08 March 2013

Birthday duck, and beef and broccoli

I have no energy and little inspiration this morning. It's another gray day. It rained all night. I listened to it.

Here's a picture of the duck and beans that we had for dinner on my birthday on Tuesday. It was a breast filet, and those are generally cooked rare, either grilled or pan-roasted. Needless to say, this is not grilling weather, so this duck breast was pan-roasted. It was delicious. The beans are called pois du Cap (Lima beans), which seem to be a specialty of Réunion island in the Indian Ocean, near Madagascar and a French département. We also had braised céleri-branches with it.


Another lunch this week was beef with broccoli. It also was delicious — spicy and flavorful, with beef broth, crushed red pepper, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, and sesame oil. A real treat. The beef was skirt steak (hampe in French). The (supermarket) broccoli comes from Spain, I believe, and it's really good in wintertime. Those are wheat noodles.


Lights were on at the neighbor's this morning, and there are no cars in the driveway. I can only assume that le voisin is doing okay for the time being. There were four or five cars over there yesterday morning, including some we didn't recognize. I guess we'll find out later what decisions are being made and what steps will be taken.

11 comments:

  1. Both those are grand looking dishes Ken...
    I can smell the beef one!
    Olfactory memory?

    Lima Beans are known as "Butter Beans" in the UK...
    they are one of my favourite.

    Pauline and I tried growing them in our greenhouse once...
    won't grow outside in the UK...
    abject failure...
    got three pods...
    different times, different sizes!
    Still... they come in packets!!

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  2. Tim, I know about butter beans. A friend from Kentucky told me her family used that term for these big Lima beans too. In North Carolina, butter beans were smaller and green, like the beans a lot of Americans call "baby limas."

    I get the pois du Cap at the Paris Store in Tours-Nord. I'm not sure if the Cap in the name is Capetown or some other cape. When I look up pois du Cap in my French food books, I mostly find cross-references to haricots de Lima. They seems to be much used in Réunion with curried dishes.

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  3. Both meals look fantastic but the duck is mouth watering. Diane

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  4. thanks for posting this! i was wondering if you had a cassolette.. i wouldnt have guessed lima beans. i'm with you i'm over this stupid weather. we need spring!

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  5. let's hope the cars mean a better living situation for your neighbor

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  6. Your food is colorful even if you days aren't. Our time is changing this weekend, can Spring be far behind?

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  7. Ken

    We call it "gros pois" on the island.
    Correct , it is used in curry and most of the times , as a thick sauce together with what they call "rougaille" - cooked tomatoes with onion and spices as filling in "dholl puri". It is similar to a fajita but thin like crêpe.

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  8. Wow, those are some great-looking dishes. As Evelyn said, their color is beautiful! I'm glad to know they were as delicious as they look.

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  9. Curious about the name of the beans in the UK. Here, we have both lima beans and butter beans, they are two different veggies. I will not eat meast that is not completely cooked.

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  10. That Beef and Broccoli dish looks fantastic! I've yet to taste braised celery, but perhaps tonight is the night! I love celery and usually have it in my refrigerator - but I have it to snack on, raw.
    I love lima beans, too. Not many of my friends can say that.

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  11. Ken, we missed your birthday even though I have it on my calendar. We were on a plane to Tasmania.
    Hope you day was special.
    Leon and Sue

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