Monthly Archives: September 2011
Tarte Alascienne Aux Mirabelles (Plum Tart)
This recipe comes from the Encyclopedie which you may, or may not have, read about yesterday. I changed one thing about it though for lack of finding the requested ingredient at the store. You will see what I mean.
Also, my oven is malfunctioning, so when the recipe called for this tart to be baked for 20-25 minutes, my oven decided it would take nearly an hour. I am going to direct you to do the same as the original recipe. If your oven is incredibly crappy like mine, then bake it for longer. It worked for me, hopefully for you too.
Ok, like many of the French recipes I have encountered since I have been cooking/baking, it has a lot of steps but they are all easy and not too many complicated techniques are use…actually, there are no complicated techniques used.
Just follow along step-by-step and it will turn out wonderful. Drink a glass of wine if need be.
Here are your ingredients:
Plums, granulated sugar, pastry flour, heavy cream, milk, butter, eggs, salt, a vanilla bean (replace it with extract if need be). You will also need plum flavoured alcohol (as the original recipe calls for), I used whiskey. Why not?
Weigh out (with your brand new scale!) 125g butter…
…100g sugar…
…and crack one egg into a bowl…
I forgot to mention that we are making a sugar dough for the crust of the tart. This is the base. Cream these ingredients together.
Unfortunately, I no longer have the luxury of using anything electric to cream these suckers together. Back to the original smooshing technique with a rubber spatula for me! Please use ANYTHING electric if you have it!!! Don’t torture yourself…
Now sift 250g of pastry flour over top…
And add a pinch of salt…
With the palm of your hand, gently knead the dough until it has an even consistency…
You may be wondering why I have water on my hand. Afterall, they should be dirty, right? I was just kneading all this sticky dough, right? Right. Also, I do realize that you may not have noticed the water or cared for that matter but my guilty conscience is causing this confession! Ok, I need (no pun intended!) to take pictures so after doing the main part of the kneading I wanted to get some good shots of me finishing up the job to show you what it should look like. Not wanting to get the camera dirty (totally fair!) I washed my hands! GASP! And then I continued kneading with one hand, the camera in the other hand…oh, the life of a blogger!
Ok, cover and pop this sucker into the fridge for 20 minutes or so, the perfect amount of time to do everything else!
Now we are preparing the custardy part.
Measure out 200mL of milk into a bowl…
Add another 200mL of heavy cream…
And then…get this…8 EGGS!!! Stop, don’t add 8 full eggs, read the rest of this sentence!! Add 4 whole eggs and 4 egg yolks (or as directly translated from French, 4 egg yellows)…
And also add in 80g of sugar…
We don’t want bubbles. NO BUBBLES! This means that when you are combining these ingredients together, use a spatula, not a whisk.
Add a cap-full of the alcohol…
Slice a vanilla bean in half and scrape out the middle. This is the first time I have used real vanilla and once you go real, you don’t go back. This is true! If you are using the extract, use a teaspoon or so…
Now combine the ingredients well but once again…NO BUBBLES!
Strain the mixture…
I tried very hard to capture the texture of this liquid so here you have it (below), the texture…
Now stick this in the fridge and prepare the plums. You will need 500g of plums.
I slit it down one side and pulled out the seed…
And I did this to all of the plums.
Now, I was originally going to keep them whole because the recipe didn’t say anything about halving them. But I would recommend cutting them in half, which is what I ended up doing…
Now back to the dough. It should be cool by now so sprinkle some flour on a surface and plop the dough on top…
Roll out the dough and place it gently in the tart pan.
I couldn’t get a picture of the rolling part. I was too busy concentrating. I am seriously the worst at pie crusts. When I rolled it out and then put it into the tart pan it all broke apart. I mended it though and I do have a picture of the finished product!
See…
Now add those plums to the bottom (once again, I did end up halving them. They were just too big!)…
Now grab that milk mixture from the fridge and pour it over…
Bake it for 20-25 minutes at 180 C (sorry peeps, I am in France and they do not use F here).
