Archive | October, 2009

Pumpkin Polenta

30 Oct

I am a fan of Italian flavors… and this recipe fits very well with the flavors of autumn.   We do not have autumn here in Puerto Rico, but pumpkin is a favorite of mine and I wanted to do something that would highlight the flavor and nutrition of the pumpkin.  Plus, I still had some pumpkin seeds in my fridge I wanted to use up…

 Pumpkin Polenta

 

PUMPKIN POLENTA

1 ½ cups of pumpkin, peeled and cubed
4 tbs quick cooking polenta
½ cup of water
½ cup of milk
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
½ cup Pecorino Romano cheese, grated
¼ cup pumpkin seeds, toasted – as garnish

 

  1. First we steam the pumpkin… place in a steamer for about 10-15 minutes to cook thoroughly.  After the pumpkin is done, mash it well and place it in a colander lined with a coffee filter or a paper towel and let the moisture of the pumpkin drain out a bit.  This can be done well in advance before moving on to the rest of the steps.
  2. Then we make the polenta… I heat the water, milk and salt in a medium pot and bring to a boil.  Add the polenta while stirring to avoid getting lumps.  Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue stirring until the desired consistency, which is like a smooth cream of wheat.  I’ll be honest; I follow the instructions on the polenta package I buy.  If the instructions on your package are different, follow the instructions on your package, but what I do is to replace ½ the water the recipe calls for milk – makes a creamier polenta, in my opinion.
  3. When the polenta reached the desired consistency, add the drained pumpkin puree, the grated cheese and season with pepper.  Stir well for the cheese to melt and the pumpkin to combine well with the polenta cream.
  4. Serve warm and sprinkle with the toasted pumpkin seeds.

 

Great vegetarian alternative for Thanksgiving lunch or dinner… don’t you think?

A Vegetarian in Paris… Unexpected Finds

28 Oct

Being a traveler involves some planning ahead to make sure that you don’t miss something you want to do due to lack of certain knowledge (check out my adventures trying to locate a famous ice cream shop and a favorite falafel stand in Paris), but also means being flexible and being able to throw away all your plans and walk a city without a specific purpose to see where fate leads you…

This is how we found St. Michel and Passage du Panoramas…

notre dame 2

St. Michel is an area right over the Seine on the Rive Gauche/Quartier Latin right across the Notre Dame cathedral.  How we came about it, I can’t even remember.  We got off from our L’Open Tour bus and were walking and I saw a small street that looked like it had a lot of movement… I asked Annie Mariel if she felt we should go that way… and we did.

St. Michel is an area with small pedestrian streets filled with restaurants from all over the world – French, Spanish, Middle Eastern, Italian, you name it…  we decided to go for fondue that night.  Not the best fondue we have ever had, but the reason why we were drawn to this particular restaurant was because it mentioned vegetarian options.  A testament that not all vegetarian restaurants are good indeed…   we had fondue with salade, potatoes, and bread.  Could not believe the bread was stale.   Sadly, the worst meal we had in Paris.

fondue 3   Menu - fondue

fondue - pommes terre    menu fondue 2

Another night we were a bit tired, but not so much to stay in, so we decided to go see a movie close to our apartment.  It had to be in French and without subtitles.  We had a great time… we understood the movie theme, but only got 50% of the dialogue.  But, that’s part of learning and immersing yourself in a new language and culture, right?

After the movie, we walked a bit trying to decide if we were hungry enough to eat something. And then we saw this little passageway with lots of restaurants and decided that at least we had to sit down and try something.  We were mesmerized by the insistence of this Croatian woman who kept inviting us to eat her delicious Coquilles St Jacques or scallops.  I knew I was never going to please her by ordering the scallops, but she was charming enough to be our favorite spot there.

passage de restaurants     passage panoramas

I ordered a fromage de chevre with tomates sechés au soleil (sun-dried tomatoes) with a salade and potatoes provençal.  I really should have ordered these vegetables in a puffed pastry, but was afraid if they were made with some kind of stock… 

chevre et sundried tomates pommes de terre provencal    

For dessert, I tried the Tarte Tatin and Annie Mariel the profiteroles.  The Tarte Tatin was warm and the whipped cream delicious.  I need to try this soon for you guys…  I took a stab at it before but was not very successful…

tarte tatin    profiteroles

Goes to show you that letting things flow allows you to find the true heart and soul of a city…   Bonne soirée.

