Le petit croustillant du lundi – Croustillant chaud de mangue, banane et ananas, crème au mascarpone

I adore filo dough but never use it. Do you believe it? I can drool over appetizers and desserts made with filo dough but when it’s time to buy it, I always forget or buy something else. So people would say, then you just don’t adore it. It’s like saying I adore this friend but I never call her, then you don’t love her that much. In French we use the word adore quite often and is not as strong as its equivalent in English. It’s used as Americans would use “I love”. J’adore la nutella!!

It’s a shame not to use filo dough more often because it’s lighter than its cousin “Puff Pastry”. It has a very delicate crispy texture, and makes beautiful sweet and savory dishes. One sheet has 30 calories and I used about one sheet per crisp if you want to keep completely light, you can just omit the mascarpone cream, but I would not recommend it, it completes the crisp to perfection.

The particularity of this filo dough is that it’s wholewheat, so basically, you’ll get a light dessert, extremely tasty, warm and crispy that will satisfy any sweet cravings. My other “secret” ingredient is vanilla powder, which I adore, oui j’adore la poudre de vanille!!!! I almost use it in all my desserts. It’s vanilla bean ground that is perfect to replace the actual vanilla bean.

The combination of mango and banana’s textures complete one another, also pineapple adds a little extra exotic touch to the crisp. You need to select fruits that are not too ripe, or in the sauté process, especially the banana and mangoes will get mushy.

You can serve it warm at room temperature or lukewarm, then you need to serve it immediately or the cream will start melting.

Ingredients for 3 crisps

• 1/4 pineapple, cut in small sliced (1 inch size)
• 1 mango, peeled and cut in small slices (1 inch size)
• 1 banana, sliced
• 3 whole wheat filo dough sheets, cut in 6 squares
• 1 tbs sugar
• 2 tbs mascarpone
• 2.7 fl oz (or 80 ml) heavy cream
• vanilla powder
• 1 tsp powder sugar
• 1 tsp butter + 1 tsp melted for the filo dough

Preparation

Cut all the fruits, add sugar and saute in butter for about 5-7 minutes. remove from the pan.

Using a brush, apply melted butter in one filo dough sheet, then cut dough in 6 identical squares.

Place the 6 squares in a ramequin or small muffin trays (then insted of 3 crisp, you’ll make 6 due to the smaller size of the muffin trays). Divide fruits in each ramequin and cook in a pre-heated oven at 370F for about 15-20 minutes or until the filo dough is golden brown.

remove from the oven and let it cool.

Whip heavy cream and add powder sugar at the end, add mascarpone and keep beating a little more. Add vanilla bean powder.

Serve each crisp with one tsp of mascarpone cream on top.

Desserts

Une cuillère pour moi, et deux pour toi – Cuillères de St Jacques à la vinaigrette de mangue et orange sanguine

I bought so many different kinds of those cuillères (spoons) while in France, which was not really a necessity since they are also available in the US, but my mom shoved them in my suitcase because she said her house is filled with stuff I buy and then I leave at her house, so the closet in my bedroom is filled with kitchen utensils and all kinds of gadgets that I have been accumulated over the years. I am a real pack rat. I still have my own bedroom with clothes and a few teddy bears since my parents still live in the house where I was born and raised (well I was born at the maternity to be clear not in the house), so I guess the “pack-ratting” activity is inevitable.

Today I finally decided to use those cuillères. In France, apéro à la cuillère (spoon apéritifs) is quite in fashion and most home cooks and restaurants use them as their favorite ways to serve hors d’oeuvres. Besides I think they’re really elegant on a table, and easy to prepare. They’re seriously ready in a blink of an eye.

Enough of savory muffins, quiches, etc… and all those heavy appetizers that make you feel already stuffed before dinner. Those are so quick to make, that it’s not even funny…and incredibly delicious, fresh, zesty and so light. I think you know by now that light is a key word for me, as long as a dish is light and flavorful, send it my way.

