Grocery Shopping on Roller Blades

When we have guests from the states, what’s the first place they often want to go? The museums? The public châteaux? The Romanesque churches? Well yes, they want to see all those things. But first off, many of them want to head right away to: the Carrefour. What’s so special about this French grocery store?

Usually they’ve heard this, and it’s true: this famous French magasin grand surface (big box store) is so big that some of the employees whiz around on roller blades. But then, this is no ordinary grocery store.

Carrefour is the French word for crossroads, and if a crossroads is a big meeting place, then this grocery store is aptly named. It’s not a marché (market) or the larger supermarché, but an HYPERmarché, and some are  the size of a small city. You can buy groceries, of course, and car insurance, plants for the garden, Christmas trees, refrigerators, you can book a vacation, sometimes they even sell cars out in the parking lot. If they could figure out how to sell you a house I’m sure they would. It is in fact the second largest retailer on the planet. Imagine a Costco with a regular grocery store at its heart, on steroids.

Sure, we get our veggies at the local market and do our normal grocery shopping at a smaller supermarché, but every once in a while we make the pilgrimage to a big Carrefour, found in most French towns (well, we did before COVID, and someday will again). The selection is so incredible, it’s hard to resist.

You want it, you can probably get it here. From dishes to tools to books to washing machines, and that’s before you even get to the groceries. Be sure to arm yourself with a list that is itemized by department---if you forget something on one end, it’s a good ten minute walk back. And beware of employees zipping past on roller blades, though you may be wishing you’d brought your own.  

Since everything in France is seasonal, there is a huge central portion in Carrefour which morphs into an entirely different store each season. It’s  a toy store at Christmas, a plant nursery with grills and lawn furniture and beach umbrellas in summer. If you miss the moment, you’re out of luck until next year.

Then on to the groceries. There's a cheese aisle about the length of a soccer field--a main attraction for our visitors-- with employees in aprons busy slicing and wrapping for customers. In the fish section there will be mountains of mussels, fresh oysters and clams, and poissons of every variety. There is often a guy in the meat department stirring a table-sized pan of steaming paella or couscous, singing out loudly to hawk his ready-to-eat marvel. 

Shoppers line up at the cheese isle

It’s all quite festive and overwhelming. A friend who just moved to France says, “Each time we go, we are so astounded at everything that there are large chunks of time that we spend just wandering around in awe. "

It may be that Carrefour has finally gotten too big for its britches.  When they doubled (again) the size of the monster one in nearby Châlon-sur Saône, many folks said “enough already”! A trend is taking hold to shop at smaller, more local stores. So who has filled the gap? Carrefour, of course, which is now busy opening dozens of smaller, more intimate stores called "Carrefour Market"(smaller) and "Carrefour City" (smallest). At least now we can leave our rollerblades at home.

Blue orchids seem to be on special this week.

Now that we've done our grocery shopping, what's for dinner? Here's a super easy recipe.

 

(But first, speaking of recipes: merci to the readers who alerted me to the fact that the Grand Marnier recipe I linked to last week was in fact behind a fire wall. If you go back to the post, you'll see I've added the full recipe).

 

RECIPE: Spicy Sheet Pan Sausage Dinner

Adapted from a recipe by Ali Slagle

This is my favorite kind of dinner: one that I can prepare completely before the oven heats up. And my resident carnivore can feast on sausages, and I can just eat the veggies.  

It's the sauce and toppings that makes this special. This serves 4, but double it if you are into leftovers for lunch, it's easy to re-heat. No problem to add turnips or broccoli or any other roastable vegetables you have on hand.

• 4 spicy Italian spicy chicken or pork sausages
• 1 bell pepper, cut into large chunks
• 4 small red potatos, cut into quarters
• 1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into cubes
• 4 carrots, peeled, halved if large, and cut into 2" long pieces
• 1 large onion, cut into 8 pieces
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

For the sauce:

• 1 1/2  tablespoons grainy mustard
• 1  1/2 tablespoons honey

To sprinkle:

• 1/2 cup almonds,  coarsely chopped
• 2 teaspoons fennel seeds 

Pre-heat oven to 450, and put the sheet pan in the oven with a Silpat, or line it with foil. Make a few slits down the sides of the sausages.

Put the veggies and sausages in a large bowl, except for onion wedges, and toss with the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Turn them out onto the hot sheet pan and shake to distribute evenly. Add the onion wedges (they tend to fall apart if you toss them, so I add them last) and the sausages.

Bake 15 minutes. Meanwhile, stir sauce ingredients together. Remove veggies from oven and drizzle with sauce, then toss well with a spatula. Sprinkle with almonds and fennel seeds. Cook for 10 more minutes or until tender, and serve. A fried egg on the side would not be a bad addition.

 

In the COMMENTS: Natalia, Karen wants to try your soufflé recipe (me too). A photo of Natalia's pouffy soufflés is below. Paula, I'm now on the look-out for downspouts. Kate, so good to hear from you. Huzzah is right! As Jane says, a collective sigh of relief. Ella, glad the book was a help, and bon courage with the next course. Libby, isn't it fun to think about traveling again? Hope everyone is getting vaccinated (but still masking up!).

