Archive for October, 2009
Apple games – Apple, ricotta, raisins and almond butter pancakes
Oct 31st
Jeux de pommes – Galettes de pommes, ricotta et beurre d’amande
I started this little post a while ago and never managed to finish it, since I have a 30 minutes break in between this craziness move, I just wanted to finish it and move on.
Originally I wanted to make savory frittelle with the ricotta I had bought, something with capers and parsley, then I woke up one morning and had nothing to eat for breakfast (like this morning), and that is bad news. It rarely happens, I always make sure I have food for breakfast. No coffee for my Brikka, and no bread for my toaster. (so I had to use the Nespresso that I really don’t like, I have to admit that I am a coffee snob). As much as I have very light dinners, my breakfasts are quite substantial and I really need to eat in the morning. Usually, I don’t get grumpy if I am hungry, I just chew a gum and I can last a couple of hours….except in the morning. Les petit-dejeûners sont sacrés!! Breakfast are sacred!
When you have nothing to eat, then pancake is the solution…I think those are similar to pancakes in terms of texture and consistency even if technically they might not be pancakes (I don’t know I am not a pancake expert). They tend to be tender and soft…
The almond butter adds a little natural sweetness and nutty taste to it. As much as don’t care for peanut butter, I love almond butter.
Those pancakes are completely made with wholewheat flour and a quite healthy little morning treat, if you have nothing else to eat and don’t feel like going out for breakfast.
Ingredients for 10 pancakes
- 2 medium size fuji apples
- 4 tbs light brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tbs lemon juice
- 5 tbs ricotta
- 7 tbs wholewheat flour
- 1 tbs almond butter
- zest of one lemon
- 2 tbs golden raisins
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp vanilla powder
- 1 tsp baking powder
Preparation
In a mixing container, grate peeled apples, squeeze them in your hand to somehow remove extra juice, then add lemon juice to prevent them from browning. In another container, mix ricotta, eggs and sugar and beat until the mixture becomes smooth. Add lemon zest, almond butter and flour, vanilla extract and powder, raisins and baking powder.
In a non stick pan, place one large tbs of mixture and let it cook on one side, then turn on the other side when they turn golden brown. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve hot with a apple sauce on the side.
Focaccia or Schiacciata? – Stuffed schiacciata with onions, zucchini, mushrooms and fontina
Oct 28th
Focaccia o schiacciata? – Schiacciata ripiena con cipolle, zucchine, funghi e fontina
Even though this week is a crazy week, I think I am even crazier to be cooking, when I should be either packing or painting or working on some menus and certainly not working on my blog. I am just a little obsessive when food is concerned and I just wanted to make this schiacciata for such a long time, that I decided to stop postponing and make it in a little rush!
Another Italian little stuffed bread, it can be called focaccia ripiena (ripiena = stuffed, filled), torta ripiena or schiacciata…the dough is somehow the same, then it’s stuffed with vegetables and melting cheese.
Schiacciare means to crush, so schiacciata means crushed. Basically the dough is crushed flat so you get a great filling in between the two sheets. You have different types of schiacciata, in Florence, they also have schiacciata con l’uva which is a sweet version of this one but made with black grapes. In the South, in the Catania region (Sicily), they have schiacciata catanese which is a savory schiacciata stuffed with sausages, cheese and cauliflower. I have seen schiacciata mainly stuffed with vegetables and never tried any other version.
This is perfect for a little aperitivo, you can cut it in small squares and serve it with some olives and cold cuts when you have guests over with a little cup of Champagne. The melting fontina on top of vegetables in the middle of a deliciously crunchy, salty and “herby” crust is delightful. The rosemary is my favorite herb on focaccia, its scent infuses in the crust and your house smells like a bakery from heaven. You can use caciocavallo cheese if you can find it, but the cheese needs to be a melting one.
