Salade de pissenlits aux lardons

Posted on March 13, 2015 by Meg

dandelion bacon salad1What to do with those pesky dandelions that pop up at this time of year? The French solution: make a salad. The slightly bitter leaves marry perfectly with bacon, which is how I first discovered this salad, at a Parisian brasserie many years ago. It is sometimes served with croutons or eggs, or both. These days dandelion salad is seen less often at restaurants, so I make it myself. Crisp, fresh and incredibly nutritious, it’s a fine way to bounce into spring.

Salade de pissenlits aux lardons / Dandelion salad with bacon

My most memorable experience making dandelion salad was in Moscow, where spring comes a couple months later than in France. I was at the dacha of an acquaintance with my friend Lindy Sinclair, who in those days wrote a cooking column for The Moscow Times. When we spotted a lawn bursting with fresh dandelions, we gathered them into a basket, fried some bacon and made the salad. She later included dandelion salad in her cookbook The Wistful Gourmet (which is now available for viewing online). Lindy, who now divides her time between London and the Ardèche region of south-central France, blogs regularly about her superb garden at fruitfulresearch.com.

I’ve often wondered why dandelion, which derives from the medieval French dents-de-lion (‘lion’s teeth’, because of the jagged edges), has turned into the far less elegant pissenlit (‘piss in bed’) in current French. Apparently it has to do with the diuretic qualities of the leaves, although I have never experienced this effect myself. The French, with their long rural history, have many colorful expressions linked to plants, and the dandelion is no exception. My favorite: manger des pissenlits par la racine — ‘eating dandelions from the roots up’, meaning the situation you’ll find yourself in once you’re dead.

Which I hope will not be anytime soon for any of us. Happy cooking.

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Poulet à la citronnelle façon Thaï

Posted on March 6, 2015 by Meg

chicken lemongrass2And now for something completely different… With the proliferation of Asian restaurants and groceries in Paris, as in many other cities, Thai cooking is currently within reach of anyone who wants to try it. And thanks to my sister-in-law, who sent me a fabulous Thai cookbook for my birthday last fall, I have been trying it quite a bit. So here, for the first time on The Everyday French Chef, is a Thai-style recipe with a French touch.

Poulet à la citronnelle façon Thaï / Chicken with lemongrass, Thai style

The trick to making this dish is to simplify by cutting out hard-to-find ingredients. But don’t tell anyone — they won’t guess, because the flavor is supremely Thai. The one essential ingredient is the lemongrass. Here in Paris it is available at some outdoor markets and at Asian grocery shops. After experimenting, I found that it’s entirely possible to leave out more exotic ingredients, like galangal, kaffir lime leaves or coriander root, and substitute simpler ingredients, for example lime juice and fresh cilantro.

The cookbook I received for my birthday has been a perfect guide. It is New Thai Food by Martin Boetz, who runs a Thai restaurant in Sydney. For anyone who’s really serious about Thai cooking, I highly recommend it. His book does not contain this recipe, although it certainly inspired me to try my hand at Thai cooking — and to innovate. Chicken with lemongrass has now become a staple in our home, and wins applause when I serve it for guests. So if you enjoy Thai flavors but prefer to cook in an everyday style, do give it a try.

Meantime, I learned this week that Saveur magazine has opened nominations for its annual Blog Awards. If you enjoy The Everyday French Chef,  I would be thrilled to be nominated by you in any one (or more) of the various categories, which include Best Writing, Best-Designed Blog and Most Delicious Food, among many others. Click here to go to the awards page. Nominations close on March 13.

Happy cooking!

Posted in 6. Poultry | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Cake apéritif aux olives, lardons et pistaches

Posted on February 27, 2015 by Meg

cake olives1Guests are coming and you’d like to do something really special for a festive cocktail hour? This rich and savory apéritif cake, studded with olives, bacon and pistachios, will knock their socks off. I discovered it a couple of weeks ago when invited to dinner by my friend Valérie, a transcendent cook whose recipes have appeared on this site before. She served it with a dry white as guests gathered beside the fire in her casual/arty Paris apartment.

Cake apéritif aux olives, lardons et pistaches / Savory cake with olives, bacon and pistachios

Since readers have been asking me lately to describe the order of dishes in a typical French meal, I thought I might share with you the dinner that Valérie prepared. (Of course, her dinners are anything but typical. But the dishes came along in the usual order).

We began around the fire with the savory cake, wonderful tarama she had picked up at a neighborhood bistro, Le Taxi Jaune, and thinly sliced saucisson sec, the dried French sausage that looks like hard salami but tastes completely different. When we repaired to the table, Valérie served as a first course une crème de choufleur — not a soup but a satiny purée of cauliflower, blended smooth (she later confessed) by the addition of cold butter.

