Prune et compagnie

Mmmmoules Frites

2009-09-22T11:45:00.000-07:00

Mussel season is back! It is best to eat mussels between september and april when they are fat and tender. Mussel is also a guilty free seafood, farmed mussels have little impact on their sea floor habitat, and they filter water, improving its quality.

So, Moules Frites...Well, there are no fries left on the picture...we ate them all, but there is a nice slice of toasted bread. It seems like I can't dissociate mussels from french fries, it has to be MoulesFrites or nothing. My favorite is to let the fries soak the cooking juices from the mussels in my bowl.

Mussels are so easy to cook, and they're so flavorful, there is no way something can go wrong with this recipe.

Ingredients:

4 lbs mussels

2 cups of dry white wine

6 springs of parsley

1 medium size shallot, finely chopped

4 tablespoons of butter

2 bay leaves

Few thyme springs

Chopped parsley for garnishing

Serves 4

Start by scrubing the shell of the mussels to remove any remaining beard of dirt. Discard any mussel that is broken, or doesn't react when squezed shut. In this recipe, I used Mediterranean mussels, they have a soft flesh with a prononced flavor. But you can go ahead and use whatever mussel is available in your fish market.

In a pot combine the white wine, butter, parsley springs, thyme, bay leaf and shallots. Bring to a boil and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the mussels and cover the pot with a lid, cook over medium heat until the mussels are wide open. This should take about 5 minutes. Shake the pan occasionnaly as the mussels cook.

When the mussels are ready, transfer to a serving bowl. Reduce a little bit the cooking liquid and poor it over the mussels. Garnish with chopped parsley.

Serve along with french fries or toasted bread.

Tarte Tatin

2009-09-03T12:41:00.000-07:00

I feel like I have been posting a lot of desserts so far in this blog. I do cook savory, and a lot, but by the time it's done, I'm hungry and it doesn't last long enough to take a picture.

Tarte Tatin...just the name resonates differently in my mind... it is special, it is comfort, it's home, a reassuring shelter. It is also my father's favorite dessert. Coming back from his many work trips, he would always buy it from a special baker a hundred miles from our home. My father would come home with his luggages, and on one hand, holding the rectangular white box, with some strains of fat...I couldn't wait at all! A hug to my father, and then, a longer welcome to Tarte Tatin.

I made it a year ago, but I was disapointed by the result. The fact of making the caramel separately didn't really work for me.

This version is adapted from Gourmet Magazine. The one changed I made is using Pâte brisée instead of Puff Pastry. I don't think that puff pastry goes really well with tarte tatin, it just doesn't go well with the texture of the baked apples, and all the tenderness that you are looking for in a Tarte Tatin.

Ingredients:

1 pâte brisée recipe (for an 8 inch tart shell)

4 oz unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup of sugar

7 to 9 apples ( 3 to 4 lbs) peeled, quartered lenghtwise, and cored

Equipment : an 8 to 10-inch non stick pan or cast iron skillet

Preheat the oven to 425°F.

Roll the dough into a round 1/2 inch larger than the size of your pan. Transfer to a baking sheet and chill.

Spread butter generously on the bottom and side of skillet and pour the sugar evenly over the bottom. Arrange the apples vertically in the skillet, packing them tightly in concentric circles.

Cook apples over moderately high heat until juices are deep golden and bubling, 20 min. To check the color of the caramel, use a white stick, or a white rubber spatula but do not disturb the arrangement of the apples.

Put skillet in the middle of oven and bake for another 20 min. The apples should be soft and slightly settled. Remove from oven and lay pastry dough round over the apples.

Bake tart until the dough is golden browned, 20 min. Transfer the skillet to a rack and let cool for about 10 min.

Now comes the tricky part. After all that work, you have to take a risk, and flip the tart tatin over. Put a large plate on top of the skillet, and flip over. In order to do so, the tart should still be slighlty hot, otherwise, if it's too cool, the carmel would be hard, and the apples will stick to the skillet. If it's the case, just put back the skillet on top of the stove, and warm until the caramel is disolved.

Tart tatin is good when it's served hot whit a dollop of crème fraîche.

If I were a cake...

