My Confinement Cuisine

Whereas whatever self-discipline I had pre confinement, has waned and flown the coop with all my best intentions, preparing nice meals hasn’t.

It’s my way of bringing something of joy and pleasure into my life, not only for myself but others of course.

Sitting down to candlelight dinners is a delight I look forward to daily.

Once the candles are lit and prayers said, it is pure enjoyment at the end of a day.  Add some wine, chosen for the meal, and it becomes my little celebratory banquet.

This post is a soft read, a show and tell if you want.  No recipes, but if interested will send.

When menu planning, I base my meals on the marché, that it what the market holds the freshest and in season, with maybe a few exceptions.

Rhubard announces spring and so it really stared in this delectable rhubarb ricotta tart.  The rich tartness of the rhubarb was a perfect foil against the orange zested ricotta cream in an almond crust.  

I never follow recipes per sae, except some pastry bases, such as puff pastry.  I get ideas and then create them to my own desires.

With all pastries or marmalades, I definitely reduce sugar.  The vast majority of American or British desserts are loaded with so much sugar that sweetness predominates rather than any other flavor.

Confinement started here on March 16, but it already seems much longer!  I no longer go out without a masque, but still see some others not wearing one, especially along sidewalks when I go for walks.

Authorization papers, long snaking lines to get in food stores, police checks and empty flour shelves have been everyday challenges in gathering food for meals.

Fortunately, I can meditate standing up in line, so it isn’t so bad.  Either that or look at the pigeons chase each other in circles before flying off in defeat.

Other than the flour shortage, I haven’t noticed any other lack of available foods here.  But,  I rarely buy rice or beans, and never pasta, preferring to make my own.

What I really miss is my wonderful  poissonerie(fish vendeur) at the Marché Jourdan, which has been closed.

Of course, there are other possionneries and my local Carrefour does sell good seafood also at decent prices.

Color and presentation of meals are always important!  We eat first with our eyes!  I don’t put everything on a plate either. Maybe an accompanying garnish, only if it enhances the main course.

Because I wasn’t able to leave my neighborhood and trot off to other favorite specialty stores around the city, I had to make do what I could find nearby.

I generally try to avoid eating many carbohydrates, except I certainly treat myself to one of my delicious pastries each Sunday and on holidays.

Easter is always greeted with a  rolled sweet bread in the shape of a dove.

Most of the time I make two doves, ones filled with poppy seed filling and the other an apricot walnut filling.

 

 

 

 

This Easter Aimée requested a Riz a la Imperatrice for the dessert instead of Oeufs a la Neige.    This old classical French treat is a succulent rice bavarian that is a fluffy and ultra-creamy. It is filled with my own candied orange peel and flavored with Cointreau.

A very sumptuous dessert, that is hard to stop eating!  Seen here with XB for Christ is risen.

 

 

Most of my meals are meatless, except on Sundays, and another midweek.  Saturday night is always reserved for seafood.

So here are some of my favourite weekly creations, varied here and there with some new additions.

The lovely fish you see above in the first photo is a daurade(sea bream) from the Brittany coast, that I love baking with a spicey exotic Eucadorean sauce with coconut milk, red peppers, lemon and oranges juices.

Equally good prepared with a monkfish tail, that I filleted afterward cooking.  Sprinkled with some fresh coriander and some orange zest slivers to adorn the taste.

Whole fish on the bone is preferred so the juices from the fish also flavor the sauce.  Sauteed plantains are my favorite accompaniment.

My tarragon plant recently came back in full force from winters sleep.  A mille-feuille of rare salmon nestled between puff pastry and spinach mushrooms, surrounded with a beurre blanc with tarragon is pretty to look and scrumptious.

 

 

Tuna from the Indian Ocean I like best is easy to do covered with sesame seeds and grilled rare with a simple lime and soy sauce.

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of my favorite weekday dishes is succulent ricotta gnocchi served with a cream of roquette(rocket).  Low carb and the sauce I prefer is made with greek yaourt.

In April Paris had many sunny summer-like days that I could not enjoy to the fullest except getting out for an hour-long walk.

I bought a bushy basil plant which made me think of this warm weather meal of delicious mozzarella rolled thin and filled with basil, prosciutto, and parmesan shavings served with good olive oil.

