I am going back to my phase of vegan cuisine. Once in a while I just want to eat plants only, it makes me happy. I usually do have an 85% plant based diet, but I want to be 100% plant based for a couple of months. I am leaving fro France next Monday and looking forward to discovering some new products while I am there.

I was browsing through my vegan cookbooks and one of my favorite is called “Great Chefs Cook Vegan” and I found an inspiring recipe from Jason Cunnigham from which I had made quite a bit of changes to the original recipe, but kept the essence of the dish.

I found those delicious green tea brown rice noodles that are very easy to prepare, you don’t have to cook them, just soak them in hot water for a bit and the trick is done. You could easily substitute the noodles by brown rice if you prefer, but I love the chewiness of brown rice noodles, so for me no substitution is needed.

I discovered this particular red seaweed called dulse (or sea lettuce). It is very nutritious, has high protein content and contains lots of fibers and mineral (like most seaweeds). When saute in a pan, it gets crunchy and tends to develop a bacon-like flavor and quite tasty. I like to use it as a topping on tofu or salads or vegetables.

Ingredients for 4

For the tofu and eggplant

• 2 packages extra firm tofu (about 8oz), cut into 1/2 thick slices
• 1 large eggplant, cut into 1/2 thick slices (same size as tofu)
• salt
• 1/2 cup reduced salt soy sauce
• 1/3 cup sesame oil
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 1 tbs grated ginger

For Coconut emulsion

• 1 tbs sunflower oil
• 1/4 cup onion, finely minced
• 1 garlic clove, chopped
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• 1 lemongrass stalk (end only), finely minced
• 1 tsp red curry powder or madras curry
• 1/4 cup vegetable stock
• 1 can unsweetened coconut milk
• salt

For the mushrooms, romanesco and noodles

• 200 g brown rice noodles
• 1 tbs sunflower oil
• 1 shallot, finely minced
• 1 romanesco
• 1.5 cups wild mixed mushrooms (shiitake, enoki, etc…)
• 2 tbs mirin
• salt

Preparation

For the eggplant and tofu

Drain tofu and pat dry with a paper towel to remove excess water. Sprinkle salt on eggplant slices and let sit for one hour until it releases water. Rinse and pat dry.

In a mixing bowl combine say sauce, sesame oil, vinegar and ginger and mix well.

In a deep tray, place tofu and eggplant. Take 3/4 of the above marinade and pour over tofu and eggplant. Coat well and marinate for about one hour.

For the coconut curry émulsion

Heat oil in a small pot and saute onions. Add garlic, ginger and lemongrass and cook 3 minutes at medium heat. Add curry powder and stir for about 3 more minutes. make sure not to burn the curry. Add broth and cook until the mixture has reduced. Add coconut milk, simmer for about 5 min, then remove from heat.

Blend mixture in a blender until smooth texture. Strain the sauce and return to stove with low heat. Add salt and keep warm.

To make the crispy dulse, saute in a pan with olive oil until crunchy. Make sure not to burn it or it will get bitter.

For the noodles

Soak noodles in hot water for 10 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water. Toss with left marinade from tofu.

For the mushrooms and romanesco

In a pan saute shallot in vegetable oil, add mushrooms and romanesco. Add 2 tbs mirin and simmer with lid until the water evaporates and romanesco cooked all the way through but still firm.

Today I am celebrating zucchini, this vegetable that is quite considered ordinary, with not a lot of character. It’s its day of glory (son jour de gloire) and it’s well deserved. By dressing it up a bit, you can make delightful little meals with it. Zucchini is naturally bland, so like any other bland ingredient, it absorbs the flavor of whatever you are combining it with.

I love the simplicity of this dish, yet with character. Thinking about it, I love simple things with character and that is true for people I like in general too. In my opinion is if you add too many powerful ingredients to a dish, it tends to lose the true nature of its key ingredient, then it’s confusion for your palate.

The interesting part of this dish is that you have cooked zucchini in small pieces in the farro, then puree zucchini which has such a velvety texture, then raw and marinated zucchini for a more crunchy bite. I love all the contrasts you get with these three kinds of preparations.

As far as farro is concerned, I used Italian farro instead of the domestic one. I find it easier to cook, and it remains a little softer. You can substitute barley to farro. If you want to keep it vegan, don’t add the parmesan.

