Vegan
What a nouille! – Soba noodles with edamame, grilled zucchini and Chinese cabbage – lemon basil pesto
Sep 1st
Quelle nouille!!! – Nouilles soba, edamame, courgettes grillées, chou chinois, sauce basilic et citron
Nouille in French means noodle of course, but if you call someone a “nouille“it’s not really a compliment and means you are calling this person an idiot. So today, I do feel like a nouille, because I keep buying soba noodles and never eat them. Actually, I rarely think of preparing or eating soba noodles, probably due to my Italian upbringing…even though my pantry is filled with all kinds of soba.
I see them every day, but no… the idea of eating them, does not even cross my mind. I look at them and think, oh wow! I have so many soba in there. That’s it…the thought stops there. Isn’t that strange? It’s funny how we get stuck into habits. Well, today I decided to make a change, free some space in the cabinets = EAT SOBA. Of course, soba being Japanese, I didn’t want to prepare them the Italian way, and offend them. I tried to be faithful to their essence. For whatever reason, soba reminds me of Geisha, something delicate, and complex at the same time.
Since I have been cooking a lot of vegan meals lately, I can assure you that this dish would please any vegan out there. I combined some Eastern-Western flavors and everything made sense in this dish, from the textures, to the flavors, the colors. Yes, everything. The herbs make it fragrant, taste fresh, the lemon gives it a clean aftertaste, and all combined with the natural nuttiness and sweetness of the buckwheat make it a perfectly balanced and delightful dish. As we say in French “Essayer, c’est l’adopter“, to try it, is to adopt it…so just try it.
Ingredients for 2
- 220 g buckwheat soba
- 1 cup edamame, frozen
- 2 zucchini, sliced
- 4 Chinese cabbage leaves, thinly chopped
- zest of 1 lemon
- 1.5 cups basil leaves
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- olive oil
- salt and pepper
Preparation
In a blender mix garlic, basil, salt and pepper. Blend to a fine consistency. Add lemon zest. Set aside.
Grill zucchini on both sides using a grill pan. Cut in 4 pieces. Boil edamame in boiling water for a few minutes or place in microwave to defrost. Saute cabbage in 1 tsp olive oil.
Cook soba for about 5 minutes in a slightly salted boiling water. Rinse in cold water. Combine all ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Add pesto and toss well. Eat cold or at room temperature.
The sweet taste of childhood – Pain d’épices or Spicy bread
Aug 26th
Douce sensation d’enfance – Pain d’épices
I decided out of the blue one day to make pain d’épices…I think last time I had one slice I must have been 10 years old. What is pain d’épices? Well it’s another one of those traditional French breads or cake that is popular in Alsace region. It’s literally translated into “spice bread”, simply because it has many spices. It could be an distant ancestor of the Ginger bread, but the French one has no ginger so, I would not even try to compare it to ginger bread.
Pain d’épices is made with honey and rye flour, and no sugar even though some recipes include brown sugar. Of course some recipes vary slightly from one to another; this version has no butter nor oil, so no fat and no eggs. Its consistency is very similar to the one I am used to eating in France…chewy, dense and very flavorful.
The origin of pain d’épices is traced back to ancient times (as far as the Egyptians) and was brought to Europe from China by the Crusades. They brought back the recipe and the spices, It was then spread over Europe during the middle ages, and the first Pain d’Epices called Lebkuchen was found in Germany in 1296. But it’s in Reims in XVII century that the Masters of Pain d’épiciers (Maîtres de pain d’épiciers) were officially recognized by King Henri IV as a specialty company. Reims remained one historical city linked to this bread. Nowadays there are two different kinds of Pain d’épices, the one from Reims made with mainly rye flour and the one from Dijon made with mainly wheat flour. Think that that we have a Museum on Pain d’épices in Alsace, called Musée du Pain d’épice et de l’art populaire Alsacien so that’s a serious deal!
In this recipe I use already packaged spices “épices pour pain d’épices” I bought during my last trip to France, but you can use loose ones, so I will give you the quantities for regular loose spices.
Pain d’épices can be served with savory dishes such as foie gras, or salmon…it can be eaten as is with a cup of hot chocolate, or as a toast with butter and jam, even prepared as a French toast, or combined with fruits in verrines (this will be on my next post). So as you can see its use is quite wide.
I was thinking that for someone with a savory tooth like mine, I did quite a good job with the sweets lately. The beauty of it is that I always share half of my sweet concoctions with my neighbor…otherwise I would break the poor scale. Unfortunately I am not among the lucky ones who can eat anything and remain thin…I have to work at it!! Oh well, maybe in my next life!
