May 7, 2013
Roasted Mustard Mackerel with Fennel
Longtime readers may remember the post I wrote about sustainable seafood a few years ago. The issue is still very much at the forefront of my mind, I carry around the pocket seafood guide issued in French by the WWF (check this list for your local equivalent), and I generally eat little fish -- meaning both "not a lot of it" and "not very big ones".
I'm not perfect, and although my conscience tells me I should give it up, we still go out for s...
"Roasted Mustard Mackerel with Fennel" continues »
April 16, 2013
Fresh Ginger Cake
If pastry chef and baking expert extraordinaire David Lebovitz were to release a Greatest Hits collection, this Fresh Ginger Cake would no doubt make the cut. Come to think of it, he has and it did: the collection is a book called Ready for Dessert: My Best Recipes, and it is a must-own for every baking enthusiast.
I have been friends with David for a good eight years, and I have known about this amazing ginger cake of his for about as long -...
"Fresh Ginger Cake" continues »
April 9, 2013
Roasted Savoy Cabbage
We seem to be having one of those stubborn springs that refuses to, well, spring. And after a particularly dreary winter with a record dearth of sunny days, the grower from whom I get most of my vegetables told me he's about a month and a half late with the spring crop.
So, despite what the calendar says -- and despite my hunger for fresh peas -- I am choosing to respect the realities of the current season, and to celebrate the tail end of the...
"Roasted Savoy Cabbage" continues »
March 7, 2013
Instant Banana Sorbet (No Ice Cream Machine Needed)
I've written about Braden Perkins before as the co-creator of the Paris supper club Hidden Kitchen. He and his partner Laura Adrian closed HK a year and a half ago, and moved on to open an official restaurant they named Verjus.
Braden and I have now been friends for six years, and this has put me in the enviable position of tasting his food and cooking at his side on quite a few occasions. I never fail to be impressed by the zing and sense of ...
"Instant Banana Sorbet (No Ice Cream Machine Needed)" continues »
February 19, 2013
Winter Vegetable Curry
Do you want to hear one of the least publicized benefits of working from home? You get sick less often.
Not only can you choose to stay in when it's cold and drizzly and icky outside (pyjamas optional), but you also spend less time in crowded public transportation, shake fewer hands and kiss fewer cheeks (in French office environments, it is common to kiss your close colleagues hello when you come in in the morning), and touch fewer shared cof...
"Winter Vegetable Curry" continues »
February 6, 2013
Cumin Chickpea Crêpes
I love legumes of all shapes, colors, and sizes, but if I had to play favorites, it is the chickpea I would single out as the cutest (right?) and the most incredibly versatile.
I love it in my vegetables, in my salads, and in my soups, in my hummus and in my baked falafel (I'll be sharing a recipe soon), in my Nice-style socca and in my socca tarts (recipe in my upcoming cookbook!).
But my latest, fondest use for the pale yellow, nutty, sligh...
"Cumin Chickpea Crêpes" continues »
January 22, 2013
Smoked Herring and Potato Salad
Harengs pommes à l'huile -- literally, herring and potatoes with oil -- is a great classic among French hors-d'oeuvres, one that you'll still find on brasserie and traditional (or neo-traditional) bistro menus.
{I'll take this opportunity to mention this formidable project from the New York Public Library Labs: What's on the menu? is a digitized collection of restaurant menus dating back to the 1850's, and harengs pommes à l'huile appears in q...
"Smoked Herring and Potato Salad" continues »
January 8, 2013
Roasted Onions
Peeling onions is one of my least favorite cooking tasks. The stubborn papery skin that refuses to come away smoothly, the pesky little flakes that get stuck under your fingernails and on the cutting board, not to mention the occasional outer layer that's part flesh part skin (what to do with those?), all conspire to vex me.
Yet I adore onions and the pungent or sweet things they do, so I put my head down and try to take each specimen as an op...
December 4, 2012
Banana Coconut Bread (Vegan)
Surprise, surprise, it turns out that having a baby gets in the way of one's cooking ambitions a little bit.
On weeknights, the time that I used to devote to making dinner is now all about my son -- the playing, the feeding, the pyjama-ing, the cuddling, the singing -- and the few moments that I do spend in the kitchen I make the absolute most of, with quick recipes that require the bare minimum in the way of prep.
Let's say we've been eating...
"Banana Coconut Bread (Vegan)" continues »
November 6, 2012
Savory Granola
Silencio is the name of a membership club that opened a little over a year ago in Paris, with creative help from David Lynch. It's built way underground, and the ambiance is quite eerie, with dim lighting and a Lynch-designed decor that's all smoked mirrors and faded gold*.
Access is reserved to members until midnight, when the place turns into a more classic nightclub, and during this first half of the evening, they get to watch films in the ...
October 10, 2012
Vegan Lemon Squares
Silken tofu has always stumped me.
Regular, firm tofu, I know what to do with -- most often I pat it dry, cube it, and sauté it until golden brown and crisp, to be served over puréed, roasted, or stir-fried vegetables.
But silken tofu, with its strange, curd-like texture and the whey that pools at the bottom of the tub (is it part of the tofu? should I use it? not use it?), has always felt like a riddle. More times than I care to admit it, I'...
"Vegan Lemon Squares" continues »
September 19, 2012
Gazpacho
In the midst of the August heatwave, Maxence and I sat at a dappled table of a restaurant in Urdax, a pretty village in the Spanish Basque country, and ordered gazpacho.
It was brought to us in white ceramic bowls, with a side plate of toppings to sprinkle in -- cucumbers, green bell peppers, and onions, all of them finely diced, flakes of serano ham, and tiny croutons -- and we slurped it all down thirstily.
Usually, when I lay my hands on e...
August 28, 2012
Baked Cucumbers with Pink Turnips
If Julia Child hadn't died in her California retirement home in 2004, she would have turned one hundred this August. Learning this made me realize that she was just a few months younger than my own grandmother, who turned a century old last fall, and passed away in the spring.
Looking at Child's biography, it seems the two lived in Paris during some of the same years, and because my grandmother was also an avid cook, I like to imagine their pa...
"Baked Cucumbers with Pink Turnips" continues »
August 7, 2012
Onigiri
When Maxence and I traveled to Japan two years ago, one of the treats I indulged in on a daily basis was the onigiri, the ubiquitous rice ball that is a staple of the Japanese diet, eaten as a nicely portable snack and packed for lunches outside the home*.
We mostly bought them from konbini, the 24/7 convenience stores that pepper the streets of Tokyo, and on one occasion from a specialized shop that sold nothing but onigiri (imagine that!), a...
July 20, 2012
Fresh Fava Beans, Two (Easier) Ways
While I adore fresh fava beans {a.k.a. broad beans}, I find it hard to justify the time commitment they require.
Mind you, I'm not against making an effort in the interest of great flavor. But unlike fresh pea pods, which are a delight to pop, these particular pods are rather tiresome to rip open, and between the blanching and the peeling that follow, I'm frazzled before I've even started to cook the actual dish.
Because of this, I used to re...
"Fresh Fava Beans, Two (Easier) Ways" continues »
June 25, 2012
Pecan Carrot Cake
There will be a special place in my baker's heart for the first project I undertook post-baby, and I take it as a fine omen that it is also an exceptionally good cake, one I have already baked again twice since then.
Our son (it still feels surreal typing these words) is now six weeks old, he is thriving, and although the first weeks were challenging in ways I had been told about but couldn't truly penetrate until I experienced them firsthand,...
"Pecan Carrot Cake" continues »
April 25, 2012
Scone Tops
We were expecting friends for brunch on Saturday morning, and I decided to bake scones. Not the triangular wedges stuffed with various ingredients often sold in the US, but the classic, round, plain, British kind.
For three years, almost to the day, I'd been sitting on a recipe that my dear friend Chika had shared with me, and which she'd drawn from Anton Edelmann's out-of-print book, Taking Tea at the Savoy. She had mentioned that this was he...
April 12, 2012
Candied Orange Slices
Drouant is a century-old Paris restaurant with a majestic Art Déco interior and private dining rooms where the jury for the Prix Goncourt, the most prestigious book award in France, convenes each fall to deliberate.
Beyond that literary glamour, Drouant also serves an excellent cuisine, and one of the features that have turned us into regulars is the poulet-frites that is offered for lunch on Sundays: a farm-raised roasted chicken served with ...
"Candied Orange Slices" continues »
February 21, 2012
Multiseed Buckwheat Cookies
One of the challenges of writing a cookbook is that, for the duration of the project, most of one's cooking energies are channeled into the book -- to develop the recipes initially, and then to re-test them as often as needed to refine them.
This means that, for months and months, one's kitchen activities are largely governed by a spreadsheet -- glamorous, no? -- and any tempting recipe that may be found online, in books, or in magazines, must...
"Multiseed Buckwheat Cookies" continues »
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, n...
"Curried Butternut Squash Pasta" continues »
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 a...
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 ...
"Almond and Orange Blossom Croquants" continues »
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...
"Easy Candied Almonds and Hazelnuts" continues »
December 6, 2011
Spaghetti with Crushed Sardine and Tomato Sauce
In ELLE à table, a French cooking magazine I contribute to, one of the longest-running sections is one called La Cuisine du placard (literally, cuisine from the cabinet or cupboard) that presents a picture of common pantry items, and offers recipes that make use of those, requiring as little fresh shopping as possible.
I consider myself a fresh ingredient cook, chiefly inspired by seasonal produce and market stalls, yet I get a special kind of...
"Spaghetti with Crushed Sardine and Tomato Sauce" continues »
November 29, 2011
Chocolate Almond Bettelman
If you've ever bought or baked fresh brioche, surely you've noted the subtle shift, occurring sometime during day two or three, when said brioche turns from something you can't keep your hands off of, to something you feel you should be eating because it's there.
When that initial magic is gone, the toaster can help revive it to a certain extent, especially if you top it with thin slivers of salted butter and generous amounts of grated chocola...
"Chocolate Almond Bettelman" continues »
October 18, 2011
Homemade Natural Deodorant
Today's recipe is for something you'll make in your kitchen with ingredients you would normally use for cooking, but that you shouldn't actually eat. (Or you could, but you'd be missing the point.)
Today's recipe is for a natural deodorant. I realize personal hygiene isn't an altogether food-friendly subject, but making your own cosmetics is not so different from making your own dinner, and I am so enthused by this one I thought I'd share.
I'...
"Homemade Natural Deodorant" continues »
September 20, 2011
Chestnut and Herb Canistrelli
Cooking inspiration is not the least of the pleasures I draw from a vacation, especially when I'm able to bring back a few local ingredients. It's not always a sensible maneuver, though: I'm sure we all have old packages of dusty exotic spices we haven't once cooked with, but can't quite bring ourselves to toss.
I've done this often enough over the years that I am now a lot more prudent about my vacation ingredient purchases. My strategy is tw...
"Chestnut and Herb Canistrelli" continues »
September 13, 2011
Homemade Celery Salt
When I read Heidi's July post about her homemade celery salt, I bookmarked it immediately, murmuring to myself how simple and beautiful and clever the idea was.
While I am an enthusiastic consumer of celery root, I don't cook with celery stalks much, and only ever buy it in small quantities to flavor stock. Still, in those cases, I am faced with a fair amount of celery leaves that come with the stalks. I usually just add those to the stockpot ...
"Homemade Celery Salt" continues »
August 9, 2011
Poached Rhubarb
These days, when I get to the Batignolles farmers market on Saturday mornings -- as early as I can but not as early as I'd like -- my first order of business is to dart upon whatever rhubarb is left at my favorite produce stall.
My strategy is not 100% proper, I'm afraid.
The pile of stalks is usually found a third of the way down the length of the stall, wedged in between, say, a basket of short cucumbers and a crate of tiny new potatoes, an...
June 16, 2011
Chocolate Coconut Muffins
{Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free}
In preparation for a recent article in ELLE à table, the French cooking magazine in which I write a column, I did some research on the range of ingredients that are derived from the coconut palm.
Beyond the pulp of the fruit (the white flesh that is consumed fresh or dried), its water (the clear liquid inside) and its milk (the liquid you get from pressing or steeping the pulp), I was especially interested in coconut...
"Chocolate Coconut Muffins" continues »
May 24, 2011
Zucchini Pasta with Almonds and Lemon Zest
Our spring has been so warm and sunny for so many weeks, it feels like we're living a perpetual July.
Although this is terrible news for farmers, who need a wet spring for their crop, Parisians have been enjoying this gift of a weather obliviously. Drinks and meals out on sidewalk terraces have become a daily pleasure, as have light dresses and strappy sandals.
Produce stalls bear witness to this meteorological oddity as well: we already have...
"Zucchini Pasta with Almonds and Lemon Zest" continues »
May 12, 2011
Lentil and Kohlrabi Salad
This is the salad I made for lunch the day I moved out of my apartment and into my next-door neighbor's.
It's not what you think. Maxence and I have decided that our kitchen and living room -- which are, in fact, in the same room -- needed a facelift, and after months of imagining, planning, and gathering our strength, it looks like it is finally happening.
It's anybody's guess how long it's all going to take -- you know how it is -- but at t...
"Lentil and Kohlrabi Salad" continues »
May 3, 2011
Homemade Oat Milk
From the department of Saving Money By Making Things From Scratch -- the same department that campaigned for homemade hummus a couple of months ago -- comes this public service announcement: making your own oat milk is very easy and very cheap.
I don't drink milk myself -- oat or otherwise -- but I use oat milk as an ingredient regularly, in this vanilla oat milk tapioca pudding or in this Swiss chard gratin, but also to make pastry cream for...
"Homemade Oat Milk" continues »
April 12, 2011
Water Kefir
Those of you who subscribe to my newsletter already know that I worked for a little while last month at Bob's Kitchen, a (very good) vegetarian lunch restaurant and juice bar in the 3rd arrondissement.
The team had been hired to provide the food during a film festival that was held at Beaubourg, so they needed a few more hands on deck, and I seized this opportunity to gain a little pro cooking experience, to catch a behind-the-scenes glimpse a...
April 5, 2011
Chinese Marinated Pork Ribs
In the very early days of 2011, I was invited to lunch by a blogger-friend*. In preparation for the meal, she said two promising things: "I hope you like Chinese food" and "Come hungry."
In her pretty apartment filled with lovely things to look at -- postcards and drawings and old vinyls and slim books with soft covers -- she treated me to a cornucopian spread of Chinese dishes, all of them family recipes from her mother's kitchen.
Among thes...
"Chinese Marinated Pork Ribs" continues »
March 29, 2011
Butterless Apple Crumble
It's only recently that I've realized that the crumble topping of a fruit crumble doesn't have to be made with butter to be crisp and delicious.
Did you know? Am I the last person to find out?
The epiphany came from my intensive granola-making activities: after all, isn't granola a second cousin to the crumble topping? And if I make granola with oil, not butter, why not try that in a crumble?
And so, for the past few months -- since the begi...
"Butterless Apple Crumble" continues »
March 9, 2011
Hummus
I realize the world has not been holding its breath waiting for me to share my recipe for hummus.
But it does seem like the world, or at least a portion of its inhabitants, could use a friendly reminder about homemade hummus: how good it is, how easy, and how cheap, too.
Just out of curiosity, I've calculated the approximate cost of my hummus, which I make from dried chickpeas, and with organic ingredients, and I've worked out that it costs m...
March 2, 2011
Chicken in a Bread Crust
I attended the Omnivore Food Festival in Deauville last week, a three-day event during which chefs from France and way beyond hop on stage and do live demos. This was the sixth edition and I've only missed one since it started, but this year was extra special for me because I'd been asked to host the pastry chefs' demos in the sucré auditorium.
I had a blast meeting such talented individuals, from Bubo's Carles Mampel to Noma's Rosio Sanchez b...
"Chicken in a Bread Crust" continues »
February 15, 2011
Carrot Barley Galettes
For the past three years now, I've been writing a column in ELLE à table, a French bimonthly cooking magazine. This column spans two pages, and I generally devote one to an ingredient (cardamom! buckwheat! white chocolate!) and what you can do with it, the other to a food experience or trend (superfoods! Japanese pastries! mushroom picking!) and why you should care about it.
In the next installment (spoiler alert), due to appear in the March/A...
"Carrot Barley Galettes" continues »
February 8, 2011
Dukkah
I first learned about dukkah three years ago, when I had the incredible good fortune of traveling to Australia for a writers' festival. I spotted that Egyptian mix of nuts and spices again and again, in fine foods stores and on restaurant menus, and naturally, I was intrigued.
Dukkah -- also spelled duqqa or dukka -- is made with nuts (most commonly hazelnuts, sometimes pistachios or almonds) and seeds (cumin, sesame, coriander, fennel), as we...
January 25, 2011
Salt-Crusted Chicken
I was recently interviewed for the website of French publisher Larousse, and one of the questions was, "What is it that appeals to you in a recipe?" I replied that I was drawn to recipes that a) were simple, b) featured flavor pairings that were sure-footed (and optionally unusual) and c) gave me the opportunity to learn a new technique.
All three qualities are united in today's recipe, originally found in Yves Camdeborde's fantastic little bo...
"Salt-Crusted Chicken" continues »
January 18, 2011
Vanilla Oat Milk Tapioca Pudding
Meet my current favorite quick and easy dessert: a tapioca pudding made with oat milk and flavored with vanilla.
Tapioca pudding, for those not familiar with it, is not unlike rice pudding, except the texture of cooked pearl tapioca is estimated to be seven hundred and eighty three times more enjoyable than that of cooked rice, as each tiny pearl rolls off your tongue like the word "pearl" itself.
Pearl tapioca is made with the starch extract...
"Vanilla Oat Milk Tapioca Pudding" continues »
January 12, 2011
Roasted Squash and Einkorn Wheat Salad
Today's salad could be seen as a winter alter ego to this tomato and einkorn wheat salad from half a year ago, and it is proof that my love story with einkorn wheat wasn't just a summer crush.
Today's salad mixes the ancient grain (see my previous post for more on the back story) with chunks of spiced and roasted potimarron (a.k.a. Hokkaido squash, my very favorite of all winter squashes), shallots, chopped fresh herbs, and walnuts.
It's the ...
"Roasted Squash and Einkorn Wheat Salad" continues »
December 21, 2010
Christmas Sablés
[Biscuits de Noël]
Laurence is one of my best and oldest friends. I met her when I was fourteen, on our first day of high school, and soon we were inseparable, so alike in so many ways that people sometimes mistook us for sisters.
I loved going to her house after school. For one thing, there was a television there, which wasn't the case at my parents' -- much to my and my sister's grief -- so there was always the electrifying prospect of mayb...
"Christmas Sablés" continues »
December 14, 2010
Black Radish and Potato Salad
The black radish is the Parisian locavore's nemesis: during the winter, the raphanus sativus var. niger pops up regularly in AMAP* subscribers' vegetable baskets, and it can be a challenge to put it to good use.
An ancient variety that dates back to antiquity, this mega-radish has a black, coarse skin and a white, almost translucent flesh that's quite pungent in flavor. It is this characteristic sharpness that earned it the nickname of raifort...
"Black Radish and Potato Salad" continues »
December 8, 2010
Homemade Pasta
When I was little, when my sister and I felt desultory and bored, my mother would sometimes make us a batch of salt dough for modelling. We would sit at the small folding table in the kitchen and squeeze and roll and pinch to our hearts' content. And although my sister's creations were invariably more delicate and life-like than my own, I remember I once proudly produced a full range of miniature fruits and vegetables that tasted shockingly sal...
November 30, 2010
Basic Granola Formula
Granola is my safety blanket snack. I keep a big jar of it on the counter at all times, and if I run out and don't have the time or the ingredients to bake a new batch within the next few days, I don't feel quite myself.
There are very many granola recipes out there, and over the years I've tried a number of them -- you can check the raw buckwheat granola I wrote about last summer -- but when it comes to oven-baked granola, I find that what on...
"Basic Granola Formula" continues »
November 23, 2010
Chunky Pumpkin Soup
After years of whizzing all of my soups to liquid velvet, I have recently and suddenly become a chunky soup convert.
This change of preference happened overnight, and I don't know what prompted it, but ever since the beginning of the fall and the first batches of the season, I can't think of a more desirable soup format than cubes, coins, and ribbons of vegetables intermingling in a broth. There's chew and slurp, and the combination of the two...
"Chunky Pumpkin Soup" continues »
November 16, 2010
Walnut and Date Cookies
You may remember from my posts about the quince and almond cake and the quince jelly that I have a friend with a house in the country and a generous disposition.
On a Sunday night a couple of weeks ago, she was driving back to Paris after spending a weekend there, and she announced she had more quinces and also some walnuts for me. The bag is quite heavy, she said, did I want her to drop them off? That would be perfect, I replied, and we agree...
"Walnut and Date Cookies" continues »
November 9, 2010
Multigrain Starter Bread
There's nothing like an edible host(ess) gift, and I have found that bringing a loaf of freshly home-baked bread makes you a very popular guest indeed.
What I like to do then is schedule my weekly bread baking on the day that we're expected at a friend's house, and make bâtards, those plump, elongated loaves: I'll bake three at a time, save two for our own consumption, and bring the third one -- the one with the best looks, I am shallow that w...
"Multigrain Starter Bread" continues »
November 3, 2010
Quince Jelly
I haven't made much jam lately. I was very excited about the process when I was just learning about it some years ago, but I soon realized it was hardly a thrifty pursuit in my case: because I live in the city, I have no need to preserve a hypothetical glut from a garden or orchard, and the price of fresh organic fruit is such that I only buy what we'll consume in season.
I have occasionally helped my mother prepare batches of jam while on vac...
October 26, 2010
Cep and Walnut Pizza
It's been a bit of a mushroom fest around here lately: Maxence and I went foraging in the forest of Rambouillet earlier this month, and we came back with six and a half kilos of mushrooms between us (that's fourteen pounds).
Naturally, we didn't venture out willy nilly into the forest (I've read enough children's tales and seen enough video projects not to do that). We went with a pro, a friend who's a seasoned mushroom picker, who knows her C...
"Cep and Walnut Pizza" continues »
October 19, 2010
Quince Almond Cake
I scored big last week, as not one, but two generous friends asked if I'd like to take a few quinces off their hands. I am systemically incapable of resisting free produce, especially when it comes from a friend's garden (or a friend's neighbor's garden), and especially when it's as old-world charming as quince. I said yes! yes! just tell me where and when and I'll come a-running with my wheelbarrow!
And this is how I found myself with about f...
"Quince Almond Cake" continues »
October 5, 2010
Savory Sesame Cookies
If you read French food blogs at all, you've no doubt come across Clea Cuisine: Clea has been writing since March of 2005 -- first from Japan, where she was living then, and now from the South-East of France -- and her unique voice has quickly earned her stripes in the French blogosphere.
I've been a reader practically since the beginning -- I remember early posts about baking cakes in her rice cooker, teaching members of her French club how t...
"Savory Sesame Cookies" continues »
September 21, 2010
Raw Multiseed Crackers
Have you ever tried soaking flax seeds? If not, know that something eerie transpires as soon as your back is turned: while the seeds swell and absorb the water, they release a gel-like substance (called mucilage) so that next time you look, your bowl is filled with a kind of jiggly aspic in which the seeds are suspended.
This little trick makes flax seeds (also called linseeds, or graines de lin in French) particularly popular with raw food pr...
"Raw Multiseed Crackers" continues »
September 14, 2010
Tomato Burger Buns
Good cheeseburgers aren't easy to come by in Paris, and in truth, the ones I enjoy the most are those we make ourselves for lunch on weekends, with homemade buns, organic ground beef from the Batignolles greenmarket, and slivers of comté cheese lounging on top.
Having gleefully discovered that I could buy portobello mushrooms at said greenmarket -- although we have plenty of the brown mushrooms we call champignons de Paris, the overgrown versi...
"Tomato Burger Buns" continues »
September 7, 2010
Pattypan Squash and Pesto Soup
I've been a little hard on the patty pan squash, and for that I apologize.
About a year ago, I posted a recipe for Roasted Patty Pan Squash and Herbed Chickpeas, and wrote, "avoid patty pans that are larger than the palm of your hand: they will likely be watery and bland."
I do stand by my statement that young and small patty pan squashes have more flavor, better texture, and undoubtedly more kawaii appeal than their bigger brothers, but that...
"Pattypan Squash and Pesto Soup" continues »
August 31, 2010
Raw Buckwheat Granola
Two years ago, I met a young British woman named Poppy -- that alone made my day -- who introduced herself as a raw chocolatier.
I had a taste of her heart-shaped raw chocolates, assembled from raw Arriba cacao and a bunch of raw superfoods, and liked them so much I devoted one of my ELLE à table columns to them.
And when we met one day for her to demonstrate her chocolate-making prowess, she gave me a bag of her raw buckwheat granola, which ...
"Raw Buckwheat Granola" continues »
August 24, 2010
Pain au levain
Last spring, we had a few friends over for dinner who were visiting from the US. One of them works for the excellent magazine The Art of Eating, and kindly thought to bring us the latest issue*.
It would have been a lovely hostess gift under any circumstances, but as I sat down to read it the next day, I was jump-on-the-couch ecstatic to discover that it contained no fewer than fourteen pages (fourteen! pages!) on the subject of pain au levain...