And what to do with the extra dough…Make cookies!
And here is the final tart ready to serve. Voila!
Enjoy!
[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:13]
Posted in Desserts
Tagged french plum tart, plum recipe, plum tart recipe, tarte alsacienne aux mirabelles
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Its Book Review Day!! Last Up: The Life Guide to Digital Photography
Sheesh, this reviewing thing is tiresome on my brain.
The last book I am reviewing today is The Life Guide to Digital Photography -”Everything you need to know to shoot like the pros”
It is true, it really is all you need to know.
I bought this book, or rather it was a gift from my aunt for my trip, after browsing the shelves in the photography section of the book store for at least 45 minutes. I looked at every book! Seriously. I went through them. I would not settle for less than a book that covered all of the basics and this one was the best of the bunch.
You know Life magazine, right? This magazine always has extremely top of the line photos within its pages. Well Life asked two of its photographers to write a guide on digital photography and hence we have this book.
The book covers the essential topics of photography: Light, Lenses, Design Elements, Colour and Composition with a nifty “tips” section at the end.
The information builds within each topic; beginning first, for example, with what light is, then how the camera captures, then what kind of light there is, etc. And within all these pages are practical exercises for the photographer to practice. I am now using my camera in manual mode because of on of these very exercises.
Let me show you inside!
Part One: Light
Did I mention that this book also has spectacular photos within its pages?
The grey ares of the book are the areas that give practical advise and exercises rather than just theoretical photography (which is important and interesting to know as well. Thankfully, this book covers both!).
Anyways, I really had to pass on the Dummies guides for the first time in my life. I love Dummies guides but in this topic, the book surpassed that guide by far. Sorry Dummies, I really do love you.
I wanted something without post-editing (like Photoshop) information because I want to take great photos without always relying on Photoshop. If this bothers you, the Dummies guide may be more appropriate. Hey, I figure if I wanted to know how to edit photos on Photoshop, I would get a book about that but to me Photography and Photoshop are separate arts within themselves.
For practical reasons: This book is written by Joe McNally (an award-winning Life magazine photographer) with a foreward by John Loengard.
Read it though. Read it part by part. Just use it as a reference. Just look at the pretty pictures. The choices are plentiful, just own it! It’s great!
The End.
Its Book Review Day!! 2nd Up: Around The World In Eighty Day
Why does this book look like this? You may ask.
This book is so old that the copyrights are up. And what does this mean for you and me? It means you can get it free in PDF version online! It’s true!
I don’t know where though because my dad printed it out and binded it for me to take on the plane.
It is also not as long as this it has been printed on one side and looks huge when it’s in the form that mine is.
See?
Ok, this book is so great! It is a story you will not be able to put down, full of adventure and twists.
It is written by Jules Verne and was originally printed in French. The English version is quite popular though (and it has free audio versions out there!) and I am guessing that you have probably already heard of the book.
It will soften your heart and open you up to greater possibilities. Maybe.
The story is about a wealthy man in London at the turn of the century. He is very eccentric and has a particular way of living and a particular schedule.
One day he is following his usual routine and drinking with his friends at the local gentleman’s club when he makes a bet that he can travel around the world in eighty days.
He leaves for the trip the same night and the adventure begins.
Will he make it, will he not?
Find out how the story unfolds. I am not telling you!
I love this author’s style of writing. It is very precise and very clear. Young teenagers would be able to read this book easily but they aren’t usually the ones who need their hearts soften but they will enjoy the adventure. Wait. I take that back. Did I just say that young teenagers don’t need their hearts softened? WITHDRAW! They need it the most!
Another quirky think I just love about this book is the accuracy of the chapter titles…
“In which Passepartout is only too glad to get off with the loss of his shoes”
This specifically is a significant event in the chapter along with many other things and it really got me curious at the beginning of each chapter. “What, without his shoes? I have to check this out.” That was the usual thought process before each chapter.
