Tag Archives: French Gastronomy

Strawberry Crumble Muffins

June 3, 2010 dragonlife 4 Comments

Still in my strawberry mode!
Here is a simple muffin recipe that will please everyone in the family (and the friend tribe!)!

Strawberry Crumble Muffins!

INGREDIENTS: For 12 muffins

-Unsalted butter: 110 g
-White sugar: 200g
-Eggs: 2 large
-Flour: 250 g
-Baking Powder: 2 teaspoons
-Salt: 1/2 teaspoon
-Strawberries: 2 cups (all cut in qaurters)
-Milk: 120 ml/cc

Crumble:
-Unsalted butter: 70 g
-White sugar: 60 g
-Flour: 100 g

RECIPE:

-Work the butter with a spatula to a creamy state. Add sugar and salt and mix well.

-Beat the eggs. Add to butter in three equal steps, mixing well every time.

-Sieve the flour and baking powder over the cream and mix well until smooth.

-Add chilled milk and mix well. Last add strawberries and delicately mix without breaking the fruit.

-Pour mixture inside 12 muffin cups

-Make the crumble:
Melt the butter. Add sugar and sieve the flour on top. Mix until it forms “blobs”

-Spread some crumble on each muffin.

-Bake in oven for 2-~25 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius.

Enjoy lukewarm or cold with some whipped cream!

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Strawberry Custard Gratin

June 2, 2010 dragonlife 2 Comments

Since I have just written about the nutritional values of strawberries, I thought that some simple strawberries recipes were in order!
Here is a simple recipe to please people of any age!

Strawberry Custard Gratin!

INGREDIENTS: 2~ people

-Srawberries: 10~
-Egg: 1 large
-Sugar: 5 tablespoons
-Cake wheat flour: 3 + 1/2 tablespoons
-Milk: 100 cc/ml/1/2 cup
-Fresh cream: 100 cc/ml/1/2 cup
-Vanilla essence: 5~6 drops

RECIPE:

-Thoroughly mix the flour and sugar in a bowl.

-Beat the egg and add to flour. Mix well. Add all the milk and half of the fresh cream. Mix well.

-Cover with cellophane paper and leave in a microwave for 2 minutes.

-Take out and add the remaining cream. Mix well. Put back into microwave oven for 2 more minutes. As it will have solidified a bit, add vanilla essence, stir and mix well until smooth.

-In an oven dish place the strawberries in a set pattern and pour in cream.

-Place some half strawberries on top for decoration. Bake in oven for 10 miutes at 200 degrees celsius.

-Eat hot or lukewarm.

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French Cake by Bernard Heberle: Mystral

May 27, 2010 dragonlife 2 Comments

My good friend, Bernard Heberle, the owner/chef of Abondance in Hamamatsu City has recently been elected the best patissier in Shizuoka Prefecture (4,000,000 souls) by the biggest Food Blog Community in Japan, namely Tabelog!

He was kind enough to send me his latest creation before taking some well-earned holidays back home in Alsace with the following comments in French:

“Voici la dernière nouveauté avant pour départ pour mes vacances , Mystral , non non ce n’est pas une faute d’orthographe ni de frappe , le mariage entre Myrtilles et Mistral car après avoir dégusté ce gâteau c’est comme une tornade de bien être qui envahie tout le corps et l’esprit.
La combinaison entre la verveine et ces myrtilles qui sont cultivées spécialement pour Abondance est un délice.
Le tout dans une crème diplomate verveine et une génoise mousseline au cassis.
Bonne dégustation !!!!”

“Here is my last creation before leaving on a long holiday:
Mystral. No, there is no mistake or typo in the name (usually written “mistral”). It is a marriage between Myrtilles/Blueberries and Mistral/Mistral wind blowing very hard down the Rhone Valley. After having tasted this cake, one feels like taken away by a tornado which spreads such great well-being through the body and mind!
The conbination of verveine with blueberries (especially grown for Abondance) is a delicacy!
The whole included inside a mousseline genoise perfumed with cassis!
Enjoy!”

Abondance
Address: Hamamatsu Shi, Sumiyoshi, 2-14-27 (in front of Seirei Hospital)
Tel.: 053-4738400
Fax: 053-4738401
Opening hours: 10:00~20:00. Closed on Tuesdays.
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French Cuisine: Cream Sauce Mushrooms

May 23, 2010 dragonlife Leave a comment

The mushrooms season has already started, wild ones or cultivated species. Morels for example can be found in woods in many countries of the northern Hemisphere. Mushrooms are low in calories, but high in quality, whether it concerns taste or nutrients.
But you do not have to wait till the season to appreciate them.
Deep-frozen mixed mushrooms packs are available on the internet and good supermarkets.
Here is the recipe of a dish my father enjoys ooking regularly back home in France. It can accompany any meat, especially white-flesh meat, or can be appreciated on its own as accompaniment with a solid white wine or heady Japanese sake.

