Just a French Guy Cooking

by Alexis Gabriel Aïnouz

  However, if you do want to get into it more deeply, here is the simple method I follow each time I’m choosing a wine: in my head, I have a classification of dishes ranging from the most delicate to the most intensely flavoured. This reads something like: raw food, seafood, starters, vegetable dishes, fish, white meat, red meat, spicy dishes, sweet things/desserts.

  Now here is a classification of wines also going from the lightest to the heaviest: dry white (Muscadet, Sauvignon Blanc) or rosé, full-bodied white (Chardonnay) or rosé, light red (Gamay, Pinot Noir), medium red (Merlot, Sangiovese), full-bodied red (Zinfandel, Shiraz/Syrah) plus sweet wines (Sauternes) and super-aromatic wines (Gewürztraminer).

  All that remains is to put these two classifications alongside each other and you’ll have a pretty efficient way of picking the right wine to go with a dish. For example:

  Seafood – dry white (a good beer is even better but that’s just me)

  Salad – dry white

  Raw vegetables – light to full-bodied white or light red

  Chicken – full-bodied white or light red

  Roasted vegetables – medium red

  Beef, lamb – full-bodied red

  Indian curry – super-aromatic white

  Black Forest gâteau – sweet wine

  Of course, like every rule in the world, this one is to be taken with a pinch of salt. Sometimes you’ll find that a red wine goes well with a dessert and it would be a shame to deprive yourself. (Personally, I love red wine with chocolate but I’d never admit it publicly.)

  What about cheese?

  Many people (including French ones) picture a glass of red wine complementing an oozing Camembert. Well… it’s difficult to be more wrong. Instead, go for a dry white wine as its freshness will ‘cut through’ the fat, salt and cream in the cheese.

  An open-minded soupe au pistou

  MY THING

  * * *

  Something I really like is to add cold pesto to a hot soup as I find the contrast really brings out the fantastic aroma of the basil or whichever herb you’ve used.

  This vegetarian soup is how they make minestrone in Provence. As we’re being a bit open-minded, instead of ordinary basil you’ll find the pistou is equally good made with Thai basil, tarragon, coriander cilantro or even mint in which case use only one-third mint to twothirds parsley. You can also be creative with your choice of cheese, so instead of grated Parmesan, try another variety such as Comté or mature Cheddar. tarragon, coriander cilantro or even mint in which case use only one-third mint to twograted Parmesan, try another variety such as Comté or mature Cheddar. thirds parsley. You can also be creative with your choice of cheese, so instead of

  Serves 4

  2 garlic cloves

  pinch of sea [kosher] salt flakes

  1 bunch of fresh basil

  3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

  50g [½ cup] grated Parmesan

  1 carrot

  1 courgette [zucchini]

  2 red tomatoes (want to use yellow ones? Sounds a super idea to me)

  2 sprigs of fresh thyme

  2 bay leaves

  about 2L [8½ cups] vegetable stock or water

  100g [3½oz] frozen green beans

  100g [½ cup] frozen peas

  400g (14oz) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

  To make the pistou (which is actually just pesto without any nuts), peel 1 of the garlic cloves, place it in a pestle and mortar or small food processor and add the salt. Crush the garlic and then add the basil leaves a few at a time, grinding them until you have a paste. Mix in the olive oil a little at a time until evenly combined, as if you were making mayonnaise, and finally add the grated cheese.

  Slice the remaining garlic clove. Cut the carrot, courgette and tomatoes into equal-sized small cubes, measuring less than 1cm [in].

  Put the carrot, sliced garlic, thyme and bay leaves in a large saucepan and pour in the vegetable stock or water. Leave to simmer over a medium heat until the stock or water has reduced by one third.

  After 10 minutes add the courgette, green beans and peas. After 20 minutes add the tomatoes and after 30 minutes the drained cannellini beans. Simmer until the beans are heated through. Taste and adjust the seasoning as necessary.

  A little piece of advice: avoid stirring as the vegetables will become mushy and you risk the soup becoming very cloudy. Also avoid adding seasoning too early – in other words before the cooking liquid has reduced – as the finished soup risks being much too salty.

