Menu – Nicole Peyrafitte

Voilà! Live Cooking Videos – while confined

Friday April 24th was the finale our Live Cooking Videos—while confined.
First and foremost THANK YOU to all the viewers, & a very special thank you to all the regulars from literally all around the globe. During these 24 daily livecast rendez-vous, you provided sustained warm & joyful support which gave me a some sense of purpose in these trying times while we are all confined, waiting for the virus to pass.
By now, sadly most of us know someone who has succumbed to the coronavirus, and we are also all watching — or no longer watching in order to stay sane — the ineffective & disgusting political debacle. Even if most of us are safely at home, and in a somehow privileged situation — I sure feel mine is that — we still all go through the emotional roller coaster, so if the show helped make your ride smoother, I am super happy. You need to know that it sure eased mine tremendously, so gratitude to you all for watching & cheering! I really know that I also learned a lot from the whole process.
Do not hesitate to reach out via messenger at any point if you have cooking questions of just want to keep in touch; I would love that!
Meanwhile, stay healthy, take great great care & eat the best you can.
Much much love from the two of us.

P.S: The videos of all 24 videos from the last to the first below & they all have notes & links with useful information. Below the videos more cooking background info.

What do we eat/cook & why?
A few years back for serious health reasons we switched to healthier, low glycemic foods & adopted the 16/8 intermittent fasting method that involves eating only during an 8-hour window & fasting for the remaining 16 hours. So we eat a variety of foods but avoid pasta, rice, potatoes, sugar, processed flour & we favor veggies, legumes, eggs, healthy whole grains, & responsibly raised meat, poultry, & seafood, some fruits…Well, you get the idea & you will discover the details in the videos below. We will keep adding them as we go. Never hesitate to ask questions or request foods recipes you would like to see demonstrated or talked about.

Voilà! Bon Appétit, stay home & healthy!

“Voilà Lunchtime” were daily live-casted on FB & IG from March 24 -April 24 2020 M-F 12:00 EST

A little background:
Once upon a time I was a cook! I never liked the term chef, though I did run kitchens & was called one! I never really missed the restaurant business, but never stopped cooking. In the early years of this blog I posted more recipes & articles on food, I taught cooking & went as far as taping a demo cooking show, and filming several recipes. My aim has always been to empower people in the kitchen, not to impress them. I appreciate sophisticated techniques & truly enjoys highly skilled chefs but I was never into that kind of cooking. My background is in French regional Southwestern food but I have been in the US since 1987 and learned so much about food here. Getting together with Pierre Joris (here producer/dishwasher/husband) in 1989 was crucial for my artistic future but also for my cooking experience: it is through Pierre that I met Diane Rothenberg & Margie Byrd who are my mentors in many ways. Both are great cooks and had open tables for many years. Diane, an anthropologist, tremendously expanded my perspectives on the history of food; Margie taught me many American staples — the best corn bread ever! & then there is my childhood friend Ariane Daguin from d’Artagnan who is an inspiration has been incredibly supportive of my food related performance work. She was an early supporter of La Garbure Transcontinentale/The Bi-Continental Chowder, a performance that included texts, videos, cooking and sharing the result with the audience. Pierre & I went on doing more of these performance & a memorable one was at the Jardin des Cinq Sens et des Formes Premières in Provence; this performance included the making of a Primordial Soup, readings, vidéos, music by Denis Brun and a Karstic-Action Painting. Here are some pix.

But my cooking debut were really early! I was born in Luchon (French Pyrenees) into the 5th generation of a family of hoteliers-restaurateurs (Hotel Poste et Golf) & my very early cooking training started when I was 6 years old with my grand-father chef Joseph Peyrafitte (whose father Louis was also a chef). Later, when I took over the family kitchen, I went to intern at award winning restaurants in France –1982: Restaurant Vanel, Toulouse, 1991: Hotel de France, Auch. Both places had 2 stars at the Michelin Guide — then I got a few awards myself!

Anyway! forwarding to today: like everyone else we are trying to make the best of this imposed confinement & I always find solace in cooking & eating well. So Pierre & I decided to share the prepping of our simple & healthy home cooking live. We are live both on Facebook & Instagram Monday-Friday from 12 to 12:30 —sometimes a bit longer. Sharing & live-casting our cooking is really in line with our Domopoetic* practice.

* Domopoetics is our collaborative attempt to think, feel & make us respons/able to this/our world & it responsive to us. We do this via our private lives & public actions & performances that meander dialogically between Nicole Peyrafitte’s drawings & videos, voice-, textual & cooking work & Pierre Joris’ poems, translations & essayistic thinking.

