It’s the season for those gorgeous keitt mangoes, so nothing better that using seasonal fruits. They only last for a couple of months so don’t miss on that. You will recognize them because they’re very large, and whose skin remains green even when ripe. They’re so large that I used one for this dessert. I made some mango vinegar and wanted to experiment its use in different preparations. This turned out really well. The warm and soft mango is topped with mango coulis and diced mango with Poivre la Luna.

Poivre La Luna is a pepper from Madagascar with a vanilla and cocoa aroma that a friend of mine brought me from France. It’s a mild pepper but very aromatic that you can use on fruits, and seafood. I was reading about it and apparently it’s unknown to chefs in America, whereas chefs in France refuse to use something else. I guess, it’s worth a try. Madagascar was a French colony, so we got a lot of their wonderful products exported to France.

This can be a snack, a treat, a dessert or whatever suits you. It was my dinner one of those nights, and perfect for when you need something light yet delicious. You can substitute Greek yogurt with vanilla whipped cream, to make it more like a dessert and less of a snack.

For the mango papillote

• 1/2 keitt mango sliced
• coconut sugar (to taste)
• vanilla bean powder
• 1 tbs pistachios, toasted
• Greek yogurt or whipped cream

For the mango coulis

• 1/3 mango
• 1 tsp mango vinegar (optional)
• sugar of your choice to taste (stevia, coconut sugar, etc…)
• 1/2 tsp orange blossom water

For the mango salad

• 1/4 (about 2 tbs) finely diced mango
• 1 tsp lime juice
• 1/2 tsp coconut sugar
• 1/2 tsp Poivre la Luna

Preparation

For the papillote

Pre heat oven at 380F. Using parchment paper, cut a circle of about 25 cm diameter. Place cut mango on one half of the circle. Add coconut sugar and vanilla bean powder. Fold the other half of the circle on top of the mangoes and start sealing the border all around.

Place in the oven and cook for about 15-20 min. Remove from oven and let it cool a bit.

For the mango coulis

Place mango and sugar in a blender and mix until smooth. Add mango vinegar and orange blossom water and mix well.

For the mango salad

Mix mango and lime juice and place in the refrigerator until ready to use. Add Poivre la Luna at the end, when ready to serve.

When the papillote is ready, remove from oven. Cut the top part with scissors to open it. Let it cool a little.  Add mango coulis, then add a spoon of yogurt and top it with mango salad and pistachios.

I had a lot of fun this weekend, playing in my kitchen. I love to spend time trying out new recipes and exploring new ideas. Unfortunately it does not happen as often as I’d like due to lack of time, and trying to accommodate everyone in the house.

Here is one way to prepare quinoa as a dessert, a little change from the savory preparations. You could eat this for breakfast as well, or anytime, you have a little sweet craving, but do not want to add up the calories. It’s a light dessert with lots of flavors, and the combination of the coconut and rum gives it an exotic flair, it brings me back to the island vacations, with the sun and the beach.

You don’t need to use a lot of quinoa in each mold, since it expands and absorbs liquid, a few tbs are enough. I found in my kitchen cabinet a baking emulsion I had bought a while ago at Chef Warehouse. It’s basically some strong coconut extract bakers use in their pastries, I thought to add some additional coconut flavor, and it enhanced the flavor to 60%, so if you can find this type of emulsion, it’s worth buying it, you could use it in any sweet preparation you use coconut.

Ingredients for 4 flans

For the flans

• 110 g cooked quinoa
• 3 eggs
• coconut sugar to your taste
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1/2 tsp coconut emulsion

For the mango salad

• 1 mango not too ripe, diced finely
• 1 tbs brown rum
• 1 tbs mint
• coconut sugar or stevia (or any sugar of your choice) to taste

Preparation

For the flans

Beat eggs and coconut sugar with an egg beater, beat for 5-10 minutes until obtained a smooth texture. Add the rest of the ingredients, and keep beating.

Pre heat oven at 365F. Divide quinoa in the four molds and pour coconut-egg mixture. Sprinkle with shredded coconut and bake in the oven for about 30-40 minutes. When the flans are cooked, remove from molds and let them cool. You can eat them lukewarm or cold. Serve with mango salad on the side.

