What are we eating ? | French inspired recipes

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.

Snack: green beans, trout caviar

Chef Jessica Noël offers you a recipe that represents her way of cooking at the Mon Lapin wine bar: a simple dish, which showcases seasonal vegetables, without turning its back on animal proteins. So here are the green beans, trout caviar.

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs of green beans
• A drizzle of vegetable oil
• 100ml white wine
• 50ml white wine vinegar
• 1 French shallot
• 1/3 lb unsalted butter, cubed
• Salt to taste
• 1 pot of trout caviar
• sea ​​orach

Preperation

• 1. Light the barbecue, ideally charcoal.
• 2. Bring a large pot of well salted water to boil.
• 3. Chop the shallot.
• 4. Put the shallot in another saucepan with the white wine and white wine vinegar and reduce so that only a third of the liquid remains.
• 5. While the liquid is reducing, clean the green beans and blanch them in salted boiling water until tender. Put the beans very briefly in ice water to stop the cooking. Drain them well.
• 6. Pass the shallots and their juice through a sieve to keep only the liquid (squeeze the shallots well to remove all the liquid). To book.
• 7. Return the reduced liquid to the cleaned pan and, over low heat, begin to add the butter cube by cube. Be careful not to heat too much or the butter will separate. If the mixture becomes too thick, more water can be added as needed. Season and keep warm.
• 8. Just before serving, oil and season the green beans.
• 9. Grill just above the coals to brown the beans well.
• 10. Place on plate, garnish with tender sea orach leaves (also known as sea spinach).
• 11. Briefly heat the beurre blanc in a pan, add the trout caviar and remove from the heat.
• 12. Pour over the beans making sure to evenly distribute the caviar and serve.

presentation trick

“It’s a simple recipe that simply presents itself. For a nice effect, you have to drop the beans on the plate without thinking too much, a bit like dropping the sticks from a game of Mikado. »

Posted in The Press+ September 15, 2018.

Quickly done well: omelet with chanterelles

In Quebec, the common chanterelle is found in the forest — and in markets — from the end of June until September. Pascale Coutu and Pierre Tremblay, from La Courgerie vegetable farm in Lanaudière, offer a recipe for a simple and tasty chanterelle omelet. “The trick is to take good, fresh ingredients,” advises Pascale Coutu in an interview.

The recipe is taken from their book The best of Quebec mushroomswritten in collaboration with François Patenaude, picker and owner of Saveurs des bois.

Preparation: 5 minutes

Cooking: 20 minutes

Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 20 chanterelles (or other mushrooms of your choice: boletus, boletus, crimini mushroom, Paris mushroom, marasme des Oréades, oyster mushroom or wine red strophaire)
• 15 ml (1 tbsp.) olive oil
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 4 eggs
• 75 ml (1/3 cup) milk
• 15 ml (1 tbsp.) fresh thyme
• 2.5 ml (1/2 tsp.) allspice
• 5 ml (1 teaspoon) chopped fresh parsley
• 15 ml (1 tbsp.) butter
• 125 ml (1/2 cup) Pied-de-Vent cheese or any other semi-soft cheese, grated

Preperation

• 1. In a skillet over high heat, sauté the chanterelles in the olive oil for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, then set aside in a bowl.
• 2. In a bowl, beat the eggs with the milk, thyme, allspice and parsley. Salt, pepper and set aside.
• 3. Heat the skillet over medium heat and melt the butter. Pour in the egg mixture and cook over low heat for 10 minutes. Spread the cheese and chanterelles over the omelette and finish cooking under the broiler for 5 minutes, or until the omelette is set and golden.

Source: The best of Quebec mushroomsby Pascale Coutu and Pierre Tremblay, Les Éditions Goélette.

Published on lapresse.ca on June 22, 2019.

Call me boss! : semi-cooked foie gras terrine

Chef Sophie Tabet, from Chez Sophie in Montreal, suggests preparing the foie gras in a very simple terrine that will make your guests’ mouths water.

Ingredients for the terrine

• 1 lobe of foie gras, preferably deveined; Sophie uses the Hudson Valley duck.
• Kosher salt
• Cognac
• Salt and pepper

Preparation for the terrine

• 1. Separate the lobe of foie gras in two and generously salt all sides. Ideally, the lobe will be taken out of the fridge 30 minutes in advance to be at room temperature.
• 2. Put a little olive oil in the pan and wait until it is hot.
• 3. Sear the liver for 2 minutes on all sides.
• 4. Place the seared lobes in a foie gras terrine mould, or any other rigid bread or cake (rectangular) type container.
• 5. Add brandy to the liver, to taste.
• 6. Press well with the lid of the terrine mold, put in pounds of butter (or another fairly heavy object).
• 7. Leave to rest for a day, ideally 24 hours, in the refrigerator.

