Pimientos de padron

Ingredients :

• Shishito peppers 100g
• Salt 1 tsp
• Olive oil for cooking

Method:

Heat olive oil in the skillet with high heat but do not let it smoke. Add shishito peppers, turn them over occasionally until they blister and become soft. Transfer them to the plate and sprinkle your best quality salt on top. Enjoy!

Teriyaki shishito

Ingredients :

• Shishito peppers 100g
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp mirin
• 1 tsp crushed red pepper
• Sesame oil for cooking

Method:

Heat sesame oil in a skillet, medium high. Add shishito peppers and saute until they become soft. Add sugar and quickly stir so shishito peppers are coated with melted sugar. Turn off heat and move the skillet off heat. Add soy sauce, mirin and red pepper and stir so peppers are coated with the sauce. Transfer peppers to the plate. Enjoy!

Quick-pickle cucumbers

Ingredients :

• Suyo cucumbers 500g (sliced at 7-8mm thick)
• Salt 1 tsp
• Ginger 20g (cut into thin strips)
• Soy sauce 120g
• Sugar 40g
• Vinegar 20g

Method:

Put sliced cucumbers into a bowl and massage them with salt. Leave it for 30 min or until water comes out from cucumbers. Squeeze out water as much as possible and set aside. (You can discard the water.) Put all the other ingredients in a pot over mid-high heat. When it is boiled, add cucumbers and boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and let it cool down. When it is cool enough, keep it in fridge overnight. Enjoy!

Pan roasted potatoes

Ingredients (2 servings):

• 5 medium size German butter potatoes
• 2-3 twigs rosemary
• 2 cloves garlic (chopped)
• Generous amount of olive oil
• Sea salt to taste

Cut potatoes into quarters. Heat generous amount of oil in a skillet.  Add garlic and potatoes and fry over medium heat until sightly browned. Turn the heat to low and cover with lid. Cook until potatoes are soft. Sprinkle with salt. Enjoy!

Colorful side dish for summer

Ingredients (2 servings):

• 1 bunch of yellow and green beans
• 2 or more cherry tomatoes
• 1 small clove of garlic
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp vinegar
• salt & pepper to taste

Wash and cut the beans into bite size. Steam lightly (do not overcook!). Set aside.

Make dressing: Cut tomatoes into small pieces. Grate garlic clove. Mix them well with vinegar, oil, salt and pepper.

Pour the dressing over the cooked beans. Enjoy as a side dish for tofu, meat or use double amount of dressing and pour over cooked pasta. Enjoy!

Pan fried eggplant

Ingredients (2 servings):

• 1 eggplant
• 1 tbsp of soy sauce
• Generous amount of canola oil
• Sesame seeds

Slice the eggplant lengthwise into 1/4-inch-thick and add criss-cross slits on one side of each slice.  Do not cut it through, just halfway of the slice. Transfer them to a bowl of salted water to prevent them from turning black.

Heat generous amount of oil in a skillet.  Drain the bowl and pat dry the eggplant slices.  When the oil is just about to smoke, fry the eggplants on each side until slightly browned.  Remove the skillet from the heat, pour a tablespoon full of soy sauce into the skillet, put the skillet back to the heat until soy sauce almost entirely evaporates.  Transfer eggplant slices to the plate and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Roasted miso butter cabbage

Ingredients (2 servings):

• 1 small to medium size cabbage, cut into half
• 1/4 cup of panko (bread crumbs)
• 1 tbsp of chopped parsley
• 1-2 tbsp of miso
• 1-2 tbsp of butter
• Salt and pepper
• Parmesan cheese
• Olive oil

Method: In a small pan, melt butter. Mix in panko, parsley, and miso. Set aside. In a large frying pan, heat olive oil. Put cabbage halves in, cut side down. Cook for a few minutes or until the edge turned brown but not burnt. Turn them over. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and put panko mixture on top. Cook over low heat for 5-10 minutes with a lid on. (Alternatively, you can roast in a oven.) Garnish with parmesan cheese. Enjoy!