I bought some mangoes because my new little parrotlet Lilou loves mango, I am trying to discover what fruits and vegetables he likes, and it seems like mangoes, carrots and kale are on the list (wondering if it has to do with the color), so I bought a lot of mangoes, as if he will eat two pounds of mango in a few days. I guess I will have to help him out, and more mango recipes are coming shortly.

I am not really a huge fan of mixing sweet and salty flavors together, it’s not too common in French or Italian cuisine and it took me a while to combine them together. Some fruits are used like orange, apples, plums, etc…in game meat but it’s not too common. The mixture of scallops and mangoes has been something I have been thinking about for a while. I made grilled halibut with mango and red bell pepper salsa that I really enjoyed, so I thought sea scallops would work as well, but I didn’t want to bury the natural scallop’s sweet flavor and add too many ingredients like red bell pepper, red onion, etc…

You can either grill the scallops or sauté them in a pan with a little butter and If you don’t have those spoons, no worries, you can serve two or three scallops in a small plate. Et voilà, aucun problème!

Ingredients for about 10 spoons

• 10 medium sized scallops (they need to fit in the spoon)
• 1 mango, not too ripe (2/3 diced in small cubes, 1/3 grated)
• 1 blood orange, half peeled in quarters and cubed, the other half juiced
• 1 tsp chives, chopped
• cayenne pepper
• 1.5 tbs olive oil
• 2 tsp orange champagne vinegar (or raspberry vinegar)
• salt and pepper

Preparation

First peel mango, cut 2/3 of the mango in small cubes 1/3 inch thick. Place in a bowl.

Peel orange, separate the quarters and remove the membrane. Cut a few quarters in small pieces and add to the mango.

In another bowl, grate the rest of the mango, add olive oil, vinegar, juice of 1/2 blood orange, orange pieces, cayenne, salt and pepper.

Grill or saute scallops in a pan until browned on both sides.

Place a few mango dices and orange pieces in each spoon, add a litte vinaigrette. Add scallops on top, and spoon additional vinaigrette on top.

Appetizers, Fish/Seafood

Gratin fantaisie et pas Dauphinois! – Gratin de pommes de terre, courgettes et roquefort

There is the traditional gratin Dauphinois (from the Dauphiné region) where the potatoes are cooked in milk, then placed in the oven with butter (NO cheese) the real gratin Dauphinois has no cheese! Even though most people add cheese, the purists will scream and pull their hair when hearing a gratin Dauphinois recipe with cheese, then you have to remove the “dauphinois” in front of the “gratin” to be accurate. I tend to be lenient as far as cuisine is concerned but I really don’t like to give a inaccurate name to a recipe. It’s like people calling me Cynthia instead of Silvia (which they often do).

Then you have less traditional gratins like this one, very delicious but with Roquefort cheese and other additions of vegetables such as mushrooms, etc… This is a one meal dish and perfect with a green salad but I would not call it a light dish due to the potato-cheese content. It should probably be listed on the category “comfort food” to use the American terminology, even though I don’t like the idea that food can be comforting, I would prefer to use the word “simple” instead. I would call a friend “comforting” but not food. Eating too much heavy food, does not leave me comforted, rather the opposite.

You need to slice the potatoes very thin with a mandoline otherwise it takes a little too long to cook them especially if you are using a large dish instead of small individual ramequins. You could also avoid the pre-cooking process of the potatoes, then the cooking time needs to be increased at low temperature. When pre-cooking the potatoes in milk, make sure not to overcook them, and you need a kind that will remain firm, otherwise the potatoes will break and become mushy.

Ingredients for 4

• 2 large potatoes OR 14.10 oz (400 g) of potatoes, sliced thin
• 2 zucchini, sliced thin
• 4 tbs Roquefort cheese, crumbled
• 2 tbs crème fraîche
• 2 tbs Greek yogurt
• about 2 cups milk
• thyme
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Add potatoes in a pot and pour enough milk to cover the potatoes, let cook for about 5 minutes but still need to be firm. Add zucchini and cook for another 3 minutes. Remove from stove and drain. Place potatoes/zucchini in a deep dish and add salt and pepper.

