COFFEE CAKE WITH CINNAMONY-SUGARY STUFF ON TOP

Sundays are still difficult for me in France. 

I want to cook, bake, meet up with friends, go to a movie, have a drink together. No schedule, just go with the flow of the day. Holiday time is even more difficult. Going out always meant bumping into a friend, which led to a drink, a trip to see Christmas lights, just hanging out. 

I'm not being whiny; it is what it is. My friends are not here or not close enough to show up at the door unannounced and welcomed. I'm not sure if that will ever exist for me here; I really don't think it exists even for French people. A day filled with happenstance and no rdv? Doubtful. 

Maybe I'll make a coffee cake.

Cake: 

57g butter melted 

1 egg 

1/8 tsp salt 

1 cup buttermilk 

Zest from one clementine (don't zest it yet)

250g flour 65T

60g sugar, which includes a packet of vanilla sugar (@ 11g)

1.5 tsp baking powder 

½ tsp cinnamon 

½ tsp powdered coriander 

Topping: 

115g butter 

100-105g muscovado sugar 

1T flour 

3/4 tsp cinnamon 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Cake: 

In a large bowl fork mix all dry ingredients except the salt. 

In a medium bowl melt butter in oven, leave out to cool. Zest the clementine into the melted butter. 

In medium bowl whisk salt, buttermilk and egg into cooled butter. Add this liquid mixture to the dry mixture. Mix well; it’s a dense dough. Spread into an 8” cake greased pan. 

Take about a 1/3 of the butter and with your fingers shred it into the topping mixture till crumbly. Spread this mixture on top of the cake. Slightly swirl it around the cake. You can't really 'swirl' but sorta try; it will make dents and pocket, don’t worry. Cut the rest of the butter into small pieces and sprinkle it on the top of the cake. Bake in oven for 30-35 minutes. Let cool in pan till butter is absorbed into the cake. 

Eat the clementine, have a piece of cake with hot coffee. 

ZUCCHINI WHOLE WHEAT MUFFINS W/FLAX

It's only June in California, and already I have found 5 huge zucchini left on my doorstep.  

6 muffins

3/4 cup whole wheat
1/4 cup flax meal
1tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp or good pinch
1/4 tsp good allspice

1/4 cup nice strong honey
scant 1/4 tsp maple extract (very strong stuff)
1 large egg
1/4 cup canola or light oil
some zests from a lemon
9.5 - 10 oz (270-275gm) the whole zucchini quickly pulse-chopped in Cuisinart (keep liquid)

(if you want: small handful walnuts, toasted, finely chopped or/and some currents)

In a sieve over a med bowl, add first six ingredients. Put aside.
In the mixing bowl, mix the egg, oil, extract, honey and Cuisinart-ed zucchini (easier to measure honey if you measure the oil first).

Sift dry ingredients into the med bowl. If using currants/walnuts add them now to the sifted mixture.
Pour dry bowl stuff into the wet bowl stuff. Fold well with spatula.
Put aside while prepping pan and oven (give the baking powder time to start working).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees convection, a 'little higher if not convection. Butter well a 6 muffin tin, including top of pan. When oven heated to right temperature, fill tin completely full to top with batter. Put in oven.

350F, 20-25 minutes, until lightly browned and pick comes out clean. Cool in pan @ 10 minutes.

VELOUTÉ AUX CHÂTAIGNES ET AU LARD

Velouté aux châtaignes et au lard

toujours y'a des conneries avec des recettes dans Saveurs 
(Spécial fête hors séries no26 hiver 2016)

dec. 2016

-3C. chez lidl, marché de noël, promenade en Allemagne,apéro avec des amies. la soupe elle nous attends ce soir.

50-70 cl de bouillon de volaille, selon la consistance souhaitée (mois de bouillon plus d'eau chaud)

1 bocal de 400 g de châtaignes au naturel (420 g marque Carrefour dans une bouteille pellées au feu)

40 g de noisettes entiers

20 g environs de beurre

10 cl de crème liquide (plus - jusqu’à 25 cl)

8 tranches fines de poitrine fumée

1 petit oignon (moitié d'un très petit. si plus on a le goût d'oignon et pas du châtaigne)

1 brin de persil plat (ou cerfeuil or curly parsley)

Pelez l'oignon et hachez-le. Faites le revenir sans coloration dans le beurre pendant 4-5 min. Ajoutez les châtaignes puis versez le bouillon. Faites cuire à petits bouillons pendant 20 min. Mixez avec la crème et ajustez l'assaisonnement. 

Faites dorer les tranches de poitrine fumée et les noisettes sur 2 plaques différentes pendant 10-15 min. dans le four à 180C.

Retirez les peaux des noisettes en les frottant dans un torchon puis hachez-les. Ciselez le persil.

Servez le velouté avec la poitrine fumée croustillante et les noisettes hachées. Parsemez d'un peu de persil, poivrez et ajoutez éventuellement un filet d'huile de noix (si vous voulez…)

The instructions for these recipes on Pedaler, they probably make sense only to me. Ask if you have questions.

GRATIN D'ENDIVE AVEC DU JAMBON CUIT (SANS BÉCHAMEL)

Gratin d'endive avec du jambon cuit 

(sans béchamel)
..it's my mother who made this when I was a child, then my wife, now me. And now you, ... my wife. (...Michel)

déc. 2016. 

Il faisait froid, froid, froid dehors avec du brouillard. Les luminaires de noël étaient très lumineuse.

