Qu'est que c'est que Jamie aime?

It's been difficult getting my manicured hands dirty in the kitchen with so many fun holiday parties. I like parties. And I like champagne. And recently I've really enjoyed vodka gimlets. I've been delinquent about blogging in the past month, but in case someone does read this, I thought I'd write a posting about the restaurants I like in France. Yes, unusual, considering I only write about my own delicious creations because I'm so super duper in the kitchen, but I can be unpredictable. I also want to jot this down before I forget some must must go to places. The French basically only eat French food. And why shouldn't they when their cuisine is pretty much based on butter sauces and cream and truffles. There's an abundance of French restaurants, but most of them are crap. I kid you not. However, if you are reading this, you are in luck. Because I have great insight into the best restaurants, mostly in the Paris region, and I have great taste in what's good. The list below reflects my subjective opinion, but once again, I have great taste in what's good. Especially when it comes to good food.

Alain Ducasse at Hotel Plaza-Athenee

Prices are steep, but the whole experience was amazing. I worked here too, so compared to the amount of work that goes into the food, I'd say the menu is underpriced. I was pleasantly surprised by the lightness of the food and then they gave me a tour of the wine cellar. And they gave me homemade caramel to take home cause I loved it so much. The poulet de Bresse with albufera sauce was one of the best things ever and I could eat it every meal. Probably even for breakfast.

L'Ambroisie

I would think prices are steep, but I didn't pay for it so I don't know the exact damage it would do. Inside a beautiful old aristocratic urban mansion, the food was very traditional French and the service was impeccable. I give a 20 out of 10 for service. I dropped my napkin on the floor without knowing and someone came and picked it up with a fork and spoon, chopstick style and replaced it with a fresh new one. That's some service. He probably wasn't French. Anyhow, the fois gras mousse with morel mushrooms are their signature appetizer they've served for the past 25 years and I could probably eat it for breakfast. It was so yummy.

Michel Guerard at Les Pres d'Eugenie

This place is way in rural France near bordeaux. But worth the trip in my not so humble opinion. The chef still works in the kitchen and he's 78! Everything is wonderful wonderful wonderful. I'd imagine this place is what heaven is like. His signature dish is this one called the soft pillow of mushrooms and its this delicate ravioli with mushrooms and truffle with an amazing cream sauce with more morels and chanterelles and truffles. It really looks like a soft pillow and I would like to sleep in the sauce every night. This is probably my #1 pick among the gastronomic restaurants.

Auberge le Quincy

I stumbled upon this by accident cause a friend wanted to meet near the ghetto parts of Paris. I rarely travel to 2 digit arrondissement's, but I can't always be selfish or I'd have no friends. And it was soooooooo good! The place is open only 4 days a week. Tues-Fri and it's only cash or check. 2 senior citizens own the place and they are hilarious! Everything on the menu was so to my liking! It's really important to order the ice cream cause they bring you either a whole bottle of grand marnier or rum and you can drink the whole bottle for all they care. The food is more midi-pyrenees style. Could be heavy for the untrained stomach. I always take alka-seltzer afterwards and whip out my fat pants for the next week, but it is soooooooooo worth it. It was listed in a recent article in the now obliterated Gourmet magazine. The article was written by Ruth Reichl and I total gave her respek as editor in cheif after that. Booyakasha!

Evasion

Maybe one of the best bistro's ever. It's sort of in the business district so not many people know of it. It's bistro food, refined. And they might just serve the best Paris-Brest after this one pastry shop in the 7th. This place is just really really good.

Pizza Chic

They serve pretty decent pizza, but the place is just so cute and chic and the clientele is so chic and fab. I like chic and I like fabulous. I don't like pizza so much though. But still, the food is really good.

Il Corte

I once read or heard somewhere that this little italian joint was on the favorites list of 2008 chef of the year Yannick Alleno. I could be hallucinating. But it's really really quaint. It's on the same street at Hotel Costes somewhere. You enter into a very average looking Haussmanian style building and then there's a very pretty courtyard where you'd like to bring out a couple cases of champagne and have a picnic. And then you see the restaurant. The food was very traditional italian I think. Italian food isn't one of my favorites...but I do not dislike it. 

Le Comptoir de Relais Christine

I prefer going on weekends when they have the regular a la carte menu cause sometimes they serve things I'm not too fond of on the weekday prix fix. And I like to have variety and I like making my own decisions, rather than having my menu planned out for me. I also love this place cause now they have opened this place next door called Avant Comptoir so you can get little nibbles and drinks as you wait for your table. And Avant Comptoir makes these lip smacking cherry pickles. It sounds gross, but it was truly lip smackingly good. Just make sure you don't get the crazy head waitress with short hair and glasses. She's disagreable and she stresses me out everytime I see her and when she talks, she spits all over the table. It's a true French experience.

Restaurant at Hotel Amour
This place is another Costes brother enterprise. Hence the food is always consistently pretty good. But this made it to my fav list because the place is just so much fun! The clientele is a great mix of snobs and hipsters and they have a super fun menu. The only place in Paris where they serve a bacon cheeseburger with real american style bacon. And just the thought of the hotel itself is fun. If you suddenly feel the urge for some sexy time, you can go rent a room by the hour.

Ferdi
A really tiny tiny place but so fab. The clientele is an amazing mix of hipsters, artists and fashion people. The food is pretty excellent. The burger here is also good. And the ambiance is just so much fun. I once witnessed the owner kicking out some American girl for her impudence. She had no idea what was going on and I wanted to help her but I was chicken and didn't want to be the next one getting the boot. So I watched. Another fun French experience.

Le Voltaire
The food here is quite perfect. Except for the price. But I know a little secret. Just order the Oeuf Mayonnaise appetizer and some tap water. Total bill = 90 centimes. Yes. You read that right. 90 cents in euro terms or I guess its like $1.35 to be exact. You get this ginormous platter of salad with one hard boiled egg covered in mayonnaise. It really is a meal in itself. But you know if you did that, the French will get all up in your ass and swear at you in their beautiful French language, which will sound like someone's singing anyways. So don't do that. But if someone does, please let me know. I was too chicken, so got the steak tartar and it was dam good. I think it's because they used Heinz ketchup instead of the usual gross Amora brand. The food here is really quite good, but it's not one of my favorites. It only made it to my favorites list because of the Oeuf Mayonnaise. Oeuf Mayonnaise is my ultimate favorite appetizer of choice!

I'll try to do some more cooking in the next year. Happy new years and a bientot!

