Fried tomatoes with onion

Fried tomatoes are often a breakfast food in Western countries, served with bacon and eggs. I don't eat such breakfasts, so I dress them up a bit and move them to lunch or dinner!

1. Heat olive oil in a pan with rosemary leaves.
2. Places tomatoes cut side down in the pan.*
3. Using a hand slicer, slice half an onion (enough for 2 tomatoes).
4. While the tomatoes are cooking, mix the onions to coat with oil and to cook evenly.
5. Turn the tomatoes over after 3 minutes.
6. Cook on the second side, covered with a lid to help hold in the heat.
7. Remove the onions at the point they are just starting to go brown.**

* Cook cut side down first, while the tomatoes are still firm, then turn them over as they soften. This means they don't become slushy.

**You can return the onions to the pan after you turn off the gas, to warm them through, while you put the tomatoes on a plate.

If the tomatoes do break, or if you want to make it a more substantial meal, you could cut the tomatoes and change this into a pasta sauce or steak topping.

Carrot & Onion Omlette

I eat quite a lot of eggs as a main dish, rather than as a breakfast food :) Here is a very simple omlette that includes vegetables so it is a meal by itself. Using a food processor is the key point to save time.

1. In a food processor, whiz two carrots and one onion. Add fresh thyme and a little rosemary and whiz again.
2. Put a little olive oil in a non-stick pan and add the sticks from the thyme, until the oil is hot. Remove sticks.
3. Heat the vegetables until they become a little soft. (About 3 minutes.)
4. While the veggies are cooking, beat 4 large eggs in the food processor!
5. Take the veggies from the pan and mix with the eggs.
6. Put back into the pan. Cover with a lid.
7. Cook until the bottom is golden and the top is not raw. (As well done as you like.)
8. Fold in half and slide out onto a plate.

This is nice for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or in a lunch box.

                                          

One pan vegetables

There is no excuse for anyone not eating vegetables when they are as easy to cook as this! Perfect for breakfast or a quick lunch.

* Mushrooms are best cooked by cutting of the stalk and cooking cut   side down first, with about 1 tablespoon of water.

* Using a glass lid smaller than the pan means the veggies will steam and not dry out.

* Put bigger things in first, and add thinner ones after a few minutes.

* After taking out the veggies, add meat.

Pumpkin with sage

Here is another easy recipe for you. It can be for any meal, and even to pack into your lunch box. Roasted pumpkin is great but this is much faster.

1. Cut a small pumpkin in half, and scoop out the seeds. Rinse with water. 

2. Wrap with damp kitchen paper, microwave for 3 minutes.

3. While it is cooking, put a tablespoon of olive oil in a non-stick pan.

4. Add fresh chopped sage and thyme to the oil. (Dry herbs are ok.)

5. Heat the oil gently until the herbs are fragrant.

6. Cut the pumpkin into 1.5cm wedges. Add to the pan.

7. Cook the pumpkin until it is golden on both sides. Remove from the pan.

8. If you would like to cook meat, such as chicken or pork, add it to the herb oil.

NOTES:

1. It is easy to microwave pumpkin a little before you cut it, so it is a little softer. It will also cook faster. Japanese people eat the skin, which has a lot of fiber and tastes okay. If you prefer, after microwaving you can easily peel the pumpkin.

3. I always use my non-toxic pan from Cuisinart, but you can use another pan or even grill.

4. Sage is great with pumpkin! Fresh herbs are really easy to grow in a pot. Sage is a bigger bush so you can plant thyme around it in the one pot. They won't die in winter if you keep them out of the frost. If you don't have fresh herbs, buy some bunches from the supermarket. Wash and dry them, and put small amounts into very small ziplock bags from the 100yen shop, then put them in the freezer. 1 bag = for one time

7. The pumpkin will stay warm for a while, or you can keep it under a fish grill set to low, or in a toaster oven.

8. Thinly sliced pork cooked in the pan is nice with the pumpkin.

Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

A "one vegetable" side dish that can easily be cooked while you are making the mains.

1. Wash one punnet of cherry tomatoes. Drain.
2. Shape a piece of foil into a shallow dish.
(Or you can use an aluminium tray, baking dish or glass dish.)
3. Put the tomatoes into the dish.
4. Drizzle 1 teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil over the tomatoes.
5. Season with a little black pepper.
6. Sprinkle on some herbs if you have any - thyme, oregano, rosemary.
7. Bake in a toaster oven or in the fish grill for about 5 minutes.
8. Finished!

They will be very sweet. If you want to, you can season them with salt, but I never do.

Alternative ideas:
1. Add a few pieces of Japanese negi leek. Just the green part will give a nice flavor and fragrance.
2. Roast some garlic the same way, and add it to the tomatoes.
3. Don't use the oil, but put chopped bacon on the top.

How to eat them:
1. Simply - just as a side vegetable.
2. As a topping sauce - mash them a little and put them on top of sauteed chicken.
3. As a pasta sauce - put them in a pan, mash them, and toss with pasta.
4. On toast - mash a little and eat on French bread toast. Just tomatoes or with anchovies.
5. As pizza topping.

