Les Halles De Lyon

Train travel spoils you. No need to get to the airport 2+ hours before your flight, no waiting in long security lines, no strict weight and size limits on your luggage. You arrive a bit before your train is scheduled to depart, stow your bags, find your seat and away you go!
Living in Paris spoils you too. You quickly learn that much of France and many parts of Europe are just a few hours from the city. (and escaping from time to time is good for le moral)

Feel like going to Amsterdam? No problem! Jump on a train and you'll be there in just over 3 hours. Want to taste some wine in Bordeaux? It's only 2½ hours away. Craving some bouillabaisse and time on the beach? You can be sitting in the sun in Marseille in a little over 3 hours.





And of course there's Lyon, a city that is considered paradise for the French food lover and a place that had both intrigued me and been recommended to me by several friends over the years. So last summer I hopped on the TGV and just 2 hours later was climbing up a steep flight of stairs in La Croix-Rousse neighborhood to meet up with old friends.

Lucy, a brilliant cook and owner of the cooking school, Plum Lyon, who I met in Gascony at Camp Cassoulet almost a decade ago, and Mardi, the writer of the fabulous food blog, eat. live. travel. write, who I met in Paris several years ago, were waiting at Lucy's house to welcome me. The first thing we did after I dropped off my bag was head to the covered food market, Les Halles de Lyon.

I instantly fell in love with this place, for the cheese alone! The quality of the food on offer was superb and the people working at the market were genuine and helpful. There was no snobbery here, just people selling products that they believed in and wanted to share with us. I noticed the same thing at the restaurants where we ate. The chefs were proud of their dishes, but they didn't do a great job for the recognition, they cooked amazing food because they are chefs, and that's what chefs do. The lack of pretension was so refreshing.

It was a whirlwind trip, and with Lucy and her family's help, we packed a lot of delicious food, cheese, wine, walking and laughter into 36 hours. But that's all the time it took to convince me; if you love French food, you can believe what they say about Lyon.
It is paradise!

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Charcutepalooza and Why You Want to Win the Grand Prize

At first I was very excited to participate in Charcutepalooza, a meat-filled year of "salting, smoking and curing" that is the creation of Mrs Wheelbarrow's Kitchen and The Yummy Mummy. 

Since moving to France I've learned to make simple things like frozen yogurt, red wine vinegar and fromage de chèvre, so I thought it would be fun to try my hand at making pancetta, bacon, duck prosciutto and all the other delicious charcuterie projects planned for the coming year.


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South of France Views

Since October I've taken advantage* of friends who live in beautiful places and made a couple of trips around southern France to two stunning regions, each of which with their own unique personality and charm.
Last month I went east on the train to Marseille & Cassis and last week I jumped in our little car and drove north to Rodez.

Both times I was well taken care of!
There were local wines to taste and cheese shops to visit; I was driven to a picturesque Provençal village perched on a hill, and to a picturesque Aveyron village perched on a cliff; we explored le Panier neighborhood in old Marseille and sat with un café noisette in a sunny café along the pretty port in Cassis; we toured the lovely city of Rodez and sat with a glass of Marcillac red wine in a local bar looking out at the glowing nighttime Rodez cathedral.
Both times my French got a good work out, as did my little camera.

The view from Cassis


La Vielle Charité in Marseille


The Vallon des Auffes in Marseille


Provençal patisserie


Petite maison à Rodez


Gothic courtyard of Rodez


Cathedral in Rodez


Village of Bozouls

Église de Bozouls


Side street in Bozouls



Next week I'm taking trip number three.
Tuesday morning I'm pointing the car northwest and heading to the Lot-et-Garonne to visit Kate for few fun-filled days of Armagnac, duck fat infused cooking and Gascon markets.


No camp this time, (I will definitely miss my fellow campers) but I'm sure there will be Cassoulet!


le Relais de Camont



*I mean that in a nice way, of course Pin It

A Cassoulet Question

I was looking at some stats from my account this morning and noticed that someone stumbled across my Flickr page while searching for a recipe for Vegetarian Cassoulet.

Vegetarian Cassoulet?

Ok, so I have to ask the question: how can such a thing exist?

Isn't the very essence, the very soul of Cassoulet the beans and the meat, be it duck, goose, pork or lamb, cooked slowly together in a cassole until thick, rich and bubbly?
Beans can also be cooked slowly, with vegetables, until thick, rich and bubbly (a dish I love, by the way). That is called Bean Stew. Not Cassoulet. And not vegetarian Cassoulet.

Yes, you can argue that it is a question of semantics. But I believe that the tradition of dishes like Cassoulet should be respected.

No Meat = No Cassoulet


I'm just saying.


confit de canard, pancetta, sausages, couenne (pork rind) for the Cassoulet


confit de canard


two variations - one to cook over the fire and one to go into the oven


links:
The Cassoulet recipe from Camp Cassoulet at Kate Hill's home in Gascony.
A Toulouse Style Cassoulet recipe from Paula Wolfert. Pin It

Photo du Jour

Les Cassoles, ready for making cassoulet. Pin It

Photo du Jour - Camp Cassoulet

Cassoulet, fresh and piping hot from the oven. One of the three that we made on Saturday at Camp Cassoulet in Gascony, chez Kate. Pin It

Weekend Away

I won't be posting this weekend. I'm going off to camp.
Camp Cassoulet, that is.

See you Monday! Pin It