Fish terrine

The main reason for my trip to France was for my Mom's birthday, I surprised her with my visit and organised a party with 40 of her friends. By all accounts everyone had a great time, I was busy in the kitchen with my good friend SL who came for the week to help and enjoy France in spring.

We started the meal with a fish terrine, here is the recipe and ingredients for 8 people.

Fish Terrine

Ingredients

120 gr crab meat

400 gr salmon (cut as carpaccio, the fishmonger kindly offered to do it for me)

400 gr cod or other white fish

50 gr bread soaked in 10cl of milk (or so)

4 Egg Yolks

Salt, pepper, grated nutmeg to taste

1 TBSP freshly cut chives

20 cl heavy whipping cream

4 egg whites

Method
Soak bread in milk
Place cod in pan of boiling water and turn of the heat, let sit for a few minutes, then remove and dry fish, then break it in small pieces.
In a bowl mix cod + crab meat + bread/milk + 4 egg yolks + salt + pepper + nutmeg + cream + thinly cut chives then gently folled in the 4 whipped egg whites.

In an oven proof pan (I used both a silicone mold which was great for unmolding, and a well butter Savarin mold) place one layer of the thinly sliced salmon, then pour one layer of the mix, then place 1 layer of Salmon and one layer of mix and finish with a layer of salmon.

Bake in a bath of water (bain Marie) for 1h15mn at 110 C-120 C /230 F-248 F

When cooked remove from bath and let cool, then chill preferably overnight and serve with a whipped cream seasoned with lemon, chives, salt and pepper.

Giverny - Monet Gardens and House

Being a perfect tourists while in France I took the opportunity to go to Giverny to visit Monet gardens and house, it had been on my to do list for a long time and what better time than spring to go there! So off we went, what a wonder, everywhere you look there is one beautiful sight after another, as you can imagine my camera got quite some use on that visit, it was hot at the end of the day!
Here is a very small sample.
Enjoy and I wish you to discover this enchanting and inspiring place some day.

Yours truly :-)

The Emerald isle...

6 days into June and no post! What is going on? Well in 4 words: I'm enjoying Europe!

I have been here for a month now and still have a week to go, I wish it was another 2 or 3! But I have to go back to the PNW where home is for now.

So over the past month my adventures took me to Ireland, more specifically to Cork city and West Cork (South West of Ireland). I was blessed with relatively good weather (in Ireland that means no rain, with some sunshine too). I was able to take some (read: lots of) photos and would like to share just a few here.

Enjoy

Rhubarb crumble version 2

My European tour is keeping me very busy and away from the computer, which I guess is a good thing, but I don't have time to make any post, so before this month ends I thought I had to publish at least one post.
Yesterday I made for my friends in Switzerland the following version of

Rhubarb and Strawberry crumble
For 6 people
Ingredients
6 rhubarb stick
6 strawberries
200 gr almond powder
100 gr spelt flour
140 gr sugar
100 gr butter
1 TBSP lemon juice (approx.)

Method
Peel and dice the rhubarb, clean and dice the strawberries, place all in an oven proof dish or in individual ramekins.
Mix by hand almond powder, spelt flour, sugar, butter and lemon juice and place the mix on top of the fruits.
Place in pre-heated oven at 190 C for 25 mn or so
Serve warm with vanilla ice cream (or alone).

France

For the past week and a half I have been in Europe, I did some cooking but mostly took lots of photos and I wanted to share a few of them here.

Enjoy these views of a French garden...

Secret Ingredient: Lemon - Part 3

To finish this meal with a lemon twist I made a Gluten Free Rhubarb & Strawberry Crumble with a dash of Meyer lemon.




Rhubarb & Strawberry Crumble
For 6 large individual portions
Ingredients
80 gr Amaranth flour
80 gr Quinoa flour
100 gr Ground Almonds (not quite as a powder to give a bit of crunch)
200 gr Organic Cane Sugar
90 gr unsalted butter
6 large fresh rhubarb stalks
9 strawberries
Heavy whipping cream


Method
Peel the Rhubarb stalks and dice
Clean and dice the strawberries
Place rhubarb and strawberries in individual ramekins

Prepare the crumble:
Mix all the flours, almonds, sugar and butter in a bowl using a fork or in a mixing bowl using the large paddle, add the juice of 1 Meyer lemon.

Place even amounts of the crumble on top of each ramekins.
Bake in pre-heated oven at 210 C/400 F for about 25 mn
Half way through the baking time pour a couple of TBSP of heavy whipping cream on top of the crumble and finish baking.

Serve with a swig of heavy whipping cream and enjoy warm.

Secret Ingredient: Lemon - Part 2

After the velvety asparagus soup I made a very French dish called Blanquette de Veau, it's a veal stew with a lemon twist.
This is my Mom's recipe who has it from her own Mother.



Blanquette de Veau
For 6
Ingredients
2 to 2.5 pounds veal stew (it will depend on the crowd you entertain, whether they are big eaters or not...)
2 TBSP all purpose unbleached flour
3 sliced carrots
1 bunch of fresh Parsley
Salt, pepper
2 TBSP sour cream
Juice of 1/2 a lemon

Method
Soak the veal pieces in cold water for 30 mn.
When ready drain the water, dry the meat with paper towel and place it in a hot pan with a bit of oil, do not brown the meat.
When all the meat has taken a white color sprinkle 2 TBSP of flour over it, stir and add a bit of water.
Then pour over the sliced carrots, half of the parsley thinly cut, salt and pepper then add more water, enough to cover the meat and stir.
Close your pot (I use a cast iron pot) and let it simmer on low heat for 1 h to 1.5 hour, stirring occasionally.
When you are ready to serve add at the last minute 2 TBSP of sour cream and the juice of half a lemon and stir.
Serve hot with white rice or as I did with fingerling potatoes.