We came back from the Aveyron area of France with a large amount of the famous Roquefort cheese made there. Other than having tried some before after a meal, I had little experience with using it in recipes.

I mixed it with butter and put it on top of a steak which was very tasty. I used the same mix on top of toast and topped it with a walnut or a slice of pear as a snack which I liked very much.

 I made scalloped potatoes and added Roquefort to the mix which was great. I also made a quiche and put it at the bottom, underneath the egg mix, topped with shredded swiss cheese which was fabulous. The Roquefort added an intriguing slightly salty taste that I liked. I think my favorite thing that I made with Roquefort was twice baked potatoes. I microwaved two potatoes for about five minutes to get a jump start on the cooking, then put them in a hot oven of 450 degrees until they were fully done and the outside of the potatoes were crispy, about 30 minutes. I scooped out the cooked interior after cutting the potatoes in half, mashed it with butter, salt, milk and about two tablespoons of the Roquefort cheese and swiss cheese, then put the mixture back into the potato skins and baked them for 15 minutes or so until hot and fluffy. These were really terrific. I’ve come to love that taste of the cheese with potatoes.

 I did discover that my favorite way to eat Roquefort is by itself with a glass of wine. It went well with slices of pear or apple. And, now, all of the cheese is gone, if you don’t count the extra pounds I put on trying it out. It was a great experiment.

Tomorrow, if it is beautiful!

One of my favorite French things to have is a kir. It is probably the favorite and most drunk apperatif that there is in France. It is always offered to me at the homes of French friends. Here in Provence there is also always Pastis, a licorice flavored drink, that you add water and ice to.

To make a kir first you put about a tablespoon of Cassis in a glass. Cassis is a very sweet liquor made of berries. Actually, you can use any kind of sweet liquor-peach is really good. Then you fill the glass up with white wine. It make a beautiful hot pink drink. To make a Kir Royal, you use champagne. This is my favorite way to have it. There is something about the sound of a cork coming out of a champagne bottle that just makes me happy–not because I am an alcoholic, but because it usually means you are going to celebrate something. I love looking at my glass of kir royal and watching the bubbles of the champagne rising from the top to the bottom. As I watch the bubbles,and the light slanting through the pink liquid, I think,  ”What a great life I have!”

Here is a photo I took. I’m not sure why I put the basket of peaches in front of the glasses. In this case we are using blanc de blanc instead of champagne. It is the same thing but you can’t call it champagne as it doesn’t come from the champagne region.

Savory Clafoutis

On the last day of my French class we all brought in something to eat. I brought good old American Brownies which were a hit. I am always asked for my brownie recipe by French people who eat them. They just taste different here for some reason. Our teacher brought in what I thought was a quiche but turned out to be a clafoutis. It hadn’t occured to me that you could use the recipe without sugar to make a dish. I really liked it and I like that you can throw it together without having to buy or make a crust. I found several recipes on-line-isn’t the internet great?!-and threw this together in minutes.

Roasted Vegetable Clafoutis

A variety of roasted vegetables. I used zucchini, onions, tomatoes and bell pepper. I would also have used egg plant if I had had any.

I roasted them with a little olive oil which I don’t think was necessary.

10gr butter-this is to butter the dish with
100gr flour-about 2/3 cup
3 eggs
2dl milk–1 cup
1/2dl cream-1/3 cup
25gr melted butter-about 3 Tabl.
breadcrumbs, salt, basil
grilled vegetables

I bought this handy-dandy device, hard to see what it does, which is an easy way to use either English measurements as above or French ones as they often weigh ingredients. That way I’m not trying to convert measurements-math is not my thing.

Preheat the oven at gas mark 6 (180°). Butter a deep pan with 10gr butter and breadcrumbs (chapelure)-I didn’t use the bread crumbs because my French teacher hadn’t. In a bowl mix the flour, eggs, the milk and cream, with the melted butter, the salt and the basil. Pour the mix in the pan and add the grilled vegetables (aubergines, peppers, zucchini etc). Bake in the oven for 40min or until ready.

Before. Right before baking it I decided to push in some cubed cheese and I sprinkled some parmesean cheese on top.

 After. Rather puffy. It goes down a little.

I was talking to my sister about this recipe for tomato soup. It is very easy and very tasty. I love gazpacho and often make it to use up the tomatoes from my garden but I think I like this French recipe better. The only thing about it is that it requires some cooking unlike gazpacho, but it isn’t labor intensive.

Summer Tomato Soup (Soupe de Tomates Fraiches)

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 carrot chopped
2 1/4 pounds ripe tomatoes, cored and quartered
2 garlic cloves, chopped
5 thyme sprigs or 1/4 tsp. dried thyme
1/4 tsp dried marjoram
1 bay leaf
3 Tbsp sour cream if serving hot

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan. Add the onion and carrot and cook over medium heat for 3-4 minutes, until just softened, stirring occasionally. Be sure not to brown. (I usually cook a little longer just because the carrot always seems to take a while to soften.)

Add the tomatoes, garlic and herbs. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered for 30 minutes. (I usually cook it about an hour until it is all mushy and soft.)

The quartered tomatoes from my very own garden.

I used this little package of thyme and bay leaves to season it. Attention! Be sure and remove all of the bay leaf–people can choke on it as it doesn’t soften.

How it looks after it has cooked.

Pass the soup through a food mill into the pan. (I use my food processor.) Stir in sour cream if serving heated. Garnish with cream or a sprinkle of something green-I used chopped parsely.

Voila!

A great fountain in Aix that had a special golden light as the sun set.

Peach Melba (Poached peaches with raspberry sauce.)

Sometimes the best tasting recipes are the simplest. I find this especially true with French recipes-just a few ingredients but, oh, so special. At a recent dinner with a French couple I decided to have Peach Melba for dessert. The French aren’t huge at giving compliments but this dessert sure got them. They said that the best dessert on a hot summer night is one with fruit. I wish I had remembered to take a photo as it is a truly lovely dessert.

Peach Melba

4 cups water
1/4 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
3 large peaches
For the raspberry sauce:
1 pound fresh or frozen raspberries
1 Tab. lemon juice
3 Tab. sugar
3 Tab raspberry liquer (optional)
vamilla ice cream, to serve
mint leaves, to decorate

In a saucepan large enough to hold the peach halves in a single layer, combine the water, sugar and vanilla bean. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar.
Cut the peach in half and twist the halves to separate them and remove the peach pits. Add the peach halves to the poaching syrup, cut side down, adding more water if needed to cover the fruit. Press a piece of was paper against the surface of the syrup, reduce the heat to medium-low, then cover and simmer for 15 minutes until tender. Remove the pan from the heat and let the peaches cool in the syruph. (I didn’t have wax paper. In fact I can’t remember the last time I did, so I just used foil.)
Remove the peaches from the syrup and peel off the skins. Place on several thicknesses of paper towels to drain. Then chill.
Put the raspberries, lemon juice and sugar in a food processor and process for 1 minute with metal blade. Press the liquid through a fine strainer into a small bowl. Add liquer and chill.
To serve, place a peach half, cut side up on a dessert plates, fill with a scoop of vanill ice cream and spoon the raspberry sauce over the ice cream. Decorate with mint leaves.

It is a great looking dessert with the bright red sauce flowing over the ice cream and the orange tinged peach. So nice when it is hot and a really lovely mix of flavors.