Archive for April, 2009
Swimming in sweet waters – Curried coconut soup with salmon, squash and shitakee
Apr 28th
Nager dans les eaux sucrées – Soupe de noix de coco au curry, saumon, spaghetti squash et shitakee
The great thing about this soup is that you don’t need to eat anything else, the salmon and the vegetables are a meal in itself, besides, you will feel satisfied and will feel just happy and content. Coconut is not something I use a lot but I love it! I remember the first time I tasted coconut, I was 6 years old, on a beach in Italy with my grandma, and this guy was walking up and down the beach with his bucket full of freshly cut coconut quarters and yelling “cocooooo!” “cocooooooo!” “noce di cocooooooo!”. Since then, I have always loved the flavor and texture of coconut, besides it’s an ingredient that makes you travel across oceans and take you to the magic and exotic world of the Islands. I used light coconut milk, so it has fewer calories than regular milk, it’s not quite as flavorful either but I like to consume less calories for dinner.
Ingredients for 2
- 1/2 lb fresh sockeye salmon, cube
- 8 shrimps
- 1/2 spaghetti squash (cooked)
- 6 whole shitakee mushrooms
- 1/4 onion, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 tsp ginger, grated
- 1/3 tsp green curry powder or paste
- 1/2 can light coconut milk
- 2 cups broth
- 1 tsp fish sauce
- 1 tbs soy sauce
- 1 tbs coconut oil
Preparation
In a pot, heat up coconut oil, add onion, ginger and garlic, stir well. Add curry powder and stir again, add coconut juice, broth, bring the liquid to a boil, then add mushrooms, basil, spaghetti squash previously cooked, soy sauce and fish sauce. Let cook at slow heat for about 2 minutes. Add salmon and let cook until the salmon is cooked, or about 5 minutes.
A little more sophisticated – Choucroute and sea scallops with mustard sauce
Apr 27th
Un peu plus sophistiqué – Coquilles de choucroute au St Jacques et sauce moutarde
When I get nostalgic, I turn towards food and cooking to bring me back some flavors and memories of Alsace-Lorraine. I am so lucky to be living in San Francisco, because I can always find something that takes me back home.
This time, it was choucroute, which is sourkraut, it’s basically shredded cabbage fermented for about one month with salt and isolated from air. Choucroute dish comes from Alsace region, Germany is bordering it and consume a lot of it a as well but not the same way. Both cuisines has some similarities, but Alsacian one has a French twist. I found this sourkraut at the Rainbow and it ‘s quite good. In the South Bay, you can find good choucroute at Ditmers, the German Butchers on San Antonio in Mountain View.
I am not certain that many Californians know much about this dish, but maybe those of German descent or Alsacian descent might. Traditional Choucroute is made with different kinds of pork meat, can be smoked and with different kinds of sausages and potatoes and served with strong mustard. It can also be made with fish and seafood, choucroute aux fruits de mer, and this one is more an inspiration of the seafood choucroute but in a small bite version.
Ingredients for about 10 bites
For the choucroute and scallops
- 10 large fresh sea scallops
- 3/4 lb choucroute
- 2 slices bacon
- 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/2 glass of white wine or pale ale beer
- 4 juniper berries
- 1 tbs olive oil
- salt and pepper
For the mustard sauce
- 2 small shallots, chopped
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tbs wine vinegar
- 3 tbs heavy cream
- 1 tsp olive oil
Preparation
Wash the cabbage. Bring a water to a boil and boil cabbage for about 2-3 minutes. Some people do not blanch it, but I prefer it blanched since it tends to get really acid sometimes. Blanching it will remove that acidity. Drain.
In a large pot, add olive oil and brown onions, add diced bacon. Cook bacon and let flavors come out. Add cabbage, juniper berries, bay leaves, wine, salt and pepper. Cover and cook at medium heat for about one hour.
For the mustard sauce, brown shallots in olive oil, add vinegar, reduce add mustard and cream.
Grill scallops on both sides. Place in individual appetizer dishes, one tbs of cabbage, then add one scallop and one tsp of mustard sauce.
