These razor clams remind me of my childhood with my grandmother on a beach on the Adriatic. We used to find those inside the sand and pick them to bring home. It’s been so hard to find them in the stores in the US, and even in Europe. I was reading an article saying that they were no longer part of the culinary world and that the chefs stopped serving them in restaurants for years. The good thing is that, they have decided to introduce them back into their menus and you can now find them in the stores.

The ones you find in Italy or France are smaller, not as thick and longer, they look like a knife. Actually the literal translation of “couteau” in French means knife. These razor clams being so big, they need to be cleaned a bit different than the ones you find in Europe. Those come from the Pacific North West so maybe that’s another type of razor clam.

Unfortunately those clams have been previously frozen, the good thing is that it was easy to open them. To clean them you have to remove the digestive system which is the dark part. Cut it off with scissors and it’s done.

Ingredients for 2

• 6 razor clams
• 1 spring shallot
• 1.2 cup parsley
• 3 garlic cloves
• olive oil
• zest of one lemon
• chili flakes (optional)
• salt and pepper
• lemon oil for drizzling

Preparation

For the herb mixture

In a blender, mix all ingredients except lemon zest. The mixture needs to be smooth, but not like a paste, you need some texture

For the clams

If using frozen ones, open them and wash them well. Clean them removing the digestive system, rinse and pat dry. Place clams back on their shell.

Preheat oven at 370 F. Add herb mixture on top of clams and place in oven for about 15 min or less, until clams are cooked but not too hard. Remove from oven and drizzle with olive oil

I could not decide on what to call those…either croquettes or galettes which in the French culinary world mean slightly different things. Croquette come from the verb “croquer” which means to bite something that has a crunchy texture. There is no equivalent verb in English. You can make croquettes with many things, but usually then are rolled in breadcrumbs and deep fried.

Galette refer to a flat and round cake, but can also be used to describe savory flat bread that has a topping or anything that is round and flat.

So here I thought croquettes would be more appropriate.

This is a quick recipe to savor cod. Actually, this would be a good way to make kids eat fish. No one can resist those delicious croquettes. I have a weakness for croquettes or galettes of any sort, because they add a new dimension to the ingredient you are using. It can be vegetables, fish, meats, the result is always a savory, fun and flavorful dish to enjoy.

You can serve these croquettes on a bed of saute spinach, kale, green salad, etc…I like to accompany them with simple vegetables or salad. They have too much character to be combined with some complicated side dishes.

I will soon start experimenting those in a sweet version using fruits.

Ingredients

For the croquettes

• 1 lb cod
• 2 celery sticks, roughly chopped
• 1/4 white onion, roughly chopped
• 1 egg
• 1 tbs parsley, chopped
• 2 tbs gluten free flour or regular flour
• zest of one lemon
• salt and pepper

For the carrots

• 2 carrots, peeled and shaved with a potato peeler
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 tsp parsley, chopped
• lemon juice to taste
• salt and pepper

For the caper sauce

• 2 tbs plain Greek yogurt
• 1 tbs light mayonnaise
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 tbs capers, rinsed and chopped
• salt and pepper

Preparation

For the croquettes

Grind in a blender, cod with onion, celery, parsley. Blend until a semi-fine consistency so the fish and ingredients do not turn into a paste. Pour mixture in a mixing container and add all other ingredients. Mix well and form about 2 inches wide patties and 3/4 inch thick.

Heat olive oil in a pan and cook croquettes on both sides until cooked all the way through and golden brown on both sides.m

For the yogurt caper-sauce

In a mixing containers, add all ingredients and mix well.

For the carrot ribbons

Peel carrots. Using a potato peeler shave carrots from top to bottom to form ribbons.

Heat olive oil in a pan and add carrots. Adjust with salt and pepper and cook stirring for a few minutes until ribbons are softer but still crunchy. Add parsley.

