Long overdue apartment warming

We had our apartment warming a few weeks ago. For the most part I was unambitious, preferring to buy snacks from Trader Joe's (which, by the way, was a great way for me to taste some products that I've wanted to try out, specifically their Pita Puffs). I had promised to make some pao de queijo, which I did and they were, again, delicious. Von and I also attempted to make boozy watermelon using Absolut's Wild Tea vodka. Kinda didn't work out too well so I don't think I'll be revisiting that anytime soon. I also had five or six over ripe bananas which turned into banana bread using Flour Bakery's recipe (don't judge the hole in the middle...I was taste testing)...

...which I then cut up to make chocolate and pistachio-covered banana bread bites! Much more party friendly. 

But the star of the party were the watermelon jello shots. Not my idea. I saw it on thekitchn.com a few days prior and thought it was the cutest idea ever. I ran around New York trying to find powdered jello since I my usual stops (TJ's and Whole Foods) and apparently bodegas and Duane Reade don't carry it. I didn't want to go out of my way to a "regular" grocery store but I succumbed and went to Food Emporium by work. Task #1 completed.

Task #2 was juicing limes and removing all the insides which made my hands raw. I really need to buy some disposable gloves for times like that. And for chopping jalapenos. By the way, removing the insides of the limes wasn't as easy as it sounds - you have to carefully run a pairing knife between the pulp and the pith. I had some trouble because my limes were super thin-skinned. But, I prevailed.

Task #3 was choosing the right alcohol. I went with cachaca but I don't think I'd do that again. Maybe rum next time. And don't believe the 1-to-1 water-to-alcohol ratio. I'd cut down on the alcohol a bit and do 5-to-3 (ie 1.25 cups water and 0.75 cups alcohol). It'll taste better.

So after I set the halved-out lime rinds into mini-muffin tins, poured in the liquid, let it set overnight, quartered the resulting "jello cups" and sprinkled mini chocolate chips over them (don't try to shove them into the jello, it doesn't work), the result:

A little too bitter for me from the cachaca but the chocolate chips evened that out ok. Super cute, aren't they?

Cheese + tapioca flour = deliciousness

We've started "Sunday Funday" which pretty much means a lazy Sunday at someone's apartment and copious amounts of food. Vonatron (this is your new name now on my blog) donated her apartment this time. Last time she tried to make Pao de Queijo but apparently it failed. This time I tried my hand at it. I used a different recipe (pretty much the most basic one I could find) and they came out totally legit. At first I was super worried when I was trying to beat in the tapioca flour since it was really hard to incorporate it (also made a huge mess). But in the end it all worked out and after reading the recipe reviews, it seems that I could've done half butter, half oil and also upped the amount of tapioca flour in the recipe. The dough is extremely sticky, so I kinda just plopped down chunks of dough onto a baking sheet. We had made some bacon in the oven so I just reused the bacon fat greased baking sheet.

End results: delicious.

Pao de Queijo

adapted from food.com

2 cups tapioca flour

1 cup milk

1/2 cup butter*

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups Parmesan cheese**

2  large eggs

Preheat oven to 400F

Bring the milk, salt and butter to a boil and then remove from heat. Make sure not the burn the milk.

Slowly add the tapioca flour, constantly stirring with a wooden spoon until incorporated. It might take a while but it will work. You can add up to 1/2 cup more of tapioca flour if you want to be able to form actual balls at the end.

Next add the two eggs, one at a time, followed by the cheese. Stir until everything is incorporated. If the dough is not too sticky, you can knead it. I didn't and it was fine.

Make balls or drop lumps (this is what I did) onto a well greased baking sheet and sprinkle with some more cheese. Bake 20 to 25 minutes until lightly golden brown on top. Eat while still hot!

* You can apparently substitute half the butter with oil as this is more traditional

** Some reviews also said that you should substitute half the Parmesan with a softer fresh cheese, like queso fresco for more moisture but you can probably use any kind of cheese

Thanksgiving - sans pictures

What did I make for our Thanksgiving potluck the Saturday after other than the aforementioned ridiculously delicious chunky apple cranberry sauce?

