28 février 2006
A French 4x8 meme
Anne from "La Station Gourmande" just tagged me for the 4x8 meme, Merci Anne! The below meme is the French translation I - unsuccessfully - posted on my French blog a few months ago
4 metiers que j'ai exerce
Conseillere en investissements
Traductrice Free lance
Employee dans un magasin de farces et attrapes
Assistante Ressources Humaines
4 films que je pourrais regarder en boucle
Hercules return (Un film Australien sur fond de peplum Italien)
Alice de Woody Allen
N'importe quel episode de Miss Marple (oui, je sais, je suis ringue)
In the Mood for Love
4 endroits ou j'ai vecu
Pont-Croix
Paris, France
Brixham, GB
Auckland, NZ
4 sites que je visite quotidiennement
Le Monde
Ma banque
New Zealand Herald
Plein de blogs culinaires
4 programmes tv que j'adore regarder
Cadfael
Ready, steady, cook (A vos marques, prets, cuisinez)
Lost (A regarder avec des personnes qui ont des theories farfelues sur le denouement)
The crocodile hunter (Un Australien farfelu a l'accent Australien a couper au couteau se promene dans l'outback Australien en manipulant toutes sortes de reptiles ou araignees extrement dangereux)
4 plats/aliments preferes
Chocolat
Macarons
Pates
Epinards
4 endroits ou je prefererais etre
J'adore Auckland, c'est une belle ville a taille humaine, je ne peux pas penser a un meilleur endroit ou vivre en ce moment. Je compte bien visiter:
-Bora Bora
-Aitutaki
-Helsinki
et en ce moment n'importe quel endroit ensoleille, quel dommage d'etre verrouille dans un bureau alors qu'il fait si beau dehors.
4 peronnes a qui je vais transmettre ce questionnaire
hmmm, n'importe quelle personne souhaitant participer
27 février 2006
Back from holiday
My first has a Japanese feel
My second shines summer
And my all is a little tartlet
Shortbread tartlets with Anko and summer fruits
First, time I head about Red bean custard, I was somewhat disgusted. I pictured the type of red beans used for chilies and a tonne of sugar - not the ideal combination. Then, a handful of friends and I were brave enough to try it in a Japanese restaurant and we were all surprised and happy to find out it was so delicious. The type of bean used is actually Adzuki, a japanese bean - which make it quite tricky to spot because all packets were labelled in Japanese in the shop. I was confused and did not know what packet to chose!
In the above tartlets, I replaced the fatening "cream patissiere" by the oh so light and yummy anko (japanese red bean puree). Together with cherries, it was the perfect match. I slightly quickly the cherries in sherry.
I also made another mini-tartlet and garnish with frozen strawberry shavings. Delicious.
22 février 2006
A little break up North
Sorry for not updating "An Angel at My Table" at the moment. I am currently up North, about 3 hours drive from Auckland for a nice and sunny holiday. I will update the site when I will come back this week end: I have nice sweet tartlets and a white chocolate and tarragon cream mille feuille so far but cannot load the photos for some reason.
16 février 2006
Cooking up a storm
Hummus
Quite often, recipes on food blogs are accompanied with a nice story. The highlighted dish brings back childhood memories, travel experiences, cultural enlightments... That's great reads, as readers we travel time and space, we experience, we are part of a culinary journey.
I feel bad. My approach to food is only moved by my cravings and various experimentations. Most of the time recipes just "happen" to me. I love to eat and I find cooking quite exciting, even soothing in some occasions. Writing about food is a very new experience for me. My old approach to cooking used to be: "Me cook that because yum".
I need to go beyond my spontaneous approach, explain my techniques (if any), the reasons why I chose to cook this particular dish and tell about it... A very tricky exercise.
Let's take the above hummus, for instance. I felt like making my own. I quite liked the ones I buy from supermarkets but somehow felt there could be more to it. I found a recipe in a book I borrowed from the library: it seemed to be easy enough, just a few ingredients and no special iron chef type of skills were required.
