Archive for February, 2009
The impostor cauliflower – Purple cauliflower taboule with tomatoes, cucumber and mint with lime, garlic vinaigrette
Feb 19th
Le chou fleur imposteur – Taboulé de chou fleur violet avec tomates, concombre, et menthe à la vinaigrette de citron vert
Another fresh and delicious recipe for those who think they don’t like cauliflower. I might be wrong and maybe those who really hate cauliflower will not try this recipe, but I think they should give it a try. That’s what I absolutely love about vegetables is that you can make anything you want out of them, no matter their shape or color. So something as un-gracious as a cauliflower head, can become a wonderful taboule-like salad or side dish. As soon as I see something with such a bright and beautiful purple color, I need to buy it, it’s a uncontrolable attraction. It can be anything, even a sweater as a matter of fact, but this time it was at the Rainbow and not at Macy’s, and it was a vegetable. I guess, I remained the girly-girl who loves anything colorful and vibrant. I think we need to color our lives otherwise it gets dull, and I think it should start with the food we eat.
Ingredients for 3-4 as a side dish
- 1 purple cauliflower
- 1 tomato
- 1/2 english cucumber or 2 persian cucumbers
- 2 tbs mint, chopped
Vinaigrette
- 2 tbs olive oil
- juice of one lime
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 1/2 tsp cumin powder
- salt and pepper
Instructions
First wash the cauliflower, then break into florets. Using a cheese grater (I use the larger grid so that you get a grainy texture, if you grate it too thin, you won’t be able to cook it, it will just turn into some mushy texture), grate each floret and keep grated cauliflower in a big enough container.
Bring about 1 liter of water to a boil, add salt. Add grated cauliflower, and boil for about 3 minutes. Drain well and set aside until it cools it down.
Chop the tomato and cucumber (remove cucumber seeds) in small cubes. When the cauliflower is cold, add tomatoes, cucumber and mint, salt and pepper.
For the vinaigrette, add all the ingredients together and mix well. Then add to the taboule.
Matefaim Revisited – Matefaim with caramelized apples and orange blossom water
Feb 18th
Le matefaim revisité – Matefaim aux pommes caramelisées et eau de fleur d’oranger
Originating in Savoie region and like every dish from Savoie probably is nutritious. The batter is somehow similar to the crepe or pancake batter but I added baking powder to make it fluffier. I didn’t like the idea it could just be a sweet omelette. Matefaim supposedly means mate-ta-faim, which translates to “tame your hunger”. Actually, I don’t think they’re that heavy, not more than a crepe if you eat a few slices. I like any dessert with fruits and apples or pears are ideal for this quick and delicious snack, they caramelized quickly become soft without losing their texture. It’s perfect for 4 pm tea time break or just as dessert after a light meal. It can be served lukewarm with whipped cream and sprinkled with powdered sugar. You can cut your matefaim in slices and serve them like a tart. For a two serving matefaim, I used a smaller pan, like the ones you cook sunny side up eggs (15-20 cm diameter), that’s enough.
I remember matefaim from an article about Savoie (Savoy) saw on a magazine over 15 years ago and the last time I made matefaim has been…..something like 15 years ago. I Looked into my pile of magazines to locate that recipe, and I figured how could I possibly find an recipe that I hadn’t seen for 15 years? After looking for an hour, I decided to look on the web for some recipe, but I was not inspired with the ingredients, and I was certain that the one recipe on my magazine was a lot different, so I decided to start with a crepe batter base (from what I remembered) adding more flour and using whole wheat flour instead of white and baking powder, using vanilla almond milk and brown sugar.
Ingredients for 2
- 2 apples, sliced
- 60 g of whole wheat flour
- 1 egg
- 2 tbs brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 10 cl almond milk or enough to make the batter in a smooth consistency but not as liquid as a crepe batter
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp orange blossom water
- 1 tsp of butter
Preparation
Peel the apples and cut them in slices. In a pan, melt the butter and add the sliced apples. Cook at medium heat and until they become soft, nice and brown.
In the meantime, in a mixing bowl, add the eggs, the sugar and mix well, then add the flour, the milk and all other ingredients. Mix well. Pour on top of the apples, and cover at low heat for about 20 min, then turn the matepaim on the other side, so that it gets cooked and browned evenly on both sides.
Cut in slices, sprinkle with powdered sugar and you can serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
Beauty and the "beet" – Beet and herbed feta cheese tower on a rucola fava bean salad with mint vinaigrette
Feb 18th
La belle et la bette(rave) – Mille feuille de betteraves à la feta et salade de fèves, vinaigrette à la menthe
Anytime I go to the Rainbow in San Francisco, I cannot resist to buy all the vegetables I see, they are so colorful, and fresh that I want to buy them all, if I had a bigger refrigerator, I think I would just get a pound of every single item on display.
