This recipe might seem complicated because it has many steps, but those are easy steps, and it’s a fast recipe too. Last time I was in Nancy, France I had lunch at this new restaurant close to Place Stanislas where I was served this  amazing pineapple dessert. How gorgeous is that? Ever since I wanted to use pineapple in a light dessert. This dessert of mine has nothing in common, other than the pineapple…but it proves that the diversity of desserts you can create using pineapple is infinite.

I used express polenta, as it’s very convenient, it will save you time when you are in a hurry. The highlight of this dish not being polenta, I thought to use express polenta. I would not use it when I make traditional Italian polenta savory dishes but in this case, it’s a nice option.

If using dairy, I would use whole milk and add a little heavy cream for extra texture.

Ingredients

For the polenta cakes

• 1 cup almond milk or any other milk of your choice
• 1/2 cup express polenta
• honey or sweetener of your choice
• vanilla bean, cut in half and beans scraped
• 2 tsp raisins
• 2 tbs rum

For the braised pineapple

• 1 tsp coconut oil
• 1/2 pineapple
• light agave nectar
• orange juice
• 2 tbs rum

For the pineapple tartare

• 1/2 pineapple
• 2 tbs mint, finely chopped
• 1 lime (zest and juice)
• ginger (optional)
• light agave nectar to taste

For the pineapple coulis

• 1 cup pineapple
• agave nectar to taste
• vanilla extract to taste

Instructions

For the polenta cakes

Bring milk to a boil with vanilla beans scarped and sweetener. Pour polenta gradually and keep stirring for a few minutes. If the polenta is too thick add milk (it needs to be a thick consistency). Remove from heat and add rum and raisins. Using a wooden board or flat surface pour the polenta and spread evenly into a 1.5 com thick layer. Let it cool. When completely cold, using a cutter, cut into 2 inches squares.

For the braised pineapple

Take pineapple and cut top and bottom so that the pineapple stays vertically flat. Using a sharp knife cut the skin from top to bottom all around the pineapple. Slice pineapple from top to bottom to obtain 5 mm thick slices and about 4.5 inches wide. (The first slices will be narrow so use them for the tartare part). Keep the wider slices for braising. Using the same cutter used to cut polenta, cut pineapple into squares (or circles if used a round cutter).

Melt coconut oil in a pan. When melted add pineapple slices and at high heat cook them until slightly golden brown on both sides. Add agave nectar. Add orange juice and let it reduce. Add rum and flame. Let it reduce a little more. Keep warm.

For the pineapple tartare

Using the pineapple saved when making slices, dice in small 5mm. Add all other ingredients and refrigerate.

For the pineapple coulis

Using a blender, mix all ingredients and filter through a sieve to obtain a smooth coulis

To serve: place two polenta squares on a plate. Place braised pineapple on top of each polenta square. Add 1 tsp of pineapple tartare on top and pour some coulis around. Decorate with lime zests.

I love weekends, especially when I have enough time to explore new recipes and cook. That is my perfect weekend, and even more perfect when my experiments turn out delicious.

Strangely beets remind me of my childhood. The first time I had beets was in elementary school, I must have been 6 or 7 years old. I used to have lunch “à la cantine”  (the school canteen where kinds have lunch?) since my mom could not come pick me up for lunch. They were cut in small cubes and served with a vinaigrette. Most kids didn’t eat them, but for some reason, I like them and always asked for a second serving. I have been eating beets since then. Some of my friends in their adult life ended up hating everything they ate “à la cantine” and were traumatized by that food.

A discussion with my mom this morning led to this recipe. She was mentioning a delicious zucchini carpaccio she ate at some friend’s house, topped with parmesan and basil, that she loved. It made me realize that I don’t make vegetable carpaccio very often. Usually when talking about carpaccio, it’s mainly referring to beef or salmon, topped with olive oil, lemon, etc…

I had a bunch of beets in the refrigerator, that I kept postponing to cook and I wanted to explore more recipes using my raspberry vinegar too. What more perfect than this!

Another alternative to Greek yogurt sauce is to shave some pecorino on top of the beets. It’s all up to your inspiration.

I loved this combination of beets, raspberry vinegar, goat yogurt and herbs, especially when you add extra dressing and extra goat yogurt, when everything mixes up; then all different nuances of colors, flavors and textures dance in your plate and palate.

