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
Print

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!!!

Gluten and Dairy Free Almond Waffles

Posted July 21, 2014

Filed under breakfast, pancake/ soufle/ waffle, What's Up in Cecile's Kitchen

My nephew spent the week here with us, so that it would be too far for him to get to the church where my son and him were to do an in-town mission trip. I hardly saw them. They would leave at 7 with my husband and would come back at 8 pm.

This morning though, since they were not going to church they decided to stay home and enjoy the company of themselves playing video games and playing in the pool.

But this morning, as they woke up I realize that there was nothing left in the fridge for breakfast. No milk, No baguette in the freezer, No more cereals, so i decided to make waffles.

And since I too wanted to eat waffles but did not want to eat wheat, I decided to make almond ones.

Ingredients for about 14 waffles:

3 1/2 cup of almond flour
1 1/2 cup of milk ( i used coconut milk since i had nothing else on hand)
4 tbsp of sugar
1/2 tsp of sea salt
1 tsp of baking soda
1 tbsp of vanilla extract
4 eggs
1 box of fresh strawberry of about 16 oz.

In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients.
Turn the waffle iron on, and when the light turns off, open the waffle iron, spray a bit of olive oil, or brush a bit coconut oil on the waffle iron.
Pour in about 1/4 cup of the batter and close the lid.
Cook the waffle until the light turns off.
Repeat the same process until you have used all the batter.
While the waffles are cooking, slice the strawberries in cubes, mix in a bit of sugar and set aside until it is time to eat.
When serving the waffles, spoon a bit of the fruit on top of the waffle, drizzle some honey and Breakfast is Ready. Easy and Healthy!!!

Bon Appetit and Happy Cooking!!!

French Green Bean Salad in Maple Dressing

Posted November 21, 2013

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

Do you have teenage children? I do, I have two. And though I hate that they are grown already and soon ready to leave me, i do enjoy the fact that they are driving on their own. It has truly been a blessing having my daughter drive herself and her brother to school and run errands for me. And run errands, she does… every day. The other day i sent her to get some French green beans for a cooking class and in spite of finding some, she bought some regular green beans, not quite the same taste, or texture. I cooked them the same way I would have my French green beans, but i was not too too satisfied. Any way, we cooked them, we ate them and there were gone.

Because I had another bag in the fridge, i decided to fix a salad with them. Growing up in France, we often had green beans salad with fresh sliced onions. I never was fond of it, that is why I decided that i could use cooked onions instead. I also added maple syrup to my vinaigrette to sweeten the taste of the vinaigrette = Bingo;-) I loved, loved, loved it. I hope that you will give it a try.

Ingredients for 4-6:

1 bag of green beans ( about 16 oz.)
2 tbsp of Dijon Mustard ( or other strong mustard)
2 tbsp of champagne vinegar
2 tbsp of olive oil
1 tbsp of maple syrup ( good quality)
1/8 tsp of salt
1/16 tsp of pepper
1-2 tbsp of olive oil
1 small onion or 1/2 of a large onion to make 1/4 cup of caramelized onions.

Drop 1-2 tbsp of olive oil into a large frying pan and heat it up until it is starting to sizzle. Add the chopped onion and saute it for a few minutes stirring constantly.
Reduce the heat and continue cooking the onions until they are becoming an amber color. It will take at least 8-10 minutes. Sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper, stir and set aside to cool.
Rinse the green beans, trim the ends and place them in the round mold. Place the octogonal silpat on the large round mold. Place the round mold on the microwave and cook it for 4 minutes.
When the beans are cooked, let them cool. Cut them in 1/2 inch.
In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients to make the dressing ( oil, olive oil, salt, pepper, maple, mustard). Add the cut beans and the caramelized onions and mix well.

You may add 1/4 cup of toasted pecans, 1/4 cup of gorgonzola cheese crumbled, and 1/4 cup of cranberries ( that you would have previously soaked in water for 2 minutes) for extra flavor and for variation.

Well, i have to say that this salad was a winner at my table, even my son and husband went for second. Yeah!!!! And I have enjoyed it so much myself that I have been eating it for dinner and lunch these past 2 days.

