I had some daikon in my refrigerator and not sure what to make with it, then I remembered some delicious soup with a clear and delicate broth I ate in Japan with lotus roots and fish. I decided to go that route with my daikon. After a bit of research, I found a recipe for a similar soup made with salmon and daikon called ” Sanpeijiru“. I found this recipe on this beautiful blog called “Just One Cookbook“, and since I loved most of the recipes, I thought to try this one out. Sanpeijiru is a specialty from Hokkaido where they eat a lot salmon and potatoes.

One particular thing about Japanese is that they are very particular about their broth and always filter it so that it becomes crystal clear, with absolutely no residue. My Japanese neighbor, Rui is so picky that she uses coffee filter instead of fine strainer to obtain an impeccable broth.

The broth is made of Kombu a thick seaweed, which is the base of most broths, and gives a very delicate flavor. Daikon is a staple of Japanese cuisine (and many parts of Asia too), it’s a thick and white radish used in broth, grated, pickled, in salads, or on sashimi, in so many different forms or shape. It’s high in vitamin C and one root vegetable very low in calories.

I did marinate the salmon with salt and sake, but not for 2 days, just one day. I used scallions instead of the Tokyo Negi and used salmon fillet instead of salmon scraps. I wanted to add some greens such as kale, but I decided to try the original recipe for the first time. Kale is not really a Japanese ingredient so I thought to keep it authentic.

The result is a clear and clean brothy soup, very delicate, and obviously very light. I just feel clean and nourished which is a great feeling.

 Ingredients

• 1 lb salmon fillet
• Palm-sized kombu
• 4 cups water for soup
• 8” (20 cm) daikon radish, peeled and cut in slices then quartered
• 1 carrot, peeled and cut in slices
• 4 scallions, cut in 2 inches long stems and then sliced lengthwise
• 1 potato, peeled and cut in pieces
• 4 Tbsp. sake
• 1 tsp. kosher salt or more

Instructions

Marinate salmon slices in sake, salt and lemon or Yuzu for 2 days. Cut salmon fillets into 4 inches pieces. Bring water to a boil, pat dry salmon fillets and blanch them for 30 seconds in boiling water. Drain and rinse salmon pieces. Bring 4 cups of water to a boil and add salmon and kombu and let it cook for about 15-20 min. Filter broth to obtain a clear fine liquid.

Add vegetables to broth and let simmer until tender but not mushy. Remove kombu. Filter some more if necessary. Add sake and adjust with salt.

This is a very easy and simple dish, fast to make, less than 30 minutes, and light. It’s one of those dishes I prepare when I have little time but still want to feel nourished. It would fit in the “fast food” category.

I like to cook my fish fillets “à l’unilatérale“, it’s a cooking method used to cook fish on the skin side only. This way the skin turns crispy and the fish remains moist.

You can cook cauliflower like you would for a potato purée in milk. I steamed mine which is another alternative. You could also use celery root purée, or if you are a potato fan, why not a mashed potatoes. Personally, I don’t like combining mashed potatoes and fish. In my opinion, it turns a potentially interesting dish into a boring one…probably because I am not a huge fan of potatoes in general.

As for carrots, this warm salad is simple and delicious. They’re just boiled in water then dressed with a fragrant citrussy dressing.

Ingredients for 2

For the salmon

• 2 salmon fillets
• 1 tbs olive oil
• fleur de sel and pepper

For the cauliflower purée

• 1 head of cauliflower
• 3 tbs heavy cream
• salt and pepper

For the carrot salad

• 3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
• 4 tbs olive oil
• juice of one Meyer lemon
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp honey or agave nectar
• salt and pepper

Preparation

For the cauliflower purée

Steam cauliflower in a steamer. When cooked, mash with a potato masher, and add cream while mashing. Continue mashing to the desired consistency. Adjust with salt and pepper and keep warm.

For the carrot salad

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add carrots and cook for about 10 minutes until tender. Drain and keep warm.

In a bowl, mix all other ingredients and add to the carrots.

For the Salmon

In olive oil or butter in a pan. Place salmon skin side on the pan. Cook at high heat first for a few minutes, then decrease to medium temperature, then to low until the salmon is cooked but still rosy inside. There should be some light moisture on top side of the salmon. Sprinkle with pepper and fleur de sel.