INGREDIENTS: For3~4 people
-Mixed mushrooms of your choice, fresh or frozen (if frozen, let them thaw slowly inside refrigerator for a few hours and get rid of excess water): 500g
-Shallots (echalottes): 2 finely chopped
-Garlic: 2~3 cloves finely chopped (crush garlic before chopping it. Do not forget to discard cores!)
-Parsley or Italian flat parsley: half a cup finely chopped
-Fresh cream: 1 cup/200cc/ml
-Madeira wine: 1/4 cup/50cc/ml (yellow port is fine, too, as well as sweet sherry)
-Olive oil (EVA) and unsalted butter: about 2 large spoons of each
-Salt, pepper, nutmeg (to taste)

RECIPE:

-On a medium fire in large frypan melt an equal quantity of olive oil and unsalted butter (some people prefer more, some less. Experiment!). Throw in the shallots and garlic and slowly fry until shallots turn transparent. Throw in all the mushrooms and fry until they give back enough water. Add Madeira wine. Stir well. Next add fresh cream and stir until cream is perfectly blended. Add salt, peeper and nutmeg last, stir. Check taste and add more spices if needed.
-Pour the whole in a large dish and sprinkle parsley over the mushrooms before serving.
-Eat hot.

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Cheese Tray at Gentil (2010/05/21)

May 22, 2010 dragonlife Leave a comment

(All pictures courtesy of Haruka Yamguchi)

Ranking:
Service: Very Professional
Facilities: Perfect allaround. Beautiful washroom
Prices: ~
Strong points: Best cheese tray in Japan! Great wines

it has been some time since I paid my last visit to Gentil Restaurant in Shizuoka City.
Gentil is renown all over Japan for the best cheese trays (within reasonability in a restaurant! Naturally one could always offer a mountain of cheese at ridiculous prices!) served at a restaurant.

here is what we we were served last night:

Marchalet, France, Cow’s milk. And beautiful mini-carrots!

Top: Banc de maquis, France, Ewe’s milk.

Bottom is Le Vigneron, Alsace, france, Cow’s milk, matured with Gewurtstraminer white wine.

From top clockwise:
Sakura, Hokkaido, Cow’s milk (raw).
Tarantais, France, Goat’s milk.
Tomato jelly and basilco on Mozzarella, Italy, Buffalo’s milk

Centre: Fourme D’Ambert, France, Cow’s milk.

Do I need to say it was great? LOL

Restaurant Gentil
420-0031 Shizuoka Shi, Gofuku-Cho, 2-9-1. Genan Kairaku Buiilding 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)

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French Cuisine: Hot Asparagus Flan

May 20, 2010 dragonlife Leave a comment

Now is the season for Asparaguses, both white and green.
Here is a traditional French home recipe for the green ones. It is not as difficult as the title might suggest!
When you choose your asparaguses, check their stems where they have been cut. The more moisture, the less peeling needed!

INGREDIENTS: For 4 people
Green Asparaguses: 1.25 kg
Eggs: 5
Milk: 250cc
Butter: 50g
Trefoil or Italian Parsley (optional): 4 sprigs for decoration
Thyme, laurel & nutmeg (optional & varying to taste)
Salt
White Pepper

RECIPE:

Peel asparaguses from top, cut out the bottom fibery part. Cut the tips and keep them aside.
Cut the stems in 1 cm-thick slices and put them in a pot. Pour in milk, salt, white pepper and spices to taste. Let cook for 15 minutes. Take away from fire and transfer to food processor.
Add a few leaves of trefoil or Italian parsley and process to a fine mash.
Preheat oven to 6 (180 degrees Celsius) and put a large dish with water in it to be ready as a bain-marie.
Break the eggs in a large bowl, beat slightly, pour in the asparagus puree and mix.
Butter the inside of 4 small oven dishes (ramequin-style), pour in the mixture and cook in bain-marie for 20 minutes.
During that time put the asparagus tips in a frying pan, add the rest of the butter, 200cc of water, some salt and let cook for 20 minutes stirring from time to time until there is no more liquid left.
When the puddings are cooked, unmold them onto individual plates and decorate with asparagus tips and some trefoil or Italian parsley.
Serve at once.

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French Cuisine: Mocha Creme Brulee & Panacotta at Pissenlit

May 20, 2010 dragonlife Leave a comment

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.
entirely non-smoking!

These are the desserts we had the other day to finish our dinner on a grand and sweet note!

The Missus chose the Panacotta and assorted fruit plate. Not so French after all, although panacotta should be translated as blanc-manger! LOL
A great and light combination of tastes and colours!

I’m just a sucker for creme brulee!
This one had the great merit of being flavoure with mocha coffee.
Great presentation, too!

