Boys

Here's how 7th grade boys show they love you.  They bring you a great big cup of chocolate frozen yogurt from Tutti Frutti.  And just so they can be sure they get a topping that you like, they add blackberries, strawberries, cherries AND cut up pieces of Snickers bars.  (There might have been little pieces of pineapple in there, too...) Yes, sometimes they are smelly and messy and they have to be nagged a lot, but you just have to love boys this age.  Most days, anyway.
They are also incredibly sweet. This young man brings me macaron cookies from A Southern Season. They cost an arm and leg there, but, luckily, he still has all of his limbs.

This one read Dr. Seuss to four year olds today at a headstart school.

And all of them ran around the playground chasing the little ones, pushing them on the swings, sliding down the blue slide with them, and generally acting like kids.  They left their cell phones and iPods behind for a couple of hours and had fun the old-fashioned way.
Don't fret, girlies, I love you, too.  You'll get your turn.  I promise.


Bon appétit et merci, les garçons!

The Sabbatical Chef rides again!

No, silly, I do not mean bull-riding on the bull in downtown Durham.

And I absolutely do not mean taking on this black bull either.  Absolument pas.  Pas moi.  I will leave that to the cute young mecs dressed in white who chase them around the arenas in southern France in the courses camaguaises.
I mean that I was recently back in the kitchen, someone else's kitchen actually, disguised as the Sabbatical Chef, wrapped in my white-ish apron.   This evening had been in the works for a while, but it's just not easy to get a group of busy adults together for dinner.  It finally came down to a group of senior parents on prom night.

Look at these handsome boys!  Just had to slip that one in...  especially since three of the parents were at the dinner party, two in the kitchen and one a "real" guest.
Anyway, Chef Doug finally found one night when his guests could come for dinner.  Let the planning begin!  First an initial planning session at Wine Authorities.  Then a second one at Bull City Burger and Brewery.  You can't just let these things happen by chance, you know.  It takes planning, with a nice glass of wine or a freshly brewed beer thrown in for inspiration, n'est-ce pas?
Shopping day was my kind of fun.  (It involved great food and spending someone else's money!)  We started out at the Saturday Durham Farmers' Market where we bought goat cheese from Dave of Elodie Farms.  I only sampled twice-- oui, only twice, I promise.  He had fresh bread and his creamy fresh goat cheese-- who could resist? (certainly not a certain Frenchie I know who had a sandwich for breakfast from Dave's tome a couple of weeks ago) We bought tomatoes, too, from Sunny Slope and salad greens from another vendor.  We needed chickens, but it was a bit too early for Dave's and Fickle Creek was out by the time we got there.  After a few turns around the market, it was off to Whole Foods on Ninth Street for some serious shopping.  We filled our cart with haricots verts (or mange-tout as one of the guests who grew up in Montréal called them), cheeses, freshly baked bread, mushrooms, black olives, chicken breasts (bone-in), onions, potatoes, garlic, pink lady apples and anchovies.
Final stop-- Wine Authorities where we bought all colors-- white Picpoul de Pinet, red 2009 Domaine de Brau Pinot Noir and pink Domaine Pinchinat Rosé.
We met in the kitchen around 4:00 pm to get going.  But in the meantime, Chef Doug sent several photos to my phone of the prep work.  How I love technology!
Chopping onions, putting the olives, capers and anchovies through the food processor, steaming the haricots verts, peeling and slicing potatoes, slicing tomatoes (and sending Chef Doug's wife out to the supermarket for more when I realized I hadn't bought enough... thanks, ET), toasting the sliced baguettes, chopping bunches of parsley and cloves of garlic.  These were my tasks.  I was so happy.  Me and my favorite knife. And my trusted assistante and BFF.

Chef Doug was master of the chicken.

He slid this wonderful concoction under the skin,

grilled it and finished it off in the oven.  Heavenly.  Seriously moist.
But I am getting ahead of myself...
We started with tapenade à la Fanny,

pissaladière,

champagne (after all, we were celebrating the pending graduation of our young'uns) and rosé.  My tomato tart looked pretty, but the crust turned out kind of soggy and it was hard to get it out of the baking dish.  Hélas. 

Need to keep working on this.  (Not a problem--  I can live off the trial and errors this summer while tomatoes are in full season.)
The call to à table brought the finished plates, filled with Chef Doug's chicken,

haricots verts au persillade,

gratin dauphinois potatoes covered with cream, freshly ground nutmeg and gruyère cheese,

and tomates farcies.

Délicieux!
In true French fashion, next came the salad course, chèvre chaud, warm goat cheese, my personal favorite, with a simple vinaigrette and Provence lavender honey drizzled on the goat cheese.

