When it Doubt Grab 3 Eggs, Some Creme and A Veggie...

When the fridge abundance starts to dwindle I seem to always fall back on just that: 3 eggs, some creme and a green vegetable. This time is was asparagus (which I can't seem to get enough of lately!)
I never measure and I sometimes make crust but if I want that extra glass of red wine I simply bake it without. It lacks a little in presentation and firmness that way but when a tasty meal takes 10 minutes to prepare and your two year old begs for more...well you can't complain!
It goes a little something like this-

3 eggs
a "pour" of creme - really, just eyeball it!
salt
freshly ground pepper
herbes de Provence
steamed or quickly boiled asparagus (you can cut off the tough ends and peel it if you want)
paint white wine mustard on the bottom of a quiche dish
mix everything up and bake until cooked...30 minutes??

Serve with a baby greens salad with balsamic vinaigrette. A Pinot or a full bodied Merlot works well!

Bon Apetit!

Confit d'Oignon

I don't know WHY I don't have a photo of this delightful dip that has wowed my family repeatedly over the last week but let's just say it's bright, hot pink and delicious. So far I have only served it with salmon but it is also meant for meats, poultry sandwiches and hors d'oeuvres.

You will need:
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 red onions
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup grenadine
1 cup sugar
Freshly ground salt and pepper to taste

Heat the vegetable oil in a saucepan on medium heat and add the onions and cook until golden. ( NOTE, I minced mine in the food processor thus making them produce too much of their own water to turn golden - it did not spoil the confiture.)
Add the red wine vinegar and the grenadine and heat to a boil.
Stir in the sugar and continue to boil for an additional 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
Pour the mixture into a hot, sterilized jar and seal. Refrigerate at least four hours before serving.

Another amazing concoction from my "Paris Cafe" cookbook. Click photo to order.

As Mentioned - The Creme Fraiche Omlette

I have learned not to be without Creme Fraiche in the fridge. I get excited just thinking about it's unique taste. (No matter what "they" say, in my book Sour Creme is NO substitute!)
Mireille says to have it with strawberries and cracked pepper, I even like it with black beans and a handful of natural corn chips but here is a three minute yet divine meal you can easily throw together. My blue collar baby and my two-year old love it...

You will need:
A skillet
One egg
Salt
Pepper
Creme Fraiche
Fresh herbs (hopefully from some pots just outside your kitchen) I use thyme, chives and rosemary.
Butter

Throw (toss, place, put..) a little butter in the skillet and heat until it just begins to turn brown, pour in a beaten egg that has salt and pepper added. Move the skillet around if needed to spread the egg - it should be very thin like a crepe.
Simply cook it on a lower level until done - you do not need to toss or turn. While it's cooking you can rinse and cut your herbs into tiny pieces. Thanks to your golden butter it will slide right out of the pan onto your plate and you can add two or three dollops of Creme Fraiche down the middle, fold the sides over,sprinkle your herbs and the top et voila - vous etes fini!
This makes a lovely light lunch or dinner. Serve with fresh strawberries and a green salad with a simple (homemade) vinaigrette.

Suggestion - if you are preparing for more than one, crack your eggs into separate bowls so you can keep the process moving.

PS- I am sure I found this idea on my shelf of French cook books but I can not remember from which one or I would give credit where it is due. Photos found under "creme fraiche" images on dogpile.com

Vive le Havana!

Perhaps this is not a "real" recipe per se since it is not from scratch, none the less is is very easy and very yummy! If you don't have a Trader Joe's nearby I could ship you the sauce if you want to try it!

You will need:
A Crock Pot
4 ( or more or less) Free range chicken breasts
Organic black beans
1 Mango
2 Bananas
8 miniature sweet potatoes (these may be difficult to find, you could use sliced full size sweet potatoes for leave them out all together)
2 Jars of Mojito sauce from Trader Joe's

1 Bottle of Rioja Spanish red wine

Directions:
Throw the chicken breasts and one jar of Mojito sauce in the Crock Pot. I start with frozen chicken and set the Pot to 6 hours. (If you are using sweet potatoes
Right before dinner cook the black beans on the stove - if you want to be really healthy do not use oil. On low they cook up nicely in about 15-20 minutes. Stir occasionally or set to simmer if you have a simmer option on your stove. There is no need to mash them and be sure and NOT drain the juice especially if you are not using oil. Dry beans are not tasty.

10 minutes before you are about to eat add half (or more if you'd like) of the second jar of sauce to the Crock Pot. The old sauce will become kind of watery after cooking all day so the second round of sauce will thicken it.

