Décembre 2006 (2)

Here's some indoor beauty from December 2006. We don't travel at this time of year because the weather is so iffy. We stay home, take walks with the dog, and spend a lot of time in the kitchen.

This is one of Walt's special apple tarts. They taste as good as they look.

And this is gâteau basque that I made in December 2006. It's a pie with a crust made of shortbread dough (pâte sablée) and a filling of crème pâtissière (pastry cream) or cherry preserves — or better: both. Here's a recipe in English.

These are Italian-style biscotti. They're twice baked dough that is flavored with ingredients like raisins or dried cranberries and nuts (pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts). They are first cooked, then sliced, and then dried in a hot oven to make them very crispy. Walt makes them.

We eat poultry in winter — chickens, turkeys, ducks, guinea fowl, capons — frequently oven-roasted. We serve them with "dressing." This is cornbread dressing (or stuffing), a kind of savory bread pudding.

We have a favorite poultry vendor who sets up on Saturdays at the weekly outdoor food market in Saint-Aignan. They sell farm-raised birds. We can also get farm-raised, free-range (élevé en liberté) birds like this one at the supermarket.

And since I come from the state of North Carolina in the U.S. southeast, on New Year's Eve you'll find me cooking black-eyed peas (cornilles in French). They are traditionally served on January 1. Portuguese people love them too, so they are widely available in France.