4 belles endives

170 grammes de fromage râpé du--comté est mieux, mais on peut se servir de gruyère, du emmental…

4 tranches du jambon

qq. noisettes du beurre

qq. filets d'huile d'olive assez pour cuire les endive dans une poêle

Cuire les endives avec l'huile d'olive dans une poêle doucement, couvert pendant au moins 20-30.min.

Regardez-les chaque 5-10 min., tournez-les sur chaque face. Enlevez les feuilles extérieures s'ils deviennent brûlés.

Préchauffer le four à 200 C,  gradin 2

Quand c'est fini de cuire, laissez-les refroidir (un peu). Enrober-les avec le jambon, mettre dans un plat en pyrex. Saupoudrez-les avec le fromage, un peu de poivre et une pincée du noix de muscade. Parsemez le beurre au dessus.

Cuire pendant 15 min. regardez-les quelque fois pour voir si le fromage est bien gratiné.Servez-les tout de suite, et bon appétit !!! 

The instructions for these recipes on Pedaler, they probably make sense only to me. Ask if you have questions.

QUINOA TABBOULEH

Quinoa Tabbouleh
I leave for France soon and must clean out my fridge...




juin, 2015
I want to go I want to stay I want to go I want to stay...

2 - 3 bunches curly parsley with small, young leaves, stems removed.

1 small bunch of mint leaves.

Handful of ciboulette.

1 zucchini

1 hot house cucumber

1 – 2 lemons plus some zest.

olive oil

salt

pepper

1 cup quinoa

tsp of butter or olive oil

70 – 85 grams sun-dried tomatoes, finely chopped

(I use 1 package Trader Joe’s dried tomatoes)

Peel cucumber, cut in half, scoop out seeds. Clean zucchini,
cut in half, scoop out seeds (if any). Place both, cut sides up on a plate,
sprinkle liberally with salt. Let sit while quinoa cooks.

Cook the quinoa:

In a pot put quinoa, 2 cups water, the butter (or oil).
Bring to boil, then add finely chopped tomatoes, cover and simmer for @20 minutes until almost all the water is absorbed. Remove from heat, fluff with a fork, keep covered and let cool completely.

Rinse and pat dry the cucumber and zucchini, loosely
big-dice. With Cuisinart, chop into small pieces. Place in very large bowl.

Chop finely together in batches, the parsley, the mint
and ciboulette. Place in bowl with other stuff. Add freshly ground pepper @ 7 turns. Add cooled quinoa and tomatoes. Mix well.

Now, this is really by taste and how much/little oil you like in your tabbouleh. 

Lightly salt. Add some zest then add the juice from one lemon and a few filets of olive oil, mix well. Taste, see if it needs more salt or pepper. Let it sit just a few minutes and see if you need more lemon juice and olive oil. Gets better with time in the fridge - lasts me a week of eating.

The instructions in the recipes on Pedaler, they probably make sense only to me. Ask if you have questions.

RECIPE/RECETTE: BEET HUMMUS

Beet Hummus
(Based on a recipe by Clotilde Dusoulier)

300 grams beets par-cooked
35-40 grams tahini
1/2 shallot
1 tsp. olive oil
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp du sel
@ 10 twists of the saveur pepper

Mishn everything in a cusinart at pulse. Tastes better the next day.




Recipes on Pedaler probably only make sense to me. They are here so I don't forget what I did.
If you can comprehend my scratch-notes, yay for you! Ask if you have questions.

RECIPE/RECETTE: ANN'S CHEESE MADELEINES

Anne's Cheese Madeleines

100 grams flour
5 grams levure chimique
50 grams sugar
70 grams butter
2 eggs
120 grams comté rapé
1/2 citron
a pinch of salt ( 2 grams)

Faites together and let settle in the frigo for about 15 minutes. Put in prepared madeleine mold (Anne used silicone). Cook at about 180C for 20 - 25 minutes.


Recipes on Pedaler probably only make sense to me. They are here so I don't forget what I did. If you can comprehend my scratch-notes, yay for you! Ask if you have questions.

RECIPE/RECETTE: WHOLE EGG MAYONNAISE

Whole Egg Mayonnaise
When I arrived in France, mayonnaise sans mustard was sometimes difficult to find. I add a bit of  dijon or grain mustard (moutard à l'ancienne), if I wanna feel oh, so french.

1 egg from Madame Lapin's farm
a good pinch to a 1/4 tsp. salt
a good pinch to 1/8 tsp paprika
a gooder pinch to a h. 1/4 tsp of white pepper
a scant 1/2 cup sunflower, colza or grapeseed oil
@ 1 T lemon juice (a squigh from half a lemon)

Everything at room temperature, please. Let the magic begin...

WHO TOOK THE TUMERIC?

I've prepared this recipe from the french Saveurs, no. 172 twice so far.  In France with sole,  which is such an amazing beautiful, delicate fish (too delicate I think, for this sauce) and last night at Beth's, with shrimp.

The recipe does not tell you what to do with the teaspoonful of tumeric asked for; la-doink. Tumeric is cool and groovy and a wonderful surprise to this sauce, but tumeric for me, can sometimes be overpowering and bitter if used to extreme.  I used half the amount indicated and shoved it in during the sauce-making process, though it's probably sprinkled on somewhere towards the end - who knows.. . 

The sauce was pretty yummerful with shrimp. Everything was yummerful at last night's meal. Tangerine Negronis, filo stuffed with mushrooms, pomelo salad with sunflower seeds, roasted carrots... wow, simply yummerful.