Go to Video The first time I tasted citron caviar it was as if the sparkling Eiffel Tower was inside my mouth. There was everything – the excitement of zingie tartness, the teeny sounds – or feelings? – of explosions as each little caviar-like ball popped to release its liquid., the bright acid that softened …
Go to Recipe Go to Video It all began with Pope Clement VII in the 16th century. He was a seed collector, it seems, and he gave some bean seeds to an Italian humanist, Valeriano, who had links with the Medicis family while they were in Florence. Valeriano shared the seeds with Clement’s niece Catherine …
Go to Video When I moved to France to really settle here thirty years ago, I lived in Louviers, a bustling town an hour outside Paris, in Normandy. I reveled in the discoveries we made, the adventures we had, the joys and frustrations of adapting to a culture that wasn’t our own. Lush Ingredients Five …
Go to Video A typical French breakfast consists of baguette with butter and jam, a croissant or pain au chocolate, maybe a chausson aux pommes (apple turnover), and a big bowl of steaming coffee. It’s a marvel, a magical assemblage of delicious elements. Steer Roping Needs More A cowboy or girl might not be able …
Go to Recipe Go to Video The most emblematic salad of the French café is “carrottes rapées,” or that seemingly banal but amazingly delicious creation that is basically made of grated carrots. And not much else. Carrots Can Be the Star How can grated carrots be so good? Well, it’s all in the choosing of …
Go to Recipe Go to Video Summer produce brings such richness, including the humble green bean, or “haricot vert”. which might be considered the most important in the French vegetable repertoire, besides lettuce. It is the vegetable people identify with French cuisine; the vegetable that appears on every French table along with roasts, or stews, …
Go to Recipe Go to Video As we head into “la rentrée,” that season of the year in France that strikes dread into the heart of so many (because it means first day of school/work/back to reality), we’ve still got a few hints of summer left. There are s the warm days and relatively long …
Go to Recipe Go to Video There is so much poetry in cuisine, perhaps summed up in the all too uncommon practice of using vegetable flowers as food. Not just as garnish, but as food. The thing is, we Anglo Saxons tend to think that flowers are meant to be cut and put in a …
Go to Recipe Go to Video The tomato has come a long, long way from its origins. It came to Europe with the explorers who returned home with it in the holds of their ships (or perhaps in their jewel boxes, as it was considered very valuable). They’d discovered it as part of the wealth …
Go to Recipe Go to Video Dipping strawberries in chocolate is a favorite spring and summer dessert and decoration, and it makes sense. What doesn’t go with chocolate? What doesn’t enhance a strawberry? Justice for Berries This is a great idea, but I am never sure it does justice to the berry. Because a fine, …