Photo du Jour

Vivid color on our neighbor's doorstep.

Photos du Jour - le Soleil

The sun is back! For how long, who knows.
I know we need rain, quite badly in fact, but these dark, rainy days make it feel like winter will never end.

Rillettes country

We headed North through Bourgueil vineyards, on to Sarthe, a region famous for its "rillettes". Rillettes is a sort of pate, pork meat (and fat) are cut in cubes, boiled for hours and then smashed with a fork.

The butcher-"charcutier" of Saint Vincent de Louerer is famous for his rillettes; he proudly displays his gold medal award. He uses only free range pork and sells first quality products.

Upon arrival our friends had prepared Rillettes in cute little white ramekins, with toats sticks, and radishes from their kitchen garden.

Bon appetit!

La Fête du Fromage - La Lauze?

It seems that there has been some confusion.

Every summer a local goat's cheese maker shows up at the Olonzac market with their mouth-watering, seasonal offerings. I stopped by their stand last week and in the midst of the pyramides, wheels and crottins I noticed two square shaped cheeses. One I recognized as Fouettard Claquemolle, which I bought from them last July. I asked what the other one was called and the young woman replied, "Fouettard Claquemolle".
Hmmm....
I told her that I had bought the other square cheese last summer and the man selling the cheese at the time had called it Fouettard Claquemolle. She insisted that the one I was currently interested in was le vrai Fouettard Claquemolle and the other one, the one we tasted last summer, is called La Lauze.

Alors.



Whatever they're called, the one thing that these two cheeses have in common is that they are both divine!

Fouttard Claquemolle's inviting aroma is warm and nutty and it has a smooth, soft and chewy pâte that could almost be described as meaty. The flavor is well balanced with mild yeast and salt, earthy mushrooms and just a hint of goatiness, and there is a nice tang and piquancy on the tongue. The combination of the soft texture and lively flavor is truly delicious!

All three of the organic, unpasteurized fromages de chèvre that I've tasted from La Ferme de Roquecave have been amazing. While I have the chance I plan on tasting their entire range of cheeses this summer.


A glass of red wine from the Minervois was a perfect match to Fouettard Claquemolle.

Weekend Links

Sometimes things get lost in translation.
To try to keep myself from making silly mistakes, I read the blog French Word-A-Day.  It has always helped me keep my foot out of my mouth (except for the time I told our friends that they had une truite (a trout) in their ceiling, when I meant to say une fuite (a leak) - oops!) by keeping me up to date with current French expressions and colloquialisms. 

Jamie's brilliant review of Quiches, Kugels and Couscous: My Search for Jewish Cooking in France by Joan Nathan was just the enticement I needed to order myself a copy.  A great read and a great cookbook!

Apple desserts are a no-brainer in the autumn, but I think they deserve further consideration during the winter.  My favorite French Apple Cake, Dorie Greenspan's Apple Cake, a ridiculously easy Baked Apple Crunch and a classic French Tarte aux Pommes are four fantastic recipes to try.

This has to be the most decadent hot chocolate ever. 

For me, it just wouldn't be Christmas without watching this SNL skit and listening to this song.
Happy Holidays!

Lunch in Gascony

Heading to the Kitchen at Camont in Gascony for lunch today.
Bon dimanche!

Photo du Jour - The Edge of a Vineyard

A stone column and cross marking the boundary of a local vineyard.

Wine

Creole Homes, Scrabble and a King Cake

Monday night is Scrabble Night at Mary and Tomio's amazing home in the Bywater neighborhood, home of the world famous Mirliton Festival.

It is an evening of Mary's wonderful food - to die for kumquat glazed ham, baked Japanese, white-flesh sweet potatoes, skillet cornbread, cheese smothered cauliflower and chocolate pecan King Cake for dessert - fabulous conversation and a Scrabble game or two. (which I always lose)


Mary and Tomio's kitchen



a tableau of turtle shells in dining room
turtle soup anyone?

Mary and Tomio's home, as well as our friend, Peter's, are featured in a recently published, informative and beautifully photographed book, Creole Houses: Traditonal Homes of Old Louisiana.

A South African Feast in the South of France

Our most recent World Food Evening took us on a sensory journey to the aromatic and zesty cuisine of South Africa.