A Vegetarian in Paris… Fine-Dining in Paris

26 Oct

Annie Mariel and I love good food…  so we knew we had to experience some of the fine dining Paris has to offer, vegetarian style.

We were extremely lucky to score some tickets to the premiere of the French opera Mireille, at the Opera Garnier.  We had wanted to buy tickets to this show for about 3 months prior to our trip, but it was not until 1 hour before the show that we actually got tickets…  So it was only fitting that we celebrate this achievement or lucky strike with a nice dinner.

COSTES

We were recommended Costes by the concierge at the Intercontinental Hotel right in front of the Opera.  Located in fancy Rue St. Honoré, the choice could not have been better.   I was pleasantly surprised the menu included true vegetarian options.  This is what I ordered:  A salade caprese with tomates cerises and buffalo mozzarella fromage, a quinoa risotto with asparagus tips and a sorbet made of fruits rouges.  Truly delicious… costly, but exquisite.

COSTE - salade caprese

COSTE - Quinoa risotto

COSTE - Sorbet

Aside from the restaurant’s food, the ambiance is really nice.  Our server was super nice and cheery, putting aside all the rumors of Parisian people being rude.  Nice-looking people frequent this restaurant, so it’s nice for people gazing.  And for a night cap, the bar has a great atmosphere too.

 

BUDDHA BAR

Annie Mariel was keen on going to dinner to Buddha Bar.  It was a favorite of hers from a previous visit to Paris.  So I followed suit.  I was a bit unimpressed by their vegetarian options… if it’s vegetarian it also spicy and I do not do spicy well.    Because the menu is sushi-heavy, I though the best bet was to order some vegetarian rolls… NOT!

I had to almost “threaten” that I was merely going to watch my friend eat before I could convince the server to ask the sushi chef to make some vegetable rolls for me.  He almost argued with me the sushi rolls were already made and that was the reason I could not request anything specific…  sushi rolls already made?!?!?  Is this Buddha Bar or the sushi counter at Costco or my local supermarket???  Really??  Please!!

After much negotiation and convincing, this is what I finally ordered – Vegetable Spring Rolls and a custom-made vegetable roll, with asparagus, cucumbers and some other pickled vegetables I could not recognize.  It would have been better with cream cheese in it, but I was not about to piss-off the server and chef once more… and I got about 3 huge spring rolls, I guess he took seriously my threat that I would not eat anything there and tried to put as much food on the plate from the stuff I did order.

BUDHABAR - Spring rolls    BudhaBar - Sushi

We were sitting right in front of the Buddha statue… the music a bit too loud for my taste.  The bar extremely expensive – we paid 15€ for a drink each.   The French guys who go there, super nice thanks to Pierre and Matthieu.  They were great company and because their Spanish or English was so-so, we were able to speak French almost exclusively with them.  Superbe!!!

 

Traditional French cooking is not very vegetarian friendly, but a vegetarian can still find great eats fine-dining in Paris, even if we need to “threat” a few people for it.

A Vegetarian in Paris… Snacking in the Champs Elysées

23 Oct

With all the walking we did in Paris, we had to do our three meals and a few snacks in between… these were a few of our favorites from our week in Paris.

champs elysees 2    champs elysees 1

Frites and Orangina at the Champs Elysees

I love French fries and it was a real pleasure to sit down at a café to taste a small plate of frites with ketchup and Dijon mustard.  You could taste these did not come from a frozen bag.

frites   orangina

Orangina was my beverage of choice during my week in Paris.  I remembered it well from my first trip to Europe.  It’s a natural soda with orange juice and pulp.  It’s refreshing… not something to drink every day, but certainly, a vacation treat.

A picnic at the Tour Eiffel

One of my dreams was to go to a street market, buy fresh fruits, cheese, bread and take it to a Parisian park to enjoy the company and the views.  When we drove past the Tour Eiffel and the Champs de Mars I immediately knew this was the location for our picnic.

