tarte au sucre

Tarte au Sucre

I know some of you are making New Years resolutions to avoid all carbs and/or sugar, but consider this recipe for one of your cheat days. This tarte au sucre is a wonderfully simple and classic afternoon treat many French children grow up eating after a day of school. Like a tarte tropezienne, which is a brioche cake with a custard filling, this tarte au sucre derives much of its sweetness from one particular component in the dish. In a tarte tropezienne, that is the custard filling. In a tarte au sucre, that happens to be the caramelized sugar topping. Unlike an American cake, this tart’s “cake” layer is really just a yeast dough with minimal sweetness. That’s why this tarte can be enjoyed as a sweet snack after school (or mid-workday) rather than a decadent dessert that would usually be enjoyed after a meal. 

pot au feu

Pot au Feu (Beef Stew)

When you find yourself cozying up by a fire with your feet in socks and a blanket over your lap, there’s no better time for a comforting meal of pot au feu to warm your belly. I know this because I grew up eating this dish, long before I even knew what it was called. It’s the kind of meal that haute cuisine scrunches its nose at, but secretly devours with fervor and delight. Pot au feu, literally meaning “pot on the fire,” is a French beef stew made with meat, potatoes, carrots, and any other vegetables you can get your hands on. It’s uncomplicated and incredibly satisfying, making it a revered dish in France. 

Frisee aux Lardons: Endive salad with bacon, a fried egg, and a light vinaigrette. Recipe via MonPetitFour.com

Frisée aux Lardons (Salade Lyonnaise)

The French have this very strict attitude about meal time. I don’t just mean their behavior during meal time or what they’re eating. I’m talking about actual meal time. Breakfast, should they choose to eat it, is early in the morning, lunch is from 12pm to 2pm, and dinner is 7pm and after. If you try to hop into a restaurant around 2:30 or 3pm, you better hope you have luck on your side that day as most restaurants begin to close down for the afternoon. This is always an adjustment for me as I don’t always manage to eat within those time frames, especially when I’m dealing with jet lag and find myself waking up at 10 am in France! If you find yourself hungry at 3pm, looking for a late lunch, your best bet is to stop into a boulangerie and grab a sandwich or head to a brasserie where you may find a tasty frisée aux lardons. 

galette des rois

Galette des rois aux pommes (King’s cake)

You know what I love about the French? They never stop feasting. Just when everybody here in the States is stocking up on green smoothies and kale salads, the French are out buying frangipane-filled pastry cakes from their local boulangerie. While we’re taking down our Christmas decorations and sulking over the end of the holiday celebrations, the French are preparing for yet another chance to gather together and eat like royalty. This, my friends, is why I love the French so very much. In the spirit of embracing my Francophile tendencies, I’m putting off my salad recipe until later this week. Instead, I share this Galette des rois aux pommes with you. 

peanut butter white chocolate bark

Peanut Butter White Chocolate Bark

Who knew slabs of peanut butter and white chocolate could be so good? Well, I did! And I mean that in the least snootiest way. I have years and years of peanut butter eating under my belt to know that if you throw peanut butter into the mix, the result is pretty much always going to be fantastic. As a kid, my family used to joke that if you took a look at my insides, they were probably coated in peanut butter. I ate peanut butter, Skippy Peanut Butter to be specific, everyday in a PB&J sandwich and in almost any baked good that I could get my hands on. Till this day, I still sometimes find myself sticking a spoon straight into a jar of peanut butter for a quick, afternoon pick-me-up. It was actually during one of these indulgent moments that I thought about making this peanut butter white chocolate bark with it. 

chocolate puff pastry

Chocolate Puff Pastry with Strawberry Cream

When I was younger, I thought a Hostess cupcake represented the best of chocolate. I had no idea that something like this chocolate puff pastry with strawberry cream existed, so I carried on eating “faux chocolate” in the form of store-bought cookies and cakes. I’d cringe at the dark chocolate candy bars I’d sometimes get in my Halloween bag, thinking that the less chocolate was tampered with, the more bitter and unenjoyable it was. And then I traveled to Paris and stumbled upon immaculate chocolate shops that displayed pure chocolate in the ethereal manner it deserved. 