Yesterday what caught my attention, were those beautiful golden beets. Beets are quite popular in France, and my memories of eating beets go as far as I can remember…maybe when I was 7 or 8 years old “a la Cantine” which is the kids lunch meal eaten in the school facility.
Anyway, beets are high in antioxidants and its skin and leaves have about 3 times more antioxidants than its flesh that’s why juices made with beet leaves have the higher concentration of flavonoids components than any other vegetable.
As far as fava beans are concerned, they’re very popular in the Mediterranean regions, and especially in Italy. If eaten fresh, the skin needs to be removed since it tends to be a little think. They contain a high amount of proteins, fibers and vitamin C, so it’s perfect for vegetarians. I remember my grandpa growing them in the garden, and eating them fresh, just with some salt and even with the skin on. In Italy, they’re used to enhance pasta dishes or in stews. You can use them in salads, as a side dish, or just plain.
Ingredients for 2
- 4 golden beets
- 15 fava beans or about 200 g with pods
- 2 handful of rucola
- 3 tbs feta cheese
- 3 tbs greek yogurt (I used the brand Page, you can find at Trader Joe’s)
- 1 tbs chives, chopped
- pepper
for the vinaigrette
- 3 tbs extra virgin olive oil
- juice of one tangerine
- 1 tsp raspberry vinegar
- 1 tbs mint, chopped
- 1 tbs garlic, crushed
- 1 tsp sunflower seeds
- salt and pepper
Preparation
Wash beets under running water, they may have some dirt on the outside, then steam them, I use a pressure cooker, cook for about 1/2 hour or more.
In the meantime, remove fava bean from their pod and set aside. In a pot bring about 2 cups of water to boil, then cook the fava bean for about 3 minutes. They don’t need to be cooked too long since they’re tender. Drain and remove the skin from the beans, the skin is tough and needs to be remove. It’s quite an easy process, you just take a pinch from the tip of your fingers and the skin will come out by itself. Set aside.
When the beets are cooked, let them cool and peel the skin with a knife, it will peel it very easily. Cut in about half inch (or 1 cm) thick slices.
In a small plate, mix feta and yogurt with a fork to make it into a smooth consistency, then add chives, and pepper. I usually don’t add salt since feta is already salted. If you use goat cheese instead of feta, you might want to add some salt.
At this point, you should have all the ingredients ready to assemble the beets and salad.
Spread the cheese mixture on one beet slice, add another slice spread with cheese, then add the third layer (the third layer doesn’t have any cheese on it). Repeat the process until you have mounted your 2 beet towers per person.
For the vinaigrette, add all the ingredients together and mix well.
Place rucola on a plate and half of the fava bean on top of it, then place two beet towers on top of the salad and spoon the vinaigrette on top of the beet and salad.
Kumquat chutney – Chutney de kumquats
Feb 17th
I love those tiny oval oranges, that taste more like bitter orange (orange amere) than a regular orange since you can eat the peel, the bitterness comes from the peel so you get a stronger “orangy” flavor than regular oranges. They originally come from Malaysia or China and can be grown in pots but need to be protected from rough colds or very low freezing temperatures. They’re mainly used in jams, chutneys, or in sweet-bitter sauces, but also in pastries. I generally make pork tenderloin with them that turns out to be a quite flavorful and delicious dish served with a fennel/potato puree.
I had some leftover kumquats that I didn’t use in my pork tenderloin recipe this weekend and I was wondering what to make with those other than jam. Since most of the fruits are perfect for chutney, I thought kumquat chutney would be great to have with grilled meats, or to enhance any rice dish.
Ingredients for one jar
- 20 kumquats or 200 g
- 1 red onion
- 4 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 tbs of fresh grated ginger
- 4 tbs brown sugar
- 2 tbs raspberry vinegar
- 1/2 tsp cumin powder
- 1 star anise
- 3 pinches cayenne pepper
- 1 1/2 tbs olive oil
- salt and pepper
Instructions
Cut the kumquat in small pieces. Chop the onions, crush the garlic, and grate the ginger.
In a pot, add olive oil and brown the onions until cooked and translucent, for about 15 min at medium heat. Add ginger and garlic and cook for another 5 min. Add sugar and stir for one minute or so. Then add kumquats and all other ingredients. Stir and cook until the liquid evaporated and the mixture thickens. Let it cool, put in a jar and refrigerate. This chutney can last for about one month in the refrigerator.
