Just a French Guy Cooking

by Alexis Gabriel Aïnouz

  4 savoury toppings for buckwheat crêpes

  There are an infinite number of toppings that you can pile onto a buckwheat crêpe. However, three are enough to produce a balanced dish: a star with a stand-out personality, a second player in a reliable supporting role, and finally a challenger to spice up the action. Take a crêpe, reheat it for 1 minute in a frying pan and top with one of the following combinations.

  Scallops flambéed in whisky, with cream and leeks

  2 scallops, oil for frying, a shot of whisky, 1 Tbsp double [heavy] cream, ½ small leek

  Slice the scallops in half horizontally (if they are thinner they will fit more easily into the crêpe), brush lightly with oil and season well. Sear them in a frying pan [skillet] over a very high heat.

  Take the pan off the heat, pour in the whisky and set alight, taking great care to avoid the flame that might shoot up! (Clue: don’t lean forward with your head over the pan to check when it is going to go out…). Add the cream and set to one side.

  Slice the leek into thin rounds and fry in a little oil in a frying pan until they are nicely browned. Spoon the filling onto a warm crêpe and fold up to serve.

  Sausage, potato and wholegrain mustard

  1–2 potatoes, oil for frying, 1 sausage, 1 Tbsp wholegrain mustard

  Cut the potatoes into thin slices, 2–3mm [in] thick, season and toss them in a little oil. Cook in a frying pan [skillet] until they are nicely browned. Remove from the pan and keep warm while you fry the sausage.

  Add the sausage to the pan and fry until browned and cooked all the way through. Take the pan off the heat and cut the sausage into slices. Save the juices from the pan and mix them with the mustard. Spoon the filling onto a warm crêpe and fold up to serve.

  Goat cheese, baby spinach and walnuts

  40g [1½oz] firm goat cheese, 2 handfuls of baby spinach leaves, 5 walnut halves

  This is the quickest to make. Cut the goat cheese into slices, 5mm [¼in] thick. Wash and dry the spinach leaves. Break the walnut halves into small pieces. Spoon the filling onto a warm crêpe and fold up to serve.

  Aubergine, roasted tomatoes and toasted pine nuts

  ½ aubergine [eggplant], oil for frying, sea salt, 2–3 roasted tomatoes in a jar, 2 tsp pine nuts

  Cut the aubergine into thick slices and fry over a gentle heat in a little olive oil and salt. After 20–30 minutes, they will be soft inside and caramelized on the outside.

  Drain the roasted tomatoes and cut them into small pieces. Optional: you can toast the pine nuts in a dry frying pan to give them a better colour. Spoon the filling onto a warm crêpe and fold up to serve.

  Picture.

  My go-to buttermilk pancakes

  There are times in life to be bold, adventurous and even a little bit crazy. And then... there are times for having a hot breakfast under the duvet, eating comfort food that has nothing to prove. My go-to pancake recipe is exactly that. Something you already know you’ll love and that will make you feel good. Phew.

  Makes 16–20 pancakes

  250g [2 cups] plain [all-purpose] flour

  2 tsp baking powder

  1 tsp salt

  2 Tbsp sugar

  2 eggs

  350ml [1½ cups] buttermilk

  4 Tbsp melted, cooled butter, plus extra for greasing

  Serving suggestions

  maple syrup

  crisp-fried bacon or fresh berries

  Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a mixing bowl and stir in the sugar.

  Whisk the eggs and buttermilk together in another bowl or large jug until mixed and then very gradually whisk in the melted butter. Add to the dry ingredients, stirring lightly until everything is just combined – don’t beat vigorously until the batter is smooth, as it should be lumpy.

  Heat a large, heavy-based non-stick frying pan [skillet] and grease lightly by rubbing a little melted butter [or oil] over it. Spoon 2 or 3 tablespoons of the batter into the pan for each pancake (cook 3 or 4 pancakes at a time) and cook for 2 minutes until the pancakes are golden brown underneath and bubbles appear on top. Flip the pancakes over and cook for another 2 minutes or until they are golden brown on the other side.

  Remove from the pan and keep the pancakes warm in a clean tea towel while you cook the rest of the batter.

