Pot au feu or pot luck ? Seafood veggie red stew.

A long time ago, a very cheerful lady asked if I liked French pot au feu and I said that was not my favorite dish. She was very disappointed as she had just discovered the dish in a “traditional French restaurant” here in Osaka, and she said : “Really I love everything spicy with tomato sauce, chick peas, seafood and hot dog sausages…”. It seems, she ate an original variation for sure that drifts far away from what most call pot au feu in France.
Well, I’ve made it today without the knackies. I don’t know if that has a name. Maybe the Spanish “cocido de pulpo con patatas”, but I don’t see it with sausages. Well, they are not here.
I have the pulpo (octopus) :

Hokkaido octopus.

Into a broth (onion with cloves, chick peas, bouquet garni, mushrooms).

Boiled.

Added potatoes. Later tomato sauce and a little red wine. a little hot chili.

Kyoto red kabu turnip.

I first added pieces of the root, then stalks, then at the end leaves.

Put it in a pottery.

Cover and announce “pot au feu” or whatever name…

Champilège final : genmai ‘shroom risotto

Let’s make a creamy brown rice risotto. You need a little more time, but at some point, the broth thickens just as much as with white rice.

That’s the last dish made with this basket of assorted mushrooms :

The series :
Champilège 1 : Paris in salad.
Champilège 2 : shiitake in amuse-gueule
Champilège 3 : awabitake, bunapi, in pie soup
Champilège 4 : maitake, eringi, in quiche

shiitake,awabitake, bunapi, champignon de Paris, maitake, eringi…
I had a few of each left, plus a few feet :

Minced the feet, red onion, lots of garlic…

New crop rice of this year. Tsuyahime, Princess Tsuya.
From Yamagata Prefecture, well the only problem is it’s a bit close to Fukushima. It’s a cultivar close to Koshihikari.
That’s a good risotto rice.

That’s a Japanese risotto. A fusion if you prefer. I’ve used kombu seaweed to make dashi stock. There is wine. The main seasoning is miso. Salt, pepper, olive oil, and thyme on the top :

Fall salmon pot pie

A salmon and mushroom pie hidden in a pumpkin. That’s Halloween on the plate.

This month :

Hannah of Rise and Shine was our October 2013 Daring Bakers’ hostess and she challenged us to bake our own double crusted savory pot pies. Using any from-scratch crust and filling we choose, we were allowed to get completely creative with our recipe, showing off the savory flavors and fillings from our own home or region.

So let’s go for Japanese season produce and even tofu for a dairy free pie :

Autumn/Fall is the season of kabocha pumpkin, salmon, mushrooms (shiitake).

Kabocha pumpkin crust : 1/3 boiled kabocha flesh, 1/3 flour, 1/3 whole wheat flour. Plus a little baling powder, salt, chili flakes and enough of the squash cooking water to for a dough.

The fresh ingredients.

Gravy : I stir-fried onion, garlic, the feet of the shiitake with salt and black pepper. Then added the shiitake hats, the peas. To cream it, passed in the blender : 1/2 block of silky tofu, 1 glass of white wine, a tbs of potato starch. I’ve added the fish and parsley raw.

Baked 45 minutes.

The crust is perfectly cooked. The inside is a little curded (I should have added the wine to the onions to avoid it), but it looks nice.

Cress and parsley pesto on the plate.

Pumpkin curry with wined chestnuts, cilantro falafels

A deliciously flavored soup curry, with kabocha, wine flavored kuri chestnuts and hanamame giant beans. And a side of cilantro falafels. Some people are genetically designed to hate cilantro/coriander and it takes a really bad taste in their mouth. That’s really sad. I have to luck to appreciate this herb and I never have enough of it.

Soaked chick peas, mixed with onion, coriander (root, stalk, leaves), chili flakes, Sichuan pepper, salt.

Served with a dip of harissa… well it’s mixed with tomato sauce. Cucumbers, cilantro (the leaves) and shikwasa citrus salad.

Mmm… a dream if you love both falafels and coriander.

Kabocha pumpkin curry :
A cut of steamed kabocha, steamed with skin. Pasted with 1/2 block of tofu, 1 tbs of Japanese curry spice mix, 2 tbs of sakekasu sake lees, salt, water. I simmered the mix till it became thick. Garnished with hanamame beans and wined chestnuts :

White wine chestnuts :
That’s ideal if you have chestnut that start to dry a little.
Soak them 2 hours, then you can easy cut out the hard shell.
In fresh water, soak overnight, you can then take away the inner skin. Most of it. A large part of it. Actually, you want to leave a small amount for flavor. Break them in 2 or 3 parts.
Then I’ve drained the chestnuts, put in rice cooker, added a glass of white wine, a little sugar, a pinch of salt, 1/2 glass of water (to cover). Switched on. That stopped when the liquid had evaporated. You can do it in a pan or a crock-pot, simply simmer very gently.
They are good to add to sauces and dishes, just a few to pinpoint. You will discover the refined taste.