Chickpea flour also makes wonderful dumplings flavored with red onion,  my home made red pepper flakes and fresh dill.  The bouillon is made from the leftover carcass of a roast guinea hen or chicken.  The end is resemblant of a comforting chicken and dumplings with a twist!

 

If I feel a yen for pasta, I will make it out of chickpea flour too.  It is more sticky of dough to work with than wheat flour, through a pasta machine, but doable by hand as well.

 

I finally turned my dried harvested Budapestian red peppers into flakes, hotter than a firecracker!  I have some more baby seedlings coming up for the summer.

 

 

 

The brightly colored plate is a croustillant of chevre(goat cheese)and rainbow chard with pomegranate seeds that I adore.  Sandwiched on squares of crispy baked brick, it is a nice contrast of flavors and colour.

 

Asparagus making its annual spring debut is always most welcome as I do not eat asparagus year-round.  White asparagus is preferred by Germans and northern French and green more by Southern French.  Both taste equally good to my palate.

So, I go a little asparagus heavy in the springtime.  They. are great on top of puff pastry with a Hollandaise sauce.

They also make a great creamy risotto.

 

 

A light main course of carpaccio of asparagus, favas, and peas dribbled with deep green pumpkin seed oil I brought home from Austria gives them all a  rustic buttery finish.

 

 

Another great vegetable meal is one centered on stuffed artichokes halves.  Topped with mozzarella, feta, red onion and herbs, they are drizzled with olive oil.

 

 

This hearty salad is from Crete with the super crunchy Cretan rusks soaked with grated Kolmato tomatoes, found surprisingly tart and juicy out of season.  Topped with olive oil and sprinkled with feta and dill, it can be a meal in itself.

During the confinement, I finally started a sourdough starter again from a remaining bag of rye flour.  No one ever needs to bake bread in Paris for heaven’s sake, as the city has the very best bakers in the world.

Having said that, I did fall in love with Estonian black bread when I was in Tallinn and can’t find anything like it here.  The French bakers bake great sourdough rye bread, but I wanted to try to recreate the tangy almost sticky moist bread I found in Estonia.

Called Leib, it is flavored with caraway and some coriander seeds.  It is made with 100 percent rye and fermented a day or longer to get that desired tanginess.

I had to make mine with 2/3 organic rye and the rest whole wheat flour as more rye flour was not to be found. One part of the dought was baked partially in a dutch oven and the other baked outside.

Though both have a great tangy sourdough taste, the dutch oven baked bread had a more chewy crust.  The one baked in a loaf pan on the rack more closely resembled the Estonian bread in texture.

Both had a good well developed structured crumb with decent alveoli and were not too dense.  For regular French style whole-grain breads, the dutch oven is great and preferred.

Since it took 7 days to mature my rye flour sourdough starter, I ended up with a fair amount of discarded starter each day when I refreshed the daily batch.

Besides Belgium style waffles, I made a decorative Foccacia for fun.  These relatively simple and quick breads don’t have much structure nor tangy taste, but can be infused with herbs and spices to your tastes.

A fabulous deeply most and spicey cake  I love is made with loads of fresh ginger root and butter.  I filled mine with an orange mascarpone filling and it was addictive!

A Greek style cake was made with semolina flour drenched in orange syrup and served with fresh orange slices.

I love cream puffs pastries, especially a Paris Brest or the more elaborate and sumptuous St. Honoré.  After having spotted some first fresh rhubarb stalks, I made a St Honoré filled with rhubarb creme and each puff was filled with lemon cream and a small dollop of tart rhubarb., topped with fresh raspberries.  Just superb!

A plain sugar dusted raspberry tart on my very tender buttery crust is always very welcome around here.

If I am feeling rushed or lazy, it is so quick to whip up a delicious Sbrisolona, a crunchy and crumbly almond cookie type tart from northern Italy, which is great eaten by itself or used to make fruit parfaits.

 

 

 

 

 

Being able to continue to make some of my favourite dishes made the confinement seem less stressful.  All in all, I am one grateful cook!

PS.  Please share your own confinement favorites with me in your comments.  I would love to hear about them!