scrumptious salads

Salads in Paris. Where to begin? For a vegetarian, the salad selections of Paris are almost as exciting as the pastries (I said almost). At home, I'm used to two options in a conventional restaurant - caesar and mediterranean. If it's an upscale restaurant, you might get lucky with an uninspired beet salad, or if it's a health-minded place, there might be some quinoa or cous-cous. But Parisians? They know how to turn a salad into a meal. There's goat cheeses on toasts, the salads have the perfect amount of dressing, the vegetables are fresh and perky, plates are large and overflowing, and there's not an unripe tomato in sight.

I came home from my vacation with a brick of blue cheese. Then I ate blue cheese salads for a week. I'm not complaining.

apple and blue cheese salad
This makes dressing about 3 cups of greens - a nice size for a main course salad for one. Increase if you're sharing.

1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp cider vinegar
1 tsp maple syrup
1 tsp maple mustard
salt and pepper
salad greens of your choice
pickled peas
toasted walnuts
apple slices
blue cheese

In a largish bowl, combine oil, vinegar, syrup, mustard, salt and pepper. Whisk together with a fork, and add your salad greens. Toss with your hands to coat the leaves. Top salad with peas, walnuts, apple slices and crumbled blue cheese.

*A note on the pickled peas. You probably don't have any, so just leave them out. But, if you feel like making them, I would definitely suggest it next spring! I used the recipe from Canning for a New Generation, a highly recommended canning book, but here's a similar recipe on Smitten Kitchen.  Popped out of their pods, they're lovely and crunchy, a nice combination of sweet pea flavour and tangy pickle. I also threw in some of the pickled shallots from the jar.

food with friends

One of the most enjoyable parts of my vacation was food - but specifically, sharing it with other people. I live with my boyfriend in Toronto, and I love cooking with and for him, but it's nice to have a new, larger audience - and I certainly had that, whether it was dinner for a handful of friends, or a wedding of over a hundred (I helped cook some of the food at my friend's gorgeous country wedding).

I'm not a storyteller, I'm not a great performer, and I don't make new friends very easily. But I've discovered my favourite way of communicating with people is through food. I'll turn to one of my favourite culinary authors, Julia Child, to put it more eloquently: "Dining with one's friends and beloved family is certainly one of life's primal and most innocent delights, one that is both soul-satisfying and eternal." There's nothing better than seeing the satisfaction in someone's eyes as they eat something you put time and effort into - something you carefully chopped, mixed together, roasted, stirred, tasted and seasoned.

(clockwise, from top left) I took a break from writing down recipes on my vacation, but here's some of the most delicious, from memory.

Tofu dip (tofu, tahini, herbs, nutritional yeast) and peach bellini (peach puree, champagne).
Rosemary lemonade with cherries from Not Without Salt.
Summer corn at a lovely farm house.
Pizza party at camp with this pizza dough.
Vegan waffles with Martha Stewart's Bourbon Poached Peaches.
My favourite hangover breakfast - oatmeal with caramelized bananas.

Here's another recipe I made on vacation, with some eggplants from my boyfriend's mom's garden. Serve it with raw vegetables, or this delicious flatbread recipe I found over on Smitten Kitchen. You already have the oven on - why not roast some eggplant and make some flatbread? Both recipes are super easy and fast.

Roasted eggplant and garlic dip
This dip would also make an awesome sandwich spread. Makes about 1 cup.

1 large eggplant, sliced in half, stabbed a few times with a fork
1 head of garlic, top 1/2 inch cut off
salt and pepper
olive oil
1 tbsp tomato paste (try buying paste in a tube, Italian style - it keeps for months in the fridge, much  
        better than those annoying tiny cans when you need a small amount)
squeeze of lemon

Preheat oven to 425. Arrange eggplant and garlic in a roasting tray. Rub with a few tablespoons of olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 30-45 minutes, until eggplant and garlic is soft. Scoop out eggplant flesh into a food processor. Add garlic, by squeezing the cloves out of the papery skin. Add another splash of olive oil, tomato paste and lemon juice. Puree, taste, and adjust seasoning. Serve warm or cold.

