white asparagus as large as logs and lighting your fire: roasted white asparagus with browned butter

June 19th, 2012

white asparagus as large as logs

white asparagus as large as logs and lighting your fire:
roasted white asparagus with browned butter
(asperges blanches rôti au beurre noisette)

Greetings from Paris where it is raining off and on but quiet as the tourists have not yet arrived and the children are still in school. The calm before the storm. It is business as usual and joyfully I am left to pick up where I left off and nothing here – the daily urban Paris life that I so love  – has changed except for the market displays. Every market, from the neighborhood and open air markets to the Casinos (grocery stores), is prominently displaying end of the season white asparagus. They cannot be ignored. It is a combination of these hand-picked treasures and a cover of a Door’s song which inspired this week’s (very) simple pleasure: roasted white asparagus with browned butter (asperges blanches rôti au beurre noisette).

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roasted white asparagus with browned butter (asperges blanches rôti au beurre noisette)

June 19th, 2012

roasted white asparagus with browned butter

roasted white asparagus with browned butter 
(asperges blanches rôti au beurre noisette)

serves 4-6

what you need:

4-6 large white asparagus (or 12 smaller asparagus)
olive oil (as needed)
kosher salt (as needed)
freshly ground white (or black) pepper
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1-2 teaspoons fresh orange juice
1-2 tablespoons minced fresh Italian parsley Read the rest of this entry »

soupe de pêches au gingembre frais (peach “soup” with fresh ginger)

June 10th, 2012

peach “soup” with fresh ginger

soupe de pêches au gingembre frais 
(peach “soup” with fresh ginger)

serves 8

what you need:

sorbet
2 cups fresh peach juice from yellow peaches
3 cups chopped ripe yellow peaches
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon fresh ginger zest

peach soup
4 beautiful white peaches, cut into 8 wedges
3 cups fresh peach juice from yellow peaches

garnish
melange de pain d’épice (as needed) or ground cinnamon 
pink and/or golden sanding sugar

  Read the rest of this entry »

Family Tradition of Summers in Provence: Pissaladière à ma façon

June 2nd, 2012

 

Nice France on the water by chef Morgan  

family traditions of easy summers in Provence:
Pissaladière à ma façon

Every summer I travel with my daughters to the southeast of France. We stay in the same quaint port village, about 15 minutes from Nice. Year after year we celebrate summer with the same families. The children catch little fish and crabs in the clear blue ocean and chase one another in the fields of wild herbs and lavender. The adults gather over a bottle of Provençal rosé produced nearby and discuss what has gone on throughout the last year. We pick up where we left off and not much changes except the height of the children. It has become a family tradition. Summer is just around the corner and we will be in back in France very soon. However, my head and palate are already there and as I was sitting in the never-ending Los Angeles traffic, I was whimsically thinking of  Provence and that morning daydream  inspired this week’s simple pleasure: Pissaladière (à ma façon). Read the rest of this entry »

Pissaladière (à ma façon)

June 2nd, 2012

 Pissaladière (à ma façon) french pizza

Pissaladière (à ma façon)

 makes one 9” tart

what you need:

2 tablespoons olive oil
20 ounces sweet onions (i.e., Vidalia), sliced ¼” width
1 fresh sprig of thyme, stripped
2 pinches kosher salt
⅓ cup Muscat, Sauterine or Verjus 
14 olives noires de Nice (or black oil-cured olives with the pits removed and olives halved)
12 anchovy fillets packed in oil (optional to rinse) 
1 sheet puff pastry, defrosted Read the rest of this entry »

two ingredients and five minutes: lotte-cigare (Monkfish cigar)

May 27th, 2012

 lotte-cigare or Monkfish cigar

two ingredients and five minutes:
lotte-cigare  
(Monkfish cigar)

In culinary terms, Memorial Day in America means celebrating with family and friends over uncomplicated, easy meals and it always involves a grill. When I am in Los Angeles, I grill as much as I can simply because nothing beats cooking in the beautiful outdoor weather (in Paris my kitchen is so small that the mere pulling of something from the oven will surely place my backside on the opposite wall…although there is a nice window). I am soon headed back to France so this week I was grilling and it was the flames from the grill, the lobster tails on the grill, and an unlit cigar which inspired this week’s simple pleasure: lotte cigare (monkfish cigar). 


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spring carrot purée

May 27th, 2012

chef morgan carrot puree 

 spring carrot purée

 serves 4

what you need:

1 pound diced orange carrots (trimmed not peeled)
2 cups (16 ounces) water
3-4 ounces olive oil 
3 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon piment d’espelette (optional)
⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (as needed) Read the rest of this entry »

it’s hot; it’s cold; it’s both: zucchini and sorrel velouté

April 29th, 2012

 

Healthy Soup warm or cold

it’s hot; it’s cold; it’s both:
zucchini and sorrel velouté

Raining one day; hot and sunny the next. While the calendar says spring, the weather weaves in and out of winter (and apparently this will continue). Unpredictable weather can be problematic when menu planning (and ordering) because the temperature necessarily affects how and what we eat. You would not want to eat cassoulet in July any more than you would crave a tomato-based gazpacho on a cold December day. Generally speaking, the beauty of nature is that if we eat seasonally, the food “in season” mirrors what our bodies need and crave: heavier, more filling foods in the winter to keep us warm (i.e., winter squashes and cauliflower) and lighter, hydrating foods in the summer (i.e., watermelon and tomatoes). But the climate change is throwing off our “food-dar.” It was the need to create meals that combine chilly-weather comfort with the lightness of spring (and that can be enjoyed whatever the temperature) which inspired this week’s simple pleasure: zucchini and sorrel velouté (served hot or chilled). Read the rest of this entry »

zucchini and sorrel velouté

April 29th, 2012

zucchini and sorrel velouté, simple soup by chef morgan

zucchini and sorrel velouté

yields 16 ounces (4 cup servings)

what you need:

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 pound chopped zucchini, trimmed
2 cups water
2 handfuls sorrel, stems removed
1-2 tablespoons nonfat Greek yogurt
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1 bouquet garni (fresh Italian parsley, thyme, 1 bay leaf) 
½ teaspoon kosher salt (and to taste)
4 turns on a pepper mill (and to taste) Read the rest of this entry »

gâteau au yaourt (yogurt cake)

April 21st, 2012

A sweet cake for kids without too much sugar

vive le grignotage ! 
(long live snacking) 

tea time, goûter and “un peu sucré ou pas du tout”:
gâteau au yaourt (yogurt cake)

One day a friend and I were having tea. He works in the culinary television industry and like most Parisians, he is passionate about food and so our conversation revolved around food, of course. As he poured the tea, he shared with me a saying his grandmother had when she served tea. She would say, “une sucré ou pas du tout” (meaning, take one sugar or take nothing at all). Thinking of childrens’ fondness for sugar (and for snacking), his grandmother’s comment stuck with me and it inspired this week’s simple pleasure: gâteau au yaourt. Read the rest of this entry »

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