For the mango salad

Mix all ingredients together and serve with flans

One recipe adapted from “La Bonne Cuisine Végétarienne de Babette” with a creole inspiration. Who doesn’t like rum, vanilla and orange juice? I have never really cooked plantains before, maybe once or twice in a savory dish, but I never really got much inspired by it. In my mind, a plantain is just like a banana, a fruit, therefore more suited in a dessert type of dish.

Needless to say I loved this dessert, any fruit based desserts are my favorites. In the original recipe, there is a cinnamon stick, I didn’t add it since I am not a huge fan of cinnamon. I think usually cinnamon over powers the natural flavor of the fruit, but that’s just a personal preference. I changed the quantities a bit by adding less sugar, but you can play with that too. The great thing about this recipe, is that it’s quick to prepare, yet delicious, so definitely a winner.

I would serve this with a scoop of coconut ice cream (in the original recipe, they suggest some lime sorbet). I found some really good coconut ice cream a while ago, with candied ginger, that was incredibly good, but they stopped selling it, so I need to find a replacement for that. I found it strange that anytime I love something, they stop selling it or producing it. As we say in French, les bonnes choses ont une fin, good things have an end, so let’s enjoy them while we can!

Ingredients for 2 or 3

• 1.5 tbs sugar
• 1 ripe plantain, diced
• 1 ripe mango, diced
• 1 vanilla bean, cut in half and bean scraped
• 1 cinnamon stick (optional)
• 3 tbs rum
• juice of 2 oranges
• zest of one lemon
• Coconut ice cream (optional)

Preparation

Melt sugar in a pan to obtain a caramel (not too dark). Add mango and plantain, let cook for a few minutes, then add vanilla beans. and the scraped pod. Stir and cook for a few additional minutes. Add orange juice, rum and lemon zest and let cook for about ten more minutes.

Serve warm with a scoop of coconut ice cream

Here is a refreshing pudding for the summer, filled with fruits and exotic flavors. My lovely neighbor Rui gave me this mango pudding a couple of months ago and I fell in love with it. This is an Asian dessert, served in many Chinese or Indonesian restaurants. It’s usually topped with condensed milk. Of course, there are many recipes, some of them use condensed milk, some others coconut milk, some add mango pieces inside the pudding…so there are a lot of variations to this dessert. The last time I had one of those mango puddings was at a Chinese restaurant, and it was topped with condensed milk. What a delight!

This pudding is creamy in the inside, so if you like it more gelatinous and hard, add more agar-agar (or gelatin). Instead of condensed milk I poured coconut milk that I sweetened with a tiny touch of sugar. So for those who like coconut, please try it, it’s such a wonderful combination. I ran into so many people who don’t like coconut lately, how is that possible? I thought coconut was like chocolate, one of those things that is universally loved. I was wrong.

If you want to make this dessert vegan, instead of condensed milk, use coconut milk and agar agar instead of gelatin, it will work perfectly fine.

I am due for my bi-yearly trip to France visiting my parents. I will try to post something before I leave on June 8, if not then I will post new recipes while I am there. I am so excited to get all the new summer fruits, and hopefully get lots of fruity recipes.

Ingredients for 6-7

• 2 large and well ripe mangoes, peeled and cut in pieces
• 1 2/3 cups evaporated milk
• 3 packs of gelatin powder (or the equivalent of agar agar) dissolved in water
• 1/3 cups agave nectar
• 1 cup coconut milk (for topping) + sugar to taste
• 1 cup fresh raspberries

Preparation

Puree mangoes with a condensed blender and place in a large container. Mix condensed milk with agave nectar, and heat it up but do not boil. Dissolve gelatin powder in 4 tbs warm water. Add gelatin to the milk mixture. Mix well. Pour milk into the mango recipient. Mix well. If you want to add fresh mango pieces, add them at this stage.

Divide the mango mixture to small glass containers. Place in the refrigerator overnight.

