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It was an awfully hot summer this year in Japan.
It has not ended yet, but I hear the songs of insects at night, and they are telling me that the summer will be gone soon.
It’s a kind of relief, but at the same time it brings me the melancholy state of mind.
May be I should say it is the mixture of feeling of lonliness and nostalgia.
But this unsteady feeling creeps in only in the evening, the day time is still the summer, red, hot and scorching summer !
The cicadas are singing at the top of their lungs.
So for now, I have to enjoy the soon leaving summer vegetables.
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If it is an average summer, I do not go for much of the chilled dishes, but my appetite goes to them rather than warm food this year, so I cook the food on the stove early in the morning, keep them in the fridge and take them out to eat straight away during day time.
(Can you imagine how hot it is when the tempreture often goes up beyond 40℃?)
My favorite chilled dishes are, firstly, Edamame/green soy beans,
Hiyayakko/ fresh uncooked tofu,
Mushinasu/ steamed eggplant,
and Tomato salad.
All are so simple to cook.
Another item is ” Ratatouille”.
It is a french dish but is popular to cook at home using the summer vegetables in Japan.
I like it because it is a dish with variety kinds of summer vegetables, tasty and nice to eat chilled.
It also goes well with rice, pasta and bread.
We can make a big amount of it and eat it in three days, enjoying different forms of dishes.
Eat it just like this.
Eat it with spaghetti
As a tooping for pizze (or toasted bread)
Do you feel like eating it now ?
Here you go…
Ratatouille
Ingredients
1 zucchini – slice into half moons or bite sizes
1 ~ 6 eggplant – slice into moons or bite sizes, soak in the salt water for a few minutes and drain
3 large tomatoes – slice into small cubes
1 large onion – slice into thin wedges
1~2 cloves garlic – chop fine
1 Tbsp olive oil
Herbs of you choice – thyme, oregano, mint, basil, rosemary, etc.
salt and black pepper to taste
for toppings
2 Tbsp marinated capsicum – refer the recipe below for its preparation
1 Tbsp almond – toast and grind into powder
Basil
Procedure
1. Fry the chopped garlic with olive oil over low heat till fragrant.
2. Add onion, eggplant, zucchini and tomato one by one, sauteing for a few minutes for each vegetable.
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3. Add the herbs of your choice and mix.
4. Cover the lid and simmer for 20~30 minutes till all the vegetalbes are soft.
5. Cool down and trasfer into the fridge to be chilled.
6. Sprinkle the almond powder and basil to serve.
Notes
＊ If the vegetables are not juicy, you may need to add some water to cook.
＊ This can be served either chilled or hot.
Preparation of capcicum marinade
Ingredients
1 red capsicum
1 yellow capsicum
1 clove garlic – chop fine
1 tsp salt
2 tsp rosemary
2 Tbsp olive oil
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Procedure
1. Grill capcicums with a broiler or an oven until the skin get browned.
2. Immediately put them in the paper bag or cover with a towel for 10min.
3. Take them out, peel and cut into half cm squares.
4. Mix choped garlic, rosemary and olive oil in a jar.
5. Add capcicums and mix.
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Notes
＊ Try not to burn the capcicum when you grill. The flesh under the skin turns brown and spoil the vivid red and yellow color.
＊ Alternatively you can boil the capcicum for 5~10 minutes and put them into the paper bag. But peeling is not as easy as grilling method.
＊ It tastes nicer from the next day, and can be kept for two weeks in the fridge.
Happy Cooking !
