I have made chicken bastilla quite often but never with shrimps. Originally, I was thinking of a vegetarian version, then I thought shrimps would be a good idea. Bastilla is a Moroccan dish usually filled with meat or fish/seafood and wrapped in filo dough, topped with almonds and cinnamon.

The base is of the chicken bastilla, then the difference is that I didn’t use cinnamon nor sugar. I didn’t think it would go well with shrimps, beside I am not a fan of cinnamon. I made a layer of spinach with preserved lemons and kalamata olives, topped with shrimps, and I loved it. This became my favorite thing to make for the moment.

Ingredients for a bastilla (2 people)

For the shrimps mixture

• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1/2 medium yellow onion
• 1 tsp ginger, grated
• 1 lb shrimps, peeled and deveined
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 tbs cilantro, chopped
• 1/4 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp ground coriander
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• 1 saffron dose, dissolved in 2 tbs hot broth
• salt and pepper
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 4-6 sheets of whole wheat filo dough (or regular filo dough)
• butter, melted
• 2 tbs silvered almonds, toasted

For the spinach mixture

• 1 tbs olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 cups baby spinach
• 10-15 kalamata olives, chopped
• 2 small preserved lemon (or one large), rinsed and minced
• salt and pepper

Preparation

For the shrimp mixture

Heat olive oil in a pan, add onions and cook a few minutes (do not brown) add ginger and cook a few extra minutes. Add shrimps, stir until they turn a little pink but not cooked. Add cumin, coriander, paprika, garlic, cilantro and saffron. Sir well and let it cook until the mixture is cooked and water evaporated. Add egg and cook well. Adjust with salt and pepper and remove from heat.

For the spinach

Heat olive oil in a pan. Add garlic and stir until fragrant. Add spinach, salt and pepper. Cook stirring until spinach is wilted. Squeeze excess water with your hands. Add lemon and olive and mix well.

In two round pans of about 10 cm diameter, coat bottom and sides of pan using a brush. Cut filo dough sheets lengthwise and place those 2 strips of dough at bottom of the pan in a way that the border of the dough shifts to one side. Brush with more butter. Proceed three more times. Sprinkle toasted almonds. Add the last layer of dough.

Place spinach at the bottom, spreading evenly. Add shrimp mixture and start covering the shrimps folding the filo dough edges on top of the shrimps. Brush with butter at each stage of the folding process. Brush again the last sheet of dough.

Sprinkle almonds on top and cook on a pre heated oven at 375F until golden brown.

I am not sure how this recipe was made alive, I kept looking at my two packs of polenta, thinking I need to use them at some point. I love polenta, I just never think of making it. It’s one of those things that you need to have it in your pantry but then, in the pantry it remains. I grew up eating the traditional polenta from Marche region in Italy, the way my mom used to make it, with tomato-rabbit sauce. It was delicious but a little too stuffy.

Polenta has many uses and is quite a versatile ingredient. You can make sweet cakes, or use it as a thickening agent, or anything you like.

I used almond milk in this recipe, the natural kind which contains only almonds and water, and no thickening agents and flavors.

This is a simple dish, enhanced by the sweet pepper coulis. A perfect dish for a hearty lunch for one of those muggy days in the city. This pepper coulis could be the base of pesto, but I didn’t add any parmesan nor nuts so it has a smoother texture and more liquid.

Ingredients for 3-4 cakes

For the cakes

• 300 g baby spinach
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup natural almond milk
• 6 oz (or 170 g) express polenta
• 3 tbs feta, crumbled + 2 tbs
• 1 tbs mixed herbs, chopped
• salt and pepper

For the pepper coulis

• 2 red bell peppers
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1/4 tsp cumin powder
• 1/4 tsp piment d’espelette
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 2 tbs basil
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• salt and pepper

Preparation

For the cakes

Preheat oven at 380F.

Heat non stick pot, add spinach and cook until wilted. Remove from pot, squeeze water and chop roughly.

In a mixing container, combine milk and eggs and beat well. Add spinach, onion and polenta. Add crumble feta and herbs. Adjust with salt and pepper and mix well.

