Try out these recipes from a Parisienne's kitchen | The Honolulu Advertiser

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Try out these recipes from a Parisienne's kitchen | The Honolulu Advertiser | Hawaii's Newspaper

Posted on: Wednesday, July 4, 2007

TASTE
Try out these recipes from a Parisienne's kitchen

•	Cooking en français

By Jerry Burris
Advertiser Public Affairs Editor

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

In the well-equipped kitchen of her apartment in Marais, Paris, Paule Caillat supervises the final stages of herb-stuffed tenderloins.

JERRY BURRIS | The Honolulu Advertiser

Can't get to France? Cooking teacher Paule Caillat says many of the ingredients she favors can be found in the U.S. at Whole Foods, soon to come to Honolulu. Such items as imported butter can be found at R. Field at Foodland Beretania and Kailua. Check online for anything you can't find here.

Here are some recipes from her kitchen. She made it all look so simple — but simple can be deceptive. You are on your own.

For these small souffles, you need 8 little ramekins or souffle molds and you need a bain-marie, or double boiler — a water bath in which they will bake. Place buttered molds in a 9-by-13 or other large baking dish; fill and then pour hot water around them. Then bake.

PETITS SOUFFLES SUISSES

(SMALL SWISS SOUFFLES)

Butter for buttering souffle molds

2 cups whole milk

4 tablespoons flour

3 1/2 ounces unsalted, high-butterfat butter

4 egg yolks

8 egg whites (reserve additional egg yolks for other uses)

1 cup heavy cream

3 ounces grated cheese, a nice sharp Swiss cheese is best

Minced chives and flat-leaf parsley for garnish

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat oven to 450 degrees.

Butter the molds well and heat the milk on stove or in microwave.

Make a bechamel sauce: Melt butter, add flour, cook for a few minutes, stir in hot milk and transfer to a large bowl. Reserve three tablespoons of sauce. Season remaining bechamel with salt and pepper; stir in four egg yolks and grated cheese.

Whisk the 8 egg whites until stiff and add them to the bechamel. Pour mixture into molds, almost to the top, and bake in a bain-marie for 15 minutes. Remove molds from bain-marie, allow to cool. Don't worry if they settle.

Add heavy cream to the 3 tablespoons of reserved bechamel, bring to a boil and season with some of the chopped herbs. Unmold the cooled souffles in an oven-proof pan, not touching, and cover them with the sauce and some grated cheese. Return to a 450-degree oven and bake another 10 to 15 minutes. They will rise again.

Serve immediately, topped with a bit more of the chopped herbs.

Note: The first steps of this recipe can be done a day ahead. Take the souffles out of the refrigerator, allow to go to room temperature and finish baking.

Makes 8 servings.

Per serving: (not including salt to taste): 350 calories, 31 g fat, 19 g saturated fat, 200 mg cholesterol, 125 mg sodium, 8 g carbohydrate, no fiber, 3 g sugar, 11 g protein

For a main course, you can choose whatever meat you like for this dish: veal, pork or chicken.

GRENADINS AUX HERBS

(HERB-FLAVORED TENDERLOINS)

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

1 tablespoon chopped chervil or tarragon

1 tablespoon chopped chives or shallot

1/2 pound watercress leaves, baby spinach leaves or sorrel, or mixture thereof

2 tablespoons butter plus 1 tablespoon melted butter

4 fillets of veal or pork or even chicken breast, at least 1 inch thick, slit open

Breadcrumbs and or chopped nuts (walnuts, macadamia) or both

1 teaspoon French mustard

2 tablespoons dry white wine or vermouth for deglazing

1/2 cup cream, ideally creme fraiche

Salt and pepper to taste

Wash, drain and dry well all the herbs and greens. Melt 1 tablespoon butter until light brown, add herbs and greens and cook gently.

Remove; season to taste with salt and pepper and set aside.

Stuff each tenderloin with one tablespoon or more of greens mixture, pressing to keep meat as tightly closed as possible.

Paint each tenderloin with melted butter and then dip into breadcrumb mixture to form crust.