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
Homepage (Japanese)
Credit Cards OK

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French Cuisine: Vendee Duckling and Morels at Pissenlit

May 17, 2010 dragonlife Leave a comment

This is the third dish we had at Pissenlit the other day after that great terrine and the lukewarm white asparaguses and Jamon Serrano. combination

This is also a cclassic French delicacy:
Caneton de Vendee aux Morilles fraiches/Vendee Duckling with fresh morels.

Ducklings have made the Vendee (central west France under Bretagne/Brittany) for ages. When you combine them with fresh morels imported from France, it is difficult to beat them!

The duckling was first roasted. The fesh morels were cooked in a suce composed Red wine, Madeira wine and fond de veau/veal stock.
All the other (steamed/etouffe) vegetables were organically grown in the city of Mishima, in the eastern part of Shizuoka Prefecture!

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French Cuisine: Asperges Blanches Tiedes et Jamon Serrano at Pissenlit

May 15, 2010 dragonlife Leave a comment

This is the second dish we had at Pissenlit the other day after that great terrine. combination

This is also a combination of two countries this time:
Asperges Blanches Tiedes et Jamon Serrano

The white aparaguses from France werved lukewarm with first class ham from Spain/Jamon Serrano.
The vinaigrette was a lukewarm one based with taragon in particular.

That certainly disappeared quickly!
Just the time to take the pic as the Missus wouldn’t let me linger on it!LOL

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French Cuisine: Pressee de Poireaux sur Terrine de Foies Blonds, Vinaigrette aux Truffes by Pissenlit

May 15, 2010 dragonlife 2 Comments

You know that Chef Tooru Arima has achieved a well-earned fame when you learn that such respected local chefs as Tetsuya Sugimoto visit Pissenlit for dinner to enjoy and talk gastronomy, be it Japanese of French!

I have decided that describing a full meal at such establishments does not make justice to their art. Each sampled deserves an article of its own!

This particular appetizer/hors d’oeuvres is actually a combination of two very different terrines:
The base is provided by a slice of Terrine de Foies blonds de Volaille, a terrine made with the “white” livers of poultry raised outdoors in real nature.

The second tier is leeks from Belgium first steamed than pressed into a terrine with a very light jelly.

The leek terrine is seasoned with roughly ground black pepper.
The vinaigrette is made with balsamico vinegar, fond de veau and truffles. A green final touch is provided with small Italian parsley leaves!

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French Cake by Bernard Heberle: Thé Citron

May 13, 2010 dragonlife 2 Comments

He was kind enough to send me his latest creation with the following comments in French:

“Voici le Thé citron
Donc un mousseux a la bergamote sur un pain de Genes a l’earl grey entoure d’un biscuit joconde bicolore
Comme si tu mangeais un Royal milk tea , a ne pas prendre avec un espresso ou autre café…
Bonne dégustation.”

“Here is the Tea Lemon cake
A mousse perfumed with bergamotte on a pain de Genes perfumed with Earl Tea surrounded by bicolour joconde biscuit
Like if you were eating a Royal milk tea, not to be eaten with an expresso or other coffee…
Happy tasting.”

Hope you understand!
In any case another absolute marvel!

Abondance
Address: Hamamatsu Shi, Sumiyoshi, 2-14-27 (in front of Seirei Hospital)
Tel.: 053-4738400
Fax: 053-4738401
Opening hours: 10:00~20:00. Closed on Tuesdays.
Homepage

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Cheese Souffle: The Basic Recipe

April 29, 2010 dragonlife Leave a comment

After being asked about my cheese souffle by a new Foodbuzz friend, I thought it was about time I re-post the recipe for this French classic.
Sorry, as I was caught a bit off my guard I had only and old pic of my cooking available. Let’s hope I will come another one soon!

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
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 them 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 small 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 to it and mix beforehand), or thin short narrow strips of ham, or even ham & cheese. The variations are endless!

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French Restaurant: Hana Hana (2010/04/16)

April 16, 2010 dragonlife 3 Comments

Cassoulet

Service: excellent and very friendly
Facilities: great washroom, great cleanliness overall
Prices: reasonable, good value.
Strong points: Generous portions (for a Japanese restaurant), classic French and Italian and unpretentious. “Special” Wine list!

Last night saw cats and dogs falling anew with the unpredictable weather. Neither of us felt going back home and starting cooking. It was about time we visited an od friend of ours at Hana Hana!

The greatest quality of this unpretentious and very friendly restaurant combining the delicacies of Southern France and Italy resides in its succulent fare served in generous portions (for a Japanese restaurant), and all this at reasonable prices (for japan, again!)

Here is what we had last night:

Appetizer: deep-fried /shiroebi/white shrimps/Glass shrimps on a potato chip and amadai/Tilefish tartare on a lotus root chip.

