Quick entree: Plantain chips with guacamole and chorizo

Ingredients:

1 avocado

1/4 chopped red onion

1/2 lime

a bunch cilantro

1/2 jalapeno

1 plantain

chorizo, cut in small cubes

Just because we cook paleo, doesn't mean we cannot serve great amuse-bouche. An amuse-bouche is a little bite size appetizer. This is also very useful for situations when:

- you are waiting for food to cook and ... starving

- you are in the mood for TV snacks

- you feel playful and snacky (which happens way more often than any of us would like to admit).

I baked the plantain chips for about 15 min in the oven at 350 degrees. I had arranged them on aluminum foil in a baking pan, with a drizzle of oil and a dash of cayenne powder.

I made a quick guacamole while the chips were baking combining all the ingredients in a bowl and mashing it all together to get a smooth consistency. Finally I cut the chorizo in cubes. Once the chips were done, I combined everything by adding one cube of chorizo and a tsp of guac on every chip.

Paleo mousse au chocolat

Everyone needs a little chocolate from time to time. I used to buy processed mousse au chocolat in France, it has already been one of my favorite desserts. But it is such an easy recipe, it was a shame to buy it pre-made, and not being able to control the quality of ingredients. Now that I eat paleo, I have no choice than to make it myself and contrary to what you could think, this is an easy recipe. It has to be prepared in advance, as it needs to chill for about 2 hours. This is a very satisfying dessert.
 
Ingredients
1 bar organic 70% dark chocolate
1/2 cup warm  water
3 eggs
a tsp honey (or sweetener of choice)
zest of orange, mandarin

Break the chocolate into pieces in a metal bowl and add the warm water. To melt it completely, put it over a small saucepan with simmering water and whisk it until it reaches a smooth texture. Set aside for one minute. Separate your eggs, and add the zest and honey to the egg yolks. Beat them until they turn foamy and fluffy. Add the yolk mixture to the chocolate and blend well together. Beat the egg whites until they are stiff. To make this easier, you can add a sprinkle of salt and refrigerate the whites for a couple of minutes. Fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture tbsp by tbsp, making sure to homogeneously mix in the whites.
Pour the mousse into individual ramekins, cover with plastic film and refrigerate for 2 hours.

One of my favorite mousse of chocolat was made by my friend's cousin. She used to put "langue de chat" cookies soaked in fresh expresso (or coffee liquor) at the bottom of the bowl and pour the chocolate mousse on top. I am thinking of replicating this by making an almond cookie soaked in expresso, or cooked bananas. I'll post the update.

We ate two the first day and then kept the other two days in the fridge. The mousse keeps well refrigerated. The second time around, we topped it with fresh young thai coconut meat. Delicious!

Clam thai chowder with butternut squash fries

This recipe has become quite a staple and every time I cook it, it improves. I gave it a twist this time around by adding some butternut squash fries. I cut the butternut squash into fries size. I preheated the oven at 370 degrees, lined a baking pan with aluminum foil, arranged the fries on the baking pan, and sprinkled them with cinnamon. I baked the squash for about 20 min, turning them 10 min into the cooking.

The squash fries were a great addition to the clam thai chowder.

Lemon sole with parsley

Believe it or not but I made this dish as an appetizer. I wanted to try a different seafood vendor at the Farmer's market, so started by buying two "filets de sole" and a half dozen clams.
I prepared these Immediately after coming home.

I coated the fish with a little coconut flour and then pan seared the fillets on medium heT with a little olive oil and flaxseed oil. Since finishing Dr.Cordain's book, I have been blending olive oil with flaxseed oil for cooking and vinaigrettes. It improves the omega 6 to omega 3 ratio. The sole cooks fast, be careful not to overcook it. I turn it around after about 3 min, then squeeze a bit of lemon and finish by adding the parsley.

The end result was very successful. The fish was fresh and very flavorful. It was caught wild off Montauk. The coconut coating added a nice flavor and slight crust.

