Easter chocolates and starter

What’s cooking in Pauline-Cuisine?

This weekend is quite specific because it is Easter weekend, great for two things:  eating chocolate more than usual and 4 free days. This year, I have decided to do my own chocolate. I have already tried last year but my only memory regarding this cooking experience is long, too long. So this year, I decided to try it again, it was still long but the result was really great. Indeed, this year I have bought high quality dark chocolate from Callebaut and I bought a magic powder: Mycryo. I discovered this powder on “Cooking mumu” website. And I can confirm that is right the chocolate are shiny and beautiful. I am really glad of this chocolate experience and I will share with you the recipe which is quite inspired from L’Atelier Chocolat de Pâques (Larousse).

The second recipe that I would like to share with you it is an impressive starter for your Easter banquet: salted macaron with dried tomatoes. I decided to try macaron for the first time 2 years ago. The first time I was quite frightened because everybody said that is difficult. One more time that is not really difficult it is just long. I now manage to do sweety macarons (French Chocolate and Guava Macarons, Rasperry Macarons), I have decided to launch myself on the salty one. Moreover, I wanted to use my tomato chutney, that I have received in my surprise cooking box from Récréation Gourmande. I have opted for plain cream hull (the colour of almond). The experience was tasty and it was a success. Let’s try it for your Easter starters.

Happy Easter and see you next week with a new lunch box recipe.

Childhood recipes...

What’s cooking in Pauline-Cuisine ?

Last week, I went to a street market with a friend, it is an amazing place to be because you can buy any bowl of fruit for only £1, the game is to find the merchant that will give you the must heavy bowl for this price. I have enjoyed the experience and I have bought vegetables and fruits. The only problem with these fruits and vegetables is that you need to use them quite quickly, there are not like the one that you bought in English supermarket.

I have chosen to buy apples because I was in the mood to do an apple pie. So, I have baked a thin apple pie with nuts. I have only used few apples, so I decided to bake the apples with sultanas in the oven. I remembered eating it when I was a child and I remind that it was really tasty because the apple is smooth inside not as compote but almost. I baked these apples and I found again this a little taste of my childhood, so nice, so delicious :) Try this quick recipe and don’t hesitate to post a comment.

I was in mood of cooking my childhood best food this week, so I decided to try Goat cheese and ham puff pastry. It is a quite easy thing to find ready to eat in France but it is not as common as in London. Except for lunch at Waitrose. But I was fed up to eat them because there are full of white sauce and they didn’t contain enough bacon and cheese on it. For the first time, I decided to do a Goat cheese and ham puff pastry for a dinner. It is quite easy to do, I have done my own light white sauce, and I suppose it was the part the most longer of the process to cook this recipe. The taste was wonderful; I like the mix of goat cheese and cured ham. I have done a big goat cheese and ham puff pastry and I have served it as a main course with a salad with walnuts.

I wish a good week and tasty edible experience.

See you next week with a recipe for your daily lunch box.

Quiche, quiche, quiche....

Whart's cooking in Pauline-Cuisine?

This week,  I was a little bit lazy, so I didn’t spend a lot of time in my kitchen. Nevertheless, I have kept trying to eat healthy food, so I have opted for quiches. This week, I will share with you one of my new quiche recipes: quiche of leeks.

Since several weeks, one of my colleagues eats quiche of leeks that came from a famous French bakery in London. That quiche always smells really good. So I decided to give a try in doing mine at home.

I did a first one but I was not convinced by the taste :(, so I did a second try with my quiche basis and grated cheese. The second try was a success and it was really tasty. The quiche of leeks is not the fastest quiche to make because you need time for cooking leeks but that worth it and it is a great alternative to the quiche Lorraine.

I really enjoy making and eating quiche, so I have built a large choice of recipes. If you are like me or if you want to cook something good in a few minutes, let’s have a look to my various quiches recipes: salmon quiche, quiche with Roquefort and walnuts, courgettes quiche, quiche with leeks and goat cheese or a quiche with spinach and goat cheese.

Amazing choice !! and the value added of those quiches is that you can easily freeze them for eating later. So, it is not rare that during the weekend, I cooked several type of quiche or a lot of small of one type and I froze them for eating all along the month. The tip is to cook the quiche in an individual portion, that is better when you de-freeze them and re-heat them on the microwave or in the oven.

Enjoy your quiche experience!

See you next week with the recipe of the light version of a traditional French dessert: Crème brulée.

Pancakes and Crêpes :)

What’s cooking in Pauline-Cuisine ?

When I was on the underground this afternoon (on Monday) for going back home, I discovered that tomorrow is the Pancake day, so nice .