You don’t need to work the dough as much as I did, I let it rest overnight. When I have time, I let it rest a long time, then knead it again, the whole process taking 12 hours, I get a wonderful dough, light and airy and crunchy on the outside. If you don’t have time, you can just let it rest for one hour, knead it again and let it rest for another hour, and it should be fine.
Ingredients
For the dough
- 500 g white flour
- Beer yeast dissolved in a glass of water (or more)
- 4 tbs olive oil (+ 1)
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- rock salt for topping
- 1 rosemary sprig for topping, roughly chopped
- 1 thyme branch for topping, roughly chopped
For the stuffing
- 2 zucchini, thinly sliced
- 1 large yellow onion, sliced
- 2 cups mushrooms, sliced
- Italian fontina cheese
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 1 + 1 tbs olive oil
- salt and pepper
Preparation
In a mixing container, place flour. In a glass dissolve about 1 tsp beer yeast in a lukewarm glass of water. Mix with flour and add olive oil and salt. Gradually mix all ingredients together and knead the dough with your hand. You want a soft consistency almost sticky but very elastic dough, so if the dough tends to be hard, add water. Knead for about 10 minutes. Place in a container, cover with a cloth and let it rise for about one hour. It should double its volume. Knead the dough again and let rise for another 2 hours. Repeat the process twice.
While the dough is rising, start melting onions. Heat olive oil in a pan, then add sliced onions. Let them brown at medium temperature, then decrease heat, cover with a lid and let it cook slowly until they turn soft and caramelized. Remove from the pan. In the same pan, heat 1 tbs olive oil, then add mushrooms and zucchini, salt and pepper, and cook until the vegetables are soft and water has evaporated.
Cut the dough in two pieces. One should be a little bigger than the other one. Using a rolling pin or your hands, roll the dough in two sheets, one slightly larger than the other one. The dough should not be too thick, about 7 mm thick.
Using an oven tray, or a large rectangular dish, place larger dough in the greased dish, add one layer of onions, then add mushroom/zucchini mixture. Add slices of fontina on top and cover with the other dough sheet, using the extra dough from the bottom sheet to seal the sciacciata.
Place rock salt all over the top, spread olive oil all over the surface and add rosemary and thyme. Using a fork, make a few holes on top to prevent the dough from inflating. Cook in a pre-heated oven at 375F – 380F. When the top is lightly golden brown, remove from the oven. Serve hot.
Very very chou – Salmon in a cabbage outfit with tarragon
Oct 27th
Très très chou – Saumon en robe de chou à l’estragon
A little alternative to salmon…stuffed in cabbage leaves, a perfect light dish if you want to have fun eating while keeping a thin waste line. As much as I love eating, I really enjoy keeping my weight down and stay in shape. Even though I don’t have a scale, I know when I gain or lose weight on how my jeans fit.
I think the best food is the one you truly enjoy eating and that is healthy, light and flavorful. And yes, it is possible to have it all…
I was at the doctor’s office and of course what best to read when you are in the waiting room, than a five page special on the damages of Mercury in fishes on humans. As much as I love fish, I think I will slow down on its consumption since it seems that it’s no longer very safe to eat many species such as mackerel, tuna, swordfish, etc… I think we are just polluting the whole planet and we are getting the consequences right back. I have seen that they even sell grey salmon at the supermarket, probably because some people prefer to eat it that way than eat artificial coloring. Grey salmon looks really strange.
I love to stuff cabbage leaves with all kinds of things, and salmon goes perfectly inside those leaves. You could add one egg and some breadcrumbs to the salmon but I wanted to keep it light, so it’s just mixed with herbs. I didn’t make fish fumet since I didn’t have fish bones, so I used a dehydrated one I brought from France, that works fine when you need a quick alternative to home made fish fumet.
For those who don’t have any idea on what chou means, it can have different meanings, could mean “cute”, qu’il est chou ce garçon! this boy is so cute, or cabbage. Ce chou est chou, is quite redundant, isn’t it? After scrutinizing the cabbage for a while, I realized that this big yellow ball can be cute after all.
