bleudauvergne

This blog is really inspiring! Thank you so much for doing this! I have put up my favorite cardoon recipe for a gratin in the RecipeGullet - Here (click). Reminiscing about my tumultuous young 20's experience when I spent a year at the Presidio in that area. That fog. It was a very romantic time. Something I like to do with celery root too is grate it and serve it like a slaw with a vinaigrette or mix of vinaigrette and mayonnaise.

Gratin de cardons à la moelle - Cardoon and Marrow Gratin Serves 6 as Main Dishor 8 as Side. Although this recipe calls for marrow, you may make this recipe more family friendly by using leftover cooked poultry meat in place of the marrow and still have a marvelously tasty gratin. You can divide this into individual ramkeins as you assemble the gratin and serve this as an appetizer as well. 1 head of cardoons 5 2-3 inch beef bones with marrow (cut by the butcher) 1 qt of veal or chicken stock 3 T flour 1 T cider vinegar 1 lemon 2 minced shallots 2 T butter sea salt fine salt pepper 1/2 c grated hard cheese like cheddar Preliminary processing of the Cardoons: Remove and discard any outside hard dry branches from the outside of the head, and then, one by one, remove the more tender inside branches, and wash them thoroughly. Slice the tender branches into lengths of about 3 inches (7-8 cm), starting from the base, discarding any leafy end pieces, which are hard and stringy. Go over the sliced pieces, peeling any strings from the outside that you can, and rub them with a 1/2 lemon to keep them from darkening, transferring them to a bowl full of acidulated water (the juice from the 1/2 lemon) as you go. Prepare a blanc in which to simmer the Cardoons: Make a paste of 1T. flour with a little bit of water and incorporate it into 3 quarts of water in a big pot. Add the juice from the other 1/2 of the lemon plus a tablespoon of cider vinegar, and 2 tablsepoons of sea salt. Bring to a boil, and add the cardoons. The cooking water should be enough to cover the cardoons, rectify it if necessary. Once the water has come to the boil again, lower the heat to simmer the cardoons, covered, for 2 hours. (Remove the bones from the refrigerator at the time that the cardoons start their simmer.) When your cardoons have 40 minutes left to cook, prepare a velouté of chicken or veal, depending on which stock you have handy: Melt 2T. butter into a saucepan, and add the minced shallots once the foam from the butter has subsided. Sweat them for about 5 minutes at a low temperature (without browning the butter or the shallots) and then sprinkle 2T. flour over it and stir it in. Add 1 quart of veal or chicken stock, bring to a simmer, and keep it there for 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. The Marrow: To remove the marrow from the bone, let the bones come to ambient temperature and push it out with your thumb. Dip the removed marrow into boiling water for 1 minute. Slice it into 1/2 inch (1 cm) pieces once it's at a temperature you can handle. (if you replace the marrow with leftover poultry meat, tear the cooked meat into shreds and season it with paprika and salt.) Assemble the Gratin: Heat the oven hot - 400F/220C. While the oven is heating, strain your cardoons and layer them with the marrow into a gratin pan. Carefully pour the velouté over the vegetable and marrow to cover, leaving about 1/2 inch (1cm) at the top to allow bubbling without spilling out. Sprinkle cheese all over the surface. Place in the lower third of the hot oven and cook a around 20 minutes, or until the gratin is a golden brown color on the surface. Serve hot. Keywords: French, Beef, Main Dish, Vegetables, Side, Intermediate ( RG1510 )

So sorry IrishCream. Whatever is in jars or cans in your pantry can stay - they like chocolate and dried fruit, that's the first thing to go. You have to go through the pantry and get rid of especially mixes in boxes, rice, dried beans, flours, etc. And once that's done, wipe down the outside of the jars and cans that are left, cleaning out the cabinet, paying special attention to any nooks and crannies where the larvae can go to incubate. If you can't bear to throw something away, you can freeze it for a week and know that it will kill both the moths and the larvae. The larvae migrate - so you will want to do this just as soon as you can. Sorry you're going through this.