In a bowl combine Roquefort cheese, yogurt and cream, thyme. Adjust with salt and pepper. Roquefort is somehow salty, taste the mixture before add extra salt.

In ramequins place some potatoes/zucchini, then add 1 tbs of Roquefort/cream mixture, proceed with another layer of potatoes and top with Roquefort mixture.

Cook in a pre-heated oven at 375F for about 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and potatoes cooked all the way through.

Appetizers, Side Dish, Vegetarian - dairy

La bonne salade aux lentilles de Tel Aviv – Salade de lentilles, roquette, betteraves à la feta et menthe

On my stay in Tel Aviv, I walked almost all over the city for five days…the weather was beautiful, it felt so much like summer to me so while France was snowed in, I enjoyed my five days as if it was the last time I would be in short sleeves and eat croissants on a terrace.

As much as Jerusalem had a magic light, Tel Aviv had amazing restaurants, I loved all of them, everything was fresh and exquisite and I got to explore the city and its great neighborhoods and specialties with my map (and my high heels, shameless to say). As bad as I get in orienting myself, sometimes I think I have a disease. I can drive or walk every day by the same place, without ever remembering it. Maybe the “tête en l’air” virus.

I did remember Ben Yehuda street and the green restaurant that had been intriguing me for days with its flashy green color. It was a colorful looking place that seemed to serve organic food and decided to give it a try. It was a mixture of a traditional Californian vegetarian cafe type of decor combined with a Mediterranean menu which intrigued me. Every item on the menu had a calorie count and was under 300 calories per dish. I was not aware that Israelis were that health conscious. I finally ordered the lentil salad not knowing what to expect and thinking how exciting a bowl of lentils could be? Well, it could certainly be very exciting! that was seriously the most, delicious, flavorful, healthy lentil dish salad I had in quite a long time.

I loved it so much, that I wanted to try to reproduce it from what I remembered and it turned out quite well. Who can say no to a one meal bowl full of nutrients with so little calories? Certainly not me.

Ingredients for 2

• about 5.30 oz  (or 150 g) green lentils
• 3 medium size beets (golden or red), cooked and diced
• 1 cup arugula
• 2 tbs feta, crumbled
• 2 tbs mint, chopped
• 2 scallions, chopped
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1/3 tsp cumin powder
• juice of 1 lemon
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Cook lentils in salted water until cooked but not mushy. Drain and set aside.

Cook beets in water until tender, about 45 min. Let cool, then peel them. Cut in about 1 inches pieces and add to the lentils, then add arugula. Add mint and scallion and mix well.

In a bowl, mix cumin, olive oil and lemon juice, salt and pepper. Mix well.

Pour dressing on top of the salad and toss. Add feta and mix carefully.

Salads, Vegetarian - dairy

Merci encore à Alain Ducasse – Cabillaud en beurre d’herbes, shiitake et concassée de tomates

This recipe has been adapted from an Alain Ducasse’s recipe, one of my favorite chefs…yes I know I keep repeating this and will do so anytime I prepare something from his kitchen, because I am such a huge fan of his.

The recipe has been modified a little in the sense that I needed girolles mushrooms, since I couldn’t find any and a drive to whole foods was not an option, I used shiitake. The other ingredients I did not use was the ham in the beurre d’herbes, so I did not add ham but I will add it to the ingredients’ list and people can either decide to add it or not. Other than that I followed the recipe “à la lettre” (meaning word per word).

I was offered this book called “La Cuisine de Ducasse par Sophie” a few Christmas back and once in a while and dig into it to try its wonderful recipes. They’re not too time-consuming but most of all, the recipes are focusing on flavors and simplicity.

