Tofu lasagna and farm fruits

Not the Italian lasagne. 豆腐ラザニア tofu rasaniya It’s a Japanese comfort dish. Not an homonym, it’s really inspired by the pasta dish but without the pasta. You are left with very soft tofu in Italian style sauces. Warm and tender. It’s usually served with rice.

Fruits like those you pick in the backyard. I went to the countryside. I have some from a farm, others from farmer’s market. They are the fruits you can see in local woods right now, kaki persimmons, mikan oranges, yuzu citrus. You can see two types of kaki, some rounds and some ogive ones. The latter may be shibui (tart) and the farm lady said we should guess… A bit of branch is left and if they are tart, we can do that.

That’s a quickly thrown casual meal. I had tomato sauce, silky tofu and these blanched veggies : bell peppers and ninniku no me (garlic stalks).

For the cheezy sauce as usual sake kasu, miso and this time the oil was sesame oil. I have added grated ukon (turmeric).

Alternate and bake. I topped with toasted bread crumbs.

Genmai, brown rice. I was given good farm rice too.

Serve very hot. Mmmm…

Warm mushroom soba soup

The weather is getting a little chilly. The time of warm soup is back. The official season of sake kasu is open, even if I didn’t wait.

Asian cuisines are very careful about seasons of dishes. You’ll say that’s everywhere that wise people try to eat season produce. True, but they have kept a concern that was important in European Medieval cuisines and has since been neglected, which is the effect of food, whether they are cooling or warming. So these are two food said to be “warming” :

Sake kasu (sake lees). The soup made with it, kasujiru, is present all along the cold season in Kansai.

Buckwheat, here in soba noodles. It’s also seen in sobagaki.

I soaked a good handful of mixed dry mushrooms, then added onion, frozen and thawed tofu, garlic, soy sauce. Simmered.

For the sides, I’ve steamed kabocha and reheated hana mame (flower beans) with soy sauce and a little sugar.

I’ve added the soba and sake kasu in the soup, more soy sauce to make it saltier.

And to spice it up a tonic mix : diced ginger, garlic, negi leeks, and chili pepper. Just mixed in, reheated and served.

Kimchi in the kabocha.

A flower on the beans. Lunch is ready.

Skillet pizza, plant based

When it’s hot, you don’t want to heat more the kitchen by boosting the oven in pizza mode… plus you’re too lazy to knead the dough. So that’s how you can make a pizza :

1. Quick dough : flour, baking powder, salt, olive oil and water.
2. The dough can be cooked immediately in a skillet (no oil, a wet lid on top to create steam).
3. Tomato paste and olive oil on the dough…

That really “grills” the dough and brings a pizza flavor.

Summer produce.

I’ve steamed the aubergine and the onion. The sweet corn and the peppers are raw.

Veg’ cheese : sakekasu (sake lees), miso and olive oil

Passed under the grill 3 minutes to color the sauce. That step could be skipped and the garnished pizza could be fully cooked in the skillet.

Pizza heart

That’s very simple tonight : a pizza.

Crust : half whole-wheat bread flour
Veggies : steamed aubergine, green bell peppers, black olives
Meat : chicken hearts
Cheezy sauce : miso, sake kasu, olive oil
As it’s too hot for the big oven, I baked it in the oven toaster. The shape is weird as the dough ran away, but that was yummy.

Japanese aubergines, moros and Moorish spices

We have lots of nasu or nasubi (aubergine or eggplant) in Summer here, many types and sizes. These small ones, I think are those known in the US as Japanese eggplants.
Moros, the Moors. Or black beans. And Moorish spices, that seem to be red pepper, cumin, cinnamon, nutmeg, pimentón…
This is a free adaptation of these stuffed aubergines by Rick Stein. The main change is it’s plant-based. I have not eaten the original but this version is delicious and perfect for the season.