Like To Cook

Since I started contributing at Like to Cook, I've been posting the majority of my recipes and food stories, other than La Fête du Fromage, over there.

Also, Like to Cook has a new look!
It has been relaunched with new colors and a new photo. I'm pleased with the results. Let me know what you think.

In the last week I've written recipes for Moroccan Chicken and Quince Stew, Pumpkin Soup, Brandy and Honey Figs and my favorite Bolognese Sauce that I made yesterday.



Some Bolognese photos...

sautéeing the carrots, celery, onions and pancetta


after the beef has cooked, just before the tomatoes are added


the finished spaghetti Bolognese Pin It

Photo du Jour

Wearing some autumn colors.
As soon as the grapes are picked, the leaves turn color quickly and fall off. We try to enjoy the beautiful reds and golds while we can. Pin It

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They're still harvesting the fat bunches of grapes.

Most of the vines have been stripped, leaving behind a grape here and there. I tasted one yesterday while out for a walk. Delicious! Pin It

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Early morning light on the vines. This is just around the corner from our house. Pin It

Saying Au Revoir to Summer

The last of the eggplants were harvested from the garden today.
Tonight I'm using them to make ratatouille with the remaining, sad looking zucchini I found at the market on Tuesday and some super ripe - almost too ripe - tomatoes.

A final taste of summer and sunshine on our plates.


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Photo du Jour Avec Passion

Passion flower growing up a wall.

There is no cooler looking flower! Pin It

Twas a Dark and Stormy Night....

Well, not really.
Dark and windy night, yes!

Luckily I have a couple portions of Boeuf Bourguignon in the freezer that I made a week ago. I'm not in the mood to cook.
On the side, instead of polenta or steamed potatoes, tonight I'm making a side of Ebly.

Ebly? What the hell is Ebly, you might ask.
Those of you living in France (or the rest of Europe?) will most likely know about these little grains of pre-cooked wheat.
Ebly - Tendre Blé
I don't know how processed this stuff is. The box and the website says it's full of fiber, vitamins and minerals. Doesn't matter to me, I love it!

There's even a recipe on their site for Ebly Carbonara that is surprisingly quite good. (sorry, it's in French) Pin It

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A tunnel through the old rempart walls. I love these! They feel like secret passageways. Pin It

La Fête du Fromage With Gaperon

Pepper!
Garlic!

Gaperon d'Auvergne is bewitching!



Little dome shaped Gaperon d'Auvergne has been produced for over 1200 years in the high plains of south central France. It's name comes from the word ''gap,'' or "gape," the word for buttermilk in the Auvernat dialect, as this cheese was traditionally made with the whey that remained after the butter making. Gaperon is no longer hung and aged by the fire in the farmhouse. Affinage is now done on rye straw in damp cellars, where the white rind takes on a blue grey hue as it matures.
It is made with raw cow's milk that is spiked with cracked peppercorns and local, pink garlic, creating a complex, pronounced and unique flavor. The interior's texture is buttery and creamy, similar to a ripe Brie or Camembert.
We've fallen head over heels with this one!
Gaperon's remarkable, striking flavor would be complimented perfectly by a glass of Côtes du Rhone.


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Photo du Jour

It's Tuesday, la Fête du Fromage, so what better photo that la fromagerie? Pin It

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Fresh wine. Pin It

French Cheese

As Slow Food's Cheese event in Italy goes on without me this weekend, (how could they!) I thought I should take some time to reflect upon my cheese tasting adventures over the last five months.

La Fête du Fromage was born April 18 and since then I've tasted 49 cheeses. Well, 50 if you count the Bleu de Chèvre and Chèvre Bleu as different cheeses. They looked and tasted completely different, so I do.

My favorite fromage has to be the heady, earthy and exquisite Banon.

And the most foul tasting, evil cheese has to be the infamous Boulette d'Avesnes. I know there are those out there who love it, but I'll happily steer clear of this one in the future.

I equally love the different qualities of sheep, goat and cow's milk cheeses. They've all impressed me in different ways. Before la Fête I thought that fromage de brebis would be my all around favorite. Not so.

There are some excellent cheese sources out there on the Internet.
Fromages.com has been extremely helpful, as has univers-fromages.com

I plan on continuing with la Fête du Fromage for a while longer. I've yet to taste Époisses de Bourgogne, Sainte-Maure de Touraine or Gaperon. And I'm still searching for Brie de Melun and Pouligny-Saint-Pierre.

Are there any French cheeses that you can recommend?


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Photos du Jour

Today is the first day of autumn. Obviously so!
The nights have turned chilly and it drizzled almost all day yesterday.


Hard to believe I was swimming exactly one week ago.

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Header Change

I've been wanting to change the header photo for a couple of weeks now. The white wine photo was very summery and I wanted something that felt more like autumn.

