‘H’ is for holiday

If there is any season of the year that promotes over-eating, you have to agree that season is upon us. Now, as you know, I’m a great student of Julia Child, and she promoted moderation in everything, even in moderation, so when faced with the holiday that promotes gluttony above all the others, I decided to practice extreme moderation (oxymoron-ish phrase isn’t it?), especially since this was my first year as a pescatarian.

Now for a little history….

From the editor of the winter 2011 publication”Gastronomica” -

“This national holiday(Thanksgiving) was the brainchild of Sarah Josepha Hale, the editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book magazine, who campaigned for it tirelessly. Between 1846 and 1863 she lobbied all who would listen- seven presidents, endless congressmen, the governor of all the states – to have the last Thursday in November declared a day of national thanksgiving, an act she believed would help heal the country’s profound social and political rifts.”

My decision was to steer clear of any traditional Thanksgiving food, but thought for the main course I would go ‘hole hog’ and use lobster. However, one particular guest who is ALWAYS at my table doesn’t like anything served in a shell, so whole lobster was off the list. I decided to create a lobster pot pie, even though I had never heard of one, much less had a recipe for such. To go with it, a simple salad of blanched green beans with a chopped tomato garnish and a side of a corn dish that I honestly don’t know the origin of (more about this later).

I began with a bag of lobster knuckle meat from Inland Seafood and simply followed my instincts, my nose, and taste buds.

(Please do click through pictures to see the details!)

The lobster gets sautéed.

Here the lobster gets sautéed with shallots and clarified butter (nothing but the best for lobster!), then flambéed in brandy. If you’ve never flamed food, try it, but read good instructions before your attempt and keep your face well away. It’s great fun and your guests will be so impressed as long as you don’t singe your eyebrows (trust me, this looks odd and smells worse!).

Next, I created a roux with additional butter (did I mention moderation?) and some flour. Cook this for 3 minutes to cook the flour, then add fish stock or bottled clam juice and water. I used crab stock. Now before proceeding, always taste for salt and pepper. If it don’t taste good now, it never will and you don’t want to waste your lobster, chicken or what ever you’re pot-pie-ing.

The roux in progress.

The sautéed lobster goes into the cooked roux.

Now in my mind, no pot pie exists without some vegetables since it is the ultimate comfort food and should need little else besides the pot pie itself for a complete meal. I blanched some diced carrots, peas and potatoes for the vegetable addition.

The vegetable and lobster combined in the roux.

Finally the mix goes into the baking dish(es) which I had decided to make individuals.

The mixture ready for its pastry top.

Nothing wows a diner quite like real puff pastry, and it was, after all, a holiday dish, however homey and comfort food-ish it was, so real puff pastry was mandatory in my mind! I won’t go into the details because there are so many formulas and instructions, you can find them on the internet. Just remember to keep it cold and work rapidly. Here’s the pastry I made on Wednesday.

The block of pastry dough chilled and ready for rolling.

This block needed to rest a few minutes (15) before I could roll it. Keep in mind there’s a ton of butter in this (did I mention moderation?), so when it’s well chilled, it’s like a brick.

The puff pastry rolled out and ready to be cut.

The rounds of pastry are cut, placed atop the pies and then an egg glaze applied.

The final egg glaze before baking.

All this up to the egg glaze can be done well ahead, but wait until you’re ready to go into the oven to glaze it.

Now for the story of the corn dish (and most of you know how I love to tell stories)…..

Several years ago when I was taking french classes at Evening at Emory, one of my fellow students invited us to a birthday party for several of her Aries friends. When we arrived, the house smelled so wonderful and Liz was still hustling around the kitchen. I began asking about the various dishes and nibbles she had on the table and discovered she had made most everything from scratch, including the corn chips and pickles. Wow, was I impressed. A bit later, a most enticing aroma lured me back to the kitchen. When I inquired ‘What is that I’m smelling, Liz?” she said, “You might want to stay close by, because the dish about to come out of the oven always disappears quickly.” What came out was a 9″ x 13″ glass baking dish with a slightly puffed yellow mixture that smelled of sweet delicious corn. We swooned over each spoonful and tried not to be too hoggish about the servings, but you know how it goes with a buffet i.e. first come, first served! I asked if she would possible share the recipe. As she grinned sheepishly, she said “I think you can remember this one, Kyle.” Her mother had shared it with her.

