Southern Fried French

Play with your Pesto

I came late to the pesto party.  It was The Thing back in--was it the 80’s?  Then it fell out of fashion from overuse.  And I’m sure I was served the ominously dark green stuff out of a plastic carton one too many times.  

Then, returning from a trip to Italy a few years ago, all that changed.  We were on our way home and we got off the autoroute to have lunch. We ended up in a particularly nondescript looking town where there was only one restaurant, as void of character as the town itself.  I ordered pasta with pesto, one of the two lunch choices, feeling grumpy that this was to be my last Italian meal of the trip.  Boy was I humbled!  Vibrant green, freshly made, the pesto was so luscious  that I almost embarrassed myself and ordered a second bowl. 

I’ve been playing around with it ever since.  And that’s the thing:  you CAN play around with it.  As long as you put fresh herbs, hard Italian cheese and lots of garlic and nuts, you can mix and mash however you like. 

Pesto is said to have originated in the Liguria region, just beyond the Côte d’Azur.  It definitely made the trip across the border to Provence, where it is called pistou, though it’s often made without the nuts.  The Italians use a mortar and pestle to make it (a food processor works just fine too, if slow cooking isn’t your thing).  The pestle gave it its name, or perhaps it sprang from the Italian word for ‘crush’, which sounds similar.  I’m offering up the proportions I use, and beyond that, the choice is yours.  Bonus points:  make lots of pesto now when fresh herbs are plentiful.  It freezes well, so some day when you’ve got the winter blues, you can bring it out for a little splash of summer.

Now what to do with it?  Serve it with pasta, of course, usually it’s mixed with a thin flat pasta. You can add other veggies to the pasta at the last moment, like peas or tomatoes.  Drizzle it over your mozzarella;  put some in your soup or nap your veggies with it.  Got more ideas?  We’d all love to hear them!  I myself have tons of it in my freezer, awaiting inspiration or your recipes.  I’ve thrown in a favorite party recipe that you make with pistou, too.

 

RECIPE:  Pesto/Pistou, Many Ways

The traditional ingredients:

• 4 cups packed basil leaves 
• 4 cloves garlic
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
• ½ cup nuts: pine nuts 
• ½ cup good olive oil    
• ½ cup  fresh grated parmesan cheese,  or you can mix in some pecorino 

In place of the basil, use these herbs, or a mixture: 

• arugula (rocket, or roquette)
• Italian (flat-leaf) parsley
• cilantro
• baby spinach
• mint 

If you like add a bit of these, a little goes a long way: 

• rosemary 
• tarragon 

Instead of pine nuts, try these, or a mixture:

• almonds
• pecans
• walnuts
• pistachios

To make:  

Put ingredients in a food processor, except cheese.  Mix as you slowly pour in oil.  Scrape sides, pulse again.  Add chese and pulse a few times.  Taste and correct seasonings.  Makes about a cup.  Store in fridge with plastic wrap directly on surface to keep air out and retain color, or coat it with a film of olive oil, or freeze. 

Tips: Toast the nuts lightly if you wish, to get more depth of flavor. If using basil,  you can add a couple of tablespoons of parsley to help keep the bright color.  When mixing pesto with pasta, add a tablespoon of the pasta cooking water to the mix, for the perfect consistency.

 

RECIPE:  Rainbow Steaks with Pistou  

I love to make this colorful and easy dish for guests.  PHOTO: I'm traveling, no grill, so I made this on the stovetop.  For a party I put the steaks on a big platter with the peppers, cut into big chunks, and onions cut into wedges or thick slices.

• steaks for the grill
• pistou, made with half parsley and half basil, or your favorite herbs
• red, green, and yellow peppers, quartered or cut into large pieces
• red onion slices, quartered if small or cut into thick slices if large.

Make pesto using above directions, omitting nuts and cheese.  Spread it liberally on steaks, put them on a plate, and leave them in the fridge to marinate for a couple of hours.  Put some pistou aside for serving.

Grill pepper and onions.   Scrape off most of the marinade from the steaks and discard (if you leave too much on, the grill may flare up due to the oil).  Grill steaks.  Put steaks on plates or a platter and nap with a bit more pistou.  Serve with peppers and onions. 

 

In the Comments this week:  Lots of chocolate cake lovers (and Woody Allen lovers!), thanks for all the lovely comments.  I'm still thinking about that devil's food cake with caramel butter fudge icing that Anne tortured us with.  Don't miss Leslie's funny quote.   And if there's anyone out there in Liverpool, Julian invites you to his French Club.

