Tag Archives: French cuisine

Uncategorized

French Dessert: Tourtelettes a la Creme d’Orange/Small Orange Cream Pies

2 Comments

ORANGE-CREAM

I continue with the series of desserts found in my old notes!
Oranges are coming thick and fast on the markets.
Toutelettes in French mean small covered tarts/pies
French Dessert: Toutrtelettes a la Creme d’Orange/Small Orange Cream Pies!

INGREDIENTS: For 4 persons

-Pastry:
Flour: 400 g
Softened butter: 200 g
Sugar: 2 tablespoons
Grated orange skin: 1 whole (organic if possible)
egg: 1 + 1 yolk
Salt: a pinch

-Orange Cream:
Organic oranges: 4
Hazlenuts: 10
Orange, Citrus and Grapefruit Jam (in unavailable, orange jam is fine): 1 tablespoon
Sugar: 1 tablespoon
Eggs: 3
Fresh cream: 2 tablespoons
Thickening agent (arrow root is best. If unavailable high quality cornstarch): 1 tablespoon

RECIPE:

-The evening before, prepare the pastry:
Mix flour, 1 tablespoon of sugar, salt and grated orange skin. Add butter and mix. Beat the egg and add, kneading it in as quickly as possible. If needed add a little water. Make a bowl, wrap it in cellophane paper and leave inside refrigerator.

-Next day:
Take wedges out of the oranges. Take off thin skins and discard. Drain. Chop the hazlenuts finely.
In a bowl, mix eggs and thickening agent, sugar, fresh cream, jam and hazlenuts. Carefully add the the orange wedges. Leave inside refrigerator.

Divide the pastry into two parts, one made up of two thirds, the other one of one third.
Let rest at room temperature for 1 hour.
Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
Make 4 circles with the first two thirds about 5 mm thick and spread them inside tart molds leaving the pastry coming over the brim.
Stab pastry with a fork.
Keep inside refrigerator for 30 more minutes.
Take out of refrigerator. Fill tarts with the orange cream up to two thirds of its depth.
Make 4 circles with other third of pastry wide enough to be slightly wider than the molds. Place one circle on top of each tart/pie and secure it by pinching both pastries together.
Make a small hole in the middle and insert a small cone of baking paper inside.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Take out of oven.
Beat the egg yolk with 2 tablespoons of water and brush the whole top of the pie. Sprinkle with a little sugar and bake again for 10 minutes.

Serve lukewarm.

To be enjoyed with a sparkling white wine or lemonade!

Please check the new postings at:
sake, shochu and sushi

—————————————-
日本語のブログ
—————————————-

Uncategorized

French Dessert: Creme Brulee aux Myrtilles/Blueberries Creme Brulee

6 Comments

BLUEBERRY-BRULEE

I found a whole series of desserts in my old notes!
Blueberries are still in season.
Here is an easy and very tasty variation of a classice French dessert:
French Dessert: Creme brulee aux Myrtilles/Blueberries Creme Brulee!

INGREDIENTS: For 4 persons

-Egg yolks: 8
-Blueberries: 350 g
-Unskimmed milk: 300 ml
-Thick fresh ceam: 700 ml
-White sugar: 200 g
-Vanilla: 1 whole pod
-Sucre cassonade/brown sugar: 2 tablespoons

RECIPE:

-Pre-heat oven to 150 dgrees Celsius with a large deep oven plate filled with water up to a third of its depth.

-Make a cut along the vanilla pod and mix the inside with the milk in a deep pan. Bring slowly to boil.

-Beat the egg yolk and white sugar together in a separate bowl.

-Add the fresh cream. Mix. Add the vanilla milk and mix.

-Place the blueberries inside dessert dishes. Cover with the hot cream. Place the dishes in the bain-marie and cook for 20 minutes inside oven.

-Last and just before eating, sprinkle each dish with brown sugar and caramelize the cream under the grill.

