Archive for January, 2010
No soup for the holidays – Soup of cauliflower, chickpeas and quadretti
Jan 31st
Zuppa con cavolfiore, ceci e quadretti
I heard California got a lot of rain this season, all the news talked about it when I was in France and I heard it from my neighbors when I got back. The good things is that it’s clearing up. Eventhough France was very cold with -10C temperatures some days, my mom never made soup and neither did I. Of course during the holidays, we tend to eat “holiday meals” and strangely enough soup is not entitled to the be on the “holiday” list, so I somehow missed it.
One soup I really like is this cauliflower soup with chick peas and small pasta, you can put potatoes instead of the pasta, or even both. You can use any small pasta such as quadretti (little squares), ditali (small cylinders) or any small pasta to be used is broths or soups. I had none left so I cut some fettucine into small pieces, and it worked quite well. The difference is that quadretti are a egg pasta and thinner than fettucine which are not supposed to be used in soup as per the pasta étiquette. So I went against the étiquette, nonetheless it was really enjoyable. I think some ingredients can be substituted and some others, cannot. In this case, I would say it could be.
I am not sure how the word “pasta” is used in the US, if it refers to a particular pasta dish cooked in a particular way and not in soups. Then not sure what the word “noodle” refers to either, so I will try to be as accurate I can be. For me noodles reminds me of the Asian pasta, and not Italian pasta. Every kind of pasta in Italy has its own name, that makes it quite easy to what type of pasta you are talking about.
Ingredients for 4
- 1 medium size cauliflower
- 2 potatoes
- 4 medium tomatoes, seedless, peeled and chopped
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 tbs onions chopped
- 1 rosemary sprig
- 1/2 lb chick peas (either canned or dry and soaked overnight)
- 5 tbs quadretti or small pasta for soups
- 2 tbs olive oil
- salt and pepper
Preparation
Heat olive oil in a large pot, brown onions, then add garlic, stir a few minutes. Add tomatoes, cook for about 5 minutes to let the water evaporates, then add potatoes, cauliflower and rosemary. Stir well to coat all the vegetables and cook for about 7 min stirring. Add enough broth to cover the vegetables (you might want to add extra to have enough liquid to cook the quadretti). Let it cook until the vegetables are tender but not mushy, remove rosemary then add chick peas. Cook for another 10 minutes. Add pasta and 1 garlic clove and cook until desired texture (I like them al dente). Sprinkle with olive oil, cracked pepper and serve.
One slice, two slices, ten slices – Almond biscotti from Mrs. Lucia
Jan 29th
Una fetta, due fette, dieci fette – Fettine con mandorle della Signora Lucia
That is a traditional Italian “dry”cookie, maybe what is called in the US, “biscotti” – Biscotti in Italian literally means cookies, and is more a generic word for cookies than for that type of sliced bread shape with almonds.
Growing up, we loved to bake those and made them all year long, not for any particular occasion. There is always a container filled with fettine at my parents’ house to offer anyone who drops by to have a coffee since that’s what people do, they stop by for a coffee and chit chat. Thing that no one has ever done in my house, stop by for a coffee, maybe that’s not an American thing. Besides Starbucks is right around the corner. They opened a few Starbucks in Paris and people love it. I think Starbucks concept of what they serve is more what I call a dessert rather than coffee, sure they do sell coffee but the large variety of the other items on their menu is definitely dessert-type of drink.
Like any other cookies, those can be stored in a air-tight container for a long time, so when you have a made a batch, you have enough biscotti to entertain half an army. Those are great with coffee or tea, you can also dip them in sweet white wine, or Vin Santo which is a Tuscan dessert wine (and also available in the US).
Ingredients for about 30 fettine
- 14 oz (or 400 g) flour
- 3 eggs
- 7.5 oz (or 200 g) sugar
- 7.5 oz (or 200 g) whole almonds unpeeled
- 1.76 oz (or 50 g) butter, melted
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tbs anise seeds or zest of 1 orange
Preparation
In a mixing container mix flour and baking powder, then add sugar, eggs and butter. Add orange zest or anise seeds, and almonds at the end. Roll the dough to get 2 baguettes shape and bake in oven for 30 min at 360F.
