Pierre Hermé "Un avant-goût de fêtes" Nouveautés Noël et Fêtes 2009

La féerie gustative continue pour moi le jeudi 24 septembre à la Cité de l'architecture et du patrimoine au Palais de Chaillot.

MACARON POMME VERTE & ANGELIQUE, MACARON AGAPE( biscuit macaron, crème au citron, morceaux de pain d'épices), MACARON ENVIE ( biscuit macaron, crème à la violette, baies de cassis)

EMOTION A PARTAGER TRUFFE NOIRE, design splendide mais je ne suis pas fan...

BUCHE INFINIEMENT CARAMEL (pâte à sablé breton, caramel moelleux, biscuit imbibé au jus de caramel et citron, crème de mascarpone au caramel), un délice d'onctuosité et de croquant...

BUCHE CHUAO bûche sans farine. "Un des chocolats les plus prisés au monde", d'une grande richesse aromatique . M Pierre Hermé s'est lancé pour defi de reussir à équilibrer une alliance chocolat/ cassis, mélange amer/acide.

GALETTE INFINIEMENT PRALINE

Chef Damien, Pascale Weeks

La totale! Une assiette dégustation avec chaque nouveauté.

Macaron Fortunella (biscuit macaron, crème de kumquat à l'anis étoilé, kumquat confit), mon favori!

Chef Damien n'en laisse pas une miette ;-)

Dégustation d'huîtres "Chez Prunier"/ Oyster Tasting "Chez Prunier"

J'avais rendez-vous" Chez Prunier" jeudi 24 septembre pour un moment d'exception et de raffinement en compagnie de Chef Damien et 3 autres blogueuses. Voici quelques photos!

Huître en gelée de pomme

Huîtres en gelée de champagne, Huîtres au caviar

Tartare d'huîtres

Huîtres aux algues Nori

M.  Barrau producteur d'huîtres fines

Magestic and Moist Honey Cake

Wishing you a Happy Rosh Hashanah  2009!

If you're looking for a fabulous honey cake for the holidays look no further. This is my favorite recipe. It's by Marcy Goldman from" A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking": super moist, perfect texture, nice blend of spices. As usual, I reduced the amount of sugar and oil : minus 25%. Also, instead of all-purpose flour I put T 80 flour  for better nutritious value.

For  8-10.

Ingredients

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour ( I put flour T80)

1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1 cup vegetable oil ( I used 3/4)
1 cup honey
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar ( I used 1 cup)
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup warm coffee or strong tea
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup rye or whisky (see Note)
1/2 cup slivered or sliced almonds (optional)

Preparation

I baked this cake in 2 aluminium loaf pans.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease the pans.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices. Make a well in the center and add the oil, honey, sugars, eggs, vanilla, coffee, orange juice, and rye or whisky or tea.
Using a strong wire whisk or an electric mixer on slow speed, combine the ingredients well to make a thick batter, making sure that no ingredients are stuck to the bottom of the bowl.
Spoon the batter into the prepared pan(s) and sprinkle the top of the cake(s) evenly with the almonds. Place the cake pan(s) on 2 baking sheets stacked together and bake until the cake springs back when you touch it gently in the center. For angel and tube cake pans, bake for 60 to 70 minutes; loaf cakes, 45 to 55 minutes. For sheet-style cakes, the baking time is 40 to 45 minutes. This is a liquidy batter and, depending on your oven, it may need extra time. Cake should spring back when gently pressed.
Let the cake stand for 15 minutes before removing it from the pan. Then invert it onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Note:
If you prefer not to use the whisky, replace it with orange juice or coffee. I chose to replace it with Earl Grey Tea.

Vadouvan Soissons Bean Crème with Cockles

About a week ago, as well as my fellow bloggers participating in the next  Culinary Blogging Show  November 21-22 2009,  I received a package from La coopérative agricole du haricot de Soissons. Soissons beans and a sample of  Marie Maryns specialty jam with beans and nuts. To thank them I created the following recipe.
First of all, let me intoduce you this fine product: a white and very large bean from the Soissons Region, in northeast of Paris. It has a meaty and delicate flavor. Very nutritious and versatile. Full of proteins, soluble fiber,  potassium and magnesium. Eating beans may lower your risk of cancer, heart disease and obesity and may be a key to living older.

Rince and soak the beans for at least 24h ( I made the mistake of soaking them only overnight). It will rid your dish of some of the hard-to-digest carbohydrate.
Then put them in a pot with cold water. Don't add any salt at this stage or the  beans will remain hard.
After 20 min I changed the water, brought them to a boil and added some thyme, cooked them on low heat for about 2 hours. I drained them, put them in a food processor, added some Vadouvan stock ( 1 tsp of this mixture in 2 cups of warm water), 1 Tbsp of mascarpone, 1 tomato (peeled), 1 ts of arrowroot mixed with a little water. Arrowroot is a thickener that also thin facilitates digestion.

Meanwhile I prepared the cockles. I washed them until the water came clear.  In a skillet with a little olive oil  I cooked thin slices of red onions for a few minutes, added some white wine, the cockles, orange zests, covered and placed over high heat, shook them once or twice, and removed the cockles as soon as they began to open. Toss with soup. Keep a few cockles with shells for decoration.
As a result, I found this soup very refined, aromatic and rich without being heavy!

Cake au Thon, Poivron, Citron confit

Here's the recipe of "Le cake " I brought last week at the Atomium in Belgium.

For 6 you need:

- 1 can of white tuna (thon germon)

- 2 cups of flour

- 1 ts baking powder

-  grated parmesan

-  1 plain yogurt

-  2 eggs

-  5  tbsp olive oil

-  1 preserved lemon

-  1/3 cup of black olives

-  1/2 red pepper

-  salt, pepper, piment d'espelette

Preheat oven  360°. drain tuna and olives. In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder, oil, eggs, yogurt, parmesan. Stir well. Add tuna and olives, lemon in small pieces and the thinly sliced red pepper. Gently stir again. Spoon batter in aluminium or parchment paper lined loaf pan. Bake for about 45 min.

Pour les français:

La recette du cake que j'ai apporté la semaine dernière au pique nique à l'Atomium.

Pour  6 personnes:

- 150 g de thon germon au naturel

- 220 g de farine

- 1 c à café de levure

- 90 g de parmesan rapé

- 1 yaourt brassé nature ( dans la recette de la revue "Saveurs" ils en mettent 2, je trouve que c'est trop sinon augmenter dosage de la farine pour éviter une texture mouillée.)

- 2 oeufs

- 5 c. à soupe d'huile d'olive

- 1 citron confit au sel

- 50 g d'olives noires dénoyautées

- 1/2 poivron rouge

- sel, poivre du moulin et piment d'espelette

Préchauffer le four à 180°. Egoutter le thon et les olives. Dans un saladier, mélagez la farine avec l'huile, les oeufs, le yaourt et le parmesan. Mélangez bien et ajouter le thon émietté, les olives coupées en deux, le citron confit en petits bouts et le 1/2 poivron coupé en lanières. Ne salez pas trop, le citron l'étant dejà  suffisamment, ajouter piment d'espelette, poivrez. Mélangez à noiveau. Versez la préparation dans un moule à cake ou barquette en aluminium. Enfournez pour 45 mn environ selon votre four.