Category Archives: French
Not sure what it is, but no matter how much or how little time we spend back in Boston, we always seem to bring an extra 6 pounds home with us and it is not luggage pounds, it is the spare tire around our waists. It is hard as Lenny’s mother is a great cook and she enjoys doing it for us; but, every time we get home it is the battle of the budge. This scares us, as we wonder, will this happen to us on a regular bases if we ever moved there???!!! Definitely something to think about.
We have a good friend back in Boston, Stan. He loves to come visit us very often, he loves the city; but, more I think he loves the escape from his routine in Boston not to mention all the food he is always eating; yes, he too is Portuguese and has a mother who loves to feed him. During his visit last December, he said he became inspired by us. He said he loved our live style (living our lives the way we want too), how active we were (hitting spin class three times a week) and our diet (organic and local). Well, he went home, changed his eating habits and started working out more and actually started training for a tri-althon. When we went there for Christmas, everyone was amazed and in awe by this new Stan and they wondered, what we did to him!
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and you all know what that means, Dorie Time! Due to busy schedules at work and taking a mini-vacation, I have not had a chance to par-take in the weekly baking club – my waist line is definitely Thanking Me! I was bummed to miss the last two weeks as we were making Madelines and Pecan Sticky Buns, two of our faves around the house.
Thank you to Di of Di’s Kitchen Notebook for choosing an Outrageous recipe. Our challenge this week was French Chocolate Brownies – now one can not go wrong with Brownies! The recipe had a twist thrown in, raisins! Since I was giving this away to a non-raisin lover, I did leave them out and I added some bittersweet chocolate chips. Otherwise, I followed the recipe to a T and it is very straightforward and easy. The verdict …. Lenny said they are “crazy moist” and I have to agree, the moistest brownie I have ever had, at the same time the top is lightly crunchy and flaky.
Pour yourself a big cold glass of milk, grab a book or turn on a movie and sit back and eat yourself into a chocolate bliss, this is definitely ….Sinful!
    
we really are mad for macarons, at least the French variety. When we are in Paris, we usually eat them at least once a day. When we hit the Ferry Plaza it is a must to have them at Miette. As well, I like to make them every chance I get or at least whenever, I remember. When I saw that Minko from Couture Cupcakes was hosting an event dedicated just to Macarons, I knew we were going to be there!
Feeling very confident I ventured into two different varieties this time around: one using blanched ground almonds to create a very smooth and white palette, this is the one I normally always use. The other batch I would be using whole almonds ground with the skins on, to give them a speckled palette.
The flavors I chose for the “smooth palette” were Pandan with Kumquat buttercream (light green), Vanilla Bean specks with Hibicus buttercream (white with black specks) and Matcha with Verbana buttercream (dark green).
The flavors for the “speckled palette” were: Chocolate with Blood Orange buttercream and Traditional Macaroons with Burnt Caramel buttercream.
As always I gave MEM, our faithful macaron testers a couple dozen to taste for us – chocolate was voted as the best they have ever had, even better than the Ferry Plaza ones, which they love! The adults who tested for us said they liked the Pandan and the Traditional the best. Lenny & I loved all of them but felt the Matcha should be cut down, little too much Matcha Matcha!
 
