Les artichauts sont de retour – Tagine d’artichauts, pois chiches, pommes de terre, poivrons, et olives vertes

It looks like artichoke season is starting and you see them come out on the shelves, one of the largest producer being close to the Bay Area in Castroville (they claim to be the artichoke capital of the world, which is quite a big statement, but they certainly do produce a lot of them), we have in San Francisco, lots of beautiful artichokes, the babies, the medium, the large, you pick which one you want. I even planted some in the garden, but seems like it takes over 300 days for them to grow, so I cannot count on my own crops this year!

I had some fresh chick peas left from last week and I just wanted to use them in a tagine. They remain green and taste so good but cook very quickly so when using them in a dish, they only need to cook for 15 minutes or so, therefore add them at the end. I love tagines, I could eat them every day. The flavors of all the spices infusing with all those wonderful vegetables is a pure pleasure to cook (and to eat of course too). After 10 minutes of placing the tagine in the oven, the house starts to be filled with incredibly aromas. It’s like a pure perfume. Ca embaume.

As in the majority of my tagines, I used Ras el hanout which is a traditional mix of Moroccan spices and literally means “the roof of the grocery store” in arabic. A few common spices included in Ras el hanout are cardamom, mace, cloves, nutmeg, pepper, lavender, ginger, nigella, turmeric, etc..but so many more. It’s used in Middle Eastern cuisine to enhance many dishes such as couscous, meat dishes, etc…

The composition of Ras el hanout can vary from 24 to 21 spices but can go as far as 40 spices, so there are so many variations of Ras el hanout as there are cooks, manufacturers and tastes. I bought a big bag of spices in a Moroccan grocery store in France that will last me my lifetime, and that is a very nice blend, not one spice overpowering the mix, and a very well balanced combination. Unfortunately the manufacturer did not include the list of the spices he used, so I am afraid I won’t be able to know what has been used and to what quantity. In France we have a huge Arabic population, probably the biggest among all other European countries, which means a lot of stores with great products and very inexpensive.

Anyone who loves artichokes and spices, will really enjoy this dish, besides the beauty of tagines is that it might take you a while to clean the artichokes, and peel the potatoes, but then you just put it in the oven and cooks by itself, comme une grande fille!

Ingredients for 4

• 2 large potatoes, peeled and cut in big squares
• 8 medium size artichokes, trimmed
• 5 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 1 large red bell pepper, cut in big square
• 1 cup fresh chick peas
• 1.5 tbs Ras el hanout
• 1 preserved lemon, cut in 4 quarters
• 1/2 cup green olives, cut in halves
• chili powder
• salt and pepper

Preparation

In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients together except for the chick peas and using your hands mix well.

Place the vegetables in your tagine pot, cover and cook in a pre-heated oven at 390F for about one 1h30 min. Add chick peas 20 minutes before removing tagine from the oven. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve as a side dish or as a main dish, with a quinoa or couscous accompaniment.

Side Dish, Vegan, Vegetables artichokes, chick peas, moroccan, potatoes, ras el hanout, red peppers, tagine, Vegan, Vegetables

Simple salade de salsifis

You probably don’t care about salsifis and there is nothing extraordinary about the recipe. It’s all about the salsifi. Sometimes I like to feature some unpopular vegetables like this one, it’s a root vegetable that people tend to forget like cardoon, so I thought to bring it back from the deads.

I have not had those for such a long time, I have been eating salsifis when I was a child, their consumption is quite common in France but nowadays even there people tend to forget them.

I have just seen some of those at the store today and it just reminded me that I had forgotten to post those while in France.

Basically, they are a long root and have a thick brown skin, their flesh is quite white and they taste like artichoke to me, but some people say it tastes more like oysters so that’s how they got their name from. Honestly I have seen no similarities between an oyster and a salsifi.