I would like to know what the difference is. ← BarbaraY, Soba pointed out that I'd neglected to answer your question! I'm so sorry about that! (Thank you Stash!) The difference between the two butters. Beurre échiré and the beurre cru d'Insigny is that the beurre cru is a butter made from unpasturized milk. The flavor is more pronounced, it's what I call farm butter. I used it last year for the corn bread and I think the result was better for that particular recipe. It is nice for rustic things like corn bread where a more prominent flavor is important. The beurre échiré is a great butter for pastry crust and also for just plain eating, since it has a really light, slightly tangy but delicate flavor, coming from it being a cultured butter - the flavor is very delicate an it is just divine melted onto hot toast. It didn't come through the way I'd like in the cornbread, it was a waste of money to use a butter like that in the cornbread. It costs on the whole about 50 cents more for a plaquette of 250 grams, or the equivalent of about two sticks of butter.

Come to think of it, August in France sounds interesting already. ← Sorry Stash, the French don't blog in August. You may come and blog in my place. How's that? Thanks all for your kind comments and coming along with me during this past week. It has really been a lot of fun.

I second ptipois' recommendation. BHV, metro Hotel de Ville.

Priscilla, At the better places you'll get warm bread with your cheese. China: Haviland Vieux Paris. The spice mix is the only garlic powder use in my kitchen. I have GOT to go! Bye!

Dinner last night - followed by a simple green salad (Loic had a slice of terrine with his). (those are little glasses, folks. ) I did not photograph breakfast today. It was the last piece of pumpkin pie, coffee, and yougert. I was up before dawn because I have got two important appointments this morning. Someone please say 'merde'! I am leaving the house and won't be back until this afternoon. I just want to say that doing the food blog this week has been wonderful, thank you for your encouragment. Every word.

Half of me does not want to say this for fear of messing it up. But here goes. About my vocation. For a long time I took what work I could to survive. These jobs ranged from soldier to trader. I've traveled for much of my adult life, living in foreign countries. The work I’ve found easiest to find is assist CEO level executives in running their lives, which is a lot more than being an assistant, more like someone on call 24 hours a day for some of the most demanding executives on earth. A job like that takes complete dedication and it goes without saying that one cannot have a life outside of that work. It is very satisfying but at the same time it just - sucks you in. I have been in France now for 5 years, the longest I have ever been in one place since I finished school. We plan to stay here and I plan to have children now. This means looking down the road. I want to find my place and I want to serve my future children. This means to create self-sustaining means of garnering my contribution to the home with something good to pass on to them. I have recently made a career change. The decision was agonizing, more difficult than any I have ever made. Every ghost and skeleton rattled their chains and the structure groaned in protest as I carefully went about setting new sights. But I am strong enough. I have decided to look for stories around me and to earn my living by translating, transcribing, and transmitting them. There are lots of places I can do this, working on a project basis. It requires me to do a series of administrative things here in France in order to be legit. I have had to create a micro-enterprise to serve as my base and count my profit and loss. This must be claimed and portions must go to the state. I get out among the people every single day and spend a good deal of my waking hours exercising and keeping aware of the collective buzz so that I can catch the best stories. I must stick to my method and look into the public records, go to the library, find the lore and the traditions, and give them a voice. I’ve always been pretty good at that. Corporate communication and translation work is also lined up to keep things afloat. There. It's done. Thank you for asking, Lori.

Exactly, Eden. It is important to give people jobs to do.

