Quel est le meilleur ami de la banane si ce n’est que le chocolat? What’s banana’s best friend other than chocolate? During my trip to France, I brought back some brick sheets. Here is some more info on those sheets. Like filo dough, they can be used in savory or sweet preparations.

Those rolls are ridiculously quick to prepare. No need to stress out if you have guests for dinner and no idea on the dessert choice. Kids will love it, and adults too. Melting chocolate on warm banana with a touch of coconut and crunchiness of pistachios is a always winning combination. Some flavors like banana and chocolate are made for each other, they’re like soul mate.

These rolls are quite large, so one would be sufficient for one person, or if your dinner was light, two rolls per person would work as well. As far as chocolate goes, you can use milk chocolate too, I personally prefer dark chocolate, its flavor is more intense and it contrasts quite well with the banana.

Ingredients for 6 rolls

• 6 bananas, not too ripe
• 2 tbs agave syrup
• 2 tbs coconut, shredded
• 12 tbs pistachios, chopped
• 6 tsp dark chocolate, broken in small pieces
• 6 brick sheets
• olive oil or butter for brushing

Preparation

Peel and slice the banana in 1 cm slices. Grill them on both sides in a skillet or grill pan. In a mixing container, combine banana, pistachios, agave syrup, coconut. Mix well.

Take one brick sheet and place 2 tbs of the mixture. Add chocolate on top and roll the sheet. Brush with olive oil or butter. Proceed the same way with the rest of the mixture.

Pre heat oven at 390F and bake rolls in the oven for about 15-20 min until they turn golden brown.

I got inspired by Indian samosas when I made those. I felt like eating something spicy, salty, but not greasy and since I bought a few brick packs when I was in France, with an expiration date coming close, I figured let’s make something that has the spirit of the samosa but a bit different. Voilà, c’est fait!  If you cannot find bricks, I have seen them sold online tough or in some specialty stores, you can use any kind of dough/wrappers/pastry sheets, etc.. (filo dough, puff pastry, etc…) I love bricks because they get crunchy and are very light.

The stuffing is a mixture of broccoli, yams, carrots and spices. Yams are not often used in French cuisine, but I am starting to like them and use them more often in some savory preparations. I don’t think I can make anything sweet with them, I have a slight blockage about that. In my mind, they’re potatoes and not supposed to be used in desserts. Like my Japanese neighbor has a blockage about rice pudding, I have one about yams combined with sugar.

I loved those crunchy rolls, light, flavorful with lots of texture. It will definitely please vegetarians or vegans if you replace the yogurt sauce with some mint chutney.

Ingredients for 5-6 large rolls

• 1 tbs olive oil (+1 for brushing)
• 1/4 onion, chopped
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• 2 cups broccoli florets
• 1 carrot, peeled and cut
• 1 small yam, peeled and cut
• 1 tbs cilantro, chopped
• salt and pepper

For the yogurt sauce

• 250 ml plain Greek yogurt
• 1 tsp mint, finely chopped
• 1 tsp scallions, chopped
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• salt and pepper

 Preparation

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add vegetables and cook until tender. Drain and chop vegetables roughly and set aside.

In a pan, heat olive oil, add onion and ginger and let soften. Add garlic until fragrant, a few minutes. Add all the spices, and stir well to combine flavors. Add vegetables, cilantro, salt and pepper and mix well until the vegetables are well coated in the spices. Remove from heat and let cool.

In the meantime, prepare the yogurt sauce by mixing all the ingredients together. Refrigerate.

Take one brick sheet placing it flat on a wooden surface. Place 2-3 tbs of vegetable mixture (depending on how big you want to make the roll) in the middle and roll like you would for a spring roll. Proceed the same way with the other brick sheets. Brush olive oil on top of each roll.

Bake in the oven at 380F for about 10-15 minutes and turn around the rolls to the other side until both sides are golden brown and crunchy. Serve hot with yogurt sauce and a green salad.

I would say that this recipe has a French flair to it, especially with munster cheese in it. Munster is a a very old cheese from Alsace made with caw milk, but other regions like the one I grew up in also produce munster. It tends to be very strong and pungent (Americans would say that is a very stinky French cheese!!) and you need to wrap it tightly when in the fridge, but it has a wonderful and delicate flavor. So don’t let the smell impress you.

