soirée celebrations

my friend erika came for a visit! although we both studied English lit. at the same university, and have a number of common friends, we never met until we both worked for the afore mentioned university in China. she then moved to australia, and i to switzerland, and it was the first time we've seen each other in years.


for lunch upon her arrival, the mister made a simple salad and i made some savory cuppycakes. inspired by this recipe, i decided to make a cupcake version with smoked salmon, dill, kalamata olives, lemon, and a bit of gruyere.

ive seen plenty of le cake salé at picnics and gatherings, but ive never seen one with fish instead of meat.

i used:
3 eggs
pinch of sugar
1 1/4 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons olive oil
zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 blobs crème fraîche
1 packet smoked salmon
big handful of kalamata olives
small handful of grated gruyere
a few healthy shakes of dill

the fish was soaked in the lemon juice, and the zest, sugar, and eggs went for a ride in the kitchen aide until frothy. meanwhile, i combined dry ingredients. when i was happy with the egg consistency, the dry team was introduced to the bowl. then i added the crème fraîche, salmon, olives, oil, and cheese.

i papered my muffin tins, filled the cups, sprinkled on some dill, and baked for about 15 minutes at ~180°C. we did a good job gobbling them up.

the mister has previously stated that he's not always a fan of le cake salé, but i couldnt help but notice he wasn't shy about eating these.

after lunch, we walked around town, visited the cathedral, went to the lakeside and ate ice cream, and soaked up the coveted sun.


that evening, the mister made his famous fondue.




during her time with us, erika introduced us to the world of bananenweizen (she lived in germany for a time)--banana juice and beer. i was not sure about this taste sensation, but i trust erika, and i trust the germans and beer (when i visited europe for the first time, as a teenager, i fell in love with lemonade and beer), so i went for it. not bad! in fact, quite refreshing! we had smitten kitchen's tacos with our bananenweizen.


oh, bananas. i am reminded of the banana temple--a place just outside of xi'an thusly named because of a mistake i made when describing the pagoda i found near where i taught. you see, the name of the temple is xiāngjī (香积), and a banana is called xiāngjiāo (香蕉). i was explaining the pagoda discovery to my students and accidentally said banana instead of xiāngjī. the banana temple was a place i frequented often during my time in xi'an.

I took erika there on a rainy day in the spring of 2008. and lo, it was only appropriate that i take her to the place of interest i visit the most here--Château de Chillon.


after our castle tour,erika bought some wineat the gift shop and we celebrated the 4th of july (and some good news!) in style: a few glasses of wine and whipped cream and berries.

last night we had some friends over and i prepared mojo verde for our guests. i served roasted trout with tomatoes, garlic, and lemon peppered potatoes to go with the sauce, plus corn with lime juice.



for dessert, i made a crisp with leftover berries, nectarines, peach, and apricot. following smitten kitchen's lead, i added ground almonds to my usual sugar, flour, and oats mixture.

and this morning for brunch, i treated us to a USAian breakfast:

we leave this upcoming week for a month in china. i fear the drool might wash us away before we get to the airport. we can. not. wait. to eat some of our favourite and missed dishes.

Rouler quelqu'un dans la farine: lentils

it's not that i dislike lentils. i like them fine in stews and soups... ive always enjoyed dal dishes when out at an indian restaurant... and i KNOW that they are good for me. like, super good. like, they are an iron superfood. i know that. and yet, i have a hard time getting excited about lentils.

the other day i read that a lovely friend's partner had made lentil hummus that their 10 month old was over the moon about. and i thought to myself, that's IT! i can make something i lovelovelove with something i needneedneed! perfect (thank you, q!).

i took 1/2 cup dried lentils and cooked 'em, waited for them to cool, and then into the food processor they went along with:
tahini
lemon juice
olive oil

and what i got was a beautifully creamy yummy tasty treat. victory is mine! HA! take that, body! you shall have your lentils!

but then i thought, hmmm, we need to eat this hummus with something.... so after poking around ye olde internet, i found a recipe for flatbread i wanted to try.











and then i went ahead and made us a nice salad for lunch, with grapes, kalamata olives, hummus, and flatbread.

for dinner, i made shrimp and rice. these spices worked well with the hummus, but would be equally scrumptious on their own.

i used:
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
shrimp
cranberries
fistful of fresh parsley
whole almonds
good squeeze tamarind juice
curry powder
cumin
lots and lots of coriander
sprinkle of anise
basmati rice
good knob of butter, melted

i let the onion and garlic dance with some oil in the pan, then i added the shrimp and parsley.  meanwhile, i prepared some basamati rice.  i added the spices to the shrimp, once the onion and garlic were browned, and then the tamarind juice, cranberries, and almonds.  I pulled the mixture off the heat.

once the rice was prepared, i set it aside.  i melted some butter in my fondue pot and then poured it into a separate bowl.  i layered the rice and shrimp mixture in the fondue pot, poured the melted butter on top, put on a lid, and let it steam on low heat for about 30 minutes.  my hope was to make the bottom rice layer crispy--i miss this crispy rice dish we used to get in china.  i failed at that.  but i did not fail to make something awesomely tasty.  