Favorite Reads:  No French or southern connection here, but I'm currently reading a page-turner (and thought-provoker) that a friend gave me called The The Postmistress, Sarah Blake's historical novel about small town American life during World War II.

Our Reader's Blogs:  If you're into vintage, and antiques, you'll want to go to Barbara's site at www.thewisecollector.com and to www.silvermagpies.com.

 

The Gâteau au Chocolat of the Mysterious Catherine

PHOTO:  We're all longing for chocolate this week.

Who would think that a simple chocolate cake could reveal the many layered differences between the Anglo vs the French way of eating?

What comes to mind when you think of chocolate cake?  Well, for the Americans, if you’re like me you picture an enormous slice of devil’s food cake, two or three layers, with lots of gooey chocolate frosting, between layers and all around.  Of course with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side.  Over-the-top Yum.

Here in France, the most typical chocolate cake would be a slender slice of moelleux au chocolat (moelleux, meaning moist or tender, is a completely unpronounceable word, requiring complex contortions of the lips.  Try mwa leu).  This is a one layer affair, rich yet light and airy, made with high quality chocolate and served with just a dusting of icing sugar on top, a small dollop of whipped cream on the side, and a berry or two as a garni.  Understated.  Simply sublime.  (Then there is  moelleux au chocolat au coeur fondant, round with a warm center, but that’s a recipe for another day).

I never met a chocolate cake I didn’t like, and I love the American version.  Yet, when I encountered a moelleux done really well, it was un coup de foudre--love at first bite.  This happened when a friend of Nicole’s brought one to a potluck, and I was over the moon.  When I asked her for the recipe, she looked at me, puzzled.  “Why it’s just a simple moelleux au chocolat,” she said, as if everyone could whip one up in their sleep.

 Photo: Let them eat chocolate cake-- all gussied up at a Paris pâtisserie.

By the way, Olivier Magny of O Château notes that in Paris, a restaurant with no moelleux on the menu is considered avant-garde.  And there's more: “If a Parisian woman opts for a moelleux, sexual misery will ensue.  Parisian women are not known to indulge twice the same night.”

So the other day, when the chef at our tiny local bistro served one that was hands down the best I’d ever had, I wasn’t going to let that recipe get away a second time, even if it interfered with my sex life.  I was nearly on my knees and at his mercy.  Before the meal was over, a photocopy of the recipe arrived at our table, signed ‘with love from the St. Martin Cafe team’.

The recipe was titled “Moelleux au chocolat de Catherine”.  I haven’t discovered the identity of the mysterious Catherine, but that woman sure can cook.

Here it is, and as a bonus it’s simple and fast.  And with no frosting, I think we can easily call it diet food. 

RECIPE:  Moelleux au chocolat de Catherine  

serves 10 French people 

pre-heat oven:  375F (180C).  Butter a 9" (22 or 24 cm) cake pan.

• 7 oz (200 grams) of semi-sweet dessert (baking) chocolate (70%)
• 7 oz (200 gram)s of unsalted butter 
• 3 Tablespoons rum, or your favorite spirit
• 1 cup (200 grams) of sugar
• 5 eggs
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon flour (70 grams)

• Whipped cream, and/or vanilla ice cream
• berries to garnish

Separate the whites and yolks of the eggs, set aside 

Melt the butter and chocolate in a bain-marie (double boiler) with the rum, over barely simmering water.   Cool slightly.  Meanwhile, with a mixer beat the egg yolks with the sugar until the mixture lightens.  

Mix the flour into the egg mixture, then the chocolate.

Whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form.  Fold it delicately into the chocolate mixture until combined.  Turn into the pan (pan will be quite full) and cook 25 minutes.  Check doneness by inserting a sharp knife in the center.  The point of the knife should remain moist at the point. 

Cool, cut into slices and dust with contectioner’s sugar. Serve with a bit of whipped cream and berries, and ice cream if you’re feeling sinful.

If you can't pick just one--better whip up an old fashioned American chocolate cake too.  There's a great recipe over at the fun blog,  www.foodess.com.

Favorite Reads:    In my cookbook library, I have some old favorites for cakes.  In the The Cake Bible, Rose Levy Beranbaum not only tells you how to do things, she tells you why.  Julia child has some yummy French cakes, including easy ice cream cakes, in her classic, The Way to Cook.   How to Bake : Complete Guide to Perfect Cakes, Cookies, Pies, Tarts, Breads, Pizzas, Muffins,  is for desserts, and beyond.  And my current favorite summer novel, which is set near Charleston?  I'm reading Sue Monk Kidd's The Mermaid Chair and it's super.