Place some cauliflower purée on a plate, spoon some carrots on top, then add salmon with extra dressing used for the carrot salad.

Here I am, in France again visiting my parents. I made this recipe while in the US a while ago and never managed to finish it. So I figured to post it from France even if it has nothing to do with my stay, nor with what I eat here.

I bought wild salmon, I don’t feel very good about buying wild fish, since we have been fishing way to much and it does hurt the environment, buying farm raised fishes makes me worry about the antibiotics and the way it’s raised…even if it said it’s sustainable…how sustainable is it? In this case, I don’t know what makes me feel better. I think veganism would be a great way to help the environment but that’s not a realistic approach to the problem.

Salmon has not been on the menu for a while, so I thought why not…I love this dish, it’s very quick to make, so if you happen to have some salmon and have no inspiration on how to prepare it, this would be an nice option. It does not require many fancy ingredients, just the basics. What makes this salmon fragrant are the herbs and walnuts mixed with bread crumbs, the crust gets crunchy and so flavorful.

As for the salsa, I have no idea why I called it “salsa” it is definitely not a puree, it has the ingredients of a salsa but that’s about it. I couldn’t find a better name for it, so salsa it will be. No matter how you name a dish, as long as it tastes good, that’s the most important thing.

 Ingredients for 2

For the salmon

• 2 salmon fillets
• 2 egg whites, beaten
• 5 tbs panko breadcrumbs
• 2 tbs chopped walnuts, finely chopped
• 1 tbs mixed herbs, chopped (tarragon, parsley, chives, etc…)
• 1 tsp black sesame seeds
• salt and pepper

For the broccoli salsa

• 2 large broccoli heads
• 2 scallions, chopped
• 1 tbs cilantro, chopped
• 1 large tomato, seedless, peeled and diced finely
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper

 Preparation

For the salmon

In a mixing container, combine all the ingredients together except salmon fillets and egg whites. Sprinkle some salt and pepper on each sides of salmon. Dip each side of salmon in egg whites, then coat each side with the bread/herb mixture.

Heat olive oil in a pan, then cook salmon until one side is cooked and golden brown. Turn on the other side and proceed the same way.

For the broccoli salsa

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Cook broccoli until tender. Drain well and mash finely using a potato masher. Add all the remaining ingredients and mix well.

Here is a Sunday lunch that gave me some punch (en plus ca rime) – I have not eaten salmon in a long time, probably because I find salmon a little boring to be honest. Maybe when a product becomes easy to find, I lose my interest, not that I like “hard to get” products but let’s say that what’s rare tends to be more special. So I tried to make this salmon a little more interesting and special. Et voila, c’est fait!

I am not a huge fan of regular potato puree with fish, so cauliflower worked very well here, and this way you lose the starch content.

I like to use large chard leaves, the flat and smooth kind (such as swiss chards) instead of spinach, simply because spinach leaves are fragile to manipulate and it’s sometimes difficult to find large leaves. In this case, I used one chard leave for one salmon fillet. For the vegetables, you can use whatever you like, I love the combination of fava beans and oyster mushrooms, they have two complementary textures and go very well together.

I really liked this dish, the herbs made it very fragrant, delicate and not a strong salmon dish with too many powering flavors. I will certainly put this on my “to make again soon” list.

Ingredients for 4

For the salmon

• 4 salmon fillets (about 1/2 lb each)
• 4 large chard leaves
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• salt and pepper

For the purée

• 1 small cauliflower
• 2 medium size potatoes
• milk
• 1 tsp salted butter
• salt and pepper

For the vegetable fondue

• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 shallot
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 cup oyster mushrooms
• 1/2 lb fava beans
• 1 tomato, peeled, seedless and diced
• salt and pepper

For the tarragon jus

• 1/2 bunch tarragon
• 1/2 cup vegetable broth
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• salt and pepper (if needed)

Preparation

For the salmon

Blanch chard leaves in salted boiling water for one minute, until the chard softens but still keeps it shape. Remove from heat, and place in cold water to cool. When cooled, remove from water and pat dry carefully with a towel, removing excess water. Using a knife remove the hard leaf from bottom to top, this will leave you with two long panels of chards.