-Serve lukewarm or cold.

If you wish to taste it with wine, a sparkling white wine would be great!

Please check the new postings at:
sake, shochu and sushi

—————————————-
日本語のブログ
—————————————-

Uncategorized

Wine-marinated Scallops and their Red and White Wine Jelly

4 Comments

SCALLOPS-WINE_0001

It’s Summer.
That is when French and Japanese cuisines tend to fuse in a new natural dimension with the need for lighter gastronomic ventures.

here is a simple recipe that will impress your friends:
Wine-marinated Scallops and its Red and White Wine Jelly!

INGREDIENTS: For 4 persons

-Scallops: 12 large
-Red wine (Chinon, or a wine both spicy and solid, but not too heavy): 450 ml
-White wine (Loire or Vouvray, or a slightly sweet white wine): 200 ml
-Gelatin: 6 sheets
-Olive oil (EV): 2 large tablespoons
-Green leaves of your choice: ~250 g
-Salt & pepper to taste

RECIPE:

-Marinate the scallops in 250 ml of red wine for 2 hours.

-Drop the gelatin sheets in a bowl filled with cold water.
Separately heat both wines slowly to lukewarm in two pans.
Take gelatin sheets out of cold water bowl, drain them and add 3 of each to each wine pan.
Wait until gelatin has dissolved.
Pour the wine jelly into two deep plates or molds.
Put in refrigerator until jelly has completely solidified.

-ake the scallops out of their marinade.
Cut them into thin slices.
heat and reduce the marinade down to one third. Add olive oil, salt and pepper to marinade.
Let cool completely.

-Clean the vegetable leaves and place at the centre of plates.
Make a rondo/circle of slices callops. Cut the jelly into small cubes and place them over or with the salad.
Pour a spoon of the sauce over the salad.

Enjoy the rest of the wine with it!

Please check the new postings at:
sake, shochu and sushi

—————————————-
日本語のブログ
—————————————-

Uncategorized

Safran & Mandarine Mashed Potatoes with Cockles & Mussles

2 Comments

MASHED-SAFRAN

One should never be afraid to experiment with seasonal products.
A failed experiment is certainly better than a dish served again and again ad infinitum!
At least this dish will be remarked for its colour!

Safran & Mandarine Mashed Potatoes with Cockles & Mussles!

INGREDIENTS: For 4 persons

-Potatoes: Choose 6 beautiful ones
-Mussles: 1 kg
-Cockles: 1 kg
-Dry white wine: 2 cups/400 ml
-Mandarines: 2 (organic if possible)
-Mandarin oil: 3 large tablespoons
-Shallots: 2
-Butter: 50 g
-Fresh cream: 2 large tablespoons
-Safran powder: 2 g
-Safran filaments: a few
-Mimolette cheese
-Egg yolks: 2
-Salt & pepper (to taste)

RECIPE:

-Mandarine oil:
Take the skin off mandarines (not includging the white part). Take out mandarine wedges.
Drop them in a glass jar with some pepper and cardamom.
Cover with EV olive oil and marinate for a few days in afresh area (not in the fridge as the oil would become solid).

-Wash the mandarines under warm water and leave them in freezer for 10 minutes. Grate their skins onto a plate and press their juice into a small bowl.

-Wash the mussles.
Drop them in a deep pan and heat them together with a glass of white wine, chopped shallot and safran filaments until they all open, stirring from time to time..
Take out the flesh out of the shellfish. Filter put aside the sauce.

-Repeat the same procedure with cockles.

-Peel the potatoes, cut them into pieces and cook them in salted water. When they properly cooked, mash them and mi in mandarine oil, safran powder and the fresh cream. Season with salt and pepper. Keep warm.

-Sauce:
In a pan over a medium fire, pour in the mandarine juice and the mussles and cokcles sauce. Reduce a little. Beat the egg yolks and add them to the sauce, beating all the time as you add the butter in small pieces at a time. Season with salt and pepper, a few safran filaments and grated mandarine skin.

