Time to Take Note of my "Casual Favourites"
17 March 2009
There are certain dishes I make regularly for every-day meals, tasty but rather quick and simple to prepare. These dishes come and go in phases, depending on the season, my mood, and my current location. When a particular dish is "en vogue", I may prepare it as often as once a week or so – there can be slight variations, but in principle it’s still always the same thing. I’ve gone through many such phases – among them sherry-cream sauces (a while ago, pre-Japan), or soba noodles with seafood and spinach simmered in a mixture of Japanese condiments containing soy, some sesame and plenty of ginger (more recent and still ongoing). Once the "vogue" phases out, I keep cooking the dish every once in the while (actually, the sherry sauce remains one of my all-time favourites), just not quite as frequently, as I am all caught up by my next discovery.
As I realize, I hardly ever post any of my most frequent dishes. Maybe because I consider them so casual I don’t pay much attention while I am cooking, mostly by eye, so in many cases I couldn’t really quantify any measures or cooking times. This is a shame, though, as I really like those dishes and I think they’re well worth passing on (I wouldn’t be making them so often if not), so I’ve told myself to every now and again take a few notes in the kitchen, and so I did.
Most recently I’m very much into a creation which I have just decided to name "Fussili Nipponese". As you may guess, the sauce is strongly inspired by Japanese cuisine. I also often add a nice and spicy (but bearably so) chili mixture I bought in Korea (forgive me for calling it "Nipponese" anyway – but as the Japanese flavours are clearly dominant I find the name still very suitable).
While the Japanese mini-vegetables (meaning aubergines and peppers) can easily be substituted by their western-style counterparts (or different vegetables altogether), I think the shiitake mushrooms are quite vital to the overall taste. The most decisive features, however, are the combination of soy sauce, mirin and fine white sugar, providing a distinctive Japanese flavour, and the slice of butter finally stirred in, giving the sauce a fine, delicate touch and a smooth and velvety texture. As for the pasta, I usually use wholemeal fussili for this - I find their slightly nutty taste goes particularly well with the spiciness, and, for some reason, with the taste of red peppers. That’s just my personal preference, though, so feel free to try with normal pasta!
I think I will still go on cooking this regularly for a little while now – as a matter of fact, I really feel like having it tonight…
Fussili Nipponese
| serves 4 |
| 2-3 little Japanese aubergines |
| 8 little Japanese red peppers |
| 200g shiitake mushrooms |
| 400ml tomato purée (passata) |
| 200ml mirin |
| 80-100ml soy sauce (to taste) |
| 3 teaspoons fine white sugar |
| dried chili mixture to taste |
| a pinch of garlic powder |
| a generous slice of butter (30g or so) |
| some fresh basil (optional) |
| 500-600g (wholemeal) fussili |
Heat the fine white sugar in a non-stick saucepan. Once melted, add the tomato purée and stir energetically until the caramelized sugar has dissolved. Add the mirin and part of the soy sauce (keep the other part to season to taste later).
Chop the vegetables into relatively fine strips or pieces. Add the peppers to the sauce first and let them simmer for about 5 minutes or so before adding the aubergines and the mushrooms; like this the vegetables should all be cooked to their point at about the same time. Season with a spoonful or so (depending on the type of chili and your taste) of a dried chili mixture as well as some garlic powder. Season to taste with the rest of the soy sauce.
Cover the sauce with a lid and let it simmer for 15 minutes or so; prepare the pasta in the meantime.
To finish the sauce, add the chopped basil (this is optional) as well as a slice of butter. Stir well until the butter has dissolved, giving the sauce a fine, soft taste and a smooth, velvety texture.