Brie Tartlets with Confit Tomatoes

Posted August 8, 2015

Filed under appetizers, Fleximolds, mini muffin, Recipe with Demarle Cookware, tartlets

A friend of mine gave me some baby tomato plants last year, and despite me doing anything this year, they all came back and have given me many tomatoes. Ordinary I would eat the tomatoes off the wine because they are so good, but this particular tomato plant makes tomatoes that are not sweet and so I have to cook them, or accommodate them to eat them. As I was browsing easy vegetables appetizers, I came across a candied tomato recipe from the Power of Family Meal. I changed a few things and here it is:

Ingredients for 20 medium sized tartlets:

1 box of small baby tomatoes of about 1 pint ( the smaller the better- you really need 20 small tomatoes),
250 gr. or about 10 oz of brie cheese,
1 pie crust,
1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar ( I used the Mediterranean Balsamic with Fig),
2 tbsp of brown sugar.
1/2 tbsp of olive oil.
salt and pepper to taste

In a medium saucepan, warm up the oil and when it is sizzling,
Add the tomatoes that you would have cut in half.
Cook them for a minutes or two.
Then add the vinegar and the sugar, a dash of salt and pepper and bring to boil.
Cook for another 1 or 2 minutes. Set aside.
With a cutter, cut the dough to fit the tartlet pan ( you will want to use the medium or the mini muffin pan because the cheese may over flow).
With a shaper, push the dough down. Then with a fork, prick the dough so that the tartlet will stay flat and a pocket will not form at the bottom.
Cut the cheese in 1/2 inch thick slices, then in rectangles of about 1 inch wide.
Squeeze them and place them in each tartlet.
Spoon two halves of tomatoes in each brie tartlets.
Cook the tartlets in the oven at 400 for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile place the saucepan back on the stove to reduce the liquid to about half. When the tartlets are cooked, and removed from the oven, drizzle some of that juice on top of the tartlets and eat ;-))

Bon Appetit and Happy Cooking!!!

Brie Tartlets with Confit Tomatoes

Servings: 7-10 people
Time: 15 minutes
Difficulty: Super easy
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Ingredients for 20 medium sized tartlets:

1 box of small baby tomatoes of about 1 pint ( the smaller the better- you really need 20 small tomatoes),
250 gr. or about 10 oz of brie cheese,
1 pie crust,
1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar ( I used the Mediterranean Balsamic with Fig),
2 tbsp of brown sugar.
1/2 tbsp of olive oil.
salt and pepper to taste

In a medium saucepan, warm up the oil and when it is sizzling,
Add the tomatoes that you would have cut in half.
Cook them for a minutes or two.
Then add the vinegar and the sugar, a dash of salt and pepper and bring to boil.
Cook for another 1 or 2 minutes. Set aside.
With a cutter, cut the dough to fit the tartlet pan ( you will want to use the medium or the mini muffin pan because the cheese may over flow),
With a shaper, push the dough down. Then with a fork, prick the dough so that the tartlet will stay flat and a pocket will not form at the bottom.
Cut the cheese in 1/2 inch thick slices, then in rectangles of about 1 inch wide. Squeeze them and place them in each tartlet.
Spoon two halves of tomatoes in each brie tartlets.
Cook the tartlets in the oven at 400 for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile place the saucepan back on the stove to reduce the liquid to about half.
When the tartlets are cooked, and removed from the oven, drizzle some of that juice on top of the tartlets and eat ;-))

Bon Appetit and Happy Cooking!!!

Portobello Pizza

Posted July 27, 2013

Filed under appetizers, Crudite/ salad, deep flexipan, entree, Recipe with Demarle Cookware, silpat, What's Up in Cecile's Kitchen

I love mushrooms, but neither of my children like them so it is not often that i will have them for dinner. Sometimes I will fix sautéed mushrooms as a side to my dinner, but more so in the winter.

Two days ago however, one of my customer, asked me to do a cooking class for her friends and asked that I do a vegetarian menu. She even suggested that I presented a recipe of Portobello mushroom as the “main entrée”. I love Portobello mushroom but i never ever thought to fix them at home until them and had no clue what I was going to do.

I guess I could have gone to a cookbook, or search for a recipe but instead i decided to duplicate a dish that was once my favorite: Gerhard’s Cafe Portobello Pizza. I said that this was once my favorite because they stopped offering this wonderful appetizer a few years ago.