Ingredients for the accompaniment

• Country bread or baguette and sprouts
• Fruit jam or Sauternes jelly, to taste

Preparation of the accompaniment

• 8. Toast some country bread or baguette croutons in the oven for a few minutes, or toast them in the pan with a little butter, for serving.

presentation trick

Sophie likes to serve this terrine on a crouton of country bread, decorated with sprouts and accompanied by a butternut squash compote. It can also be served on a crouton with a truffle cream and it would be just as delicious with a little jam or Sauternes jelly. Cut into cubes, it will work wonders on pasta or risotto. It can also be used as a stuffing for ravioli or for your meats.

If you don’t have a terrine container with a “presser” lid, you can put the liver in any container similar in size to a terrine, cover it with cling film and stiff cardboard, then put blocks of butter to make a weight.

Published in La Presse+ on December 15, 2018.

Guilty Pleasure: Cranberry and Citrus Tarts

The citrus fruits give a nice hint of acidity to these cranberry-based tartlets. We can freeze two dozen and take out a dozen at a time when the visit is coming. It is also possible to cook a single large pie with the same quantities.

For 24 mini tartlets

Ingredients for the pie dough (for 750 g of dough)

• 2 3/4 cups pastry flour, sifted
• 1 C. salt
• 1 C. sugar
• 1 cup unsalted butter, diced, very cold
• 1/2 cup very cold water
• 1 C. white vinegar

Preperation

• 1. In a stand mixer (KitchenAid style or other), beat the flour, salt and sugar using the paddle attachment.
• 2. Add the diced butter, then beat until walnut-sized pieces remain.
• 3. With a wooden spoon, dig a hole in the bottom of the mixture and pour in the water and vinegar all at once. This will avoid having powdery lumps in the finished dough.
• 4. Mix until the dough holds together and there are no more visible dry spots, but you can still see little bits of butter. Be careful not to overmix!
• 5. Gather the dough into a disc shape, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 6 hours or overnight.
• 6. Roll the dough to the desired thickness, then cut it into different shapes.

Ingredients for the tarts

• 3 cups of fresh Quebec cranberries
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• Zest of 1 orange
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp. flour
• 1 homemade pie crust recipe (or purchased pie crust)*
• 1 beaten egg for brushing
• Optional: cane sugar

Preperation

• 1. Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).
• 2. In a large pot, pour the cranberries, orange juice and zest. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Be careful, the mixture can stick easily.
• 3. In a small bowl, combine flour and sugar. Gradually pour these two ingredients into the boiling mixture. Allow to cook to thicken.
• 4. Pour the mixture into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let cool for an hour at room temperature before refrigerating.
• 5. Cut circles of dough slightly larger than the mold used. If you don’t have a tart pan, you can use a small muffin pan that has been buttered and floured beforehand. For each circle of pastry cut out, also cut a small flower using a cookie cutter the same diameter as the top of the tartlet.
• 6. Lower the circle of dough into the bottom of the mold, add the cold filling and arrange the flower on top. Using a small brush, brush a little beaten egg on the flower to give it shine. If desired, sprinkle the tartlet with cane sugar before putting it in the oven, to give it a crunch.
• 7. Bake immediately, about 30 minutes, or until the tartlets are golden brown. You can also freeze the tarts for future baking. But be careful, to bake a pie that has been frozen, it is important not to thaw it first. Baked tartlets will keep for two days at room temperature.

* If you are short of time, you can use a pie dough already made on the market.

Source: Rustic Pâtisserie recipe.

Published on lapresse.ca on December 8, 2017.

Health ! : Last Night

Take out the shaker! Mixologists offer you colorful and delicious cocktails.

Ingredients

• 1 oz Old Pontarlier absinthe
• 3/4 ounce lemon juice
• 3/4 ounce honey syrup
• 1 egg white
• 3 oz sparkling wine
• 1 dash of cherry bitters

Preperation

• 1. Put all the ingredients, except the sparkling wine and the bitters, in a shaker and shake for 10 seconds.
• 2. Add ice and shake again for 15 seconds.
• 3. Pass through a sieve and pour into a previously cooled cup.
• 4. Complete with the sparkling wine and a drop of bitters.

Source: Maxime Boivin, The Drinking Factory.

Published on lapresse.ca on December 30, 2015.