for decor that I simply blanched to soften). Then crushed it with a fork… sorry beautiful fractals… Made a roux with a bit of butter and flower, then a bit if milk and then continued on with the cooking water. Once I obtained a light creamy texture I added the boiled cabbage and stirred well. Made some croutons and served.

What is your favorite romanesco recipe???

February 12, 2020

Romanesco

Every one knows this fractal cabbage that is as beautiful as delicious: the romanesco! It is now not too difficult to find it in Japan too, and they even grow some in Isumi. Since I want to keep it simple and to be able to admire its beautiful shapes that usually I use it simply steamed, or roasted. And sometimes in quiche (all the romanesco recipes are here). I find that the oven slow roast and the quiche overall suit very well this cabbage, and its flavor suits the flavor of buckwheat and shiitake very nicely, so I made a quiche half flour half buckwheat flour, and in the egg base I added plenty of turmeric and pepper and slices of fresh raw shiitake and raw romanesco. And it gave a very subtle combination that was very pleasing.

Have a great week!

February 4, 2018

Cauliflower

How do you like your cauliflower? For me it’s raw, steamed, boiled, grilled, in gratin, in soup, in purée, with olive oil, with butter, with lemon juice, with just a pinch of salt… yes, you’ve got it. We love cauliflower at home, as well as his friends broccoli and romanesco and it is just the pick season for these versatile and easy to cook vegetables in Chiba. So I’ve got some beautiful ones at the farmers market, youpi!!! The question was what will I do with them, how could I cook them? Because I came back from work very late and it was very cold I wanted a very quick solution so I decided to cook (steam and grill) them with spices.

Spicy romanesco and cauliflower:

I wash and cut the romanesco and the cauliflower and put them in a pan and I grilled them at high heat then I add 1mm of water. Add a tsp of curcuma powder, 1tsp of curry powder, 1tsp of cardamom powder, salt and black pepper. Serve and eat while hot!

February 23, 2017

Gnocchi & romanesco

When comes the end of the week (Thursday or Friday) our resources shopped the previous weekend in the country are almost all gone and only a few things remain. This week it was the case gor the romanesco. So beautiful but we had other things to eat first. So easy to prepare that it’s always perfect for late dinners. I tried the combination gnocchi-romanesco-Parmegianno and it was just sublime. As you may guess these are not homemade gnocchi unfortunately, but it work as well if you have some. Boil the gnocchi and 1min before they are ready add the romanesco in little bouquets. Serve altogether when the gnocchi are ready (they float in the water) add so freshly gratted Parmegianno (mine is a souvenir from our holidays in Italy), olive oil, salt and pepper. Enjoy right away.

January 30, 2016

3 types of cabbage tart

At the local farmers market the other day I found beautiful cauliflower, romanesco and broccoli. Having all them together I couldn’t help but cook something mixing it. I love the idea of having ingredients close in shape but different in taste and color, and the first idea that I had was to make a tart with a piece of each. And becauseI really love the idea of mixing Japanese flavors with western ones I decided to add in the base some katsuobushi flakes. For the dough, I opted for a classic sable dough. A perfect balance.

January 12, 2016

Croque-monsieur

I know it’s the easiest meal to cook and it requires actually not a single cooking skill, but it’s always delicious and simple to accomodate with a lot different side dishes depending on the season.

Why simple? Because in my version of the croque-monsieur I do not use bechamel, I find this heavy and it is totally unecessary when the bread is soft and tasty. So the base for my croque-monsieur is a very good and fresh pain de mie (it works with toasts but it’s so much less tasty). I top it with a very little butter, a slice of ham (the quality of the ham also makes a lot: I use always Kamakura ham) and some gratted cheese (gruyere, comte… Anything you like), toast in the oven, and ready to eat! In winter I often serve it with cabbage or cauliflower. This time it was cauliflower and romanesco roughly mashed with a lot of pepper and a bit of nutmeg.

January 31, 2015