Archive for August, 2010
A very unusual cassoulet – Vegetarian cassoulet with trout beans and wild mushrooms for guest post
Aug 30th
Un cassoulet peu traditionnel – Cassoulet vegetarien aux haricots pour Five Star Foodie
Natasha from Five Star Foodie kindly requested me if I could be one of her participants for a contest she is holding on her blog. I was of course extremely flattered but to be honest, most of the time, I tend to refuse those types of contests, because I am always concerned of not having the freedom to use what I want and obliged to use what I don’t want, resulting in a dish that is not really truthful to what I really enjoy.
I was very happily surprised when I received a nice little package from Marx Foods with a lot of delightful gourmet ingredients. Basically, the theme of this contest is to take a traditional dish, twist it around and make it un-traditional while incorporating some of the ingredients from Marx Foods.
After a lot of thoughts, I decided to go ahead and chose a very traditional and rustic French dish from Languedoc-Roussillon region called “cassoulet“, for the “connaisseurs” of French cuisine, this might not be unknown. It’s a white bean based dish cooked for hours, with a lot of different kinds of meats such as duck, goose, pork, etc…The beans are cooked for a very long time, resulting in unctuous beans melting in your mouth. In this “Cassoulet revisited“recipe, I used beans…dried porcini, black trumpets, chanterelles mushrooms and flor de sal, all coming from from Marx Foods.
I have to say that I prefer this vegetarian version (vegan) of the cassoulet than the traditional one which tends to be on the heavy side. The wild mushrooms add a rich and incredible woodsy flavor to this composition and will make carnivores forget that there is no meat in the dish. This is a very addictive meal, it’s hard to stop at the first bite, I almost ate the whole pot (and I am not talking about this tiny one on the picture) by myself.
Go check out Five Star Foodie for the recipe…and let us know what you think!
A little bundle of joy – Napoléon of eggplants, king oyster mushrooms and manchego – Tomato concassée
Aug 28th
Un brin de bonheur – Napoléon d’aubergines, pleurottes géantes et manchego – Concassée de tomates
For the pastry “connaisseurs“, Napoléon is a famous pastry from Eastern Europe, made out different layers of crème patissière (custard), and puff pastry. While in Lithuania, and during its Russian campaign, Napoléon fell in love with this dessert, and named it after himself. The rumors even say that he lost the battle of Waterloo, because he ate so many of these the night before the battle. But of course, those are earsay, and only historians can prove this fact.
This is my savory version of Napoléon. This savory Napoléon has different layers of king oyster mushrooms and eggplants. King oyster mushrooms are simply oyster mushrooms that are grown to a large size, just like portobello are cremini mushrooms grown until they reached a particular size. What I like about king oysters is their meaty legs that remind of the fresh porcini, you can just slice them and enjoy them saute with garlic and parsley or any way you like.
This savory version of Napoleon has manchego and a drizzle of a parsley/garlic/paprika/olive oil mixture in between the layers, which adds a pleasant note to each bite. The concassée finishes the dish with a nice balance of chili and slight acidity of the tomato.
These cute little bundles of vegetables can be served as an appetizer, then two would be perfect, but then there is no rule in the number want to add on each plate.
Ingredients for 4-6 pieces
- 1 medium size eggplant (seedless), sliced
- 1 large king oyster, sliced
- 1/2 cup manchego, sliced
- 1 zucchini, sliced lenghtwise
- 1 tbs olive oil
- Fleur de sel
- pepper
For the herb-oil
- 1 tbs parsley, finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
- 1/4 tsp paprika
- salt and pepper
For the tomato concassée
- 2 medium sized, heirloon tomato, chopped, peeled and seedless
- 1 tbs extra virgin fruity olive oil
- cayenne pepper
- fleur de sel
Preparation
Grill eggplants on a grill pan or cast iron grid. Set aside. Saute mushroom slices in 1 tbs olive oil. Slice zucchini with a mandoline, making ribbons. Grill zucchini on a grill pan. Set aside.
For the herb-oil, mix all ingredients together in a small bowl.
