"Summer ain't over cod carpaccio"

Everyone is back from their summer holidays and not always very eager to get back to work. 

If you want to extend your summer a little longer just try out this nice and easy cod carpaccio :
it's delicious and healthy and the mango/vanilla association is awesome to raise anyone's spirits when the weather is starting to cool down.

Ingredients for 2: 

1 medium Mango - ripe
Mint
2 small tomatoes
300 g of fresh cod (or any other white fish that can be marinated)
Vanilla extract
1 fresh vanilla bean
1 lemon
2 tb of extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper

How to do it: 

1. Peal the tomatoes and the mango. Then dice them.
2. Chop the mint.
3. Cut the fish in small dices and keep them in your fridge.
4. For the dressing: extract the vanilla from the bean, pour the vanilla extract, the juice of 1 lemon and the olive oil. Shake well.
5. In a bowl, mix the fish, tomatoes, mango and mint. Add salt and pepper to season (white fish always needs extra salt).
6. Add the vanilla vinegrette and adjust the seasonnng if necessary. Dress onto your plates.

Et voilà ! Enjoy !

Incidently I had fresh tomatoes from my mom's garden. That was the extra touch that made the difference.

What to drink with cheese ?

Do you like camembert, comté, stilton, cheddar ?
And what about goat cheese, roquefort or vacherin ? Of course you do.

Like most French people, I'm a huge fan of cheese.

Look at this :

It looks good doesn't it ?

Well here is something that might startle you :


Cheese and Red wine just don't go together.
I know, this may shatter one of France's most traditional preconceptions, but the sad truth still remains.
Red wine + Cheese = not good. 

The red wine's tannins, its acidity and overwhelming power have a negative effect on the taste of the cheese.
I know this is a polemic issue. I might have the French Trade Union of Cheese makers who will try to pour tones of Camembert on my front porch to punish me for saying this.
This is my mere opinion and I don't expect to convince everyone out there.
However for me it is crystal clear : red wine and cheese are an insanity. 

So what will you drink with cheese will you ask me?
Very simple, my dear readers, there is a world of white wines out there, just yearning to be drunked with a nice little Stilton.

• For example, take a Goat cheese. 

Saint Maure de Touraine for instance. Well most of you, will have it with a soft red wine, fruity or herbal.
Big mistake.
Next time, try having the exact same cheese with a Chenin blanc from Touraine. Its acidity, freshness, even fruitiness will allow the Goat cheese to express its best aromas.
Sauvignon would also be a good choice.  Herbal aromas, grass, straw : a perfect match for this light cheese which often comes with a straw in its center.

Here have a bit of this Champ Chenin, 2007 by Olga Raffault. The tasting note will come soon.

• Next example: Comté. 

Comté is a rather salty cheese, a little nutty too. Drinking it with red wine will simply kill the subtle underwood flavours it exhales.
So go ahead and have it with a white Savagnin from the Jura region. I already wrote a note on these magnificent yet unfamiliar wines (Check it here).
The nuttiness and woodiness will be perfectly suited for the comté's salty texture. Honestly it is simply one of the best food and wine pairing I've ever tasted.

• Last but not least : Roquefort, Stilton Blue Cheese. 

You would think that with a cheese that strong you would need a REALLY tannic wine, something that can tame their power. Well there again, my friends, you would be wrong.
The sweetness of a dessert wine fits incomparably  well with blue cheese.
Try Sauternes, Barsac, Icewine, or Dessert wines from the Loire Valley like Coteaux-du-Layon, Bonnezeaux or Quart de Chaume (see my note on these wines which unfortunately remain a well kept secret). It will give a spectacular end to your meal and you may even move on to your dessert, it will ravish your guests trust me.

Have it with this lovely Coteaux-du-Layon, 2000, from Saint Lambert du Lattray. See my tasting note for the 2005 vintage.

So you see, I'm not saying you should not have red wine and cheese. It's a habit, and I must admit I love doing it. The most important thing to learn how to pair food and wine, is just to do what you like. There is no right and wrong. You're free to enjoy Château Yquem with French fries if that's what makes you happy. 

Yet I truly believe that to experience the greatness of cheese (it is the French person in me speaking here !), the subtly of their various aromas, you should really try having them with whites.
Trust me you won't regret it !

