Time flies and my trip back home is sadly over. As years go by, it’s more difficult to be far away from my friends and family, probably because as you grow older, you realize what the essential in a lifetime is.

The good thing is that I am back to San Francisco with lots of new ideas. My layover this time was over 4 hours in beautiful Island. The airport is small but the quality of the stores is amazing as everything else in Island. I have used all my fancy Islandic salts from my previous trip, and lucky me, they had more for sale at the airport. This time I bought some grey lava salt with Islandic herbs.

I am still on my vegan diet and experiments and I love it. Even though France has a history and a culture of meat eaters, over the years it’s easier to find more and more vegetarian and vegan options.

This dish was inspired by my boring 8 hours flight from Reykjavik to San Francisco with nothing else to read and no other distraction than my magazines and meditation books! Believe it or not this is an express dish that is ready in less than 30 minutes, so something to keep handy when you have unexpected guests. For the salt substitute you can use any grainy salt like fleur de sel or anything with a crunchy bite.

The citrussy vinaigrette enhanced by ginger adds a wonderful touch to the zucchini. You will love this simple dish with bold yet smooth flavors.

Ingredients for 3-4

For the yams and avocado tartine

• 2 medium sized yams, peeled lengthwise and cut into 1 cm slices
• olive oil for drizzling
• salt and pepper
• 4 medium ripe avocado
• zest of 1 lime
• juice of 1 lime
• 1 tbs red onion, finely diced
• Islandic grey lava salt with thyme or fleur de sel
• avocado oil for drizzling

For the zucchini tagliatelle

• 3 zucchini
• 1 cup edamame
• 3 tbs olive oil
• 1 tbs tangerine vinegar
• 1 tbs tangerine juice
• 1 tbs chives, chopped
• 1/2 tsp fresh ginger, grated
• 1/2 tsp agave nectar
• salt

Preparation

For the yams

In a large tray, place yam slices and drizzle with olive salt, salt and pepper. Broil in the oven on both sides for about 10 minutes. The yams need to be tender but still firm, in order that they won’t break when handling them. Keep warm.

In a mixing bowl, scoop avocado flesh and mash with a fork. Keep some texture and do not mash to thinly. Add onion, lime. Keep avocado oil and lava salt for the end to drizzle.

For the zucchini/edamame

Form ribbons with zucchini using a spiral slicer or alternatively a julienne slicer, add edamame. In a mixing bowl, mix all vinaigrette ingredients. Pour vinaigrette on top of zucchini/edamame mixture and mix well.

Place some zucchini ribbons on a plate. Add one slice of yams and top it with avocado mash. sprinkle with avocado oil and lava salt.

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 have been wanting to eat this for a long time, but salt cod is not always easy to find and not all the stores carry it. Fortunately Berkeley Bowl does…unfortunately it’s not of a great quality. I am used of thick and very dry salt cod pieces sold in markets in France or Italy. The one I have found here, is more like fresh fish in which salt has been added and is found in the refrigerated section of some supermarkets. I have to figure out why they store in the refrigerator, since salt is a natural preservative.

Anyway, Brandade de morue, is a fish specialty from the city of Nîmes, in the Gard region, in the South of France…some other versions are seen in Pays Basque and Charente regions as well. It seems like the most authentic brandade does not have potatoes in it, just salt cod, olive oil, milk and garlic. Then the ingredients should be crushed using a mortar. Nowadays, you see a lot of recipes with potatoes in it, and most people do use potatoes, or cream or parsley. Morue parmentière is another derivative and does contain potatoes and is gratinée in the oven (but NEVER EVER with cheese on top, that would be a sacrilège!).

This version has potatoes and was not gratinée in the oven. I wanted to display it on top of zucchini ribbons and putting it in the oven would have been a problem for this presentation. You could place it in some clay ramequins and brown it in the oven and serve it in the dish. I don’t like to serve it with toasted bread since there are potatoes in it, so that would be too much starch.

For the milk quantity, I am afraid I did not measure it. I decided to use my “bon jugement” (good judgment) and went with what I thought would be enough, so you need to obtain a nice smooth texture, but not too thick. Usually, since cod is salted, you might not need to add any, but taste first.

Ingredients for 4

For the brandade

• 2 lbs (or 900 g) salt cod
• 0.9 lb (or 400 g) potatoes
• 1 laurel leaf
• 1 thyme leaf
• milk (approximately 1/2 cup)
• 5 tbs olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• pepper

For the zucchini ribbons

• 4 zucchini
• 1 tbs Meyer lemon oil
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• Fleur de sel
• Pepper

Preparation

For the brandade

Soak cod in cold water for about 24 hours, changing water approximately 3 to 4 times. Simmer cod in water with laurel and thyme for about 10 minutes or until the fish is cooked. Drain, let cool and using your finger start taking the fish apart in small pieces. In the meantime, peel potatoes and boil in water for about 15 minutes until the potatoes are soft. Drain and crush using a potato masher.

Mix cod and potatoes in a pot and using a wooden spoon or whip stir vigorously, add garlic, milk and olive oil gradually, still stirring, the mixture needs to be smooth.

For the zucchini

Using a potato peeler, make ribbons. Combine all other ingredients together except for the fleur de sel and marinate for about 20 minutes or more. When ready to serve, add fleur de sel.

Place a good amount of zucchini in the middle of a plate and using a ring, mount the brandade on top. Decorate with red pepper corn and basil.