Spinach and miso

Last week I had a food shopping spree at Wakuwaku in Otaki, and I bought different types of miso. I love miso, in soup of course, but also as a dip, or in many recipes as an ingredient. This time I used it in two spinach recipes. White miso with spinach and chrysanthemum and regular granulous miso in the egg base of a spinach and ham quiche. It’s the season for chrysanthemums and I like to use them for tr bright yellow and the very distinctive taste they have. They are perfect in a chutney with onions, as an addition to roasted vegetables or here with spinach. So here are my two recipes, both very simple, but if like me you love miso and spinach, they should make you happy.

Spinach and miso quiche:

– a bundle of spinach,

– 3bs of miso (white or regular)

– 3 eggs

– a bit of ham diced (optional)

– flour, butter or olive oil, water for the pie crust

Prepare the pue crust as you like it. I used spelt and whole wheat flour. Roll it to the size of your pie dish. And set it. Wash and chop the spinach, in a bowl beat the eggs with the miso, add the spinach, and the ham, set in the pie crust. Bake at 180deg for 25min. Longer if your pie dish is deep. No need to add salt since the miso is already salty enough.

Spinach and white miso:

– 1 bundle of spinach

– 1 cup of dashi

– 2 flowers of chrysanthemum

– 1tbs of white miso

Wash the spinach a boil them in dashi. In the last minute add the petals of the chrysanthemum flowers. Drain them well, add the miso and stir with the hands. Serve and enjoy with a Japanese meal: rice, grilled fish…

Have a great Sunday!!

November 26, 2017

Curry-rice quiche!

Not enough of the leek tart with some brown rice pie crust, I went further with this curry-rice quiche. All in one dish all in one quiche! Same pie crust as the last post, but this time after half baking it I filled it with a special mix. In a pan I cut roughly a bundle of fresh spinach washed, 2 pieces of chicken breast and cooked at high heat for 5 minutes, then added a block of silky tofu and cooked 10 minutes while stirring, finished with 1tbs of curry powder, some red pepper, nutmeg and salt and pepper, took away from the heat and added 3 eggs. Stirred well and poured everything in the pie crust. Baked for 35min at 180deg, checking regularly after 20min that it wasn’t over cooked but just golden. I served that to friends for dinner with a fresh green salad. Simply delicious and astonishing!

October 31, 2017

Weekend cooking

Beautiful weekend with our normal activities… it seems like it hasn’t happened in such a long time… probably two months or even more with all the traveling in March and April and the visitors in May, plus some bad weather… it means playing tennis, gardening, going to the seaside, and it also means some nice cooking, bread making and pasta. I made two breads: a large muesli and rye bread for breakfast, with a little addition of sugar to obtain a very savory bread, and a classic focaccia, always a success. With the temperatures rising it is so much easier to prepare bread. The risong is do much easier than in the winter. This time for the pasta, instead of making ravioli I made lasagna with my classic pasta recipe, rolled with my pasta machine, some salmon (it’s not often that there is some nice Hokkaido salmon! But recently I found some) and some fresh baby spinach, just add a bit of cream, bake and it’s ready. Really simpler than making the ravioli because you don’t have to dry the filling and wait for it to cool down and it is super delicious.

I wish you a great week ahead!

May 21, 2017

Miso-lemon dressing

Recently it has been quite difficult to find gnocchi in our usual grocery stores, and gnocchi were our staples for late Friday dinners when we arrived in the country. So I have had to find a replacement. Today I tried soba (buckwheat noodles) that I prepared with plenty of greens and I decided to serve them not with some regular sauce made from soya sauce such as tsuyu, but rather a white miso base. And since I had some fresh lemon I also used it. The redult was even better than I expected. The sweet white miso and the lemon are a super match. The lemon taste is very present, cancelling the sweetness of the miso and the miso softening the bitterness of the lemon. So here is my recipe for 2 people.

– 200g of soba noodles, I use 100% buckwheat flour noodles

– 4 tsp of white miso

– 1/4 of lemon

– 1 tsp of soya sauce

– brocoli, brocoli sprouts, green beans, baby spinach… asparagus, green peas, horse beans… are all good too

Boil a large amount of water to cook the soba. In the meantime in a heated pan slightly oiled cook the washed vegetables. The much remsin crispy, so don’t over cook them. In a bowl mix together the miso, the lemon juice, the soya sauce. Serve ghe noodles in a large bowl, add the miso dressing and stir well, add the vegetables. Eat right away and have a beautiful weekend. Isumi is under the rain, and work for the museum exhibition is what I have to do today!