Egg, sausage and cantaloupe

 

I recently finished Dr. Cordain's book. One of his breakfast recipes, leftover meat and canteloupe,  inspired me to buy one. 

I made some hard boiled eggs by cooking the eggs in a covered pot until the water boils and then turning off the heat and letting the eggs rest for 6 to 10 min. I like the egg yolk to be a little soft, so take my eggs out at the 6th min. In a skillet, I cooked wild boar sausages. 

This breakfast took less than 15 min. It would have been even faster with ready made hard boiled eggs. Hard boiled eggs can be kept in the fridge for a week. 

This recipe reminded me of the great produce I used to get in the South of France. The most famous canteloupes come from Cavaillon. Their taste is incomparable.  I also grew up eating lots of game meats. My dad has hunted birds, like wild duck, grouse and pheasants, venison and wild boar for as long as I can remember. He has always been extremely respectful in the process and never "over-hunted". There is a great sense of camaraderie among hunters and his friends would often give us venison, wild boar meat or homemade sausage. It is fairly hard to find wild meat, unless ordered online, so I would love to be back in France with my dad's friends giving us wild meat. 

After breakfast, we headed to Crossfit Hoboken, for an early Saturday Yoga class. The food had given me the perfect energy to flow through the poses without feeling heavy or lethargic.

Banana split

 

This is another great paleo snack. You could make this at work using the microwave. I crushed a ripe banana, sprinkled it with cinnamon and microwaved it for one minute. In the meantime, I crushed a small handful of walnuts and organic 70% dark chocolate. Chocolate can create a little bit of controversy but I believe that used in moderation and as long as the chocolate does not contain bad sugars and lots of dairy, it is not harmful. This is usually the most prevalent comment that I read from other people as well. My next step is to buy raw cacao nibs!

I ended by adding a handful of blueberries and a tbsp of almond milk. With the warmth of the bananas, the chocolate started melting. This was way more satisfying than a piece of cake.

Avocado snack

  

When I get home, I am often starving and need a snack before I can cook dinner. I used to snack on bread or crackers. Ma favorite 4PM snack had always been cheese sandwich with earl grey tea. The 4PM "gouter" is an institution in France, and we mostly eat bread with either butter and jam or cheese. Considering that I am French, I find I am doing really well on the Paleo diet, no eating any bread or dairy. I thought it would be a lot tougher but as long as there are easy tasty snacks, there is nothing to miss.

This snack is avocado with smoked trout and spicy mayonnaise (a mix of mayo and chili paste).

Grass-fed beef sirloin tip roast

  I got this roast at the Dickinson's Farmstand in Chelsea Market. The meat they sell are from local farms. The butcher shop is filled with great looking meat cuts, homemade sausages and condiments. When I walked in, the first thing that struck me was the delicious smell of smoked meat and the sound of meat being butchered. The whole space is open and the butchers were working on beef ribs.

I decided to buy a roast that I could cook in the oven and then enjoy for a couple of days. Grass-fed beef is leaner than regular beef.

Ingredients:

3 lb roast

1 onion, cut in 6 

1 sliced carrot

2 turnips, cut in cubes

1/3 cup red wine

1 cup water

olive oil

rosemary

herbes de provence

chopped parsley

Instructions:

Preheat the oven at 350 degrees. Rub the roast with olive oil and the dried herbs.  Combine the ingredients in the baking pan. Bake in the oven for an hour to an hour and a half, until the meat reaches an internal temperature of 130 degrees. Baste the meat every 20 min to make sure it does not dry out.This delicious roast will last for a couple of days and is a great snack or lunch option.

Baked chicken with root vegetables

I like to multi-task and use the oven for multiple dishes when possible. So at the same time I cooked my salmon, I cooked my chicken breasts with root vegetables. This lasted us for 3 meals 1/2. I had a family pack of skinless chicken breasts. I used a recipe that I love for shredded chicken and added the vegetables to create a complete meal. 