Our initial plan was to visit the Marché Breteuil , open weekly on Thursdays and Saturdays, and then head for the Champs de Mars.   The thing was the market is open and available early in the morning, so when we went at about 3PM for our afternoon picnic snacking, there was nothing there except the empty area where usually the market stands are. Lesson learned there.

Alternatively, we went to a small market on our way to Champs de Mars and bought our fixin’s – crackers, fromage de chevre, Roquefort, strawberries, and the very Parisian BBQ flavored Lay’s potato chips.  It was truly wonderful… a dream come true.  It was a bit chilly, but very enjoyable. 

picnic 1

picnic 2

 Next time… a picnic somewhere we can see the Seine.

A few things to eat at home

Because we were staying at an apartment with a full kitchen… – full in the sense that had everything we needed, but super small according to US or PR standards. – We headed to a supermarket to gather some “munchies” and breakfast alternatives.

We were amazed by the amount and variety of cheeses in the cheese case.  To cheese lovers like us, we felt as if we were in cheese heaven.  We just could not bring ourselves to choose…  Among our purchases:   whole grain baguette, citrus juice, goat cheese crottins, comte cheese, some nectarines and peaches, among a few other necessities. 

fromage supermarche 1    fromage supermarche 2

It was really nice to arrive to our apartment, relax for a bit watching some French-language TV and enjoying French cheese, French bread before heading out to a late dinner… felt really Parisian, just like we wanted.  But please do not dare ask me how many pounds we gained in just that week…  OK?

A Vegetarian in Paris… Crepes

20 Oct

Something I knew was on my TO EAT list when I arrived in Paris was CREPES!!!! 

I love crepes… I eat a spinach, cheese and walnuts crepe almost every Saturday when I attend my French classes at L’Alliance Francaise.  But I love them all… savory (salé) or sweet (sucré)… going to Paris and not eating crepes is like going to NYC and not eating a slice of pizza… right?

Just like in NYC there are hot dog stands in almost every corner… the same applies to crepe stands in Paris.  Even cafes or bistros have a small window facing the street where they can fix crepes to any hungry person passing by. 

With only a week in Paris, there were not as many opportunities as one would like to taste all the flavor varieties available… but let’s go chronologically…

My first crepe of this Paris trip was in Montmatre…  I had the munchies after climbing all those stairs from the Metro station up to Sacre Coeur.  I also wanted to eat away my sorrows after finding a spectacular painting I loved, but too expensive for my budget…  so how better to compensate than eating crepe and cheese together??

Sacre Coeur     montmatre

I ordered a crêpe au fromage with gruyère cheese.    The thing… the cheese was not inside the crepe, but on top.  It was more like a crêpe gratin… the crepe was soft and the cheese was salty.  Super nice start to my crepe adventure…

Crepe Fromage 1

When we went to Versailles, we wanted to have lunch where the locals eat.  We wanted to walk away from the Palace and the rest of all the tourists and were pleasantly surprised to find a maze of streets filled with small cafes, stores and creperies for us to choose from…  We selected a creperie with a special offering 1 crepe salé + 1 crepe sucré and a beverage for a fixed price…  And look at the menu of options for the crepes!!!!  There were at least 50+ varieties of savory and 50+ varieties of sweet options to choose from.  Granted, not all the choices were vegetarian, but still impressive, don’t you think?

creperie versailles

Menu Crepes Salee       Menu crepes sucree

I loved the savory crepes, also called gallettes, which were made with Sarracene wheat or buckwheat instead of regular wheat flour.  I ordered mine filled with spinach, potatoes and cheese.  Annie Mariel did not steer too far away and ordered a potatoes and cheese crepe.  They were delicious…

