Les ravioles d’Alain Ducasse – Ravioles de tomate et olives vapeur, sauce soja et balsamique

Since I have been talking about alain Ducasse and that he is one of my favorite chefs,  and one of the most prestigious in France with its 14 Michelin stars, I thought to present one of his recipes that combines the flavors of Western cuisine with the technique of Asian cooking. His cuisine uses an abundance the freshest seasonal ingredients and harmony of flavors. I think I will throw some of his recipes occasionally, because they deserve to be more exposed among the general public. In the US, obviously, people are more familiar with American or British chefs, and Alain is one my favorite chefs of all.

As much as I love to make traditional Italian ravioli, or French ravioles, Asians ravioli have their own particular personality and character. I did not change anything to its original recipe. I have been looking at this one for a while and never tried making it. Usually I like to create things on my own and experiment new recipes but when it has to do with Alain Ducasse, his style of cuisine “me parle” speaks to me in a way that I completely feel in symbiosis with it, and if I use his recipes, I leave them the way they are.

Actually, Alain is not longer French, he became Monégasque, which means citizen of Monaco, and gave up his citizenship but we do love him anyway.

The particularity of this recipe is that the ravioli stuffing is using Western ingredients but are steamed, often used in Asian cuisine and dipped in a pungent balsamic-soy sauce. It’s quite an easy and simple dish but with the right ingredient combination to get that exotic-but-not-so-exotic-touch. Besides, unlike Italian ravioli, you can use wonton wrappers and don’t have to make your own pasta dough. That cuts the preparation time and is the secret to this wonderful but yet quick dish.

Ingredients for 14 dumplings

• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tbs cornstarch
• 8 square wonton wrappers
• 2 to 3 large cabbage leaves, for steaming
• 1 tbs sweet black soy sauce
• 1 tbs balsamic vinegar
• Lettuce to garnish

Filling

• 2 fresh medium tomatoes (about 4 oz or 125 g), blanched, peeled and deseeded, flesh diced
• 4 shallots, minced
• 3 to 4 tbs sundried tomatoes, diced
• 12 pitted black olives, diced
• 3 tbs minced spring onions
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground white pepper

Preparation

Start making the filling. In a bowl, mix tomatoes, olives, shallots, spring onions, sundried tomatoes, salt and pepper.

Mix egg and cornstarch.

Using a wonton wrapper, place 1 tsp or 1 small tbs of filling in the middle of the wonton. Use egg and cornstarch mixture around the dumpling. Place another wrapper on top and using your hand, press firmly on the edges to seal wonton. The egg and cornstarch will seal the wonton.

Mix balsamic vinegar with soy sauce.

Using a bamboo steamer, place cabbage leaves on bottom, place wontons on top of leaves and steam for 3 minutes. Serve with lettuce and add some dipping sauce on top.

Appetizers, Express - Less than 30 minutes, Pasta, Vegan dumpling, olives, ravioli, steamed, tomatoes

Douce et amère – Velouté d’endives aux crevettes

Endive also called chicon in Belgium and Northern France is often used in French cooking and is such a creative vegetable. You can use it as a salad, soup, gratin, tarte, braised, and so many other ways. It is also high in magnesium, phosphorus, calcium so quite a nutritious little plant. Endive was found in the 19th century in Belgium by Mr. Bresiers who was responsible for the botanical gardens in Brussels, that’s why they’re called Belgium endives in the US. Supposedly to pay less taxes, Mr. Bresiers hid chicorée roots underground in his cellar and a few weeks later when he came to pick them up, he noticed beautiful white leaves coming out of the ground, those leaves are since then called endives.

The particularity of endive is its bitterness, and that’s what I love about it.

We have a traditional endive dish called endives au jambon, that every household in France knows how to prepare. It’s quite a simple dish but so delicious. It’s basically cooked endives and rolled inside a slice of ham, in a béchamel sauce and topped with gruyère, then cooked in the oven until the cheese melts and turns golden brown. I don’t know if Julia Childs brought that back to the US, but it’s definitely a traditional French dish, that is worth testing.

The bitterness of endives goes perfectly well with the sweetness of the shrimps, overall endives are a great combination for fish or white meat and I use them quite often in my dishes. Also a many dishes combine orange and endive, because  of the flavor match.