A new occasion for cooking my favorite dessert: pancakes/crêpes, a new one because in France, we celebrate on February 2nd La Chadeleur where we cook crêpes. So I have decided to share with you different recipes of Crêpes: buckwheat pancakes, sweet pancakes and light crêpes. All versions are really tasty and take the opportunity of this day to test several recipes. In order to avoid the common, but really tasty and enjoyable, filling of chocolate or jam, try to do your own whipped cream. Which taste do you prefer: vanilla, mango or chocolate? It is time to go shopping for buying flour, eggs, sugar and milk and cook tasty pancakes, so delicious  

For the other days of the week and with the frozen weather, you can opt for a soup. This week, you can try the soup of mushrooms and chestnuts . My auntie gave me this recipe and I have tried it after Christmas when it was easy to find chestnuts. This soup is really delicious and innovative. After tasting various way of serving it, I recommend to serve it in “verrine” as a starter instead of a big bowl as I have pictured it.

I wish you a good week and a lot of edible experience. Don’t hesitate to post comments on the recipes and help me to improve my cooking recipes.

See you next week with a tasty leek pie, so convenient for your lunch box.

Amazing lunch box and two potatoes soup

What’s cooking in Pauline-Cuisine?

I hope you are fine and you have enjoyed the recipes already online; I was quite busy these last weeks.  One more hard working week at work and then I will be not as busy as these few last weeks.

I didn’t have put new recipes online but I have continuing to experiment new cooking thing in my kitchen. Just for a quick overview, I have tried a chocolate short-crust pastry that was amazing with strawberry, I will try with pears and I will probably share the recipe with you. Another good discovery was a quick lunch box with couscous semoula and carrots… and so many more delicious edible experiences.

With the snow and the frozen weather, I would like to share with you a really nice soup with two potatoes: charlotte potatoes and sweet potatoes. I have tried this one the first time when I was in charge of cooking for the homeless (one of my charity activity) and it was a success. The key success is a right balance with the water and the milk at the end because if it is not right, you will eat a mash and you are not going to drink a creamy soup.

The second recipe that I would like to share with you is a lunch box. In these frozen weather time, it is quite hard for me to keep awake all the day and it become more and more hard to wake up on the morning, so each evening I take the opportunity of commute across London for thinking about a delicious lunch box, something appealing that can help me to go to work. So it was during a underground journey that I had decided to do a gnocchis-pesto lunch box. The colours are nice, the gnocchis are good to eat and keep you awake all the day long. The value-added of this lunch box is that is really easy and quick to do (only take 5 minutes for cooking the gnocchis), that is really great when you go to bed really early on the evening and you have difficulty to wake up on the morning. I let you try it and don’t hesitate to leave a comment on the post.

I wish you an happy weekend and a good week.

See you next week with a  new soup: mushrooms and chestnuts.

Christmas Starters

What’s cooking in Pauline-Cuisine ?

Nearly at Christmas, my head is full of ideas for cooking an unforgettable Christmas dinner for my three guests. I have already bought in France a Foie gras, and now I am looking for a nice way to present it, but one more time I have a lot of ideas and I can’t decide which ways is the best… one more week to decide…. but can’t wait for a magic Christmas :)

For this countdown to Christmas, I will share with you two nice starter with salmon. Salmon again, yes of course, since I go to the fresh fish market every month, I cook a lot of salmon. These two starters are easy and quick to prepare. There are beautiful in a table display.
The first starter is a simple smoked salmon canapé with soft cheese and drill or lump roe. The second starter is a verrine with salmon and the greek preparation Tzatziki, that is really fresh and the fact to add lump roe in it add a nice color touch. I really enjoy these two starters, try them and don’t hesitate to leave a comment.

In another background, a daily recipe, because yes we are going to Christmas really quickly but we still need to eat on a daily basis, here it is a quick soup recipe: courgette soup, a nice green color with a tasty soft taste.

I wish you a happy Christmas, see you on the 30th for a new recipe of homemade yogurt.

Have a nice weeks.

Risotto with cabbage

What’s cooking in Pauline-Cuisine ?

This week, I share with you a new Lunch box: Risotto with cabbage. That is a really tasty and quite easy to do.  Try it and add a comment to the page.

When I was a child and I lived in the North of France, usually on December 6th, we celebrated Saint Nicolas, it is quite similar as Santa Claus. For celebrating him, we offer each other chocolate and a typical brioche: a coquille. So, this year, I wanted to recreate this party atmosphere at home, but I didn't find any coquille in various French bakeries, so I decided to do mine. I took my usual brioche recipe and when the dough was ready, I formed the brioche. It was delicious :)

In another topics, I want to share a cooking experience that I had few weeks ago. I am always curious about what’s new and I discovered the Gousto offer. That is a grocery bags that you can receive each week and it contains all the ingredients for making 3 selected recipes. The concept is really nice, a little bit expensive if you have already the habit to cook. I have enjoyed my cooking experience with this Gousto offer: an easy way to prepare fresh dish, learning tips and discovering new recipes. I let you discover this offer with my article and pictures of my homemade dishes.

Have a nice week and see you next week with a tasty soup: soup of Courgette.