French Food

After our fabulous honeymoon in France, I was inspired to make a french meal.  All the food we had there was so great.  I don't think mine was quite as good as the real thing, but a good imposter. 

Drink...

 

Bordeaux Wine

With France having such great wines, we were sure to stock up our wine fridge with some of the delicious wines we brought back.  We couldn't believe how inexpensive the quality wines were in France.  We saw the majority of bottles on sale for 3-5 Euros per bottle.  We enjoyed many different wines in France in cafes, brasseries, and on our picnics.  

There's no ingredients or directions for this one.  Just get a good bottle, open, pour, and enjoy!

Dinner...

Boeuf Bourguignon

We wanted to have this dish in France, but never got the opportunity to.  I looked up several different recipes and created a combination of them.  One of the recipes I included portions of was Julia Child's.  However, hers seemed very complicated, took a long time, and had to be cooked in the oven.  So, I combined some ideas from her recipe with another quicker, more streamlined recipe I found.  This one was much simpler, quicker, and cooked on the stove top (which was great because our apartment is already way too hot without the oven on!). 

Ingredients:

(serves 4-5)

• 6 oz. bacon, chopped
• 1 beef sirloin steak or top round steak, cut into 1-inch pieces (about 1 pound)
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 medium onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/9 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 6 ounce sliced mushrooms (about 2 cups)
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves , crushed
• 2 cup fresh or frozen whole baby carrots
• 1 3/4 cup beef broth
• 1/2 cup Burgundy or other dry red wine

Directions:

cooked bacon and beef

veggies cooking

1. Simmer the bacon in a large pot or dutch oven until fully cooked.  Remove from the pot.
2. Sprinkle the beef with salt and pepper.  Coat the pieces with flour.  Cook the beef in the bacon fat until well browned. Remove from the pot.
3. Cook the carrots, onions, garlic, mushrooms, parsley, thyme, and black pepper in the bacon fat.
4. Add the beef stock, wine, cooked beef, and cooked bacon.  
5. Simmer covered for 20 minutes.  If the broth seems too thin, add a little flour and cook a few more minutes.
6. Serve with potatoes, rice, or orzo pasta.

Plat Du Fromage

My favorite food in France was the cheese, and we ate a lot of it!  We even brought some back with us.  The French eat their cheese course at the end of their meal.  We had it this way in France, but I still prefer it before my meal.  I guess I'm just too American!  
For this cheese platter we had a Camembert and another cheese which we aren't quite sure what it was (maybe it was called Auvergne since it says that on the tag??).  The person we bought it from in France didn't speak much English.  We couldn't bring back goat cheese because it was unpasteurized, so he recommended this cheese as a similar one.  
You could have a cheese plate with any variety of cheeses, but typically the ones we had in France included a Brie or Camembert, a goat cheese, a blue cheese, and a hard cheese.

Dessert...

Mousse Au Chocolat

*recipe from FoodNetwork.com
Chocolate mousse has been one of my favorite desserts since I was a kid. Most recipes either have raw egg, or involve using a thermometer to measure the egg temperature.  This was a bit complicated for me, so I went with Alton Brown's simplified recipe.  It tasted delicious, but my texture seemed to be a little off.  I think I might have over beat my whipped cream which caused it to be too stiff and not incorporate smoothly, so be careful not to over-whip!
Ingredients:
(serves 6)

• 1 3/4 cups whipping cream
• 12 ounces quality semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 3 ounces espresso or strong coffee
• 1 tablespoon dark rum
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon flavorless, granulated gelatin

Directions:

1. Chill 1 1/2 cups whipping cream in refrigerator. Chill metal mixing bowl and mixer beaters in freezer.
2. In top of a double boiler, combine chocolate chips, coffee, rum and butter. Melt over barely simmering water, stirring constantly. Remove from heat while a couple of chunks are still visible. Cool, stirring occasionally to just above body temperature.
3. Pour remaining 1/4 cup whipping cream into a metal measuring cup and sprinkle in the gelatin. Allow gelatin to "bloom" for 10 minutes. Then carefully heat by swirling the measuring cup over a low gas flame or candle. Do not boil or gelatin will be damaged. Stir mixture into the cooled chocolate and set aside.
4. In the chilled mixing bowl, beat cream to medium peaks. Stir 1/4 of the whipped cream into the chocolate mixture to lighten it. Fold in the remaining whipped cream in two doses. There may be streaks of whipped cream in the chocolate and that is fine. Do not over work the mousse.
5. Spoon into bowls or martini glasses and chill for at least 1 hour. Garnish with fruit and serve.
6. (If mousses are to be refrigerated overnight, chill for one hour and then cover each with plastic wrap)

A Dinner With Your Valentine

I love fondue.  And I love crème brûlée.  And for some reason, both of these foods seem romantic to me.  I know, you're thinking . . . fondue, I could never make that!  Crème brûlée, certainly I could never make that!  Well, guess what . . . you can!  These two things might seem difficult to make, but they are actually two of the easiest recipes I have blogged about so far.  Not only are they easy, but they are sure to be so delicious that they will trick your valentine into thinking you are a gourmet chef.  :)

Drink...

Kir Royale

Champagne is a great Valentine's Day drink.  This is a classic cocktail with champagne and crème de cassis, a blackcurrant liqueur.  In France, it is usually drunk as an apéritif (before dinner).  We decided to drink some before and during dinner.  It was really good and went well with the meal.
Ingredients:
(for 1 drink)

• 1/2 shot of crème de cassis
• 4-5 shots of champagne (I preferred more champagne since the crème de cassis is very sweet)

Directions (order of steps is important):

1. Pour the crème de cassis into a champagne glass.
2. Add the champagne and drink!

Dinner...

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE fondue!  What's not to love?  Coating everything you eat in melted cheese cannot be bad.  But, I not only love the taste of fondue, I also love the experience of eating fondue.  Usually our meals are so fast.  We eat quickly and then shortly thereafter leave the table.  However, fondue forces you to slow down and enjoy everything.  This is a fondue recipe from my mom and it's a classic fondue recipe.  I am sure you could use other types of cheese, but I just love the classic Swiss!

Classic Swiss Fondue (AKA "Mom's Fondue")

*recipe from Maureen K.
Ingredients:
(serves 2)

• 3/4 lb of Swiss cheese
• 2 1/4 tbs flour
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 1/2 cups of white wine (we used Chablis which works well in the fondue and is also a traditional wine for Kir [the drink we made, but with white wine instead of champagne—the champagne is what makes it "royal"]
• 3/4 tbs lemon juice
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• dash of pepper
• Dipping ingredients (We used bread, apples, and garlic chicken sausage. You could use so many different things!)

Directions:

1. Cut the cheese into cubes.
2. Toss the cheese with flour in a bag.
3. Rub the fondue pot with the garlic clove.
4. Pour the wine into a pot and set to medium heat.
5. When the wine simmers, add lemon juice and cheese, stirring constantly.
6. Bring the cheese to a bubble, then add nutmeg and pepper.
7. Put the mixture into a fondue pot if you have one.  If not, you can eat it out of the pot in which it was cooked.  It should stay hot long enough for you to eat!

Dessert...

Crème Brûlée

*recipe from Chicago Metallic 
This is one of my favorite desserts.  Before I knew how to make it, I thought it would be very complicated, but as it turns out, it is ridiculously simple!  My parents knew about my love of this dessert and gave me a crème brûlée set a few years ago.  So, I actually have a torch to caramelize the sugar on top.  However, the recipe says you can just put the ramekins no less than 5 inches under the broiler to caramelize it if you don't have a torch. It's good with fresh berries on top as well.
Ingredients:
(serves 4)

• 6 egg yolks
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream
• 3/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 6 tsp granulated sugar (for the caramelized tops)

Directions:

Before Baking

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk egg yolks and sugar together until the sugar is dissolved and the egg yolk mixture is thick and light in color.
3. Add cream and vanilla extract and whisk until blended.
4. Fill a baking pan a little less than halfway with water.  
5. Pour the brûlée mixture into ramekins and place the ramekins into the water bath.
6. Bake until the edges are set, but the center is still slightly loose, about 50-55 minutes.
7. Remove the pan from the oven and cool.  
8. Remove the ramekins from the pan and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
9. Before serving, sprinkle 1 1/2 tsps of sugar on top of each and torch until the sugar is caramelized.

Torching - the scary part!

After a couple bites