August 17, 2010
Apricot Blueberry Cobbler
I'd been living in California for a few months and thoroughly enjoying the dotcom vibe of my workplace when the big news was announced: we were going to have a company barbecue.
This, to me, was what working in the Silicon Valley at the turn of the century was all about: a lot of fun ideas to make employees happy (water guns! foosball table! free pizza on Fridays!) and therefore more inclined to put in the hours and brainjuice that would help ...
"Apricot Blueberry Cobbler" continues »
August 10, 2010
Gomadofu (Sesame "Tofu")
Because summers in Japan are hot and humid, Japanese cooks know a thing or two about the refreshing dishes such sultry days call for.
Gomadofu falls into that category: a concoction of sesame paste cooked with a thickening agent until set, it resembles tofu in color and texture, hence the name (goma = sesame), and is served chilled.
I first came across it when Maxence and I traveled to Japan last spring, and stayed overnight at a temple in Ko...
"Gomadofu (Sesame "Tofu")" continues »
August 3, 2010
Olive Oil and Seed Crackers
If you've been on the fence about getting a pasta roller -- either an attachment for your stand mixer or a hand-cranked one for your biceps -- I may be able to offer the justification you were hoping for: a pasta roller proves handy for homemade crackers, too.
You see, to make good crackers, you need to roll the dough out thinly, for optimal snap, and evenly, so that they'll bake in a uniform fashion, without doughy or burnt spots.
And as I l...
"Olive Oil and Seed Crackers" continues »
July 27, 2010
Tomato and Einkorn Wheat (or Spelt) Salad
My weekday lunches revolve around salads like this one, built on grains, fresh vegetables, some sort of protein element, and fresh herbs. I prepare a few servings at a time, and that conveniently takes care of lunch for the next couple of days.
I do try to mix things up so as not eat the same thing all the time, but I admit I've become a little fixated on this particular one lately: it is full of flavor, refreshing and filling, with a satisfyi...
"Tomato and Einkorn Wheat (or Spelt) Salad" continues »
July 20, 2010
Almond Cake with Blueberry Coulis
I had my first taste of this cake at my friend Adam's lasst December. I was in New York for a whirlwind visit to promote the big fat pink book, and he and Craig had invited me to dinner at their place.
I would have been grateful for any home-cooked meal, which is by far my favorite kind when I travel, but this was a truly delicious dinner, one that refutes the "amateur" in "amateur gourmet."
After a salad of roasted beets and a dish of milk-b...
"Almond Cake with Blueberry Coulis" continues »
July 14, 2010
Yellow Zucchini Tarte Fine on a Yogurt-Based Crust
The football* world cup has just ended (congratulations, Spain!), and although I haven't breathed a word about it until now -- there is such a media overload during the event, you don't need me adding to it -- we followed the competition with an enthusiasm that wasn't dampened by the magnitude of the French fiasco.
Some games we watched from bars, others from home, and it was our great pleasure then to invite friends over to join in on the fun...
"Yellow Zucchini Tarte Fine on a Yogurt-Based Crust" continues »
July 6, 2010
Chocolate Starter Bread
Rue des Martyrs, which shoots up from the 9th into the 18th arrondissement, is one of those typical Paris market streets that seems to defy business logic by offering no fewer than seven bread bakeries, some of them but a block from one another.
Because I live in the neighborhood, I've had the opportunity to sample the goods from (almost*) all of them, and I've been particularly impressed with the breads I've purchased from Maison Landemaine, ...
"Chocolate Starter Bread" continues »
June 29, 2010
Roasted Lemon Zest Powder
Kitchen recycling is my favorite hobby.
So many food scraps can be put to good use with just a little time and flair*, and the satisfaction is immense when I feel I'm using my supplies to the max -- making chilled soup from pea pods, pesto from radish tops and croissants aux amandes from day-old croissants, using the whey from mozzarella in bread dough, parsley stems in stews, and the rinds from hard cheeses in soups.
Today's trick is one I'v...
"Roasted Lemon Zest Powder" continues »
June 22, 2010
Pasta with Tetragon
My first brush with tetragon -- a.k.a. New Zealand spinach, warrigal greens, sea spinach, and a few assorted nicknames -- took place six years ago: Nicolas Vagnon, the chef of the now long defunct La Table de Lucullus, had invited me to join him on his Saturday morning market run at the marché des Batignolles and hang out in his teeny kitchen afterward, watching him cook for the handful of customers who had come to lunch that day.
Among the th...
"Pasta with Tetragon" continues »
June 15, 2010
Yves Camdeborde's Sablés
Menu Fretin is a young French independent publishing house that specializes in culinary books*. Considering the teeny size of the organization, and how crazily difficult it is for an indie to carve a space for itself among the Goliaths of publishing, its book list is impressive, featuring daring projects that straddle the old and the new.
Menu Fretin has published such historical gems as an augmented edition of Alexandre Dumas' Grand Dictionna...
"Yves Camdeborde's Sablés" continues »
June 8, 2010
Radishes in Soil, Noma-Style
I first heard about Rene Redzepi's Copenhagen restaurant Noma when I attended the 2008 edition of the Omnivore Food Festival in Deauville, a gastronomic event during which high-profile chefs from France and beyond are invited to cook live on stage.
He has since received many more accolades as the herald of a refreshing and talented new wave of Scandinavian chefs. His forager's approach seems to celebrate nature at its most generous, yes, but a...
"Radishes in Soil, Noma-Style" continues »
June 3, 2010
Rhubarb Tart with Lemon Verbena
I am rhubarb's most adoring fan.
Throughout the season, in the spring and then in late summer, my weekly market run includes a big bunch of blushing stalks that I'll cook promptly, once home, into a compote* I'll eat for breakfast (with a gurgle of homemade kefir) throughout the week.
While compote is my standard use for rhubarb, I love it in a tart, too, and that's what I decided to serve for dessert last week, when we had friends over for d...
"Rhubarb Tart with Lemon Verbena" continues »
May 25, 2010
Ginger Scallion Sauce
I've long been uneasy about spring onions. It's the kind of produce that I feel deserves a special treatment that will make it shine -- local scallions are in season but briefly before the onion part bulges and takes over the green stems -- but I'm never quite sure what that treatment might be.
They taste too sharply onion-y to me to be served solo as a side vegetable, yet cooking them with other vegetables seems wasteful, because then their s...
"Ginger Scallion Sauce" continues »
May 18, 2010
Warabi Mochi
We had our first taste of warabi mochi on the basement floor of the Tokyu department store in Shibuya, Tokyo. Amid the extraordinary spread of edible goods -- sweet, savory and in between, fresh, dried, hot, cold -- was a little stand from which a lady was offering samples of soft, bite-size morsels dusted with a light brown powder.
We each took a wooden pick, lifted a piece to our mouth, and started chewing. It was amazing: the coating was f...
May 11, 2010
Chicken and Radish Salad with Creamy Avocado Dressing
I used to be someone who liked the white meat best in a roast chicken.
This worked out nicely at dinner with my parents when I was growing up, as they would each get a chicken leg while we girls ate the breast happily: it was mild in flavor, there were no bones to wrestle with, and it came with plenty of pan juices that our mother spooned on after we'd cut criss-cross indentations in the meat for optimal absorption.
My preference made for a u...
"Chicken and Radish Salad with Creamy Avocado Dressing" continues »
April 27, 2010
Swiss Chard Gratin with Vegan Bechamel
[Gratin de blettes]
A favorite from the archives, this post was originally published in April 2009.
I generally steer clear of ready-made preparations and other "helpers" sold at the grocery store: not out of snobism, but I love to cook, I devote time and thought to selecting good ingredients, and I welcome the opportunity to practice and experiment, so I am reluctant to give up the driver's seat and let some industrial product take over.
Bu...
"Swiss Chard Gratin with Vegan Bechamel" continues »
April 20, 2010
Squeeze Cookies (A Roasted Flour Experiment)
A favorite from the archives, this post was originally published in April 2008.
Among the many things I learned during that memorable conference on molecular gastronomy, one idea has been whirling around my brain with particular insistence since then, and it is that of farine torréfiée*, or roasted flour.
It was introduced to us by way of a truism: raw flour is bland, browned flour isn't. This is why we bother to make roux, and why the crust ...
"Squeeze Cookies (A Roasted Flour Experiment)" continues »
April 13, 2010
Lamb and Orange Khoresh
A favorite from the archives, this post was originally published in April 2009.
I know little about Persian cuisine. I do know it is a multifaceted one, that its flavors are refined and its roots run deep, but I have never been to an Iranian restaurant nor an Iranian home -- though now that I think about it, one of the Middle Eastern groceries we went to in California may have been Iranian -- so this Persian stew (that's what khoresh means) wa...
"Lamb and Orange Khoresh" continues »
April 6, 2010
Hot Cross Buns with White Chocolate, Dates and Pistachios
To celebrate Easter this weekend, I made hot cross buns, the brioche-like spiced loaves the British bake and serve on Good Friday*. I have made them on previous occasions, but instead of following the recipe I used last time, I decided to take a leaf from Dan Lepard's book.
I loosely followed the process he describes -- the overnight fermentation in the fridge, in particular -- but converted the recipe to use my sourdough starter, though the r...
"Hot Cross Buns with White Chocolate, Dates and Pistachios" continues »
March 16, 2010
Ginger and Almond Chocolate Clusters
Lately I've had an insuppressible urge to declutter. I would chalk it up to the advent of spring if it hadn't been so stubbornly cold, and if I didn't find myself in that state of I-can't-bear-to-live-with-this-stuff-for-a-minute-longer several times a year.
Actually, one of my resolutions for 2010 is to take on at least one decluttering project every weekend. It can be something quick, like sorting through the restaurant business cards we've ...
"Ginger and Almond Chocolate Clusters" continues »
March 3, 2010
Rice and Bean Salad
I hardly ever eat meat or fish when I'm alone. I may have a bit of ham or chicken on occasion if there is some left over from another meal, but other than that, my solo appetite favors a plant-based diet, with a few dairy products (yogurt, cheese) and eggs thrown in.
And because I eat most of my weekday lunches at home, in my own company (I admit I've become frightfully attached to the quiet and solitude of my workdays) and as an accidental ve...
"Rice and Bean Salad" continues »
February 16, 2010
Brown Butter Spiced Crisp
Planning the menu for a dinner party is all about being realistic, balancing the different dishes not only in terms of flavor and style, but also in terms of workload. If I opt for a main course that's a bit elaborate, then I know I won't have much time or energy to devote to dessert, and the fruit crisp or crumble* is my wildcard choice. (The trifle, too, but we'll talk about that another day.)
A fruit crisp requires very little work (throw t...
"Brown Butter Spiced Crisp" continues »
February 10, 2010
Sourdough Baguettes
[Baguettes au levain]
When I started to bake bread on a weekly basis, I thought of baguettes as out-of-reach territory: I would bake the kind of loaves I love -- a hearty crust (but not too dark at the bottom), an open crumb (but one that's still tight enough to withstand a good spread of dairy or almond butter), great flavor from a slow fermentation, and a nutritious blend of organic flours -- but I would always go and get my Piccola baguette...
"Sourdough Baguettes" continues »
February 3, 2010
Pecan Mudslide Cookies
I spent a few days in New York City in early December to promote* my latest book project, and I happened to stay at a hotel that was very near the Chelsea Market.
I had very little free time in my schedule, but the proximity allowed me to do a little personal shopping (books, utensils, magazines), buy a few things to improvise breakfast in my room** and, moments before I was to catch a ride back to the airport, get a sandwich and a treat to ea...
"Pecan Mudslide Cookies" continues »
January 26, 2010
Sourdough Crumpets
I have been wanting to make my own crumpets for about eight years. I can tell you this because that's when I remember placing, in my bulging clipping file, a mauve scrap of paper on which I'd copied a crumpet recipe from one of the ladies' magazines my grandmother used to subscribe to.
But the recipe involved yeast, and back then I hadn't yet conquered my fear of it, so the recipe hibernated in the "miscellaneous" section for years, until it e...
"Sourdough Crumpets" continues »
January 19, 2010
Homemade Galette des Rois
If you've ever been in France during the month of January, surely you've noticed the blossoming of galettes des rois in the window of every bakery and pastry shop. A puff pastry pie garnished with a buttery almond filling, it is the traditional confection with which the Epiphany is celebrated*; I have written in more detail about this tradition in this post and later in this one, so I invite you to go and read them first. I'll wait right here.
...
"Homemade Galette des Rois" continues »
January 12, 2010
Perfect Roasted Potatoes
I believe in striving to master simple dishes. I don't aspire to be a person of whom one says, "what an ambitious cook!" or "she should really open her own restaurant!" First and foremost, I want to be someone who can be trusted to prepare a good, well-rounded, home-cooked meal. A meal that has personality, yes, but one that doesn't try too hard, and relies chiefly on good taste and good technique.
This is why I've always been frustrated by my...
"Perfect Roasted Potatoes" continues »
December 22, 2009
Chocolate-Dipped Hazelnut Marbles
[Billes de noisette au chocolat]
As a small gift to celebrate the holiday season, I give you this recipe drawn from my cookbook. It appears in the mignardise chapter, in which I give recipes for sweet bites to serve at the end of a meal -- in place of, or in addition to dessert, with coffee or tea.
For these particular treats-on-a-stick, you'll make your own hazelnut marzipan (wait, come back! it's really easy, I promise!), shape it into smal...
"Chocolate-Dipped Hazelnut Marbles" continues »
December 8, 2009
Carrot and Ginger Quickie Pickle
Pickling means preserving food in a seasoned brine or vinegar mixture, and in case you didn't get the memo, pickles are the new cupcakes.
I sorta kinda doubt it -- try bringing pickles to your nephew's birthday party -- but, as someone who grew up with store-bought jars of cornichons (gherkins) as the single pickled element of the family diet, I am most intrigued by the techniques involved, and the wide range of products they create.
I am a c...
"Carrot and Ginger Quickie Pickle" continues »
November 24, 2009
Spaghetti Squash Gratin with Walnuts and Bacon
[Gratin de courge spaghetti, noix et lardons]
It saddens me when people attemp to pass off food items as something they're not: they're selling those foods short, and setting eaters up for disappointment. No, meatless burgers are not at all like beef burgers, carob chips have nothing to do with chocolate chips, and I don't know in what parallel low-carb universe spaghetti squash is seen as an acceptable substitute for actual, durum wheat spagh...
"Spaghetti Squash Gratin with Walnuts and Bacon" continues »
November 15, 2009
Simple Tahini Sauce
Ever since I received an electric steamer for my birthday last summer, I have been steaming vegetables with abandon.
Before that, I used a set of those bamboo baskets that you nest in a wok if you have one (I don't) or place on a saucepan that's never quite the correct size for optimal steam circulation. That thing sputtered and leaked and drove me a little crazier every time I used it, so this new appliance was a considerable upgrade. It is a...
"Simple Tahini Sauce" continues »
November 10, 2009
Chocolate Marble Cake
[Cake marbré au chocolat]
I grew up eating a store-bought chocolate marble cake called Savane. Created in the sixties by a French manufacturer that was acquired by an American company shortly thereafter, it came as a whole loaf cake in an ocher and brown box. The bottom of the loaf was wrapped in a paper liner that you peeled off as you sliced your way through the cake, the crumb was fluffy as only factory-made cakes can be, and I loved it.
M...
"Chocolate Marble Cake" continues »
November 4, 2009
Sourdough Bagels
When Maxence and I were in San Francisco late last summer, we had bagels for breakfast every single day. There were a couple of bagel shops not far from where we were staying, so we alternated between the two, and on those mornings that we went for a run through the Golden Gate Park, bagels awaited at a busy coffee shop by the ocean.
I like mine dotted with poppy seeds or sesame seeds, and spread with cream cheese and a juicy slice of tomato. ...
"Sourdough Bagels" continues »
October 27, 2009
Jerusalem Artichoke Soup with Bacon
[Velouté de topinambours au bacon]
It has been a while -- five years, to be exact -- since we last discussed Jerusalem artichokes around here, but they do belong to my regular winter vegetable rotation so I thought I'd bring them up again.
The tubers have just started to appear and will stick around until March or April, so you can start looking for them now; you should have better luck finding them at a farmers' market of some sort, as they ...
"Jerusalem Artichoke Soup with Bacon" continues »
October 20, 2009
Apple Slices with Frozen Sheep's Milk Yogurt
Maxence and I like to spend a weekend in Amsterdam every once in a while: we love the atmosphere of the city in any season, and we usually stay in a neighborhood called Nieuwmarkt that is both lively (plenty of shops and restaurants) and residential (real people live there), the ideal mix if you want to pretend you're an Amsterdammer (only with terrible language skills) for a few days.
It doesn't hurt that it is also the neighborhood where Pât...
"Apple Slices with Frozen Sheep's Milk Yogurt" continues »
October 12, 2009
Fregola Sarda with Zucchini and Parmesan
The funny thing about a food blog, especially one that has been around for a long time, is that it doesn't really reflect the frequency with which each featured dish is cooked: if you look at an archived post from years ago, how do you know whether it was just a one-time experiment, or if it has made weekly appearances at the author's table since then?
After a recipe has been given the spotlight once, most bloggers are reluctant to write about...
"Fregola Sarda with Zucchini and Parmesan" continues »
October 6, 2009
Matcha Shortbread Cookies
A friend of mine was just admitted to the traditional French cooking program I attended four years ago (read all about it here and here), and the good news got me thinking about a type of cookie we learned to make in class as we approached the holidays, called sablés diamant.
These "diamond cookies" are classic butter cookies that you form using my favorite technique, referred to in English as slice-and-bake, in which you shape the dough into ...
"Matcha Shortbread Cookies" continues »
September 29, 2009
Sourdough English Muffins
Due to my ever-widening enthusiasm for breadmaking, I have become a close follower of the Bread Baker's Apprentice challenge, wherein a group of bakers bakes its way through Peter Reinhart's revered opus and blogs about the results, with numerous details and step-by-step photos. This makes for fascinating posts if you're into that sort of thing, and reading about others' well-documented hurdles and triumphs is most helpful if you want to bake f...
"Sourdough English Muffins" continues »
September 22, 2009
Slow-Roasted Shoulder of Lamb Rubbed with Rosemary, Anchovy, and Lemon Zest
A favorite from the archives, this post was originally published on November 2, 2007.
I say, one can never have too many recipes for lamb shoulder.
A versatile cut, the lamb shoulder, one that can be grilled, stewed, braised, or here, slow-roasted.
This dish was born out of a typical moment of greenmarket frustration, which I shall get off my chest just now.
A few Saturdays ago, I was waiting in line before my organic butcher's stall. Immed...
"Slow-Roasted Shoulder of Lamb Rubbed with Rosemary, Anchovy, and Lemon Zest" continues »
September 15, 2009
Two-Fig Ice Cream
A favorite from the archives, this post was originally published on October 23, 2007.
Fig season is upon us and produce stalls boast plentiful trays of purple figs, soft at the hips and oft leaking a drop of sap from their, um, bottom. Of course, they cost an eye -- figs are a luxury in Paris any time of the year -- but the fig fanatic in me is willing to make any sort of monetary sacrifice to fuel my addiction.
But, lo and behold, my superma...
"Two-Fig Ice Cream" continues »
September 8, 2009
Roasted Eggplant and Goat's Milk Yogurt Dip
A favorite from the archives, this post was originally published on September 22, 2008.
When I recovered my kitchen after seven weeks (seven! weeks!) of renovation chaos -- and this was just to redo the bathroom, mind you -- the very first thing I made was a yogurt cake, to fortify us through our next mission: the meticulous cleaning of, well, the entire contents of our apartment, which we had ill-protected from the dust storm. (Never again wi...
"Roasted Eggplant and Goat's Milk Yogurt Dip" continues »
August 25, 2009
Cheese Thins
When it comes to appetizers, I generally try to offer relatively light preparations, and often opt for vegetable-based dips* that can be scooped with raw zucchini sticks or dolloped onto cucumber rounds : if I'm serving something before dinner, when my guests are, all things considered, starving, the idea is to sate them temporarily, not until next week.
On the other hand, if I'm hosting an apéro dînatoire, a casual night of drinks and nibbles...
August 18, 2009
Blueberry Oat Bran Muffins
I grew up in a household where le goûter is a cardinal ritual, and I can safely state that I've been eating an afternoon snack practically every day for the past thirty years.
It is so much a part of my food habits that I actually size my lunches to make sure I'll feel a bit hungry around 5 or 6, and in need of something to tide me over until dinner. It is also a welcome alibi to look up from whatever it is I'm working on, make myself a cup of...
"Blueberry Oat Bran Muffins" continues »
August 11, 2009
Roasted Patty Pan Squash and Herbed Chickpeas
[Pâtissons rôtis et pois chiches aux herbes]
The patty pan squash (in French: le pâtisson) is a member of the blended summer squash family. Shaped very much like a UFO with undulating edges -- each bump a tiny cockpit with an alien inside, presumably --, it can be conical or squat, and comes in shades of yellow, green, or white. The flesh inside is the color of clotted cream, its heart studded with edible seeds like the center of a zucchini.
...
"Roasted Patty Pan Squash and Herbed Chickpeas" continues »
July 28, 2009
Cherry Hazelnut Loaf Cake
[Cake Cerise Noisette]
I had lunch with my friends Pascale and Caroline a couple of weeks ago, and afterward we followed Caroline back to her apartment so she could share samples of a quirky ingredient she'd just laid her hands on: hazelnut flour.
I had initially thought she was referring to finely ground hazelnuts (hazelnut meal or poudre de noisettes), but no: this is made by grinding hazelnuts finely, yes, but also removing the oil they co...
"Cherry Hazelnut Loaf Cake" continues »
July 21, 2009
Herbed Couscous Salad
[Salade de semoule aux herbes]
My sister and I went through a pretty intense couscous* phase when we were teenagers: my mother kept a kitchen cabinet stocked with little pre-portioned pouches of semoule that barely needed a minute and a half of boiling before we could snip them open, pour their contents into a bowl, add a bit of salt and butter, and call it lunch. We loved the stuff.
I remember suggesting this very menu to Maxence once, early...
"Herbed Couscous Salad" continues »
July 15, 2009
Lemon Verbena Sorbet
Fresh lemon verbena is a recent newcomer to my herb repertoire. I was familiar with plain dried verbena, a popular constituent of French tisanes, but only this spring did I come across long stalks of verveine citronnelle, bushy with feather-shaped leaves, faintly sticky and powerfully fragrant. Stroke one with your thumb and it will knock you over with a floral and citrusy scent that does bear resemblance to lemongrass, as the French name point...
"Lemon Verbena Sorbet" continues »
July 7, 2009
Natural Starter Bread
[Pain au levain naturel]
If you keep an eye on my Twitter feed or subscribe to the C&Z newsletter, you already know that I've been trying my hand at natural starter bread for the past two months.
A natural starter, also called a sourdough starter, is a culture of wild yeasts and friendly bacteria that the baker keeps alive and thriving by feeding it water and flour on a regular basis. When mixed with a larger quantity of water, flour, and sal...
"Natural Starter Bread" continues »
June 30, 2009
Saskatoon Berry Tart
Two years ago, I received a sweet email from a Canadian woman named Delphine. She explained that she and her French boyfriend run a farm in the Aube, about two and a half hours to the Southeast of Paris, on which they grow -- among other things -- Saskatoon berries*. Did I know this North American fruit? Did I want to try it?
A new fruit! One I'd never even heard of! Of course I wanted to taste it!
Because Saskatoon berries are only in season...
"Saskatoon Berry Tart" continues »
June 23, 2009
Gratin Dauphinois (Potato Gratin)
As promised when we talked about potato gnocchi earlier this month, here is my recipe for gratin dauphinois, the king of potato side dishes, named after the former French province whence it originates.
Before we begin, it is my duty to draw your attention to the fact that a proper gratin dauphinois does not involve cheese. No. It is a gloriously simple dish of sliced potatoes baked in milk and/or cream -- we'll get to that in a second -- that ...
"Gratin Dauphinois (Potato Gratin)" continues »
June 16, 2009
Matcha and Azuki (Green Tea and Red Bean) Cake Roll
[Gâteau roulé matcha et azuki]
The thing that happens when you buy a big pouch of anko (Japanese sweetened red bean paste) to make strawberry daifuku is that you're likely to run out of rice flour long before you use up all the azuki paste.
I assume it keeps for weeks if well wrapped, but I didn't want to let it sit in the fridge for too long (shelf space is in short supply), so I tried to think up ways to use it. A quick brainstorm led me to...
"Matcha and Azuki (Green Tea and Red Bean) Cake Roll" continues »
June 9, 2009
Potato Gnocchi
I have recently found myself with a bit of a potato glut, a rather unusual state of affairs for me. It being spring, all the potatoes wanted to do was sprout, however careful I was to keep them in a cool, dark place. Unable to temper their enthusiasm, I did what any responsible cook would do: I embraced the potato theme and cooked them in all sorts of different ways over a few weeks.
With the baking potatoes (the floury ones that fall apart wh...
June 2, 2009
Strawberry Daifuku Mochi
A few weeks ago, my friend Estérelle and I attended a mochi cooking class held at La Cocotte, a lovely little cookbook shop in Paris.