Yes, life is a coconut, after the hard work of breaking the shell, you get the good stuff – I am on a coconut craze lately, and I make everyone around me eat coconut. It’s delicious in anything sweet or savory, I just cannot get enough of it. In this recipe, you need some kind of sticky rice, a non sticky rice such as basmati would not work very well. When making the balls, it will fall apart, and you won’t be able to stuff them. Jasmine rice would be better, or if you like the real sticky rice, you can use it too.

I inspired myself from the Italian risotto balls called “supplì“, those delicious rice balls stuffed with mozzarella and fried. Of course, these are more exotic (for me they are, since I did not grow up with Asian flavors) and are perfect when you feel like something different. They should be about 1.5 inches in diameter, a little bigger than a walnut.

Now there are different ways to cook these balls, one way is to steam them, the other way is to bake them. You can chose the method that is more appealing to you. In my case, I rolled them in panko breadcrumbs mixed with shredded coconut and I baked them. If you steam them, no need to roll them in that mixture. I am not a fan of frying, and always bake instead of frying unless, I have been requested a very specific dish, for which I have no other choice. But if you are into frying, you can try it out.

For the stuffing, you can substitute the zucchini with shiitake mushrooms, and of course play with the stuffing if you are in the mood for playing.

For coconut milk quantities, or other liquid when I cook rice, my Cambodian childhood friend taught me to measure the rice/liquid ratio “à vue d’oeil” as we say in French (with naked eye). There needs to be 1 cm (about 0.40 inches) of liquid above the rice. In this case, the metric system makes a lot more sense (as in many other cases!). I will never get used to imperial system.

Ingredients for about 7-8 balls

For the rice

• 1/4 onion, finely chopped
• 1 cup rice
• coconut milk
• 3 tbs shredded coconut, unsweetened (+ 2 tbs)
• 1 cup panko
• 1 egg beaten
• salt
• chili sauce for dipping

For the stuffing

• 1 shallot, chopped finely
• lemongrass (2 inches stem), cut finely
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 6 large shrimps, uncooked and cut very finely
• 1/2 zucchini, grated
• 1 tbs cilantro, finely chopped
• sichuan pepper
• 1 tsp light soy sauce
• salt

 Preparation

For the rice

Heat olive oil in a pan, add onions and cook for about 5 minutes until soft. Add rice and transfer to a rice cooker or a pot. Add salt and coconut milk. Steam rice for about 15-20 minutes until cooked. Remove from stove and let it sit for about 5 minutes.

For the stuffing

Heat olive oil in a pan. Add onion, lemongrass and ginger and cook for about 10 minutes at low heat. Add garlic and stir well. Add shrimps. Using your hands, squeeze water from zucchini and add to the pan. Cook for about 5 minutes at medium heat. remove excess water if any. Add soy sauce, salt and pepper. stir well, then add cilantro. Mix everything well.

Using your hands, take a good amount of rice and place some of the stuffing in the middle, and form a ball.

Mix panko with shredded coconut.

Dip a ball in the beaten egg, then in the panko/coconut mixture.

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 400F for about 15 minutes, until the balls turn golden brown. If you want to steam them, omit the panko mixture and steam in a bamboo steamer.

Serve with chili sauce.

This is truly a fun way to eat Brussels sprouts. In case you thought they were a tiny intimidating or boring, or just unappealing, you can play with them so they become exciting. It’s true they tend to have a strong flavor, but I don’t find this “déplaisant” (literally translated into depleasing, a word that does not exist).

The saltiness and sweetness of the cooked prosciutto contrasts quite well with the strong soft sprout. I think I must have consumed them in any shape and form, shredded, chopped, quartered, whole, roasted, steamed, pureed or any way they can be eaten, so I figured why not wrap them for a change. I rarely use meat when I cook, but in this case, I made an exception. You can use pancetta if you’d prefer, or thin bacon would work too. In France, sprouts are often combined with lard fumé (similar to bacon), like most types of cabbages.

Mâche being so tender, delicate and almost naturally “greasy” when you eat it, tones down the powerful flavor of the Brussels sprouts.

