French Butcher Shops: a still life.
Entrecôte, bavette, onglet, rosbif. Gigot, collier, côtelette. Rôti, escalope, jarret. These are the French cuts of beef, lamb and pork whispered from the corners of this boucherie, now quiet, now hungry. For every wonderful artisan butcher that I know and from which I buy good quality meat here in Gascony, there remains a ghost of the past- a Grand-père Claude, or Ton-ton Janneau who wore the traditional one-shouldered apron, who scraped the wide butcher’s block clean every... Read More
Souvenirs- The Brocante Stories
#1- What were you doing on the first of August in Le Havre? Colette had caught le bac* to England. We had missed the last Tuesday sailing by an hour, so had to stay in the no-star Hotel du Port with Patrice, grumbling into his petit blanc*. Alone with all of France below us, we drove the 2CV the long way home- around Champagne, dropping through Burgundy, stopping in Arles. Those summer road trips; those old hotel rooms with bathtubs and bidets. Bistros and bouchons* fed us while... Read More
Poulet truffé au persil or a ‘Roast Chicken truffled w/ Fresh Herbs & Bacon’
In my Sunday morning post where I describe making this dish from Michel Guérard’s newest book (with French TV presenter Julia Andrieu), I made a one-person meal with a ¼ of a chicken. This recipe adapted from the book “Comment briller aux fourneaux sans savoir faire cuire un oeuf” is for a whole roast chicken to serve 4-6 people. The size of the chicken will affect the final cooking time; my quarter bird was done perfectly in 60 minutes, a whole bird might take... Read More
Three things to do on a Sunday morning. Hint? Cook.
Three things to do on a Sunday Morning: 1. Pickle Basque Peppers 2.Cook a new Chicken recipe 3. Make Tomato Magic Not necessarily in that order. That basket of overripe tomatoes has been shouting at me all weekend; I know there are baskets yet to pick in the potager. All week, I have been waffling about sauce or salsa as if I wouldn’t have enough tomatoglut for both. It’s not really the amount of redorangeheartroundlongcherry delicious beasts; it’s the time, isn’t it? So... Read More
Pear Harvest at Camont: chutney, pies, preserves & patience
I have been keeping a hawk’s eye on this pear tree, a mother hawk’s eye. I pruned it last winter with the idea of keeping the branches long and low to train along the enclos, the fruiting hedge that surrounds the orchard/barnyard. Balanced by a Ronde de Bordeaux cabernet-colored fig pruned hard into a shrub, this Poire Citron flanks a pair of old Eglantine climbing roses and a lanky Reine-Claude plum that form a fragrant arch that I pass through each day to collect eggs. I... Read More
