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French Onion Tart

French Onion Tart

French Onion Tart

 

Pastry

2 C. all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1 T. sugar

12 T. cold unsalted butter, diced (1 1/2 sticks)

1/2 C. ice water

 

Onion Topping

1 C. gruyere cheese, shredded (4 oz)

1 1/2 tsp. fresh thyme, minced

2 tsp. fresh chives, minced

1 1/4 lb. sweet onions, (about 3 medium onions)

1 T. heavy cream

3 T. unsalted butter, diced

1 tsp. kosher salt

 

Place the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Pulse for a few seconds to combine. Add the butter and pulse 10 to 12 times, until the butter is in small bits the size of peas. With the motor running, pour the ice water down the feed tube and pulse just until the dough starts to come together. Dump onto a floured board and knead quickly into a ball. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Roll the dough between two sheets of lightly floured wax paper, slightly larger than 10 x 14 inches. Using a ruler and a small knife, trim the edges. Place the dough on the prepared sheet pan and refrigerate while you prepare the onions. Sprinkle the rolled pastry with the cheese right to the edges. Sprinkle with thyme and chives. Peel, halve, and very thinly slice the onions into half-moons, keeping the moons intact. Place the onion half-moons on the pastry in diagonal lines, just barely overlapping and brush lightly with cream. Dot with the butter and sprinkle with salt.  Bake for 40 mins or until the tart is golden and browned. Cover the edges with foil if the tart is getting too brown during baking. Let cool slightly and cut into squares to serve. Serve warm or at room temperature. Recipe Notes: The dough comes together in minutes in your food processor and can be made well in advance and frozen until you’re ready to use it.

There’s no pre-cooking of the onions on the stove like many onion tarts require. They’re simply sliced thin and arranged over a sprinkling of grated cheese and herbs and baked until golden brown and caramelized. The tart can be sliced into squares, strips, or wedges, but no matter how you slice it (yes I went there), it’s just plain delicious. Tart can be served right out of the oven or at room temperature, which makes it ideal for parties.

 

French Grated Carrot Salad with Lemon Dijon Vinaigrette

French Grated Carrot Salad with Lemon Dijon Vinaigrette

French Grated Carrot Salad with Lemon Dijon Vinaigrette

 

1 pound carrots, peeled

2 tsp. Dijon mustard

1 T. freshly squeezed lemon juice, from one lemon

1-1/2 T. vegetable oil

1-1/2 T. extra virgin olive oil

1-2 tsp. honey, to taste

Heaping 1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper, to taste

2 T. chopped fresh parsley

2 finely sliced scallions (or 1T. finely chopped shallots)

 

Grate the carrots in a food processor. Set aside. In a salad bowl, combine the dijon mustard, lemon juice, honey, vegetable oil, olive oil, salt and pepper. Add the carrots, fresh parsley and scallions (or shallots) and toss well. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Notes: Depending on the sweetness of the carrots, you may want to add more or less honey. Also, if you make this salad ahead of time, be sure to check the seasoning again before serving as the flavors tend to mellow.

French Carrot Salad

French Carrot Salad

French Carrot Salad

 

In a medium bowl, whisk together 3 T. extra-virgin olive oil, 3 T. fresh lemon juice, 1 tsp. light honey, and ½ tsp. ground cumin. Season with salt. Add 1 lb. carrots, grated on the large holes of a box grater or in a food processor, fitted with a grating attachment, and toss to coat, adjusting the dressing to taste. Stir in ½ cup coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley or cilantro and set aside to marinate for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours before serving.

Bouillon de poulet avec des quenelles de volailles (Chicken dumpling soup)

Bouillon de poulet avec des quenelles de volailles (Chicken dumpling soup)

Bouillon de poulet avec des quenelles de volailles (Chicken dumpling soup)

 

7 oz raw chicken breast

3 1/2 oz white bread, no crusts

6 1/2 T. half-and-half

1 egg plus 1 egg yolk

1 tsp salt

a pinch of pepper

a pinch of nutmeg

 

61/2 cups chicken stock

2 large carrots, roughly chopped

5 button mushrooms, thinly sliced

salt and pepper (if needed)!

1/2 bunch of parsley, leaves roughly chopped

 

Put the first 7 ingredients for the quenelles into a blender and whizz until you have a smooth paste. Form the paste into 20-25 quenelle shapes by using two tablespoons (for smaller quenelles, use two teaspoons). Put the stock and carrots into a large pot. Bring the stock to a boil and boil for 10 minutes. Drop the quenelles into the boiling stock and cook for 5 minutes (3 minutes for the small ones), adding the mushrooms for the last minute. When the quenelles are done, they will rise to the surface. Serve immediately, garnished with some roughly chopped parsley. Depending on the quality of your stock, you may not need to add any salt or pepper. Taste for seasoning before serving.

Confit de Canard

Confit de Canard

Confit de Canard

This recipe is adapted from Cuisine de France by Paul Bocuse (Flammarion, 1992).

