The recipe I will not write

Last week-end was the first really nice week-end of the spring (sunny, 24°C) and so it was perfect for a picnic. As it was also a way to celebrate my birthday for the second time, I decided I should prepare a birthday cake.
My mother used to bake it every year for my birthday so it became my official birthday cake... As I still have no oven (and no place to have one!) , Emilie was kind enough to lend me hers. It was the first time I was preparing it by myself and it turned out to be really good! (I don't have a picture because it was eaten to quickly!)

Unfortunately, I'm not ready to post the recipe on the interweb right now...
This recipe came from my grandmother (father's side) and my mother only got it by watching her preparing it...
So you will have to wait some time or become a spy and watch me next year when I will bake it again for my birthday!

;-)

Lazy dinner

Yesterday I came back home at reasonable time but seing the dishes waiting to be cleaned I decided I would do that later and I postponed as well preparing the dinner to start reading.
When my stomach decided it would be time to eat, it was 9:30, the dishes were still waiting to be washed and I wasn't in mood to cook something.
After a quick inventory of the fridge I choose to prépare something quick, and it turn out to be a kind of mussels and zucchinis soup.

Mussel and zucchini soup (for 1)

- 1 small zucchini
- frozen mussels
- 1 tablespoon of cream
- 1 teaspoon curcuma + salt

Palce the frozen mussels in a cup.
Cut the zucchini in small pieces and add to the mussels
Put in the microwave for 2 minutes.
Add the cream and curcuma, and put in back in microwave for 2minutes.

It's ready!

NB: as mussels were frozen they realized some water when defrasted and that was enough liquid to make it look like a soup...

Une fois n'est pas coutume...

Today post will be in french...because the original idea for recipe I will describe comes from Mike's blog: the strawberry white chocolate mousse.

Donc en français pour la suite!

Devant préparer quelque chose pour un fête de départ, et n'ayant toujours pas de four (ni la place d'en avoir un), j'avais dans l'idée de commencer à expérimenter les recettes de ma liste "à essayer".
Ayant vu des fraises sur le marché le week-end dernier, j'ai choisi de préparer la mousse de fraise au chocolat blanc que j'avais vue sur le blog de Mike.
Evidemment, une fois au supermarché, les fraises avaient une sale tête... donc après moultes hésitations et des détours pas tous les rayons du monop', j'ai décidé de remplacer les fraises par des framboises.
J'avais de grands projets pour cette mousse, une idée précise du dressage etc malheureusement le manque de temps et d'espace m'a fait renoncer à appliquer mon plan jusqu'au bout.
Le résultat est donc moins joli que prévu, mais c'est bon!

Attention pour ceux qui compareront les 2 versions, j'ai changé pas mal de choses, nottament les proportions de sucre et de beurre.

EDIT :
J'ai écrit la recette avant de l'avoir goutée... à mon avis, on doit pouvoir supprimer le beurre et réduire encore la crême voir la suppirmer pour que ce soit plus léger.

Mousse de framboises au chocolat blanc

- 4 oeufs
- 200g de chocolat blanc
- 2 cuillères à soupe de sucre glace
- 3 cuillères à soupe de crême fraiche
- 50g de beurre doux (oui je sais, quelle horreur...)
- environ 450g de framboises (j'ai triché j'ai pris 1 barquette de framboises fraiches et le reste en surgelé ...chut...)
- du jus de citron

+ de l'huile de coude et du temps (environ 1h30- car j'ai fait la chantilly à la main)

-Faire fondre le beurre et le chocolat au bain marie. Quand c'est fondu, le laisser refroidir doucement.
-Pendant ce temps, faire la purée de framboise : 3/4 des fruits dans le mixeur, et on ajoute le jus de citron à la fin pour la conservation et une cuillère à soupe de sucre glace pour le gout. Passer la purée au tamis pour retirer les grains (ça aussi ça prend du temps).
-Monter la crême en chantilly : on commence doucement puis on accèlere, et on ajoute 1 cuillère à soupe de sucre glace.
- Séparer les blancs des jaunes. Battre les blancs en neige ferme.
- Ajouter les jaunes 1 à 1 dans le chocolat fondu.

c'est là qu'intervient le téléphone... Donc je vous raconte comment j'ai fait (tout en ayant le téléphone sur l'oreille, tenu par l'épaule.. vous visualisez?):

-Mélanger la purée au chocolat (j'an ai gardé un peu pour la déco). ajouter ensuite la chantilly en remuant doucement pour ne pas la faire retomber. Ajouter les framboises entières en en gardants quelques-unes pour la déco.
- Ajouter les blancs en neige petit à petit pour ne pas les faire retomber.
- Mettre au fais pendant 2h au moins
- Décorer avec la purée et les framboises fraiches.

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....