Category Archives: Cooking

Cooking, Food, Uncategorized

Fried Onion Rings on a 5:2 fast diet feast day

4 Comments
Print pagePDF pageEmail page

Apparently fried onion rings are an important part of Thanksgiving in America but most people buy them in cans which I can’t even begin to imagine. It would be like buying tinned battered fish surely. But I checked it out on the Internet and would you believe it, one of the popular brands is called French’s and they are called French fried onions which I have never seen in France …

canned_onion_rings

I got the Thanksgiving information from the Bread is Pain Food blog but more importantly, I also learnt how to make them. Now in the past, this is not the sort of thing I would have even thought about making because of the calories. However, now that we practise intermittent fasting, I don’t have any qualms.

I want to give Jean Michel a surprise which is easier in a large house than in an apartment. He’s in the workshop trying to flush out the sludge from our in-floor heating system which has not been working very well this winter.

baked_vegetables

I’ve already prepared the baked vegetables – potatoes, sweet potatoes, sliced green pepper, parsnips,  butternut pumpkin and beetroot. Yes, beetroot, bought raw and baked. I’d never heard of it until I had lunch at Susan and Simon’s from Days on the Claise. Delicious.

I’ve sliced the onion (you only need one for two people) and beaten the egg yolk and milk together in a soup plate. Bread is Pain’s recipe helpfully says “a little milk” so I put the equivalent of an egg yolk. I’ve put flour in another plate.

cote_boeuf

As soon as I hear Jean Michel raking the embers in the fireplace upstairs  in order to grill the côte de bœuf, I put a centimeter of oil in a deep frypan (sauteuse) and turn on the heat.  I dip the onions in the egg mixture and then roll them in flour after which I put everything in a zip lock bag and shake to get rid of any surplus flour as per Bread in Pain’s recipe.

When the oil is hot (I test with a small onion ring to see if it sizzles), I add a layer of rings to the pan. I turn them over and start to get a bit worried. They do not look like the photo in the recipe. I turn them again and lo and behold, they are starting to be golden. I had turned them too soon.

onion_rings

I scoop them all out when they’re done and put them on a paper towel then proceed with the next batch. This time, I am more expert. I try one. Out of this world! When they are all done, I take them triumphantly upstairs to an amazed Jean Michel. He doesn’t know they are onions and it takes him a couple to identify what they are!

I had thought they would be a bit greasy and heavy but they’re not. The taste is actually quite delicate. I’m going to make them for Christmas and stun the kids as well.

I love the 5:2 fast diet!

Cooking, Food, French language

Friday’s French – raisins

18 Comments
Print pagePDF pageEmail page

I made my Christmas cake this week using the recipe handed down to my mother by her mother. For the last 8 years, I’ve been able to buy all the dried and candied fruit (peel) at my local market but the stall has closed so I’ve been chasing around Paris for such simple ingredients as currants and raisins.  Not so simple in France however.

xmas_cake

The word raisin is an interesting one. In French, it means grape and what we call raisins are raisins secs (dried grapes). However, in Australia (and apparently the other Commonwealth countries), raisin describes a particular sort of large dried grape.

The most common raisins secs in France are what we call sultanas in Australia, except that they are darker. However, you can buy sultanines here which are usually a golden colour and sometimes called raisins blonds.

Our currants, which are very small black raisins secs are raisins de Corinthe – currant is a degradation of the word Corinth.

As far as I know, there is no generic term in Australian English for dried grapes though raisin would seem to cover the lot in American English.

When hunting for my currants, sultanas and raisins, I came across other varieties of raisins secs: raisins de Malaga (in Spain), raisins de Muscat (like our muscatelles), raisin de smyrne, .

christmas_cake_dried_fruitIf you buy mélange de fruits secs, you’ll find yourself with a mixture of raisins secs and nuts, whereas dried fruit in English only includes dried grapes, figs, abricots, etc.

Now, that’s  a word that doesn’t exist in French – nuts. You have to specify the type: walnut  = noix, hazelnut = noisette , cashew nut = noix de cajou, peanut = cacahuète, almond = amande. They all come under fruit sec, but that’s not very satisfactory, is it?

