Escalope de dinde
This is a very easy and delicious dish accompagnied with some of the classic italian ingredients:
- fresh rocket
- roasted pine nuts
- grated parmesan cheese
- olive oil
- lemon juice
- roasted mushrooms
- shredded dried tomatoes
Coq au vin
Here comes a recipe on very traditional French dish relying on wine, herbs and a generous cooking time. There are as many recipes of this famous dish and as there are cooks. Through the years I have also developed my own version, which slightly differs from the original recipe. However, the most important is the quality of the ingredients and the time. For a really rich flavour I marinate the chicken pieces in wine overnight, cook it next day and serve it the day after. Don't underestimate the wine quality, use the best you can afford.
Ingredients 4
- 4 large chicken legs cut in two pieces
- 0.5l red wine
- 150g bacon cut into cubes
- 2 large shallots, peeled and chopped
- 200 mushrooms
- 1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped
- 3tbs flour
- 300ml chicken stock
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 spring of thyme
- salt, pepper
- 2tbs tomato paste
- olive oil
- a bunch of flat-leaf parsley, chopped
- Preheat the oven to 180°C
- Cut the chicken legs in two parts, remove the skin and marinate in red wine overnight.
- Put the olive oil and bacon in a large ovenproof casserole dish and cook over medium heat for 3 minutes. Add the chopped shallots and garlic and cook until brown. Add flour and incorporate into the mixture.
- Add the chicken and the marinade, the chicken stock, the thyme and bay leaves (bouquete garni), tomato paste and pepper. Wait with the salt as the bacon and chicken stock may be salty enough.
- Put on the lock a leave it in the oven for 50min at 180°C.
- So long you can prepare it the day before serving.
- Next day cook some bacon cubes until browned, set aside
- Cook sliced mushrooms in a small amount of butter, set aside.
- Before serving, heat the casserole and sprinkle on top the mushrooms, the bacon and the chopped parsley.
- Serve with a good bread or pasta and green salad.
Figues de Provence
Figs are in season and we have them on the table for breakfast, lunch and dinner. They come in different colours but all of them are VERY sweet. I use them in the salads, particularly with rocket salad and parma ham. They also taste wonderful when roasted or grilled with meat. As desert they are unbeatable, just roasted in the oven 20 min at 200°C with little of butter and a drizzle of agave sirup and few rosemary sprigs. I serve them together with creme fraiche or yoghurt without additional sugar.....the sweetness of the fig is enough. This is an ancient fruit and have been cultivated in centuries but I learnt them eat fresh only few years ago. Until that they always arrived in dried form around Christmas time and were not appreciated at all. Now, in fresh form they becomes my favorite, but again I eat them only in season in spite of the fact that they are available in supermarkets around the year but.... without any taste.
Low Carb Food
Both my daughter and I have lowered our carbs intake to minimum. The reason is to loose a little bit of weight. For me this means only a slice of bread in the morning and then I only enjoy vegetables, some protein and fat. It is amazing how fast you get out of the habit to eat bread to everything. During the Summer I do not have much exercise and therefore no need for carbs. In September we will start with our hikes and I then will go back to my normal diet but the intake of white flour and sugar will still remain limited. Yesterday evening we enjoyed a salmon-tunafish tartare and today cooked vegetables with tunafish mayonnaise and egg. So light ...and so delicious.
Marinated Salmon
This dish belongs to my portfolio of starters or light lunches. The most difficult part is to slice the raw salmon in very thin but rather large pieces. I marinate them in olive oil and lemon juice, salt and pepper for couple of hours before I cook them very gently in the oven(150°C), by placing them on baking sheet covered by baking paper, for a few minutes(3-5min). Then I transfer, very carefully, the slices on the plates and serve it with rocket leaves, shavings of parmesan cheese, roasted pine nuts and finally with a drizzle of a good quality olive oil.
