Southern Fried French

Santé et Salut!, with Gratitude

Happy Thanksgiving , y'all! “Thanksgiving is a joyous invitation to shower the world with love and gratitude.” says Amy Leigh Mercree. So let’s take a look at some appropriate toasts and inspirations for the day, from Americans, the French, and beyond, to guide you not just through Thanksgiving, but maybe through life. As Robert Lintner said, "Thanksgiving was never meant to be shut up in a single day.”

“What if today, we were just grateful for everything?”--Charlie Brown

Let’s start off with some toasts/quotes which are very appropriate for these polarized times, when a holiday meal in many families has become a fraught war zone:

 

“May the roof above you never fall in, and those gathered beneath it never fall out. Here's to health, peace, and prosperity.”—Irish blessing

 

Author Nora Ephron offers us a bit of hope:

“The turkey. the sweet potatoes. The stuffing. the pumpkin pie. Is there anything else we all can agree so vehemently about? I don’t think so.”

 

And a few more:

“If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the eons, it’s that you can’t give up on your family, no matter how tempting they make it.”—Rick Riordan

 

"Thanksgiving day is in the same month as election day so that we can drown our sorrows in gravy."--anonymous

 

"After a good dinner, one can forgive anybody, even one's own relations.” --Oscar Wilde

 

Now let’s move along to something a bit more inspirational, to express gratitude and love to friends and family:

 

Here is a lovely thought from Marcel Proust

“Soyons reconnaissants aux personnes qui nous donnent du bonheur; elles sont les charmants jardiniers par qui nos âmes sont fleuries.”  

(”Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” Gotta love his use of the feminine pronoun here).

 

And while we’re going international, here is a bit of inspiration from a German poet:

“To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live gratitude is to touch Heaven.” --Johannes Gaertner

 

Simple but beautiful:

“When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.”--Maya Angelou

 

And finally, here are inspirational words from Voltaire that we absolutely do NOT want to follow on Thanksgiving Day:

“La modération est le trésor du sage”.

(Moderation is the pleasure of the wise).

Pas aujourd'hui, Monsieur Proust

 

On my part, I'm particularly grateful, today and everyday, to the loyal readers who keep this little blog going. Have a wonderful  and Happy Thanksgiving !

 

 

RECIPE: What to do with that Leftover Turkey

This year, we're making sandwiches from fresh biscuits, for tucking those delicious leftovers inside. Just make some biscuits, (recipe here), maybe with an oversized cutter, and pop some turkey and cranberry sauce inside. They would be even better with last week's sweet potato biscuits.

We did a trial run earlier this week with some leftover roasted chicken in a biscuit, spread with dijonnaise (for Ron), and for vegetarian me, I stuffed mine with a fried green tomato and some pimento cheese. Actually, the possibilities for a biscuit sandwich are endless! Or just go with the classic: biscuits smothered in leftover gravy.

 

In the COMMENTS: Tom, who knew Thomas Jefferson made sweet potato biscuits! I’m a little slow to catch up. Amy, buttermilk is absolutely an option, I use it for biscuits when I have it around. Susan, I confess I’ve never known the difference between sweet potatoes and yams, but I’m guessing either will work. And Natalia, an ooey gooey sweet potato casserole will for sure be on my thanksgiving table.

For your Thanksgiving viewing: We have been loving Magpie Murders, a PBS Masterpiece series based on the Anthony Horowitz book, which should be fun holiday viewing for the whole family. It inspired me to sample aHorowitz mystery in print; I chose A Line to Kill, which was as clever and creative a romp as the show.

 

 

"Les Patates Douces" Go South

When we first moved to France, you couldn’t buy a sweet potato for nothing. The French call them patates douces. But a couple of decades have passed since then, and now most grocery stores will have a few tucked away somewhere.

I figured the French grocery stores carry them for the Brits, as my French friends have never served them to us, but when I googled some French recettes lately, I found that adventurous French cooks are doing all sorts of interesting things with them: stuffing them with jambon cru and mozzarella, roasting them with honey and hazlenuts and feta, slicing them into a gratin with ginger, garlic, and cream, with a dusting of grated gruyère. They have, it seems, embraced the patate douce. 

 

Then, while back in Charleston, I saw a recipe that grabbed me. Sweet Potato Biscuits! Now how had I missed out on that deliciousness? And just in time for Thanksgiving.

 

I’ve made them twice now,  and they are pretty wonderful. They are even better the second day, if you split them and butter them and slide them under the broiler.

 

Got to run, I’m off to make these and introduce them to our French friends!

 

RECIPE: Southern Biscuits with Les Patates Douces

 

Be sure to throw a sweet potato in the microwave in advance, for the mash.

•  2 cups  flour (I used part whole wheat)
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, or cinnamon
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• ½ cup cooked, mashed sweet potato, (1 medium sweet potato), chilled if you have time
• 3/4 cups whole milk
• Heavy cream or egg wash for topping

Preheat the oven to 425°F (210C)

In a food processor, add dry ingredients and pulse about 8 times. Add the butter and distribute dollops of the sweet potatoes around the top. Pulse until you have a coarse meal, 8 to 10 one second pulses. Small lumps of butter are okay.

Turn out into a bowl, make a well in the center of the mixture, and add the milk all at once. Mix together with a fork just until the dough comes together. Do not overmix or knead—you are not looking for a cohesive, smooth dough.

Dump the dough out onto a well floured work surface and use your  (floured) hands to pat it roughly into a rectangle  about an inch thick (it's a bit stickier than regular biscuit dough). Dip a knife in flour and cut into squares. Use a floury spatula to lift biscuits onto a baking sheet. Put them close together, not quite touching. 

Brush the tops with heavy cream or an egg wash (an egg beaten with a splash of water).  Sprinkle the tops with coarse sugar and a bit of cinnamon or pie spice. Plain white or brown cane sugar will work too). Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown. Serve with butter, or with honey butter or maple butter if you want to get fancy. 

If this recipe gets you on a biscuit binge, try these peach pie biscuits.

 

In the COMMENTS: Thanks for checking out Aryn's moulin project, so many of you were interested, and we are quite fascinated by it as well! We look forward to seeing her progress, and sharing it with you. It was fun to hear from those of you who have made the leap to France, as well as those who long to. And Paula, we know all about the pull of those grandkids (but ,sigh, we also know kids can move away unexpectedly, so following them can be tricky!).

Favorite READS:  If you haven't done so already, please take a detour and congratulate Kristi Espinasse on 20 years of blogging at French-Word-A-Day. She has been a great inspiration to me, and I'm sure to many of you too. And since many of you are avid readers, I think you will love reading Book Lovers, a very funny novel by Emily Henry, which has me staying up late these days since I can't put it down.