Che sorpresa! – Farfalline “Hautes Couture” con gamberi, capesante e crema ai porri

I finally received my mom’s package, it only took six days which is really not much. I was expecting it and was wondering if they would open it at the customs but it arrived intact.

I was not sure of what she put in there! lots of my favorite goodies. She even included my dry soup sticks, the Maggie Sveltesse (my sinful soup sticks but with 50 calories per soup, let’s not be too tough on them), Lavazza Espresso to get me even more wired than I actually am, chocolates, chocolates and more chocolates, cosmetics to make sure life in the US does not give me wrinkles…and of course some foie gras, thing that I don’t eat, she doesn’t really care, she just will send foie gras every year, even though I asked her to NOT include it, she included it any way. I can always serve it when my friends come over for dinner, since I believe it’s no longer allowed in California…I am not going to develop further the fois gras production topic and people are free to eat whatever they want. I just have a tough time with cruelty towards animals for whatever purpose it is. So yes, fois gras is a delicacy and part of French gastronomy, I think it’s just so cruel to stuff those poor geese, make them sick and eat their liver. Sorry to be a little crude, but basically, it comes down to that.

I decided to slow down on carbs, but I got those Farfalline Haute Couture, so I had no other choice than cook them. Yes, you can change your mind sometimes. They’re too pretty…I had some shrimps and a bunch of beautiful leeks which were perfect for those little butterflies. In Italian, they’re called “farfalle” and in French “papillon” which mean “butterflies” not “bow tie”, which would be way too long “noeud papillon” (= butterfly nod). Le papillon ne s’est pas envolé, il a juste atterri dans mon assiette!

I adore this pasta dish, the leek cream with seafood is absolutely fantastic. It’s creamy but yet not the kind of “Creamy” you get when you add cream to a dish, but very flavorful and velvety creamy without the heaviness of a cream.

Ingredients for 2

• 5.30 oz (or 150 g) farfalline or other squid ink pasta
• 2 leeks
• 1/3 cup broth
• 6 large scallops cut in 4 or 24 small scallops
• 8 large shrimps, cut in 3
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• cayenne pepper
• 1 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Cut leeks in small slices crosswise, wash well. In a pan, add 1 tsp olive oil, add 1 garlic clove, stir for one minute or so, then add leeks, cook for a few minutes, then add broth, salt and pepper. Cover and let it cook until the leeks are tender. Leave about 1 tbs of leeks aside to add at the end. Mix the remaining leeks in a blender to obtain a creamy consistency. If the leeks are too think, add extra broth.

In a pan, heat 1 tsp olive oil, then add diced seafood, cayenne, salt and pepper. Cook for a few minutes, then add 1 garlic clove. At that point, you’ll have some liquid in the pan. Add the liquid to the leeks. Continue sauteing the seafood until cooked, but not over cook it, or the scallops will turn rubbery.

Cook pasta in salted boiling water until al dente. Drain, place in a mixing bowl, add half of the leek sauce, mix well.

Serve in a plate, spoon extra leek sauce around the pasta, top it with seafood and extra leeks. Sprinkle with a little extra olive oil and serve hot.

Heat up leeks to keep it warm.

Fish/Seafood, Pasta bow ties, farfalle, leeks, Pasta, scallops, shrimps, squid ink pasta

Un cake déjà vu – Cake traditionnel au gruyère, olives et jambon

Savory cakes are very popular in France, everyone has its own version and makes them for appetizers with drinks when you have a guests over. You cut them in small bites and pass them along with drinks. Usually, I don’t like to post too many traditional French or Italian dishes, I somehow love to explore new ideas, flavors and shapes but once in a while, it makes me feel closer to home like with this cake salé. You can flavor it with what you like, such as feta, mint and zucchini, or sundried tomatoes and thyme, or just use your creativity. You only need the basic proportions of flour, olive oil or butter, and eggs, then the rest is up to you.

Nothing too fancy or original in this post, just maybe the most traditional cake salé that every French person who cooks and entertains, knows how to make, it’s a great one, always appreciated and quite delicious combining three main ingredients. Usually savory cakes contain butter, but I like to use olive oil, it gives it a really fruity and fragrant flavor.