Well after taking over SM's and AB's kitchen since they have an oven and I don't (although my hatred of electric stovetops has been renewed), I made some gravy which we ate with mashed potatoes, some brown butter caramelized butternut squash (yum!), some pumpkin pie pops (which I left at AB's apartment because they were pretty awful), super-easy pumpkin cinnamon rolls (which, by the way were a perfect alternative to pumpkin pie) and Dovetail's (NYC) cornbread. JP and I went to Dovetail for my birthday one year and I was ridiculously sick and didn't enjoy it as much as I wanted to, but the one thing I do remember really liking was the cornbread. Sorry, I failed at pictures but trust me, its really really really ridiculously good - try it next time.

Sweet Cornbread

adapted from Dovetail (with some help from Homesick Texan)

3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 cup coarse cornmeal (I think I used regular...it worked pretty well)
1 1/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
2 sticks cold, cubed butter

1/2 cup grated cheddar (optional)
1 cup buttermilk + 1/2 cup extra

Preheat oven to 400

Mix all the dry ingredients. Cut the butter into the flour mixture with your hands or a pastry blender until it resembles pea-sized crumbs. Or you can whir it in a food processor if you're really lazy. If you're using cheese, add it now. Add the buttermilk and stir until dough comes together. Mine didn't come together so I added another 1/3 cup about 2 tbsp at a time or so until I got the mix into a ball

Chill for one hour. Roll out into 3/4 inch thickness and cut out desired shapes. I made circles but Dovetail serves them as rectangles

Brush the tops lightly with some more buttermilk (I think this is what gave my cornbread a nice browned top) and bake for 15 minutes until lightly browned

Note: You can cut down the sugar to make them less sweet and also mess around with ingredients like jalapenos or rosemary. Personally, I'd double the amount of cheese next time. Also, don't buy pre-shredded cheese because they toss it with cornstarch or something like that which basically makes it harder to melt the cheese

Thanksgiving - the store

Sometimes, you just want a taste of home so much that you don't care how much it will cost you. This is especially the case when that third Thursday of November rolls around and you find yourself scrambling to find the American ingredients you need for all your Thanksgiving recipes. Luckily for me, I thought ahead and came back from the US last time with three cans of pumpkin puree and a a bag of cornmeal. Those found themselves in some cornbread, some pumpkin rolls and some pumpkin pie pops. But I needed cranberries so down the street I went (literally) to the appropriately-named Thanksgiving, a store that sells American (sometimes imported from Canada or the UK) foodstuffs. 

The second I walked in, I was soooo glad about the stuff I brought back from the US. A can of Libby's pumpkin puree? €3.50. Packet of jello? €2.50. Nestle Tollhouse white chocolate chips? €7.00 (although the semisweet chips were cheaper at €4.50). They seems to be doing pretty ok with such a high mark-up! Granted, I don't know what they pay on their import taxes and their rent is probably pretty high as its in a popular area (unless they own the space, as they have been there for some time...)

But I was there for one thing and one thing only. And so I sucked up the cost of Ocean Spray cranberries at €4.50/12 oz bag and got two. Because, after all, what's a Thanksgiving dinner without some cranberry sauce?

Chunky apple and cranberry sauce

adapted from Good Housekeeping c. 2001

2 tbsp butter
4 large Golden Delicious apples peeled, cored and cut into 1/2-inch dice 
1/2 tsp cardamom
1 bag (12oz or 3 cups) cranberries
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/4 cup water

In a nonstick large skillet (12-inches is ideal), melt the butter over medium heat. Add the apples and cardamom, and cook about 10 minutes stirring occasionally, until apples are golden and tender-crisp.

Increase the head to medium-high, stir in the cranberries, sugar and water and heat to boiling.

Once boiling, reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until most cranberries pop and the mixture thickens slightly (anywhere from 6-10 minutes). Pour into a lidded container, cover and refrigerate at least 3 hours.

Note: Apparently allspice works as well if you don't have cardamom but I'm sure cinnamon or cloves would work too.

