Cookies with chocolate chunk

What’s going on in Pauline-Cuisine ?

It is really enjoyable this warm weather! I rediscover the pleasure to do some long walk nearby the water canal in the East London. It is a really peaceful walk with a lot of animals to see. But after walking for one hour or two, it is time to eat something. So last weekend, after this sunny and warm walk, I decided to bake quickly some cookies. It has been a long time since I haven’t took the time to make some.

It takes only 15 minutes to bake and a quick 10 minutes to make and trust me the taste is far better than the one which can be found in the supermarket. I was used to make them when I was a student, so I really enjoy making them again. They didn’t last long and the few cookies leftover were a nice addition such as dessert for my Monday lunch box.

Have a nice week and don’t hesitate to comment the recipes shared.

Savory cake: Roquefort, cheddar and olives

What’s going on in Pauline-Cuisine ?

Since I moved to this new flat, I am enjoying my new kitchen and I spent more time cooking rather than sharing my recipes. On top of that, I love receiving people and I challenge myself to be more creative for the aperitif offer. In fact, I usually describe myself as a sweet tooth, so I usually have a lot of ideas for dessert and I keep keeping the same set of aperitif such as smoked salmon verrine, smoked salmon canapé

Last weekend, I decided to have a look at all the cooking books that I have and tried to create a new recipe with ingredients that I had on the fridge. I decided to go ahead with a savory cake: Roquefort, olives and cheddar. I know that usually my guest like savory cakes and they are great alternative to the usually crisps. On top of that, you can store easily the savory cake for 3 or 4 days in a plastic box.

In order to create a more aperitif version of this savory cake with Roquefort, olives and cheddar, I decided to use a mould that I received quite a while ago. I found it when I tidied up the drawer where I put all the moulds.

I let you try this new recipe: savory cake with Roquefort, cheddar and olives; which can be served as an aperitif or as a main course with a salad.

Have a nice week.

Soup of watercress

What’s going on in Pauline-Cuisine ?

I took the opportunity that we are still in January for wishing you all the best for 2015. I hope this new year will be full of blossom and tasty discoveries.

Usually, people like to take some resolutions in order to make a good start but so few succeed to maintain them. So in order to help the one who decided to cook more often, you will love this website and the fact that most of the recipes are easy and quick to prepare. This week recipe is one of the simplest; I will share with you the cooking recipe for making a soup of watercress.

In fact, for a couple of year now, a soup for dinner appears as the perfect menu after a long day at work. That is really easy to do; you can even take your shower/bath when it is cooking. This dinner is super healthy and perfect for a good night sleep. The challenge is to find a couple of new soup for adding variety all along weeks of cold winter. For finding inspiration, I decided to go back to my childhood and the various soup that my mum does, and the one that came straight away to my mind is the watercress soup. At this time, it was a kind of festive soup as the watercress was not as easy to find as the one in the UK. My mum used to buy it at the food market and usually it was hard work to wash it. Completely different in UK where you have it ready to use which make the watercress soup like something easy to do and tasty to eat as often as I want.

Have a good week and don’t hesitate to comment the recipe and make some tasty amendments

Kiwi ice cream without ice cream maker

What’s going on in Pauline-Cuisine ?

The last few days have been really hot, like the summer was here, unfortunately, when the weekend arrives, the sun has disappeared. Anyway, it has been a long time that I wanted to do my own ice cream, I was looking for an ice cream maker but the major problem is that I don’t have any more space in my kitchen. I didn’t see the point to have an ice cream maker and keeping it in his box. So I decided to ask my mum if she knows a recipe for doing ice cream without ice cream maker and she gave me an amazing recipe.

I couldn’t imagine that it is so easy and quick to do ice cream. Moreover, with the homemade ice cream you can choose your very own flavor. As I bought some discounted kiwi at my local shop, I decided to give a try to a kiwi ice cream. Not easy to find it at the supermarket isn’t it? This kiwi ice cream is perfect as a dessert served with grilled almond. That makes a great impression to all your guests. Give a try at this amazingly easy and tasty kiwi ice cream. Don’t miss the opportunity to create some unexpected flavor for the summer.

Have a good week and see you next week with another delicious recipe.

Savory cake: chorizo, olives and dried tomatoes

What’s going on in Pauline's Cuisine ?