Remove from the oven, let it cool a little and slice while still hot in small slices about 1 cm thick (0.4 inches). Place them back on your tray and put in the oven to let it dry for another 5-10 minutes. Remove from the oven, let it cool and place in air-tight container.
White smoothness in a jar – Fig-Vanilla and Apple-Kiwi yogurts
Jan 28th
Douceurs blanches dans un pot – Yaourts Figues-Vanille et Pomme-Kiwi
I have been back to the US since last Friday and one thing that I already start missing is the yogurt. If you haven’t tried homemade yogurts, you haven’t tasted the goodness of what a real yogurt can be. I have always been nostalgic about the wonderful yogurts you can find in France in the yogurt/dairy section in any supermarket area. There are about four full aisles of yogurts and dairy specialties of dairy and non dairy fresh desserts. I am in heaven. Yogurts in the US tend to be on the boring side and quite frankly not very good. I tasted all of the brands, and I always remain faithful to Strauss, their European called yogurt. It seems like all yogurts contain gelatin and taste artificial especially the flavored ones, so I stick to the plain kind.
Yogurt making is like bread making in France right now, two nationwide spread trends. So after going to FNAC, a bookstore/electronics store, and spending hours on the cook book section, I run into an intriguing book on making yogurts, and I decided to buy it.
After landing in the U S of A and going through customs with half a supermarket in my suitcase, I realized that I had no yogurt maker. Yogurts can be made in many other ways if you don’t have a yogurt maker, like using a pressure cooker, an oven, etc…but I just wanted a yogurt maker and not go through a few times of failing the yogurts, like it happened before. So on day 2, I went to buy a yogurt maker and if you are a yogurt “freak” like me, it’s a good investment. In a next post, I will explain how to make yogurts without a yogurt maker, in case you don’t have one since I suspect many people don’t have one. It’s a little more tricky but it does work.
I used approximately the recommended proportions I found on the book called “Yaourts” from Solar Editions, then I somehow flavored them according to my tastes. You can use any fruit you like.
The great thing about making yogurt is that you can play around with different milks, spices and fruits. For this first attempt, I used fat free milk, but next time I will use the 2% fat and see the difference. The only inconvenient is that it takes about 10 hours to have your yogurts ready, but then you get seven of them. You can use either a plain yogurt or yogurt ferments for your mixture.
Ingredients for 7 yogurts
- 2 kiwis, peeled and cut in small cubes
- 1/2 granny smith apple, peeled and cut in small cubes
- 4.4 oz (or 125 g) black figs, peeled and well ripe
- vanilla powder
- 2 tbs sugar
- 3.38 cups milk (or 800 ml) whole, skim or half-skimmed
- 6 tps evaporated milk (canned or in powder)
- 1 regular plain yogurt
Preparation
If you are using fruits at the bottom, I suggest to start preparing them beforehand. Peel figs and cut in small cubes, add sugar and let it cook until it becomes into a smooth consistency. Add vanilla and let it cool. Proceed the same way with the apples and kiwis (without the use of vanilla).
Remove milk from the refrigerator and keep it room temperature for a while. In a mixing container, mix milk and yogurt. Add evaporated milk. Mix well.
Place 2 tbs of fruit sauce in each jar, add milk mixture and place in yogurt maker as per instructions. Do not close jars with lids. I kept those for 9 hours in the machine since I used non-fat milk. If you are using regular milk, or half-skimmed milk, you need to leave the yogurts about 7-8 hours. When the machine has stopped, put lids on and place in the refirgerator for 3 hours.