Remove skin from salmon, add salt and pepper on both sides and cook three minutes each sides, in a pan with a little olive oil. Then, wrap carefully the salmon with the two chard panels. Drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice and cook in a pre-heated oven at 360F for about 10 minutes or until the salmon is cooked to your tastes.

For the purée

Cook the potatoes at low heat covering them with milk. When they’re cooked remove from heat and let them cool in the milk. At this pint, they would have absorbed a substantial part of the milk.

Boil cauliflower in salted water for about 10-15 minutes until tender.

In a mixing container, mix potatoes and cauliflower and mash with a potato masher to obtain a smooth texture, adjust with salt and pepper. Then add butter and mix well.

For the vegetables

Heat olive oil in a pan, add shallot, sweat for a few minutes, then add mushrooms and cook until the eater evaporates. Place fava beans in boiling water for about 2 minutes. Remove from heat, drain, let them cool. Peel fava beans and add to the mushrooms. Stir well, then add tomato and crushed garlic. Cook for a few minutes, until the tomato softens but still remains firm.

For the tarragon jus

Bring 1/2 cup of broth to a boil, add tarragon and cook for 30 seconds, remove from the pot and pat dry. In a blender, mix tarragon with broth to make it into a very fine mixture. Remove from blender into a bowl, add 1 tbs olive oil, 1 tsp lemon juice, salt and pepper if needed.

After placing your puree and salmon in the plate, add a some vegetables around and end with tarragon jus.

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.

When you eat out, salades niçoises are always more or less the same, with minor variations from one restaurant to another…and often a little on the boring side. So after a few thoughts on how to make things a little more exciting and with a different way to prepare them, I came up with a salad that has the ingredients of a salade niçoise (less the salmon), that was lovely. Most of the ingredients are here but in a different way to present and cook them, which modifies all the textures and make them very interesting and exciting. Here the green beans are cut and mixed with the greens and cherry tomatoes. The olives are turned into a tapenade which is an olive paste from the South of France spread on top of the bread. The egg is poached and not boiled and the other final touch is the salt, I used sea weed salt (from Brittany) but of course, you can use any other sea salt.

If you want to remain traditional and feel the salmon shall not be seen on a salade Niçoise, use tuna instead. This salad is really fun, and you can play with it using your imagination as you wish. For instance, if I had quail eggs, I would have poached two quail eggs and made two tartines, instead of one. Now there is not one particular recipe for salade niçoise, and each cook can make it the way he wants, even though the traditional recipe is not supposed to have any cooked ingredients, only raw. So if you want to say that my salad is not a Niçoise, like a Nicois (a person from Nice) would probably say. Well, I am ok with that…it is nonetheless delicious.

Sometimes for specific recipes, I like to remain as close as the original recipe as I can, but in some more “flexible” recipes, I also like to have fun in the kitchen and play around with food…but obviously it needs to be good or it shall not have its spot on the blog.

Ingredients for 2

• 1 salmon filet of about 1/2 lb
• 4 small round yukon potatoes
• 1.5 cups fine green beans
• about 20 cherry tomatoes, cut in half
• 1 cup of mixed greens or arugula
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 1/2 bell red pepper, roasted,  peeled and cut in stripes
• 2 eggs
• 2 baguettes slices or country bread

For the vinaigrette

• 2 tbs extra virgin unfiltered olive oil
• 3 tbs lemon olive oil
• juice of 1 meyer lemon
• orange-champagne vinegar or any mild fruity vinegar
• about 8 leaves basil, chopped
• Sea weed salt
• pepper

For the tapenade

• 1/4 lb kalamata olives
• 2 good quality small anchovies
• about 6 capers
• 1/2 garlic clove
• 2 tbs olive oil

Preparation

Start by cooking the potatoes in water. When the potatoes are about 3/4 cooked but still a little firm in the center, remove from stove. Let them cool and then peel. Set aside. Cut the salmon in about one inch cube pieces.

Cook green beans in boiling water until cooked but still firm. When cooked remove from stove, then let them cool and cut in about 2 inches pieces.

Using a wooden skewer, place one piece of salmon, then one potato, until you have two pieces each on each skewer.