-Take 3 large tablespoons of the sauce and mix them with the mashed potatoes. Dop the mussles, cockles and mandarine wedges into the sauce to heat them slowly on a small fire.

-Serve the mashed potatoes mounted with thin cuts of mimolette cheese and surrund them with sauce, mussles, cockles and mandarine wedges.

Drink a dry white wine with them!

Please check the new postings at:
sake, shochu and sushi

—————————————-
日本語のブログ
—————————————-

Uncategorized

Cheese Plate at Gentil (6)

1 Comment

GENTIL-CHEESE-09-07

This article is dedicated to Cheese Monger as he is interested in what we can expect here in Japan!

I don’t need to introduce Gentil and Ms. Keiko Kubota in Japan who is THE authority on cheese in Japan!

Look at picture above to find out what I sampled lately:

Right top: 6-month old Gouda (Holland)
Right centre: 12-month old Mimolette (France)
Right bottom: Epoisses (France)

Centre: Fourme d’ambert (France)

Left top: Sakura (Hokkaido/Japan)
Left centre: Bon de Sologne (France)
Left bottom: Gorgonzola Dolce (Italy)

Great plate, I can assure you!

Restaurant Gentil
Address:420-0031 Shizuoka Shi, Gofuku-cho, 2-9-1, Gennan Kairaku building, 2F
Tel.: 054-2547655 (Reservations advisable)
Fax: 054-2210509
Opening hours: 12:00~14:00, 18:00~last orders for meals at 21:30. Bar time 18:00~23:30. Closed on Mondays.
Credit cards OK
Homepage (Japanese)

Please check the new postings at:
sake, shochu and sushi

—————————————-
日本語のブログ
—————————————-

Uncategorized

Serrano Ham Leeks Gratin

6 Comments

HAM-LEEKS-GRATIN

Spain and France are neighbours. Not so long ago various parts of both countries (Catalunia, Navarra, and so on) were also part of a third country. No wonder that both Nations’ gastronomies cross each other’s paths so often as shown in this recipe simple in concept but sophisticsted in products.

Serrano Ham Leeks Gratin!

INGREDIENTS: For 4 persons
-Leeks: 10 cm long x 8. Choose thick and soft leek.
-Ham: thin slices of Spanish Serrano Ham/150 g
-Cheese: Spanish Manchego or hard ewe cheese/100 g
-Fresh cream: 200 ml
-Salt and pepper (to taste)

RECIPE:

-Poach leeks for 10 miutes in boiling salted water.
During that time, mince half of the ham and grate half of the cheese and drop them in a bowl. Add 2 large tablespoons of fresh cream and mix well.

-Cut the leeks along their length along their length to take their outer layer and extract the white cores. Mince the white cores and mix them with the minced ham and grated cheese.

-Preheat the oven to 5 (180 degrees Celsius).
Spread 1 lage tablespoon of fresh cream over the bottom of an oven dish.
Stuff the outer layers of the leeks with the ham and cheese mixture.
Place them on the bottom of the oven dish. Pour the remining fresh creamover them. Grind pepper over them and bae in oven for 10 minutes.

-Cut the remaining cheese and ham into thin slices. After having cooked for 10 minutes, take the dish out of the oven, olace ham and cheese over the stuffed leeks and put back into oven for a few minutes.
Serve the gratin very hot at once.

Drink a dry white wine with it!

Please check the new postings at:
sake, shochu and sushi

—————————————-
日本語のブログ
—————————————-

Uncategorized

French Cuisine: Saucisson Brioche/Sausage in Brioche

4 Comments

SAUCISSN-BRIOCHE

Even to these days I cherish the memory of this French specialty originating from the City of Lyon that we were served either as an appetizer or main dish: Saucisson Brioche, namely a sausage baked inside a salty (as opposed to the sweet pastry) brioche.

