This is probably my last post before I fly to France, next week. I have to fly for family reasons and looking forward to it. June in France is my favorite month, the days are long and it’s still light until 10 pm. Since my mom will be in the hospital, I will have to cook for my father and I am trying to find some exciting recipes for him to enjoy. I think this one will be one among others. The difference is that I will be using “Moules de Bouchot” instead of American mussels.

In France, moules de bouchot are grown in Brittany and Normandy, they’re considered to be the best of all mussels. They’re small but with a very flavorful and delicate meat. These mussels are grown in on a wooden pole in the ocean and in a way to keep predators away. If you speak French here is some interesting information on how they are farmed.

The mussels I used were bigger than moules de bouchot nonetheless very tasty. Leeks and fish or seafood are wonderful combined together, so in this recipe it’s all enhanced by a spicy curry sauce. The curry flavor is not too strong since it’s infused with the cream and gives this gratin a little exotic touch without empowering it.

The world of gratin is infinite, so you could of course, substitute mussels with white fish or even scallops, it’s all up to your imagination and to your taste buds.

Ingredients for 2

• 1 shallot, chopped
• 2 leeks, chopped
• about 20 mussels (depending on the size)
• 1 tbs mild curry powder
• 4 tbs heavy cream
• salt and pepper

For the topping

• 5 tbs panko breadcrumbs
• 2 scallions, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 tbs parsley, chopped
• 1 tbs cilantro, chopped
• 3 tbs olive oil
• chili powder (to taste)
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Steam mussels in a large pot, when they open, remove from shell and keep the juice. Remove the mussel meat from the shells and set aside.

Prepare topping mixing all ingredients together in a mixing container.

Heat olive oil in a pan, add shallot and let it sweat, add the leeks, salt and pepper and let ccok for about 10 minutes on medium heat. Add mussel juice and let reduce. Add curry powder, mix well, then add mussels and cream. Let the cream reduce slightly then divide in two recipients.

Add one layer of the topping. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 375F for about 20 minutes, until the crust turns golden.

Serve hot with a mâche salad.

I forgot how DMV can be a nightmare, waiting for your number 389 when the current number is 210 can be the story of an afternoon. So people bring balls to play with, and all kinds of entertainment to spend three to four hours.  I somehow like to observe people, it’s certainly more interesting to observe people sur la terrasse d’un café, in a cafe terrace with a coffee in your hands, so when your hands are holding nothing more than a number, patience becomes a virtue and people looking becomes one too.

I had prepared this gratin in advance so it just needed to be gratiné when I got home and that’s the beauty of gratins, you can prepare them in advance and throw them in the oven when ready to be served.

I have used goat milk in soufflés and in the béchamel when preparing gratins that turned out lighter with a more delicate touch than with cow milk, and partly due to the fact that goat milk is lighter to digest than regular milk. You can slightly taste to goat milk which is not as strong as in cheeses. Basically you can replace goat milk in many dishes using cow milk. Gratins are very common in France and can be made with any vegetable.

Gratin can be considered a plat unique (a one meal dish), and universally appreciated, it’s certainly a meal in itself with a side salad. If you feel like something hot with a golden crust, stop thinking, this is it. Some people are fighting to eat the crispy crust while others are fighting to get to the soft melting middle. What type of gratin eater are you? I am definitely a crust lover, but would not mistreat the middle either. No matter how you eat it, gratins always evoke a comforting and warm cuisine that everyone loves.

I would use premium gruyère cheese that melts well and leaves a nice golden crust the quality of the cheese is important and will make a great difference in the texture of your gratin. Also, you could add a little goat cheese as well instead of adding gruyère in the mixture but gruyère on top is a must if you want a golden and melting crust.

Ingredients for 2-3

• 1 medium cauliflower, broken into florets
• 1 leek, cut in 1 inch chunks
• 1 shallot, chopped
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 3 tbs butter
• 1.5 tbs flour
• 1.5 cup goat milk
• 5 tbs imported Gruyère cheese
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Heat olive oil in a pan, add shallots and brown them. Add leeks, adjust with salt and pepper and cover with lid until leeks are tender.

Cook cauliflower in salted boiling water until cooked but still firm. Drain and set aside.

Start preparing the béchamel by melting butter, then adding flour. Stir well. Add milk, salt and pepper and reduce temperature to medium heat. Keep stirring until the mixture starts thickening. Cook for a few minutes until it has reached a nice consistency, but should not be too thick.

Using individual ramequins or one larger dish, add one layer of leeks, then add one layer of cauliflower and end with another layer of leeks. Sprinkle with 1 tbs gruyère cheese (or goat cheese for each ramequin) and pour béchamel. Try to coat your vegetables with cheese and bechamel by mixing the vegetables carefully. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese, grind fresh pepper and cook in a pre-heated oven at 370F for about 30 minutes or until the gratin has reached a golden brown color.

