if you know me at all you know i have an affinity for anything french. so i have been loading up on my french knowledge and while doing that i finished "
french women don't get fat" by mireille guiliano. and here are my favorite recipes from the book. i haven't had a chance to make all of them yet but i'm super excited to.
...
APPLE TART WITHOUT DOUGH
Serves 4
4 medium sized golden delicious apples
2 tablespoons lemon juice
4 cabbage leaves
1 tablespoon sugar
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
Dots of butter
- Peel and core the apples, cut into quarters,
slice each quarter into thirds and sprinkle with lemon juice. Place the apples
in the cabbage leaves, shaping the slices like those on a small tart.
- Preheat the oven to 275 degrees. Mix the
sugar with the cinnamon and sprinkle almost all of it on the apple slices
(leaving enough to cover the dots of butter). Add small dots of butter and
cover with the remaining sugar cinnamon mixture. Bake the tart in the preheated
oven for 15 minutes. Sever warm or at room temperature.
PLUM CLAFOUTIS WITHOUT DOUGH
Serves 4
12 plums
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoons sugar
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon butter
- Wash the plums and quarter them. Pour the lemon
juice over and marinate for 10 minutes.
- Mix the sugar with the cinnamon. Warm the butter
in a nonstick frying pan and add the plums. Sprinkle with the sugar cinnamon
mixture.
- Cook over low flame until just tender but not
mushy ( a bit al dente is best). Serve at room temperature with or without ice
cream.
BLUEBERRY BABY SMOOTHIE
Serves 4
12 ounces frozen blueberries
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons honey
2 ¼ cups of 2 percent milk
Pinch of ground cardamom
- Take the blueberries out of the freezer 30
minutes before using.
- Mix the blueberries in a blender with the lemon
juice, honey, and milk. Add a sprinkle of cardamom before serving.
ASPARAGUS FLAN
Serves 4
16 asparagus stalks
4 ounces bacon, coarsely chopped
8 eggs
2 cups milk
1 cup heavy cream
8 sprigs of fresh chervil, minced
Salt and freshly ground pepper
- Cut off the tough ends of the asparagus stalks
(about 2 inches). Please asparagus. Boil in salted water for 5 minutes. Drain
and let cool. Chop each stalk into 2 or 3 inch pieces.
- Sauté the bacon in a nonstick pan til crisp.
Darin on a paper towel.
- Combine the eggs, milk, cream, and half of the
chervil. Season with salt and pepper. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour the egg
mixture in a 9 inch pie plate, 2 inches deep. Sprinkle in the asparagus and
bacon. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, til the custard is set but not dried out.
Serve immediately, decorated with the rest of the chervil. If you don’t want
bacon you can replace it with crab meat, fresh or canned.
GRILLED PEACHES WITH LEMON THYME
Serves 4
4 peaches
2 tablespoons oliv oil
1 teaspoon honey
¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 sprigs lemon thyme, coarsely chopped
- Rinse the peaches, pat dry, cut in half, and
remove pits. Place the peaches in a baking dish. Mix together the olive oil,
honey, and vanilla and pour over the peaches. Sprinkle with leomon thyme.
Marinate for 20 minutes, turning over once basting.
- Broil or grill the marinated peaches on the
barbecue for 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until the peaches are tender but
not soft. Serve immediately, alone or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
COOKED PEARS WITH CINNAMON
Serves 4
4 bosc pears
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon sugar mixed with ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons water (or 2 tablespoons pear brandy or 2
tablespoons muscat beaumes de venise)
- Peal, quarter, and thinly slice each pear, one
at a time, placing the slices at the bottom of a 6-inch saucepan. After the
slices of each are layered, sprinkle some lemon juice and sugar cinnamon
mixture on top. When you reach the fourth pear, add water and then end with the
remaining lemon juice and sugar cinnamon mixture.
- Cook over medium heat til boiling and then cover
and continue over low flame until the pears are tender but not soft. Serve the
pears lukewarm. (I often make this dessert when we are alone and refrigerate
the other 2 servings, which 2 days later I remove and serve at room temperature
with a biscotti or teaspoon of mascarpone cheese.)
COLD BEET AND YOGURT SUMMER SOUP
Serves 4
4 medium beets, boiled til tender, then peel and quartered
2 cup yogurt
2 shallots, peeled and minced
Dash of cumin
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon minced fresh dill
- Mix beets (they should be chunks that are a bit
chewy and take a little more to eat then if pureed) with yogurt, shallots,
cumin, salt, and pepper to taste. Refrigerate for 3 to 4 hours.
- Serve chilled in individual bowls and sprinkle
with dill. Served with a slice of bread and fruit (strawberries or melon) for dessert,
this soup makes an excellent summer lunch.
FLOATING ISLAND WITH A DOSE OF COCOA POWDER
Serves 4 to 6
2 ½ cups of whole milk
2/3 cup plus 1 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 eggs
¼ teaspoon salt
Cocoa powder for sprinkling
- Scaled the milk in a large saucepan. Add 1/3 cup
of sugar and vanilla. Cover and remove from heat.
- Separate the eggs and reserve the egg yolks in a
mixing bowl.
- In another bowl beat the whites with salt until
foamy and then gradually beat in the 1 tablespoon of sugar. Beat the egg whites
to stiff peaks.
- Return the saucepan with milk it the heat and
bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low.
- With a soup spoon, scoop out the mound of egg
whites and drop into the milk. Cook gently for 2 minutes and turn gently to
cook the other side for 2 minutes. Let cool, then cover and refrigerate on a
plate until ready to serve.
- In a bowl containing the egg yolks, gradually
beat in the remaining 1/3 cup of sugar and continue beating for 2 to 3 minutes
until the mixture is pale yellow and form a ribbon. Gradually add the hot milk
in a thin stream to slowly warm up the yolks and avoid scrambling them. Chill
the custard in a serving bowl.
- When ready to serve place the poached eggs
whites on top of the custard. Provide a bowl of cocoa powder for each guest to
sprinkle over the whites.
HOMEMADE YOGURT WITHOUT A YOGURT MAKER
1 quarter of 2 percent milk
1-2 tablespoons plain yogurt as a starter or 1-2 tablespoons
of commercial starter culture
- Warm up the milk in a saucepan over medium-low
heat until bubbles appear around the edge and steam rises from the surface.
- Pour the warm milk into a large bowl to cool
until the temperature reaches 110 to 115 degrees on a cooking thermometer. If
you don’t have a cooking thermometer, do what the locals do: temperature is
correct when you can keep your finger in the warm milk for 20 seconds.
- Put the starter in a small bowl, add some of the
heated milk, and stir until well blended. Return the mixture to the large bowl,
a third at a time, making sure to stir and blend well after each addition. End
with a final stir, making sure all is well blended. Cover with a heavy towel
and keep in a warm place 6 to 8 hours or overnight (a gas over with a pilot
light is fine, or placing a saucepan of hot water in the oven to raise the
temperature will help if your home is not warm enough).
- When set, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and
refrigerate for 8 hours before serving. If thicker yogurt is desired, empty
chilled yogurt in a muslin bag or cheesecloth, suspend over a bowl and drain.
.JPG)
