Today in Pierre's kitchen...

Need a Dessert in a Hurry ?

2010-05-15T09:20:00.000-07:00

Clafouti aux Pommes (Apple Clafouti)

I finally caught my mom making a dessert, gotta be quick ! We were invited for dinner last night and she decided to bring a dessert. With only 90 minutes at her disposal to a) prepare a dessert, b) bake it, and c) change and get ready, she had no time to hide from my sneaky camera (ha ha !). But I had to be quick to note down all her ingredients, she was done in only 15 minutes ! I offer you full frontal nudity in my mom's kitchen (lucky devils !).

Step 1

First she grabbed a baking pan (about a foot in diameter) and greased it with butter, then filled it with apple slices all the way to the top (about 4 apples I think). According to her, the more apples the better it tastes (I totally agree). She added on top a few tablespoons of apricot jam (homemade, the best kind, I licked the spoon !) and butter and set it aside.

Step 1: apples and jam

Step 2

In a food processor (Thermomix TM31, a true beast that does absolutely everything, I was flabbergasted ! I so want one now, anyone knows where I can get one ???) she prepared the batter by mixing 1 cup of milk, 1 cup of flour, and 1/2 cup of sugar, and poured it on top of the apples.

Step 2: ready to bake

Step 3

The cake was baked at 380F for about 30-40 minutes, cooled down and flipped for presentation (see top picture).

Step 3: out of the oven

The results ? A soft pastry softened by cooked apples (choose baking apples for fully cooked apples), and not very sweet. It's best served warm, alone or accompanied with a creme anglaise or vanilla ice-cream.

Bon Appetit !

So Many Cheeses, So Little Time !

2010-05-13T10:03:00.000-07:00

Tome de Savoie, Cantal, St Marcelin, Brie, Goat Cheese, Roquefort

St Marcelin and Goat Cheeses

"A meal without cheese is a beautiful woman with an eye missing" - Brillat-Savarin (La Philosophie du Gout)

Only when I go to France do I realize how much I miss eating cheese. With 400 cheeses, the selection is huge ! None of that pasteurized nonsense we see in the US. This is real cheese. Fresh and aging. From cows, sheeps, goats. Hard, semi-hard, soft, melting. Some are a veritable living ecosystem of various molds, imparting a strong taste and smell to the host. Ever tried Roquefort ? Or simply blue cheese ? Then you are ready for the old goat cheese with shades of green and brown molds. With a piece of fresh french bread and a glass of red wine. It's a smorgasbord of flavors, tannins and fermented milk mingling and dancing in your mouth.

Next time you are in the dairy aisle at the grocery store, take a chance and try out a French cheese. Whole Foods Market offers a good selection, some unpasteurized (!). Or look out for a cheese shop offering imported cheeses, and ask for a selection of French cheeses, from mild to strong. Make it an evening to remember, ask friends to bring bread and their favorite wines ! And if you even happen to be in France, skip the Eiffel Tower and pig out on cheese and bread for a true french experience !

Say cheese !

French Food, How I Have Missed You !

2010-05-09T02:52:00.000-07:00

I am afraid coming back home with a few more pounds will not be too difficult ! It is almost a rite of passage when traveling to France. But I feel every ounces are worth every bites ! I hit two restaurants this week-end, where I was able to sample some french specialties I particularly like and which are near impossible to find in the US.

On Friday night, I rediscovered duck breast. I suspect french ducks are a different species than the ducks found in american markets, given the size of its breasts. That's the best part of the duck here. Imagine a huge chicken breast, but red meat with a thick layer of fatty skin on one side and a rich gamey flavor. It has enough flavor to be cooked in its own fat, but here it was served with a green peppercorn sauce, some french beans, an oven-baked potato, a small salad, and a vegetable flan. A very good jazz band provided the entertainment to a nice evening, with a full glass of rose wine in hand (Coteaux de Bandol, a local wine).

Magret de Canard, Sauce au Poivre Vert

(Duck Breast with Green Peppercorn Sauce)

On Saturday night, a childhood friend of mine took me to a restaurant he enjoys for its selection of specialties from Provence and the South-West regions of France. It was called "La Boulangerie", or The Bakery, likely because its location in an old bakery building. The place was very small, falling into the category of hole-in-the-wall, and the kitchen even smaller, with just one woman manning pots and pans. The minute I stepped through the door I knew I was in for a local treat. My friend specifically recommended the "Cassoulet", a bean stew with pork and mutton. But we were out of luck, the chef was all out. Another sign of a small, but successful, operation. Plan B was the "gardianne de taureau", a specialty from the Camargues region known for its wild white horses, its bulls, its pink flamingos, and its rice cultures. Bullfights are also common there. Hmmm, now you know where the bull in the plate is coming from. No wasting good meat though. Bull meat is indeed very lean, similar to buffalo, and the flavor is a bit stronger than beef. The raw meat is first marinated in wine before cooking it slowly in more wine with carrots and tomatoes, in a manner similar to Boeuf Bourguignon. The result is a rich meat stew with a strong wine flavor, best consummed with white rice (and here a serving of ratatouille) and a full bodied red wine. In this case, my friend, a wine connoisseur, chose a Vacqueyras red wine that was simply excellent. Supple on the tongue with lots of oak overtones, it complemented the heavy stew dish, and you could not help but drink some more ! Vacqueyras is akin to a Chateauneuf-du-Pape (similar region) or a Gigondas. If you happen to find a bottle, please give it a try.

Gardianne de Taureau avec Ratatouille et Riz de Camargues

(Bull Stew with ratatouille and rice from Camargues)

Vacqueyras Red Wine

The Simple Life

2010-05-07T09:48:00.000-07:00

French Bread and Coffee for Breakfast

I so missed good french bread ! You don't know what you are missing until you are exposed to it. Crusty on the outside and soft on the inside, stay fresh all day, and only 2 euros (close to $3) for a huge broad loaf. Bread is THE staple of every french meals. For breakfast, with butter and jams, dunked in coffee or hot chocolate. For lunch and dinner, to clean up the sauce in your plate, or accompany your cheese. I am lucky to stay in a small village with 4 different bread shops in walking distance. That's fresh bread every day !
Why is it so hard to find good bread in the US ? Is it because of the ingredients ? Bread and Cie does an excellent job, though. But at $5 a small loaf, a french diet would ruin me ! I wonder if they have a "frequent flyer" program...or a french discount ?!! How about a store in every neighborhoods ? Life could be so simple...

That's what I am talking about !!!

2010-05-05T12:00:00.001-07:00

Cheese, Sweet Cheese !

Sneaked out to France for a 3-week visit ! Pardon me if I kept it hush hush, but with the ash cloud ghost looming in the background, I did not want to say anything until I had my two feet on french ground. But here I am now ! I landed in Brussels this morning and caught my connection to Marseille, to find rainy skies and a colder weather than usual. It should clear out by the week-end (I hope!).
My first meal at the family table: zucchini, tomato and potato gratin, followed by a welcoming array of cheeses and fresh baguette. Ah, I could not ask for more for a light supper before succumbing to jetlag stupor. Checking out early today....
Peace.

Whole and Fresh - Part 2

2010-05-03T21:44:00.000-07:00

Spotted Sandbass on a Bed of Vegetables

As luck would have it, I happened to be in Mission Valley again on Friday during their farmer's market. I couldn't pass on the opportunity to snatch a fresh whole fish, so I went to say hello to my new friends at Poppa's Fresh Catch ("any fresher and you'd be underwater!", I love their slogan !). Their whole fish that day was the spotted sandbass, a beautiful fish with a huge mouth and lots of meat. I went home with a 3-pounder.
I had to get my biggest cooking dish for that monster ! I placed a bit of olive oil and about 1 oz of butter at the bottom, then layered a bed of onion slices (1 big onion) and precut mushrooms (1 pack). Then I proceeded to stuff the sandbass with a few sprigs of fresh thyme and some dried bay leaves, before placing it on the bed of vegetables. I surrounded the fish with two big tomatoes cut in eighth, added salt, pepper, pieces of lemons, spinkled about 1 oz of butter. Lastly I poured about 3/4 cup of white wine on top, and cooked in the oven at 400F for 45 minutes.
The vegetables cooked in the wine-butter mixture and were nicely complemented with steaming white rice. White wine/butter/white fish is a perfect trifecta, a master combo anyone can pull off with the right fish. The spotted sandbass turned out to have a firm texture that reminded me of, ironically, seabass. I never once set down my fork until everything was gone off my plate. What a great dinner ! Yum, yum :)

Whole and Fresh, Please !

2010-04-24T21:53:00.000-07:00

Black-Lung Rockfish

You'd think it would not be hard to find fresh whole fish in a big harbor city like San Diego. Unfortunately, it is not an easy task. The average Joe has a pretty dismal choice of fillet, fillet, or fillet at the grocery store. Unless you are looking for a rainbow trout, prepacked whole and ready to go. Maybe it's a consequence of mass markets, the consummer does not want to know where the food is coming from. Everything is precut, prepackaged with a sticker on it so you know what you are buying. It's fast and convenient, but it disconnects the consummer from the food he's eating. And in some cases, it removes any clues on the freshness of the product.

Fish is the perfect example. I grew up near Marseilles, where seafood is an important part of the diet. Think Bouillabaisse, Soupe de Poissons, Loup au Champagne, Moules Meunieres, Fruits de Mer...There freshness is what ranks fish shops, and hearsay can make or break a reputation. Owners proudly display whole fresh fish on beds of ice to attract shoppers. I was always told to find a fresh fish you have to look at its eyes. A clear eye means fresh, a cloudy eye means it is old (basically the proteins in the eye have started to degrade, creating a cloudy residue). That's it ! It's a simple rule. If only the fish was not sold with its head chopped off....

Fish Shop in Aix-en-Provence

I had a very pleasant surprise on Friday. I just happened to run into a recently new farmer's market in the Mission Valley area in San Diego. There I met a very nice man from Poppa's Fresh Catch, selling, gasp !, fresh fish, both whole and filleted. Their slogan "any fresher and it's underwater" made me laugh ! But I have to agree, the whole rockfish they sold me, descaled and gutted, was caught today. The eye was absolutely clear, and the meat, once cooked, was still clinging to the bones (another sign of freshness). The local company operates at many other farmer's market in the San Diego area. Make sure you stop by their booth, it's worth a look and it's good for the tummy :)

With fresh fish in a bag, I gleefully went home and started the oven. A fresh catch does not need much to taste good. A dash of olive oil and rock salt, a few slices of lemons in the gut (or dried fennel, as my mom would do), and a piece of aluminum foil on top to keep the juices in. In the oven at 360F for 30 minutes and it was ready. Moist and firm. Served with the juices in the pan.

The hardest part ? Waiting for next friday !

"You Are What You Eat"

2010-04-19T18:24:00.000-07:00

...or in its original form "Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are", as written by Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, an 18th century frenchman and early foodie, who is famous for his essay "La physiologie du Gout" (The physiology of Taste). For more information on the man, check out the wikipedia entry.
The quote popped out unconsciously as I was looking over my latest bloodwork results today. Not sure why. All was normal, included the dreaded HDL and triglyceride levels. A bit odd for someone who cherishes butter, adores cheese, and carries a big old sweet tooth. Or just plain lucky. But then I got to think about it. It's not just what you eat, but how you eat and how much you eat.
Yes, I use butter, but only in desserts. Anytime I need oil, I reach out for olive oil, a main staple of the mediterranean diet.
Yes, I eat cheese, but in moderation, mainly because of the high prices.
Yes, I love desserts. But I am not a big fan of highly sweet cakes and icings. I'd rather binge on fruit tarts or creamy desserts. Hmmm, maybe that one will be my downfall :)

Let's go over what I do right :)
1) I eat small portions (it helps to use small plates at home !),
2) I shy away from fried foods, most of them anyway,
3) I always have a serving of vegetables (carrots, zucchinis, broccolis, french beans, califlower, squash...),
4) If I have a choice, my veggies are steamed, to keep most of their nutrients,
5) I eat fresh fruits every day,
6) I balance my protein sources between beef, chicken, fish and beans, for diversity and choice of dishes.

The result? My weight is a constant 150 lbs for a 5'10" frame, I eat what I want and I'm enjoying it !
So what would Monsieur Brillat-Savarin say about me ? Well, I don't need to read his essay to know that I found the diet appropriate for my body and my lifestyle. And that's probably what is the most important in all of this: figuring out your body's needs, wants, and the don't-go-there-or-you'll-regret-it-tomorrow. I believe it is a balancing act, that gets reevaluated constantly and where your weight and your cholesterol level both act as impartial judges. Who knows where I'll be in 10 years....