Fish duo
Back from market. Today I brought with me home some cod and salmon filets. I cut the salmon in very thin slices and then rolled it together with the cod filet. As the salmon is a fat fish it will make the cod more succulent. I will steam it together with some asiatic herbs and spices as coriander, lemon grass and ginger and serve it with a cream-mango sauce..but first tomorrow. Tonight we are going to our favorite restaurant in Isle sur la Sorgue.
Foie gras for dinner....
I must admit that this is an exception. Normally we eat foie gras only at Christmas and from time to time on restaurant but I never buy it home during the Summer as this is a dish for the very cold days. But as we have a strong cold Mistral for some time here I get inspired and served a piece of foie gras as a starter for our dinner today. I always buy the best quality and this one below is the best what I could find. In my previous days I used to buy on the airports the canned foie gras but now I have learnt to appreciate the fresh one without conservation. It is delicious as is, it only needs to be seasoned with salt and (rose) pepper and served with something fruity. It could be a piece of stone fruit or fig. We enjoyed it today with our own pears..... so ripe and so sweet.
Ceviche
I am using frozen rouget filets for this beloved dish. It is typically made from fresh raw fish marinated in citrus juices such as lemon or lime and spiced with chili pepper and herbs. I will served it as a starter together with green salad and avocado. For me it is the ultimate summer dish, but you have to be sure about the fish quality.
I say tomato you say tomato...
Today we came home from the market with flowers, vegetables and particularly tomatoes. They are sold now in crates. So....I am roasting the tomatoes in the oven for making a home made sauce and ketchup. You can imagine the wonderful smell in my kitchen, the tomatoes together with garlic, thyme and with a drizzle of good olive oil. I will freeze it then and keep it for the cold winter days......
Zucchini ricotta cheesecake
Now is my little family together again. My daughter arrived yesterday and it feels so wonderful to have almost 4 weeks in front of us. As every year I cook extra healthy and low carb food in order to enable us , girls, to loose some kilos. Today I tried a fantastic cheesecake based on ricotta cheese, zucchini and eggs and without any carbs. I sprinkled the cheesecake with some pancetta but for a vegetarian version I would use roasted pine nuts. Really delicious dish which I stole from a wonderful blog. The recipe can be found here.
Filled zucchini flowers and marinated fish brochettes...
For me is food a sensual, whole-body experience. To look, to smell the ingredients, to mix them with the finger....isn't it a magic? Today I took some basic ingredients and transformed them into a wonderful summer dinner. The fresh zucchini flowers I filled with a mixture of different cheeses, garlic and pine nuts, the salmon, lot and tuna fish I marinated and then grilled. The wonderful levain bread I served as bruschetta with olive oil and a lot of garlic....and the gorgeous summer tomatoes .....
Roasted tomatoes soup with goat cheese creme
An excellent soup. I roasted small tasty tomatoes (cut in half) together with some gloves of garlic (skin on), olive oil and salt in oven for 30min at 175°C. Then I removed the skin from the garlic and mixed everything together in a mixer. I also added a spoon of tomato paste and seasoned it with salt and pepper. Then I strained the soup through a colander. I did not added any bouillon or water, just kept it as is. Together with that I served a creme mixture of a soft goat cheese and greek yoghurt. The combination of the sweet roasted tomatoes and the goat cheese is really delicious. I enjoyed the soup cold but you can eat it warm as well. I also drizzled litlle of olive oil on top of the soup and sprinkled over a few pine nuts and some basil leaves. This soup will definitely stay on my menu. The next time I invite my friends for dinner I will serve it as a starter.
14 Juillet
Today it is France national day, in France, it is formally called La Fête National. You remember well from the school that this is the day which celebrates the storming of the Bastille 1789. We have had a quit day without seeing any differences to other days but in the villages and cities there are and will be many festivities. We will watch the fireworks from our terrace later tonight. Tomorrow it is working day even for us as our french teacher will come.
For the dinner I prepared today one of my classic chicken dishes, which consists of:
1 chicken cut in 8 pieces
3 gloves of garlic
8 potatoes cut in half
4 carrots cut in pieces
red pepper
rosemary
salt, peper, olive oil
This is a kind of one pot=one dish. Mix everything together in a baking dish and roast in oven for 60-80 min at 200°C. It doesn't need any attention so it is an excellent dish when you are short on time.
Tomato salsa
Now when the tomatoes are in season I often serve a tomato salsa to grilled fish or poultry. It serves both as a salad and a sauce and it is very healthy. You can make it spicy by adding chili flakes or even better fresh chili. The recipe is simple, but it is important to let the salsa rest some hours in the fridge in order to allow the ingredients come together.
Mixed together:
- chopped tomatoes
- chopped red onion
- juice from an lime
- chopped fresh coriander
- salt, pepper, olive oil
- little of grated ginger
Ricotta and apricot tart
I have made a quick fix today. I bought a ready made pastry dough but I carefully checked that there were no trans fats included. It is a smart solution in the summer hot days. I also tried to enhance my tart with some ricotta cheese mixture which made this cake more succulent. Soon will our french teacher arrive and I will serve the tart with a cup of strong black coffee.....
For the ricotta mix I used 500g ricotta cheese , agave sirup and 3 eggs.
Garlic bread and shrimps
Usually the most simple dishes make the greatest pleasure. This simple one is my family classic which has survived our living in Sweden, Switzerland and France. The key is to get the truly nordic shrimps. This is why IKEA is so appreciated and it doesn't matter that they come in frozen form. The taste compared to the French shrimps is really different. Improvement in France became with sourdough baguette which we treat in a similar way: Mix butter and crushed garlic and spread the mass on the cut sides of bread. Bake in oven for 5 min at 225°C.
Apricot tart
Few days ago I tried to bake an apricot tarte which is my favorite cake because of the taste of apricot. I do not know any other stone fruit which creates such an aroma and taste. However, something went wrong with the recipe and I had to use my judgement and adopt it during the process. The result was pretty good but I did not noticed the changes to the recipe I made. So I have to try again and make proper notes. It is essentially a tart shell lined with sugared apricot quarters and baked. There was no custard, only little of almond meal in order to soak the juices from the apricots.
The day started healthy.....
I eat salad almost every day, the year around but I have to confess that during summer the salads taste best. It is of course the ripe and tasty vegetables and fruits which makes the difference. Yesterday we were occupied with a cleaning of the house and terraces and therefore I needed a easy-made lunch. I put together what I had in my fridge since my last purchase at Saturday's market and voila....I used green leaves, tomatoes, red onion, horseradish, avocado oil, melon and topped it with smoked salmon (Ikea have a delicious cold-smoked salmon).
.....and the day ended with this.
Melon de Cavaillon
In summer, Provence is known for its melons, especially for those coming from our neighbourhood town Cavaillon. They are sweet and juicy and they are on today's menus at all restaurants. Next week we will have some guests who are vegetarians, and therefore I tried today a melon dish with goat cheese which I can serve then as a starter. The salt in the cheese binds nicely with the sweet in the melon and results in a successful combination. Tonight, this will be on the table "Chez Nous" ....
The melon is chopped in small cubes and mixed with chopped basil leaves and served with goat cheese. I decorated it with a few leaves of rocket and then finished with a few drops of olive oil infused with lemon. I may also spread over little of fresh rose pepper...there are many variations.
Tomato sauce
The rain finally arrived and with it also a cold wind which dropped the temperature to 13°C. Now, it is afternoon and the sun is partially coming back. My brother has taken a nap at the poolside imbedded in a blanket, my husband is on his way home from Marseille airport and I am preparing sauce for the pizza. 
This sauce is lovely to use also with pasta or instead of ketchup. Tomatoes unlike many other vegetables benefit from being cooked as it helps to release certain nutrients notable lycopene. Lycopene is an antioxidant which protects against cancer but also protect skin and eyes agains sun.
You need:
- Onion chopped
- Garlic chopped
- Olive oil
- Rosemary and thyme ( make a bouguet and let it cook in the sauce, then discard)
- 2 tomatoes chopped
- 1tbs tomato paste
- Canned tomatoes
Cook slowly in olive oil and let the liquid evaporate....that's it.