La Vaissellerie

I decided to start outfitting my future kitchen early. There's a dishware store around the corner from me called La Vaissellerie (I think it literally means "the dishware store") that has a ton of white dinnerware and serving bowls and platters in a variety of shapes and sizes. Behold, my bounty:

4 bowls for soup / pasta, a serving bowl for pasta / couscous / whatever, 4 long platters (asparagus? skewers? caprese salad? MINI TACOS?!), 2 regular bowls (fruit? I dunno...), 2 square-ish bowls (salad?), a rectangular small serving dish, one of those 3-mini-dish sauce things and 2 oven-safe cocotte-looking dishes. I decided to actually utilize some with all the market produce I bought today:

And look at the girolles I got today for €5!

What better way could they have met their delicious fate than sauteed in lots of butter with shallots and sage, and finished with dill and chives? I also added a bit of 0% fromage frais mixed with dill and chives on the sides. French dairy is one of the handful of things I'll miss about France - its not that easy to find fromage blanc or fromage frais in the U.S. and if you do, its usually expensive. Vermont Butter & Cheese Creamery sells it (along with other yummy dairy products) but that's the only one I know of and the price (and size) is nothing like the giant 1kg Danone Taillefine tubs I get (49 calories per 100g!).

Anyhow, below is how the girolles (super similar to chanterelles) came to be in my tummy.

Sauteed girolles with herbs

1 pound of chopped girolles/chanterelles (mixed wild mushrooms would probably work well too but note that mushrooms will loose about one-third to half their volume once cooked)
1 finely diced shallot
2 tbsp julienned sage leaves (approx. 5 - 6)
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp chopped dill
1 tbsp chopped chives
Olive oil
Salt

For the fromage blanc:
1/4 cup fromage blanc
3 tbsp chopped dill
1 tbsp chopped chives

Salt

Add a tablespoon of olive oil to a pan and saute shallots over medium-low heat. Once they start getting a little color, add the mushrooms and turn the heat up to medium. When they release a lot of water, add the sage (I'm warning you, LOTS of liquid...)

Stir occasionally until the water evaporates. Add some salt at some point.

Meanwhile, mix all the ingredients for the fromage blanc. There you have your sauce.

Once the water had evaporated, taste and add more salt if needed, along with the butter. Continue sauteing until the mushrooms start browning and shriveling up a little (I like my mushrooms dry so I guess its a personal preference).

Once plated, top with the dill and chives and serve with the fromage blanc on the side.

Americana

July 4th festivities! It was kickball and picnic time with the Americans at the Bois de Boulogne. Cheese, baguettes, wine, chicken and thyme flavored potato chips (and bbq flavor too!), cherries, more wine...and RICE KRISPIES! Courtesy of yours truly. It just seemed like the right thing to make when its super hot outside and you're in a foreign country celebrating July 4th.  I forgot to take pics except for the "garbage pail" ones, which have a slightly green tint to them (more on that later).

They were pretty much devoured over the course of a couple hours which made me quite happy and made me feel very American. Plus, these things are so easy to make - butter, marshmallows and cereal. I'm not one for overly processed foods but I can make an exception here.

I had scoured 4 grocery stores for Rice Krispies (Kellogs website says they are available in France). No Snap, Crackle or Pop to be seen. I found a little monkey and a frog (how french). And then, remembering I needed butter, I walked into a G20 supermarket and found them. So you do exist...

And where did I find marshmallows? They're not marshmallows, they're Haribo chamallows. Ok Haribo, sure why not. Lessons learned about Haribo chamallows:

- The best ones for rice krispies are the pink and white marshmallows

- The "barbecue marshmallows" which I thought would melt better had a funny sweet aftertaste (do you see the big marshmallow roasting the little one? So wrong...)