2009-08-26T12:48:00.000-07:00

I read more cookbooks than I actually cook...Last time I was reading Pure Dessert by Alice Medrich(award winning author of BitterSweet). It is the best dessert book I have, and believe me, I have many...The recipes are simple, mainly focusing on the flavors of milk, nuts, fruits...yet the results are bursting! You won't fail in making any of those recipes, the instructions are clear and you won't be disapointed by the result.

While fliping over the pages, I found the recipe of her Almond Cake. It was described as a reach and sweet almond cake and besides, easy to do.

If I were cake, I would be this one.

Ingredients:

3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons (4 ounces) unblanched or blanched whole almonds

6 tablespoons sliced almonds

1 cup plus 4 tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract

3 large eggs

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter cut into pieces and slightly softened

1 tablespoon kirsch (optional)

1/3 cup (1.5 ounces) all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Powdered sugar for dusting (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Butter the sides and the bottom of an 8 by 2 inch round cake pan. Scatter 6 tablespoons sliced almonds over the bottom of the pan and the sides. Sprinkles both the sides and the bottom with about 2 tablespoons of sugar.

Make the batter by combining the whole almonds, sugar, salt and almond extract in the bowl of a food processor and process until the nuts are finely ground. Add the eggs, butter and kirsch, and pulse to blend. Add the flour and baking powder and pulse until blended.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake about 35 to 40 min, until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely in the pan.

To unmold, slide a knife around the edges to release the sides, and gently flip over in a plate. Dust the cake with powdered sugar if you like. Serve with fresh berries, sliced plums, nectarines or apricots.

If well wrapped, the cake keeps well at room temperature for several days.

It's time for a sunburst

2009-08-07T11:37:00.000-07:00

Sunburst, Patty Pan or Summer squash. Pretty name for a pretty vegetable.

It is really good only roasted in a hot oven with some olive oil and salt, but today, I want them stuffed.

While I was cooking, I didn't really measure the ingredients, so you will have to adjust the seasoning to your taste, and the quantities to the size and number of the sunburst.

Ingredients (for 2 people):

4 medium sized patty pans (yellow or green or both)

1/2 bunch spinach

2 cloves garlic, chopped

Half an onion chopped finely

Olive oil

4 to 6 oz of fresh ricotta

1/4 cup of parmesan, grated

A pinch of grated nutmeg

Salt to taste.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Bring a big pot of salted water to a boil. Meanwhile prepare the patty pans by cutting the top of them, as if it was a hat. When the water is boiling drop both the hats and the patty pan. Cook for about 15min or until almost done. It should be tender, but since it is going to cook in the oven, have them slightly undercooked.

When the patty pans are done, take them out of the water and remove the inside carefully with a spoon. Reserve. Arrange the empty patty pans in an oven proof dish.

Rinse the spinach and put them in a pan. Cover and cook over medium heat until they are all wilted and all the water has evaporated, for about 4 to 5 min. Drain well.

In the same pot, cook the onion until soft, add garlic, cook until fragrant. Add the spinach and whatever squash you removed from the patty pan. Cook for 5 min or until everything is cooked and hot.

In a bowl, combine the ricotta with the spinach mix, the parmesan, and the nutmeg.

Taste and adjust the seasoning.

Fill the patty pan with the filling, cover with the hat. drizzle with some olive oil and bake in the oven until it is slightly golden and the filling is hot, for about 20 min.

Note : As you can see in the picture I served them with some roasted tomatoes and fresh basil. But on its own it is as delicious.

Plum and Compagnie

2009-07-21T15:07:00.000-07:00

Everytime I am on holidays, hiking, camping and eating mostly dehydrated food, I crave tarts...

Those holidays, it was the plum tart that was stuck in my mind. As soon as I came back home, actually, even before coming home, I bought some plums, and the following day, made this tart.

Ingredients :

1 pâte brisée recipe for a 8inch tart shell

1/3 cup of semolina

1/2 cup of sugar

1 1/2 lb of plums

A pinch of salt

Preheat the oven at 350°F.

Wether you are making the pie dough yourself or buying it, keep it as cool as possible. For my part I made a classic Pâte brisée, chilled it for half an hour, rolled it in the tart shell, and put it in the fridge until I was ready to assemble.

In a small mixing bowl, combine the semolina, 1/4 cup of sugar, and the salt.

Over another bowl, cut the plums in half and remove the pits.

Take the lined tart shell out of the fridge and sprinkle the semolina mix on the dough (this will prevent the dough from becoming soggy with the plum juices).