I know that i will be serving it for Thanksgiving, easy fast and still yummy;-) I hope that you will give it a try.

Bon Appetit and Happy Cooking!!!

Chocolate And Apple Purses

Posted October 22, 2013

Filed under dessert, Fleximolds, fruit, Recipe with Demarle Cookware, What's Up in Cecile's Kitchen

What do you do when you have lots of apples and don’t know what to do with them? You either eat them as snack, or you fix lots of desserts with them;-))

Well since i had some phillo dough left in my fridge, i thought to fix some chocolate and apples purses. The great part about fixing this recipe is that it is fast, really easy to make, unexpensive and can make a great dessert, or a yummy snack.

Ingredients for 20 small ones:

2 1/2 to 3 apples peeled and chopped thinly
1 pack of phillo dough cut in square of 2×2 inches
2 tbsp of brown sugar
1/2 cup of chocolate
1/4 cup of olive oil, or melted chocolate butter.

In a bowl, mix the chopped apples and sugar and mix well.
Cut the phillo dough into squares of 2×2 inches for the mini muffin tray, or 4×4 for the large muffin tray.
Peel 3 to 4 sheets of the stack of the phillo dough and push them inside each mini cupcake. Of course you can also make large ones using the straight muffin tray.
Fill the inside of those “cups” with apples.
Top the apples with a few chocolate chips (5-6).
Press the filo together to close up the “purse”.
With a brush, brush the top of each “purses” with olive oil or with melted butter. You may also use the spritzer to sprinkle olive oil.
Cook in the oven for 8-10 minutes or until the top of the purses is a nice brown.
After removing the cupcakes from the oven, let them cool for a few minutes and drizzle more chocolate on top. You may eat them with some ice-cream, or as it ( I did, they make yummy afternoon snacks. They remind me of the Chaussons de Pomme I used to eat growing up, except that they cook much quicker and they are much better for you;-)YUMMMMMMMM

Bon Appetit and Happy Cooking!!!

Gorgonzola and Caramelized Purple Onion Quiche

Posted September 24, 2013

Filed under Fleximolds, Recipe with Demarle Cookware, stainless steel cookware, What's Up in Cecile's Kitchen

Do you have days when life is so crazy that dinner time arrives, and there is nothing on the table. Last night was this kind of night. I had nothing planned to make. Nothing really in the fridge and yet we needed to eat dinner. So what do you do?? Well, you either order out ( something that we do not do), or find things to use in the fridge. And this is what I did. I searched, found gorgonzola cheese and lettuce. I did not even have a pie crust so I actually made it from scratch, but you certainly can make your own.

Ingredients for 1 quiche for 6-8 people:

2 large purple onion diced thinly
2 tbsp of olive oil
1 cup of gorgonzola cheese crumbled
2 cups of heavy cream
4 eggs
salt and pepper to taste
1 pie crust

In a large frying pan, warm up the olive oil. When the olive oil is sizzling, add the chopped onion and saute it.
When the onion is starting to become an amber color, turn the heat down to medium and keep cooking for 10 minutes until the onions are becoming a darker brown and becoming softer. Set aside.
Place the pie crust inside the tart mold, or the round mold.
With a fork, prick the bottom of the pie to prevent an air pocket to form at the bottom of the pie.
In a large bowl, empty the caramelized onion, crumbled gorgonzola, eggs, cream and mix well.
Pour this mixture into the pie crust.
Cook for 25 to 30 minutes.
Serve with a salad. Miam, Miam, Miam.

Bon Appetit and Happy Cooking!!!

Green Curry Chicken Panang

Posted September 6, 2013

Filed under entree, meat, poultry, Recipe with Demarle Cookware, stainless steel cookware

This past weekend, I had the pleasure to keep my nephew for the weekend. Since most of my husband’s family lives in town, it is rare that any of my nieces or nephews spend the nights at our house. It only happens if my children wants to have sleepover with them or if their parents are going out-of-town. This past weekend my brother-in-law decided to go away for the weekend with his wife and thus let us keep Aksel, my nephew.
My weekends are usually quite boring, we rarely go out as I am happy to just relax and do nothing. But this weekend, having company, we decided to go here and there. One night we went to the movies, another night we did pizza and movies, and another night we went to a restaurant to eat Thai food. One of my favorite:-) and my children. I ordered the same as : always : Chicken Curry Panang with steamed tofu…. Yum!!!

