Fish Trip Cafe

This rosemary & lemon salt brightens up the flavour of ingredients. It goes especially well with roast potatoes, grilled white fish or roast chicken.

Fresh citrus scent and lively yellow colour are perfect for early-summer.

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— Rosemary & Lemon Salt —

1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, finely chopped

1 tablespoon lemon zest, grated

1 tablespoon sea salt flakes, crashed

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Mix the chopped rosemary, grated lemon rind, crashed sea salt flakes together.

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— Roast Potatos —

Ingredients: potatoes, olive oil, salt

Cut the potatoes and cook in slightly salted boiled water until tender. Drain well and toss with olive oil. Roast in a preheated 200C/400F oven for about 20 minutes until golden.

This is a crisp savoury snack.

the combination of spicy miso oil and mozzarella cheese is absolutely delicious and addictive.

Easy to make and eat. I found a perfect snack for beer!

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— Spicy miso & cheese pizza bread (makes 10 : 16cm x 8cm each size )—

2 tablespoons miso paste (light brown coloured miso is preferred)

2 tablespoons rapeseed oil

1/2 – 1 teaspoon chili flakes (adjust to you taste)

1/2 teaspoon honey

1 clove garlic, minced

100g grated mozzarella cheese

Some parsley, chopped

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— for pizza dough —

200g plain flour

1/2 tablespoon dry yeast

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 tablespoon olive oil

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Place the dry yeast and sugar in a bowl, mix in 120ml lukewarm water. Set aside in a warm place for 5 minutes, until bubbles appear on the surface.

Place the flour, salt and olive oil in a different bowl, add the yeast mixture and mix together.

Transfer the dough to a floured surface board and knead for about 5 minutes.

Make the dough into a ball, place on a floured tray under a clean, dump cloth and set aside in a warm place for 40 minutes.

To make the spicy miso oil, place the miso, oil, honey, minced garlic and chili flakes in a bowl and mix until well combined.

Divide the pizza dough into 10 balls and roll out on a floured surface board to ovals.

Brush the baking tray with olive oil and lay the oval bases on the tray.

Spread the spicy miso oil and top with grated mozzarella.

Bake in a preheated 220C/425F oven for about 8 minutes until topping is golden and the base is crispy.

Garnish with chopped parsley.

Broa is a Portuguese style corn bread. Thick and crackly crusts with a soft and dense interior.

I love this rustic loaf, and I added chorizo and chives in the dough this time. The chorizo gives a nice spicy kick, this savory bread is the perfect dish for a picnic.

I’m not a morning person, but I feel great to wake up a couple of hours earlier and make a fresh loaf in the morning if the weather is beautiful and sunny like today.

Happy Easter!

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— Chorizo & Chive Broa Bread —

400g plain flour

200g cornmeal

2 teaspoons easy dry yeast

1 teaspoon salt

200g chorizo

10g chives

Some flour for dusting work surface

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Place the flour, cornmeal, easy dry yeast and salt in a large bowl and stir together, mix in 350ml lukewarm water.

Transfer the dough to a floured surface board and knead for about 10 minutes, cover the dough with cling film and let rise for 40 minutes in a warm place.

Punch down and knead the dough on a flour surface board about 10 minuets.

Chop the chorizo and chives into small pieces, add to the dough.

Shape the dough to a round loaf and place on a floured baking sheet, and dust the top of the loaf with flour as well.

Cover the loaf and let rise for a further 40 minutes.

Hear the oven to 220C/425F.

Place on oven-proof dish of boiling water in the oven (take the dish of the boiling water out after 15 minutes), bake the loaf for about 30-40 minutes until golden.

Light up Japan recipe –No.9

Spring has come and it’s a good idea to eat fresh Spring rolls and be refresh and enjoy Spring.

This is a great way to eat a lot of vegetables and herbs.

The creamy rich peanut dipping sauce is my favourite and I can eat too many spring rolls with it.

Suitable for vegans too.