Before we go any further, I think a semantics note is in order: strictly speaking, mochi is the name of a Japanese preparation of steamed glutinous rice that is pounded to form a sticky paste*. Mochi can be boiled, steamed, grilled, baked, or fried, and because it doesn't have much inherent flavor, it is usually...
"Strawberry Daifuku Mochi" continues »
May 19, 2009
Sticky Chocolate Cake
Last time I was in London, my primary objective may have been to snuggle up with my nephew, but I still brought a list of food places I wanted to check out, for, you know, research purposes. One of them was Ottolenghi, a deli that offers a daily selection of colorful dishes -- with an emphasis on fresh produce -- and dazzling pastries.
I had received a review copy of their seductive cookbook a couple of months before, and had quickly stopped t...
"Sticky Chocolate Cake" continues »
May 12, 2009
Radish Leaf Pesto
Radish season is in full swing, and I have been buying a bunch a week since they first appeared a month ago. I very much like radis roses, the pink, elongated ones with a white bottom that look like so many pink mice, but I don't turn my nose at the red globes, and certainly not at the multicolored bouquets.
In fact, it is not so much the color or shape of the bulbs I pay attention to when I shop, but the color and vigor of their leaves*: firs...
"Radish Leaf Pesto" continues »
May 5, 2009
Homemade Lärabars
I have never been particularly drawn to energy bars and their spooky ingredients lists, but then I discovered the hugely popular Lärabars while in New York, and they won me over quickly.
If you've yet to make their acquaintance, here's what you need to know: Lärabars (I just ignore the umlaut and say "larabar") are compact but tender energy bars made of ground dates mixed with nuts and other flavorings -- spices, dried fruits, coconut, cocoa p...
"Homemade Lärabars" continues »
April 14, 2009
Chocolate Chip Cookies
I've always enjoyed the food sections of American newspapers, these pull-out pages that appear in the regular edition on a given day of the week (usually Wednesday) to cover local food and drink news, with recipes. Not all of them have the same standards or budget, and I am told the good ones are an endangered species, but between the Seattle Times, the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, the O...
"Chocolate Chip Cookies" continues »
March 31, 2009
Kouglof
Do you remember Muriel, from Muriel's Chicken? She's a good friend of Maxence's mother's who lives with her family in Le Perche, and whom we've been visiting every year or so with immense pleasure, and frequent sighs of contentment.
Last time we went was in the fall, and Muriel's two lovely daughters had just started their school year; because they attend university in Paris, it means they live by themselves during the week, and come home on w...
March 24, 2009
Miso Glazed Flank Steak
I only ever buy meat from Mathieu, my butcher of choice at the organic greenmarket on Saturday mornings. I used to stop by every week and get enough for two meals or so, but the line is so long these days -- word must have gotten out that his stuff is good -- that I had to change my strategy: I go less frequently, buy a little more, and freeze the extra. (On the weeks that I don't buy meat, I get eggs directly from Mathieu's wife, Laure, who st...
"Miso Glazed Flank Steak" continues »
March 17, 2009
Apple and Maple Yogurt Cake
A year ago today, my sister gave birth to a healthy baby boy; the next morning, Maxence and I were on a train to visit them at the hospital. He was the freshest newborn I'd ever held, and for weeks afterward, the most mundane display of emotion I witnessed -- in a film, in a book, on the street -- could make me weep. I was an aunt, and not just one in a dozen, either: that baby's one and only aunt.
This unique position comes with great respons...
"Apple and Maple Yogurt Cake" continues »
March 10, 2009
Peacamole
[Green Pea Cilantro Spread]
If you've been invited to dinner at my house lately, the odds are high that you've been greeted with a glass of chilled white wine and a platter of multigrain crackers topped with this bright green spread. "Guacamole?" you may have asked. "No, peacamole!" I'll have responded, or rather, if you and I speak French together: poicamole*.
I have made and served countless batches of this spread over the past couple of mo...
March 3, 2009
Spicy Cabbage and Chicken Stir-Fry
I've recently read a collection of stories by Lara Vapnyar called Broccoli and Other Tales of Food and Love. The six stories in this pretty volume talk about Russian immigrants to the United States, and use the revealing lens of food to show how they adapt to their new lives. Stories about migrants never fail to move me, and perhaps also because I was very fond of my Russian coworkers when I lived in California, I thought these particularly poi...
"Spicy Cabbage and Chicken Stir-Fry" continues »
February 25, 2009
Maple Pecan Ice Cream
I don't think of ice cream as a seasonal thing. Let me clarify: I do think of ice cream flavors as seasonal things, but ice cream, as a general and cardinal food group, is very much a year-round treat for me.
To give you an example, I have just returned from Deauville in Normandy, wherein I attended the Omnivore Food Festival, a two-day event during which new-generation chefs demonstrate their craft onstage, and artisan vintners present their ...
"Maple Pecan Ice Cream" continues »
February 17, 2009
Brussels Sprouts with Onions and Squash Seeds
I have a special fondness for the winter market.
Oh, sure, I have to bundle up, wear a woolen cap and good gloves, and by the time I lock my bike to the street sign I've claimed as mine, few of my fingers are available for immediate use. But when I get to my favorite produce stall and the vendors greet me, their jolly smiles clearly say, "thanks for braving the cold!" and I always feel humble imagining what it must be like for them, who have ...
"Brussels Sprouts with Onions and Squash Seeds" continues »
February 3, 2009
Homemade Vanilla Extract
The idea of a DIY vanilla extract has been floating around the food blog world for a little while. When I first read about the process, the instructions seemed so fastidious that I shrugged and clicked away. (This is, in passing, one of the challenges the recipe writer faces: providing the necessary dose of guidance, but avoiding instruction overload.)
Still, I was increasingly bothered by the imbalance between the wowing qualities of the vani...
"Homemade Vanilla Extract" continues »
January 27, 2009
Japanese-Inspired Quinoa
As I mentioned in the January newsletter and on this forum thread, one of my current aspirations is to learn more about Japanese cooking.
I have worked on assembling a good pantry of essentials -- always the most daunting step when one tackles a new style of cuisine, I think -- and now the real fun has begun, as I teach myself the basics by following trusted recipes.
Maki, whose blog Just Hungry has been around for about as long as mine, has ...
"Japanese-Inspired Quinoa" continues »
January 20, 2009
Luxury Brownies
Among the many blogs I read enthusiastically is one called Coco&Me: its author, Tamami, sells homemade cakes and chocolates at Broadway Market in East London on Saturdays, and she describes her blog as "the diary of a market stall holder."
Beautifully illustrated with photos of her displays and confections, it is full of the sort of details I crave when I read about someone's life and craft: the number of truffles she rolled for the last mark...
January 13, 2009
Perfect Hard-Boiled Eggs
This is a recipe I got from David Tanis' A Platter of Figs and Other Recipes.
I realize that naming this cookbook my favorite for 2008 and then showcasing its recipe for hard-boiled eggs sends a curious message, yet it illustrates exactly what I look for in a book: not just engaging stories, understated pictures, and seasonally sound menus -- all features that Tanis' book can brag about -- but also things to learn, understand, and remember lo...
"Perfect Hard-Boiled Eggs" continues »
January 6, 2009
Raspberry Dacquoise
It all started with a store-bought dessert that we tasted at a friend's house late last summer, which consisted in a light vanilla mousse garnished with raspberries and sandwiched between two layers of a thin, crisp, and lightly chewy almond cake. Everybody loved it, and I thought, hey, I think I could make something like that, too.
You see, years and years ago, at a Demarle homesale hosted by my friend Pascale, I acquired a silicon sheet pan ...
"Raspberry Dacquoise" continues »
December 9, 2008
Flourless Poppy Seed Cake
My oven and I are going through a rough patch and frankly, I don't think it can be fixed*.
You see, it has been behaving in the most erratic manner this fall, and if there's one thing a cook doesn't need, it's an unreliable oven, one that takes forrrreeeeevvver to preheat, turns itself off mid-baking, refuses to turn itself back on, or burns the food that's placed too far out in the back. Oh, and I almost forgot the best part: mine is also an ...
"Flourless Poppy Seed Cake" continues »
December 3, 2008
Saffron Roasted Cauliflower
Roasting summer vegetables comes quite naturally to most cooks, I believe, but not everyone thinks to submit their winter counterparts to the same treatment. And it's a pity, really, when you know what good it does root vegetables and winter squash, yes, but also broccoli and cauliflower.
And this is my favorite, ultra-facile way to cook cauliflower, tossed with ras el hanout -- a magic wand of a Moroccan spice mix you should really add to you...
"Saffron Roasted Cauliflower" continues »
November 25, 2008
Cashew Cheese
Although I am as omnivorous as they come, I have a vivid interest in the diet of those who decide to -- or must -- walk an alternate path, be it vegetarian, vegan, raw, or allergen-free.
The reason why I'm so interested is that cooking and eating under constraints such as these encourages those who do to think out of the box, seek out new ingredients or look at old ones in a different light, and invent techniques, recipes, and dishes that come...
November 18, 2008
Wholesome Banana Chocolate Breakfast Bars
When Heidi posted about her friend Nikki's healthful cookies a couple of months ago, my curiosity was piqued, and the recipe firmly affixed to my mind's corkboard*.
And as soon as I had a few browning bananas on hand -- some might accuse me of letting them overripen on purpose, but that's just libel and they'll be hearing from my attorney -- I knew just how to put them to use.
I made a few modifications to the original recipe: 1- I used almon...
"Wholesome Banana Chocolate Breakfast Bars" continues »
November 10, 2008
Zoe's Lasagna (Sort Of)
A few weeks ago, I received an email from a reader named Pamela, who said she was working her way through the C&Z archives -- I am so heartened when people do that -- and had noticed, in this older-than-salt post, a reference to the lasagna our friend Zoe made for us when we visited her in London. Did I ever end up sharing that recipe? Pamela asked.
The short answer is: no. The long answer is: I've thought about Zoe's lasagna on a regular basi...
"Zoe's Lasagna (Sort Of)" continues »
November 4, 2008
Vanilla Poached Quince
Where is the online scratch 'n sniff when you need it?
Since such technology is not yet available to us (sheesh!), we'll just have to rely on our imagination and invoke, in our mind's nose, the irresistibly sweet, floral, candy-like scent that quince, the most gnarled and unprepossessing subject of the fruit kingdom, emits.
In fact, if you were to cook quinces right away upon purchasing them, I would call you crazy: what you should do instea...
"Vanilla Poached Quince" continues »
October 28, 2008
Chocolate Frozen Yogurt
An estimated 62% of my cooking begins with me lying in bed, thinking about some ingredient that needs using, and not being able to sleep because my mind is awhir, trying to devise rewarding ways to do so.
These closed-eye sessions usually yield satisfactory results and, every once in a while, a plain fantastic one. I am counting this ice cream among the latter.
The challenge was this: I had a bit of a dairy glut in the fridge, and in particul...
"Chocolate Frozen Yogurt" continues »
October 21, 2008
Champagne and Saffron Mussels (or Not)
After posting a few thoughts on sustainable seafood and how each of us can make a difference, it grew apparent that one proactive way food bloggers can help, beyond spreading the word and trying to make responsible choices themselves, is to offer recipes featuring those varieties of fish or shellfish that are more eco-friendly.
This happens to be the very premise of Teach a Man to Fish, an event created by Boston writer Jacqueline Church to ra...
"Champagne and Saffron Mussels (or Not)" continues »
October 7, 2008
Orange and Rosemary Pork Tenderloin
Why is it that no one ever told me about the pork tenderloin?
Has everyone been cooking pork tenderloin all this time, licking their lips and giggling covertly as I fought to make other cuts palatable, trying my best to prevent them from turning out dry, and grey?
Oh, it's not that I haven't been happy with my pork experiments, not at all. Looking through the C&Z archives, I've found five recipes involving our pink friend -- a cured pork sho...
"Orange and Rosemary Pork Tenderloin" continues »
August 13, 2008
Chiffon Cake
When Maxence and I lived in California at the turn of the century, we liked to visit a small shop in Mountain View called Hong Kong Bakery. The Chinese-style pastries all seemed very exotic to me and we ate our way through the full range over the first few months, but soon stopped when we found our gold-medalled champion: the chiffon cake.
If you've never had chiffon cake, perhaps you can start by imagining what it might feel like to eat a clo...
July 28, 2008
Lemon Kefir Ice Cream
This has been the strangest July ever. Maxence and I are having our bathroom renovated, and it is far more disruptive than I had -- perhaps naively -- imagined it would be. The dust, debris, and general lack of showering implement have made our apartment rather inhospitable, and my poor little kitchen is all tarped up, to protect her (of course it's a she) from the ambient grime.
As you might infer, there has been little cooking going on aroun...
"Lemon Kefir Ice Cream" continues »
July 8, 2008
Fresh Fig and Rose Smoothie
Although smoothies have been around for decades in North America, only in recent years have they grown popular in Europe, and in France in particular*.
We call them smoothies too, if you want to know, except we don't pronounce the final "s," even in the plural, and the "th" sound, ever a challenge for the French tongue to produce, varies in accuracy. Most people opt for a straightforward smoo-zee, unless they go for a smoo-tee or even, more ra...
"Fresh Fig and Rose Smoothie" continues »
June 30, 2008
Pistachio Gelato
When it comes to ice cream, I am hopelessly predictable.
As far as I'm concerned, if the ice cream parlor, glacier, or gelateria offers dark chocolate, pistachio, and/or yogurt, he might as well not have any other flavor: I am blind to them.
I always go through the motions of hesitation, though (I scratch my temple, chew my lower lip, and hum lightly -- it's easy to fake, really), for the benefit of my ice cream companions, and because I like...
"Pistachio Gelato" continues »
June 18, 2008
Banana Pecan Cake with Maple Glaze
Among the countless blessings this blog has brought to my life is this one: I have met and become friends with a few cookbook authors.
They are delicious people to be around, naturally, and if I manage to fox my way into their house they may actually cook for me, but the invaluable bonus is that, once I've come to know and trust them, once I've witnessed how exacting they are, and how much pressure they submit themselves to in order to produce...
"Banana Pecan Cake with Maple Glaze" continues »
June 9, 2008
Chilled Pea Pod Soup
As a sequel to my ode to the fresh pea, here is a recipe for chilled pea pod soup, a.k.a. "I have just devoted thirty minutes of my life to the shelling of those peas, and I intend to milk them for all they're worth" soup.
Like all recipes that propose to use odds and ends that might, in other, less frugal kitchens, end up in the trash, this one delights me to no end -- the nose-to-tail philosophy applied to the vegetable kingdom, if you will....
"Chilled Pea Pod Soup" continues »
May 16, 2008
Petites Meringues
My freezer is not exactly in its prime, and it suffers from ice buildup syndrome.
I put stuff in there, all wrapped up and all, and a few weeks later everything's covered in frost like the beard of a North Pole explorer. And after a while, there's so much ice covering the shelves that I half expect to see penguins skating around.
Part of my job, as this freezer's caregiver, is to defrost it regularly -- i.e. use up everything that's inside, t...
"Petites Meringues" continues »
March 12, 2008
Carottes et Betteraves Râpées
[Grated Carrots and Beets]
I used to think winter produce was drab, and that the cook's only option was to wait the cold months out, squinting into the distance, longing for asparagus and strawberries to appear ("Anne, Sister Anne, do you see nothing coming?").
Now I can't imagine how I could ever be so blind: what of mâche and winter squash, what of flower cabbage and broccoli, what of endives and leeks and chard, what of carrots and beets? ...
"Carottes et Betteraves Râpées" continues »
February 13, 2008
Super Simple Nutella Ice Cream
My sister's husband has a passion for Nutella. When Ferrero put out a 40th-anniversary Nutella jar* of woolly mammoth** proportions, Christian bought one and actually spooned his way through it. Not in one sitting, admittedly, but still.
I love my brother-in-law dearly, so when he and my sister came to dinner a few weeks ago, I thought I'd treat them to Nutella ice cream for dessert. I considered going the classic ice cream route, starting wit...
"Super Simple Nutella Ice Cream" continues »
February 6, 2008
Salade Tiède de Potimarron et Haricots Blancs
[Warm Hokkaido Squash and White Bean Salad]
I write this from a café where I like to go and get some work done when I find it difficult to concentrate at home. Today, however, an unforeseen challenge has materialized on my path. Sitting a few tables from mine are two living clichés: a blond, middle-aged, French casting director and a young, craggy-bearded, khaki-vested film director from LA. They are in deep conversation about finding the perf...
"Salade Tiède de Potimarron et Haricots Blancs" continues »
January 31, 2008
Guimauve à la Rose et au Chocolat
[Rose and Chocolate Marshmallows]
Guimauve is the stuff clouds are made of. It has the soft and cottony flavor of childhood, and resistance is futile when I spot the pretty pastel cubes in pastry shops.
Rarely am I disappointed, but I do have to mention this one recent time when I bought an assortment from Pain de Sucre and got mostly weirdo flavors nobody in their right mind would want in their marshmallows -- I'm talking chicory and whiske...
"Guimauve à la Rose et au Chocolat" continues »
January 15, 2008
Crumiri
[Italian Cornmeal Cookies]
We all have our siren ingredients, those that call to us in voices of sugar from the printed page of a cookbook -- or the pixelated page of a food blog -- and charm us into dropping whatever we're doing to run to the kitchen and reenact the recipe.
Cornmeal is one of my sirens, and I find it particularly beguiling in baked goods*. This is the only way I can explain such a short TTO (time to oven) for this cookie rec...
January 8, 2008
Soupe Poireaux Pommes de Terre
[Leek and Potato Soup]
It has been far too long since last I wrote about soup. Have I stopped making soup? This is like asking if I've stopped breathing, and the answer -- as I type this, at least -- is no.
The reason for this soup drought is that I've mostly been making variations of soups already featured on this blog, or über-simple combinations of whatever vegetables cried for salvation in my refrigerator.
Today's recipe is also very si...
"Soupe Poireaux Pommes de Terre" continues »
December 22, 2007
Rochers à la Noix de Coco
[Coconut Macaroons]
Today's recipe, which conveniently doubles up as a holiday greeting card, is a beloved classic I wrote about eons ago on this here blog.
I am normally reluctant to feature the same recipe twice, if only because it wreaks havoc in my recipe index, but in this instance, more than four years separate the two posts, and I do have something to add to the recipe as previously published: shape matters.
Last time I made a batch, ...
"Rochers à la Noix de Coco" continues »
November 23, 2007
Infusion Maison
[Homemade Tisane]
Sometimes it worries me how much herbal tea I drink.
You see, I love coffee, I adore tea, and nothing warms my heart and my quill like having a hot mug within mitten's reach. But as I get older*, it seems I can't drink caffeine like I used to could**.
Maxence and I share a pot of light-brewed American-style coffee -- also known to the French as jus de chaussette -- over the course of the morning, and I'll have the occasiona...
November 17, 2007
Rognons de Boeuf, Cèpes et Oignons
[Beef Kidneys with Ceps and Onions]
Squeamish eaters, avert your eyes, and let me direct you here, here, or perhaps here.
For the others, those who don't blanch at the mere mention of the words "tripe" or "beef tongue," those who own a dog-eared copy of the nose-to-tail bible* or have it on their wishlist, here is the dish I made last weekend with the beef kidneys I'd bought from my organic butcher -- an entirely uneventful visit this time, 1...
"Rognons de Boeuf, Cèpes et Oignons" continues »
November 9, 2007
Crisp Hazelnut and Pepper Cookies
If you're the observant type, you may have noticed the walk-on actor in the fig sorbet picture two weeks ago. And you know what happens to walk-ons when they're talented and good-lookin' and lucky: they graduate to leading roles. Today is the cookie's big break; today, the cookie gets to be the hero of the post.
The recipe comes from Laurence Salomon's cookbook, Fondre de plaisir*, which I purchased after reading about it on so many French foo...
"Crisp Hazelnut and Pepper Cookies" continues »
October 17, 2007
Mini-Scones à la Carotte et au Romarin
[Carrot and Rosemary Miniature Scones]
Ah, the Curse of the Potluck and its familiar dilemmas that grip and nag -- what to bring, what to bring?
Something sweet, something savory? Something indulgent that will please everyone who doesn't know how much butter went into it, or something healthful so your friends will live longer with a healthy heart and glowing skin?
An old favorite that won't let you down but won't electrify anyone either, or...
"Mini-Scones à la Carotte et au Romarin" continues »
October 10, 2007
Deluxe Potatoes
[Jo Jo Potatoes]
Perhaps you remember Braden and Laura from the post I wrote about their underground restaurant venture: Hidden Kitchen has been doing well since then, waiting list and all, and Maxence and I have had the finger-licking pleasure of going back to their apartment a few times, as friends, on their off nights.
Last time we did was burger night or, more accurately, slider night*, Laura having reached the point where, after a severe...
September 24, 2007
Glace Coco du Placard
[Coconut Ice Cream from the Pantry]
The really nice thing when you come back from a vacation, however lovely, is the fresh set of eyes you can lay on your living quarters, and all the things that make them homey and yours.
Your bed, not too firm but not flabby either, and wide enough that two normal-size individuals can stretch their legs without starting a war. Your shower handle, and its nifty flow modes that you can fiddle with to match yo...
"Glace Coco du Placard" continues »
September 10, 2007
Quetsche Plum Tart with Walnut Cream
I love plums. I love that they are small and that you can rinse a few of them at a time, whirling them in your hand like Baoding balls. I love that they come in sundry shapes and colors to match your outfit, I love that they have a pit that you can spit out into the sink, and I love that they grow on trees under which you can stand, look up, and feel like all is right in the world. I love even the name, plum, how it rolls off the tip of your to...
"Quetsche Plum Tart with Walnut Cream" continues »
September 4, 2007
Elbow Macaroni with Comté Cheese and Baby Spinach
[Coquillettes au Comté et Pousses d'Epinard]
A lot can be learned about your cooking self by considering what you eat when you're on your own. I have friends who are simply not hungry when they're alone, who forget to eat (say what?), who don't consider it a real meal if there's no dining companion, or -- and I am not making this up -- who just eat a Kinder Surprise, build the little toy and call it dinner.
What's most surprising to me is th...
"Elbow Macaroni with Comté Cheese and Baby Spinach" continues »
August 29, 2007
Green Tea Langues de Chat
Langues de chat are classic French cookies that fall into the category of petits fours secs ("dry" petits fours, as opposed to miniature versions of pastries with buttercream, pastry cream, etc). They used to be a frequent accompaniment to ice-cream in restaurants, in rotation with cigarettes russes, but I haven't seen that done for a while -- gavottes seem to have taken their place.
"Cat's tongues" are oval butter cookies, with a blonde cente...
"Green Tea Langues de Chat" continues »
August 21, 2007
Dark Chocolate Sorbet
So. Batch #1 in my brand new ice cream machine was dedicated to Maxence, in gratitude for such an exciting, perfectly tailored, and all-around thoughtful gift.
But when the time came to make batch #2 -- that is, the next day, as soon as the bowl had had time to refreeze -- I decided I had paid my dues, and I could now make my favorite, which, you may be un-surprised to learn, is the dark chocolate sorbet.
Chocolate ice cream is all right, I g...
"Dark Chocolate Sorbet" continues »
August 8, 2007
Sorbet Mangue
[Mango Sorbet]
La sorbetière (ice cream maker) is up there with la yaourtière (yogurt maker) in the list of appliances that were hot Mother's Day gifts in the seventies but ended up in said mother's attic pronto.
And yet, when Maxence came home with my birthday present and it was a bulky box hiding a spaceship of a sorbetière, I could not have been happier: first of all, he got the idea from a conversation we had weeks ago during which I wasn...
August 1, 2007
Birthday Chicken
I normally host a big birthday bash every year, or at least that's what I've done the past four summers, inviting friends, old and new, to celebrate the fact that it is late July and the weather is nice and Paris is empty and I'm a year wiser.
But this time, no.
I was a little bummed to break from this young tradition, for I really do enjoy these parties, but the past few months have been a whirlwind, I feel I haven't had a moment to stop and...
"Birthday Chicken" continues »
July 9, 2007
Spelt and Honey Crisps
There is nothing like a good cookie to celebrate the completion of a big project, and even though this project of mine* is not 100% completed -- I've written the bulk of the manuscript, but I have a few remaining elements to deliver --, cookies were 100% in order.
If you are a long standing reader of this blog, and I do mean a loooooong standing reader, the kind that deserves a medal, you may recall my quest for the elusive double chocolate cr...
"Spelt and Honey Crisps" continues »
July 3, 2007
Salade de Quinoa Rouge, Poivrons et Pignons
[Red Quinoa Salad with Bell Peppers and Pine Nuts]
I am just a few days -- three, to be terrifyingly exact -- away from delivering the manuscript for my second book*, and although it is nowhere near as stressful a time as it was for my first (why do I sound like a young mother all of a sudden?), it is still a time of waking up bright and early and working intently through the day, with a few necessary breaks to shower, lunch, and take a few st...
"Salade de Quinoa Rouge, Poivrons et Pignons" continues »
June 6, 2007
Chermoula
The June/July issue of Régal* has just been released, with its fresh batch of inspiring ideas**, and it was my reading material of choice when Maxence and I went out for a drink on a terrace on Saturday afternoon, to bask in the fine weather.