Crepe epinard 1

For dessert, I ordered my new favorite flavor for desserts – caramel beurre salé with vanilla ice cream.  Annie Mariel, true to her passions, ordered a crepe topped with chocolate syrup topped with café glace.  My toffee was inside the crepe, the chocolate in turn was on top of the crepe… apparently there is no consistency of where the crepe accompaniment will be placed.  But what you can be sure of is the accompaniment will help bring that thin crepe to a whole new place…

crepe caramel beurre salee

crepe au chocolat

And so far, I’ve had crepes sitting down in restaurants… granted, the tables I ate them were in sidewalks, but still I was sitting down and ate them with a fork and knife.  But how about trying out one of those street-side crepes???  While walking down the street on Avenue St. Germaine we decided to stop by Les Deux Maggots… but my mind was on the creperie across the street right in front of the St. Germaine de Près church…  I had to order the classic Nutella, which is very much Italian, but perfect to eat inside a French crêpe…  it was so cool to see the crêpe being made right in front of me.  Super thin and perfectly golden after just a few minutes… they give it to you wrapped in paper ready to take a bite right then a there…   

crepes a la rue 3       crepes a la rue 1

 

crepes a la rue 2    crepes nutella

Next time you visit Paris, be sure to try your favorite flavors of the ubiquitous crepe…  I am sure you’ll fall in love with them as much as the city itself.

A Vegetarian in Paris… Musts from the Internet

19 Oct

Last month I spent a whole week in Paris… because I haven’t been in Paris since I was 16, I wanted to do all the touristy things 1st time visitors do – Tour Eiffel, Place de la Concorde, Arc de Triomphe, the Seine River, Notre Dame, the Louvre Museum, Montmatre, Sacre Coeur, etc…

But in addition to the monuments musts, I also had a separate list – the FOODIE MUSTS.  Reading on the Internet, I built a list of foodie must do’s I wanted to try.  I only had a chance to do only a few things, but here are several of the highlights…

Berthillon Ice Creams

At Serious Eats, many contributors mentioned the ice creams for Berthillon were “to die for”.  So the day we decided to walk over to Place Vendome, visit la Place de la Bastille, we made our way to Ile de St. Louis to try out these spectacular ice creams. 

berthillion 2

After walking a great deal trying to find this ice cream parlor, we were bummed to find out they are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays…  so we had to do the next best thing – cross the street and have our ice cream at the café in front, where the advertised they serve the delicious ice creams from Berthillon.

    berthillion 1    berthillion 4

All the reviews said the best was bitter chocolate, so I ordered chocolate and a new flavor recommended by the server, caramel beurre salé.  It’s true what they say… these ice creams are superb!!!  The chocolate is not super sweet and the caramel beurre salé tastes like a salted toffee, my favorite flavor.  Annie Mariel followed recommendations as well and ordered chocolate and pistachio.  The pistachio flavor tasted like real nuts and did not have that artificial green color most US pistachio ice cream have.

caramel beurre salle et chocolat

pistachio et chocolat

After having our first taste of these Berthillon ice creams, we would order a few flavors every time we saw them listed on any menu… so when visiting Notre Dame, we also had a chance to try the nougat and coffee flavors.  Outstanding as well… 

notre dame       nougat et cafe

When you visit Paris, forget about your waistline for a few minutes and try out these spectacular ice creams.  Hey, when you’re on vacation, you can break the rules once in a while, no?

POÎLANE BREAD

Ever since I got Ina Garten’s Barefoot in Paris cookbook a few years back, I’ve been planning to visit this bakery.  She says it has the best bread in Paris and that’s a lot… because bread in Paris is the best in the world.  Just ask my little niece Mariana, who visited Paris about 3 years ago when she was only 4 and right before my trip to Paris she told me: “Titi Madelyn, the bread in Paris is soooooooooooooo good!!!!”  She still remembers… and she was only 4.  She has the food-loving gene, I know…

I did not get to visit the famous bakery on the same street that Giada DeLaurentiis lived when she attended culinary school, but during my first meal in Paris, we had tartines made from whole-grain Poîlane bread.   Again, all bread in Paris is good.  But I will have to do a specific taste-test to be absolutely sure the Poîlane bread is head and shoulders above the rest.  I’ll keep you posted on this one.

Tartine Madeleine

L’AS DU FALAFEL

The Marais is located between the 3rd and 4th arrondissements… and it’s kind of “the West Village” of Paris.  It’s filled with small pedestrian streets with plenty of shopping and restaurants to last you a whole month in Paris.  It’s also part of the Jewish district… so it’s the place to go for some Middle Eastern food.  And I sure needed a break from the bread, cheese and potato diet I had been carrying for the last few days.