Ingredients: 

Chicken breasts (as many as you like)

2 tsp pepper

3 tbsp chopped parlsey

2 tbsp olive oil (or canola, flaxseed oil)

2 parsnips, cut in cubes

2 turnips, cut in cubes

1 onion, cut in 4

5 whole cloves garlic

1 carrot sliced

optional: chili flakes

Instructions:

Rub the chicken with olive oil and pepper. Place it in the oven pan and sprinkle with parsley. Cover the pan with aluminium foil and place in 350 degree preheated oven. After 30 min, add the vegetables and allow to cook for one more hour.

Your chicken should come out easily shreddable and juicy. This is a very low maintenance recipe with great results. Cooking many chicken breasts at a time allows for easy take to work lunches. You could swap the chicken for turkey breasts and add vegetables or your choice.

Walnut dill crusted salmon

Some people get sweet cravings, I get fish cravings. It started at lunch when I was thinking of what to cook for dinner. Luckily I remembered that I had bought a frozen salmon fillet from Trader Joe's a couple of weeks ago. Since the age of 12, I've had a shellfish allergy. It was quite a plague as I loved lobster, crab and shrimp. Growing up in the South of France, near the Mediterranean Sea, my family ate a lot of fish and shellfish. When my allergy developed and worsened, my dad made it a point to buy me salmon when he'd buy shrimp for the rest of the family. I've loved it ever since.

Fish is usually fast and easy to cook. It's easy to overcook so one has to pay attention during the cooking process. I took my unfrozen salmon, laid it on a baking sheet lined by aluminium foil. Sprinkled it some olive oil, crushed walnuts and chopped dill. I had a family recipe that I had been using for years for my salmon but it called for bread crumbs and butter. I wanted a nice crust for my fish so thought of using nuts. Walnuts are very nutritious and they have one of the best omega 6 to omega 3 ratios. Dill pairs great with fish. I baked the salmon for about 20 min in a 350 degree oven. 

I wanted to keep the side dishes simple to keep the salmon as the center of the dish. I tossed arugula salad with flaxseed oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic powder and some pine nuts and I roasted some brussel sprouts for about 15 min. After the first 8 min of roasting the brussel sprouts, I added some water to the pan, and cover it to let the brussel sprouts steam. The complete dinner took about 30 min: 10 min of preparation and 20 min of cooking. You can serve this dish hot or cold. It makes a very good brown bad next day lunch. 

Pumpkin muffins

We have all grown up eating baked goods and from time to time it is really hard to resist temptation. So it is fun to know a couple of recipes that replace those items that we crave the most. I have been starting off from Mark Sisson's recipe from the "Primal Blueprint cookbook", but I like to add more pumpkin.

Ingredients:   1/2 cup coconut flour 1 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp nutmeg 1/2 tsp clove 1tsp baking powder 6 eggs 3/4 cups pumpkin puree or 1/2 can 1tsp vanilla 1/4 cup nuts (walnuts or pecan or macadamia) Crushed chocolate 4 tbsp coconut oil 1/3 cup maple syrup

Directions

Heat the oven at 400 degrees. Mix the flour, spices and baking powder well together in one bowl and mix the eggs, pumpkin puree, vanilla extract, coconut oil (might need to be melted), maple syrup in another bowl. Once you have smooth texture in the egg mixture, blend in the flour. No need to overmix. Finally add the crushed nuts and the crushed chocolate. Grease a muffin pan (olive oil or butter) and use a tablespoon or cup measurer to scoop the mixture into the pan. Bake for about 18 to 20 min.

I usually get 12 muffins out of this recipe. It is a great quick breakfast and an even better craving satisfier. 

Pork belly with Bak choy

So I am not entirely sure how 100% paleo my last two dinners were. In both, I used fattier meat. The lamb was farm raised and grassfed, which usually ensures a lesser fat content. However ground meat is higher in fat unless specified otherwise. I am still reading Cordain's book to check certain facts about allowed foods.

