Re Post from Paris: Croque Madame, Versailles Gardens

Please enjoy this repost from our Paris trip in 2010. The nice weather here in SF keeps bringing me back to Versailles with its lovely gardens and hidden groves.

I will admit that up until this point, I was afraid of the cheese aspect of the Croque. But, last night, Kristen ordered one and assured me it was just a mild cheese, so today, I ordered one.

To be honest, I didn’t realize that the croque madame came with an egg on top. It never occured to me to ask what the difference was between the monsieur and hte madame. Boy am I happy I did.

There are probably better specimens of the croque madame, but this made my day! The oozing egg over the ham and melted cheese was divine.

I am totally going to make these as often as my waistline will permit. What a treat!

Here is a link to a great croque madame recipe.

Potato Pancakes My Way: Gluten Free and Dairy Free

Potato Pancakes!

I have been buying frozen potato pancakes for a long time now, but always loved Gran Fran's homemade ones. We would sometimes have breakfast for dinner, which mostly meant bacon and eggs or french toast, but sometimes included potato pancakes. I love the crispy outside and the warm, soft inside. Gran Fran's were loaded with salt and sometimes had corn added to them. I remember the sizzle of the hot oil and Gran Fran yelling for all the kids to back away from the stove (and to leave the kitchen) in case the oil splattered when she put the potato pancakes in the pan. I can't recall anyone every getting hurt when Gran Fran fried things, but she still tells the kids (meaning me and my five adult siblings) to back away when she's frying. Old habits die hard, I guess.

The other night I had some leftover mashed potatoes and remembered that this was the base for Gran Fran's potato cakes. I don't think I made them the same way she does, but they tasted great. Gran Fran's version definitely had flour involved. Mine use just an egg and the mashed potatoes, which I made with almond milk and olive oil, making them gluten and dairy free.

Isabella, my daughter, loved them so much, she told me not to give her anymore because she wouldn't know when to stop eating them and did not want to over do it. These are definitely being made on a regular basis around here.

So enjoy these with your family and friends. You can even try some add ins like leftover bacon (but for real, who has that on hand?), scallions or grated cheese. Have a lovely weekend!

Potato Pancakes: Gluten and Dairy Free

Ingredients:

• 1 cup leftover dairy-free mashed potatoes (recipe here, includes dairy free option)
• 1 egg
• Salt to taste
• Oil for frying

Method:

1. Mix mashed potatoes and eggs until a thick batter comes together. If you are adding in bacon, scallions or anything else, mix it into the batter now.
2. Heat the olive oil until super hot but not smoking in a pan.
3. Using a tablespoon, spoon the mixture into the pan, leaving a good amount of space between them in the pan.
4. Take a spatula and press down on the potato mixture in the pan to form a pancake. Some of the batter will ooze out the side, which is fine.
5. Cook on first side for 4 minutes, until you can see the edges browning.
6. Flip over the pancakes, press down once more with the spatula and cook for another 4 minutes.
7. Remove from the pan onto a paper towel lined plate and add salt.

Enjoy!

Learning About Turnips: Turnips Sauteed with Apples and Mustard

It's time to learn about turnips. The few times I've tasted turnips, I've been less than impressed. The mashed ones are ok, but nothing compared to mashed potatoes. It occurred to me that I have been lax in learning about this vegetable and have maybe written it off too soon.

My daughter told me that you can't really trust Wikipeda. They learned at school that anyone can enter information on Wikipedia, so it may not be the most trustworthy source.  I figure no one is going to lie about turnips, like they would about a Khardashian or something, so I headed over there for some turnip information.

The turnip is a root vegetable that is very high in vitamin C, while the greens are full of vitamin A, folate, vitamin C, vitamin K, calcium and luetin. Whoa. Who knew?

The article also stated that for some, the flavor of turnips will always be bitter due to your genetics. I generally have this bitter-flavor reaction to cooked spinach (raw spinach is fine). When I read this, I almost sent it to Gran Fran so she would finally understand why I couldn't eat cooked spinach as a kid without crying.

But I digress. With the potential bitterness in mind, I decided to add some apples and apple cider vinegar to my turnip dish to sweeten it up a bit. What a nice combination! Once I tasted it, I realized it would be a great complement to the Real Simple Slow Cooker Bratwurst that I made recently.

I will continue to experiment with turnips, and please do share your turnip recipes with me!

Turnip and Apple Sauté

INGREDIENTS

• 1 ½ to 2 cups turnips, greens removed, peeled, cut into cubes
• 1 apple, skinned, cored and cut into even pieces
• ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon mustard
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

PREPARATION

1. Heat up the olive oil in a pan that is large enough to hold the turnips and apples, preferably one with a lid.
2. Put the turnips and apple cider vinegar in the pan, stir once, cover and cook for 15 minutes.
3. Add the apples and sautee until browned, about 5 minutes.
4. Stir in the mustard, making sure to coat all the turnips and apples and cook for 5 more minutes.

