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.

One of the best meals I have ever had was in Biarritz, for those who have traveled to France and who went to Pays Basque, must know Biarritz. It’s located in the Southern part of France on the Atlantic coast, close to the Spanish border.  I remember this rustic restaurant that looked more like a chic cabin with dark wood decor and an amazing menu. The dessert I ordered was quite simple, just the way I like it. It was a long glass filled with a sheep milk yogurt type of mixture, a cherry compote and topped with honey but it was so good that I still vividly remember at this time the sensation of pleasure I got at the first spoonful.

In the Basque region, you can find wonderful cheeses made with sheep milk since the Pyrénées Mountains are close by, where lots of sheeps are raised.

It’s been a while, I felt like having this particular combination of grilled fruit and goat milk yogurt. I adore grilled fruits, the grilling makes the flavors and sweetness stand out but I find sheep milk yogurt to be stronger and goat yogurt suits my taste buds better. This can be a snack, a dessert or something you make anytime because you have some cravings.

After seeing some beautiful juicy and sweet apricots at my Greek barn, next door, I decided that apricots were part of the game…Summer fruits are out, maybe not at their best quality yet, since it’s still the beginning of the season but Mr. Greek grocer found delicious and sweet ones. He picks himself his fruits and vegetables and gets up at 2am to go to the market, so he always get gorgeous produce.

Langues de chat is literally translated into Cat’s tongues, just because those flat cookies do have that long shape  resembling a tiny tongue. They’re usually longer  and narrower than the ones I have made.

Their origin is traced back to the XVII century, and their deliciousness kept their popularity through the times. They’re traditional French cookies, and very easy to make, you cannot fail making langue de chat, I promise. Even the beginner bakers will make great langues de chat.

Ingredients for 2

• 3 apricots
• 1 goat milk yogurt
• 2 tbs lavender honey
• 2 figs
• cardamom powder
• 1 tbs pistachios, chopped

For the langues de chat

• 2.64 oz (or 75 g) butter
• 3 egg whites
• 3.52 oz (or 100 g) flour
• 3.52 oz (or 100 g) powder sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Preparation

For the langues de chat

Take the butter out of the refrigerator to room temperature about 30 minutes before using it. In a mixing container, mix butter and sugar together, add vanilla extract. Beat the white slightly (don’t whip them), and add to the butter/sugar mixture. Add flour and mix again.

Using a piping bag (douille) lay a small amount of batter on a silicon sheet (silpat) or parchment paper. Leave some space in between each cookie, they tend to spread when cooking. Cook in a pre-heated oven at 355-360F for about 10-15 minutes until the langues de chat are slightly golden from the sides. Let them cool and set aside.

Grill apricot halves in a grill pan or grid, on each side. Sprinkle some honey on top. Mix cardamom with yogurt.

In a bowl, place 3 apricots halves in the bottom. Add yogurt, top it off with remaining honey, figs and pistachios. Serve with 2 or 3 langues de chat.

I have been back to the US since last Friday and one thing that I already start missing is the yogurt. If you haven’t tried homemade yogurts, you haven’t tasted the goodness of what a real yogurt can be. I have always been nostalgic about the wonderful yogurts you can find in France in the yogurt/dairy section in any supermarket area. There are about four full aisles of yogurts and dairy specialties of dairy and non dairy fresh desserts. I am in heaven. Yogurts in the US tend to be on the boring side and quite frankly not very good. I tasted all of the brands, and I always remain faithful to Strauss, their European called yogurt. It seems like all yogurts contain gelatin and taste artificial especially the flavored ones, so I stick to the plain kind.

Yogurt making is like bread making in France right now, two nationwide spread trends. So after going to FNAC, a bookstore/electronics store, and spending hours on the cook book section, I run into an intriguing book on making yogurts, and I decided to buy it.

After landing in the U S of A and going through customs with half a supermarket in my suitcase, I realized that I had no yogurt maker. Yogurts can be made in many other ways if you don’t have a yogurt maker, like using a pressure cooker, an oven, etc…but I just wanted a yogurt maker and not go through a few times of failing the yogurts, like it happened before. So on day 2, I went to buy a yogurt maker and if you are a yogurt “freak” like me, it’s a good investment. In a next post, I will explain how to make yogurts without a yogurt maker, in case you don’t have one since I suspect many people don’t have one. It’s a little more tricky but it does work.

I used approximately the recommended proportions I found on the book called “Yaourts” from Solar Editions, then I somehow flavored them according to my tastes. You can use any fruit you like.

The great thing about making yogurt is that you can play around with different milks, spices and fruits. For this first attempt, I used fat free milk, but next time I will use the 2% fat and see the difference. The only inconvenient is that it takes about 10 hours to have your yogurts ready, but then you get seven of them. You can use either a plain yogurt or yogurt ferments for your mixture.

Ingredients for 7 yogurts

• 2 kiwis, peeled and cut in small cubes
• 1/2 granny smith apple, peeled and cut in small cubes
• 4.4 oz (or 125 g) black figs, peeled and well ripe
• vanilla powder
• 2 tbs sugar
• 3.38 cups milk (or 800 ml) whole, skim or half-skimmed
• 6 tps evaporated milk (canned or in powder)
• 1 regular plain yogurt

Preparation

If you are using fruits at the bottom, I suggest to start preparing them beforehand. Peel figs and cut in small cubes, add sugar and let it cook until it becomes into a smooth consistency. Add vanilla and let it cool. Proceed the same way with the apples and kiwis (without the use of vanilla).

Remove milk from the refrigerator and keep it room temperature for a while. In a mixing container, mix milk and yogurt. Add evaporated milk. Mix well.

Place 2 tbs of fruit sauce in each jar, add milk mixture and place in yogurt maker as per instructions. Do not close jars with lids. I kept those for 9 hours in the machine since I used non-fat milk. If you are using regular milk, or half-skimmed milk, you need to leave the yogurts about 7-8 hours. When the machine has stopped, put lids on and place in the refirgerator for 3 hours.

This is one of my mom’s favorites, she made it to eat it with fish terrine for that crazy Jan 1st meal. Seems like she recently got into bread making and so excited to make it for me. I love breads in France, all of them, baguette à l’ancienne, baguette tradition, pain de campagne, etc…they’re all so good that I love to eat them just plain, like some people would eat cookies and bread is the first thing I request when I arrive.

Not all bakeries make great bread but we all know where the best bread in town is, and get it fresh every morning and people have absolutely no problem driving a few miles to get the bread they want even though there is a boulangerie (bakery) at every corner here. Every one has its favorite boulangerie and we can have serious discussions about where the best bread is and why. Too bad I am no baker, otherwise I would open one in my San Francisco neighborhood since finding good bread there is like a mission impossible. Or eventually make it for my own consumption…I repaired my own shoes once, so why not make bread? I think making great bread is not an easy task though, you need the right ingredients, and a perfect humidity. I think the constant high humidity level in San Francisco makes it difficult to keep the bread crunchy for too long.

She made this bread very quickly and I was impressed with easiness of the process, it’s fairly simple. So you don’t need to be a baker to make it. I always thought it’s impossible if you’re not a baker to make good bread, and I have to say that some home made breads can be delicious.

Ingredients for one bread

• 12.34 oz (or 350 g) whole wheat flour
• 7-8 figs cut in pieces
• 10.14 fl oz (or 300 ml) water
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 pack yeast

Preparation

In a container, place flour, add salt and mix. Dissolve yeast in water, and add gradutally to the flour. You need to have a little sticky consistency. Mix but to not over knead dough. Make a thick baguette shape bread. Let it rise for 2 hours. When dough has doubled its size, insert fig pieces and sprinkle with flour. Cook in a pre-heated oven for about 30 min. or until the bread is golden brown.