The simplest way of cooking eggplants is by oven grilling them. It is so delicious and so handy to cook! For oven grilled eggplants I wash a few eggplants and then slice them with a mandoline or a large knife. In a pie dish I put a thin layer of olive oil, then I set the eggplant slices in a thick layer, top the whole with herbs such as oregano, thyme, rosemary… Then add olive oil again, set in the oven at 200-230deg for 30min. The more they stay in the oven the crispier the top and bottom gets and the more tender gets the middle.
If you like cheese, adding a layer of mozzarella sliced in between the eggplant layers and before the herbs is just too good! My husband doesn’t like cheese so I’m skeeping that… 🙁
The first recipe of eggplant is a Japanese one. It is awfully simple, yet extremely delicious. It is simply boiled eggplant in katsuo bushi dashi (dried bonito consommé to make it short) served with a topping of katsuo bushi flakes (dried bonito flakes). For that I always use small eggplants, like tiny ones. I cut them in four but keep the four pieces attached by the stem. And boil them in katsuo bushi dashi for 10min. Then I drain them well, eventually using some cooking clothe or cooking paper. I serve them cold most of the time and just top them with some katsuo bushi flakes before serving, eventually add a few drops of soya sauce if you think it needs salt, but usually I don’t.
Let’s reiterate a vegetable week! I could have chosen grean beans, but I realize I’ve already posted many recipes involving green beans, so I’ve opted for one other summer star: the eggplant. Funilly eggplants are as much used in Japanese cuisine than in Provence cuisine, though in Japan the eggplant species are slightly different, smaller or thin and long.
They are also used in summer together with cucumber to make horses and oxes than the spirit of dead people ride to come back to the human world during the Obon period, which is either July 15th or August 15th depending whether one follows the new solar calendar or the old lunar calendar.
Spending the week-end in Tokyo we’ve been eating out a bit and I’ve had time to do some cooking reading, and it inspired me for this vegetarian one plate (though eggs are optional and it can turn out vegan easily). I boiled 2 new potatoes, 1egg and 3 asparagus, and 3 okras. In order to spare time, I first put the potatoes in the boiling water, washed but with peel. Then when the potatoes are half cooked (I use a little bamboo toothpick to check) I add the egg to hardboil, after 4min I add the hardest part of the asparagus and after 1min I finally add the head of the asparagus and the okras. After less than 1min I drain everything and rince in cold water. In a bowl I roughly cut one avocado, the egg, the hard parts of the asparagus, mix with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper. In a plate I slice the potatoes, mount the avocado-egg-aspara mixture in a circle and line the okras, finish with the asparagus heads, a bit of olive oil and salt. Bon appetit!
This recipe with zucchini was invented on the spot. I wanted to eat my yellow zucchini with some green beans and purple asparagus, but didn’t want to eat pasta or risotto, so I prepared a batter with buckwheat flour, baking powder, salt, 2 eggs and water (makes two large pancake). In a pan I sauteed in olive oil the green beans, the yellow zucchini cut in small pieces, and the purple asparagus, then I baked it in a small greased pan at low eat the batter and topped it right away with the vegetables and baked only on one side under cover. The vegetables sink a bit in the dough and it resembles something in between a crepe, a pizza and an omelet. I topped it when done with a bit of salt and olive oil. Simply delicious!
Zucchni are delicious in soup hot or cold. In summer I prepare a cold soup with mint. For two I just boil a large zucchini with the skin (the skin gives a nicer color to the soup and it is full of nutriments, but only do that if you know your vegetables are grown without chemicals or organic). Then I smash the boiled zucchini with a fork until it looks like a puree (you can blend it too), add chopped fresh mint leaves, salt, pepper and olive oil. For a creamy taste you can add some greek style yogurt or some fromage blancBut I usually don’t. Keep in the fridge before serving with freshly grinded pepper and mint leaves.
There was again nice fresh flounder for sashimi at the market, so I decided to pick one piece for our weekly big animal proteine source. Indeed, most of the time I only shop meat and fish at our local farmers in Ohara and none in Tokyo, where we eat mainly vegetarian or vegan except for some San Daniele prosciuto or some pancetta and bacon. With such a beautiful filet of flounder I only wanted to have it sauted in a bit of olive oil and served with fresh vegetables sauted too. Just a few new potatoes, green peas, purple asparagus, mini tomatoes seasonned with a few fresh basil leaves chopped. And finished with salt and olive oil. A table!
“La soupe au pistou”, pronounce ” la souuuupopiiiiistuu” (or pesto soup) is a traditional summer preparation in Provence. Like any traditional food each family has her secret recipe and variations are quite Infinite. Shall it include small pasta or king of cut spaghetti, or none; shall it be served with grated Parmigiano or grated Gruyere; how many types of bean should be used etc… Honestly I would say that each version tastes different but cannot be bad. For me this soup is synonymous of summer, holidays, family gatherings… I can’t even recall when I first it it, probably at an age whe it is not possible to recall. The recipe comes from my grand mother that probably came from her mother and so on, my mother is using the recipe. For us the pesto is made of fresh basil leaves, pine nuts, gratted garlic, grated Parmigiano and ollive oil, a lot of olive oil. The soup consists in tomatoes (big, red ripe summer tomatoes), green beans, broad beans, zucchini, white beans and marbled beans. The beans are inserted by cooking time and it’s cooked during a long time at low eat, and it is served with grated gruyere. No pasta… Though I recall some argument about that!
Reinvention of the soupe au pistou in the making
I’ve been preparing a lot of this soup even in Japan, though I can’t find fresh marble beans and white beans, it is easy to have some dry, and broad beans are really easy to find, fresh and delicious. I adapt the recipe to circumstances and when I serve it as a single dish I usually add a few little pasta. I never use garlic, fresh or dry, so I took it off the recipe, and my husband doesn’t like pine nuts nor cheese so usually I take them off as well… hum… well my pesto is just basil and olive oil and just as good! This time I was about to prepare one when I realized I had no white beans nor marble beans and I was not really in the mood to eat soup on my own, since my husband was out for dinner for work. So I decided to treat myself with a recipe that I just invented on the spot (missing ingredients are the best inspiration!) and went for a dry soupe au pistou. In a pan I diced a tomato and cooked it with olive oil, then added the green beans and the braod beans, finally I added the chopped basil leaves, salt pepper and olive oil and cooked under cover 15min. The served it with pine nuts, and finally topped with Parmigiano (which is totally optional). Perfectly delicious though a bit far from the original recipe but that is evolution!
And ready to eat (I spare you the Parmigiano topping!)
With all the new vegetables and the sunny days I’m preparing more and more cold salads this year. This one is really taking advantage of spring green peas, little radish, lettuce, cucumber, tofu and spelt, all with a little of olive oil, sesame seeds and sunflower seeds. Fresh, colorful, tasty, perfect!
