Pear cake with honey and lemon

      

Original and with a lot of flavours, this recipe is Camille Lesecq's recipe, pastry Chef of Le meurice, Paris. I changed a few things in the recipe, because I've baked it a few times already.

- did I get fat ? -

Really soft and tender, it can be made in a meat loaf pan,

it has always been a huge success :)

For 6 people

   You will need :   

Pears

2 pears

3.5 oz of honey (100g)

- pine honey -

2.8 oz of butter (80gr)

- Camille Lesecq puts 3.5 oz -

the dough

4.2 oz of white sugar (120gr)

1.8 oz of butter (50gr)

4.4 oz of flour (125gr)

1.7 fl oz of milk (5cL)

1.7 fl oz of olive oil (5cL)

- Camille Lesecq puts 2.5 fl oz -

- you can use vegetal oil if you prefer -

2 eggs

1 grated lemon zest

3tbsp of lemon juice

0.2 oz of baking powder (6gr)

Prepare the pears

In a casserole, melt the butter with the honey on low heat.

Rinse, peal the pears and remove the heart with the seeds. Cut them in dice of 1/2 inch

- Camille Lesecq cuts them in 8, not in dice -

Add them to the melted butter, cover and let it cook at medium heat for 20 minutes.

Let it cool down in the butter sauce. They must be translucid. Set aside.

Turn the oven on at 375°F

Prepare the cake

Beat the sugar with the egss and the lemon zest for at least 3 minutes,

it must be light and foamy

Pour the milk slowly while stirring

Integrate the flour and the baking powder with a wooden spoon 

by doing small circular movements from the center

Finally, stir the lemon juice, the melted butter and the oil

By hand, stir it all together 2 to 3 minutes. Set Aside

Dry of the pears with a colander, use a clean absorbent paper to remove delicatly the excedient butter

In a buttered pan (you can use the butter +honey sauce to butter it), pour 2/3 of the dough, them place the pears carefully with a spoon, and pour the rest of the dough on top of them

- Camille Lesecq puts the pears aside the cake, but I like it better in it -

Put in the oven for 35 to 50 minutes, depending on your mold

Check the cooking by inserting a clean and smooth knife in the middle of the cake, 

it must come out clean

Thanks to Camille for this recipe, the first time I made it, I followed all the instructions, it had 300 gr of butter in it (12oz of butter...)

It's a bit too much butter for me :D

"Cake aux poires juste confites" is the exact name of that cake

Mushroom quiche

For 4 to 6 people (8 inch wide)

If you have a mold of 9 inch or +, put 7,4 fl oz of milk and 3,5 oz of ricotta

   Il vous faut :   

The crust

1 shortcrust dough with salted butter

1tsp of provence herbs d'herbes de provence, 

1tsp origano

peppet

To garnish

1/2 lb of fresh mushrooms (250gr) 

1/4 lb of ham (125gr)

- 4 slices -

2 eggs

2,8 oz of fresh ricotta (80gr)

6,1 fl oz of milk (18cL)

salt and pepper

1tsp provence herbs

Turn on the oven at 450°F

The dough

Make the shortcrust dough with salted butter, add the herbs with the flour

Flatten it on 1/4 inch thick

Place it in your pie pan, stab it with a fork and put in the oven for 4 minutes

Then, set aside while preparing the garniture

Ham and mushrooms

Rinse your mushrooms, cut the extremity of the feet and cut it in half, then in slice

Cut the ham in squares of 1/2 inch 

Put ham and muschrooms in a pan on medium heat with 2tsp of olive oil and a pinch of salt, stay before and mix it regularly so it takes colors.

When mushrooms are reduced and lost their water (it takes 12 minutes approximativly)

Remove it from the fire and dry them using absorbent paper and a colander if needed

Garnish

Beat the eggs with a pinch of salt, stir with the ricotta until smooth

Pour the milk, whisk it and add 1tsp of herbs,

on your pre-cooked dough, place the mushrooms ans the ham carefully 

and pour on it the egg/milk mix

- it must not go over the crust -

If you can't pour it all, don't risk to drawn your dough

- mon moule faisait 22 cm de diamètre -

Spread on it some pepper

Put in the oven for 35 minutes, turn it off and let it cool down 15 minutes 

in the oven with the door opened

Serve when still warm with a green salad, you can put fresh basil on the top :)

How to make sushis and makis, sunday night : sushis night !

Since we got a rice cooker as a wedding gift, every sunday night, it's sushis night !

We have fresh fish from the morning's market, avocados, cucumber,

rice is prepared in the morning, and in the evening it takes me an hour to make them :)

I make 1 cup and a half (of the rice cooker's cup) for 2 people, like that we have some leftovers for monday's lunch.

