Post Type ArchivesRecipes

Mushroom velouté (with croûtons)

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Mushroom velouté with croûtons

2 months ago, I disliked mushroom soups.

I happened to go to Giverny with my companion for a short 2-days trip, completely off-season. We did not know that, come November, the town was virtually empty on weekdays. We couldn’t even find a single restaurant opened for lunch.

Fortunately, our nearby hotel had its own inn, but with a unique menu… whose starter was a mushroom velouté. Well, we didn’t have other options, so I relunctantly went with it.

I’m very glad I did. You’ve guessed it ; this mushroom velouté was out of this world. I was immediately bent on reproducing it, sooner rather than later.

I’m proud to say I managed to recreate it on my first attempt. Sometimes, French cooking is quite simple to figure out ; good produce and decent amounts of butter and cream will go a long way.

Fear not ; this mushroom velouté is not unreasonable, considering you only need a small serving of this thick, creamy soup to be satisfied.

Mushroom velouté – Recipe

Ingredients – Advice & key points

  • Mushrooms :
    • I used 50% button mushrooms to bulk up the soup, 25% chanterelles for their fruity flavour, and 25% shiitake mushrooms for a smokier taste.
    • You could only use simple button mushrooms, and the soup would still be delicious.
  • Veggie option :
    • This is almost a veggie dish ; i used chicken bouillon for this recipe.
    • You can of course use veggie stock instead, but try to find a decent one !
  • Heavy cream : Use quality, full-fat heavy cream for this recipe.
  • I’ve tried the recipe without white wine and it’s just as good.
  • The vinegar-cap trick is a common one amongst professional chefs ; when added by the end, it elevates most soups’ flavour instantly, without being detactable at all.
  • You can either serve this velouté as a main -I especially like it for a light supper- or as a starter ; the serving size here is more advisable for starters.

Let’s get soupy !

Hachis Parmentier (French Cottage Pie)

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Hachis Parmentier (French Cottage Pie) with purée and minced beef

I have vivid memories of my earlier days, when a school lunch lady seized a massive metallic dish, filled to the brim with meat and purée. She set about serving large spoonfuls of this Hachis Parmentier to enthusiastic, hungry students. I was amongst the ones who usually waited until the end of the lunch shift to get seconds.

Hachis Parmentier is a universal dish that everyone loves ; it has equivalents in many countries, with the British Cottage Pie, the Scottish Mince and tatties, the South American Pastel de papa and even the much alike African Bobotie.

Those popular dishes, made with cheap ingredients, are my favourite to cook. They show how much we can make out of little. Even the process couldn’t be simpler :

  • Make a purée, or ideally use frozen purée made ahead of time ;
  • Stir-fry your minced beef with some onions, herbs and a bit of broth  ;
  • Assemble in a baking dish ;
  • Top with breadcrumbs (no cheese needed !) and brown within 10 minutes !

This is not a vegetable-packed dish, I confess, but it will brighten your family’s day, especially on a cold winter one !

We usually serve Hachis Parmentier as is or with a simple side of salad.

Hachis Parmentier – Recipe

Recipe – Advice & key points

  • I recommend buying meat that is not too lean (around 20% fat).  
  • You can make lots of purée ahead of time and freeze it, so you always have some ready for Hachis Parmentier ! This way, this recipe is particularly quick.
  • If you cannot find (or do not like) tarragon, it’s ok ! Parsley only is fine. You could add chives, too.

All set ? Let’s cook !

Note : The cooking times do not include purée time ; if you don’t have some on hand, keep it mind to up the timing by your purée recipe timing !

Pumpkin Quinoa Salad (with Kale Hummus)

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Pumpkin Quinoa Salad with Kale Hummus

Last October, I was suffering from a bad stomach condition that lasted more than a month. I needed to eat clean, with lots of fiber, and without spices or chilies. Talk about constraints here.

Constraints breed creativity, though ; that’s what I discovered in no time. I made choices that I wouldn’t have made any other way, such as going to boring Cojean for lunch, and eating a boring vegan superfood salad.

There I sat with my salad, feeling sorry for myself ; expecting absolutely no pleasure, and eating because I had to.

I took a bite. I mentally gasped, my eyes probably bulged as I sat there, dumbfounded.

What the hell ? How can it be this good ? The sugary elements like raisins and pumpkin popped into my mouth, offsetting the pleasant bite from the vinaigrette ; the creamy kale hummus, aromatic and boosted by some chervil, paired perfectly with the pumpkin and quinoa, and it was a textures’ festival between the crunchy, the soft and the creamy.