Rosemary Flatbread
From this recipe on Smitten Kitchen.

1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbsp chopped rosemary
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup olive oil
more salt, oil for brushing

Preheat the oven to 425. Combine flour, rosemary, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Make a well in the centre, and add water and oil. Stir together until dough forms. Knead 4 or 5 times in bowl, and divide dough into three pieces. Take out one piece, and leave others in the bowl, covered with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel.

Working on a large piece of parchment paper, roll out the dough with a floured rolling pin. You want a very thin, 10-12 inch circle. And you really don't need a perfect circle - you're probably going to break up the flatbread to serve it, anyway. Transfer the parchment paper to a large baking sheet, and brush the dough with oil and sprinkle with salt. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until golden and crisp, but not too browned. Remove from oven, set aside to cool, and continue with the other two balls of dough.

Keeps for a few days at room temperature, in a sealed container.

Pastries and Paris

Paris - where to start? Every single thing I ate here was delicious. There's a cafe on every corner, with a long list of cheap beer and wine, and a selection of salads that would make any vegetable lover swoon. You can't walk more than a block without passing a drool-worthy window display of pastries. The corner stores are cramped, with aisles that wouldn't fit an overweight American tourist, but they offer chilled champagne, brie and olives.

But seriously, let's start with the most important part of my trip: the desserts. I ate them for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I ate chausson pomme while walking past the Eiffel Tower, shared an upside-down pineapple cake with a lit sparkler poking out of it late at night in the Latin Quarter, and conquered a mountain of whip cream with the best coffee ice cream hiding underneath on a sidewalk patio. Here's some of my other favourites:

(clockwise, from top left - click on the picture for a larger version)

Creme caramel, at a bistro near our apartment. Marzipan-filled pastry, from a patisserie our hosts recommended. Eclairs, washed down with 1664, overlooking the Seine and Notre Dame. Berthillion ice cream - banana and espresso - from the store on Ile Saint-Louis. Strawberry jam beignets on the hill at Sacre Coeur. So many Chausson pommes, a french apple turnover.    

I would leave you a recipe, but nothing I bake could ever live up to the quality and richness of these desserts. Something that comes close? This chocolate pudding I made a few months ago, from Bon Appetit. Meanwhile, I'm on a bit of a pastry break after this binge - can you see why? I ate my body weight in butter in only five days in this magical city.

Next up - something a little healthier, the salads of Paris.

returning home

I'm back! My vacation was indescribable, exceptional and unbelievable. It was FILLED with food: from late night bowls of mussels in the Latin quarter of Paris with my boyfriend, to cold glasses of peach cider overlooking the Waupoos bay with some of my favourite ladies, every day was filled with culinary delights that totally blew my mind. In the next few weeks I'll post some of my favourite meals, some of the best recipes I cooked with/for friends, and some drool-worthy food photos. Meanwhile...

Unpacking is always difficult, especially when accompanied by some post-vacation blues. It's bittersweet going through all the keepsakes, souvenirs and trip detritus that fills my backpacks - so many amazing memories. Still, every time I use a certain plate, drink from a glass, or wear a dress, I can think about the most amazing summer ever. Here are my favourite finds from Paris, London, Prince Edward County, and everywhere in between. But it's Monica-style - I like to stick to the open-air markets, the stores the locals recommend, and of course, thrift and antique stores.

(Clockwise, starting at top left)

1. Antique drinking glasses from Old Spitalfield's Market in London, and a few Penguin classics (the new designs in paperback!)  

2. Giraffe scarf, bird dress and anchor shirt, all from Brick Lane Market in London

3. Botany time! A bat skeleton, from Trafalgar Castle in Whitby, a butterfly from Prince Edward County, fossils from Sandbanks, and a fossilized anemone from Beachy Head, UK (looks like a gum-ball). I collected everything here myself.  