 

2 duck legs

1/2 cup coarse sea salt or kosher salt

1 cup (250 g) rendered duck fat, or more

2 cloves garlic, unpeeled

2 branches fresh thyme

1 bay leaf

1/2 cup water

 

The day before you plan to cook the duck, place the legs in a bowl and cover them with the coarse salt. Refrigerate for 24 hours.  The next day, thoroughly rinse the salt off the duck under cold running water. Place on a rack to drain and pat dry with paper towels. In a large, heavy-bottomed pot or skillet, heat the duck fat, garlic, thyme, bay and water to a high simmer. Place the duck legs in the hot fat, skin side down. Turn down the heat — the fat should remain at a very low simmer throughout the cooking process. Check the duck occasionally to make sure the fat is simmering but not boiling. After an hour, turn the legs over so that they are skin side up, being very careful not to pierce the skin. Allow to cook at a low simmer for one hour more. Turn off the heat and remove the legs to a rack to drain. Strain the fat through a sieve into a bowl. Place the browned bits and garlic that remain in the sieve in a separate small bowl. Discard the thyme and bay leaf. When the duck has cooled, place it in a dish, cover with the strained duck fat and refrigerate. When the fat has cooled sufficiently, use a knife or spatula to spread it over the duck. You may continue with the recipe later in the day or leave the duck in the fridge for a day until ready to complete the cooking process. (If you are preparing your confit well ahead of time, you can preserve it in a large glass jar, sealed with the fat. In this case the fat must entirely cover the duck. It may be preserved in this way for up to 6 months, refrigerated.)  About 40 minutes before serving, preheat the oven to gas mark 7 (425 F, 220 C). Allow to preheat for 10 minutes.  Remove the duck from its dish or jar, scraping away most of the fat, and place in a baking dish, skin side down. Roast the duck in the hot oven for 15 minutes. Turn the legs over so that they are skin side up. Continue roasting for another 15 minutes, or until the skin is a crispy brown. Serve immediately, accompanied with seasonal vegetables and a hearty red wine. Serves 2. You may use the garlic cloves that you’ve set aside as garnish. The brown bits left over from cooking — known as ‘grattons’ in French — may be spread on toast and served during cocktail hour.

Zucchini and Olive Breakfast Cake, French-Style

Zucchini and Olive Breakfast Cake, French-Style

Zucchini and Olive Breakfast Cake, French-Style

This French-style cake is baked in a loaf pan, using whatever ingredients are on hand.  I love having a basic cake recipe like this because it is simple to make and encourages my creativity in the kitchen with different flavor combinations. Next time, I will bake one with tomato, mozzarella, and basil. (I know these are not French ingredients, but that combination of flavors in a cake sound good to me, just the same.)Â Since it is French, you know it would contain cheese, and Gruyère and Comté come to mind immediately, of course, as well as parmesan, cheddar, feta, or goat cheese. A cake salé could also contain vegetables, herbs, meats, fruits, or nuts.  Instead of butter, use olive oil, which is healthier and lends a more subtle savory flavor.

This cake is more like a quick bread, or a cross in texture between a muffin and a quiche. It is made much like a muffin, with the dry ingredients mixed together in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another, and the two are combined.  To the American palate, this type of cake is more likely to be eaten for breakfast.  Yes, I, too, enjoyed it with my morning coffee, but I can also imagine this cake cut into small bites and served with an aperitif at my next dinner party.

Makes 9×5 inch 1 loaf

1/3 C. olive oil, plus more for greasing the pan and drizzling

1/2 pound zucchini,

1 tsp. salt

1 large clove garlic, minced

1 3/4 C. all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. black pepper

3 large eggs

1/3 C. milk

2 ounces goat cheese, crumbled

1/2 C. Kalamata olives, pitted and sliced

Kosher salt

 

Heat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan with olive oil. Grate the zucchini on the coarsest side of a box grater. Place the zucchini in a colander in the sink and toss with 1 tsp. of salt. Let drain while preparing the rest of the recipe.  In a large bowl, whisk the minced garlic with the flour, baking powder, salt and pepper. In a separate, medium bowl, lightly whisk the eggs, then whisk in the milk and olive oil. Use a rubber spatula to fold the wet ingredients into the dry until barely mixed. Fold in the crumbled goat cheese and the sliced olives. Press firmly on the zucchini in the colander, pressing out as much water as possible. Quickly fold the zucchini into the batter. Spread the batter in the prepared loaf pan, and drizzle lightly with olive oil. Sprinkle the top with kosher salt. Bake loaf for about 45 minutes, or until golden and a knife inserted in center comes out with a few crumbs attached.  Transfer to a rack to cool in pan for 5 minutes. Run a knife around edge to release. Turn out loaf onto rack to firm up before slicing, about 30 minutes; using a serrated knife, cut into 3/8-inch slices, then cut into halves or quarters.

