Coconut lentil stew and baked salmon

I've been looking for an excuse to introduce the great wines from my native region, the Jura, on this blog. The one I had on hand this week was a red, although our whites are the most quirky and esoteric. I'll be sure to blog about a white Jura wine in the future.
Red wines from the Jura are most often light to medium bodied and resemble a rustic and earthy pinot noir from Burgundy, since Jura is situated right next to Burgundy.
Jura wines are all the rage these days in New York City, thank goodness. Here are a few articles to learn more about them:
- One by Eric Asimov from the New York Times
- One by Anne Glusker in the Travel section of the New York Times again
- One historical article by Samuel Chamberlain for Gourmet Magazine, published in 1951
- One more recent by Tara Thomas for Gourmet Magazine again

If you are lucky enough to come across a wine from the Jura in your local wine store, red or white, don't think twice and buy it. Just email me if you need pairing suggestions. The names on the label could be Arbois or Cotes du Jura (or Cremant du Jura for a light sparkling white) and any producer you can find here in the U.S. will surely be a good one, so don't worry about picking a lemon.

Chantal & Jean Berthet-Bondet are the producers of my particular wine today. They are relatively new producers as they took over in 1985 an estate that had been dormant for about 50 years.

The wine is named rubis and is a blend of Trousseau, Poulsard (2 grapes unique to the Jura I believe) and Pinot Noir. All three grapes give (again) light to medium bodied wines, rather light in color, with red berries and earthy notes. It will pair well with grilled and smoked meat, charcuterie and cheese plates of Comte, Gruyere and Morbier. Its retail price is about $20.

Last night, I chose to pair my light red Cotes du Jura with homemade... Indian cuisine. Because it is quite a versatile wine! So, pourquoi pas? And by the way, this dish is absolutely delicious (... like I would ever post the recipe for something yucky, right?). Vegetarians may choose to stick to the coconut lentil stew, and omnivores will complement the stew with coconut baked fish. Either way, drink either a light red (Jura or not) with this meal, like a French pinot noir/Burgundy, or a dry or better yet, off-dry white from the Loire Valley (Chenin Blanc grapes).

Coconut Lentil Stew and Baked Salmon: (Dahl de Lentilles et Saumon en Papillotes au Lait de Coco)

For 4 people


200g red lentils, soaked in water for 6 to 8 hours
3/4 cup coconut milk
1 1/2 cups water
400g or one small can crushed tomatoes
1 medium onion
1 tbsp cardamon powder (or 10 cardamon seeds)
1 tbsp cumin
About 1 inch long piece of ginger, peeled and grated
Vegetable oil 
Salt
Green pepper


Indian/ Basmati rice, steamed (enough for 4 people)

Peel and chop the onion and brown it in vegetable oil in a big pan. Add all the spices and cook together for 2 minutes.
Throw in the lentils, the tomatoes and 1 1/2 cups water. Bring to a boil, then simmer on low heat for 20 minutes, or until the mixture becomes quite soupy.
Stir in the coconut milk with a wooden spoon and cook on low heat for 5 more minutes.
Serve over rice.
It is possible to throw this lentil stew in a blender to smooth it before serving.

4 salmon fillets
3/4 cup of coconut milk
5 tsp ground coriander
zest and juice of a lime
4 tbsp of olive oil
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
About 1-inch long piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
Salt
Green pepper

In a small bowl, mix together all the ingredients except the salmon fillets.
Cut squares of aluminum foil (about 10X10 inches). On each piece of foil, drop one tablespoon of oil, put one salmon fillet, which needs to be slathered with the oil, then salted and peppered well.
Cover with 1/4 of the coconut marinade, and seal the foil package.
Repeat this procedure with the other fillets.
Bake for 25 minutes on 350F.
Serve with the lentil stew and a few basil leaves.

Beautiful red lentils

Preparing the spices for the lentil stew

You say tomAto...

Spices & zest

Lentil dahl

Spiced up coconut marinade

Preparing the foil packages

Salmon in its marinade

Foil package is "papillote" in French

Last step in the stew recipe: adding in the coconut milk

Ready to serve

Cheers!

This Berthet Bondet Cotes du Jura was a pale ruby color with hints of garnet on the rim.
It had youthful, medium intensity aromas of red berries (strawberries and red currants),
dirt and gravel, moss, bramble, nutmeg & white pepper, tree bark, dried mushrooms and a hint of manure (I did say it was rustic!).
It is dry, with medium to medium plus acidity, medium minus soft tannins, medium intensity of flavors and medium minus alcohol. Flavors of strawberries and red currants mingle with moss, tree bark, dried mushrooms, nutmeg, white pepper, and a hint of eucalyptus on the finish. The medium plus length is carried by the zingy acidity.
A light, well-balanced, rustic, though still elegant wine, whose acidity counteracts the spices of my Indian dish.

