Chicken Salad - Two Ways

Did I mention that it's hot?

Not just "baby, it's hot out there," hot. But a relentless, mind-numbing, hovering-around-100-degrees-every-afternoon kinda HOT.
(yeah, yeah I know you're probably sick of listening to me grumble about the heat - thankfully it is due to break soon and then I'll stop whinging)

In the meantime, my Big Cooking Adventure last week was to poach a load of chicken breasts in the coolest part of the day possible (around 1:30 am, with my current schedule) and come up with clever ways to use them in meals that don't require even getting near an oven.

My solution: Chicken Salad.


Lemony Chicken Salad with Zucchini, Dried Cranberries and Almonds
serves 4

• 1/3 cup dried cranberries
• 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
  
• 1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
• finely grated zest of 1 lemon, plus juice of 2 lemons
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• 3 medium zucchini (2 pounds), cut into 3-by-1/2-inch sticks
• 1 large shallot, minced
• 2 poached skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut or shredded into large pieces
  
• 1/4 cup whole, blanched almonds
  
• 2 cups lightly packed arugula
  

In a large bowl, combine 2 tablespoons of the olive oil with the garlic, cumin, lemon zest, half of the lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper.
Add the zucchini and cranberries and toss to coat. Let stand at room temperature for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
Meanwhile, in a shallow glass or ceramic dish, combine the minced shallot with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and the remaining lemon juice. Add the chicken pieces and stir to coat thoroughly with the marinade. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.
In a small skillet, toast the almonds over moderate heat until golden brown. Cool and chop.
Add the chicken with its marinade, the chopped almonds and arugula to the marinated zucchini and cranberries. Toss everything together.
Serve immediately.

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Vietnamese Chicken and Cabbage Salad (Goi Ga)
serves 4

Dressing

• 1 small, red chili, minced (and seeded if you want to temper the heat)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 ½ tablespoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce

Combine all the above ingredients in a bowl and stir until the sugar has dissolved.
Set aside.

Salad

• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts
• 4 cups (8 ounces) finely shredded Napa cabbage
• 1-2 carrots, peeled and shredded
• 1 red onion, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup fresh mint, slivered
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, slivered
• 2 tablespoons unsalted and roasted peanuts, chopped (optional)

Place the chicken breast in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, then lower heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Cook about 15-20 minutes. Remove the chicken breasts to a plate and let cool.
When cool enough to handle, tear the meat into long, thin pieces and place in a large bowl. Add the shredded cabbage, carrot, onion, mint and cilantro to the bowl.
Pour the dressing over and mix everything together.
Serve immediately, garnished with the optional peanuts.

.

Photo du Jour - Bulots

Bulots et aïoli.* What a dish!


*Whelks (sea snails) and garlic mayonnaise

Photo du Jour

The lavender is blooming already.

La Fête du Fromage - Magnum

"Artists who seek perfection in everything are those who cannot attain it in anything." - Eugene Delacroix

If cheesemaking is an art, and I absolutely believe it is, then the cheesemakers at La Ferme de Roquecave are true artists.  The owners of this little farm in the Haut Languedoc focus on producing a small array of organic fromages de chèvre, and they do them beautifully.

My latest purchase from their stand at the Olonzac market is this wrinkly, ash covered goat's cheese called Magnum.
I was curious where that name came from, but the farmer's daughter was doing the selling that day and had absolutely no idea.  Maybe they just like interesting names?  Perhaps it's an inside joke? 
They also have a cheese called Fouettard Claquemolle, undoubtedly one of the most bizarre names I've ever come across.
Maybe they sat around one day drawing names out of a hat?
It doesn't really matter, as all of their cheeses, La Lauze and Chèvre de Roquecave included, are so delicious that their names are inconsequential.

This is a intensely goaty goat's cheese, so it definitely wouldn't appeal to everyone.  It packs a tangy, lemony punch and its medium strong flavor lingers on your tongue.  It is chalky and chewy, and the soft, finely textured, creamy pâte simply melts in your mouth.
Magnum is a sublime, very sophisticated cheese that I think comes pretty close to perfection.

