After a few recipes mixing shrimps and cannellini beans, or shrimps and fava beans, let’s have fun with chick peas, I think they’re closer to a bean than a pea, called pois chiche in French but it seems like it’s closer to a pea than a bean nonetheless so delicious in any form, salads, soups, stews, purees, and anything else.

I am getting a guest tomorrow for two weeks, she is coming from Paris and is 13 years old. I heard the pretty girl is picky, so I will have to figure out some “teenager friendly” menus during her stay. Not sure what it is, but I am quite certain it has to do with potatoes and pasta. I don’t remember what I ate during my teens years, my mom cooked a large variety of dishes, but at 13, honestly I don’t remember what I loved to eat. All I remember is that I was a little chubby, did not like it and I always wanted to hide.

This purée could resemble hummus, but actually, there is no tahini in it, and is thinner and creamier and is really more like a purée than anything else. It was like eating velvet, absolutely delightful.

This purée will go perfectly well with grilled fish too, and much more delicate than a potato purée. Actually, I don’t like any type of potato purée served with fish, and it seems like many restaurants are going that route. As for the skewer, the rosemary branch adds such a fragrant and unique touch to the dish. A consommer sans moderation! (to be consumed without moderation). I will certainly file this in my “to do it again and again” list of appetizers.

Ingredients for 4 people

For the purée

• 450 g cooked chick peas or canned one
• 1 garlic glove
• cayenne pepper
• 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/4 tsp powder cumin
• 1 tbs lemon juice
•  salt and pepper
•  1 tbs extra virgin olive oil

For the shrimps

• 20 large shrimps, de-shelled and deveined
• 1 tbs fresh rosemary, chopped
• 4 branches rosemary
• 1 tbs orange juice
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbs olive oil
• lemon oil
• sea weed salt or regular salt

Preparation

Drain chick peas and keep some of the cooking liquid. Mix chick peas in a mixer to obtain a smooth texture. Adjust with water to make the paste a little thinner. Add all other ingredients and set aside.

Marinate shrimps with olive oil, orange juice, balsamic vinegar, some of the rosemary, salt and pepper for about one hour.

Remove shrimps from marinade. Place 5 shrimps in one rosemary branch and grill on a skillet or grill pan.

Spoon 2-3 tbs of puree in a plate, place 1 skewer on top and drizzle with lemon oil and chopped rosemary.

Growing up in Lorraine, and Lorraine being Alsace’s close neighbor, I am quite familiar with tarte flambée, which is an Alsacian Specialty (they eat it in Germany and close regions as well). It’s literally translated into “flamed tart” but has nothing to do with being flamed. The word flamed probably comes from the fact that tarte flambée used to be cooked in very hot wood ovens and very quickly, therefore the crust border turned all burnt and black by the intense heat. Flammkuchen is the Alsacian/German translation that we also use when talking about tarte flambée. If, for whatever reason you end up in the Eastern part of France, and more precisely in Strasbourg (which is a magnificent city) you can go to this wonderful brasserie right next to the cathedral (I think it’s called Caveau Gurtlerhoft) to experience a sinful tarte flambée. The traditional is made out of crème fraîche, fromage blanc, onions and lard fumé (thick cut bacon), you have other variations, such as the vegetarian, or with mushrooms, etc…and also salmon like this one. I sometimes substitute heavy cream to crème fraîche, but it will not work here, you need the thick consistency of crème fraîche for the topping. 

Tarte flambée is a peasant dish, just like pizza. The original tartes had a rectangular shape, and eaten burning hot and rolled. Nowadays, most restaurants serve them round, probably because it’s easier to cut in slices, and you don’t have to burn your fingers rolling them, even though few restaurants still make them rectangular like in the old times.

If you want some different and fun alternative to pizza, try one of those, you won’t be disappointed, they’re so delicious, and easy to prepare. You can use a bread dough or pizza dough, it just needs to be rolled very thin.