So give Brussels sprouts a chance, after all, they’re not really boring!

Ingredients for 2

For the Brussels sprouts

• 6 Brussels sprouts, cleaned
• 2 slices prosciutto, cut in 2 strips lengthwise
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 cup mâche salad

For the vinaigrette

• 1/2 red bell pepper, roasted, peeled and diced
• 4 tbs olive oil
• A few drops of lemon oil (to drizzle at the end)
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
• 1 tbs parsley, chopped
• 1 tsp basil, chopped
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Cook sprouts in salted boiling water. Drain and let cool. Wrap 1 strip of prosciutto around each sprout, and using a toothpick close the extremity so that it won’t open while cooking.

Heat olive oil in a pan, and cook wrapped sprouts until golden on all sides. Remove toothpick

For the vinaigrette, combine all ingredients together in a bowl, mix well.

Divide mâche on each plate, top it with three sprouts and pour vinaigrette on top, drizzle with some lemon oil. Serve at room temperature.

These are one of those delicious appetizers that are so good, so easy to make, that everyone loves, but yet, I never think of making them. So I figure by posting them on my blog, it will make me remember that they shall not be forgotten!

Gougères are a specialty from Bourgogne region (you know that region where are produced many great French wines such as Chablis, Côtes de Beaunes, Bourgogne Aligoté, etc…); they’re made with a base of a pâte à choux and cheese. Gougères are either made in individual small balls or even in a large pan like a pie. They  can also be stuffed with a béchamel sauce and ham. Either way, they’re always delightful. They make wonderful appetizers, you can also serve them as a side cute addition to a soup, preferably a velouté. They will immediately make your soup very elegant.

Now if we are going further into who invented Pâte à choux…well it seems that an Italian baker called Panterelli brought it over to France when Catherine de Medici arrived around 1540. Then of course, the French contributed to its evolution, and started making profiterolles and other pâte à choux based pastries.

Usually, gougères are made with hard cheeses like gruyère, parmesan or comté, but you can use roquefort, or other strong cheeses. I stayed with a traditional base of comté, but you can play around with the pâte à choux and make it your own.

Ingredients for about 25 medium size gougères

• 1 cup (or 250 ml) water
• 4 eggs (+ 1 yolk)
• 5.30 oz (or 150 g) comté cheese, grated
• 5.30 oz (or 150 g) white flour
• 2.65 oz (or 75 g) butter
• 1 tbs thyme, finely chopped
• nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• pepper

Preparation

Mix water and butter in a pot and bring to a boil, add salt. Remove from stove and add flour all at once. Mix well to obtain a smooth batter, then place back on low temperature while stirring vigorously until the dough detaches from the sides of the pot and turns into a consistent ball. Remove from heat, and let it cool for a few minutes. Add eggs, one at a time. Mix well until the batter becomes smooth. Add cheese, thyme, nutmeg and pepper.

Butter a tray to prevent sticking. Using two teaspoons or a douille, divide all the dough into big walnuts size little piles.

Brush each gougère with beaten yolk and cook in a pre-heated oven at 390F for about 20-30 minutes, until the gougères are golden brown and have risen. Serve hot or at room temperature as apéritif.

Who said kekabs have to be with meat? you can do anything you usually do with meat using vegetables, some vegetables are more adapted to certain cooking methods, but are incredibly versatile.

I haven’t used haloumi in a long time, and really felt like grilling cheese, and especially haloumi with its delicate texture and pungent flavor. You can find some other haloumi recipe here and here. I bought some pomegranate molasses at my favorite Greek grocery store (called the Fruit Barn), and had to find a way to use it. Sometimes I can get a little obsessive, when I buy a new ingredient, I won’t stop thinking until I find a recipe to use it.

Pomegranate molasses is widely used in Lebanese and Iranian cuisine not really in French or Italian cuisines, but is definitely a Mediterranean ingredient. I loved the pomegranate juices you get in Israel, in those fruit juice joints in any street, they’re so refreshing and healthy. So pomegranate molasses is produced by reducing pomegranate juice, you get some syrupy texture, half sweet, half acidic.