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— Salad Spring Rolls with Peanut Sauce (makes 6 rolls) —

6 medium size sheets dried rice paper

6 leaves lettuce

1 avocado

1 carrot

Handful of coriander leaves

Handful of mint leaves

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— For the peanut sauce —

2 tablespoons peanut butter

2/3 tablespoon miso paste

1/2 tablespoon honey

3 tablespoons soya milk

1/2 vegetable oil

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1/2 small chili, finely chopped

2 tablespoons roasted peanuts, chopped (for garnish)

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— Peanut sauce —

Heat the oil in a saucepan and lightly cook the garlic and chili.

Add the peanut butter, miso paste, honey and soya milk and mix together thoroughly, cook over low heat for 3 minutes. Sprinkle the chopped peanuts.

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— Salad Spring Rolls —

Tear the lettuce leaves into large pieces, cut the carrot into thin strips, cut the avocado into wedges.

Fill a large bowl with hot water, dip one wrapper into the hot water for 3 seconds to soften and flexible.

Lay the wrapper flat, place some coriander and mint leaves in a line about 1 inch from the edge of the wrapper, add some thin stripped carrot, avocado wedges, and lettuce leaves, then tightly roll the wrapper. Cut the rolls into quarters. Repeat with all the sheets.

Light up Japan recipe –No.3

I was thinking about an energy-saving bread recipe for my friends in Japan, and I remembered English muffin! Yes!

You can make English muffins in a frying-pan, and it doesn’t take a long time to cook.

Eat a lot of smiley muffins, and you feel smiley : )

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— Smiley English Muffins (6 muffins) —

250g plain flour

1/2 tablespoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 &1/4 teaspoon easy dry yeast

1 tablespoon butter (room temperature)

200ml  milk (room temperature)

Some cornmeal for sprinkling

Some black olive

Some sun-dried tomatoes, sliced

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Place the flour, sugar, salt and instant dry yeast in a large bowl and stir together, mix in the butter and the milk.

Transfer the dough to a floured surface board and knead for about 10 minutes.

Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and roll to coat. Cover the bowl with cling film and and let rise about an hour in a warm place.

Punch down the dough and divide it into 6 pieces and shape into balls. Lightly coat the surface with oil and sprinkle with cornmeal, lay on a flat plate and cover the balls loosely with cling film and allow them to rise for about 40 minutes.

Arrange the black olives and sliced sun-dried tomatoes and make a smily face on the balls.

Heat a frying-pan until hot not burning, place muffins and cook them over low-heat for 5-7 minutes on each side.

Light up Japan recipe –No.2

This is another energy-saving recipe, for my friends in Japan.

It takes only a few seconds to pan-fry each side of the thin aubergine slices and then marinate in olive oil dressing at room temperature.

It’s a classic Italian flavoured side dish, enjoy and be happy!

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— Marinated Pan-fried Aubergine (serves 2) —

1 large aubergine

1 garlic clove, minced

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 small red chilli, very finely chopped

2 tablespoons fresh basil leaves, chopped

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

A pinch of salt

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Cut the aubergine lengthways into very thin slices.

Heat a non-stick frying-pan, fry the sliced aubergine, turning once until it’s soft (should be fry for a few seconds each side). Put them on a plate on top of each other, this helps them to steam and soften.

Place the minced garlic, the lemon juice, the chopped chilli, the chopped basil, a pinch of salt and the olive oil in a bowl and mix together.

Place the aubergine in a flat plate and pour over the marinade.

Marinate for 30 minutes.

Light up Japan recipe –No.1

It’s devastating to see what’s going on in my country Japan everyday.

I feel so useless that I live far away from Japan and unable to help people in my country…

I wish with all my heart that Japan will be alright soon and going back to a peaceful place like before.

A lot of my friends live in Tokyo, they try not to use electricity as much as they can, because they are having a serious power shortage, and they need to keep electricity for the disaster area.

So, today’s post is for my friends in Japan. This recipe doesn’t need to use energy for cooking.

I hope the disaster area will light up with electricity and people’s hopes soon.

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— Tuna and Avocado Salad (serves 2-3) —

1 can tuna, drained

2 avocado (medium size), stoned and peeled.

1/4 onion, finely chopped

2 tablespoons parsley, finely chopped

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

1 teaspoon lemon juice

A pinch of salt and pepper

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Chop the avocado into small cubes.