Well this weekend as I was cleaning my refrigerator and needed to cook some of the chicken I had left over, I decided to cook another curry dish for my school luncheons…;-)

Better than a peanut butter sandwich, right!!?!:-)

Ingredients for 4:

1 tbsp of sesame or peanut oil
1/2 container of the green curry paste or about 4 tbsp.
2 tbsp of brown sugar
1 can of coconut milk
2 chicken breasts cleaned, and diced in small cubes
1-2 bags of fresh baby spinach
1 cup of carrot matches
1/ 2 red pepper diced very small
1/2 yellow or orange pepper diced very small as well.
Salt
Pepper
4 cups of cooked rice

In a large date pan, warm up the oil and sauté the chicken on all sides. season with salt and pepper.
Remove the chicken from the sauté pan and set aside.
In the same sauté pan, stir in the curry paste.
Pour in the coconut milk, the brown sugar and stir. Bring the mixture to boil.
Add the chicken and cook for 5 minutes.
Them add the peppers, carrots and spinach and bring the mixture to boil again.
Stir , reduce the temperature and cook do 5 minutes.
When ready spoon some rice ( or not) and spoon the mixture over the rice.
Enjoy!!!

Bon appetit and Happy Cooking!!!!

Manhattan Chicken

Posted August 16, 2013

Filed under deep flexipan, entree, meat, poultry, Recipe with Demarle Cookware, roulpat, What's Up in Cecile's Kitchen

Ever since I came back from Convention and tasted the Blood Orange Olive Oil that Demarle is selling, I have enjoyed making recipes with that olive oil. That salmon that I made a few weeks ago was to die for;-)

I really love that orange flavor on seafood or meat! and for some reason, anything citrus these days have become appetizing to me.

As I was reading the latest magazine of Light Cooking, I found a recipe entitled Manhattan Chicken. Though the recipe was enticing, I did not like that they sauteed the chicken in olive oil, and covered the chicken with the Manhattan Sauce before serving. The chicken did not really absorb the flavors of the sauce so I changed the recipe a bit and this is what came up, more flavorful;0

Ingredients for 1-2 people:

1 chicken breast per 2 people,
1 tbsp of light soy sauce,
1 tbsp of orange marmalade with,
1 tbsp of bourbon or whiskey.

For the Sauce:

1 tbsp of light soy sauce,
1 tbsp of bourbon
and 1 tbsp or 1/4 cup of orange marmalade ( depending how strong you want your sauce to taste) If you want your sauce to be more diluted, and not taste so much like bourbon, increase the amount of marmalade;-)

Pound the chicken in between the roulpat to make it flatter and this way it will cook more evenly.
Place the chicken in a ziploc bag and pour the marinade over it.
Let the chicken marinade 30 minutes to a few hours.
After the chicken has marinated, turn the oven to 400, or turn on your grill if you rather grill your meat.
Place the chicken on a flexipat and cook for 15 minutes, or grill on a grill.
Meanwhile, in a small saucepan cook all the ingredients given above for the sauce for a few minutes.
Before serving, or slicing the chicken, let it rest for a few minutes on the flexipan. Cover the pan with a silpat so that it will not cool down to fast.
Slice the chicken breast in tiny strips, pour this sauce over the chicken.
Serve with vegetables of your choices. I served it with grilled sliced zucchinis and squash. Yummy!!!

Bon Appetit and Happy Cooking!!!

Arugula, Pineapple and Teriyaki Chicken Salad

Posted March 29, 2013

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

If you read my previous posts, you may have seen the red curry Shrimps that I posted. Well I enjoyed that recipe so much that I decided to fix another curry dish a few days later. Except that that time I wanted to use green curry, sweet potato and pineapple. It was almost as good.

