A French Sunday Lunch

This morning, Dev, an acquaintance from DailyKos called. He was visiting in the area and JM invited him for lunch. The call was at 10 am and the lunch at 12:30.

Around here, lots of restaurants and hotels close in January, because it's the slow season and the easiest time for them to do that, so you never are sure what is open and what isn't. The weather had turned cold and rainy and I didn't feel like driving around to find someplace that we liked that was actually open, so I told JM that I would throw something together.

I looked in the fridge and freezer and this is what I came up with: homemade vegetable soup using some of the great frozen vegetable mixes that are available here and which I always keep on hand. a bit of leftover wine and this amazing boullion powder (Marigold) that a friend introduced me to just this week.

Then, I had two kinds of potatoes so I made potatoes roasted in duck fat with chives and garlic and a simple herb omelette. A quick trip to the boulangerie next door for fresh bread and a lemon tart. And, of course, CHEESE wonderful CHEESE.

By 12:30, everything was read, the house was cleaned (de-dog haired!!!) and we were ready to meet and greet.

Simple, satisfying and a big success.

A perfect Sunday lunch.

Ciao for now.

Randy

Shopping for food

I decided to make an American soup recipe yesterday and I was struck by the ingredients list. Things that were needed to follow the recipe exactly: cheddar cheese soup, half-and-half, cheddar cheese, are either not available in France at all (cheddar cheese soup, half-and-half) or are hard to find (cheddar cheese), at least in our region. It's possible that some things might be available in a big city like Paris.

At any rate, I thought it would be fun to compare ingredients that are exotic in one place and common in another:

Common in the States, virtually impossible or not available in France:

Cheddar cheese
Velveeta
Cheddar Cheese soup
canned pumpkin
sweet potatoes (available but hard to find)
Fresh cranberries (although I've now found frozen and canned)
baking chips other than chocolate
cream of tartar (some pharmacies might be able to order it for you, or else you can buy it from professional baking supply stores in ENORMOUS quantities)
creamed corn
half-and-half
Philadelphia cream cheese (the French ones I've tried aren't the same)
Cottage cheese (a specialty item not available everywhere)
Powdered buttermilk (even "regular" buttermilk, called "lait ribot" here, is not always available)
Corn syrup

Okay, I know there are more things I've probably looked for, but I have Sunday morning brain.

Here's a list of cool French stuff that would be exotic in the U.S.

Gesiers (duck/chicken gizzards-- better than they sound)
Sausage and patés of animals no American would ever eat
Close to 400 cheeses (except cheddar) that go from mild to able to attack you in a dark alley.
Duck and goose fat for cooking
Foie gras (I know, no longer PC in the States)
Cassoulet in cans
Confit de canard in cans
Dozens of varieties of potatoes, each with their own taste and texture
Moroccan foods
I don't know how many varieties of ham
Almost impossible to talk about pastries and desserts. The dairy dessert case in any major supermarket is almost overwhelming in its variety.
Much larger variety of organic products, easily available in regular outlets.
Fritons (regional specialty: fried duck skin that, again, sounds disgusting but is seriously addictive!)

Things that I found odd at first, but got used to:

Most milk in the supermarket is UHT, in my village in particular, I can't always get the regular kind.
Same thing with cream; mostly UHT. Although there are various thicknesses and textures of créme fraiche, which is not as sour as sour cream, but has a definite "cultured" taste.
Eggs are usually not refrigerated.
Generally stores stock less quantity of an item than in the U.S., so sometimes they'll run out of the thing that you absolutely MUST have.

This is getting long and it's time to make lunch. I'll add to it when I think of new stuff.

Ciao for now.

Randy