You would need to wear gloves when peeling it since its flesh tends to stain hands and the flesh and skin are quite sticky, somehow like a glue. So I’m sure you wondering then, why even bother. Well, there is a good reason to include salsifi in your diet, they contain a lot of minerals and vitamins and are a wonderful vegetable with low calories and lots of fibers, so I think we should re-introduce it in our diet. You can make gratins with them, quiches, I have aslo tasted them in stew and are quite delicious. When preparing them simply like this, you need top quality olive oil, and the juice of a fragrant lemon such as meyer lemons.

Ingredients

• one bunch of salsifis (maybe 10)
• 1.5 tbs extra virgin olive oil
• Juice of one lemon
• freshly ground pepper
• Fleur de sel
• Parsley, finely chopped (optional)

Preparation

Peel salsifis. Cook in boiling water for about 7 min, or until cooked but not mushy. Drain and sprinkle with vinaigrette, top with pepper and fleur de sel.

Side Dish, Vegan, Vegetables oyster plant, rot vegetable, salad, salsifi, Vegan, Vegetables

Du côté léger – Moussaka rapide aux lentilles

This post is overdue, I started it before I went to Tel Aviv, but never managed to finish it, so after days of wonderful fresh food, I came back to France where the bad weather conditions made me want to go back to sunny Israel. There is definitely a Greek flair to Tel Aviv, probably the Mediterranean climate and fresh produce you find all over the markets. So Moussaka here we come.

What if you feel like moussaka without meat? People might tell you, then it’s not moussaka. So not to upset anyone, I just decided to use the word fake, even though it is prepared in the same “spirit” as a moussaka.

Since I arrived at my parents, meat, prosciutto, pâté, fois gras and other ingredients have been around the table for the holidays, and I don’t know now how I have to explain my mom that I do not enjoy to eat meat THAT much. Seems like she doesn’t believe me, or doesn’t want to believe me. So I had to somehow cook something for them today, to make them believe that vegetarian dishes are quite tasty and enjoyable. France is certainly not the country for vegetarians, and Italians are not vegetarian either, so I am just wondering if you are a vegan how you will survive here.

We went shopping to a wonderful organic supermarket with so many amazing products called “La Vie Saine” (healthy life) and came back with tons of great healthy products, I am trying to make them eat less animal based products but it’s quite a challenge to change people’s habits in their late 60s. I don’t want to change anything nor anyone but at least make them enjoy other cuisines. My parents are quite open in trying new cuisines and a lot more open minded than some other French or Italians of their generation.

So I found a lentil mix of red, green, and beluga lentils that I absolutely wanted to use, then I had eggplants, so I figured that a vegetarian moussaka would be perfect…and they really enjoyed it. So I will make this dish more often.

I am not sure there is a morale in this story, probably not but I was very happy that my vegetarian moussaka was successful in a traditional Italian and French table!

Ingredients for 4-5

• 1/2 lb (or 250 g) green lentils
• 1 yellow onion, cut in half
• 3 cloves
• 1 carrot
• 1 celery stick
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 eggplants, sliced crosswise
• 5 medium size tomatoes, seedless, peeled and chopped
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 7 oz (or 200 g) gruyère cheese, grated
• 3 tbs parsley, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 egg
• 1 egg white
• 1 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Cook lentils in water and add carrot, celery, bay leaf and onion with cloves stuck in it. Cook until lentils are cooked but not mushy. Drain water and remove carrot, onion, bay leaf and celeri. Set aside.

Start with grilling the eggplants using either a grill pan or broiling them under the broiler, after sprinkling them with olive oil, salt and pepper. Set them aside.

Heat olive oil in a pan, add onion and brown them. Add tomatoes and cook until water is evaporated for about 10 minutes.

In a mixing container, add lentils, garlic, tomato mixture, parsley, egg and egg white, chili, salt and pepper.

In small ramequins, add a little olive oil, add one layer of eggplant and one layer of lentils. Sprinkle with cheese and proceed with another layer of eggplants, then lentils and cheese.

Cook for about 20 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 375F until the cheese has melted.