We thought we would do something different today and share our breakfast with you and a little story. When we are in Paris, we like to rent an apartment and it seems that every time we have done so, we are lucky enough to be right next to a bakery. The smell of yeast, flour and sugar penetrates the walls as early as 5am, this is our alarm clock. I always wake up before Lenny and I lay there until the entire apartment smells of this sweet sweet heaven, by then it is 7am. I cherish this time of the morning in Paris. I throw on my sweats, grab the camera and hit the rue, to pick up breakfast. The light is always perfect at this time. The streets are still with only the vendors bringing in the fresh produce, meat, fowl and fish. The yeastiness of what is baking mixes with all these wonderful smells and makes me so incredibly happy at comfortable at this perfect moment at the beginning of my day. One of our favorite morning treats are these wonderfully warm Les Chouquettes. They are light airy and slightly sweet, perfect with a strong cup of espresso or a latte, first thing in the morning. By the time I get back to the apartment, Lenny is awake, the Les Chouquettes are still warm and all that is left is the beginning to a perfect day with the one I love, in the city that we both love.
Yesterday morning we were listening to our favorite French radio station, drinking coffee and missing one of our favorite places, so I dug out the recipe for the Les Chouquettes and added the missing link to our “perfect morning in Paris“!
Recipe: Les Chouquettes
1 cup water
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup flour
4 large eggs, at room temperature
Glaze: 1 egg yolk, mixed with a small amount of water
Crystal sugar or Pearl Sugar
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper, you can use a silicone baking mat I prefer parchment. Heat the water, salt, sugar, and butter in a saucepan, stirring, until the butter is melted. Remove from heat and add all the flour at once. Stir quickly until the mixture is smooth and pulls away from the sides of the pan. Briskly beat in the eggs, one at a time, until smooth and shiny. Using two spoons, scoop up a mound of dough with one spoon about the size of a walnut and then scrape it off with the other spoon onto the baking sheet. Or you can use a pastry bag, I like the number 807. Place the mounds evenly-spaced apart on the baking sheet. Brush the top of each mound with some of the egg glaze then sprinkle the sugar crystals over the top, don’t be shy on this part. Use a lot! Bake the cream puffs for about 30 minutes, or until puffed and well-browned. Serve. Eat.
Our friends Andy and Jeff love to entertain as much as we do. We have been talking about picking a theme and spending the day cooking for a couple months now. Now this was only going to be Jeff and I cooking, Andy and Lenny were to stay out of the kitchen, this was our baby! Lenny had no problem sticking to this, after all, he is happiest eating it! Andy, was pretty good as well, I assume it was somewhat hard as he loves to bake; but, we put him in charge of the special cocktail for the evening and helping with the decorating. So, we picked a date and picked the theme …. French Bistro cooking was going to be it. Jeff has cooked the French Laundry style of food a couple months back and Lenny and I eat a lot of French inspired food at home so I was feeling very confident about this venture. Jeff and I spent the first half of the morning drinking coffee and working our way through the market. Was fun shopping with him – I loved telling him, we need 72 ounces of chicken broth, 4 dozen eggs, 32 ounces of cream …. his mouth dropped to the floor every time and the word, “WHAT?” fell out just as fast! We spent most of the day cooking, baking, straining, chopping and laughing! By 5pm the food was finished, our feet and backs were tired and all that was left was to set the table, get the bar ready, change and then let the fun begin!
I have to say, everyone was pretty floored. The food was fantastic! The ohs and ahs were great! We really out did ourselves! (more photos here, eye treats!) If you want the recipes, email us and I can send the PDF version to you!
French Bistro Table
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  I have been DYING to make French Onion soup – don’t ask me why, because I do not know. Maybe it is the looming French Gourmet magazine on our counter … not sure. L. was getting ready to leave town so I figured I would load him up on onions and garlic, not sure why I decided to do that either!I have this recipe from Moosewood cookbook, that I use. I found it about 20 years ago and love how simple it is to make and how rich it tastes. I have tweaked it over the years … I now slow cook the onions until they are caramelized and I add some garlic to it as well I do not make it vegetarian. I use a good rich beef stock – I love the richness of the beef stock and the color the soup turns.
To serve I toast slices of baguette, that have been drizzled with olive oil and rubbed with crushed garlic. The richness of the stock and onions really compliment the garlicky goodness of the toast!
 
L.’s aunt from Boston and his cousin from the Azores are visiting us for a few days and I decided to try out a new dish on company; which, mind you is something I usually never do. I have a standby roasted chicken dish that I seem to serve whenever we have people over for dinner from out of town. After all, you can not go wrong with the chick, everyone loves a good chick, right?! Well, MOVE ON OVER stand-by chick, you have just been replaced by the new chick in town – Tarragon and Pancetta Roasted Chicken!
This chicken is not only SUPER easy but it is so darn good. The skin is raised on the chicken and lightly stuffed with a breadcrumb, tarragon and pancetta mixture and then cooked to perfection. The stuffing sealed in all the juices, making an ultra moist and juicy chicken – so succulent! I usually do not care for tarragon; but, with the saltiness and flavors of the pancetta it was just like spring time in Italy!
You have to try this one, it will be your new favorite dish to fall back on.
L. and I really do not “celebrate” V~day. We both are strong believers that all these special “things”, should be things that are done throughout the year, not saved up for one “big” day. And, since we eat pretty well on a nightly bases, why should this night be any different or for that matter stuck out at a restaurant, paying over priced prices for food that is not that good because it is so busy – save it for a rainy day! In the same breath, it is kind of hard not to get a little sucked into all the pink & red fluff everywhere, so I do always pick up a little token of my love, a bottle of pink bubbly and a card.
Now, since I LOVE to cook as well, I know L. was expecting the big fancy french meal; but, I surprised him with a Jamie Oliver pizza of Pancetta, artichoke hearts and an egg! He was quite surprised!
For dessert I made L.’s favorite dessert, Iles Flottantes – a big Thank You to Tartelette for a wonderful recipe! Not only was it delicious but very easy.
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