La cuisine française

Paris in July is coming to a close and I saved the best for last - food!  When I signed up to participate in this month-long dip into all things French, I joked that my French food knowledge was limited to cafe-au-lait, croissants and pie a la mode.  However, as I searched for recipes, I discovered that we eat more French food than we realized.

Haricots Vert a la Creme are simply green beans in a white sauce (bechamel) just like my mom and grandma made each summer when we had fresh beans from the garden.

Pommes de Terre Sautees would be called "fried potatoes" at our house though, technically, they are sauteed.  Saute - To cook over high heat in a small amount of fat in a sauté pan or skillet.  I also add onion.

Pate a Choux is the dough for creme puff shells.  I once made over 300 shells for a graduation reception (we stuffed them with a variety of fillings - savory and sweet), so I'm very familiar with that recipe.

Creme Patissiere is a basic custard like I use to fill the Pate a Choux or as the base for coconut- or banana-cream pie.

For my attempts at trying some new French recipes, I got ideas from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking  and Ina Garten's Food Network specieal, Barefoot in Paris.  My goal was to find recipes that were not too expensive (fillet mignon), too time-consuming (cassoulet) or that did not require too much oven time on a 100 degree day.  Here is what we sampled:

Ratatoulle - Eggplant casserole with tomatoes, onions, peppers and zucchini.  Great summer dish to use all the fresh ingredients from your garden.  We didn't raise eggplant or zucchini, so I had to get some help from the grocer, but still delicious.  (Recipe can be found on page 504 of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol.1)  Julia suggests that, as the casserole is "strongly flavored" it best accompanies plain roast or chicken.  We paired it with...

Biftek Hache' a la Lyonnaise - Ground beef with onions and herbs.  Would most likely be called "hamburger steak" in an American diner.  Hamburger is mixed with sauteed onions, egg and seasoning, shaped into patties, dusted with flour, sauteed, and served with a sauce made from the pan drippings and either beef stock or wine.  (MTAOFC, Vol. 1, p. 301)

Roti de Porc Poele (casserole-roasted pork) served with Sauce Moutarde a la Normande (mustard sauce with cream).  Again, the meat is traditional - a pork roast, lightly seasoned, browned first then finished in the oven. (Yes, I caved and let the oven run for two hours.  Fortunately we were having a slightly cooler day.) The adventure was in the sauce which consists of the meat juices, vinegar, cream, mustard and butter.  Once the cream is added, the sauce is simmered for about 8 minutes.  I think I let the temperature get a bit too high and the cream separated, making for a strange-looking sauce, but the flavor was still ok.  Actually, we were disappointed that there wasn't more flavor to the sauce.  The mustard didn't come through very well.  (MTAOFC, Vol. 1, p. 382)

Crepes with Creme Patissiere and fresh berries.  Yum!  That's all, just yum!

And my favorite (well, except the crepes, duh!):

Herb-baked Eggs 
(Recipe from Ina Garten)

1/4 t. chopped thyme

1/4 t. chopped rosemary

1/4 t. chopped garlic

1 T. chopped 1 T. parmesan cheese

Combine and set aside.

6 eggs - yolks left whole, divided into two bowls (3 eggs per serving)

In bottom of individual ramekins (approximately 6" across), place 1 t. butter and a splash of cream (adjust to your tastes).  Place under broiler for about 3 minutes or until it becomes bubbly and brown.

Remove from oven and gently slide three eggs into each ramekin and season with salt and pepper.  Sprinkle 1/2 of herb mixture onto each serving.  Return to broiler for about 5 minutes, until egg whites are just set.  Serve with toasted baguette.

The size of the dish you use is key to the success of this recipe.  The ramekins I have are slightly too small, which means it took longer for the egg whites to cook, which meant the yolks began to set.  The idea is for the yolks to still be runny.  The eggs were still De-Lish!, but not quite what they should have been.  Guess I'll just have to run to Target for some larger dishes!  I hate when that happens!

This post is part of Weekend Cooking, hosted by Beth Fish Reads

Paris in July is a month-long event sponsored by Tamara @ Thyme for Tea and Karen @ BookBath. 


Comments were accidently deleted and have been reconstructed as best I could.  

Paris in July: Film and Fiction

Though vacation detoured me briefly, I am still on my virtual tour of France.  This week I am combining parts two and three of my planned four-part journey (music, movies, books, food).  I elected to read Chocolat by Joan Harris and Mrs 'Arris Goes to Paris by Paul Gallico.