- The green, pink and white marshmallows (also Haribo but I picked them up the morning of the picnic for the last batch so they're not in the picture) have a fleur d'oranger taste to them

I made four batches:

- Cocoa pops (chocolate krispies) with salted brown butter - by far the best and my go-to recipe in the future

- Regular rice krispie treats

- Smacks (puffed bulgur wheat) with chocolate caramel on top - I didn't bring these out for people to try, they were so bad. Never use puffed bulgur wheat for krispies. blah

- Garbage pail - the remains of the cereals, also with salted brown butter and marshmallows that randomly had a hint of fleur d'oranger and ended up being my second favorite after the salted brown butter

Salted brown butter Cocoa Krispies

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen 

7 cups cocoa krispies (Cocoa pops)

10 oz marshmallows (I wish I had Jet-Puff but the Haribo pink and white work well)

4 ounces butter

1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt

Coat a 13x9 inch pan with cooking spray (I had none so I rubbed it with a neutral oil). Combine the cereal and salt in a bowl and mix well.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. It will first foam, then it will become clear yellow with white milk solids floating around on top and then the milk solids will start to brown. At this point, start stirring frequently (wooden spoon) and scraping the browned milk solids from the bottom.  And don't even think about leaving for a minute. Burning butter makes it bitter (yes say it 10 times fast please)

Once the melted butter is a tan color and smells nutty, remove from heat and immediately add the marshmallows. Stir stir stir until your arm is tired. At that point, most of the marshmallows should have melted. If they're not all melted, return to medium-low heat and stir the mixture until everything is a smooth paste. 

Remove from heat and add the cereal with the salt mixed in. Again, work your arm muscles to mix everything together, making sure to pick up all the marshmallow mixture at the bottom of the saucepan. Invert the mix into the baking pan and use a buttered piece of wax or parchment paper to press down the krispies and get them into the corners. Cool, cut and eat. Or put in an airtight container and serve the next day.

In a cooking frenzy - Part 2

I learned a new french word last Sunday. I can't believe I didn't know the word for watermelon! It's pastèque, which, to me, does not make me think of watermelon but whatever. I won't judge. I decided I'd be strong enough to lug 1/4 of one back to my apartment when I went to the market on Sunday (they sell them by the quarter at markets, and they're still huge). Result? Watermelon, feta and basil (with a touch of olive oil) salad for lunch. Delicious. Why did I not do this before?!

In a cooking frenzy - Part 1

I went on a cooking frenzy after going to the market. Cherries and apricots are both in season so I got a bunch, among other things.

I can't resist when sweet, juicy apricots are €2 per kilo! Of course, most bruised and I was forced to make them into jam!

It was my first foray into jam making. Pretty tasty so far but a little too sweet. I was also afraid I wouldn't boil it long enough and it would come out soupy but no. Its quite the opposite...but the taste is there. I swear!

Recently I had a panna cotta-like fromage frais 0% fat dessert somewhere so in my attempt to recreate it, I got some fromage blanc (I couldn't find fromage frais) and mixed it with some gelatin and now its sitting in the fridge. We'll see how it turns out. And I think I'm just going to stick with this as my yogurt from now on. So sad hasn't been in my life for the past 5 months!

I also got some broccoli. I used to really dislike it (its a texture thing) but its recently grown on me and it makes a very satisfying and filling dish (especially when making it with garlic and red pepper flakes and pairing it with some parm, bacon (!), toasted almonds). I burnt the garlic, as always. I ate it as a main but you can make it as a side or toss it with some pasta.

Spicy broccoli with other stuff

Broccoli cut into florets
1/2 cup of lardons, or diced bacon
1 large clove of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon of red pepper flakes (I like mine spicy!)
Small handful of toasted almonds
Parmesan or other hard cheese

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add the broccoli and remove to an ice bath after 3-4 minutes. While the broccoli is blanching, you can mince the garlic.

Fry up the diced bacon (the key is doing it on low-medium heat otherwise it smokes because bacon fat has a fairly low smoking point). Remove and let drain on a paper towel.

Add some olive oil to the same pan used for the bacon, and on low heat, saute the red pepper flakes with the garlic until fragrant, about 30 second to 1 minute. Add the broccoli (which, I hope, you remembered to drain...I didn't so I kinda added it wet and things splattered because hot oil and water aren't friends). Saute for a few more minutes but don't burn the garlic like I did.