Ingredients for 2-3

• 2 golden or red beets, peeled and finely sliced using a mandoline
• pumpkin seeds, roasted

For the raspberry dressing

• 6 raspberries, crushed with a fork
• 2 tbs raspberry vinegar
• 1 tsp chives, chopped
• 3 tbs olive oil
• salt

For the yogurt sauce

• 1 plain goat Greek yogurt
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 tbs fresh mint, finely chopped
• zest of 1/2 meyer lemon
• juice of 1/2 meyer lemon

Preparation

In one container, mix raspberry dressing  ingredients together. Mix yogurt sauce ingredients together.

In a plate, lay out beet slices nicely. Drizzle some raspberry dressing on top of the beets. Add one tbs of yogurt sauce. Decorate with pumpkin seeds.

Serve with more yogurt sauce and dressing on the side.

I found those high protein, low carbs spaghetti. They’re made with black bean flour and water. I was very intrigued by those and obviously needed to try them. The same brand also sells edamame noodles, with the same concept, using edamame flour and water, which are as good with a little more chewy texture. The world of pasta has evolved a lot in this last 10 years, using all different kinds of nutritious flours.

This dish is vegan and gluten free, I am neither vegan nor gluten free, but sometimes I like to eat light nutritious vegan meals with lots of flavors and delicious that make me happy and energized, so here is one.

Besides I love the contrast of the black spaghetti combined with the light green of the pesto. Aside from the fact, that this is a beautiful dish to look at, it’s packed with nutrition.

You can play around with its texture, adding more broth, or make it more creamy by adding more almonds.

Ingredients for 2-3

• 180 g black bean spaghetti
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1/4 onion, chopped
• 1 lb Brussels sprouts, finely sliced
• 1/4 cup vegetable broth
• 2 tbs silvered almonds
• 1 meyer lemon (juice and zest)
• 3 tbs olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Heat 1 tbs olive oil in a pan. Add onion and let soften. Add Brussels sprouts and broth. Cover with lid and let cook for a few minutes. The sprouts need to be still vibrant green and still a bit crunchy. Remove from heat.

Divide the sprouts in two equal portions. Let the portion to be used for the pesto to cool.

In a mixer, mix half the sprouts, mint, almonds, olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Mix until obtained a smooth consistency. If too thick add some broth. Add lemon zest at the end.

Bring large pot of salted water to a boil. Add spaghetti stirring regularly and cook for about 6 minutes and still al dente. When cooked, drain and rinse under cold water.

In a large bowl, mix spaghetti with pesto, and add the cooked Brussels sprouts left aside.

Mix well and eat cold or lukewarm.

I love this salad, it’s fresh, fragrant and in my opinion has a lot of character due to its vibrant colors and bold flavors. I made it a few weeks ago, then never posted it. All kind of oranges are in season right now, from the cara cara to the blood oranges, there are many citrus out there that are worth exploring. My favorites right now are the Satsuma oranges. Under a rough and thick peel, you find a delicious, juicy and sweet pulp with no seeds that is such an exquisite treat…treat yourself until they last!

Beets are either a hit or a miss with people. Either you love them or hate them, so if you are one of the beet lovers, you might want to give this a try. You can use pistachios or sunflower seeds instead of walnuts and of course some other peppery green would also be an alternative.

In this salad, I used what in French we call “saigner” the orange. It’s a technique we use for peeling citrus fruits. Basically, after you peel the orange, using a very sharp knife you need to cut the top and bottom of the orange, then you cut thinly the white part of it all around the fruit, then you slice it. This way you have nice round slices of oranges and no skin.

Ingredients for 2

• 4 medium cooked beets, peeled and sliced crosswise
• 1.5 cups arugula
• 2 blood oranges, peeled and sliced crosswise

For the vinaigrette

•  3 tbs extra virgin unfiltered olive oil
• 1 tbs meyer lemon juice
• juice of one orange
• 1 tbs orange champagne vinegar (or any based citrus vinegar)
• 1 tbs walnuts, chopped
• 1 tbs mint chopped
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Mix all the ingredients of the vinaigrette and stir well.

Place greens in a plate, then arrange one slice of orange, then one slice of beet, alternating until you have used all of them.

Add vinaigrette on top and serve either cold or at room temperature

This post has been long overdue…I made those plums in fall, so when they were in season, then never got the chance to post it. With my trip to France and work schedule, everything got delayed and now it’s November and the plums are no longer in season. I figured I would still post it and not wait for one more year.

