Paris Resto and Culinary

My May market basket (in Paris)

I never go to the market with a list, I seek to be inspired - though I advise you do if you have a tendency to buy more than you need. If such is the case, write down the menus for the week, check the ingredients needed, and enjoy your market stroll. Here is yesterday's market basket!

I bought three whole salads, a red lettuce, a lettuce, and a tender "oak leave" salad. They ar so fresh that I can keep them until I go back to the market next Friday. We have a bowl of green salad at least once a day. I do a vinaigrette and toss the salad before serving it.

Of course, May is the month of asparragus - the ONLY one. I bought 3 lb of large ones. White asparagus are extremely delicate. I simply cut about 1 inch of the stem, peel them, boil them until soft, and serve them with a light mousseline sauce. You can have them cold or warm - but not hot. Asparagus are a starter, today I served poached free range chicken breasts as our main course.

I bought a bunch of fresh onions, I will use the onions to sautee with beans or with fresh fennel, I can also make a fresh salad. I use the greens, sliced, to make a tart with feta cheese, I'll make it Sunday night.

I bought 1 lb of tomatoes, the first ones of the season! They looked ripe and of a tempting red. Salad? Yes: sliced onions, tomatoes, and cucumber: It's starting to feel like summer. A fresh salad and an only goat cheese platter, that's what you'll find at my dinner table tonight.

I bought 2 lb of fresh spinach. I washed them, removed the stem, cooked them with a bit of water, drained them very well, and kept them in the fridge for the following day. We had them Saturday with a slice of cooked ham and a fried egg (organic). A French classic.

I bought a bunch of radishes .. you know if you read the my previous post I will serve them as hors d'oeuvre with butter and salt Sunday night. I made the potage with the leaves. It was delicious! I do not understand why I've been throwing away the leaves all this time!

I bought fennel and I prepared it with the spring onions, half red bell pepper cut in stripes, and a couple of tomatoes. I seasoned the fennel with Madras curry powder - for a change. I am going to have the fennel with steamed fish tomorrow for lunch.

What else? Well, I bought some potatoes, two medium onions, garlic, 6 free range eggs, 4 thin slices of cooked ham (for the spinach), carrots (just to have some in the fridge), 4 apples (last of the season), a baguette on the way home, and my two baskets were pretty heavy indeed.

Wordless Wednesday

So longed-for, so sighed-over

Hi, guys.Thanks for keeping the place so warm and tidy while I was gone. It’s good to come home to you.Three weeks, gone in a blur. It’s hard to know where to start.I remember saying to people sometimes, during the year or so that I lived in Paris, that the city felt like my second home. In retrospect, it seems funny that I should say that, since I hardly even know where my first home is. I

Photos du Jour - Wine Tasting

I spent two mornings last week doing blind tastings to help choose wines for le Chai in Homps. It was really interesting! Especially trying to describe the flavors and my general impression of each wine in French. I should have done some studying beforehand.

At each tasting there were about 10 of us, split into pairs, tasting 12 to 13 wines each. The wines were grouped by price and type - vin de pays, AOC Minervois or AOC Minervois la Livinière.
One morning I tasted 12 Minervois white wines and the next morning I tasted 13 AOC Minervois reds priced between €5-7.

I learned a lot.
Like teeth brushing just before wine tasting is counterproductive. Good thing there was some French bread to help clean my palate!

A bit of French wine tasting terminology:
expressif
boisé
fruité
très vanillé
notes de miel
bien équilibré
léger mais très agréable
encore bien jeune mais déjà agréable
arômes de fruits
exubérant
élégant
harmonieuse
complexe
souple
rond
fermé

HEAT!

A store called Grand Frais opened recently in Narbonne, a 35 minute drive from our village. They carry 3 or 4 kinds of chili peppers, as well as an amazing selection of "exotic" fruit and vegetables. This place is fantastic!
I know it seems strange to get so excited about this but when you've been living in rural France for the last 3 years after having lived in San Francisco and Seattle and New Orleans, getting hold of these "exotic" fruits and vegetables is like finding the holy grail. It has allowed me to crack open my dusty copy of Rick Bayless' Mexican Kitchen cookbook and to start making some of the Asian recipes from Mark Bittmann's The Best Recipes in the World, a new acquisition.

They even have okra! I haven't seen okra in 3 years. We hosted a curry night last Wednesday with 6 friends and I made Bhindi Masala in honor of this exciting purchase. I'll be making gumbo soon, if the filé powder I've been keeping isn't completely stale.

Thank you Grand Frais!

I've only recently discovered the thoroughly wonderful blog, Matt Bites. This week his post on artichokes answered a question I posed about Fiesole artichokes almost a year ago to the day.

Do you only have one bottle of soy sauce in your pantry? Well shame on you! Me too. But I've learned what I need to know about soy sauce from the latest primer over at Tigers & Strawberries and so can you.

You've heard of dessert for breakfast, crepes, fruit salad and the like, but how about breakfast for dessert? Check out a la cuisine who documents Smoked Bacon and Egg Ice Cream, Pain Perdu and Tea Jelly.

FOOD