Cook’s note: You can serve this with grilled sausages or a hearty toasted brown bread.

Greek Sandwich Salad Style

Recently, I went to dinner with my uncle (known as Uncle), who is Gran Fran's brother. For the most part, I'm a lettuce with olive oil and salt kind of salad girl. Uncle ordered just this as his salad, which floored me. I hadn't realized there maybe a family connection to my style of salad. He told me that he has always eaten his salad this way, and that he thought it did come from his parents. Who knew?!

Warm weather has arrived in San Francisco. You never know how long this nice patch of weather will be in town, so it's fun to pretend like we have seasons and cook like it's going to stay warm for a few months.

This weather puts me in the mood for a good salad. I made a nice roast pork with Greek flavor a few weeks ago, reminiscent of a the Greek sandwich I had in Paris.  Since I have salad on my mind, I decided to take all the Greek sandwich fixings and make a huge salad.

Seeing as I don't usually make fancy salads (except for my salad nicoise) , I really had to think about how to layer everything in. Some special dressing, which includes Za'atar, a Middle Eastern spice, added a nice extra kick. It's earthy, sour, salty and just interesting. You can just use oregano here, but I love the unexpected flavor.

You don't have to follow my ingredients exactly, but do put the roast pork, red onions and fried potatoes in the salad as these are the keys to the Greek sandwich-ness of the salad.

Greek Sandwich Salad Style

Ingredients

serves 2

• 1 heart of romaine lettuce, cut into pieces
• 2 potatoes, oven fried (recipe here)
• 8 slices of Greek roast pork (recipe here)
• 1/2 red onion, sliced thinly
• 1 red bell pepper, sliced into chunks
• 8 to 10 small tomatoes cut in half
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon Za'atar spice blend or dried oregano
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method

• Lay the romaine on a platter, making a mound in the center.
• Layer on top the red onions, potatoes, tomatoes and red bell peppers, with the pork on top.
• Put the mayonnaise, olive oil, Za'atar (or oregano) and salt and pepper into a bowl and mix until combined.
• Drizzle dressing over the salad and serve.

You can put some nice warm pitas out on the table to serve with this great salad.

Mother's Day Gift

My daughter really knows me. She got me the nicest Mother's Day gift a mom could ever want.

Two years ago, we went to London and Paris for the summer. We love to go to tea. We managed to go several times in France and once in England. Fortnum and Mason in London really made an impact on us. I loved the all of the place settings, especially the blue with gold rimmed teacups.

Well, my little lady found a very close replica of the teacup and gave it to me for mother's day. Such a thoughtful gift. Which, she told me, would also make a great prop for my photos.

There was also a nice set of photo magnet frames, that look like the outer edge of a Polaroid, but with lovely pastel patterns on them. We are going to clear off the fridge and make a fancy gallery up there. Both of these gifts came from a store called Typo, which I think is Australian.

We will get back to London someday to have more lovely tea, but for now, we can recreate it here in our own home with this great teacup.

Happy mother's day to you all!

Something Sweet For Mother's Day: Granita, Apple Crisp, Lemon Curd, Citrus Tart, Granola

It's time for Mother's Day! I am so very excited to see what my daughter has up her sleeve this year. In honor of Mom, I'm posting some very nice sweet recipes you can make ahead and bring to Mom. The lemon curd and the granola make several servings that you can bottle and distribute to your mom, grandmother, stepmother, godmother or whatever lady is the fabulous mom-figure in your life.

You can also check out my piece on Mother's Day with links to 3 more great recipes here.

Enjoy and happy mother's day!

Citrus Puff Pastry Tart

Granola: Nuts, Olive Oil, Maple Syrup and Coconut

Lemon Curd

Apple Pear Crisp

Strawberry, Grapefruit and Sage Granita

Cranberry Ginger Ale

Featured: DailyBuzz Healthy Living: Thoughts on Mothers and Daughters

My piece about mothers and daughters is featured today on the DaillyBuzz Healthy Living website.

I'm really happy to have this piece featured in several places because it was sucha personal story.

The site is featuring some really nice Mother's Day gift ideas that might inspire some shopping for your own mama.

The original post was posted here on my site, with links to a nice Mother's Day breakfast.

Vegan and Gluten-Free Mini Veggie Pizza

Comfort foods are my best friend. My parents are both great cooks and go out of their way to make everyone's favorite foods at all times. One of my favorite childhood dishes, was the English muffin mini pizzas Joe (my dad) would make for us. Honestly, I can't remember if he made them very often , but this is a dish I always associate with him.