Heat butter in pan, cook meat 2 minutes on each side on high heat, then 5 minutes more on each side over moderate heat. Remove and keep warm.

Deglaze pan with wine or vermouth, add the mustard, reduce by half, add cream, bring to boil and reduce a little. Taste and correct seasonings.

Place sauce on plate, place meat over it and serve.

Makes 4 servings.

Per serving for veal: 520 calories, 33 g fat, 17 g saturated fat, 200 mg cholesterol, 330 mg sodium, 13 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 1 g sugar, 39 g protein

Per serving for pork: 400 calories, 24 g fat, 14 g saturated fat, 135 mg cholesterol, 300 mg sodium, 13 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 1 g sugar, 29 g protein

Per serving for chicken: 380 calories, 22 g fat, 13 g saturated fat, 130 mg cholesterol, 300 mg sodium, 13 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 1 g sugar, 31 g protein

This isn't a fondue as we think of it, but a long, slow braise of this vegetable, which is surprisingly pleasant, not at all too licorice-flavored, as some people fear. Pastis is an aniseflavored aperitif.

FENOUIL EN FONDUE

(FENNEL FONDUE)

3 medium-sized fennel bulbs

3 tablespoons olive oil

Salt to taste

Sliced red onion (optional)

1 tablespoon pastis or similar liquor (optional)

Fennel seeds

Pepper to taste

2 tablespoons creme fraiche or sour cream (optional)

Peel the fennel, chopping off the top and removing tough outer layer. Cut in half vertically and remove hard core at the bottom.

Wash and drain the fennel and then cut into slices.

Heat olive oil, add fennel slices, season with salt, cook slowly until slices are soft and slightly brown. Add similarly sliced red onion at the same time if using. When nearly cooked, add pastis and flame if desired. Long slow simmering works best.

Add fennel seeds and cream fraiche, if using, and cook five more minutes.

Makes 6 servings.

Per serving, includes all optional ingredients (but not salt to taste): 120 calories, 9 g fat, 2.5 g saturated fat, no cholesterol, 65 mg sodium, 9 g carbohydrate, 4 g fiber, no sugar, 2 g protein

TARTE AUX POMMES AU SUCRE ROUX

(APPLE TART WITH BROWN SUGAR)

1 crust (see recipe for crust below)

3 large golden delicious apples

4 tablespoons melted butter

1/3 cup white or brown sugar

1 large egg or two small ones

1 lemon

Peel and thinly slice apples, rub with lemon and/or squeeze lemon juice over them.

Place apples in crust in concentric circles, starting with the edge. Pack them in as they will shrink while baking.

Bake apple-filled crust for 15 minutes at 360 degrees.

Blend egg with sugar. Add melted butter to egg-sugar mixture.

Pour mixture over apple tarte; bake again for 15 minutes.

Serves 6.

Per serving: 470 calories, 22 g fat, 13 g saturated fat, 85 mg cholesterol, 110 mg sodium, 66 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 47 g sugar, 4 g protein

This is the Caillat family recipe for a sweet crust. You need a tart mold with a removable bottom. And you can make this tart without the sugar to use for savory tarts and quiches.

MA PATE SUCRE

(SWEET TART CRUST)

3 ounces unsalted butter

Flour as necessary

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

3 tablespoons water

1 tablespoon sugar, pinch of salt

Heat oven to 410 degrees.

In a medium bowl, combine butter, oil, water, salt and sugar.

Place mixture in oven for about 15 minutes, until boiling.

Remove from oven and beat in flour quickly until it forms a ball. Keep adding flour, tablespoonful at a time, until it pulls off the side of the bowl.

Line the tart mold evenly, pierce bottom with a fork and press sides with back of the fork.

Bake at 410 degrees for 15 minutes or until light brown.

Remove carefully from oven and fill.

Serves 6.

Per crust: 210 calories, 14 g fat, 7 g saturated fat, 30 mg cholesterol, 25 mg sodium, 18 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 2 g sugar, 2 g protein

Reach Jerry Burris at jburris@honoluluadvertiser.com.

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