I love mushrooms. So if a recipe comes along with mushroom, some cream, some crunchy bits, I’ll have to try it. This makes quite a refreshing starter course, and you can make it look fancy without much effort. What more is there to ask for?

Ingredients for the mushroom salad

- 4 cups sliced mushrooms (about 12 oz)
- 1/2 cup walnut pieces (about 10 walnuts)
- 2/3 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup scallions, minced
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp fresh-ground black pepper
- 8-12 lettuce leaves

Preparation

- In a large bowl, mix the mushrooms, the walnuts, sour cream, scallions, lemon juice, salt and pepper
- you can refrigerate for up to a couple hours, but it will taste better if you mix everything just before serving
- Serve in individual bowl, with a couple lettuce leaves forming a nest for the mushroom mixture

Inspired from Jacques-Pépin in “Fast food, my way”

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Roasted garlic is really something special. The roasting will softened the taste, almost to the point where it becomes sweet (the sugar caramelizes) while intensifying its distinctive flavor.

And even though it takes a while to cook (about 90 minutes), it is well worth the wait!

Ingredients:

- One garlic bulb

- a teaspoon of olive oil

- salt and pepper

To get started, cut off the first 1/2 inch of the top the garlic bulb, so that it will be easy to spoon off the garlic later on (see picture above).

Put in a pan, drizzle with the olive oil, add salt and pepper and cover.

Place in a cold oven and set the temperature at 350F for 45 minutes

Uncover and bake for an other 45 minutes

If you have one of these special terra cotta garlic baker, use it, otherwise, you can use a pyrex pan, and use aluminum foil to cover it for the first 45 minutes.

Variation: you can add a teaspoon of white wine at the same time you put the olive oil.
This is ideal as the base for many recipes. Or as an apetizer with the right spoon, or as a spread if you puree it.

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This is one you’ll have to decide for yourself. There is a distinct difference, and I have a small preference for goose, but duck is still a close second in my book.

Serve the fois-gras at room temperature

For the longest time, I had been serving fois-gras right out the fridge. What a mistake that was. One day, dinner was late and the fois-gras had been sitting on the table for longer that I thought it should have. But what a difference it made. The flavor was awesome!  I guess the cold puts your taste buds to sleep and hides the full flavor!  Since then, I take it out of the fridge at least an hour before serving. One thing where the cold helps is to remove the fat. A lot easier and less messy to do when the fat is solid.

Serve with lightly toasted white bread

My preference goes for sliced Country White French Bread (as close to “pain de mie” as I found). Somewhat halfway between sour white bread and regular white bread. And it only needs to be lightly toasted so it starts to turn golden brown and the surface is a bit hard.  It is easier to put a piece of fois-gras and hold it flat.  Presumably, you are not supposed to spread fois-gras on your toast, just cut chunks of it and put it on your toast (I suppose,  this is as opposed to pate that is meant to be spread, and to remind us that fois-gras is so much more than pate. If anyone knows, would you let me know?).

Serve with chilled Sauternes

As if fois-gras was not good enough, add a chilled Sauternes. This is sure to turn your ravishing experience into pure decadence   A nice Sauternes and fois-gras go so well together this is truly unbelievable.  If you’ve never had sauternes, you should try it, even by itself. Sauternes is a late harvest, quite sweet, white wine from the Sauternais, near Bordeaux in France, and they use a special method to achieve that unforgettable taste (plus is usually ages really well to bout).  Even though a Chateau d’Yquem is really out of this world (including the price), there are good values and I like the Coutet very much.

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When I was a kid, back when I lived in France, the only time when I would have Celery Root Remoulade (pronounce “ray-moo-lad”) would be at the school “cantine” (that’s french for Cafeteria). My mom never made that dish, and I was always looking forward to have some when the school would serve it.

Celery root picture from manthatcooks’ photostream

Growing up, Celery Root was the sort of thing I thought was growing in cans, or at best, in glass jars, and most convenient of all, I figured that this was something that was growing like grass, in little stick like things. Little did I know that in fact celery root remoulade is made from an actual root, and can be described as anything but pretty looking (see picture on the left side). It can be quite unsightly, and even intimidating for some. But in fact, it is fairly easy to clean and prepare, and best of all, is very very tasty!