For 4 people

For the cream of zucchini

Cook zucchini in vegetable broth until tender. Add thyme and cook for an extra 5 minutes. Adjust with salt and pepper. Blend in mixer and add more broth if it’s too thick.

For the farro

• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 shallot, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 zucchini, finely diced
• 1 handful of shitakee, chopped
• 3 tbs peas
• 2 tbs dry white wine
• salt and pepper

For the cream of zucchini

• 1/2 cup of vegetable broth
• 4 zucchini, peeled and cut in pieces
• 1 tsp fresh thyme
• salt and pepper

For the zucchini ribbons

• 1 zucchini
• 1 tsp olive oil
• juice of 1 meyer lemon
• 1 tbs basil, finely chopped
• salt and pepper
• shaved parmesan

Preparation

For the zucchini ribbons

Using a potato peeler, form stripes going from one end of the zucchini to the other end. Place in a bowl and add olive oil, lemon juice and basil. Marinate for about one hour. When ready to use, add salt and pepper.

For the cream of zucchini

Cook zucchini in vegetable broth until tender. Add thyme and cook for an extra 5 minutes. Adjust with salt and pepper. Blend in mixer and add more broth if it’s too thick.

For the farro

Cook farro in vegetable broth until cooked. Drain and set aside.

Heat olive oil in a pan. Add shallots and onions and let cook a few minutes until fragrant. Add zucchini, mushrooms and peas. Adjust with salt and pepper. Cover with lid and cook until the vegetables are soft. Add farro to the vegetable mixture. Cook for about 5 minutes. Add 2-3 tbs of cream of zucchini, mix well and keep warm.

In a plate, using a rind, place some cream of zucchini first around the rind. Then add a few tbs of farro in the rind. Pressing so that the shape does not collapse. Add zucchini ribbons on top with shaved parmesan.

I am a heavy smoker of those cigarettes! The excitement is more related to the feuilles de brick (the wrapping sheets, literally translated into “sheet brick”) than to those cigarettes themselves. I used to bring feuilles de brick from France anytime I went there, just because I cannot find them in the US. Strangely enough, no store carries them (even though feuilles de brick are Middle Eastern), not even the Middle Eastern stores. Most people here use filo dough instead or won ton wrappers, which are very different.

I love feuilles de brick just because they are not as fragile as filo dough and the texture is much more pleasant, the “crunch” is very different. You can check more recipe here with feuille de brick.

Now my frustration ended, thanks to Laurent and his “Gourmet and More” Epicerie he opened in San Francisco, in Hayes Valley. Whoever lives in the city has to go to Gourmet and More if they’re into real French products (not imitation). They even have a “cheese room” where they cut the cheese for you, yes! you have “Fromage à la coupe“, like in France, and not wrapped in plastic like at Whole Foods or most stores. They sell boudin noir, boudin blanc, saucisse de Toulouse, de lapin, rillettes, crozet (pasta specialty from Savoie), many olive oil, teas, etc… a heaven for French people or those who like French products.

Anyway, those cigarettes are filled with leeks, shrimps and mushrooms and baked in the oven. You can also fried the cigarettes in a pan with oil but I prefer to bake them to make them lighter and not as oilier. You can fill them with whatever you like and served with a simple green salad as an appetizer or light lunch, they’re delightful.

Don’t forget, if you are rooming around San Francisco one of those days, drop by “Gourmet and More“, say Bonjour to Laurent and Josiane (his wife), get some cheese…and some feuilles de brick!

Ingredients for 4 cigarettes

• 1 tbs olive oil + 1 tsp for basting
• 1 shallot, chopped
• 1 leek, chopped
• 6 large shiitake, finely diced
• 20 medium shrimps, cut finely
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 tbs crème fraîche
• 1 tbs chives, chopped finely
• 4 feuilles de brick
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Heat olive oil in a pan, add shallots and cook them for a few minutes until soft. Add leeks and shiitake, cover and cook at medium heat until the vegetables are cooked and the water evaporated. Add shrimps and cook for a few minutes. Adjust with salt and pepper. Add garlic and stir well. Add crème fraîche and cook until the cream has thickened and reduced (no liquid in the pan). Add chives and mix well.

Place about 3 tbs of mixture in a feuille de brick and roll in order to form cylinders, like you would do to make egg rolls.

Baste with some olive oil. Pre-heat oven at 370F and bake for about 20 minutes or until all the sides are golden brown and crunchy. Serve hot on a beg of green mâche or peppery salad.