Chocolat:  The overview of Chocolat found on Barnes and Noble's web-site describes the story this way . . .

In tiny Lansquenet, where nothing much has changed in a hundred years, beautiful newcomer Vianne Rocher and her exquisite chocolate shop arrive and instantly begin to play havoc with Lenten vows. Each box of luscious bonbons comes with a free gift: Vianne's uncanny perception of its buyer's private discontents and a clever, caring cure for them. Is she a witch? Soon the parish no longer cares, as it abandons itself to temptation, happiness, and a dramatic face-off between Easter solemnity and the pagan gaiety of a chocolate festival.

. . . which begs the question, "Did we read the same book?"  While there is nothing totally false in that description, it misses the essence of the story.  It is about finding balance, about public persona vs. private desires, about secrets and acceptance and freedom.  Seeing as the book is over ten-years-old, I'm assuming most of you have either read it or seen the movie.  If not, do it right now - I'll wait. . . . . .  

As far as how it applies to the Paris in July theme, it really doesn't.  Although it's set in France, it doesn't need to be.  Other than the fact that "chocolat" sounds so much sexier than the English pronunciation, the story is universal.  

Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris:  I try to avoid cliches when writing reviews, but my mental thesaurus is stuck on "delightful" to describe this book.  I know...makes you want to run, screaming, for...well, for whatever it is you run screaming for when something is sickeningly sweet.  But that's really not a complete description.

Mrs. 'Arris (that's Harris with some variation of British accent) is a charwoman (or cleaning lady) in London - sixtyish, widowed, making a meager living.  When she sees a dress designed by Christian Dior in her client's apartment, she deems it the most beautiful thing she's ever seen and decides that, regardless of impracticality and enormous price-tag, she must have one.  Her determination to pinch pennies finally allows her the trip to Paris to select her dress.  Every review I've read talks about the people she meets on this trip and how she affects their lives - which is a good story - but, I think the real lesson is in Mrs. 'Arris's reaction to the unfortunate events when she returns.  Although quiet and sweet and delightful, this is also an eloquent story about finding true beauty.

This was a re-read for me, and I knew going in that the Paris setting isn't really important.  She could just as easily been headed to Milan for an Armani gown.  So, as a choice for Paris in July, perhaps not the best, but I love this story and will take any excuse to visit Mrs. 'Arris.   Paul Gallico actually wrote four books involving Mrs. 'Arris and I am currently reading number two, Mrs 'Arris Goes to New York.  I'm sure you'll want to mark your calendars or your Blackberry or whatever it is people mark as a reminder these days, to check back for my review.

Both of these books have been made into movies and, as usual, I think the books are better.  However, in the case of Mrs. 'Arris, only slightly.  Angela Lansbury as Mrs. 'Arris was plucked directly from my imagination.  Perfect casting!  

Movies: As far as other French-related movies, one win, one loss.  I watched Funny Face and An American in Paris.  Not a fan of Funny Face!  Audrey Hepburn may have claimed (via lip-synch) I Could Have Danced all Night in My Fair Lady, but don't confuse stamina with talent.  Partnering with Fred Astaire would be daunting for even the best dancer, so she really didn't stand a chance from the start.  And her dancing was much better than her singing.  Also, the idea of a 58-year-old Astair and a 28-year-old Hepburn as a couple just didn't work.  The gorgeous costumes by Edith Head were the saving grace of this lack-luster film.  

An American in Paris, was a much bigger hit with me.  Gene Kelly may be the suavest (is that a word?) man ever.  Suave: displaying smoothness and sophistication in manner or attitude.  That is Gene Kelly in a nutshell.  He even walks with grace.  I could watch him dance all night!  Once again (I'm detecting a theme) the Paris setting was almost an afterthought, at least as far as inspiring me to go there.  But I do now have a burning desire to tapdance on a grand piano.


Paris in July is a month-long event sponsored by Tamara @ Thyme for Tea and Karen     @BookBath. 

Paris in July: Musique de France

It's July, and time to head to Paris.  Paris in July is a month-long event sponsored by Tamara @ Thyme for Tea and Karen @ BookBath.  During July, participants will be learning and sharing about all things French.  For my part, since I know very little about anything French or Parisian, I will be dedicating each of the four weeks of July to learning about one area: French music, France through Movies, France through Literature and, of course, French Food.  First up is music.

