Mushrooms in Creme Fraiche

Continuing the easy and very tasty meals with crème fraiche theme I present these very simple and sinful mushrooms. I refuse to spend $5 for a couple ounces of gourmet mushrooms so I used everyday ordinary white button mushrooms and this was delicious but with a crème sauce what mushroom wouldn't be? And they were nice with lean cuts of beef smothered with spicy peppers. A pleasantly simple meal.

Mushrooms in Crème Fraiche


2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon oil
1 pound of fresh chanterelle mushrooms, cut in half (I used button mushrooms)


1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon parsley, minced
1/ 2 cup crème fraiche


In a frying pan over medium heat, melt the butter with the oil. When the butter foam, add mushrooms and season with salt. Turn the mushrooms a couple times to brown on all sides and cover with oil then cover pan and cook until mushrooms have released their juices and browned on all sides, about 10 minutes.


Add garlic, parsley, and season with pepper. Cook uncovered, until mushrooms have rendered more of their juices, about 2 minutes longer. Add the crème fraiche, raise heat to medium high and cook while stirring until the cream thickens and blends with the juices, about 2 minutes longer.


Original recipe from Savoring France by Georgeanne Brennan.

Salmon in Wine and Cream Sauce

This salmon is proof that everything is better with crème fraiche. Everything, I tell you.

The sauce is the only tricky part of the recipe. It takes a lot of time to reduce the liquid and get the shallots soft. Then there is the fun of forcing the juices out of the tomatoes through a mesh sieve. Which made me wonder about the things the French do in the name of sauces. There was very little to show for all the work but once the crème fraiche is added it's worth the effort seeing as the end result is a thick creamy sauce with a nice sharp tang to it from the tomatoes and white wine.

I didn't have any Muscadet just laying around so I used the driest wine I had in the wine rack. The Santa Julia Organica Torrontes is a nice balance of tart citrus and minerality that worked well in adding to the sauce. For drinking with dinner it was rather complex, neither the fella nor I could could figure out quite what was going on this wine. It had good depth for a $10 organic white to the point that we just say there saying “this reminds me of something” never able to put our taste buds on what was so familiar about it. I do know that the tartness of the wine went really well with the lemon zest on the Sesame Green Beans we made once again to go with dinner.

Salmon in Wine and Cream Sauce

4 tomatoes, seeded and diced
2 shallots, diced
1 1/2 cups Muscadet or dry white wine
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon pepper

3 tablespoons butter
6 center cut salmon fillets, skin removed

2/3 cup crème fraiche
1 teaspoon minced fresh chervil (I used dried parsley)
1 teaspoon minced fresh chives (I skipped these)
1 teaspoon minced fresh tarragon (I used dried)

In a saucepan over medium high heat, combine tomatoes, shallots, wine, salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally until reduced by a third, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

Sprinkle fish with salt and pepper to taste. In frying pan over medium high heat, melt the butter. When it foams, add salmon fillets. Sear until golden on both sides and cooked through, about 5 minutes each side.

While salmon cooks, strain the tomato mixture through a fine mesh sieve placed over a bowl, pressing against the pulp to extract all the juice. )This will yield surprisingly little juice so don't be worried, if you're not picky you could just put this all in a food processor and get a chunkier stronger sauce.) Stir in the crème fraiche, seasoning to taste. Return to the saucepan over medium heat and cook until sauce thickens a bit, about 3 minutes.

Pour sauce over the salmon and sprinkle with chervil, chives, and tarragon. Serves 6 (I halved it when I made this.)

Original recipe from Savoring France by Georgeanne Brennan.

Crockpot Ratatouille

Some books are begging to be judged by their covers, cliché or no. Seriously with a title like How to Make Love and Dinner at the Same Time how can you open the glossy little textual vixen without preconceived notions?

The fella and I found this little treat on our last cookbook hunting mission at the library. We just go to the closest library on that particular day we're running errands, swoop in and grab an arm load of cookbooks each, then go home and play the lets make a menu for the week game. I grab a pile of French cookbooks and the fella finds a couple on Asian cuisine and whatever else is tickling his Scorpio-ian fancy right about then. This time that happened to be cookpot books.

Surprisingly the recipes in the book are pretty decent and hit upon all the major cuisines without bastardizing them too badly. Rebecca Field Jager should probably stick to the recipes however. On every page there is also a little Sex in the City-esque tip about sex and being a sassy hot lady. It isn't cute and it distracts from the actual point of the book. Crockpotting to have more time to get your grove on is a nice idea, I'll take advice on the former but I can handle the latter thank you very much. And should I ever need any pointers I can't imagine trusting advice about sex found in the cooking section.

Criticism aside her ratatouille was really good. After chopping up the veggies you have nothing else to do. Turn on the crockpot, go to work, come home, eat dinner. A traditional French meal that cooked while I wasn't in the kitchen, it was a nice change of pace. This went perfectly with the Broccoli and Red Pepper Penne though it was missing a little complexity of flavor. I couldn't quite tell what it was missing but after looking at some other ratatouille recipes it could be thyme and rosemary, I'll have to make it again to tweak it but that would be my guess for now.



The Vinedos de la Posada Malbec I opened with the meal rounded out an already amazing experience. I'm on a real Malbec kick as of late. This one especially wins points for being organic, fair trade and made with no added sulfites. It has the South American spicy bite and big dark fruit of a New World Malbec but has the light drinkability of Malbecs from Cahors without being boring and flabby. It's the Malbec I go for when I want to treat myself a little, though I don't have to considering how many out of this world Argentinian Malbecs there are for under $10.

