Tag: French Food


Mar
2024

Fresh Asparagus with Rouille

categories: 1980's recipes, Asparagus, France

Hello friends and welcome to another post on what posh people ate in the 1980s. Spring has sprung in many parts of the world. I have been holding over the recipe for Fresh Asparagus with Rouille for months as I think it is a perfect dish for the season. 

Asparagus with Rouille

Why Is Fresh Asparagus with Rouille Posh Food?

We’ve long considered asparagus a high-end vegetable. 

A scene in The Crown was reshot because the etiquette advisor noticed Dominic West using a knife and fork for asparagus. The proper way is to pick it up with your fingers! This is exactly how I used to eat it back in my single days. Sometimes, when too tired to cook after work, dinner became microwave hollandaise sauce and steamed asparagus dunked straight from the jar.  I just thought I was being lazy!

And I suspect that the inclusion of the word “Fresh” in the recipe title was further 1989 code for “Not that tinned garbage the hoi poiloi eat darling, we only want the real deal”. 

Rouille accompanies the asparagus. This: 

  1. Is a Provençal Sauce
  2. Is Hard to pronounce – its Roy-ee btw
  3.  Contains saffron, a very expensive spice

Any of which would send the Poshometer into overdrive.  All of them?  This could be the poshest recipe ever!  

Finally, this recipe comes from an article called Polo Partying Shot.  Now, I don’t know if you know any polo-playing people?  One of my friends once dated a polo player and he and his buddies were universally vile.  They truly believed that having more money than God entitled them to be arrogant, rude, dismissive, sexist and racist.  They were the worst!  

Asparagus with Rouille2
Dunking with Glee..not a knife in sight!

Fresh Asparagus with Rouille – The Facts According To Me

This was amazing!  It was so tasty!  I love asparagus.  My Nana’s asparagus sandwiches (made with tinned asparagus) were one of my favourite things to eat!!!! And, as above, it was one of my lazy single-girl meals.  So, I am already a fan of asparagus.

But the Rouille?  

OMG….

Asparagus with Rouille4

The Rouille was a game-changer!  I always thought nothing could be better than Hollandaise with asparagus.  The Rouille blew my mind.  Not only was it a beautiful deep, rich yellow but it also had a deep rich flavour that was nothing short of superb.  It’s thick and lemony and garlicky with a little kick from some mustard and cayenne but you could also definitely taste the saffron.  But whilst it is punchy, it doesn’t overwhelm the asparagus.  

Finally, this was ridiculously easy to make! And certain to impress your friends at your next dinner party, picnic or night on the couch!

Fresh Asparagus With Rouille – The Recipe

via the pages of Vogue Entertaining Oct/Nov 1989

Asparagus with Rouille recipe (2)

Asparagus with Rouille6

 

For another lovely take on Spring Asparagus recipes, why not check out my Easter Lily Sandwiches?

Have a wonderful week!

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May
2023

Salmon Rillettes: Sad Cypress

categories: Dining With The Dame, France, Poirot, Salmon, Smoked Salmon, Starters, Uncategorized
Salmon Rillettes4

Hello crime readers and food lovers! Welcome to Dining with the Dame for May and my take on Sad Cypress.  I loved this one!  And I also loved the Salmon Rillettes so this was a win-win for me! Now it may be a bit risky to base my recipe on the supposed murder weapon (poisoned salmon paste sandwiches) but the rillettes were absolutely delicious!  

Sad Cypress -The Plot

First up, the name comes from a quote from Shake’speare’s Twelfth Night:

Come away, come away, death,
    And in sad cypress let me be laid.
Fly away, fly away, breath;
    I am slain by a fair cruel maid.

The beautiful Mary Gerrard is dead.  Prior to her death, Mary had been the gardener’s daughter in an estate owned by the Welman family.  Elinor Carlisle, niece to the recently deceased Laura Welman stands accused of her murder.  

Her motive?  Elinor had recently been jilted by her fiance (and kind of cousin) Roddy for Mary.  

