Shrimp, Sugar Snap Pea and Baby Bok Choy Soup

Have I been in a bit of a soup-obsessed mood lately?... maybe. Or maybe it's just that when it's getting bitterly cold, the only way to fight back is to get in the kitchen and make a great big batch of soup! I was in the mood for something light, easy and heart-warming. I think this pretty much did the trick: a couple ladlefuls of chicken broth, a myriad of greens and some shrimp all simmering in the cradle of a wok. 10 minutes later... voila. Lunch is served my friends!

Of course, in a more perfect world, I might have taken the time to enrich my stock with added chicken bones and aromatics. I might have added some chicken or sliced pork too. But as time was of the essence, I came up with this easy enough concoction and the result was quick and perfect.

Recipe (for 4)
4 baby bok choy
12 sugar snap peas
12 shrimp, peeled
1/2 teaspoon of grated ginger
1 tablespoon of peanut (or canola) oil
A pinch of dried chillies
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
2 teaspoons of light soy sauce
2 spring onions, sliced
4 cups of chicken stock
Toasted sesame seeds
300 grams of dried udon noodles


Cook the noodles according to package instructions. Run them under cold water once cooked, and reserve.

In the meantime, add the bok choy (cut in half lengthwise) and the sugar snap peas to a pot of boiling water. Boil for 2 minutes. Shock the vegetables by placing them in ice cold water. This stops the cooking process and helps the vegetables maintain a nice green color. Once the vegetables are cold, drain and remove excess water with paper towels.

Heat your wok to medium low heat. Add the peanut oil, ginger, garlic and dried chili. Stirfry for 2 minutes. Add the peeled shrimp. Once the shrimp starts to turn pink, add the vegetables stirring constantly. Once the shrimp is entirely pink in color add the noodles. Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Once the broth has come to a boil, add the soy sauce, sesame oil and spring onions and cook for another minute. Serve topped with toasted sesame seeds. Enjoy!

Butternut Squash and Apple Soup with Crispy Sage and Parmesan Grilled Bread

Butternut squash is one of my favorite ingredients to cook with in the Fall. There's just something comforting about roasting its orange flesh until it becomes soft and sweet - and the wonderful color gets me every time. Apple and squash must have been high school sweethearts of sorts as their flavors meld wonderfully but also manage to stand up to one another. The great thing about these kinds of soups is that they fill your kitchen (and whole living space when your apartment is not very spacious!) with a wonderful earthy smell - and while they take a little while to simmer, the end result is grand amounts of luscious soup that can be frozen to enjoy at a later time if desired.

So, grab your favorite fleece blanket, some crusty bread and a bowl of steaming soup and just enjoy being inside and warm on a cold day.

Recipe (for 6)
1 medium-sized butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into bite-size cubes
3 apples, peeled and cored into bite-size cubes
1/2 white onion
1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons of light brown sugar
2 celery stalks
2 carrots
6 sage leaves, and one extra per soup bowl
3 cloves of garlic, diced
3 shallots, diced
1 1/2 qt of chicken stock
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Olive oil

Parmesan Bread
One loaf of sourdough bread
Olive oil
2 tablespoons of grated Parmesan

Preheat oven to 425 F. Place the butternut squash and apple cubes on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with the brown sugar, the apple cider vinegar and season generously with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Use your hands to mix the seasoning in. Cook for 30-35 minutes, or until the cubes are soft. Check on the apples after 20 minutes as they should be be ready before the butternut squash.

In the meantime, dice the onion, celery and carrots into similar size bite-size chunks. In a pot, heat a good drizzle of olive oil. Add the vegetables and stir. Cook on medium low heat for 15 minutes, until the vegetables are soft. Add the chopped garlic and shallots and cook for another 2 minutes. Add the cooked apples and butternut squash. Add the 6 sage leaves (minced) and the chicken stock. Bring to a boil, reduce to a low simmer and cover. Cook for 30 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.

Blend (preferably with an immersion blender) until the soup is smooth. If the soup seems a little too chunky, add some water, one tablespoon at a time into you reach your desired texture. Keep warm on low heat.

Heat a good drizzle of olive oil (about 2 tablespoons) in a pan on high heat. Add the extra sage leaves. Turn them after 1 minute and fry on the other side for another minute. In the meantime, cut some sourdough bread into slices. Drizzle with olive oil and grated Parmesan. Grill for about 2 minutes on each side.

Serve the warm soup with a drizzle of olive oil, some cracked black pepper, a fried sage leaf and a couple pieces of bread. Enjoy!

Portobello Mushroom, Spring Onion and Pine Nut Pasta

To tell you the truth I wasn't planning on posting this recipe. I was making a quick lunch yesterday, was in a hurry to head out the door and then realized that this was exactly what I needed to write about... the fact that sometimes we have very little time to make ourselves a quick meal, but that with a few simple guidelines it can be a wonderful, heart-warming dish that keeps you going for hours.

I very often turn to pasta dishes when I'm in no shape to cook a lengthy meal. As I have mentioned before, I am not a big fan of pasta with a lot of sauce, especially for everyday lunches. Here are the few guidelines I have been living by: firstly, don't underestimate the power of mixing your pasta in the pan where you cooked the vegetables, meat or whatever else you are using as a garnish. Mixing the pasta in that pan melds in a few seconds all of the flavors together and makes the pasta actually taste flavorful.. because, let's face it, pasta on its own has very little flavor. And, secondly, any pasta can use a little bit of crunch! Whether it's pine nuts like here, toasted breadcrumbs, crispy pancetta or al dente peas - a little crunch adds wonderful texture to any pasta.

All to say, that I ended up spending some time taking a picture of my lunch, ate it cold, and was late!

Recipe (for one!)
100 grams of spaghetti
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 large portobello mushroom, sliced
2 spring onions, diced
2 tablespoons of freshly grated Parmesan, and more for the table
1 small handful of pine nuts, toasted
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Cook the pasta. In the meantime, drizzle some olive oil in a pan on medium high heat. Once the pan is hot, add the mushrooms in a single layer. Don't move them for 2 minutes. Turn the mushrooms and cook for another minute. Turn the heat to medium low, add the spring onions, garlic and stir with a wooden spoon. Once the pasta is al dente add a teaspoon of pasta water to the pan. Add the drained pasta and stir vigorously. Add the Parmesan and the pine nuts and stir. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Serve with a drizzle of olive oil and extra Parmesan cheese. Serve with crusty bread. Enjoy!

Spiced Pumpkin Pie

I know, pumpkin pie is a North American classic, and has been for years. You all have probably been making them, or sampling them, forever. Most of you undoubtedly celebrate Thanksgiving with a slice of pumpkin pie(or two...or three) and I must admit that I've felt somewhat out of loop knowing I had never had a piece. As you probably know, pumpkin isn't a commonly used ingredient in France.. and Thanksgiving not exactly a celebrated holiday - hence my lack of pumpkin-pie eating growing up. All to say, that I was in dire need of making my very first pumpkin based dessert! I followed Anna Olson's recipe from foodtv.ca October 'cooking club challenge', and found myself happily surprised when I was sent a copy of Food 2.0:Secrets From The Chef Who Fed Google as a winning prize.

And what could be better to complement a lovely orange-tinted pie than the scenic view of falling fall leaves?




Recipe
For the dough, follow my fail-safe pate brisee recipe.

Filling:
Pumpkin Pie
2 cups canned pumpkin
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 tbsp fancy molasses
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp fine salt
3 large eggs
1 1/3 cups whipping cream


Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to just under 1/4 inch thick. Dust the bottom of a 9-inch pie shell with flour and line with the dough. Trim edges, keeping scraps to roll and cut for garnish, if desired. Blind bake (using beans to make sure the dough does not rise) for 7-8 minutes.

In the meantime, make the filling :whisk the pumpkin with the brown sugar, molasses spices and salt. Whisk in the eggs and the whipping cream. Pour into the pre-baked pie shell.
Bake for 10 minutes, then lower temperature to 350 degrees F. and bake for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the filling puffs just a little around the edges but still has a bit of jiggle in the center when moved. Allow to cool to room temperature, then chill completely.

To serve the pumpkin pie warm, it is recommended to bake and chill completely, then re-warm in a 300 degrees F. oven for 15 minutes before slicing. Enjoy!

Double Chocolate Banana Espresso Muffins

I just fell in love with a new cookbook. I'm quite frivolous when it comes to cookbooks, and have yet to be able to name a month where I haven't taken a new one home. True, I am not loyal to each and every one of them at all times, but I find myself remembering an old flame a couple months down the road and browsing its pages with immense pleasure. While I have not tried nearly as many recipes as I would want from each and every book, just flipping through the pages is a constant source of inspiration. This new cookbook is a real keeper. It's the Baked Cookbook, from a bakery in Brooklyn and I fell in love with it as soon as I saw the cover. Yes... I do judge on appearances!

These muffins were the first recipe I tried from the book. They worked out wonderfully because I had been saving a couple bananas for weeks. The thing with bananas is that they really get sweeter as they ripen. When the skin gets really dark brown and the banana really soft, you know it will give you the most delicious base for banana bread or in this case.. banana chocolate muffins! I also chopped the chocolates into coarse pieces instead of using chocolate chips which added a nice rustic look to the final product.

Recipe, for 12 muffins, adapted from the Baked Cookbook

1 1/2 cups of mashed ripe bananas (about 4 medium-sized bananas)
1/2 cup of granulated sugar
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) of unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup of whole milk
1 large egg
1 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon of strong espresso
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon of salt
3 ounces of milk chocolate, cut in small pieces
3 ounces of bittersweet chocolate, cut in small pieces

Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, stir in the banana, sugars, butter, espresso, milk and egg.
In another medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Make a well in the middle of the bowl and gently add in the banana mixture. Stir into just combined. Gently fold in the chocolates.

Fill each muffin tin about three quarters full and bake for about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean. Once cooked, move muffins to a cooking rack. The muffins can be stored in an air tight container for up to two days. Enjoy!

Milk Chocolate Pot de Creme

First, a little word of advice: this is not for light eaters, so consider yourself warned!

I had made these pot de creme a while back with bittersweet chocolate, but had always wanted to jazz them up a little. Yesterday seemed like the perfect day: it was cold outside and an ideal day to watch chocolate slowly melt. I had bought really good quality milk chocolate, you know the kind that you get in big uneven chunks from specialty stores? The kind that come by weight without any fancy packaging but that tastes like an intense version of chocolate.. and smells like it too? Still in my fleur de sel mood, I added a tad of saltiness to the mix and it added a nice hint of caramel-y flavor.

This really is a rich dessert though - and it can't be eaten in very large quantities. Although, the one I made for Oliver yesterday was eaten at a steady rate throughout the evening...and the once full little ramekin was found empty by midnight.

Recipe: (for 4)
4 oz good quality milk chocolate, chopped in small pieces
2 egg yolks, beaten lightly with 2 teaspoons of light brown sugar
3/4 cup of whipping cream
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 teaspoons of Grand Marnier
1/4 teaspoon of Fleur de Sel
Whipped cream
Chocolate Shavings

In a double boiler, melt the chocolate. Once it has fully melted, add the cream and whisk so that the mixture become a uniform color of brown. Add a small ladle of the chocolate mixture to the beaten eggs and stir to temper the eggs. This ensures that the egg slowly heats up before being added to the heat so it doesn't curdle. Slowly add the egg mixture to the chocolate and cream mixture and stir with a whisk. Add the vanilla, salt and Grand Marnier. Cook on the double boiler for 3-4 minutes, whisking gently. Once the mixture has thickened, remove from the heat and stain to remove any egg lumps. Transfer to small ramekins or espresso cups and leave to chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours, or until set. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream and some chocolate shavings. Enjoy!

Daring Bakers Make Pizza

Pizza was this month's Daring Bakers' challenge and it couldn't make me happier. Oliver and I have tested quite a few pizza dough recipes and we were glad to try out this one and compare it with the others. We found the dough quite easy to work with (although also quite delicate) and the end result great. We pre-cooked the dough until it started to slightly bubble, and then added our toppings. A simple homemade tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella and basil was our pick - simple, bold flavors.. delicious.

You can find the recipe on Rosa's blog who kindly put together this challenge.