On Friday I drove over to Romorantin, a big town (pop. 18,000) about 40 km (25 miles) from our house. It's a 40-minute drive on little roads, passing through villages like Billy and Gy-en-Sologne. I was shopping for a huge clay pot that I want to plant a grapevine in, and for groceries in stores like Picard (frozen foods) and LIDL (discount groceries) that we don't have here in Saint-Aignan.
I found the pot I wanted in a garden center (Delbard), and I found some nice things at the LIDL store. One was a rare treat: fresh corn on the cob. It was corn imported from Germany. We seldom find corn on the cob around here. My impression is that a lot of feed corn is grown in France and around Saint-Aignan, but very little sweet corn.
I also got some good saucisses de Toulouse pork sausages. So for lunch yesterday we had poached, grilled sausages, corn on the cob wrapped in aluminum foil and cooked on the grill, and a batch of Italian flat beans from our vegetable garden. Everything was delicious and it was a fine Bastille Day meal.
I cooked the flat beans in butter and chicken broth with some sliced shallot. The beans had been picked an hour or two before we ate them. They're about my favorite kind of green beans these days.
A couple of days ago I mentioned and showed a picture of some wine (or water) pitchers that I saw over in La Borne in June. They made me realize we haven't used our own wine pitchers in a while. I did a quick count and found at least 10 of them of various sizes in our kitchen and dining room. I took a photo of these five. The biggest pitcher came from a shop in Collonges-la-Rouge — we were there in 2006. The glass pitchers are standard items in France, and we have two sets of them.
I wonder what kind of corn is used to make gaudes.
ReplyDeleteThere are four or five "families" of corn varieties. "Dent corn" is grown in the U.S. South and is used to make grits and corn meal. "Flint corn" isn't grown much in the U.S. these days, but it is grown in Europe and South America. It's used to make polenta (and probably "gaudes"). "Sweet corn" is the corn that's sold as "corn on the cob" and eaten fresh when the ears are still immature. "Popcorn" is... well, used to make popcorn. And finally, "flour corn" is grown in South America. I'm not sure if "masa harina" is made with flour corn or flint corn. Voilà. That's what I've been reading about this morning.
DeleteThose beans look delicious. I shall try them that way too.
ReplyDeleteI do love all your pottery
I also like to cook flat beans with onion, garlic, and either fresh chopped tomato or a light tomato sauce.
DeleteCan you get corn on the cob where you are? Or maybe it's not something you eat, depending on where you grew up...
DeleteY'all took "pichers" o' pitchers!
ReplyDeleteC'est vrai !
DeleteLol Kiwi! Those beans look wonderful, the flat ones are my favorite also. Glad you found the corn!
ReplyDeleteWalt has to go to Blois this morning, and he'll check in a couple of stores to see if we can get more corn.
DeleteAs a Southern Girl, I have my memories of sitting outside and shucking corn for mama to "can" ... Like most things .. I hated it then, miss it now :)
ReplyDeleteI don't think my mother canned corn, but she canned plenty of beans, greens, and pickled onions.
DeleteThe corn looks tasty. I remember those little corn holders or spears, that look like ears of corn. My mother had them in the 1960s and 70s.
ReplyDeleteWe've probably had those corn holders since the 1980s.
Delete