I wavered a bit between the one that's there and this vineyard photo.



You never know, it might change again! Pin It

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Barn of golden stone. Pin It

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The olive and the cypress.
Sometimes the landscape here reminds me of Tuscany. Pin It

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Apéro evening in a neighboring village to celebrate the opening of a new lunchroom at the little grade school.

We were at the school's playground, there was a speech by the mayor and about 100 people with their children. There aren't kids in this photo, but they were running around all evening and playing on some playground equipment just to the left of this photo.

100 people...so maybe 50 bottles of local wine were drunk? Maybe more. At the grade school.
To celebrate a new lunchroom.
Fifty plus bottles of wine. And they had proper glasses to drink from, too. None of these flimsy plastic things.
I love France. (even though their bureaucracy is a royal pain) Pin It

More Carte de Séjour Woes

I just want to lay my head down and cry.
This carte de Séjour crap is really pushing me over the edge.

A letter arrived yesterday (exactly one month after the card's expiration date, I might add) from the sous-préfecture stating that they need all sorts of extra papers, more photos, copies of my husband's carte de séjour (which they already have), tax returns for 2005 and 2006 and a livret de famille.
A livret de famille is a family record book. Americans don't have a family record book. And they already have numerous copies of our marriage and birth certificates.

AAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! Pin It

Photo du Jour

The river Hérault gorge.
Last week it was almost 90 degrees and there were a lot of swimmers in the river. It's definitely not as warm today! Pin It

La Fête du Fromage

Finding cheese is becoming more difficult. Yes, France has somewhere around 350 cheeses, but I'm discovering that many of them aren't available outside of the region where they're produced.

At les Halles on Saturday I took my list to la fromagerie where I struggled to find some cheese I hadn't already tasted. I think the guy behind the counter thought I was a bit strange...he kept suggesting cheeses and I kept saying "no, I've already tried that.'' He finally asked what the deal was, so I told him about La Fête du Fromage. He chuckled a bit and asked for the address of Chez Loulou so he could have a look.

I ended up purchasing two fromages de chèvres, Laurentine and Rondin d'Alvignac, and one fromage de vache, Vache Fermier des Corbières.


The oval shaped Laurentine (it's a bit mangled from carrying it around all morning) is a raw, artisanal, goat's milk cheese that comes from the Midi-Pyrénées region. The little green leaves on the top are bay leaves, which infuse the cheese with a lovely, woodsy flavor. It was mild, creamy and slightly sweet, and oozing in the center. I love that! The Laurentine would be fantastic drizzled with some acacia honey.

The other chèvre, le Rondin d'Alvignac, is also a raw, artisanal cheese produced in the Midi-Pyrénées region. It had a hint of spice that lingered on the tongue and the texture was crumbly in the center. Another delicious chèvre that I would happily eat again. A dry white wine pairs well with either of these fromages de chèvres.

The Vache Fermier des Corbières is a locally made cheese from a small producer in the Corbières mountains. It was mild, creamy and smooth, with mushroom and earthy flavors. All around, a really nice cheese! I loved it with a glass of Corbières red wine. Pin It

Photos du Jour

I took these photos in Saint Guilhem le Désert last week. The shell motif, a symbol of the pilgrimage route, is next to a water source outside the Abbey, which was founded at the beginning of the 9th century. The Abbey was an important stop on one of the Santiago de Compostela routes through France.

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Autumn is on its way! Pin It

Keeping Me Busy This Weekend

Where did the weekend go?
Well, let's see...

Friday morning I awoke to discover that the hours of writing I'd done for Like to Cook all day Thursday had mysteriously disappeared. Gone. HOURS of writing. GONE. The photos were still there, the titles were still there, but all the words were gone.
Merde!
So I spent all of Friday rewriting the posts. Or trying anyway.

This golden goddess' owners spent the weekend in Barcelona so she was given the task of taking me for walks twice a day. She must have known I needed some exercise.



There was a friend's birthday party Friday night. My husband sang with the band and some drunk guy tried to get me to dance with him. oh joy

Potatoes took up a half of Saturday and grocery shopping, washing the car and lunch with Riana and her family took up the other half.

More writing today and now the day is almost over.
Where did the weekend go? Pin It

Photo du Jour

La Journée National Slow Food in les Halles in Narbonne.

We handed out dozens and dozens of delicious, creamy, Mona Lisa, Eden and Hermine potatoes that had been steamed and drizzled with olive oil. Pin It

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Flourishing, verdant courtyard.
I wish it were mine.... Pin It

Challah

Bread baking, other than pizza or the old standby, olive oil bread, has been few and far between lately. An article about challah caught my eye last week so I decided to give it a try.

I used a recipe from A Blessing of Bread: The Many Rich Traditions of Jewish Bread Baking Around the World by Maggie Glezer, and the results were fantastic!

