Post Type ArchivesRecipes

Quick Traditional Pasta e piselli

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Pasta with peas, parmigiano, mint

I must say I’ve never tried Pasta e piselli in Italy, and for a reason ; this is a recipe I discovered on an Italian Recipes page, with many natives sharing their childhood favourites.

You don’t get served pasta e piselli in restaurants ; your Nonna made it for you, if you were a lucky Italian child. It’s one of those dishes that comes together in minutes and requires mainly pantry items that you have on hand.

Basically, 4 ingredients are required : pasta, peas, onions, and Parmigiano. You can add or remove mint, or replace it with basil. You can add tomato sauce, or even pancetta, which is often the case in Neapolitan Pasta e piselli, for example ; every family has its own, proud recipe.

I kept it simple in this beautiful vegetarian recipe. The flavours are mild, but bright and fresh, and a satisfactory depth of flavour is added thanks to the Parmiagiano. The tiny-pasta-in-creamy-broth characteristic makes the dish so comforting, one you’d eat when you have a cold or feel blue.    

Quick Traditional Pasta e piselli – 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.

  • Pasta :
    • Try to find tubetti or ditalini 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.
  • Peas :
    • Do not use canned peas ! They are too fragile and will turn mushy, which is not what you want.
  • Feel free to :
    • Replace mint with basil or remove it altogether ;
    • Add diced pancetta if you wish (~200g for 5 servings), right before you put your onions in, and let it color a few minutes ;
    • Add tomato purée (~150g for 5 servings), by the end of you onions cooking time, and simmer 10 minutes before following through.

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 often once you add your pasta, like you would a risotto ; 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 !

Simple Veggie Bibimbap

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Simple Veggie Bibimbap

If I had to choose two cuisines to go by for the rest of my life, it would be Italian and Korean.

Yes, it is one of the dumb questions I like to think about and to ask around. This one is hard to answer when you love food, so you have to think carefully about the criterion you use.

Of course, it should be the cuisine that gives you the more emotions. But what is the rationale behind it ? For me, I found that there were two main reasons :

  • when the result is far superior to the sum of the parts ;
  • when instead of having your pleasure decrease as you eat it, you just can’t stop going back at it !

Bibimbap is one of those dishes. Rice, spinach, carrot, mushrooms ? Ok, boring !

But what a mistake ! Because what truly happens is a match between soft, comfy rice, and a mix of soft and crunchy vegetables, full of umami thanks to the healthy dose of garlic and sesame oil in the spinach, and the bulgogi sauce in the mushrooms ; to top it all, the bibimbap sauce is the magic link that binds it all together, hinting at the garlicky and sesamey flavours in the rest of the dish while adding tang and spice.

I love this dish. It can quickly become very time consuming to prep all veggies plus your meat though, so I narrowed it down to the three veggie side dishes that I find lend the bibimbap its typical savoury yet sweet, but also garlicky and sesamey flavour profile. Thanks to the mushrooms bulgogi, you won’t even miss the meat !

Simple Veggie Bibimbap – Recipe

Ingredients – Advice & key points

Some specific ingredients for this dish are basic Korean pantry items (soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, and gochujang). For some of them, you might need to visit an Asian store :

  • If you’re in Paris :
    • for my Korean items, I’m sure to find them (especially gochujang) at the K-mart near Opera (there are several others K-marts, check on Google) ;
    • you can also go to Tang Frères in the 13th (they have other stores in Paris but be careful, some are small, this one is large) or Paris Store in the 10th ;
    • ever since I moved to the 18th, I’ve been going to XP 16 or Chen Market, but those shops are slightly smaller, especially XP16, and you might not find everything you need. 
  • If you’re in France :
    • Paris Store has several shops across the country ;
    • you can also order online ! There are several online Asian websites you can order from.
    • For my foreign friends : I bet you can easily find some Asian shops around you or online, but if you can’t, message me with your location and I will try to find it for you !