Ingredients for 2 tartes

• Bread dough about 5.30 oz (or 150 gr) per ball, (recipe here)
• 4 tbs crème fraîche (2 on each tarte)
• 8 tbs Fromage blanc or Page Greek yogurt
• 1 large yellow onion, cut in half and thin sliced crosswise
• 1/2 lb (or 250 gr) smoked salmon
• salt and pepper
• chives, chopped for decoration

Preparation

In a mixing container, mix crème fraîche and fromage blanc.

Form two little balls with the dough and roll them thin.

Place dough on a pizza dish. Spread evenly the crème/fromage blanc mixture. Add onions, then add salmon. adjust with salt and pepper. Cook in a pre-heated oven at 400F, for about 15 minutes or so. Remove from oven, and sprinkle with chives. Serve very hot.

I am not used to eating beets in hot preparations, and I wanted to explore this further. Sometimes, you are so used to eating things in a certain way, that the thought of changing ways makes you uncomfortable. It’s funny how we, humans are creatures of habits. In France, beets are eaten either raw or cooked but in salads, but rarely hot. At least, I never did. I have roasted them a few times in the oven, and I liked them, but that’s it. Ca s’arrête là. It stops there. Beets being roots, I figured that like potatoes, turnips or any other root vegetable, you can accommodate them in many different ways, one of which being stuffed.

I tried those with Roquefort cheese instead of goat cheese and it was delicious. You can play around a bit with the recipe and I prefer Roquefort than goat cheese, but goat cheese and beets are a perfect combination. You can use smaller beets and serve two instead of one. It really depends on how many number of courses you have. Also, you can serve it on a bed of arugula salad, endives, etc…any kind of greens you like. As you can see this dish is quite versatile, and playful.

As for the color of beets, there is not much difference between red beets and golden beets, other than the golden ones tends to be a tiny sweeter and have a more fragrant flavor, but the difference is really not that big.

Ingredients for 4

For the beets

• 4 medium sized beets
• 4 tbs soft goat cheese (or more to be adjusted according to beet size)
• 4 tsp, chopped walnuts
• 1 large garlic clove, crushed
• 1 bunch kale
• salt and pepper

For the vinaigrette

• 3 tbs olive oil
• 1 tbs sherry vinegar
• 1.5 tsp pomegranate molasses
• 1 tbs chives, finely chopped
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Cook beets in water until tender. Drain, let it cool and peel. Cut a bit of the bottom to make it flat so the beet can stand sill, then cut the top and scoop the inside of the beet to make room for the cheese. Scoop about one third, not the whole beet.

In a small bowl, using a fork mix cheese, garlic and walnuts previously toasted. Stuff beets with the cheese mixture.

Blanch kale and when cooked, squeeze excess water.

Place stuffed beets in a tray and broil until the top turns golden brown.

Pour 2/3 of the vinaigrette on top of kale and toss well. Divide kale in plates, add one beet on top and pour the rest of the vinaigrette on top of beets. Serve warm.

My friend Laurent is French but he grew up in Tunis ( we keep each other company on the treadmill in the mornings), always shares with me his childhood memories about Tunisian cuisine and his culinary experiments (he is a fabulous cook and strangely enough we have the same culinary tastes). Yesterday morning he brought me some delicious molokhia he prepared (which is a typical Middle Eastern dish whose recipe varies from one country to another), and while eating it, It reminded me about my trip to Egypt and cruise on the Nile (the first Middle Eastern country I visited). When you start using some spices, you keep craving for more, and here I am, completely hooked on those exotic ingredients.

Thanks to Laurent, I discovered a wonderful Middle Eastern store Samirami in San Francisco, selling so many spices and Oriental products that became my supplier anytime I am in the mood for Middle Eastern flavors.

