Black sesame madeleines
So, a little while ago I promised a post about my trip to Japan. And then life happened, or more precisely, work happened. And with trying to catch up with sleep as well as still working long hours and having visitors over again and spending an impromptu weekend in London looking for a new flat … the blog kind of took a backseat! But, a promise is a promise. So here we go. AND. I even have a new recipe to share!
So our trip to Japan was short but sweet – we took in as much as was possible on a trip that lasted barely longer than a week. We managed to explore Tokyo a fare bit, made it out to Nikko for a great day out from the hustle and bustle that is Tokyo, caught the Shinkansen to Kyoto and spent a slow afternoon watching deer in Nara. In addition we managed to try as many different Japanese dishes as possible while also picking up tons and tons of presents for our family and friends (definitely a bad idea to tell everyone their Christmas presents would be coming from Japan!).
My favourite part of the whole trip was probably the Golden Pavillon in Kyoto – after several days of trying to avoid the crowds that resulted in us leaving our hotel at 7 in the morning in order to not have to queue at traffic lights to cross the street, the Golden Pavillon was a real oasis of calm. Sure, there were lots of people, mainly tourists, but seeing the Golden Pavillon just as the sun was about to set was so so so beautiful. Food-wise I think my highlights were a dish of steamed Japanese sweet potato with vanilla ice cream as well as a small bowl of black sesame ice cream we tried on one of our last days in Tokyo. I had many sweets / drinks involving Matcha powder as well and whereas I like this a lot, I can’t say I am crazy about it. One thing I certainly didn’t like too much was the Matcha Latte – tastewise its great, green tea and milk certainly go together much better than I thought. However, since the Matcha does not dissolve in water, you end up with a rather chalky drink. Not ideal if you ask me!
One of my favourite things to see in Tokyo was certainly Kappabashi-Dori.
For me this was in many ways a dream come true – a whole street lined with shops selling all sorts of kitchen and baking accessories, ceramics, Japanese knifes etc etc etc. (and, it is a long long long street, don’t think we ever made it to the end!). I was in heaven! Unfortunate only, the first time we came, most stores were shut as it was New Year’s Eve and the second time we went, it was already a little late in the evening and lots of shops had started to pack up for the day. Nevertheless Alessandro managed to buy a couple of scarily sharp Japanese knifes both for himself and as presents and I managed to pick up some mini (really really mini, so cute!) Bundt pans, some tart moulds as well as a Ginko leaf cutter (my mom adores Ginko so I am hoping I can use this for a Ginko-inspired Birthday cake).
Kappabashi-Dori also has many stores selling the plastic food models used in the display cases of restaurants all over Japan and that make a fantastic souveni (quite pricey though!). We ended up buying some fake garlic for Alessandro’s aunt and picked up a fake macaron for my macaron-loving sister. Check out the fake sushi in the picture above – don’t you just want to tuck into that salmon nigiri?
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As for workouts … the only success story that I have to share is that I am getting better and better at Pilates again. I use both Alycea Ungaro’s book “Pilates in Motion” as well as video workouts from www.pilatesonfifth.com – the videos have been my life savers these past few weeks. All too often I decided against hitting the gym in the morning in favour of an extra hour of sleep … any exercise plans I had for the evening were often cancelled either due to work or meeting friends. But, 2-3 times a week I put on some nice music, change into something comfortable and do one of their 30 or 45 minute workout videos. The great thing is that there are so many videos it never gets boring. Besides I discovered a number of exercises that were knew to me and that I have yet to master! You can even download the videos on your laptop or ipod – something I will certainly do considering how much I move around. I haven’t done any cardio (other than my daily walk to and from work, totalling about 5kms) since my weekend in London 2 weeks ago! Friday night we had some goodbye drinks for a friend who is leaving Brussels. A number of kirr royals later and suddenly it was already 3 am as I stumbled into my bed. Wake up to a blanket of snow and decided against my morning run. Was hoping to fit in some pilates after seeing my sister star in a play but didnt get home until midnight. Relaxing on the sofa now and will shorly do one of the pilates videos before getting ready for bed!
Ah yes, I promised a recipe. So, my brother gave me a madeleine mould for Christmas. I hesitated a bit to use the mould since I had heard several times how tricky madeleines are to bake. But having looked at recipes py Pierre Herme, Lenotre as well as various food blogs and recipe sites, I decided that this could not be that hard after all. Also, I had picked up a large bag of black sesame in Japan and was looking for recipes to incorporate this into. So, voila, black sesame madeleines. And how did these turn out? Simply great! I ended up taking these with me to London as a thank you to my friends for having me stay on their couch and these were gone in a second. While being as moist as normal madeleine the roasted and ground black sesame seeds added both a fragrant nutty aroma as well as a bit of crunch to these madeleines!
Black Sesame Madeleines
Makes 9
1 tbsp black sesame seeds
40g butter
1 egg
50g sugar
60g plain flour, sifted
Start by lightly toasting the sesame seeds in a dry pan, being careful not to burn them. Basically they seeds are ready when you can smell a warm nutty aroma. This should not take longer than a few minutes. Next, grind the sesame seeds as fine as you like – you can either do this in a food processor or with a pestle and mortar. I didnt grind my seeds too finely because I wanted the madeleines to have a bit of bite! Next you cream together the egg with the sugar until pale and tripled in volume. Sift ofter the flour and carefully incorporate. Melt the butter and let cool down slightly. Pour the cooled but still liquid over the batter, add the ground sesame seeds and carefully incorporate. Place the batter in the fridge for at least 1 hour. Next, preheat the oven to 220 degrees and let the batter come to room temperature. If using a silicon madeleine mould there is no need to butter the mould, otherwise grease the madeleine mould with a small amount of butter and cover with a little flour. Next divide the batter between the 9 moulds and let bake for between 10-15 minutes. Let cool slightly before removing from the moulds and letting the madeleines cool down completely on a baking rack.
Enjoy!
P.S. These are best eaten on the day they are made!