Memorabilia:

Sitting next to a chaud-froid de volaille at the hotel Kitchen

Hotel Poste & Golf Bagnères-de-Luchon (here circa 1965)

San-Diego 1990 : Nicole, Pierre Franey, Ariane Daguin

En Route to Idaho — Day 3 : Des Moines – North Platte

Day #3 Des Moines, Iowa – North Platte, Nebraska: 400 Miles 644Kms
We left Des Moines a little after 9AM since we opted for a lighter driving day . It was 19ºF /-7ºc when we left Iowa. The light fog wrapping the windmills was beautifully quixotic. The fog had cleared by the time we reached Nebraska and clear skies accompanied us to North Platte.

We filled up the car & had breakfast before leaving so we stopped only for lunch. No rest stop extravaganza today, au contraire we opted to lunch at the Mormon Island State Recreation Area conveniently located off I-80. Named for the winter stopover used by Mormon emigrants heading westward we enjoyed lunching by the frozen lake and watching some locals ice fishing.

We then headed to North Platte where we had a blast visiting the Buffalo Bill residence’s outdoors grounds since the location is closed for the winter. On this Sunday afternoon North Platte was a pretty empty town and very few of its 24 000 inhabitants were visible. But the world’s largest Rail Yard sure was! After spotting the longest train we had ever seen going through town, we decided to visit the train yard and got there right on time to climb to the top of the The Golden Spike Tower and Visitor Center & what an amazing view!

This location was chosen because of its close proximity to the Platte river and to Grand Island. Nebraska’s been a railroad center since the Union Pacific Railroad first reached here in July 1866 & that first train rolled through what was known at the time as “Hell on Wheels” town. Today Bailey Yard, named for former Union Pacific president Edd H. Bailey, is the world’s largest train yard. Covering a massive 2,850 acres, each day Bailey Yard manages 10,000 railroad cars. Of those, 3,000 are sorted to make sure the cargo reaches its final destination. We sure did see some action from the Golden Spike Tower. We watched a gorgeous sunset and went to find our motel for the night.

Again we were able to make our lunch, dinner, coffees & teas. Lunch was a tuna fish salad into which I mixed the last of the grains — faro, rye & oats mixture — diced daikon, carrot, celery, red pepper, dressed w/ PJ’s Meyer lemon vinaigrette. Pierre had cheddar I had goat cheese with bran crackers,nuts & a clementine. For tonight’s dinner we finished the lentils as a soup, made a salad & used the last of PJ’s dressing, Blue Iowa Maytag plus apples & walnuts for dessert. Tomorrow a longer ride: trying to get to Rock Spring Wyoming!

And now if you have travel so far with us you might want to watch a freight train passing by for almost 3 minutes — and that is not even the full train. Mesmerizing!

En Route to Idaho — Day 2 : Maumee – Des Moines

Day #2 Maumee, Ohio – Des Moines, Iowa: 558 Miles or 898 Kms

After drinking Pierre’s prepared cup of warm water with lemon & cayenne pepper water & our travelling green magic juice we hopped in the car at 7:50am to resume our journey West on I-80.

When we stopped for gas in Greenfield, Indiana we were reminded that if we wanted a soda, we should ask for “pop”! The lady at the Hardee’s was eager to take our order but we had our solid breakfast of pumpernickel bread, butter & cheese & we made coffee in the car.

Second stop was in Morris, Illinois & the R-Place Restaurant with its collection of antique toy displays, including a wonderful puppet show kept me busy filming & photographing for a while. I did ask for 4 quarters to play the puppet show. The clerk was proud to tell me that the puppet show grossed $80 per month, that was 320 plays.

Again we didn’t get any food though I considered the Strawberry Pillows for a solid minute — but by looking at the thing intensely I could almost taste it & that was enough to feel the sugar rush!

We left Illinois, crossed the Mississippi, & drove into Iowa.

I had noticed on the Waze app that the World’s Largest Truckstop was coming up on I-80 at the Walcott Exit. We stopped there & lunched on Romaine lettuce with carrots, celery, left-over pork roast, sardines, cheddar dressed with Pierre’s delicious Meyer lemon & olive oil vinaigrette & concluded with our usual plain yogurt with cinnamon, stevia & grilled seeds.

Then we had molto fun visiting the amazing World’s Largest Truckstop. We didn’t make it to the adjacent truck museum but we had a lovely time talking to several truckers who were trying new truck seats. Pierre joined them for a tryout of new-fangled special rubber seating. We exchanged our destinations & they advised us that road conditions between Cheyenne & Idaho can be very bad & told us to make sure to have a full tank of gas when starting this portion of the trip. Another trucker & his wife from New Orleans gave us the price of some of the chromes on display. “A $1000 for that apron. I’m gonna put some on my truck soon”. The sword & knife window display was open & a family was deciding what kind of knife to buy; a lady bought a mini gun. Pierre checked out the library section & considered buying a Louis L’amour Western audio book but since we had just started listening to the Lewis & Clark journal diaries available free here, we decided to pass.

Settled into our comfy Sterling Hotel suite —with terrible internet, after a quick trip to the Wholefood to pick up a salad & some cheese (a chunk of excellent! Iowa Maytag Blue — same family making blue cheese since 1941!) we had dinner, i.e. yesterday’s lentil salad turned into a stew to which I added some grains (farro & oats), followed by apples, nuts & cheese — the Iowa maytag, of course. & now some zzzz before heading to Wyoming. From here on out the route is new, for Pierre too who had driven this part of I-80 only to turn south here in Des Moines to visit with Ken Irby in Lawrence, Kansas. But that was in 1987, & this is today. Onwards! Let the wagons roll…

Sweet Sweet Muffins (No Sugar, No Wheat)

For Marge Byrd who taught me how to bake the American way.
Above: the apron top she stitched for me in 1993!

Following a low-glycemic, no sugar diet doesn’t mean you have to eat boring foods…au contraire! If both Pierre and I have been successfully keeping up with this way of eating it is because there are actually plenty of other choices. It is all about using different ingredients & learning how to use them. This muffins recipe—& the Mooch-O-colat too— are good examples how it can be done. It took me a while to figure it out — but Voilà! le result is yummy! Can be served for brunch or dessert or any thing else you can imagine! Below are pictures of the some possible combinations.

for 12 Cast Iron Cookware Muffin Pan
(note to my friend Don Byrd: They are Lodge’s cast iron pans & I found them on Amazon)
Preheat oven 375 degres
Cooking : 30 minutes.

In the blender add :
1/2 a green apple with the skin,
1/2 lb silk tofu,
1/4 cup coconut oil,
1/4 tsp stevia, ( this is the brand I like to use)
1/2 vanilla bean (inside scraped),
1 cup cashew milk (any almond, soy, rice milk will do just make sure they have NO sugar added),
1 pinch of salt,
1 beaten egg at the end & mix it by hand.

In a large bowl combine :
1/4 cup buckwheat flour,
1/4 cup teff flour,
(can be substituted for buckwheat tho I really like the crunchy taste of it. I do buy the regular teff & then grind it myself in the coffee grinder),
1/2 cup coconut flour,
1/2 cup oat bran,
1 grated lemon,
1 grated orange
1 tsp baking powder.

Incorporate the blender’s liquid content into the dry ingredient bowl. Mix gently but thoroughly. Grease your muffin pans generously with coconut oil. Fill the molds & bake for 30 minutes at 350°. You can also bake this batter in a cast iron pan and then slice it as you see below.

Sweet sweet muffins w/ sunny side eggs, raw kale salad, red berry chia jam. Muffins, oeufs au plat, salade de choux frisée crue, confiture de baie aux graines de chia

Suive un régime pauvre en glucides et sans sucre ne doit pas être ennuyeux , au contraire! Et si avec Pierre nous arrivons à le suivre sans difficultés c’est par ce que: 1) c’est bon et 2) il y a beaucoup de choix, seulement voilà — il m’a fallu les trouver! La recette d’aujourd’hui — comme celle du blog précédent, la Mooch-O-colat — en sont deux très bon exemples. J’ai toujours beaucoup aimé les muffins et ça m’a pris quelque temps à créer une recette pauvre en glucides et sans sucre ajouté qui plaisait à tous. Voilà le résultat et vous allez vous régaler!

Chauffer le four à 200 degrés. Cuisson : 30 minutes

Dans le mixer ajouter:
1/2 pomme verte avec la peau,
250gr de tofu soyeux,
80ml d’huile de noix de coco,
1/4 de cuillère à café de stevia,
1/2 gousse de vanille,
1 tasse de lait de noix de cajou (ou bien utiliser du lait d’amande, de soja, de riz sans sucre ajouté),
1 pincée de sel,
1 oeuf battu et le mélanger à la main à la fin.

Dans un grand bowl ajouter:
25gr de farine de sarrasin,
25gr tasse de farine de teff,
(peut être remplacer par plus de sarrasin mais le teff apporte une texture agréable. J’achète les graines de teff entières et les passe au moulin à café),
55 gr de farine de noix de coco,
75 gr de son d’avoine,
1 citron (zestes seulement),
1 orange (zestes seulement),
1 c. à café de levure chimique.

