Carrots Vichy, carottes vichy

Come discover how to prepare a lovely, sweet and bright side accompaniment to any grilled meat, fish or sautéed seafood...carrots vichy...carottes vichy at www.annecuisine.com

www.annecuisine.com

Ta-Da! I'm now on www.annecuisine.com

you can find all my recipes, articles and regular updates at one easy address:

www.annecuisine.com

All visitors welcome! Come find great recipes and a good laugh.

I look forward to seeing you soon!
Regards,
Anne

Magret de Canard à la Framboise -Margret de Duck with Rapsberries

Discover a lovely dish using raspberries and duck!

Warm Winter Fruit Salad -Feta Fennel Cake

Bonjour! Come find my latest recipes for Warm Winter Fruit Salad and Feta-Fennel Cake at my new blog: www.annecuisine.typepad.com

Tarte Tatin, Carmelized Apple Pie

Read my latest Entry on www.annecuisine.typepad.com all about succulent baked apples in a caramelized apple pie... tarte tatin!

Pork Roast Bonne Femme

Pork Roast Bonne Femme
rôti de porc bonne femme

Originally, I wrote: There are dozens of ways to prepare a pork roast in traditional French cooking. The expression “bonne femme” follows many classic dishes in France. The literal translation of “bonne femme” means... keep reading at www.annecuisine.typepad.com

Find all my latest entries and recipes at: www.annecuisine.typepad.com

Tuna or Salmon Cakes

Fish Cakes Mission Accomplished, Part II

Here's the recipe... Keep reading go to www.annecuisine.typepad.com

Fish Cakes, Mission Accomplished

Yes, I finally got up the gumption to make these babies. And talk about easy! I mean like e*a*s*y!
Keep Reading... On my new blog: www.annecuisine.typepad.com

Celery and Potato Soup

I stumbled on this recipe and article that I wrote for the Gazette in 2001. It's a fitting article for this time of year because
1. it's almost March
2. it's still good soup season
3. I read in my supermarket magazine that it's still prime season for celery. ( I bet you didn't know that. I sure didn't).
Bon Appétit & Bon Weekend!

My new Blog is at: www.annecuisine.typepad.com

A Little Bit More About the Author

A Little Bit More About the Author
I know that up until now, you have not learnt very much about me, Anne, the author of this blog (and the Blogger blog!). I feel it's important to know more about the person 'behind the name'. so I've added to my About me page and in the category, Background ( a little history). I'll be adding to that in the future.

If you have not figured it out by now, I'm an American who grew up in WV, a wonderful and beautiful state but not the culinary Mecca of the world (unless you are looking for Ramps recipes, seriouly, I'm not kidding). I learned to cook absolutely everything after having moved to France (well, expect for chocolate chip cookies!). I learnt from the best, real French people, namely my husband (for a very short period of time) and since then from French women, namely my mother-in-law, my husband's paternal grandmother and various female (and male chef) friends and a cookbook by a famous French female cook: Françoise Bernard.

Decisions, Decisions

I made a list of meals we were to have for dinner this week and so far, I've not kept to that list at all! This is typical of me. Last night I was 'supposed' to try out a new recipe for fish or crab cakes. I saw this recipe in a fish cookbook last week and it gave me a craving for them... this was on Saturday.
I was going to make them on Monday but I opened up the recipe at 11:52 am (typical me) and saw that I had to let the mix 'set' for a couple of hours in the fridge. (Here my girlfriend and house guest, Alison, just laughed.)
I thought well, that's OK; I'll make them before going to work later in the week. (This week I work afternoons, so I have the time in the morning, right?) Wrong.

Keep Reading, click here...

HERE IT IS........THE NEW BLOG

OK I AM GETTING BETTER AT MASTERING THE TYPEPAD BLOG. SO HERE IS THE LINK AND THE NAME: http://annecuisine.typepad.com/

I will continue to post in both over the next month!

click to see the new blog.

Leeks, a leeky subject

Yes, another previously written article back in the days of writing for the Charleston, WV Gazette... 2002.

Leeks, what would a French winter be like without them? A long and lonely one! Bon Lecture and I've added TWO recipes for your cooking enjoyment.


Leeky Subject
By – Anne Dessens for the Charleston Gazette, 2002

‘What’s a leek?’ you might ask. Good question. It was one that I asked myself many years ago when I first came to France.
But my question was worded in French. What is a poireau? Well, as you know poireau is French for leek. Now that we’ve learned our vocabulary, what is it?
A vegetable for one thing. I had never seen or heard of a leek before popping over to France where this vegetable is used regularly.
Leeks are part of the onion family. In fact, it resembles a large green onion. It’s milder than an onion and doesn’t breakdown as much when cooked as does an onion.
So, if you like onions but have never tried a leek. Then, you have some trying to do.
Once I discovered leeks, I began cooking them all the time. My enchantment with the vegetable has taken on realistic proportions. But now that it’s leek season, my love for the vegetable is back.
Yes, leeks are a fall vegetable. You can purchase them almost year round but the best ones (the ones during peak season) are slim and long. The fatter they are, the stronger and more bitter they are.
Below is a classic French recipe for leek pie (tarte aux poireaux) and leek and potato soup. These recipes are commonly seen on the French dinner table between October and March. They are wonderful French home cooking recipes that I just had to pass on to you readers.
Leeks are wonderful gently sautéed in olive oil or butter. Gently sauté them for 20-25 on medium heat, stirring frequently to avoid sticking. Salt and pepper to taste and serve along side any meat or fish.
The French refer to this as fondu de poireau (leek fondu because the leeks are cooked until they are almost melted-fondu).
You can add some sour cream at the end of the cooking time for a little sauce to go with your meat. This is as good with grilled chicken (or chicken cooked with the leeks is another option) as with salmon steaks. It’s probably the best way to try leeks for the first time.
To clean these mamas, cut off the stringy end; remove any brown or dried green leaves or tips; slice down middle and run under cold water to remove any sand or dirt. Chop and slice as desired.

Tarte aux Poireaux - Leek Pie

Leek Pie
Similar to onion pie, the leeks are gently sauté until tender and soft before cooking in the pie.


1 ready made pie crust
2 lb. leeks (5-6 medium leeks)
1 ½ tablespoons olive oil, extra virgin
2 eggs or 4 egg whites
½ cup milk, any kind
¾ cup grated Swiss or other mild, white cheese
salt and pepper to taste


Preheat oven to 375°. In a large skillet, sauté leeks in olive oil for 20-25 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.

While leeks are cooking, combine eggs, milk cheese, salt and pepper; Whisk together until smooth. Set aside.

When leeks are ready, spread pie crust out in pie dish, add leeks, pour egg mixture overtop and bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown on top.

Let cool slightly before serving.

Potage Parmentier or Potato and Leek Soup

Leek and Potato Soup
A French classic! (Known to the Julia Child readers as Potage Parmentier!)

1 lb. Leeks (3 medium leeks)
4 medium potatoes (peeling optional)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 clove garlic
1 bouillon cube (flavor of your choice)
6 cups water
salt and pepper to taste

Prepare leeks by cutting off stingy tips; removing any dried or brown leaves; slice down middle and run under cold water to remove any dirt. Slice into rounds. Chop potatoes.

In large soup pot with lid, heat olive oil and garlic on medium, add leeks and sauté for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking; add potatoes, water, bouillon cube and salt. Bring to boil; cover; reduce heat back to medium; simmer 15-20 minutes.

Note: if leeks are a bit tough, sauté an extra 5 minutes and simmer soup another 10.
Some people run this soup through blender. You can run part of soup through blender for extra thickness, leaving in some of the chunks, or purée soup completely (you may need to strain if leeks are old and stringy) or serve as is.

Gâteau à l'orange ou au citron, Orange or lemon Cake Part II

You can have your cake and time to eat it too
By – Anne Dessens - from the Charleston Gazette 2002


You can have your cake and time to eat it too. All in about 35 minutes. Here are two easy cake recipes that I throw together when I have company drop by unexpectedly; when I need to turn something in for a bake sale or just feel like having something sweet and uncomplicated for dessert.
These two cakes, gâteau à l’orange (orange cake) and gâteau au citron (lemon cake) are the same cake with their only difference being either a juiced orange or a juiced lemon. You’ll need real juice for these cakes so get out your citrus juicer.
These cakes are noting fancy. Cream your basic flour, sugar, eggs, butter and rising agents together; add some fresh juice and bake. Add anther juiced citrus for a moist and delicious dessert.
They can be dressing up with a meringue top by simply beating egg whites stiff with a pinch of salt and some sugar. Spread the meringue mixture over top the baked cake and bake again in order for the meringue to set.
The à la mode so popular in the US but unknown in France is also an excellent serving suggestion. A good vanilla ice cream goes down smooth with the lemon version while a good dark chocolate ice cream with chocolate sauce transforms the orange version.
These spongy cake gets thirsty so, if you reserve this delicate delight a second or third time, don’t forget to add the juice or anther orange or lemon before serving; otherwise, it will be kind of dry.
The five minute preparation time makes these cakes really sweet for the cook. 30 minutes in a nice warm oven does wonders to the batter. Add to a buffet, picnic or snack counter for positive results. Who doesn’t need another easy dessert recipe?

Easy Lemon Cake

¾ cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 stick butter or margarine, softened
juice from 2 lemons + juice from 1
zest from one lemon
powdered sugar for decoration

Preheat oven to 325°.
Mix dry ingredients in bowl and set aside. In food processor or beater combine eggs, sugar butter, juice from 2 lemons and lemon zest. Mix well. Add dry ingredients to wet and pulse until forms smooth batter.

Pour into greased 9 inch cake or pie pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden and edges start to pull away from sides. Remove from oven. Let cook slightly. Pour remaining juice from lemon over top.

Serve warm or room temperature. Sprinkle with powdered sugar just before serving if desired.

Easy Orange Cake

¾ cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 stick butter or margarine, softened
juice from 2 oranges
zest from one orange
powdered sugar for decoration

Preheat oven to 325°.
Mix dry ingredients in bowl and set aside. In food processor or beater combine eggs, sugar butter, juice from 1 orange and orange zest. Mix well. Add dry ingredients to wet and pulse until forms smooth batter.

Pour into greased 9 inch cake or pie pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden and edges start to pull away from sides. Remove from oven. Let cook slightly. Pour remaining juice from orange over top.

Serve warm or room temperature. Sprinkle with powdered sugar just before serving if desired.

Gâteau à l'Orange -Orange cake, Part I

The first time I tasted this cake was when my then future husband made this cake for a dinner partying he was having at his house. It was our second meeting, no at all a date because there were 10 other people there, including my college friends who were studying with me in Tours back in 1993.

Actually he made both cakes, one lemon and one orange. When you see the recipe, you'll understand what a piece of cake it really is.

Several years ago, I wrote an article on it for the Charleston Gazette. That original article is what follows.

Yesterday, after serving the sourest clémentines for dessert, I decided that the best way to finish up the remaining kg of them that I had (that's 2.2 lb!) was to double up the orange cake recipe. My in-laws were coming for coffee, picking up our daughter and taking her for a few days. Remember, my girlfriend (I mean blog mentor) was here with her two children (that's a total of 4 hungry, walking stomachs) plus us adults. Wanting to be the 'hostess with the mostess' I thought, "Hey great, I serve the cake with the coffee and take care of the children's sacred goûter" -afternoon snack.

While the coffee was brewing, I juiced all the clémentines; Alison zested the remaining orange (I kind of forgot the zesting of one clémentine so she had to resort to finding the least saddest shriveled up orange in the basket!). I pulled out my robot (food processor) and asked her to hit me with the flour... uh.. Houston we've got a problem.

No flour left.

Uhg. So I chuckd the idea of doing the cake with the coffee. (Of course they arrived literally 2 minutes later so it wasn't going to be one of those "hostess with the mostess" moments!)

No problem. We'll go to the store later and get some more flour.

A few hours later we set off for the store, small grocery list in hand. You know the kind your write on a post it and stick to your cart handle. It literally had 5 items listed on it. It was missing the flour. But Alison remembered and as I walked by the butter section, I hestitated. Do I need butter? No. I am fine on butter. Got a whole tub of it in the fridge. I moved on.

We got home, I pulled out the recipe and noticed I needed 2/3 stick of butter (130 g?). I looked at my tub of butter along with Alison and we decided that yes, I had approximately that much.

"Yeah, but I've juiced enough clémentines for THREE cakes!"

Fine. I'm tired. It's been a great weekend but I no longer feel like cooking. I feel like curling up on the couch under a blanket and read my book until I fall asleep. Tomorrow I have to work. All. Day.

The cake will have to wait. Now what do I do with all that juice?

A Sixties Meal... A la UK

Wednesday night were invited round for tea at our English neighbour’s house. Here on holiday for a week long break between teaching terms, our English neighbours make plenty of trips during the year to our ‘neck of the woods’.

I digress. It’s great having English-speaking neighbours, for moi that is. It’s excellent of course of the children, practicing their English when French surrounds them. It’s a perfect opportunity for my husband to also practice his English, which he speaks very well, (thanks to marrying moi!). Usually he doesn’t speak to me in English (well…ever!)

With the English being a bonus and a little mix of, ‘we hit it right off from the beginning’ means that we try to see as much of each other while they are here. Translation: cramming several meals into one week. Since we never have a dull moment, and having known each other for 8 years, we look forward to their arrival and it inspires my creative cooking juices.

Return from digression. So, we were invited round for tea. Now this wasn’t to drink hot tea with lemon sticking our little pinkie fingers out as we sipped. No, being invited around for tea by Yorkshires means that we’ve been invited for dinner. Ah, better.

They had decided to try out a lovely recipe from Delia Smith’s Fish Cookery Book: Luxury Fish Pie with Rosti*. Hmm, sounded delicious. But upon our arrival they announced that unable to find the correct ingredients in French (they had to translate from English to French), they had to make another dish, veggie lasagne (my personal favourite by them.). You see, I am not good at lasagne so it’s always a treat to eat it chez les autres, at other people’s houses.

Their theme had been a ‘60ies meal and minus the luxury pie, that is exactly what we had: Prawn Cocktail, Veggie Lasagne with garlic bread and Banana Splits for dessert. It was a lovely meal. Without further ado, I give you the photos to enjoy them meal with thy eyes.
*Since they couldn't find the correct ingredients for the pie whilst out doing the shopping, I agreed to make the pie for them on Friday night when Alison and kids came for the weekend. Luxury Fish Pie Story to be Continued...

Moving!

Yes! With my Blogging mentor, I'm moving on to a better blogging service, Typepad. While we've got the BlogRolling thing going, we haven't been able to work out (correctly) how to import all my archives from Blogger to Typepad. But it's a start.

We're still working on things like design, colors, banners and categories. (Yes, I'm finally going to be able to have food categories for easy referencing. *Yippy!*)

As soon as it's more presentable, I'll send you the link. I'll be posting in both places, so you can follow me whereever.

So, if you don't see me here, it's because I'm on my other blog!

Patience mes enfants....

Appetizer with Goat Cheese and Pear Jam Dip

Here is the post I wanted to do on Thursday but Blogger was not opening up for moi. Is it just me, or is it Blogger? I suppose since it's free, I shouldn't complain. You get what you pay for, right?

OK, enough of cyber complaining. On to the food.

This is a nice appetizer for the start of the weekend! These two recipes were born from a need to use the products I sell through my business, Esprit de France Gourmet. Check it out if you'd like. Substitute as you see fit. In any case...Bon Appetit.


Herbed Goat Cheese Apéritif
By –Anne Dessens

Again, this is another recipes that brings out the unique flavor of the fennel in our Croque au Sel “Poisson” sea salt.

4 oz. Goat cheese, semi-moist
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon Croque au Sel “Poisson” sea salt
3 Tablespoons freshly chopped parsley
3 Tablespoons freshly chopped chives
1 teaspoon herbes de Provence
1 Tablespoon Freshly grated parmesan cheese

Mash chesses together with garlic and salt. Stir in herbs and chill 10-15 minutes before rolling into bite-size balls. Place on platter. Serve chilled with Sweet and Savory Pear Dip.

Sweet and Savory Pear Dip
By –Anne Dessens

2 Tablespoons Vergers de Gascogne Pear Jam
½ teaspoon Croque au sel « Poisson » sea salt
juice from ½ a lemon


Combine ingredients together in a microwaveable dish; chill until ready to use. Microwave for 45 seconds or until jam bubbles.

Serve warm accompanied with Herbed Goat Cheese Apéritif, Feta-Fennel Cake (to be blogged) or Toast Pork Bonne Femme (to be blogged). For Pork Roast, double recipe and pour over roast 10 minutes before the end of cooking time (glazed effect).

Blogging Blues, Highs and Lows

Yesterday, I prepared a nice food entry with recipe and art. The entry was typed in Word, saved and spell checked (grammar left to the wild but an improvement for moi!). Picture located and ready for uploading... We were invited to our English neighbor's last night for a meal (you know at teatime!).

With the husband and children standing at the door, ready to go (and the dog though she wasn't going anywhere), I begged tehm for just 30 seconds to post my entry. I type in www.blogger.com and I time out. Site not responding. ... UHG!!!! No way to access my blog. *sniffle*sniffle*

Blogging is a dangerous sport. It's addicting and theraputic at the same time. A very bad combination in my book because at one end you can't help but want to blog -that need to express yourself- and at the other end you would rather pass up on a good movie or special time with friends and family to blog-- kind of anti-social. But you don't care because you'd rather be blogging.

You can't really break away from it. You can't run it like a day job because you think about it incessantly. You've always got a half-written entry (on-going) in your mind. YOu can't wait to get to the computer to post a new entry. You know you'd rather be blogging.

Then real life sets in.

Jobs, kids, meals and husband get in the way. Do you sacrifice your job? A tête-à-tête with the love of your life or do you throw sleep to the underachievers?

I don't know.

But what I do know is that this blogger 'incident' is not my first and nor will it be my last. Take for example the fact that I've been trying to get a BlogRolling list going for two months without sucess! Blogger just won't post mine. (so if you are looking for a link on my blog to yours, and don't see it, it's not because I don't want to link to you, it's Blogger pretending to post it!)

Granted I've less talent with the computer and Internet than with a 1/2 dozen eggs and some leftovers, but still they make all that stuff 'Idiot Friendly'. I don't know.

I know I need to switch. I need to move on to something like Typepad. My blogging mentor is coming tomorrow. She'll have a lot on her plate this weekend.

Until then, I'll have to try and post early in the day.

That was the bad news. The good news (pour moi) is that my daughter running a significant fever, I don't have to work today. *Yippy* So what have I planned for the day?

Guess. Go on I dare you! You know Id'd rather be blogging.

*LOL*

The Ultimate Dipper

You must get past the notion that endives are only for salads and braising. This is a false misconception. They make an excellent party companion! You can replace those fattening chips, tortillas and “club” crackers (biscuits!) with crispy endive leaves.

They work well for dipping in saucy concoctions. They serve up great with some filling, little barquettes (mini flat bed boats). They make perfect “scoopers” for the ‘meaty’ dips. They can take on hot or cold accompaniments. Since they don’t wilt easily, you can prepare them well in advance, cover with plastic wrap then let them chill out.

Women will love you for serving something so low-carb and calorie friendly with drinks before dinner Men, I don’t think would really care as long as they are loaded with something hearty. *ha-ha*

Finally, they are a winter vegetable and e a welcome change to heavier dipping accessories in winter.

A few tips:
Peel off leaves outside to inside, removing the bottom with a knife.
If your endives is rather large, cut it in two through the center and serve both ends of the leaves.
Choose small endives whenever possible; the smaller, the less bitter.

Next on the Menu, a wicked 3-Cheese Dip that you can slather down the middle of these dippers, on crackers or celery.

Vivre the month of February!

I love the month of February.

Yes, for most of you it's a depressing time of the year. It's winter, it's cold, the ground hog signals 6 more weeks of winter (ugh!). At least there is Valentine's Day. Flowers, chocolate, gifts and a night en tête-à-tête! Cozy!

But Februrary in our family is birthday month, feast day's and lover's days, not metnion Crepe month. I know lots of people people who were born in February. That means that if you calculate, all these folks were conceived during the month of May when spring has sprung and renewal of life takes place. Le cercle de la vie.