One level in my blood analysis was off though: Vitamin D, of all things ! Yes, vitamin D is found commonly in milk, yogurt, butter, breakfast cereals. And it is synthesized in the skin under exposure to UV light. Living in Southern California, and eating yogurt and cereals every morning apparently does not cut it ! In fact, oddly enough, my doctor told me Southern California is currently seeing a vitamin D deficiency. Time for me to go look for other natural sources of vitamin D !

It's party time !

2010-04-02T15:19:00.000-07:00

Strawberry and Blueberry Tartlets

Back in full baking mode ! I was asked to bring some finger food for a ceramics show tonight at the Spanish Village in Balboa Park. So I was thinking something small, something elegant, something sweet. That's right ! The Tartlets are baaaaack !!!

Tarlets are so much fun to make. The dough is made in 10 minutes, you can use a muffin pan, and prebake the mini crusts. Then you've got to decide on the filling. Lots to choose from, fruits, chocolate, nuts...Tarlets are a great way to let your imagination run free, even mixing and matching the flavors.

A personal favorite are fresh fruits and cream, especially when we get in full Spring and Summer. Local fruits are ripe and full of flavors. A good thick cream will add some sweetness without overpowering the fruits. Here I use a cream called "creme patissiere". It is a custard typically used as filling for cakes or cream puffs.

The night before, I prepared both the crusts and the custard, which I kept in the fridge. The next day, it was a simply a matter of adding the custard in the crust, cutting fresh fruits and decorating the top. Voila ! A multitude of small tarts, full of colors, full of flavors, and certain to make an impression !

Creme Patissiere:

Mix 2 eggs+4 egg yolks+4 oz sugar in a bowl until the mixture whitens a bit, then add 4 oz flour and the flavoring (here I used 2 tsp vanilla and 3 tsp rum). Boil 2 cups of whole milk and add it little by little to the above mixture while stirring. You want to avoid cooking the eggs, so go slow. Once all the milk has been added, cook the resulting cream on slow until it boils again (about 15-20 minutes), and don't stop stirring! The cream should thicken. Take it off the stove and let it cool. Add 1/3 stick of butter to the warm cream to avoid a thick layer of hardened cream to form on top.

Keep the cream in the fridge if you plan on using it the following day.

For the crust, see my lemon tart post.

Rinse and cut the strawberries. Add a tablespoon of sugar to the wet fruits, it will create a light sirup that will coat the fruits and make them shiny as well as sweeter.

Rinse the blueberries.

Arrange to your liking.

The Dog liked It !

2010-03-21T19:57:00.000-07:00

Lemon Mousse with Almond Cookie

My kitchen is under a lemon invasion ! Lemons show up left and right. Big, fat, juicy lemons. Enough lemon tarts already, I am ready to move on. So I decided to experiment and the dog happily volunteered :)

I have had in mind for a while to make fruit mousse, either as a dessert or a filler for a cake. It's pretty common to find such fillings in cakes in french patisserie. I did a bit of research on french baking sites on lemon mousse. I know how to make a chocolate mousse and I wanted a similar recipe but with lemons instead. I actually found one pretty close, but with limes instead. The basic idea is to make a simple lemon curd and fold that with beaten egg whites. Very simple and quick to execute.

I had to adjust the measurements a bit since I was using big lemons instead of limes. The end results was a very lemony mousse. I have to underline it, it is a very strong lemon taste. For lemon afficionados only ! Cut back the number of lemons for a softer flavor.

I find the strong lemon taste appealing, personally. It helps with digestion after a big meal, like a lemon sorbet would, but with less sugar. I added some almond cookies to the mousse. They help counterbalance the sourness, and they are great to use as spoons !

The dog loved both. Two paws up ! And a wagging tail :)

Below is the recipe I used. Again, it is a strong lemon flavor. Adjust accordingly.

The mousse does not keep well for long. After a day in the fridge, it starts losing its consistency. It is best eaten the same day.

Lemon Mousse:

3 eggs (yolks and whites separated)
1/2 cup powdered sugar
4 lemons
2 tbs corn starch

Collect zeste and juice from the lemons. Split the juice in half, put one half into a small cooking pan and mix the other half with the egg yolks and the corn starch. Bring the lemon juice in the pan to a boil, then add the eggy cream and cook on medium for 2-3 minutes. It will thicken quickly. Let it cool on the side.
Beat the eggs until firm. Add the sugar the zeste and beat for another 30 seconds.
Add the thick cream to the whites and fold crefully until blended.
Refrigerate for at least 4h.

Almond cookies:

1 egg
1/2 cup sugar
1 and 1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup almond flour
1 tsp almond extract
4 oz of soft butter

Mix eggs, sugar and extract, then add flour and almond flour. Work it with your fingers until you get a "sandy" consistency. Add the soft butter cut in pieces, and work them in with your fingers. You should be able to shape the dough into a ball without sticking to your hands (add more flour if it does). Place the dough in small cookie shapes on a non-stick pan (I use a high temperature silicon pad). Bake at 350F for 15-30 minutes, depending on how brown you want them.

Trick alert !!!
You know your whites are ready when you can flip the container and they don't slide out.

Lemons falling out of your tree?

2010-03-14T20:14:00.000-07:00

That's certainly what's happening in my neighborhood lately. Is it a record citrus season ? I seem to see lemons and oranges everywhere. Even kids selling them on the side of the road.

I don't have a lemon tree. No need, when I can simply walk around the neighborhood and collect them on the ground !

I love lemons, more so than oranges, because one of my favorite dessert is the lemon tart. Give me lemons and I'll make a tart ! Ah ah, alright it's a bit weak. But seriously, that's how I get rid of all those lemons crowding my fridge.

I've done it enough I don't need a recipe anymore. I grab my ingredients and start mixing. Most times I end up with a different version. Today, I got a softer crust by adding sugar to it, which I think is an improvement. I also skipped the meringue on top (extra work) and avoided using butter, ending with a soft and light custard. I like it ! I added pine nuts and almond slivers on top for decoration. Below is the recipe. Enjoy !

Lemon Tart with Pine Nuts and Almonds

Lemon Tart Recipe

For the crust:

In a bowl mix 2 egg yolks and 8 tbs of sugar to a froth. Add 1.5 cup of flour and mix with your hand until you get a fine "sandy" texture. Add a soft stick of butter cut in small pieces, and mix with your hand. Roll the dough into a ball and put aside.

For the lemon custard:

In a bowl mix 2 eggs, 1/2 cup of sugar and 2 tbs of flour. Add the zest and juice of 2 medium size lemons, followed by 3/4 cup of half and half. Mix everything to obtain a thick cream.

Roll the dough into a medium size pan. Thickness depends on your taste. Personally I keep it thin (no more than 1/4 of an inch). Pinch the dough on the side of the pan to prevent slumping. Pour the cream, and bake at 380F for 30 minutes. Let it cool a bit before decorating the top. Here I brushed some apricot jam (diluted with water) and sprinkled pine nuts and almond slivers.

"Gerald Passedat: Inventing Cuisine"

2010-03-07T19:55:00.000-08:00

With the crafts fair behind me, I was finally able to sit down and watch "Gerald Passedat: Inventing Cuisine", which I obtained from Netflix. I had no idea what was in store for me, besides the ecstatic review of my friend ("I loved it, I loved it, I loved it!"), the small blurb on the DVD jacket, and a length time of 71 minutes. So I nestled on the couch with the dog and a glass of Pinot Noir and pressed Play !
As it turned out "Inventing Cuisine" is a French series on several French Chefs, also including Michel Troigros, Michel Bras, Michel Guerard, and Pierre Gagnaire. The DVD offers a french version with no subtitles and an english version.
Frankly I was initially a bit disappointed. It's not until the middle of the film that the chef's creative process is demonstrated. Too much time is spent on the man himself in his environment and making general (and uninteresting) comments on life. I didn't care much seeing footage of the Chef getting a lapdance at a stripclub ! Once you watch past the first half then the story gets interesting. Basically Gerald is closing is restaurant for two months for remodeling and giving it a new direction with novel dishes. His vision is based on the Mediterranean Sea, choosing seafood dishes that will represent the different sea layers, namely the surface, the deep, and the in-between. And that was fascinating ! How he managed to recreate his vision with food, arranging, coloring, deconstructing. You can tell the man is totally in control of his art. The film ended too soon, I wanted to see more ! Oh well...
Don't miss the extras ! You'll see footage of three recipes in action. Quite instructive. I like his recipe for licorice twin tarts. Very tempted to try it out !
In the end, I recommend the movie. Be patient for the real "meat" of the documentary. In the meantime you can savor images of Marseilles and its blue waters and white rocks.

Life is taking a little detour...

2010-03-01T21:13:00.000-08:00

This is what happens when you have too many passions in your life. Try as you may to keep them all in the air, sometimes one will take over for a little bit. Sadly it is not cooking this week. In fact my kitchen has seen little action lately, for I am prepping for my first pottery show of the year ! I am excited ! But so much to do ! It's a big organization issue, and on top, deciding how to display my wares is stressing me out. So I started by buying a new car, with some cargo room, on Sunday. And tonight I am taking a break from the display nightmare. The big show is Saturday March 6. The craft fair is part of the Ocean Beach Kite Festival. Wish me luck !

I do hope I can squeeze in a little cooking though, in a way. A friend of mine recommended a French film on the Marseilles-based master chef Gerald Passedat, "Gerald Passedat: Inventing Cuisine". The story centers around the chef's approach to creating dishes. Probably over an hour of salivating in front of the screen if you ask me ! But I am really looking forward to it.

Something Sweet with your Coffee ?

2010-02-22T18:19:00.000-08:00

Almond Madeleines

Whenever I look back on my life, especially on my childhood or my teenage years in France, I have this echo in my mind of a famous text by French writer Marcel Proust, where the simple act of dipping a madeleine into a cup of coffee and biting into it awakens in him an avalanche of souvenirs. Sometimes, when I cook a french dish and I taste it, I remember when or where I had my first taste. Taste buds have memories. Or a direct path to them. That's how I manage to recreate French dishes, besides the visual aspect. The process is quite fascinating, and never fails to amaze me.
Madeleines are simple individual cakes in the shape of a clamshell, with a buttery taste. They are ideal for a tea or coffee break (a Proust moment), or anytime really :) I recently got myself a non stick mold for 12 madeleines. I finally used it the other day. The recipe is really easy and fast. The original recipe I had called for lemon zest. I tweaked it to add an almond flavor (see recipe below). Also, almond can easily be replaced with chocolate, by swapping the flavoring with melted chocolate. For fun, take the basic recipe and add your favorite flavor !

Almond Madeleines (for about 24 madeleines)

2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup almond flour
1 stick of butter (4 oz)
0.25 oz baking powder
2 tsp almond extract

Using a handmixer, mix the eggs and sugar to a froth, then add the melted butter, and the flour by portions. Mix in the baking powder, the almond flour, and the almond extract until smooth. Preheat the oven to 400F. Grease your madeleine pan with some butter, add a teaspoon of batter in each mold, and bake for 10 minutes, or until golden. Take out of the oven, let the pan cool a few minutes, remove the madeleines, then regrease and repeat the cycle until you run out of batter !

New feature !

2010-02-19T16:18:00.000-08:00

Get new post alerts delivered to you by email !

It's convenient and easy, with a quick and simple sign-up. I use Feedburner, a new tool offered by Google, to send out the alerts. Look at the top of the page, just above the Tag Cloud. Input your email address of choice, go thru the authentification process, and you are set for automatic emails for new content. How cool is that ?
It is my commitment to you to make french recipes simple and approachable by anyone who is not afraid of a sauce pan. Using current technology to deliver them right to your inbox is my way to say "ok, any simpler than that I'll be in your kitchen cooking !".

A very special Birthday Treat

2010-02-10T21:28:00.000-08:00

Hai's special fruit tart

(apple and blueberries tart with chocolate banana filling)

My dear friend Hai had his Birthday last Saturday, and he was so depressed. I am not sure why, he is still young and living a pretty good life. But whatever the reason I felt bad. I am pretty cheery on my Birthday, it's my excuse to pamper myself. For the past two years I spent my special day at the spa with one of my best friends. I usually go on a shopping spree, renewing my wardrobe. Or I surround myself with some good friends and cook them a special meal. That's my special day, when everything can happen. Anything to feel good, right ?

