Asparagus, Goat Cheese & Date Salad

It's asparagus season!

Have you read that sentence about a thousand times since the beginning of March? Yeah, me too. But hey, it is asparagus season.

I don't know about you, but I can't really resist a bunch of asparagus when I see it at the store. Next to it are the broccoli, the mushrooms...I've been hanging out with those guys since winter. It's time to find someone new. 

Asparagus is long and lanky, kind of like that nice guy in high school who always seemed kind of awkward. It can be green, white or purple, but it pretty much always stands out. "Hey," it seems to tell us, "don't you just want to bite my head off?" In a good way, obviously. I don't hold a grudge against asparagus.

I love eating asparagus blanched, on its own, or simply roasted. Sometimes, though, you feel like taking things one step further and making a meal out of asparagus, try to let it become friends with some other food items. Like goat cheese, for example, for the tang. Add a chopped Medjool date in there, a few cherry tomatoes, and you've got yourself a springtime party.

Cadbury Mini Eggs just might be in attendance for dessert, so get your daily vegetables in while you can...and make that lonely lanky asparagus happy!

Asparagus, Goat Cheese & Date Salad

serves two

one bunch asparagus
10 cherry tomatoes, quartered
2 Medjool dates, pitted and chopped
4 TB soft fresh goat cheese
4 TB rice vinegar
1 TB olive oil
1 TS honey
salt and pepper to taste

Blanch asparagus until just tender. Remove from water, shock in cold water, and cut each stalk in half. Place in a serving bowl. Add cherry tomatoes and dates.

In a small bowl, mix rice vinegar, olive oil, goat cheese, honey, and salt & pepper. Drizzle over salad and serve.

On the Road to the US: Cornbread

Cornbread, in my opinion, is something you can't really have outside of the United States. It's a little like Pop-Tarts or a perfect chocolate shake: you can attempt to enjoy them in Italy, China, or Peru, but chances are they just won't taste the same.

Although I've never partaken in the North meets South debate of sweet vs. spicy, I've always loved cornbread. It has chew, but deep inside its attraction lies in an unforgettable buttery tenderness. My kind of cornbread has a light crumb--it gives me an excuse to "somehow" have leftover crumbs, that "somehow" disappear quickly.

With what do you enjoy your cornbread? I go with the classic answers: a warm bowl of chili, tortilla soup, or simply on its own: that's how I last enjoyed it in a seafood restaurant on City Island--not the Ile de la Cité, but the Bronx version. As I said, cornbread was strictly an American territory kind of dish to me. That is, until I decided to cook a stew of okra, green bananas, and chicken. 

When my thoughts turned to what I would soak up all that delicious sauce with, I knew it had to be cornbread, geography be damned. The thing is, you know I'm not a girl from the South: I don't have a skillet and recipe passed down from the 19th century to make decisions any easier. I really had to sit down this time around, grab a pen, and ask myself what exactly I wanted in my cornbread. Well, I wanted corn, for starters (good start, Lucie). A mix of kernels and polenta sounded good. Next up was sweetness. Yes, I wanted sweet...but not overwhelming sweetness and an overload of sugar. A kick of heat wouldn't hurt either.

A thousand books and web pages later, I had something that looked like a recipe in front of my eyes. Let me tell you this: I'm no Scarlett O'Hara, but I'm pretty sure that my cornbread was nice and that you would enjoy it, too. 

Those stringy, mushy okra sure seemed to like it. It just might prompt me to say "I'll never be hungry again!"

Overseas Cornbread

serves eight to ten

2 TB butter

1 c. all-purpose flour

3/4 c. polenta (or cornmeal)

1/4 c. raw cane sugar

1 TB baking powder

2 TS salt

1 egg

1 c. buttermilk

2 c. corn kernels, thawed if frozen

1/4 c. pickled jalapeno slices

Preheat oven to 350°F / 185°C.

Melt butter in an oven-proof skillet and swirl to coat. Place skillet in oven while it preheats.

In a medium bowl, mix flour, polenta, baking powder and salt.

In a larger bowl, whisk egg, buttermilk, peppers and corn kernels together. Delicately stir in dry ingredients.

Carefully remove skillet from oven and pour in corn mixture. Bake 30 to 40 minutes, until the edges are golden and the center is firm. Serve directly from skillet or flip over onto a plate to show the nice browning.

Goat Cheese and Green Fig Wonton Cups

Have you ever gone into a frenzy in a tableware store or on target.com, staring at cake trays and serving platters? I'd say it happens to me about once every two weeks. I start deciding which platters I want, what I would put on them, and who I would serve it to. I end up with a "small selection" of ten or so trays, which somehow are completely unmatched but that's alright.

And once I've made my list, I...don't get anything. See, if I were to actually give in to my love for oversized serving dishes, I think I would just have to move out on the street. My apartment can hardly handle the three serving plates I actually have, so I'm thinking that four-tiered turquoise cake platter wouldn't make it in. Well, it would, but it would also be replacing my bed/couch. Then again, would I rather sleep on the floor if it means having a flurry of cake stands? I might, actually--you already know I'm a little strange. Plus, that would mean more space for my guests, for those serving platter-filled parties. Nobody would be able to sit down, but I'm sure they'd be too busy jumping face first into my cookie dough fondues to mind. Before you start saying I have Oompa-Loompa scale culinary fantasies, I'll gladly confirm that I do. 

For now, though, I don't give in to any of them. Just wait and see until the day I get a 200 square meter loft in the center of Paris. Um...I forgot to mention my real estate fantasies too, didn't I?

Having a small apartment doesn't really keep me from having parties: standing in the middle of a small cookie-filled apartment isn't so bad for most people. This time around, I wanted to celebrate the beginning of May...well, no. I actually had a few ideas for little appetizers I really wanted to test and try on a dozen guinea pigs. Sorry, guys! 

One of these recipes came all of a sudden when I was back in Saint Dié, shopping in a newly-opened Turkish supermarket. I came across green figs in syrup, and it all came together in a flash: wonton cups filled with fresh, creamy goat cheese, green fig syrup, and pink peppercorns. I had never tasted this combination before, but somehow I just had a feeling it would taste pretty good.

Back in my Paris kitchen, I rounded up all the ingredients and went to work--not that there was much work involved, because this is pretty much the easiest recipe ever. I taste one of the finished products and was pretty pleased. But since this was right in the middle of getting ready for a party, I also had red bean dip, fudge, and dirt cake (I know, I'm not eight years old anymore, but still) to taste. So it was good, but I couldn't have enough to actually decide if I loved it or not. 