You don't plan out larger meals this way, Jason? I make up a similar chart for any meal involving more than a few dishes, complete with time line and notes. There's usually a chart for prep as well (X dish needs marinating on Tuesday, rolls must be finished the night before, etc.). Much easier to have it all planned out in advance and simply follow the time line as cooking gets hectic. ← It's nice to be able to say - "what time is it?" and to take a quick look at the chart to make sure that everything that's supposed to be done is done. You don't want to sink effort into an event and then realize that such and such can't be served because it's too late to heat it up in time or the people won't have fresh hot rolls with their cheese. That happened a few years ago to me, I'd been drinking wine and didn't much care and everyone still loved the meal but the day after I was disappointed. You know? I don't fret if something goes wrong, but I certainly make sure I know how the thing's going to roll out and keep in mind that if I do keep on the right track and quietly concentrate on the details, the meal will continue to unfold full style on through to the last course, And not start out with a bang and pitter off into chaos. The first thing we do is calculate how long the bird's going to take to cook. From the time we'd like to serve it, we count back and then add the hour to have the oysters shucked. Loic's errands are written out and I set my goals rather largely, also basing them on when I'll have time alone. My thoughts on the time a task will take in the planning are based on what time I should finish it. I had lots of time in between to bathe, talk to Bonnie, take breaks, get lost in unpredicted details etc. Things generally rolled out on time, and during the meal all went very smoothly. Guests being good conversationalists help ease the way from course to course, as does Loic keeping everyone's wine glasses monitored. If things fall behind I have a cushion that keeps me from feeling pushed. Being in a hurry is one of the last things a person wants to do in the kitchen. There's a big difference between working swiftly and being in a hurry.

Today some of the gang came back for more after hitting the St. Antoine Market. The meal was a much less formal affair. Thanksgiving Soup which consisted of the turkey wings, both stuffings, scrapings from the bottom of the turkey platter, leftover succotash, a bouquet garni, the carcass from the Poulet de Bresse en Vessie, sauteed onion and rutabaga, simmered for an hour, bones and bouquets removed, and pureed. Seasoned with creole spice mix maison, salt, and the addition of corn cut from the cob. Bacon Garlic Croutons were passed around the table. A cleansing salad The cheese plate features the addition of a St. Marcellin and a Pouligny St. Pierre. We enjoyed both pies, of which the pecan pie was devoured in its entirety, and then a sampling of my first vin maison, the Vin de Noix which I made with other eGulleters this summer. The taste has really rounded and filled out to make it really super, not too sweet, just a perfect way to end Sunday lunch on a cold snowy November day. This was followed by coffee for the amateurs. ~~

Ok here is the menu, IrishCream. ~~ Kir Royale, Gougères, nuts and olives. ~ Raviolis de Foie Gras, Consommé de Poularde. Gewurztraminer, Jean Huttard Reserve 2003 ~ Terrine des Deux Lapins St. Verran, Domaine des Crais 2002 ~ Dinde Fermier, Corn Bread Sausage Stuffing, Oyster Dressing, Gravy, Autumn Succotash, Creamed Chestnuts with Smoked Bacon, Green Beans wrapped in Poitrine demi-sel, White Aparagus with Sheeps Tomme Bechamel. Chablis Premier Cru, Cote de Lechet, Sylvain Mosnier, 2003 ~ Cheeses: Rove de Garrigue, Thym Tamar, Galette des Sempliers, Cathare, Banon Fermier, Tomme de Savoie, Salers, Brie de Meaux, Abondance. Samuer Champigny, Daheuiller, 2003 ~ Dessert: Pumpkin Cheese Pie, Sam's Derby Style Bourbon Tarte (which was just amazing please make this pie) Champagne, Chassenay d'Arce Cuvée Selection ~~