Well, it was 2 months before I made the dish, but what a dish it is.
Here’s the recipe:

1 can whole kernel corn not drained
1 can cream corn
1 8 oz. carton sour cream
1 box Jiffy corn meal mix
1 stick margarine (butter will not work, Liz claimed and I have never deviated), softened or melted and cooled.

Combine and put in dish, bake @ 350˚ for 35-40 minutes.

How could ingredients this simple be so delicious you may well ask?

Ready for the oven.

I will recommend if you you if you bake in a soufflé dish as I have shown here your cooking time will increase to 70-85 minutes. You want a skewer to come out clean and cover with foil to keep it from browning too much.
The dish is rich and satisfying. Remember moderation is the keynote here. I did, after all use reduced-fat sour cream.

After 45 minutes, here are the golden brown delicious results.

All the dishes just out of the oven.

(I baked the corn a few more minutes on its own).

While it probably will never take the place of the Norman Rockwell magazine cover depicting a whole turkey presented at the table, my meal was thoroughly satisfying, fully appreciated and no one left the table laden with gluttonous guilt screaming ‘Get your coat, we’re leaving!’

A pescitarian Thanksgiving!

Here’s a close-up of the pot pie with its crispy, buttery delicious puff top.

The finished pot pie.

So when you’re planning your upcoming holiday feast, try to moderate yourself and your diners by keeping the meal balanced and satisfying. We all should tell the story of Thanksgiving and it’s crusader, Sarah Josepha Hale to those who gather around our table- or simply do as the British do and take everything for granted!

Toujours, bon Appetit et Joyeux Noël!
© Kyle A Nelson

‘A’ is for adventures in good food

Admittedly, I took the title of the post directly from the name of my blog, but when I was perusing my photo archives to decide what to write about, there it was, my first adventure with good french food in Nice on the Côte d’Azur.

It was 11 years ago and while my french is not good now, belive me, it was extremely limited on that first journey to a mere ‘Oui, non, and merci.’ Now while that might seem rather limiting(and it is, trust me), it certainly didn’t prevent us from having a great adventure with good food. One of our first days there we visited the very famous Cours Saleya flower and food market.

Enticingly colorful!

Offerings from the nearby sea (and beyond).

As you can see from the photos, it was raining, but if there’s one thing we’ve learned in traveling, always have an umbrella at the ready!

There's always a few Brits in Nice...can you spot them here?

If you’re lucky enough to have a kitchen(ette) in your hotel room, or have rented an apartment or nearby villa(which we usually do now if we’re staying on one city for at least a week), take your taste buds and let your eyes and nose lead the way. If you’re limited to a ‘normal’ hotel room, buy some fruit that only needs washing before consumption. Now, I will not travel, even for the day without a vegetable peeler, my opinel knife, a cork screw, bien sur!(tr. of course), and a couple of napkins. Yes, I have to carry these in my checked baggage or visit the nearest dime store upon arrival, but on more than one occasion, I hate to admit, I have had no choice but to push the wine cork into the bottle and drink directly from it, which by the way, the french locals didn’t bat an eye at, much to my amazement! It did none the less make me feel a bit like a well-dressed wino.

With your fresh fruit, a slab of cheese and a baguette, you have a picnic ready to go anywhere. How about a few minutes by the harbor while we lunch?

Now besides the thousands of raw food offerings, there are also slices of pizza and socca, honey, jams, soap and flowers. There are literally thousands of flowers.

Gorgeous floriferous display on shining pavement.

Once the cannon booms, the market begins to wind down until the next morning(every day except Monday when it’s an antique/flea market) and once the vendors are gone, the sanitation crew comes in, hoses the entire plaza and by 3:00, the restaurants fill the plaza with tables and you’d never know what had transpired that morning.

The beginning of the end. The yellow building is where Matisse once lived.

