crêpes

A great sweet or savory meal is crêpes. Crêpes are made from a batter similar to pancake batter, but they are extremely thin. They are loaded with goodies and folded to make a warm meal. They are easy, inexpenisve and taste great.

I keep buckwheat flour in my freezer for my savory crêpes. And, I always have flour, butter, milk and eggs to make sweet crêpes. In this picture I have ingredients to make sweet crêpes for dessert. I grated lemon zest for lemon, sugar and rum crêpes. After I cook the crêpe I sprinkle sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice onto the crêpe. Then, after a few minutes the sugar melts and I add some rum. I carefully ignite the rum which creates a neat blue flame! When the flame dies I fold the crêpe and present it to its lucky recipient. In this picture I also have blueberry jam and a chocolate ganache for other dessert crêpes.

When I make savory crêpes I have tried many combinations: turkey, spinach and cheese. turkey, sun-dried tomato and cheese, mushroom, ham and cheese... but my favorite at home and in France is always ham and cheese. It is simple, salty and a perfect combination.

Crêpes are from Bretagne, the north-west region of France. My husband's parents live here and have taken us to local crêperies. It is traditional to drink hard cider with crêpes. It is hard to beat crêpes from that region and I am lucky to go back soon. I hope anyone reading this can either try a recipe at home or travel to try the real thing.

Gallina De Madre: Mother Hen Toasts

Once again, Tyler Florence inspired me to create a delicious dish. This dish is a tapas dish from Spain called Gallina de Madre. It is called this because you place the ham in the shape of a nest to hold the egg. My variations on his recipe were that I used prosciutto and only the egg yolk. It reminded me of the French dish Croque Madame because I used toast, a Béchamel sauce, ham and a softly cooked egg. I love making new and beautiful food that is rustic and tastes amazing! I will definitely make this again as an appetizer or breakfast dish.

Cooking Club

Since the Cooking Club kickoff we have had 2 more meetings. The second event was Swedish cooking which included Swedish meatballs, lingonberry sauce, mashed potatoes, spritz cookies and a special bean dish. The third event was Greek. We enjoyed a meatball soup with an egg and lemon sauce, a Greek salad loaded with vegetables, feta cheese and Greek olives and baklava for dessert! It was delicious. It will be fun to see what is next!

Thanksgiving appetizers

This Thanksgiving I prepared the entire meal. So, I kept my appetizers simple. I made small, open sandwiches with cream cheese and pumpernickel bread. I topped some with smoked salmon, shallots and capers. I topped the others with a soft salami and sliced cornichon. My other appetizer was deviled eggs. This is more of a tradition at my family's holidays. I make them by mixing the yolks with some mayonaisse, mustard, white wine vinegar, salt and pepper and then I sprinkle paprika on top. To drink, we had a homemade mulled wine made with Merlot, a berry juice, spices and oranges. Finally, I bought some olives at the store and my friend brought a cheese and fruit plate. We almost didn't need the turkey dinner!

Cooking Club

What's cooking? A cooking club! That's what's cooking! I have kicked off the first cooking club event for the friends I have made here in New Jersey. We made onion tarts, lemon madeleines and a smoked salmon and asapargus salad. Everyone did an amazing job helping and cooking! I am really looking forward to future events. We hope to do this once a month. I will just need to remember my camera.

mini quiches

I have been making quiche for a long time. It has been the center of annual "quiche parties" and an easy meal for my family. After enjoying mini quiches that I would find in the grocer's frozen section I thought I would try it on my own. I always use premade pie dough. So, I rolled it out on the counter top and cut out smaller circles. I brushed olive oil in my muffin tins and then placed the one circle of dough into each muffin spot. I added the custard, cheese and fillings and out came beautiful little appetizers! This picture shows goat cheese and herb mini quiches. And, for the same party I made cheddar and bacon quiches. I also made them ahead of time and just heated them up when my guests arrived. A little work for a great appetizer!

