Sichuan-style sesame noodles are very popular in Paris, but they’re not exactly French. So why am I featuring them in today’s post? Because sesame noodles are among the dishes mentioned in my forthcoming novel, The Rites of Man. It’s not a foodie novel but the characters do a lot of good eating — and I’m cooking up a special offer for readers of The Everyday French Chef. It’s a recipe booklet for any readers of this site who also read my book!
Nouilles sésame a la sichuanaise / Sesame noodles, Sichuan style
The Rites of Man is being published on Dec. 3 by Ten 16 Press, a small independent publisher in the States. It’s a story of seduction and betrayal, both romantic and literary. I’ll tell you more in a moment. But first, the noodles.
Sichuan-style sesame noodles deliver a burst of pungent flavor and are a breeze to prepare, providing you’ve got the right ingredients on hand. These include sesame oil, black vinegar, chili oil (aka chili crisp), Sichuan peppercorn and the noodles — Asian wheat, rice or egg noodles (spaghetti can also be used). Garlic, scallions and peanuts utz the flavor up a notch, and you can make the noodles as spicy as you like.
This dish is generally served at room temperature, either on its own or as a side for other Asian dishes. At my favorite Sichuan joint in Paris, Deux Fois Plus de Piment, sesame noodles are served as a starter for dishes like spicy chicken with peanuts or a fantastic spicy beef soup. At home, you can serve the noodles on a bed of shredded cucumber, which makes for a light but satisfying lunch. A glass of chilled rosé would go nicely.
And now, the novel. The Rites of Man tells the story of Sherry McManus and Thomas G. Paine, who meet at a Fourth of July party on Long Island and commence a relationship that turns into something much more than either of them could have imagined. This is back in 1996. Sherry, 44, is a New York photographer of musicians in concert who’s been around the block in love. Tom, 43, is a formerly best-selling author who’s been in a dry spell for seven years. Shortly after they meet, Tom starts writing again.
In the course of the novel, Sherry, Tom and the other characters eat out at places from Montauk to Manhattan, from Washington, D.C., to the Florida coast to, yes, Paris. And they also do some home cooking. For example, Tom’s estranged wife, Jessica, a columnist for The Village Voice, is very much a foodie, serving boeuf bourguignon to guests while working on a special edition and making steamer clams à la française while out at Tom’s place on the island.
The booklet will contain 20 recipes from moments like these, as well as background notes on the writing of The Rites of Man and why I chose to include these particular dishes and settings.
I hear from early readers that my novel is a page-turner. It is already available for pre-order in the States — click here to see where — and will be available worldwide as of Dec. 3. If you’d like to receive the booklet, simply send me a photo of yourself holding the The Rites of Man. I’ll email the booklet over to you at once!
Happy cooking.
Just in time for Thanksgiving in the United States, here’s a chestnut stuffing recipe with a French twist. Herbes de Provence and, especially, fresh sage impart an unbeatable flavor that will have your guests clamoring for more. The stuffing may be prepared in less than an hour and — here’s the beauty of it — can be made ahead of time and frozen until the big day. Then all you have to do is set the table and stuff the turkey.
The Arte team took an early morning train down to Vonnas, the site of Georges Blanc’s best-known restaurants. My job was to bring the cranberry sauce — and then to pose for the recreation of the Rockwell scene. (That’s me with Georges Blanc at right). His take on Thanksgiving featured roasted figs, the pumpkin gratin and the smallest turkey I’d ever seen. I wrote about this experience at the time, so if you like you can read more 
French fish soup is a deeply flavorful dish that is traditionally served with rounds of toast, grated cheese and rouille, a garlic mayonnaise flavored with saffron and cayenne. Unlike other fish soups, this one comes to the table totally smooth, without any pieces of fish. In the classic version, fresh fish are cooked, bones and all, with veggies and herbs, and the soup is passed through a sieve. One can simplify by using fish fillets, fresh or frozen.
The color of French fish soup can vary from salmon pink to rusty red, most likely a result of the type and amount of tomatoes used. Mine came out pink, probably because it’s autumn and fresh tomatoes are less red and ripe than in mid-summer. The soup may also be made with tinned tomatoes.