And in the midst of the section on farmed vs. wild fish, a ray of sunlight fell on a recipe for barbecued herring served with chermoula.
If this is the first time you and chermoula meet, let me give you ...
May 9, 2007
Muffins Carotte et Cacahuète
[Carrot and Peanut Muffins]
In the interminable list of blessings that come with having a food blog is this one: readers will come forward and share their favorite recipes with you.
I am always honored to receive these gifts and the stories that are delivered with them, and even though I seldom get around to making the dishes (my epitaph will read, "So Many Recipes, So Little Time"; I've left instructions), they do contribute to my inner culi...
"Muffins Carotte et Cacahuète" continues »
April 23, 2007
Gelée au Chocolat, Ananas et Violette
[Chocolate Jelly with Pineapple and Violet]
This is the dessert I served to close my recent spring lamb dinner: it was a few days before Easter so chocolate was definitely in order, but since lamb shoulder is a rather rich cut (though I must note that French lambs seem to be much leaner than their American cousins; French Lambs Don't Get Fat), I wanted to chase it with a weightless dessert.
Inspiration came in the form of a recipe card I'd cl...
"Gelée au Chocolat, Ananas et Violette" continues »
April 16, 2007
Canapés Radis Avocat au Sel Fumé
[Avocado and Radish Canapés with Smoked Salt]
I've been on an avocado kick lately, and I blame my favorite produce stall for that: they keep running specials on them and really, who can resist a special on a trio of avocados when the stall keeper will hand-pick them for you so each will be ripe a couple of days after the previous one? (And since we're on the subject of produce stall wonders, I've just discovered after four years of schlepping ...
"Canapés Radis Avocat au Sel Fumé" continues »
April 11, 2007
Braised Lamb Shoulder with Flageolet Beans
[Epaule d'Agneau Confite et Flageolets]
Spring lamb is the traditional centerpiece of Easter Sunday menus in France: the agneau pascal symbolizes the sacrifice of the innocent, and the breeding cycles mean it is at its best this time of year, conveniently enough.
My family isn't religious at all and the only thing we've ever commemorated at Easter is the invention of chocolate, but because Catholic traditions are so deeply rooted in France, t...
"Braised Lamb Shoulder with Flageolet Beans" continues »
April 5, 2007
Carottes Rapées à l'Avocat
[Grated Carrot Salad with Avocado]
As subscribers to the Chocolate & Zucchini newsletter already know, a French publisher has purchased the rights to my very-soon-to-be-published cookbook. And because the tone of writing is very personal, I've asked to translate my own words: the recipes themselves are taken care of by a pro, while I translate -- and often rewrite -- the stories that accompany them and structure the book.
I'm fortunate that m...
"Carottes Rapées à l'Avocat" continues »
March 27, 2007
Cured Pork Shoulder with Green Lentils
[Petit Salé aux Lentilles]
If you had told twelve-year-old me that a Sunday morning, fifteen years later, would find me cooking this dish, I would have laughed so hard I might have choked on my petit suisse.
Petit salé aux lentilles is a splendid specialty from Auvergne in which cured pork is slowly cooked and served with lentils. The "splendid" part was hard for us kids to grasp when presented with the school cafeteria's take on it: sickly p...
"Cured Pork Shoulder with Green Lentils" continues »
March 20, 2007
Cha Soba, Concombre et Tofu
[Green Tea Buckwheat Noodles with Cucumber and Tofu]
So verdant is this dish that it could have been my contribution to Saint Patrick's Day. But because the French don't really celebrate it (unless they happen to find themselves at one of the Irish pubs on boulevard de Clichy) and because my father's name is Patrick, March 17th is simply that: my father's fête. He usually receives a gift of pâtes de fruits, we get to help him gobble them up be...
"Cha Soba, Concombre et Tofu" continues »
March 12, 2007
Mâche Salad with Endives and Beets
As the weather in Paris becomes increasingly springlike -- hello daffodils! come sit by me on the kitchen counter! -- I thought it was high time I illustrate the point I recently made about salads and the ones that carry us through to the end of winter (however mild ours has been).
The original motive for this one was to try and vanquish my dislike of endives, one of the very last bastions of my childhood aversions. It is going to require more...
"Mâche Salad with Endives and Beets" continues »
March 2, 2007
Gratin de Pâtes, Noisettes et Lardons
[Pasta Gratin with Hazelnuts and Lardons]
Inspiration came from a recent meal at Le Caméléon, during which one of my dining companions ordered a jumbo foie de veau (veal liver). It appeared, a stately Pasha in a mantle of reduced vinegar, with a side of gratin de macaroni au Parmesan served in one of those miniature cast-iron cocottes that are all the rage these days and that you just might be able to afford with a ten-year payment plan.
The ...
"Gratin de Pâtes, Noisettes et Lardons" continues »
February 27, 2007
Compotée d'Echine de Porc au Cidre
[Cider-Stewed Pork Loin Blade Roast]
I find cuts of meat confusing.
I find them confusing because the terminology straggles from the technical to the vernacular and back again, because readable diagrams are few and far between, and because the matter only gets murkier when you try to juggle French and English terms used in different countries.
Can't we all be friends and agree to cut and name meat in the same fashion? May I suggest the creat...
"Compotée d'Echine de Porc au Cidre" continues »
February 23, 2007
Chips de Pita au Zaatar
[Zaatar Pita Chips]
Zaatar is a popular spice blend in Middle-Eastern cuisines -- those of Syria and Lebanon in particular --, made of thyme, toasted sesame seeds, sumac, and salt. (Note: The Arabic word also means simply "thyme", and is sometimes transcribed as za'atar, zahtar, or zatar.)
As with all generic spice blends, the flavor profile of this one will vary according to where its components came from, who mixed them, and how long ago, ...
"Chips de Pita au Zaatar" continues »
February 9, 2007
Le Fondant au Chocolat de Tante Amélie
[Aunt Amélie's Smooth Chocolate Cake]
None of my aunts are named Amélie, I thought I should make that clear from the start. And if I am to explain the origin of this recipe, I will need to rewind the tape back to early January, when French food writer Thierry Roussillon asked if I would answer a few questions for one of the interviews gourmandes he publishes on his blog.
A few days after I did, a severe bout of procrastination found me browsi...
"Le Fondant au Chocolat de Tante Amélie" continues »
February 5, 2007
Crème de Feta à la Tomate
[Tomato Feta Dip]
Every once in a while I get the sudden impulse to hop on a stool and spring-clean my pantry. The urge strikes with no warning, often at the most inconvenient moment, and I get pulled into the task like those cartoon characters who slip a finger into a spinning cogwheel.
I will be looking for an item that time has pushed to the hinterlands of the cabinet, and I will encounter all sorts of forgotten jars and neglected cans alo...
"Crème de Feta à la Tomate" continues »
January 28, 2007
Jarret de Veau Braisé à la Cuiller
[Spoon-Tender Braised Veal Shank]
May I introduce to you my new favorite dinner party recipe, a recipe of the sort hosts and hostesses ardently wish for, a recipe that requires minimal effort and produces spectacular results?
Yes, I thought that might interest you.
The recipe in question is a recipe for veal shank that one braises for three to four hours in sweet white wine (vin blanc moelleux), surrounded by a benevolent court of onions and...
"Jarret de Veau Braisé à la Cuiller" continues »
January 26, 2007
Oeufs au Lait
I don't really do milk. I don't drink it, I don't cook with it, I don't add it to my cereals, and I like my coffee black, thanks. As a result, I rarely have any in the fridge, and when I do buy a bottle for a recipe, the leftovers usually sit in the fridge and spoil with boredom.
But I hate to toss food as much as the next girl (or perhaps even more than her), and it recently occurred to me that I could salvage leftover milk and make Maxence h...
January 23, 2007
Cauliflower Gratin
[Gratin de Chou-Fleur]
Ever since my casual mention of my mother's cauliflower gratin a few weeks ago, requests for the recipe have been steadily pouring into my inbox. A silent protest was even organized at the foot of my apartment building the other day, with eager, apron-clad cooks walking in circles and brandishing signs that read, "Cauliflower To The People" and "Let Us Eat Gratin."
Fortunately, there is a back door to my building.
With...
"Cauliflower Gratin" continues »
January 19, 2007
Le Gâteau Piège
[Piège Cake]
Oh no, don't worry, despite the name (piège means trap in French), this is not the sort of cake that's designed to snap closed onto the unsuspecting, eager-for-a-slice hand. I've named this cake le gâteau Piège -- with a capital "P" -- after Jean-François Piège, chef at Les Ambassadeurs [warning: muzak ahead], who shared the recipe in ELLE a few weeks ago.
It was published there as le gâteau de mon enfance (the cake from my child...
January 8, 2007
Salade de Pomme de Terre au Paprika Fumé
[Smoked Paprika Potato Salad]
Although bread is without a doubt the carb I'd have the most trouble giving up, the potato is a close second. You can fry it mash it boil it roast it broil it stuff it, and be quite certain you'll get my vote.
The preparations I most enjoy are sautéed potatoes, especially my mother's (which, before you ask, don't have any special ingredient other than her love and dexterity), and potato salads. I like a creamy po...
"Salade de Pomme de Terre au Paprika Fumé" continues »
December 27, 2006
Croquants Châtaigne et Noix de Pécan
[Chestnut Pecan Biscotti]
Because I know you've been hanging on to the edge of your seats and I'm not such a bad person after all, here is my report on this year's batch of edible gifts. The recipe I ended up making on Saturday afternoon -- in between a few last-minute errands, but I'm fortunate enough to live in a neighborhood that offers plenty of shops that cater to the disorganized and thus belated present-buyer -- was Nolwenn's, a recipe ...
"Croquants Châtaigne et Noix de Pécan" continues »
December 19, 2006
Macarons Maïs Violette
[Violet Cornmeal Macarons]
If you are still trying to get your act together about what homemade edible presents to give out this holiday season, I'm here to tell you that you are not alone. I myself have done precisely zilch about it, but that's okay: today is Tuesday, Christmas eve is this Sunday, and that still gives me plenty of time to pick a recipe, buy the ingredients, and get started, right? Right? Thank you.
I would hate to spoil the ...
"Macarons Maïs Violette" continues »
December 13, 2006
Soupe de Chou-Fleur, Curcuma et Noisette
[Cauliflower Soup with Turmeric and Hazelnuts]
I know a lot of people who dislike cauliflower. Perhaps I am biased since I grew up eating my mother's killer gratin de chou-fleur, but I really don't see what's not to like in a vegetable that's mild-flavored without being bland, that's so good-looking it is described as a flower in numerous languages (chou-fleur, cavolfiore, coliflor, Blumenkohl, bloemkool, couve-flor -- wanna add yours?), and t...
"Soupe de Chou-Fleur, Curcuma et Noisette" continues »
November 30, 2006
Le Pain qu'on ne pétrit pas
[No-Knead Bread]
Complete fiascoes are few and far between in my kitchen. I'm not sure whom to thank for this -- my lucky star, my karma, my mom? -- but the fact is that the things I cook or bake very rarely end up in the trash. I have disappointments of course, dishes that turn out a bit meh despite my high hopes, but nothing quite as débâcle-like as when I tried my hand at the recipe everyone has been raving about lately, stressing how laugh...
"Le Pain qu'on ne pétrit pas" continues »
November 28, 2006
Biscuits Très Gingembre
[Very Ginger Cookies]
One should always be careful what one writes about on one's blog, for one never knows what hungry demons one might unleash as one mulls over edible memories from one's past.
After I wrote about shortbread last week and listed some of the things we liked to buy at Marks & Spencer's, I could not get their stem ginger biscuits out of my mind. These cookies were tough little things to bite into, but they crumbled in your mou...
"Biscuits Très Gingembre" continues »
November 17, 2006
Shortbread
I grew up in the most anglophile French household I know, where the paperbacks strewn about the coffee table often bore little penguins, where the parents used English as a secret language when they didn't want their daughters to understand, and where sending them to England every summer sounded like a good idea (that question is still up for debate; in any case, there went the secret language).
Food-wise, it meant that fried eggs frequently c...
November 14, 2006
Green Bean and Almond Soup
[Soupe de Haricots Verts aux Amandes]
None of my friends need to be reminded how I feel about Rose Bakery, their salad plates, their assortment of British goods (including Neal's Yard cheeses), and their superb sweets that one simply must try and reproduce at home. "Where should we go for lunch in your neighborhood?" they ask. "I like Rose Bakery," I reply. "And what about breakfast/tea/brunch, what do you recommend?" they ask. "Well, I like R...
"Green Bean and Almond Soup" continues »
November 10, 2006
Aged Gouda and Dried Pear Scones
[Scones au Gouda Vieux et Poires Séchées]
Before we begin, I would like to address the scone/biscuit question. To Americans, a biscuit is the hand-held version of a quick bread, leavened with baking powder. Usually round and savory, the American biscuit may be served in place of bread to accompany a main course, especially if said main course involves a gravy component. The closest equivalent the British and the French can think of is the scon...
"Aged Gouda and Dried Pear Scones" continues »
November 8, 2006
Dried Pears
[Dried Pears]
I oven-dry tomatoes all through late summer, when I can lay my hands on cheap and tasty specimens, and I like to apply that method to pears in the fall, too: the drying sublimates the pear flavor into a hauntingly sweet concentrate of itself. This does mean it is a good way to cut your losses on below-average pears, but for superb results you should of course use superb pears. The technique works best with fruits that are ripe bu...
November 2, 2006
Cake à la Banane Flambée et Noix de Pécan Caramélisées
[Flambé Banana Bread with Caramelized Pecans]
One of the things I love the most about kitchen activities is that they come in all shapes and sizes to fit your mood, and how much time you have on your hands. Whether you're looking for instant gratification or a way to spend some quality moments with your pans and spatulas, there is a project out there that's perfect for you. And even for one given dish, there are always plenty of options, high-...
"Cake à la Banane Flambée et Noix de Pécan Caramélisées" continues »
October 30, 2006
Rôti de Porc au Chou Rouge Epicé, Pommes et Pruneaux
[Pork Roast with Spiced Red Cabbage, Apples, and Prunes]
I don't normally buy meat at the farmers' market: I have a good neighborhood butcher that I like -- his name is Mario, what's not to like? -- and my usual crop of fruits, vegetables, cheese, and flowers is usually so bulky in my rainbow-colored basket (a birthday gift from my neighbors) that it leaves room for little else, especially if I want to make it home with my shoulder still in it...
"Rôti de Porc au Chou Rouge Epicé, Pommes et Pruneaux" continues »
October 23, 2006
Compote de Pomme et Potimarron à la Vanille de Mayotte
[Apple and Hokkaido Squash Compote with Mayotte Vanilla]
I recently read that online shopping -- or just online window-shopping -- was a widespread form of procrastination. I cannot remember where I read this, but that's probably because reading random stuff on the Internet is another way in which I squander vast amounts of my time.
In any case, the online shopping observation certainly struck a chord, and an indisputable proof of my guilt ar...
"Compote de Pomme et Potimarron à la Vanille de Mayotte" continues »
October 16, 2006
Fondant Chocolat Noix de Coco
[Coconut Chocolate Cake]
I have known Marie-Laure for nineteen years. This represents more than two thirds of our lives, and our friendship has accompanied us through primary school, junior high, high school, university, a year in Brazil for her, two years in California for me, and a variety of jobs, relationships, and haircuts, without us ever growing apart.
She lived a few doors down from me (or perhaps I lived a few doors down from her, t...
"Fondant Chocolat Noix de Coco" continues »
October 9, 2006
Spiced Chocolate Peanut Butter
Considering my love of good-for-you nut butters and my passion for the unabashedly trashy peanut butter cup, it was only a matter of time before I attempted to coalesce the two and make a peanut butter cup spread of some sort.
I thought I would simply use unsweetened cocoa powder to flavor an otherwise classic homemade peanut butter, but when I opened the tin in which I keep my cocoa powder, a hollow clonk is all that greeted me. "Who used the...
"Spiced Chocolate Peanut Butter" continues »
October 3, 2006
Muriel's Chicken
Cookbook writing guidelines tell you that naming a recipe after someone is not a good idea: it doesn't tell the reader much about the ingredients or the process, the reader doesn't know this person, and frankly, the reader doesn't really care. This is all true of course, but I have a certain fondness for those recipes that sound like they were found in some old handwritten recipe book -- la Carpe farcie façon Hortense, le Boudin du Père Thibaul...
"Muriel's Chicken" continues »
September 26, 2006
Gâteau Sirop Muffins
Amongst all the towns Maxence and I cruised through on our roadtrip across the US, Breaux Bridge, Louisiana is the one that stands out the most in my memory (and no, I don't receive any money from the mayor's office). We stayed there a bit longer than originally planned -- car troubles will do that to you, have you seen U Turn? -- but unlike Sean Penn in Superior, Arizona, we loved every minute of it.
A few of my favorite minutes in Breaux Bri...
"Gâteau Sirop Muffins" continues »
September 20, 2006
Faisselle de Chèvre à la Ciboulette
[Goat's Milk Faisselle with Chives]
Originally, a faisselle (feh-sell) is a container pierced with tiny holes, in which fresh cheese is placed so the whey will drain out. But then metonymy came into play (or perhaps came in to play) and the word now also designates an unsalted soft curd cheese sold in such a container, itself nested in a larger, bucket-shaped tub. This clever contraption allows the whey to flow freely around the cheese, keepin...
"Faisselle de Chèvre à la Ciboulette" continues »
September 5, 2006
Cinq-Cinquièmes à la Pistache
[Pistachio Five-Fifths]
Le quatre-quarts ("four fourths") can be described as the French pound cake. It has earned its name because the batter is made with the same weight of eggs, butter, sugar, and flour, thus amounting to a fourth of the cake each: you weigh the eggs first, and measure the rest of the ingredients accordingly. There's baking powder, too, which throws the proportions off by a feather, but thou shallt resist the temptation to ...
"Cinq-Cinquièmes à la Pistache" continues »
August 29, 2006
Osso Buco
Complaining about the weather is a national sport in France, but as is true of most sports -- except perhaps for swimming -- I am not very good at it. I have generally adopted the maxim, "Don't worry about the things you can't control," and while I will do the chit-chat thing with taxi drivers and random people seeking shelter under the same awning as I (before I suddenly remember that all my windows are open and have to run back home under she...
August 10, 2006
Fiadone
Fiadone can be described as the Corsican cheesecake. Crustless and no more than an inch in thickness, it is prepared with one of the most famous specialties from l'Ile de Beauté, a fresh cheese called brocciu (I am told that this is pronounced "brooch", not "bro-choo"), made with sheep's milk and/or goat's milk. Like all fresh cheeses, good artisanal specimens are instantly recognizable by their faint aromas of barn and hay, and brocciu in part...
August 2, 2006
Chicken Family Green Beans
As much as one likes to cook, one has to admit that on some nights, a bit of convenience and instant gratification doesn't hurt. And when our mood clamors for an effortless yet satisfying dinner at home, it is a true comfort to know that we can turn to the Chicken Family, and that the Chicken Family will be there for us.
Chicken Family is the name of a small rotisserie on rue des Abbesses. More a stand than an actual shop, it is a narrow, corr...
"Chicken Family Green Beans" continues »
July 23, 2006
Beurre de Cajou
[Cashew Butter]
My jar of old-fashioned chunky peanut butter having mysteriously evaporated somewhere between the store where I bought it and the apartment where I thought I'd brought it back, I had to devise a strategy to assuage the feeling of disappointment and vexation, the kind that makes you bang your fist on the kitchen counter as you mutter a few well-selected swear words through clenched teeth, and try hard to remind yourself that thi...
June 14, 2006
Courgette au Coquelicot en Carpaccio
[Zucchini Poppy Carpaccio]
As promised, here is the recipe for the first course in the flower menu I created for the French edition of ELLE (issue #3154, June 12, 2006). My thanks to Catherine Roig for allowing me to reproduce the recipes here. The picture above is a shot of the magazine page: the food styling is by Valérie Lhomme, the photography by Edouard Sicot.
Where does one find poppy vinegar? In Paris, it can be purchased at Izrael (30...
"Courgette au Coquelicot en Carpaccio" continues »
Magret en Croûte de Lavande
[Lavender-crusted Duck Magret]
As promised, here is the recipe for the main course in the flower menu I created for the French edition of ELLE (issue #3154, June 12, 2006). My thanks to Catherine Roig for allowing me to reproduce the recipes here. The picture above is a shot of the magazine page: the food styling is by Valérie Lhomme, the photography by Edouard Sicot.
Where does one find lavender flowers? The important thing is to use unspray...
"Magret en Croûte de Lavande" continues »
Framboises et Violettes en Tartelette
[Raspberry and Violet Tartlets]
As promised, here is the recipe for the dessert in the flower menu I created for the French edition of ELLE (issue #3154, June 12, 2006). My thanks to Catherine Roig for allowing me to reproduce the recipes here. The picture above is a shot of the magazine page: the food styling is by Valérie Lhomme, the photography by Edouard Sicot.
Where does one find violet syrup and candied violets? In France, they can be p...
"Framboises et Violettes en Tartelette" continues »
June 8, 2006
Pesto Fraise Basilic
[Strawberry Basil Pesto]
What do you do when your deepest desire is a little homemade pesto in your sandwich, but you discover with a sinking heart that you have but a handful of basil? Sure, you could go out and buy more, certainly, yes, that would be the sensible thing to do. But what if you can't go out for some reason, say, because you've just painted your toenails, or because you're expecting a delivery, or perhaps both? Well, you open th...
"Pesto Fraise Basilic" continues »
June 5, 2006
Petits Beurres
I have told you before about the cookbooks my grandmother has given me, old, tattered, and much-loved volumes that used to belong to my great-grandmother before her. One of them is called Mes Recettes pour votre dessert, and it contains 710 recipes for sweet things, arranged in alphabetical order from Amandés de Liège to Visitandines. And on page 222, this precious book offers a recipe for petits beurres.
Le Petit Beurre (literally "little bu...
May 28, 2006
Cacao & Zucchini Absorption Pasta
Chose promise, chose due*, here is my take on absorption pasta, or risotto-style pasta. The idea of this technique is to coat the pasta with a little olive oil, add just enough liquids to cover, and cook until desired tenderness. According to Virka -- who read it in the Italian paper La Reppublica so it simply must be true -- this cooking technique dates back from the early 13th century, and was in fact the only one that was used before it was ...
"Cacao & Zucchini Absorption Pasta" continues »
May 15, 2006
Macadamia Maple Granola
When I was little, I had long and exclusive relationships with my breakfast menus. For years on end a particular food item was all I would have in the morning, until suddenly and without warning, a new monomania came to replace it.
The earliest phase I remember involved pain de mie (white sandwich bread) and Nutella. Two slices of bread would be toasted until lightly golden (if it got too brown I had to find someone who would eat it, and start...
"Macadamia Maple Granola" continues »
May 1, 2006
When your sister gives you lemons
...make almond lemon curd.
I like it when I can count the degrees of separation between an ingredient and myself, especially when I only need the fingers of one hand to do so. In this case, there were just four degrees of separation between me and three large lemons: my sister Céline has a boyfriend I adore, named Christian. Christian has a father, who lives not far from Nice. And this father has a bountiful lemon tree, currently overloaded wi...
"When your sister gives you lemons" continues »
April 24, 2006
Soupe aux Orties
[Nettle Soup]
How often do you get to cook with a hostile ingredient? Sure, you could hurt yourself with pretty much anything -- drop a head of celeriac on your toes, rub your eyes after chopping chili peppers, stab yourself with a carrot -- but nettle leaves are actively belligerent. Stinging you is their life calling, it is what they were meant to do, and you can hardly blame them. Wolves will be wolves, nettles will be nettles.
And so it i...
"Soupe aux Orties" continues »
April 17, 2006
Hot Cross Buns, Take II
If you have a book to write, I recommend hiding out for a few days in the comfort of a mountain house, preferably in a region where spring is a bit tardy, so the weather will make it easy for you to stay in and type. For fresh air, throw in a few healthy walks to spot the first daffodils (the mist will also make your hair nice and wavy) and a few morning visits to the market. For distraction, a daytrip to Munster and Colmar, and lots of reading...
"Hot Cross Buns, Take II" continues »
April 12, 2006
Ganache Sandwich Cookies
I am not very good at falling asleep. Once I manage to drift off I sleep soundly till morning -- which is a blessing, no doubt -- but it can take a while before I achieve that state of blissful nothingness. However much I try to relax before bedtime, my mind is reluctant to let go of the day's activities, and seems to take the head-hits-pillow event as a signal to start whirring up again, and brainstorm on whichever problem needs solving, which...
"Ganache Sandwich Cookies" continues »
April 4, 2006
Soupe de Betterave, Pâte d'Anchois aux Noix
[Beet Soup with Anchovy-Walnut Paste]
I went to the market on Saturday morning, walking at a brisk pace up the boulevard in the shy sunlight, stopping by the bank to deposit a check (aren't you glad to know), and reaching the stands about a minute after the greasy smells of potato pancakes had reached me -- how anyone can be tempted by these is beyond me, but the guy who sells them seems to do quite well, so perhaps I'm just not his target aud...
