food at a palace in paris and other places to eat

If you adore Paris and you love  fine food, and if you don't mind feeling hungry as you emerge from a cinema, then I think you need to see this film.

Les Saveurs du Palais,  'Flavours of the Palace' , tells the true story of a French woman, a cook and a farmer in the Perigord, who was unwittingly chosen to be the private cook to the former French president François Mitterand.

She gets lost in the presidential palace, she has to convince the all male kitchen staff that she can do the job and of course she gets to share the pleasure of good food with the president.

It is said that Mitterand asked the cook Hortense  Laborie to prepare the sort of meals his grandmother used to prepare - traditional French cuisine doesn't get any better than this!   You can find some of the recipes  here.

Not only is the film well acted, the décors are sumptuous and the food breathtaking.   Here is the trailer, in French I'm afraid! 

And if you are looking for recommendations for where to eat in Paris, then pop over to visit the delightful Stacey at Stacey's Snacks.  I had the pleasure of meeting Stacey and her husband when they came to visit last week.   She is a real connoisseur of food, and has tested some of the best restaurants for you.

While she was here we had loads to talk about, with shared interest in food and gardens, and I loved here fast talking way of doing things, a breath of fresh air here in sleepy Normandy.

She is a beautiful lady, (with a very handsome husband!) and they both completely charmed my whole family.  She takes photos of her meals all over the world, and shares them on her popular blog

I particularly loved her review of the confidential restaurant Verjus, and thanks to her I'll be dining there quite soon too!   She also took a private tour of the famous Cordon Bleu cooking school, that's her in the photo above with the owners of a Paris restaurant.

You can see what fun I've been having this summer with so many visitors - all that from one little blog, who would have guessed!   So if you are one of those who is hesitating about starting a blog, a little worried about publishing, then I can only say "go for it!", you never know where  the adventure may lead you!

a favourite french snack

A French lady I know ( beautiful, slim, lively and fun) once talked to me about growing up on the Cote d'Azur as a little girl in the 40's.  A magical moment to be sure.

We talked about school and friends, and clothes, and family life.   So many details to enjoy, but one that made me smile was her description of her favourite mid afternoon snack, when she came home from school.    "Pain au chocolat?"  I asked, already imagining her at the baker's counter.   "Non, non" she frowned,  "too sweet, way too sweet".

That little girl's idea of heaven was a slice of bread, a clove of garlic opened up and rubbed on the bread, then a trickle of olive oil.

France and the French never cease to delight!   

Wishing you all a fragrant weekend!

Photo by Ella

french summer dining

A last minute decision to invite friends for supper

warm enough to eat outside

one friend brings wine, another turns up with delicious patisserie

a few flowers, a few candles, a rising moon

chatting, laughing,

teenagers mixing with adults and nobody in a hurry to leave the table

summer evenings as they should be  ...  simple.

simple pleasures in everyday French life

If you read my blog now and again, you'll have understood that for me the best pleasures in life are the simple ones.  I'm not big on bling bling.  To me the greatest luxuries are the simple moments.

Buying at the market in France is not about ticking off from a shopping list, it is a sensual and sensory experience.  The produce is displayed beautifully to seduce the client, and the vendors make full use of their natural charms.

It was my husband who taught me how to shop at market.  Simple rules that work well.     Never go with a list,but to  be inspired by what is on offer;  walk around the market once before buying, remembering where are the ripest peaches, the sweetest melons, the best fish and cheese and to take the time .... buying food is important work, never to be rushed!

It's like I said, taking pleasure in the simple things.

 I invariably return from market with food I had no intention of purchasing, simply because it looks and smells so wonderful and because the inspiration for meals comes once I see the food.

and if I buy too much? .... no matter, there are always baskets for sale!

making strawberry jam

Now that our local strawberries are ready, I shall be making a big batch of strawberry jam , mmmmm...... strawberry.... jam....., surely two of the most evocative words in the culinary language.  Strawberry jam is summer in a jar; it is scones for tea;  fresh croissant for breakfast;  it is the jam that takes us back to our childhood.....

By a happy coincidence it is also one of the easiest jams to make, the natural pectin in the little ruby red fruits ensuring a jam that sets easily without needing to be overcooked and risking spoiling the flavour.

At home we grow our strawberries in large pots on the terrace, they are easier to control and less of a temptation to passing birds!

To make quite a few pots of fresh jam you will need  5 lbs of tasty strawberries, 3 lbs  (6 cups) of sugar and the juice of a lemon or two.

Pop a couple of old saucers into the freezer, you will need these for testing whether the jam is set.  Also have your jam jars ready, squeaky clean and slightly warm.