In the meantime, in a container mix cherry tomatoes, salad, green beans, bell peppers. Prepare vinaigrette by combining all ingredients together.

For the tapenade, mix all ingredients together in a mixer. Toast baguette and spread tapenade on top.

Broil skewer in the oven until golden brown and salmon cooked all the way through or pink (depending on your tastes).

Poach egg in boiling water for about 2 minutes (poaching technique will come in another post).

Pour vinaigrette on salad, toss well and keep some vinaigrette for the skewer.

Plate first salad/beans/tomatoes mixture, then place skewer on top, add the remaining vinaigrette on top of skewer. Serve with tartine of tapenade topped with poached egg, and drizzle with olive oil.

Grapes for me is the fruit that symbolizes fall, probably because of the harvesting of the grapes in France (vendanges).  Today, I wanted to feature a very simple French dish using grapes and combined with salmon, and this one turned out much better than it used to, probably because this time I cooked the salmon skin up and not down (touching the pan). So if you have some salmon and want to try something quick and new, this would be a good choice.

Usually, I do not combine fruits and fish, but it works very well in this case. The grapes don’t have a strong flavor, and their slight sweetness associated with the acidity of the wine and crème fraîche balances the dish very well.

You can use scallops instead of the shrimps, and substitute white fish to salmon.

I bet most of you must be getting ready for Thanksgiving with all the food preparation and planning, so this salmon would be perfect after you’re done with the festivities and the turkey. I know Thanksgiving is a huge celebration in the US, when the families gather and get together around a traditional meal. For us, it’s more like an opportunity to have a dinner with friends, since everyone is off, and right now I still haven’t figured out what I will have for dinner. I have absolutely no idea…I can always serve this salmon, and see the look on everyone’s face when instead of a beautiful golden the turkey, I bring out salmon. I don’t think I’ll have the guts to do that!

So if one of those nights, you’re up for quick, easy and delicious, voilà! you got your meal!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Ingredients for 4

• 4 salmon fillets (or steaks)
• 20 shrimps, peeled and deveined
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 2 bunches white grapes, peeled and seeds removed
• 3 shallots, chopped
• 3.38 fl oz (or 10 cl) white wine
• 1/3 cup fish fumet
• 1 tbs crème fraîche
• salt and pepper
• dill for decoration

Preparation

Peel and remove seeds from grapes. Heat 1 tbs olive oil in a pan and add shallots. Cook slowly until soft. Add shrimps, let them cook both sides, then add grapes, wine and fumet. Let the sauce reduce to half. Add cream, salt and pepper.

At the same time, in a non stick pan, cook salmon in 1 tbs olive oil about 2 minutes on each side, or longer if you like the salmon well done.

Place salmon in a plate,  arrange shrimps and raisins, all around, then pour the sauce on top. Decorate with dill.

Thanks so much for all your kinds words on my previous post, you guys are really wonderful, kind and generous of your time. I do appreciate it a lot.

I think this dish is perfect for a tête à tête dinner (according to the dictionary, tête à tête is also used in English) to share with someone you care. I have been alone for about two weeks now, due to business trips of TP so I decided to have a tête à tête dinner with myself and I was quite happy about it.

Well, I think no matter what, you need to treat yourself as often as you can (that’s my theory on life) and enjoy anything even if you are by yourself.

My dog and bird are keeping me company…so temporarily being alone has some good sides and bad sides. You tend to enjoy the whole bed, no daily laundry, no mess around but then when you find a half mouse dead in your patio with just the tale and  legs, you have to figure out a way to clean it…I suspect the neighbors cats left it as a present.

After one hour of thinking how to remove it, I was embarrassed to ask my neighbor (the most adorable neighbors you can dream of) but I didn’t want to leave this mess in the patio and lacked courage to pick it up, so I had to tell them that Mr. Cat must have played too hard with a mouse again, so Gary cleaned it up for me. Thanks Gary!

We do use cilantro and coconut in French cuisine, even though it’s not really something you would use on a daily basis, and parsley is more frequently used than cilantro, those two ingredients are not unfamiliar to our cuisine. This fragrant pesto is delicious, the raw coconut adds a smooth finish to the dish. Oeuf cocotte is such a versatile dish and so much fun to eat. You can also use fava beans instead of the asparagus and white fish instead of the salmon, just play with it.

