pizzeria kitty

Pizza tastes better if we share it with friends and loved ones :)
It's perfect when feeling like staying home and relax on Sunday afternoon.
Especially tomatoes are so beautiful now...

Last Sunday I shopped at local organic stores and got a can of tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, rapini (broccoli rabe), mushrooms, etc.
Back home and started with my tomato sauce...

Made my dough, rolled it out while heating the oven. Prepped the toppings and arranged them on the dough. Baked for 10 minutes... and garnished with the shiso leaves!

Pizza can be enjoyed without tomato sauce.

This one is topped with young garlic, shiitake and eryngii mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes and vegan mozzarella. Yum!

test test

It's been 4 months since I moved to this lovely sunny apartment and 3 months since I started working at a busy west village restaurant...
Thank god I got used to this new life finally.
Lately my creative side began to say, "Hey, isn't it time to start writing your cookbook again? I'm bored!"
Yes! Now I'm ready :)
Luckily, there are two natural food stores within a few blocks from my place and one is open 24 hours.
I have a room with big windows facing in the east. The morning light is perfect for photo shooting.

Even my kitchen has a window. It's so sunny and bright and at night, I can see the moon.

Seems like everything comes together for a reason. Don't need more than that.

Winter cooking starts today ;)
Before I go to the greenmarket, took some photos to see how the sunlight is in my room...

Like it!
Let's see how it goes.

TO BE CONTINUED...!

love hearty soups ♥

It's been chilly these days.

Warm soups really ease our bodies & souls.

Here is one of my favorite soups of all time :)

Hope you'll like it!

Potato Leek Soup in Bread Cup

To Make 10 cups

3 potatoes, peeled and diced

1 leek, sliced

1” X 3” kombu

water

2 cups soy milk

1 teaspoon fresh thyme

1 tablespoon sea salt

2 tablespoons brown rice syrup

safflower oil for sautéing

soy margarine for sautéing

French bread

1.  In a pan, heat the safflower oil and soy margarine. Sauté the leek until tender.

2.  In a pot, put the kombu, leek, potatoes and water to cover. Bring to boil and cover. Lower the heat and simmer until the potatoes are cooked. Add the soymilk, sea salt, brown rice syrup and thyme. Bring to simmer and turn off the heat. Purée with a hand mixer until smooth.

3.  Preheat the oven to 375°F. Cut off the tops of the rolls. Using fingers, make holes to make bread cups. Pour the soup into the bread cups and bake them in the oven for 10 minutes or until the rolls become warm and crispy.

4.  Place them on plates or bowls and serve. Enjoy!

summer nigiri sushi

Caliente!
Heat...
Need something light but still filling.
Trying to create sushi menu starting next week, I made some samples yesterday :)

Red bell pepper, collard green, zucchini flower, shiitake mushroom, tomato, spicy tofu & avocado, yellow zucchini... on brown rice seasoned with ume vinegar and brown rice syrup.

Ms. Donuts ミスド

Something missing in my heart was donuts.
I go hyper right after taking white sugar, cannot digest milk and get itchy with eggs...

OK. Time to make macro donuts :)

Just made some adjustment with my cannoli dough recipe I was working on and they came out beautifully.

Here is how to make;

to make 8 donuts
1 cup unbleached flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 pinch seasalt

1/2 cup maple syrup
4 oz extra firm tofu (appx. 1/4 of a package)
2 tablespoons soy margarine
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

safflower oil for deep frying

1. In a bowl, combine all the dry ingredients.
2. In a measuring cup, put all the wet ingredients except for the oil and mix with a hand mixer.
3. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and knead gently.  Set aside for 30-45 minutes.
4. Divide the dough into 8 pieces and form balls. Flatten each ball, poke the middle of each round with index fingers and make circles. If the dough tends to stick, use some flour to prevent it from sticking.
5. Heat the oil to 325°F.  Gently drop each circle into the oil. Fry until slightly brown, flip them over and keep frying until they turn golden brown.
6. Drain excess oil on a sheet of paper towel. Arrange them on a plate. Sprinkle with maple sugar or enjoy with your favorite jam, cream, fruits, etc. if you like ;)

 Fresh Strawberry Tofu Cream ♥

Green Tea Mint Chocolate ♪

Crunchy Almond Chocolate ☆

My fav was the strawberry :p

Next time, I would add some orange zest to my dough and bake them instead of frying...

Enjoy!

  Love, Peace and Gratitude.

sweet as a tomato

Heat. This NY weather and the city make me yang.  Craving something to cool off.
Every time I go to Greenmarket, these organic tomatoes talk to me, so I had bought a few. They are still very expensive.

Chilled Tomato Soup with Broccoli Raab and Fava Beans
トマトの冷製スープ　ブロッコリーラーブと空豆添え

Had this about two weeks ago when it was so hot and humid.
Today, I made a simple pasta dish using a tomato from the same farmer and it was heavenly...
They are so sweet by themselves and it's such a treat to enjoy them at this time of year.
Hope they will be less expensive when summer begins.

Still enjoying this late spring season ♪

pancake time - ホットケーキの時間♥

Rhubarb - what a strange name!

I needed to do something about this. （ずっと気になってしょうがなかった。）
Finally, I asked one of the farmers at Greenmarket how I should cook it.
She kindly told me it would be good in jam or sauce because of its tartness and great on ice cream, cheesecakes or in a pie. Sounds good.
Hmm...  but I wasn't in a mood of making ice cream or baking, ... OK.  How about on top of pancakes?

Coming back with the rhubarb and a pint of beautiful strawberries, made this sauce and pancakes right away.

The tangy sauce was a perfect match with my bitter and sweet green tea pancakes ♥ a happy moment :)

RHUBARB:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhubarb
rubarbについて：
日本語の説明