Since the farm is just up the road from us I decided to taste it with a local red from the Minervois.  It was a match made in heaven!

Zucchini Frittata

A recipe?
I still post recipes around here?

Yes, it has been a while...more than a month since I posted the last one and I have yet to produce my grandma's gnocchi recipe (it's coming, I promise!), but today I have something nice and simple to share.

Also, I haven't been inspired to cook much since my return two weeks ago. Between catching up on French paperwork, appointments, writing a lettre de motivation for my CV, catching up with friends and struggling through a full 7 days of mind numbing jet lag, cooking has been about what is comfortable, what is familiar and what is easy!

Like simple pasta dishes.
And eggs. With a few vegetables thrown in. Zucchini Frittata, for example.



Zucchini Frittata
6 small servings or 2-4 main course servings

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 pound zucchini, diced
• 6 large eggs
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• freshly ground black pepper

Whisk the eggs in a large bowl, then whisk in the cheese and half the salt and some freshly ground pepper . Set aside.
Pre-heat the broiler.
Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a 9-inch oven-proof nonstick skillet on medium heat.
Add the zucchini pieces and stir so that they are well coated with the oil.
Season with half the salt and cover the pan. Cook until the zucchini is tender and has started to turn a light golden brown.
Add the remaining tablespoon of oil and stir through. Lightly mash about half the zucchini pieces with the back of a spoon.
Pour the eggs and cheese over the zucchini and shake the pan so they are evenly distributed.
Cook without stirring until the bottom is set and only the top 1/4 of the eggs are still liquid.
Place the pan in the oven, about 5 inches from the broiler, and cook until the top is set and puffy, about 1 or 2 minutes. Don't overcook!
Turn the frittata out onto a serving dish.
Serve hot or cold.

Adapted from Susan Herrmann Loomis's Zucchini Frittata recipe from the Italian Farmhouse Cookbook.

Life in France...

...just got easier.

Woke up this morning to an exciting email from Husband saying that we have both been granted a carte de résident de 10 ans.
Our 10 year Residency Cards.

No more re-applying for a carte de séjour every June. No more back and forth to the Mairie with extra paperwork. No more receiving the carte de séjour 6 months after its expiration date, only to have to start the process all over again a few months later.
The endless saga of the carte de séjour is officially over.

I feel like I've just won the lottery!

A Polite Introduction to Jamie Oliver

 

Jamie Oliver.
I remember when his Naked Chef series first hit America. People thought he was so cool, so hip. So very British.

Me, I just couldn't get past his informal, chatty demeanor and those expressions:  Cracking. Lovely jubbly. A glug of olive oil. A knob of butter. A swig of vinegar. Whack it in the oven.  Brill.
Jamie just didn't do it for me.  His cooking style was too imprecise and too unconventional.  I was used to watching the very professional, composed Mario Batali in Molto Mario and the serious Lidia Bastianich in Lidia's Italy. 



Since moving to France I've had the chance to become better acquainted with Monsieur Oliver. All of our British friends have at least one of his cookbooks and he seemed to be everywhere at once;  in America, Spain, France, doing TV ads, and all over the Internet.
And even though he seemed to be a decent enough chef, I was still a bit skeptical.

Then last summer I saw a recipe for Rigatoni with Sweet Tomatoes, Aubergine and Mozzarella in a friend's copy of Jamie's Dinners and decided that I had to try it before the fresh eggplant, basil and tomatoes disappeared until the following year.

Wow!  What a dish!  Rich with vegetables, studded with garlic and onions and smothered in gooey cheese.  I thought it was really, really delicious. 

I've made it several times since then, yet every time I forget to take a photo.  That's been a real problem of mine lately. 
So here's the original photo that I took last summer (made with with purple basil and pipe rigate), which doesn't really do this dish any justice, followed by the much more appetizing photo from the book. 

Glad we finally met, Jamie.