The main course was a seven-hour leg of lamb, meaning that it had been roasted at low temperature for … seven hours, resulting in ever-so-tender slices, served with sliced carrots that had been in the roasting pan, slow-cooked turnips and leeks, and potatoes baked in their jackets. Too much of a good thing?

No, because we went on to a salad of tender leaves and a spectacular cheese platter, with pungent Saint Nectaire from central France, a goat cheese, a fruity Comté and — imported from England — Stilton. And yet there was more to come…

At this point, I must admit, I was feeling like I couldn’t take another bite. But out came the dessert — a vanilla cream with truffles, served in deep small cups — and as the oohs and aahs erupted around the table, I dipped in my spoon. Pure bliss.

Valérie’s husband, Philippe, has the accent of southwest France and is well-versed in the products of that sunny region. He served a variety of regional reds with the various courses. When we’d had the last drop, we returned to the fireside for more conversation and a welcome pause. But then they brought out the chocolates…

The damage? Two kilos, according to my bathroom scale the next morning. But it was worth it. A couple days of cabbage soup, and the kilos had melted away.

Happy cooking!

Posted in 1. Starters | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Soupe au céleri-rave

Posted on February 20, 2015 by Meg

celeriac soup3As Paris suffers through this winter’s fifty shades of grey (and wet, and cold), I find myself seeking comfort in small things. A warm smile, a good book, a purring puss on my lap, and — why not? — a bowl of soup to chase the blues away. This soup of puréed céleri-rave — aka celeriac or celery root — is one of my winter favorites. Its rich, earthy flavor makes it a satisfyingly full-bodied way to give yourself a boost at lunchtime.

Soupe au céleri-rave / Celeriac soup

Why celeriac is so rarely found on menus outside of France is a mystery. It’s packed with vitamins and minerals, has an amazingly long shelf-life and has been cultivated around the Mediterranean since Egyptian times. It’s a versatile vegetable that can be grated into salads, served as a thick purée, roasted as a creative side dish or braised. So, come on, world — this vegetable deserves to be (re)discovered!

Other forgotten veggies that the French continue to serve, or are reviving, include salsifis (salsify), topinambours (Jerusalem artichokes) and crosnes (Chinese artichokes). This week I’ve had a lot of visitors from out of town and have been going out a lot. The other evening, at a neighborhood bistro, I was served turbot on a bed of salsify that was ever so delicious. Yet even here salsify is rarely served, and I have never seen it outside of France.

The only explanation I can find for why these veggies have fallen from fashion is the difficulty of their preparation. They need to be peeled, and as they are bulbous and irregular this can be a time-consuming process. But don’t let that discourage you. Once they are peeled, they are very easy to handle. And the results are well worth the effort.

Happy cooking!

Posted in 2. Soups | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Salade d’épinards aux oeufs et oignons rouges

Posted on February 13, 2015 by Meg

spinach egg6Egg salad with onions and mayonnaise — des oeufs à l’oignon — is a dish often served among the French Jewish community. This is most likely due to the Polish or Russian origins of many French Ashkenazi Jews. I first encountered the dish at the home of my boyfriend many years ago, and found it a delicious variation on the egg salad with celery and mayo I had known growing up in the States. But times have changed and many people prefer their egg salad lighter these days. In this version, the eggs are chopped, placed on a bed of tender spinach leaves, and seasoned with red onion rings, lemon and olive oil.

Salade d’épinards aux oeufs et oignons rouges / Spinach salad with egg and red onions

The charm of this salad lies in its simplicity. It can be prepared at a moment’s notice, in any season. It makes a lovely lunch dish, served with toast or Russian-style black bread, and can be enhanced by any number of side dishes — soup, thin-sliced country ham, a cheese plate, or another salad. For a festive touch, sprinkle some red caviar over the top. Or place some fresh herbs on the side for a burst of extra flavor.

As an everyday chef, I have nothing against packaged baby spinach leaves, or other greens, which are pre-cleaned and sorted and thus far easier to use. If instead you buy your spinach at the market, wash it at least twice to remove all the sand. And by the way, if you prefer you can use a different sort of tender leaves: arugula, baby chard, curly endive, Belgian endive or lamb’s lettuce are some of the possibilities.

There is finally a scent of spring in the air here in Paris, and new vegetables and fruits are poking up here and there at the markets. Last weekend I bought my first fresh peas of the season (imported from Morocco), and walked past stands of brilliant red strawberries, withstanding temptation only due to the high price. The flower sellers are offering small pots of narcissus, hyacinth and amaryllis, which you can take home to provide an early touch of springtime. It’s cheery after the long, gray winter. Here’s wishing you all a beautiful early start to spring on Valentine’s Day, with hearts, flowers and sweetness.

Happy cooking!