Incorporer les ingrédients liquides du mixer dans le bol des ingrédients secs. Bien mélanger. Graisser les moules généreusement avec de l’huile de noix de coco. Les remplir et cuire à four chaud pour 30 minutes. Vous pouvez aussi utiliser une poêle en fonte ou un moule à gâteau.

Sweet sweet muffins with goat yogurt sauce (cinnamon, stevia), seeds & fresh or frozen wild berries.
Muffins avec yaourt de chèvre parfumé à la stevia et à la cannelle, myrtilles fraîches ou congelées, graines grillées.

Party Time Healthy Delicacies —part 1 (Fr-Eng)

Série: Recettes pour Jean & Renée Peyrafitte —English below—

Un délicieux menu pour votre prochaine cocktail party —sans sucre, pauvre en glucides, un bon équilibre de protéines, de verdure, de cru et de cuit — Essayez pour les Oscars peut être! Aujourd’hui les deux premières recettes:

Cocktail de Crevettes avec Salsa de Tomate & Avocat
Oeufs Mimosa avec Tofunaise maison
Endives avec Poires, Stilton, Célerie et Noix
Patates douces rôties
Blancs de Poulet Marinés Grillés
Cheese Cake Crémeux et Confiture de Chia aux Baies

A delicious menu for your next party — no added sugar, low glycemic, a good balance of proteins, greens, raw & cooked food— Try it for the Oscars! Today two recipes:

Shrimp Cocktail w/ Avocado Salsa
Deviled Eggs w/ Home made Tofunaise
Belgian Endive w/ Pears, Stilton, Celery, Walnuts Baked
Japanese Yam Fries
Grilles Marinated Chicken Tenders
Creamy Nut Crusted Cheese Cake w/Berries Chia seeds Jam

Cocktail de Crevettes avec Salsa Tomate & Avocat -Cuire 500 gr (pour 3/4 personnes) de crevettes non pelées dans un court bouillon. Pour le court bouillon faire frémir l’eau avec de l’oignon, du citron, du sel de céleri, une feuille de laurier, du thym, du persil…etc, après 5 minutes de cuisson égoutter et les laisser refroidir. -Salsa: 1 grosse tomate, 1 avocat— bien mûrs, 1/2 oignon doux, coupés en petits dés. 1 bonne poignée de coriandre fraîche ou de persil haché, 1 jus de citron vert, 1 ou 2 cuillères à soupe d’huile d’olive vierge, quelques gouttes de sauce piquante, sel et poivre.

Shrimp Cocktail w/ Avocado Salsa (3/4 people) 1 lb of unpeeled medium size raw shrimp. Cook them 5 minutes in a court bouillon. For a quick court bouillon add onion, lemon, OldBay-seasoning , bay leaf, thyme, parsley … etc to water. Bring it all to a gentle boil & cook shrimp no more that 5 minutes. Then drain and let cool. Salsa: 1 large tomato, 1/2 sweet onion, 1 avocado, diced. 1 bunch of coriander or parsley; juice of 1 lime, 1 to 3 spoon full of virgin olive oil, hot sauce, salt & pepper.

Oeufs Mimosa avec Tofunaise maison
Cuire les oeufs dur. Les laisser refroidir. Pendant ce temps préparer la “Tofunnaise”, qui n’est qu’autre qu’une mayonnaise au tofu mais plus digeste, moins grasse et — je vous le garantis! — meilleure que n’importe quelle mayonnaise achetée.
-1 livre de tofu soyeux, 2 gousses d’ail, un peu d’huile d’olive, sel, piment d’Espelette, mettre le tout dans le mixer. Peler les oeufs. Ecraser les jaunes et en garder une cuillère à soupe pour décorer. Mélanger les jaunes écrasés à la tofunnaise et remplir les oeufs avec une cuillère ou avec une poche à douille. Décorer avec jaune et paprika.

Deviled Eggs w/ Home made Tofunaise
Cook hard boiled eggs. Cool. Meanwhile prepare the Tofunnaise. This tofu mayonnaise is more digestible, less oily and will taste better than any store bought mayonnaise.
-1 lb silk tofu, 2 cloves of garlic, a little olive oil, salt, Melinda hot sauce — into the blender & mix thoroughly. Peel the eggs. Mash the yolks and keep a tablespoon for garnish. Mix the mashed egg yolks with the tofunnaise and fill the eggs with a spoon or a pastry bag. Garnish with paprika and the saved yolk.

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Category: Menu