Please do take a few seconds and click on the photos to open them into their full size to appreciate and enjoy the marvelous colors. Hopefully you’ll even feel the warmth of the Riviera sun on your face and in your heart, if only for a second or two!

So the next time you find yourself in a foreign land where the language is not your native one, visit a market, even if it’s the corner grocery to have an adventure in good food. Some of our most memorable travel experiences with locals have come from these unexpected moments, where faced with a seemingly insurmountable language barrier, through a love of good food and with some discreet(and sometimes not so discreet) pointing and gesturing, we found a common thread.

Now isn’t that a real adventure in good food?

Toujours, bon appétit!
© Kyle A Nelson

‘B’ is for black bean burger patty melt

If there’s one thing our culture is more obsessed with than meat(just start noticing how many times TV commercials show you meat in a span of 30 minutes and you’ll understand what I’m saying), it’s the burger. There are hamburgers, veggie burgers, Boca burgers, portobello burgers…..you get my point. This is why after several kitchen experiments trying come up with a meat-less version, the household consensus was to begin with no longer calling it a ‘burger.’ Once that comparison was off the table, better results ensued.

Now call it what you will and if you look for recipes on the internet, you may have to call it a b*rg*r to get a reliable search result, but the word itself is almost forbidden in my household.

Now, I’m not one to re-invent the wheel, but then again, I’m not one for too many shortcuts in the kitchen either, so when the recipe called for a can of black beans, I took out some dried ones, the box of salt and brined their little hard outtards(this word is my invention- it’s the opposite of innards) overnight. I first saw this method in Cooks Illustrated and I use it almost every time I make beans from the dried form. Simply add 1/4 cup salt to a couple of quarts water and soak overnight.

After their overnight brine.

The next day they’re ready for the pressure cooker.

A great time to utilize your pressure-cooker. 2 minutes and they're done.

How’s that for energy-saving!

Next, I mashed them(I use a bean mashing tool that’s made just for this purpose, but a potato masher or even a sturdy fork will get the task accomplished), then add diced onion(I used red), cooked brown rice and one edible egg.

Additions of red onion, brown rice(cooked) and one incredible, edible egg.

Now mix together and form into portions, patties or ‘cakes.’ What you call them is your prerogative.

The mix ready for dividing into 4 portions.

Ready for a brief chill before cooking.

I practice the chill period after I form any food for grilling, griddling or broiling. It seems to congeal whatever you have chosen as a binder and most foods need a binder. Trust me on this- I’ve had plenty of my hard work disappear through the grates and disappear in a puff of smoke!

After about 20 minutes(or longer) here we are sizzling away on the griddle.

Sizzling away.

I could hardly justify calling it a patty melt without the ‘melt’ now could I?

A little slice of pepper jack couldn't hurt.

So whether you call them sandwiches, b*rg*rs, a patty melt or savory cakes-on- a-bun, you can call this version healthy and delicious!

Ready for service.

Toujours, bon appétit!
© Kyle A Nelson

‘P’ is for po’ boy

Honestly, I don’t remember how we first discovered this addition to the Buford Highway food scene about 2 years ago, but I’m so glad we did. Several New Orleans transplants run The Crawfish Shack and they are efficient, great foodies and attractive to boot. The menu is seafood as you might suspect, so if seafood is not your thing, then you might just as well keep driving.

The front counter displays an enticing assortment of fresh shrimp, tilapia, catfish, oysters and whatever offerings were fresh enough to pass inspection of the young purveyors who are usually working behind the counter in one capacity or another. The menu is on the website and I encourage you to print it out and study before you get there. The choices are not terribly numerous, but once in front of the cash register, you’re expected to order and not be too contemplative.

Now I am not one to ‘work for my supper’ when I go out to a restaurant. I do that at home, thank you. It was years before I would order fajitas because I was put off by having to put them together at the table. If I want to cook or assemble my plate, I’d just as soon stay home. Hence, I have yet to order the crawfish or boiled selections at the Crawfish House. If that’s you cup of tea, by all means, this is probably a great place to gorge on boiled/ steamed seafood. The bowls are generous and served steaming hot. The diners who partake of them seem to do lots of licking of fingers- it’s just not my preference.

