Smoked oysters and kimchi pasta

A simple colorful pasta lunch, really delicious. Bonus : a quick tsukemono (Japanese pickle).

A can of smoked oysters in oil, kimchi, soy bean sprouts and Japanese kabu turnips. These kabu are appreciated for their greens as much as for the root. Let’s use both in this meal.

Stir-frying the oysters.

Then add kimchi, al dente pasta, the sprouts. Serve on the blanched turnip greens. Sprinkle with sudachi lime juice.

Kabu. Peel, slice very thinly. You should be able to read a newspaper through a slice. I use a peeler.Place the slices in salted fresh water, let 15 minutes. Mince a small amount of greens. Drain the slices, squeeze well, add the greens, black pepper and broken walnuts. Mix well.

You have a nice veggie side dish, fresh and crunchy.

A delicious dragon fruit (from Philippines).

A nice meal.

Namul, Koreanizing the veggies

Here is a plate generously filled with decadent veggies, and that’s only one serving. I don’t know why but when the Koreans prepare vegetables, they change them so much that I have the impression of eating dessert. But you never have too many veggies. So let’s make a ton !

They can be served as banchan (sides) or used to make a :

bibimbap (click here tomorrow)

The vegetables are raw or lightly cooked (blanched/steamed). I flavor them with fragrant sesame oil, soy sauce, grated garlic and dry chili. If I have some, a little grated yuzu zest doesn’t hurt. Then top with toasted sesame seeds. I try to use little salt, since I will eat a lot. Now there are many good low sodium soy sauces.

I’ve let these raw.

The greens of the turnip. I have steamed them slightly.

I’ve bought this sprouted soy bean kimchi.

ゼンマイ zenmai (osmunda japonica) is a type of fern often eaten as a vegetable in East Asia. We usually by them boiled. I just added sauce.

Patates rôties

Les patates. That’s the real specialty of Lorraine.

There was always a cocotte full of this on the wood stove at my grand-parents. Potatoes were the staple food, and whenever la Mémé (Granny) asked how we wanted them : “rôties”.
We were not eaten them everyday. We had some at every single meal.

It’s simple, but not many people know how to make the patates rôties. The principle ingredient is time. A long time on the stove.
Just potatoes and some fat are necessary. Cook longly in a cast iron pot. Add salt and pepper.
I added a little onion in melted lard, you can use oil and start by frying a little bit of bacon in it.

The crunchy orange bits are everybody’s favorite parts.

With slices of pork.

And a stir-fry of shimeji mushrooms and turnip greens.

The meal :
Calories :654.8 F17.3g C98.6g P31.5g

Mama-kiddy rice bowl : oyako-don’

That takes two generations to get that creamy chicken rice topping.
Oyako domburi. The domburi is the large rice bowl. Oya is a parent, ko is a kid. All that together makes a popular Japanese dish.

My rice is pink as I mixed 3 : black, white and brown… I’m finishing the bags.

There is the hen, well a chicken, bits of it… cooked with onion in a mirin and soy sauce mix.

Then you don’t get a treat with breaking eggs… Here is the chick, still in the egg.

As I used 2 eggs, I kept a yolk aside to mix in after the photo shooting. So I can still blog and eat good. The 1.5 egg beaten and added to the chicken in the last 30 seconds becomes the creamy sauce. Pour hot on the hot rice. Then add a few sticks of leek. Serve and eat.

Kabu, Japanese turnip. Roots and leaves.

Simply with sunflower seeds.

Steamed kabocha. Simple with… nothing. When it’s good naturally, why adding seasoning ?

Mini-lasagne for a vegetal pause

I’m not vegan, but I sometimes have totally plant-based meals. This is a version of the new classic tofu lasagna.

>>>>

Half a block of hand-made momen (cotton) tofu, pressed a while to extract water, sliced in 3. In between, red onion, eringi mushroom, garlic and sakekasu (they have a fermented flavor, like old cheese), then tomato flesh. On top, herbes de Provence, salt, pepper, bread crumbs. A drizzle of olive oil… and the “gratin program” of the oven.

Turnip leaves (not so fresh as they were…), dipped a few seconds in boiling water. With shiso leaves. And gomadare (sesame sauce, with miso and black rice vinegar).