A clean and healthy meal to end the week…which I have to say has been kind and sweet. I am planning my trip to France with a few healthy recipes to bring along for my parents, and especially my mom who has diabetes. My parents who have been carnivorous all their life, have started to enjoy more of a vegetarian diet in their old days, so who’s to say people’s tastes don’t change.

I like to combine lentils with some vegetables and make it a balanced dish. The lentils and carrots are not really pureed, but have some texture, which is quite pleasant. This dish is fairly simple, with a few ingredients and spices. The tahini sauce enhances the whole dish and you need to use a lot of it.

For a vegan version, don’t use yogurt, and use more water in the tahini, it tends to thicken fast.

Ingredients for 2-3

For the lentil-carrot mash

• 60 g uncooked lentils
• 1 bay leave
• 2 cloves
• 1/4 onion
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 4 carrots, peeled and diced
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tbs cilantro, chopped
• 1 handful kale, chopped (optional)
• salt and pepper

For the tahni sauce

• 2 tbs tahini
• 1 tbs water
• 3 tbs plain yogurt
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• zest of 1/2 Meyer lemon
• 2 tbs Meyer lemon juice
• salt and pepper

For the roasted squash

• 2 cups butternut squash, cubed (1 inch)
• olive oil
• soy sauce

Preparation

For the lentil-carrot mash

Cook lentils in water with bay leaf, cloves, onion until tender but not mushy. Cook carrots separately. Heat olive oil in a pan, add carrots, 2 tbs broth and simmer until cooked. Adjust with salt and pepper. When carrots and lentils are cooked, mix them together and mash with a potato masher. In a pan, heat olive oil, toast cumin seeds until fragrant. Add garlic and stir for a few min, being careful not to burn the garlic. Add lentil-carrot mixture, stir well, then add kale and cilantro. Mix well to combine all ingredients and until kale is wilted. Keep warm.

For the tahini sauce

Combine all ingredients together in a bowl and mix well. If too thick add some water.

For the roasted squash

Heat oven at 400F. Place squash in a baking dish and sprinkle with olive oil, soy sauce, adjust with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven until all sides are golden brown but still firm.

Serve with lentil-carrot mash, squash and lots of tahini sauce, at least five times more of what you see on the picture!

]]> http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2015/10/lentils-and-carrot-mash-with-roasted-butternut-squash-and-tahini-sauce/feed/ 0 http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2015/10/its-eatable-saute-beet-leaves-with-cumin-garlic-and-raisins/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=its-eatable-saute-beet-leaves-with-cumin-garlic-and-raisins http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2015/10/its-eatable-saute-beet-leaves-with-cumin-garlic-and-raisins/#comments Fri, 02 Oct 2015 20:02:47 +0000 silvia http://www.citronetvanille.com/blog/?p=17298 Ça se mange – Fanes de betteraves sautées au cumin, ail et raisins secs

This morning I went shopping and I had beets on the menu…as usual this store (which I am not going to mention) never has what I need, some days there are no leeks, no scallions or no basmati rice, or no won ton wrappers, etc…so I have to somehow contain my frustration.

This morning was not that bad, I was looking for lose beets, and I could only find beets by the bunch with the leaves on. The good thing about this, is that you can use the leaves. So if you happen to buy beets with their leaves and stems on, do not throw them away. You can use them like you would use spinach, kale, or any other greens.

I remove the stems that were a bit hard and only kept the leaves.

In this recipe, I added a few spices to enhance the whole dish. It’s a fragrant way to cook greens and it was just what I was in the mood for. You can eat this as a side dish, I ate it with some marinated sardines and it made my day…if you try it, it might make yours too!

 Ingredients for 2

• 3 bunches of beet greens, roughly chopped
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• 1 tbs raisins (soaked in water for 10 min)
• salt and pepper

 Preparation

Heat olive oil in a large pot and brown cumin seeds until fragrant. Add garlic and turmeric and stir a low heat until fragrant (you don’t want to burn the turmeric, it will be bitter). Add greens and cook until wilted. Adjust with salt and pepper and add raisins. Drizzle with olive oil and eat hot or warm.

