photograph by Marjorie Taylor

As a cook,  I am inspired by the markets and particularly the small artisan producers.  For example,  I work closely with my neighborhood butcher for each week’s menu and I get my produce from my favorite, small producers at the local market in Beaune on Saturday or Wednesday.  On Fridays, I’ll visit Madame Loichot’s potager to gather the ingredients for “dinner for the cook”. Today I am sharing my next recipe from the autumn menu, Rôti de veau. Bon appétit…

Rôti de veau
Inspired by Bouchon, by Thomas Keller and A platter of figs, by David Tanis
Serves 6 to 8

One 4 1/2-pound veal top round roast
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 large bouquet of basil (about 2 ounces)
2 heads garlic, separated into cloves but skin left on, smashed
1 1/2 bunch thyme sprigs (about 3 ounces)
olive oil
3 tablespoons butter

-Trim away any sinew, silver skin from the meat.  Season lightly on all sides with salt and pepper.  Remove the basil leaves from the stems.  Lay a large piece of plastic wrap on the counter.  Distribute half of the basil leaves, one-quarter of the garlic cloves, and one-third of the thyme over the plastic.  Place the roast on the top and distribute the remaining basil, another quarter of the garlic cloves, and half of the remaining thyme over the top of the meat.  Tightly wrap the plastic around the meat and refrigerate for 24 hours.

To roast the meat…

-Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

-Unwrap the roast and place it on a cutting board.  Remove and discard any herbs or garlic clinging to the meat.  Tie a piece of kitchen twine around the center of the roast, then, moving outward from the center to each end, tie the roast at about 1-inch intervals.

-Season the roast generously with salt and pepper, pressing the salt and pepper into the meat, and let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.

-Heat a thin film of olive oil in a large heavy ovenproof skillet over high heat.  Add the butter, then add the roast and lightly brown on all sides.  Baste the meat from time to time with the oil and butter by tilting the skillet and using a large spoon.  When the roast is evenly browned, after about 5 minutes, add the remaining thyme and garlic to the skillet.  Baste the meat with the butter and arrange the thyme over it.

-Transfer the skillet to the oven and roast for 50 to 60 minutes, or until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the center of the meat registers 140 degrees F.  Remove the skillet from the oven and remove the roast to a cutting board to rest for about 10 minutes.

While the roast is out of the oven and resting, pour off the fat from the skillet.  Add a little water or white wine and scrape up the roasty bits from the bottom of the pan to make the white wine jus.  Taste for seasoning.

For the mushrooms:

1 pound chanterelle mushrooms
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 shallots, finely chopped
1 cups dark chicken stock, preferably homemade

Melt the butter in a saucepan.  Slowly sauté the shallots in the butter, stirring occasionally, until light browned.  Turn up the heat and add the mushrooms, salt and pepper.  Stew the mushrooms with the shallots for a minute or two, then add the chicken stock and simmer for 5 minutes, until mushrooms are tender.

To serve:

Slice the meat, arrange it on a platter, and spoon over the white wine jus and mushrooms.

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Recipe from Marjorie Taylor, The Cook’s Atelier

photograph by Marjorie Taylor

Hello, I’m Marjorie and I am the cook in The Cook’s Atelier.  The Cook’s Atelier promotes sustainable France through hands-on cooking classes, market tours and field trips to local artisan producers. I am a big believer in real food, made from scratch and take pleasure in cooking every day.

When the weather is warm, I plant herbs in my window boxes and throw open the windows so I can hear the people bustling below on their way to the morning market.  In the height of the season, I’m busy making confiture and preserving to save a little taste of summer for when the chill sets in.  In the autumn and winter months, there is always something simmering on the back of the stove; a pumpkin soup or some homemade chicken stock, and a fire in the fireplace to keep cozy when it’s snowy and gray outside.

This roasted cauliflower soup that I am sharing with you today is adapted from Ad Hoc, by Thomas Keller.  The recipe in the book is absolutely lovely.  I just decided to roast the cauliflower in the oven because I love roasted cauliflower. Bon appétit…

Roasted cream of cauliflower soup
Inspired by Ad Hoc at Home, by Thomas Keller
Serves 6

2 heads cauliflower (4 to 5 pounds total)
4 tablespoons (2 ounces) unsalted butter
3/4 cup coarsely chopped onion
3/4 cup coarsely chopped leeks (white and green parts only)
1/4 teaspoon yellow curry powder or Madras curry powder
Sea salt
2 cups milk
2 cups heavy cream
2 cups water
Extra virgin olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper

-Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

-Remove the leaves from the cauliflower, and cut out the core.  Trim off the stems and reserve them.  For the garnish, trim 2 cups florets about the size of a quarter and set aside.

Coarsely chop the remaining cauliflower and stems into 1-inch pieces so that they will cook in the same amount of time.  You need 8 cups of cauliflower (reserve any extra for another use).

