Category — Food for Thought

Today, February 2, is the national holiday La Chandeleur in France, a Catholic feast honoring the Virgin Mary. Tradition says that the Pope offered crêpes to pilgrims who came to honor Mary. And the French have been eating them ever since. Today all of France is dining on crêpes, the very thin rolled pancakes with delicious sweet or savory fillings. Crêpes are easy to make at home – and even easier with the ready-made crêpes I shared with you last year – but this year I’m introducing you to Moi new favorite neighborhood crêperie, La Crêperie.

To be totally honest, TBG and I passed this resto countless times before finally going in…we just assumed it wouldn’t be what we wanted. Were we ever wrong: its exactly the type of neighborhood restaurant everyone wants to have:

• easy walking distance
• casual authentic food
• inexpensive menu with a good variety of options
• and, its a French!

Living in Paris we were always lucky to have a crêperie within a few footsteps, plus outdoor crêpe stands are easily found in many Paris neighborhoods. Living in St. Louis, we walked to City Coffee and Crêperie, and then in NYC we literally lived above Artopolis, featuring crêpes and gelato! I guess we thought it too good to be true: but once again, a charming and authentic crêperie right in our neighborhood.

On our 1st visit to La Crêperie we took niece Rachel, who was a little reluctant to go to an “authentic” crêperie: we’d taken her to Artopolis, and she loved the more creative pizza crêpe. Inside, La Creperie is dark and crowded (everyone in the neighborhood discovered it before us!) but charming and reminiscent of a 3rd or 4th generation crêperie in Brittany. She was a little skeptical of the menu, but TBG and I were enthusiastically discussing the beer, wine and cider menu: this crêperie was the real thing! After explaining that fromage crêpe was basically toasted cheese on a pancake Rachel chose that, while I decided to order the soup a l’onion gratinee and “share” Rachel’s fromage crêpe and TBG’s jambon et fromage – and a HUGE platter of pommes frites.

OohLaLa! Accompanied by un verre rouge and un bol cidre – and a diet Pepsi for the child – we were very happy indeed. But saved a little room to share a Banana Sara for dessert: oozing with banana, chocolate, caramel and vanilla ice cream.

the details

Bon Appétit!

Most ex-expat Parisians moan their loss of French cheeses, many still practically unheard of in the US. Personally, while j’adore le fromage Francais, I find the cheeses at specialty stores – such as Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and other gourmet shops – and the cheeses from my local farmer’s markets do a pretty good job of satisfying my craving for fresh, rich, indulgent cheese.

Until recently, the same couldn’t be said of yogurts. While many Americans jump off the plane and head straight to a Parisian street market or the local fromagerie, I headed straight to the Inno or Monoprix refrigerated section to indulge in richy, creamy, tangy French yogurt. While I  would readily have risked confiscation by smuggling yogurt into my luggage, I sadly feared 9 hours on the plane (plus 2 hours waiting for my luggage to bump down the belt) would curdle or liquify the yogurt.

Why French yogurt? I’ve always been a yogurt lover, but prior to my 1st trip to Paris I thought yogurt was overly-sweet, bright blue or red, lumpy, and pudding-like. More like a snack or dessert: good but not a meal. Back in the day I even bought myself a yogurt maker, and with a little plain yogurt starter I made my own plain yogurt and sweetened it with honey, fruit preserves and wheat germ (who’d heard of granola back then???) But lack of time (and counter space) due to family, job, house and dogs eventually buried the yogurt maker.

But now, Greek yogurt is firmly ensconced in the US and my craving for rich tangy yogurt is satisfied. Chez Moi I’m a huge fan of Fage, and TBG prefers the slightly sweeter Chobani. But this week, TBG made a grocery run and as usual, he didn’t stick to the shopping list.

And brought home Cabot Greek Yogurt. We were familiar with Cabot Cheeses: we love the American brand, always buy their cheddar. But I didn’t know they’re now making greek-style yogurt. Its rich, creamy, tart and a little sweet. Perfect with my morning berries and granola.

