Pâte sablée

Posted on June 2, 2013 by Meg

tarte pommes1This is a recipe for French pastry, but it is also a test. I think we’ve made progress against the East European hackers who got into this site, but I need to test it out with a post. Which is why you are receiving a second extra recipe this weekend (no extra charge!). Once the problem is confirmed to be solved, I’ll send you a full account of this somewhat frightening modern story, which has galloped from Paris to Cleveland to Scottsdale, Arizona, to a small town in Czech Republic and finally Florida. In the meantime, if you see any links below that do not say Pâte sablée, don’t click on them. I didn’t put them there. And now, here’s…

Pâte sablée / French tart dough

This is the basic French dough for making sweet tarts. Far easier to prepare than puffy pâte feuilletée, this cookie crust may be made in about 5 minutes and patted into a tart pan as shown above. It needs no pre-cooking for most fruit tarts. For example, with apples as in the photo, just slice the fruit, arrange it in the shell, sprinkle with sugar, dot with butter, and bake. It produces a tender, slightly crumbly crust with a flavor that, as my cooking student Louise would say, is just divine. Try it and see.

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Couscous

Posted on June 1, 2013 by Meg

couscous 2This is a recipe for couscous, but it is also a test. Some people in Czech Republic have managed to hack into the email updates that go out to subscribers with each of my posts. They have now twice inserted links in these emails to online ‘loan’ sites where they clearly hope to take advantage of the unwary. I have done something to try to make it impossible for them to do it again, and need to test it by putting a new post up on my site. If you receive this in an email update and there’s link that doesn’t say Couscous, don’t click on it. I didn’t put it there. I am pursuing my research into this situation — it’s interesting — and will provide a full account within the next couple of days. In the meantime, here’s…

Couscous

Originally from North Africa, this light, fluffy grain has become a highly popular dish in France when accompanied by grilled meat and a spicy vegetable stew.  The recipe provided here is for the grain, which is made of durum wheat, like the best spaghetti. It is quite simple to prepare and makes a lovely side dish — or, in my daughter’s opinion, a delicious breakfast when sprinkled with sugar, cinnamon and a dash of milk. When the French say they like couscous, however, they mean the full dish — zucchini, carrots, turnips, celery and chick peas in a spicy, tomato-flavored soup, as well as chicken, lamb, beef, merguez or, occasionally, fish. Just how much they like it was revealed in a 2011 survey in which couscous came third among favorite foods of the French! It was outranked only by magret de canard (duck filet) and moules-frites (mussels with French fries). Couscous has been part of the French culinary repertoire since at least the 17th century, when it crossed the Mediterranean to Toulon. For centuries it was prepared from millet, and still is in sub-Saharan Africa, where it is pounded by women using huge wooden bowls and thick wooden rods. I saw this when I visited Mali a while back. In fact, paleoethnobotanists — people who study plants cultivated by prehistoric humans — believe that millet could be one of the first widely farmed foods. Which means that when you make a plate of couscous, you are linking up culinarily with some of our earliest ancestors. I just love this idea. Happy cooking!

The survey of 999 people was carried out by TNS-Sofres, a highly regarded French polling agency, for the magazine Vie Pratique Gourmand.

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Soupe de rhubarbe aux fraises

Posted on May 31, 2013 by Meg

rhubarb soup 1Full disclosure: I first tasted this fresh spring dessert at the home of a French ambassador. His chef whipped it up one morning while we were visiting. When I brought the spoon to my lips, there was a surprising burst of flavor — rhubarb and strawberries, yes, but I sensed there was a secret ingredient. We were leaving for the airport, so I didn’t have time to ask him for the recipe. ‘I’m going to try to make this back in Paris,’ I smiled, as he joined our hostess and the rest of the staff to see us off. Did I detect a smirk of disbelief? Well, Monsieur le Chef, here’s my version, and if it’s not identical to yours it’s just as tasty. By the way, my secret ingredient is ground coriander seeds…

Soupe de rhubarbe aux fraises / Rhubarb soup with strawberries and mint

Now then. For those of you who have subscribed to this blog by email — for which thank you very much — I’d like to alert you to a little problem. Gremlins seem to have penetrated the last email message, placing a link inside that says ‘Instant Payday Loans Online.’ Obviously it shouldn’t be there, and I strongly advise you not to click on it if it reappears. I am trying to get this problem resolved, and hope you will not be bothered by it in the future. In the meantime, it’s still raining in Paris. What is to be done? Make this dessert and dream of summer. Maybe one of these days…

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Soupe à l’oseille

Posted on May 28, 2013 by Meg

sorrel soup2I’ve always loved sorrel, ever since first encountering it in France as a young woman. It’s fresh and lemony, a herald of spring, somewhere between an herb and a vegetable — the kind of plant women used to gather from the woods and turn into a lovely dish. Fresh sorrel is delicious in an omelet, makes a great sauce for fish and finds its supreme expression, perhaps, in a simple soup like this one, with a touch of cream to soften the sour edges.

