FRANCILLOU, Une Ferme Auberge 07/07/2010
Patrice invited me up to his farm for an entirely traditional French meal. His vocabulary contains perhaps three words in English, so we kept the dictionary nearby to supplement my shaky French. Here is the meal he cooked for me: * Smooth, milk soaked fois gras served with thin, toasted slices of bread. This is the third photo from the top. * A salad of fresh greens from his garden, with his home made vinegar, oil, and mustard. * Wine, bien sur! Les Nuits de Saint George, de la Cote D'Or. * Veal with a creamy mushroom, onion, and "poivrons vert" sauce * le Fromage: *Salers, a local cow's milk cheese * Bethamel, a cow's milk cheese made in the Pyranées * An aged marscapone, fantastique! * Fresh fruit salad with pears and peaches, and a special cookie from Perpignon * An espresso       1 Comment Feast in the courtyard 07/07/2010
Fabienne and I decided to try out a few new recipes, and we were so delighted by the results we decided to host a mini feast in the courtyard for Chris and Einat (my boss and my roommate). The feast consisted of Cabillaud (similar to cod) and wild Atlantic salmon broiled (placed on the highest heat on the highest rack in the oven) with fennel, young carrots, shallots, and leeks, and served in a beurre blanc sauce with fennel seeds. Perfectly tender. For dessert: goat cheese ice cream served with grilled peaches and a peach honey caramel with sechuan pepper. If it appears like ice cream soup in the photo, it is because it melted on the way to the courtyard.      Melon Sorbet 07/05/2010
Today's dessert: a melon sorbet, made from market melons whose smell seeped out through their thick skins, some lemon, mint infused caramel, and whipped egg whites. I served the melon sorbet with pistachio anise shortbread cookies, although I did not serve all of the sorbet in their own rinds, as shown in the photo. I think it is a bit tacky, but I had so many of them leftover I decided to use at least one as a bowl.   Dinner on the Roof 07/05/2010
Sautéed salmon with chanterelles, fennel, shallots, and wild thyme picked above Limoux. All of the salad ingredients came from the little fruit stand across the street that afternoon. The wine was delightful, a local Chardonnay that we had tasted on a wine tour around Roquetaillade.      Breakfast of Champions (not Champignons) 07/05/2010
I had leftover batter from the lemon tart (shown in an older post) which we made into French Toast from the delightful bread from Blagnac, a loaf like a full sized pillow. We made the cinnamon butter shown in the photo, and these peaches could not have been more ripe.  Summer of Tomatoes 07/05/2010
We bought these heirloom tomatoes and plums in the Toulouse market, and made a heavenly salad with saucisson, chevre, spanish olive oil, basil, and peas.   Successful Lemon Tart 07/05/2010
One of my co-workers is obsessed with lemon tarts, so I made one for her birthday, with the help of Nick.   Elaborate Experimentation 07/05/2010
For my second week as the Monday pastry chef, I made this dark chocolate molten cake (sort of like a souffle, but more dense, dark, and gooey in the center), with fresh yellow peaches and a cinnamon ice cream, (which I also made!)  I now have the lovely task of preparing dessert once a week for the guests. My first project was this tart with cardamom frangipane (which is made of almonds) and fresh market apricots. A great success!    Dans le Coeur de la Bonne Cuisine 06/10/2010
Le Fromage du Coeur et les "Coeurs de Boeuf", which is what they call these tomatoes, beef hearts.   |
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