2007

2007 tomorrow.

Remember when you used to talk about how old you would be in the year 2000?


Pin It

Our Anniversary Lunch

Today is our wedding anniversary and every year we celebrate by choosing a special place to have lunch.
The last two years we've eaten at a wonderful restaurant, La Table Saint Crescent, in Narbonne. It is in a beautiful building, a former 7th century Oratory, on the outskirts of town and next to, of all things, a McDonald's!
Their Saveur & Région menu is four courses for 37 €, and for an additional 5 € it is offered with three glasses of wine to compliment the two savory and one cheese course. They offer three other menu's, ranging in price from 20 € for the menu du jour to 69 € for seven courses! They also offer à la carte. The food has always been excellent and the service impeccable.
And if your wine cellar looks a bit depleted, adjacent to the restaurant is a wine shop, training center and headquarters of the Independent Winegrower's Association, Le Palais du Vin.

This year we wanted to try something new. We've been trying to decide where to go for a couple of months and have been looking at the Michelin Red Guide for the area as well as asking friends for their recommendations.
We found a review of L'Auberge Côté Jardin in Conilhac Corbières on a local website and have been thinking about trying it ever since.
They offer three menu's, 16 € for the menu du jour, 25 € and 35 €. We chose the 25 € menu which consisted of an amuse-bouche, an entrée, a main course and either a cheese course or dessert.
The meal started with homemade cheese straws with our first glass of wine. This was a nice touch as nibbles are usually only served if an apéritif is ordered.
The amuse-bouche was an oyster gratinéed with mushroom cream sauce. The flavor of both shallots and mushrooms came through without hiding the taste of the warmed oyster and the gratinéed cream on top was perfectly puffed and golden.
I tried the soupe de poisson for an entrée. It was gorgeous! Most of the fish soup I've had in this area has been a bit thin and watery but this was just the right thickness, with tomatoes and herbs and a delicious fish flavor. My husband tried the terrine de gibiers (a pâté of game meat) served with a sauce gribiche and homemade toasts. We were both very happy with our choices.
We had the same main course, a boneless leg of capon, rolled and cooked in a cocotte (a covered casserole dish) and served with a quenelle of cooked red cabbage on mashed potatoes with sautéd carrots and sautéd wild mushrooms on either side. The flavor of everything was perfect and I was very happy with the variety of vegetables.
We both decided to have dessert instead of cheese. I chose the trio of homemade sorbets and was sadly disappointed. The flavors of the day were strawberry, orange and apple. The strawberry was good but the orange was mediocre and the apple was too icy and had very little flavor. My husband had the apple crumble. It was good, with slices of kiwi fruit mixed into the apple and a nice aroma of crushed almonds coming from the crumble topping, but not exceptional.
Overall, L'Auberge Côté Jardin was a great restaurant. We loved the food and the service was very friendly. Our server kindly offered to help us choose wine to go with our meal and wanted to practice his English with us. The restaurant's only weakness was the desserts, but the quality of the savory courses more than made up for it.
They have a beautiful terrace and I can imagine sitting outside in the summer, enjoying a long, leisurely lunch. We look forward to our next visit.
Lunch for the two of us with a bottle of wine and two coffee's was 74 €.

Today is also my niece's birthday. Happy Birthday Morgan!
Pin It

Making Bread

Yeah, I love the no-knead bread recipe. I love the crumb and the crispy crust and think it is really delicious.
However, I have to think about starting it the day before I want it and sometimes that is just too damn far in advance! I like to know that I can walk in the door at 5 pm and have bread for dinner at 8 pm.
A little less than a year ago, I started this blog with a post about bread. I haven't made this bread in months and this afternoon we got home from a Boxing Day party at our English friend's house and I was really craving some homemade bread with dinner. Obviously the no-knead recipe wouldn't do. So I returned to this older recipe that got me excited about making bread in the first place.
I plan on sautéing some red onions with thyme and folding them into the dough with feta cheese before baking. Cream of broccoli soup will be served alongside. Yum! Pin It

Last Night's Hasenpfeffer

The hasenpfeffer was really good but the rabbit meat was a bit dry. The traditional recipe calls for hare, which I think would be better.
The sauce though...WOW! Luckily I served some rice on the side so we all had lots of sauce and rice. I also made some no-knead bread for our friend to taste. He makes his own sourdough bread every day and was impressed with the texture and flavor of the no-knead recipe.

