Category: Uncategorized

The season of soups

The season of soups is well underway.  I have added a light pumpkin soup to the collection of soups on the blog. And, once again, I wonder how I keep missing the one I do most often.  Last time was a week ago when some neighbours came for a cup of tea and stayed for dinner, that soup was ready in 20 minutes: 1 leek, 2 carrots, two potatoes cooked in water with a little salt, mix and serve!

How you serve the soup will probably depend on your cultural background.  In the Mediterranean area, the soup will likely be served with olive oil.  In the northern part of France, soup is more likely to be served with a dollop of creme fraiche (sour cream will do her in Australia). Here and there, you will also find additions of grated or shaved hard cheese (gruyere/parmesan) and cracked pepper, which I like.

Light pumpkin soup

There are so many ways with pumpkin soups. This one is not as thick as your traditional pumpkin soup recipe. This is thanks to the zucchini, it lightens the texture and cuts a little the sweetness of the pumpkin.  An onion slightly browned at the start brings in additional flavours.

Zucchini, onion and pumkin soup
Zucchini, onion and pumpkin soup

The soup recipe is HERE.  And if you wonder how to make great sourdough baguettes, check HERE.

Other soups already on this blog

Beetroot & ginger soup.

The colour is quite something! I like serving it as a small entry, not so much a main. Recipe HERE.

beetroot soup

Chestnut soup

That soup is not exactly a classic, it is a great way to taste the flavours of autumn. Very much worth preparing those chestnuts! Recipe HERE.

Soupe aux marrons
Chestnut Soup

 

Turnip Soup

If you want to try something different, try this turnip soup. Turnip is most often used in casseroles and big pots.  Recipe HERE.

turnip sup

Of course, there has to be a few sweets…

There have been apple started, pear chocolate flans, cakes, brioches, croissants, chocolate souffle, and the list goes on.  Taking a photo can be challenging. Here are a few.

 

 

 

Greens and nuts are good for you!

Greens and nuts are good for you! Not new, I know. I don’t pretend to be a dietician. Greens bring such a diversity of flavours and forms and nuts are quite filling and crunchy and versatile.  Anyway, you probably don’t need much convincing.

Poelee of italian pine mushrooms and greens

I did not go unfortunately in the Blue Mountains or Bellanglo State Forest to pick italian pine mushrooms this year.  If anyone lives that way, I would love to know if they are still in season and if the bushfires have affected the areas of growth!  You can find those mushrooms at small markets or some vegetable stores like Harris Farm in season sometimes.

They are great in risotto and in vegetable stir fries with butter and garlic. Whatever you do, don’t forget the butter and the garlic! Check HERE for the recipe I posted.

The key in sauteed vegetables is to not hesitate using garlic and butter and to add the vegetables according to their cooking time.  Using nuts to complement the dish adds a little complexity and crunchiness.  You can also add a little chili.

peas brocoli pine mushrooms
Poelee of italian pine mushrooms, peas, brocoli and chestnuts, here served with drilled pork chops

Chocolate and nuts toasted muesli

This is my second muesli recipe. The first was with dry fruits and nuts (HERE), this one is chocolate and nuts (HERE).

nuts and chocolate toasted muesli

Next week

Next week, I will post this recipe, my own brownies recipe. Yum! I made that recipe one day super quickly for some friends.  A good brownie for me needs to be soft and gooey in the middle, not too sweet and quite chocolatey.

chocolate and nuts soft brownies

Homemade Easter Eggs!

Spare time this weekend? What about homemade Easter eggs?

eggs chocolate

I tried this last weekend with my daughters.  This is a lot of fun, and yes, the children do tend to eat a fair bit of the chocolate in the process.  I used couverture dark chocolate, couverture milk chocolate and couverture white chocolate.  Now if you do not have the couverture chocolate, use a good quality one from the supermarket.  For white chocolate, it will not change anything because white chocolate is purely cocoa butter (and sugar).  What is important to ensure the little eggs and bigger eggs too come off the moulds in one piece and all shiny, is to temper the chocolate. You do need a special thermometer with a range at least between 25 and 55°C.  Those are easy to find in any cooking shop. And since you are going to that shop, get a few moulds for chocolates!  For small pieces, silicone or plastic moulds are fine, for larger pieces, I prefer the plastic ones, they are easier to use when comes the time to pop out the piece from the mould.

Tempering the chocolate is a three stages process, the chocolate needs to be melted slowly (ideally on a bain marie), then cooled down to about 26-27°C.  For that stage, there are a few approaches.  Finally, the chocolate is slightly warmed up to 31-32°C which makes it easier to work with (a little more runny).