I do not know where I went wrong but I definitely did something un-right at some stage. I could not stop olala-ing (screaming olala, as the French do when upset). The chickpeas soaked in water overnight, after that I intented to cook them but olala, it took HOURS. I stopped counting after 4. (I know it is just mad). I started to lose my temper, swearing I would NEVER cook hummus again, when you could buy decent one for NZ$5.
Eventually they tenderised and accepted to be mashed. Then came the tahini, home-made too and WOW I take back my promises of never making some again. Heaven! So much more flavoursome than the supermarket ones.
After hours of intense cooking I tasted hummus for the first time in my life and it was superb.
Hummus:
200g dry chickpeas - I also read it is possible to use
canned chickpeas and skip phase 1 and 2 (Soaking and cooking). I am convinced
the dry ones are better on the job because you need the actual chickpea taste
for hummus. Their flavour will not absorb others, like in couscous, for example)
Juice of a lemon
2-3 garlic cloves, crushed to a paste with salt
Olive oil
Tahini
3 tbsp sesame seeds
1 ½ tbsp Sesame oil
¼ cup tepid water
Cook the chickpea in the same water you used to soak the chickpea. Set aside to
cool to room temperature.
Drain the chickpeas, keeping aside the cooking liquid, and blend in a food
processor with a little cooking liquid to help the chickpeas, add liquid if
necessary. When smooth, add the lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and tahini (see
recipe below) blend and add some more liquid if necessary.
Tahini:
Blend sesame seeds in a blender and grind until
smooth. Add sesame oil, salt, and then slowly add water while blending. Blend
until completely smooth. Do not prepare in advance as its flavour decomposes
pretty quickly.
14 février 2006
Ripe and bright
"We should look for someone to eat and drink with before looking for something to eat and drink" Epicurus
Mango curry snapper
Some time ago, I took part in a "food group" to taste a new range of sauces. My mission was to cook their mango curry in every single way I could think of. I was handed a tall bottle containing a beautiful bright orange sauce. My hopes were high but the poor industrially processed sauce fell short of expectations: it was a plain dull and sour kind of ketchupy magma. What a disappointment!
Following the kiwi saying "do it yourself", I decided to make my own Mango curry. It includes an extra dose of grated ginger because hey, it's Valentine's day.
Ingredients - for 2
2 ripe mangoes
2 snapper fillets
1 tsp grated ginger ( may be ++)
1 tsp tumeric
1 tsp cumin
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 red chili
1/2 red onion
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 tbsp yogurt
Chopped coriander or spring onions to garnish
Steam fish.
Combine all spices and chili and saute in a frying pan until fragrant, then add onion and garlic and cook until soft. In the meantime, blend mango dice with a little water.
Add to coconut milk to spice mixture when onion is soft, simmer for a few minutes to allow the flavours to combine and reduce the heat. Gently add mango coulis and stir for 1 minute, turn off the heat and add the yogurt, stir well and pour on top of fish.
Not cooking the mango is the way to go, if cooked for too long, it will lose its delicate aroma.
10 février 2006
The Lamb Veni Vedi, not so Vinci code
Lamb Saag Wala
O SAD COOK TRIES
O LAME NUT WAGS ME*
Here is another of my culinary quest. I seem to have overcome the difficulties of making macarons but Saag Wala (or Sagwala) still hold its mystery. The only widely available Indian recipe of lamb + spinach is Saag Gosht, not quite I want. Not being able to find a decent recipe, I had to sharpen my taste buds to find out what the recipe was in restaurants. Well, I'm not there yet.
Basic ingredients include spinach, lamb - or chicken or beef- and a combination of mysterious spices. It is quite an ugly dish, a brownish green stew, ewww but yum! Very delicious. I blurred it on the photo and focused on my pretty poppadoms and their frolicking cumin seeds.
The Quest continues....
*MUTTON SAGWALA
COOK DESIRE SOME
09 février 2006
Food Awards
"Cuisine judged best food magazine in the world
02 February 2006
New Zealand food magazine Cuisine has been judged the best of its kind in the world at the Gourmet Media World Festival in Cannes, France.
The festival, which bills itself as the international rendezvous of all media professionals dedicated to food and drink, awarded Cuisine Best Food Magazine with one of only four golds given out.
