A beautiful sight.
The Seven Year Itch
We're coming up on seven years of living way out here in the French countryside. Seven.
Husband grew up in New York City. I spent my entire adult life living smack dab in the middle of urban spaces - Seattle, San Francisco, New Orleans. I never had the desire to live in a rural setting.
Now we live in a village of 418 people.
Which is beautiful. Idyllic. Full of friendly neighbors and a tranquil, charming village life.
Lately though, we've both been craving a change of pace, we're wanting some new adventures. It's time to head to a city. We want to go see films, go out to art galleries and restaurants, see some live music, get back into the general buzz of an urban landscape.
And we miss take out! The luxury of being able to call for Chinese food, pizza, etc. while lazing about the house, wearing slippers, hair up in a messy ponytail, no make-up. (heck, just getting some decent Chinese food, delivered or not, would be a luxury!)
But which city?
Montpellier?
Marseille?
Paris, perhaps?
Seven years. I'm starting to itch.
Poached pears for dessert and an AWARD!
Last Sunday I had family for lunch. Everything was ready, and this was my menu:
... and for dessert? What on earth was I going to serve for dessert????
Oh, I was short of insipartion and didn't want to go out to do extra shopping.
I looked arround my kitchen and saw a couple of beautiful Williams pears or Bartlett pears as they are called in North America. These pears have so much flavor - and a perfect pear shape! I had seen a pear tart at the pastry shop when I went to get our baguette, and I could do one .. but with a tart as an appetizer, how was I going to serve a tart for dessert? Plus, with this already rich meal, adding almond powder, eggs and cream was not my idea of dessert.
Thin tomato tart *
Whole free range chicken with 24 garlic cloves in their robe
Saffron rice with steamed carrots
Endive salad with hazlenut oil and cider vingear
Auvergne platter of cheese **
Jean-Louis had prepared a 2005 Graves de Vayres from Chateau Haut Mongeat in Bordeaux
... and for dessert? What on earth was I going to serve for dessert????Oh, I was short of insipartion and didn't want to go out to do extra shopping.
I looked arround my kitchen and saw a couple of beautiful Williams pears or Bartlett pears as they are called in North America. These pears have so much flavor - and a perfect pear shape! I had seen a pear tart at the pastry shop when I went to get our baguette, and I could do one .. but with a tart as an appetizer, how was I going to serve a tart for dessert? Plus, with this already rich meal, adding almond powder, eggs and cream was not my idea of dessert.
I decided to peel the pears, cut them in two, removing the center, and poach them in a light vanilla scented sirup made with brown sugar. I cooked them until they were soft. I removed them from the pan, let them cool, and cut them in thin slices, keeping them together ... I flatten the half pears a bit to discover the fan like structure ...
I had a few Dutch waffles left from my last trip to Amsterdam, so I placed one half pear on top of a waffle, plus 1/4 of the vanilla bean on top of each one to decoarte .. plus a little bit of the sirup ... 
The most"gourmand" accepted my proposal of chocolate ice cream aside. Delicious!
*confit tomatoes, fried onions, emmental cheese, mozzarella di buffala all over a thin puff pastry crust, plus some herbs and olive oil on top
** Auvgergne is in the center of France and has a rich variety of cheeses, among them these that I chose to present: Old Cantal or Laguiole, Farmer Saint Nectaire, Blue d'Auvergne (cow milk)
And now, an Award!!!
Tina, who shares many different things of her life, including her taste for food, with her readers through her lively blog Life in the slow lane at Squirrel Head Manor has honored me with an award for which I am very grateful. True is that I browse regularly a list of blogs I enjoy reading because they are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Of course I read more than eight, usually on weekends. I'm sharing with you the last wight blogs I have visited and hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Give all your attention to these bloggers, photopgraphers, and writers.
Here are the blogs I invite to join us:
1. Blogger (and daughter) MaryLaure for her stylish, classy, well written, and modern Aurea (hope you do not mind another award!)
2. Blogger Titania who writes from Australia her more than delicious blog Yesterday Today and Tomorrow (visit it now to learn about persimmons)
3. Blogger Joie de Vivre, who with joy shares with us her Gourmet's Guide .. and bears its name to perfection (if you're feeling down, go and visit her).
4. Blogger Martine, who lives in the beautiful Baleares Islands and tells us about her life in her blog in Spanish
5. Blogger (and photographer) Christina Soul Aperture who claims being, among other things, a culinary goddess (and I love it!)
6. Blogger Mindy, who loves to cook, to try new recipes, and documents her successes (and failures) and shares them with a note of humor in her blog Mindy's Mouthful. (she's on vacation right now) .
7. Blogger Rina who is saying farewell to summer (yes, summer, Rina lives in Chile) and welcomes Fall in her well designed blog
8. Blogger Spangler Cummings who has visited not less than 553 cities and tap dances in her blog and in life!
To work dear fellow bloggers! Follow the thread ...
---------------
The award reads: "These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated."It also says : "Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."
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>>>March 23 UPDATE: Sorry Tina, I had scheduled this post for March 18 and it's obvious that I did something wrong as I found it today, unpublished, in my posts list. I have updated some infromation and am publishing it now. Thank you.
Laura
>>>March 23 UPDATE: Sorry Tina, I had scheduled this post for March 18 and it's obvious that I did something wrong as I found it today, unpublished, in my posts list. I have updated some infromation and am publishing it now. Thank you.
La Fête du Fromage - From North and South
We tasted two cheeses this week. One that was produced up north in the enchanting Loire Valley and the other from the stunning and aromatic Mediterranean scrublands.
Voilà, Sainte-Maure de Touraine and la Maquisarde.
I've been waiting ages to try one of France's best loved goat cheeses from the Loire Valley, Sainte-Maure de Touraine. It is easily recognizable by it's long, cylindrical shape and the piece of straw piercing its center. Historically, the straw was placed there to protect the young cheese from falling to pieces during handling.
Sainte-Maure is a striking cheese - a snowy, white interior surrounded by a wrinkled, grey-black crust. It has a lovely, walnut aroma and mild and nutty flavor that is perfectly balanced. The texture is dense and creamy. This is a (dare I say it?) very seductive cheese.
The production of Sainte-Maure de Touraine can be either fermier, coopérative or artisinal. It was awarded AOC status in 1990 and is available to enjoy any time of the year.
White wines such as Vouvray, Sancerre or Chablis or a red from the Loire such as Chinon are perfect matches for this cheese.
The scrublands of the region where we live, called la garrigue, are heavily perfumed with wild thyme, juniper, lavender and rosemary. The cheese from this region has subtle hints of these wonderful aromas, creating a unique tasting experience.
I bought a piece of unpasteurized cow's milk cheese called la Maquisarde at the Olonzac market last Tuesday. It is produced at a small farm near Minerve, the Coopérative Cravirola, who also made the incredible Tomme de Maquis that we tasted a couple of weeks ago.
The flavor seemed young and underdeveloped with too much tanginess, and it had a heady, barnyard aroma that was rather unpleasant. Usually, smelly cheeses don't bother me but this time it did. Compared to the Tomme de Maquis, la Maquisarde was a disappointment. I definitely expected to enjoy this cheese more. Oh well... They also make a Camembert that I want to try.
We had a glass of local, Minervois red with this cheese.
Voilà, Sainte-Maure de Touraine and la Maquisarde.
I've been waiting ages to try one of France's best loved goat cheeses from the Loire Valley, Sainte-Maure de Touraine. It is easily recognizable by it's long, cylindrical shape and the piece of straw piercing its center. Historically, the straw was placed there to protect the young cheese from falling to pieces during handling.
