“Papillote” with saffron-pineapples.

I can’t imagine who wants to side step dessert…!

I’m a dessert person, however small it may be. Just don’t heap up my plate with mountainous triangles of cheesecake! A dessert is the ending to a good meal, as a small starter is the beginning… just like a story. A meal is story telling after all. Like any good story, it needs an attention grasping first sentence to create anticipation.  And it needs a creative ending to make the reader sit back with a sigh of contentment and contemplate the delight of escaping in dreams and living and being…

A small, light dessert, mostly with some kind of fruit does exactly that for me.  With an espresso afterwards. Maybe a chocolate as well. A sensual experience. Then I too can sit back and contemplate the delight of living, breathing and eating….

Papillote with saffron-pineapples and raspberries.

• To prepare one papillote: cut a rectangle of baking paper about 40cm long. Fold the two long lengths over to the middle, overlapping by 3 cm and press folds in the paper. Fold the two short sides over to the middle and press folds in the paper. When you open up your paper, you will clearly see the folds of the little rectangle in the middle of your paper. That is where you filling will go.
• Filling: A handfull of pineapple chunks, cut to your desired size.
• A few raspberries.
• Grated lime rind
• Freshly squeezed lime juice
• Fresh passion fruit pulp
• Honey
• A few strands of saffron.

1. Fold your papillotes and place them, opened up, on a baking sheet.
2. Place in the middle of each papillote some pineapple and raspberries. Sprinkle with a strand or two of saffron. Drizzle with some lime juice and honey and top with passion fruit pulp.
3. Close the papillote by folding the long ends over the filling, overlapping on top. Take each short end on the side of the filling and twist to opposite sides like a candy wrapper. Fan open up the wrapper ends to make attractive twists.
4. Bake in a preheated oven at 210 degrees C for about 15-20 minutes.
5. Leave to cool. Place the papillotes on individual plates, pull open the overlapping tops and serve slightly warm with Bulgarian joghurt on the side.

This is an entry for weekend herb blogging, hosted this week by A Scientist in the kitchen.

 

Picnic by the Loire

Time for informal, relaxed picnics is here. Our summer weekends consist mostly of some working on the house and in the garden, some tennis, and then some extended dinners that linger along with our dusk…late and lazy. I love simple meals where colour and texture play a major role and each ingredient stands on its own. A long time ago, I once thought I made an innovative potato salad, just to have my youngest 10 year old daughter tell me: “I can’t eat this salad! It’s too complicated.”

That was a lesson never to be forgotten.

For a Sunday afternoon by the Loire river across our house, this is a typical salad we would pique nique on. Very ordinary, but spiced up with an interesting vinaigrette of your choice and accompanied by an array of cheese and grainy baguettes, not forgetting an ice cold Rosé, it becomes a meal I’m sure that is served frequently in paradise, which makes it one of the reasons why I intend on going there one day…

 

As usual, I don’t give a formal recipe , but will mention what I’ve used in my salad.

• Cut some vegetables in different shapes…carrots in spaghetti, roasted red peppers (of which I don’t bother to remove the peel), some mango slices, a few slices of smoked duck and cooked quinoa with sauteed onion. (Read more about quinoa. )
• A handful of fresh herbs; rocket, sage, large Italian parsley, chives, wild celeri and tarragon.
• Vinaigrette: make a puree of the small pieces of mango that you cut off the seed. Add some white balsamic vinegar, some poppy vinegar, salt and pepper, a small finely chopped shallot and add olive oil to your taste and whisk until creamy. I prefer a pungent vinaigrette.
• Add some cheese triangles, a handful of olives and a fresh baguette.
• Pack some ice cream in a cool bag along with the wine, or fresh fruit for dessert.
• And don’t forget a flask of good coffee for that wake-up call after the nap…

1. Pack interesting layers of individual portions in picnic hampers.
2. Take the vinaigrette separately in a little container and add to your salad just before serving.
3. Finish off with cheese and fruit.

Bon appetit!

This is an entry for Weekend herb blogging, hosted this week by Laurie at Medcookingalaska

Strawberry tartlets for an award.