Tilefish or amadai/アマダイ/甘鯛、尼鯛　in Japanese

Glass Shrimps/White Shrimps or shiroebi/白海老 in Japanese.

The Missus ordered a “Country-style” salad, but it was so big that the chef served a single portion on two different plates without even asking us! Great home-made sausages, duck and so on!

As for the beautiful duckling terrine, the two of us had to dig in as the portion was definitely not Japanese-sized! LOL
It certainly wasn’t easy to keep off the bread!

Now, the Missus’ main dish as a great combination of French and Japanese cuisines: Baked amadai/tilefish with wasabi sauce!
Did I tell you that Shizuoka Prefecture grows 80& of all wasabi in Japan?LOL

When I was wondering what main dish I would order, the chef just suggested, Alsation Choucroute or Cassoulet?
Not fair! Being a Burgundian, I was truly caught halfway!
Alright, I’ll take the Cassoulet!
…..
My, my, now, that was big!
The Missus: -I’ll have the finest little piece of each: Duck confit, pork belly cut and home-made sausage!
She could have tried to help me more…. LOL again!
Do you know the hree basic cassoulets? To give you an idea, mine included two of them!
No need to tell you it was perfect!

We don’t make a rule of eaing dessert, but we have never been able to escape from Hana Hana’s offerings!
The Missus had this Creme Blanche (meringue, fresh cream and cottage cheese) with a red fruit soup, a beautiful combination in colours and tastes!

I’ve always been a sucker for Hana Hana’s Creme Brulee!
Just the right amount of cream and plenty of caramel and a beautiful ice-cream on top!

I’ll have to find a reason to go back on my own!
Why?
There is still this Alsatian Choucroute bugging me!

Hana Hana
Open for lunch and dinner. Closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays
420-0037 Shizuoka City, Aoi Ku, Hitoyado-cho, 1-3-12
Tel. & Fax: 054-2210087
Credit cards OK

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French Gastronomy: Pigeon at Pissenlit

April 5, 2010 dragonlife Leave a comment

When I saw the new “noren/entrance curtain” at the entrance of Pissenlit the other day (secret?) I knew it was a lost cause!
I just had to check what was on the menu, which evolves so well with the seasons!

The chef, Mr. Tooru Arima, told me that he had just received pigeon from Ibaraki Prefecture!
-Okay, I’ll go for it!
-It will take some time. How about an hors d’oeuvres first?
-Fine, I leave it to you!

What came was a very unusual combination of North African and Japanese cuisine!
Actually, when you think that Japan imports vast quantities of squid/cuttlefish from North Africa, I shouldn’t have been surprised.
The squid is called “mimi ika/耳烏賊”, meaning squid with “large ears”. It is comparativeley small but with large “ears”.
The dish consisted of a taboule salad with Moroccan couscous and home-marinated, very soft mimi ika squid, and plenty of local trefoil and herbs.
A very sophisticated hors d’oeuvres!

And then the whole pigeon came!
It is prepared in two steps, first a l’etouffee/pan steamed and then roasted before being cut and served with its sauce and vegetables (organic vegetables from Shizuoka).
Cooked to perfection, well roasted and crunchy on the outside and tender and half raw in the middle. Going through many textures in a single bite!

The head has been cut to reveal the brains, a real delicacy if a bit gross!

Now the “stick” is very japanese in concept. It is simply a yakitori made with the liver and heart of the smae pigeon!
Barbarous again, but so delicious!

It was lunch and I had been ravenous. I therefore finished with a small plate of cheese to go with the red wine:
Aged gruyere, Trou du Cru, Crottin Chavignol, Roquefort and Explorateur!

What’s in next? LOL

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French Cake by Bernard Heberle: Foret Noire

April 2, 2010 dragonlife 2 Comments

My good friend, Bernard Heberle, the owner/chef of Abondance in Hamamatsu City has just been elected the best patissier in Shizuoka Prefecture (4,000,000 souls) by the biggets Food Blog Community in Japan, namely Tabelog!

He was kind enough to send me his latest creation with the following comments in French:

“Biscuit léger au chocolat surmonté de copeaux de chocolat imbibé de liqueur de griotte sertie d’un moelleux au chocolat blanc et griottine et une mousse au chocolat amer et finition a la crème chantilly vanillée.”

“light chocolate biscuit topped with chocolate flakes imbibed with griotte/cherry liqueur surrounded with a white chocolate moelleux and griottine/cherry, and a sour chocolate mousse and vanilla scented Chantilly cream.”

Hope you understand!
In any case an absolute marvel!

Abondance
Address: Hamamatsu Shi, Sumiyoshi, 2-14-27 (in front of Seirei Hospital)
Tel.: 053-4738400
Fax: 053-4738401
Opening hours: 10:00~20:00. Closed on Tuesdays.
Homepage