Hasenpfeffer

Marinade:
2 cups red wine
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 rabbit or hare, cut into 6 or 8 serving pieces, about 3 lbs or 1.5 kilos
several sprigs fresh parsley or thyme, tied together
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

4 thick slices bacon or 150 grams lardons
2 cups minced onion
1 cup peeled and diced carrot
1 cup diced celery
1/2 lb wild or button mushrooms, chopped
flour for dredging
1/2 ounce unsweetened chocolate

Mix together the marinade in a bowl large enough to hold all the rabbit pieces comfortably and leave in the refrigerator overnight. (12 to 24 hours) Try to turn the pieces at least once for even marinating.
Remove the rabbit pieces from the marinade, pat them dry and strain the marinade, reserving the liquid to use later on.
Cut the bacon into pieces (not necessary if using lardons) and render over low heat in a Dutch oven or large, deep skillet. As soon as it starts to crisp remove it to paper towels with a slotted spoon. Add the minced onion, chopped carrot and celery and mushrooms to the pan and cook over medium-low heat until the vegetables are soft. Remove them and set aside with the bacon, leaving any fat or liquid in the pan. If the pan is dry, put in a bit of butter.
Turn the heat up to medium-high and dredge the rabbit pieces in flour. Brown them well on both sides, sprinkling with salt and pepper as they brown. Put the bacon and vegetables back in the pan as soon as the rabbit has browned and add the reserved marinade liquid and the herbs. Turn the heat up a bit, bring the liquid to a boil and add the chocolate and more pepper, stirring well afterward.
Lower the heat until simmering gently, cover and cook about an hour until the rabbit is tender and the sauce is nice and thick. Do not overcook the rabbit, it tends to be a drier meat than chicken.
Remove the herbs, check for seasoning and serve with buttered rice, noodles or polenta and plenty of good bread.

I will definitely make this again, but with chicken legs. I think they will be delicious with the sauce. Pin It

Fêtes, etc

Is it Saturday already?
We've spent the week running errands (haircut for me, fixing car, grocery shopping, doctor's appointment) and dealing with bureaucracy (getting all the information together on the list for my husband's carte de séjour renewal, going to the CPAM to find out why I had two carte vitales intead of just one) and going to fêtes!
Our neighbors had a great one Tuesday night, then there was a holiday choral concert Wednesday night, spent Thursday night having dinner at a friend's and yesterday we spent the afternoon at a party with about 50 people and several dogs.

Tonight we have friends coming for dinner and I'm cooking rabbit for the first time. I can't believe I'm actually cooking rabbit! I used to have them as pets and would never, ever consider eating them. When we first came to France we both agreed that we wouldn't eat rabbit...until our good friend's served it up one night at dinner and we were too polite to say anything. It was delicious but has taken me three years to try to cook it myself.
I've taken a recipe for hasenpfeffer from Mark Bittman's The Best Recipes in the World. I've had great luck with every dish I've cooked from this book, so I expect tonight will be no different. Pin It

My Vinaigrier

I wrote about my desire for a vinaigrier back in October and Thursday I found one while out on a wine buying trip to the CDD, a shop for locally made products.
They had just come in and had just been put out on the shelf. There were only four of them, this being the only green one.

I love early christmas presents!


Pin It

Reality Check

We were feeling soooo cocky. So proud of ourselves, thinking we had it all figured out.
"We know how this system works. We've been here 4 years and this year's carte de séjour renewal should be a piece of gateau."

The French should want us here, right? We pay our taxes, contribute to sécurité sociale, support the local vignerons (hey, we try to do our part) and I'm now a business owner. We're upstanding residents, supporting the French economy. They should make it easier for us, right?
WRONG
Monday I went to the mairie to try to find out why my husband's carte de séjour renewal is over 2 months late. He needs to travel to America next month to attend a memorial service for the family member we lost recently and needs his new carte de séjour before he leaves. The secretary at the mairie, who is definitely on our side, made a couple of calls to the sous-préfecture to explain the urgency and by Thursday had a letter in hand stating that they needed five more documents to complete his dossier. FIVE! In addition to all the paperwork we turned in on September first!