I tried to remember what was on his pizza and tried to come up with something similar. What I came up is very very similar. I hope that you will enjoy this. It has been my lunch for a couple of days now and I am loving it;-)

Ingredients for 1:

1 Portobello mushroom
1 Roma tomato sliced very thinly
1 tbsp of fresh basil chopped thinly
1/3 cup of grated feta cheese
1 tbsp of mediterranean vinegar from Demarle
1 tbsp of basil olive oil
1/16 tsp of salt
1/32 tsp of pepper

With a dry paper towel, wipe the mushroom clean.
Place the mushroom face up on a silpat that you would have placed on a perforated sheet, or on a flexipat if you are fixing more than one.
Place the tomatoes on top of the mushroom as shown below.
Disperse the chopped basil over the tomatoes.
Add the cheese.
In a small bowl, mix the vinegar, oil, salt and pepper and drizzle this on top of the mushroom.
Cook the mushroom in a warm oven of 400 for 15 minutes.
Eat as soon as it comes out of the oven, as an entrée or appetizer. YUM!!!

Bon Appetit and Happy Cooking!!!

Meyer Lemon Mousse

Posted May 24, 2013

Filed under dessert, fruit, ice-cream. sorbet, Mousses, What's Up in Cecile's Kitchen

My mom did not really like Chocolate. I never really understood why growing up as I was a chocolate aficionado. Nothing could be better than chocolate then. Today, my world is changing. Though I still enjoy chocolate, I am much difficult with the kind of chocolate I will eat – preferably dark, 60% cocoa and from Europe…. Yeah I know…

These days however I am more tempted by citrus desserts and citrus mousse. When I saw this recipe on the net last week, it made me think of one of my mom’s favorite: Citron Glace so I had to try it. I made a few adjustments. The recipe was inspired from the Martha Stewart’s website.

Ingredients for 3 lemons:

4 Meyer Lemon ( 3 for the shell, and one for the zest)
1/4 cup of Myer Lemon Juice
1 egg separated
1/3 cup of sugar
2 tbsp of butter
1/4 cup of heavy cream
1 tbsp of sugar for the egg whites
1 pinch of salt

Using a very sharp knife, trim the tip end of each lemon so that they can sit straight. Cut the top of the lemon about 1/4 of an inch from the top. Repeat those steps with all 3 lemons.
With a spoon, carefully dig into the lemon and scoop the flesh out but being careful not to tear the lemon. Wrap the lemons in plastic wrap and refrigerate them so they will not dry out.
PLace the flesh into a container and squeeze the juice out of it by squeezing the flesh through a a fine sieve. Keep only 1/4 cup of the juice for this dessert, and refrigerate the rest for some other usage.
Place the 1/4 cup of lemon juice, the egg yolk and the sugar into a small saucepan and cook until the mixture thickens. Set aside.
When the mixture is thick, let it cool completely, then add the butter and mix. Stir in the zest. Cover the mixture with a plastic wrap and seal it well so that a ” skin” will not form.
PLace the heavy cream in a mixer and whip the cream until it forms hard peaks. Remove the whipped cream from the mixer and refrigerate.
Clean the mixer, add the egg and beat the egg whites with 1 pinch of salt and 1 tbsp of sugar to form glossy peaks.
Remove the lemon curd and the whipped cream from the fridge and fold the whipped cream slowly into the curd.
Fold the egg whites into this mixture.
Fill a pastry bag with this mixture, and fill the lemon shells with this mixture.
Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. I personnally froze mine.
Make sure to take the lemons out at least before 30 minutes before eating them. The mousse will be slightly frozen. But i kind of like to eat them that way:-)

Your turn to give it a try and tell me how you like them;-)

Bon Appetit and Happy Cooking!!!

Salade Nicoise Revisited

Posted October 3, 2012

Filed under entree, Large round mold, octogonal silpat, potato, Recipe with Demarle Cookware, seafood, stainless steel cookware, vegetables, What's Up in Cecile's Kitchen

The first time I ordered a salad as an appetizer here in the USA, I was a bit surprised to see all the things that was included. There was cheese, various vegetables, nuts, even meat amid the greeny leaves. In France, when you order a green salad as an appetizer, it is usually a very plain salad. It does not include many vegetables. I think the reason is because a salad is usually eaten as a ” cleanser” between the main meal and the cheese/ or dessert.