Slice the mango and bananas.

Place a chicken breast in a low soup bowl, pour the Mojito sauce over the top, scoop some beans (and sweet potatoes) on the side. Arrange mango and banana slices.

Bon Appetit!

Heathly Christmas Cookies!

If there is such a thing, this is as close as I have come but honestly at the last two Christmas parties I have had people have said they are the BEST Christmas cookies they have ever had! WOW!
I must give credit to Frey Girl Aunt Ruth who along with my sister (FreyGirl4Life) who was nine at the time gave me this recipe at my bridal shower. Like any recipe I receive I tweaked it a bit to make it my own. Maybe not the best but at least Crisco FREE!

(Doubling the recipe makes the amount photographed, you don't need to double the frosting).

To make the cookies "healthy" use organic evaporated cane juice instead of white sugar and use soy butter instead of butter and crisco! Use unbleached flour and free range eggs of course. Don't forget to use the soy butter in the frosting too!

Voila! Sante!

Lentils with Bacon for Nicholas

Nick - hope you can drag and drop this photo. Turns out bread is not even suggested! P.S. When I made it for you I did not use tomatoes.
Bon Appetit.

Roasted Chicken

Oh my goodness. Half way through this process I wondered if I was insane - then I called on every fiber in my body that comes from my Great Gramma Bauer to help me. If she could cut the head off a chicken to serve it for dinner then I can stick my hand up it's butt to pull out the bag of inerds.

I am getting ahead of myself.

I had a bur up my own butt to make a roast chicken. I am not a huge chicken fan. It has no great taste to me. It seems it must be thoroughly doctored up before it takes on any great flavor. I don't cook a lot of chicken and when I do I make sure it is at least corn fed.
This week I "splurged" on a free-range whole chicken from Trader Joe's. It was a little under twelve dollers. I took it out of the freezer around noon and of course by 5pm prep time it was still quite the little poultry iceburg. So I hit it with some hot water, lots of hot water.
Finally it reached a smooshiness that I thought would be acceptable to work with, I was not ready for the "foul" smell as I unwrapped it.
I knew I had to get liver and goodies out of the cavity and I was praying they would be in a tidy little bag but first I had to figure out the bumm from the shoulders. I visualized the poor thing alive and figured it out quite quickly. I lifted up a flap of fat and tried to fit my hand in the cavity. There was a bag in there but it was still frozen to the inside and it would not budge. I was so scared I was going to rip it and have to contend with the guts face to face. I filled that dang bird up with hot water and gave a few more tugs on the bag of goodies and finally wrestled it free. Then I went out to the garden and wrestled carrots from the cold dirt...let's just say the rest was a breeze. I simply stuffed a stale baguette where the bag was, rubbed it with herbs de Provence...well here is the recipe. Joel said it was THE best chicken he had ever had and Aidan had FOUR helpings!

Ingredients:
Salt and Pepper to taste (each preferably freshly ground.)
Paprika to taste
One fresh free range chicken
4 cloves of garlic (I prefer alot more than that)
Herbs de provence (thyme, bay, rosemary, oregano)
I slice stale bread
Olive oil, butter or duck fat
1 bunch of carrots, about 8 with greens attached to ensure freshness
2 medium yellow onions
2 Roma tomatoes, fresh and whole ( I skipped this cause sadly, I hate tomotes)
1 Glass of white wine (8-10 ounces) (I skipped this cause I only had red)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Place salt, pepper and paprika inside the chicken cavity. Add one or two gloves of garlic and herbs de Provence. (Replace liver, heart and gizzards if you eat them (no merci!) Rub the stale bread with one clove of garlic and stuff it in the cavity.
Don't bother to truss the chicken.
Rub the skin of the bird with the fat of your choice. I chose olive oil today. Season the outside with the same herbs your stuffed the chicken with.
In a low sided pan that has been lightly rubbed with oil, place the following: the seasoned chicken, the carrots (greens removed, peeled but whole); the onions (cut in half then into 4 wedges each); one clove of garlic. ( I added two cloves and while enjoying the meal wished I had added a few more, the were so good.)
Cook for at least one hour until the juice from a pricked thigh runs clear. A little longer is o.k. and little under is not.
When done, remove the chicken to a serving platter. Remove the vegetables and place them around the chicken.
Bring the remaining juice in the pan to a boil. Add salt and pepper and deglaze with a glass of water or white wine. When the liquid boils and reduces a bit pour it into a sauceboat and serve with the chicken and vegetables.

Bon Appetit!

Adapted from a lovely book you MUST buy: Joie de Vivre by Robert Arbor