-4 more pictures (they already have 4 that we gave them in September, plus all the others we've provided every year for 4 years. and they've never used one of them)
-Tax returns
-An attestation stating that our bank accounts are healthy and that we have enough money to live here. (haven't we proven this by now?)
-An attestation stating that he will not try to work in France.
-Photocopies of his pension. (which we also gave them in September)

So on Friday we got the attestations taken care of and tried to get the pictures taken in one of those machines. Of course the damn machine was broken. The pictures were all too dark and when I explained this to the manager of the shop, because I wanted a refund for the 8 euros we'd spent taking pictures we couldn't possibly use, he argued that we hadn't closed the curtains! Of course we closed the curtains! Duh....
So he had to prove himself that we were wrong by taking more pictures, which of course were all too dark, and finally agreed that we weren't complete idiots and gave us our money back. I think he just wanted to get rid of us by that point.

I am tired.
And frustrated.
When does it get easier???
Pin It

Calzone

cal·zo·ne noun

A baked or fried Italian turnover of pizza dough filled with vegetables, meat, or cheese. (American Heritage Dictionary definition)

Originating in Naples, calzone is a half-moon shaped stuffed pizza. It is usually made as an individual serving. The fillings can be various meats, vegetables or cheese; mozzarella is the cheese used most frequently. Calzones can be deep-fried or brushed with olive oil and baked. (Barron's Food Lover's Companion definition)

A meal of unmitigated deliciousness. (My definition)


*before baking...notice the dog treats in the background...


*beautiful and golden with some warmed up chunky-garlicky tomato sauce drizzled on top

These were stuffed with sauteed red onion, garlic, red and green peppers which were mixed with ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, salt, pepper and oregano.
The dough is regular pizza dough. Pin It

Our South of France, Part I

When I tell people I live in the south of France they always envision the beautifully colored lavender fields of Provence or the sun washed villas along the coast of the Côte d'Azur.
No, we don't live in a villa with a swimming pool or a mas provençal with olive trees and vineyards. We live in a 3 story, small village house in the middle of, well...nowhere.
La France Profonde. We live in the country.
I had to convince one friend that Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis are not our neighbors. The only celebrities around here are a well known English wine guru who has a holiday home 15 minutes away and the vineyards owned by Gérard Depardieu and Johnny Hallyday.

As our 84 year old neighbor replied when I returned from a weekend in Barcelona, I've never been to Spain.
Spain is just over an hour's drive away. And she's never been.
She's from the village down the road, all of one mile away, and is married to a local. They live in the house that he was born in and two of their son's, several grandchildren and a couple of cousins live in the village. In fact, if you counted all the members of this family, they probably make up 10 % of the village population. Which is 400.
Well, 402, if you count us. Pin It

Some Pictures

I've finally loaded some photos of some of the recipes I've posted the last couple of weeks. I couldn't get them onto the computer until this morning. Pin It

The To Do List

I posted a To Do list yesterday. Here's how it is going so far...

1) I've made 3 cards.
2) I've been to the local post office who sent me to the nearest La Poste distribution center where I was told that sending a fax to the distribution center in Paris where my packages are was "pas possible" because they didn't have their phone or fax numbers and was told to go home and look on La Poste's website. I did. The website's window for tracking packages had a phone number, which I called. I spoke to a very nice, young woman, gave her my US Postal Service tracking numbers and she replied with "mais, ici ce n'est pas la Poste." (this is not the Post Office) Hmmm...confusing since I took their number from La Poste's website. She gave me another phone number, which I called and spoke to another nice, young woman who told me I had the wrong office. She gave me yet another phone number, which I called and heard a message telling me that they were experiencing technical difficulties, then hung up on me. sigh
3) the Carte Vitale...must go to Béziers for that and Monday and Tuesday are the busiest days at the CPAM office. The trip has been put off until Wednesday or Thursday.
4) I haven't made any cookies

But the day isn't over yet! Pin It

The Impending Holidays

The only thing I've heard being discussed since Friday...the holidays.
A mere 5 days until the first night of Hanukkah, 2 weeks until Christmas and New Year's Eve only 3 weeks away. I've got to get the latke ingredients together, bake cookies for friends and neighbors, do up some holiday cards to send, decide if we're hosting a New Year's Eve fête (and if so, decide on a menu) and buy some gifts for a couple of friend's kids.
And it took me three days just to find the twinkle lights I'd stored last year in a cupboard in where I thought would be an obvious place. It wasn't.

