Quails & Wild Asparagus and a new contest

Wild Asparagus

Italian version below

This month I'll participate at some contests in Italy ( that's why sometimes I write in my original language ) : one of these is about "Quails and Asparagus" , two ingredients not so easy to mix ...I was looking for some inspiration . I  could have a risotto , not very original yet even if very very good . Better source to " find " recipes for me is "Mother Nature" so....we went for a walk in the countryside .

April is an amazing month if you love to eat wild  and here in Provence nature is generous ! After two hours of searching we came home with a basket full of  a variety of herbs and flower too. And we found a bunch of wild asparagus.

I thought that wild ones would match better than cultivated  ones with quails , their taste is subtile pretty bitter but not too much....I had my recipe ! And not to forget my venitian origins.....some rice but in a different way .

Quails & Wild Asparagus with Black Rice

For two servings:

2 quails

a bunch of wild asparagus

a bunch of Lupulus and Silene

1 little onion with leaves

100 gr of black rice

20 gr of claryfied butter

15 gr of cold butter

"fleur de sel de Guerande"

1 and 1/2 liter of water

Humulus Lupulus

The edible part of Lupulus

Silene

Roast gently the quails with 10 gr of claryfied butter and a pinch of salt for about one hour ( very slowly ). Cut the onion in four pieces and let it fry gently in the pan of quails till lightly golden. Keep aside.

In the meantime put to boil the water with 1 csp of salt , wash the asparagus and the other herbs separately , add the Humulus and Silene , let cook 3 minutes then drain it with a holed-laddle . Add now the asparagus and let cook till tender but firm still , drain the same way and keep the broth : reserve a cup ot it in a tiny saucepan.

Now put the rice and the leaves of the onion  into the broth ,it will take 1/2 an hour to cook "al dente" , cut the tails of asparagus and simmer into the reserved broth till half consumed as it will be the "sauce " for asparagus .

Once cooked the quails cut the legs and the breasts for a better presentations . Set aside .

Now you are ready to combine the dish ( not so simple really)

Drain the rice( keep some broth)  and finish to cook it in the pan of quails ( it 'll give a good taste) add also the herbs finely chopped , mix well .

Put the pieces of quails to warm with a bit of claryfied butter , filter the reducion of asparagus , bring to boil and add 15 gr of  cold butter  while whisking .

Make a circle of rice on the dish with a cutting-round ,press well to fix it. Put the pieces of quails and onion on the top ,the asparagus aside, pour the warm sauce onto the asparagus and serve.

Con questa ricetta partecipo al contest La sfida del 2  con lo chef  2 étoiles Claudio Sadler e Wonderbox 

Versione Italiana

Quaglie con asparagi selvatici 

Nella mia biblioteca culinaria ci son due libri di Claudio Sadler , dunque quando ho visto questo contest mi son detta : partecipo ! E subito dopo ....ma che fai ? Sei impazzita ? Si , evidentemente.

Per giorni mi son arrovellata a cercare una ricetta ...asparagi e quaglie non é facile , non saprei spiegare perché :questione d'istinto. Finalmente ieri son andata a passeggiare in un bosco di querce qui vicino ,in cerca d'ispirazione . Ed ecco spuntare qui e là .....asparagi !!! Selvatici . Una rivelazione . Quel gusto sottile ,quasi evanescente e leggermente amarognolo : immaginavo le quaglie sgambettare tra le erbe.....un mariage parfait !Nella mia ricerca ho trovato anche dei germogli di luppolo e un po di silene . What else?

Poi , per non smentire le mie origini veneziane , una base di riso . Il risotto era un'idea possibile ma scontata .

Mi ritrovo con una ricetta basata su pochi ingredienti ma complicata nell'esecuzione .Portate pazienza .

Strawberry's Time and a Meringue tart

Maybe because today's raining  after months of amazing sun even on winter , I feel just like " homesick" today , so I randomly look between my archives of photos . Three years ago I rented a  tiny, lovely cabanon near Gordes : I needed to be ' far away from the madly croud ' for a while , that " while" lasted 1 year and an half , but it helped me to better know myself . As I was completely alone I spent most of my freetime in taking photos , I just bought "my" first camera , a small one but good quality . I didn't even know how to take snapshots !

