savories

Orange & Pastis Braised Baby Fennel

18.11.2010 30 Comments

Instead of worrying if I’d have time or where I’d find time to come update with posts and recipe, I thought I’d start a mini series of posts instead. Shorter posts with recipes geared toward the upcoming holidays or inspired by the plethora of produce and items I find every weekend at the farmers market.

Depending on the time and subject at hand, some post might be shorter than others but this blog is a place of stress relief and comfort first and foremost. For you and for me. For my mom too so that she can see I don’t "forget to eat". Seriously. Forgetting to eat? She had to be thinking about someone else.

In the spirit of making it count and making something good, I want to share a side dish we have been eating twice already this week: Orange & Pastis Braised Baby Fennel. Sweet, a little tart and full of the wonderful aroma of anise and citrus. B. said it was like eating candied vegetables and I am so glad I put 2 bunches of baby fennel in my basket at the farmers marker last weekend. He frowned. Now he’s rubbing his belly in approval. Ahah!

I am keeping this as my secret weapon depending on our final menu for Thanksgiving. I must confess that I *can’t* wait for Thanksgiving this year as Tami from Running With Tweezers, her boyfriend Mike, Broderick from Savory Exposure and Chris from Mele Cotte are making the drive from Atlanta to Charleston to spend a few days and celebrate Thanksgiving at our house. Food! Slumber Party! Happy Hour! Farmers Market! Walks!

We have been talking about the food for a few weeks now and there are some wonderful dishes in the works! Be prepared for some sneak peeks and posts about our dinners. That’s what you get when bloggers, bakers, food stylists, food photographers, food enthusiasts gather together around the table!

I am thankful for their gift of friendship and love to us. These folks are like my second family and I am a lucky to have these few days with them in our gorgeous city.

** You still have until Sunday to enter the giveaway for Gluten Free Girl and The Chef Cookbook! Just head over there and put your name in the virtual hat! **

Orange and Pastis Braised Baby Fennel

Notes: It’s one of those dishes that require little in the form of active hands on preparation and that cooks on its own while you can tend to more pressing issues. You can definitely use regular sized fennel for this recipe and do without the pastis by using a couple of anise seeds and broth or water instead. The anise should be subtle enough to play up the natural aroma of the fennel while the orange gives it a nice floral and sweet note.

Serves 4

2 bunches baby fennel or 2 medium bulbs fennel (fronds discarded – keep them for salads!)
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 cup fresh orange juice (clementines right now are perfect for this in the South East)
zest of one orange
1/4 to 1/3 cup Pastis (or equivalent in water + 2 star anise)
1/3 cup water
salt and pepper to taste

Cut the baby fennels in half lengthwise. Heat the oil in a heavy saucepan (I like to use cast iron as much as possible) set over medium high heat and sautee the baby fennels until they start to get golden. Add the orange juice, orange zest, Pastis and water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover and cook until the baby fennel is fork tender, 40 minutes to an hour. Uncover and continue to cook, stirring occasionally until the liquids reduce to a syrup and coat the fennel completely. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper.
Serve hot.

A Bowl Of Crab Soup – Catching Dinner In The "Backyard"

08.11.2010 51 Comments

People I meet when on travels are often wondering whether I am exaggerating when I enthusiastically mention getting our dinner fresh from the dock or the sea. The answer as you can see from the pictures below is no. Not at all. All the possessions in the world will never equate the intense sense of gratitude we feel from being so close to the water and taking some time receiving from the ocean some of its bounty.

View from the dock – what we call "the extended backyard".
We are indeed lucky to be able to just go catch a dozen crabs on a sunny Sunday afternoon or cast our net during shrimp season to make fresh shrimp and pesto linguine for dinner. Yes. We know. Once that first shrimp hits our lips, we can smell and taste all the depths of the ocean in just one bite. Slightly sweet, a bit salty, strong earthy flavor. It’s like that first sip of perfectly cold beer on a sweltering day. Magic.