These days I have been hooked on Labne, which is a Kefir Cheese, similar to Greek yogurt but thicker, creamier and with a little salty flavor. It’s usually eaten with grilled pita, sprinkled with olive oil and za’atar (mixture of oregano, thyme, savory, sumac, sesame seeds and other middle eastern spices). Labne is delicious, and has little calories. I used toasted baguette, it might not be the most authentic bread to use, but it worked fine since I had no pita. The eggplant purée adds a smooth and velvety touch to this combination of textures. I added some green leafs to the lentils and roasted peppers for a little more robust flavor to the naturally nutty lentils and it was a very nice balance.

Labne, How did I manage to live all these years without you???? I have no idea…My life must have been so incomplete and I didn’t even know…

Ingredients for 2

For the lentils

• 150 g green lentils
• 1 carrot
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 onion
• 2 cloves
• 1 celery stick
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 bunch green cabbage, chards or any greens
• 3 tbs olive oil
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tsp pomegranate molasses
• 2 scallion, chopped
• 2 tbs cilantro, chopped
• salt and pepper

For the eggplant purée

• 1 large eggplant
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• thyme
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 tsp olive oil
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• salt and pepper

For the labne tartine

• 2 slices toasted country bread
• 4 tbs labne
• za’atar to taste
• olive oil

Preparation

For the lentil salad

Cook lentils in water with carrot, onion, celery and bay leaf. Bring to a boil and let cook until the lentils are soft but not mushy. Drain and remove all the vegetables from the lentils and set aside

Cook cabbage in salted water. Drain and squeeze excess water. Chop in small pieces and set aside.

Roast red bell pepper under broiler on all sides, until the skin darkens. Remove from oven, let it cool in a plastic bag, peel and remove seeds. Dice in small pieces.

Mix greens, and red pepper with lentils.

Prepare dressing with mixing olive oil, lemon juice, pomegranate molasses, salt and pepper. Pour on lentils and add cilantro and scallions. Toss well.

For the eggplant purée

Cut eggplants in two lengthwise. Sprinkle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Add onions on top, sprinkle with thyme and cook in a pre-heated oven at 400F. When soft, remove from the oven, let it cool and scoop out the pulp of the eggplant.

In a mixer mix pulp, add lemon juice, garlic, olive oil and adjust with salt and pepper.

For the labne tartine

Grill each slices of country bread. Spread Labne, add za’atar and sprinkle with olive oil.

I cooked a dinner last week for a lovely couple who wanted their dinner theme to be white Alba truffles. Out of six courses, three had truffles in it. The smell brought me back to my childhood….My father used to go look for truffles with his dog and brought home a lot of those delicious mushrooms. He was often complaining that his dog Bobi, would find the truffles, but then would eat them too. Italians are crazy for truffles and of course enjoy them as often as they can. In France the most popular truffle is the black truffle from Périgord region.

The French say their black truffles from Périgord are the best and Italians claim their white truffle from Alba in Piedmont are the absolute best…so one thing I know is that in the US white Alba truffles are as expensive as gold. Their price fluctuates daily and the price per ounce is outrageous, but what makes the price is supply and demand, so I guess they’re just high in demand and according to the weather conditions in their flavor changes dramatically.

I bought fleur de sel with black truffle that enhances many dishes, and go perfectly with egg, creamy dishes, pasta, etc…

These oeufs cocotte are fairly easy, do not require specific culinary skills, and are quick to make, so they’re perfect for a light elegant lunch. Here there are two eggs for a more substantial meal or as a main course.

Ingredients for 2 people

• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 shallot, chopped
• 1 cup of cooked spinach
• 1 cup shiitake
• 2 tbs crème fraîche
• 4 eggs (2 each)
• 2 slices prosciutto, roughly diced
• truffle salt
• truffle oil
• pepper

Preparation

Saute shallot in olive oil. Add cooked chopped spinach, add a little salt and pepper.  Stir well for a few minutes, then set aside. In the same pan, saute shiitake until the water evaporates, and mushrooms are soft. Set aside. In two individual ramequins, divide spinach, then shiitake. Add 1 tbs crème fraîche on each ramequin. Add prosciutto, then eggs and sprinkle with truffle salt and a little truffle oil, then pepper.