Basically, any white fish with a dense flesh works in this recipe, so that when you serve it it doesn’t fall apart. The exciting part of this dish are really two things. Don’t you think that there is always an exciting aspect to a dish, either an ingredient, or a method of cooking, but just something? Here is the beurre d’herbes, and the garlic. Beurre d’herbes (herb-butter) is a mixture of herbs, nuts, condiments, citrus and of course butter “demi-sel” (so you need a good quality butter) and it is absolutely divine. It makes me want to make a jar of beurre d’herbes, cook it in the oven and eat it with a spoon. Then the garlic gloves have been “confites” meaning candied, slowly cooked for over an hour with herbs. The great thing about this garlic is that you can make a batch and keep them in a jar in the refrigerator and use them when needed.

Beurre demi-sel (half salted butter) contains between 0.5 g and 3 g of salt per 100 grams of butter vs. beurre salé (salted butter) contains over 3 g of salt per 100 grams of butter. Usually in those butters, different types of  high valued salts have been incorporated such as Guérande salt, Noirmoutier salt, fleur de sel, etc…In the US you can find Beurre D’Isigny as a demi-sel, whole Foods sells it. A great quality butter makes an incredible difference.

Tomato concassée is quite straight forward, concasser means to chop roughly, not in tiny pieces so that’s what happened to those tomatoes. It’s a common French culinary word used to describe how something has been cut.

Ingredients for 6

For the fish and side

• 6 cod fillets or any dense white fish (about 6.34 oz or 180 g each)
• 8 tomatoes on the vine, seedless, peeled and roughly cut
• 10.50 oz (or 300 g) girolles mushrooms or shiitake
• 1 bunch basil (keep 12 leaves for decoration)
• 3 tbs olive oil
• 6 garlic cloves, candied
• salt and pepper

For the herb-butter

• 5.30 oz (or 150 g) butter, soft, demi-sel
• 1 oz (or 30 g) almonds, chopped
• 1 oz (or 30 g) walnuts, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 tsp strong Dijon mustard a l’ancienne
• 1 thin slice ham (Jabugo or Serrano), cubed
• zest of 1/2 lemon
• 2 tbs mixed herbs, chopped (parsley, chives, chervil)
• salt and pepper

For the candied garlic batch

• 30 garlic cloves
• 1 sprig rosemary
• 2 sprigs thyme
• olive oil

Preparation

For the herb-butter

Mix lemon zest with the butter and all other ingredients.

For the tomato concassée and mushrooms

Heat 2 tbs olive oil, add tomatoes and let them cook at medium heat  until the water evaporates. Add salt and pepper. In another pan, saute mushrooms in 1 tbs olive oil at high heat for about 2-3 minutes. Add 15 basil leaves, chopped, salt and pepper and mix well.

Mix tomatoes and mushrooms and candied garlic. Adjust seasoning and keep warm.

For the candied garlic

Cover garlic with olive oil, add herbs and cook slowly for about 1h30 min in a small covered pot. When cooked, pour in a jar with the olive oil and place in the refrigerator for future use.

Finishing and presentation

Pre-heat oven at 240C on circular heat mode. Add salt and pepper to the cod fillets. Spread herb-butter on top of the fillets and cook for about 10 minutes. Place tomato-mushroom mixture in the center of plates. Add cod on top. Sprinkle with Fleur de Sel and basil and serve immediately.

Fish/Seafood

Zuppa con cavolfiore, ceci e quadretti

I heard California got a lot of rain this season, all the news talked about it when I was in France and I heard it from my neighbors when I got back. The good things is that it’s clearing up. Eventhough France was very cold with -10C temperatures some days, my mom never made soup and neither did I. Of course during the holidays, we tend to eat “holiday meals” and strangely enough soup is not entitled to the be on the “holiday” list, so I somehow missed it.

