Salade de crudités updated : veggie nori-maki

Once upon a time, we’d serve the crudités on a large plate, even with the sauce mixed in with each type of vegetable. For guests, Granny would display them on huge (imitation) silver trays.

That looked like that.
Grated carrot, sliced Japanese turnip, sliced new onion, greens, edamame (they have to be boiled).

Then this became popular to make sushi… So why not rolling in the veggies ?

(Do you notice something weird on the photo ? You should… I had a problem after the shooting session. LOL)

And serving the dressing (soy sauce, black rice vinegar and chili pepper) as a dip.

First Frenchy

A compil of French first dishes…

Pâtés et terrines

Pâté means both a meat terrine and a pie. That depends…

patés (meat terrines)
petits pâtés (pies)
coulibiac (fish pie)
mousse de foie aux olives et romarin (liver paste)
terrine de chou-fleur (cauliflower)

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Soupes et potages

Country
soupe au chou (cabbage)
gratinée au bouillon de canard (onion)
soupe à l’oignon rouge
soupe au pistou (pesto)
néo-garbure (beans)
gratinée d’avoine (oat)

City
potage Crécy
potage Choisy
crème de chou fleur (cauliflower)
soupe de champignons (mushrooms)
soupe au cerfeuil (chervil)
cauli-carrot
crème vert amande

Seaside
soupe de poisson
potager de poisson
white bean and clam soup
chaudrée de saumon (salmon chowder)
bouillabaisse

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Tartes, quiches, savory cakes

pounti (herb and prune peasant cake)
cake salé au fromage et aux piments
cakes aux fèves et pesto (broad bean pesto cakes)

quiche lorraine
tarte au potiron
flamiche (with leeks)
tarte à l’oignon

tarte aux epinards
tatin tomate
pichade (tomato)
pissaladiere (onion)

quiche poire et bleu
tarte flambée – flammenkuechen (old style quiche)
tarte flambée à la pomme (apple)

Soufflés
soufflé de potimarron
soufflé de fromage et chou-fleur

salades et crudités

salade de tomates
salade niçoise (the real story)
salade de riz Méditerranée (rice)
taboulé rouge
taboulé au safran

poireau vinaigrette (leeks)
salade de lentilles au saumon d’automne (salmon, lentils)
poire, bleu, noix (pear cheese)
dill lime salade composée

salade aux calamars et pois chiches (chick peas)
salad tahitienne (sashimi)
salade composée (poached egg and croutons)

Or you can simply serve eggs :

oeuf mayo
omelette baveuse
oeufs à la coque

Medusa salada

Do you know this seafood ? It has a light sea taste, it’s crunchy under the teeth.

Some species of fish and seafood had been over-fished and are threatened by extinction. For some, it’s the contrary ：

(image from wiki)

These are invading the beaches, stinging the surfers… So, in Asia, we eat them ! And it’s really good.

I buy them dried in salt. It’s refrigerated in this weather, but you can keep it a while in a cool room. I put them one hour to soak, changing water twice.

The classic sauce : rice vinegar, sugar, fragrant sesame oil, chili pepper and garlic.

Sliced goya bitter squash and grated daikon radish complete the salad.

I mix it all in the sauce before eating.

Side dish : lettuce rice-paper cones, to dip in the rest of sauce.

That makes a very filling but light dinner, perfect for a day when heat beats records.

Simple retro Christmas night (1)

That’s not the a party in Japan, that was just for the fun traditions. That seems very frugal. That depends on your point of comparison. Most people in Japan simply ate fried chicken, yes, the infamous fast-food bucket of greasy starch with bits of meat sometimes hidden in the middle. Ads tell them you should have chicken for Xmas.　I’ll ignore that trend.

This is the menu :
Salade composée aux oeufs de saumon
Jambon en croûte aux marrons (chesnut ham pie)
13 desserts

That’s short, because there are 13 desserts and even if that’s not what you may imagine, I didn’t want to burst.

I know my candles　look even more retro. Caveman style. That’s a mistake. I thought I have bought a pack of plate-warmer candles. I could have put them inside glasses, that’s pretty. But when I opened the package I saw those what-you-call them to cook a fondue. At least, I had a Christmas fire.

Salmon eggs are not caviar, but they used to be a rarity, something for occasions. I like them anyway.
That couldn’t be simpler. Salad, radish, croûtons and salmon eggs.

The rest of the meal in next posts :

Casser la croûte. On the table, at the farm…

Let’s break the bread crust and the meal starts… Casser la croûte, breaking the crust is eating for the French. That’s the magic : close your eyes. Your are in a French farm in the timeless era of fairy tales. There is a herd of unicorns grazing in the field…

Break the bread and put food on it…

That’s a meal. No, I forgot to take photos of the wine.
At our farm we make everything from scratch… but not the wine.

Un pain de campagne. Merci Kiki, la MAP (home bakery machine). It’s an old style peasant bread with a little rye flour in it.

3 terrines that you’ve seen before :
terrine de canard aux marrons et aux noix (chestnut marron duck )
terinne de volaille aux herbes (herb poultry)
pâté au foie (liver)

Salade de chou rouge (red cabbage).

Flavored with apple, Italian parsley (despite the name, it’s not foreign at all in France, it’s persil plat, the common flat parsley). Of course, a cider vinegar vinaigrette.

(to go to the posts, click on the text not the photos)