Bailey is one happy puppy!
I sort of apply the same feelings to the first soup enjoyed on the first chilly day of the year. I’ve been making the same ones every season. Crab soup and lentil soup with a poached egg on top. I can’t say we get really cold weather here, maybe for a few weeks, but the little nip of crisp and chill weather is enough to turn everyone to light fires and make soup. Just because it’s a bit chilly. Just to take the edge off.

Bailey and Bill checking on the crab catching progress.
Impatiently waiting for a drop in temperature last week, I got the pups and the husband to the dock to enjoy the cool ocean breeze for a little while. Once home, I opened up all the windows one night and let the breeze come wafting in while I started simmering this soup.

This guy is a little cold – not too speedy to realize what the heck is going on…
Anyone who has spent some time with the ocean will tell you that the world moves at a different pace. It tells you when your dinner is caught, not the other way around. It tells you to slow down for a while and just be. Observe. You might see some pretty nifty things this way.

A fiddler crab that looks straight out of "Pirates of The Caribbean" he spent so much time under water. A baby shrimp almost translucent as it’s still building strength and character. A few porpoises at sunset playing hide and seek on the horizon (pics next time).

Trust me….he’s not reaching for a hug.
Yes. I like traveling but I also like coming home. I am a mountain girl from the rocky side hills of Provence. I can also crack, pull apart and pick a crab faster than my mother in law now. Ha! I’m still discovering all that the ocean has to give and the abundant seafood culture of the South. But trust me I do my best every week while cooking to appreciate it even more. Starting with crab soup.

Simple, naturally sweet from the crab and with a tiny little kick to it, this soup is great as a starter for a celebration meal or on its own for a casual and cozy dinner. As with anything in life, it’s best shared with loved ones and friends even though you might be tempted to hoard it all for yourself. Fair warning.

A bowl of hot crab soup, a piece of bread and a crackling fire. It’s good to be home and take a breather before the next adventure.

P.S: Congratulations to Karin Alisa Houben and Kathy from Foodiebia – each winners of a copy of Food Heroes by Georgia Pelligrini. Send me your addresses at mytartelette {at} gmail {dot} com so that Georgia’s publisher can get those out to you pronto!

Crab Soup, adapted from Cooking Light 2003.

Notes: If you get the chance to get fresh crabs, just cook them in a pot of lightly salted boiling water for about 8 minutes per crab. To pick a crab, this video is really easy to follow.

1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup chopped carrot
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon herbes de Provence
1 bay leaf
4 cups water
1/4 cup cornstarch (or arrowroot) dissolved in 1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 pound lump crab meat
2 tablespoons Cognac

Melt the butter with the olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the carrot and the next 5 ingredients (through jalapeno), and sauté 5 minutes until the vegetables are tender. Add salt, black pepper, herbes de Provence, and bay leaf. Cook for 1 minute. Stir in the water, and cornstarch/water mixture and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes or until slightly thick, stirring frequently.
Stir in the milk and cream and cook 5 minutes. Stir in crabmeat and cognac cook 5 minutes or until the soup is thoroughly heated. Serve.

Chilled Lemon Cucumber & Fresh Pea Soup

13.10.2010 31 Comments

BlogHer Food has been such a whirlwind that I need to think on it for a couple of days before I can post some about it (and get my derriere to post process all the shots I took). It went by fast that’s for sure which is why I am so happy I extended my stay by a couple of days and stayed with my close friend Anita and her husband and got to hang out with some more of my favorite people which I will pimp out in future post, eheh.. They are truly my home away from home.

Like most of us attending BlogHer Food, I met Anita online when I started leaving comment on her blog everytime she posted a new cocktail. Not that I drink that much but I do love the mixology part of the cocktail, the technique and craft very closely related to food. We exchanged emails, we sent cards then little gifts. We just clicked. And they got two adorable pups…all about that! It was nice to spend a couple of days relaxing and exploring San Francisco aside from the conference. So hard to get any time off these day.

