Pan-seared chicken, asparagus, and spinach raviolis
Recently, I had dinner with two wonderful friends at a renowned restaurant called Casa Olympe in Paris, where celibrities are frequently spotted. Reservations are tough unless you know one of the regulars who can get you in. This eatery isn’t much to look at from the outside, but its chef, the famous Olympe, has built her golden reputation on it since 1973 with her esoteric dishes made from out of the ordinary ingredients. Trusting that I can’t go wrong no matter what, I ordered pigmented squid on a bed of vermicelli. And when the waiter deposited the plate of food in front of me, I could swear that for a moment my stomach went cold.
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Tagged as:
Casa Olympe,
paris
Basic French toast
Contrary to popular assumptions, the French toast’s claim to fame was not laid by the French themselves, as they can rightfully boast about their ingenious inventions such as the French bullet train, Pasteurization, Braille, or the Guillotine.
The appellation “French toast” dates back from 1871 according to Merriam-Webster. As Brendan Koerner wrote in Slate magazine, “Culinary historians disagree over whether French toast has exclusively Gallic roots. The simple concoction of bread, eggs, and milk likely dates back to Medieval times, when the battering process was used to make stale loaves more palatable. The question is whether the French were truly the first to dip and fry their bread, or whether other Europeans stumbled upon the ‘invention’ on their own. For example, a similar dish called ’suppe dorate’ was popular in England during the Middle Ages; it’s unclear, however, whether it was brought over [to them] from what’s now France by the Normans, who may have delighted in something called ‘tostées dorées’ before toppling King Harold II in 1066.”
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Tagged as:
bread,
breakfast,
French,
French toast
Microplane Classic Premium Zester/Grater
I have to admit that on Monday I wasn’t certain what I would write about today. It’s been one of those weeks, right? But Tuesday morning I was putting together a crock pot dish before work, and when I started grating the ginger it dawned on me—Microplane’s excellent (and sharp!) kitchen tools. I have the zester/grater pictured above (in red), and a spice grater sans handle, both of which I use on a fairly regular basis.
Aside from being well made, extremely sharp and impossibly sturdy (I’ve had mine for five or six years), I love that they’re made right here in Arkansas, about an hour or so north of Little Rock. Located in Russellville (aka RussVegas), Microplane started out innocently enough as a woodworking tool, created by brothers Jeff and Richard Grace, whose company manufactured parts for the printing industry. But it was a Canadian woman more than 1,400 miles away who helped bring Microplane into our kitchens.
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Over the past 10 or so years that I’ve been cooking, I’ve accumulated numerous pots and pans, in an “oh, I need a bigger sauté pan…oh this stock pot will do for now” sort of way. But I never went all out and purchased a full set of proper cookware, mostly because there’s too much to chose from and the decision-making process would be, for me, never ending. But luckily my husband decided to make the decision for me, and surprised me with my first grown-up set of matching cookware for Christmas. And considering he’s the good cook that taught me how to cook, his decision making was spot on!
I am so incredibly happy with my 10-piece set of Emerilware (made by All-Clad) which has a porcelain hard enamel exterior with a sleek black finish and wonderful ergonomic handles. The set includes 8- and 10-inch fry pans, 1- and 2-quart sauce pans, a 3-quart sauté pan and a 6-quart tall stockpot, plus lids for the sauce and sauté pans and the stockpot. The tempered-glass lids, by the way, are almost the best part, because they have two sets of straining holes, which eliminates the need for a precariously perched colander in the sink for draining pasta and the like. But the best feature of these excellent scratch-resistant, nonstick pots and pans are the pouring spouts on the sauce pans, which is awesome for, well, sauces! Not to mention having another option for draining veggies and the like! It’s one of those things where you think, “yeah, that’s alright…” until you need it, and then you think, “wow, that’s pretty handy!”
The nonstick surfaces are super easy to clean, almost effortless (completely effortless if you just stick them in the dishwasher, where they are indeed safe), and I love that everything is also oven safe…which means I officially no longer have an excuse for not making that beef bourguignon, as I’ve been promising to do! The set is well-priced and available all over the Web, and some open-stock pieces, like the 5-quart sauté pan and 3-quart sauce pan, as well as a griddle, are also available to round out the collection.
… But not just in any frying pan.
Have you ever been baffled over a recipe such as a paella or couscous that requires a huge cooking receptacle — and you had to use several pots and pans to make do? It’s enough to want to give up before you even start.
For all you space-frustrated cooks out there, I would like to introduce you to a revelatory frying pan/skillet that will change your culinary life. It is the one kitchen item that I cannot function without. This skillet is large, 33-cm (13 inches) wide and 7-cm (3 inches) deep. It has a straight bottom instead of the usual curved skillet bottom. It is so spacious and friendly, it can take anything you throw in it.
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What is the history of the Christmas log cake? According to Wikipedia, “A Yule log is a large wooden log which is burned in the hearth as a part of traditional Yule or Christmas celebrations in several European cultures. It can be a part of the Winter Solstice festival or the Twelve Days of Christmas, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, or Twelfth Night. The expression “Yule log” has also come to refer to log-shaped Christmas cakes, also known as “chocolate logs” or “Bûche de Noël”.
In France, the Bûche de Noël is the requisite dessert at any Christmas dinner. Each year, French pastry cooks of all levels of renown apply themselves in the creation of imaginative, original, and tasty log cakes for the season. One of these premier chef-patissiers in French history is Gaston Lenôtre.
In 1947, Lenôtre opened his first patisserie on the rue Gambetta in Paris. Bounding from one success to the next, the name Lenôtre gradually became synonymous with luxury brand pastries, and his reputation and business grew to international fame. Click here.
Tagged as:
Bûche de Noël,
Christmas log cake,
France,
Kenzo,
Lenôtre,
patisserie
Although I have no statistics to back this up, I feel like it’s safe to say that the holidays are probably the time when serious baking is undertaken the most. I know it’s when I am more likely to make fresh bread or try to recreate (with some similarity) one of the complicated recipes in my Baking at Home with the Culinary Institute of America cookbook. So, during my most recent trip to Fresh Market, I was wandering the aisles in that “I only came in for a couple of things, but now I need all of this stuff too” stupor that always overtakes me the second I walk through the door, when I stumbled upon the small but well-stocked pet section.
And that’s when I decided I would actually bake treats for my dogs.
I’m pretty sure I went for CloudStar’s Buddy Biscuits partly because the cute burlap-style packaging and bone-shaped cookie cutter had me at hello, but hey, why not do something a little different and bake fresh treats for my furry little children?
And bake them I did…
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If you have ever attempted to construct a gingerbread house, you know how daunting it can be.
This is a replica of the Fairmont Royal York hotel in Toronto. It took three weeks to build this gingerbread version.
Most of us don’t have the ambition, “people” power or materials to construct these masterpieces. I explored other possibilities, history and finally our attempt. Click here.
Thanksgiving is quickly headed this way, and with it typically comes turkey, dressing and all the trimmings. My husband and I established our own Thanksgiving tradition several years ago when we were still dating—we spend the day at home cooking, watching parades and football, and just hanging out. Oh, and drinking. Instead of a day filled with yelling, arguing and my aunt’s dry turkey and questionable side dishes, we do it all here at home, and we do it our way.
Our early obsession with The Food Network, namely Alton and Emeril, led to experimentation in the kitchen and our ultimately tweaking and combining a couple of recipes into a for the most delicious, juicy, spectacular turkey ever to be made in this world.
And it’s all about the brine, baby. Interested? Click below for the recipes for our brined and roasted turkey!
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