Red Mullet, rouget-barbet in French, is a rock fish of which some amateurs even eat the entrails.
It has a thick layer of scales that normally need to be cleaned but with this recipe you can leave them on.
A red cabbage stew with spices and apple, as in the Dutch tradition. Very good in winter.
On the farmer’s market here in Mirepoix, I found fresh kale just had to take it home. Kale, chou frisé, is called boerenkool and the Dutch eat it as a healthy and cheap vegetable in winter.
Crawfish are a rare delicacy in France, especially as they are far less abundant than several decades ago when the red legs and white legs still populated many streams and lakes. But they are for sale, or can be caught, here in the season in the Pyrenees.
The other week we drove to Maury to buy some wine. We had been seeing friends at Cubières-sur-Cinoble, and drove through the Gorges de Galamus, and arrived in Maury just as the shops closed. So we decided to have lunch and found La Placette with a big terrace. There my wife had a starter that included finely sliced peppers; we were in the Catalan […]
Now that it is getting rather hot here in France, it is time to turn to light meals. I used to make Japanese-style soups with miso and seaweed, sometimes also dashi, and while the taste is great, it adds up to a rather salty combination. So, I improvised. I bought some clams and raw langoustines at the fishmonger and some shiitake mushrooms at the greengrocer. […]
Turbot is not the least expensive of fish, but it had a very delicate taste and the meat stays firm during cooking. In France, there are many recipes with parts of a large turbot – of up to 5 kilos – with white sauces, mushrooms, shrimps and oysters or mussels. I do like mushrooms, shrimps, oysters and or mussels but as often with complicated dishes […]
More and more, I am returning to pure cooking where the basic ingredients pay the starring role and complicated or incongruous extras are left back stage, as with this trout. The fresh food markets in Paris and Saint-Germain-en-Laye were already brimming with great produce, while here in the Ariège you are very close to the producer. I found nice trout at the fishmongers, raised locally, […]
There are a lot of recipes for cassoulet here in the southwest of France. Castelnaudary, Carcassonne or Toulouse fight for the crown of the best recipe or the most original one. Cassoulet is a hearty dish and meant for winter, but restaurants here serve it to tourists in the summer when a lighter diet may be called for. The origin of the dish goes far […]
Lamb shanks are called “souris d’agneau” in French and are the top end of the leg, which is often sold in slices at the butcher’s. They give nice one-person portions and look pretty with the bone sticking upwards. It takes a long time of cooking and can be prepared in advance. Many restaurants do that in France so that they can serve the dish quickly […]