beetroot patties, mushroom confit, and lemon pesto

 For 5 patties

About 450g raw, cleaned, peeled beetroot

50 to 100g of sheep's hard cheese

1 peeled shallot

1/2 tsp) of dry thyme

1/4 bunch of flat leaf parsley

1 tsp fennel seeds freshly grounded

20g of chickpea flour

20g of oat flakes

2 beaten eggs

salt, pepper

Separate the leaves from the parsley branches.

Grate the beetroot.

Cut the cheese in pieces. 

Mince the shallot and the parsley leaves. Discard parsley branches opr use it in homemade stock.

Mix all the ingredients and leave to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Don't oversalt as the cheese is already salty. 

I skip the salt as the pesto is salty enough.

Turn the oven on at 180°C.

With a stainless steel cutter, form the beetroot patties on a baking sheet covering an oven dish. Press with a spoon and cook for 20 to 30 minutes.

 

For the mushrooms :

1 small Paris mushrooms punnet

1 oyster mushrooms punnet

1 small minced peeled onion.

Brush the mushrooms to clean them and mince it.

Melt the onion in olive oil on a warm frying pan. After 3 minutes, add the mushrooms and leave to confit with salt and pepper. Mix in gently from time to time. It'll take 30 minutes. The mushrooms should be dry and golden.

For the quinoa:

Cover the quinoa with water and leave to rest for 12 hours. Rinse well and drain. Pour in a pan, add salt, pepper and the grounded fennel seeds. Cover with water and cook for about 15 minutes.

In a frying pan, heat a little olive oil and add the quinoa to dry it and obtain a light golden tone.

Rectify the seasonig to taste.

For the pesto:

1 peeled garlic clove

60g walnuts

1/2 bunch of flat leaf parsley

1 pinch of sea salt flakes

4 tbsp olive oil

the zest of 1 lemon

2 fresh goat cheeses

In a blender or a mixer, mix the garlic, walnuts, parsley leaves (discard the branches), lemon zest and sea salt flakes.

Add the olive oil and mix again then combine with the goat cheeses.

On the plate, dress the quinoa with a stainless steel cutter. Put the beetroot patties on top and decorate with the pesto.

Add the mushrooms on the side.

Leave the remaining pesto in a bowl for each guest to get more !

almond babycakes

Those babycakes can take any shape you like. It's delicious and stays moist for a couple of days.

I use whole sugar like muscovado or rapadura. I like the textures and the caramel taste of those sugars and they're rich in minerals which refined sugars are not.

I don't sift the sugar because I like the sugary explosion here and there when I take a bite.

If you're gluten intolerant, feel free to use any GF flour like quinoa, rice or corn.

As for the lactose intolerant, the butter can easily be replace with coconut oil.

150g whole sugar

200g almond powder

50g flour

125g butter

5 eggs' whites

Turn on the oven at 180°C.

Mix the sugar, the flour and the grounded almond.

Melt the butter.

Beat the whites into firm meringue and incorporate it to the almond mix.

Add the melted butter.

Pour into the silicone shapes and press so the dough goes into every "corners". 

Cook in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes.

Leave to cool a little before removing from mould and leave it to cool on a cooling rack.

You could add walnuts, almonds, chocolate chips to the dough.

If you add walnuts, reduce the sugar content and add a pinch of salt, it would be delicious with cheese!

wrap - so easy and delicious

When you're short on time and there's not much left in the cupboards, you can often find ingredients to make a good wrap. When you're fed up with bread sandwich, these are great and there's more garnish then bread! 

I always try to have my favorite toppings and some wraps for when there's no more eggs, no more homemade fresh bread, when I don't want to heat any pots or pans, or if there's no way I'm going out to brave the cold/wind/rain to find something to eat and, whatever the choice, I better not have anything else to eat but chocolate (there's plenty of that around here).
If you're gluten intolerant, there are some gluten free wraps made with corn flour.

Here are two possibilities with fish, one more luxurious than the other.

On the wrap, place two thin slices of ewe's cheese (like pecorino), add some green leaves (I had spinach on hand).

Mash some tuna with dry tomatoes purée (easy to make with olive oil and dry tomatoes!). Leave the cheese if you don't tolerate it.

Add this spread on top of the leaves.

Roll.

It's ready!

 The tuna mix is delicious inside cherry tomatoes or accompanying chickpea. 

The other recipe is even more simple:

On the wrap, mash some fresh avocado, sprinkle a few drops of lemon juice. Add a slice of smoked salmon and sprinkle hot pepper like espelette pepper or shichimi togarashi).

Roll, it's ready!

That's it! It's great on fresh homemade bread but add some seeds inside the dough like chia seeds, sunflower seeds, or pavot seeds... so it's a bit crispy in the soft inside of the bread!  

So it's possible to eat something good and not stay in the kitchen for half a day!

olive & artichoke quiche

 Here the winter is back... Just a few days before Spring is suppose to arrive! Well, no strawberries or crunchy salad yet so why not prepare a nourishing and comforting quiche?

I chose olives and artichokes hearts as it's easy to find the preserved kind any time of the year and it gives a little taste of the Spring.

I am longing for new vegetables and fruits! Especially eggplants and tomatoes! But seeing the snow falling again, the dim light that it gives, the silenced city, almost asleep, and having my hands around a warm bowl of homemade soup, I find it rather nice!

For this quiche, I made the dough with chestnut and buckwheat flour. It's a lot more interesting then wheat and I find the quiche to be lighter and more balanced in taste. With the olives' acidity and the soft artichoke's hearts, I have to take another bite!