Great American Past Times Made Better

I once worked at Alain Ducasse in Paris and everyone in the kitchen took turns cooking dinner for the chefs. My specialty is complicated french sauces with delicately filleted white fish, but the chef told me i must make something from 'chez toi.' What the hell does that mean, right? America is just one big collection of everything else that exists in the world. Anyways, I didn't argue and question the chef. Mostly because I couldn't phrase my words in French. All the frog's in the kitchen asked if I were making hamburgers. Jerks. So I told them hotdogs. I really couldn't think of something that was typical American other than Heinz ketchup. I love love love ketchup but the French despise it. Or at least they pretend to be disgusted by it. On the big day, I said I'll be making pain de beouf, or a loaf of meat. Nobody could imagine what this weird American thing was because they were only used to eating steak frites and croque monsieurs. As I was prepping and making my meatloaf I could feel everybody lingering to watch me fail. They kept wanting to help by adding some chicken stock in the pan with the meat and rubbing some butter or oil on the loaf. The kitchen staff were even more confused when I said the loaf was served with a ketchup sauce. They asked why I wouldn't use mustard. Weirdo's. It's obvious that meatloaf wouldn't be meatloaf without ketchup. It's be a gross disgusting meatloaf. I like meatloaf because it's another excuse for me to douse my food in ketchup and not look like a complete freak. I was sweating balls by the time I finished my creation but I was confident. I'm super Jamie! Goddess of the kitchen! And also because when I asked for some beef and veal, they brought me beef and veal tenderloin. How could a meatloaf not taste good. It'd be good raw! Well, most times, meatloaf can look like spam, but I have my secrets, which I shall reveal below. In conclusion, the chef's loved it! They said they were pleasantly surprised and the sauce was amamazing. Obviously. And then everyone else wanted in on the leftovers. Here is my meatloaf I made the other day. The sauce should have gone on perpendicular to the length of the loaf...but oh well...hindsight.


Close up of the interior. I like close ups.

 

Jamie's Fantastic Meatloaf

It's really important to make tons of ketchup sauce cause everybody's going to want to drink it and also its what goes inside the loaf to season it to perfection.

FOR 8 (6 for hogs)

INGREDIENTS:
For the Loaf:
1lb ground veal
1lb ground pork
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 small carrot, finely chopped
2 small celery ribs, finely chopped
4 sliced of white bread, cut into small cubes
2 cups of whole milk
1 egg
3 tablespoons of parsley, chopped
1/2 tablespoon of fresh thyme leaves
For the Sauce:
4 cups of Heinz Ketchup
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 large red bell pepper (or 2 small), finely chopped
1 overflowing tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce
2 bay leaves
Freshly ground pepper

PREPARATION:
Make the sauce. Saute the onions and peppers in oil until soft. About 5 minutes. Add all the ketchup, bay leaves and pepper. Let simmer for about 10 minutes. If the sauce seems too thick, add a little bit of water. Let cool.

While the sauce is cooling, prepare the meat loaf. Put the cubes of bread in a big bowl with the milk and let it soak. Saute the onion, carrot and celery until very tender. Squeeze the milk out of the bread and put them n a big mixing bowl, add the sauteed veggies, meat, egg, parsley and a cup of the sauce. Get your hands dirty and mix everything.

On a baking pan, shape the meat into a nice looking loaf, baste with a little bit of the ketchup sauce and put it into a 350 degree oven for one and a half hours. Serve with lots of ketchup sauce.

Best Roasted Chicken Ever

I went spinning for the first time in 4 years a couple days ago. And almost died! But it was so worth it. I walked out at least 3 pounds lighter and was ready for a gluttonous weekend. I was dizzy and starving so I decided to roast a whole chicken for myself and scarf it down. I dropped by the closest whole foods, which is still far, picked up a 3lb chicken and other herbs and tested out my new convection oven. The oven did an okay job. I did an amazing job though. I've roasted poultry before, but this time the color was so perfect, the skin was perfectly crisp and the meat was perfectly cooked and just sooooooo juicy.

Another picture with a juicy morsel of tender breast meat

Best Roast Chicken Ever
Roasted chicken is always a crowd pleaser. But only when it's good. It's just rude to serve bad food. Chicken is one of the easiest things to make, but it's hard to make well. Also because it lacks so much flavor when cooked wrong. But this recipe should be fail proof. The meat was so moist and it was good both hot and cold.

FOR 4

INGREDIENTS:
3lb organic chicken
2 sprigs of rosemary
20 cloves of garlic
1/2 lemon
10 fingerling potatoes
Salt, pepper, butter, oil

PREPARATION:
Preheat oven to 400 (200 celcius) degrees. Clean, peel and parboil the potatoes for about 5 minutes in salted water. While the potatoes cook, clean the chicken, stuff the cavity with the rosemary, lemon and half the garlic. Tie the chicken with some kitchen string and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Drain the potatoes and put it in the baking pan with the remaining garlic. Put the chicken on top of the potatoes and garlic. rub a little bit of butter and oil and pop it in the oven for exactly 1 hour. After about 40 minutes if the chicken gets too dark, cover it with foil and continue cooking.

What do I eat when in Paris?

When I moved to Paris early last year, I read Mark Bittman's NYtimes articles on Steak Frites. He lists 5 different places and I've tried all but 1. One of the venues on the list is Relais de l'Entrocote. I went last year for the first time and the fries were amazing! BUT, they wouldn't give me any ketchup. Dam frog's. The steak was also pretty great. But it comes swimming in this green buttery sauce, which Mark Bittman describes as a tarragon herb butter sauce. Not completely true. It is and herby chicken liver sauce. You can't taste much of the liver, but there's an odd texture and color to it. I didn't like it that first time but I was able to cleanse my palate after with some profiteroles, so that was fine. I was in Paris last week and revisited Relais de l'entrocote. This time, I like the sauce even less. I liked it so little, it actually upset my stomach and I was sick all night. Being sick was awful and so painful, but the best diet EVER! I was back to my svelte body from a decade ago! I couldn't eat anything all next day and by evening time, I was starving. So what do I eat after being sick? A rare bacon cheeseburger from Hotel Amour. But I asked for a salad instead of the fries. And the salad was so delish! The next day, I tried making the salad and was totally successful!
Hotel Amour Salad

INGREDIENTS:
Salad greens (I used baby bibb lettuce type greens)
1 small red onion, sliced thin
1 large bouquet of flat leaf parsley
10 basil leaves
1 clove of garlic
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
Salt and Pepper to taste

PREPARATION:
Using a hand mixer or a food processor, puree all ingredients except the salad greens. Season to taste and toss with red onions and lettuce. Add roughly cut tomatoes if you want. Serve immediately.

I'm never just satisfied with just a salad for dinner. Cause I be a hog. So I also made a fantastic herb, mustard potato salad!
Jamie's Herby Mustard Potato Salad

INGREDIENTS:
3 medium potatoes
1/2 shallot, chopped fine
4 tablespoons capers
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1/4 cup dijon mustard
1/2 cup EVOO
Pepper

PREPARATION:
Peel the potatoes and boil until soft. While the potatoes cook prepare the herb mustard sauce. In a big bowl, mix all ingredients. When the potatoes are ready, cut them into thick round slices and mix with the mustard sauce. Serve immediately.

