Southern Fried French

Southern Fried or French Fried, It's All Good

Every French woman I know owns a friteuse, or deep-fryer.  I’ve always imagined them cooking up delicate fried delights.  And I had envie, I was really coveting one.   

But here is the main reason I wanted one:  to make doughnuts.  The French of course do marvelous pastries, but they don’t do doughnuts, and sometimes nothing else will do.  Plus I saw a recipe for them in Better Homes and Gardens which made it look so easy.

I happened to mention my doughnut fixation to our dear friends Bennett and Joan who were visiting from the states, and surprise, they up and bought me a friteuse!  So now I have a lovely French one, full of possibilities. 

Have I made doughnuts!  Cake doughnuts with icing and doughnuts rolled in cinnamon and sugar.  Yeast doughnuts with a sugar glaze, à la Krispy Kreme.  I had the idea they would be a fun thing to serve at dinner parties. Ha! They've they’ve never lasted that long. 

Then I thought, OK, on to the French recettes!  I went to my favorite source, The Lyon Ladies (Nicole’s group of French women who are learning English).  What did they do with their friteuses?  

Pas beaucoup,  not much, was their surprising answer, (though not too much of a surprise, since the thing is a bit of a hassle to use and clean, not something you pull out on a busy week night).  Mostly they use it to make pommes frites (French fries) for kids.  The gourmet cooks among them sometimes make what they call beignets, which are batter dipped, fried veggies (beignets can be sweet, too, you will see them occasionally in a pâtisserie.  They resemble a very small, round, cream or chocolate filled doughnut).

So I’ve been frying everything I can think of.  I’ve made the veggie beignets (yummy) and the famous twice-fried pommes frites.  I’ve tackled shrimp tempura. I also found a recipe in a French magazine for ravioles frites, which were hot and crunchy and a fun appetizer, or the centerpiece for a main-dish salad.

Should you have a  Deep Fryer, or even a deep pan and a surplus of vegetable oil, here are some recipes for you.  Test your oil temperature if you don’t have a machine; 350F (180C) is good for most things, 375 (190C) for french fries.  If the temperature is correct, not as much oil is absorbed.

 

RECIPES:  What to do with a Friteuse

Ron's great idea:  We've cooked all the fried stuff out on our terrace, which keeps the house odor-free.  If you lack an outdoor plug, sit your deep- fryer near your range hood and crank it up to high speed.

For the cake doughnuts, I used the Better Homes and Gardens recipe, which you can find right here.  Are they as easy as they look to make?  Yes, but they're time-consuming.  

For the ravioles frites, buy fresh ravioli in the refrigerated section of the grocery store, and fry them for 3 minutes at 350 (180C), turning once.  Drain on paper towels and serve  hot with a dipping sauce.  Any sort of marinara sauce works well.  You can even use salsa, or a chinese sweet and sour sauce. 

A basic tempura batter can be used for shrimp or vegetables.  Use cut-up squash, mushrooms, cauliflower, broccoli, bell peppers.  You’ll probably have to do them in batches, but just pop them in a warm oven on a plate to hold them.  This recipe includes an easy dipping sauce as well. 

For  the French fries, or pommes frites:  Peel and slice baking potatoes into skinny pieces. They should be cut uniformly.  You can do this by hand, or with a Japanese Mandoline Slicer that has a french fry attachment.  Soak the fries in ice water for 10 minutes, dry them in a towel and then let them air dry for another 5.  Heat vegetable oil to a depth of several inches until it reaches 375F (190C).  Add fries, in small batches; do not crowd (crowding causes more oil absorption).  Cook 8 to 10 minutes, until tender but not brown. Drain on paper towels.  Let them cool at least 5 minutes; you can take them to this step a couple of hours ahead of time if you like. When ready to eat, fry them again at same temperature for about 3 minutes, until crisp and golden brown.  Serve with sea salt, and mayonnaise if you want to be oh-so-French. 

For the oil, by the way, I buy vegetable oil in 2 litre bottles and pour it back in the container when it’s cool and store it in the fridge.  I keep a ‘savory’ bottle and a ‘sweet’ bottle’.  I use it three or four times before I throw it out, though some say you can use it ten times (if cooking seafood, I use it only once).

