Tartiflette

Posted on November 16, 2012 by Meg

This is a cold-weather dish most commonly encountered in the Alpine ski resorts of eastern France: potatoes, onions, bacon and flavorful reblochon cheese baked together to make a mouth-watering one-dish meal. But tartiflette has become so popular that restaurants from Burgundy to the Pyrenees now serve it. The name derives from a word for potatoes, tartifla, that is used in Italy and Provence — but, oddly, not in Savoie…

Tartiflette / Savoyard potato gratin with bacon

According to various culinary sources, the dish was traditionally known in Savoie not as tartiflette but as péla, named for the long-handled pan in which it was cooked over a fire. Things began changing around 30 years ago when the cheesemakers who produce reblochon — a pungent soft cheese made from cow’s milk — decided to try to boost sales of their product. When exactly péla morphed into tartiflette is not clear to me. But judging by my 1969 edition of Le Petit Robert, one of France’s most authoritative dictionaries, today’s word for this very well-known dish had not yet entered the language just 43 years ago.

Thanksgiving alert: In honor of the American holiday, which takes place next Thursday, and with my thoughts turning to those without big families nearby, I will be posting some recipes for an alternative Thanksgiving dinner with a French/Mediterranean twist. The menu includes roast quail (or Cornish game hen), pomegranate relish and, for vegetarians, a fabulous stuffed pumpkin recipe from one of the best French home chefs I know. The recipes will go up Sunday or Tuesday, depending on when I get time to do the cooking and photography. Just letting you know in advance to allow you to start hunting for quail…

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Soupe de légumes

Posted on November 13, 2012 by Meg

vegetable soup1Leeks, carrots and potatoes puréed with cream and some spices — this is the soup that every French woman and man has loved since childhood. For years, probably centuries, it was the main dish of an evening meal. Once served regularly in restaurants, it is more rarely encountered there these days. But it is still served often in French homes, never mind convenience foods. There is nothing better for starting a meal on a cold autumn evening.

Soupe de légumes / French vegetable soup

Since childhood actually means since infancy, for the most beloved French experts on child rearing recommend serving this soup to babies from the age of six months. Of course, they also recommend serving children roquefort cheese from about eight months — which may go some way to explaining why the French have such sophisticated palates. None of this means that the soup is not suited to adult tastes. Enhanced with herbs, a little cumin or some cayenne pepper, accompanied by a hearty red wine, it will take the chill off a cold day, or a rough day. Couldn’t be healthier, and it is, frankly, delicious.

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Tarte aux pommes normande

Posted on November 9, 2012 by Meg

This is an apple tart for taking the chill off a cold autumnal evening. It comes from Normandy, where the salty wind off the sea can whip right through the warmest clothes. Normandy, France’s dairy land, where the fresh cream is as sublime as it comes. Normandy, where apple trees dot the countryside, and the apple tart is as French as, well, apple pie is American.

Tarte aux pommes normande / Normandy apple tart

In this tart, the apples are blanketed in a sauce of fresh cream, eggs and sugar. The result, as my student Louise would say, is simply divine. If you want to go all the way with this experience, you can serve yourself a little glass of calva with your slice of apple tart. Calva being calvados, the apple brandy that also hails from Normandy. Sitting by the fireside, enjoying the tart, you can almost hear the lapping of the Normandy waves.

Site news: Beginning next week I will be posting recipes on Tuesdays and Fridays instead of every day. If there are any particular recipes you would like to see in the weeks ahead, please let me know via the contact page. Although blogging about French cuisine is still a new experience for me, I am feeling cautiously upbeat about the response — in its two months in existence, The Everyday French Chef has had 6,000 views, and interest just seems to keep growing. Yesterday somebody tweeted about the site, sending 300 viewers our way, mainly to the Shaun Kelly interview that ran last week. A young Palestinian from Gaza is among our followers, who now cover the globe from Australia to the Middle East to Europe and on to the States and Canada, all the way to Washington state. What can I say? This is really fun. I’m excited about it, and hope you are too. — Meg Bortin

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Patates douces aux herbes

Posted on November 8, 2012 by Meg

Every so often there comes a time for thanksgiving. Yesterday was one such occasion, never mind that it fell a couple of weeks before the American national holiday. In honor of events, I decided to make sweet potatoes. Not the puréed kind I generally serve on the fourth Thursday of November, but sturdy, peppery wedges roasted in the oven with olive oil and sprinkled with fresh herbs. The result? A spicy dish sweet as victory.

