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I reckon i wouldn't lie by saying that June is my favourite month of the year. Lots of delicious fresh produce. Think lobster, apricots, melons, peas...
For me June is THE month of Artichokes.
I am lucky enough to live in the souce of France, so artichokes are avalaible in my garden as soon as the start of May, but in June, they really reach their best point -- both in taste, texture and size.

We grow two kinds of artichokes at home:
- the 'tête de chat' [cat's head].
Though it is delicious raw, i like it steamed. Basically you just steam the artichoke and wait for it to cool down.
- the Violet de Provence [Provence purple artichoke] also called 'poivrade'.
I love this one raw and served with a citrus vinaigrette.


Recipes ideas and ressources:
- How to trim an artichoke. The best step by step you could ever imagine.
- Artichoke panzanella
- Deep fried artichokes. My personal favourite!!!

Labels: garden and campagne

[Happy Birthday - Fine Asparagus and Best-Goat-Cheese-in-the-World Tart]

My birthday was few weeks ago and as a foodie, i couldn't help but prepare the dinner myself.
Anyone would have been going to the caterer to order a 5-courses dinner. Or they would have bought a nice entremet from the finest pâtisserie.
But i had to make it. The starter, the main course and the dessert.
The most difficult part was to choose what to make.

The choice of the starter has been quite simple: i knew i wanted to use both asparagus (May = lots of lovely asparagus) and fresh goat cheese.
I really had to use goat cheese simply because i did my second training period on a farm -- milking goats and making cheese.
Actually the cheese from this farm are said to be the best of the French Riviera and i can only agree with this.
Bruno, the nicest farmer in the world, takes care of his goats with love. He deeply loves nature and developped a great range of fresh and 'affinés' organic cheese. Indeed most of the best restaurants of Vence, St Paul... buy their cheese from la Ferme des Courmettes.
I mean, look at this cute goat baby. What's not to love?


So you'll understand why i really wanted to use goat cheese -- i love good organic produce.

Tarte fine aux Asperges et aux Meilleur Chèvre Frais du Monde
Source: adapted from Martha Stewart's Asparagus Gruyère Tart
This tart is very easy to make and taste so good especially if you make your own puff pastry - which i always make, now.
Try to buy nice goat cheese from a local farmer instead of buying it from your local supermarket (though some good supermarket that have a great cheese counter, sell cheese from local farms).
The goat cheese should be 2-3 days old, as i think a fresher cheese would had more creaminess than taste.



The main course was - Marinated scallops with Citrus Risotto, but sadly i wasn't able to take some pictures.


The choice of the dessert has been quite a pain actually. Ever since i bought my-now-favourite-cookbook-ever PH 10 i decided it was THE book i had to make a recipe from for my birthday.
I read it again and again and said to myself i should make something simple -- who loves to fall in tears on her/his birthday? -- yet delicate and tasty.

As May was called the official strawberry month by Bea, i thought it would be great to use them. And suddenly i stumbled across the perfect recipe: Symphonie.

Symphonie is basically:
- an almond dacquoise
- a cream cheese mousse
- a strawberry 'compote'
- some cream cheese mousse again
All of this being surrounded by a raspberry 'biscuit joconde' and topped with some fresh strawberries and 'miettes de streusel'.

I was very excited about the joconde biscuit as it was the first time i had to make it. It's amazing how many eggs are in this biscuit, but it's so good and looks rather good.
When i tasted the cream cheese mousse, i was quite scared that it would be a little too heavy, but i was wrong. The whole cake was delicious. Very classy and subtle and not too sweet.
Symphonie was very easy to make though a bit time consuming, but i think it was worth the try.

Labels: cheese, entremets, make a meal of it, pierre hermé, recipe inside, tartes

It's getting really hot, here in the Côte d'Azur and now all the tourists are gone, it feels so good to go hiking in the mountains to discover beautiful places.
And even better, to lay down in the sun and share a great picnic with some of your friends.



Few weels ago, i was talking about the power of simple food you had as a child and said that, for me, the best cake in the world would be a 'gateau au yaourt'.
This banana and muscovado sugar is no less than a twist on the original yogurt cake.

Banana and muscovado sugar cake
This cake is extra moist yet light. It's very handy and thus makes the perfect picnic cake.
If you want to make the cake ever more moist you could drench it with a syrup made of 1 cup of hot water + 1 cup of icing sugar.
I recommend using very ripe bananas otherwise the banana taste will be too subtle.

Labels: cakes of all kind, recipe inside