[Chocolate and Orange Palm Leaf Cookies]

If you browse through the row of cookbooks lined up on top of our fridge, you might notice one, called “Moi, je cuisine solo ou duo” by Brigitte Namour. The title roughly means “I cook for one or two”, and this book is filled to the brim with quick and ingenious recipes, scaled for a couple of servings. Originally, I had bought it as a gift for my dear friend Marion, who’s an enthusiastic cook too. I borrowed it from her (after the minimum length of time that basic manners require) and found myself wanting to write down so many of the recipes, that it was just as simple to get my own copy. So I did, and have been thoroughly happy with it ever since.

One of the recipes I have made again and again from that book is a recipe for little savory palmiers. Palmier (pal-mee-ay) is the French word for a palm tree, but it is also the name of a large cookie commonly found in French bakeries, made with puff pastry and sprinkled with sugar. The puff pastry is rolled into two concentric circles from both sides, creating the special palmier shape I am hard-pressed to describe better than this. (Believe me, I tried.) I don’t buy palmiers very often, but now that I think about it I should, because they are a real treat : the layers of sugar on the top and the bottom are slightly caramelized, the outer rim of the dough is flaky and crisp, and the closer you bite into the center of each circle, the moister and chewier the dough gets. You can also find packages of those cookies in a mini version at grocery stores (by Lu or Belin for instance) and then they are called “Palmitos” and are crispier.

To tell you the truth, I don’t really see the connection between this shape and a palm tree. A little research revealed that this is quite the stealthy cookie, also going by the aliases of Palm Leaf, Elephant Ear, Butterfly and Angel’s Wing, which are cute enough though they don’t make much sense either. But hey, who am I to question the etymology of such a lovely confection?

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And here we are, back from a fabulous week-end in London! Our friends Zoe and Richard (wonderful and kind and funny and smart) had invited us to stay at their house in Lightwater (lovely and bright and cosy and welcoming). We spent two fun-filled days together, walking and shopping, talking and joking, eating and drinking, and just generally having a grand time. And! and! and! I got to meet a food blog friend in real life!

Here is an account, as food-focused as truly yours!

# of Restaurant meals eaten : 3
– At Felicitous in Notting Hill, a delightful picnic of antipasti and bagels in their tiny downstairs seating area (sprouted beans salad, marinated artichokes, roasted asparagus, smoked kalamata olives, herb sausages with relish).
– At The Red Fort in Soho, a hip yet delicious take on Indian food (venison in mango sauce, baby aubergines with coriander and tomato).
– At The Wolseley in Piccadilly, my first ever “high tea” (a feast of assorted finger sandwiches, fruit scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam, assorted pastries and a pot of Assam tea served with an tiny hourglass to time perfect infusion) in a beautiful and impressive 1920’s décor.

# of Cool bars visited : 2
– The Criterion (where they have awesome bottles of Pouilly Fumé)
– The American Bar at the Savoy (where they serve the world’s tiniest bottles of Diet Coke)

# of World’s tiniest bottles of Diet Coke brought back so my friends won’t think I’m making it up : 1

# of Delicious home made food items sampled : 5
– Zoe’s lasagna, the best I’ve ever had
– Zoe’s scrumptious puffed apple pancake
– Zoe’s family nut bread, one of the 14 loaves baked by Zoe and her grandmother for Christmas in Seattle
– Richard’s grandmother’s strawberry jam and orange ginger marmelade, made for her church fund raising

# of Recipes shared by Zoe the amazingly talented cook : 2
– Zoe’s best lasagna ever
– Zoe’s scrumptious puffed apple pancake

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This is a recipe I first made years ago for a Sunday afternoon tea with my parents and Maxence’s mother. I had clipped the recipe from the (now defunct) magazine Biba, and followed it pretty closely, apart from the glaze. The original recipe called for brushing the cookies with a beaten egg, and this sounded drab, so I used my mother’s perfect, sweet and tart lemon glaze instead.

The resulting cookie is crisp at the edges and a little crumbly in the center, with a nice lemon flavor made complex by the use of both juice and zest, and the hint of fleur de sel gives it a very nice tang.

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[Velvety Lentil Chestnut Soup]

I think I am getting the hang and love and joy of soup. I told you before the odd intimidation it provoked in me, but after preparing a few successful pots of simmering velvety goodness, I think I can declare myself officially and fully over it.

The other day, browsing on Maki’s excellent blog i was just really hungry, one of her soup recipes caught my eye, a Lentil-Chestnut Soup. Lentils and chestnuts are two of my favorite things, it sounded simple and versatile, and I had (almost) everything on hand to make it. When so many elements confer to make you try a recipe, it is usually a good omen!

I set about making this on a weeknight, coming home from work, and it was, as Maki promised, nicely uninvolved, with hardly any peeling and chopping, just a bit of soul-warming dumping, timing and stirring. As always, I didn’t follow the recipe to a T, and subbed or omitted a few things here and there, so I will share with you my take on it. (Maki suggests a few interesting variations too, including using sweet potatoes in place of the chestnuts.)

I have to tell you : this soup we have here, my friends, this soup, is a small masterpiece in its own right. It is creamy with delectable chunks, and has the light and subtle sweetness I adore so much in chestnuts. It is a fantastic dish for a winter night, and reheats to even more greatness (and covetous looks from your coworkers) for lunch the next day. Thank you, Maki, for a wonderful gift of a recipe!

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