Patates douces aux herbes / Sweet potatoes with herbs

Formerly rare in France, the sweet potato can now be found regularly in Parisian markets — and occasionally on restaurant menus, too. I have served sweet potatoes steamed and drizzled with olive oil, fried in thin slices, and puréed on their own or with another vegetable. They may then be sprinkled with fresh herbs or fiery red chili. Last night was the first time I tried roasting them — but it certainly won’t be the last.

 

 

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Salade d’endives au roquefort

Posted on November 7, 2012 by Meg

The endive is a humble vegetable here in France, where they most certainly do not call it Belgian. Grown undergrown, its white leaves crisp and slightly bitter, the endive comes into its own in the winter months. It may be braised, served au gratin with ham (a Burgundy specialty), or turned into a salad with a zingy sauce and a decidedly adult flavor. For example, this salad of endive with a roquefort dressing and walnuts crumbled on top.

Salade d’endives au roquefort / Salad of Belgian endive with roquefort

The endive is a versatile vegatalbe, and there are many variations on this salad. You can omit the cream and use olive oil instead. In which case you may choose to substitute balsamic vinegar for the lemon juice, and maybe even decide to add some julienne strips of cured country ham. Or substitute cubes of gruyère cheese for the roquefort. Use your imagination — that’s the fun of cooking — but please don’t omit the walnuts!


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

Kir

Posted on November 6, 2012 by Meg

Why should the word kir be associated in my mind with the word decadence? The cocktail originally known as a blanc-cassis has nothing particularly decadent about it. It’s the most natural of apéritifs, made of dry white wine — Burgundy is traditional — and crème de cassis, or black currant liqueur. Served throughout the Burgundy region long before it was named after the priest Félix Kir, a resistance hero and mayor of Dijon, this drink is heady enough to liven up any cocktail party, and even temporarily to keep one’s mind off an election taking place thousands of miles away. Oh, and by the way, I first tasted a kir back in the 1970s, with a Paris friend who was taking me to a party. On the way over, he taught me a new dance he said everyone would be dancing. It was called la décadanse.

Kir

When this friend, Victor, told me that the cocktail he ordered was called a kir, I refused to believe it — on grounds that the word did not look French. As it happens, Félix Kir’s family was from Alsace, hence the Germanic spelling. He was a colorful character, by all accounts, as well as a patriot who managed to arrange the escape of 5,000 French prisoners from a camp in Longvic, south of Dijon, in 1940, during the early days of the Nazi occupation. Decorated for bravery, he was elected mayor of Dijon after the war and held the post until he died in 1968.

The cocktail previously known simply as blanc-cassis, or white with cassis, was served so frequently by Mayor Kir to visiting dignitaries that his name became associated with the drink — and its many variations. These include not just the kir royal, made with Champagne or another sparkling wine as a base, but also ‘kirs’ made with white wine and other liqueurs — blackberry, peach or raspberry, for example. And then there are ‘kirs’ made with cassis and red wine. If made with red Burgundy, the drink is known as a communard, while cassis with red Bordeaux is called a cardinal.

In 1960, when Mayor Kir was due to meet Nikita Khrushchev in Dijon, the local bars invented a drink they called the Double K: 1 part crème de cassis, 2 parts white wine and 2 parts vodka. In nearly 40 years in France, I have never encountered a Double K, but — given my anxiety about the American election — I might try one tonight. And if things turn out the way I hope, well, I just might dance the décadanse.

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Gougères

Posted on November 5, 2012 by Meg

Gougères are cheese-flavored cream puffs from the Burgundy region and are usually served on special occasions, often with an apéritif, for example a kir — dry white wine flavored with crème de cassis, black currant liqueur (coming tomorrow). When I first arrived in France in the 1970s, gougères were rarely to be seen in Paris. You had to get on a train and head toward Dijon to run into them. Now they are frequently served, most often as mini-puffs bought frozen and reheated in the oven. These frozen gougères are both handy and tasty, but what can I say? They ain’t nothin’ like the real thing.

