I had some leftover pâte brisée that I didn’t want to throw away, so here we go…of course, you can replace mussels with scallops or shrimps. This is just very easy to make and the use of those mini tarts are versatile. I ate eight of them for lunch with a salad, but obviously those types of bites are more appropriate for entertaining as a pass-on appetizer or on a buffet display, than as a main course…besides no one would eat those as a main course, unless very hungry and nothing else to eat.

I have to say that I am still hungry so I could have easily eaten some extras, but no no, let’s stay moderate especially when pâte brisée has some nice amount of butter, like this one. Usually I make dough with olive oil, but this one is the traditional pâte brisée. Well, a small amount of butter never killed anyone, so let’s be kind to butter and not demonize it.

This is a very short story: 1) Left over pâte brisée, 2) little time to cook and 3) hunger, there is nothing else and nothing exciting behind those tartlets. Well, yes there are my adorable and colorful mini molds I brought back from France. They are quite small, about 1.5 inch diameter, you can see the mussel fit right in.

Ingredients for about 30-40 bites or 6 people

For the pate brisée (traditional)

•  8.8 oz (or 250 g) flour
• 1 yolk
• 4.4 oz (or 125 g) butter, diced
• one pinch salt
• a few tbs water

For the filling

• 30-40 mussels
• 2 tbs fromage blanc or thick yogurt such as greek yogurt
• 6.7 fl oz (or 20 cl) crème fraȋche
• 1 tbs parsley
• a few drops of meyer lemon juice
• salt and pepper

Preparation

For the pâte brisée

In a mixing container, add flour, yolk, a pinch salt, water and butter. Mix all ingredients together carefully to incorporate butter but do not mix too much or the dough will break apart when rolling it. Form a ball, and wrap in plastic. Let rest in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

For the filling

Heat olive oil in a pan, add mussels, stir for a few minutes, then add yogurt and cream, lemon juice, parsley salt and pepper. Stir for a few more minutes, then remove from heat.

Roll dough in a flat surface and using a cookie ring, cut out circles to fill your molds. Add one mussel in each mold and fill it with cream/yogurt mixture.

Cook in a pre heated oven at 370F for about 20 minutes or until the tartlets are nice and lightly brown.

Growing up in Lorraine, and Lorraine being Alsace’s close neighbor, I am quite familiar with tarte flambée, which is an Alsacian Specialty (they eat it in Germany and close regions as well). It’s literally translated into “flamed tart” but has nothing to do with being flamed. The word flamed probably comes from the fact that tarte flambée used to be cooked in very hot wood ovens and very quickly, therefore the crust border turned all burnt and black by the intense heat. Flammkuchen is the Alsacian/German translation that we also use when talking about tarte flambée. If, for whatever reason you end up in the Eastern part of France, and more precisely in Strasbourg (which is a magnificent city) you can go to this wonderful brasserie right next to the cathedral (I think it’s called Caveau Gurtlerhoft) to experience a sinful tarte flambée. The traditional is made out of crème fraîche, fromage blanc, onions and lard fumé (thick cut bacon), you have other variations, such as the vegetarian, or with mushrooms, etc…and also salmon like this one. I sometimes substitute heavy cream to crème fraîche, but it will not work here, you need the thick consistency of crème fraîche for the topping. 

Tarte flambée is a peasant dish, just like pizza. The original tartes had a rectangular shape, and eaten burning hot and rolled. Nowadays, most restaurants serve them round, probably because it’s easier to cut in slices, and you don’t have to burn your fingers rolling them, even though few restaurants still make them rectangular like in the old times.

If you want some different and fun alternative to pizza, try one of those, you won’t be disappointed, they’re so delicious, and easy to prepare. You can use a bread dough or pizza dough, it just needs to be rolled very thin.