Copy and cook

A couple of weeks ago, I had a salad from Pump and have been looking forward to replicating the recipe since then. Well, mission accomplished.
I used leftover lamb burger and spaghetti squash. I added mixed greens, boiled beets and cucumber. I dressed the salad with one homemade vinaigrette: olive oil, coconut vinegar and pepper.

Thai clam chowder and lamb burger

Sometimes I get into a bit of a "Top Chef" mood and I think of hyper-complicated menus. I worked with the ingredients I had in my kitchen and worked backwards to create our dinner:
 - 6 clams
- coconut milk
- lamb ground meat
- spaghetti squash
I think it is very important to be able to think backwards and think of a dish from the ingredients available instead of thinking of a specific recipe and then getting all the ingredients. Or maybe I just watch "Chopped" too much...

Thai clam chowder

Ingredients
6 clams
1 cup coconut milk
2 cups chicken stock
1 carrot, cut in slices
2 turnips, cut in cubes
1/2 cup onion, chopped thinely
a bunch cilantro
3 tbsp yellow thai red curry sauce
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 tsp olive oil
chili flakes to taste

Directions
Heat the oil and then add onions, carrots and turnips. After about 5-10 min, add the coconut milk, chicken stock, thai sauce and chili flakes. Let the soup base cook for about 10 min then add the white wine. Cook over low heat until vegetables are soft.
When you are ready to add the clams, add chopped cilantro to the soup base and increase the heat to bring it to a boil. Add the clams to the soup, cover and let cook until the clams open. Remove all the open clams until they are all cooked. This will prevent from overcooking some of the clams and under-cooking others. I like to remove the clams from the shell before serving.
In the end, we also added the zucchini chips that were supposed to go with the burger in the soup. The turnips were a great alternative to potatoes. You could adapt this recipe and make a traditional clam chowder instead.

Lamb burger with zucchini chips

Ingredients Lamb patty: Ground lamb meat 1 thinly chopped onion 1 thinly chopped mushroom 1 egg yolk pepper Zucchini chips: 1 zucchini thinly sliced a dash lemon juice 1/2 tbsp olive oil pepper chopped dill Spaghetti Squash patty: 2 cups cooked spaghetti squash 1 tbsp coconut flour 1 egg yolk

Directions

For the burgers, mix the ingredients together, then make equal sized patties. Cook over medium-high heat until cooked.
For the patty, use the same directions: mix all the ingredients together then create patties and cook in a medium-high pan with some olive oil. It shouldn't take more than 3-5 min on each side.
Finally for the zucchini chips, toss the sliced zucchini with the olive oil, lemon, dill and seasoning. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Dispose the chips in an oven pan evenly so that they overlay minimally. Bake in the oven for about 14 min.

Provencal mussels and clams

I baked spaghetti squash yesterday afternoon. The recipe couldn't be simpler and it's really tasty and has a great texture/shape. Just bake the squash cut in half and emptied of the seeds for 40 min to an hour at 375. I sprinkled a little olive oil on my squash before covering it with aluminum foil.

I had bought a half dozen clams and half pound mussels at the market. I used the same recipe as in one of my previous posts for the seafood sauce. Since clams and mussels have different cooking times, I watched them the whole time and removed those that opened. Once cooked, I removed them from the shells to later return them all to the sauce. Instead of cubed canned tomato sauce, I used Trader Joe's marinera sauce. It gave the sauce a thicker consistency, it was delicious. And I used a Yellowtail Chardonnay.    

Beef liver with caramelized onions and apples, radish/parsnip/carrots puree and mustard greens

Grass-fed beef liver is loaded with healthy Omega 3, iron, B vitamins and CLA. I love liver. My mom and dad have cooked liver for us as long as I can remember, mostly veal and chicken liver. I couldn't find any chicken liver at the Farmer's market yesterday and the rabbit guys are only there on Fridays. According to them, rabbit liver is delicious. In the meantime, I got beef liver from Grazin' Acres Angus farm. I have been buying their meat regularly and the quality has never failed to impress me. Liver is easy and fast to cook which makes it a perfect protein to cook for people who have limited time in the kitchen or kitchen novices. This whole recipe is extremely easy to cook and yields a great tasty dinner.

