Every Tuesday, “Liberation” offers you a student menu, complete, inexpensive and easy to make. Today, going to the kitchen to fill up on energy before the event this afternoon.
Every Tuesday, Release offers you a complete student menu, at a low price and easy to make: starter, main course and dessert, for 3 to 5 euros per head. And since students rarely have 15 square meter kitchens and a multitude of utensils, we stick to a classic kit: knife, peeler, cutting board, whisk, dish, pot and pan, salad spinner or tea towels , mini oven, cooking plate and plunger mixer (or blender), and basta. Today, raw vegetables that are good for your health and a beetroot dip to embellish them (approximately 1.30 euros per head), a “loaded potatoe” to keep you healthy (approximately 1.50 euros per person, depending on the ingredients chosen ) and we finish with prune clafoutis (about 1.80 euros for the best part). In total, you will end up sated for 4.60 euros maximum per guest.
Starter: raw vegetables and a beetroot dip
We start with a little recipe that you can also make for an aperitif: raw vegetables (cucumber, cauliflower and/or carrots, as desired) which are good for your health, and a dip of beets with fresh cheese, for make it more greedy. You will need, per person: a third of a cucumber and a medium carrot, or a quarter of raw cauliflower and a quarter of a cucumber, or two carrots, or… (in short, mix as you like); a small beetroot already cooked under vacuum; about 50 g of fresh cheese like Philadelphia or St-Môret (the private label works quite well too) or if you prefer fresh goat cheese; a little flat-leaf parsley; salt, pepper, cumin, chilli… as you wish.
Coarsely chop the beetroot and mix it with the cream cheese and the spices of your choice until you obtain a fairly smooth paste. Chop some parsley and add it on top of the dip. Cut up your raw vegetables, and dip them in the small beetroot cream.
Flat: a “loaded potatoe” that holds well
To be sure to be well prepared before going to a demonstration, bet on the “loaded potatoe”, a baked potato that Americans like to garnish with lots of good things: crispy pieces of bacon, grated cheese a little au gratin, diced peppers or tomatoes, vegetable pickles, slightly candied onions, raw and sliced new onions… For one person, you need: a large potato (or three medium); two spring onions; 50 g grated cheese of your choice (Emmental, Comté, cheddar, mozzarella…); 3 or 4 slices of bacon, or the equivalent in lardons; 2 tablespoons of fresh cream; half a pepper; salt, pepper, vegetable oil; possibly a little salad.
Wash the potato(es) and place them in foil, in the oven at 200°C, for about 45 minutes/1 hour. Meanwhile, deseed and clean the half pepper and cut it into small dice. You can also use candied peppers (or tomatoes) if you have some on hand. Chop the spring onions. Cook the bacon in a skillet or in the oven, next to the potatoes to use less energy. When it is crispy, set it aside and cut it into small pieces. You can also use lardons, to sweat in a pan, why not with a little sliced yellow onion. When the potatoes are cooked, remove the foil and cut them in half horizontally. With a spoon, scoop out some of the potato flesh and place it in a bowl. Add two-thirds of the bacon or part of the bacon-onion mixture, the grated cheese (keep a little to brown), a spoonful of fresh cream, two-thirds of the spring onions and sliced peppers and mix well.
Put the mixture back in the skin of the potatoes, and cover with the rest of the grated cheese. Place back in the oven for 5-10 minutes at 220°C, the time to brown. On your plate, which you can garnish with a little salad if you want, place the potatoes and add the rest of the garnish and a teaspoon of fresh cream on each potato half.
Dessert: prune clafoutis
Depending on the season, you can use many fruits in a clafoutis: apples, pears, plums and prunes, grapes, cherries, raspberries… Follow Philippe Etchebest’s recipe (Cook well accompanied with my Mentor method, ed. Albin Michel, 2022) and adapt it to your desires! We have kept the proportions, given for six people: you will have some left over for breakfast, a snack or an upcoming dessert. You will need: 100 g of butter; 50 cl of milk; 2 eggs and 4 egg yolks; 125 g caster sugar; 75 g of flour; 300 g of prunes (with or without pits).
Cut 75 g of butter into pieces, then melt it in a small saucepan until you get a nice hazelnut color. Bring the milk to a boil in a saucepan. Meanwhile, whisk the eggs and egg yolks with the sugar in a mixing bowl. Add the flour and whisk well. Whisking constantly, add the melted butter and then the boiling milk until a smooth paste is obtained.
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Grease a high-sided pan with the remaining butter. Spread the prunes on the bottom, then pour the batter over them. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. If you have prunes left, you can use them in a tart or a sweet and savory sandwich with goat cheese and bacon, the recipe for which we will give you soon (in the meantime, keep them in the sealed bag). If you don’t like prunes or find them too expensive, you can replace them with fresh fruit such as apples or pears.