For a while I had been keeping a jar of snail in the larder. I had bought them at a food fair from the Bonvalot snail farm in the Jura. They “raise” snail in a natural surrounding and cook them in a herb stock without any added chemicals. I also had a large string of Lautrec garlic bought on the market of Lalbenque when we […]
At the fresh market in our town we found a fishmonger from Brittany who had a good selection of sea food. We bought some, including fresh clams to use in an Italian inspired dish of spaghetti con vongole.
Quail is a festive and easy kind of poultry, family of the pheasant that comes in a handy one-person portion. Have you ever seen quail walking around alive? I once saw a few when I was driving in the Dordogne area. They are a funny kind of bird with a strange walk. Most quail for poultry is domesticated and raised in cages.
When I was young and lived in the Netherlands, my mother would sometimes serve us fried plaice. Apart from regular steamed mackerel, and rare moments with cooked eel, that is the only fish I can remember of my diet then. Nowadays she has branched out to Tilapia and other exotic fish species that are available in the Netherlands, but then you could mainly buy herring, […]
When I was at university, there was a popular book with the title “Real Men Don’t Eat Quiche”. But I do, and consider myself a real man, nevertheless. I even make tarts, no pun intended. However, a basic quiche uses cream, eggs and bacon and can be rather on the fatty side, especially when you use puff pastry instead of a shortcrust pastry.
Cod used to be a staple in Europe, fresh, salted or cured. There was an abundant stock in the ocean and the large fish was very handy to detail in smaller portions. From baccalau to fish fingers, from stokvis to fish and chips, cod ruled the waves. Alas, the stocks are dwindling and Greenpeace has put cod on its red list. Cod has a flaky, […]