"Soupe de Betterave, Pâte d'Anchois aux Noix" continues »
March 27, 2006
Petites Brioches
Amongst the many good things a food blog will do to you, is this one: even when you feel you are completely ruining a recipe, your mind is already working on how to turn this potential disaster into what you hope will be an entertaining, tale-of-a-near-fiasco post for your readers -- a much more constructive way to look at the situation than curling up on the kitchen tilefloor and weeping helpless tears of rage.
And this is what I was thinking...
"Petites Brioches" continues »
March 22, 2006
Clafoutis à la Fraise
I have a new piece appearing today on NPR's Kitchen Window: it is a recipe for strawberry clafoutis, to which I've added, as a free! no-strings-attached! bonus, an easy recipe for strawberry coulis.
(If you've missed them, my previous contributions to Kitchen Window include:
~ Mango Scallop Tartlets
~ Pear Pastilla
~ Cheese Course 101
~ Fresh Herb Muffins
~ Cherry Soup with Hazelnut Rosemary Tuiles
~ Artichoke and Goat Cheese Mille-feuille
~ A...
"Clafoutis à la Fraise" continues »
March 15, 2006
Boudin de Langue
[Tongue Blood Sausage]
Paris is filled to the brim with little stores that sell produits du terroir, artisanal products from different regions of France: condiments and spices, jam and honey, cookies and candy, traditional canned dishes such as cassoulet or duck confit... You push the door and feel like you've stepped right into Hansel and Gretel's bread house, complete with cake roof and sugar windows.
Having read that fairy tale and learne...
"Boudin de Langue" continues »
March 6, 2006
Almond Croissants
[Croissants aux Amandes]
A couple of weeks ago, as I was writing about brunches and the possibility of leftover croissants, I gave a passing mention to croissants aux amandes. Such a teaser could not go unnoticed: I received a few requests for instructions, and promised I'd share them as soon as I had a picture to illustrate the recipe.
You will find croissants aux amandes in most traditional French bakeries. Originally devised as a way to se...
"Almond Croissants" continues »
February 13, 2006
Biscuits Chocolat et Fèves de Cacao
[Chocolate and Cacao Nib Cookies]
Soft and cakey and thrice chocolate-flavored -- from the velvet of melted chocolate, the strength of cocoa powder, and the aromatic crunch of cacao nibs -- these bite-size cookies should fit into either one of these Valentine's Day scenarios:
1. You tend to throw yourself rhapsodically into the whole gift-and-card-and-flower-giving thing: it's fun, it's red, and it gives you the perfect excuse to buy and eat ...
"Biscuits Chocolat et Fèves de Cacao" continues »
January 18, 2006
Gâteau Choco-Coco
[Coconut Chocolate Cake]
It was Maxence's birthday last week, and one of the things we did to mark the occasion -- in addition to one glorious meal at Les Ambassadeurs -- was to invite friends to join us and celebrate at a small cocktail bar that recently opened in our neighborhood, on an improbable little street we'd hardly ever noticed before. Maybe it didn't even exist.
The bar is trendy yet cosy, with a cushy banquette and plenty of stool...
"Gâteau Choco-Coco" continues »
January 2, 2006
Crumble Pomme Mangue
[Mango Apple Crumble]
I cultivate a relationship of deep trust and mutual appreciation with the Fruit Crumble Family. We send each other holiday cards and such, we remember our respective birthdays, and I often turn to them when I'm looking for a simple dessert that won't keep me busy for half the day, one that will be comforting and reliably tasty. And if it can suffuse the kitchen and living-room with warm golden smells, so much the better. ...
"Crumble Pomme Mangue" continues »
December 28, 2005
Tartelettes de Saint-Jacques à la Mangue
[Scallop Mango Tartlet]
What do you mean, you're still trying to recover from the Christmas celebrations? Come on, New Year's Eve is just around the corner, time to hit the ground running and plan for it!
If you intend to host a little dinner party but are still scratching your head about the menu, stop it: it's bad for your scalp, and my latest piece on NPR's website has a first course suggestion for you, offering a recipe for these delicat...
"Tartelettes de Saint-Jacques à la Mangue" continues »
December 21, 2005
Soupe de Courge à la Vanille
[Butternut Squash and Vanilla Soup]
If it sort of seems from my recent postings that all I eat these days is soup, well, it's not very far from the truth. But see, all those winter vegetables are really begging for it, and I don't have the heart to turn them down. Besides, since I am now equipped with a cast-iron cocotte and an immersion blender, it's only courteous of me to use them, right?
Today's featured soup was made with a large chunk o...
"Soupe de Courge à la Vanille" continues »
December 19, 2005
Mijoté de Boeuf aux Légumes Racine
[Beef Stew with Root Vegetables]
I've noticed that my cooking is most often vegetable-driven: I will buy fresh veggies at the market or at the produce stall, and then decide what fish or meat will complement them -- not the other way around.
On Saturday morning I returned from the farmers' market with a basket of mostly root vegetables, not such a surprise in December: tiny spuds with a skin so thin you feel they should wear chapstick, youn...
"Mijoté de Boeuf aux Légumes Racine" continues »
December 16, 2005
Gâteau au Chocolat et Pralines Roses
[Pink Praline Chocolate Cake]
Pralines can be a confusing thing, considering that the same pretty word (It would make a cool name for a little girl, no? Or would this ruin her life you think?) is used for different confections.
The original praline is made by cooking almonds in melted sugar: the mixture is left to cool then reheated several times, forming an irregular crust of crispy chewy caramel around the tender almond. These pralines are ...
"Gâteau au Chocolat et Pralines Roses" continues »
December 7, 2005
Pommes et Poires aux Caramels
[Apples and Pears with Caramels]
I love having friends over for an impromptu weeknight dinner. I love going out to restaurants too, I've probably made that clear by now, but having them at home is something else entirely -- warmer and more intimate. It allows you to choose your own musical ambiance (a nice random mix from the Squeezebox), move to the couch for a good cup of tea after dinner, and have conversations that you wouldn't dream of le...
"Pommes et Poires aux Caramels" continues »
November 25, 2005
Soupe de Céleri et Patates Douces au Gingembre
[Celeriac and Sweet Potato Soup with Ginger]
It has been very cold in Paris lately* -- which I guess should be expected in late November but still comes as something of a shock after the lovely été indien we've had -- and naturally my thoughts turn to, I'll let you guess: fondue savoyarde? Well, that's one, but it's not what I meant. Soup, then? Yes! Thick and hearty soup served piping hot, the kind you can fill a pretty bowl with, cup your ha...
"Soupe de Céleri et Patates Douces au Gingembre" continues »
November 18, 2005
Gâteau au Yaourt à la Myrtille
[Blueberry Yogurt Cake]
I seem to have become the official birthday cake baker on the 3rd floor of my apartment building -- should this be added to my résumé you think? -- a mission I am proud and happy to take on.
It was recently Peter's birthday -- Peter who's half Italian half Scottish, and who lives with Ligiana, herself from Brazil, in the apartment to the left of ours. As a birthday gift, Ligiana had arranged for him to take a Brazilian...
"Gâteau au Yaourt à la Myrtille" continues »
October 12, 2005
Yogurt Cake
[Gâteau au yaourt]
As I've mentioned before, Maxence is a big advocate of the adage "if it ain't broke don't fix it". In other words, when a classic recipe is fabulous, don't meddle with it, and just do what you're told. Obviously I have trouble following that piece of advice, and more often than not I'll surrender to the urge and tweak a little something here and a little something there -- substitution is my middle name.
But Maxence had bee...
October 7, 2005
Salade Tiède de Poireaux aux Noix Fraîches
[Warm Leek Salad with Fresh Walnuts]
There is a special kind of grace in the simple combination of a few ingredients that you have on hand. The resulting dish has an air of spontaneity, a certain modesty, that makes it easy to love: you didn't put much time or thought into it, there is little pressure on its shoulders to be successful, and this allows it to shine even brighter.
I was standing in the kitchen, thinking that something had to be ...
"Salade Tiède de Poireaux aux Noix Fraîches" continues »
October 3, 2005
Canelés
I tasted my first canelé some seven years ago, at Eric Kayser's boulangerie on rue Monge. Maxence had a friend who lived nearby, they often worked on school projects together, and whenever they felt like a break and a snack, this is where they would go. Maxence adored their canelés, ordered them often, and made me try them.
Delicious. Simply delicious. Canelés (alternate spelling: cannelés) are made from a batter that resembles a crepe batter....
September 26, 2005
Soupe de Carotte à la Brise de Châtaigne
[Carrot Chestnut Soup]
Fall officially came into office barely a week ago, and while the weather hasn't been particularly drab (we've even had a few unseasonally beautiful days), it seems as though a giant switch had been flicked in some great control room somewhere: all of a sudden, with no warning at all, I felt like eating soup.
So. Veggies were purchased, a cocotte was whipped out (this is just a manner of speaking considering the weight ...
"Soupe de Carotte à la Brise de Châtaigne" continues »
September 22, 2005
Galettes de Riz
[Rice Cakes]
"Waste not, want not", saith popular wisdom. I do hate having to throw out good ingredients or tasty leftovers. I generally strive to make the most of my supplies, and in fact it's an excellent exercise for your creative muscles to try and find ways to do so. But I have to admit it's a constant battle between this thrifty side of me and the other one, who rolls her eyes and moans, "We've eaten that twice already, can we please mo...
August 29, 2005
Brochettes d'Agneau au Thym
[Lamb Skewers with Thyme]
It's strange how much more comfortable I am around vegetables than meat. Vegetables are familiar, safe and easy to work with. I never run out of things to do with or to them, I know how to choose them, how they're supposed to feel in your hand, how long they keep and how they react to various treatments and seasonings.
Meat, on the other hand, is a much more mysterious matter. Different breeds, different cuts, differ...
"Brochettes d'Agneau au Thym" continues »
August 24, 2005
Fresh Herb Muffins
I have a new piece up on NPR's website: this one includes some tips about picnics and a recipe for fresh herb muffins!
For my metric-minded readers, here are the measurements to make the muffins:
- A small bunch of fresh flat parsley, about 25 sprigs
- A small bunch of fresh cilantro, about 25 sprigs
- A small bunch of fresh chives, about 20 sprigs
- 3 eggs
- 125 ml buttermilk (substitute plain yogurt or kéfir)
- 80 ml pesto
- 25 g grated parm...
"Fresh Herb Muffins" continues »
August 5, 2005
Compote Pêche Abricot à la Crème de Coquelicot
[Peach Apricot Compote with Red Poppy Cream]
I seem to have a particular fondness for the red poppy, its fragile fluttering silhouette and its thread-thin stem, too thin it seems to support its flamboyant scarlet petals and contrasting black heart. I like that it is easily spotted from afar -- in the middle of a field, on the banks of a country road or in the most unsuspected places amidst city landscapes -- and I like that it is a flower best...
"Compote Pêche Abricot à la Crème de Coquelicot" continues »
August 3, 2005
Ricotta Maison
[Homemade Ricotta]
The minute I read Heidi's post about making your own ricotta and her comment that "this ricotta tastes and smells like the milk it is made from so use the best and freshest dairy you can find", I instantly thought what a perfect use it would be for the bottle of raw milk that Christoph and Susanne gave me for my birthday as part of their superb farm-fresh gift basket.
I set to work in late afternoon the next day, slightly i...
July 28, 2005
Salade de Courgette et Poulet au Vinaigre de Framboise
[Zucchini and Chicken Salad with Raspberry Vinegar]
Ever since I served raw zucchini sticks with my anchoïade a few weeks ago and experienced a private tastebud epiphany, I have felt it my personal mission to let the world know how incredibly delicious and subtly sweet zucchini tastes in its most natural simple naked state.
It is best to keep this treatment for the freshest zucchini, slender young things with smooth skin and firm flesh that f...
"Salade de Courgette et Poulet au Vinaigre de Framboise" continues »
July 25, 2005
Panzanella
Authenticity can be a fine line to tread when it comes to cooking. Dishes and recipes originate in certain parts of the world and are often deeply rooted in local traditions. But then people emigrate, they travel, they adopt, they adapt, they improvise, and the same dish gets recreated in a different kitchen at a different time, with the same name but a completely different face.
Naturally, food and recipes are meant to be played with and buil...
July 19, 2005
Gratin de Nectarines à la Noisette
[Hazelnut and Nectarine Gratin]
In French, a portrait chinois (literally "Chinese portrait") is a kind of riddle in which one person tries to guess a famous person's name by asking a set of questions and working by analogy: if he were an animal, what would he be? And if he were a flower, a city, a song, a color, a movie? Since this is incredibly difficult -- I mean really, if Charles de Gaulle were a flower, what the heck would he be? I'm tell...
"Gratin de Nectarines à la Noisette" continues »
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!...
"Dip Fromage Frais et Coriandre" continues »
July 15, 2005
Salade de Blé Tendre, Courgette et Abricot
[Soft Wheatberry Salad with Zucchini and Apricots]
I am a great lover of all things grain. Quinoa, bulgur, kamut, buckwheat, barley, amaranth, millet -- each of them nutritious, filling and tasty in its own personal way (although they all seem to be indifferently described as "nutty" on the package, or un goût de noisette in French). I also love that most of them can be traced all the way back to ancient civilisations -- you know, way before i...
"Salade de Blé Tendre, Courgette et Abricot" continues »
July 13, 2005
Soupe de Cerise, Tuiles Noisette et Romarin
[Swimming Cherries, Hazelnut Rosemary Tuiles]
I have a new piece appearing today in NPR's weekly Kitchen Window column. The recipe I am sharing this time is for a chilled cherry soup that you can serve with hazelnut rosemary wafers, a variation on the typically French tuile.
The metric measurements are below.
(Previous contributions to Kitchen Window:
- Artichoke and Goat Cheese Mille-feuille,
- Asparagus Confit with Almonds and Rosemary,
- ...
"Soupe de Cerise, Tuiles Noisette et Romarin" continues »
June 3, 2005
Un Sandwich pour le Dessert
[A Sandwich for Dessert]
"Un Sandwich pour le Dessert" is a project I worked on for Fraîch'Attitude, a Parisian gallery that specializes in Eat Art. Eat Art is an offshoot of ephemeral art that uses food as its primary material: some of the exhibitions are actually edible and are meant to disappear into the visitors' stomachs, to be recreated the next day.
The gallery just opened a new exhibition yesterday around the theme Picnic, and a...
"Un Sandwich pour le Dessert" continues »
June 1, 2005
Mille-feuille Artichaut et Chèvre
And today, I'd like to invite you to hop on over to NPR.org for my new Kitchen Window column! What you will find this time is a recipe for an Artichoke and Goat-Cheese Mille-Feuille -- a tasty, fun-to-make and elegant starter for your next dinner party...
(Previous Kitchen Window pieces:
- Asparagus Confit with Almonds and Rosemary,
- Chocolate and Candied Ginger Tartlets.)...
"Mille-feuille Artichaut et Chèvre" continues »
May 30, 2005
Salade de Concombre au Crabe
[Crab and Cucumber Salad]
Paris went through a miniature heatwave last week -- it certainly felt nice to take the skirts, tank tops and strappy sandals out of their winter residence -- and lunchtime on Saturday found me craving for something easy and fresh.
The refrigerator was in dire need of replenishing, not exactly empty but certainly devoid of exciting things. I considered going out to buy a few things, but quickly decided against it. M...
"Salade de Concombre au Crabe" continues »
May 23, 2005
Strawberry Panna Cotta
Panna cotta is a traditional Piemontese recipe -- the name means "cooked cream" in Italian. There are many variations of the recipe, but it is generally made by simply simmering together some cream, milk and sugar, mixing this with gelatin, before letting it cool until set. The cream mixture can also be flavored, often with a vanilla pod, sometimes with fruit or fruit juice, but you could also experiment with tea, cocoa powder, and different sp...
"Strawberry Panna Cotta" continues »
May 19, 2005
Souris d'Agneau Confites, Sandwiches de Polenta Grillée
[Braised Lamb Shanks, Grilled Polenta Sandwiches]
...and this is part III of the dinner I served on Saturday, when I was (at long last) given the opportunity to meet Derrick and Melissa, dear friends from the Blogosphere now happily upgraded to dear friends from the Real World.
After a lively chat going in ten different directions -- we were so excited to finally meet, where were we to start? -- over a nice appetizer of crostini and anchoïade...
"Souris d'Agneau Confites, Sandwiches de Polenta Grillée" continues »
May 17, 2005
Anchoïade
Anchoïade, a garlic and anchovy dip, is a specialty from Provence and the city of Collioure in particular, famous for its anchois. It is typically served with an assortment of raw vegetables, or spread on little toasts. When I was in Lourmarin for Easter, my aunt served a delicious anchoïade for lunch the first day, and it had the consistency of a thin mayonnaise. I have also seen anchoïades that were thicker and chunkier, a bit like tapenade, ...
May 16, 2005
Pancetta and Capers Crostini
On Saturday night, we had the pleasure of meeting Derrick and his wife Melissa. They were in Paris for a few days on their way back from a wine-intensive trip to Germany, and I had invited them over for dinner. Derrick's An Obsession with Food was the very first food blog I ever laid my eyes on back in 2002 -- and wow, does anyone know where these last three years went? -- and he was part of my inspiration to start C&Z. After years of emailing ...
"Pancetta and Capers Crostini" continues »
May 10, 2005
Confiture de Poire aux Eclats de Fève de Cacao
[Pear Jam with Cacao Nibs]
Just recently, I had a sudden urge to make jam -- it may have to do with my own dwindling supply of the homemade stuff, or the sudden realization that spring strawberries would not last forever (as opposed to strawberry fields). In any case, when I went to the market a couple of weeks ago, it was with the firm intention to purchase fruit and make jam.
The strawberries were still way too pricy (at 4€ for a half...
"Confiture de Poire aux Eclats de Fève de Cacao" continues »
April 27, 2005
Parmentier de Hareng Fumé aux Brocolis
[Smoked Herring and Broccoli Parmentier]
In France, we get pretty much the same télé-réalité shows as everywhere else in the Western world -- yet another perk of globalization -- but I don't often watch them, as I find most either really boring or really painful to watch.
However, I have somehow let myself get sucked into the current show called La Nouvelle Star -- the French rendition of American Idol -- in which successive selections lead ...
"Parmentier de Hareng Fumé aux Brocolis" continues »
April 21, 2005
Ratatouille Confite au Four
[Oven-Roasted Ratatouille]
The quality and selection of produce is often a good criterion by which to judge a grocery store and its general attractiveness/cleanliness, because it's the first thing to look terrible if it's not carefully taken care of. A bit like peeking at the state of somebody's fingernails -- not that I actually do this and draw any conclusion, oh no, really no, I wouldn't.
And since the produce aisle is often placed right a...
"Ratatouille Confite au Four" continues »
April 18, 2005
Tarte Asperge et Fraise
[Asparagus and Strawberry Tart]
About a year ago, a little group of us Parisian (by birth or by heart) food enthusiasts started a tradition of organizing potluck dinners at one another's place. On Saturday night, my dear friend Alisa hosted her second such event, setting Aphrodisiac Foods as the theme for the night. The event had been scheduled for a while and I had done some basic research about those ingredients that were notable aphrodisiac...
"Tarte Asperge et Fraise" continues »
April 12, 2005
Chicken & Zucchini
We all need easy and healthy meals that can be whipped up in very little time (and even less planning) for a week-end lunch or a weeknight dinner, without sacrificing taste or feeling like you're slapping ready-made stuff together. So I thought I'd share the very very simple lunch we had last Saturday.
I'm sure you've noticed how the way you cut your vegetables affects their taste, giving them different textures and causing them to cook in dif...
"Chicken & Zucchini" continues »
April 6, 2005
Confit d'Asperge aux Amandes et au Romarin
Head over to NPR's website today for my Spring piece, a recipe for Asparagus Confit with Almonds and Rosemary! This is the first occurence of their Kitchen Window column that will be published online every other Wednesday, featuring different guest writers....
"Confit d'Asperge aux Amandes et au Romarin" continues »
March 24, 2005
Muffins à la Framboise, Eclats de Fève de Cacao (IMBB13)
[Raspberry Muffins with Cacao Nibs]
Today is the new edition of the world-famous collaborative food-blogging event Is My Blog Burning?. It is hosted this time by Maki of I was just really very hungry, and her theme of choice is cupcakes and muffins. You may notice that while IMBB's are traditionally held on Sundays, Maki thoughtfully planned for us to have time to scrounge around for the ingredients and make each other's goodies in time for Ea...
"Muffins à la Framboise, Eclats de Fève de Cacao (IMBB13)" continues »
March 21, 2005
Salade de Roquette, Vinaigrette d'Echalote et Amandes Toastées
[Rucola Salad, Shallot Vinaigrette and Toasted Almonds]
Last week I had lunch (at the Café Fusion, where else?) with someone who, incidentally, told me about a cooking class she had attended. It was one of those conversations between two persons who don't know each other too well, who suspect they are in the company of a fellow food enthusiast, but are still trying to determine how deeply infected the other person is, and just how much detail ...
"Salade de Roquette, Vinaigrette d'Echalote et Amandes Toastées" continues »
March 16, 2005
Mid-Atlantic Cheesecake
Cheesecake is one of my favorite desserts. Hard to resist I find it, with its fresh, creamy yet cakey body, and its tasty cookie crumb crust. But when you try to make American-style cheesecake in France, you quickly run into a procurement hurdle: neither cream cheese or graham crackers are readily available. You can find them -- at least if you're in Paris -- but this requires time and effort and the planning of a trip to one of the few stores ...
"Mid-Atlantic Cheesecake" continues »
March 10, 2005
Salade de Pleurotes, Pomme et Bergamote
[Oyster Mushroom Salad with Apple and Bergamot]
Pleurotes, also known as oyster mushrooms or tree oysters, are these large greyish beige mushrooms with a round funnel-shaped hat, that grow in clusters on the trunk of trees -- they don't care much if said tree is dead or alive, if you must know. The flesh underneath the hat (and that part is called the hymenophore, aren't you glad you came) has deep white gills that go all the way down the curv...
"Salade de Pleurotes, Pomme et Bergamote" continues »
March 4, 2005
Gâteau de Panais au Chorizo
[Parsnip and Chorizo Cake]
Yes, another gâteau! But it's a savory one this time, that combines grated parsnips, little chunks of chorizo and chopped parsley, baked into a warm golden cake, frittata-like and satifying. The parsnips meld into the egg batter to produce a smooth, almost moussy texture, and the chorizo adds a really nice kick to their earthy sweetness. Chorizo is one of my favorite things at the moment, and I'm still looking for so...
"Gâteau de Panais au Chorizo" continues »
March 2, 2005
Gâteau aux Daims
Daim Cake
Sometimes I come upon a recipe and I just can't seem to get it out of my head. Case in point: the Buttercrunch Almond Tea Cake, as baked by Zarah Maria in Copenhagen. The original recipe comes from Lisa Yockelson's book Baking by Flavor and is a tea cake studded with chunks of Heath bar. Heath bars I don't do (never had one, not sold over here) but Zarah Maria had the brilliance to use Daims instead. Daims? That I will do.
Daims are...
"Gâteau aux Daims" continues »
February 28, 2005
Chez Panisse Gingersnaps
Gin·ger·snap (noun) :
1. a thin brittle cookie, round or rectangular, sweetened with molasses and flavored with ginger (and optionally other spices). Close cousin: the speculoos from Flanders.
2. one of these viral recipes that occasionally spread like magic through our little world of food blogs!
And we have Renee [2010 update: she was the author of the now defunct blog "Feeding Dexygus Seconds"] to thank for this one. Renee had applied for ...
"Chez Panisse Gingersnaps" continues »
February 21, 2005
Muffins Banane Pécan
[Banana Pecan Muffins]
Brunch. What a fabulously promising word, evocative of lazy Sunday mornings, meeting with your friends at a sunny terrace, all of you a little sleepy and deliciously carefree, to share the kind of simple and comforting food that makes you feel like a kid again. Runny eggs on toast. Bacon and potatoes. Blueberry pancakes. Puffy French toast.
I adored our brunches in the US -- each occasion was cause for elation and exci...
"Muffins Banane Pécan" continues »
February 14, 2005
Chocolate and Candied Ginger Tartlets
Joyeuse St-Valentin!
Head over to NPR's website for a special Valentine's Day commentary and the Chocolate and Candied Ginger Tartlet recipe I created for the occasion!
NPR (National Public Radio) is a nonprofit producer and distributor of radio shows that serves over 750 independant radio stations in the US. In particular, their shows are broadcast on KQED, which was my radio of choice while cruising the Silicon Valley freeways -- ah, "Fresh...
"Chocolate and Candied Ginger Tartlets" continues »
February 7, 2005
Crêpes
February 2 is La Chandeleur (Candlemas), a holiday that welcomes the first signs of spring. In France, it is traditionally celebrated by making crêpes, with a variety of superstitious little tricks to bring happiness and prosperity upon your household.
One of those tricks involves holding a coin in your left hand while you flip the crêpe pan with your right hand: if all goes smoothly and you haven't dropped the crêpe or the coin or killed any...