Ingredients for one loaf
- 4.4 oz (or 125 g) wholewheat flour
- 4.4 oz (or 125 g) rye flour (you can also use 250 g rye only)
- 7 oz (or 200 g) honey
- 1.7 oz (or 50 g) agave nectar
- 6.7 fl oz (or 200 ml) milk
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp star anise powder
- 1/4 tsp cardamom powder
- 1/4 tsp clove powder
- 1 tsp orange peel powder (see picture above)
Preparation
In a mixing bowl combine honey, agave nectar and lukewarm milk. Mix well to dissolve the honey. Add flours gradually whisking well to obtain a smooth and homogenous mixture. Add the rest of the ingredients. Place in a bread pan previously buttered and floured to prevent from sticking. Cook in a pre-heated oven at 365-370F for about one hour. Let it cool and serve warm or cold.
In season – Roasted white peaches with Grand Marnier, honey and rosemary
Jul 12th
De saison – Pêches blanches rôties au Grand Marnier, miel et romarin
My favorite fruit is finally back in season! Cannot get tired of eating peaches…Of course, we don’t need to do anything to the fruit to enjoy a juicy and sweet peach, but sometimes we can turn them into an elegant and delightful little dessert by roasting them. I love to grill roast, saute, poach, or anything you can think of, just like a vegetable.
I haven’t been able to blog nor read anyone’s blog as much as I would like simply because I am too busy at the moment, cooking and preparing menus, and I thought summer would slow down, which seems to be just the opposite. I still think with my French mind, where in France everything slows down during summer, because everyone goes on vacation, so July and August are dead.
When I have a little time, I always enjoy posting some new recipe, even if it’s something as simple as that. Sometimes, a warm roasted peach enhanced with honey and Grand Marnier is all you need to make your day perfect. It did it for me today, despite the same old San Francisco gloomy summer weather. I haven’t used Grand Marnier in desserts for years, and I remember when I was growing up in France, they sold Grand Marnier flavored yogurts from Yoplait, and my aunt was going crazy about them. Doesn’t this sound funny to have a yogurt with a liquor flavor? I guess in the US, you’ll need to show an ID to get those yogurts!
If you buy the kind of peaches that are hard to peel, cut the in half and place them in boiling water for 30 seconds. They’ll peel very easily.
You can serve this with vanilla ice cream and butter cookies and it will make truly a wonderful dessert.
Ingredients for 4
- 4 white peaches
- 1 tbs salted butter
- 2 tbs lavender honey
- 1/3 tsp vanilla powder
- 2 tbs Grand Marnier
- 1 sprig rosemary, chopped
Preparation
Peel peaches, and cut in half. Melt butter in a pan and brown peaches on both sides at high temperature. Don’t let the peaches overcook or they’ll get mushy. Add honey and decrease temperature. Sprinkle with vanilla powder. Add rosemary, and stir for one 30 seconds or so. Pour Grand Marnier, and flame. Divide in bowls and eat warm. How simple is that? Almost as simple as eating it!
Why not? – Spaghetti squash with artichoke pesto
Jun 8th
Perchè no? – Zucca spaghetti con pesto ai carciofini
Crushing these gorgeous baby artichokes into a pesto broke my heart. I have always wanted to make artichoke pesto but never really managed to turn the artichokes into a paste. They’re so cute and delicious as hearts that really putting them through a mixer, is something I hate to do. Today, I got the courage to do it. Here, we got something different and quite delicious. Honestly, I am not sure I will have the courage to to this again. I simply love to bite into an artichoke heart, I love the crunchy bite, it’s that simple. You could use this pesto on pasta of course, or as a sauce for grilled meats…or even to spread it on some country bread.
When you’re eating spaghetti squash prepared this way, you almost forgot, it’s not pasta. I undercooked the squash to get a crunchy bite, to get the “al dente” feeling. I loved this pesto. Now for the vegan crowd, you can omit the parmesan and add more walnuts. I use very little parmesan to enhance this pesto a tiny bit. You don’t want to add too much cheese either and overpower the natural delicious flavor of the artichokes.
This pesto tends to be lighter than regular basil/pine nuts pesto, its texture is more dense too, so I added a few tablespoons of water to make it creamier.
I am flying tomorrow for France, to go see my father who had a stroke last December, so I will try to post a few local recipes, in the meantime, have a nice and colorful June.
