Vincent's spicy apéritif dip

1 loaf French baguette bread
extra virgin olive oil
piment extra fort, moulu (ground cayenne hot pepper, like this one from Bahadourian)
nutritional yeast flakes

First, don't knock the nutritional yeast until you've tried it. Not sure how popular it is in the US, but it's very popular here - and with good reason. It's a nutty, rich taste that adds a great flavor to salads, breads and apparently... dips.

Pour a couple glugs of olive oil into a saucer. Add about 2 Tbsp of hot pepper and 2 Tbsp nutritional yeast.

Serve with pieces of bread, mixing the dip as you go and adding more of each ingrdient as needed.

Spicy, salty, sweet roasted peanuts

3 cups roasted, unsalted peanuts

Coating
1 Tbsp Worchestershire sauce
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp hot sauce
1/2 tsp seasoned salt

Mix coating ingredients together in a bowl. Stir in peanuts until well-coated.



Spread the peanuts evenly on the baking sheet and bake in preheated oven at 350° for 25-30 minutes, stirring three times during baking, until the nuts are deep-golden brown and glazed.

Cool completely, then store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

Guatamalan baked sweet plantains

I grew up eating plantains as a savory starch, but many cultures like them sweet. This recipe is from Guatamala.

4 very ripe plantains, black and even a little moldy is good!
1 tsp oil
4 Tbsp brown sugar
cinnamon (opt)

Preheat your oven to 450° F. Oil a baking dish.

Cut the ends off of your plantains and peel them. Cut each on the diagnonal into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Arrange in a single layer in baking dish and sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon.

Bake for about 10-15 minutes, until the plantains are golden brown and very tender. Careful - they'll be very hot!

Lakh - millet & soured milk

My husband used to make lahk every night in Senegal. I like to think of it as the Senegalese answer to Swiss muesli (oats, dried fruit and yogurt). Swap out the oats for millet and the yogurt for soured milk.

1 liter lait caillé (soured milk)
fresh coconut, chopped
handful golden raisins
1 apple, peach or mango chopped
2 bananas, chopped
1 packet vanilla flavored sugar
a few drops of fleur d'oranger flavoring (called orange blossom water in English)
2-3 cups cooked millet, warm or cooled
sugar to taste

Mix. Eat. Simple enough, right?


Lait caillé, available in French and Middle Eastern grocery stores


Yum, yum!


Authentic Senegalese millet!


Cooked millet, ready to be stirred in


Fresh coconut

Grandpa Masson's pickled green tomatoes

Grandpa Masson is not my grandfather, but my husband's. I never had the chance to meet him, but this weekend I decided to tackle pickling green tomatoes in the way I'd been told that he used to. Based on the description, he would pickle green tomatoes with dill, garlic, hot peppers and some sort of pickling brine. So that's what I set out to do (minus the hot peppers). Having never tasted his pickles, I don't know if these are an accurate reproduction - but we sure liked them!

10 very green tomatoes (enough to fill a large jar)
5-10 cloves garlic, peeled
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 cup white vinegar
2 Tbsp pickling salt (I used kosher I had on hand)
10 sprigs fresh dill



Cut the tomatoes in half or quarters. Cram them into a sterilized jar, along with the garlic cloves and dill sprigs.

In a saucepan, heat the water, vinegar and salt to a boil. Pour slowly into the jar, leaving 1/2 inch at the top. Screw the sterilized lid on tightly. (Watch out - glass will be HOT.) Carefully flip the jar upside down until cooled. Flip back over and store in fridge.

Taste after a week. If not 'dill-ed' enough, wait another week or two. (We tried ours after four days. They were delicious! But we both agreed they'd be even better in a week or so.)

Chex mix, à la française

As the holidays approach, my cravings for American treats grows. I really wanted to make Chex snack mix the other day, but we can't buy Chex here. So I called my parents, experienced in these matters, compiled a modified shopping list from a recipe online, and went to Monoprix (corner grocery store).


If you live in France, these are the items you might buy at Monoprix for this recipe

While I wouldn't say that it came out just like Chex Mix back home, it was pretty darn good.

