Ricotta Cheesecake with "Caramel au Beurre-Salé"

This is my first cheesecake preparation.I gave it a try for my mom's birthday a few days ago.She wanted something light(considering there was also a chocolate mousse cake)and loves lemons.Quite quick and really easy!My mom and the rest of the family were delighted with the result.A definite keeper!

History: Originated in ancient Greece.The first recorded mention of cheesecake was in 776 BC,as being served for the first Olympic Games.Centuries later it appeared in America,brought by immigrants!


Ingredients
Crust:160 g "speculos",20g sugar,60g butter
Filling:350g Ricotta cheese,1,5 dl cream,1 lemon zest,100g sugar,4 eggs,6 gelatin leaves

Melt butter in the microwave for about a minute.Finely crush cookies.Mix cookies,butter and sugar.Line a pie plate(24 cm) with mixture and put in the fridge.
Put gelatin leaves in a bowl of cold water for 5 to 10 min,then drain and add to the cream that is heating on low temperature.Set aside to cool.Meanwhile,beat egg yolks with lemon zests and sugar.Add ricotta,beat well.Then add cream mixture.Beat egg whites until very firm.Add the cheese mixture over the crust and keep in the fridge at least 3 hours.But it's best to prepare it one day ahead.
Caramel:heat sugar with a little bit of water and a few drops of lemon juice until nice golden color.Then add butter.Mix aside
and add warm cream.

Cranberry Lassi

This was my breakfast.
Really easy.You need 1 yogurt,1/4 cup water,1 tablespoon of frozen cranberries,cinnamon,ginger,1 drop of orange
essential oil,1 teaspoon sugar.Then just blend for 2 min.It's ready!

Cauliflower Pasta With Toasted Almonds

A few tips to avoid odors when you cook cauliflower:
1. Add a little oil to the water in which you're cooking it
2.Buy organic only
3.Add fennel or cumin seeds to avoid farting !
Ingredients
-dry spaghetti(I used Barilla#5)
-1 cup of cauliflower
-garlic
-piment espelette
-fresh parsley
-parmeggiano reggiano
-1/4 cup toasted almonds

Roast cauliflower with some olive oil and garlic at 425 F for 25-30 min.
Meanwhile prepare pasta.Drain,add chopped almonds,piment espelette,chopped
parsley and parmesan.You can also add more olive oil if pasta is dry.Voila!

#27 SHF Aromatic Bilberry Brownies

This month's Sugar High Friday is hosted by David Lebovitz and the theme is chocolate by brand.For my first contribution as a new food blogger I decided to pick from my bookmark "bar "of recipes.This is an adaptation of Katherin Hepburn's Brownies.
Deciding which brand I was going to use wasn't easy.Being a chocophile and having tasted some of the most exquisite ones from La Maison du chocolat,Weiss,Alain Furet,Valhrona,Bernard Dufoux,made me all the more hesitant?So..???Well,I don't think you need to use the finest brand for brownies and I wasn't going to hesitate for hours: my choice :Poulain Dessert 64%, is good enough for home baking,available at my grocery store. It's a traditional good quality ,French chocolate.The result was chewy,with a crakly top .Scrumptious and dense regarding the taste.I sure didn't want them to have a spongy,cakey aspect.They were difficult to cut in squares though...as you can notice on my picture!

Ingredients
- 1 stick butter
- 4 ounces of chocolate
-1/4 cup flour
-2 eggs
-1 cup sugar
-1 cup bilberries
-"chai blend":cardamom,cinnamon,ginger,fennel seeds,sechuan pepper)

Melt together chocolate and butter with spices.Stir in sugar,add eggs and beat well.Add bilberries.Bake for about 40 min
at 325° F.

Ayurvedic Rice

This is the perfect dish after decadent cravings.Helps you balance doshas.

Ingredients

-clarified butter
-1 onion peeled,diced
-1 stick of cinnamon
-2 cloves
-cardamom
-"mille et une nuit"curry or turmeric
-1 cup of basmati rice
-1/2 cup of cooked lentils.

Heat a pot with the clarified butter and spices.Add rice and lentils,salt. Pour 1/2 cup of water.Cook on medium heat for about
15 min.

Tempeh-Detox

If you're looking for easily digestable food and a meat alternative then try smoked Tempeh.It is a fermented food with a firm texture and when you fry it the center stays tender while the outside is crunchy.Very nutritive,it contains health phytochemicals such as isoflavones and saponins.Tempeh produces natural antibiotic agents and contains the essentiel aminoacids.
Easy to store.Can be kept in the refrigerator (2-6°c) for about 10 days and in the freezer for a year.

Ingredients for the stir-fry Tempeh
- Smoked Tempeh
- cooked green beens
-1 teaspoon of fresh peeled,cut ginger
-garlic
-1 teaspoon of sesame oil
-1 teaspoon of sesame seeds
-soy sauce

Heat sesame oil in your Wok with ginger and garlic on high heat .Fry Smoked Tempeh cut in pieces until brown.Add green beens and sesame seeds.Serve with soy sauce.Voilà!

Bortsch

Beet a passionate,festive delightful color!Got it's original name Beta because of it's ressemblance to the second letter of the alphabet according to Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella, one of the world's first food writers.It's a good source of pottassium,vitamine C & A.
This wonderful "Bortsch" recipe is adapted from Cafe Pouchkine in Moskow.