While we Aquarians have flighty temperments and live the on-going emotional roller coaster, we do have our strong points: we love to color outside the lines, we hate to follow directions and we improvise quite well. Result: a new recipe every day (in my case)!

Anyway, if you are wondering where I've been the past few days it's been in Celebration City. Friday was my hubby's feast day, a lovely excuse to celebrate around a meal (très frnçais); Sunday was my Special Day (that endured the entire day) and of course today is Valentine's Day. Plus the week's not over.

Long Live February I say!

Neuf de Quatre

I done been tagged by Alison and I've been putting this off for over a month. OK. I'll share a little bit more of myself now that I see the pros are doing it.

You'll also notice I'm terrible about sticking to the directions, I used to do this at school; always giving more info than the directions asked for. And to boot, I thought I'd throw in a picture of myself, since I don't have any on my blog (anywhere!)



Four jobs you have had in your life:

*Baker for The Great American Cookie Company
(I'm not counting English Teacher or Translator in France)
*Food Writer for the Charleston, WV Gazette
*Business Enterpreneur (my own start up)
*Collaboratrice (fancy French word for saying that my day job is working in my husband's insurance agency fending off agressive callers and trying to sell them something else!)

Four movies you would watch over and over:
tough one for me. I kind of like to watch a movie then move on...

*All the Harry Potter Movies (1-4)
*When Harry Met Sally
*National Lampoon's movies with Chevy Chase (Christmas and European Vacation)
*chick movies in general


Four places you have lived:

Yikes! I grew up in one city, then got married and lived in another...

*Charlestson, WV (childhood)
*Athens, OH (college)
*La Rochelle, France (glory years)
*Rural, France (real life)

Four TV shows you love to watch:

*Seinfeld
*Desparate Housewives
*Lost
*Friends

Four places you have been on vacation:

*Switzerland (that's for Arnaud!)
*a trip across the USA with the whole family(5 of us!) in a 1979 green station wagon for an entire month, but we saw almost all of the USA
*Sheffield, England
*Pamploma, Spain

Four websites I visit daily :

*Alithinks
*my bank account! and my statcounter!*lol* (no I'm not sharing the link here)
*Trapped in Trappes
*La Tartine Gourmande
*Cream Puffs in Venice

Four of my favourite foods:
How do you except a glutton like myself to limit myself to just 4?

*vegetables
*fruit
*junk food
*French food
(was that too general?)

Ok, one from each (a.k.a. I've never met one of the following I could pass up):

*avocados
*blueberries
*tortilla chips
*foie gras

Four places I would rather be right now:

*in bed with a good book
*in Australia to see what all the fuss is about
*in Italy living out Under the Tuscan sky but à la cuccina
*in a pub in England saying that I'm knackered


Four bloggers I am tagging:
(any bets on if they'll do it or not?)
geez, toughie, uhm...

Béa
Ivonne
Ann-toinette
misscrisc

Starting the Weekend off on the Right Foot

Throughout the entire weekend at my in-laws house, I spent most of it trying to capture the ambiance on camera. Here is a little walk through of Saturday Night. (Unfortunately, the battery died on my Sunday noon, so I caught a few images, but not all of them. They'll be in the second installment.)

Pink Bubbles. Nothing compares to pink champagne. It's delicate nez and fine bubbles is an elegant toasting companion.

Préfou. A Vendéen tradition, garlic butter and freshly cracked pepper bread. the story behind how it got it's name is that the baker would test the heat of the oven by placing this pre- four (French for oven) flat bread on the edge of the oven. When it was cooked, the oven was hot enough to start baking bread. The flat 'tester' bread was then slathered with butter and garlic and eaten by the baker and his apprentis. Today, the name is just prefou. (Not it's not bread for crazy people).

Toasted in the oven, it's a sinful appetizer. Around where I live, it's also served with the meal like we'd serve garlic bread, though the country-folk around here don't consider it an 'Italian' thing.

Foie Gras fait maison. I love homemade foie gras. It's not difficult but difficult in the way that you cannot sample or taste your foie gras after you've seasoned it. This is where the master chefs distiguish themselves from the amateurs: how salted did you make yours. I have a recipe calling for 7 gr of salt. 7! That's like two sheets of paper. I'm not very metric to begin with, but when you throw in less than measurable amounts, I'm really out of of the game. My metric scale starts at 100 g which is a pittance in the weight department. My husband usually salts our foie gras and stands there holding an enveloppe (weighs 20 g) and the salt granules in the other hand. Comical.

This is my MIL's foie gras that she made for us. Very meaty, and does melt like butt-ahr on you tongue. Little brioche toasts for the accompaniment.

Brie Quiche with Sun Dried Tomatoes and Tarragon

Quiche is to my cooking what meringues are to my mother in law. Yes, we all do a certain thing well, and do it often. Quiche is my staple recipe.

I find that it fits in easily to low-key meals. It’s fine room temperature as it is hot out of the oven. I put all kinds of things in my quiche. This one was inspired by an Ikea cookbook (go figure!) I picked up recently.

After showing it to Alison, she went home and made it herself, then ask me to please blog it! Thanks Alison, you had to wait weeks for this one, n’est-ce pas?

Use really ripe brie for the most flavor. Using a puff pastry instead of classic pie crust is an excellent change of pace to the quiche-regulars. Its light and flaky texture are delightful on the tongue (forget the hips!).

Leftover quiche can be frozen and also reserved as a starter course with salad greens or cut into bite-size pieces and served with drinks before dinner. A lovely way to unwind after a grueling week is to have a glass of crisp white wine (Bourguignon Alligote) wine chilled with bites of this quiche, warmed, a small bowl of garlic green olives, and some slices of smoked salmon with a twist of fresh lemon. Little appéro-dinatoire.

Brie and Sun Dried Tomato Quiche

250 g brie cheese
1 puff pastry pie crust
4 whole sun dried tomatoes, packed in oil, drained
4 eggs
2 cups or ½ liter milk
¼ cup or 125 ml sour cream or crème fraîche
3 tablespoons fresh tarragon, finely chopped
1/8 teaspoon sea salt or with fennel and herbs


Preheat oven to 375°F or 210°C. Slice tomatoes lengthwise in halves. Slice cheese into 8 slices, lengthwise, set aside.

Whisk together eggs and sour cream, add milk, sea salt, pepper and herbs and continue to whisk. Unroll pie crust and arrange cheese slices in pinwheel fashion from center. Top each cheese slice with a half a dried tomato. Pour egg mixture over cheese and tomatoes and bake 25-30 minutes or until golden brown on top. Let cook slightly before serving.

Chocolate Cherry Chewy Brownies

If you are looking for rich, dark, sweet, chewy chocolate brownies with a sexy twist, then this recipe is for you! I’ve almost completely substituted all the sugar for jam and the effect is a chewy, moist brownie.

Reactions from the peanut gallery? Well, let’s just say that it’s a good thing I got this picture before the children and hubby came home because only crumbs are left. So much for leftovers! Well it’s a good thing because it’s tough to diet with these babies around.

For a crumbly version, bake for an extra 5 minutes. If you want to have leftovers, then wrap and freeze portions. You’re family will thank you because one bite of these brownies will make everyone feel special.



Chocolate Griotte Cherry Brownies
By – Anne Dessens

The mix of chocolate and tangy-tart cherries is an absolute ‘bring the house down’ dessert. That is, if you are lucky to make it past the famous 4 o ‘clock goûter. This makes a rather big batch. It seems that brownie recipes I come across are always for small batches. Personally, I can never keep these on hand, they go too fast, thus the larger recipe.

200 g dark baking chocolate
7.7 oz or 220 gr Vergers de Gascogne cherry jam
140 g butter, softened
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 cup or 250 g flour, sifted
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of fleur de sel sea salt

In a bain marie, melt chocolate in small saucepan over boiling water; add jam and set aside. Soften butter in microwave, beat together with sugar with a hand whisk until creamy smooth.

- Add eggs one by one, beating well after each egg. Sift in flour, add pinch of salt, whisk well. Stir jam and chocolate together then pour into batter. Beat well.

-In a 9 x13 or rather large baking dish, butter all sides, dust with flour. Pour brownie batter into prepared dish and bake for 25-30 minutes.

Note, if you prefer a less ‘gooey’ brownie cook an extra 5 minutes. Let cool slightly before cutting. Can be warmed for 35 seconds in microwave before serving.
Serving ideas: with a cream custard sauce (with or without brandy); with ice cream; with fig crème sauce or with a dusting of powdered sugar.

The Loving Touch

This is picture of what makes going to my mother-in-law's so wonderful. As you see there are three types of "cookies " or "buscuits" here: meringue on top; brownie to the left and shortbread to the right. (A real United Nations picture!).

They are all homemade and available after the dessert. Yes, not only does she make a homemade dessert, she then pulls out at least one of these babies and serves them with the dessert and the coffee. (Yep, everytime.) It's that loving touch: homemade sweets to finish off the meal. Just when you think that there's nothing else, the meal's over, she pulls something like this out of the cupboard. She just always has some on hand.

In reality it's not much. It doesn't take that long to whip up a batch of meringues and let them bake while you go off to do something else (like blog or shoot e-mails back and forth with your girlfriend while sipping the last dredges of your morning coffee that is stale and cold by now).

It's a little extra time that says to guests, "I care." And it always makes you, the guest, feel great. Even for my husband and his sisters, who are used to her doing these little added touches, they still look for and forward to finding these family traditional treats. (OK the brownies were introduced after my arrival in the family and I don't where the shortbread came from.)

You can imagine that my children love going to her house, too, because they'll snoop around looking for some homemade cookies hidden in a cupboard. They know they get to indulge at snacktime while we wait until after the meal. They ask her if they can take some home with them. They come back again and again for another serving.

I've learned (from her) that it's the small things, the little loving touches that make the difference. Some homemade biscuits instead of "store bought" are always a treat. Sure you could say that it would grow old after a while or that we'd get used to it. But we don't, not in a bad way. We don't expect the extra work, we simply savor it each and every time.

Now I've got to get into the kitchen and bake up some of my Chocolate Cherry Brownies for my children's snack after school! check back for this recipe and for Meringue Cookies.

20 More Fillings for Crepes Tonight

As I've repeated several times, crepes can be devoured savory or sweet. If you are looking for some more ideas about how to fill your crepes here are 10 savory and 10 sweet ideas.

Remember, crepes are like sandwiches, so anything goes! Taken from Brittany, a region northwest of Paris where crepes are a tradition, creperies have sprung up all over the country. Crepes are the only thing on the menu and arrive hot off the griddle with the fillings of your choice. Here are some common and not-so-common fillings.
Savory
1. Egg (cook an egg on top of the crepe-usually sunny side up style)
2. Egg and ham
3. Egg, ham and grated Swiss cheese
4. Three cheeses (grated Swiss, cheddar and mozzarella)
5. Roquefort cheese, shredded lettuce and walnuts
6. Sautéed onions in sour cream (add 1-2 tablespoons sour cream at the end of cooking)
7. Sautéed mushrooms in sour cream (add 1-2 tablespoons sour cream at the end of cooking)
8. Steamed potatoes in parsley sauce (steam 1 potato/person; dice; add 1 tablespoon butter or margarine + 2tablespoons fresh snipped parsley and salt to taste)
9. Diced feta cheese, diced tomatoes, minced red onion, black olives drizzled with olive oil
10. Cream cheese, fresh chives chopped, freshly cracked pepper
Sweet
1. Sprinkled with granular sugar
2. Sprinkled with powdered sugar
3. Topped favorite jam: strawberry, apricot, grape, raspberry, orange marmalade…
4. Chocolate sauce (or Nutella)
5. Orange crepe, chocolate sauce, whipped cream
6. Orange Crepe, honey
7. Poached apple, honey
8. Poached pear, chocolate sauce, whipped cream
9. Ice cream of your choice
10. Apple butter

Reflection faite...

After a few moments of thought and a batch of crepes later, a few thoughts that ran errantly through my mind:

1. Always use an extremely HOT skillet! Non-stick and vegetable oil that you spread with a paper towel

2. Crepe number 1 will always be a FAILURE! Expect nothing less.

3. You think you can eat at least a dozen crepes, but with a little filling, 3-4 is a maxie

4. Make sure your batter is really liquid. If the crepes stick to the skillet, then you need a bit of vegetable oil in the batter. If you can't swirl the batter around quickly and easily, then you need a bit more milk (not water!) in the batter (1/4 cup)

5. Nutella is a must when you're preparing dessert crepes. I mean, there is no SUBSTITUTE. Pay the price, reap the rewards.

6. If you can't get cidre, then substitute beer. Or if you don't drink alcohol, use sparkling cider. Serve with the savory and sweet crepes.

7. You will burn your fingertips. You have to use your fingers to flip the crepe (unless you're a professional crepe turner or Breton!) It's one of those suffer for a purpose un mal pour un bien.

8. Want to invite people around for an hour or so but don't want to entertain entirely, then invite them for an afternoon snack of crepes. Make in advance. Serve in one go, and then see them off. Two hours max. (depends on how much coffee you make afterwards).

9. How much filling? Not much, two tablespoons of whatever is enough.

10. What to do with leftovers? ... I have no idea, we've never had any!

I luv Eggs, At Any Meal

Confession : I like Eggs.

Confession Correction : I LUV eggs!

Give them to me scrambled, sunny side up (oh, what do you Brits say for this? !!), over easy, baked, hard boiled, soft boiled, in a quiche, à plat on a hamburger, pizza or crepe (ok that is really French!) or on toast, I love to eat eggs. (And no to you Dr. Seuss readers, I do not like green eggs and ham because Sam I am… NOT!)

Eggs have taken a beating (*LOL*) over the last two decades. First, everyone ate them, several times a week or daily for breakfast. Then they got that bad rep for being the kings of cholesterol. Then they were OKed back to being edible. Then came the low-carb diets glorifying eggs once again.

Frankly, I don’t care. It's not that I don't care about my health, or that of my family's. It's just that the other reasons outweigh the health issues. (Mind you, I don't have them for every meal though the low carb diets telling you to eat only eggs and tomatoes for breakfast have a lovely appeal to myselt... We limit our egg consumption --outside baking-- to 1-2 meals a week).

They’re good, their cheap and our grandparents ate them all the time because they were ready available food. I had 2 of my 4 grandparents live past the age of 90 and the same for my husband’s side of the family. And they have no egg-issues, se what I'm getting at here?

Plus, you can't deny that they're fast! Most egg recipes cook quickly. An omlette is ready in under 10 minutes. Sunny side up eggs only take a few minutes. [Raw, sucked right out of the shell by piercing a hole at either end of the egg is even faster. but quite gross! And a practice I never employ.]

It seems to me that every French cookbook with color art in it, has a picture of this: les oeufs à la coque avec ses mouillettes. [This is where the eggs get me every time.]

Soft boiled eggs with their [butter slathered] dippers. Every time I pass one of these pictures, my mouth starts to water and I think, “Oh, and if we had eggs tonight?”

With a smattering of fleur de sel Sea salt, fresh crusty bread that you’ve toasted and buttered then sliced into finger long dippers, and 3 minutes boiling water: le diner est servi! Husband, children and even the dog are happy diners.

If you want to round out the meal or you're looking for some kind of health-conscious addition to the meal: salad. Any kind. Mixed greens, a Garden veggie or a Greek Salad... Anything works here. Of course that is just one option. Other options are bacon (fried to crisp thank you very much) or hash browns, fried potatoes, American buscuits and gravy (here I'm starting to digress into American breakfast...).

My point is that anything goes with eggs. They are perfect when you want a satifying meal but no hassel in the kitchen. And a message to you Americans, "They aren't just for breakfast!"

Tips: use fresh, fresh eggs.
**The fresher the better. This is not a problem in rural France where your neighbour or the little lady down the road has their own chickens and they’ll sell you some eggs for deux fois rien.
**Bring water to a boil first then add eggs; use a very precise timer. 3 minutes maximum.
**Buy little egg holders or cut them out of the egg container for serving.
**Use European (salted) butter for the mouillettes.
**Use back end of spoon or pointed knife to ‘pierce’ yoke before dipping.
**Don’t forget a pinch of fleur de sel sea salt and a crack of fresh pepper.

La Chandeleur, A brief History

Today, the French will prepare their crepe batter. They'll uncork a bottle of ‘cidre’, a slightly tangy alcoholic and effervescent drink derived from the apples of Normandy and Brittany. It’s a time for friendly gatherings and warm settings in the midst of winter’s relentless grasp.
It’s the ‘Chandeleur’, a tradition that dates back to Roman times and from which our American tradition of Ground Hog’s Day most likely arose. For both cultures, this second day of February is a day that decides whether winter will kindly melt into spring or cruelly reign for another six weeks. Before unveiling the secret to making these scrumptious delicacies, let’s step back in time.

Ancient roots
In the Middle Ages, it was the bear that came out of his hibernation and upon seeing the sun (or his shadow), returned to his den for another six weeks, quite similar to our ground hog.
Yet, the festiveness and the crepes go back even farther. In ancient Roman times, the Romans were known to eat crepes at the start of February during the ‘Lupercales’ a feast celebrating fertility while welcoming the return of spring and promise of the future harvest.
Still popular among the Christians in the 5th century, the pope replaced the pagan feast with that of the Lord’s presentation at the Temple and was considered the ‘light for all nations’. From there, the Latin name ‘Chandelorum festum’ meaning ‘feast of the candles’ was bestowed upon the occasion.
Early Christians went on to light candles in church. They would form processions that would lead them back to their dwellings where the lighted candles were to provide protection to their homes.
But as superstitions will, it was the crepe tradition that lived on along with the superstitious acts that would bring prosperity.

Legendary superstitions
Legend has it that you must hold a gold (or silver) coin in your left hand while you flip the first crepe. Place the coin in the crepe and place it on top of the wardrobe for one year and it will bring you good luck. But fear unto he whose crepe when flipped, lands crumpled in the skillet or should fall to the floor, for he will not have good luck for one year, until the next Chandeleur.

Abundant Combinations
Ever so French, the food aspect of the tradition took root. Savory, hot crepes wrapped around an assortment of grated cheeses, meats and dairy products are devoured before they can cool.
Once the appetite is satisfied, on come the sweet rewards of the dessert version. Drizzle honey, chocolate sauce or spread your favorite flavored jam on a crepe and gobble it up before burning your fingers.
Try sprinkling them with powdered or granulated sugar or the granddaddy of them all, orange crepes wrapped around a slathering of Nutella, a chocolate and hazelnut spread. Divine!
Remember one thing while preparing your crepes, they aren’t pancakes (unless your British!) and shouldn’t resemble them. Crepes are thin and flat. They should be as flexible as tortillas but not as dry.
Think big when making them because these age-old hotcakes know no limits on the appetite. Three savory and three sweet crepes per person is a good average. Serve a green salad with your meal for added fiber.
The traditional recipe here can easily be doubled. With flour, milk and eggs as the main ingredients, they are budget winners. Garnish with whatever tickles your fancy.
Crepes can be made in advance and reheated when ready to use. They will also keep for a couple of days in the refrigerator enveloped in aluminum foil or plastic wrap. Stuffed and wrapped individually, they can be frozen.
Rich in history and abounding in flavor, crepes are a great way to shake off those old winter blues.

BASIC RECIPE CLICK HERE

WITH ORANGE ZEST AND ORANGES CLICK HERE

MORE CREPE RECIPES COMING HERE... SO LINK HERE

Crepes for Everyone

Once again the French find a way to celebrate with and around food! This time with their most famous dish, CREPES!

I've mentioned before that crepes are one of the most versatile recipes in the French culinary books. You could literally eat crepes from [the time you rise!] the appéritif (appetizers), first course, main course, cheese course and dessert! Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, late night snack, left overs, sweet or savory, for children, for grandparents [with or without teeth], fried, baked, stuffed, plain, cold or hot... now THAT is versatile at its height! the fact that the french have found 1001 ways to use crepes means that I'm going to serving up all kinds of recipes in varying flavors and complexities.

The ultimate crowd pleaser, I haven't met a human being who says, "Crepes?.. Buek! Can't stand the suckers!" Even the most finicky children go absolutely ga-ga over them.

And finally, the most important reason to start making crepes and incorporating them into your your meal-planning is that they are CHEAP to make and soo easy! Milk, eggs, flour, sugar... can't get more basic ingredients (except making bread) than that. Substitute any type milk, flour, granulated sugar and flour as per your preferences. What's there not to like?