So why do I even mentioned this in my post, because the reason I made this salad is because I wanted to use the pineapple I forgot to add to my curry dish. Silly me;-)

Ingredients for 2:

1 box of Baby arugula ( or about 5 oz.)
5 oz. of fresh pineapple cut in cubes
1-2 chicken breast cooked with teriyaki sauce and sliced thinly
4 tbsp of pralines broken in pieces

Dressing:

1 tbsp of rice vinegar
2 tbsp of sesame seed oil
1 tsp of ginger garlic seasoning from Costco

In a bowl, mix all the ingredients mentioned above for the dressing and with a fork or a whisk, mix the dressing.
Add all the other ingredients and toss well.
Eat. Et voila;-)

Bon Appetit and Happy Cooking!!!

Prosciutto and Watercress Tart

Posted March 27, 2013

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

Ahh Spring break… it is almost here.. i can see it and yet it seems so far away…. 5 Days. 5 days and I will be enjoying my Spring Break and sleeping late;-) Yeah…

Well Spring Break is not here yet, and I have still a thousand things to do before I am on vacation: Homeworks, quizzes to review with my child… and the rest of my duties as a mom.

Monday was exactly that: a thousand things to do and no time…So of course I did not spend much time trying to fix dinner. I looked in my fridge, and gathered what I had: prosciutto, puff pastry ( yep another one- my fridge is a veritable treasure box).

Ingredients for 6:

1 puff pastry sheet thaw out ( 30 minutes to 45 min.) Keep it in the fridge until you are ready to use it or it will become sticky and will not unfold.
8oz. of proscuitto finely sliced
8 oz. of italian cheese mix
1-2 tbsp. of rosemary Herb Blend
2-3 cups of watercress

Turn the oven to 400.
Place the roul’pat on your counter and place the puff pastry on it.
Unfold it and with a rolling pin, spread the pastry so that it will fit the flexipan perfectly.
With a fork, prick the bottom of the pie.
Spread the cheese evenly over the pie dough.
Place the prosciutto all over the cheese, do not lay the sheets flat. I kind of gather them up a bit.
Sprinkle the rosemary herb blend over the prosciutto.
Cook the tart for 15-18 minutes or until the edges are a golden brown.
Before cutting the tart, spread the watercress over the tart.
Slice the tart over a cutting board and slice the tart in 8 pieces.

Bon Appetit and Happy Cooking!!!

Chocolate Ganache Cupcake

Posted February 14, 2013

Filed under Cakes, dessert, Fleximolds, Recipe with Demarle Cookware, What's Up in Cecile's Kitchen

What are you guys doing for Valentine’s?

I am going to stay home and prepared a wonderful meal for my sweet family.

If you are looking for a quick dessert that is easy to make but it is so very yummy, try those cupcakes!

Those cupcakes are so yummy that they are hard to resist even right out of the oven. I had to make two bunches because my children and I could not keep our hands of them, and I had nothing left to make picture with;-)

The ingredients are about the same as a cake I posted a year ago. https://cecilecuisine.com/2011/09/29/fudge-cake/

Ingredients for about 20 mini cupcakes:

1 cup of al purpose flour
1/4 cup and 2 Tbsp of unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 baking soda
1/4 tsp of table salt
1/2 cup of butter melted and warm
1 1/4 cups f brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp of vanilla extract
Chocolate Ganache
Sprinkles of all colors.

Turn your oven to 375.
In a small bowl, mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.
In another bowl mix the melted butter and the brown sugar.
Then add the vanilla and the eggs.
Dump the flour mixture in the egg and butter mixture and stir. Empty the batter into a plastic bag, or a pastry bag and pipe the cake into the opening of the mini cupcake mold.
Cook the cakes for 13-15 minutes until the top is puffed up and a it crunchy ( but the center will still be gouey).
Let the cakes cool in the pan for a few minutes, before removing them. You may eat them warm, they are really yummy!!!
If you wish to eat them as a cupcake, wait until they are completely cooled before piping the ganache as the frosting.

Ingredients for the ganache:

2 cups of Giradhelli Bittersweet chocolate
1 cup of heavy cream.

In a large bowl, place the chocolate.
Place the heavy cream in a microwave proof container and warm up the cream for 2 minutes until it is starting to boil.
Add the hot cream to the chocolate.
Let it rest for a minute or 2, then mix well until all the chocolate has melted and the ganache is becoming smooth.
Pipe the ganache onto the cake.
Decorate as you wish. Et voila!!!