The recipe is not that difficult and open to many variations!

INGREDIENTS:: For up to 6 people
-One sausage. In France, it would be a Lyon sausage, of the soft type including pistacchio. Some soft sausages found in Italy, Germany and the US should well! If you eat kosher or halall, choose a sausage of mutton or beef.
-All purpose flour: 250 g
-Dry baking yeast: 4~5 g
-Eggs: 3
-Fresh Cream: 150 ml (thick type or sour cream)
-salt: to taste

RECIPE:

-Prepare the pastry:
In a large bowl break the eggs and beat them with a fork. In a separate bowl sift the flour and yeast first. Add the eggs to flour little by little mixing them in with a spatula. Then add cream and mix until you get a smooth batter.

-Poach the sausage for 15 minutes in boiling water. Take out and peel “skin” off.

-In a pound cake mold, non-stick if possible, put a large piece of cooking paper buttered on both sides. Pour in half of the batter. delicately put the sausage in the meiddle and cover with the rest of the batter. Cover with a piece of cloth and let rest for 15 minutes at room temperature.
During that time preheat oven to 6/7 (200 degrees Cesius).

Bake in oven for 40 minutes.
Take out of the mold still hot and serve just above lukewarm with a lettuce salad.
Red Bourgogne wine is best with it!

Note: You can cook the day before and reheat it before serving!

Please check the new postings at:
sake, shochu and sushi

—————————————-
日本語のブログ
—————————————-

Uncategorized

Scallops Salad

6 Comments

scallops-salad.jpg

I remember that quite some tie ago my wife was “stuck” with some succulent-looking scallops. The problem was that they were too small to make acceptable sashimi. So for once, she forgot she was Japanese and opted for the European thinking.

She had some very fesh cress (cresson) grown in Shizuoka Prefecture as well as a variety of tomatoes called “Aamera”.
These tomatoes are the smallest that I have ever seen and are grown in our Prefecture only (so far).
They are very firm and very sweet. You could serve them together with a plate of red fruit!

aamera.jpg

So as you can see on the picture, she first made a thin bed of cress topped with avocado slices, made a rondo of scallops in the center with a core of cut aamera tomatoes. It certainly looked more difficult than it really was.

Topped with a dressing of your choice, with the oprion of some cottage cheese and finely cut Italian parsley or basil, it makes fro a beautiful appetizer!

Please check the new postings at:
sake, shochu and sushi

—————————————-
日本語のブログ
—————————————-

Uncategorized

Seafood Spaghetti Salad

2 Comments

seafood-spaghetti-salad.jpg

Simple recipes actually means what I’m ordered to cook, prepare or invent for my better (worse?) half on Saturday and Sunday nights as her job keeps her busy on weekends. These concoctions might come helpful for those gentlemen keen to preserve peace at home!

As for measures and proportions, I will leave it to your imagination, although a good observation of the picture should be a good enough guide to you! The plate pictured was one serving.

Prepare or choose a dressing for the spaghetti. I usually use soft Dijon Mustard, Xeres vinegar, hazelnut oil, salt, pepper and a few baies roses. Naturally, Olive oil, wine vinegar, soft mustard, salt and pepper is fine, too.
Boil the spaghetti to the consistency you prefer, drain them and hold them under running cold water for 30 seconds, shaking them well to prevent them from cooking any longer.
Drain the water energically and stir in some dressing for taste and to prevent them from sticking to each other. Leave in a all-purpose bowl.

At the top of the picture are slightly sauteed scallops with onion confit.
To make the onion confit (can be done the day before or a few hours in advance), peel and cut 2 large onions in thin slices. Discard the “foot” (bottom core) as it is indigestible. Fry them in a pot with 100g of white butter on a medium fire. When the onion slices have become soft and translucent, add a large tablespoon of honey, a cup of red wine, a tablespoon each of Xeres vinegar and Port wine. Season with salt and white pepper (thin powder if possible). Simer until most of the liwuid has reduced. Check and add more honey if not sweet enough. A little tomato puree might help,too. Let it cool and keep it away from any heat and light source (do not leave it in the fridge as it might congeal).
Sautee the scallops with a little slat and lemon juice on a small amout of olive oile. As soon as they have reached a very light brown colour, take them off the fire and let them rest on a grill to get rid of excess liquids.