One soup I really like is this cauliflower soup with chick peas and small pasta, you can put potatoes instead of the pasta, or even both. You can use any small pasta such as quadretti (little squares), ditali (small cylinders) or any small pasta to be used is broths or soups. I had none left so I cut some fettucine into small pieces, and it worked quite well. The difference is that quadretti are a egg pasta and thinner than fettucine which are not supposed to be used in soup as per the pasta étiquette. So I went against the étiquette, nonetheless it was really enjoyable. I think some ingredients can be substituted and some others, cannot. In this case, I would say it could be.

I am not sure how the word “pasta” is used in the US, if it refers to a particular pasta dish cooked in a particular way and not in soups. Then not sure what the word “noodle” refers to either, so I will try to be as accurate I can be. For me noodles reminds me of the Asian pasta, and not Italian pasta. Every kind of pasta in Italy has its own name, that makes it quite easy to what type of pasta you are talking about.

Ingredients for 4

• 1 medium size cauliflower
• 2 potatoes
• 4 medium  tomatoes, seedless, peeled and chopped
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 tbs onions chopped
• 1 rosemary sprig
• 1/2 lb chick peas (either canned or dry and soaked overnight)
• 5 tbs quadretti or small pasta for soups
• 2 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Heat olive oil in a large pot, brown onions, then add garlic, stir a few minutes. Add tomatoes, cook for about 5 minutes to let the water evaporates, then add potatoes, cauliflower and rosemary. Stir well to coat all the vegetables and cook for about 7 min stirring. Add enough broth to cover the vegetables (you might want to add extra to have enough liquid to cook the quadretti). Let it cook until the vegetables are tender but not mushy, remove rosemary then add chick peas. Cook for another 10 minutes. Add pasta and 1 garlic clove and cook until desired texture (I like them al dente). Sprinkle with olive oil, cracked pepper and serve.

Soups, Vegan

Una fetta, due fette, dieci fette – Fettine con mandorle della Signora Lucia

That is a traditional Italian “dry”cookie, maybe what is called in the US, “biscotti” – Biscotti in Italian literally means cookies, and is more a generic word for cookies than for that type of sliced bread shape with almonds.

Growing up, we loved to bake those and made them all year long, not for any particular occasion. There is always a container filled with fettine at my parents’ house to offer anyone who drops by to have a coffee since that’s what people do, they stop by for a coffee and chit chat. Thing that no one has ever done in my house, stop by for a coffee, maybe that’s not an American thing. Besides Starbucks is right around the corner. They opened a few Starbucks in Paris and people love it. I think Starbucks concept of what they serve is more what I call a dessert rather than coffee, sure they do sell coffee but the large variety of the other items on their menu is definitely dessert-type of drink.

Like any other cookies, those can be stored in a air-tight container for a long time, so when you have a made a batch, you have enough biscotti to entertain half an army. Those are great with coffee or tea, you can also dip them in sweet white wine, or Vin Santo which is a Tuscan dessert wine (and also available in the US).

Ingredients for about 30 fettine

• 14 oz (or 400 g) flour
• 3 eggs
• 7.5 oz (or 200 g) sugar
• 7.5 oz (or 200 g) whole almonds unpeeled
• 1.76 oz (or 50 g) butter, melted
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbs anise seeds or zest of 1 orange

Preparation

In a mixing container mix flour and baking powder, then add sugar, eggs and butter. Add orange zest or anise seeds, and almonds at the end. Roll the dough to get 2 baguettes shape and bake in oven for 30 min at 360F.

Remove from the oven, let it cool a little and slice while still hot in small slices about 1 cm thick (0.4 inches). Place them back on your tray and put in the oven to let it dry for another 5-10 minutes. Remove from the oven, let it cool and place in air-tight container.

