Biftek haché, sauce au vin rouge, poivre noir, et champignons de Paris

For yesterday's lunch, we needed something fortifying, given the lousy weather we've been having. We both have head colds. Walt is coughing a lot.

I decided to make a variation on steak au poivre. I substituted red wine for white in the sauce, and I added mushrooms. I made it with ground beef, the way I used to make it for my friends in Paris. Ground beef is tender and lean. Grass-fed beef, which is what we get in France, can be a little tough, unless you spend a fortune on the very best cuts. A nice Côtes du Rhône Villages red wine (for less than four euros) went well with it all.

To finish the meal, I made a salad of escarole (scarole in French) and beets (betteraves) dressed with vinaigrette. All this is standard French fare — the kind of food you might get in a little neighborhood café or brasserie. It's hearty and tasty served with good French bread and wine. Beets are a classic addition to winter salads made with "bitter greens" like scarole, frisée (curly endive), and endives (Belgian endive).