Good, I'll look forward to your report, Mr. Broccoli

simple, simple, simple....good!

forgive the less than enthralling photos--i was making dinner late and the light was horrible. however! the food was not horrible. in fact, quite the opposite. and i highly recommend you go and commandeer (or legally obtain) the following:
1 head broccoli
garlic
arugula/rocket
almonds (i used some ground ones i had laying about)
olive oil


step 1: roast broccoli and garlic
step 2: wash arugula and let roasted goods cool
step 3: make pasta; throw the above ingredients in a food processor
step 4: add nuts, add oil
step 5: dinner

birthday brown butter almond cake

it was our friend michel's birthday yesterday, and well, i mean, a birthday does require cake, no?

inspired by the always fabulous smittenkitchen, i dreamt of cake the night before last. yesterday morning, i decided, most resolutely, that i must make a brown butter cake. hers is with hazelnuts. but you know what i had in the cupboard? almonds. an lo a substitution was made. plus i didnt have to remove any hazelnut skins. i also changed the sugar--she used powdered sugar in her cake batter and i didnt. i used regular sugar. well, ok, i used some powdered sugar but i didnt have enough for the whole lot. note to self: we are out of powdered sugar.

ingredients include:
150 g almonds
225 g butter
4 tbsp powdered sugar
5 tbsp flour
3/4 cup sugar
3 egg whites






first, the almonds were pan roasted and the butter was browned. once the almonds were cool, i combined the almonds with 4 tbsp of powdered sugar that i did have on hand, and gave them a whirl in the ol' food processor. once ground, i added the flour and combined.

the eggs whites and sugar went for a spin in the kitchen aid until soft peaks formed. then the butter and almond mixture took turns combining with the fluffy eggs until i had myself an amazing smelling batter.

i oiled and papered my springform pan, poured in the batter, and baked at 175 for about a half an hour. all the while, i was making carrot soup. and prepping raspberries for curd.



i decided to use my food mill to prep the raspberries. you'll forgive me for not knowing the quantity. i used 2 boxes of frozen berries, and the mister has already dutifully taken out the recycling so i cant look. im going to guess 600 g because it sounds like a nice number. once defrosted, the berries were mashed and deseeded, leaving me with a gorgeous red puree. i did not get all the seeds out, and you know what? it's fine by me.  i looked up a number of curd recipes and no one tempered their eggs. i found this to be strange. my recipe was cobbled together based on what others have done, ingredient-wise, and what i thought i should do for creation.

85 g butter
raspberries
4 egg yolks (i saved the yolks when i separated the eggs for the cake)
1/2 cup sugar
cornstarch

butter and sugar were creamed together, and then i added the puree. everything was placed in a saucepan and warmed up, slowly, until the butter melted. i let it get a bit warmer, but still not boiling, and tempered the eggs. then i put the mixture back into the saucepan and returned it to the stove. cook, cook, cook... cook, cook, cool. i kept stirring and stirring all the while. once it was cooled significantly, i realised it was not thick enough, so i made a cornstarch slurry and threw that in.

lastly, i prepped the ganache. this time i used cream.

1 container whole cream (just a little over a cup)
1 bar bakers chocolate
1 small blob of butter

i broke the chocolate into bits, warmed the cream, and then poured the cream over the chocolate. i let it sit for a moment then stirred until it was shiny. i let it cool for a bit, on its own, and then it was shoved into the fridge to help it along. then it was whipped.


and then, assembly time! i cut the cake into two layers and piped a round of ganache on the outer edge. i spread the curd on the inner circle and plunked the cake back together together. i did a crumb coat and then, using a turntable (my mother is not lazy, thankyouverymuch), i frosted the cake.




and then it was party time!