Cook for about 7 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 380F. Don’t over cook the eggs, remove them from the oven when the whites are still a little runny, they will continue cooking when out of the oven. Serve hot with some toasted baguette.

Sur le pouce, is literally translated by “on the thumb”, je mange sur le pouce, or I eat on the thumb, which means eating fast. It originated in the XIX century when workers didn’t have time to eat, they cut a piece of bread with a knife, and eating it using their thumbs.

Today two things made me happy and brightened up my day, this quick lunch sur le pouce (even though I used a fork!) and my new lamp (created by Shmulik Krampf, an extremely talented Israeli Artist who blows glass they way they do it in Murano, Italy). What do my lamp and this meal have in common? well they’re both colorful, vibrant and make me feel alive.

Sometimes when I come back from the gym, I don’t have time to cook for myself, so I eat snacks…and today I decided to not eat snacks and indulge myself…but still having a limited time, I had to make something quick. It all took me 20 minutes, which I think it’s almost like fast food.

Why do we call this mimosa? Mimosa refers to devil eggs, we call them “oeufs mimosa“, so here since we have boiled eggs, we can call them mimosa. I am not sure if “we” can, but I do.

Asparagus can be used if you don’t have green beans, it’s as delicious, and you can use scallops instead of the shrimps. Garlic, herb, butter those ingredients are a perfect match with seafood.

Ingredients for 2

For the green beans

• 250 g fine green beans
• 2 eggs, hard boiled and grated
• 2 tbs capers, rinced and chopped
• 1 scallion, chopped
• 1/2 tomato, seeds removed, and diced
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• salt and pepper

For the shrimps tartine (3 toasts each)

• 18 shrimps, peeled and deveined
• 1/4 ts paprika
• 1 garlic clove, sliced
• 1 tsp dill, chopped
• 1 tsp parsley, chopped
• 1 tsp butter
• 6 slices baguettes, or country bread, toasted
• salt and pepper

Preparation

For the green beans

Bring a large pot to a boil with water. Cook grean beans for about 5-7 minutes until tender but still a little crunchy. Drain, and place in a container filled with iced water. Set aside.

Prepare the vinaigrette, mixing the capers, scallion, oil, vinegar, salt and pepper.

Drain green beans, place on a plate. Add grated eggs, tomatoes, then pour vinaigrette on top.

For the shrimps tartines

Add paprika to the shrimps, and coat well. Add salt and pepper.

Mix butter, garlic and herbs with a fork and form an homogenous paste. In a pan melt butter/herbs slowly, then add shrimps. Cook at medium temperature until the shrimps are cooked but still juicy.

Toast bread slices. Place three shrimps on top of each tartine, and pour some butter/garlic mixture on top.

Serve with green bean salad on the side.

It’s quite a fun way to eat lentils…lentils are very versatile and I think not popular enough especially since they’re highly nutritious. I have rarely seen them in restaurants other than in soups. In France they’re considered rustic, something you would eat during winter and with smoked sausage or meat. I like them with smoked fish like salmon or trout, it tones down the smokiness of the fish (if the fish is too smokey like my salmon, actually this salmon was too smokey and salty). Here I like the combination of a hearty rustic ingredient with a more elegant and refined one. I have always loved contrasts. They’re unexpected, interesting and always leave you a feeling of wanting more.

Lentils and spinach are among the ingredients French kids have a hard time eating, if you ask any kid in France what they don’t like to eat, they’ll probably say, j’aime pas les lentiles et j’aime pas les épinards! but obviously I don’t want to make this a generality.

You can also combine fresh salmon with smoked salmon, then you would need to cut both salmon in cubes. Here I striped the salmon since I only used the smoked kind.

