01/11/2012
Cadeau de Noël #1☆ Christmas Gift #1

♥ What chefs eat (704 pages) • 19,95€, Phaidon

Oui, c’est vrai, je suis ce genre de freak qui commence à préparer ses cadeaux de Noël 6 mois à l’avance. Et comme aujourd’hui on se rapproche outrageusement de la fameuse date, je me suis dit que je pourrai, comme l’an dernier, commencer à vous préparer des petites idées de cadeaux gourmands.

Ce livre est une sorte de guide des restaurants préférés de grands chefs (plus de 400), de Heston Blumenthal à René Redzepi ou encore David Chang.
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Yes, I am this sort of freak who start buying Christmas presents in July. Now that we’re in November, I can start sharing presents ideas with you, like I did last year.

This book is the ultimate restaurant guide chosen by more than 400 of the world’s best chefs, from Heston Blumenthal to René Redzepi and David Chang.

31/10/2012
Boo!

Retrouvez toutes les sources sur mon tableau Pinterest d’Halloween…

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You can find all the sources of my Halloween Pinterest board…

28/10/2012
Pasta Workshop with Garofalo

The other day I was invited to participate to a culinary workshop with Garofalo pasta, led by Edda from Un Déjeuner de Soleil. Edda had prepared two Italian recipes with delicious products coming straight from Italy (scamorza, burrata, black olives, …). The first recipe was a pasta omelette, the second a pasta salad. As the picnics period is over, I will share with you the recipe best suited to these days, the omelet (sort of gratin).

The Ingredients (for 4 people)

– 200 gr of pasta Garofalo long format (spaghetti, fusilli, lunghi)
– 5 eggs
– 60 gr of Napoli salami
– 60 gr of smoked scamorza or provolone piccante
– 50 gr of butter and a little butter for the ramekins
– 40 gr of buffala ricotta or mozzarella Fiordilatte
– 40 gr of grated parmigiano or grana
– Oregano, salt and pepper
– Rucola

The Recipe

Preheat oven to 180 °(T 7). Boil a large amount of water and add salt. Meanwhile, whisk the eggs with the salt, pepper and parmesan. Cut the scamorza, salami and mozzarella into cubes.
Cook pasta for the time indicated on the package, substracting 1 minute. Drain and place in a large bowl and season with butter. Mix quickly. Pour the eggs and mix.
Butter the ramekins (8 cm in diameter or use a round bigger one of 20 cm), remove half of the pasta with a fork and place in nests in the ramekins.
Arrange the salami, mozzarella and scamorza inside. Sprinkle with salt and a pinch of oregano. Cover with remaining pasta.Add a little butter on the surface.
Cover with foil and bake for 5 minutes (10 if the mold is large). Remove foil and bake another 5 minutes to brown. Unmold, serve warm with a rocket salad.

tomates cerise, chapelure et pecorino / cherry tomatoes, breadcrumbs, and pecorino

marinade pour la salade de pâtes / marinade for the pasta salad

omelette de pâtes / pasta omelet

salade de pâtes / pasta salad

gelée au citron d’Edda / Edda’s lemon jelly

délicieux gâteau au chocolat, noisettes et fleur d’oranger / delicious chocolate cake, nuts and orange blossom

21/10/2012
Trick or Treat?

Mouaahahah, le 31 octobre, vous risquerez peut-être de fêter Halloween, cet évènement d’origine celtique célébré principalement dans les pays anglo-saxons. Vous saviez qu’en France, on a un équivalent lorrain qui s’appelle la Rommelbootzennaat, on l’on sculpte non pas des citrouilles grimaçantes mais des betteraves?
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Boo! The 31st of October, you’ll probably be celebrating Halloween! All Hallows’ Eve was originally influenced by western European harvest festivals and festivals of the dead with pagan roots, and particularly the Celtic Samhain. Did you know that in France, we also have a similar holiday called Rommelbootzennaat where children decorate bettroots instead of pumpkins?

1. Bougie / Candle ✝ Little Joseph
2. Pochoirs / Stencils ✝ Crate & Barrel
3. Sucette / Lollipop ✝ Crate & Barrel
4. Squelette / Skull ✝ Urban Outfitters
5. Set de table / Placemat ✝ Anthropologie

17/10/2012
Halloween pumpkin gnocchis

These gnocchis are delicious but be patient, the confection takes…hours!

The Ingredients (for 4/5 persons)
– 800g pumpkin
– 300g flour
– 50g chestnut flour
– 1 egg
– salt, pepper, nutmeg
– a few fresh sage leaves– some butter
– 1 organic orange

The Recipe

Peel the squash, cut into pieces and bake for 40 minutes at 180 ° C in the oven, until a fork penetrates easily.
Mash it and add the egg.
Pour the flour, salt, pepper and a pinch of nutmeg and mix.
Flour the work surface. Take a piece of dough, then roll it into a rather thin cylinder, about 2 cm in diameter.
Cut it into pieces of 2 cm in length. Form the grooves with a fork. Let them dry for 30 min.
You can either freeze your gnocchi or cook them now. In this case, dip them in boiling salted water. When they rise to the surface, they are cooked.
Fry some butter until it becomes nutty, add chopped fresh sage and orange zest. Stir in the gnocchis and serve!

13/10/2012
Cycladic islands

I just got back from Greece, where it was over 30 degrees, and here I am in the rain in Paris, summer is long way gone. Here are some pictures to dream a little, and to make you discover some local specialties!You can imagine that the Greek salad is the heart of every meal… It has some variants with either feta or mizithra (fresh feta), and consists mainly of tomatoes (delicious, nothing to do with Paris …), cucumbers (same), olives (amaziiing), olive oil (ohmygod), capers, herbs and sometimes a few peppers.The dakos is made out of large croutons topped with tomatoes, olives, herbs and olive oil. You also probably know the moussaka, which I have to be honest, not appreciated (potatoes, eggplant, meat, béchamel, cheese, very little tomato sauce).The mezze (appetizers) : there are dozens of variations between the tzatziki (garlic, yoghurt, cucumber), cheese balls or fried eggplant, vine leaves… My favorite was the artichokes a la polita, served warm with lemon sauce, potatoes, carrots, dill – a pure delight.Difficult to find grilled fish (!) on the islands, even if we found some on beaches, where you can enjoy the catch of the day (mullet, bass, swordfish, sardines) with a lemon sauce + olive oil, and cooked wild herbs called horta. However, seafood is more prevalent, such as octopus, grilled or in a salad (so good!). Greeks are rather fond of meat especially lamb, stewed or in souvlaki (skewers).

As for dessert, there is not a lack of choice. There is a pastry common to all countries which were once under Ottoman rule : the baklava. It consists of puff pastry, nuts and lots of honey. The kataifi, made with very thin filament of filo pastry, contains sweet pistachios, almonds, and cinnamon. The Galaktoboureko is made with extra fine semolina, sometimes flavored with cinnamon, citrus and orange blossom. In the Cyclades especially, you can also find a lot of candied fruits: lemons, oranges, figs, …