This combination is truly a harmonious blend of flavors, and a perfect little dish for a light diner en amoureux… or a diner for treating yourself!

Ingredients for 4

• 2 salmon fillet or 7 oz (or 200 g), diced
• 6 asparagus, cut in one inch pieces
• 1 shallot, chopped
• 3 tbs dry white wine
• 3 tbs crème fraîche
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 2 eggs
• salt and pepper

For the cilantro-coconut pesto

• 1/2 bunch cilantro
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 0.70 oz (or 20 g) raw unsweetened coconut shredded
• 4 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper

Preparation

For the cilantro-coconut pesto

Mix all ingredients in a blender.

Heat olive oil in a pan, add shallots and brown them. Add asparagus, wine, salt and pepper. Cover and cook until asparagus are cooked but still crunchy. Add salmon and cook for a few minutes. Add 2 tbs of pesto and stir for 30 seconds. Add cream and let it reduce a little.

Divide teh mixture into ramequins. Break on egg on top, add salt and pepper. Cook in a pre-heated oven until the yolks are runny and the whites still a little transparent. Serve with extra pesto on the side.

I haven’t made those for so long, I usually make them when we have a “crêpe party”, and those haven’t occurred in a while!

Basically, the traditional savory crêpes are made with buckwheat flour, the sweet ones can be made with white flour.

A buckwheat crêpe is called “galette bretonne“, the batter is a little different from a regular crêpe in the fact that there is water in the batter but no eggs. The traditional galette Bretonne (or also called Buckwheat crêpe, crêpe au sarrasin) is mainly stuffed with ham, eggs and cheese and it’s called “la complète“…now you can make it with whatever item you like if you want to make it less traditional. I like the traditional one, but I think those three ingredients are a little too heavy for me. Other alternatives could be spinach and mushrooms, eggs and mushrooms, tomato and mozzarella, goat cheese and spinach, etc…or whatever you think would work.

If you have been to Brittany or Paris you must have encounter that delicious treat. There are many crêperies Bretonnes in Paris close to Quartier Montparnasse. The first one I ate was at the Jocelyn crêperie, it was a double crêpe, unlike this one that is simple, a double crêpe is comprised of one crêpe at the bottom, filled with whatever you like, and one other crêpe on top of the filling, then folded and topped with salted butter. You better be hungry for that one, but it’s so good with some dry cider (cidre brut).

Sometimes, I have a crêpe party at home and the crêpes go flying around…then everyone gets so excited when we reach dessert, sweet crêpes with nutella, banana, ice cream and whipped cream. How can you refuse one of those? Vive les crêpes!!

You don’t need necessarly need a crêpe maker and a spreader to make crêpes, a non-stick pan works well too. You can make a 100% buckwheat flour batter if you like it more hearty, I like to use 1/2 white flour and 1/2 buckwheat flour.

Ingredients for about 6-8 (depending on the size of the pan)

For the galettes batter

• buckwheat flour
• white flour
• 1/4 l water
• 1/4 l milk
• salt
  

For the stuffing

• 3-4 tomatoes, sliced
• 2 onions, sliced
• 1 tbs capers, rinced
• 6-8 slices smoked salmon
• 1 tsp olive oil
• Fleur de sel
• pepper

For the tarragon sauce

• 1 shallot, diced
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 tsp fish fumet dehydrated
• water
• 3 tbs crème fraîche
• 2 tbs fresh tarragon, chopped
• salt and pepper

Preparation

For the batter

Mix flours together in a large mixing bowl. Add water while stirring, then milk, add salt and keep stirring to obtain a smooth consistency. Let it rest for about 2 hours.

Caramelize onions in 1 tsp olive oil. Grill tomatoes on a grill pan and set aside.

For the tarragon sauce

Heat olive oil in a pan, and brown shallots. Dissolve dehydrated fumet in 1/3 cup water. Add to the shallots, reduce a little then add cream. Reduce for a few more minutes and add tarragon, salt and pepper.

Cook galettes as you would for regular crêpes. Using a non-stick pan, spread some batter in the pan covering the whole surface (you need to butter the pan prior to making the galettes). Flip the galette and let it cook on the other side. Add caramelized onions, tomatoes, capers and salmon. remove the galette from the pan and bring borders on the inside. Top with tarragon sauce and serve hot.

