27 mars 2009
Recipe for week-end
Was up with the rising day, having time by myself, busy preparing the baggage, ironing, etc... So here's a lil one for the week-end... juste pour se mettre en appétit!
Pain léger aux grains
Ingrédients:
120 ml d'eau
150 ml de lait
20 gr de beurre
1 cc de sel
2 cc de sucre
225 gr de farine blanche
225 gr de farine bise
des graines de sésame + de lin
un sachet de levure du boulanger (Anchor)
jaune d'oeuf + lait pour dorer
Étapes:
- Mettre tous les ingrédients dans l'ordre indiqué ci-dessus dans la cuve de la MAP {machine-a-pain}
- Lancer le programme pétrissage {sans la cuisson}
- Une fois le pain doublé de taille, le pétrir brièvement {afin de le dégazer}sur le plan de travail fariné; faire 3 boules & les disposer dans un moule a cake beurré
- Le laisser gonfler dans un endroit tiède & sombre pendant 30 min
- Préchauffer le four a 200 C
- Le badigeonner pour la dorure & l'enfourner pendant 11min {approx}
26 mars 2009
A few tarts to keep us going...
tartes...
What makes the cooking & savouring even more precious is sharing these moments & homemade goodies with friends. That's what we've been doing with the Swiss'gals here, in between moving around & enjoying various bits of the island.
Already inspired by this gorgeous book they offered me with bananas'recipes... I tried the Mam'zelle tatin for an afternoon tea or dessert! Mmmm...!
The Swiss girls
Then for dinner, I got inspiration with what I had handy in the fridge;
To start with, I spread some homemade pesto on a flaky pastry {pate feuilletée}, arranged some jambon cru, & some feta chunks. Then I poured over the tart the whisked fromage blanc, milk, cream & eggs. Enfournée at 200 C for 10 min, then 175 for 15 min approx.
I find some of the best dishes are simply made of leftovers & that brightens the day even more!
25 mars 2009
Another week-end to remember
Picnic a la Prairie
I have to say, last week-end was pretty busy... pleins de trucs qui s'enchainent... but enjoyable things altogether.
Meeting new people, having a picnic made of aubergine, roquefort & pecan nuts'tartlets at the beach, enjoying the warm sea, the hamac, the sun, the rain to finish, just the peaceful moment...
Pesto on cheese focaccia
Nicely followed by a friendly cooking session, made of pesto served on focaccia, brochette de pruneaux & cerf, fresh homemade pasta & smoked marlin sauce, and of course a coulant au chocolat noir. All evening was filled with chatting & talking, sharing, laughing, bref just embracing this moment with an authentic contact...
Fresh homemade pasta
PS Please forgive me if I'm more rare here in the coming days... I might be a lil busy having my 2 friends from Suisse at home and enjoying some time together!
19 mars 2009
Boulangere en herbe
The rain's pouring since 3 days & makes this afternoon seem like already dark. Alone in the house, a cupa calling me... & my macbook too, i'm now sitting at the kitchen counter ready to share a few photos & inspiration.
Fondant choco-poire
Actually before each period of productivity, there is one of procrastination. But the fact is, that behind this apparent procrastination there is a pondering, a buzz preparing to emerge that will lead me into creation or just motivation to get things done!
So lately there has been a lot of things on my list done. These last days have been filled with work. So much that my head feels dizzy just thinking of it. Besides the usual cleaning & tidying & cooking, there has been painting floors & bits of walls, gardening & transplanting my growing rocket, learning to use a tiny bit of photoshop, doing the accountancy for B.'s business, filling loads of administrative forms, preparing the guest'bedroom for our friends arriving from Switzerland Monday morning, cuddling Ticoulou the most sweet, gorgeous, funny kitten I ever had...
So not much time & energy left for trying recipes & styling... except for some baking done. Banana & honey bread, focaccia with blue cheese, light farm bread... 
La Boulangere
Banana & honey bread
No recipe today {coming next...}, just photos to drool over!
16 mars 2009
recette promise de tarte sablee choco-banane
tarte sablée choco-banane
All right, I have to come here today to share my new recipe tested 2 Sundays ago. There are some simple things in life that suffice to make us happy. Chocolate-banana'tart baked on a nice Sunday'afternoon and enjoyed on the sunny veranda is one. I used some palets bretons that I crushed with salted butter for the crunchiest crust & extra dark chocolate for the cream. Now I have to say very humbly that B.never complimented me that much for a dessert... so you'd better try it really quick!
Ingrédients {pour 4 prs}:
Pour la pâte:
- 100 g de palets bretons émiettés
- 40 g de beurre salé
- 3 C a S de farine bise
- un peu d'eau
Pour la garniture:
- 2 ou 3 bananes
- 125 g de chocolat noir {60 a 70%}
- 15 g de beurre salé
- 90 ml de crème
- 30 ml de lait
- 1/2 C a S de cassonade
Étapes:
- Préchauffer le four a 180 C
- Lier les miettes de palets bretons avec le beurre mou. Rajouter la farine, puis l'eau {selon la consistance voulue pour la pâte sablée} et pétrir. L'étaler dans un moule a tarte.
- Enfourner 5 min
- Verser crème & sucre dans une casserole & porter a ébullition.
- Ajouter le chocolat en morceaux & le beurre. Stopper le feu & mélanger.
- Incorporer le lait.
- Couper les bananes en rondelles & en recouvrir la pâte sortie du four.
- Verser le mélange au chocolat.
- Enfourner encore 5 min. Puis la mettre au frais au moins une heure avant la dégustation.
15 mars 2009
Happy B-day L!
Just a quicky to give a lil brief of the weeky! Two days at B's parents for his dad's B-day. Two days at the seaside. Of some sun, of some rain. Of good eating as well. Of good talks with nice people. Of lotsa love shared.
12 mars 2009
Petit week-end cocooning...
Time went by so quick. Days have been flying. I've been meaning to write about my week-end since...well the week-end. So tonight with a sky filled with lightning and beautiful colors... With kitten Ticoulou purring on my laps... With my lists scribbled down for my busy day tomorrow & my trip this week-end... Here I am with a few images & inspiration I wanted to share from our week-end.
A picnic in our garden for a Saturday'lunch made of a salade de chèvre chaud grilled on apples & topped with crushed pistachio, served on a bed of lettuce & green beans...concocted by B. Then followed by a peaceful lil nap in the shade of a mango tree...
Later on, a cooking'session for the dinner with our friend B. Roast chicken stuffed with lime & lemongrass, roasted with plenty of veggies {potatoes, sweet potatoes, celeriac, green leaves, onions...}& basted with olive oil & white wine... A few pots de crème au chocolat & a la vanille made the day before, were just perfect for our dessert.
Petis pots de cremes choco-vanille
Salade de chevre chaud
And for Sunday'teatime, a craving for chocolate & an urge to use those sad bananas nearly going bad inspired me to bake our new favorite tarte aux sablés bretons chocolat-bananes ! {which I'll tell you about next time ok}
So a perfect weeky, just as we love '
Pave aux amandes
Petit goûter de la semaine dernière...pur régal, englouti par B.
Pour le voir de plus près, cliquez sur l'image...
PS Petite précision: toujours du beurre salé, même en pâtisserie!
03 mars 2009
Holidays' program
The program was written on a lil blackboard in the kitchen:
- play with Ticoulou {our new kitten}
- climb the hill {we see from our window)
- do some baking/cooking
- do some gardening
...
& everything was done with my bro D. & sis T. who were here for 2 days!
Muffin'baking
We baked some fruits des bois muffins with white chocolate icing, which I'll be able to share with you because for once I wrote down the ingredients & mesures! Moelleux a point... The alliance of the fruits acidules & sweet milky bar were simply srumptious! 
Pasta'chef
Later on, it was B's turn to take over the kitchen & concoct some pasta with a pancetta, mushroom & onion' sauce, sprinkled with parmeggiano & basil, & followed by a watercress salad. Mmmm... a delight!
Apart from cooking & eating, we of course played & stroked our kitty, climbed our hill, walked through the fields of sugar cane & filled it with laughs, mowed the lawn & planted some rocket...!
For approx. 12 Muffins aux fruits des bois & glacage au chocolat blanc:
Ingredients pour les muffins:
1.5 c.a c. levure chimique
100 gr farine bise
100 gr farine blanche
2 oeufs
100 gr beurre
125 gr cassonade
100 gr fruits des bois
60 ml yaourt nature
un peu de lait {optionnel}
Pour le glacage:
100 gr chocolat blanc
1 gousse de vanille
Marche a suivre:
- Prechauffer le four a 180 C
- Melanger la levure + les farines + puis le sucre
- Faire fondre le beurre
- Battre les oeufs + les melanger au beurre
- Ajouter le yaourt + les fruits rouges + {un peu de lait selon la consistence voulue}
- Garnir un moule a muffin (ou des petits moules en papier) de la preparation + enfournez pendant 25 minutes
Pour le glacage:
- Faire fondre le chocolat blanc en morceaux au bain-marie
- Y rajouter l'interieur de la gousse de vanille
- Glacer les muffins immediatement a l'aide d'une spatule
- Les decorer de quelques copeaux de chocolat blanc
+++ Les deguster le jour meme pour plus de moelleux!!
01 mars 2009
Dejeuner du dimanche
Sunday lunch with F. & A.
How
I love these Sunday'lunches! We should do it more regularly... I'm
usually not a big fan of Sundays. It's a day with hardly any life,
everything's closed {except in Dubai- that's why I think I could
easilly live there!}It's a day for being lazy, not doing anything
productive, kind of already waiting for the next week to begin...
So instead of lying around all day, why not make the most of it &
organise something lively? Like a nice picnic at the beach, a family
lunch with loads of kids playing around, or a slunch with friends...?
So for today it was a friendly lunch with our friends F & A. We spent the morning in the kitchen cooking to put together a yummy menu: B. made a tapenade for l'apero, while I baked a quiche with the leftovers in the fridge {aubergines marinated with olive oil, pancetta, emmental, the usual mix of cream & milk & eggs, topped with honey & rosemary} For dessert we decided to keep it simple {time lacking} & finish the tarte au fromage blanc I made yesterday.
We spent a lovely time chatting & eating until afternoon... Bonne compagnie, bonne bouffe, bonne rigolade!
Jardinage
After this good time we felt reenergized & so B. went {is still} working in my potager with the gardener, busy preparing the ground for me to sow my veggies!
Well I hope your Sunday was filled with precious times?
I'll be back with some news about my kitchen garden soon!