To prepare the root, just wash it thouroughly under cold running water to remove any dirt and bugs. Then select the biggest and heaviest knife you have. You’ll want to use the weight of the knife to help you cut through it. First remove the whole outside skin to reveal the white root (somewhat yellowish for some). You’ll also want to remove as much of the darker bits as you can without wasting too much, not that they are necesarily bad, but just won’t look as nice in the finished dish. Then cut the root in large chunks to prepare for the shredding.  To shred it, I use a mandoline as I think that’s what works best, but if you don’t have one, or are too afraid to cut yourself, you can use a food processor. The goal here is to shred the celery root into small sticks of about 2 inches long, and maybe 1/8 square.

Once everything is shredded, the rest is quite simple.

Celery Root Remoulade Recipe:

Servers 4-6 as an appetizer.

• One celery root, shredded (see above). Comes out to 10-12 ounces
• 1/2 cup of mayonnaise
• 1/4 dijon mustard
• 1/8 to 1/4 cup red wine vinegar depending on your taste
• salt, pepper to taste
• a small cornichon, or some parley for garnishing

Total preparation time (including the shredding): about 30 minutes.  Maybe a bit more the first time around.
Put the shredded celery root into a large bowl (the large bowl makes it easier to mix everything without making too much of a mess). Add all the ingredients, and then mix till you have a smooth, almost milky looking sauce that coats the celery root evenly. And that’s it!

I like to let it rest and marinate a bit in the fridge for at least 2 hours, but if you can’t wait, that will be quite tasty already, so go ahead!

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Don’t you love salads? Ever tried Arugula? Arugula is a very tasty treat. Arugula, also known as roquette in Europe, is not a lettuce, but an herb, and is a member of the mustard family. If you can not find any, it is quite easy to grow yourself. If you really can’t find any, you could replace it with red leaves lettuce.

This recipe also uses artichoke hearts. The preserved ones come in 3 kinds: in water, brine or oil. I prefer the ones prepared in brine as I think the added acidity works well for this recipe. If you are lucky enough to be near San Francisco, you can find the best marinated artichokes I’ve had at Molinari Deli. If you are up to it, you could prepare the artichokes yourself, and you should check how to trim an artichoke to get you started. However this will significantly increase the time required to prepare this recipe.

To prepare the prawns, you have several options. You can buy them peeled and deveined, or you can do it yourself. It is not that hard. One method you can use is to do it with the Shrimp Butler. At around $30, it may sound expensive, but when you factor in the cost difference to buy the prawns ready to use, this will quickly pay for itself. A more low-tech approach is to use special scissors, or an Endurance Shrimp Peeler & Deveiner. Last resort, is to do it using your fingers after you’ve cooked the prawns. Only problem of doing it after they are cooked is that they won’t look as good, but will taste just the same though.

Here’s how to prepare the Prawn Salad with Arugula:
Per person, for a main dish (for 4 people, multiply everything by 4):

Salad

• 5 medium to large Prawns, peeled and deveined
• 6 kalamata olives, pitted and sliced in half
• 3 small tomatoes (small cluster tomatoes work best)
• 2 artichoke hearts
• 1/2 ounce goat creamy goat cheese
• 1 ounce Arugula

Dressing

• 1/2 table spoon lemon juice
• 1/2 table spoon extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation: 20-30 minutes

Remove the pits from the olives, and slice them in half, wash and rinse the tomatoes, and cut them in small chunks (remove as many seeds as you can). Cut the artichoke hearts in 4. Dice the goat cheese if it is creamy enough, otherwise crumble it.

Wash and rinse the arugula. Save a few olives and artichokes pieces that you can use later to garnish the plates. Mix everything else in a large salad bowl.

To prepare the dressing, mix the lemon juice, the olive oil, salt and pepper, and mix thoroughly.