Basically the natural sweetness of those kebabs produced by beets and sweet potatoes is a very pleasant sensation for your palate. It’s enhanced by the bitterness of arugula and acidity of pomegranate molasses, so you’ll see how delightful these kebabs are. The stars of this dish are definitely the haloumi and the pomegranate molasses.

Ingredients for 6 kebabs

For the kebabs

• 3 medium size beets, peeled and cut in 1 1/2 inch cubes
• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut in 1 1/2 cubes
• 1 piece haloumi, cut in cubes (similar sizes than beets and potatoes)
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 tbs balsamic vinegar
• salt and pepper

For the arugula-lime sauce

• 1.5 cups arugula
• 1 tbs pomegranade molasses
• juice of 1 lime
• 2 tbs raw cashews
• 1 garlic clove
• 3 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Start preparing the arugula dipping sauce. Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend, until obtained a paste, but not too thin.

Start first by roasting beets. Place cut beets in a sheet, coat them with oil and vinegar, salt and pepper and broil in a 375F oven for about 20 minutes or until just tender. Remove from heat and keep warm.

Proceed using the same method with potatoes. Keep warm.

Using a wooden skewer, add one beet cube, then one potato cube, haloumi, another beet, and potato.

Heat a skillet or a grill pan, and grill each skewer, until the haloumi is grilled on all sides. Add some dipping sauce, and serve hot. You can serve the sauce on the side.

San Francisco has been under the rain today, and it might be a sign that fall is very much around, warning you that more rainy days are on their way.

Even though, it’s not Thanksgiving yet, I am already thinking about the Thanksgiving dinner menu…I think this year, there will be many appetizers like this one. I am simply in love with simple and flavorful bites that “mettent en appétit” (open your appetite) and can be enjoyed with a fresh glass of Champagne. I noticed many of my friends don’t like cauliflower, I am not sure if its the texture or the taste, so sometimes I just play with cauliflower and try to serve it in various forms and textures.

Of course, you can substitute cauliflower with other ingredients, such as avocado, carrots, etc…I served this a few times with an avocado purée and it was simply delightful.

If you don’t want to serve this in a spoon, you can serve it in a small plate, add one extra tbs of cauliflower mash, and add four shrimps. That would be sufficient as an appetizer and you really don’t have to spend hours cooking. This is a fairly simple dish to prepare and no one needs to know that it takes only a few minutes for the whole dish to be ready.

The only little trick about using small spoons, is that you need to pay attention to small details, and make sure your presentation is clean and tidy. All the ingredients being cut in tiny pieces, they need to be well put together in a regular order.

Ingredients for 10 spoons

• 1 medium cauliflower, cut into florets
• 1 tbs olive oil
• hot spicy habanero sauce or tabasco sauce
• salt and pepper
• 10 shrimps, peeled and deveined
• 1/4 tbs paprika
• 1/2 tsp mild curry powder
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• salt and pepper
• 1 tsp olive oil
• dill for decoration

Preparation

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add cauliflower and cook until soft. Drain, place in a mixing container and mash with a potato masher, leaving small pieces. Add habanero sauce, olive oil , salt and pepper. Mix well all ingredients and keep warm.

In a container, combine shrimps, curry and paprika powder, lemon juice, salt and pepper.

Heat olive oil in a pan and saute shrimps.

Place 1 tbs of cauliflower in each spoon. Top it with one shrimp and a little sprig of dill.

