A Very French Easter


     I have had the fortunate opportunity of celebrating Easter twice in Europe. The first time was in Florence with my sister and we prepared an Eastover dinner. We made ​​pork chops, clearly we do not understand Judaism. This year, I had planned a trip to the South of France for our Easter holiday break. While we were technically in Aix en Provence for Easter Sunday, my companion and I made ​​an Easter dinner last Thursday night in Nice.

(Photo credit: Nicole Martorana)

(Photo credit: Nicole Martorana)

(Photo credit: Nicole Martorana)

     It may have had something to do with the semi-stressful day we had had, but this pasta was so ridiculously good I impressed myself. The French butter also helped. Obviously.

     To make the pasta, we diced three large tomatoes and cooked them down with about 1 1/2 lbs worth of shrimp shells. To this, 1 cup of water was added and the mixture was left to simmer for about 20 minutes. Salt and pepper were added to taste. This mixture was then strained into a sauce pan and was returned to the heat. We mounted the sauce with a few heaping tablespoons of good quality butter and voila! The shrimp was added in the last few minutes to the sauce just to cook them through. We were in the apartment of hosts, but had I been home, I would certainly have included some fresh herbs, like parsley or basil. 

(Photo credit: Nicole Martorana)

     Then there was the bread ... I have had some issues baking here in Europe. By some I mean all. This bread, however, did okay. Again, I think the French butter is all-healing. It's basically like Windex. 

     The bread was not difficult to pull together. Once the milk and the butter are heated together, you can add the yeast, salt, and sugar to a mixing bowl. Whisk in the eggs. Add the warm butter mixture (ideally 110 F) and allow the yeast to get down for about ten minutes. Barely mix in half the flour until a dough starts to form. At this point I also added a tablespoon of grapefruit zest. Now add the rest of the flour and work the dough until it is no longer sticky. This took me about 4-6 minutes. Grease a bowl, add the dough, cover with a damp towel, and let it proof in a warm place. We let the bread proof for way too long (1-2 hours is fine), It kind of tasted like beer. No one hates it. 

     After the bread has proofed for the first time, you can divide the dough into three ropes and braid them. Clearly I did not have a childhood graced with glorious braids. All I can say is do your best to make sure you pinch the ends rather hard to keep them closed. Let the braid proof for another 30 minutes.  Brush the loaf with an egg wash and sprinkle with some white sugar. Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes or until golden. Take that bad boy out and serve warm with butter. Calories do not count on holy days. I asked.

RECIPE

(Adapted from the blog "afra cooking")

350 F 20 min

1 1/4 milk

1/3 c butter

appr. 3 tsp of yeast

1/2 c sugar

3 1/2 c flour

1 egg (an additional egg for egg wash)

1 tbsp grapefruit zest

pinch of salt

sugar for sprinkling 

     Fresco Living

    Sooo, being in grad school has made it a bit difficult to keep to my once a week promise. Traveling for school is also going to present some difficulties. It's all about quality over quantity, amirite? Speaking of, I've noticed that when the produce is supa fresh, you don't really need a lot of it and it rarely needs much doctoring. The masters classes got together recently to mix and mingle. I brought an orange and fennel salad that was dressed with a light vinaigrette and topped with mint and chili salt. 

     My roommate was hooked up with some killer salts so I'm trying them all out. The produce market I go to here always has a bunch of fresh picks and I normally just buy what looks best that day. Yesterday, the zucchini was looking rather tasty. I took a few home and decided to make some fry cakes. Here's a fun fact: the more vegetables you eat, the more you can fry things. If I'm lyin I'm dyin. I added some mozzarella to mine for a full meal but you could also serve them as a side.

Zucchini Cakes

     This recipe comes together very quickly after the zucchini has been grated. Zucchini can tend to be watery, so if you find that to be the case, squeeze the water out over a sieve. Add the drier zucchini to a bowl and drop in a few tablespoons of ricotta cheese. Add salt and pepper and a teaspoon of finely chopped rosemary. I kinda went too heavy on the rosemary this time around, so, if you're like me and tend to be heavy handed with herbs, remember that there is fine line between rosemary and Christmas spruce. Stir everything together and add 2-3 tablespoons of flour, depending on how wet your zucchini ended up being. Make patties that are about three inches wide and 1/2 inch thick. Fry in olive oil for about 5 minutes on both sides on a medium heat. 

     Recipe

3 small zucchini, grated

3 tbsp ricotta 

2-3 tbsp flour

1 tsp finely chopped rosemary

salt and pepper

oil for frying

   Rice is nice ... most of the time

     Hello, babies. Adjusting to the promised land has taken its toll on me. I have not had tofu in ages and I've only listened to Beyonce, like, three times in the past week! Shameful. I hope she doesn't read this. Thanks to Ikea, my room and apartment have now been graced with modern, questionably built, furniture. We would also like to start gardening, providing the landlord puts aside some land for us meager surfs. He should, considering his dog/cat has eaten my yoga pants and napped in my roommate's sheets while they were drying. I digress real hard.

    The beautiful Gen(beeb) came to visit me from Tuscany last weekend and it was a real treat. We made dinners, watched Frozen, did a little window shopping, and drank terrible Danish beer. All and all, a solid weekend. One of the nights, I decided to make risotto for my gluten-intolerant companion. In a moment of inspiration, I also decided to make it with red wine in addition to stock. Not gonna lie, I really just had some leftover red wine that was not doing it for me and I figured the power of carbs would magically transform it. 

Red Wine Risotto

   Ohhhhh, risotto, how may I count the ways in which I adore your simple cooking techniques? As a side note, I made my own veg stock for this recipe. To do so, I took about 6 cups of vegetable bits and ends and added 8 cups of water to the mix. After simmering for 3 hours on med-low, you got yurself some stock. Okay, to begin for real, saute 1 small onion in olive oil until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the rice and toast for about 3 minutes. 

     Start adding the red wine slowly, stirring the risotto on medium heat pretty regularly. You should probably go through 4-6 cycles of the wine before it has be absorbed. Next, repeat the process with the stock. In between stirring, you may place a top on your pot if you find your rice is not yet tender. When the rice is fully cooked, I strongly suggest adding a large swig of olive oil before seasoning with salt and pepper. Serve with cheese and of course more wine. We also made rice pudding the next day for breakfast and by that time I was just ready for some long-grain, non-starchy goodness. I never thought rice and I would need to take a break.

Purple on purple on purple. I kind of hate it (sorry I'm not sorry the a cappella shirts were always God-forsaken purple)!

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Oh look, furniture made out of old wine barrels at my school's wine bank. Classy as anything made out of alcohol vessels can be.

Recipe

2 c dry red wine

2 c vegetable stock

1 c arborio rice

1 small onion

olive oil

parmesan