Today is National Strawberry Sundae Day.
Tag: French
Tuiles – French Almond Wafers
These thin wafer cookies, shaped like a tile, are light and take little effort to make.
It is the perfect dessert for a holiday party. Continue reading “Tuiles – French Almond Wafers”
Duck Confit
How do you like your duck confit?
Over the years I have had many versions of this classic French dish – Some cooked dry with intense flavors; Others plump paired with some sort of fruity sauce. When it comes to meat and poultry, I prefer a simplistic approach with non-competing flavors.
Orzo with Arugula Sauce
My love affair with arugula began three years ago when my friend Maggie, Jimmy and I made a stop at the French Rivera on our way to the Festival of Lights in Lyon. Maggie is a competitive runner. She runs everyday even on holidays and maintains a very healthy diet, which means a daily intake of some sort of green salad. Me, on the other hand, thought salads are for little bunnies. Continue reading “Orzo with Arugula Sauce”
Bostock
Two things I miss most from visiting b.patisserie in San Francisco: one is chef Brenda Leong’s delicious kouign amann – I have yet to find anything like it in Seattle. The other is Bostock.
Bostock is toasted brioche soaked in pastry syrup, topped with almond cream(frangipane) and sliced almonds. It is quite easy to make, as long as you have day-old brioche. I didn’t have day-old brioche at hand, so I made one from scratch and waited till the next day to make bostock. I know it sounded like wasting a good loaf of freshly baked brioche. But when one wants a bostock, one must have it!
Ingredients:
Orange Pastry Syrup
2 cups water
1 cup sugar
orange juice, Grand Marnier, Cointeau or Triple Sec (to taste)
Combine water and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring syrup to a boil. Once sugar dissolves, remove from heat and cool. Add orange juice or liquer to syrup. Syrup keeps up to one month in the refrigerator. Continue reading “Bostock”
Brioche
The smell of good bread baking, like the sound of lightly flowing water, is indescribable in its evocation of innocence and delight…
―MFK Fisher
It’s been a while since I baked brioche. I almost forgot how intoxicating it smelled when one is in the oven. This recipe, adopted from L’Academie de Cuisine, yields approximately two pounds of dough, which will make 4 small, 2 medium or 1 large load of bread.
Ingredients:
- 1 tablespoon yeast
- 1/4 cup warm water
- 4 cups (1lb) all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 5 eggs
- 1 cup (8oz) room temperature butter
How to Sear a Duck Breast
I first went to Paris in 2003, it changed my life for ever – my culinary life, to say the very least. Continue reading “How to Sear a Duck Breast”
Stateside
***Update***Seattle Met magazine named Stateside 2015 restaurant of the year.
I am lucky to be surrounded by a group of fun and food-loving friends. Once a month, we pick a new restaurant to meet up. Not everyone can make it every time, but with about 6 to 9 people, we can order pretty much every dish off the menu, perfect for trying a new place in town.
Stateside’s chef Eric Johnson has an impressive bio. Having traveled all over the world, and trained with Michelin starred chef such as Daniel Boulud and Jean-Georges Vongerichten, he landed in Seattle and opened this French-Vietnamese restaurant.
The menu is organized by various plate sizes: small, medium, large and sides.
For small plates, we ordered both Crispy duck fresh rolls and Crispy mushroom fresh rolls:
The rolls are wrapped with basil, cilantro, Vietnamese spearmint, lemon balm and shiso leaves. There was a thin layer of crispy sheet in the middle, making it fun to bite into. Continue reading “Stateside”
Caramelized Apple Tart – Tarte fine aux pommes
Do you know your apples? I lived in the East Coast for 10 years, back there and then, the only apples that pop up at the super market were: Granny smith, Red delicious, Golden delicious, and Macintosh. I didn’t like any of those varieties. It is not until I moved to Seattle my eyes finally opened. Washington state is one of the biggest producers and exporters of apples in the United States. When I found Washington apples (with their red stickers) at a grocery shop in Taipei couple of years ago, I was so very proud.
Now onto the tart. Recipe courtesy of Clotilde from Chocolate and Zucchini:
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons high-quality unsalted butter, melted
- 40 grams (3 tablespoons) blond unrefined cane sugar
- 1 quick and easy puff pastry (you can substitute a sheet of store-bought, all-butter puff pastry, about 250 grams or 9 ounces, thawed if frozen, but it will be a lot better with the homemade pastry)
- 3 small apples, about 450 grams (1 pound), peeled, cored, and thinly sliced into circles
- 1 pinch fine sea salt
Continue reading “Caramelized Apple Tart – Tarte fine aux pommes”
Recipe: Caramelized Apple Tart – Quick Puff Pastry
After an unusual dry summer, fall colors arrived earlier this year. Last Sunday my friend and I went to Mount Rainier National Park. This is the first time I saw my favorite park dusted with these colors so vibrant and in such magnitude. The wild flowers in the summer simply CANNOT compare. Continue reading “Recipe: Caramelized Apple Tart – Quick Puff Pastry”
Travel-Gourmand.com 