I’m not sure if you could call this a recipe and I’m not even sure if it is French but today I wandered into an Oliviers and Co to have a look around and found samples of sliced bread toasted with olive oil infused with basil, flavored salt and tomato powder. It had a great flavor so I bought their little kit and made the toast for dinner.

I imagine these ingredients are available at Olivier and Co in the States but at a higher price. You can also buy salt here with white truffles which cost probably 5 times less than in the States so it’s always worth a look while in Paris.

I think it would be a great little apperatif maybe topped with a tomato or a slice of avocado. I made the toast and then made a simple salad along with some ravioli mixed with the same olive oil, some parmasan cheese and some fried parma ham. It was a great light dinner.

Monthly I recieve, via the Internet, a e-magazine Called France Monthly http://www.francemonthly.com/
which gives great information on various parts of France. I love reading things like that, storing up places I want to visit next. They always give a recipe from the region written about. This month the subject was a part of Brittany and they offered this recipe for an apple cake. I had just bought some apples that looked good on the outside but on the inside were less than thrilling so I was looking around for a recipe so I could cook them. Maurice doesn’t like cinnamon so that leaves out most of my Amrican recipes so I was happy to find this one. While I was in the middle of mixing the ingredients, I realized that there wasn’t any baking powder on the list. I thought about adding some anyway but didn’t. The photo on the magazine looked like the cake would be rather heavy and dense so I decided to trust the recipe. It turned out to be great-it did raise a little-and the apples made it very moist. It was very easy and fast to make. I beat the egg whites first so I wouldn’t have to meticuously clean the beaters if I did it at the end. It calls for 6 ounces of butter which I think is about 2/3 cup-it’s what I used anyway.

Breton Apple Cake

Ingredients:
6 oz softened butter
2/3 cup sugar
1 cup flour
3 eggs, separated
2 large apples
1 Tablespoon honey
Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius).

With a mixer, beat the soft butter with the sugar and add 3 egg yolks, having put the whites aside. Add the sifted flour and the honey.

Whip the egg whites until they form firm peaks and delicately fold them into the mixture.

Peel the apples and cut into small cubes. Add them to the dough.

Pour into a 7 ” round, buttered cake pan and bake for 50 minutes at 350 degrees.

Eat when cooled.

Bon appétit !

Sideroads of Europe

We were in the grocery store the other day and saw what is called a Pissaladiere Nicoise. We almost bought it but Maurice decided that he would make it himself. It is a sort of onion tart without cheese, or any tomato sauce so not really a pizza either. I bought a quiche crust, ready made, but really should have gotten some pizza dough so that it came out thicker but, really, it was very good. I am not a fan of anchovies so I just took it off of my portion after it was cooked. I think, had I been the chef, I would have carmelized the onions and added thyme and maybe herbs de Provence but Maurice is very pure when it comes to cooking and likes things simple. I think this would make a great appetizer.

Pissaladiere Nicoise

Peel and cut 4 to 5 onions into small quarters.

In a small pan heat 2 tablespoons olive oil and fry the onions. They shouldn’t get coloured during the cooking. They should be melted and white at the end of the cooking time.
Wash anchovies(the ones in a can), prepare the fillets, dip them into water.
Put olive oil on top of the dough. It probably would be a good idea to cook it a short while first so it doesn’t get soggy although we didn’t. Roll the endings around in order to make a cavity at the center.
Place on a cookie or pizza pan sprinkled with flour.
Heat the oven (250°)
Sprinkle an inch of sugar on the onions, mix them and cover the dough with the mixture.(In some recipes, a fish called Pissal is added which is where the name of this dish comes from. Too much fish for me.)
Drain the anchovies, put them on the onions, decorate them with nicoise olives.

Put the “pissaladiere” in the hot oven, cook it for 30 minutes. Serve hot.

Sideroads of Europe

 I heard about this recipe from a friend and it isn’t technically a French recipe but rather one from immigrants to France. It’s called a tagine and it should be cooked in one of those neat dishes that I didn’t buy when I was in Marroco. I’ve seen all sorts of recipes using any sort of meat and vegetables and people add nuts and fruit as well. Mine is more simple and I’ve done what is probably an American thing and added wine. As I always say, anything tastes good if you cook it in wine.

 It doesn’t look that good in the photo, but it is.

Chicken Tagine

Any amount of chicken that you want

Any amount of potatoes cut in chunks. I microwave them for about 5 minutes before adding them to the dish to make sure they are finished cooking the same time as the chicken.

Dice garlic and chop onions into large chunks.