Rigatoni with Sweet Tomato, Aubergine and Mozzarella
by Jamie Oliver
serves 4

This is a dish I’ve had many times in Italy, on the Amalfi coast. It’s one of those dishes that tastes like home - it’s comfort food, and it makes you feel good. The interesting thing about it is that the cow’s-milk mozzarella is torn up and thrown in at the last minute so that when you dig your spoon in you get melted, stringy bits of it - a real joy to eat. You can eat this as soon as it’s made, or you can put it all into a baking pan with a little cheese grated on top and reheat it as a baked pasta dish the next day, if you wish. - Jamie Oliver
 

• 1 firm ripe pink, black, or white aubergine (eggplant)
• extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
• 1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
• Two 14-ounce cans good-quality plum tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 to 2 fresh or dried chilies, chopped or crumbled, optional
• bunch fresh basil, leaves ripped and stalks sliced
• 4 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1 pound rigatoni or penne
• 7 ounces cow’s-milk mozzarella
• 1 piece Parmesan cheese, for grating

Remove both ends of the eggplant and slice it into 1/2 inch slices, then slice these across and finely dice into 1/2 inch cubes. Some people prefer to season their eggplant with salt and let it sit for a while in a colander to draw out the bitterness, but I don’t really do this unless I’m dealing with a seedy, bitter eggplant. This dish is really best made using a firm silky one.

Now, put a large saucepan on the heat and drizzle in 4 to 5 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil. When it’s hot, add the cubes of eggplant, and as soon as they hit the pan stir them around with a spoon so they are delicately coated with the oil and not soaked on one side only. Cook for about 7 or 8 minutes on a medium heat.  Then add the garlic and onion. When they have a little color, add the canned tomatoes and the balsamic vinegar. Stir around and season carefully with salt and pepper. At this point, if you wanted to give the dish a little heat you could add some chopped fresh or crumbled dried chilli, but that’s up to you. Add the basil stalks, and simmer the sauce nice and gently for around 15 minutes, then add the cream.

While the sauce is simmering, bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and add the pasta, cook according to the package instructions until it is soft but still holding its shape, then drain it, saving a little of the cooking water. I like to put the pasta back into the pot it was cooked in with a tiny bit of the cooking water and a drizzle of olive oil and move it around so it becomes almost dressed with the water and oil.

At this point add the lovely tomato sauce to the pasta. By now the eggplant will have cooked into a creamy tomatoey pulp, which is just yum yum yum! Season carefully to taste with salt and pepper. When all my guests are sitting round the table, I take the pan to the table, tear up the mozzarella and the fresh basil, and fold these in nicely for 30 seconds. Then very quickly serve into bowls. By the time your guests start to eat, the mozzarella will have started to melt and will be stringy and gorgeous and really milky-tasting. Just lovely with the tomatoes and eggplant. Serve at the table with a block of Parmesan cheese and a grater so that everyone can help themselves.

Creamy Cheesy Orzo With Swiss Chard

It can be baked in the oven or stirred to creamy perfection on the stove. It can be made into a hearty, cheese topped gratin or infused with different kinds of wine, even sparking Saumur. It can even be made with pasta.
Or can it?
I'm talking about risotto.

I have to ask...is it really risotto if it isn't made with rice?
As you know, I have issues with slow cooked vegetarian bean dishes being called Cassoulet and am really perplexed by vegan, dairy-free food products being referred to as cheese.
So what is risotto exactly? Is it the ingredients, i.e. the arborio rice, or the cooking method that makes it risotto?
Any thoughts?

To be honest though, after tasting this rich, cheesy pasta dish, I could care less! Call it risotto, call it pasta by absorption method, call it what you will.
I call it simply delicious.


A note on the cheese. Fontina is impossible to find where we live so I have replaced it with Raclette, a French (or Swiss) cheese from the Alps that is used to make a cold weather, stick-to-your-ribs dish of the same name. The cheese has a fruity and slightly smoky flavor that I love.


