Recently I asked if you would be interested in some recipes that aren’t so much pretty, cute and sweet but healthy and delicious and as I’ve had a positive response, I thought I would start with something simple, nutritious and vegetarian.

I’ve always loved japanese food, I was first introduced to it in primary school by a friend of our family who is a japanese teacher and she used to prepare us yummy food whenever we went to visit. I like it because it’s very good for you, it tastes fantastic, is visually pleasing and it always sits well in my stomach and leaves me feeling good afterwards. Over the past couple of years I’ve been teaching myself different recipes and cooking methods and it has been a lot of fun, I’ve had failures and successes and its given me a love for cooking that I never quite achieved for western style food.

For some reason, people get this idea that cooking japanese is hard. Some of it is, I hardly ever make sushi because its tricky to get it right and bought sushi almost always tastes better. Average homestyle japanese is actually very easy though, a good example of this is Miso shiru (Miso Soup). This is basically how I make Miso;

1. Place one teaspoon of miso paste in a small bowl.
2. Dissolve it with a little water
3. Fill up the rest of the bowl with boiled water.

Yes, thats it, its as simple as making tea! Traditionally Miso is dissolved in Dashi, a type of japanese stock made from bonito flakes and konbu seaweed, however you can buy a product called Dashi Miso which has the dashi already combined, it makes life easier and I think it tastes just as good. However, if you want to use real dashi you can find a recipe here

Obviously this is only the soup base, so here’s where you get to have a bit of fun adding whatever ingredients you like best. Here is a short list, but you can put nearly any japanese ingredient in Miso soup.

Wakame seaweed
Tofu
Shiitake Mushrooms
Spring onions
Leek
Seafood (often Clam)
Aburaage

If the ingredients require cooking, prepare them beforehand by boiling them in dashi. I’m a bit lazy though and tend to just use easy to add ingredients, I especially love shiitake mushrooms in mine because I find it compliments the flavour of the miso and dried sliced shiitake can be dropped in before you add the water/dashi because the soup will rehydrate them.

Miso is a product made from fermented soy, which has a huge list of health benefits including decreasing the risk of breast cancer and boosting the immune system as it contains zinc. Personally, I find it a great ‘pick me up’ that gives me a bit of energy and is relaxing and de-stressing at the same time.

One of the things I love best about winter is cooking. In summer I don’t cook or bake very much because having the oven on during hot weather can make the house unbearable and I enjoy eating a lot of raw fruit and vegetables anyway. However now its a little colder, I’m having fun baking and cooking a hot dinner every night!

Today I roasted some chestnuts that Claire brought me (thank you!) they were delicious and warming, a great comfort food. They taste a little bit like sweet potato but with a nuttier, meat like taste aswell. Quite filling! Here is a quick guide to roasting chestnuts at home.

Choose chestnuts that are firm and not too dark, soft ones are likely to be rotten. If the nut flesh is a pale grey colour when you shell it, then its too old. It should be a warm yellow colour inside.

Wash the Chestnuts and use a sharp knife to score an ‘X’ in one side. Preheat your oven to 220C or 425F and roast the nuts for about 15 minutes.

When they are cool enough to touch, peel back from the little ‘X’ and take off both the firm outer shell and the furry inner shell. I find using a butter knife makes this process easier. Inside you will find the flesh of the nut, you might like to season it with a bit of salt. Enjoy!

I also bought a Recipe Journal today, to start recording my recipes in. I couldn’t resist the cute little cupcakes and birds on this one! Every page is pink and has lines for ingredients, method and notes. I hope to share more of my recipes over the coming months, although I don’t make sweets and desserts all the time, I do cook a lot of japanese dishes and other healthy meals. Would you be interested in recipes and photos of some of those?

Today I am going to share with you one of my favourite treats, fruit sandwiches! They are very easy to make and are lovely to take to a tea party or picnic. They’re small and bite sized, not too sweet but definitely different to your usual tea sandwiches. For this recipe I used strawberries and kiwi fruit, which is one of my favourite combinations, but really you can use any fruit you like! Bananas, figs, raspberries, rockmelon any fruit that is soft enough will work. You can also add crushed nuts for a different texture, or replace the fruit with rose petals and add a little rose essence to the cream!

Ingredients

12 slices of soft white bread
3 tbsp ricotta
3 tbsp thickened cream
2 kiwi fruit
6 large strawberries

To prepare the fruit, first peel the kiwi fruit of their skin and slice them horizontally to give oval shaped slices. Wash the strawberries and remove the leave, then slice in to thin rounds. Make the cream spread by mixing the ricotta cheese and thickened cream in a bowl, this ratio give quite a runny spread so if you would like it thicker add more ricotta and less cream. It should have a mild cheesecake taste.

Remove the crusts on each slice of bread and spread one side with the cream mixture. For each sandwhich I used about 2 large slices of kiwi fruit and 2 large slices of strawberry but you could probably add more for a fruitier taste. Alternate the slices for a colourful effect. Once you have added the top slice cut down the middle to make two rectangular finger sandwiches. Makes 12 in total. Enjoy with iced tea or lemonade!

1 large punnet of fresh strawberries
2 tbsp Honey
Vanilla Icecream
200ml Sour Cream
400ml Whipping Cream
4 Shortbread biscuits
Butter
Fruit, chocolate, or wafer to decorate

Makes about 4 depending on the size of your glasses

This is one of my favourite desserts to make around christmas time, when fresh strawberries are easy to find in my kingdom. It is a nice treat at any time of the year though and you can substitute frozen strawberries if need be.

The Parfait is meant to taste a bit like strawberry cheesecake, so first we start with the biscuit base. Crush up several shortbread biscuits with a fork until they are in crumbs. In a small bowl mix this with butter until it sticks together and forms lumps. I usually add a little butter at a time until it looks right. Scoop a spoonful of the biscuit base in to the bottom of each of your parfait glasses, press it down with the back of your spoon. To set the biscuit base put in the fridge for about 30mins.

Next we make the strawberry sauce. Take the stems off your strawberries and cut them in to small pieces. Put the strawberries in to your blender and blend until they are liquid. Add your honey and blend for a bit longer. It should taste sweet and fruity. Depending on your strawberries you may need to add more honey.

Then you will need to whip the cream, its easier with electric beaters but I don’t have any so I do this by hand which can take a long time. When it forms peaks it is ready. In a bowl blend your whipped cream with the sour cream using a spoon, it should have a slightly sour taste to it when you’re done.

Now comes the fun part, it’s time to layer your parfait! You can do this in whichever order you like. Put layers of cream, icercream and strawberry sauce until you fill up the glass. To make the layers visible you need to make sure the cream or icecream is fully blocking the edges of the glass or the sauce runs down the sides (it did a bit in mine.) Decorate the top with a strawberry, some chocolate sticks or wafers as you like. Enjoy!