Yakiniku and an Asian style brunch

Raising a bustling two year old kid, developing a business, working part-time, and trying to write all about this in my kitchen cyberworld as I run my household makes my life very hectic nowadays. Without counting of course the fast approaching holiday preparations and our move, I feel so helpless. I miss the day I could read a book while sipping a hot chocolate or to work uninterrupted with my writings and drawings for my projects and businesses. I miss those afternoon after taking a long bath that I could try on all the new clothes and shoes that I bought and that I have rarely put on and play a fashion model in front of the mirror. Sigh!

This morning as I sip my hot chocolate in the terrace and as I savour these little moments of freedom before everybody wakes up I was greeted by this spectacular view of peace and serenity. It is at that instance that I have realised that we need some movements to spicen up and add colors to our life to appreciate this kind of solitude after. I complain a lot but I love being busy for my daughter, for my husband and for myself. I told this to hubby, he looked at me and replied, "well what do you expect you are really French now!"***

*** French have reputation of being big grumbler

The mountain of Saint Victoire under morning fog
View from my terrace

The hills of Aix

I am sending this Asian Style Brunch to brilliant Meeta of What"s For Lunch Honey this month's hostess and the creator of that delicious monthly event Monthly Mingle. I am a certified rice eater, so waking up late on Sunday means a brunch with rice. These are easy to make yakiniku barbeque served with steamed rice, a bowl of miso soup and a scoop of vanilla ice-cream with some gooseberries on the top.

Yakiniku Beef Barbeque

3/4 lb beef loin, cut in cubes
1 Tbsp of honey
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp grated garlic
1 Tbsp sesame oil
1 Tbsp white sesame seed
one cup of cut onion leeks

Preparation:

Mix Honey, soy sayce, garlic, sesame oil, and sesame seeds in a bowl. Marinate beef in the sauce for 30 minutes. String the beef on the skewers alternating with onion leeks.Heat a large skillet on high heat and cook them two to three minutes on both sides.

Home-made Calisson

If you have never been yet to Southern France it is likely that you are not familiar with Calisson. These are actually candies or sweet treats that are made of candied fruit like melon, orange and apricot glazed with royal icing on the top and baked slowly in the oven. It is synonymous as the city of Aix en Provence for this has been invented in this place. It was created by the royal chef exclusively and for the first time served during the wedding of King Rene (when southern france was once a separate country under Italy) to the Queen Jeane after the royal dinner and it was an immediate success among the guests. Legend says that eating calisson also protected the kingdom and the villagers agains the great plague and that is the reason why on some areas they celebrate a feast for calisson.


But if you have been to Southern France already, these are the lozenge shaped yellow and white overly priced candies for the tourists. I always get mixed reaction to people who tasted this food for the first time, some like it a lot while others think that they are overly rated. In our family we always have a box of calisson in the kitchen for we never know if someone drops by for a chit chat and good cup of hot tea or coffee, calisson is always very impressive.

I have three important tips to share when making your home-made calisson:

1. Don't ever plan to make one when your son/daughter is sick.

2. Do not start preparing them when your son/daughter is sleeping. Wrong again, they could wake up and you will end up in a mess.

3. Do not persist in making them if you lack one ingredient you assume is not really important in making the candy.

Now that my three tips are complete what rest for me to do is to send a box of this freshly baked Calisson over at Meeta and Aparna for the Monthly Mingle. Check out the link for my details.

Home-made Calisson
for about 50-60 pieces

Ingredients:
250 grams of sugar
300 grams of almond powder/meal
100 of melon confit or orange confit
100 g of apricot jam

Royal icing:
1 egg white of a large sized egg
150 g of icing sugar

three or more sheets of edible paper (azyme) you can find them in some special stores for patisseries and candies

Procedure:
Start by mixing the first four ingredients in a bowl. You can pass in a mixer the fruits before mixing with sugar and almond to be sure that it will be smooth and delicate. Put the mixture in a pan and continue mixing in a low fire to help the liquid evaporate for 7 minutes. When the mixture becomes dry, they are sticking to your wooden spatula turn of the heat. Spread it over evenly to your edible paper sheets using a rolling pin about 2mm thickness. Let it cool and dry for another hour. Prepare your royal icing by whisking the egg and adding the icing sugar. Spread over the glace and cut them the shape you want; heart , square, round, diamond, etc. Let it dry for another hour. Pre-heat the oven at 150° celsius and bake it for five minutes. Do not serve them immediately they get better as day pass. Perfect to serve them with hot coffees or teas.

If you want to have a perfectly shaped calisson do this with the edible paper, for they are really difficult to cut if you do them without.

