Tag: winter

Natsumikan fluffy and frosted cakes

We have two natsumikan trees in the garden, or also called amanatsu. Every year the trees are covered with fruits and usually I would make jam with them and also use the zest since I know they are perfectly safe of chemicals and other nasty products. Usually the fruits are rather sour but this year they are incredibly sweet, as I discovered while making some fluffy cakes with the peel and the juice. For the fluffy cakes I used the recipe of the madeleine but put a little more baking powder and baked them at 180deg until golden. And because the juice of the fruit is really good I did a little frosting using only ice sugar and juice. Perfect for tea or breakfast!

Hot soup for rainy day

The weather forecast is not making me too happy: rain, rain, rain for the next 3 days. No tennis, no gardening, no walking out. Being indoor is kind of making me sad… So to cheer up the rainy mood a good vegan soup with fresh veggies and plenty of lentils, barley and beans is just perfect!!! 

One-bowl of energy

Saturday, it’s cold and one of the stray cat in the garden has woken us quite early this morning. Damned stray cat (not our little Pablo, a different one)! 

So after playing tennis 2 hours in the cold we needed a lunch full of energy and tasty. So I boiled some spelt and served it with 3min sauteed cauliflower chunks and mushrooms, and made some chicken koloke or croquette or balls or whatever you call them, with just some chicken breast minced rolled in panko, and cooked in a bit of oil in a pan. All in A bowl. Yummy, full of energy!! Have a good weekend!

Curry mochi

Because fresh rice cakes, or mochi 餅  come in a bundle of 6, I had some to eat so I decided to experiment a little with a vegan curry not served with rice, but with grilled mochi. Something in between a nan and rice! And it worked super well!!! So here’s what I did: in a large pan greased a little I cut 1/2 leek, 1 potato, 2 little purple sweet potatoes, 1 turnip, 1 carrot, 1 red carrot, after it started to get golden I added some water just to cover, and 2 table spoons of curry powder, 1 tea spoon of tumeric (curcuma), 1 tea spoon of carvi seeds, 1 tea spoon of coriander seeds, grinded black pepper, a little piece of cinnamon and cokked until most of the water is gone. In the oven I arranged the rice cakes on a sheet of aluminum foil and baked them until they grown (I love to watch them in the oven, moving, breathing…) and the tip is golden. Then served all together.

Cod & spinach version 2

When I find a seasonal combination I like, it is not rare that I test it in several bariations and versions. Right now there is some nice cod and plenty of Japanese spinaches, and I particularly like the two together, so after the wet risotto I tried a butter grilled cod with spinach and oat bran pancakes and some blanched spinaches. Super delicious! For the cod just a little of butter in a hot pan grilled both sides until crispy. For the blanched spinaches in a little of boiling salted water, I soak the cut spinaches no longer than 5min, then drain well. For the pancakes I used spelt flour, oat bran in the quantity you like, add baking powder, salt, chopped spinaches, 1 or 2 eggs, soy milk, stir well, then cook in a pan at low heat. Serve all while still jot and eat immediately!

2 versions for the same veggies base

This weekend I tried quite a few new recipes, mainly for breakfast and teatime and we spent quite some time outside in the garden preparing for spring: there’s still loads of fallen leaves, and trees to trim… So when it comes to a meal, something warm and energetic was really important. I had a piece of cabbage that I really wanted to use, and some beautiful winter red carrots. The leftovers of whole rice, and fresh rice cakes (mochi) that I bought at the local farmers market (I love rice cakes but my husband don’t like them to much so I don’t buy fresh ones too often). So I decided to prepare a two way dinner, one a vegan chahan (sautéed rice) and the other a kind of o-zoni (the soup for new year with rice cake in). In a wok I cooked the chopped piece of cabbage and one carrot sliced with a bit of oil and then a bit of water. In the mean time I prepared some konbu dashi by boiling two pieces of konbu in 0.5L of water. I then moved roughthly half of the veggies in the soup and cooked a little longer, while in the wok I added the whole rice already cooked, a bit of sesame oil, and some sesame seeds. I grilled the rice cake to soften it, and added a large spoon of miso in the soup (ideally white miso, but I didn’t have any).

I served both, added the rice cake in the soup, and ready to eat! 

Colorful winter plate

It’s incredible the sudden change in temperature and weather, one day is winter, one day spring. Some of the plum trees in the garden ate already starting to bloom which is incredibly early. So for the food it’s one meal winter one meal spring and a colorful is always welcome and with a beautiful red cabbage a plate is always a feast, with tomatoes, baby leaf salad, avocado, whole rice and scramble eggs with sesame.

Just the perfect boost before a new week! 

Spinach risotto and cod

As expected, it is now getting cold in Tokyo and the real winter is here. Nothing better to get warm than a kind of thick ice soup or wet risotto with veggies and fresh cod.
In a pan greased with olive oil, first grill the rice (arborio or carnoli), then cover twice with some veggie consome of your choice, and cook. When the consome has lowered by 1/3 add some fresh spinach roughly cut, and cook until the consome is now just on top of the rice. Add the cod, a slice of lemon and cook some more until the liquid has almost vanished. Serve immediately  while still wet, and eat when hot.

Cauliflower soup x katsuobushi

Too happy with the mix cauliflower and katsuobushi in the tart the other day that I decided to try it in an other version: a warm soup for a cold evening. And the magic worked again! 

 It’s crazily simple and delicious: boil a cauliflower (I just removed the green leaves, washed it and boiled it all in one piece in 3cm of water under cover. Once soft I roughly crush it with a wooden spoon and mix it with the remaining water in my blender, add black pepper and the soup is ready. When I serve I add some thinly cut katsuobushi (usukiri), that’s it!

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