Photo du Jour: 8 November 2013

Bouchée à la Reine

Whichever Queen the Bouchée à la Reine was named for, must have had a very big mouth. Seriously, I suspect that the name  is actually a corruption of Lorraine, which is the home of this puff pastry case,  filled with a comforting mushroom sauce—just right for a November picnic. In Anglosaxonia, we tend to use the Belgian name for this, vol au vent, which is just what I was about to do in the picture as it's windy in Paris today. 

Photo du jour: 1 Novembre 2013

Conger

European congers are found off both the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts of France. This six footer (he's been chopped in half) is average since they can reach almost 10 foot in length and weigh up to 240lb, making them the largest eels in the world.

Mellow fruitfulness

'Belle de Boskoop' apples

Cèpes

There are two ingredients that traditionally mark the season of mists in France: the first are rouged apples  from the fields of Normandy, and the other are ceps, boletus edulis mushrooms, from the forests and woods.

Ceps look like the archetypal cartoon mushroom. Their tubby little stalks, topped with a cappuccino hat, make you want to prod them in the tummy like the Pilsbury Dough Man. This cuteness, that in Italy has earned them the name of ‘porcini’ or ‘little pigs’,  belies a flavour that makes them rightly prized for eating, with a price tag to match.

Ceps smell of the earth in which they grow, or does the earth in which they grow, smell of cep? I am not quite sure. Delicious raw, they have a much more stringy consistency than white or brown cap mushrooms  more like the centre of a freshly baked baguette than a mushroom. Their extraordinary flavour is scented with hints of ripe orchard apple and walnut, and leaves the aroma of freshly polished mahogany in your nose.

Cooking completely changes the texture and flavour of the cep. Allow them, diced, to gently sigh in a hip bath of butter until lightly browned, and you have something that resembles creamy scallops. Serve on a slice of toasted bread doused in olive oil and you have the perfect autumn comfort food. Who needs cheese on toast?

Ratatouille

My local market

Thanks to Disney, almost everyone now knows the name of this classic French dish, which is one of my personal favourites. As a child, I was brought up on the Italian 'peperonata' which is very similar, but without aubergines and courgettes (US translation: egg plants and zucchini) and is delicious as a hot accompaniment to meat or as a cold salad. Add in what are my two favourite vegetables and we are very close to perfection. 

Ratatouille, (ra-ta-too-ee) has it's origins in the southern, Provence region of France and therefore has cousins in most Mediterranean countries. You will find it on menus hiding behind names such as 'pisto' (Spain), 'caponata' (Italy), 'kapunata' (Malta), lecso (Hungary), and 'briami' (Greece). Even in France, it sometimes masquerades as the romantic 'valentine' or the mouthful 'bohémienne languedocienne'.
Tuesday morning is market morning in my neighbourhood, so I popped out to get the vegetables to prepare it. 

Ratatouille

2 aubergines (egg plants)

2 white onions

1 red pepper

1 yellow pepper

2 medium courgettes (zucchini)

6 large plum tomatoes

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

6 tablespoons of olive oil

2 tablespoons of tomato purée

2 teaspoons of chopped tarragon

1 teaspoon of chopped rosemary

salt

ground black pepper

Chop the aubergines into large cubes. Cover them with salt, and leave them to sweat their juices for about 10 minutes. 

Peel and halve the onions and them cut them into semi-circular slices. 

Remove the insides of the peppers and cut the skin into large square pieces. 

Chop the courgettes into rounds and chop the tomatoes into eight pieces each. 

All your pieces of vegetable should be about the same size. 

Heat the oil gently in a large saucepan or casserold and add the aubergines, onions, peppers, and courgettes. Cook for about 5 minutes and then add the garlic and the herbs. Add the tomatoes and tomato purée, season with salt and pepper. Add a small amount of water and then cover and simmer for about 15 minutes or until the peppers are tender. 

Serve hot as an accompaniment for chicken or meat, as a main course, or cold as a salad. 

New feature: butter ratings

I have decided to add a rating system for food mentioned on the blog, and what better system to adopt but 'butter ratings'. Cuisine appropriate, and a nod to Julia Child.
From now onwards, I will award between 1 and 5 butter curls to any food, restaurants, shops, wine, recipes, or websites I write about. So watch out for the nifty icons in future posts.

5 butter curls = Exceptionnel!

      4 butter curls = Très bon!

            3 butter curls = Moyenne

                  2 butter curls = Décevant

                        1 butter curl = Atroce!