As we planned our 2012 trip to Paris, one thing i was curious about was whether or not we would fall in love with the food.
Ohhhhhh, naive Past Wrdnrd.
One of our favorite places was Le Potager du Marais, a vegetarian restaurant in the 3me arrondissement. We went there for dinner one of our 1st nights Paris, then we went back again once ![[personal profile]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
littlebutfierce joined us on our second weekend.
Our other favorite place, which, alas!, we were not able to return to, was this little cafe just across from the station Rambuteau — called, conveniently enough, Le Station Rambuteau. This is where we both fell head over heels for French cuisine. We enjoyed escargots — a 1st for both of us — and some boeuf bourgogne.
This past autumn, i was craving boeuf bourgogne so we decided to pick up Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking and make some boeuf bourgogne for Christmas dinner. This was not a mistake. We’ve since made a couple of recipes out of it, and basically i just want to keep track of them which, of course, makes me turn again to my blog — my external hard drive for my personal memories.
In my bunny bento: 2 onigiri and some oshinko. Not seen on the bottom layer: tuna tsukune (mini-burgers).
This was a right pain to photograph.
Hooray! The bento supplies i ordered have finally arrived!
These 3 things are onigiri boxes. So excited!
This is the promised inventory to supplement our Con or Bust auction item “We cook, you eat (or, A Programmable Dinner)”. We’re tried to divide things into main dishes, desserts, &c. Links, where supplied, lead to posts here on the blog about the dish. We’ve marked where a dish is either veg*n or can be easily veg*nized.
Unless otherwise noted everything is made from scratch.
(We’ll probably keep updating this thru’out the day as more ideas occur to us. Questions welcome in the comments!)
main dishes
- Beef & vegetable stew
- Beef tenderloin with peppercorn cream sauce (He also recently did a tofu cutlet w/ peppercorn cream sauce that was great.)
- Pan seared pork tenderloin
- Vegan sausages, link or patty (buns will be store bought)
- pot pie with a cheddar cheese biscuit crust (I usually make this vegetarian or vegan)
- chili (easily made vegetarian or vegan)
- pizza (can be vegetarian or vegan)
- lasagna
- carbonara (I can make pasta from scratch, but you’ll have to bid a lot to get me to put up that much effort)
- mushroom stroganoff
- aloo gobi
- saag paneer
- Breaded pork chops
- sausage stuffed winter squash
- horoyoi-style rice in dashi (rice topped with sliced fish with hot soup poured over)
desserts
- Brownies, basic but delicious (especially with ice cream).
- Pie: apple, pecan (& chocolate pecan!), or pumpkin. Flaky lard crust is an option. Apple pie can be vegan (others will require research first).
- Assorted flavors of ice cream and sorbet (sorbet is vegan, ice cream can be made vegan with a cashew base).
- an infinite variety of cookies. I am partial to the spicy chocolate vegan ones.
- apple crisp
- cakes: brown sugar chocolate; carrot (omni & vegan!); black bottom chocolate cake w/ cream cheese frosting (easily made dairy-free)
appetizers/sides
- gazpacho
- pierogi (potato and cheese filed)
- fried wontons, crab and cream cheese or just cream cheese, as spicy as you want (crab-free cream cheese wontons can be veganized)
- Steamed tofu w/ XO sauce and scallions
- Agedashi tofu
- cream of winter squash soup
- grilled summer squash
- cheese stuffed summer squash
- brussles sprouts baked with bacon
- greens in soy and dashi
- mushroom risotto
snacks/miscellany
- dried apples
- dried seasoned kale chips
- onigiri (rice balls)
- sushi rolls
- pickles: cucumber (several varieties), garlic, beets
- Deviled eggs
- okonomiyaki
- fish and chips
- fried lotus root
These garlic pickles are so freakin’ good. They are “sneak into the kitchen and quietly eat them all while Andy’s upstairs playing a video game” good. Recipe from Quick Pickles: Easy Recipes with Big Flavor. Not sure yet if i can recommend the whole cookbook, as i think this is the only recipe we’ve made from it so far.
quick pickled garlic with Mediterranean flavors
0.5 c. white wine vinegar
0.25 c. sherry
0.75 tsp. kosher (or other coarse) salt
0.25 tsp. black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
1 (or more) small hot chile of your choice, slit up the side
1 c. (2 to 3 heads) garlic cloves, peeled
1 Tbl. coarsely chopped fresh oregano, thyme, or rosemary
Ingredient notes: We don’t have white wine vinegar, so we just used plain white vinegar. Also, our fresh herb was rosemary.
Equipment notes: Make sure the saucepan and your storage jar are non-reactive.
- Combine everything but the fresh herb and the garlic in a saucepan. Over medium-high heat, bring to a boil; stir a bit to make sure the salt is dissolved.
- Reduce heat to medium and add the garlic. Simmer for about 30 seconds.
- Remove from heat and add your fresh herb.
- Let everything cool to room temperature. We just let it sit in the saucepan on a turned-off burner.
- Pour it into a jar and cover tightly. Let it sit out overnight at room temp. In the morning toss it in the fridge.
- Will keep for 2 months or more when kept covered in the fridge.
Andy swears these aren’t as good the 1st day, but i think that’s just a ploy to get these pickles all to himself.
This is from Joy of Cooking (Rombauer, Becker, & Becker. NYC: Scribner, 2006.) We’ve become absolutely addicted to it. So easy to make!! It’s delightfully tangy and clear-your-sinuses-y the night you grind it, but mellows slightly as it ages. If you keep it around long enough to actually “age.”
- 5 tablespoons whole yellow mustard seeds
- 0.33 cup dry white wine
- 0.33 white wine vinegar (but we’ve just been using straight white vinegar)
- (1.5 teaspoon onion, grated — we’ve never gotten around to adding this, but i’ll rectify that oversight next time) Optional.
- 0.5 teaspoon salt
- 0.5 teaspoon sugar
- 0.25 teaspoon (white) pepper
Mix it all together, then cover and put in fridge over night. Next day, whip it in a blender or food processor until it’s blended but still a little grainy. (Our food processor leaves it more grainy than smooth, but that’s fine.) Joy says it will last in the fridge up to 3 weeks, but who would keep it around that long?
It is so good.