Haggis Dinner Part II

If you think you can stomach it, here’s a peak at the haggis dinner. You remember, the stuffed stomach a.k.a. National Scottish Dish? Here was my first peak at the beast!

I know it’s not as bad as you think, huh? I felt the same thing. Actually, it has become quite commercialized and you can buy pre-stuffed haggis nowadays in British grocery stores, ups! I mean supermarkets! Today haggis sold in supermarkets is not truly stuffed in real sheep’s stomachs. It’s more of a plastic.



Nonetheless, it was fantastic! Our haggis was made up of awful (abats in French) (organs like liver and maybe heart) and barley. The Whiskey Sauce was pure single malt whiskey (technically Scotch!) poured directly over the stuffing. It was a transformation totale.

We loved it! Pat, the ever thoughtful cook had prepared homemade bread, a true rarity in France. No one makes their own bread in France, except the bakers. She also had us started off with homemade sausage rolls (a British treasure); stuffed celery and little canapés of marinated fresh salmon and prawns (shrimp) with a little kick… horseradish sauce.

I have to mention here that it was absolutely a treat to watch the French guests (including my weathered Anglo-immersed husband) bite into the canapés, saver them, proceed to complement the chef on her chez d’oeuvre then receive the full kickback of the horseradish, an unexpected ingredient! Yes, you must understand that French cooking is anything up hot and spicy. Horseradish is uncommon if not foreign to them. While you can translate it into raifort in French, most French people do not cook with it on a regular or un-regular basis.

So what a treat it was to watch our French guests coughing and sputtering a bit when the horseradish kicked in. What an unexpected little aftertaste, n’est-ce pas?!

To round out the meal, Pat started us off with Cock-a-Leeky soup: translation chicken and leek (once real cock, now just a good boiling bird!). This is another Scottish tradition, or so we were informed. Served with a couple of dried prunes, it was an amazing combination of savory soup and sweet and tangy dried fruit. A refaire!

The haggis was served with mashed potatoes and parsnip and rutabaga purée. This lovely combination is the perfect match with the flavour of the whiskey sauce over stuffed stomach.


An array of English cheeses and crackers (cheese biscuits as the Brits called them) made their way around the table before the homemade Christmas pudding and brandy cream sauce were served. Never one to do it half way, Pat made her own puddings some time in the recent past. This particular one dates between 12 to 18 months old! A Christmas pudding takes several days to make but once steamed, it will keep for months or even years in (or not!) the freezer!

Christmas pudding must be steamed for a long time, then served a-flame, flambé Madame! Then served with a cream and brandy sauce (liquid cream, lots of sugar and whiskey!). It was a light finish to a gorgeous meal.

Tea, biscuits and brandies were our final farewell to a fabulous Scottish/British night.

And who saves British food isn’t good?!

Grilled Potatoes (Oven Baked) Fou

What can truly compare in flavor and texture and overall sinfulness than crusty, crunchy potatoes? Oven baked potatoes can be as tasty as French fries or even better with this no-fail recipe.

My kids love French Fries (chips for the Brits! And frites for the French!). Well, what kid doesn’t, right? So we healthy parents have to try and come up with something similar if we’re going to keep the crowd happy and our waistlines reasonably slim.

Here’s what I do when I get a ‘Crunchy Tater’ craving, I toss my potatoes with some olive oil, fresh herbs, bread crumbs, flavoured sea salt and some parmesan cheese. Bake in hot oven; toss several times. And voilà, Crunchy potatoes without using the deep fryer.

A couple of ways to serve these babies: on their own; with hamburgers or any meat you are preparing and over salad greens. Use a creamy or mayonnaise based dressing for the ultimate salad meal. If you do top your salad with these babies you’ll never think salads are just for wimps again!

Grilled Potatoes Fou

By – Anne Dessens
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Baking Time: 50 minutes

12 medium new potatoes, washed and dried
¼ cup olive oil
½ cup bread crumbs
4 tablespoons fresh herbs, finely chopped, mixed: basil, chives, tarragon
2 tablespoons flavoured sea salt, (Croque au Sel 5 cracked peppercorn ‘Fou’)
¼ cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

Click here to read more about the recipe....

Click here for more products like these...

Weekend Accomplished, Bienvenue!

Yes, the weekend is over. I’m at least 5 lb fatter, I’ve got some serious sleep to catch up on but I’m super motivated to get back into the kitchen.

I came back from La Rochelle with tons of ideas for food (merci Maman!), recipes and blog entries. While my father-in-law returned to his old chant, “Espionne! Espionne!”, under his breath at the dinner table, I did make it out of their house alive, with color art AND some excellent culinary secrets.

For over three years (from 1999-2003) I wrote bi-weekly for the Charleston, WV Gazette, writing about of course, food, life in France and how to cook up some really delicious French food without the fuss. I’ve been sneaking ideas out of my in-laws house for years! They are used to it. My father in law is still wary that I work the CIA, exporting sensitive French culinary information to the Ricains!

While I don’t get any income from the CIA, I do give recognition to the cooks, chefs and culinary talents who inspire me, bien sûr! Donc, un grand merci à Monique!

J’en profite pour saluer ma famille française qui risque de lire ce blog, et cette publication. Après 48 heures d’appareil numérique en main et prises de photos [de trop près, n’est-ce pas ?!] je les ai tout d’abord intrigués avec mon obsession de tout capter en numérique, puis, subitement, l’énervement, peut-être.

Je dois également reconnaître que j’ai de plus en plus de lecteurs en France et je devrais faire un peu plus d’articles en français, au moins les recettes. Enfin, je vous souhaite tous la bienvenue et j’espère vous voir régulièrement !


Grosses Bises, ~Anne

p.s. pas de commentaires sur mes fautes d’orthographe ou d’accord masculin/féminin !
**All mistakes made with American Pride !

Weekend at the In-Laws

We are headed to La Rochelle for a lovely weekend with my husband's très français family: his parents (MIL who's a fabulous cook) his two sisters and their partners. What lies ahead of us? Good food, good conversations, good wine and lots of laughter. (I am hoping that what I once read about laughing full out for 10 minutes is like running for 30 mintues. I'll need to calorie burning!)

It's snowing so the mood is festive.

With Fabulous Cook for a Mother-in-Law, I'm toting the camera and notepad. I hope to have lots of food for fodder here upon our return, that is, if we make it back. She's a true French cook, she doesn't dévoile* her secrets. I'll have to fish it out of her.

Wish me lots of bon courage**, I'll need an extra stomach and some sly tactics to get those recipes...


And that haggis story will have to wait for next week.
dévoiler - to reveal
bon courage - good luck!

Let It Snow!

"The weather outside is freightful... (Yes! Finally! Snow!)........ Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow. "

Why is it that snow brings out the kid in us? I love snow. We get so little here that it's a real event in western France to see fleuries. No snow days built in to the school system around here. Not many people have snow tires either. And forget about having any common sense when driving in the stuff. Nope, not here. Not in Western France!

But that it OK because when we do get some snow, it's a real childhood dream! Why is that? It's not like I'm going to get a day off from work if it snowed too much. I might even get stranded out in farmcountry trying to make my way home. It doesn't matter. I still love the stuff. I love the way the air smells before and during a good snow. Love it!

Coming from the West Virginia mountains, snow was always a treat because we could go sledding, outback in the neighbors yard. Great memories! I loved it. The brisk clean air, eating white snow, getting it stuck between your glove and your coat sleeve...you know that very sensitive part of your wrist that when the snow touches it, it feels like fire burning your skin?!

Snow. Snow. And More Snow.

Snow fleuries are enough either. Give me 6-8 inches! Let's build some snowmen, make snow angels, walk in the pouring snow for miles. Then come home and make homemade hot chocolate with melted marshmellows, snuggle up under wool sweaters and blankets and watch a movie.

Bear Soup

This recipe comes from my great grandmother from West Virignia. Everytime it snowed, she'd make this soup and homemande bread. A family tradition that my grandmother kept and my mother.

I always knew that on a snow day from school, after an afternoon outside in the snow with all the kids on the street, I'd come home to the smells of this soup and fresh baked bread. (That is probably why I love snow so much is the smell of these two recipes!)

I can't explain why it's name is called Bear Soup but that is what we refer to it as in our family. And since we've been doing it now for 4 generations (I'm passing it on to the 5th), I guess none of us wants to break the chain or the charm. Children of all ages love this soup, from 3 -93. (I guess after that you have to purée it because after 93 you might not have teeth to chew it with. But the potatoes are soft enough that you don't need to chew 'em!)

Follow this link for the Soup Recipe....

Fresh Bread Baking

There is nothing that can complete with the delicious, inviting, homey, and loving smell of baking bread. The following recipe also comes from my maternal Mountaineer relatives. Whenever my mom makes this bread, we all know she's just saying, "I Love You All!" Thanks Mom. Thanks grandma Guinn.

Follow this link to the recipe.....

With that I wish you un très bon weekend.

Creamy Soups

No dairy but oh, so creamy Vegetable soups
By –Anne Dessens


We all love soup. Just go to the canned soup section of any grocery store to prove it. Every type of soup can be found either condensed, powdered or in its original form. Thinking of soups brings to mind a famous little jingle that everyone knows by heart.

Hearty, soothing, healthy, cheap, nourishing. All these adjectives can be substituted for ‘soup’. That is what soup is: good food, n’est pas?

Creamy soups silkily glide over our palates to satiate our cravings for sinful ingredients. But, you don’t need to add dairy to achieve that luscious texture. All you really need is a blender.
By creaming cooked soups, the ingredients whirl together to form milky soft spoonfuls of delight. No cream, no milk and totally lactose intolerant approved. Blend everything together for complete dining comfort. Or, remove a cup or two of vegetables first, then whisk. Stir them back in for a heartier version.

Sans cream, they are very low in fat. Only a bit of olive oil is used when sautéing the onion and vegetables.

This is how simple these soups are: choose a vegetable; sauté it with an onion and olive oil; add water and bouillon cube. Cover and simmer. Mix it all together and reap the benefits of your labors all within 30 minutes.

If your waistline is on your mind, this simple method is for you. Start off your meal with a bowl of low-fat, homemade cream soup. It will take the edge off your hunger and fill you with contentment. For lunch, add a wrap. For dinner, add a main course dinner salad. You will leave the table feeling gratified, light and most of all not guilty.

Fresh herbs refine the overall flavor. Gently sautéing an onion will fill the house with a sweet, mouth-watering scent. Add a few croutons or crackers if you are craving them. If you are feeling a little bad, top with a smattering of grated cheese. But only a smattering now.
Serve them hot, warm or chilled depending on the season. Few people turn their noses up a bowl of handcrafted goodness.

Click Here to get a few easy recipes.

For the Veggie Soup Basics:
-4 cups (use a teacup as a reference that holds 250 ml, or if you have large hands, 4 heaping hanful scoops) of chopped vegetable(s) of your choice make up the main ingredient. Mix and match vegetables. For example, two cups broccoli and two cups potatoes for a rich broccoli indulgence. Cauliflower and peas are a match made in heaven. Fennel and asparagus make a elegant duo.
-Use a hand blender and blend directly in the pot or transfer to traditional blender (or food processor) to get the desired creamy result.

Basic Crepe Recipe

Basic French Crepe Becipe
For twelve crepes:

1 cup flour, (150 g)
2 eggs
2 ½ cups milk, any type (2/3 liter)
vegetable oil for skillet + paper towel
pinch of salt

In a mixing bowl combine flour and salt. Add eggs and stir with wooden spoon until you obtain and homogenous, pasty mixture; add milk slowly mixing well until you have a smooth, runny batter.

Heat skillet on medium-high. Add no more than a 1/8 teaspoon of oil to skillet; spread around with paper towel.

Using a soup ladle, add batter to skillet, swirl around to cover whole skillet surface immediately. Batter should form a thin layer.

Slide spatula around edges working inwards to separate crepe from skillet bottom. When edges are dry and batter changes color, it’s cooked on one side and needs to be flipped. Crepe should slide around easily in skillet.

Using your fingers, peel back edges at top end crepe then flip remaining half over and back down in skillet. Stack on plate Cover with paper towel or cloth to keep warm. Repeat procedure. Note, if you can’t handle crepe because of heat, turn heat down a notch.

Crepe Recipe and Learning Metric Measurements

Crepes are easy, quick and extremely versatile. If you have children, you should learn to make them blindfolded. They freeze well; they can be stuffed with anything: savory, sweet or eaten as a finger food. They can be stuffed, rolled and sliced into lovely pinwheels and served with champagne for elegant entertaining. Have I convinced you yet?

Now, let’s get something straight, right away. When I refer to crepes, I’m talking the French kind. You know, thin, flat, almost one-sided babies. The kind you can eat at a crêperie for an astronomical price and still leave the establishment with a I-m-no-full feeling. Mais oui, that crepe. For some of you, you might call these pancakes (namely the Brits). For you others… I don’t know.

As an American, pancakes, once known as flapjacks, is thicker, fluffier kind of crêpe. It is to be eaten with maple syrup, butter and the occasional link sausage or fried bacon. If cannot be stuffed, rolled over or served with smoked salmon and cream cheese!

This is an important point because this entry ties into yesterday’s entry about metric measurements versus American measurements.

When I came to France 13 years ago, I was pure American. I couldn’t demonstrate a centimeter or 40 g. of flour to save my life; I was all about American measurements: cups of this, a teaspoon of that… Easy, if you have the official measurements which do exist and are used religiously by many Americans.

I decided to make stuffed crepes, pinwheels, for my first “reception”. I had found the recipe in a woman’s French magazine and the photos looked luscious.

Not understanding the measurements nor what real crepes were, I kind of just mixed the milk, eggs and flour together and found myself with my Dad’s pancake batter. Feeling a bit doubtful, I heated my skillet (I just grabbed an old, scratched one) and poured out a ladleful of the batter.

It took the nice thick form of my Dad’s perfect breakfast pancakes (in diameter it was only slightly wider than a hamburger!). I started to panic. How in the world would I be able to stuff this thing with herbed cream cheese, fresh spinach leaves and smoked salmon, roll it up and slice it into 12-15 pinwheels? If I even tried to roll it, it would have cracked and broken off into two pieces.

Mind you, over a dozen people were coming for this thing and I didn’t know what to do. Thank goodness my then-to-be-future-husband was on his way back to work (it was lunchtime) and he asked what I was making. After I told him, and he looked at the batter, the pancake in the skillet and a fit of laughter that brought him to his knees, (honestly, I thought he’d never stop laughing), he looked at the recipe, added about 2 liters of liquids, tossed out the pancake, found a slick and smooth skillet and got down to work.

The batter was very, very thin. He spread it out quickly over the entire surface of the skillet and it cooked on one side within 30 seconds. He detached the sides with a spatula and flipped it over using his fingers (after having washed them bien sûre!). Within 10 minutes, he had made a dozen of these babies and was just getting started. He explained the difference between centiliters and milliliters and was well on his way to attack the whole “Using the best type of skillet” for crepes when he looked at his watch and realized he was light for work. (Whew! Saved from a lengthy discourse there!)

Long story short, this was my first real encounter with metric measurements. I’ve learned from this cooking flop. While I don’t have that original recipe, I do have a killer crepe recipe.

I’ll come back with more recipes using crepes now that January is on its way out and February is just around the corner. You see, as the Galettes des Rois leaves us (January event), the Chandeleur is on February 2. A strange French tradition that might come close to Americans observing a ground hog to see if winter is over or if we’ll have 6 more weeks of it! And the whole tradition has to revolve around food, n’est-ce pas? I mean this is France.

Mertric Measures

Metric Measurements might be very logical to those who were taught it from birth. But for an American, it’s all Greek to me! At least it was for years and years.

While the meter and the kilometre were easily enough assimilated, culinary measurements were a nightmare for me. I found the meter being close to the yard so at least I could say, “It’s 10 meters away” or, “It’s 100 meters away” (like the size of a football field?). Then there is the km which is something between 1-2 miles, (yes I know it’s 1.6 km to the mile) but when I used to run (stop pulling faces!) it was easier to count in kms. It sounded so much better to say I ran 5 km instead of saying, I ran 3.125 miles. See?

But the kitchen… Ai! Ai! Ai! Ai! What a nightmare. 120 grams? What’s that? And what the heck it a centilitre? OK, I got the millilitre, litre thing OK and how come we had to learn decilitres but no one EVER uses them over here in the land of “we invented the Metric System”!

To keep this entry short, I have gotten used to the metric system (albeit some very sad results for learning what exactly that system is!) and since I see that now my readership is international and not just American anymore, I’ve started giving my recipe measurements in American measures AND metric so that everyone can enjoy my concoctions.

I try to use common ingredients that would be easy to find in most grocery stores. But I haven’t visited half the world so I’m not sure what it’s like to shop at a German, South African or Brazilian grocery store. (I can ask about the British and Australian and perhaps Belgian or Italian but that is about it!).

I invite each of you to ask me to explain any ingredients you don’t understand. It would be my pleasure.

Oven Simmered Vegetable Stew

Easy Oven-Simmered Vegetable Stew in the Oven
By –Anne Dessens

The portions on the vegetables are loosely measured out here; follow your instincts and your cravings. Also, this dish is excellent reheated, so don’t let the portions intimidate you. Freezes nicely, too.
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 yellow onions, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 bunch of celery, 6-8 stalks
6 medium carrots
2 cups frozen peas and carrots (200 grams)
2 medium zucchini
2 cups frozen green beans (200 grams)
1 large can sliced mushrooms (approx. 150 gr.), drained
2 cups water + instant gravy granules for two cups water (1/2 liter water)
1 tablespoon herbes de Provence
sea salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste

In large Dutch oven or cast-iron dish with lid, heat over oven on medium high heat with olive oil and onions; peel and chop carrots, add to onions and continue sautéing, stirring frequently to avoid sticking for several minutes. Add peas and carrots, green beans, stir well. Coarsely chop zucchini and add to sautéing vegetables. Sauté for another 10 minutes until vegetables are bright in color. Remove from stove and stir in mushrooms.

Prepare gravy for 2 cups (1/2 liter); pour over vegetables, mix well; add herbes and salt; stir well and cover. Place in oven and bake, covered, for 1 hour; remove lid, and stir, then bake another 20 minutes uncovered.

Pepper to taste. Let cool slightly before serving.

Serve with crème fraîche (sour cream); grated cheddar or Swiss cheese; fresh baguette and freshly chopped parsley. Can also be served with grilled chicken breast or leftover roast beef.

Rounding out Sunday's Main Meal

Yesterday's white wine was crisp and dry with a hint of fruit. This lovely Touraine wine is a real gem from the châteaux country of the Loire Valley. At 4€ a bottle, it's a delightful starter to any evening meal.

It was the perfect match for the oysters, a light and refreshing way to dine after a heavy meal the night before.















I marinated my meat in Fou sea salt and herbes de Provence. Broiled (yes in the oven!) like a true char-grill, the meat was succulent and soft as butter.


To finish out the day, a vegetable stew, simmered in the oven was a light yet satisfying way to finish off a glorious Sunday.

Scottish Dinner

While I prepare my grocery list this afternoon for a restocking-the-fridge-and-pantry shopping expedition, I keep thinking of our dinner tonight. We've been invited to some English friends' house for dinner. Pat, the wife, is an aboslute wonderful cook, a woman who makes her own Christmas pudding (no small feat because it takes weeks to prepare) so you know that dinner is always homemade and very, very tasty.

Tonight they are having a ture "Scottish Meal". I don't know much about Scottish food and am very eager to sample it. I only know of one Scottish dish, Haggis. And that is what she is fixing. While I couldn't remember exactly what that consisted of, I knew it included liver and stuffed in a stomach. Of what animal, I do not know, nor am I sure I want to know.

Dictionary.com defines it as:

hag·gis ( P ) Pronunciation Key (hgs)n.
A Scottish dish consisting of a mixture of the minced heart, lungs, and liver of a sheep or calf mixed with suet, onions, oatmeal, and seasonings and boiled in the stomach of the slaughtered animal.

Y*I*K*E*S!