 

In the Comments:  Delia says there's a Heritage Week-end in the UK too, which is going on my travel list!  Sandra did the 'Patrimoine' in Orleans this month, and Ido, Julie, and Suzanne are dreaming of doint it one day. Jacki's comment tripped a 'moutarde' memory for Linda.  Merci for the comments!

Favorite Reads:  While we're talking about the Patrimoine week-end:  On my wish list is H.R. Kedward's France and the French: A Modern History, which examines the political and cultural upheaveal in France in the last century, and looks deep into the heart of 'Frenchness'.  And for a look at the forces that shaped the lives of modern women in France (timely, given the DSK mess), check out the film Coco Before Chanel with Audrey Tautou.

Our Readers' Blogs: Julie studies French and travels the world at her Traveling Through blog. Sara followed her boyfriend to Provence and look what happened! Go to Sara in le Petit Village.  And while we're in Provence, Ashley lives the dream and blogs on daily life at BackyardProvence.  If you prefer the lovely Lot area, Caesar and Lady Caroline, who have just joined us, rent out their 14th century stone house, in a town I happen to know well and love: St. Céré.  Find out more at Maison Burgos France.   

The History of France, in One Week-end

                       Photo: Berzé-le-Châtel, between Mâcon and Cluny

There are certain words in any language that have so many levels of meaning that they simply don’t translate well, and le patrimoine is one of them.  On the surfacre it means heritage or legacy. It is a much-used word in France, and refers to ‘frenchness’, to the deep, nostalgic ties the French have to their history that are imbedded in the French character, with shades of patriotism, nationalism, and ancestry.  It’s often difficult for foreigners to imagine the importance of this concept to the French.

If history or architecture are on your agenda when you visit France, and you want to dive deeper into the French psyche, you might want to plan a visit around a very unique week-end:  the Journées du Patrimoine.    

Les Journées du Patrimoine is the third week-end in September each year, and held  all over France.  Over 15,000 châteaux, churches, monuments, and heritage sites are open to the public.  Many feature special tours, expositions, or art exhibits for the occasion. The most interesting aspect to me is that many private châteaux open to the public, uniquely for this event.  The châtelains receive a government incentive to do so, and usually give the tours themselves (the Château de Balleure has been open in the past, but Nicole said having over a thousand visitors in one week-end is too much, even for her!). 

Many of the attractions are open at reduced prices.  That’s the good news.  The bad news is that in addition to pride in their heritage, the reductions cause the French to turn out in force, and  other tourists too.  If you want to be part of a communal atmosphere, you got it.  If you want a quiet tour, come another time.

This past week-end was the Patrimoine, and we cruised over to the most impressive fortified château in our area, Berzé-le-Châtel, which is an enormous compound perched high on a hill in the Mâconnais (perhaps the beginning of the second season of Downton Abbey has me dreaming of grand châteaux). We’ve toured the gardens, cellars, and chapel many times, but we stopped by hoping that the Parisian owners had opened the interiors.  But no, so we popped by the 11th century Chapelle des Moines in nearby Berzé-le-ville to see the beautiful frescos.   

I remember one particular Journées du Patrimoine when we toured the private château in Messey-sur-Grosne, very near Balleure.  It’s a highly unusual one because it’s made of red brick.  The owners were there: Madame tall and blond and dressed in a flowing white linen and lace full-length dress.  Monsieur wore a white linen suit with a bowtie, and a dashing straw hat.  They served champagne in the garden and recounted the history of their grand maison secondaire to their spellbound guests. Inside, we were surprised to find it completely authentic and rustic, untouched for decades, yet decorated with fine antiques and old fabrics in that offhand chic French country way.  No modern kitchens or luxury bathrooms here--just the soul of the French patrimoine.

Photo:  The owner of another nearby Château in Cormatin gets ready for the big week-end. 

 

For more info on the Journées du Patrimoine, go to http://www.journeesdupatrimoine.culture.fr/.  Regional sites tend to be more useful; for info specifically on Burgundy,  go to http://www.bourgogne.culture.gouv.fr/

Favorite Reads:  Architecture buffs who love old French villages might enjoy a book from our shelf called French Farmhouses and Cottages, which illustrates and describes the different styles by region.  For a twist on French history, the beautifully photographed French America traces the influence of French architecture in the US from the early settlements to modern urban design. And now that you've improved your mind, it's time for dessert:  Cakespy is a darling blog which is one of my favorites, and now the book is out: CakeSpy Presents Sweet Treats for a Sugar-Filled Life.  