 

Fromage Fort

Fromage Fort

Fromage Fort

1 pound cheese, at room temperature (leftover ends, mixed types is fine)

1/4 C. dry white wine

3 T. unsalted butter, softened

2 T. fresh parsley leaves

1 small clove garlic

Remove any rinds from hard cheeses. Grate hard cheeses and cut others into 1/2-inch cubes. Place cheese, wine, butter, herbs, and garlic in a food processor and blend until smooth, approximately 2 minutes. Serve immediately or refrigerate for at least 1 hour for a firmer consistency. This can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

French Style Scallops and Mushrooms

French Style Scallops and Mushrooms

French Style Scallops and Mushrooms

4 T. butter

1 T. finely chopped shallots

2 C. thinly sliced mushrooms

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1/2 C. dry white wine

1 pound sea or bay scallops

2 T. flour

1/2 C. milk

1 C. plus 2 T. heavy cream

Pinch cayenne

 

Melt 1 T. of the butter in a saucepan and add the shallots. Cook briefly, stirring, and add the mushrooms. Cook until wilted and add the salt, pepper, and wine. Add the scallops and bring to the boil. Cook until all the scallops are heated through, stirring gently as necessary. Take care not to let the scallops overcook or they will toughen. Using a slotted spoon, remove and set aside the scallops and mushrooms. Reserve the liquid. There should be about 3/4 C. of liquid. Melt 2 T. of butter in a saucepan and add the flour, stirring rapidly with a wire whisk. When blended add the reserved liquid, stirring until thickened and smooth. Add the milk and 1 C. of the cream. Cook for about 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste and a pinch of cayenne. Whip the remaining 2 T. of heavy cream. Fold it into the sauce. Use 6 individual scallop shells or ramekins. Spoon equal portions of the scallops and mushrooms into each shell. Spoon the sauce over the scallop mixture. Preheat the broiler to high. Place the filled shells under the broiler about 6 inches from the source of heat and bake until a nice brown glaze forms on top. As the scallops broil, turn shells occasionally for even browning, about 5 minutes. Serve immediately.

Fougasse (Provençal Bread with Olive and Herbs)

Fougasse (Provençal Bread with Olive and Herbs)

Fougasse (Provençal Bread with Olive and Herbs)

1 tsp. active dry yeast

1 tsp. sugar

4 1⁄2 cups flour

2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing loaves

1 tsp. kosher salt

Cornmeal, for dusting

1⁄2 cup minced kalamata olives

1⁄4 cup minced green olives

2 tbsp. minced fresh parsley

2 tbsp. minced fresh thyme

1 tbsp. minced fresh rosemary

Sea salt and cracked black pepper, to taste

 

In a large bowl, stir together yeast, sugar, and 1 1⁄3 cups water heated to 115°; let sit until foamy, 10 minutes. Stir in flour, oil, and salt and mix until a dough forms. Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface. Knead for 6 minutes. Cover with a damp towel; let sit until doubled in size, 1 1⁄2 hours.

Heat oven to 500°. Divide dough into 5 equal pieces. Working with one dough piece at a time, roll into a rough 8″ x 5″ triangle. Transfer rectangle to a cornmeal-dusted, parchment paper–lined baking sheet. Using a sharp knife, cut three lengthwise parallel slashes in middle of dough and one small slash below and parallel to middle large slash. Spread slashes apart with your fingers. Cover with a damp towel; let rest until puffed, about 30 minutes. Combine olives and herbs in a bowl. Lightly brush each dough piece with oil; sprinkle with olive mixture and season with salt and pepper. Bake, one at a time, until golden brown, about 15 minutes each.

Garbure (French Ham & Vegetable Soup)

Garbure (French Ham & Vegetable Soup)

Garbure (French Ham & Vegetable Soup)

1 leftover ham bone with meat

10 cups water, enough to cover the ham bone

2 T. apple cider vinegar

3-4 bay leaves

1 Serrano pepper, sliced but still intact

2 T. avocado oil

1 onion, chopped

2 medium leeks, chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced

¼ cup dry white wine (I used Chardonnay)

1 large sweet potato, diced

2 carrots, diced

2 celery, diced

2 turnips, diced

½ head napa or savoy cabbage, cut into strips

1 small handful of parsley, chopped

1 T. minced fresh thyme

1 teaspoon cumin

¼ teaspoon black pepper

 

Add the ham bone, water, apple cider vinegar, bay leaves and serrano pepper to the slow cooker. Set on high for 5 hours. Remove the bone from the pot and take the meat off it. Add the meat and bone back to the pot and cook for another 2 hours on high. Next, add oil to a sauté pan over medium heat, then add the onion, leeks and garlic cloves. Sauté for 7-8 minutes, or until the onions have started to caramelize. Add this to the slow cooker along with the remaining ingredients. Cook for 3 hours on high, or until the vegetables are tender.