January 24, 2012
Curried Butternut Squash Pasta
Only recently did it occur to me that winter squash could be welcome in a dish of pasta. Before that, I'd always vaguely considered the two ingredients were too similar and might cancel each other out, the same way I wouldn't make a potato sandwich*, for instance.
But then one day, wanting to fix myself a quick bowl of pasta for lunch and hunting down a leftover piece of butternut squash in the vegetable drawer, a light went up (in my brain, not in the fridge) and revealed an entire, unexplored avenue of pasta options.
This sort of pasta dish definitely belongs to the category of winter preparations that soothe and comfort by the softness of their texture and the sweetness of their flavor profile, so to keep it from being altogether too sweet, I keep things zesty with heat and spice.
Hence the use of curry powder: the one I use is a very flavorful, and surprisingly hot one called Kari Gosse**, a secret mix that was developed by an apothecary from Brittany in the early nineteenth century, when ships from the Far East still docked in local ports to unload their treasured spices. Naturally, you should use whichever curry powder you like, but if it doesn't pack a chili pepper punch, I recommend you complement its action with cayenne pepper or a good dash of hot sauce at the end.
As for the pasta, I usually get spelt fusilli at the organic store, but lately (and in the picture above), I've been using local pasta from ICI: L'Epicerie locavore, which are manufactured in Bagnolet, just outside of Paris, with organic flour from Seine-et-Marne. I'm especially fond of their tiny pasta (which they label as risi but I believe are in fact midolline, as they're teardrop- rather than rice-shaped) toasted in the style of fregola sarda.
* Though I know some people who are fond of sandwiches garnished with crushed potato chips and mayonnaise, but that's another story.
** It is available from a few pharmacies and grocery stores in and around Lorient in Brittany, and from the inimitable Epicerie de Bruno in Paris.
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Cooking/baking time: 12 min
January 17, 2012
About my new book
In my Best of 2011 post earlier this month, I hinted at the new book I'm working on, and after receiving several kind requests for details, I thought I'd tell you a little more about the project.
The general idea of the book is to talk about the love affair between French cuisine and vegetables.
It is admittedly a challenge to dine out as a vegetarian in France, where meat and fish are treated as the main character of any special-occasion dish, yet the French culinary repertoire is rife with delicious ideas on how to cook vegetables.
It seems to me that when cooks try to shift their habits to use fewer animal products, French cuisine is not the one they turn to spontaneously, so it is a source of inspiration that is vastly untapped.
Over the past few years, as has no doubt been apparent on C&Z, Maxence and I have transitioned to a more and more plant-based way of eating -- for reasons of ethics, environmental concern, and natural inclination -- so I've had plenty of opportunities to explore unusual and exciting ways to use up my weekly selection of seasonal vegetables.
It is the best of those colorful, seasonal dishes that I want to share in this new book. Some are personal creations, others are drawn from my research into lesser-known regional cuisines. All are simple and flavorsome, so you can make the most of the time you spend in the kitchen.
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January 11, 2012
Beet Hummus
Who says winter food has to be colorless and drab?
I first put together this beet hummus just before the holidays, on a day we'd been invited to dinner by one of my dearest friends (I've told you about her before), who was days away from delivering her first child.
When I offered to contribute to the dinner, I was entrusted with the mission of bringing something to nibble on for the apéro, to go with our pre-dinner drinks.
I find that dips are the most travel-ready of all appetizer options, and I remembered that Clea's lunchbox book Mes p'tites gamelles had a recipe for beet hummus I'd earmarked to try a long time ago.
In her version, she adds a small, cooked beet to a classic chickpea hummus. I decided instead to skip the chickpeas altogether and use beets only, essentially preparing a puréed beet dip flavored with the signature ingredients of hummus: sesame paste, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, cumin, and salt.
Each of these is an ideal flavor partner to the beet, so I wasn't surprised that their teamwork produced such a pleasing dip: zesty, well-balanced, not too sweet.
To go with it, I brought along a tub of baguette slices cut from a day-old loaf, which I'd rubbed with garlic olive oil and toasted in the oven, and we munched away happily while discussing their exciting family prospects.
In France, one can usually find vacuum-packed cooked beets in the produce aisle -- I buy the Bonneterre brand at the organic store -- and since they have a shelf life of a couple of months, you can keep a package on hand to whip up beet hummus in a pinch. If this isn't a convenience item where you live, perhaps you can get into the habit of steaming, boiling, or roasting a few more than you need when you're cooking beets; you can then stash those away in the freezer for future use.
January 2, 2012
Best of 2011
Happy New Year! May your 2012 be a year of glowing health, simple pleasures, serene prospects, and dreams fulfilled.