Chocolate macarons and their lime ginger curd

Spring is in the air and this might be why I have an obsession with limes and zestiness. I've also been looking for ways to fill up my macarons with something else than ganache or buttercream -the usual suspects. The lime ginger curd I've tried here could have been a flop since I was pretty much shooting blindly but I am delighted to say it was a hit! Lemon curd is a British thing, so I will call it "creme au citron vert et au gingembre". There. Now it's a French recipe. I've also continued my search for "pretty ramekins", which was partly successful. Two of them appears in the pictures below. An ebay find. I say partly successful since one of the ramekins reached me broken. Poor thing. I dedicate this recipe to you, too-soon-departed pretty little ramekin.

Chocolate Macarons & their Lime Ginger Curd: (Macarons au Chocolat et leur Creme au Citron Vert et Gingembre)

90g aged egg whites (about 3), room temperature
110g almond meal
200g powdered sugar
30g granulated sugar
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa


For the filling:
1 stick unsalted butter (125g), cold and cubed
125g granulated sugar
2 whole eggs, beaten
zest and juice of 1 lime
1 small piece of ginger (about 2 inches long), peeled and grated

Sift together the almond meal and powdered sugar in a big bowl. Sift in the cocoa powder. You don't want any lumps in there.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites with an electric mixer. When they start foaming, throw in the granulated sugar. Beat on high until stiff peaks form.
With a rubber spatula, dump the egg whites in the almond mixture and FOLD gently until the dry ingredients and egg whites are well married. However, do not stir too much. Run a knife through. If the line disappears after ten seconds, stop folding.
Throw this paste in a large  decorator bag (fitted with an Ateco #807 tip if possible) and pipe away on a silpat covered baking sheet. The macarons should be about 2 inches in diameter and 1 inch apart as they spread a little.
Let them rest for 20 to 30 minutes. Pre-heat your oven on 300F.
Bake the macarons for 20 to 22 minutes (keep an eye on them and you can give them a push with a finger to see if they are set and ready after 19 or 20 minutes in the oven). Let cool completely.


To prepare the filling: Zest and juice the lime and grate the ginger. Beat the eggs and sugar together in a small bowl that will fit on top of a small pan  filled with simmering water (double boiler). Stir in the zest, juice and grated ginger. Let this liquid thicken, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. It should take only a few minutes. 
Once the cream is thick enough, remove from the water bath and add in cubes of cold butter, whisking until fully melted. 
Let the cream cool and refrigerate at least 2 hours.


Fill up each macarons with the cream using a small decorative bag or a small spatula. Refrigerate them overnight. They will be even better after 2 days if you can hold this long as the flavors will have had time to marry. 

Double boiler contraption

It's double-boiling!

Buttering up my double-boiled cream

Pretty ramekin and its curd sunbathing at the window

Wink!

These are lime macarons filled with lime ginger curd

Lime but not lame

Chocolate macaron shells

Patiently waiting in line to be filled

Good stuff in waiting

Merry-go-round of chocolate macaron shells

On the cat walk

A chorus line

Another pretty ramekin filled with goodness

Salute!

Special thanks to my lovely friend and neighbor Sonja, who gave me the beautiful plant featured in these pictures!

Red quinoa with roasted butternut squash and toasted pecans

I can pass for meat-centric based on my previous "dinner" posts. And indeed, just like my compatriot Gerard Depardieu, I have a big nose and I love meat. Sometimes, however, I need a good go-to recipe when a vegetarian friend comes over. Something easy on the eye and on the palate. Something that both the vegetarian and the carnivore can salivate over.

I decided on this particular recipe, not to please a vegetarian friend but a bottle of wine instead. I very often choose a dish because I want it to complement the wine I want to drink. Not the other way around. Because I am wine-centric above all.

So: a word about the wine before talking grub. This wine is beautiful, addictive, oh-so charming and thank-goodness very affordable. Joe Dressner imports it (a sign of quality in my book). It is French of course, made of Chardonnay grapes grown in the central part of the Burgundy wine region between the Cote d'Or and the Beaujolais: le Maconnais. The young and talented winemaker named Gauthier Thevenet doesn't use any herbicides or fertilizers and harvests his grapes manually. He uses stainless steel tanks and bottles his wines after 15 to 16 months in vats (instead of a more traditional 11 months). 