Ingredients for 2 as a main course
- 1 large spaghetti squash
- 1 lb artichokes, trimmed and cleaned
- 1/2 cup parsley
- 1/2 cup basil
- 2 tbs raw unsalted walnuts
- 1 garlic clove, crushed + 1 chopped
- 2 tbs parmesan (optional)
- 3 tbs olive oil
- water
- salt and pepper
Preparation
Cut the squash lengthwise, wrap in parchment paper and cook in a pre-heated oven at 400F for about 45 minutes to an hour.
Remove seeds first, then the spaghetti pulp. Set aside and keep warm. Save eight artichokes quarters for decoration
Heat up a pan, add the crushed garlic, stir and add baby artichokes cut in quarters. Adjust with salt and pepper, add 2 tbs white wine, and cover, decrease heat and let cook until tender. Let it cool.
For the pesto, mix artichokes with all other ingredients a mixer. Adjust with water if the pesto is too thick.
Add pesto to the spaghetti squash and mix well using your hands, to coat the squash with the pesto. Serve with an extra tablespoon of pesto on top and four artichokes quarters on each plate.
Sunday treat – Vegan coconut-banana mini cakes for a fancy breakfast
May 23rd
Plaisir du dimanche – Gâteau végan à la banane et noix de coco pour un petit déjeûner gourmand
I have always wanted to try to bake a vegan cake that tasted like a non-vegan cake, the great news is that this one tastes better than a non-vegan cake made with eggs and butter. This cake is so moist and flavorful that all my future banana cakes will be vegan. Sometimes you get stuck with some set ideas, such as an eggless cake cannot taste good. I am happy I decided to go against what I thought was right. I had a great weekend and these mini cakes contributed to it….and Prince too, since I went to see him perform in San Jose. What an incredible and talented artist! I knew he was talented but didn’t know he reached this level of musical genius. So Prince and these cakes made my weekend. I have to admit that my ears are still ringing from the sound of the concert, I think I lost some sense of hearing.
I have been very busy lately, and sadly not had much time to post any exciting recipe, nor time to experiment and develop new ideas. I have had a few requests for gluten-free or vegan meals lately, and I will be experimenting more gluten free and vegan desserts. In this particular cake, the ripe bananas mashed into a cream replaced the eggs and made these cakes amazingly moist. No need for eggs!Those mini cakes are perfect for breakfast with fresh fruits or as a little “encas” (snack) with tea or coffee in the afternoon. They’re so healthy and moist, pure velvet in your palate.
I added walnuts and dried apricots in the batter and I couldn’t have found a better ingredient combination for those ones. I used a little grape seed oil instead of vegan margarine, I think oil adds more moisture to the cake than margarine and will always be my first choice when baking vegan.
Ingredients for 5-6 people
Dry ingredients
- 4.23 oz (or 120 g) wholewheat flour
- 4.23 oz (or 120 g) brown rice flour
- 4.23 oz (or 120 g) brown sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp vanilla powder
- 3 tbs walnut, chopped
- 3 tbs dried unsweetened apricots, chopped
Wet ingredients
- 2 large ripe banana, mashed into a creamy texture
- 7 oz (or 200 g) coconut milk
- 2.82 oz (or 80 g) grape seed oil
- 1 tsp banana extract
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Preparation
Mix all “dry” ingredients together in a mixing container. In another container, mix “wet” ingredients. Add wet ingredients to “dry” ingredients and mix well to obtain a smooth batter. Using individual silicon molds, divide batter in 6 molds or one large cake dish. Cook for about 45 min at 365F, you might need to decrease temperature if the top starts getting a little dark. The cakes are cooked when you slide a knife and the blade comes out “clean”. Let it cool and sprinkle some unsweetened coconut flakes on top. Eat warm or cold with coffee or tea.
Fresh, fruity and pink – Strawberry gaspacho
Apr 14th
Frais, fruité et tout rose – Gaspacho de fraises
I wanted to make something quick and fresh before my trip to LA leaving tomorrow, and use that big case of strawberries I bought. After strawberry tarts, coulis, cake, crumble, the only thing I haven’t tried with strawberries is soup and salad. So here is the soup…
There is a new tendance about using fruits to make cold soups which is something I really love. For many years, I was stuck with the idea that fruits are sweet, therefore need to be eaten as a dessert or in sweet preparations. With years going by, I opened my mind to using fruits in savory preparations and not necessarily eating them as desserts. After making watermelon gaspacho, and cantaloupe-port soup, I wanted to try making a cold soup with strawberries. Et voilà, c’est prêt! Spring is coming and hopefully summer will take away the allergens and pollen.
Who doesn’t like strawberries? I think it’s the most popular fruit among kids and adults, everything about a strawberry is sexy, its heart shape, its color, sweetness, and all the wonderful desserts, with which you can make. I don’t know what I like most about this soup, its color, its sweetness, it’s texture?