I ate the whole thing up as if it was a Christmas’ feast. No joke ; I had never eaten a meal without any spices, any meat and any excess fat with such wonderful flavour.

I knew I had to reproduce it right away. I’m happy to say I figured it out, and although there’s a bit of work involved, it’s all worth it.

Hear me out ; at some point in winter, after the upteenth cheesy, heavy meal you eat in a row, you’ll feel like having a salad. Make this one. You won’t regret it.

Pumpkin Quinoa Salad (with Kale Hummus) – Recipe

Ingredients – Where to find them

You might need to visit an organic store / a farmer’s market to get some of the items listed here, such as sunflower seeds, raisins or kale.

Ingredients – Advice & key points

Not much to say here ; it’s a straight-forward salad!

  • Don’t skip the Kale Hummus! It’s what gives this salad its pleasant creaminess and freshness :
    • I recommend blanching kale, as it removes its bitterness and softens its texture ;
    • If you cannot find kale, you might replace it with spinach, and only blanch them 1mn.

All set ? Let’s make this Pumpkin Quinoa Salad!

Oven Purée

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Purée - Mashed Potatoes with milk and butter

I know, I know. Everyone knows how to make mashed potatoes, right ? You boil, you mash, add some milk and butter, or cream ; there you go !

If it were so simple, how come people marvel at the epic French purée you’re served in our decent national restaurants ? Moist, buttery and flavourful ; that is how we want it. And any amateur cook can tell you that it is not always a given.

No, adding a pint of butter is not the only secret to purée there is ! There are several small tricks to keep in mind, and I’ve listed them all for you :

  • Essential : choose the right potatoes (starchy potatoes such as Bintje) ;
  • Cook your potatoes in the oven instead of boiling them ;
  • Don’t over-mash your potatoes, or the purée will become sticky as the process will release excess starch ;
  • Your butter needs to be cold, and your milk, hot ;
  • Add your butter and milk to your mashed potatoes while they’re still hot.

I didn’t know there was this much to know about a humble purée. Before I stumbled across all these pieces of advice, I made purée simply following my heart a couple of times, so I can tell you : the difference is massive.

You can serve this purée with a good piece of poultry or meat, or use it in a hachis parmentier !

Oven Purée – Recipe

Recipe – Advice & key points

  • The only additional piece of advice I have is to buy decent milk and butter. As always, with recipe that only contain a handful of ingredients, each of them matters !  
  • The other advice are listed above !

All set ? Let’s purée !

Vietnamese Oyakodon

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Vietnamese Oyakodon - Roast chicken with fluffy eggs, Nuoc Cham and cilantro

Oyakodon is part of the donburi family, which are popular Japanese dishes consisting of a filling on a bowl of rice. Oyako, in a somehow disturbing way, means “parent and child” -referring to chicken and eggs.

I was feeling like spicing the dish up and changing its flavour profile, and I thought of the biting Nuoc Cham sauce to give a tangy depth to this otherwise quite soft and mild dish.

This Vietnamese-Japanese fusion attempt might be, if I can humbly say so, my best creation to date. The pairing between roast chicken and Nuoc Cham is an obvious one, but the creamy eggs, perfumed with a touch of ginger and shallots, add a fluffy mellowness to this dish that makes you always crave for more.

I don’t have much credit to take though, since the whole dish almost only relies on the wonderful Vietnamese Nuoc Cham. Making the sauce is almost the only effort you need to make ; the rest is basically an omelet flavoured with a few aromatics, that you assemble with roast chicken on top of rice.

Vietnamese Oyakodon – Ingredients & advice

  • You will find my Nuoc Cham recipe here.
  • For my scrambled eggs, this is how I get them fluffy and moist :
    • First, add your unbeaten eggs to a buttered and oiled pan on medium heat ; leave 30 seconds while mixing with a spatula. The eggs will start to form strands.
    • Then, turn the heat to low and let it finish cooking while you keep stirring with a spatula.
    • Do not overcook them ! I remove them while they’re still a tad undercooked, because by the time you add the egg mixture to your plate, you eggs might become overcooked.
  • Want to make the dish vegetarian ?
    • You can simply omit the chicken ; honestly, I’d enjoy the dish with only rice, eggs and the wonderful sauce ;
    • You can also replace the chicken with stir-fried mushrooms (with a bit of smoked salt or liquid smoke if you have some). No other seasonings needed, really, it’s already in our sauce !

