FRENCH - Cuisine of the Quarter, Winter 2020 (Jan-Mar)

Strange, climate wise, Spain is more in the north than Mexico. We have nothing much coming from Mexican, sometimes, some mangoes coming from Peru, Brazil or Argentina.

In French supermarkets, the Spanish produces is often the cheapest, there were some reportage showing that some vegetable were overdosed with insecticide. But the worst are the beautiful vegetables grown without soil coming from Holland, absolutely tasteless and weird texture.

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The flat Romano greenhouse green beans from Holland that I buy are better than the conventionally grown Mexican green beans right now.

I suspect the Spanish greenhouse veggies imported to Canada are grown with more care , at a greater expense, than the Mexican veggies that are imported. I’d trust the Spanish Gov’t a little more than the Mexican Gov’t when it comes to pesticide and insecticide regulations, but there will be scammers everywhere. I’d trust the Dutch government more than the Spanish government :rofl:

Not too sure if you need a lot of pesticide if you are growing in a clinical condition without soil, with drips and interior control.

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@Naf,

Veggies and fruits from The Canary Islands, Naf !!

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@naf I believe the Dutch greenhouses and any others still would coat the greenhouse vegetables and herbs in preservatives. I’ve become sensitive to the sulfites, so I have to wash all the veggies carefully , to remove whatever residues are on them, or I else break out in hives.
I think Dutch greenhouses may use some insecticides- bugs show up wherever plants grow. But certainly no need for herbicides!

True, I saw on TV that they inject gas in the plastic bag to preserve vegetables like washed salad. The leafy vegetables I grow, 3 hour after they are cut, they shrink and looks like nothing. :rofl:

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I don’t see that they state the origin in Spain, but I’ll pay more attention.

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I meant we have such an enormous climatic variation and uncountable “micro climatic” zones too in La Rioja, Navarra amongst many others.

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Okay, what better for lunch on a cold January day than Oeufs en Meurette from Burgundy? Essentially boeuf bourguignon without the beef but, instead, poached eggs.

I love to keep this sauce in the freezer for easy lunch and suppers.
Truly winter comfort food. One recipe

If you’re good at fantasy, you can pretend we are at La Ferme Ruchotte, an organic farm near Beaune that serves place-grown meats, vegetables and EGGS. We can even spend the night in its chambre d’hote. Highly recommend.

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In the Loire now. Rillettes (in the manner of Tours). In Mexico, this pork reduction might be cooked to more of a crunch and be called Carnitas. But essentially, you cook down diced pork shoulder in its lard and water and herbs.


Include the melted fat.

Serve with cornichon. This is perhaps the simplest of charcuterie. Just cook it down, cool and serve. It lasts well in the fridge or frozen.

Tonight, with three veg soup (zucchini, celery, potato), another French country/peasant dish.

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Inspiring your rillettes. I eat quite a lot, usually at lunch with bread when I don’t want to cook! Never attended to make that, as you can buy them so easily.

You are lucky. We miss the Prunier brand rillettes we buy for lunch in France, and there is no comparablel substitute here. It’s really easy to make. Not Prunier, but certainly recognizable.

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Jealous! They are not widely available for purchase here, even in NYC. One of my favorites, too.

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This is a Mediterranean Beef Rib Stew Lunch

prepared with classic vegetables, Mostarda, French Dijon Mustard, red wine and a tiny tiny dash of Moroccan and Japanese evolutionary touches.

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I saw some fruits, are they confit or pickles?

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They are Asian glazed fruits … (Glacé)
The Moroccan and Japanese touches !

Sort of an quadruplet, of salty (but not salty as in too much salt), bitter, semi sweet,
sweet and sour.

Quite a fascinating flavour explosión ! And yet maintaining the Mediterranean Country tradition.

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Great idea, a nice touch to an otherwise classical dish!

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Thank you … Yes, I wanted to play in the kitchen ! Has been awhile and we purchased the beef short rib meat and thus, I added a bit of a semi sweet touch …

Mostarda is actually a French product (see jar of the glacé fruits ) … However, the fruits are Japanese.

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Lovely! I usually prepare shortribs as a braise rather than your almost pot au feu style. Mostarda would indeed be sublime with this, your presentation, Thanks for this.

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Boudin blanc, white pork sausage with truffle, apple. This dish is famous in the region Champagnes-Ardennes, near Belgium. Usually boudin is made of pork fatty parts such as breast or veal, sometimes it can fish, chicken with milk, eggs, cream, flour or crumb of bread and spices. I ate this numerous times but the first time cooked without casing, I preferred it this way as it bursted easily even pinched with a fork. Apple slices were cooked with butter till soft. I had used the Golden apples, they had a nice acidity.

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