Arrange the halved plum, pour whatever juices are left in the bowl and sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar. It is actually up to you to judge how much sugar the plum need. If they're really sweet you probably won't need as much sugar, if they're still firm and a little bit acid, add more sugar.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes or untill the dough is golden brown on the edges.

I don't share Gougère...

2009-07-01T09:55:00.000-07:00

What do you do when you are going on holidays and have a fridge to empty ? Some people check the websites where you write what ingredients you have, then the website gives you a recipe that matches your ingredient input... Well I don't do that, I guess making the staff meal in a restaurant is a good training!

So there I was with eggs, cheese and butter to finish...It didn't take that long to figure it out, and I'm pretty sure you already know...Gougères!

Gougères are a burgundy speciality, and it is in Dijon that I had them for the first time...They were big, puffed, golden brown, crsuty cheese outside and moist inside, and most of all really cheesy, literally. I remember my friend wanting to split them in half and share them...no, I don't share my Gougère.

Ingredtients :

1/2 cup butter

1 cup water

1 1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 cup flour

4 eggs, mixed

1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon of dry mustard

1 1/2 cup og Gruyère, Compté or Parmesan, or a mix of those.

A pinch of cayenne

1 egg for egg wash

Preheat the oven at 425°.

Combine the butter, water and salt in a pot and bring to a boil.

Off the heat add all the flour at once and mix vigorously with a spatula.

Put back on the stove on low heat and cook until the dough comes out of the pot and is shiny and smooth, it might take a few minutes.

Let cool a little bit, then add the eggs, one by one, mix with the spatula after each addition.

Add the Dijon mustard, the dry mustard, the cheese and a pinch of cayenne and mix well to combine. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

On a sheet tray covered with parchment paper, place tablespoons full of the batter. If you want to have individual gougères, leave a small space (about 1/2 inch) between each gougères. Otherwise you can make a crown, in that case, outline a circle on the parchment paper, flip it (so that the dough doesn't touch the ink) and form the gougères around the circle, there should be no space between the gougères.

Egg wash the gougères, sprinkle with more cheese, Gruyère is really the best, and bake in the preheated oven for about 1/2 hour, or until it is golden brown and puffed.

Remove from the oven and pierce the bottom of the gougère so that the steam comes out. Return to the off oven for 10 min, leaving the oven door slighlty open. This operation allow the gougères not to collapse.

I got this recipe from the culinary school where I was. This is the traditional recipe, but you can add your own twist : prosciutto, olives, herbs...

Rhubarb and Strawberry Crumble

2009-06-17T13:44:00.000-07:00

I just couldn't resist at the bright purple red rhubarb, I bought it without really knowing what I would do with it. I already had plenty of jars of rhubarb jam before, but, really, this was the first time I was going to cook rhubarb.

Ingredients :
4 stalks of rhubarb, chopped 1/4 inch thick
1 1/2 cup halved strawberries
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup and 3 tablespoons of sugar, separated
1 cup almond meal
7 Tbsp butter at room temperature

Preheat oven at 350°.
Mix the halved strawberries, chopped rhubarb and 3 tablespoons of sugar together. Poor the mixture in an oven proof mold.

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, 1/2 cup of sugar, almond meal and butter. Mix well, using your hands, until it looks like coarse breadcrumbs. Cover the rhubarb and strawberries with the flour mixture and bake in the preheated oven until it is golden brown, about 30 to 35 min. If the topping gets brown before the rhubarb is cooked, cover with foil and continue cooking it until it is ready.

Serve it warm or cold, with some whipped cream (the cream helps to balance the acidity of the rhubarb) .

Clafoutis!

2009-06-09T13:40:00.001-07:00

I have to admit that I am not an ice cream lover ( I still have to give a chance to the Guiness ice cream). So, living in San Francisco is great, the cool summer is the perfect excuse to make warm, and confortable desserts! One of my favorite is the clafoutis. It is a traditional dessert from the Limousin region in France.

I can still remember the first time I had it, I was a child and we had played all the afternoon at the beach, coming back at my friend's place, her Mom was just taking the clafoutis out from the oven...

Ingredients :

1 pound of cherries

1/2 cup of milk

5 Tablespoons of butter

2 oz of flour

3 oz of sugar

3 large eggs

1 1/4 cup of cream

Preheat the oven at 350°F.

