Thursday, August 29, 2013

Lasagna for 8/10 person (lasagnes pour 8/10 personnes).

Hello everynone, I'm finally back from Brittany !!
It was just GORGEOUS and I took 1752 pictures.

... Yes...

So, you will understand I'll need some times to make a choice and to post SOME OF THEM :)

For the moment, I want to introduce you, maybe not the best lasagna in the world, but surely, they would be on the podium.

My oldest sister cooks perfect lasagna !
Each time she invites us to eat, she ask for what we want to eat, reply is still the same : Lasagna !

Which impeach her to be creative, you're right. But life is unfair, we already know it.

Some weeks ago, my parents in law came for diner and I wanted to make them lasagna. I had no choice : To capture my sister and obligate her to cook those lasagna for me...
I have to say the idea seemed great for a while. But she made judo when she was young and I was afraid to not run fast enough ...
Or to make them BY MYSELF !!

... And that's what I did, because I'm a winner !! ... And a poor runner.

So here what you'll need, friends :

  • 1 kilograms of ground beef
  • 500 grams of sausages meat
  • 1 liter of béchamel sauce 
  • 1 liter of tomato sauce
  • 500 grams of dry lasagna
  • 1 onion
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • Grated cheese
  • Herbes de provence or dry thyme, basil and oregano
  • Salt and pepper.
Your oven must be preheated at 180°C (Th 6 / 350°F)

Just remember a very important thing : Pasta, no matter their kind, pasta must be GENEROUS. Like an italian mamma. 
Better have more than less.
Never spare with pasta. Never. 



Step 1 :
Cut you onion in slices and make it brown on a low fire, with a pinch of salt, for 5 minutes. Then add garlic.


Step 2 :
When they are golden, add meat and let it brown until it's cooked.


Step 3 :
Pour tomato sauce, herbes de Provence, salt and pepper and let simmer 10-15 minutes on a low fire.


Step 4 :
... Or where I kill the idea of French Béchamel ! ... Ladies and Gentlemen, believe me, I'm really sorry to break this dream BUT french women too are always in hurry, working, having children, husband, laundry and, and, and ... Let me cry five minutes and I'll be back.
Well, so if you've got time to prepare the TRUE béchamel, right, you're just perfect. I'm not and some industrial ones are worthy for what I needed.
So, here my béchamel's recipe : Cook it the way it said on the box !


Well, just to say I've done something, I add a pinch of dry garlic and a pinch of ground nutmeg.


Step 5 :
Now, you can begin to prepare your lasagna. No need to make them cook before.
A layer of dry pasta ...


... a layer of meat/tomato sauce,


... A layer of béchamel,


And grated cheese.


Then do it again : dry lasagna, meat, béchamel and cheese. Until the top of the dish. End with meat/tomato sauce and grated cheese.


In the oven for 35 minutes.


Bon appétit, les amis !



Recapitulative for 10 persons :
  • 1 kilograms of ground beef
  • 500 grams of sausages meat
  • 1 liter of béchamel sauce 
  • 1 liter of tomato sauce
  • 500 grams of dry lasagna
  • 1 onion
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • Grated cheese
  • Herbes de provence or dry thyme, basil and oregano
  • Salt and pepper.
Your oven must be preheated at 180°C (Th 6 / 350°F)

Cut you onion in slices and make it brown on a low fire, with a pinch of salt, for 5 minutes. Then add garlic.

When they are golden, add meat and let it brown until it's cooked. 

Pour tomato sauce, herbes de Provence, salt and pepper and let simmer 10-15 minutes on a low fire.

Here my béchamel's recipe : Cook it the way it said on the box !

Prepare your lasagna. 
A layer of dry pasta, a layer of meat/tomato sauce, a layer of béchamel, and grated cheese. 

Then do it again : dry lasagna, meat, béchamel and cheese. Until the top of the dish. End with meat/tomato sauce and grated cheese. 

In the oven for 35 minutes.


Monday, August 26, 2013

Pineapple small cakes (petits gateaux à l'ananas)

Remember the pineapple cake that my father just loves ?

I didn't want to bake my usual huge cake. I decided to adapt it and try small ones, on the yogurt cake's base.
They are a good variation if you have to take them away, for example.

Here what you'll need :
  • 125 grams of yogurt, nature or pineapple flavored
  • 3 eggs
  • 125 grams of brown sugar (or a measure pot)
  • 275 grams of flour (or 3 measures pot)
  • 63 grams of neutral oil (or 1/2 measure pot)
  • 300 grams of canned pineapple
  • 1 tablespoon of rum
  • 1 tablespoon of liquid caramel (not obligatory)
  • 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon grams of baking powder


Your oven must be preheated at 180°C (350°F / Th6).

Step 1 : 
Stir sugar and yogurt. 


Step 2 : 
Then, beat the eggs in it. 


Step 3 : 
Stir one after one, flour, baking powder, oil, rum, vanilla and caramel.






Step 4 : 
Then, pour 1/4 cup of pineapple juice in the mixture.


Step 5 :
In a colander, pour pieces of pineapple, cut them if necessary, they don't have to be too big and add some flour. It will help the fruits to not fall in cake's bottom.


Step 6 :
Add them to the mixture, stir gently and fill the muffin mold.


In the oven for 25-30 minutes and that's it ! 
Bon appétit ! 




Recapitulative :
  • 125 grams of yogurt, nature or pineapple flavored
  • 3 eggs
  • 125 grams of brown sugar (or a measure pot)
  • 275 grams of flour (or 3 measures pot)
  • 63 grams of neutral oil (or 1/2 measure pot)
  • 300 grams of canned pineapple
  • 1 tablespoon of rum
  • 1 tablespoon of liquid caramel (not obligatory)
  • 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon grams of baking powder

Your oven must be preheated at 180°C (350°F / Th6).