Her means?  Salmon paste sandwiches laced with morphine.  

Her opportunity?  Tea time whilst clearing out the Welman estate.  

All fingers are pointing to Elinor being the murderer.  But did she do it?  Luckily the local doctor who has a bit of a crush on Elinor brings in Hercule Poirot to determine who is guilty.  

Salmon Rillettes

We have:

  • A poison pen letter
  • Some missing morphine
  • An elderly aunt possibly bumped off before her time
  • A very large fortune left to Elinor.  
  • A mysterious figure lurking in the bushes
  • A possibly perfidious cousin
  • A strange mark on a nurse’s wrist
  • Secrets from the past impacting the present
  • Poirot hilariously calling himself a “pukkah sahib”

Such a good story!!  

Salmon Rillettes3

Sad Cypress – The Covers

 

Sad Cypress Collage 2

There are some great covers here – many of which contain aspects of things we have mentioned, the roses, the morphine, the poison pen letter.  We also have our first Japanese cover, some French covers, a Spanish cover and a German which may actually be my favorite.  Here it is in full:

Sad Cypress

 

I also want to call out this one because…what?  

 

I understand the rose and the tea set.  The weird green guy?  Not a clue!  It reminded me of Dumb Witness when Emily Arundell, who had been poisoned with phosphorus was said to have a luminous haze around her head.  

The Recipe – Salmon Rillettes

I based my recipe for Salmon Rillettes on the recipe for Rainbow Trout Rillettes, Rye, Cucumber and Watercress Sandwiches from Food for Friends by Hardie Grant Publishing.  That recipe is by Philippa Sibley and her book New Classics.  I swapped out the trout for Salmon and used white bread for my sandwiches.  

Salmon Rillettes Recipe

Elinor went across the hall and brought back from the pantry a big plate of sandwiches.  She handed it to Mary saying:

“Have one?”

Mary took one.  Elinor stood watching her for a moment as the girl’s white, even teeth bit into the sandwich”

Agatha Christie – Sad Cypress

Links to The Christieverse

Peter Lord, the doctor who is crushing on Elinor tells Poirot that he was recommended by Dr Stillingfleet.  He is a character in a short story called The Dream which appears in The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding.  

 

Other Food & Drinks Mentioned in Sad Cypress

  • Raspberries
  • Fish Paste Sandwiches (multiple references)
  • Cocktails
  • Tea (multiple references)
  • Doughnuts
  • Pink Sugar Cakes
  • Milk
  • Salmon and Shrimp Paste
  • Salmon and Anchovy Paste
  • Beer
  • Fresh Fish for lunch

June’s read will be One Two Buckle My Shoe

Have a great week!

 


Jan
2022

Last of the Cheese Platter Quiche

categories: 365 Good Reasons To Sit Down and Eat, Book Club, Cheese, France

Hello friends, this weeks recipe takes the leftovers at the end of a cheese platter – the scraps of cheese, leftover nuts, maybe a bit of Proscuitto and turns them all into a delicious quiche.  In theory that is.  I, for one, think that leftover cheese belongs to the realms of unicorns and heffalumps.  I personally have never known such a phenomenon. However, tomorrow, January 20,  the world is celebrating Cheese Lover’s Day so there should be cheese platters aplenty.  If ever there was a time to see that elusive creature, the leftover piece of cheese it will be then!

Last of the Cheeseboard Quiche

The quiche is very simple so you could jazz it up by adding some of the herbs or vegetables you may have languishing in your fridge!  I used some parsley and some spring onions in my cheese as well as 4 types of cheese, some walnuts and some bacon.

Last year (for a few months), I implemented my Fridge, Freezer Pantry week which is my attempt to reduce kitchen waste.  The last week of each month, we will not visit the supermarket but will eat only what is currently in our fridge, freezer and pantry.  The practice kind of fell by the wayside during the year but I have brought it back for 2022 and recipes like this will help to ensure that I keep it going!

