OK Paris: A Correspondence Course 5 – Bored with Pasta

OK Paris is an ongoing exchange of culinary encounters and yearnings during OK’s half-year relocation from New York to Paris.

Although OK have friends with an oven and were recently able to make the apple pancake they’ve been craving, most of the time they’re cooking stovetop. Being half vegetarian, meaning one is, one isn’t, they naturally gravitate to pasta with vegetables. But that gets old, despite the unlimited variety (see my last post). I’ve been posting risottos, which can be made without broth, but that may be a little hard to master. So, go grains!

In an effort to diversify the starches in our diet at home, we’ve been eating grains other than rice: bulghur, quinoa, barley, farro to name a few. I personally enjoy hulled barley and farro because of their nuttiness and crunch. They are also high in fiber and nutritious. They do take longer to cook than the others but are worth the wait. I’ve been using them interchangeably.

Here is a simple dish of barley (orge in French) with sautéed mushrooms, shallots and dill. Asparagus would be a great addition. If using hulled barley, add 2 ½-3 times the amount of water as the grain, salt the water and bring it to a boil, lower the heat and cook slowly, covered,  for about 45 minutes. (Same with farro, which I think is farro in French?) Check for doneness  after 30 minutes because is sometimes cooks faster.  If you use pearled barley, which is one step more processed, cooking time will be closer to 20-25 minutes.

On cold rainy days, which Paris still has in March, I would braise root vegetables like rutabaga and carrot and add them to the grains. Or how about adding greens, and/or or carmelized onions with raisins, a little feta, a few walnuts? The possibilities are nearly endless, so use your imagination and bon appetit!

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OK Paris: A Correspondence Course 4 – Sweet Pepper Chili, Chicken Optional

OK Paris is an ongoing exchange of culinary encounters and yearnings during OK’s half-year relocation to Paris

Here in the US, we‘ve been occupied and entertained by the Winter Olympics, with snow, snow and more snow piling up in our yard.  Even though Paris is typically cold and rainy and nowhere as frigid as New York (though OK encountered a rare snowfall when they arrived in January), warming and comforting food is of the moment. Since one of the OK pair eats meat and the other is vegetarian, we thought we’d share a chili that can be made either way. Later we can share a this-way-that-way French soup, but for now we are cheering on the US athletes.

This is a simple concoction that doesn’t require long hours on the stove. Rather, it can be made in about 45 minutes, mostly bubbling away on its own. If I don’t have leftover cooked chicken, I typically sprinkle skinless breast halves with paprika and bake them in a 350-degree oven for about 20 minutes.

Sweet Pepper Chili, Chicken Optional

1 large onion, cut into 1/2-inch dice

1 red pepper, cut into 1/2-inch dice

1 yellow or orange pepper, cut into 1/2-inch dice

Vegetable oil

2 tsp – 1 tbsp chili powder

2 tsp – 1 tbsp ground cumin

¼ – ½ tsp cayenne  (less to start)

1 28-oz can whole plum tomatoes, chopped (or equivalent fresh)

1 14.5-oz can black beans, drained (or 1½ cup cooked from dried beans)

1-2 cups cubed cooked chicken (optional)

Roasted corn (optional)

Cilantro leaves and chopped scallions

Sauté the onion in vegetable oil over medium-low heat until translucent, about 8 minutes. Add peppers and continue to cook until softened, about 5 more minutes. Add chili powder, ground cumin and cayenne and stir until well mixed and aromatic. Add tomatoes and simmer for 20-30 minutes. Add beans and let cook for another 10 minutes. If using chicken or corn, add it to the mixture with the beans. Adjust seasonings and serve with chopped cilantro and scallions. Serve over rice or wrapped in warmed soft tortillas.

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OK Paris: A Correspondence Course 3 – Pipérade

OK Paris is an ongoing exchange of culinary encounters and yearnings during OK’s half-year relocation to Paris.

Here again we have a delicious and versatile dish that is often eaten in France. It’s easy to make and keeps well, so making a batch that’s only partially consumed leaves some for a quick meal another day. Hailing from the Basque region, pipérade is basically a combination of peppers and onions, slowly braised and bound with a few tomatoes. Traditionally, it is spiced with powdered Espelette pepper (“pimenton d’espelette”), a Basque red chili pepper named after a town in the region. I was happy to have a little tin of that wonderful ingredient on hand, but a combination of sweet paprika and a little cayenne would work. I added chopped garlic to this mix, and I have sometimes added a little smoked ham, which I believe is traditional. Topped with a poached egg and sprinkled with a pinch of red pepper, it makes a wonderful supper. It also makes a great appetizer on small toasts or crackers, a filling for crepes or omelets, or the vegetable component of a frittata.