It was slightly sweet, with the subtle perfume of honey, and soft as a feather.


yeast slurry and egg/honey/oil mixture




before the flour goes in


ready for first rising


after second rising, ready to go into the oven


golden loaves


Here's what I wrote about challah on Like to Cook earlier this week. Pin It

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Gorgeous stones. Pin It

Tough Day of Tasting

It was a tough job.
But somebody had to do it.

I selflessly volunteered my time yesterday to help a friend in need. You see, she needed to do some research for her work which involved several meetings, and hours and hours of driving around the region.



I knew she would need some help navigating the small roads through the vineyards to the Châteaus and Domaines. I didn't want her to get lost!
And of course she would want another opinion about the glasses and glasses of Coteaux de Languedoc wine she would be tasting.
So, I reluctantly gave up a day sitting in front of my computer to help. I'm just that kind of friend.
Besides, how could I leave her alone to explore Saint Guilhem le Désert, one of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France? And I didn't want her to have to endure a solitary lunch at a restaurant. A real friend would be there to keep her company.
And I was.


sigh
All that delicious wine tasting, meeting wonderful vignerons and seeing an entirely new area of the Languedoc was tough, but I'm always happy to help out a friend. Pin It

Photo du Jour

Lunch in the square under brilliant blue skies. Pin It

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Had to pick up our table wine on Monday at Le Chai Port Minervois in Homps. We love this place!


Going on a little field trip today to the Pic St. Loup region to go wine tasting with a friend who is a Master of Wine.
Beautiful, sunny day. Wine tasting and lunch. The best kind of day. Pin It

La Fête du Fromage - Comté and Ossau-Iraty

They may look similar, but these two cheeses, Comté and Ossau-Iraty, produced on opposite sides of France, are quite different.



Comté, on the right, is one of France's most popular cheeses. After production in cooperatives, called fruitières, in the villages of the Franche-Comté region of eastern France, each cheese must pass strict quality tests before being allowed into the marketplace. It takes the daily production of 30 cows to make one 80 pound (35 kilo) wheel of Comté.

It's flavor is sweet and caramelized with a slightly nutty and salty tang, and it melts in your mouth. In the kitchen, this is an extremely versatile cheese. It is delicious cut into cubes and added to salads, eaten with fruit, melted in a sandwich or used to make fondue.
Really wonderful!
A glass of fruity Beaujolais or white Sancerre pair nicely with Comté.


Ossau-Iraty, on the left, is an unpasteurized ewe's milk cheese that is produced in two areas of the Pyrénées in southwestern France: Ossau Valley in the Béarn and the hills of Iraty in the Basque country. Historians maintain that this cheese has been produced for more than a thousand years.

It has a soft, supple texture with a mild, nutty flavor that we both loved. I wasn't expecting much from Ossau-Iraty, but it is scrumptious!
Savor a cold glass of Jurançon or a red Madiran with this cheese. Pin It

Photo du Jour

I searched our French dictionary and online dictionaries for an hour this morning, hoping to find the meaning of this word. Maybe it's Occitan?

If anyone knows, could you please tell me? Pin It

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Village street. Pin It

Brazilian Evening

Brazilian cuisine was a great idea for our world food evening.

We shared a fabulous meal which included a piquant fish soup, citrus marinated beef, red rice and avocado salad, my Onion Chili Tart, and two desserts, caramelized bananas and an orange flan.
We listened to some wonderful music and dined by candlelight in our friend's courtyard.

The caipirinhas were a huge hit


image is a bit blurry...kind of what happens to your vision after just one of these babies!


my version of the Onion Tart recipe here


Looking forward to next month's dinner! Pin It

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Daisy asleep in the afternoon sun. Pin It

A Brazilian Experiment

No, I'm not talking about hair removal in a...ahem...delicate area. (which I've heard is called a billet de metro in French slang. I find that hilarious!)

The experiment I'm referring to is this Brazilian recipe that I will attempt for this evening's soirée.
Tonight is the gathering of the eight. We're cooking Brazilian food this time, complete with caipirinhas. Yum!

I'll let you know how it goes. Pin It

Photo du Jour

Les Allées Paul Riquet in Béziers.

Named for Béziers' famous son, the engineer and mastermind behind the Canal du Midi.

Les Allées is the site of numerous festivals and markets, with shops along one side, and bars and cafés lining the other side. This tree-lined promenade is host to a colorful flower market every Friday. Pin It

Epicurious Mention

Yes, I am four days late thanking Amy Sherman for mentioning Chez Loulou on the Epicurious website's blog.

It's been a bit of a crazy week. What with finding out that my Carte Vitale had been cancelled and all. Yet another afternoon spent driving to Béziers to sort that out.
But I digress...

Ms. Sherman, I thank you! Pin It

Photo du Jour

Grape harvester heading out into the vineyards. Pin It