Enter my first guests, which I could label the hungry ones. There were thirty-four little wonton cups set out, and fifteen minutes later, they were all gone. I think they pretty much averaged nine or ten wonton cups per person, so I'll let that speak for itself.

 Wonton cups, pre-disappearing act.

I'll also let it speak for the fact that next time, I should make a couple hundred more. New serving plates, anyone?

Crispy Wonton Cups with Goat Cheese, Pink Peppercorns and Green Figs

makes 35 small wonton cups

1 package refrigerated or thawed frozen wonton wrappers
1 1/4 c. fresh goat cheese
1/4 to 1/3 c. green figs in syrup, chopped (syrup is included in the measurement)--this depends on how much sweetness you want
2 TB pink peppercorns, plus 1 TB for garnish
1 TS salt
1/2 TS pepper

Preheat oven to 350°F / 180°C. With a large round cookie cutter, cut wonton wrappers into rounds. Lightly brush one side of each wrapper with oil and place in a mini-muffin pan, pressing down to form a cup. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, until browned. Let cool in pan or on a wire rack.

In a medium bowl, mix goat cheese, 2 TB peppercorns,salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate until use.

Note: Fill wonton cups the day they will be served--otherwise they might get a little soggy.

Spoon goat cheese mixture into cooled wonton cups. Using a very small spoon, top with green figs and syrup. Add one or two pink peppercorns as a garnish.

Delight in the contrast between the crunchy wonton, creamy cheese and figs, and the end pop of the peppercorns!

Satisfying Soups: Lentil and Caramelized Onion

Sometimes, between all those cookies and muffins, you have to take a break.

Taking my hands off anything sweet is pretty difficult in my case. Actually, if I had no willpower, I would probably be eating sweets all day long, with one-hour breaks to have something salty. Because, you know, eating only sweet things ends up making you feel weird to your stomach--eating a little salty something is the only way to put things back into place before going back for a few hours of cake. Unfortunately (well, fortunately for my health and longevity) I can't stuff my face all day long, and I actually do appreciate eating savory dishes. 

My real problem is that I often go into fads, and fix the same thing over and over again, especially when I'm cooking for one--a fancy way of saying that I make something to go along with my obsessive TV show-watching. Take brussels sprouts, for example: after discovering I really enjoyed them, especially with some brown sugar, pecans and tofu, I made the dish for four days straight. And burrito bowls? Make that two weeks. 

The past few weeks have been all about soup. I don't have the kind of blender that enjoys blending vegetables in soup, apparently (that is exactly how my blender fell into the cold hands of Death), so I've been pretty reluctant to make any winter soups. Pumpkin soup, count me out! Oh well. When my eyes fell on a recipe for lentil soup in a recent issue of Martha Stewart Everyday Food, however, my mind lit up like it does when I look at a chocolate layer cake--and that's saying a lot. Inspired by the recipe, I realized I had everything I needed, and made soup.

And made it again, and again. And again? Let's just say I'm fully embracing the fact that Spring nights in Paris are still pretty cool, temperature-wise. You could also say that I'm a little weird for enjoying the same thing for days on end, but I wouldn't do that if I were you. You never know what soup might catch your fancy next.

Caramelized Onion and Lentil Soup

adapted from Martha Stewart

serves 4

1 large onion, thinly sliced
2 TB olive oil
1 1/2 to 2 cups cooked green lentils (canned can work as well!)
5 cups chicken broth
1/4 c. crème fraîche (or sour cream), for serving
1/4 c. fresh chervil, or any other fresh herb
2 dried bay leaves
salt and pepper

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring frequently, until edges start to brown and onion is very soft. Stirring often helps ensure the onion won't burn.

Add chicken broth, lentils, and bay leaves, raising heat to medium-high. Bring to a boil and reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes, crushing lentils along sides of the pan to thicken soup. Season with salt and pepper, tasting to adjust seasoning.

Ladle soup into plates; garnish with fresh herbs and a tablespoon of cream. Serve immediately.

Note: If you're starting out with dried lentils, you can proceed like this: Place 1 and 1/2 cups dried lentils in a saucepan, cover with water (it should come up about a half inch higher than the lentils), add a little salt and some dried bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat. Let everything simmer until lentils are soft but not mushy, which takes around 20 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Burger Mania

A post in French, with a recipe I created for the website Do It In Paris!

Si on vous parle de burger, que pensez-vous? Trop gras, bon mais culpabilisant, voire "malbouffe"? 

Comme on dit aux pays des cowboys, "Think again". Outre-Atlantique, le burger est tout autre: il s'agit d'une véritable icône culturelle, qui a accompagné le pays dans ses transformations sociétales au vingtième siècle et qui révèle les spécificités régionales. Parler d'un burger à table, c'est comme parler de politique: ça fait débat. Prenons le sujet épineux du ketchup. Pour certains, un bon burger ne se conçoit même pas sans, alors que pour d'autres, la simple suggestion éveille les soupçons. Et la cuisson de la viande? N'abordez pas le sujet sans armure adéquate. Entre les partisans du "single flip" et ceux qui la retournent plusieurs fois pendant la cuisson, c'est la bataille assurée.  

Pour mettre tout le monde d'accord, rien de tel qu'on burger façon rétro, comme on en servait dans les drive-ins des années 60 et qui refont surface au plus grand bonheur de tous. Son secret? Une sauce ultra-crémeuse, qui fera taire les mauvaises langues. Elles n'auront même plus envie de parler, tellement c'est bon. 

Retro Cheeseburger

pour 4

Ingrédients

4 gâches ou brioches individuelles pur beurre, tranchées en deux

500g de viande de boeuf hachée

4 larges rondelles de tomate

4 grandes feuilles de laitue

4 tranches de cheddar

2 noisettes de beurre

sel et poivre 

Pour la sauce:

2 cuillères à soupe de mayonnaise

1 cuillère à soupe de ketchup

1 cuillère à café de cornichons aigre-doux râpés ou hachés

1/2 cuillère à café de sucre

1/2 cuillère à café de vinaigre blanc

pincée de poivre. 

Préparer la sauce: Mélanger tous les ingrédients et mettre de côté.

Répartir la viande hachée en quatre et former des steaks de 2 cm d'épaisseur environ. Les poivrer et saler. 

Faire fondre une petite noisette de beurre dans une poêle. Lorsqu'il mousse, faire griller les tranches de brioche une petite minute. Placer sur une assiette et garder au chaud sous une feuille d'aluminium. 

