Bouchon de Cauliflower

Posted March 22, 2015

Filed under appetizers, large muffin, Large round mold, mini muffin, octogonal silpat, Recipe with Demarle Cookware, snacks, vegetables, What's Up in Cecile's Kitchen

As a child, I remembered staying hours at a table to finish my vegetables. I hated peas. Especially the ones that I called “facon grand-mere”. If you grew up in France, you would be able to recall those peas I am talking about, the ones cooked with sauteed onion, and maybe lettuce. It sounds disgusting, but now that I am adult, I love those peas.

Do you have one of those picky eaters at your house???

Though I was not a fan of vegetables, because they were often, just steamed and seasoned with salt and pepper, I liked cauliflower. I liked them because my mom would make a casserole like dish. It included a white sauce ( also called bechamel sauce) and a lot of swiss cheese. I guess yon can say that it was a healthier version of broccoli and velvetta.

I wish my mom had found ways to disguise the other vegetables I hate so much;-)

Today I would like to share with you a retake of the Cauliflower Béchamel Dish if you will. It is easy to make, yummy, and can be served as an appetizer. Today I used cauliflower, but you coud use any other vegetables to hide;-)

Ingredients for 20 bouchons, or 20 bites:

250 gr. or about 1 cup of cauliflower ( or any other vegetables)
20 gr. or about 1/8 cup of parmesan
30 gr. or about 1/3 cup of swiss cheese
30 gr. or 2 tbsp of flour
20 cl or 7 oz of milk
20 cl or about 7 oz. of cream
2 eggs
salt
pepper
camembert or Brie

Steam the vegetable so that it will be soft enough to mash. Of course you can do this however you wish. At my house, fan of the Demarle products, I like to use my large round mold. I place the vegetable in the large round mold. I cover the mold with the octogonal silpat, and steam the vegetables for 3minutes.
With a fork mash the vegetable, here the cauliflower.
Add all the other ingredients and mix well.
Season with salt and pepper so that they will be to your liking. A dash of each will be enough though.
Place the mini muffin tray on a perforated sheet. If using regular metalware, do not forget to spray the muffin tray with lots of oil so that the cauliflower bites will not stick. No need to do this with the demarle cookware.
Cut little squares of brie, or camembert of about 1/2 inch or 1/5 cm and place them in the opening of each mini muffin.
Pour the mixture over brie.
Cook in a warm oven at 400 for 15-20 minutes.
ENJOY!!!

Bon Appetit and Happy Cooking!!!

Cauliflower Bouchons

Servings: 10 people
Time: 15 minutes
Difficulty: Super Easy
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Ingredients for 20 bouchons, or 20 bites:

250 gr. or about 1 cup of cauliflower ( or any other vegetables)
20 gr. or about 1/8 cup of parmesan
30 gr. or about 1/3 cup of swiss cheese
30 gr. or 2 tbsp of flour
20 cl or 7 oz of milk
20 cl or about 7 oz. of cream
2 eggs
salt
pepper
camembert or Brie

Steam the vegetable so that it will be soft enough to mash. Of course you can do this however you wish. At my house, fan of the Demarle products, I like to use my large round mold. I place the vegetable in the large round mold. I cover the mold with the octogonal silpat, and steam the vegetables for 3minutes.
With a fork mash the vegetable, here the cauliflower.
Add all the other ingredients and mix well.
Season with salt and pepper so that they will be to your liking. A dash of each will be enough though.
Place the mini muffin tray on a perforated sheet. If using regular metalware, do not forget to spray the muffin tray with lots of oil so that the cauliflower bites will not stick. No need to do this with the demarle cookware.
Cut little squares of brie, or camembert of about 1/2 inch or 1/5 cm and place them in the opening of each mini muffin.
Pour the mixture over brie. the in a mini muffin
Cook in a warm oven at 400 for 15-20 minutes.

Bon Appetit and Happy Cooking!!!