We all brought a dish, as usual, and shared a wonderful meal that included Prawn Cakes with a spicy Cilantro Sauce, a deliciously curried Bobotie served with Apricot Blatjang and Tomato and Onion Salad, and finally a Coconut Tart for dessert.


soft, fragrant prawn cakes


crunchy, onion salad


I'm so disappointed that the photo of the Bobotie was blurry. By the time the main course comes around, I either forget to take photos or don't pay close enough attention to get a decent shot. It was a fabulous dish, full of spices, meat and fruit, then topped with a egg custard and baked. What an amazing melange of flavors!
The recipe came from BBC Good Food magazine. I've added an "American translation" to some of the British terms. (believe me, sometimes it's necessary!)


Bobotie

• 2 slices white bread
• 2 onions, chopped
• 25g butter
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1kg packet lean minced (ground) beef
• 2 tbsp madras curry paste
• 1 tsp dried mixed herbs
• 3 cloves
• 5 allspice berries
• 2 tbsp peach mango chutney
• 3 tbsp sultanas (golden raisins)
• 6 bay leaves
• 300 ml full-cream milk (whole milk)
  
• 2 large eggs
  

1. Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. (350F) Pour cold water over the bread and set aside to soak.
2. Meanwhile, fry the onions in the butter, stirring regularly for 10 mins until they are soft and starting to colour. Add the garlic and beef and stir well, crushing the mince (ground beef) into fine grains until it changes colour. Stir in the curry paste, herbs, spices, chutney, sultanas (golden raisins) and 2 of the bay leaves with 1 tsp salt and plenty of ground black pepper.
3. Cover and simmer for 10 mins. Squeeze the water from the bread, then beat into the meat mixture until well blended. Tip into an oval ovenproof dish (23 x 33cm and about 5-6cm deep)(9-10 inches and 2-3 inches deep). Press the mixture down well and smooth the top. You can make this and chill 1 day ahead.
4. For the topping, beat the milk and eggs with seasoning, then pour over the meat. Top with the remaining bay leaves and bake for 35-40 mins until the topping is set and starting to turn golden.
Serves 6


A new addition: a challenging quiz to make sure we get more out of the evening than recipes and great food! We all loved it and I believe it is to become a World Food Evening tradition from now on.

Thomas was happy to nibble on his mommy's necklace.


Our next gathering will be a swanky Manhattanesque Cocktails and Hors d'Oeuvres soirée.

Photo du Jour - Persimmon Tree

Behind a tall stone wall in our village stands this persimmon tree, heavy with ripe fruit.
It belongs to our neighbor, an unfriendly man who scowls at me when I say "bonjour" as I walk by. I never bother to ask him if I can pick some of the fruit that he lets fall off the branches and rot on the ground.

Sometimes I wonder if his scowl is permanent. And I wonder how his wife manages to be so souriante* after living with that scowl every day.
Maybe he saves his smiles for her.


*cheerful; always smiling

Don't know what to do for ... (2)

I think I made a tasteful dinner last night! We were meeting good friends who live abroad and who were in Paris only a few days! This year, my Christmas colors are "Red and White", so that set the way I dressed our table.
I want to share with you the menu as we are all getting ready for special meals during the Holiday Season and you may be shrt of ideas! This menu will be perfect for the holiday season, it's pretty rich ... but unforgettable. The pictures of the dishes presented here come from my website and you can get the recipes by clicking on the pictures below. In fact, that's why the chinaware in the pictures is not the same as what I used last night , which was "strictly" red and white - but I forgot to make the pictures: > Chestnut Veloute with Foie Gras THis chestnut veloute is thick, rich, and delicious. > Duck Breast a la plancha I served the duck with white beans.> Chocolate Lava Molten Cake by Deborah Coupey Deborah's cake was a killer! THank you for the recipe!
We started with a glas of Champagne and then served a 2000 Saint Emilion (Bordeaux) wine, rich in texture, nose, and color.
Bon appetit!

Beautiful Sonoma Valley!

Beautiful Sonoma Valley!
Yesterday we took a long drive across woods, mountains, and along the Pacific Ocean.

We first headed North of Petaluma and Santa Rosa, on highway 101, to Healdsburg, a very nice town which features a Spanish style architecture and has plenty of posh shops, wine tasting places, and restaurants.
We strolled in the city for quite a while, there were plenty of "brocanteurs" (called antique shops here, but to get the real feeling I'd say brocanteur). I almost bought an old picture of a Chinese guy with two young children .. but it was so big ... how to transport it back to Paris?
Then we had lunch in a nice restuarant that had a lot of tables outside, in a private garden.
From there, I had spotted a place for icecream, and we went and had one (as small and as expensive as French icecreams). We had our treat in a park in the center of the town.