Okonomiyaki (savoury pancakes)

Ingredients (3 pancakes):

• All purpose flour 1/2 cup
• Water 100ml
• Cabbage (finely chopped) 300g
• Eggs 2
• Pickled radishes (finely chopped) 20g
• Garlic scapes or green onions (finely chopped) 30g
• Miso 1 tbsp
• Dried fish flakes 2 tbsp
• Salt 1-2 pinch
• Garnish – dried fish flakes, nori seaweed
• Sauce – Tamari sauce : maple syrup : onion garlic hot sauce = 4:2:1

Method:

Mix flour and water well. Add all the ingredients except garnish and sauce and mix well. Heat oil in a frying pan on medium heat and pour 1/3 of the mix. Cook for a few minutes. Turn the pancake over and cook for 5-10 minutes with a lid on. Transfer to a plate and put garnish and sauce on. Enjoy!

As you like:

“Okonomi” means “as you like”. Above ingredients are just one example and you can put whatever you like to make your own Okonomiyaki.  For sauce, you can buy “Okonomi sauce” at an Asian store, or use your favourite barbecue sauce. Or, make your own, like we did. We mixed tamari, maple syrup and Roasted garlic and onion hot sauce from Midnight Raven on Gabriola.

Teriyaki radish

When cooked, radishes lose spiciness and absorb seasoning very well

Ingredients (2 servings):

• Radish 2 bunches
• Sesame seeds 2 tbsp
• Sesame oil 1 tbsp
• Teriyaki sauce (mix 2 parts soy sauce and 1 part sugar) 2 tbsp
• Green butter lettuce (or any lettuce) 1/2 head

Method:

Roast sesame seeds in a frying pan. Set aside. Heat sesame oil in a frying pan. Put radishes in and fry until slightly brown. Put a lid on and cook until soft. Pour teriyaki sauce and heat for 1 minute. Serve on lettuce leaves with the sauce.

Pickled radishes, roots & greens

Ingredients:

• Radishes 2 bunches
• Rice vinegar  1/2 cup
• Sugar 2 tbsp
• Salt 2 tsp
• Red pepper 1 (cut into half and remove seeds)

Method for roots:

Pound radish roots with a rolling pin. This will speed up absorption of flavour. Place them in a glass jar. Mix rice vinegar and sugar in a small pan and heat it until almost boiled. Pour hot vinegar mix over radish roots. Ensure entire radish roots are covered. Put it in a refrigerator and wait for about 3-4 hours. Enjoy!

Method for greens:

Boil water in a pan. Blanch greens for 1 minute and immediately transfer to a bowl with cold water. Drain and lightly squeeze. In a large bowl, mix them well by hand with salt and red pepper. Put weight on top just like making sauerkraut. (Here we used a yogurt container filled with water on top of a small plate). Keep it on counter top for about 3-4 hours. Before serving, taste it and, if it is too salty, rinse and squeeze. Cut them into bite size and Otsukemono(pickles) is ready. 

Komatsuna & radish salad

Ingredients: komatsuna, radish, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, maple syrup, salt, pepper

Method: Wash komatsuna and radish. Mix all the other ingredients to make dressing. Pour the dressing over komatsuna and radish. Mix well by hand. Somehow, mixing by hand makes komatsuna more tender and brings out more flavour. Goes well with farmer’s brioche fried egg sandwiches.

Komatsuna pasta

Ingredients (2 servings):

• Komatsuna green 1 bunch
• Minced garlic 2 cloves
• Crashed red peppers 1 tsp
• Pasta of your choice 200g
• Flat leaf parsley 1 bunch
• Parmesan cheese (optional)

Method:

Cook pasta al dente. Retain some cooking liquid. Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Add garlic and red pepper. Stir until they are fragrant. Add komatsuna, season with salt and pepper and sautee until it becomes blight green. Add pasta, season with salt and pepper and add some cooking liquid. Add parsley at the end. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Mushroom & shsishito stir fry

Ingredients: oyster mushrooms, shishito peppers, minced garlic, olive oil or butter

Method: Pan fry shishito peppers until soft with olive oil or butter. Sprinkle with salt. Set aside. Saute garlic and mushrooms in the same pan. Add more oil/butter as required. Sprinkle with salt. When mushrooms are almost done, bring back shishito peppers, saute together, and adjust taste with salt & pepper and/or soy sauce.  (The key is to cook shishito first to avoid overcooking mushrooms) Enjoy!