For the tomato concassée, after peeling the tomatoes, crush one tomato, with a mixer to make a purée. Cut the other tomato in small pieces. Mix both tomatoes, add cayenne, pepper and fleur de sel. Add olive oil. Mix well.
Start assembling the napoleon. In a flat surface, place one slice of eggplant. Add 1/2 tsp of herb-oil. Place one slice of mushroom on top. Add manchego. Proceed with another slice of eggplant, mushroom and manchego. Wrap it all with two slices of zucchini (one might be too short to be wrapped around). Place in a pre-heated oven at 390F until the manchego has melted.
Serve in a plate with one tbs of tomato concassée. Drizzle extra olive oil on the tomatoes, and add some cracked black pepper.
Nice to meet you Mexico! – Stuffed avocado with shrimp and octopus cocktail
Aug 24th
Encatada de conocerte México! – Coctel de camarónes y pulpo
Not that I am starting to deviate into Mexican cuisine, but since I just got back from Cabos San Lucas last night, I wanted to pursue my Mexican and seafood adventures with this refreshing and delicious cocktail. The abundance of avocado, seafood, lime and hot peppers is what I loved most about Mexican cuisine. I knew the traditional Mexican dishes you get in California, such as quesadilla, tacos, burritos and fajitas, but never really explored further their more delicate and fragrant cuisine.
So this small and easy dish was inspired by what I discovered in a small restaurant in La Paz right in front of the ocean, a beautiful and fresh octopus cocktail served in a glass. In France, we do use avocado shell to serve avocado based appetizers, the only problem is that you need a large haas avocado or you won’t be able to fit a lot of the stuffing. You can of course use a large cocktail glass to serve this, or two avocado halves per person.
I had never been to Mexico before this trip just because usually during the summer vacation I go back home. For many reasons, I could not go home this year. So I had to find a place close by where I felt I was completely “dépaysée” (away from my natural environment) and recharge my batteries.
Los Cabos, in Baja might not be the typical Mexican city but I loved it. You can find Starbucks and Costco which I thought were somehow out of place, selling American fruits to the locals at outrageous prices. We get Mexican mangos and they get American peaches.
La Paz was a lot more Mexican than Cabos and a lot cheaper too. The warmth and hospitality of the locals, the cuisine, the burning sun, the ocean and everything else that makes Baja very special. That long and narrow peninsula has so many wonderful assets ;its where the Pacific meets the Sea of Cortez, where the desert meets green plains, where you can relax and pamper yourself in the amazing spas, or get more adventurous and drive along the coasts and discover tiny and colorful Mexican villages.
The beach… I am not really a beach maniac, and did not lay down to get a tan, but even with a 100 sun block and in the shade, you get burnt…I was lucky enough to not have a bikini incident, so everything was perfect.
I have never met people so adorable and hospitable, people would go out of their way to help you with a genuine desire to do so and sincere smile. I will be back!
Now that I am back to real life, I will have to catch up with everyone and see what’s cooking and what everyone has been up to during this last month. I apologize for being such a terrible “supporter”, but I will get back in touch with everyone very soon.
Ingredients for 4
- 4 ripe avocados, cut in half
- 1 lemon
- 12 medium size shrimps, deshelled
- 150 g cooked octopus, cut in small pieces
- 1 tsp hot sauce
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 1 tbs lime juice
- zest of 1 lime
- 1 tbs mixed herbs (cilantro, chives, tarragon, etc…)
- 1 scallion, chopped
- 1 tsp red onion, chopped
- salt and pepper
Preparation
Cook octopus for a few hours in salted boiling water. Let it cool and cut in small pieces. Saute shrimps in olive oil and add to the octopus.
Cut avocado in halves, using a teaspoon, scoop some of its flesh, leaving about 5 mm of avocado on the shell. Cut the scooped avocado in small pieces. Coat the avocado halves with lemon juice to prevent them from darkening.
In a mixing container, add all other ingredients and mix well.
Mix diced avocado with seafood, and pour vinaigrette on mixture. Spoon into the avocado halves. Decorate with lime slice and serve.