Bring the milk to a boil. In another small pot, melt the butter.

In a bowl, mix the flour, sugar, eggs, and cream together. Slowly add the hot milk, then the melted butter.

Prepare you mold by buttering it. You can either do the clafoutis in individual ramequins or in a big mold.

Arrange the cherries in the mold. The clafoutis is traditionnaly made with cherries with their pits, it is supposed to give taste while baking. Just warn your guests about the pits.

Poor the batter over the cherries and bake in the preheated oven for 35 min, or until a toothpick inserted in the clafoutis come out clean.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar, and serves hot or cold.

Fava beans Moroccan style

2009-06-02T11:32:00.000-07:00

Fava Beans! My parents use to grow fava beans in the garden, I used to eat them raw, directly from the pod, they were so sweet, it was a treat!

Now, everytime I go back home, my mother makes this wonderful, full of flavor fava bean dish. It is a classic moroccan recipe, and when the fava beans are no longer in season, you can substitute them with spinach.

Ingredients :
One pound of fava beans in their pods
3 Tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves choped
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1 TbspGinger powder
2 Tbsp Paprika
2 Tbsp Cumin powder
1/3 cup of green olives

1/2 preserved lemon

Salt to taste

Remove the fava beans from the pod.

In a pot, mix altogether the fava beans, garlic clove, olive oil, ginger powder, paprika and cumin. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Simmer on low heat until the fava beans are tender. Adding more water if necessary.

Once tha fava beans are tender, add parsley, cilantro, preserved lemon and green olives. If there is still some water, cook on low heat until all the water is gone.

This recipe makes a nice side dish, or is great as veggie dish when you are making tapas.

Red Lentils and Coconut Soup

2009-05-27T11:10:00.000-07:00

This recipe is easy, and has the advantage of being vegan. I saw the chef of the restaurant where I work doing it last week, and I made it at home.

2 cups chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped carrots
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped fennel
Olive oil
1 cup of green lentils
2 cups of red lentils
1 can of coconut milk (14 oz)
Bay leaf
Thyme
Salt to taste
1 lime

What I learned from the restaurant where I work, is that every soup should start with a soup kit. A soup kit is chopped onions, carrots, celery and, depending on the season, either parsnips or fennel. We usually have twice as much onions asthe other vegetables.
In a large pot, heat olive oil and add the soup kit. Cook on low heat until all the vegetables are soft and slightly brown. Salt to taste. I usually salt at every stage of cooking.

Meanwhile, in another large pot, combine the cup of green lentils with 4 cups of cold water, add the bay leaf and the thyme. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. To the green lentils, add the 2 cups of red lentils and 4 cups of water, bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes, or until all the lentils are soft. Shake the can of coconut milk and poor it in the lentils, bring to a simmer, correct the seasoning. Poor the lentils mixture in the pot with the mirepoix and mix really well. Cook for few more minutes to allow the flavors to mix.

Serve hot with a squeeze of lime juice.

A sweet afternoon

2009-05-22T10:40:00.000-07:00

Besides my mood, I usually have two ways of deciding what I will be cooking. I either check cookbooks, blogs, newspapers food section, or sometimes, I just want to empty the fridge and the pantry.

So there I was with almost 1 pound of strawberries and one pound of mascarpone (...I still don't know why I ended up with so much mascarpone...). Anyway, I had to deal with that, so I thought of a strawberry tiramisu, or a mascarpone strawberry compote bread pudding, and there it was, I found it on Epicurious.com...the Strawberry Mascarpone tart. The picture was gorgeous and it looked like the perfect indulgence for a warm day.

The recipe seemed pretty easy,and consisted in 3 steps :

- make the dough

- make the mascarpone filling

- marinate the strawberries

The Dough :

I usually trust my pâte brisée because I have been doing it for so long. But, this time, it wasn't as good as usual, the end product was tough, which contrasted a lot with the delicate consistency of the mascarpone filling. I think I worked it too much. Since I don't have a pastry cutter, I used two knives to incorporate the butter in the flour, and that took me a while. Or, the other reason, might be the amount of water, the dough might have been too wet.

[ How to put the dough in the pan :Fold the dough in 4 and align the corner with the center of the mold, unfold]

Anyway, I think the right way was to follow the recipe, it is a mix of a pâte brisée an pâté sablée.

