Healthy summer salad 2 : The return of the fruit.

And so the saga of summer salads continues with this cheeky red number. It seems I really like to put fruit in my salads, I just think it goes really well, but I guess you have to be (like me) a fan of sweet and salty combinations.
Last night I cooked an Aloyau (a cut of beef you find in Bordeaux) with some potatoes cooked in butter, garlic and onion. There was loads of meat left-over so I cut it in thin slices and seasoned it to eat cold with a salad.
For the salad I mixed together tomatoes, lettuce gems, mozzarella, watermelon, mint, olive oil, salt and pepper. It was a lovely and fresh salad for a warm summery day.

Yumsters ! 

Healthy and simple summer meal

So, slight change of plans, I am now back in Paris for a week because I didn't want to stay alone in my very exciting (NOT!) childhood village with no car, money or food :p ! But I will go back very soon, however in the meantime I'm back in the apartment. 

Anywho... since my sister had missed me so very much (again i might be exaggerating slightly) she decided to come for dinner (basically, the dinner was already planned and I tagged along, but I did make the food).

I made a very simple meal, with lots of fruit and vegetables, to welcome the sunshine onto our plates.

The starter was just sliced figs with spanish Iberico ham.

Then for the main I made a salad with :

- Crayfish

- Shrimp

- Lettuce hearts

- Nectarines

- Peaches

- Cherry tomatoes

- Avocado

- Coriander

And for the dressing I mixed together :

- 3 Tbsp of passion fruit vinegar 

- 4 Tbsp of olive oil

- 1/2 tsp of ground ginger

- Salt & pepper

And voilà, it was a lovely fresh salad that excites all of your tastebuds. I would definitely recommend it if your looking for a healthy meal filled with good nutrients but not boring in any way.

Yumsters!

Chard gratin and chicken for supper.

I love chard, I honestly do, my father grows it every year in our garden ! The thing is I like chard only one way : in a gratin ! So since we have to use up all this chard from the garden we end up eating many, many, many chard gratins !

Here's how I make it :

 First you start by preparing the chard, separate the leaves and the stalks, wash it all (dah...of course), then you want to remove the stringy bits of the stalk the same way that you do with celery !

You then cook the stalks for about 10 minutes and the leaves for about 2 .

Then you have to make a white sauce :
 Melt 50g of butter in a pan, than stir in 50g of flour.
You end up with a roux.

 Slowly stir in 50cL of milk.

Whisk until it becomes thick.

Add salt pepper and a bit of grated nutmeg.

 Cover a pan with oil and butter.

Then alternate chard stalk, leaves and white sauce.

 And this time I also added tomatoes on the second to last layer.
Finish with white sauce, and top it off with grated Emmental cheese.

Put it in the oven at 180°C until gold and crispy on the top.

I also cooked a chicken to go with the gratin.
I simply covered it in olive oil and butter , I also put butter between the meat and the skin on the top of the chicken (so the skin gets very crispy) and stuffed it with peaces of garlic bread (just peaces of baguette that you rub a bit of garlic on).
Then I put it in the oven at 190°C at first and then 180°C after 10 minutes. A normal chicken takes about 45 minutes to cook.

The tricky carving session (curtesy of my father).

And voilà, yumsters ! 

Tomato risotto per favor !

Risotto is definitely one of my favorite meals ! Not to brag but my mother makes the all time best risotto in the entire universe and no other risotto can compare ! However she was not here with me during the holidays so I attempted to make one myself and it was quite delicious !
You start by letting chopped onions sweat out in the pan with olive oil and then you had the risotto rice and let it cook till translucent!
You then turn the heat down a little bit and add wine then stir until it's been absorbed, then add some stock and stir until absorbed and then do the same with water. The key is to never stop stirring, it takes about 25 minutes.

I also added beef and lardons.

Start with one glass of white wine and then 1L of any broth you like.

I added a can of tinned tomatoes.

 And one or two cans of water (whatever it takes to get the rice perfectly cooked i.e. still slightly crunchy)

I topped it off with buffalo mozzarella and parmesan, a few basil leaves would be nice as well.

Pommes boulangères, O how I love thee !

I've discovered my new favorite way to eat potatoes : Pommes boulangères !

You rub an oven pan with garlic and butter, afterwards layer thin slices of potatoes, butter, tomatoes and bay leaves. Top it with potatoes and put it in the oven at 180°C for 30 minutes minimum, you want the top to be nice and crispy !

Oh, yummy yumsters !

A bowl full of minestrone.

What is the nicest thing to eat on a stormy night ?

Soup.

And what soup is the most flavorsome and comforting ?

Well it has to be minestrone !

What is minestrone ?

It is basically a lot of vegetables cooked together in water with small pasta and at the end you add tomatoes, basil, parmesan and olive oil.

Here's how I made it :

- chard (both stalks and leaves)

- leeks

- carrots

- celery

- mange tout

- green beans

- peppers

- potatoes

- alphabet pasta

- lardons

- basil

- tomatoes

- parmesan

- salt

- pepper

- olive oil

 Chop the celery.

 Chop chop chop.

And chop chop choperou.

 Fry in a casserole until lardons are cooked then add water and bring to the boil.

 Chop the peppers.

 And guess what you do to the potatoes ?!

Rince the beans (finally something that doesn't need any chopping).

 After 20 minutes add the potatoes and peppers for 30 minutes.

 Then add the beens for 10 minutes, and then the pasta for another 10.

 Prepare bowls with crushed tomatoes, CHOPPED basil and parmesan.

Serve the soup with a drizzle of olive oil, a pinch of salt and pepper.

















Basically if you're in the mood to do some chopping then this is the recipe for you !

Nice summer vegetable salad.

Last night I put my foot down. Because you see, my dad loves meat, and loves pasta, and loves fatty things, and, I do to, but there's a limit to how many steaks you can eat in a row you know? So last night I decided to make a fest of vegetables and it was delicious, but also it felt great !

 Aubergines (from the garden ;) ) thinly sliced and lade on aluminium foil with olive oil in the oven at 220 °C.

 Lettuce (from the garden ;) ) torn into a bowl.

 steamed beans (green beans and mange tout, not from the garden :( )

Chopped tomatoes (from the garden ;) )

 Basil, oh how I love thee !

Note : in salads like this one, I like to use herbs, for example basil, as if they were a lettuce leaf, i.e about the same quantity of basil and lettuce.

 Thinly chopped spring onions (not from the garden :( )

 A simple vinaigrette made with olive oil, wine vinegar, salt, pepper and piment d'espelette.

 Parmesan.

Mix it all together

 Tada !

Yummy, even Dad had to admit it was delicious.