Dans la même poêle, rajouter du beurre si nécessaire et faire chauffer. Placer les steaks dans la poêle et laisser cuire d'un côté environ 4 minutes. Les retourner et cuire encore 2 minutes, puis placer les tranches de fromage sur chaque steak. Laisser fondre environ une minute.

Badigeonner l'intérieur de chaque pain de sauce. Garnir avec la viande, une rondelle de tomate et une feuille de laitue. Déguster avec du coleslaw ou bien des frites, cuites dans la graisse de canard pour la 'gourmet touch'!

Astuce: Vous souhaitez transformer votre retro-burger en bacon cheese? Toujours faire revenir le bacon à feu très doux dans une poêle au départ froide, et vider la graisse au fur et à mesure de la cuisson pour ne pas le braiser. Crispy bacon garanti!

A Faux-Jambalaya, or Fambalaya

I'm not going to enter the longstanding debate about what a real Jambalaya is. Is it a Cajun Jambalaya, without tomatoes, or a tomato-laden Creole one (or is it the opposite)? Does Jambalaya necessarily have ham, chicken, Andouille sausage and shrimp?

All I can say is that Jambalaya, wherever it's served in America, is quite tasty. I also know for a fact that trying to recreate an authentic Jambalaya in France is not an easy task. Some might say that's a little strange, since most Louisiana cooking has somewhat of a French influence. In that case, I'd be more than willing to give you a day-long unlimited metro card so you could get me onion powder, garlic powder, and Andouille. Good luck with that!

I'll admit it: I didn't make use of my subway pass to explore the city for ingredients. Sure, I could have, but...well, I don't have an excuse. But you are all more than welcome to stop by Paris and borrow my metro card for a day if you're up for an onion powder treasure hunt! You can stop by and say hello even if you're not looking for onion powder, though. It would be a little strange if you showed up on my doorstep for the sake of onion powder.

Actually, my inspiration for this strange-looking Jambalaya was a contest for Ebly, a brand that sells wheat berries. In France, it's pretty common to replace rice and pasta with wheat berries once in a while: super moist and good for you, they're a great addition to any meal. I wanted to make something very un-French with this French staple, and Jambalaya immediately came to mind. After a few tweaks and quite a number of substitutions, I was impressed to discover that the original taste was still there. 

It may not be "authentic", but if you can get your hands on some wheat berries, I urge you to try this Fambalaya--which could mean anything from French Jambalaya to Faux-Jambalaya...or even Funny Jambalaya. If the contest was based on who got the most votes, I would definitely try to bribe you with some of this. But it's not, so I'll be eating it all on my own. That is, unless you stop in for my metro card--then you might get a bite of my Funny Jambalaya.

Fambalaya

serves 6, or 4 very hungry young'uns

3 TB olive oil
2 TB water
1/2 c. + 1 TB (125g) dried wheat berries
1 celery stalk, diced
1 large tomato, diced
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
1 small onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 1/3 c. chicken stock
5 oz. smoked sausage, sliced
5 oz. bay scallops
20 shrimp

Spices and Seasoning:

3 dried bay leaves
1 TB hot sauce
1 TS Worcestershire Sauce
1 TS paprika
1 TS herbes de provence (a mix of thyme, oregano)
1 TS Cayenne pepper
salt and pepper

In a large saucepan, heat 1 TB olive oil over high heat. Add celery, bell pepper and onion. Cook for 3 minutes.
Add garlic, tomato, bay leaves, Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce.

In a pan, mix wheat berries with 2 TB olive oil and 2 TB water over high heat for a minute. Pour wheat into saucepan and add chicken stock slowly, stirring to mix.


Reduce heat to medium and cook for approximately 10 minutes, until wheat becomes tender. Add shrimp, bay scallops and sausage. Simmer for another 15 minutes.

Before serving, season with paprika, Cayenne, herbs, salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

La Jambalaya Créole revisitée...en Jambal'Ebly!

Je pourrais presque dire que l'Ebly m'a sauvé la vie. Bon, enfin presque. 

En classe prépa, dans ma petite chambre d'internat, je n'avais évidemment pas de four, pas de plaques de cuisson...en un mot, pas de cuisine. Mais il y avait à coté de ma chambre une petite pièce qui comportait un micro-ondes. Je me suis longtemps creusé les méninges en me demandant ce que je pouvais bien cuisiner à part du popcorn; une excursion au supermarché voisin m'a fait découvrir l'Ebly à cuire dans ce petit appareil. Quelle joie! Autant dire que de l'Ebly à la sauce tomate, j'en ai mangé. Beaucoup.

Et voici que j'apprends l'existence d'un concours mettant en scène une nouveauté de la marque, l'Ebly à poêler. J'ai senti la nostalgie me gagner...jusqu'au moment où j'ai lu que ce conours avait pour premier prix une journée avec William Ledeuil, chef de Ze Kitchen Galerie. Là, ce n'etait même plus de la nostalgie mais plutôt de l'euphorie--ce superbe restaurant se trouve à environ 50 mètres de mon appartement, et je ne pourrais même pas compter le nombre de minutes passées devant  celui-ci à rêver des ingrédients qu'on doit trouver en cuisine.

Plus vite que l'éclair (ou la préparation d'un sachet de blé--ça va vite), j'ai demandé mon Ebly pour participer au concours, qui m'a été très gentiment envoyé. La recette m'est parvenue d'un coup, comme une évidence. Un plat de mon pays d'origine, les Etats-Unis, allié à ce basique familial français qu'est le blé.

Un plat typique de la Louisiane est la Jambalaya. Typique mais atypique, ce plat mêle légumes, épices, riz, et surtout un étonnant mélange de viandes et de fruits de mer: crevettes, poulet, jambon, et saucisse fumée. Quelques changements plus tard, et la Jambal'Ebly était née. Principal atout de cet Ebly à poêler, chaque version (Provençal et Persillade) contient des ingrédients de qualité et des aromates qui rajoutent un petit "je ne sais quoi" au plat. Utiliser du blé plutôt que du riz ajoute une dimension moelleuse qui, associée à des pétoncles, rend ce plat assez irrésistible. On se ressert une fois, deux fois...

Et, comme on dit dans le bayou de la Louisiane: laissez les bon temps rouler!