Savory cakes are another one of those things I don’t make very often, I tried a few with shrimps, and other ingredients but as far as entertaining menu is concerned, I tend to make other types of snacks or canapés. This is a great item when you have guests pour l’apéro, a lot quicker to make than a savory tart or quiche. Tonight I have a little time to cook, so cake is on the menu among other little bites. It’s healthier than serving chips and other pre-packed junk food. Even though I love thick and salty potato chips! One of those items I cannot have in the house, or I will just not stop thinking about them until I ate them all.

Ingredients for about 6 people

• 6.34 oz (or 180 g) unbleached flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3 eggs
• 3 fl oz (or 90 ml) olive oil
• 3.38 oz (or 100 ml) milk
• 7 oz (or 200 g) ham, cut in cubes
• 5.64 oz (or 160 g) gruyère cheese or cantal grated
• 3.5 oz (or 100 g) green olives, roughly chopped
• a pinch of salt and pepper

Preparation

In a mixing container, mix flour and baking powder. In another container, mix eggs, milk, olive oil. Mix well and add to the four/baking powder mixture. Add salt and pepper. Add ham, gruyère and olives. Mix carefully.

Bake in a non-stick loaf pan in a 370F pre-heated oven for about 45 minutes.

Appetizers, Breads cake sale, gruyere cheese, ham, olives, savory cake

Un crumble qui sent bon la Provence – Crumble aux tomates, aubergines, basilic et chèvre

It seems like the traditional British dessert arrived in France and turned savory. Crumbles are becoming very trendy in France and quite popular, I can understand why, they’re just really delicious. So, yes, we stole it from the British and somehow made some transformations to it. I don’t know much about British cuisine, but I know crumble comes straight from the other side of the Channel.

This is my third post featuring a savory crumble, and I will continue to explore them. Crumbles are so good, most of all very easy to make, and certainly always appreciated among guests. They make wonderful appetizers. I just love to nibble on the crust and dig to get what’s underneath. The goat cheese has melted and infused with the garlicky tomato and eggplant, so you can dip some toasted walnut bread in the juices.

I had taken tons of photos yesterday and for whatever strange reason, when I downloaded them on my computer, they had disappeared from the memory card, and by that time my meal was long gone and digested. I was really disappointed – I still don’t know where the problem came, either from the card or the camera. I Certainly did not want to eat the same dish today and honestly, I am a little tired of carbs, on arrête les féculents, let’s stop the carbs before I turn into a giant noodle!!! I have been eating more pasta and rice than usual, so I figured this crumble would fit perfectly my nutritional needs.

Ingredients for 3-4 individual crumbles

• 5 medium size tomatoes, peeled and seedless, cut in quarters
• 1 small eggplant, sliced crosswise
• 4 tbs goat cheese, crumble
• 2 tbs basil, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper

For the crumble topping

• 4 tbs white flour
• 5 tbs plain bread crumbs
• 1 tsp herbes de Provence
• 1 1/2 tbs almond meal
• 1 tbs parmesan, grated
• 2 oz (or 50 g) butter
• a little salt and pepper

Preparation

Heat olive oil in a pan, add 1 garlic clove chopped, then add tomatoes, cook for about 5 minutes until the tomatoes are starting to become soft but not mushy. In a grill pan, grill eggplant on both sides. You can also sprinkle them with olive oil, salt and pepper and broil them under broiler.

Start making crumble topping. In a mixing bowl, mix all ingredients together, then add butter and mix from tip of the fingers to make a crumbly dough.

In individual molds, add tomaotes, eggplant and basil. Top with goat cheese and crumble topping.

Cook in a pre-heated oven at 370F for about 30 minutes or until the top has turned golden.

Serve hot with a green salad.

Appetizers, Vegetarian - dairy basil, eggplant, goat cheese, savory crumble, tomato

Une simple histoire de pommes – Flan vanillé aux pommes

Not sure what I like best, vegetable flans or fruit flans…

The French love flans, for the simple reason that they’re just too good. I bought too many apples and needed to do something with them. The thought of more apple cakes, apple tarts, baked apples, and last night apple papillotes, did not inspire me at all. When I am in that particular mood, I cannot put my mind to rest until I start coming up with something, just like an obsession. I am sometimes possessed by the cooking devil, that’s what I like to call it.