]]> http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2010/11/light-sunday-treat-spicy-shrimps-on-a-bed-cauliflower-mash/feed/ 10 http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2010/10/get-a-pillow-and-take-a-nap-pillows-with-fava-beans-asparagus-and-feta/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=get-a-pillow-and-take-a-nap-pillows-with-fava-beans-asparagus-and-feta http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2010/10/get-a-pillow-and-take-a-nap-pillows-with-fava-beans-asparagus-and-feta/#comments Thu, 28 Oct 2010 05:53:16 +0000 silvia http://www.citronetvanille.com/blog/?p=12456 Prend un oreiller et fais une sieste – Coussins de filo aux fèves, asperges et chèvre

I could definitely sleep on top of those stuffed pillows, they’re warm and smell so good. For a long time, I didn’t like to manipulate filo dough, it was either drying too fast, or breaking, so I got annoyed with it and decided to leave it aside. Tant pis!

Then the idea of giving up, annoyed me even more…so I bought a pack of filo dough, and I decided to play with it…so far, the games were fun but I don’t seem to be able to finish the box 30 sheets of dough is quite a lot. It’s much lighter than puff pastry, then if you brush it with olive oil instead of butter, it’s even lighter!

I was reading an article on restaurant food, and it seems like fried food has never been that popular. So for those who like fried food, you can fry those pillows. Filo dough unlike puff pastry can be fried. I baked mine since I am still the “health nut” cook. One of the few things I like fried, is the fried green tomatoes I had once in a restaurant in the city. I can eat this once in a while, but I just don’t feel like frying it at home.

Fresh goat cheese tends to be bland, so I combined it with chives and garlic. When you bite on a crunchy pillow, the aroma of the cooked herbs comes out and you get a delightful sensation, melting cheese, crunchy filo and soft vegetables. Those are quick to prepare and cook, so they’re perfect to be served with a salad for a light lunch or as appetizer if you have unexpected guests.

Ingredients for 4 (2 each)

• 4 sheets filo dough
• 1/2 lb fava beans
• 1 bunch asparagus
• 1/2 lb fresh goat cheese
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 tbs chives, chopped
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Cut asparagus in 1 inch pieces and cook in salted boiling water for about 5 minutes. Drain and set aside. Remove beans from the pods and cook in boiling water for three minutes. Drain and remove the peel.

In a small cup mix goat cheese, chives and garlic.

Remove filo dough sheets from box. Lay one sheet flat on a working surface. Brush the sheet with olive oil. Place another sheet on top and cut to have four squares. Place 1 tbs of fava beans and 1 tbs of asparagus in the middle, add salt and pepper. Top it with goat cheese mixture. Bring each side towards the center to form small pillows. Proceed the same way with the rest of the sheets. Brush the top of the pillow with olive oil.

Bake in a non-stick sheet at 370 for about 10 minutes or until the pillows are golden and crunchy. Serve hot.

]]> http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2010/10/get-a-pillow-and-take-a-nap-pillows-with-fava-beans-asparagus-and-feta/feed/ 21 http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2010/09/apero-gourmand-for-basil-magazine-soft-bouchees-with-sheep-basque-cheese-and-figs/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=apero-gourmand-for-basil-magazine-soft-bouchees-with-sheep-basque-cheese-and-figs http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2010/09/apero-gourmand-for-basil-magazine-soft-bouchees-with-sheep-basque-cheese-and-figs/#comments Fri, 24 Sep 2010 05:20:31 +0000 silvia http://www.citronetvanille.com/blog/?p=12384 Apéro Gourmand – Bouchées moëlleuses au fromage de brebis et figues

I have to admit that I have a weakness for Basque cheeses, I am not a Basque and far from being one, but I love Basque cuisine and products. I used a pure sheep Basque cheese here, you can use other sheep cheeses but pecorino is too strong, I would select a milder cheese like for example the P’tit Basque which is widely available in the US. It can be grated and melt perfectly well so it can be used in many various types of dishes. Also, its sharpness is particularly pleasant with figs like in this dish, sour cherry jams or any other fruity additions.

Those soft and melting cheese bouchées are perfect served lukewarm for appetizers with a frisée or endive salad. The sweet and soft fig in the middle does balance the pungent and sharp sheep cheese to perfection. Beside, figs are always a wonderful treat to celebrate fall.