Jambal'Ebly

pour 6 personnes, ou 4 gourmands

3 c. à soupe d'huile d'olive
2 c. à soupe d'eau
1 sachet d'Ebly à Poêler Provençal
1 branche de céleri, coupée en dés
1 grosse tomate, coupée en dés
1/2 poivron vert, coupé en dés
1 petit oignon jaune, haché

1 gousse d'ail, hachée
300 ml bouillon de volaille
150g saucisse fumée, en petites tranches
150g pétoncles fraîches ou décongelées
20 grosses crevettes décortiquées

Epices et Aromates:

3 feuilles de laurier séchées
1 c. à soupe Tabasco
1 c. à café Worcestershire Sauce
1 c. à soupe paprika
1 c. à soupe herbes de provence
1 c. à café piment de Cayenne
sel et poivre

Dans un faitout ou une casserolle, faire chauffer 1 c. à soupe d'huile d'olive à feu vif. Ajouter le céleri, poivron vert et oignon. Faire revenir environ 3 minutes.

Ajouter l'ail, les tomates, le laurier, la sauce Worcestershire, et le Tabasco.

Dans une poêle, commencer la préparation de l'Ebly. Mélanger un sachet d'Ebly avec 2 c. à soupe d'huile d'olive et 2 c. à soupe d'eau. Faire revenir à feu vif quelques instants. Verser le blé dans le faitout et rajouter 300 ml de bouillon de volaille lentement, en remuant.

Réduire à feu moyen et faire revenir environ 10 minutes jusqu'à ce que le blé devienne tendre. Ajouter les crevettes, pétoncles et saucisses. Laisser cuire environ 15 minutes supplémentaires.

Avant de servir, assaisoner avec le paprika, piment de Cayenne, les herbes de Provence, du sel et du poivre.

Servir et déguster immédiatement.

Petite astuce: On peut remplacer la version Provençale par l'Ebly à Poêler Persillade, les deux se marient à merveille avec le plat!

Best Salsa Ever...Really.

I may have mentioned this before, but one thing I really miss about the Midwest is Mexican, or "Mexican" food. Sure, Paris has great condiments but I don't like mayonnaise and as much as I enjoy good mustard, I don't really eat it by the spoonful. 

That's why I miss going out to the Mexican restaurant in Urbana for chicken enchiladas. I love--no, adore--chicken enchiladas and there's only one thing that makes me more excited than a plate of them in front of me. And that thing is the bowl of salsa that arrives before the main course. I have a notorious sweet tooth, but I could eat fresh salsa all day long, with or without chips. Imagine my delight when in Palm Springs, I tasted one of my favorite salsas yet, made by my cousins. The recipe comes from their Mexican grandmother, and lucky for me, I got a copy of the recipe.

Now, there are probably a million debates about what makes salsa "authentic", but I don't really care about that. No, this salsa hits the spot for me. When I taste it, it's 1996 again. It's my birthday, and I'm in the only place I could imagine celebrating at: the Mexican restaurant with chicken enchiladas. My favorite part? Dipping chips into our first, then second, bowl of salsa with my parents while we wait for our food to arrive.

Salsa really is the best way to start a meal. I'll skip the mayo.

Montez Salsa

Note: I made a couple changes according to what I had on hand, in italics

2 cloves garlic (I used one)
6 jalapenos (I only had chopped jalapenos in a jar, so I used those and it turned out fine)
2 cans of chopped stewed tomatoes
1 fresh lime
1/2 bunch cilantro, washed
1/2 TS salt

Drain tomatoes and place in blender.

Cut and wash jalapenos--don't seed them--and mince garlic. Blend both ingredients in a food processor with salt and lime juice. Pour mixture into blender along with tomatoes, and blend until you reach desired consistency.


If you make the salsa a day ahead, it'll be even better: the flavors have time to blend together and the result is really amazing.

Spicy Cheddar-Chipotle Madeleines

In France, madeleines are pretty much the one sweet thing everyone has had before. They're as famous as La Joconde, and you can find them in most bakeries at any given time. Thanks to Marcel Proust, who wrote in length about them, they've come to represent sweet memories you associate with childhood. In fact, most people had their first madeleines as a four o'clock snack when coming home from school as children.

The best madeleines are often thought to come from Commercy, a town in the Eastern Lorraine region of France where they originated in the late 18th century. One thing Commercy madeleines aren't, however, is savory.

But hey, why not?

I wanted my savory madeleines to be the perfect snack for the apéro, the French tradition of having a drink in the early evening before dinner. Once the weather gets nice, you can walk along any street in Paris and you'll probably see loads of people having a glass of wine before dinner, around 6 p.m. A nice savory madeleine shouldn't be bland; it should have bold flavors, something that sticks around in your mind. 

I looked around my freezer and noticed I still had some chipotles in adobo lying around. Unconventional for a madeleine, sure, but I imagined it could only be delicious if you added a little cheddar alongside the chipotle. And delicious it was!

Seriously, if you're looking for a super simple snack for a cocktail party or buffet, try this. The shape is a nice change from mini-muffins and the like, and the taste is really something. Pair it with a strong glass of red wine and it'll be perfect. Even Proust might have enjoyed it.

Spicy Cheddar-Chipotle Madeleines

makes 10 large madeleines

2 eggs, separated
1/3 c. + 1 TS (80g) all-purpose flour
1 TS (5g) baking powder
4 TB oil
scant 1/4 c. (50g) cheddar, chopped into tiny cubes
1 chipotle pepper, chopped
1 TB adobo sauce
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 230°C / 450°F.

In a large bowl, mix flour, baking soda, and egg yolks. In a small bowl, lightly beat egg whites by hand.

Mix egg whites and oil into the bowl. Add remaining ingredients and blend until just combined.

Spread batter into greased madeleine pans. Bake for 4 minutes, turn oven temperature down to 180°C / 350°F, and bake another 6 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center of a madeleine comes out clean.

Cool on a rack, and eat the same day if possible: the fresher they are, the better.

Simple Wontons

Have you ever decided that you were going to stop roaming around the aisles of the grocery store, trying to figure out what you wanted to cook for the upcoming week? That's how things usually go down for me, and once in a while I promise myself that I'll make a list of what I feel like cooking for the next seven days.