The 2008 vintage has a bit of botrytis on it. I understand that 2008 was challenging in Burgundy with fungus attacks of different sorts including botrytis - which can give interesting aromatics in white wines but is not wanted on red grapes. Botrytis usually appears on grapes when mornings are damp and afternoons are dry. Botrytis is key to the making of Sauternes in particular. It boosts sugar level (since the fungus sucks up the water in the grapes) and concentrates the flavors and acids in the fruit. The mould also imparts new, unique and interesting flavors to the wine - something like dried apricot, ryebread, orange marmalade, pineapple, and mushroom. All good stuff. I'll get back to it.

This recipe based on red quinoa as many layers of flavors: nutty, buttery, spicy, vegetal, herb flavors. It calls for a rich white wine with something to say, such as a chenin blanc, or this particular Chardonnay on steroids.

Red Quinoa with Roasted Butternut Squash and Toasted Pecans:

(Quinoa rouge a la Courge et aux Noix de Pecans)

About 4 servings

1/2 oz red quinoa

1 big butternut squash, peeled and cut in small cubes

1 fat yellow onion

4 to 5 cloves of garlic, crushed, peeled and minced

1 cup pecans, crushed in small pieces

fresh parsley, chopped

1 tbsp curry

1tbsp cumin

1 tbsp ginger

Pre-heat your oven - 400F

Spread the butternut squash cubes on a large oven tray. Cut the fat onion in 2 and wrap it in oiled aluminum foil. Do the same with the head of garlic.

Roast these vegetables in the oven for a solid 30 minutes, or until the butternut squash cubes are tender and browning.

In the meantime, toast the pecan bits and the spices in an iron skillet on medium-high heat, keeping a close eye on them as they can quickly burn. Set aside.

Prepare the red quinoa according to the instruction on the package. Fluff it.

Chop the roasted onion and add it to the cooked quinoa, along with the butternut squash. 

Press on the roasted garlic to extract the roasted pulp into the quinoa as well. Add in salt, pepper and parsley.

Re-warm if you need to, and serve immediately.

Roasting vegetables

Roasted fat onion

Toasting pecans and spices

Combining it all

 A little bit of Comte cheese on the side please!

Easy on the eye

The instigator

Tasting notes: 

Pale gold fading to a watery rim. 

The aromas are youthful and of medium plus intensity. I get yellow apples, acacia and mimosa flowers, pears, wet stones, honey, candied lemon peels, lemon zest, candied apricots, hint of ginger & nutmeg. 

This wine is dry and has medium acidity, medium alcohol and medium plus intensity of flavors. It is medium-bodied. Its flavor profile: yellow apples, pears, dried apples, dried apricots, lemon zest, ginger & nutmeg, acacia flowers and strong minerality. Toasted straw on the finish and medium plus length. 

I love this wine's balance of acidity & alcohol, its great concentration and variety of flavors and its rather long length. Great quality for a mere $25. 

Daube provencale and a beefy Coteaux Du Languedoc wine

I love me a good stew. It's one of the things I love about winter - it is stew season. But when the nice days are back, who says you can make a good stew anymore? A Daube is a classic French stew made with cubed beef braised in wine, vegetables, garlic, and herbes de Provence. Who says Provence says sun, odorant herbs and easy life. So this stew is easy to make, very tasty and perfect to celebrate the return of nice weather. This was my Easter dish this year.


Daube Provencale:


You can make this stew a day ahead to allow its flavors to mellow and mingle.


4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 dried bay leaf
3 whole cloves
1 tsp whole black peppercorns
3 strips orange zest (2 to 3 inches each), plus 2 tbsp fresh orange juice
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped (about 1 cup)
2 garlic cloves, crushed with the flat side of a large knife
3 celery stalks cut crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces
1 bag baby carrots
1 bottle (750ml) rich red wine such as Cotes de Provence, Cotes du Rhone, Syrah or Shiraz
4 pounds beef chucks roast, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes
1/4 cup olive oil
1 small can tomato paste
1/2 cup beef stock
1/2 cup nicoise or kalamata oilives, pitted and rinsed
Coarse salt


Make a bouquet garni: put the thyme, bay leaf, cloves, peppercorns and zest in a piece of cheesecloth. Tie into a bundle.
Combine onion, garlic, celery, carrots, bouquet garni and wine in a large non-reactive bowl or a Dutch oven. Add beef and toss to coat. Cover and marinate in the fridge 12 to 24 hour, stirring occasionally.
Preheat oven to 300F.
Remove the beef cubes from the marinade, pat dry and brown in batches in a large skillet with 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
In the meantime, transfer the wine mixture to a heavy pot (except if it already is in your Dutch oven) and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Set aside.
Once all the beef has been browned, add to the wine mixture in the Dutch oven.
Stir the tomato paste into the beef stock and add to the skillet, scraping up the brown bits with a wooden spoon. Then, add to the wine mixture. Stir in the olives and season with salt. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat.
Cover the daube and transfer to the oven. Cook 2 hours. Reduce the temperature to 275F if the daube starts to boil over.
After 2 hours, stir in the fresh orange juice and return to the oven 30 more minutes.
Serve over farfalle pasta or egg noodles.

