Gooey Brownies

The weather in Paris continues to be cold and drizzly, with it seems, no end in sight. On days like these I always feel like we should bake a delicious treat to warm up the house. My husband, who is an excellent brownie maker, decided to try out a new recipe by Mark Bittman. Though we had a little trouble tracking down measuring cups over here, and are still learning the ins and outs of our convection oven, these brownies turned out super gooey and delicious  - even if they weren't the most attractive brownies ever. This was also the first time we had ever baked using a vanilla bean pod, and the vanilla flavour was truly intense. I'm looking forward to my husband making these again!

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, plus a little more for greasing the pan
3 ounces chocolate, roughly chopped
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Pinch salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method
1. Heat the oven to 350°F. Grease a square baking pan with butter.

2. Combine the butter and the chocolate in a small saucepan over very low heat, stirring occasionally. When the chocolate is just about melted, remove the saucepan from the heat and continue to stir until the mixture is smooth.

3. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and stir in the sugar. Then beat in the eggs, one at a time. Gently stir in the flour, salt, and the vanilla.

4. Pour and scrape the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until just barely set in the middle. Cool on a rack until set. Cut the brownies into squares right in the pan.

Sunday: Pancakes, Strawberries and a Day at the Races

We spent Sunday afternoon at the horse races at the Auteuil Racecourse. We didn't win any money, the only race we bet on saw our horse finish second last, but we did have fun!

Before we left for the races we decided to make pancakes for Sunday brunch, as I had been craving them for weeks. I was also dying to try the French strawberries that we have seen at markets all over Paris, and thought pancakes would be the perfect pairing. Though we didn't fork out the €10 for a tiny basket of first quality berries, the ones we had were delicious and exactly what you imagine a strawberry to taste like, even if they looked a little beat up.

These are the very best pancakes ever, from my old beat up copy of The Good Housekeeping Cookbook. Great on their own, but also tasty with blueberries or bananas added to the batter.

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 to 1 1/3 cups milk (use less milk if you like thicker pancakes)
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 egg

Method
Mix all dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Mix milk, oil and egg in smaller bowl. Mix liquid ingredients into dry ingredients, making sure to stir until mixed (about 10 good turns of the whisk). Heat a pan over medium-high heat with a small amount of butter or oil. Pour batter into pan, flip pancakes once bubbles start to appear. Cook until golden brown. Serve with maple syrup or your favorite topping.

A few pics from the races:

Horses in action.

I don't know how those jockeys stay on, especially over the jumps.

Me in the stands after a race.
I know it looks like no one was out for the races - but there were tons of people there,
the stands would just completely empty out between races.

Bread and Tomato Soup

With an abundance of both rainy weather and baguettes, I thought it would be a perfect time to try out this recipe for bread and tomato soup. The roasted cherry tomatoes give the soup a sweet and tangy flavour, and this soup is incredibly warming and filling. I've never used basil stalks in cooking before, but they definitely gave the soup a strong basil flavour, so maybe I will try them in other recipes too. I think this soup will become a new favourite for chilly days.

Ingredients
500g ripe cherry tomatoes
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
A large bunch of fresh basil, leaves picked, stalks finely chopped
Extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
800g tin of good-quality plum tomatoes
500g or 2 large handfuls of stale good-quality bread

Method
Prick the cherry tomatoes and toss them with one sliced clove of garlic and a quarter of the basil leaves. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, put them in a roasting tray and cook in the oven at 180ºC/350ºF for about 20 - 30 minutes.

Heat a glug of olive oil in a large pot and add the remaining garlic and the basil stalks. Stir around and gently fry for a minute until softened. Add the tinned tomatoes, then fill the tin with water and add that. Break the tomatoes up with a spoon, bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes.

Tear the bread up into thumb-sized pieces and add them to the pan. Mix well and season to taste. Tear in the basil leaves and let the soup sit on a low heat for 10 minutes. By this time the roasted tomatoes will be done; remove them from the tray, scraping all the lovely sticky bits from the bottom. Pour them into the soup with all the juices, basil and oil from the tray.

Give the soup a good stir – the soup should have a thick, silky, porridgey texture, so, if need be, adjust it with a little water. Then remove it from the heat and add 6 or 7 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Divide between your bowls and serve with a little extra basil or shaved parmesan cheese on top if you like. Serves 4.

Beet Salad

Today we went grocery shopping at one of my favourite places in Paris - the Gourmet Food Store at Galeries Lafayette. It makes shopping for groceries feel so much more grand, and many of the items are the same price or cheaper than our local supermarket. We made an easy beet salad for dinner from some of our wares. We found some pre-cooked beets, so the only work was toasting the pecans in maple syrup.

Ingredients
2 medium beets, cooked
generous handful of pecans
1 tablespoon maple syrup
2 helpings of mixed baby salad greens
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 ounce goat cheese

Method
Place the pecans in a skillet over medium-low heat. Heat until warm and starting to toast, then stir in the maple syrup. Cook and stir until evenly coated, then remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

In a small bowl, whisk together the orange juice, balsamic vinegar and olive oil to make the dressing.

Place a large helping of baby greens onto two salad plates. Place equal amounts of beets and candied pecans over the greens, and top with dabs of goat cheese. Drizzle each plate with some of the dressing.

We also splurged on some cute Metro map placemats - now every morning over breakfast we can plan our day's journey!

Easter Brunch in Paris

After two haircuts (it is still so terrible), moving house twice (long story), a flight full of over-excited teenagers, and one trip to Ikea in the Parisian suburbs, we have arrived and settled into our apartment in Paris! My hubby and I are here to relax and flâneur for the next four months, and I can't think of a better place to be, or person to be with. To celebrate a low-key Easter we made a yummy breakfast of french toast (or pain perdu as the locals call it) and we even found some Canadian maple syrup at the local grocers to have with it. The fresh eggs and baguette made it extra tasty. Happy Easter!