Cooking – Advice & key points

  • To get a better texture and flavour, I recommend using a cast-iron or a stainless steel one when you cook your mushrooms ;
  • When you make a dolsot-bibimbap, meaning you heat it up in a stove-hot stone bowl – the ‘dolsot’, you even get the additional crunch of the rice, that will crisp up in the bottom of the bowl with the help of a bit of sesame oil. It is a nice addition, but you can do without -or put your rice in a nonstick skillet, and heat it up a few minutes before adding it to your bowls !
  • While the egg is traditionally added raw, you can choose to pan-fry it, especially if not using a dolsot, because the dolsot heat slightly cooks it when you mix it all up.

Got everything you need ? Let’s Bibimbap !

Tunisian-inspired tuna sandwich (“fricassé” in a baguette)

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Tunisian sandwich with harissa, olives, tuna, potatoes

There are several small Tunisian shops around our place. One of them makes the best Mlawis and Fricassés in town. The Mlawis I will talk about some other time ; but I will tell you all about fricassés.

A fricassé is a traditional Tunisian savory doughnut. It is often served at Tunisian bakeries or fast-food outlets. The dough balls are seared in oil, then opened and stuffed with boiled potatoes, harissa, tuna, black olives, a hard-boiled egg, and méchouia salad (cooked salad with tomatoes, peppers, chillies and onions).

Yes, making a fricassé is a labor of love, and involves making and frying bread. I decided to try for a simpler fricassé-inspired recipe, where the bread would simply be some fresh baguette.

Since we’re sadly not yet is summer, I traded the méchouia salad with a simple cucumber salad with olive oil. I opted for a fresh feel in this sandwich, and added preserved lemon and cilantro to the filling. Other than that, I stayed true to the original recipe !

This was definitely a sandwich to be remembered, and we loved it here. The harissa brings the right amount of heat and the typical flavour that pairs so well with potatoes and olives ; the lemon, cucumber and cilantro make the sandwich refreshing, despite it being quite filling. This tunisian-inspired sandwich is also so satisfying in terms of textures, with its overall softness (soft potatoes, tuna, egg…) that contrast with the crunchy cucumber.

It is not the quickest sandwich to make because of the potatoes boiling time, but you’ll be all set within 45 minutes !

Tunisian-inspired tuna sandwich – Ingredients

You can find Beldi preserved lemons in local specialty grocery stores, especially small Arab produce stores.

Let’s sandwich !

Authentic Teriyaki Don (Chicken Teriyaki with Broccoli)

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Chicken teriyaki with a glistening soy-based sauce and broccoli, in a bento with rice

I bet you’ve already had teriyaki chicken at your local sushi joint. You know, the frozen, bland kind ?

Trust me, this recipe tops any takeaway you’ve had. Or if you’ve been lucky and have had teriyaki chicken from an authentic Japanese restaurant (I have, too), it at the very least matches your expectations.

The meat is juicy and moist, the picture of perfectly cooked chicken ; coated with the caramelized teriyaki sauce, slightly sweet yet savoury, you just can’t get enough of it.

As with most iconic recipes, it is as simple at it is great  :

  • Make your 5-ingredients sauce : you only need soy sauce, sake, mirin, sugar and water ;
  • Season your chicken thighs with salt, pepper, and slightly coat with potato starch ;
  • Cut into bite-sized pieces, then pan-fry !

This chicken is ready in less than 30 minutes. I chose to serve it on top of rice (hence the Teriyaki Don, meaning Teriyaki Bowl) along with blanched sesame broccoli with it. If you do too, you’ll be all set within 40 minutes.

Authentic Teriyaki Don – Recipe

Ingredients – Advice & key points

  • Try to buy quality, skin-on deboned chicken thighs. It is important to use chicken thighs, which are juicy and tender ; the skin crisps up and caramelizes beautifully, and protects the meat from the high heat, allowing it to remain juicy. Simply ask your butcher to debone it for you.

You could use chicken breasts if you don’t mind your meat being drier, or if you watch out for your fat intake.