The Conquista Malbec is about $7, drinks like a $30 or more bottle, and sells out every time the day we get a couple cases in the wine store. I've been carrying on a sordid love affair with it for years. And with a new book full of crockpot recipes I have even more time to spend looking longingly into its plum colored depths.

Crockpot Ratatouille

1 eggplant, sliced
2 zucchini, sliced
1 red pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary
(the original recipe is missing these last two spices which are in traditional ratatouille and would add to the flavor profile greatly)

To remove bitter juices, sprinkle eggplant with salt and let sit in colander to drain for about 20 minutes. Rinse then pat dry.

Cut up all the vegetables and add them with the spices to the crock pot. Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.

Original recipe from How to Make Dinner and Love at the Same Time.

Broccoli and Roasted Red Pepper Pasta

Finding high protein meals for this diet has been simple. Those meals allow fat and any fruits and vegetables with a GI of 35 or lower. The only big restriction is keeping the meal carb and root vegetable free. We have fun cooking these nights and they usually allow us to dabble in the Indian food and spice we miss so much.

The high fiber/low fat meal however have started to get tedious. These meals are heavily restrictive as to what is allowed and have to be eaten for dinner 3 to 4 times a week. They require a whole wheat pasta, brown rice or low GI bean as a base and are complimented with low GI veggies and can only have enough fat added as is required for cooking. It's getting old finding new and interesting things. We can only have lentil stew, stir fry or pasta with tomato paste and grilled vegetables so many times before going nutty.

Thankfully the fella stumbled on a new source of low fat whole food cooking. Meals Matter is like the healthy cooking version of Epicurious from what I can tell in that it has user submitted recipes that are reviewed and easily searchable. It has nutritional information for the recipes too so that helped us make up a more exciting menu this week full of high fiber food without repeating our three go to dishes once again.

This combo of crispy broccoli and tangy roasted red pepper was delicious. I am confused about the amount of pasta the original recipe calls for however as the sauce was just barely enough to make two servings and now we have a ton of extra pasta awaiting usage in the fridge. So if you're a sauce whore like I am you might want to double the delicious pureed red pepper sauce. Next time I would also up the spices especially the red pepper flakes to give it more of a kick. Even on the bland side I loved it. Not to mention it practically cooks itself.

Broccoli and Roasted Red Pepper Pasta

2 roasted red peppers (you can make them yourself, I use canned)
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

2 cups broccoli florets
8 oz whole wheat penne (original recipe called for 16 oz but there isn't enough sauce to cover all that pasta)
1 tablespoon oil
1 clove garlic, finely diced
2 tomatoes, seeded and diced
2 teaspoon dried basil
4 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese

Slice open peppers and wash out seeds. Place the peppers in a food processor with balsamic vinegar, crushed red pepper flakes, salt and pepper to taste. Puree until smooth.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add broccoli florets and cook for 1 minute. Scoop out the broccoli with a slotted spoon and set aside. Bring the water back to a boil.

Cook pasta until al dente, about 8 minutes.

Meanwhile place a large skillet over medium-low heat and add the oil. Cook garlic, stirring, for 30 seconds. Stir in tomatoes and increase the heat to medium. When the tomatoes begin to simmer, stir in pepper puree and broccoli; cook for 2 minutes. Stir in basil and remove from the heat.

Drain the pasta and add to the skillet, stirring to coat. Spoon into shallow bowls and garnish each with grated Parmesan.

Original recipe from Meals Matter site.

Blueberry Pork Chops

No I didn't burn dinner. That is actually a very poor quality picture of delicious food that was taken very hastily because I couldn't wait to eat it. I kind have an obsession with all things purple so I was a little more excited than usual to eat dinner. The savory and sweet combo also added to the drool factor.

So far the fella and I have loved everything that has come out of the Silver Spoon Cookbook and this was no exception. It was easy and low maintenance, what's not to love? The problem we have found is that most of the recipes in this book do seem to need a little tweaking so I shouldn't have been so surprised when this one gave me a bit of trouble as well.

I think the problem started with using frozen blueberries. There was no other choice seeing as I don't have a sugar daddy and blue berries are $4 a pint at the moment. Things ultimately worked out on the very tasty side but if you use frozen berries I would suggest extra time to reduce the liquid before and after putting the pork chops in the oven.

Other than spending a lot of time boiling off extra moisture before we could eat, this was amazing. The pork was fall apart tender and the berries gave it a nice sweetness. And of course eating the deep purple meat was a real treat. It went really nicely when a spinach salad topped with tart blue cheese from a local dairy.

Blueberry Pork Chops

4 spare-rib pork chops (I used whatever cut was on sale at Whole Foods)
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons oil (I left this out as the butter and pork fat created enough grease)
3/4 cup red wine (1/2 cup if using frozen berries)
2 cups blueberries
1/2 cup honey (I used a bit less than 1/4 cup agave nectar which was almost too sweet)


Preheat oven to 400.

Heat butter and oil in small flameproof casserole dish or oven safe pan. Add the pork chops and cook until browned on all sides. Pour in the wine and cook until liquid is reduced by half. Season with salt to taste.

Put the blueberries through the food processor until well chopped then stir in the honey (or agave nectar). Spread this mixture over the pork chops. Put a lid on the casserole dish and place in oven for 15 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes then serve.

My sauce never thickened so at this point I set aside the pork and put the sauce on a medium simmer uncovered until it thickened to a gravy consistency and spooned it onto the meat.

Original Recipe from The Silver Spoon Cookbook.