You can either make more makis or sushis, it depends on your taste, I'll explain it all

- 8.8 oz of dry rice allow me to make 4 rolls or 30 sushis

For 2 people,

   You will need :   

For the rice

8.8 oz of pearl rice, short grain

- I take the Hinode's rice -

5tbsp of rice vinegar

- I use Marukan's vinegar -

2tbsp of white sugar

1 tsp of salt

To garnish

Seaweed's sheets for the rolls

1/4 cucumber

- we eat the rest as a snack with the sushis -

1/2 avocados

- depending how many rolls you make -

11oz 3of really fresh fish,

Pick the thickest one you can, if you are mostly doing rolls, you won't need that much

Wasabi

- japanese mustard -

Tools

1 big smooth knife

1 large spatula

- the one with the rice cooker is perfect -

1 bamboo mat

- I use my table sets :) -

- Let's go ! -

Prepare the rice : vinegar rice

Rince your rice until the water is clear, and cook it in the rice cooker, or in a casserole following the rules
I think that for 8.8 oz of rice, it's 8.5 fl.oz of water 

During that time, in a small casserole, melt the sugar in the rice vinegar on low fire,
 - you have to move it from the bottom of the casserole with a wooden spoon -

once it's totally melted, turn off the fire and let it cool down a bit

When the rice is cooked and tepid, put it in a bowl and pour that sugar/vinegar in it,
mix carefully with a spatula so all the grains are covered with it, and don't break the grains
Cover it with a humid tissue

Let it rest until the sushi-making

Prepare the ingredints

Cucumber

Cut it in half in the longest way, remove the heart/seeds with a spoon
Then cut it in long slices of 1/4 inch thick

Avocados

Cut it in half, then in 4, cut it in long slices of 1/4 inch thick

Fish

Tuna can be cut vertically, in the thickness of the steak, if it's not thick enough, cut it obliquely

 you have slices of fish 2.8inch long on 1.1 inch wide

Use the small pieces and what's left to garnish the rolls

Salmon has to be cut horizontally start by dividing it in 2 or 3 filets of 1/6 inch thick,
then cut them in long slices of 1.1inch wide and 2.8inch long

                                                                    Good to know :                                                            

When touching sushi rice, have your hand cold and wet, rince them after each use with cold water to avoid having rice sticking all over you.
Do the same with your tools, the knife and the spatula.

                                                                                                                                                         

Doing makis (rolls)

Place on your bamboo mat the seaweed sheet, in the sens it bends easily

- try to bend it in your hands -

The shiniest side is on the mat
Spread some rice with your hands, leave 0.4inch towards you and 1.2 inch on the top with no rice

Flatten it with your wet spatula, using the knife as a wall on the side so it won't go out

Put avocados, cucumber and fish at 1/3 of the rice from you, as shown on the drawing.

Use a wet finger to put a line of wasabi along the garniture,

it must be really light, be careful, it's strong

Then roll it, use the mat toward you with your thumbs, squeeze it but not too much,

use your free fingers to keep the garniture in place otherwise it will slide

Cut the extremities at 1/4 inch, and then every inch or so

Use a smooth and wet big knife, do it carefully

Doing sushis

Take a nut-size amount of rice in your fresh wet hands, squeeze it to obtain a cylinder

of you littlefinger-size

Take a slice of fish, spread some wasabi, lightly with a humid finger along the slice of fish

And put it on the rice,

The fish has to be long enough to cover all the rice in the long way

- as on the photo I took -

Don't make it too big, otherwise it's hard to eat

It's so good, we are done for the week after eating them :)

If I did more that 8.8 oz of rice, we would eat it all anyway !

Pain de Gêne, Almond Bread !

Think almond cream, frangipane... oh my god this cake is sooo good :)

evrybody agreed :

" This cake si soooo good ! "

For 8 to 10 people

   Il vous faut :   

0,5lb of almond powder/ground almond

0,5 lb of white sugar

1.2 oz of butter (120gr)

4 eggs

3.5 oz of flour (100gr) de farine

3 tsp of kirsch

- more almonds ! -

Turn on the oven at 450°F

Melt the butter in a casserole on low heat, it must be tepid, not hot

Stir the grounded almonds with the sugar,

do a well in it and add the beaten eggs, 

stir it with a wooden spoon from the center of the bowl

stir in the melted butter

Add the flour, stir it by hand

At the end, stir in the kirsch

Pour in a buttered pan or with parchment paper

Put in the oven and change the settings to 370°F

Vovoi says 40 minutes cooking, but it took me 1h20 in a silicone mold...

It was a pretty thick mold

Take a regulat meat loaf pan :)

By using so much almond powder, I'll have to bring back some more from France ! :)

It's kinda hard to find here, but I saw an "almond meal" that looked like it at Trader's Joe, it might be interesting to check it out.