My parents have this huge fig tree in their garden in France (they brought a branch back from their garden in Italy) that grew into a gigantic tree and producing tons of large purple figs despite the rough climate of Lorraine. The branches reach the second floor of their house, so basically you can pick figs from the balcony, it is indeed very convenient!

There is over 250 varieties of figs categorized in three color groups: white/green, grey/red, purple/black, some of them are better for a fresh consumption, some other are better dried.

Anyway, this recipe is somehow my celebration of fall, with a clin d’oeil (wink) to Pays Basque, for their wonderful cheeses.

Ingredients for 7 bouchées

• 6.76 fl oz (or 200 ml) milk
• 1 oz (or 30 g) butter
• 4.23 oz (or 120 g) P’tit Basque cheese, grated
• 3 eggs
• 2.46 oz (or 70 g) flour
• salt and pepper
• 7 small purple figs
• fleur de sel

Preparation

Heat milk in a pot, add butter and using a whisk, mix until the butter has dissolved. Add cheese and let it melt while whisking. In a mixing container, mix flour with eggs, salt and pepper. Add milk/cheese mixture to the eggs/flour mixture.Mix until the batter is smooth and homogeneous.

Divide the batter in small molds. Add one small fig in the middle.

Cook in a pre-heated oven at 370F for about 20 minutes or until the bouchées are slightly golden brown on top.

Remove from oven and let it cool. Sprinkle with fleur de sel and serve lukewarm with a salad.

It’s been a while I ate mackerel…it’s one of those things you tend to forget it exists until you see it at the store. In France mackerel is a quite consumed fish, we eat it fresh and grilled, it’s considered a “fat” fish, well fattier than cod or sole and when smoked you can make delicious “rillettes“. Rillettes are a traditional specialty from France, they are somehow like a pâté or spread, but not as fine grind and with a more “thready” type of texture. They’re commonly made with pork meat that has cooked for a very long time in its own fat.  Other types of rillettes can be made with duck, goose, rabbit and even with some types of fishes. The most famous are Rillettes du Mans (Mans being a city in the Northern part of France).

Fish rillettes contain butter and even though less fattening the meat rillettes, they tend to be on the heavy side. I avoided all extra fat by adding yogurt which added creaminess. Mackerel being a naturally fat fish, I didn’t want to add extra fat in it. I am not a fat-free freak, but when it’s not necessary to add it, I avoid it.

For a nice snack or appetizer, I thought a little potato blini would complement the rillettes quite well. Again blinis are usually made with buckwheat flour and go marvelously with smoked fish, then nothing prevent you from twisting things around in the kitchen and add a different texture and flavor to the traditional blinis. You can eat this as a light meal or serve them as appetizers, they’re always appreciated in my house.

Ingredients for about 12 blinis

For the rillettes

• 7 oz (or 200 g) smoked mackerel
• 1 garlic clove
• 4 tbs plain yogurt
• 1/2 shallot
• 1 tsp parsley
• 1 tsp dill
• 1 tsp chives
• red pepper corn, crushed
• salt

For the binis

• 7 oz (or 200 g) potatoes, cooked and mashed
• 4 tbs flour
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/3 tsp baking soda
• 1 tbs olive oil

Preparation

For the rillettes

In a blender, mix mackerel, herbs, garlic and shallot. Taste to adjust salt since smoke mackerel tends to be on the salty side. Do not blend into a too fine paste, you need to have some texture and taste the mackerel. Add yogurt. In a mortar, crush red pepper corn and add to the mixture. Refrigerate for about one hour.

For the blinis

Cook potatoes in salted water, when soft, remove from stove and drain. Crush potatoes in to a fine puree. In a mixing container, add puree potatoes, flour, egg, milk, baking powder. Add cumin seeds and salt. Mix well to obtain a smooth mixture.

Heat olive oil in a pan, add one small amount of dough (about the amount of a tsp). Let one side cook, then flip it over.  Proceed until used all the batter. Spread with mackerel rillettes, top it with extra red pepper corns and herbs.