Fenouil et endives braisés

Posted on November 8, 2013 by Meg

braised fennel endives2My friend Vera, a superlative cook, has lived all over the world. Bohemian by birth (Czech) and by nature (an adventurer’s soul), she moved from Prague to Paris to Montréal to Beijing to Jerusalem to Moscow to Berlin to London — and mastered the culinary styles of all. Now she is back in Paris, and I shouldn’t have been surprised the other night when she served a familiar dish with unfamiliar flavors. It was so fantastic I had to make it.

Fenouil et endives braisés / Braised finocchio and Belgian endive

I’ve been serving braised fennel for years — a warming dish for cold weather. Ditto braised Belgian endive. What makes Vera’s combination of the two so unusual is her addition of herbs and spices, which lifts the dish from comfortable to zingily spectacular. The vegetables caramelize while braising and the flavors intensify with the addition of herbs from Provence, fennel seeds and hot cayenne pepper. ‘But is it French?’ I asked her. ‘Yes,’ she said, ‘but with a dash of Bohemia!’ By the way, she served it alongside a succulent blanquette de jarret de veau, a heartier take on the usual stew of veal in a creamy sauce. I plan to post a recipe for this classic French dish sometime this winter.

Now here’s some news. I learned two days ago that the much-heralded (on this site) Arte program about food and art has been postponed indefinitely, meaning that the episode where the great chef Georges Blanc makes his version of a Thanksgiving dinner à la Norman Rockwell — and where I make the cranberry sauce — will not be aired this month. In fact, the producers told me, that episode may not air until Thanksgiving 2014! Very unfortunate, although we can still be thankful that Monsieur Blanc provided us with the recipe for his fabulous pumpkin gratin, posted here two weeks ago.

Front.coverOn other fronts, the Everyday and Weekend Vegetarian Menus have been updated for fall, and I will update the menus for omnivores over the next week — promise. Also coming next week, I will tell you about my forthcoming memoir, Desperate to Be a Housewife, which will be published in late November. For a sneak preview, visit my personal web site, megbortin.com. In the meantime, happy cooking!

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

Salade César

Posted on November 1, 2013 by Meg

caesar1Is Caesar salad French? Many would say no. It was invented by Cesare Cardini, an Italian-American chef, at his restaurant in Tijuana. What’s so French about that? Ah oui, mes amis — but the defining characteristic of a Caesar salad is the dressing, and this dressing is essentially a French mayonnaise. Cardini’s addition of garlic and parmesan to flavor the mayo was a stroke of genius. Apparently it was his brother’s idea to add the anchovies. In any event, this rich and tangy salad has become a staple in Parisian bistros. It’s also one of my favorite lunchtime meals. I have been making it for decades. Here’s how.

Salade César / Caesar salad with herbal croutons

Now then. Having made the argument that a Caesar is in some ways French, allow me to counterattack. In nearly 40 years in Paris, I have found only one restaurant here that makes a decent Caesar — and it’s an American joint, Joe Allen. The others fluff it, usually by using some ersatz version of Caesar dressing, often over any old kind of lettuce, rarely romaine. And the croutons! They taste like they came out of a box, bearing no resemblance to the crispy homemade croutons that give crunch to a true Caesar.

When I made the salad shown in the photo earlier this week, I had invited a friend to lunch. Little did I know that Adrian Leeds was a Caesar expert! She told me she had tried dozens of Paris establishments in search of the perfect Caesar, and had found one, in addition to Joe Allen, that does it right: Le Bistrot du 7ème. I’ll have to try that place.

When we lunched, I added grilled chicken to our Caesars. Steak, shrimp and salmon are also classic additions. But Leeds, who hails from New Orleans, told me about a kind of Caesar I’d never imagined before — with fried oysters on top. Deep-fried, one presumes. ‘It’s unbelivable!’ she said. Well, I’m not sure I’ll be trying that anytime soon in my Paris kitchen, although if I ever make it to New Orleans I’ll certainly give it a shot. Meantime, I’ll stick to my tried and true recipe, perfected over the years. Here’s Leeds’ verdict on our lunchtime Caesar, and I hope she meant it: ‘The best I ever tasted.’ Happy cooking!