Ingredients for 4

For the lentils

• 200 g lentils du Puy
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 carrot
• 1/2 onion
• 1 celery stick
• 1 clove
• salt
  

For the lentil vinaigrette

• 1 tbs hazelnut or walnut oil
• 1 tsp cider vinegar
• 1/2 tsp whole grain mustard
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 1 tbs parsley, finely chopped
• salt and pepper

For the salmon marinade

• 4 large slices of good quality smoked salmon, cut in strips
• 1 orange
• zest of 1/2 orange
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp dill, chopped
• 1/4 tsp fennel pollen
• 1 tsp capers, chopped
• Piment d’Espelette
• Pepper

Preparation

In a pot of water cook lentils with clove, onion, carrot, celery, bay leaf and salt and cook until lentil are tender but not mushy. Drain and remove the cooked vegetables from the lentils and set aside. In a mixing bowl, prepare vinaigrette mixing all ingredients together.

Cut salmon in stripes, mix all ingredients of the marinade and pour over the salmon. Mix well to coat the salmon. Let it marinade in the refrigerator for about one to two hours.

Place a small amount of lentil salad in the middle of a plate (you can use a rind to mount the salad) and top with some salmon stripes. Drizzle some extra marinade on top.

These are one of those delicious appetizers that are so good, so easy to make, that everyone loves, but yet, I never think of making them. So I figure by posting them on my blog, it will make me remember that they shall not be forgotten!

Gougères are a specialty from Bourgogne region (you know that region where are produced many great French wines such as Chablis, Côtes de Beaunes, Bourgogne Aligoté, etc…); they’re made with a base of a pâte à choux and cheese. Gougères are either made in individual small balls or even in a large pan like a pie. They  can also be stuffed with a béchamel sauce and ham. Either way, they’re always delightful. They make wonderful appetizers, you can also serve them as a side cute addition to a soup, preferably a velouté. They will immediately make your soup very elegant.

Now if we are going further into who invented Pâte à choux…well it seems that an Italian baker called Panterelli brought it over to France when Catherine de Medici arrived around 1540. Then of course, the French contributed to its evolution, and started making profiterolles and other pâte à choux based pastries.

Usually, gougères are made with hard cheeses like gruyère, parmesan or comté, but you can use roquefort, or other strong cheeses. I stayed with a traditional base of comté, but you can play around with the pâte à choux and make it your own.

Ingredients for about 25 medium size gougères

• 1 cup (or 250 ml) water
• 4 eggs (+ 1 yolk)
• 5.30 oz (or 150 g) comté cheese, grated
• 5.30 oz (or 150 g) white flour
• 2.65 oz (or 75 g) butter
• 1 tbs thyme, finely chopped
• nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• pepper

Preparation

Mix water and butter in a pot and bring to a boil, add salt. Remove from stove and add flour all at once. Mix well to obtain a smooth batter, then place back on low temperature while stirring vigorously until the dough detaches from the sides of the pot and turns into a consistent ball. Remove from heat, and let it cool for a few minutes. Add eggs, one at a time. Mix well until the batter becomes smooth. Add cheese, thyme, nutmeg and pepper.

Butter a tray to prevent sticking. Using two teaspoons or a douille, divide all the dough into big walnuts size little piles.

Brush each gougère with beaten yolk and cook in a pre-heated oven at 390F for about 20-30 minutes, until the gougères are golden brown and have risen. Serve hot or at room temperature as apéritif.

I made these oeufs cocotte while I was back in France last June, the days were long, day light lasted until 10:30 pm. I love the month of June, it’s the longest and the most exciting of all the months where people have not left on vacation yet, unlike July or August when most large Northern cities are empty, everyone goes dans le midi! and we celebrate summer with Music Festival, music bands play all over the country on June 21, the streets are filled with happiness and excitement. June is always so vibrant and colorful with such a special ambiance.

June is over now, and August is around the corner…so it’s about time for another oeuf cocotte!