There is the traditional gratin Dauphinois (from the Dauphiné region) where the potatoes are cooked in milk, then placed in the oven with butter (NO cheese) the real gratin Dauphinois has no cheese! Even though most people add cheese, the purists will scream and pull their hair when hearing a gratin Dauphinois recipe with cheese, then you have to remove the “dauphinois” in front of the “gratin” to be accurate. I tend to be lenient as far as cuisine is concerned but I really don’t like to give a inaccurate name to a recipe. It’s like people calling me Cynthia instead of Silvia (which they often do).

Then you have less traditional gratins like this one, very delicious but with Roquefort cheese and other additions of vegetables such as mushrooms, etc… This is a one meal dish and perfect with a green salad but I would not call it a light dish due to the potato-cheese content. It should probably be listed on the category “comfort food” to use the American terminology, even though I don’t like the idea that food can be comforting, I would prefer to use the word “simple” instead. I would call a friend “comforting” but not food. Eating too much heavy food, does not leave me comforted, rather the opposite.

You need to slice the potatoes very thin with a mandoline otherwise it takes a little too long to cook them especially if you are using a large dish instead of small individual ramequins. You could also avoid the pre-cooking process of the potatoes, then the cooking time needs to be increased at low temperature. When pre-cooking the potatoes in milk, make sure not to overcook them, and you need a kind that will remain firm, otherwise the potatoes will break and become mushy.

Ingredients for 4

• 2 large potatoes OR 14.10 oz (400 g) of potatoes, sliced thin
• 2 zucchini, sliced thin
• 4 tbs Roquefort cheese, crumbled
• 2 tbs crème fraîche
• 2 tbs Greek yogurt
• about 2 cups milk
• thyme
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Add potatoes in a pot and pour enough milk to cover the potatoes, let cook for about 5 minutes but still need to be firm. Add zucchini and cook for another 3 minutes. Remove from stove and drain. Place potatoes/zucchini in a deep dish and add salt and pepper.

In a bowl combine Roquefort cheese, yogurt and cream, thyme. Adjust with salt and pepper. Roquefort is somehow salty, taste the mixture before add extra salt.

In ramequins place some potatoes/zucchini, then add 1 tbs of Roquefort/cream mixture, proceed with another layer of potatoes and top with Roquefort mixture.

Cook in a pre-heated oven at 375F for about 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and potatoes cooked all the way through.

I wanted to give a little “hommage” to this wonderful vegetable that seems to be unknown or almost unknown. Anytime I get to the cash register, either the cashier or the person in line behind me asks me about what those are, and how to cook them. This morning when I was asked “how do you eat them”? I responded “oh I cook them”, then I realized that was not the right answer.

When winter comes, I get so excited because I find them in the store, (not sure why they’re only available in California in this time of year, in France and Italy they’re mainly available during spring time because in winter they tend to freeze if the temperatures are too low) as a matter of fact, that excitement was so high that I bought three of them yesterday and went back again today to buy two more! not a good idea since they are using all the bottom shelf of my refrigerator.

Cardoni are very special to me, they remind me of my childhood and my grandfather who was the gardener in the family. He planted those in our garden and would always come home to distribute those beautiful vegetables for to the whole family. They’re mainly eaten in Italy, many French people don’t know what it is, or maybe in the South of France, they’re more popular.

They look like a huge celeri but taste like artichokes, and are from the artichoke family. They have a very small calories per serving, are high in fibers and taste deliciously “artichoky”.

My mom called them gobbi (which is the other Italian name), she used to prepare them with chunks of beef in umido along with potatoes. Umido is a cooking method that consists of cooking food at a very low temperature while adding some liquid to the dish. She used to put some tomato sauce and that was one of my favorite dish because of all the bread you could dip in the sauce. You can prepare them in a gratin style, or sauté or even with breadcrumbs, garlic, parsley and baked, or any way you like.

This is a quite simple recipe but very flavorful and light, just a few ingredients are enough for cardoni.

Ingredients for 2 or 3

• 1 large cardoni
• 3 large ripe tomatoes, peeled and seedless
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 1/2 kalamata olives, chopped
• 3 tbs parmigiano reggiano, grated
• salt and pepper
• 1 tbs olive oil

Preparation

Detach from the heart each cardoni stem. Wash them and remove the leafy edges from top to bottom, like if you would peel them. Cut in about 2 inches chunks.

Bring a large salted pot of water to a boil, then add cardoni. Cook until they’re tender but not too soft. Drain and set aside

In the meantime and while cardoni are cooking, prepare the tomato fondue. In a pan, heat olive oil, add crushed garlic, stir for a while to get the flavor out, then add tomatoes, salt and pepper. Cook at medium heat until the tomatoes start to become soft but not mushy. Add olives.

Place cardoni in a baking tray, add tomato fondue and sprinkle with parmesan.

Cook in a pre-heated oven at about 360F-370F for about 20-30 minutes or until the top has turned golden brown.

Sprinkle with parsley and serve as a side dish or as a main vegetable dish.