Ingredients: 

Beef liver
Grass-fed beef liver, 1 or 2 thinly cut slices per person
coconut flour
dried thyme

Caramelized onions and apples
2 large onions
2 small gala apples
a couple of pepper corns
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup stock (chicken or vegetable)

Puree
2 turnips
2 parsnips
2 carrots


Mustard greens
Bunch mustard greens cut coarsely
1/3 cup bacon
olive oil
3 garlic gloves
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon chili powder
2 cups stock (chicken or vegetable according to taste)

Instructions: 

I had leftover root vegetable puree which I reheated. The recipe couldn't be simpler. Wash, peel and cut the vegetables (carrots, turnips, parsnips) into cubes. Add them to a pot of boiling water and boil until soft (I know this is vague but I always time by checking if a fork goes through the veggies easily instead of precise time). Use a colander to drain the vegetables then put them in a mixing bowl. I use a little bit of almond milk but you could save a little bit of the cooking water to soften the mixture when blending the vegetables into a puree. I have been using a stick hand blender for years.

Dice the onions, and cut the apples in thin wedges. Heat the olive oil in a stainless steel wok or skillet. Add the onions and let them caramelize over medium heat. Add the apples and the pepper corns to the mixture. When the apples' texture changes to a soft texture, add the stock and reduce the heat to let the mixture simmer. You can let this simmer until the dish is ready to serve.

In a heavy pot, heat the oil and then add the bacon. I use a Canadian low fat bacon. If you were using traditional bacon, do not use oil but use the bacon oil instead. With the Canadian bacon, saute the bacon for about a minute before adding the mustard greens and stirring them until they wilt. Add the seasoning and chicken broth. Reduce over medium heat, cover and stir occasionally. I cook my greens for about 20-30 mins but you could let them cook until all the liquid is evaporated.

The liver is easy to cook. Mix the coconut flour and the dried thyme in a plate. Dredge the liver in the flour mix and then transfer in a preheated skillet (with either coconut or olive oil). Liver cooks fast. Brown on both sides. It should take about 3 mins a side to cook the liver through.

Serve warm and enjoy!

Breakfast cereal part 2

I had a previous post describing my new breakfast cereal: crushed nuts, banana, freeze dried fruits and almond milk. I modified this a bit two days ago to include fresh fruits instead:

1/2 cup crushed nuts (almonds, macadamia, walnuts, cashew)
1/2 diced apple
1/2 sliced banana
1/8 cup halved grapes
a sprinkle of sunflower seeds
1/2 cup almond milk

The fresh apple adds great texture to the mix. It tastes like a much better version of the conventional muesli cereal which usually has only a little nuts and fruits.

Trout and egg

France's standard breakfast is toasts with butter and jam dunked in coffee. America has a tradition of either muffins, toasts or oatmeal.
So breakfast by far has been the hardest meal for me to get creative with. The easiest way for me to think about it is to remove the breakfast label and think food, food that needs to be ready fast and that needs to hold me over for a couple of hours. The biggest psychological hurdle in my opinion is vegetables. Who thinks carrot salad for breakfast? Well I do now.
This delicious pre-workout breakfast was very quick to prepare.
I quickly blanched my spinach in boiling water with some garlic. Once done, I plated it and added some smoked trout on top. I used the same pot and already hot water to prepare two poached eggs. In the meantime, I mixed some shredded carrots with thai sauce. The eggs take about 4 mins, so I'd say breakfast was ready in less than 15 min and was delicious.

Easy squash recipe

I had always boiled butternut squash before pureeing it or cooked it directly in curry or soups. I was given this baked squash recipe at the market.

