Southern Fried French

Why You Should Never Pass Up a French Village Fête

Behold the French village festival.  In France every village has its day, and the village fêtes are hugely popular with the locals. They are certain characteristics you will find in every village fête. 

Now you must remember we come from Charleston, where festivals run from the highly sophisticated (the annual Wine+Food Festival, with celebrity chefs vying to cook for you) to the international (Spoleto Festival USA, a three-week long festival of the arts, with a sister festival in Italy).  So for us, the village fêtes here are, shall we say, a change of pace.

Herewith, a primer.   At a French village fête there will always be:

1. A meal, with wine. Keep expectations low.

2. Speeches.  Usually long and delivered with a cheap microphone so they are completely unintelligible. Avoid this segment of the program at all costs.

3. Music, (the quality varies wildly), and dancing.

4. Games for the kids.

5. Someone in a costume of some sort.

6. Something incredibly hokey.

7. Une animation, which is some form of entertainment. Sometimes surprisingly creative; otherwise, see #6.

And so it was our village had a big fête this week, and a great time was had by all.   The excuse for the party:  it was the 40th anniversary of our Foyer Rurale (village social committee). Time to go all out.

The theme:  it was suggested that all participants and attendees wear black and white, for no apparent reason other than to provide costume opportunities. The speeches: short and sweet, yea!  The music:  the classic French accordionist, who was very good; accompanied, regrettably, by a female singer who definitely should not quit her day job.  The food:  picnic lunch under the tents.  The entertainment:  first there was a parade by everyone in the region who has an ultra-loud, muffler-free motorcycle, all gunning their motors and blowing their horns.  This, thankfully, was brief.  Then came the parade by the antique car club of Cluny, quite impressive.  For extra excitement, there was a little slope to get down into the parade area, and some of the cars couldn’t make it back up.

Ah, but something special:  Our commune (the village, and surrounding county) of 300 people has an amazing 14 nationalities, so our Dutch friend Gerard decided the expats should do something to thank the villagers, who have been so welcoming.  He and the other expat guys made a display board for each country, and we decorated them, and stationed ourselves there to chat with the merry-makers.  Everyone got into the spirit.  The English offered cucumber sandwiches and gave away tea bags.  At the German booth there were 3 kinds of dark bread to try, with salted butter.  The Belgians were dishing up a homemade flower liquer from a silver punchbowl.  At the U.S. booth, we offered chocolate chip cookies  and southern sweet tea with mint and lemon.  

Our village is of course rural and small.  As I poured her some iced tea, one French lady tickled me with her comment:  “Oh but your village is SO cosmopolitan!”   Maybe we’re not so far from Charleston after all.

 

In the COMMENTS:  by email--reader Carmie is looking for a fun cooking school in France, can anyone help? Mille mercis for all the comments, fellow rose lovers, from 2 weeks ago. RE lovely spots in France, Heather of Lost in Arles finds the same rich variety in her area. Mark, thanks for checking in from Paris Insider's Guide.  Suzanne has a diet tip, Christine of Pen at the Ready has a salad tip. And Hampton offers up his favorite summer dessert recipe. Connie, see you in September, and Barbara is headed for Burgundy too.  PHOTOS: more costumes, and our youngest reveler decked out in black & white.

Our reader's Blogs:  In case you missed it, please scoot on over to The Daily Basics, for a house tour of the lovely old stone house in Burgundy I mentioned last week.  And do SUBSCRIBE while you're there, it's a daily dose of stuff you want to know about!

 

 

 

Endless Beauty, in a Small Package

If you’ve been glued to the Tour de France this week, as we have, then you’ve seen them:  those sweeping aerial photos of the villes and villages they pass through.  I’m forever exclaiming, where is THAT?  I want to go THERE!  I will never cease to be amazed by the fact that in France, a country smaller than Texas, there are so many beautiful terrains, buildings, villages.  Snow-capped mountains pass into deep gorges that slide into rolling hills which flow past charming villages that nestle into lavender fields which fade into olive groves that fall into azure seas.  How can one small country possibly have so much beauty?

And so we continue on our quest to see our own adopted country, a lifetime quest to be sure.  This past week we traveled northward a couple of hours to the Nivernais, where we found the village of Apremont-sur-Allier, and, in the center of this town on the banks of a tributary of the Loire, their parc floral.  Of all the villages in France with the “Most Beautiful Villages of France” designation, this is clearly one of the best.

OK, they cheated a little.  The family  that  has owned for 290 years the château which towers over  Apremont  also owns the whole VILLAGE.  They lease all the houses to others, and have their own team of gardeners do the landscaping.  And it is mostly the gardens which make this medieval village so stunning, along with the quirky architecture of each adorable little house: tiny towers, narrow stairways to nowhere, many-paned windows framed by vines and roses.

