Tag: zucchini

Coconut oil curry

I am not too much in food trends and I am not too keen in trying new fashionable products. I see them on the shelves of super market: hemp, egoma… but never or rarely buy any. Three months ago when our friends from Germany visited us and we went food shopping for organic rice and Japanese products for them to bring back home, they convinced me that coconut oil was nice, and before that I read that it has many virtues so I bought some. And then I kept it in the fridge since then. Open it once or twice, but the smell rebutted me and I continued cooking with olive oil as usual. Last night I decided it was time to try. So I come up with a recipe where I could as well have used a little coconut milk: a spicy vegetables mix to serve with grilled snapper and black quinoa. I used 1 onion, 1 potato, 1 capsicum, 1eggplant and 1yellow zucchini all cut in bites. In a big pan I heated one large teaspoon of coconut oil and added the vegetables: onion first then potato, eggplant, then the rest a little while after. And cooked under cover. I added 1tsp of curry powder a little of cumin powder, a tsp of anise seeds and a very little of nutmeg powder. Added 10cl of water and stir. Cooked an additional 5 minutes without cover. The curry is ready!

In the meantime I prepared the black quinoa and grilled the fish. Prepared the plates and served immediately. 

Then what about the coconut oil? The smell is quite strong and the taste persistent in the food, which for my preparation was perfect but it can be slightly repelling in some dishes or may be one needs to get used to it. It is vey nice for golden brown veggies, I obtained a very beautiful color and texture. So yes it’s nice, but for me it is going to take a little more brain to find recipes where to use it. Any suggestion to start with?

Ratatouille ravioli

Yes, I made ravioli again! I was too happy last week to finally masterize the pasta machine and the ravioli mold. So far I was using them but it was never perfect, but now I know how to do and it works really well. And because we love ravioli there is no excuse not to make some! The problem was to find the appropriate filling. Last week I used asparagus, but this time I wanted to challenge myself with something new, something more summer than spring. There was not too many option at the farmers market, so I decided to go for ratatouille since there was everything I needed to make a real ratatouille the way my grand mother would.

So first prepare the ratatouille: onion, zucchini, eggplant, capiscum, tomato. All cut in small pieces, a bit of olive oil, garlic for those who like I don’t), salt, black pepper and a leaf of fragant laurel. Cook at low heat under cover for 2 to three hours, check and stir every 30min. Since we want to use this as a filling it needs to be significantly dry, so remove the cover if needed in the end. Cool when ready, ravioli filling cannot be used warm. Then prepare the dough with the classic recipe: 100g flour, 1egg, salt, olive oil. I actually used half flour half semolina. Then roll your dough until the level of thinness you like (I used 8 out of 9 on my pasta machine). Then flour well one side of the dough and ise the ravioli mold to fill them and shape them. 

Now prepare a big pan with water to boil the ravioli, and add one big branch of fresh rosemary for the broth. Keep the water boiling 3min before adding the ravioli. The smell of rosemary should be quite strong before adding them. Cook until they come back to float on the surface. Serve immediately, just with olive oil and pepper. The rosemary broth slightly perfumes the ravioli to bring a perfect balance of taste with the ratatouille filling.

Lunch on the desk

When busy weeks with visitors and eating out are followed by busy weeks preparing lectures, writing big grant proposal and traveling I need lunch that are quick, light and fresh, but full of energy and tasty. I am lucky enough to have a space in my office where I can prepare rudimentary things, and usually I would go for avocado-cream cheese-seeds on bread or bagel. But somehow I got tired of avocado and of seeing them everywhere on IG and in magazines. So this time I’ve opted for something new and more seasonal: an open sandwich with raw zucchini (the season is just starting), rucola, basil, fresh mozarella, a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper. That was a super boosting lunch! What is it you like to eat when you are busy?

When A. is out

There are weeks like this week when we have westerners visiting for work as I was mentioning yesterday. This week actually both I and A. do have visitors and this means a lot of eating out, and usually working late (the regular work still has to be done, right?), so when the opportunity after a long day at work to dine at home (alone) finally arrives, it’s only to eat things I love, simple, fresh, and full of cheese that A. wouldn’t eat :)!
I was lucky to find beautiful tiny zucchini in Koganei and I had a few cherry tomatoes waiting in the fridge, I quickly roasted both of them in a hot pan, just a few minutes, I added pieces of mozzarella, the fresh juice of half a lemon, a bit of olive oil, salt, pepper and went out on the terrace to cut some fresh mint, and my dinner was ready, together with a taste of summer!

Greens part 2

Cold  version of the greens with raw zucchini, almost raw asparagus and snap peas, little radish, avocado and purple cabbage sprouts, a bit of Sicilian olive oil, and additional on the side grilled bonito. Fresh and delicious recipe perfect both for lunch or dinner.

Greens part 1

The farmers market was full of greens, of all sorts, leafy, flowery, sprouty… And we couldn’t resist… So now the fridge is full of fresh greens to be eaten, and it’s good because I working next Saturday and won’t be able to refill, plus we have guests for dinner Friday evening. 

I particularly was happy with the asparagus and the little zucchini, all so fresh that they don’t need to be cooked or barely. That with some spring brocoli, lotus roots and snap peas, I have the perfect balance to accompany a nice Isumi pork cutlet. The veggies are blanched in very little water then slightly rolled on olive oil. The pork just pan grilled.

So what did I get for dinner this week?

Refraining myself from cooking and letting my husband take over I feared that my dinners would invariably be pasta-steak. Hum… Not really my cup of tea… But hopefully with a fridge full of delicious veggies I got plenty of nice things and he cheated once by taking me out. Probably the most elaborated dinner was this soba one-plate with sautéed zucchini and sweet pepper, green beans and tomato, just seasonned with soy sauce. Thanks darling for this week! 

Summer?

I talk about summer vegetables and fruits a lot, and use many in my cooking every day (I love summer fruits for breakfast) but to tell you the truth though we are in July, the weather is quite tricky these days and summer may be in my plates but not outside. So after a whole week of rainy days and quite cool evenings, I wanted to eat a warm soup. So I went for a simple combination: leek, celery and zucchini in a vegetable consommé that I cooked 10min to keep the celery and the zucchini firm enough. I added a few little pasta at the same time (for the energy after a tough day) and a bit of olive oil. A delicious mix for dinner perfectly balanced in taste and texture. You can also add some gratted Parmegianno. 

Vegetarian stuffed zucchini

Here is an other recipe of stuffed zucchini, but vegetarian this time. For me it’s a classic because my mother has been preparing it for decades and I find this recipe perfect for hot summer days. In her original recipe my mother was using “brousse” or “bruccio” a white fresh cheese from the south of France or from Corsica, since I cannot find easily this cheese in Japan I replaced It by ricotta and it works very well. This recipe is lovely also in small round zucchini, but I couldn’t find any today.

The stuffing is really simple: it’s a mix of ricotta cheese, egg, fresh mint, salt and pepper. Stir the ricotta with an egg, chop the mint and add it to the mixture, season with salt and pepper, stir well. Cut the zucchini, remove a little of the seeds, stuff with the mixture. Line the zucchini in an oven dish and bake at 180deg untill the top is golden. Eat warm or cold. 

It is perfect as starter or to accompany a main dish. Here I served it for dinner in a one-plate with a little omelet, home-made pancakes and greens. 

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