Cheeses were next.  Brie, affinois, bleu, and Bloomin' Decadence from Hillsborough Cheese Company.

Dessert time.   My assistante is becoming quite well-known around town for her tarte tatin.  She just happens to have the perfect pan and perfect plate to make this.  And she did learn to make it in Chef Érick's kitchen in Arles in 2007.  Served with freshly whipped cream, it was a great way to finish the meal.

The parents stayed up almost as late as the prom-goers, sitting outside on the patio with a fire roaring in the fireplace.  We didn't say our goodnights until around 1:30 am.  Quite honestly, I didn't stay up that late after my senior prom back in '76.  What an evening.

It reminded me of cooking lessons in Arles... and the painting in Chef Doug's living room made me feel right at home.

Bon appétit et merci, Chef Doug!

Take me away...

I have become e-penpals with a few bloggers who take me right out of Durham, away from my desk and grading papers, transporting me to Paris or Provence.  Here's one from Paris by Richard Nahem with beautiful photos for this lovely Monday morning.  Richard lives in the Marais neighborhood of Paris.

Enjoy Richard's photos!  And check out his blog regularly for more.


http://www.ipreferparis.net/

Bon appétit!

Mother's Day 2011

I am a mother thanks to these two handsome young men.  The one on the left is the one formerly referred to as college-age son.  No more.  He is now, as of yesterday, college-grad son.  Yipee!  He is very happy and his parents are even happier.  And very proud.  He has worked hard this year at his two internships, coaching and final classes.  We celebrated by going out for lunch at Bin 33 in downtown Greensboro.  It was a beautiful sunny day.  We sat outside and I sipped Prosecco and ate a grilled calamari salad.

College-grad son ordered a blueberry mint drink that was fabulous.  I hope he will remember how to make it at the beach in July.  The waiter, a truly great waiter, also told us about a drink called concombre.  Cucumbers and basil are involved.  Sounds very refreshing, doesn't it?  We ate, talked and enjoyed each other's company tremendously.
The son on the left is high school-age son.  But not for long.  In three short weeks, he will graduate from high school and in August head west to Knoxville to the University of Tennessee (note the orange hat).  He will then become college-age son.  He plans to study politics.  His AP Government class has been a turning point in his life.  He just can't get enough of it.  He will do his senior project with a fellow in the North Carolina Attorney General's office in Raleigh.  I have every reason to be a very proud mom.
This morning, I woke up and headed to the kitchen, as usual, to feed the cats and make coffee.  This is what I found on the counter--

a message from high school-age son created from yellow post-it notes.  A very nice surprise.  And very creative.
So, I had no choice but to feed him.  Seemed like the only motherly thing to do.  I made chicken with rosemary and potatoes.  It was quite good.  I think it is better simply because I took my kitchen scissors and cut the rosemary out of my little herb garden!

Then I decided to make my mother-in-law's no-bake oatmeal chocolate cookies.  Quick and easy when you need a chocolate fix.  (see index for recipe, if interested)

Even all that didn't quite satisfy me because I knew that I had a can of black beans in my cupboard calling my name.  We also had a brand new bag of Tostito's since high school-age son forgot to take them to his psychology class party on Friday.  I don't know what kind of dip his teacher made, but there were no chips to dip unfortunately.
This recipe (a favorite of the BFF), comes from Even More Special, a cookbook put together by the Junior League of Durham and Orange Counties. 

When this cookbook came out in 1986, I bought three copies.  One for me, one for my mother-in-law and one for my sister-in-law.  Then, thinking that it would be easy to get another copy, I gave mine to a former student who had graduated from college and who still came to dinner at our house whenever he was back in Durham.  Guess again.  I borrowed the BFF's once in a while and looked for one whenever I was at a used book sale.  But it took me until 2010 to get my very own copy again, thanks to the Bookshop on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill.  And I will not give this one away!  There are too many great recipes in it that I still need to make.
What a great Mother's Day weekend I've had.

Black Bean Dip

1 15-oz. can black beans or black-eyed peas
1 Tbsp. chopped jalapeño peppers, fresh or canned
1/4 c. finely chopped onion
1/4 c. sour cream
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. picante sauce
1 1/4 c. grated cheese (mild Cheddar or a combination of Cheddar and Monterey Jack)
Freshly ground pepper

** I substituted chunky salsa for the jalapeño, onion and picante sauce.

1.  Preheat oven to 350˚.
2.  Drain bean and discard juice.
3.  Mash beans with a fork, leaving some chunks.  Do not use blender or processor.
4.  Add remaining ingredients, reserving 1/4 c. of cheese and mix well.
5.  Pour into a 1-quart baking dish and sprinkle with remaining cheese.  (May be prepared ahead to this point and refrigerated.)
6.  Bake for 20-30 minutes or until hot and bubbly.
7.  Serve with tortilla chips.