So, I had to intervene. Via Facebook chat, since it's the norm now. "Hai, what would make you feel better? Do you want me to make you a Bday dessert?" [excitment on the internet] "OMG yes make me a fruit tart !". I serve to please, so you know what's next...:)

Hai is a very sweet person, he deserved a new creation, a special tart that could bear his name. Because his birthday falls in February, I used two common winter fruits, apples and blueberries. That's what on top for everyone to see. Pretty and easy to arrange in a pattern. But beneath it all hides more sweetness to be discovered, a mixture of chocolate and banana that lingers on the palate and makes you yearn for another bite.

Hai loved it ! But most importantly his spirits were lifted. And he did blow all his candles :)

The recipe:

Crust (see previous post):

1 cup flour, 1/3 cup almond flour, 4 oz butter, 1 egg, 1 tsp almond extract.

Bottom Filling:

1 banana, 1/3 cup choclate chips, 3 tbs half and half cream, 5 tbs almond flour, 2 tbs kalua liquor

Melt the chocolate chips on low heat and add to the pureed banana. Mix in the half and half, the almond flour, and the liquor. Spread the mixture on top of the crust and chill for 15 minutes to harden the chocolate. It makes it easier in the next step.
Top filling:

3 apples, 1 oz butter, 5 tbs sugar, pint of blueberries.

Peel, core and cut the apples in eight thick wedges. Cook them in a pan with the butter and the sugar on medium heat until the sides are browning. They should be soft. Put them aside and add the washed blueberries to the leftover juice in the pan. Cook for 1 minute and set aside.

Place the apple wedges on top of the hardened chocolate banana, in a creative pattern of your choice. Pour the egg cream (below) slowly as to not know disturb the pattern, then sprinkle the berries.

Cream:

2 eggs, 4 tbs sugar, 3 tbs marsala wine, 1/2 pint half and half cream.

Mix eggs and sugar together, then add the marsala wine and the cream. Pour the egg cream on the apples.

Bake the tart for an hour at 350F. Serve warm or cold, by itself or with ice cream. And don't forget the birthday candles !

Happy Crepe Day !!!!

2010-02-01T18:15:00.000-08:00

Happy "Chandeleur" !!!!

Yes ! Crepes have a special day (at least in France !), and it is tomorrow, Tuesday February 2nd. It is called "Chandeleur", or "Fete de la Lumiere" (roughly translated as candlemas), in reference to the purification of the Virgin Mary. Once again, the French turned a catholic holiday into a feast :)

So stock up on milk, flour and eggs, as well as your favorite fillings, be it jams, jellies, chocolate, Nutella, honey, ice cream, cooked fruits,...and that's just for dessert! Crepes can also serve as a very soft wrap for any main entree. How else can you make it a feast ??!!!

Make sure you give yourself some time before dinner. It takes 10 minutes to make the batter, but it has to rest for at least an hour. Go back to my earlier crepe posts for recipes:

Enjoy !

Healthy Crepes ? Mais Oui, milk-free and fiber-loaded !

2010-01-24T10:22:00.000-08:00

Flip that crepe !

Is buckwheat healthy ? Oh yes ! As I found out in this information-rich wikipedia entry, buckwheat has many attributes of its own, including reducing plasma cholesterol levels, a lack of gluten, and rich in iron, zinc, and selenium. But the attraction as a flour substitute is what makes it shine.
In my previous post for crepes (Mastering the Art of Crepe), I highlighted the use of whole milk and regular flour as the main ingredient for supple crepes. That's the basic crepe recipe. For advanced "creping", I present here a twist to reduce the amount of regular flour by 80% and totally eliminate milk ! Buckwheat thickens in presence of water, no need for milk, that's the trick.
Now, a word of caution. It's also much trickier to cook buckwheat crepes in the pan. They stick a lot more, and tend to break more easily during the flipping process. So make sure to practice your crepe skills first with the basic recipe ! THIS IS FOR ADVANCED CREPE-MAKERS !
Also, buckwheat adds a very strong taste to the crepe, akin to an earthy, mushroom-y flavor. As such, I find them perfect as a main dish or appetizer with a salty filling. For example, scrambled eggs, rice and veggies, chicken, etc...But they work great with sweets, for breakfast or as a dessert. Let your own tastes guide your imagination, I only provide the tools.

Ingredients:

1 cup buckwheat flour
1/3 cup white unbleached flour
2 cups water
2 eggs
2 tbs canola oil
pinch of salt

Directions:

In a big bowl, add both flours and salt. Pour the water slowly while mixing (I use a whisk), you'll obtain a thick liquid. Blend in the eggs and the oil, and let it rest for at least an hour. Overnight is fine too if you wish to reserve it for breakfast the following day.
To make the crepes, use a nonstick pan that you rub with canola oil. Remove the excess of oil to leave only a film behind. I use a folded paper towel, which helps me reapply between crepes (important to avoid sticking!). Preheat the pan until it sizzles when dropping a drop of water, then keep it on medium heat. Pour a ladle into the pan and swirl it to create a thin layer of dough all over the pan. When the sides start lifting off the pan, it's time to flip! Lately I have been using a silicone spatula (instead of wood) and I love it. Its sides are thinner and easily allow sliding the spatula under the crepe for a cleaner flip. The other side cooks much faster, usually in 30 sec.
The buckwheat crepes do not last as long as regular crepes. They tend to dry up more quickly because of the lack of milk. So consumme quickly, but somehow I don't think that will be a problem :)

Enjoy !

A cake for Kings and Queens

2010-01-05T17:14:00.000-08:00

Gateau des Rois (Kings' Cake)

Tomorrow is January 6th, also known as Epiphany (12th day after Christmas), which celebrates the visit of the three kings to baby Jesus. It is a big day in France. Not for its religious practice, but as the start of a tradition that lasts all month: le gateau des Rois, or kings' cake !
In Provence, le gateau takes the form of a brioche shaped like a big doughtnut with candied fruits (fruits confits) inside and on top. Hidden inside is traditionally a big dried bean (la feve), and sometimes a little ceramic figurine in fancy boulangeries. Whoever finds the bean in his/her slice is crowned king or queen for the day with a symbolic gold paper crown, and he/she is charged with bringing another gateau the following week-end. Now you see why it lasts all month long !
Let me share this delicious recipe, just in time for you to be part of this fun tradition that will delight the little ones (a gold crown !!!) and the tall ones (sweet soft yummy bread !!!).

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 oz (1 bag) of Fleischmann's highly active yeast
2 eggs
4 oz butter (1 stick)
1 tbs rum
1 tbs orange blossom
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk (fat free works or use just plain water)
lemon zest
3/4 cup candied fruits

Directions:

In a mixer bowl place flour, butter, sugar, salt, rum, orange blossom and mix for a minute.
Add the eggs and mix again.
Dissolve the yeast into the warm milk (or water) and add to the bowl slowly while mixing. The dough is likely to be still very sticky. Add more flour until you feel comfortable pulling the dough out and onto a work area for some kneading action.
Sprinkle some flour on your work area and knead the dough for several minutes, while adding 2/3 of the candied fruits and the lemon zest by portions. The dough will stick to your hands, so keep the flour close to add some more until the dough is off your fingers.
Make a ball with the dough and place it in a bowl in a warm place for 1h. That's the first rise. Then knead it for at least 5 minutes and place the dough in the fridge overnight.
The next day, you'll have to "warm up" the dough a bit by kneading it again for a few minutes. Then shape it into a big bagel (at this point you can insert the dried bean to keep with the French tradition) and place it in a warm place for several hours. It should double in volume. To help keep the doughnut hole during this process, place a glass in it. You'll remove it before baking.
Preheat the oven to 350F.
Remove the glass and brush an egg yolk on the dough surface for a brown color.
Bake at 350F for 30 minutes. A knife slid through will come out clean when it's ready.
Cool down, then brush a little bit of apricot jam to make the top sticky, and place the remainder of candied fruits for colors.
Better to consumme the same day, as it tends to dry quickly. If that's the case, microwave the slice for 10 seconds and it'll be soft and warm and so yummy :)

Happy New Year !!!!

2010-01-01T17:21:00.000-08:00

Lemon and Nuts Tart

010110....today's date, not a binary code :)
I hope everyone had a safe and fun New Year celebration. Getting rid of 2009 was a celebration in itself, what a dreadful year ! Brrrrr, I am looking forward to 2010 and hopefully a full time job to fuel my hobbies :)

I celebrated the last year of '09 in the kitchen. Very fitting since I started this blog in the Summer. We had a couple of guests over for dinner. Deal was, I cook, they bring the wine. Being the wine connoisseurs that they are, I had to make sure my meal was going to be on par ! Their wine choice was absolutely delicious. A 1999 Margaux (red Bordeaux) so soft and oaky, the bottle did not last long !!! (mental note: invite them more often)

So here is my menu. I kept it simple with only one course with dessert.

appetizer: foie gras on wheat toasts, and mixed nuts with white wine
main course: ribeye in a wine mushroom sauce, with lobster tail, grilled polenta slices, and garlic spinach
dessert: a lemon tart with pine nuts and almond slices

The foie gras came from my last visit to France. It is a staple in France for Christmas and New Year celebrations, and so foie gras was non-negotiable :) For the main dish, I cooked sliced crimini mushrooms in half and half with shallots and marsala wine, for about an hour. I poured the sauce in the same pan that I used to sear the steaks in order to get some of the meat juice into the sauce. The lobster tails were steamed to keep their juices inside. The polenta I bought premade into a log. It's easier to slice. The slices were quickly dipped in olive oil and baked in the oven until crispy. The fresh spinach was cooked with bits of fresh garlic and some curry powder in olive oil.

For dessert, I had a craving for a lemon tart. I had some lemons in the fridge for a couple of weeks already, I had to act. So I revisited my lemon meringue tart recipe to make it a fluffier (no butter cream) and healthier (nuts!). I'll share the recipe with you.

The crust: (see previous post on the subject)
To 1 cup of flour, add 1 stick (100g) of softened butter and 3 tbs of almond flour, and mix well with your hand. Add an egg, a bit of vanilla flavoring, mix again, and add more flour until the dough does not stick to your hand. Place the dough into a baking pan of your choice and prebake it at 350F for 10 minutes. (don't forget to prick the dough with a fork to release air formed during baking, or it will lift !)

The filling:
Beat 3 eggs with 1/2 cup of sugar until frothy mixture is obtained. Slowly add 3/4 cup of half and half, 1 tbs of almond flour, 1/2 tsp vanilla flavoring, 2 tbs of flour, juice of 3 lemons and their zests. Mix until homogeneous and pour onto the crust. Add pine nuts to the filling (I used about 2 handfuls, but you can use more or less to your liking). Bake at 350F for 20 minutes. Cool down.

The decoration:
Lightly brush the top with apricot jam (carefull not to break the filling, it's kinda soft) then sprinkle almond slices on top. No need for meringue.

The filling turned out somewhat soft with a very strong lemon flavor. If it's too strong for you, try with 2 lemons instead of 3. Overall, it does not taste very sweet and it melts easily in your mouth.

So yummy I had two pieces last night !

Ono Ice Creams !

2009-12-22T23:18:00.000-08:00

Ono means "tastes good" in hawaiian, and Dave's hawaiian ice creams are a good example of what ono means. Made locally, the ice creams comes in unique flavors like haupia (coconut pudding), macademia nuts, ube (sweet potato), lychee, coconut macademia, hawaiian mud pie...the list goes on.
Today I made a special detour to the shop in Waimanolo, HI, to try three flavors (picture below). In purple blue is ube, made from the purple sweet potato. It has a sweet taste, but not too strong, and the flavor is truly unique to Hawaii. A must try ! In white is lychee sherbert, too sugary for my taste. Underneath is toasted macademia nut. Very good mac ice cream with lots of toasted nut chunks, highly recommended.

2009-12-21T21:51:00.000-08:00

Aloha !

My posting of personal recipes will be on hold until I return from a Christmas vacation in Honolulu, Hawaii. But it does not mean I would let you down ! Hawaiians love to eat. Honolulu is full of restaurants, from the hawaiian plate hole-in-the-wall to the newest trendy (and crowded) places. The islands are literally at the forefront of asian cuisines with major exposure from China, Japan, Korea, Thailand or the Philipines. It's a smorgasbord of flavors !