Cheesy Orzo "Risotto" with Swiss Chard
Serves 4

• 2 ½ cups chicken or vegetable stock or canned low-sodium broth
• 2 ½ cups water
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 ¾ cups orzo (¾ pound)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large shallot, thinly sliced
• 1 pound red Swiss chard, stems trimmed and finely chopped, leaves coarsely chopped
• 2 teaspoons sherry vinegar
• 5 ounces imported Fontina (or Raclette) cheese, cut into 1/4-inch dice (1 cup)
• ¾ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (3 ounces)
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

1. Bring the chicken stock and water to a simmer in a saucepan; keep warm over low heat. Melt the butter in a medium nonstick saucepan. Add the orzo to the butter and cook over moderately high heat, stirring often, until the orzo is golden, about 8 minutes. Add 1 cup of the hot stock mixture and cook, stirring gently, until all of the stock is absorbed. Gradually add more of the stock mixture, 1 cup at a time, and cook, stirring frequently, until the orzo is al dente and creamy but not soupy, about 20 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large nonstick skillet. Add the shallot and Swiss chard stems and cook over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, until the stems are tender and lightly browned, about 7 minutes. Add the chard leaves and cook over moderately high heat, tossing, until the leaves are wilted, about 2 minutes. Add the vinegar. Stir the chard and the Fontina and Parmesan cheeses into the risotto, season with salt and pepper and serve.

The recipe was slightly adapted from this one from Food and Wine magazine.

Summer treats!

Right now all the open markets are tempting, it's summer and I think of all the fresh fruit I am going to long for in winter ... As I am not going to Lafitte this summer, the delicious place near Marmande in south west France, the place where every summer I make my jams for winter, I started spotting my local market for the right fruit at the right price.

I bought 3 lb of cherries. My mother was kind enough to remove the pits, a tedious task I must say. I weighed the fruit and put half the total weigh in sugar. I let the fruit macerate in sugar for a ocuple of hours, then boiled the mix fruit sugar and added .... a few kernels of Sichuan pepper! I will tell you the result ... next winter.

My other jam was apricot jam. I bought round, yellow orange, soft, small apricots. I cut them in two ... and threw away the pits without removing the almond inside ... I weighted the apricots and added half the weigh in sugar, as for the apricot almonds, I boiled a bunch of almonds, removed the skin, and added them in the apricot-sugar mixture. I also added a vanilla bean. I let the mixture boil about 15 minutes and put the very hot jam in glass jars that I have previously boiled.

Getting ready for winter!

La Fête du Fromage - Bergues

For the last several weeks I've tasted some cheeses that have completely blown me away by their unique, aromatic and amazing flavors. Things were a little different this week...

Let me introduce you to Bergues.
Bergues is an unpasteurized, lower in fat (only around 20% versus the normal 40-60%), cow's milk cheese that is repeatedly washed in beer (a good thing, I thought) while it matures, producing a rich aroma. It has been made for centuries in the town of Bergues, which is only a few miles from the Belgian border, in an area referred to as French Flanders.

And it tastes like....



AIR.

Is. Has. No. Flavor.
None. Nada.
Rien.

We even let it sit out to mature a bit, thinking the flavor would develop into something.
Nope. Not a chance.

Now that you've been introduced to Bergues, you can promptly forget its name. Try not to be introduced again.
And if someday you are faced with Bergues, pretend you are allergic to cheese. Or pretend you are lactose intolerant. Whatever you have to do not to eat this stuff.

Want a wine pairing idea? No, you don't. Because you don't ever need to bother tasting it.


If there are any Bergues lovers out there, I'd like to know. Because really, how can you enjoy eating air disguised as cheese?

Photo du Jour - Classical Features

Handsome garden statuary at Peles Castle.

La Fête du Fromage - La Gayrie Brebis

One taste and I knew there was a problem.

It seems nice enough at first, like another yummy unpasteurized ewe's milk cheese.
You take a nibble and kind of enjoy it. You even consider taking another bite.
Then something happens...
the flavor changes...

and becomes virtually inedible.