Oil the cooking pan that you use to save clean up time. Put olive oil on both sides of the chicken pieces and mix into the potatoes and onions. Salt and pepper everything and sprinkle everything with herbs de Provence or any other type of dry spice that you like. Sprinkle the garlic pieces over the whole dish. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon over the chicken (you can also marinate the chicken in lemon juice for a while if you like)and then pour white wine into the dish. I use about 1/2 cup usually-it depends on how much chicken I have. You can also put green olives into the dish but add them about 15 minutes before you take the dish out of the oven so they don’t over cook. I usually cut up the half of the lemon that I squeezed the juice from into wedges and add it to the dish as I like how it looks. I think you could use preserved lemons too which I never have. Cover well with foil and bake at 350 degrees for one hour. Remove the foil and then grill until everything turns nice and brown which usually takes 10 to 15 minutes. Squeeze the juice of the other half of the lemon over the chicken and serve putting the juice on the chicken.

Salade Nicoise

 Please excuse the quality of this photo. I forgot to take the photo when I had the plate outside on our table and this is just a corner of the part of the dish.

 This provencal salad is very easy to make, really tasty and when you set the plate on the table everyone goes, “Wow!” and they tell you that it looks like art. The hard part is cooking the potatoes and green beans and, if you want, grilling a tuna steak or two.

Salade Nicoise

8 ounces green beans
1 pound potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes (I do this after boiling)
1 small lettuce in bite size pieces
4 ripe plum tomatoes
1 small cucumber, peeled and cut into cubes
1 green or red bell pepper cut into thin slices
4 hard boiled eggs, peeled and quartered
24 black olives, nicoise if you have them
1 can of tuna in water, or grilled tuna steak
garlic croutons
 
Make a vinaigrette-my recipe is 6 Tab. olive oil, 3 Tab. vinegar, 1 teaspoon of mustard to bind it together. I also add some chopped parsely.
Cook the green beans in boiling water until tender, followed by the potatoes. Put some of the vinaigrette on the potatoes when cooled down.
Arrange lettuce on a platter, top with tomatoes, cucumber and pepper putting them in a ring around the platter. then put an inner circle of string beans with the potatoes in the middle. Arrange the eggs, olives and tuna on top and garnish with basil leaves and chopped parsley. You can drizzle the vinaigrette on top but I usually pass a bowl around instead. You can also put anchovies on the salad and smash them up in the salad dressing if you wish but I’m not fond of them. Top with croutons.
 It’s a good dish for company and doesn’t require much time cooking. Very nice when it’s hot outside. I usually serve some cold tomato soup or gazpaccho before.

                                       Fruit Cake

 I know, fruit cake doesn’t sound very exciting. I was never a fan of Christmas fruit cake back in the States especially if it had the bitter lemon or orange peel in it. I did have a recipe without it and I liked it but haven’t even thought of making it in years. It wasn’t until Maurice requested it that we did a search for a recipe. The French like to have their tea, just like the English, with a cup of tea and a little something sweet in the afternoon. I try to avoid this practice although I have moved into the habit of having an apperitif with ease come 7 PM. Maurice found a French recipe for a cake that looked good to him and I tried it. It isn’t for the faint of heart-or fat of heart-as it is loaded with butter but it is really good.

                               Cake aux fruit confits

Candied fruit-about 1/2 cup without citrus. You may also add 1/2 cup raisins but I never do. Add 1 Tablespoon of rum to fruit and let sit.

This blurry picture is of the fruit that I use.

Preheat oven to 210 degrees C., (385 degrees F.)

Butter a loaf pan.   (The recipe calls for baking paper in the bottom of the pan but I somehow have never managed to remember to buy any.)

Beat 1/2 cup butter (125 g) until soft and light. Add 1/2 Cup sugar (125g) and beat until fluffy. Add 3 eggs beating well after each one.

Add 1 1/3 cups flour (200g) with a pinch of salt and 1/2 sachet of levure chimique. (For us Americans this is 1 teaspoon of baking powder. The French put theirs into a little package-you buy 5 at a time-and then ask you to use just half of each one. I guess it keeps it fresh this way but seems a little inaccurate to me but I’m great at just dumping without measuring anyway)

Stir in the fruit and pour into pan.

Bake at 385 degrees for 25 minutes then turn down the oven to 250 degrees (125 degrees C) and bake for one hour. (The French recipe says to bake it for une petite heure which makes me smile. Bake it for a little hour. I’m guessing this means not to over cook. Remove the cake from the pan after it has cooled for 5 minutes or so so it doesn’t stick to the pan. The recipe then actually says to let it sit for 24 hours before serving, like that is ever going to happen.

 It’s really good but, as I said, I try not to eat much of it. Maurice can eat it without gaining weight but not me.