I've been wanting to make these mini pizzas myself, but I have two problems: gluten and dairy. In the past, I've made my own pizza crust with gluten free flour, but I just want to be able to throw together a quick and easy pizza, that reminds me of Joe's pizza.

My solution presented itself in the form of these great gluten and dairy free Amy's sandwich rounds. I haven't had much luck in finding a small roll or English muffin-type of bread in the past. These are amazing. They are nice and soft, but not too chewy and held up well with all of the toppings on them, too.

Veggie Pizza

INGREDIENTS

• 1 green bell pepper, sliced into strips
• 3 to 4 mushrooms, sliced and sautéed in olive oil
• 3 to 4 asparagus stalks, steamed and cut into small pieces
• Amy's Gluten-Free Sandwich Round or 1 English muffins or 1 pita cut in half
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme, coarsely chopped
• 1/8 cup olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

PREPARATION

1. If using pizza dough: prepare as per the package instructions and pre-bake the dough halfway.
2. If using English muffins or pita bread: place in a toaster oven or a regular oven on broil for 3 minutes.
3. Take the partially baked pizza dough or the toasted bread and layer on top all of the veggies.
4. Pour the oil over top, and sprinkle with thyme, salt and pepper.
5. Place back in the oven or broiler and cook until the veggies and crust/bread have browned slightly.

Serves 2. Prep time, 5 minutes; cook time, 5 to 20 minutes.

Cook’s note: You can add 2 tablespoons of tomato sauce, mozzarella or Parmesan cheese as a base, before you place the vegetables on the bread.

Featured: Daily Buzz Moms: Thoughts on Mothers and Daughters

I never thought a picture of me in a swimsuit being posted around town could make me so happy. My post on mothers and daughters is featured on today'sDailyBuzz Moms site.

There are quite a few heavy topics the other authors are dealing with in their posts. Mine is not as serious, but it does, I hope, give the true sense of what it means to raise a daughter as well as to be a daughter.

Original post can be seen here, with some Mother's Day recipes included as well.

Going Down the Hill: Strawberry Grapefruit and Sage Granita

Have you ever made granita before? I hadn't until last night. It was so easy that I think this will become a regular thing with all of these great Spring-into-Summer fruits coming my way.

Some of my favorite summer moments include walking Down the Hill to the pizza place to get a frozen Italian ice. Down the Hill is treated as such, since it was a title for a small hill made up of dirt that created a shortcut between our suburban Queens neighborhood and a small strip of stores just off the LIE eastbound. If you needed something from the store you were directed to go Down the Hill.

Of course, there was another hill just on the other side of the shopping mall, but that was not Down the Hill, you know what I mean? There were times that my mother, Gran Fran, made it clear we were not supposed to go Down the Hill, but down the hill. This was mostly when we wore shorts, flip flops, sandals, or were otherwise in danger of scraping ourselves on bits of broken glass or other debris left in the dirt. Oh, and sometimes when it was raining, icy, snowy, or just a regular Tuesday. You see where I'm going with this?

The Italian ice that we had came pre-packaged and was made by a company called Marino's. My parents grew up in Brooklyn and had hand-made Italian ices that we would periodically venture across borough lines to enjoy. The Brooklyn ices definitely tasted more like the fruit they said were included (lemon was my fave). But the packaged kind are still what comes to mind when summer weather shows itself, however briefly, here in SF (this weekend has topped out at a whopping 79 degrees without a cloud or fog bank in sight).

As I grew up and started to venture to other cities and states I found there were regionally produced ice-like treats. In Philly I came across Water Ice. Not a huge fan of this style of ice treat. I can't put my finger on why, and it may just be because it's not the same as what I knew as a child. But, I do know plenty of people who love them a good Water Ice.

In California, I was treated to Hawaiian Shaved Ice, but it's too bumpy and doesn't have that nice rich consistency that I love. I do, however, love the variety of flavors, and the less common ones, that are available for your very own custom shaved ice.

I wasn't sure it was going to turn out, since it was such a simple recipe. All the recipes I came across used quite a bit of sugar, which I decided to reduce. The first version I made used only half of what I'm recommending here, and no water. That batch was very tart. Fine for me, but I think most people would like their granita quite a bit sweeter.

Please enjoy this and let me know about any other types of ice-related goodness that I didn't go over here. I'd love to try more!

Strawberry, Grapefruit and Sage Granita

Ingredients

• 1 pound strawberries
• 1 large grapefruit skin removed
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup grapefruit juice
• 1/2 cup water
• 4 tablespoons lemon juice
• 8 sage leaves minced

Method:

1. Put all of the ingredients in a blender and puree
2. Pour the mixture into a freezer-proof baking dish.
3. Freeze for 4 to 5 hours, until solid.
4. When ready to serve, take a fork and scrape the ice mixture into serving bowls or glasses.
5. Serve with a bit of sage on top.