La Gayrie is like the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of the French cheese world.


What first hits your tongue are mild hazelnut and mushroom flavors. Then it morphs into spicy, acrid, sharpness that is extremely bizarre. And absolutely awful.

Maybe it was a bad piece?

Fromagerie la Gayrie has been making organic ewe's and cow's milk cheeses in Aveyron for more than twenty years. Their cheeses are carried by the acclaimed Androuet in Paris and the renowned Xavier in Toulouse.

It must have been a bad piece. Quel dommage!

Sorry, no wine recommendation this time. If anyone tries La Gayrie and has a better experience, please let me know.

A Valentine special

Doug Rutsch from Petrossian, the famous house of caviar, contacted me some time ago to propose a special recipe for Valentine's day for you all to enjoy.

WHAT A TREAT!

Having lived in Iran, I am a caviar fan. I recall the times when the "caviar man" would come to our Tehran home with a bounty of camembert size tins with a rubber band around in a bag for us to choose from.

Later on in China, we enjoyed the caviar made in Heiliojiang province, near the Amour river.

And of course, every time I have visited Moscow, I come back with some.

Christmas in Paris allows me to indulge in this very special - and unfortunately expensive - treat. Valentine may be the right pretext to let you indulge too ....

What can you pai this meal with? A glass of very cold vodka!

Ingredients:

24 ounces of beef tenderloin, cleaned and minced by hand

Tabasco Sauce to taste

Salt and Pepper to taste

4 Tablespoons of drained capers, chopped

4 tablespoons of Dijon mustard

6 ounces of minced shallots

6 ounces of minced chives

4 ounces of minced piquillo peppers

2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

1 ounce of Armagnac

Caviar, 80 grams, available from Petrossian

1 baguette cut ¼" thick and lightly toasted, approximately 24 pieces

8 ounces of salad greens

Steps:

In a large chilled bowl, add the first ten ingredients. Mix with a spoon to combine and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper if needed. Pack 6 ounces of the tartare into a ring mold set on a chilled plate. Push down with a spoon to keep the mixture compact. Top with 20 grams of the caviar, smoothing out the top gently with a spoon and remove the mold. Serve with 6 croutons and 2 ounces of greens on the side.

Thank you Doug!

Photo du Jour - Piment d'Espelette

Le Piment d'Espelette

This deep red, flavor-packed pepper from the Basque region of southwest France is so treasured it was given AOC status in 1999. It is grown in a very small area surrounding 10 villages that celebrate with a Piment d'Espelette Festival every October.

The pepper has a sultry, smoky flavor and mild heat so it is often used in place of black pepper in Basque dishes such as Poulet Basquaise.

• 5 pounds chicken pieces, either whole legs or 1 chicken, cut up into 8 pieces
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 small slice Bayonne ham (optional)
• 3 yellow onions, thinly sliced
• 2 red peppers, seeds removed and thinly sliced
• 1 green pepper, seeds removed and thinly sliced
• 10 garlic cloves, crushed
• 6 tomatoes, cored and coarsely chopped
• ½ cup white wine
• 1 bouquet garni (2 springs of parsley, thyme & bay leaves tied together in green leek leaves)
• 1 tablespoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon Piment d'Espelette

1. In a large saucepan that will fit all of the chicken comfortably, heat 1/8 cup of olive oil over medium-high heat.
2. Brown the chicken in the olive oil, about 5 minutes per side. You may have to do this in batches. Remove the chicken from the pan, set aside and drain the fat from the pan.
3. Add the remaining olive oil to the pan and bring the heat back up to medium-high.
4. Add onions, bell peppers and garlic, sautée for about 5 minutes. Add the Bayonne ham, the tomatoes, the bouquet garni, the white wine, half of the salt and the Piment d' Espelette, cover and reduce the heat to medium. Let cook for about 15 minutes or until the tomatoes are soft and the liquid has reduced.
5. Add the chicken, stir everything together, cover and cook until the chicken breasts are done, about 15-20 minutes. Remove the breast pieces and set aside.
   
