Miam miam!

After several weeks sans internet, we are finally up and running again. Phew! Lots to catch up on via the blog: my week of work in the vines at Domaine de la Tronque, Easter weekend in Brittany, and various other adventures.

Since I am short on time this afternoon, I'm posting a few photos of various culinary experiments I've undertaken in the past month or so and have been meaning to share with you. One of these days I'll post some recipes, too! Oh, and in case you didn't guess from the sound of it, miam miam is the French equivalent of "yum yum."

Potimarron farci:


A potimarron, as you can see from the photo, is a small sugar pumpkin. The taste is similar to a butternut squash, though a bit richer, and they are delicious when stuffed (farci) and baked in the oven. Bastien's mom, Chantal, stuffs them with sautéed leeks (poireaux), salt and pepper (sel et poivre), and a dollop of crème fraîche. Simple but sooo tasty for a wintertime dinner.

Truites au four:


Bastien gave away a pile of old wooden stakes that the vineyard had just replaced, and the recipient was so appreciative (the stakes apparently cost a bundle) that he arrived the following week with a generous thank you: a bottle of whiskey, a bottle of pastis, and une dizaine (10) freshly caught truites (trout). I was not responsible for gutting them (though I should learn how...I gutted a chicken on the farm this summer with Bastien's dad), just for preparing them for lunch. If memory serves correctly, I stuffed them with échalotes émincées (minced shallots), sel, poivre, and persil (fresh parsley), laid them on a bed of chopped onions, drizzled everything with olive oil, poured a half cup or so of white wine into the dish, and popped it in the oven.

Soirée tartine!:


If you're ever in Bordeaux, Le Chabrot is a fun bistro à vin, which serves (among other things) tartines (essentially, toasted bread with a spread or topping; in the morning, we eat them with butter and jam; above are the savory version). We went there for dinner back in November, and I was inspired one Friday night a few weeks ago to prepare a platter of tartines for dinner. With a green salad and a glass or two of red wine...miam miam! The ones pictured above are à la...maquereau à la moutarde ancienne (tinned mackerel in mustard sauce; I am obsessed, they are so so good!), calamars à l'armoricaine (or something like that; calamari in a peppery tomato sauce), comté (yummy hard yellow cheese made in the Franche-Comté region), saucisson poivré (cured sausage seasoned with pepper that we bought at a marché in Saillagouse when we were in the Pyrénées a few weeks back), and pâté (homemade by friends of the family).

Next edition: desserts! If I'm not careful, this might turn into a food blog... ;)