Dave Hatfield

Here's how to make the tarte Tatin we are having for dessert tonight. Ingredients: 6-8 apples. Granny Smith's by my choice. Others like Golden Delicious 1 Lemon 11/2 cups sugar 3 oz butter (unsalted) Enough pie dough (pate brisée) to cover an 8 inch frying pan. Method: (pre-heat oven to 425 F (220C ) 1) Make your crust & put it into the fridge. 2) take the zest off the lemon & put it & the juice from the lemon into a large bowl with 1/2 cup of the sugar. 3) Core, peel and cut each apple into 1/8ths. Immediately put them into the bowl with the sugar & lemon. Stir to cover. 4) Put the rest of the sugar & the butter into the frying pan. Over high heat melt the butter & sugar, stirring frequently. It will start to bubble and turn brown. Keep going. 5) The mixture will start to separate. Don't panic. Keep going until the mix just begins to smoke. Take off of the heat. 6) Now start layering the apples into the pan. VERY CAREFULLY. Its hot. Do two layers as shown. 7) Put back on the high heat & cook, basting frequently, until the apples soften (about 15 minutes) Covering with a lid between basting's helps. 8) Get your crust out of the fridge & roll it out to a diameter that is at least 1 inch more than the pan diameter. 9) Turn the heat off. Fold the crust in half and place over the apples. Trim the edge all around then gently push the crust just inside the pan. Prick a few holes to let steam out. 10) Put in the hot oven near the top. As you can see I have a pan with a removable handle. Otherwise a pan with a handle that will take the heat or you can almost close the door to the oven and leave the handle sticking out. Cook until the crust is brown. A test for doneness is to gently tilt the pan to one side; if you see lots of juice run to the lower side its not done yet. 11) Take the pie out of the oven HOT HOT HOT!! Again tilt the pan. If the juices still look a bit runny even though the crust is brown put the pan back on high stovetop heat for a while until the juices are thicker. 12) On this pie I was a bit quick. I should have let it brown a bit more. Also, even though the juices didn't run much on the tilt test I should have cooked the pie a bit more. 13) Here's the tricky part. Put a plate over the top of the pie then quickly turn it over. As you can see the juice is somewhat runny and the pie top should be browner. It will still taste great, but I would have liked a better example for the blog. C'est la vie! Picture of the finished pie later.

Cheese Four little chevre's. Aren't they pretty? I adore cheese; in fact it’s a rare day that I don’t eat some. You’ll see me as a regular contributor to the cheese thread on this forum. This little write up is on my thoughts about cheese and I’ve stuck in lots of pictures just to whet your appetites. Brie and Montsalvey ready to eat. Once again we are lucky to live in a country where excellent cheeses are readily available. France at last count supports over 600 varieties of cheese; however this is fewer than they make in Great Britain if the British tourist board is to be believed. No matter as both countries do themselves proud. We buy most of our cheeses from the mobile cheese mongers who come to the various local markets. Some are like a normal shop and offer a wide variety; others are the individual producers or local coops. The supermarkets are a very good source as well since they keep their cheeses properly and high turnover ensures good freshness for the younger cheeses. Blue de causses. Very local, very sharp. I think my love affair with cheese started in the early 60’s when I first visited & lived in France. I didn’t know much, but I did know I liked all the cheeses I was offered. The only pre-France cheese I remember is Tillamook from Oregon. (My grandparents lived in Eugene) When I returned to Europe in 1967 we first lived in Brussels where good cheese was readily available and then when we moved to England I began to learn more about British cheeses. Unfortunately that time was a low spot in British cheese history so really good cheeses were difficult to find. Fortunately, I was visiting France on a regular basis so could buy there. I used to try to always plan a little shopping time into my business trips so I could take back cheeses, pates and bread to England. Another blue, St Augur. Mellow & nutty. Commercial, but good. When I moved back to the states in 1982 I lived in Emeryville, California for a while; this was only a stone’s throw from Shattuck Avenue & foodie heaven. Alice Water’s Chez Panisse, Pig by the Tail, Monterey Market and, above all, the Cheese Place all in one block just about. The Saturday ritual was charcuterie, cheese, then lunch upstairs at Chez Panisse. There was hardly anywhere else to buy good, well kept cheeses so even after I moved I made the pilgrimage to Berkley on a regular basis. 1988 saw me back in England. I was in Newbury so I could easily get up to Streatly & Wells Stores. A lot of people, including me, believe that Patrick Rance was THE key figure in the resurrection of English cheese. Certainly his shop was a delight; full of the best cheeses both English & French all in perfect condition. His book on French cheeses is a must have for anyone serious about French cheese. A pallet of cabeques. Goat milk & made within 5 miles of Parisot. ’93 and back to the states. Berkley cheese still going, a good cheese shop in Carmel and that was about it. Moved to Chicago which was a cheese desert, even the WholeFoods wasn’t very good. Rhode Island next where the Providence WholeFoods was excellent. Thus we survived and did Ok until we moved to France permanently in 2002. Lunch! Note the crisp bread instead of regular bread. My concession the keeping my weight down. For the past 5 years I’ve been fully able to indulge myself. I’ve learned about a lot of new (to me) cheeses and am still finding & trying new ones all the time. We make frequent visits to the UK to see friends & family so I’m also getting up to speed on their excellent spectrum of cheeses. Cheese labels from the really good cheese shop in Villefranche de Rouergue. I’ve spread some pictures throughout this in no particular order just to liven it up. Most are from past posts or my blog. All are good cheeses. Tomme fermier. The real thing. There are a lot of bad tommes out there. My advice to anyone concerning cheese is to keep tasting, keep experimenting and keep trying to find good vendors who know how to treat their product properly. St Felicien. A great favourite. This one was really ripe and extra delicious.

