La petite biscotte

Now in Berlin…

Archive for October, 2007

This easy to make pastry is often used as a base for tarts or pies. When baked, it does not rise up, but instead reaches a nice crunchy texture. Usually I just buy a roll of shortcrust pastry at the supermarket because I don’t have much time, but whenever I can I try to make it myself. Pâte brisée is used a lot in french cuisine for both savory and   Read More ...

Bakery Basics French

VideoJug: How To Make Bechamel Sauce Yesterday I decided to use up the Cauliflower/Broccoli I had left in my fridge and of course my first thought was to make a gratin with a nice Béchamel Sauce. Although I didn’t get time to make the actual gratin, I’d still like to post about how to make a perfect Sauce Béchamel. I’m using this quite often (in moderate quantities) as a base   Read More ...

Basics French

It’s autumn which means it’s pumpkin season! Normally every market should be filled with a great variety of pumpkin/squash/acorn. Yeah well that’s normally :p Unfortunately here in the south of France pumpkin is not really a staple food. When Halloween approaches the big supermarkets import a few pumpkins but whatever they don’t manage to sell is sometimes being offered for weeks after as prepacked pumpkin slices. I’ve had a lot   Read More ...

Main Course Soups Vegetarian

Before flying to Germany this summer, I bought a magazine at the airport called “Cuisinez comme un chef” (Cook like a chef) with a few recipes from French celebrity, 2 Michelin-star chef Joël Robuchon. Usually I’m not a fan of “celebrity chef recipes” because I’ve been disappointed one too many times. Often these recipes are extremely complicated, require an arsenal of ingredients and spices which are either hard to get   Read More ...

Chicken Main Course Take-Away Lunch

Gnocchi is one of my favorite Italian dishes. Usually I eat them with just a little grated cheese and I don’t think that any type of sauce is necessary for them to taste good. It’s actually not easy to find a good sauce for Gnnochi and I’ve been searching for a long time :p For me usual pasta sauces (bolognese, basil pesto, carbonara etc.) were simply to heavy for a   Read More ...

Italian Main Course Vegetarian

How to make California Rolls? Let’s start with the list of ingredients & utensils. 2 cups of Japonica Rice (There is no good substitute for this, check this post for more information) 4 cups of water 1/4 cup of sushi vinegar (You can get this in Asian/Japanese supersmarkets, but if you have troubles finding this -I’ll add a recipe later) 2 nori sheets – cut in half (If its full   Read More ...

Japanese Main Course

Ok this morning I got up 1 hour earlier than normally but I’m glad I did it, because check the result: my first bento!Bento is a traditional way of preparing lunches for school/work in boxes that have several compartments to store the food carefully in order for the tastes not to get mixed up. But there is much more behind bento. Bento is also (as Japanese food in general) about   Read More ...

Basics Chicken Japanese Take-Away Lunch

“Indian curry is really the best!” “Nah, I love the curry they make at the Chinese restaurant not far from here…” “Personally, I prefer Japanese curry ” “What??!!? Japanese don’t make curry!” As a matter of fact Japanese do have a curry dish :p It’s actually one of the most popular dishes over there. According to some recent surveys the average Japanese family eats curry about 2-3 times a week.   Read More ...

Chicken Comfort Food Japanese Main Course

“Les soupes, c’est pour les vieux” (Soups are for old people) “Errm… mais moi j’aime la soupe :p” (Uhm… but I like soup :p) “Pas possible!” (Can’t be!) I remember having a similar conversation with my husband’s adorable aunt. Well I’m not quite sure if young people really have come to hate soup nowadays, but I can’t imagine autumn without colorful vegetable soups. I must admit that the above soup   Read More ...

Main Course Soups Vegetarian

[image to come soon]“Ok, what would you like for dinner tonight?” “Pasta, Pasta!” “Again? :p” “Yes ” I’m sure you know this type of conversation just too well. What can you do if your family likes Pasta a lot but if you’d still like to cook something healthy? While strolling over the vegetable section of a local shop here in Aix en Provence, I found a bunch of different vegetables   Read More ...

Comfort Food Italian Main Course Pasta Vegetarian