So here's the recipe!

Chex Mix à la francaise

1 small bag pretzel sticks, broken in half
1 bag frites croustillantes (fried potato sticks)
1 bag soufflés tomates et ail (puffs flavored with tomato and garlic)
1 sleeve biscottes (melba toast) broken into bite-sized pieces
2-3 cups salted peanuts
4 Tbsp butter
1 1/2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp seasoned salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder (opt)
1/2 tsp Creole seasoning (opt)

Heat oven to 250°F. Pour Melt butter over low heat. Stir in all seasonings. Pour the contents of the bags and the peanuts into a (new!) garbage bag. Pour the butter mixture into the garbage bag. Shake gently until well mixed and coated. Pour into ungreased 13x9-inch pan.

Bake 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Spread on paper towels to cool, about 15 minutes. Store in airtight container.

Baked HOT wings

I am so, so, so happy. That's happy three times over: 1) hot wings for the first time in 7 years, 2) baked, not fried, 3) they are HOT. I miss spicy food, and I had really missed wings. These are quick and easy, and they go great with Cheryl's blue cheese dressing

3 Tbsp butter, melted
5 Tbsp hot sauce (I found some at Bahadourian in Lyon)
1 Tbsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper (or more!)

Clean chicken wings to make sure there are no stray feathers. Cut wings into portions through the joints, discarding wingtips.

Combine all the rest of the ingredients in a bowl, then pour into a large ziploc bag. Add wings and coat in mixture. Cover and refrigerate for 2-3 hours or overnight, stirring occasionally.

Cover a baking dish with aluminium foil. Spread wings over the foil, brush liberally with marinade. Roast for 30-35 minutes in 400° oven until golden brown. Turn the wings half way through the baking, basting again with marinade.

Baked aloco with spicy fish sauce

Aloco is a traditional recipe from Côte d'Ivoire, where I grew up. It's traditionally deep-fried, but we wanted a baked version... so we can justify eating piles of it! For a lunch or snack, you can make it with the spicy fish sauce.

several very ripe plantain bananas (mostly black, and don't be afraid of a few moldy spots)
salt
one onion, chopped
three tomatoes, chopped
one chile pepper, cleaned and chopped, OR Scotch Bonnet hot sauce
1/2 tsp bouillon
3-4 canned sardines, bones 'n all
oil



Cut the ends off the plantains. Make a cut down the length of the plantain and pull off the peel. (This is much easier than if you peeled it like a banana.) Cut the plantains in half lengthwise. Cut again into 1/4 spears.

Place plaintain slices on a large plate and sprinkle with 2 Tbsp water. Cover with another plate. Microwave on high for 10 minutes,adding water as needed so they don't fry out. When they are soft and bright yellow, place them in an oil baking dish. Brush lightly with oil.

Bake in preheated oven at 425° for 15 minutes, then broil until browned.

Don't worry about getting each one evenly browned. The best aloco (in my opinion) is a piece that's dark brown and caramelized on one side and soft and deep yellow on the other.



The sauce

Heat 2 Tbsp oil in a frying pan. Cook the onions until soft and beginning to brown. Add tomatoes, bouillon, fish and hot pepper - lots of it! Cook on high, stirring often, until 1/3 of liquid evaporates. Serve alongside the aloco.

Pumpkin tart

This is not pumpkin pie, the traditional dessert. It's better: pumpkin tart with lots of warm spices and just enough sugar to sweeten it lightly. We eat it for breakfast or as a snack.

3-4 cups pumpkin purée (I use courge muscade)
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp allspice
3 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup light cream (15%)
prepared unbaked pie crust

Stir the sugar and spices into the purée. Mix in the eggs and cream. Roll pie crust out into a pan. Pour in the pumpkin mix. Bake in preheated oven at 350° for 45-55 minutes or until crust browns and the center of the tart doesn't jiggle when you shake the pan.

Cool before serving.

Marinated honey wings

We are now huge fans of this tasty recipe that can be prepared the day before.

1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup honey
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp lemon juice

Clean chicken wings to make sure there are no stray feathers. Cut wings into portions through the joints, discarding wingtips.