Un-mold pudding in plates, pour some sweetened coconut milk on top, and decorate with fresh raspberries.

I am not sure this can be called pudding, but a friend of mine came for dinner some time ago and I served her this as a dessert, and she said with enthusiasm “Oh Silvia! j’adore ton pudding!!”, so I figured she must knew what she was talking about and decided to call this a pudding. Is it a pudding, technically speaking? I don’t know.

I am not really a sweet tooth (I’m sure you are doubting this statement due to the quantities of desserts I made lately) but I do enjoy fruit based desserts like this one…and do take great pleasure to make them maybe even a little bit more so than eating them. The great thing is that I have the sweetest, kindest, and most adorable neighbors anyone can dream of, who happen to have a passion for desserts and sweets, so that is the perfect world. I bake, they eat. Everyone is happy. Actually I haven’t baked too often recently, but I promised them I will. I am always delighted to please anyone and more so someone I really appreciate, like my neighbors.

Those are small bites, so you can serve about two or three each, they’re light and always a pleasure to have a after a heavy meal. I think no matter how heavy a meal is, something sweet needs to be served, even if it’s fruit. We have a saying in French” Il faut toujours laisser une petite place pour le dessert” (you always need to leave a small space for dessert) but I know, the size of the space depends on the sweetness of your tooth!

I had a lot of mangoes and a whole coconut that needed to be used, but this dessert works with other fruits as well, like pineapple, peaches, and pears too! Any fruit can be combined to coconut which to me is like a magic ingredient. If you don’t have a whole fresh coconut, the dried one works fine. I also made brioche again, so instead of just eating it for breakfast, I used it in the pudding. Try a pudding with brioche instead of the bread, the texture is softer, and I just love the idea that I am biting in a slice of brioche instead of bread. Muffin silicon molds would be perfect for those bites

So if you don’t live on the Islands like me, but feel like taking a trip there, you can start with this dessert, the coconut and mango will definitely give you that feeling.

Ingredients for 6 mini puddings

• 2 eggs
• 3 tbs sugar
• 7 tbs coconut milk
• 2 oz milk
• 3 tbs shredded coconut(fresh or dried)
• 1 tbs rum
• 3 slices brioche
• 1/2 mango, peeled and cut in small slices
• 5.20 oz (or 150 g) sugar for the caramel

Preparation

In a mixing container, mix eggs, sugar, coconut milk, milk, shredded coconut (or coconut flakes), rum.

Cut brioche slices in rings about 1 cm thick and the size of your mold.

Start making caramel. Let sugar melt in a pan at medium heat and let it brown to desired color (do not burn, the caramel will be dark and bitter).

Divide the caramel in the molds, add mango slices, then brioche and pour egg mixture. Fill to the top of the mold.

Cook in a pre-heated oven at 375F until the top of the brioche is golden brown (about 20 minutes)

Remove from the oven, let them cool. Flip puddings over (with the mango slices on top) and serve at room temperature with vanilla or caramel ice cream.

I adore filo dough but never use it. Do you believe it? I can drool over appetizers and desserts made with filo dough but when it’s time to buy it, I always forget or buy something else. So people would say, then you just don’t adore it. It’s like saying I adore this friend but I never call her, then you don’t love her that much. In French we use the word adore quite often and is not as strong as its equivalent in English. It’s used as Americans would use “I love”. J’adore la nutella!!

It’s a shame not to use filo dough more often because it’s lighter than its cousin “Puff Pastry”. It has a very delicate crispy texture, and makes beautiful sweet and savory dishes. One sheet has 30 calories and I used about one sheet per crisp if you want to keep completely light, you can just omit the mascarpone cream, but I would not recommend it, it completes the crisp to perfection.

The particularity of this filo dough is that it’s wholewheat, so basically, you’ll get a light dessert, extremely tasty, warm and crispy that will satisfy any sweet cravings. My other “secret” ingredient is vanilla powder, which I adore, oui j’adore la poudre de vanille!!!! I almost use it in all my desserts. It’s vanilla bean ground that is perfect to replace the actual vanilla bean.