Up to this point, everything can be prepared ahead of time. The last step is to cook the prawns in a small frying pan. Put some olive olive oil in the pan, heat it up over medium heat. When the oil is hot, put the prawns, add some salt and pepper and cook the prawns a few minutes on each side till they have a nice orangy color.

When the prawns are done, mix the dressing with the salad, and serve immediatly. You can server as an appetizer or an entree by varying the quantities.
Enjoy!

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Related Articles:

• Asparagus au gratin
• Deviled Eggs
• Marinated Mushrooms
• Crab Souffle
• Scallops with Butter and Lemon

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Here’s an easy to do recipe, and you’ll get lots of satisfied fans for it.

For 6 adults, you will need:

• 36 asparagus
• about 3 ounces of prosciutto, sliced very thinly
• 2 ounces of parmesan, grated coarsly
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Cracked pepper to taste

Wash and cut the asparus so they’ll fit in a 8×12 (inches) oven safe glass (pyrex) pan.

Cook the asparagus in boiling water for 7-8 minutes. They don’t need to fully cook, just enough so they get tender. Then dry the asparagus with paper towels. I put 2 paper towels on a plate, then put the asparagus on the paper towel, then pat the asparagus on top till most of the water has been absorbed.

Then taking 3 asparagus a time, roll a slice of prosciutto around them to make a little bundle, and lay it flat on your glass pan. For 12 bundles, a pan 8 inches by 12 inches should do. Repeat for the rest of the asparagus.

Then grate the parmesan coarsly over the asparagus. Sprinkle with the olive oil and put some freshly cracked pepper. Don’t use salt, there is enough in the parmesan and the prosciutto.

Then put the pan in the oven under the broiler (I use the low setting, with the top of the asparagus about 3 inches from the brolier) for 4-6 minutes. Timing is really going to depend on your oven, and you have to keep an eye on the asparagus till you reached that golden brown color, and take the asparagus before it is too late.

Serve immediatly.

Besides being very tasty, one of the nice thing about this recipe is that you can prepare things ahead of time and put the pan in the broiler 5 minutes before serving. This makes preparing a big meal less of a juggling act.
Enjoy!

For more recipes with asparagus, join the Asparagus Aspiration month!

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And you can adjust the quantity very easily. It just depends on the number of hard-boiled eggs you want to use.

• Hard boiled eggs (as desired)
• 2 teaspoon of Mayonnaise per egg
• Fresh cracked pepper to taste

Boil the eggs as described in the deviled eggs recipe. Peel them and cut in half lenghtwise. On each half egg, scoop about a teaspoon worth of Mayonnaise (and I suppose, if you don’t feel like it, you can use ready made Mayonnaise, otherwise, you can you the recipe for Mayonnaise). Then crack some black pepper on the eggs. Enjoy!

You can substitue the black pepper with other spices like Paprika, a mix of red, green, white pepper, or your spice of choice.

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Related Articles:

• Deviled Eggs
• Mayonnaise

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Easter is here, and I bet you are going to have a lot of hardboiled eggs, or maybe you are looking for a snazzy appetizer. Deviled eggs are sure to please. This recipe is very easy and anyone can make this.

This recipes lends itself to a lot of variations. You can use sour cream instead of mayonnaise, vinegar instead of worcestershire sauce, or tabasco sauce for example. And you can also vary the spices.

Here’s my favorite variation.

• 12 eggs
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoon dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
• salt and pepper to taste
• a pinch of Paprika

Cooking time 25 minutes.

Ready in 30 minutes.

Boil the eggs. There are many ways to do that. Use which ever method you are comfortable with, or do what I do.

Put the eggs in a pan, put water so that the eggs are immersed in water, with 1 inch to spare. Bring to a boil, and then cover, and take off the heat. Let them seat for about 20 minutes, then plunge then in ice cold water (they will be a lot easier to peel this way).

Peel the eggs and cut in half lengthwise.

Remove the egg yolks with a small spoon and put in a small bowl. Mash the egg yolks with a fork, then mix in the mayonnaise, the mustard, the worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. Once smooth, spoon back into the egg whites evenly. For a more dramatic look, use a decorating bag with a nicely shaped nozzle.
Sprinkle with Paprika.

