cookbook addict

How has your summer been? Has everyone around you been complaining of the weather? Summer' s so much more than just sun and heat though... fruit,  farniente , ice-cream,  apéros  and walks...reading long books, so many little pleasures. Tossa de Mar And lest we forget to turn the oven on, to warm us up... Nigella's summer crumble (from Forever Summer ) is a fantastic way to use up those less-than satisfying apricots that everyone leaves in the fruit bowl, the ones a little less red, the mushy ones, and transform them into deep orange compote under the layer of almondy crumble. Or any other stone fruit for that matter. Parc Guell, Barcelona Summer crumble, adapted from Nigella Lawson in  Forever Summer 750g apricots, stoned and quartered 75g butter 100g self-raising flour or flour with 1/2 tsp baking powder a pinch of salt 25g ground almonds 75g caster sugar 50g flaked or chopped almonds Preheat the oven at 200C. Butter a gratin dish. Layer...

Avant d'écrire ce billet, j'ai tapé le titre dans google, et voilà, j'avoue, l'idée n'est pas super originale apparemment. C'est néanmoins délicieux donc pourquoi se priver d'en parler? Smoothie de gourmand Comme je l'ai écrit dans mon livre (petite minute de pub perso), je congèle les bananes trop mûres dans le but de les transformer en smoothie ou en banana bread. Là encore, l'idée n'est pas de moi, avouez qu'il est difficile de faire du neuf en cuisine, surtout de nos jours... mais bon, vous voyez vos bananes se couvrir de petites tâches, pas la peine de les manger avant, de toute façon elles seront trop vertes à mon goût. Puis les tâches grandissent, noircissent, les bananes ramolissent et là, même moi je ne les mange plus. Le moment est venu de les congeler. Si on est organisé, on les épluche avant de les fourrer dans un sac de congélation, mais si on est du genre pressé ou impatient, voire flemmard, on les fourre direct au congèl...

Have you noticed how food blogs go through phases of given ingredients? Brown butter and Bourbon seem to be pretty popular these days. In an attempt to stay hip I bought a bottle of Four Roses the other day, not sure if this or Jim Beam, or even Jack Daniels would be better. The Four Roses came with a minor discount, and it reminds me of an old commercial that ran in cinemas when I was young. Also you can't beat the roses on the label. It's only when I came home that I realized the Irish whisky (Bushmills) that W. favours has a much better aroma. As for brown butter, I always assumed it was very unhealthy, since it's basically one step short of burnt butter, supposed to clog arteries for, like, ever. But in the spirit of research, I gave this recipe a try. This cobbler is a cross between a pie and a cake. Usually, cobblers are made of stewed fruit covered unevenly in American biscuit- or scone-like dough. This one has a few extra steps and looks rather improbable before ...

I have only recently read the mega success book French women don't get fat , in its French translation. You could ask, as I did, if I really needed this book, what with being French myself and all... the answer is no. But it did no harm to be reminded of a few evident facts one tends to forget. While Guiliano's book would make me abhor French chicks if I weren't one myself, with her authoritarian look at life, self-disciplined and self-righteous pedantic monologue, it is full of the common sense derived from a 1950s bourgeois education in the French provinces. Which is probably why I cringed a lot while reading it. It took her far, up to the top position of CeO of Cliquot US, but it left no space for a bit of humane understanding of the human condition, which accounts for a lot of the overweight people, and especially women, carry around. But there are shrinks for that!!! OK, so I've started to jot down all the food that passes my lips while simultaneously reducing its...