I’m leaving my sea level home and garden for a winter in the French Alps. Excited? Yes I am! A bit apprehensive? That too!
So I’ve been pondering, what is it that I’ll be doing when I’m in the snowy mountain village? And how will I cope without my kitchen garden and my kitchen? I think it will be a challenge, but a fun one. We’ll be living in a teeny appartment, half way up a hill from the village, it has all the basics, is cosy, is around the corner from friends, and I’m sure we’ll make it feel like home. I will need to figure out ways to distract myself and wean myself away from my garden….
And then I got to thinking that I keep reading all these great recipe ideas here on WordPress, why don’t I use my time in France to get round to making some of them?
So this is where the Promenade WordPress Recipe Challenge bit comes in. I’d like you to recommend a favourite dish for me to cook while I’m in France
There are a couple of caveats – I’d prefer them to be vegetarian, my Mountain Man is a veggie (I on the other hand will cook and eat pretty much anything, and do), so it’s would be easier and more practical if the recipes are veggie or can be easily adapted. Don’t rule out prawns and fish, I love them too much not to cook with them.
I’d like to try out some more entrée / hors d’oeuvre dishes. I picture us sitting down sipping a glass of something lovely and nibbling equally delicious snacks, before we eat our main meal. How civilised would that be? This girl needs to dream, OK?
I don’t often make puddings or deserts. SHOCK HORROR, I know. But it would be nice to have a cake or biscuits (cookies) around the house so we can have a slice with a cup of tea after a hard day out on the slopes.
So let me know what you think I would like to cook. Maybe a favourite of yours. I love spicy food, and anything that involves garlic, we’ll be taking our own, is that a bit like taking sand to the Arabs? I’ll also be bringing some of our homegrown pumpkins, which come December and January will be nicely cured and ready to use. Well, I can’t leave them home-alone after all my efforts at growing them.
I’d love to hear your recommendations, and I’ll be sure to let you know how they turn out. I want to try and make at least 1 dish a week based on recommendations from fellow WordPress bloggers. We’ll be in the mountains for roughly 4 to 5 months, so that’s plenty of time to try some great WordPress recipes out.
I’ve already tried a few dishes from my blogging friends but what can you tempt my taste buds with for this coming French winter?
Humm! I’ll think in the perfect recipe for you…just give me a minute 🙂
Plenty of time, but looking forward to what you suggest 🙂
Hello again. Ok I suggest the rice with chiken http://bluejellybeans.wordpress.com/2011/06/17/rice-with-chicken/
the Gorgonzola and Honey Bruschette fron The Bartolini kitchen: http://fromthebartolinikitchens.com/2011/11/11/gorgonzola-and-honey-bruschetta/
and the St. James cake: http://bluejellybeans.wordpress.com/2011/07/25/st-james-cake/
I hope you like them 🙂
Fantastic, and thanks for the recommendations! I’ve just been to look at the dishes, and I’m drooling, which is probably not a very pretty sight 🙂 Claire
Ok, couple of questions:
Do you bake bread, or want to learn to bake bread?
Is your apartment kitchen equiped with an oven, or just a stovetop? (I ask because we have no oven in our Paris apartment… 😦 )
What are your thoughts on cheese?
I have a couple of things in mind…
Hi, oooo now I’m intrigued!
I have made bread, once, but am always up for a challenge.
The appartment does have an oven (if my memory serves me right)
Thoughts on cheese – love it! I just have to limit myself a bit. And as we’ll be in the alps there are some stunning local cheeses.
Oh what a fun idea. Now, seeing that you don’t bake often, I thought I would share a super quick and easy and exceptionally yummy cookie recipe so here goes:
Custard Cookies: – http://wp.me/pT5Tj-t7
Promise they are really worthwhile making and will go down well with a cuppa after your day on the slopes.
Enjoy.
🙂 Mandy
Hi Mandy and thanks for joining in on the fun:) And Oooooo those look melt in the mouth delicious! Claire
Fantastic challenge! I will have to get back to you.
Hi and thanks for popping in, I’ll look forward to your suggestion. The more the merrier 🙂
Hi, Claire. I am so happy to discover your blog and this post makes me think you are now not far from where I live (Switzerland). You probably know what dish I would advise for your Winter evenings 😉 Tartiflette is obligatory when you come to French Alps.
My advice would be: moules à la marinière (mussels in white wine, very easy and quick and luscious), financiers (soft almond cakes), far breton (delicious thick custard with prunes…) and confit de canard (duck legs slowly cooked for many hours in duck fat… it’s to die for). All those are on my blog. If you need any advise or help, let me know.
If you like cheese, taste as many varieties as you can! And great dry French sausages…
Try making all sorts of tarts! (I plan posting one with a certain cheese very soon, it’s perfect for Winter). Thank you for visiting my blog and good luck with French Winter cooking!
Hi there, oh we’ll practically be neighbours! I can ski into Switzerland from where we are in the Porte Du Soleil 🙂
And YES to Tartiflette. One of my plans is to try some classic French cokkery, particularly anything from the Savoie.
I’m going to have to go and check up on financiers and Far Breton, as I don’t recall having eaten those before, I love trying new things out.
And oh, confit du canard, one word, Sublime
tarts are a great idea, and if I’m in a lazy pants mood it means buying the pre-made pastry from the shop before hand, I just always have to double check though whether they are salt or sugar, I tend to forget mostly 🙂
Right, I’m back off to check out your blog again a bit more, it a lovely read.
Just to make you feel better: I almost always buy ready-made pastry (pâte feuilletée and pâte brisée) and most French do (I have once heard even a famous confectioner saying he never makes his own tart crust at home, but buys the ready-to-use one).