Korean Dinner

There are 4 places you can find good Korean food. Korea, obviously. LA LA Land, obviously, and Flushing. But there is only one place in the world where you can find amazing Korean food that's almost orgasmic. In my house, obviously. Because I'm the best cook ever and I have very good taste in good food. Before I left Paris, I invited some friends over and made some of my favorite dishes because I felt like fishing for compliments. I made some japchae, bibimbop and a spicy pork dish. I made a bunch of stuff, but once again was busy eating and forgot to take pictures of some of them.

Spicy Pork
This was just enough spicy to get some perspiration going and just so nicely caramelized because of the ground pear I added to the sauce. It got nice and sticky like a spicy bbq marinade. And it was just so very slightly sugary to offset the heat. I tried using two different cuts of pork. Shoulder cut and belly. The belly is by far superior. Cause as we all may not know, fat makes food taste exponentially better. But the shoulder cut wasn't so bad cause it's leaner and less greasy. But definitely not as much flavor. The belly has a better texture in the mouth as well with the marriage of the chewy meat and the silky fat with the caramelized outside.

Close up. I like close ups.

 

Bibimbop
I like these when its in the hot stone bowl. But since in Paris, my stove was induction, there was no way I was gona get that fancy. I also like bibimbop with a fried egg. But I was slaving all day and didn't feel like frying 6 eggs last minute. Usually, people just add some gochujang (red pepper paste) and sesame oil. But I like to make my own red pepper paste sauce with a mixture of some of my very own secret ingredients. With my secret sauce, the bibimbop is just one of the most fantastic things you'll have ever experienced.

I'll add some more of my Korean creations in the future. So check back. I haven't listed ingredients and measurements because Korean food is mostly made by guesstimation. And also because if I reveal all my cooking secrets, I won't be very special. But if you really must know my secrets, leave a comment or send me an email!

Canned Fish Can Be Good

One cold winter, the pretty pretty princess went skiing in Courchevel. The princess liked diamonds, so she followed signs to a black diamond slope. It sounded like it would be special. But oh la la la la la la...little did she know. The black diamonds were actually ominous signs! The princess fell and tumbled down the harsh slopes of the French Alps. And all she wanted was to be next to a flaming hot outdoor heater sipping on ice cold rose wine from Provence, maybe even eating a little nibble of some sort. The princess took out her mini magic mirror from her Moncler pocket and asked "magic mirror, where could I find such a place?" And the mirror replied, "a place like this exists next to the helipad my pretty pretty princess. In a wood cabin called Cap..." The princess fell face down and the mirror broke into a million little pieces before it could tell her the name of this place. The princess felt hopeless, but then she heard a loud noise over her head. It was a helicopter! Alas, she was saved. She followed the helicopter with all her might, and what do you know. A wood cabin called Cap Horn was standing right next to the helipad! There was outdoor seating with heaters and the music was pumpin'! The princess was ecstatic! She sat down and demanded immediate service. She was feeling dehydrated and really needed some rose wine. As she was waiting for her beverage, the princess was checking out the crowd and noticed the table next to her eating something from a can with such gratification. She had to know what this delicious canned good was. Because from her experience, there was nothing good coming out of a can. It was canned sardines in oil! Yuck! But she tried it anyways. The sardines came with some toast, chopped shallots, chives and butter. The princess buttered a piece of toast then topped it with a sardine, some shallots and chives. She closed her eyes and popped the dreadful looking thing into her mouth. But what a pleasant surprise this little thing...the melange of tastes were so very delightful. She couldn't stop eating and totally forgot to drink for the rest of the meal. Since then, the princess very much enjoys trying different brands of canned sardines!

Below is a sardine thang I prepared. This skinless, boneless sardine brand is Albert Menes and it was quite good. But so far, I prefer Rodel and Ramon Pena.
FOR 2 (apero)

INGREDIENTS:
1 can of skinless, boneless sardines
1/2 shallot, chopped very fine
1 tablespoon capers
Freshly ground black pepper

PREPARATION:
Arrange the sardines on a plate to your liking. Top with shallots, capers and pepper. Serve with some toast and good butter.

Cake From a Box

OH, how I love cake from a box! I know everybody secretly lurvs it but won't ever admit it. It's kinda like loving the Backstreet Boys. Everybody loves them, and knows all the lyrics, but pretends to hate em...My ultimate fav has definitely got to be the yellow cake from Betty Crocker. It's by far the most moistest brand with the little pudding sauce they give you to add into the batter. I still haven't been able to replicate that perfectly exquisite moistness. But honestly, do i really care to be able to make a cake that good from scratch? Not really. I mean...for $4 I can buy a pre-mixed cake mix that tastes better than any famous pastry chefs cake. The other day though, I wanted something chocolaty. So I got a box of Duncan Hines cake mix with Betty Crocker frosting. The cake was great but it once again confirmed my strong belief that Betty Crocker cake mix is superior.

Semi Homemade with Jamie Kim!

I've been feeling real lazy these days and also been trying to get rid of all the dried goods in the cupboards. I had some super delicious artisanal sausages that were begging to be eaten, so I made some divine pork sausage stuffing! Um, um! Just look at that picture. Doesn't it make your mouth water? Could you guess it was semi-homemade? Probably yes, but who cares? Everybody knows Stovetop stuffing be one of the greatest American inventions of the century! Instant stuffing-wise, I really like both Pepperidge Farm and Stove Top. But for this recipe, I was forced to use Stove Top cause I be living in Paris at the moment and that's all we got. You could use either brand really.

Divine Pork Sausage Stuffing
FOR 3 (as a main course and the one and only course)
The package says the stuffing is for 6 people as a side dish. But who are they kidding, right? 2 of us ate the whole thing, with all the extra additions, and it was the perfect amount. But my posse be hogs so to split this as the main course among 3 seems plausible for the untrained stomach.

INGREDIENTS:
1 box of Stove Top stuffing
6 fresh artisanal pork sausage links, casings removed
7 pieces of dried cepe mushrooms
1 medium onion, chopped fine
2 celery ribs, chopped fine
2 carrots, chopped very fine
2 garlic cloved, chopped very fine
1 3/4 cups water
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon of fresh thyme leaves
Freshly ground black pepper

PREPARATION:
Boil the water in a small pot. Then add the dried cepes and set aside till the mushrooms have been resuscitated. While the mushrooms are resting, chop the celery, onion, carrot and garlic. In a saute pan, add 2 tablespoons of butter and cook all the chopped veggies and the thyme on medium/high heat for about 15 minutes. Remove the now moist mushrooms from the water and chop them into little pieces and add to the chopped veggies. Once the mushrooms have been removed from the water, add the remaining 2 tablespoon of butter and bring it back to a boil. In a big bowl, place the stuffing, then pour the buttery mushroom water on top and put a cover on top and let sit. Cook the sausages in a pan until completely cooked through. Cut the sausages into bite size pieces with a wooden spoon while its cooking. Once the stuffing has soaked up the liquid and looks spongy and moist, add all the sauted veggies, sausages and some freshly ground black pepper and mix all the ingredients with a fork. Work gently to keep the stuffing fluffy and serve immediately!