Brick sheets are widely used in France to replace filo dough. They’re much easier to manipulate and don’t break that easily, though hard to find in the US. I found them frozen at the Gourmet and More store in San Francisco. You can fill them with anything you like. One sheet has only 25 calories so if you want to keep them light you have to fill them with a light mixture and bake them in the oven rather in a pan with oil. Munster and cumin go well together, the sweetness of the carrot complement the filling quite well. You can substitute cumin with caraway seeds, it will be equally good. More recipes about brick sheets here.

Ingredients for 4-5 bricks

• 4-5 brick sheets
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 2 shallots, minced
• 3 carrots, sliced thin
• 3 tbs dry white wine
• 1.5 tsp cumin seeds or carvi
• 170 g munster cheese, sliced
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Heat olive oil in a pan, add shallots and let them soften. Add carrots, cumin and wine. Adjust with salt and pepper. Cover and let cook at medium heat until the carrots are tender.

Take a brick sheet and lay it flat on a wooden surface. Place 2-3 tbs of the carrot mixture (about 2 inches from the border), then top it with a slice of the munster cheese and start rolling, when you reach the middle, fold the sides and continue rolling until it forms a little package. Proceed until you have used all the carrot mixture.

Pre-heat oven at 375F and back in the oven until golden brown. Serve hot on a bed of arugula.

]]> http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2013/06/brick-sheets-stuffed-with-carrots-cumin-and-munster-cheese/feed/ 1 http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2012/08/do-you-smoke-cigarettes-with-leeks-shrimps-and-shiitake/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=do-you-smoke-cigarettes-with-leeks-shrimps-and-shiitake http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2012/08/do-you-smoke-cigarettes-with-leeks-shrimps-and-shiitake/#comments Sun, 05 Aug 2012 16:23:18 +0000 silvia http://www.citronetvanille.com/blog/?p=14610 Vous fumez? – Cigarettes aux poireaux, crevettes et champigons shiitake

I am a heavy smoker of those cigarettes! The excitement is more related to the feuilles de brick (the wrapping sheets, literally translated into “sheet brick”) than to those cigarettes themselves. I used to bring feuilles de brick from France anytime I went there, just because I cannot find them in the US. Strangely enough, no store carries them (even though feuilles de brick are Middle Eastern), not even the Middle Eastern stores. Most people here use filo dough instead or won ton wrappers, which are very different.

I love feuilles de brick just because they are not as fragile as filo dough and the texture is much more pleasant, the “crunch” is very different. You can check more recipe here with feuille de brick.

Now my frustration ended, thanks to Laurent and his “Gourmet and More” Epicerie he opened in San Francisco, in Hayes Valley. Whoever lives in the city has to go to Gourmet and More if they’re into real French products (not imitation). They even have a “cheese room” where they cut the cheese for you, yes! you have “Fromage à la coupe“, like in France, and not wrapped in plastic like at Whole Foods or most stores. They sell boudin noir, boudin blanc, saucisse de Toulouse, de lapin, rillettes, crozet (pasta specialty from Savoie), many olive oil, teas, etc… a heaven for French people or those who like French products.

Anyway, those cigarettes are filled with leeks, shrimps and mushrooms and baked in the oven. You can also fried the cigarettes in a pan with oil but I prefer to bake them to make them lighter and not as oilier. You can fill them with whatever you like and served with a simple green salad as an appetizer or light lunch, they’re delightful.

Don’t forget, if you are rooming around San Francisco one of those days, drop by “Gourmet and More“, say Bonjour to Laurent and Josiane (his wife), get some cheese…and some feuilles de brick!

Ingredients for 4 cigarettes

• 1 tbs olive oil + 1 tsp for basting
• 1 shallot, chopped
• 1 leek, chopped
• 6 large shiitake, finely diced
• 20 medium shrimps, cut finely
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 tbs crème fraîche
• 1 tbs chives, chopped finely
• 4 feuilles de brick
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Heat olive oil in a pan, add shallots and cook them for a few minutes until soft. Add leeks and shiitake, cover and cook at medium heat until the vegetables are cooked and the water evaporated. Add shrimps and cook for a few minutes. Adjust with salt and pepper. Add garlic and stir well. Add crème fraîche and cook until the cream has thickened and reduced (no liquid in the pan). Add chives and mix well.

