Best panettone brand: Maina

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Best Panettone brand: MAINA

Panettone is a sweet and tall Italian brioche, made with candied peel and raisins for the Christmas season. Like many people, I was attracted by the look of it in many shops and would always end up with dry – and sometimes crumbly – cardboard to eat. One day, I decided I had to stop the torture and would never have it again in my life.

Then, like 5 years ago, an old Italian patient started telling us about this amazing panettone. She brought one up for the team to share, and that’s when I realized how good a panettone can be !!! It’s DE-LI-CIOUS !!! It’s super soft, fluffy, with hints of butter, vanilla and orange. Even the raisins didn’t bother me. We finished it in one day and every year since then, this lovely woman brings us one for the Christmas season!

I’m now like a child, not waiting for the toys, but for my panettone. One year, I even tried to cheat and browsed the internet to have it delivered but no shop had it. Then 2 or 3 years ago, an Italian supermarket decided to sell them, and I now store them until the next year (they’re all sold out 2 or 3 weeks before Christmas)!

My panettone stash until next year :-)

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Stereomood – Free music to suit your mood

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I’ve been wanting to tell you about Stereomood for a while. It’s a free internet radio (without any ads for now!), which offers a selection of different music and songs according to your mood, to your activity (ex: dish washing, just woke up, hangover, asleep on my feet, etc…).
Just go on www.stereomood.com, click on your mood, and here you go!

I finally completed my phD in July (I’m still recovering from it :-) ), and needless to say that whenever I had a pause, I would click on “relax”, “chillout” and “calm” :-)
Here are a few songs I discovered (link to YouTube):

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French buckwheat pasta square gratin (Croziflette) recipe

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This is another version of the famous tartiflette, but instead of using potatoes, locals from the Savoie region use crozets* which are tiny buckwheat pasta squares. Crozets are usually cooked in boiling water first (like any pasta), then topped with bacon, cream and cheese, and grilled. The buckwheat flavor really brings an interesting side to this comforting dish.

For my version, I was inspired by another local way of preparing the crozets in which they’re boiled first, then gratinated with beaufort** cheese and served with local smoked cured sausages (saucisses de Diot). So in my version, I decided to make layers of cooked crozets, slices of smoked cured sausages cooked with onions and white wine, the whole thing being topped with beaufort and gratinated. Believe me, it is delicious!

Beaufort cheese (with its characteristic concave rind), crozets de Savoie and saucisses de Diot (smoked cured sausages from the Savoie region)

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Easiest (and best) eyeliner to use: Bobbi Brown long-wear gel eyeliners

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When I started using makeup, one of my first attempts was to do “smokey eyes”, using an eye pencil. I would always end up looking like a panda, no matter how I did it! I was ready to give up makeup for good, when work sent me for training with a L’Oreal makeup artist. He explained to me that THERE ARE DIRECTIONS to follow when you try to fade the colors with a brush (and that you don’t brush everywhere like I did).

After I mastered this technique, I got curious about liquid eyeliner because eye pencil would fade completely during the day. And this is a step I’ve never managed to overcome: I think liquid eyeliner doesn’t suit everyone as it tends to give a look that is either too harsh or too sophisticated (think of Cleopatra). And my shaky hands don’t help either. I tried different products claiming they were easy to use (Artliner by Lancôme, Terracotta loose powder kohl liner by Guerlain, etc…) and always ended up like a mess. Until I tried gel eyeliner.

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Best makeup tutorials on YouTube : Lisa Eldridge

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I started using makeup about 5 years ago when my husband introduced me to makeup tutorials on YouTube (was there a hidden message?).
I was skeptical at first but some of them are so well done, you just want to have a go at it.

This is how I first discovered Michelle Phan. Some say she’s just an amateur, but for someone who knew nothing, that was a great way to begin with. These two following videos are from when she started. Now, she has multiple channels, deals with hair, clothes, way of living, etc…

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Best modern French restaurant in the East of Paris: Le Galopin

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Seriously, I'm going to get in trouble for giving you this address!

Three years ago, a new program called Top Chef started on the French television, in which many professional chefs compete again each other in culinary challenges. They are judged by a panel of four 1-and-2-Michelin-star chefs (!!!), and one contestant is eliminated in each episode. Needless to say, when the show is on, I don’t pick up the phone :-) !

Anyway, the winner of season 1, Romain Tischenko, blew me and my husband away from the beginning of the show, and when he won, I don’t know who was happier: him or us? We loved him not only because of his plates full of freshness, colors and ideas, but also because he looked like a very modest and shy guy.