Nothing complicated in these flans, simple ingredients for irresistible little bites. Their particularity is that apples are reduced in a “compote” then mashed in a purée type of texture. I did not use sliced apples, so the apple flavors are well blended in the flan and adds great texture to it. As any fruit based dessert, they’re very light and are guilt-free desserts, so no need to worry about calories. Maybe some of you guys don’t worry about it but I do, so winner desserts for me are the ones that are light, un-greasy that satisfy sweet cravings. I hate to feel stuffed at the end of a meal, such an unpleasant and unsexy feeling. After eating the five of them, I felt as light as a feather.  So for those who are somehow health conscious, I would recommend those apple flans.

Ingredients for 5 flans

• 2 eggs
• 2 medium size apples or 4 small ones, peeled and sliced
  
• 100 ml milk
• 2 tbs sugar
• 2 tbs flour
• 2 tbs crème fraîche or heavy cream
  
• vanilla extract
• vanilla powder

Preparation

Place apple in a pot, add one tbs water and cook at low heat until the apples are cooked and reduced into a compote. Then mash with a potato masher to make it into a puree. Let them cool down.

In a mixing bowl, add apple compote, sugar, eggs, milk, cream, vanilla extract and powder and flour. Mix well to obtain an homogenous batter.

In individual silicon molds, pour batter in each mold and cook in a pre-heated oven for about 20-30 minutes until the flan are cooked. Let them cool and refrigerate for a couple of hours.

Desserts apple, Dessert, flan, french, vanilla

La petite épice rouge – Aiguillettes de poulet grillé au sumac

I  don’t cook with sumac very often but when I do, I make this dish and it’s been quite popular among chicken lovers. Sumac is a wonderful Middle Eastern spice, it enhances the flavor of the dish without altering its taste. Sumac is a little tree whose leaves turn red in fall somehow like maple trees and produces little round balls which contains little brownish grains.

I usually serve it with curried Israeli couscous and it makes an excellent combination with Middle Eastern flavors. Sumac is very used in Middle Eastern cuisine, it has a tangy flavor and is used somehow like lemon. If you are vegetarian, chicken can be replaced with white fish and it works beautifully too on light flavored fishes. This spice is one of the most delicate spice I know because of it’s subtle flavor, it will not overpower your dish like curry or cumin would but give it a very fresh and elegant after taste.

Ingredients for 4

• 1.5 lb chicken tenders or breasts cut in strips
• 2 tsp sumac
• juice of one lemon
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1/2 tsp cumin powder
• cayenne pepper
• 3 tbs mint
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Cut chicken in small strips. Add sumac, cumin powder, cayenne, salt and pepper and let it marinate for about one hour or so.

In a small mixing bowl, mix lemon juice and olive oil.

Grill chicken in a grill pan. When grilled on the outside and still juicy in the middle, remove from pan, add olive oil/lemon juice mixture. Coat well. Sprinkle with mint and serve hot.

Meat chicken, cumin, Meat, middle eastern, mint, sumac

Est-ce vraiment Israélien? – Matfoul aux légumes et curry

I discovered this type of couscous in the US. I had never seen it before, so I started experimenting with it when I had some Israeli clients. I was so happy I found something “Israeli” to cook for them, but when they told me it was not Israeli, I was somehow confused and disappointed. I had no idea about what Israeli cuisine tasted like, I thought due to their geographical location it would have some Middle Eastern flair. In Paris, in the Marais quarter, the historic Jewish area has one of the most popular Felafel joint, called “L’As du Felafel”, so I my mind Felafel and spicy food was common in Israel and I figured that something called “Israeli” should at least be coming from Israel. Apparently not. It’s like the French manicure of French cleaner, not sure why they call it French but we are no specialists in nails nor cleaning!

So Israeli or not Israeli, I like this couscous variety, it’s fun to prepare and great to eat. Couscous is consumed in all Middle East, so I guess it must be coming from that side of the continent. In France it’s called Matfoul which I think is its original Arabic name. I am not Jewish and obviously not kosher but maybe in my previous life I was. I started cooking by not mixing dairy and meat and I have to say that I like it.