Cut the squash in two and clean out the seeds. Brush them with a little bit of olive oil, then sprinkle the top half with cinnamon. Thd original recie called for a bit of sugar, I have replaced that with a bit of artisanal maple sugar.
Cover with foil and bake for an hour to an hour and half (or until desired consistency).

We ate some of the squash as a side dish for lunch and had the rest over a couple of days puree'd.

Farmer's market!

New York has a number of Farmer's Markets but my favourite is Union Square's. I used to just buy some bread and yoghurt occasionally but now it has become the source of most of my meat and green vegetables.
The magic of the market lies partially in the fact that not all farmers are there on all days. For example the chicken and rabbit guys are only there on Fridays and the pheasant, venison and poultry guys on Saturdays.
Grazin' Acres has become my favourite place to buy grassfed beef from. I bought beef liver since I couldn't find chicken liver and some of their delicious beef chorizo sausages.
New to my shopping basket were bison jerky and ground meat and fresh brussels sprouts on the stick.
I bought both acorn and spaghetti squash and am excited to cook them tomorrow in the oven.
Markets are magical. Toulouse had a covered market on Sundays where I used to shop once in a while but where first and foremost I loved to walk around. Markets are about sights and smells and they remind me that supermarkets are a new invention. There were no true supermarkets up until 50 years ago. It has been a new evolution and has changed our food habits tremendously. I love the passion and knowledge of their products that the farmers have. How many times has some cashier asked you if you were buying cilantro or parsley and what the hell parsnip was? Anyhow the experience and the quality of products have me going back and appreciate the Farmer's market as it deserves.

Paleo on the go

After 4 days in Chicago, I am finally back home. Cooking at home for the first time in 4 days was great. I found it very frustrating lately not to have control about what goes into my food. Overall I was very happy with my trip, I kept to my diet the whole time with two exceptions: one spoonful of tiramisu and a carrot/parsnip/potato puree. The experience was very interesting as it didn't prove as difficult as I thought to be on track. Here are a couple of tips:
1. Take a good snack box along. I mix nuts, dried fruits and beef jerky. I use a 310mL Citizenpip airtight food container.

2. Be prepared to walk in and out of restaurants. Sometimes it might just be too hard to switch up the ingredients for dishes.
3. Do scout the area for a health food store. Chicago had this great food store: Kramer's health food store close to where my conference was being held. I was able to buy trail mix, paleo coconut macaroons, coconut water and freeze dried fruits.
4. I went for the fish dishes many times: salmon with veggies, baked salmon and sashimi.
5. Don't loose your rhythm. If you are used to eating 5 times a day, try to keep that going. I find it is much harder to keep from eating non paleo food when starving. The temptation is stronger to just grab a sandwich, especially when suggested by coworkers.
6. Other people will find your diet bizarre, interesting, stupid, fun, entertaining...that's fine. I just think of the HSBC posters all over the airports: everyone sees things differently.

Mongolian BBQ

I am in Chicago this week for a conference. I have been amazed how accommodating restaurants are in general to prepare dishes and remove all non paleo ingredients. I have traveled a lot and a common response in a foreign country would be: "this is how it is served, up to you not to eat it!". The US is usually great for this as there is a "customer is king" mentality.
Luckily I found this great place in Chicago: Flat top grill. It's a mongolan bbq. You get to pick your veggies, meat and sauce and they cook it all on an extremely hot flat grill by only adding some water to steam the food.
They had sauces for people with allergies: garlic water, ginger water and lime basil water.
I went veggie crazy and added some pork and octopus for protein.

Great salad lunch option

I found a great lunch option downtown Manhattan. Pump offers healthy
food and I had eaten there a couple of times before going paleo.
This salad was great and I want to replicate it at home:
> Mixed greens
> Roasted Brussels sprouts
> Grass fed meatballs
> Citrus glazed beets
> Spaghetti squash
> Roasted red pepper salsa