Rooibos chicken

It was cold and cloudy yesterday in Paris... so I decided to stay home and tidy/clean the flat. I started with the shelves, cleaning and throwing some useless things like draft of the 1st year master thesis or old articles I would never read anymore. Then I came to the cooking books... and I had to put things in order there too... So I sat on the couch and start reading recipes I never tried. When I discovered the "Red thea chicken" I decided I would cook it ... and surprisingly i had all the ingredients!

Rooibos chicken
You need (per person)
- chicken (chicken breast)
- half a teaspoon of rooibos
-1 teaspoon of lemon juice
-1 spoon of vermouth

Cut the chicken in cubes and brown them in a pan.
Add the rooibos + salt and pepper.
Cook for 10 minutes (often turn the chicken).
Remove the chicken from the pan and add the vermouth, let reduce and add the chicken again for 2 minutes.
Serve!

easy isn't it? I served it with young carrots and oignon.
As I was in a cooking mood I prepared a fast crumble: I made the sweet apple sauce I described before, and add a mashed biscuit ("roudor") at the top... yummy!

Grandfather cooking

My grandfather is gone for a while now, but last week he would have been 100.
As a man of the 1st half of the 20th century, he was not very found of cooking. He prefers to wander in his garden and take care of his trees. Nevertheless, when I think about him, there are 2 things that come to my mind any time : "mousse au chocolat" (do I need to translate?) and "compote de pomme" (sweet apple sauce). They were the only things I ever saw him cooking, but believe me, they were the best I ever ate.

He made the apple sauce with apples from his garden. They were little, acid and impossible to eat without being cooked... And that is the easiest recipe in the world...

Sweet apple sauce

Per person :
2 small apples
1/2 glass of water
vanillia
cinnamon

Peel and chops the apples in pieces.
Put them in a pan with the water and spices (no need to add sugar)
Cover and forget in on medium heat for an hour.
When cooked, the apple can me mashed juste by steering with a wooden spoon, but I prefer to let them in small pieces.

Serve still warm with vanillia icecream...

Dining in Bordeaux

Yesterday we had our traditional team dinner at "Le cochon volant", which is near Capucin's market in Bordeaux.
It's set in an old butchery, and the food is just amazing... I mean you can easily share a plate for two... AND it's terribly good.

I recomand their "terrine de foie gras maison "(home made foie gras"), the magret is terrific, has is the "pot au feu de canard" (kind of duck stew)

Last time we went there, I had a magret perfectly roasted, and as dessert a "old fashion chocolate cream" mmmmmmm

Now they even have a website (in french), be carefull you might start drooling when reading the list of all meals they serve...

A week witout cooking

Hi there!

yes it's unbelievable, I'm off for a long week and except this week-end I won't technically be able to cook since I'l be living at a hotel.
To keep writing, I decided I might told you about the things I will try...
I arrived today at Bordeaux, just for lunch time ;-) We follow people that were going to a small "brasserie" near the place we were... and that was actually better than expected!
Maybe my taste and sense of prices I've been corrupted since living in Paris but for 13€ I had a plate of very good pasta cooked with duck, mushrooms and foie gras... and the amount of fat I would probably in half a week normally...

For those who want to know, this place is called "Lulu dans la prairie" and is in Merignac, close to the airport...

more news ater next meals....

Sunday salmon

yesterday was a sunny sunday, pretty warm for the season and it makes going to the market a real pleasure. After a short walk and a wandering around the different product that were for sale there I decided to prepare something easy, tasty and healthy.
And as I had a very healthy lunch I allowed myself to take a hot chocolate at the new place I tried with my friends after our afternoon walk...

Salmon and leeks
per person
-1 piece of salmon
-1 medium leek (only the white part)
- 3 teaspoon cream
- 1 teaspoon "fumet de poisson" (sorry I still have to find the correct term for it in english)
- half a glass of water

Cut the salmon in dices (1cm) and brown them in a pan.
Wash the leeks, cut them in slices (more likely rings).
When the salmon is just slightly cooked, remove from the pan. Instead put leeks, "fumet" and water and cook for 10 min. Add the salmon again for 5 min. Pour the cream for the last minute of cooking.
Serve very warm, with rice if you're very hungry...

Chandeleur's crêpes and caramel (with salted butter)

Last week-end I had the great pleasure to meet my friends for a lunch... once out of the restaurant Lil suggested a trip to the Pierre Herme shop that was not far away. Thanks to her I discovered how fabulous the "Emotion" are :-)

Next week-end should also be interesting (as far as food is concerned) since it's La chandeleur : the day to eat crepes!
My last experiment with crepes was for new year's eve. I had to prepare a dessert that could be light and yummy. I chose to make little crepes (10cm diameter) that one could fill with either safran honey or caramel with salted butter.
As I suppose all of you are able to make crepes without my recipe, I will just write the caramel recipe down.

Caramel au beurre salé

200g sugar
5 tablespoon water
2 teaspoons lemmon juice
2 tablespoon cream
1 tablespoon salted butter

Melt sugar and water together with lemmon juice. When it's golden-brown take out of the stove and add the butter in small pieces. BE CAREFUL there will be projections.
Add the cream.
Let cool down and fill crepes with the preparation.

Emergency scones

What a strange title for a food recipe!
I call them so because I make them mostly when I haven't been able to go food-shopping intime and I have nothing left for breakfast except carrots. This recipe was first given to me by my chat friend Mike, but as usual I modified it so I could bake something with what was left in my fridge... The god point of the recipe is that it's easy and quick to preapre and that it doesn't require to have an oven!!


Emergency scones

200g flour
1 yogourt
1 tablespoon cream
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder

Mix flour, baking powder and sugar, add yogourt and cream.
Separate the dough in 6 scones.
Bake in a pan, 5 min on each side.
Let it rest 5 minute in a napkin before eating...

Of course it's better if you eat them just out of the pan...