Strawberry Salad

Do your remember the movie Night of the Living Dead?

Well that's exactly how I feel right now. Only I'm not the one running from them but the creepy "Zombie" itself. This is the result of numerous weeks of accumulated lack of sleep. And I tell you no amount of coffee could bring me back to the world of the living.

Maybe some of you guys who have kids could help me out on this battle. It has been several weeks now that our little girl cries in the middle of the night. We normally let her cry and wait for her to fall asleep again., But lately she could stand for almost an hour crying (much to the disgust of our neighbors I'm sure) until we go and check her out. My husband and I would try our best to console and assure her so she would go back sleeping again. But she won't stop crying until we bring her to our bed and let her sleep in the middle of us. And that is definitely out of the question. Hubby and I would play "good cop bad cop strategy" in front of her to convince her to stay in her room and sleep on her crib. Imagine that scenario that runs for hour and hour with the ear breaking symphony of my daughter's cry in the middle of the night. Naturally of course, I give up and cedes to her.

But last night, hubby and I were really fed up on this so we let her cry to her voice and eyes content and decided to leave her on the room. But before we could even close her door, we saw right before our very eyes my daugther hurdled the high bars of her crib and jump out of it unharmed like a flying ninja. "That was dangerous!", hubby shouted as I calmed downed myself after almost having a heart attack. They rarely put Jackie Chan movie on french tv where on earth she could have learned that stunt? This afternoon, we'll definitely passing by IKEA.

And please don't shout at me "AGAIN", the talented Happycook of My Kitchen Treasures is hosting a Strawberry Feast an event to honor this versatile and forever in fashion fruit. I'll be sending this strawberry salad for that event. So if you love strawberry don't forget to check out the round-up.


Strawberry Mozarella Salad

Ingredients:
about 250 grams of strawberries ( I used the garriguette variety common in Southern France, small but highly sweet in flavor)
1 ball of mozzarella (cut in to cubes)
1 small block of feta cheese (optional)I just used them for they've been on my fridge for a long time now
250 g of different kinds of salad (mizuna, arugula, mache, young spinach)

Vinaigrette:
2 tablespoons of balsamique vinegar
half a teaspoon of dijon mustard (à l'ancienne)
2 tablespoons of olive oil
some salt
pepper
chopped fresh basil leaves
some fresh thymes

Procedure:
In a bowl mix your vinaigrette and set it aside. In a bowl mix the salad, the cut strawberries, mozarella and feta cheese. Just before serving toss them with your sauce. I served them with my home-baked black olives foccacia.

Easy Summer Appetizers

Easy Summer Verrine Recipes

Hello world!

I have been out of the blogging circulation lately. Not that I am hibernating its just that summer in Southern France is extremely hot. It makes you feel lazy. And even though I was born and raised in a tropical country I am only human being. This heat is truly unbearable. So do not crucify me (oooops that's the problem of watching too much Rome episodes) if I prefer to frolic in the cold blue water of Mediterranean from time to time or spend my entire day in the swimming pool instead of being in front of my computer.

Well, I am still here alive and kicking but very tanned :-). I maybe physically too lazy to do anything but my hunger for cooking and eating is still the same. So here's what my idle brain have concocted in the kitchen lately and this will be my submission to the Perfect Party Dishes blog event that I am hosting. These are easy and simple verrine recipes perfect for garden parties: Baby Zuccini Crips in Rosemary and Melon Mint Gaspacho. By the way you still have until August 15 to participate in this event.


Baby Zuccini Crisp in Rosemary
(for about 5-6 persons)

about 15 pieces of baby zuccinis
sprigs of fresh rosemary
3 tablespoons of olive oil
salt and pepper
1 small block of mozzarella

for the crisp
1/4 cup of cold butter
1/2 cup of chopped walnuts
1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup of bread crumbs

Start by slicing the zuccinis. Put them in a bowl add about 1 teaspoon of salt. Let it stand for about fifteen minutes and squeeze out some water. Warm the pan add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and sauté briefly the zuccinis with the rosemary for about 4-5 minutes. Cut the fire and add some pepper. Divide the zuccini on your verrine or any glass of your choice. Put a layer of the vegetable then add a layer of sliced mozzarella on the top. Put some olive oil on each of the verrine. Mix with your hands all the ingredients for the crisp until crumbly. You can add more nuts, parmesan or bread crumbs if needed. Preheat the oven at 180° celsius and bake it for about 15-20 minutes. It should be golden brown and crispy. Top your zuccini glasses with this mixture. You can prepare in advance, refrigerate and serve it only when the guests arrived.