To Do Monday
1) make holiday cards
2) go to la Poste to try to track down a couple of mis-addressed packages from the States (good luck on that one)
3) find out why I was given an extra Carte Vitale. I now have three. I should only have one. (gotta love that French bureaucracy)
4) make these cookies

Peppery Chocolate Cookies

1 1/2 cup flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup lightly-packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whisk the dry ingredients in a bowl until thoroughly combined. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar together. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the egg and vanilla and beat on high speed until fluffy, about 1 minute. Gradually stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture until just incorporated.
Turn the dough out onto some wax paper and use the paper to shape the dough into a cylinder about 10 inches long and 2 inches in diameter. Wrap up tightly, twisting the ends to seal and refrigerate for at least an hour. The dough can also be frozen up to three months.
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Cut chilled dough into 1/4 inch thick slices. If it was previously frozen let it rest at room temperature for 5 minutes before slicing. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet about 1 inch apart and bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool a bit on the cookie sheet before removing to a cooling rack.
Makes approx. 2 dozen cookies.

Pin It

Jambalaya Recipe

It took me a couple of extra days to get this recipe written down due to some car trouble and a long lunch with friends. But here it is!
And it is really, really delicious.

The quantity serves six regular or four very hungry people.


Ham and Shrimp Creole Jambalaya

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup chopped onions
1 cup chopped green peppers
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 pound medium-sized shrimp, peeled and deveined
4 fragrant bay leaves
1 pound boiled ham, cut into small cubes, about 1/2 inch in size
1 can (14 oz.) whole tomatoes
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 to 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, depending on your taste
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup long grain rice
1/2 cup chopped green/spring onion





Heat the oil in a Dutch oven or other pot with a heavy bottom over medium heat. Add the onions, celery and green pepper and sauté until soft and starting to brown a bit. Add the shrimp and bay leaves and cook about 2 minutes, stirring, until the shrimp turn pink. Add the ham and sauté another 2 minutes. Crush the tomatoes with their juice and add them to the pot with the garlic, salt, thyme, cayenne and black pepper and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring often. Add the rice and stir to coat all the grains. Cover, turn the heat down to medium-low and cook for 20-25 minutes until the rice is tender and the liquid has been absorbed.
Take the pot off the heat and allow to sit for about 5 minutes then stir in the green onions and remove the bay leaves and serve.
I always have some Crystal hot sauce available, just in case it needs a bit more kick. Pin It

Books and Cookbooks

Leite's Culinaria has released a list of their Best 20 Books for 2006.
They all look like wonderful books to add to a collection. Pin It

Winter Has Arrived So I'm Making Jambalaya

We've been lucky. And spoiled. (and reveling in it!)
Our weather this autumn has been glorious! It was almost 70 degrees on Monday and the daytime temperatures for the last month have been in the mid 60's. We've had little rain, very little wind, which we usually have a lot of in this area, and one sunny day after another.

Alas, all good things must come to an end.

It appears that winter has arrived. Today is dark and cloudy and windy. We need all the heaters on in the house and my fingers are freezing while I type this post.
The meteo shows a bit of sun tomorrow morning, then rain, rain and more rain until Saturday.

So, what to make for dinner?
Well, I have more of that no-knead bread dough ready to bake and I think some jambalaya would be perfect for a cold, windy night like tonight. I usually make Cajun-style jambalaya with chicken and smoked sausage (which replaces andouille, which I've never seen here). Tonight I'm going to try a "red" jambalaya, made with tomatoes, which is often called New Orleans Creole-style jambalaya. It is also made with onion, bell peppers, celery, ham, shrimp and the all-important cayenne pepper.
I'll post the recipe tomorrow. Pin It

All Six Pounds of Him

I have got to stop taking pictures of the dogs when I'm bored. Pin It

Sunday Night

We have this new channel on Canal Satellite called the North American Sports Network, which offers live sports and sport's news from America and Canada.
It is Sunday night. That means live Sunday football from America. And tomorrow is Monday. That means live Monday night football. My husband couldn't be happier.
I am in hell.
Tonight I've closed myself off in the computer room to get away from the sound of the sportscasters, who I swear are the same as the one's I've heard my entire life. Do these men never go away? Do they never retire?
I thought I was done with American football and sports in general when we moved to France. I was granted three blissful years of peace and then Canal Satellite had to go and add this new channel to their system.
Curses! Pin It

Vin d'Oranges Tasting

Well, it's official.
The vin d'oranges is really good!

Try making it...you'll see.

Pin It