Delicious little tentacles – Tagine of octopus with mangoes
Jan 19th
Délicieuses petites tentacules – Tagine de poulpe aux mangues
From what I’ve seen and heard, I have found very few people crazy about octopus…unlike me, I love it, like every thing else that lives in an ocean. The thing with octopus is that it needs to be well cooked, and prepared the right way or it can get hard to chew, and rubbery. I have tasted an octopus carpaccio in a small restaurant in Como Lake, Italy, where the octopus was cut in paper thin slices, then marinated and topped with rucola, lemon juice and olive oil. Octopus is very popular in Mediterranean cuisine and despite its strange prehistorical aspect, has an extraordinary delicate flavor and can be prepared in many different ways.
For this recipe, you can cut the octopus in smaller pieces if you don’t like to have big chunks of tentacles in your plate. I wanted to make octopus pieces as big as the mangoes. Don’t get intimidated by this strange animal with its long legs and tentacles, you’ll be surprised by its delicacy.
I found this recipes couple of years ago on a tagine recipe book (I forgot its name, I only remember it was a purple book), the little twist is the addition of the spice mixture you can buy at some specialty counter at our Nancy’s market. You can make it as well, keep it in a air tight container and use it in fish dishes, it’s really a great mix. Every year when I come home, my mom makes this tagine for me, she knows I am crazy for octopus, the only problem is that she used a whole octopus this time, this one weighted 5 lb, so there was enough octopus for an army. How much octopus can you eat?
Cooking octopus in clay tagine pot makes it very flavorful and tender, the addition of mangoes 20 minutes before removing it from the oven adds a sweet touch that gives this dish an exquisite exotic touch. I use my tagine very often and cooking in clay pot makes a big difference in terms of flavor. I even bought another clay pot here, that will need to fit in my suitcase and arrive in San Francisco in one piece. That will be my last day challenge.
Ingredients for 4-5
- 2 lb octopus
- 1 1/2 onions, sliced
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp spice mix
- 2 firm mangoes, not too ripe
- salt and pepper
Spice mix for a small jar
- 2 tbsp turmeric
- 1 tsp anise seeds
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp coriander seeds
- 1 tbs parsley flakes
Preparation
Clean octopus under running water, remove beak, eyes, etc…
Cook octopus in boiling water for about 30-45 minutes. Remove from water, drain and let it cool. Cut in small pieces about 1 inch thick.
Heat olive oil in your tagine, and brown onions. Add octopus, paprika, spice mix, salt and pepper. Mix well. Cook in a pre-heated oven for 1h30 hour at 375-380F. 20 minutes before removing from the oven, add mangoes, cover and cook until the mangoes are cooked but still firm and not mushy. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve with white rice, steamed potatoes or herbed quinoa.
Simply Irresistible – Coconut bouchées or mini macarons?
Jan 17th
Simplement Irrésistibles – Bouchées à la noix de coco ou macarons?
The weather is getting a little warmer than the past days and the snow is melting which did not prevent me from going shopping today for warm clothes since I realized that my suitcase is filled with summery clothes. Eh oui, c’est l’hiver! During this cold weather, my mom bakes, since visitors keep dropping by my parents house to chit chat, and sweets are always welcome.
Another one of my mom’s favorites…those small coconut macarons. They’re very small, about 1.5 inch wide so you can put a few in your mouth at once and still have room. Bouche means mouth so bouchées refers to something that fits in your mouth.
I have always loved macarons growing up, and many boulangeries (bakeries) still sell them here. What we call macarons in this region of France is not the traditional macarons that look like round little sandwiches filled with cream, like the Parisian macaron you can find in Paris at Ladurée that come in different flavors.
Nancy’s Macaron is a round shaped cookie made out of coconut or almond. Macarons in Nancy is a specialty and sold in many specialty stores, you can find them in some other regions of France as well and but with a different recipe and therefore texture. Macaron de Nancy is a specialty from this town, and was created in 1793 by two Benedictine nuns also called “Soeurs macaron” Sisters macaron. The recipe of the macaron was kept secret and transmitted throughout the centuries, there is still a street in Nancy called Rue des Soeurs Macarons, Macaron Sister Street.
