Trio Carpaccio

It’s HOT HOT HOT in the city!
A time where we cherish whatever can cool us down annd not be heavy on the stomach…
… CARPACCIO!
What’s also great about it is that you can have you’re own take on it, as long as it is raw, fresh and well seasoned.

TRIO CARPACCIO
(or Beef, Mushroom and Zucchini Carpaccio)

Preparation for the Raw beef
Cut in very thin slices byt your butcher shop or local supermarket
Season with olive oil mixed with a bit of fresh pesto and finish up with lemon

Preparation for the Portobello Mushrooms
Cut extremely thinly
(funnily called Champignons de Paris… so where are they from Paris or Portobello? French and British will definitely never give each other credit for ANYTHING)
SImply season them with a bit of lemon and olive oil, and sprinkle with coarse salt.


Preparation for the Zucchini
Cut very thin slices, best is to use potato peeler, to create zucchini tagliatelles.
then mix with a lemon juice, olive oil and parmegiano in powder. Add a bit of salt and thinly cut coriander.

Plate everything and sprinkle generously with parmegiano shavings and previously roasted pine nuts.

Film, Fashion, FOOD!

A few weeks ago back in London, Constance and I were under house arrest for 3 days as we were working on a short fashion film for uni. With one of us hunched over the laptop, hurling insults at the screen, the other was in the kitchen furiously cooking away. We swapped roles every 30 minutes or so, needless to say those were 3 very stressful days…. but at least we were well fed!

First came Mega Fluffy, Super Yummy Pancakes
makes around 20 medium pancakes

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 tbsp baking powder
420 ml milk
1/2 cup castor sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
3 egg whites

Mix flour, baking powder, milk, sugar and vanilla extract in a large bowl and refrigerate. In a seperate bowl, combine egg whites and salt using an electric mixer till soft peaks form. Gently fold the egg whites into the flour mixture.
Ladle pancake mixture onto a lightly buttered griddle/pan. Serve with fresh fruit and honey or maple syrup.

Next came Chop Chop Salad, quite possibly one of the easiest and healthiest salads to make! Chop chop salad is, as the name suggests, a chopped vegetable salad that when made, is the most visually beautiful mixture of natural colours you will ever see! You can choose to use as many, or as little vegetables as you want, but our version consisted of…

2 large cucumbers
1 romaine lettuce heart
3 capsicums (2 red, 1 yellow)
cherry tomatoes
1 can beetroot
2 large carrots, peeled
1 large red onion

Chop all vegetables into bite sized pieces and serve in a large bowl. For the dressing, we combined extra virgin olive oil, white wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, shallots, salt & pepper, lemon juice and seeded mustard – adjusting quantities to our personal tastes.

Top the salad with the dressing, crumble over some feta and VOILA! There you have, easy-peasy Chop Chop salad!

Chop Chop goes to London!!

Followed by Vegetable Tart with Bacon & Rocket
I had a sheet of puff pastry left so I thought what better way to use it up than to make a vegetable tart. Another super easy dish to prepare, and one that is totally adjustable to ones taste.

1 sheet ready-made puff pastry (this should be taken out of the freezer prior to cooking, around 30 minutes, to allow for pastry to thaw)
1 small courgette, thinly sliced
1 Roma tomato, cut lengthways and then halved (making 1/2 moon shapes)
1 portobello mushroom, peeled and thinly sliced
handful of rocket leaves
1/2 cup bacon cubes
Parmigiano Reggiano, shaved
1 whisked egg (for glazing the pastry)

Preheat oven to 220dC. In a oiled pan, over medium-high heat, cook the courgettes & mushrooms until soft. Remove from heat.
Neatly arrange all the vegetables on the puff pastry leaving a small border around the edge (this is where the pastry will puff, creating a nice frame). Once arranged, brush the 4 sides of the pastry with the whisked egg. This will give the tart a lovely golden colour. Season with pepper and place the tart into the oven for around 10-15 minutes.
Whilst the tart is in the oven, cook the bacon cubes in a pan over high heat and drain away the fat.

To serve, simply top the tart with a handful of rocket leaves, sprinkle over the bacon and shaved Parmigiano Reggiano, and finish off with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. Simple, fast and tasty!!

mkt.

The Chubby Goat Cheese and Ratatouille Courgette

There is something so exciting about round courgettes… STUFFING THEM!
It s mostly instinctive, and the recipe changes everytime.

This one was stuffed with a delicious confiture de légumes: by confiture understand that the vegetables should melt all together with their differents colors and flavours… just a little bit less chunky than the traditional ratatouille.
For that just do the same thing as a ratatouille nut cook them a bit longer with a bit more liquid ( I usually put a bit of water with vegetable stock (not to much for it not to overpower the amazing taste of cooked vegetable) and olive oil).
Cut into pieces and put any vegetables you feel might do the trick, in this one we had
Tomatoes, Peppers, Aubergines, Plump Courgettes (we kept the skin to stuffed them), Onions

Olive Oil, Water, Vegetable Stock, Herbes de Provences, Chile, Grilled Pine nuts

I like to cook them nice and slow, but when I have the texture I want, I cook them for a few minutes at high heat for them to get a little caramelised.

When you have emptied the courgette (or pepper, or tomato or aubergine… any will work) bast the inside and the outside with olive oil and vegetable stock and put it into the oven ( 200°) for the courgette to get softer in the inside and melt with the stuffing, but still crunchy enough on the outside to be able to stand up!

While the vegetable are slowly cooking put some goat cheese with a bit of creme fraiche into the blender season it with a bit of mint leaf cut finely, pepper and salt. Blend until creamy texture.

Then gently mix together the vegetable confiture and the goat cheese cream, but no too much, you don’t want the whole thing to turn into another confiture!

Stuff the courgette all the way to the top (you can top it with a bit of grated parmegiano). The courgette should be a bit more moist in the inside but still crunchy on the outside. Then put it back into the oven for several minutes for the whole courgette to make one!

The Poached Egg Grilled Vegetables Salad

Since I discovered how to poached an egg I have been obsessed with doing them: in salads, pizzas, pastas… I put them everywhere.
The upside is… I don’t digest eggs, but who cares poached eggs are so beautiful to look at.
What a satisfaction to poke it see all the yolk slowly licking… very sexual indeed!

Here is one of the many version of the poached egg: poached egg laying on grilled vegetables (red and yellow pepper, tomatoes, aubergine, courgette, onions and carrots gently grilled with olive oil),, on a bed of fresh spinach. The whole thing topped with lemon-chile powder from Mexico.
Season it with a drop of balsamic vinegar and olive oil and enjoy!