I received The Yummy blog Award from the elegant and talented Jennifer at Vegeyum a few days ago. So I thought I would bake Jennifer a cake, a typical South African way of showing appreciation. I grew up with my mother constantly baking a cake of  some kind for a someone of some kind to say a thank you of some kind. It made everybody happy. My mother was happy, because she loved doing it, the receiver was happy of course and the people in close vicinity were happy, since everybody got to share in the gift.

So I baked her a cake, a strawberry tart.

I like simple. And that goes for desserts too. Well, actually, according to various opinions, I can rather complicate life, but let’s say then I try to keep it simple. I tried to make a simple strawberry tartlet, with just a tiny twist… The first attempt was a failure in terms of presentation, but it tasted not too bad. Or so my audience said..

Cookie crumb base: Mix about 12 speculoos, crumbled, with 40 g of melted butter. With the aide of cooking rings, shape into round bases and set aside in the fridge.

Lime cream:

• 250ml milk
• zest of one lime
• 3 large egg yolks
• 60 g sugar
• juice of half a lime
• 35 g Maizena
• 25 g butter

1. Heat the milk and lime zest and leave aside to infuse.
2. Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until light and creamy
3. Stir the maizena into the lime juice and add to the egg yolks.
4. Slowly add the warm milk through a sieve, while whisking. Return to the heat and cook over low heat until thick, while constantly stirring. 
5. Remove from the heat, add the butter, cover with cling film and leave aside to cool down and store in the refrigerator until needed.

Serving suggestion:

Remove the cookie crumb bases from the fridge. Fill up with the cold lime cream and top with strawberries, finely sliced. Remove the rings carefully.  Finish off with a sprinkling of toasted pine nuts. Serve with a red berry coulis. (optional) And now this is where I failed. My lime cream was too runny and I couldn’t use the rings, so I escaped out of my predicament with the help of some tartlet pans…

The second attempt was made with meringue, which is quick and simple, but it wasn’t what I was looking for either. I’m not too crazy about meringues. The audience was happy again though…

Meringue:

• 2 egg whites at room temperature
• 1 ml salt
• 125 ml castor sugar
• pinch of cream of tartar

1. Heat the oven to 120 degr. C. Line a baking sheet with Bakewell paper.
2. Place the egg whites, salt and cream of tartar in a clean, dry glass bowl or better yet, copper bowl,
3. Beat on high speed until firm.
4. Add 2 high spoon fulls of sugar to the mixture and beat again until stiff and glossy.
5. Fold in the rest of the sugar.
6. Shape big spoon fulls of meringue onte the baking sheet, depending on how big you want your little tartlets, shaping a hole in the centre.
7. Sprinkle some sugar over the top, allow to stand for about 3 minutes to give the sugar chance to melt(adds a crystallized appearance to the meringues)
8. Bake for about 20 minute, cover with a sheet of peper and bake another 40 minute. Switch off the oven and leave the meringues in the oven, to dry out completely.

Strawberries: Wash and cut a handful of strawberries into quarters. Sprinkle with a tablespoon of sugar, a drizzle of white balsamic vinegar, some grated lemon zest.

Fresh whipped cream with a packet of stabilizer added to keep the cream firm. Joghurt can be added to make lighter.

Serving suggestion: Place a meringue on each individual plate. Fill with a scoop of whipped creme, arrange some strawberries on top and drizzle some of the juice of the strawberries over the top. Finish off with a sprinkling of chopped pistachio nuts and mint and a drizzle of thick balsamic syrup(optional).

The third attempt was probably more what I was looking for and it actually delighted my taste buds, like all strawberry tartlets do! Voila!! My most favourite dessert…for now.

Pate sablée:

• 125 g castor sugar
• 1 vanilla pod
• 250 g flour
• 125 g butter at room temperature
• 1 egg

1. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla pod and mix with the sugar.
2. Sift the flour onto the work surface and work the butter through with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
3. Make a hole in the centre of the flour mixture and break the egg open into the centre. Add the sugar.
4. Mix the ingredients lightly together with the fingertips, until a dough forms. Knead lightly with the palm of the hand to shape into a ball. cover with clingfilm and leave to rest for an hour in the fridge.

Cream filling: Mix together 200 g of mascarpone cheese and 2 tablespoons of Bulgarian joghurt. Add some lemon mint chiffonade. Leave to infuse.

Strawberries: Wash, cut and sprinkle lightly with rose water.