OK, I should not feel squeemish, should I? Come on, I live in FRACE, you know country where they eat absolutely everything: gizzards, livers, foie gras (fattened livers), pig's snout, pig intestines (chittlings for Southern Americans), all types of fat, blood pudding, raw oysters, goat's brains... Oh sorry, I didn't mean to make you sick! I never thought that another country could out do the French in eating every part of the animal!

My point is, so what if the Scots throw in a few lungs and stomachs? Since coming to France, I have eaten all the above mentioned foods (and more!) and liked them. I feel that everything can be tried at least once. (Well, I don't think I could ever eat cockroaches, even if it were a life or death situation! Grubs would also be a toughie to swallow.) But, when in Rome, do as the Romans, n'est-ce pas?

It is true that in today's world, if we want to eat chicken breats for an entire month, we could easily do so. It is also true that today's grocery shopping is different from it was 50 or 60 years ago. Today chicken comes (dead of course!) plucked, skinned, portioned and clean all nicely wrapped in cellophane with a pretty picture of a live, sometimes smiling chicken, on the front sticker. Ditto for beef, pork, veal and the whole meat and pretty much fish and seafood families. I think that today if people had to go back to killing their own meat, there would be a lot more vegetarians out there. Perhaps it's the way we shop that has changed our outlook of what's edible and what's not.

Besides, what makes one food 'discusting' and another 'excellent'? Cultural differences. This is something I have learned over the years as an American raised in completely American ways and then coming to France and spending her adulthood in another country. What I have come to ask myself eat time I encounter a new food (and over the past 12 years in france that has been an inexhasutable thing!), 'Why is eating the muscles of an animal OK but not the organs?'

Don't Americans eat gizzards and chittlings? Well, some do. It used to be commonly eaten foods back in the days when you had to kill your own food (most likely after having raised it yourself). Waste not want not back, non? And who knew back then what they would be eating a week from now.

Since Pat is a good cook, I think it will be done right and she wouldn't fix it if it were discusting. She's not Scottish, she's English so there's no pressure to cook cultural dishes. Yet, I am hesitant to sit down at the dinnertable tonight but I will. It would have been easier to have sampled it first then asked what it was second. (That works best for me in French.)

I'll have the camera there and there will be a detailed (well, perhaps not, it just depends on the taste) entry afterwards. Besides, I've come to understand from other English people that it's the whisky gravy that makes the dish so savory! Bring on the Whisky!

I'd rather be blogging!

You know you're hooked on blogging when you move throughout your day and everything you do sprouts ideas for a blog entry. And then you spend all your free time writing on your blog, checking out other people's blogs and leaving them messages. And as you're checking out other people's blogs, comparing styles, colors and layouts, you wonder, "Should I change my accounts? Is this service better than the one I'm already using?"

Once you're sucked in, is there any escape? Do you want any? Then you wonder what people did before blogging? Tough questions for a Friday, n'est-ce pas? Well, I suppose I should say, "Merci beaucoup Alison!" She's the who got me started. I'd also like to say thank you those who come and read my blog. If I had no readers, then I'd just be having monologues in cyberspace.

I HATE Wednesdays! (Another Life in France Entry)

I never thought that I could ever hate a day like I do Wednesdays in France! I know it sounds harsh but until you live, really live it, do you understand.

I wrote this whole venting thing about Wednesdays in France and being a woman, working and trying to tote children off to birthdya parties and after school activities.

Then my husband got on the computer and erased it by accident! Yes, I typed it in blogger without saving it and he closed the window not knowing.

I guess it's good because it was a whole entry on how frustrating Wednesdays are around here. Kids have no school or just in the mornings, so if you work, you get to juggle them and the job. Sure there is afterschool child care, and that is what we use.

But yesterday my son had been invited to a birthday party. 3-6 pm. I left work early so he could attend. Of course, I thought I'd get the gift on my lunch hour, but ended up working to get stuff finished before leaving for the day.

So it was a rush back home to pick up Pete and RePete, then the gift, then drop him off...

But now it's over. Another Wednesday laid to rest. It's Thursday (for those of you who can't get the days of the week straight!). For me that means, weekend just around the corner. I can start thinking of food since the V & D epidemic missed our family (minus my son). But that only lasted 24 hours. So that was pretty cool! (I mean very little puke to clean up!)

Yesterday, my colleague showed me this Cabbage Soup Diet that she's doing for the week. I'll blog it later, but it's worth an entry! Lose up to 3-4 kg in one week! That's somewhere between 6.6-8.8 lb.! Whew!

I say no more.

For now.

A Peak at a Week at Anne's Dinner (Sometimes Lunch) Table

This is a hoge-poge of pictures of the recipes for a blog entry.


They are of dishes we have enjoyed over the past week. A few comments and preparation tips tossed in along the way.

I thought it'd make for a nice change of pace, blog-wise. (Especially now that I'm no longer feeling funcky and that Gastro thing seems to be washed away with today's dousing of eau de javel- a.k.a. bleach!) *LOL*


MONDAY
This is the white bean dip I made on Saturday night. Though tasty with tortilla chips (my personal favorite and weakness), I felt it was missing something: heat. So I warmed it up in the microwave and voilà! I used the leftover dip, hot and bubbly, as a dressing on our cuke, tomato and lettuce salad for lunch on Monday. Hmmm






TUESDAY
This is a salad idea or first course idea that I got from my friend Natalie. Sometimes we'll go round to their place on Sunday evenings and have a low key, eat-in-the-living-room, kind of dinner. She loves vegetables like me and is a real pro at presenting a colorful, tasty veggie plate like this one for starters (She'sFrench it's innate!). Here I used what I had on hand: tomato, avocado, artichoke and white asparagus from a jar. Any veggies will do. Drizzle with ready-made salad dressing, a pinch of fleur de sel and a crack of fresh pepper... Salad à l'instant!


WEDNESDAY
I've told you that eggs are your friends, haven't I? Well, they do cook up so nicely and make a great main course on those nights you just can't deal with a lot of cooking. Hump day, is that kind of day for me and quiche is my signature dish. Here I added some tomato (gotta make it healthy, right?) and herbed Boursin cream chesse (gotta give it flavor, don't I?) to the bottom of the ready-to-bake pie crust. Add a salad, a cup of (instant) soup, a slice of bread and butter and dinner is ready in less than 30 minutes.



THURSDAY
Not much better for cooking inspiration, Thrusday nights. Tired and bone weary, a simple batch of béchamel sauce can top absoultely anything in French cuisine and be called dinner. It takes 12 minutes tops to make it. Add your own flavor twist: curry, nugmeg, fresh herbs, lots of cheese... It takes 1 measure butter (i.e. tablespoon) + 1 measure flour (another tablespoon) + 2 cups milk (any type). This here is the butter melted and the flour added. It's the texture you want to attain before adding the milk. on medium heat sitr with wooden spoon until thickened. Pour over: eggs, past, potatoes, endives, ham, leftovers.... add some grated cheese, broil for several minutes. Recieve standing ovation from all family members.


FRIDAY NIGHT - Pizza night... no good picture... I was too pooped, but I did assemble the meal! Not one of those frozen pizza nights. I used cream cheese instead of tomato sauce for a zippy change. It was a 3 cheeses pizza with a few grilled zucchini and peppers from a jar. Whew, are there any leftovers, I couold use some right now!


SATURDAY
Low key night when there's no company coming or we haven't been invited anywhere. Perfect evening to play, "Who's Going to Be King" with the Galette des Rois. There are several varieties of these cakes, but this one is my favorite when the chocolate chips have been melted and served hot (That is an Anraud touch. Desert is always warmed before serving.). Kind of gives you that "Toll House Cookie" feeling... (sigh, childhood memories...). -- And no, I didn't get the fève (bean). I was neither king nor queen. But that's OK because we have got another 2 weeks to play this game. French Bakeries have become real capitalists when it comes to the season of les galettes des Rois. They've extended a one day tradition into almost a whole six weeks! That's almost as good as the Americans and their Christmas Season!


SUNDAY -- Yes, the day to simmer a 3 hour pot of meat and veggies, drool with the smells and take nap immedately following dinner.

Beef and Vegetable Stew in Red Wine Sauce. I slight twist on the Boeuf Bouguignon which only uses carrots and an onion. Prep the potatoes separately, they won't make the 3 hour simmering cut.

Follow with long nap.






That's all for tonight! Isn't it enough?

Bon Ap!

Gastro, definitely a "Life In France" Thing

Last night (because it's always at night when it happens) our family was hit by the Gastro bug.

For those of you who have never lived in France, gastro, is short for gastro-entérite. A common illness during the winter months in France and one that hits in waves. According to the French, it's very contagious.

So what is it? I've consulted some with other English speaking friends who live in France and it's a toughie to translate. 'stomach flu' might be the best one yet.

Basically, you are very ill for several days, you can't hold anything down and well, the bathroom becomes you're favorite room in the house, and the commode becomes your best friend (and perhaps only friend). Your head aches, your body aches and you feel sick as a dog. And like a good wicked virus, it likes to start with one person in the family (usually a child bringing it home from school) and spread it around to the entire family, then work its way through the office at work!

Our son, very susceptible to this illness, awoke at 1 am crying and running to the bathroom. My husband uttered only one sentence, "C'est une gastro." It's the stomach bug.

Nah, just an upset stomach.

20 minutes later, round two.

He was right, I was wrong. I got sick-parent duty. So no sleep from 1 am through 4:30 am. Or worse, every time I'd try to fall back to sleep, here came the pitter-patter of a 9-yr old's feet. Ugh!

Why is this an epidemic in France, year after year after year. It's as common as the cold. It's as wide spread as the flu. They actually do news reports on national news. Unfortunately, it's a part of French lifestyle.

No cure, just stop eating for several days; try to keep down fluids; stay well and far away from all human contact. (Believe me, you get this the once, and you are hating life for a week!)

The only upside is you can lose 2 lb. a day with this thing. It usually wipes out lots of people right after the Holidays. So those extra 5 or so you put on eating the foie gras and stuffed turkey, kind of disappear.

I've wiped down almost the entire surface area in the house with bleach, but I'm starting to feel a funky head-thing coming on. Uh-oh. I could do with the - 5 lbs but do I really have to rid my body of every bodily fluid?

Yikes.

I hope there will be no To Be Continued...!

When an American invites an English couple over

When an American invites an English couple over to her house in France, what cultural rules apply?

(please note that all italics in this entry refer to British Englishisms as I've experienced them)

I ask you this question because on Saturday, I had set up a play date for my daughter with one of her classmates, an English girl whose family had moved here about a year ago. Up until this point, we had run into each other but had never gotten together for a coffee, a drink or a meal.

So her mum brings her round about 11 a.m. so I invite the woman in for coffee. So far, so good. We have coffee (though I did offer her tea) and that also went fine. After about an hour of coffee and fun exchanges about adapting to life in France from a foreigner’s point of view, I asked on impulse if she and her husband and children (of course) would like to come round for a drink later that evening.

Mind you, if you are familiar with France, then you’d know something about all sacred aperitif. This is simply a “before meal” moment dedicated for drinks, usually of the alcoholic nature but juice and soft drinks are acceptable as well.

Typically, you can invite one round for drinks before the dinner hour. The French being the French and very regimented about timetables with food/drink, this would take place somewhere between 7 p.m. and 8p.m. Once you start nearing 8 p.m. the guest is going to start thinking a meal is involved. So if you just want to have them in for a drink or two, a quick 30 minute in-and-out kind of deal, you stick the 7 p.m. side.

Please note that it would most difficult to get any French person to come round for drinks any earlier than 7, say between 6 or 6:30 p.m. This is not the hour for the appéro (as it is affectionately called by many). No, it would a tough call if someone were to ring or pop in at that time of day. Do you serve an espresso? Kind of strong. A wiskey? Also kind of strong given the hour but in another sense. (Actually beer would be a safe call, or a soft drink. Again, stickler rules, stickler rules.)

Back to the English. In my experience, the English eat (at least what they tell me) between 7 p.m. and half seven. (Oh, pardon my English, I meant 7:30!) And the French not usually before 7:30 or more commonly 8 pm.

So given all these cultural points, I felt that I could not safely invite them before 7 p.m. and since we were tired and didn’t want to get involved in a lengthy dinner, I wanted to keep it as close as possible to that nineteenth hour of the day (ha! military time, very French, and also very regimented feeling to it!).

She said, Yes! That would be smashing and seven sounded fine for her.

OK, seven o’clock it is!

We got it all ready. I made a white bean dip (recipe and picture to follow). We had crisps ( I mean potato chips), several types of crackers, some of my feta and fennel loaf and the fig with ham loaf (freezes nicely! Thank you!). I also made a quiche. (A lovely item that can either be cut up into bite-size appetizer pieces, or into wedges and served with a salad for a more ‘dinner-like’ dish.)

Arnaud put a bottle of champagne in the fridge to chill; I changed clothes; candles were light, mellow music was playing in the background; children’s snacks were laid out. House was clean.

7 p.m. No company.

7:15 p.m. Still no company.

Do you think they’re coming? Sure they are, we confirmed when she picked up her daughter earlier that afternoon.

7:25 p.m. Hm?

Finally 7:30 p.m… Ding Dong! They had arrived!

They came in, we settled in around the living room coffee table and I whipped out the goodies… Eyes kind of budged. Huh-oh.

They nibbled politely (well, they are English) while Arnaud and I also nibbled but our stomachs were working up to roaring, ‘SEND DOWN THE GRUB OR ELSE!’

After sometime, I realized that they had already eaten. Thus the tardiness. Yes, we hadn’t really agreed that it would be a “before dinner” drinking ordeal.

You see, it has also been my in my experience that English people invite you round for a drink AFTER dinner sometimes (an advantage when eating early).

As an American, who used to have dinner around 6:30 p.m. this makes sense. Also, it’s not uncommon where I lived in the States to invite people around just for dessert, maintaining that low-key feeling.

I realized that as an American asking an English person, somewhat new to French life, over for drinks at 7 p.m. meant that she didn’t know that I was referring to French appéro! Wisely, they filled up before coming, so as not to have growling stomachs sending up riotous comments while sipping a glass of bubbly.

Ops!

Once that was discretely solved, my husband offered them coffee and chocolates to finish off their ‘meal’!

We on the other hand went to bed without proper tea ( I mean dinner!).

Alas, it may sound kind of sad, but actually it wasn’t. Since we didn’t want to make them feel bad and tell them we were famished, or pull out the quiche and more food, obliging them to eat another meal, we politely nibbled throughout the evening and found that it made for a low cal meal albeit the wine and chocloates!

Fog, Comes on little cat feet

The fog comes

on little cat feet.

It sits looking

over harbor and city

on silent haunches

and then moves on.

- Carl Sandburg, 1916

Ah, why this entry on fog and this poem? Well, as a 'Life in France' blog entry, I thought it almost appropriate. Almost, you ask? Yes, the thing is that sometimes it does come on little cat feet and then moves on.

That is, if you live in San Francisco. In western France, on the boarder between the North and the South, Coulonges sur l'Autize sits approximately 67 km from the Atlantic Coast. Just close enough that you can get to the beach in less than an hour. Just far enough away to not command beachfront prices.

It's in the Deux Sèvres, kind of 'hick country' or peasant country, if you prefer. Farm country. True inhabitants speak a dialect. So what does all this have to do with fog. Well, around here, we get a lot of it. But our fog is not like the fog in Sandburg's poem. It doesn't sit for short bouts of time and then move on.

Nope. Take this past week for example and thus the inspiration for this entry. The Fog moved in sometime in the night (as it is prone to do around here) not in the rolling fashion like in San Francisco or in a Sherlock Holms novel, but in a stealthy cat-like approach, on little cat feet. It just creeps up, and before you know it, it's foggy.

Enter Poem

Here in the Coulonges area, it doesn't quite sit on its haunches, looking over harbor and city. First of all, population being 2200, it's a town, un bourg, a village, but not a city. Secondly, we're sitting 40-some miles in from the coast, so no harbor. (The Autize is a glorified steam, nothing bigger than a canoe can navigate its dicey waters.) No, when fog moves in around here, I think it kind of rolls over and plays dead for about 4-5 days and then moves on. Usually being chased away by the sun's somewhat persistent rays in late afternoon.

Enter My Experience with Fog

The thing is, fog is foreign to me. I associate it with places like San Francisco and London. Not Charleston, WV where I grew up. Nope, not lots of fog there. And, if we do get it, it’s not the stay-the-entire-week variety either. But fog is very much apart of the French countryside. At least in the part of the countryside where I live. It’s a regular occurrence. So when we wake up over here to a white winter morning, its fog not snow. Having it around for an entire week is like having your head stuck in the clouds. Not the expected feeling normally associated with having one’s head stuck in the clouds. It’s quite desensitizing, really. It’s all white. White to the left. White to right. White up ahead, white in the rear view mirror.

I took a picture of it. Here it is:









(LOL)

Enter This Past Week

This past Tuesday morning was no exception, a morning of darkness that barely lightened to pearl gray by 9 am. The fog had come during the night and spread itself think and evenly over ground and city. I knew it wasn't mist because
a) it was thick as pea soup and
b) it didn't change in appearance throughout the day or that night.

I drove to work that morning at a slower pace, dulled by the whiteness that had engulfed the fields, the trees and even the cars driving directly in front of and behind me. Kind of cool in the early part of the morning.

That night, I blinded myself on my return, the darkness being quite complete out in the countryside and forcing me to use my headlights. The fog worked its great wonders and ate up the road 20 feet in front of me. Use of the high beams to see the next curve in the road rebounded off the white and that is when the blindness set in. Slow return home. Concentration maximum on the red dots in front of me, a.k.a. the car just up ahead. We don't want to have a car pile up on the country road, now do we? Especially if we are an insurance agent and have to pay for all that damage!

Enter My New Perception on Fog

For me, fog at night makes a cozy atmosphere. When you look out the window, the streetlights have a fuzzy, hazy look to them reminding you that it's a great to be inside a warm house where a delicious meal is simmering on the stove. (Yeah, I know, I always bring it back to food. Well, what did you expect, I DO live in France you know, culinary capitol of the world!)

Wednesday morning was another serving of the thick-as-pea-soup-fog. Weather conditions were no better that night. Nor Thursday or Friday morning. Since I had to replace my colleague at work, full time, this week, I got to get my fill of morning, afternoon and even evening fog. Since I got to stare at it some much on my 20 minute drives, my thoughts centered around it.

My morning conversations with myself in the car (similar to others I’ve had over the past 12 years when driving in the fog in France) consisted of repeating things like, "Boy, it really is as thick as pea soup!" or ‘Fog comes on little car feet....--what is the rest of that poem...”and then moves on.’ Well it hasn't moved on yet, has it?!"

I learned that poem in 3rd grade when I had to find a poem and memorize it for school. I chose that one because it was only two lines! You'd think that I could remember the entire two-liner, but no, over the years, it wore off into just "Fog comes on little cat feet... then moves on." Shows you what kind of student I was, doesn't it?
little cat feet... then moves on." Shows you what kind of student I was, doesn't it?

Enter Conclusion

It did finally move on, late Friday morning when the sun’s rays grew stronger. Fog all day long can be quite bleak. But I have to accept it as a part of French life. It’s not that bad in the mornings and at night (when you’re not driving). But don’t use your high beams if your eyes are super sensitive at night. And after you’ve been in it for several days, you’ll have a different view point of having your heads in the clouds and pea soup.

Hot Chef's Salad with Warm and Tangy Creamy Pear Dressing

Sometimes I crave salad. Sometimes I crave hot and gooey cheese. Sometimes I know I should be eating a salad, but the gooey cheese craving is all I can think about. After lots of entertaining and ritual holiday stuffings of thyself, not the turkey (ah-hem.. watch the turkey comment!), the salad meal keeps niggling at the brain. To make it even more difficult, it's cold outside and there's no instant or homemade soup on hand and I'm craving something that will warm me up and make me feel good. (Carrot sticks are out of the question!) Solution? Combine hot gooey cheese on TOP of the salad. Now we're making some progress. This is what I did the other day for lunch. I went for the lazy woman's "microwave it!" method, nonetheless efficient in warming the ingredients with minimum clean up. Positive point.

It does a great job of melting the cheese in minimal time. Positive point.