Thanks for the many nice Comments this week.  And if you missed it, go back a week for Linda's Tour Eiffel trivia additions.  And EVERYONE is recommending Midnight in Paris, so I've got to go see it, even though I think Woody Allen is creepy.

Our reader's blogs:  Speaking of perfect summer desserts, try Melanie's Texas Hill Country Peach Pie this week at www.bravethekitchen.com.  

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

In the Shadow of the Tower: A Paris Neighborhood

My citified husband loves Paris but prefers Lyon.  Why?  "Paris is too big", he says.  "Lyon is walkable." True, Paris as a whole seems unconquerable, but it is also a city of neighborhoods, small and manageable.  The one we think of as 'ours' is in the 16th, near the Trocadèro at the top of the Eiffel Tower.  It’s a quiet residential place where some close and generous friends share their Paris flat with us.  It's not on the well-worn tourist track, which suits us just fine.  At nightfall, when the Tower twinkles madly on the hour, we position ourselves on a café terrace at the Trocadèro for the show, with a glass of champagne, and la vie est belle. 

So what’s hot and happening in this sunny, dry summer in Paris? I love to scoop out the trends, which are much slower to arrive in the Burgundy countryside (if they ever do).   Well, let’s see:  in the style department, every Parisian woman seemed to be sporting an old-fashioned pony tail this trip, and the candy-colored locks or contrasty blond highlights from a while back have faded to natural hues. Grecian sandals are de rigueur (Ron also noticed a lot of really high heels.  But then he would).  In the cuisine department, Paris is mad for les cocktails and  for les hamburgers, which are showing up on bistro menus.  

Top Paris chefs opening casual bistros is a trend we love.  Chef-du-jour Christian Constant has his main and fancy restaurant near the Tower on rue St. Dominique, and a couple of doors down is his fun bistro Les Cocottes where he serves up pure fun.  Cocotte is the French word for a small casserole dish,  (and, attention, also a slang word for prostitute) and most everything there is served up in these individual pots, hot from the oven, which you devour while seated on high stools.  Further down on the corner is  his Café Constant, also casual but more traditional, where I ordered a starter that sounded sort of boring but was anything but.  “Mushrooms and artichoke hearts in a simple vinaigrette” said la carte.  The ingredients were as fresh as could be, the dressing light enough for the flavors to shine through, and I’d be quite happy to be served a bowl of this every day in July. Back in our own tower at the château, I’ve tried to recreate it for you.  Like so many good chef’s dishes, the secret here is fresh, quality ingredients.

One more tip: if you find yourself in the neighborhood of the Tower, don’t miss our favorite chic but good value restaurant, Au Bon Accueil.  As the name says, it’s very welcoming, plus small and intimate.

 

RECIPE:  Mushroom & Artichoke Salad, inspired by Christian Constant  

If you like, cook your artichoke early and dip those tasty leaves in butter for your first course.  Save the heart for the salad 

2 generous servings 

• 270 grams (½ pound)  very fresh white mushrooms (champignons de Paris)
• 1 large artichoke, or 2 medium
• ⅓  cup best quality olive oil
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice or champagne vinegar
• good quality sea salt and fresh ground pepper
• 3 Tablespoons chopped Italian parsley
• tiny croutons, for garnish (optional)

Steam artichoke, remove leaves and choke. Cut out heart and slice thinly, then cut into small pieces. Put slices into a bowl. If using croutons, cut bread into small cubes and sauté in butter with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Wash mushrooms (yes, you can submerge them in water) and slice very thin. Add to artichokes.  Whisk oil and lemon juice together with sea salt and pepper.  Pour dressing over salad and toss, with parsley.  Taste to correct seasonings.  Garnish with croutons.  Serve chilled or at room temperature.  

Favorite Reads:   The Sweet Life in Paris: Delicious Adventures in the World's Most Glorious - and Perplexing - City is a great insider's guide to Paris and its food.  Missing the late great Gourmet Magazine? Remembrance of Things Paris: Sixty Years of Writing from Gourmet  will take you back.  And our very favorite tour guide for Paris is Cadogan Guide Paris.

In the Comments this week:  Dale, I'm with you, there's something about that tower....Mark, as far as I know those bungee jumpers survived, but one of the parachutists did not.  Don't miss book recommendations from Sue--and Suzanne's idea for green tomato ketchup!  And back to kitchen tools, Mindy is right, the best one is the internet!  My ipad is always in the kitchen with me now.  (To read the comments, click on the Comments link at the very end of the post).  A tip for readers looking for back recipes:  see the Recipes and Post Titles link on the sidebar.  Or, if you know the name of a recipe or post, just google it along with 'Southern Fried French.'