cranberry stuffed brioche wreath

Cranberry Stuffed Brioche Wreath

I’m back from Paris, and while I always wish I could linger just a little bit longer along the Boulevard Saint-Germain, I am so happy to be home. I missed my family, friends, and the little love of my life (my doggy!) so very much. I joke that now I know what it feels like to be that overbearing mother who is obsessed with her child because I always feel overwhelming separation anxiety when I am apart from my dog. I just miss his cute little face far too much! The abundance of good food and holiday cheer in Paris, however, really helped keep me distracted. It just never ceases to amaze me how much the French eat during the day and how absolutely delicious it all is. My first stop in Paris is always the bakery, and it usually includes a baguette, some kind of croissant – butter or chocolate – and fluffy, melt-in-your-mouth brioche. Kind of like this cranberry stuffed brioche wreath. Because this brioche? It will totally melt in your mouth and having you reaching for more. 

braised short ribs

Braised Short Ribs

I have a confession. When I first started cooking, I really had no idea what I was doing. I had thus far viewed myself as a baker and a baker only, so when I’d ask my mom for recipes I could practice my cooking with, I’d be begging her for step-by-step directions. I’d have to plead for actual measurements rather than her version of measurements (i.e. a little bit of this or a dash of that). In any case, I got tired of trying to decipher her recipes and attempted an online recipe for braised short ribs. To say these turned out beautifully would be an understatement; they were some of the best short ribs I’d ever had. I remember the group of family that I had over for dinner that night was oohing and aahing over the short ribs, declaring me a born chef! Can you believe it? I felt like I was in one of those frozen meal commercials, where the hostess pretends she made a homemade meal but it’s really store-bought.

french christmas cookies

French Christmas Cookies (Sablés)

When I visited La Grande Epicerie last year in Paris, I was pleasantly surprised by all the Christmas goodies that were there. The Grande Epicerie is a high-end grocery market in Paris, sort of like a glorified version of what Whole Foods and Williams-Sonoma would be if the two became one. There were all sorts of festive little treats, including hot chocolate sticks (basically sticks with chocolate that you could stir into hot milk to create instant hot cocoa), tissue-paper wrapped nougat (the French’s favorite confectionary), and the most beautifully decorated French Christmas cookies I had ever laid eyes on. 

buche de noel cake overhead shot of entire yule log cake

Bûche de Noël Recipe (Yule Log Cake)

One of my favorite cakes to make during the holiday season is this bûche de nöel. The cake is a holiday tradition for the French made during Christmas time. In America, we know the cake as a yule log cake, but the reason I love it so much is that it’s such an easy way to make an impressive, festive cake without any fancy cake decorating skills. I’ve seen tutorials for painted cakes with marzipan-crafted toppings that are beautiful but incredibly time-consuming and require extensive skill to actually execute. But not this cake! This chocolate bûche de nöel will make you look like a total cake boss in front of your family and friends. 

banana date nut bread

Banana Date Nut Bread

Banana bread is not a French trademark. I’m not really sure which culture banana bread arose out of, even if I do know it’s a classic here in America. What I also know is that a banana date nut bread like this can signify warmth, love, and comfort, which the world can use a good dose of during periods like this. It’s been more than 2 weeks since the Paris attacks on November 13th, and I feel like I’m finally able to talk about what happened and how I feel.

leftover turkey tartines

Leftover Turkey Tartines

I know that as I share this post, we’re all probably preparing for our full-blown food coma tomorrow, here in the United States. It’ll be Turkey Day after all! But doesn’t it amaze you that after all the food we eat, after all the ravaging, feasting, and devouring that we do, we still end up with leftovers!? It’s crazy! I don’t know how it happens. Ironically, it’s usually the most famous Thanksgiving entrée that we’re left over with…the turkey. Suddenly, buying the 20 lb. turkey feels like a big mistake. But like I said in one of my recent posts, turkey is honestly just a bigger version of chicken, really. And like chicken, there are so many ways you can use leftover turkey. Tacos, casseroles, or, in this case, leftover turkey tartines are some recipes that come to mind. 

pain de mais

Pain de Mais (Cornbread)

Cornbread. Could there be anything more American? This national classic made me ponder whether the French eat anything close to cornbread, as I found cornmeal nonexistent in Paris’s markets. I’ve heard it exists in some of the smaller, international grocery stores there, but it’s definitely not a staple item in their markets’ baking aisles. The French just don’t seem to have the fascination with corn that Americans do. 

gratin dauphinois

Gratin Dauphinois (Scalloped Potatoes)

For me, Thanksgiving is all about the sides. I think that a lot of you share the same sentiment. The turkey, as delicious and necessary as it is to a proper Thanksgiving spread, can be brined, seasoned, and even fried to your satisfaction, but that’s not what makes most of us excited for our day of feasting. Because, to be honest, doesn’t Turkey just taste a bit like chicken? I mean, really, it’s not all that different.

holiday cheese board

Holiday Cheese Board with Quince Paste

Remember the quince recipe I shared last week? I had a couple of them leftover and thought about turning them into a jam. In all honesty, though, I have a lot of jam from the abundance of sweet strawberries we experienced here in California, so I’m sort of over jam at this point (but talk to me in a month or two). I was just about to create a galette with them when I got a better idea. I was writing my shopping list for a gathering I was hosting this past weekend, and was scribbling down cheeses when I suddenly remembered reading about quince paste and how wonderful it is with cheese. And so I created this holiday cheese board with quince paste. 

Saffron Pear Cake

Saffron Pear Cake

Like any dessert aficionado, I appreciate a wide range of sweets, from delicate tarts to basic sheet cakes. That said, I prefer to leave the fancier stuff to the true experts. We could all probably make a beautiful dacquoise if we really tried and put the effort into it, but I have a feeling that the majority of us wouldn’t be up to all the fuss that goes into making it. Maybe once, for a very special occasion, but probably never again. That’s why I’m always looking to create and share recipes that are as enjoyable to make as they are to eat. This saffron pear cake exemplifies this concept perfectly. 

coq au vin

Coq au Vin with Quince

One of my favorite aspects of French country cooking is the ability to seamlessly adapt recipes to incorporate pretty much any fresh fruit and vegetable that you like. Take a galette, for example. It’s a classic dessert made with pastry dough and a fruit of your choice. You could use apples, pears, berries – whatever your heart desires, because the simple fact is that with a touch of sugar, any fruit would bake beautifully on a buttery round of pastry. In the case of this coq au vin, I was able to incorporate the delectable quince I picked up at my local farmer’s market and make this dish feel like it had always been made with this seemingly “exotic” fruit.

french pumpkin cheesecake

French Pumpkin Cheesecake

When I share recipes here, I like to give the majority of them a twist that’s unique to my point of view. I wish I could say that I’m a culinary mastermind that dreamt up every recipe here from scratch, but the truth is that most of them have been inspired from another recipe and played around with to make my own. I try not to share recipes that can’t or shouldn’t be tweaked because, well, they’ve already been posted somewhere so what’s the point? But! Sometimes a recipe is just so incredibly delicious that even though it lacks any of my personal twist or originality, I just have to share it. This French pumpkin cheesecake is one of those recipes. 

dark chocolate cake with red wine glaze

Dark Chocolate Cake with Red Wine Glaze

I think most women share a universal bond when it comes to our role in society and the struggles we face. No doubt that each human being has their own journey and their own obstacles, but as women, I think it’s fair to say that we deal with some common issues that men just don’t (or can’t) face. There’s the famous phrase that gets tossed around, which says, “If men got pregnant, the human population would die off,” and many more that refer to the amazing strength and endurance of the female population. I hate to devalue the hardships of men (sorry to my male readers), but I have witnessed and personally felt the unique burden placed upon women to “do it all” and come out of it with a sane mind and sense of calm. The demand to multi-task throughout the day, support, lead, inspire, encourage, compensate, and maintain our own can be overwhelming and unmatched. That’s where this dark chocolate cake with red wine glaze comes into play. 

apple chevre flatbread

Apple Chevre Flatbread

This apple chevre flatbread is the epitome of the kind of food I love to eat. For me, a perfect meal is satiating, but light. It looks a bit fancy, but never at the expense of great taste. It seems that a lot of the more modern restaurants these days tend to sacrifice taste for presentation. I recently went to a well-known restaurant near my home, trying to give their lunch menu another try. This restaurant specializes in the kind of plates that are meant to be shared (tapas, if you will) and are made with simple, quality ingredients. In theory, their menu is everything I idealize and try to emulate in my own kitchen.