Holiday Greetings from France

I was lucky to spend Christmas week in France this year, and got to sample some of the holiday foods associated with the season in that country, that I'd never had before...

The bûche de noel, a staple item in window displays all over the city, all decorated differently and in different flavors.

Pretty holiday cakes, also with decorations on top

It wasn't just sweets that were on display - many stores were selling prepared foods, including stuffed lobsters, foie gras, and escargots...

And nothing says "Merry Christmas" like a dessicated pig leg

In the Marais, Jewish bakeries had goodies on display as well

Not special for Hanukkah, I'm guessing, but I did lust after those donuts

I've been curious about marrons glacés for a long time, and got to try one from Fauchon. This one was "nature" i.e., not flavored with anything - and it was cultivated in France (yes, I got to choose the "terroir" of this candied chestnut)

It was kind of tasty on its own, but, having purchased two, I ate the second one with some thick yogurt, and enjoyed its nutty sweetness more that way.

Urban Gardening

Urban gardening is a trend that I hope continues in 2010. Places like Austin's Sustainable Food Center are doing good work teaching kids and families how to garden, and yards are being transformed into little plots for growing veggies, like this one near where I live.

It's a bit of a tangle, but definitely a better use for the space than the overgrown bamboo (hiding trash) that was there before

When seeds can sprout in the least likely of places (like the hood of my trunk) it makes gardening in small urban plots seem that much more realistic...

Happy holidays, and look for pictures from France in early January!

The Perfect Hostess - Part 2

As promised, here are the results of the baked egg in tomato recipe from The Perfect Hostess.


The recipe is a bit vague, as older recipes can often be: scoop out the innards of a tomato, crack an egg into it, cover with breadcrumbs and bake at 350 until the white is firm. Cross-referencing with a recipe from the JOY I decided to forego the breadcrumbs and instead topped the egg with a little butter, salt and pepper.


Thirty minutes later, I pulled the dish out of my toaster oven and enjoyed it with buttered, toasted English muffins. Unfortunately the pictures are not very appetizing - you'd probably have to bake 50 of these to get a pretty one. But they are tasty.

The Perfect Hostess - Part 1

Going through my grandmother's old books, we found this treasure from 1950. Written by a woman "still in her 20s" the book is full of wisdom for entertaining - as a wife or a career girl.

The book includes a lengthy section on how to cook all day and still appear fresh and energetic for the party. (It involves bubble bath, lying down with your legs above your head, and convincing your husband that "only he" can do the last-minute activities like putting out trail mix.)

However, I was equally entranced by the graphical explanations of formal dinner settings...

Glasses for alcoholic beverages...

And even the proper settings for buffet tables!

Next week I'll share with you the results of my trial of one of the book's recipes, eggs baked in tomato.

NOTE: These pictures are large, so click on them if you want to see details.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Baking Again

Nothing heralds the arrival of fall like the desire to start baking again after an incredibly long, incredibly hot summer.

In the last few weeks I've fired up the oven several times. Muffins are a favorite.

Adding lemon zest to blueberry muffins

Breakfast! Snack! Dinner! I'm always relieved to have my own "quick breads" around because the ones you buy at the store are either a) flavorless or b) needlessly expensive. This may be one instance where "making your own" is not a good way to maintain a healthy diet, though, because when there's no competition for baked goods they all go in one belly: mine.

Irish soda bread with raisins and caraway seeds. Basically a giant scone. It came together in about 5 minutes (30 to bake). I was shocked.

Baked Stuffed Poblanos

I don't usually post recipes on here because most of the stuff I make is from other people's recipes. But I made up this baked poblano dish this past week (after researching baked peppers, rice pilaf, and Mexican rice) and I was so dang proud of how they turned out I thought I'd share.

INGREDIENTS:
2 lg poblano peppers
3/4 of a large white onion
2 scallions
2 lg cloves garlic
1 lg carrot
2 c. vegetable stock
1 c. canned chopped tomatoes (1/2 can)
1 c. long grain white rice
1/3 c. chopped toasted walnuts
1 c. shredded jack cheese
chopped parsley to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Roast poblanos and set to steam
3. Chop vegetables (I made mine pretty small). Put large saucepan over medium heat; add oil. Let it get hot, then add the onions and garlic. Saute for a minute or two, adding salt to taste. Add the rice and carrot and cook for a couple more minutes. Add a little more salt, especially if your veggie broth is unsalted. Then add 1.5 cups of the vegetable stock and all the tomatoes. Cover and cook the rice until done (about 10 minutes after it boils). Then remove from the heat, fluff the rice with a spatula, and let sit covered for 10 more minutes. Stir in the cheese, walnuts, and parsley.
4. Peel the poblanos, cut off the tops, and make a slit down the side. Remove seeds and ribs.
5. In a 9x9 baking pan, lay down a layer of the rice mixture. On top of that, lay the poblanos, which you can stuff with the remaining rice and reclose. Pour the remaining 1/2 c. veg stock into the bottom of the pan. Cover the pan with foil and bake for 35 minutes.