  • You’ll find Soy Sauce, Mirin and Sake, which are basic Japanese pantry items, at any Asian store around you. The potato starch might be trickier to find ; if it is, replace it with cornstarch, that you’ll find at your grocery store.
    • If you’re in Paris :
      • you can go to Tang Frères in the 13th (they have other stores in Paris but be careful, some are small, this one is large) or Paris Store in the 10th ;
      • ever since I moved to the 18th, I’ve been going to XP 16 or Chen Market, but those shops are slightly smaller, especially XP16, and you might not find everything you need. 
    • If you’re in France :
    • For my foreign friends : I bet you can easily find some Asian shops around you or online, but if you can’t, message me with your location and I will try to find it for you !
  • Be careful to use Toasted Sesame Oil, not plain sesame oil, which is much more intense.

How to eat your Chicken Teriyaki

  • You can make a Teriyaki bowl like I did, with rice and sesame broccoli ;
  • You could also simply serve the chicken on a plate, with the sides you want (I’d recommend other blanched/steamed vegetables or Asian salads).

This recipe works great as a Bento for lunch, like I did here ! Don’t hesitate to make a larger batch to serve the next day.

Let’s dig into it !

Quick Salmon Poke Bowl

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Poke bowl with salmon, cucumber, avocado and mango

Ever since I started working, Poke Bowls have become one my go-to. They’re filling, healthy and, more importantly, delicious ! I usually have it once a week.

However, you can tell that the salmon, especially recently as inflation has taken its toll, is rarely top-quality, and the sauces leave room for improvement. Plus, it is much cheaper to make it at home, with better quality ingredients, and precisely how you want it !

I made a quick salmon poke bowl here, to minimize prep time, with what I see as essentials :

  • vinegared rice as a base,
  • avocado for the flavour and buttery texture it brings,
  • mango for a touch of sweetness that balances the savoury flavour profile,
  • cucumber for the crunch,
  • some tasty salmon, quickly marinated while you cut your veggies in the same poke sauce you’ll pour at the end.

You could definetely replace the salmon with any other fish you’d like -tuna and white-fleshed fish such as sea bream, sea bass or even cod work well here. If using sea bream or sea bass, don’t let it marinate for more than 20mn (the fleshes are more fragile here).

What makes the difference is the sauce, a simple but highly effective association between soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, agave, garlic, ginger, and chilis if you’re up for a bit of spice.

My companion said it was the best poke he’s had ; my work here is done ! *Poke drop*

Quick Salmon Poke Bowl – Recipe

Ingredients – Where to find them

Some ingredients for this dish are basic Asian pantry items (soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar). You should be able to find those in traditional grocery stores, without needing to visit an Asian one.

Ingredients – Advice & key points

  • Do buy fresh, sushi-grade fish. I go to the fishmongers’ and tell him I’m going to eat it raw. Straight after buying it, I always put in in the freezer for 24 hours ; it kills any possible Anisakis, which are parasites that can really hurt you. Then let it defrost overnight in your fridge.

If you have any doubt on your fish quality, or couldn’t find sushi-grade one, please go for cooked fish recipes instead, such as this Miso Glazed Salmon ; it’s quick and just as healthy when accompanied with green beans or any sautéed veggies.

  • Please buy ripe avocados and mangoes. If they’re not, your poke simply won’t be tasty.
  • You could skip the vinegar/sugar in the rice if you’re feeling lazy. I sometimes do, and it doesn’t make a real difference considering the powerful sauce.
  • Conversely, definitely feel free to add other ingredients ! The ones I find best suited for a poke are :
    • raw or pickled red cabbage,
    • edamame, wakame (you can find them both frozen in Asian stores),
    • white or red onions,
    • radishes,
    • kimchi.

Got everything you need ? Let’s Poke !

20mn Fennel and Anchovies Pasta

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Fennel and anchovies pasta with minced garlic and red pepper

I found a book called “Le répertoire des saveurs” (the flavours repertoire) which helps crafting new recipes by indicating nice flavour pairings. I’m no professional cook, and I like to read/watch/talk to knowledgeable people as much as I can to learn my own way.