Then we drove North towards Asti, along minor roads in the vineyards. I love to see how vineyards remodel the landscape.
The vineyards here are pretty high compared to the vineyards in the Loire (where I harvested last year). They look almost like bushes in some places!
So peaceful!




After a while, we headed towards the mountains between the valley and the Pacific Ocean. We passed Lake Sonoma and its refreshing view, and drove for more than one hour amidst sequoias, sky and valleys. Beautiful 35 miles of woods, mountains, high trees, and quietness.
A true regal!

At last, we arrived on the coast, and the Pacific Ocean, which makes me always a bit nervous, was majestic!
From there we drove South along Ca 1, and then back to Petaluma for a quick spinach leave salad with fresh poche organic eggs.

Photo du Jour

Inside a friend's courtyard.

Photo du Jour - Fire

Formidable clouds of smoke from an out of control fire Thursday evening, about 25 miles from the village. After dark we could see the flames.
At the time it looked a heck of a lot closer than 25 miles!

Officials say that 400 firefighters, 36 fire engines and nine water-carrying airplanes are trying to put out the flames which spread across an uninhabited and uncultivated area in mountains 15 kilometres from the southern city of Narbonne.

They say that they have contained the smaller blaze, which has destroyed about 150 hectares of brush, but that the larger has spread to an area which is inaccessible by land.

That fire, which was the first to start, had already destroyed 450 hectares of vegetation by 5.30 pm on Thursday.

No injuries or serious damage to crops or premises are reported but firefighters have had to protect some buildings. The lightly-inhabited area is in a natural park in the southern Corbières region near the Mediterranean coast.

Gravlax

Food can bring a travel experience to your table!
I do this gravlax around the Holiday Season. During this season, we always have unexpected visitors : most being friends who live abroad and come to France for the holidays. We like to invite them to stay for dinner, so I need a fridge ready to help me entertain!

Here are the different steps to make Gravlax (I brought the recipe from Stockholm). For the full recipe, visit my website and enter in the search engine "Gravlax" - or "salmon" if you want to see all the recipes with this fish.

Slow train and slow food

A (very) slow train took me from Paris to Saumur (Loire Valley) in five hours (against two hours with a combined trip with TGVor High Speed Train) for my Oeonology course. Weather was pretty good and when changing trains in Tours I walked around and bought a beautiful Brioche at a local bakery.
Our evening meal was a festival of flavors - that everyone enjoyed!

We started with a Loire Cremant served at the perfect temperature. Then we had a platter of gray prawns and "bouquet" prawns from Brittany. Plain. Perfect. Our meal continued with a special fish from the Loire, the Alose, cooked to perfection in the oven. Leeks slowly cooked in some butter, with added creme fraiche at the end were the garnish.

Bon appetit!

La Fête du Fromage - Emmental Français

No, this isn't Swiss cheese.

Yes, Emmental can be from Switzerland. And yes, the two look exactly alike.
However, this is the French version of Emmental, called Emmental Français.



Emmental has been made since the 13th century in the mountainous Savoie and France-Comté regions with the sweet, rich, unpasteurized milk from Tarine and Abondance cows. It takes almost 1000 liters to produce one massive 70 kilo wheel.

The process of making Emmental requires several stages: It first rests in a cold cellar for several days, then it is moved to a warm cellar for one month. The warmer air causes bacteria in the cheese to transform oxygen into CO2, allowing the elastic texture, pale yellow color and walnut sized holes to develop. As soon as the gargantuan wheel starts to bulge it is moved back into the cold cellar and allowed to mature.

Emmental melts beautifully and is often used in soufflé and fondue recipes. I keep little bags of it in grated form to make tarts and savory cakes.
Until last week I hadn't really tasted Emmental Français. Of course I'd eaten pieces of it here and there, but never paid much attention to its flavor. I always thought it was a decent enough cheese, but nothing to get excited about.

Well, I still wouldn't jump around for joy if offered this cheese, but I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would.
It is wonderful to nibble with some apple or pear slices and crusty bread. The flavor is buttery, slightly fruity, nutty and sweet, and the texture is firm and satiny-smooth.