Last week was a "list week". The problem is, I had accumulated a nice pile of recipes during that terrifying month when I couldn't cook. Just imagine how crazy I would have become in a supermarket without a list. I'm pretty sure I would have grabbed a little of everything, convinced it would be perfect in such-or-such dish. But I had a list this time around. No way was I going to let myself fall into that trap. Right before hopping over to the store, I surveyed the list of delicious food awaiting me this week. And I counted: one, two, three...nine dishes. Each one would obviously leave enough for the next day, and there are not eighteen meals in one week (well, there's breakfast, but I'm not having stuffed bell peppers at 8 a.m.). I can't blame myself: it's almost Mardi Gras and I'm craving gumbo and jambalaya. I'm also craving a ton of other foods, so I had to make a difficult choice: the gumbo and jambalaya will have to wait. Enter my simple wontons!

Easy to make--although folding them up takes as much time as getting a roux going--and light on ingredients, they're also a lot of fun if you're planning on making them with kids. Considering myself to be a life-long kid, I can admit I had a blast. The process is rewarding, too: you end up with fifteen little wontons that can be steamed whenever you want in the coming days and eaten with soup or salad.

So put that huge list down, and get your wonton groove on.

Simple Wontons

makes 15 

15 wonton wrappers
1/2 pound lean ground pork
1/4 c. scallions
1 TB freshly grated ginger
1 medium carrot, grated
2 TB soy sauce
1 TB rice vinegar
2 TS sriracha
1/2 TS salt
1 TB sesame oil

Mix all ingredients except sesame oil in a medium bowl. Marinate for at least fifteen minutes, and up to an hour.

Heat sesame oil in a pan on medium-high. Add all ingredients and cook until pork has browned and juices have reduced.

Place wonton wrapper on a flat surface, and moisten edges with water. Place 1 TB filling in the center. Fold two opposite edges together to create a triangle. Bring both opposite ends of the triangle together, and fold top end onto the other two (moisten with more water if needed).

To prepare wontons, place in a steamer for 10-15 minutes. Serve over salad, or make a quick soup with broth, soy sauce, and rice vinegar. Serve warm.

Creamy Mustard Chicken with Fennel

Everyday for the past week,  I've been waking up early and spending the next couple of hours hiding under my covers because I just don't want to get up. The weather is dreary--no, Paris isn't really a city where it's nice even if it's rainy and cold--and the prospect of dragging my casts around all day isn't really of the amazing type. Actually, the only thing that makes me get out of bed is breakfast. I'm not talking about french toast or pancakes, or even a nice warm croissant. I mean a bowl of cereal. You know why? First of all I love cereal, but it's mostly that grabbing handfuls of it, putting it into a bowl, and adding a little milk is simple and quick. Simple, quick, and satisfying is exactly what I've been going for lately.

Obviously, breaking my key in the front door lock yesterday night doesn't belong to any simple or quick category, and isn't really satisfying either. Truthfully, it's everything but. So I decided to leave those words to the food category, and went out for a falafel salad after the lock was fixed. You didn't really think I would go before it was fixed and leave the door wide open because I was craving falafels that much, did you? That would be knowing me too well...I'm kidding, really. (Full disclosure: my parents read this blog.)

Anyway, noon came rolling around today and I opened the fridge to see what could be made without breaking my newborn wrists (at least I hope they are, deep under all that plaster). In front of me was a chicken breast, some pre-sliced fennel, and reduced-fat crème liquide. I didn't think twice--after all, I was hungry--put the fennel in my bamboo steamer and got the chicken cooking. Without really knowing what I was doing, I added some cream, mustard, basil and lemon juice and let the whole thing simmer for another couple of minutes. Along with the fennel and topped with some sumac*, it was pretty darn good. Very good, actually. The fennel brings an interesting contrast to the creamy spiciness of the sauce and the result is packed with taste.

Maybe I should have broken wrists more often so I end up with more delicious and simple meals like this one. Or not. I'll pass, but this is one dish that I'll definitely be making cast-free.

* Sumac is a Middle Eastern spice that you can use like salt, but it has the added benefit of having a lemony taste as well. It really livens up any dish.

Creamy Mustard Chicken with Fennel

serves one

1 chicken breast, cut into chunks
1/2 fennel bulb, sliced
1/4 c. crème liquide
1 TB Dijon mustard
2 TS chopped basil (fresh is best, but I used frozen)
1 TB lemon juice
pinch salt
pepper to taste
1 TS sumac

Steam fennel until tender.

In a non-stick pan, cook chicken until opaque troughout on high heat with salt and pepper. Turn down heat to medium, add cream, mustard, basil and lemon juice.

Let simmer for 5 minutes, and add fennel. Cook for another minute or two and serve immediately, topped with sumac.

Anytime Snack Mix

Back when I first made this snack mix, we were in the midst of the holiday season. It was my version of the traditional "Holiday Nut Mix", and I handed it out to friends in small bags. I then forgot about it until today.

With two weeks of living alone with my two broken wrists coming up--six days from today--I've been keeping an eye on any kind of finger food that will make my life easier. Sure, friends have offered to cook for me, but I don't really want to be a bother to anyone. Although, now that I think about it, I'd enjoy some homemade enchiladas when I get back to Paris. Got it, friends?

(Obviously I'm kidding, although enchiladas do sound pretty good. For now, I'm going to practice my right-handed chopstick skills for storytelling sessions with friends at the sushi place. You know, so I can tell them about how I just landed wrong after attempting a 360° jump with both hands behind my back. Ha. Right.)

Anyway, I'm planning on eating soup and hummus, but being able to eat finger food really makes it easier. Wait a second--cupcakes are officially a finger food! So is a chocolate bar! However,   do realize that I can't spend two weeks eating sugar, sugar, and more sugar, so I'm looking at healthier options.

This nut mix isn't really healthy per se, but not really unhealthy either. There's a minimal amount of butter and not so much sugar, and you can always say the nuts are good for you. It's a nice blend of sweet and spicy that can be appreciated at any moment of the year, not only for the holidays. I was inspired by David Lebovitz's recipe and adapted it to my tastes and what I could find in my neighborhood supermarket.

Easy to make, easy to eat. Enough to win this temporary penguin over.

Anytime Nut Mix

2 c. raw nuts of your choice - I used almonds, cashews and pecans

1 TB butter, melted

2 TB dark brown sugar

1 TS cinnamon

1 TS mild chili powder

1 pinch cayenne pepper

1 1/2 TB maple syrup

1 1/2 TS large sea salt, such as fleur de sel

1 c. mini pretzel twists or normal pretzels broken into pieces

Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C.

Toast nuts for 10 minutes, stirring twice.

In a medium bowl, stir spices, melted butter and maple syrup together. Fold in nuts and stir until coated. Add salt.

Add pretzels, mix and spread on a baking sheet. Return to oven for 15 minutes or until toasted without being burnt, stirring twice.