Soupe à l’oseille / Fresh sorrel soup

Another reason why I love sorrel, or oseille as it’s known in French, is because I’m a bit of a linguist as well as a cook. As I discovered when I went to the movies one evening shortly after arriving in France in the ’70s, oseille means not just ‘sorrel’ but also ‘money’ in popular parlance. The name of the film? It was Woody Allen’s Take the Money and Run — or, in French, Prends l’oseille et tire-toi. Of course, French argot being a very rich language in its own right, sorrel is by far not the only food that connotes cash. Others include blé (wheat), beurre (butter), and radis (radish, used mainly when you’re out of dough, as in, Je n’ai plus un radis.) And speaking of dough, English, too, has its stock of food terms that connote money: bread, cabbage, clams, lettuce, to name just a few. If you have more examples, including from other languages, please send them along.

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Dorade au four au pistou

Posted on May 24, 2013 by Meg

dorade basilic2The first question: What exactly is this fish? Dorade, sometimes written daurade in French, has many appelations in English, among them porgy and bream. From a cook’s point of view, it doesn’t much matter – as this recipe works well with any medium-sized white-flesh saltwater fish. Red snapper, pampano or sea bass would make great substitutes, for example. The fish is lightly coated with olive oil, stuffed with fresh basil and baked in a very hot oven to obtain a tandoori effect — crispy on the outside and tender within.

Dorade au four au pistou / Baked porgy with French basil sauce

dorade2Getting back to the appelation, there are several versions of the fish the French call dorade, one of the most prized being the dorade royale (at right). And as it turns out, this is the only dorade that may also be written daurade — a nuance that had escaped my notice during all my years in France. A fish fit for a king or queen, it is called gilt-head bream by the English. Its relatives include yellowfin and scup. My best culinary experience of dorade took place in Senegal, along an area the West African coast where the fish are plentiful. There, they serve it braisé — which surprisingly does not mean braised but rather grilled over charcoal — accompanied by an unbelievably fiery and delicious hot pepper sauce. Although I’ve searched for this sauce in Paris for years, I’ve never been able to find it. Never mind. Dorade au pistou, while quite different, is almost as good.

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Risotto aux asperges et petits pois

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Meg

risotto asperges1Yes, it’s spring. Don’t let anyone try to tell you otherwise, even if you happen to live in a part of the world where it’s been raining nonstop since October. Like Paris, and in fact quite a large swath of France. My garden in Burgundy is suffering as much as I am. The beans won’t come up, the shallots and potatoes are waterlogged and it’s been too cold to put in the tomatoes or zucchini. The only plants withstanding this endless winter are the peas. If the sun could come out for five minutes a day, maybe I’d be able to make this dish with homegrown food by around July. Never mind that it’s a dish for spring…

Risotto aux asperges et petits pois / Risotto with asparagus and fresh peas

Thumbing my nose at the weather, I made this risotto the other evening to the great delight of a friend who came to dine. It may be served as a starter, a side dish or the main attraction of a light meal, accompanied by salad and a chilled rosé. It is creamy and rich, with a touch of parmesan to meld the flavors of peas, asparagus, onion, parsley, broth, the rice and a little white wine. I improvised a bit, adding peas to an asparagus risotto recipe I like. The resulting concoction bore more than a slight resemblance to a dish from the Venice region, risi e bisi, which is a slightly soupy version of risotto served in spring. So don’t be put off by the rain. Just take an umbrella, head for the kitchen and start cooking. It’s the best therapy I know for finding pleasure in a dreary day.

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Salade verte à la française

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Meg

salade verte3I’ve been wanting to post this recipe for ages but put it off, daunted by what I expect could be the reaction of many. What’s so special about green salad, I hear you saying. Ah yes, mes amis, but this is not just any green salad. This is the quintessential French salad that used to be available in any bistro, on any family table. That was before the advent of the dreaded sauce blanche, the bottled dressing used by so many French cafés and restaurants these days. No, a classic French green salad is made with mustard vinaigrette over lettuce — with perhaps a little shallot, garlic or parsley — and that’s it.