Said book had a surprising entry : fennel and anchovies. This pairing was even named “la truffe du pauvre” (the poor man’s truffle). I don’t know why I double checked it since I don’t even like fennel, but it got me intringued.

I’m so happy it did ! I crafted a very simple pasta recipe out of it, with fennel, anchovies, and garlic and chilies to enhance the flavours. Honestly, when I started to cut the fennel with its peculiar smell, I almost backed out. But I thought ; hey, go ahead, be curious.

You guessed it ; it was fricking delicious. Please try it even if you don’t like fennel ! Anchovies litteraly transform this vegetable. I don’t understand it. It’s magic. 

Fennel and anchovies pasta – 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 guanciale and pecorino 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.

  • Pasta :
    • I believe spaghetti is a great choice here, or any long-shaped pasta kind, as the light sauce will cling to it.

What you must not compromise on is using Bronze Drawn pasta. Why so ? Because when processed this way, the pasta will present small irregularities that will enable the sauce to cling to it.

  • Anchovies : You want to buy anchovy fillets in olive oil. Try to buy quality ones ; I bought mine from Eataly, but you could even find some from your usual grocery store.

Cooking your pasta – Pieces of advice

  • Pasta :
    • Please salt your pasta water appropriately ! 10g of salt/liter is usually recommended.
    • As for most pasta recipe, we’ll finish cooking the pasta in the pan with the sauce. We’ll just put them in for the last 3 minutes.
    • It is important that you start tasting 2 minutes before the packet theoretical time, so that you get perfect al dente pasta.

Now come and cook !

Mom’s chorba frik

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Bowl of orange soup (chorba frik) with cilantro

I usually don’t care much for soups. Your classic vegetable soup can be tasty, yes, but not dreamy.

When you add carbs to it, on the other hand…

This soup is very high on the list of my absolute favourites. I wouldn’t know whether I prefer this one or the Spicy Szechuan beef soup. They have entirely different flavour profiles, but they share the same wonders : an aromatic broth full of spices ; the lovely addition of noods/barley ; a meat that is added quite sparingly, mostly here for the taste ; and they pack full of veg, as a bonus.

This chorba frik is special to me though, because it is one my mom’s beloved meals. Both my parents originate from Algeria : my mom, who is a wonderful cook, would make this dish quite often in winter. It is a traditional Ramadan soup, too ; it quickly became one of my favourite time of the year, because I would get to enjoy this soup a lot !

On a winter night a few years ago, when I started to live in Paris in my tiny 18m² apartment, I asked her for the recipe. It was the first time I asked her for any recipe. We’ve had a tricky relationship, my mother and I, and I feel cooking is what allowed us to bond and share.

She sent my a photograph on Whatsapp of a hand-scripted recipe she just wrote. I immediately went to fetch the ingredients and cooked it. And there it was ; this exact taste of childhood, giving me a much needed virtual hug in my tiny kitchenette.

Hell, I like this dish so much that I brought it to work for my colleagues to try it. I was there, riding the subway with a 2-liters tupperware that was threatening to spill over, holding it carefully upright with my both hands. In the end, they loved it ! This is such a happy memory.

Mom’s chorba frik – Recipe

Ingredients – Advice & key points

  • Ras el-hanout : This is one of the two king spices in any Algerian kitchen. You can usually find it quite easily. You might find two kinds of ras el-hanout : a yellow one, and a red one. I use the yellow one. The yellow ras el-hanout is rich in turmeric, which gives it its yellow color, while the red gets its color from the dominant spice in the blend, the sweet chili pepper, which gives it a slightly spicier flavor.
  • Lamb : I usually go for the shoulder, which has more flavor than the leg and is a little fattier. You can also use the leg part. I ask the butcher to cut it in small chunks. You don’t need much here, only 500 grams for 6 portions, because we mostly care for the taste it brings. My mom also switches for chicken wings sometimes, which I also like ; feel free to use it instead.
  • Barley semolina or freekeh : You might need to go to a local oriental grocer or to an organic store if you want to get your hands on this. It should look like this one (it’s ok if it looks greener). It must be a bit coarse ; if you have several sizes, choose medium (this is what I use) or big, but not fine. If you can’t find it, just use bulgur instead !
  • Cilantro : Don’t skip it ! I think cilantro was made for this soup  ; it elevates its flavour instantly.