Serve with black beans and or as a taco/burrito filling. Serves approximately 4.

Food on Screen: Grown in Detroit

Leave it to the Dutch to fund a documentary that Americans across the country should watch. I don't know if or when this film will arrive stateside, but I was lucky to catch it at the Austin Film Festival, where it won the prize for best documentary.

In a nutshell, GROWN IN DETROIT is about urban farming in, well, Detroit, where there are a lot of unused and vacant lots, high unemployment and poverty. Specifically, the film is about a program for teenage moms that not only provides day care/education for their kids, but also teaches the girls agricultural skills - with the hope that they will both feed the city and their families, and make some money doing it.

The school, one of only two in the US that has a similar program, is called Catherine Ferguson Academy. It's pretty amazing stuff (though might fall under the category of common sense...). The directors, a young Dutch couple, were at the screening I attended, and unfortunately it seems that the school has lost funding and had to fire half their staff last year. This will obviously affect the quality of the program. But on the bright side, the number of gardens in Detroit is mushrooming - from 300 to 800 in a little over a year.

Catch this documentary if you have the chance. The sight of an urban environment, usually so far from nature, being transformed not only into a green place, but one that can sustain food (and bees! the bees love it in Detroit!) makes you feel hope where it might seem none is possible.

Dining Out: Tarka

My cousin Mary had read about a new Indian restaurant down south so we went to check it out last week. Tarka is interesting as a concept restaurant - basically Indian fast food. The menu is on the wall as you enter; then you place an order at the counter and a server brings out the food a few minutes later.

It's clean and bright and family-friendly. Also seems like it would do well for the downtown lunch crowd who don't have many options for Indian food, and often prize convenience and speed.

A few interesting drink choices: mango-lemonade, lassis in splendid tall glasses, and this soda called Limca

Veggie pakoras - which though flavored with Indian seasonings were more reminiscent of tempura in the way they had been fried

I got a tomato curry with green peas, paneer and mushrooms. You have the choice of how spicy to make the curries - mild, medium or hot - and we figured out that the jalapeno placed on top was probably kitchen short hand for the spiciness of an order (mine was medium-hot)

If I go again I'll get a naanini.

Mommie Mack's Fruit Salad

I recently had the opportunity to make my grandmother's fruit salad for a potluck. Mommie Mack's fruit salad, which shows up often at family holiday gatherings, can be varied depending on taste and what looks good in the market.

When I was younger, I thought it was all canned - thus I imagined 1950s cuisine. But when I helped MM make it for the first time I realized that it consisted of more fresh fruit than canned. This helps explain its deliciousness.

Canned pineapple, neatly placed in its container

(The salad also contains canned tangerines)

All the fruit together: kiwis, red grapes, bananas, apples, canned tangerines, and canned pineapple

And yes, whipped cream and marshmallows

All assembled

Making the salad put me in the mind of family gatherings past, and maybe it was because I was listening to Beethoven's late sonatas, but I got nostalgic and a bit sad. Food can do that can't it? Jonathan Safran Foer has a great article in the NYT Magazine this week exploring some of the same feelings.

Dining at the Texas Culinary Academy

Hidden away between The Domain and Burnet Road is the Texas Culinary Academy, which boasts two restaurants. We visited the more formal of the two, Ventana, for dinner a couple of weeks ago. The restaurant is staffed by students in both the front of the house and in the kitchen.

Students heading home

The healthy-looking herb garden

It's an official Cordon Bleu school

Appetizer: chicken kabob with quinoa

Appetizer: Catfish beignets

Salad with fried goat cheese

Salad with pickled onions

Snapper

My shrimp linguine - prepared at tableside!

Gnocchi with spinach and mushrooms

The menu is prix fixe at 2, 3 or 4 courses, so it's a lot of food for a pretty good price. We were happy with the food and it was interesting to try something new. The building that houses the restaurants is the same building where the classrooms are, so you can walk around and get a sense of what it would be like to be a student. There's also a store for supplies, and a large window display of decorated cakes with varying degrees of absurdly ornate icing.

Cooking in hotels (and schools)

The excellent public radio cooking show, The Splendid Table, featured this guy a couple of weeks ago. Being hungry in a hotel room - and not wanting to pay for room service - is something I can definitely relate to. Though I'd be wary of using the kettle for tea water after making tortellini!

The same show featured an excellent interview with the head of lunch programs in St. Paul, MN, about getting healthy food in public schools. (Scroll down about half the page.)

Mooncakes

When I was a freshman in college, one of my friends introduced us all to mooncakes, which her mom had sent from a special bakery in Georgia. I remember finding them beautiful and delicious, and have been halfway tracking them down ever since. It took me a long time to figure out that they're only available during a special time of year, but this year I went up to the giant Asian supermarket to get a box of them.

Of course I don't have the attachment to tradition or the holiday per se, but the mooncakes are a unique dessert; maybe they'll catch on with a wider audience eventually.

This one is filled with red bean paste, but the box of 6 I got had two each of red bean, date, and lotus. They're all pretty sweet, and best with tea.