At the bottom of the picture are small prawns.
Take off the carapace, tail and heads (discard or use for making broth).
Make a shallow incision all along the middle of their back.
Sautee them like the scallops. As soon as they changed colour, put them to rest with the scallops.

Keeping in mind you are making two servings, cut a tablespoon each of red, yellow and orange sweet pimentos in small cubes. Fry them in olive oil without any seasoning. When soft, drop them in all-purpose bowl. Do the same with a little assortment of scallops, small shrimps and cockles (can be bought easily frozen at large supermarkets), or whatever seafood you can put your hands on. Keep in mind they ought to be of all the same approximate size (that’s a lot of “keep inmind”, isn’t it?)

When all ingredients have cooled down to room temperature and this just before you are going to serve them, toss in some finely cut fresh tomatoes (if you add them too early they leave out toomuch water in contact with salt!) join the pimentos and seafood in the same bowl and mix in a rasoable amount of dressing. Take half out and mix it with the spaghetti.
Place the spaghetti in the middle.

Arrange scallops interspaced with some onion confit above the spaghetti as in the picture.
Arrange sauteed prawns below as in the picture.

Add a good quantity of “baby leaves” of your choice with rest of the veg and seafood salad and arrange on both side of the spaghetti.

Of course this is open to any kind of variations. I just hope I stimulated you into your own recipes!

Bon appetit!

Please check the new postings at:
sake, shochu and sushi

—————————————-
日本語のブログ
—————————————-

Uncategorized

French Cuisine: Cheese Souffle

12 Comments

cheesesouffle.jpg

When you mention the word “Souffle”, the first reaction you get is: “Too difficult”. It is actually dead easy, and I can tell you that some restaurants make an enormous profit from them!

INGREDIENTS: For 4 people
-Eggs: 4
-Flour: 50g
-Butter: 50g
-Milk: 300cc
-Shredded cheese: 100g
-Salt/ a lttle is enough as cheese contains much
-White Pepper
-Nutmeg
-Thyme
-Laurel

RECIPE:

-Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
-Butter well the inside of a (possibly round) deep oven dish (about 18cm x 8cm). This will help the souffle rise and prevent it fom sticking.

-Separate egg yolks from egg whites.
In a large bowl add a little salt to whites and beat until solid.

-On a small fire, prepare a Bechamel sauce (white sauce):
Melt butter completely, pour in flour and mix well with spatula until smooth. Pour in milk and mix well (diffferent people have different techniques, but I found that the best technique is to mix half of the milk little by little first, then pour in the rest and use a whisker to make a smooth sauce). Add salt, pepper and spices. Keep stirring gently.

-Once the sauce has thickened to the point of almost solid, take off the fire (or switch off the fire).
Mix in the egg yolks with a spatula until colour is even. Then proceed the same way with the cheese little by little until mixture comes smooth off the spatula.

-Check that the whites have not gone back to liquid (That happened to me quite a few times, so make sure to check! In such a case, just beat them again. They will go back to a satisfactory state quite fast.). Mix in half first as delicately as possible with a spatula (not a whisker, or you will break the air bubbles in the whites and the souffle will not rise!). Then do the same with the second half. Pour in the mixture in the dish and put in the oven to bake for 45 minutes (although that depends with every oven). To check whether the souffle is properly cooked, insert a thin wooden stick or knife deep into the souffle. It should come out smooth.

-Before serving, make sure that everybody is at the table before serving. ” The guests wait for a Souffle, a Souffle does not wait for the guests!”