The Parc Floral is one of the prettiest gardens I’ve visited, and I’ve seen a lot of them.  Although I haven’t been to the major English ones, and the inspiration for this garden seems more English than French.  We wandered through allées dripping with wisteria and paused on bridges arching over the lake. We marveled at the pointy beech topiaries, and petted the resident cats, especially one who was obviously practiced at posing and being admired  (“Elle est une star,"  said the  cat-parents, who were sipping wine on their porch--'she’s a star').  

Apremont is a town that is probably not  on your tourist radar.  If you’re ever driving down the road from Paris to Beaune, or perhaps visiting Autun, be sure to take a little detour to see it.  You will begin to understand that in a lifetime you could never see ALL of this gorgeous country!  (and many thanks to our friends Betty and Bertil, who recently visited Apremont and convinced us we HAD to go!).  

Now, for lunch in the garden:

RECIPE: Beautiful Bulgur Salads

Everyone’s trying to cook with more whole grains these days.  It’s good for health, and weight loss too.  And for flavor!  I’m currently obsessed with bulgur, which is very common in France.  It’s similar to quinoa or couscous, but has a nuttier flavor. I like it in salads.

With bulgur you can make the traditional tabbouleh, which I did this week (see photo).  No need to measure really, you just throw it all in, but here is a guide: 

For a side salad for 4, I used ½ cup bulgur, cooked according to package directions, and cooled  I chopped half a large cucumber and 2  tomatoes,  several white onions (scallion bulbs), and 3 cloves of garlic, plus lots of chopped parsley and mint.  I stirred in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, the juice of half a lemon, sea salt and fresh ground pepper.  Voila!  the perfect summer salad.

But don’t stop there!  To make a bulgur salad you need olive oil and something acidic: lemon, lime or orange juice, or white wine vinegar for example.  Then you can add whatever pleases you.  Toasted nuts and cheeses are nice additions with veggies, or even chopped fish or chicken, if you want your salad to play a starring role. Take your pick of the fresh herbs in your potager. 

My Australian friend Mariella has Italian origins and she’s a fabulous cook.  At their fête for Bastille day she made a bulgur salad I loved, with these wonderful flavors and additions: chick peas, fresh parsley and coriander, chopped bell pepper, cumin, dry coriander, toasted sesame seeds , a spoon of turmeric, white balsamic vinegar, and olive oil.

Here are some other possible combos:

• apricots, pecans, Italian parsley, snipped chives
• lemon juice and zest, dill, toasted walnuts, smoked salmon
• feta cheese, red peppers, basil, green onions
• pine nuts, orange zest, sliced yellow squash, shallots
• tomatos, arugula, yellow peppers

 

Our Reader's Blogs: If you're an architecture buff, you'll want to go to Stephen Alderdice's new site, Blogwork. He talks about French cadoles, discusses the new trend toward remodeling, muses on the nature of shop windows, and much more.  And while we're visiting the Nivernais, do stop by Delia's blog--she lives nearby in the Morvan!  Go to Mon Coeur est dans la Campagne.

I happen to have another hot tip on a Burgundy house for sale this week, pictured left. This one is really special. It's in a small, perched village near Cluny, renovated to a high standard, with spectacular views of the Guye valley. Anyone interested should contact me at [email protected].

 

A French Bouquet, Just for You

In Burgundy, climate and terroir come together to form a paradise for roses, and they put on a heavenly show, especially in late spring.  I’m a rose grower from way back, so Je suis contente.

When we first moved here, to get a quick start on growing some roses I picked up a ‘6-pack’ of rose bushes that were just a few inches tall, packed together into a small  paper carton.  They were 5 euros for the box; there was no name or label on them.  I figured they wouldn’t grow, but for 5 euros, why not give it a shot?  

These roses are now the hardiest in the garden.  The colors are fabulous, they rarely get diseases, they bloom like their lives depended on it.  I’m desperately hoping there’s a rosarian out there who can identify them. C'est une mystère!

I’ve included photos of two of the mystery roses and some other varieties I grow here that I love.  