Ingredients for 2 tartes

• Bread dough about 5.30 oz (or 150 gr) per ball, (recipe here)
• 4 tbs crème fraîche (2 on each tarte)
• 8 tbs Fromage blanc or Page Greek yogurt
• 1 large yellow onion, cut in half and thin sliced crosswise
• 1/2 lb (or 250 gr) smoked salmon
• salt and pepper
• chives, chopped for decoration

Preparation

In a mixing container, mix crème fraîche and fromage blanc.

Form two little balls with the dough and roll them thin.

Place dough on a pizza dish. Spread evenly the crème/fromage blanc mixture. Add onions, then add salmon. adjust with salt and pepper. Cook in a pre-heated oven at 400F, for about 15 minutes or so. Remove from oven, and sprinkle with chives. Serve very hot.

Another year is going by, who likes getting older? I don’t and people who say they do, I am not sure they really mean it…yesterday was my birthday and I got up with a massive headache! So I still decided to treat myself thinking that one of those mini desserts, will make me feel better. When and if you make pain d’épices, you open the door to many preparations. I could not resist to make those mini desserts after I made pain d’épices. They’re not sweet, but very light and terribly delicious. Of course, they’re tiny so you can easily eat a few. That glass is actually about 2 inches tall, or a bit smaller, so with a few spoonful, you can finish it up.

Mini desserts are great for parties, you eat one and it’s not stuffy, no one likes the feeling of being stuffed (I don’t), the feeling of being satisfied is much more pleasant in my opinion. The mousse is so light and the fruity compote combined with spicy cake makes it the perfect trio.

Ingredients for 6 small verrines

For the Fromage blanc mousse

• 1 egg
• 1 tbs sugar
• 4 tbs fromage blanc or Fage Greek yogurt

For the peach compote

• 2 yellow peaches, peeled and cut in small cubes
• 1 tsp brown sugar (or to taste)
• a few drops of vanilla extract

For the pain d’épices – see recipe here

Preparation

For the mousse

Separate yolk from white and place in different containers. Add sugar to the yolks and beat until the mixture turns white and creamy and doubles volume. Beat the whites in a stiff consistency. Carefully add the whites to the yolk/fromage blanc mixture.

For the peach compote

Cook peaches with sugar and vanilla for about 15 min or until they turn soft and mushy. Let it cool down.

In a small glass, place one tbs or tsp (depending on the size of the glass) of crumbled pain d’épices, add 1 tps or tsp of peach compote, then add fromage blanc mousse. Repeat process twice until you reach top of the glass. Eat at room temperature or cold.

In France and mainly in the Eastern part of France, in a region called Alsace, which is bordering Germany, they make wonderful gâteaux and tartes au fromage blanc. They have their own version in Germany called käsekuchen, which is similar. It’s made with Quark which is a fresh cheese slightly different from fromage blanc because of its thicker texture. I made a more traditional version here, which has a crust, so that would be called a tart instead of cake. This version is lighter, because I only used egg whites, no cream and no crust, so this very light cake would fit in the “diététique” section.

I had extra egg whites when I made palets bretons that I didn’t want to throw away. I was thinking first to make meringue, but since I am not a big fan of crunchy and extra sweet egg whites, the use of eggs whites was perfect here. Of course, you could use yolks if you wanted to, and of course there are different recipes for this wonderful gâteau au fromage blanc, and this is only one light version of it.

Since we are in America, domestic fromage blanc is not easy to find, so I used Fage Greek yogurt and it worked perfectly. You don’t have to feel guilty about having dessert after a meal, because this is will not make you feel heavy, but simply happy and satisfied.

I used Meyer lemons for a stronger lemon flavor, but that’s not really necessary, regular lemons work perfectly fine and would fit better here because it does take over the tanginess of the fromage blanc. If you want to compare this to an American dessert, it would be a very light and extended cousin of cheesecake. You can serve it with any coulis you like such as raspberries, fresh blackberries, etc…but when in season peaches and apricots would be a wonderful alternative.