Me, too. You wouldn't use it as a corkscrew, would you? No, probably not ← WE HAVE A WINNER! Not a confident one, but a winner nonetheless. here's the story. A few weeks ago we went over to Jean-Claud's place to see how the renovations were coming along. He's doing up a stone barn. The work is now nearly finished and the place is looking great. We ended up having dinner with about 12 French friends. We were intrigued when Jean-Claude started opening the wine with the drainpipe clamp. Necessity is the mother of invention they say. In this case he couldn't find his regular corkscrew in the building mess. Voila! A new type of corkscrew is born. Linda liked it so much that it became a cadeau from Jean-Claude. I though that it would make a good mystery item. Amapola, PM me to set up your dinner.

I'm blushing See cheese post later today.

Tomorrow. We're having a good dinner, seven people. Most of the menu is accessible I think. Here's the ingredient list: !/2 avocado per person A thin slice of smoked ham per person Butter Garlic A package of flaky pastry (pate feuillet) Smoked salmon Or trout slices, 4-6. Fresh dill 1 quail per person More garlic Herbs de Provence 1 eggplant per 3 people Fresh leeks to suit Cheese to your taste Granny smith apples 1 lemon Flour Sugar The menu is: Baked avocado with ham & garlic butter Salmon/trout en croute Roast quail with baked Eggplant & sautéed leeks Cheese Tart Tatin The quail may be a problem. You could substitute a chicken leg/ thigh piece if the quality is good. In any case this is a nice menu and easy to cook. We'll have fun with it. Good night all!

4th of July in France. Even though the French were on our side during the war of Independence they don’t normally celebrate the 4th of July. July 14th is their Independence Day. In one local hamlet, however, they do! This is due to our friends Donald & Annabel. Donald is the only other American I know for miles around. He & Annabel live in a hamlet with a population of 14; twelve of whom are French. Several years ago they decided that they would celebrate the 4th by inviting everyone in the hamlet to a traditional American picnic. Of course, they also invited us as the ‘other’ Americans plus a few other local friends plus the citizens of the hamlet had a few friends & family who had to come as well. The picnic ended up with about 25-30 people. We’re not sure that the French contingent truly understands what it is they’re celebrating, but there’s nothing the French love more than a good party whatever the occasion may be. The French tend to call it the D-day party.They all appreciate D-day & remember it. Please remember that the youngest resident of the hamlet is over 70 and that their native language is Occitan, not French and you can see where the uncertainty arises. The food is classic 4th of July picnic food. Burgers, salads (see Mary’s recipe) pies and so forth. The first year Donald tried to serve American hot dogs, but was politely given to understand that they were not well received. So, no hot dogs now; we barbecue fresh duck & Toulouse sausage instead. Everybody likes hamburgers though. Lots & lots of wine and beer are served of course. We start about 4 in the afternoon & go on until whenever. Village politics are now entering the picture. Last year Madam X & M. Y got into a feud. It took quite a lot of diplomacy to get them to both attend the picnic. They sat as far apart as possible. Knowing that their owners were at loggerheads their dogs decided to get into a fight & had to be separated! It turns out that the feud is about who ate whose plums. It continues. This year no amount of diplomacy could persuade the two to come at the same time. Eventually, M. Y went to Donald & Annabel’s for a drink the evening before and Madame X came to the picnic. This year the dogs behaved themselves. Marcel, the local Shepard. Coco, world's worst sheepdog. If not kept on his lead he will attack the sheep. He oozes charm though! Not everyone is totally relaxed. Madame is still not convinced that all is well. Everybody has a good time and as the evening goes on the bottles of Eau de Vie start appearing. (Think French white lightening; very, very strong) Then the singing starts. It ends up as a very friendly competition with the French speakers doing their favorites & the English speakers trying to match them song for song. The French win as there are more of them & they seem to be better at remembering the words! Once again La entente Cordial is strengthened. I do love living in France.