Posted in 3. Salads | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Gratin de potiron Georges Blanc

Posted on October 25, 2013 by Meg

pumpkin gratin4I wish I could claim credit for this fabulous pumpkin gratin, but in fact Georges Blanc gave me the recipe after I visited his three-star kitchens near Macon last month. Blanc, the current scion of a culinary dynasty stretching back four generations, is apparently so proficient at his art that he doesn’t need to think about proportions. He sent me the list of ingredients and instructions without specifying the quantities! So I have done my best, and any shortcomings with this recipe are my fault, and not his.

Gratin de potiron Georges Blanc / George Blanc’s pumpkin gratin

So there you have it, in plenty of time for Thanksgiving if you’d like to do something different this year. (My apologies to Canadian readers — I didn’t get the recipe in time for your Thanksgiving.) For those of you who may be interested in my experiences with M. Blanc — one of France’s most renowned and revered chefs — I wrote a piece about my pre-Thanksgiving visit with him that was published last month in the International Herald Tribune (now the International New York Times). Click here to read it. All I have to add on the subject is that when I served this gratin to a table of French guests, all of whom appreciate great food, there were oohs and aahs all around and requests for more. But they’d eaten it all. For a reason. This is a rich dish, so small portions are de rigueur.

And speaking of pumpkin, I have discovered a great recipe for vegan pumpkin chocolate chip muffins on the site of a young blogger friend, Carmen Priotto. She has a fine collection of vegan recipes, not necessarily French, but they all look delicious. Meantime I have updated this site’s  vegan menus for fall, and will update the menus for vegetarians and omnivores in the coming days. Happy cooking!

Posted in 8. Vegetables | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

Boeuf bourguignon

Posted on October 18, 2013 by Meg

bourguignon2Is there any dish that more eloquently evokes French cuisine? Boeuf bourguignon is an ultimate classic, made even more famous outside of France by the 2009 film Julie and Julia, in which a young Brooklyn woman sets out to make every dish in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking, with boeuf bourguignon as the climax — or anti-climax, when Julie burns the stew. Like Child, Julie takes the attitude, as Columbia Pictures says, that ‘with the right combination of passion, fearlessness and butter, anything is possible.’ But — allow me a contrarian moment here — boeuf bourguignon is not a complex dish, and (pace Julia Child) it is traditionally prepared without butter.

Boeuf bourguignon / Beef braised in red wine, Burgundy style

I’ve been making bourguignon for decades, using the method most common in Burgundy itself (bourguignon translates as ‘from Burgundy’) in which various cuts of stewing beef are sliced into large cubes and sautéed with bacon, onions, garlic and a bottle of red wine. No pearl onions, no mushrooms — and no butter. I often add carrot slices, as they do in the region. Far from being a major production, it is a dish that takes no more than 20 minutes to prepare, with another 3 hours of stewing time on the stove top. No need to bake it in the oven and risk seeing your succulent stew turn into a carbonized mass.

Now a little history. According to my Burgundy cookbook, Cuisine en Bourgogne de A à Z by Amicie d’Arces, boeuf bourguignon was reserved for saintly feast days in centuries past. For the simple reason that fresh meats — beef, mutton and veal — could not be preserved in the manner of pork, and were served only on special occasions in peasant familes. The author writes that on Mardi Gras, people in the Morvan region of Burgundy used a branch from the previous year’s Palm Sunday to sprinkle their farms with sauce from boeuf bourguignon to ward off snakes! Such is the power of this dish. It’s magic.

Well, that was a long time ago and now boeuf bourguignon is regularly served throughout France — one of its most popular dishes. In fact, when you go to a French butcher to buy the meat for this stew, you don’t need to specify the cuts of meat. Just ask the butcher for ‘bourguignon’ and he’ll do it for you.

There are as many ways of making boeuf bourguignon as there are French cooks. My simple recipe reaches back in time to the most basic methods — and produces spectacular results. Others take a fancier route, with many variations: flame the meat in marc de Bourgogne (Burgundy-style grappa) or cognac, add juniper berries, cloves, tomato paste, leeks, whatever. In his recipe, the late, great Burgundy chef Bernard Loiseau used mushrooms, pearl onions and butter — along with balsamic vinegar and sugar! (Loiseau committed suicide in 2003 when it was rumored that his restaurant, La Côte d’Or, would lose its three-star status — a terrible testament to the pressure of being at the pinnacle of French cuisine.)

