Pâtes fraîches au fromage frais (milk curd pasta)

Pâtes fraîches au fromage frais. Fresh cheese on fresh pasta.

That’s being made…

I’ve curded some whole milk with a little rice vinegar. That’s not exactly cheese, but that’s close enough.

The liquid makes a nice sour drink.

The curd seasoned with salt, pepper, olive oil, onion, tarragon, parsley and marjoram. Let the flavors mix during 2 hours in the fridge.

Shiruna (chard or beet greens).

Stir-fried.

Then, freshly made egg spaghetti, in tomato sauce :

Serve the pasta topped with fresh curds, the greens as a side…

Tartine de printemps (country bread fresh sands)

Bake a nice bread loaf, and enjoy a a simple but delicious fresh lunch…

Still too hot to be cut ! Pain de campagne au seigle. A French country bread with rye flour.

The fromage frais (fresh cheese) is home-made. The new onions have been salted, let a while and rinsed, so they are still crunchy but have lost all harsh after-taste. The favas (broad beans) make the Spring.
Mmmmm…

Sakurabert, système D

A sakura cheese delicately flavored with cherry blossoms. Yes, I shown you one before :

Hokkaido sakura

It was really excellent, but too expensive to buy it often. So I thought of a way to make a slightly simpler sakura cheese, for less than 1/4th of the cost.

The base is a cheap cheese, quite neutral in taste.

The flavor comes from sakura blossoms and leaves preserved in salt. I have used them without rinsing.

I’ve put a leaf under, and a few blossoms on top. Reclosed the package and let it mature 2 weeks in the fridge.

Then, I tried it…. and that’s great ! The cheese has taken the sakura flavor. So try it someday.

Cheese and flowers : Sakura from Hokkaido

Sakura, a cherry blossom cheese. It’s a delight.
A special offer at the local shop. It’s as costly as imported cheese, as it has no relation with the mass produced standard “Japanese cheese”.

The packaging is nice too. It’s a cow milk cheese, with the addition of a salt pickled cherry blossom and leaf.

It got a prize in Switzerland as you can see.
It is made in this farm in Hokkaido. They have cows from Switzerland. I see that they even make raclette. It’s tempting. Maybe you’ll see some here…

It’s a strong cheese, and yes, it clearly tastes of cherry blossom.

I bought the bread too. It’s a black rice bread. It’s a bit different from mine.

So now, we can have a nice tray of Japanese cheese and bread.

Vitamin Holiday appetizer trio

What about starting the party with a jab of colorful nutrients ? That could make a little week-day lunch too. That was the first round of a rich holiday meal. Servings are small to allow guests to last the distance…

Which soup ? Do you want your greens or your carotene ? Let’s have both. They are like hot smoothies.

Boiled carrot, kabocha squash, nutmeg, coriander seeds and a melt cheese square.

Spinach briefly “heated” in boiling water, fresh tarragon, melt cheese.

Raviole de crevettes en sauce rose.

Sorry, I forgot to take a photo of the inside. It’s a big spoon of quickly poached Nordic shrimps (amaebi) in an open raviole made of fresh egg pasta.

They are coated with the same sauce. The sauce is a Brandy tomato sauce base, flavored with the shrimp shells and creamed. Decorated with pink peppercorns.