Desserts

Douceurs blanches dans un pot – Yaourts Figues-Vanille et Pomme-Kiwi

I have been back to the US since last Friday and one thing that I already start missing is the yogurt. If you haven’t tried homemade yogurts, you haven’t tasted the goodness of what a real yogurt can be. I have always been nostalgic about the wonderful yogurts you can find in France in the yogurt/dairy section in any supermarket area. There are about four full aisles of yogurts and dairy specialties of dairy and non dairy fresh desserts. I am in heaven. Yogurts in the US tend to be on the boring side and quite frankly not very good. I tasted all of the brands, and I always remain faithful to Strauss, their European called yogurt. It seems like all yogurts contain gelatin and taste artificial especially the flavored ones, so I stick to the plain kind.

Yogurt making is like bread making in France right now, two nationwide spread trends. So after going to FNAC, a bookstore/electronics store, and spending hours on the cook book section, I run into an intriguing book on making yogurts, and I decided to buy it.

After landing in the U S of A and going through customs with half a supermarket in my suitcase, I realized that I had no yogurt maker. Yogurts can be made in many other ways if you don’t have a yogurt maker, like using a pressure cooker, an oven, etc…but I just wanted a yogurt maker and not go through a few times of failing the yogurts, like it happened before. So on day 2, I went to buy a yogurt maker and if you are a yogurt “freak” like me, it’s a good investment. In a next post, I will explain how to make yogurts without a yogurt maker, in case you don’t have one since I suspect many people don’t have one. It’s a little more tricky but it does work.

I used approximately the recommended proportions I found on the book called “Yaourts” from Solar Editions, then I somehow flavored them according to my tastes. You can use any fruit you like.

The great thing about making yogurt is that you can play around with different milks, spices and fruits. For this first attempt, I used fat free milk, but next time I will use the 2% fat and see the difference. The only inconvenient is that it takes about 10 hours to have your yogurts ready, but then you get seven of them. You can use either a plain yogurt or yogurt ferments for your mixture.

Ingredients for 7 yogurts

• 2 kiwis, peeled and cut in small cubes
• 1/2 granny smith apple, peeled and cut in small cubes
• 4.4 oz (or 125 g) black figs, peeled and well ripe
• vanilla powder
• 2 tbs sugar
• 3.38 cups milk (or 800 ml) whole, skim or half-skimmed
• 6 tps evaporated milk (canned or in powder)
• 1 regular plain yogurt

Preparation

If you are using fruits at the bottom, I suggest to start preparing them beforehand. Peel figs and cut in small cubes, add sugar and let it cook until it becomes into a smooth consistency. Add vanilla and let it cool. Proceed the same way with the apples and kiwis (without the use of vanilla).

Remove milk from the refrigerator and keep it room temperature for a while. In a mixing container, mix milk and yogurt. Add evaporated milk. Mix well.

Place 2 tbs of fruit sauce in each jar, add milk mixture and place in yogurt maker as per instructions. Do not close jars with lids. I kept those for 9 hours in the machine since I used non-fat milk. If you are using regular milk, or half-skimmed milk, you need to leave the yogurts about 7-8 hours. When the machine has stopped, put lids on and place in the refirgerator for 3 hours.

Desserts, Vegetarian - dairy

Délicieuses petites tentacules – Tagine de poulpe aux mangues

From what I’ve seen and heard, I have found very few people crazy about octopus…unlike me, I love it, like every thing else that lives in an ocean. The thing with octopus is that it needs to be well cooked, and prepared the right way or it can get hard to chew, and rubbery. I have tasted an octopus carpaccio in a small restaurant in Como Lake, Italy, where the octopus was cut in paper thin slices, then marinated and topped with rucola, lemon juice and olive oil. Octopus is very popular in Mediterranean cuisine and despite its strange prehistorical aspect, has an extraordinary delicate flavor and can be prepared in many different ways.

For this recipe, you can cut the octopus in smaller pieces if you don’t like to have big chunks of tentacles in your plate. I wanted to make octopus pieces as big as the mangoes. Don’t get intimidated by this strange animal with its long legs and tentacles, you’ll be surprised by its delicacy.