May 13, 2017

Salmon spinach ravioli

Ravioli, in particular jumbo ones, are one of my favorite dish, both to eat and prepare. Or may be I just enjoy making them because I enjoy eating them so much!!!

This time I made spinach and salmon ravioli, a king of classic I guess, but so very delicious!

The pasta is always the same for two as a whole meal: 100g of semolina or manitoba, 1 egg, 2tbs of olive oil, a bit of salt. For the filling I used 1 filet of fresh salmon and a bouquet of fresh spinach. In a small pan with 1cm of water I add the salmon and the washed spinach. I cook first under cover, then I dry the mixture at low heat after squeezing it into rough purée, add some black pepper. Once it is dry enough I put it too cool down. Roll the dough and male the ravioli. Finally just boil them and serve with cream, butter or olive oil, as you like!

May 8, 2017

Lentil vegan one-plate

With a fridge almost empty because I long to go shopping at the countryside farmers market, I’m using up my stock of seeds, beans, lentils… and just add some fresh blanched vegetables and raw sprouts. It perfectly suits the super warm weather toeat some light and fresh meals, just seasoned with salt, curcuma and olive oil. For this one plate meal I used French green lentils cooked al-dente, blanched baby spinachs and peeled and blanched horse beans. I topped the lentils with fresh sprouts and added some sunflower seeds to add some some crispy texture. So very simple and delicious!

April 19, 2017

Spinach-chicken ravioli

It is spring today and I am down with very strong pollen allergy, my head is spinning, my eyes are itching and I almost couldn’t move this morning. But I am talking at a public event and I hate to cancel my interventions, let people down. So A. has helped me take my things together, prepared breakfast, drove me to where I work today. Without him I’ll still be lying on the sofa. Now I’m getting ready. It’s going to be a tough afternoon but I’m gonna try! Well, while I wasn’t yet dying with pollen allergy I made some little ravioli. Same pasta asusual, with a filling of spinach and chicken. I wanted some cod or salmon but nothing that really attracted me at the supermarket so it ended being chicken. I cooked the chicken, the spinach and a tablespoon of cream cheese. Then filled the ravioli and served with olive oil. Super delicious!

March 20, 2017

Shiitake and spinach quiche

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This is the end of winter, but it is still chilly and though the spring greens are quite attractive, sometimes a good all winter quiche with spinach and shiitake is a perfect dinner. And because I find that a short movie is easier to understand the technique than long sentences I am trying again to make videos of the cooking process. Tell me how you like it. I’m craving to know your opinion to improve from your feedbacks!

Spinach and shiitake quiche:

For the quiche crust

– 160g of flour

– 20g of wheat bran

– a pinch of salt

– 1 egg

– 40g of butter

– a bit of water eventually

In a bowl mix all the ingredients and knead until the dough is soft. Add water or a bit of flour to adjust the hydration level. In a floured top roll the dough to the size of your pie dish.

For the filling

– 3 eggs

– 20cl of milk

– spinach to your liking

– shiitake to your liking

– salt, pepper

Wash and blanche the spinach. In a bowl beat the egg, the milk and yhe salt and pepper. Set in the dough. Wash and slice the shiitake. Add the spinach and shiitake.

Bake at 170deg for 30min (the cooking time depends on the depth of the filling) or until golden.

Have a nice week!!!!

March 13, 2017

A French basic

One things that is a bit my Proust’s madeleine as we say in French is a cery simple skillet if spinach with cream ir béchamel, poached eggs and bread croutons. A large part if the good memories about are the croutons. For some reason (probably because we have very little bread leftover) I very rarely make fried croutons, but these are so delicious with a cauliflower soup, a pumpkin soup or with spinach. Now I almost bever cook with cream or béchamel but spinach and croutons are always a good combination. I served them with pan grilled flounder and shiitake.

Fried croutons:

– a piece of bread, it doesn’t have to be fresh, but you still need to br sbke to cug it! It can be white, whole or whatever, it’s slways good!

– 2tbs of vegetal oil

Cut the bread in 5mm to 1cm dices. In a frypan hest the oil. Add the bread and turn regurlarly at medium heat, until each side of the bread is golden. Simple and delicious!

February 22, 2017