...do you perhaps use it to encase a piece of round cheese, such as camembert, to help it keep its shape when you put it in the oven (for example with some slivers of garlic hidden in tiny cuts you made in the top)? I'm loving your blog and drooling over your food pics by the way... ← Nope. I might give it a try though.

Your organization puts me to shame. I'm impressed and envious.

Despite all of the imaginative guesses as to what my mystery object is used for so far nobody has got it as of yet. Are you trying hard enough? Thinking laterally? I think you need more incentive, so. I'm offering a prize (of sorts) to the first person who comes up with the right answer. The winner gets a dinner for four cooked by me at our house. The catch is that you have to come to France to collect. (you can stay as we do have several spare bedrooms.) In the interest of fairness friends, family and local residents are ineligible to participate. Hopefully, this will spur you on to greater feats of imagination.

Hmm... Crepe template? Baguette protector? Cheese slicer? Wine bottle holder? Beret hanger? I'm just kidding, by the way Loving your blog! My eyes lit up with the market photo. ← I like beret hanger a lot! Too bad that it isn't the right answer.

You could have been right during the middle ages, but, unfortunately, they ate so many that monkeys are now extinct in France. Keep trying.

I have two 4th of July recipes for you. Later I'll describe what we did for the 4th. The first recipe is for the holiday classic; potato salad. What would the 4th be without it. We all have our own favorite way of making it. This is mine and with all due modesty I can say that its really really good. Mary’s Potato Salad Mary was my next door neighbor when I lived in Emeryville California. Her’s was & is my favorite potato salad. She was kind enough to give me the recipe & I’ve been making it ever since. It’s a classic for the 4th of July & has migrated well to France. The French love it! Ingredients: (Recipe for about 10 people) 7 large potatoes (Boil with skins on until cooked through.) 1/3 Cup Italian vinaigrette (olive oil, white wine vinegar, Italian herbs, garlic granules, salt pepper) 3/4cup Celery diced 1/3-cup onion diced 4 hard boiled eggs chopped up 1 cup mayonnaise 1/2 cup sour cream (or crème fraische) -1~t/2 tablespoons horseradish 11/2 tablespoons Dijon mustard Method: -Peel cooked potatoes while still hot &.cut into bite sized pieces. Mix the potatoes with the dressing while still hot. Chill for a couple of hours in the fridge. - Mix all of the other ingredients with the potatoes. - Season with salt & celery salt or seeds to taste. Then cool in fridge for another 2 hours Here's the second recipe Roasted Peppers I love roasted marinated peppers, but have always found the traditional way of doing them to be a pain in the neck. Holding under or over the grill, placing in bag, peeling … a lot of work I thought. So, being a lazy devil I decided to see what I could do to make life simpler. What follows is my simple method of doing roast peppers. Ingredients: (for a generous appetizer) - 1 green bell pepper per person - 1 red bell pepper per person. (or you can use yellow or all one color) - 1 good sized clove of garlic per pepper plus at least one ‘for the pot’ - 1 tablespoon of good quality olive oil per pepper plus extra to taste. - 1 teaspoon of sherry vinegar per pepper plus extra to taste. - A sprinkling of either piment de Espalion or cayenne pepper. - About a teaspoon of drained capers or more to taste. - Coarse ground sea. - Day old bread about 1 ‘slice’ per person. - Fresh endive; 4 or 5 leaves per person. NOTE: All of the above measurements are just guidelines. Feel free to play with the proportions until you get the taste you like best. Also note that I've used only red bell peppers this time. The simple reason is when I was making this & taking pictures I happened to have ONLY red peppers. No big deal. Method: (turn oven grill on to high heat. That’s 275C on my oven. Adjust the top rack to about mid-oven.) - Julienne the peppers being careful to remove all seeds and white veins. The julienne should be lengthwise on the peppers & about 1/8 to ¼ inch wide. - Place the pepper strips on a rack in a roasting pan. - Place the roasting pan on the top rack. Roast the peppers until they become soft. As the top ones start to brown turn the peppers, using tongs, to expose new strips to the direct heat. It’s nice to have some browning, but not essential. The peppers are done when you start to see juices in the bottom of the roasting pan. The roasting process will take anywhere from 15 minutes upwards depending upon quantity, heat and placement. Don’t try to do them too fast. - While the peppers are roasting, peel & finely chop the garlic. Place it into a good sized bowl and mix thoroughly with the olive oil & sherry vinegar. Add the salt & “pepper”. Add the capers. Adjust the dressing until you have the taste you like. - Remove the peppers from the oven when done and immediately mix them with the dressing. Mix well and then cover the bowl with cling film. Let cool for a while then place in the fridge. The peppers should marinate for at least one hour, longer is better & overnight is ideal. (If overnight then take the peppers out of the fried well before serving. They are best slightly cool or at room temperature.) - Next & this is optional; make some croûtons. Cut day old bread into 3/8 inch cubes. Mix with a very light coating of olive oil (use your hands to mix), add S&P plus oregano or another favorite herb, place one deep on a cookie tray then roast in the oven until crisp & slightly browned. - To serve. Carefully break off endive leaves from their stalk and place them around a plate. Add to each a portion of roasted pepper, heaping it up over the endive so that it looks nice. Sprinkle on some croûtons. I find it wise to hold some roasted pepper back when serving this dish. Seconds are normally appreciated especially by the guys. Simpler to do than to write up, but this dish never fails as an appetizer. I’ve never tried to keep it for more than a few days so don’t know about longer term storage. Without the endive presentation this is a great picnic dish as it travels well.