The cooling down of the chocolate (step 2) can be done by:

  1. Waiting until the chocolate cools down mixing from time to time.  Pretty straight forward but the longest in term of time.
  2. Adding to the melted chocolate some finely cut pieces of the same chocolate. This exchange of energy will make your mix cool down much quicker. Keep mixing until the added pieces are fully melted.
  3. pouring the chocolate on a marble top, spreading and gathering it with a flat spatula.  You may have seen that method on TV cooking shows.  Go for it if you want to try it, I can’t tell you much about it.
eggs chocolate
Measuring the temperature during the tempering process

Making the chocolates

For the black ones, we actually make a salted caramel chocolate truffle preparation to use a filling (at least the day before).  You can choose a plain chocolate truffle if you are not fan of the salted caramel one.

For the little pieces:

Now is the time to use your little moulds, if you want to have them hollow for filling latter, pour tempered chocolate over the mould, distribute to each print, it must be full. Then place yourself over the bowl of chocolate and pour back the excess. Use a large knive to clean the top surface and place to cool down  in the fridge.  Once they are hard, you can do the filling.

If you want full eggs (or other shape), keep the print full, clean the top surface and let to cool down and harden (again quicker in the fridge).  You can choose to mix up colours or to have a little of another chocolate for a feature part of the item, as is the case on the flowers we made.

eggs chocolateTo attach two halves together, heat up a baking sheet (not too hot). Place each half on it to melt the edges a little. If you are filling the eggs with a truffle, fill them ensuring they do not overflow.  Then stick the two halves together!

 

 

 

 

Tips: try to keep clean hands to avoid leaving traces on the tempered chocolate

Tips: White chocolate, then milk chocolate will harden much quicker than dark chocolate. Tis is directly related to the proportion of cocoa butter in the chocolate. 

Making larger pieces

This can get a little tricky.  The key is to make sure the thickness of the chocolate is sufficient in the fragile parts: the edges, the collars of the bunny, ears of the bunny , etc.

Pour the chocolate, remove the excess after 2 minutes. Cool down (quicker in the fridge). When solidified repeat and place face down on a baking paper sheet.  If you judge that the edges are too thin, use a kitchen brush to add chocolate along the edges. Cool down completely.  The shapes will actually come undone from the mould on their own, this can take overnight.  Alternatively, when you see it has solidified, you can pull out opposite sides of the moulds to check if the form is ready to come out.  Then you just need to assemble by melting the edges of both pieces on a warm baking sheet and joining together.

HAPPY EASTER !

eggs chocolate eggs chocolate eggs chocolate eggs chocolate eggs chocolate eggs chocolate

 

Another birthday, another cake…

Another birthday, another cake…

Actually double it all up, however I did not take any photo of the first one.

The first cake was a large Paris- Brest salted caramel chocolate ganache. Miam.  Indulgent.

The second birthday cake had a few constraints: it had to be a plain cake and have plenty berries on top.  Easy for a child birthday cake!  For once!  What I really like in that cake, is the sponge cake I use to do it.  It is the fourth time I use it for  birthday cakes (see the unicorn cake and the pokemon cake) and I just love it. This is what I am sharing today.  For the full recipe, click HERE.

 

The sponge cake has hazelnut meal in it.  I love that little extra.  The rest is pretty simple, you only need to whip some cream and add some berries.  I have previously used a raspberry chocolate mousse (based on whipped cream) to fill it, It was beautiful!

A few golden rules with sponge cakes:

  • Use a tin not too wide
  • Make sure the eggs are at room temperature
  • Follow the recipe!

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Picnic savoury real food!

Picnic savoury food can be a bit repetitive.  Do you need some ideas of savoury dishes for a picnic ? Others are already bringing the cheese and crackers, olives, dips….

Try these ones. They are rapid to make, hold well in the heat and are crowd pleasers. They also feed the troops!

The onion tart

onion tart

Here is a great opportunities to use these onions which have been lying in your basket for a while.  Actually, you may need a few extra ones.  The onion tart is great just out of the oven and great at room temperature.  It does not need to be kept in the fridge.  You will create a great impact for only a few dollars, perfect!   Jump to the recipe HERE.

Psst: Kids often love this tart too as onions can be quite sweet.

The pissalardiere

red onion tart

This is the southern France version of the above onion tart (which is more a norther France dish). Here you go! The seasoning is different.  You can use plain shortcrust pastry of puff pastry. A pissalardiere seasoning has anchovies, olives, herbs and optionally cheese as seasoning.

The tart in the photo is with red onions, which is not so frequent, you can use brown onions as well.