I have to be honest and admit that I still haven’t found flavorful and ripe strawberries lately, they might look good, but they’re not, you need ripe and sweet ones for this gaspacho, so you might want to wait for summer if you can resist and wait that long.
Anyway, I think fruits are the best thing on earth, try this gaspacho and you’ll agree with me!
Ingredients for 4
- 1 lb strawberries, stem removed and cut in halves
- 3 well ripe tomatoes, seedless, peeled and cubed
- 1 tbs red onion, chopped
- 2 slices white bread or ideally brioche
- 2 tbs good quality balsamic vinegar, or strawberry vinegar
- 2 pinches piment d’espelette
- salt and pepper
- 1/2 cup water
- mint leaves
Preparation
In a mixing container, soak brioche with vinegar for about 30 minutes. Then combine all other ingredients except mint and water. Refrigerate for about 2 hours. Using a hand blender, mix soaked brioche with the rest of the ingredients, until obtained a purée type of texture. Add water and pass through a sieve. Decorate with mint en chiffonade and serve chilled.
Kale is in fashion – Spicy kale and chick peas with tzatziki
Mar 18th
La mode du chou frisé – Chou frisé aux pois chiches épices et tzatziki
Originally I wanted to keep this vegan, then I could not resist to use that beautiful Greek yogurt I had in the refrigerator. Kale is quite THE popular vegetable these days, at least in California, and everyone talks about its health benefits, and how everyone should use it in its diet. It’s even used in juices along with other fruits and vegetables when doing a detox, I tried it in a “Green juice” and I have to admit that I tasted it and really liked it. It seems like juicing is quite in fashion too in California but its real health benefits have been questioned among experts.
I often ate kale growing up, it was regularly found on our table, since my grandfather grew it in the garden. I consider myself lucky enough that my parents always made me eat what they were eating, and there was no special “meal” for the kids. People might criticize this upbringing, and think it’s a little strict, but in retrospective, I think it helped me to develop a palate and tastes opened to so many different flavors and textures.
Kale and chick peas are a wonderful combination, their respective textures complement each other quite well. Tempeh is also a great alternative to chick peas in this dish.
Tzatziki is always a delicious appetizer dish (or meze), I like to serve it as a side dish sometimes like here, it’s always refreshing. Tzatziki is mainly a Greek specialty but often found in Turkey too. It’s made with goat milk yogurt, thinly sliced cucumbers, olive oil, mint, garlic. I would think that everyone has its own specific recipe. I do not consider myself to be an expert in Greek cuisine, and only been to Greece once, but this version of tzatziki is more than delicious. I will have to go and check at my Greek grocer if he has a family recipe to share with me…but I guess if it’s a family recipe, he won’t.
Ingredients for 2 as a side dish
- 1 bunch kale
- 1 cup cooked chick peas
- 2 tbs soy sauce
- 1 medium yellow onion, sliced
- 1 tsp ginger, grated
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 red chili, seeded and sliced
- 1 tbs olive oil
For the tzatziki
- 1 cup Greek sheep yogurt
- 2 Persian cucumbers, thinly sliced
- 1tbs mint
- olive oil
- salt
Preparation
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil, cook kale for 2 minutes, drain and squeeze excess water.
Warm olive oil in a pan, add onions, stir for a few minutes, then add the rest of the ingredients except for the kale and chick peas. Stir well. Add vegetables and cook until fragrant.
Serve in small plates with tzatziki on the side.
For the tzatziki
Squeeze extra water using your hands from the cucumber. Add to the yogurt, then add remaining ingredients and let it rest for about 15-30 minutes.
Surprise, surprise – Artichoke and potatoes papillote Provençale
Mar 8th
Surprise, surprise – Papillotes d’artichauts et pommes de terre à la Provençale
If you like a light and healthy cuisine and yet very easy to prepare, well papillotes are for you. This cooking technique can accommodate any ingredient, fish, meat, fruits, vegetables, etc… and papillotes can be prepared in advance and are cooked at the last minute, so you don’t have to spend hours in the kitchen when the guest are having fun.
Even though easy to prepare, there are some basic rules that need to be followed when preparing a papillote, such as cutting finely and regularly the fruits or vegetables to reduce cooking time and keep the flavors. Also marinating some fishes, seafood, or poultry to enhance the dish. Aren’t those a delightful way to serve your side dish when you have guests? It’s like a little present on your plate, you open it like a candy et voilà, surprise!
