5 Star Makeover: Vegetarian Cassoulet with Trout Beans and Wild Mushrooms

Today's 5 Star Makeover Summer'10 Special guest post is by Silvia at the Citron et Vanille. Silvia is originally from France and now lives in San Francisco. She is a personal chef, specializing in healthy French, Italian and Mediterranean cuisine. Silvia's gourmet recipes featured on her blog are always elegant, healthy, and incredibly delicious. Please, enjoy Silvia's makeover of a traditional French dish, Cassoulet.



Hello everyone, I have been kindly requested to be a guest at Natasha's
delightful blog and participate to her 5 Star makeover contest using Marx Foods that sells top gourmet produce online. Of course, who wouldn't find this flattering? Even though I was a little hesitant at first, since I didn't know what to expect in my little goodie box. When I received it at my door, I got all excited and was happily surprised to find so many great products to pick from...since I could not chose just one, I picked five of them!

The most difficult part was to come up with a recipe...featuring a traditional
dish, turned contemporary was the little challenge. France has a lot of traditional dishes to chose from, but I wanted to pick a Southern dish (more precisely Sud-Ouest, Southwesthern part of France), whose contemporary version would be as good as the traditional one, and even better. So I selected a cassoulet. Cassoulet is a very famous rustic and peasant dish coming from Languedoc Roussillon region, but everyone in France knows cassoulet and consumes it.

A traditional cassoulet is a white bean (the kind called haricots lingots) based dish cooked for a very long time (usually the process starts the night before) with a lot of different kinds of meats, such as pork skin, goose confit, sausages,
etc...the beans end up cooking with the meat fat and of course you can just imagine how unctuous those end up being, and melting in your mouth. You can even buy
cassoulet at any supermarket in jars in any part of France, but the real one
made at home is a pure bliss...the only little inconvenience is that it takes for a very long time to make a good cassoulet and you cannot skip any steps of the process nor change ingredients.

The word cassoulet comes from "cassolo" an old word for cassole which is the
clay pot in which it was cooked.

I do love peasant and rustic dishes like this one. In the past, people were
doing hard and labor intensive work in the fields, therefore needed a
substantial heavy meals to support their efforts. Our modern lifestyle no longer needs those high calories meals, so I think it's important to modernize and
adapt our nutrition to our lifestyle.

My contemporary version of the cassoulet is vegetarian, even better vegan! and
of course lighter, since my cuisine focus on nutrition and health...purists will
call me crazy and tell me that's just impossible, that a cassoulet without meat
cannot be a cassoulet...I can just tell you that this version of the cassoulet
is better than the traditional one, and it's all because of the wild mushrooms!
They are used here instead of the meat and made all the difference. I also used
the water in which they soaked that added an amazing full and intense flavor to
the composition.

One thing I need to mention is the quality of the dried mushrooms, when soaked,
they almost returned to their full and original size and they had no sand in it.
Their amazing flavor made this dish sensational and unique.

I simply adored this vegetarian cassoulet.

Thanks Natasha and thanks Marx Foods for giving me the opportunity to try out
your wonderful products and to present you the another side of French cuisine.

Ingredients for 4

7 oz (or 200 g) dried trout beans from Marx Foods
2 shallots, roughly chopped
1 carrot, sliced
3 garlic cloves, (two cut in half, one chopped)
1.41 oz (or 40 g) dried candy cap mushrooms from Marx Foods
1.41 oz (or 40 g) porcini mushrooms from Marx Foods
1.41 oz ( or 40 g) black trumpet mushrooms from Marx Foods
1 celery stick
3.5 oz (or 100 g) tomato purée
1 cup dry white wine
1.5 cups vegetable stock
4 slices of country bread, cubed
1 tbs olive oil
1 tsp thyme, chopped
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
1 tbs parsley, chopped
Pepper
Flor de Sal from Marx Foods

Preparation

Soak beans in water overnight. Rinse and drain. Bring a large pot of water to a
boil, then add beans. Cook until tender but do not overcook them. Drain.

In a clay pot, heat olive oil, add shallot, garlic halves, carrots, celery and
mushrooms. Adjust with pepper and Flor de Sal. Cook for about 10 minutes
stirring.