This can be prepared up to a few hours before serving.

Related Articles:

• Hard-boiled eggs with Mayonnaise and fresh cracked pepper
• Mayonnaise

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• 1 cup of water
• 1/2 cup of vinegar
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped red bell pepper
• 3/4 teaspoon mustard seeds.
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon whole black peppers
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• 2 gloves of garlic, sliced or chopped.
• 1 pound of whole mushrooms (small to medium size)

Total time: 25 minutes

Ready the next day.

Brush the the mushrooms and wash them. Cut a 1/2 of the stem off. Combine everything but the mushrooms into a pan and bring to a boil. Add the mushrooms and boil covered for 10 minutes. Refrigerate overnight. Serve as an apetizer or as part of an antipasti plate.
To avoid wasting the rest of the red bell pepper, why not make marinated red bell peppers at the same time?

Looking for an alternative to marinated mushrooms? Try Mushrooms a la grecque.

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One of my favorite is the Crab Souffle. Follow the same basic steps, but substitute the cheese with about half a pound of flaked, shredded or grounded cooked crab meat.

• 6-8 ounces of crab meat (check for bits of shell or membranes)
• 1 tablespoon dry white vermouth
• a pinch of paprika

Instead of mixing the cheese, mix in the crab, vermouth and paprika.
Variations: you can use small sprimps, or even smoked salmon for other sea-food type souffles. Feel free to experiment! I’d love to hear back from you if you find a variation you like…

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Preparation: 30 minutes (including the bechamel)

Cooking time: 30 mintutes.

Serves 4.

• 2 cups of bechamel
• a dash of ground nutmeg
• 5 ounces of grated Comte or Gruyere
• 4 eggs
• 1 tablespoon of butter
• salt and pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 425 F (220 C)

Prepare the bechamel, adding the nutmeg before adding the milk.

Over medium heat, add the cheese and mix it with the bechamel. Turn the heat off.
Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt.

Then add the egg yolks and bechamel to the cheese one by one and mix them till the sauce is smooth.

Now, using a wooden spoon or spatula (the key here is to avoid breaking the egg whites, so anything that does not have sharp edges should do), add the egg whites while being careful not to break the egg whites. And always turn in the same direction using the same gesture, and be very very gentle.

One key to a successful soufle is the pan you use. You want the a heavy round deep pan of about 8 inches in diameter. Don’t fill the pan more than 2/3 as the souffle is going to rise quite a bit. It is ok, even desirable if it raises above the edges.

Butter the pan generously and pour your souffle into the pan.

Cook for 30 minutes without opening your oven door to keep the heat constant.
Your maserpiece is ready when the top has risen and turns to a nice golden brown color.

Server immediatly! This is the last critical detail. Your souffle wont’ wait and will come back down if you don’t serve it right there. So time your cooking accordingly.

Variations: you can use most hard cheeses, the tastier the cheese, the tastier your souffle. I like to use a good Comte, or Caved aged gruyere. To surprise you guest, try using Roquefort or Gorgonzola!

Serve with a green salad as an entree, or as an apetizer. A Chardonnay or a Merlot goes very nicely with cheese in the souffle.

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• 1 TBSP butter
• 12 large scallops
• juice of 1/2 to 1 lemon depending on size of the lemon
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Scallops preparation: if the scallops were frozen, or are still partially frozen, you need to thaw them thoroughly to make sure they won’t let out water while cooking so that you can get them to turn a nice color on the top and bottom. If necessary, you can use a microwave for about 20s to force the water out. And just to be sure, use a couple paper towels to dry them out.
In a small pan (big enough to fit your 12 scallops, melt the butter over medium high heat. Once the butter is melted, add the scallops, salt and pepper to taste. Once the scallops start to whiten halfway through, turn them over, salt and pepper again. Cook till the scallops are fully whitened. This should take about 3-5 minutes. Add the lemon juice, and simmer for an other minute, turning the scallops halway through.
Serves 2 for a ravishing apetizer. Enjoy with a nice bottle of Sauvigon Blanc, or better yet, a bottle of Pouilly Fuisse (dry white burgundy).

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