Last of the Cheeseboard Quiche2

Last of The Cheese Platter Quiche – The Recipe

The recipe comes from 365 Good Reasons to Sit Down and Eat, the same book that brought us Detox Soup earlier this month.

Last of the cheese platter quiche (2)

The strange thing about this quiche was the walnuts.  It was not that they tasted bad, they were a lovely addition.  However, I think I am so used to having the contents of a quiche be fairly soft that finding a chunk of something hard in my quiche was disconcerting for me.  Next time I shall cut my walnuts into smaller pieces so it is not as startling!  It would be super if instead of buying pastry you made your own and added the chopped walnuts into that!

Last of the Cheeseboard Quiche4

Just to be a little extra cheesy, here’s a very cute cheese pun.

Have a great Cheese Lover’s Day!

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Jul
2018

Tomato and Tarragon Soup with Sun Dried Tomato Bread

categories: Bread, Soup, Tarragon, Tomatoes

Bonjour mes amis, aujourd’hui nous faisons une soupe de tomates inspirée par un jardin d’herbes françaises.

It is actually a tomato and tarragon soup but the French word for tarragon is “estragon” which I kept reading as “oestrogen”.  That’s not generally an ingredient I want in my soup so we’ll keep it English!

It also seems to be a particularly French time of year, Bastille Day just, gone, the World Cup victory and the Tour De France.  And of course, nothing says celebrate like soup right?   Don’t answer that.

Whatever, this soup is super! 😏

Tomato & Tarragon Soup2

Back in the summer,  I grew both tarragon and tomatoes in the backyard.  But it wasn’t until late in the season after the tomatoes had finished that I came across this recipe for tomato and tarragon soup. I had never heard of that combination before – tomatoes and basil?  Definitely.  Chives – most certainly.  Parsley – why not?  But tarragon?  Not so much.

Since then, I have learned that they are both ingredients in a Sauce Choron which is a tomato flavoured Bearnaise sauce.  The only comment I have to make about that is “What took me so long?”  Next summer, Salmon with Sauce Choron will be featuring on the menu but for the meantime as the cold of winter sets in, I will remind myself about the joys of summer produce by remembering how good this soup was!

The tarragon here is homegrown even if the tomatoes are not.

Tomato-Tarragon-Soup2

This was a lovely soup; light and very fresh.  It tasted of summer!  The recipe came from a book called Recipes From a French Herb Garden by Geraldene Holt.

Next month, I am heading to France.  On my travels, I will be visiting the Ville Rose (Toulouse).  And then on to Bordeaux.  Where I definitely will not be sampling any of the local wines!!!!  😉 Given it will be the height of summer when I am there, I wonder if there will be a tomato and tarragon soup on the menu anywhere?

This was a lovely soup; light and very fresh.  It tasted of summer! It is so cold and miserable here in Melbourne at the moment but even looking at these photos brought back memories of warmer days and anticipation of the warm weather ahead in Europe!

 

I served the soup with a sun-dried tomato bread which I feel is a very 90’s adaptation of the Spanish Pan con Tomate where bread is rubbed with olive oil, garlic and tomatoes.  In this version, I chopped up some sun dried tomatoes, some garlic, added some finely chopped basil and a little bit more tarragon and mixed these through some butter.  I then spread this onto some rustic, toasted bread and popped it under the grill until golden.

Tomato and Tarragon Soup 6

Teamed with the soup it was a double delight of tomato-ishness.  And tarragon-yness

Here is the recipe for the soup:

Tomato & Tarragon Soup recipe2

And the bread:

Print

Sun Dried Tomato Bread

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Delicious herby, garlicy, tomatoy bread, perfect for dunking into soup!

Ingredients

Scale
  • 2 slices of rustic style bread
  • 1 tsp butter
  • 4 sun dried tomatoes, finely chopped
  • 1/4 clove of garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 tsp mixed chopped herbs, (I used basil and tarragon)
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. Combine the butter, cheese, tomatoes and garlic. Add salt and pepper to taste.
  2. Spread over the bread.
  3. Transfer to a baking tray and place under the grill until golden brown.