Yes, I’ll still buy Fage. But when I find only Cabot Greek Yogurt in the fridge I’ll be looking for a spoon, not my car keys.

Bon Appétit!

• Fage Greek 0% Yogurt: 17.6 oz $6.99

• Cabot Greek-Style Plain Yogurt: 2lbs $5.99

• Chobani Fat-Free Greek Yogurt: 32 oz $5.99

NOTE: Dairy prices vary widely by region. I’m in SoFlo now, so your prices may differ. For the best price, try Target or Costco.

Greek yogurt: it makes me happy!

I was Christmas shopping with niece Rachel and we found the perfect gift for her dad…and for TBG! Rachel’s dad has long been making dehydrated fruits and vegetables, which she says takes 3 days so they never do it. Shopping at Genevieve Lethu in Chicago we discovered TopChips for making chips in the microwave!

$25 for a set of 2 stackable trays. Machine washable, finished in 3 minutes: Done!

So this weekend I pulled out an idaho potato, sweet potato, and a couple Fuji apples. I peeled the potatoes, and sliced all 3 on 1/8inch on the mandolin.

First, the idaho potatoes:

I spread a single layer on each of the 2 trays, stacked the trays, and set the microwave for 3 minutes at full power. After cooking I let them set 2 minutes, but they were still soft and flexible, not at all crispy, so I put 1 tray in for 1 minute. Much better: thin and crispy and crunchy. I immediately sprinkled them with sea salt and put them in a little dish for the ultimate taste-test: TBG.

TBG’s vote: Make some more!

Next, I finished the remaining idaho potato slices, then went on to the sweet potato. I found they need to be cooked even longer than the idaho potatoes. I recommend closely monitoring so the chips don’t burn: after 3 minutes just continue cooking in 30 second intervals, remembering the slices continue “cooking and crisping” once they’re removed from the micro.

Finally, the apple slices. I left the peel on, did NOT core them, and just sliced them thin and microwaved for 3 1/2 minutes. I liked them plain, but they would be good with cinnamon or nutmeg too. They’re a little more chewy than crunchy but a easy healthy snack.

Moi tip: Mignette likes the chips too: without salt or any other seasonings, the perfect puppy treat! (btw…she likes potatoes and apples raw too.)

You can buy TopChips at specialty kitchen shops, amazon or online. $20-25, depending on the accessory package.

The holidays are officially over but I still feel incredibly busy: Too much travel? Too much baking? Too much online shopping? Too much Lifetime Christmas Movies?

Fortunately over the holidays I discovered 2 new treats that are making Moi life just a little sweeter…

Torani Sugar-Free Salted Caramel Flavored Syrup - I’m always up for a Starbucks trip. Recently I ordered my year-round standard (tall skim chai, extra shot, extra water, extra hot please!) SIL Katie ordered a sea salt caramel mocha coffee: how’d I miss that? Still missing NYCs posted calorie counts, I went online and checked the calorie count: anywhere from 220 to 450! So saved for special treats…

Then on a shopping trip to World Market I happened to see the Torani syrups, and noticed Sugar-Free Salted Caramel: voila! Now afternoons when I’m working at home I make my own salted caramel mocha coffee:

Salted Caramel Mocha Coffee

• 1 cup fresh hot coffee (I usually make decaf)
• 2 pumps Torani Sugar-Free Salted Caramel syrup
• 1/2 packet 25 calorie Swiss Miss instant hot chocolate

Sweet and salty and chocolatey – and less than 25 calories!

$6.99 per 250z bottle: and I like the convenient pump for a 1-time extra $1.99.

Marzetti Sweet & Salty Caramel Dip: niece Rachel came to visit, and gifted us 2 cartons of Sweet & Salty Caramel Dip and a big bag of pretzels: Uh- Oh! I held out for a week, but then I had to open the 1st container…huge mistake! So sweet and so salty and so creamy and so easy! I’m guessing it would be yummy with apples too…but so far I’m sticking to pretzels!

