Month: March 2020

Grapefruit Vanilla-Mascarpone dessert !

All this he saw, for one moment breathless and intense, vivid on the morning sky; and still, as he looked, he lived; and still, as he lived, he wondered.

Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows
Grapefruit-Mascarpone Dessert Recipe

Ingredients (2 servings):
– 2 grapefruits
– 200g Mascarpone
– 50ml 33% cream
– 2 tbsp sugar
– 4g Vanilla sugar
– 6 Savoiardi biscuits

Method:
1 Crumble Savoiardi biscuits in a bowl
2 Make Mascarpone cream: mix Mascarpone + 33% cream + sugar
3 Peel grapefruits & remove membranes: cut each grapefruit slice in 3 pieces
4 Arrange in the glass the following layers:
4.1 Savoiardi crumble/ Mascarpone cream/ grapefruit pieces
4.2 Repeat 4.1 until the glass is full with the colorful layers, then serve !

Red Bell Pepper Soup with Pistachio !

As for the ball, it is quite a settled thing; and as soon as Nicholls has made white soup enough, I shall send round my cards.

Jane Austen, Pride & Prejudice
Red Bell Pepper Soup Recipe

Ingredients (2 servings):
– 2 large red bell peppers
– 6 baby potatoes
– 1 small onion
– optional: 60ml 33% cream
– 400ml water or chicken broth
– 0.5 tsp salt
– 25g green unsalted raw pistachios
– green onions for serving

Method:
1 Roughly chop peeled potato, de-seeded bell peppers & onion
2 Finely grate pistachios
3 Boil potato in a broth for 5 minutes
4 Add bell peppers & onion, simmer for another 10 minutes
5 Add (optional!) 33% cream to the soup-to-be, transfer to the blender, puree until smooth
6 Garnish with chopped green onions & grated pistachios

Monday morning orange and cocoa meringues !

One thing was certain, that the white kitten had had nothing to do with it – it was the black kitten’s fault entirely

Lewis Carroll
orange and cocoa meringues

Ingredients (for 14 meringues):
– 2 egg whites
– 2.5 tablespoons sugar
– 4g vanilla sugar
– 1 teaspoon cocoa
– 2g orange zest

Method:
1 Preheat the oven to 200C (reduce it to 100C when putting meringues to bake)
2 Whisk egg whites with sugar and vanilla sugar for 5-10 minutes until strong peaks
3 Add orange zest and carefully mix it in, then separate whisked whites mixture into 2 halves and add cocoa only to one to give them different color !
4 Now start putting whisked whites on a parchment paper in small portions. I used a cookie cutter to give them a nice shape. Well, it takes time, but with a help of 2 teaspoons one can manage it perfectly 😉
5 Put our meringues-to-be in the oven and bake for 1.5 hour at 100C
6 Do not open the oven! At best, leave the meringues rest there overnight (-:
7 Enjoy it with a cup of strong black coffee some nice and sunny Monday morning !

Rye-bread tuna sandwiches !

Ce fut le temps sous de clairs ciels…

Paul Verlaine
Rye-bread tuna sandwiches

Ingredients (2 servings):
– 130g canned tuna fish
– 120g Almette or another soft creamy cheese
– 1/2 chopped onion
– 1/2 finely chopped dill bunch
– 1 teaspoon lemon juice
– 1 teaspoon mayonnaise
– pinch of salt & a bit of black pepper
– 6-8 triangle slices of rye bread
– one sprig of green onions for serving

Method:
1 Prepare tuna mixture = tuna fish + cheese + chopped onion + chopped dill + mayonnaise + lemon juice + salt + pepper
2 Cut rye bread into triangle slices and toast them if you prefer them toasted 😉
3 Put the tuna mixture on the slices, enjoy it and have a great Sunday !

Avocado sandwiches for a rainy morning

Do not be angry with the rain; it simply does not know how to fall upwards

Vladimir Nabokov
Avocado Sandwiches Recipe

Ingredients (for 2 servings):
– 2 ripe avocados
– 6 slices of rye bread (it is really tastier with rye bread)
– 125g cream cheese (e.g., Almette)
– 4 sprigs of green onions
– 2 tsp of lemon juice
– 1/3 tsp salt
– 1/4 tsp black pepper

Method:
1 Mash avocado pulp in a bowl with salt, pepper, lemon juice and cream cheese
2 Prepare 6 triangle slices of rye bread and toast them
3 Put the avocado mixture on the toasts
4 Serve with chopped green onions and enjoy !

Homemade Tiramisu !

I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
In secret, between the shadow and the soul.

Pablo Neruda, 100 Love Sonets
Homemade Tiramisu

Ingredients (2-4 servings):
– 250g Mascarpone
– 100ml 33% cream
– 2 tablespoons sugar
– 10-14 Savoiardi biscuits
– 150ml strong black coffee
– 1 tablespoon cocoa for serving

Method:
1 Make Mascarpone cream: mix Mascarpone with sugar & 33% cream: don’t make it too liquid ! 🙂
2 Brew a really strong black coffee !
3 Pour brewed coffee in a plate and let it cool down
4 Now put in the glasses layer by layer (you might use less or more Savoiardi biscuits depending on how high Mascarpone layers you would like to have):
4.1 Savoiardi biscuits dipped each side for 1 second in a coffee-plate
4.2 Mascarpone cream, return to 4.1 if the glass is not full yet 😉
5 Decorate with cocoa on top
6 Put Tiramisu in a fridge overnight
7 Enjoy Tiramisu with a nice old-style black&white movie !

Creamy sweet potato soup: simple and healthy lunch !

It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.

― Charles Dickens, Great Expectations
Sweet potato soup

Ingredients (for 2 servings):
– 2 large sweet potatoes
– 1 onion
– 400ml water or chicken broth
– 60ml cream 33%
– 10 leaves fresh baby spinach for serving
– 30g almond petals for serving
– 1/2 tsp salt
– 1/2 tsp pepper

Method:
1 Cut sweet potatoes into ~2x2x2cm pieces
2 Cut onion into ~0.5×0.5×0.5cm pieces
3 Boil sweet potatoes in chicken broth for 10 minutes (add as much chicken broth as required to cover the sweet potatoes pieces)
4 Add onion to the broth and boil for another 5 minutes, then remove the saucepan from the oven
5 Blender the soup, add salt and pepper
6 Stir in cream and serve with fresh baby spinach, almond petals and black pepper !

Shakshouka for breakfast or a perfect start of Saturday morning !

Alice laughed. ‘There’s no use trying,’ she said. ‘One can’t believe impossible things.’
I daresay you haven’t had much practice,’ said the Queen. ‘When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.

– Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
Shakshouka

Ingredients (for 2 servings):
– 1 onion
– 1/2 large or 1 small red paprika
– 3 garlic cloves
– 200 g tomato sauce with 100% tomatoes, no salt (either homemade or store-bought)
– 1 teaspoon salt
– 1 teaspoon sugar
– 1 teaspoon vinegar
– 4 eggs
– 1 tablespoon olive oil
– a bunch of fresh chives for serving !

Method:
1 Cut onion and paprika into small (~0.5cm) pieces and chop garlic
2 Preheat frying pan with olive oil for 0.5-1 minute
3 Put onion and paprika on the frying pan and stew for 5 minutes at medium heat
4 Add chopped garlic to onion and paprika and stew for another 1 minute
5 Add tomato sauce to other vegetables in the frying pan and stew for another 5 minutes, slightly stirring the mixture
6 Add sugar, salt and vinegar to the frying pan an mix well
7 Carefully pour eggs into the vegetables mixture: make it symmetric, it looks nice 😉
8 Let the eggs cook in the frying pan for about 10-15 minutes until the whites are firm
9 Serve Shakshouka with a pita or a piece of rye bread and enjoy it some Sunday morning !

Goat cheese cranberry sandwiches with walnuts for the perfect weekend !

Les paroles d’amour, qui sont toujours les mêmes, prennent le goût des lèvres dont elles sortent.

– Guy de Maupassant
Goat Cheese Cranberry Sandwiches

Ingredients (for 2 servings):
– 4 slices of whole grain rye bread (it’s way tastier with rye bread than with wheat one !)
– 100g soft goat cheese
– 25g dried cranberries
– 1/3 cup chopped walnuts
– 20g miner’s lettuce for serving

Method:
1 Put soft goat cheese on the rye bread slices
2 Put dried cranberries and chopped walnuts over the goat cheese
3 Serve with miner’s lettuce and enjoy it some Sunday morning when spring is about to come and everything is about to change … and with a nice book 😉

Avocado whole grain toasts with miner’s lettuce !

When the girl returned, some hours later, she carried a tray, with a cup of fragrant tea steaming on it; and a plate piled up with very hot buttered toast, cut thick, very brown on both sides, with the butter running through the holes in great golden drops, like honey from the honeycomb. The smell of that buttered toast simply talked to Toad, and with no uncertain voice; talked of warm kitchens, of breakfasts on bright frosty mornings, of cosy parlour firesides on winter evenings, when one’s ramble was over and slippered feet were propped on the fender, of the purring of contented cats, and the twitter of sleepy canaries.

― Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows
Avocado whole grain toasts

Ingredients (for 2 servings):
– 4 slices wholegrain bread
– 2 large avocados
– 50 g miner’s lettuce
– salt and pepper
– 1/2 tablespoon olive oil for frying eggs

Method:
1 Mash avocado with salt and pepper and put on toasts from whole grain bread
2 Cook eggs on olive oil and put on the toasts over avocado puree
3 Serve with fresh miner’s lettuce and enjoy !

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