The Montignac Method

[raisab]

Lucy,

Thank you for your reply. Is there a bakery you can recommend in Paris?

I love all the pictures of your food they are beautiful. But...would you post one of yourself? Just thought I would ask...

Raisa

[bleudauvergne]

Raisab - I have a great idea since you pass through Paris rather regularly. Why don't you go to the Montignac boutique?

Boutique Michel Montignac

14, rue de Maubeuge

75009 Paris

01.49.95.93.42

Anyway I'm sure they'd have pain integrale if not a list of approved boulangeries.

I've just checked and it's near Metro CADET on line 7.

Edited July 13, 2004 by bleudauvergne (log)

[bleudauvergne]

I have a nice very special recipe to share, for a cold salad topping or to serve as an elegant appetizer, even when you don't have guests!

Octopus is very cheap from the fishmonger, and I think that people have already discussed why on these boards, it's pretty tough in comparison to calamari, which is easily twice the price from my fishmonger. I love to prepare it though, and you don't need too much effort to make it come out tender and delicious, just time.

My fishmonger advises that I freeze the fresh octopus I buy from him, to make it more tender. He says that they used to beat it on the docks in Marseille but they don't do that anymore, and freezing it does the same thing.

So I took the three small octopuses I had frozen out and let them thaw in the fridge overnight. Last night, when I got home from work and had other things going, I prepared this dish, which is inspired by a french recipe for octopus "a la grecque", although I don't use the same spices nor do I think it is like they serve it in Greece! I washed them well under cold running water, and was ready to start.

300 - 400 g. octopus

1 lemon

1 t. sea salt

2 T. olive oil

one onion

2 cloves

2 t. sichuan peppercorns

2 t. coriander seeds

1/2 cup dry rose (or white) wine

1 lime

salt and pepper to taste

(Note above the ingredients are exactly as I prepared the dish this time, and I think I'm going to continue to prepare it this way, but that doesn't mean that you have to. Feel free to experiement and substitute, I do!)

Peel the skin off the octopus, and empty out the center cavities, and sharp ribs on the inner walls of the pouch.

Cut them into pieces and let them soak for 30 minutes in cold water.

After they've soaked, boil them for 5 minutes in salted water with the juice of one lemon added.

While that's going, prepare your bouquet ball. The original recipe from Chef Jacques Le Divellic, calls for 2 T. coriander seeds. But I felt that the strong flavor of all that coriander overpowered the delicate flavors and it lost important nuance. I've been experimenting, and have wanted for some time to try sichuan pepper corns. So this time, I put 2 cloves, 2 t. sechuan pepper corns, and 2t. coriander seeds in the ball.

Sweat one finely minced onion. When the octopus has boiled for 5 minutes, scoop it out of the water and add to the onion, and let that sautee for a couple of minutes.

Add the ball to the sauteeing octopus and onions, the juice of one lime, and add about 1/2 cup dry rose wine, I've used a cote du provence.

Add another cup of water, and bring to a boil. Lower heat, cover and let simmer for one hour.

At the end of an hour, take it off the heat, and let it cool to room temperature. Transfer to a container with the bouquet ball and refrigerate overnight.

Voila, a cool, tender, delicious mouth watering treat waiting for us when we came home from a long hot tiring day.

Note on the flavors infused by the mix: The long infused sichuan peppercorns give a distinct floral taste to the dish, a nice suprise. The flavor of the cloves were not perceptible. The peppercorns and the coriander seeds balanced well, and I felt the overall flavor was more balanced and subtle (and more fresh and floral) than with only coriander seeds. The perfect thing to accompany this, if I were not dieting, would have been a crystal glass of ice cold lillet.

Another idea is to get two or three pots going and have different spice mixes in each pot, like one pot with black peppercorns, one with sechuan, and one with coriander, or mustard. Mix them together just before serving, and then each bite would be a suprise of a different taste...

Bon appetit!

Edited September 15, 2004 by bleudauvergne (log)

[bloviatrix]

Lucy, I'm reading J. Pepin's The Apprentice. As he talks about Lyons and the market I've been thinking about you.

[Jake]

The octopus recipe sounds wonderful! I will certainly try this soon, thank you.