Well, thank goodness because I wanted to express my thoughts on all of the dishes and how they worked. As for the recipes, I will put the recipes that you request in the recipe gullet after the blog. Lori, I have not fogotten your question and I will answer it in full, because there is a bit of a story to tell. The Aperetif: Since we had a rather large group, we started with a simple kir royale instead of everyone giving their orders. This is creme de cassis with champagne. two of us opted for the champagne nature (cousin Matthieu and I) since a good champagne is a terrible thing to waste. The Champagne was kept cold on the window sill as soft snowflakes fell we had hot chese puffs. gougeres, my husband's specialty, he's been making them since the age of 13. We put out nuts and olives, which were passed around. We served two rounds of kirs before moving to the table. The soup and the raviolis: I was going to follow a recipe for the raviolis that called for lots of butter and working it with the fois gras together into a paste and then piping it into the raviolis with the aid of a pastry cone. Very fussy. However when I went to get the fois gras, I had a conversation with M. Dubernet who really knows foie gras, and we talked a bit about what it was going to do in the ravioli, and what I was shooting for. He suggested that I take the mi-cuit lobes and cut them into cubes instead of going to all of the trouble of incorporating butter, surely not necessary. His logic sounded right to me. The goal was to heat them up well enough to have a certain experience in the mouth, no need to get too fussy if I choose the foie gras which has been already cooked to a certain degree. I know that it has a tendency to melt easily and I decided to include some of that pain d'epices de miel which is a very mild pain d'epices, not agressive at all, to soak up the juice inside and give a supporting role but supporting role only. I experimented with some and was much happier with hunks of fois gras (not diced too small because the small dice was getting soft and losing its body during cooking) and then a nice pinch of the bread. Experiments with pepper gave a nice result with the mixed peppercorns, and only a half twist from the grinder was required to take it where it needed to be. A consomme is really easy to do and as long as you have your stock done in advance, you can let it do its thing without any special attention once you have incorporated the egg whites and chicken breasts. I did not use the regular blender, making use of the immersion blender and incorporating the whites and chicken breast as I would a sauce, taking some liquid and pureeing it all together in a smaller recipient (the cup that came with the immersion blender) and then incporporating that into the soup, giving it a good mix in the pot as well with the blender. I brought that up to a simmer and kept it there. It worked well. After straining through a screen strainer, I ran it through a clean linen napkin in the chinois which I had thoroughly rinsed several times to remove any traces of laundering product. This produced a perfectly clear soup. I seasoned it just before serving, and added a spoon full of armagnac to the pot just before serving. Minced chevril, parsley, chives, thyme and sage (very easy on the aromatics) were placed in each warmed bowl lined along the buffet outside the kitchen. I then poached the ravioli in two batches, the larger ones first, and set them carefully and quickly with chopsticks into the bowls, then swiftly moving in with the ladle and pot of soup to get them out hot. Extra hands would have been helpful, but not necessary, I was very bossy to Loic, saying "go go go!" as he moved the bowls out two by two and got everything to the table nice and hot. I most always think of something I am not happy with when serving my own dishes. This time I was very satisfied. As for the wine - a 2003 Gewurztraminer that Loic chose was a touch that just pushed this course to special holiday meal level. The wine was a perfect choice. The Terrine: I took the time to slice it carefully during the early afternoon, just to avoid any suprises, and I was glad I did that because this is not something you want to do when you are in a hurry. I was happy with the result and was especially happy with the dried mirabelles that I was worried about, which really added a wonderful flavor, with the wild rabbit. I will post the recipe for the terrine in the recipe gullet, but for anyone who wants to get to terrine making immediately, my base recipe was inspired by Richard Olney's recipe for rabbit terrine in his Simple French Food. My final recipe adds duxelles to the forcemeat, and then the roll in the center with has mustard carrots and parsley. The Turkey and side dishes: This year's turkey was a smaller one, about 10 pounds. Two things pleased me with this size bird. 1) There was room in the oven an extra rack which gave me a lot more flexibility in being able to get hot rolls out during earlier courses. I simply forgot about the first batch - involved with the guests, but I will be more careful next year. 2) The bird was small enough that I could handle it without help in the kitchen as I transferred it to another platter and got the gravy going. The quality of this bird, was I think the best I've had so far in France. It was plenty meaty despite the long body, much more flavorful than the ones we've had in the past, and most of all tender and juicy, and we still have plenty left for turkey pot pies. I forgot to put the corn in the Succotash but I was the only person who noticed. Noted for next year - don't forget the corn. The creamed chestnuts and bacon, bean bundles, two kinds of stuffing and gravy were all like they should be, although next year instead of beurre echire in the stuffing I will use a a beurre cru d'Insigny which I can get by weight at the fromagerie. Next year I will find cranberries and make some cranberry sauce too. The wines these are the wines we drank with each course starting with Aperetif and ending with dessert. They are back, they are hungry for lunch. Time to get the soup on.