4. Antiquing in the county - orange Le Crueset pot, Crown canning jar, assorted dishes, and an apron (with 'Muriel' written inside).

(clockwise, starting at top left)

1. It's always nice to match. My camp friends and I love to buy matching outfits: Zebra dress, and two pairs of earrings (to celebrate that I finally got my ears pierced last year!)

2. Had to buy delicious food in Paris: Praline dark chocolate, raspberry vinegar, lemon sardines, lime and coconut tuna, olive oil, red wine, raspberry liquor, and a nautical theme skirt from a second-hand store. 

3. Souvenirs from my friend Katy's county wedding: pink striped robe (I'll wear it ALL the time), her wedding favour - vanilla peaches, extra wine I stole (no! got given), and a great antique tray she gave me - it's covered in Morpho Butterfly wings! 

4. Finally, my favourite pile of stuff: things I didn't buy. Photos from my action-sampler of all the people I love, a journal from camp, candles and sparklers leftover for next year's festivities, a copyright infringement myself and the other counsellors got served with by our campers, and a portrait drawn by a 6 year old (I'm going to start spelling my name Monyca).

the sweet life in Paris

Later this summer, I'm going to Paris for the first time. I feel as though I've been preparing for this visit my whole life. It began with Madeline, Eloise in Paris, and The Red Ballon, and it's only gotten worse since then. If an amazing book or movie doesn't take place in New York City or London, then it's got to be Paris: Funny Face (and a whole other pile of Audrey Hepburn movies), The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Ratatouille, Amelie, Moulin Rouge, La Vie en Rose, Eugene Atget's photography, the lithographies of Alphonse Mucha, Midnight in Paris, Aristocats, water lilies by Monet, cafes painted by Van Gogh, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Before Sunset and Before Sunrise. 

Here's what Paris looks like in my brain:

Not very realistic? Oh well, I know I'm going to fall in love. It seems everyone likes to stare pensively at the skyline, whether you're Audrey Hepburn, Duchess and O'Malley or Remy, and I look forward to joining them in the pensive staring.

On a culinary level, here's my two most recent Paris reads: My life in France by Julia Child and The Sweet Life in Paris by David Lebovitz. Both are from the viewpoint of an American, moving to (and falling in love with) Paris.

Here's a recipe from The Sweet Life in Paris. These are tiny, little chocolate cakes - naturally gluten-free because of the almonds. Great with afternoon coffee, they keep at room temperature in a sealed container for about a week.

Chocolate Financiers
from David Lebovitz's Sweet Life in Paris, via gluten-free girl

6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup almonds
4 tablespoons Dutch-process unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/3 cup egg whites

Preheat the oven to 425°. Lightly butter a mini-muffin tin. Melt the butter in a small saucepan and set it aside until room temperature. In a food processor or blender, grind the almond with the cocoa, salt, and powdered sugar. Transfer the mixture to a medium bowl. Stir the egg whites in the ground almond mixture, then gradually stir in the melted butter until incorporated and smooth.

Spoon the batter into the molds, filling them 3/4 full. Bake for ten to fifteen minutes, until slightly puffed and springy to the touch. Remove from oven and cool completely before removing from molds.

Makes about 15, one-inch financiers.

(Nope, not a picture of the financiers. Instead, KITTENS! This is Dill and Pickle, my friend's new kittens. How can I write blog posts with these guys around?)

Finally, this will be my last post for a while. Right now, I'm in Prince Edward County at my lovely friend's farm, hanging out with kittens, cooking delicious food, and swimming at Sandbanks. Next, I'll be heading to camp, where I'll live in a castle with a bunch of girls, in the style of an Enid Blyton novel. Then I'm off to Paris and London for a vacation with my boyfriend, and finally back to the County for a very exciting wedding!

Sometimes it's great to step back from technology for a while, cook recipes without writing them down and photographing them, and just take time off. That said, I can't completely leave the technology behind, so if you want to see some photos of my adventures, check out my instagram feed. I'll be back in September with photos, travel stories, and recipes galore. Bon Appetit!