This was truly starting from zero - I couldn't name a single French composer or singer, so  I began with current music.  Did you know that France has it's own version of American Idol called Nouvelle Star?   I listened to a few videos there and was surprised that many of the songs were American/English rock/pop songs -  sung in English.  I'm not sure why this surprised me - guess it was just something I had never thought about, even though I know that many American artists are popular in other countries and make world tours.  Since my curiosity was up, I Googled the current French music charts and discovered some familiar names like Snoop Dog and Black Eyed Peas.   I listened to the non-English entries in the Top 5 for the week, and discovered that French pop music sounds much like American pop music, except I couldn't understand the words.  Oh, wait - I can't understand most of the words in English either - so make that "exactly like American pop music".  Moving on...

... I found that the music exchange goes both ways.  Les Feuilles Mortes (music by Joseph Kosma, lyrics by Jacques Prevert) was written in 1945 and introduced in the 1946 French film Les Portes de la Nuit.  In 1947, American songwriter Johnny Mercer wrote English lyrics and it became the pop standard "Autumn Leaves".  The film by the same name (1956) starred Joan Crawford and featured the song as sung by Nat King Cole.  Here is the French version, performed by Andrea Bocelli:



Another French song, Comme D'habitude, became an American classic when Paul Anka, after hearing the song while traveling in Paris, acquired the rights for free and wrote English lyrics, unrelated to the previous French lyrics.  Frank Sinatra recorded it in 1969 under the title, My Way.

Petit Papa Noel is a Christmas song written in 1946 by Raymond Vincy and Henri Martinet, and popularized in the film Destins.  It is currently the best-selling single of all time in France, with over 5 million sold (according to InfoDisc).  I became familiar with this song as performed by Josh Groban on his 2007 album Noel.



Moving farther back, I listened to some French folk music and read a bit about French opera.  I won't pretend to teach you anything about either one, but I have to share that I fell in love with the music of Claude Debussy, quite by accident.  In my quest for information about French classical composers, I found Wikipedia's simple alphabetical list of French composers.  I skimmed through, clicking here and there for more information, but Debussy was by far the most familiar name on the list to me.  His name was followed by "He wrote 'Clair de Lune' from Suite Bergamasque".   Clair de Lune?  I've heard of that.  No one who has taken more than two years of piano lessons hasn't heard of Clair de Lune!  A quick search on Grooveshark revealed that I did NOT know Clair de Lune.  At least not as performed by a classical pianist rather than a 10-year-old.  And I was instantly head over heels in love with this music!

Clair de Lune is probably best recognized from the Bellagio fountain scene at the end of Ocean's Eleven. 



That is the full orchestra version, but, in my opinion, you have to hear it in it's purest form - piano only - to fully appreciate.  Listen again!  


In the spirit of using Paris in July to learn something new, I found the piano sheet music to Clair de Lune and am challenging myself to play it.  No amount of practice, practice, practice will ever get me near Carnegie Hall, (or near to Mr. Malinowski's performance in the YouTube clip) but I hope to eventually be able to at least make myself smile.

Paris in July

Oooh-la-la!  Tamara from Thyme For Tea and Karen at BookBath are hosting the second annual Paris in July - "a month long blogging experience to celebrate our love of all things French and Parisian."  Since I'm not sure that I actually have a love for all things French - my vocabulary is limited to "a la mode" and "cafe au lait" -  my participation should be classified as Paris-Lite.

After minutes of deep thought, stealing ideas from other blogs, and scientifically cross-referencing them with my local library's catalog, my plan is to devote at least one post per week to the French theme, with one week devoted to each of the following topics:

Movies:  Gigi, a 1958 film starring Leslie Caron and Maurice Chevalier is my pick for movie week.  (I told you I was going lite - no subtitles for me.)

Music:  I plan to investigate the music of composer Claude DeBussey and coloratura soprano Natalie Dessay, among others.

Books:  Chocolat by Joanne Harris.  Loved the movie, and isn't the book always better?

Food:  I received both volumes of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking as a gift more than a year ago and so far I've tried a whopping three recipes.  I'm breaking out the cookbooks and cooking French in July.  (Is there such a thing as "lite" food in France?  July's too hot for heavy meals.)

I might throw in some study of French art and a second book if there is time.  How about a few classic French films - like Ratatouille, Beauty and the Beast, DaVinci Code, or Home Alone (give me a break - the family is flying to France!).  Dave's additions:  The French Connection and the complete series of Pink Panther films.

If you would like to participate in Paris in July, go here and leave a comment.  Even if you don't have a blog, join in and leave your comments here or on one of the host sites.


Joignent à moi pour Juillet.*


* ("Join me in July".  If that's incorrect, blame Google Translate).