Archives for December 2010

Buche de Noel

December 24, 2010 By Steve Dunn 28 Comments

I don’t have a lot of time today, but did want to wish everyone out there a joyous holiday season! As another year wraps to a close, we at Oui, Chef are grateful for the friends we’ve made here, and look forward to cooking more great food with you in the new year.

This buche de noel is one that Boris and I whipped up over the past few days, and will be enjoyed after our Christmas Eve dinner tonight. It is a combination of a few different recipes we found, inspiring a whole new holiday treat. It has a chocolate genoise cake layer, a filling of white chocolate mousse, and a coffee buttercream frosting….a few meringue mushrooms for decoration and you have a festive dessert worthy of any holiday table. This is not a difficult cake to make, but it does take some time. It would be a great holiday school vacation week project to tackle with your kids…serve it at your New Year’s party and thrill the crowd!

Wishing you all holidays full of love, laughter and lots of DELICIOUS food! Thank you so much for being such an important part of our little blog, we’ll see you next year!

Cheers – Steve and the Mrs., Grid, Boris, Arthas, Peyton and Muppet

Braciole

December 22, 2010 By Steve Dunn 16 Comments

This dish comes to us courtesy of Giada De Laurentiis of FoodTV fame. You may have noticed that I rarely, if ever, cook food that I picked up from a TV show. That’s mostly due to the fact that the abundance of food tv these days is food as blood sport, not food you’d ever necessarily want to cook and serve your family and friends. That’s not to say I don’t watch the competitive stuff, in fact I loved watching my friend Jody Adams compete on Top Chef Masters last season, and regularly tune into other Top Chef series’ when they air. I also have to admit to being a sucker for any Gordon Ramsey show, you know, like “Hell’s Kitchen” or “The F Word”. I think part of the appeal of Ramsey’s shows for me is a little game I play in my head as I watch, trying to gauge whether I think I could survive his tirades without throwing a dish at his head.

Chocolate Tofu Pudding!

December 17, 2010 By Steve Dunn 26 Comments

No…… your eyes are not deceiving you, the title of this post is “Chocolate Tofu Pudding”.

Yes…..you are visiting “Oui, Chef”, the VERY last place where you would expect to see tofu at all, let alone in a dessert!

For those of you who’s jaws have dropped to the floor, we’ll pause here a moment for you to pull yourself together.

Feeling better now? OK, let’s proceed.

Chicken with Tarragon and Sherry Vinegar

December 13, 2010 By Steve Dunn 12 Comments

Long before I ever had the pleasure of meeting Patricia Wells (I had the very good fortune to cook with her for a week while I lived in Paris), I was a HUGE fan. There is just something about her approach to food that really resonates with me. Perhaps it’s her focus on delicious “approachable” regional French cooking, stripped of its Michelin starred pretense, that really feels right and authentic. That’s not to say that she can’t saddle up with the best of them and cook haute cuisine meals, because she can. Her work with the famed Chef Joel Robuchon should put any question of that to rest. It’s just that she seems most comfortable sharing everyday (yet extraordinary) French cooking with those of us looking to inject a little joie de vivre into our kitchens.

Lisa’s "To Die For" Apple Pie

December 9, 2010 By Steve Dunn 15 Comments

I’m not much of a Facebook guy. Any of you who have been to my Oui, Chef Facebook Fan Page, can undoubtably attest to that fact…..sorry. I set up the page on a friend’s recommendation because “everyone” has one, so I should have one too. Problem is….I can’t figure out what the #$%& to do with it, so all it really contains are re-postings from my blog….ugh. To the 310 of you who have become my fans (Thanks!), please accept my apolgies for there not being anything more compelling on the fan page than what you find here. If any of you have any recommendations as to what I should do on my fan page, please let me know….I’m all ears. Perhaps one day I’ll figure it out on my own, but I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you.

I’m really no better with my personal Facebook page, in fact, I’m starting to think that I just don’t get the whole Facebook thing. All my “friends” find on my page are linked posts from this blog….I”M SO BORING. I mean, I’ve enjoyed reconnecting with old acquaintences from high school and college, but after a brief “hey nice to see you’re still alive”, and a “so what are you doing to keep yourself busy these days?”, I quickly run out of things to say. It’s not that I don’t care. Well, that’s what I keep telling myself anyway.

Savory Buckwheat Crêpes – Galettes de Sarrasin

December 5, 2010 By Steve Dunn 28 Comments

While traveling to Paris this past Summer, our young Muppet fell in love. Awww…I can hear you all sighing at the news…..how sweet.

Yeah, the poor little thing fell fast and hard, and I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you that her Mom and I were a bit concerned, it all happened so quickly. One day she’s a sweet and innocent 5th grader on her first trip to Europe, the next she’s on her knees begging that we take her back to the little restaurant on the Ile St-Louis where she lost her heart to a……..savory crêpe. Zut alors!

That’s right, it wasn’t a handsome young frenchman that stole young Muppet’s heart (though Pierre Hermè came close), it was a delicate egg and bacon (oeuf-lardon) galette that brought her to her knees. She was, in fact, so smitten with the thing that we returned to the scene of her infatuation (the charming “Au Lys D’Argent” at 90 Rue St-Louis-en-I’lle) two more times during our time in Paris…..such are the demands of a girl in love in the “City of Light”.

Archives for December 2010

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