"It
is an immense honour to be judged best food magazine in an
international competition and gives credence to our belief that this
country has some of the best food writers - and food - in the world,"
Cuisine editor Simon Wilson said."
Well done New Zealand, small country, big on taste... They tend to stick beetroot everywhere, though
Minimalist delicacy
Salmon Gravlax and honeydew melon
Now
this is one fancy mouthful. Contrasting bright colours, delicate
flavours, original combination: My idea of cooking. I must have eaten half
of my salad while I was photoshooting.
Graxlax originates from Scandinavia,
the salmon is cured in brine for a least two days, no cooking is
required. I recently read that freezing the salmon for at least a week
prior to curing it is required as parasite may be present in the flesh.
Although the basic recipe only uses kosher salt, dill (whole bunches of delicious fresh dill) and sugar, a few ingredients may be added. I added a teaspoon of Vodka to mine. I love cooking with alcohol, so far I tried Gravlax and sherry, rum and vodka (Unflavoured vodka but I could try with Raspberry Vodka. Lemon Vodka sounds appealing too). What an Iconoclast!
Melon and salmon colours as well as textures combine well. Cured salmon develops strong flavours and it is not as oily as smoked salmon. The fat "melts" and spreads through the flesh giving it quite a consistent texture. The lineage is very well defined and the colour is so vivid, a magnificient piece of edible Art.
08 février 2006
τρόφιμα - A tale of feta and Aubergine
When I was at Uni, I studied with a group a Greek girls. They taught
me a little Greek and revealed a few secrets of the wonderful Greek
cuisine. I quite nourish the fantasy of going there one day. In the
meantime, I invite Greece in my kitchen every now and then.
Yesterday was Moussaka
day. The real recipe includes layers of mash potato to help keep the
shape together but I kept mine simple and quick: Layers of lamb and
aubergine. (I must be into some kind on layered food period at the
moment). A rich feta white sauce surmounts the gratin colouring into a
golden crust into the oven.
Very tasty and guess what: It's low carb!
A finished-in-no-time recipe: (2 people)
-A nice, shiny and firm Aubergine/eggplant
-Approx 250grs of trimmed lamb mince (or beef)
-1 onion chopped
-4 medium size tomatoes
-150gr feta
-10cl cream
-5cl milk
-A teaspoon of cumin seeds
-A teaspoon of ground cinnamon
-Oregano
-Thyme
-2/3 cloves of garlic
-2 table spoon breadcrumbs
Slice eggplants lengthwise (approx 0.50cm thick slices, less than
1cm). Sprinkle with salt and place in a sieve to allow the bitter
juices dissolve for 30 min. Pat dry and brush slices with olive oil and
place into medium oven untill soft.
-You
could pan fry them but Aubergine is somewhat spongy and it would absorb
to much oil. A no-go unless you have a non stick frying pan-
Heat olive oil and cumin seeds untill fragrant, then add onion, crushed garlic, cinnamon and herbs. When onion is soft add mince and cook thouroughly, add tomatoes, stir in and cook for 5 minutes. Add breadcrumbs stir and turn off heat.
White Sauce:
Heat milk and cream, bring to a boil and lower heat
and add shredded feta cheese. Whip until thick. (I know it is largely
un-dietetic)
In a medium size dish, place a layer of meat, and a layer of aubergine and so on untill you run out of ingredients. Top the moussaka with the white sauce and place the dish in the oven for approx 30 on medium heat. You can increase the temperature 10min before the end if you want the sauce to turn golden brown.
07 février 2006
Essence of summer
Last
week in Auckland was rather overcast and rainy. Days are getting
shorter. It's becoming harder to find strawberries in fruit and vege
stores..... Summer is slowly fading away
I then decided to make the most of summer flavours while it's still possible.
The
above layered cake is a decadent celebration of summer sweetness: Mango
cream, coconut custard and melon mousse stand high and proud in between
layers of soft sponge cake. Flavours and textures melt in your mouth in
a firework of tropical extravagansa.
I loved it, a really superb dessert.... but once again, I had no one to share this delight with