The beginning is always hard...

To write a food blog without being a chef is a bit of a quest, you need a certain dose of arrogance, especially if you live in a place like London and your confidence have been boosted by the “wows” of friends that are used to eat out and cook very little!
Very often in my experience as a vegetarian, the option at parties or cafes has been the pasta bake with tons of cheap cheese and the vegan something with potatoes in the resemblance of a brown sausage…
This blog is just the way to let my friends in Italy know what I am up to in the big Smoke and also to answer to my workmates questions about what is in my lunchbox…

I have always been a big fan of the Japanese cuisine, but in London the Japanese cooking has become my new obsession especially since I have dropped Fresh and Wild and embraced the Japan Centre as my supplier of Soba-Udon and Wakame seaweed.
I always find myself staring at the people while I shop, to check what they are buying and to make sure I choose what they would from the shelves.
So being stuck at home with a nasty flu I thought I could post an ad to find somebody that could actually teach me the real thing, so I posted this on the Gumtree.
It went rather well in fact I have already received several answers and I organized a late morning rendezvous at my flat on Saturday with Kazu. He will check my cupboard and we can shop together and he can teach me a couple of dishes as a start… will he turn up?

Oh well I have to wait now and there’s a week of cooking to be done before the meeting!

Tonight we will have some quinoa and dahl, but the star dish will be this celery and pecan nuts stew:

Ingredients for 4 people (or two very hungry ones!)
300 grams celery
3 table spoons extra virgin olive oil
50 grams pecan nuts (organic)
2 medium size onions
1 tablespoon rice malt syrup
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
vegetable broth (made with fresh veggies or organic vegetable bouillon stock)

1) rinse and dice the celery
2) peel the onions and add to boiling water for 5 minutes, drain and leave them to cool down
3)slice thinly the onions
4) heat the oil in a wok pan and add the onions with a couple of tablespoons of water, cover and let it simmer for a couple of minutes, add the crushed pecan nuts and the celery and cook it on a medium heat for other five minutes
5) melt the malt in a sauce pan and heat up for 2 minutes, add the vinegar and half a cup of vegetable broth and leave it in the pan for other 2 minutes, before transferring the mixture on the other ingredients. Cook for further ten minutes. Add salt to taste and serve it warm!

While cooking this weekend I mostly played: Beirut Gulag Orchestra