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Gâteau de fête au chocolat

Posted on February 6, 2015 by Meg

chocolate cake6Valentine’s Day is coming, and what better way to express your love than a magnificent chocolate cake decorated with hearts or flowers? This is not an everyday recipe — it does take time. But it’s fun. The cake, a chocolate genoise, can be assembled in many forms. You will be both architect and artist as you build a structure, coat it with glossy buttercream icing, and decorate it at your whimsy to make a one-of-a-kind creation.

Gâteau de fête au chocolat / Decorated chocolate cake

I first began making this cake when working as a chef at the Café Dewitt in Ithaca, New York. Over the years, I’ve created birthday cakes, wedding cakes, a cake in the shape of a house for a friend’s moving-in party, a cake in the shape of a heart one Valentine’s Day (for the house, use a rectangular pan; for the heart, use one square pan and one round pan of the same diameter, cutting the round in two and placing the half-circles on two continguous sides of the square). I think my masterpiece was a wedding cake with nude bride and groom sculpted out of tinted almond paste, lying in a jungle setting…

The cake pictured above was made recently for the 45th wedding anniversary of some friends here in Paris. It’s amusing to watch as the guests attack the cake — sometimes layer by layer, but sometimes they go straight on through to get multilayer slices. The cake is sprinkled with cognac inside, and the layers spread with both jam and icing. If kids are involved, you can skip the cognac. For birthdays, try to find long, thin candles, which make a spectacular impression placed close together around the top of the cake.

chocolate cake4One unusual way to decorate such a cake is with fresh flowers. I’m a fan of roses, but have used many other varieties according to the season. For greenery, you can add some fresh herbs — sage, for example — or snipped pine branches at Christmas time. The one thing I can guarantee is that you will enjoy yourself as much as the contented recipients of your creativity. Happy cooking!

On a different subject, I shop every Sunday at a street market near my home that is one of the best in Paris. For a colorful description, see this recent blog post by my friend Adrian Leeds, a regular chronicler of things Parisian, whose recent trip to the market in search of artichokes makes a fun read.

Posted in Desserts | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Légumes d’hiver rôtis

Posted on January 30, 2015 by Meg

roasted winter veggies3The succulent aroma of roasting root vegetables is so enticing that it may have you wanting to take them out of the oven too soon. But the key to this recipe is a long roasting process that leaves the veggies both caramelized and meltingly tender. A fine antidote to the bleak end-of-January weather here in Paris in which the sky seems to weep with longing for spring.

Légumes d’hiver rôtis / Roasted winter vegetables

This is a versatile dish that can combine whatever vegetables you may have on hand at the moment. In the version pictured above, carrots, parsnips, red onion and potato make a succulent mix. Another combination might be celeriac, finocchio, garlic and pumpkin. Preparation is ultrasimple — pare the veggies, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with rosemary or thyme, grind on some black pepper, and prepare for pleasure.

Root vegetables are among the oldest foods consumed by humanity. Tens of thousands of years ago, our forebears in Africa used digging sticks to get them out of the ground. Full of healthy vitamins and minerals, and packed with slow-burning energy power, they have been bred over the centuries to take on the shapes and colors we recognize now. But what goes around comes around. Wild carrots, for example, came in tones of white and purple before being bred to become the familiar orange of today. But now, at my local farmers’ market, new varieties in purple and yellow are being sold — for higher prices than orange — as the trend in ‘heritage’ vegetables gathers steam.

When not in the kitchen, I’m working on a project about the deep past of humanity — a time when there were no ovens and cooking was done over an open fire. It’s lovely to imagine our early ancestors foraging for early versions of the vegetables in this dish and roasting them however they could to come up with a similar creation — guaranteed to take the chill off a winter’s day and elicit murmurs of satisfaction when served. Happy cooking!

Posted in 8. Vegetables | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Brandade de morue

Posted on January 23, 2015 by Meg

brandade2How to reconcile brandade de morue, one of my favorite winter dishes, with the modern era? A sublimely satisfying purée of salt cod, garlic, olive oil, and milk or cream, with or without potatoes, it has traditionally involved 24-36 hours of desalinating the fish and the use of a mortar and pestle to achieve the final blending. Not ideal for an everyday French chef who may be pressed for time. But now, with the wide availability of fresh cod and the use of an electric blender, making a fine brandade can be both easy and quick.

Brandade de morue / Pureed salt cod and potatoes

But will it still be a classic brandade? In fact, there is no such thing. As Andrée Maureau, author of Recettes de Provence, puts it, ‘Each home has its secrets.’ In the south of France, where salt cod has been a staple for centuries, truffles are often added to brandade. Sometimes garlic is used, sometimes not. Potatoes are controversial. But here in Paris, truffles are rarely seen in brandade and potatoes are almost universally included. In my recipe, I use milk instead of cream to cut down on the richness of this hearty dish.