However you choose to make your bourguignon, it is a fine cold-weather dish that becomes even better when reheated the next day, accompanied — of course! — by a great French wine. Happy cooking.

Posted in 7. Meat Dishes | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Tarte aux pommes toute simple

Posted on October 11, 2013 by Meg

tarte pommes3As American as apple pie? Maybe. But if I was asked to name the dessert I’d choose in a menu that best displays classic French cooking, it would certainly be tarte aux pommes. And as we are at the height of apple season, it’s the right time to offer you this elegant and ultrasimple recipe. Nothing to it. Make the pastry, pat it into your tart pan, peel and slice some apples, arrange them in pretty circles, sprinkle on some sugar, dot with butter, and there you have it. A classic French dessert.

Tarte aux pommes toute simple / French apple tart

Of course, there are many variations on this basic recipe. For example, tarte aux pommes Normande, in which the apples are bathed in a sweet creamy sauce that puffs up and turns golden while backing. Or tarte Tatin, in which the apples are cooked in butter and sugar before being loaded into their crust, and the tart is inverted when it comes out of the oven — it’s an upside-down dessert. You can sprinkle the apples with cinnamon, as shown in the photo above, although this is rarely done in France (I made that tart in a cooking class with Americans who wanted a cinnamon flavor). Or you can mix the apples with other fruit — pears, quinces, blackberries — to create something less typical. On the other hand, you can stick to the classic method and have your tart in the oven in a matter of minutes — five minutes to make the pastry, five minutes to prepare the apples, five minutes to assemble the tart. Once it’s on the table, I can guarantee you that your guests will take less than five minutes to finish off every scrumptious mouthful. Happy cooking!

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Polenta au parmesan et romarin

Posted on October 4, 2013 by Meg

polenta2Crisp on the outside, moist and creamy on the inside, polenta is a perfect comfort food as cool autumn weather sets in. And the addition of parmesan and rosemary adds a bit of personality. I served it with duck breast with cassis the other evening, to much acclaim. Also on the menu (in case you were wondering): sauteed chanterelles with dill, carrot puree with cumin, braised baby artichokes, assorted French cheeses and blue Muscat grapes.

Polenta au parmesan et romarin / Polenta with parmesan and rosemary

But is it French? I was inspired to make polenta by my recent experiments with corn bread, an American dish that has yet to cross the Atlantic. Polenta, on the other hand, now makes the occasional appearance in Paris as the French repertoire expands to embrace dishes from neighboring countries and beyond. Italian favorites include pasta and pizza (of course), but also risotto, osso buco, calamari fritti and many other dishes. Polenta, which like corn bread is made from corn meal, may be served roasted, grilled, baked (as in this recipe) or as a porridge. It marries well with everything from roast chicken and pan-seared sea scallops to grilled meats and roasted veggies. Or even just a nice salad. Happy cooking!

Posted in 9. Pasta, Rice, Grains | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

And the winner is…

Posted on October 1, 2013 by Meg

Christine Griffith1Christine Griffith of Cambridge, New Zealand! That’s a long way from Paris. Christine brought more new followers to The Everyday French Chef than anyone else since my subscription drive started on August 30, making her the winner of the first (and only) prize — a signed copy of Ann Mah’s brand new Mastering the Art of French Eating, which came out last week. Thank you, Christine, and congratulations!

I couldn’t be more delighted at this outcome, for two reasons. First, Christine Griffith is a friend and a wonderful foodie. We met in 2010 when she began attending cooking classes in my Paris kitchen. I was very sorry to see her go last year when she moved first to Australia and then back to her home country, New Zealand. Which is the second reason. It’s halfway round the globe from France, and now quite a few people from that part of the world are tuned into this site, largely thanks to Christine. What a great tribute to the genius of the web — uniting people across the miles.

imagesBut how many miles? Well, the distance between Paris and Auckland is about 11,500 miles, or 18,500 kilometers. And Cambridge lies just south of there, relatively speaking. On the map at right, imagine a tiny dot on the North Island, about even with the wing that juts out to the right. That’s Cambridge, in the Waikito region. Doesn’t that sound exotic? I hope to see it one day. But imagine how long it takes to get there. Well, on Air France you can leave Paris around 1:30 p.m. and, after a seven hour layover in Shanghai, you will reach Auckland at 6:50 a.m. — two days later!