I love all poached fruits, they end up being such a delicate and light little treat. I make those quite often when I can find plums and you can complement them with all kinds of dried cookies, biscotti, madeleines, anything you can dip in the syrup. Needless to say this dessert is very quick to make, and “unratable” (that you cannot fail).

The first step is to make the tea. I used green tea in which I added fresh mint leaves and dried verbena leaves (I could not find any fresh ones). Don’t make the tea too strong or the syrup will end up bitter and unpleasant.

Ingredients

• 1.5 cup green verbena-mint tea
• 1 star anise
• vanilla bean, cut lengthwise
• 2 tbs honey
• 6 red plums, not too soft
• 2 tbs macarpone
• 2 tbs Plain greek yogurt
• 1 tsp powder sugar (optional)
• zest of 1/2 Meyer lemon
• pistachios, roasted

Preparation

First make tea, letting the mint and vebena infuse for 10 minutes in green tea. Drain and add honey.

In a pan, cook plums with tea, then add star anis and vanilla bean. Let the plums cook until soft but not mushy. At this point the syrup has thickened. It should not be too thick, add water if too thick. Remove vanilla bean and filter syrup if necessary. Let it cool.

Mix mascarpone and yogurt until smooth, add 1 tsp of powder sugar or more if you like it sweeter and add lemon zest.

Serve plums in cups pouring syrup around and 1 tbs of mascarpone cream on top. Sprinkle with 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

Believe it or not, this dish belongs to the express category. Today feeling exhausted and hungry, and not in the best mood, probably because of a foggy weather (San Francisco weather in the summer), like we say in French, “le ciel me tombe sur la tête“, the sky is falling on my head, which means that everything is so heavy that you have no energy.

I am dreaming on a relaxing vacation on a tropical island with white beach, some sun and nothing else. Since that is not possible right now, I decided to bring some sun inside the house, and what better to enlighten your day, than a vibrant and delicious vegetable dish?

Of course, being exhausted, I did not envision myself, spending hours cooking and cleaning afterwards. Mentally, it was impossible. So here we go, we have broccoli as the lead actor and a bunch of secondary vegetables that play an important role as well. Never undermined the role of a secondary actor, it changes the whole play.

The baby kale saute, is really optional, you could very well serve these galettes with the butter bean salad only. I was in the mood for some kale, and it complement this dish quite well, so I added it. It’s not essential.

Ingredients for 3-4

For the galettes

• 2 cups broccoli floret (some stem too)
• 1 tbs cumin seeds toasted
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup flour
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• chili flakes (to taste)
• 4 tbs feta, crumbled
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• salt and pepper
• Greek yogurt (optional)

For the kale

• 2 cups baby kale
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• salt and pepper

For the butter bean-avocado salad

• 1 cup butter beans, cooked
• 2 heirloom tomatoes, diced
• 1/2 avocado, diced
• 1 tbs fresh mint, chopped
• 1 tsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed
• 1 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper

Preparation

For the galettes

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook broccoli for about 3 minutes, until lightly cooked and  crunchy (if too cooked the broccoli will absorb too much water and the galettes will remain soggy). Drain and chop roughly. In a mixing container, mix broccoli, cumin and flour. Mix well all ingredients. Then add eggs and mix to obtain an homogenous mixture. Add garlic and chili and mix well. At the end, add feta carefully making sure not to break the pieces of feta. You need some unbroken pieces of feta in the galettes.

Heat oil in a large pan. Take some mixture (the equivalency of 2 tbs) and form small galettes. Cook on both sides until golden brown and cooked all the way through.

For the kale

Heat olive oil in a large pot, add garlic until fragrant. Add kale and cook at high heat until wilted. Adjust with salt and pepper.

For the butter bean-avocado salad

Mix all ingredients together, keep chilled.

Yesterday the lunch was light since we had been invited by our neighbor’s for the Chinese new year to a restaurant. Usually, if I know my dinner will be more substantial than usual, I balance it out with a light lunch. After all, it’s all about balance…

I love this soup, I love it even more, because of its beautiful dense color. The flavor is naturally sweet, fresh and very delicate. I made two versions, one with a poached egg, and one with a yogurt cream with chopped mint. They’re equally delicious and nutritious. This soup is quick to make, the peas don’t need to cook for a long time to keep their flavor and color, so here we have a quick and delicious soup. The picture with the poached egg is a bit off, the egg got a little messy.

