All posts filed under: Noodle/Pasta

New Year’s multi-culture washoku | 2018年に願う「彩り」元旦

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New Years Day, dinner. For us Japanese, New Year’s celebration is a traditional event, most likely THE important day of the year in which we celebrate the day with ‘traditional Japanese osechi’. If anyone of the readers are curious of what ‘osechi is?’, many sites will explain the meaning of some of the osechi dishes. This year I decided to venture out from the tradition to a somewhat non-tradtional ‘washoku cuisine’ to something which I call it ‘multi-cultured washoku’.

Spinach Ravioli | ほうれん草のラヴィオリ

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Fresh ravioli with spinach blended into the pasta….. Blending vegetables into pasta dough is a very similar process when making different kinds of bread. The appearance, the texture, the taste; it’s a chemical reaction and the results are quite rewarding or sometimes a big mistake. Well, in bread-making you can never go wrong with spinach or broccoli or carrots or pumpkins so even with pastas it’s probably a safe border line to blend into the dough. The ravioli has a filling which I used for the tortellini but the sauce is a leftover menu – a ratatouille made into a puree sauce. 最近パスタマシンが収納庫からキッチンに出ているので、 たまには『ラヴィオリ』つくってみよぉ〜 と、、いつものエッグパスタを作って『生地にほうれん草の入ったラヴィオリ』を制作。 ほうれん草が入るととたんに生地の水分のバランスが難しくなり、パスタマシンで薄くのばすのもローラーに引っついてしまったり、ちょっと手こずり気味。手打ちうどんの感覚で力技で台の上でのばすのが失敗しない手法かもしれませんね。生地作りはどうも器具に慣れてしまうと手動で作る感覚を忘れがちで、パスタもそうだなぁ〜とついついパスタマシンに頼って、、頼りきってしまいます。パンも同じかな。 これから暑い季節に入っていくのでほそい〜冷製パスタの予行演習気分で。 Spinach Egg Pasta Recipe – 220g Semi-Soft Flour (used for French Bread) or 80% Strong Bread Flour + 20% Soft Wheat Flour 2 medium eggs 70g Boiled Spinach chopped finely or blended into a puree   Filling Recipe – 70g Veal 70g Port Loin 80g Raw Ham/Prosciutto 80g Parmigiano Cheese 1 large egg Nutmeg, salt and pepper   Sauce Recipe – Leftover Ratatouille blended into a puree sauce …

Home Party Cooking | 我家のパーティお料理 | Part 1

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Spring is always a busy season for home parties, gatherings and events. But this year seems especially busy with so many events to celebrate. ‘Celebration’ is often take it for granted however to notice that it is virtually a fortunate time to value. It is truly a pleasure to see happy and smiling faces with good food, good wine and above all good friends. Spring  is a season of birth. Seasonal food becomes quite abundant in Japan and certainly, cooking becomes quite challenging and fun. To accommodate our party guests – divine lovers of wine and good food; I’ve decided to take out my ‘pasta machine’ stored deep in the pantry for a quite some time and go Italian with the essence of Washoku – Japanese collaborative cooking. I will be introducing the party foods in some number of consecutive blog series. Making home made TORTELLINI in CRAB AND SHRIMP CLEAR SOUP  (トルテリーニ・蟹と海老のクリアスープ）→　すいません、、最終画像撮るの忘れました。 毎年、我家の『春』は何かとお祝い事が多いのです。 3月や4月生まれが多く毎年誕生会やらで我家の家は賑わい、 今年はおまけに新生児のお祝いや友人達と一緒に快気祝いも兼ねて賑わいます。 『お祝い』できることのありがたさ。 『笑顔』が見れるありがたさ。 頑張った時期が過ぎ去っていく時は無心で『祝福』できる機会や時間を大切に感謝したいと思いながらお料理を作っています。 さぁ〜　今年はパントリーの深くに入っているパスタマシンを取り出して、、自家製のパスタにしようか？点心にしようか？悩んだ末、、イタリアン和食の方向でのパーティー料理です。 First, I  need to test my pasta machine… Gee…it’s been a while since I’ve made …

Japanese buckwheat noodles…SOBA and SOBA SOUP

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I am sure you have come across, Japanese buckwheat noodles – SOBA served in many Japanese restaurants. Maybe not as many compared to the Italians, Japanese noodles still come in varieties, ‘SOBA’, ‘Chinese Noodles – RAMEN’, ‘SOMEN’, ‘UDON’, ‘HIYAMUGI’, etc. Probably each household have their preference on noodles, but one of ours is the SOBA (Buckwheat Noodles) and SOMEN (similar to a the Italian Capellini, Angel Hair Pasta). ‘SOBA’ is also considered a low calorie diet food.     The set up for ‘SOBA’ looks like this…. it is served with a ‘SOBA’ soup & ‘YAKUMI’ (spices). Ready made ‘SOBA’ soups are available in stores but certainly, it is not difficult to make and the soup can be stored for about a month or so in the fridge so if you are a home make addict….give it a shot!!! The ‘SOBA’ soup can be used for other Japanese cooking so it does come in handy to have a one the fridge.                             …