  Serve warm topped with maple syrup and crisp-fried bacon or fresh berries.

  TIP

  Go easy with the stirring when you make the batter as it absolutely must not be over-mixed. If you beat it until it’s smooth, you’ll get the gluten in the flour working too hard and end up with tough, chewy pancakes. Yuck.

  Buttermilk pancakes made with different grains

  Why on earth make your pancakes just with wheat flour when there are dozens of different grains in this world? Here I’m giving you four but, remember, step out of your comfort zone and the world is your oyster!

  Chickpea pancakes

  Makes about 12 pancakes

  Drain a 400-g [14-oz] can of chickpeas [garbanzo beans] and rinse them well. Tip the chickpeas into a blender, add 1 egg and blend a little bit. Add 115ml [½ cup] buttermilk, 1 tsp baking powder, a drizzle of oil, 1 Tbsp sugar and ½ tsp salt and blitz everything together until smooth. Using kitchen paper [paper towels], rub a frying pan [skillet] with a little oil and place it over a medium heat. Cook the pancakes in the same way as for my go-to buttermilk pancakes – they’ll just take a bit longer. Other than that, they’re perfect!

  Rye pancakes

  Makes about 16 pancakes

  Mix together 60g [½ cup] rye flour with 60g [½ cup] plain [all-purpose] flour, 1 tsp baking powder, ½ tsp salt and 2 Tbsp sugar. Measure 350ml [1½ cups] buttermilk into a jug and whisk half into the dry ingredients. Beat 1 egg and the remaining buttermilk together and whisk into the flour mixture until just combined (lumps are fine). Grease a frying pan [skillet] with a little oil and cook the pancakes over a medium heat as before.

  Polenta pancakes

  Makes about 12 pancakes

  Mix together 80g [2/3 cup] plain [all-purpose] flour, 50g [1/3 cup] instant polenta [yellow cornmeal], 1 Tbsp sugar, 1 tsp baking powder and ½ tsp salt. Whisk 1 egg with 150ml [2/3 cup] buttermilk and 4 Tbsp neutral flavoured oil and stir into the dry ingredients until lightly mixed. Grease a frying pan [skillet] with a little oil and cook the pancakes over a medium heat as before.

  Buckwheat pancakes

  Makes about 14 pancakes

  Mix together 140g [1 cup] buckwheat flour, 2 Tbsp sugar, 2 tsp baking powder and ½ tsp salt. In another bowl or jug, whisk together 2 Tbsp melted butter, 300ml [1¼ cups] buttermilk and 1 egg. Add the milk mixture to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined – again, the mixture should be lumpy. Grease a frying pan [skillet] with a little oil and cook the pancakes over a medium heat as before.

  #HACK

  How to fool everyone into thinking you’re a French chef

  In this book, I’ve tried to get rid of the snobby elitism sometimes typical of French haute cuisine. Here it’s the opposite, as my aim is to make you appear to your friends like a Michelin-starred Parisian chef but at a fraction of the cost. I confess there is also the sadistic pleasure of being surprised when others don’t know the ‘really, really, common’ French term you’ve just used.

  Au bain marie

  [say: oh-bahn-mah-ree]

  This is nothing more than a double boiler but, I agree, it does sound much posher. Here’s what you say:

  ‘Of course, you can’t make a sabayon (another one!) in a pan directly over the heat, it has to be cooked au bain marie. Gosh.’

  Beurre maître d’hôtel

  [say: buhr-meh-tru-doh-tell]

  If you mash butter with crushed garlic and chopped parsley, you’ll get a beauty that will melt seductively over steak, chicken breast or even fish. The conversation goes like this:

  ‘Last night I made her my famous entrecote maître d’hôtel [the ‘with beurre’ is silent].’ ‘What did she say?’

  �
�Man, she was practically weeping with joy!’

  Bisque

  [say: bee-ss-kuh]

  Any fish or shellfish soup can be called a bisque if it’s been thickened with a bit of butter and flour mashed together (that’s a beurre manié by the way). Probably one of the snobbiest big guns in your French arsenal.

