(Side note: Gabrielle has been so kind to email me with tips for lodging and places to visit. We even exchanged emails this week about ordering turkeys at a boucherie - the butcher shop) Thankful for her insight into the Normandy area.
This may sound nuts as to why anyone would want to look for American ingredients we commonly use in the states while in France. True & I agree. However, you get to a day like Thanksgiving and you are craving a homemade whatever, a tradition long been on your holiday table. Where do you find the ingredients for these items? For us, we enjoy the change in tradition this year and eating some French inspired foods. But what for the expat that longs to make mom's chocolate chip cookies or that pie you have been craving that grandma used to make. Well, David Lebovitz to the rescue with his thoughts on ingredients. You will find insight into what ingredients to buy as well as the difference of sugars, flour, measurements, etc.... This is a life saver of an article for one who attempted to purchase Cream Cheese and found bon courage to ask a store employee, "Creme fromage?" Which was met with a puzzling stare and multiple sentences in French trying to inform me where to find it. Ryan and I politely smiled, said "merci" and went on down the dairy aisle praying that Philadelphia Cream Cheese had gone world wide. Believe it or not - we found it and then bought the French version.
Ina Garten shares in Barefoot in Paris about eating radishes with salt alongside baguettes with butter. I do not recall ever eating a radish - but in our exploring the store - the bright red bulb and the green leaves were too hard to resist to give it a whirl at our thanksgiving feast. We will update you with our radish review later.
Bon Appetit!!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteUpdate: We all declared the dinner a tasty treat for our French Thanksgiving. We roasted the dinde for an hour and a half. Half the time we had it covered and half the time uncovered. Prior to baking (remember this is thanksgiving before I share what we did) - we rubbed the whole piece of meat with butter and generously salt & peppered to taste. Then we laid about 6 pieces of thin bacon across the top. To help with the gravy - we poured a thin layer of cream of vegetable soup in the bottom of the pan. It was by far the biggest hit of the day. The mashed potatoes, green bean & corn casserole as well as the cranberry compote were tasty sides. Instead of a baguette, we went for a braided brioche (butter) bread from the bakery - delicious. Now to the radishes... Although beautiful in appearance - I'm still wondering what all the fuss is about. Maybe its me or maybe I just didn't prepare them right to dip in salt - but in the future - I think I have had my fill. Thumbs down on that one.
ReplyDeleteGood to know...no radishes!
ReplyDelete