A good friend of mine is half Basque, so one day, while browsing through her cookbooks, I found a very interesting book on Basque cuisine, written by Gerald Hirigoyen, an amazing Basque chef who owns a few restaurants in San Francisco, among which Bocadillos and Piperade.

One particular recipe really caught my attention just because I never saw lychees in Basque cuisine; Litchi (or lychee) is an Asian fruit, mainly grown in China and is considered a tropical fruit for us. In France, you can find lychees almost anywhere and we eat a lot of them, but only as a fruit; it’s mainly sold during winter time, and I have never really seen it incorporated into a main course.

The natural sweetness of scallops blends beautifully with fruits, and I could not stop thinking about this recipe…I finally decided to give it a try, but twisting things around a little, changed a few ingredients and added some cayenne pepper, it  gave the dish a little kick and I love it. I will definitely serve it again when I have a dinner party.

The gazpacho is slightly fruity but not too sweet and very smooth, when combined with the crunchiness of the cucumber is a perfect harmony of textures.

The scallops need to be very fresh, I used the jumbo ones, make sure to pat them dry, to remove all excess water, so they are able to brown well.

Ingredients for 4

• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 English cucumbers, peeled
• 12 lychees
• 1 large tomato, peeled, cored and diced
• cayenne pepper
• 1 tbs lemon juice
• 1/4 cup olive oil + 2 tbs
• 8 large scallops
• 1 tbs mint chiffonade
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Bring balsamic vinegar to a boil, then reduce heat and cook for about 10 minutes, until the vinegar has reduced to a syrup consistency. Set aside.

Cut half of the cucumber in half lengthwise, remove seeds and chop one half. Using a mandoline, julienne the other half to form some spaghetti strands with the cucumber. Throw away the seeds. Place julienne in a bowl and sprinkle with salt, toss to coat and set aside for 15 minutes.

Peel lychee and remove the seed. In a blender, combine lychees, tomato, chopped cucumber, lemon juice, cayenne, olive oil, salt and pepper. Process to obtain a smooth consistency. Cover and refrigerate.

Rub scallops on both sides with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Heat a griddle or cast-iron skillet and saute scallops over high heat, for about 1 to 2 minutes or until golden brown.

Divide lychee gazpacho among 4 plates. Rinse julienne cucumber with cold water and pat dry with paper towels. Toss with mint and place some in the center of the gazpacho. Mount with two scallops in the center and drizzle with balsamic reduction.

]]> http://www.citronetvanille.com/blog/appetizers/an-exotic-gazpacho-scallops-with-lychee-gazpacho/feed/ 27 http://www.citronetvanille.com/blog/appetizers/rillettes-from-the-sea-smoked-mackerel-rillettes-with-potato-cumin-blinis/ http://www.citronetvanille.com/blog/appetizers/rillettes-from-the-sea-smoked-mackerel-rillettes-with-potato-cumin-blinis/#comments Fri, 25 Jun 2010 04:22:48 +0000 silvia http://www.citronetvanille.com/blog/?p=11491 Rillettes de la mer – Rillettes de maquereau fumé sur blinis de pommes de terre au cumin

It’s been a while I ate mackerel…it’s one of those things you tend to forget it exists until you see it at the store. In France mackerel is a quite consumed fish, we eat it fresh and grilled, it’s considered a “fat” fish, well fattier than cod or sole and when smoked you can make delicious “rillettes“. Rillettes are a traditional specialty from France, they are somehow like a pâté or spread, but not as fine grind and with a more “thready” type of texture. They’re commonly made with pork meat that has cooked for a very long time in its own fat.  Other types of rillettes can be made with duck, goose, rabbit and even with some types of fishes. The most famous are Rillettes du Mans (Mans being a city in the Northern part of France).

Fish rillettes contain butter and even though less fattening the meat rillettes, they tend to be on the heavy side. I avoided all extra fat by adding yogurt which added creaminess. Mackerel being a naturally fat fish, I didn’t want to add extra fat in it. I am not a fat-free freak, but when it’s not necessary to add it, I avoid it.