Ingredients for about 6

For the cake

• 1 lb (or 500 g) Fromage blanc or greek yogurt
• 130 g granulated sugar
• 50 g flour
• 4 egg whites
• zest of 1 lemon

For the raspberry sauce

• 1 lb raspberries
• 4 tbs orange juice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbs sugar or to taste

Preparation

For the cake

In a mixing container, mix yogurt, sugar, flour and lemon zest. Beat egg whites to a stiff consistency and add to the mixture. Grease with butter a deep dish pan. Pour carefully the mixture and cook in a pre-heated oven at 355-360F for about one hour. If the center of the cake looks a little pale while the borders are golden, decrease temperature. When cooked remove from oven and turn upside down, let it cool that way. Then turn cut and enjoy.

For the strawberry sauce

Cut strawberries, mix with sugar, orange juice, vanilla extract and cook for about 15 minutes. Let it cool and blend. You can pass the sauce through a sieve to remove strawberry seeds and make the sauce gets smooth.

]]> http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2011/02/light-and-lighter-fromage-blanc-cake-with-strawberry-sauce/feed/ 21 http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2010/06/the-palet-breton-got-dressed-up-pistachio-palet-breton-dressed-with-mascarpone-cream-raspberries-and-raspberry-coulis/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-palet-breton-got-dressed-up-pistachio-palet-breton-dressed-with-mascarpone-cream-raspberries-and-raspberry-coulis http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2010/06/the-palet-breton-got-dressed-up-pistachio-palet-breton-dressed-with-mascarpone-cream-raspberries-and-raspberry-coulis/#comments Sat, 12 Jun 2010 15:34:21 +0000 silvia http://www.citronetvanille.com/blog/?p=11193 Le palet breton s’est habillé – Palet breton à la pistache garni de crème au mascarpone, framboises, et coulis de framboises

Some days are a little more morose than others, and lately my mood has been affected by many things and partly by the San Francisco weather…I hate to talk about weather changes, because I think it is a little annoying to hear, and it sounds like “old bored people’s” discussions and if I look at last year posts around this time of year, it was the same thing…the fog rolling in. Everyone talks about the weather in this city because it changes so fast and every district or neighborhood has its own micro climate…and honestly when buying a house in the city you want to make sure you are not in a “fogged in” area, if you do, you better love wearing ski jackets in June. So when it rains, or you need a little quick fix to cheer you up, make palets, they’re easy to make and so delicious!

You might not be familiar with France and its beautiful and picturesque rainy North Western region : la Bretagne (Brittany), they have amazing seafood specialties and many others like this palet breton.

Palet breton is a dry cookie made with a pâte sablée and demi-sel butter. Brittay is famous for galettes bretonnes, palets and other buttery cookies (and crêpes of course). You can find so many brands of those delicious cookies in the supermarkets, so being far away from French supermarkets, I figured I better learn how to make them if I ever want to eat some.

Usually palet breton is about 1.5 com thick, so a little thicker than the ones I made. As any “dry cookie” they’re delicious and very enjoyable with a tea or coffee, or as a little snack. This time, I wanted to “dress them up”, turn them into a little bite as a dessert…and add some extra crunch to it, by adding pistachios.  if you don’t have butter demi-sel, use regular butter and add fleur de sel.

Ingredients for about 18 palets

for the palets

• 7 oz (or 200 g) flour
• 3.52 oz (or 100 g) butter demi-sel, cubed
• 2.82 oz (or 80 g) sugar
• 2 yolks
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2.11 oz (or 60 g raw pistachios, roughly chopped

for the mascarpone cream

• 7 tbs mascarpone
• 7 tbs fromage blanc
• sugar to taste

for the raspberry coulis

• 14 oz (or 400 g) raspberries
• 5.29 oz (or 150 g sugar) or more if the raspberries are not very sweet
• 1 tsp lemon juice

Preparation

In a mixing container, mix flour and baking powder. Add butter and mix carefully from the tips of your fingers incorporating it to the flour mixture. Separately mix yolks with sugar and vanilla extract and add to the flour.  Form a uniform ball. Spread with a rolling pin in a 1.5 cm sheet. Cut with a small cookie cutter or glass (the cookies are usually thick and small, about 5 cm diameter). Bake in a parchment paper or silpat for about 15 min at 360F. Let them cool.