Chris and Tami, my roommates at the conference hotel, joked that we have to meet on the other side of the country to catch up when we only live a few hours from each other. And catch up we did. It was pretty much Comedy Central from the moment we’d get up until bedtime when we’d literally crash on our pillows. Love those two. Gracious definitely comes to mind when I think about them. They are gracious of their time, advice, energy, faults and strength. Tami sees the world with a brutal honesty I admire and seek while Chris is one of the most nurturing woman I know.

I’ll go back more on BlogHer Food in a later post but there were moment that made me want to get all these people on a plane and ship them back with me to Charleston. They would love it here, they would love my friends her and they would love them back. I know that. In those moments I start thinking of the gatherings we would have around our dinner table and the belly laughs that would soon follow. I begin picking the menu in my head according to what I think I’d find at the market. Right now, we would undeniably start dinner with this Lemon Cucumber and Pea Soup I made the other day.

It’s not Fall here quite yet so we are still enjoying tons of salads, cold soups, light entrees. After making gazpacho and Vichyssoise a lot this summer, I took opportunity of another trip to the market and loaded up on tiny lemon cucumbers for a cold soup. They owe their name to their shape rather than their taste but they are distinctively mellower than regular cucumbers. The ones I have been getting also seem to have more flesh to seed ratio but feel free to use what you have available.

This soup is nothing but easy to make, easy to eat and easy to crave some more. It makes a refreshing starter a great little chaser during a long multi course meal.

I almost forgot to announce the winner of the Scharffen-Berger giveaway…..! And the box full of chocolate goodies goes to: Emily from Five And Spice! Congratulations! Please get in touch with me (mytartelette @ gmail . com) so we can get this box shipped out to you!

Lemon Cucumber and Fresh Pea Soup:

Serves 4 as an appetizer

Notes: we like to top ours with some pomegranate seeds for a bit of a crunch and a little tartness to a mellow soup but you could skip this step entirely or use polenta croutons, toasted nuts, pumpkin seeds, root chips, etc…
If you can find pea shoots, they make a lovely topping but a few leaves of arugula would work also to add to the soup.

1 cup fresh peas, shelled(can use frozen of needed but not canned)
4 lemon cucumebers or one regular cucumber
water of vegetable stock
salt and pepper
pomegranate seeds and pea shoots optional but very tasty…

In a large pot of boiling water, blanch the fresh peas until fork tender, about 8 minutes. Drain and immediately dump the peas in a bowl of ice cold water to cool and stop the cooking process. Once they are cold, drain completely.
In the meantime, peel and seed the cucumbers. Seeding is not mandatory but I would definitely do it if I were to use regular cucumbers from the store.
Place the peas and cucumbers in a food processor and start pureeing them. Depending on the amount of water originally in the cucumbers, you might need to add water or vegetable stock to reach the consistency you desire, anywhere from a few tablespoons to 1/3 cup. Salt and pepper to taste.
Keep refrigerated until ready to eat.

Heirloom Tomato and Olive Tapenade Tartelettes

23.09.2010 54 Comments

Can’t get enough heirloom tomatoes these days. They were lovely in June. Yes. They are even better now and we are having them every day. If you stay for dinner you might get some lovely slices simply sprinkle with coarse sea salt, olive oil and a sprinkle of chopped basil. If you are around for lunch, I will just hand you a crusty piece of bread to scoop up thick pieces of tomatoes, garlic and basil, all dressed in a simple vinaigrette.

If you come around on Sundays though, you will get them in a tart. Or eight. Depending on how late we got up… For some reason, Sundays have become more domestic because of our schedule. We take the time to prep things for the week, he in his office among his papers to grade and the bills and I, in the kitchen getting foods ready for us or work that week.

No matter what, it almost always end up around the dinner table with a couple of friends. Or a lot. And a bottle of wine. Or many. Living wholeheartedly the moment as it presents itself. And right now, it’s easy with the gorgeous days we are having. It sure is Fall somewhere. Not here. And I am basking in all things Summer for a little while longer.

