I'm on the road to Paris by the time you are reading this — unless I've already arrived. CHM and I might be having lunch at the Japanese resident just up the street from his apartment. Walt is staying home to take care of the plants, the garden, the dog, and the cat. I'll be back Monday night, with CHM.
Just off the grill
I'm going to drive a slightly different way this time: from Saint-Aignan to Romorantin and then Lamotte-Beuvron (where the tarte tatin was invented more than a century ago), on to Vouzon, Souvigny-en-Sologne, Isdes, and Sully-sur-Loire before crossing the Loire River into "northern France." From there I take a familiar route through Bellegarde, Malesherbes, Milly-la-Forêt, and on to Paris via autoroute to the Porte d'Orléans.
Splayed out and skewered, waiting to be rubbed
To get your weekend appetite going, look at these pictures of a butterflied chicken we cooked day before yesterday.
Spice-rubbed inside...
Walt made up a spice rub (cumin, dried ground ginger, ground cloves, hot red pepper powder, Indian garam masala, smoked paprika etc.) while I cut the backbone out of the chicken and splayed it out. This was a Label Rouge poulet jaune from the supermarket. To prepare the volaille, cut down each side of the backbone, starting at the end that goes over the fence last, using heavy-duty kitchen shears. With the backbone and the wing tips, make make stock for a soup or the freezer.
...and out, ready to grill
I secured the "spatchcock" chicken with a couple of long wooden skewers through the wings and thighs so that it would be easy to turn over on the grill and wouldn't go all floppy (that's what happens when you don't have a backbone). Walt cooked the chicken low and slow on our gas grill. He has leftovers for this weekend.
Bonne route! Perhaps you've driven down Boulevard Jourdan and seen the Montsouris Park near the Cite Universitaire, Pavillon Neerlandais where I stayed the summer of '61. I always took the metro at Porte d'Orleans. There's a new train there now that goes above the ground.
ReplyDeleteHappy travels! and happy chicken-eating to Walt!
ReplyDeleteSalut to chm.
ReplyDeleteWhenever I think of driving in Paris, I think of negotiating Place Charles de Gaulle, which I had to go around several times to exit.
Hope you two have a nice trip back to your casa in the country.
"Part that goes over the fence last..." Haven't heard that expression for a while!
ReplyDeleteyay! i love this method. we use it for turkeys and it cooks really fast. happy travels!
ReplyDelete