Soooo Long – Halibut with olives, walnut and herb crust with sauté long beans
Apr 22nd
Flétan en croute d’olives, noix et herbes aux haricots verts chinoix sautés
When it’s hot outside, it’s a sauna inside, and today has been one of those days. Living on the top floor, the high temperatures make this place like an oven…I did not feel like turning on the oven tonight, but I had this halibut that I needed to cook and figured I might as well be brave and start cooking anyway. I ended up cooking almost naked but that did not help with the heat. There is no air conditioning in San Francisco houses or apartments because most of the time, they don’t need it, but it would come in handy sometimes.
My right side neighbor is always gardening and taking care of his tomatoes naked, and that’s fine since he is in his property. The particular thing is that he goes walking around in the streets naked too and no one pays attention since he is known in the neighborhood. I found that quite amazing that the US is so puritan is some ways making sure not to show any nudity anywhere, then some places feel like a nudist camp. I think we are in the land of contradictions. I need to mention I live in the Castro neighborhood of San Francisco and it seems like no one is bothered by the heat and is completely free (of clothes too)…maybe that’s just the Castro…
Going back to Halibut, its flesh remains firm and does not break like cod would, the olive crust is infused with many herbs and is wonderful with the white fish as well as the crunchy and crispy textures of Chinese long beans. I like to cook them once in a while, you can make fun presentations and they always remain crunchy, it feels like eating thick spaghetti!
I had a similar fish dish with flavorful crust at a restaurant in Paris some time ago and I always wanted to re-create something similar. Not sure it came out exactly like it, but it was delicious anyway.
Ingredients for 4 people
For the halibut
- 4 halibut filets
- 4 tbs Italian parsley, chopped
- 4 tbs dill, chopped
- 4 tbs chives, chopped
- 4 tbs kalamata olives
- 4 garlic cloves
- 2 tbs walnuts, chopped
- 4 tbs plain breadcrumbs
- 3 tbs olive oil
- salt and pepper
For the long beans
- 2 bunches chinese green beans
- 2 shallots
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 tbs olive oil
- salt and pepper
Preparation
For the halibut
Add salt and pepper to the halibut. In a mixer, add herbs, walnuts, olives, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper. Mix all ingredients to a fine to medium consistency. Add breadcrumbs, add salt and pepper if needed, (the olives being salty, if you don’t want to much salt, don’t add any). Placea good portion of the mixture on the top halibut surface (about 1/2 inch thinkness for the crust). Cook in the oven at about 380F for 10-15 minutes until the fish is just cooked but do not overcooked, it will get dry.
For the chinese long beans
Cut the extremities of the beans. Bring a large pot to a boil, cook beans for 5-10 minutes, do not over cook, they need to still be firm but not undercooked. Place in ice water to keep the beans green (they will darken if left out too long). In a pan, add olive oil, brown shallots until they become translucent and browned, add garlic and stir (do not burn it). Add long beans and mix well. Add salt and pepper.
Pink and pinkier – Strawberry and rhubarb compote with vanilla ice cream
Apr 21st
Rose et plus rose encore – Compote fraises-rhubarbe et glace vanille
Rhubarb is a popular vegetable in the Eastern Part of France where I grew up. It’s mainly used in desserts, and rhubarb tarts or jams are very famous. That’s the way I grew up with, but some people cook it as fish or meat accompaniment.
Rhubarb has a great benefit, it’s that it has very low calories and is great for transit due to high fibers, but being tart people tend to use a lot of sugar, so of you’re no to careful about the sugar you’re adding, it ends up being a heavy dessert. I like tart sensations, so it’s fine for me, but for those who like it sweet and are watching their calorie intake, it’s better to use half sugar half Splenda.
American rhubarb is more red than the French one and bigger. Strawberries go wonderfully together and this compote is also delicious with yogurt. Compote is a French word to describe the mixture you get cooking fruits at low heat. It contains low sugar, sometimes no additional sugar at all so it’s a lot less sweet than a jam. This compote goes even better with homemade vanilla ice cream, and with summer being around the corner, what is more perfect than this? fresh, fruity and so light.
Ingredients for 4
For the rhubarb compote
- 2.5 lbs rhubarb
- 1 lb strawerries
- sugar or splenda
- 1 vanilla bean
For the vanilla ice cream
- 1 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup milk
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Preparation
For the strawberry-rhubarb compote
Wash the rhubarb stems and peel them, like you would peal a rapini or asparagus, you will see that the inside part of the stem is green. Cut in 1 1/2 inch pieces and put in a cooking pot. Wash strawberries and cut in pieces, add to the rhubarb. Add sugar and/or Splenda, to your liking. Cut one vanilla pod, grate the inside, add pod and cook mixture at slow temperature until the fruits are cooked and become like a jam consistency.
For the vanilla ice cream
Mix milk, cream, sugar and vanilla extract in a container. Mix well until the sugar has dissolved. Add to the ice cream maker and let the ice cream thicken for about 25 minutes. Place in the freezer for about 15 minutes or eat as is, as a creamy and soft ice cream.
Spoon fruit compote on top of ice cream.
A quick stop in Italy – Zucchini polpette with green olives and parmesan cheese
Apr 19th
Un salto in Italia – Polpette di zucchine con olive e parmigiano
Now I have been a little nostalgic, my parents are in their house in Italy and I have been dreaming of the wonderful food they are being exposed to, especially the amazing seafood and vegetable dishes. I grew up eating meat polpette. Originally polpette are made out of ground meat, then you add breadcrumbs, eggs and spices. In France we have a similar word used to described this type of meat mixture and it’s called paupiettes. Americans have translated this into Meat balls. Every country has it’s own version of meatballs, made with local spices and ingredients. In those polpette, shredded zucchini have been substitute to meat and they taste wonderful. You can also use eggplants instead of zucchini and the result is just as delicious.
Ingredients for 2
- 4 zucchini, shredded
- 5 tbs breadcrumbs
- 3 tbs grated parmigiano reggiano cheese
- 1 egg
- 1 tbs fresh oregano
- 1 tbs green Sicilian olives, chopped
- chili oil
- salt and pepper
Preparation
Grate zucchini, using your hands press tightly to remove excess water. Add breadcrumbs, parmesan, and all other ingredients. Mix well. Heat a little olive oil in a pan and with a spoon form little balls, cook until both sides are golden brown. Serve hot with a green salad or as is as a side dish or light meal.
More purple than red – Coconut shrimps, spicy red cabbage and tofu capers sauce
Apr 19th
Plus violet que rouge – Crevettes à la noix de coco, chou rouge épice, sauce tofu aux câpres
Red cabbage is often consumed raw in salads recipes, but cooked red cabbage is also delicious, it has a mild flavor and full of vitamins and fibers.
In France it’s often cooked with apples and also red wine. Today was such a hot day in San Francisco that I certainly was not going to make anything with red wine. I like to substitute panko to regular breadcrumbs, they tend to be crunchier and I like to bake them in the oven instead of frying. Regular breadcrumbs you found in the US are made with regular bread loaves, panko is closer to French breadcrumbs, made with baguette bread therefore made with bread that has more crust than US bread and they are lighter and crunchier.
Red cabbage turns purple when cooked and to keep its raw red color, you can add a little vinegar. I love silken tofu, it’s delicious to substitute to cream cheese in desserts, is also perfect to make vegetarian mayonnaise. For those who don’t like the natural taste of tofu, please don’t be afraid, this sauce tastes delicious, has a creamy consistency and enhanced with dijon mustard so, it can be used with any grilled vegetables or grilled meat.
Ingredients for 4
For the red cabbage
- 1 whole red cabbage
- 1 orange
- 1 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
- 1/2 tsp all spice powder
- 2 tbs olive oil
- salt and pepper
For the shrimp he marinade
- 32 jumbo shrimps, cleaned and deveined
- 1 cup light coconut milk
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp fish sauce
- 1 tsp fresh ginger
For the shrimps
- 32 shrimps (4 skewers each)
- 1 cup coconut flour
- 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 2 eggs
- salt and pepper
For the tofu sauce
- 1/2 lb silken tofu
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tbs capers, chopped
Preparation
For the cabbage
Grate cabbage and set aside. Heat up olive oil, add onions and cook until onions are browned, add all spices for 3 seconds. stir well. Add cabbage, salt and pepper and juice of one orange. Cover and cook for about 25 min or until cabbage is tender.