Easy Yummy Potato Cupcake

Posted March 7, 2014

Filed under appetizers, Fleximolds, Large round mold, potato, Recipe with Demarle Cookware, What's Up in Cecile's Kitchen

If today casseroles are no longer part of our dinner menu, they used to be more present on our table many years ago. Et oui ( well, yes), as a young bride and a young mother I tried to fix meals that were recommended by my friends and casseroles were often the suggestions i received. Some i loved and some I really did not… But all in all, they slowly disappeared from our menu because they were not really that healthy for us ( and me who slowly developed bad cholesterol), and my husband who never really was fond of them anyway( the picky eater that he is).

Well the reason why i am presenting this recipe today is because i was trying to think of quick easy recipe for a cooking class I did last week for busy moms like me and an old potato recipe came to me. You may have fixed this recipe 10 years ago. It was very popular then. It had shredded potato, a cream of mushroom, and sour cream.

I will tell you that I did not even thought to look for the recipe. I just thought to add whatever I thought would taste great so there it is;-)

Ingredients for about 15 large cupcakes size, or about 38 mini cupcakes:

1 bag of shredded potato thawed out
1 can of cream of onion ( from any brand)
1 cup of sour cream or even ricotta
1/2 cup of finely diced onion ( I used purple)
1/2 cup of green onion
2 cups of cheddar cheese ( one for the mixture and one for the topping)
1 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of pepper

( I think adding 1 cup of bacon bits would be great to this recipe also;-)

Turn the oven to 400.
Place a large cupcake tray, or a mini cupcake tray onto a medium perforated sheet and set aside.
PLace all the ingredients into a large bowl.
Mix everything together.
And fill the cupcakes to the top.
Sprinkle some cheese over the top of each cupcake. Cook for 20-30 minutes.
Easy and Yummy ( and hardly anything to clean since those molds are non-stick!!!

Bon Appetit and Happy Cooking!!!

Croissant Croque-Monsieur

Posted December 1, 2012

Filed under bread, Recipe with Demarle Cookware, silpat, What's Up in Cecile's Kitchen

Growing up, we rarely ate sandwiches for dinner or lunch. The few times we ate sandwiches were on picnic, or when we were out and about. In France, there are two popular sandwiches: le petit fromage, or jambon fromage which consists of a half baguette cut in half with butter, Emmenthal and ham, and there is Croque- Monsieur and Croque-Madame. Those sandwich are made with sandwich bread, and consists of ham and emmenthal but are baked much like a cheese toast. My mom often made croque-monsieur for picnic. Sometimes, if she did want to cook on a saturday night, she would also make them. They were and they are still a favorite of mine. They are simple, but boy, they are yummy!!!.

Last night I had a cooking class and it was already past 8:00 before I settled to make dinner for my family. Needless to say that the envy to cook a healthy dinner was not there. Instead I looked and saw croissants that I had bought for my breakfast. We had some cold cuts left-overs and some raclette cheese which gave me the idea to prepare Croissant Croque-Monsieur.

We had a variety of meat ( Westphalian ham, prosciutto, salami, Genoa..) at my house so I had lots of meat choice to make up my croque-monsieur, but using ham is fine.

A regular croque-monsieur is made with ham and Emmenthal, but varying the meat and cheese make it even more fun! This evening I used raclette cheese.

Ingredients for 4:

½ lb of cold cuts
½ lb of cheese ( aged one, preferably or flavored such as Gruyère, Emmenthal, provolone)
8 croissants ( 2 per person)
Old-fashioned Dijon mustard.

Cut the croissant in half, open it up and spread the mustard on one face of the croissant. Then layer the meat ( I used about 4/5 strip of prosciutto). Then the cheese. Put at least 4 strips of cheese to cover the cold meat and the croissant. Close the croissant and bake in a warm oven at 350 for 7-10 minutes or until the cheese is completely melted. Eat with a salad. Et C’est tout!

Bon Appetit and Happy Cooking!!!