For a nice snack or appetizer, I thought a little potato blini would complement the rillettes quite well. Again blinis are usually made with buckwheat flour and go marvelously with smoked fish, then nothing prevent you from twisting things around in the kitchen and add a different texture and flavor to the traditional blinis. You can eat this as a light meal or serve them as appetizers, they’re always appreciated in my house.

Ingredients for about 12 blinis

For the rillettes

• 7 oz (or 200 g) smoked mackerel
• 1 garlic clove
• 4 tbs plain yogurt
• 1/2 shallot
• 1 tsp parsley
• 1 tsp dill
• 1 tsp chives
• red pepper corn, crushed
• salt

For the binis

• 7 oz (or 200 g) potatoes, cooked and mashed
• 4 tbs flour
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/3 tsp baking soda
• 1 tbs olive oil

Preparation

For the rillettes

In a blender, mix mackerel, herbs, garlic and shallot. Taste to adjust salt since smoke mackerel tends to be on the salty side. Do not blend into a too fine paste, you need to have some texture and taste the mackerel. Add yogurt. In a mortar, crush red pepper corn and add to the mixture. Refrigerate for about one hour.

For the blinis

Cook potatoes in salted water, when soft, remove from stove and drain. Crush potatoes in to a fine puree. In a mixing container, add puree potatoes, flour, egg, milk, baking powder. Add cumin seeds and salt. Mix well to obtain a smooth mixture.

Heat olive oil in a pan, add one small amount of dough (about the amount of a tsp). Let one side cook, then flip it over.  Proceed until used all the batter. Spread with mackerel rillettes, top it with extra red pepper corns and herbs.

Well here I am again with shrimps…when we cook we all find our inspiration from different sources, it can be our moms, grandmothers, books, chefs, travels, anything. For this particular recipe, I inspired myself from one of Alain Ducasse’s recipes that I twisted around quite a bit, but I kept his idea of wrapping the soba around the shrimps. Isn’t this a great idea? What I love about Alain Ducasse or Christophe Megel is that they mastered the art (it truly is an art) of blending contemporary influences with classical cuisine which awaken all your senses into a taste bud ecstasy.

At first, I thought it sounded strange, borderline unappealing, then after looking at it, and reading the recipe a little longer, I realized that this would be an amazing little appetizer. I made my own dipping sauce with pomegranate, chilis and garlic, and I could not get enough of those shrimps. Now, the original recipe deep fries the shrimps, I somehow refuse to deep fry anything, you can do it, if you want but I have a little “mental blockage” with fried food, so the devil did not manage to make me deep fried this, even if Alain does. Désolée Alain, je n’aime pas la friture! I am sure he would understand!

What I love about this recipe is its composition of textures and flavors.

The soba get a very pleasant crunchy bite due to the batter where ice cubes have been added at end of the process, they melted in the mixture, it helped make the batter light therefore give a particular crunchiness to the soba. There is a feast going on in your palate at first bite, and it’s such an exciting sensation!

Ingredients for about 10 shrimps

• 10 shrimps, deveined
• 2.11 oz (or 60 g) regular soba or green tea soba
• 1/3 cup (or 75 g) cornstarch
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup (or 100 g) flour
• 1/3 cup (or 75 g) water
• 1/3 (or 75 g) cup ice cubes
• salt and pepper

For the pomegranate-chili dipping sauce

• 1/2 cup pure unsweetened pomegranate juice
• 2 tbs pomegranate glaze
• 1 tbs honey
• 2 tbs rice vinegar
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 chili, finely diced
• salt

Preparation

Bring a pot of water to a boil, add soba, cook for a few minutes until still a little crunchy, then remove from heat, drain and place in chilled water. Let cool, drain and set aside.

Dip shrimps in corn starch.

In a mixing bowl, mix egg with flour and water, stir well. Add ice cubes and keep stirring until they dissolve.