Knowing how much Catherine of Medici brought from Italy to France, we can also assume that Macaron was brought to France from Italy since its name macaron derives from Maccarone, but its origin is still controverted.
This recipe is quick and easy to make requiring just a few ingredients. So if you love coconut as much as I do, you’ll love those little mini macarons, that go perfectly well with sweet dessert wine or champagne.
Ingredients for 24 bites
- 1 tbs flour
- 3.52 oz (or 100 g) sugar
- 5.30 oz (or 150 g) coconut flakes
- 2 eggs
- 1 tbs quince jam
Preparation
In a mixing bowl, mix flour, sugar and coconut. Add aggs to the mixture and stir until you obtain a smooth paste. Add quince jam, and stir. Fill in your mini silicon molds, or other individual mini molds. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 360F until the macarons have turned golden brown. Let them cool and remove from molds
On the light side – Quick and fake vegetable moussaka
Jan 13th
Du côté léger – Moussaka rapide aux lentilles
This post is overdue, I started it before I went to Tel Aviv, but never managed to finish it, so after days of wonderful fresh food, I came back to France where the bad weather conditions made me want to go back to sunny Israel. There is definitely a Greek flair to Tel Aviv, probably the Mediterranean climate and fresh produce you find all over the markets. So Moussaka here we come.
What if you feel like moussaka without meat? People might tell you, then it’s not moussaka. So not to upset anyone, I just decided to use the word fake, even though it is prepared in the same “spirit” as a moussaka.
Since I arrived at my parents, meat, prosciutto, pâté, fois gras and other ingredients have been around the table for the holidays, and I don’t know now how I have to explain my mom that I do not enjoy to eat meat THAT much. Seems like she doesn’t believe me, or doesn’t want to believe me. So I had to somehow cook something for them today, to make them believe that vegetarian dishes are quite tasty and enjoyable. France is certainly not the country for vegetarians, and Italians are not vegetarian either, so I am just wondering if you are a vegan how you will survive here.
We went shopping to a wonderful organic supermarket with so many amazing products called “La Vie Saine” (healthy life) and came back with tons of great healthy products, I am trying to make them eat less animal based products but it’s quite a challenge to change people’s habits in their late 60s. I don’t want to change anything nor anyone but at least make them enjoy other cuisines. My parents are quite open in trying new cuisines and a lot more open minded than some other French or Italians of their generation.
So I found a lentil mix of red, green, and beluga lentils that I absolutely wanted to use, then I had eggplants, so I figured that a vegetarian moussaka would be perfect…and they really enjoyed it. So I will make this dish more often.
I am not sure there is a morale in this story, probably not but I was very happy that my vegetarian moussaka was successful in a traditional Italian and French table!
Ingredients for 4-5
- 1/2 lb (or 250 g) green lentils
- 1 yellow onion, cut in half
- 3 cloves
- 1 carrot
- 1 celery stick
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 eggplants, sliced crosswise
- 5 medium size tomatoes, seedless, peeled and chopped
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 7 oz (or 200 g) gruyère cheese, grated
- 3 tbs parsley, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 egg
- 1 egg white
- 1 tbs olive oil
- salt and pepper
Preparation
Cook lentils in water and add carrot, celery, bay leaf and onion with cloves stuck in it. Cook until lentils are cooked but not mushy. Drain water and remove carrot, onion, bay leaf and celeri. Set aside.
Start with grilling the eggplants using either a grill pan or broiling them under the broiler, after sprinkling them with olive oil, salt and pepper. Set them aside.
Heat olive oil in a pan, add onion and brown them. Add tomatoes and cook until water is evaporated for about 10 minutes.
In a mixing container, add lentils, garlic, tomato mixture, parsley, egg and egg white, chili, salt and pepper.