In the Comments this week:  Welcome to Jacki and Annie, fans of French Dressing #1 (which keeps sort of forever, Annie, if you skip the shallots). And Jacki's been hauling French mustard across oceans! Linda's entertaining the "Last Guests of Summer", but it sounds like markets and gardens are still hopping everywhere. Fern, love the zuchinni story!  Merci, as always, for the lovely comments.

Our Reader's Blogs: Music and Market tours of Europe?  What a great idea!  Go to Anne's site at  http://www.musicetc.us/.  And Kat says everybody has rhythym.  Read about boomwackers and drummers at Rhythym for Good.

Unless otherwise attributed, all POSTS, PHOTOS and RECIPES on this blog copyright ©2011 Lynn McBride.  All Rights Reserved. 

The Last Salad of Summer

Are we the ONLY people in southern burgundy who don’t have a proper vegetable garden?  Actually, yes.  Vegetable gardening is essential here. I grow herbs, and maybe a cherry tomato or two, but I’m a flower gardener at heart.  

But I’m quite clever about having friends with gardens.  And really, when they show up with baskets of lovely things fresh from their garden, why should I bother?  They give me veggies, I make them cookies.  Everybody’s happy.   Photo, above:  a bouquet of veggies from friends Pete and Dee.

Summer is shutting down here, and I’m left with an interesting variety of courgettes, or squashes.  Zucchini, of course, and I’m lucky to have yellow crookneck squash. They don’t know or grow it in France, but I’ve cunningly gifted some southern seeds to friends with greener thumbs.  Then our neighbors Marc and Janine showed up with a big round orangey-yellow courgette (in photo, right, along with their mighty fine tomatotes) and I’m not quite sure what it is, but it’s said to be a specialty of Nice. 

Happily I stumbled across a mixed squash salad which inspired this week’s recipe, in sisters Sandy Hoope and Donna Kelly's wonderful blog  Everyday Southwest.  Their salad has Tex-Mex twinges, but we’re going to take it off into Mediterranean territory.  Either way, this is my new favorite summer salad.  It’s pretty, it’s tasty, it’s different, and it’s easy.  Summer doesn’t get much better than that. 

 

RECIPE: Courgette Carpaccio with Fresh herbs, Walnuts, and Parmesan

You really need a Mandoline Slicer for this (for slicing things super fast and thin, one of my favorite kitchen tools. I just have a cheap Japanese one, works fine). 

Slice some zuchinni and/or summer squash very thin.  Do the same with a seeded bell peppers, cutting crosswise.  Arrange veggies on a large platter.  Pick a generous handful of fresh herbs and chop them fine.  They should be a mixture of:  mint, tarragon, and parsley.  (Other fresh herbs are fine, but this combination is pretty important to this salad.  Don't skip the mint, it adds a unique, fresh taste).

Sauté some chopped walnuts in a bit of butter in a black skillet, sprinkling them with sea salt and fresh ground pepper, tossing, until fragrant and lightly browned.  Set aside to cool.

Just before serving, sprinkle the squash with sea salt and pepper (but not before--the salt will draw the water out of the squash).  Drizzle lightly with French Dressing #1.  Top with the chopped herbs, pecans and shavings of fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano.  Say au revoir to summer!

 

Favorite Reads:  Thanks to Cindy at The Daily Basics, I've discovered  the 'Rather' series by C.A. Belmond.  OK this is chick lit, fluffy yarns that are not intellectually challenging but are engaging and amusing, and set in European locations.  I'm deep into the first one, set in France, A Rather Lovely Inheritance.  Perfect reading for the hammock chair under the weeping willow at the château.

Our reader's blogs:  Go right this minute to Genie's site at Paris and Beyond, and take a little tour of a very personal Paris.  The photos will transport you.  For more southern cooking (from way down in Texas!) try Melanie's blog, Brave the Kitchen.  For your Italian fix, do not miss Fern's dreamy blog, An Expatriate in Rapallo.

Unless otherwise attributed, all POSTS, PHOTOS and RECIPES on this blog copyright ©2011 Lynn McBride.  All Rights Reserved. 