This recipe is neither French nor Italian but Middle Eastern. I first tasted molokhia when I lived in London at a Palestinian lady’s house. My good friend Stephanie and I wanted to learn English so in our 20′s we went to live in London (which needless to say was a long time ago!!). We rented two rooms at this wonderful lady’s house who was a writer mostly focusing on women condition in Islamic countries. That was the first time I ever tasted or heard about molokhia. She treated us with chicken molokhia once in a while which was a feast for us. Molokhia is basically the leaves of jute, a green leafy vegetable, a little bitter. Its texture is a little slimy like okra, so if you like okra, you’ll like molokhia.

Then we went back to France, time went by and living in a small town in France, molokhia was nowhere to be found in the markets in France. Not that long ago (about 20 years later), strolling down the frozen section of a middle eastern store in San Francisco, I found frozen molokhia. I could not believe it! Here I am with three bags of frozen molokhia, and no idea on how to prepare it.

After some intense searching, I found various recipes for molokhia, one of which is a Tunisian version and is made out of dry leaves and prepared with lamb and like a thick stew consistency. The one I tasted 20 years ago was made out of fresh leaves, with chicken and with a consistency of a soup and eaten as a soup. I found a recipe from Cairo similar to what I was used to, so Inspired myself from this recipe – It is usually served with rice but I was in the mood for quinoa, and it just works as well.

 Preparation for 2

• Fish broth
• 2 small tomatoes, peel, seeds removed, and diced
• 2 tbs chopped onion
• 1 bag frozen molokhia
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin powder
• 1 jalapeno pepper, diced
• 3 tbs cilantro, chopped
• 8 garlic cloves, crushed
• 3 tbs olive oil
• 8 shrimps, peeled and deveined
• salt and pepper
• juice of 1/2 lemon

Preparation

In a medium pot, heat fish stock, then add frozen molokhia, tomatoes, onions, cumin powder, coriander powder, salt and pepper. Cook for about 20 minutes. Add cilantro. In a pan, add olive oil and garlic and cook until fragrant but don’t burn the garlic. Add to the molokhia pot and cook for a few minutes. In the meantime, saute shrimps and keep warm. Add lemon to molokhia, stir well and serve molokhia with shrimps and rice or quinoa.

I was reading an article on cauliflower on a French magazine, and I thought I would like to try roasting it whole. What a wonderful idea to slowly cook a whole cauliflower in the oven, rubbed with herbs and spices. For those who love vegetables and who watch their calories intake, this is a perfect meal.

You can serve this cauliflower with various side dishes who will enhance the whole meal. I love mixing cauliflower and bell peppers, probably a childhood combination that my mom used to do.

The cauliflower remains firm yet soft, I like firm vegetables. If you like them more cooked, then you have to leave the cauliflower in the oven longer, or boil it for 5-10 min prior to baking it. In addition to the pepper salsa, I served it with some yogurt sauce, that’s optional. I love yogurt sauce in general with spicy dishes.

I loved it so much that I ate a whole cauliflower by myself. Talking about moderation…I know, that is a bit exaggerated but as we say in French “quand on aime, on ne compte pas“, when we love, we don’t count. Se here we go…

Ingredients

For the cauliflower

•  1 whole cauliflower
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• 1/4 tsp ground cumin

For the bell pepper salsa

• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1 tbs olive oil
• juice of one meyer lemon
• 1 tsp chives, chopped
• salt and pepper

For the yogurt sauce

• 5 tbs plain Greek yogurt
• 1.5 tsp mixed herbs (parsley, cilantro, tarragon, etc…)
•  1 tsp lemon juice
• salt and pepper

Preparation

First roast the peppers in the oven. Place under broiler and cook until the skin gets burnt. Turn around peppers until the whole peppers are roasted. Remove from the oven and let them cool. Remove skin and seeds. Cut peppers in small cubes. Mix all ingredients together and set aside.
Wash cauliflower and dry well with a towel. Mix together all other ingredients in a bowl and rub cauliflower with it. Let it sit for about an hour.

Preheat oven at 375F and bake cauliflower for about one hour. Check after 45 min with a knife to see if it’s cooked or still hard and add more cooking time according to how you’d like to eat the cauliflower.