With this changing weather is really hard to cook something that fits with our mood. The salad can be disappointed with a rainy weather and a hot dish really not appropriate when the sun shines. So this week, I wanted to find a recipe that can fit for every day. I decided to go ahead with a savory cake. It has been a while that I have not taken the time to cook one of them because my last trial was not a great success, it was too oily. This week I will share with you a new recipe of savory cake with chorizo, olives and dried tomatoes.

Last week, I went to my favorite grocery shop, a big one that is located in the centre of the new Business centre: Canary Wharf. This particular shop is the flag shop of the brand, so everything is perfect and you have a lot different counters for bread, meat, charcuterie, cheese… everything is done for “helping” you to buy. As I was buying some charcuterie in order to prepare a cheese dinner, the chorizo was on sale. Usually I don’t like chorizo but this time, due to the attractive windows, I decided to buy chorizo. Back home, I had a quick look at my various cooking magazine in order to find a way to cook it in a savory cake. I found a recipe with chorizo and olives. As I bought some dried tomatoes, I decided to amend largely the recipe and added dried tomatoes in the savory cake and in order to maximize the flavor I added dried tomato oil. The cake was delicious. The taste of the chorizo was not too strong and the cake was perfectly balanced at the oil level.

This recipe of savory cake with chorizo, olives and dried tomatoes is a "must have" for your aperitif and your lunch box. You can eat it warm or cold. Don’t hesitate to give a trial this weekend. Still hesitating, need one more word for trying: the savory cake can be frozen easily and keeping all the flavor when you defrost it, is not it perfect?

Mushrooms pasta with pesto and walnuts

What’s going on in Pauline-Cuisine?

First of all, I would like to wish you a great Happy Easter. The perfect time of the year for eating chocolate without thinking, I hope you find your chocolate eggs on the garden, I have already ate them :)

This week, I would like to share with you a new recipe: mushrooms pasta with pesto and walnuts that I created after spending some holidays in the mountains. In fact, two weeks ago, I was on holiday with my family in a small ski station: Aussois near by the Italian border. The weather was really nice and it was quite relaxing to have a break over there where the time seems to have been stopped. As I am not a huge fan of ski and snow, I decided to have a look at the village and try to find mew cooking products. It was quick mission as the shops are not always open and are really small. I ended my walk on the small mini market near by the hotel and I finally found an attractive product: mushrooms pasta.

Back to London, I planned to give a try to this product. As I like to cook chestnut mushrooms, I decided to cook this pasta with tasteful kind of mushrooms. When I was cooking the chestnut mushrooms, I was not really convinced about the recipe that I have imagined. So I looked around in my kitchen in order to find the magic ingredient which suits with my idea of the recipe: I decided to add pesto and walnuts. And on top of that, I added some small pieces of dried Italian ham. The smell in the kitchen was really great. The taste of the mushrooms pasta is not as strong as I imagine, it was quite discreet but the recipe is really delicious and easy to make.

I wish you a good week, see you next with another delicious recipe.

Lunch box: mix of wild rice with vegetables

What’s going on in Pauline-Cuisine ?

This week, I will share with you an easy and colourful recipe for lunch box: mix of wild rice with vegetables. I discovered a large variety of rice when I came to live in London. When I lived in France, I only know a lot of white rice but I didn’t notice this kind of colourful rice: wild, Camargue, brown rice.

The first time that I bought a mix, it was just for trying but I was a little bit afraid about the cooking time, you need to plan at least 35 minutes. Fortunately, I escaped really quickly this “waste” of time by using my lazy option: using my rice cooker that it can do it in 35 minutes as well but without check. From this time, I took the habit to cook more and more of this kind of rices, I usually serve it as a main dish, whereas the white Basmati rice is usually use for accompanying a fish.

Last week, I went to my usual supermarket after work and I found an attractive selection of mini vegetables, it was a mix of small corn, mange-tout, broccoli and a small chilli. It was colourful and I thought that could be a nice addition to my mix of brown, wild and Camargue rice.

I sliced in small pieces mange-tout and mini corn and prepare the chilli. I used a pan in order to roast them. I have already tried to cook them with boiling water but the taste is not as strong as roasting them. I cook the broccoli really quickly, 5 minutes only in boiling water, if you let them too long in the boiling water, they lost their crunchy. When all the mini vegetables are cooked, add the rice and mix all of them together.

You can serve this dish warm or cold, if you serve it cold, you could add some dressing on top. I like this recipe both cold and warm:  so easy to do, healthy, tasty and so colourful. Don’t hesitate to try it and post some comments.

Have a nice weekend and see you next week with another tasty recipe.