Purple potatoes soup

Continuing the week with a recipe that this time uses only purple ratte potatoes, that is simple, delicious and beautiful: a cold creamy soup.

All you need is a few purple potatoes, some fresh cream or milk, salt and pepper. Yes! That’s the only ingredients in my recipe.

Cold potatoes soup

– 3 purple ratte potatoes (vitellote)

– 150ml of cream or cream

– salt and pepper

Wash the potatoes and boil them until very soft (actually if you do it a couple of hours before it is even better as the potatoes will cool down naturally and you won’t have to cool them under excessive water or in the fridge!).

Blend the potatoes with 300ml the cooking water, or just water, add the cream or milk, blend again. If too thick add a bit of water and blend again. Repeat until it has a creamy texture. Serve, top with salt and pepper.

That’s it!!

June 20, 2019

Colorful potato salad

The first recipe for this potatoes week is very simple. I wanted a preparation that would let us enjoy the difference between the two types of potatoes we grew and would be a full lunch. Well… I simply decided on a self grown plate with only staples from our kitchen garden. Well the choice is still quite limited but here is what I had: salad, celery branches, snap peas, overgrown snap peas that turned into green peas, basil, mint, rosemary, fennel leaves, parsley. The beats are struggling after a bird and a bug attack, the passion fruit is just having flowers…

So celery and peas appeared as the best options. Olive oil, salt and pepper as the best dressing.

I simply washed and steamed (or boiled) 4 small purple ratte and 4 small potatoes, blanched the peas and, and wash and cut the celery, then dressed the plates, topped with olive oil, salt and pepper, and lunch was ready.

Steaming the potatoes allows for a simple tasting where the flavors and texture are untouched, but don’t over cook them. As soon as they are cooked plunge them in cold water.

Have a good week!!

June 18, 2019

Potatoes week

In March we planted potatoes in our new kitchen garden. We went for two species: some melty white potatoes and some purple ratte potatoes. It was our first time ever growing potatoes on our own, so I guess we made some mistakes: soil too rich and too compact, lack of leaves clearing… but I still harvested a few plants and we got a decent amount of potatoes. Enough for the two of us, to eat fresh and new (I am not good with preserving food for long). So I’ve decided this week will be a potato week! And I’ll share with you some of my favorite recipes. Stay tuned for the first recipe!!!

June 17, 2019

Wild mountain plants

More than 10 years ago our friends K. and S. invited us to their home in the Niigata mountains to go picking wild plants – 山菜 – sansai with them, and to cook and eat them together. Of course we couldn’t say no, and we had an amazing time with them walking deep in the forest, picking all the different kinds of wild plants, seeing wild animals and then learning how to prepare them…

With the super long golden week, we decided to go and visit K. for a short trip to Tsunan and to go wild plants picking again. Since S. has past, we didn’t go as deep in the woods as we did before but we went for a long walk in the woods and picked enough wild plants for a nice lunch. The winter has stretched rather late in April with huge snowfalls and there was still quite a bit of snow, so we were a week or so too early. Here is an illustrated list of what we found though:

– つくし – tsukushi – horsetail

This little white flower can be easily found everywhere. Always take those that have no pollen. For preparation see my post here.

– こごみ – kogomi – fern sprouts

They are easy to spot, easy to pick and super easy to cook. I find them as easy to prepare than wild asparagus: in omelets, with pasta… they are really the simplest of the sansai and the more accessible in terms of flavor and texture.

– タラノメ – taranome – angelica buds

They grow at the head of wood sticks. The one in the picture is a little young and they need to have a few leaves out. These ones are really delicious in tempura and require little handling.

– 木の芽 – kinome – chocolate vine

This little green sprout that grows in the midst of other trees sprouting is the hardest to find, but once you’ve spotted a tree, easily recognized by its leaves, it is easy to find the sprouts. Washed and eaten raw, or cook, it is fresh and crunchy.

– 蕗の薹 – fukinoto

In the mountain fukinoto grow right after a patch of snow has melted. So spot a patch of snow, and look at the edges. They are best when just sprouting. They can be as big as a ping pong ball. There taste is very strong and specific. Probably the most difficult to accommodate and cook of all. See my posts on fukinoto here.