]]> http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2012/08/do-you-smoke-cigarettes-with-leeks-shrimps-and-shiitake/feed/ 3 http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2011/11/oeuf-cocotte-with-spinach-shiitakee-prosciutto-and-truffle-oil/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=oeuf-cocotte-with-spinach-shiitakee-prosciutto-and-truffle-oil http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2011/11/oeuf-cocotte-with-spinach-shiitakee-prosciutto-and-truffle-oil/#comments Sun, 13 Nov 2011 19:07:01 +0000 silvia http://www.citronetvanille.com/blog/?p=13670 Oeufs cocotte aux épinards, shiitake, jambon de parme et huile de truffe noire

I cooked a dinner last week for a lovely couple who wanted their dinner theme to be white Alba truffles. Out of six courses, three had truffles in it. The smell brought me back to my childhood….My father used to go look for truffles with his dog and brought home a lot of those delicious mushrooms. He was often complaining that his dog Bobi, would find the truffles, but then would eat them too. Italians are crazy for truffles and of course enjoy them as often as they can. In France the most popular truffle is the black truffle from Périgord region.

The French say their black truffles from Périgord are the best and Italians claim their white truffle from Alba in Piedmont are the absolute best…so one thing I know is that in the US white Alba truffles are as expensive as gold. Their price fluctuates daily and the price per ounce is outrageous, but what makes the price is supply and demand, so I guess they’re just high in demand and according to the weather conditions in their flavor changes dramatically.

I bought fleur de sel with black truffle that enhances many dishes, and go perfectly with egg, creamy dishes, pasta, etc…

These oeufs cocotte are fairly easy, do not require specific culinary skills, and are quick to make, so they’re perfect for a light elegant lunch. Here there are two eggs for a more substantial meal or as a main course.

Ingredients for 2 people

• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 shallot, chopped
• 1 cup of cooked spinach
• 1 cup shiitake
• 2 tbs crème fraîche
• 4 eggs (2 each)
• 2 slices prosciutto, roughly diced
• truffle salt
• truffle oil
• pepper

Preparation

Saute shallot in olive oil. Add cooked chopped spinach, add a little salt and pepper.  Stir well for a few minutes, then set aside. In the same pan, saute shiitake until the water evaporates, and mushrooms are soft. Set aside. In two individual ramequins, divide spinach, then shiitake. Add 1 tbs crème fraîche on each ramequin. Add prosciutto, then eggs and sprinkle with truffle salt and a little truffle oil, then pepper.

Cook for about 7 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 380F. Don’t over cook the eggs, remove them from the oven when the whites are still a little runny, they will continue cooking when out of the oven. Serve hot with some toasted baguette.

After a gloomy weekend with a terrible migraine, that immobilized me for few days in bed, I decided that I wanted to start the week as best as I could, and of course, when you cannot eat for a few days, the day you are back on your feet, you are starving. The great thing is that my fridge was filled with lots of various ingredients, so I had everything to make this delightful and vegetarian dish…without going to the store.

Polenta is quite a popular meal in Northern Italy, and they consume it as the French eat baguette. They grow lots of corn and they eat what they grow…so polenta is often on the table, and I have seen mainly the white kind, it’s thick, sliced like bread, and eaten as accompaniment to many cold cuts and radicchio (that’s the way I have eaten it at our friend’s place in Friuli). In Lombardia region (Milan), they eat it boiled with milk and at my parents, it’s prepared with a tomato and rabbit sauce, so to each region its own. No matter how you prepare it, polenta is always a delicious and nutritious meal to enjoy.

For this dish, you need as many different kinds of wild mushrooms as you can…I used morels, chanterelles, king oyster, beech mushrooms and shiitake, they bring a wonderful woodsy and nutty aroma to the fragrant polenta infused in rosemary broth. The polenta remains creamy and soft especially if you add mascarpone, and blends perfectly well with the crunchy texture of the mushrooms and smooth tomato coulis. The whole dish is a harmonious balance of sensations.

For the polenta, I used the fine grind, the coarse grind remains too grainy and is less delicate at the bite. Also, there are two kinds of polenta, the express one and the regular one. I always keep both in my pantry and depending on the time I have, I use either one. Polenta express cooks in 10 minutes whereas the regular one takes over one hour. Usually to make polenta crostini I use the express one, but for polenta-based dishes like this one, I use regular polenta.