It doesn't constitute as a gourmet French meal. Negative Point? Nah. Who cares, it's a lunch date with me, myself and Fitness magazine, a tight squeeze around the table. The magazine with its "Lose Every Bulge in 3 Weeks" article was taking up way too much space. (There is just no way any diet could get me to lose all my bulges in just 3 weeks. As a matter of fact, I don't think the world's best plastic surgeon and liposuction could do it either!)

While I could seriously criticize this article here, I won't. I'll get back to the fun stuff, hot toppings for a sinfully guilt-free salad.

Combining mayonnaise with sweet William Pear Jam from Vergers de Gasocgne, makes for a creamy, tangy and tasteful dressing.



The ingredients:
1 Cup chopped endive lettuce
1 small tomato chopped or diced
3 slices of cheese or your choice (the type used for making sandwiches)
1 slice of ham, turkey or chicken breast (type used for sandwiches), chopped
1 egg, either hard boiled or microwaved (as used in this method)
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Vergers de Gascogne Pear Jam
1 teaspoon olive oil, extra virgin
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:
Spread chopped endive on a plate; toss with ham; In microwave proof bowl, cook egg on high for one minute or until cooked through; add to endive and ham; toss.

Layer cheese over entire salad; microwave for 1-2 minutes on high until cheese is melted evenly over salad. While salad is warming, chop tomato, set aside. Combine mayonnaise, jam oil and salt in small microwaveable cup; whisk thoroughly.

Remove salad from microwave top with chopped tomatoes. Microwave dressing for 30 seconds on high, stir well and pour over salad.

Serving:
Serve with nice warm multi-grain roll, biscuit or bagel; finish with an orange or tangerine cut into wedges.

Give me some time, extra time, because mine flies!

Boy, I thought it was something how fast Fridays come round each week with whiplash speed. I must admit that since my return from the States on 28 Dec has just a blur.

You might think, it's the jetlag? Nope. I only stayed a week, so my body was just completely off schedule from day 1!

You might think, ah yes, it's the children, getting them back to school? Wrong again. That was a piece of cake.

You might question if the office has suddenly picked up since our return, demanding quotes and new coverage for cars, houses, businesses or people. Nope. (Well, it is hectic...)

You might think, ah ha! She's finally started that exercise/diet regimen program with some gorgeous personal male trainer that keeps her burning 5000 calories a day, eating only 1500 in potion controled, home delivered Tupperware dishes and then falling lifelessly into bed at 8 pm. Nope. (not even a New Year resolution!)

Actually, since we've gotten back, I've done little more than entertain! Yes, between the English neighbors here for the week before the New Year, the New Year's Eve party (6 adults for two days), a dinner party of (again) 6 last Thursday, and a girlfriend for the entire weekend (a foodie, and an American like me!) you can imagine that I have gotten little more done than cook, clean, plan, serve, wash up and of course take pictures (while guests are waiting for their main course!) with my new digital camera I got from lovey dovey hubby for Noël.

Since I'm a bit technology-slow (think of Forrest Gump with a computer), I don't know how to add the pictures to the blog (yet). I mean they are in the camera, I just can't seem to get them out of the camera, yet. So you'll have to hold on the graphic, digital color art...

But I can make you imagine some of the food I've been eating for the past 10 days:

- Slow Roasted leg of duck à l'Arnaud (that's my husband) with herbes de Provence
- Sautéed Scallops in a whiskey sauce (sorry Allan, not your Kentucky one though it would have been fabulous)
- Anne's Secret Hot Crab Dip
- Baked Salmon with Creamy Tarragon
- Salmon & Spinach Rolled in Puff Pastry
- Homemade garlic Mayo (Arnaud creation)
- Oysters on the half Shell
- Smoked Salmon Roulade, chilled and serve with Cucumber
- des Galettes des Rois! (Frangipan and with Chocolate Chips!)
- Beef and Veggie Red Wine Stew
- Golden Quiche with Tomatoes and Bousin Cheese
-many cheese platters, fresh crusty bread and crisp endive salads with pungent homemade vinaigrette dressing
- a low cal day of homemade veggie soup, creamed, Chef's Salad... and a clémentine?
-Coffee
-Wine
-Champagne
-more wine
- more champagne
-lots of fizzy water
-more coffee
(Peto Bismal? Nah! I'm a big girl... literally!)

Now where did that gorgeous personal trainer run off to?

Creamed Pea and Carrot soup with Herbes de Provence

Creamed Pea and Carrot soup with Herbes de Provence
recipe by -Anne Dessens

This is a quick soup that will warm up the entire meal. It's a perfect pick-me-up after a grueling day at work. It’s a perfect recipe to demonstrate the beautify and robust yet refined flavors of the herbes de Provence. Just one ingredient can change the entire dish.

Serve with a hot ham and cheese sandwich, followed by a warm Chocolate brownie Griotte(à la mode optional!)


1 yellow onion, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil, Moulin la Cravenco
4 cups frozen peas and carrots
3 cups water
2 tablespoons herbes de Provence
2 bouillion cubes, chicken or vegetable
salt and pepper to taste

In medium saucepan with lid, sauté olive oil and onion over medium-high heat until soft and translucent; add herbes and stir well. Add peas and carrots, water, bouillon cubes; bring to boil; reduce to medium heat and simmer partially covered for 20 minutes.

With hand blender, blend directly in pot to desired consistency or in increments, transfer to traditional blender and blend. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot or warm.

Optional: top with diced ham or chicken, garlic croutons or a dollop of sour cream.

Back in the Saddle

Yes, after a 3 week hiatus, I'm back. And with gusto.

Just because I haven't added any recipes to the blog in recent weeks doesn't mean that I haven't been cooking. Au contraire! I have been whipping up all kinds of new and exciting recipes using our products from Esprit de France Gourmet. (I promise to share some of them with you!!)

Also, I've been and gone (and now come back) to the States. Yes, this year my parents had an All-American Christmas. With my husband and children and my French parents-in-law in tow, we trekked back to Charleston, WV from Coulonges sur l'Autize, France, but not without a few incidents. (Those will be savored, bit by bit, at another time!)

This All-American Christmas included a fabulous, on-going, maybe never-ending buffet of mouth-watering recipes, dips, spreads, cookies, baked goods, meats and salads... (I told you it was an All-American Christmas!). Several pounds later and a New Year Resolution breathing giving me the Evil-Eye, I promise to share some Annified recipes from Jane's kitchen (that's my mom!) with you!

And to go on a diet and share those recipes with you too! (only the fun ones!)

And to finish that cookbook! (en fin!!!)

So for starters, one of my Esprit de France Gourmet Recipes.

Bon Appétit and Bonne Année 2006!

******************************************************

Broiled Monkfish

Nice and easy but elegant dish that will impress family or guests. Serve with Perfect Mashed Potatoes and Warmed Endive and Bleu Salad.

Serves : 4
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Broiling Time: 15 minutes

4 monkfish filets
2 teaspoons olive oil, Extra Virgin, separated
half a lemon
2 teaspoons Croque au Sel “Poisson” sea salt, separated
Freshly chopped parsley
Freshly cracked pepper
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese


Turn on broiler in oven. Rinse filets under cold water, pat dry with paper towel or clean dish towel; rub filets, front and back, with lemon juice; arrange on cookie tray or baking dish.

Drizzle each filet with olive oil; rub ½ teaspoon “Poisson” salt on each filet (or to taste); sprinkle with freshly chopped parsley, freshly cracked pepper and parmesan cheese.

Slide under broiler (leaving approximately 8 inches between broiler and fish) and broil for 10-15 minutes or until cooked through and brown.

TGIF!

That's right! We're back to that good old Friday night and Please the Entire Family Cooking! While I didn't blog it last week, I did indeed keep my promise of the Family Friendly Dinner: Fried Chicken and Homemade Mashed Potatoes. Followed by homemade brownies (from scratch!) with my daughter Sydney. (She had the day off from school.)

Yes, I know. It's obvious that Friday's are my "breakdown and turn to nurturing comfort foods from my youth" cooking days. Strangely enough, I got the hankering for fried chicken while browsing through a FRENCH cookbook of all places.

Please note, the French don't do Fried Chicken, traditionally speaking. My mother-in-law wouldn't know how to do it, however simple it is. So coming across it in a French cookbook threw me, annoyed me and finally enticed me to do it the American Way!

While the author strongly suggested French Fries with the chicken, I thought, "No!"

Coming from WV and bordering on that Mason-Dixon line (hey, I mean it is the Mason-Dixon Line! you know, that line that separated the North from the South during the Civil War?), we Moutaineers get to play it both ways: we're Southerners (at least through part of the Civil War -have your heard our accent?!) and we're Northerners (OK, brief history for those of you who don't know, we actually became an entirely separate state in 1863 because we agreed with the North on the War Issues, hence succeeding from Virigina).

Back to the Chicken Issue: in the South, Fried Chicken must come with mashed potatoes, gravy, biscuits and coleslaw. (OK, maybe I'm identifying with an international fast food chicken chain that originated in a neighboring state -- know your geography?-- and who now claims on TV ads that it's Kitchen Fresh Chicken! -OMG! --major eye roll--)


My training is not Southern cooking (even if I agree with my mom on green beans, they should be cooked good and long with lots of bacon, a true horror for my Northerner of a father!), but I did do the chicken up right, really crispy and fried. (Oh alright, there's no picture from last week because I burnt one side of the chicken! It happens to the best of us occasionally, you know?)

My mashed potatoes were homemade though I cheated on the gravy (instant). I can't make biscuits without Bisquick (for some reason unavailable in France) and I was cold, so coleslaw was just out of the question!

I made up for it, homemade double chocolate brownies with candied orange peel....whew! I'm still working those off my thighs as I write this.

You know you hit your mark, when your French educated children take one bite of the mashed potatoes and gravy and exclaim, "Mom! We're eating America!"

Cha-ching! Score one for the family chef. Yes, my husband loved it! He had two helpings of everything though he ate his chicken and only he, ate his chicken with a knife and fork (très français; think of my colleague who eats her frozen cheeseburger at work with a knife and fork!). The Americans in the family did the American thing: we picked up our meat and ate it with our fingers, then licked them clean, smakcing lips accordingly.

I decided to go with the Fried Chicken (again) tonight but it sounded so good while typing this blog that I ended up making it for lunch. What can I say, my kids love it! andthey were coming home for lunch (again I'm in rural France, this is commonplace!).

I've added my own ingredients, for extra crunch and flavor. My Perfect Mashed Potatoes make a large batch, so freeze half because they come in handy in a pinch. Or when you're just plain tuckered out and the kids want something they actually like.

No mashed potatoes for us tonight though, I going with another potato favorite: Broiled Herbed Potato Wedges Fou. An (ever so slightly) healthier potato recipe, but that tastes "oh so sinfully good".

I'm expressly leaving out the Brownie Recipe, because, again, a truly American Classic, has made it to France and deserves it's own entry. Especially after getting a call from my sister-in-law... (TGBS...To Be Blogged Soon...)



Searching for the my recipes? Click on the highlighted recipe titles and I'll take you there in a click. Try : Fried Chicken or Perfect Mashed Potatoes.

Christmas Shopping and French Lunch

Monday we decided (hubby and I) to get some precious Christmas shopping done in the grand city of La Rochelle (pop. approx. 100,000). With it's pedestrian streets and active town center (downtown), it's an ideal place to go shopping.

Well compared to my other options:

Option 1: Coulonges is approx. 2000 inhabitants and ALL the shops are closed on Mondays, even the banks. (Hey, it's rural France!)

Option 2: Niort (50,000 inhabitants) better than option one, but not as good as option three

Option 3: La Rochelle (shop til you drop)!

La Rochelle has a plethora of excellent restaurants, being that it's a popular tourist town. (ah, the Vieux Port, the largest sailboat marina on the Atlantic coast in all of Europe, the sea, Ile de Ré...). So we could have chosen a quaint little restaurant with a menu du jour complete with first course, main course, dessert, coffee and un quart de rouge. But we didn't. We went to the best "restaurant" in town: my mother-in-law's!

It's a given that any French mother-in-law can cook. And it may sound very biased to say mine is the best in all of France (and a little pompous!) but in all humbleness, she is. Not only is the food good, the conversation light and pleasant, the table is set with careful detail, always colorful, always different than the last time we were there. Always a huge BIENVENUE! (welcome!)

Because in France, the food is only a part of the success of the meal. The setting, the mood, the extras make up the the rest. This is why (in my opinion) I think the French have succeeded in being so renowned for their cuisine. It's the whole package that makes it work. And my mother-in-law knows that.

We started off with a glass of red wine (it was lunchtime so it really was only one glass) and some margret de canard séché (dried slices of duck filet) made of course! by my mother-in-law.

We then sat down to a Christmas red themed table complete with assorted green linen napkins, a finely sliced fennel salad delicately flavored with olive oil and lemon juice, two types of bread (old fashioned baguette and baguette with poppy seeds and nuts).
You see the attention to detail here is the choice for two breads and the thinly sliced fennel, so finely sliced it only had one side to it.

The main course was blanquette de veau (veal stew). For a change she steamed turnips and rutabaga (of the turip family, also known as Swedish turnip-- cross between a turnip and a carrot in flavor and texture) to accompany the classic side of boiled potatoes. She tossed in two moelles d'os, a prime piece of bone with the marrow, a delicacy, to be eaten with fleur de sel and a slice of fresh peasant bread.

A light meal, because it was lunchtime on a weekday, we finished without cheese but with a sweet winter salad, complete with cheeries from her cherry tree that had flourished this past spring and from which she decided to freeze. Interesting, but next time, remove the pits before freezing (!)

And of course, she served her famous Meringue Kisses with the fruit salad. A meringue like you've never had before, these babies are crunchy on the outside, chewy and light on the inside. Heaven.

Like any good French meal, an espresso must complete the menu. And showing attention to detail, a chocloate covered almond on each saucer, the Christmas chocolates in a dainty serving dish for the gourmand.

And after that, we were supposed to go shopping? Ai! Ai! Ai! (translation: Ouch!) Well, it did me some good. I mean the meal and the walking.

The hardest part of the day? Coming home and having to follow that meal up with dinner myself! Tough act to follow!

Esprit Noël!

If you are wondering where I've been for the past week, it's simple: in the kitchen! I have done more recipe creating, testing, savoring, sampling (cleaning, photo-taking, dish washing, locating dusty baking dishes in the back of cupboards...) to put together some excellent special offers with Esprit de France Gourmet: Esprit Noël! And of course testing them out on friends and family.

It's the Christmas Season and gift- giving, decorating and cooking are on all our minds. While some of us dream of sugarplums (what are they anyway?), some of us dream of chocolates, free Christmas cookies from neighbors (if you've got the right kind of neighbors) or extended sit down meals where course counting becomes difficult somewhere between the gibier and the trou normand.

It's the time of year that I like having people in because the house is brightly decorated, there's a feeling of excitement in the air (I wonder who's coming to town?), and everyone is officially "off" their diets! (yours truly included). What would Holiday Season be if it were carrot sticks and lemon wedges? No a holiday in my dictionary. Rich, sweet, savory and down right fattening is the way the Holidays were meant to be enjoyed. New Year's and resolutions will be sneaking up on us soon enough.

So, to help bring around good cheer, festive moments and easy meal planning, I've been cooking up a storm in the kitchen using all the wonderful products available on our shop's website: www.espritdefrancegourmet.com.

Over 20 FREE recipes for your Winter Wonder Delight are available with our gift Sets. If you are not familiar with how to cook with fleur de sel, herbes de Provence, griotte cherries refreshed in kirsch or fig jam, then now's the time to find out. I've made it easy for you novices and innovative for you seasoned chefs.

Treat yourself, the family chef, to new ideas, savory meals and sweet endings. Learn about new products and sample new cuisine. Take the stress out of holiday cooking by indulging in our December Gift Sets.

It's a simplifed way of meal-planning and product shopping. Order a set: get the essentials and the recipes, start cooking in just a few days. Many of these recipes freeze well and it's early enough to get cooking and freezing before holiday fatigue sets in.

Recipes like: Chicken Provençale, Warm Endive Salad with Bleu or Filet of Duck Franboise. I've gotten sweet too. I've concocted Dark Chocolate Brownies with Griotte Cherries, Fig-Orange Cream Cheese Tarte and Raspberry-Pear Fondant.

If nibbling is your favorite way to go (and it's mine, too!) then I've put savory and sweet together in some great bread/cakes: Feta and Fennel Cake or a crowd pleaser: fig and Prosciutto Ham Cake.

If that doesn't tempt you, try this:

Filet of Duck Franboise

Feta and Fennel Cake

Cherry-Strawberry Confiture Tarte

Discover these recipes and more at Esprit Noël! 'Tis the Season to be cooking....

Goat cheese in all its glory

What an excellent way to get through a long working day (and the beginning of the work week for moi) than going out to lunch with my colleague.

Yes, we start work on Tuesdays. Perhaps this sounds like a fabulous way to start off the week, no dreaded, ugly Monday mornings. Yes and No. While Mondays feel like a real steal, Tuesdays have simply become Monday's problems topped with an extra helping of Tuesday morning's. Translation: double the workloads come Tuesday 9 am.

We run an insurance agency (well, two!) and the calls and drop-bys are nonstop on Tuesdays. A full 8 hour day leaves us all (there are three of us) feeling more than just hagarded and out of sorts.

One way we've found to brighten up the morning is taking ourselves out to lunch. Having a nice meal in a cozy bistro meal in downtown Niort releives the morning's pressure. Usually, we brown bag it, bringing leftovers from last night's meal or scrounging up something from leftovers of yore.

Occassionally, my 40-something-year-old colleague brings a frozen cheeseburger, store bought of course. While for most of you Americans this might not sound very eventful but you must understand that it is not considered adult food in France! The best part, I must add, is that she eats it like a Frenchwoman would, on a plate with a knife and fork, cutting it like it were a steak! Actually, she removes the top of the bun and eats it like a roll...

Sorry for the tangent, now back to lunch out. Last week we chose a little pizzaria. My colleague savored a pizza with mozzarella, chicken and tomatoes. I went for the veggie lovers delight: capers, peppers and artichokes. Lots of cheese (bien sure!)

Fabulous, absolutely! Indigestion all afternoon? Definitely!!

This week, we decided for my personal favorite, Graine de Moutarde, a small, one-lady run restaurant where soups are high on the menu (almost non-existant in France today!) and seasonal ingredients reign.

Today the first course choices were: chick pea soup or batter-dipped, fried goat cheese salad. main course: Garbure: a vegetable stew with a leg of confit de canard (slow cooked duck).

I snapped a shot of the salad under a laughing colleague's eyes, unbeknownst to the chef herself. Taking pictures of food in France is rare, even at the restaurant so I keep my clandestine practices, well, clandestine. Adds to the fun of it all.

Salad consisted of: fired goat cheese, crisp head lettuce, slices of green pepper, lardons & homemade croutons. Served with wholegrain, sesame & poppyseed bread. Wow. (I'll have to post an Anne's translation recipe later...)

I sampled the duck but couldn't snap a photo... I couldn't finish it off (a real sin in French ettiquette). It was deliciously, fall-off-the-bone tender. It gave me a real desire to cook some duck at home.

Well, not tonight you know. It's Tuesday night. Tuesday night is pasta night. I mean after a lunch like that and a double-duty day at work, who could care even a pinch about cooking up something original? :-)

Délice de Lait

So simple that even a child could do it...! Milk, sugar, eggs and some custard cups make for a quick homemade dessert that will have the whole family clapping.

I stumbled across this recipe. My daughter's homework was to read this recipe. So what better way to practice reading that actually performing the recipes. I mean how many times do you have to read a recipe's instructions while preparing it? I do'nt know about you but me, about 10 times. I can never remember what the next step is.

Since my daughter needed to work on her reading (she's only in 2nd grade) we put it together. Since she loves to cook and "help mommy", it also took care of dessert for Sunday lunch. (A relief to me!).

I used soy milk here and it worked out fine. Also, if you can't find liquide caramel I suggest substituting maple syrup.

(Oh and if you want to call it a custard, go right ahead... but using warm milk that has been whisked, it's a lighter, fluffier version of custard.)

