A plate of pasta with vegetables is always good and easy to prepare. But rather than pasta with sauce or vegetables I wanted vegetables with pasta. I took the inspiration from the minestrone recipe but at the time of adding the tomatoes I found that the all green dish was a perfect match with the green outside in the garden now that most of the azaleas flowers have fallen and left only the green leaves. So it gave a beautiful plate with Sicilian ring pasta, celery, zucchini, green beans and basil, olive oil and that’s it. I boiled the pasta. And in a wok I simply cooked (briefly) the vegetables in olive oil, added the pasta, stirred well and served. So simple so delicious!
Quiche
Now that work is getting back to normally busy I have more time to cook for dinner. And sometimes things turn out better than expected, may be because I haven’t cooked for a while. A quiche is very easy to make and always delicious but sometimes it turns out even better than that. Yesterday night that’s exactly what happened to me. While I was preparing it I had a good feedback but after tasting it it was so much over the top that I couldn’t understand why. For the pie crust I made a dough with a mix of buckwheat flour, rice flour, regular flour, 2 eggs, a bit of vegetal oil and water. I rolled it thick because I wanted to make a large quiche with plenty of vegetables and tofu. The tofu was amazing. I have tried a new hard tofu and it was crazily delicious with crumbs like goat cheese or feta cheese, but a much softer taste of course. I used also my new favorite organic soya milk that since now available in most supermarkets. And for the vegetables I chose asparagus and zucchini, and twisted the taste with some green shiso (perilla) leaves. I baked the whole thing for 30 minutes. And then it was magic!!!
I am so glad we didn’t eat the whole thing and I have my lunch all set!
Golden week(end)
The golden week in Japan is this blessed moment in spring when there are several bank holidays and when usually the weather is perfectly warm but not hot and the nature is full of dpring greens, flowers and days are getting longer with a beautiful light. This is a time when we usually have msny friends coming to our country house and I can cook a lot of different things for them. This weekend was the beginning of the golden week. Ot was just a normal weekend for us since we are working Mondayand Tuesday, but it was a wonderful lively weekend with friends.
For our friends visiting on Sunday I prepared a mix of Japanese food and French food with all the seasonal and local ingredients. I prepared my classic bamboo shoot and capers salad, some spelt bulgur salad, some olive fougasse with olives my mother has made, and a big cocotte of new onion with zucchini and rosemary. The new onions are so sweet and soft that I cook them as whole, with just olive oil, salt and pepper, then later I had the zucchini which required much less cooking. For the meat eaters, some porc slices are nice to add. And after a long lunch in the garden, what best than going to the empty beach at sunset watch some surfers and play with our friends dog?
I wish you an excellent week!
Vegan coconut milk curry
Yes I know, the picture is not the most pleasant, but really taking pictures of risotto and curry is not an easy task! But both are super delicious! Since yesterday I had this recipe in mind and just tried it: perfect for our palates that don’t like spicy-hot food. It starts with simple brown rice, cooked as you like. Then I used 1 yellow zucchini, a handfull of shelled cooked edamame, fresh coriander plenty, a small bulb of fresh ginger, 4tbs of coconut milk, 1tsp of curry powder, salt, a bit of oil. In a pan I heat the oil and add the zucchini cut in chuncks (suze and shape you like), cook at high heat, when it starts to golden on one size I stir and reduce the heat. Add the coconut milk, the ginger gratted, the salt and the curry powder. Stir well, add the edamame. If the mixture is getting to liquid (water in the zucchini) add a table spoon of flour or starch and cook a little longer while stirring. Remove from heat and add the fresh coriander chopped, serve with the rice. Have a nice weekend!