For the shrimps
Mix all ingredients of the marinade together, stir well, and marinate shrimps for about 2 hours. Remove shrimps from the marinade. Beat eggs, and dip shrimps in coconut four, first, then the egg, then the panko breadcrumbs. Place 2 shrimps per skewer and broil at low temperature in the oven until the shrimps are nice and browned on both sides.
For the tofu sauce
Mix all ingredients in a blender, and blend until the tofu turns into a nice and creamy consistency. Add capers and salt and pepper at the end.
For a light dinner – Salmon cakes with mixed herbs
Apr 16th
Pour un diner léger – Faux cake de saumon aux herbes
When you have little time to cook like I had tonight, those cakes are perfect, they’re quick, light and nutritious, and quite full filling. I didn’t feel like having a piece of salmon but was more in the mood for a more elaborated flavor and texture. You can use white fish also, and add a shrimp in the middle of the mixture when filling the molds. They are perfect for a light dinner with a green salad, I used my silicon molds, but you can use any other mini cake molds, but they’ll need to be greased or they’ll stick to the bottom of the pan.
Ingredients for 3
- 1/2 lb salmon
- 1 tbs chives, chopped
- 1 tsp dill, chopped
- 1 scallion, chopped
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 1 tbs parsley, chopped
- 1 tsp paprika
- 2 eggs
- 3 tbs heavy cream
- nutmeg
- salt and pepper
Preparation
Cut salmon in cubes. In a mixer, mix all ingredients and place in a mixing bowl. Beat eggs with cream, add salt and pepper, nutmeg. Add egg mixture to salmon and mix well. Place mixture in small individual molds and cook in a 370F pre-heated oven for about 20-25 minutes. Serve with a green salad.
Why not for Easter? – Duck terrine with pistachios and cognac with fig chutney
Apr 13th
Et pourquoi pas pour Pâques? Terrine de canard aux pistaches et cognac à la compote de figues
Being far away from my family, I wanted to have a traditional Easter lunch party, so as every year I invited some friends to celebrate Easter. Not that I am that religious but I think when you are far away from your country and family you try to get closer to people and try to get back to your roots.
I am not a big meat eater and think I am on the verge of becoming vegetarian but most of my friends are French and as many French people, are big meat eaters. Instead of making a fish or sea food terrine that I found delicious, I figured I would make everyone happy by making a traditional duck terrine. Terrines are very practical, they are made the night before, or even a couple of days ahead so you don’t have to rush the day of the party. They’re great for buffet as well, and very tasty.
This terrine was quite flavorful and lean. As a little sweet twist, I served it with dried fig chutney, with no sugar addition. Duck and figs are a perfect match and the little sweetness of the chutney enhanced the natural flavor of the duck.
You can find duck at Whole Foods, there is a large selection of duck breasts, legs ad whole ducks.
Ingredients for 8-10 people
For the terrine
- 2 lbs duck meat
- lb pork meat
- 1/2 lb chicken livers
- 3 tbs pistachios
- 3 tbs Cognac
- 1 egg
- 1 shallot
- 1 tsp thyme
- 1 tsp all spices
- 3 bay leaves
- 2 rosemary sprigs
- 2 tbs salt
- pepper
For the fig chutney
- 1 lb dried figs
- a little water
Soak figs in water for about two hours to rehydrate them. Chop them and cook in a little water for about 20 minutes. Cool and place in a air-tight container for future use.
Preparation
Remove duck skin from whole duck or breasts and set aside. Cut all the meats in pieces and grind to a medium consistency. Leave 2 or 3 chicken livers for the end. Place ground meat in a mixing bowl and add all ingredients (except bay leaves and rosemary). Mix well to get a smooth and homogenous mixture.
In a terrine clay dish or a Pyrex dish would work if you don’t have a terrine dish, place half of the meat mixture, add livers in the middle. Add the rest of the mixture. At the end, cover with duck skin, add bay leaves, and rosemary. Cover with lid. If using pyrex dish, cover tightly with aluminim foil not to let any air get in.
