Menu for saturday dinner with friends

"Easy-to-make" menu for a pleasant saturday dinner with friends. START with a creamy mushroom toast with Mum's handpicked chanterelles from "Sörmland" in sweden. Prepare a nice thick bechamel sauce with a little bit of garlic, onion, parsley and a dash of white wine. Add the fried mushrooms. For the MAIN COURSE grilled salmon on a bed of creamy spinach sauce and fresh pasta. Grill the salmon in oven, then place it on the fresh pasta with some spinach sauce, (simply prepared in the pan with thick cream and herb spices). Decorate with lemon. DESSERT : For the lemon tart : mix 2 dl of water with juice and peel of two lemons, add 2 tablespoons of maizena. Boil up and stir. Separate 4 eggs, beat the whites and add the egg yolks to the sauce after cooling off. When whites are hard and "white" add 1,5 dl of sugar, mix carefully. Place lemon sauce in  the pastry, smudge carefully the egg whites on top of it and bake in oven for appr. 15-20 minutes. The whole meal goes well with a  fresh and fruity chardonnay from our region, Burgundy! Enjoy!!

New year's buffet

What a joy to be invited for a delicious New year's buffet with all the good ingredients! To start champagne  of course, and my dear fiend Lenia (who is an excellent cook) had prepared grilled mini-toasts with ham & cheese, and homemade samosas with either hot goat cheese and honey or shrimps with mango. Sauce to go and fresh strawberries and rasberries. Yum! Have a hard time remembering all that we ate but, to start with lovely fresh oysters (direct from a who is an oyster farmer friend), smoked salmon with a creamy herb sauce and toast, small lobsters with aoli and small potatoes, goose liver with confit, cheese platter (Chaource, Mont d'Or, Roquefort, Chèvre, Epoisses, Soumatrain, Comté etc). For the sweet part a blend of small "petit fours" and a homemade yule log. Last but not least a Chablis Grand Cru Réhoboam (6 litres!), the rest is history ... Happy 2012 everyone!

Hot goat cheese salad

When the eating becomes a major activity during christmas and you feel that you need a brake, make a salad! Always some cheese leftovers to find in this case, goat cheese. Salad is not as its best season but you can always find some "Mache" (see photo), prepare your toasts with the cheese, sprinkle some olive oil on top with herbs and pepper. Grill a couple of minutes in the oven. Make a good french dressing and its ready to eat! 

Merry x-mas and a very happy year 2011/2012 all! God jul, Joyeux noël ...

Buffet with mini cakes, salmon, herring and oysters is served! Main course white meat then cheese platter and x-mas cake with custard and of course champaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagne!

Boudin blanc avec une sauce chanterelle

For christmas I really enjoy white meat and seafood. A nice and tasty plate is the white sausage the "Boudin blanc" with a wild mushroom sauce. Take the skin of the sausage before fying it the pan with some butter. Fry the mushroms with some garlic and parsley, then prepare a nice sauce bechamel with cream, vegetable stock, a hint of white wine or some other alcohol and salt/pepper. Make it boil to thicken use maizena if needed. Could go well with some simple boiled potatoes. Bon appetit!

Mulled wine

Great hot drink at x-mas time, this is my version :
Two bottles of a full-bodied red wine such as
Corbières for example
One bottle of sweet muscat wine
Some brow sugar
Cinnamon sticks
One orange
Clove
Cardamom
Bay leaves
Some vodka
Garnish with raisins and whole peeled almonds
Smells wonderful goes vey well with gingercookies, homemade candies and fruits to be enjoyed among friends ...

Marzipan treats

Easiest thing in the world just marinate your marzipan with some alcohol such as calvados, cointreau or brandy then melt some good dark chocolate and dip it in. Let it dry for a moment and then eat!

Swedish ginger cookies

Lack of time and ingredients drove me to buy my dough this year, can be found at Ikea or at the local swedish church  (in France and anglo-saxon countries) anyhow, great fun with your little ones who can make different figures and animals and decorate them.

"Lussekatter" (Saffron Buns)

These cakes are served on Lucia day the 13 of December in Sweden.
Basically the same ingredients as when you bake the traditionel "kanelbullar" (cinnamon buns)

• ½ tsp. crushed saffron
•  180ml milk
• 50 grams of yeast dissolved in lukewarm milk
• 120g melted butter
• one egg, beaten to brush on top
• 180g of sugar
• one tsp. salt
• 850 gr flour
• Raisins to decorate

Start mixing some of the yeast with a part of the  lukewarm milk. In a big another big bowl stir the butter and sugar together. Then crush the saffron with a lump of sugar and blend into the dough. Add all the ingredients now, the rest of the yeast, milk, flour, salt. Leave it all for 40 minutes. Now bake the dough and let it rest for another 30 minutes. Brush with beaten egg and bake at 190-200°C for 10-15 minutes, enjoy!