Serve Emmental with fruity red wines such as Pinot Noir or white Vin de Savoie.


The industrial, pasteurized milk Emmental is available in almost every small food shop and supermarket in France. The unpasteurized, label rouge Emmental Grand Cru is usually sold at the cheese counter or in a Fromagerie.

Photo du Jour - Light

Light streaming though a window of the cathedral in Rodez.

A dinner with friends

Thursday night (yesterday) we had, as we often do, friends for dinner. THursday is an unsual day, but a couple was in Paris for a few days only as they live in the South. Entertaining is a delightful way to keep friendships alive.
You all know that I am not for spending too much time preparing the meal .. my recipe?
A nicely dressed table - 20% of your success,
presentation - 20%,
your creativity - 30%, so that leaves ...
30% for the actual meal!

I used white Limoges dishes, my mouth blown water glasses from Egypt, my water pitcher from Mexico, my tall wine crystal glasses, my Ercuis stainless steel cutlery, and the tender green Jacquard Francais tablecloth.

We served Champagne while we chatted and introduced the guests to each other.

I started the meal with a veloute of cauliflower a la Barry , a cauliflower cream soup. I boiled the cauliflower flowers with water and milk, I blended, added creme fraiche, sea salt, pepper, freshly grated nutmeg, and served with salmon eggs. See the detailed recipe in the link. Note that one guest had come alone, his wife had another engagement. Marie, an excellent and creative cook, called me this morning to tell me that her husband had said I had served a delicious meal - and she wanted the recipe of my appetizer!

Then came my own lamb leg "mauresque", where I revisited my souvenirs of Northern Africa: lamb, cooked in a fractionned way. I cooked the lamb in the oven in a cast iron pan three times, one hour each time, morning, afternoon, and evening.

I cooked aside chick peas which I added to the lamb sauce the last time I cooked it.

After the lamb, I served a "sucrine" salad, a crisp yet tender salad grown by my local producer. I seasoned with coarskey chopped flat parsely, olive oil, wine vinegar, salt and freshly ground pepper. I used my Kenya salad spoons to toss the salad.

I presented a cheese platter together with the salad, and the challenge was:
Find what's common to all these cheeses .. and you will have the right to have some!
Are they all made with cow milk? No!
Are they all soft? No!
Are they all ... "Saints"? And the answer is YESSS!

Saint Nectaire, Saint Marcelin, Saint Felicien, Saint Flo, Pouligny Saint Pierre.... Only two found the right answer! Bravo Olivier and Elizabeth!

My dessert was a clafoutis of pears and chocolate, served in individual ramequins placed on turquoise Qing design dessert plates. The clay ramequins come with Saint Felicien cheese. This cow milk cheese is so soft that it has to be "contained" in a ramequin. I recylce them for clafoutis and individual crumbles.
We served a red Saint Emilion Bordeaux wine, 2005. Perfect pairing!

I must also say that my guests spoiled me with beautiful flowers! These light pink delicate anemones and a bouquet of bright pink roses.

Recipe of Lamb leg "mauresque"

Ingredients:
1 lamb leg
2 cans of tomatoes (tomatoes only, without seasoning or additives)
3 Tbsp of wine vinegar
3 garlic cloves, peeled
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp dried mint or a branch if fresh
1 branch of parsely
4 Tpsp of olive oil
1 Tsp of harissa (a spicy paste from Northern Africa, replace with chili powder if not available)
Sea salt
Freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup of pistachios, shelled
Garnish
1 cup of chick peas, leave in 3 cups of water water 24 hours before.
Steps:
Cook the cick peas in salted water. When they are cooked (soft), drain and keep aside.
Heat the oven at 250 F.
Heat the oil in the pan. Brown the lamb leg. Remove, add the vinegar and grate the pan with a wood spatula.
Add the tomatoes, the herbs, the garlic, harissa, and spices. Bring to a boil. Stir and season to taste.
Add the lamb and put in the oven 1 hour. If you prepared this dish the day before or in the morning, in the afternoon bake again 1 hour, adding at this point the chick peas. If you can, do this three times. The lamb will be moist but well done, delicious! Roast the pistachios in a pan, and sprinkle on top of the lamb before serving.
Serve very hot.

Bon appetit!