Nuoc Cham (Vietnamese dipping sauce)

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Nuoc Cham

See the nem sauce ? Nice, with a bit of sugar and tang, but nothing to go crazy about ?

This nem sauce is the clearest illustration I can think of of how Westernized dishes don’t give justice to the beautiful Vietnamese recipes.

The actual “nem sauce” is called Nuoc Cham. It’s garlickier, spicier, tangier, and turns anything you dip in in sheer gold.

The secret is simple : it’s all about pounding your garlic and chilies, which frees the flavour in a much stronger way than by only chopping. The difference with your usual “nem sauce” is astounding.

Dip anything in it : grilled meats, nems, spring rolls, or use it as a dressing for your Buns (Vietnamese noodle salads), and see for yourself the power of this Nuoc Cham. I fell in love with it the moment I tried it. And it is all done within 10 minutes !

Prik Nam Som – Ingredients & advice

  • Depending on which fish sauce you use, you might need to use a tad less than the amounts indicated. Taste for yourself ! I personnally use the Tiparos fish sauce, which is a bit on the stronger side.
  • I like to use brown sugar for added depth, but feel free to use white sugar.
  • Fair warning : this recipe is quite spicy.
    • If you can take a bit of spice, but not much, only use 1 bird’s eye chili.
    • If you cannot take the heat at all, remove its seeds.
  • You can add cilantro if you feel like it ; it definitely pairs well with the Nuoc Cham flavours.
  • If you don’t own a mortar and pestle, it’s ok ;
    • Simply use a grater for your garlic and thaï chili. After adding the remaining ingredients, let the Nuoc Cham sit 10 to 15 minutes so that the flavours infuse properly.
    • Even if you simply mince your garlic and chili with a knife, this sauce will be much tastier than the restaurant version !

Meatless Ricotta Polpette

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Ricotta polpette in sugo (with tomato sauce), accompanied by Focaccia and green beans

I always thought Polpette to be one of those recipes that were un-veganizable. Sure, you can make awesome veggie Falafels, Arancinis, and all sorts of fried balls ; but this saucy softness you get with tomato meatballs ? No can’t do.

I was binge-reading food questions and answers on Quora, as I usually do, when I fell onto a funny, specific question : what to do with ricotta leftovers ? When I saw an answer on ricotta polpette with a sexy, saucy photo attached, I knew I was going to make it, and sooner rather than later.

So I did. And I was mind-blown ; how could just a few ingredients, and not the boldest, yield such a profound flavour ? As I often say in my dear italian recipes, the secret lies in the quality of your ingredients. And, I confess, a healthy amount of cheeses -yes, plural : we invited ricotta, pecorino and parmigiano to the party here.

True, the end result had nothing to do with meatballs in terms of taste ; but it was the same pleasure, with a real overall softness and sauciness. This recipe feels both light and comforting, and can be done on a weeknight.    

Meatless Ricotta Polpette – Recipe

Ingredients – Advice & key points

I usually go to Eataly to get the produce I need. If you don’t have one near your location, you can find fresh produce like parmigiano, pecorino and ricotta at your local Italian deli.

  • Cheeses :
    • Try to find quality ricotta ! It needs to be quite firm. The one I used was this one : Fromage ricotta au lait de vache BIO 200 g - CA'VERDE OTTO MARZO
    • Don’t forget to drain it properly before using.
    • If you want to use basic ricotta from your supermarket, you can ; simply use more panko breadcrumbs, since this type of ricotta is more liquidy.   
    • Try to use decent Pecorino and Parmigiano that you grate yourself, as those 2 ingredients are central to the end taste. 
  • Feel free to :
    • Remove parsley if you wish, but I would keep basil ;
    • Use only Pecorino or Parmigiano depending on what you have on hand ;
    • Use breadcrumbs instead of panko.

How to serve Meatless Ricotta Polpette

  • I do not recommend serving these Polpette with pasta !
    • Polpette in Italy are not eaten with pasta ; and those polpette in particular are fragile and would break while tossing them in pasta.
    • These polpette would be served with Italian bread such as Focaccia, and greens on the side, or salad.

Now come and cook !

Pasta e Fagioli from Napoli

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Creamy pasta e fagioli in a orangey, creamy broth made with veggies and pancetta

Beans. Great for your health, rich in proteins and very gut-friendly, yes ; but unappealing. No kid has ever rushed to the dinner table when hearing that beans were on the menu, right ?

That’s because most people don’t treat beans the way they should. And what is this way ? Well, the only one there is : the Italian way ! More precisely here, the Neapolitan way, as this recipe has many variations depending on the location and available ingredients.

