Napoléon de yams et choux de Bruxelles, herbes et confiture de poivrons

Last time I was at my parents’ in France a few weeks ago, I saw this empty jar of a delicious red bell pepper jam I bought during a vacation in Seville. That certainly did bring up some beautiful memories. I remembered buying it in an open market, as being a local specialty, and served with sheep cheeses. Then I decided to read about it and do a little research on this particular jam and it seems like it’s consumed in the Pays Basque as well where they say it’s a Basque specialty. So obviously it originated in that area, as to who created it, France or Spain, I think we’ll never know.

Back in California, a few weeks later, I went to this wonderful restaurant in Healdsburg called Chalk Board (if you ever go in that area, you need to try it) and to my astonishment, my delicious grilled zucchini dish was served with red bell pepper jam! what a strange coincidence! As soon as I came home I went to buy red bell peppers and I made jam. I had no choice, this was a sign…

So the highlight of this dish and the main purpose of this dish is the red bell pepper jam, not the yams and nor the Brussels sprouts. Maybe I should just have made a post with the jam only, but then you need an example on how to eat it. Actually, this red bell pepper jam is often served with sheep cheeses, but also with grilled meats and fish. Here it goes perfectly well with this vegetable combination.

The jam I bought in Seville was more liquid, so for the next batch, I will just cook it less. This was a thick jam, so depending on your preferences, you might want to play with the cooking time. Its flavor is amazing, sweet, flavorful and spicy. It truly enhances many dishes and if you want to eat it like in Spain, try it with any hard sheep cheese like manchego, it’s magic.

Ingredients for 2-3

For the Napoleon

• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 large yams, peeled and cut 1/2 inch thick slices across
• 1 lb Brussels sprouts, shredded
• 3 tbs white wine
• salt and pepper

For the herb dressing

• 1.5 tbs mixed herbs (scallions, chives, basil, etc)
• 4 tbs olive oil
• juice of 1/2 Meyer lemon
• salt

For the red bell pepper jam

• 600 g red bell peppers, peeled and seeds removed and cut in small strips
• 250 g brown sugar
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• Piment d’Espelette

Preparation

For the napoleon

Place yams in a non stick tray. Coat with olive oil, salt and pepper and broil on both sides until cooked.

Heat olive oil in a pan, add garlic, stir until fragrant then add Brussels sprouts and wine. Cover and let cook at medium heat until wilted and wine evaporated. Adjust with salt and pepper.

For the herb dressing

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.

For the belle pepper jam

Place peppers in a pot along with the sugar. Let it cook at medium temperature until soft and the texture has thickened. Add lemon juice and let it cook a bit more. Add piment d’Espelette at the end and cook for another 5-10 minutes. At this point, the texture is syrupy and thicker, more like a coulis.

Using a rind, mount the napoleon. Place a slice of yam at the bottom of the plate, then add Brussels sprouts, then a tsp of herb dressing. Continue the process to a second layer. Serve with some red pepper jam and herb dressing.

This is a recipe for those days you want to eat well and not spend a whole day in the kitchen. I can almost call this a fast food meal, and anything I classified in my “less than 30 minutes” category can be called “fast food”, now 30 minutes is fast to me, of course comparing to some frozen meal you throw in the microwave, might not be. Of course everything is subjective. But since we are comparing this to homemade meals, and nothing else, this is definitely fast food.

You can substitute tuna with any other white fish, and quinoa with rice, but quinoa being very nutritious, it’s always good to add it into a regular diet.

Lately, I have been using brussel sprouts mainly shredded mixed with other vegetables and I really like them this way. It’s one way among others to prepare them. If you serve them whole as a side dish, may people tend to be reluctant and un-excited to eat them. Shredding them, make their flavor more subtle and friendlier and less intimidating to certain people.

Ingredients for 4

For the tuna

• 4 tuna steaks
• 1 small green bell pepper
• 1 small red bell pepper
• 1/4 red onion, finely chopped
• 2 scallions, chopped
• 1tsp chives, chopped
• 3 tbs olive oil
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tsp tabasco sauce
• one pinch of cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper

For the quinoa

• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 1/2 onion finely sliced
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 3/4 lb brussel sprouts, shredded
• about 12 cherry tomatoes, cut in half lenghtwise
• smoked paprika
• salt and pepper

Preparation

For the relish

Broil peppers under broiler on all sides until the skin darkens. Remove from oven, let them cool, then remove seeds and peel. Cut in small cubes. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well.

For the quinoa

Steam quinoa in a medium size pot with vegetable broth for about 20 minutes. Heat olive oil in a pan, brown onions. Add tomatoes and garlic and stir for a few minutes. Then add shredded brussel sprouts. Mix well to combine all ingredients, then add paprika, salt and pepper.  Cover with a lid and let it cook for about 10 minutes, until sprouts are tender but still green and with a tiny crunch. When quinoa is cooked, add to the pan. Mix well for a few minutes to combine all ingredients.

Grill tuna steak on a skillet, Add salt and pepper and serve with two tbs relish on top and quinoa on the side.