Combine all the rest of the ingredients in a bowl, then pour into a large ziploc bag. Add wings and coat in mixture. Cover and refrigerate for 2-3 hours or overnight, stirring occasionally.

Cover a baking dish with aluminium foil. Spread wings over the foil, brush liberally with marinade. Roast for 30-35 minutes in 400° oven until golden brown. Turn the wings half way through the baking, basting again with marinade.

Baked squash spring rolls

This was idea number 2 in the series 'How to use spring roll leftover wrappers'. Definitely a keeper. So good, and quick to make for lunch, appetizers or a snack. The filling is very versatile and you could play around with it according to what you have on hand. Shredded vegetables, herb for flavor, something creamy like the cheese and crème fraîche, and a little bit of bacon, ham or sausage for flavor.

2 small yellow squash, grated
2 small zucchini, grated
2 Tbsp chopped onion
2 Tbsp lardons (cubes of bacon)
salt
freshly ground pepper
1 round goat cheese, crumbled
3-4 Tbsp cup crème fraîche (sour cream)
8-10 basil leaves, snipped

Frozen spring roll wrappers (egg-based, not rice), thawed

Cook the lardons with the onion in a frying pan over medium heat. Once the lardon have shrunk and the fat has cooked out, add the shredded zucchini. Cover and cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain off the liquid. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in crumbled goat cheese, crème fraîche and basil. This is your filling. It should hold together and not be runny. If it is, drain off the liquid.

Separate one spring roll wrapper from the stack. Scoop just under 1/4 cup of the filling onto one of the corners. Roll as shown in the video. Place on a baking stone or baking sheet, being sure the end is ucked underneath. Repeat until filling is used up.

Bake in preheated oven at 350° for 15 minutes. The edges will brown lightly and the wrappers will become crispy. Serve hot... maybe with Dijon mustard.

Sweet & spicy winter squash seeds

2 cups pumpkin seeds, rinsed and dried
2 Tbsp butter, melted
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp brown sugar
6-8 drops hot pepper sauce



Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Stir together the pumpkin seeds and butter in a bowl. Add the salt, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, and hot pepper sauce, then stir. Spread the seeds in a single layer on the baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven at 300° until crispy, about 30-45 minutes. (Be careful not to overbake!)

Vietnamese nems (with video!)

The beauty of nems, other than their deliciousness, is that they are so versatile. You can use many combinations in the filling. We made vegetarian nems using chickpeas, lentils and tofu. (I hear mung beans are good too.) But you can also use ground pork, chicken or shrimp, add in corn, peas or tarrow root, and even season them with curry. Have fun!

Ingredients:
60-80 spring roll wrappers (egg based)
1/4 bag of vermicelli (glass) noodles
4 zucchini, shredded
4-6 carrots, shredded
1 onion, chopped
3-4 cups cooked, cooled lentils
1 lg can chickpeas, drained
1 package firm tofu, crumbled
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
salt
pepper

Serve with nem sauce, mint leaves and/or green onions, and lettuce leaves for wrapping.




Dry vermicelli noodles

Soak the dried vermicelli noodles in cold water until soft, about 15 minutes. (You can break them if too large for your bowl.)



While the vermicelli soaks, you can grate the carrots and zucchini and whop the onion, placing them in a very, very large bowl, or dividing equally among several large bowls.


Soaked vermicelli

Drain the noodles.



Using kitchen scissors, cut the noodles into pieces about 4 inches long.



Using your hands, mix the noodles with the grated vegetables.



Firm organic tofu



Crumble the tofu, then mix in well. Don't be afraid to get elbow-deep!



Stir in cooked lentils, drained chickpeas, 1 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper, mixing well. Taste and add more salt or pepper if needed. When seasoning is good, add one egg (serves as a binder) and mix well. Fun, right? :)



These spring roll wrapper are MUCH easier to use than the rice based papers that have to be soaked individually. Plus, I think these have a much better taste and texture.



A lovely video of our expert showing us how to roll them. Once rolled, stack them on a plate. (Don't worry - they don't stick like the rice paper ones.)