Ingredients for 2-3

For the polenta

• 1/2 lb (or 200-250 g) fine polenta
• 1 tbs rosemary, chopped
• 2 tbs fresh parmigiano reggiano, grated
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 1 tbs mascarpone (optional)
  

For the sauté mushrooms

• 1/2 lb mixed wild mushrooms such as morels, king oyster, beech, chanterelles, shiitake, etc… mushrooms, washed and roughly cut
• 1 shallot, diced
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 3 tbs dry white wine
• 2 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper

For the tomato coulis

• 3 large ripe tomatoes, seedless and peeled
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 tsp oregano, chopped
• cayenne pepper
• 1 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper

Preparation

For the polenta

Bring broth to a boil, add rosemary, then add polenta gradually, stir and keep stirring until the polenta is cooked and has reached a semi-thick texture. Cooking time depends on which type of polenta you use. When the polenta is cooked, add parmesan and stir well. Add mascarpone at this time of process if you decide you want to add it.

For the mushrooms

Wash mushrooms. Pat them dry to remove excess water, and cut oyster king and morels (if too big) into about one inch pieces. Heat olive oil in a pan, then add shallots. Brown shallots and add mushrooms. Saute mushrooms and cook until the water is half evaporated then add wine salt and pepper. Stir well, let the wine reduce then add garlic. Cook for a few minutes, then remove from heat and keep warm.

For the tomato coulis

Heat olive oil in a pan, add garlic and stir to get the flavor out. Add oregano, tomatoes, cayenne, salt and pepper. Stir well and cook until the tomatoes have reduced. Mix the tomatoes using an immersion blender, then pass it through a sieve to obtain a smooth coulis.

Serve soft polenta in the center of the plate, place mushrooms around it, and end with tomato coulis.

Other names for dandelion or dente di leone, or even tarassaco, piscialetto (pee in bed) in Italian, pissenlit, dent de lion in French – that wonderful bitter green that grows into a beautiful yellow flower. As much as I love risotto, I rarely make it, probably because I never really developed a great relationship with rice. My mom would make seafood risotto or beans and rice once in a while but pasta was the most common dish. “Risotti” are Northern Italian dishes therefore not that popular in Central Italy, even though nowadays its popularity spread out beyond the Northern limits.

I am someone who eats about everything, thinking about it, I don’t think there is an ingredient I don’t eat…maybe one, yes one…sea cucumbers I ordered at a Chinese restaurant. I had no idea what it was exactly, I thought it was that long mollusk I have seen on some TV show (the guy who eats weird food) and that I thought I would eventually like. Well I was wrong, sea cucumber is something in between pork skin and jelly with a fish flavor, so I had to leave it on the table.

The world of risotto is so vast, and this is one version among others, you can explore it to the infinite, I will definitely play with it more often. I like mine colorful, creamy and velvety, one bite should slide in your palate like a caress. You can serve it on the runny side or on the thicker side (I kept mine a little thicker than usual because of the greens), but it cannot lose its creaminess which is the trickiest part for a great risotto.

The saffron adds a very nice pungent and refined flavor, and color too. The golden yellow color was so intense in the plate, contrasting beautifully with the greens…the more color, the better, but not any color…just the matching ones. I do believe in the aesthetic beauty of a dish, after all you devours it with the eyes first.

Ingredients for 2-3

• 7 oz (or 200 g) arborio rice
• 1 shallot
• 1 tbs butter (or olive oil)
• I dose saffron, infused in hot broth
• 1 cup white wine
• 2.5 cups or more vegetable broth
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1/2 bunch dandelions, washed and cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 cup baby spinach
• 8 medium size shiitake mushrooms, cut in small pieces
• 2 tbs parmigiano reggiano, freshly grated
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Heat olive oil or melt butter in a pot, add shallot and brown it. Add rice, stir a few minutes to coat it with the oil. Add wine and increase heat to make the wine evaporate faster. Reduce heat, then add broth gradually.

In the meantime, in a pan, heat 1 tsp olive oil, add garlic and saute dandelions and spinach, saute until tender, adjust with salt and pepper. Remove from pan. Using the same pan, saute shiitake mushrooms in a little olive oil and garlic, salt and pepper. Keep hot.

When the rice is cooked, add parmesan cheese, and fold in the vegetables. Serve hot.