$3.99 for a 16oz container…but I’d buy 2…just in case!

Torani Sugar-Free Salted Caramel Syrup and Marzetti Sweet & Salty Caramel Dip…it makes me happy!

Moi Idea: I’m thinking I might try my nutella poundcake but with Sweet & Salty Caramel Dip in place of the nutella: this could be dangerous!

In my holiday baking frenzy I also had to supply pick-up desserts for my mother’s 80th birthday party. The Queen Mum’s surprise party guest list ages ranged from 80+ down to less than 1 month old, with grandkids of all ages sure to begin their dinner with the dessert table.

What to bake for the kids….Cake Pops!

Cake Pops are everywhere these days: they are bite sizes cupcakes (the size of a donut hole) on a stick. The original recipe called for baking a cake or brownies, crumbling it up, mixing it with frosting, cream cheese, or some other binder, and shaping it into a ball. Too messy, too much work.

But on one of my weekly shopping trips to Bed Bath and Beyond I discovered the Bake Pop pan: just pour cake batter into the pan, cover with the lid pan, bake and decorate! $19.95 – $5 coupon. Done!

I bought the pan, 1 box of chocolate cake mix and 1 box of yellow cake mix, and followed the directions on the Bake Pop can for mixing the batter (slightly different from cake batter directions: extra egg).  Followed the directions, et voila! cake pops!

Now to decorate. The Bake Pop pans come with 18 sticks, but that’s no fun! I decided to make my cake pops with edible sticks: pretzels sticks. Now to find the right pretzels sticks. Traditional pretzel sticks are too thin, pretzel twists were too short and too thin. Then at my favorite Trader Joe’s I discovered Trader Joe’s Honey Wheat Pretzel Sticks: not too thick, not too thin; not too short, not too long: perfect!

Next, the assembly: I used a chopstick to poke a hole in each cake pop. Then, I melted some white chocolate. I dipped an end of each pretzel stick in the melted white chocolate, then inserted it into the cake pop hole. I refrigerated 10 minutes to harden, then continued making the cake pops.

I’m not a great cake decorator, so I decided to go with the easy tuxedo-style chocolate candy covered cake pops. I dipped each cake pop (in the stick) into the melted white chocolate, almost up to the pretzel. I let the excess chocolate drip off, then set the cake pop to harden on a silpat mat for about 30 minutes.

Next, I melted some semi-sweet chocolate chips. I dipped each cake pop into the chocolate at a 45° angle first on one side of the cake pop, then the other, and set it again to rest on the silpat mat. Voila! Each cake pop decorated tuxedo-style with a white shirt and black tux.

Moi Tip: I considered but then decided against flavoring each cake pop before inserting the pretzel stick: after making the hole with the chopstick, add a few drops of liqueur such as Cointreau or Frangelico; or a pump of flavored syrup (I liked Torani’s Caramel Syrup). Try making your cake pops with a flavor: and let me know.

Moi Tip Encore: this would be a great baking project with your kids!

Bonne fête, Maman!

Last week was our annual Christmas bake-a-thon: Julie and I spent 3 days baking our usual favorites cranberry-pistachio shortbread, English toffee, fudge, puppy chow, and nutella poundcake.

Every year we add to the holiday mix: This year we created batches of biscotti, madeleines and canelé. Canelé you ask? Bien sur: Julie and I have been baking canelé since we lived in Paris, and we each discovered the little pastry when we traveled with our husbands to the village of St Émilion, intent on sampling the great wines of the region, and along the way falling in love with the charming cobble-stone village and the sweet, crunchy patisserie with the soft custardy center.

I had not seen canelé in Paris (they’ve since become very popular in Paris) so after TBG and I revisited several canelé shops, and purchased several boxes to take home, in my best beginners French I asked the owner of a canelé shop if she would share her recipe: and she did!

I took the recipe with me back to Paris, Julie and I went to E. Dehillerin to purchase the expensive little copper canelé molds, and home again to test out the recipe. Since then, with the internet we’ve discovered and tested other recipes, but none seem to work as well as the original recipe, and our own uncomplicated process for making canelé.