Bon appétit, to all moms!

Frenchies in the kitchen

I had two Frenchies, not just any Frenchies, though-- Provençal Frenchies-- in my kitchen for an afternoon.  While the 28 exchange students from Collège Le Mourion in Villeneuve-lès-Avignon were spending the weekend with their Durham host families, I had custody of Fanny and Olivier for the day.  We headed over to Ninth Street, bought books at the Regulator, took photos at Vaguely Reminiscent--

(cute frogs... ha ha ha)
and then shopped at Whole Foods.  When I am in France, I love checking out grocery stores, les supermarchés et les épiceries.  We planned to have friends over for an apéro Friday night.  My evil plan to get my new friends in my kitchen to cook worked!!  (Although I have to admit that I did not realize what a great cook Fanny is when I invited her to stay with me for the week.  My bad.  We make a great pair.  When she opens her B&B, I will be her assistant.  Oui, chef!)

Fanny made la mousse au chocolat.  A great use for college-age son's collection of shot glasses, n'est-ce pas?

Fanny also decided to make a pissaladière, a Provençal-type pizza of which I am very, very fond.

And her tapenade was the best I've ever had.  I really like garlic and it was plentiful.  We served it with thinly sliced toasted baguette slices. 

Olivier contributed a mousse au thon, tuna mousse.  Sadly, I have no photos of that.  We couldn't find crème fraîche for it at Whole Foods.  I should have made an emergency call to Mr. Bull City Burger and Brewery, Seth, my favorite chef, but didn't.  Olivier also made a pasta salad.  (The leftovers were all mine.  I did not share them with anyone.)

I had never thought of adding pesto to my salad.  I love pesto on pasta.  I eat that often.  Why can't I think of this stuff on my own?  Doesn't matter now.  I have Frenchies to come to my rescue!
I contributed my tomato tart, Signora brought chocolate-dipped strawberries, we added brie, affinois and boucheron chèvre cheeses, and wines from Wine Authorities.  Picpoul de Pinet, Venus rosé and a Côtes du Rhône red.  I tried Floc de Gascogne for the first time.  It is a bit sweet and went well with the mousse au chocolat.  I usually do not like sweet wines.  But at the urging of Olivier, I tried it.  (And I have the leftovers of this, too!)
We had a wonderful evening.  I miss my Frenchies.  We had so much fun.

I did not say au revoir to them.  I prefer à plus!  Until next time.  See you soon.


Tapenade à la Fanny

2 cans of black olives, pitted
4-5 cloves of garlic, minced (remove the skin and the germ)
Olive oil
5-6 anchovy filets (without the oil)
2 tsp. capers

Put all ingredients in a food processor and mix. Do not over process.  Add enough olive oil to obtain the proper consistency.

Bon appétit, mes nouveaux amis!
 

The Frenchies are coming, the Frenchies are coming!

Tomorrow 31 Frenchies will arrive to spend 10 days with us.  I found homes for the 28 students and three adults.  I even get to fly up to Washington, DC to meet them and wander around the city with them.  How cool is that? (And I get to miss two days of school!)  My 8th graders and I met some of them in March.  They came to have a picnic with us at the Pont du Gard.  The photo is of the group standing under an olive tree that was born in 908.  No kidding.
The weather forecast is good, the Durham Bulls are playing at home and we have tickets, Durham is dressed in all shades of bright green, Bull City Burger and Brewery is grilling burgers and pouring beer, my house is relatively neat, and I am almost back to my normal healthy self.  9 on a scale of 10. Life is good.
So what have I been reading lately?  I discovered writer Cara Black when I found one of her books at a  shop here called Pennies For Change.  She has written a series of Aimée Leduc novels set in Paris.

They are murder mysteries and Aimée has great taste in clothes, evidently finding them secondhand at flea markets or les marchés aux puces.  That would be a fun thing to do.  Roam around the markets and find great, chic clothes and shoes.  I hate to shop, but I think I could make a sport out of that.
And, thanks to Head Butler, Jesse Kornbluth, I discovered a wonderful book that will help me become more chic.  It's Parisian Chic:  A Style Guide written by Inès de la Fressange, French model and businesswoman and une femme d'un certain âge, comme moi!  She is a year older than me, which makes her 53.  No botox, no facelifts, classic styles that are comfortable.  That has me written all over it.