Ingredients for 4

For the soup

• 5 endives, cut crosswise
• 4 endives, shredded or cut lengthwise
• 1 yellow onion sliced
• 1 medium size potato, cubed
• 2 tbs crème fraîche or heavy cream
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1 tbs olive oil
• vegetable bouillon

For the shrimps

• 1 lbs of medium size shrimps or about 20
• 1 cup orange juice
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 tsp soy sauce

Preparation

Marinate shrimps in garlic and soy sauce for about 1 hour.

In a large pot, heat olive oil, add onions and potatoes and cook for about 5-10 minutes. Add cut endives and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring. Add broth (enough quantity to cover the vegetables), salt and pepper and cook until the vegetables are cooked, about 30 minutes. Blend in a mixer and add cream. Mix well and place at low heat to keep it warm.

In a small pan, add 1 tsp olive oil, saute shredded endives until soft and browned then add sugar and caramelize them. Remove from heat and set aside. In the same pan, saute shrimps, then add orange juice and let it reduce.

Serve soup in bowls, place shredded endives in the middle and 5 shrimps on top. Sprinkle with parsley.

Soups endive, shrimps, soup, veloute

Mon premier gâteau americain – Gâteau aux carottes, noix et cardamome

This is an odd and very bright picture of the cake but I have so much light under my window with direct sun light to the table, that could not manage to shoot with a more subtle lighting.  The picture is incredibly bright, you might want to put on your sun glasses if you look at the picture for too long, you don’t want to get permanent vision damage!! Sorry about the lighting.

I have never had carrot cake before I moved to the US, and at the beginning I found that weird. I thought Americans and their crazy ideas…using carrots in a dessert! I was horrified…So it took me a few years before I actually attempted to taste it.

I have to admit that coming to America, allowed me to be more open to new things. Europeans in general are a little more conservative (especially the French and Italians who have a strong gastronomy history) in terms of cuisine and tend to be more rigid about how things should be done. That’s why I really love Alain Ducasse, he is an amazing chef, he knows how to keep the traditions but in such an inventive and creative way that it all blends beautifully together. He does not combine too many overpowering ingredients in one dish, and focuses on one primary flavor enhanced with less strong ingredients. I think that too many complex flavors in one dish, mess it up, because you don’t know what you eat anymore and it gets confusing for your palate.

I do love traditions and traditional cuisine, that’s how I grew up, (but that’s why I moved in a certain way because the weight of traditions was somehow suffocating me as a young adult and I wanted some freedom to be myself). I also do enjoy new ideas and flavors in the kitchen. I think you can use the knowledge of traditional cuisine to develop new ideas and combinations. I certainly don’t want to get into politics but if you look at French politicians and presidents before the current president and unpopular Sarkozy, they really were like Museum pieces. The same old dinosaurs with the same old speeches who have been around for ages, and I think that’s scary. (Berlusconi is a different story that I will not discuss here). The French do not like changes and this is ingrained in their culture and I think Italians either. If I look at my family in Italy, they would not eat anything “non Italian” and even for Italian food, it needs to be prepared in a particular way. My Aunt would never use basil with a meat based sauce for pasta, she only uses basil on tomato sauce. My mother never ever uses lamb in her pasta sauce, whereas in Abruzzo they do, etc…so to each its own.

I know that the original carrot cake does contain cinnamon, and I substituted it with cardamom to get a different twist, and the cardamom flavor was quite subtle, you might want to add more if you like. If you like cinnamon, you can use it too. The cake turned out very moist, with such a beautiful deep orange. Now for the “purists” who want to keep their carrot cake traditional, they might think that this is too funky. It might be funky but it’s delicious nonetheless.

Ingredients for 6 people

• 2 eggs
• 300 g carrots (about 3 medium)
  
• 100 g white flour
• 100 g wholewheat flour
• 100 g butter, melted
  
• 4 tbs plain yogurt
• 70 g granulated sugar
  
• 40 g light brown sugar
• 10 g palm sugar
• 2 tbs almond meal
• 70 g walnuts, chopped
  
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
  
• 1 tsp baking powder
• one pinch baking soda
  

Preparation

Beat the eggs with the different kinds of sugars until the mixture double its volume and turns white. Add yogurt, butter and vanilla extract and mix carefully. Add both flours and almond meal. Add baking powder and baking soda, then add cardamom and mix some more. Incorporate carefully carrots and walnuts to the mixture.

