What are we eating ? | Putting fruits in the spotlight

Just before the weekend, all readers who cook ask themselves this eternal question: what are we going to eat? In order to inspire you, The Press suggests some suggestions for seasonal recipes that will make your mouth water.

Snacks: breakfast banana split

Ingredients

• 30 ml (2 tbsp.) textured vegetable protein
• 15 ml (1 tbsp.) pumpkin seeds
• 15 ml (1 tbsp.) hemp seeds
• 7.5 ml (1/2 tbsp.) honey
• 1.25 ml (1/4 tsp) ground cinnamon
• 1 banana, cut in half
• 75 ml (1/3 cup) plain Greek yogurt
• Choice of fresh fruit
• Chocolate chips, to taste (optional)

Preparation

• 1. In a skillet, over medium-high heat, brown the TVP with the pumpkin seeds and hemp seeds, 1 or 2 minutes, while stirring. To book.
• 2. Mix honey and cinnamon together.
• 3. On a plate, place the banana halves. Top with yogurt, then add the TVP mixture, fruit, chocolate if desired, and cinnamon honey.

Posted in The Press+ May 8, 2021.

Quickly done well: beetroot and apple salad

Extremely simple, Foodchain’s beet and apple salad has only four ingredients, weighed to the nearest gram in its kitchen and then processed through a food processor. Since the robot-coupe is an expensive machine used mainly in restaurants, people who want to experiment with this style at home can practice it with a knife, a grater or a mandolin (taking care not to cut themselves). Moreover, those who want to make a heartier meal can add shrimp, suggests Charles-Antoine Crête.

For 1 bowl

Ingredients

• 129g yellow beets
• 171g green apple
• 26g green onion
• 43g dill
• Choice: shrimp

Preparation of the salad

• 1. Cut the four ingredients with a mandolin, knife or grater.
• 2. Add shrimp if desired.

For the “crunch”

All Foodchain dishes have a “crunch”, that is to say a mixture of nuts that brings crispness and protein to the whole.

For this salad, Charles-Antoine Crête suggests a mixture of nuts that can vary according to everyone’s taste: smoked almonds, pumpkin seeds, peanuts… They can be crushed with a knife, or lightly pounded in a mortar.

For the vinaigrette

The Foodchain team serves this salad with a lemon mustard dressing, but any dressing will do.

Published on lapresse.ca on July 19, 2017.

Call me boss! : gnocchi di susine

Makes about twenty gnocchi

Ingredients

• 3 lb russet potatoes, ideally from last year
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 egg
• 1 pinch of salt
• 10 small blue plums (or small yellow plums, or small apricots, or cherries)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 x 4 tbsp. butter
• 2 x 1/4 cup fresh breadcrumbs
• 1/2 to 1 tsp. cinnamon

Preparation

• 1. Cut the plums (or apricots) in half, then remove the pit. If using cherries, pit and leave whole. You can add a little cinnamon to the fruit and set aside.
• 2. Boil the potatoes until tender (about 45 minutes for a medium sized potato). You can peel them when they are still hot, with a cloth or washing-up gloves, or simply put them in the potato masher directly.
• 3. Press the potatoes onto a large, lightly floured baking sheet and spread evenly, to cool and still allow some water to evaporate. Place in the refrigerator for about an hour (advice from Fabrizio Caprioli, from the Barcola restaurant).
• 4. Flour a work surface. Place the potatoes in a small mound and form a well in the center. Break the egg into the cavity, sprinkle some of the flour and begin to raise the potatoes towards the center, in repeated movements, to incorporate the egg well. Add the flour as you go and knead until a nice dough forms. It shouldn’t be sticky, but adding too much flour will make the gnocchi less chewy.
• 5. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
• 6. On a surface still floured, form a long cylinder with the dough, while rolling. Cut the cylinder in half. Make “slices” of dough, crush a little in the palm, place half a plum in the center, 1/4 to 1/2 tsp. teaspoon of sugar in the hollow of the fruit, then close the dough. Roll to form a ball.
• 7. Cook the gnocchi immediately, no more than 10 at a time. When they rise to the surface, continue cooking for another minute or two.
• 8. While the pasta cooks, melt the butter in a large skillet. Add the breadcrumbs and brown.
• 9. As soon as the gnocchi are ready, transfer them, with a slotted spoon, from the boiling water to the pan. Cover well with butter and breadcrumbs. Michela prefers to place the hot gnocchi on a plate and pour the butter-breadcrumb mixture over it. Repeat points 8 and 9 for the other gnocchi.
• 10. Sprinkle with a little cinnamon and serve. If this dish is served as a dessert, it is also possible to sprinkle a little more sugar on top.

Source: recipe by Michela Fabbro, chef at the Rosenbar restaurant in Gorizia.

Published on lapresse.ca on August 28, 2017.

Guilty Pleasure: Fruity Monsters

How can you resist this grimacing healthy snack? Children can also participate in the creation of these colorful monsters.

Yield: 8 monsters

Ingredients

• 2 green apples
• 3 strawberries, thinly sliced
• 32 sunflower seeds
• Nut butter of your choice (e.g. peanut, almond, sunflower)
• 16 mini marshmallows
• 16 mini dark chocolate chips

Preparation

• 1. Slice the apples into quarters (remove the core) and cut an oval shape in the center of each quarter to make mouths. It is not necessary to cut very straight, since the nut butter and the “teeth” will camouflage the cut.
• 2. Spread a little nut butter in the mouth, on the top and bottom.
• 3. Stick four sunflower seeds in the top of the mouth. We do not hesitate to put them a little crooked for a more monstrous effect!
• 4. Place a slice of strawberry in the mouth to make the tongue.
• 5. To create the eyes: cut the mini marshmallows in half. Stick them on the apple with a little nut butter. Stick a chocolate chip with a little nut butter on each marshmallow. (Some monsters may have one eye or even three eyes!)

Published in La Presse + on October 26, 2017.

Health ! : Legendary Julep

Montrealers love brunch. Montrealers are (again) starting to love cocktails. A Julep with your omelet? Why not ! Tips and recipes to add sparkle to your Sunday lunches.

Ingredients

• 1/2 oz (15 ml) Pure Légende (Quebec apple brandy)
• 1 C. 1/2 tsp (5 mL) extra fine fruit sugar
• 10-12 mint leaves
• 3 oz (90 ml) sparkling wine of your choice (Champagne, Crémant, Prosecco, Cava, etc.)
• Slices of apple and seasonal berries

Preparation

• 1. Fill a wine cup with previously crushed ice in a clean tea towel, with a rolling pin, for example.
• 2. Add apple slices and seasonal berries to the glass, then sprinkle with fruit sugar.
• 3. In a shaker, place the mint leaves and add the Pure Légende. Gently press with a pestle without tearing the mint.
• 4. Strain the mixture into the wine cup. Fill with the sparkling wine. Mix delicately with a spoon to standardize the cocktail and add straws. Garnish with a sprig of fresh mint.

Source: a recipe from mixologist Jonathan Homier.

Published on lapresse.ca on July 25, 2015.