Gloaming Designs

Now I need a cookie jar

because I finally managed to make a proper chocolate chip cookie in Paris!!  it's only taken almost 2 years.  i used this recipe from Smitten Kitchen.  i can identify two keys to the success:  finally finding the french versions of american ingredients (like which flour is milled to the same size as american 'all purpose' and which sugar is like granulated sugar) and secondly, beating the hell out of the butter/sugar/egg mixture.  i have to do this by hand so i always skimped on the airiness the recipes demand but lately i've found i can get that wonderful lightness after i add the egg.  i'm going to have some wicked arm muscles!

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in short:  i'm thrilled i have real cookies and i seem to have misplaced monday.

if anyone finds it, please do let me know.

Pizza Alsacienne

Sarah had made a pizza with wonderfully seasonal toppings and asked what her readers like to top their pizzas with.  well, in this 'house' we have pizza at least once a week but i'm talking homemade everything pizza.  some favorite combos include a riff on our favorite flatbread's pizza: tomato, olive, chevre, rosemary, garlic oil, red onion, fresh mozzarella. or a new favorite: tomato sauce, tomato, coppa, olives, fresh mozzarella, rosemary.  or a summer version of grilled pizza dough with fresh avocados, chevre, shallots, cherry tomatoes, arugula, and a drizzle of simple vinaigrette.

but i'm getting carried away!  because what i really want to tell you about is a cold weather pizza standby that has just 3 toppings.  so Sarah, for you, one of our favs:

 

Pizza Alsacienne

(meaning a pizza from the Alsace region, adapted from this recipe)

this measurements are very 'ish', meaning only a vague guide really

- equal parts sour cream and cottage cheese (maybe 1/2 c. each for a 2 person pizza)

- fresh ground black pepper and sea salt

- several slices bacon, chopped (maybe 3 american slices but the maple version is not really suited for this recipe. stick to classic, smoked bacon)

- 1/4 c. red onion, shallot, really whatever onion you have, thinly sliced

mix the sour cream and cottage cheese and add a splash of sea salt and a hefty dose of black pepper to taste.  go easy on the salt and a little goes a long way for some reason in this mix.  slather this on top of your rolled out pizza dough and top with the bacon then the sliced onion/shallot.  cook in a blasting hot oven until bubbly and beginning to be golden in spots.

enjoy!

My favorite Pizza Dough

(adapted from Jamie Oliver's recipe)

makes 2 medium thin pizzas

- 1 2/3 c. all-purpose flour

- 2/3 corn meal

- 1 teaspoon sea salt

- 2 teaspoons active dry yeast

- 1 teaspoon raw sugar

- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil

 -3/4 c. warm water (between 105°F and 115°F)

in a small bowl mix yeast and sugar then stir in the warm water.  add the olive oil and let sit several minutes until foamy.

in another bowl mix the flour, corn meal, and salt, forming a well in the center.  when the yeast mixture is ready, add that to the well in the flour and incorporate the flour by pulling in small amounts from the sides of the well, eventually forming a smooth dough.  knead the dough several times in the bowl until it is thoroughly mixed and a bit springy.  set aside in a warm place covered with a towel to rise until doubled.  depending on the room temp, this can take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour.  when i need to hurry it along, i set the oven to warm for just a few minutes, turn it off, and pop in the bowl of dough.

once doubled, you can divided it in two and freeze one half or use it all at once.

- tips -

i've found that the best to get a crispy crust in a conventional oven is i put my sheet pan in upside down (someday, someday i'll have a pizza stone!) and turn the oven up to full whack. meanwhile i prepare the dough and topping and when the oven and pan are good and hot i pull it out, brush some olive oil on the pan, sprinkle with corn meal, spread the crust on the pan, layer the toppings and get it back into the oven tout de suite!

Nectarine Rosemary Jam

i just noticed that some posts that i published have gone missing or never made it to the blog.  what?!  while i'm trying to figure this out, here is thursday's post:

 

 

 

i love the boy because he is willing to participate in making jam at 11 pm.

i used this recipe but made it with nectarines instead of peaches.

how long can i keep all 6 jars closed?

maybe, maybe, a month.  it smelled sooooooooo good!

Perfect Iced Tea

this is my favorite thing as of late.

seriously.

it's perfect.

so, thanks to the splendid table's interview with Bill Waddington, this is how i've been making (and consuming) huge amounts of iced tea in the past weeks:

in the evening, get a clean bottle and a teabag of your favorite tea or tea ball with one tbsp. of loose tea (one bag/one tbsp per 3 cups. water).  with the tea inside the bottle, fill with cold water and put in the fridge overnight.

in the morning remove the tea bag and you have the most amazing iced tea with zero work!  and unlike tea that you brew hot and then cool, there is no chance of a bitter taste, especially for green teas, just a beautiful smooth drink.

if you like sweetened iced tea, just make a simple syrup of 1 part sugar to 1 part water which you simmer for a couple minutes until dissolved and add that to taste in the morning when the brewing is done.

i've been making apricot white and Portsmouth Tea Co.'s berry melon sencha.  it's so easy that when i finish a bottle, which doesn't take me long, i rinse it out, pop in a new tea bag, and restock the fridge.  even the frenchman, who in the past has not loved iced tea, is diggin' it.

Have Food, WIll Travel

when i'm going to be in a car for an extended period of time, i like to have food at the ready.  not only do you need to have something when you are in the middle of nowhere and starving, but i love having something special to look forward to (like airline flights where sometimes i'll buy a new cd and i won't even unwrap it until we're up in the air).

these are delicious, not dry at all, and totally portable.

i've adapted the recipe from goodLife {eats} strawberry scone recipe (here) and here is my version:

Fresh Peach Scones
with Orange Marmalade Glaze
(for the road!)

Makes 8 (good-sized)

1 egg
1/3 c. milk
1 tbsp. honey (i used tilleul honey which is a bit minty.)
2 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 c. sugar
1/4 c. butter, sliced
1/4 c. mascarpone
3/4 c. fresh peaches, peeled and diced

Orange Marmalade Glaze
1/2 c. powdered sugar
1/2 tbsp. orange juice
2 tsp. orange marmalade

Preheat oven to 375°F/190°C.
In a bowl, whisk egg, milk, and honey together and set aside.  In another bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar together.  Add the mascarpone and butter and rub together with fingertips until it is well combined and resembles coarse sand.  Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the egg mixture and diced peaches and gently fold together.

Turn the mixture out onto a parchment lined baking sheet (or even a round cake pan - which was all i had) and gently form into a round about 8" round.  Bake for 20 to 30 minutes until lightly golden.  Cut into 8 wedges and cool on a cooling rack.

For the glaze, mix the powdered sugar, orange juice, and marmalade.  If the glaze is not thick, add more powdered sugar to get the right consistency.  Once the scones have cooled completely, drizzle the glaze all over the tops and let the glaze set before you pack them up.

mmmmmm.....

so, next week is our first official vacation in four years!  yea!
i'm going to try some scheduled posts for next week because i won't even have internet access.

so, t.g.i.f. and happy week!

Weekend en Semaine

yesterday was a holiday here in france.  and it was soooo lovely.  the one day felt like a whole weekend.  which makes the fact that today is friday and the two days of the weekend are just around the corner feel extravagant.

our choose of activities was a happy accident that made it feel like we really left the city.  we started in the city and walked the Promenade Plantée out of the city for its entire length.  a large length of the walk is actually on an old raised train track.  it is so lush and well planted that the illusion of not being in the city is nearly complete.  the many rose vines were literally dripping with huge, full, vibrantly colored blooms, including the cabbage roses i love.

 



when we got to the end we were nearly at the circle of highway which marks the edge of the city proper and so continued a short distance to reach a place i've wanted to visit since we moved in our nearby apartment: the Bois de Vincennes.  this is where i felt myself take flight.  as if i needed more proof that i am not a city girl, i couldn't help it, when we set foot in that wood i felt light and at home.

i was not the only one, the group of ladies above where dancing together and singing 'la vie en rose' at the tops of their lungs!  so wonderful!







in total we walked something like 6 miles.

the best part is that this is all nearly in our backyard;  when we were looking for an apartment i told myself that i was going to trust.  how was i supposed to know the truly best place for me in this unknown city?  and there are somethings, like the Bois de Vincennes, which make me realize all the time that i have some great people up there looking out for me.

when we got home i made us a feast of homemade tortillas with avocado, tomato, white beans, red onion, cheddar, and creme fraiche.  i used nie's tortilla recipe (using white flour because it's all i had) and seriously, in my exhausted, preoccupied state, it was still ridiculously easy.  i made the dough, chopped the toppings, and by the time the chopping was done, the dough was ready to go.  there is really no reason for me to ever buy tortillas again!  try it.  seriously.

 happy weekend!

Ikea!

last weekend we went to Ikea for the kitchen island we've been dreaming of since we moved in in november.  it's love.  and i love ikea.  this gives us the counter space we really needed and a visual separation between kitchen and, well, everything else as it's a studio apartment.  before, i literally only had one kitchen drawer so the silverware was kept in a pitcher on the counter.  i don't mind the look, we had the same in our last apartment, but when you have a 20" x 24" total workspace, it gets tight.  i know plenty of you fellow apartment-dwellers have the same problem!  so the joy of 2 (!) more drawers and a place to hide silverware, well, it's very nice.

we also got a few smaller things on the top of our wishlist, most notably, a trashcan.  no more trash bag just hanging out on the floor!  but, the serious and unexpected thrill of the trip was finding the little blue and green set perched on the island in the photo.

i had searched the internet the previous week looking for a popsicle mold that was simple and didn't require disposable wooden sticks but to no avail.  what i found listed was either too price-y, too fussy, or too far away to ship.  but there, with the last minute impulse buys near the registers at ikea: simple popsicle mold.  for 2€.  sold!  i should have gotten 2.  but i can't wait to try it out and have started a list of flavor combos.  at the top of the list for the moment: pineapple, basil, lime.  i'd love to hear any favorite combos you guys have!

p.s. new banner and layout on the blog!  yea!

p.p.s. Abigail has offered one of her gorgeous illustrations for free download.  you can frame this and have some art on your walls in no time!

Breakfast

because you can't tell me that if this was sitting on your counter on a friday morning, you wouldn't have it for breakfast like i did today.


stay tuned for some great news later today!

The Lottie + Doof Food Quiz

and on a completely different note, a food quiz.  sometimes i have a lot of trouble with quizzes (and probably this one too) because really, i have too many favorites.  but that doesn't bother me at all, because life is so much more colorful that way!

The Lottie + Doof Food Quiz

Sweet or salty?

i ike them balanced together - love the contrast.

Chocolate or vanilla?

chocolate.

Hot or mild?

hot.

What won’t you eat?

oh man, what won't i eat?...  well, i make it a life rule to try almost everything once; i like to order things i'm not familiar with and of course that can lead to disasters but oh the treasures that can be discovered!  ok, i'll say whole insects.  i'm not really aching to try those.  and i hate cilantro.

Most memorable meal?

just one?!  here's where it gets hard for me.  i loved my birthday lunch last year at Robert's and my parents gave me a lot of great resturant experiences while i was growing up.  then there was the dinner at Anneke Jans Romain set up last year.  i think some of my favorite meals were with family and friends outside on our little deck in Maine last summer.  good fresh food under a canopy of leaves.  sigh...

Favorite object in your kitchen?

because i went sooooo long without one in this country, "un couteau qui coupe"! ("a knife that cuts") and i love a big wooden cutting board.

What are you scared of in the kitchen?

i can't think of anything i'm scared of in the kitchen.  honestly.

Do you prefer to cook alone or with others?

mostly alone.  this is a new realization for me but cooking is along the lines of mediation, i get in a groove and i'm somewhere else.  maybe if i had a bigger kitchen; i love the idea of the family gathered around.

What country would you move to for the food?

i don't know about moving to but i'd love to visit the Scandinvian countries for the food and maybe Spain, Portugal, and Italy.  but we have some awesome variety in the U.S. and we sell ourselves really short on that note.

If you were to come back as a fruit or vegetable, what would you be?

a nectarine.

(my favorite fruit, plus: growing up in a tree?  awesome.)

What’s for dinner?

mushroom and breadcrumb risotto, a lettuce and arugula salad, and a pear tarte tatin

today i'm off to battle it out at 3 (three!) different french administrative buildings for paperwork.  ok, no, one of them is the U.S. Embassy, but still.  really not looking forward to it.  stay tuned for a sure-to-be swashbuckling account tomorrow!

eat well live well

{crepes, peaches, and wild maine blueberries}

do you know about jenifer's photo trade?
this is the first one i've participated in and i love the idea.
last month's theme was 'eat well - live well'

septmeber's is 'still' but this is the last one until the new year (a break for the hectic time)
so if you like the idea, sign-up quickly!