In small ramequins, add a little olive oil, add one layer of eggplant and one layer of lentils. Sprinkle with cheese and proceed with another layer of eggplants, then lentils and cheese.
Cook for about 20 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 375F until the cheese has melted.
An ancient tradition – The galette of "The Kings"
Jan 6th
Une ancienne tradition – La galette des Rois
Yes, it’s this time of the year again. Every January 6, in France we celebrate La Galette des Rois (rois = kings), for the pleasure of kids and adults too. I haven’t met anyone who doesn’t like Galette des Rois. It’s this sweet thing that even non-sweet tooth do enjoy to eat too.
Galette des Rois is an ancient tradition that refers to Epiphany which is a catholic tradition that goes back to the IV century. Every catholic church celebrates Epiphany on Jan 6. Before Christianity, this celebration was for the apparition of the Greek God Dyonisos who was attached to seasons, he died during the decline of vegetation and would resuscitate with the light. Basically, I think it’s called Twelfth Night in English referring to 12 days after Christmas.
Epiphany derives from Greek that means “event” and refers to the birth of Jesus. Epiphany refers to to acceptance by the Magi (The Three Wise Men) of Jesus being the Messiah.
Galette des Rois was starting to be popular already in the XIV century. Its round shape referred to the cult of the sun of the Saturnales, a pagan celebration. Galette des Rois is split into equal parts, you have as many parts as there are guests, with an extra slice for anyone who would drop by. Inside the galette, a “fève” (I think it’s called charm in English) is hidden, and the one who gets it, is the King and gets to wear the crown. This ritual goes back to Roman times when during a feast, one king was randomly picked by hiding a black or white coin in the food. The one finding it, would become king.
If you look at the picture, you can see a “fève” in the middle of the filling, the one who finds this in his slice, gets celebrated king. All bakeries in France sell Galettes des Rois with a paper golden crown during this time of the year, so that the celebrated King can wear it. Then the king gets to pick his queen. Nowadays, its religious meaning has been a little lost, and everyone enjoys a good Galette despite its religion. Since Galette des Rois is only sold during this time of the year, if you are a Galette lover, you can make it any time.
A galette is made of two puff pastry sheets, with a mixture in between those sheets of almond paste, eggs, sugar and butter and other minor ingredients such as rum or almond extract.
Ingredients for a Galette of 6-8 people
- 2 puff pastry sheets
- 3.52 oz (or 100 g) soft butter
- 5.20 oz (or 150 g) sugar
- 2 eggs
- 7 oz (or 200 g) almond powder
- almond extract
- 1 tbs rum
- 1 tbs crème fraîche
- 1 egg yolk
Preparation
In a mixing container, mix almond powder with butter, sugar, eggs, almond extract, rum and crème fraîche to obtain a smooth consistency. In a round non stick tart tray, place pastry sheets, then pour mixture on sheet, place second sheet on top and seal sides. With a fork, make holes on top crust and form stripes vertically and horizontally with a ravioli cutter to create a square pattern.
With a brush, spread yolk on top of crust to make it golden. Cook in a pre-heated oven at 370F until the Galette is cooked and golden brown for about 30 minutes.
For the love of bread – Whole wheat country bread with figs
Jan 4th
Pour l’amour du pain – Pain complet aux figues
This is one of my mom’s favorites, she made it to eat it with fish terrine for that crazy Jan 1st meal. Seems like she recently got into bread making and so excited to make it for me. I love breads in France, all of them, baguette à l’ancienne, baguette tradition, pain de campagne, etc…they’re all so good that I love to eat them just plain, like some people would eat cookies and bread is the first thing I request when I arrive.
Not all bakeries make great bread but we all know where the best bread in town is, and get it fresh every morning and people have absolutely no problem driving a few miles to get the bread they want even though there is a boulangerie (bakery) at every corner here. Every one has its favorite boulangerie and we can have serious discussions about where the best bread is and why. Too bad I am no baker, otherwise I would open one in my San Francisco neighborhood since finding good bread there is like a mission impossible. Or eventually make it for my own consumption…I repaired my own shoes once, so why not make bread? I think making great bread is not an easy task though, you need the right ingredients, and a perfect humidity. I think the constant high humidity level in San Francisco makes it difficult to keep the bread crunchy for too long.
