Tag: spring

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.

Quick dinner fix

I left work earlier than usual on Friday to have time to boil some potatoes and prepare our bags for the weekend because I knew that once we would arrive in Ohara we will be more busy with the kittens than actually thinking of having dinner!! And it was so true!!! First I had to do a bit of cleaning, then we played until quite late in the night with our four fur balls. Only to have dinner around midnight, when my boiled potatoes just needed to be peeled and cut in quarters, add an avocado diced, a handful of baby leaves salad, onr of fresh coriander. Seasonned with olive oil, salt and curry powder. So dinner could be ready very quick!

Red miso – 赤味噌

When the weather gets warmer the delicious little cucumbers are back and they are the perfect food to snack while waiting for dinner. I usually just wash them and cut them in sticks, but when I want a little extra I like to prepare a miso paste. There are different types of miso of course and all of them with different taste and features: granulous vs smooth, white vs red etc… Depending on what they are made from and how long they have fermented. At the cha kaiseki class I learned that white miso is used in winter and red in summer, because red miso has fermented longer, it is stronger in taste and saltier, which accomodates perfectly with summer veggies and fishes. So for my little snack paste I use 1 tbsp of red miso that I stir with 1tsp of vegetal (neutral) oil and 1 or 2tsp of water (depending on the consitency you expect: sticky or creamy). I stir until homogenous and serve with my little cucumber sticks. It actually is also delicious with carrots sticks and daikon sticks!

Spring energy

With super fresh green beans and broad beans it is really easy to prepare anything. They just need to be blanched and can be eaten with everything: risotto, pasta, quinoa… I prepared some quinoa the other day, so today it is whole wheat penne. A bit of olive oil, salt and pepper, and you have the perfect dinner ready in 10min!!! Full of energy and good things to survive this week!!!

Fresh salad

One day is really warm, the next is chilly… One day I want simple veggies salad, the next something hot and full of energy. This time was warm and I was fancying a fresh salad with simple vegetables to go with some simple pasta. With a wide variety of small radishes, small tomatoes, fresh cucumbers, baby carrots it was really simple to prepare something. For the dressing simply olive oil and black sesame seeds.

Simmered bamboo shoots

There are plenty of manners to eat bamboo shoots in Japanese traditional cuisine and that one is a real classic. It always starts after you have cooked the bamboo shoots in rice water. This simmered recipe is really simple and as a strong Japanese accent with the sweet soya sauce arranngement, that can actually also be used for any other vegetables: pumpkin, carrot, potato…

Cut the bamboo shoot in half in the height, then cut 2cm thick slices. Arrange them in a pan and add water to just cover them. Heat until it boils. Then add 1tbs of brown sgar and 2 tbs of soya sauce, and a 1tsp of rice vinegar. Cook under cover for 10min at low heat, turn softly from time to time. When all the pieces of bamboo our brownish remove the cover and increase the heat. Wait until all the water as disappeared. It’s ready!

Picnic Japanese style

When I have guests from abroad I try to cook Japanese as much as possible except for breakfast. So when we decided to take a walk to the beach and picnic there I decided to prepare some bamboo shoots onigiri or o musubi. This is just the end of the season of bamboo shoots, so I wanted to take the most of it. It is extremely easy to prepare and super fresh and delicious. I prepared the bamboo shoot as usual, first boiled in rice water, then in a light dashi: konbu, katsuo, iwashi… Cook some Japanese rice too, all white, or half brown. Add a bit of salt once cooked, some kinome leaves. Chop the bamboo shoot in dice of less than 5mm. Insert in the rice and stir well, then start preping for the balls. Finish with a little branch of kinome, or a thin alice of bamboo shoot. Have a nice golden week!!!

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 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.

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