  ‘In my opinion, making a soup was a mistake but I guess a bisque was too much to ask…’

  Bouquet garni

  [say: boo-kehgahr-nee]

  Using thin string, tie together several sprigs of parsley and thyme, a celery stalk and a bay leaf. This aromatic bundle is used like a teabag to flavour soups, stocks and sauces. As in:

  ‘When he/she slowly wrapped his/her arms around me, I felt like a bouquet garni.’

  Consommé

  [say: konh-soa-meh]

  This is just a clear broth or stock but I reckon it sounds posh, even to me. I love it and I can’t wait to slip it into the conversation when I next see my friends at a party – haha.

  Jus

  [say: jüüh]

  I can honestly say I’d use this one to show off as well. A jus is a stock or sauce that has been well reduced so it’s packed with bold flavours.

  ‘Yes, the food was great but, for God’s sake, he needs to put a little more love into his jus!!!’

  And – just so you know – it can also mean coffee.

  #HACK

  Chef vs street – how do you chop an onion?

  One of the first techniques that I mastered in the kitchen was how to chop an onion. As the onion is economical, full of flavour and present in every recipe on the planet, I’d advise you to do the same.

  From a very serious and very French manual, I learned the classic way of chopping an onion according to the rule book and, indeed, it works very well.

  But one day, watching a video on YouTube, I learned another method used by streetfood sellers in India. I felt as though I’d received a slap in the face. This method is certainly less precise but much quicker (although, until you’ve got the hang of it, take it easy and watch your fingers).

  I love it when everyday cooking gets one over on chef cuisine. It makes me happy. Here are the two techniques for you to decide which one suits you best.

  The traditional method

  For this technique, you will need any chef’s knife or paring knife.

  Cut the onion in half, remove the skin and lay one half, cut side down, so it is flat with the root away from you.

  Make vertical cuts down the onion half. This is when you determine how thick your chopped pieces will be.

  Make two horizontal cuts across it (sounds daft to me but, as they mention it, I’ve added it here).

  Turn the half onion 90 degrees so the root is on the left (I’m a rightie).

  Chop it, with your fingers tucked under (like a claw) so they are away from the knife blade.

  When the half becomes unstable (too tall and with a narrow base), flip it on its side and continue chopping until only the root itself remains. Repeat with the other onion half.

  The streetfood method

  For this technique, you will need a very sharp knife with a long, straight, thin blade.

  Slice off a big piece at the top of the onion and a smaller piece at the base. Remove the skin. The onion must be able to stand upright on its root.

  Run the knife blade down top to bottom through one half of the onion to make 4 or 5 vertical slashes but without going as far as the root. The idea is to use the length of the knife so that the tip stops as it touches the chopping board.

  Spin the onion 90 degrees and do the same again on the other side.

  The onion is still upright but is now scored into small dice. Let it fall on its side so it flattens out a bit and chop the rest.

  When you reach the root, lie it flat and chop that as well.

  This method requires more practice to perfect but when you have kilos of onions to chop, it is devilishly efficient.

  A perfectly cooked steak

  Be warned: my way of cooking steak is a bit of a pain. Having said that, the end result is beyond epic. It involves using state-of-the-art culinary techniques like sous-vide and temperature control... But, don’t panic. It’s me and I promise I’ll keep it cheap, fun and easy. Let’s do it!

  Everyone knows how they like their steak but fewer know that it’s all down to the core temperature of the meat. Rare steak is 54ºC [130ºF], medium rare 57ºC [135ºF], medium 60ºC [140ºF] and well done 65ºC [149ºF]. The problem is that if you cook a steak the classic way, either under a grill [broiler] or in a frying pan [skillet], its temperature rises very fast so, to ensure the steak is cooked how you like it, you have to guess when to remove it from the heat. GUESSING! Do this too early and it will be underdone; a bit too late and it will be over.

  Even if you manage to get it right, there is another problem you only discover when you slice your steak. Take a look! The doneness you want is only in the very centre. Between that and the crust, the rest of the meat (what I call the gradient) isn’t right at all. My mission is to get rid of this gradient and have a perfectly cooked steak all the way through.