At our cooking class, Christine loved sharing recipes from that part of the world, many of them involving lamb. As it happens, she went to dinner recently at La Cave, a French restaurant and gourmet food shop in Hamilton, which is near Cambridge. If you’re curious about how French cuisine is interpreted in New Zealand, have a look at the menu from that dinner, which she kindly sent along to me. I’m particularly intrigued by the sheep’s milk granita! You will find the menu below.

Meantime, I am happy to report that the number of subscribers to The Everyday French Chef has increased by 20 percent since the contest opened on August 30. Christine wrote to 18 friends and relatives to tell them about this site, and at least 8 of them have already signed up. As we say over here, merci! Thanks to one and all for spreading the word.

— Meg Bortin

New Zealand Menu

 

Posted in Et cetera | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Petits soufflés au chèvre, et Thanksgiving à la française

Posted on September 27, 2013 by Meg

chevre souffle1Light but ever so tasty, these little goat cheese soufflés are guaranteed to get your meal off to a dramatic start. They look like a tall chef’s hat when they come out of the oven, and as you bring them to the table your guests will exclaim in delight. Then comes the moment when they plunge their spoons into the puffy treat and taste the pungent flavors of chèvre and dill. Sighs of pleasure all around — and it’s the start of a great dinner party.

Petits soufflés au chèvre / Goat cheese soufflés with dill

vonnas turkeyNow, I suspect some of you may be wondering what happened when I went to Vonnas last Friday for a three-star Thanksgiving lunch with Georges Blanc (that’s me, serving the turkey as one of the world’s greatest chefs looks on). I have promised to tell all, and I will in a moment. But first, here’s an update on the subscription drive.

There are only three days left to win an autographed copy of Ann Mah’s brand new book, Mastering the Art of French Eating, which hit America’s bookstores yesterday with advance rave reviews.
MasteringArtFrenchEating1This prize will go to the person who brings me the most new subscribers, here and on my Facebook page, by September 30. In order to win, you need to provide me with a list of the people you’ve brought to the site. I need these lists in the next three days — you can send them in via the Contact page. The winner will be announced here on October 1. But I can already tell you that the number of people following The Everyday French Chef has increased by nearly 20 percent since the start of the contest on August 30. Many thanks to all of you!

vonnas portraitsAnd now to Vonnas, north of Lyon, where I traveled last Friday to take part in an episode of a new series on art and food being filmed by the French-German television channel Arte. Georges Blanc had been tasked with creating a Thanksgiving meal based on Norman Rockwell’s 1943 painting ‘Freedom From Want’ (a copy of the painting at right, beneath a portrait of Blanc’s mother and grandmother in the kitchen) — and I had been tasked with bringing the cranberry sauce and the corn bread! My dishes were set on the table with the feast Blanc prepared, definitely a French take on America’s favorite holiday. Here’s what he served:

A dinde de Bresse, possibly the world most succulent roast turkey (it was raised locally in the Bresse region surrounding Vonnas),
Roasted fresh figs and pan-seared porcinis,
A compact stuffing made of ground veal and pork, with walnuts and thyme instead of chestnuts and sage,
And a supremely rich and flavorful pumpkin gratin.

vonnas gratinI have been promised the recipe for the gratin, and will post it as soon as I’ve had a chance to make it in my own kitchen. But here’s a sneak preview, which Blanc provided during the lunch: Peel, seed and boil a pumpkin and let the pulp drain overnight. Mash the flesh with a fork, add crème fraîche, egg yolks, grated comté, salt, pepper and nutmeg, and bake until golden. If you can’t find comté, you can use a similar cheese, for example gruyère. (At left, one of Blanc’s assistants with the gratin.)

As for the turkey, Blanc — a genial host, who at 70 has no plans to retire  — confided his secret method for ensuring that the dark meat is sufficiently roasted and the white meat doesn’t dry out:

cyril lhotlainRoast the turkey until the white meat is done. Remove the bird from the oven. Carve off the legs and return them to the oven. Set the rest of the bird aside, covered to keep it warm. When the legs are fully roasted, return the white meat to the oven briefly to heat it up. Then carve and serve.
(At right, Cyril Lhotlain, the farmer who raised the turkey and one of Blanc’s guests at the Thanksgiving lunch).

