French Woman Don't Get Fat

Homemade Yogurt with a Yogurt Maker

Ingredients

1 quart whole or 2 percent milk
1 tablespoon plain yogurt as a starter or 1 tablespoon of a commercial starter culture (available at natural food stores)
Yogurt maker with cooking thermometer (I use the Donvier brand with eight jars)

1. Warm up the milk in a saucepan over medium-low heat until bubbles appear around the edge and steam rises from the surface. Remove the saucepan from heat and insert a thermometer stirrer. When the temperature reaches 110 to 115 degrees ( about 45 C ), add the starter to one of the jars. Add some of the heated milk and stir until well blended. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan, a little at a time, stirring well.

2. Fill all 8 jars, cover securely with lids, and place the jars into the "machine" (which is really a temperature-controlled warmer) and follow the cooking instructions. It will take 6 to 10 hours (easy to do overnight), depending on the tartness and firmness desired.

3. When done, chill the jars in the refrigerator for a few hours before serving. You can keep the yogurt for up to 2 weeks in the fridge.

Another making Yogurt

1. Slowly bring the milk to a boil on medium-low heat. Turn off the heat as soon as the milk is steaming and small bubbles form on the edges of the pot.
2. Transfer to another pot (or bowl) at room temperature and wait until a thermometer reads between 110F and 115F (about 45 degrees C).
3. Mix the starter (yogurt) with a few ladles of warm milk. Then pour into the pot of milk and stir well.
4. Fill jars and place in the oven (turned off). Cover jars with a clean cloth. Switch on the oven light. You can place a bowl of hot water in the oven if you fear the temperature won't be high enough. Wait 8 hours without opening the oven door.
5. Cover the jars with plastic wrap and place in the fridge. Wait another 8 hours.

Blueberry Baby Smoothie
Serves 4

This very versatile, very healthy drink, especially rich in antioxidants, can be the better part of your lunch, snack, or even breakfast (though I prefer a more robust and balanced start to the day), as well as a dessert partner accompanying a cookie or warm dessert muffin. I discovered it as a child, again visiting my grandmother in Alsace, where we picked many more wild blueberries in the forests than we could possibly eat in season. Blueberries freeze extremely well. Today, I buy quarts and quarts of blueberries at the height of their season from the farmers market for immediate freezing. Voilà, blueberries year-round. The following drink, an old-fashioned version of the modern smoothie (rien de nouveau sous le soleil -- nothing new under the sun!), includes a little kicker.

12 oz. frozen blueberries
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons honey
2¼ cups 2 percent milk
Pinch of ground cardamom

1. Take blueberries out of freezer 30 minutes before using.

2. Mix the blueberries in a blender with the lemon juice, honey and milk. Add a sprinkle cardamom before serving.

Salmon à l’unilatéral (cooked on one-side only)
Serves 4

4 pieces of of wild salmon, about 4 ounces each
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
½ tsp coarse salt


1. Heat a nonstick frying pan. Place the salmon in the pan, skin-side down; pour the lemon juice over the salmon, add the salt, and cook for about 6 minutes over medium heat until the skin is crispy. (Cut a slice to determine the degree of cooking you desire, such as medium rare -- pink at the center -- which preserves most of the natural taste.)

2. Serve immediately. Season, if you like, with a dash of extra-virgin olive oil and a sprig of fresh thyme.

When there isn’t salmon, there is something else. Each weekend I visit the fish stall at the Union Square market and buy skate or tuna that is only hours out of the water.

Basic Vegetable Soup
Serves 8

My mother cooked all the vegetables in water. Although potatoes were always included, the choice of other vegetables was often a matter of availability. The trick was the finish. Here it is:

2 potatoes (about 4 ounces each)
1 small cabbage
2 leeks
2 carrots
2 celery ribs with their leaves
2 medium-size yellow onions
Freshly ground pepper
2 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon dried thyme
2 bay leaves
Small bunch of fresh parsley
10 cups of water

1. Peel the vegetables. Cut the potatoes and cabbage into small cubes; wash the leeks carefully and slice them crosswise. Slice the carrots and celery as well, and quarter the onions. You should have about 10 cups of prepared vegetables. Use the same amount of water.

2. Place all the vegetables in a stockpot. Season with a grind of fresh pepper, add the salt, thyme, bay leaves, and parsley, and toss with the vegetables. Add the water. Cover and bring to boil slowly. Reduce the heat and simmer for 1½ hours.

3. Remove and discard the bay leaves. Drain the vegetables, reserving the cooking liquid. Purée the vegetables in a food mill using the cooking liquid over the purée to thin them out. Reheat the soup until the first boil. Taste and correct the seasonings and serve.

At the end of the fall, Mother would add the last tomatoes of the garden and in the dead of winter half of a celery root, but you can add whatever you like. Same for herbs -- suit your fancy.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

Serves 8

I always prefer this cake the next day. It’s a perfect, rich dessert for cool weather. There is no need to refrigerate it -- just cover loosely with waxed paper and keep it in a cool place. If refrigerated, make sure to take it out at least 2 hours before serving.

Ingredients

8 ounces dark chocolate
8 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for buttering pan
4 large eggs
1 cup sugar
¼ cup Grand Marnier or orange-flavored liqueur
6 tablespoons cornstarch

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Brush a 4-cup ring mold or a 9-inch springform pan with butter.

3. Chop the chocolate and melt it in a bowl set above a simmering pan of water. Remove and let cool. While the chocolate is cooling, cream the butter in a mixing bowl.

4. Pour the cooled, melted chocolate into the mixing bowl with the butter and beat for 2 minutes. The mixture should be thick. Set aside.

5. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs. Start adding the sugar, beating at high speed, until the eggs are thick and very pale yellow (6 to 8 minutes). Both the egg-sugar and chocolate butter mixtures should have a similar consistency.

6. Beat the chocolate-butter mixture into the egg-sugar mixture and add the Grand Marnier. Beat another minute to mix. Sift the cornstarch into the batter and gently fold in.

7. Pour the batter into the prepared mold. Tap the mold on the counter to level and cover with buttered waxed paper. Put the mold in a baking dish and fill the dish with near-boiling water, almost up to the top of the mold. Put the baking dish with the mold in the preheated oven for 45 to 50 minutes. Let cool. Turn upside down on a serving platter, but wait 30 minutes to remove the mold.