Remove the stalks and cut up the strawberries, pop them into a saucepan with the sugar and the lemon juice.  I leave this for a couple of hours so the fruit begins to juice.

Turn on a gentle heat until all the sugar is melted.  Once everything is melted then turn the heat up and bring the mixture to a boil.  Let it boil (not too hard) for 10-15 minutes.  After about 10 muinutes put a little of the mixture onto one of the cold saucers and do the 'wrinkle' test.  If, when you push your finger against the blob of jam the surface crinkles, then your jam is ready.  If it is still liquid then you need to boil it for a few more minutes.

The less time your jam boils, the better and fresher the flavour will be.

When you are satisfied with the consistency, turn off the heat, let the jam cool for a while.  Pour into individual pots and seal.  When the pots are cooled, wash them carefully to make sure no jam has dribbled down the side, then stick on a pretty label.

Voila!   my favourite recipe, illustrated by a series of wonderful  pictures taken by my daughter Ella last summer, enjoy!

strawberry and rhubarb tart

The first thing to push its way through the ground in our potager is the rhubarb.  Deep red stalks full of promise and abundance.

I love rhubarb compote but also tarts, and best of all when associated with strawberries, conveniently in season at the same time.

Here is a yummy and ridiculously easy recipe for a wonderful strawberry and rhubarb tart.

To make the tart or tarts you will need 

about 8 oz of fresh rhubarb, 

sugar to taste,

 1 lemon ,

 12 oz of strawberries and  

enough pastry for a tart mould or for 8 small moulds,

Buy or make your favourite sweet pastry and line the tart tin, either a long rectangular or round mould or several individual moulds.  Pre-bake the pastry, blind to begin with  (covered with parchment paper and weighted down)  then finished off for a few minutes to golden brown.

Make a rhubarb compote by cutting the rhubarb into small pieces and cooking with  sugar until soft.  Check the sweetness once cooled.  Rhubarb tends to need a lot of sugar but I can't give a precise quantity.  It's up to you to taste your rhubarb and find the sweetness you like best.

Wash and hull the srawberries then cut into long slices or into half.  Reseve a handful of strawberries and whizz them in your mixer with a little sugar and lemon juice.

When the pastry is cooked and cooled, lift it from it's baking tray onto the serving platter.  Gently spoon the rhubarb compote into the pastry case, but don't put in so much that it overflows.

Carefully position the strawberries all over the rhubarb in neat lines or circles and serve the tart with the pink red strawberry coulis in a small side bowl to accompany.  If you wish to add a little vanilla ice cream, it's good too.

This is a lovely fresh dessert, making use of fruit that is freshly picked and in season, so at its best.

French food etiquette and the dangers of a cheeseboard

Each country has it's own rules and customs, and the dinner table tends to be where they are most visible.  Dining in polite company can be intimidating for a visitor abroad. 

In France it is important to have both hands visible while eating.  This means that if you are sipping soup, for example, holding a spoon in one hand, then the idle hand should be poised, the wrist resting lightly on the edge of the table. Basically you're proving that you haven't got a weapon on your knees beneath the table!

The cheeseboard is served after the main dish and before dessert.   At a dinner between friends it is passed once around the table, generally each person steadies the platter while their neighbour cuts pieces from the cheese of their choice, and this is where it can get sticky.

What is the right way to cut each cheese? ... !!

To know how to cut the cheese you have to identify which sort of cheese it is.  Is it a slice cut from a large hard cheese like an emmenthal, is it an individual soft creamy camembert, a soft round goats cheese, or a chunk of creamy roquefort?

I can't remember where I found this clever diagram, but it demonstrates precisely how each sort of cheese should be served.

Of course here, since the French love to talk about the food before them, while the cheese is enjoyed there will also be much discussion about where each cheese comes from, which is the best wine to have with it, where to find the best cheese locally etc etc ... happy days!

French orange season and my marmelade recipe

While down in the South of France, we couldn't help but notice all the orange and lemon trees laden down with heavy fruit. 

This is the time of year when I like to make marmelade.  We can't buy bitter oranges here so I make Three Fruit Marmelade using oranges, lemons and grapefruits.  If you would like to have a go, the recipe I use is pretty easy.

To make about 12 pots of jam I use 3 lemons; 3 oranges and 3 grapefruit.  I prefer to use organic because all the peel goes into the jam and I'm not wild about eating pesticides.

Cut the fruit into thin slices or even cubes.  What you do at this step really depends on whether you like large chunks of fruit in the marmelade, or tiny slithers of peel.  Any pips ( or seeds) should be reserved and tied into a loose muslin bag that goes into the pan with the fruit - you need the pectin they produce to make the marmelade set.