Pipérade for two

1 yellow onion, sliced vertically into moon-shaped slivers

Olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

1 green pepper, sliced vertically in thin strips

1 red pepper, sliced vertically in thin strips

2 small tomatoes, sliced vertically in 6-8 pieces (or use canned whole tomatoes)

½ tsp pimenton d’espelette (or ½ tsp paprika and a pinch of cayenne)

Sauté the onion slowly in olive oil for about 6 minutes, until it is just about to brown slightly, add the garlic and cook for a minute or two. Add the peppers and continue to cook, covered, for about 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes and pimenton d’espelette, and continue to cook until the tomatoes are soft and the ingredients are well combined. This can be eaten right away or put aside for another day, as the flavors improve with time.

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OK Paris: the Correspondence Course 2 – Crepes

OK Paris is an ongoing exchange of culinary encounters and yearnings during OK’s half-year relocation to Paris.

OK decided they wanted to cook at home in Paris rather than eating out ($$) and worse, risking the chance that dreaded (non-vegetarian) ingredients might appear without translation. As in the “salade” that was more duck than green. FYI, “canard” means duck. To talk about the unexpected experience is also called a “canard,” meaning in slang a gaffe, or goof. The French language is both wry and tricky that way! In America, we use the turkey as a caricature, so duck is fair game, no pun intended.

OK’s approach to eating in Paris is a smart move since the sheer experience of the markets, the healthy attitude toward food in Europe in general, and the experimentation of one’s own little kitchen are all educational and fun. And OK will inevitably eat out anyway but choose wisely.

One of the earliest requests was a recipe for crepes. So I sent one off in an email and by the time I got around to posting this, OK already had positive results with the basics. In fact O said that having crepe batter in the refrigerator at all times has become “essential to the quality of life.” Hmm.  I know that he’ll think that’s especially true after returning home from a long day/night in the studio since OK no longer have a freezer or pantry to turn to. Think daily bread, but also know that crepes can be pre-cooked and stored, nicely stacked.

In the meanwhile, K, unbeknownst to me until the weekly iChat, had discovered and mastered Béchamel sauce. Wow. So, I built a little meal for The Dad and me to share with OK based on all of the above, starting with savory crepes and some added advice on herbs and spices.

Today, I made crepes filled with spinach bound in a little onion Béchamel seasoned with grated nutmeg (could have been chopped dill in another season). I cooked ours in the oven, adding grated cheese to the Béchamel to make a “Mornay” sauce and spooning it on top. For the oven-less OK, a sprinkling of grated cheese and a very quick pass in the microwave would do it.  (FYI beware that a version of Béchamel called “velouté“ is made with meat broth.)

We had leftover crepes, so I made a dessert version with filling that combined ricotta cheese, grated orange rind, and homemade kumquat syrup that I had in the refrigerator, garnished with poached kumquats. Alright, I know that most people don’t just happen to have poached kumquats on hand, but I’ve been messing around all month with canning citrus, struggling with those puckish little buggers, which I suppose are better off eaten than composted. Or not. A good alternative for the filling would be a fruit jam in winter or fresh fruit in season, with or without the ricotta. Or chocolate, always.

Crepes

These are unsweetened, i.e., savory crepes. To make dessert crepes, add a teaspoon of sugar to the batter. Makes about 12 six- to seven-inch crepes.

2 large eggs

1 cup milk

1/3 cup water

1 cup all-purpose white flour

Pinch of salt

2 tbsp melted butter

At home, I blend all of the ingredients except the butter in a food processor, and add the butter at the end. Otherwise, to mix by hand, lightly beat the eggs, combine with the milk and water, and stir into a flour. Add butter and salt. Let the mixture sit in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour, and up to a day.

Preheat a griddle or frying pan, adding a little butter. Pour ¼ cup of crepe batter into the pan, spreading it out either by tilting the pan or using a stick-like device like mine (see photo of the simple doweled “T” that my daughter and her friend brought back from the south of France) to twirl it around. Cook until the top is dry, then flip the crepe to set the other side.

Onion Béchamel (white) sauce with cheese variation

I like the easy-to-remember 1-1-1 proportion of flour-based sauces, which also applies to meat gravy.  It’s important to heat this slowly so that first the onions and then the flour are thoroughly cooked.