And every time I put this book down I was left debating what would happen next. This is exactly what I ask for in a fictional story! I am not much of a fiction reader but when I come across a great adventure, I cannot deny myself!
Anyways, read it! Seriously! It is so good you will read it in two days tops. And you can choose whether you want to read it in French or English!
The End.
Its Book Review Day!! First Up: Encyclopedie de la gastronomie Francaise
(WARNING: This review is going to be stellar because this book is stellar. You have been warned!)
Check out this book!
It’s in French! GASP!
I am not asking you to read along with me in French now people. Or am I? It’s just that I have always, and I mean always, been interested in French cooking and how can there be any better way to learn than with this book.
As I have mentioned before, I recently realized that all my recipes are no use to me in this country because the measures are off. Here, in Europe, cooking is done in the Metric system. In Canada, both measuring systems are used but really I have only ever cooked with the imperial system, except when I was taking cooking classes. But don’t fret, the metric system of weighing ingredients (which I have done, time to time already on this site) is WAAAY more accurate. 225g of flour will always be 225g of flour no matter what the weather is outside or type of flour you are using or the brand of flour. On the other hand, 1 cup of flour will not always weigh the same. Get it? If not just read it over 
.
So back to the story. I needed a new cookbook and when I was shopping for one I had a magnificent memory of reading My Life In France by Julia Child. Her husband bought her the Encyclopedia of French Gastronomy for her birthday and then she began her career as a well known French cook (even though she was American). Now this is not the same version but it is based on that original.
So I browsed the shelves of the huge French bookstore (the cooking section of course) for any freaking large books and I found it and quite easily at that. But 50 euros!!! Are you kidding me! Go and make that conversion to dollars and come back just as shocked as I was. Go. I’ll wait…
Shocking, right?!!!
I couldn’t buy it.
A few days past and I couldn’t take it anymore. I bought it. As you can tell by this book review.
Oh and I don’t regret it at all because it is so awesome. And it is a fabulous way for me to practice my French. I am sure I will cook up some recipes for it so go and get yourself a scale like I have!
If you want to practice your French, I highly recommend it, if not, there is an american version quite similar but it does not focus on French cuisine but cuisine in general. I think I scored the better of the two! Come on, it’s French food afterall!
The best part of this book is that the first half is not recipes. That is right, I did say this is the best part of the book. And it the best part because this first half is about this…
The different techniques
And then the book proceeds to tell us all about making doughs, preparing eggs, cutting meat and fish and so, so much more. The pictures are so comprehensive as well…
Smack dab in the middle, riiiight before it gets to the recipes it has this section…
Practical Workbook
There is a comprehensive glossary, conversion charts and diagrams like the one below…
Red Berrries
So now, when a recipe asks for red berries in general terms I know where to refer to become acquainted with these berries.
And now for the recipes! There are about a dozen sub-titles in this section: Sauces, Soups, Fish, Cheese (yes a whole section on cheese recipes!), Desserts, and more!
Oh and did I already mention the pictures are so captivating? They really make me salivate..
And the best part…BY FAR!…is that it comes with a CD!! Yes, I did say that it comes with a CD!!! GASP!!!
And just for formalities, it is written by Vincent Boue and Hubert Delorme. It is photographed by Clay McLachlan with a preface from Paul Bocuse.
The End.
First Time In Manual
Today I used my camera completely in manual mode for the first time! Champagne! I think so.
Dammit, I looked and I don’t have any champagne.
Water! I think so.
I am reading this fabulous book about digital photography and it gave me the necessary information and confidence to make this big step. One small step for mankind, one giant leap for me!
Did I mention that tomorrow is book review day? I didn’t!? What was I thinking? P.s. Tomorrow is book review day. I will be reviewing three different books on three different topics and this book that gave me this confidence is one of them. I’m not telling its name though. You will have to come back to find out what it is.
Ha!
Ok let me explain this process.
I put the ISO in a reasonable setting for outdoors-200.
I set the f-stop to an average size-8.