Stir sugar and yogurt. 

Then, beat the eggs in it. 

Stir one after one, flour, baking powder, oil, rum, vanilla and caramel.

Then, pour 1/4 cup of pineapple juice in the mixture.

In a colander, pour pieces of pineapple, cut them if necessary and add some flour. 

Add them to the mixture, stir gently and fill the muffin mold.

In the oven for 25-30 minutes and that's it .

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Just another family time ...

Some shots of an evening meal to my second sister.

She baked a wonderful ratatouille and my brother in law just make cook a beef ... Yes, an entire.
We were 4 :)


Her garden is a real south garden : plants don't need too much water. They can live by themselves, no need to water them.


Jamie, look ! My sister drinks Pastis ! :D


Rosé for me, thank you ... :)


My sister helping my daughter to make a scoobidoo. My daughter is almost as tall as us now ... What impertinent children !



Yes, we've got enormous mosquitos, here ! ... :D






Hello, mister gecko ! Don't come too close to me ...



Thursday, August 22, 2013

Tomatoes and tuna quiche (quiche à la tomate et au thon).

My son told me :
"Mum, since you've got your blog, it's great because we're always eating something new !"

It was a good beginning, don't you think ?

Then he add :

"But, I don't like cooked tomatoes, you should know it ..."

And he did not eat this. One day, I'm going to feed him with suppository ! ... Don't try to stop me.

Here what you need for another kind of summer quiche :
  • 1 pastry
  • 2 tomatoes
  • 300 grams of canned tuna
  • 20 centiliters of half and half cream
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 tablespoon of mustard
  • Salt and pepper
  • Some basil
Your oven must be preheated at 180°C (350°F / Th 6).


Step 1 :
Unroll your pastry and spread out the mustard on.


Step 2 :
Crumble the tuna in.


Step 3 :
Cut your tomatoes in slices and arrange them under tuna.
Whisk eggs and cream, salt, pepper and some basil cut.


Step 5 :
Then, pour the mixture on it. And in the oven for 40 minutes.



Bon appétit !



Recapitulative :
  • 1 pastry
  • 2 tomatoes
  • 300 grams of canned tuna
  • 20 centiliters of half and half cream
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 tablespoon of mustard
  • Salt and pepper
  • Some basil
Your oven must be preheated at 180°C (350°F / Th 6).

Unroll your pastry and spread out the mustard on.

Crumble tuna in.

Cut your tomatoes in slices and arrange them under tuna.

Whisk eggs and cream, salt, pepper and some basil cut.

Then, pour the mixture on it. And in the oven for 40 minutes.

Monday, August 19, 2013

A week end to my dear friend the Hunter !

When my childhood friend The Hunter calls me and says : "come to spend week end with us", I'm always, ALWAYS happy to say yes.

I know him for 28 years. We were at school together and with my two others friends, Casanova and Popeye the Sailor Man (that I met at school, at this age too), they made my years !

First, because they were "bad boys"... Okay, just relativize !
I was a very nice and well educated little girl and they were ... just borderlines boys ! Not terrific ones, of course !
But just boys. And I was in admiration and petrified by fear, on the same time, when they used to do things I couldn't imagine to do !
They made me laugh to die and almost 20 years after, we're still friends.
The Hunter still lives where we met.
Casanova left France to live in England.
And Popeye enlisted into French Navy for 20 years and traveled a lot.

But we still kept contact and we're still here, after all these years.

I've got more links with The Hunter, because we kept on being together for years, while the two others went away.
He's my brother. We shared our dreams, ours fears. We talked a lot. He wrote me a lot, while he hates writing !
I'm his first daughter's godmother.
Our children get almost raised together and they love each others.

And most of all, when he says :"come to see us", I know time will stop, we're going to enjoy each minutes of the day, in a sane way, we're going to take time to live, to eat, to talk, to just be together.
No limit, no obligation.

When I go to him, I recharge myself.

Here are some pics I took from this week end.
PS : He agrees to let me post it :)

First day was a little bit cloudy.






My friend has 3 daughters, of 16 years old, 14 years old and 9 years old. And he's got 3 female dogs ! ... He's Sultan in his Harem. 
When his third baby girl was born, he decided it was time to have his own bathroom ! 


Here are the Famous Truffles Dogs !! ... Who never found one truffle of their entire life ! We use to tease him a lot with those dogs. 


"Let play together, Iona ... "



"Please, save me ..."


The oldest ones play Wii or watch a blog I absolutely don't know ! 



I love when men work ! ... My husband on the right, my friend on the left. 


Coffee time in crystal ball ? 


Then pool time !! Everything begins slowly then becomes crazy ! 






The Hunter is also a Gardener ... Even if this year, he's got some problems with snails. 






"Can I take a picture of you, extending machine ?
"Why not ? ... I've got a beautiful ass !"
So self confident ! :D


Mesdames, this man works, cooks, extend machines and he's single !! ... Don't let him waste ! 
Then it's time to make fire for evening BBQ.






And "bain de minuit" ! 




Bunk beds ?


The day after, men went to market. Yeah ... Even here, my husband wants to go to the market ! But this time, I had pool for myself. Children were still sleeping, I couldn't let this chance goes away ...
Sun, cicadas, loneliness... What else, Georges ? 



Then, they came back and we ate again ! 



And everything went fine in Happy world ! 




No, truly ?.. Can you really believe they would find a truffle ?... :D