For the yogurt sauce, mix all ingredients together in a bowl.

Cut cauliflower in portions, like you would cut a cake. Serve with side dishes.

I don’t know you, but a good meal,”me met de bonne humeur“! It totally makes me happy, and lifts up my mood…since Mr. F is traveling to Europe for a couple of weeks, I am taking this time off to treat myself with meals I love, just like this one. I love to eat a whole fish, and remove the bones, each bite has a very distinct flavor. To be honest, I don’t particularly enjoy looking at the dead animal on my plate looking at me with his round eye not so fresh anymore, so I try not to focus too much on this part in order not to spoil the whole process of enjoyment.

So let’s go back to this delicious branzino, it’s a very delicate fish mainly found in the Mediterranean basin or in the Atlantic. It’s called branzino in the Adriatic sea and Liguria (in English, they say branzini, the “i” makes it plural in Italian). In the other parts of Italy it’s called spigola. Branzino is light and can be prepared in so many different ways (roasted, steamed, papillote, grilled, etc…) without losing it’s flavor, so it’s quite a wonderful fish.

Ingredients for 2

• 2 whole branzini, cleaned
• 6 tbs panko breadcrumbs
• 2 crushed garlic cloves
• 2 tbs kalamata olives, chopped
• 1.5 tbs mixed herbs (parsley, chives, tarragon, etc…), chopped
• zest of one lemon
• 1.5 tbs pine nuts, toasted
• 2 tbs olive oil, or enough to coat the crumbs
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 red onion sliced
• 4 tomatoes, quartered
• lemon oil

Preparation

In a mixing bowl mix breadcrumbs, olives, lemon zest, herbs, garlic, pine nuts, oil, salt and pepper. Mix well and stuff each branzino with this stuffing. Using two tooth picks close branzino sides to keep the stuffing in place. Sprinkle each branzino with oil, salt and pepper. Place in a sheet and broil at high temperature until slightly browned and side cooked. Carefully, without breaking the fish, turn it on the other side, and let it brown. Remove from oven, and serve in a plate. Place some quartered tomatoes and red onions around the fish, add tarragon leaves, sprinkle with lemon oil, salt and pepper and eat warm

Bottarga is called mullet roe in English or boutargue in French and is popular in some Mediterranean countries. It is basically the eggs of the mullet fish that have been salted and dried, then preserved in wax. I think in Italy, Sardinia is the place where it is consumed the most, I have never seen it in Central Italy. I know that it’s eaten in Tunisia, so maybe the arabs brought it over to Sardinia. You can slice it, and eat it with bread, or like in Sardinia, grate it and sprinkle it over pasta.

It took me a while to find bottarga in the US but some Italian Specialty store carry it, well it’s not very cheap but it’s worth it. When I think about bottarga, I think about Sardinia, and I think about my Sardinian friend Mauro, who moved to London and whom I miss.

The first time I made spaghetti alla bottarga, I had no clue what to expect because I never tasted them before, so I didn’t know how they were supposed to taste…one sure thing, I added too much garlic, so the subtle flavor of bottarga was overpowered by the garlic. Then I decided to go to La Ciccia, a Sardinian restaurant in San Francisco and order a plate of spaghetti alla bottarga, to get an idea of the “right” thing. It was truly delicious since I had a small piece left, and decided to try and reproduce them, and this was quite close. The hardest thing here is to find bottarga, then the rest is amazingly quick and simple. One thing, do not cook bottarga, it will lose it’s flavor and texture, add it at the end in the pan when you add the spaghetti.

Ingredients for 2

1. 2 garlic cloves, peeled and cut in half
2. 3 tbs olive oil
3. 2 tbs parsley, finely chopped
4. zest of 1 meyer lemon
5. 120 g bottarga, finely grated
6. 200 g spaghetti
7. chili flakes
8. pepper

Preparation

First start by grating the bottarga very finely.

Bring salted water to boil, then add spaghetti. Cook until al dente. Keep some cooking water to add to the pan.

