Crousillants (Cheese Crackers)

As guests arrive for dinner, I like to serve a few nibbles to begin an evening of conviviality. A dish of olives and a plate of these crisp cheese crackers is easy and appeals to almost anyone. 


This recipe is taken from the Williams Sonoma Paris book, given to me by Tim who brought it home from San Francisco business trip. The dough can be made ahead and frozen, then baked early in the day. They are addictive little things - consider yourself forewarned.


2 cups shredded Comté or Gruyère cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
6 Tablespoons butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
pinch of cayenne pepper
2-3 Tablespoons chopped fresh chives*
coarse sea salt


In a food processor, combine the Comté, Parmesan, butter, flour and cayenne. Process until combined and crumbly, 40-60 seconds.


Transfer the mixture to a cool surface and pat into a log about 2 inches in diameter. You don't have to be particularly gentle with this dough. Wrap it in plastic wrap and chill for at least one hour. Or freeze for longer storage.


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Unwrap dough and slice into rounds about 1/4 inch thick. Arrange on parchment paper lined baking sheets, about 1 inch apart. Sprinkle with the chives, then about 1 teaspoon sea salt. 


Bake the crackers until they are a light, golden brown, 10 -15 minutes, taking care to not let them get too dark. If the edges brown too much the crackers will taste bitter. 


Remove from the oven and serve to your delighted guests.

*Should you find yourself without fresh chives, a little dried or fresh thyme is a good substitute. 

Eggplant Mushroom Stacks

Eggplant is one vegetable I never tasted until well into adulthood. But since discovering it I appreciate its versatility. And fortunately my family has adventurous taste buds and will try just about anything. 


These are easy to put together, add character to a plate, and have a mellow, warm taste that fit today's snowy weather. I think the parsley, or another fresh herb, is indispensable to the dish, adding a fresh element to the mellow flavors. My husband might disagree a little, but he doesn't complain.


Eggplant Mushroom Stacks


1 medium eggplant, washed, ends trimmed, and cut into 1/2-3/4 inch slices
olive oil
salt and pepper
1-1/2 cups thickly sliced mushrooms
2 Tablespoons butter
2 green onions, sliced
2 Tablespoons white wine or chicken broth
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tablespoons chopped parsley


Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Brush olive oil on both sides of the eggplant slices. Place them on a rimmed baking sheet in a single layer. Sprinkle the tops with salt and pepper. Bake eggplant for 10 - 15 minutes on one side, then flip over and continue baking another 10 - 15 minutes until very tender. 


While the eggplant bakes, melt the butter and 2 Tablespoons olive oil in a skillet. Heat to medium high and add the mushrooms. Let them cook without stirring for 1-2 minutes so that they brown a bit. Add the green onions, stir and continue sautéing until the mushrooms have released their liquid. 


Push the mushrooms to one side of the pan and add the white wine or chicken broth and mustard. Whisk vigorously, combining the wine and mustard, scraping up any bits from the bottom of the skillet. Then stir the mushrooms into the liquid and cook over high heat until most of the liquid is evaporated.


When the eggplant is baked, pile the mushrooms onto each slice. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and return to the oven for about 5 minutes. Place on a serving platter and toss parsley over.

Thyme Pork Chops with Mustard Sauce

After Christmas feasting followed by New Year's feasting, yesterday felt like a good day to have something homey for dinner. These pork chops were tender and moist and tasted so good with the bok choy. Thyme is my favorite winter herb. I think it has a warm earthy flavor that suits rainy, windy weather.


This is a fast recipe - easily done in less than 30 minutes. I served it alongside roasted sweet potato wedges and garlicky green beans with tomatoes. Lots of vegetables - just what I love.


I cooked this recipe in one pan, keeping the greens hot until the chops were done. Two frying pans could also be used, but then you have two pans to wash. 


Thyme Pork Chops with Mustard Sauce


3 thick boneless pork chops
dried thyme, salt and pepper
2-3 Tablespoons olive oil
1/2 medium onion, slivered
3 baby bok choy, sliced
1/4 cup white wine
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard (peppercorn would be delicious)
2 Tablespoons cream (optional)


Heat 1 Tablespoon olive oil in skillet. Add slivered onions and sauté until tender crisp. Add the sliced bok choy and continue sautéing until onions are tender and bok choy is tender crisp - between 5 and 10 minutes. Remove the vegetables to a serving platter and keep warm.


Add 1-2 Tablespoons olive oil to skillet. Heat to medium. Sprinkle both sides of pork chops with dried thyme, salt and pepper. Place in skillet, cook until done, turning once, about 10 minutes. Place chops on top of onions and bok choy. Keep warm.


Deglaze the skillet with white wine, stirring up all the caramelized bits from the bottom of the pan. Whisk in the mustard and add the chicken broth. Reduce the liquid by about one half. Whisk in cream, if desired. Pour sauce over chops.

Bûche de Noël

I found this recipe many years ago - in the early 1990s I believe, in a Good Housekeeping magazine. It's become a tradition around here - usually for Christmas Eve. This year, since we'll be celebrating with our family on Boxing Day, the 26th of December, I'll serve it then.

It freezes very well and is not at all difficult to make. The icing is a cooked one, made with flour, sugar and butter, and not overly sweet - a good thing around this time of year.

Bûche de Noël

1/3 cup flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon ground ginger

5 eggs, separated

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/2 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 15 1/2 x 10 1/2 inch jelly roll pan. Line it with waxed paper and lightly grease the paper. Dust with a little extra cocoa powder.

Combine the flour, cocoa powder and spices. Sift together. 

Beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until stiff peaks form. Set aside.

In large mixing bowl, beat the egg yolks with the 1/2 cup sugar until thick and lemon coloured. Fold the whites into the yolks. Fold in the flour mixture, and lastly, the melted butter. Spread in prepared jelly roll pan. 

Bake 10 minutes. Turn out onto a tea towel that has been dusted with icing sugar. Peel off the waxed paper. Roll the hot cake up with the tea towel. Cool.

Prepare the Brandied Butter Cream. 

Brandied Butter Cream

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup flour

1 cup milk

1 square semisweet chocolate

1 square unsweetened chocolate

1 cup butter

2 Tablespoons brandy

1 teaspoon vanilla

Stir together the sugar and flour. Whisk in the milk. Cook over low heat until thickened and bubbly, whisking constantly. (I do this in the microwave to prevent burning.) Cool completely. Melt the chocolate and set aside.

In large mixing bowl beat the butter until fluffy. Gradually beat in the flour mixture. Add the brandy and vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy. Spoon 1/2 of the mixture into a separate bowl. Use it to fill the cake roll. To the other 1/2 of icing, add the melted chocolate. Use it to ice the cake roll. 

To fill and ice: Unroll the cooled cake. Spread the white icing over the cake surface. Reroll. Cut off one end of the cake roll at an angle and place it against the remaining roll to resemble a tree branch. Cover the cake roll with the chocolate icing, leaving the ends uncovered. To create the bark effect, draw a fork through the icing.

Decorate with holly. Slice to serve. It can be frozen, then well wrapped until needed. 

Buche De Noel

Toasted Almond Chip Balls

My husband is one of the fortunate ones who hasn't gained a pound in over 30 years. And I do feed him well. But he has cookies everyday, so I bake year round. At Christmas I bring out special recipes, like this one. It's called Toasted Almond Chip Balls, but we call it Mary's grandmother's cookies because a friend of ours gave it to us and said it was from her grandmother. Whatever the name, they are delicious. And easy. And they keep well in the freezer.

They have a shortbread-ish texture and melt in your mouth. Toasting the almonds brings out their flavor. Two or three of these are delectable with a cup of tea. 

Toasted Almond Chip Balls

2 cups flour

1 cup chocolate chips, chopped (or use mini chocolate chips)

1 cup chopped toasted almonds (toast for 8-10 minutes at 350 - then cool)

1 cup butter, room temperature

1/4 cup white sugar

2 Tablespoons brown sugar

1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

2 teaspoons almond extract

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and knead well. Use two hands. It's lovely and therapeutic, and would work well with children, too.

Form into 1 inch balls. Place on parchment lined baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until lightly golden. Roll immediately in sifted icing sugar, then place on a rack (or brown paper) to cool.

Crostini 1 and 2, Avocado Salsa in Endive Leaves

This is the time of year when I like to have easy snack foods available for company and for cozy movie nights. I'm an appetizer fan - the perfect meal for me is a collection of tasty bits on my plate. But I like them to be made from real food, not packaged things full of preservatives and chemicals.

I made these for the baby shower a few weeks ago and everyone seemed to like them. They hardly need recipes, but here's an explanation.

Crostini 1

Slice a baguette and brush each side with olive oil, then toast each side in the oven for a few minutes under the broiler until golden. Watch carefully - I've burned my fair share of these. Then spread some pesto on the bread and top with 1-2 teaspoons of fresh goat cheese, then a few shavings of rosemary ham (or whatever ham you like, prosciutto is good, too). Just before serving, bake for a few minutes to soften the cheese - 5 or 10 minutes at most, at 350 degrees.

Crostini 2

Prepare baguette slices as above, then top with tapenade. Make your own or buy it from a delicatessen. 

Serve as is, or top with a bit of freshly grated parmesan cheese and run under the broiler.

There were crostini leftover from the shower and I decided to try freezing them. It worked better than I'd hoped. Just freeze them in a single layer then seal them well. To reheat, place on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes or until thawed and heated through. 

Avocado Salsa in Endive

Low-carb, dairy and gluten free, healthy, fresh. It's like eating a bit of salad in your hand.

Dice an avocado (or two), a tomato (or three), some red onion (finely dice), a jalapeno pepper if you're feeling adventurous. Mix it all together with salt and pepper to taste, add the juice of one lemon and pile into endive leaves. 

Enjoy! and for my American readers and friends - have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Kale with Garlic and Blue Cheese

Kale is one of those pretty vegetables, all curly and deep green. It's surprisingly versatile, but we like it best simply sautéed, with seasonings and a bit of cheese, then baked for a few minutes. It makes a nice accompaniment to almost any dish - tonight it was bacon wrapped chicken with a balsamic marmalade glaze. That recipe needs more tweaking before putting it on the blog. So for now, it's just the kale.

Kale with Garlic and Blue Cheese

1 bunch kale, washed, stems removed and coarsely chopped

1 Tablespoon olive oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over medium high heat. Add the kale and toss until it wilts down. Reduce the heat if you find the kale sticking to the bottom of the pan. Sauté for 3-5 minutes or until almost tender and still bright green. Add the garlic and continue sautéing for another 3-5 minutes. The kale should be tender but still chewy. Salt and pepper to taste, remembering that the cheese will add additional salt.

Spoon the kale into a shallow gratin casserole. Sprinkle with the blue cheese and bake at 400 degrees for 5 - 10 minutes. The cheese should be melted and slightly browning.

This can be prepared ahead and kept in the fridge before baking. 

serves 2-3