The more edible looking salad

Like i mentioned several times before, i really don't like tomatoes. But I seem to be always receiving heirloom tomatoes. I really haven't cooked anything in a while, so here is another post of a gorgeous salad, which can be eaten all year round but is particularly attractive during the summer because of its light, crisp crunchiness. Very similar to my previous post on The Better Greek Salad, but this is a lot prettier looking. I'd say 2 michelin star pretty!
Below is a more detailed picture. I like pictures. It helps me visualize. Because I have a poor imagination.
FOR 2
1 Kirby cucumber (or Persian cucumber, whatever your store calls it, mine calls it Mini)
1 red heirloom tomato, sliced very thin
1 cup feta cheese, crumbled
7 radishes, very thinly mandolined
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
Freshly ground black pepper

PREPARATION:
Peel the cukes and mandolin them. In a bowl, add the cukes, vinegar, sugar and pepper. Set aside while preparing other ingredients. Slice the tomatoes, mandolin the radishes and prepare the cheese. When everything is ready, start stacking. Arrange the tomatoes on the bottom in a circle, then add the crumbled cheese in the middle and add some radishes. Top with the seasoned cucumbers in a nice pretty circle and serve!

The Better Greek Salad

Haven't posted anything in a while. This is because I've been traveling a ton without my heavy computer. It makes for more comfortable airport security passage. So, here is a salad I made about 3 weeks ago. It's kinda like a Greek salad but BETTER! Why? Because I made it. Just kidding. It's just better for me cause I took out all the things I don't like in a greek salad, like onions and olives. Then I added some stuff I actually like to eat that don't give me dragon breath or make me drink a gallon of water after, such as radicchio and radishes.
Basically, this salad is not really a Greek salad made better. It's just a really delicious crispy and crunchy salad. I didn't even go grocery shopping for any of the ingredients. I basically took whatever was about to go bad in the fridge, mandolined the hell out of them and took a picture. But it was still really very good.

FOR 2 (big portions)

INGREDIENTS:
1 cucumber, peeled and mandolined fine
15 radishes, mandolined fine
1/2 radicchio
1 cup feta cheese (I used those ones already cut into cubes in oil with provence herbs)
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
Freshly ground pepper

PREPARATION:
Prepare the cucumber. In a big mixing bowl, add mandolined cukes with vinegar and sugar. Let sit while you prepare the other ingredients. Add the mandolined radishes to the cukes, then add the roughly chopped radicchio to the mix. crush the feta cheese with a fork and add to the salad. Toss and serve immediately!

Kimbap or is it Kimpop? Maybe Kimbop?

Whatever the correct spelling, it's delicious as hell. Why? Because I said so! And I know a lot about what tastes delish. It's a sort of special skill I have.
It's really difficult to find decent sushi in Paris. This is mostly because French people seem to be afraid of eating raw fish. They eat carpaccio and steak tartar, but scared of raw fish...I find that a bit bizarre but...Actually, scratch difficult and leme sub that with impossible. And even when you can find edible sushi, sometimes I just crave food from home. Yea, in case I forgot to mention and you couldn't tell by my profile pic, I'm a Kook. And in Korea, we make our sushi, or maki rolls to be exact, with completely cooked ingredients, other than the occasional cucumber or something. And we call is Kimbap.

Why the name Kimbap? Well, bap is rice in korean and Kimbap because my ancestors, being from the family Kim created it. That's why it's one of my favorite Korean food. It would be sacreligious not to like it.

Well, I made this for my French friend, who doesn't much enjoy sushi, and he lurved it! Why? Because I made it with tender love and care! We now eat Kimbap on a regular basis. Mostly Friday nights on the TGV so we can show off. I like to compare this to the French baguette sandwiches cause that's how we eat it in Korea. I can see all the people on the train gnawing on their rubbery baguette sandwiches from Brioche Doree and totally eyeing my beautiful creation. But I never share. Suckers!

This is very easy to make but the prep time is long. There is no set recipe for it because you can put in whatever you find in the fridge. In the picture above, I just took some finely sliced beef marinated in a special bulgogi dressing and cooked to perfection, cucumbers, daikons, yellow american cheese and some store bought julienned carrots that I quickly sauteed and rolled it with ease with the seaweed.

One of Americas Many Great Inventions

The Crumb Cake! The French definitely excel in most aspects of pastry and cuisine. But there are certain things they just don't have. Like jambalaya, meatloaf, real NY style cheesecake, peanut butter cookies...I could go on for a while longer...I just love eating so much! Really don't know why they don't sell crumb cakes in Paris. It's so easy to make and so cheap to make on top of that. And the streusel is so good. Think on my next batch, I'll add double the amount of crumbs. It gets so messy and falls everywhere and it's so much fun to pick up the crumbs with your fingers off the table and eat em. Kinda gross, but I know everyone does it.
Here is a more detailed picture. I love pictures. Without visual, I hate following recipe's. Maybe because I lack imagination. But whatever. The crumbs turned out perfect. And the cake was amamazing! I think the cake recipe could even be used for a cupcake! The cake bit tastes so perfectly not sweet that you may thing it's lowfat. But I do not cook lowfat. Lowfat is for sissy's. You have been warned so embrace yourself before you shovel the whole pan of crumb cake down your throat!
MAKES 1 9.5"X9.5" (24X24cm) pan

INGREDIENTS:
FOR CRUMBS:
40g light brown sugar
70g granulated sugar
1 cup (140g) flour
7 tablespoons (100g) butter, melted
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
FOR CAKE:
6 tablespoons (85g) butter
135g granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup (150ml) sour cream
1/4 teaspoon (1.5g) baking soda
1 teaspoon (5g) baking powder
1 1/4 cup (180g) flour

PREPARATION:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees (180 celcius)
to be continued...

Magazine on How Not to Cook!