She made this bread very quickly and I was impressed with easiness of the process, it’s fairly simple. So you don’t need to be a baker to make it. I always thought it’s impossible if you’re not a baker to make good bread, and I have to say that some home made breads can be delicious.
Ingredients for one bread
- 12.34 oz (or 350 g) whole wheat flour
- 7-8 figs cut in pieces
- 10.14 fl oz (or 300 ml) water
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 pack yeast
Preparation
In a container, place flour, add salt and mix. Dissolve yeast in water, and add gradutally to the flour. You need to have a little sticky consistency. Mix but to not over knead dough. Make a thick baguette shape bread. Let it rise for 2 hours. When dough has doubled its size, insert fig pieces and sprinkle with flour. Cook in a pre-heated oven for about 30 min. or until the bread is golden brown.
As delicate as a flower – Quince preserve
Jan 2nd
Aussi délicate qu’une fleur – Gelée de coings
I have been completely away from my computer and the internet world since I arrived in Nancy. The weird thing is that when I come home, I just disconnect completely from my computer and phone. I like the slow pace, relaxed energy and long walks in the nature with my mom and barely feel like turning on the computer. It’s been cold and freezing lately, the cold bites my skin and is quite invigorating but as long as the sky is blue I am happy. Yesterday, January 2nd the crazy country wide sales have started and the shops will remain exceptionally open on Sunday (in France on Sundays usually all stores are closed), the streets are packed with shoppers looking for the best deals.
My mom has been going crazy cooking for the holidays and to be honest, I have barely touched anything. The January 1st lunch was comprised of 12 course meal lunch going from traditional Escargots (snails) using her own recipe, to Foie gras roulé au pain d’Épices et figues (Foie gas rolled in spicy bread with figs), to Cannelloni with spinach and ricotta, and tons of other dishes. I am just wondering how much weight I’ll gain when I’ll get back to the US since my jeans are already starting to get a little tight. So the next week will be posts that she made, from her own recipes or old recipes she took from books here and there.
This is one of my favorite jams, to me quince preserve smells like a flower and is so addictive. My parents have many quince trees in their garden, and my moms makes a delicious quince preserve and paste. This region of France is quie famous for its quince trees. Every morning I spread it on brioche or pains au lait and I just feel like eating the most delicately perfumed flower. It’s deep orange-red color and perfume makes this preserve the sexiest of all. The literal translation of “Gélee” is “Jelly” and the juice of the fruit is used instead of the fruit itself. When making quince preserve, the leftover cooked fruit flesh is used to make a quince paste which is a delicious sweet treat.
For jams and preserves, the quantities of fruits is the same as quantity of sugar. In this case, quantity of sugar used is the same as quince juice. So I did not put exact quantities. For example, here the juice obtained after cooking the fruits is equal to quantities of sugar you will use. For this recipe my mom used less sugar so, for 2 lbs of juice obtained, she used 6 oz (170 gr) of sugar.
Ingredients for 2-3 jars
- Quinces, washed, cut in quarters and unpeeled (just the stem needs to be removed)
- Sugar
- Water
Preparation
First wash quinces well to remove the little “hair” from its skin. Dry them. Remove the stem and cut them in quarters. Do not remove seeds since it’s the seed that make the jelly texture.
Place in a large pot and cover with water. You need enough water to just cover the fruits not more. Cook at high heat until it boils, then decrease heat and cook slowly.
When the fruits are cooked. Filter the mixture and keep the juice. Add sugar to the juice and bring back to boil slowly for about 15 minutes or until the preserve thickens. When the preserve has thicken, remove from heat and place in jars.
Let it cool and close jar with cover tightly.