Dear all, I am just too pooped to put up more details than the photos this evening. The meal, in short went flawlessly and everything tasted just right. The only thing that went wrong was a pan of burned rolls at the beginning but better the rolls than something else! Whew! Here are some photos. I'll post the wines tomorrow AM early it there's still time HAPPY THANKSGIVING! I have had a fabulous week! Kind regards, L

Cousin Mathieu is here The Pumkin and Pecan Pies

Mes beaux-parents have arrived - pate de coing maison Brigitte Vanel It's a shame we had these opened for the stuffing and won't have any extra place tonight to have a few...

Photo B. Kern

Pre-cooking the casseroles so they can just go in a hot oven to heat up when the Turkey's done. This is creamed chestnuts with bacon, a favorite for Thanksgiving. It is based on a dish I had once in a Hunan Style restaurant in Beijing. One year I actually peeled the chestnuts and that, my friends, I vow never to do again. It was hell. We are going to put the pies in the Tourtieres. One can go right on the bottom of the oven and not use a rack! I am lining them with aluminum foil and parchment before the crust goes in to ease in serving and keep things nice and tidy. A tip I learned recently in the Pastry and Baking Forum, you can grind up whole vanilla bean to use in your baking. I like the way it tastes in my baked goods, I've done it a few times already. This is to go into the pumpkin cheese pie. Flour for the Ravioli: The dough is resting. Meanwhile, I assemble the pie. I'm afraid the pumkin pie crust is very ugly. Loic felt that the pumpkin pie would be better with a sablee crust, so the Pecan pie got brisee and the Pumpkin got Sablee. I didn't use a recipe for the sablee and I'm not sure if it's going to puddle up on the bottom of the pan. We'll see.

Hi Lori, I'll be putting the cheese plate together this afternoon and show you what I do. We do have a cheese plate going at all times, and we normally just serve whatever is on the plate. Some cheeses need to be wrapped each time, but for all intents and purposes we normally leave the cheese on the plate. We have a special shelf at the top of the fridge (where it is warmest) where we keep our cheeses. We don't eat cheese with every meal, it depends on what we're having. For this meal, I got all new cheeses because, well, it's an excuse to get all of the really nice expensive seasonal cheeses I normally don't get all of the time, and if you're gonna get fancy, you might as well serve a nice cheese plate! I choose them carefully, most cheese has seasons, like vegetables. Only some are in season right now and I don't want to choose something just because I like that kind of cheese if it's not at its peak this time of year.

Super. Thank you all very much. I will use cream. EDIT! Loic found evaporated milk~

Question - is evaporated milk the same as condensed milk? Thank you for your kind advice.

The dough has arrived from the boulangerie! Top left - Viennoise, Top right - Pain aux noix, Bottom Left - Baguette a l'ancienne, Bottom Right - Pain des Champs. The Baguette, Pain aux noix, and Pain des Champs will be formed into multi bread cloverleaf rolls to serve hot with the cheese course. The Viennoise will be simple foldovers and served earlier in the meal. Loic has fixed the wine list and is poking around downstairs. He found Pecans and Bourbon so we will have Sam's Pie! Yay Loic! He got the turkey. Free range but pretty nice looking bird and he still has the neck skin for the Oyster stuffing. Loic's getting the oysters at Les Halles this afternoon. I don't like him fooling around with the oyster knife to open them at this critical time so we get them pre-cut at Les Halles just for this meal. I'm thinking of changing cameras for the rest of the day, to cut down on the fussiness quotient.

Hi, Lucy. What are you freaking out about? ← Hi Pan, I am freaking out about foie gras raviolis and pie. I know I should just get my ass in gear and make them. Thank you for your nice comments, Adam. I'm glad my photo could bring back memories for you. The poulet was something this butcher prepares regularly and I had always wondered what it tasted like, it also had a kind of mythical place in my mind. I saw this dish in a photo on the France forum and I wanted to try it. Now I have. Jack, I would like to ask you the same thing about all those great eGCI courses --

B-fast: Note no coffee.