  Spoon a good ladleful into each soup bowl and add a generous spoonful of pistou in the centre. Leave diners to swirl the two together as then they’ll feel they’ve had a hand in making the soup (which, between ourselves, isn’t the case as you’re the chef).

  And finally

  By adding some small pasta shapes to the soup (orzo, elbow, etc), you can turn it into a complete meal.

  Pot-au-pho-bò

  This is speed dating between a comforting French pot-au-feu and a fragrant and exotic Vietnamese pho bo soup. It is, I think, a poor imitation of a classic pot-au-feu, just as it would be scandalous to claim it as authentic Vietnamese cuisine, but at the end of the day it works rather well. So there!

  Serves 4

  For the bouillon

  2 large yellow or white onions, unpeeled

  5-cm [2-in] piece of root ginger, unpeeled and roughly sliced

  1 Tbsp oil

  100g [3½oz] minced [ground] beef salt and pepper

  2 beef marrow bones (if unavailable, a chicken carcass would work)

  1 beef stock cube, crumbled

  1 leek, trimmed and cut into 5-cm [2-in] lengths

  2 Tbsp fish sauce

  3–4 sprigs of thyme and 2 bay leaves tied together

  3 large pinches of five-spice powder (or, if you’re feeling adventurous, roast 4 whole cloves with 2 star anise, 2 cinnamon sticks and 2 tsp coriander seeds and grind together to make your own)

  To serve

  2 carrots

  1 celery stick

  4 vermicelli rice noodle nests

  400g [14oz] beef carpaccio or, if you’re looking for a challenge, a piece of steak cut into wafer-thin slices (the freezer is your friend here as, if the steak is really cold, it will be easier to slice very finely)

  Thai basil or ordinary basil

  Coriander [cilantro]

  Cut the onions in half and grill [broil] them, cut side down, with the ginger, until nicely charred but not completely black – grilling the onions and ginger will add colour to the stock. If you have a gas cooker you can do this over a flame on the hob. But beware: flames + fingers = problems, somewhere I don’t want to go.

  Heat the oil in a large, deep saucepan, season the minced beef with salt and pepper and sear it over a high heat for 2 minutes. Add the marrow bones (or chicken carcass), the stock cube, onion halves, ginger, leeks, fish sauce, thyme and bay leaves.

  Pour in 3 litres [3 quarts] of water, bring to the boil, lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

  To serve, use a speed [swivel] peeler to shave the carrots and celery into thin strips and then cut these into fine matchsticks (about 10cm [4in] long).

  Put a vermicelli nest in each serving bowl and strain the bouillon into the bowls. If you’ve used beef bones, scoop out the marrow from the bones into the bowls and add the leeks as well.

  Garnish with slices of raw beef and the carrot and celery shavings. Finish with the basil and coriander – and slurp.

  Soup mash-up

  Pot-au-feu is a richly flavoured clear bouillon in which different vegetables and chunks of meltingly tender beef gently float. In Vietnamese pho soup, the accent is not on vegetables but on a balance between clear and spicy (cinnamon, star anise...) bouillon and tender beef, sliced very thinly.

  ‘Sort of’ ayam

  I tasted my first Indonesian Soto Ayam in a London street in the pouring rain on a freezing cold day. Believe me, it was a taste of sunshine.

  Serves 4

&n
bsp; 4 chicken thighs, skinned

  salt and pepper

  1 lemongrass stalk, bashed and tied in a knot

  a pinch of ground turmeric

  600ml [2½ cups] coconut milk

  600ml [2½ cups] chicken stock

  2 garlic cloves, skinned and crushed

  2.5-cm [1-in] piece of root ginger, peeled and grated

  4 nests of dried rice vermicelli

  For the toppings

  1 lime, quartered

  1 hard-boiled egg, peeled and quartered

  prawn crackers

  fried shallots

  dried chilli flakes

  chopped fresh aromatic herbs – use whatever you have available such as coriander [cilantro], celery leaves, parsley, mint… it doesn’t matter

  Cut 3 or 4 deep slashes in each chicken thigh and season them generously with salt and pepper.

