Post Type ArchivesRecipes

Winter Crudo

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Fish crudo with citruses, radishes and grapefruit segments

Fresh fish is what you usually crave in summer : be it Ceviches, Poke Bowls or Crudos, they mostly contain summery fruit and vegetables that you sourly miss come winter.

Even when it’s cold outside though, there’s a point where you cannot eat soups, stews and cheese-based dishes anymore. I needed to figure out a way to eat seasonal, yet to get a pleasant plate of fresh fish.

This is how I crafted this Winter Crudo, with wintery citruses and radishes. It couldn’t be simpler !

  • you make a quick sauce using mostly the juice a few citruses ;
  • you cut up some fish, radishes and pomelos ;
  • and there you go !

If you like it sour, you’ll enjoy this recipe tremendously. The olive oil softens the blow from the citruses and the bitter radishes, though. The whole thing is pleasantly fresh, crunchy, with all the softness of raw fish.

Winter Crudo – Recipe

Ingredients – Pieces of advice

  • Regarding fish, you can choose any of your fishmongers’ freshest, white-fleshed fish. Try to pick one that has delicate flesh since you don’t leave the sauce too long on your fish. Common choices are sea bream, sea bass, fluke or halibut.
  • When it comes to the potential bitterness, here are 2 tips to avoid getting an overly sour sauce :
    • When squeezing your limes, don’t press all the way until the end ! If you press it until the final drops come out, the end result will be more sour.
    • Salt is your friend here ! It is important to salt both your sauce and your fish properly, as it makes the acidity seem less sharp and more palatable.
  • For the pepper, use what you have on hand !
  • You can serve this recipe as a starter ; then simply multiply by 2 the portions it serves (a 2-persons serving would make a 4-persons serving).

Off to your kitchen now !

Rice & Beans, New-Orleans style

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New Orleans rice and beans from Louisiana

I watched a documentary on Louisiana cuisine around 5 years ago, that made me drool and fantasize about this type of cooking ever since.

My only experience in this area though is a one-time opportunity I had at the Houston airport, where I made a quick stopover on my way to Mexico. We rushed to the Bubba Gump restaurant as soon as we saw it. We only had 40 minutes to spare, but we went anyways -not knowing at the time that a hurricane would make us spend the whole night at the airport, but that’s a story for another time.

I remember having the Jamabalaya, and finding it even better than I was expecting. The smoky, spicy taste of the dish was something I had never experienced in another cuisine -not with this depth of taste, that I think can only be reached by using both complex ingredients and decent amounts of fat.

I always kept Louisiana cuisine in a corner of my mind ever since, and when I saw a Reddit post on rice & beans, New-Orleans style, I couldn’t resist any longer.

The issue I faced was finding the ingredients. The original recipe includes :

  • tasso, a a spicy smoked ham from Louisiana ;
  • Andouille, a Cajun sausage, there again smoked and heavily spiced ;
  • smoked ham hocks.

Much as I tried, those 3 items where nowhere to be found in Paris. But, no matter ! I decided to find relevant substitutes -and I don’t mean to boast but, judging by the end result, the attempt was 100% successful.

The substitutes I found to lend that spiced and smoky taste were :

  • Créole Christmas ham, which can be found more easily in my area, be it in Créole stores or in large exotic ones, sometimes (I even found one at my large Asian store nearby) ;

Jambon de Noël | Miss Natïaa

  • Morteau French sausage, a smoked kind of sausage ; any local smoked sausage you have on hand will do ;

  • a bit of smoked paprika to reinforce the smoky taste.

Paprika fumé | Mordu

Don’t give up on this dish because of the tricky ingredients ; find some of your local meats that lend a smoky taste at least, and a spicy and smoky taste if you can. If not, the Créole mixed spices would be enough on their own.

Once you found the ingredients, this recipe is very straight-forward. After a bit of chopping, you brown some lard and sausage, then basically throw everything in the pot and wait for it to cook !

Oven Purée – Recipe

Recipe – Advice & key points

  • For the specific meats to buy and their replacements, see the comments above ;
  • Don’t skip the browing part for the sausage, as it lends more flavour to your stew ;
  • For the “holy trinity” (onion, green bell pepper, celery), make sure the amount of onions equals the total amount of bell pepper + celery.
  • This is not a quick recipe to make ; take your time to get properly cooked beans !
  • The best brand for your red kidney beans is Camellia, but I couldn’t find it and the stew was perfectly fine.
  • Be careful with your Créole spices mix ; some contain salt (mine did), which must be taken into account before your add some more !
  • This stew is usually served with a side of rice sprinkled with parsley. Careful ; the amount of rice should be limited ; the star of the show is the stew.

All set ? Let’s make the most flavourful beans you’ve ever tried !

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 !