Paris Outdoor Markets - What's in Season - Rhubarb Compote

Rhubarb!!  It's here!  Enjoy its bounty while you can.  

 A pile of rhubarb at the market - grown outside of Paris

 The variety of rhubarb grown here has a rich pink color and these particular ones are nice & thin.  I find them to be less tart here compared to the ones back home and so I can get by using less sugar when I cook them.  Here's a recipe for a rhubarbe compote that I like very much.  If you let it cook too long, the vibrant color dulls out & the texture is a bit "mushier", but no worries, it still tastes great!

  

Recipe:  Compote de rhubarbe (Rhubarb compote)
Makes a large quantity;  can be halved.

1.5 kilos rhubarb
zest of 1 orange
Juice of 2 oranges
50g sugar (or more depending on the tartness of the rhubarb)
2 vanilla beans
2 tablespoons Grand Marnier (optional)
1 kilo strawberries

• Clean rhubarb under cold water.  Cut off ends.  Remove any fibers (if tough).  Cut into 1 inch slices (roughly).
• Remove the zest of the orange (using a microplane works the fastest)
• Juice the oranges into a small bowl.
• Scrape seeds from vanilla beans or use extract;  add to orange juice.
• Add sugar to bowl with orange juice & stir to mix. Add the rhubarb pieces & stir well.  Pour into baking pan & cover with foil.
• Bake at 200C (400F) for 30 minutes (the juices will be released during this time); stir; remove foil & bake another 20 minutes or until fruit is soft & the juices have become reduced.  Let cool. 
• While rhubarb is baking, clean the strawberries & remove hull.  Slice into med-thin slices (vertically).

You can add the strawberries slices during the first 30 minutes to make a strawberry-rhubarb compote.  Or, you can simply add the raw strawberries to the cooled rhubarb compote.  Personally, I prefer adding strawberries without cooking them but only if the strawberries are nice & ripe & full of flavor.  It's not a true compote like this, but it sure tastes great with yogurt, over ice cream, with a crepe, with pancakes, over angelfood cake, in a "verrine"....I could go on & on...!  

Store in fridge.  Should be eaten within a few days since the sugar content is so low - it doesn't hold as long as a confiture or a true compote.

ENJOY!

At Marché Raspail this morning...a beautiful moment

:/dma

Tomato, Orange, Avocado & Burrata Millefeuille

Here's a quick, delicious first course - perfect for this time of the year, BUT ONLY if you can find perfectly ripe tomatoes, oranges and avocados!



The other essential ingredient to the success of this dish is an italian cheese called Burrata. Burrata is a cow-milk based cheese similar to buffalo mozzarella cheese, but with a softer texture and taste. It's in season at the moment, according to my local fromager (cheese monger). Burrata cheese is amazingly delicate and mouth-watering good. I highly recommend you try it, if you are lucky enough to have access to this wonderful cheese.

As it goes, this idea came to mind because of my continued fixation on citrus & avocado pairing. It's loosely based on the Cocktail d'agrumes et Crevettes recipe previously posted (only no shrimp here, and instead, a nice ripe tomato that tastes like ripe tomatoes should). Yum!


Ingredients - 8 people

2 ripe avocados
4 vine-ripe tomatoes
2-3 succulent oranges
2 balls of Burratta cheese (approximately 300 g)
fresh basil
salt & pepper
lemon juice
vinaigrette

Steps:

1. Pit the avocado and slice thinly in the horizontal sense. Cover with lemon juice to prevent discoloration.
2. Peel and slice horizontally the tomatoes.
3. Peel and slice horizontally the orange.
4. Remove Burratta from its wrapping and place in a flat container (since once you pierce into it, it will leak all over! Trust me, you're going to want to capture all that rich flavor...by the spoonful!).
5. Make a simple vinaigrette (optional). I didn't use a vinagrette here, and it was absolutely delicious, but I offer that as an idea. You can spoon the vinagrette over the avocado, tomatoes and oranges before assembly.
6. Assemble so that the millefeuille takes the shape of a tomatoe stack. Season each layer before adding the next.
7. Top with a spoonful of Burrata cheese & a slivers of chopped basil. Season with pepper.
8. Add an infused oil such as basil oil or chive oil to the base of the millefeuille. Serve with a baguette.
   

Enjoy!


:/ dma

Fava Bean, Spring Peas & Capellini - A Fast, Delicious Dinner

No matter what industry you're in, you might agree that simplicity can lead to greatness. Unfortunately, sometimes to create something simple involves a lot of behind-the-scenes work. (And perhaps only the creator would know how much work it took to make it look that "simple".) Last night, however, I made something that was actually very simple and it didn't take a lot of work....how's that for great?!

This dish was put together in about 30 minutes or less, with about 6 key ingredients. And I must say that it was satisfying beyond description. It's loaded with spring freshness, if only because of the fava beans and peas. These little guys count for everything in this dish! A twist of lemon adds a nice zing. Freshly chopped tarragon and cilantro add another dimension of zing. The "sauce" is made with a splash of chicken or vegetable stock, a pat of salted butter, a sprinkle of parmesan cheese, and a pinch of piment d'espelette (red pepper from the southwest of France/northwest of Spain). C'est tout! (That's it!) What a way to highlight the freshness of fava beans & peas.


Ingredients (6 people)
capellini pasta for 6
fava beans, 2 kg (~ 4.5 lbs), unshelled
green peas, 1.4 kg (~ 3 lbs), unshelled shell, or a couple of cups of frozen peas
tarragon, fresh - 1 bunch
cilantro, fresh - 1 bunch
juice from 1 lemon
chicken stock (or water)
salted butter (or regular butter)
walnut oil, or high quality olive oil (optional)
piment d'espelette or sweet/spicy paprika (to your taste)

Steps:
1) Prepare the vegetables. Shell the fava beens, blanch them in boiling, salted water ~1 min. Drain, plunge into ice water to stop the cooking, and drain. Peel off the rough skin from each fava bean & set aside. Shuck the peas. Cook al dente in salted boiling water a few minutes. Drain & cold shock them (cold water) & set aside.

2) Bring water to boil. Chop herbs. Juice a lemon. Shave the parmesan cheese (if needed). Cook & drain pasta.

3) Into a saucepan, heat some stock (or use some water from the pasta cooking if you have no stock). Add some salted butter until melted. Add the cooked, hot pasta into this pan & swirl until every noodle is coated. Add the fava beans & peas. Add the lemon juice, herbs, parmesan cheese & seasonings. Swirl. Throw in some extra fresh almonds, if you have them! Add more stock or butter/water if necessary. Pour a light sprinkle of oil around. Serve immediately.


:/dma