Goodbye San Francisco – Crostata with blueberries and yogurt cream
Aug 15th
Arrivederci San Francisco – crostata ai mirtilli con crema allo yogurt
It’s time to take a little time off and go where the sun is always happy and shining, not the Caribbeans but Baja Mexico. California has been under a horrendous weather, it’s so cold that the heat is back in the house, I am back wearing winter clothes such as thick ski jacket and woolen sweaters. So for a little while, I might not be posting recipes but maybe Mexican beaches and sunset.
Now, I have to find my bikini since the last time I wore it was two years ago. Swim suits are not my favorite things to wear, I always feel the bikini is too small, if I move to fast, the strings will untie. Not being the typical French woman who goes topless on the beach, I get a little paranoid about my top or bottom failing on me. Last time I was in the South of France, no one seemed to worry about the swim suit strings! Vive le topless!
I wanted to celebrate this so needed vacation by making my mom signature sweet. She makes this pie at least once a week since the number of guests stopping by the house is ridiculous, so there is always something sweet to nibble on. Her recipe comes with a jam topping mixed with sliced almonds.
I added almond flour to the crust to give it a nutty after taste. Crostate are typical Italian “tarts”. In Italy, they call the crust: pasta frolla, whereas in France, it’s called pâte brisée but the process is similar.
This crust is not a pasta frolla, my mom always use baking powder in her crust and she melted the butter instead of incorporating it cold and by pieces. This pie tastes more like a cake, and is lighter than a traditional crostata with pasta frolla, since the quantity of butter is less. I flavored it with lemon zest to give a little kick. Overall, I was somehow faithful to her recipe but you don’t always have to be faithful in the kitchen!
Bye bye grey sky, cannot wait to leave you…
Ingredients for 6
For the crostata
- 4.9 oz (or 140 g) flour
- 2.82 oz (or 80 g) almond flour
- 2.46 oz (or 70 g) sugar + 1 tsp
- 2.46 oz (or 70 g) butter, melted
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- zest of 1 1/2 lemon
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 cup blueberries
For the yogurt cream
- 6 tbs plain Greek yogurt
- 6 tbs heavy cream, whipped
- zest of 1 lemon for decoration
Preparation
In a mixing container, mix flours together. Add sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, melted butter, lemon zest and baking powder. Start mixing all ingredients together, adjusting with flour if the dough is too sticky. For a small homogeneous ball. Butter a non stick mold (about 20 cm diameter) and using your hands spread 2/3 of the dough regularly on the surface of the mold.
Place blueberries on top of the dough leaving one inch around the edges. Using your hands, push carefully blueberries in the dough. Using the leftover dough, start rolling it forming a little rope like you would when making gnocchi. That rope should be about 2/3 inch thick. Place rope across crostata forming a cross shape. Using same process, form another rope and place around the edges of the crostata.
Cook in a pre-heated oven at 365-370F for about 30 minutes, until the crostata is slightly golden. Do not overcook or the crostata will be too hard. The crust has the texture of a cake and should not be too crunchy, it needs to remain soft and moist. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve at room temperature.
For the yogurt cream
Whip heavy cream and mix carefully with yogurt. Top one slice of crostata with the cream-yogurt mixture and sprinkle with lemon zest.
No reblochon, no tartiflette – Fake Tartiflette with asparagus and brie
Aug 11th
Pas de reblochon, pas de tartiflette – fausse Tartiflette végétarienne aux brie et asperges
If you’ve been to Savoie (Savoy), you’ve probably tasted one of their specialties, la Tartiflette. Unlike what it may sounds, Tartiflette is not a tart. It’s not an old dish either. Most recipes derive from an ancient one and go back in times, some can be retraced to Etruscan era. Not tartiflette. It’s a dish that was created in the ’80s in Savoie, as a way to promote and sell reblochon, one of their local cheese.