Serving suggestion:

1. Roll out the dough and cut into desired shapes for your tartlet pans. Cover the bases with bakewell paper and add beans(blind baking), leave in the fridge for a few minutes.
2. Prick lightly with fork and bake blind at 200 degr. C for about 12 minutes. Remove the paper and beans and bake for another 3 minutes until golden.
3. Remove from the oven and let cool. Once cooled, remove the shells from the tartlet pans.
4. Fill with prepared cream, add washed and cut strawberries.
5. Warm some jam of your choice, add a few drops of rose water and glaze the tartlets.
6. Decorate with fresh or crystallized untreated rose petals.

While making this strawberry tart, it so happened that I stayed very true to my original statement of Myfrenchkitchen, which says something like this: “Life in a kitchen is an everyday audition and here I telltale of my surrender to the failures, the successes, the hitches and pleasures……that life in a kitchen forks out.”

Thank you for honouring me with this award Jennifer.

The Yummy Blog award was first conceptualized by Roopa of Kitchen Treats. Hi dear readers/fellow bloggers, I am starting an award category called “Yummy Blog ! ” where the blog with most yummy recipes/photos will get the award. The person who receives the award should display the “Yummy Blog !” logo on their blog and also the meaning of the award which is “Yummy blog award is the award given to the blog with most yummy recipes/photos” The receiver should also quote their favorite yummy-licious dessert(s) that they have ever prepared/eaten. Dont restrict yourself to any dessert, chocolate bars also welcome:). Also the receiver should pass on the award to four other bloggers who’s blog they find “yummy” and let them know about the rules
I am now passing this on to:

•  Jeanne at Cooksister, who always has me pinned to her writing and images and recipes and bucketsful of zest for life!
• Lucy at Kitchen notebook, whose stories and food experiences are so vividly  shared with us, it is a magical carpet ride every time I visit there!
• Ann and Jack at Redacted recipes, who can make a kitchen spin with action between the two of them, always fun, always exciting!
• Hilda at Dhanggitskitchen, who has me running to my camera, completely fired up with inspiration, every time I leave there…she has some photography secret I would love to discover!
• See also my link list for more inspirational work.

And lastly, if you have the time, please see my friend’s daugther Claire’s thesis project on designing a cooking station. This is her final year in design and she would like some public input before her final presentation, so feel free to comment.

Ham spring rolls

The past weekend was summer. Beautiful long, lingering days. On weekends like this, you want energy. You want healthy. A ham spring roll.

Ham spring rolls

There is no formal recipe for this.  See what your fridge and pantry comes up with and take the road to fresh and seasonal.

1. Cut some vegetables into matchsticks. I’ve used carrot, cucumber, mango, rocket leaves and chives. Place a slice of ham on a chopping board and stack some vegetables onto the one end. roll up tight and secure with a toothpick or tie with a chive(softened in boiling water for a second or two).
2. Serve with a dipping sauce made of natural joghurt and chopped herbs and splashed with a swirl of lemon juice.
3. Or serve with a lime ginger sauce: A tablespoon of each - freshly squeezed lime juice, rice wine vinegar, mirrin, soja sauce and some grated ginger and chopped lemon grass. Taste and adjust.

This is an entry for Weekend herb blogging, hosted this week by Ahn at Foodloversjourney.

Omelet with asparagus and serrano

“Dear Lianelle

We have a long weekend coming up soon and your father told me to write you and tell you to come visit…

“…I received a phone call from Aunt Betty.  You know how very elegant and stylish she is, never cooking without her string of pearls? But then, let’s not forget the wonderful and elegant meals she broils up with those pearls!  She told me about her humiliating experience the other day and I just had to share this part with you…

” ‘Her granddaughter of five was visiting for the weekend, a real cutie she is, and asked Grandma for a boiled egg for lunch. While waiting for the water to come to boil, Aunt Betty put the egg, taken from the fridge door, into the pocket of her skirt, to get the edge off the cold egg. Then the telephone rang and now you also know that Aunt Betty does enjoy a telephone! After a final third goodbye to her good friend, sorting out their dates for their antique shopping and luncheon afterwards, she needed to drop in at the bathroom…..all those many cups of Earl grey she believes in drinking every day…..and right there is where disaster struck your elegant aunt and her precious raw egg, hidden and forgotten in her pocket!’