Side Dish, Vegetables, Vegetarian - dairy eggplants, greek, moussaka, side dishes, tomatoes, Vegetables, vegetarian moussaka

Due amici in padella – Radicchio di Chioggia e carciofi in teglia

Radicchio al forno is a typical Northern Italian dish. I somehow added a little touch to it, by adding artichokes and topping it all with breadcrumbs, garlic and parsley. Artichokes and radicchio go perfectly well together, the sweetness of the artichoke blends beautifully with the bitterness of radicchio, and you get a wonderful side dish, or if you’re like me, just forget the “side” it’s just a dish in itself since I can eat the whole plate.

There are many different types of radicchio, the round and red one like this one is called radicchio di Chioggia which is mainly grown all year around. My parents would grow the green kind with long leaves that was really bitter much bitter than this one, and my mom made it with anchovies and garlic as a salad and even as a young child, I loved it. The bitter, the better. No wonder why I love Fernet, Cynar and anything that has a bitter taste.

Our neighbor when I was growing up was from Udine (Friuli region), Giovanni drove a Vespa and was speaking so so loud that we would wake up the whole neighborhood with his loud voice and Vespa honks, everyone called him “petrolette” because of his “honk honk”. Such a funny and sweet character with a huge heart and a terrible French. His French was terrible, and his Italian too, since he spoke mainly Friulan dialect, so even my parents had a tough time understanding him. Every Sunday, he would bring us so many bags of radicchio from his garden. Friulans eat an incredible amount of radicchio, it’s hard to keep up with them unless you’re a rabbit!

He moved back to Friuli with his wife when he retired, he must be around 80 now and anytime we go visit him, radicchio is always on the table twice a day and seven days a week. Let’s not forget the white polenta sliced and eaten along salame e radicchio!

Ingredients for 3-4

• 1 large head of radicchio, cut in thick slices
• 1 lb artichokes (baby ones or medium)
• 1/3 cup white wine
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 tbs parsley, finely chopped
• 1/3 cup plain breadcrumbs
• 1 lemon
• 3 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper

Preparation

First start trimming the artichokes. Remove the tough green leaves, the with a knife, trim to top of the leaves and cut the green part around the bottom, close to the stem. You can either slice them if you are using the medium ones, or cut them in half if using the baby ones. Place in a bowl of water with the juice of one lemon, which will prevent the artichokes from discoloring.

Cut radicchio in half, then in slices of about 1 inch think.

In a pan, heat olive oil, crush one garlic clove and let the flavors out. Drain artichokes and add to the pan, stir for a few minutes, then add wine. Add salt and pepper and cover with a lid. Cook at medium heat until the wine has evaporated and the artichokes are cooked all the way through.

Add salt, pepper to the radicchio slices, and drizzle with olive oil. Grill in a grill pan, until radicchio changes color and is cooked but not mushy.

Add radicchio to artichokes pan and mix well.

In a small container, prepare the topping. Mix breadcrumbs, garlic, parsley, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Place radicchio/artichokes mixture in a oven dish and top with breadcrumb mixture. Cook in a pre-heated oven at 375F for about 20 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

Side Dish, Vegan, Vegetables artichokes, radicchio, Side Dish, Vegan, Vegetables

I cardoni di nonno Luigi – Cardoni gratinati con pomodori, olive e parmigiano

I wanted to give a little “hommage” to this wonderful vegetable that seems to be unknown or almost unknown. Anytime I get to the cash register, either the cashier or the person in line behind me asks me about what those are, and how to cook them. This morning when I was asked “how do you eat them”? I responded “oh I cook them”, then I realized that was not the right answer.

When winter comes, I get so excited because I find them in the store, (not sure why they’re only available in California in this time of year, in France and Italy they’re mainly available during spring time because in winter they tend to freeze if the temperatures are too low) as a matter of fact, that excitement was so high that I bought three of them yesterday and went back again today to buy two more! not a good idea since they are using all the bottom shelf of my refrigerator.

