Summer fruits crumble

It is rare that I cook desserts, unless we have guests, because we usually snack around 17h and dine around 21h, so I prefer to fix us something good for our five o’clock snack: small cakes, tarts, crepes, always with fresh ingredients, seasonal fruits etc… and skip the dessert. But with the heat recently, we’ve just snacked on fresh fruits and I decided to prepare something that I don’t often cook: fruits crumble. It’s strange enough that I always forgot about crumbles and bake tarts often. Maybe because it always ends up with no shape and it’s not as elegant as a tart or a clafouti where the fruits are perfectly aligned (control freak!). Well tonight I’ve made one and I wish I could share with you the delicious smell of my kitchen!

I used a random recipe (without really caring for the quantity but more the texture) for the crumbs mixing flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, butter and vanilla. For the fruits I used fresh blueberries, peaches and plums. Cut the fruits in bite size, make a layer of fruits in a pie dish and then add the crumbs on top. Baked 30min at 190deg. And it’s ready to eat after it has cooled down.

July 22, 2015

Summer time = fruits time

It’s official it’s summer!

Thought it is not yet super hot, summer fruits start to appear everywhere in the garden and at the market. Shiny pinkish plums, soft and pink peaches, melons, blue-berries, addictive cherries. Soon to come also the delicious nashi, watermelon etc… So I’m happy because it means fresh and juicy fruits every day that are going to replace the usual kiwi and pineapple! It means new recipes of smoothies and of clafoutis.

Clafoutis are so simple to prepare, and so delicious for breakfast, dessert or snack that I prepare many during the summer. It’s a very simple mixture of any kind of flour, a bit of sugar, eggs and milk or equivalent. Proportion vary depending on the aspect you want the clafouti to have. More milk and egg for a flat custard like type, less if you want it to look like a Brittany’s famous “far”. In a buttered pie-dish set the mixture, and then add the fruits. Finally baked in the oven around 180deg for 20 to 30min depending on the size (if no oven, you can bake in a greased pan under cover at low eat). You can add any type of fruit in that support heat: berries, cherries, plums, peaches, apricots… You can eat warm or cold.

June 22, 2015

Back to the basics

After a whole week in Seattle, it’s good to be back home. Though the city has numerous farmers markets, with very attractive food, the hotel life allows only for limited purchases and preparation. There are also a lot of food trucks but honestly the idea of having lunch standing or seated like punks in the street is not very attractive, though the food looks good. As for restaurants, food was ok, fresh but I didn’t find anything outstanding. The best we had was surely grilled salmon or grilled halibut with asparagus. There might be some nice places serving local food (not limited to seafood, which is not what I like best) but we couldn’t find them… It’s really a pity because driving around Seattle one can find again tones of organic farms selling their products, fruits, veggies, delicious yogurts…

So being back home it is time to go back to the kitchen and improvise some summer recipes with fresh food and light enough to beat the jetlag and the heat. So we’re back to the basics: quinoa and bulgur as a base, baby leaf salad, cherry tomatoes and cucumber, yellow zucchini, ocra, and to finish pumpkin seeds, flax seeds and white chia seeds. Back on the tracks!!

May 31, 2015

A good start!

Of all meals breakfast is my favorite and I like all of its variations. I also like that my breakfast changes everyday, even if there are some common ingredients. Bread or similar and fresh fruits in salad, smoothy, or just plain are on the menu everyday.

I baked this wholewheat soft bread that accomodates perfectly with jam, honey, butter or cheese. It’s very similar to wholewheat pain de mie but because my covered pie dish was too big the bread occupied only half of it and the result was really delicious with a thin crispy layer covering the soft and tender center.

For the bread it’s really simple. I used 250g of T150 flour, 180g of water, 13g of sordough, 1g of yeast, 5g of salt.

May 18, 2015

Coconut-strawberry tart

Coconut ad strawberry tart with a bit of coconut and ice sugar for the decor

I love strawberry tart and I love to make some! Usually the best time starts end of March in Japan, but this year we’ve started to have delicious strawberry for a few weeks already, so I couldn’t wait!

I love to make variations with the dough, with the custard. This year I added some grated coconut in the dough and made the custard with soya milk and a lot of vanilla. I also wanted to try making the dough in circles and just top it with custard and strawberries. I need a little more practice but the result was not bad at all!

For the dough I used flour, brown sugar, one egg, butter, and added some coconut (I always make the dough without measuring anything, I like to “feel” it).

For the custard I used 2 egg yolks, a little can of soya milk, vanilla, a spoon of flour and brown sugar.

March 15, 2015

Fruits from the garden in various forms

We’re lucky to have a garden full of trees and flowers that grow without too
many difficulties. Every year at every season there is something to pick
in the garden. Last week I just picked the last tangerine, now we have
plenty of a sort of grapefruit (a little more sour). This year they are
particularly soft and sweet so they are delicious in juices and hot
lemonade.
This morning I just picked one for some fresh squeezed juice.

Yet, there are so many of them that marmalade is always a good way to enjoy them all year long.

For the recipe I use a British one of course (from the Guardian) a little modified since the fruits from the garden are not oranges, 1kg of brown sugar, 700g of fruits, 1.25L of water. Depending on how it sets I usually add some apple pips, this time it was not necessary. It made 7 jars. Can’t wait to try it with some good home-made bread!

January 13, 2015