Blanc actually served the white meat first, then brought the dark meat to the table at mid-meal. I will definitely try this method next time I roast a Thanksgiving turkey.

vonnas dessertAs for dessert, Blanc provided a choice of sweets from his menu, like the Paris-Bresse, his take on the more usual Paris-Brest, a cream puff with praline filling. The Arte program, in which I am also filmed making the cranberry sauce, will air on French TV in late November. I’ll give you the date — and hopefully some info on how to view the program on the web — as soon as they let me know.

Posted in 4. Omelets, Soufflés, Quiche | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Soupe paysanne

Posted on September 20, 2013 by Meg

country soup2When the days grow shorter and there’s a nip in the air, what could be better than a hearty bowl of soup? This version, with vegetables and bacon, is what French farm families had for supper in the old days, and sometimes still do. In fact the word ‘supper’ — le souper in French — derives from this ancient custom. You can top the soup with grated cheese and make a meal of it, serving a salad on the side and following up with cheese and fruit. Healthy and easy to make, it’s one of my favorite dishes.

Soupe paysanne / French peasant soup

Meantime I’ve been doing less home cooking than usual this week, instead spending my culinary time making corn bread. This morning I head down to Vonnas in eastern France, south of Burgundy and north of Lyon, where many people likely still sup on soup. Thanks to the French-German television channel Arte, which is filming an episode for their new series on food and art, I will be enjoying an early Thanksgiving lunch prepared by Georges Blanc, one of a handful of three-star French chefs. That’s the top.

corn breadAs I mentioned last week, I’ve been asked by Arte to bring along some corn bread for the three-star Thanksgiving table. Quite a challenge! Many of you sent recipes, for which many thanks. I’ve tried quite a number of them, all delicious, and have now worked out the proportions that seem right for this particular experiment. And how will Georges Blanc reinterpret Thanksgiving? Next week I will tell all…

Posted in 2. Soups | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Mouclade

Posted on September 13, 2013 by Meg

mouclade1This is one of those knock-your-socks-off openings to a meal that will have your guests begging for the recipe. I served it on two occasions in the past couple of weeks and both friends said it was so delic… (oops, that’s the word you’re not supposed to use on your own cooking blog) that they wanted to try to make it at home right away. So here’s the recipe — mussels in a creamy sauce spiced with saffron or curry powder. Go for it.

Mouclade / Spicy mussels in cream

This is my first once-a-week-on-Fridays post as we begin the second year of The Everyday French Chef. Even more people have signed up since Tuesday. Many thanks again for your support. For those of you planning to enter the contest to see how many new subscribers you can attract to the site, I need to warn you that one very active reader in New Zealand has already brought me eight new followers! Please send your tallies in to me using the Contact button at the top of this page. The contest ends on Sept. 30, and the prize is a signed copy of Ann Mah’s forthcoming Mastering the Art of French Eating.

In other news, the people at the French-German television channel Arte who are producing a new series on food and art — with an episode on Thanksgiving, for which I cooked cranberry sauce last week — have phoned up twice in the past couple of days. First they asked me to bring the cranberries with me next week when I go down to Vonnas for a Thanksgiving meal prepared by the three-star chef Georges Blanc. They want my humble sauce to sit on the table alongside food prepared by one of the greatest chefs in France. Well! My first thought was, good thing I froze the sauce instead of serving it at dinnertime. My second thought was, good grief, this is a bit intimidating. But then they called again yesterday and asked me to bring corn bread, too! The original plan was to serve corn bread prepared by a man described by Arte as the best baker in Paris — Christophe Vasseur of Du Pain et Des Idées. They will serve his version, but want to compare it with corn bread baked by a real American. That would be me. So now I am doubly intimidated, all the more so because I haven’t made corn bread since I was a kid back in Wisconsin. If any of you have recipes you would like to share, bring ’em on. I’ve got one week to perfect my technique before heading down to Vonnas…

Posted in 1. Starters | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments