Healthy, French, Home-cooking, always fresh, (almost) no cream required!
This is about simple cooking for my kids away from home, family and friends and friends of friends. Not quite recipes, just inspiration.Often, no exact quantities, certainly no scientific potions, but a bit of magic and lots of love! and you could always ask for more details.
Share my love of cooking, enjoy the Pacific West Coast bounty and help me pass along the French Heritage from my Grand-mothers and my Dad who taught me.Salt and Pepper
Even when I don't say so, use Baleine sea-salt and fresh ground pepper from your Peugeot pepper mill, goes without saying!
Monthly Archives: August 2010
Crunchy Cucumber salad
This is another one of many different “crudités” that French people will prepare for a Sunday lunch, along with grated carrots, red cabbage, macédoine, etc… Field cucumbers are best. If the skin is coarse and bitter, peel the cucumber first, … Continue reading
Posted in Starter
Tagged crudites, cucumber, food, grainy Dijon mustard, recipe, recipes, vinaigrette
1 Comment
Pain d’épices du goûter
Literally, a spice bread usually served to French children after school as a snack, either plain or with unsalted butter and sometimes jam as well. I used to love it when I was a kid. It was store bought and … Continue reading
Posted in Baking
Tagged children treat, cooking, food, gouter, honey, honey cake, pain d'épices, recipe, recipes, spice bread
2 Comments
Icelandic Delicacies: Puffin, Whale, Foal and Fermented Shark
The Atlantic Puffin forms part of the national diet in Iceland, where the species does not have legal protection. Puffins are hunted by a technique called “sky fishing”, which involves catching low-flying birds with a big net. The meat is … Continue reading
Posted in Events
Tagged fermented shark, foal, food, iceland, icelandic food, laekjarbrekka, minke whale, puffin, recipes, restaurants, travel, whale meat
1 Comment
Icelandic gourmet fares
Four days in Iceland were not nearly long enough to discover all the fine foods grown , raised or fished locally. The island is a gourmet’s paradise providing staples of very high quality and most unusual choices for the daring … Continue reading
Posted in Events
Tagged food, horse carpaccio, hotel ranga, iceland, icelandic lobster, laekjarbrekka, lamb neck, recipes, reindeer, skyr, smoked lamb, travel
3 Comments
Unusual duty-free items at Keflavik airport in Iceland
I had a quick connection in Keflavik, Reykjavik’s airport in Iceland on the way home from France. It is a very spacious and pleasant airport with bright halls and many shops. The variety is incredible and the offering quite surprising! … Continue reading
Soupe au pistou
This is the recipe from Bistrot le Paradou in the village of Paradou near Fontvieille in Provence. They shared the ingredients but did not give any details on the how to, so I am going to give some explanations based … Continue reading
Posted in Soup
Tagged basil, coco beans, food, France, haricots coco, paradou, pistou, pistou soup, Provence, recipe, recipes, soupe au pistou
6 Comments
Bistrot Le Paradou in Provence
This Provençal bistrot is the the best find. I noticed it on approach to Fontvieille, a small town near the Roman town of Arles, where my dad spends his holiday in August. I thought I should make it a point … Continue reading
Posted in Events
Tagged bistro, bistrot, fontvieille, food, paradou, Provence, restaurant provencal
3 Comments
Brandade de saumon
This would normally have been made with salt cod, but we have overfished, alas, and there is hardly any cod left. I feel that we should not eat anymore for now, and decided to make brandade with another plentiful fish, … Continue reading
Posted in Appetizer
Tagged Brandade, brandade de saumon, cooking, food, french, Provence, recipe, recipes
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Old Fashioned Apricot Jam
Mamie Odette made apricot jam every year, and this right into her seventies and even maybe eighties. This is the only jam she would make, she thought that it was the only jam worth making at home. I don’t quite … Continue reading
Cauliflower salad
This is one of my favorite salads, the best way to eat cauliflower in my opinion. This is a French classic family recipe, nothing fancy, just the fact that the cauliflower is cooked. Start by removing all the leaves from … Continue reading
Posted in Starter
Tagged cauliflower salad, cooking, food, French cooking, french salad, recipe, recipes, salade de chou-fleur
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Tomates farcies, a wonderful alternate to burgers
If there is no BBQ available, ground beef will do very well in “tomates farcies” or stuffed tomatoes, a perfectly healthy dish for a student budget. You need two small to medium size tomatoes per person. A large one would … Continue reading
Posted in Main Course
Tagged budget meal, cooking, food, french cuisine, ground beef, ground bison, recipe, recipes, stuffed tomatoes, tomates farcies
2 Comments
Penny Pierce’s cold squash and zucchini soup
This recipe and pictures were sent by Penny Pierce from Lakefield Ontario. The vegetables are from her own garden. Here is what she did: “I used one green zucchini (this light green variety is nice and buttery) and the yellow … Continue reading
Posted in Little help from my friends, Soup, Vegetarian
Tagged cold soup, food, recipe, recipes, soup, squash soup, zuchini soup
2 Comments
Cucumber soup
I was given two small home-grown cucumbers by Carling today, the dark green coarse skin garden kind which is so tasty. Perfect for a refreshing chilled soup. I peeled them, cut them in quarters lengthwise, removed the seeds and put … Continue reading
Posted in Soup
Tagged chilled soup, cooking, cucumber soup, food, low-fat, recipe, recipes
4 Comments
Gazpacho
It is so hot in Spain in the summer that it is almost impossible to eat solid food at lunch time. The best thing to do is to have a refreshing Gaspacho before the siesta, a light tasty cold soup … Continue reading
Posted in Soup
Tagged cold soup, food, gaspacho, gazpacho, recipe, recipes, ripe tomatoes, soup
2 Comments
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