Let’s get soupy !

Raclette sandwich (Cheese and raw ham sandwich)

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Raclette sandwich with smoked ham

I adore Christmas. Why ? The gifts, the Christmas dinner ? Sure, those are nice, but there’s one thing I’m patiently waiting for all year that makes me oh so happy.

Two words : Christmas markets.

I think it’s what I like most about this time. Hell, last year, we went to the Tuileries Christmas market not one, not two, but THREE times, then to a local Christmas market in the 18th, then to the Lille Christmas market. I just love it that much ! It embodies the Christmas spirit and what it means to me : the togetherness, the lightnings, the walking around with a smile and a mug of hot wine, and… the comforting, decadent winter street food, of course !!

What you will always find at French Christmas markets are cheese-based recipes, with two MVPs : Reblochon, used to serve gigantic Tartiflettes (I will post a recipe for this treat some day) and of course, Raclette cheese !

It’s so simple to make at home ; with the end of the Christmas markets season, I had to do it. Without the onion confit, it would be ready within 10 minutes ;  just add about 20 minutes and you get the full sandwich.

Winter Yachaejeon

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Yachaejeon - Korean Vegetable pancake

This is your classic unassuming recipe, the type that really defines Korean cuisine to me. A few veggies, simply put in a small amount of batter ? A vegetable crêpe, basically ? I’ve had some French ones, and it was never striking.

Yachaejeon is different. Yachae means “vegetables”, and jeon, “crepe”. It is dirtier than your usual crepe, as you put a bit more oil in the pan to get it deliciously crispy. This crepe is thick, so the batter remains soft, which contrasts with the outside crunchiness ; you get the best of both worlds. The veggies, cut thinly, are perfectly cooked within the crepe cooking time, tender with the right amount of crisp.

And the sauce ! The simple sauce you use to dip your jeon, called Cho-ganjang, makes a world of difference. It is made of only 4 ingredients, and ready within 2mn.

There’s a bit of prep time do to the vegetables chopping, but the recipe is quite quick and straight-forward. If you’re feeling lazy, just make pajeon ! These are simply green onion pancakes (use about 20 for 2 servings). The most traditional jeons are either made with vegetables, green onions, seafood (haemul pajeon) or kimchi (kimchi pajeon). You can also play around with what you have on hand ; just make sure you have from 5 to 6 cups of ingredients for 1,5 cup of flour and water each.

Winter Yachaejeon – Recipe

You can serve these 2 Yachaejeons as mains, which here makes 2 servings, or as appetizers, which would make around 6 to 8 servings.

Advice & key points – Ingredients

  • Sauce ingredients : You should be able to find everything but the gochugaru in your usual supermarkets. For the gochugaru, which are hot pepper flakes (sometimes mislabled as hot pepper powder, but it should be slightly coarse), try to visit a Korean grocery store. If you wish to do more Korean cooking, don’t skip it : it’s a Korean staple !
  • If you don’t want to make the dish spicy, don’t use green chili pepper.
  • To easily and quickly cut your vegetables into matchsticks, check my video.

Advice & key points – Cooking

  • It is important to use a nonstick skillet, or your jeon might fall apart ! Also, use a large one, or make more batches ; if you don’t, the pancake will be too thick and won’t cook properly inside.
  • When the times come to cook your pancake on the other side, you have two options :
    • either flip it bravely, or ;
    • slide your pancake on a plate and put the remaining hot oil on top of it, then completely remove the oil on the pan with a paper towel. Put your pan on top of your plate, then quickly flip the plate to that the pancake falls into the pan. There you go ! 100% risk-free !

Let’s crepe up !