Bagel sandwich witch chicken and mayo

One really good thing about going to the UK or the USA is the facility to find good bagels. In Paris I can find them in the jewish area, "le Marais". I truly adore them ever since I discovered them about thirty years ago. My husband has tried to make them several times, without any succes I'm afraid. The were hard as a rock and completely uneatable. They can be filled with anyting you want, today I had some chicken breast, mayo, salad/carrots and pickled cucumber. Garnish with red onions, finished. This wee' I had them fresh in the market in London with tuna, (salmon & cream cheese is another classic) so simple and so good! Coming back soon with X-mas recipes from back home, Sweden!!

Winter veggies

So happy to receive fresh veggies from the garden at the end of november ... Spinach, brussel sprouts & carrots. I most enjoy my spinach natural in the frying pan with just a hint of garlic, some cream and butter or olive oil. Tastes good with farm eggs and fried bacon bits served with toasted white bread for a late lunch. Bon app'!

"Moules marinière" with homemade french fries

A true favorite in our family, fresh mussels cooked with garlic and onions just add some cream, white wine and parsley (and of course spices). Cook very shortly until the open up. The french fries are cooked in oil on the stove (the oil can be used two or three times before being throwed away), it's all very easy and soo tasty! Best appreciated with a chilled dry white wine fom the Loire region.

Multicolour fruit tart

Enjoy the last apples of the season, why not mix with for example bananas and red fruits? Same easy recipe as ever, ready pastry, roll out in the plate decorate with fruit and jus add some cinnmon, brown sugar and butter. Tastes good with some vanilla ice cream or custard.

Grilled chicken legs with fresh coriander and spicy rice

(Picture before cooking!) Marinate the chicken legs in a sauce of olive oil, lemon juice, port wine, soya sauce, fresh thym, S & P and lots of spices : cumin, curry, chili, garam masala ... Add eventually a dash of water with a stock cube. Grill in oven and serve with lots of fresh coriander on top. For the rice I fry garlic and onions in the pan then add the raw rice, stir. Add water and spices (as above) with a hint of tabasco. Cook until dry. An excellent meal for a pleasent dinner with friends!

5 minutes Tuna sandwich

This is perfect for lunch when you don't have a lot of time. Just boil an egg, mix with some red onions with fresh basil, add sweet corn, capers, mayo, tuna and some salt & pepper. Place it on toasted white bread with some lettuce to garnish. That's all. Bon app'!

Spicy Grilled Shrimp Skewers with garlic, lime and honey

This is a quick and easy dish wich makes a great starter or a tasty snack with a drink. Just be sure to marinate for at least one hour before cooking in oven. Mix oil (free of choice olive or why not an asian type of oil?). Add garlic, soya sauce, fresh parsley or basil, lime juice, spices such as : curry, cumin, garam masala, tabasco ... Use a silicon brush to dispose the marinade. Grill for about 15 minutes, ready!

11/11-11 French crispy almond cake

Sorry this is a secret one, no recipe given ... A treasure memory from holidays in the south. Soo delicious and  good this almond cake. Hard and crispy as it is it goes well with vanilla ice cream or english custard. Today is memorial day in France and all shops are closed so time to poke around in the cupboards and see what there is to find as ingredients. Bringing this cake for dessert to friends house tonight. Very nice and personal to give away eatable things, mushroom chutney or homemade kechup whatever you prefer. Enjoy!

Dominiques winter squash gratin

When I go to my favorite market and meet my greengrocer Dominique, he always treats me with a recipe to go with the vegetables for the moment. I very much enjoy these treasure moments. Today he offered  me this colourful "winter squash gratin". As you can see in the video it's all very easy. Just wash and cut following ingredients:

A quarter of orange winter squash

Fresh garlic and parsley

1 glass of milk (fifty/fifty cream milk possible)

Grated emmental cheese

3 tablespoons of french sea salt butter

2 vegetable stock cubes

Put it all in a oven plate and cook in oven for 35 minutes 200° with some tinfoil on top. Tasty with cold meat and bread. Bon appetit!

Dominiques winter squash gratin

Birhtday coming up, again!

Felt like getting some friends together for celebrating my birthday. It doesn't have to be a "big one"! Suddenly realised that we would be 12 adults and 6 children ... Just spent the whole day food shopping and cooking ... Nothing complicated but still ... Different salads (coleslaw, green salad, taboulé, radish etc), cold meats and smoked salmon, meatballs for the kiddies, olives & sausages, cheese plate and a beautiful almond cake with champagne OF COURSE! Happy birthday to me ...