  Put the thighs in a large saucepan and add the lemongrass, turmeric, coconut milk, chicken stock, garlic and ginger. Simmer over a low heat for about 30 minutes and then remove and discard the lemongrass.

  Lift out the chicken thighs and take the meat off the bones. Place a vermicelli nest in each serving bowl and pour over the piping hot cooking liquid. Add the boned chicken pieces and serve garnished with the toppings.

  #HACK

  A crash course in ramen

  I have a confession to make: I just love instant ramen. I know that sounds terrible, especially coming from someone who tells people what – and what not – to eat and who tries (not always successfully, though) to set an example. The truth is, I can’t help it. I just enjoy the savoury kick I get every time I split open a pack of noodles.

  For the ultimate experience, it is necessary to follow the five successive Japanese gates called torii. Torii, , literally means a dwelling place for birds and is pronounced to.ri.i in Japanese. This traditional gate is most commonly found at the entrance to a Shinto shrine, or within it, where it symbolizes the transition from the mundane to the sacred.

  The gate of the Broth – the foundation

  Packed with umami, it can be rich or light, cloudy or clear, and pork-, chicken- or seafood-based, or even made with a combination of them. It’s often combined with dashi, a broth made from dried, smoked bonito flakes and sea kelp.

  The gate of the Noodles – the structure

  Without noodles, it’s not ramen. They are alkaline noodles, or to be more precise, often made from wheat flour with a low hydration content.

  The gate of the Toppings – the texture

  Chasu braised pork, marinated soft-boiled egg (ajitsuke tamago), spring onions [scallions], nori seaweed, menma fermented bamboo shoots and even sweet corn. They bring colour and different textures to the soup.

  The gate of Tare – the salt

  The flavouring base which is usually one of the following: shio (salt), shoyu (soy sauce) or miso (fermented soya bean paste).

  The gate of Aroma Oil – the fat

  This is picked up by the noodles as you slurp them. Common varieties of infused oil are black garlic oil, sesame oil, onion oil… Butter also works very well (I am French, so what do you expect…?).

  Once you’ve mastered the theory, you must practise and there is no better way to do this than to get out there and eat some really good ramen. I’d suggest you at least try:

  Tokyo ramen – pork and chicken broth + dashi + curly noodles. Classic.

  Sapporo miso ramen – thick noodles + akamiso + cabbage, sweet corn and minced pork. Butter is the icing on its cake.

  Hakata tonkotsu ramen – cloudy and fatty broth made from pork bones, sesame and black garlic oil. Intensely flavoured.

  4 four ways to instantly upgrade ramen

  My guilty secret is I’m addicted to instant Chinese-style noodles. I’m trying to give them up but while I’m waiting to be cured, I might as well have another fix. So, here are four almost instant combinations of ingredients that will add colour and flavour to the stock you use to cook the noodles. Most of the ingredients are added as toppings just before serving.

  To add to instant beef-flavoured ramen

  Thai basil and/or coriander [cilantro]

  bean sprouts

  thin slices of raw beef

  small piece of star anise and cinnamon stick (added to the cooking liquid for the noodles)

  To add to instant pork-flavoured ramen

  corn kernels

  chopped spring onions [scallions]

  a drizzle of milk and/or a knob of butter

  fried bacon bits (add when the noodles are almost cooked)

  To add to instant onion-flavoured ramen

  shredded young spinach leaves

  grated fresh root ginger

  a soft-boiled egg

  a few drops of sesame oil

  To add to instant vegetarian ramen minced mushrooms

  shredded Chinese cabbage (add when the noodles are almost cooked)

  carrots cut into matchsticks (add with the cabbage)

  fried tofu

  Baguette ball soup

  At home, I’ve always got some leftover baguette hanging around from the night before. For me, buying a baguette is the norm as it’s good, not expensive and available on every street corner in Paris. However, having seen the price of a baguette abroad, I’d guess if you bought one where you live, it wouldn’t have time to go stale, so for this recipe use whatever bread you have to hand.