Homemade Paté

This is a must do! Homemade pate can be prepared in batches and placed in several containers then frozen for up to a couple of months.  The top layer is butter and prevents oxydation.  Chicken liver pate can have a strong taste, to soften this I add a little mince.  My favourite flavour is 3 peppers: red, green and black.  This requires to be done the day before at least.

Chicken liver pate

Chicken liver pate

An asian mushroom quiche

The irony is that  I have made this quiche a number of time now for picnics but do not have a great photo to share.  Imagine a quiche (loaded with parmesan or pecorino) with the mushrooms placed on top as a decorative outlay, a bit like trying to do a painting.  The recipe uses enoki mushrooms, white oyster mushroom, brown mushrooms and any other you wish to use.  I will do it soon and upload the full recipe.

quiche-enoki-mushroom

Bright dessert tarts

Summer is here. Mangoes have arrived in large quantities (and great price!) but the stone fruits are nowhere to be seen. No apricots, a pity, I was running low on apricot jam.  For me, it is the yellow nectarines which I miss the most.  What has happened?  I have no idea, google would not tell.  Well, let us this not stop from making tarts, with lemons, raspberries and chocolate, we have many options for bright summer tarts!

Here are two tarts to brighten your dessert plates (and your palates).  Follow the links for the full recipes.

Pierre Hermé’s raspberry chocolate tart

This recipe is one from Pierre Herme’s book “Le Larousse du Chocolat”.  Recipes in the book are not necessarily Pierre Herme’s own recipes but have been selected by him across his professional and personal network.

This is the case for this one, it comes from a Patisserie in Strasbourg, in Eastern France, and is by Thierry Mulhaupt.

What I like here is that the raspberries are not just on top, but some have been juice and mixed with the chocolate ganache.  Click HERE for the full recipe.

raspberry chocolate tart
raspberry chocolate tart

Lemon curd tartlets

Oh, so oozy and lemony.  I made those yesterday with some left over pastry and a very large lemon which has already lost its rind in another creation and was threatening to have a tantrum.

You can prepare lemon curd in such a short time: a bit of sugar, a large lemon juice, couple eggs, some butter.  Heat all items except the eggs to which you give a good beating in the meanwhile. Add the eggs when reaching the boiling point. Keep whisking until thick (do not let it boil!) and this is it. Simple, no? As I learnt recently, the colour is associated to the yolk of the eggs, not the rind.

lemon tart lemon tart

Now, I made the lemon curd on top of my head quite quickly. If you want a recipe look HERE.  The pastry can be a classic sweet shortcrust or the one in the raspberry chocolate tart.

lemon tart

Little simple pleasures

Ah! The little simple pleasures of fresh and simple food !

Finally, I am back!  But where has she been ?  Some of you may wonder. A range of reasons have kept me away from my weekly post.  A lot had to do with hydrogeological work, getting ready for a field trip to Darwin and eventually going there.   “Mais qu’allait-il donc faire dans cette galere?” (Moliere, borrowed from Cyrano de Bergerac).  at work

Good question!  It was very hot and humid over there and working ourdoors long days in the heat was difficult.  Then coming back and eventually getting some rest, or maybe not that easily.  Indeed, this is without saying that my beautiful girls wanted my attention (I was not to sleep more than 2 hours that night (night flight back), oh no! So be it! And since the weather was awesome, a butterfly dresses and coconuttrip to the seaside was a necessity!

These last two weeks, I scaled a little down the cooking. Not that we ate cheesy maccaroni and bang and mash so much (it did happen, rest assured).  It is more that I didn’t embark on grand cooking plans and enjoyed the simple pleasures of fresh beautiful produces when they require very little preparation.

To be fair, there was a cooking afternoon, temptation won.  I tried to reproduce a delicious tart I had eaten tarte choco caramelon a market.
See my recipe is all scribbled on the back of my child’s drawing (almost got into trouble there but Oceane’s dear sibling had already written all over it!).  recipe notesWith the days passing, the recipe, if we dare calling those hurried notes, such a thing is now competing with Year 2 math exercises.  Let not go into the expectations of a curriculum vs the means the curriculum  is providing (at least the teachers are really good!), that just drive me insane, no wonder Australian kids lag behind compared with many of their peers overseas. ……..Back to today’s topic now. 🙂

Fried sardines

sardines

Easy!

  1. go to the fish market or super fresh fish monger
  2. mix 2 tablespoons of flour with 1 teaspoon of salt, sardinescoat the sardines. Depending of the quantity, you may need more. Adjust the salt if you prefer more salty.
  3. Heat up 1 cm of oil in a thick based fry-pan, when the oil is hot, place the sardines, reduce sardinesslightly the oil, turn over when golden-brown. Serve immediately with fresh lettuce leaves.

sardines

Yoghurt with fresh berries

Of course, so simple and delicious!

In a large bowl, sweetened slightly some natural yoghurt with caster sugar. yahourt-aux-fruits-1 Wheezzz (I can hear the sound of it) a handful of fruits in the food processor or bar mixer. You may need to add a little water and if one or two teaspoons of sugar (try as you go to avoid overdoing it).  You will obtain a puree.

Place the yogurt in individual pots and place some of the puree on top. With a fork, give a swirl for aestetics.  Top up with extra berries and mint leaves (if you hapen to have mint in your backyard or anywhere handy).

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Chocolate Mousses
	


	
	
	

		
	

		
You did read properly “Chocolate Mousses” with a “s” at the end.  Yeah!!!


This means we get to speak about a few versions of this hero dish.  There is no single recipe for chocolate mousse, the recipe to use depends on the application: is it to be served on its own? or is it to use as a layer in a cake?


I have also ventured into the word of raw and vegan people by trying the raw chocolate mousse in which avocados are used to create the body of the mousse. I even tried the water chocolate mousse from Heston Blumenthal, which was a lot of fun!


The classic French Chocolate Mousse


Use: dessert in individual portions or in a large bowl to share.


Ingredients: good dark chocolate and eggs ONLY (no sugar, no cream).


Accessibility: super easy to make and always a winner. Needs to be done in advance


I love this one, for me it is “the chocolate mousse”.  Mum used to make a large bowl of it for the family and guests.


RECIPE HERE


Mousse au chocolat


The chocolate whipped cream mousse


Use: in proper cooking, it is used as part of a layered cake but you will find it as a stand alone recipe if you google chocolate mousse in Australia (and probably most anglophone countries).  When I am served such a mousse in a cafe or restaurant, it is for me a massive let down (and I won’t eat it, not a fan) and generally says much of the restaurant. However, in a layered cake, where it is associated with some more complex flavours, these mousse has its place.


Ingredients: cream whipped and mixed with chocolate powder, cocoa and sugar or at best cooking chocolate.


Accessibility: super easy. Should be done earlier.


The mixed version


unctuous chocolate mousseI happen to make recently (not for the first time) a mousse which we really like.  It is quite strong and is often served with some fruity notes and a crunchy element. This mousse is decadent! It is yummy and you must stop yourself to avoid cleaning off the bowl!


Use: As an element of a dessert. Likened to little chocolate pots desserts. The texture is silky and shiny!


Ingredients: chocolate, eggwhite, water, sugar, thickened cream


Accessibility: super easy. Needs to be done in advance.


Recipe HERE.


mousse choco onctueuse (1)


The raw avo chocolate mousse


Use: dessert or in a raw chocolate tart.  Loved by vegan, raw food adepts.


Ingredients: cacao, avocado, liquid sugar/sweetener


Accessibility: super easy. Can be eaten straight away.


I tried the avocado chocolate mousse in order to know what it is all about. I purchased some raw cacao and was lucky enough to do my grocery when there was a special on avocados!


The concept is very simple: put the avocado flesh in the food processor with some raw cocoa and some liquid sweetener and whizz! You can add a little drop of water to reach the desired consistency.


raw chocolate mousse


I tried three versions of it:


    

  1.  raw cacao
    2. 

  2.  dutch cocoa
    3. 

  3.  good dark chocolate
    4. 



The recipe is HERE. I pushed it and made some raw tarts (see photo).


raw chocolate mousse tarts


Result: the fruity flavours of the cocoa, or maybe the avocado are really the novelty for me.  If you don’t use enough cocoa, the avocado taste comes through which is not great.  All together, it has a very earthy smell and flavour which is not for everybody.  As for the tarts, the texture is very crumbly (just nuts, oil and sweetener), which is no surprise as there are no binder.  Both the avo mousse and tarts were not a success in our household.


The Water chocolate mousse (Heston Blumenthal)


I had to try it. I saw it on television and just the idea of it grasped my curiosity.


Use: dessert. Experimental, for fun!


Ingredients: Chocolate and water.


Accessibility: needs elbow oil. Serve immediately! (it hardens quickly)


The method is easy, you bring to the boil the water and pour it over your chocolate previously chopped in small pieces.   Now start whisking and don’t stop! The whisking will integrate air bubbles while the temperature decreases.  Eventually it reaches a crystallisation point.  That point is reached all of a sudden. You get some warning as you see and feel the mix thicken, just then, it sets, if you go to far (like I did the first time) you get like a dirt texture which can actually be great for some specific desserts set up.




water choc mousse (5)
Water chocolate mousse. It hardens the minute is is made, to serve immediately.


Tips:


    

  • If you went too far, you can reheat the mousse a little , it will liquefy again, Start whisking again!
    • 

  • You can use a large bowl of ice to bring the temperature down quicker but remove it as soon as the mix starts to change a bit
    • 

  • The mix will be very liquid at first, then will become like cream, then thickened cream. Stop there. 
    • 



Recipe and video HERE.  Feel free to reduce the proportions, I used half of that.

	


	





	

		
		
Yoghurt cakes
	


	
	
	

		
	

		
Again  a french classic, yoghurt cakes are called gateaux au yahourt in the french cuisine! The reason yogurt cakes are so well loved is these crusty edges and top and the moist inside with that yoghurt taste cake that we recognise closed eyes.


yoghurt cake


A yoghurt pot to measure all ingredients! How fun for kids!


In France, the recipe is based on the volume of a little pot of yoghurt (about 1/2 cup), so it is fun to measure the other ingredients with that container.  Elsewhere in the word, yoghurt may not be sold so much in individual portions by default and also the use of measuring cups is not a novelty!


muffin gateau yahourt (2)


Two recipes to choose from:


Anyway, for you here, I have added two recipes to this blog and provided the quantities in grams as well.


    

  • The first one is the “original” yoghurt cake, it can be a bit floury, it is a matter of taste.
    • 

  • The second one (Yoghurt Cake, the other version) is not floury and has more yoghurt (and not so much sugar). I love that one too. The down is that the edges are not as addictive, the cake makes up for it in its taste.
    • 



The cake is generally baked in a round tin, but feel free to use muffin trays like I did.


If you use it for afternoon tea, the cake is great on its own.  If you want to serve it for dessert, poach some fruits and serve it with the reduced poaching syrup!


poires pochees gateau yahourt (12)


Enjoy!


 

	


	





	

		
		
Call it a chestnut raspberry tiramisu
	


	
	
	

		
	

		
How to call a dessert which is no exactly what you intend to do? Lets call this one a chestnut raspberry tiramisu.


Tiramisu framboise & chataignes


The background


I had all these chestnuts I wanted to use.  The kids and I got excited and after having eaten a whole bad of them somehow, the second bag was going untouched for a while. This is a classic situation in a family, isn’t it? So I used most of them to make a chestnut puree.  I had in mind to do a beautiful chestnut raspberry layered cake.  I also had this great pot of mascarpone in the fridge and had been going through the cookbook “80 Authentic Italian Sweet Treats, Cakes and Desserts” by Laura Zavan.


Now, a very important factor, it is very cold in my kitchen at the moment (for those who don’t know, we have been going through renovations). It would have felt like around 5°C when I prepared the dessert wrapped in many layers.


The process….


    

  1. I created a short crust pastry, let it rest for a while in the fridge, though I could have left it on the kitchen bench considering the freezing weather this weekend.  I rolled the dough quite thin (3 mm), baked it to a beautiful golden colour.
    2. 

  2. I used a raspberry coulis I had in the freezer to create my bottom “layer”.  Obviously I needed to add some gelatine.  I prepared that step at the same time as the dough.  My advice to you is check your volumes and don’t put too much gelatine.  It was a bit too jellified to my taste.
    3. 

  3. I wanted to obtain a chestnut mousse but using the mascarpone.  I mixed 250 g of chestnut puree, initially 200 g of mascarpone, 50 g of softened butter.  At this stage, I realised I had not though it through well enough and that my dessert was not going to be what I intended.  I used the rest of the mascarpone (400 g total), some sugar syrup (I keep some handy in the kitchen) and 50-100 g of pieces of raspberry frozen.  I was betting on the mascarpone and butter to set.
    4. 

  4. Construction time (a bit like leggos!), the disk at the bottom, the jellified raspberry coulis over the disk, then the mascarpone-chestnut-raspberry mousse. Cell wrap on top and in the fridge!
    5. 



I didn’t know if it would have set overnight but after a few hours, it had not moved and I was running out of time.  I placed the dessert in the freezer where it set just on time.


Result:


In the end, it was quite good.  Next time, if there is one, I would add a little gelatine to the mascarpone.


Gateau frambise marrons


I had also prepared a backup dessert, a chocolate cake with roasted strawberries. As a result, we had plenty to chose from and a fair amount of left overs.  Did you know, some desserts freeze really well? You can have a nice finish to your meal in no time!


IMG_9639