PHOTO ABOVE:  Bonica.  VERY easy care, few disease. Grows in a bush form, 3.5 feet tall and wide, that is covered with clusters--sometimes 20 on a stem. Cut one stem and you can fill a vase! Blooms are small-ish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ABOVE LEFT:  Mystery Rose #1 and my favorite rose of all.  Floribunda but with a classic 'florist rose' flower.  It's a deep salmon, really almost a watermelon color, going slightly toward gold at the center. Bush is 2.5 ft., upright but not full.  It's very hybrid tea-esque except for the clusters.  Blooms constantly.  RIGHT:  Mystery Rose #2.  This has a looser, bushier form (3 ft. tall) and blooms all the time even though it's mostly in the shade.  What's interesting is that the buds are a deep coral but flowers are pale salmon, turning ever lighter and pinker as they open.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 LEFT: Aloha is an stunning, many-peteled climber.  But it's not quite a climber, it has a stiff structure so looks elegant upright against a wall, and mine's attached with only 3 nails.  About 8 ft. tall and very disease resistant.  RIGHT:  I grew the demurely ruffled floribunda Amber Queen in Charleston too, where it did better, so it must like the heat.  The blooms, yellow bordering on apricot, have a great old rose look to them, though it's a modern rose.  But in the French climate, I find it susceptible to black spot. 2 ft. tall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above LEFT:  Madame Pierre S. Dupont is a climber that just keeps growing---my neighbor has one that covers the side of a barn. It's a bright clear yellow and stops traffic when it blooms, but doesn't repeat much (I've heard yellow roses are the weakest bloomers, is that true?).  Above RIGHT: If you like orange and you've got a big space, you won't find a better focal point for the garden than Fellowship, also called Livin' Easy.  It's a beauty: flourescent orange, opening to an orangey-apricot with a gold center.  It always reminds me of a perfect sunset, rolled into one bloom.  The bush gets big and round and full, very lush, so that it's a pretty plant even when it's not blooming.  Mine is about 5 feet tall, 4 ft wide.  Few diseases. Go here to see a good photo of its spring flush. LEFT: Another view of Mystery Rose #1, amongst the lavendar.

Gardeners and rose lovers, I hope you'll share some of your favorite varieties too!

 

This just in:  I'm happy to be a guest blogger this week over at The Daily Basics.  Look for the article called "Putting a Spin on the French Cheese Course".

In the COMMENTS:  Heather of Unexcused Absenses has some more diet tips (including how to eat French cheese, sensibly) but everyone else is talking macarons.  Hampton says you can only learn to make them in France--well darn, you'll have to come over. Liza of  Provence in Ann Arbor IS coming over soon, to eat macorons (and more). Natalia says getting them to be beautiful is an art--so true, and luckily the learning process is delicious. Meanwhile Gina is aging her almond flour.  Sue just wants Nicole's kitchen; and Heather of Lost in Arles can walk down the street to get hers--why make them indeed!

Favorite Reads:  I think I mentioned, a friend gave me a copy of Lunch in Paris: A Love Story, with Recipes which I just finished.  If you haven't read it, this should be your next summer read!  It's a memoir of Paris that reads like a novel, funny too, and with recipes.  I couldn't put it down. Author Elizabeth Bard has moved to Provence and the story continues on her website--please tell her I sent you.

Au Château, La Fête des Macarons

French macarons, as you may have noticed, are newly trendy partout, eveywhere.  Even Charleston now has a shop solely dedicated to these colorful confections.  So when Nicole made some tasty and beautiful ones for a potluck party a couple of weeks ago, everyone in our French class (which swells to 15 or so in summer) began clamoring for the recipe, or even a demonstration. "You bring lunch and I’ll do a cooking lesson,” said our chef, and La Fête des Macarons was born.  PHOTO: A macaron mountain at a Lyon patisserie.

Macarons, which were made popular by the Paris pâtisserie Ladurée, are basically little round meringues made with ground almonds which are filled, like a sandwich cookie.  Their appeal is a light airy shell with a sinful, rich filling inside, crunchy and creamy in each delectable bite.  In pâtisseries you can get them in every conceivable flavor:  chocolate, coffee, lemon, raspberry, pistachio, and more.  The meringues  are often rather garishly colored to match their parfum.  The French are even experimenting with savory macarons, like duck or foie gras (I can tell you, from personal experience, that I heartily do not recommend these).

We gathered last week, with our ranks overflowing to 25 or so, for the fête.  C’est normal, chez le château, when there’s a party involved.  The summer kitchen was a flurry of activity as we spent the morning whisking and piping.  After the tiny coins of egg whites went into the oven to puff, we readied our three fillings.  Fresh berries were plucked right from the garden to make a raspberry jam; we stirred up a fresh lemon curd; and  we made a very French chocolate ganache.

Then, of course there was lunch.  And wine, and cheese, bien sûr.  For dessert, les macarons made their debut.  PHOTO:  Nicole whips up the meringues.