Sainte-Maure is a striking cheese - a snowy, white interior surrounded by a wrinkled, grey-black crust. It has a lovely, walnut aroma and mild and nutty flavor that is perfectly balanced. The texture is dense and creamy. This is a (dare I say it?) very seductive cheese.The production of Sainte-Maure de Touraine can be either fermier, coopérative or artisinal. It was awarded AOC status in 1990 and is available to enjoy any time of the year.
White wines such as Vouvray, Sancerre or Chablis or a red from the Loire such as Chinon are perfect matches for this cheese.
The scrublands of the region where we live, called la garrigue, are heavily perfumed with wild thyme, juniper, lavender and rosemary. The cheese from this region has subtle hints of these wonderful aromas, creating a unique tasting experience.
I bought a piece of unpasteurized cow's milk cheese called la Maquisarde at the Olonzac market last Tuesday. It is produced at a small farm near Minerve, the Coopérative Cravirola, who also made the incredible Tomme de Maquis that we tasted a couple of weeks ago.
The flavor seemed young and underdeveloped with too much tanginess, and it had a heady, barnyard aroma that was rather unpleasant. Usually, smelly cheeses don't bother me but this time it did. Compared to the Tomme de Maquis, la Maquisarde was a disappointment. I definitely expected to enjoy this cheese more. Oh well... They also make a Camembert that I want to try.
We had a glass of local, Minervois red with this cheese.
La Fête du Fromage - Machecoulais
Machecoul, a small town in the watery, verdant Marais Poitevin region of the Loire-Atlantique, is home to the dairy farm of Pascal Beillevaire, Maître Fromager Affineur.
Machecoulais Cremeux is an original creation of Pascal Beillevaire's, named for his home town.
M. Beillevaire works with around 200 small farmers/producers who entrust the affinage of more than 400 varieties of young fermier cheeses in his three ripening caves; one for blue cheese in the Auvergne, one in the Savoie for mountain cheeses and one at his large dairy just a few kilometers from his family’s farm for the soft-ripened varieties.
The cheeses and other dairy products such as fresh milk, butter, cream, yogurt and crème fraîche are then sold at his chain of shops around France and at locations around Europe and in the U.S.
I purchased this little brick at one of his shops in Paris last week and we tasted it with some sweet muscat grapes from our village and rustic seed bread from la boulangerie Eric Kayser.
The unpasteurized cow's milk used to make Machecoulais is gently perfumed by the sweet grasses in the Loire. The floral, grassy flavor comes through along with earth and mushrooms. It was slightly sour and lactic, not too salty, and the texture was rich and creamy.
I thought it was absolutely perfect for smearing on a chunk of rustic bread.
Some white wine from the Loire, perhaps some Vouvray or Sancerre, would be a nice wine pairing with this cheese.
More articles about Pascal Beillevaire.
SF Gate
Formaggio Kitchen
Machecoulais Cremeux is an original creation of Pascal Beillevaire's, named for his home town.
M. Beillevaire works with around 200 small farmers/producers who entrust the affinage of more than 400 varieties of young fermier cheeses in his three ripening caves; one for blue cheese in the Auvergne, one in the Savoie for mountain cheeses and one at his large dairy just a few kilometers from his family’s farm for the soft-ripened varieties.
The cheeses and other dairy products such as fresh milk, butter, cream, yogurt and crème fraîche are then sold at his chain of shops around France and at locations around Europe and in the U.S.
I purchased this little brick at one of his shops in Paris last week and we tasted it with some sweet muscat grapes from our village and rustic seed bread from la boulangerie Eric Kayser.
The unpasteurized cow's milk used to make Machecoulais is gently perfumed by the sweet grasses in the Loire. The floral, grassy flavor comes through along with earth and mushrooms. It was slightly sour and lactic, not too salty, and the texture was rich and creamy.
I thought it was absolutely perfect for smearing on a chunk of rustic bread.
Some white wine from the Loire, perhaps some Vouvray or Sancerre, would be a nice wine pairing with this cheese.
More articles about Pascal Beillevaire.
SF Gate
Formaggio Kitchen
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