Cardoni are very special to me, they remind me of my childhood and my grandfather who was the gardener in the family. He planted those in our garden and would always come home to distribute those beautiful vegetables for to the whole family. They’re mainly eaten in Italy, many French people don’t know what it is, or maybe in the South of France, they’re more popular.

They look like a huge celeri but taste like artichokes, and are from the artichoke family. They have a very small calories per serving, are high in fibers and taste deliciously “artichoky”.

My mom called them gobbi (which is the other Italian name), she used to prepare them with chunks of beef in umido along with potatoes. Umido is a cooking method that consists of cooking food at a very low temperature while adding some liquid to the dish. She used to put some tomato sauce and that was one of my favorite dish because of all the bread you could dip in the sauce. You can prepare them in a gratin style, or sauté or even with breadcrumbs, garlic, parsley and baked, or any way you like.

This is a quite simple recipe but very flavorful and light, just a few ingredients are enough for cardoni.

Ingredients for 2 or 3

• 1 large cardoni
• 3 large ripe tomatoes, peeled and seedless
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 1/2 kalamata olives, chopped
• 3 tbs parmigiano reggiano, grated
• salt and pepper
• 1 tbs olive oil

Preparation

Detach from the heart each cardoni stem. Wash them and remove the leafy edges from top to bottom, like if you would peel them. Cut in about 2 inches chunks.

Bring a large salted pot of water to a boil, then add cardoni. Cook until they’re tender but not too soft. Drain and set aside

In the meantime and while cardoni are cooking, prepare the tomato fondue. In a pan, heat olive oil, add crushed garlic, stir for a while to get the flavor out, then add tomatoes, salt and pepper. Cook at medium heat until the tomatoes start to become soft but not mushy. Add olives.

Place cardoni in a baking tray, add tomato fondue and sprinkle with parmesan.

Cook in a pre-heated oven at about 360F-370F for about 20-30 minutes or until the top has turned golden brown.

Sprinkle with parsley and serve as a side dish or as a main vegetable dish.

Vegetables, Vegetarian - dairy cardoni, gratin, Side Dish, tomato fondue, Vegetables

Juste pour s’amuser – Flan de courgettes, aux olives, feta et menthe à la vinaigrette de tomates anciennes

You can make those just for the fun of it because they’re so easy and quick to make. Those cute flans have been always a favorite of mine and whoever tried them too. They are addictive and once you’ve made them, you will keeping making them over and over again just because they’re so quick to make and for such a fasted prepared meal, the result is worth the effort. Sometimes, it happens you spent so many hours cooking and then when it’s time to eat, you realize that all that time cooking was not worth it, because the result ended up just ordinary. This is not the case.

I did some research to find out what was the right translation for the word heirloom in French since I have never seen them over there, and weirdly enough, it’s literally translated by “ancient tomatoes” or tomates anciennes. I have never seen them in France in supermarkets but seems like they do exist, so I would imagine it’s something that had been introduced recently to the market.

Anyway, I bought one giant yellow tomato that weighted 1 lb, it was huge and was enough to use in a few recipes. You might want to use a red tomato instead of a yellow one, the contrasts will be much prettier since the flans are already on the yellowish tone, here it looks like yellow on yellow. I have always learnt that you just don’t wear the same tones of colors together…and what works for clothes, works for food too. Colors and just colors after all.

The tomato vinaigrette is a great and refreshing way to accompany this kinds of dishes, and I use it quite often.

Ingredients for 6 flans

For the flans

• 3 small zucchini, grated
• 6 tbs feta
• 12 mint leaves, roughly chopped
• about 8 kalamata olives, roughly chopped
• 2 eggs
• 3 tbs heavy cream
• 4 tbs milk
• salt and pepper

For the heirloom tomato vinaigrette

• 3 medium heirloom tomatoes, grated
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper

Preparation

For the zucchini flans

Grate zucchini. Squeeze water with your hands and place in a container. In small silicon molds (you can get any shape you want) place about 1 tps zucchini, then add feta, olives and mint. Proceed with zucchini and with the other ingredients for a second layer.