And thank you for your wonderful blogs. I follow them with great enjoyment and the photos are exceptional.

[raisab]

Oh Lucy, where are you?

[hathor]

Oh Lucy, where are you?

Yes...Lucy, you've been on my mind as well....

[ludja]

Bonne Annee Bleu D'Auvergne!!!

I just happened to be on the main page and saw that it was your birthday today!

Hope you had a wonderful birthday fete!

PS Thanks for the wonderful description (with lovely photos as always) of the octopus dish. I've never attempted to tame this beast but you give me more courage to try it sometime.

[bleudauvergne]

Dear All - thank you for the birthday wishes. We had lobster!

We are on vacation in a very internet challenged part of the world and can't upload photos now, but we're taking plenty of them.

I have to get back out in the sun before it hides behind a cloud again...

Kind regards and thank you for the thoughts!

We'll be back around mid-August.

Lucy

[Pan]

Enjoy your vacation!

[vivia]

Hello!

This is my first time in this forum and I hope you will forgive my bad English! I come from Greece (and I live in Greece) and I don' t know very well your language.

I learned about Montignac before two months and bought his book immediately. I have lost 4,5 kilos in six weeks. But I have some questions:

1) May I eat melons, watermelons, and figs?

2) What about kefir?

3) Until now, I use to eat cheeses with 0%-4% fats. Can I eat cheeses with more fats if my meal includes lipids?

Thank you all.

[Jake]

Welcome, Vivia! Glad you joined us, and your English is excellent, much better than my Greek.

I'm sure Lucy will answer your questions as soon as she returns from vacation.

[bleudauvergne]

Well, I'm back from vacation, ahem.

I only gained back 2 pounds on my little sabbatical, which came as a suprise when I stepped on the scale this morning. It wasn't a complete fall off the wagon, in fact I've been very aware of every "cheating instant" for weeks now, and for that reason I haven't really been that bad, but I have had desserts and I have enjoyed a piece of bread with my cheese. Naughty me. I stopped stepping on the scale altogether for several weeks, and I stopped stage 1. A change of habits, i.e. going back to work after the summer break, had me a bit stressed out and the first thing to go was my Montignac plan. I was very busy. But now I plan to pull myself back in.

At the market today, I sought out a special stone hearth oven boulanger that makes a real pain integrale, and got two loaves.

This evening I cooked up some chicken livers. I have had a love affair with celery root for about two weeks now.

So I decided to use the nice sweet flavor of the celery root to offset the flavor of the fois. Chicken livers, that is. This dish costs about 29 cents a serving to make, by the way.

Lucy's Chicken Livers and Celery

1 celery root

5 juniper berries

4 French bay leaves

juice of one lime

1/2 t. salt

1/2 t. pepper

1T. duck or goose fat or olive oil

4 T. chicken stock

250 grams chicken livers

6 prunes

1T. farm butter

more salt and pepper to season

Step One: Peel, cube, and grate 1 celery root.

In a large bowl, mix the celery root, juniper berries, bay leaves, salt and pepper, and the juice of the lime.

Combine well, and let Let macerate for one hour. At the end of the hour, put 1T. duck or goose fat or 1T. olive oil in a hot pan, and combine with 4T. chicken stock. Add the celery root, and turn several times while on high heat. Lower the heat to medium, cover and let simmer, turning two or three times, over the next 5 minutes.

While this is going, put your livers on to saute (again in duck or goose fat or olive oil).

When the 5 minutes is up with your celery root, drain it and press the juices into another pan, being careful to turn your livers and not to let them get overcooked. They should be pink inside when the dish is done. Watch them carefully. Cover and set the celery root aside, keeping it warm. Whisk a tablespoon of butter into your celery root juices over the heat and add 6 halved prunes when it thickens. Cook until warmed through.

Put a mound of your celery root on a plate, placing chicken livers on that, and then garnish with a few prunes and some of the sauce. Season and serve immediately.

Bon appetit!

Vivia, I hope you're still around! All fruits are fine on the Montignac plan - and yes, cheese is OK if you are eating a lipid meal.

[s'kat]

Welcome back, Lucy!

[maremosso]

Several years ago I used to go to Montignac's restaurant in South Kensington, London.