Wild fennel

The thing I loved most in the Bastidon was the sink : a perfect circle cut in a piece of marble , very small, not easy to use but so beatiful !  

Strawberries & Wild Fennel Syrup

First strawberries are coming to the market : it's not really the season yet but I bought some anyway , I couldn't resist !

Later there'll be gorgeous wild fennel . I make a syrup with it and it is so delicious with strawberries ! Just put 150 gr of sugar and 150 ml of water ,bring to boil , add an handful of wild fennel and  let cook till it makes a rather thick syrup. You can keep it in the frigidaire and use on fruit or yaourts . 

Then you can make this  also :

Strawberry's Meringue  with whipped cream

Most of people think that meringue is very difficult to make , me too..till I found the good recipe .

This one is infalliable ! this recipe is different from that one for Pavlova here .

 



Meringue:

150 gr of egg's white
150 gr of caster sugar
120 gr of icing sugar
a pinch of salt
a pinch of ground ginger
Weight the two different sugars into two separate bowls , put the egg'swhite in a bowl and begin to whip gently at first , then when they begin to increase add the salt , the ginger and the caster sugar little by little , continue  till the meringue gets steady and makes picks . Incorporate the icing sugar with a spatule , mixing very gently .Smear two circles of meringue ( one smaller ) on  a baking-pan lined with a baking sheet and put in the oven at 90° ( 194 F) for 3 hours . It takes long but you dont have to worry about it , aand you can keep it long time in a tin-box.

Strawberry coulis
I've always hated that frozen pieces of fruits in cakes , meringue has to be frozen before and so I thought that if I made a coulis instead of putting slices it would defrozen at the same time  than whipped cream . I was right .
200 gr of strawberries
Wild fennel syrup
Wash the fruits, cut them and mix with one/two spoons of syrup ( it depends on how much strawberries are sweet)

Whipped Cream : 250 ml of cream , vanilla extrat ,  1 tbsp of icing sugar
Put the bottle of cream in the freezer for 15 mn before whipping , and also the bowl : it has to be very very cold . Then whip adding sugar aand vanilla till it makes peaks .
Place the bigger cirrcle of meringue on a large dish , cover with whipped cream , pour some coulis , repeat with the smaller . I made a very small meringue to put on the top as you see in the photo.
Place in the  freezer for at least 3 hours ( but you can keep it more ) leave at room temperature 1/2 an hour before serving.

l vincitore del'MTC di Marzo é.......

  Ed eccomi qua ,tra quaglie da disossare , Pavlova in forno per la cena di stasera che dei nuovi clienti mi hanno commissionato all'ultimo momento e la dura scelta  tra 149 ricette arrivate . E stato un mese intenso di emozioni , di incontri ( anche se solo " virtuali" per il momento) ,di scoperte. Ho conosciuto donne eccezionali , piene di talento , di passione . Mi scuso per aver poco tempo da dedicare a questo post , ringrazio tutti voi che avete partecipato con tanto entusiasmo . Quando vinsi l'MTC molti mi chiesero di essere " buona" ed é per questo che pensai alle crêpes , qualcosa che tutti più o meno fanno e che lascia spazio alla creatività . Son felice che la ricetta che ho dato vi sia piaciuta , qualcuno era addirittura entusiasta , e sembra perfino che stimoli l'intelligenza !! non ricordo più chi l'ha detto ma lei si riconoscerà.

Come dicevo,la scelta é stata dura : una tonnellata di ricette da leggere ,valutare , la differenza tra dolce e salato , ci son ricette di cui mi son innamorata , altre che mi hanno stupito , ma devo sceglierne solo una purtroppo .
Il vincitore allora é

Crepe agli alchechengi caramellati nel kirsch con mousse di mascarpone e pepe lungo del Bengala di Ambra

Di questa ricetta mi ha conquistato il perfetto connubio tra la sapidità della crêpe ( eh eh le conosco bene ) la frutta cotta in uno sciroppo a cui il kirsch dona una nota leggermente ' virile' tra tanta dolcezza , la mousse di mascarpone che bilancia il tutto con la sua 'grassezza leggera' se cosi si puo dire . Quello che mi ha convinto definitivamente pero é quel pizzico di Pepe Lungo del Bengala : da buona veneta innamorata della cucina veneziana e della sua storia sono un'appassionata di spezie e il pepe lungo ,oltre ad essere stato credo il primo pepe a essere usato a Venezia , si rivela  straordinario soprattutto nei dessert .