In a mixing bowl, beat eggs with milk and cream, salt and pepper.

Pour on top of the zucchini layers filling all molds equally.

Cook in a pre-heated oven at 375F for about 30 min or until the flans are slightly browned and cooked in the middle.

For the tomato vinaigrette

Cut the tomatoes crosswise and remove seeds. Using a cheese grater, grate tomato halves and place in a container. Add olive oil, cayenne pepper, vinegar, salt and pepper.

Place one flan per plate and spoon about 1 tbs of tomato vinaigrette around it.

Appetizers, Side Dish, Vegetables, Vegetarian - dairy Appetizers, feta, flan, mint, olives, Recipes, zucchini

Un gratin inattendu – gratin de courge spaghetti, tomates, pommes de terre, gruyère, parmesan et basilic

Now I know that this might be a little too much of spaghetti squash in just a couple of days. I was not planning on writing a blog about it, I took the pictures, just in case…then after eating almost all of it by myself, I figured it was definitley blog “worthy” and I have to say it’s my favorite spaghetti squash recipe. I had quite a lot of extra squash left from the pancakes, and certainly did not want to throw anything away. I was taught not to throw food growing up, and I rarely do. I still have some squash left, but I promised I will not write another blog about it.

Vegetable gratin are every French basics. They come in all colors, shapes and form. One thing in common they have cheese in it, actually almost all of them, the real potato gratin, le gratin dauphinois has no cheese in it (although a lot of people do put cheese, but the “purists” will grind their teeth at the though of cheese in gratin dauphinois).

I absolutely love this gratin, and I recommend it to anyone who likes spaghetti squash.

Ingredients for 2

• 300 g cooked squash (approximately)
• 3 riped tomatoes, peeled, seedless and cut in small cubes
• 3 medium size potatoes
• 2 tbs basil chopped
• 2 tsp fresh thyme, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1/2 onion (optional)*
• 4 tbs Gruyere cheese, grated
• 4 tbs Parmigiano Reggiano, grated
• salt and pepper
• 2 tbs olive oil

Preparation

Cook potatoes in boiling water until tender but do not overcook them, they will cook more in the oven.

Add a little oil at the bottom of a deep dish, slice potatoes and lay them flat in the dish, add salt and pepper. Add another layer of spaghetti squash using half of the squash. Add garlic, basil thyme, tomatoes and cheeses, salt and pepper. Sprinkle with olive oil. Proceed with another layer of the same ingredients, ending with cheeses at the end.

*You can add onion fondue and add the onions after the potato layer. You have to cook onion at medium heat in olive oil until they’re translucent. Add a tsp of balsamic vinegar.

When you’re done layering the gratin, press firmly with your hand on the surface to remove any air in between the layers. That way, when it’s cooked it will stand and not collapse.

Cook in a pre-heated oven at 370-375F for 30-40 minutes until the top is golden brown. Serve hot as a side dish or as is with a green salad.

Side Dish, Vegetables, Vegetarian - dairy basil, cheese, gruyere, parmesan, potatoes, Recipes, Side Dish, spaghetti squash, thyme, tomatoes, Vegetables

On a écrasé la courge! – Galettes de courge spaghetti à la feta et origan

I love galettes, or pancakes, or anything that has vegetables in it and that looks like a flat crêpe. Spaghetti squash is a great vegetable to prepare yet not very popular. You can make so many different dishes and in so many different ways. Besides, its texture and aspect are very interesting. I used to serve this squash as a vegetable dish, in its shell, then I got tired of it, and figured, it can be prepared like zucchini.