Our reader's blogs:  Regular readers know I'm a great fan of The Daily Basics, an e-zine by a fellow BH&G editor, with every thing you need to know about the lastest on lifestyle and more.   Subscribe for a daily quick update on topics you'll love.

Photo:  Most people have their picture taken by the Eiffel Tower, but we all have our priorities.

From Turret to Tower: Paris 'en haut'

We left our turret at the château last week to head for another tower:  that famous one in Paris.  La Tour Eiffel was  built in 1889 to withering reviews, and here I am 122 years years later, buying an Eiffel Tower cookie cutter as a souvenir.  Amazing, the enduring mystique of this strange structure.

In Paris we always stay near the Trocadèro, the classic high viewing point for the tower at the top of the Champ de Mars. There are many ways to view the tower, and my favorite is to circumvent the teeming masses gathered directly under it and stroll around to the east side, where there is a wide sandy path and a shady little park, lined with ornate mansions on the other side.  It’s quiet here, and the tower looms through a leafy frame, with only a meandering pond tucked  between its massive base and the path.   It’s also fun to see the La Dame de Fer, or the Iron Lady as the French call her, from the water, now that there is the riverboat shuttle service called Batobus.  One ticket buys you a leisurely tour of Paris, with eight stops.  You can get off and on at all the main attractions along the Seine.  Along with the city buses, it’s my favorite transportation alternative to the efficient but airless Metro.

Do you know your Eiffel Tower trivia?  It was designed by Gustave Eiffel for the 1889 World’s Fair, at a time when exposed ironwork was an unheard of architectural element.  Three hundred illustrious Frenchmen of the day signed a petition against the ‘useless and monstrous’ tower. It survived but was nearly torn down again in 1909.   

For 41 years the Tower was the tallest man-made structure in the world.  It is 81 stories tall,  or 324 meters (1063 feet).  Should you care to skip the elevator and walk up, there are 1652 steps.  Parachuters have jumped from it, mountaineers have scaled it, bungee  jumpers have illegally dived from it, a guy flew a plane through the arches, and someone once rode from the first level down on a bicycle.  It is said to be the most visited monument on the planet. 

My favorite thing:  to celebrate the millennium In 1999, the tower was turned into a giant sparkler with the addition of 20,000 flashing light bulbs.  It was so popular that the lights were retained, and at nightfall it twinkles briefly on the hour. 

So I thought la belle tour at least deserved a memorial cookie, in this case a French sable, which is simply a classic butter cookie.  Tune in next week for Paris trend-spotting, a restaurant report, and a recipe from a famous Paris chef.

Hope this post takes you to--or back to--Paris in your dreams.  Bon voyage!

Photo:  Les Tours Eiffel dressed in pink, why not?  For info on Eiffel Tower cookie cutters, and Fleurs De Lis too, click on the links.

Favorite Reads & Films:  Ah, Paris! Want to keep the mood going?  Try these flicks: Paris, Je T'Aime (Paris, I Love You), Amelie , and Before Sunset.  On my bookshelf, Sarah Turnbull’s Almost French: Love and a New Life in Paris, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer,  Murder in the Marais (from Cara Black's Paris series), and A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway.

In the Comments this week: Page checks in from Birmingham, the spiritual home of fried green tomatoes. Welcome Genie and Kat, fellow Furman folks. Genie I want to try those uptown green tomatoes, and Kat, good luck with the shrimp and grits!  Maureen, have never made green tomato chutney but I must try it. Carol, fried green tomatoes in NY, who knew?  And Cynthia says her tomatoes may never see red. Recipe alert: Carol H sends another rum cake recipe, and Anne and Rachel are thinking limencello, brilliant!  Suzanne, I think most any rum will do, I used the cheap stuff.  LOVED reading all the great comments!

Our reader's blogs: Unexcused Absenses is about a couple who are taking an extended break, crusing on the French canals.

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

Baba and the Green Tomatoes

My French neighbor Janine and I were musing that we had lots of green tomatoes on the vine, and couldn’t wait for them to ripen.   But I have a recipe!  I said.  So she and Marc came over for dinner.  We made fried green tomatoes together, definitely a new adventure in eating for her and for husband Marc.  They were great sports and politely proclaimed to like them.  Is this dish an acquired taste, or does everyone love them like southerners do? Y’all will have to let me know.  But isn’t it true that if you drag something  through egg and flour and then fry it up in a skillet, anything will taste pretty great, even cardboard?  Photo:  the garden at the château.