There are many others wild plants such as zenmai – 薇 – osmunda japonica (with me on the below picture), yama udo – 山ウド, tori ashi shouma – 鶏足升麻… we also harvested a bit of some, so some others… we also found morels. we had taranome, fukinoto and kogomi tempura, kinome salad and tsukushi just heated in soya sauce and dashi.

Now the golden week is getting to its end… time to go back to work soon!

May 5, 2019

Crêpes

It’s been a few years now that on Saturday afternoon I make crepes. Our Saturday from November to April, when not working, are filled with many activities, gardening in the morning and playing tennis or going for a hike or bicycle ride in the afternoon. The rest of the year we also go to the beach swimming and bodyboarding…

Around 17:00 is always a time we get hungry and since we dine late a little snack is never bad. I found that crepes were actually the fastest thing I could make in small quantity. Crepes look tedious to make and I had this image that should be made in large quantity but actually it is not the case. We usually have 2 crepes each, that we eat in the kitchen while chatting and having tea. I found a perfect recipe that makes just the right amount of dough for 4-5 crepes and we fill them with chocolate, almond butter, or just lemon juice and a bit of sugar. Here is my recipe, and it’s so simple and quick that I’m sure you’ll start making crepes often!!

Crêpes (4 pieces)

– a handful of white flour

– one egg

– 1 tsp of sugar

– 350ml of milk

In a bowl mix the flour, the sugar and the egg, add the milk slowly while stirring. You should easily obtain a smooth and rather liquid mixture.

In a greased heated pan pour a thin layer of mix and cook until you can flip it easily. Flip and add filling of your choice, fold in four and enjoy!!!

April 24, 2019

Shoyu pasta

There are recipe stories that are longer than others and that reflect how “agile” I manage my cooking!!! Last week I was telling you how much I love new onions and that you will see more recipes with them because I had in mind to prepare some ravioli filled with new onion. Everything was clear in my head and I knew exactly what I wanted to do. Sunday late afternoon taking a break from work I went to my kitchen to prepare the pasta dough. Not the classic one, my ravioli would be infused with Japanese flavors. So I made a soya sauce pasta base. Then I started thinking of the filling and boiled a potato to smooth the filling that would consist in chopped new onion slightly cooked in a pan with katsuobushi flakes. And while the potato was boiling I went back to work and worked worked worked, with our new stray cat all cuddled on my laps… and I forgot the potato, time and preparing dinner. At almost 21:00 A. reminded me that we should actually go back to Tokyo… oups… nothing was ready and it was too late to start making ravioli. So we ate the potato, I packed my pasta dough, my new onions and we drove back to the city.

Monday night I came back home around 22:00 and it was really not a descent hour to make ravioli… I knew it… so I decided to roll my pasta manually and make tagliatelle and use the onion just as a topping. The result was so awesome that I am now thinking of making it a new entry to the Soya sauce contest…

Here is what I did:

Soya sauce pasta

– 1egg

– 120g of flour

– 3tbs of soya sauce

– 1 new onion

– 2-3 shiitake

In a bowl knead the flour, soya sauce and egg together to make the pasta dough. Keep for 1h.

Roll the pasta, and make tagliatelle.

Wash the vegetables and slice them. In a pan greased with a bit of oil, throw the vegetables and cook at low heat. Boil the pasta and drain them. Add to the vegetables, stir well, serve and eat immediately. You can add a bit of grilled pork to the vegetables…

April 15, 2019

Hikes

Spring and fall are the perfect seasons for hiking in Japan. The temperatures are just right not to get a sweat but not to freeze or die of over heat, bugs are fewer and either the flowers and tender greens, or the crimson colors of fall make a picturesque scenery. There are plenty of options to go hiking in Chiba and I won’t overview them here. There are few things I take in consideration when searching for a hike: the path needs to mainly be a non drivable road. What’s the point walking on the road side?? The path should be a loop or as much as possible not use twice the same route. There are very few hiking trail in Isumi to my knowledge, and one of our favorite is now impracticable as bamboos grew all over the path. So our favorite options are in Otaki and Katsuura. We’ve been to Yorokeikoku 養老渓谷 in the fall many times, for the maple trees, the monkeys… and for the spring we could never find something that was satisfying. I usually like the sight of the ocean in the spring as a remembrance that the swimming and bodyboarding season will start soon for me (though some people surf all year round, I find it hard to get in the water when it’s freezing cold outside). Actually Katsuura, about 20-30min drive south of Isumi, has quite a few hiking options, and this time we found a scenic short hike I thought was really worth mentioning.