Bake in a non-stick pan for about 45 min at 370F.

Desserts cake, cardamom, carrot, Dessert, walnuts

Une gourmandise, car nous le valons bien – Crème caramel aux poires, vanille et eau de fleur d’oranger

That goes not only for hair products, but for food too!

Crème caramel or flan aux oeufs, or crème renversée, they’re all the same things. I think the English translation would be custard, but I am not going to use it, because it sounds weird to me, not a name for a dessert but more so for a gardening tool.

Please don’t think that I am pretentious, but it is true that I have never failed making a caramel. I did fail in many other cooking experiments, but caramel was not the one, it always worked fine for me…until last year in France. I wanted to make a crème caramel for a friend’s party, and it turned out a complete disaster. I used all my mom’s sugar, tried four times in a row, and that darn sugar would crystallize. I had to run to the supermarket, bought tons of the top sugar, (I was convinced there was something wrong with her sugar), came back, tried again twice and it did not work either, so I was convinced there was something wrong with her pans. Obviously there was something wrong with me and still cannot figure out what. I was just so irritated that I threw everything away the egg mixture, milk, everything went in the sink. That was unbelievable that after six tries, it would not work.

The first time I made caramel after that disaster was today. Now I get the caramel phobia, and thinking, OK it will crystallize again, so I was ready for it. I was staring at the sugar in the pan, waiting to see formation of crystals. The sugar started to melt and colored beautifully, I could not believe it. I have absolutely no idea why when in France I just could not manage to make a caramel. That is a mystery, since I proceeded exactly the same way as I usually do. Everyone gave me all kinds of explanations and reasons…but since I did exactly the same thing, I don’t understand it. My theory is that since cooking is somehow like chemistry, I assume there were some chemical reactions involved which I was not aware of.

This crème caramel has a little twist, the pears and the orange blossom water which gives it a very nice kick. It’s a very easy dessert to make (of course if your sugar does not crystallize) and very light sweet touch after a multiple course meal.

As you can see, my crème caramel is overcooked because of the holes around it. If the water boils, it will create those holes. It does not affect the taste of the crème though, but it gives it some weird-looking aspect. To avoid this, you might want to check and make sure the water is not boiling and decrease the temperature accordingly.

Ingredients for 4-6 individual crèmes caramel (depending on the size of your ramequins)

For the crème caramel

• 1 pint (or about 500 ml) milk
• 3 eggs
• 2 yolks
• 1.41 oz (or 40 g) sugar
• 1 large pear, peeled and sliced
• 1 vanilla bean cut lengthwise
• 1 1/2 tsp. Orange blossom water

For the caramel

• 200 g sugar
• 1 tbs water

Preparation

For the caramel, place sugar in a pan with 1 tbs of water and let it melt slowly without stirring. When it has reached a nice dark golden color, distribute caramel evenly in ramequins. Place pear slices in caramel and set aside.

Place milk, in a pot, grate beans from vanilla beans and add to the milk, add sugar and heat for about 2-3 minutes until the sugar has melted. Do not let milk boil, it just needs to be lukewarm.

In a container, mix eggs thoroughly and add milk, keep stirring until the mixture gets homogenous and smooth. Add orange blossom water.

Fill the ramequin with milk/egg mixture. Place ramequins in a large tray filled with water and cook in a pre-heated oven at 370-375F for about 50 minutes. Let it cool and place in the refrigerator for about 3-4 hours.

Serve upside down. You might have to use a knife to enable the crème caramel to detach itself from the sides of the ramequins.

Desserts blossom orange water, creme carame, creme renversee, custard, flan, pears, vanilla

La teoria delle “Tre Prove” – Polpette di tofu al curry con porri, carote, e grani di sesamo, insalatina di pomodori e avocado

I heard so many terrible tofu complaints from so many people that I need to defend this poor little white thingy. I don’t want tofu to be the “forgotten” ingredient, and it tends to be, of course except among vegetarians or vegans and maybe Asia. I think tofu is a very pleasant product to use and also versatile that people should include more often in their diet. Even for the ones who want “real” food (I heard that before) or something tasty, they should try this recipe. I don’t make it very often but once in a while, when well spiced up, I really like it.

I made this for a birthday buffet party with all French/Italians, who are big meat eaters (my friends are) and just the thought of tofu makes them cringe, “ah non! pas de tofu!!” or “c’est quoi ce truc?”, “ma chi te lo mangia il tofu?”. Surprisingly, those polpette went quicker than I had expected, which made me laugh deep inside. I have some of the most traditional friends when it comes to food, they are so basic in their eating habits, that you would not believe it. The traditional Friday night “steak-frites” (steak and fries) in the same restaurant has been a must for years. I do not like habits in the kitchen and especially in my diet, but some people do, I think it gives them a sense of security and comfort. It gives me anxiety.

My theory is the “three tries” or “three chance” theory, I use it to almost everything…If I don’t like something once, I will try it again, and I think after three times, I somehow have a good idea of what it is. It’s the same thing when dealing with people, restaurants, etc… If I have a bad experience once or twice it doesn’t mean that’s the way it usually is. So people deserve more than one chance and food too!

These polpette are on the tender side and quite fragile since they don’t contain any eggs nor bread crumbs (you can add one egg and some breadcrumbs if you wish) because I wanted to keep them vegan, so when turning them make sure you use a small size spatula, or they might break.

Ingredients for 6 polpette

• 1/2 lb (or 220 g) extra firm tofu
• 1 carrot, grated
• 1 leek, chopped crosswise
• 1 shallot
• 1 inch ginger root, grated
• 1 tsp mild curry
• chili powder (to your taste)
• 1 tbs light soy sauce
• 1 tbs white sesame seeds
• 2 tbs cilantro, chopped
• 1 tbs olive oil (or more)
• salt and pepper

For the salad

• 1 lb cherry tomatoes, cut in half
• 1 avocado, sliced
• 1 tbs avocado oil
• Juice of one meyer lemon
• 2 chives, chopped
• salt and pepper

Preparation

For the polpette

First in a container, crumble tofu with your hands, it needs to be a crumbly mixture.

In a small pan, brown sesame seeds and set aside.

Cook leeks in olive oil, until soft and tender and set aside.

In another pan, heat olive oil, add shallot and ginger and cook until fragrant. Add curry and chili powder and stir well for a few minutes (but do not burn it), add soy sauce, and mix well. Add leeks and carrots and stir well so the curry is well blended. Add sesame seeds and add this mixture to the crumbled tofu. Add cilantro. Using your hands, mix it very well so that the curry has penetrated all the ingredients and the mixture has a yellowish color.

Form patties and cook in a pan with olive oil. Carefully turn them to brown them on both sides.

Make the salad combining all the ingredients and serve with polpette.

Vegan Appetizer, avocado oil, carrots, curry, leeks, patties, polpette, sesame seeds, tofu, Vegan

La nage du saumon – Pavé de saumon en nage safranée aux fèves et pommes de terre

That might not be that original but it is so good that I had to put it up. I don’t know why but I am a little tired of seeing fish served with potato purée,  not sure either why almost all restaurants do that, but it is certainly a big déja vu and I am wondering why they could not use other vegetables, such as turnips, parsnips, fennel, etc…It’s not so much the potato that bothers me, but the purée.

As much as I want to become a vegetarian, and stop consuming animal base products, including fish, I am unable to do it, well I am probably weak in that respect.  Another weakness on the list (among many)…A friend of mine, big meat consumer, refuses to eat fish because he considers fish to be close to humans and he said it’s like eating our own specie, isn’t that strange? I never had a fish as a pet, maybe if I had one, I wouldn’t be able to eat them either. Since I have Pepito, the parakeet, I am wondering how can people eat birds…he is such a little friend. Most of the time, people eat what they eat, without thinking about what it actually is. At some point in my life, I even tasted porcupine…something I would not be able to do today.

I love fava bean so much that I would put them everywhere, salads, soups, fish, pesto, side dish…fava bean rule! I think I have been on a low carb diet lately because I have been thinking about potatoes a lot, and usually it’s a clear sign that my body wants some. I am not a big potato eater, but once in a while, I enjoy them.

Nage in French means swim, and it’s a way we use when talk about a dish that has been prepared with a court-bouillon, a brothy type of stew, or simply broth. Here the salmon swims in the broth, and it’s a very healthy recipe. The thing is when fish is cooked en nage, you need to make sure your broth has lots of flavors or it tends to be insipid. I had white cod cooked this way in a top notch restaurant in San Francisco and it was so bland, the poor fish was barely swimming in some dirty tasteless water.

The broth has a gorgeous yellowish color due to saffron and the potatoes are cooked in it, so they absorbed that color as well.

Ingredients for 4

For the nage

• 3 cups water
• 1 onion, cut in quarter
• 1 carrot
• 1 celeri stick
• vegetable bouillon
• 1/2 tsp anise seeds
• 2 bay leaves
• bouquet garni (oregano, thyme, marjoram, etc…)
• 3 cloves
• 1 saffron dose
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 6 whole black pepper corns
• salt

For the salmon

• 4 salmon fillets
• 4 medium size potatoes, peeled and sliced thinly about 5mm thick
• 1 lbs fava beans
• chives for decoration

Preparation

Heat olive oil and add onion quarters. Cook for a few minutes, add water, vegetable broth, and all the other ingredients. Cover and cook for at least 30 minutes. The liquid needs to reduce and become a little thicker with all flavors infused. Adjust with salt.

In another pot, add 1 cup of water and bring to a boil. Add fava beans and cook for about 3 minutes. Drain and peel. Set aside.

When the broth is almost ready, add potatoes. Cook for about 10 min or until cooked, do not over cook or they will get mushy, the slices need to remain full.

Add salmon fillets, cover and let simmer for about 10 minutes or until salmon is cooked to your taste. Add fava beans and remove from the stove.

Remove salmon fillets and potatoes, and set aside. Drain the broth.

Place salmon in a deep dish, add vegetables around and pour some court-bouillon around. Sprinkle with chives, anise seeds and a few saffron threads.

Fish/Seafood fava beans, fish, potatoes, saffron, salmon

La jolie Madeleine et Stanislas – Madeleines aux olives, origan et gruyère

After a sunny and perfect weekend, not too much breeze, not too hot, just perfect day of hanging out with a friend, I realized that when people drop by, I never have snacks to offer them. I rarely snack or buy snacks, so when you have nothing to offer people other than wine, or apéritif, they tend to get buzzed a little too fast. So having little bites would be something to think about.

As every Sunday, I speak with my mom who keeps me updated on what is going on over there. So she had guests and made mini savory olive madeleines in her fancy silicon molds. I don’t know why I never of think of making those. They are perfect for an apéritif, snack or whatever, you can even even freeze them…so I figured I would make some too, and if no guests show up, I will give them to my neighbor. Which is what happened.

They’re fun to make and they don’t have to be the regular boring ones. In France, savory madeleines are common, it’s somehow trendy, and they’re great to nibble on. Not that I particularly love to follow a trend, because sometimes they don’t make any sense, but if you taste those, a lot of sense is in there. I can assure you.

Here is for the little story….Madeleines de Commercy are born in Lorraine that’s why I am bringing this up (yes again, it’s a rainy region, but lots of stuff happened there! and Commercy is a small town – when it’s rainy, people stay inside, and lots of stuff happen in rainy regions). In 1755, King Stanislas (he was a Polish King who was a also Duke of Lorraine and ruled it for years; we have a gorgeous square called Place Stanislas with all Golden painted doors with the statue of the King in the middle) had an argument with his pastry chef, who quit “il a rendu son tablier“, he gave his apron back! Soon after, the King with his sweet tooth, got introduced to a pretty young lady whose name was Madeleine Paulmier, a servant at some marquise estate. She made those beautiful little bites for the King who became addicted to them and probably to her too, since he was known to like the ladies. She then became his personal supplier. Those little oval golden nuggets with the shape of a shell were then named after our pretty baker. Since then, Commercy has been famous for its madeleine fabrication.

Now the madeleine has evolved into a savory one and can be fun to make and to eat too. I think I will post more madeleines recipes…don’t even know why I didn’t think about it sooner. So much clutter in my mind lately, too many recipes and too little time.

For those savory madeleines, I used olive oil, the sweet ones need butter. Whenever I can substitute butter with olive oil, I do it. You can use butter too if you prefer in this recipe. My recipes are lenient, when you use the base quantities, you can flavor the rest with your ingredients.

Ingredients for 16 madeleines

• 5.30 oz (or 150 g) flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 1. 35 fl oz (or 4 cl) olive oil
• 1 fl oz (or 3 cl) milk
• 1 tbs fresh oregano, chopped
• 2. 16 oz (or 60 g) gruyère cheese, grated
• 2 tbs kalamata olives, chopped
• salt and pepper

Preparation

In a container, mix flour and baking powder. In another container, mix eggs and milk, then add to the flour. Gradually add olive oil and mix well to obtain a smooth but sticky dough. Add gruyère, oregano, olives, and mix well to combine all ingredients together. Add salt and pepper. I add more salt than I would to a savory dough, I like them to be on the salty side, but you might not. I always taste the dough before adjusting with salt.

Place in the refrigerator for at least one hour.

Butter madeleine molds, and fill each with with dough but not up to the top, only 3/4 filled. Place in a pre-heated oven at 375F for about 10-15 min, or until the madeleines have risen and became golden.

Breads, Side Dish gruyere, madeleine, olives, oregano, savory madeleine, Side Dish, snack

La fausse crêpe réajustée – Socca farcie à la roquette, chicorée, olives et chèvre frais

It looks like a crêpe, but is not one. It’s made out of chick pea flour and quite a popular little snack in the South of France. Actually there is an Italian version of it called “Farinata” or “Cecina”  (ceci = chick peas) and eaten in the bordering regions of Nice. I think Socca came originally from Italy and was spread out in the South of France. Chick pea flour is used a lot in Middle Eastern cuisine and probably was introduced to Southern Europe during Arabic invasions…

There are different versions of it, actually the traditional one has only chick pea flour, no egg, no milk and is cooked in the oven. I adjusted mine a little, I placed it in the oven after I stuffed it. The real socca Niçoise is served with just cracked pepper and has to be eaten very hot, or it tends to harden quickly. Street vendors do sell it and it’s mainly eaten on the spot. I somehow like its texture, it’s softer and a little thicker than a crepe but the chick pea flour gives a specific unusual flavor. My version is a little different from the traditional socca, I combined two flours and I stuffed it. You can serve this socca with a tomato concassée (concassée de tomates). Also, you can use spinach, chards, and other types of greens, but I like the rucola because of its peppery taste, it goes perfectly with chick pea sweet flavor.

Actually, I don’t know the South of France that well (been there twice), since we always went to Italy visit the family during Easter, Summer and Christmas. My parents never went anywhere else on vacation, only to their hometown in Italy and at some point, I really wanted to visit other cities, but that was not an option, so I am much more familiar with Italian cuisine, Marchiggiano style than traditional Southern French cuisine.

Besides anytime, my mom wanted to go home, she always used all kinds of excuses, nonno Bruno being sick, zio Tonino being depressed with some kind of unexplained disease, freshen up the house, etc…so whatever reason was good to take a trip to Isola di Fano (her village). Besides Nancy-Isola is only 9-10 hour drive, so not that big of a deal. You can hop on the car, cross Switzerland and get to Italy (mainly in Chiasso, the Italian Border) in about 5 hours.

The thing is with my dad, he hates stopping when he goes from point A to point B, so he would drive non-stop from Nancy to Isola (about 1000 km) and was not happy to let the girls out not even for the “pause pipi“  Peepee break?  and would tell us, not to think about it, as if you stop thinking you want to urinate, then everything is fine, the urge is gone. Yes, my father has always been a character…

Ingredients for 4-5 socca

For the socca

• 1/2 cup (a little more) Chick pea flour
• 1/2 cup white flour
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup milk
• water (enough so that it forms a creamy batter)
• 1 tbs olive oil + 1 tbs for the pan
• salt
• coarse black pepper

For the filling

• 1/2 head of radicchio, chopped
• 1 bag rucola or 2 bunches
• 2 garlic cloves
• 3 tbs kalamata olives, chopped
• 3 tbs goat cheese
• 1 tbs olive + extra for drizzling
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Mix the two flours together. Add egg and gradually milk, water and olive oil. If the batter is too thick add water. Add salt and mix well to obtain a creamy and smooth consistency. Set aside.