Vorrei fare inoltre una menzione speciale per Le crêpes ripiene di salmi di fagiano di Gianni : un grande classico della cucina ( il salmi) eseguito a regola d'arte , una ricetta tradizionale che trova nuova vita nel matrimonio con le crêpes : equilibrio semplice e ricercato al tempo di ingredienti e sapori , mi é piaciuta moltissimo . Ce ne sono tante altre che vorrei menzionare , per fortuna ci penseranno Alessandra e Daniela , io devo scappare al lavoro !!!!

Un abbraccio a tutti .

Giuseppina

Supernatural market

We are having a gorgeus springtime here in Provence and I do love go onto my very secret garden looking for wild vegetables . It's the season for detoxing and what's better than walking under the sun and picking up something that Mother Nature so generously gives us ?
One basket for that we'll be eating raw and the other one for herbs that will be cooked...I like to come home with my herbs cleaned & arranged ,ready to use .

Gordes

Can you imagine that it's amongst the ruins of some village that you can find the biggest variety ? I speak of Luberon , obviously : in the countryside we can't find so much , because of all the chemicals products that have been used along the years. Things are changing now , and a new generation of young farmers is coming .I'll tell you in a next post about them.



Wild blettes



Wild leek

Wild rocket 

When we came back we had an amazing wild rocket ( not be confounded with  arugula ) and Dandelion  salad with fresh eggs from the farm nearby : this is one of my favorites , a real luxe to me. The combination between the bitterness of dandelion and the spicy taste of wild rocket is so good that you  don't need to add anythyng else , just a normal seasoning.Accompanied with eggs is an healthy and light lunch or dinner . Your liver will thank you !

Dandelion & Wild Rocket Salad

Wash the herbs almost three times , till the water is clear , then put them in a bowl. Prepare a vinaigrette : in a cup put some fleur de sel ( how much as you like ) a drizzle of apple's winegar t dissolve the salt , extra-virgin olive oil and freshly grounded black pepper , mix well and add to the salad . Cook the eggs : raise the water to boil , put gently the eggs inside and let cook for five minutes , drain and cool with cold water . Serve with the salad and enjoy !
You can find here a traditional provençal recipe with wild blettes .

Bon appetit !

Looking for wild herbs in the Luberon with TerrESa

Theresa and the "Quinques"

At the end of 2010 I spent Xmas time in Paris with some friends : one evening I was invited for dinner at Antoinette's home and there I met Theresa : I can still remember the tarte she brought , the best "sbrisolona" I ever ate , luxury almonds melting in my mouth , I could hardly stop eating .The amazing thing is that this cake is a traditional recipe from Italy and Theresa comes frm USA.  After a few months she wrote me and I invited her to come and see me in Provence . We had the chance there were beautiful,sunny days and we went looking for wild edible herbs: I showed her my " secret garden " in Gordes ( I never show it to anybody ) where we found "blettes" and so I told her about an ancient recipe of Nice I discovered on a book and how I was wishing to try it . Then we decided to cook together , but for this and for the recipe in english I'll send you here : Theresa writes much better than me ! Anyway we had so much fun cooking and shooting together , and the quinques were faboulous. If you happen to be in Paris and you have an interest in natural & vegetarian cooking and in discovering the city in a different way search for her site :she's a wonderful cook also !

Wild Blettes

Discovering Joucas

With this recipe I'm on Weekeend Herb Blogging

by  Max , Brii ,Kalyn and Haalo

Sweet life in Provence part 2

Sweet life in Provence part 1

Today only some photos : it's a wonderful springtime here in Provence and even if we are working we take the time to enjoy life !