Add stock and bring to a boil, let it reduce by half. Add beans, wine
and thyme. Let it cook about 40 minutes.

In a pan, heat olive oil, add onion and cook until tender, add garlic and bread,
sprinkle with flor de sal. Cook until for 7-10 minutes, then add parsley at the
end.

At this point, you can use individual clay pot ramekins or use the same clay
pot in which the beans have cooked. Divide the beans in each ramekin, and top with bread mixture.

Bake in a pre-heated oven for about 15 minutes until the bread turns golden. Serve hot.

***

This guest post is part of the 5 Star Makeover Summer'10 Special:

Ten special bloggers have been invited to recreate different classic dishes of their choice and share them on the 5 Star Foodie Culinary Adventures blog. These guest posts will be featured every Monday from June 28 to August 30. This event is sponsored by MarxFoods, an online store that offers fantastic high quality gourmet products. In September, a final roundup of these makeovers will be posted and readers will be able to vote for their favorite recipe to receive a fabulous prize.

Our Summer Farmers' Market Tour and Lunch Party

Last week I had a terrific opportunity to host a local Farmers' Market tour and lunch party, sponsored by I Can't Believe It's Not Butter.



The farmers' market we chose was at Fairfax Corner, Fairfax, Virginia. It is a brand new market, opened just last year, and hosted by Smart Markets, Inc. A new arrival in Northern Virginia, this enterprise is providing guaranteed producer-only markets, supporting local small farms and sustainable agriculture and educating the local families about real food. Unlike the Fairfax County markets which are only open May through October, the Smart Markets are year-round, held inside during colder months.



The Fairfax Corner market featured excellent locally grown fruits and vegetables, artisanal meats and cheeses, Virginia wine, freshly baked breads and pastries.


My friends and I, together with the kids, had a great time shopping at the market. We selected some excellent produce for our lunch party, including honey wheat bread, pasture raised chicken, fresh corn, eggplants, tomatoes, raspberries, peaches, and plums.



At the last minute, I spotted some gorgeous cinnamon basil, a kind of basil that has a sweet aromatic taste with hints of cinnamon.

***

At home, we prepared a wonderful lunch, utilizing our farmers' market finds and I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Spray and Spread. Both of those products were terrific to compliment the fresh summer flavors of the dishes we made, without adding cholesterol and being low in fat.



The I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Spray was a new product that we tried, and it was excellent, easy and convenient to use, especially when grilling. We sprayed the chicken, vegetables, fruits, and even bread quickly on both sides, and just threw everything on the grill. With six hungry kids running around, it was a fabulous quick way to prepare a delicious lunch. Everyone loved the extra buttery flavors!



For our main course, we had Sandwiches with Grilled Chicken and Eggplants, Tomatoes, Mozzarella, and Cinnamon Basil Mayo on Grilled Honey Wheat Bread.



Buttery Grilled Corn was a terrific side dish.



For dessert, we had Grilled Peaches and Plums.



And a delicious Raspberry Cinnamon Basil Butter Spread on top of grilled bread.



To make the Raspberry Cinnamon Basil Butter Spread: Place 3/4 cup fresh raspberries, 2 tablespoons sugar, 1 cup of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Spread, and 3-4 cinnamon basil leaves into the food processor. Mix well. Place into a bowl, cover, and refrigerate until ready to use.



The Farmers' Market Tour and the lunch were definitely a success! Please check out the video, capturing the best moments of our experience.

Disclosure: I Can't Believe It's Not Butter provided a participation package including a gift card to purchase the ingredients, coupons/I Can't Believe It's Not Butter products, shopping bags, and a FlipCam for the video. All opinions in this post are my own.

Summer Trip 2010: Mycenae

One of the highlights of our visit to Greece was a day trip to Mycenae. Mycenae was a powerful ancient civilization dominating the Greek world between 1600 BC and 1100 BC. King Agamemnon of Mycenae led the war against Troy. Now Mycenae is an archeological site that was absolutely fascinating to visit.

The famous Lions Gate greeted us at the entrance to Mycenae.