NOTES:
1) This souffle can be cooked in individual dishes. In that case the cooking time shall be about 30~35 minutes.
2) Instead of cheese you could use tinned tuna (2 x cans), or fresh spinach (one bunch; boil it a couple of minutes in salted water first, then drain thouroughly, and mince it as thinly as possible), or crab (add a little brandy and mix beforehand), or thin short narrow strips of ham, or even ham & cheese. The variations are endless.

Please check the new postings at:
sake, shochu and sushi

—————————————-
日本語のブログ
—————————————-

Uncategorized

French Dessert: Lemon and Cointreau Souffle

6 Comments

lemomsouffle.jpg

I thought all day about having a go at Jenn, Kamran and other friends’ sweet tooth and I came with that old sweet souffle recipe of mine:
Lemon and Cointreau Souffle!
It is easier than it sounds! You might have to keep the kids off it, though (LOL)

INGREDIENTS: For 4 people
-Almond powder: 50g
-Sugar: 100g (+ 30g for coating inside of molds)
-Flour: 50g
-Milk: 250cc
-Butter: 50g (+ 20g for coating inside of molds)
-Cointreau (or orange liqueur): a quarter of a cup/50 ml (more is no problem!)
-Eggs: 4
-Lemon (clean!): 1
-Glazing sugar
-Salt

RECIPE:

-Coat insides of molds of 4 small souffle molds with butter and then sugar.

-Preheat the oven at 6 (180 degrees Celsius).

-Grate the lemon skin and press out the juice. Put aside.

-Separate egg yolks from whites.

-In a saucepan, on a small fire, melt butter, mix on flour and cook, stirring gently all the time for 2 minutes, making sure the colour does not change.
Add milk and mix on a stronger fire until thick.
Take off fire. Add sugar, almond powder, grated lemon skin, lemon juice and Cointreau, and last the the egg yolks one by one and mix well.
Beat the whites with a pinch of salt until very firm. Fold the whites in the mixture delicately with a soft spatula.
Pour mixture inside molds up to their rims.
Cook for 20 minutes.

-Take out of the oven, sprinkle with glazing sugar and serve at once.

The next dessert will be the recipe for the basic Cheese Cake, Japanese-style!

Please check the new postings at:
sake, shochu and sushi

—————————————-
日本語のブログ
—————————————-

Uncategorized

French Cuisine: Double Galette de Pommes de Terre au Crabe/Double Potato & Crab Galette

4 Comments

POTATO-CRAB

French Cuisine is not so much about creating grand ood for special events but more about arranging leftovers or available ingredients.
Here is an easy and typical French recipe making use of was found in the fridge and pantry:
Double Galette de pommes de Terre au Crabe/Double Potato & Crab Galette!

INGREDIENTS: for 4 people
–Potatoes: 800 g (Bintje type is best)
-Crab: 1 can containg 250 g
-Chervil: a good bouquet of it
-Oil/Olive oil: 2 large tablespoons
-Salt, nutmeg & pepper: to taste

RECIPE:

-Preheat ovn to 6 (180 degrees Celsius)

-Peel and wash potatoes. Drain water and wipe them with kitchen paper. Grate them into fairly thick strands. Wipe them again inside kitchen paper. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg. mix well.

-Chop chervil. Press all liquid out of crab. Mix xrab with chervil. Put aside.

-Heat the oil in a non-stick frypan equipped with a removable handle. Drop half of the potatoes inside. Press potatoes with a tablespoon to form them into a galette/pancake and fry for 5 minutes on a strong fire to add it a nice colour. Cover it then with the crab-chervil mixture. Spread rest of the potatoes on top to cover the whole. Press lightly with a tablespoon for evenness.

-Put frypan inside oven without its handle. Cook for 15 minutes.
Slide the galette onto a plate. Cover plate with frypan and turn around so as to have the galette back into the rypan with its bottom side up.
Cook again for 15 minutes.
Serve hot with a green salad!

