Tag: snap peas

Spring savory delights

Nothing to do with the recipe I am presenting today, but the other night we went to check the newly opened Tokyo midtown Hibiya. A new building with many shops, a large Toho cinema and a terrace garden with a view on Hibiya park and the imperial palace. The place just opened so it was very crowded in apparence but the overall place was quiet and walking around was smooth and nice. Shops are for the most the same as elsewhere. Brand names, big and small, chains. Nothing really to impressive. The only thing that I found fun and interesting was the retro corner on the 3rd floor, with some craft, a barber, a book store and some sculptural clothes.

There is one trend tough that I find quite interesting. 15 years ago when we arrived in Tokyo there a few cinemas, mainly old, that little by little were closing down, until it was a real pain to find one. Recently many of the new shopping places downtown have a large dedicated cinema. Toho cinemas are really spreading and now it is really easy to find a screening in original version too. Yet movies release is still super delayed compared to other countries and we usually watch the “new” movies on the international itunes store before they are available in Japanese theaters!!! And what to eat with a good movie? Pasta or a good and simple Japanese vegan meal with rice and sautéed vegetables. To celebrate spring I really like snap peas, for the crunchy texture, the little tart and sweet taste, and the brillant green. And I also love the salted sakura flowers with rice in particular, but not only ( I made some sable last weekend and it was great!). And since I still have some lotus root (I bought a giant one!) I cooked the all thing to be served together. Sautéed in a little of oil for the lotus root, then add a little of water to steam the snap peas on top, finish with soys sauce. For the sakura, I wash the salt in water and add them to the cooked and hot rice. Serve all and eat happily while watching a movie!!

Spring in the plate!

It’s getting warmer, out the winter coats! And the spring vegetables are everywhere on the market shelves!  I couldn’t resist to preparing the first spring vegetables sautéed of the year. A classic in our house that can accompany fish, meat, tofu, eggs, or just be eaten like that. Choose the spring vegetables of your choice: new potatoes, asparagus, green peas, snap peas, new carrot today for me, but you can add new onion, green beans… a bit of olive oil in a pan and start to cook the potatoes, then the carrots, the green peas, finish the asparagus hardest part and later the heads and the snap peas. Add kosher salt and pepper and serve!

Japanese style pasta

And here we are with a new recipe of Japanese pasta. Honestly I didn’t think I would like this combination so much but in the end I prepare some more than often after the one with pickled cabbage. So this time I prepared a vegan  base with new onion, canola, snap peas, fried tofu, to which you can add some bonito flakes. Served with spaghetti or liguine, and a few drops of soya sauce. Simple and delicious! Have a nice weekend!

Back to the basics

There is one thing I like but almost never cook because it takes to long to prepare for most of my evenings, and I don’t have the special gear required to make it look really good: it’s Japanese dashi-rolled omelette だし卵焼き(dashitamagoyaki). The preparation is really easy it’s just that to roll it correctly you need to cook one thin layer of eggs after the other and roll in between. So in the end this omelette takes 30min to cook and needs regular attention. But last night I was having a little more time than usual, A. being in a late meeting. You can find dashitamagoyaki in supermarket and most izakaya, and in bento but it’s too often sweet and the taste of the dashi that bring a delicate flavor is too often imperceptible because of the sweetness. My dashitamagoyaki only uses katsuobushi dashi and a little of soya sauce, I find that the dashi brings enough umami not to sweetnen additionally. So first thing is to prepare dashi with katsuobushi. Then in a bowl mix 1cup of dashi with 5 eggs, add a tbs ofsoya sauce, stir well. In a greased heated pan pour a thin layer of the egg mix, just like if you were making a crepe. Wait until the bottom is well cooked and almost golden. Then roll it tightly. Take it of the pan, grease a little and make an other “crepe”, add the one you just did before and roll the new one around the first one tightly. Repeat until all the egg mix has been used, or make 2 smaller ones. You can clearly guess that with a round pan the rolling is a pain, that’s why Japaneses have rectangular oan for that. Except that I don’t really have cooking goodies that have only one purpose so I keep using the round pan!!!

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! 

Spring veggies quiche

Too happy with last week Japanese style quiche I’ve continued for our guests this week with a spring version. I’ve made the dough with buckwheat flour which makes it really crispy and for the veggies I used new onion, broad beans, snap peas and broccoli.

Greens part 2

Cold  version of the greens with raw zucchini, almost raw asparagus and snap peas, little radish, avocado and purple cabbage sprouts, a bit of Sicilian olive oil, and additional on the side grilled bonito. Fresh and delicious recipe perfect both for lunch or dinner.

Greens part 1

The farmers market was full of greens, of all sorts, leafy, flowery, sprouty… And we couldn’t resist… So now the fridge is full of fresh greens to be eaten, and it’s good because I working next Saturday and won’t be able to refill, plus we have guests for dinner Friday evening. 

I particularly was happy with the asparagus and the little zucchini, all so fresh that they don’t need to be cooked or barely. That with some spring brocoli, lotus roots and snap peas, I have the perfect balance to accompany a nice Isumi pork cutlet. The veggies are blanched in very little water then slightly rolled on olive oil. The pork just pan grilled.

Spring donburi

Simple to prepare, all served at once, colorful and super delicious, I wonder why I don’t prepare some more often! With fresh green peas and snap peas, a bit of pork from Isumi and some Koshiikari from Isumi too, nothing much simple than preparing a delicious spring donburi. For the seasonning just a few drops of soya sauce and some golden sesame seeds. In order to keep the greens soft and tender, yet crunchy at the same time I only washed them and then cook them with a really little bit of water in the same pan with the pork. No additional fat, no salt nothing. For the pork I just cut slices in little bites and cook in a pan until golden and crispy. I serve the rice cooked alone, top with the pork and veggies, add a spoon of golden sesame and only 5 drops of soya sauce just to enhance the taste but not spoil it. One must be careful in using soya sauce because it has a tendency to cover all other tastes,

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