Put it on a plate, add the bacon, add the toasted almonds, and top with some freshly grated Parmesan. Alternately you can chop the broccoli and mix it with some pasta along with the bacon, almonds and cheese (add some reserved pasta water to bring it all together).

Roses are red

Aren't these gorgeous?!

JP (who I heart mucho) got me flowers! Porque you ask? Well apparently one day he was fiddling around with the time function on excel (this is what he does in his down time at work I guess) and had a smart idea. "Hey lemme figure out when our 1,000 day anniversary is!". And so, on that day, I got these. That day was today (or yesterday? But the florist couldn't deliver then because it was a holiday in France. A holiday during which I was, of course, at work for half the day).

It was drizzling outside and they arrived with all these drops of rain and I was just scared that they'd wilt during the day! But no, its thankfully alive. Apparently the internet site suggested the following message: "Let this bouquet of flowers be a messenger of our love". Oh please. Blah. Too sappy for me. But JP being JP wrote some cute (and less sappy) stuff. Including how he hopes we'll reach 10,000 days.

Now, JP - did you use excel to do the math on that? That is over 24 years. There'd be little Mexican Russian babies running around, are you kidding me?! Well they wouldn't be babies, they'd be waaaay older. I'd be almost 50! That's nuts! Be careful what you wish for... :P Anyhow, I'm trailing as usual.

Starving at work with no fresh food in my apartment, I turned to my pantry (and copious amounts of dairy products in the fridge). Et voila! It totally hit the spot. I rarely want pasta but I was looking for something quick, easy, comforting and with tons of flavor. I'm writing the recipe for 2, but, of course, I made it for one (where's my Cooking for One book JL?)

Pantry Spaghetti with Creme Fraiche

1/4 box of spaghetti (or however much 2 ppl eat)

1 large clove of garlic, minced

1 tablespoon red pepper flakes (depending how spicy you like it)

1/2 medium white onion, chopped

1/4 cup creme fraiche

Handful of breadcrumbs

Put a pot of salted water to boil. Once boiling, add spaghetti.

Meanwhile, put a small pan on low heat, add a tablespoon of olive oil, the red pepper flakes, garlic and onion, and sautee gently for 5 minutes, until the garlic and onions are starting to brown a little. Add the creme fraiche and let simmer for a minute or two. Take off heat.

Once the spaghetti is done, put the pan with the creme fraiche sauce back on low heat, and add the cooked spaghetti until it is evenly coated with the sauce.

Put into a bowl, top with breadcrumbs and eat. So simple, so good.

Spicy crispy crunchy snacks

I've made roasted chickpeas so many times before, always throwing whatever spices I had on hand into the mix. Today I decided to be more focused and go Indian - garam masala. And of course some cayenne pepper. And some smoked Maldon sea salt for good measure. It's a perfect crunchy snack - high in fiber, low in fat, easy to eat out of hand and quite filling. They turned out pretty darn tasty, even though my oven isn't an oven. Its really a microwave with a built-in convection oven feature. I started eating them and before I knew it, the whole pan was empty (that might not have been as healthy). Next time, I'll either go sweet (cinnamon, cloves, lemon) or Mexican (chile peppers, lime, cilantro). You can probably guess which one I'm leaning towards.

Roasted chickpeas

1 can chickpeas, drained rinsed and dried

1 tbsp olive oil

Spices (I like some curry powder / garam masala, with cayenne pepper...but you can do whatever including garlic powder, paprika, fennel, oregano, marjoram, thyme...)

Salt

Pre-heat oven to 450F

In a bowl, combine chickpeas with the olive oil, a few shakes of whatever spices you want, and salt. Toss until everything is uniformly coated. Taste and adjust spices as needed.

Spread out in a single layer on a foil-lined cookie sheet (or whatever metallic oven-proof vessel you have...I used a tart pan). Roast in oven for 15 minutes, shake the pan, and roast for 5 - 10 minutes more, depending of whether you want them on the chewier or crunchier side.

If you're adding fresh herbs or lime / lemon juice, add them after you take the chickenpeas out of the oven. Try not to eat all of them at once, like I did...