Using silicon molds (about 8 cm each) or non stick mini pans, divide the mixture in each container.

Bake in the oven for about 20-25 minutes until the top gets golden.

Serve hot with pepper coulis.

For the pepper coulis

Roast peppers under broiler until the skin gets burnt on all sides. Remove from oven and let it cool in a plastic bag.

Remove the peel and seeds.

Add all ingredients in a mixer and mix to a smooth texture.

I love soups and can eat them every day for one month, or I hate soup and cannot eat them for one month. We have a love/hate relationship depending on the moment. As we say in French “c’est tout ou rien!”  (it’s either everything, or nothing).

Obviously I am on my soup month and since romanesco are back on the shelves, it would be too bad not to use them. Romanesco is from the cauliflower family and originated in Italy. It can be prepared like cauliflower or broccoli and I find it quite delicious.

This soup is filled with greens, topped with smoked salmon, so a nutritious and light dish and a whole meal in itself. I blended half the soup and kept some vegetables that I mixed with it at the end, to get some velvety texture combined with chunks.

I added some crème fraîche at the end but this is optional. Crème fraîche acidity goes well with smoked salmon and adds a little finished touch. But if you want to keep it dairy free, skip the cream.

Ingredients for 4

• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 romanesco, cut in florets
• 1.2 cups, diced in quarters
• 2 cups baby spinach
• vegetable broth (enough to cover the vegetables)
• salt and pepper
• smoked salmon, shredded
• crème fraîche (optional)

Preparation

In a large pot heat olive oil, add onion and cumin. Let cook stirring for a few minutes, until onion is translucent and cumin fragrant. Add the vegetables except for the spinach, and the broth. Adjust with salt and pepper.

When the vegetables are cooked, add spinach and let cook for another 5 minutes, until wilted but still green.

Remove soup from heat and remove two ladles of vegetables from the pot, draining the broth and set vegetables aside.

If there is too much broth in the pot, get rid of some otherwise the soup will be too watery. Using an immersion blender, blend soup to obtain a smooth texture. Add the vegetables you have put aside to the soup. Mix well.

Serve soup in plates, top with salmon and add some cream around. Sprinkle with some chopped spinach and serve hot.

]]> http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2015/03/romanesco-soup-with-brussels-sprouts-and-spinach-topped-with-smoked-salmon/feed/ 0 http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2014/06/smoke-salmon-broccoli-puree-and-spinach-timbale-dill-sauce/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=smoke-salmon-broccoli-puree-and-spinach-timbale-dill-sauce http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2014/06/smoke-salmon-broccoli-puree-and-spinach-timbale-dill-sauce/#comments Thu, 05 Jun 2014 22:14:18 +0000 silvia http://www.citronetvanille.com/blog/?p=16530 Timbale de purée de brocoli, épinards et saumon fumé, sauce aneth

I had some broccoli that I needed to use, and I did not feel like eating them in pieces, so I figured if I made purée, what else could I combine them with. One thing led to one other and one thought led to one other, so here it is, a little timbale as we call it in French. In the culinary world it’s a deep and tall mold, and any preparation that has been mounted this way can be called timbale.

If you are in the mood for some greens, and a little salmon, this could be it. Believe it or not, this is an express dish, that is done in 30 minutes, so it’s always something to consider when your time is limited in the kitchen like most working people.

You can use baby kale instead of spinach, or any leafy green you like and use cauliflower instead of broccoli. This can be served as an appetizer or entrée for a light meal.

Ingredients for 4 people

• 200 g cooked smoked salmon, shredded
• 4 cups broccoli florets
• 1 tbs olive oil + 1 tsp
• 2 garlic gloves, crushed
• 1 bag of baby spinach or baby kale
• salt and pepper

For the dill sauce

• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 shallot, chopped
• 1 glass dry white wine
• fish fumet
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tbs dill, chopped
• 2 tb crème fraîche

 Preparation

Start by making the sauce. Heat olive oil in a small pot, add shallots and soften for about 2 minutes. Add wine and fumet and reduce for about 5-7 minutes. Add lemon juice, dill and crème fraîche.

