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.

A nice meal, rich in legumes and fragrances.

Asari shellfish and tagliatelle

A colorful pasta, veggie, seafood one-dish meal.

Tagliatelle made with durum semolina plus a little matcha green tea powder.

Asari shellfish.

Cooked with garlic, chili, white wine, tomato paste…

…konnyaku, capers, favas (broad beans)

… stalks on mitsuba. The leaves decorate the serving plate.

Oya imo taro on green sauce béchamel

The “parent” of 里芋 satoimo (Japanese taro) are on the market, they are called 親芋 oyaimo parent potato. That’s not classic sauce béchamel, but the texture is similar.
Let’s start with the beans, well the side dish :

Making pattzuki bean patties with azuki, miso, sesame, onion, parsley, kabocha skin. It is spiced by turmeric (very visible here) and paprika powder plus a few chili flakes.

Pan-fried.

The redness comes while cooking. Served with leaves of komatsuna.

Oya imo, a big taro.
Here is a photo of family of 親芋 oyaimo, the parent with its kids and grand-kids :

from this blog いきもの　は　おもしろい！

I cut and peeled a thick slice, boiled till tender.

The sauce is green as it contains lots of fresh parsley.

Fry minced onion, garlic, feet of shiitake mushroom. Blend together silky tofu, white wine, a tbs of potato starch. Add into the pan. Season with salt, pepper. Simmer.
Let cool and pass in the blender with 2 volumes of fresh parsley per volume of sauce. Reheat slowly before serving.

The oyaimo with sauce and steamed stalks of komatsuna.