Both are slightly salty and the sweetened version doesn’t exist so don’t worry! You can make both sweet and savoury tarts with the same crust.
For me the important thing is the 100% butter (no margarine etc.). The taste is so much better. Look for “pure beurre” on the package. (As you see I go shopping to France most of the time…)
The shopping bit is one thing I’m really looking forward to. What is it about another country and it’s shops that is so much more appealing than your own?! And thanks for the thumbs up on the shop bought pastry, that’s the way I’ll go 🙂
What a great idea! And what a wonderful way to sen a Winter. I’ll have to give this one some thought …
I’m really looking forward to your suggestion 🙂
“… a wonderful way to spend a Winter.”
Yikes!
I love the word Yikes !!
I’m jealous…how I’d love to spend a winter in the Alpes!! A warm fireplace to sit in front of and watch will be a nice change from your garden…at least for a few months!! I’d bake biscotti! They last a few weeks so you’ll have a cookie jar filled for the winter! I have a complete biscotti category on my site, so pick your favorite!!
Biscotti it is then! I’ll pop along soon and choose a recipe. And thanks for joing in 🙂
I think I’m going to miss my garden, it’s such an integeral part of me. I wonder if I will get “snow blindness”?! I’m sure I’ll enjoy it tho.
Your trip is becoming a reality for your followers! Thank you giving us a opportunity to travel along with you. Lovely thoughts of you shopping, returning home and cooking a nice comforting meal on a cold snowy day. I offer my favorite Oatmeal Apricot Almond Cookie recipe to warm your kitchen and comfort you, enjoy! http://bit.ly/lKZ85Z
Hi Deb, and ooooo, Oatmeal Apricot Almond Cookies, they sound scrummy. And I love the mixture of flavours, I’m looking forward to trying them out already!
Sigh…a winter in the French Alps! Oh it all sounds so glorious! I hope you’ll be taking lots of photos for us! 🙂
Hi Celia, it’s a long held dream to be able to take the time and do this trip. And I’ll definitely be out there with the cameras. There is always plenty to see and admire. I hope to be able to do some walking, there are some wonderful trails through the woods, which I’m sure in winter will be very magical
I just had vegan friends over for dinner and made cioppino (http://lulumusing.wordpress.com/2011/10/28/4884/) with no seafood. I subbed vegetable broth for clam juice and potatoes (sweet, red and gold) for the seafood. It must have been good because there were no leftovers!
Thanks for your visit. Do come again, and I will look forward to following your winter adventures.
Hi and thanks for joining in on the winter adventure:)
Your recipe sounds like a perfect winter warmer, I can sometimes sneak a few prawns into dishes, so I’ll be sure to do this along with your recommendation of subbing potatoes. and I’m not the least bit surprised there were no leftovers!
What a brilliant time you will have, I can’t wait to see your photos. Here is my almond cake recipe, it is a traditional recipe I think maybe Italian. It keeps really well. I also have a recipe for delicious Viennese biscuits somewhere. I will hunt it out.
I fell in love with food in France, I was only 13 and didn’t even know what I was eating, but I still remember the taste.
http://goldcoastlocal.wordpress.com/recipes/a-traditional-almond-cake-delicious-and-dairy-free/
Great recipe, thanks for joining in!
I went to France for the first time when I was 13 too as an axchange student, and remember the hot chocolate for breakfast. What a great way to start the day. And of course being in France we had watered down wine with our long lazy lunches 🙂
Does it have to be something we’ve cooked before as well or do we just give you the dish and you have to find a recipe? I love skiing in France and pigging out. Where do I start??? Let’s see… Tarteflette, palmiers, cheese fondue with kirsch and morelles? Croque Monsieur… God I’m getting hungry just thinking about them…! 🙂
To be honest it doesn’t matter too much, but I thought it would be fun to try cooking some of the recipes from my fellow bloggers, so it can be anything you like (prefer veggie). I have tartiflette at the ready, and to be honest we go for fondue once a year to a friends and it is AMAZING! Oh and it doesn’t have to be at all alpine in nature. Your choice 🙂 And am chuffed you are joining in !
Ok I found one that seriously made me drool, plus it comes with the added challenge of hunting for a suitable ingredient if you can’t get the one names. Ready?
Cipollini and Bleu de Gex Tart Recipe | Leite’s Culinaria
http://leitesculinaria.com/1677/recipes-cipollini-and-bleu-de-gex-tart.html
Let me know what you think 🙂
Oh my that looks AMAZING! So I’ll get my deer stalker hat on and go on the hunt for Bleu de gex 🙂 Loving it, and thanks for a great recipe 🙂
Hi Claire, am working my way through your posts and have now worked out that you are currently Up a Mountain – so really think you should try some of my Up the Mountain stews! Most can be adapted to be vegtarian, and would be wonderful to warm you up after a long day on the slopes 🙂
http://chicaandaluza.wordpress.com/2011/11/29/potaje-de-lentejas-lentil-stew/
http://chicaandaluza.wordpress.com/2011/11/01/fabada-asturian-sausage-and-beans/
or a soup (you could use veggie stock)
http://chicaandaluza.wordpress.com/2011/02/16/onions-and-rainbows-onion-soup-for-a-rainy-day/
Hope you are having fun!
Fabulous! I love beans, I’ve bought some dried and some in jars, so these recipes will be perfect. And are you a mind reader? I’ve been thinking about making a veggie French Onion Soup, as usually the stock is beef, and soup is a perfect lunch here in the mountains 🙂