Among the ruins of the Mycenaean citadel, the Grave Circle is the most noteworthy. Here are the excavated tombs of the royal family that ruled Mycenae.



Many interesting finds from the Grave Circle and around the acropolis ruins are displayed in the new Mycenae museum. A few of the more famous artifacts from the Treasury of Atreus, such as "Mask of Agamemnon", are actually at the Athens Archeological Museum, but the replicas of them are in the Mycenae museum as well.



A short bus ride away from the Mycenae citadel was the very impressive enormous Tomb of Agamemnon, or the Treasury of Atreus, built around 1250 BC.



After visiting the Tomb of Agamemnon, we stopped at a local family-run taverna for lunch. A warm friendly service was matched by a wonderful home-cooked Greek meal: a delicious moussaka, fresh Greek salad, homemade fried potatoes, and flavorful and smoky pork souvlaki grilled over the real fire.


Moussaka


Greek Salad


Fried Potatoes


Pork Souvlaki

To accompany the meal, we were also offered a lovely sweet and refreshing wine, hand-made by the father of the family himself.



Our final stop of the day was the spectacular Epidaurus Theater built in the 4th century BC. It is absolutely huge and can seat up to 15,000 people. The Epidaurus Theater is famous for its perfect acoustics. No amplification at all is required here for concerts. In fact, even with a full audience, a drop of a coin in the center of the stage, can be heard clearly at the very last row!



This was an amazing day with spectacular ancient sights and delicious eats!

5 Star Makeover: Coconut Jelly

Today's 5 Star Makeover Summer'10 Special guest post is by Kim and Hong at the Ravenous Couple. Kim and Hong were based in different parts of the country, California and Arizona, and are now planning a wedding and looking for a new house. They share a passion for food and cook a lot together. Their blog features traditional Vietnamese recipes as well as experiments with newly inspired tastes through travel and learning. Please, enjoy Kim and Hong's makeover of jello/gelatin.

When Natasha of 5 Star Culinary Adventures approached us to do a guest post with the theme "5 Star Make Overs," we were honored, but had no idea what to do. But a few days later, a box of treats from Marx Foods, an online gourmet specialty store came and the aroma that hit us like a 2 ton truck were the madagascar vanilla beans. We knew just just had to incorporate it in a recipe somehow.

The first thing we did was to make vanilla extract. Our friend Ju from the Little Teochew had recently made it and so we followed suit.  Within a few weeks the vanilla bean and rum turned in a dark magical potion of vanilla aroma that will last for months and years to come. Thanks, Marx Foods! 

Our make over is jello/gelatin.  So why did decide to make over jello/gelatin? Growing up in a Vietnamese household, jello to us meant agar-agar or thach rau cau which is flavorless gelatinous substance made from seaweed that we flavored with various extracts and flavoring agents such as coffee, pandan, coconut, but really any thing goes so that's why we love it. But of course we were also aware of American brand Jell-O which comes in your typical preset flavors of cherry, lime, etc.  So our idea is to make over jello/gelatin with a coconut water and vanilla gelatin and reinforce the fact that you can be much more creative with your gelatin desserts by using agar agar or gelatin powder.  Coconut water is all the craze these days because of it's high mineral content than most sports drinks and more potassium than a banana and naturally sweet, this is about as natural a jello as you can get.

The hardest part cutting off the top of the coconut. We use a cleaver and carefully cut about 2 inches below the top. The key is to wedge it into the coconut, then instead of wacking away, take both the coconut and the cleaver in the same motion and pound the coconut on the ground/cutting board--driving the coconut into cleaver and not the other way around. This will wedge the top of the coconut off without risk of you cutting off any fingers. :) . Each fresh young coconut has about 1 cup of water.

Coconut Jelly 

• 4 fresh young coconuts
• 4 ts of agar agar powder or gelatin
• 1 tablespoon of sugar (optional)
• 1 cup of julienned coconut (we found this in the freezer section of Asian Grocer)
• drop of food coloring (optional)
• 1 ts vanilla extract 

In a sauce pan under low heat, pour in the extracted coconut water and mix in the sugar, extract, agar agar powder. Stir until agar completely dissolves and come to a gentle simmer. Add a drop of food color (optional). Turn off heat and add in shredded coconut.  Stir and pour back into coconut shell. Let cool and set in the refrigerater for about 30 minutes and serve chilled.

This is such a great treat to eat the coconut gelatin and at the same time carve out the sweet and succulent young coconut meat.  With agar agar, you can be creative with your gelatin using unlimited flavor extracts or juices. This is a great party dessert that you can make a day ahead of time that will delight your guests. 

Thanks again Natasha and Marx Foods for this opportunity to share our blog with your readers!

***

This guest post is part of the 5 Star Makeover Summer'10 Special:

Ten special bloggers have been invited to recreate different classic dishes of their choice and share them on the 5 Star Foodie Culinary Adventures blog. These guest posts will be featured every Monday from June 28 to August 30. This event is sponsored by MarxFoods, an online store that offers fantastic high quality gourmet products. In September, a final roundup of these makeovers will be posted and readers will be able to vote for their favorite recipe to receive a fabulous prize.

International Incident Party: Savory Scones with Feta, Kalamata Olives, and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Scones are soft flat little cakes, originating from Scotland and popular in United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and USA. There are many recipes for scones as well as regional varieties. Typically, scones are sweet, and eaten with butter and/or jam, but sometimes can be savory as well.

I should have replicated the incredible classic fruit, berry, or brown scones we had in Ireland, but since I am still in a middle of telling you the stories of the Greek part of our vacation, I have decided to do something different and make scones with Greek flavors instead. These savory delicious scones are loaded with flavorful kalamata olives, sun-dried tomatoes, and feta. Eat immediately out of the oven by themselves or with a dollop of butter.



Ingredients: (yields 6 scones)

1 1/2 cup flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground dried oregano
pinch of salt
1/2 stick cold butter, cut in small cubes
1/4 cup Kalamata olives, chopped
3 tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes, drained, chopped
1/2 cup crumbled feta
1 egg
1/4 cup milk

Directions:

Pre-heat the oven to 350°F.

Sift flour and baking powder into a bowl. Then place into a food processor. Add sugar, oregano, salt, and butter. Pulse quickly until the mixture has a texture of fine breadcrumbs. Next, add the olives, sun-dried tomatoes, and feta. Pulse just a few times to mix together. Transfer the mixture to a bowl.



In another small bowl, combine the egg and milk together. Add about half of the egg-milk mixture to the flour mixture, mixing to make a soft, light, and barely sticky, dough. Add a little more of the egg-milk mixture if necessary to achieve the right consistency. Roll the dough into a thick log. Cut into 6 rounds and flatten just a little to get the perfect shapes.



Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush lightly with egg-milk mixture. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the tops are golden brown.

***

Please check the other scone creations of everyone participating in the International Scones Incident Party! Happy birthday to Anh of  A food’s lover journey & Cherrie of Sweet Cherrie Pie!

Cold Hot Chocolate

After coming home from our trip, I decided to clean up my pantry closet and found two interesting items that I had completely forgotten about. One was a brand new wok ring that came with my Dacor stove top. However, I actually do not own a wok itself. Fortunately, the CSN Stores have contacted me at the same time to offer a gift certificate for a review of one of their products. CSN stores offer an excellent selection of items, such as any kind of bistro sets at Dining Rooms Direct.com, contemporary furniture at All Modern.com, and all essential kitchen tools and accessories at Cookware.com. I chose this wok set and when I publish my review, I will also have a giveaway for the same wok set, so please stay tuned for the review/giveaway post, coming up within the next few weeks.

The other interesting item that I found was a set of cordial syrups from Fee Brothers, featuring six different flavors, including French Vanilla, Irish Cream, Butterscotch, Hazelnut, and Caramel. I immediately used these syrups to make flavored milkshakes and to pour over ice cream.



Also, at the same time, I was thinking of the best way to replicate the Cold Hot Chocolate flavored with caramel that we had in Eat at Milton's in Athens, and the Fee Brothers Caramel Cordial Syrup was the perfect solution. The cold hot chocolates were really delicious with the caramel cordial syrup as well as with the other flavors such as Irish Cream and Butterscotch.