I let the camera tell me how fast it wanted the shutter speed by reading the dial in the viewfinder and waiting for it to reach 0 (the middle). That ended up being like 1/300th or something like that. I am very precise. Write that down. Remember it forever. Laura=Precise!
My pictures turned out…okay. They really are not the greatest because I didn’t experiement after using those setting as the base to go back to. The book suggests that. I am pretty much a follower of this book now. I blind follower! But I just love it so much!
Why didn’t I experiment? Because I had a purse over one shoulder, an Ipod turned on in both ears and about 1 million people all within 1 inch or so of me.
I’ll have to go without the purse. The Ipod is a non-negotiable. It gets me into the mood. I’m just saying.
Anyways. It is time for me now to quit my blabbering and show you these freaking pictures all ready!!
Acutally, I’ll make you wait…
…
Just, joking! Hey, where are you going? It was just a joke.
Come back!
Pleeease?
Voila!
This is where I live. Not in that building but in the city. Ya, like I would ever take a picture of the building I am living in and post it on the big bad web.
Oh, and here is another picture!
I’m curious to see what else the book has to say. Because even though I was using the manual mode, to me, these pictures are just so so.
Anyways, ta-ta for now!
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged leanring photography, lille, using camera in manual mode
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Whiskey Sausage
So easy to make. So yum. That is about all I have to say about it.
Oh ya! There is alcohol in it! Can it get any better?
You will need:
Butter, olive oil, shallots, smokes sausages and whiskey. Hardly anything!
Begin by peeling and slicing 5 shallots lengthwise. They should look like this when you are done…
Next, heat up some olive oil in a pan…
Add around 1 tablespoon of butter.
I will teach you how to know exactly when your butter is ready.
When you add the butter, swoosh it around until it is fully melted. It will get very bubbly like this…
The foam will go down. When it goes down and doesn’t look like it will go down (sorry for my lack of vocabulary. My English also “goes down” while I am amidst millions of French speakers, apparently) any further, it is hot enough. It will look like this…
Add the onions…
Saute them in the pan for around 7 minutes or until they are really soft and starting to brown around the edges. I want them sticking to the bottom of the pan! Afterall, we have to let that alcohol do its duty (of deglazing) well!
In the meantime, you can slice the 4 French smokes sausages…
When the onions are ready. Add a (generous) splash of the whisky to the pan. A generous splash is when you take the lid off the bottle, and hold it over the pan for less than 1 second. Because this splash was generous mine was more like 1.5 seconds long. If you are still are unsure as to how to splash the alcohol in then add approx. 2 ounces. Scrape the bottom of the pan…
Now add the sausage to the pan and add one more generous splash of the whiskey…
Stir the mixture around, turn the heat to low and simmer for 7-10 minutes…
The sausage and onion mixture is so salty and pungent and flavorful that I served it with plain, unsalted pasta that I drizzled some olive oil over.
Et voila! Enjoy!
[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:12]
Posted in Pork
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I Love It When He Gets His Hands Dirty
FBF bought me a bike!! Yay! Celebrate with me! Not because he bought me a bike. I’m not that high-maintenance, materialistic type of gal…but no, celebrate for the fact that I have a bike and it was given to me out of love by FBF!
I have a thing with bikes and getting them a gifts. I really do. In Canada, I needed a bike and a regular customer at the store I was working in offered me his because he just bought a new one. Score! A new, free bike.
And now, this is the second moment where I have desired a bike. I was planning on buying one within my first month here. It is simply way easier to get around with one. And then one evening I was relaxing on the bed, reading a great book (in which I will post a book review shortly) when FBF walked in to the room. He sat at the edge of the bed, gave me a sweet kiss and said, “I have some gifts for you!” I replied with, “What!? No!” He reached into a bag and pulled out a really pretty white and red striped tank top. I love it! I thought it was sweet and that it was all. But no, he proceeds to reach into another bag. “I also have this for you!” Again, I replied with, “What!? No!” It was a necklace locket with a watch inside! It’s so stylish and unique and again very thoughtful. At this point I thought I was dating the best man in all of le monde. Then FBF says, “I have one more thing for you!” I replied with, “No, baby this is really enough, seriously!” He told me to follow him.