Before I get into what I had planned to blog about today I thought that I would share the following with you. In the NY Times today there was an article about potato chips. Here's the link to the article. Now, its fine to be chauvinistic about potato chips, but we hardly have a monopoly on them. The British are great lovers of crisps (chips being French fries in the UK) and sell a huge variety of types and flavors. The French do pretty well with potato chips, but not to the extent that we or the British do. As you much expect the quality is pretty good here in France. There is not, however, the the wide variety of types & flavors that are available in the states or the UK. Plain, crinkle cut and a few flavors; that's about it. You rarely see anything like a Frito (my favorite) What I can get, however, are bags of truly hand made potato chips which are the greatest. Happy 4th!

Here he is in all his glory. You have to make allowances for a nearly full grown poodle puppy full of the joys of spring running through a meadow and me getting a very lucky shot with my new camera!

Don't know if there is a specific name. Guess there must be, but I'm not sure what it is. At the market they just seem to be called poivron vert, green peppers. Maybe a better French speaker knows & will enlighten us. All the tart is is your roasted apricots using a pastry shell (bowl) to hold them.

Nope. At the end I think I'll add up all of the suggested uses and see where we've gotten to. You are an imaginative lot, but perhaps not thinking as a Frenchman might. That's a hint by the way.

Thanks. Don't forget to take your Brie out of the fridge early.

Wow! What imagination. This is becoming the most versatile device ever. Still no prize, however.

Not there yet!

Yet another good idea. This item is getting steadily more useful even though nobody has come up with the use I have in mind and have seen demonstrated. Keep trying.

There does seem to be some trend that way, but if you buy your fruits in season on the local markets they will be the real thing. Obviously if you are buying out of season or buying something that isn't grown in France you will tend to get 'factory' farmed produce. Still, I think that in general in France the market doesn't put up with the worst excesses of terrible so called food. I love your suggestions for uses for the mystery item even though they're wrong. I might just have to add a holder to my BBQ.

