I love French food, don't you? So, I'll admit, here and now, that I've succumbed and have not only reintroduced back into my diet, sugar (after an 8 week hiatus) but also coffee (after a four year break) and white bread (it's been banned for as long as I can remember). And what's not to love about a food culture that socially condones drinking wine at lunch. If you so fancy, you can even go one step further towards alcoholic anihilation and down a pastis in a cafe at 10am and no one will bat an eyelid....don't worry, I can't say that I've been tempted to....yet, but I've seen my husband eyeing it off.
During the week, with three of our children ensconced in their new school, we went out for a celebratory lunch in Nimes. I donned the sparkly new frock that I'd bought in the village:
The husband and I are creatures of habit....since we've been here, he has acquired a road bike and the associated lycra and cycling accoutrement that goes along with it, while I have been adding to my handbag and dress collection.
Anyway, as we hadn't managed to magic up a babysitter, we had to bring the two year old with us. Never mind, we hatched a cunning plan which saw me sit in the back seat of the car for the 20 minute drive into Nimes to induce her to stay awake.....so that she would fall asleep on cue, just as we arrived at the restaurant. I'm sorry to say that it didn't work....we even ended up doing laps of the old town with the stroller for over an hour to try and lull her to sleep yet her radar was on and she knew something was up and no matter that she was addled with sleep, she wanted to stay awake and be part of it. Say hello to the gooseberry:
We had lunch on the terrace at the Ciel de Nimes, on the third floor of the starkly modern art gallery, the Carre d'Art which overlooks the ancient Roman temple built in the 1st century BC, the Maison Carre. It is a stunning bird's eye view which reaches out over the rooftops and bell towers of Nimes:
I've been having a bit of a cooking holiday and can't say that I've been clocking much time in the kitchen....I've been working more on food assembly with the produce from the market:
Conveniently, the organic corner shop sells glass jars of tofu stuffed ravioli in a tomato and vegetable sauce, which I have been feeding with great regularity to the children. They love it. Don't think I'm not spoiled for cooking inspiration, the shelf in the kitchen is groaning with French inspired cookbooks from Elizabeth David, John Burton Race and Caroline Conran....and I even lugged Shannon Bennett's '28 Days in Provence' over in the suitcase.
However, in my cooking wasteland, I have made from scratch, chicken soup, not once but twice. We ate it for dinner last night and I was reamazed by it's utter deliciousness so thought I'd better share it. Don't just take my word for it, cook it! You will need either a chicken or a chicken carcass, so you can roast a chicken like I did the night before....with butter and slices of proscuitto stuffed under the skin.....or boil the whole thing and then strip off the meat. Boil the bones in a big pot with leeks, carrots, onions, garlic and whatever herbs you have on hand. Conveniently, I had a dried bouquet garni of thyme and bay leaves which was a 'cadeau' from the man at the shop....I even had the wherewithal, in French, to, on the spot, make a feeble joke 'a present...but it's not even Christmas'! Boom, boom. In another pan, sweat chopped carrot, leek and celery in a melange of butter/olive oil until it's soft. This is the step that elevates this soup from the banal into the realms of the superlative, so do not skip it out....I originally found this idea in Matthew Evans' tome 'The Real Food Companion' yet my friend Mary, who knows everything about food, assured me that it's a well recognised technique. Anyway, once you have drained the stock, add shreds of left over roasted or boiled chicken meat, the buttery, oily vegetables and a couple of handfuls of spinach and chopped parsley. Last night, I dressed it up with crumbled chèvre, grated Laguiole cheese and a sprinkle of fleur de sel from the Camargue that the ten year old brought home from his overnight excursion. If you are in Australia you could easily substitute a freshly grated local hard cheese and Murray River salt.
We went to the patisserie this afternoon. It is right next door to Picard....which, to the uninitiated, is an entirely frozen supermarket. Along with the usual suspects...frozen pizza and pain au chocolate....you can also buy snails, macarons, blood sausage....in fact, you name it and it's probably in their freezer. I couldn't resist these:
Kiss shaped pieces of foie gras and raspberry puree and cream cheese, basil and capsicum jelly. We are about road test them with a verre....as we also went to one of the organic vineyards on the outskirts of town and stocked up on wine:
I was sceptical about the frozen shop....yet threw caution to the wind and stocked our freezer up with various bits and pieces....because I'm going to London for ten days on Tuesday and I'm sure that my husband will need all the help that he can get.