Now I’ll leave the rest up to your imagination! Suffice to say, elegant or not, when it comes to a raw egg in the pocket and a toilet seat, we’re all pretty much in the same kind of scramble!….

Love Mom”

PS: I’m sending you this omelet recipe your father and I had for dinner last night and just to be a little naughty I sent it to Aunt Betty too!

Omelet with asparagus and serrano

• Tomato salsa: dice a mixture of red, yellow and orange tomatoes, sprinkle wit lemon juice, salt, pepper and drizzle with olive oil.
• 2 eggs
• a tablespoon of milk
• knob of butter
• 2 spring onions, roughly sliced on the diagonal.
• salt and pepper tot taste
• about 4 asparagus spears
• some shredded serrano ham, or other ham of your choice

1. Cut the tomatoes into dice, mix lightly and add salt and pepper, lemon juice and olive oil to taste.
2. Steam the asparagus until just tender.
3. Saute the spring onions quickly until translucent, but still bright green.
4. Lightly beat two eggs, add a tablespoon of milk.
5. Heat a small skillet, add the butter and pour in the beaten eggs. Break the egg lightly up with a fork and when it start to settle, leave on low heat until puffed up.
6. Take from the heat while the top of the egg is still runny and slide off on a plate.
7. Place the sauteed spring onion and 4 to 5 asparagus spears onto the one half of the omelet. Fold the other half over.
8. Top with the shredded serrano ham, flavour with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil.
9. Serve immediately with the tomato salsa on the side.

                                One portion

This post is dedicated to my dear friend Colette, who was the inspiration for this “story and recipe”. She was taken to hospital into intensive care today…Colette, get well soon, we have so many laughs (like this story) awaiting us all the tomorrows ahead..

This is an entry for WTSIM…breakfast favourites, hosted this month by Johanna at Thepassionatecook.

Kiwi and crab salad

“Dear Mom

Thank you for your letter and the parcel with all the delicious goodies….

…I invited some friends over this past weekend for lunch and I made this little salad for a starter. It reminded me of home and early summers in your garden. Everybody loved the combination of crab with kiwi and I got so many compliments, I almost felt like a renowned chef! It is light which had everybody enjoying their chocolate dessert with full gusto! I am amazed at how many men are keeping an eye on their weight! I am sure you and Dad will love it too….

With much love from me.”

“Oh, and by the way, could you send me some recipes on healthy summer lunches; there’s this new cute guy at the tennis club I need to impress…”

Kiwi and crab salad

• 6 kiwis
• 2 cans of crabmeat
• grated rind of one lemon
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• toasted sesame seeds
• a few sprigs of chives
• a few chervil leaves
• a few crushed red pepercorns(optional)
• salt and pepper

1. Cut the tops off the kiwis, remove the flesh with a spoon and dice finely. Turn the hollowed out kiwis upside down on toweling paper to drain.
2. Drain the crab meat and add to the diced kiwi. (Don’t use all the kiwi flesh if it seem too much)
3. Add the lemon juice, lemon rind, chopped herbs and toasted sesame seeds to the crab meat. Season to taste
4. Fill the kiwis with the crabfilling and decorate with a sprig of chervil and a sprinkling of crushed red peppercorns.

                                     Serves 6

Alternative: serve the crab salad on a bed on mixed salad leaves or on slices of toasted baguettes.

Roasted pepper and red lentil soup

I couldn’t decide which to post..the lentil soup or lentil salad. The weather here in France finally decided for me. The trees are in bud, the tulips are in bloom, the daffodils are nodding their heads and the strawberries are sweet. But we still take to the streets with our coats and scarves en walk head first into the wind. I’m not complaining…like my wine maker neighbour says; “C’est normal”. It gives me a little longer to enjoy a bowl of soup, easy and quick and filling.