'Carnaval' Comes to Country

We were minding our own business last Sunday, lunching at a little French restaurant in the nice town of Givry.  Then the nearly naked Brazilians arrived…

Here is a delightful thing about Sunday lunch in Burgundy, which is the big social event of the week.  It is not out of the ordinary when something exceptional happens. 

In this charming market town, there were 11 of us, having Sunday lunch at one of those traditional French restaurants, where the wine is good, the owners are friendly and teasing, and the meals are la cuisine de grand-mere, good home cooking. 

It was the week of the vendange, or the grape harvest, and we began chatting with Monsieur at the next table, who turned out to be the vigneron who made the very wine we were drinking.  He was celebrating with his family, as he had just completed the strenuous vendange on his 11 hectares of grapes.

Suddenly we heard a great commotion in front of the restaurant, and we popped outside.  A group of dancers were in the street, twirling and whirling in old French ball gowns, the men in top hats.  “What’s going on?”, we asked.  “It’s the parade for Givry’s annual Fête des Vignes, the Festival of the Vines”, someone told us.  All the women at our table grabbed their cameras and went out to watch the fun, while the guys stayed and sipped their wine, content to look out the windows.  

The dancers were followed by a group of pom-pom girls all tricked out in Irish costumes.  Then a rather scary looking drummer group, playing ‘diabolik musik’, per their banner.  Next up, a quaint geriatric ensemble dressed in old-time French farm costumes, who paused to do a little country two-step for the crowd.  Followed, most incongruously, by a pack of barely-clad Brazilians beauties in feathers, accompanied by a primal drum band, and strutting their stuff in the streets, Carnaval-style. 

Suddenly the guys abandoned their wine and spilled out onto the road, ogling the flirty dancers.  Now where, in this sleepy rural town, did these hot babes come from?  We couldn't quite figure out exactly how they fit in with the wine theme (nor the Irish pom-pom girls, for that matter).  We quizzed some locals, who said the Brazilians lived in the area.

Finally Madame our server appeared at the door.  “à table, les enfants!” she said, hands on her hips and finger wagging.  “Dinner is served, children, come to the table!”  Well, just another Sunday lunch in La Bourgogne.

Photo: Don't miss monsieur's expression. I do believe she has made his day. 

Favorite Reads:  Book lovers please go straightaway to Kelly Kegan's fabulous new blog, Biblio-files, for the love of books. A charming site and lots of good recommendations and reviews.

At the moment I'm reading Noble House, James Clavell's epic novel about Hong Kong and the longest book known to man, so I may be a while with ideas for novels. But if you want to dream a bit about France, a lovely set of books to own are the The Most Beautiful Villages of France series.  There's one for most every region and we've long used them for planning trips around France.

Our Reader's Blogs: Herm in Phoenix, our poet-in-residence, now has a website for his poems! Felicitations, Herm.  Please go to Poems, Photos and Stuff.

And a new iphone/ipad app, by one of our readers!  'Southern Burgundy Explorer' is a travel guide to our region, with lovely photos and inside info on travel, by Jeff Steiner at Americans in France. 

One more travel tip for today:  If by chance you're headed for the Côte d'Azur, you must look at Riviera Experiences---even if just to dream--the website of my good friend Shelley, who lives in Villefranche-sur-Mer.  She has seven villas/apartments to rent there by the week or month, which she has personally renovated and decorated.  They are all tellement jolie, et formidable!

In the Comments this week:  We all scream for ice cream!  Lots of opinions on the best flavors and types and places to indulge.  Merci to Linda and Lillie for reminding us about Berthillon and to Patricia for mentioning Amorino, which I love.  Ido even has an idea for making a cone holder--and for avocado ice cream. Frank and Linda, y'all are in trouble with Ron for adding new things to my already bulging suitcase.

Unless otherwise attributed, all POSTS, PHOTOS and RECIPES on this blog copyright ©2011 Lynn McBride.  All Rights Reserved. 

I Scream, You Scream, a World View of Ice Cream

Loyal reader Frank got me to thinking about ice cream this week, with his desperate longing for French pistache.  Of course, thinking about ice cream is sort of a normal state of mind for me.  There are those of us who could, if left unattended, sit down and polish off a whole container.  You know who you are.

