WHAT'S PRESSOIR COOKING?

Victoire Chabert

March 15, 2023

A few more days of cold weather before the spring season... why not get a head start and start thinking about sunny recipes? Here is the recipe of a dish that my mother makes every year and that delights the tastebuds of many… and which I must now master to take over the tradition and heritage!

Ingredients for 4 persons :

4 tomatoes

100 g of white ham

100 g ground beef

100 g sausage meat

1 shallot

1 clove garlic

10 g butter

2 tbsp olive oil

1 egg

1 tbsp fresh cream

2 tablespoons of parsley and oregano

Salt, pepper and breadcrumbs

With a knife, cut off the top of the tomatoes (reserve the caps). Gently scoop out the tomatoes with a teaspoon, keeping the pulp removed: be careful not to pierce the tomatoes. Salt the bottom of the tomatoes and turn them over on a plate so that they give up their water.

Peel garlic and shallot. Chop the garlic after removing the germ. Finely chop the shallot. Drain the tomato pulp well to remove excess water and cut into small pieces.

Preheat the oven to 410 degrees F. Put the butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a pan. Brown the shallots and garlic. Add the tomato pulp, sprinkle with parsley and oregano. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer over low heat until most of the liquid has evaporated (about 8 to 10 minutes).

Meanwhile, finely chop the white ham. Put it in a bowl with the ground beef and sausage meat. Add the garlic/shallot/tomato mixture and mix well. Add the whole egg and cream. Mix well. Season with salt and pepper if necessary.

Put this filling in the hollowed-out tomatoes and place them in a pre-oiled casserole. Cover tomatoes with their caps. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons olive oil and sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Place in the oven for about 45 minutes (if the top of the tomatoes becomes too brown, cover with aluminum foil to finish cooking). In your dish, add the rice between all your tomatoes and put it back in the oven for a few minutes to brown the rice and get the sauce’s taste.

Here is the classic recipe of the famous stuffed tomatoes but I love to have a dish with several vegetables like zucchini, onion or eggplant where you can follow the same instructions. I personally find the mix of tastes and flavors even better together.

What's Pressoir Cooking?

A Classic French Recipe: Pâté en Croûte

August 4, 2020
by Justine Puaud

You can make so many different pâtés en croûte but this recipe is THE CLASSIC that everyone should know.

This pâté is composed of 2 meats: pork and chicken, marinated in white wine. French cuisine always rhymes with patience. It takes about two and a half days of careful preparation, 50 minutes of baking, 8 hours of rest.

Pâté en Croûte ingredients

Pastry Dough
2/3 cups of water
2.5 teaspoons of white wine vinegar
1.5 cups of butter and butter for the mold
a pinch of salt
a pinch of sugar
1/2 cup of beaten egg
2 3/4 cups of flour
1 1/2 tsp of cornstarch
1 egg yolk

Jelly
3 cups of beef jelly with port (you can buy it at the supermarket)

Stuffing
22 oz of pork belly
12 oz of pork tenderloin
8.8 oz of de-boned chicken legs
10 oz of chicken breast
3 teaspoons of seasoning mix for stuffing (four spice mix, salt, pepper, sugar)
1/2 cup of white wine
3.5 oz of roasted chicken skin
some pistachios

Onion mixture (for about 3 tablespoons)
3.5 oz of onion
0.75 tablespoon of butter
a pinch of salt and pepper
1 sprig of thyme
1 bay leaf

Fine stuffing
0.7 oz of chicken supreme (or chicken breast)
1/10 cup of heavy whipping cream
a pinch of salt and pepper

Two days prior
Mix all together the ingredients into a pastry, make the dough and cool it in the refrigerator for about 2 days.
Remove bones and nerves of the meat and cut it.
Add salt and pepper and marinate the chicken in the white wine.
Leave the meat in the fridge all night.
Prep the onion mixture. Chop the onions and incorporate butter, salt, pepper, thyme and bay leaf. Cook the mixture for about 20 minutes. Make sure the mixture is dry enough and cool in the fridge.

The day before
Make the fine stuffing and leave in the refrigerator.
Cut the pork and chicken tenderloin and mix all the pieces together. Chop the pork breast and thigh.
Preheat the oven to 425 F.
Lower the dough to 1/4 inch, cut it to the size of the mold, cut out the hat.
Fill the dough with the stuffing.
Put the hat on the dough and add 3 chimneys on the top.
To make a chimney in a pie involves creating a small opening in the dough cover to allow steam to escape from the preparation during baking. To prevent it from closing, place a small tube of card stock, baking paper or a metal nozzle in the hole.
Bake at 425 F for 15 minutes to obtain a beautiful golden color. Then, lower the temperature to 325F and cook for 35 minutes.
Boil the jelly and add gently to fill in the pâté.
Please let cool completely and then refrigerate all night.

The big day
Boil the rest of the jelly and finish to fill in the pâté. Leave it in the fridge for 1 hour.
The Pâté en Croûte is ready. It is perfect for an aperitif with friends or for a meal with a green salad on a side. Enjoy!

What's Pressoir Cooking?

July 14, 2020

by Daniel Johnnes

Cherry Pie - The King of Pies

Cherry pie is one of three of my favorite things, two of which are food. They are (in no particular order) cherry pie, English shell peas and peonies. All three have a very short period in which they are ripe and available. You have to act fast and grab them when they are at peak. Perhaps it is their fleeting beauty that increases my love of them.

I pride myself for making a great cherry pie. To say cherry pie is too simple, this is a sour cherry pie. The type of cherry makes all the difference. Like a great wine, the balance between sugar, acidity and texture is paramount. It has to be sweet but not too sweet. It is the underlying acidity that balances the sweetness. Like in a great German Riesling. With many grams of residual sugar, it is the bracing acidity that pulls it all into harmony.

So it is with my cherry pie. The tart acidity in the sour cherries (griottes in French) provides the backbone and energy required to keep it from being heavy and cloying.

Making it is really simple. It just takes technique. This particular one was challenging as I made it in a beach cottage rental. A kitchen and oven I wasn't familiar with and almost no equipment. No mixer, no traditional pie plate, no rolling pin.

Here's the recipe:

The pie crust

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 pound butter (2 sticks or 16 tablespoons)

Ice water

The filling

3 pints sour cherries (I only had two which explains it's slightly flat appearance)

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 Tablespoons tapioca

That's all. No almond extract like many people do. Why dilute perfection? Sometimes I add a little zest of orange.

Make the pie crust at least 6 hours prior to rolling. 

Roll the bottom out to line a pie plate. I used a Bordeaux shaped bottle as I had no rolling pin. I had a bottle of Burlotto Pelaverga (delicious as well)

Fill the bottom with the cherry mixture and close with the top pie dough. 

Cut vents in the crust and brush with egg wash

Bake in pre-heated oven at 350 degrees for about 50-60 minutes or until bubbling and brown.

Cool and then put in fridge to serve chilled.

The real quality test comes when I serve the first slice to Sally, my wife. She is THE champion pie maker in the family. If I get a satisfied sigh, I know I nailed it. This one got a sigh with one or two justified critical comments. Tough conditions but overall a resounding success nonetheless.

This is the Musigny or maybe the Amoureuses of pies.

Bon appétit!