Basically traditional tartiflette is made out of layers of thin sliced potatoes with caramelized onions bacon and topped with reblochon cheese on it. Of course, this is a heavy dish served when you go skiing in the mountains since Savoie is the main ski resort in France. My version has asparagus has brie (a cheese from the brie region, close to Paris) and St Nectaire (a very old cheese from Auvergne, pressed and uncooked made with raw milk). Now the cheese is supposed to look like this only with the crust up. I would not call this tartiflette simply because the reblochon cheese has been replaced by brie and St Nectaire, and those two are not cheeses from Savoie. Hope that makes sense. Even if it’s a fake one, it’s delicious.
For those interested in preparing a real tartiflette, add bacon when browning onions and replace brie with half reblochon and that’s it! Reblochon ( a soft washed-rind cheese, made with cow milk) is traditionally cut in half, and placed crust up on top of the potatoes so that the cheese will be able to melt and infiltrate the potatoes, and the crust will remain golden. I did not want to add a half brie here, for many reasons, one of which being a calorie issue. As far as fat content is concerned brie and reblochon and St Nectaire, they have a similar ratio of 45%.
Tartiflette is a rustic meal, it’s not considered a sophisticated dish, nor complicated to prepare, but you need great cheese, preferably imported that melts well and potatoes that remain firm without crumbling. Then if you have those two components right, you’ll get a great tartiflette…presque comme en Savoie!
Ingredients for 4
- 4 large yukon potatoes
- 2 onions, sliced
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 28 asparagus
- Brie
- St Nectaire
- salt and pepper
Preparation
Boil potatoes in a large pot of water, when cooked remove from pot, and let them cool. Peel and cut in 5mm slices.
Heat oil in a pan, add onions and brown them.
Bring a pot of water to a boil, add asparagus and cook for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and drain. set aside.
In a deep dish preferably using a clay pot, spread olive oil at the bottom of the pot. Add one layer of potatoes, add onions, add one layer of cheese and asparagus. Adjust with salt and pepper. Proceed again with potatoes, onions, asparagus and top it all with cheese.
Cook in a pre-heated oven at 375F until the cheese has melted and the crust golden. Serve hot with a green salad.
A thought for Boby – Mâche salad with shrimps on corn purée and truffle oil
Aug 6th
Une pensée pour Boby – Salade de Mâche aux crevettes sur purée de maïs et huile de truffe
Don’t you guys love truffles? I grew up eating them, since my father himself grew up in Italy in a region producing lots of truffles, so when he moved to France he brought with him a dog called Boby, whom he trained to smell truffles and find them. Boby died when I was about 10 and it was the only dog we had. My father has always been a truffle “hunter”, wild mushroom “picker” and unfortunately a bird hunter too (which I hate) and anytime I go home, I have to argue with him about this. In France, there are unfortunately lots of hunters (in Italy too, to the point where there are barely any wild birds left). The argument of hunters is, oh well they are destroying the crops of the farmers (talking about the wild boars), well they don’t realize that humans have invaded all animal habitat and have left no space for animals to live.
My dad’s aunt, in Italy used a pig to find those rare mushrooms, so did most people in the countryside. I remember after days of truffles hunting with Boby, my dad would come home with bags filled with them…and of course, my mom would make tagliatelle with a ragu and truffle sauce. Now the ones I bought were not as good as the ones I am used to eating, they barely had flavor, so if you can find great truffles, you’ll be the lucky one. Truffe means truffle in French, but it also means the nose of the dog. Yes, every dog has a truffe…I am wondering if it has to do with his sense of smell finding truffles.
I love the sweetness and creaminess of the corn combined with the shrimps, then the truffle adds such an elegant and refined final touch. It’ s a little unconventional salad due to the corn purée, but all the elements work perfectly well together.
Ingredients for 4
- 16 shrimps
- 1 large black truffle
- 2 cups mâche salad
- 1 tbs olive oil
- salt and pepper
For the corn purée
- 1/2 lb fresh corn
- 2 tbs heavy cream
- 1/2 cup vegetable broth
- salt and pepper
For the truffle vinaigrette
- 3 cl truffle oil
- Sherry vinegar
- fleur de sel
Preparation
In a pot, combine corn, cream and broth and bring to a boil, let it cook slowly for about 10 minutes until the liquid has evaporated, adjust with salt and pepper. Blend in a mixer, and pass through a sieve to obtain a smooth cream. Keep warm and set aside.