Sundays, always a special meal

There is nothing like a slow cooked dish that simmers for several hours, filling the house with warm smells and cozy anticipation for a sensational meal. That is how it should be on misty winter Sundays. Longer prepartion times for prolonged moments around the dinnertable such as the classic: pot-au-feu:

Starting off with a few veggies, a wicked dip and a class of white Bordeaux sec (dry white Bordeaux):

Followed up by an excellent crème dessert prepared by our 7-year old daughter: Délice de lait

picture by: Sydney Dessens

It will take a few hours to digest. Perhaps a nap, a movie with the family and a mug of French drip coffee snuggled on the living room couch will aid in that digestion. A voir!

If a picture speaks a thousand words... I'd be breathing easy by now...

With a chest infection that has put me on back for the past 5 days, writing about food is a challenging task. I mean smell and taste are a bit "off kilter". I salted a dish twice and found it tasteless the other night, while the rest of my family was gulping down massive amounts of water! Mentioning this to a blogging guru, oups, I mean good friend of mine, Alison, Alithinks, she suggested that since I had the art but no words to publish the pictures of the upcoming articles and recipes. Here it goes! Enjoy! Enjoy at your leisure as you digest all that turkey! ha!

Jambon-Beurre

Perfect Avocado

Stuffed Shells

Smoked Salmon Fritatta

With a chest infection that has put me on back for the past 5 days, writing about food is a challenging task. I mean smell and taste are a bit "off kilter". I salted a dish twice and found it tasteless the other night, while the rest of my family was gulping down massive amounts of water!

Mentioning this to a blogging guru, oups, I mean good friend of mine, Alison, Alithinks, she suggested that since I had the art but no words to publish the pictures of the upcoming articles and recipes. Here it goes! Enjoy! Enjoy at your leisure as you digest all that turkey! ha!

If you can't chew it, sip it!

creme de lettuce soup

Adding greens to your meal can be tough enough when greasy cheeseburgers, fried chicken and cole slaw or bean burriots are calling out to you in your car as you drive home from a long, tiring and stressful day of work.

I love salads, but can only stomach some many. It's cold, blustery weather and picking through chilled cucumber chunks, tough tomato wedges and dried grated carrots is not what I have in mind for an excellent lunch or dinner in late November. Sometimes just the thought of chewing and chewing and chewing "ruffage" (that what we used to call it before it became the glamous 'fiber') is unbearable when I could be snuggling up with a piping bowl of chunks of potatoes, beef and carrots in a thick stew.

Well, I still want fiber but I want cozy. My solution: creme de lettuce soup! While I had this soup for the first time a little over a month ago at a friend's house, I am fast becoming addicted to it. Lettuce + soup = happy tummy!

Funny, I thought the family would eat it dutifully once served to them without comment or excitement. What I got were rave reviews from the children and even my "meat and poatoes" husband. I think just the whole aspect of sipping our "greens" made for a warm change.

What happens when you blend the greens is magical. It becomes this creamy, smooth-textured soup that soothes the spirit.

Make a batch of this and sip it when you're having a low energy day. It's an excellent soup to make before a "eat all you can" holiday or the day after when you feel like something warm in your belly but you've stuffed too much in there the day before!

It's also a great way to finish up salad greens that are starting to wilt and look sad in that so-called crisper drawer in the fridge.

Artichoke pizzas on those nights where cooking...

Artichoke Pizzas

recipe and pictures by Anne Dessens

For those "can't be bothered with cooking" nights!

(Note: My recipes are now on the www.annecuisinerecipes.blogspot.com page. Still a novice to Webs, blogs and e-publishing, you can now click on the title to be taken strait to the recipe!)

This is a huge success with kids and is actually better the following day as a leftovers lunch. My 7 year old daughter and I fought over who'd get to eat this remaining one for lunch on Friday! Allow one "pizza" per person, they are more filling than they look. but I stronger suggest making a few extras for the heartier appetites or for a brown bag lunch the following day. If you're going to put any effort into it, you might as well be able to enjoy it again and again!

Add a bowl of soup or salad for a rounded meal. Follow up with a light dessert such as freshly sliced orange wedges, warmed homemade applesauce or fruit salad with a dollop of whipped cream.

This is one of those recipes that I heard about from one of my friends and never got around to making it. As I let it stew in the back of my mind, I made some adjustments to the orginal recipe and this is what came out after a harrowing week at work. Dying for some comfort food without any enegry on my part, these pizzas are fast becoming a staple in my diet.

Don't forget a salad if you're going to live off these babies! Got get more fiber than just that artichoke!

For a real "low maintenance" dinner, open a can of tomato soup, heat and serve while the pitas are in the oven. Finish off with warmed pears à la mode, a cup of camamille sweetened with honey and GO TO BED!

Time flies, it's TGIF again!

It seems that Friday comes around so fast these days that I feel like I might get whiplash.

No need to fret or worry I've got some great recipes ready to go here and be published on the recipe blog. Enough to keep you cooking for a whole week! (just what you need one week before Thanksgiving! ha!)

I've even got pictures. This is going to be a bit of an adventure to get them on my blog, but I've got them. Hang in there, you'll like my goodies.

Baking in the oven: veggie lazagna... warming on the stove: my lettuce soup. It's getting touched up for its picture debut.

Other tempting recipes on board: carrot salad, spinach quiche, leg of lamb and pear pie delight (a no leftovers winner!)

With a weekend before me and some recipe creating behind me, it's going to be an excellent weekend! Come back often this weekend because I'm on a cooking-marathon!

Bon Ap! --Anne

I chickened Out!

OK, I chickened out on the pizza for Friday night’s dinner. I mean literally! I decided to go with a roasted chicken for dinner.

Right, following the theory that my husband doesn’t find pizza a comfort food due to ‘cultural education difference’ and knowing that he was having a bad day to finish off a bad week, I decided to make dinner special for him. This didn’t include lots of gooey cheese or anything involving crusts. (I felt limited at this point.)

But I came through. Our new oven has a rotisserie for whole species of the fowl family. Great way to do up a perfectly roast chicken without burning the bottom of it. Let the fat drip off the bird and onto the lèche frite away from the meat, away from our arteries, leaving nothing but succulent, juicy and lean meat for the family.

Sounds pretty healthy, huh? Maybe, maybe not. Right now you’re probably wondering, what is a lèche frite. To tell you the truth, I’m still searching myself.

What my husband has suddenly started referring to as a (literally translated here for full effect) “fry lick” is a large black cookie tray built to fit into the groves for the oven rack. It spans the entire baking area in the oven. What I find very interesting is that this lèche frite, comes with every French oven sold in France and has been commonplace in a French kitchen for at least 20 years.

My mother-in-law uses hers to bake her homemade meringues. My girlfriend uses hers to heat up hors d’oeuvres. They are more economical to use than traditional American cookie trays since you can get more on them than ours. You spend less money on electricity for baking purposes.

I’ve had one of these lèche frites since we bought our first oven 8 years ago but almost never used it. My first and main problem was that these lèche frites are always black. After burning my first batch of cookies on mine, I turned to the French culinary queen: my mother-in-law. She suggested that I line the tray with aluminum foil, which I did. The second ordeal involving my lèche frite consisted of me trying to peel the foil off the bottom of the second batch of burnt cookies. Verdict: sentenced to the never opened bottom drawer located just under the oven. End of story, right?

Wrong. Now that we have this fancy rotisserie function, I finally learned (8 years later no less!) that this ‘tray’ had a name and a real function: catch the drippings when you have a chicken suspended in the middle of your oven, slowing turning round and round and round for two hours. Since it covers the entire bottom surface of the oven and it fits in the lowest groove of the oven rack groves, it’s ideal for catching the fat dripping off the bird without any mess burning, blackening or smoking off the oven’s hot bottom.

OK. Now that we’ve got a clear idea of the “intended” purpose this object, why in the world would the French call it a “fry lick”? I mean think about it. First of all, what gets “licked” in the oven? (I’m not talking about sending the dog in to try a quickie-cleaning job either.)

And secondly, what gets “fried” in an electric oven? I’ve always thought of ovens as being something used for “baking” items. There is also the “broil” option, cooking with the heat coming from above the food. If you’re lucky and live in France like me, your oven probably also has the rotisserie option. Still it’s a kind of baking, rotating the food in midair.

My first image when my husband told me the name of this tray was of someone licking a
French fry. Not my average daily mind image. Secondly, I thought of a flame of fire licking the bottom of a cauldron. That might explain the where the word “lèche” or “lick” comes from. But still, my oversized cookie tray doesn’t come up and lick my chicken (ever!)

And if you were to use a real fire to cook the food, how could it lick anything frying if the tray was placed between the fire and the food? Also, if you were cooking over an open flame, wouldn’t you want to keep the space between the meat and the fire open so the heat would cook it and not put a tray in between the two? I don’t know maybe it’s one of those French logic things that come with being born in the country.

I’m sure my husband has an excellent answer to this puzzle. Perhaps I’ve spelt the whole thing wrong, or understood incorrectly. A slim possibility but one that shouldn’t be ruled out nonetheless. (That, of course, is a joke.) He’ll probably tell me something like,

“The history of this “lèche frite” comes from the XVI century when King What’s-His-Name the XV ordered the head chef to collect all the fried fat from the meat so that he could lick it all up later.”

I made that up so don’t believe that one!

While my husband will probably have a field day with this entry and the origin of the word “fry lick” suffice it to say that the chicken was fabulous simply prepared with a sea salt rub and stuffed with some fresh garlic cloves, peeled. Served with fried potatoes and homemade applesauce for dessert, it was an excellent way to kick off the weekend. (All served with a kicking gravy sauce!) The kids love roasted chicken and who doesn’t like fried potatoes? It was a memorable moment around a un-fried, un-licked chicken.

Not matter how you cut it, weekends were made for eating! (period.)

Now that is a title we all like to read, n'est-ce pas? I should probably add a subtitle of, And Weekends Were made for cooking because this is the time in the week where many of us gourmet chefs actually find the courage to peel, dice, chop, sauté and simmer (though I do a lot of simmering at work, it is nothing I can dish out at the end of the day!).

As a woman, working, loving wife and super Mom (italics mine only), finding the courage to cook nice cozy meals hits me on Friday nights, starting with something family-friendly like pizza. Yeah! A family movie and homemade or almost homemade pizza curled up on the sofa usually gets two thumbs up from the children and myself. (Actually, I personally give this meal a 4-thumber!!)

Yes, surprisingly, my French husband doesn't go bananas over pizza, and he doesn't live off of it when I'm away for any extended period of time. I'd like to chalk that up to differences in "cultural" upbringings.

What American didn't grow up thinking take-out pizza (in the cardboard box, of course, that smells like, well, pizza in a cardboard box) was a godsend? Did our mothers not make us think that this meal was special? A treat? Only for the worthy ones? Yes, take-out pizza or, take-away for the non-American Anglo-Saxon, is a typical weekend meal, concentrating on Friday or Saturday nights. And for good reason. What an excellent way to kick off the weekend, non?

That glutinous feeling of gooey cheese and doughy crust on that "nooo, this is not my 10th slice, only my 9th slice" overload, gives us (OK, moi) the feeling of guilt. Yes, guilt that I'm not cooking up something motherly for my family; guilt that I'm not making a more conscious effort to cook healthy.

Yes, herein lies the problem: How to cook sinfully gastronomtic meals that soothe the soul, satisfy the pallet yet keep the weight off and health high? The answer would be worth millions!

While many people have tried conquering that quest to optimum health and healthy eating with recipes and meals that keep people "on the wagon", none of them have worked for me in the long run. Why? Because I'm a glutinous pig? (Don't answer that one!)

No, I feel reasonably confident to say that it's not my fault, but those around me that make it hard to be healthy. I mean, lock me up in a cellar and toss down lettuce leaves and carrot sticks and I'd be skinny! skinny! skinny! It's the fact that my children aren't begging me for steamed anything and my husband isn't begging me for tofu (or pizza!).

So compromise is the solution. (I don't know if it will bring me millions, though I wouldn't knock it if it did. -hint, hint. Wink, wink.) I'll keep the really fattenting stuff for the weekends, healthier, faster cuisine for the work week.

Now, with that resolved, where's that 4 cheeses frozen pizza I bought to doll up with grilled peppers, more mozzarella cheese and lardons (French for bacon/ham bits) sorry no pepperoni in la belle France! (Hey now, what did you except? TGIF!!!!!!!!!!)

Weekends are made for friends, family and good food

It’s not hard to imagine spending a weekend with friends in France. Weekends are made for getting together.

Saturdays in France are a rush to get all the shopping done for the upcoming weekend. With Sundays as a closed day for all shops and stores, it's important to get everything done and stocked up in the kitchen; otherwise, Sunday can be a very long day if all you've got in the fridge are some sad looking celery stalks and molding leftovers from your last cookout! Saturday nights are most often reserved for company in France.

Eating out can get very expensive quickly if you add wine, a babysitter and parking to the menu. And with re-enforced breathalyzers, it's not a great idea to drink and drive (with or without the reinforcement!). This translates into many meals spent together in the company of friends in ones home. One person does all the cooking, everyone else chips to make sure there are no leftovers (golden rule number one in France!).

Saturday nights are the designated nights what with Sundays being a laid back, sleep in, catch up on the family time kind of day. We partook a few weekends ago in a nice friendly weekend at our friends' house in Montmorillon, about 45 minutes from the college town of Pointers and almost two hours from our house. With the promise of 5 more couples showing up plus free room and board for the weekend, it was a promising weekend of fine dining, good times and plenty of fun! And we weren't disappointed.

Although every other single couple backed out at the last minute, our friends spared no expense: lobster for first coarse, freshly shucked scallops on skewers, homemade apple pie and Mumm champagne, it'll be diet for a month after that! (That was a lot of lobster for just the four of us. We had to have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner the next day!)

Best recipes from that weekend? The baked scallops in butter crumb topping and the lettuce soup.

TBA...

Changing Seasons

While summer's officially over and its rays have weakened dramatically, it's no reason to feel low or put out. Yes, summer is a wonderful time of the year. People in general seem brighter, happier and easier to deal with whether at work or in the neighborhood.

But there is something in autumn's air that brings about a certain cool excitement. Perhaps for some, it's starting back to school (though I doubt that is true for very many!). For others, it might be football season. For others, it might be the refreshing drop in temperature, leaving behind muggy nights and sweaty trips to the mailbox.

Whatever the reason, there is always something to look forward to at the turn of each season. (No I didn't mean for that to rhyme.)

Living in France, I have taught my stomach the French seasonal clock. This is a 12 month clock set to the fresh products that are available during their prime season. I'll be focusing on these great foods like pears, walnuts, soups, stews, vegetable bakes and much more.

It's time to get back into the kitchen and simmer up some love and comfort!

Summer Fruit Flan

Preparation time: 10 min; baking time 30 minutes + cooling

Serves 6-8

• 3 cups chopped summer fruits, peeling optional: peaches, nectarines, apricots, plums
• ½ cup sugar
• 1-4 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 eggs, slightly beaten
• 2 cups milk
• 1/3 cup brandy raspberries in red wine*

Preheat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, whisk together eggs and sugar, adding flour and whisking until completely incorporated. Add milk and stir. Butter and flour a deep dish pie pan; layer fruits in bottom of dish; pour egg mixture overtop; bake for 45 minutes or until baked through. Remove and let cool completely before removing from pan. Serve chilled, topped with brandy raspberries, and whipped cream. This dessert is even better if chilled overnight.

Summer Ratatouille

This classic French summer vegetable dish is an excellent way to use up summer squash like zucchini and garden tomatoes. Every bite is a mouthful of the Mediterranean. Peeling is optional for the tomatoes. Every French home has their own version of this recipe, so ingredients used vary greatly. Tomatoes, zucchini, garlic and olive oil are constants though. Serve as a side to grilled or baked meats, or as a vegetarian entrée over rice. Topping with grated cheese (parmesan, Swiss, fresh mozzarella) is optional but a personal favorite. Adding leftover cooked meat such as ham, chicken, pork or shrimp can round out a meal.


Preparation time: Cooking time:
Serves: 4-6

• 4 large tomatoes, cut into wedges, peeling optional
• 3 medium zucchini, sliced or cut into chunks or summer squash
• 1 yellow onion, peeled and sliced
• 1 medium eggplant, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced in halves
• ½ cup olive oil extra virgin
• ½ teaspoon Croque au sel Grillade sea salt or to taste
• ½ teaspoon dried thyme
• pinch of dried basil

In thick-bottomed skillet or saucepan with lid, sauté onion and garlic in olive oil for several minutes on medium heat until softened; add remaining vegetables stirring well, tossing all vegetables in olive oil; reduce heat to medium-low, add herbs and salt, and cover with lid and let simmer for 30-45 minutes until all ingredients are soft and cooked well.

Summer White Sangria

White Sangria

Chill out on the weekends with friends and family with this elegant cocktail bursting with summer fruits. The white wine and summer fruits make this version of the Spanish classic, lighter and cooler to drink with the heat is still sweltering.

Preparation Time: 10 min., Chilling time :20 min.
Serves: 6-8

• 1 - 75 cl. Bottle white wine, chardonnay
• 4 cups sparkling soda (7-Up, Sprite…)
• 2 cups sliced summer fruit, mixed (peaches, nectarines, plums), peeling
• optional1/2 cup Griotte Cherries in kirsch (cherries in brandy)* with liquid
• 1 lemon, sliced into wedges
• ice cubes as desired

Slice fruits, toss with lemons, Griotte Cherries and its liquid in large serving pitcher; pour in white wine and sparkling soda; stir and cover with plastic wrap. Chill for 20 minutes to several hours before serving. When serving, make sure you add several pieces of fruit to each glass.

September Menu

Summer may seem like it’s over with the Back to School Sales, but we’ve got another two full weeks before it’s officially fall. Besides, when you see all the fat garden tomatoes, the engorged summer squash or bite into “dribble down your chin” juicy peaches and plums, your palate knows, summer’s still “packing it in”!

Here are a few of our favorite late summer recipes that help to cut costs by using very, ripe summer fruits and vegetables while pleasing the palate and the family. Serve them warm, serve them chilled. They are excellent recipes to make in advance then pull out of the fridge at dinnertime. Add a salad, some whole grain bread and toss a few steaks on the grill for a complete, hassle-free gourmet meal for 2-10! Gourmet dining has never been easier or more fun.

Bon Appétit!

White Sangria
Summer Ratatouille
Tomato Tarte
Summer Fruit Flan

Blackberry Lane

You know summer's coming to an end when you can pick buckets and buckets of blackberries and still have more to pick tomorrow.

I re-discovered this not-so-rare fruit in France. Yes, they grow in West Virignia, and acutally had a patch of them down the street from my house when I was a little girl. Preparing a bowl of water and a rather large bowl of sugar, several of the neighborhood children and I would pick these black gems, diligently wash them off in the bowl of water; roll them unscrupulously in the refined white sugar and proceed to stuff ourselves. I don't remember stained figures or clothing but I'm sure my mother does.

Coming to France, I have set my body's clock to the important date of late August and early September. This is when blackberries are in wild abundance and can be found along just about every country roadside, marking off the farmer's fields from the passersby.

Since I live in farm country in southwestern France, I need only to walk down the street and find thousands of juicy berries winking at me and screaming, "EAT ME! EAT ME!" (I oblige.)

I (try to) walk my dog, Lola (daily), a 18 month old Golden Retriever, up (& then back down) an old country lane. This rutted, dirt lane takes you out to the grande cheminée (an old smoke stack from the days when they used to bake bricks there) and then beyond to nowhere. It's an excellent place to let the dog have a run off the leash because only walkers and bikers use this lane.

La Grande Cheminée has its own little tale since it can be seen for miles around. It is used as a reference point for many of the people of Coulonges, when out for a stroll, a bike or lazy car ride. "Well we must be heading back to town now because la grande cheminée is on our left now." While the grande cheminée is grand, is still almost intact and made completely out of red bricks, it looks slightly strange on the plains of the Deux Sèvres. Most of us liberated & young people refer to it as the phallic symbol that it is. Enough said!

While toying with these thoughts on my (almost) daily walk on grande cheminée lane, I am able to fill up on the plump berries, only occasionally staining the front of my usually white tee shirt.

Perhaps it sounds dreamy to walk up and down country lanes in France and plop juicy, free fruit in my mouth, I must tell you that I cannot dilly-dally much longer because the seasoned pickers have started picking the berries and soon none will be left for the oh-so-important event of making your own blackberry preserves for ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

Making your own jam and fruit preserves is a national sport. You couldn't find a commericalized jar of blackberry jam in France if you scoured every single grocery store and supermarket in the country! Not even found at the local, country markets. That's because EVERYONE makes their own!