Ingredients for 6 pieces
- 2 salmon fillets, skinless and cut in cubes
- 12 large cabbage leaves, blanched
- 1 tbs tarragon chopped
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1 shallot, chopped
- 1 garlic clove, chopped
- 1 tsp fish fumet or fish stock
- 3 tbs dry white wine
- juice of 1 lemon
- 1 tbs olive oil
- salt and pepper
Preparation
Detach cabbage leaves carefully from cabbage head. Bring water to a boil in a large pot, add salt and blanch the leaves for about 3-4 minutes. When cooked drain, pat dry and lay flat on a smooth surface or wooden board. Remove carefully the hard part of the leaves in the middle that sticks out by trimming it, so it will be easier to wrap the leaves around salmon.
In a mixer, add salmon, shallots, garlic, tarragon, soy sauce, salt and pepper. Mix to obtain a smooth mixture but not too thin.
Place about 2 tbs of salmon mixture in the middle of one cabbage leave, then wrap with another one. Using a kitchen thread, tie the salmon package and set aside. Proceed with the rest of the leaves and fish.
Dissolve fish fumet in 1/3 cup of tbs water, add wine.
Place cabbage packets in a dish sprinkle with olive oil and add 2 tbs fish fumet. Preheat oven at 380F and cook fish for about 30 minutes, turning them and pouring fumet regularly. When the top has become golden, remove from oven, remove thread, add lemon juice and serve. Sprinkle with tarragon leaves and serve with its juice.
My finger got stuck in the jar – Ebelskivers stuffed with Nutella
Oct 24th
Mon doigt s’est coincé dans le pot- Ebelskivers à la nutella
Well, I would have never thought to make something with Nutella…Usually, I don’t cook with Nutella, I just eat it from the jar, and when the jar is half empty, I use my fingers. No worries, I do not stick my finger in any jar that I serve guests, in case you are wondering, that would be quite un-hygienic.
I had this conversation with Mary from Keep Learning Keep Smiling not that long ago. She admitted she loves condensed milk so much probably as much as I love Nutella that she likes to lick it from her fingers which I thought was funny. She gave me the idea to write a post about it. I don’t eat Nutella that often, I buy a similar organic Hazlenut-coconut spread that seems to be healthier, but still Nutella is an institution, so sometimes I buy it to serve it with crêpes because I have a friend who would not eat crêpes without it. I am not sure Nutella is made to be cooked, it’s a pâte a tartiner, and usually those spreads don’t do well at high temperatures. So I figured I had to use it in a recipe where it does not cook that much.
So looking at my pile of pans, I saw this ebelskiver pan I bought a while ago when I worked for that family with two kids…they loved those little balls (all kids do) with raspberry stuffed in the middle. If you have kids, they will go crazy for those ones. Ebelskivers are Danish (Dutch too have their own version), they look like round donuts but are not fried, they’re filled with all kinds of things, raspberries, jam, cheese, etc… I filled half of those with Nutella and half with blackberry jam, so if you are a Nutella fan, you will love those. I don’t think I need to give you a description on how delicious they are when Nutella melts in the heart of those cute little balls. It’s easy to imagine.
Usually I stick to French and Italian cuisines since I grew up with those and I don’t adventure myself in Dutch or Scandinavian cuisine or other ones I have not been exposed to. I think to understand a cuisine, it’s important to understand its culture, its country, its traditions. Those ebelskivers are an exception to the rule, because they are something in between donuts and pancakes and that I grew up eating bignè. The batter is close to a pancake batter with some slight changes.
The little trick is that you need a specific pan…but that pan is available in many US stores, so no this is not a fancy pan I brought back from Europe, I bought mine at Bed, Bath and Beyond.