Put all the chopped fruit into a huge preserving saucepan and cover with three times the volume of water.  Leave to stand for a couple of hours, even overnight, then bring to the boil and simmer for 2 hours uncovered.  Remove the bag of pips.

Weigh the contents of the saucepan after cooking and add the equivalent weight of sugar or preserving sugar with some extra pectin (I know, that is a LOAD of sugar, but there's no way around it).  Bring back to the boil and cook vigourously for about 40 minutes until it starts to set.

The best way to check for setting point is to have a couple of saucers in your fridge.  Pour a little marmelade onto the saucer, let it cool for a couple of minutes then push gently with your finger, if the surface crinkles then you can stop cooking the marmelade.

I leave the marmelade to cool a little in the pan before ladling into pots, covering, labelling and putting away into my jam cupboard to enjoy throughout the year.   I love having a plentiful reserve of jams and preserves.  We eat a lot ourselves, and I find that a home made pot of jam or marmelade is useful for last minute hostess gifts.  French country style.

it's just a baguette isn't it?!

With the cold weather and icy roads I have been buying a daily baguette for our elderly neighbours.  And it's when you buy bread for somebody else that you understand what an intimate part of French life the humble loaf of bread can be.

An outsider waiting in line to buy fresh bread may notice that each client mutters a few key words as a baguette is being selected for him or her.

"une baguette s'il vous plait, pas trop cuite"  (one baguette please, not too cooked)

"deux baguettes, bien cuites, s'il vous plait"  (two baguettes, well cooked please)

Regular clients don't even need to say anything about the bread, they just say bonjour, talk about the weather, and the loaf they prefer appears before them. 

When I picked up the bread for our neighbours, I asked for our usual loaf then said I'd have "un pain" also, there was a pause ...  a raised eyebrow,   "ce n'est pas pour vous?", (that's not for you), upon which I'd say no,  it's for Monsieur et Madame J,  "ah bon! ..... alors voila - this is the bread they take, Monsieur J prefers a good crust".

 And it's not just in the countryside that buying bread is so important.  Parisians will make huge detours on the way home from work to buy the bread they prefer, rather than from the closest bakers.

Each year there is a prize discerned to the baker producing "la meilleure baguette de Paris" (the best baguette in Paris, I mean ... really?!  can you imagine deciding on that one?!).  This year it was won by a certain Pascal Barillon who bakes at  Au Levain d’Antan .  Besides winning the title and a cheque, he also has the honour of being the official baker to the President of France for a year.

So for the whole of 2012, twenty of his humble loaves will go from here ....

to here each day!

What do you think it says about a country, that a simple stick of bread can be so important?!

French women preparing for spring

Even though we haven't reached the end of January, there is a deliciously spring like feel to the air.  The birds have picked up on it and have dusted off their spring songs.  Snowdrops are out in the garden and like every other woman in France I am beginning to think about Spring... and lighter weight clothes... and putting away those heavy jumpers that have so conveniently hidden the fact that in the winter we indulge in a little over eating. 

UGH!  Some things just have to be said!

So here we go, my insider view on how French women are preparing for the fast approaching spring.

First of all they are moving!  Running, cycling, swimming, dancing, riding, walking or going to the gym - it's not what they do but how often.   The experts say that 20 minutes a day of movement and exercise is enough to make a real difference.  Walking the dog, cycling to the store, taking the stairs instead of a lift, in my case walking up the hill to feed the horses ...it all counts , especially for us bloggers who have too many temptations to stay sitting down!

Next they are drinking water , aqua, de l’eau!  Lots of it, for a couple of weeks they  forget about wine, champagne etc and drink a couple more glasses of water a day than they would normally.    The winter holidays always brings too many opportunities to raise a glass of champagne or indulge in heavy meals, now is the time to repent!

Then of course their food,  SIGH .... French women and their food, it is fascinating to see them surrounded by so many great things to eat and still stay slim.  It's no secret , they hold back!  They are reasonable, a little of everything, moderation, and avoid the carbs and the desserts!  Three well balanced meals a day, no snacking, plenty of vegetables and light protein.  I see it everyday, French women take their time over meals, they don't skip meals, but that doesn't mean they eat a lot. 

One secret I can reveal to you is 'bouillon', light stock, preferably home made not from a cube.  To be drunk with a few vegetables and even a little pasta.  Delicious, satisfying, wholesome.  Effective!

So what do you think?  I know this stuff, you know this stuff, we read it every time we open a magazine, but for the French it is simply non-negotiable.

You want to be slim, you work at it.  So here is my challenge to you, and to me:  let February, March and April be the months that make the difference.  Let us feel good ... à la francaise.

Feel inspired

feel French

feel the difference!

PS.  sorry about the 'slogans' at the end, I've been watching Mad Men!  :)