Anyway, Janine and Marc  reciprocated in a big way, they had us over and served a Baba au Rhum and Janine taught me to make it. 

I’m happy to know how to make a baba—it’s an elegant French speciality.  It's a yeasty cake baked in a mold and heavily soaked in a  rum syrup. The original recipe is said to have originated with a Polish king, exiled in France, who dipped some stale cake in spirits to make it taste better.  Janine’s version is sort of more rum than cake, which makes it a real crowd pleaser.  Of course it doesn’t hurt that you put obscene amounts of chantilly on top 

Her recipe is not your normal baba, by the way, it’s a version facile, fast and easy.  The French baba is normally a cross between cake and bread, made with dry yeast.  We’ll try that another day, but Janine’s simple baking powder version is hands down the fastest cake I’ve ever made.  Put stuff in bowl.  Stir.  If you like, add a little scoop of rum raisin ice cream on the side in addition to the whipped cream, pourquoi pas?

Now about those fried green tomatoes: even if they don’t sound good to you, you might want to give them a try.  The tomatoes are lemony  with a bite, and you get to smother them with sour cream and salsa and cheddar cheese.  Not a bad summer lunch on a shady terrace 

So for our post this week I’m offering up both recipes.  Now I’m not sure I’d serve them at the same meal.  One’s back porch and a beer, the other is Dîner chez nous.

 

RECIPE:  Charleston Fried Green Tomatoes 

Yes this is a lousy photo, but we were in a hurry to eat them, OK?  These are usually served as a starter or side dish, but I like to make them the main attraction.

For these I used roma tomatoes from my garden, but big  round ones are the best.  Pick them when they’re green and firm but thinking seriously about turning red. 

Slice them a scant ½” (12mm) thick.  Get out three shallow bowls for dipping.  You’re going to dip them in flour first; then in a beaten egg, with a tablespoon of water added; then I dip them in a mixture of half flour, half cornmeal, though you could also use panko or fine dry bread crumbs for the final dip. ( I’d still throw in a some corn meal, though, for flavor).   Season all three dips with salt and pepper, and a bit of cayenne pepper in the corn meal, if you like. 

Dip  the slices into each mixture and put them on a plate.  Do ahead and chill them a while if you like.  A dipping tip:  use one hand to do the dry dips, and the other hand for the egg.  Then you won’t turn into a gooey mess.  Or you’ll be less of one.

Cover the bottom of your pan with about ¼” (6mm) of vegetable oil and get it very hot.  This works best in a black skillet, but it’s going to splatter.  So I often make them in a pot with high sides, to keep my clean up crew (that would be Ron) happy.

Cook about a minute per side, until nice and brown.  Drain on paper towels, and serve immediately.  For a main dish I like to serve them on a bed of peppery roquette (arugula), and top them with sour cream, salsa,  and cheddar cheese.

 

RECIPE:  Janine’s Baba au Rhum, Fast and French 

Make this early in the day.  6 modest portions.

• 1 cup flour (125 gr)
• 2/3  cup sugar (125 gr)
• pinch of salt
• 1 tablespoon baking powder (10 gr)
• 3 eggs
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (50 ml)

• Rum syrup
• Whipped cream

Heat oven to 350 (175C).  Butter and flour a mold, small bundt pan, or an 8” cake or springform pan (though a little smaller would be better. I used an 8" flat bottomed springform bundt pan with  a big hole in the middle).   Mix dry ingredients.  Beat eggs with oil, stir into flour mixture until smooth.  Pour into pan.  Bake 30 minutes, or until tester comes out clean. Cool. 

Chill in mold for 4 hours or more; the cake needs to dry out a little so it will absorb the rum.  Then run a sharp knife around edges and unmold.  Spoon some of the syrup over, wait a while, spoon more over.  You may need to do it three times, to absorb it all.  Serve with lots of whipped cream. 

SYRUP:  Mix 1 cup water (250 ml), ¾  cup sugar (150 gr), bring to boil, stir and cool.  Stir in 1 tablespoon lemon juice and ⅔ cup rum (170 ml), plus 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla.

In the Comments last week, on favorite cooking tools:  I had to go shopping after reading about all the tools our readers use!  Don't miss the fun ideas---and merci for all the comments.

Our reader's blogs:  Try this one! http://andthenmakesoup.wordpress.com/

Ron's corner:  The cake is good, let's try it next with Gran Marnier, cognac.....