Salade de crudités updated : veggie nori-maki

Once upon a time, we’d serve the crudités on a large plate, even with the sauce mixed in with each type of vegetable. For guests, Granny would display them on huge (imitation) silver trays.

That looked like that.
Grated carrot, sliced Japanese turnip, sliced new onion, greens, edamame (they have to be boiled).

Then this became popular to make sushi… So why not rolling in the veggies ?

(Do you notice something weird on the photo ? You should… I had a problem after the shooting session. LOL)

And serving the dressing (soy sauce, black rice vinegar and chili pepper) as a dip.

Cinderella cakes

Very simple, fresh, fruity… The story is not about a pumpkin transformed into a princess car, but it’s very similar.

栗黄金 kurikogane (chestnut yellow gold potato) is the princess of sweet potatoes. It is cultivated in Kagoshima, Kyushu. It’s very sweet and flavorful. They make high quality shochu liquor with it.

This potato just need a few strokes of magic fork to become half a dozen of little cakes.

Very few ingredient :
-a delicious baked sweet potato
-1/2 lemon
-coconut cream
-vanilla powder

Mold the cake with hot potato (mashed + lemon juice), let cool and take out of molds. Then whip the cream, add vanilla.

Ready !

Rouelle de porc braisée au vinaigre balsamique (Balsamico soft pork roast)

An old fashioned cast-iron slow cooked roast, with its sauce and season steamed veggies. The balsamico vinegar brings the char color and some sourness that lights it up.

That’s a meal that takes 5 minutes to throw… and 2 days to cook, but you don’t care as you have nothing to do.
The cut is called sune in Japanese, I think it corresponds to rouelle in French, a round cut in the pork leg. It’s just ideal for this type of recipes.
A grated carrot, a grated onion, 2 chunks of garlic, a handful of oregano, 1/2 of balsamico vinegar, some water.
2 hours low heat. The next day, again, 2 hours.

The meat is easy to cut, with a pleasant soft texture.

The sauce : everything in the pot except the meat, passed in the mixer. I’ve added, paprika powder for the color, salt, pepper, reheated.

Steamed romanesco.

Steamed new potatoes.

And a little plate of stalks of spinach and mustard leaves, stir-fried with spices.

Espresso ! Quickie dessert.

Two minutes for a yummy dessert and your caffeine fix !

Use soft tofu…or whip a lot. And my hand-mixer is dead, so my wrist is sore now. There is a Murphy’s law that says that whatever the recipe you want to make, you never had the ideal type of tofu in stock.
Decorate with raisins, toasted sesame seeds and 2 chips of 100% cocoa.

Choucroute en croûte

Choucroute en croûte. Sauerkraut in a crust. Hey, why not ? That’s a really nice on a chilly night, with hot spices and it’s quite light actually.

Yes, that’s this month’s Daring Cook’s challenge.

Our lovely Monkey Queen of Don’t Make Me Call My Flying Monkeys, was our May Daring Cooks’ hostess and she challenged us to dive into the world of en Croute! We were encouraged to make Beef Wellington, Stuffed Mushroom en Croute and to bring our kids into the challenge by encouraging them to create their own en Croute recipes!

I didn’t have the courage for a Welly. I didn’t even took the time to make a classic pie pastry. No, I couldn’t use some bought pastry as I am stubbornly against the principle of buying it. OK, I could make exceptions easily in France as they sell quality doughs, usually too expensive for what it is, but good in taste. The *products* they sell in Japan are really very bad. The last time I tried to buy some, I have not eaten it. So I’ve taken shortcuts :

Sauerkraut rinsed and reheated in red wine. I’ve added to it onion cooked in a little oil, pepper, nutmeg, spice mix and potato starch to absorb excess liquid. Let cool.
The dough is flour with spices (turmeric, ajowan, salt) and hot water.