Le Canelé
500g sugar (2 1/2 cups)
250g flour (2 cups)
2 eggs
3 egg yolks
1 litre milk (4.22 cups)
Mix together in a bowl the eggs, sugar and flour.

Heat the milk, and slowly add it to the mixture. Add a little of your preference of rum, Cointreau or vanilla. Let mixture sit overnight.

Butter then fill the molds. Preheat the oven to 450°. Then, reduce the oven to 350º and put the molds into the oven. Bake the canelé 40-45 minutes, until the tops are dark brown and crusty. Remove the molds from the oven and let cool, then remove from molds.

Wait 1 hour before eating.

Note: Canelé molds are now aslo made in silicon: these can be easier to use, but also harder to clean. Typically the outsides are less crusty when using silicon molds.

During the years we lived in Paris, and long before, The International Herald Tribune reprinted a column by writer and columnist Art Buchwald. He’s no longer with us, but his words will make us smile once again this Thanksgiving.

Bon Appétit, Art

What’s the 1st stop for every ex-expat returning to Paris for a visit: Monoprix, bien sur! I need to stock up on all the French kitchen essentials that I’ve depleted since my last visit, and see what’s new. Plus, Christmas is just around the corner and maybe a few gourmet French foods can be checked off my list!

Moi Monoprix essentials:
1. La Petit Marsellaise soap and refills
2. Salt: grinder and fleur de sel
3. Seasonings and spices
4. Olive oil with peppers (for pizza!)
5. hard sausages
6. cheeses
7. Breakfast cereal
8. Cookies: Madelines and Speculoos
9. Yogurt (I ate the yogurt: I wanted the lavender clay pots!)
10. Cornichon
11. Chocolates
12. Throat lozenges (sore throat )
13. Blinis

I have a 50lb weight limit: I may have to leave some clothes behind!

I like to snack on hard boiled eggs when I’m rushing but need to eat. Julie asked if I’ve tried Eggies. No, but I’ve seen them at the check-out at Bed Bath and Beyond.

Then Eggies were featured in a BBB flyer. Then an email. And since I was at BBB buying picture frames, and my friend Suzanne was coming to visit and she loves hard boiled eggs as much as I do, and Eggies were sitting right next to the cash register, why not?

Why? Eggies allow you to hard-boil eggs without the shell. Each package has 6 plastic egg shaped containers. You break 1 egg into each container, then boil as normal. Voila! Hard boiled eggs for a quick on-the-go snack, salads, stuffed eggs and other uses. Can also be used to make all-white hard boiled eggs.

$9.99 less 20% coupon I have 6 new Eggies, and an egg separator (which will sit unused in a drawer for a while until I finally throw it away).

btw… Eggies is also sold on TV and online, and the online site states that Eggies are not available in stores. Funny, because I know I bought my Eggies at BBB and I’m pretty sure that’s a store!

Hard-boiled eggs without the shell: it makes me happy!

No matter where you look, you know it’s October National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. And with my friends and families we’ve unfortunately had reasons to discuss all forms of cancers these past months. But this month, whether we’re watching TV, taking the bus, at a football game, reading a magazine, or shopping at the mall we are reminded that cancers are among us every day.

In one of our ongoing email chains, I happened to mention to several friends that I’d watched The Talk that day, and that Dr. Kristi Funk said women who have birth under age 20 were at a lower risk for breast cancer: yea for me! And later I emailed them that Dr Kristi also strongly recommends 3 cups of green tea daily as a cancer preventative: it’s those antioxidants at work. And I like to drink with style, so I’m sipping my hot tea from a zebra-striped thermal mug with a hot pink straw!

No problem: hot or iced green tea lemonade, I drink green tea daily because I like it. And the health benefits are a welcome bonus.

So do yourself a favor and drink up: Santé!

moi tip: Today I’m drinking Daily Green Tea The People’s Green Decaf