Ingredients for 12 ebelskivers
- 4.23 oz (or 120 g) flour
- 1 tsp palm sugar (or other raw sugar)
- 1 egg
- 5.74 fl oz (or 170 ml) milk
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 0.50 oz (or 15 ml) oil
- vanilla powder
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Preparation
In a mixing bowl, mix flour and baking powder together. In another bowl, beat egg yolk and sugar vigorously, then add milk and beat until the mixture gets smooth. Add vanilla beans and powder. Add oil. Mix well. Add gradually the egg/milk mixture to the flour, stirring constantly until you get a smooth batter. Beat egg white until it get stiff, then incorporate to the mixture.
Heat the ebelskiver pan, greasing each hole with very little oil. Pour some batter in each hole. Do not fill the whole to the top since the ebelskivers tend to rise. When the batter has risen up to the top of the hole, check the bottom to see if the ebelskiver has turned golden brown. At this point, add whatever you want in the middle. You can add a piece of fruit (I love them with a raspberry), some jam, nutella, etc…Then using two bamboo sticks, turn each ebelskiver on the other side. To make sure they’re cooked, stick a stick inside and remove to see if the batter adheres to the side of the stick. If so, decrease heat and continue cooking and checking color and making sure they don’t burn.
Remove from pan, sprinkle with powder sugar and serve hot.
Feel like savory tarts again? Roquefort, onions and walnut tartlets
Oct 23rd
Encore envie de tarte salée? – Tartelettes au roquefort, oignons et noix
My downstair neighbor John who happens also to take care of the building, came to show me a cookbook a friend of his offered him, and he wanted me to take a look at it, see if I knew the chef who was French (originally from Brittany) Josephine Araldo. She moved to San Francisco in 1924 and was famous long before Julia Childs was a household name. She owned a restaurant in San Francisco where she was also the chef until she died in 1989. So I looked through the book and I loved it, it’s called “From a Breton Garden“, and Josephine had a lot of recipes that are unknown and that you will not find in any other cookbooks. Some traditional and less traditional recipes from Brittany, many of them come from her grandma and are quite amazing.
A lot of French cuisine cookbooks are the same with often the same traditional recipes, such as onion soup, boeuf bourguignon, sole meunière, etc…twisted around. I got a gift certificate for my birthday at Borders, and honestly I spent over an hour in the cookbook section and was unable to find something I really really liked. I have tons of cookbooks, I don’t care about traditional French, Italian or Asian cookbook, I am looking for something new and different, with beautiful pictures. If anyone has some suggestions, I will be happy to check them out.
Well, I promised John I would make something from the book and share it with him…so after reading almost all the recipes, I realized I didn’t have all the ingredients I needed. But since I like to keep my promise, I needed to come up with something. I was thinking about those tartlets for a long time and decided to go ahead with them. I was a little disappointed and didn’t want John to be disappointed either that I didn’t make anything from Jospehine’s book. Next time.
I made those tartlets for some of my parties and were always successful. They’re very easy to make, even the dough can be made in a blink of an eye. The crust has a nice golden color due to the wholewheat and almond meal, and the filling has no cream like regular tarts or quiches so it is quite light. I wanted to balance the fat content since roquefort and walnut are somehow fattening ingredients but there is just a little bit of cheese and nuts, so nothing to worry about too much.
Other blue cheeses such as Stilton would work as well.
Ingredients for 6 tartlets
For the crust
- 3.52 oz (or 100 g) wholewheat flour
- 2.8 oz (or 80 g) white flour
- 1.7 oz (or 50 g) kamut flour
- 3 tbs almond meal
- 2.23 fl oz (or 70 ml) olive oil
- water
- a pinch of salt
For the tartlets filling
- 1 1/2 large yellow onions, sliced crosswise
- 6 large tbs roquefort cheese (stilton could work), crumbled
- 3 tbs walnuts, chopped
- 1 tbs balsamic vinegar
- 3 eggs
- 2 tbs parsley, chopped
- 1 cup milk
- 1 tbs olive oil
- salt and pepper
Preparation
For the crust
In a mixing container, combine all the flours together and almond meal. Add olive oil, progressively and salt, then add enough water to make a nice smooth dough. You will see that if water is not enough, the dough will be crumbly.
For the filling
In a non stick pan, heat olive oil, then add onions, salt and pepper. Cook onions stirring in high heat to brown them, then decrease heat at low temperature, cover with a lid and let onions become soft, almost like an onion fondue. Add balsamic vinegar at the end and mix well.
Roll the dough and place in tartlet molds (preferably non-stick molds). Place one layer of onions on top of dough. Add roquefort cheese on top, and walnuts.
In a mixing bowl beat eggs with milk, parsley, salt and pepper. Pour on top of your tartlets.
Cook in a pre-heated oven at 375 for about 20-3-minutes or until the crust is cooked and the top golden brown.
Unmold and serve hot with an endive salad.
Don't break the egg! – Poached egg on sauté fava beans, snap peas and aspargus
Oct 21st
Ne casse pas l’oeuf!! – Oeuf poché sur fèves, mange-tout et asperges sautées, balsamic et pecorino
I have had some poached eggs lately at a new little place that used to be a French restaurant called Couleur Café run by French people. It closed down, and opened again under another name, Pizza Nostra run by the same people and now it’s an Italian restaurant, well the menu is more Italian than French. I liked it before when they were serving French cuisine and I like it now serving Italian cuisine. One of my favorite brunch menu item is the poached eggs on asparagus artichokes and eggplants with a side of frisée.
The best poached egg salad I had was in Lyon. Of course, if you ever go to Lyon, you need to order a Salade Lyonnaise at L’Est one of Paul Bocuse‘s four brasseries (one of the most famous French chefs of this century). The four brasseries are comprised of Le Nord, Le Sud, L’Est and L’Ouest (North, South, East and West). That salad is really a masterpiece. Unlike other French cities, where you tend to get very tiny portions on your plate, Lyon is very different in that respect. That salad was enough for four people and so rich that it had probably the amount of calories I consume in three days…but a real delight. Actually, Lyon is my favorite city in France, I prefer Lyon than Paris, it reminds me of San Francisco, a very livable size city, a clean metro, and nicer climate.
So going back to our egg, what do you do when you get a poached egg? Do you break the egg right away or eat the rest of the dish and break the egg at the end? I think I never really changed from when I was 8 years old. I just hate to break the egg and see the yolk dripping by, sometimes I just feel like sticking the whole egg in my mouth, just not to break it.
Ingredients for 2
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup snap peas
- 1 cup fava beans, skin removed
- 4 asparagus, cut in 1 inch pieces
- 1 shallot, chopped
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 1 tsp mixed herbs, chopped (parsley, chives, etc…)
- 4 slices pancetta, diced (optional)
- balsamic vinegar for drizzling
- parmesan or pecorino, shaved
- 1 tbs olive oil
- salt and pepper
Preparation
Heat olive oil in a pan. Add shallots, brown them, then add pancetta, let it cook for a couple of minutes until it gets a little crunchy, then add garlic. Stir for a couple of minutes, then add snap peas and asparagus, salt and pepper. Cover and let it cook at slow heat.
Remove fava beans from the pod. Bring water to a boil in a small pot, then add fava beans. Cook for one minute depending on the size of the beans. Drain, let it cool and remove the skin from the beans.
Add to the snap peas and asparagus mixture.
To poach the eggs: In a medium size pot, bring water to a boil with salt and vinegar. When it started to boil, reduce heat so that it boils very slowly. Break egg in a bowl and slowly bring the bowl on top of the boiling water and pour it very slowly and carefully in the water. Make sure the egg whites don’t get spread out in the water, and bring the white close to the yolk. You can use two spoons to try to “glue” the egg whites all together on top of the yolk. remove the egg carefully and place in cold water to rinse the vinegar and stop the cooking process.
When the vegetables are cooked but not overcooked, drizzle with balsamic vinegar, shave some parmesan on top. Spoon vegetables in serving plates, place one poached egg on top, Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper.
Where are your roots? – Root vegetable soup with turnip chips and tarragon cream
Oct 19th
Où sont vos racines? – Soupe de légumes racine aux chips de navets et crème d’estragon
I got a little sick this weekend, another weird migraine that made me drained, so anytime I get sick, I like to eat soups…I know I made one not that long ago, but when I feel sick, soups are great to get re-hydrated and they seem to coat my stomach very nicely. Do I sound like a grandma? maybe. I haven’t made that root vegetable soup for a long time, and had everything in the refrigerator to make one…so here we go grandma started to peel the vegetables and the soup was on its way.
I love root vegetables in so many ways, and in a soups, they’re delicious. All those flavors are combined together to make a smooth and velvety purée. Rutabaga had a bad reputation in Europe especially among people who went through the second world war, since it was the only vegetable they could find during that time. It’s basically an hybrid vegetable that was produced due to the “hybridisation” of a turnip and a cabbage.
My mom adores to puré her vegetable soup and anytime I go home, there is a huge pot filled with some kind of colorful soup for dinner, we rarely have heavy dinners… I am so spoiled that I turn into a brat, a real “bratty” brat…that would be me, la fille indigne (the unworthy daughter) instead of eating her soup, I make the “Maggi” soup called Sveltesse 0% that is an dehydrated soup with 50 calories per bag. You just pour boiling water on top et voilà! you have a quick soup with 50 calories that tastes good (for a dehydrated soup, it does). I have no idea why, or how…I never eat any kind of that stuff, ever, but for whatever unexplained reason, when I am home, I like the Sveltesse soups. Of course, I get the annoyed stare from my mom, who got somehow used to it, but cannot help to give me the look.
I think we all have our “devil food“, and I admit it with no shame, that Sveltesse 0% is my little devil soup, well at least it’s not some heavy chocolate cake filled with butter and corn syrup.
I never eat that kind of thing here, when I go home, I rarely cook, since two cooks in the kitchen are too many, then I break the habits, all habits. I even turn into a meat eater, not that much but I eat prosciutto, and salami. Something I rarely do here. When you change environment, I think you tend to change your habits also, and adapt to the local way of living..if you don’t, it can be a nightmare.
The little twist of the soup is the cream of tarragon, and turnip chip…the turnip chip looks like one but is not fried, it’s just cooked in the oven.
Ingredients for 6
For the soup
- 2 carrots, peeled and cut in chunks
- 1 medium size potato, peeled and cut in chunks
- 1 onion, diced
- 1/2 sweet potato, peeled and cut in chunks
- 3 turnips (2 for the soup, 1 for the chips), peeled and cut in chunks, except the one for the chips
- 1 parsnip, peeled and cut in chunks
- 1 rutabaga, peeled and cut in chunks
- 1 cup celeri head, peeled and cut in chunks
- vegetable broth
- 1 tbs olive oil
- salt and pepper
For the tarragon cream
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 2 tbs plain yogurt
- 1 tbs chopped tarragon
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- salt and pepper
Preparation
For the soup
In a large pot, heat olive oil, then add onions and bown them. Add the rest of the vegetables, salt and pepper and stir and cook for about 5-10 minutes. Add broth, enough to cover the vegetables by 1/3 inch. Simmer until the vegetables are cooked. Add broth as needed, to always have the same quantity on top of the vegetables.
When vegetable are cooked, mix with a hand blender or mixer. Adjust salt and pepper and serve with a tsp of cream of tarragon and 2 turnip chips.
For the turnip chips
Slice the turnips about 2mm slice. Boil in water for a 5 minutes. Drain and pat dry, then place in the oven and let it dry, sprinkle with olive oil and salt. Let it dry some more until the chip is crunchy.
For the tarragon cream
Whip heavy cream. In a mixing container, mix yogurt, lemon juice, tarragon, salt and pepper. Carefully add whipped cream.
Charlotte sometimes – White chocolate and raspberry charlotte
Oct 17th
Charlotte sometimes – Charlotte au chocolat blanc et framboises
I bought a nice charlotte mold from France last summer, I wanted one so bad, then I got it, and since then, I barely used it. It’s the second time in one year that I made charlotte. What a shame…I am just not a sweet tooth, but there is no excuse for it.
It’s difficult to find those molds in the US, William Sonoma has them and also I have seen them on a baker tools site on the internet. I think they’re only have one or two mold sizes.
Charlotte is another one of those traditional dessert, everyone knows how to make in France. Like tiramisù there is no cooking involved so it’s quite a simple dessert to make, and always refreshing to eat.
Charlotte molds are about 10″ height, and the sides are surrounded with lady fingers, then the inside is filled with fruits, and mousse or bavaroise cream like this one. This charlotte is closer to what we call the Russian charlotte filled with bavaroise cream, either way with cream or mousse, it’s always a delicious and refreshing dessert.
I love everything about charlotte, its name, its texture and consistency…and as a dessert, it’s not that filling. Not being a sweet tooth, I am picky about desserts, they need to be light and not too sweet. Charlotte will satisfy even the hard core sweet tooth because of its creamy texture and white chocolate taste.
Ingredients for 6
- 1 pack ladyfingers
- juice of 3 oranges
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbs rum
- 10.59 oz (or 300 g) white chocolate chips or chocolate cut in very small pieces, like shaved
- 13.52 fl oz (or 400 ml) milk
- 3 egg yolks
- 3 gelatin sheets, or agar agar
- 1 tbs sugar
- 0.6 cups (or 150 ml) heavy cream
- 2 packs raspberries
Preparation
First start preparing the ladyfinger for the “crust”. Squeeze the juice of the three oranges and place in a small container. Add rum and vanilla extract and mix well. Dip lady fingers in the orange juice mixture, then place one layer at the bottom surface of the mold, then coat the sides of the mold, all around it.
Place white chocolate in a mixing bowl. Heat up milk and sugar to a very hot temperature but not to the boiling stage and pour on top of chocolate. Let it sit until the chocolate melts, about 5 minutes. In the meantime, place gelatin sheets in water, and let it dissolve. Add gelatin to milk/chocolate mixture. Mix well and let it cool down. Place in the refrigerator for a little while, until it gets cold but not thickened. It needs to be hard enough so that it will allow you to fold whipped cream in it.
Whip cream and add carefully to the chocolate/milk mixture.
Add two layers of raspberries on top of ladyfingers layer. Add chocolate/cream mixture and put back in the refrigerator to let it thicken, about 12 hours.
Papillotes meli-melo – Mixed fruits with honey, raisins, pistachios and coconut in parchment paper
Oct 15th
Méli-mélo de papillotes – Pommes, poires et bananes au miel, raisins, pistaches et noix de coco en papillotes avec glace vanille
Des pommes, des poires et des….bananes!! I have been thinking about those papillottes for so long. I thought about them kept thinking about them, and always made something else…I kept doing that for weeks. Time to stick to the plan! They’re an express dessert and extremely delicious. We tend to forget that quick meals can be exquisite. Papillottes are so much fun to make and look great when you give one individually to your guests.
Fruit based desserts are light and cooked fruits go deliciously well with spices. Of course, if you like cinnamon, you can add some. I am a big vanilla fan and could use vanilla everywhere. The only place I don’t like vanilla is in perfume. I think it’s way too sweet as a scent but I could drink it! I brought from France some vanilla powder which is basically vanilla beans and pods ground, so the powder is brown like the bean and not white (I have seen it white here) , if you can’t find it, you can add 1 tsp of vanilla extract.
Those papillotes are perfect with apples and pears because they remain firm, and don’t get mushy like peaches or other summer fruits would. Fall just got here and we can enjoy the beautiful fruits it brings along.
Papillote has different meanings, but traditionally it refers to a chocolate candy wrapped in a golden or silver wrap with a personal message included in it. Supposedly it comes from Lyon and they’re consumed during Christmas.
Ingredients for 2 papillotes
- 1 golden apple, peeled and sliced
- 1 large pear, peeled and sliced
- 1 large banana, sliced
- 1 tbs unsalted pistachios
- 1.5 tbs golden raisins
- 1 tbs honey
- 1.5 tbs grated coconut
- 1 tsp vanilla powder
Preparation
In a mixing bowl, add all fruits together, then add honey, vanilla powder, raisins, coconut and pistachios. Mix well. Place in a parchment paper, wrap tightly so no air can get in and cook in the oven for about 20 minutes at 375F. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.
Fregola is acting like a risotto – Saffron fregola with grilled zucchini and mushrooms
Oct 14th
La Fregola è gelosa del risotto – Fregola allo zafferano con zucchine e funghi
I adore Fregola’s texture…those little round balls that are similar to couscous but are really not…It’s a pasta specialty from Sardinia and when cooked they remain somehow chewy and al dente at the same time.
This fregola has been prepared like risotto with a saffron broth then enhanced at the end with grilled vegetables and parmesan. I think you can find Fregola at any Italian grocery store or specialty store. We have a Sardinian restaurant in San Francisco called La Ciccia, they serve traditional Sardinian cuisine, which is really good (you can find fregola dishes, octopus in umido, pane carasau, etc… lots of traditional Sardinian products) and not really the typical Italian-American you see very often in many Italian restaurants, which I think is a mixture of different cuisines and influences. It might have been traditional 150 years ago, then with time, it became a modified cuisine mixed with local influences and ingredients.
Fregola is an authentic Sardinian pasta product and I have never seen it served in any other Italian restaurant other than at La Ciccia. As a matter of fact, I have never seen it in other parts of Italy either because it is a very regional product mainly consumed in Sardinia. So if you can find it, try it out.
Now don’t get me wrong, I am not saying Italian-American is not good food, I’m just saying it’s just not real traditional Italian cuisine. For example Cioppino, that tomato seafood stew you can find in many restaurants in San Francisco, even though it sounds Italian, it is not. It’s something that was created in San Francisco. Isn’t that funny? A well-made cioppino is excellent, but it’s not really Italian even though you can find some similar dishes in Italy, I have never seen Cioppino.
I would be very curious to see the cuisine in Australia, if it went through the same trends and if it evolved like cuisine in the US did. Australia being also a new country, it might have had a similar phenomenon. A friend of mine gave me an Australian cook book she bought over there, and I have to say that the cuisine is very interesting with lots of influences too but put together differently.
Anyway, going back to Fregola, which is somehow the topic of this post, it can be cooked like risotto, or like pasta, or used in soups, or like couscous. It is a very versatile little ball and really delicious.
Ingredients for 3-4
- 1 cup fregola
- 2 zucchini, sliced crosswise
- 10 medium size mushrooms
- 1 shallot
- 1 saffron dose
- 2 cups or more vegetable broth
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- Fresh parmigiano reggiano, grated
- 1 tbs olive oil
- salt and pepper
Preparation
Infuse broth with saffron for about 20 minutes.
In a medium pot, heat olive oil, add shallots and brown them. Add fregola and coat it with olive oil as you would do for risotto. Add saffron broth and wine gradually. Adjust with salt and pepper.
Grill zucchini in a grill pan and cut in smaller pieces. Set aside. Saute mushrooms in 1 tsp olive oil, and cook until the water evaporates. Mix with zucchini.
When fregola is cooked. Add vegetables, and stir well. Add parmiggiano and serve hot.