I like to buy various cooking magazines and in the US, my personal fav is Gourmet. In France, I really like Elle a Table. The other weekend as I was traveling to St. Tropez, I bought this cooking magazine that pretty much tells you how not to cook. I mean, it's helpful in a way...I think. Helpful in a way that as long as you do the complete opposite of what they tell you, your dish will be a huge success. The magazine is called 'Cuisine Magazine.' But I think it should be called 'ne cuisine pas comme ca magazine.' I mean, you have to try really hard to create a magazine that turns me off from wanting to cook. I think I may have lost my appetite looking thru. It could be a great little dieting trick. Whenever I feel the urge to eat, I can flip through so I lose my appetite? To all you out there, never buy this magazine!!! I've definitely read cooking magazines where I thought they could do better, but was never disgusted. This magazine is disgusting defined!
I was being a huge dork and took a picture of one of the pages. I know that the hamburger is an American creation and we Americans do it best. But it's really not that hard to make even a mediocre burger. This magazine teaches you exactly what a burger should not look like.
I mean, seriously, who the hell stacks whole uncut veggies into a burger? And why is the cheese on the bottom most part of the burger? It's supposed to be over the pattie so it melts all nice and cheesy like the way any cheeseburger should be. The worst part of this picture is that you can see the bottom of the pattie completely burnt. Yuck! The food editor who created this burger should be fired and blacklisted at every cooking magazine. But then again, maybe it should be the chief editor that gets negged. He is the one who approved of this disgustingly creative burger and allowed it to take up a whole page of a magazine. Anyhow, I don't want to write anything too harsh about the magazine cause this is a public blog and I wouldn't want anyone to think im a complete psycho. I would like to end this post by pointing out my utter dislike and ginormous disappointment towards this magazine and would like to recommend that no one every buy this mag!!!

Jammin it

MAKES 1 jar

INGREDIENTS:
1½ cup (240g) black cherries, seeds removed and halved
1 cup (140g) black currents
1 cup (150g) sugar
2 tablespoons (30ml) of red wine
2 cardamom seeds

PREPARATION:
Wash the berries. Add all ingredients into a pot and let cook on medium heat until a cnady thermometer reaches 220 degrees (105 celcius). The consistency should be a little thick but still a bit watery.

Best Pound Cake EVER!

OK, so maybe not the best ever, but definitely amazing. And amazingly easy to make. I still think the frozen Sara Lee pound cake is my all time favorite. But this isn't so bad either. The ones they sell at starbucks are actually pretty good too. I could have added more poppy seeds, but too late now. Besides poppy seeds get stuck in my teeth sometimes. Not very attractive. You can't see the whole cake in the picture, but it looks pretty nice with a big belly bump in the middle that reveals the inner goods. The texture is just dense enough that you can't hit someone over the head with it, but bready enough to make it a good tea time snack with some dunking in tea or whatever other liquid. I wanted to do a lemon poppy, but no lemons in the house, so I used oranges instead. Gives it a real good flavor.MAKES 1 5"x9" cake

INGREDIENTS:
3 eggs
170g (1¼ cup) flour
170g (just a little less than 1 cup) sugar
170g (1½ sticks) butter, melted
2.5g (¼ teaspoon) baking powder
Zest of 2 oranges
1 tablespoon poppy seed
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

PREPARATION:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees (170 celcius).

Butter and flour mold and set aside. Melt the butter and set aside.

Beat the eggs in a bowl. Using a wisk add vanilla, zest and poppy seed and mix. Add sugar and mix. Add flour and baking powder and continue mixing with a wisk until homogenous. Add melted butter. Once everything is incorporated, pour the batter into mold and put it into oven right away. Bake for about 55 minutes. Once a toothpick comes out clean, take the cake out of the oven and the mold and let cool.

It's so easy!

Pizza from Nice

Last night, I came back from a tanfastic weekend in Provence to find Domino's coupons in the mail. I don't like pizza, but suddenly craved it so bad. I couldn't stop thinking about it so I made one today, in the spirit of Provence. I made a Pissaladiere, a pizza from Nice. This is a very weird pizza that contains all my least favorite ingredients in the world, but the combination is deadly. Deadly good that is. Pizza dough, onions, tomatoes, anchovies and olives. YUCK! But put together, you get this sweet caramelized oniony taste with a shockingly salty anchovie taste and a bite of oily olive and warm tender juices bursting out of the tomatoes!
It's actually a little more complicated than just piling things on top of each other. As easy as this is to make, it requires something very special. a virtue of some sort. Something I have a lot of. But not enough to spare...It's called patience. You have to make sure the onions are beautifully caramelized and almost melting off your tongue and the tomatoes are well confit-ed and are juicy and tender and give a slight tinge of sweetness. Isn't this pissaladiere oddly beautiful and mouthwatering looking?
MAKES 1 10inch (26cm) pie

INGREDIENTS:
1 10inch pizza dough
600g (about 1 lb) yellow onions
4 roma tomatoes
16 black olives
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 can or jar of good quality anchovies
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon thyme
1 tablespoon butter, or olive oil

PREPARATION:
Caramelize onions. Slice onions very fine. In a large pot (I prefer non-stick in this situations), add the butter, onions, garlic, thyme and sugar and cook on medium heat. You want the onions to cook through and let out their wonderful sticky juices. About 10 minutes. Once onions are translucent and cooked, raise the heat to medium/high and start the caramelization process. You will need to stick by the stove till the process is over. Using a wooden spoon, stir the onions pretty often so it doesn't burn. You will get all this great brown stuff on the bottom of the pan. Stir the onions and try to recuperate as much as possible. If you can't get it all to come off with the spoon, just add like a tablespoon or 2 of water. The water will deglaze the pan and continue the process until the onions are looking brown and succulent. This took me about 15-20 minutes, but if it takes you longer, don't worry. Just keep at it. Set aside.

Peel the tomatoes. You can cheat and buy already peeled tomatoes in a can, but it won't be as good. Make an X on the bottom of the tomatoes, or top, then dunk them in boiling water for about 10seconds. Then put them in ice cold water to stop the cooking. The peel should come off real easy. Cut each tomato into 4, seed and core. At this point, I confit-ed the tomatoes in the oven. Which is basically sprinkling them with a little olive oil, salt and sugar and drying them out a bit in a low temp oven like 200 degrees (100 celcius). This process really brings out the flavors of the tomatoes, but it is a lot of work, so you can just used sun dried tomatoes in oil or just raw tomatoes. When the tomatoes are ready, cut each piece again in half. You will have 16 pieces now. Set aside.

Preheat oven to pizza package direction. Mine said 375 degrees (190 celcius) for about 20 minutes. Assemble the pissaladiere. Spread the onions on the bottom, make a pretty design of some sort with the anchovies. If the anchovy fillets are too big, cut in half. Add the tomatoes to your liking as the olives. I halved the olives and added them. Then bake.

You can eat this hot, warm or cold and serve with a scrumptious side salad and some provence rose wine!

