I am back on the Essentials of Japanese Cuisine teaching at French Culinary Institute. Day 1’s highlight was the preparation of dashi stock (requires a state of zen mind), fun home-made udon noodles and perfect tempura using seasonal vegetables. Here are some of the photos from the class. To roll the dough out I had to stand on a stand….short person’s dilemma. Everyone rolled out the udon dough into perfect thickness, resulting delicious cold udon dish...
Read MoreThe best way to enjoy vegetables
I enjoy vegetable tempura from time to time…My friend, Suvir Saran (a charming, skilled and successful chef, consultant and cookbook author), told me that his experiences eating tempura at Japanese restaurants have not been satisfactory. He has found that the dough is…. too thick, heavy, not crisp and the taste is oily. So, I prepared for him proper summer vegetable tempura using beets, zucchini, carrot, mushroom and zucchini flower. My tempura was light and...
Read MoreThe arrival of spring – ramps!
When I was raised in Japan, early spring was announced by the arrival in the markets of takenoko (bamboo shoot), fukinoto (a bud-like plant with a very “green” and bitter taste; see the right hand photo below), and taranome (a young bud of angelica tree). My mother always prepared… many varieties of dishes using these wonderful vegetables to say the spring has also arrived in the Shimbo household. After moving to New York City, I was deeply disappointed...
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