Having a vegetable garden (potager) is one of the most rewarding endeavors one can undertake.
It’s a lot of work for six or seven months, depending on your growing season, but being able to grow and eat your own vegetables all summer, fresh from the garden, is wonderful.
Having the freezer full of soups and the cellar full of winter … Continue reading.....
Spring is green.
Artichokes, asparagus, snow peas, spinach, green garlic, fresh herbs….. All green.
We love green.
I once worked with a woman who would not eat anything green…. I felt so sorry for her.
For those of you who don’t know (and I feel sorry for you, too) green garlic is immature garlic, picked before the cloves form. It … Continue reading.....
We don’t actually have Cornish Game Hens here in France. But we have little chickens or poussin.
They are under a pound in weight, usually about 14oz (420gr) and are a perfect single serving size – with maybe a bit leftover for a snack.
In summer we do them on the barbecue; in winter I roast them in the oven.… Continue reading.....
Remember the Two Fat Ladies?
Clarissa Dickson Wright and Jennifer Paterson were gregarious, joyful cooks that rode around the the UK on a motorcycle (with a sidecar), taking over kitchens and cooking feasts. They only used fresh, local ingredients but, with a liberal use of lard, butter and heavy cream, their dishes rarely qualified as healthy.
I’m from the Midwest.
The potato salad I grew up with was made with boiled potatoes and mayonnaise (traditional American Potato Salad).
Occasionally, we would have one at the neighbor’s house that was made with a hot bacon dressing and pickles (German Potato Salad).
Then I got my own kitchen and got to play outside the rules.… Continue reading.....
This is what happens when one expects spring and it doesn’t arrive.
We switch from white wine to rosé for the summer months.
It was too cold to do the turkey outside.
So I decided to make turkey rolls.
I didn’t have any white wine to make a sauce and I didn’t think Turkey in Pink Wine sounded quite right….… Continue reading.....
I was watching British cooking shows while trimming the tree the other day. One of them featured a gorgeous Moroccan pie or pastry. I wasn’t paying close enough attention to actually get the recipe but I did get the idea.
Naturally, I had to modify it to suit….
The problem was she used a quiche pan. She lined it with … Continue reading.....
This has been one of my favorite summer pasta dishes for as long as I've been growing tomatoes.
It's wonderful using fresh tomatoes and herbs from your local markets.
It approaches sublime when you use perfectly ripe, just picked tomatoes, still warm from the sun and herbs that were happily growing in your garden moments earlier.
If it's not the … Continue reading.....
