Posted on by Myfrenchkitchen

Wild mushrooms with lemon and nutmeg

It is time! For wild mushrooms! One of our favorite meals in autumn. We prefer it pretty simple, with either an omelette or a risotto or, as in this case, a crusty baguette. Bolets and girolles are sautéed in olive oil, a little knob of butter and served with lemon juice, nutmeg and a persillade(mix of shallots, garlic and parsley. It speaks of autumn and forest and cool days. And what else is autumn about after all.

I dont give exact quantities because it depends on the type of mushrooms you have and on your appetite. I used about 200g.

Bolets and girolles wild mushrooms

Recipe:

  • About 200g mix of different wild mushrooms like girolles, chanterelles, trompettes de mort, bolets, cepes and whatever safe edible ones you can find in the woods or on the market.
  • 1 onion or two shallots
  • A bouquet of fresh parsley
  • 1 big clove of garlic
  • juice of half a lemon
  • nutmeg
  • salt and pepper
  • olive oil
  • knob of butter
  1. Clean the mushrooms with a brush or rinse under running water and dry immediately with a dry towel.
  2. Melt the butter along with olive oil in a pan.
  3. Add the mushrooms and sauté until the mushrooms are almost tender and caramelized.
  4. Chop the onion or shallots and garlic and add to the mushrooms. Sauté for another few minutes until soft and translucent and the mushrooms caramelized.
  5. Add the chopped parsley, lemon juice and grated nutmeg to taste.
  6. Season with salt and pepper.
  7. Serve warm with crusty baguette and butter.

Serves 2 people

Girolles washed and dried with a dry towel and the bolets cleaned with a soft brush while the stems are scraped with a knife.

Pinch of salt:

  1. Mushrooms shrink a lot when cooked, so get more than you think you need..
  2. Don’t soak mushrooms in water, they absorb water very quickly and get soggy. I prefer to use asoft brush.
  3. Make sure you pick edible safe mushrooms when you go pick in the woods, or take to your pharmacist for identification.
  4. Serve sautéed wild mushrooms with an omelette or a risotto or top off a mushroom soup with a mix of wild mushrooms.
  5. A venison pie is delicious with wild mushrooms.
Posted on by Myfrenchkitchen

Pineapple flambéed with cointreau

I love to do this recipe with peaches in summer. But since we’re now at the end of summer, the peaces have finished and we opt for other fruit. Pineapple, with its slightly tangy taste is a good substitute for peaches. See this post for a grape version.

Recipe:

  1. 1 large pineapple
  2. juice of 1 lemon
  3. 1 vanilla pod
  4. 50 ml sugar
  5. 2 TBSP butter
  6. 50 ml Cointreau
  7. 200 ml greek yogurt
  8. 200 ml mascarpone
  • Add the sugar, butter and lemon juice to a saute pan.
  • Cut the pineapple into bitesize pieces.
  • Cut the vanilla pod in half and scrape out the seeds.
  • Add the pineapple and vanilla seeds with the seed pod to the sugar mixture in the pan.
  • Bring to a boil, turn down the heat and let simmer for about 10 minutes until the pineapple starts getting tranlucent and the syrup gets thick.
  • Pour 50 ml of Cointreau over the pineapples and set alight to flambée the mixture.
  • When the flames have died down,remove the vanilla pod and leave the pineapples to cool down slightly.
  • Mix together the greek jogurt and mascarpone until smooth.
  • Serve the pineapple still warm with a dollop of jogurt and mascarpone.

Serves 6

Cut the pineapple into bite size pieces.

Pour some Cointreau or Armagnac over the hot pineapples.

Set alight to flame.

To set food alight, is something everybody always enjoy. With ooh and aahs, mesmerized by the flames licking the food, we stare at the show. It can of course be very dangerous and not at all should children be allowed to do it. For those inexperienced, don’t do it like you see chefs doing it on television with big drama and whooshing  flames up to the ceiling. With 50 ml of alcohol at 40 percent, you already get a spectacular flame. Don’t lean over the casserole you are about to flambé and stand far enough away, but still close enough to have control on what you are doing. You can pour a little alcohol into  stainless steel soup ladle with long handle to heat up directly over a flame and light up, then pour the burning alcohol over the pan for effect. Or you can add the alcohol to the warm grapes and then set alight. In both cases, switch off all other gas flames on the stove, stay away from candles and any other flames. If you feel unsure, skip the flambé step. just pour in the Cointreau alcohol over the grapes and let it cook for about 3-4 minutes for the alcohol to cook off. Enjoy and be safe above all else!