But when I’m in the mood for fried shrimp or oysters, this is the direction to drive.

Now for some history excerpted from Wikipedia….

“There are countless stories as to the origin of the term po’ boy. One theory claims that “po’ boy” was coined in a New Orleans restaurant owned by Benny and Clovis Martin (originally from Raceland, LA), a former streetcar conductor. In 1929, during a four-month strike against the streetcar company, Martin served his former colleagues free sandwiches. Martin’s restaurant workers jokingly referred to the strikers as “poor boys”, and soon the sandwiches themselves took on the name. In Louisiana dialect, this is naturally shortened to “po’ boy.”
One restaurant in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, Trapani’s, insists that the name “po’ boy” came from a sandwich shop in New Orleans. If one was new to a bar and bought a nickel beer, then he got a free sandwich thrown in. This was sometimes called a “poor boy’s lunch”, which came to mean just the sandwich itself.”[end excerpt]

If you’d like to read more about the origins, here’s the NY Times article which covers the subject in-depth:

Saving New Orleans Culture, One Sandwich at a Time.

Whatever the origins, the Crawfish House has just about perfected it as far as I’m concerned. Their bread has enough body to hold together until the sandwich consumed and the seafood taken from the counter display(yes, they count the shrimp or oysters) before your very eyes, fried to order and rushed to your table as soon as the sandwich assembled.

Whether you call it po' boy, poor boy or just plain hero, it's awfully good eating.

Now if you’d like to ‘gild the lily’ so to speak, go whole hog and order onion rings and hush puppies, too. The table is laden with accouterments of ketchup, hot sauce in 2 or 3 varieties, salt, pepper and a couple of spicy sprinkles which I’m not sure what they are, but they are certainly delicious if you like it spicy(which we seem inclined to more so since we have given up meat- go figure).

Rings and hush puppies, also made to order.

Notice: These are hand-breaded. Everything here is made-to-order, so be ready to wait- it will be worth it, I promise.

Now as if you need proof, here’s the table when we had finished lunch.

Can you spot what's missing? It's the sandwiches and onion rings, silly!

And if you just can’t live without dessert…..

These are delivered to the restaurant by a real southern cook(as opposed to a 'fake' one?).

Let’s just say we pick up our desserts the moment we enter, even before we order!

So whether you call it a po’ boy, a poor boy or a hero, which is what a po’ boy is, by definition, ultimately, I call it satisfying- and delicious indeed!

Toujours, bon appétit!

© Kyle A Nelson

‘N’ is for noodle

Remember when you thought your parents were a bit odd, if not fully mental, when they spoke of ‘the good-ol’ days?’ Well I have those feelings a bit every time I enter our favorite Vietnamese soup hangout Pho Bac. It’s not that I crave the meat or miss the ground pork-filled Chả_giò that much(they are after all, quite delicious),

Cha gio

but in ‘the good ol days’ we were simply 2 number 7′s, medium and a #37, 4 pieces. We often would joke that they probably turned our order in when they saw my truck pull into the parking lot or at least by the time we walked in and seated. This was for many years our Sunday evening ritual after working at the salon and I was too tired to cook. What better way to end a work day than a big bowl of steaming beef soup with aromatic vegetables and for $5.95 to boot. These days, we’re not nearly so quick and easy.

Whether you call them noodles, pasta or spaghetti, they contain flour, water and sometimes egg. Almost every culture in the world has them and most likely it was our pal, Marco Polo who brought them from the Orient along the silk road back to Venice. I will, sometime in the future do a posting showing the steps of making your own noodles. As Julia would say, “Let’s not be noodle snobs, but they’re not like anything you’ve ever tasted. Once you make your own, you’ll never go back to store-bought.” I won’t say I never serve store-bought, but I am usually asked “Why are we having store-bought and not home-made noodles?”, when I serve them.

Now, back to the subject at hand. Since we are technically pescetarian, the shrimp noodle bowl at the pho house is a choice as is their vegetarian noodle bowl. Now, while I enjoy tofu occasionally, the veggie noodle bowl had almost an entire block of tofu atop the noodles and I found when I ordered it, I became tired of it long before the last slice consumed. Our next visit I opted for the grilled shrimp vermicelli and found it more to my liking.

