Tag: vegetables

Caponata

When you are super pleased to invent a new recipe that looks like delicious… and talk about it over the phone with your mom and she tells you that your brilliant idea not only already exists but is actually a classic Sicilian recipe!!! I must have Italian blood at some point!!!!

Anyway, this brilliant and delicious summer recipe is caponata! Serve with giant pasta and a bit of salad on the side. Here is my recipe.

Caponata (for 2 people)

– 3 Japanese eggplants

– 1 branch of celery

– 1tsp of capers

– olive oil

– 1tsp of vinegar

Dice in small cubes the eggplants. In a pan heated with olive oil cooked them at medium to high heat until golden. Stir often. Wash and dice the celery, up to the leaves. Add to the eggplants. Cook for 5-10 min at medium heat. Add the capers, and finish with the vinegar. Eat like that or with pasta as presented in the picture. Also good with grated Parmigiano.

Wafu pasta

The way of preparing pasta is unlimited and using Japanese ingredients with pasta may be really strange at first but it is not at all so strange in the end, it’s actually rather good. They are called wafu pasta (和風パスタ) and are actually quite common in Japan, they are regular pasta (most often spaghetti) with a dressing that uses Japanese typical ingredients such as meitaiko, nori… At first I didn’t like this mix too much, probably because it is often served in old not so nice cafe places, but I slowly got used to the idea and actually now enjoy preparing some.

I prepared a summer wafu pasta recipe with crushed edamame, jute mallow and tomatoes with olive oil. It is so simple but so fresh and summer like that I’m thinking I will prepare more wafu pasta in the future!

In the mean a typhoon is coming to Tokyo, keep dry and safe and have a nice weekend!

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!

Gaspacho!!!

I used to prepare a lot of gaspacho in the past, using canned tomatoes… “in the past” was probably 15 or 20 years ago. Then I stopped buying canned tomatoes and never felt that the tomatoes in the supermarket were good enough for such a simple recipe that requires very good tomatoes… and then we started to buy tomatoes in Isumi, the giant very ripe ones, full of sun, flavor and sweetness, the perfect tomatoes for tomato sauce and gaspacho. So now I can make gaspacho again!!!

The recipe I make now is really ultra simple. Before I was using more ingredients in particular shallots, now I make it with only tomatoes and cucumbers, and add a bit of spices: paprika and chilly pepper, salt and olive oil. Here is my recipe for a cold and refreshing starter for the summer that you is best prepared a few hours or more before and kept refrigerated until serving.

Gaspacho (4 medium size servings)

– 3 large ripe tomatoes

– 1 small cucumber

– 2 tbs of olive oil

– 1 tsp of paprika

– 1/4 tsp of chilly powder

– salt and pepper

Boil some water and boil the tomato 30 to 60s to peel them. Peel and cut roughly the tomatoes. Wash and cut roughly the cucumber. In a blender mix all the vegetables until liquid. Add the spices, salt and pepper. Keep refrigerated. When serving add olive oil, stir and serve.

Enjoy the summer!!!

My lovely neighbors

The fun part of living in the countryside and having a great garden that produces plenty of things independently is to exchange crops with neighbors, friends and colleagues and these past few days we’ve been exchanging a lot! It all started with plums… like last year I harvested about 20kg of plums and left the rest on the trees. I pickled 2kg, made syrup with an other 3 and gave away the rest, to our pottery teacher, to friends, to my secretary and other colleagues at the university. I also harvested fuki, Japanese plums or sumomo (スモモ) and strawberry tree fruits today and gave away plenty around too. When you give away crops, usually you receive other crops or the result of what you have given after a preparation. It’s a kind of barter. So we received plenty of fruits and vegetables. Plenty of potatoes… and my favorite neighbor knows how much I love them tiny, so she kept me the smallest ones just like my grandfather would do. She also gave me cucumbers, parsley and flowers to plant that were growing rogue in her garden.

From some other neighbors we received jam and fresh fruits, which I used to make a version of the almond sable with jam in large version (picture) and in tiny bites. A real treat!!!

We also received big potatoes from another neighbor… I’m thinking of making gnocchi with these ones or just mash them, you’ll see soon enough. And finally we received pickled plums and pickled ginger from my colleagues. Super delicious with rice!!!

I really love this! It makes the effort to harvest more, give away around very fun and entertaining, without any expectations… but then sometimes you receive something unexpected, sometimes nothing but that’s fine also since it’s giving away… it just makes people happy!

Kohlrabi and edamame salad

As I was telling you, kohlrabi is my new best cooking ingredient. Sautéed it is great with other vegetables, pasta… but kohlrabi is also delicious raw. Many recipes I saw on the internet inspired me while looking for ideas how to cook it. And if the weather is called one day it is warm and sunny the next, so a simple salad with raw kohlrabi is always a great option. When the kohlrabi is juicy and crunchy and very refreshing. As I said in my previous post, it is really nice with olive oil, so no headache about the dressing. To make the salad a little Japanese style I added boiled edamame (the season is just starting), some brocoli sprouts and a bit of sesame. For the kohlrabi I grated it with a mandolin and remove the extra juice by gently pressing it. Simple and super delicious…

The next thing I am wondering now is with which herbs and spices to try it… If you have any idea, please share with me! I’ll be happy to try.

Kohlrabi

I didn’t remember seeing kohlrabi too often in Japan and I couldn’t remember having actually prepared some anytime in my life. I vaguely remember it was something we would eat in the 80’s when I was little and didn’t eat anything… So kohlrabi (chou rave as I remembered it) was just a name with no associated taste or memory. When I saw it at the local farmers market I found them so cute that I couldn’t resist buying this lonely pack of three kohlrabi. And I didn’t regret it at all!!! Quite the opposite!!

I browsed the net to get a few do’s and don’t, and my first recipe was a simple olive vegetables sautéed with a bit of sausage and potatoes and red cabbage. Really simple but a great way to cook kohlrabi quickly. It adds some crispness and a fresh cabbage taste but more subtle and sweeter than I expected. Really perfect with olive oil too, so I knew we would be good friends!

More recipes with kohlrabi coming soon!!!

More zucchini!!!

I could have totally go with an other zucchini week worth of new or modified recipes in the last 7 days… to add to the existing collection of zucchini recipes! I’ve been preparing most of our meals using zucchini because it’s just the season and now they grow plenty of zucchini in Isumi! So again last Saturday I got plenty… yellow, green, small and big… later there will so round ones… And with the typhoon coming and the sudden drop in temperatures, a warm soup was very welcome, so I prepared a … zucchini soup of course!!!

Zucchini naked soup

– 2 large zucchini

– olive oil

– salt and pepper

– optional: 2tbs of cream cheese

– optional: bread croutons

In a large pan filled with 1l of water boil the zucchini washed and cut in rough pieces. When tender blend and add olive oil, salt and pepper. That’s it!!! Serve warm and eat right away!

You can add the cream cheese directly in the plate. Stir a bit when it has melted. Add the bread croutons if you want a richer experience.

Zucchini cake

Somehow this week has been a lot about cooking zucchini. There was a few classic things such as “soupe au pistou” for friends coming for dinner. But also a few new recipes such the salsola quiche. And after seeing a few cakes on IG, I thought it was time to make one with zucchini and rucola. The recipe is very simple and the zucchini bring the moisture often missing in savory cakes. I added rucola for a bit of fresh taste, and served it with a simple herb salad. A perfect dinner, all in one plate.

Zucchini cake:

– 1 zucchini

– a handful of rucola

– 150g of flour

– 1tsp of baking powder

– 3 eggs

– 1/2 cup of olive oil

– salt and pepper

In a bowl mix all the ingredients for the dough. Wash the rucola and the zucchini. Cut them. Add to the mix. In a greased cake dish pour the mix and bake at 160deg for 30min, rise the temperature to 190 for the final 5-10 minutes. Check with a knife if ready.

That’s it!! And it’s Friday, so have a good end of the week!

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