6. Continue cooking the rest of the chicken until done, about 20 minutes. Return the chicken breasts to the pot and warm up, about 3 to 4 minutes.
7. Discard bouquet garni, taste for salt and Piment d'Espelette and serve.

Serves 6-8

French Desserts

Yesterday we indulged.
I had two days off in a row and we were celebrating some recent good news, so we took ourselves out to lunch.

After consulting my Minervois Restaurants and Wineries notebook and sorting through the various criteria - price, wine included or not, shade or sun, inspiring menu, possibly somewhere new - we had it narrowed it down to a few places. I called the first one to book a table and there was no answer.
Fair enough, it was only 10:30am.
I tried again at 11am and still no answer.  By 11:30 we assumed that they had shut down for les vacances and started calling restaurant #2.
Same story.  No answer, no "we're closed for vacation" message.  Nothing.
By now it was almost noon and I was starting to worry that I would end up having to cook, so a final, desperate phone call was made to restaurant #3.

The third time was a charm.

We ended up in Olonzac at Le Minervois Bel, a restaurant that's tucked away on a dead-end side street, across from the middle school and next to a bar, and so well hidden that we often forget it's even there.

The owners are charming and the shady courtyard is a plus, but the food is the main attraction.
Yesterday's €13 lunch menu (which changes every day) was a chilled tomato soup with a dollop of whipped, herb infused chèvre and a parmesan tuile;  fillet of merlu in a succulent, slightly garlicky white sauce with a potato and wild mushroom timbale and sautéed carrots; followed by cheese or dessert of your choice.

We both opted for dessert.  I tried the mousse au fromage blanc avec fruits rouges and my husband ordered crème brûlée. 
The mousse au fromage blanc was sublime.  I mean really, really sublime.  And the crème brûlée was some of the best I've tasted since moving to France.

Since becoming a cheese addict I usually prefer cheese over dessert, though sometimes my sweet tooth wins.  I know there's no comparing the two, but when they're done right, French desserts really do take the cake. 

A Hopeful Week in Paris - Part 2

Have you ever had what seems like a golden opportunity literally fall into your lap?
Then in the end, for one reason or another, you have to say 'no thanks' and walk away from that opportunity?

Well, if you haven't, I can tell you that it kind of sucks.

At the end of November I was ready to make a huge life/career change.

All of the French cheese tasting I've done over the last few years led me to an exciting job opportunity in Paris. I took the train up at the end of November, had an interview and was hired on the spot by a very well known and award winning French fromager. 

I was ecstatic to say the least.
So in mid December I happily went off to Paris to do a week long trial period at one of his shops and to rent an apartment.

Then, as I explained in an earlier post, reality reared its ugly head.

I really thought that everything would work out. In the past I've moved to big cities, found jobs and rented apartments in a week's time. All it took was a lot of hustling around and signing on the dotted line. No big deal.

Maybe I was too optimistic. Maybe I was too naive?
Whatever.
The truth is, it was really disappointing.

That isn't to say that the week didn't have its high points.

I had a blast in the caves d'affinage underneath the shop, unwrapping and helping to prepare dozens and dozens of Vacherin Mont d'Or that would be sold during the upcoming holidays.
I spent an hour methodically brushing cheese mites off the rinds of enormous wheels of maturing Tomme de Savoie and Tome des Bauges.
I helped to make kilos of Périgord black truffle infused beurre salé and spent part of an afternoon slathering fresh Corsican ewe's milk cheese with a mélange of piment d'Espelette and balsamic vinegar to create a very special fromage de brebis.

I helped clients make up cheese boards to serve to their guests and offered samples to children who already had a sophisticated enough palate to know that they preferred the rich, 40 month old Comté to the younger, fruitier, 22 month old Comté.

My co-workers were young, entertaining and passionate about French cheese, and the responsable du magasin et cave d'affinage was one of the nicest people I've ever met.

