Confit de Canard

Mmmmm....if there is one big advantage to living in France it is that one can find cans of duck on the Supermarket shelves. Confit de Canard is duck thighs canned in duck fat. It is tender and fatty and absolutely delicious. I usually prepare confit de canard with potatoes as the potatoes cooked in the duck grease is a perfect match to the duck.

My sister-in-law cooked confit de canard long before me. She has an infamous story of placing the can of duck in a bain-marie so the duck fat would melt so she could take the pieces of duck out. Generally, it is necessary to melt the grease so one can get the pieces out. However, TAKE OFF THE LID! She forgot to pierce holes in the top of the can or even to remove the lid. I don't know if you have ever smelled duck grease. It is strong and can linger. Her can exploded when she tried to open it and the fat was all over the kitchen and even made it to the ceiling. I cannot imagine how she cleaned it all up and got rid of the smell. It sounds like a nightmare.

If you prepare confit de canard properly it is far from a nightmare. It is like a heavenly dream. One can find this online and get it shipped in the States. It is just 3-4 times the price it is here. I plan to eat my share of duck before we have to go back to California in Fall.

Looking for Inspiration

I have not written for a little while and I think I might be searching for inspiration. I need a new travel or a new restaurant. Or, even more inspiring would be seeing my mother-in-law cook.

One thing I did try recently was Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic. This is a recipe from one of my favorite chefs, Ina Garten. The dish was pretty simple, looked amazing and tasted fantastic! I plan to try it again next week for my family's visit.

I think that in trying someone else's recipe I learn more about cooking. However, I also find it hard to write about someone else's recipe when I first try it. It is not my own yet. So, in this case -- thank you Barefoot Contessa!

Missing a Good Ol' Hot Dog

Another vehicle for mayonnaise for me is a good ol' American hot dog. It is also a vehicle for yellow mustard, a sweet soft bun and crisp onions... Living in France has allowed me to try all sorts of delicious delights like merguez sausage or Germany's plethora of wurst. But, I have not ventured to the sausage aisle for a hot dog, nor IKEA for a hot dog bun. I plan to wait it out until I return home to the States this Fall. In the meantime, I will just dream of tasting that hot dog again. It's just a little hard with such warm BBQ weather...

Some Old Cherries

Sounds appetizing? Well, I thought I should still figure out a way to use these cherries that were just slightly mushy rather than throw them all away. I got busy tearing the pits out of the cherries and getting dark, red juice all over me and the counter. I poured a bit of granulated sugar and water in a pan to start boiling and each pitted cherry was put in the sugar bath. I let it boil and then added a drop of left over Armagnac and poured in some Kirsch as well. It started to look and smell really good. In the middle of breaking open cherries I put some vanilla ice cream on the counter. I also took Oreo cookies and mashed them into the bottom of ramekins as a "crust" and extra flavor for my creation. With the cookies on the bottom, I put the softened ice cream in the pots. Once the cherries cooled I added them on top. I placed the dessert in the freezer.

We all really enjoyed it. I got "mmmm" from my toddler. And, we named the dessert "dirty cherry." A nice ending to a warm evening's dinner.

Meats, Potatoes and Crémeux du Jura

Crémeux du Jura

I went to the store in search of a cheese called Mont D'or. Apparently, this is not its season. So, I found its close counterpart, Crémeux du Jura. This cheese is a mountain cheese and it's delicious with charcutrie (deli meats) and roasted potatoes. To start this meal I put whole, small potatoes on a baking sheet and placed them in the oven to cook for about 30-40 minutes until they were tender. I added a little olive oil just so they wouldn't stick to the sheet. To cook the cheese, I unwrapped the cheese and placed it in its original wooden box. I cut a small hole in the top of the cheese and put in a peeled garlic clove. Then, I added a white wine from this region. It helps to place the cheese on its own baking sheet so when the wine seeps through it will not get into the oven. Finally, I placed charcutrie items, such as salami, smoked ham, or prosciutto, on a plate. To eat the meal one just takes a spoon and digs in! You can take your spoon of melted cheese and place it on your potato or meats. This meal is delicious, filling and fabulous with the white wine as well.

A Vehicle For Mayonnaise

Look at these beautiful, large artichokes. They are a rainbow of colors and symbolize the start of the summer season. There are some special tricks I do with my artichokes. First, I learned to cut my artichokes to look presentable. I slice off the stem and the tops with a serrated knife. I then cut each outer leaf so that the sharp points are removed. Next, I add cut garlic cloves, lemons and salt to the water in which I boil my artichokes. And most importantly, I always enjoy my artichokes with a lemon mayonnaise. Being the gourmande I am, I sometimes think that artichokes might just be another vehicle for mayonnaise! Do I love the beautiful, green creation of nature? Or, do I love the white condiment that accompanies it?

Bleu de Gex Part II

I tried this blue cheese again after reading a bit about more about it. The suggestions were that it is nutty and a mild cheese. I agree that it has a nutty taste. It also seems to have an aftertaste that lingers.

My sister was happy with the veal and Bleu de Gex cream sauce. She asked if we would go out to eat while she was here. I hesitated because I have two little ones. She said, "that's OK, you are a good cook so it doesn't matter."

I am certain we will be out and about enough to try some culinary delights! And, I will try my best to serve up local cuisine and let her experience the French cooking as I know it.

(the picture shows the veal cooking and the blue cheese just starting to melt. I added crème fraîche about 5 minutes later.)

Bleu de Gex

Bleu de Gex is a blue cheese from a town only a few kilometers from where we live. Gex is at the base of the Jura Mountains and so the appellation of the cheese is from the "Haut-Jura." Bleu de Gex is made from cow's milk and is great with veal, beef or at the end of a meal paired with older, red wines. When we dine at local restaurants we find Bleu de Gex on the menu. One of my favorites is veal with a cream sauce and Bleu de Gex.

I decided that I should find this cheese in the store and see if I could re-create what I tasted in the restaurants. I also bought crème fraîche and veal and started experimenting. The result was a creamy balance of sweet crème fraîche and acidic blue cheese over the tender veal.

I also tried this cheese in its raw form: just a hard, blue cheese. It really does have a strong, almost acidic bite to it. I prefer its taste balanced in a sauce.

My sister arrives tomorrow from California. What's cooking? A nice cutlet of veal or beef with a Bleu de Gex cream sauce!

Happy 4th of July

I didn't know I would be so sad to celebrate 4th of July away from the U.S. I think the rainy weather here made it harder. I was wearing snow boots and a fuzzy sweater for my 4th of July.

To try to get close to America we dined (that's a fancy word) at Buffalo Grill. They have decent food and I had my cheeseburger and fries to celebrate my country's independence.

I thought about making a meal at home. But, considering I was sad, the thought of dirty dishes and shopping for food just didn't seem like a plan.

My family in California was hopefully celebrating with a BBQ and a splash at the pool. I hope they had fun!

Boudin Blanc

Boudin Blanc is a delicious white sausage that is primarily bread-based. It is found in the charcutrie aisle of the French Supermarkets. I am a little scared of its counterpart: boudin noir. This is made of blood and I am not thrilled by that notion. So, I stick with boudin blanc!

Some tricks to cooking up boudin blanc are 1. take off the skins and 2. find a nice white wine to cook it in. I chose a wine from this region: Haute Savoie. If you leave the skins on the boudin will puff up. If you take them off then it cooks nicely and still gets a brown crust.

Set the oven to 210 degrees Celsius. Put your boudin in a baking dish and fill the bottom with white wine to cover the bottom 1/3 of the sausages. Cook for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes turn the sausages over to cook the other side and be sure that the entire boudin gets a dip in the wine. Cook for 10-15 more minutes.

If anyone has advice on what to serve boudin blanc with then please email me! Last night we ate it with an eggplant pistou (like a ratatouille) and wedge cut fries. I still haven't found the perfect side dishes for boudin blanc.

p.s. my toddler loves this stuff!

Salmon Rolls

This is a yummy appetizer and it's easy to prepare!

I was thinking as I prepared this entry that when it comes to oven temperature I am never very exact. I think this started when I arrived in Europe and had to make vague conversions from Fahrenheit to Celsius. My general method of oven-cooking is to turn the dial to around 200 degrees Celsius, put in my dish, give it 10 minutes and then peek. I then adjust the oven according to how my dish is cooking. Another trick I learned was how to let a dish stay warm, cook a little extra, while having the oven off. Maybe it's like an art form that each cook needs to figure out. Maybe it just takes patience and practice. Either way, I apologize for not being more exact in my recipes for cooking temperatures or times.

Ingredients:
Pâte feuilletée ( puff pastry dough )
smoked salmon
Crème fraîche
chives

Unroll the puff pastry so it lays flat. Add thin slices of smoked salmon to top the lower half of your pastry. Start with the lower half and begin to roll the pastry with the salmon inside. Cut slices of this roll about 1/2 inch thick. The middle slices will be the prettiest, but the outer slices will still cook up and be delicious! Bake on a cookie sheet, lined with parchment paper, for about 12 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius.

The Land of Duck

The South-West region of France, near Toulouse, is the land of duck. There are several duck specialities to try there. The first is foie gras. My brother in law actually manages a plant where they create duck delicacies such as foie gras in this area. I have a rule to try something 3 times before giving up on it. This was the case for fois gras. But, I recently tried a fourth time to taste some foie gras he brought home for a special occasion. Yum! It was covered in pepper which balanced the natural sweetness of the sweet duck liver. The next must-try is the greasy and crispy duck confit or confit de canard. This is pieces of duck such as thighs and legs that is cooked in duck fat. It is tender and rich and the meat falls right off the bone. Finally, cassoulet, a dish of beans, sausage and duck confit. This is a rich, comfort food. I tried it while I visited Toulouse. However, my friend in Paris makes a superior cassoulet. She promised me one this September which is serious business! I have been looking forward to her cassoulet for 3 years now! Duck isn't all there is to the South-West of France. However, it is worth trying in all its forms for they are all rich with flavor and uniqueness.