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.

To make it flaky, there are 2 layers of dough. I oiled all around with a brush.

Locked with cloves. Then baked till it sounds hollow and gets a nice color.

Serve hot. Break the piñata…

Romanesco and cauliflower green quiche

Get the green burgeoning quiche out of the oven…

Take a generous wedge ! That’s another fancy plant based meal.

Two cousins : romanesco and classic white cauliflower.

Dough : 1/2 cup flour + 1 ts of matcha green tea + a pinch of salt + 1 ts olive oil + hot water
Batter : 1 cup pasted cauliflower, 1/2 block of tofu, 1tbs potato starch, 1 ts miso, 1 tbs sakekasu (sake lees), marjoram, salt, pepper, nutmeg
Garnishing : young onion, cauliflower, romanesco, fresh marjoram

I pre-baked the crust together with the onion, before garnishing, then drizzle olive oil on top and rebake till the top gets sunburns…

Yum yum…

Maquereau au four – baked mackerel.

Spring is a bit this year. Let’s enjoy baked fish.

Okinawan yellow skin potatoes. New.

A bed of baked potatoes with a fragrance of white wine.

Tarragon brings an interesting flavor.

Cover with the mackerel (maquereau).

With a quick ciabatta.

Crazy veg’zza

That looks weird but that’s a really delicious…veg’zza. A crust of carrot, a sauce of black bean, a spicy chizz’, aubergines, olives. The only thing is the texture of the crust could be improved (see below).
It’s plant-based, gluten-free if you choose the right miso.

Prebaked crust : grated carrot + 1 tbs of potato starch + salt + nutmeg. I place it on a sheet of rice paper, and painted with oil. I hope the rice paper would offer some support. After pre-baking it did.

Sauces and topping prep’ :
-Kuromame black soy beans. They are cooked (my frozen stock). I mashed them with a fork, flavored with curry spices.
-yellow chiiz’ : miso + sakekasu (sake lees) + turmeric + a little olive oil and enough water to make it a sauce.
-aubergine : steamed 2 minutes in micro-wave

Garnishing : the crust + a layer of beans + onions + aubergines + chiiz’ + beans and olives. And a drizzle of oil.

Baked like a pizza !
Well I served it with a spoon as the rice paper kind of disappeared. Not a good idea.

Green duet. Herb and prune pounti, and cucumber lemon balm salad

A big pounti pie, and 2 small ones…
I made this dish before and there is some explanation of its origins as a French peasant dish :
about the “pounti aux pruneaux”