In a pan, heat olive oil and add garlic. Cook for a few minutes to flavor the oil, then remove from pan. Add parsley, lemon zest and chili flakes. Add spaghetti, some bottarga (leave some for the end) and some extra cooking water. Mix well, then sprinkle with the rest of the bottarga. Serve hot.

]]> http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2012/11/simply-delicious-spaghetti-with-bottarga/feed/ 1 http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2012/05/mes-petits-choux-prosciutto-wrapped-brussels-sprouts-on-mache-salad-and-roasted-pepper-vinaigrette/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=mes-petits-choux-prosciutto-wrapped-brussels-sprouts-on-mache-salad-and-roasted-pepper-vinaigrette http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2012/05/mes-petits-choux-prosciutto-wrapped-brussels-sprouts-on-mache-salad-and-roasted-pepper-vinaigrette/#comments Wed, 16 May 2012 02:40:15 +0000 silvia http://www.citronetvanille.com/blog/?p=14294 Mon petit chou – Choux de Bruxelles enrobés de prosciutto sur lit de mâche et vinaigrette de poivrons grillés

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.

 After a few recipes mixing shrimps and cannellini beans, or shrimps and fava beans, let’s have fun with chick peas, I think they’re closer to a bean than a pea, called pois chiche in French but it seems like it’s closer to a pea than a bean nonetheless so delicious in any form, salads, soups, stews, purees, and anything else.

I am getting a guest tomorrow for two weeks, she is coming from Paris and is 13 years old. I heard the pretty girl is picky, so I will have to figure out some “teenager friendly” menus during her stay. Not sure what it is, but I am quite certain it has to do with potatoes and pasta. I don’t remember what I ate during my teens years, my mom cooked a large variety of dishes, but at 13, honestly I don’t remember what I loved to eat. All I remember is that I was a little chubby, did not like it and I always wanted to hide.

This purée could resemble hummus, but actually, there is no tahini in it, and is thinner and creamier and is really more like a purée than anything else. It was like eating velvet, absolutely delightful.

This purée will go perfectly well with grilled fish too, and much more delicate than a potato purée. Actually, I don’t like any type of potato purée served with fish, and it seems like many restaurants are going that route. As for the skewer, the rosemary branch adds such a fragrant and unique touch to the dish. A consommer sans moderation! (to be consumed without moderation). I will certainly file this in my “to do it again and again” list of appetizers.

Ingredients for 4 people

For the purée

• 450 g cooked chick peas or canned one
• 1 garlic glove
• cayenne pepper
• 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/4 tsp powder cumin
• 1 tbs lemon juice
•  salt and pepper
•  1 tbs extra virgin olive oil

For the shrimps

• 20 large shrimps, de-shelled and deveined
• 1 tbs fresh rosemary, chopped
• 4 branches rosemary
• 1 tbs orange juice
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbs olive oil
• lemon oil
• sea weed salt or regular salt

Preparation

Drain chick peas and keep some of the cooking liquid. Mix chick peas in a mixer to obtain a smooth texture. Adjust with water to make the paste a little thinner. Add all other ingredients and set aside.

Marinate shrimps with olive oil, orange juice, balsamic vinegar, some of the rosemary, salt and pepper for about one hour.

Remove shrimps from marinade. Place 5 shrimps in one rosemary branch and grill on a skillet or grill pan.

Spoon 2-3 tbs of puree in a plate, place 1 skewer on top and drizzle with lemon oil and chopped rosemary.

Sur le pouce, is literally translated by “on the thumb”, je mange sur le pouce, or I eat on the thumb, which means eating fast. It originated in the XIX century when workers didn’t have time to eat, they cut a piece of bread with a knife, and eating it using their thumbs.

Today two things made me happy and brightened up my day, this quick lunch sur le pouce (even though I used a fork!) and my new lamp (created by Shmulik Krampf, an extremely talented Israeli Artist who blows glass they way they do it in Murano, Italy). What do my lamp and this meal have in common? well they’re both colorful, vibrant and make me feel alive.

Sometimes when I come back from the gym, I don’t have time to cook for myself, so I eat snacks…and today I decided to not eat snacks and indulge myself…but still having a limited time, I had to make something quick. It all took me 20 minutes, which I think it’s almost like fast food.