Here is a list of my personal favorites, in no special order:

any poke with ahi tuna, smoked octopus, mussels, or smoked marlin (I can just eat that day and night, who needs vegetables ?)
seaweed salad (I guess that would make that my vegetables, right ?)
an pan (chinese brioche filled with red bean paste, great for breakfast and the after-beach snack)
Ted's haupia cream pie from Ted's bakery. Huge (at least two knuckles) layer of coconut pudding crowned with whipped cream. It's rapture on a thin layer of dough!
Dave's hawaiian ice creams (taro, haupia, sweet potato especially!). Too bad the Honolulu store I knew closed.
Dole plantation's pineapple ice cream. No travel on Oahu is complete without a trip to the Dole plantation. Not for the maze, the garden, the koi pond, or the store (all tourist traps imo), but for the absolutely delicious pineapple ice milk. Forget the sugar, it's pure pineapple flavor, period.
mochi ice cream (just had a taste of a good one at Shirokiya today, cherry-blossom flavor!)
and my latest discovery, huge cream puffs from Beard Papa's ! The chocolate cream reminds me of a mild chocolate mousse. What's more fun than linking the oozing cream off your fingers (or someone else's !!!! wink, wink).

And for the little time left when I don't eat, I go snorkeling. Enjoy the picture !

Parrotfish at the spa, curtesy of a cleaner wrasse

Flan can be a great dessert too !

2009-12-15T17:04:00.000-08:00

Flan aux Oeufs (egg flan)

I love flan ! It's that light sweet texture that dissolves in your mouth, leaving an eggy-milky taste behind. It does not make you full, yet it satisfies your sugar craving. Perfect! Add some caramel and maybe a light biscuit soaked with extra flavors and you just made a great dessert to top a heavy meal. I recently discovered the mexican version at the local mexican store. Texture is much heavier, likely from flour or corn starch. It's delicious but this one will fill you up !

My recipe is quick and easy. Never one to waste, I usually make flan to use up leftover milk before it gets bad. Either that or I make crepes :) I added some lady fingers to it to spruce it up a bit, both visually and for taste. By the way, here are, in my opinion, the three wonders of lady fingers: you can buy them cheap, they are small and easy to arrange, they will soak up anything you throw at them. Don't be surprised if you see more of them in my recipes, I always have a box handy at home! Here, I used diluted Grand Marnier to flavor the lady fingers. During baking, the alcohol dissipated but it left behind a faint orangy taste that I love. And the lady fingers were all soft and moist from absorbing the cream. Pure Heaven!

Ingredients:

4 cups of whole milk
5 eggs
1/2 cup of sugar
vanilla extract (1/4 teaspoon)
8-10 lady fingers
1 teaspoon of your favorite liquor (optional)

Directions:

Preheat the oven at 320F.
Beat the eggs with vanilla extract.
Boil the milk with sugar.
Add the hot milk to the eggs in small portions (to avoid curling) while stirring with a whisk.
Dilute the liquor with water (to your liking!) and quickly dip the lady fingers. Don't soak them or they won't absorb the cream anymore.
Place the lady fingers in a pan made of porcelain or pyrex and pour the warm cream on top. Let the lady fingers absorb the liquid for 15 minutes, then bake at 320F in the oven for 45 minutes.
Serve warm or cold. Fresh berries are great accompaniments.

Chocolate Cake Pudding...

2009-12-07T21:52:00.000-08:00

...or How to Recover from a Kitchen Accident and Look Fabulous !

Don't you hate it when you make your best cake ever, right on time so it will be slightly warm when served, and kaboooom ! You drop it ! We all have those horror stories. They are all too real, unfortunately. But I find that's in the face of adversity that we can make huge leaps in creativity. Let me share my story, which happened this past week-end...

I was pumped, ready to make my sin-delicious chocolate cake for the ceramics studio opening, Clay Associates. I stopped at the grocery store on my way from work to stock up on eggs (good thinking in retrospect!), and once home I started at once. Cake batter was ready in 20 minutes following the recipe on my previous post. I even added some clementine rind (out of oranges) for extra flavor (great combo !). I baked the cake for 30 minutes, it looked good, it smelled good, I was on a roll. I took it out of the oven, the kitchen towel I used to grab the pan slipped thus exposing my ring finger to the hot pan. Surprised, I screamed well-placed expletives while dropping my creation upside down on the lowered oven door! Followed by 10 seconds of silence, a minute of self-cursing, then heavy sweat. "What am I going to do ?" I could easily salvage the cake but it was in no shape presentable anymore.

What ensued was the longest 5 minutes in my life. I was processing thousands of ideas in my mind to turn my proverbial lemons into lemonade. I settled for the quick and easy, as I was running out of time. I made my first pudding !

You see, pudding originally is recycled bread, old bread that's too hard to eat. It is crumbled and soaked in a sweet egg-based cream to find new life as a warm dessert, excellent with ice-cream. Suddenly, it was the perfect solution for my problems.

Here is what I did.

1) I boiled a pint of half and half with a pint of fat-free milk (normally I would simply boil whole milk but I was out) and 1/2 cup sugar.

2) I beat 4 eggs and slowly added the warm milk to it while turning.

3) I added some vanilla flavor (1/8 teaspon) (it's optional and can be substituted with your favorite flavoring including alcohols!)

4) I crumbled the chocolate cake in small pieces and let them soak in the egg cream for 20 minutes

5) I transfered the mixture into a greased loaf pan and baked at 320F for 45 minutes.

The pudding was still warm when I brought it to the studio. It was an instant hit and disappeared quickly ! Light, soft, chocolatey with a smooth orangy flavor, not too sweet, it was divine, or as one guest told me "one bite and I went to Heaven!". Best compliment ever !

Tired of the same old pumpkin pie ?

2009-11-28T09:18:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving has come and gone. Neighbors and family gathered for a huge feast of oven-baked turkey, Randy's secret stuffing, honey ham, marshmallowed sweet potatoes, and peruvian potato stew, to stir the melting pot that is America. I brought dessert!
I knew what I was up against. Like every year, the store-bought pumpkin pie invariably makes its appearance on the dining table, plain or with a puff of whipped cream in the center. It is a Thanksgiving staple that will never go away, whether you like it or not. I like my friend Ryan's sweet potato pie better. Maybe because it is homemade, with a recipe passed along the generations. It fits with the tradition of a homemade meal that the entire family helps prepare.
What did I bring, do you ask ? Well, I wanted to go for another seasonal fruit, the apple. And I wanted something that could hold up to a rich and satisfying meal without topping over the glucose level. By the end of a Thanksgiving meal, you can't taste sugar anymore but you can still appreciate texture ! I decided to modify my apple tart recipe by caramelizing the apples first and surround them in frangipane on a thin bed of chocolate. I present you the Apple Frangipane Tart !

Apple Frangipane Tart

It is a deep-dish style tart with sweetened apple slices and a light almond crust that is best consummed warm with a dollup of whipped cream. The almond filling will remind you of macaroons, but softer. To the recipe !

Ingredients (for a 1.5" deep 10" tart):

frangipane filling:

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup almond flour
1 tbsp white flour
1 egg
1/4 tsp almond extract

Preparing the apples:

6 apples, peeled, cored and cut in eights
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup rum

For the crust:

1.5 cup flour
3/4 cup butter
1 egg
a pinch of salt
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Prepare the crust as directed in this post.
Melt 1/4 cup of 60-70% chocolate on low and pour it on top of the uncooked crust in a thin layer. Let it cool down in the fridge until the chocolate is solid again.
Frangipane: beat the butter and the sugar to a white froth, mix in the flour, the almond flour, the egg and the almond extract until smooth and homogeneous. Set aside.
To caramelize the apples: in a wide pan, first melt the butter and sugar on a low setting, then add the apple slices and cook them covered on medium heat. Once they have grown soft, remove the cover, add the rum and reduce the liquid (apples give out a lot of water!) until the apples start browning a little. Limit your stirring to a minimum to keep the slices whole.
Finish the tart by pouring a layer of frangipane on top of the chocolate layer and adding the apple slices on top of the frangipane. Do not worry too much about arranging the slices neatly, they will slowly sink into the frangipane under heating and some will disappear under.
Bake at 370F for 45 minutes.
Serve the tart warm with some whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
To make whipped cream: pour a cold pint of heavy whipped cream into a chilled bowl, add 2-3 tbsp of powdered sugar and beat it on high until firm. Do not overbeat it or it will turn into butter !!! I recommend the "finger test". Dunk the finger and give it a taste!

Enjoy !

How disturbing...the truth behind the food we eat ?

2009-11-20T10:02:00.000-08:00

Last night, I sat down with the dog on the lap to watch a movie that gathered some good reviews: Food Inc. I was engrossed, and grossed out, for 90 minutes. Even the dog was quiet!

You see, Food Inc is not so much a movie as it is an investigative documentary. Think Michael Moore with less drama and more plain facts. The whole premise of the documentary is to "lift the veil over the whole food industry". Basically the consummer is being blinded by packaging, with the intention of disconnecting, say the animal from the finely sliced piece of red meat. With no more bones in view and a cute smiley cow face on top, it's hard to think of the living and breathing animal who gave it all. But the director did not dwell much on that particular issue. He was more interested in how the food industry evolved to accommodate the mass market and the consequences that are plaguing our society today. For example, the movie swiftly demonstrates the connections to rocketing mass food poisonings, increasing diabetic population, the loss of consummer choices and even illegal immigration. With only a handful of big corporations controlling the food market, a lot of power, both financial and political, is shared by a few, and their actions, entirely motivated by money and business, basically control what we eat. No big surprises here to hear it is a business. But when the dots get connected to direct society and health issues, that's when it gets scary ! And the tactics employed by some companies (think GMOs !) to make farmers comply are plainly disgusting.

The movie does, however, have a positive message to give to us, the consummer. Be more alert of what you eat ! State your preference for fresh and healthy by buying organic and local foods ! The food industry is still a business and they will listen to what the consummer wants.

I can say this movie transformed my attitude towards grocery shopping. I won't turn vegetarian yet, but I'll question the meat I buy, definitely leaning towards grain-fed chickens and grass-fed cows. This is what I like about a small country like France, where local and small farming has still a huge impact on the food chain, thanks to huge government subsidies. It's still not a perfect system, but that's what creates all those lovely farmer's markets around the country. We can have it here in this country too if we, as consummers, band together and state our preference.

Mastering the Art of Crepe !

2009-11-15T19:51:00.000-08:00

The art of making crepes

A gust of cold wind. A persisting sniffle. A cold bathroom in the morning. Little signs that cold weather is taking a firm grip in our lives, even in sunny San Diego. Suddenly holding a warm cup of coffee, or chocolate, becomes a much-anticipated ritual throughout the day. For me, it triggers another craving, firmly embedded in years of french upbringing: a warm crepe, with my favorite filling, Nutella. When the wind turns cold and the leaves have begun to fall, city streets in France are filling up with all kinds of aromas, most of which come from grilled chestnuts and warm crepes bubbling on hot portable stoves. As a kid I would be mesmerized watching the crepe maker skillfully pour the batter on the hot plate and spread it in a circular motion to create that soft, eggy, thin and large pancake that is called "crepe". At home, we would have crepe nights in the middle of winter. As a student, they would turn into crepe parties, with all kinds of fillings, from ham and cheese to rum-soaked sugar.

So this week-end was a bit cold, and my conditioning kicked in, I was at the stove making a huge pile of crepes ! The crepe recipe is pretty simple, really. Making them however requires a certain dexterity and practice. So before deciding for a crepe party with the neighbors, make sure you know how to pour the batter adroitly, flip the crepe, and deliver it hot and steaming on your guests' plates. Here is the basic recipe, which gives me 20-25 crepes on a 12-inch nonstick pan.

Ingredients:

1L or 4 cups of whole milk (don't substitute with reduced fat milk or the batter will be too runny and hell to cook)
4 eggs
2 cups of flour
a pinch of salt
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil (canola)
optional flavoring (vanilla, Grand Marnier, rum, orange blossom...)

Directions:

Beat the eggs, salt, oil, and a few tablespoons of milk together.
Add the flour and mix to get a very heavy dough.
Add the milk little by little while stirring until you get a homogeneous batter. I use a whisk to break up the clumps.
Let the batter settle for 1 hour in the fridge before using. If it gets too heavy you can add some milk to it just before use.

To make a crepe: (Note to self: a YouTube video would be perfect here!)

Choose a nonstick pan, usually Teflon-coated, and grease it with a thin film of canola oil. Personally I rub an oil-soaked paper towel that I use before making each crepe.
Preheat the pan on the stove. Medium heat is good. It's easier to make crepes when the pan is really hot. Quite often I screw up my first crepe because it wasn't hot enough. Typically, the crepe ends up sticking too much to the pan and I can't flip it without breaking it.
Pour enough batter to cover the entire pan floor in a thin layer. I tend to transfer my batter to an old milk container, it comes out great without the use of a ladle.
Wait until the crepe border detaches itself from the pan then gently slide a flat wooden stick under until you feel confident enough you can flip it. This is a critical step when the crepe is fragile and can break easily. You'll likely to spend many attempts there. Practice, practice, practice ! My secret: I use my fingers to flip the crepe ! Quick or you get burned !
Once you flipped the crepe, the other side will cook quickly. Transfer to a plate, regrease and repeat step 3 !

Oui, oui, making crepes is an art that every self-proclaimed french cook has to master. Consider it a rite of passage before tackling Julia Child's french recipe book.

For fillings, I'll leave it to your imagination for now. Between sweet and salt-based fillings, it would take another entire post. For immediate craving, I recommend Nutella, jams, jellies, plain sugar with or without a sprinkle of alcohol (Grand-Margnier tastes good here), peanut butter, ice-cream...have you run out of crepes yet ??? :)

I also have a recipe for buckwheat crepes for the health-conscious and advanced crepe-maker. Also another post for later. If you are antsy, shoot me an email and I'll share. For the price of a crepe or two :)

Brioches aux Amandes

2009-11-08T18:38:00.000-08:00

Almond Brioche

Another week-end, another brioche experiment ! What can I say, I am still in the brioche honeymoon phase :)

This time I prepped a big batch with more whole wheat flour. It ups the fiber content and lowers my guilt :) If you refer back to the original brioche recipe, I used 2.5 cups of whole wheat and 5 cups of white flour, basically a 1:2 ratio.

A big portion of the batch went into more chocolate buns for a belated Halloween party at the neighbors. Fun party, great costumes ! I was a barcode for Low-Fat Milk. Imagine a white T-shirt with a huge barcode on it...yeah, I could have done better...moving on...

I had some leftover dough that was sitting in the fridge. I flattened it with a rolling pin then with my fingers (dough was sticking to the rolling pin). I had made a thick almond cream earlier (see recipe below) which I applied generously on the top of the dough. I then cut the dough into smaller rectangles, and rolled each one using the cream as "glue". When they bake they slowly unfurl as they fluff, leaving a baked almond crust on top. Exciting ! I placed each rolls on a buttered baking sheet and baked them at 350F for 30 minutes.

You get your typical brioche with a light almond taste. You can also add almond slices on top for decoration. Or drizzle some hot chocolate like they do on chocolate croissants. Or leave them plain and eat them fast :)

Enjoy my friends !

Almond cream recipe:

melt half a stick of butter and mix with 2 eggs and 3 table spoons of sugar. Add 3/4 cups of almond flour (Bob's Red Mill), a pinch of salt, almond extract to taste, and mix until homogeneous. You can change the consistency from fluid to thick by varying the almond flour content.

Bob's Red Mill's Almond Cake - Gluten-free !

2009-11-01T19:35:00.000-08:00

Bob's Red Mill's Almond Cake

Heard of Bob's Red Mill ? The Oregon company has been around for 25 years, delivering a wide range of grain products and baking products. A good part of them are certified organic and even gluten-free. Your local organic store is certain to sell some of its products, easily recognisable in a clear package with a yellow, white, green or red label showing the jolly face of a white-bearded man with a white beret.

To me, BRM is a savior ! One of the baking staples in France is finely ground almond, even more so in Provence where almonds are queen of the fields (hmm, at least sharing the title with olives). Ground almond is added in a range of cakes and confections, notably marzepan and almond paste. It adds texture and a slight almond taste that can be enhanced with salt or almond extract. I like it in cookies very much :) In cakes, I substitute part of the flour (up to 20%) with almond flour. So, yes, almond flour is a required necessity in my kitchen, and for the longest time I had to do without, short of grinding almond slivers (which I did by the way!). But Bob and his white beard winked at me one time at Henry's grocery store and that was the start of our love affair.

I recently discovered the company's website. Nowadays, everything is on the internet, why not Bob ? I was pleasantly surprised by the site expansiveness. Besides a list of over 400 products, you can find recipes, an online shop, but also a company blog ! I have yet to read through it. For now, I dived into their recipe collection. Their almond cake caught my eye, even more so when I saw no regular flour on the ingredient list. Pure almond flour, and some coconut flour. I had to try it !

Here is the link for ingredients and directions (magically moist almond cake). I let mine bake for 50 min at 350F for a brown top. If you like macaroons, you'll love this cake. That's what it reminded me of. It's a bit on the crumbly side, very "moist" (read buttery), with a light almond taste. Personally it's a bit too rich for me. But it's a gluten-free treat for our gluten-intolerant friends. I agree with the author, it would taste great with whipped cream (homemade please) and any berries. Or use it as a layer for an elaborate two or three-layer cake.

Thinking ahead, adding some melted chocolate to the preparation would make an interesting variation on my almost-flourless chocolate cake. Ditch the flour and replace with the almond/coconut flour combo. Hmmm....time to get some butter out of the fridge...:)

Sweet Chocolate Bites

2009-10-25T09:32:00.000-07:00

Bouchees Gourmandes au Chocolat

(Sweet Chocolate Bites)

Well, the brioche fun continues...I made a big batch of brioche dough last week-end with a bit of whole wheat mixed in (see earlier post). Too much to use up at once. So I kept the leftover in the fridge in a zip-lock bag for about 5 days. According to the website Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, that's the limit before freezing the dough. No problemo ! I've been tempted to make chocolate croissants with the brioche dough for a while. I do love my chocolate :) To make sure I had enough dough to share the sweets, I decided to go for the bite-size category. Easy to sample, great for a guilt-less snack, and fun for kids to bite into.

After days in the fridge, dough was not sticky anymore. It was like playing with soft clay. So I took small pieces, flattened them in a circles, filled them up with semi-sweet chocolate chips (the kind you use for cookies), wrapped the chocolate chips with dough and rolled the dough into a ball between my hands. When all the dough was used, I whipped an egg with a tablespoon of sugar and some vanilla flavoring, and I thoroughly brushed the egg glaze all around the dough balls to get that shiny light brown color.

Before

After

After baking at 375F for about 30 minutes (overkill, I got distracted by the dog), I obtained a full tray of bite-sized buns with a heart of melted chocolate ! I noticed the buns did not rise much. It could be because of the dough freshness or because I flattened it in the process.

While best out of the oven, the buns can be heated up in a microwave for 20 seconds to recapture that hot and fresh taste with oozing chocolate. One can imagine replacing the chocolate chips for other appropriate fillings, including jams, peanut butter, white chocolate, etc...or mixture thereof !

Great for breakfast, morning or afternoon snacks, you can slide a few in your pocket to enjoy later. And if you've got more to spare, don't forget your friends !

Put some fiber in your diet

2009-10-18T20:19:00.000-07:00

Another week-end, another brioche exercise ! I love getting up on Sunday morning with the buttery smells of a warm brioche. With some cherry jam and a hot chocolate. It's as if the time stops while I savor my breakfast and read the Sunday newspaper. Today was no exception.
Flashback to Saturday. I was so looking forward to my Sunday breakfast, I rushed through the kitchen, whipping up that brioche dough from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day (and let me reiterate, it is a wonderful recipe ! Easy, fast, highly reproducible. A must-keep). It was to be a 10 minute affair until, gasp, I ran out of flour ! One cup missing. First it was the honey, I compensated with some regular sugar. But the flour ? Grumble, grumble, grumble...Oh wait I have whole wheat flour. Bam ! The last cup with whole wheat. Now I can have my fiber and eat it too :)
As it turned out, the brioche tasted just the same. Except it had little specks of whole wheat. It makes me wonder how much flour I can substitute for whole wheat to make my breakfast experience a bit healthier. There is always next week-end !

The Brioche Wars, Part 2

2009-10-11T09:51:00.000-07:00

Pass on the jam !

And so I went on, mounting my faithful destrier Google on a crusade for a good brioche recipe...

Oh I found many. It seems everyone and their mother have one to share with you. That's the good news, I did not have to travel far. But which one do I choose? Trying them all is nearly impossible, I needed a strategy, a method to weed them out to the One.

After reading a few, I noticed a common theme: lots of kneading. While fun at first, kneading can become a chore and is not appropriate for everyone. That became my first (and only) selection tool. The remaining recipes fell into two categories:

- bread machine, for easy kneading and rising

- no kneading

My first attempt used a bread machine and its own brioche recipe. I wasn't thrilled with the result. I was yearning for something different. The no-kneading recipe got me really curious. Would it be possible to cut out the kneading part and still come up with a fluffly brioche ? Brioche pans in hand I accepted the challenge, raided the fridge for butter and warmed up the oven.

I settled for a recipe from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, a busy site full of recipes and matching pictures. Head out to Brioche Dough for ingredients and directions. Though amounts are to make 4 loaves, they claim the dough can be kept in the fridge up to 5 days, and the remainder can be frozen for later use. Imagine making the dough on Saturday, then waking up early on Sunday and wake up your honey, or your family, with wafts of freshly baked brioches in just 30 minutes. Could it be any better?

Well, it can. Simply put, all you have to do is beat the eggs, add all the other liquids (including melted butter and dissolved yeast), then incorporate the flour by portions while stirring with a wooden spoon. Leave the dough rising in a warm spot for 2 hours then chill it in the fridge for an hour. I used it right after an hour in the fridge and overnight, I saw no difference. Once in the oven the dough more than doubled in size in both cases. Make sure to brush the top with an egg glaze (1 egg+ 1 tps sugar) for a brown coloration.

Best consummed right out of the oven, the brioche is still soft and chewy after a day. But I doubt it'll last longer than that :)

Below are some pictures. I used up all the dough over the week-end, ending with a braided brioche.

Happy baking !!!

Gearing up for the Brioche Wars

2009-10-07T22:50:00.000-07:00

I decided I did not have the right tools to mount my second assault. Not that it wouldn't change the outcome much, but having shiny new brioche pans does boost the confidence a bit, and they look so neat in the oven. So my first stop was at a local kitchen specialty store I recently discovered.
If you are not from San Diego, don't fret, they have an active online presence at http://great-news.com/. Name of the store is "Great News!", a good omen. Once inside, my shopping cart suddenly started piling up with all kind of things I always wanted but never dared to buy. I am now the proud owner of a madeleine pan, and I almost got a set of individual tartlet pans. Some silicon cake molds looked really cool, but I resisted. The back of the store offers cooking classes with a full kitchen. I am not sure whether the kitchen is for the instructor, a la Martha, or students can use it as well. I signed up for their Newsletter, I'll take a peek at their class schedule, maybe something will pick my interest.
With my new brioche pans in hand I did another brioche try. Got a nice shape. I added some wheat gluten too to up the chewiness. But I had the darnest time making the dough rise. I turned quite chilly suddenly in San Diego. I ended up putting the dough on top of the dryer while doing laundry ! It helped a bit but not enough.
My next step is hunting down some tricks to make the crust so light and brown. Mine turns too hard for my taste. Stay tuned.

"Brioche" is hard !

2009-10-02T22:39:00.000-07:00

That's my goal ! Fluffly and buttery, with a light brown coat that spells "Eat me !"

My first try. Yep, room for improvements !!!!

Technically, it was my second attempt. My first was what started this brioche race I am embarking on. You see, I have this idealized version of a brioche from my youth. Soft, buttery, shaped like a mushroom, and a perfect brown. A baker's brioche ! I set out to make one the other day, using my bread machine. Yes, I was being lazy...I left the kneading to the machine...What a disappointment ! The recipe came right from the bread machine book. Bahhhhh ! Too dense and hard. No brioche, just another yeasty bread...

So that is the backdrop to the little experiment I did tonight, aka my first "real" try at brioch-ing. This time I used a recipe from a french book (what was I thinking the first time????) and my bare hands for the hard work. That piece of art right above is 100% me, sweat and all.

And I like it ! OK, it lacks in shape and color. But the smell while it was baking was divine ! You know, that hot buttery yeasty smell that lingers in bakeries? I was salivating. As soon as it was cool enough to manipulate safely (oww, oww, hot), I tried a piece. Soft and buttery ? Check. Slight yeast taste ? Check. Another piece ? Double check. The dog gave two paws up and opened his mouth for more.

So I have to work on my presentation skills. First stop will be at the store for a brioche pan. But for now, I know what I will be having tomorrow for breakfast...:)

Cream Puffs made easy

2009-09-27T09:56:00.000-07:00

Pistachio Cream Puffs

Light, fluffy, and easy to bite into, cream puffs are ideal treats for kids. They burst in your mouth with an array of flavors as large as the collection of ready-made puddings commercially available.
Adults will enjoy them equally. With ice cream filling and a chocolate sauce, puffs become "Profiterolles", a dessert fare found in trendy restaurants and an immediate winner in social gatherings.
But puffs can easily be turned into appetizers with surprise fillings, such as flavored ground meat, grilled vegetables, or a cheese mix (goat cheese, mmmmm). And they can be as small or big as you dare make them !
I love cream puffs for their versatility. And their simplicity ! The recipe I am sharing below took about 15 minutes, plus 30 minutes of baking time, during which you can prepare the pudding filling. In the picture, I used Kroger's pistachio pudding. I made about 25 bite-sized puffs with the given ingredients. Make it a family affair and have the kids place the filling !

Ingredients:

1 cup water
2 tablespoons sugar
60g butter (about 1/8 pound)
pinch of salt
5 oz flour
4 eggs
vanilla flavor

Directions:

Place water, salt, sugar, and butter in a pot and bring to a boil. When the content starts rising, like milk, take the pot off the heat and add the flour. Quickly stir to absorb the liquid. Place on low heat to dry up the batter, it shouldn't stick to the pot anymore.
Off the heat, add the eggs one by one, by blending each in the batter. The batter should be smooth in the end. You can add flavoring at this point, here I used vanilla.
Let the batter cool off a bit. In the meantime, grease a cooking pan and sprinkle some flour on top.
Use two teaspoons to place the batter on the cooking pan, one to measure the batter (1 teaspoon makes a bite-size puff, use a tablespoon for bigger puffs) and one to help placing it on the pan. Leave enough space between the batter blobs. Then you can lightly brush a dilute mix of egg yolk and water to give the puff a golden look.
Bake at 375F for 30 minutes. The puffs will rise and brown lightly. Let them cool down before filling them up.

If you are feeling fancy, you can top each puff with caramel. Prepare your caramel (water and sugar), then dip the top of the cream puff in the hot caramel, it will cool and crystallize quickly while you are holding the puff upside down.

It's a fun recipe, try it out !

Having some chocolate fun !

2009-09-20T20:21:00.000-07:00

Pierre's Marble Cake

Sometimes I just like to take the mixing bowl out, some eggs, sugar and flour and start mixing something up with no specific idea in mind. I call it "spontaneous baking" :) With the basic elements on the kitchen counter, I let my eyes wander around the kitchen, from the fridge to the fruit bowl and the pantry, looking for something to stimulate my imagination. This simple (and sometimes random) experimentation is what discovered some interesting pairing, like mixing coconut and almond flours to regular flour for texture.
Today was slightly different. I started by taking out my baking tools, as well as the eggs and butter out of the fridge, with images of chocolate cakes in mind. Unfortunately, I did not have enough chocolate on hand ! Not being one for running out the door to the neighborhood grocery store, I had to compromise with a marble cake.
I like making marble cakes, for one simple reason: mixing the batter with the chocolate batter. Depending on how you do the mixing, you can get wonderful designs. And you won't know until you cut the cake. Like opening a Christmas present :)
The picture is of the cake I made today. Notice how perfectly round the chocolate portion turned out ! The chocolate batter was poured right along the center, then the last portion was distributed on top for a crusty chocolate top. Poured differently, the chocolate batter can yield other designs, it's a fun experiment to do with kids.
Here is my recipe. Have fun with it !

Ingredients:

3 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
6 oz melted butter
1.5 cup flour
baking power
1/2 cup whole milk
4 oz Ghiradelli chocolate (60% cocoa)
1/8 cup Grand Marnier liquor (optional)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 380F.
Mix the eggs and the sugar until homogeneous, then add the butter.
Mix in the flour and the baking powder.
Mix in the milk, with the liquor if desired.
Pour half the batter into a greased pan.
To the other half in the bowl, add the melted chocolate and mix it until it's completely blended.
Now the fun part is pouring the chocolate batter on top of the regular batter in the pan.
Bake at 380F for an hour.

Just writing this post gave me a few ideas to try when mixing the two batters together :)
Enjoy and experiment !

For the fig lovers...

2009-09-07T21:44:00.000-07:00

Fig and Almond Cake

I can't believe Summer is almost over ! Same mantra every year. And here I am trying to catch up on Summer activities I should have done weeks ago, like going to the beach, biking along the river, or kayaking in the Bay (still on to-do list). On top of that, I started a new job last week, and, boy, was I tired by the end of the week !!! Needless to say, my kitchen turned into a ghost town, snacking on leftovers, takeouts, and 3-minutes sandwiches. That reminds me I should write a post just on my 3-minutes sandwiches (mental note).
Labor Day week-end came around none too soon for me to catch my breath. And take a look at the backyard. Several years ago we planted a small fig tree in the back. I love figs. Provence is fig country. Century-old, tall and gnarly fig trees with long branches full of sweet dark purple bombs waiting to explode in your mouth. "Drops of Gold" are the sweetest kind, with a sweet juicy yellow inside. Anyway, the tree has grown exponentially and been offering loads of fruits two Summers in a row, this one included. Birds, dog and myself have been delightfully enjoying its offerings.
With Summer's end comes the fig grand finale. They are all ripening at once, my fridge is full ! But when life hands you figs, you make.....a fig cake !!! Isn't everything better with sugar and butter ? (grin)
So here is the recipe I used to make a light cake with fig bits and almonds, and with a taste of honey.

Ingredients:

6 oz sweet cream butter
3 oz sugar
5 tbs liquid honey
2 egg + 2 egg yolks
1/2 cup half and half
9 oz flour
1/2 cup almond flour
6 ripe figs, cut in small pieces
baking powder
1 teaspoon almond flavor
almond slices for decoration

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 370F.
Soften the butter (I use the microwave for 15 sec) and mix in with sugar, egg yolks and honey.
Add the half and half and the 2 eggs, mix well.
Mix in the flour, almond flour, and baking powder.
Add almond flavor and the ripe figs, mix well.
Pour into a greased pan. In retrospect I recommend lining with baking paper, it will be much easier to remove from the pan.
Sprinkle almond slices on top for decoration.
Bake at 370F for 1h.

If you don't want to use honey, simply use more sugar instead, like 1/2 cup.
Surprisingly, the cake did not raise as much as I thought it would, though it was light and moist. Maybe because I split the cake batter into two small pans, instead of using a medium pan.
It was still very good, especially still warm, with a scoop of pistachio ice cream...Yummmmm !!!!

A local french cuisine to remember...

2009-08-30T11:08:00.000-07:00

Today the action is not in my kitchen but in Chef Olivier Bioteau's from Farm House Cafe in Normal Heights, San Diego.

I have been eyeing the local french restaurant for over a year, with the silent vow of discovering their menu as a celebration for getting a new job. This week my wish was granted ! My faithful sidekick Arnold and I went on Friday, two starving adventurers on the prowl for french food.

Reservation in hand, we got a table on the patio. In retrospect that was a good choice. Too noisy inside for my taste. We got to enjoy the sunset and a night breeze while sharing the charcuterie plate, accompanied with a full glass of Vacqueyras, a french full body yet supple red wine from Provence that will make your head spin. If you like Chateauneuf-du-Pape, you have to try Vacqueyras. The charcuterie plate had several cold cuts from mild to spicy, including garlic sausages, cured duck, and pate, easily shared between two or three people. I wished the bread was better, but you may have to be in France for that :)

For the main course we both chose the alaskan keta salmon. What sold me was the basil puree on top to impart that extra flavoring I like so much. It was served with fingerling potatoes cooked in a broth with onions and spices. The fish was seared, cooked on both sides yet still soft on the inside. As such, it melts in your mouth. Don't make them cook it through !

I was ready for dessert ! I had already drooled on their website in the morning. Setting foot in the restaurant I knew what was going to end a delicious evening. The Almond Panna Cotta ! The website picture exactly depicts what was delivered in front of me. Spoon in hand I dove into pure creamy bliss. Texture reminded me of a thick and firm custard. Very sweet and with a definite almond flavor. I slowly enjoyed every bites. Arnold got the peach upsidedown cake with lavender-infused ice cream. It was good, but I liked mine better :)

We were winding down our dinner experience when the hostess, Rochelle Bioteau, generously offered us some champagne at the bar. Our table needed to be prepped for the next guests. Friday is a busy night at the Farm House, and it would be shameful to deprive others from the delices Chef Olivier Bioteau serves in his fine establishment. Then I could not resist, I asked her to try a small piece of her husband's homemade chocolates. She gracefully complied, with a knowingly smile. Ah, yes, our evening was truly complete. Try the chocolates if you can!

Olivier, Rochelle, you'll see me again but I won't wait for another job opportunity to steer me your way.

Red and Roasted !!!

2009-08-26T08:45:00.000-07:00

Roasted Peppers and Wine Goat Cheese Salad

I love Summer ! Sun shines high, beaches are inviting, fresh fruits are plentiful (love my cherries !), and local farmers deliver their best crops at the lowest prices. Summer's cornucopia is simply a cook's delight. So many things to make, so little time !

Like a kid in a toy store, I am constantly filled with indecision while grocery shopping. I know my fridge can contain only so much, and there is so much I can eat while staying within my pant size. Each trip to the local store is an exercise in moderation. I have the bare essentials in mind (breakfast cereals, yogurt, eggs, half and half, fruits on sale,...), and I keep room for a little folly that will make my shopping trip rewarding, like oh say specialty ice cream, a sweet-smelling pineapple, a pot of Nutella, fresh ricotta cheese, ah any cheeses ! But I always dutifully scan for low prices on usually high priced vegetables and fruits. And Summer is the time to get them !

A personal favorite are red bellpeppers. Roasted in the oven, skinned, and kept in olive oil, they easily had a touch of colors to any salads, or even quiches. They will last about a week or two in the fridge.

To roast the bellpeppers:

Wash them and place them in a roasting pan still wet. No need to open them, or empty them, they will cook from the inside.
Cook at 380F for 1h to 1.5h. You should see the skin wrinkle, or pop, or blacken in some spots.
While still hot, place them in a closed plastic bag for 20 minutes or so. The steam will soften the pepper skin enough that they'll be easier to skin. It's like plunging whole tomatoes into boiling water to peel them. Same concept, different method.
Take the peppers out of the bag, cut them in half to remove the seeds and the green stub. Lay them flat, skin up, and remove the skin completely. Cut them into long red strips. Once all in a container, strain most of the juice and add olive oil. Remaining juice and oil will combine to provide extra seasoning for your salads.

Voila ! Easy to prepare, easy to enjoy. I leave it up to you to find other applications for this fine red vegetable. Try mixing in yellow bellpeppers. They are sweeter and yellow goes very well with red on a bed of greens !

Mark, this one is for you !

2009-08-21T10:24:00.000-07:00

Onion and Bacon Quiche

The last thing you want to do when getting together with a bunch of guys for a game is bringing a quiche. "Queeech, what's that ?". Well, that caught me off guard. Fluffy cheese omelet on a crust? Oven baked cheese omelet? Omelet pie ? Just taste it, dammit !
Mark, our host, has been heavely hinting lately how he loves quiches, as a special treat, and oh so rarely satisfied...:) Ok, ok, ok, will bring one for the boyz. Which made me think, well, what kind of quiche should I bring? Quiche is such a general word, and so easy to customize. So, for Mark and the quiche virgins, I decided to go back to the basics of Quiche Lorraine, a hearty quiche with lots of bacon and cheese. A real quiche for real men, Aaaaarrrrr...:) Except I had to make it with what was available at the local store. I got turkey bacon from Eating Right (less greasy) and an italian cheese blend instead of gruyere (choice of cheese is not too important).
They all liked it. But we still ordered pizza...

Stacy, this recipe is for you, to make Mark a happier man :)

Ingredients:

basic crust (see post July 1st)
1 big yellow onion, chopped
10 oz turkey bacon, cut in small pieces
olive oil
curry, salt, pepper
3 eggs
8 oz half and half
1/2 cup italian cheese blend (shredded)
Provence herbs (or italian herbs)

Directions:

Prepare the crust as directed in july 1st post. I mixed in some Provence Herbs for flavor. Italian herbs would work as well
Preheat the oven to 380F
In a pan with olive oil (about 3 tablespoons), curry (about a teaspoon), and salt, cook the chopped onion until translucent/lightly brown, then add the bacon pieces and cook on medium for 10 minutes. The bacon with release its grease and sizzle the onion a bit more.
Pour onion and bacon onto the crust, and spread them generously.
For the egg batter, mix the eggs and add the half and half, followed by the shredded cheese, salt and pepper. Mix well and pour onto the onion/bacon.
Sprinkle some more cheese blend on top. It will add a light brown color to your quiche, a "gratin" effect basically.
Cook in the oven at 380F for an hour. Typically you want to cook it until the top is lightly brown.

It will smell wonderfully in your house, especially if you added the herbs in the crust. To be consummed warm or cold. Add a green salad with oil and vinaigrette dressing and you'll think you are sitting in a french bistro for a moment :)

Bon Appetit !

You Wanna Piece of Me ??!!!

2009-08-15T19:55:00.001-07:00

It was only a matter of time before the classy chocolate cake that melts in your mouth makes its appearance on my blog. A star of the dessert world, its wide appeal rests on one simple truth: good quality chocolate! If you are to dedicate your time to its confection, please do not degrade its magnificence with what I call chocolate-flavored wax. Sacrebleu! At the very minimum use 60% cocoa chocolate (semisweet to bittersweet). Personally I choose at least 70% for a true chocolate flavor. In other words, if you are going to swallow those calories, make it worth it !

I did mention calories. Well, yes, at 2 sticks of butter and sugar to match, it is not for the weightwatcher. I am sure you can find a low calorie alternative out there, with fake sugar and, gasp, fake butter, but I won't comment on the taste. So I'll let you in on a little secret. There is a reason for maximizing the cocoa content, hence the bitterness, of the cake: a tiny piece and you are satisfied. Dependent, of course, of your level of addiction to the black substance :)

So here is how I satisfy my cocoa addiction. Welcome to my Hell ! :)

Ingredients:

8 oz chocolate, minimum 70% cocoa
8 oz unsalted butter
8 oz sugar
4 eggs
1/3 cup flour
2 table spoons of Kailua liquor

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 360F
Melt the chocolate on low
In the meantime, mix the soft butter (I soften it in the microwave for 15 seconds) and the sugar until you get a creamy consistency
Add the eggs one by one, mixing each egg with the batter for a minute each
Add the melted chocolate and mix well
Add the flour and mix well
Add the coffee liquor (it's an option) and mix well.
Pour into a greased cake pan (I use butter for greasing, of course) and bake for 45 minutes at 360F. You know the cake is ready when you put a knife into teh center and it comes out clean. Be careful not to overcook the cake or it could get a bit on the dry side.
Cool the cake down, flip it to present the bottom up, and sprinkle some confection sugar on top for presentation.

Then just wait for the OOOOhs and the AAAhhhhhs :)

Pierre

A Provence Summer special - "Soupe au pistou"

2009-08-13T21:33:00.000-07:00

I received a large donation of fresh basil earlier this week, at least two whole plants ! I love basil, I could not refuse. In fact, the minute I got my hands on it I knew what it would become.
You see, basil is a seasonal herb in Provence (not like in San Diego where it shows up in stores year round!). It is a Summer staple, a green gold that is delicately handled for anything "pesto", or "pistou" as we call it in Provence. One such recipe is "la soupe au pistou" or pesto soup, a vegetarian stew with a strong taste of basil and garlic, eaten warm, but preferentially cold during the hot Summer days.
There are likely many recipes available, as it's easy to substitute veggies and cheeses to accommodate tastes. Here I am sharing the one I used. It is a mix of my mom's and a recipe from "Recettes en provence" from Andree Maureau (book might be available in english by the way). It gives me a big batch, but it can be kept easily in the freezer for later.

Ingredients:

1 lb dry pinto beans

1 lb dry red kidney beans

0.5 lb french beans

4 russet potatoes

3 zucchinis

4 tomatoes

1 onion

2 carrots

1/2 cup of elbows pasta

1 whole basil plant

5 garlic cloves

4 table spoons olive oil

1.5 cup of a blend of shredded gruyere, edam, and parmesan cheeses

salt, pepper

Directions:

Fill a big pot with water (I used about 1 - 1.5 gallon) and bring to a boil. Add the dry beans and boil for 20 minutes.

Add the french beans, the diced and peeled potatoes, the zucchinis (whole, with skin), the diced onion, 2 tomatoes (cut), the carrots (cut), and cook on medium for 2 and a half hour. Stir in between to mash the zucchinis as they get softer. At this point, you may have to reduce the amount of water to obtain a stew consistency by letting the water evaporate during cooking. Otherwise keep the lid on.

After 2 and a half hour, add the pasta and cook for another 20 minutes.

In the meantime, you prepare a thick pesto paste by adding the following in a blender: 2 tomatoes, the basil leaves, the olive oil, the garlic, and the cheese blend. Blend everything well to a paste.

Take the stewed vegetables off the stove and add the "pistou" paste. Mix well, add salt and pepper to taste.

Like any other stews, I find that the soup ages nicely overnight in the fridge. Personally, I enjoy it cold.

As Julia Child would say..."Bon Appetit!" :)

"Julie & Julia" - Must-see movie for all foodies !

2009-08-12T10:46:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, I stepped out of the kitchen and into a dark room to see the latest Meryl Streep movie about Julia Child, famed French cooking advocate, and Julie Powell, foodie enthusiast who blogged her way through Julia's cookbook.
I love Meryl Streep, she is one of the most gifted actresses of her generation, regularly nominated at the Oscars for her memorable roles. I bet her turn as Julia Child will be no exception.
I plainly and simply loved the movie. It was charming, witty, funny, and I quickly rooted for and empathized with both main characters as they went through their lives with a culinary obsession. My favorite parts in the movie are many, especially Julia's affair with french cooking. Or just french food (ah, brie and cheese...). What started as a pasttime for bored housewife quickly turned into the focus of her life. Her fierce determination to prove that she can be as good a cook as any other male counterpart was plainly demonstrated in the onion sequence, where she practiced cutting a huge pile of onions until she got it right, tears and all. Her sheer focus is further exemplified in the gruesome translation of recipes for english cooks and the numerous edits over the years to get it just right. Back then it was all typed with carbon paper !
I admit I did not know Julia Child, I am too young for her shows and I don't even have her cookbook (why would I, I already know how wonderful and delicious french cooking is...grin). This wonderful gem of a movie opened my eyes. I discovered an exceptionally strong-willed being who infused her life with her passion for cooking, breaking gender and cultural barriers to master a sensual art and make it available to anyone.
The movie was truly inspiring. And when the credits came rolling in, boy, was I hungry !!!

Two thumbs up and a growling stomach !!!

Another Summer treat ! Apricot and Almond Tart...

2009-08-06T17:51:00.000-07:00

I was in Heaven the other day! My local grocery store (Henry's in North Park for San Diegans) had apricots for sale. Not the hard as a rock kind. No, no, they were soft and ripe, as they should be. And placed in such a tiny display, one would hardly notice. But my eyes are trained ! You see, I grew up in Apricot country, with an apricot jam factory next door. My summer diet consisted of cherries in June & July, apricots in July & August, right off the trees. August & September we could smell the apricot jam in the making. Sweet sweet smell to fall asleep to...Aaaah the memories...

I've been enjoying Henry's apricots for several weeks now. Sweet, soft, sometimes juicy, they are a great snack. Of course, my brain turned into "tarte mode" :) One thing one has to worry about with baking with apricots is the bitterness of the fruit, especially if they are not ripe. One way to remedy that problem is to use leftover apricots that have been sitting so long nobody wants them. You are going to cook them, so who cares ?!! Another way is to pair them with a sweet concoction. Personally I like to marry apricots with almonds, especially almond paste which is very sweet with an underlying bitterness.

Below is my recipe for an apricot/almond tart that I made this week. Interestingly, it tasted more like apricot after a day in the fridge, as if the apricot juices diffused. You won't taste much of the almond unless you add almond flavoring to the selfmade almond paste.

Ingredients:

Dough: 8 oz flour, 1/2 cup almond flour, 4 oz butter, 1 egg, pinch of salt

Almond paste: 1/2 cup almond flour, 1/4 cup sugar, 2 oz butter, 1 yolk, vanilla flavor

Cream: 1/4 cup sugar, 2 eggs, 2 tablespon marsala, 3/4 cup half and half

6-7 apricots

Directions:

Prepare the dough as instructed in my second post (with extra almond flour) and place it in the tart pan

To make the almond paste, mix the sugar, the almond flour, melted butter, yolk and a little bit of vanilla flavor until it is homogeneous. It should be a bit hard to mix so use a wooden spoon to apply a mashing motion. Place the paste in a thin layer at the bottom of the uncooked crust. Don't be afraid to use your fingers!

Place the apricot halves on top, the outside facing up.

To prepare the cream, mix the eggs, the sugar, and the marsala, then add the half and half. Mix well and pour on top of the apricots.

Bake everything at 370F for 1.5 hour.

Enjoy !

Small Indulgence - Lemon Mini Tarts

2009-08-01T13:16:00.000-07:00

Summer is lemon season, at least in San Diego. Everyone is giving away lemons and limes. It's a great time for that dear little sweet tooth of mine, because lemon tart ("tarte au citron" as my mom says) is one of my favorite dessert. Or I shoud say it is in the top 100 :)

I normally make one big tart with generous slices and meringue on top, but i have been itching to use that silicone minitart mold I found at Tuesday Mornings for $5 ! Obviously I had to adapt my "tarte" skills to the small bite size the mold has to offer. After experimenting a bit, I found that it is easier to precook the crust using the mold, let it cool down then transfer them to a rack and fill them up with the lemon-flavored cream, before placing the rack in the oven for another round of baking.

The result is deli-hmmmm-cious ! And they are so small you don't feel guilty at all ! Not until after the third one :)

Alright, here is how I did it.

Ingredients:

for the dough: 8 oz flour, 4 oz butter, a pinch of salt, 1 egg, vanilla flavoring, and 1/4 cup almond flour
for the cream: 1 egg, 1 yolk, 2 oz sugar, 1 tablespoon flour, 1/2 cup half and half, 1 lemon

Directions:

Prepare the dough as instructed in the "basic crust recipe" post. I added the almond flour for a flakier dough.
Make a little ball of dough for each well in your mold. You've got to experiment with how many you need for a well, as each mold can be different in size. With the proportions given, I can make 14 mini tarts.
Press and mold each ball into a tart crust. Poke each with a fork at the bottom to let air escape during baking.
Bake at 350F for 15 min and let them cool down.
Prepare the cream by beating the egg, the yolk, the sugar, and the flour then add the half and half, the lemon zeste and its juice. You should get a creamy consistency.
In my case I place a little bit of cherry jam at the bottom of each crust for extra flavoring, but you dont have to. Add the lemon cream to each crust. (Another option I like is to add melted chocolate and let it seize before adding the lemon cream).
Bake at 350F for 30 min.
Once it's cooled you can drizzle some confection sugar on top for presentation.

Now it's your turn ! Good luck !

Best way to stay cool this Summer ?....Ice Cream !

2009-07-24T18:14:00.000-07:00

===========================================================

Looks familiar to you ?

So many bananas suffer the same fate in my home, something had to be done ! Here comes Cuisineart ICE-20 to the rescue, my faithful ice-cream maker sidekick. It comes with a chilling container (mine stays in the freeze all the time, ready to use) and conditions the cream in 20 minutes.

Ingredients:
3 egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons Kahlua liquor
1.5 cup half and half
1.5 cup milk (used fat free milk here)
3 ripe bananas

Directions:

Beat the yolks and the sugar in a frothy mixture, then add the vanilla flavor.

Bring the mixture of milk and half and half to a boil while stirring, then take it off the stove

Add a few tablespoons of the hot milk to the egg/sugar, mix it, then add the rest of the milk slowly while stirring (you want to avoid a thermic shock or the yolks will curl, hence the few tablespoons as primer).