In France, la glace is really, really good.  The most popular brand is Carte d’Or, and I’m rabidly loyal consumer.  Their stock may be up since we arrived.  

As you might guess, ice cream in the supermarché here comes in these horribly petite, reasonably sized containers--I am talking what they would consider family sized--so that I have to cram 4 or 5 of them in my freezer just to keep up with our family’s demand (well yes, there are just two of us, three if you count the cat).  They also have a habit of rotating flavors constantly, so just when you get emotionally involved with one, it abandons you.  Happily, something else irresistible takes its place and you tomber amoureuse all over again.  Also, the French ice cream manages to be better yet has a lower fat content.  That alone, mes amies, is reason enough to move to France. 

But oh, the Italians!  That rapturous gelato, how DO they do it?  There is nothing that can equal it.  And those fabulous displays, big chilled stainless tubs with the gelato artfully twirled, and then styled with a little fresh fruit or chocolate sauce, or drizzled with caramel.  I’m restraining myself from hopping in the car to cross the border as we speak. 

I don’t know about you, but when I’m cooking for a dinner party, I kind of fizzle out toward the end, when dessert prep rolls around.  But in the summer, it’s easy--ice cream!  I’m always looking for ways to jazz it up a bit.  

So I saw a recipe in Bon Appetit that reminded me of Nutty Buddys, also called Drumsticks. Remember these, from your childhood?  Vanilla ice cream in a sugar cone with chopped peanuts on top, all sealed up in paper, from the Ice Cream Man?  They’re still popular here in France, they’re called cornets, and they come in all sorts of flavors at our supermarché (Frank, the pistachio with chocolate is the best one.  Sorry.) So why not make our own Nutty Buddys?  Here is how.  I am happy to tell you that I have experimented heavily on your behalf. They’re easy, and I’m guessing my grandkids are going to love helping make these on their next visit.

RECIPE:  Les Jazzy Cornets  

For 8 cones: 

Get some good sugar cones and your favorite flavor of ice cream.  Scoop out the ice cream to make fat, pretty cones, then put them in the freezer.  That’s the tricky part.  I stand them up in short narrow glasses, but does anyone have a better idea?  

Freeze them for a couple of hours.  Then melt a bar of good chocolate, about 8 oz or 200 grams,  with 2 T vegetable oil.  Dip the tops of the cones generously in the  cooled chocolate, then sprinkle with chopped nuts, toasted if you like.  Put them back in the freezer; the chocolate will set up quickly.  When they’re frozen hard you can wrap them up if you want, but I find they stay just fine unwrapped in the freezer for a couple of days, which is as long as they’re going to last anyway.  

Here are some good combinations:  coffee with walnuts, mint with peanuts, cherry with pistachios, coconut with macadamias, peach with white chocolate and almonds, butter pecan with pecans.

I’d serve these in an Ice Cream Cone Holder if I could find one here, you can click on the link to see a nice one; I’m going to slip one into my suitcase, next US trip.  But for now I lay them down on a plate, with berries or mint to garnish.

Or course no one at your party will mind if you just bring out several containers of ice cream and start scooping cones to order, with a choice of  dips, like sprinkles, nuts, or toasted coconut.  And watch the kid in everyone pop right out.

 

Favorite Read/films:  This week, recommendations from readers.  Mark likes the film Angel-A about a tall French blonde and a short Algerian with chemistry, oh la la!  Katherine has just revisited her favorite double feautre, the sad but wonderul Jean De Florette / Manon of the Spring  with beautiful scenery of Provence.  Based on a famous French novel, these are classics.  Sue recommends a book, David McCullough's The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris, about American artists, doctors, musicians, sculptors who went to Paris between 1830 and 1900 to improve their talents and bring the knowledge back to the US. Thanks, Dear Readers, these go right to the top of my to read/watch list. 

Our Reader's Blogs:  Francophiles, you will LOVE Ido's blog, ARCE French of Heart.  She shares her vintage French passions, and loves to take flea market finds and doll them up into something wonderful. And if you're into chickens, check out Dale's blog in New Brunswick Canada for a cute 'chick flick', http://dalecaldersblog.blogspot.com/.

And as always, MERCI for the lovely comments, and please stay in touch.