Place terrine in a tray filled with water and cook in the oven at 360F for about 2 hours. Let cool and place in the refrigerator for at least two days. Serve with fig chutney.
Miso, red rice and more – Bhutanese red rice miso soup with banana squash and kale
Apr 8th
Miso, riz rouge mais plus encore – Soupe de riz rouge au miso, courge pink banana et feuilles de chou
This vegetable soup is wonderful to have for dinner as a control-weight meal. It’s full filling, has the necessary daily vegetable for a healthy diet and is quite satisfying because of it’s great flavor and texture.
I was wondering what is the French translation of banana squash, and weirdly enough, it seems to be courge pink banana. Growing up, I only knew zucchini (courgettes) and pumpkin (potiron or citrouille), so when I came to the US and saw all those different kinds of squash, it teased my curiosity. In France pumkin is mainly used as a vegetable in soups, or side dishes but not in desserts like here.
This rice is not the traditional red rice, it comes from Bhutan and grows in the heights of the Himalayas, it has a nice round shape, nutty flavor and is full of fibers. It’s perfect for soups or stuffing vegetables because it won’t get mushy and will remain firm. Half of this soup is blended so you’ll get the creamy consistency while having chunks of vegetables in it. The red miso paste (Akamiso) which is a little stronger and darker than some other miso such as shiromiso, enhances the flavor of the soup and gives it a nice dark orange color. It does not taste like the regular miso you can find in miso soups in Japanese restaurants but is a little stronger.
Ingredients for 4
- 1lb banana squash, diced
- 2 carrots, cut in chunks
- 1 onion
- 4 garlic cloves
- 2 celeri sticks
- 4 kale leaves, blanched and chopped
- 2 tbs red miso paste
- one pinch of hot chili powder
- vegetable broth
- 1 1/2 cups red rice, cooked
- 1 tbs olive oil
- salt and pepper
Preparation
Brown onions in olive oil, add chopped garlic. Add squash, carrots, celeri and cover with vegetable broth to cover the vegetables by 1 inch. Add salt and pepper. Cook for 15 minutes, then add miso.When the soup is cooked, take half the quantity and put in a blender, blend to make it a smooth consistency. Add the rest of the soup. Mix well.
Bring water to a boil in a pot, add kale. Cook until kale is tender about 10 minutes, squeeze the water out and chop roughly. Add the kale to the soup.
Steam red rice and add to the soup. Mix well and serve in bowls.
The hat is well filled – Grilled portobello mushrooms topped with onions and blue cheese on wilted rucola
Apr 7th
Le chapeau est bien rempli – Champignons grillés avec fondue d’oignons et roquefort sur roquette sautée
Portobello mushrooms are just cremini mushrooms grown to a huge size…I have never seen them that big in France or Italy. Americans are so great at marketing that they came up with an Italian name for those gigantic cremini to make them sound interesting and appealing. At first, I was fascinated by those mushrooms, I thought they were some kind of exotic mushroom that would only grow here…I was a little disappointed to discover they are just regular cremini. Thinking about it, it’s not that important, the most important thing is that being that large you can make many interesting and pretty delicious dishes and stuff them. I love to stuff mushrooms, with all kind of ingredients. Mushrooms are low in calories and add flavor to any dish.
Ingredients for 4
- 4 portobello mushrooms
- 2 yellow onions, chopped
- 4 tbs crumbled roquefort cheese or any other blue cheese
- 1/2 tsp thyme
- 1 tbs walnuts, chopped
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 1/2 tbs balsamic vinegar
- salt and pepper
Preparation
Chop onions to make rings. Cook in olive oil until they become soft, browned and caramelized, add balsamic vinegar, stir for a few minutes and set aside.
Wash mushrooms and pat dry. Sprinkle with olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper and place under broiler for a couple of minutes each sides.
Place onions on top of mushrooms, add roquefort cheese or any other blue cheese, then add walnuts, and thyme.
Place under broiler until the roquefort melts. Serve with a mache salad or sautee spinach, wilted rucola or any other greens.