Cook the resulting cream on slow heat until a spoon dipped in it is left with an even coat, your cream is now ready.

Cool the cream

Mash the bananas (I use a fork, they are so ripe its very easy) and whip the puree into the cream

Add the Kahlua (how much is really up to you ! But remember that too much alcohol will lower the freezing point of the ice cream)

Place the banana cream into your ice cream maker and follow its instructions.

I prepared mine after dinner, it was ready the next day for lunch.

With 3 bananas, the flavor is quite intense. I found that the Kahlua blended nicely and reinforced the banana flavor. This recipe makes a very smooth texture thanks to the eggs, yet tiny pieces of banana break the surface here and there.

Choices, choices...the new Coca Cola Freestyle

2009-07-22T09:19:00.000-07:00

Futuristic, 100-flavor Coke dispenser tested

Another little detour out of my kitchen (it's been pretty quiet lately). I saw it in the paper this morning, I couldn't resist. Coke is testing a new dispensing machine that will offer up to 104 flavor combinations by adding flavors to its regular fares (Cherry Coke anyone?). Orange Coke for example is a new flavor in the US. Apparently it was previously marketed in Russia. Was it a clinical trial ???
Of course technology is taking over. Dispensers are all linked to Coke, uploading consummers' preferences daily. Yes, Big Brother is watching and will likely respond to your pleasure senses in kind.
If you want to see it with your own eyes (and taste/test it), head out to Jack in the Box along Route 78 in North San Diego County.

What do I have to say about all this? 104 flavors are not going to help with ADD.

Longest total solar eclipse of the century

2009-07-21T23:37:00.000-07:00

Over 6 minutes of muted darkness over Asia. Simply beautiful. All from the comfort of home :)
Enjoy the video.

The 5-minute potato "gratin"

2009-07-19T16:52:00.000-07:00

How many times have you opened your fridge to find long-forgotten items ? No lying, plenty of times ! It's so easy to over shop at the grocery store, especially when you are hungry ! I am no exception, I pile up the cart with fruits and vegetables at the local market. Prices are good, especially in the summer when so many fruits/veggies are in season. Cheap and fresh, my favorites ! The ultimate consequence: veggies stuck in the back get forgotten. In the trash they go, followed by a mental whipping: no more compulsive shopping !

And sometimes I can rescue the veggies. That's what I did this evening for dinner. I had 4 ancient red-skinned tomatoes going soft on me. I hate to waste, so I gathered what I could to make a potato "gratin", a bastardized version of the famous "gratin dauphinois" de Lyon. Five minutes to prepare, an hour and a half to cook.

Ready to cook

Warm and ready to eat !

Directions:

Wash the potatoes and slice them thin (the thinner the faster they cook)
Lay down two layers, sprinkle a dry mix of garlic/salt/pepper (it comes in a ready mix)

Lay down a few slices of onions and several pieces of sliced cheese

Add two more layers of potatoes

Add milk (I used fat free, that's what in the fridge) to cover the first two layers, then half and half to cover the rest (half and half only is much tastier, but it really depends on your age...grin)

Sprinkle more of the garlic/salt/pepper mix

Grate some cheese on top for the "gratin" crust

Cook in oven (preheated at 400C) for 1.5 hour

This was served with ribeye steak. No diet at this table tonight !

Happy Bastille Day !

2009-07-14T15:50:00.000-07:00

How could I resist ? :) It's only missing those sparkling sticks to be truly celebratory.

Blue, White, and Red are the three colors of the french flag, or "Bleu, Blanc, Rouge" as we say there. The colors are supposed to represent the three concepts of the French Revolution, Liberty, Equality, Brotherhood ("Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite"). As I am writing this, the Eiffel Tower has already been showered in fireworks and people are celebrating in streets and cafes.

This is a variation on the strawberry tart reported earlier. I covered only a third of the tart with strawberry halves dipped in honey. I used honey-dipped blueberries for Blue and a mixture of honey, almond powder, almond slices, and pine nuts for White. It's quite a sight !

***drool marks***

Baking ingredient of the month!

2009-07-12T09:59:00.000-07:00

...Marsala wine !

In the last couple dessert recipes, I started using a dash of Marsala as flavoring. I don't know what took over me that day, maybe my inner Julia Child is trying to come out :) I tend to add alcohol as flavoring here and there, ususally rum or Grand Marnier (in crepes!). That time I grabbed the unopened Marsala bottle, I was craving for something new. And I loved it ! It adds a subtle nutty flavor to your dessert. It was striking in the cream I used for the strawberry tart. And it definitely brought a new dimension to my "clafouti".

Well, the bottle is 3/4 empty now :)

It got me curious though to learn more about the wine itself. It's commonly used as a wine sauce, e.g. the ubiquitous Chicken Marsala. I found a wiki page on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marsala_wine
It's not a big wiki page, but it goes over the history and provides several references for the wine savvy. What I found interesting is the note about its uses in italian desserts, mainly for Tiramisu and zabaglione ! Which reminded me why I bought the bottle in the first place. For a Tiramisu ! Funny how the mind works :)

Fast and Simple "Taboule"

2009-07-07T12:18:00.000-07:00

Don't you like a quick and easy recipe? Throwing everything in the blender? And make a big batch that's even better the next day?
I got this couscous recipe from my mom. It's a great summer cold dish that can be served as a main or a side. At home we called it "taboule", it's a distant cousin to the middle-eastern dish of the same name.

Ingredients:

2.5 cups couscous
1/2 cup olive oil
4.5 fl. oz (133 mL) lemon juice (comes as a pack where I shop)
half to 1 yellow onion, depending on taste (I prefer half)
3 medium tomatoes
2 bellpeppers (1 red, 1 green)
5-8 sprigs of spearmint (use the leaves only!)
salt to taste

Directions (prep time 10 mins):

Place the dry couscous in a big container, it will easily double in size
Clean and cut onion and tomatoes in a few pieces
Clean and cut the bellpeppers in smaller pieces (remove the seeds!)
In a blender, add olive oil, lemon juice, onion, tomatoes, bellpeppers, spearmint leaves, and salt to taste. Blend well to obtain a thick liquid.
Pour onto the couscous, mix with a fork, and place in the fridge for at least an hour. Afterwards, the couscous will have absorbed everything. Fluff it and it's ready to serve ! Note: it tastes even better the next day.

This recipe is easy to customize to your taste, so be adventurous ! Here a few ideas I have tried:

add basil leaves with the mint, it will soften the taste a bit
substitute a bellpepper with a yellow one, it will affect the overall juice color and it will give a sweeter taste
substitute half of the onion with a shallot, personally too much onion makes me burp all day :)

Enjoy !

Pierre.

French summer dessert: "Clafouti"

2009-07-06T10:53:00.000-07:00

Yummy dessert that can be eaten warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream ("a la mode") or cold at picnics and BBQs.

Clafouti is a traditional dessert from the Provence region where cherry orchards abound. It makes use of cherries that are getting too ripe for direct consumption. The texture is close to bread pudding with fruits in it.

While clafouti is best made from fresh cherries, other fresh fruits can be used as well, like peaches, apples, pears, or bananas, making this dessert available year-round.

Ingredients:

3/4 lb pitless cherries

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar

3 eggs

1/2 cup half and half

2 tablespoon marsala

Directions (prep. time 30 mins, bake time 50 mins):

Preheat the oven to 370F

Grease the pan and add the pitless cherries, evenly distributed at the bottom.

In a bowl, mix flour and sugar, then create a hole in the center in which eggs, marsala and a little bit of half and half are added

Whisk everything together to make a thick paste, to which the remainder of the half and half is added.

The resulting mixture is added to the cherries.

Bake at 370F for 50 minutes.

Let the dessert cool down before transferring it out of the baking pan.

Enjoy !

Pierre.

Fourth of July dessert !

2009-07-05T10:03:00.000-07:00

The 4th of July is the gateway to a summer filled with week-end BBQs and family gatherings. Colors are bright, smiles are broad, mouths are full of delicious BBQ fares. Here my salute to the 4th of July: a red and blue strawberry/blueberry tart.

Ingredients:

tart crust (see previous blog)
2 eggs
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon flour
2 tablespoona marsala wine
3/4 cup almond flour
3/4 cup half and half
5 lady fingers biscuits
1 quart of strawberries
1 pint blueberries
fruit jam/jelly and honey

Directions (1 hr prep time, 30 min bake time):

Preheat the oven to 370F.
Prepare the crust as described in previous post and place it in the pie pan. You will cook it with the cream. (Note: I added a vanilla flavor to the crust)
Blend the eggs and the sugar to a frothy mixture.
Mix in the flour, followed by the marsala, the almond flour, and the half and half. In the end you should get a dense cream.
Break the lady fingers in small pieces and place them on the crust. Add the cream and let the biscuits soak for 5 minutes. They will absorb the cream and soften during baking.
Bake at 370F for 30 minutes. Cool the tart down to room temperature.
Brush a light coat of fruit jam/jelly on top (here I used cherry jam), it will keep the fresh fruits in place. (note: I use a small paint brush dedicated to the kitchen)
Place the strawberries cut in halves. This is your chance to be artistic!
Dilute some honey with a few drops of water and brush the strawberries with the sweet liquid. It will add sweetness and shine to the fruits, always appealing :)
Sprinkle blueberries on top.

Voila ! A magnificent dessert that will draw praise and encores. Give it a try !

Basics #1: the crust !

2009-07-01T15:28:00.000-07:00

There are some basics I ought to cover to avoid repeating myself. I love making tarts and quiches. In my mind, quiches are vegetable tarts, or tarts are fruit quiches :) But there are so many variations in each category that I could devote an entire book chapter for each. So I'll keep it simple for now and start out with a common element: the crust !
I use the same basic recipe whenever I need to make a crust for a tart or quiche. Then I customize it to blend with the filling I am using for that extra edge. The basic recipe is good as it is though, and very dependable.

Ingredients for a 9-10.5" pan:

8 oz flour
4 oz butter
1 egg
pinch of salt

Directions:

Place the flour in a big bowl, add the salt and soft butter stick.
Mix the ingredients together until it's blended together (I use my hand, the fingers are the best).
Add the egg and continue mixing. It should get sticky on your hand. With the other hand I add flour little by little until the well blended mix does not stick anymore. You should be able to form a ball with both hands, leaving a greasy residue on your hands.
Use a rolling pin with some flour to flatten out the dough to the desired thickness. Personally, I don't use one, but place the ball directly in the center of the pan (no need to grease the pan, you used enough butter already!) and use my hand to distribute the dough evenly at the bottom and side of the pan. I've never been very good with a rolling pin :)
If you need to precook the crust before adding the filling, prick the bottom of the crust with a fork evenly (it will prevent trapped air to lift it while baking) and bake it at 350F for 15-20 minutes. Let it cool before adding the filling.

This is the basic recipe. Now I have some little tips you can use to wow your guests.
For sweet recipes:

Add flavoring at step 3: vanilla extract, almond extract,...
Add food colorants (getting crazy....).
Substitute part of the flour (no more than 20%) with almond flour, coconut flour, or other flour substitute.
Add sugar (about 2 oz). In that case it's easier to mix the sugar with the soft butter first, than add the flour, salt and egg.

For salty recipes:

Add flavoring at step 3. My favorites are italian herbs (it smells wonderful in the oven!) and curry (it adds color too)

You don't often see an egg for a crust recipe. I feel like I need to explain myself here :) Initially I started using an egg whenever I was making a tart with juicy fruits. The egg keeps the crust together when the cooked fruits are squeezing out the water. But then I liked the taste of it and the egg became a required ingredient.

There now you know how to make a reliable crust for any occasion !

Peace out !
Pierre.

Welcome to my kitchen !

2009-06-29T17:38:00.000-07:00

Expecting a pic of my kitchen ? Hmmm, really not worth it. Not until after it is remodeled into a 5-star staging area with granite countertops, stainless appliances, porcelain sink, and a humongous food processor that can also do the dishes. I'll settle for the pic above when the money comes rolling in :)

I have a feeling I will like this blog. I've been cooking for more than 15 years, honing my skills by trial and error. I loooooove baking ! If I could eat cakes all day I would. What can I say? I grew up on french pastries (thanks Grandma!) and delicious homemade cakes. My mom is a wonderful cook, a kitchen artist, a food improviser. I learned from the best !

So stay tuned for my weekly experiments....

Cheers,

Pierre.