Strangely enough, I have never seen it served in any restaurants…I don’t know why it’s not popular among chefs. Now I am wondering if chefs who own restaurants do come up with menus with specialties they really enjoy preparing or if the completely adapt their menus to the tastes of the local population. Probably a combination of both. Nevertheless, I think that especially in America, where people are more open to new flavors and cuisines due to its melting pot of nationalities, people can easily be “trained” to new flavors and concepts. It is more difficult in Europe, especially France and Italy where everyone is still attached to local traditions and cuisines and are two countries with ancient and reputable culinary history.

Those pancakes have little egg and little flour, so as any vegetable pancake, they tend to be a little soft in the middle, this is not a fritter so don’t expect them to have to consistency and texture of a fried dough. One spaghetti squash will be enough to make about 20 pancakes.

Ingredients for 6 pancakes

• 10.6 oz (or 300 g) spaghetti squash (1/3 of a whole squash)
• 1 egg
• 3 -4 tbs flour
• 3 tbs feta cheese
• 2 tsp fresh oregano, chopped
• 1/3 tsp chili flakes
• salt and pepper
• 1 tbs olive oil

Preparation

Start cooking spaghetti squash. Cut in half lenghtwise and wrap in aluminum foil, don’t leave any hole, the foil needs to be well sealed. Cook for about 1h30 min in a 400F pre-heated oven. Check once in a while to see the squash is a little soft but not too soft. If you cook the squash too long, it will be filled of water and you won’t be able to get the spaghetti strands out of it, therefore won’t be able to make those pancakes.

When cooked, remove the seeds, and remove the spaghetti-pulp with a fork. Place in a container.

In another mixing bowl, mix egg with flour, salt and pepper, to form a thick dough, if the dough is too liquid, add flour.

Add chili flakes, oregano, salt and pepper to the squash, mix well. Add egg/flour mixture. Mix with well, and at the end add feta cheese. Mix using tip of your fingers not to break the feta, you want to keep some chunks.

Heat olive oil in a pan, and spoon one large tbs of the mixture in pan. Cook on both sides, at medium size heat. You might need to adjust heat not to burn the outside of the pancakes but still brown them and cook them inside.

Serve hot with a salad, or as a side dish.

Appetizers, Side Dish, Vegetables Appetizer, feta, oregano, pancakes, Recipes, spaghetti squash, Vegetables

Rondes et épicées – Courgettes rondes farcies de lentilles au curry

Another version of stuffed zucchini, those are the round kind and this recipe has a little exotic twist with the curry and other spices in it.  I think this kind of zucchini is really made to be stuffed, they have a very inviting belly.  I don’t think I have ever prepared them in any other different way.

I had some clients who did not like any stuffed vegetable, so I ended up not cooking those anymore, and not even for myself. The thing is when you have some clients who eat in a particular way, and for whom you cook on regular basis, you end up eating like them. One sure thing is that I cannot eat the same dish and food over and over again, and I know many people who are just happy eating the same thing for weeks. I would go insane, my food is like my life it needs to be colorful, and needs to be changing, have different flavors, smells, feelings.

You can use the green lentils as well for this dish. I had French lentils, so I used those. I didn’t like lentils when I was young, I think for kids they fell in the same category than spinach, unappealing food. Eventually, you come out of it, I can say I am glad my parents exposed me to different ingredients and somehow pushed me to try new things. My family was not very wealthy, they moved from Italy to France and financially they were struggling when I was a child but we always had fresh and healthy food from the garden that my grandpa used to grow.

Ingredients for 4 zucchini

• 4 zucchini
• 11 oz cooked green lentils (1/3 less when uncooked)
• 1 shallot, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 inch ginger, grated
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin powder
• 1/3 tsp turmeric
• chili powder
• 1 tbs cilantro, chopped
• 1 scallion, chopped
• 3 tsp plain yogurt
• 1 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Wash the zucchini, cut the top part and remove the pulp with a teaspoon, leave about less than 0.20 inches or 1/2 cm on the outside. Add salt and pepper in the center, sprinkle with olive oil and place in a tray in a 375F preheated oven and covered with aluminum foil. Cook for about 15-20 minutes but do not overcook, the zucchini still needs to remain firm. Chop the pulp of the zucchini in small pieces. Set aside.