Then you've got to make enough jars to be able to give them as housewarming gifts, when you're invited over to a friend's house for dinner. But homemade jam-giving is a vicious contest between women who've got the best fruits.

If you are lucky, you have a hundred year old fig tree in the back yard somewhere that's sagging with ripe figs begging to be simmered and jarred. Or you break down and buy the 5 kg of apricots and make your own apricot jam. These jams are far more valuble than the blackberry jam, unless is mid-March.

By then all rations have been diminished to zero. The jar bottoms have been scraped and re-scraped. The blackberry season seems so far off, and you can't buy them in stores. Who'd be so silly as to try and sell the most abundant free French fruit? Now the blackberry jam value has gone up tenfold. You see you can buy apricot and fig jam in the stores. They are good and suffice when there isn't any homemade ones on hand.

But blackberry jam... Well, it's got one season and one season only. And if I don't get out there and start picking them for my jam collection and stop eating them for my own pleasure, I'll end up like last year with only 6 jars, three of which had to be given away as gifts to friends (friendly jam competition). I could have had more had I watched that pot of blackberries simmering on the stove...

That is a story to be told AFTER I've picked my berries. Now I gotta get moving!

Back to the Beach!

For a food blog, I've gotten side-tracked. It's too much beach time. I'm only an hour away and it's so tempting with clear sunny skies and winny children. Have you ever noticed that children can scream their heads off about 4 feet from you at the beach, but what with the wind and the pounding surf, you -- hear -- none -- of -- it. Now that's a vacation!

As for food, it's been a diet kind of week. Well, Monday's lunch was, cucumbers in avocado dressing (homemade) that's it!; dinner was moules-frites out at a cozy bistro-like restuarant, (that's steamed mussels in a white wine broth and- not so diety- French Fries). A French classic combo and one I can't pass up when we're eating by the seashore.

Yesterday's lunch was more practical, leftover cockles with sautéed cauliflower and a bit of light cream for thickness, hmmmm. And last night was a 'got home late from work' (I work out of the office in my house and the walk through the dining room to the kitchen (20 steps) was a killer!); and I desparately need to go to the store so we're out of fresh anything! Even milk. So it was frozen pizza night.

But not just any kind of pizza, a McCains with a cream sauce instead of a tomato sauce and with lots of crisp veggies like broccoli florets and red onions (only two slices). A glass of red to finish the picture. Plain yogurt for dessert. Very low key. Very quick clean up too!

And who says that the French can't eat frozen pizzas when forced to?

Fly By Summer!

It's amazing how quickly the summer flies by. Even when you have children full time at home. Despite the length of the days and the extended hours of sunshine, it's already August.

I know for many of you (Americans) it's coming round to "Back To School!" season while for the English, the French and probably most Europeans in general, it's "Official Summer Holiday!".

Beaches are plagued with blinding white, almost completely naked foreigners (and not the nice kind of naked either!) begging for a "fried shrimp" burn (rouge comme une crevette as the French saying goes -- red as a shrimp!).

Supermarkets are miniature traffic jams, where the shopping carts are used to hurt and run over.

Pedestrian streets are packed, shoulder to shoulder with fried crevettes speaking foreign languages.

Shopkeepers just want your money and couldn't be bother smiling or saying, merci!

And the roads. Let's not even go there! Crawling with slow English drivers, who are keeping a vigilant eye on staying on the right (I mean correct!) side of the road while French and German tourists are burning the rubber, the fuel and their vacation money trying to make it there in 8.4 minutes faster than last year!

It's good to stay home, surf the net where no UV rays can damage my skin, read about Life in Provence. Also I let my husband do the cooking, like grilling the meat, chopping the vegetables or invite myself round to the English neighbors, which involves no clean up, simply bringing a bottle of wine and a good sense of humor.

Wonder if they'll have one when they read this entry?

Baked Salmon "en papillote" in Persillade Cream Sauce

Here it is, my "use what's left in the fridge" ingredients for a fantastic, once only! recipe (ha!):

1 - 1/2 lb. salmon filet
4 tablespoons half and half cream of heavy cream
1/4 cup chopped parsley, fresh or frozen and thawed
3 cloves garlic, minced
fleur de sel sea salt to taste
freshly cracked pepper to taste
half a lemon (for juice)
aluminum foil

Preheat oven to 350°; rise salmon under cold water, pat dry with towel.

Tear off long sheet of aluminum foil; rub lemon half down center of foil (this helps to keep the fish from sticking to the foil while baking); place filet in foil. Salt and pepper to taste.

Prepare the persillade: combine the parsley and garlic in a bowl; add half and half cream (traditionally it's butter that you add but for a thicker sauce, heavy cream works best).

Pour or baste persillade over fish; fold foil up over fish; place the "papillote" on cookie sheet and bake for 20-30 minutes or until cooked through.

Note: persillade is pronounced: pear- see-odd
rough translation: chopped parsley & lots of garlic in butter; fattening, delicious, sinful and "make sure you've brought lots of crusty baguette bread along for sopping up the remaining sauce!"

The British Are Here!

Yes, just a quick (& probably typo filled entry) that our English neighbors have arrived for their summer holiday, 5 weeks in sunny Deux Sèvres. Since they love to eat, have a good time and top off the rosé, there'll be lots of lively entries to come!

Stay tuned.....

p.s. they are vegetarian so there'll be lots of vegetarain meal and recipes but not ONLY non meat blog entries!

The Feast of St Anne

Yes, that title sounds a bit pompous for those of you not familiar with feast days for Catholic Saints. In Catholic countries, like France, the feast day of the name of the saint after whom you are named is celebrated in addition to your birthday.

Cards, gifts, parties, special meals are all possibilities and probabilities for the featured name-sake from friends, family members and anyone who knows or remembers. You might get a "bonne fête " (happy feast day!) from colleagues, neighbors or your local baker as well. It's quite a royal feeling for the day!

This is such an instilled practice in France that the names of the saint feast days are listed on ALL calendars and even mentioned every evening at the end of the weather report!

"Tomorrow, we'll be losing 2 minutes and 06 seconds of sunlight and don't forget that tomorrow is the feast day of all people named: John. So many people you know, know it's your special day, unlike birthdays, that we tend to omit from common knowledge as time creeps up on us.

There are lots of saints out there, like Anne, Pierre (Peter), Paul, Mark, Thomas, Martha, even Monique, Arnaud, Viriginia, Diane....(these are all members of my family)! It gets difficult to find a St Sydney (my 6 year old daughter) or ST Alison, even if she is one!

Mine was yesterday and for once in the 13 years that I've been celebrating it (before that I was ignorant to having an extra, "celebrate ME!" day full of gifts, kisses and general festiveness) my Sweet-Cheeks hubby FORGOT! The only person to remember was our friend Christophe, who called to wish me a happy feast day.
But this isn't an entry to complain about a forgetful male, it's to tell about the feast I created for us!

* Champagne & foie gras (not homemade) for the appetizer

*baked scallops for the first course with a bit of basmati rice
*baked salmon with a persillade and cream sauce & steamed vegetable medley
*ripe camembert wedges with crusty baguette
*all washed down with a lovely Bordeaux, Saint Estephe

I prepared the Salmon. I bought a half salmon, filleted. I baked it "en papillote" meaning wrapped in aluminum foil. This is a great "no clean up" trick. Baked right in the foil, there's no mess to clean up; simply peel back the foil and toss in the garbage bin (minus the baked fish of course!)

I cheated on the rest of the meal, buying items from the catering section or ready made section of the supermarket. (Hey it's my special day, why should I be slaving in the kitchen cooking?!)

But I did do the Crème de Persillade, garlic & parsley cream sauce for the fish and the steamed veggies. I'm entering that separately here. Despite the preparations on my part, it was a lovely evening as we sat out under our "au vent" covered porch, gazing at Coulonges's XI century church bell tower... Summer in France. You can't get much better.

Arnaud in the kitchen!

Nothing like getting home late while your hubby gets home early. That is what happened last Friday night. End result: he had the kitchen cleaned, dinner ready and drinks chilling.

Appéro:
(French slang for apéritif = appetizer, before dinner/meal drinks; a custom, a ritual, a national right!)

Since cantaloupe is in full ripe season, we always have a few of this French variety on hand during July and August. French variety are smaller, denser and perhaps sweeter. Sliced, it can be served alone or with one of the following as a starter course (always a starter course in France and never dessert!): ham, country, salt cured or prosciutto ham; port or porto wine...

For a change, Arnaud prepared it in bite-size chunks with freshly squeezed lemon juice. A tangy yet refreshing combination.

To Drink: Summer Malibu Punch: Ocean Spray Cran-Orange drink, a bit of vodka, a bit of Malibu Coconut drink, served with a twist of lemon wedge on the glass. Elegant, sweet, exotic, chilled.

I unfortunately can't give portions on that mix because Monsieur doesn't really know, he pours, stirs, sips, reflects. He pours, stirs, sips, reflects. So who really knows? Probably leaned heavily on the vodka...

Dinner was baked Monkfish and Steamed Broccoli. Of course he added a bit of white wine and crème fraiche, basil and sea salt to the fish for flavor. Again, a pinch here, a drop there. Portions are vague and he'll never be able to reproduce that dish in its entirety.

But we love him for taking charge when the chef is out of the kitchen and getting one hell of a sunburn on her back collecting cockles at the seashore!
Merci Cheri! Grosses bises XXOXX

Baked Cockles

Not too difficult, I combined the steamed cockles with crème fraîche (sour cream), two eggs, slightly beaten, fresh chives, parmesan cheese, a tablespoon Dijon Mustard (I do lean heavily on this condiment) and freshly cracked pepper.

Bake for 30-45 minutes at 375° in a baking dish with lid.

Serve over Basmati Rice (for those of you who have never heard of Basmati rice, you can use plain, long grain white rice).

Mmm...

bluebells, seashells, France and the beach

Since this is a food blog, I should just tell you about the highlights of my day at the beach, yesterday, via the stomach.

Friday Morning, 10:48 a.m.
In a haste, my girlfriend Natalie picks me up along with my two children for a day at the beach and to pêcher les coques (pronounced coau-k). Let me get a dictionary and look that word up because I don't know what they are called in English, but I do know from my one year of Italian that they are called vongole. (Embarrassing, I know for someone who’s been speaking French fluently for the past 15 years…Go figure!)

Ok, I just looked it up finally in the LaRousse French/English Dictionary, and well, I'm a bit embarrassed because my 9 year old son, Pierre, kept calling them in English "cockles" and I kept saying, "That's not it." (hm!!...cough, cough, hm…) Well, that IS what they are called! Geez, this is embarrassing! He's 9, I'm 33; who's the truly bilingual one in the family? !!

La Pêche aux Coques
Cockles are lovely little seashells that bury themselves in the sand and during very low tides, are easily uncovered by scraping the sands surface, where they finally roll to the top. It must be during really low tides where you can wander far out onto the ocean's floor and scrape in gunky places.

It's quite exciting to make sand figures in the wet, sometimes, slimy sand where you think of nothing, entranced and switching gears to a meditative state, and find chucky little cockles peering up through the sand at you. It's addicting collecting them and we spent over two hours on our hands and knees brushing, skimming, collecting, and digging and thinking of nothing more than, “Come out, come out! Where ever you are!”

The kids loved it! I loved it! Cockle fishing makes you become obsessed with finding a bed of large ones. So obsessed that when the tides rolls in at incredible speed, you find yourself soaked in a matter of minutes and then panic hits.

Not the panic of someone afraid of drowning but of the gold-digger who hasn't collected enough gold. Frantically, I start running around digging hither-tither for cockles.

"I don't have enough!" (I'm lugging about 6 lb. of shells in my bucket!) When is enough ever enough?

Then a miracle happens, the tide's movement over the sand, naturally calls the cockles to surface. Within 15 minutes, we find ourselves knee deep in water and instead of this being an end to our fishing expedition, it becomes the beginning of the real, large cockle fishing expedition!

By simply reaching down to the surface of the sand below come up with handfuls of the fat, chucky cockles. They're skimming the sand's surface, or "riding the tide" in search of a new location to settle.

Finally, the tide is too high and the buckets are bursting. The children (Natalie's crew consists of two children of the same ages as mind) are famished, it's after 2 pm and we haven't had lunch yet. We finally stop but Natalie has to practically drag me from the water.

Lunch was Natalie's preparation, as I said in the beginning of this blog, In a haste, my girlfriend Natalie picks me up along with my two children for a day at the beach... I had been working on my website and forgot to pack our picnic. Natalie, wanting to get to the beach at the lowest part of the tide for the maximum collection of sea shells, said we could share their picnic. So we left the house within minutes of her arrival, half pulling on our suits as we emerge from the house on to the public city street.

Excellent Sandwiches
Instead of mayo or butter, traditional spreads for ham sandwiches in France, Natalie switched to "La Vache Qui Rit" or "The laughing Cow". I bring it up here because I know you can buy it in the States and if you can, you must try it!

Sliced ham, lettuce, tomato and laughing cow cheese. Smooth, creamy and tasty. Much better than mayo (and I love mayo!).

French Beach time
The afternoon was spent lounging on the beach, swimming and playing paddle ball (Ok, chasing that blooming little ball all over the beach!) and building sand castles, real summertime activities. A final stop in the neighboring coastal town of La Tranche Sur Mer, amongst pedestrian-packed streets, we stopped for an ice cream (the kids) and coffees (the women). With everyone in tank tops and flip flops on foot or bikes sporting sunglasses and bright red "I've been in the sun too much" tans, we feel like we're all on vacation and never want to leave.

The hour long drive back to the house is a drowsy one but upon arrival, my lovely French husband had a cocktail chilling, the appetizer on display, the table set and dinner simmering on the stove. (Ah, I could get used to this!)

Days like this are what keep me in France: being able to go out and fish your dinner; eating and discovering new and exciting things; living only an hour away from the coast and coming home to gorgeous meals and festive moments for nothing more than to celebrate the beautiful weather and the fact that we are all happy, healthy, safe, alive and together.

Vive tomorrow!

(Future blogs: Last night's dinner + how to prepare cockles.)

It's Chops I Tell You! Pork Chops!

Yes, I have been told that my main course reads "pork chips" not " pork chops". My father kindly suggested that if I was going to leave the word "chips" I should change it to COW chips. Like either pork CHIPS or cow CHIPS sounds appetizing.

Sorry for the typo! I'm far from perfect. I do hope I didn't ruin your appetites.

Bastille Day Belated!

Yes, the one day I get the most hits EVER! is the day I forget to add my July 14th summer cookout Menu... (danm!). Sorry for the French (though I can't understand where that comes from seeing as it's not a French word. Alas, that is another subject, another blog entry).

Drop the suspense. Here it is. I spent all day getting these recipes ready and on my website and then, in the excitement of full holiday spirit, forgot to at least paste the blooming recipes in this post.

July 14th Summer Cookout Menu:
Pink Grapefruit-Zin Cocktail
Proscuitto Ham and Cantaloupe Skewers for Appetizer
Pasta Summer Salade Macédoine
Grilled Ratatouille Salad
Grilled Pork Chops in Herbed Mustard Sauce
Esprit de France's French Cherry Clafoutis (buy the mix, add the fresh fruit, top with brandy cherries or pears) divine!

Click on the above to get recipes and serving suggestions!
Bon Appétit!

Diet Day!

With the return of the scorching summer sun and the desire for grilling out, cold beers, chilled rosé wine and good tunes (last night) today is diet day!

Yes, one of those "we're not eating much today and I'm not cooking!" days.

When it's hot like this, I find it easy to stay out of the kitchen and focus on fresh fruits, lots of liquids and dream of a huge veggie salad.

Today's lunch: banana milk: 1 ripe banana (I've got 4 that have to be used up TODAY!) 1 cup milk. Blend together til smooth.

optional: handful of fresh raspberries
or 1 peach peeled
a drizzle of maple syrup for added sweetness
a few ice cubes for "icyness"

(kind of like a slim fast shake substitute).

One at noontime
One at 4 pm at snack time

dinner: plate of steamed cauliflower with "pumpkin seed oil" and fleur de sel sea salt
vanilla yogurt for dessert

and one long walk with the dog!
(now where is that blooming scale!)

Greens! Green Beans. Eat your Green Beans!

Great season for fresh green beans. Of course I get those lovely Haricots Verts or French Green beans, thin, crisp, very, very green.

Green bean salads are popular here in the summertime. Served warmed or chilled, it's a refreshing change from regular salad greens when you use green beans as the base for the salad.

Popular additions to green bean salads in France? Lardons : French cut bacon-in little squares, finely chopped shallots, fresh tarragon, Dijon mustard, slivered almonds, feta cheese and garlic. Lots of it too!

Last night, I sautéed some lardons with some leftover ground beef (excellent substitute); I steamed the green beans to tender then tossed with these items: feta cheese, fresh tarragon, sautéed meat, croutons, balsamic fig vinegar and pumpkin seed oil (try sesame as a substitute).

We ate it as a main course salad. I had enough for leftovers and finished off dinner with a typical cheese platter and fresh, crusty bagutette.

A lazy summer evening where I didn't want to cook. Cooking time total is approximately 15 minutes depending on how tender you like your beans.

Here are the portions: (feeds 4 main course or 6 side salads)
This is a very Kid Friendly Recipe!

2 lb. frozen green beans (fresh can be substituted but will lengthen cooking time)
1 cup ground beef, turkey or chunks of ham
2/3 cup feta cheese, crumbled
3 tablespoons pumpkin seed oil
2 tablspoons fig flavored balsamic vinegar
1 cup croutons, garlic flavored if possible
1 tablespoon fresh tarragon, finely chopped

Place beans in steamer and steam for 15 minutes or until tender. Meanwhile, sauté ground meat or ham; when thoroughly cooked, toss with balsamic vinegar. Set aside and keep warm.

When beans are cooked, drain and transfer to large salad bowl; drizzle with olive oil; top with fresh tarragon; crumble in feta; add croutons and cooked meat and toss.

That's it! Mmm... lunchtime for me now, and guess what I'll be finishing off? ha!

Esprit De France Gourmet.com Come take a Tour de France

Please forgive me for writing two (in a row to boot!) about the same subject. I know that while this blog (and its space here after) is dedicated to all the actual cooking and recipes I put together, my other half (day job) is my business of importing and distributing my favorite products and kitchen regulars to Americans.

I'm really proud to be able to provide these gourmet food products to EVERYONE on this website that I built myself. I'm not a computer geek (not that that would be a bad thing) it's just that I'm not computer-enabled. Sure I can type (but have you not noticed all those typos staring out at you! Glaring, laughing at me?!)

HTML, javascript or other codes and scary symbols, well... scare me. (Even Excel goes over my head besides the simple filling in information!)

So if you do check out this site, you'll see, "I've come a long baby!" With the help from my webmaster friends like Alison and Allan. :-)

www.epsritdefrancegourmet.com


The Setting for it All:
Esprit de France was born in 2002 following a request for fleur de sel sea salt by my now, best customer. From there, we (my husband and I) built the business.

For years, I had been writing a food column for the Charleston, WV Gazette. There were many times I was using "typical" French ingredients that were hard to find in regular supermarkets or gourmet food shops in the States. We found some of these products and with the help of our supporting customer; we were able to launch Esprit de France and several wonderful, hard-to-find authentic French culinary products.

The Beginning of a Website:
Since then we've worked to build and grow. We exhibited at several gourmet food tradeshows around the US (Atlanta, SF, NYC). We have a wonderful customer base, mainly on the east and west coasts with a few in the Midwest and West. But we felt that we weren't reaching those who really needed us, those of us who don't live within an hour of NYC, SF or other major cosmopolitan cities.

Coming from Charleston, WV, having nurtured a love for anything European and Gourmet, it has never been easy to find these kinds products in my home town. But how could we do this? We needed a website.

There's More:
Today we proudly present to you our website: http://www.espritdefrancegourmet.com/ where you can find gourmet, hard-to-find food products (& more).

You can also find some of my recipes, ones using my products and other links to some great websites that center around great food, great times and the love of France & travel.