The garnish of peanuts, slivers of cucumbers, carrots, radishes and cilantro is highly aromatic and keeps the taste-buds dancing. The bowl on the side is nước chấm (I do hope all the accents show up on your monitor!), or Vietnamese dipping sauce. This is a fish-sauce based sauce with a little sugar, water and Thai pepper, radish and carrot as garnish.

Since we eschew ground pork these days, and the cha gio are already made at this restaurant, we began with a spring roll. I am a real stickler for NOT repeating ingredients in a menu, but this day I excepted because we were so ravenous(as we seem to always be at lunch, no matter how big a breakfast we eat).

Vietnamese spring roll with peanut dipping sauce.

I know it’s more shrimp, but we’re still figuring out this pescetarianism, so we’re eating a good deal more seafood, especially in restaurants. These little rolls are sheets of rice paper wrappers around shredded lettuce, clear rice noodles(I know, yet another menu repeat), and halved boiled shrimp.

Now in reference to the name of this post, I’ll say we’ve eaten more than our fair share of noodles since this pescetarianism began, but just this morning over a bowl of spicy vegetable fried rice, we agreed that we haven’t really missed meat. That’s not to say if I got a whiff of a simmering daube de bouef my mouth wouldn’t water, but there’s been no cravings of “Oh my, I’ve got to have a piece of chicken” since we first gave it up. Just last weekend a friend invited us for supper to visit with one of our god-children who was visiting rom California. When I reminded her we weren’t eating meat, I quickly followed with “Now’s your chance to un-invite us if you’d like(she didn’t).” We had a wonderful meal of fresh tomatoes, fresh cold corn, cantaloupe, ratatouille and tuna salad followed by a plate of lemon squares and brownies that hit the spot, too. We departed the evening satisfied but not stuffed.

If you’re wondering how the visit to the Pho house ended, well, as they say, ‘a picture’s worth a thousand words.’ The table looks annihilated, but the diners were happy campers as we waddled home.

Those voracious pescetarians have been here again, haven't they?!?!

(I urge you to click on it and see for yourself the remains of a wonderfully summertime meal. So wonderful in fact, I’d be happy to have it in the middle of winter!)

‘F’ is for fuzzy

When my new best friend, Laura recently bestowed me a most bountiful gift, 1/2 bushel of fresh South Carolina peaches which she had driven to the state line that very day to pick up, I began to wonder, why are peaches fuzzy?

The bountiful basket of fuzzy deliciousness. Ah, the aroma!

ralston suggested that it was to repel insects and he was correct. The fuzz also protects the tender skin from disease and prevents dehydration and sunburn- much the same way our ‘peach-fuzz’ protects us.

Now for some history…

The peach originated in China and is a member of the rose family. It’s botanical name, Prunus persica, references it’s journey along the silk road into Persia. While we may think we have the market cornered since we live in the peach state and every other street in Atlanta bears the fruit’s name, China is still the largest producer of the orbs that are the pits. (Next in total production is Italy).

Now, to address the task at hand. How best to use and preserve these beauties? I make muffins- a lot of muffins. We usually start our day with a muffin of some variety and I couldn’t resist trying some diced peaches in a muffin, especially while they were firm enough to hold up to the gluten assault from the batter beating. Here’s the result.

Walnut, peach and banana muffins for breakfast.

My next effort was simply peaches and cream. This combination just made me crave cake to go with them.

The following day I baked a white velvet butter cake.

Dessert is served!

What a fantastic ending to the meal. The ending was so good, I don’t remember what the meal was!

Now, where did I put that spoon?

Even though the photo shows a cake knife & fork, we usually resort to spoons to slurp up every drop of syrup(yes, in the Japanese tradition, at my table, slurping is a compliment to the cook).

By now, the supply is diminished, but the surfeit continued to ripen by the minute and my freezer was full.

