Today's recipe

Fish Blanquette

(serves 4)
Ingredients:
4 pieces (about 150 gr each) cod
150 gr white mushrooms
2 carrots
30 gr butter
5gr sugar
1 tbsp. olive oil
150gr heavy whipping cream
1 clove garlic
Thyme
4 scallions
Salt and pepper
1 star anise

Directions:
Cut the cod into large cubes. Peel and cut the carrots, cut the mushrooms in 4 pieces each. Keep only the white end of the scallions.
Glaze the vegetables: in a large pot, place the carrots as well as the scallions. Add half the butter, the sugar, salt and pepper. Add water up to half the carrots. Let the vegetable cook until the water has evaporated.  
In a pan, melt the rest of the butter with one spoon of olive oil. Add the pieces of fish, let them cook for one or two minutes. Add the mushrooms. Place the pieces of fish on a plate. Pour the cream into the pan (it's called deglazing). Add the garlic and thyme,  the star anise, salt and pepper. Let it boil a few seconds and return the pieces of fish into the cream to finish the cooking, for one or two minutes. Do not overcook, or the fish will disintegrates.
Place the vegetables and pieces of fish in a plate, add the reduced cream on top. Serve with potatoes or fresh pastas, or only with the vegetables.
You can also decorate your plate with nice slices of the green parts of the scallions, or chives etc...

Today's recipe:

Baeckeoffe (beef, lamb and pork stew) a dish from Alsace

Picture taken before cooking

Ingredients: (serves 8)
For the marinade:
2 onions minced
2 garlic cloves minced
2 bay leaves
pepper
Fresh thyme
Fresh parsley
3 cups of dry white wine
For the meats:
1lbs beef for stew
1lbs pork butt cut into cubes
1lbs for stew
3 lbs Yukon gold potatoes sliced (use a mandolin for easiness)
2 leeks julienned
1 lbs carrots sliced
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Place the marinade ingredients into a bowl. Add the meats and toss gently. Cover and refrigerate for, at least, 5 hours.
Preheat the oven to 350F
Cover the bottom of a Dutch oven, or large casserole, with a little bit of olive oil.
Add one layer of potatoes and carrots, s&p, then cover with one layer of meats, one layer of potatoes and carrots, s&p, one layer of meats, repeat until you finish the meat. The last layer has to be a layer of vegetables, this time including the leeks. Pour the marinade over (removing the leaves). Add two more cups of water to almost reach the top of the vegetables.

Cover with a lid and place in the oven for about 3 hours.

Today's recipe

Endives gratin with ham

Ingredients: (serves 2)
3 endives
2 slices of ham
1 cup of milk1 large garlic clove1 pinch of sugar2 tablespoons of olive oil
12 cup of grated Swiss cheese

Remove the core of the endives, they bring bitterness  to your dish (remove only the ends, so that the leaves remain attached together). Cut the endives in half lengthwise. Heat up 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a pan and fry the endives in it. Add 1/2 crushed garlic and a pinch of sugar.

Add a little bit of water, cover and allow the endives to cook 15 minutes.

For the sauce: blend one of the cooked endives, the other half of the garlic clove, a little grated cheese and half the glass of milk. Wrap each endive with half a slice of ham, then pour a little sauce and add some grated cheese.

Broil. Serve.

Today's recipe:

Tarte Fine (apple pie)

250 g either puff pastry or sweet dough
3 apples
One tsp brown sugar
cinnamon
30 g butter

Roll out the dough, place the aples in a nice round shape.
Add some pieces of butter, spread some sugar and cinnamon
Cook at 380/400F for about 20 minutes

Today's recipe:

Cabbage Salad with Apples and Walnuts 
 
Serves 6
1 small savoy cabbage 1/3 cup walnuts (the flavor is always better if they are roasted)
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 lime
Salt and pepper
½ cup olive oil
2 tablespoons creme fraiche (or sour cream)
2 apples (any crisp, tasty eating variety, such as Sierra Beauty, Granny Smith, or Fuji)
1/3 cup crumbled blue cheese