For the mascarpone cream, just combine all ingredients together.

For the coulis, combine all ingredients in a blender. Filter coulis through a sieve to remove the seeds.

Place a generous amount of mascarpone cream on top of a palet. Add raspberries and top it with coulis and chopped pistachios.

This weekend has been busy with birthday parties and other types of events, and we have been experiencing a hot and sunny weather in the Bay Area so when I see a ray of sun, I cannot help and be outside…which usually means quick dishes, nonetheless savory, one cannot be neglected to the expenses of the other.

I like to serve this as a small dish, I call it salad but can be called tapas as well. I have a little weakness for smoke trout but any smoke fish will work as well. In France you can find a large variety of smoked fishes in the supermarket, usually in the packaged fish specialty area of the supermarket. It’s either cooked and smoke or raw and smoked. Smoke trout is easy to find in the US but always saw this cooked version.  Every year when I go home, there always a bunch of new products to discover and try out.

Another wonderful use of fromage blanc here, where the smoke flavor of the fish combined with creamy fromage blanc, faisselle (I don’t think it’s available in the US), or any other kind of fresh cheese, makes a perfectly balanced combination. The smoke flavor which can be sometimes strong is toned down by the creaminess and softness of the fromage blanc.

Ingredients for 2

• 1/2 english cucumber, seeds removed and diced finely
• 1 smoke trout fillet
• 2 tbs fromage blanc
• 1 tsp chives, chopped
• 1 tsp mint chopped
• 1 tsp dill, chopped
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp strong Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• pepper
• 1 tsp rock salt

Preparation

Sprinkle rock salt on cucumber to drain them from their water. Let it sit for about 30 minutes. Rinse and remove squeeze extra water.

In a bowl combine fromage blanc with herbs, mustard, lemon juice and pepper. Mix well and add to the cucumbers.

Place a slice of cucumber in a small plate, add one or two tbs of cucumber mixture on top and finish withsome smoke trout. Decorate with fresh herbs and serve.

]]> http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2010/05/salad-or-tapas-smoke-trout-on-a-cucumber-mint-and-chives-salad/feed/ 17 http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2010/04/tart-for-those-who-dont-like-desserts-tart-brioche-with-coconut-fromage-blanc-and-pineapple-2/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tart-for-those-who-dont-like-desserts-tart-brioche-with-coconut-fromage-blanc-and-pineapple-2 http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2010/04/tart-for-those-who-dont-like-desserts-tart-brioche-with-coconut-fromage-blanc-and-pineapple-2/#comments Thu, 29 Apr 2010 16:38:54 +0000 silvia http://www.citronetvanille.com/blog/?p=10161 La tarte pour ceux qui n’aiment pas les desserts – Tarte briochée à la noix de coco, fromage blanc et ananas

My good friend Ute came for dinner, she is German, I am Franco-Italian and we have exactly the same tastes, likes and dislikes as far as food and cuisine is concerned. We love the same flavors and dishes so it’s really a pleasure to cook for her, I don’t have to think for days about the menu. We both don’t like sweets too much but agree that a meal needs to end by a dessert, so I had to come up with something that would be filed in the dessert category without being too sweet.

When planning a dinner for picky people which becomes more of a headache than a real pleasure, it’s a sign that your guests are food un-educated, which is not the case for Ute and she is definitely my favorite guest to have around. Voilà, j’ai trouvé mon dessert! et en plus c’est léger!

Originally were supposed to try a new restaurant called George known for its seafood specialty dishes, then the rain started to pour and even though je ne suis pas en sucre as we say in French (I am not made out of sugar therefore will not melt), we decided to not go out…because after all I might melt, well the mascara will since the wind broke all my umbrellas.