He opened his first restaurant, Le Galopin (Place Sainte-Marthe – 75010 Paris – Tél. 01.42.06.05.03), only six months ago, choosing to take his time to open something relatively small (for about 20 people upstairs and 12 in the wine cave), in a remote area. And seriously, he doesn’t disappoint, far from it. His cuisine is fresh (I went there 6 times and nearly every time, a guy was carrying big wooden boxes full of fresh veg), the dishes are delicate (almost feminine?), with touches of creative / bold / surprising but still awesome combinations of flavors and textures (soft and crisp). You can tell he loves his veg(etables) from the way he chooses and combines old and new varieties, and from the way he cuts and cooks them to bring the most flavor out of them. And very often, the best chefs are usually the ones who know how to highlight their vegetables, instead of relying only on good meat. His only drawback, if any, are some of his desserts (not because they’re bad, but because they’re not as good as his mains), and some people looking for a place to stuff their face may complain about the quantities (which are balanced in reality).

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First feedback photos

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I’m very happy. I’m getting more and more feedback / questions / tricks from readers, and that’s great. That’s exactly why I created the blog: to share.

Recently, some readers sent me photo(s) of their end results and it’s very impressive. So, with their authorization, here they are!

Best cannelés from Danemark!

The photos above are from Greg in Danemark, who had never tasted cannelés before making them because they’re unavailable in his country! His cannelés look absolutely amazing (I personally think he should start his own blog) !
He had a slight problem at first because they were “souffleing”, so he re-tried with a new batter that “was neither whisked nor shaken and rested 48h” (to avoid introducing air), and with his new batch, he didn’t have any problems since “they rise slightly above the edge of the mold, but settle down nicely later on, without any manipulation”.

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Best macadamia and white chocolate cake recipe

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Discover the oomph factor in a white chocolate cake!

I had never been a fan of white chocolate until my sister-in-law married in 2006 and chose a macadamia and white chocolate cake as her wedding cake. That cake was absolutely perfect, there are no other words to describe it.
When I had my last bite, licking the last crumbs, my decision was made: I HAD to track the recipe down! It took me nearly 6 years!

I tried all the white chocolate cake recipes under the sky, and I found my Holy Graal on an Australian website (www.exclusivelyfood.com.au). What I first liked with this recipe was the amount of white chocolate they used (more than butter, which is a good sign).

The resulting cake is not as dense as the wedding one, but the oomph factor is there. The only difference from the internet recipe is that I added lots of macadamia nuts in mine, used a bit less sugar, used plain flour and baking powder instead of a mix of plain and self-raising flours, and because I’m French, I didn’t top the cake with ganache, but it’s all up to you.

Be generous with the macadamia nuts, they're the best part in this amazing cake!

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Caramelized onion chickpea pancake / flatbread (Farinata / Socca) recipe

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A rustic taste of Italy!

Farinata is a Ligurian (North of Italy) savory pancake, simply made with chickpea flour (also known as garbanzo flour), water, olive oil and salt. Also called faina, cecina, this is the French equivalent of Socca, (which is a thinner version).
Farinata is originally baked in an open oven. Crisp and golden outside, while soft and moist on the inside, it is usually cut into triangles and served as a finger food or side dish, with no toppings. Some use it like a pizza base and top it with rosemary, onions, etc…

Here, served as a side dish, just like polenta

Since chickpea flour can be a bit bland, I usually make my farinata by slowly caramelizing onions and adding them to the batter BEFORE baking it. It makes a huge difference!
And according to my mood and what is left in the fridge, I top it with very thin slices of Lardo di Colonnata, fresh creamy cheese…or just a grind of salt (that’s the best).

And when I’m naughty and want more crunch, I just cook the batter in a frying pan, like a crêpe: this is not traditional at all, but it is so good!!!

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Asparagus with capers, pine nuts and red onion recipe (< 10-15 minutes)

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Capers give a wonderful kick to the sweet red onion, while toasted pine nuts complement the green asparagus in terms of bite

I’ve been very busy lately with work and one way to satisfy my taste buds quickly is to prepare this simple, super easy but still delicious salad. Most of the time, simple things are the best and this dish is here to prove it.
You can serve it with a few shavings of hard cheese, etc…if you need a more substantial starter.

The recipe is from Denis Cotter’s cookbook called “Wild garlic” (he’s the wonderful magician behind the gourmet vegetarian restaurant Cafe Paradiso).

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