Dip soba in batter, remove excess batter and wrap around the shrimps.

Heat olive oil in a pan (enough to get 2 mm of oil in the pan), then add shrimps, let them brown on all surfaces. When cooked removefrom pan, and pat dry with a paper towel to remove excess oil. Serve hot with dipping sauce.

For the dipping sauce

Mix all ingredients together except the garlic and chili and cook for a few minutes until the honey is dissolved and the sauce has a little reduced. Let it cool, then add chili and garlic.

Some days are a little more morose than others, and lately my mood has been affected by many things and partly by the San Francisco weather…I hate to talk about weather changes, because I think it is a little annoying to hear, and it sounds like “old bored people’s” discussions and if I look at last year posts around this time of year, it was the same thing…the fog rolling in. Everyone talks about the weather in this city because it changes so fast and every district or neighborhood has its own micro climate…and honestly when buying a house in the city you want to make sure you are not in a “fogged in” area, if you do, you better love wearing ski jackets in June. So when it rains, or you need a little quick fix to cheer you up, make palets, they’re easy to make and so delicious!

You might not be familiar with France and its beautiful and picturesque rainy North Western region : la Bretagne (Brittany), they have amazing seafood specialties and many others like this palet breton.

Palet breton is a dry cookie made with a pâte sablée and demi-sel butter. Brittay is famous for galettes bretonnes, palets and other buttery cookies (and crêpes of course). You can find so many brands of those delicious cookies in the supermarkets, so being far away from French supermarkets, I figured I better learn how to make them if I ever want to eat some.

Usually palet breton is about 1.5 com thick, so a little thicker than the ones I made. As any “dry cookie” they’re delicious and very enjoyable with a tea or coffee, or as a little snack. This time, I wanted to “dress them up”, turn them into a little bite as a dessert…and add some extra crunch to it, by adding pistachios.  if you don’t have butter demi-sel, use regular butter and add fleur de sel.

Ingredients for about 18 palets

for the palets

• 7 oz (or 200 g) flour
• 3.52 oz (or 100 g) butter demi-sel, cubed
• 2.82 oz (or 80 g) sugar
• 2 yolks
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2.11 oz (or 60 g raw pistachios, roughly chopped

for the mascarpone cream

• 7 tbs mascarpone
• 7 tbs fromage blanc
• sugar to taste

for the raspberry coulis

• 14 oz (or 400 g) raspberries
• 5.29 oz (or 150 g sugar) or more if the raspberries are not very sweet
• 1 tsp lemon juice

Preparation

In a mixing container, mix flour and baking powder. Add butter and mix carefully from the tips of your fingers incorporating it to the flour mixture. Separately mix yolks with sugar and vanilla extract and add to the flour.  Form a uniform ball. Spread with a rolling pin in a 1.5 cm sheet. Cut with a small cookie cutter or glass (the cookies are usually thick and small, about 5 cm diameter). Bake in a parchment paper or silpat for about 15 min at 360F. Let them cool.

For the mascarpone cream, just combine all ingredients together.

For the coulis, combine all ingredients in a blender. Filter coulis through a sieve to remove the seeds.

Place a generous amount of mascarpone cream on top of a palet. Add raspberries and top it with coulis and chopped pistachios.

Yes time flies and I just realized that this is my 300th post! I completely forgot the 100th and 200th…

I knew when I ordered a new washing machine and dryer that something was going to happen and something did happen…today’s delivery has been canceled because they were in back order. So I have to keep running the dryer six cycles to have the clothes dry. I bet PG&E are thrilled and my mom to lift me up, told me “you don’t need a dryer, it ruins all the clothes”. Very few people have a dryer in Europe, so for most Europeans it’s an unnecessary item…let’s not put all Europeans in the same basket, let’s just say for my mom…but I don’t know anyone who has a dryer among my friends and family.