Favorite Reads and Views: Our friend Gordon sent us a new David Leibovitz book called Drinking French. He's an author we love. I hear that  Call my Agent, a popular French TV show which  is called Dix pour cent in France, is now a Netflix hit in the states. (I've watched some episodes in French--Lordy they talk fast!).

 

 

Comments

[Paula]

I make sheet pan veggies a lot but never thought of sprinkling with fennel seed. It sounds delicious. I frequently sprinkle my veggies with Za’atar, a middle eastern spice mix of thyme, sumac, organo and marjoram. It should be available in Europe. I order mine from Penzey’s in the States (Precovid, I just went into their local outlet which was a cook’s paradise!).

[Anne Marie]

Sheet Pan Salmon recipe can use any vegetables. It's the sauce that makes it so spécial: 3 T. sésame oil, 2 T. soy sauce, 1 T. rice vinegar, 1 T. honey, 2 in. piece grated ginger, 1 chopped garlic clove. Use 1 T. sésame oil on salmon.
425 dégrées, cook veggies 5+ min. Move to edges, put fish in center, add a little sauce, cook 12+ min. Spoon sauce over all. Delicious.

[Bonnie L]

This made me laugh, Lynn, remembering our first foray into a French hypermarché. We moored our rental barge in Auxerre and walked to a nearby Leclerc. There were parking garages on the top two floors of the market with escalators that brought your grocery cart up. (This was 2000, before Target would replicate these escalators in the US.) There were independent shops in the lobby: jewelry, pizza, flowers, et al. We overbought as we had two hungry teenagers to feed and were totally unaware we had to bag our own groceries! It truly was a comedy of errors! I could easily have spent the entire day there wandering the aisles...fascinating!

I’m also a fan of 10%, sorry to see it’s come to an end. In the US you can adjust the playback speed on Netflix, making it easier to catch the French dialogue. I slow it down to 75%...it helps.

[Natalia]

My gosh,Lynn,Carrefour is nearly unbelieveable!Quite honestly,I get tired even imaging traversing my way around there,especially not having a clue as to where things are located!(trail of bread crumbs,anyone??)
This sheet pan dinner sounds like heaven(YUM!!!!)
What's really appealing is that I usually have most of these ingredients on hand,and if not all of them,able to substitute what I do have.
How does it get more perfect?
Am so happy to share my Au Pif Souffle Recipe!!Hope you will enjoy and that it turns out perfectly!(PS I don't like my desserts too sweet)
Preheat oven to 450
Grease two individual souffle dishes: tap in some granulated sugar and coat bottom and sides
2 egg yolks,room temperature,beaten with 1/4 cup granulated sugar and one tablespoon Grand Marnier
3 egg whites,room temperature,beaten till stiff(my secret for really stiff whites is to add just a pinch of Cream of Tartar)When whites nearly done,beat in 1/2 tsp sugar
I prefer to fold egg whites into yolks,being careful not to deflate the whites
Carefully spoon into the prepared dishes.Place on baking sheet.
I bake on center rack in oven for 10-12 minutes
Serve immediately
If desired,can accompany with some Grand Marnier in a liqeur glass

[Sarah]

Is there a similar dish in France, and if so, what is it's name in French?

[Colleen Taylor]

That super duper shopping center looks exhausting Lynn but I do think I might enjoy it on roller skates. Your recipe looks like a winner.

We wear our masks religiously. Getting our shots here in Arizona is nearly impossible. It's ridiculous in fact. We've been online for weeks & can't get a single appointment. The system is messed up. I suspect they ran out of the vaccine. I'm so frustrated that I can't even begin to tell you.

[noreen]

I loved this post! I had my first experience of Carrefour in Dubai in 2019! I could not believe the aisles and rows of different cuisine from so many countries around the world. The mounds of spices mile high to inhale and wonder at before buying! Got my stash of sumac, za'atar, saffron to bring back home. Their baby clothes were of such great quality too! My DIL favourite store!

[Christine Webb-Curtis]

On our first foray into a Carrefour, I felt like a kid in a candy shop. We head there as soon as we get settled on each trip to stock up on the things we didn't want to pack. I still feel a little thrill the first time in. When we were in France with a good friend (who speaks absolutely no French), one of us wandered away from the other (probably me) and she was in quite a panic. We reconnected, of course, but not until we were all a frazzle. We were more careful after that. When we're in France around Christmas, I'm always amused by the pallets piled with oysters--not that I'd ever eat oysters that had been sitting in the middle of the aisle for who knows how long. This morning, I entered a Safeway for my first Covid vaccine. First time in a supermarket in over ten months! Fun post, Lynn. Thanks. By the way, Trader Joe's sells Za'atar for those of you who have a TJ nearby. Yum.

[Karen Lewis]

Paula, thanks for the use of the Za’tar! I got a packet from Penzey’s during one of his promotions and it’s sitting on the counter as I’ve tried to figure out how to use it! Thank you.

[susan vieth]

They are crazy spaces! I try to limit my big store adventures to three or four times a year. But dang once I'm in there.....
I am always surprised how visitors love a wander and notice good things that I tend to rush by. Good local things!
----and it takes two watchings to catch half of what they are babbling on Dix Pour Cent. good fun though