1 small onion, diced

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp all-purpose white flour

1 cup milk (nonfat is fine), warmed

Salt

¼–1/3 cup grated cheese (Gruyere and Parmesan together is classic, others are fine)

Cook the onion in butter over low heat until translucent, add the flour and stir to combine, cooking without browning for a minute or two. Slowly add the warm milk, whisking to keep the mixture smooth. Cook until thickened, stirring regularly to keep the bottom from sticking. Season with a little salt, adjusting the amount depending on what else is being added. To make Mornay sauce, stir in the grated cheese until melted.

Baked Spinach Crepes

6 crepes

1 small bunch spinach

1/3-1/2 cup onion Béchamel sauce

Grated nutmeg or chopped fresh dill

Salt to taste

1/3-1/2 cup Mornay sauce or grated cheese

Rinse the spinach well, removing the stems and tearing the leaves into medium pieces. Cook the spinach in the water that clings to the leaves until wilted. Drain well.  Combine with a little onion Bechamel seasoned with nutmeg or chopped dill. Add only enough to bind the greens. Place a few spoonfuls down the center of a crepe and fold it over, placing in a baking dish seam-side down. Either sprinkle on grated cheese and place in the microwave just briefly (long enough to melt the cheese but not make the crepes mushy), or spoon on the Mornay sauce (mine was made with Emmenthal), sprinkle with grated nutmeg. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until the top is browned and the exposed edges of the crepes are a little crisp.

Dessert Crepes with Ricotta Cheese and Fruit

Crepes

1-2 tbsp of ricotta cheese per crepe

Grated orange rind

½ tsp sugar or to taste

Chopped candied kumquats or fresh berries or jam

Fruit syrup or jam and/or additional fruit

Confectioners sugar

This can be endlessly varied. Season a few tablespoonfuls of ricotta cheese with something sweet and flavorful, add fruit, spoon into crepes and fold them up lengthwise or in quarters. Top with confectioners sugar and more fruit.

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OK Paris: The Correspondence Course 1

OK (my son and his fiancé, who really do use that moniker) have relocated from New York to Paris for the first half of 2010 and are reveling in their experience with French food, whether eating out or shopping in the markets. (First impression of the open-air markets: why shop in a grocery store, ever?) Since they are neophytes in the kitchen, we decided that we would swap photos from the market for recipes or suggestions about what to do with the produce.

The first batch included some lettuce, shallots and what look like Satsuma tangerines, which so happened to approximate a recent salad that The Dad and I had for dinner.  Since the haul included a bulb of fennel, OK could add some very thin (shaved) slices to the salad. Make a balsamic vinaigrette and you’re set! (2 tbsp olive oil, 2 tsp-1 tbsp balsamic or red wine vinegar, a little minced shallot, some – optional – grated tangerine peel). The juice from the sliced tangerines will enliven the dressing, so the vinegar is there mainly to balance the sweetness.

As for the main course, the ingredients included fennel, red pepper, carrots and onions or shallots. Plus the tangerines. I would locate a small can of tomatoes (or a few fresh ones if they’re decent) and maybe some black olives. The little black shriveled ones cured in olive oil, referred to as Niçoise olives (from Nice, France) would be great.  A braised fennel dish could be accompanied by chicken or fish, or tossed into pasta.  Very south of France!

Fennel takes longer to cook than the rest of the ingredients, so I would braise it slowly with the shallot or onion, then add the other ingredients.

Braised Fennel

1 bulb of fennel, cored and thinly sliced vertically

1 small onion, thinly sliced, again vertically

1 red pepper, thinly sliced in vertical strips similar in size to the fennel

2 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced on the diagonal

Olive oil

1 cup (more or less) chopped canned tomatoes (or fresh)

1 tbsp orange or tangerine peel, cut into tiny dice (1/8” squares)

Juice of 1 orange or tangerine

Niçoise olives

Prepare all of the vegetables. Cook the sliced fennel and onion or shallot in a small amount of olive oil in a covered pan over low heat, adding a little water to moisten, for about 15 minutes until starting to soften. Add the pepper, carrot, tomatoes, citrus peel and juice, and continue to cook, covered, until the vegetables are soft, probably another 5-7 minutes. Remove lid and cook down the liquid a little if desired. Add olives and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve as a vegetable dish with chicken or fish, or toss into pasta.

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