When I wasn't up to my ears in fromage I had the chance to see some old friends and meet some new ones.

Friday Night Drinks with Sarah and husband Gui, Kyliemac (Katia called in sick, darn her!), Sam and boyfriend C and Jenny was a welcome break from the métro-boulot-dodo routine.

At the end of a 10 hour work day on Saturday I spent the evening relaxing with a glass of white wine, good conversation and a home cooked meal with David, which was exactly what I needed.

Camille and Nick suggested lunch at Happy Nouilles on Sunday. The three of us enjoyed big bowls of hand made Asian noodles that were to die for!

And a final lunch at a charming little salon de thé in the Marais with Jenny before the train home on Monday

 

The week was an experience I'll never forget.
Cold, cold weather, packed Metros, cheese!, Paris all dolled up and decorated for Christmas, unexpected snow, croissants for breakfast six days in a row, walking across the Ile de la Cité past a magically lit up Notre-Dame to have drinks, wandering the Marais at 1:30am after a late dinner, discovering new neighborhoods of Paris and seeing la Tour Eiffel every day from the Metro.

I have to be philosophical about the whole thing.
It really was an honor to be hired by such a prestigious fromager and proves that my skills are more marketable in France than I realized.
Also, I got to spend an entire week surrounded by and talking about French cheese, one of my favorite things!

So for now, I'll continue to look for that next opportunity. I know it will come along.

La Fête du Fromage - Le Buronnier

As this cheese quest advances (20 months, 147 cheeses and counting!), I'm continually surprised by the seemingly endless variety, flavor and character of French cheeses out there.

I picked up this wedge of le Buronnier along with a couple of others when I went to visit Betty in Rodez last month.


That moldy, rough, rustic rind attracted me immediately. I really expected this one to be special!
Well, it wasn't.
Just goes to show that looks aren't everything.

Le Buronnier is an unpasteurized cow's milk cheese that has a mild flavor, a nice, rich and buttery mouthfeel and a bitter bite that comes on late. Strangely it has absolutely no aroma.
There was nothing wrong with this fromage férmier from Aveyron per se, I just found it to be lacking in character.


If you plan on tasting this one, a good wine pairing would be a red Marcillac or a white Estaing.
Who knows, you might enjoy it more than I did.

La Fête du Fromage - September Round Up

Ok, my "sort of" vacation is over. On to the cheese!

September's La Fête du Fromage International Cheese Tasting Event round-up offers an intriguing mix of cheeses from around the world. Thanks to all who participated!


The first entry has such a strong aroma that it is sold in small plastic containers to keep the olfactory offense at a minimum. Ladybird, who lives in Belgium and writes Wishing I were in France, recently tasted Herve, a notoriously stinky Belgian cheese. It is often compared to Munster or Maroilles, and despite the overpowering aroma, its flavor is quite soft. I must look out for this one!

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Camille, of the delicious blog, Croque-Camille, went on a Corsican cheese hunt in Paris and discovered these two ewe's milk cheeses, Tomme Corse and A Filetta. The Tomme Corse has "an earthy, mushroomy, savory richness" underneath its mite nibbled crust, and A Filetta was quite smelly and pungent tasting.
The last time I had Tomme Corse was more than two years ago. Now I'm inspired to buy another wedge.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Robusto. What a fantastic name! Michelle in Portland recently discovered La Fête du Fromage and happily tasted and wrote about one of her favorite cheeses on her blog, Je Mange la Ville. Her description of Robusto made me laugh out loud..."Kind of like if Gouda and Parmesan had a tasty, delicious love child."

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A gorgeous slab of rich and buttery Fontina is Nathalie's entry to la Fête. I always count on her to share scrumptious looking Italian cheeses with us on her blog, Spaced Out Ramblings. Fontina is made in the Val d'Aosta from cow's milk and is perfect for melting on pizza or piadine, a type of flat bread from Emilia-Romagna. She describes its flavor as "mild, slightly nutty and you can still feel the grass in the aftertaste." I agree that Fontina is fantastic!