I found this recipes couple of years ago on a tagine recipe book (I forgot its name, I only remember it was a purple book), the little twist is the addition of the spice mixture you can buy at some specialty counter at our Nancy’s market. You can make it as well, keep it in a air tight container and use it in fish dishes, it’s really a great mix. Every year when I come home, my mom makes this tagine for me, she knows I am crazy for octopus, the only problem is that she used a whole octopus this time, this one weighted 5 lb, so there was enough octopus for an army. How much octopus can you eat?

Cooking octopus in clay tagine pot makes it very flavorful and tender, the addition of mangoes 20 minutes before removing it from the oven adds a sweet touch that gives this dish an exquisite exotic touch. I use my tagine very often and cooking in clay pot makes a big difference in terms of flavor. I even bought another clay pot here, that will need to fit in my suitcase and arrive in San Francisco in one piece. That will be my last day challenge.

Ingredients for 4-5

• 2 lb octopus
• 1 1/2 onions, sliced
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp spice mix
• 2 firm mangoes, not too ripe
• salt and pepper

Spice mix for a small jar

• 2 tbsp turmeric
• 1 tsp anise seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• 1 tbs parsley flakes

Preparation

Clean octopus under running water, remove beak, eyes, etc…

Cook octopus in boiling water for about 30-45 minutes. Remove from water, drain and let it cool. Cut in small pieces about 1 inch thick.

Heat olive oil in your tagine, and brown onions. Add octopus, paprika, spice mix, salt and pepper. Mix well. Cook in a pre-heated oven for 1h30 hour at 375-380F. 20 minutes before removing from the oven, add mangoes, cover and cook until the mangoes are cooked but still firm and not mushy. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve with white rice, steamed potatoes or herbed quinoa.

Fish/Seafood

Simplement Irrésistibles – Bouchées à la noix de coco ou macarons?

The weather is getting a little warmer than the past days and the snow is melting which did not prevent me from going shopping today for warm clothes since I realized that my suitcase is filled with summery clothes. Eh oui, c’est l’hiver! During this cold weather, my mom bakes, since visitors keep dropping by my parents house to chit chat, and sweets are always welcome.

Another one of my mom’s favorites…those small coconut macarons. They’re very small, about 1.5 inch wide so you can put a few in your mouth at once and still have room. Bouche means mouth so bouchées refers to something that fits in your mouth.

I have always loved macarons growing up, and many boulangeries (bakeries) still sell them here. What we call macarons in this region of France is not the traditional macarons that look like round little sandwiches filled with cream, like the Parisian macaron you can find in Paris at Ladurée that come in different flavors.

Nancy’s Macaron is a round shaped cookie made out of coconut or almond. Macarons in Nancy is a specialty and sold in many specialty stores, you can find them in some other regions of France as well and but with a different recipe and therefore texture. Macaron de Nancy is a specialty from this town, and was created in 1793 by two Benedictine nuns also called “Soeurs macaron” Sisters macaron. The recipe of the macaron was kept secret and transmitted throughout the centuries, there is still a street in Nancy called Rue des Soeurs Macarons, Macaron Sister Street.

Knowing how much Catherine of Medici brought from Italy to France, we can also assume that Macaron was brought to France from Italy since its name macaron derives from Maccarone, but its origin is still controverted.

This recipe is quick and easy to make requiring just a few ingredients. So if you love coconut as much as I do, you’ll love those little mini macarons, that go perfectly well with sweet dessert wine or champagne.

Ingredients for 24 bites

• 1 tbs flour
• 3.52 oz (or 100 g) sugar
• 5.30 oz (or 150 g) coconut flakes
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbs quince jam

Preparation

In a mixing bowl, mix flour, sugar and coconut. Add aggs to the mixture and stir until you obtain a smooth paste. Add quince jam, and stir. Fill in your mini silicon molds, or other individual mini molds. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 360F until the macarons have turned golden brown. Let them cool and remove from molds

Desserts