Fennel Grapefruit Salad

This is an uncommonly unique salad my cousin Frederique served us in Clerment Ferrand in central France. It is refreshing, crisp and packed with vitamins. What more could you want from a summer salad?

1 medium fennel bulb, finely sliced
1 Tbsp fennel fronds reserved from bulb
1 yellow pepper, sliced into quarter rounds
1 small red onion, sliced into quarter rounds
2 pink grapefruits, peeled, pitted and sectioned, juice reserved
1 orange, peeled and sectioned, juice reserved
1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 small red chili, finely sliced (optional)
Dash salt and fresh pepper

Dressing
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup walnut oil

Toss all ingredients together and serve.

French Market Chicken Saucisson au Poivron

My Version:
Original Market Version:
I can spend a ton of time in any open-air market in Europe. I know it sounds crazy, but that's the perfect vacation day for me. We had our open-air market in Antwerp on Sunday mornings. Thank God, because in Wilrijk, the suburb I lived in, the market was Thursday morning - not a great time for those of us who work 5 days a week outside of the home!

My cousin Frederique brought me to the market in Clermand Ferrand in central France. We listened to the mushroom lady complain (tongue-in-cheek) that nobody was bringing her anything good to drink, and we watched the vendors stir the Aligot, a mashed potato mixture with melty, stringy Tome Fraiche cheese that stretches a meter or so when stirred and pulled out of the dish! It's often served with chicken and sausages at the market.

We didn't buy any pants.

Pizza Adorned with Fresh Egg

Our son and I love the fact that the French will put an egg on anything - even pizza! We had this pizza in a small village visiting the fantastic chateaus of the Loire valley. I made my version replacing tomato sauce with my favorite eggplant spread (Sacla - from Italy), but there are other great varieties, for example from Trader Joe's (with red pepper) or from Hungarian, Bulgarian or middle eastern shops (look for example for Zahluk - Tunisian/Morrocan or Ajut - Serbian or Caponata - Italian). The list of eggplant spreads is endless. And of course the ways to make pizza are endless. That's nice because you really almost can't go wrong and end up with egg on your face. That is, as long as you end up with egg on your pizza.

My Version:
Kip's version:Original version in France:pizza dough for 2 pizzas
1/2 lb bulk sausage
1 ripe tomato, thinly sliced
1 lb fresh mozarella, sliced
favorite tomato sauce or eggplant spread
2 eggs
2 green onion, sliced, or 1/2 purple onion, sliced
dash red pepper flakes

Preheat oven to 450F. Prepare pizza dough for 2 pizzas according to directions, or use store-bought dough (some of which is really very good these days). In a skillet, saute sausage until crumbly and browned. Roll dough out for two pizzas. Spread tomato sauce or eggplant spread about dough. Top with sausage. Distribute tomato and cheese slices and onion about pizzas. Sprinkle to taste with red pepper flakes. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until nicely browned.

Lamb, Sausage and Potatoes St. Jacut-de-la-Mer

Here is the first of many dishes I replicated from our Tour de France this summer. This is based on a hearty lamb potato casserole my cousin Xavier's wife, Brigitte made for us in Brittany. She baked a small leg of lamb on potatoes and the accumulated lamb juices worked their wonders on the potatoes. This is my kind of dish. I could not find a small leg of lamb, especially not knowing the grocers in my new state yet, so I improvised with lamb chops and sausages - not unknown in Brittany!
2 large lamb chops
1 lb. hot Italian sausage links - 4-5 links
2 lb. Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
1 green onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 Tbsp butter
1 tsp rosemary, minced
1/2 cup white wine or chicken broth

Set oven to 375F. In a large casserole dish, layer the potatoes, the onion , garlic and butter alternately. Pour wine or broth over potatoes, salt and pepper to taste and sprinkle with rosemary. Lay lamb and sausage evenly on top of potatoes. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil, baste with accumulated juices and continue baking uncovered for about another 30 minutes, basting once or twice, until potatoes and meat are cooked through.

Here is Brigitte's original dish - she baked the leg of lamb on the potatoes as we walked the perimeter of their wonderful Brittany peninsula of St. Jacut. Then she removed the leg, sliced the meat and returned it onto the potatoes for serving.

Le Tour de France - Nos Tour de France

Starting our 10 day tour of France with the Finale of Le Tour de France on Les Champes Elysees was a treat as wonderful as all the food we experienced.
We traveled from Paris to Brittany, to Toulouse, to Clerment Ferrand, up to the Loire valley and back to Paris - eating everything we could find along the way! Over the next few months in this blog, you'll see me work my way through many of the great recipes we learned, and try to replicate them in the American kitchen. All the food we had was wonderful (except the snails, I have to admit), but the bread - need I say more? I was reading Julia Child's "My Life in France" during this trip, and she swears that we can make a good baguette back stateside - I have my doubts but this will be a challenge I will undertake in this blog... Stay tuned here for more details as I figure it out.

Barley Black Bean and Toasted Walnut Salad

2/3 cup barley
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 large sweet potato, diced into 1/4 to 1/2 inch pieces
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 yellow pepper, finely diced
1 green onion, sliced
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Dressing:
1/3 cup walnut oil
Juice of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp salt
Pepper

Heat oven to 400F. Toss sweet potato with oil and salt, and black pepper to taste. Spread evenly on a jelly roll pan and roast for three ten-minute intervals, stirring in between. Meanwhile, bring 3 cups water with 1 tsp salt to a boil in a medium pot. Add the barley and simmer for about 30-40 minutes, until barley is just cooked. Drain and cool to room temperature. When cooked, set aside sweet potatoes and put walnuts on the jelly roll pan. Roast in oven for about 3-5 minutes, or just until the walnuts are fragrant. Be careful - it is easy to burn walnuts in a 400F oven! Cool walnuts to room temperature.