Ingredients

-1 tablespoon olive oil
-2 medium size beets,peeled,chopped
-one carrot,peeled,chopped
-garlic
-onion
-1 tablespoon of pureed tomato
-vegetable broth (4 cups)
- 2 apples
-cider vinegar
-cinnamon
-1 teaspoon of brown sugar

Heat oil in large pot with a pinch of allspice.Sauté onions and garlic for 2 minutes.Add carrot , beets,tomato and broth.Cook on medium low for about 40 min.In a pan with a little butter sauté sliced apples for a few minutes.Add vinegar,sugar,cinnamon.When apples have a nice color,stop.Serve soup with apples and some "magret de canard fumé".Enjoy!

Potimarron Pancakes

Ingredients
1/2 bulgarian yogurt
1/2 cup pureed potimarron
1 egg
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon of sugar
1/4 teaspoon of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
allspice,cinnamon
pinch of salt

Mix dry ingredients.Add egg,gently whisk.Add wet ingredients.
Whisk until batter is smooth.
Lightly brush a skillet with butter.Then heat at medium temperature.Work the surface of pancakes until the surface bubbles.Then flip the pancakes for another 2 minutes.

Bakery

Couderc,10 Bld Voltaire,Paris 11e.

Delicious Salmon Quiche with marinated salmon,spinach and fennel seeds.
Ain't this chocolate CD cute?
All their cakes are made with premium chocolate 70%.Try their "Fondant" or "Zazou"(meringue with caramel whipped cream)

Magical Spice Palace:"GOUMANYAT"

Having an appointment at noon in the Republique area,I thought I would go on a food discovery date to"GOUMANYAT"afterwards.I'd been dying to go there ever since I got back fom California and wrote it down on my notebook.Silly enough I didn't check the opening hours.So, when I got there around lunch time it was closed.The "palace"opens at 2 PM.Well,I went for a stroll in the area.Amazing how it changed!But I need not to develop this now.When I came back it was still closed.I felt frazzled and disappointed but I wasn't going to give up and waited a little longer .What an adventure...To get in you have to to buzz before the door opens.The Thiercelin family founded the business in 1809,in Pithiviers (Gatinais region).Specialised in manufacturing and selling aromatic products from the vegetable kingdom,more than 180 different spices.10 years ago, the owner decided to open a shop directed towards connoisseurs gourmets and advised gourmands,with a focus on high quality products,only the best.
Famous for it's chinese apothecary furniture and jars,particularly the jar filled with golden saffron,the intoxicating "sniffing bar".I discovered rich,subtle and complex scents of :curries,vadouvan,mace,cloves,star anises,peppers such as peppercorns from Pondicherry,Sarawak,Muntok.I bought samples of saffron,fennel seeds,"mille et une nuits" curry (a blend that comprises roses),the precious Szechuan peppper.



Goumanyat & son royaume:3,rue Charles -François Dupuis. 75003 Paris

Chesnut,Fennel and Arugula Soup

I'm very fond of experiencing different recipes.So,here's the result today
by using what I found in my fridge:chestnuts,fennel,arugula,unsweetened condensed milk.
Cook on moderate heat:1 garlic clove, 1 fennel bulb cut in pieces for 5 minutes.Add the jar of peeled chesnuts,vegetable broth,pepper and cook for another 15 min.Wait a few minutes till the soup cools down.Add some fresh arugula.Then blend the soup,adding 1/4 cup of condensed unsweetened milk.Serve with a pinch of "piment d'espelette".

Photos

Pear and Spices Crumble

What is more comforting in the winter than a delicious fruit crumble?
I just experienced this one and it so good!

Ingredients

- 5 William Pears,peeled,cored into 1-inch pieces
-1/2 cup of nuts
-1/2 cup butter
-1 cup flour
-1 cup sugar
-1 tablespoon cocoa "Van Houten"
-4 spuds of cardamom
-1 ts of cinnamon`

Preheat oven 350 F.Toss pears,1/4 cup brown sugar,grounded nuts.Transfer to baking dish.Mix flour,cocoa,remaining sugar.add butter until clumps form.Sprinkle topping over fruit in dish.Bake 35 min.Increase oven temperature to 375 F another 15 min until golden. Cool slightly.Serve with "Pain d'Epices"ice-cream.

Blé sucré

I'm glad there's a surge again of good bakeries in Paris.Especially not too far from where I live.Fabrice Le Bourrat has worked with GillesMarchal,chef pâtissier from the Bristol Hotel for 7 years.Hurry! Prices are moderate for Paris and you'll get addicted...
Blé Sucré-7 rue Antoine-Vollon 75012Paris
01 43 40 77 73

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2007

I've been reading a lot of food blogs,and I finally decided to create mine...
I've always enjoyed cooking and lately started to cook for private parties.
I live in Paris at the moment but I'm also Canadian.
You're welcome to visit anytime and to leave me messages.

A fresh start for a fresh new year.For my first recipe ,
I decided to pick one that was a hit at a party I went to for New Years Eve.
Gone in seconds...
I was inspired by Clea Cuisine's blog,her" Onigiri "(rice balls).
In Japan they have them for breakfast or snacks.
You could add whatever vegetables you have:carrots,mushrooms,
cucumbers... and,or fried tofu! Enjoy!


INGREDIENTS

-2 cups of Japanese sushi rice
-2 cups 1/2 water
-grilled trout
-1/2 cup of cooked leek
-cut Wakame
-1 tablespoon black sesame seeds
some water
some salt
Japanese pepper
ginger

Cook the rice until the water is absorbed.Then wait for the rice to cool down,
( not too much) in order not to burn yourself. Mix in the other ingredients
Wet your hands and pour some salt in your palm , roll rice into a ball or a triangle
Makes about 8.