La tartiflette

Yesterday for lunch I made an au gratin potatoes dish called une tartiflette. It was invented, or at least named, by the producers of a cow's milk cheese called le Reblochon in the French Alps in the 1980s as a way to boost sales of their cheeses. Nowadays many more dairies and companies make cheeses that are marketed as fromages pour tartiflette6. The authentic Reblochon version is still recognized as the best, but not by far (IMO).

You might notice that my tartiflette yesterday got a little more browned than I might have wanted, even though it still tasted pretty good. Président is what is referred to in France as an "industrial dairy" and is headquarted in the Mayenne département not far from Alençon in Normandy and Le Mans (of car racing fame), as well as from Angers (on the Loire) and Laval. Many recipes for making a tartiflette say to be sure it's well browned on top, and that's what mine was like. Other companies make tartiflette cheeses in other regions of France.

Lentils for lunch

I'm not sure Americans in general eat enough lentils. They are a standard item here in France, served hot with salt pork (lentilles au petit salé) or cold in salads with vinaigrette dressing. I made a batch yesterday to have with a Toulouse sausage, some "pulled" duck meat, and diced-up turnips — they are the brown cubes you see in the photo above. You can subsitute carrots, rutabagas, or parsnips for the turnips. One big advantage of cooking and eating dried lentils is that they cook quickly. I soaked the ones we ate yesterday for an hour or so in cold water and then cooked them for about 30 minutes with the meats, turnips, and duck (chicken or turkey would be a fine substitute).

I've blogged about lentils several times over the past 20 years. Here's a link to some of those posts. I remember being surprised to learn that Canada is the biggest producer worldwide . I wasn't surprised to learn that India consumes more lentils than any other country (as dahl). The lentils I cooked yesterday were green lentils. They were probably grown in central France (in the Berry province or in the Auvergne). Green lentils grown around the town of Le Puy-en-Velay in Auvergne have  a European Union AOP quality label. Other varieties are marketed as red, brown, coral (yellow) or black lentils.

Broccoli and ?

Yesterday's lunch was a stir-fry featuring chicken tenderloins, broccoli florets, änd a soy-based "wok sauce." Can you guess what the other vegetable was? We ate the stir-fry with steamed rice.

Yesterday on different news shows and interviews with weather specialists, I heard several times that the western part of France, from Brittany down to the Pyrenees and over to Toulouse, has had 37 rainy days in a row, starting in January. The weather seems to be changing right now, and we're looking forward to having more sunny days in the near future. Fingers crossed...

Le château de Martinvast, en Normandie

I was working on organizing some photos that I took in 2004, a year or more before I started blogging. This is the Château de Martinvast, AKA the Château de Beaurepaire, near Cherbourg on the Cotentin peninsula. It's just 15 miles north of the village of Carteret. CHM and I were there to see old friends and to do some sightseeing.

I don't remember this château clearly. There are so many châteaux in France that it's hard to keep track of them. Martinvast was originally a medieval fortress, but it was badly damaged during the 100 Years' War in the 14th century between England and France. A Renaissance château was built on the site in the late 16th century. That building was modified and "modernized" over the centuries.