Melon Mint Gazpacho
(for about 5 to 6 person)

1 ripe melon (I used the cavaillon variety very common in Provence)
a quarter of a small red onion (you need a very small amount only this could be optional)
2-3 sprigs of fresh mint
1 teaspoon of olive oil
a pinch of salt

Start by peeling and removing the seeds of your melon cut them and put them in your blender. Add the onion and mint leaves. Blend them together. Add the olive oil and the salt. Continue blending. Pour them on your verrine or glasses and decorate the top with a slice of melon and a mint leaf. Refrigerate before serving.



Other Appetizer Recipes:

Strawberry Gazpacho and Basil
Californian Citrus Couscous Salad
Chicken liver and Fig Bruschetta

Artichokes, Bacon, Cheese Muffin and trimming your Artichoke

Eveything you like in one plate; Artichokes, bacon and cheese muffin, nothing else.

I just thought that artichokes in salty muffins would be great.

I thought, I imagined and I was right.

Say I do, to this lovely flowers....

A week before we left for vacation, our market was teeming with green asparagus, bloody red strawberries and our famous southern france violet artichokes. I thought I will miss the chance to enjoy them since we will be in vacation for three weeks. But I didn't. I was lucky to still find some reasonably priced from my favorite farmer in the market. Although they were probably the last batch of his harvest but nonetheless I was excited for I didn't get to miss the chance to savor them this year. Provencal's violet artichokes compared to the big normal green artichokes are much smaller and much tender. From most of the people I know who are big fan of artichokes I don't know one who knows how to turn them around (tourner des artichauts) , the french cooking terminology to trim artichokes. So I just thought, It would be great to share this thing I've learned from one of the episodes of Joel Robuchon's cooking show.

The art of trimming violet artichokes:

1. You start with your artichoke and your knife.

2. Cut off the stem

3. Take off one by one with your hand the hard tiny leaves around your artichoke. You will continue until the tender leaves appears.

4. Trim the base of your violet artichokes with a knife.

5. Cut the remaining part of the artichoke with a sharp knife.

6. This will give you this result. Contrary to big green artichokes the small violet ones are much tender and does not require scooping the hairy fiber because it doesn't have one.

7. Cut them at your desired sizes. To avoid discoloration plunge them in water with lemon juice.

And for our recipe,

Artichoke, Bacon and Cheese Muffin

200 g of flour
2 eggs
1 sachet of baking powder
25 g of butter
25 cl of milk
2 tbsps of youghurt (optional to add fluffy texture)
6 heads of violet artichokes (trimmed and cut thinly)
200 g of Lardon (you can use bacon)
150 g of grated Gruyere cheese
some thymes and rosemary

In a pan cook the artichokes and bacon over medium fire. Add the herbes to flavor up the artichokes and bacon. Cook until artichoke is tender and bacon have changed color. In a bowl mix the eggs, melted butter and the dry ingredients (flour and bakign powder until it becomes homegenous. I added up two tablespoons of yogurt to make my dough soft and airy. I add little by little the milk until the dough is perfect mixed. Fold in the artichokes, bacon andcheese. I didn't add salt because French lardon are already too salty but if you will be using normal bacon you can add salt depending on your taste. Bake in muffin pans for 20- 25 minutes at 180 degrees celsius. Best eaten with green salad or to accompany your fried or grilled chicken.

One sexy little muffin....

For my french readers, the french version of this muffin recipe is here: http://www.lesfoodies.com/hilda/recette/muffin-sale-artichaut-bacon

Pear, goat-cheese & Macaroni Salad

Can you "pear" up with me?

"Cleanliness is next to godliness" I don't remember how many times my mom used this line to convince us when we were kids to help out with the household chores. We did'nt had a big house but already dividing it among three lazy daughters was always such a head-ache for her. Most of the time its her blackmailing strategy that proved to be more efficient in making us participate: "dirty house means no afternoon snack". For voracious kids that we were missing our afternoon snack was totally out of the question. Unfortunately none of us inherited her passion (obsession??) for maintaining the house clean. When I was a kid I never understood that.

Things are quite different now. Having my own household to keep clean, I don't really have much choice despite that I still abhor cleaning :-). Hubby and I agreed to do major cleaning of our house once a month. We normally do a draw lot who cleans what part of the house. With my magic technique I always end up winning always the easy part :-) This weekend, different from our normal cleaning routine hubby and I were on our "happy and excited mood". Guess why? Simply because in two weeks time we will be leaving for our one month vacation. We are really excited because it's been two years now that we haven't travelled yet, specially due to my pregnancy last year. As we were cleaning, I just realised that's what I should have done long time ago as a kid: I should have thought of good stuffs that I like to make me enjoy cleaning.

Anyways, hubby told me since we will be leaving in two weeks time we will refrain from doing our groceries. He wanted me to finish off all the stocks of food we have in the kitchen. I do love cooking but improvising recipes based on available ingredients on the kitchen is not really my forte. As I was busy pondering on hubby's words to me and as I look on our fridge I just thought how tough these 2 weeks would be for me.

Pear,goat-cheese & macaroni salad, don't ask me why.

Pear, goat-cheese & Macaroni Salad

100 g of cooked macaroni
1 log of goat cheese
2 pears peeled and cubed
50 g of grapes
75 g of raw ham cubed

for the dressing home-made mayonnaise
1 egg yolk
1 tsp of Dijon mustard
half a cup of olive oil
juice of a demi lemon
salt , pepper

Start by whisking the yolk in a bowl then add the mustard, salt, pepper and lemon juice. Continue whisking vigorously as you add up the oil. In a separate bowl mix all the ingredients of the salad: macaroni, raw ham, grapes and pear. Add the sauce and toss lightly.

Peek a boo...

Thai Express Salad and an Oscar award, well almost...

Colorful Verrine Thai Salad

One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating. ~Luciano Pavarotti and William Wright, Pavarotti, My Own Story

When people are dining at our place I always take an ample and careful contemplation on what menu to serve. I take meticulous preparation seeing to it that from entrée to main course and down to dessert will give my guests a pleasurable dining experience. And If the word culinary saddism exist I would proudly claim I am one. For I find extreme pleasure in cooking for other people . Seeing the satisfaction and smile on their faces is enough to make me happy.

Growing up as a teenager, I don't remember how many times I sacrified staying late at night to help my mom and aunties prepare food for big gathering at home, while my sisters and cousins are enjoying their beauty-rest for the big day. So when I received the phone call of my sister-in-law yesterday, telling me she's coming over with some of her friends a bit impromptu at my place, I totally panicked. For preparing express menu is not really my cup of tea. And when I'm harrassed like this, my brain stops from functioning.

As I was totally lost in my kitchen, my eye was caught by the cookbook of Cyril Lygnac, a gift I got last year for my birthday. Let me say he is like the Jamie Oliver of France, good looking, sexy and young chef that become popular through his "cooking tele-reality" show. Two minutes browsing was enough for me to settle for this entrée.

Captivating Express Thai Salad

for the salad
100 g of vermicelli noodles (glass noodles) 1 courgette 2 carrots 50 g of bean sprouts 150 g of shrimps (cooked and without shells)

for the sauce 1 small ginger 1 tsp of soy sauce 2 tbsp of sesame oil 1 tsp of sesame seeds 3 tbsps of lime juice 1 tsp of honey

Cook the vermicelli or glass noodles in a big casserole with water as you would cook a pasta noodle. Let it cook for five minutes only then drain it. Wash it with cold running water to avoid from sticking. Wash and peel the carrots and courgette. Cut them in julienne strips. In a bowl mix all the vegetables together with the vermicelli noodles and cooked shrimps. For the sauce mix together all the ingredients in a small bowl and add just before serving.

Messy bean sprouts....

I got it!

My sincerest gratitude to Happy Cook and Gloria for giving me this award. Getting an award from the two awesome food bloggers that I admire is already like winning an Oscar for me :-) Thanks again my dear friends. Now I need to give my own award. There's to many of you and choosing will be difficult. I'm awarding this "Nice Matter Award" to Oggi (I can do that), Susan (Well Seasoned Cook), Tigerfish (Teczsape), Big boys oven and Ronell (my french kitchen). These are all the bloggers I truly admire.

Cheers!!

For my french readers, the french version of this verrine recipe is here: http://www.lesfoodies.com/news/recette/salade-thai-express-cyril-lignac

Sweet & Salty love affair: Millefeuille of Mekong

Millefeuille of Mekong: Pan seared Scallops served over
layers of crispy rice wrapper and mango tartar salad
with tamarind vinaigrette

When my doctor announced to us the good news of my "pregnancy" (same time a year ago) I knew that there would be clashes of ideas between me and my hubby. For he is a man of science (there is always an explanation to everything) contrary to me that that has strong attachments to "wisdoms" of elder generation. Superstitions related to pregnancy are limitless after all its natural for mothers to do anything they think will ensure the birth of a healthy child. I remember I often hear such funny comments from my aunties like, "avoid looking at ugly people or it will make your baby ugly" or "not to eat chocolate if you do not want your baby to have a dark skin" . Well I'm sure you have heard a lot too. There is a widespread superstition on pregnancy in Philippines called "Paglilihi", a term that describes pregnant mom's strong desire to eat a certain food and that fathers should at all cost make it possible to ensure the birth of their dream child. Well, as my pregnancy progress I noticed that I had that very strong envies to eat "asian food", specially filipino food. My husband told me its normal (of course:-)) because i'm longing for my country that I have not visited for quite some time and it was absolutely nothing to do with my pregnancy. Anyway to cut the story short, I won. He gave in (maybe because he just does not want me to have early contractions) to my "food tantrums". So when we went back from our "shopping spree" in the closest Asian grocery in our city, this is how our living room looked like this.

Our tatami laden with Asian goodies.

We bought tons of noodles, asian condiments, asian vegetables and other hard to find ingredients like: tocino mix (sweet ham like curing powder), guava soupe mix (I love this), shrimp paste, tamarind paste, well the list is really endless. With all this, we concocted this sweet and salty entrée of pan seared Scallops served in layers of crispy fried crispy rice wrappers and mango tartar with tamarind and pomegrate sauce. My husband had the idea of the rice wrappers millefeuille but the stuffing is definitely mine! Hubby called this recipe the Millefeuille of Mekong.


Mango Tartar Salad
1 ripe mango, the seeds of half of a pomegranate, 2 tsps of lime juice, salt, pepper,2 tbsp of olive oil

In a bowl mix the lime juice with salt and pepper. Peel the mango, remove the seed and cut into small cubes. Put the mango and the pomegrate seeds in the bowl with the sauce and add up the olive oil. Put them in the fridge

Crispy Rice Wrappers
6 sheet of dried rice wrapper, 1 egg, 1 tsp of black sesame seeds, 1tsp of white sesame seeds, oil for frying

Dredge in the egg the rice wrapper then sprinkle it with black and white sesame seeds. Fry them one by one in a very hot casserole with oil. Cook each wrapper for about 3 seconds. Dry them in paper towel.
Tamarind and Pomegrenate Vinaigrette
1 tsp of tamarind paste, 3 tbsps of olive oil, 1 tsp of Nuoc Nam, 1 tsp of honey, 2 tbsps of pomegrenate seeds

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl, set aside.

Pan seared Scallops
12 scallops, 10 g of butter, salt and pepper

Melt the butter in a pan , when it becomes hot add the scallops and fry each side for about 30 seconds. Put salt and pepper on the top
Assembling the Millefeuille
Start first with a layer of crispy rice wrapper followed with the mango tartar. You can alternate the layer with the mango tartar and a layer of beans sprout and baby spinach salad. Garnish the top layer with the scallops. Drizzle on the top the tamarind vinaigrette. Bon appetit!!

Ps. Hello blogging friends, you might have noticed that I've been blogging very slowly these past few days and I have been bloging about my old recipes. My family is actually confronting a big problem (my dad is not doing very well). I still try to continue to blog because this makes my mind occupied. :-(

Sunday brunch what's on the menu : Chicken liver & Fig Bruschetta, Rosemary-lardon & Black olive Fougasse

Rosemary, lardon & black olives Fougasse

Last Saturday night I received a phone call from my mom-in law requesting me to come over to their place to help her organize the upcoming Christmas family gathering. Contrary to most norm, my mom-in law and I blend well together. I would say all my french and provençal cuisine inpirations I owe it to her. She hails from a family gourmet, that have secret recipes handed down from generations to generations. Her mom or "Mamie" as we often call her have killer recipes for all the fabulous traditional french desserts and pattisseries. Chez Mamie everything is "fait à la maison". For someone who is passionate in cooking and an amateur gourmet like me, I'm truly lucky to be surrounded by talented people like them. Well, we have finally decided where to organize the two-day celebration. Since there will be fifty guests (adults and children) we scratched the original plan of doing it in family's chalet in the Alpes because it's impossible we fit all together. We decided to do it instead in the family's ancestral farmhouse in the heart of Provence, that has been fully restored and converted into a Hostel. It is a beautiful 4 story house that dates back Middle ages that "gossip says" was owned by the friend of the royalty. The scenery is much impressive during the summer because it is surrounded by an immense plantation of lavander, sunflower and grapes. After hours of discussions we have finally agreed on the menu, what wines and champagne to serve and the desserts that needs to be prepared.

Rosemary's aroma

Bloody red Raddichio

After this tedious discussions on "what to eat and how to serve them" (hey don't you think we are really gourmet) I volunteered to prepare a "brunch" for everybody. I was excited because she has a bigger kitchen and she has a garden full of fruits and herbes that I could use for the menu I planned to prepare.

Chicken liver & Fig Bruschetta

1 baguette sliced
30 g of butter
3 tbsps of honey
3 tbsps of extra virgin olive oil
1 cup of sliced raddicchio
2 ounces of chicken liver
2 tbsps of herbes de provence (thymes and rosemary)
6 fresh figs ( you can use dried fig too)

Beat the butter together with honey. Spread over this mixture over sliced bread and grill until brown. Brown over a skillet pan the chicken liver with olive oil and herbes de provence. Top each toasted bread with raddicio, sliced fig and chicken liver.

Rosemary, lardon (bacon) & black olives Fougasse

Fougasse is a typical Provençal bread eaten with a hearty salad. It is similar to Italian focaccia.

300 g of flour
1 tbsps of yeast
5 g of salt
some water
7 tbsps of extra virgin olive oil
1 cup of lardon or chopped bacon
1 cup of black olives
3 tbsps of fresh rosemary

The night before, prepare the dough. In a bowl mix the flour with salt and add little by little the water. Dissolve the yeast in about 2 tbsps of warm water. Add this diluted yeast on the flour mixture and work on the dough until it becomes elastic. Cover with a humid towel and let the dough rise. After the first rise, you can add some olive oil and work again on the dough. The next day add the rest of the ingredients and form a big ball and flatten it with you palm. Cut 4 incisions on the dough as if its an ear of a wheat. Bake it for 10 minutes at 220° on a pre-heated oven.

Oh there's a mouse in the kitchen!

Pumpkin Madness

After enjoying the posts on Pinakbet(with lots of pumpkin) of Oggi-I can do that and Pumpkin & Beef Stirfry of Maybahay, I have been drooling since for some pumpkin. And last weekend, at the organic market where I usually buy our vegetables and fruits finding them wasn't that difficult. I bought the biggest and the heaviest pumpkin I could carry back home. Considering that I have a fifteen pounder little thing that loves to wiggle suspended on me. And about a hundred step stairs to climb before reaching our place. Ok I was maybe exaggerating because it was indeed really heavy. Nevertheless we survived; my baby, me and the pumpkin. And to commemorate that anecdote, yesterday night I prepared a dinner all in the name of pumpkin. We started with some crumble of pumpkin and parmesan and had some pumpkin lasagna for the main course. I was thinking of some pumpkin-persimmon ice-cream but my husband already ate all the fresh persimmons i bought in the market. So we had just some bar of chocolate for our dessert.

Pumpkin Lasagna

for the sauce bolognese : 500 g of ground beef, garlic, 1 onion sliced, 1 carrot cut in small cubes, half a liter of tomato sauce, 2 tbsp of olive oil, salt , pepper, and some dried thyme and basil
for the béchamel sauce : 40 g of butter, 1 tbsp of flour, salt, pepper, half a liter of milk, some muscade
pour the pumpkin layer: 300 g of cooked pumpkin, 250 g of ricotta, salt, pepper, 1 tsp of paprika, 2 tbsp of olive oil

1 pack of grated cheese and 1 pack of pre-cooked lasagna noodles

In a casserole, saute some garlic, onion and carrots with olive oil. Add the ground beef and herbs (thyme & basil). Pour in the tomato sauce and salt and pepper to taste. In another casserole, melt the butter and add the flour. Pour in the milk and stir non-stop the sauce until it becomes homogenous. Add salt, pepper and some muscade. In a mixing bowl, mix evenly the ricotta cheese with the cooked pumpkin. Eventually add salt,pepper, muscade and olive oil. In a lasagna pan, layer alternately the lasagna noodle, the sauce bolognese, bechamel sauce and pumpkin-ricotta mixture. Top with grated cheese and bake for 40-45 minutes at about 200 degrees.

Crumble of Pumpkin & Parmesan

650 g de pumpkin, 15 dl of fresh cream, salt, pepper, muscade, 1 tsp of curry powder , 100 g of flour, 100 of butter, 75 g of parmesan cheese

In a bowl mix the flour and butter cut in small cubes. Add eventually the parmesan cheese. In a casserole of boiling water cook the pumpkin for about ten minutes. When its done, gently peel off its skin. Put the cooked pumpkin in the mixer and add the fresh cream, salt, pepper, muscade and curry powder and blend well. Put the pumpkin mixture in ramekin and cover it with flour-butter-parmesan mixture and cook in the oven until golden brown (about 10 minutes 180 degrees).