Bring large pot of salted water to a boil. Add broccoli and cook until tender. Drain well and mash using a potato masher. Adjust with salt and pepper and a little olive oil. Keep warm.

In a large pot, heat olive oil and add garlic crushed. Stir to get the flavor out, then add greens at high temperature until wilted. Adjust with salt and pepper. Keep warm

Using a rind, mount in a plate by starting first with some broccoli purée at the bottom. Add spinach, then salmon, then proceed with another layer and end with the salmon.

Place some dill sauce around and serve hot or warm.

]]> http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2014/06/smoke-salmon-broccoli-puree-and-spinach-timbale-dill-sauce/feed/ 0 http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2014/02/pea-and-spinach-soup-with-mint-poached-egg/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=pea-and-spinach-soup-with-mint-poached-egg http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2014/02/pea-and-spinach-soup-with-mint-poached-egg/#comments Sat, 01 Feb 2014 03:07:10 +0000 silvia http://www.citronetvanille.com/blog/?p=16359 Soupe de pois frais et épinards à la menthe et oeuf poché

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.

It’s seems like a long time since I prepared a savory dish with coconut or vanilla, but lately I have been thinking about vanilla and spices, so I guess I am ready to take a little vacation in the tropics. Anytime summer comes, I just want to pack my bags and go somewhere. My yearly trips to France are not really a vacation, it’s more like family time with everything that it implies. Going home to the city I grew up in is always a great pleasure, but does not make me feel I am on vacation. I think I want to go in a country where I don’t understand the language and feel completely “depaysée” (in a new world), discover new flavors, scents and feel new emotions.

My friend Laurent offered me a book called “La Bonne Cuisine Végétarienne de Babette“, a wonderful vegetarian book written by a French Créole chef, Babette De Rozières, where she presents recipes with a créole flair using tropical ingredients. Her cuisine if full of colors, sunny and vibrant like the islands. After I finished reading that book, I just wanted vanilla…everything needed to be vanilla.

Vanilla blends well with fish and poultry too, one aspect of vanilla is that it’s very delicate, and not strong nor overpowering, unless of course you use a lot of it. It’s better not to add too many other spices or flavors with vanilla, because it’s so delicate that strong spices will kill it subtle flavor.

You can substitute the spinach with some more exotic greens and use yams instead of the sweet potatoes. I used sweet potatoes and coconut, to complete the dish, and I really liked it. It’s fast to prepare as well, so nothing to complain about. Depending on the length of your vanilla beans and size of your shrimps, you might add more than two shrimps on the vanilla bean. My shrimps were quite large so only two fitted.

Ingredients for 4

For the shrimps marinade

• 12 shrimps
• zest of 1 lime
• juice of 1 lime
• 1 vanilla bean scraped
• 4 vanilla beans
• 1 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper

For the spinach

• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 shallot, finely sliced
• 1 lb baby spinach
• salt and pepper

For the potatoes

• 2 large potatoes, peeled and sliced 1 cm thick
• 1 tsp cider vinegar
• 1 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper

For the sauce

• 1.5 tsp butter
• the rest of the marinade
• 1/2 tsp cider vinegar (optional)
• 1/2 tsp honey
• 2-3 tbs coconut milk

Preparation

Place two or three shrimps in the vanilla bean. Mix all the ingredients of the marinade and pour on top of the shrimps. Place in a container and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

Coat potato slices with oil, vinegar, salt and pepper and broil in the oven until tender in the middle and golden brown on the outside. Keep warm.

Heat olive oil in a large pot, add shallot, let it sweat, then spinach, salt and pepper and keep stirring at high heat until wilted.

Melt butter in a pan. Add shrimps (removing excess marinade) and let them cook at medium heat, add marinade, stir well. Remove shrimps. Deglaze with vinegar, add honey and coconut milk. Let the sauce reduce a little.

Place two slices of potatoes in a place,  top them with spinach, then shrimps. Spoon sauce on top and serve hot.

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.