I’ve read about L’As du Falafel in many internet discussions and about the huge lines formed right in front of this stand.  Even the Director of the Alliance Française in PR knew about this place… he knew the street address by heart.  That’s how well-known this place is for the locals and foodie tourists alike.

We searched for this street in every map we had… I had to consult my newly bought map by arrondisement to actually find it.  We walked past a mob of people to find L’As du Falafel CLOSED.  For the second time, I arrived to an internet recommendation to find the place closed.  It happened to be Saturday and some Jewish people observe the Sabbath, and the owners of this stand apparently do too.

l'as du falafel 1

Then, on our way back to a main avenue, we noticed again the mob of people on the street.  I read the name of the place, Chez Marianne, and thought nothing of it.  What could be happening here that people are standing in line for???  Well, apparently when L’As du Falafel is closed, people stand in line at Chez Marianne for their falafel fix.  We were not sure how to order, so we found a little table right next to the pick-up window to observe how the locals were doing it.

 Chez Marianne chez marianne 2  

menu - chez marianne

After much deliberation and salivation, we decided to order a plate of 5 components that we then used to stuff some pitas and create some falafel sandwiches.  Our order included falafels, tabbuleh, eggplants cooked with tomatoes, eggplant dip, a salad and pickles.  With a squirt of lemon juice on top, the falafel sandwich was exquisite.  The falafels were crispy and light… nothing greasy.  Just what my appetite needed… no cheese for just one meal.  Can you believe I just said that???

Chez MArianne - falafels

falafel sandwich

LA DURÉE PASTRY SHOP

Pastries in Paris are as beautiful as any other masterpiece at the Museé du Louvre or Museé d’Orsay. And one of these pastry museums is La Durée.  We just found it serendipitously while walking towards La Madeleine church.  I saw the name on the store and immediately said: “We need to go in there”.

Laduree - dehors

La Durée is famous for their pastries, but most of all, for their macaroons.  To me, macaroons are like coconut kisses (besitos de coco), but in Paris, macaroons are something different.  They are these meringue-like sandwich cookies. 

laduree - bag

laduree - macaroons

We had to stand in line for about 15-20 minutes to buy these macaroons.   While in line I photographed some of the marvels they make there… check them out.  Aren’t they gorgeous??

 laduree 2     laduree 5laduree 3    laduree 4

PIERRE HERMÉ

Walking from the Museé du Luxembourg towards Boulevard St. Germaine, we ran into my friend’s Jesiel favorite pastry shop, Pierre Hermé.  She has actually decided she wants to move to Paris to be a pastry chef and sometime intern with Pierre’s famous crew.  I was impressed by how people line outside the store to taste their masterpieces.

pierre herme

I was tired and craving a crepe, so we decided to pass on standing in line this time… but I will most definitely try to go in the next time I visit Paris.

 

Even though I got to experience all these foodie adventures, I still have some pending stuff I have waiting for my next trip…

  • Go to Poîlane Bakery to see the lamp made from bread
  • Le Grand Epicerie at le Bon Marché
  • Visit E. Dehillerin to see the best stocked kitchen gadget store in the world
  • Go to a street market in the MORNING so I can purchase all the components to a great picnic lunch
  • Sitting at an outside table at Café de Flore
  • Have dinner at a Joel Rebuchon restaurant
  • Go to the Le Creuset outlet store and drool for a few hours

A Vegetarian in Paris… Mon premier repas à Paris

13 Oct

You already know I am in love with anything French.  And it was only fitting that I would visit the capital of France to experience firsthand all that Paris has to offer.   Last May, my friend Annie Mariel and I decided that we would go to Paris in September.  June was too close, July too hot, August emptied of real Parisians… so September was the ideal time to go.

Drapeau Francais

I had not set foot in Paris since I was 16… we will not actively reveal how many years ago that is.  Just know that it’s been a real while.  They used the French franc then and the European Union did not exist. 

So this trip was a re-acquaintance trip of sorts – getting to know Paris as an adult, testing my French language skills, and discovering all that French cuisine has to offer, to a vegetarian.  Because something else is also different on this trip when compared to my previous one…  I was not a vegetarian then.  Not even dreamt about it.  On that original trip, I remember quite well ordering steak frites, one of Paris’ staples.  But I was confident I would manage…

I will divide my trip experiences in a few installments … because I noticed I took as many pictures of what I ate as pictures from the well-known Parisian monuments – the Eiffel Tower, the Arc du Triomphe, the Mona Lisa, Place de la Concorde… 

I hope you will enjoy Paris as much as I did, even if it’s vicariously thru my pictures and commentary… on y va!!!