Please check the new postings at:
sake, shochu and sushi

—————————————-
日本語のブログ
—————————————-

Uncategorized

French Dessert: Hot Apple Souffle

12 Comments

APPLE-SOUFFLE

Apples are everywhere on the markets these days. This is a good time to try something different. It might hot and humid now, but one can appreciate a hot dessert, especially when you are confined within an air-conditioned space all day and night!
Souffle has a repution of a difficult dish to realize. Actually it is dead simple. Once you matsered it, you cannot make a mistake!

INGREDIENTS: For 4 people
Apples: 1kg (green probably best)
Eggs: 6
Butter: 50g
Powder Sugar: 100g
5 Sponge Biscuits or the equivalent in Sponge (Short) Cake
Calvados (French Apple Brandy): 100cc

RECIPE:
-Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
-Wash the apples and wipe them dry.
-Take off stems, cut in four and cook as they are in a covered saucepan inside the oven for one hour.
-Take out and sieve flesh of apples. Pour this compote into a fry-pan and cook on a small fire for 5 minutes to take out excess water.
-Stop the fire and mix in the 6 egg yolks.
-Beat the whites with 50g of powder sugar. Fold in the beaten whites delicately inside the cooled down compote with a spatula trying to achieve the lightest possible mixture.
-Cut the sponge biscuits and imbibe them with the Calvados.
-Butter and sugar the inside of a souffle dish.
-Pour in half of the souffle mixture.
-Then spread the calvados-imbibed biscuits and top with the rest of the souffle mixture.
-Cook for 15 minutes at 200 degrees celsius.

-Take out and eat at once!

Please check the new postings at:
sake, shochu and sushi

—————————————-
日本語のブログ
—————————————-

Uncategorized

French Dessert: Nectarine Tart

12 Comments

NECTARINE-TART

Peaches are already on the market, and nectarines will appear soon!
These peaches being smaller and a lot firmer, they make for a great fruit in tarts.
Here is a simple enough recipe you could apply for other fruit such as apricots, apples and even mangoes!

INGREDIENTS: (for 6 people):
Pastry:
flour: 200g
butter: 75g
egg: 1
powdered sugar: 50g
water
salt
Filling:
nectarines: 750g
butter: 100g
powdered sugar
almond powder: 125g
eggs: 2
rum: 1 tablespoon
minced pistachio: 1 tablespoon
glazing sugar: 2 tablespoons

RECIPE:

A) Pastry:
In an all-purpose bowl mix eggs with sugar until smooth. Then mix in butter (softened) until smooth. Add a pinch of salt. Then mix in flour little
by little to obtain a homogeneous paste. Mix in water little by little until pastry is “as soft as your earlobe”. Wrap in cellophane and leave in refrigerator for an hour.

B) Take pastry out of refrigerator and knead a little until soft enough to spread.
Spread inside tart dish and punch a few holes with a fork.

C) Preheat oven to 6 (180 degrees Ceslius). Melt the butter and pour it in an electric blender (if you do not have one, use some elbow power and mix in all-purpose bowl), add almond powder, sugar, whole eggs and rum. Blend util smooth and pour on pastry.

D) Clean nectarines in cold water. Wipe and cut them in thin slices. Put them onto almond paste pushing them each a little onto the paste so as to make a nice regular pattern for better impression and easier cutting. Sprinkle with glazing sugar. Cook for 50 minutes.
Take out of the oven and out of its mold onto a dish or cake grill. Let it cool. Sprinkle with minced pistachio before serving.

Please check the new postings at:
sake, shochu and sushi

—————————————-
日本語のブログ
—————————————-

Uncategorized

French Restaurant: Lunch at Pissenlit (third visit!)

Leave a comment

PISSENLIT-09-21-3

Service: excellent and very friendly
Facilities: great washroom, great cleanliness overall
Prices: reasonable, good value.
Strong points: Interesting wine list. Great use of local products.
no-smoking-logo!