As luck would have it, I took out my copy of The Art of the Slow Cooker and in the first few pages, Andrew gives simple instructions for a whole list of foods. Peaches were in the list. Well, that afternoon, I peeled and pitted and peeled and pitted until the sink was full of refuse. I sliced some, added a scant 1/4 cup of sugar and a vanilla bean and cranked the slow cooker to low for 4 hours.

Is this a crock or what?

The exuded juice was luscious while maintaining the body and structure of the fruit. What resulted was entirely different from the syrup produced without cooking.

There were a few left, so I sliced them and macerated them with a little sugar, lemon juice and vanilla bean.

Macerating with a vanilla bean.

Now, as I said before, the freezer was full, but I did have some canning jars in my food container drawer. My Mother canned a good bit every summer(this was most likely the most science my Mother, the first grade teacher ever did). We children were not allowed to help except for stringing the mountains of green beans or shucking truck loads of corn. There was always a threat of exploding pressure cookers and dropping boiling vats of water on yourself. These threats were enough to scare me from ever trying this method- until now. The glass jars needed meticulous sterilization and handling with tongs. The process used equipment that was only used for canning which only added to its mystery- never mind the threat of explosions and botulism.

Last Saturday I grabbed my 1977 edition of The Joy of Cooking and read the section on canning. It’s actually a pretty simple procedure involving clean jars, canning lids and a cauldron of boiling water with a rack in the bottom. 30 minutes later, “Viola!”

My first attempt at old-fashioned canning.

After their 12 hour cooling, they were ready for storage until winter- or until I crave a peach cobbler. I wonder which will come first?

Toujours, bon appétit!
© Kyle A. Nelson

‘V’ is for vegetarian

I will admit I have ‘borrowed’ the title of this and another recent post from M.F.K. Fisher’s 1949 classic An Alphabet For Gourmets. If you haven’t read it, add it to your library and do so. It’s quite good and thoroughly entertaining.

About 6 weeks ago, I saw Kathy Freston interviewed by Charlie Rose. Here’s a link to the interview if you’d like to watch it- Kathy Freston on Charlie Rose. I ordered her book, Veganist and began reading it. One of the things that stuck in my mind from the interview was her comment that if each person would eat vegan just one day a week, it would be equal to taking 8 million vehicles off the road in the lessening of greenhouse gases.

Shortly after beginning the book, we decided to try eating meat-less, but would continue to consume dairy, eggs and seafood, as long as they were responsibly and sustainably farmed without the aid of hormones and antibiotics and the seafood caught from the wild. Well, I am happy to say we have been vegetarian for about 5 weeks with no regrets and no one is weak or anemic as a result.

One big change is the way I read and browse my cookbooks. One of the most recent purchases before deciding to try vegetarianism was America’s Test Kitchen Slow Cooker Revolution. Not wanting to waste a perfectly good new book, I went to it last weekend in search of something, anything that would fit into the new eating regiment. How delighted I was to find several recipes that not only contained only plant-derived ingredients, but they sounded delicious and the pictures appetizing.

The first one I tried was the Black Bean Vegetarian Chili. I know summertime may seem an odd time for chili, but conventionality(if I may, as the late Dr. Karl Haas would say) has never been my way, so off to the market to ‘fill in the blanks’ of the ingredient list. I was always a loyal listener of Dr. Haas, whose radio program inspired the name of this blog.

The assembled ingredients.

Now, down to the business of preparation. Let’s just say your knife skills will improve after this.

Mince, mince and mince some more!

Make sure you wash your hands after handling spicy peppers! If you don’t and touch your eyes, you’ll be SORRY!

The vegetables and spices get sautéed before the cooker.

The vegetables get sautéed until soft and lightly colored.

Everything into the crock-pot ready for the overnight sojourn.

Cover the pot, set on low and bonne nuit!

The next morning, the most intoxicating aroma filled the house. Remove 1 cup of the mixture and mash it, then return it to the slow-cooker with the chopped tomatoes.

Mashing 1 cup of the chili after it cooks.

After all the mincing, maybe the most difficult part of this recipe is not devouring it right away, but I wanted it to meld overnight in the refrigerator, besides, I completed it on July 4th and I thought it would have been unpatriotic NOT to have burgers for the holiday. Yes, we did, but they were veggie burgers and we enjoyed them every bit as much as we would have hamburgers.