Roasted pepper and red lentil soup

• 2 red peppers
• 200 g red lentils
• 500 ml vegetabels stock
• red wine vinegar
• 1 onion
• olive oil
• parmesan cheese
• parsley/coriander
• 2 bay leaves
• tablespoon red pesto
• salt and pepper

1. Remove the seeds from the peppers, cut into strips and place in an oven pan, drizzle with olive oil. Roast at 200 degrees C for 30 minutes or until tender.
2. Sauté the chopped onion in some oilive oil until tranlucent, add the vegetable stock, lentils and the two bayleaves and simmer for about 15 minutes, until the lentils are tender. Add the peppers and simmer for another 5 minutes.
3. Let it cool down, remove the bay leaves  and puree with a handmixer until smooth and creamy. You can also press it through a fine sieve if you want it smoother.
4. Taste for salt and pepper, add some red wine vingear for a little tartness and I add a tablespoon of red pesto for flavour.
5. Serve with shaved parmesan and decorate with some parsley or coriandre leaves.
6. Optional: Stir in some cream for a richer version.
7. Alternative: The peppers can be halved, then roasted with the skin side up and the skin can be easily peeled off after roasting. 

                                             Serves 6

This is an entry for WTSIM, hosted by Jeanne at cooksister.

    

Colette’s pear salad

I’ve been treated to many delicious meals during our visit in SA, of which this pear salad is one. My good friend Colette, whipped this up one hot afternoon after coming back from our “hunt for all things old”.

Colette’s pear salad

• 2 firm pears
• mixed salad leaves
• handful of peppery rocket leaves
• walnuts
• parmesan cheese
• butter
• brown sugar
• white balsamic vinegar
• lemon juice

1. Wash and cut the pears into eight parts.
2. Heat some butter with a spoonful of sugar in a pan, add the pears and sauté over high heat until nicely caramelized.
3. Spoon into a dish and leave aside. Add the walnuts to the same pan and brown quickly over high heat. Set aside
4. Deglaze the pan with some white balsamic vinegar, lemon juice and a pinch of salt.
5. Arrange the salad leaves on 2 plates, spoon the hot pears on the salad and sprinkle the walnuts. Spoon the deglazed pansauce over the salad and finish off with some shaved parmesan cheese, a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkling of pepper.
6. For a more substantial meal: Add some crisp fried parma ham/bacon, or goats cheese, or some flaked white fish to the salad.

                                                        Serves two

Finish off this late afternoon meal, much later, with tea and a freshly baked cupcake that you’ve bought on your way home at the sweet deli just around the corner.

I’m holidaying in SA.

I have been in SA for the last two weeks, which will explain my silence. I’ll make up for it when back home. I’ll still be here for another week before we turn back for home in France.

Some scenes from around us here under the Southern skies in Stellenbosch :

The Atlantic is cold, but simply beautiful…

The baboons welcome us around every bend…

Breakfast by the sea tastes different…

Proteas, our national flower, growing in abundance on the mountainslopes…

Eating is the most popular pastime, with Calamari followed by soft serve ice cream, and bobotie followed by homebaked South African delicasies, and seafoodsoups followed by long walks by the sea…and…and…

 

We taste the sun, the salty sprays of the seas, we hear the cry of the gulls,  we pick up shells and turn them into memories, our heads spin from the Merlots and Cabernets, we drown ourselves in the magic of the breath taking sunsets and revel in the beauty of the mountains. We laugh with our friends and family. We sail on the blue waters with billowing sails…

The sun makes room for the the moon far too soon, but we don’t think about time, we just live each glorious day to the full, filled with gratitude and appreciation and a healthy zest for livin……life is good.

Five things

I was asked by Jack from Redacted recipes  and by Equal opportunity kitchen to reveal five things about myself.

Nothing comes close to a good, unflavoured, dark roasted, full bodied coffee. I may only have one or two cups a day, but it must be the best.

The best snack is a simple tomato sandwich; fresh bread, a knob of butter, thick slices of tomato, salt and pepper…and a healthy appetite.

Fresh salt is my weak spot. I have at least 5 different kinds in my pantry, always. A good grey sea salt for pasta, kosher salt for more delicate cooking, fleur de sel for my tomato sandwiches, Maldon saltflakes for fish, some salt crystals for meats and rose coloured Himalayan rocksalt to grind over salads….

I become a vegetarian at least once a year….for almost a week long.

I prefer salty foods to sugary ones. Actually it is the other way round I think. No, I’m sure, salty foods. No..o.. let me just think a bit more…..have to finish my ice cream first, it’s melting….

I now on my turn, ask the following five people to reveal five things about themselves:

Sylvia at Lavidaenbuenosairesyafines

Syrie at allthingsnice

Hilda at Dhangitskitchen

Ahn at Ahnsfoodblog

Happy cook at Mykitchentreasures