Place about 3 tbs of mixture in a feuille de brick and roll in order to form cylinders, like you would do to make egg rolls.

Baste with some olive oil. Pre-heat oven at 370F and bake for about 20 minutes or until all the sides are golden brown and crunchy. Serve hot on a beg of green mâche or peppery salad.

]]> http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2012/08/do-you-smoke-cigarettes-with-leeks-shrimps-and-shiitake/feed/ 3 http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2012/02/i-got-my-purse-stolen-purses-filled-with-crayfish-leeks-and-cherry-tomatoes-curry-cream-sauce/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=i-got-my-purse-stolen-purses-filled-with-crayfish-leeks-and-cherry-tomatoes-curry-cream-sauce http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2012/02/i-got-my-purse-stolen-purses-filled-with-crayfish-leeks-and-cherry-tomatoes-curry-cream-sauce/#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 05:31:18 +0000 silvia http://www.citronetvanille.com/blog/?p=14035 Aumonières aux écrevisses, poireaux et tomates cerises, sauce curry

I am back in the US and I did not post anything while in France, simply because I had no time to cook – I think I prepared lunch for my parents twice, the rest of my stay my mom cooked and we had guests so no time to shot anything…and to be honest, I had no motivation to cook. What a shame!!!! I always think, I will have time to shot the old town, la vieille ville or our gorgeous Place Stanislas (the most beautiful square in Europe) painted in gold, or our beautiful architecture. But no, I get there and I get caught in family stuff, my life changes completely, and this time I even left my camera in the suitcase! Oh well, c’est comme ca, et tant pis!

These purses are made with feuilles de brick (also called brick dough or brick pastry in the US) that I bought  while I was in France (they’re more popular over there than filo dough) , they’re mainly used in middle eastern cuisine and really hard to find in the US, so far I have not found yet a store that carry them, except Amazon, but they’re too expensive. I paid only 0.90 Euros for a pack of 10. You can substitute filo dough sheets, but I prefer the texture of feuilles de brick, they’re more resistant and not as fragile.

Aumonières were an old type of purse that people use to carry on their belt so that no one would steal the money. In the food world they refer to any dough (crêpe, filo dough, feuilles de brick) filled with anything, it can be fish, vegetables, meat, etc.. basically it’s a eatable purse filled with food instead of money.

Sometimes I like to substitute crème fraîche with fromage blanc. If you are using fromage blanc instead of the heavy cream for the sauce, you won’t be able to boil it, not cook it, so you’ll have a cold sauce instead of hot. In this case, a hot sauce goes much better with the whole dish since the purses are hot.

You can use shrimps or scallops instead of crayfish, and use your creativity for the filling, it’s all about what you like!

Ingredients for 4 people

• 8 feuilles de brick
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 leek, chopped
• 1/2 lb crayfish tales (already cooked)
• about 16 cherry tomatoes, cut in halves
• 2 tsp sesame seeds
• salt and pepper

For the sauce

• Crème fraîche or fromage blanc
• Curry to taste
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• Salt and pepper

Preparation

Heat olive oil in a pan. Add leeks and cook until tender. Adjust with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Cut two circles of about 2.5 inches 4 brick sheets. Then take a whole sheet, brush the surface with olive oil, and place two of the small circles in the middle. Divide the leeks in the center of these circles, add six tomato halves on top of the leeks and top it off with the crayfish, Sprinkle with sesame seeds, salt and pepper. Proceed the same way for the other purses.

Close the purses by bringing the sides to the front forming a purse. Tie it up with cooking thread. Bake in a pre heated oven at 370 F for about 15 minutes, make sure the purses don’t burn or become too dark.

For the sauce, bring the cream, lemon juice and curry to a light boil, then add salt and pepper.

Serve the purses hot with the sauce on the side.

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