Why do we call this mimosa? Mimosa refers to devil eggs, we call them “oeufs mimosa“, so here since we have boiled eggs, we can call them mimosa. I am not sure if “we” can, but I do.

Asparagus can be used if you don’t have green beans, it’s as delicious, and you can use scallops instead of the shrimps. Garlic, herb, butter those ingredients are a perfect match with seafood.

Ingredients for 2

For the green beans

• 250 g fine green beans
• 2 eggs, hard boiled and grated
• 2 tbs capers, rinced and chopped
• 1 scallion, chopped
• 1/2 tomato, seeds removed, and diced
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• salt and pepper

For the shrimps tartine (3 toasts each)

• 18 shrimps, peeled and deveined
• 1/4 ts paprika
• 1 garlic clove, sliced
• 1 tsp dill, chopped
• 1 tsp parsley, chopped
• 1 tsp butter
• 6 slices baguettes, or country bread, toasted
• salt and pepper

Preparation

For the green beans

Bring a large pot to a boil with water. Cook grean beans for about 5-7 minutes until tender but still a little crunchy. Drain, and place in a container filled with iced water. Set aside.

Prepare the vinaigrette, mixing the capers, scallion, oil, vinegar, salt and pepper.

Drain green beans, place on a plate. Add grated eggs, tomatoes, then pour vinaigrette on top.

For the shrimps tartines

Add paprika to the shrimps, and coat well. Add salt and pepper.

Mix butter, garlic and herbs with a fork and form an homogenous paste. In a pan melt butter/herbs slowly, then add shrimps. Cook at medium temperature until the shrimps are cooked but still juicy.

Toast bread slices. Place three shrimps on top of each tartine, and pour some butter/garlic mixture on top.

Serve with green bean salad on the side.

Crushing these gorgeous baby artichokes into a pesto broke my heart. I have always wanted to make artichoke pesto but never really managed to turn the artichokes into a paste. They’re so cute and delicious as hearts that really putting them through a mixer, is something I hate to do. Today, I got the courage to do it. Here, we got something different and quite delicious. Honestly, I am not sure I will have the courage to to this again. I simply love to bite into an artichoke heart, I love the crunchy bite, it’s that simple. You could use this pesto on pasta of course, or as a sauce for grilled meats…or even to spread it on some country bread.

When you’re eating spaghetti squash prepared this way, you almost forgot, it’s not pasta. I undercooked the squash to get a crunchy bite, to get the “al dente” feeling. I loved this pesto. Now for the vegan crowd, you can omit the parmesan and add more walnuts. I use very little parmesan to enhance this pesto a tiny bit. You don’t want to add too much cheese either and overpower the natural delicious flavor of the artichokes.

This pesto tends to be lighter than regular basil/pine nuts pesto, its texture is more dense too, so I added a few tablespoons of water to make it creamier.

I am flying tomorrow for France, to go see my father who had a stroke last December, so I will try to post a few local recipes, in the meantime, have a nice and colorful June.

Ingredients for 2 as a main course

• 1 large spaghetti squash
• 1 lb artichokes, trimmed and cleaned
• 1/2 cup parsley
• 1/2 cup basil
• 2 tbs raw unsalted walnuts
• 1 garlic clove, crushed + 1 chopped
• 2 tbs parmesan (optional)
• 3 tbs olive oil
• water
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Cut the squash lengthwise, wrap in parchment paper and cook in a pre-heated oven at 400F for about 45 minutes to an hour.

Remove seeds first, then the spaghetti pulp. Set aside and keep warm. Save eight artichokes quarters for decoration

Heat up a pan, add the crushed garlic, stir and add baby artichokes cut in quarters. Adjust with salt and pepper, add 2 tbs white wine, and cover, decrease heat and let cook until tender. Let it cool.

For the pesto, mix  artichokes with all other ingredients a mixer. Adjust with water if the pesto is too thick.

Add pesto to the spaghetti squash and mix well using your hands, to coat the squash with the pesto. Serve with an extra tablespoon of pesto on top and four artichokes quarters on each plate.