When we eat generous salads such as those we know here in the USA ( Chef SAlad), they are replacing a meal. Those salads are found on lunch menus in the summer, and they rarely have lettuce as their main base. There are two popular salad that you will see on menus in the summer: Salade composee which often has rice as its main base, and salade nicoise that is made with steamed potatoes, steamed green beans, fresh onions and tomatoes. There are millions of recipes out-there, but the traditional one includes red purple onions, artichokes, anchovies, eggs and tuna.

Growing up, it seemed that when we had left-over potatoes, this is what my mom made. I will tell you that I ate so much of it that it took me a while to make it again. But tonite since I had small quantities of everything, it occured to me that I could make a warm salade nicoise for my dinner with what i had in my fridge.

The French Salade Nicoise is seasoned with a traditional red white vinaigrette but I gave it my twist.

Ingredients for 4:

12 small red potatoes
about 2 cups bag of fresh green beans or haricots verts
1/2 purple onions sliced very thinly.
1 box of baby tomatoes
2 filet of tuna sashimi
4 tbsp ol balsamic vinegar
4 tbsp of olive oil
2-3 tsp of smokehouse maple herb mix from Costco.
1/4. tsp of sea salt.

Rinse the potatoes very well and place them in the large round mold. Add a dash of salt, and a tsp of water. Cover the round mold and cook in the microwave for 6-8 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked but still firm. Let the potatoes cool and then slice them in narrow slices. Set aside. Then place about 2 cups of green beans or haricots verts in the round mold, cover the round mold again with the octogonal silpat and cook for 5 minutes. Set the beans aside.

On a plate, sprinkle about 2 tbsp of the maple and lay the tuna into the smokehouse maple seasoning so that it will be covered with the spice. Repeat this process on all sides.

Place a small frying pan on a hot stove at medium-high, and add 1/2 tbsp of butter. When the butter is sizzling, add the tuna steak and sear it for 1 minute. Season with some salt. Turn it over and repeat so as to sear all sides. Remove the tuna from the pan and set it aside.

In the same frying pan, add the sliced onions and cook them until they are becoming a golden brown. Throw in the pan the balsamic vinegar, the olive oil and 1 tbsp of the maple seasoning, and bring to boil. Turn the heat down to low, add the sliced potatoes, the beans, the fresh tomatoes and stir. Cook this mixture for only 1 minute or 2. Add 1/2 tsp of sea salt. Toss. Plate the “salad” on plates. Slice the tuna in narrow slices, lay them over the salad. Drizzle more sauces over the tuna, et voila!!!

Bon Appetit and Happy Cooking!!!

Salmon Ceviche

Posted August 22, 2012

Filed under appetizers, Crudite/ salad, What's Up in Cecile's Kitchen

Ceviche and tartare are a bit similar in that they are dishes of raw meat or fish. The main difference between tartare and ceviche is that in ceviche, the raw meat or fish is cooked in citrus juice. However the difference is, both are wonderful for the hot summer days because they are easy recipes that require no cooking time, very few ingredients, and that are very very healthy.

Ceviche and tartare are even more to me than a simple healthy recipe, they just make me happy inside and out. They probably do because they are made of only the best and the freshest ingredients. And even though they are very very healthy, they taste divine to my palate, and satisfy my hunger or my cravings for anything else. They are the perfect comfort food for me.

Tartare and Ceviche have found their common place on French menu. Here in the USA, however, they are almost nonexistent, unless you go to more urban cities. I love ceviche and tartare but do not fix them often as it is difficult to buy small filet of fish. I had been cravings to eat ceviches, but never found the time to prepare it until this evening.

Recipe for 3-4: 1 filet of salmon of about 12 oz., 250 gr. or about 9 oz of smoked salmon, 1 lime, 1 inch of fresh ginger, 1/3 of a long european cucumber, 2 tbsp of olive oil, sea salt, pepper, 2 tbsp of shaved red onion.

Remove the skin from the salmon and trim the salmon of any nerves, and darker parts. Cut the salmon in 1/2 inches strips, and then cut the strips into tiny squares. Chop the smoked salmon. Place both the diced salmon and the chopped smoked salmon in a large bowl. Peel, shave and chop the cucumber very thinly and place it with the salmon. Zest the lime, press the juice of the lime and empty both into the bowl with the salmon. Peel the ginger and grind it into the salmon also. Add the shaved red onion, 2 tbsp of olive oil, a dash of salt and pepper and stir so that all the ingredients are well- blended. Taste to see if more salt and pepper need to be added. Place the mixture into the fridge and let it rest for 30 minutes to an hour.

Serve as it, or with cucumber slices. C’est tout!!!

Bon Appetit and Happy Cooking!!!