Gougères / Apéritif cheese puffs, Burgundy style

The baker in the small Burgundy village of Villiers Saint-Benoît doesn’t mess around with mini-gougères. His are proud, firm, softball-size pastries, crisp on the outside, meltingly tender on the inside — consistently the best I’ve come across. His name is Franck Lasne, and he was kind enough to share his recipe with me. When preparing gougères at home, I usually make them smaller than Franck’s but larger than minis, about the size of a tangerine. They are more manageable this way — more than a mouthful, but no so large that one would need to refrain from asking for more.

Site news: Beginning next week, The Everyday French Chef will switch to a new schedule, with recipes coming 2-3 times a week, and not every day. This does not signal any change in the everyday spirit of the site. But now that we have been up and running for nearly two months, with dozens of recipes available and more than 5,000 visits, it’s time for me to work on developing other parts of the site, and to spend a bit more time getting to know my fellow food bloggers. If there are any recipes in particular you would like to see in the weeks ahead, please drop me a line. And, as ever, happy cooking! — Meg Bortin

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Coming next week

Posted on November 2, 2012 by Meg

For anyone who happens to live in Paris, I will be hosting a soufflé demonstration in my kitchen this coming Tuesday, Nov. 6, from 2-4 p.m. A great way to get your mind off the suspenseful American elections! And it’s free: We will make a couple of soufflés and taste them together. To sign up, please message me via the Contact page on this site.

Also coming next week: Specialties from Burgundy, including my local baker’s recipe for absolutely incredible gougères (cocktail-hour cheese puffs). And some other surprises. In the meantime, happy cooking!

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Shaun Kelly

Posted on October 30, 2012 by Meg

With Shaun Kelly, chef at the hot Paris bistro Au Passage, The Everyday French Chef inaugurates a new occasional feature: interviews with our favorite Parisian chefs. To kick off the series, I went to see Kelly on a recent afternoon. Young, edgy and ultracreative, he seems to be having a picnic in his first job fully in charge of the kitchen. Aged 28 and originally from Australia, he has lived in Paris only since March. And despite his growing star power, this, he confided, is his first interview.

Shaun Kelly / A chef in Paris

Before moving to Paris, Kelly worked in London with the English chef Fergus Henderson, and is a firm believer in Ferguson’s ‘nose-to-tail’ approach to cooking – the idea that chefs should use every part of the beast, including the offal, and also every part of the plant, for example using the stems of dill in broths and the fronds as a garnish. The result is dishes that are not just delicious and beautiful, but ecological as well. In the interview, Kelly talks about his approach to food, where he finds his inspiration, and how he made his way from a tiny town in Australia to the capital of French cuisine.

Site news: It is the French school holidays now and The Everyday French Chef is taking a break. We will be back on Monday with recipes with a Burgundy accent. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the interview with Shaun. And happy cooking!

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Salade d’épinards avec pancetta

Posted on October 29, 2012 by Meg

I often find myself craving this salad as winter sets in. The deep green leaves of the spinach topped by crispy brown pancetta look so appealing on the plate. The sauce of lemon, olive oil and garlic is so tangy it knocks your socks off. But it isn’t just esthetics and flavor that make us desire this sort of salad when the weather turns cold. Spinach is packed with vitamins and iron, lemon has Vitamin C, olive oil is said to lower the risk of heart disease, and garlic — used by humans in cuisine for at least the last 7,000 years — has been variously credited with warding off the common cold, lowering cholesterol and preventing certain kinds of cancer. Et voilà — a delicious winter salad that is also good for you!

Salade d’épinards avec pancetta / Spinach salad with pancetta

For any readers who may be interested in food history, I’d like to invite you to take a look at the recent contributions of Professor Luciano Granozzi on the origins of a recipe I posted on this site in September, proscuitto with figs. You can find this under Starters on the recipe page for Jambon de pays aux figues. Il dottore Granozzi, who teaches history at the University of Catania, questioned the national origins of the dish — Italian or French — and when I challenged him to tell us more, he found a hilarious text about the possible inventor of the fig-and-ham combination. I have done my best to translate the gist of it.

Coming tomorrow: The Everyday French Chef will launch the first in a series of interviews with chefs at some of my favorite Paris restaurants. The series begins with Shaun Kelly, the 28-year-old chef at Au Passage in the 11th arrondissement. A self-described former punk rocker, he has transmuted his musical energy into a modern, exciting culinary style. Not to be missed.

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