This is a great side dish that can be an alternative to rice, or some other carbohydrate dishes. I like to spice it up a little with curry and spices and add vegetables to it, to make it a little more exciting. I have a few cookbooks about Jewish cuisine and I like the simplicity of the recipes and influences coming from so many different countries.

I certainly know that this blog lacks meat recipes but I think the most important thing is to enjoy and take pleasure in whatever you do, cook or eat, no matter what it is. Otherwise there is no point in posting something just for the sake of posting it. I usually serve this couscous with sumac chicken tenders, that has been one of my most requested dish in the “Middle Eastern” category.

Ingredients for 3-4 as a side dish

• 4.2 oz (or 120 g) Israeli couscous
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 small eggplant, diced
• 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
• 3 tbs cherry tomatoes, cut in quarters
• 1 shallot, diced
• 1/2 cup cooked chick peas
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 1 tbs cilantro, chopped
• 1 tbs mint, chopped

Preparation

First start cooking couscous. Heat olive oil in a pot, add couscous and let it brown and get coated by olive oil like you would proceed for a risotto. Add broth and cook until couscous is tender but not too soft. Drain and set aside.

In a pan, brown shallots, then add the rest of the vegetables except for the chick peas. Add salt and pepper and let it cook until vegetables tender. Add chick peas. Add curry powder. Stir well and cook for about 5 minutes, then add tomatoes. Add couscous and mix well all ingredients together. Adjust with salt and pepper. Add mint and cilantro and serve hot.

Grains, Side Dish, Vegan carrots, chick peas, curry, eggplant, israeli couscous, Side Dish, Vegan

Couleurs d’Automne – Soupe aux épinards, broccoli et poireaux, aux risoni complets et mimolette

Winter is soup time, and when I ran into mimolette, I could not resist. I had not seen Mimolette before in the US and I was so excited. I had planned to make a gratin, and a soup with it, but the cheese did not not make it to either dish. I just ate it all and in a very quick and fashionable manner.

Mimolette is a French cheese made in Lille, the North of France. It’s also called “Boule de Lille“, it’s a cheese produced with cow milk, with a condensed raw flesh (pâte pressée). Its deep orange color comes from a natural coloring called “roucou” which is a plant used in some cheeses such as Gouda, Cheddar or Edam and used in Europe as food coloring. Mimolette’s hard texture is similar to Dutch Gouda. The older it gets, the harder the texture becomes, and I really love extra old Mimolette, it tends to have a more pronounced character.

I somehow love salty cheeses, they go perfectly well in soups, gratins, and enhance many dishes. This soup made with three green vegetables is full of vitamins and flavors. When I make “creamy” and thick soups like this one, I like it served either with toasted bread or sometimes with small pasta cooked in the soup. You get a wholesome and wonderful meal. Risoni is the Italian name for “orzo”which in Italy is barley, so it can get confusing. My mom used to make soups when I was a child with risoni, it’s very common in Italy to use small pasta like this one or ditalini in soups.

The other important ingredient in this soup is the garlic that adds a lot of character to the broth, it balances out the earthy flavors of the green vegetables.

Ingredients for 4

• 100 g orzo
• 1 1/2 leek, diced
• 2 cups broccoli
• 2 cups raw spinach
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled and whole
• 6 tbs mimolette, grated
• 2 tbs olive oil
• vegetable broth
• salt and pepper

Preparation

In a large pot, heat olive oil, add broccoli and leeks and cook for about 5 minutes until the vegetables are coated with olive oil. Add 3 garlic cloves, whole and peeled. Add broth. For broth quantity, it needs to cover vegetables to about 1 cm of liquid. Adjust with salt and pepper. Cook until the vegetables are cooked all the way through about 20-30 minutes.

When vegetables are cooked add spinach leaves (if using baby spinach, no need to chop them, otherwise you will have to chop them roughly). Cook and extra 5-10 minutes. Add crushed garlic and cook an extra 5 minutes.

Keep about two laddles of vegetables aside. Blend the rest in a blender into a smooth purée. Place the vegetables pieces back into the pot with the purée and place back on pot at low heat. When it starts boiling, add orzo, and stir well. Keep on stirring for a while to prevent pasta from sticking. If the consistency is too thick add a little broth. Cook until al dente and serve in bowls. Add 1 tbs of mimolette and sprinkle with olive oil.

Soups, Vegetarian - dairy broccoli, cheese, leeks, mimolette, orzo, risoni, soup, spinach, wholewheat orzo

Aussi jolies que des perles – Crème de tapioca à la noix de coco et compote de mangues

I was reading a French Elle magazine, I like Elle because they always have a great food/recipe section at the end called “Elle à Table” with fresh and modern recipes and tons of flavors. I got stuck on a tapioca cream recipe picture with a raspberry coulis. It looked so beautiful that I felt like eating the paper. I got inspired by Elle’s recipe for this one, eventhough I did not use the same ingredients or quantities, they somehow gave me the idea to mix fruits and tapioca. It’s a fresh and light dessert, perfect as a little treat after a heavy dinner, because as we say in French, “il faut toujours laisser une petite place pour le dessert” (you always need to leave a little space for dessert) not matter how heavy your meal was. I am not really too much into desserts, but I love fruit based desserts like this one, with a little exotic touch you get with the coconut.

In France, we use tapioca in soups, it’s not very common to see it in sweet dishes but it works perfectly well with coconut in sweet desserts. You can use raspberries instead of mango, they both tastes equally delicious.

I finally bought a car, it’s funny how a car can give you this feeling of freedom, I realized that when I no longer had one. So finally I can go shopping at my favorite grocery stores not accessible to public transportation. In Paris, public transportation is great and you don’t need a car, but even though San Francisco has a decent public transportation, a car is somehow not a luxury if you work in some parts of town.

Ingredients for 2 verrines

• 2.82 oz (or 80 g) tapioca
• 7.4 fl oz (or 220 ml) coconut milk
• 1.7 fl oz (or 50 ml) milk
• 3 tbs heavy cream
• 2.82 oz (or 80 g) sugar
• 1 mango
• zest and juice of one lemon

Preparation

Peel mango. Keep 4 slices aside for decoration, and cut the rest in cubes, add 1 tbs sugar and lemon juice and cook for about 7 minutes until it becomes a compote. Set aside

Cook tapioca in boiling water for about 5 minutes, to remove all the extra starch, then drain.

Heat milk, coconut milk and cream, add sugar, then add tapioca pearls, let it cook until tapioca becomes transparent.

Add some lemon zest, keep some for decoration.

Place mango compote in a glass and top with cream of tapioca, let it cool and place in the refrigerator. Decorate with mango slices, and extra lemon zests.

Desserts coconut, cream of tapioca, Dessert, fruit, mango, tapioca

Due amici in padella – Radicchio di Chioggia e carciofi in teglia

Radicchio al forno is a typical Northern Italian dish. I somehow added a little touch to it, by adding artichokes and topping it all with breadcrumbs, garlic and parsley. Artichokes and radicchio go perfectly well together, the sweetness of the artichoke blends beautifully with the bitterness of radicchio, and you get a wonderful side dish, or if you’re like me, just forget the “side” it’s just a dish in itself since I can eat the whole plate.

There are many different types of radicchio, the round and red one like this one is called radicchio di Chioggia which is mainly grown all year around. My parents would grow the green kind with long leaves that was really bitter much bitter than this one, and my mom made it with anchovies and garlic as a salad and even as a young child, I loved it. The bitter, the better. No wonder why I love Fernet, Cynar and anything that has a bitter taste.

Our neighbor when I was growing up was from Udine (Friuli region), Giovanni drove a Vespa and was speaking so so loud that we would wake up the whole neighborhood with his loud voice and Vespa honks, everyone called him “petrolette” because of his “honk honk”. Such a funny and sweet character with a huge heart and a terrible French. His French was terrible, and his Italian too, since he spoke mainly Friulan dialect, so even my parents had a tough time understanding him. Every Sunday, he would bring us so many bags of radicchio from his garden. Friulans eat an incredible amount of radicchio, it’s hard to keep up with them unless you’re a rabbit!

He moved back to Friuli with his wife when he retired, he must be around 80 now and anytime we go visit him, radicchio is always on the table twice a day and seven days a week. Let’s not forget the white polenta sliced and eaten along salame e radicchio!