In the meantime, prepare the greens. In a pan, heat olive oil chopped garlic. Let the flavor of the garlic come out without burning it, then add greens. Adjust with salt and pepper, and stir to wilt them (about 5 minutes), when cooked, set aside and keep warm.

Heat olive oil in a pan, add one small ladle of batter and proceed like you would for a crepe, spreading the batter all over the pan and evenly spread it. Cook and turn on the other side. Proceed the same way until all the batter has been used.

Fill half of the socca with some greens, goat cheese and olives, fold the other half on top and fold once more in a quarter, in order to have a little triangle. Place in a pre-heated oven at 380F for 5-7 minutes. Crack a good quantity of black pepper on top. You can serve this with a tomato concassée.

Appetizers, Vegetarian - dairy arugula, goat cheese, olives, radicchio, rucola, socca

Pensée pour ma meilleure amie – Gâteau de la fée aux miettes pour Chantal

I woke up this morning with a text message from my best friend in France, Chantal. Her message was “Impossible de t’appeler pour l’instant – Pense a toi – Ta Bichette qui t’aime” literally translated by “Cannot call you right now – Think of you – Your bichette who loves you”. I think I am giving quite a lot of private info here (I tend to be somehow reserved to talk about that kind of stuff) but I really miss her, especially all the girlfriend stuff we use to do while in France. So I figured I would make something that reminds me of her and just for her. She never checks out my blog because she does not understand English even though she is a great cook and loves to eat. Whenever I go home, we always keep a night out to try a new restaurant. Our two last picks were bad ones, so it ended up as a laughing party. The chef came out of the kitchen to talk to the guests and was all dirty, looked like he had a mud fight with a cow, beside the food was lukewarm borderline cold but still served with a bell-shaped cover “cloche” (usually to keep the heat). That was kind of the joke of the evening. I think it was the first time I wrote a bad review, especially for a restaurant that calls itself a “restaurant gastronomique”.

Chantal and I met when we were 15 and in high school together. We had the worst laughing “Crisis” in German class, our teacher was just very uptight, not friendly and had no sense of humor…and Chantal and I were always kicked out of the class due to our non-stop laughing fits (crises de fou rire). She kicked us out once because my shell earrings were making noise when I would move my head. How silly is that? I think some teacher really lack pedagogy and should be more friendly, that would motivate kids to learn. Besides, when not very appealing and pleasant to look at, a double dose of pedagogy is a MUST.

Chantal offered me last December a wonderful dessert book (she knows I am not a pastry chef) “Desserts et Délices de Lorraine” “Desserts and Delights from Lorraine”, It’s a very unusual book, most of the recipes don’t have quantities, they say “same amount of this, or double the amount of that”. The recipes are traditional, peasant and very very ancient rustic recipes from Lorraine dating from before 1700 when we still had a king (not that I care). No pictures, just cute cartoons. she knows I love unusual books and she could not have found a better one. I have a friend Ute from Germany coming for dinner and since Lorraine is bordering Germany, that will make her feel somehow home, well thinking about it, I hope not since she hates Germany very much, and home is not the place she wants to be.

This dessert has a brioche taste, since the ingredients are similar to a brioche and made with compressed yeast, but the twist is that there are poached plums in it (I had to substitute poached plums to preserved mirabelles, local Lorraine plums since I had none) and the cake is topped with a crumbly mixture. So technically it’s not really a brioche. I love it, and guess what? It is easy and on ne peut pas le rater (you cannot spoil this cake). So I will certainly make this again.

I used compressed yeast instead of the granulated one, never saw that before I came to the US. In France or Italy we all use the compressed yeast (levure de boulanger or levure de bière) which is fresh yeast, we call it “Baker’s yeast” or “Beer yeast”, because bakers (boulangers) and beer brewers (brasseurs) use it in either bread making or brewing. I love its soft texture, its smell and you’ll get top results for bread making or other types of dough. If you can’t find this yeast, I would use the dry kind.

Also the original recipe calls for 1 tsp cinnamon, but considering my relationship with cinnamon, I used vanilla powder instead. I’m sure cinnamon lovers will enjoy that addition.