The next day, I reheated it, added the herbage and VIOLA! Lunch is ready!

The flavors were deep, dark and delicious.

I served a simple green salad and Vermont common crackers from the Vermont Country Store and some shredded white cheddar cheese. I suppose anytime of the year is a good time for comfort food and this was wonderfully comforting not only for the palate but for the soul.

I served a bibb lettuce salad and common crackers with the chili.

Toujours, bon appétit!
© Kyle A Nelson

Summer Vacation

Unfortunately, due to several household projects around my condo scheduled for this year, we are foregoing a trip other than a possible quick visit to Tybee Island this fall. As much as we would love to go to France, it was just not the fiscally responsible thing to do until a few of the household renovations are completed- and paid for.

Fortunately though, our friends who are traveling have been generous enough to share some photos.

Ah, the Côte d'Azur!

This incredible view looks out to the Mediterranean along the Côte d’Azur. Please click on the image and open them to their full-size to enjoy the color and details.
It’s almost as good as being there in person. I keep telling myself this, hoping if I say it enough, I’ll eventually believe it!

The quintessential French farmhouse.

This is the classic French country farmhouse, even though very little farming goes on anymore. Don’t miss the fabulous wisteria clambering around the windows on the second floor. Just close your eyes and imagine the warm sun on your skin and the scent of the flowers.

One of the most famous(and fiercely debated- the French love to debate most anything and there are as many opinions as there are Frenchmen) dishes of this part of the French coast is the classic salade Niçoise. It may well be the most famous composed salad in the world. This means simply, the ingredients dressed separately, arranged artfully on the platter(or individual plates) and served. As Julia said, ‘some people toss everything together and it looks like dog food.’ Certainly a less-than-appetizing description in my opinion.

The debate originates as so many food debates in France do about what is the most classic approach, which ingredients are essential and which are optional according to season and region. I have ordered this salad many times in France and each time it varies ever so slightly. Sometimes anchovies included, sometimes not. Sometimes the potatoes are steamed, other times boiled. Most often though, the green beans are ever-present, as is the tuna(always canned or bottled, never fresh) and the dressing is always vinaigrette. If you’ve never had bottled tuna packed in oil, look for it in a speciality market. In my neighborhood, you can find it at Toscano and Sons Italian Market and it is just delicious.

Here’s the bountiful table during preparation.

The 'bare-bone' ingredients during preparation.

Looks like the only thing missing is the al fresco dining area. Oh, here it is…

Lunch, anyone?

And here is the presentation. Doesn’t this look just delicious? Here’s the line-up from the top going clockwise-

stuffed eggs- 2 kinds, quail and chicken(notice how yellow the yolks of French eggs are due to their diet), tiny black niçoise olives, cherry tomato halves, haricot vert(tiny green beans), new red potatoes, anchovies and tuna, all atop buttery green leaf lettuce.

A perfect salade niçoise- lyrically composed!

If you serve in this way(from a platter), each plate gets a bit of each ingredient. Usually extra vinaigrette is alongside.

Next time you make a salad for your mealtime, whether it be a salade niçoise or a green salad with tomato wedges and carrots, try this method of composing it artfully for presentation, and you may just may hear in the background the crashing of the barricades and those famous words ‘Allons enfants de la Patrie, le jour de gloire est arrivé……

Toujours, bon appétit!
© Kyle A Nelson

Muffin, muffin, who’s got the muffin?

This will most likely be a short posting. For the past 2 weeks, I have nursed a badly bruised/sprained wrist, so typing is not only not fun, but a bit painful, even wearing a wrist support. It was a stupid accident(aren’t they always?). No matter, mouths must be fed and whilst we have eaten out more than usual in the past 2 weeks, I have managed to cook some, mostly with the help of anti-inflammatories and my trusty Kitchen-aid mixer.

One of my first days of injury, the only comfortable place was reclining on the bed, so what else is there to watch on tele at 4:00 in the afternoon, but Nigella Lawson on Cooking Channel. This particular day’s show was Comfort Foods.