And so I followed him.
“Where is he taking me? Is the surprise in the bathroom? (he was leading me towards the bathroom door), is the surprise in the coat room? (the bathroom door is also near the coatroom).”
He turns back towards me and says, “This is yours.”
He was touching the bike in the hallway.
I was confused a little. This bike had been sitting there all week and I just assumed it was one of his roomates. At one point I even said to myself, “Holy moly, can’t these roomates find a better place for the bike than right infront of the bathroom door.” I regret saying this. Withdraw! The whole time that bike was mine!
And than FBF and I proceeded to make out and that lead to some other mischievous things. Sigh.
Anyways, did I ever get off topic with that little story above because what I really want to show you is this:
I just love it when he gets his hands dirty!
He is fixing the bike. The bike is quite an awesome, vintage purple one and unfortunately the person who sold it to FBF forgot to mention that is was broken. Its one of those dealios that the person fixed it but just with a temporary mend, enough that it works to sell it, than after a couple of bike rides…kirplat…its a goner.
FBF’s parent’s came over yesterday and I bragged to them about the marvelous bike FBF gave to me and then told them it was broken. His dad (an engineer) would have none of this! He and FBF than became determined to fix it whether it took all afternoon or not. Sigh.I love men.
Meet FBF’s dad. Although I think you already met him here. Yes, you did.
I have tried very hard to capture this man candidly, working hard but no matter how hard I try and no matter how patient I am with the camera, every picture I take of him turns out like the one above. Ready. Smiling. Looking awesome. Dammit!
“This work is a breeze baby, just admire my muscles as I fix this bike I got you. No worries.”
“Ya this is definetely a breeze. I am working so hard baby. Take a picture of my dirty hands while I work so hard.”
“Are you making fun of me??? I’m gonna eat you!!!”
It seems that Maman was admiring something too!
Lets get one more shot of those dirty hands.
Yay! They fixed it!…
…
…
Or did they?
Stay tuned to find out!
Love ya
Posted in Everyday Living
Tagged fixing a bike, men fixing things, surprise from my boyfriends
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Chocolat De Maman
Yesterday morning was Saturday morning, and to celebrate my first Saturday morning alone with FBF in France, I ran around to 3 different bakeries (not as bad as it seems because there is one at every corner) to find a French staple, Pain Chocolat (on the left in the picture). It seems that I left the apartment but an hour too late and most bakeries had sold out…again, it is a French staple.
Now having the Pain Chocolat would only make this Saturday morning half as great as I wanted it to be. The other half of the greatness would come from the Chocolat. It’s a French version of hot chocolate and FBF’s maman taught me how to make it last weekend.
Begin by adding just enough water to cover the bottom of a small saucepan and then adding 2 teaspoons of sugar. Bring the mixture to a simmer…
When the sugar has melted, add 12 squares of dark (70%) chocolate…
Take the mixture off the heat to melt the chocolate and add in one can of evaporated milk and then fill that same can 3/4 full with water and add it in…
But the mixture back on the stove and heat it. Taste it to “season” it. If it needs more sugar, add 1 or 2 more teaspoons…
Serve it in a bowl with your favourite pastry or bread…
Et voila! Enjoy!
[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:11]
Sweet Salsa Salmon
I really tried, with all of my heart, to avoid the whole yellow light thing, but the truth is that I love making dinner, not only lunch. And, making dinner happens in the transition between daylight and no daylight. This meal was way too delicious to hide it from you though, just because the lighting was slightly off. And let me re-iterate…this was WAAAAAAYYYY TOO DELICIOUS! It was good. It was yummy. I want it again. I want it now!
I served it with mashed potatoes and that is all. The flavours melded together like no tomorrow.
When I cook, I come up with the recipes on the spot. I go grocery shopping, start with one idea (it happened to be salmon in this instance), see another ingredient (tomato), am inspired to make a salsa and choose my ingredients based on that inspired idea. This formula NEVER fails me!
So follow along folks!
Begin by boiling about 3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar in a pan for 2-3 minutes, or until it becomes like a thin syrup and the sour taste is removed. It will be yummy and sweet. Remove it from the pan.
Now I cleaned the same pan to start fresh for the next part but you are welcome to just use a fresh pan. Add 2 tablespoons or so of extra virgin olive oil to the pan…
I minced one small onion and added it to the oil…
The onion needs to cook for 3-5 minutes, until it is soft and beginning to turn sweet. While they cook I diced one tomato…
And I also diced one peeled, cooked beet…
I added these two ingredients straight into the pan with the onion and seasoned the whole thing with a generous amount of salt. I let this cook only for about 2 minutes more, or enough time to heat the tomato and beet through. Once they were hot, I removed the pan from the stove…
Now I peeled an avocado, removed its pit and diced it very finely…
I added the tomato mixture into a bowl with the avocado…
Then I stirred it around with the balsamic vinegar…
Now onto the salmon. I used the same pan once more but first I wiped it clean. If you want you can use another pan (then you will have 3 dirty pans at the end of this whole ordeal, yuck!). I added another 1 tablespoon of olive oil combined with 1-2 tablespoons of butter.
I added 3 pieces of salmon skin up and let it cook for 3-4 minutes. I flipped it over and again let it cook for 3-4 minutes. But on the non-skin side I seasoned the suckers with salt…
To serve, just place a piece of salmon on a plate and scoop a (very) generous amount of the delicious salsa on top.
Et voila! Enjoy!
[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:10]
Pasta Champignon
As I may have mentioned before, the greatest thing about not having a job right now is the fact that I can travel to the market while FBF is busy, buy whatever inspires me and cook a grand lunch for the two of us everyday. I have perfect lighting for pictures and the freshest ingredients. Can I ask for anything more?!
I had some mushrooms hanging out in the fridge from the day before and they inspired me to create a pasta dish. I had the most delicious past at FBF’s parents house and wanted to take a spin at trying my own innovation with a “pasta” inspiration. What I ate over there and what I made were not in a bit close to each other but eating pasta at his parent’s place (chez ses parents) reignited to pasta desire. FBF used to eat pasta at least once every 2 days! Who knows? Pasta is not expensive, so it may become a regular on this website. Just please be prepared for variety!
So without further ado, I present to you Pasta Champignon!
You will need:
Fusilli, extra virgin olive oil, parsley, mushrooms, 2 cloves of garlic, 1/2 onion, artichoke hearts, salt, and parmesan cheese.
Begin by preparing your ingredients. Cook the pasta for two servings to your liking. Then chop the onion…
Mince the garlic…
Slice the mushrooms. I used 7 large button mushrooms and sliced them each into 5, just to let you know…
And mince the parsley…it comes to about 2 tablespoons…
Take 5 or so artichoke heart out of their jar…
And chop these suckers up…
Now heat up 2-3 tablespoons of the oil. Don’t be shy! The mushrooms absorb the stuff like crazy! Oh and by the way, FBF would like me to let you know that that is his sexy hand in the photo…
Add the onions and cook for 1 or 2 minutes until they begin to become translucent…
As soon as these onions begin to lose their firmness, add the garlic…
Just a minute after you add the garlic, place the mushrooms in an even layer in the pan…
Season them with salt…
After 5 minutes or so add the artichokes…
Cook for another 3-5 minutes until the mushroom are completely cooked through. In the last moment, toss in the parsley…
Now throw the pasta in a big bowl, add the mushroom on top and top WITH 2 or so tablespoons of olive oil and season it with salt until it tastes perfect…
Serve in a bog bowl and sprinkle large chinks of parmesan cheese on top! Et voila! C’est Parfait!!!
[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:9]