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The trip to Paris is quite long… 3 ½ hours from SJ to NYC and 7 hours from NYC to Paris.  It’s a “sort-of” overnight trip because you arrive in Paris at 7AM Paris time, even though it’s actually 1AM for your mind and body.  We were lucky to fly 1st class from SJ to NYC, but not so lucky on the long leg of the trip… we ordered vegetarian meals for both of us, Annie Mariel and I, and this is what we got:   Curried Chickpeas with White Rice – is this a flight to Paris or to India??? –  some overcooked broccoli, a salad and cantaloupe.  This reminded me of the airline food challenges in Top Chef a few seasons back.  Pathetic to say the least…  I was very much looking forward to some great Parisian food.

Ariline Food 1

We arrived in Paris at about 7:30AM.  We got into the city at about 8:30AM.  Our landlady was waiting on us in our Parisian apartment.  We rented an apartment in the 2eme arrondissement because we wanted to live as the Parisians do.  And besides, it’s much cheaper than a hotel if you’re staying more than a few days.  We were a bit jetlagged and took a power nap to get our energy up…

We arrived on a Sunday morning and Sundays in Paris are very much like I remember things in PR about 30 years ago – no shops are open, everything is closed for the day.  Only the Champs Elysées and the touristy areas are open.  But we wanted to live as Parisians and that meant to walk to a touristy area if you want to eat in a café or restaurant on a Sunday.

We decided to walk around our neighborhood to get familiarized with it…  we were located right in between the Opera/Madeleine area and the Louvre – all that within walking distance.  Following my namesake, we decided to head towards Opera/La Madeleine and see where that would lead us.

Place de la Madeleine

We found a café aptly named Café Madeleine… hey, I had to eat there!!!  I loved that most everything on the menu was accompanied by “frites et salade”, French fries and salad.  Remember I told you, all fries in France and French fries… you need to order frites.  I ordered a tartine which is an open faced sandwich on toasted whole-grain Poîlane bread (check!!).  I ordered the one with cheese and tomato, sans the jambon.  The server was not too happy, but I explained in my best French that I was vegetarian and I did not want the ham at all… he understood or was it he felt compelled to please me by my attempt of speaking French by the locals… I will never know.

Tartine Madeleine

The tartine looked and tasted delicious… way better than what we had had on the airplane a few hours back.  The salad was simply dressed with vinaigrette, worthy of any French café.

 And because we were on vacation, we had to end with ice cream…  Annie Mariel loves chocolate and I had to oblige.  It was delicious.  And the wafers that came on the side were awesome too.

Glace au chocolat

This was light and a perfect introduction to our culinary/eating adventures in Paris…  stay tuned for more on my French vegetarian adventure.  A bientôt…

Vegetarian Awareness Month

3 Oct

October is Vegetarian Awareness Month.  This is an initiative of the North American Vegetarian Society to promote vegetarianism and its benefits across the US and North America.

WVDhome_msthd

For vegetarians, it’s a way to celebrate and promote our healthy, compassionate life-style and dietary choice.  And for those who still have not made the change, it serves as an incentive and motivation to give meatless meal a more serious look and possibly even giving it a try.  You will be helping to create a better world because vegetarian diets have proven health benefits, save animals’ lives and help to preserve the Earth.

Please consider joining us, with the thousands of others this October, who will be exploring the vast variety of tasty and healthful meat-free foods, and sharing information about the benefits of vegetarian diets with the people in their local communities…

If you are still not a vegetarian, consider these few tips from NAVS on how you can still support Vegetarian Awareness Month:

  • Eat meat-free for the day or throughout the month
  • Learn how a vegetarian diet can benefit you personally
  • Try the meatless options available at local restaurants and eateries
  • Discuss vegetarianism with your interested friends, family and co-workers
  • Host a meatless meal or potluck for your friends
  • Eat meatless meals on a regular basis
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