Food&Style

FOOD & STYLE
With Viviane Bauquet Farre

Food is love!

A native of a French island in the South Pacific, Viviane Bauquet Farre has been a passionate cook since the age of six, when she began preparing all her family’s meals, perched atop a stool.

Today, Viviane creates beautiful and innovative recipes inspired by seasonal ingredients, usually bought from local farmers. Her focus is always flavor, flavor and more flavor...

Viviane uses organic ingredients whenever available, because not only are they more nutritious, they simply taste better. She doesn’t rely on butter or cream to carry a dish, and she uses fats, in general, sparingly. Hers is a style of cooking that is just right for today: simple, creative, healthy — and utterly delicious.

Since moving to the picturesque Hudson River village of Piermont in 2002, Viviane has been offering popular, small, hands-on cooking classes. She also runs the no bones! dinner club, where she opens the doors of her beautiful home for festive private evenings overflowing with scrumptious courses, each one paired with a special, sommelier-chosen wine.

Viviane also writes a monthly column for the Nyack Villager and for the international online magazine, showcook.com. And if that were not enough to keep her busy, she now produces a weekly cooking program which can be seen on her website.

These many threads grow from a single theme, which is Viviane’s philosophy: Food is love. It enhances our lives in every way. It benefits our bodies, our hearts, our souls. It is a magnificent way to share special moments with family and friends. It is in that spirit that we welcome you to visit her beautiful website: www.foodandstyle.com

MORNING MUFFINS

It's winter. It's cold outside. The days are short and all I crave are warm and cozy experiences.

Somehow, sitting by the fire, taking a long warm bath or baking on a Saturday morning makes the winter months more tolerable. After all, I was born on a tropical island where the thermometer never dipped below 60ºF — and that would be on a winter's night!

It is not only my body that starves for warmth, but my soul, too. Baking has always had this magical quality of lifting my spirits. It wraps me up like a luxurious blanket and fills the house with intoxicating aromas — aromas that instantly transport me to my grandmother's kitchen where, as a child clinging to her skirts, I would peek over the counter and dunk my fingers into the irresistible uncooked batter.

This recipe transforms all these feelings and experiences into the most satisfying and deliciously moist muffins. And what's more, they are healthy! The oats and the pecans provide an abundance of vitamin A, calcium and iron. The fruits and sweet carrots are packed with vitamin C, potassium and beta carotene. Even the turbinado sugar, with its slight scent of molasses, is good for you: a coarse-grain, light brown sugar, it is rich in calcium, magnesium and potassium, and totally free of harmful chemicals and bleaching agents. (You can find turbinado sugar in all health-food and better grocery stores.)

The only fat used in this recipe is sunflower seed oil, which is loaded with Vitamin E and is one of the "good fats" — no artery-clogging cholesterol there! So enjoy the warm and cozy feeling of baking on a cold winter morning: it is utterly satisfying, delicious… and guilt-free.

Morning Muffins
makes 24 mini-muffins

2 cups unbleached white flour
½ cup quick cooking oats
½ cup chopped pecans or walnuts
1 cup turbinado sugar
2 ½ teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder
½ teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon pinch
freshly ground nutmeg (use microplane grater)
½ cup sunflower oil
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup mashed bananas (about 3 small)
1 ½ cut coarsely grated carrots
1 cup raisins
2 medium McIntosh apples — peeled, cored and cut in ¼" pieces
1 24-cup non-stick mini-muffin pan — lightly buttered

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Step 1: In a large bowl combine the flour, oats, pecans, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir well and set aside.

Step 2: In a small bowl whisk the oil, eggs, vanilla extract and mashed bananas until well blended. Add the banana mixture to the dry ingredients and, using a wooden spoon, mix until just moistened. Add the carrots, raisins and apples and mix until incorporated.

Step 3: Spoon the batter into the muffin molds. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes until golden. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes before unmolding the muffins. Serve warm or at room temperature.

HEAVENLY PANINI

There are times when I don't plan a menu and simply like to cook with whatever is in the fridge!

It's a good way to finish up those extra vegetables and make room for the next trip to the farmers' market*. Plus it's also a great opportunity to be creative!

It was on just such a day, not long ago, that I created this month's panini recipe. I had some leftover herb pesto from one of my cooking classes, a pot of fabulously fresh and delicious goat cheese bought at my farmers' market a few days earlier (from Sprout Creek Farm,** a local producer who make some of the most fabulous cheeses I have ever tasted), a beautiful heirloom tomato (the first of the season, ripening not in the fridge but in my fruit bowl) and a few tender greens (in this case, some tangy frisée). I didn't have to think very long about this one: it came in a flash and I was already salivating!

I have since made this panini many times with whatever bread is in the freezer. It is equally delicious with sourdough and whole wheat bread, so I encourage you to try it with whatever you have on hand. The trick is to cook the panini at medium to medium-high heat, otherwise the bread will burn before the cheese has melted.

Enjoy this fabulously delicious and healthy treat!

* The Piermont Farmers' Market is held every Sunday, 9:30 am to 3 pm, from early June until Thanksgiving, in the M&T Bank parking lot (at the corner of Ash Street and Piermont Ave, right in the center of the village). For more info call Miriam Haas at (914) 923-4837.