Remove from oven and cool, making sure no clumping occurs. Mix can be stored one week in a glass jar or any other airtight container.

Happy New Year!

It's New Year's Eve and the train back to Paris is late. (15 minutes, not 3 hours, but we can leave that out for a more dramatic effect.)

Frustrated and cold (or doing just fine, but you get the point), I got off the subway and walked across the dreary Pont Neuf (alright, now it just sounds fake) and made my way up the five flights of stairs separating me from...an empty apartment? No!

What I came home to was a delightful New Year's Eve dinner in which I was strictly forbidden to help out. Here is the extent of what I had to do: sit, smile, and eat. And honestly, it couldn't have been easier given what was on the table: champagne, butter-seared scallops with truffle salt, marinated salmon--the Scandinavian sashimi--with a light cucumber salad and blinis, and a satisfying holiday cake with dried fruit.

After the partying comes the difficult time of setting New Year's resolutions. Here's mine: have dinner every day like I did on the 31st. Well, tofu and vegetable versions of it. Good enough, right?

Here's wishing everyone a terrific 2010 filled with joy, love, peace and obviously, food to bring it all together!

Simple and Delicious: Pan-Seared Scallops with Truffle Salt

1 TB butter

12 very very fresh scallops, coral removed

salt and pepper

Truffle salt, as much as you like

Heat butter in a pan (preferably steel, but any is fine) on medium-high until butter stops foaming.

Place scallops in pan, making sure not to overcrowd them. They should sizzle--flip them over when the bottom side has a nice light brown, and cook until the other side gets a nice brown as well.

Plate and sprinkle with a generous serving of truffle salt.

A Party is Always a Good Excuse to Cook

Most people have parties when they have something to celebrate, or at least when they have a reason to. I basically function in the opposite way: I feel like cooking, so why not have a party?

This led me to organize a little get-together last weekend with a dozen friends--who don't only enjoy eating chewy chocolate chip cookies, mind you, so I had to be a little creative. But creative is good, and exactly what I was looking for.

Obviously, I started with the sweetest things--not a reference to this past Sweetest Day--cupcakes and the like. I wanted to have the usual cupcakes, and mark a change from the cookies I usually have alongside them. Oh, that was difficult. Saying no to my favorite cookies is never easy. That is, until the idea of replacing them with M&M blondies comes along. Add some fudge to that and it's pretty easy to fathom, actually.

Then came the hard part. How much will people want to eat? Will they have had dinner beforehand? With these questions in mind, I set out to make some easy to munch on, savory bites. This is hopefully the last time I use the term "savory", which for some odd reason really gets to me.

Anyway, I immediately settled, as usual, on what we call un cake in French, customized to meet my chorizo and sundried tomato cravings. A creamy quiche wouldn't hurt either, I decided, and a get-together isn't really one without any veggies. But veggies don't go without a dip, and that's when I remembered the out-of-this-world black bean and chipotle dip my Maman made at a neighborhood cocktail party when I came home to visit in June. Making it just made me want to make it again and again and again--it's like a funner party version of vegetarian chili, which is perfect for the upcoming cold fall days.

With my shopping list on hand and a clear idea of what my get-together would look like, I set about making all of this. Thursday afternoon and all of Friday went by in a flash, but it was all for a good cause...seeing friends and satisfying my cooking craving!

Here are the "savory" (I'm waiting for the annoying word police) recipes, more to come later on my sweet adventures...

Cake au Chorizo et aux Tomates Sechées

4 eggs
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 pink bag of baking powder (11g, or approx 4 teaspoons I think?)
4.5 oz grated gruyère or emmental
1/2 of a full chorizo, skin removed and cut into thin slices
4 large sundried tomatoes, chopped
Pepper

Preheat oven to 180°C / 350°F.

Mix eggs, oil, wine, and a pinch of pepper together. Beat until frothy.

Add flour, baking powder, cheese, chorizo and sundried tomatoes. Mix until just combined.

Bake in a loaf pan for about an hour, until a toothpick comes out clean. Since the chorizo and sundried tomatoes give off oil, don't be alarmed if you see oil bubbling around the edges--it will stop doing it after a few minutes!

Two-Pepper Quiche

Note: You could make your own pâte brisée, and that owuld probably be even better, but using a prepacked pure butter pâte brisée from the grocery store was fine for me!

1 tart shell
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 TB butter
2 eggs
3/4 c. milk (skim is fine)
1 c. crème liquide, i.e. whipping cream
as much grated cheese as you want (I used around 1/3 c. emmental)
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 370°F.

In a buttered tart pan, bake tart shell for 15 mins covered with parchment paper and pie weights.

Cook bell peppers in a pan on stovetop with 1/2 TB butter until softened, adding salt and pepper to taste.

Beat eggs, milk, cream, cheese, and any extra herbs you want to add.

Place bell peppers in tart shell, and cover with egg mixture. Bake 30 minutes, until golden.

Warm Black Bean & Chiptole Dip
serves 10-12

2 TB olive oil
2 med. tomatoes, cored and diced
2 TS salt
1 large yellow onion, diced
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 TB chili powder
2 15.5 oz cans black beans, drained and rinsed (I used red beans because black beans don't seem to exist over here)
2 canned chiptoles, minced + 3 TB adobo from can
3 TB cider vingar (or red-wine vinegar)
1 1/2 c. fresh corn (I used canned in a pinch)
1 1/2 c. grated Cheddar (I used Mimolette)
1 1/2 c. grated Monterey Jack (I used mozzarella...I know)
3/4 c. fresh cilantro

Heat oven to 425°F. Grease 1 1/2 Qt. baking dish with oil and line baking sheet with foil.

Set tomatoes in a colander and sprinkle with 1 TS salt.

Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high until simmering. Reduce to medium, add onion and 1 TS salt. Cook until softened, 4 to 6 minutes.

Add garlic and chili powder, cook 1 minute. Add half of the beans, the chipotle, adobo, and 3/4c. water. Bring to a boil.

Cook until liquid reduces by half, about 5 minutes. Transfer to food processor, add vinegar, and process until smooth.

Transfer to a large bowl. Add beans, tomatoes, corn, 1/2 of each cheese, and 1/2 c. cilantro. Mix and season to taste.

Transfer to a baking dish and sprinkle with remaning cheeses. Bake until cheese melts and browns around the edges, for around 15 minutes.

Sprinkle with remaining cilantro, serve with veggies and tortillas.