And if you have doubts on what you may try with your cheese, go ahead and ask me I'll gladly answer if I can!

Piece of cake - my moist orange/cranberry feast

Dear Readers I must admit that sometimes I try to be careful about what I eat. 
Like most young women, I'm a little self conscious about calories in food and I usually skip dessert when I am at a restaurant (all the more so as I certainly DON'T skip the wine !)
Only if I'm really starving or invited at a friends'house do I have a bite of dessert but I obviously feel so guilty the following morning that I immediately hit the gym for a week.
Sometimes it sucks to be a woman. 
Sometimes I wish I could gulp down waffles without putting on a pound. 


And then there's the perfect cake. 
The cake I always indulge in, because : 
1) I made it and I know it is not THAT ridiculously fattening
2) It is insanely moist and good and delicious so I just couldn't care less about the calories anyway. 


This is my secret weapon against crappy weeks and low spirits. It's a cake that will stay moist and soft for a week (although to tell you the truth I never actually got to verify this because it's always finished after a day).
And it is so easy you just can't get it wrong. It's almost magic. 
This cake should seriously be taught in school. 


Go ahead, bake it and tell me what you think, I'm interested ! 

The ultimate Moist Orange Cranberry cake

Ingredients

190 g all-purpose flour
3 g baking soda
2 g baking powder
120 g vanilla sugar
55 ml orange juice
1-1/3 eggs
160 ml buttermilk
120 ml vegetable oil
175 g fresh cranberries
8 g grated orange zest


1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a tube pan.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, mix together 1 cup the vanilla sugar, the orange juice, the eggs, the buttermilk, and the vegetable oil using an electric mixer. Add the dry ingredients and mix just until moistened. If you judge the mixture is too moist, add a little bit of flour.

3. Fold in the cranberries and orange zest. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly.

4. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour (depending on your oven) until a knife inserted into the crown of the cake comes out clean.



Notes:

Regarding the egg, I know it sucks to have 1 egg and 1/3 but it really makes a perfect mixture whereas only 1 egg makes it too hard and 2 eggs to moist.

If you don't have buttermilk you can always make some yourself : place one tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar in a one cup measure. Fill to one cup mark with regular milk and let sit for five minutes.

As for your wine pairing,

cranberry wine could of course do the trick.
You may also go for champagne or white dry wine like Riesling. The lime and acidity will perfectly counterbalance the tartness of the cranberry.
 

An easy razzle dazzle chicken recipe

Yep you got it: this post is a 2 in 1.
A razzle dazzle AND a chicken run.
I honestly didn't even think it were possible!

Thanks to a fellow blogger (actually that's quite an understatement, she's the goddess of cooking blogs in France)I happily succeeded in making my first own chicken "roulé".

Usually when I have friends for dinner, I try something new, something that I would not do just for myself. I've tried a lot of things, had brilliant successes and pretty horrific failures too (fortunately for you guys I don't take pictures of these dishes).

This time I felt like doing something elaborate. Well that looks elaborate at least.

But the truth is, it's ridiculously simple. That's the beauty of it.

A "Roulé" is basically a maki sushi. Only there's no rice. No seaweed and no soy sauce.

You flatten your meat, poultry or fish until it's very thin and then add a layer of something tasty inside and roll the whole thing up. It's a roll-up. And it's delicious.

So here is what I did, a little adaptation from Mercotte's original recipe from her magnificent blog (http://www.mercotte.fr/).

Chicken stuffed with dried prunes

For 2 "roulés" (4 person recipe)

Ingredients

120g of thin italian coppa

4 chicken scalops

10-15 dried prunes

1. Cut a large piece of plastic wrap (film transparent) and set it so it's nice and flat.

2. Use a rolling pin (rouleau à patisserie) to flatten your chicken a little. If you feel angry frustrated you may use a large hammer ; it will work perfectly too and I'm sure you'll be able to let go. Just beware not to break your counter!

3. First place the coppa on your plastic wrap so that it is nice and flat and covers the whole surface evenly. Just leave a few inches on each sides so you will be able to roll the whole thing up. Then add the chicken on top. Finally add a line of prunes around 1/3 of the plastic wrap. Add salt and pepper.

4. Roll every thing up as tight as you can. Then close the two endings and knot them.

5. The best way to cook these little chickens is to steam them up. It will keep them nice and moist. I used my Lekue mini steam case for 15 to 20 minutes at 200°C (400°F).

If you really want to show off (which of course I did) don't forget to prepare some sauce without which your chicken might seem a bit dry.

For the sauce I heated chicken broth (not home-made I must admit), added prunes cut into small pieces and a Tbs of corn starch to thicken it. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes.

The last bit of my recipe was a sweet potato purée(with a tad of vanilla) which I found went very well with the sweetness of the prunes and tender poultry.

As for the wine, I chose a delicious Coteaux-du-Layon, the Loire Valley's Sweetheart (http://alamodeaujus.blogspot.com/2010/05/loires-sweethearts.html) whose rich and fragrant aromas blended perfectly with the luscious prunes and potato purée).

What to do with Kumquats? My chicken run # 2

I have Kumquats in my fridge.

A lot. I went on a little kumquat frenzy at my local market last week end.

But the trouble with kumquats is that you can never really figure out what to do with them.

Sure, they are tiny and adorable, but that won't help me to feed my hungry belly tonight.

So, I went through an extensive search in my cookbooks and magazines and finally fell on a charming little recipe that I only subtly transformed.

I used chicken instead of duck. I know. Daring.

This way, not only did I finally get rid of my cute little kumquats but I also managed to post another recipe for my chicken-run. (see my first chicken run recipe)

I'm pretty happy with myself right know ;-)

So here we go, a delicious recipe directly inspired from one of my lovely cookbooks.

Asian style Chicken with Kumquats

Ingredients for 2

2 cups of kumquats, seeded and chopped into slices

1 Tbs of brown sugar (or honey works too)

300g of chicken breasts, cut into 2 inches strips

Cooking sauce

2 Tbs of Hoisin sauce

1 Tbs of oyster sauce (or regular spring roll sauce)

1 Tbs of cornstarch

2 Tbs of Chinese 5 spice

Chili oil (or sesame oil)

1 Tbs of gresh ginger grated (or more if you like)

Half a cup of chicken broth

1 Tbs of rice wine vinegar

The way to go:

1. Combine the chicken, kumquats, sugar (or honey) and 5 spices in a jar and let sit for 20 minutes.

2. Combine the sauce elements.

3. In a wok, add chili oil an grated ginger when the pan is hot. Stir frequently on medium heat for 1 minute.

4. Add the chicken cook for a few minutes until golden brown.

5. Add the sauce, kumquats and stir until it thickens.

7. Add vinegar and scrape the pan to get all the juice of the meat. Add the chicken broth. Turn down the heat, cover pan and cook until the kumquats are soft.

You can serve this as I did with white rice. I usually add a few drops of rice vinegar to give a little twist.

Honestly this dish was easy and quick to put together. The kumquats give it a little bitter taste that is nicely counterbalanced by the sugar and Hoisin sauce but also the spicy ginger.

It's a dish I could really for a dinner party.

In that case, the best wine pairing would probably be either:

- a young Sauternes wine (hense the bottle of Cyprès de Climens, the second wine of the famous Château Climens in the background...) = nose of fruit and flowers (orange, nectarine, mango, apricot) and a little vanilla. Very round mouth, great balance and fresh fruits like oranges.

- or an Alsace region Gewurztraminer = nose of rose, exotic fruits like litchi and orange zests ; Powerful mouth, fruity with ginger and sometimes a little orangy tanginess.

Easy chicken recipe - my chicken run

Everyone eats chicken.
It's easy to make, tasty and not too expensive.
Actually, I'm lying.
It's not always tasty. In fact, more often then not, it's either cardboard hard, burnt or totally bland.

Armenia's finest

Dear Readers, I have a confession to make.

Half of my crazy family is Armenian.

We are all spread out around the world and almost none of us speak Armenian any more.

As for me, I haven't even been to Armenia.

Yet there is something that keeps us together. Something that seems to be intrinsicly linked to Armenian people and makes them stand out in a crowd.

I'm not talking about Armenian's way of wearing leopard print all the time. I'm not even referring to their overwhelming Christian faith. Or their so-called hatred of the Turks.

No, my friends, there is something much greater, that every Armenian will relate to and shares.

Love for food.