Fry in batches, being careful not to crowd them in the pan. We fried ours on medium-high and it took about 10 minutes per batch. If you use meat, you need to be very careful to fry them long enough to cook through.

Place cooked nems on a plate lined with paper towels and serve hot.

If you want to freeze them, allow to cool completely on a cooling rack. Use wax paper to separate them and place in a freezer bag. To reheat, place frozen nems on a baking sheet and place in the oven as it preheats to 350°. Once oven is hot, cook 5-10 minutes until crispy.

Melon, mint, cucumber and tomato salad

chopped cucumber
chopped canteloupe
chopped tomato
chopped mint

Toss together. Chill before serving. Mmm...

Aloco (fried plantains)

Aloco is a traditional recipe from Côte d'Ivoire, where I grew up. It's sold from small roadside restaurants and is served with a spicy tomato-onion sauce and grilled fish. For a lunch or snack, you can make it with just the sauce - or eat the aloco by itself with salt. Oh yeah - this is most definitely finger food!

about 1 1/2 cups oil
several very ripe plantain bananas (mostly black, and don't be afraid of a few moldy spots)
salt
one onion, chopped
two tomatoes, chopped
one chile pepper, cleaned and chopped, OR Scotch Bonnet hot sauce
1/4 tsp bouillon



Cut the ends off the plantains. Make a cut down the length of the plantain and pull off the peel. (This is much easier than if you peeled it like a banana.) Cut the plantains in half lengthwise. Cut again into 1/4 spears. Cut into bite-sized pieces.




Place a frying pan with high sides over high heat and pour in enough oil to cover the bottom well - don't be stingy. Once hot, add a piece of plantain. It should bubble, but not brown immediately. After a minute or so, it should be bright yellow. This means your oil is the right temperature.

Add plantain pieces to cover the bottom of the pan, but not crowd them. Stir every 2-3 minutes, flipping each piece as they begin to brown. Take your time cooking them - reduce heat if needed. Each batch should take about 8-10 minutes.



Don't worry about getting each one evenly browned. The best aloco (in my opinion) is a piece that's dark brown and caramelized on one side and soft and deep yellow on the other.

As the aloco browns, remove using tongs and place on a paper towel-lined plate.

Repeat with remaining plantain pieces.


The sauce

Using the leftover oil from the aloco, cook the onions until soft and beginning to brown. Add tomatoes, bouillon and hot pepper. Cook on high, stirring often, until 1/3 of liquid evaporates. Serve alongside the aloco.

Spicy marinated Moroccan carrots

There are many variations on this Moroccan salad called 'Salatat al-Jazar', including both hot and cold varieties. I chilled this one, but we actually preferred it at room temperature. Definitely a new favorite!

1 lb carrots, peeled and sliced into 1/2 inch rounds
1 clove garlic, pressed
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1-2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/4 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt
fresh mint leaves (opt)

First, make the dressing.

Place the carrots in a saucepan, cover with water and add pressed garlic clove. Bring to a boil and cook over low heat about 5 minutes, just until the carrots are crisp-tender. Do not to overcook.

Drain the carrots and place in a bowl. Toss with the dressing right away. Let marinate at room temperature a few hours, or refrigerate overnight and bring to room temperature. Snip mint leaves over top, then serve.

Kendra's hummus with roasted eggplant

Here's the recipe I make every week...and it disappears every week! It's super cheap and takes 5 minutes and is soooo good. My good friend Kendra gave me the recipe. It pretty much sealed the friendship :)

1 large can garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained
2-4 cloves garlic, crushed (or 1/2 tsp dried garlic)
1/6 cup water
2-4 Tbsp tahini (opt)
1 Tbsp olive oil
pinch salt
Lemon juice - start with 1/2 lemon and add to taste
1 eggplant, roasted and scooped from peel*

Dump. Purée with stick blender/blender/food processor. Dip.

* The eggplant is optional but SO stinkin' good. It's so creamy. Just wrap the eggplant in foil (well!) and toss it in the oven the next time you bake something. When it soft, it's done. Let cool completely in foil, then unwrap and add to hummus.