Yogurt Vinaigrette

Hmmmm.....what's in my fridge?  Not much but I'm craving a creamy dip or salad of some sort.

Here's my concoction of a creamy yogurt vinaigrette:

1 large Egg Yolk
about 6 tablespoons of Greek Yogurt
Sea Salt & ground White or Black Pepper
3/4 cup of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Juice of a 1/2 lemon
Sesame seeds for serving

You can make this dressing, essentially a mayonnaise, in a blender or food processor but I just used a whisk (it's less clean up).
Put the egg in the bowl
Add 1 tablespoon of yogurt
Season with salt and pepper
Whisk to blend....whisking constantly, add the olive oil drop by drop.
When mixture starts to look like mayonnaise, you can pour in the oil in a steady but gentle stream.
After adding half of the olive oil, whisk in the juice of the lemon, then continue with the oil.  Add the remaining 6 tablespoons of yogurt and season to taste by adding more salt, pepper and/or lemon juice.

You can make this a day ahead and store and refrigerate. Make sure to whisk before using.

Don't laugh but I didn't have much veggies in the fridge so I ended up with chopped Romaine Lettuce and green apples, then I sprinkled some sesame seeds on top!  Cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, arugula, beets and corn would have been nice!  Enjoy your Yogurt Vinaigrette as a dressing or as a dip!

Lemon Bars

Pre-heat oven 350 degrees

Grease 9 x 11 pan

For Shortbread:

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup confectioner's sugar

12 tablespoons of melted unsalted butter

1/4 tsp salt

For Topping:

4 Eggs

1 2/3 cups white granulated sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

3 large lemons juiced

zest of lemon

Sift flour and sugar in bowl.  Add salt and melted butter.  Mix well and evenly press on the bottom of the prepared pan.

Bake 20-25 minutes or until light golden brown.

Whisk eggs until light, pale and fluffy.  Add sugar, salt, stir well.
Sift flour in and whisk until smooth. Strain lemon juice.  Whisk in lemon zest.  Pour mixture in cold or warm shortbread.

Bake for 25-35 minutes.  Top should be set but slightly jiggly and slight golden brown.
Cool thoroughly, top with powdered sugar.

Chocolate Mousse in a jar!

Here's an easy chocolate mousse recipe,  it doesn't even require cream or sugar because the sweetness comes from the chocolate!

Recipe for: Chocolate Mousse

To prepare: 

Blender ready, Bain Marie, small pan for Raspberries, jars to put mousse in, sifter

Ingredients

Directions

200 g. Chocolate Semi-Sweet 3 egg yolks 5 egg whites 5 tbsp. sugar 5 tbsp. water Basket of raspberries

Prepare the Raspberry coulis.  Boil the water and sugar until it becomes like syrup.  Blend with raspberries in the blender. Sift the sauce out to take the seeds out. Melt the chocolate over the Bain Marie (metal bowl over heated water).  Add the egg yolks and mix it in with the rubber spatula and cool in fridge.   In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until fluffy, beat real fast.  When chocolate is cooled, fold the egg whites into the chocolate slowly and little by little.  The consistency should be like a mousse, fluffy & full.   Fill the jars and refrigerate for an hour. Top it off with the raspberry coulis and/or whip cream.

Lemon Tart / Tarte au Citron

To prepare: 

Pre-heat oven 375*, for 9 inch tart use 3 lemons, 3 egg yolks, 150 g of sugar, this recipe is for 11 inch tart

Ingredients

Directions

Zest of 3 ½ lemons Juice of 3 ½ lemons About 165 g of sugar (7/8 cup) 2 whole eggs 4 egg yolks

In a bowl, mix the zest, juice sugar, eggs and egg yolks until it’s liquid. Warm up the mix in a small pot, low to medium heat Pour the filling in a prepared pastry shell, the filling will still be liquid. Bake for 15 min at 375* Let it cool down and then add the meringue on top and bake again, until brown. Let cool for 30 min.  I had to make it twice to make sure this recipe work! The way me and hubby experiments with recipes is to mix the American way of baking and the French way of baking and this was our outcome! Enjoy!

Chicken in a Cast Iron Pot / Poulet en Cocotte

I love my dutch oven/cast iron pot (cocotte), heavy as hell but it's easy to use and it has its advantages.  Some of you may use a slow cooker but this is my slow cooker!  They are known to being able to hold their heat for a long period of time, so they are best for recipes that require a slow consistent heat. The cocotte has an even heating surface and lid which in turns helps keep the heat even throughout the entire pot! 


We received this for Christmas from my parents in-law and every time I cook with it, I think of them!  It's not a Le Creuset but a Fontignac, same type, different brand! Don't exceed 400 degrees in the oven with this type of duroplast knob....

Here is one of my simple recipes that I mixed and matched, including Julia Child's "Poulet en Cocotte".

Ingredients:

Whole Chicken

Olive Oil / Butter

Peppercorns

Salt

Potatoes

Onion

Garlic

Rosemary / Thyme / Bay Leaves

Lemon

Whole Organic Chicken

Rosemary from my terrace!

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.


Cut the potatoes in 4 or 6 chunks, depending on the size of them.


Blanch the potatoes for a few minutes, take out and strain.


Olive oil in cocotte and brown the chicken on both sides, give it more color than the way my chicken looks in my picture.....


Take chicken out and brown the potatoes and the onions.


Stuff the chicken with all the herbs, lemon cut in half, garlic, butter.....also butter the chicken between the skin and chicken, this can help flavor the chicken!


Truss the chicken....yep that's right! Tie him up!

Before

Cover with Foil

Now put the sucker in the cocotte and cover with foil.  The oven should be ready to receive your cocotte at 325 degrees!  


2 hours should be good!


Enjoy!

Poulet en Cocotte

As you can see, I should've browned the chicken a bit more, either way - it was delicious and very juicy. 


Use your imagination and make whatever chicken stew you want in this Cocotte.  I like using this for my chicken because it really keeps the juices in!