Tag: summer

Blueberries and blackberries vegan tart

In the summer… yes yes it is supposed to be the summer, even if you haven’t felt the summer heat nor got this beautiful summer tan… I love to bake simple fruits tart: apricots, peaches, plums, berries… so when I bought these blueberries and this blackberries at the farmers market, I knew what I would use them for!

The difference from the past years? The pie crust. As I was using up all my butter to an other trial of croissants (pathetic result… you can read about it here). I decided to save the butter for the croissants and simply replaced it by almond butter our friend Y. bring us from Portland. I am not used to almond butter so I wasn’t sure how to use it, but in replacement of butter in pastries dough it seems perfect. Of course it changes the texture and taste but I find it very well suited for fruits tarts. However because it is drier then normal butter I found it was necessary to add a bit of water to the dough to obtain a suitable texture. As for the rest, I just put it in a pie dish, top with the fruits and a but of sugar and bake.

In the oven you can see some chocolate chips sablés, and mini white chocolate and blueberries tarts made in financier cups.

Have a good day… I can’t wait for the sun to come but I wonder if that will ever happen… it’s been 20days of non stop rain and grey skies…

Bonito

Not far away from our house is Katsuura 勝浦, a city on the ocean with a fishing harbor, a fish market, a few nice street to browse and a sea front further south where we paddle surf (or least try to!!).

Katsuura is quite famous as a bonito fishing harbor in the area and they indeed have delicious fresh bonito in season, which is basically from spring to mid summer. We’ve eating quite a bit of bonito, and one of my classic way of preparing it is either pan grilled or in a sort of ragù with vegetables. But after a few times eating it that way always, I wanted a new recipe.

Inspired by the pies and other yummy pictures I saw on IG, I decided to try making a bonito pie. The shape of the filet is perfect to fit in a cake dish and with the season of bell peppers starting, I had a perfect combination. The pie cooking is quite interesting as all the juices and flavors are trapped in the pie and reveals when you cut it, guaranteeing a very interesting tasting experience. Though I could have worked a bit more on how to shape and plate it (as usual), the taste was amazing. Definitely a recipe that will go to my favorite recipes of the moment.

Bonito pie (2-3 servings)

For the pie crust

– 200g of flour (I used whole wheat)

– 4tbs of olive oil

– water

– a pinch of salt

For the filling

– 1 bonito filet (for sashimi)

– 2-3 bell peppers red, yellow, orange… you name it

– 2 leaves of laurel

– olive oil, salt and pepper

Prepared the pue crust. In a bowl, mix the flour, salt and olive oil. Add water little by little and knead until you have a smooth dough. Roll it in a rectangular shape to fit your cake dish, yet twice bigger.

Set it in the cake dish. Add the laurel leaves in the bottom of the pie, then add the bonito on top. Wash and slice the bell peppers. Arrange them around and on top of the bonito. Add salt, pepper and a bit of olive oil. Close the pie with the dough. Make a small hole on the top and make a small chimney with baking paper. Bake at 180deg for 40min. Or until golden.

Korinky creamy summer pasta

Creamy and summer don’t necessarily get along well together I reckon, but it’s not like we’re in Europe and temperatures are very high for the moment in Japan. It’s still the rainy season and the “real” summer will only start in 2 weeks (hopefully not later!!). While in the meantime the summer vegetables and fruits are not to be seen everywhere: tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers, melons, peaches, apricots… So how resisting in preparing some summer dishes?

Two years ago I felt in love with malabar spinach and really starting preparing many last year. So when I started seeing some at the farmers market I was really happy. This year, at the Blind Donkey, I discovered korinky コリンキー, this summer pumpkin also called サラダカボチャ which can be eaten raw. I tested it in the potatoes and cucumber salad I served to my guests last Friday. But with still quite a bit to eat I decided to cook it and mash it roughly, to eat with pasta. And because once in a while I like to eat light creamy pasta, I added cream and malabar spinach to obtain a delicious topping. Below follows my recipe.

Enjoy the rainy season if your in Japan!

Raw korinky in salad

Korinky creamy pasta (for 2 servings)

– 1/2 korinky

– 4 branches of malabar spinach

– 150ml of cream 45

– salt and pepper

– 125g of pasta of your preference or gnocchi

While boiling pasta. Peel the korinky and remove the seeds. Steam. When sift enough mash roughly in a pan with a fork or a wooden spoon. Add cream, salt and pepper and mash again. Cook at low heat for five minutes. Wash the malabar spinach and chop roughly. Add to the mixture. Cook an other 5 minutes. The cream should reduce by half. Add the pasta drained to the mixture and stir well. Serve and eat immediately or wait until it has cooled down and eat at room temperature.

Swordfish

When the season for swordfish starts I am always pleased to start eating some, in particular because it often arrives after several typhoons and fish options have been more than scarce in Isumi. After the long months of bonito, it is time for a change. And if I love sanma, which also marks the beginning of the autumn, I rarely cook some because of the smell. But swordfish is perfect for me. I like the consistency of the meat even better than that of snapper and sea bass, and it has not shape at all (I gave trouble eating fishes that have fish shapes in the plate… maybe another reason why I don’t eat sanma much!).

So, the swordfish (メカジキ mekajiki) season is starting and I found some beautiful pieces of Kesennuma swordfish. Kesennuma is a fishing port up north in Miyagi famous for tunas and swordfishes, and that was badly hut in 2011. They kind of made a brand of it, and the swordfish is actually really delicious.

I like to grill or pan grill my pieces of swordfish, with or with marinating it. Now sudachi, the small green citrus fruits ate in season, and swordfish marinated with the juice of 2 and some soya sauce and then grilled was a great and simple recipe!!!

How do you cook your swordfish???

Paris

Going to Paris in August is always a feast! The city is empty of angry Parisian and everything is smooth and nice. Of course there is no theatre show nor opera to see, little exhibitions and some shops and restaurants are closed for the summer holiday, but who cares? It’s the best time to visit Paris to me. The parks are beautifully refreshing and quiet, no little brats to disturb the quietness, the terraces of cafe are less busy, and everything seems to move at a slower pace or in a foggy heat.

I particularly love to walk in the Luxembourg Gardens, stop here and there and look at people, those playing chess, those playing tennis, those seating and lazying, those running frantically… it was perfect because I was working at ENS and we stayed at the newly reopened Lutecia, and the best way to travel back and forth is by crossing the garden!

So one word about the Lutecia… it has always been for me a landmark on the left bank and a place I wanted to stay at. After years of renovation, it finally reopened in July and I was happy A. booked there for this trip. The renovation is in fact not fully finished and it feels like it will be better in a year or so once they will really have finished it.

One thing that I love when traveling is to do a kitchen take over if I don’t have my own kitchen, and after 3 days in Paris I was longing for cooking and took over my best friend’s kitchen for one evening. She picked a recipe she wanted me to prepare and I picked the dessert.

We ended with some gnocchi with jus d’herbe as proposed in Passedat’s book, snd a mirabelles tart. Two simple and delicious recipes.

Mirabelle tart:

– 1.5 kg of mirabelle

– flour and butter for the dough

– a little bit of sugar to sprinkle on top

Prepare the sablé dough with the flour and butter. Roll it, not too thin (mine was and couldn’t absorb all the juice) to the size of your pie dish. Wash the mirabelle and pit them. Set a thick layer of mirabelle in the dough (they will reduce, so really pack them). Sprinkle a bit of sugar. Cook in the oven for 40min at 180deg.

Wax gourd – 冬瓜

A few years ago (or in an other life… when I was managing time differently) I used to go to 茶懐石 chakaiseki cooking classes once a month. I learned a lot there, about classic Japanese cooking techniques, about Japanese sweets and about some ingredients I was never cooking. Wax gourd is one of them. It is a very delicious vegetable but when you don’t know what to do with it… you just don’t buy it… until this class of July where I was in charge of cooking some, to be served with somen (thin noodles eaten in the summer) and red snapper. And I lived that dish so much that I remember preparing it for friends coming over for dinner.

The season for wax gourd has come again and I bought some. I was fancying preparing the same recipe but the heat and our busy schedule changed the plans and I decided to invent a new recipe using the same base. No somen (too heavy for the very hot days) and instead of red snapper (no big one found) I decided to prepare Isumin pork meat balls. Still served with a great dashi. It was super delicious. Here is the detailed recipe.

Wax gourd and meat balls (for 2 people)

– 1/2 wax gourd or 冬瓜

– 100g of pork ground meat

– 40g of potato starch or katagiriko

– 1/2L of katsuobushi dashi

– 2tbs of soya sauce

– 2tbs of sake

– cooking oil

Cut and peel the wax gourd and cook in the dashi with the soya sauce and the sake until a toothpick enters smoothly.

Heat the oil in a frypan. In a bowl mix the meat and the potato starch. Form small balls and fry them until golden.

In bowls serve the wax gourd, the meat balls, then add some of the wax gourd cooking liquid. Top with a few sesame seeds. Enjoy!

Malabar spinach & okra

Now that the summer is blasting the green vegetables options are narrowing. Over the zucchini and the French beans… cucumber, jute mallow and okra are the most important green staples for me… but the Malabar spinach is curiously still on the market stands. I love Malabar spinach so much that I continue buying some anytime I see some… and I just discovered that Malabar spinach and okra are a perfect match, and even better when you add shiso.

I simply wash and cut the Malabar spinach and the okra and cook them at medium to high heat in a greased frypan. They both must stay crisp. I then add a few leaves of shiso chopped thinly. I serve it with soba or with falafel, but it can be used with anything else: grilled fish, grilled chicken, plain rice, grilled eggplants…

Have a great Sunday!!

Goya chanpuru

In Okinawa cuisine they use a lot of pork meat and of goya, a bitter melon. Goya in Okinawa is delicious, but goya is a vegetable I never buy in Tokyo, because the ones you find in supermarkets are usually horribly bitter and hard (I did try a few times a long time ago…). There are a few tricks to remove the bitterness but normally you shouldn’t even need it… When someone give me one from their garden they are usually very delicious and not bitter at all, then I am more than happy to cook it. And one of the most classic recipe is goya chapuru ゴヤチャンプル. A traditional recipe from Okinawa with goya, tofu, pork meat and eggs. Sometimes moyashi (sprouted soya beans) are added… the pork meat is usually thin slices of pork belly or ribs, or in cheap version Spam. And it is seasoned with sesame oil usually but not always.

Since I received a beautiful goya And it’s been a really long time I haven’t I was really happy to cook it. With the heat and beautiful weather an Okinawa style preparation was perfectly adequate. Except that I didn’t have tofu and wanted some carbs to make the meal nourishing. I opted for a version of whole wheat penne with a goya, sausage and eggs preparation very similar to goya chanpuru. I used olive oil though rather than sesame oil. I simply cut the sausages in bites, grilled them in a frypan slightly greased, then added the goya, halved and sliced (and the seeds removed) and once they have soften with the heat I had 4 eggs beaten and stir regularly. I served it on top of the boiled penne and added olive oil, salt and pepper to finish.

Some new greens

Every season brings a new kind of greens to the table, not just seasonal but also things I have never seen or cooked before. That’s what is fun with shopping at local farmers markets. Each one has some different products. When I shop in Ohara, I don’t find the same things than when I shop in Kuniyoshi, 10km inland or in Ohtaki, just a little further inland. There is always something I have never seen, or something rare in Ohara. For example cresson cannot be found easily in Ohara but inland yes!!! This time I’ve found a new type of green with beautiful thick and shiny green leaves and hollow stems. I used them like spinach somehow but it has a more grassy taste. And with the heat settling in Tokyo I prepared a simple dish with French green lentils, this new green blanched with okra, olive oil and curcuma.

Stay cool!

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