Here we go on dinner. Of course the best laid plans go awry. Linda who had been shopping all day with her friend Jean in Montauban called at about 5:30 to say they were on their way home, but that she wouldn't want any dinner as they had had a big lunch of pintade. Here I am cooking for two on the blog! Inspiration; I called Rob, Jean's husband, and invited him up for dinner since If Linda didn't want anything neither would Jean. This worked like a charm. So, here's how you do Anaheim peppers with Brie on the BBQ. 1) Cut the peppers in half length ways. Then cut out the white ribs & scrape out the seeds. 2) Cut a nice piece of Brie into narrow strips. 3) Take both to a nice hot BBQ. Place the cut pepper, cut side down on the grill. 4) when the peppers start to brown turn them over & put a piece of Brie into the cavity. 5) let this cook until the Brie has melted and the peppers are soft. (on a hot grill this will only take 3-5 minutes) 6) serve immediately. For the zucchini first cut them into quarters length ways. Then coat them lightly with olive oil. Sprinkle herbs de Provence & garlic granules over them. Place on your hot BBQ skin side down. Leave for 3-4 minutes then turn to one side and cook until browned. Do the same for the other side then serve hot. For the Magret (duck breasts) first cut a cross hatch pattern on the fatty side trying to avoid cutting into the meat. Then rub a good coating of sea salt into the fat side. Next gently sauté the magret, fat side down, in a frying pan on the stove. You will need to pour off & save the rendered duck fat at least twice. This process should take about 15 minutes. Take the magret(s) to your BBQ and place Skin (fatty) side down on a medium hot grill. Put salt, pepper & fresh thyme leaves on the top.Cook until the fat is crisp & brown. Turn the heat up or move to a hot part of the grill and cook the other side. The timing depends upon how well cooked you like your meat. Traditionally, magret is cooked rare, quite pink. When done take off the grill. Note that I was cooking the magret & the zucchini at the same time. Its just practice to get the timings right. Next cut the magret into thin slices & arrange with the zucchini to serve. As you can see I've added a little pot of ailiade de Toulouse. (I'll give the recipe for this if anybody asks) Delicious. Rob & I enjoyed ourselves and Linda & Jean had a bit despite not being hungry. The good news was that Linda & Jean had bought something we could have for dessert. Lovely little white grapes marinated in cassis and covered with 70% chocolate. Its so easy to eat well! As for wine we had some more of Sarah's rose and some Burgundian chardonnay.

A very good thought, but still not it. Think simple. I'm going to use mine tonight.

Here's the Apricot Tart recipe with some pictures. These rustic fruit tarts are easy to make and are especially good as we move through the summer and fully tree ripened fruits are progressively available. I’ve started with an Apricot tart because they are what is at their peak right now. In a few weeks it will be peaches, then plums and onto fall with pears. The technique of making the tart is the same no matter which fruit you choose to use. Here goes: (pre-heat you oven to 190 degrees C.) This pie is made on a cookie sheet or in my case a big round pizza sheet. Use whatever you have that suits and is large enough to contain the size of pie you want to make. For example my pizza sheet is about 10 inches (25 cm) in diameter. Here's the mise en place: 1) First make your pate brisée in the normal way. Make enough to cover the bottom of your container PLUS about 2 inches all around when rolled out thinly. 2) Cut the apricots in half & take out the seeds. 3) Mix some flour, sugar & the ground almonds in equal quantities. Make about 11/2 cup; more if your apricots are very ripe & will give off lots of juice. ( NOTE: I like my fruit tarts to be tart. If you like more sweetness then add more sugar to the mixture or you can sprinkle on sugar after you have assembled the tart.) 4) Roll out the pate brisée into a round or rectangle (depending upon the container you are using) the size of your pie PLUS about 2 inches all around. 5) Coat the entire pie surface fairly evenly with the flour/sugar/almond mixture. 6) Lay a ring of apricots, cut side down, around the pie surface. Add a second ring inside that & so on until you’ve covered the surface. Now start a second layer beginning with a layer inside the bottom outside layer. Continue until you have used all of the apricots. (its Ok to go to 3 layer near the middle if you want to) 7) Turn up the edge of the crust until it comes over the outer layer of apricots. It will naturally fold. Pinch the fold then move to the next segment. Keep going until you have folded the crust up all around the pie & have securely pinched it together. 8) Brush the folded edges with an egg wash (or a bit of water) and sprinkle on some sugar. 9) Cook in the oven until the crust is nice & brown & the apricots are soft. Near the end you may want to turn on your broiler & brown the tops of the apricots & crust. Be careful though! 10) Cool on a rack & serve with ice cream. The finished product.

Before I forget here's the fridge photo. Nothing too dramatic. You can just see the magrets that I'm cooking for dinner near the bottom. Lurking at the back are my two jars of duck fat. Couldn't cook properly here without them. Fortunately duck fat seems to keep for a long time in the fridge. I'm going to post the Apricot tart recipe next as I've now finished making it>