Place all the ingredients into a bowl and mix.

Fig is written “無花果” in Japanese which means “fruit without flower”, so I believed that figs have no flowers.

I was delighted when I found out that the figs are actually flowers, inside-out flowers, and an interesting story about ‘fig wasp’ for pollination.

The nature world is amazing and the combinations of figs and honey are amazing too. Thanks wasps and bees, they are hard workers.

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— Fig and Camembert Tarts (4 tarts) —

200g puff pastry

2 figs

60g camembert cheese

1 tablespoon whole-grain mustard

1 table spoon honey

Some fresh thyme leaves

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Roll the puff pastry on a light floured work surface into a sheet. Cut out 4 round bases (approximately 2.5 inch diameter) and make a small rim with the remaining pastry.

Place the pastry bases on a baking paper.

Cut the camembert cheese into 4 pieces and place on the pastry.

Cut the figs into quarters, and arrange them on the camembert cheese.

Mix the mustard and the honey in a small bowl and drizzle over the figs.

Bake the tarts in a preheated 200C/400F oven for 20-25 minutes until the pastry in crisp and golden.

Garnish with some thyme leaves.

This tofu puff tart was a great success. I’m very happy.

Tofu (soya bean curd) has so many health benefits as I wrote before (Tofu Balls Recipe), it’s good for making clear skin, weight control and aid against heart diseases etc. I try to use these kind of nutritious ingredients for daily cooking in a natural way.

I don’t think I’m health-conscious person. I love chocolate, biscuit and crisps etc., they are great! But, maybe my basic idea of ‘eating food’ is still very Japanese. In Japan, “what is good things me to eat” is most important for everyday meals, because we believe that healthy food is also the most natural medicine, and the relationship between food, good health, nature and remedy is woven into our culture and life-style.

Anyway, we need to eat everyday to live, so, taking healthy ingredients without hard work is a good idea. And, sometimes need to eat chocolate cakes for pleasure too!

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— Tofu, Feta & Cherry Tomato Puff Tart —

300g tofu (firm)

200g cherry tomatoes

50g feta cheese

2 teaspoons fresh thyme, finely chopped

Some pettit black olives, stoned

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 teaspoon salt

A pinch of black pepper

Some olive oil

Half of 375g pack ready-rolled puff pastry

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Wrap the tofu in a clean tea towel or some layer of kitchen papers, and place a heavy thing (such as a pan) on top of it to force out excess water, then leave it for about 20 minutes.

Place the drained tofu in a bowl and mash, add the chopped fresh thyme, minced garlic, salt and black pepper, mix everything together.

Cut the ready-rolled puff pastry approximately 11 inch x 7 inch and place the pastry on a baking sheet.

Spread the tofu mixture evenly over the centre of the pastry (leaving 1/2 inch border all around the edges)

Crumble the feta cheese over the tofu mixture, arrange the cherry tomatoes and black olives on top.

Drizzle some olive oil on the cherry tomatoes.

Bake in a preheated 190C/375F oven for 25-30 minutes until the pastry in crisp and golden.

I was looking up ‘rosemary’, and I found that the name has Latin origin ‘ros marinus’ meaning ‘dew of the sea’.

Pretty name!

OK, I want to use the dew of the sea to calamari, because he came from the sea.

And, it was a good idea. The rosemary brings lively flavour and note to this recipe.

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— Rosemary Calamari Fritti (serves 2) —

260g calamari tubes, cleaned

5 tablespoons flour

3 tablespoons corn flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

50ml water

1 egg, beaten

1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, very finely chopped

A pinch of salt and pepper

Lemon wedges for serving

Oil for deep-frying

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Rinse the calamari tubes under water and pat dry with paper towels.

Cut the calamari tubes into 1/2 inch rings.

Heat the deep-frying oil to 170C/340F.

Mix well the flour, corn flour and baking powder in a large bowl. Add the beaten egg, 50ml water, very finely chopped fresh rosemary, salt and pepper into the bowl and mix everything together.

Toss the squid rings into the flour mixture to coat, and deep-fry the coated calamari rings until pale golden. Drain on kitchen paper.

Serve with the lemon wedges.