Vegetable Flan for a crowd

For those of us constantly looking for ideas to feed more than four people successfully, here is a great recipe that I made last week. Served with a salad and a fresh baguette it is a crowd pleaser. 

You say tomatoe, I say tomato...tart

It's been awhile I know. I'd like to tell you that it was because I was so busy cooking but alas no. It's more like work, the thing I do to help pay for the food we eat, that has kept me out of the kitchen.  
It's time to redress the balance!
Just look at this gorgeous red tomato tart, would you? 

Doesn't it make you want to eat one right now, or maybe tomorrow for dinner? It won't take you long and there are some lovely tomatoes in the markets (in the northern hemisphere) at the moment. 
This will be a regular on our summer menu this year. You can taste the sunshine in the tomatoes.
I adapted the recipe from Joanne Harris, the talented writer who wrote Chocolate, The Lollipop Shoes and Blackberry Wine to name just a few. She also co-wrote several cookbooks which give a delightful insight into French cuisine.
Sorry to disappoint some of you but I really did buy ready-rolled pastry for this one.  Feel free to make your own at home but I was too busy to make my own...honest!

Inbetween seasons with a green bean salad

The great debate is on. Is it time to change one's wardrobe from winter to summer? Is it too early?  Will I leave the house one crisp morning next week and wish my jumper was not vacuumed-packed in the basement? Typical parisian apartments are rather small and one is required to rotate winter and summer wardrobes as there is not usually enough room for a bigger closet. 

In the kitchen my recipes and menus are mimicking the change to warmer days. It's time to put away thoughts of tartiflettes, casseroles and heart warming soups and look towards summer produce and flavours. I'm eagerly awaiting the nectarines, peaches and fresh French cherries, iced tea on the terrace, a cold beer after a day in the sun.

Spring and Sweet Red Pepper Sauce

Spring is finally coming! It's nearly here - officially it arrives on Sunday.  After a long winter it's a relief to feel a small warmth in the wind.  It doesn't bite through your jacket like it did all through December and January, and February come to think of it. The birds are singing songs in the trees as I walk home from the metro each evening. 
Spring means summer. 
Youpee!
Red Pepper Sauce.
No better way to get ready for summer. It's a brilliantly useful sauce for cooked chicken or lamb.  It's great added to vinaigrette for a salad a bit different.

Lemon Broccoli Soup

Here is the second recipe to inspire your weekly meals. It's delicious. Trust me. The fish pie turned out ok didn't it?
And without any further ado (drum roll please) here is your ticket to broccoli heaven (and because Lydia asked for it!)

A perfect union - Pumpkin and Bacon Pie

At this time of year the markets in Paris are full of pumpkins, pears and apples. I love how this city follows the seasons. It adds a certain rhythm to life that you can depend on. The appearance of pears signals cold weather, and what better way to announce summer than the arrival of cherries and strawberries. Having lived nearly 5 years in the U.K. I found that English supermarkets have lost some sense of this and you can buy fruit and vegetable out of season, all year round.

If you want to keep in touch with the seasons this month this is a perfect marriage of vegetables, flavours and seasons. Pumpkin, bacon and a touch of nutmeg always compliment each other and the simple fact that it is a pie makes any cold day instantly warmer and comforting.

Forget all other soups

Here it is - perhaps the 'piece de resistance' from my kitchen this season. I was flicking through some food magazines, entertaining myself while it poured with rain outside our Paris apartment. I wish I could tell you the fire was roaring and the cat was purring but that would be dreaming in a 35m sq apartment in central Paris.  However the heating was on and I was curled up under a rug on our sofa - one must make do with what one has. This soup caught my eye mainly because I was looking for ways to use the coconut milk in the fridge.  

Pretty soon the onions were chopped and cooking and the sweet potato was being cut up ready for dinner. 

Pumpkin Lasagne for you

It's a good thing to eat seasonally but inevitably there will be a glut of one kind of vegetable or fruit and at the end of two weeks you are ready to vow that you will never eat it again.  It is pretty hard to escape the pumpkin at this time of year. That and cabbage.  Last week I headed East and made a Pumpkin lakhsa. Next week I'm planning to make Pumpkin and Ginger cupcakes but this week we ate pumpkin Italian style. I'm sure the Italians would be horrified at this deviation from the original version, but to the Italians credit the lasagne is a very versatile dish. You can make as many variations of it as there are cheeses in France. (That's a lot in case you were wondering!) 
I was talking with my girlfriends last night and not surprisingly the conversation turned to food. One of them confessed that lasagne was her comfort food and begged for the recipe.  So here it is, just for you Helene.

Soup it up

It's autumn and autumn means soup. Whenever the weather turns colder I discover a childlike adoration for hot soup. There is something about coming in from the cold and being warmed up from the inside out with a bowl of soup. Soup is usually filled with vegetables and vitamins which adds to it's appeal. I feel like I am 'souping-up' my defenses against winter illness.

Here is a tasty number that I whipped up the other day. It has a delicate flavour of vegetables, so think china teacups and silver soup spoons.

Autumnal Green Soup

1 onion

1 potato

1 carrot

20g butter

850mls vegetable stock

1 head of lettuce

100ml cream

salt and pepper

Diced the onion, potato and carrot into small cubes. Heat the butter in a large pot and sweat the vegetables for 10 minutes without colouring.

Add the vegetable stock and cover. Simmer for 25 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.

Finely slice the top 2/3's of the head of lettuce, leaving the harder whiter part of the leaves behind, and add to the soup. Cook until the lettuce has just wilted, about 2 minutes. If you cook the lettuce any longer you will lose it's bright green colour and your soup will become dull looking.

Cool the soup a little and purée. You can either do this in a blender or with a hand held mouli.

Adjust seasonings and add the cream.

from the store cupboard

I had a tin of carrots living in my cupboard. I'm not sure why I bought them because I'm not usually into buying tinned vegetables. The other night I decided to add them to our dinner menu of pasta (late night dinner after a long day at work). I took down the tin of carrots waiting for some inspiration on how to eat them.....

What transpired was a rather delicious asian flavoured dish of healthy vitamins. Here I kept it rather simple but I do think a dash of freshly grated ginger could work very well.

Asian Carrot Salad

1 x 400g tin of baby carrots

1 tablespoon sesame seeds

Dressing

1 tablespoon olive oil

several splashes sesame oil

1 tablespoon soy sauce

dash of oyster sauce

pinch of salt

pinch of sugar

fresh ginger

Mix the dressing ingredients together and test for seasoning. Adjust if necessary. Pour the dressing over the carrots and then sprinkle the final dish with a tablespoon of sesame seeds.

Eat with or without chopsticks - you choose.