The combination of mango and banana’s textures complete one another, also pineapple adds a little extra exotic touch to the crisp. You need to select fruits that are not too ripe, or in the sauté process, especially the banana and mangoes will get mushy.

You can serve it warm at room temperature or lukewarm, then you need to serve it immediately or the cream will start melting.

Ingredients for 3 crisps

• 1/4 pineapple, cut in small sliced (1 inch size)
• 1 mango, peeled and cut in small slices (1 inch size)
• 1 banana, sliced
• 3 whole wheat filo dough sheets, cut in 6 squares
• 1 tbs sugar
• 2 tbs mascarpone
• 2.7 fl oz (or 80 ml) heavy cream
• vanilla powder
• 1 tsp powder sugar
• 1 tsp butter + 1 tsp melted for the filo dough

Preparation

Cut all the fruits, add sugar and saute in butter for about 5-7 minutes. remove from the pan.

Using a brush, apply melted butter in one filo dough sheet, then cut dough in 6 identical squares.

Place the 6 squares in a ramequin or small muffin trays (then insted of 3 crisp, you’ll make 6 due to the smaller size of the muffin trays). Divide fruits in each ramequin and cook in a pre-heated oven at 370F for about 15-20 minutes or until the filo dough is golden brown.

remove from the oven and let it cool.

Whip heavy cream and add powder sugar at the end, add mascarpone and keep beating a little more. Add vanilla bean powder.

Serve each crisp with one tsp of mascarpone cream on top.

I bought so many different kinds of those cuillères (spoons) while in France, which was not really a necessity since they are also available in the US, but my mom shoved them in my suitcase because she said her house is filled with stuff I buy and then I leave at her house, so the closet in my bedroom is filled with kitchen utensils and all kinds of gadgets that I have been accumulated over the years. I am a real pack rat. I still have my own bedroom with clothes and a few teddy bears since my parents still live in the house where I was born and raised (well I was born at the maternity to be clear not in the house), so I guess the “pack-ratting” activity is inevitable.

Today I finally decided to use those cuillères. In France, apéro à la cuillère (spoon apéritifs) is quite in fashion and most home cooks and restaurants use them as their favorite ways to serve hors d’oeuvres. Besides I think they’re really elegant on a table, and easy to prepare. They’re seriously ready in a blink of an eye.

Enough of savory muffins, quiches, etc… and all those heavy appetizers that make you feel already stuffed before dinner. Those are so quick to make, that it’s not even funny…and incredibly delicious, fresh, zesty and so light. I think you know by now that light is a key word for me, as long as a dish is light and flavorful, send it my way.

I bought some mangoes because my new little parrotlet Lilou loves mango, I am trying to discover what fruits and vegetables he likes, and it seems like mangoes, carrots and kale are on the list (wondering if it has to do with the color), so I bought a lot of mangoes, as if he will eat two pounds of mango in a few days. I guess I will have to help him out, and more mango recipes are coming shortly.

I am not really a huge fan of mixing sweet and salty flavors together, it’s not too common in French or Italian cuisine and it took me a while to combine them together. Some fruits are used like orange, apples, plums, etc…in game meat but it’s not too common. The mixture of scallops and mangoes has been something I have been thinking about for a while. I made grilled halibut with mango and red bell pepper salsa that I really enjoyed, so I thought sea scallops would work as well, but I didn’t want to bury the natural scallop’s sweet flavor and add too many ingredients like red bell pepper, red onion, etc…

You can either grill the scallops or sauté them in a pan with a little butter and If you don’t have those spoons, no worries, you can serve two or three scallops in a small plate. Et voilà, aucun problème!

Ingredients for about 10 spoons

• 10 medium sized scallops (they need to fit in the spoon)
• 1 mango, not too ripe (2/3 diced in small cubes, 1/3 grated)
• 1 blood orange, half peeled in quarters and cubed, the other half juiced
• 1 tsp chives, chopped
• cayenne pepper
• 1.5 tbs olive oil
• 2 tsp orange champagne vinegar (or raspberry vinegar)
• salt and pepper

Preparation

First peel mango, cut 2/3 of the mango in small cubes 1/3 inch thick. Place in a bowl.