24 hours in advance: preparing the marinade

She was chopping celery!

Crushing garlic

Preparing the bouquet garni

Filling up with red wine

Browning the meat, after it marinated for 24 hours

Getting ready to scrap precious brown bits

Scraping!

Simmering stew

After 2 hours in the oven, it is time to add the orange juice

Ideally, I like to serve a Bandol with this daube. Bandol is an appellation for opaque, very full-bodied red wine from Provence with aromas and flavors of black berries, licorice and herbs de Provence. Delicious. You can't go wrong here.
My local wine store was out of Bandol, but I found quite a fit replacement.
This 2007 Mas de Martin is from the Coteaux du Languedoc (West of Provence, but still in the South of France) and its retail price is around $20. It has a very similar profile to a Bandol.
Opaque, with a pale purple rim. Its nose is developing (meaning it shows a bit of age and maturity -a good thing), with medium plus intensity of aromas of blackberries, blackcurrants, licorice, dried herbs (thyme, rosemary, bay leaves, oregano), black pepper, roasted mushrooms and roasted meat, nutmeg & cloves, gravel and dried lavender.
It is completely dry, has medium acidity, a high level of green tannins, (which give a bit of a bitter edge,) high alcohol and a very full body. Flavors are of medium plus intensity and a bit muted by the bitter tannins unfortunately. Lots and lots of dried herbs, black berries, juniper, dried lavender, licorice, nutmeg, cloves, gravel, as well as dried mushrooms and leather on the back palate. The finish is spicy and quite long.
This is a big wine with good balance and concentration of flavors. A solid match to an aromatic daube provencale.

Honeyed filet mignon and coconut polenta

I spotted the recipe on this blog I love, Carnets Parisiens. Parigote always posts the best pictures and I simply had to make this dish. However, I confess it is hard for me to follow recipe to a T and I had to rearrange "things" my way (in the recipe). It came out pretty nice. You can't go wrong cooking anything in a Dutch oven! It renders your meat tender and melt-in-your-mouth-delicious.

The filet mignon is accompanied by a creamy polenta, jazzed up with coconut milk. The coconut taste is rather subtle but is a pleasant variation from the usual cow milk and Italian cheese. Growing up, my Mom would always make polenta with special meal - special meals being braised rabbit or game with a mushroomy reduction. I remember that most kids in school didn't know what polenta was and I felt so privilege to know this treat. It was so much more original than mashed potatoes, pasta or rice. I still think people underuse polenta as a versatile side dish.

My only regret is not to have had an appropriate wine with this dish, that night. So forgive the picture (at the end) of a rather terrible Alsacian pinot blanc - not only a bad match but a disappointing wine in my opinion. I would have rather tried a lovely red Burgundy, or Cotes du Rhone, or, more daring -on the white side-, an Alsacian gewurztraminer or pinot gris. A pint of Chimay beer would have been nice too!

Honeyed Filet Mignon and Coconut Polenta: (Filet Mignon au Miel et sa Poulainte au Lait de Coco)

1 or 2 oz filet mignon
1 onion
3 garlic cloves
5 tbsp honey
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup beef or vegetable stock
thyme
2 bay leaves
olive oil
salt & pepper


optional: leeks on the side, sliced thin, roasted in the oven in olive oil, salt & pepper for 20 minutes on 400F


200g polenta
1 1/2 cup vegetable stock
1 1/2 cup coconut milk
salt & pepper
optional additional cream

Brown your filet mignon in a little bit of olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium high heat. When it starts browning, add in the vinegar and let cook for a few more minutes until the vinegar is all gone. Set the meat aside.
Heat one more tablespoon of olive oil in the same Dutch oven over high heat and throw in the minced onion. Once the onion is soft and browning, add in the garlic. Let cook for a minute. Stir in the honey. Add the filet mignon. Give it a minute before stirring in the beef or vegetable stock and the herbs.
Cover the Dutch oven and simmer for 30 minutes on low heat.

10 minutes before the filet mignon is done, simmer the vegetable stock and coconut milk on medium high heat with salt and pepper. When it simmers, throw in the corn meal and whisk for half a minute. Turn the heat of and cover for 5 minutes. You can then add a bit more cream (or even coconut cream) if the mixture is too thick.

Serve with roasted leeks and some snippets of fresh parsley!

Chopping leeks

Roasted leeks are delicious!

Onions melting away

Honey to sweeten the deal

Filet Mignon steaks simmering in their sauce

Creamy polenta

Ready to serve

Delicious combination of tastes