Millefeuille can mean different things in French…Originally millefeuille is a traditional dessert sold in many bakeries, made out of two layers of crème patissière (custard) and three layers of puff pastry. It’s called millefeuille because of its many foldings of its puff pastry (which contains a lot of layers), obviously this millefeuille has nothing to do with sweets and custard but it does some layers too, so we call this a millefeuille (literally meaning thousand sheets).

After one delightful week of no fish and no seafood just vegetarian meals, I somehow found myself with a raw fillet of salmon left that I had from a previous dinner, which needed to be cooked, or would end up in the garbage, which is something that will never happen in my house. That would be sinful to throw away food in general and salmon even more so. After thinking and thinking about how to hide this fish in a dish, I finally decided to go with a millefeuille, because first of all it looks pretty, then you can barely see the salmon, so millefeuille, it was going to be! As far as artichokes are concerned, it’s one of my favorite vegetables, so I use them whenever I can.

Pomme de terre Anna is a traditional dish in French cuisine but most precisely Parisian cuisine, potatoes thinly sliced and cooked in the oven with a little melted butter and rock salt. They seem to have been created in Paris in the 19e century by the Chef of the “Café Anglais”, Adolphe Dugléré, who fell in love with one of its beautiful client Anna Deslions, and called them Pomme de terre Anna. Funny how love can boost creativity! They became since then a very famous potato dish! You can serve them as a side dish just in their cute round shape, but I love to play with food and today they were my toys.

Then to add the final touch, I made a jus de persil. I was hesitating between a jus de tarragon, then I figured I would leave the tarragon for something else, and parsley would go quite well here. Alors voilà, c’est fini!.. and this is definitely French no need to even think about it!

There are a few different steps in the process but it’s a fairly quick dish to make, so even if you don’t have too much time, it’s really worth trying it. It’s a delightful dish!

Ingredients for 2

• 2 medium size potatoes
• 2 medium size artichokes
• 1 heirloom tomato, peeled, seedless and diced
• 2 tbs butter, melted
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 2 tbs white wine
• 1 tbs balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbs chives, chopped
• juice of two lemons (1 for the artichokes, 1 for the salmon)
• Fish fumet (or broth) (1 tomato, 1 branch celeri, 1/2 leek, thyme, basil)
• 1 small salmon fillet (would be enough for 4)

For the parsley jus

• 1/2 bunch Italian parsley
• 1/2 cup vegetable broth
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• salt and pepper (if needed)

Preparation

For the parsley jus

Bring 1/2 cup of broth to a boil, add parsley and cook for 30 seconds, remove from the pot and pat dry. In a blender, mix parsley with broth to make it into a very fine mixture. Remove from blender into a bowl, add 1 tbs olive oil, 1 tsp lemon juice, salt and pepper if needed.

For the millefeuille

Start preparing the potatoes. With a mandolin, slice potatoes, pat them dry. In a small ramequin or round silicon mold of about 3 inches diameter, place slices one on top of the other. Using a brush, spread some melted butter on top and sprinkle with rock salt. Cover with a silpat (silicon sheet) if using the silicon molds or with aluminum paper if using a ceramic ramequin. Also if using a ramequin, it needs to be greased first or the potatoes will stick on the surface. Cook in a pre-heated oven at 375F for about 30 minutes.

While the potatoes are cooking, trim the artichokes, cut the hard green leaves around the artichokes and the top, cut them in quarters then in small slices. Squeeze lemon juice to prevent them from staining. Heat olive oil in a pan, add garlic, stir, then add artichokes and wine. adjust with salt and pepper, cover and cook until the artichokes are tender.

Add tomatoes to the artichokes, cook for a few minutes, then add vinegar. Stir well and let the mixture cook for a few additional minutes. Add chives.

Poach salmon in fish fumet for about 15 minutes. Drain and using a fork, break salmon into small pieces. Add lemon juice, chives, salt and pepper

Assemble millefeuille. In a plate, place one potato piece, add one layer of artichokes, then add salmon. Proceed with another potato piece, artichokes and salmon. Sprinkle with parsley jus and serve some extra on the side.