This sophisticated French take on the burger is made of ground veal flavored with grated Comté cheese, garlic and herbs, then lightly breaded and fried. Serve it on a bun, and it becomes child friendly. But it also makes a surprisingly elegant main dish that marries well with anything from pasta to veggies to salad. And despite its name, which makes it sound like an Italian dish from Milan, this dish is totally French — and rather unusual.
It’s the tail end of summer, so let’s make pickles! Not the tiny, vinegary French kind, but home-style dill pickles with an East European flavor. I am dedicating this post to my Ukrainian friend Valya, who returned to Kyiv this week after three-and-a-half years as a war refugee in Paris. It’s as dangerous there as ever, but for her it was just time to go home. I made these pickles for her as part of the picnic I gave her for her two-day bus journey back.
Four hours later you can already try your pickles! They’ll be crunchy, with plenty of flavor. If you’d rather save them for later, you can transfer them to a clean jar and refrigerate for up to a week — no sterilization needed. It’s also possible to preserve the pickles by canning, but this is a far more complicated procedure. Many sites online explain how to do it, if you’re interested.
An artist, she went out every day to draw and paint Paris. Here is one of her works. It shows Marianne, the symbol of the French republic, draped in a Ukrainian flag. Valya made the sketch at the Place de la République shortly after a pro-Ukraine demonstration when people still thought the war would be brief. She gave it to me for my birthday three years ago. And the war goes on…
It’s blackberry season and, when down in Provence last week, I couldn’t resist the temptation to make a blackberry-nectarine crumble. The two fruits married beautifully. Blackberries on their own would have been difficult because Provence got hammered by extreme heat and dry weather this summer. The blackberries on the bushes lining the road near my friends’ place were less plump and juicy than usual, and fewer and farther between.
So now let’s leave this thorny subject (pun intended, sorry) and return to our two-fruit crumble. To tell you the truth, I cheated a little by adding some store-bought blackberries, which are far larger than the fruit one finds growing wild and therefore suspect, in my view. However, in this case it made for a juicier crumble. You can improvise, too — with peaches instead of nectarines, or blueberries instead of the mûres, or whatever strikes your fancy.
Move over, potato pancakes. This lighter, summery version with zucchini is perfect in hot weather. The pancakes combine grated zucchini and potato with egg and plenty of herbs — mint is my favorite. Fried in olive oil until crispy and golden, they may be served on their own or with a tangy yogurt-garlic sauce. You can make them in half an hour for a couple of people. Or, if serving for a crowd, make a lot — you’ll find them going like pancakes…
Grilled chicken with rosemary and thyme is one of the delights of the summer season, particularly if you have access to a barbecue — but even if you don’t, as I experienced once again last weekend while staying at a friend’s place in Normandy. We marinated the chicken in olive oil, lemon juice, minced garlic and the herbs, fresh from her garden. We had planned a barbecue, but alas the heavens opened. So we grilled it in the oven. Ab fab…
The green olive spread from Provence known as tapenade verte is delightful at cocktail hour on warm summer evenings. Like its cousin, 
If you prefer white, choose a crisp, fruity variety. Or you may like to serve pastis, the oh-so-Provençal anise-flavored apéritif. Pastis, of which there are many varieties (Ricard, Casanis, Pernod, etc.), comes out of the bottle deep yellow but turns a cloudy pale yellow when water is added. Pour about an inch (2.5 cm) of it into a glass, add ice and top up with water. This goes brilliantly with tapenade — green, black or both.
Forget everything you’ve ever heard about jam-making taking all day. It doesn’t! A few jars of apricot jam, for example, can be made in less than an hour, setting you up with a burst of summery flavor all year long. The key words being ‘a few jars’. If you make your jam in small batches, you can fill your cupboards as the seasons unspool. So far this year, I’ve made strawberry and apricot. I’ll go on to 
For one kilo of fruit, you will get 3-4 jars of jam. That may not sound like much, but if you do it several times a summer with different types of fruit, you’ll end up with enough to last the winter. I missed the red and black currant season this year, but plums and figs are yet to come, and with any luck I might find some blackberries in the autumn.