-Melt 3 tablespoons of the butter in a large Dutch oven over medium heat.  Add the onion, leeks, curry, and coarsely chopped cauliflower, season with 2 teaspoons sea salt, cover with a parchment lid (just parchment cut the size of the Dutch oven with a hole cut in the middle so the steam can escape) and roast, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are almost tender, about 20 minutes.  Remove from the oven and discard the parchment lid.

-Pour the milk, cream, and water and bring to a simmer on the top of the stove over medium-high heat.  Simmer for 30 minutes, skimming off the foam from time to time.

-Working in batches, transfer the cauliflower mixture to a blender (leave an opening in the lid for the steam to escape).  Carefully, begin pureeing the cauliflower on the lowest speed and blend, slowly increasing the speed, until smooth and velvety.  Check the seasoning and add more salt if needed.  Transfer to a large saucepan and keep warm.

-Melt the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter in a medium frying pan over medium-high heat, swirling the pan occasionally, until the butter turns a rich golden brown.  Add the florets and sauté until a rich golden brown.  Set aside.

To serve, reheat the soup.  This is a thick soup, but if it seems too thick, add water to thin it to the desired consistency.  Taste for seasoning. Pour the soup into a warm serving bowl or soup tureen.  Top each serving with a few cauliflower florets.  Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with pepper.

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Recipe from Marjorie Taylor, The Cook’s Atelier

Pia here, popping my head into the (blog)house kitchen to let you all know that Yvette’s cookbook called HOMEMADE will be hitting the shelves in August and I am soooo excited about it! Yvette has been working tirelessly on it for the past few months and I have been fortunate to see snippets of her work along the way. Not only has she written all the recipes, styled all the shots, and designed the whole book, she has also done all the illustrations. She’s a champion. And I’m a very proud friend.

I’m also excited to let you know that bookstores around Holland are now stocking a free mini booklet of Yvette’s upcoming book! How cool is that? Below is a sneak peek of what’s inside the sneak peek booklet, check it out…

Yvette’s husband photographer Oof Verschuren took all the gorgeous photographs, click here to see bigger shots of the booklet on Yvette’s blog.

Okay, that’s my (blog)house kitchen news. Over and out.

xx

PS oh! and yes, I meant to tell you, it IS all in Dutch. But who knows, perhaps there will be an English version to follow.  Maybe if we all ask nicely?

Hello People!

I just posted some photo’s of very dutch recipes with a modern twist on my blog, as I just cooked them for a dutch magazine called Margriet.

Pia really liked them and asked me to translate a recipe for you to read here in her kitchen. So of course I’m more than happy to do that.

These are little semolina puddings, that we treated as ‘Creme Brulée’. Semolina pudding is a quite old fashioned Dutch dessert. Usually it’s served with a red berry sauce. Now I liked this one, it had a kick to it, that came from the star anise: a spice I particularly like. Well here it is, do try it, it was delicious!

Spicy Semolina Crème Brûlée
For 4-6 people (depending on the size of the dishes)

Preparation Time: 20 minutes

500 ml liters milk (about 2 cups)
200 ml cream (about 1 cup)
1 / 2 vanilla pods, cut open and with the seeds scraped out
1-2 star anise (and more to garnish)
1 lemon (preferably organic), grated
75 g semolina
50 g sugar + extra for the crispy top

Tools needed: small heat resistant dishes or cups, crème brule burner… torch – burner ? Or a good grill.

Pour the milk and cream in a saucepan. Add the vanilla (pod and seeds), star anise and grated lemon. Heat just up to the boilingpoint and then allow to simmer on low heat for about 15 mins. Remove vanilla pod and star anise. Sprinkle the semolina in and the sugar, stir well. Bring to the boil.
Let the mixture stand over low heat, stirring regularly, until the pudding is as thick as custard. Pour the semolina pudding in the dishes and allow to set, put it in the refrigerator to cool completely.
Just before serving, sprinkle with sugar and heat it up with a crème brûlée burner for a crispy caramel top. Garnish with star anise and serve immediately.

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credits: Saskia van Osnabrugge took the photographs and Judith Baehner was the prop stylist.
Gees van Asperen wrote the recipe and I cooked it.

Hi All!

Long time no see, you might have thought. Yes, true: I have been busy. Busy with a lot of things, but most of all with my book! Yey, you have read that right, I am going to work on quite a huge volume, so I will be found behind my computer and at the drawing board more and more these coming months. I’m really looking forward to that. I will post some exercises I’m doing now and then. Everything must be practiced of course. So you will be my guinea pigs, if you like!
I’m so lucky to have a boyfriend who is the wonderful photographer Oof Verschuren. He took the picture and I cooked this recipe as I am trying to lose some pounds (which is not working by the way, I don’t know how Pia can indulge herself on all that chocolate all the time and still stay so pretty and slim). Anyway, I was looking for something light, but also fit for Autumn and filling enough for a dinner, without being too heavy, with potatoes and so on. This is one of my all time favorites, my mum used to make it in Ireland, It’s quite old fashioned, but I think good things survive time and still stay on top! I combined the dish with Gremolata, a classic Italian ‘pinch of parsley’, which goes very well with the meat.
Hope it gets you cooking too.
have fun,

Yvette