February 2, 2005
Mini Summer Rolls with Thai Dipping Sauce (A Menu For Hope)
When Pim suggested we food bloggers try and raise some funds for the tsunami relief effort, her idea was that we would jointly create a twelve course menu of Southeast Asian inspiration, complete with recipes, drink pairings and translations. It is not my habit to let the big bad thnigs of the world take up too much space on C&Z (I think of it as a sheltered little place and I don't think anyone comes here to know about my political opinions), ...
"Mini Summer Rolls with Thai Dipping Sauce (A Menu For Hope)" continues »
January 25, 2005
Abricots au Chocolat
[Chocolate Dipped Apricots]
What would you do with melted chocolate leftover from making orangettes and florentins? Throw it out? You have got to be kidding.
No. The wise thing to do was rummage through my kitchen cabinets for something that would be nice and dippable. And I thus unearthed, oh joy, the large bag of dried apricots I had bought for my Apricot Sticky Toffee Pudding. These little orange nuggets keep remarkably well, and they we...
"Abricots au Chocolat" continues »
January 23, 2005
Salade Tiède de Haricots Tarbais à l'Huile de Noix (IMBB11)
[Warm Tarbais Bean Salad with Walnut Oil]
The 11th edition of Is My Blog Burning?, the world-famous collaborative food blogging event, is hosted by Cathy and her theme of choice is Beans!
For my contribution, it seemed only fitting that I use the prince of beans, a.k.a Le Haricot Tarbais. Originally brought back from the New World in the 16th century, this white kidney-shaped bean is now grown specifically in the region of Tarbes, a town in t...
"Salade Tiède de Haricots Tarbais à l'Huile de Noix (IMBB11)" continues »
January 17, 2005
Tarte Pomme Pistache
[Apple Pistachio Tart]
Ever since I laid my hands on a can of pistachio paste for the Bar à Veloutés, I have been looking for ways to use the precious stuff and make the most of it. So far I have made crème brûlée à la pistache (adding a little to my regular crème brûlée recipe), pistachio cookies and chocolate pistachio cake, all of which I was very happy with. I have also donated some to a couple of friends, but it looks as if I've hardly ma...
"Tarte Pomme Pistache" continues »
January 11, 2005
Une Simple Soupe
[A Simple Soup]
Is the weather cold and chilly and rainy and overcast (check all that apply)? Does it make you a little gloomy? Have you somewhat over-indulged during the holidays? Do you feel a little guilty? These are all perfectly benign symptoms, don't you worry. All you need is a nice, warm, chunky bowl of soup.
The recipe that follows is not set in stone by any means. I just made it with these vegetables because they were the ones I had...
"Une Simple Soupe" continues »
January 5, 2005
Tarte Tatin Caramel au Beurre Salé
[Tarte Tatin with Salted Butter Caramel]
This is the dessert I made for our New Year's Eve dinner.
We had decided to have a luxurious picnic rather than an elaborate meal, so we had toasts of foie gras (brought back from our vacation in the Périgord), a fruity duck magret salad whipped up by our neighbor Stéphan, and some Coquilles St-Jacques, lovingly hand-opened by Maxence and myself, simply sauteed and served with matchstick raw veggies (...
"Tarte Tatin Caramel au Beurre Salé" continues »
December 31, 2004
Shortcut Orangettes
In addition to the florentins, my little food gift packages for the holidays included orangettes, those little strips of candied orange peel dipped in dark chocolate.
I called these shortcut orangettes because I made them with candied orange rind I had bought at Ali Baba's Cave for Bakers. I could have called them Cheater's Orangettes too, but I thought it somewhat disparaging. You could candy your own of course, it's excellent karma: I mysel...
"Shortcut Orangettes" continues »
December 29, 2004
Sablés Vanille Pécan
[Vanilla Pecan Cookies]
These are the cookies I made to bring for tea at my parents' last Sunday. Originally, I meant to make cookies using the cookie press that my sister gave me for Christmas last year and which I hadn't yet played with. Did you ever notice how time seems to move at a different pace for kitchen utensils? I buy them or receive them as gifts, I am delighted and determined to use them, but somehow months can go by before I get ...
"Sablés Vanille Pécan" continues »
December 27, 2004
Florentins
Last year was my first time making food gifts for the holidays. My chocolate truffles and my mendiants were such fun to make and were so well received, that I was determined to repeat the experience this year. For a few weeks before Christmas I toyed with various ideas (all carefully written down for future reference, I hope I have long years of food gift giving ahead of me), and these florentins were among the elected ones.
Florentins are sma...
December 15, 2004
Gâteau Surprise Chocolat Pistache
[Chocolate and Pistachio Surprise Cake]
Last week was my sister's birthday. I didn't come as much of a surprise, really, because I have quite the analytical mind, and a careful observation has led me to the conclusion that this phenomenon happens every 8th of December, year in, year out. At least it always has. Of course, just because the sun has risen every morning for as long as we can remember doesn't mean it won't one day set and refuse to...
"Gâteau Surprise Chocolat Pistache" continues »
December 11, 2004
Leek and Apricot Strudel with Pinenuts
Amongst the many riches Chocolate & Zucchini has brought me, I think it is safe to say that new friends are the most precious. In particular, a small group of us here in Paris has started gathering around potluck dinners every month or so. Some of us are bloggers, some of us are readers, all of us are enthusiastic cooks and eaters. The potlucks are hosted in turn by one or the other, and they have gone thematic for the past two editions, which ...
"Leek and Apricot Strudel with Pinenuts" continues »
December 9, 2004
Gelée de Pomerol
[Pomerol Wine Jelly]
I am a religious reader of a handful of carefully selected cooking and women's magazines. Some I subscribe to, some I buy at the marchand de journaux (self-respecting magazines are not sold at the grocery store in France). New issues are welcomed with a tiny whoop of joy, carrying the promise of relaxing entertainment and a new set of colorful nuggets -- the latest fashion, gossip, book, trend, store or recipe.
In women's...
"Gelée de Pomerol" continues »
December 7, 2004
Crumble Banane Poire Pécan
[Banana Pear Pecan Crumble]
Fruit crumbles are perfect for when you have company: you can prepare the crumble dough well in advance, cut up the fruit when you have time, bake the crumble at your convenience (although same day is best for the crisp factor), and reheat it in the oven just before serving. I usually prepare enough dough for two crumbles and keep the remaining half in the fridge for a few days or in the freezer for a few weeks, rea...
"Crumble Banane Poire Pécan" continues »
December 6, 2004
Mijoté d'Agneau aux Kumquats et aux Pignons, Petit Gâteau de Polenta
[Kumquat and Pinenut Lamb Stew, Little Polenta Cake]
Last week, I had my parents and my sister over for dinner. It had occurred to me that the four of us met most often at my parents', and that it was high time I return the invitation, lest they start to wonder why they couldn't benefit from at least some of the good manners it had taken them years to inculcate in me.
Just a few days before that dinner, I was right in the middle of that excit...
"Mijoté d'Agneau aux Kumquats et aux Pignons, Petit Gâteau de Polenta" continues »
November 30, 2004
Tarte à l'Artichaut et au Thon Fumé
[Artichoke and Smoked Tuna Tart]
...and here is the tart I made with Pascale's pâte brisée!
Slices of artichoke hearts and strips of smoked tuna, on a bed of roquette leaves and a smooth layer of mascarpone cheese. The artichoke's tender sweetness, hand in hand with the salty strength of the tuna -- I cannot recommend the pairing enough.
I found the smoked tuna in the smoked salmon aisle at my grocery store ("oh wow, smoked tuna!", she exc...
"Tarte à l'Artichaut et au Thon Fumé" continues »
November 29, 2004
La Pâte Brisée de Pascale
[Pascale's Short Crust Pastry]
As surprising as it may seem -- to me at least -- this is the very first savory crust I make from scratch in my entire life. Before that, I would hop gaily to the nearest grocery store for a ready-made, and conveniently pre-rolled dough.
In truth, savory tarts and quiches had sort of fallen out of fashion in my kitchen, because they are so ubiquitous they just didn't excite me that much. But my recent return int...
"La Pâte Brisée de Pascale" continues »
November 24, 2004
Zucchini Tart on a Hazelnut-Thyme Crust
At the Bar à Veloutés I hosted a few weeks back, one of the little accessories you could choose to dip in your velouté was an Allumette Noisette-Thym, a hazelnut and thyme cracker shaped like a matchstick. These allumettes were a personal favorite of mine, because they happened to be a recipe I had created from scratch, simply based on the idea that we'd had and the feel/look/taste of the dough as I was working with it. I enjoyed their crunchy ...
"Zucchini Tart on a Hazelnut-Thyme Crust" continues »
November 21, 2004
Pistachio Cookies (IMBB10)
Today is the 10th edition of Is My Blog Burning?, the collaborative blogging event! It is hosted this time around by Fabulous Baker Jennifer, from The Domestic Goddess, and the theme is Cookie Swap.
A cookie swap, if you'not familiar with the concept, is a little party thrown between friends and/or neighbors before the holidays, where each guest bakes large quantities of one type of cookie to be swapped with the others, so that each attendant...
"Pistachio Cookies (IMBB10)" continues »
November 12, 2004
Galettes à la Brise de Châtaigne
[Chestnut Meal Galettes]
When I went to the Salon Saveur last spring, I returned with quite a number of purchases. Some of them were fresh and perishable, and the days that followed were a happy procession of delicacies, as we methodically and dutifully consumed what needed to be.
Such food shows are always Temptation Hall for me and I would gladly get a bit of everything, but there's usually a moment when the little angel of Reason sitting ...
"Galettes à la Brise de Châtaigne" continues »
October 26, 2004
Cubes à la Noisette
[Hazelnut Cubes]
Very rarely do I repeat a recipe. This stems from the fact that I am forever, and in all areas of life, much more interested in the new and the unusual, than in the same-old, however easy. But this NRFBS (Non-Repeating Food Blogger Syndrome) is also brought on by this very blog you hold in your hands, so to speak : if I am going to bake/cook/make something, I figure I might as well bake/cook/make something new that will -- I h...
"Cubes à la Noisette" continues »
October 24, 2004
Pounti Auvergnat (IMBB9)
I was particularly enthused, a few weeks ago, to read that Derrick was hosting the 9th edition of Is My Blog Burning? and that the theme he had set was terrines.
Reason number one : Derrick The Talented is one of my absolute favorite food bloggers, I am always in awe of his uncompromising approach and his ambitious endeavours. His was among the first food blogs that ever existed, and An Obsession With Food is one of the two or three blogs wh...
"Pounti Auvergnat (IMBB9)" continues »
October 18, 2004
Soupe de Cresson à la Sauge Fraîche
[Watercress and Fresh Sage Soup]
On Saturday morning, at an hour which felt far, far too early to be up on a week-end morning although by any reasonable standard it was really just mid-morning, I met with my chef-friend Nicolas Vagnon in front of his favorite produce stall at the Batignolles organic market.
As we have already done on several occasions with equal joy, we then proceeded to shop for fruits and vegetables, he for his restaurant,...
"Soupe de Cresson à la Sauge Fraîche" continues »
October 14, 2004
Salade de Sarrasin au Pain d'Epice
[Buckwheat and Gingerbread Salad]
Buckwheat (sarrasin in French) has always occupied a very special place in the "cereal" section of my heart -- no doubt because of the fabulous galettes de sarrasin (savory crepes) we used to eat in Brittany.
It is a cereal that's seldom used in France (except in its flour form for said galettes), possibly because its alternate name blé noir (black wheat) makes it sound like a not-so-royal counterpart to its...
"Salade de Sarrasin au Pain d'Epice" continues »
October 11, 2004
Chocolate Chili Bites
On Saturday night, we had the pleasure of attending the fourth edition of the Paris Potluck, hosted by Alisa and her husband Jean-Yves. This time around, Alisa had suggested that we follow a theme : no more random assortment of everyone's current food obessions! And as she (and I and pretty much everyone else) had been suffering from terrible Mexican food cravings since moving to Paris, her theme of choice was Mexican, as announced happily in a...
"Chocolate Chili Bites" continues »
October 5, 2004
Fregola Sarda with Zucchini and Pinenuts
On a night of ravenous hunger, decide that what you want is something warm soft and tasty with a little crunch, to be eaten in a bowl with a spoon, curled up on the couch and reading a magazine.
No need to forage through your kitchen cabinets, you know precisely what will hit the spot.
Wash and slice three zucchini thinly with your magnificent mandoline. Sauté in a bit of olive oil, with lots of herbs and just enough salt to bring out the zu...
"Fregola Sarda with Zucchini and Pinenuts" continues »
October 1, 2004
Oeuf à la Coque, Mouillettes Rouges
[Soft-Boiled Egg, Red Pesto Bread Fingers]
The Oeuf à la Coque * : one of the simplest pleasures in life.
It is the easiest thing to make -- although believe it or not, I have to ask Maxence every time how long the egg should be boiled for -- and conveniently single-serving if you want it to be.
It is fun to crack and pop its little hat open, and it is also the best companion to a few mouillettes. Mouillettes? Yes, those little fingers of...
"Oeuf à la Coque, Mouillettes Rouges" continues »
September 24, 2004
Petites Tomates au Pecorino
[Plum Tomatoes with Pecorino]
The last tasty plum tomatoes of the season, a piece of pecorino cheese your parents brought back from their Florence getaway (oh how well they know you), five minutes of preparation, and here's a pretty and tasty little appetizer to bring to your neighbor-friends' place when invited for the apéro (pre-dinner drink).
Watch as people wonder how to approach the tomato quarters, venture two tentative fingers, pick on...
"Petites Tomates au Pecorino" continues »
September 10, 2004
Blueberry Coffee Cake
[Coffee cake à la myrtille]
At La Pommeraie, the fruit farm where we picked a large amount of blueberries earlier this week, they gave out little leaflets about the different kinds of fruit they grow, giving out instructions on how to keep them, and a few, wonderfully straightforward recipes -- tarts and compotes, clafoutis and jams. This is how I learned that in fact, you should let blueberries sit for a couple of days somewhere cool for them...
"Blueberry Coffee Cake" continues »
September 4, 2004
Zucchini Polenta Tart
I have a particular soft spot for polenta and anything cornmeal.
Unfortunately, they are not at all common in France : I have occasionally seen polenta served at restaurants (and I will reliably dart onto any dish that mentions it as a component, especially if it claims to be croustillante), but it is rather hard to find in French food stores. You need to go to organic stores -- where you will find instant organic polenta, passable but not st...
"Zucchini Polenta Tart" continues »
August 31, 2004
Crumble Abricot et Melon aux Pignons de Pin
[Apricot and Melon Crumble with Pinenuts]
Maxence and I were recently invited over to our friends Peggy and Julien's appartment for dinner. They used to live just three blocks down the street from us, but they have just moved and now live, oh, a good six blocks further, so visiting them still has that special neighborly feel to it. Although Peggy is a talented cook, she wasn't the chef on that particular night : Manu, another food enthusiast a...
"Crumble Abricot et Melon aux Pignons de Pin" continues »
August 22, 2004
Gnocchi de Speculoos (IMBB7)
[Sweet Speculoos Gnocchi]
Today is the 7th edition of Is My Blog Burning?, the collective food blogging event, brainchild of my favorite Italian baker, Alberto. This time around, the theme is You're just the cutest little dumpling!, and is hosted by Jarrett, to whom the food enthusiast community owes a lifetime of gratitude for coming up with the Food Porn Watch.
I love dumplings of all shapes and tastes and origins, but I have little experie...
"Gnocchi de Speculoos (IMBB7)" continues »
August 16, 2004
Tarte au Fromage Frais, Miel et Ecorces d'Orange Confites
[Honey Cheese Tart with Candied Orange Peel]
This golden tart rounds out the selection of desserts I served at my birthday party. The birthday cake itself had to be chocolate of course, and I wanted to bake a second dessert that would complement it in terms of taste, shape, color and texture.
I felt that a cheesecake of sorts would be just the thing, and I was inspired by a recipe I found in one of my grandmother's magazines : the recipe was...
"Tarte au Fromage Frais, Miel et Ecorces d'Orange Confites" continues »
August 13, 2004
Compote de Rhubarbe aux Biscuits Roses de Reims
[Rhubarb Compote with Pink Champagne Cookies]
This was a last-minute addition to the dessert buffet for my birthday party. I was at the grocery store minding my own business, when a beautiful bunch of rhubarb, all slender stalks and pink cheeks, called out mischievously : "Rhubarb season doesn't last forever, you know!" I turned around in surprise, looked at the other shoppers, but they were just filling their carts as usual, absorbedly studyi...
"Compote de Rhubarbe aux Biscuits Roses de Reims" continues »
August 11, 2004
Citronnade à la Menthe
[Mint Lemonade]
It has been quite hot around here lately. I am certainly not complaining, as I tend to like the peculiar atmosphere heatwaves create -- blazing sun, closed shutters, quiet afternoons and glistening faces -- and it happens seldom enough in Paris for me to welcome the meteorological oddity. Not to mention the opportunity to wear tank tops and strappy sandals.
To ward off the thirst and dehydration, I have been making batch after...
"Citronnade à la Menthe" continues »
August 10, 2004
Clafoutis au Bacon et au Cantal
[Bacon and Cantal Cheese Clafoutis]
Clafoutis is originally a fruit dessert from the Limousin, a region roughly in the center of France (and yes, I checked, as I am direly geographically challenged).
Let me go ahead and open a parenthesis here. Limousin is renowned in part for its cattle breed, a milk-chocolate cow called la vache limousine, a rather unimaginative but quite sensible name. I'm sure you'll be as fascinated as I was to learn th...
"Clafoutis au Bacon et au Cantal" continues »
August 7, 2004
Terrine de Viande à la Ricotta
[Ricotta Meat Terrine]
I have a file of recipes I've clipped out from the numerous cooking magazines I read. When I'm trying to come up with a menu, this is my number one source of inspiration : I like leafing idly through the colorful pieces of paper in all shapes and sizes, I like the patchwork pattern they form, and how as a whole they reflect my cooking tastes and interests.
And somehow, since I often go through that file, I've gotten to...
"Terrine de Viande à la Ricotta" continues »
August 5, 2004
Velouté Froid de Courgette au Parmesan
[Parmesan & Zucchini Chilled Soup]
Well, my birthday buffet just had to have something zucchini, no?
This soup was an attempt to reproduce a soup I recently had at R'Aliment, which has become my first choice of restaurant for a weeknight girls' dinner out with my best friends : excellent food, always different (the menu changes weekly), fresh, light, clean tastes, it never disappoints.
The soup I had in mind was a Délice Froid de Fenouil et ...
"Velouté Froid de Courgette au Parmesan" continues »
August 3, 2004
Mini-Tartelettes : Oignon Rouge et Rhubarbe / Brousse et Membrillo
[Red Onion and Rhubarb Mini-Tartlets / Fresh Cheese and Quince Mini-Tartlets]
When I throw a party, even if I'm going to serve food buffet-style, I always try to have a few small nibbles to offer first, at the bar that separates our kitchen from the living-room, which is where everyone tends to linger at first. This allows all of the guests to arrive, get a drink and settle in, before the buffet is declared open and people can start picking up...
"Mini-Tartelettes : Oignon Rouge et Rhubarbe / Brousse et Membrillo" continues »
July 22, 2004
Confiture d'Abricot aux Amandes
[Apricot and Almond Jam]
When I spend time at my parents' house in the Vosges, my mother and I start out by making a mental list (we haven't reached the point of actually writing down that list - yet) of what we're going to cook, bake and eat. One of the items I mentioned this time was jam : over the years, I've often seen my mother make jam, I've made jam on my own, we've talked about jam together, but we had never made jam together.
At the ...
"Confiture d'Abricot aux Amandes" continues »
July 16, 2004
Blueberry Tart
[Tarte aux Myrtilles]
Blueberries are by far my favorite berry, and this has been true for as long as I can remember. Something about their color (blue), their size (tiny), and their taste (tart and sweet) really appeals to me. As luck would have it, much like blackcurrant in Burgundy, blueberries are the emblematic berry in the Vosges, where they grow by the bushload up the steep mountain slopes, and go by the name of brimbelles.
When we wen...
July 15, 2004
Apricot Coffee Cake
[Coffee Cake à l'Abricot]
I am currently spending a few days with my family in the Vosges, a mountain range in the East of France where my parents have a vacation house. One of the great pleasures of being there, besides enjoying the garden, taking walks up the mountain, and sleeping soundly in the perfect quiet, is baking with my mother. This is something I used to do pretty often when I still lived with my parents, but now that I'm a big gir...
"Apricot Coffee Cake" continues »
July 6, 2004
Bébé Financiers
What is it with mini things that makes them so damn irresistible?
I have always wanted to make mignardises, those sweet little bites that they serve with coffee in upscale restaurants. The name alone is enough to make you want them : "mignardise" comes from "mignard", an old-fashioned word which, as a noun, means a small child, and as an adjective means delicate, graceful and pretty. Mignardise-mignardise-mignardise -- you try saying it, see ...
June 23, 2004
Gâteau au Chocolat Aérien, Glacé Ganache
[Aerial Chocolate Cake, Ganache Glaze]
This cake recipe comes from Trish Deseine's book Je Veux du Chocolat! -- much-liked and oft-mentioned around here, as I'm sure you've noticed. I am not spontaneously drawn to that kind of light-textured chocolate cake, having chosen instead to walk the path of dense, fudgy, melt-in-your-mouth cakes, but sometimes the occasion calls for a cake just like this.
A couple of months ago, I was contacted by a g...
"Gâteau au Chocolat Aérien, Glacé Ganache" continues »
June 20, 2004
Brochettes de Poissons Tropicaux à la Nectarine, Chutney Assorti (IMBB5)
[Tropical Fish and Nectarine Skewers, Matching Chutney]
Yay, it's IMBB time again! Today is the 5th edition of Is My Blog Burning?, the collaborative food blogging event in which food bloggers all over the world unite, and cook something in line with a theme. IMBB is our dear Alberto's brain child, and this fantastic, fun and friendly event has already brought us batches and batches of soup, tartine, cake and rice recipes. This time around, ho...
"Brochettes de Poissons Tropicaux à la Nectarine, Chutney Assorti (IMBB5)" continues »
June 17, 2004
Roasted Green Peppers
I had been wanting to roast my own peppers for years, but never had. I'd always loved roasted peppers, be they red, green, yellow or none of the above. I had read about the different possible methods, about the tips and tricks, about the things that could go wrong and how to avoid them, about how freshly roasted peppers were astonishingly better than jarred -- I knew all that.
But for some obscure reason, I held the belief, deeply ingrained i...
"Roasted Green Peppers" continues »
June 14, 2004
Gâteau Renversé Brocoli et Polenta
[Broccoli and Cornmeal Upside Down Cake]
I love surprises, and I'm sure you'll agree that cooking surprises are among the best.
You start out to make something, unsure where you're going, assembling things, changing course as you go ; you don't really know what you're doing, half-thinking "oh dear that doesn't look right", but still, you're going with the flow, following your instincts and reasoning that, with what's in it, it can't be that b...
"Gâteau Renversé Brocoli et Polenta" continues »
June 10, 2004
Fig and Mozzarella Warm Sandwich
I have always been a huge sandwich fan, I could eat sandwiches at every meal. This is probably because I adore bread, but also because nothing beats holding your food in your hands and biting greedily into it. Elegant? No. Messy? Yes. But oh-so-satisfying!
Sandwich making, however, is an art that very few food outlets master, obviously. Cardboard bread, processed chicken, limp lettuce, mayo overdose, this is what you have to face most of the t...
"Fig and Mozzarella Warm Sandwich" continues »
June 9, 2004
Speculoos
When our friends came over for dinner on Saturday night, I felt like serving a simple and light dessert. By "light" I do not necessarily mean light in calories, but rather light as in "not too rich". I wanted to make something fruit-based, with a little cookie-type thing to dip in and accompany it. I like that kind of dessert, because it allows each guest to adjust his serving to his own appetite : if you feel pretty full, you can just have the...
June 8, 2004
Cabillaud aux Fèves, Airelles et Pistaches
[Codfish with Fava Beans, Cranberries and Pistachios]
This is the main dish I served on Saturday night, when our friends came to dinner. The idea for this sort of came to me out of thin air : I was leafing through cookbooks but nothing was really calling my name, when all of a sudden I had visions of fish, baked, with colorful little veggies. This materialized into codfish fillets, baked on a bed of green onions and sprinkled with fava beans, ...
"Cabillaud aux Fèves, Airelles et Pistaches" continues »
June 7, 2004
Duo de Pesto : Pesto de Roquette et Pesto Rouge
[A Duet of Pesto : Rucola Pesto and Red Pesto]
On Saturday night, my dear friends Marie-Laure and Laurence and their respective (and dear, too) boyfriends Ludo and Jean-Christophe came over for dinner. This had been decided just the day before, so Saturday morning saw me sitting on the couch, surrounded by cookbooks, perusing them for inspiration. In passing, I have plans to create an exercice video which I will simply call "The Cookbook Worko...
"Duo de Pesto : Pesto de Roquette et Pesto Rouge" continues »
June 6, 2004
The Paris Potluck : Yet More Recipes!
