Putting wine in my ratatouille…

OK, not really what the title says. That’s a fish and veggie lunch.

I did have some ratatouille veggies as a base : aubergine, bell pepper, onion.

I had some lesser cuts of mackerel, what is left with the spine after they take the sushi blocks. There is still something to eat on the frame. I put them in a pan with a cut onion, 3 glasses of red wine, a little soy sauce and kurozato (black sugar). Let reduce.
Added steamed aubergine and cut bell pepper. Simmered a few minutes :

Done !

Served. It’s very juice, so that goes well with potatoes.

Boiled, then mashed, flavored with salt, pepper, chili and olive oil.

Lunch around veggie kurokke

Let’s complete the menu. As it’s still hot (arounf 30 degrees celcius), I’ve served the kurokke warm and the rest chilled.

You could see the making of green and orange kurokke in the previous post.

I had the skins of the broad beans and of the kabocha. I’ve put them in the blender with some komatsuna greens and a tbs of miso. That gave me a chilled green miso soup :

Myoga.

I’ve diced red bell pepper. Salted, let 15 minutes. Then poured on cubes of silky tofu. Decorate with cut myoga.

Petits classiques : individual hachis parmentiers

That’s the basic classic hachis parmentier served by all French mamans. It’s economical comfort food that children love. Including grown up kids…
Today, they are small, in ramequin (what you may call cocottes) and verrines (it’s a glass, I hope baking won’t damage it too quickly).
The ramequins can be prepared in a large quantity and frozen. Their shape and size is ideal for quick thawing.

That starts with a leftover of boiled beef. It’s minced into hachis, then refried with a brunoise of veggies.

Mashed potatoes, flavored with butter. My only eccentricity is I’ve left the pink skin. I don’t buy pink potatoes to throw the skins.

Layered : puree, hachis, puree, butter.
Then baked and enjoyed !

Tofu du jour, left-over style

Yes, this plate looks like a garbage dump. That was tasty garbage. The soft tofu was let to drain under a plate during one hour. So it stays in cubes in the sauce.

A rest of tomato meat sauce, volumed up by konnyaku cut in cubes.

Shiso, for the green balance.

Slices of lotus root to get something crunchy under the teeth.
Here is a good lunch :

Biscotti de Noël

They have a delicate flavor of mikan orange…

Remember I half-failed my Stollen (read here).

So it went from Stollen…

… to biscotti.

I simply sliced, sprinkled a little confectioner sugar and passed in the oven toaster (not too hot). And I had one more item for my Provence Christmas 13 desserts.