Dinner with Friends - Version Vegetarian

I love cooking! And I love having people over to cook for. It's more fun when you eat with a bigger group. I also like to test my concoctions on people and hear their praise. I take compliments very well. So I called over some friends, including one which is vegetarian. But thank goodness she's not vegan. I love butter too much. However, I ended up having 2 vegan dishes. Anyhow, the theme was eggs, berries and herbs. I served 5 courses and cheese and apero.

Apero
Mushroom cocotte with quail eggs
Decomposed ratatouille on tartine

Menu Soiree
Herb oeuf cocotte
Berry Easy Strawberry Salad
Salad Minuscule
Lemon Rosemary Cream Pasta
Assortment of Unpasteurized French Cheeses
Red Berries with Creme Anglaise

It was an aggressive menu for one person to prepare. But I am Mega Super Jamie, domestic goddess slash brilliant statistician and lover of champagne. I can do anything! Every dish was perfectly seasoned, perfect consistency, perfect everything! They are all pretty easy to make and I measured everything with excruciating precision so hope you try out some of the recipe's!!!

Mushroom Cocotte with Quail Eggs
FOR 4

INGREDIENTS:
16 small white button mushrooms
16 quail eggs
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1/4 cup creme fraiche (or mascarpone)
1/4 cup grated gruyere (or comte if available)

PREPARATION:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees (or 190 celcius).
Brush off the dirt from the mushrooms if there are any. Or gently wash them under cold water. Tear off the stalk. Lay the mushrooms on a baking sheet top side down. Add half a teaspoon of creme fraiche or mascapone, then gently crack an egg into the middle of the mushroom. Top with some parsley and cheese. Bake in a preheated oven for 10 minutes. Serve immediately.

Berry Easy Strawberry Salad
This salad is amazing and one of my favorite things to make. I kind of don't want to give out the recipe because I want to keep it to myself. But it's just too good not to share. The vinaigrette is so wonderfully silky and the best part is this is completely fat free and you can get all your daily vitamins in one dish! Well, maybe not calcium. Hope it becomes one of your very favorites!
FOR 4

INGREDIENTS:
1 package of prewashed salad greens (or just baby spinach works)
3 cups strawberries, cut into bit size pieces
4 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
Pepper

PREPARATION:
Make the vinaigrette. Take one cup of strawberries and sugar. Blend and make a smooth puree. In another bowl, take 4 tablespoons of the strawberry puree and 4 tablespoons of white balsamic vinegar and mix. Add pepper if you want. For the vinaigrette, you will want to use the same quantity of puree as the vinegar. And it's very important that you use white balsamic vinegar. It has just enough vinegariness that makes the salad so wonderful. The vinaigrette will be amazingly silky and brilliant, you don't need any oil. Mix the vinegar, salad greens and strawberries and serve immediately. Serve pepper mill to those who want to add some.

You'll have a little bit of the puree left. Use it to make more vinaigrette or do what I did. Make strawberry lemonade!

Salad Minuscule
I call this salad minuscule because I chopped everything into small tiny tiny bits. All the different colors mix so much better and the dish looks so much more vibrant. Besides, it’s more fun to eat it all mini. I feel so mini and petite eating teensy weensy pasta. I think I have some weird obsession with mini objects because I’m tall. You can also get every little piece of the ingredient in one bite so you can really taste the amazing mélange of freshness. Seriously though, there is absolutely nothing miniscule about this salad. I thought I was making enough for about 6 small plates, but I can never get my pasta measurements correct. They don’t look like much when uncooked. But whatever the case is, 5 of us ate it as the 2nd course of a 5 course dinner and left half. I took the leftovers on the TGV and I could see everyone staring with jealous eyes as they ate their store bought baguette sandwiches. How could they not be though! It’s such a beautiful and delicious dish!
FOR 6-8 (depending on appetite)

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups mini farfalle pasta (any mini pasta will work)
1 cup yellow tomatoes, chopped small (about 2 tomatoes)
1 cup red cherry tomatoes, chopped small (about 1lb = about 20 pieces)
1 cup chopped cucumbers, chopped small
1 cup black olives, chopped small
2 garlic cloves, crushed
4 tablespoons fresh chives, chopped
4 tablespoons fresh chervil, chopped
4 tablespoons fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
4 tablespoons fresh tarragon, chopped
4 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar (but any vinegar will work)
½ cup fruity delicious olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper

PREPARATION:
You can work in any order. Either cook the pasta to package direction, mine said 8 minutes to al dente, and set aside while the other ingredients are being prepped, or prep the other ingredients, set aside and then cook the pasta. Whichever suits you. I did the ladder. Make sure you wash everything, chop it small and in a big big bowl, mix. Add the cooked pasta and season. The olives are pretty salty so salt might not be necessary. Serve whenever.

This pasta is wonderful because you can add any ingredients in your fridge. But I find that the above combination works best for my taste buds. If you can’t find certain herbs, not a biggie. Just use whatever you have. I actually bought mint to add to the mix, but completely forgot about it. Think it would add a very nice freshness on a hot summer day. Chervil is a very common herb here in France, but I had the hardest time finding it while in NYC. Actually, I couldn’t find it at all. For those of you wondering what it is, it looks like very small flat leaf parsley and has a slight smell of tarragon. So just add more parsley and tarragon to the mix if you can’t find chervil.

Another little secret about this dish…I actually worked on it over a couple days. Like chop a little here and there when I had time. And I had these delicate, not spicy, little green and red peppers that I chopped up and added. It’s just such an easy dish and feeds so many! A perfect dish for any occasion!

Bon appetit!

Crudites and Funner Sauces

I always liked sauces and dips. Still lurv em! I wanted to jump start my detox with some healthy crudites loaded with essential vitamins and antioxidents. I think my spread is way better than anything in St. Tropez, although they have a cuter basket to serve the veggies. I made 3 different dips for the evening. Aioli (or garlic mayo), a blue cheese concoction and Jamie's very special dip. I then prepared some of my favorite veggies all nicely cut up, a huge head of cooked and ready to eat artichoke and bought some cooked organic madagascar shrimps. The dips were super fun and I felt so healthy, although...the dips were kinda mayo based.

Aioli (Garlic Mayonnaise)
MAKES about 1 cup

INGREDIENTS:
1 head of garlic
1 very fresh egg yolk
1 tablespoon of dijon mustard (optional but better with)
1/2 cup of your favorite oil (either olive or peanut is good)
Pinch of salt and pepper

PREPARATION:
I made a garlic confit and then mashed the garlic, which turned into a really nice thick puree. I think the Aioli tastes way better like this. To make the garlic confit, add all of the peeled garlic into a small pan and cover with oil. Add whatever herbs you have. I like to use thyme and bay leaf for these kind of operations. Let the garlic cook in the oil on very low heat, else it'll burn and turn an unattractive brown color. About 20 minutes. Take out the garlic, mash it up in a bowl and add the yolk and mustard. If you are using mustard, lay off on the salt because mustard is super salty. Once the oil is cool enough, pour it slowly into the garlic mixture and make mayonnaise. If the garlic confit is too much work, just mash up the raw garlic or put it into a food processor and follow the next steps. But it is way better to confit the garlic. Cause you still get all the beautiful garlic taste, but will still have kissable breath.

Jamie's Very Special Sauce
This sauce sounds weird but it so delish. I promise you'll be licking the plate
MAKES about 1.5 cups

INGREDIENTS:
2/3 cup of mayonnaise (homemade is best)
3 tablespoons Heinz ketchup
1 tablespoon worsteshire sauce (optional)
1 teaspoon cognac (optional)
5-6 cornichons, chopped (it's important to use a sweet and vinegary pickle)
1 medium can of tuna in oil, drained

PREPARATION:
I like to use homemade mayonnaise for this. But you can use store bought to save time. In a bowl, add all the ingredients and mix. Make sure the tuna is all broken up and well incorporated. Serve with your favorite dipping utensil.

Homemade Mayonnaise
MAKES about 2/3 cup

INGREDIENTS:
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1/2 cup of neutral oil (I like to use peanut)
Salt and pepper

PREPARATION:
Add egg yolk, dijon mustard, pepper and using a wisk, pour oil in a slow stream and create a thick emulsion.

Blue Cheese Dip
MAKES 2 cups

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup fromage blanc (or plain yogurt or sour cream)
3 scallions, chopped
1 cup of good quality crumbled blue cheese
2 tablespoons chives
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper

PREPARATION:
Put everything in a bow and mix till desired consistency.

Panier de Crudites and Fun Sauces

St. Tropez was great fun this weekend. I love getting the Panier de Crudites when there. They didn't have it at Les Palmiers this time but Tahiti had them. Isn't it so much fun? And you get 3 different sauces for dipping! Mayo, anchoide and a seasoned fromage blanc. I felt like I was losing weight as I was cutting up the veggies. This is such a brilliant idea. Except the tomatoes. I really dislike tomatoes. I might serve a panier at my next dinner party!

Tomatomania

Been in St. Tropez enjoying the long weekend with friends and since I’m suffering from never ending vertigo slash rose hangover and another is pregnant, another with a baby and the last…think she just doesn’t care to do anything with the kitchen. So basically our team is worthless this weekend so I’m posting an old dish I made way back yonder in May. This dish was inspired by my new book at the time called ‘Cooking in Provence.’ I really don’t like tomatoes that much…but seems like I’m always doing something with them. This is a tomato tart with a puff pastry crust. I stacked the tomatoes just a little too high so it took a really really long time to bake. I’ll redo and repost at a future time when it’s not too hot to use the oven.

Succulent Tomato Tart
Check out the cookbook 'Cooking in Provence.' It has some wonderful recipes with beautiful pictures. This recipe I followed was amazing. The tart's supposed to cook for about 1.5 hours, although, mine took about 3 because I stacked too many tomatoes in the middle. The tomatoes dry out and confit and turn into this nicely caramelized tart with an explosive sweet and savory flavor. This is great because you can make it way ahead of time and keep it in the fridge.
FOR 6

INGREDIENTS:
3 pounds tomatoes (about 15 depending on size)
1 puff pastry sheet (the one I used was about 12")
1 cup mascarpone cheese
Basil leaves, chopped
Salt, freshly ground black pepper
Some amazing olive oil

PREPARATION:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees (or 180 if celcius). Mix the mascarpone and chopped basil and season lightly with salt and pepper. Set aside. Slice tomatoes into rings and set aside. Lay out the puff pastry onto a baking sheet and spread the mascarpone mix leaving just a small edge at the outer circumference. Arrange tomatoes over lapping each other. Put some of the scrap bits in the middle so the tart doesn't cave in too much. But what you don't want is to tover stuff like I did. The tart should be slightly concave. I'll redo and post a better example next time. Drizzle some oilve oil. About 2 tablespoons. Pop into oven for about 30 minutes. It starts to get watery and you'll get worried. That's just normal. Then lower the heat to 300 degrees (or 160 celcius) and wait another 45 minutes. If you did it right, the tart should be perfect. Serve at any temperature.

True Taste of French Terroir

I've had never ending vertigo so really not in the mood to cook. Actually not really in the mood to eat but rallied for a precious friend in town. Was going to offer to cook for her and try to get rid of some expensive heirloom tomatoes that are going ripe but was bed ridden all day. I feel like I'm always trying to get rid of tomatoes. Someone keeps giving them to me and feel guilty throwing them away. They are one of my least favorite produce to eat. Why the abundance of tomatoes...i really don't know. But in any case, finally went to go checkout l'Auberge Bressane. The food, totally felt like i was in some tiny unnamed village in rural France eating such classic auberge-like food. So amazing. A must must try. Look at how good their food looks. I can just smell the pictures!

What's this? Maybe just one of the bestest Oeufs en Meurette ever. It's an amazing French concoction of some of my favorite ingredients in the whole wide world. Red wine sauce, lardon, button mushrooms, poached eggs and a little tiny bit of marrow. I wouldn't put bone marrow on my favorites list...might actually end up in the non-fav list, but it's so great in this dish because it melts down in the heat and makes the dish slightly more sumptuous with a slight gelatinous texture that sticks to the inside of your mouth and allows the red wine sauce to penetrate into all your taste buds for maximum flavor. It's oozey, messy and just plain delish. This was my appetizer. I usually make good menu choices.

I could taste the terroir of Jura in the creamy vin jaune sauce in both the Bouchée à la Reine and Poularde! The Bouchée à la Reine contains ris de veau, which are on the top of my not to eat list, along with tomatoes...but the sauce is so good, you won't really care. This was obviously not my dish. But I did end up licking off the sauce at the end. Almost ate the plate.

The poularde with vin jaune and morel sauce was amazing. Not sure I cared so much about the poulard part...but the sauce was excellent. If I hadn't learned some social skills in prep school, I woulda taken the leg bit and gnawed on it like I do with KFC drumsticks. Then would have proceeded to lick my fingers. However, this was again not my dish.

This was my dish. Quenelle with sauce nantua. It's a bit hard to describe what is it really...but it involves crayfish and it's pretty good. It's a huge pain to make at home and has a bit of a bready gnocchi texture. It's made to swell up a bit during the cooking. This is very typical French country and it was quite good, but not as good as the other dishes. I ordered the wrong main course. Hate it when I do that.
L'Auberge Bressane is a great place to get typical French provincial cooking in Paris when you just don't have time to take the tgv to small rural towns. It's really rustic and cute inside in a medievel way. Whenever I read travel guides or even the NYtimes online about recommended places to eat in Paris, I see all these bullshit advices. Makes me so angry. Most of those advices lead you to a weird touristy place or another equally crap venue. I say try this place! You won't be disappointed!

Tomatoes don't get a title

I don't very much like tomatoes. However, whenever I visit Provence, the produce here is so amazing that I just can't resist the temptation to eat one of my least favorite vegetables. Just look!
I was staying at Mas de Vincent and watched Mr. Savesi put together this beautiful dish.

Fresh Heirloom Tomatoes
FOR 5

INGREDIENTS:
2 very big heirloom tomatoes
Basil leaves
Green and red peppers
Cracked pepper
Balsamic Vinegar
Olive Oil

PREPARATION:
Cut up the tomatoes and arrange them nicely on a platter. Cut Basil and peppers and sprinkle them on top. Spoon over some vinegar and lots of oil. Serve with some cold rose wine.

Too Hot for Hot Food

Tis the season for cold meals. Actually, forget meals...tis the season for piscines on the cote d'azur! But when starving...a scrumptious salad will do.

Mixed Green Salad with Jamie's Special Vinaigrette
This is the easiest and fastest thing in the world to make and my special vinaigrette is just bursting with flavors, you'll feel like there's an explosion of flavors going on in your mouth.

FOR 4 (first course)

INGREDIENTS:
1 package of pre-washed mixed greens
1 tablespoon of excellent quality dijon mustard
2 tablespoons of really good Sherry vinegar (red wine vinegar can be used as substitute)
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup of really good EVOO
Freshly ground pepper

PRERATION:
In a bowl, add mustard, vinegar, sugar and pepper. Using a wisk, mix all ingredients and slowly wisk in oil so its well emulsified and looking moderately thick. Add more sugar, mustard or any other ingredient to taste. Lightly toss with mixed greens. Serve immediently.

I should have my own TV show...called 30 second meals! Take that Rachael Ray! I don't hate her as a person really. I mean...maybe just a little because she's just so bubbly. I'm just more jealous of her success and celebrity chef status. And she looks a little weird.

It's Called Couscous!

It's been a couple weeks of intense detox. Detox and then...RETOX! Yay!

Seriously though, I haven't been myself lately. Been super stingy on groceries because I saw a gorgeous panther coat I must must have! Food? Panther? Food? Panther? PANTHER! Who cares if I starve, at least I'll be warm! So I've been going through my dry goods and other canned and frozen products. One bored day, I was rearranging the fridge and noticed some expensive heirloom tomatoes wanting to go bad. So I made some delicious couscous out of them. The French insist on calling it taboule...but the rest of us know its true name. Couscous! Couscous! Couscous!

Fresh Heirloom Tomato Couscous

FOR 4

INGREDIENTS:
3 large tomatoes
1 cup (150g) couscous
1 chicken cube
Salt, pepper, olive oil

Cut 2 tomatoes into big chunks and puree it in the blender. I used a hand mixer cause its neater and one less object to wash. You should end up with about 1 3/4 cups of puree. Heat the pureed tomatoes in a pot and add the chicken cube. While the puree is heating up, chop the remaining tomato into small cubes. Set aside. Once the puree is hot, pour it over the couscous in a bowl. Mix it up a little because the puree is slightly thicker than using regular broth. Cover with some foil and set aside for 5 minutes.

Fluff the couscous with a fork, add the tomatoes and some olive oil and incorporate it gently. Season with salt and pepper. Serve whenever in whatever temperature you desire.

1UP Mushrooms

There once lived a princess who liked pretty things and loved to eat fabulous food. She drank delicious cosmopolitans while bathing in champagne and only dined on white truffles, caviar and uni. And she refused to eat any desserts other than macarons from Laduree. The princess really loved macarons. She also really loved shoes and everything sequin. The princess lived a gluttonous life and was about to learn the repercussions of her fabulous life. One sunny day, the princess put on her favorite green jeans. But to her surprise, she could not zip them. She forced the zipper shut but then it broke. The princess called 911. After a thorough check, the physicians diagnosed her with fatty liver syndrome and a sudden increase in waist size from too much fabulousness. The doctors put the princess on a strict diet of only mushrooms, spinach and potatoes, else her ass would get ginormous that it would need another zipcode. The princess did not want that. So she started her diet. She tried stewing the veggies, roasting it, puree-ing it, and even tried to eat it raw. But it just wasn't pretty. It was far from fabulous. The princess could not bare this diet any longer. She ordered her elves to bring her some mouth-watering macarons from Laduree. However, as she was about to eat a macaron, the princess had a fabulous idea. A mushroom macaron with potato and spinach puree filling? The princess put her elves to work immediately! And voila!

The princess loved the mushroom macarons that looked like the supermario 1up icon. She was able to stick to her diet and lived happily ever after in her green jeans.

All that was just a joke. Well, kind of. So here is the recipe!

Macarons de Champignon (Mushroom Macaroons)

So the real story behind this recipe is that I placed #2 in culinary school with this as one of my many side dishes to my beautiful seabass. The French didn't see it as a macaron but more of a burger...

MAKES 8 PIECES

INGREDIENTS:
16 medium sized white mushrooms
2 medium size potatoes peeled, cut into 1” cubes
3½ cups (¼ pound) of loosely packed spinach leaves
¼ cup of mascarpone cheese
2 tablespoons of oil (vegetable or peanut)
2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
1 tablespoon of chives, chopped
Salt and freshly ground pepper
A pinch of nutmeg

PREPARATION OF THE FILLING:
Put the peeled and cut potatoes in a medium size pot and add cold water so the potatoes are completely submerged. Add a teaspoon of salt and boil until the potatoes can be easily pierced with a fork. About 10-15 minutes. While the potatoes are cooking, prepare the spinach. In another medium sized pot, heat water and a teaspoon of salt. Once the water starts to boil, add the spinach and cook for about 3 minutes until the spinach is completely wilted. Refresh the spinach in cold water to keep the beautiful green color. Then drain and squeeze out as much of the water as you can. Chop into small pieces. Set aside. When the potatoes are ready, drain and transfer them to a bowl. Mash the potatoes with a fork. Combine the spinach, mascarpone and nutmeg. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Keep warm.

PREPARATION OF MUSHROOMS:
Clean the mushroom caps with a wet paper towel and remove the stalks. Heat oil and butter on medium heat in a large sauté pan. Lay the mushrooms top side down and let it cook for about 5 minutes. The mushrooms will let out water, but do not worry. Turn the mushrooms and cook for another 5 minutes. Turn up the heat to high and turn the mushrooms top side down again. The cooking is finished when all the water has evaporated and the mushrooms are well colored and have a golden hew. About 2 minutes.

ASSEMBLY:
Place a mushroom cap top side down. Take a tablespoon of the filling and place it on top. Then, cover with another mushroom cap. Top with some chopped chives. Repeat the process. Serve as a side dish or individual finger food.