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Tag Archives: low fat

Il Flotante, Floating Islands

Floating Island, A Classic French Dessert Adaption

Floating Island, A Classic French Dessert Adaption

Two years ago in Paris, I first tasted Il Flotante at an adorable little bistro in Saint Germain called la Coupe Chou, which means chopped cabbage. It is a term of endearment, something like ” my little cabbage” or “my little muffin” 🙂 Anyway, this recipe is from Food and Wine Magazine and the link is below. As you will read, the classic meringue is poached, but this one is baked. It looks like a giant marshmallow and tastes like the meringue of a lemon meringue pie.

This was our dessert for dinner club. Rose Thill prepared it beautifully and used whole milk instead of the classic heavy cream to save us a lot of calories. The fresh vanilla bean seeds made it delish! It was also very beautiful! Rose added the raspberries for color. Bon Apetit!

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/floating-islands

Cioppino/San Francisco Fish Stew

Cioppino in our Garden

Cioppino in our Garden

Dave and I were in San Diego at Torrey Pines this past July where he was speaking at a conference called Scientific Updates. I was lucky to get the chance to go to such a beautiful place! I love exploring. Twice, dining out in La Jolla, Dave ordered versions of this rich broth and seafood. The flavors were amazing. Cioppino originates in San Francisco. The Mediterranean countries all have their versions.

This is a recipe he found online at Epicurious. He made one recipe last weekend and we both ate it 4 days in a row. There were a good 9 servings here! Low in fat, calories and carbs and full of flavor, protein,vitamins and minerals!  I added cooked short grain Arborio rice to mine. Dave is avoiding the carbs 😦 I prefer the rice to the original crusty French style bread.

Living in the Midwest we’ve experimented with various forms of shellfish. We prefer the frozen clams and mussels in the shells to the fresh. Can you believe they sell fresh mussels in Michigan? The frozen were meatier than the fresh. Calamari or squid are available cleaned and frozen. No more squid ink to deal with! None of the fish became tough with cooking and reheating.

Dave followed this recipe below with these additions:

  • Add 1 pound frozen clams in their shells
  • He used cod instead of halibut, which is not easy to find in Midland
  • Add a 2nd bottle of clam juice instead of the 8 oz water
  • Use a fennel bulb the size of a large fist
  • Add an extra 1/2 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes
  • Serve with cooked rice (I prefer the short grained Arborio rice) and/or crusty French or crusty sourdough bread

The recipe is from Bon Appetit, December 2011:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Cioppino-368957