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Rachel of The Crispy Cook took an idyllic looking Cheese Tour around Washington County, NY where she was able to taste the creations of several small dairy farms. Samples included feta, herb and peppered chèvres, Caerphilly Cheese, Pumpkin Spice Quark, fresh mozzarella and High Rock Cheese, which was described as a Gruyère-like cheese made from goat's milk.
It is encouraging to see small cheese producers being supported by the public. Thanks for sharing the tour with us Rachel!

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My entry is a cheese that I tasted last summer, Le Roves des Garrigues. This is a tasty little goat's cheese with lots of herb, lemon and pepper flavors that is produced here in the Languedoc-Roussillon. I believe it is available in the States if anyone across the pond would like to give it a try. I highly recommend it!

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Thank you again everyone!
Can't wait to see what you share with us in October for the 10th Fête du Fromage International Cheese Tasting Event.
If you would like to join in, please have your entries to me by October 13. The entire round-up will be posted on October 15.

Tell us why you chose this particular cheese. Tell us how it tasted. Tell us about its texture and aroma. Did you eat it on its own? Or with something? Did you drink anything special with your cheese? Would you recommend it or not? Is there something unusual or interesting about it?

• Photos are wonderful, but not necessary
• Entries must contain the words La Fête du Fromage and contain a link to Chez Loulou
• Posts should be written specifically for La Fête du Fromage and not entered in any other food blog event
• Please send the link to your post to louloufrance (at) gmail (dot) com with the words Fête du Fromage in the subject line

More about my home - and aswers to your comments

The building where I live was build in 1865. I found in a brocante a postcard dated 1906; I blew it up and framed. On the left, my building. The trees, that reach the 2nd floor in the postcard, are very high now, they reach the 5th floor! Today the train tracks have disappeared - and the horses too! I live in the 2nd fl (American 3rd) of the building, right above Le Congres, as the restuarant is now called. In this Hausmann style architecture, the 2nd and 5th floors have balconies. This picture shows my side balcony along the boulevard.At the turn of the century, the restaurant in the ground and first floor, called then La Rotonde, got permission for an extension in front. The roof of the round extension is ... my deck!! Here is my living room as seen from the deck in the evening.

Going back to my cellar, it is located in the 2nd basement, and it is pretty big. The second basement means that there are two flights of floors underground. Both have cellars, one per flat, plus one we use for bicycles. The first underground floor also has the elevator engine.

We store wine and "stuff", such as a couple of solid oak beds I had when we lived in Kenya 30 years ago, metal trunks with loads of souvenirs, paint, Christmas decorations..... and more

One of the owners remembers that during WW2 my cellar was used by the building dwellers during the bombings. The Renault factory at Billancourt Island, which was bombed during the war, was only 2 miles away.

If walls could talk!

> You cannot store wine in just any cellar, you need good humidity and temperature conditions. Because only old cellars (dirt floor, stone walls and no concrete) are optimum to store wine, you can buy wine storage cellars that look like a fridge. The challenge for the manufacturer was to avoid the virbrations of the engine that would very much damange the aging of wine - that's why these cellars are NOT a fridge!

Photos du Jour - From Brittany

A friend traveled through Brittany a couple of weeks ago and shared these photos with me. I love seeing other regions of France, even through someone else's eyes.

Looks like a beautiful place!


oozing contentment

Fancy!

What about dressing a fancy classic table next Christmas?

I love round tables. They are so cozy. And I have a vast collection of round table cloths. Here I have used a white hand made linen table cloth to make the table look very fancy.

Christophle silver ware is what you see, and we had fish in the menu (fish cutlery is set). Then, beautiful Chinese plates with a barroque chrysanthemum design have a stunning impact in the scene. Small hand made Tunisian glasses are for white wine, a large glass for the red wine, and a Daum tumbler for water.

The white napkins are on the left, by the fork, and the knife rests (pose-couteaux) come from China.

In the center of the table I put a small bouquet of red roses.

Bon appétit!