I was somehow disappointed and bummed, and not in the mood for cooking long and complicated meals…and since I had all the ingredients without rushing to my Greek grocery store, there was no question, I was going to make this soup. I used to make it quite often, then for whatever unexplained reason, it stopped appearing on my table…let’s go back to old recipes, sometimes you forget how great they are. This soup is filled with vegetables and is absolutely a, and 100% vegan. The tofu croutons do add this chewy/crunchy texture that blends beautifully with a spoonful of fragrant creamy soup. You can serve this with a tapenade tartine, so the leftover tapenade from yesterday came in handy. The olives complement the flavors of the soup to perfection. For the broth quantities, you will have to adjust it to your tastes, some people like their soup thicker, some people prefer it thinner, so you will have to play around with it.

Ingredients for 4

• 1 eggplant, sliced crosswise
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 zucchini, sliced
• 1 red bell pepper, roasted, peeled and sliced
• 4 tomatoes, peeled and seedless
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 tbs oregano
• 1 tbs olive oil
• vegetable broth
• extra firm tofu
• flour
• fleur de sel
• pepper

Preparation

Grill bell pepper under broiler until the skin get charred. Peel and remove seeds. Cut in slices.

Place all the remaining vegetables in a tray, sprinkle with fleur de sel, pepper and olive oil and broil under broiler. Turn the vegetables both sides to grill them.

Mix bell peppers with the rest of the vegetables, add broth garlic, oregano and using a hand blender, mix to obtain a smooth purée.

For the tofu croutons, cut tofu in small cubes, coat them with flour, remove excess flour. Heat olive oil in a pan saute tofu at high temperature until both sides turn golden brown. Serve in bowls, add tofu croutons in the middle and drizzle with olive oil and extra oregano.

This soup can be eaten lukewarm or hot. If you like it hot, just heat it up on the stove for a few minutes before adding tofu.

Cherries are finally in season and this house is a red fruit mad house, red fruits are all over, even on the rug, towels, and walls! I think in between the strawberries and the cherries, there must be about 15 lbs of those red beauties in the refrigerator. Enzo the dog and Lilou the parrotlet have been on a red fruit diet too like everyone else…I think there will be more cherry and strawberry recipes in the next coming days, for those who have a berry fetish like we do have here.

Cherry soup is a popular sweet and regional peasant soup served as a dessert where I grew up, mostly in a mountainy region called Les Vosges, it’s basically a ski area, with lots of farms and cabins, ski resorts, and many rustic restaurant offer it on their menu. The cherries are cooked in a red wine, sugar and vanilla with a flour base sauce. Due to the quantity of cherries, I might feature this one in the next coming days.

I have been entertaining lately therefore experimenting many cold soups served in verrines. I love small verrines, they make such cute and fun little appetizers. When you have tons of cherries like I do, chutneys or soups are wonderful, and call it a coincidence, but I found this deliciously pungent Basque cheese called Etorki, it’s a sheep cheese that is traditionally served in the Basque region (Pays Basque) with cherry jam as a tasting (en dégustation), so that was a no brainer, those dark cherries would turn into a jam or chutney and served with Etorki. That sweet-salty cherry chutney and Etorki cheese are simply a magic match.

Ingredients for 4 small verrines

• 400 g red cherries, pits removed
• 2 tbs sugar
• 3 tbs raspberry vinegar
• 3 cloves
• vanilla powder (or 1 vanilla bean scraped)
• Szechuan pepper

Preparation

In a medium size pot, mix cherries with cloves, sugar, Szechuan pepper, cover it and let the mixture cook for 5-10 min at medium heat, until the cherries start to soften and turn into a jam. Add vinegar and reduce for an additional 5-7 minutes. At this point, the cherries are soft and look like a jam.

Remove from the heat, let it cool and serve in small verrines, with some etorki cheese on top.

I have felt the whole day as if today was Sunday…what a “tête en l’air” (head in the air) that would translate into air-headed, I do not have that particular reputation but today it really felt like a Sunday to me, the energy in the streets, the pace, just the overall feeling did not seem like the beginning of the week. Three day weekends are so rare in the US, that when it happens, you get confused.

Yesterday was Mother’s day in France and this would have been the type of dish I would have prepared my mom, she would have been intrigued and skeptical to see a blackberry next to a shrimp, but I’m quite sure she would have loved the flavor.

Even though French cuisine does not often traditionally combines sweet and savory flavors, there are indeed many recipes that do combine fruits in savory dishes. Some fruits such as berries are combined with game, I do like to associate them to seafood once in a while, you know for those particular days when you have one of those cravings…

Now when you look at the title, that might seem odd to you, shrimps and blackberries, well if you decide you ever want to try it out, you will definitely realize that the flavors are matching in a very harmonious symphony and this dish is something has a refined and subtle touch to it.

I love those types of quick dishes that look like they have been taking forever to prepare…this dish fits the express category and is a perfect choice when you want to impress your guests with a chic touch.

For a long time, I have been reluctant to add sugar to some savory dishes, just because I had a more traditional culinary background where sugar was an ingredients mainly used in desserts. I love berries of all kinds, and the first time I saw blackberries in the US, I was amazed by their huge size, they are just BIG (like everything else in the US)…nonetheless delicious. Now I only buy the big kinds, if they’re small I don’t even look at them!

Ingredients for 4 (20 shrimps)

• 20 large shrimps, peeled and deveined
• 5.29 oz (or 150 g) blackberries
• 5 cardamom pods, seeds removed and crushed
• Szechuan pepper
• Fleur de sel
• 0.88 oz (or 25 g) balsamic vinegar
• 0.70 oz (or 20 g) salted butter
• 0.70 oz (or 20 g) sugar
• 3/8 cups (or 50 cl) water
• mint leaves, finely chopped

Preparation

Dissolve sugar with water and bring to a boil. Add blackberries, stir carefully, remove from the stove and blend the mixture with a  immersion blender. Pass the coulis through a sieve to remove the seeds. Keep aside.

Crush cardamom seeds (the seeds inside the pods) with a mortar and set aside. When the

In a pan, saute shrimps in butter, add salt and Szechuan pepper, then add cardamom seeds. Remove shrimps from the pan, and keep them warm. Deglaze pan with vinegar, and reduce to a half. Add blackberry coulis and let it reduce for 1 or 2 minutes.

Place some coulis in a plate, add shrimps in the middle, and sprinkle with mint.

]]> http://www.citronetvanille.com/blog/express-less-than-30-minutes/for-french-mothers-day-saute-shrimps-with-cardamom-and-blackberry-coulis/feed/ 33 http://www.citronetvanille.com/blog/appetizers/the-no-guilt-fish-brioche-toasts-with-smoke-marinated-herrings-grilled-onions-and-egg-avocado-sauce/ http://www.citronetvanille.com/blog/appetizers/the-no-guilt-fish-brioche-toasts-with-smoke-marinated-herrings-grilled-onions-and-egg-avocado-sauce/#comments Sat, 22 May 2010 01:01:07 +0000 silvia http://www.citronetvanille.com/blog/?p=10810 Le poisson qui ne rend pas coupable – Toasts de brioche, aux filets de harengs marines, oignons grillés, oeuf et sauce à l’avocat

Thanks so much to everyone who shared its experience with bad hair cuts the other day, not that I felt better when looking at myself in the mirror but at least I know I am not the only one, and that I am not overly picky. It makes me feel like opening a real hair salon with talented stylists. Oh well, one of those things you cannot dwell on for too long, besides hair grows back, and in the meantime, there are always wigs!

I don’t know why but lately I have been losing weight and not eating much…I somehow lost my appetite, j‘ai perdu mon appétit! that does not prevent me from cooking but I eat with less enthusiasm.

I remember my mom preparing herring the French way with potatoes and onions in some sort of a warm salad and I loved it…Herring is very consumed in Germany and Scandinavian countries, but in Northern France too. The great thing about herring is that unlike tuna, it’s not an endangered specie, so you can eat it without any guilt.

I love dishes combining many different textures, but not too many strong flavors or it tends to be chaotic for your palate. This one is among my favorite “egg” dish, just because it has a lot of fresh and crunchy ingredients allied with smooth textures and is a full meal in itself. You don’t need to have anything else…

Its preparation si fairly simple, and does not require to spend an infinite time in the kitchen. Lately, due to my lack of appetite, I haven’t felt like spending hours in complex dishes, and I try to remain “simple”. For those of you who are in the same type of mood, I suggest you give it a try.

You can substitute smoke herring with marinated salmon, it just happened that I saw a familiar herring brand at the store, the same kind I would find in France, and I bought just to read the packaging and felt closer to home.

The herring comes just smoke, you need to marinate it in mixed herbs and olive oil for a few hours or overnight to infuse it in some aromatic scent and decrease its smokiness.

Ingredients for 2

• 2 eggs
• 2 brioche slices
• 2 smoke herring fillets (marinated in olive oil, lemon juice and mixed herbs such as dill, thyme, parsley, etc…)
• 1 red onion slice cut crosswise
• 1 carrot, shaved in ribbons
• 1 Belgian endive, cut crosswise in thin strips
• 1/2 radicchio, cut in strips
• 1 scallion, chopped

For the avocado cream

• 1 avocado
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1/3 cup vegetable broth
• 1 tbs plain yogurt
• 1 pinch cayenne
• salt and pepper

For the vinaigrette

• 2 tbs olive oil
• Juice of 1/2 lime
• 1/2 tsp extra strong Dijon mustard
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Marinate herring with herbs, lemon juice and olive oil overnight or at least for a few hours.

In a grill pan or skillet, grill onions. Set aside. Start preparing the avocado sauce by mixing all the ingredients with an immersion blender, adjusting broth quantity if the sauce is too thick.

Using a ring mold, cut brioche in circles and grill each side on a grill pan.

Combine endives, radicchio, carrot ribbons with vinaigrette. Toss well.

Cook egg sunny side up, and using the same ring mold where you cut the brioche, cut egg in a round circle. Add salt and pepper.

Place salad at the bottom of a plate, add brioche toast, herring some onions, top it with egg, some onions and scallions. Serve with avocado cream on the side, or sprinkle some on top of the egg (before adding scallions), and serve.

]]> http://www.citronetvanille.com/blog/appetizers/the-no-guilt-fish-brioche-toasts-with-smoke-marinated-herrings-grilled-onions-and-egg-avocado-sauce/feed/ 44 http://www.citronetvanille.com/blog/appetizers/as-chic-as-a-chanel-dress-sea-scallop-on-green-apple-with-vanilla-oil/ http://www.citronetvanille.com/blog/appetizers/as-chic-as-a-chanel-dress-sea-scallop-on-green-apple-with-vanilla-oil/#comments Thu, 06 May 2010 04:09:36 +0000 silvia http://www.citronetvanille.com/blog/?p=10417 Aussi chic qu’une robe Chanel – St jacques à la pomme verte et huile de vanille

I have been obsessing about this green apple/scallop combination for weeks, and could not come up with something that I would be excited about. Raw apple? cooked apple? diced? sliced? not sure how I wanted to make it work. I have seen many recipes with scallop and green apple but it was not what I wanted, I just wanted something fresh and not to have some kind of apple sauce. I needed to have my favorite ingredient vanilla in it. So I knew there would be vanilla oil. Sometimes when developing a recipe, you have to think about it for weeks and think about it progressively, like it needs to mature in your mind. The key ingredients here are the green apple and vanilla oil.

Granny smith and sea scallop are becoming somehow a trendy combination in French cuisine and more chefs are serving this beautiful and elegant concoction….and this for a good reason, it’s a magnificent combination of flavors. The acidity of the granny smith marries to perfection with fish. When I started to cook, I was more traditional in my cuisine but with time going by, it evolved into a more eclectic fusion of tastes. I still enjoy traditional cuisine, but love to explore new flavors, and this one is a perfect example of this new exploration.

