silpain | Cecile's Cuisine

When you are married to a German man, and he wants to eat potatoes every evening, or almost every evening, you start being creative on fixing those potatoes. I either use recipes from families, and friends, or make up my own. The recipe that I am presenting to you today was inspired by one that I had seen on pinterest.

I cannot recall which recipe it was, nor who posted it, but I wanted to share with you my twist on it. As it is easy as 1, 2, 3 and it is really delicious!!!!

Ingredients for 4:

a bag of small new potatoes
olive oil
sea salt
2 tbsp of chopped parsley
1 large clove of garlic or 2 small ones

Place the potatoes in the sink and with a small bruch, clean them well.
Steam the potatoes for 6 minutes or until they are somewhat cooked. I use my demarle cookware because it makes my life easy, but you can use any steamer to steam your potatoes.
If using the demarle cookware, place the potatoes inside the large round mold and place the octagonal silpat on top of it. Place the round mold in the microwave and cook the potatoes for 6 minutes. They should be soft, but still firm.
Now, it is time to smash your potatoes. Get a cookie sheet ready by placing a parchment paper, or if you are using a silpat, place the silpat on top of a perforated sheet. Take one potato and smash it with a palm of your hand. I use either a kitchen towel to protect my hand from the heat, or my octagonal silpat.
Place the smash potato on the cookie sheet, or silpat and repeat until you have exhausted all potatoes.
With a knife or chopper, chop the parsley and the garlic very thinly. I used my Demarle chopper and it does a great job!!!In the demarle chopper, place 1/4 cup of olive oil, the garlic, fresh parsley and chop it all until you have a paste.
Either with the brush or with a spoon, top each potato with the mixture. Then sprinkle some sea salt and black pepper.
Place the potatoes into the oven at 400 and cook them for 15 minutes.

Enjoy!!!

( I don’t usually eat potatoes, but it was very hard to resist those, they were so yummy!!! The garlic gets crunchy, a true “delice”)

Parsley and Roasted Garlic Smashed Potatoes

Servings: 6-8
Time: 20 minutes
Difficulty: Super Easy
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Ingredients for 6-8:

a bag of small new potatoes
olive oil
sea salt
2 tbsp of chopped parsley
1 large clove of garlic or 2 small ones

Place the potatoes in the sink and with a small bruch, clean them well.
Steam the potatoes for 6 minutes or until they are somewhat cooked. I use my demarle cookware because it makes my life easy, but you can use any steamer to steam your potatoes.
If using the demarle cookware, place the potatoes inside the large round mold and place the octagonal silpat on top of it. Place the round mold in the microwave and cook the potatoes for 6 minutes. They should be soft, but still firm.
Now, it is time to smash your potatoes. Get a cookie sheet ready by placing a parchment paper, or if you are using a silpat, place the silpat on top of a perforated sheet.
Take one potato and smash it with a palm of your hand. I use either a kitchen towel to protect my hand from the heat, or my octagonal silpat.
Place the smash potato on the cookie sheet, or silpat and repeat until you have exhausted all potatoes.
With a knife or chopper, chop the parsley and the garlic very thinly. I used my Demarle chopper and it does a great job!!!In the demarle chopper, place 1/4 cup of olive oil, the garlic, fresh parsley and chop it all until you have a paste.
Either with the brush or with a spoon, top each potato with the mixture. Then sprinkle some sea salt and black pepper.
Place the potatoes into the oven at 400 and cook them for 15 minutes.
Enjoy!!!

( I don’t usually eat potatoes, but it was very hard to resist those, they were so yummy!!! The garlic gets crunchy, a true “delice”)

Bon Appetit and Happy Cooking!!!

Ahh Summer, so much vegetables and fruits to eat!! Everything looks delicious, it is really difficult not to purchase all that looks appetizing and that smells so delicious…

I am lucky to live in a location where we have tons of farmers and tons of local produces. Though it is a tad difficult to go to the produce market during the school year, I have enjoyed going these past few weeks. Everything smells so good in that store, that it is very tempting to buy everything that is at your fingertips;-)

Last time I went there, a couple of days ago, I bought a few peaches, a cantaloupe, a few red tomatoes and a gallon of strawberries. Yes, a gallon… That is a lot I know, but I intended to use them in my morning shakes, eat them for a snack during the day, and give some away. I wanted to give some away to my mother-in-law, but when I went to here house, I saw that she, too, had purchased a gallon of strawberries … so I had to take mine back home and figure out what to do with them before they got spoiled.

Really, what can you do with strawberries?? especially a gallon of strawberries??? Of course you can make fruit salads, jams, tarts, cream, ice-creams and many, many more desserts!

I wanted to use them otherwise than as a dessert so I decided to make a Strawberry Bruchetta. It is actually quite easy to make, fast, inexpensive and it is beautiful to the eyes and your tastebuds;-) You would think that it is too sweet, but the tang of the goat cheese, and the fact that the strawberries are seasoned with vinegar, salt, and pepper, it makes them taste almost unsweetened. It was a delight for me;-) I dare you to try;-)

Ingredients to make 30-40 individual pieces:

1 French baguette sliced thinly,
1 log of goat cheese at room temperature ( about 6 oz.)
1 pint of fresh strawberries ( use local ones if you can, they taste so much better),
1 tbsp of basil olive oil, I used the Demarle Basil olive oil.
1 tbsp of traditional balsamic vinegar,
1 tbsp of fresh basil chopped.

Slice the baguette thinly, and place it on top of the silpain atop a medium perforated sheet. If you do not have either, place the bread onto a cookie sheet.
Cook the slices for 5-7 minutes or until they are crisp on both sides.
Meanwhile, prepare the strawberry topping. Chop the strawberries and place them into a medium-sized bowl.
Add 1 tbsp of olive oil, and balsamic vinegar, a dash of salt and of pepper, the chopped basil and mix well.
When the sliced baguette are crispy, remove them from the oven and let them cool down.
Spread the cheese over the baguette.
And spoon a bit of the strawberry mixture atop the cheese. Eat right away;-))) Miam.

Bon Appetit and Happy Cooking!!!

Strawberry Bruchetta

Servings: 8-10 people
Time: 5-7 minutes
Difficulty: Super easy
Print

Ingredients to make 30-40 individual pieces:

1 French baguette sliced thinly,
1 log of goat cheese at room temperature ( about 6 oz. )
1 pint of fresh strawberries ( use local ones if you can, they taste so much better),
1 tbsp of basil love oil, I used the Demarle Basil olive oil.
1 tbsp of traditional balsamic vinegar,
1 tbsp of fresh basil chopped.

Slice the baguette thinly, and place it on top of the silpain atop a medium perforated sheet. If you do not have either, place the bread onto a cookie sheet.
Cook the slices for 5-7 minutes, or until they are crisp on both sides.
Meanwhile, prepare the strawberry topping. Chop the strawberries and place them into a medium-sized bowl.
Add 1 tbsp of olive oil, and balsamic vinegar, a dash of salt and of pepper, the chopped basil and mix well.
When the sliced baguette are crispy, remove them from the oven and let them cool down.
Spread the cheese over the baguette.
And spoon a bit of the strawberry mixture atop the cheese.
Eat right away;-))) Miam.

Bon Appetit and Happy Cooking!!!