The mascarpone filling :

Really easy, it consisted on mixing the pound of mascarpone with some confectioners sugar (amount according to your taste), a teaspoon of lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon of lemon zest and a few dollops of vanilla extract.

The Strawberries:

Mix some sugar with the trimmed and halved strawberries and let sit for half an hour. Whatever juices are left, heat them with a few tablespoons of Port untill you have the consistency of maple syrup.

Assembling :

Then, you just have to assemble everything, once the dough is cool, spread the mascarpone filling on the shell, top with the strawberries and drizzle or brush with the Port glaze.

It was good and refreshing. But the mascarpone filling was really heavy, next time I'll use less mascarpone (2/3 pound might be enough), also, I'll mix blueberries with the strawberries.

Braised Artichokes

2009-05-19T10:57:00.000-07:00

Braising baby artichokes is a good way to eat artichokes in different ways. This recipe is enough for 2 people.

- 6 baby artichokes
- 1 lemon cut in half
- 1/2 onion chopped half julienne
- 1 garlic clove thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 2 bay leaves
- thyme
- 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
- Salt to taste

Fill a 2 quarts container with water and add the juice of one of the lemon half.

Cut the top of the artichokes and remove the outer and tougher layers. With a pairing knife, clean the stem so that every dark green part is removed. Rub the trimmed artichokes with the lemon, and put in the bowl.

Repeat untill all the artichokes are clean. Rubing them with the lemon and having them stay in the water with lemon juice prevents them from discoloring.

The triming and cleaning part is really important, you don't want to leave any tough part of the stem or of the leaves because no matter how long you will cook the artichokes, the tough part will never get soft.

Sauté the onions with the olive oil, when almost soft add the sliced garlic. Season with salt. When the onion is soft, cut the baby artichokes in 2 and add them to pan along with the bay leaf, thyme, white wine and enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, correct the seasoning, and simmer until the artichokes are soft, and all the liquid has evaporated, about 20 minutes.

Now that you have braised artichokes you can either use them in salads, pasta, pizza. For my part, I used them for tartines.

Tartine 1:
I brushed the tartine with some olive oil and toasted it. Then I rubbed it with a garlic clove and let it cool a bit. Once cool, I added some mascarpone, then the artichokes and topped it with some parsley leaves.

Tartine 2:
Brush the tartine with olive oil, toast it, rub it with a garlic clove, add some chaved parmesan, top with the braised artichokes, a few capers and choped parsley.

A memorable lobster soup

2009-05-14T10:57:00.000-07:00

There are some places and some meals that you will never forget. You can go in a fancy restaurant, and a year after, forget everything about what you ate.

The place I will never forget is "Saegreifinn", or Sea Baron, it's in Reykjavik, Iceland. I went to Iceland a few years ago, and to be honest, it was not really for any culinary reason, it was mostly for treking. A friend of mine who lives their, told us to go to this small shop/eaterie in the port, it's suposed to be the oldest one in the port and all the fisherman go there. It was a tiny place, and really cute.

On the board underneath the name, you could read "Hemisins besta humarsupa" (best lobster soup). The cashier/owner, poored us ladlefull of the soup in a paper cup, and we sat in the banch outside. The first spoon overwhelmed my mouth, and this taste it still in my mind, tought I don't know exactly how to describe it. Maybe that's why so many people use the word umame, so good, not that common, that you can't describe.

After eating, a cat came by, I think named Mika, and while we were peting the cat, the owner showed us an article about his restaurant, and guess who was in the forefrount of the picture? Milka.

Medlar!

2009-05-13T11:06:00.000-07:00

I woke up today thinking of one thing only : Medlar.

It seems that not many people eat this fruit, whereas it grows in many backyards in my neighborhood. I can see the fruit starting to grow, and becoming mature enough to eat...hmmm.

I found it on sale last year at Chinatown in San Francisco only, but I never bought them since I can just pick them from the trees.

Despite the bad publicity this fruit had - in french, it used to be called "dog butt" or "monkey butt"- medlars are full of taste and complexity. You have to wait until it is really ripe to eat it. The skin is hard to eat, but the inside is tender, juciy, sweet...It has an aroma of apples, of apricots, and of so many things at the same time...

MMmm, I'm looking forward to harvest many of them and make something good!