In a large bowl, mix together the barley, beans, potato, onion, pepper and walnuts. In a small bowl, whisk together the dressing and toss gently with the salad.

Rehoboth Beach Salad

Keep cool on the dunes with a fresh summer salad - easy for the beach because it has most all of the meal inside a single container! On our first visit to the beaches of Delaware, our new state, we only complemented this salad with a nice Saga Blue Brie and crackers.1 1/2 lb. small red or yellow potatoes (fingerling), 1-inch
1/2 lb slice (about 1/2-inch) of cooked deli ham, diced
1/4 lb Genoa salami, diced
2 green onions, chopped
1 cup shredded carrot (2 cups julliened, packaged)
1/2 lb Dill Havarti cheese, finely diced
1 pint grape tomatoes
1 14-oz. can artichoke hearts, drained well and quartered
2 cups cooked elbow or shell macaroni
6 cups packed baby spinach leaves
1 can chick peas, drained
Dash red pepper flakes
Palmful parsley, minced

Dressing:
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 clove garlic, pressed through garlic press
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp Herbes du Provence (or Italian herbs)

Whisk together the dressing ingredients and set aside. Meanwhile cover the potatoes in a pot with cold water and bring to a slow boil. Cook for about 10 minutes, just until tender - if anything, under cook a bit as they can stand and cook a bit more after they are drained. Drain the potatoes and set aside to cool to room temperature. Gently fold salad ingredients together and mix with dressing. Serves 6-8.

Pork Kebobs with Bourbon Molasses Sesame Glaze

4 boneless pork loin chops, cut into 4-6 pieces each
1 red pepper, cut into 16 pieces
1 yellow summer squash cut into 16 slices
5 large green onions, sliced into 1-inch slices from white end (about three pieces per onion; reserve green stem for another use)

Glaze:
1/3 cup Bourbon
3 Tbsp molasses
1 tsp sesame oil
1-2 tsp Tabasco (or other) hot sauce

Heat grill. Thread pork and veggies in an alternating pattern onto 4 skewers. Grill over high heat for about 2 minutes per side, coating kebobs generously with glaze. Salt and pepper generously. Serves four.

Roasted Potato Salad Provencal

1 pint grape tomatoes, halved lengthwise
1 lb small fingerling potatoes, about 1-inch diameter
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup olive oil
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
2 green onions, coarsely diced
2 tsp herbes de Provence
Palmful of fresh parsley, minced

Preheat oven to 400F. In a large mixing bowl, toss three quarters of the tomatoes with all the remaining ingredients except the parsley. Salt and pepper generously, and mix well. Spread mixture on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Stir to mix veggies well, shake sheet to spread veggies out, and return to oven for another 10 minutes. Stir to mix well again, and bake for 10 more minutes, or until potatoes are softened. Tip into a serving bowl and add remaining tomatoes and the parsley. Refresh with a dash more red wine vinegar if desired. Mix well and allow to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Champagne Chicken

A nice festive dish to celebrate the inauguration of the kitchen in our new home! Serve with remaining Champagne!1 whole roasting chicken, cut into 8-10 serving pieces
1 dozen small peeled carrots, or 6 peeled carrots cut in half
2 leeks, cleaned or 1 large onion, diced
1/4 lb salt pork or bacon, diced
1 small jalapeño or red chile pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 fresh sage leaves, minced, or 1 tsp dried sage
16 oz fresh mushrooms, sliced
3 cups Champagne

In a large Dutch Oven, saute the pork or bacon in a bit of olive oil until browned a bit and most of the fat rendered. If using salt pork, you can simmer in a few tablespoons of water first, then brown after the water cooks off. Set aside in a large bowl. Brown the chicken pieces in a bit of the reserved fat and a dash of olive oil, in batches if necessary, setting aside in bowl after browned. Then add a bit of olive oil to pot if necessary, and sauté the leek (or onion) and the carrots, until the leek are softened and just beginning to brown. Add the garlic, chili pepper and sage and cook another few minutes, until fragrant. Set aside in bowl with chicken. Raise heat in the pot and cook the mushrooms. Allow them to release their water and then cook it off. Brown the mushrooms just a bit. Return chicken and vegetables to Dutch Oven and add the Champagne. Add a bit of water or chicken broth (or apple juice) if necessary to just about cover the chicken. Salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer. Cover and cook for 30 minutes, just until chicken is cooked through. Turn pieces carefully during cooking to mix flavors.

Mango Peach Strawberry Smoothie

Smoothies are the power drink we love! There are mirad varieties, so experiment and enjoy. Here is one of my favorites.

1 cup frozen strawberries
1 cup frozen mango pieces
1 cup frozen peach slices
2 cups Greek vanilla yogurt
1/4 cup orange juice

Place frozen fruit in a blender and chop using 'chop ice' function until finely minced. Add the juice and yogurt and blend just until smooth. Scrape down sides of blender and pulse a few tines. Serve immediately.

Cook's note: use frozen fruit and serve immediately to achieve that frozen ice-creamy consistency.