  To do this, I use a cheat’s controlled-temperature cooking technique called sous vide or – avoiding ‘chef-speak’ – vacuum packed and for this you need an ice box. This brilliant insulator is perfect not just for keeping food fresh but also for keeping it warm for a long time and, believe it or not, it’s spot on for cooking steak. Something else you’ll need is a digital meat thermometer, which you can pick up from a kitchen store or online fairly cheaply.

  Now, take your nice thick steak and put it in a ziplock bag with a bit of butter and a sprig of thyme. Tuck the end of a straw into the bag alongside the steak and seal the bag so it is almost closed. Suck the air out through the straw, then remove the straw and seal the bag completely. As the bag is in close contact with the steak this will ensure more even cooking.

  Fill the bath of the ice box with warm water. As the water will lose 1–2 degrees’ heat per hour, I recommend that you have the water temperature slightly higher than the meat temperature you’re aiming at. Put the sealed bag in the warm water along with the probe of the meat thermometer and close the box lid tightly.

  From now it should take about 2 hours to cook your steak if it’s 5cm [2in] thick or 1 hour if it’s 2.5cm [1in] thick. Check the temperature displayed on the thermometer occasionally to make sure it’s stable. If it needs adjusting, add a bit of hot water to the bath. The bigger the ice box, the more stable the temperature will be. The obvious but amazing consequence of cooking a steak like this is that the temperature cannot go higher than the starting temperature of the water, so the steak will never be overcooked. On the other hand, don’t leave it in for more than 3 hours and when it’s done, get it out of the bath.

  When you remove the steak from the bag I admit it will look pretty miserable and lacking something crucial – a succulent, brown crust – but 1 minute on each side in a frying pan over a very high heat will soon fix that.

  Slicing a steak cooked in this way is a thing of beauty. No gradient but beautiful pink meat, stretching from one caramelized crust to the other, that’s incredibly juicy. There will be no going back…

  Terrifyingly terrific steak tartare

  OK, I know this dish isn’t for everyone. Not only does it contain raw beef as Italian carpaccio does but also raw egg yolk like homemade mayonnaise and proper chocolate mousse so it comes with all the potential risks associated with those. This hasn’t prevented me from making steak tartare at home from time to time. How come? I source the very best ingredients money can buy and, as my butcher is a close friend, he advises me on which meat to choose. So, does that eliminate all the risks? Nope, but I’m hooked. It’s too good.

  Serves 2

  2 small gherkins [pickles]

  1 Tbsp capers

  1 small shallot

  1 anchovy fillet

  1 Tbsp each of fresh chopped parsley and chopped chives


  100g [3½oz] highest-grade fresh sirloin steak, refrigerated

  1 tsp each of mustard and tomato ketchup

  a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce

  sea salt flakes, freshly ground black pepper and a few drops of Tabasco

  2 organic egg yolks

  Finely chop the gherkins, capers and shallot and mash the anchovy fillet. Place in a bowl and mix in the chopped parsley and chives.

  Take the steak out of the refrigerator and cut it into very thin slices, trimming off any fat or sinew. Stack the slices on top of each other and cut them into really small dice.

  Add the diced steak to the bowl, along with the mustard, ketchup and Worcestershire sauce. Season with the salt, pepper and Tabasco. Mix everything together lightly but thoroughly. Divide in two.

  Place a large, round cookie cutter, or just a piece of double foil folded into a ring (long live DIY!), on a serving plate and press one portion of the mixture into it to make a patty. Carefully remove the cutter or foil ring and place the egg yolk on top to serve.

  VEGAN ALTERNATIVE?

  Are you outta your mind? Probably, but try this. Leave out the egg and anchovy, add vegan mayonnaise, and replace the meat with a mixture of chopped cherry tomatoes, sun- dried tomatoes and red (bell) peppers, pretty tasty alternative, minus the muscle.

  The beef bur-ger-nion

  Rare? No thanks... Most of the bacteria in a steak is on the surface, which is why, after the outside has been well seared, it is acceptable indeed recommended to eat the steak rare. But when it comes to a burger, the process of mincing the steak mixes the bacteria that was just on the outside all the way through the meat. Also, eating a burger rare will be like licking a piece of raw barbak. Yum. ‘Barbak’ is a slang word we French guys use for meat... I have to confess it’s not very polite. I will make an exception for steak tartare, though...