In Shizuoka, during the reainy season, when it rains, it just pours!
The Missus workingon Sunday, and me having to cook in the veening, I just escaped from our stuffy home and took the bus to taown. I already had in mind where I was going to use this rare break from Sunday Cricket: Pissenlit!
This is my third lunch, which might be considered as an overkill, but since I’m going there again on Friday evening with friends, there a couple more things I wanted to check!

PISSENLIT-09-21-2

Chablis 2006, Domaine Alain Pautre

PISSENLIT-09-21-1

For a moment, I was thinking of ordering wine by the glass, but what the hell, I asked for the full ottle and shared it with the chef and staff!

Melinda, Rachael, Etsuko and Jen are going to kill me for the succinct review, but I’ll make with Friday’s tasting:

Colour: rich golden hue, very clear
Aroma: Fresh, flowery
Taste: Solid attack, flowery, backed with dry, slightly tannic back-up. Longish tail, Stays solide with food.

PISSENLIT-09-21-4

This time I didn’t bother reading the menu and just went for the carte (written on a blackboard!).
I had been dreaming about the Foie Gras Marbre (Marbled Foie Gras, sorry Arnie!) for some time. Now, I was going to enjoy it! (If someone wants the Missus to kill me, just tell her, but this will be the end of this blog!)!
Surprisinfly light and supremely elegant affair. Not to mention the organic green tomato!

PISSENLIT-09-21-5

It was then I was going to order the Escargots de Bourgogneet Morilles (Morels), when the Chef said “Hang on!”. Blimey I already knew I was going to be deprived of my favourite home specialty! Had better be good!

I was told they had just received this organic Poulet Noir (Black Chicken) bred according to the French Label Rouge regulations. The difference is that it is raisedd in Hamamatsu City, Haruno in a secluded mountainous part near the Tenryuu River by Mr. Mastoshi Uchiyama who has been raising these little beauties for the last 15 years in his farm, Forest Farm Meguri! The chicken is “cooped” in quasi freedom, eating only selected organic food for 120 days.

Akright, alright, I will have the snails on Friday, then! Mind you, it was not difficult to convince me when I was told I would be the first customer in Pissenlit to be served the morsel!

And morsel it was:
Above is a”yakitori” stick of the Black Chicken giblets with shiitake!

PISSENLIT-09-21-6

Next came a typically Japanese way and though of cooking: Chicken sasami/Brest fillets, “tataki”/half cooked style marinade with yuzu koshio/lime pepper. I know a lot of French “critiques” who would fall over each other to taste that in an overpiced instiyution back home!

PISSENLIT-09-21-7

For the bread lovers, I was served these exquisite and small soba/buckwheat bread buns!

PISSENLIT-09-21-8

Tebasaki/Wing grilled with Teriayaki sauce amde with fond de veau/veal stock and balsamico vinegar. To be eaten with your fingers only! (you are allowed to lick them!)

PISSENLIT-09-21-9

And ten,…

PISSENLIT-09-21-10

One whole breast roasted and served on chou frise with a Sauce Supreme. Simple, exquisite and finger-licking! I usually don’t go much for chicken skin, but I must admit I was convinced this time!

PISSENLIT-09-21-11

As for dessert I didn’t want to put my health to risk on their enormous dessert plate and just asked for the creation of the day:
Loquat compote (cooked in Bourgogne White Wine) and vanilla ice-cream (plenty of vanilla bits there!)! The perfect ending to an extravagant lunch!

PISSENLIT
420-0839 Shizuoka City, Aoi Ku, Takajo, 2-3-4
Tel.: 054-270-8768
Fax: 054-627-3868
Business hours: 11:30~14:30; 17:00~22:00
Closed on Tuesdays and Sunday evening
Credit Cards OK
Homepage (Japanese)

Please check the new postings at:
sake, shochu and sushi

—————————————-
日本語のブログ
—————————————-