Salade verte à la française / Green salad, French style

It’s so easy, and so quick, that I wanted to include it, all the more so because it is served so often during French meals, usually after the main course and before or with the cheese. The vinaigrette can be made in two minutes. If you haven’t yet explored the videos on this site, now’s your chance — click on How To, either here or on the black bar above, and then click on Mustard Vinaigrette, where you’ll see me demonstrating how to make this most classic of French dressings. Meantime, if you’re looking to do some cooking over the weekend, check out the Menus section, which has just been updated with separate new pages for vegans, vegetarians and omnivores and the latest spring recipes from the blog.

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Crumble à la rhubarbe

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Meg

crumble rhubarbe2Is rhubarb a fruit or a vegetable? I’ve always considered it a fruit, as it’s used in tarts, cakes and compotes, never served as a veggie to my knowledge (and please correct me if I’m wrong). But I just checked on Wikipedia and guess what? It’s a vegetable in botanical terms — even though a court in the United States ruled in 1947 that it was a fruit! That was for international trade purposes, as fruits had lower import tariffs. Whatever it is, rhubarb poking up in my garden is one of the first and most welcome signs of spring. I use it a lot, and usually in the form of a dessert so quick to assemble that my daughter has been making it since the age of 10. Of course I am referring to rhubarb crumble.

Crumble à la rhubarbe / Rhubarb crumble

This is also the dessert with which I inaugurate my collaboration with foodette.fr, a Paris site that allows clients to buy a basket of goodies and recipes for making a dinner without having to shop for the ingredients. Their menu this week consists of dishes that may look familiar to regular followers of The Everyday French Chef: spinach salad with strawberries and pine nuts, poultry breasts with honey and thyme, braised asparagus and this rhubarb crumble. I’m very happy about this development. It’s the kind of initiative — smart, easy and fun — that wouldn’t have been possible in the pre-Internet age. If anyone among you buys the Foodette basket and makes the dishes, please let the rest of us know how it turns out. And in the meantime, happy cooking!

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Salade d’épinards aux fraises et pignons de pin

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Meg

epinards fraises1This is a salad I dreamt up the other day after meeting two cool French guys in a Paris café. It combines baby spinach, red onion, pine nuts and strawberries, dressed with a balsamic vinaigrette, for a light starter with a bit of a bite. The guys, the founders of a start-up called Foodette, were looking for a bright salad for spring that they could use in their next basket of goodies and recipes for would-be everyday French chefs…

Salade d’épinards aux fraises et pignons de pin / Spinach salad with strawberries and pine nuts

As it happens, their initiative and mine make a perfect couple. Foodette, based in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, was launched in November for people who want to cook without having to shop or think too hard about what to make for dinner. Clients may order online and stop by later to collect the ingredients and recipes for a full seasonal meal. An Everyday French Chef kind of meal. This project was the brainchild of Olivier Tangopoulos and Thibaut Lagorce, the two cool guys mentioned above. They get their recipes from a handful of bloggeuses (food bloggers who all happen to be women). I’m proud to be joining forces with them as of next week. If you’d like a sneak preview of their site, go to foodette.fr. And in the meantime, happy cooking!

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Porc grillé aux herbes de Provence

Posted on May 7, 2013 by Meg

grillled pork1At last it’s barbecue season. The time of year when sunsplashed afternoons segue seamlessly into rosé-splashed evenings, when lighting the coals becomes a ritual that harks back to a previous era when families gathered around a fire to prepare their evening meal. Thankfully we no longer have to hunt for food, at least not in the same way. A quick trip to the supermarket or butcher to buy some meat, a foray into the garden to gather some herbs, and voilà. A simple and succulent dinner is on the way.

Porc grillé aux herbes de Provence / Grilled pork chops with rosemary and thyme

You don’t have a barbecue? You don’t have a garden? Not to worry. You can pan-sear the chops and use dried herbs to almost the same effect. It’s a summer dish for spring, a way to welcome the onset of magical evenings with friends. There’s a change in the quality of the air, a buzz to the fading light that can turn even the simplest conversation into an epic rendering of past triumphs or failures. When I first moved to Paris I was surprised at how long the sun lingers in the spring. By midsummer’s eve, it waits until 11 to drop below the horizon. Then I realized that we’re at the same latitude as Montreal, never mind the warmer climate. As we say in French, tout s’explique (translation: ‘Elementary, my dear Watson’). So gather up your herbs, fresh or store-bought — and happy cooking.

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