Sun ripened tomatoes, piment d’Espelette, black olive tapenade all fitting in the palm of my hand in tartelette forms. Easy to take to the dock for a little snacking.

I’ve been enjoying a whole lot of simple meals lately and I got to say that when the schedule gets as packed as it has, they fuel me and keep me going until late in the night. I am not only talking about time cutting efficiency but flavors so clean you can taste the vitamins in every bite.

So yes, it’s still a whole lot of summer here. Radishes as crisp and pink as if you had just picked them. They can give you some lip back though. These are feisty spicy little things, ehehe!

I like them as simple as that. A touch of butter, a sprinkle of coarse sea salt as I dig into a tartelette. Or two. When I have enough of that spicy kick, I roast them in the oven with some thyme and a drizzle of olive oil and they become soft and demure as can be. Interesting how the simple act of roasting them can change their nature.

The tarts take virtually no time to assemble if you have the dough prepared ahead of time but it’s always possible to use already made dough (probably won’t be gluten free though). Tapenade is something quite specific to the South of France but it relatively easy to find online or make from scratch.

Heirloom Tomato Tarts:

Makes 8

For the crust:
5 tablespoons (70gr) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon piment d’Espelette (or pinch red pepper flakes)
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
3 egg yolks
pinch salt
1/2 cup (80gr) brown rice flour
1/2 cup (60gr) millet flour
1/4 cup (30gr) sorghum flour
1/4 cup (40gr) potato flour
(or 1.5 cups of all purpose flour if not using gf flours)
1/2 teaspoon xantham gum

For the filling:
1/3 cup to 1/2 cup black olive tapenade
6-8 heirloom tomatoes, cut into thin slices
chopped basil (as much or as little as you want)
salt and pepper
olive oil
Feta cheese (about 1/3 cup) – optional

Prepare the crust:
In a mixer, whip together the butter, piment and mustard on medium speed until light and airy. Add the egg yolks, one at a time and beating well after each addition. Mix until incorporated. Add all the different flours, and the xantham gum and mix briefly. Dump the whole mixture onto a lightly floured (use more rice flour) board and gather the dough into a smooth ball. Flatten the dough into a disk, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.
When the dough is nice and cold, roll it out on a lightly floured board or in between two sheets of plastic to fit your preferred mini tartelette pans (or you can use one 10-inch pie pan). If the dough tears while you roll or/and transfer into the pans, just patch it with your fingertips. Refrigerate 30 minutes.
You can freeze the dough for up to 3 months and prepare it up to 4 days in advance

Assemble:
Preheat oven to 350F and position a rack in the center.
Spoon a little or a lot of olive tapenade in the bottom of each tart shell and top with overlapping slices of tomatoes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and some basil.
Bake for about 20-30 minutes or until the shells are cooked through.
Drizzle with olive oil right before serving. Sprinkle with feta cheese if desired.

Roasted Tomato & Vegetable Soup With Tasso Ham

17.08.2010 34 Comments

As I have said before, summers here are hot and muggy. Very. And usually hot, muggy and wet in the late afternoon when thunder rolls in and we get caught by quick rain showers. Except these past few days. Rain has been around pretty much from sunset ’til dawn.

And we love it. Our backyard loves it. Our pecan tree is digging it. Bailey is literally jumping in and out of the creek to catch rain drops. On the other hand, Tippy gives me this look of "Hey! Can you do something about this rain? Really cramping my style now" every time we go for a walk. I suspect though that he enjoys the towel drying time afterwards.

The sun will trick you into forgetting your umbrella. The heat will convince you that you don’t need to take your rain coat. We have gotten soaked more than once lately and we really just laugh it off. It actually feels good. Being neither hot or cold feels darn appropriate after our temperatures were steadily hovering between 100F-110F down here. Sunny with a side of rain? We’re in!

The only problem with this weather is what it does to our eating habits. Braising, stewing, roasting are very much kept to a minimum. We love to be reminded that seasons are here for a reason and to take full advantages of the changes and new rituals they bring about. Thus, we are grilling and enjoying cold or warm fares a lot. Our favorite lentil salad is now served cold. Cooked and cooled rice gets a boost from freshly chopped basil and some feta chunks.

When the weather turns to rain as it has these past few days, all we really want is to sit down in front of a warm bowl of soup. B’s favorite, tomato soup, quickly became mine too when I started making it from scratch with some basil and cream. As years went on I replaced the cream with eggplant which gave the same creamy results as well as a boost of nutrients and flavor.

This time, I picked up loads of local San Marzano tomatoes at the market, as well as some zebra eggplant, baby Vidalia and garlic, roasted them all together one evening and pureed them the next day into a soup. I served it at room temperature with some homegrown basil and a splash of tea seed oil (gift).

We have a wonderful pork purveyor at the market, Meathouse, operated by Jason and his wife Katie who always have freshly made Butifarra, Italian and andouille sausages, fresh cut applewood smoked bacon, and one of our favorites, freshly smoked and perfectly seasoned tasso ham. It is perfect with the creamy soup and you could substitute thick cut bacon if it’s easier. I think it took us every bit of restraint not to polish off the entire pot on our own.

Before I head out, congratulations to J M. Smith from Do It All for winning the Threadless tee-shirt and BlogAid Cookbook! Send me your mailing address at mytartelette [at] gmail [dot] com. Thank you!

Roasted Tomato and Vegetable Soup With Tasso Ham

Serves 4-6

2 pounds fresh tomatoes
2 small zebra eggplants or one medium regular eggplant
1 head of garlic, cut in half
4 small vidalia onions, cut in half
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
2-4 cups water
salt and pepper to taste
fresh basil
olive oil or tea seed oil, avocado, walnut or pumpkin (optional)
1/2 cup diced tasso ham or thick cut/slab bacon, cooked and drained

Preheat the oven to 450F.
Slice the tomatoes and eggplants and place them on a baking sheet. Drizzle with 1-2 tablespoons olive oil. Place the garlic and onions on a separate baking sheet and drizzle with 1-2 teaspoons olive oil (if you have room left in the first pan, skip that step and add the garlic and onion to the tomatoes and eggplant). Season with salt and pepper to taste. Place both baking sheets in the oven and roast the veggies until golden brown, about 30 minutes.
Remove from the oven and let cool.
Peel the garlic off its skins and place with the rest of the vegetables, saving a few tomato slices for garnish, in a food processor. Add about 1 to 2 cups of water and puree until smooth. Add enough water to reach your preferred consistency. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper if desired.
Ladle into bowls and garnish with reserved tomato slices, drizzle of your favorite oil and some basil. Add some tasso ham as desired and serve.

Parmesan Roasted Asparagus, Tomatoes and Eggs

20.06.2010 48 Comments

I have a friend. Her name is Lorna. She writes The Cookbook Chronicles. She is drop dead gorgeous. Kindness and intelligence dance with every word she says. She is generous and humble. Humor and good disposition seem to like her. I have no idea if she is high or low maintenance but if she is the latter, I want to know how she does it. She’s got taste and she’s got gumption. And she wrote a book. A quirky, funky, well written, beautifully photographed cookbook, The Newlywed Kitchen. No wonder Henri asked her out and then asked for her hand in marriage. Smart man.

Lorna and Henri are newlyweds. They both love food. This is not a loose statement. They met on a food forum. In Lorna’s words "Our relationship was founded on our mutual love of food and our desire to nourish one another’s stomachs as well as our spirits." It could sound superficial and barely enough to hold a couple together but as she chronicled the making and writing of the book, you could tell that they were like the vast majority of couples. They love to share with others, spend time learning and give back what they know. Lorna did it with "The Newlywed Kitchen".

I am not a newlywed and yet I, we, thoroughly enjoyed the book. It does not pretend to be the "essential guide to cooking as a couple", instead it focuses on clean, simple recipes that can be at the foundation of any new couple repertoire. Narratives of other well known couples are dispersed throughout the book and add a charming and quaint little thing to it. I caught myself chuckling along as I was reading with that familiar feeling of "been there done that" of kitchen mishaps and victories. Pictures of newlyweds throughout the book are a little too quaint at times but they’re here to illustrate a point: there is plenty in this book to bring people together in many different ways.

Some of the recipes are kicked up classics like the "Four Cheese Mac-and-Cheese", the "Chicken Pot Pie with Cheddar Thyme Crust". Some are best saved for your first dinner cooking for the in-laws, "Holiday Rib Roast Wtih Thyme Gravy", "Chicken Piccata with Mushrooms and Leeks". Others are made for lazy Sunday mornings in newlywed Bliss like the "Topsy Turvy Apple French Toast", the "Smoked Salmon Frittata". And who would not want to cozy up with their better half with some "Chocolate Mudslide Cookies", "Nutella Doughnuts" or some "Lemon Sour Cream Pound Cake"?

I just made myself hungry…

My better half does not cook. He barely boils water. We have shared custody of the grill. I don’t even know if he’s any good at it, he’s just not interested. And as he says "I married a chef, why would I even consider crossing the line? You don’t come in the garage and bleed the break of the MG now do you?". Touche. So you might wonder how this cookbook fared with us…

It did exactly what it was intended to do for a couple like us regarding food: I’d hold the book in one hand, pencil in the other and ask him whether "Grandma’s Italian Meatballs" sounded good for dinner or would he rather have the "Fall Apart Pot Roast"? Should I take the "Red Velvet Cake" or the "Strawberry Rhubarb Pie" to a dinner party with friends? My man may not cook or enjoy cooking but he loves to eat and knows his food, making it a pleasure and never a chore for me to cook everyday.

Finding a recipe to illustrate this review was a no brainer (I picked two actually and will write about the other one next week – with a little surprise you guys reading). The "Parmesan Roasted Asparagus, Tomatoes and Eggs" is exactly the kind of dish I like to fix us for lunch on Saturdays when we come back from the market or on Sundays when we set out to "not have a schedule". It’s simple, it’s fresh, it comes together fast and needs nothing but maybe a glass of wine and a piece of bread.

It’s the kind of meal we enjoy as a couple. It fits us and it felt even more special when we sat down to ingredients we had just picked up at the market from people who loved food as much as we do.

Let’s make lunch this week "French Word A Week" feature: "dejeuner". One of our favorite activity and time of the day. (click on the word to hear the pronunciation).

Check out Jen at Use Real Butter making Grandma’s Italian Meatballs from Lorna’s book. I also love this review of the book from Becky at Chef Reinvented (and don’t forget to click on the video link – adorable).

Parmesan Roasted Asparagus, Tomatoes and Eggs, courtesy and copyright Lorna Yee for "The Newlywed Kitchen"

Serves 2

1 pound asparagus
1 cup grape or cherry tomatoes
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1/4 cup grated Parmesan or pecorino (I used shredded)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly grounded black pepper
2 large eggs
3 spoonfuls pesto (optional)

Preheat the oven to 425F.
Wash the asparagus. Break the bottom stems off and discard. Toss the asparagus spears and tomatoes in 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, then place them on a parchment paper or Silpat lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with the Parmesan, salt and pepper. Roast the vegetables for 12=14 minutes, or until tender and cooked through..
Meanwhile, fry the two eggs in the remaining oil, seasoning them with salt and pepper to taste. Place an egg in each portion of the cooked vegetable and top with a dab of pesto if desired.

Disclosure: I received a free copy from The Newlywed Kitchen from Sasquatch Books.

Petits Farcis A La Provencale – Provencal Filled Zucchinis

18.05.2010 50 Comments

I know I did not post a new French Word feature last week so I thought I’d bring you a little bit of Provence where I grew up by sharing these "Petits Farcis a la Provencale" or Provencal Filled Vegetables. To say that I could eat these all 365 days of the year is no exaggeration. Even when I am sniffling and coughing away as I am today, I still want a piping hot mini zucchini filled with all the goodness that Spring and Summer can bring.

The vast majority of the people I know call these "petits farcis nicois" or little stuffed vegetables from Nice. We don’t. At least not in my family. We are not from the Alpes Maritimes where Nice is but from the Bouches Du Rhone where Provence is. We may all be different in this world but we are all proud of naming our roots, our region, our village. It’s by far lots more telling than race. It explains upbringings and traditions, identities and personalities. And food.

Just with a multitude of other recipes, there are as many variations for "petits farcis" as there cooks to make them. Every town or cook on the Mediterranean coast has a preferred recipe. Some like to use rice, sausage and tomatoes as a filling. Others exclusively use torn day old bread pieces. Some add cheese. Some don’t. Some use traditional seasonings like oregano, basil, or herbes de Provence (without lavender where I am from – thank you very much). Others become more adventurous and add a pinch of cinnamon and raisins.

A picadillo inspired stuffed zucchini does sound really good right about now for some reason…Yes, you realize now that I am not one to lose my appetite when sick or coughing. I always marvel at people saying "could not eat a thing I was so sick".

I absolutely love this time of year in Charleston. It is when I feel the strongest connections between my life in Provence and the one I am building here. I get to the market around 8am like we used to do back home and enjoy the quiet time before it gets crowded so I can get to know the vendors, exchange recipes, tips. No longer are they surprised that I buy headcheese at 8.30am or that I stuff eggs and milk in my bag next to a giant pork shank. They’re not surprised either when I bear a smile as wide as the Cheshire Cat when I find out they carry leaf lard for my pie crusts or garlic flowers to pickle them.

Many months, sometimes years can go by before I get the chance to go home for a visit and being able to connect the dots that make me who I am today here with Bill is by far the greatest gift I have received in this life. Oh geez, it does sounds like I just had a birthday and got smacked with a little wisdom on the head…oops!

When I found that the guys selling pink radishes and purple onions also had eight balls zucchini, I literally jumped up and down inside my head. Or did I do it in real life? I don’t know! They did look at me funny. Oh wait! That could be because I bought a dozen of these at once. at $1 for two, who wouldn’t?! Yes, the ones I made here are all filled with local produce (except for the rice, salt and pepper) I was inspired. I had a plan.

Every week, my friend Anita posts gorgeous still life pictures of her farmers shopping on her Flickr stream which makes my excitement about our farmers market all the more understandable. She inspires me daily to kick butt but her new weekly blog feature Dinner On A Deadline also inspired me to get 12 zucchini instead of 6 the other day and make a double batch of petits farcis, just in case I would have to get dinner done fast but well one busy day.

Like Anita, I thoroughly plan our meals and food budget and even though I already implement many of the steps she and her readers share, I look forward to the weekly post for newly creative ways to balance it all and I love the recipes she shares. I love how openly she made her system available to all to learn from, contribute to or simply read and move on. That’s what I love about the food blogging community. And yes, I do love having Anita and Cameron as friends in real life too.

Like my mother and grandmother before me I tend to use tomatoes, sweet onions and eight ball zucchinis in the Spring. These little round squash are abundant at the farmers market here in town right now and so darn cute easy to use. Scoop, fill, bake. Eat. Mange! Use leftover rice, couscous, quinoa, use veal sausage, pork or mixed sausages. Skip the mushrooms, add some bell peppers. The possibilities are endless. Hope you give these a try!

Petits Farcis a la Provencale – Provencal Filled Zucchinis:

6 eight ball zucchinis (or tomatoes, peppers, etc..)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 shallot, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 pound sausage
1 cup shitake mushrooms (or your prefered kind), chopped
2 tomatoes
1 cup cooked brown rice
2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh oregano, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350F and position a rack in the center.
Cut the top off the zucchini and scoop the inside out. I don’t use it in the recipe but you could absolutely use it along with the other ingredients or to replace the rice. I save the insides for soup. Place the zucchinis in a baking pan and set aside.
In a large skillet, heat the oil and sautee the shallot and garlic for a minute. Add the sausage and cook until brown. Add the mushrooms and tomoates, and as soon as they start to release their moisture, add the rice. Cook for another couple of minutes and add the herbs, salt and pepper. Remove from the heat and let cool a few minutes.
Stuff the zucchini with the mixture, place the caps on and bake covered with tin foil for 15 minutes and uncovered for another 15 minutes.

Roasted Root Vegetable Soup

23.03.2010 44 Comments

Growing up, root vegetables were not something my mom would cook often. Except for potatoes and carrots it was pretty much never actually. Too many turnips and rutabagas during the shortages of World War II made my mother a little reluctant to use them, even decades later. I don’t think my dad would have minded at all. He never minds anything he can eat. That’s what I like about him. He’s always game to try new things. Mom too don’t get me wrong. Even pink soup.

Yes, looks like I did channel my inner Bridget Jones when I put a bunch of roasted vegetable in the blender and walked away for a minute to turn some dough. You see, after an ok venture into blitz gluten free puff pastry with Shauna in Seattle a few weeks ago, mom and I have been working on cracking our own puff pastry code. Her health condition benefits from a little less gluten too and it’s been really fun to come up with gluten free versions of her favorites. Seeing what Jeanne did, I know we’ll get there.

Here I was, giving our doughs one last turn when I heard my mom go "hmmm…sweetie. The soup is pink. Did you make it pink on purpose?" Ugh no…shoot! Wait! What did I do? Who is going to want to eat pink soup? "Oh no! Les betteraves rouges! (the red beets!) I forgot to remove the red beets!" I had roasted a mix of root vegetables for soup, pushed some red beets to the corner of the pan for a salad and instead just dumped the whole thing in the blender. Hence, the pink soup and B. calling me Bridget when he saw it.

There is always one kitchen blooper when my parent come visit. Too many things, too many languages going on at once. Too many jokes and giggles. And there you have it, one of us has a brain freeze. Or two.

But they love me, discombobulated or not, and ate the pink soup. Yes, Bill ate beets. People in Charleston surely did not feel the earth shatter from it but we did. Actually we held our breath as he looked hard at the soup in front of him. "Interesting. I don’t think I have ever had pink soup before." I told him it was a bunch of roasted root vegetables, including roasted red beets. "not pickled? not boiled? not raw?" he asked. As I shook my head negatively three times in a row, he exclaimed "Well then. It’s lovely. Just as it is. Bridget."

The soup is a mix of parsley roots, celery root, sunchokes, golden and red beets, potatoes. To add some depth, I added roasted garlic and oregano from our garden. I saved one sunchokes that I sliced thin and pan fried in a bit of olive oil until golden brown to garnish the soups with and served them with gluten free English muffins. The nex day we had leftover with freshly picked crab and gluten free puff pastry croutons (!). It was a hit with everyone which made me wish I had made a bigger batch right from the start.

P.S: My brother says "thank you" for all the birthday wishes. You really made his day!

Roasted Root Vegetable Soup:

Serves 4 to 6

6 parsley root, peeled and diced
1 medium celery root, peeled and diced
2 potatoes, peeled and dice
3 golden beets, peeled and diced
3 red beets, peeled and diced
3 garlic cloves, smashed, skin removed
1 spring oregano
6 sunchokes, peeled and diced
1/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper

Place all the vegetables in a large bowl and drizzle with the olive oil, salt and pepper to taste and mix well. Place them all in a large roasting pan and roast at 375F – 400F until tender and golden brown. Remove from the oven, remove the oregano (discard) and let cool completely.
Once cooled, place all the vegetables in a blender and add as much as little water as you like to reach the soup consistency that you prefer (we like ours on the thick side) and puree until smooth.
To serve, reheat as needed and serve with bread, croutons, oregano leaves, etc…