You can really tell someone is Italian by the quantity of pasta they eat…my family eats pasta almost every day…unlike me…I eat it once in a while, which can be a good reason to question my Italian nationality, let’s hope they don’t come and take away my Italian passport!! Oh well, I guess I am not much of a habit type of a person and that habits somehow disturb me and can give me anxiety. Some people find comfort in habits, in my case it’s the opposite.

Everyone knows pesto which a famous paste made out with raw ingredients, that traveled beyond many borders. Of course there are many recipes for pesto using different ingredients and herbs. This particular pesto is called alla Trapanese, meaning Trapano style, after Trapano, a city in Sicily. This pesto is made with almonds and raw tomatoes ; you get a very fresh and light sauce which makes it so delicious.

To transform the pasta and make it into a fun and original mixture, I love to flavor the dough with vegetables or herbs. You can add anything you want, saffron, mushrooms, tomato paste, broccoli, etc…and  color your plate and pleasure your eyes and palate!

If you want to keep this dish vegan don’t add the yolk in the pasta, it will turn out fine, and don’t add pecorino, and you’ll get an absolutely delicious vegan pasta dish.

Ingredients for 2

For the pasta

• 100 g semolina flour
• 100 g farro flour
• 100 g spinach, cooked (about one bunch spinach raw)
• 1 egg yolk

For the pesto

• 3 well ripe tomatoes, peeled and seedless
• about 20 basil leaves
• 2 garlic cloves
• 4 tbs almonds
• 6 tbs olive oil
• 4 tbs pecorino
• salt and pepper

Preparation

For the pesto

Pat dry peeled and seedless tomatoes to remove excess water. Using a mortar, blend all together together (except for pecorino) into a fine paste. Set aside. You can use a mixer but make sure not to blend the mixture into extra fine paste, you want some texture.

For the pasta

Combine all flours together in a mixing container. Add purée spinach and yolk, and start kneading the dough thoroughly for about 20-30 minutes. At this point, the dough will be elastic and smooth.

On a large wooden board (spianatoia), with a pasta rolling pin, make a thin sheet. You can use a pasta machine if you have one and not used to rolling pasta sheets.

Cook pasta in boiling water for a few minutes, drain and toss with pesto. Add pecorino and serve hot.

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.

I am not sure where I had this for the first time…maybe in Boston (since I lived there at some point in my life before moving to San Francisco) at a Slovenian’s friend’s house… or maybe not. I know it has something to do with New England, even though has nothing to do with New England’s cuisine in terms of flavors. I love this salad, it’s pungent, fresh, citrusy and has a very unique flavor due to candied ginger. I never had candied ginger other than in Japanese restaurants and served with sushi but it goes perfectly with sweet potatoes, as surprising as it may sound.

I think I tend to deviate more towards a vegan diet still using dairy and eggs (so I guess technically, it’s not vegan). I have not been enjoying eating fish either lately, and I have no idea why this is happening, maybe this has something to do with my horrible allergies and stuffed head. I prepared a beautiful trout dish last night since a friend came over for dinner, and could not enjoy it. Let’s hope this is just temporary, I want to be able to enjoy fish again! In the meantime, let’s go vegan!

What I love about this salad is the contrast in flavors and textures between the warm grilled potatoes and the cold spinach salad. The orange juice in the dressing enhances the natural sweetness of the potato and along with the garlic, really adds a very refreshing sensation at the first bite. This is not French, nor Italian, nor Mediterranean, but it’s really delicious, besides the grilled potato gives a little sweet finish to the dish!

Ingredients for 2

• 1 medium size sweet potato, peeled and sliced
• 1 cup baby spinach
• 2 tbs olive oil
• juice of one blood orange
• 2 tsp rice vinegar
• 1 scallion, chopped
• a few walnut, chopped
• 1 tsp candied ginger, chopped roughly
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Coat potatoes with some olive oil and vinegar, salt and pepper, then broil in the oven. When one side is golden brown, turn the other side and let it broil until it turns golden brown.

For the vinaigrette, mix all ingredients together (except the spinach).

Place spinach in one plate, then add nicely the potatoes on top and sprinkle with vinaigrette.

You can serve the potatoes hot, warm or cold to your preference.