presto rosso

two years ago, when i moved here, we had a very limited kitchen.  and by limited i mean it wasnt really a kitchen.  it was a room that had a gas fueled two-burner stove top (read: camping stove) and an oven the size of a microwave.  and no water.  or sink.  we lived in an attic apartment, a mansarde, which provided us with lots and lots of rooms... but not a kitchen per se. the mansarde is home to the offices of le Groupe de la Riponne, a group of troublemakers philosophers, writers, and translators.   many members of the bœufsteak gang* have lived there over the years and they've made some renovations to the place, insulation for one (when they first got the place, you had to wear your winter gear inside), but it's just next to impossible to install water.  it made things tricky, this perilous walk down the hallway with a pot of freshly boiled noodles needing to be strained in the shower.  doing the dishes was always interesting too.  however, a powerful shower nozzle is pretty efficient for dish washing, i must say.   it's like a mini car wash for plates.


cooking in the quirky kitchen was entertaining.  of course, everything was exciting when i first arrived in swissyland.  new language, new country, new food... amongst the new things i tried was pesto rosso.  i was well schooled in pesto genovese making and eating... but this... this pesto was different.  on a whim i bought the sauce and bell peppers, not knowing whether or not it was a sound combination.  it was.  and it quickly became one of our staple dishes.  the bonus was, it was an easy dish to make in our quasi-kitchen.  i could boil noodles on one burner and sauté bell peppers on the other.   once we acquired a real kitchen, my cooking repertoire expanded, but we still love that dish.  of course, now i have the ability (and tools!) to make my own pesto rosso.


the rough recipe i use is as follows.  in a food processor, combine:
nuts (christian is allergic to walnuts so i usually use almonds, or sometimes cashews)
basil
lots of garlic (we are junkies)
sundried tomaters (at least two generous handfuls)
olive oil


i usually decimate the garlic first, then toss in a healthy handful of basil.  then i add the nuts.  you dont want to use too much--maybe start with a quarter of a cup and go from there.  i usually use almost an entire bag of the sundried tomatoes (i like the kind that comes packed sans oil) because i enjoy the zing of the garlic and tomato together.  i slowly stream in some olive oil and let it all mingle.  you dont want it to be too thin, but maybe that's just a matter of my taste.  i like thick sauces.

presto! rosso

these days i enjoy roasting our vegetables.  the intense flavours are great for pasta, soup, salad... or... well, anything.  i put chopped veggies on a cookie sheet, spray it with some olive oil (i have put some olive oil in a spray canister [the balsamic vinegar comes in one! brilliant! so i just waited until we were out of vinegar, washed it, and filled it with olive oil] and love it), and throw it in the oven at 220°C for about 20-ish minutes.  

roasted peppers and garlic

eating pesto rosso always reminds me of those early days in Switzerland.   im always experimenting with recipes, but this is one we dont touch (though i will occasionally toss in some fake chicken for protein).  it's just so lovely comme ça.  

someone *hem* likes it so much, he tried to steal mine!

hey, buddy! you have some already!

i decided to follow up one common dinner with a common dessert--cupcakes for two.  i stumbled upon this recipe last february and ive never looked back.  it's great for lots of variation.  

mix dry ingredients and wisk in wet ingredients.  pour into cupcake containers (i have some fabulous silcone ones) and bake for about 18 minutes at 160°C/325°F 

making the batter

this time i broke up chunks of choc'late to put in the batter.  they are tasty without any addition, but my favourite has got to be small bits of crystalized ginger.  ive also been known to add cinnamon and cayenne for a mexican chocolate taste.  


for a frosting, i like to make a ganache with a little butter, a little milk, and chocolate.  


again, im sorry for my lack of precise measurements... 


we had just a smidge of butter left (maybe a little less than 1 tbsp?) and i melted that and poured it over some broken up chocolate bits.  i wisk wisk wisked until the chocolate had melted and combined with the butter.  you want to wisk until the mixture is shiny.  


i let it rest for a few and once the bowl was cooled, i stuck it in the fridge until the cuppiecakes were baked and toothpick tested and done.

slowly i added a splash of milk and wisked wisked wisked.  it was not too late to whip it and whip it good. 



ganache is my new favourite frosting.  i love it mostly for it's versatility, but also because we usually have a chocolate bar and milk in the houes, so it's pretty much on hand.  since i only make a monster batch of cupcakes for friends and dinner parties (unless i make a whole cake, which also happens for friends and dinner parties), making a little for the two of us is just perfect.




just perfect.

bon appétit <3

*i refer to them as the beefsteaks because sometimes, if they go out after a meeting, they will almost all get steak.  i sometimes join them but they dont always frequent restaurants that have something for me, a pescatarian.