My daughter in the kitchen

Since Natalie turned two I have asked for her help in the kitchen. And, likewise, she has asked to help me in the kitchen! At first, she was crafty and dragged her piano bench into the kitchen to watch what I was making. We did buy her a stool to stand on.

As I let Natalie help me cook I am careful to tell her what ingredients are. I also ask her to smell them and taste them as a grown-up chef might do. I test her knowledge as she gathers ingredients from the fridge. She is not quite sure of everything I ask for, but I love her enthusiasm! So today we made cupcakes, stuffed tomatoes and tomato sauce together. She watched me pick fresh basil and smell it. And, when I asked her to go get some on her own I watched out the window. She picked some leaves and then held them to her nose. It was quite cute and also a proud moment for me.

Natalie cannot cut things, grate things, or cook things. But, sprinkling cheese and herbs or pouring pre-cracked eggs into cake batter makes her world shine. I just try to give her some ideas along the way so she can help me even more as we grow as chefs together.

éclairs!

I took a Parisian Patiserrie cooking class and learned how to make éclairs. I have been scared to try to make them on my own, but with dinner guests arriving on Friday night I knew I had to be brave. I was really happy with the outcome, especially since I cheated a bit! Instead of pastry bags and tips, which I still don't have, I used a Zip lock bag. And, instead of taking the time to make the pastry cream filling I used instant vanilla pudding. To get the pudding inside the pastry I used what looks like a plastic condiment bottle. I put the pudding in that and then squeezed it inside the éclairs. It still tasted great to me. And, since I used a good, dark chocolate for the glaze the sweetness of the filling was complimented. Maybe it is a bit dangerous to know how to cook éclairs! I will just have to share them with my friends and not eat them all!

Scallops and beurre blanc

One show on the Food Network that I am really starting
to enjoy is Tyler's Ultimate, starring Tyler Florence. I
recently braved cooking scallops for the second time in my
life thanks to him. He taught me how to make a delicious
beurre blanc, scallops and a tasty side dish to accompany
sea food.
The beurre blanc was actually close to some sauces I had
made in the past. It was just prepared in a different order.
I cooked white wine, white wine vinegar, shallots and
thyme in a sauce pan. Then added cream and finally added butter.
It was a smooth and subtle sauce that enhanced the taste of the scallops.
The scallops were sauteed in olive oil. They were cooked
well but remained tender. Next time, I would like to sear
the outside of the scallops better.
FInally, the side dish I made had a fabulous lemon flavor
as I cooked lemon slices in the olive oil before adding the
green peas. The final dish was mashed red potatos,
cooked onions, peas and lemon slices. It was refreshing
and a great pairing with the scallops. I drizzled the beurre
blanc over everything which worked very well. Thanks
Tyler!

Chocolate Souffle

For my birthday Fred bought me cooking classes. I got to choose three classes through Viking Cooking School in Walnut Creek. I chose Date night in Paris, French Steakhouse and Parisian Patisserie! The chocolate souffle was one thing we learned to cook and taste. We added a creme anglaise sauce to the airy, rich chocolate dessert. It was heaven. Warm chocolate inside that almost seemed to melt paired with a cooled, creamy vanilla sauce. Truly delicious. And, the best part is that this dish is not difficult. One just needs to eat it right away after it comes out of the oven....darn!

Cinco de Mayo

We had a BBQ this cinco de Mayo and cooked up fajitas. Here was a fun way to present some veggies using sweet small peppers arround the platter. I liked how this presentation turned out. However, one thing I would change is that I would have another bowl for lettuce so guests would be able to serve themselves salad too. I think this presentation hid that possibility.

Lavender Cosmo

Happy Mother's Day! (to me!) This drink was served to me at Skates on the Bay in Berkeley for my Mother's Day Brunch. It was pretty and tasted good too! Now I need to learn how to make it. My guess is a lavender syrup and vodka. Perhaps some citrus too? Also, the glass was rimmed with sugar and lavender. A very nice touch!