PATE A LA ESCU

For some reason, lately I'm exploring french cooking more the ever before, so the pate is one of my favourites.

Being blessed to have a multi cultural circle of friends and family, always when I cook I am trying to accommodate everyone, so for the last party we've hosted,

I prepared this pork less pate .

Ingredients :

1/2 lb ground turkey

1/2 lb ground veal

1/2 lb chicken livers

6 eggs

4 scallions

4 tbs of sour cream

1/2 bunch of chopped dill

4 tbs of Dijon mustard

1/2 pan frozen pastry sheet

poppy seeds

salt and pepper

In a skillet add a little butter and saute the chicken livers with the chopped scallions for approximately 8 minutes.

Put them aside to cool of for 10 minutes ,and on the same time boil 3 eggs .

After the eggs are boiled , peel them off and finely chop them.

Chop the chicken livers as well.

Beat up 2 eggs, incorporating the sour cream and the finely chopped dill .

In a mixing bowl add : the ground meats, chicken livers with scallion and finely chopped eggs.

Mix all together, adding the eggs and sour cream mixture, add salt and pepper.

Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 1/ hour.

Heat up your oven at 28o degrees.

Flour the pastry sheet and add the filling for the pate.

Wrap the meat with the pastry sheet, closing the ends.

Brush the loaf all over with a little melted butter, then wrap it up with aluminum foil very tight.

Let it bake for 1 hr, the remove it from the oven, open up the foil, and brush

the loaf with the egg yolk of the last egg.

Sprinkle with poppy seeds and bake for 20 more minutes.

Remove the pate from the oven and let it rest.

Can be served while is still hot with mustard and cornichon, or refrigerate it and have it the day after.

I did prepare a little Dijonaise sauce for my pate mixing 2 tbs of Dijon mustard with a cup of Mayo and 2 tbs of white wine.

a great complement for this pate is Lambrusco wine, try the "Vecchia Modena" produced by Cleto Chiarli in Emilia Romagna.

This wine has a slight fizz, has tones of sweetness and finishes dry and crisp.

Enjoy your pate and feel free to post your comments on my blog.

Farroto with andouille

I don't know how many of you are familiar with farro, so I am posting this recipe with the hope that I can introduce to you this grain. Grano Farro has a long and glorious history: it is the original grain from which all others derive, and fed the Mediterranean and Near Eastern populations for thousands of years; somewhat more recently it was the standard ration of the Roman Legions that expanded throughout the Western World. In the centuries following the fall of the Empire, higher-yielding grains were developed and farro's cultivation dwindled. By the turn of the century in Italy there were a few hundreds of acres of fields scattered over the regions of Lazio, Umbria, Marche and Tuscany.

The farro can be prepared similar to a risotto, that's where the name farroto comes from.With the risk of offending my Italian friend (adding French ingredients), that's what I used for my farroto :

1 cup and a half of farro (not rinsed)

1 medium zucchine julienned

1/2 cup of corn kernels

1 medium sized shallot

8 oz of diced Andouille sausage

4 oz Tomme de Savoy

3 tbs of olive oil

2 tbs of not salted butter

Add the farro to boil with half gallon of water, while you sauteed in a separate pan, the shallots, zucchine, sausage with olive oil and butter.After 20 minutes, you'll observe that the farro water is reduced and the grains are fully cooked but still a little al dente. Add the rest of the ingredients from the saute pan, then mix them together with the grains over a lowered stove flame. Incorporate the cheese slices while you are keep stirring up.If the farroto looks too dry you can add a little water to it. don't forget the corn, just added almost to the end , as well salt and pepper. Decorate with chopped parsley, and you can serve it right away. If you are a vegetarian by any chance subtract the sausage and add mushrooms for example.We had a nice Vouvray (scusate mi!) Remy Pannier Vouvray 2006. Light-bodied and crisp, this wine is slightly off-dry, bursting with rich flavors of pears, apricots, apples, quince and honey.

Red lentils soup with smoked paprika marinated shrimp

Well,well,well I finally got a moment to bring up some new stuff, here is a soup that I've made for my family, for Easter lunch.

More dishes from that event will be posted soon.

This lentils shrimp soup is easy to make and very delicious.

You need the following ingredients in order to come up with the dish right :

(for 4 servings)

8 oz red lentils

1 carrot medium size

2 celery ribs

1/2 bunch of cilantro

2 garlic cloves

1 chopped medium size onion

2 tbs of turmeric powder

4 shrimp U10 size

smoked paprika

olive oil

In a large soup pot bring to boil: lentils, chopped onion,diced carrots, chopped celery and garlic along with 1l of cold water.

In a small pan mix 2 tbs of turmeric with 1oz of olive oil, until become a paste.

Add the paste to the boiling pot stirring in.

After approximately 25 minutes, the lentils and vegetables are cooked well.

Add salt and pepper as well, according to your taste along with the chopped cilantro and remove the pot from the stove top.

Let it rest for 10 minute.

Prepare a marinade of:1 tbs of smoked paprika, salt, and a squeeze of lemon.

Coat the shrimp with it and gently saute them for 1 minute.

Remove the shrimp from the saute pan then chopped them or skewer each of them like in the picture above.

Process the content of the soup pot in in a blender or food processor, until becomes velvety .

The soup is ready, all you need to do is enjoy it.

Usually is hard to match wines for soups, but I got to tell you, we had a nice

2006 Kerner from Abbazia di Novacella, which was the perfect match.

The wine color goes from pale straw yellow with green highlights to pale gold; fruit aromas; fresh and medium bodied.