For 2-3 people

• 3/4 large yellow onion chopped
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 lb peas either fresh or frozen
• 1.5 cups baby spinach
• 1/2 bunch mint, chopped
• 2 eggs or more (depending on the version)
• 3 tbs plain yogurt (depending on the version)
• vegetable broth
• salt and pepper

Preparation

In a large pot, heat olive oil, add onions and soften them. Add peas, stir and cook for about 1 minute, then add broth. Cook for about 15-20 minutes, then add spinach and mint. Cook for an additional 5 minutes. Adjust with salt and pepper. Blend soup to obtain a smooth mixture.

Poach egg and add to the soup or mix yogurt with some chopped mint and add ti the soup.

I got inspired by Indian samosas when I made those. I felt like eating something spicy, salty, but not greasy and since I bought a few brick packs when I was in France, with an expiration date coming close, I figured let’s make something that has the spirit of the samosa but a bit different. Voilà, c’est fait!  If you cannot find bricks, I have seen them sold online tough or in some specialty stores, you can use any kind of dough/wrappers/pastry sheets, etc.. (filo dough, puff pastry, etc…) I love bricks because they get crunchy and are very light.

The stuffing is a mixture of broccoli, yams, carrots and spices. Yams are not often used in French cuisine, but I am starting to like them and use them more often in some savory preparations. I don’t think I can make anything sweet with them, I have a slight blockage about that. In my mind, they’re potatoes and not supposed to be used in desserts. Like my Japanese neighbor has a blockage about rice pudding, I have one about yams combined with sugar.

I loved those crunchy rolls, light, flavorful with lots of texture. It will definitely please vegetarians or vegans if you replace the yogurt sauce with some mint chutney.

Ingredients for 5-6 large rolls

• 1 tbs olive oil (+1 for brushing)
• 1/4 onion, chopped
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• 2 cups broccoli florets
• 1 carrot, peeled and cut
• 1 small yam, peeled and cut
• 1 tbs cilantro, chopped
• salt and pepper

For the yogurt sauce

• 250 ml plain Greek yogurt
• 1 tsp mint, finely chopped
• 1 tsp scallions, chopped
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• salt and pepper

 Preparation

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add vegetables and cook until tender. Drain and chop vegetables roughly and set aside.

In a pan, heat olive oil, add onion and ginger and let soften. Add garlic until fragrant, a few minutes. Add all the spices, and stir well to combine flavors. Add vegetables, cilantro, salt and pepper and mix well until the vegetables are well coated in the spices. Remove from heat and let cool.

In the meantime, prepare the yogurt sauce by mixing all the ingredients together. Refrigerate.

Take one brick sheet placing it flat on a wooden surface. Place 2-3 tbs of vegetable mixture (depending on how big you want to make the roll) in the middle and roll like you would for a spring roll. Proceed the same way with the other brick sheets. Brush olive oil on top of each roll.

Bake in the oven at 380F for about 10-15 minutes and turn around the rolls to the other side until both sides are golden brown and crunchy. Serve hot with yogurt sauce and a green salad.

When I go to the store, I buy everything I get attracted to, so when I go to the store hungry, I get attracted to everything in the store. That’s what they say don’t go shopping when you’re hungry, which is definitely a good advice.

Today one of the magic item that ended up in my cart is haloumi. I adore haloumi, it’s a wonderful cheese from Cyprus, and made with half sheep milk, half goat milk. It’s mainly prepared grilled or fried. It softens when it cooks but never really melts, so it’s perfect for grilling. It’s quite salty so does not need additional salt. You can also use cannellini beans instead of the garbanzo bean salad, it will be equally delicious.

I would put this dish in the fast food or express category. When you think about those two words put together “fast” and “food” they do not have a bad connotation, the bad connotation is that they’ve been used to describe meals served by chains such as McDonalds which are not really healthy.

Ingredients for 2

• haloumi, sliced about 1cm thick
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• 1.5 cups cooked chick peas
• 1 small red bell pepper, diced in small pieces
• 1 scallion, chopped
• 1 small shallot, finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 tbs mixed herbs, finely chooped (chives, parsley, mint, etc…)
• 1 tsp meyer lemon juice
• 2 tbs olive oil

Preparation

Mix together all ingredients for dressing (except chick peas, paprika and haloumi) and mix well. Pour dressing on chick peas and mix all ingredients together. Sprinkle paprika on both sides of haloumi, then grill on a grill pan or regular non stick pan. When both sides and golden brown, remove from pan and place on top of chickpea salad. Serve while haloumi is hot.