Always had delicious lunches and I was always intrigued hoe on earth one could actually lose any weight while still eatin chocolate, jams, etc.

Does this diet actually work, or is it just a fad?

[ludja]

The chicken liver dish sounds (and looks!) delicious Lucy; thanks for sharing it with us. As you hint at, a type of poor "fois" dinner. Great idea to have the prunes with them.

Also, I've only used celery root in cold salads like "celery root remoulade"; this sounds like an interesting way to cook it.

[hathor]

Another idea is to get two or three pots going and have different spice mixes in each pot, like one pot with black peppercorns, one with sechuan, and one with coriander, or mustard. Mix them together just before serving, and then each bite would be a suprise of a different taste...

Welcome back!

When this thread 'loaded' it loaded to your octopus recipe, which I read thru again. You know, this is a brilliant idea! Did you ever follow thru on the experiment?

Tell us more about your celery root obsession. The chicken livers and prunes sound wonderful. There is something about gamey flavors and prunes that is just divine. And then a little crunch from the root. Sounds excellent!!

[bleudauvergne]

You know, hathor, I was just looking at loose black peppercorns at the store tonight! Thinking that I want to do that very soon. I really want to try it with black or white peppercorns because I think it would be really good. I haven't tried the flavor trio in the octopus for the reason that I only had coriander and szchuan pepper loose. I usually buy black pepper in those disposable grinders because I usually manage to destroy expensive pepper grinders in one way or another. I did prepare the octopus when Bux came over for dinner last week. Here's a link to the thread about having Bux to dinner For that meal, Everything I prepared barring the aperetif toasts, bread and dessert was ok to eat on Montignac. I could have done just fine not eating those things.

I just don't know about the celeryroot, my mind's eye keeps including it when I think about accompaniments to various things. And it's so easy to prepare. It would be lovely with fish, with liver, pork... When I served it with the chicken livers, it wasn't crunchy. But with the octopus for Bux, I put it on a celery root remoulade, cold, like ludja describes. I also like to cube it and give it a head start in the microwave, 1 or 2 minutes on high with a little bit of water, until it's partly cooked, then to sautee it in duck or goose fat. Salted, it's better than potatoes.

[hathor]

Salted, it's better than potatoes.

Well....being of Polish descent and with an inordinate fondness for potatoes...I guess I'll just have to buy some celery root and see what the fuss is about!!

[cigalechanta]

Lucy, your photos are wonderful but made me go off my diet!. I find when I cook squid or octopus, if I dont cook them quickly, they get rubbery.

[bleudauvergne]

Ah but that's the secret. They have to be cooked a long time in order to lose the rubberyness. I hope you try it this way, and follow my advice about freezing them first, that also helps.

[greenwich st]

Bleu, let me repeat what others have been saying -- your cooking looks unbelievably seductive and the photos are ravishing! I particularly enjoyed the "long" post as my husband is French and I too experienced the kind of "attentionee" food deprivation you describe in otherwise affectionate company when I used to live in Paris. I have recently lost 14 lbs over 7 months of somewhat casual reduced carb eating, which doesn't sound like much, but it's the first time I've ever lost weight and I'm about 2/3 of the way to my goal. One element of my new eating plan which I believe has been very effective has been drinking copious amounts of green tea, which is supposed to lower and stablize blood sugar, whereas coffee elevates it. Your diet seems very effective, as well as pleasurable, and I'm not sure whether Montignac excludes all caffeine or just coffee, but there has been a lot of publicity in the diet world lately about green tea, and you might want to consider it as a coffee substitute if it is allowed.

[Bux]

My impression is that squid and octopus have to be cooked differently. That may be true for various species of squid as well. Small squid may be tender after a few minutes over a hot flame in either a pan or on a grille. With increased cooking they toughen as do scallops, shrimp or other seafood. I really don't know much about cooking octopus.

[chefzadi]

Depends on the size of the Octopus. Basically very quickly or very slowly just like squid.

We had whole baby octopus at a Spanish restaurant. They had been dipped in batter and deep fried. The heads sort of turned me off, but my wife just kept popping them whole into her mouth while teasing me by saying, "YUM!" They were very tender. .. er...according to her.

[Bux]

Depends on the size of the Octopus.

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That's what I suspected just as I was about to post.