And here is the final batch of recipes from the Paris Potluck.
~ Featured in this post, you will find :
Zucchini Carpaccio (Isabelle)
Endive and Lardon Salad (Alisa and Jean-Yves)
Codfish and Roasted Tomato Terrine (Christoph)
~ Featured in the previous post were :
Spring Vegetable Risotto (Isabelle)
Pea and Roasted-Garlic Crostini with Olives and Pecorino Cheese (Amy)
Instantaneous Carrot Salad (Jonathan)
Asparagus Tart (Malory)
~ Featured ...
"The Paris Potluck : Yet More Recipes!" continues »
June 4, 2004
Terrine de Légumes au Fromage de Chèvre et aux Herbes
[Goat Cheese and Herb Vegetable Terrine]
When trying to decide what to bring to the Paris Potluck the other day, my thoughts immediately turned to a terrine. I love terrines : I like the name, I like the dish you make them in (and specifically my own), I like the nice, country feel they have to them. They are also a wonderful thing to bring to a buffet, because they can usually be sliced into many servings (well unless they are micro-terrines ...
"Terrine de Légumes au Fromage de Chèvre et aux Herbes" continues »
June 3, 2004
Paillassons de Pomme de Terre
[Potato Hashbrowns]
If you're perfectly honest with yourself, you'll probably realize that a lot of the things you do are in fact an alibi for something else.
Example? Example : I loved going out for breakfast in the US. I would order eggs, but really, that was just an alibi to get the hashbrowns. Of course, I could have just ordered hashbrowns, but that wouldn't have been quite the same : hashbrowns on their own won't hit the same spot. Thei...
"Paillassons de Pomme de Terre" continues »
June 2, 2004
White Bean and Nut Butter Dip
Our neighbor-friends Stéphan and Patricia have been busy repainting their living-room these past few weeks. On Sunday they were finally done, so they rearranged the furniture, knocked on our kitchen window with the Ceremonial Wooden Spoon, and invited us over for a little newly-repainted-house-warming drink.
You just don't go to a house-warming party -- however improvized -- empty-handed, so we decided to prepare a few nibbles to accompany the...
"White Bean and Nut Butter Dip" continues »
June 1, 2004
The Paris Potluck
When I went to the Salon Saveurs recently, I had the pleasure of meeting with a few Chocolate & Zucchini readers. A few hours of wandering up and down the aisles brought us closer, and as we all sat down, exhausted but exhilarated, the idea of creating a little supper club was brought up. The idea was to throw a dinner party where everyone would bring a dish, à la potluck. Isabelle and Ethan offered to host the first edition, which took place t...
"The Paris Potluck" continues »
May 31, 2004
Cuisses de Grenouille aux Herbes
[Herbed Frogs' Legs]
A lot of the things the French are notorious for eating, like frogs' legs or snails, kidneys or horse meat, aren't really that common in everyday food. In the case of frogs' legs, I personally tasted them for the first time just a year ago, in a three-star restaurant no less, during a week-end getaway in the Perigord.
And then a few weeks ago, while shopping at my Picard store, I noticed that they carried frozen frogs' le...
"Cuisses de Grenouille aux Herbes" continues »
May 29, 2004
Compote Rose
[Pink Compote]
I've always been a great fan of tart and acidic things. I also love the French word for this special combination of tastes, "acidulé", which perfectly conveys the idea of something colorful and tingly and refreshing. As a child, my favorite candy were the ones that gave your tastebuds shock therapy -- I remember with particular fondness those little flying saucers made of pastel wafer paper, filled with a pink powder that tickle...
May 27, 2004
The Pasta Salad That Rhymed With O
[a.k.a. Tomato Chorizo Pistachio Pasta Salad]
Pasta salads are one of these things I start to crave all of a sudden, when the weather gets warmer. As I've mentioned before, I usually bring my own food to work, and pasta salads are great portable lunches : they're quick to make, they get better as they sit, and they are an easy way to fill up on starch, protein and veggies in one tasty dish.
They're also an excellent companion for lunch on a ...
"The Pasta Salad That Rhymed With O" continues »
May 26, 2004
Tomates Confites
[Slow-Roasted Tomatoes]
I've been wanting to make my own tomates confites for a while, especially after eating and tremendously enjoying the semi-dried tomatoes I posted about recently.
And then in the tranquility of a Sunday afternoon, I spotted a few roma tomatoes lying lazily on our kitchen counter, getting contentedly riper and riper, quite unaware of what was coming to them. I took them by surprise, and condemned them, I'm afraid, to a ...
"Tomates Confites" continues »
May 24, 2004
Soupe de Châtaigne au Chorizo
[Chestnut and Chorizo Soup]
This recipe comes from the book "Mes Petits Plats Préférés", by Trish Deseine. She is definitely one of my favorite cookbook authors : her recipes are simple but inventive, and I love her personal and friendly voice. She is also the author of my all-time fave cookbook "Je veux du chocolat!", which I've mentioned in the past. I recently met her at the signing of her latest book, titled "J'en veux encore", and was del...
"Soupe de Châtaigne au Chorizo" continues »
May 23, 2004
Riz au Lait à la Framboise (IMBB4)
[Raspberry Rice Pudding]
Most of you know by now about Is My Blog Burning?, the collaborative food blogging event, in which food bloggers post a recipe on a particular theme on the same day. Well, today is the 4th edition, hosted by Pim, and the theme this time is "Around the World in a Bowl of Rice".
As I have come to expect on such occasions, my mind has been a battlefield for the past week, as ever-growing throngs of widely different ideas...
"Riz au Lait à la Framboise (IMBB4)" continues »
May 20, 2004
Semoule de Chou-Fleur aux Fruits Secs
[Cauliflower Semolina with Dried Fruits]
Forenote : in the US, the term couscous is used to mean the North-African wheat pasta, shaped like very small beads. The actual name for this is, in fact, semolina -- "semoule" in French. Couscous is the typical North-African dish which includes steamed semolina, as well as vegetables and grilled meat.
I made this recipe using a head of cauliflower I got in my Campanier basket. The poor thing had been ...
"Semoule de Chou-Fleur aux Fruits Secs" continues »
May 17, 2004
Gâteau au Yaourt à la Framboise
[Raspberry Yogurt Cake]
Gâteau au Yaourt is a staple in French home baking : it is very easy to make and I have yet to meet someone who doesn't like it. Its particularity is to call for a pot de yaourt (a tub of yogurt), and to use the empty pot to measure out the rest of the ingredients. This no-scale recipe is a notable exception to the French usage, in which quantities are measured by weight rather than volume.
It is very popular with kids...
"Gâteau au Yaourt à la Framboise" continues »
May 11, 2004
Rhubarb Jam : What it Says about You
And here you thought, ingenuously, that a bunch of rhubarb was just a bunch of rhubarb.
But no. A bunch of rhubarb, or any other delightful but fleetingly seasonal fruit, is in fact a test that life puts before you. Think Cosmopolitan meets Jean de la Fontaine : are you a grasshopper or an ant?
The grasshopper will enjoy the rhubarb now, and make a compote, a cake, a crumble, a tart, a pie, a buckle, a grunt, a cobbler, or hey, maybe even a...
"Rhubarb Jam : What it Says about You" continues »
May 5, 2004
Confiture de Fraises au Poivre Noir et à la Menthe Fraîche
[Strawberry Jam with Black Pepper and Fresh Mint]
This is another one of the jams I made last summer, during my jam-making spree.
The recipe comes from a great little book by Christine Ferber, the Jam Fairy, simply titled "Mes Confitures". After a section with tips and techniques, which is kept nice and short, Christine goes on to share over seventy of her recipes.
They are organized by season, and I find this clever and wonderfully suited :...
"Confiture de Fraises au Poivre Noir et à la Menthe Fraîche" continues »
May 4, 2004
Cranberry Banana Bread
I had read about this recipe a little while ago on Mariko's blog. She credited Melissa for it, who had herself gotten it from Wilson's Farm in Lexington, MA. I'd always wanted to make a banana bread but never had, and the addition of cranberries sounded great. A few months ago, my grocery store was selling cranberries, very uncharacteristically I might add, and I had bought a basket with this bread in mind, and frozen it until the occasion aros...
"Cranberry Banana Bread" continues »
April 29, 2004
Soupe de Carotte à la Menthe
[Mint Carrot Soup]
Have you ever noticed how un-photogenic soup is? Well, now you have! The very things that make soup tasty and comforting, all pureed chunks and blended veggies, make it somewhat messy close up.
In this case, I almost didn't post about the soup because I was unhappy about the picture. But then I decided that the dictatorship of beauty would not rule here, and that my soup very much deserved a post. As with pudding, you know wh...
"Soupe de Carotte à la Menthe" continues »
April 27, 2004
Raspberry Rhubarb Grunt
On Sunday, we were invited to my sister Céline's place for lunch with my parents, and I offered to take care of the dessert. With the beautiful spring weather we've had lately, I felt like making something light and fruit-based. Rhubarb season has just begun and we are all big fans in my family, so that was the fruit of choice.
I looked around the web, and read good reviews about Nigella's rhubarb grunt. It sounded easy-breezy (but that's har...
"Raspberry Rhubarb Grunt" continues »
April 23, 2004
Brouillade de Truffe
[Truffled Scrambled Eggs]
The other day at lunchtime, I was on my own and starving. A glance in the fridge, and lunch rolled out before my eyes : I had one truffle left in its little jar, some eggs, fresh watercress, and fabulous walnut bread from the BoulangEpicier, which Patricia, the best neighbor in the whole wide world, had bought for me on her way home from work.
Upon closer inspection, the top of the truffle had grown a delicate little...
"Brouillade de Truffe" continues »
April 22, 2004
Strudel de Blettes
[Swiss Chard Strudel]
Last Saturday, I recruited a few dear friends to help me eat the Chocolate & Zucchini Cake I had baked : with Maxence away on a business trip, it was just me and that good-lookin' cake, and although I can always be trusted to do my fair share of the eating, that's exactly the problem. Plus, I needed opinions! So Ludo and Marie-Laure, and our next-door neighbors Stéphan and Patricia, were invited over for a little potluck ...
"Strudel de Blettes" continues »
April 18, 2004
Chocolate & Zucchini Cake
Today is the third edition of the collaborative food blogging event "Is My Blog Burning?". The first edition, hosted by Alberto, was all about soup. The second edition, hosted by yours truly, had a tartine theme.
Today's event is hosted by the lovely Singaporean foodie Renée, and the theme is Cake Walk. As Renée explains, a cake walk is a sort of lottery organized at local fun fairs, in which the prizes are cakes baked and donated by people f...
"Chocolate & Zucchini Cake" continues »
April 14, 2004
Pissaladière
Pissaladière is a specialty from Nice, in the South of France. It's an onion tart with black olives and anchovies, on a thin pizza-like dough. The name comes from "pissalat", a condiment made with pureed anchovies, cloves, thyme and bay leaves, which was spread on the tart before baking.
The name has taken on a somewhat looser meaning in my family, and we use it to mean any Mediterranean-style onion tart, not necessarily involving anchovies. M...
April 13, 2004
Hot Cross Buns
My family has always been very fond of British baked goods. Marks & Spencer's has sadly closed off all their French stores, but when it was still around [deep sigh of nostalgia], we were their most faithful customers for English muffins, crumpets, mince-meat pies and hot cross buns, to be enjoyed with tea in the afternoon.
Only recently did I find out that hot cross buns were a traditional Easter pastry. Since I was spending the week-end with ...
April 6, 2004
Sticky Toffee Pudding à l'Abricot
[Apricot Sticky Toffee Pudding]
This past Sunday afternoon, we had decided to throw a little surprise birthday party for my dear friend Laurence. This sounded like the perfect occasion to try and recreate my own sticky toffee pudding miracle.
Among the different recipes that I had dug out or that you kindly recommended, my favorite was the one by Jill Dupleix, in part because it involved way way way less butter than the others. While hers cal...
"Sticky Toffee Pudding à l'Abricot" continues »
March 30, 2004
Salade de Lentilles Pomme et Cumin
[Apple and Cumin Lentil Salad]
This past Saturday, our dear friends Laurence and Jean-Christophe threw a housewarming party (pendaison de crémaillère if you remember) in their cool new apartment, just off Bastille. Laurence had asked if we could bring a little something and I had gathered from reliable sources that Marie-Laure and Ludo were going to bring Ludo's famous cheesecake. I felt that the sweet ground was thus amply covered and decided...
"Salade de Lentilles Pomme et Cumin" continues »
March 26, 2004
Leek and Ricotta Frittata
Food never tastes as good as when you are really hungry. And although the temptation is strong to just grab and scarf down the first thing that crosses your path (tasty or nasty, edible or otherwise), it's a much better move to resist the urge, and pay attention : what does your stomach yearn for, what appeals to you the most, what would really fill that void, hit the spot?
If you do that, and if the demands of the grumbling monster inside ca...
"Leek and Ricotta Frittata" continues »
March 24, 2004
Confiture de Melon au Gingembre et Citron Vert
[Lime and Ginger Melon Jam]
The truly magical thing about making your own jam is that they tell you to store the jars in a cool and dark place for a few months, to let the flavors develop fully. Oh sure, it is something of a heartbreak at first - you would so like to keep it close to you and dip the occasional finger in - but you know to be reasonable, you've been told to act like a grownup, so you relinquish and stash them at the back of a ki...
"Confiture de Melon au Gingembre et Citron Vert" continues »
March 22, 2004
Salade de Chou Rouge aux Figues Séchées
[Red Cabbage and Dried Figs Salad]
If you look for recipes to use up a head of red cabbage before it applies for permanent residence in your vegetable drawer, you will find that the general agreement is "red cabbage shall be sublimated by fruit" : popular uses include braising it with apples or chestnuts, cooking it with pears, or pairing it with apricots or raisins in a salad.
Although the Cook's Thesaurus dismisses it as tasting just like ...
"Salade de Chou Rouge aux Figues Séchées" continues »
March 18, 2004
Dorades à l'Orange et au Fenouil
[Orange Fennel Sea Bream]
We have officially elected the Poissonnerie Bleue on the rue des Martyrs as the best fishmonger in our area. Their wide selection of fish and shellfish is very fresh and reasonably priced, the staff is kind, and they are very generous with their advice and tips, which is a surefire way to win me over.
As I walked by the other day, I decided on a whim to get whole fishes to roast in the oven (is my life exciting or wh...
"Dorades à l'Orange et au Fenouil" continues »
March 15, 2004
Soupe de Mâche au Poulet
[Lamb's Lettuce Chicken Soup]
Foreword : you might notice that the picture above has the focus on the bread and not the soup. The soup will have to forgive me, I love it dearly and all, it is really the star of this post, but I'm sorry, soup, you are just not photogenic. At all.
La mâche, which I'm told translates to lamb's lettuce, is a kind of salad which comes in small bouquets of soft green leaves in the shape of drops, and has a mild tas...
"Soupe de Mâche au Poulet" continues »
March 13, 2004
Oatmeal Breakfast Clafoutis
I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but I am not the greatest fan of oatmeal - at least when it is cooked in milk the usual way : the lumpy look and the weird smell and the mushy texture really put me off. However, I am a good friend of oatmeal in müesli, and in cookies, and in this baked oatmeal recipe.
The original recipe is brought to us by the good people at Quaker Oats, and it caught my attention as it went through a bout of extreme popu...
"Oatmeal Breakfast Clafoutis" continues »
March 10, 2004
Tarte aux Blettes et Graines de Courge
[Swiss Chard and Squash Seeds Tart]
Had you been in my kitchen last week, you would have heard a small squeal of joy. That would have been me, unloading the contents of my weekly Campanier basket of fruits and vegetables, and discovering a lush bunch of swiss chard.
The next day found me picking up a couple of ingredients from the grocery store, then getting on to make this Swiss Chard Tart. I have recently bought a bag of squash seeds and a ...
"Tarte aux Blettes et Graines de Courge" continues »
March 9, 2004
Frites de Carottes aux Epices
[Spiced Carrot Fries]
Winter is the blessed season of root vegetables. Since it is noticeably drawing to a close here - longer days, sunny and mild weather, daffodils all around -, now's the time to make the most of the kind of carb comfort our winter friends have to offer, before we turn the page and say hello to nature's spring collection.
Having a bunch of carrots to use up, I decided to go for my favored cooking method for root vegetables...
"Frites de Carottes aux Epices" continues »
March 7, 2004
Tartine Chèvre et Pousses (IMBB2)
[Goat Cheese and Sprouted Seeds Tartine]
And today is the day of the Tartine Edition of the world famous Is My Blog Burning? distributed blogging event! Please meet the tartine I made as my contribution : a tartine with goat cheese, ham and cherry tomato jam, decorated with sprouted seeds and served on a bed of watercress.
As with most tartines, it is easy (it's mostly just assembling ready-made ingredients) and fun to make : I love the sort...
"Tartine Chèvre et Pousses (IMBB2)" continues »
March 5, 2004
Nuggets de Poulet et Frites de Légumes Racine
A Take on Chicken Nuggets and Fries.
My sister Céline came to have dinner with us the other night. She has recently started working for a major French car company, and part of the integration process for new hires is to go through four weeks at one of the factories, working the line just like the other workers. This is a trying experience to say the least (a loss of 6 pounds, a large bruise on the hip, a swollen and bandaged wrist - how's that...
"Nuggets de Poulet et Frites de Légumes Racine" continues »
March 1, 2004
Salade Tiède de Charlottes
[Warm Potato Salad]
The other day, when my Campanier basket included a bag of Charlottes, Jackie mentioned that her favorite use for these small potatoes, tender-fleshed and sweet, was a warm potato salad. This stuck in my mind so much that I couldn't think, for the life of me, what else any one could possibly choose to make with these beauties.
I made this salad using the leftover ham and parsley I had on hand, and threw in some toasted haz...
"Salade Tiède de Charlottes" continues »
February 29, 2004
Chips de Radis Noir
[Black Radish Chips]
This week's Campanier selection included three black radishes, oblong and rather large. Black radish is another one of those forgotten vegetables, so I was quite happy for the chance to experiment with it.
Last time I had bought a black radish, I had used it raw in a yogurt-dressed salad, and had been rather unimpressed. I now realise, by comparison, that it wasn't at a peak of freshness then : it was much limper than the...
"Chips de Radis Noir" continues »
February 24, 2004
Soupe Broccoli Mimolette
[Broccoli Mimolette Soup]
This soup has to be the best broccoli soup I've ever had - and without a doubt the best one I've ever made. The really cool thing about it, besides being really really good, is that it is infused with flavor from two ingredients that usually get thrown out without batting an eyelash : the rind from a firm and sharp cheese, and the stems from a bunch of fresh herbs.
From now on I vow to always throw these in the freez...
"Soupe Broccoli Mimolette" continues »
February 23, 2004
Buckwheat Galettes
[Galettes de sarrasin]
Tomorrow is Mardi-Gras, the last day before Lent begins. The Mardi-Gras tradition in France, amongst other things, is to gorge on crepes, supposedly to use up the eggs and butter that you won't be allowed to eat until Easter. I am not religious and so I don't observe Lent, but I will gladly take any opportunity to eat crepes. And last Friday, when my friends Marie-Laure and Laurence came over for dinner, I decided to mak...
"Buckwheat Galettes" continues »
February 20, 2004
Crumble Pommes Dattes
[Apple and Date Crumble]
And this is the third (and final) item I baked for last Sunday's Goûter de Cousins, thinking it would be nice to make an apple crumble in addition to the two cakes.
The idea was to serve something a little lighter and fruit-based for those of us who may have a small appetite, or may want to go the healthier route, or may be on a diet, or may dislike both chocolate and orange. As it turned out, nobody fit in either of ...
"Crumble Pommes Dattes" continues »
February 19, 2004
Flourless Orange and Ginger Cake
[Gâteau à l'Orange et au Gingembre]
This is another cake I baked for our Goûter de Cousins last Sunday. I tasted my first flourless orange cake about a year ago at Rose Bakery, and absolutely loved it. I had tried to reproduce it then, and had made an Orange and Poppyseed version, adapting a recipe found on the web. It was really good - the orange and poppyseed pairing was great - but the texture wasn't quite what I was looking for.
This time...
"Flourless Orange and Ginger Cake" continues »
February 18, 2004
Gâteau Fondant au Chocolat et Noisettes Caramélisées
[Chocolate Cake with Caramelized Hazelnuts]
Last Sunday afternoon, my sister Céline and I organized a "Goûter de Cousins" at my place. We invited those of our cousins who live in Paris, which amounts to about a dozen. Most of them we only see once a year at family holiday parties - some a little more, some way less - and we thought it would be nice to start a little tradition of same-generation gathering.
The added bonus of this very friendl...
"Gâteau Fondant au Chocolat et Noisettes Caramélisées" continues »
February 17, 2004
Crumble Poire et Marron Confit
This is the very quick and yummy dessert I served our friends the other night, just before we got back to our scheduled program of activities - video games for Maxence and Marwane, and some serious chatting for Marion and myself.
This is in fact a cheater's crumble, in which the fruit is cooked beforehand (in my case a large amount of delicious passe-crassane pears that had gotten nice and ripe all at the same time), and the crumble is a handf...
"Crumble Poire et Marron Confit" continues »
February 16, 2004
Chicken Udon with Cabbage and Parsnip
The other night, we had two friends over for a casual dinner : Marion, a friend of mine from university, and Marwane, whom Maxence has known since junior high. Being on a Japanese food kick induced by Maxence's recent successful forays, I decided to make some kind of udon dish topped with stuff. That seemed reasonably doable (I mean, how ambitious does that sound?) with the various ingredients we happened to have on hand.
In particular, I use...
"Chicken Udon with Cabbage and Parsnip" continues »
February 15, 2004
Shallot Parsley Dip
Our first Campanier order included a small head of cauliflower. I felt like eating it raw, and came up with this easy-breazy dip to accompany it. I wanted to eat a quick snack before joining Maxence at the movies, and this took me all of five minutes to whip up. This fresh and tasty dip can be eaten with veggies, or spread on toasted bread.
Be warned though, that as you sit down to watch the movie, your boyfriend may look at you suspiciously ...
"Shallot Parsley Dip" continues »
February 12, 2004
The Essential California Sandwich
Back when we lived in the Silicon Valley, whenever I ordered a sandwich, I would invariably and happily go for the California sandwich. Not only did it sound most appropriate given the location, but avocado is among my best friends, and sprouts are a fantastic addition, adding the perfect peppery crunch to its comforting and sweet tenderness.
I have had many different types of California sandwiches, with different types of bread and cheese, s...
"The Essential California Sandwich" continues »
February 10, 2004
Yogurt Scones
We had friends over for brunch on Sunday. Maxence went out in the morning to the charcuterie shop, cheese shop, and bakery, and came back with an basketload of ready-to-eat goodies -- bone-in ham and duck terrine and eggs in aspic and cheese and freshly baked bread -- that we served with a simple salad topped with toasted pumpkin seeds.
And for the sweet part of the brunch (there must be a sweet part to a brunch, otherwise it's just a lunch), ...
February 6, 2004
Which Came First Donburi
And this is the delicious main course that Maxence concocted for our dinner party this past Saturday! The recipe is from the same "Cooking Class Japanese" cookbook as his last cooking stint. I have taken the liberty to rename the dish though. Well, yeah, if I don't cook, I have to at least do something!
In the book, the recipe is called "Chicken and Egg on Rice", but the original witty Japanese name is "Oyakodon", meaning "Mother and Child Don...
"Which Came First Donburi" continues »
February 5, 2004
Salade Figue et Poire à la Bresaola
[Fig and Pear Salad with Bresaola]
While planning the menu for our Saturday night dinner party, I realized I hardly ever serve salad as a first course. I'll often use salad to accompany the star item, like a tartlet or a bruschetta or a mousse or a slice of terrine or what-have-you, but it is rarely a salad in its own right. I'm sorry.
I guess this is because salads don't sound like they'll be much fun to prepare : they're pretty easy, it's j...
"Salade Figue et Poire à la Bresaola" continues »
February 4, 2004
Truffes de Chèvre Frais
[Fresh Goat Cheese Truffles]
On Saturday night, we threw a little dinner party at home. A "little" dinner party for eight dear friends : Joseph (originally from Nashville but living in France, whom I met two years ago at an IT recruiting show -- we were struck by a sense of recognition, being equally bored to tears) and his wife Séverine, our almost neighbors Olivier and Anne, whom we had met at Joseph and Séverine's wedding last May, as well ...
"Truffes de Chèvre Frais" continues »
January 30, 2004
Courgettes Rondes Farcies
[Stuffed Round Zucchini]
We buy most of our fruits and vegetables at our favorite little fruit stand in the rue des Abbesses, where the staff is friendly, greets us with big smiles, gets stuff for us from the back - often including a little freebie - and is always happy to discuss what's the best seasonal choice and how to prepare it.
But sometimes it's just more convenient to go to the Champion grocery store if it's on my way, and I have to ...
"Courgettes Rondes Farcies" continues »
January 29, 2004
Soupe de Fenouil aux Ecorces d'Orange
[Fennel and Orange Peel Soup]
Introducing... the latest brainchild of my soup kick! I was on the bus home from work a few days ago (you know, line 67, my food thought lab?), thinking about the soup I would make for dinner. I had half a mind to make some kind of winter squash soup, and was toying with the idea of adding candied orange peel to make it more interesting. I had just picked up one of my favorite cooking magazines in France, Saveurs ...