Ingredients for 6-8

For the cake

• 8.8 oz (or 250 g) white flour
• 1 egg
• 0.88 oz (or 25 g) granulated sugar
• 2.26 oz (or 70 g) melted butter
• 2.36 fl oz (or 70 ml) milk
• 0.5 oz (or 15 g) compressed yeast or 1 dose of dry yeast
• poached fruits such as plums, peaches, etc…
• vanilla extract

For the crumbs

• 1.76 oz (or 50 g) flour
• 0.88 oz (or 25 g) almond meal
• 0.88 oz (or 25 g) granulated sugar
• 1 oz (or 30 g) soft butter
• 1 tsp. vanilla powder or cinnamon

Preparation

Dissolve yeast in a little milk.  In a mixing bowl, mix flour, egg, sugar, milk, melted butter, vanilla and yeast. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes until it turns into a nie a smooth consistency. Place in a container, cover with a towel, and let it rise in a warm area for about 30 minutes.

Bring a 2 cups of water to a boil with 2 tbs honey and add diced plums (1 1/2 inch pieces) for about 3 minutes. Drain.

In the meantime, mix all the crumb mixture together with your hands. Don’t make thick crumb like you would for a crumble, but thin instead.

Work the dough again, removing all the fermentation. Butter a deep dish pan, and spread dough with your hands in it. Add plums to the dough, making sure to press them down into dough and not leaving them on the surface. Add crumb mixture and let the cake rise again for an additional 30 minutes.

Cook in a pre-heated oven at 375f for 30 min.

Let it cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve lukewarm.

Desserts brioche, cake, Dessert, plums, vanilla

Gli spaghetti sono scesi da Marte – Spaghetti alla crema di asparagi e caprino

Lately I have been a little inconsistent with my plans, I buy products to make a particular dish I have in mind, then I do something completely different with it. I wanted to make some asparagus mousse for canapé with salmon and here they show up with spaghetti.

Don’t you love the green all over the picture? If you don’t like asparagus, forget this recipe. I certainly do lack photographic skills but I think it really looks as green as you see it. Asparagus have a very subtle flavor and when they are served in a creamy sauce, their flavor is decupled, I did not add any cream but you could add some, it will make the texture even more velvety.

There is nothing interesting behind this dish other than it was created one day while I was thinking about how to make some of my clients eat more vegetable in a way that it was not “obvious”. Some people would tell you, “Oh yeah we loooove vegetables!”, then after a while, you realize that they just hate vegetables if they look like a “vegetable” and they need to be hidden in something that has a different shape and mixed with a bunch of other ingredients, do you know what I mean?

Anyway, people eat what they like and the way they like it, and I am certainly not the one to judge people’s diets nor tastes…and just because I love that expression, I will say “It is what it is”. Just love to say this even if it doesn’t mean much when you think about it. It’s like stating the obvious.

One serving of these spaghetti makes you consume 1/2 bunch asparagus, which is not bad.

In France, I used to grow up eating salsifis (in English, oyster vegetable or salsifis I think). It’s white and long and looks like a white asparagus but it’s not. Also white asparagus are more popular over there. The white asparagus is an asparagus that grew in the ground without any light, so its flavor is very delicate. The purple asparagus is a white asparagus whose tip has grown above the ground, so it has a fruity flavor but a slightly bitter taste at light exposure. The green kind has been grown outside at full light so its green color is the natural process of its growth at sun exposure, and it’s the only asparagus that does not need to be peeled.

Ingredients for 3-4

• 7 oz (or 200 g) spaghetti
• 1 large bunch asparagus
• 1 shallot, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, chopped
• 1/2 cup vegetable broth
• 2 tbs heavy cream (optional)
• 4 tbs goat cheese
• 1 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Heat olive oil in a pan, add shallots, stir and let them cook for about 5 min, then add garlic and stir again. Cut asparagus in 2 inch pieces and add to the pan. Let cook for about 5-10 minutes, then add broth, salt and pepper. Cover and cook until the asparagus are cooked and tender.

Mix in a blender and put back in the pan. If the consistency is too thick, add broth. You will add cream at this point if you want to. Mix the cream and let it cook for another 4-5 minutes.

Cook spaghetti al dente, drain and add to the asparagus cream. Divide spaghetti onto plates and add goat cheese on top and fresh pepper if you like it. Serve very hot.

Pasta, Vegetarian - dairy asparagus, goat cheese, spaghetti, Vegetables