Spices and Curry!

Hey!

I am so happy because I just finished all my exams and that was stressful! I have three more months of school and then it will be all finished...after 6 years!

I had a little dinner party on thursday and I decided to pick a theme: spices! My friend Vincent had called me the night before and told me how he had made a great tajine with lemons. I decided to copy him and made a turkey curry with cashew nuts. It was my favorite recipe ever!

Before I put the recipes, I would like to share a great place with you: it's called Tang Frères and is an asian/chinese supermarket located in Chinatown in Paris, 10 min from the Rue Mouffetard where I live.  I went there hoping to find spices at a slighlty lower price than at the supermarket, and I found a huge selection and left the store with enough spices to open an indian restaurant!

It's really a great place : Tang Frères, Avenue de Choisy, Métro Porte de Choisy.

Enjoy!

Tiramisu Veloce

                     There are a lot of different versions of Tiramisu. This one is really great and it is perfect with some "biscuits cuillers" or "boudoirs" that can easily be found at the supermarket. The result is really fantastic and it is relatively quick to make!

You will need:

25 biscuits à la cuiller - ladyfingers

30 cl of freshly brewed coffee, strong

4 tablespoons of sugar

500g (1 lb. and 2 ounces)of mascarpone 

2 vanilla beens

14 cl (1/2 a cup) of sherry or vin santo

1 freshly squeezed orange : juice and the zest

100g of dark chocolate of very good quality (70% cocoa)

How to make a "tiramisu veloce"...

In a square dish of 20/25 cm, lay out the biscuits by putting them one over another when there is no more room left and then pour the coffee (with 2 tablespoons of sugar inside) on the biscuits. You will see the biscuits absorb the coffee. 

In the meantime, whip the mascarpone in a bowl with the rest of the sugar. Score the vanilla beans lenghtwise and put the vanilla seeds in the mixture. Continue whisking, while pouring the sherry. Put the orange juice in the bowl. You should obtain an aerial texture. 

Put the mascarpone mixture on the biscuits and grate the chocolate on top of the tiramisu in thin slices.

Let rest in the fridge for 2 hours approximately. Enjoy!

Tango

Hey!

I just came back from a great evening! After a couple of drinks with my best friend Vincent, we decided to come have dinner in my neighbourhood - the Rue Mouffetard and we ended up eating in one of Paris's best argentinan restaurants called the Tango. Their meat is fantastic and for the price it is really worth it...a great red faux filet with a glass of Malbec always puts you in a good mood! It's definetely a place that I would recommend for a saturday night with friends.

Petits sablés au parmesan et au piment d'espelette

Forgive me, but I will be putting this recipe in french as a lot my french friends requested it. I am currently having a dilemna about this blog as my thoughts balance between french and english...I guess we will see..

Petits sablés au parmesan et au piment d'espelette - 

J'ai découvert ces petits sablés dans le commerce au départ car il s'agit d'une création des deux frères Michel et Augustin qui ont lancé leur gamme de biscuits salés et sucrés. Rapidement devenus mes sablés préférés (bien meilleurs que les classiques Monaco et autres croustilles..), je suis tombée par hasard sur une recette lorsque j'étais à Los Angeles et je les avais fait pour l'apéritif avec un certain succès. J'ai donc décidé de les refaire et je vous livre aujourd'hui la recette.

You will need - Pour 8 personnes

100 g de parmesan frais râpé

180 g de farine de blé bio

1 cuillère à café de piment d'espelette

125 g de beurre demi sel

Comment procéder...

Dans un bol, mélangez bien le beurre et le parmesan. Ajoutez ensuite la farine de blé, le piment et deux pincées de sel. Mélangez puis ajoutez deux jaunes d'oeufs.

Pétrissez rapidement mais sans trop travailler la pâte, qui à la fin doit être compacte et homogène.

Ensuite divisez la pâte en plusieurs morceaux et formez des "boudins" de 3cm de diamètre environ. Placez les individuellement dans un film plastique et laissez au réfrigérateur pendant 1h environ. Cela va permettre a beurre et à la pâte de se raffermir.

15 mn avant de cuire les sablés, préchauffez votre fours à 200°C. Retirez ensuite le film plastique et coupez les boudins de sorte à avoir de petites tranches de 8mm environ.

Disposez les sablés au four et laissez cuire 15mn. Les sablés doivent être dorés mais pas totalement cuits en fait. Ils finissent leur cuisson à l'air libre et seront encore chauds pour le plaisir de vos invités.

Enjoy!

An italian dinner

Hey everyone!

On thursday, my roommate and I hosted an "Italian dinner" with a couple of friends (we ended up being 9 actually!). I chose to pick the italian theme after reading another one of Jamie Oliver's books - my heroe - called "Jamie's Italy". Jamie went to Italy for almost a year and came back with hundreds of delicious italian recipes. 

The menu - a combination of Jamie's recipe, my classic -spaghetti bolognaise- and some homemade appetizers - was the following:

***Menu de notre diner Italien***

Petits sablés au parmesan et au piment d'espelette

Tarte tatin de tomates à la tapenade et au chèvre

Spaghettis Bolognaise

Tiramisu

It was delicious and we had a lot of fun!

Brunch!

Here is a little picture of last sunday's brunch..It was great! 

We did a lot of baking including a Fondant au Chocolat, an orange cake (delicious!), an apple crumble with walnuts, a rhum raisin cake and a banana nut bread. 

Of course, we had also prepared classical french baguettes with different types of jams and walnut spread, scrambled eggs with cream and parsley and an assortment of different cold meats and cheeses. As an extra treat, I had quickly prepared a "tuna guacamole" which was quite original.

I will be putting up all the recipes in the next couple of days.

Have a nice day!

My mom's rhum raisin cake

Hey everyone!

I'm very happy these days as I have started cooking again on a regular basis and I have several plans regarding future dinner parties! Dinner parties are what I prefer in cooking as it is the best feeling ever to see your friends thrilled and surprised when they discover the menu!

I organized a brunch with my best friend last sunday and will be putting the recipes online this week, but in the meantime I would really like to share a great cake recipe with you, which is a rhum raisin cake. It is a very easy to make but it has always been considered as my mom's best "creation" as my stepdad would literally die for a slice of this rhum raisin delight! 

After a few "tests"and a few modifications on the original recipe (it dates back from a famous 1965 french classic cookbook), here is the recipe unveiled...

You will need:

125g (0.3 lb)of sugar

175g (0.4lb)of butter

250g (0.55 lb)of flour

3 free range eggs

200g (0.5lb) raisins

1 cup of rhum

1 pinch of salt

2 teaspoons of baking powder

How to bake a delightful cake:

1. The night before, put the raisins and the rhum together in a bowl. Let the raisins absorb the rhum. If you are in a hurry, you can put the raisins with the rhum an hour before and then put in the microwave for 15 sec.

2. In a mixing bowl, mix together the softened butter and the sugar. Once the mixture has a creamy texture, add the three eggs one by one while mixing vigorously between each egg. 

Quickly incorporate the flour, the baking powder, the salt, the rhum and the raisins.

You should not mix too vigorously...

3. Butter the cake pan and pour the mixture.

4. Put the cake in the oven at high temperature (220° C). After 20 min approximately when the cake has "swollen", slightly cut the cake in two parts and lower the oven heat to 150°C. Let bake for another hour approximately.

When putting a knife to make sure the cake is perfect, it must come out dry.

Enjoy!