Cooking, Food, French language, Paris, Sightseeing, Wednesday's Blogger Round-up

Wednesday’s Blogger Round-up: Butte aux Cailles – Texting in French – Céléri Rémoulade

Leave a comment
Print pagePDF pageEmail page

This week, Filly di Somma, writing for Guide2Paris, takes us off the beaten track to the Butte aux Cailles in Paris, while Katerina Forrester, in a post for My French Life gives us tips on text messaging in French. Meanwhile, Susan from Days on the Claise tells us about a little-known vegetable – celeriac – and how to prepare it. Enjoy!

Butte aux Cailles – A True Paris Ambiance

by Filly di Somma, a fanatical Paris fan, in one of her regular posts for Guide2Paris, which aims to be the complete source of information in English about the Ile-de-France region of France which includes the city of Paris.  Designed specifically for English speakers visiting Paris or the region of Ile-de-France, contemplating buying property in Paris or those already living in Paris.

020913171859--Butte aux Cailles - PTO - David LefrancDuring my last trip to Paris I had the opportunity to visit a lovely ‘quartier’ which I hadn’t previously discovered on my trips to the city. “The Butte aux Cailles” district is almost like a separate village in the centre of Paris in the 13th arrondissement. Whilst being driven there by a lovely Parisian, I discovered and adored the narrow cobblestone streets featuring original restaurants, cafes and boutiques full of people eating and drinking outside. I loved its art deco architecture and its traditional Paris atmosphere.
Read more

Unlocking French language: text a’grieve’iations

by Katerina Forrester, born in Australia but always longing to be French at heart, currently living the Arts student life in Melbourne, where she is studying to become a Linguist. writing for My French Life, a global community of French and francophiles connecting like-minded people in English & French

Texting_in_trafficLOL is the furthest I will go when writing with text abbreviations. Nothing more, nothing less. When writing texts in English, I write in full, and I write with proper syntactic features. I don’t want to be seen as an over-texting teenager! I want my friends to receive properly articulated sentences with substance. Nevertheless, this is not the case when I text to friends in French. Read more

Céleri Rémoulade

by Susan from Days on the Claise, an Australian living in the south of the Loire Valley, writing about restoring an old house and the area and its history and running Loire Valley Time Travel.

celeri_remouladeThe general appearance of celeriac doesn’t inspire much confidence in it being tasty, and even less so if you consider eating it raw. Nevertheless, the most popular dish using celeriac (céleri-rave in French) does indeed use raw, grated celeriac.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that this is diet food though. This is a dish to which cream is added in order to make it lighter (!!) and easier to digest (!!!) It is tremendously popular in France, but I don’t think many people bother to make it themselves. Most people buy it from their trusted local charcutière traiteur (delicatessen). If you do make it at home, it’s not just a matter of grating some celeriac and coating it with mayonnaise. There’s a trick to getting the deli style céleri rémoulade. Read more

Cooking, Loire Valley

Pain d’épices and Pumpkin & Chestnut Soup

29 Comments
Print pagePDF pageEmail page

I went walking with my new French neighbours in Blois last week. Two and a half hours, sometimes through muddy forest, but I survived and enjoyed it! Fortunately I was wearing my trusty mushroom-picking shoes but I think I should take a walking stick next time as the clayey soil is quite slippery.

A sculpted tree during our walk

Being three women with lots to say, there wasn’t much silence between us and it being France we naturally got onto the subject of food. Liliane had already given me some lovely chestnuts and a pumpkin so I told her about the soup I’ve now made three times (recipe below). It’s a bit time-consuming but worth the effort and I can use some of the milk that keeps getting left over when I make cappuccino.

Chestnuts and pumpkin for soup

Then Françoise told us about a new, very easy pain d’épices recipe she’d just been given. Now I always thought that pain d’épices was gingerbread but this one doesn’t have any ginger in it so I checked it out in the trusty Wikipedia. According to the Dictionnaire de l’académie française (1694), pain d’épices (épices = spices) is a cake consisting of rye flour, honey and spices (today including aniseed but not traditionally ginger). So there you go!

Pain d’épices

It was initially commercialised in Reims and made popular by Charles VII. They used buckwheat honey from Brittany. It soon took off in other places, including Paris, Burgundy and Alsace where it includes cinnamon. It was actually a sort of sourdough without leavening and was left to rest in a wooden trough in a cool place for several months. The honeyed rye flour fermented and the dough was cooked in moulds. Today, baking soda, invented in the 19th century, is used instead.