Zucchini spread
I really love “aperitif” time, this moment before diner when you can have a sit, sip a fresh drink and eat a few things. It is for me part of the dinner, so anytime we have aperitif, diner is much lighter: a salad, a soup… I love to prepare snacks for that moment that are tasty and healthy (no peanuts/potato chips at home) and vegetable spreads are always a good option when I prepare baguette. They are very easy to prepare and variations never make them boring. When in a hurry the avocado spread is the best, when I have more time and I have adequate veggies I can prepare new things. This time I had big zucchinis so I cutted one in big chuncks, put them in a pan and cooked under cover at medium eat without adding water, oil nor anything, I also keep the skin for a vibrant green spread. Once the zucchini is soft, I drained them well and blended them to puree. Add a very little bit of olive oil, and seasonned with plenty of thyme. Served with frshly baked baguette and a bit of fresh ricotta (from a local farm) with salt and pepper. Addictive!
2-way stuffed zucchini flowers
The last recipe from this little stay at my parents’ place. As I was telling you yesterday, my mother is really good at preparing zucchini flowers and she not only prepared tempura she also prepared stuffed zucchini flowers. One way is with cheese and mint (vegetarian; on the right of the picture), the other with only vegetables (100% vegan; on the left of the picture). Both are delicious and worth trying!
For the cheese stuffed recipe you need zucchini flowers, cheese like goat cheese, ricotta cheese or sheep cheese, fresh mint, a bitten egg, salt, pepper that’s all. Mix the cheese with chopped mint the bitten egg (you may need only half of it if you stuff only 4 to 6 flowers. Add salt and pepper to your taste. Wash softly the flowers and stuff them with the preparation, set then in oven dish. Bake until golden.
For the vegetables filled zucchini flowers you need zucchini flowers, a carrot, an onion and a small zucchini. Cut the vegetables in brunoise (small dice), in a heated pan with olive oil, cook the vegetables until golden and dry. Wash the flowers, stuff them with the brunoise. Set in an oven dish and bake until golden. Enjoy hot or atroom temperature.
Donburi
It’s a fact rare enough to be mentioned: I’ve cooked shrimps!!! Indeed it is awfully rare that I cook shrimps: 1. Because it’s not so easy to find wild shrimps; 2. Because I prefer them without head, don’t you think too these giant eyes are kind of weird? 3. It smells quite strong after… Anyway, I found some wild shrimps prepared for sashimi: head removed. They were not giant prawns like I like best but still a lot of conditions were there to give it a try. And I decided then to prepare them with what might already the last zucchini of the season (extremely short season in Chiba) with ginger and rice. So I gratted fresh ginger and marinated the shrimps in. Then I grilled them on a hot pan. I just steamed the zucchini and added small pieces of ginger and soya sauce. Served on top of Japanese rice, decorated with black sesame seeds. That’s all!!
Lunch in the office
It’s been 7 years or so I haven’t had steady lectures in the very first time slot, which makes me wake up really early. I’m not really an early morning person and because it’s only once a week it doesn’t really break my rythm, just makes it a long long day at work. So I’ve decided to take the opportunity to use 1h at noon to go and play tennis. We are spoiled because the university tennis courts are specially booked for faculties and staff every day during the lunch break, and there always quite a few people playing, so it’s rather fun. But after that and my breakfast eaten 2hours earlier than usual I really to fill on energy. Perfect then to use pasta leftovers with zucchini and bacon. Simple and energetic! Enough to fuel me for 7 more hours of work!!!
Pre-talk lunch
During the winter I didn’t give many talks and plenty of new results came in, so when I was invited two weeks ago to Kyushu Institute of Technology and today to Tokyo Institute of Technology to give talks I wanted to include plenty of our new material and shape new talks. When I work on these kind of things I really enjoy being home, I am much more productive, focused and I memorize my talk very easily. Unfortunately it is not always possible for me to squeeze in this time during week days, so I often work on my talks on weekends. Recently I am managing my time much better than I used to (may be it’s the low tide after the panic of business from last year) and I can prepare my talks more calmly and better. And this means having lunch at home which is also really nice. I can cook simple things that are just the perfect food before giving a talk: light and energetic. Today, I went for a simple arrangement of steamed zucchini and couscous with olive oil, salt, pepper and fresh mint from the terrace. Ready in 5min, but so delicious!
