Tartine Tuesday: Mascarpone BLT Tartines

To make my life a little easier, I have decided to implement Tartine Tuesday. The tartine is the epitome of the French open-faced sandwich, usually consisting of a slice of bread topped with a spread or pâté. It is similar to the Italian bruschetta, grilled toasts topped with concoctions of tomatoes, red peppers, olives, herbs, etc... all in all, delicious.

 

So, in honor of this deliciously simple and versatile snack, each Tuesday I will post a new tartine recipe. Doing this helps me in more than one way. First, it lets me spend a little less time on writing a whole story/backdrop for a recipe(gives you more recipes, and me more time to see Paris... he he), and second, it puts an ease on my wallet, since I'll really just be improvising with whatever I already have in my kitchen!

First up to bat:

Mascarpone BLT(Basil, Lardon, Tomato) Tartines

6 slices of baguette, toasted
mascarpone cheese
6 leaves of fresh basil
150g lardons(if you don't have access to lardons, you can always just use bacon that's cut into small strips)
6 sun-dried tomatoes, in oil(I used home-made oven-dried tomatoes, which will be in the next post!)
salt and pepper, to taste

Heat a saute pan on medium to medium-low heat. Add the lardons(or bacon) and slowly render out the fat until they are browned and crispy. Place lardons on a paper towel to soak up any extra grease.

Toast the slices of baguette, and spread mascarpone cheese on each slice. Top with lardons, fresh basil, and sun-dried tomatoes. Salt and pepper to taste. Serves 1-2.

Scrambled Eggs with Crème Fraîche and Lardons

My dad always told me that a great cook is one who can cook an egg perfectly. And yes, my dad can cook a pretty delicious egg. Now, I love eggs to death, but back in the day, I couldn't cook a perfect egg to save my life. I would either fry the egg in a pan on high heat and then smother it with ketchup, or scramble them till they are dry and rubbery, and top it with cheese. Sound tasty?

So I've recently started honing my egg skills, trying new and more complicated ways to cook them. Turns out I'm not as bad of an egg cook as I thought. I've nailed how to perfectly hard boil an egg. I've almost perfected the 2 minute omelette à la Julia Child, which yields a very delicate, almost silky omelette(unlike the ones I used to make, which had a texture so unappealing I would almost vomit). I've also become a little obsessed with my grandmother's very tasty deviled eggs, and have that recipe down pat.

This morning, I wanted something different, something to kick start my inspiration for eggs... in France. I had some eggs, crème fraîche, and lardons in the fridge, and figured I could do something with the three. I researched a little and stumbled upon Gordon Ramsay's way to cook perfect scrambled eggs: slow and low, and in a saucepan. His way yields creamy, light, and fluffy scrambled eggs. I usually made my scrambled eggs on medium to medium high heat, and in a frying pan... which probably explains why they yielded dry, rubbery, lack-luster scrambled eggs. I think I'll try his way.

So here's my French take on an American bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich: Creamy, fluffy scrambled eggs with crème fraîche(the cheese), topped with crispy lardons(the bacon) on toast. Drool.

Scrambled Eggs with Crème Fraîche and Lardons

Adapted from Gordon Ramsay's Perfect Scrambled Eggs
 

4 eggs
1 tablespoon of unsalted butter
1/2 tablespoon crème fraîche
150g lardons(if you don't have access to lardons, you can always just use bacon that's cut into small strips)
salt and pepper, to taste
2 thick slices of toast

Heat a saute pan on medium to medium-low heat. Add the lardons(or bacon) and slowly render out the fat until they are browned and crispy. Place lardons on a paper towel to soak up any extra grease.

Crack eggs into a saucepan(preferably non-stick) and add butter. Do not add salt or pepper. Turn heat to medium/medium-low, and whisk the eggs and butter together with a spatula. Stir the mixture until it starts to thicken; if it starts to scramble too quickly, remove from the heat and continue to stir(You want to cook this slowly, so you will need to alternate cooking the eggs on and off the heat until they are at the right consistency). Return to heat and repeat this process until the eggs are thick and creamy.

Remove the eggs from the heat, and stir in crème fraîche. Season with salt and pepper and serve on toast. Top with lardons. Serves 2.

Lentils with Lardons and Tomatoes

In my attempts to eat more healthily, I fell in love with this very delicious, and very versatile lentil salad. I was never really inspired by lentils until recently, as I was flipping through a French cookbook I bought last winter in Paris. In Françoise Bernard's "ma cuisine d'aujourd'hui", there is a recipe for Lentilles en Salade. Now, I am definitely one who eats with her eyes first... and the photo of this recipe caught my attention. It was just a simple bowl of lentils, shallots, tomatoes, a hard boiled egg, and parsley. It looked bright, clean, and refreshing... exactly the opposite of my usual fried chicken and cheeseburgers.

I had some lentils lying around the house, so I figured I'd give the recipe a shot. I didn't have exactly the same ingredients as it called for in Françoise Bernard's recipe, so I improvised with what I had in my kitchen. In place of fresh tomatoes I used sun-dried tomatoes, and instead of hard boiled eggs, I used black olives. The salad was so delicious that I ate it every day for lunch for two weeks straight. Hot or cold, it was good either way. And you want to know the best part? I lost 7 lbs. without even trying!!

So now that I've tried this recipe a few different ways, I figured I would post the most recent combination. This time I used cherry tomatoes and lardons(yeaaaah Lardon My French!!) and it was just as delicious. I made this the other night for Quentin's family, and to fancy it up, we served it with Coquilles Saint-Jacques(Scallops).

Lentils with Lardons and Tomatoes

Adapted from Françoise Bernard "Ma Cuisine d'Aujourd'hui"

2 cups french green lentils, washed
1 pint cherry tomatoes(I used yellow and red ones, but you can just use red ones if that's all you have)
1/3 cup of lardons(if you don't have access to lardons, you can always just use bacon that's cut into small strips)
fresh parsley, for garnish

For the Vinaigrette:

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
zest of half a lemon
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

I first start with the vinaigrette. In a small bowl, add the lemon juice, lemon zest, garlic, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine. While whisking, slowly drizzle the olive oil into the bowl until the vinaigrette emulsifies. Set aside.

Rinse lentils in cold water. In a large pot, add lentils with 6 cups of water. Bring to a boil and then simmer, uncovered, for 25 to 30 minutes, or until done. Strain in a colander and place back into the pot. Add vinaigrette while the lentils are still hot, and gently stir to combine.

Cut cherry tomatoes in quarters and remove seeds. Then cut each quarter in half cross-wise.

Heat a saute pan on medium to medium-low heat. Add the lardons(or bacon) and slowly render out the fat until they are browned and crispy. Place lardons on a paper towel to soak up any extra grease.

You can either wait until the lentils cool to add the tomatoes and lardons, or add them while they are still hot. Both ways are delicious. Add chopped parsley, and fold to combine. Serves 4 to 6.

This recipe works really well with seafood, hard boiled eggs, or even just on it's own. If you don't have all of the ingredients, feel free to add whatever you want... this really is a "whatever you have in your pantry" kind of recipe.

Happy Floody Fourteenth

Have you ever had one of those mornings where you were like, "Aw, SHIT!" before you even had time to rub your eyes? You know, like when you sleep through your alarm clock? Today was one of those days... and a rainy one in fact. As I told you in my previous post, we are watching over a leaky roof in a friend's apartment in exchange for a free stay in the center of Paris. Romain told us that the day he noticed the leak, he slept through 3 hours of rain, and woke up to a flood in his bedroom. So today around 10am Quentin woke up peacefully to the pitter patter of rain... then immediately after opening his eyes came the "Aw, SHIT!" moment. He jumped out of bed and ran to Romain's bedroom, where the major leak is located. Luckily, it wasn't raining too hard, and nothing was leaking through. Whew.
 

I, on the other hand, woke up around noon(niiiiiiice!) to a dark and dreary Paris... Happy Bastille Day by the way. Being that I already slept half the day away, I was immediately starving for something to eat(hey, when am I not?). Quentin and I didn't want to leave the apartment(in fear of the leak), but our stomachs were growling for breakfast... uh, er, lunch. Everything was pretty much closed for the holiday, with the exception of a few restaurants and shops in the more touristy areas of the city.

We waited for a break in the rain and ran out to find an open boulangerie nearby to get a baguette for breakfast. Just as we got to the boulangerie, of course, it started to rain... but I'm not talking a little drizzle here... I'm talking torrential downpour. Ok, maybe not that bad, but it was enough for Quentin and I to look at each other, look at the 5 to 6 people in line in front of us, look outside, and say, "Aw, SHIT!". We hurriedly paid for our baguette and darted out into the rain. We ran up the 5 flights of stairs(my legs and butt are going to get the best workout here) back to the apartment and opened the bedroom door. Romain was not joking. Rain was pouring in through the ceiling like a mini waterfall, dripping ever so unwelcomely on the shelves in the wall cabinet and all over the floor. We got there right in time though, and started placing pots, bowls, and buckets anywhere we could to lessen the damage. I seriously felt like someone in a sinking boat, taking buckets of water and tossing them out, only to replace it with another full bucket. I have to say though, that I am so glad we were there... for Romain and his girlfriend's sake, because they would have returned from their vacation to an absolute disaster.

After about an hour or so the rain died down, and we were able to ring out the towels and hang them up to dry. By then it was around 4pm and we were hungry again. This time, I stayed at the apartment, and Quentin ran out to grab some food. He came back with a Baguette avec rosette, cornichon et beurre... Yum Yum :)

and Fougasse aux Lardons(not the best one).

 

 

Since it is Bastille Day, the French Independence Day, I was crossing my fingers that the rain would stop before nightfall. I was desperate to see the fireworks at the Eiffel Tower, since we missed the fireworks on the 4th in NY(long story). I didn't want to miss two Independence Day fireworks shows in less than two weeks. Thankfully, it turned out to be a gorgeous, and almost cold night! The fireworks at La Tour Eiffel are absolutely amazing... I'm going to try to post the videos of the fireworks tomorrow... it's getting super late. For now, I'll leave you with a photo from before the fireworks show.