I decided to replace the aniseed in the recipe with equal parts of aniseed, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. The aniseed or Pimpinella anisum L is called anis vert in French, in case you’re looking for it.

I’m not a big fan of pain d’épices, but this one is absolutely delicious and I had to refrain from having multiple slices! Fresh or toasted pain d’épices is an excellent accompaniment to foie gras, by the way.

Madame Pfister’s Alsatian pain d’épices

Ingredients
20 cl of milk
125 g of sugar (I used brown)
300 g of honey (I know it sounds a lot)
1 soup spoon of aniseed (or 1 teaspoon each of aniseed, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg)
250 g of flour
1 teaspoon of baking soda
 
  1. Heat the oven to thermostat 6 or 180°C
  2. Melt the milk, sugar, honey and spices then pour onto the sifted flour and baking soda (sifted because otherwise the baking soda has a tendency to form little white lumps)
  3. Put into a well-greased rectangular cake tin and completely cover the tin with tin foil, after greasing the part that will come into contact with the top of the cake.
  4. Cook for 45 to 50 minutes, checking whether it is cooked by inserting a sharp knife. The mixture should not stick.

I read in a few recipes that you should keep pain d’épices for 24 hours before eating it, but this was delicious just a few hours later! Mr and Mrs Previous Owners loved it.

Pumpkin & Chestnut soup (N.B. contains potatoes)

I specifically mention the potatoes because I keep forgetting I need them and have to duck down to the organic bakery to buy some as our own home-grown potatoes have run out.

 
Ingredients
 
– 800 g  pumpkin
– 350 g potatoes
– 1 onion
– 1 knob of butter
– 15 chestnuts
– 40 cl milk
– half to one cup of water
– salt, pepper, nutmeg
 

1. There are different ways of preparing chestnuts. I tend to overcook them in the oven so my preferred method is to remove the outer shell with a knife, then cook them in boiling water for about 15 minutes, after which you have to remove the brown inner skin. This is the time-consuming bit. After that, you need to break them into small pieces unless you have a blender.

2. To save time, you can cut the pumpkin and potatoes into large cubes and pre-cook them in the micro-wave.

3. Slice and fry the onions until golden, add all the other ingredients and about half the milk. You can then mash or purée the resulting mixture and gradually add the rest of the milk. Heat to the right temperature.

If you would like to be notified of subsequent posts, just sign up under “Subscribe” in the column on the right. And please feel free to comment!

Cooking, France, Paris, Restaurants, Sightseeing, Wine

Lunch Cruise on the Seine – Paris Restaurants: My Short List for What Stays Open in August (2012) – Gigondas: perfect food, wines & weather… and a good idea

Leave a comment
Print pagePDF pageEmail page

The wonderful weather is more or less lasting so make the most of it! Mary Kay from Out and About in Paris, took a lunch cruise on the Seine this week, Abby from Paris Weekender checked out a few places to eat and drink that are staying open in Paris during August, when nearly everything shuts down, while fellow Australian, Lincoln from Vinosolex, whose blog I have just discovered, tells us about a wonderful food pairing celebration in Gigondas. Enjoy!

Lunch Cruise on the Seine: Tourists Get to Have all the Fun!

by Mary Kay from Out and About in Paris, an American by birth, Swiss by marriage, resident of Paris with a Navigo Pass for the metro that she feels compelled to use

Dinner at Le Dôme, shopping at Galeries Lafayette, riding around the gardens of Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte in a golf cart – sometimes it seems that tourists get to have all of the fun. Fortunately, my father-in-law’s visit gave Stephane and me a very good reason to momentarily forget about the long list of things that we still need to do before we travel to the U.K. on Thursday and savor the beauty of Paris.

If you haven’t already done a Bateaux Parisian lunch or dinner cruise on the Seine, I hope that this photo report will give you a good idea of what to expect: panoramic views of many of the most important monuments, live musical entertainment and a better-than-expected meal. Read more.

Paris Restaurants: My Short List for What Stays Open in August (2012)

by Abby from Paris Weekender, an American living in Paris who offers suggestions for Paris weekends, either staying put or getting out of town

Paris is notorious for shutting down in the month of August.  Last year, I gave you my short list of top restaurants that stay open for all or a good part of the month.  And I figured it would be helpful to have an update for 2012!  See my Crème de la Crème list for more details on each establishment. Read more.

Gigondas: perfect food, wines & weather… and a good idea

by Lincoln from Vinosolex, an Australian now living in Provence visits France’s vineyards on a 1968-model Solex motor bike. Discovering the magic of France at the right pace, with a focus on the Rhone valley.

There are good ideas and very good ideas.
This was a very very good idea.

The young vignerons of Gigondas convinced four of the region’s best cooks to come along to the village’s central square and cook to their hearts’ content. Then they got twenty of the appellation’s vignerons to roll out their barrels and pull out their corkscrews. They threw the gig open to the public for the very modest price of 25€ and waited to see if anyone bit.

 

Art, Cooking, Paris, Spain

Don’t walk, fly… – Christian and Islamic Cultures Come Together in Córdoba – Cooking (and Eating) French pastries at L’Atelier des Sens

Leave a comment
Print pagePDF pageEmail page

I can’t believe the week can go by so quickly! Wednesday again and time for my Bloggers’ Round-up. Finding Noon takes us to a Korean painting exhibition at the Bespoke Exhibition Pavilion in the Tuileries Gardens, Kathy Stanford from Femmes Francophiles stuns us with her lovely photos of Cordoba in Spain, which is definitely on my list of places to revisit, and Abby from Paris Weekender shares a cooking class in Paris that includes croissants. Enjoy!

Don’t walk, fly…

by Finding Noon, an American living in Paris who appreciates fine art, good music, succulent food, and breath taking scenery

So a Frenchman and an Englishman are chatting about a Korean man over lunch in Malaysia…. sounds like the start of some silly joke, but this really did happen about a year ago. Only the Frenchman is the director of the Louvre museum and he was speaking with an interior designer about the photographer Ahae, and his latest project; 2 million photos taken from the same window over 2 years. Read more

Christian and Islamic Cultures Come Together in Córdoba

by Kathy Stanford from Femmes Francophiles, an Australian which an ongoing passion for France and the French language currently on holiday in Europe

Córdoba, in Andalusia, is reported to have the highest summer average in Europe. It certainly was hot when I visited with friends, Isa and Julio. Apart from the heat, I was struck me by the Islamic influence in the architecture and decoration. I was very much reminded of my stay at Riad Sekkat in Marrakech. Córdoba, historically was Spain’s most significant Islamic city. Read more

 

Cooking (and Eating) French pastries at L’Atelier des Sens

by Abby from Paris Weekender, an American living in Paris who offers suggestions for Paris weekends, either staying put or getting out of town

I am often asked for suggestions for not-your-usual-tourist activities in Paris. Whether you live in Paris or are just visiting for a few days, one of the best experiences your money can buy is time with an expert who will teach you a little something you can take back home. Perhaps you would be interested in a wine tasting class, perhaps a photography class or a chocolate tasting class or a cooking class…. Whatever you choose, it is sure to be a memorable experience. Read more

Cooking, Cycling, Loire Valley, Uncategorized

Summer Mushrooms in the Loire

8 Comments
Print pagePDF pageEmail page

We really have had a beautiful week in the Loire. Everyone in France this year, particularly in Paris, has been complaining about the awful spring weather and it was no better in Blois. But when we came back last week, the potatoes we’d planted in the rain two weeks before were looking very happy (and so were the surrounding weeds of course!) and the vegetation, especially the roses, was flourishing.

The good weather stayed with us and as a result, we were able to go cycling several times. Our last excursion was to the nearest village, Chouzy sur Cisse, about 5 kilometers away, in the opposite direction from the centre of Blois. Being on our bikes, we were able to take a dirt road running parallel to the main highway along the Loire, thus avoiding the 70 kph road I’m not so keen on.

The entrance to the village is not particularly attractive, but in the centre there’s a butcher (very handy for barbecues), a baker, a little supermarket and a hairdresser. I had seen a sign saying “plan d’eau” which generally means a small lake so we kept going and, to our surprise, came across a lovely little stretch of water next to the Cisse. The river itself is very picturesque with yellow waterlilies and water irises.

We followed the path along the edge and found ourselves cycling along the river past lots of small market gardens. One even had a whole row of lilies-of-the-valley. Relationnel consulted the map and said we could take Rue Beaumont. I groaned inwardly because the name means “beautiful rise” which obviously means cycling uphill. We were rewarded though because it took us onto a flat though bumpy road through the forest.

Suddenly Relationnel stopped and said, “Not sure what it is but maybe … “. I continued cycling but soon realised he wasn’t following. I looked back to see him waving frantically. “You should get out the camera”, he said as I got closer. What a find! Several large fresh summer cep mushrooms. Now one of the reasons we chose Blois for our retirement is its proximity to a state forest so we can pick mushrooms in the autumn, so finding such wonderful specimens in summer is extremely promising! We cooked them in the frypan and ate them with our côte de boeuf!

Accommodation, Australia, Cooking, Food, France, French customs, Lifestyle, Paris, Sightseeing, Travelling, Wine

Favourite Paris Wine Shops – Phone App: Google Translate – Creating a Healthy French Pantry

2 Comments
Print pagePDF pageEmail page

Where to buy wine in Paris, a helpful traveller’s phone app and healthy eating the French way are  the subjects featured in my Wednesday’s Other Blogs this week.  Thank you to Like Home in Paris (vacation apartment rentals in Paris), Femmes Francophiles (fellow Australian blogger with an ongoing passion for France and the French language) and Mademoiselle Slimalicious (a young Sydney-based French blog writer who promotes healthy eating, fitness and exercise based on the principles of the French Paradox).

Sipping on Saturday – Favourite Paris Wine Shops

from Like Home in Paris

I know who I go to ask when I have a wine question or can’t decide which glass to take – Preston Mohr, that’s who. Our favorite drinking partner tells us about his favorite wine shops in Paris and believe me you’ll want to take note. Read more

Phone Application: Google Translate

from Femmes Francophiles

Translation apps are a growing market. No longer do we need to fossick in back packs or handbags for our bilingual dictionary or phrasebook. No doubt there are now young international travellers who have never had to worry about the weight associated with carrying these books with their dog-eared pages.  Read more 

Creating a Healthy French Pantry

from Mademoiselle Slimalicious 

Cooking at home (rather than ordering take-away) enables you to be fully in control of what you eat by being aware of the nutritive value of your meals. In order to manage your weight efficiently (the way French women do), it is important to make cooking everyday one of your priority.  Read more.

Cooking, Food, France

Franco-Australian Curry!

9 Comments
Print pagePDF pageEmail page

When Fraussie suggested I write a post for her blog (I’m the Aussie exchange student who appears in this blog under the name of Brainy Pianist), I really didn’t have too many ideas. “Talk about food”, she told me, “everyone loves to read about food”. Fair enough, I thought, but how can I make it a bit different? And then it hit me. When I was leaving Australia last August, never having lived away from home, and (almost) never cooking (although I am capable), most people would ask what was the one thing I was going to miss most. Beyond my family and friends, the answer would inevitably come back to a good, home-cooked meal. In my case, that’s synonymous with pretty much everything that comes out of our kitchen, but especially a good curry.

I guess in part that’s one of the greatest things coming from an Anglo-Indian/Australian background and being exposed to different cultures and cuisine. Dad grew up in India, and Mum spent hours and hours watching and learning from my grandmother (and the trusty copy of Charmaine Solomon’s The Complete Asian Cookbook). As a kid I couldn’t stand most curries, whereas my little brother was getting stuck in before he could even walk! But times have changed, and more often than not, I’ll be hankering after a good hot curry. And moving to Paris, it’s surprisingly easy to find fantastic Indian restaurants (particularly around the 10th arrondissement), and spice shops. I get a real kick ferretting around in the stores up near Gare du Nord on Rue du Faubourg Saint Denis.

So, here’s a recipe for one of our family’s favourites – and it’s easy as well!

The ingredients are:

–          500g mince (I generally use beef – but you could probably use lamb as well)
–          1-2 tablespoons oil
–          1 large brown onion, finely sliced
–          2 cloves garlic, crushed
–          1 piece of fresh ginger, about 2.5cm long – peeled and chopped
–          1 teaspoon ground turmeric
–          1 teaspoon chilli powder
–          ½ cup natural yoghurt
–          2 teaspoons garam masala
–          1 teaspoon salt
–          Freshly chopped coriander leaves to serve
 

Now the method:

1)     Heat oil in saucepan and fry onion until soft.

2)      Add garlic and ginger and fry until onion is golden brown.

3)      Add turmeric and chilli powder and fry for a few minutes.  If you like, you could add some ground coriander at this point as well.

4)      Add meat and fry, turning meat constantly until colour changes.  Break up any large lumps of meat.

5)      Stir in the yoghurt, lower the heat, cover and cook for 15 minutes. (This should be a gentle simmer)

6)      Add garam masala and salt, leave the lid off, and continue cooking until meat is cooked.

7)      Stir through fresh coriander and serve.

Just a couple of helpful tips: the amount of chilli powder depends a) on how hot you want the curry to be, and b) the individual chilli powder. Every powder is slightly different in its strength, and its potency also changes with age. If you’re opening a new packet, be cautious in the quantities!

The final cooking stage varies, but Mum told me just to leave it as long as it takes to cook the rice.

You can also control the final consistency of the curry: if you like a lot of gravy, you can add a little water at the final stage (but be careful you don’t add too much, especially if the meat gives off a lot of fat or liquid). If you prefer a drier curry, you can increase the heat in the final stage – but watch it closely and stir frequently– with the yoghurt, the curry will have a tendency to stick to the saucepan.

And don’t forget – if you’re increasing the quantity of meat, you mustn’t increase the amount of spices in the same proportion. For instance, cooking a kilo of mince, I would only put 1 ½ teaspoon of chilli powder – otherwise it can be very spicy!

Serve with cooked basmati rice (I like to add some dried curry leaves while I’m cooking the rice – I can’t get the fresh ones we have in the garden back home, but dried ones give quite  a lot of flavour), natural yoghurt, pappadums, and for that extra kick, a spicy Indian pickle. Bon appétit!

Australian customs, Cooking, Food

Apple Crumble!!

14 Comments
Print pagePDF pageEmail page

Hi! You may know about me a bit, I’m the Aussie son who lives in Sydney, nicknamed Leonardo in this blog. You may have read my recent interview with my Mum on what goes on under the streets of Paris!

I baked a very special apple crumble last week at work for my co-workers for whom I sometimes cook because there’s a kitchen at work (I’m French so I like cooking!) so I would like to share the recipe and photos of the process.
This is a very slightly modified version of my Mum’s original recipe. Two things make it stand out: less sugar (she taught me to put about half what people would usually put in), and oats to make it crisp and light. In France we use instant hot “Creme Anglaise” by Alsa as a topping which is sort of similar to custard except it’s ten times nicer. Here I couldn’t get some, so instead I used some vanilla ice cream. I recommend the “connoisseur” brand which is like Haagen-Dazs (same creamy dense texture) except half the price – but still twice as expensive as home brands. It’s totally worth it.

Let’s get to the recipe. The ingredients are, for 6-8 people:

  • 6-7 apples. Golden are great. Go for some kind of red apples if you can’t get some. Avoid Granny Smith and other acidic apples, they don’t work well
  • 1 cup of flour (250ml), preferably wholemeal
  • 1 cup of oats (250ml), the type you would use for porridge
  • 100+ grams of unsalted butter (half of a 250g package is fine)
  • 50-60 grams of sugar, brown

Step 1: peal and cut the apples in 3-4mm thick slices

Step 2: preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius (7)

Step 3: melt the butter. I went for the wok on low heat because it was the only recipient I had to mix it with the rest after, but otherwise you can just melt it in a bowl in the microwave, and mix in a large salad dish, it’s much faster.

Step 4: add the flour, oats & sugar to the butter and mix until it sticks together

Step 5: put on top of the apples

Step 6: Cook for 30 min at 200 degrees Celsius (7). It has to be a bit brown on the top. Check regularly during the last few minutes. It may take 25 or 35 minutes depending on your oven and the exact quantity. You want it to get darker but be careful not to burn it.

Step 7: Serve hot in bowls and add ice cream or “creme anglaise” or whatever you like on it. It’s also nice plain.

It worked out pretty well!

 

Sasha Baron Cohen

 

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...