Cook lentils in three time their quantity of water for about 20 minutes or until they’re cooked. Drain. Set aside

In a pan, heat olive oil, add shallot, brown them, then add ginger and garlic. Stir for a few minutes, then add zucchini pulp and cook until the pulp softens. Add curry powder, and all other spices. Stir well and cook for another 5 minutes at low heat. Remove from heat and add lentils, salt and pepper. Mix well. Add cilantro and scallion, then add yogurt. Mix well.

Stuff zucchini with lentil mixture and place in the oven for another 15-20 minutes.

Serve hot with a salad or as a side dish.

Appetizers, Side Dish, Vegetables, Vegetarian - dairy curry, lentils, Recipes, zucchini

Mon petit coeur fondant – Galettes de broccoli, avoine, au coeur de mozzarella, sauce harissa aux poivrons grillés

Don’t you love when your refrigerator is filled with vegetables? You open the door and all you can see is a bundle of colors. Unfortunately, today, I only had a bunch of broccoli left with a red bell pepper. The good thing is that tomorrow I am going food shopping with a friend of mine to the Berkeley Bowl! I am already excited about it. It will be her first trip there, I cannot wait to see her when she sees the fruits and vegetable section. Some girls enjoy going to the SPA or get a manicure, and I get the same excitement when I go to the Berkeley Bowl. How weird is that?

Since I only had broccoli and bell pepper, I figured I would combine the two. I love those galettes dearly. They’re tender, melt in your mouth and so light!  You can use any vegetables you like and substitute mozzarella with gorgonzola cheese as well. The vegetables just needs to have some consistency so you can mash them in a puree, so it’s better not to use any leafy vegetable. I mixed a little chopped spinach with it, but more would not have worked because of the liquid they tend to produce. Those galettes are a good way to have your kids eat veggies, in case you have fussy ones. They won’t feel they’re eating vegetables, and the melting mozzarella in the middle is a selling point!

I did not add too many ingredients to the galettes and lose the broccoli flavor, since the harissa sauce will enhance them. Harissa is a hot Middle Eastern sauce, served with couscous. You can buy it in tubes and delay it in water. I like to make mine with red bell peppers.

You can serve those with a light salad, and you’re all set for lunch.

Ingredients for 2

For the galettes

• 1/2 head of broccoli
• 6 tbs pre cooked oats or regular oats soaked in hot water
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 shallot, chopped
• 2 handful chopped frozen spinach (optional)
• a few basil leaves 
• 1 fresh mozzarella ball, cut in small squares
• 1 tbs plain breadcrumbs
• salt and pepper

For the harissa sauce

• 1/2 red bell pepper
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1/2 tsp coriander seeds
• 1/2 tsp cumin powder
• tabasco
• 2 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper

Preparation

For the galettes

Heat olive oil and brown shallots, add broccoli cut in small florets, salt and pepper. When broccoli are cookded mash them with a potato masher. Add defrost spinach and add to the broccoli. Add basil and garlic. 

Add enough water to the oats to form a thick paste. Add to the broccoli, and mix well. 

Take a small quantity in your hand and place a piece of mozzarella in the middle, close the ball well so that the mozzarella will not leek when in the oven and make a patty about 2 inches wide. Dip each side of the patty in bread crumbs. Cook in a pre heated oven at 375F for about 15-20 minutes, or until both sides are golden.

For the harissa sauce

Broil red bell pepper in the oven until the skin get charred. Remove from the oven, let cool. When cooled, remove the skin, and the seeds and cut in pieces. In a mixer, add red pepper and all other ingredients and mix to a smooth texture. Adjust with salt and pepper and serve with galettes.

Appetizers, Vegetables, Vegetarian - dairy Appetizer, broccoli, galettes, mozzarella, oats