In English, with sections named "Dress Like a Parisian" and "Chez Moi."  I know that she has bizzillions of euros and I will never shop in the little Paris boutiques where she does, but I like her style and the book is a fun read, full of tips.  When the first mention of Monoprix came up on page 15, I was totally hooked.  I do love that store.  It's a French version of Target, but French.  I even wrote Jesse a thank you note for finding the book for me.  It's softbound and full of Inès' own little drawings.  I am now on the lookout for Converse tennis shoes, a navy v-necked sweater and a leather jacket (secondhand, of course).  I wish I still had my Bass penny loafers from college...  I have a trench, white blouses, jeans I love and lots of scarves.  A really fun read, girlies.  (Look for it on Amazon for a good price.)
The best thing I've cooked this week?  In my humble opinion, a white vegetarian lasagna.  High school-age son didn't care for the onions (I ate his) and the Un-Ex needs meat.  High school-age son's girlfriend and I loved it and ate every bite.  The leftovers I took for the lunch were just as good, maybe even better.

White Vegetarian Lasagna  


(makes 6-8 servings as a main dish, more as a starter)

1 package thin, no-cook lasagna noodles
2 1/2 c. whole milk
1 c. vegetable broth
6 cloves garlic, cut in quarters
3 Tbsp. butter
5 Tbsp. flour
1 c. quality Parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 tsp. nutmeg, grated
Pepper and salt to taste
4 Tbsp. olive oil
1 large zucchini, cut in 1/4 in. slices
1 summer squash, cut in 1/4 in. slices
1 bag baby spinach
4 oz. (about 1 c.) sliced mushrooms
1 small yellow onion, diced

(Note:  I didn't use the summer squash.  I caramelized 4 yellow onions instead.)

Place the no-cook noodles in hot water and set aside to soften.  Be careful that they don't stick together.  Heat milk and vegetable broth in a sauce pan until simmering.  Add the garlic, cover and remove from heat.  Let stand for at least 10 minutes.

Heat about 1 Tbsp. of olive oil and saute the zucchini for a few minutes, turning with a spatula until al dente.  Remove.  Add more oil and do the same with the summer squash, then the mushrooms, next the spinach just until wilted, adding olive oil as needed.

Remove the garlic pieces from the milk and broth mixture with a slotted spoon.  In another pan, melt butter.  When melted, whisk in the flour. Then slowly whisk in the garlic-infused milk mixture to make a roux.  Cook, stirring frequently, until the sauce thickens.  Remove from heat and stir in nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste.

To assemble:  (in a 10-in. square pan or a 9x13)   Spread about 1/2 c. of sauce over the bottom of the pan.  Place a layer of noodles on the sauce.  Spread the zucchini over the layer of noodles.  Drizzle about 1 c. of sauce of it.  Add another layer of noodles.  Add the mushrooms, then 1/3 c. of Parmesan cheese.  Add the next layer of noodles.  Add the onions (or summer squash) and 1 c. of the white sauce.  Add another layer of noodles.  Finally, the spinach layer and 1/3 c. of Parmesan.  Top with a final layer of noodles, the rest of the sauce and the remaining 1/3 c. of cheese.

Cover pan with foil and bake at 350˚ F for about 30 minutes.  Remove foil and bake another 10-15 minutes until top is browned.  Let cool before slicing and serving. 

Many thanks to whippedtheblog.com for supplying the basic recipe.  What on earth did I do before google?  I've asked myself this question many, many times.

Bon appétit, Frenchies!  Bienvenue aux États-Unis!

Almost as good as new-- finally!

I cannot believe that I have been back from France since March 14 and haven't written about my trip.  Truth is, I have been a sick little girl since we returned. I have Graves disease, an overactive, whacked out thyroid, and then I caught what I choose to call the French Flu.  I was down and out for about a week and a half.  And what's worse, I had no appetite.  That really means I was sick, believe me.

So, to start processing the trip and all of the wonderful things we saw and ate, I thought that I would begin with the Millefeuille Cake that my kiddies made with Chef Érick in Arles.  Mlle Pauline took this delicious photo (she is quite the artiste).  Chef Érick made this for me for my 50th birthday, so it holds a very special place in my heart (and tummy). 

Here is another example of Pauline's artistry.  We had a picnic at the Pont du Gard the day we arrived in Provence.  We were met there by some Frenchies (they are coming to visit us April 14!) and enjoyed spending time with them.  It was an amazing day-- blue skies, flowers blooming, warm weather-- sitting in the shadow of the magnificent Roman aqueduct drinking in the moment.  French being spoken all around me, watching my students interact with their penpals, hearing the plop! plop! plop! of rocks being thrown into the river... ah.  This is my young artiste's rendition of the Pont du Gard, drawn on a rock with a stick.  I am totally verte with jealousy because I want to be able to do this.  To even think of doing it. 

Pas mal, hein?

Millefeuille Cake

Here's the recipe, from an earlier post--
http://thesabbaticalchef.blogspot.com/search/label/millefeuille%20cake

Bon appétit!! À suivre...