Ingredients:

chocolate syrup
1/2 cup cold water
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tablespoons sugar
1 oz bittersweet chocolate, 70%, finely chopped

for each serving
1/3 cup chocolate syrup
2/3 cup cold milk
2 tablespoons cordial syrup (such as Caramel, Butterscotch, or Irish Cream)
ice cubes

Directions:

In a small saucepan, mix cold water, cocoa powder and sugar. Heat until the cocoa and sugar are completely dissolved and the syrup starts to thicken. Take off the heat and whisk in the chopped chocolate. Cool.



For each serving (about 1 1/4 cup) of cold hot chocolate, place 1/3 cup of chocolate syrup, 2/3 cup cold milk, and 2 tablespoons (or to taste) of cordial syrup in blender or the mixing cup for the immersion blender. Blend well until frothy at the top.

Fill the serving glass with ice and pour the cold hot chocolate over the ice. Place in the freezer for 2-3 minutes to chill and let the foam set.

Some useful notes:

• The bittersweet chocolate is optional and you can make the chocolate syrup with just the cocoa powder. The bittersweet chocolate does add the creaminess and more of the chocolate flavor to the drink.
  
• If you only want the chocolate flavor, skip the cordial syrup. You can also add another ounce of bittersweet chocolate.
  
• You can use other ingredients to add the flavors to the cold hot chocolate such as liqueurs or extracts. Just taste test to get the right amount of flavor (a splash of a liqueur or a drop or two of an extract should be enough).
  
• You can make homemade syrups. For example to make a caramel syrup: melt 1/2 cup sugar, stirring constantly until it turns into golden liquid, then slowly stir in a 1/2 cup of hot water and boil for a few minutes, stirring. Cool and store in the airtight container until ready to use.
  
• If you have leftover chocolate syrup, store it in an air tight container and use it later for another serving of cold hot chocolate.
  
• You can also make a larger quantity of the chocolate syrup and use it as a homemade chocolate syrup for ice cream sundaes and other desserts.

Summer Trip 2010: Eat At Miltons

One very hot afternoon in Greece after seeing many sights we came down to Plaka, an area in Athens with pedestrian streets and charming restored buildings from the 19th century. Located next to the Acropolis and Agora, with plenty of shopping and restaurants, Plaka is very popular with tourists and a fun place to walk around.

We sat down for drinks in one cafe in the center of Plaka. My daughter and I had fabulous cold hot chocolate drinks. Mine was with coconut and my daughter had a caramel flavor. The caramel cold hot chocolate was especially good.



The cafe was called Eat at Milton's. We were curious about it so we came back later in the evening for dinner.

Eat at Milton's was opened by Alain Parodi who used to be a chef in the Michelin Star restaurant Lou Cigalon in the village of Valbonne near Cannes. After Lou Cigalon was closed, Alain Parodi moved to Athens to open Eat at Milton's. Eat at Milton's is very chic, with a minimalist design with black and white colors. The cuisine can be basically described as a modern fusion of French and Greek, featuring an eclectic mixture of classic French and Greek specialties, and other various Mediterranean-style dishes.

We started our dinner with a savory parfait of crab meat, chorizo foam, and Greek salad, accompanied by miniature crab croquettes. All the components came together nicely and it was a delicious start to the meal.





We also tried the smoked salmon platter which was tasty but not anything spectacular.



For our main course we had a leg of lamb for two. It was fun watching the waiter carve the lamb at the table side.



The lamb was served with mashed potatoes and vegetable fricassee.



The lamb was flavorful though a little dry, remedied only slightly by the delayed addition of the jus.



We shared a wonderfully creamy and delicious Mille-feuille for our dessert.





A cup of Greek coffee was a great way to end the meal.



Eat at Milton's was an enjoyable dining experience in a fun area of Athens. We particularly loved the flavored cold hot chocolates and I've been experimenting with making them at home. I will be sharing my recipe in the next post so stay tuned!

***

The winner of the Chavrie giveaway is Julie M. Congratulations! Please send me your contact information at natasha@5starfoodie.com to receive your prize!