Rolled Turkey Escalopes in Walnut Parsley Pesto with Mango Orange Sauce

Rolled Turkey Escalopes in Walnut Parsley Pesto with Mango Orange Sauce

I have always been scared of dentist. Blame it on our school dentist that has frightened every grade school student of my school. I still remember her appalling face that has never known the word smile in her life. She has traumatized every one of us. As I wait for my turn inside the lounge of my German dentist yesterday, I had this gush of memories flowing out like water in the faucet. I was not scared at all, but I knew I was stressed. There was still one person before my turn. So I tried my best to distract my attention gazing around and up above. When I suddenly noticed the bunch of old women’s magazine scattered on the table. I took one, haphazardly but my hand still fell one a half naked woman’s cover, I thought probably It could be interesting inside. Immediately as I turn the pages, I noticed a small cuisine corner in the magazine. I checked on the recipes, and I couldn’t get it out of my head. There were three fabulous recipes that I was dying to do in my kitchen. I don’t have any ballpen or pencil with me to copy it. I tried to look around, I was alone. Shall I tear the pages? Shall I steal the magazine? Hesitation and conscience, which weighs the most. Or shall I just trust my photographic memory to memorize this recipe. Think again. And even before I could make my decision they called out my name.

I went back home happy and relieved. My dentist was nice and kind. And I also succeeded in getting the recipes I wanted. Can you guess what I did?

This is my entry for this month's Monthly Mingle, a blogging event created by Meeta. The pick of the Month is Mango.

Rolled Turkey Escalopes in Walnut Parsley Pesto and Mango Orange Sauce

4 turkey escalopes
Half a glass of mango juice
Half a glass of orange juice
One bunch of parsley
100 g of walnut
Salt and pepper
10 g of butter
2 tablespoons of white wine
Some olive oil
10 cl of fresh cream

Flatten the turkey escalopes. Brush the surface with mango juice and butter. Put some salt and pepper. In a blender prepare your parsley pesto by mixing the walnut, parsley leaves and some olive oil. Mix them well. Put the pesto on the surface of your turkey then roll them. Seal the edges using toothpicks. Set this aside. In a casserole put the orange and mango juice and reduce it over low fire. Once the juice has thickened add some butter (about 1 tablespoon), salt and pepper. Pour your fresh cream. Let it boil. Set aside the sauce. In a pan, put some butter and olive oil and fry each side of your turkey. Fry them slowly over medium fire about 5 to seven minutes per sides. You can add some fresh thyme and rosemary as your fry them. Deglaze the pan with your wine. Pour your sauce on the pan and let it warm up then turn of the fire. Slice your turkey and serve it with sauce on the side.

You can also try my other poultry recipes:

Chicken Supreme in Coconut Cream
Chicken Pizza Curry

Goatcheese lollipops , Angelina Jolie and others

What does Angelina Jolie have in common with me? Brad Pitt? Same vital statistics? We have the same mom? Well, wrong answers :-)

Do not think that I just shifted my blogging topics into star buzzing but rumor has it circulating that, she gave birth or will give birth to Maternité Etoile, the same hospital in our place where I gave birth. The idea just made me excited. Everybodys talking about the castle of Miraval that the couple bought not far from our area, meaning we're neighbors now. Alright, I don't think you guys are interested so back to regular programming.

Who doesn't love Appetizers and Hors d'oeuvres? Those little things, bite sizes pieces we eat along as we chit chat on interesting topics (such as hollywood gossips? he hehe) and as we drink some cocktails, champagne or liquor. I love preparing them because they often push me to be creative and there are basically no rules, as long as they are bite size. When I heard that Monthly Mingle for the month of June is about appetizers & hors d'oeuvres I knew I needed to share some of my creations I often prepare when I received guests at home. I hope Mansi (of Fun & Food) our lovely host for this month loves goatcheeses because I am sending it to her. Thank you Meeta for creating this delicious event!

Goat cheese Lollipop (with dried mango, apricot and walnuts)

1/2 pound Goat cheese
2 sprigs of thyme
1 tsp of honey
half a cup of olive oil
50 g of dried mango
50 g of dried apricot
50 g of chopped walnuts

In a bowl crush the goat cheese, mix the honey and blend well. Put the thyme to enhance the flavor then put in the fridge. In a food processor, chop finely the dried mango and apricot. Take out the goat cheese from the fridge and start to make ball like shape with the aid of your palm. Be sure to make them evenly. Submerge the goat cheese balls in the olive oil. Before serving cover the goat cheese balls with dried mangoes, apricot and chopped walnuts.

Amuse bouche of Goat cheese and Apricot

100 g of dried apricot
half a pound of goat cheese
different herbs; chives, rosemary, thyme
some olive oil

Cut the dried apricot in the middle and insert a sliced goat cheese. Top it with herbs and olive oil.

Goat cheese in so many ways