When I feel like eating eggs, most of the time they come in this cocotte form. You break the yolk and you dig further down the little cocotte to find more exciting bites. In France we call those containers cocotte, in this case, it’s a mini cocotte.

I used morbier cheese, made with raw milk and has a line of black ashes in the center of the cheese, it has a sweet taste and somehow a creamy texture. Its fabrication has been traced back to 1795 where documents found describe a round cheese from 8 kilos to 10 kilos and called “Petit Morbier“. The great news is that you can find Morbier in the US!

The combination of the bitterness of endives and sweetness of Morbier complement each other to perfection. I also used crème allégée, which is a “light” heavy cream with 5% fat. I haven’t found anything similar in the US, so just use heavy cream or regular crème fraîche.

Not only oeufs cocotte are delicious but they’re fun to eat, so just play with ingredients and have fun! But do not overcook the yolks or they’ll be ruined.

Ingredients for 4 cocottes

• 2 shallots, chopped
• 3 small endives, finely sliced crosswise
• 4 tbs crème fraîche, or heavy cream
• 1 tbs olive oil or butter
• 150 g morbier cheese sliced
• 4 eggs
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Heat olive oil in a pan and brown shallots. Add endives, salt and pepper and cover with a lid. Cook at medium heat until the endives are soft.  Divide the endives in mini cocottes or ramequins. Add 1 tbs crème fraîche on each ramequin and top with a few pieces of morbier cheese. Break the egg, adjust with salt and pepper and add the rest of the cheese.

Cook in a pre-heated oven at 370F for about 7 minutes. The egg whites need the be slightly runny when you remove the eggs from the oven, they will keep cooking when outside of the oven. Serve immediately.

Who said kekabs have to be with meat? you can do anything you usually do with meat using vegetables, some vegetables are more adapted to certain cooking methods, but are incredibly versatile.

I haven’t used haloumi in a long time, and really felt like grilling cheese, and especially haloumi with its delicate texture and pungent flavor. You can find some other haloumi recipe here and here. I bought some pomegranate molasses at my favorite Greek grocery store (called the Fruit Barn), and had to find a way to use it. Sometimes I can get a little obsessive, when I buy a new ingredient, I won’t stop thinking until I find a recipe to use it.

Pomegranate molasses is widely used in Lebanese and Iranian cuisine not really in French or Italian cuisines, but is definitely a Mediterranean ingredient. I loved the pomegranate juices you get in Israel, in those fruit juice joints in any street, they’re so refreshing and healthy. So pomegranate molasses is produced by reducing pomegranate juice, you get some syrupy texture, half sweet, half acidic.

Basically the natural sweetness of those kebabs produced by beets and sweet potatoes is a very pleasant sensation for your palate. It’s enhanced by the bitterness of arugula and acidity of pomegranate molasses, so you’ll see how delightful these kebabs are. The stars of this dish are definitely the haloumi and the pomegranate molasses.

Ingredients for 6 kebabs

For the kebabs

• 3 medium size beets, peeled and cut in 1 1/2 inch cubes
• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut in 1 1/2 cubes
• 1 piece haloumi, cut in cubes (similar sizes than beets and potatoes)
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 tbs balsamic vinegar
• salt and pepper

For the arugula-lime sauce

• 1.5 cups arugula
• 1 tbs pomegranade molasses
• juice of 1 lime
• 2 tbs raw cashews
• 1 garlic clove
• 3 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Start preparing the arugula dipping sauce. Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend, until obtained a paste, but not too thin.

Start first by roasting beets. Place cut beets in a sheet, coat them with oil and vinegar, salt and pepper and broil in a 375F oven for about 20 minutes or until just tender. Remove from heat and keep warm.

Proceed using the same method with potatoes. Keep warm.

Using a wooden skewer, add one beet cube, then one potato cube, haloumi, another beet, and potato.

Heat a skillet or a grill pan, and grill each skewer, until the haloumi is grilled on all sides. Add some dipping sauce, and serve hot. You can serve the sauce on the side.