Have a great week everyone!

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Jan
2018

Vegemite and Pale Ale Gougères

categories: Australia, Beer, Cheese, Snacks, Starters

Today, January 26,  many Australians will be celebrating Australia Day.  On the good side – it’s summer, it’s a great time to get outside and have a bbq and, if you are not in the midst of a dry January, have a few drinks with some friends.  On the downside, the day itself is becoming increasingly fraught for all manner of reasons – some of which you can read about here for a considered view and here for the opinions of a lunatic.  Hey  America…you’re not alone with your President, we have a Prime Minister (well ex-Prime Minister) who says dumb offensive shit too.  And whilst he might not be orange or have a mad comb-over, there was .this….ewwwww.

Vegemite and Pale Ale Gougeres

But we are not here to get political.  We are here to eat, drink and be merry.  Because it’s a long weekend.  And we’re going to celebrate with some Australian food.  If by Australian food we mean something that we have totally  (mis)appropriated from another culture.   So let’s get to it shall we?

 

Gougères are the French version of what we in Australia would call a cheese puff.  And they are delicious!  Feather-light pastry flavoured with cheese makes for a perfect snack.  Particularly if you happen to be imbibing something of an alcoholic persuasion.  Making it a perfect start to this weekend’s round of bbq’s.

Vegemite and Pale Ale Gougeres4

But we’re not celebrating Bastille Day…we’re celebrating Australia Day…so how to “Strayanise” these delicious French delicacies?  Well, first we’re going to throw a little Vegemite into the mix.  Now, I’ll be the first person to admit that I…ahem…”borrowed” the idea of the Vegemite Gougères from Rosie Birkett’s recipe for Marmite Gougères.

Vegemite and Pale Ale Gougeres3

And then, to make it even more Australian, I substituted the water in the recipe for beer.  I used the Gage Roads Little Dove Pale Ale as the beer for this because it is my absolute favourite and I had some in the house but you could sub in your own favourite.

Vegemite and Pale Ale Gougeres2

The gougères are delightfully light.  The combination of vegemite, cheese, cayenne and the very slight hint of beer go so well together that it would be a real shame to only save these for one day of the year!

Print

Vegemite and Pale Ale Gougeres

Print Recipe

A tasty snack based on a classic French recipe

Ingredients

Scale
  • 120g unsalted butter
  • 150ml whole milk
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons Vegemite
  • 75ml Pale Ale
  • 150g plain flour, sifted
  • 4 eggs
  • 100g cheddar, grated, plus 1 tablespoon extra, for scattering
  • 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • big pinch freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoonfreshly grated nutmeg

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 200°C and line 2 large baking sheets with baking parchment.
  2. Put the butter, milk and Vegemite and ale into pan over medium heat and bring to the boil.
  3. Add the flour and beat very quickly with a wooden spoon, over the heat, until the mixture is smooth and pulls away from the side of the pan (about 2-3 minutes).
  4. Remove from the heat and allow to cool for a minute.
  5. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition until the mixture is thick and smooth and glossy.
  6. Stir in the grated cheese, peppers and nutmeg.
  7. Spoon the mixture into the piping bag fitted with a nozzle. Pipe little rounds (about the size of a chestnut) onto the trays, leaving space between each mound to allow for rising.
  8. Alternatively, just spoon small spoons of the mixture onto the tray.
  9. Scatter over the remaining cheese.
  10. Bake for 20–25 minutes, until puffed and golden.
  11. Serve warm. Or cool on a wire rack and reheat in a 180°C oven for a few minutes until they crisp up.

Notes

  • The gougères can be made in advance and frozen once cool.

If you’re celebrating, have a wonderful day and enjoy the long weekend!

If not, make these anyway, they’re awesome!

But remember…Vegemite

Back with more Z Food next time!  Have a fabulous week!

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