2011 has been an eventful and wonderful year for me, full of exciting and gratifying projects in both my personal and professional lives. I got to travel around France (Deauville, Aix-en-Provence, the Basque country, Corsica) and beyond (Marrakech and Toronto), I was invited to be the host of an international food festival and the writer in residence at a chefs school, I worked on The Art of French Baking and on a new book of my own devoted to vegetables (to be released by Clarkson Potter next year), I did a two-week stint in the kitchen at my favorite vegetarian restaurant in Paris, I had my kitchen and living room remodeled, and I was admitted as a member of a famous French chocolate appreciation society, which had long been on my life list.
Beyond those big events, here are some specific highlights from my year, in no particular order. I'd love to hear about yours, so feel free to share in the comment section!
Most frequently made dish: Chicken in a bread crust, inspired by a dish demo'd by Saturne's Sven Chartier at the Omnivore Food Festival.
Most frequently made dessert: Butterless apple crumble, a dairy-free version of the classic that is possibly even better for breakfast the next day.
Most elusive ingredient: Kale, a beautiful and nourishing green that is near-impossible to find in Paris, but which I filled up on while in Canada.
Most popular ingredient: Chestnut flour, which I brought back from Corsica and have been slipping into everything since.
Favorite new utensil: Bear claws, handmade in Canada, to toss salads.
Favorite homemade condiments: Dukkah, an Egyptian spice mix, and Celery salt, after a recipe by my friend Heidi.
December 20, 2011
Almond and Orange Blossom Croquants
From the department of Who Has Time To Make Edible Gifts In Advance Anyway comes this last-minute recipe, shared by French food writer Cécile Cau on her blog a couple of days ago. It is a recipe for croquants, which is the French word for a variety of crunchy cookies from the South of France, most often thin and involving almonds.
I read the recipe and was enchanted by its simplicity. Flour, sugar, eggs, almonds, and a splash of orange flower water: I had all these on hand, and since my desk is about four steps from my kitchen, the temptation was great to just drop whatever it is I was supposed to be doing and bake a batch.
I halved the recipe, wanting to take it for a test drive before I committed three cups of almonds to it, and modified a few things: I used a combination of regular and light whole wheat flour, decreased the quantity of sugar, determined an amount of orange blossom water that seemed right to me (Cécile's recipe didn't provide a measurement), and added a bit of salt, both mixed into the dough and sprinkled on just before baking.
The result is a truly delicious, crisp, slender cookie, not too sweet, and subtly (but noticeably) flavored with orange blossom. It could be compared to biscotti or cantuccini, and indeed they are cousins, but these are two to three times thinner, which makes a significant -- and in my opinion, desirable -- difference in the final texture and eating experience.
So, will you give these a try? And do you have any last-minute edible gift ideas to share?
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Cooking/baking time: 30 min
December 14, 2011
Easy Candied Almonds and Hazelnuts
If there was a candy making for dummies book (what am I saying, of course there is one) this recipe would deserve a prominent spot.
No sugar thermometer, no elaborate trick, very few opportunities for a major burn (unless you really apply yourself). Just a bit of boiling, stirring, and baking, and still these minimal efforts will yield something delicious that anyone will recognize as candy.
The technique was brought to my attention by a post on Rose & Cook, a French food blog I've only recently discovered and is one of my latest favorites. The post in question was about a chocolate and hazelnut cookie recipe that the author had drawn from the book 190 Cours illustrés à l'Ecole de cuisine Alain Ducasse, a big book that is in fact a compilation of recipes and step-by-step pictures drawn from the many smaller "Leçon de cuisine" books that Alain Ducasse's publishing house has issued about various culinary themes over the years.
I actually have a copy of this thick tome myself, but I hadn't particularly noticed the cookie recipe, nor had I realized that it contained a short but powerful little sub-recipe for noisettes sablées -- literally "sandy hazelnuts" -- that you were directed to fold into the cookie dough. But Rose (I assume such is the name of the author of the Rose & Cook blog, though it's not clear) pointed out that the candied hazelnuts were particularly irresistible, and the recipe looked so simple I tried it as soon as I had a moment.
The recipe didn't quite work for me as written: there was way more syrup than was needed to coat the quantity of nuts listed, so I reduced the quantity of water slightly and doubled the amount of nuts, using both hazelnuts and almonds. I also sprinkled on some salt, because it felt like the right thing to do (it was).
A mere twenty minutes later, I was standing over a tray of candied almonds and hazelnuts in their golden brown sugar coating, waiting impatiently for them to cool just enough for me to try a bite into their crisp and lightly caramelized outer shell.
And after some extensive tasting (ahem), I can imagine a million uses for these: in cookie or brioche dough, certainly, but also to garnish fruit (or vegetable) salads, fold into or serve on top of ice cream, embed in homemade chocolate bars, simply snack on (they pair well with dried fruit or a square of dark chocolate in the afternoon), or give away in little bags or jars with a pretty ribbon. You could also imagine all kinds of spiced variations, though I myself prefer to keep the flavors simple here.
What would you use those in, and what's your favorite easy candy to make?
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Cooking/baking time: 20 min