Brussel Sprouts

Do you like brussel sprouts? I really hated them when I was a child, but now I know that was for 2 reasons:
1. They were not fresh, and
2. my mother overcooked them :(

So how do I cook them? It is really easy. The easiest way is to wash them, drain them and cover them with damp paper towel (kitchen towel) and cook them for a few minutes in the microwave oven. This is also a good method for cooking broccoli. It keeps all the vitamins and doesn't make them bitter. Another way is below:

1. Wash the sprouts. Don't drain or dry them.
2. Put them in a non-stick pan. ***
3. Put a lid on the pan. This will help them steam.
4. Steam them for about 3 minutes, rolling them around a few times by shaking the pan. Don't open the lid or the heat and steam will escape. Most of the water will be gone.
5. Take off the lid and cook for another minute until all the water is gone.
6. While you are cooking them, chop one clove of garlic.
7. Put about 1 teaspoon of virgin olive oil in the pan with the sprouts.** Shake them around.
8. Add the garlic. Cook for about 1 minute until the garlic is golden.* Garlic will burn easily so be careful.
9. Finished!

*** I'm using my new, non-toxic Cuisinart Pan.
** You can use 1/2 teaspoon of olive oil plus 1/2 teaspoon of butter. This will give a richer taste.
* The total cooking time from start to finish is 5 minutes. Please don't cook them more.

If you think this dish is too "green" or if you want a stronger taste, add chopped bacon to the pan and don't use any oil or butter.

Red turnips

Recently I bought something from the farmer's shop expecting it to be a kind of beet (beetroot), but when I cut them I found out they were red turnips.

This meant suddenly thinking of something new to cook. Simple and easy is best, so here is the recipe:

1. Peel and quarter turnips.
2. Cover with water in a small pan.
3. Add one sachet of organic vegetable stock.
4. Simmer until just soft.
5. Remove the turnip.
6. Simmer the stalks until just soft.


 The stalks were nice too, a bit like crunchy spinach. I ate those as a side dish. The turnips went into my lunch box for the next day.

By using a small pan, and only a little water, you won't lose all the nutrients into the liquid. In the final photo, you can see there is only enough water remaining to cover the bottom of the pot.

Beans & tomato stew

Here is a super fast and easy stew for emergencies.

I'm breaking my rules because I'm using imported canned products. Canned tomatoes are something I usually keep for emergencies and most brands you can buy in Japan are processed in Italy. So even though this is delicious and healthy, it is NOT seasonal, fresh or from this country.

1. In a heavy pot, add about 1 tablespoon of olive oil and one chopped onion.
2. Fry the onion for about 3 minutes.
3. Add in one can of beans. This picture shows chickpeas.
4. Add one can of chopped tomatoes.
5. Put a little water in the tomato can (about 1/3 of a can), add water to the pot.
6. Add 1 heaped dessert-spoon of fragrant (not hot) curry powder.
7. Cook for 5 minutes over a medium heat.

NOTES:
1. You could start with chopped bacon if you had some, then add the onion.
3. Any canned beans are okay - chickpeas, red beans, white beans.
6. The curry powder actually doesn't make the stew taste like curry. It comes out as a fragrant tomato stew.

Sometimes I chop up a carrot into very small pieces and add it with the onion. You could also add celery.
Once I added a can of anchovies and that gave a nice salty taste but no fish taste.

Spaghetti Squash

I bought spaghetti squash for the first time this year and it really is a versatile vegetable.

First, prepare it by cutting it in half and scooping out the seeds with a spoon. Rinse with water and put it cut side down on a dinner plate. Cover with kitchen paper and microwave for about 6 to 8 minutes until the point of a sharp knife goes in easily.

A great way to serve it is like a dry curry:

1. In a large based fry pan, put 100% beef mince and cook until browned. No oil is necessary.

2. Add 1 chopped onion. Cook until onion is still a bit crunchy. 

3. Add just a few raisins or sultanas, then add in the cooked spaghetti squash. 

4. After it is mixed well, add 1 to 2 tablespoons of aromatic, dry curry powder. It is better if the curry is aromatic as opposed to hot. 

5. Stir again to evenly coat everything with the curry. 

Serve with salad greens on the side. It is very nice the next day, and not at all wet so goes well in a lunch box.

Of course, you can also serve the plain squash just like pasta, with a tomato or meat/tomato sauce. 

No-crust Quiche

Quiche is really easy and also quick - just about 25 minutes in total.

Ingredients:
1 x 200ml carton 35% cream
3 eggs
vegetables*
bacon/ham/chicken sasami meat/mini sausages**
shredded cheese if you like it

Method:
1. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees C
2. Use a brush or a small piece of kitchen paper to coat a pan*** with olive oil.
3. Put the vegetables and meat into the pan.
4. Break the eggs into a bowl, beat with a fork.
5. Add the cream.
6. Add a little salt and pepper.
7. Pour the egg mixture over the vegetables.
8. Top with shredded cheese.
9. Bake for about 20 minutes in the center of the oven.

* Vegetables
You can use almost any vegetables that aren't too wet. Big tomatoes are not good, but mini tomatoes cut in half are great. For hard vegetables like broccoli or fresh asparagus, cut them into small pieces and microwave them for a few minutes. Spinach should be microwaved with just a very little water, then drained on kitchen paper. Any kind of onion or negi leek is okay.


** Meat
It is not necessary to add any meat. Mostly I make vegetarian quiche because the eggs and cream are high in protein and fat.


***Pan
Any size pan is okay. Sometimes I use a pound cake pan, sometimes a flat quiche pan, sometimes a muffin pan for mini-quiche! Pyrex glass dishes are fine, as are gratin dishes.


You will notice I don't use any pie sheet. It isn't necessary.