Muffins are something I make a lot. After coffee, six days a week, I begin with a muffin before my 4-5 mile walk. I make blueberry, cherry, banana, oat bran or whatever I happen to have on hand, so when I saw this version, I printed it and made some the next day. They are Chocolate Chocolate-Chip Muffins and the recipe is here. Due to copyrights of most of the cookbooks I work from, I normally can’t put recipes here, but this one is on the Cooking Channel web site, so you can try your hand at them.

Cooling off.

The ingredients are basic supermarket fair- nothing exotic. If you bake at all, they are likely in your pantry.

Breakfast anyone?

Is there any food more satisfying than chocolate? If there is, I don’t what! So continues my adventures in good food. I’m almost certain, I read on WebMD that chocolate was the cure for sprained muscles.

Toujours, bon appétit!
© Kyle A. Nelson

‘T’ is for tart- or is it tatin?

If there’s nothing more American than apple pie, perhaps there’s nothing more French than apple tarts. One of the easiest and most favored in my household is the upside-down french version named after two sisters from just south of Orlèans on the Loire River. It is the tart Tatin-[tah-TAN]. It’s preparation is fairly elementary, but the method varies from book to book. I love everything Julia, but one evening while reading Susan Herrmann Loomis’s The French Farmhouse Cookbook (yes, I sit around and read cookbooks) I saw her method for the tart and it seemed almost too easy. You sprinkle sugar over butter slices in an iron skillet, place your apples atop the butter/sugar, and cook slowly until the apples are tender, basting them occasionally. Top with pie dough, bake, invert and ‘Viola!’ You have a classic french dessert to serve. I am showing a 3-4 serving size in a 6-7″ skillet.

The humble beginnings butter & sugar.

Apple preparation gets underway.

Note: In this photo you can see my method of apple preparation. Top to bottom: Take a small slice off the top and bottom, peel with a vegetable peeler; slice in two, top to bottom, then use a melon baller to remove the core, seeds, and upper and lower sliver of peel. They are ready for wedging or slicing. Try it!

Almost ready for the stove top.

Make the first layer of apples as neat as you can. This will be the ‘up’ side once you invert it to the plate or platter. The next layers won’t really show, so use up the odd-shaped bits.

Bubbling it's way to buttery deliciousness.

While the apples become tender (I check and baste them about every 8- 10 minutes, shaking the skillet to loosen them if they stick- which sometimes they do anyway), I make the crust. If you like, you certainly could use a packaged crust from the dairy case, but there’s nothing like your own with fresh butter. If you have a food processor, it almost forms itself. While the apples get tender in their butter-bath, rest your dough in the refrigerator.

The apple mixture should cook v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y and bubble lazily for 30-40 minutes. Once the apples are tender, roll out your dough and make sure your oven preheated to 425º.

Dough is rolled and ready for placement.

Next is the arduous task of fitting the flat dough into a round form, which is most likely still quite hot from its time on the stove top, but the heat softens the dough and it will conform with some prodding and careful manipulation.

Fitting a flat object into a round opening.

Ready for the oven.

Now it bakes for about 25 minutes until the crust is, as they say, golden,brown and delicious. Once it is, carefully invert it to a plate or serving dish keeping in mind once again the skillet is HOT!

The tart Tatin ready for serving.

Here’s the finished tart Tatin which as Julia might say, “Ain’t gonna win no beauty contest,” but it is delicious. Remember those sister’s I mentioned? Well, they made their living off this tart for a good part of their lives. The rustic quality is part of its charm. If a couple of apple slices stick to the bottom- as they often do, carefully dislodge them and put them back in their place once you have the finished tart situated.

A close-up of the flaky, buttery crust.

While the top may appear burnt, I assure you it is not. It is deeply caramelized and that means deep, unctuous flavor. A scoop of ice cream or whipped cream completes the picture. It’s a very tasty treat indeed.

The tart is served!

If it helps assuage your guilt as you scrape the plate with your spoon to get every bit of goodness, keep repeating in your mind, “An apple a day…..”

Toujours, bon appétit!
© Kyle A Nelson