Ingredients for 3-4

• 1 large head of radicchio, cut in thick slices
• 1 lb artichokes (baby ones or medium)
• 1/3 cup white wine
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 tbs parsley, finely chopped
• 1/3 cup plain breadcrumbs
• 1 lemon
• 3 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper

Preparation

First start trimming the artichokes. Remove the tough green leaves, the with a knife, trim to top of the leaves and cut the green part around the bottom, close to the stem. You can either slice them if you are using the medium ones, or cut them in half if using the baby ones. Place in a bowl of water with the juice of one lemon, which will prevent the artichokes from discoloring.

Cut radicchio in half, then in slices of about 1 inch think.

In a pan, heat olive oil, crush one garlic clove and let the flavors out. Drain artichokes and add to the pan, stir for a few minutes, then add wine. Add salt and pepper and cover with a lid. Cook at medium heat until the wine has evaporated and the artichokes are cooked all the way through.

Add salt, pepper to the radicchio slices, and drizzle with olive oil. Grill in a grill pan, until radicchio changes color and is cooked but not mushy.

Add radicchio to artichokes pan and mix well.

In a small container, prepare the topping. Mix breadcrumbs, garlic, parsley, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Place radicchio/artichokes mixture in a oven dish and top with breadcrumb mixture. Cook in a pre-heated oven at 375F for about 20 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

Side Dish, Vegan, Vegetables artichokes, radicchio, Side Dish, Vegan, Vegetables

Un basmati pas comme les autres – Basmati rouge corail aux crevettes, fanes de moutarde et pois

I think by now I must have tried almost all the different kinds of rice on the market, going from basic to fancy. The funny thing is that I am not a big rice eater but when I see a kind I never tasted, I buy it.

For me, rice is that ingredient I enjoy but that I rarely cook. Then when I eat it, I am thinking I should make it more often. Time goes by, and rice is still left in the pantry.

This time, I found this beautiful coral red basmati at Whole Foods and was curious about its taste and texture, and after one month of staring at it, I decided to make something out of it. I liked its “marketing” name “coral red” is quite a pretty name for a red rice and thinking about it I bought it mainly because I was seduced by its name which I found quite sexy. Americans are certainly great at marketing!

I love rice bowls, they’re nutritious and you can make a “one-meal” bowl, besides whole rices are perfect for that. Coral red basmati rice does not taste exactly like regular basmati, It has a pretty color but is less aromatic.

French people are not big rice eaters, they eat a lot more potatoes as primary carbohydrate and of course bread. I remember a commercial on TV when I was a child for Uncle Ben’s rice “Le riz qui ne colle jamais“, “the rice that never sticks”, in his little plastic bag, and that was the only rice I would eat. My mom creamy risotto was so unappealing comparing to Uncle Bens! I was fascinated by its TV commercial of this old and big Southern American guy with a thick American accent and his “Uncle Bens! le riz qui ne colle jamais!”.

Ingredients for 4

• 280 g coral red rice (about 70 g per person)
• 1 large bunch mustard greens, chopped
• 24 large uncooked shrimps
• 1/2 cup frozen or fresh peas
• 2 shallots, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 small piece ginger, grated
• 1 tbs mustard seeds
• 1 tbs soy sauce
• 1 tbs olive oil

Preparation

Heat olive oil in a pan, brown shallots, 1 garlic clove, ginger and mustard seeds. Stir well and let all ingredients brown.

Steam rice in a rice cooker or regular pot.

Cook mustard greens in boiling water for about 5-7 minutes, until cooked. Drain, squeeze extra water and chop finely.

Add shrimps to onion, garlic, ginger mixture and cook for about 5 minutes until shrimps are cooked, add peas and mustard greens, salt and pepper and cook for another 10 minutes. (If using fresh peas, they need to cook longer)

Add rice and stir well. Add 1 garlic clove crushed and 1 tbs soy sauce, stir well, let it cook for another 5 minutes and serve as a side dish or as a full meal.

Fish/Seafood, Rice basmati, coral red, mustard greens, peas, red rice, Rice, shrimps, Side Dish