For those who are not much of a sweet tooth and who like light desserts, this one is really for them. I loved it even better the day after while it was chilled. No heavy frosting, not a lot of sugar, just natural, fresh flavors due to the fresh pineapple and coconut milk.

I love to use fromage blanc in this dessert, but hard to find in the US, so I mainly substitute Fage Greek yogurt in any recipe requiring fromage blanc, either the 2% or the regular and it works perfectly. I used brioche as the “crust” instead of a regular pâte brisée or pate sucrée which resulted in a moist and semi-soft texture crust which also absorbed the coconut/fromage blanc mixture. You can serve it with some vanilla ice cream if you want, but I kept it “light”.

You can use individual deep molds or a large one, I prefer individual portions, it feel like everyone gets a whole full dessert and is a controlled portion.

Ingredients for 6

• 6 slices of brioche (or enough to cover one large dish)
• 250 ml coconut milk
• 400 g Fage Greek yogurt
• 60 g sugar
• 60 g coconut, shredded
• 1 egg
• 1 tbs golden raisins (soaked in rum)
• 6 slices pineapple (core removed)

Preparation

Cover the bottom of the molds with brioche ensuring there is no space in between each slice of brioche.

In a pan, heat coconut milk and reduce a little. Remove from heat, add fromage blanc, egg and sugar. Mix well. Add coconut flakes. Mix all ingredients to obtain a smooth texture.

Pour on top of brioche. Add pineapple slices and sprinkle with raisins.

Cook in a pre-heated oven at 370F for about 30-40 minutes, until the mixture has thickened. Remove from the oven, let it cool. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Eat at room temperature or chilled.

Quail eggs…have you ever seen something cuter? They’re very popular in France to add to any appetizer but unfortunately they are not available everywhere in the US. Whole Foods and Sigona market sell them, but those are the only grocery stores where I have seen them on the shelves. Whole Foods sell ostrich eggs for about $30 each but I bet you can feed 4 or 5 people with one of those eggs.

Those adorable quail eggs found a nest in the middle of a potato, they fit perfectly in it, they’re just waiting to be savored with a bit of salmon and fromage blanc touch. I like to use fromage blanc, instead of heavy cream or sour cream, it’s a lot lighter and does not taste sour. If you cannot find fromage blanc, you could substitute it with greek yogurt either the plain one or the 2%. Fromage blanc is a dairy French specialty which has the texture of something in between greek yogurt and sour cream. Very smooth, creamy and velvety. 

For the mixed greens you can use any leafy greens, such as spinach, collard greens, etc…

Ingredients for 4 as appetizers

• 4 medium size purple potatoes or any other potato
• 8 quail eggs
• 2 large slices of smoked sockeye salmon
• 1/2 lb mixed greens
• zest of one lemon
• juice of one lemon
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 2 tbs fromage blanc or Greek yogurt
• 1 tbs chopped chives
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 tsp rice vinegar 
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Wash the potatoes. Pat dry and cut them in half lentghwise, the largest surface should be the one cut in half so that the quail egg would fit in each hole.

Drizzle olive oil and vinegar, add salt and pepper and broil at low heat. Cook until the potatoes are tender but browned on the outside.

In the meantime, bring water to a boil, add salt and cook greens for about 10 minutes. Drain.

Wash lemon and remove zest. Cook lemon zest in boiling water for 3 minutes. Drain and pat dry. Chop in smaller pieces. 

In a mixing bowl and lemon juice (keep one tsp to add to fromage blanc), olive oil, lemon zest, garlic, salt and pepper. Mix well. Add to the cooked greens.

When potatoes are cooked, remove from the oven and break a quail egg in the middle of the hole, sprinkle with salt and pepper and place back in oven for 3 minutes. Do not overcook the eggs, the yolks need to remain liquid.

Mix fromage blanc with chives, 1 tps lemon juice, salt and pepper.

Cut salmon in strips. Place on top of eggs, and add 1/2 tsp of fromage blanc mixture.

Serve two potato halves on top of 1 tbs of greens.