  Serves 4

  stale bread, preferably baguette

  2 Tbsp neutral flavoured oil, e.g. rapeseed [canola], groundnut [peanut]

  ½ onion, finely chopped

  leftover roast chicken bones and skin

  4 large eggs

  ½ tsp baking powder

  1 litre [4 cups] well-flavoured chicken stock

  salt and pepper

  225g [8oz] cooked chicken

  2 carrots

  2 sticks of celery

  chopped fresh dill or thyme leaves

  Blitz the bread in a food processor until turned into fine crumbs – you will need 125g [12/3 cups]. Set aside.

  Heat the oil over a medium-low heat in a frying pan [skillet], add the chopped onion and the chicken bones and skin and fry gently for 10–15 minutes, stirring from time to time. Pass the contents of the pan through a fine strainer to separate the oil from the other ingredients, reserving the oil.

  Put the eggs, breadcrumbs, baking powder, the drained oil infused with the onion and chicken and 4 tablespoons of the chicken stock into a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper and mix everything together thoroughly. Chill in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.

  With damp hands, shape the breadcrumb mixture into small, walnut-sized balls. Put on a plate or board in a single layer and chill the matzo balls for 1 hour to firm them up.

  Heat a saucepan of salted water until simmering, add the matzo balls and poach them over a medium-low heat, with the pan covered, for about 30 minutes.

  Cut the chicken, carrots and celery into small pieces and microwave the vegetables on full power for 2 minutes to cook them.

  Reheat the remaining the stock and ladle it into 4 soup bowls. Divide the matzo balls between the bowls of steaming stock and add the pieces of chicken, carrots and celery. Scatter over the herbs and serve.

  A convenient onion soup

  NOTE!

  * * *

  I’m giving you a classic, fuss-free version of onion soup here but, if you’re after more complex flavours, add a pinch of mixed spice and a bouquet garni before starting to simmer the soup.

  You simply can’t ignore French ‘soupe à l’oignon’. I agree it looks gorgeous served in those pretty round bowls but, one: it takes a lot of preparation; and two: it makes a lot of washing up, so it’s not very practical, I’m sure you’ll agree.

  Serves 6

  1 Tbsp butter

  1 Tbsp neutral flavoured oil, such as rapeseed

  6 large onions, thinly sliced

  salt

  1 Tbsp brown sugar

  200m
l [scant 1 cup] dry white wine

  3 Tbsp any type of cognac (prefer to use rum or vodka? That’s OK, but choose an amber-coloured one)

  1 Tbsp flour

  2 litres [8½ cups] good-quality beef or vegetable stock

  ½ garlic clove

  slices of stale bread

  100–150g [1–1½ cups] grated hard cheese (Comté, strong Cheddar)

  Put a large, heavy-based saucepan over a medium-low heat, add the butter and oil and then the onions. Season with salt and add the sugar. Leave to cook for 30 minutes, stirring from time to time – the onions must be golden brown.

  Pour in the wine, then the cognac, and flambé (watch out for the flames when doing this). When the flames have died down, scrape the bottom of the saucepan with a wooden spoon to incorporate all the cooking juices sticking to it. Stir in the flour – this will give the soup a rich, syrupy consistency.

  Mix well and then add the stock. Turn down the heat as low as it will go and leave to simmer for 30 minutes.

  Rub a large gratin dish with the garlic and pour in the soup. Cover the surface with bread slices and top them with a generous layer of grated cheese.

  Grill [broil] until the cheese bubbles and turns a nice golden brown before placing the dish triumphantly in the centre of the table. The heat and steam are fierce enough to burn the table cloth, which admittedly would add considerably to the drama, but if you’re attached to the cloth, put a trivet or pot stand on the table first.

  #HACK

  6 fresh herbs

  I always buy these fragrant herbs fresh, as, for me, they are so delicate and fragile they lose almost all their appeal when they are dried. One piece of advice – you should avoid cooking them as you’ll destroy their flavour and aroma.