Buckwheat and chestnut dough:

60g chestnut flour
150g buckwheat flour
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp salt
100g butter (in cubes or thin slices)
1 egg
cold water if necessary
Mix the flours wit the salt.
Add the butter and mix until sandy.
Add the egg. If the dough sticks to the bowl, add a little cold water to form a ball. Wrap in cling film and leave to rest in the fridge for abour an hour.Turn the oven on at 180°C.
Spread the dough.
Line a tin with parchment paper and cover with the dough. Prick it with a fork and cook for 15 minutes in the oven. Reserve.

Turn the oven at 200°C.
Mix 3 tbsp of minced dill, 10 minced mint leaves, 200g of hard goat cheese, 1 can of artichokes hearts, 20 pitted green olives. 

In a bit of olive oil, in a pan, on middle fire, cook 2 small onions with a pinch of salt. Add the previous mix.

Beat 4 eggs with 1/2 liter of buttermilk, salt and pepper. Spread the vegetables on the precooked dough and pour the eggs on top. Cook in the oven for 35 to 45 minutes.

versatile carrot custard

There are flavored custard, easy to make, that'll make everyone eat carrots!

I prepare them in mini cocottes, it's so cute and so much fun comparing to classic white ramekin.

You won't need a lot of ingredients and is super versatile.

I'll give you the basic recipe that I got from a French book "mes MINI avec Le Creuset" from Julie Andrieu but I couldn't resist twisting it in many ways!

600g washed and peeled carrots

2 peeled and minced shallots

3 eggs

4 tbsp of sour cream (cow or soy)

1 tbsp olive oil

a few sprigs of chives

salt, pepper

tomato coulis

Preheat the oven at 210°C.

Melt the shallots in a frying pan until lightly golden.

Cut the carrots in thin slices and steam them for about 15 minutes until tender.

Mix the carrots with 4 tbsp of the cooking water and season with salt and pepper.

Beat the eggs with olive oil, sour cream, half the chives.

Add the carrot mix, half the shallots and rectify the seasonning (if you don't want to taste it raw, cook a spoonful in a pan).

Divide the mix in the mini cocottes. Put in the oven and cook 15 minutes. Down the temperature to 180°C and cook 15 more minutes.

Leave to cool.

Heat the tomato coulis with a bit of olive oil, the remaining shallots, salt and pepper.

Serve the custard, sprinkle with ciseled chices and a bit of the tomato coulis.

Instead of chives, you can replace it with:

-fresh cilantro and add caraway powder to the custard mix

-fresh mint and add star anise in the custard 

-fresh basil and add a few roughly minced pine nuts on the custard

-fresh flat leaves parsley and add roughly minced walnuts, hazelnuts or peanuts to the custard

-thaï basil, replace the sour cream with coconut cream and add curry and hot pepper to the custard

And for the carnivorous, a thin slice of smoked bacon, grilled to be crunchy to set upon the mini cocotte.

goat cheese briouates

It's easy but it takes a little while to make so invite your guests in the kitchen to prepare them with you!

Goat cheese briouates are a Moroccan delight, crusty and soft, savory, to eat as starters or as an appetizer, serve it on a plate or in a buffet...

Don't hesitate to replace the spices and herbs to make different kinds.

Here is the recipe of the day!
brick paper (or fresh rice paper for the gluten intolerant)

fresh goat cheese

pistachio (chopped coarsely)

1 organic lemon (washed)

a few mint leaves

2-3 saffron threads

Put the saffron threads in a teaspoon of water.

Use a zester to remove the zest of the lemon then cut it thinly with a sharp knife.

With a fork, mash the goat cheese and mix with the saffron, the zest, the pistachios and the mint.

Put one small spoonful of this mix on a brick sheet and roll to form triangles.

Oil a frying pan and cook the briouates until golden (about 3 minutes on each side).

Serve hot, at room temperature or even cold. 

Don't forget the napkins: it's crunchy!

If you want to replace the saffron, the mint and the pistachios, here are a couple ideas:

basil, pine nuts, parmesan

coriander, caraway powder, almonds

hazelnuts, garlic, rosemary

...

the irresistible tapenade

 An irresistible recipe, under the condition that you like the ingredients!
Don't hesitate to make twice the amount as you can keep it for about 2 months in the fridge.
Well, in my house, it never lasts that long and we use it on bread, on pasta, or on steamed vegetables. 
Of course, but do I have to repeat it, the quality of the ingredients makes all the difference.
I received salted capers (hard to get in my neighborhood)  and they're more subtle than those preserved in vinegar. But if you only have those preserved in vinegar, it'll be delicious too!
You won't need three Michelin stars to make it right, nor just one star for that matter, just a small food processor, a blender, or,  for the purists, with a mortar, a pestle, and some muscles.

250g pitted black olives (not too salty if possible)

3 tbsp of drained capers (or rinsed if it's preserved in salt) 

50g of anchovies

2 pressed garlic cloves

thyme, rosemary (as the chef feels it)

10cl olive oil(and a little bit to cover and preserve)

1 tbsp of lemon juice (unless you use capers in vinegar) 
freshly grounded black pepper

Mix all the ingredients but the pepper and the lemon juice.
Don't overmix as it's better if it's a bit lumpy and not too smooth.
Add pepper and lemon juice.
Pour in a sterilised jar, knock the bottom of the jar on your hand to have less air inside the mix and cover with olive oil to prevent oxydation.

With a few slices of fresh bread...! Irresistible!