Pulled Pork Sandwiches, or how I refuse to let Summer end

The weather has gotten chilly in Paris. Well, mostly rainy, but you can tell the colder days are coming. People will say that it's only normal for mid-October, but I'd rather side with all the other Parisians: as long as it's not snowing, you can still have dinner and drinks at a terrasse. Sure, you'll need to wear a jacket, but people-watching even throughout the early evening hours has the scent of summer that nobody wants to get rid of.

I'm feeling the same about cooking; while I'm starting to get excited about all the fall recipes and the cinnamon, pumpkin, and nutmeg that go along with them, I secretly long for lemonade and barbecue at the beach. When I had to plan dinner for two a few weeks ago, a barbecue at the beach is exactly what came to mind, in the form of all-American pulled pork sandwiches. Unfortunately, I don't have any red plastic baskets or sticky plastic glasses to go along with them, but it didn't stop my quest for an authentic pulled pork recipe...without a barbecue.

Ugly picture, Good food.

Slow-cooker recipes abound, but as usual, a small studio apartment doesn't really allow those kinds of folies. However, I have a great crockpot-type dish from DeBuyer that can go in and out of the oven--this was to be the stage of my pulled pork experience. I searched high and low for a good recipe, finding one with 500 comments on allrecipes.com. By the way, I always wonder how it must feel to have a near-perfect rating for your recipe and over 500 comments. Probably makes you want to write a cookbook, doesn't it?

Anyway, the recipe was for slow-cooker pulled pork, so I simply adapted it to oven cooking with my faitout. I went over to Monoprix to find "palette de porc", basically Boston butt, then to the anglo food store at République to get root beer and molasses, came home with said ingredients AND a 3 Musketeers bar, and was set to go.

One thing I forgot to mention is that the pork cooks in the root beer for approximately four hours (given the amount of pork I was cooking). And unfortunately for me, I strongly dislike root beer. My apartment being the size it is, there isn't really a way to close any door except the front door to stop the root beer smell from lingering all over the place. I put up with it, and was more than happy to find that my pork was as tender as could be and came apart without any effort at all. Once my batch of barbecue sauce was ready, I added it to the drained pork and put the crockpot on the stove, at low temp, for the remaining couple of hours.

Obviously, a pulled pork sandwich is nothing without an accompaniement. Toasted buns, a creamy yogurt coleslaw, and delicious chips were all that was needed.

I debated on whether I should buy sand and cover the floor to get that true barbecue feel, but honestly, my pulled pork meal had enough Summer infused in it.

Who needs an early Fall when you can have an endless Summer?

Oven-Cooked Pulled Pork Sandwiches
adapted from allrecipes.com serves 6

800g palette de porc, or Boston Butt
1 can root beer
Barbecue Sauce (see below)
6 toasted buns--brioche-type is best, but I used hamburger in a pinch.

Preheat oven to 130°C.
Cut large pieces of fat off the pork before cooking. Set pork in an oven-proof crockpot or faitout, and cover with can of root beer. Place lid on the dish and cook for approximately four hours.

Once pork is cooked--it should have gone from a light to a semi-dark color--drain and place pork back into the faitout. Using a fork, shred meat.
Pour barbecue sauce into the dish and mix with pork, covering and placing back into the oven for another hour.
(I started a little early, so ended up placing my faitout on the stove on low for another hour or so.)

Serve immediately with toasted buns and a side of coleslaw.

Barbecue Sauce
adapted from Cook's Illustrated makes 1 1/2 cups

1 cup ketchup
5 TB molasses
2 TB red-wine vinegar
2 TB Worcestershire sauce
2 TB Dijon mustard
1 TS hot pepper sauce
1/4 TS ground black pepper
2 TB vegetable oil
1 med garlic clove, minced
1 TS chili powder
1/4 TS cayenne pepper

Whisk ketchup, molasses, vinegar, Worcestershire, mustard, hot pepper sauce and pepper together in medium bowl.

Heat oil in saucepan over medium heat until simmering. Add garlic, chili powder and cayenne, cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Whisk in ketchup mixture and bring to boil, reduce heat to med-low and simmer gently, uncovered, until sauce is thickened, about 25 minutes. Cool sauce to room temperature before using. (Sauce can be refrigerated in airtight container for up to 1 week.)

Modified Coleslaw

1 green cabbage, shredded
1 large carrot, shredded
2 ribs celery, shredded
1/2 cup greek yogurt
1/4 cup sour cream
1 TB fresh lemon juice
1 TB red-wine vinegar
1 TB sugar
1 TB mustard
1 TS salt

Mix all ingredients for the sauce together. Add to vegetables and mix. Refrigerate for at least one hour prior to serving.

Asian-Style Chicken Udon Salad

One thing I miss the most about New York is how cheap, delicious, and easy to find Asian food was. Feeling like a quick bô-bun? A yummy pad thai? Chances are, wherever your apartment is, you can find either one a quick walk away.

In Paris, thing are different. Sure, there's amazing Vietnamese food to be had, owing to the pretty large Vietnamese population in France, and there are some really good Thai restaurants too. But none of them fall into the "cheap" category, and I can't seem to name a single place apart from the many sushi restaurants or Chinese take-outs that's within a five-minute walk from the apartment here. The crazy thing is, I have pretty much everything except the Asian food I'm craving: Italians galore, Indian, Mexican, you name it.

The only thing left to do is trek down to Tang Frères (I wrote about it a while ago here), stock up on Oyster Sauce, Hoisin Sauce, Nuoc Mam, and all the other wonderful things I can find for less than 1 euro. Tang Freres really is an Asian aficionado's paradise--I couldn't get over the fact that I had spent less than 30 euros for 30 items, even though I know prices are probably ten times higher than what you would actually pay in Asia. But I'm in Paris, and 90 cents for a jar of pickled ginger seems just right.

Now that my kitchen has exactly zero inches of free space left, and I've got everything I need, I can finally start cooking Asian food myself. Shrimp curries! Vietnamese chicken and tofu! If I didn't enjoy baking, I think I would spent my time making red and green curries and drown myself in liters coconut milk. I keep thinking I could eat pad thai and curries all day long, until I realize I don't think I would be able to fit into my kitchen if I decided to do that. Sure, my kitchen is small, but still--I won't take that risk.

Anyway, with my 3,000 magic ingredients on hand (did I mention my kitchen has really run out of space? I'm thinking of converting my whole apartment into a kitchen), I set out to recreate a recipe I made when I was back in Urbana for a couple of days: Chicken and Broccoli Udon Salad.

Chicken and Broccoli, pre-Udon

It's fresh enough for a warm summer lunch or dinner, but I can see myself making this throughout the year. The broccoli gives the salad a nice crunch, and the sauce coats all the ingredients nicely. Even better, it comes together in a short half-hour and the results are pretty impressive: this is one of those "one-pot" dishes that are good enough for an informal meal with friends.

And hey, since it won't prevent me from fitting into my tiny kitchen, I'd have seconds of this any day.

Asian-Style Chicken Udon Salad
serves 4

1 lb. chicken breast
1 lb. brocoli
1 lb. udon noodles (I used less, both times)
1/2 c. oyster sauce
2 TB Hoisin sauce
1 TB sesame oil
2 TS chili paste
1 bunch chopped scallions

- Cook the chicken in water, 5 to 10 minutes on medium heat. Drain, but keep the cooking water.

- Bring the water back to a boil and cook the broccoli for 5 minutes until bright green. Remove.

- Bring the water to a boil again, and cook udon. Reserve 1 cup liquid, and rinse udon under cold water.

Mix all the ingredients, adding 1/2 cup of the cooking water. If you'd like a thinner sauce, add the remaining 1/2 cup (I never do).

The temperature of the dish will be warm but definitely not hot, which is just perfect.

From Russia with Love

The sun, the beach, and Russian food : my idea of a wonderful Spring afternoon.

Saturday was the warmest day I've had so far here in New York, and we only had one thing on our minds--if you can go to the beach by subway, really, why refrain from doing so? So there we were on the Q train, headed for a sunny Russian picnic in Brighton Beach. When we arrived, it was just as I'd hoped: Eastern Europeans shopping for food in places where everything was in Cyrillic, and therefore completely mysterious to the French and English speakers we were.

After deciding that the first store we stopped at had delicious looking pastries but way too much of a line, we headed down to another deli-type shop on Brighton Beach Avenue. Once inside, everything looked good, but I had no idea what half of it was. This was my first time trying out Russian food, and I was pretty excited. I ended up asking a very nice woman about some of the self-serve entrees, and she was more than helpful: she basically walked me through the whole place, with a description of all the non-obvious foods as well as recommendations. I wasn't hungry hungry, so settled for a few pirozhki--although I'm not sure they were pirozhki, because they were made from puff pastry--one pumpkin and one lamb. There was also a small variation on a cheesecake that I couldn't resist taking, so I grabbed it and decided I needed something fresh to go along with this greasy goodness. A bottle of "mineral water", first, which turned out to be incredibly salty sparkling water, and grated carrot salad.We then settled out on a quest for Russian pastries and ended up in the first store, where I excitedly bought a Hungarian beigli, a soft poppy seed-filled roll.

We were finally ready to hit the beach. I was expecting something dirty, but it was alright. Good enough for our improvised picnic, anyway.

My two puff pastry "pirozhkis" (still trying to find out what they were) were indeed delicious, but definitely satisfying. I wasn't hungry anymore after a single one, which was amazingly good, but the second (lamb) was great nonetheless. In between both, I had some of the carrot salad. The taste was completely different from the carrot salad I'm used to in France; there was a lot of oil (too much in my opinion), but also a lot of garlic and a little spiciness. From what I've read, Russian carrot salad is actually Korean by way of Siberia, which explains its distinctive taste.

This recipe from Yulinka Cooks seems to sum up the tastes I got pretty well, from the garlic to the small hint of sweetness.

Next came the "cheesecake" : tangy but not quite creamy, overall nothing that I would go looking for again. It was like a mix between a dry cheesecake and a weird gateau au fromage blanc, so not that great.

Finally came my favorite part of the meal, dessert. I was completely over-full by that time, but the thought of a poppy seed pastry was enough to make me forget about my exploding stomach for a couple minutes. I love poppy seed patries, and especially those from the Patisserie Viennoise next to the Ecole de Medecine in Paris. The sweetness paired with a little crunch is what I like most about them, even if I wish I could skip the "checking my teeth because 9 times out of 10 I have poppy seeds stuck everywhere" part.

Well, the beigli was great--the top was golden and had a nice eggy shine, while the inside was really fresh. When we bought them, they were still warm from the oven, and it really showed in the taste.

I wish I could go back to Brighton Beach every weekend to grab a couple pastries, but the weather is supposed to get even warmer this weekend, which means more beaches to explore. Now if only each country had its neighborhood at a beach in New York, it would make things even better.

Quiche aux Poireaux

A yummy box lunch

For many French women, my mother and aunt included, quiche belongs to the category of "quick" meals that you can whip up on any random weeknight. It's the type of dish where if you comment on how delicious it is, the answer will probably be something along the lines of "Thanks, but it really wasn't hard to make".

Quiche aux poireaux with a side of salad is almost a family member. One that you may not see that often, but pops up a couple of times a year and is always true to itself.

I decided to perpetrate the tradition and make my own quiche aux poireaux, silently thinking it would never be as good as the ones I grew up eating. First of all, I didn't make my own dough--if I had a real house with a big kitchen maybe I would, but frozen pie shells were my dough of choice for this one. My past quiches--zucchini, bell pepper--have been good but not outstanding, and sort of left me with a "blah" kind of feeling. It's not like a quiche is the hardest thing to make, though, which left me even more annoyed.

I was determined to get this quiche just right. Just in case it turned out well, I wanted to make up my own recipe, so that it would become my quiche. 

Well, my quiche it was, and my quiche it still is. I was amazed by how easy it was compared to the crazy flavor. For a simple leek quiche, it was extra flavorful and a real delight.

So next time I make my quiche and just in case I get some compliments, I'll know exactly what to say.

Oh thanks, but really it only took minutes to make.

Quiche aux poireaux

1 9-inch pie shell, defrosted, or 1 pate brisee

4 eggs

1 1/4 c. fat-free half-and-half

1 tbsp. Garlic & Herb seasoning (lazy me)

2 leeks, chopped

1 tsp. olive oil

salt and pepper

Heat olive oil in a pan; saute leeks with 1/2 tbsp. seasoning, salt, and pepper until soft and fragrant.

Beat eggs in a large bowl, add half-and-half, rest of seasoning, salt, and pepper.

In the bottom of the pie shell, add cooked leeks. Top with egg mixture.

Bake in an oven preheated to 350°F for 40-50 minutes, or until top is slightly golden.

Serve with any type of lettuce, with or without dressing.