Saute shrimps in olive oil, salt and pepper until cooked.
Prepare the vinaigrette by combining truffle oil and sherry vinegar gradually.
Place corn in the middle of a plate, top it with the shrimps, shave some truffle on top of the shrimps. Sprinkle with the vinaigrette and fleur de sel, then decorate with the salad sprinkled with additional vinaigrette.
Piperade revisited – Pipérade with polenta crostino and quail egg
Aug 1st
Pipérade revisitée – Pipérade avec crostino de Polenta et oeuf de caille
This “Pipérade Revisited” is a colorful dish, simply because it really represents what Citron et Vanille is all about…French, Italian, Mediterranean cuisine with a contemporary twist, using local ingredients.
Pipérade is a traditional Basque recipe (piper meaning pepper in Occitan language) made with Basque peppers, Piment d’Espelette, onions and tomatoes. I twisted it a little to adapt the whole dish with local ingredients and make it a little less traditional with the quail egg. I also used poblano peppers that are a great alternative to Basque peppers and widely available in California.
Usually the egg is added at the end of the cooking process inside the pipérade, I added mine on top of the polenta crostino. The Jambon de Bayonne (a basque cured ham) is also traditionally cooked and added inside the pipérade. I used Serrano ham, but prosciutto di parma works perfectly fine too. In this version, I grilled the ham and added on the side.
For the crostino, polenta has been cooked in a broth infused with thyme and finished with Basque sheep cheese such as Etorki, but Petit Basque can be a fair alternative if you cannot find Etorki. I topped it all with the cutest of all the eggs, quail egg. I love to substitute quail eggs to regular eggs, they do add an elegant finish to a small bite. This is a very versatile dish, you can serve it as a canape, an appetizer, then you need about 2 per person or make bigger crostoni and serve it as a main course. On fait comme on veut! we do as we please! Now knowing how much I adore making small bites, that’s how I serve mine.
For the polenta, you can use the express polenta, or the regular one which takes over one hour to prepare. It’s up to you, if you have time or not. The express polenta is an alternative when the focus of a dish is not on polenta like this one, and is an add-on.
Ingredients for 4
For the pipérade
- 1 large onion, minced
- 3 poblano peppers, sliced thin lengthwise
- 1 red bell pepper, sliced thin lengthwise
- 4 large ripe tomatoes, peeled and seeds removed
- 4 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 tbs fresh thyme, chopped
- Piment d’Espelette
- 4 slices cured ham such as Jambon de Bayonne, Serrano ham or Prosciutto di Parma
- 4 quail eggs
- olive oil
- salt and pepper
For the polenta crostino
- 7 oz (or 200 g) polenta
- 3 cups (or 700 ml) vegetable broth
- 1 tbs thyme, chopped finely
- 2 tbs Etorki, grated + some for the shavings
- salt and pepper
- one pinch of sugar
Preparation
For the Pipérade
Heat olive oil in a pan and add onions. When onions are soft and golden brown, add peppers. Cook for out 10 minutes, then add tomates, garlic and herbs, salt and pepper. Adjust with sugar since the tomatoes tend to add a little acidity. Cover and cook slowly for about 30-45 minutes until the pipérade has reached a thick consistency and all the water has evaporated.
For the polenta crostino
Bring broth to a boil, add thyme. Let it boil for a few minutes, then add polenta. Keep stirring until the polenta has absorbed the broth (depending on which type polenta you used). When the polenta is cooked, adjust with salt and add cheese, stir until the cheese has melted and is well incorporated into the polenta.
Pour polenta in a flat tray, the polenta needs to be 1.5 cm thick. Let it cool. When cooled cut with cookie ring of about 6 cm diameter. Grill polenta in a grill pan. Grill each ham slice.
Heat olive oil in a pan, and cook quail eggs, sunny side up. Add salt and pepper.
Using a Ring, form a small tower with tapenade, top it with polenta crostino, add a quail egg, shave some cheese on top, and serve it with a slice of cured ham.