Peel orange, separate the quarters and remove the membrane. Cut a few quarters in small pieces and add to the mango.

In another bowl, grate the rest of the mango, add olive oil, vinegar, juice of 1/2 blood orange, orange pieces, cayenne, salt and pepper.

Grill or saute scallops in a pan until browned on both sides.

Place a few mango dices and orange pieces in each spoon, add a litte vinaigrette. Add scallops on top, and spoon additional vinaigrette on top.

I was reading a French Elle magazine, I like Elle because they always have a great food/recipe section at the end called “Elle à Table” with fresh and modern recipes and tons of flavors. I got stuck on a tapioca cream recipe picture with a raspberry coulis. It looked so beautiful that I felt like eating the paper. I got inspired by Elle’s recipe for this one, eventhough I did not use the same ingredients or quantities, they somehow gave me the idea to mix fruits and tapioca. It’s a fresh and light dessert, perfect as a little treat after a heavy dinner, because as we say in French, “il faut toujours laisser une petite place pour le dessert” (you always need to leave a little space for dessert) not matter how heavy your meal was. I am not really too much into desserts, but I love fruit based desserts like this one, with a little exotic touch you get with the coconut.

In France, we use tapioca in soups, it’s not very common to see it in sweet dishes but it works perfectly well with coconut in sweet desserts. You can use raspberries instead of mango, they both tastes equally delicious.

I finally bought a car, it’s funny how a car can give you this feeling of freedom, I realized that when I no longer had one. So finally I can go shopping at my favorite grocery stores not accessible to public transportation. In Paris, public transportation is great and you don’t need a car, but even though San Francisco has a decent public transportation, a car is somehow not a luxury if you work in some parts of town.

Ingredients for 2 verrines

• 2.82 oz (or 80 g) tapioca
• 7.4 fl oz (or 220 ml) coconut milk
• 1.7 fl oz (or 50 ml) milk
• 3 tbs heavy cream
• 2.82 oz (or 80 g) sugar
• 1 mango
• zest and juice of one lemon

Preparation

Peel mango. Keep 4 slices aside for decoration, and cut the rest in cubes, add 1 tbs sugar and lemon juice and cook for about 7 minutes until it becomes a compote. Set aside

Cook tapioca in boiling water for about 5 minutes, to remove all the extra starch, then drain.

Heat milk, coconut milk and cream, add sugar, then add tapioca pearls, let it cook until tapioca becomes transparent.

Add some lemon zest, keep some for decoration.

Place mango compote in a glass and top with cream of tapioca, let it cool and place in the refrigerator. Decorate with mango slices, and extra lemon zests.

Did it ever happen to you to really want a dessert but just something light, refreshing and fruity? no chocolate, no cake, no cream, just a light dessert? Well today that’s what I really wanted. I had two beautiful mangos that I would have preferred to eat fresh, sliced and not cook it, but I needed a nice fleshy and sweet fruit for my mousse, so I killed those two mangos with a lot of regrets. They were so sweet that I did not add any sugar.

I love fruit based dessert and this one is a winner. If you are trying to watch your weight, but still have a little craving for something sweet, this is perfect for you. It has very low calories, I used the non fat Greek yogurt “Page”, you could use the 2% fat also.

Ingredients for 4 verrines (glass cups)

• 1/2 lb Greek-style yogurt (non fat or regular)
• 2 tbs powder sugar
• 2 egg whites
• 2 tbs almond milk
• 2 gelatin sheet
• 2 ripe mangos
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 vanilla bean

Preparation

Mix yogurt with sugar, beat well. Heat almond milk and soak gelatin sheet in it and add to the yogurt. Mix well. Beat egg whites and add to the yogurt mixture. Place in the refrigerator

Peel the mango and cook at low heat. Cut vanilla bean and scrape beans, add to the mango, add lemon juice. Cook until the mango are cooked and make a jam-like mixture. Let it cool, then add on top of the yogurt mousse. Place in refrigerator overnight or at least for 6 hours to enable the mousse to thicken.