The most refreshing salad

We are in the middle of a heat wave. That was hot before that’s hard now. Here is a dish based on refreshing ingredients. I already told you the konnyaku noodles were ultra refreshing and another benefit is their fiber greatly helps digestion.

Melon (Provence style). Itokonnyaku (aka shirataki, konnyaku noodles). Hot green chili peppers.

Rinse longly the noodles. Add bits of chili pepper and raw ginger. Put in the fridge to get it very cold.

Carve pearls of melon.

Lay on the noddles. Add the juice that escaped.

Serve very chilled. At the last minute, decorate with ribbons of basil and balsamico reduction.

Wine fruit salad in honey dew cup

Fruit salad seems very simple but I’ve had some bad ones. It’s too often a way to waste good fruits with too much sugar. I didn’t want that. 　

The market : the half of a honey dew melon that could have been sweeter, baby bananas, mikan oranges, basil.

Carving the cup.

Pouring red wine.

Cutting the fruits.

Mixing. And eating… Mmmm…

Catching bargains and late afternoon light on flavorful fruits

At the end of the day, Japanese grocery stores, markets and supermarket discount fresh products. 5%, 10%…50% as the hours pass. And they make big bags of fruits “for juice”. What is wrong with those fruits ? The apples for instance, they fell. And did you know that a fallen apple was very bad for your health or even less tasty ? No. Because that’s not the problem at all. You can keep the “not-fallen” ones months, and the ones that got some shocks only a few days. That’s enough for me. I buy them to eat, not to store. So a big bag of apples for 100 yen (less than a USD or a euro). A big bag of Meyer lemons. A big bag of grapefruits. Strawberries, not so cheap. “Only” 4 pounds for the price of one. It’s their full season here.
Most fruits I buy are “for juice” category, and they are 99% perfect. So I can eat a lot, three to five servings a day.

For juice.

Dice the apples, mix them in lemon juice, cut the strawberries. Dressing is made with the lemon, fresh basil and milled Sichuan peppercorns.

Mix it all…

With quick crackers. I don’t make them from scratches. I buy dumpling skins and I toast them 2 minutes in the oven toaster and they inflate like the Italian flat bread carta di musica.
On top, a small amount of mikan mandarin orange jam, and dried coconut.