"Soupe de Fenouil aux Ecorces d'Orange" continues »
January 27, 2004
Sauteed Ginger Beef and Cabbage
As much as I love to cook, it is sometimes very nice to have your boyfriend say, on a lazy Sunday afternoon : "you know, I think I'd like to make dinner tonight". Though usually more of a whip-it-up-by-instinct kind of cook, on this occasion he takes out the Japanese cookbook he bought in London, picks a recipe, makes a list, goes shopping, comes back and starts working.
Very much aware of my slight tendency to meddle, I steer clear from the k...
"Sauteed Ginger Beef and Cabbage" continues »
January 22, 2004
Soupe de Courgette au Sésame
[Sesame Zucchini Soup]
Oh, did I mention I am in full soup-making mode these days? It could be the grey and chilly days we have to plow through, or the vague feeling that my body could use a little detoxifying after the holiday scrumpadillies, but all I can think about is soup soup soup. When the idea of lacing zucchini soup with tahini (the sesame paste used in hummus) came to me out of the blue a few days ago, I thought it very appealing and...
"Soupe de Courgette au Sésame" continues »
January 21, 2004
Petits Palmiers Chocorange
[Chocolate and Orange Palm Leaf Cookies]
If you browse through the row of cookbooks lined up on top of our fridge, you might notice one, called "Moi, je cuisine solo ou duo" by Brigitte Namour. The title roughly means "I cook for one or two", and this book is filled to the brim with quick and ingenious recipes, scaled for a couple of servings. Originally, I had bought it as a gift for my dear friend Marion, who's an enthusiastic cook too. I bo...
"Petits Palmiers Chocorange" continues »
January 16, 2004
Sablés au Citron à la Fleur de Sel
[Lemon and Fleur de Sel Butter Cookies]
Jackie recently talked about Fleur de Sel on her great Daily Bread blog. As I was adding a comment about my favorite uses of the wonderful substance, I remembered these butter cookies. I was taken up on my offer to share the recipe, so here it is!
This is a recipe I made a few months ago for a Sunday afternoon tea with parents and Maxence's mother (and this was in my pre-blogging days, hence the lack of...
"Sablés au Citron à la Fleur de Sel" continues »
January 14, 2004
Velouté de Lentilles aux Marrons
[Velvety Lentil Chestnut Soup]
I think I am getting the hang and love and joy of soup. I told you before the odd intimidation it provoked in me, but after preparing a few successful pots of simmering velvety goodness, I think I can declare myself officially and fully over it.
The other day, browsing on Maki's excellent blog i was just really hungry, one of her soup recipes caught my eye, a Lentil-Chestnut Soup. Lentils and chestnuts are two o...
"Velouté de Lentilles aux Marrons" continues »
January 12, 2004
Boudin Blanc Truffé aux Noisettes, Deux Purées de Pomme
[Truffle Hazelnut Boudin Blanc, Two Mashes]
Boudin blanc is a soft sausage, made with white meat (usually chicken or veal) enriched with pork or veal fat, cream, eggs, flour and mie de pain (the inside of a bread loaf), finely mixed and well seasoned. It is traditionally a Christmas dish, but in Paris you can pretty much find it in charcuteries year round. For my greatest pleasure, as it has to be one of my all-time favorite comfort foods. It ...
"Boudin Blanc Truffé aux Noisettes, Deux Purées de Pomme" continues »
January 11, 2004
Gâteau Noix de Coco et Chocolat Blanc
[Coconut and White Chocolate Cake]
As you know, yesterday was Maxence's birthday : I treated him to a nice dinner out on Friday (review on the way), and we celebrated again yesterday night with a group of friends, in a bar just a block from our apartment - which we more or less took over. This bar is a small place and we were on friendly terms with the owners, so I had decided to bake a cake and share it with our friends there. And since cocon...
"Gâteau Noix de Coco et Chocolat Blanc" continues »
January 5, 2004
Coffee Cake Chocolat Marron Glacé
[Chocolate and Candied Chestnuts Coffee Cake]
I wanted to bake a cake for our new year's eve party - what's a party without a cake? -- and this is what I made. The recipe for this cake is originally a Sour Cream Coffee Cake from Bon Appétit (circa 1993), which my mother and I tinkered with a little while ago, lowering the sugar content, subbing yogurt for sour cream and converting the measurements from cups to grams.
My mother and I absolute...
"Coffee Cake Chocolat Marron Glacé" continues »
January 4, 2004
Salade de Pois Gourmands aux Lardons et aux Noix
Veggie lover that I am, our new year's eve party buffet had to include something green. Maxence and I love snow peas, because of the taste and the crunch and the look, but they're seldom served in France, so I'm always happy to give them the space in the sun that they rightfully deserve. I think they're perfect in salads, and this is what struck my fancy this time : a scrumptious combination that went surprisingly well with the terrine.
Terrin...
"Salade de Pois Gourmands aux Lardons et aux Noix" continues »
January 3, 2004
Terrine de Rougets
[Goatfish Terrine]
Every once in a while I get cooking cravings - the sudden desire to tackle a new sort of dish or technique. About six months ago, I decided I really needed to try and make terrines. I promptly bought myself a little recipe book, simply called "Terrines", by Catherine Quévremont. It contains thirty easy and tempting recipes of meat, fish or vegetable terrines, and even a couple of dessert terrines.
I then embarked upon the ...
"Terrine de Rougets" continues »
January 2, 2004
Coquillages Farcis Ricotta et Tapenade
[Pasta Shells Stuffed with Ricotta and Tapenade]
Last Tuesday, my sister Céline and I met for lunch. The plan was to eat at Rose Bakery, but it was closed for the holidays, so we went down the rue des Martyrs to Fuxia instead, a really nice Italian restaurant, hip yet friendly, where we had truly excellent salads. After that, we spent the afternoon strolling around the neighborhood, enjoying the unexpectedly sunny weather, and running various ...
"Coquillages Farcis Ricotta et Tapenade" continues »
December 30, 2003
Crumble de Courgettes aux Champignons
[Zucchini and Mushroom Crumble]
On Christmas day, Maxence and his mother joined us for lunch at my parents'. My mother and I cooked for this meal too, preparing most of it the day before.
As a first course, we served a Zucchini and Mushroom Crumble, a recipe we had come up with a week before, during our Christmas-menu-brainstorming session. Elaborating menus is one of my favorite activities, and practicing it with my mother was a lot of fun :...
"Crumble de Courgettes aux Champignons" continues »
December 29, 2003
Pomme Rôtie aux Fruits Secs, Quenelle de Glace au Calisson
[Roasted Apple with Dried Fruits, Calisson Ice Cream]
My mother and I wanted to end our Christmas eve dinner with a dessert simple to prepare yet festive, and satisfying yet light - more or less. This is what we came up with!
The store Picard Surgelés sells excellent ice-cream created by François Théron. They come in a variety of flavors, all of which quite unusual and incredibly tempting, like marron glacé (chestnut ice-cream with candied ch...
"Pomme Rôtie aux Fruits Secs, Quenelle de Glace au Calisson" continues »
December 28, 2003
Escalope de Foie Gras Mi-Cuit, Poire Pochée, Toast de Campagne
[Scalloped Foie Gras Mi-Cuit, Poached Pear, Toasted Rustic Bread]
Christmas eve this year was spent just the four of us : my parents, my sister and myself. A week before, having come to my parents' on a weeknight, my mother and I had brainstormed over an after-dinner cup of tea, and we had come up with the Christmas menus. My mom having taken care of the grocery shopping, the afternoon of the 24th found us preparing the dinner together, in bet...
"Escalope de Foie Gras Mi-Cuit, Poire Pochée, Toast de Campagne" continues »
December 27, 2003
Truffes au Chocolat
This year for Christmas, I made chocolate bites of two kinds to give to my family, and bought small confectioner's crystal bags at a professional store to put them in. I also wanted to make little tags to tie around the bags. I bought delicate ivory paper, beautiful green leaves made of very fine thread, and some silver yarn. I cut out rectangles of paper, wrote "Chocolate & Zucchini" with colored pencils on them, and sewed each rectangle to a ...
"Truffes au Chocolat" continues »
December 26, 2003
Mendiants
I have always loved the idea of giving out food gifts. As with any handmade present, it seems a very personal way to show you care, and that you love the person enough to spend a few hours making something nice for them. Last year, I didn't plan for it early enough to make it happen : Christmas is always a busy period, and we had just moved into our apartment a month before. But this year, I thought about it well in advance, took care of the ne...
December 23, 2003
Petit Pot Chocolat Vanille, Ruban de Caramel au Petit Beurre
[Chocolate Vanilla Petit Pot, Caramel Petit Beurre Ribbon]
This is the dessert I served to end Saturday night's dinner. The idea came to me during the same bus ride through Paris that brought us the goat cheese mousse. I don't know what was in the air that day, but ideas just kept bubbling up, a swarm of dishes taking shape and morphing in my mind, which I kept writing down furiously. Stepping out of the bus, I even had to sit down on a bench ...
"Petit Pot Chocolat Vanille, Ruban de Caramel au Petit Beurre" continues »
December 22, 2003
Filet de Boeuf, Compotée d'Echalottes, Rattes au Romarin
[Roast Beef, Shallot Compote, Rosemary Fingerling Potatoes]
While planning for our Saturday night dinner, I conducted a little research to find out what was best to eat with Baptiste's bottle of St Julien. My sources were comfortingly unanimous. Red meat, roasted, was the card to play. I chose to roast a filet de boeuf, a very tender beef cut, and serve it with a shallot compote and roasted rosemary potatoes. The meat was promptly ordered at o...
"Filet de Boeuf, Compotée d'Echalottes, Rattes au Romarin" continues »
December 21, 2003
Mousse de Chèvre Frais à la Confiture de Tomate Cerise, Chips de Lard
[Fresh Goat Cheese Mousse with Cherry Tomato Jam and Bacon Chips]
Yesterday, we had two of Maxence's oldest friends, Baptiste and Jérémie, over for dinner. The occasion was to finally open the bottle of St Julien that Baptiste had given us a while ago, a 1996 Sarget du Château Gruaud-Larose. As I have done in the past, I will tell you about the dinner menu over the next few entries.
While I wanted the main dish to be classical to compliment t...
"Mousse de Chèvre Frais à la Confiture de Tomate Cerise, Chips de Lard" continues »
December 19, 2003
Confiture de Tomates Cerises à la Cannelle
[Cherry Tomato Cinnamon Jam]
My mother has been making jars and jars of delicious jam every summer as far back as I can remember, using fruit bought at the Sunday morning market (strawberry, apricot), hand-picked by my family (raspberry, blackberry, blueberry), or given out by friends with overflowing orchards (rhubarb, plums, cherry plums). She labels them and stores them in the cellar, where they patiently age for a year before being generou...
"Confiture de Tomates Cerises à la Cannelle" continues »
December 17, 2003
Bruschetta
I remember very well the first bruschetta I ever had, served at the San Francisco vegetarian restaurant "Herbivore". We had arrived in the US about two months before, it was the night of my 21st birthday, we were with our friend Jérémie, and after dinner we went to see Arling & Cameron play. The barman wouldn't give me a free drink even considering the occasion, but we had the artists sign their album's poster for me, which sure made up for it....
December 11, 2003
Oeuf Cocotte
When I was 9 years old, I was in the last year of primary school while my sister was in junior high. On Wednesdays, I didn't have class, but she did, and my parents considered us old enough to be home without a nanny, so I would make my own lunch. Maybe my memory fails me, but I seem to remember that this involved a lot of canned beef ravioli, warmed up in a saucepan. From time to time, scorched ravioli in a saucepan, the reward for getting a b...
December 10, 2003
Tarte Chocolat Poire Chocolat
[Chocolate Pear Chocolate Tart]
As you know, I have a passion for chocolate. In restaurants, I am never intimidated by the decadent sounding all-chocolate desserts, and I can usually be relied upon to pick that. I have also tried my hand at that kind of desserts, and loved every minute of it, from the imagining to the making to the savoring to the methodical plate scraping. But chocolate can also be sublimated by the presence of other well-cho...
"Tarte Chocolat Poire Chocolat" continues »
December 9, 2003
Galettes de Polenta Grillées
[Grilled Polenta Slices]
I have a strange relationship with polenta. I either love it or loathe it, depending on how it's prepared. If it's just been cooked and it's mushy, the smell and texture really put me off. But if you let it settle and you slice it, or even better yet, if the slices are grilled, then polenta is my very good friend.
And on Saturday night, grilled polenta slices are what I served with the Ginger Pineapple Chicken Skewers. ...
"Galettes de Polenta Grillées" continues »
December 8, 2003
Brochettes de Poulet, Ananas et Gingembre
[Ginger Pineapple Chicken Skewers]
This was the main dish for our dinner party on Saturday. I got the inspiration from a recipe in the excellent cookbook "Mes petits plats 100% naturels" by Catherine Mandigon and Patricia Riveccio, which I recommend wholeheartedly : the recipes are amazingly unusual and tempting, and everything I've cooked from it so far has been a success. The original recipe calls for pork, but I used chicken breasts instead...
"Brochettes de Poulet, Ananas et Gingembre" continues »
December 7, 2003
Petits Rouleaux d'Aubergine Farcis
[Stuffed Eggplant Mini-Rolls]
Last night, Maxence and I threw a little dinner-party for my two dear friends, Marie-Laure and Laurence, and their respective boyfriends, Ludovic and Jean-Christophe. Over the next few days, I will post the menu for this dinner...
You can see us pictured here in our living-room : from left to right, Marie-Laure, Ludo, myself, Laurence and Jean-Christophe. Interesting detail on this picture : you remember Stéphan...
"Petits Rouleaux d'Aubergine Farcis" continues »
December 6, 2003
Frites de Patates Douces d'Egypte
[Egyptian Sweet Potato Fries]
When Maxence and I went grocery shopping in the ethnic stores of the rue de Clignancourt last week, we bought sweet potatoes. There were five (five!) varieties to choose from, so we asked the store attendant which variety was the sweetest, and he pointed us to the ones from Egypt, white-fleshed with a dark pink skin.
Tonight, I used them to make sweet potato fries in the oven. Very simple, very good....
"Frites de Patates Douces d'Egypte" continues »
December 1, 2003
Carrés de Noix de Pécan à la Vanille
[Vanilla Pecan Squares]
Yesterday was my dear grandmother's 92nd birthday. On this occasion, my parents, myself and a few friends and relatives gathered at her place for a celebratory drink, before we all headed out to eat dinner. My mom had asked me if I felt like making a few sweet nibbles to go with the champagne. Me? Sweet nibbles? Have I ever *not* felt like making sweet nibbles? Ever? Not that I can remember! So I accepted, with glee.
A...
"Carrés de Noix de Pécan à la Vanille" continues »
November 28, 2003
Soupe de Courge Musquée aux Epices
[Spiced Pumpkin Soup]
I am ordinarily not a huge winter squash fan. I used to dislike sweet and savory together when I was little, and that seems to vaguely remain when it comes to pumpkin and its brothers and sisters. But I do love the look of them and how they come in all shapes, sizes and colors and look like a little munchkin tribe. And the other day at the grocery store, I could not resist buying a big plump slice of bright orange courge mu...
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November 27, 2003
The Wonderful World Of Tartines
Tartines have been a fairly trendy lunch fare in Parisian restaurants for a while. Originally, "tartine" means a slice of bread, toasted or not, with something spread on it, usually eaten for breakfast : butter (tartine beurrée), jam (tartine de confiture), cheese (tartine de fromage)...
For a few years now, the concept of tartine has been recycled into an easy but delicious main dish : one or two slices of bread on which ingredients are laid,...
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November 26, 2003
Pear Rosemary Crème Brûlée
Two weeks ago, my parents came over to my apartment. The plan was for the three of us to have lunch together, and then go out on a mini-tour of the 9th and 18th arrondissements, using a guidebook called "Paris Buissonier", which my sister and I gave our mother for Mother's day : it describes itineraries to walk through parts of Paris that are seldom visited, providing interesting and unusual facts and comments about what you see along the way. ...
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November 10, 2003
Cake au Chocolat, Abricots et Gingembre
On Sunday afternoon, we had a few friends over for the goûter. In attendance were : Marie-Laure and Ludo, with whom we had had brunch earlier in the day ; my friend Sophie, who used to work at my company ; Stéphane and Caro, who are friends from college ; and our neighbors Stéphan and Patricia. To feed this crowd, I wanted to make something chocolate. I know, I know, I surprise myself too, sometimes.
When Pierre Hermé's Chocolate Desserts cook...
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November 4, 2003
Lemon Thyme Crème Brûlée
Ever since we bought the Oxylaser Blowtorch I’ve been pining for an opportunity to use it. My sister Céline has (at least) as much of a sweet tooth as I do, so I decided to make us Lemon Thyme Crèmes Brûlées for dessert on Saturday.
I found a disturbing number of very different crème brûlée recipes out there, calling for widely discordant oven temp, cooking time and quantities of eggs/cream/sugar. They starred various ingredients for fl...
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November 3, 2003
Porcini Walnut Risotto
My sister Céline lives in Frankfurt, Germany. She is to come back to work in France at the beginning of next year, which makes me deliriously happy, but until then we have to make do with the weekends she comes to spend with us. This Saturday, after the traditional afternoon of shopping together, Céline came over for dinner. She is very appreciative of my cooking, so it's always a pleasure feeding her.
As a main dish, I prepared a porcini waln...
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October 31, 2003
Boudin Antillais, Purée Maison
Last week-end, as Maxence was walking up the rue Lepic, he was lured into one of the many inviting charcuteries (a charcuterie is a store halfway between a butcher's shop and a deli). The boudin antillais was tempting, so he bought four small ones. Boudin antillais (a twist on boudin noir) is a specialty from the Antilles, the French Carribeans. They are blood sausages, made with bread, peppers, milk, onions, rhum, various spices and, well, por...
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October 29, 2003
Salmon & Leek Quiche
Picard Surgelés is a French chain store, the concept of which finds no equivalent in the US (to my knowledge) : it only sells frozen goods. This may not sound very appealing to the foodiest foodies among you, but their products are surprisingly good and high-quality, much like I remember the frozen section at Trader Joe's, in which I loved to wander till my fingers grew numb. Their selection is pretty wide : from unseasonned veggies, fruits, me...
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October 26, 2003
Layers in a Glass
This is one of my favorite recipes when I want to make a light individual dessert that's quick to make, yet looks nice and sophisticated. I served it the other night to end our duck confit meal, after which “light and refreshing” was definitely the way to go. This recipe lends itself to an endless number of variations, but I’ll tell you what I used this time as an example....
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October 25, 2003
The Paradoxical Duck Confit
Thursday night, on a whim, we asked our neighbors Stéphan et Patricia over for dinner, and I prepared the kind of dish that epitomizes the French paradox * : duck confit.
Back in July, Maxence and I spent a lovely extended week-end in the South-West of France, visiting his grandparents in Gourdon and driving around the incredibly beautiful countryside. On our last day, as is becoming the tradition, we indulged in a shopping spree at the Canar...
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October 21, 2003
Salade de Pois Gourmands aux Trois Sésames
[Triple Sesame Snow Pea Salad]
In French, snow peas (or sugar snap peas, apparently the difference is that snow peas are a lighter green) are called Pois Gourmands (Gourmand Peas) or Haricots Mangetout (Eat-Everything Beans). The reason for that, I just found out, is that unlike regular peas, you eat the pod as well, so you "eat everything". And eating everything makes you a qualified gourmand, hence the alternate name. Cute, huh?
I love the ...
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October 18, 2003
Soupe de Brocoli
[Broccoli Soup]
I am not a soup maker. For a very long time, I was most intimidated by it. Something about the large pot and the veggies cooked to death turned me off. I also didn't grow up in a soup family -- we hardly ever had it, though it was delicious when we did -- so I don't think of it as a particularly comforting dish. And finally, I'd rather eat a thing than drink it: I'd rather eat an orange than drink its juice, and I'd rather eat ...
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October 17, 2003
Melt-in-Your-Mouth Chocolate Cake
Yesterday we had a small party at my office to celebrate my company's fifth anniversary, and our pendaison de crémaillère, which is French for a housewarming party. Une crémaillère is a trammel, i.e. the metal adjustable hook that was used to hang pots in the fireplace in the days of yore, and the hanging (pendaison) of this essential piece of equipment in a new house was as good an occasion as any to have a village gathering.
Our new offices ...
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October 14, 2003
Gâteau de Mamy à la Poire
On Sunday, Marie-Laure came over "pour le goûter". Le goûter is the afternoon snack kids are given when they come out of school around 4. In my family (by that I mean "at my parents'"), it is also called simply le thé, and is practically an institution. Around 5 on weekends, somebody will invariably ask "on fait le thé?" (alternatively "on prend le goûter?"). Cookies or cake (often home-baked by my mother) will be served, washed down by liters ...
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October 13, 2003
Cheeseburgers with a Twist
Reading the article on DIY Diner Food over at Digs Magazine put me in the mood for burgers, so that went on the menu for lunch on Sunday.
For the patties, I used 150g (5 1/3 ounces) lean ground beef, in which I mixed a chopped shallot, a large handful of chopped fresh herbs (I had basil and tarragon, both home-grown, as well as flat-leaf parsley), a spoonful of chopped capers, and liberal amounts of ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauc...
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October 11, 2003
Sardine Harissa Polar Bread Sandwich
Or : The Return of the Polar Bread Sandwich
I made myself another yummy sandwich on polar bread for lunch today. This time, the filling was this : a can of quality sardines packed in olive oil (drained and patted with paper towels), a shallot - chopped with my friend the chef knife, a handful of flat parsley - chopped with my other friend the mezza-luna, 100 g of cottage cheese, a small spoonful of harissa (this is a red chili garlic paste from...
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October 7, 2003
Sun-dried Tomato Polenta Squares
This recipe is from the apéro section of the cookbook Mes petits plats 100% naturels, by Catherine Mandigon and Patricia Riveccio. In France, apéritif (also called l'apéro) is the general term for the drinks and savory nibbles you offer your guests before dinner. It is also a widespread custom to invite people over just for l'apéro, which is a more casual way to entertain than a full-blown dinner invitation. French cookbooks often include a who...
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Fennel & Tuna Polar Bread Sandwich
Over the last few years, I've noticed an increasing number of bakeries and sandwich places in France selling sandwiches made with Pain Polaire. Polar bread, sometimes also called swedish bread, is a round, soft flatbread with dimples. Polar bread sandwiches are made between two of these pancake-like slices, and the whole sandwich is then cut into halves. A popular version of these sandwiches involves smoked salmon, but any filling will work, re...
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October 6, 2003
Honey Hazelnut Cake
Yesterday, my parents came over for tea. This is always a perfect occasion for me to bake (yeah, like I need one), and today being my father's birthday, I decided to bake a cake. After perusing my cookbooks and recipe files, I set my heart on this Honey Hazelnut Cake from the book "Les Gâteaux de Mamie".
The original recipe is titled "Gâteau aux noisettes et au miel", and is actually for cupcakes, but this was a birthday occasion and cupcake...
"Honey Hazelnut Cake" continues »
October 4, 2003
Tartelettes Absolument Chocolat
[Absolute Chocolate Tartlets]
I could have met my friends Marie-Laure and Laurence at a Chocoholics Anonymous meeting, so when they came over for dinner last night, I decided I would treat them to Absolute Chocolate Tartlets.
The recipe comes from one of my cookbooks, called Je Veux du Chocolat! ("I want chocolate!") by Trish Deseine - another much cherished present from Maxence. In the book, it is called "Tarte Absolue" and is made as one b...
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October 3, 2003
Courgettes Rondes Farcies au Quinoa et à la Ricotta
"Man, I'm stuffed!" said the zucchini.
Tonight, Laurence and Marie-Laure are coming for dinner, and as a main dish, I will serve them Quinoa Ricotta Stuffed Zucchini.
Those small round zucchinis had caught my eye in the sidewalk stall of our produce store and I immediately saw, in blinking letters : "stuffed zucchini!". I got nine of them as there would be three of us, three always being a good number of items to have on a plate....
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Swiss Chard Pie
Spinach is one of the rare vegetables I will not eat. Possibly, this has to do with the green puke they were trying to pass off as spinach at summer camp. I did try real supposedly yummy fresh spinach, but could not take it. Bleh. The only form I can eat it in, is when it doesn't taste like spinach at all, in spinach ravioli for instance.
Now, people tell me swiss chard tastes very much like spinach, so my taste buds must be a bit weird, as ...
October 1, 2003
Chouquettes (Sugar Puffs)
2008 update. Below is a revised recipe, as it appears in Clotilde's Edible Adventures in Paris, my book on Paris restaurants and food shops.
2009 update. I have slightly improved upon the recipe with a couple of tricks: I now sprinkle the baking sheet with pearl sugar so the chouquettes are more evenly studded, and I brush the raw chouquettes with a sugar syrup to form a slight caramelized crust on top, and help the pearl sugar adhere.
Here i...
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