July 18, 2005
Dip Fromage Frais et Coriandre
[Fresh Cheese and Cilantro Dip]
Last Saturday we organized a little impromptu dinner party at our place with our dear neighbor-friends Stéphan and Patricia, and our new neighbor-friends Ligiana and Peter. Ah yes! Didn't I tell you? We have new neighbors! They moved in a few weeks ago and now occupy the apartment just to the left of ours. A little welcome note slipped under their door, an invitation to join us for drinks and nibbles, and voilà ! new neighbor-friends. They are both singers of ancient music, she is from Brasil, he is half-Italian half-Scottish, he loves to cook, she loves to eat -- really, we couldn't have found a better match had we conducted interviews.
For that dinner, while Stéphan prepared a glorious loubia tajine (a white bean tajine), a couscous douceur ("sweetness couscous", with prunes, dried apricots and almonds) and braised beef, I took care of the appetizer and dessert. I wanted to keep those nice and light since I had an inkling of the Moroccan feast Stéphan was putting together for us. I also had very little time to devote to the preparation since we were out running errands all afternoon, so I opted for two super-easy, super-quick recipes.
The appetizer, which was in fact whipped up just as our guests were arriving and Maxence was serving drinks, was a simple dip made with fresh cheese (I am partial to the plain Recettes de Madame Loïk made with salt from Guérande, of which we consume alarming amounts) and a hefty dose of chopped cilantro, served with sticks of cucumber -- a small and knobbly variety that my produce seller calls concombre du jardin.
A typical back-to-basics example of just taking good products and assembling them in the simplest of ways, to deliciously fresh results.
Dip Fromage Frais Coriandre
- 1/2 C fresh cheese (I use the Recettes de Madame Loïk kind but you can substitute cream cheese, Saint-Morêt or another type of fresh cheese)
- small bouquet of cilantro (coriander in British English), about 25 stems (if cilantro tastes soapy to you, you can use flat-leaf parsley)
- a dash of olive oil
- freshly-ground pepper, to taste
- salt (may not be necessary if the cheese is already salted)
- 2 small cucumbers or one large
Rinse and dry the cilantro. Pluck the leaves and chop them roughly. In a small mixing-bowl, combine the fresh cheese, cilantro, olive oil and pepper, and mix with a fork until thoroughly blended. Taste and adjust the seasoning, adding a little more oil if necessary to reach the desired smoothness.
Rinse, dry, quarter and de-seed the cucumbers; cut in sticks.
Serve the fresh cheese and cilantro dip with the cucumber sticks and optionally, fingers of fresh, crusty country bread.
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Comments (16)
Permalink | Posted by clotilde in Appetizers - Jams & Dips - Recipe Inside!
ça donne des idées pour notre prochaine soirée entre voisins... reste à trouver de nouveaux voisins aussi chouettes que les vôtres !
Posted by aude on July 18, 2005 11:58 AMI'm amazed about your site, fantastic. Just this season I grew 85 zuchhini from 8 plants and I was looking for recipes. thx.
Posted by Riet van der Sar on July 18, 2005 1:27 PMCilantro doesn't taste soapy to me, but it certainly tastes like something else...
What about the dessert?
Posted by mathew on July 18, 2005 4:53 PMI'll try this one tomorrow, Cilantro is fine with me. Thanks!
Posted by Jay on July 18, 2005 5:55 PMAfter this fresh appetizer, I'm just curious about the dessert !!
Posted by mercotte on July 18, 2005 6:21 PMYou are lucky to find such nice neighbors !
gourmands et gourmets !!
For the English reading this site and that do not know what "cilantro" is (a lot of them don't!), that's the american word for what the brits call "coriander"!
Posted by Vincent on July 18, 2005 6:23 PMCongratulations on the lovely new neighbors. I find myself wondering about how Stephan made his loubia and couscous! Can you help?
Posted by suzy on July 19, 2005 12:14 AMWonderful blog, Clotilde.
So, you have charming soirees, lovely friends, and delectable, interesting meals? Yeah, well, I just billed nine hours. So there!
Posted by victoria on July 19, 2005 3:50 AMClotilde, you have somehow managed to reach a perfect self-sustaining state : you'll never run out of friends as long as you don't run out of food... and you'll never run out of food as long as you don't run out of friends !
Posted by Patrick on July 19, 2005 11:05 PMI'm not a fan of cilantro, but I do like coriander a lot. I think this may be good with some coriander seeds mixed in with the parsley? Anyway, it sounds fresh and cooling. Thanks!
Posted by Lady Amalthea on July 20, 2005 5:19 PMAlmathea - it doesn't make a great deal of sense to say you don't like cilantro, but like coriander, as they're the same thing. Cilantro is just what they call it in the US. I don't know if any other country uses that terminology. As far as I know, the rest of the world uses coriander (just like metric temperatures! ;-) )
Posted by Alex on July 20, 2005 6:14 PMSo. Just to clarify, here's my understanding:
Posted by clotilde on July 20, 2005 6:27 PM- In US English: "cilantro" is the herb, while "coriander" is used for the seeds.
- In British English: "coriander" is the herb, "coriander seed" is, well, the seed.
- In French: "coriandre" is the herb, "graine de coriandre" is the seed.
Clothilde; yep, I think you've hit it on the head there, and adressed a common linguistic confusion between countries. Thank you.
Posted by Niki on July 21, 2005 9:33 AMJust one point; perhaps it's better to use 'Anglo English' or some such term (any suggestions?) rather than 'British English', as those of us here in Australia and New Zealand really don't consider ourselves 'British English' speakers, despite the majority of our cooking terminologies coming from there rather than the US.
(although, we do say zucchini here in Australia, rather than the British term courgette. That's what'll happen when the culture of a country develops organically!)
My husband and I love your blog. It is so descriptive and interesting. We were in Paris in 2000, rented a car, drove down to Marseilles (had fabulous Boullabaisse) via Reims, Lyon, Provence, et al and can't wait to go back. We live about 45 minutes north of Miami and would love to either meet you for a drink or have you over. Please email if you are available and/or interested.
Posted by Barb on June 27, 2006 9:16 PMokay now I am very confused..in Canada cilantro and coriander are 2 separate herbs.. as I understand... cilantro...which reminds me of celery is similar to parsley..however coriander.. which is used alot in Thai and Mexican recipes is very distinct..nnot really what I would call refreshing.. so you must be thinking of cilantro...
Posted by Rhonda on September 8, 2006 3:57 PMCoriander, cilantro, chinese parsley ... people all seem to have a different name for them! I made a slightly altered recipe of this with thick yogurt, mint, cilantro, ginger and shallots. I then used it as a sauce for thai rare beef wrapped in cucumber slices. Mmmmm .....
Posted by Cara on September 23, 2007 7:56 AMPrivacy. The email addresses you enter will not be used for any other purpose than the sending of this message.