Rx
During the week, with three of our children ensconced in their new school, we went out for a celebratory lunch in Nimes. I donned the sparkly new frock that I'd bought in the village:
The husband and I are creatures of habit....since we've been here, he has acquired a road bike and the associated lycra and cycling accoutrement that goes along with it, while I have been adding to my handbag and dress collection.
Anyway, as we hadn't managed to magic up a babysitter, we had to bring the two year old with us. Never mind, we hatched a cunning plan which saw me sit in the back seat of the car for the 20 minute drive into Nimes to induce her to stay awake.....so that she would fall asleep on cue, just as we arrived at the restaurant. I'm sorry to say that it didn't work....we even ended up doing laps of the old town with the stroller for over an hour to try and lull her to sleep yet her radar was on and she knew something was up and no matter that she was addled with sleep, she wanted to stay awake and be part of it. Say hello to the gooseberry:
We had lunch on the terrace at the Ciel de Nimes, on the third floor of the starkly modern art gallery, the Carre d'Art which overlooks the ancient Roman temple built in the 1st century BC, the Maison Carre. It is a stunning bird's eye view which reaches out over the rooftops and bell towers of Nimes:
Much more recently, the Carre d'Art was designed by the British architect, Norman Foster....who also worked on designing le Viaduc de Millau, just up the road on the highway between Montpellier and Paris....I know this salient fact because, while my husband loves cycling, don't be fooled, as he is also just a tad of a petrol head, to the extent that, when we drove over this same bridge....I had to video it. Anyway, the Carre 'Art echoes the rectangular shape of it's Roman neighbour yet is constructed of the very modern materials, glass and steel, and presents a striking juxtaposition between two buildings constructed 2,000 years apart:
I've been having a bit of a cooking holiday and can't say that I've been clocking much time in the kitchen....I've been working more on food assembly with the produce from the market:
Conveniently, the organic corner shop sells glass jars of tofu stuffed ravioli in a tomato and vegetable sauce, which I have been feeding with great regularity to the children. They love it. Don't think I'm not spoiled for cooking inspiration, the shelf in the kitchen is groaning with French inspired cookbooks from Elizabeth David, John Burton Race and Caroline Conran....and I even lugged Shannon Bennett's '28 Days in Provence' over in the suitcase.
However, in my cooking wasteland, I have made from scratch, chicken soup, not once but twice. We ate it for dinner last night and I was reamazed by it's utter deliciousness so thought I'd better share it. Don't just take my word for it, cook it! You will need either a chicken or a chicken carcass, so you can roast a chicken like I did the night before....with butter and slices of proscuitto stuffed under the skin.....or boil the whole thing and then strip off the meat. Boil the bones in a big pot with leeks, carrots, onions, garlic and whatever herbs you have on hand. Conveniently, I had a dried bouquet garni of thyme and bay leaves which was a 'cadeau' from the man at the shop....I even had the wherewithal, in French, to, on the spot, make a feeble joke 'a present...but it's not even Christmas'! Boom, boom. In another pan, sweat chopped carrot, leek and celery in a melange of butter/olive oil until it's soft. This is the step that elevates this soup from the banal into the realms of the superlative, so do not skip it out....I originally found this idea in Matthew Evans' tome 'The Real Food Companion' yet my friend Mary, who knows everything about food, assured me that it's a well recognised technique. Anyway, once you have drained the stock, add shreds of left over roasted or boiled chicken meat, the buttery, oily vegetables and a couple of handfuls of spinach and chopped parsley. Last night, I dressed it up with crumbled chèvre, grated Laguiole cheese and a sprinkle of fleur de sel from the Camargue that the ten year old brought home from his overnight excursion. If you are in Australia you could easily substitute a freshly grated local hard cheese and Murray River salt.
We went to the patisserie this afternoon. It is right next door to Picard....which, to the uninitiated, is an entirely frozen supermarket. Along with the usual suspects...frozen pizza and pain au chocolate....you can also buy snails, macarons, blood sausage....in fact, you name it and it's probably in their freezer. I couldn't resist these:
Kiss shaped pieces of foie gras and raspberry puree and cream cheese, basil and capsicum jelly. We are about road test them with a verre....as we also went to one of the organic vineyards on the outskirts of town and stocked up on wine:
I was sceptical about the frozen shop....yet threw caution to the wind and stocked our freezer up with various bits and pieces....because I'm going to London for ten days on Tuesday and I'm sure that my husband will need all the help that he can get.
Rx
0 comments:
Post a Comment