Come on over and take a Tour de France Gourmet-style!

The soup's gone cold!

Well, it's about time I got back on this blog and wrote something, anything, just remind people that I'm alive! Yes, I am here and I've been in the kitchen daily, twice daily cooking up lots of different stuff.

No matter what I do, or where I go, I just cannot get away from cooking and wanting to eat. Hm! So much for bathing suit season.

So if you're interested, the restaurant idea has cooled its heels, I mean just think of all the work, and for what! Lots of work! Yes, I love to cook but to cook all day, EVERY day, I don't know... besides, I gotta be able to get back to the States whenever I want.

What's been keeping me froom writing is my daytime job, unpaid, because it's a startup, Esprit de France! that's my import and distribution business. Importing food products (what did you expect?!) from France and selling to retailers around the USA.

The latest thing, www.espritdefrancegourmet.com

I've got lots of recipes for my products, and I've put them on my website.

(And and picture of me and the hubby). check it out!

That's where you'll see the most of me. Until I get this rhythm of writing daily on this blog.

Thanks for reading!
Anne

Soups, sandwiches, breads and salads

That restaurant, Graine de Moutarde, is definitely a worthy little place! It makes you want to start up your own little restaurant, making up daily menus based on your mood du jour... Thursday, I indulged in the Mediterranian Lentil soup (not quite Moroccan, not quite Indian dahl). It was a cool, rainy May day and the mood right for the bright, sunny, almost Provencale interior.

The lentil soup was smooth, creamy, (she had blended it smooth) with hints of curry, cumin and cracked coriander. It was topped with a dollop of crème fraiche, and a purée of cashews (blanched cashews that had then been crushed up and tossed with a bit of lemon juice) and served with "Moroccan bread". This was simply slices of fresh baguette that had been basted with a spicy tomato and olive mix and lightly toasted... The soup was heart-warming, the topping original and elegant, the side of bread, very tasty.

Strangely enough, I had been contemplating coming up with a "dahl" stew (mixing lentils and curry into a hearty soup). Dahl is Indian and means "lentils" or "lentil based" dish. It's very popular amongst the vegetarian crowd and especially the British who eat lots of Indian take away. (food to go for the American in you and me!).

I have not yet made this soup/stew yet despite the cool front hovering over the region. This is because my son and husband (the carnivores in the family) don't get very excited about soup.

My son, Pierre, 9, who makes faces and complains each time I serve soup as a first course at dinnertime--which is almost nightly-- said, "I don't like the taste of soup". (Of course I opened that can of worms by asking him why he didn't like soup? Was it the texture?)

(I find it a bit cheeky to dislike a whole catagory of food preparations, personally).

I replied, "How can you not like the flavor when I change it every night? You like carrots, so when I put them in soup you can't tell me you don't like the FLAVOR?"

He said, "Yes I can".

Right now his idea of an ideal meal is a jambon beurre, which is a ham and butter sandwich on fresh, crusty baguette bread. It's a lovely sandwich but eaten twice a day for a whole week, it gets a bit old. And it's oh-so-against the low carb diet!

I tried to slip corn chowder under his nose last night, knowing how much he loves corn... I got a wrinkled up nose and the simple question, "Can I discard the zucchini?"

"Yes, Pierre, if you'll eat the soup, you can discard the teeney, tiny bits of chopped up zucchini." (sigh!)

The next day at the Graine de Moutarde, I tried the antipasti.

The salad was grilled eggplant, zucchini, red and yellow bell peppers, tomatos, onion and garlic in olive oil and sweet basil. Very appetizing. She had run out of her bread du jour -- with this dish a focaccia bread sliced in two and stuffed with a mix of ham and black olives and herbs... (but that's why I wanted the salad, darn it!).

Well, there's always tomorrow... even if the zucchini soup with fresh goat cheese is off the menu, as well as that sexy black olive focaccia bread (sigh).

Whilst on the subject of Soups and Restaurants

There's a new little restaurant just opened in my "big town" of Niort, (pop. 50,000) This beats the little town where I live, Coulonges sur l'Autize (meaning, Coulonges on the Autize River--what I'd call a creek but no one asked me!).

I've been trying out new little restaurants and bistros around the area in France, looking for nouveautés in the world of culinary adventure. (I'll have to expand on this subject a bit later). Recpies and ideas that I pick up and then (steal, no I embellish) before sharing with you.

I'm heading out now to try out today (and tomorrow with my girlfriend Natalie, French) this new restaurant called, Graine de Moutarde, literally, Mustard Grain. A Soup Bar! Very daring in France and something that Natalie and I had wanted to start up in this little po-dunk town of Coulonges. (pronounced, coo-lawn-jsze).

Yes, Natalie wanted to start what's called a 'Tartinerie' which has no direct translation in English (sorry).

Let's start with the base of the word TARTINERIE ---- A "tartine" is a slice of bread with garnish(es). This could be simply butter bread (basic breakfast tartine); or with jam or honey (garinshed breakfast tartine); with Nutella (after school, kids snack tartine) or at the appéritif with tapenade (olive paste) or any kind of spread.

Any word in French ending in 'rie' means 'where one makes of sells or creates the aforementioned noun' . So Fromagerie is a place that makes/sells fromage (cheese); boulangerie (a place that makes/sells bread); poissonerie (fishmonger)....

New wave contemporary tartines have evolved into, well, simply put, open faced sandwiches: you've got :
-the Italian (with tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, fresh tomatoes and basil and oregano);
-the Nordique (from the Scandanatian countries) of sour cream, smoked salmon, lemon and fresh dill;
-the compagnard (from deep in the French countryside) with duckmeat or ham, fried potatoes, sour cream, sautéed onions-- that's the light version...

That's just to name a few.

Well, we girls, watching our girly figures wanted do the tartines but with more panache and new twists. Add some great soups because nowadays in France you can't find homemade soup on restaurant menus (except for the famous bouillabaisse, fish soup); and some great modern salads. Meaning of course, we'd like a much raw veggies and greens as possible. And no, not a salad based on lots of carbs!

Basically, I wanted to add a twist of great American culinary innovations in the sandwich, soup and salad world, something that the French (the gods of culinary presense) and fill the niche for those looking for lighter, healthier and creatitve meals.

Well, we're still dreaming about it and feel that we need to explore some more if there really is a niche for this type of restaurant in our area. The investment is kind of important and it will take time to build up.

In this small town, there's a new gourmet coffees and food products shop going in and it has been said (yeah well, it's a small town and all small towns thrive on gossip, hearsay and all those other winds of words....) that this new shop was going to start doing tartines and salads for the ladies. We'll have to see what that's all about.

The new shop is to open in the next few weeks. She's got sitting area of course for the coffees and teas that you can sip right in the shop. We're not sure if she'll really do the lunchtime salads or not. We'll have to wait and see.

In any case, I'll be keeping vigilant watch on what's she's doing this new gourmet shop (a first in Coulonges) and sampling new fare that I'll share along with you. I'm thinking of trying this zucchini soup with goat cheese (yes, I'm on a goat cheese kick!).

To be Continued...

Creamy, Dreamy Carrot Soup

Creamy dreamy veggie soup is sooo easy and light. I have a carrot-a-holic in the family, Sydney (6 1/2 years old). As she says with her slightly French accent, "Mommy I loooove CAR- ROTS!". Very cute. Raw, grated, steamed, baked, sautéed, she'd eat the for breakfast if I served them!

We go out to eat and that's all she'll order, "I want car-rots, please!" (This is only valid for US restaurants, but she'll try in France and the waiters look at her like she's from another planet!)

Well, 'tis the season for "new" carrots, they're bright orange and smallish, but sweet and tender enough that you don't need to peel them. And that's just what I did (or, well, technically, didn't do).

Ok, so for creamy, carrot soup, sauté 1 large or 2 small onions in olive oil until translucent; add 4-6 cups chopped carrots; satué another few minutes stirring frequently. Cover with water (4-6 cups) until water covers carots; add 2-3 bouillon cubes (veggie or chicken), add a teaspoon of each: thyme and tarragon; cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

When carrots are soft, using hand blender or regular blender, blend soup to smooth. Optional: 2 tablespoons Half &Half; freshly chopped tarragon (2 tablespoons) for garnish.

Serve with warmed garlic bread, Texas toast. this makes a great meal for low energy nites where is cool and rainy and not enough sunshine during the day.

For a cmore complete meal add a Greens and Tomoato Salad with warmed (goat cheese) dressing and homemade banana bread with whipped cream for dessert.

(Ok, I'll add that dressing in another blog!)

nothing like leftovers

Back onto my potato kick. So, what do you do with leftover cooked potatoes, well, you eat them silly! ha, ha, ha!

I love to take them, cut them into large chucks (a nice mouthful, and yes I have a big mouth!); toss with olive oil, herbs, Dijon mustard, salt and some grated parmesan and broil..... hmmm. Heaven. Less fattening than French Fries but all the same pleasure.

(Approximate cooking time is around 20-30 minutes.)

Cooked potatoes have the advantage of broiling up quickly and soaking up less oil, though for best results, make sure that you stir the potatoes several times while cooking so that all sides get crusty and crunchy.

I like to serve this with a veggie or "just greens" salad for a rounded meal, but.... you must serve these babies with a bearnaise-like sauce: fresh tarragon and mayo!

Sometimes I like to toss them into my dinner salad, meaning making a simple meal of main-course salad with any leftovers I can find in the fridge that doesn't need chucking (yet).

For the Tarragon mayo: I use a ratio of 1 tablespoon freshly, finely chopped tarragon for 1/3 cup mayonnaise. For best results, use a French style mayonnaise. The French really know mayonnaise, creamier, smoother and of course that "must be much, much more fattening" flavor.

I'm doing potato crusties again and here's tonight's twist:

For 8 medium red skinned potatoes:

1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 tablspoons parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons bread crumbs
1 teaspoon fleur de sel sea salt
1 teaspoon thyme OR oregano
freshly ground pepper to taste

broiling for 25-30 minutes or until crusty and crunchy on all sides. Also serving creamy, homemade carrot soup. (details to come)

Potatoes galore

Right. With a title like that you might wonder if I'm Irish or crazy. Neither, I think. Or at least the last time I checked. I fixed potatoes last night for dinner. I know, you're wondering, is that IT? No, but I've learned that for better sleep and relaxed soirées, it's great to focus on a simple vegetable and make it the main course. It really saves a lot of headache when you're standing in front of the fridge, door wide open and that blank stare that's drilling a hole nine miles on the OTHER side of the fridge.

So back to potatoes.

Why do I love them? well... they are cheap... easy to fix... everyone likes them.

From our vegetarian English neighbors, we learned a quick trick for potatoes in their "jackets" as the Brits would have it.

Wash off potatoes, ones that have a thin skin. Prick several times with fork; place on microwavable plate, nuke for 7 minutes; turn and renuke for another 7 minutes. This works for small to medium potatoes, I recommend about 9 minutes for larger potatoes.

remove from microwave and cut an X from corner to corner (figuratively speaking of course!) push ends together slightly to make inside potato "flower". Top with fluer de sel sea salt and butter.... hmmm......

Optional toppings (kids and huband imput): chopped ham; sour cream; grated cheese of choice; extra butter.

always make more potatoes than you'll be eating in one meal because there are a multitude of ways to use them up. Already cooked and dinner's almost ready for tomorrow nite! Check out tomorrow's blog for what I did with my leftover potatoes. (A family Favorite!).

Want to be healthy? Add a green salad and/or one of my perosnal favorites: Anne's Greek-Style salad. (no red onions because the kids cry when they crunch into them!).

Don't want to be healthy? Add a bowl of chili with extra cheese!

Anne's Greek-Style Salad serves 4 adults
3 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 small cucumber, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup chopped olives, black or green
1 bunch of fresh spinach, chopped OR 2 cups lettuce of choice
(optional) 1 cup of alfalfa or other sprouts

Combine all ingredients in large salad bowl and toss well to evenly distribute the cheese. Prep dressing.

dressing: (you don't need lots of dressing because the tomatoes and cucumbers have lots of juice, so take advantage of a low-cal dressing!)

4 tablespoons olive oil, extra virgin
juice from one lemon
1 tablespoon fresh basil, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
sea salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste

Wisk together ingredients and pour over salad. Toss well.

Got any leftover? This salad will keep well in the fridge for two days. Wrap 3 tablespoons of this salad in a warmed tortilla for a quick lunch.

not cool

ok, I wrote a little blog yesterday and I can't see it on my blog even though it says it's been posted! why?! help blogger-friends...help

(moments later) ok, now I see it but why? It was like stuck in archives for April, doesn't make sense. I don't know enough computer-ese. (it's computer-un-ease for me)!

Hang in there with me

I know it's been a week since I've posted something new... not good for blogs! But this is new to me and I can tell you, that I'm constantly thinking about what I want to write on this blog.. I really do love to write and share my food experiences, so hang in there with me and I'll keep your taste buds salvitating. Now, if I could get this new digi camera to work and snap a shot of golden sunshine on one of my dinner menus... I could post some great pics. Boy, I'm out of the loop, but building... thanks for your comments and returns to the site!

Vegetable Rules

Perhaps you've noticed in my first two articles that I mention healthy eating. Please don't take me completely for a health nut! I'm not entirely, though "a nut" is a whole other debate! I love to eat and have had to watch my diet and waistline since ...(honestly I can't remember when) but let's just say, a really long time., like decades.

Been fat, not really. Of course I am not talking about the Freshman 20+ I put on in college. (I know it's supposed to be the Freshman 15 but there were too many great pizzas to be devoured and Taco Hell runs on the way home from the bars between midnight and 3 am!).

So to off-set depriving diet tactics (just drink 150 oz. Of diet Coke today and nothing else), I have learned that vegetables rule. All diets, even the strictest of them, let you eat filling quantities of vegetables (no I'm not talking about potatoes here). The higher the water content, the more "admissible" the veggie.

Take the lettuce leaf, that is one item that never has to be counted or weighed in diets. Does anyone even know the caloric value in a leaf of lettuce? (2 calories? 5?). Certainly fewer than the double chocolate latté from the coffee shop or an oreo cookie.

Raw celery sticks is another. Why I've heard many times that it takes more calories to chew, digest and eliminate the celery stick than its caloric value.

If that is so, why can't we dine on celery alone? Because we'd die of boredom! Skinny, but bored to tears.

I don't know about you, but I need variety. I need to feel like each meal should feel guilty even if it's "healthy". So I pack the most raw, high water-content vegetables into my day. These veggies fill you up without filling you out!

Now, please don't stop reading here and think, "forget this health nut!". Because I'm not. I love chocolate, especially large dark chunks while watching the evening movie on TV (great dieting tactic). I'm enjoying the Lindt "Douceur Cannelle" "cinnamon treat" in a milk chocolate version, a gift from my friend Alison this past weekend (as if the Easter Bunny would be on strike at our house with children ages 9 and 6!).

If I really listened to my cravings and body, I'd be stuffing nacho chips SMOTHERED in hot cheese down my throat several times a day; indulging in huge portions of fettuccini Alfredo (with lots of freshly grated Parmesan please!); and I think I could honestly scarf down two ENTIRE Big-Macs (hey, do I get $3.00 for mentioning Big Mac in my blog?!) , toss back a biggie Coke and fries before tucking into the caramel sundae with nuts. I should mention that pizza would be a daily staple in my diet (especially the deep dish million cheeses one from Pizza Hut). But if I did, I might be a bit... Well... heavy in the hips. So I turn to vegetables.

I love working with vegetables because they are so versatile. They can take on any flavor you want them to have. The can be camouflaged, hidden and secretly added, unbeknownst to even the biggest die-hard vegetable hater (children included). Eating more veggies means satiating that big appetite that many of us exercise.

So my mission in the kitchen it get the highest flavor and "guilty" feeling from a dish that I prepare without blowing the caloric intake in any given 24-hour period. (now I devote my time to other fun foods like dips and snacks, meats, fish, seafood, fruits and of course savory pies and tarts-- and desserts!)

To entice you with a recipe (the first on her blog!!) is a quickie creamy Cole slaw that takes little time to whip up. The mild curry gives it a slightly sweet twist.

I don't skimp on the mayo here because, hey, like I said, I not really a health nut!

Creamy Curried cole slaw

1/2 head of white cabbage ( I can't buy bags of shredded cabbage where I live)
1/2 cup boiling water
2/3 cup mayonnaise, any type
1 carrot, grated
1 tablespoon lemon juice, freshly squeezed
1 tablespoon safflower or vegetable oil
1 1/2 tablespoons mild curry powder
sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Finely chop or thinly slice cabbage; place in medium work bowl; bring water to boil and pour over shredded cabbage; toss with spoon til water is warm and finish breaking down cabbage by "kneading" it with hands for several minutes or until desired crunchiness. Drain off excess water. Stir in grated carrot, if using.

In small bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, lemon juice, oil, curry powder, salt and pepper; whisk until creamy. Pour over cabbage/carrot mix. Toss well, coating as evenly as possible. Cover with plastic wrap and chill until ready to serve, letting flavors blend for a minimum of 15 minutes.

Bright Shining Faces

Well, for starters, it feels great to get back into the kitchen and cooking! I drifted away from this grounding pasttime over the past 18 months. As my day job (it has yet to be a paying job) slowly dragged me to more time-demanding tasks, my meal plans received less and less attention.

I was buying more and more processed foods and prepackaged meals. My love for wholesome fresh foods like fruits and vegetables faded like the memory of a first love... bittersweet. And those warm, cosy personnally planned and lovingly put together meals that brought my family together in evenings turned into malnurturing events. There was less enthusiam coming from each of us as we sat down to "wolf down" a processed meal.

Oh those meals were very tasty, and filling (and fill-outing!) but they were totally deprived of caring. Empty calories I say. And over time, it took a toll on our health (more aches and pains and digestive problems), our bodies (you guessed it, pounds that snuck up on us and refused to leave our thighs and guts) and our attitudes (pickier and pickier palates and cravings that were never really satified). In short, a downward spiral all around!

But these past few weeks of returning to cooking just about EVERYTHING has changed so much in our household, including our appetites and our attitudes. We're eating healthier (and loving it!). The brightness is coming back in our eyes and we crave each other's attention and presence. We're getting better sleep and there is a calm and peacefulness that has settled back in to our humble home.

My husband and children are happy, content and fully satisfied. I love the time I spend in the kitchen connecting to my deepest inner cravings for complete and generous meals. They smell it when the come home, they see it on their plates and the feel it in their hearts. I'm spreading my love of food and family togetherness with them once again. Boy, does it feel great to provide for my family!

Welcome Back!

Hi! Or should I say, "Bonjour"... For those of you "discovering" me for the first time, my name is Anne Dessens. For my readers, "I'MMMMMMMMMMM BACK!!" After an 18 month hiatus, I'm back to share my culinary tales and tidbits.

Let me take this introduction a bit further, the short but sweet version. I'm an American living in France, married to a Frenchman (and must mention our two energy-packed children) and food aficionado. No, I mean, I LOVE food. Let me reiterate that: I LOVE FOOD AND EATING! I spend many hours of my waking time, thinking about food, planning menus, mixing things up in the kitchen. I love to eat, I love to cook. I love to read about eating and cooking. I love to write about what I cook (the good, the bad, and the embarrassing-- I am not a proud cook).

For several years, I wrote weekly articles for the West Virginia's Charleston Gazette. Food articles with (at that time) precursory color digital art. Nowadays, everyone has a digital camera and food photography is very AVAILABLE. It's great! I love seeing other people's food or works of art. If a picture is worth a thousand words, I would say that today's color digital food art is worth a 1000 calories!

While my professional life has taken me away from my writing (you'll learn more about that as we build and bond together), this blog is about bringing it all back home again, coming back to what I love most: sharing wonderfully whipped up dishes bursting with life and that will fill your home with love. Because that is what food is about... telling people that you love them.

It is most fitting at this time to say a special thank you to the special person in my life that made this blog and new venue of culinary expression possible for me at a time in my life where I needed to reconnect to this nourishing personal pastime. Alison, Thank you, un grand merci. (I invite you to check out Alison's blog as she has been a friend and shoulder to lean on throughout the past decade --déjà! and another aspect of my eclectic personality.)

I would like to say bienvenu to AnneCuisine! To all my former and to all my new readers... Je vous aime...Anne