You can play with the folding of the papillote, as a rectangle, triangle, as a candy shape, or even heart shape and be creative with it.
Today I found those gorgeous and fresh baby artichokes at my favorite market, and I gave them a provençal makover. You need small creamer potatoes that will remain firm when cooked and you get a delicious dish avec un petit air de Provence. These papillotes would be perfect served with a white fish or poultry. I ate mine as a main meal and it was perfect.
While in France I searched all the new products such as salts, peppers, etc…I found this amazing salt and I fall madly in love with it. It’s a sel gris de Guérande (Grey Guérande salt) with Piment d’Espelette (a fragrant Basque pepper), I love it so much that I just add it in any dish. You could make this yourself, if you buy Piment d’Espelette and Sel gris de Guérande, then mix them together and keep them in an air-tight container for a while to get the salt infused.
You can add sun dried tomatoes and onions to give a little more character to the dish. Also, both aluminum foil or parchment paper can be used, so have fun with your papillotes!
Ingredients for 2
- 1/2 lb baby artichokes, trimmed and cut in halves
- 1/2 lb creamer potatoes, cut in halves
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2 tbs dry white wine
- 1 tsp herbes de Provence
- about 10 kalamata olives
- Sel de Guérande au Piment d’Espelette (optional)
- 1 tbs olive oil
- salt and pepper
Preparation
Heat olive oil in a pan, add garlic and stir for a few seconds, then add artichokes and potatoes. Coat the vegetables with the olive oil, then add wine. Decrease heat and cover with lid. Cook for about 5 minutes. In a mixing container, add vegetables to herbes de Provence, olives, sun dried tomatoes (if using them), Piment d’Espelette salt and pepper. Mix well.
In a aluminum foil, add a little olive oil, place vegetables on top and close papillote very tightly so no air can get through it.
Cook in a pre-heated oven at 370F for about 15 minutes. remove from the oven and serve.
Vegan…or not Vegan – Red cabbage velouté with mixed vegetables
Feb 10th
Vegan…ou pas vegan – Velouté de chou rouge et légumes
It has been a long time since I posted a recipe on my blog. Not that I gave up blogging, or that I disappeared for no reason. I was in France for about one month and instead of enjoying my time with my family, I had to deal with the stress of my father’s health, since he had a stroke right before Christmas which left his left side paralyzed. Of course, I was devastated, in shock and could not talk about it, cook, blog, nor think about cooking until a few days ago. Of course, France was cold, grey but still a great place to be in those circumstances where everyone from family, friends, doctors, nurses were simply amazing.
I usually do not post any private information about my family, because I want this blog to remain really food centric and not having people get distracted by personal stories. I know most people like to read those types of stories, they feel this way more connected to the blogger, but I feel uncomfortable about throwing my personal life out there. I don’t know why. Anyway, I just wanted to tell people who have been kind enough to follow me, and read my blog to tell them that I did not forget anyone, on the contrary, I did miss everyone I met in this amazing food blogosphere (if that’s a word).
Now back to the kitchen. I rarely buy red cabbage, I mainly buy it for its color which is one of my favorite color. I thought buy using it in a soup would make the soup turn purple, I was a wrong, well not completely wrong. To get a deep red purple, you need to leave the soup rest for a couple of hours, without blending it. Otherwise, the soup gets a pinkish color, but nothing that would look like a purple. The flavor is very smooth, a little sweet due to the onions and leeks, but very hearty. I used mimi creme, which is a vegan cream but you can use regular crème fraîche, all depending if you are on a vegan mood or not and if you want to count your calories.
Soupe au chou is a traditional French soup, made out of white cabbage and eaten white beans and sausage which is considered a peasant soup. This is another lighter version with a different texture. The fried leeks julienne placed on top at the end, add a wonderful flavor that finishes the soup to perfection. Do not skip on the leek, they do make a difference! small things like this make often a difference!
Ingredients for 6
- 1 medium size turnip, diced
- 1 medium size yellow onion, diced
- 2 carrots, diced
- 2 leeks, 1 chopped, 1 julienne
- 3 potatoes, peeled and diced
- 1/2 red cabbage, sliced
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1/2 tsp curry
- vegetable broth (enough to cover the vegetables)
- 6 tbs mimi creme
- 2 tbs olive oil
- salt and pepper
Preparation
Cook all vegetables in broth for about 15 minutes, but do not over cook them, add curry, cream salt and pepper. Fry the leeks julienne in olive oil at high heat and cook until crispy. Drain and set aside.
Blend soup using an immersion blender.
Serve in bowls, and divide some of the fried leeks in the center. Serve with toasted baguette.
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.