South of Katsuura is the small town Ubara 鵜原 mainly a fishing port and a nice little hike called Ubara utopia 鵜原理想郷 that takes you up the hills with a stunning view of the ocean and the cliffs and down the beaches and tiny fishing harbors in coves.

The hike is rather short, count 1h maximum, but is really worth. It takes you through tunnels carved in the very soft rocks and going up and downs in a beautiful vegetation and to scenic views. Everything is very well indicated so no headache about which way to go, and the parking space at the starting point is large enough and easy to find (other parking options are also possible on the beach side). We came by scooter so it was even easier for us to park.

If you plan to come for the weekend, there is a small ryokan just at the beginning of the hike: Ubarakan 鵜原館 which seems to have a nice rotenburo (outdoor bath) and a few bathes in the carved stone caves and room with ocean view!!! We haven’t tried it yet so I have no idea how good it is…

After the hike we rode back home and it was time for tea and a little snack, so I decided to make one-bite scones. I am recently testing a new scone recipe and I think now I have the perfect balance to share with you. And with all the spring greens around I prepared a seasonal classic: macha white chocolate. Here is this version but it works with anything.

Scones

– 150g of flour

– 30-40g of sugar (depending on what you use for flavoring, for white chocolate use 30)

– 1tsp of baking powder

– a pinch of salt

– 40g of butter at room temperature

– milk (quantity will slightly depend)

– 2tsp of macha powder

– 2 handfuls of white chocolate chips

In a bowl mix the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, add the butter and knead to mix everything together. Add the milk slowly while kneading. If you want a uniform green color add macha now, otherwise wait until the end. Stop adding milk when the dough is moist but not sticky. If you’ve added to much milk just add a bit of flour!!!

I wanted a non uniform green color so I added the macha at the end and the white chocolate. Shape the scones and bake at 180deg for 10-15min depending on the size of your scones.

April 14, 2019

New onions

As soon as the first new onions appear I have to cook some! The season just started and will last a few weeks, hopefully 6 or 10, and you will see a lot of new onion recipes, even maybe a whole week if work give me the time to post that often. New onions are soft, melting in the mouth, with a very sweet taste. Incomparable and inimitable. I love to cook them in spring vegetables mix, in Japanese style, in quiche… But to start simply, I used my new onions in a simply pasta sauce together with ashitaba. I simply remove the external layer, cut in quarters and cook in a bit of olive oil. Add chopped fresh ashitaba, add some more olive oil, salt and pepper and serve with pasta. Top or not with fresh Parmigiano. Wasn’t that recipe too simple?

April 11, 2019

BD chocolate cake

It is really not something that I cook often… maybe it’s been 5 or 10 years since I last baked a proper chocolate cake… Usually for A.’s birthday I bake a strawberry tart but as I already baked one two weeks ago, I decided to surprise him with very very rich brownies. So for the first time in a while I went through the recipe without actually reducing the amount of sugar or butter. I chose a recipe that was using cocoa powder as it is easier to find organic cocoa powder rather than delicious chocolate to cook here in Japan. The result was a nice piece of brownies, but you know what, I thought they would be even richer (may be the baking powder was too powerful, or it could be my oven that bakes too quick and I slightly overcooked it, or using cocoa powder rather than creamy melted chocolate…)… I topped them with a sugar and cocoa frosting. A. was really happy with the surprise cake, and it was even better the following day.

So the recipe went that way:

Chocolate brownies

– 2 eggs

– 1/2 cup of flour

– 1/2 cup of melted butter

– 1 cup of sugar

– 1/3 cup of cocoa powder

– 1/4 tsp of baking powder

– 1/4 tsp of salt

– vanilla

Melt the butter in a large pan. Off the heat, add the sugar, the eggs, the vanilla. Stir and add the cocoa, the flour, salt and baking powder. Pour in a greased rectangular pie dish or squared pan.

Bake at 170 for 25min.

For the frosting I used cocoa powder, confectioner’s sugar (ice sugar) and a bit of water, to obtain a kind of cream. I spread on the cake while it is still hot, it helps a lot, and let cool down before removing from the pan.

Enjoy!

March 29, 2019