So how were they?  Well, let’s just call them macaroons by committee.  Everyone took their turn practicing the piping, with mixed results, and they did not quite resemble Nicole’s picture perfect ones.  But do not be deceived; they were delicious, and I regret to tell you there are none left for you.

But don’t despair!  Nicole shares her recipe below.  May they inspire an equally lovely fête chez vous.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It takes a village:  Ali , Marjo, and Narissa practice their piping, Dee and Maria have the raspberry filling at the ready.

RECIPE:  French Macarons à la Nicole

These take a while, as you have to let the fillings chill before filling the cookies, unless using prepared jam. PHOTOS: lemon macarons from our cooking lesson, and my later attempt at chocolate and rasberry.

Meringue ingredients:

•  3 medium egg whites
• 1 cup (125 gr) confectioner’s sugar
• 1  1/3 cup (125 gr) almond flour
• scant ¼ cup super-fine sugar (45 gr)

• 2 tablespoons (20 gr) unsweetened cocoa powder, to add if making chocolate meringues

• One recipe chocolate ganache, lemon filling, or jam, below

Separate eggs and set aside to warm to room temperature (save yolks for another use).   Preheat oven to 125 F(50C).

Mix confectioner’s sugar with almond flour.  Run it through the food processor for 15 seconds, or sift it multiple times. Spread it out on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake it for 15 minutes (this dries it out).  Set aside to cool.

 Whip the egg whites to soft peaks.  Add  super-fine sugar.  Sift ⅓ of the almond mixture, over whites, mixing gently until completely combined.  Repeat twice.

At this point you can fold in flavorings (extracts), food coloring, or the cocoa, for double chocolate macarons.  The double chocolate ones are seriously delicious.

Put the mixture in a pastry bag with ½” plain round tip (or fill a plastic bag, then cut off tip).  Line cooke sheet with parchment paper.  Squeeze the mixtures into little mounds, 1” apart,  Don’t go in circles, keep your tip still as your squeeze.  Drag tip to side of mound so you won’t have a peak. 

Heat oven to 300 F (150C).

Let the meringues sit about 15 minutes. Bake, in batches one cookie sheet at a time, from 12 to 15 minutes, rotating once mid-cycle.  They should not brown.  Cool 2 minutes, remove to wire rack, then cool and fill.

FILLINGS:

Chocolate Ganache:

Melt  5 oz (142 gr) of semi-sweet baking chocolate and mix with  1/2 cup (12cl) heavy cream or liquid creme fraiche.  Whisk until smooth.  If you are French you will whisk in 1 tablespoon (15 mg) of butter for extra richness, but you can also leave this out.  Let mixture sit in fridge a bit until it firms up to a spreadable consistency.  

Lemon

Let one sheet of gelatin dissolve in cold water for 5 minutes . Mix the zest and juice of one large lemon with a scant ½ cup (113gr) sugar,  2 tablesppons (25gr) butter and 1 large egg sur fec moyen?  Cook, stirring, over medium heat until it starts to get sticky, 5 minutes or less. Remove from heat.  Remove gelatin from the water, discard water, and stir gelatin into the mixture.  Allow it to chill a couple of hours, to set.

Jam

 Use any good quality jam that you like, or make your own from the garden.

 

In the COMMENTS: DO NOT MISS what our creative fellow dieters have to say!  Hampton gets the most amusing diet award, for creme brulée on alternate mondays, combined with serious naps. Linda shares a recipe for low carb pancakes, Debbie's making yummie yellow watermelon smoothies. M has a great quote from the late great Nora Ephron.  Suzanne has lost 15 pounds on a diet that includes wine and chocolate, and Kiki is on the chicken salad with rosé diet. And Heather has learned about French 'smoosi's'!

THIS JUST IN: Want a dream house in Burgundy?  Our great friends Pete and Dee are selling their beautifully renovated home with the best view in Burgundy, and the best garden. It has a gite and other outbuildings, so that it could even be a small chambre d'hotes.  See it here.

 Our Reader's Blogs: If you haven't checked in at Your Garden Show lately, time to see what you've missed.  Groundskeeper Mark Kane has posted photos from the round-point that he and his neighbors transformed in Iowa (SO French, les rond-points with lovely flowers).  Including the most beautiful public utility box you've ever seen, now covered with Mark's flower photos!  You can see more of Mark's incredible close-ups of flowers, and purchase them, at this site.  Prepare to be amazed!

In this global market it's getting increasingly hard to find  items that are truly unique.  Which is why travelers Chris and Sue Ellibee went from blog to business, to feature items imported from their travels at European Market.  You can read their blog here.