It always contains two main stars, though : short pasta and white beans, kept cozy in a warm, creamy broth flavoured by veggies and, optionally, a small amount of cured meat. This is really my favourite type of cooking : slow and easy, with delicate flavours ; humble food, but quality ingredients.

In Napoli, it is typical to include a bit of tomato and pancetta. But you could definitely make a white version, or use guanciale instead of pancetta, or even no meat at all !

Whichever option you choose, this soupy pasta is as nourishing and healthy as it is comforting -just like its pasta e piselli cousin. The flavours are delicate, with an umami-feel brought abought by our tomato and Parmiagiano friends.

Pasta e Fagioli from Napoli – Recipe

Ingredients – Advice & key points

I usually go to Eataly to get the produce I need. If you don’t have one near your location, you can find fresh produce like parmigiano at your local Italian deli, maybe even your pasta. For pasta, if not available there, you should be able to order it online quite easily. Funnily enough, I find my Ditalini pasta in African produce stores, because it is also commonly used in Tunisian cooking.

  • Pasta :
    • Try to find ditalini or tubetti or pasta if you can, which are cut in short tubes.
    • Don’t worry if you can’t find it, as any short pasta will do.
  • Beans :
    • I use white beans that I’ve soaked overnight.
    • Ideally, you want to use Borlotti beans, but any type will do.
  • Important : If making a large batch, when you know you won’t eat it all, remove the excess amount from the pot (and store it away) before adding pasta.
    • Why ? Because reheated pasta & fagioli won’t be as good -the pasta won’t be al dente.
    • This way, when you reheat your fagioli base leftovers, simply add a bit water if needed and cook the matching amount of pasta straight into it !
  • Want to make it vegetarian ? Simply remove the pancetta and replace the water with vegetables stock.

Cooking your pasta

  • Pasta :
    • This is one of the very, very few authentic “one pot” pasta dishes ! Yes, everything cooks quickly plus there’s almost no dishes to wash. Dream life.
    • Don’t forget to stir twice or thrice once you add your pasta, else it will stick to the bottom of the pot.
    • You can start tasting 2 minutes before the theoretical end time, so that you get perfect al dente pasta.

Now come and cook !

Easy Bossam

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Easy Bossam, pork belly slices with kimchi, lettuce leaves, rice and ssamjang

Even after spending 4 months in Korea, eating everything I humanly could, there was still some dishes I missed and discovered once back in France.

Bossam is one of those. I love how Koreans wrap their meats, both because of the textures and tastes combination aaand, mostly, because it’s so comfy. I don’t know why. If everything was eaten wrapped in lovely small bites, with one large platter everyone shares, I bet people would be happy all the time. Well, I’d be.

The most traditional Bossam version is quite time-consuming and involves making pickled cabbage leaves as well as a specific kimchi kind. I simplified it here ; if you’ve already made some Kimchi, or if you’ve bought some along with Ssamjang, you just have to boil your pork in a simple broth and make some rice. Easy peasy !

Contrary to what one might think looking at the broth’s color, its flavours are quite delicate : one must be into pork belly’s texture and taste to enjoy this Bossam -if not, you can opt for pork shoulder. The acidic kimchi counteracts the fattiness of the pork, and the salad leaves offer some pleasant texture and freshness.

Easy Bossam – Recipe

Ingredients – Advice & key points

  • Fair warning about pork belly :
    • This dish is usually eaten skin-on, but I know some people would be uncomfortable with it. If in doubt, kindly ask your butcher to remove the pork belly’s skin.
    • If you’re not sure you’d like large pork belly bits in terms of taste and texture, choose pork shoulder instead ;
  • To check whether you meat is tender enough after one hour, simply poke a chopstick through it. If it goes through easily, it means it’s cooked.
  • You should easily be able to find Doenjang and Ssamjang at your usual Asian grocery store if it’s large enough ; you will definitely find some in any Korean store, as those pastes are national staples.
  • If you have Bossam leftovers, you can make a great many deal of new meals out of it, using the delicious cooking liquid, too ! I made a pork belly, kimchi and scallions fried rice ; and quick stir-fried noodles with pork belly using rice noodles, that soaked all the beautiful broth.

How to eat your Easy Bossam

  • The traditional way would be to wrap your pork in lettuce leaves, with some rice, Ssamjang and a bit of kimchi !
  • Simply want a quick lunch and not a nice sharing meal ? Make Bossam bowls, using all the aforementioned ingredients !

Let’s dig into it !