** Sprout Creek Farm, 34 Lauer Road, Poughkeepsie, NY 12603. Tel: (845) 485-8438 http://www.sproutcreekfarm.org/. You can visit their stand at the Piermont Farmers' Market every Sunday.

GOAT CHEESE PANINI WITH TOMATO AND HERB PESTO

Serves 4

For the pesto
1 small clove garlic — skinned
8 sprigs Italian parsley — stems trimmed
12 large basil leaves
4 fresh mint leaves
1 tablespoon capers — drained
1 tablespoon lemon juice
¼ teaspoon finely grated lemon zest (use microplane grater)
3 tablespoons pine nuts
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
freshly ground pepper to taste
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

For the panini
8 thin slices sandwich country French, sourdough or whole wheat bread
4 oz aged fresh goat cheese
2 medium ripe tomatoes — cut in 1/8" slices
1 small handful frisée or baby chicory or baby arugula leaves — rinsed and spun dry
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 to 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil for the pan

Step 1: For the pesto, place all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor. Mix at high speed with a steel blade until it forms a paste, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula, and process until the pesto is creamy. Transfer to a bowl.

Step 2: Spread a small amount of goat cheese on 2 slices of bread. Spread 1 tablespoon of pesto on one of the slices. Top with a few tomato slices, sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Top with a few leaves of frisée and the second slice of bread. Press together firmly to seal the sandwich. Repeat until you have made 4 paninis.

Step 3: Heat a large, heavy-bottomed frying pan to medium/medium-high heat. Add the oil and spread it evenly over the whole surface of the pan. Add the paninis and sauté 2 to 3 minutes on each side until golden brown and crispy. Alternatively, if you have a panini machine, brush the bread with olive oil and cook the panini according to your machine's instructions. Serve piping hot with a green salad.

THE OLD-FASHIONED TEA CAKE WITH A MODERN TWIST

Ever since I was a little girl, I loved baking cakes. In fact, my very first cooking memory was of baking my very own birthday cake- for my sixth birthday! (Of course my grandmother helped a bit…)

Nowadays, I do not bake as often as I would like. The busy-ness of my life and my orientation towards lighter foods have sometimes interfered with this deep and fundamental pleasure of baking.

For this month's feature I decided to reconnect with the pure satisfaction of baking a beautiful old-fashioned cake — but with a modern twist. So I created a butternut squash and apple teacake with a surprising but delicious candied-ginger and pine-nut streusel. Made without butter or too much sugar, this cake is light and moist without being rich. I always use organic, free-range eggs because I find them more delicious and also healthier than their conventional counterparts. In summertime, I buy my eggs at the Piermont Farmers' Market, always marveling at the bright golden hue of their yokes.

In the winter months, I rely on our local health-food stores for a good organic brand. Likewise, I use organic turbinado sugar for most of my desserts. This unrefined, pure cane sugar has a subtle molasses flavor and some nutritional benefits, as it retains all the natural minerals (phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, potassium and iron) and vitamins present in sugarcane juice. Finally, the Australian crystallized (or candied) ginger used in the streusel is truly mouthwatering. Harvested when its roots are young and tender, the ginger is fiber-free and mild in flavor, adding a tangy and modern twist to this scrumptious cake.

Not only was I delighted with my new teacake, I was able to indulge in it without guilt. Nice to know one doesn't necessarily have to choose between the poetry of baking and the prose of nutrition. Doesn't that make the pleasure of baking infinitely more satisfying…?

BUTTERNUT SQUASH-APPLE CAKE WITH GINGER STREUSEL

makes 1 cake (8 servings)

For the streusel
2 oz Australian crystallized ginger cubes (about 1/3 cup)
3 tablespoons turbinado sugar
½ cup pine nuts

For the cake
1 ¾ cup unbleached white flour
2/3 cup turbinado sugar
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon sea salt
½ cup sunflower oil
3 large organic eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
½ teaspoon finely grated orange zest (use microplane grater)
1 cup butternut squash purée (see cook's note)
1 medium McIntosh apple — peeled, cored and cut in ¼" pieces
1 cup organic Hunza golden raisins

1—9" non-stick round cake pan — buttered

Preheat oven to 350°F

Step 1: In the bowl of a food processor, place the ginger, sugar and pine nuts. Pulse several times until all ingredients are finely chopped. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

Step 2: In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir well and set aside.

Step 3: In a medium bowl whisk the oil, eggs, vanilla extract, orange zest and butternut-squash purée until well blended.

Step 4: Stir the apple pieces and raisins into the flour mixture until well blended. Add the squash mixture to the dry ingredients and, using a wooden spoon, mix until just moistened. Spoon batter into the prepared cake pan. Sprinkle with the streusel topping. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes until golden and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes before unmolding. Serve at room temperature.

Cook's note: To make fresh butternut-squash purée, cut squash in half lengthwise and remove seeds. Place cut side down in a large baking dish with spring water (1/4" up the sides of the squash). Bake at 400ºF for 45 to 60 minutes until very tender. Let cool, scoop out the flesh and purée in a food processor. The purée can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 1 month.

Viviane Bauquet-Farre demonstrates a wealth of divine recipes, do see Viviane in action on her innovative web site
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