In new contemporary French cuisine, you are starting to see more fruits combined with fish, everything tastes extremely fresh, has a very low cooking time, and is an exuberance of wonderful flavors. I think with the weather getting warmer, and more wonderful summer fruits coming on the shelves, I will do more exploration.

I simply adore this recipe, I adore the granny smith acidity combined with a little honey and lime, I adore the vanilla oil, the moist sea scallops, the Szechuan pepper, I love just about every little aspect of this dish. The absolute winning part of it, is that it’s ready in 10 minutes (of course you need to infuse vanilla in olive oil overnight), and the rest happens magically.

Sea scallop is such a wonderful ingredient, you don’t need to dress it up with spices, or a lot of add on. Nature did a wonderful job in making them naturally delicious, their natural sweetness is simply a pure delight.

Ingredients for 4 (as a small bite)

• 4 large scallops
• 2 medium size granny smith apples, peeled and grated
• 1 tsp butter + 1 tbs butter
• 1 vanilla bean, scraped and infused in olive oil overnight
• 4 tbs olive oil
• 1/2 tsp honey
• 1 lime juice
• 1 lime zest
• Szechuan pepper
• salt

Preparation

First start preparing the vanilla oil by scraping the beans and adding it along with the rest of the pod to the olive oil. Place in a airtight container and let it infuse overnight.

Grate the apple and remove extra juice. Add 1 tsp of lime juice to prevent the pulp from staining. Add honey and salt.

Pat dry scallops on high heat and saute in 1 tbs butter until both sides turn golden brown, but still moist in the middle.

Melt 1 tsp butter in a small pan, then add apple for 30 seconds, just to warm it up.

Remove scallops, adjust with salt and Szechuan pepper. Place 2 tbs of apple mixture in small individual plates, add one scallop on top and drizzle with vanilla oil. Decorate with lime zests.

]]> http://www.citronetvanille.com/blog/appetizers/as-chic-as-a-chanel-dress-sea-scallop-on-green-apple-with-vanilla-oil/feed/ 30 http://www.citronetvanille.com/blog/express-less-than-30-minutes/guest-post-green-tea-soba-noodles-with-baby-octopus-sundried-tomatoes-seaweed-and-olives/ http://www.citronetvanille.com/blog/express-less-than-30-minutes/guest-post-green-tea-soba-noodles-with-baby-octopus-sundried-tomatoes-seaweed-and-olives/#comments Sat, 01 May 2010 14:45:37 +0000 silvia http://www.citronetvanille.com/blog/?p=10219 Guest post – Soba au thé vert avec petits poulpes, tomates séchées, algues et olives

One of the greatest gentleman in the food blogsphere, Lazaro Bernal form Lazaro Cooks kindly requested me if I could guest post on his blog. Of course, I accepted with great enthusiasm and excitement. I think it’s an honor to be a guest post on someone’s blog. Usually, it doesn’t take me forever to find a recipe to post, but this time I wanted to find the perfect recipe that would fit Lazaro Cooks and that would be a combination of creativity, flavors, colors and that represents exactly what I love, and what Lazaro’s blog is all about.

I love all kinds of cuisines but I tend to go towards light and flavorful tastes with a Mediterranean flair. Here they’re combined with Asian flavors (because I do love Asian cuisine too, did not have the time to become an expert in it, but I do love to combine Asian ingredients to more Western ones) and the result is a perfectly balanced soba dish with amazing flavors and textures.

For this dish, I got inspired by one of Alain Ducasse’s recipe, people who have been reading my blog, must know that I am a huge Ducasse fan. I changed a few items and twisted it around but the theme of combining Eastern and Western flavors is there and since Lazaro is a huge “connaisseur” of French cuisine, I knew he would approve my choice.

Go check out his blog for the recipe!