Brandade may be served either as a starter or a main dish, accompanied by a salad and a crisp white or rosé. It may be prepared in advance and reheated just before serving. Triangles of toasted white or country bread, sometimes rubbed with garlic, are often tucked into the sides of each shallow bowl of brandade. In France, frozen desalinated salt cod is now available — this lends an authenticity of flavor to the dish, while cutting down hugely on the work involved. But I have also made brandade successfully many times using fresh cod, with the addition of sea salt to approach the traditional flavor.

On a separate front, a reader wrote in a few days ago to ask about the order of dishes in a classic French meal. Briefly, the traditional order is: starter, main course, salad, cheese, fruit and/or dessert. I will be posting about this at greater length in the near future. In the meantime, the Menus section above provides many suggestions for seasonal meals, including the order of dishes to be served. Happy cooking!

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Rôti de boeuf

Posted on January 16, 2015 by Meg

rosbif1The French roast their beef astoundingly quickly. The first time I bought a roast in Paris — where it’s customary to ask the butcher about the cooking time — I nearly fell over when he said to preheat the oven to a high temperature and roast the beef for 10 minutes. And yes, roast beef is consumed very rare in France. But that sounded ridiculous! Over time, however, I have come to appreciate the French method of cooking what is called le rosbif.

Rôti de boeuf / Roast beef, French style

The dish that results from this almost Tandoori style of roasting is crisp on the outside and succulent on the inside. It’s true that I extend the cooking time by about 5 minutes per pound in order to achieve a roast that is rare to medium rare, and not bleu (extremely rare), the way many French diners prefer it. Accompanied by a potato gratin and a green salad, it makes a meal fit for the royals who were overthrown in the French revolution. Or you can serve it cold with homemade mayonnaise for a delightful lunch or supper.

For the last week, in a welcome distraction from the wave of terrorism here in Paris, I have been attending a seminar on paleo food — and by this I mean not the current trendy variety but the kind of food that was eaten by our ancestors in the Upper Paleolithic, or late stone age. And, as it turns out, roast beef or a variety thereof is perhaps one of the oldest dishes that our species, homo sapiens sapiens, has enjoyed. They hunted the aurochs, an ancestor of the cow, with increasingly sophisticated stone tools, and roasted the meat on a spit over a fire, or so I was told. As the class was in French, we were learning about the earliest modern humans who inhabited this part of the world — making it safe to say that le rosbif is truly a French classic. Its name, of course, is a tip of the hat to their neighbors across the Channel, the English, also known here informally as les rosbifs…

With regard to last week’s post, I’d like to thank all of you who wrote in to express your concern and support regarding the events in Paris. I took part in the march of more than a million people here on Sunday, a moment of amazing solidarity. Things have calmed down in recent days, although this morning there was a bomb alert at the Gare de l’Est, the railway station from which trains leave for eastern France and much of eastern Europe. This atmosphere has put everyone on edge. But I find that going into the kitchen to do something creative is a great antidote.

Happy cooking.

Posted in 7. Meat Dishes | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Crevettes mayonnaise

Posted on January 9, 2015 by Meg

shrimp5I first enjoyed a significant French seafood platter in a small seaside town in Normandy during a romantic weekend. The three-tiered tray came to our table brimming with oysters, clams, sea snails, shrimp and a crab set on ice, accompanied by lemons and homemade mayonnaise. It took quite a while to make our way through all of that, and I have to say it was, well, erotic. Concocting such a tray at home might be difficult, but one element — shrimp with homemade mayonnaise — can be fun for the everyday chef.

Crevettes mayonnaise / Shrimp with homemade mayonnaise

If you’ve never made mayonnaise before, let me assure you that it’s far easier than you may think. Before beginning, you might want to check out this video. It was produced by Tom Feierabend, a fellow American in Paris, who like me lives just around the corner from the site of the deadly attack this week on Charlie Hebdo. (And yes, the rest of this post will be about politics, so if you are not interested in that subject please don’t read on.)

It’s too much of a challenge to write about food at a time like this, when all of France is convulsed by the violence of recent days. This morning there have been new developments as the police home in on the gunmen who massacred some of France’s most beloved cartoonists on Wednesday, shouting Allah Akbar. The gunmen have taken one person hostage and are believed to be holed up in a print shop in a rural area northeast of Paris, according to French press reports.

On a personal note, my daughter and I live two minutes by foot from Charlie Hebdo offices that were attacked on Wednesday, and the metro she takes to high school is a stone’s throw from where the violence took place. I am traumatized, of course, like the rest of this nation, but at the same time feeling proud to be among a population that has shown such resilience in the face of national tragedy. I’ve been writing at greater length about the recent events on Facebook. Here’s a link to my page if you’d like to read more.

Just one final thought for you here, dear readers: Vive la liberté, et vive la France.

Posted in 1. Starters | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments