Caprese Socca...and Bouteville

An easy, delicious, and refreshing summer delight, Caprese salad is a cool, light way to enjoy the unbeatable trio of mozzarella, tomatoes, and basil. A slight autumnal chill is enough reason for harvesting the last of our potager's annual herbs and ripe tomatoes, so let's adapt this lovely dish into a warmly filling one.

Socca is a savoury pancake made from chickpea flour

Ingredients
feeds two for a light lunch/supper or a satisfying meal for one

• 8 T of chickpea flour
• 8 T of water
• 1/4 tsp salt
• mozzarella, 4 thin slices
• tomatoes, 5 thin slices
• Basil, fresh, a small bunch
• Olive oil, 1 to 2 T
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• fleur de sel, olive oil, chiffonade of basil, sherry/balsamic vinegar for garnishing

Whisk flour, water, and salt together. Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed skillet (23 cm/9 inch diameter), preferably well-seasoned iron or non-stick till hot enough to make water drops dance. Pour in the batter and quickly swirl the pan to even out the socca. Lower the flame. With a narrow spatula, work around edges to loosen as it cooks. More oil can be added to ensure a crusty browning and easy removal.

When it is mostly dry on top which takes a  few minutes, place the tomatoes, then cheese, and finally the basil. Cook till cheese melts and tomatoes are warm or another five minutes or so. Salt and pepper. Fold over, cut into two, and serve. Sprinkle fleur de sel/olive oil/sherry or balsamic vinegar and arrange chiffonade of basil on top.

Crunchy, creamy, saucy!

For last week's jaunt in our electric car, a Renault Zoe, we headed west once again, this time in the direction of Cognac. We explored a bit at Bouteville which is halfway to our destination. A ruined and pillaged chateau is undergoing partial restoration.

Presently the renovation is focused on a part of the upper story.

As we had the place to ourselves, the peace and quiet was most welcome. Ivy softened the edges of grey stone. I was happy to see the green abundance setting many seeds, but probably not as happy as the birds who will eat them throughout the winter.

Though we found strolling around the Chateau grounds and driving through the small village pleasant, the surrounding vineyards which could be seen from just about anywhere—neatly framed through arches, shimmering at the end of narrow streets lined with stone-houses—are stupendous.

Having seen quite a lot of vineyards, both here and in Napa Valley, I was amazed at how these, whose grapes make Cognac, are kept in the most pristine condition. No weeds or overgrown grass paths to be seen.

l'Ugni Blanc grape is an important varietal for making Cognac

The Calm One and I would love to hike on the trails. Maybe when les vendanges (harvesting of grapes destined for wine making) is in full swing...

Sentier/path, Chaumes/stalks remaining after grain harvest & coteaux/hilly vineyards

Cognac which we have visited previously is an engaging town, but this time we just wanted to test the Zoe's mileage limits and the availability of no-cost, rapid charging. So we repaired to the supermarket hosting the service, and after thirty minutes returned to find the Zoe close to being fully charged. And we got the grocery shopping done too!

The supermarket places the charge point close to the entrance facilitating shopping, etc.

Back in Angouleme, Dirac's desire to scrunch his furry self into small boxes continues.

If it contains anything, he tries to remove the offending objects—with a little help from us—so he can settle down comfortably.

The box is labeled CAT after all...

À la prochaine!

Herbs, Soup, Pasta & Fall Harvest...and the Charente countryside

Harvest is in the air which is still warm though tinged with a cool undercurrent. Annual herbs, like dill, parsley, marjoram, basil, and chives, all potted up in the spring, are getting their final trimming of the season. How to use that last flush of fresh herbs? In a nice pot of creamy potato, onion, dill, parsley, chives, and saucisses de Strasbourg soup...

Recipe link is at the end of this post

...or tossed with tagliatelle along with garlic, capers, olive oil, a little of the water from the pasta pot, salt, freshly ground black pepper, and Parmesan.

The trio of parsley, capers, and garlic are made for pasta

Delice de la Table, though a fantastic French variety of cantaloupe, is a challenge to ripen on the vine, at least this season with its short bouts of rain and long, bone-dry periods causing splitting which in turn means harvesting not fully ripe melons. But one did make it to full maturity and what a beauty it is! It matched the wondrous flavour of the others, but unlike those, its texture was equally wondrous. This is the best variety I have ever tasted.

When ripe, the skin turns a light golden with darker spots

Piments des Landes which are sweet when mature are being picked. There are some green, piquant ones on the plant that may need to be harvested before they have a chance to turn red.

Not quite a peck of peppers, and certainly not pickled, at least not yet.

The golden acorn squash bounty goes so well against the blue seat of our electric car, a Renault Zoe.

Though the car can be charged overnight chez nous when needed and at fairly low cost, we sometimes take advantage of the free, rapid charge provided by a nearby supermarket.

For last week's jaunt, we again headed west towards the village of Trois-Palis, leaving the Zoe near cornfields parallel to the Charente river.

Most of the corn grown in France is not delicious to humans, that is, it is not sweet corn, but food for livestock.

One side were cornfields, the other, the Charente...

How to take a photo of a gorgeous blue sky and billowing clouds? Turn your ankle in a cornfield path's pothole hidden by lush grass, fall face down with the camera and its fully extended zoom lens hanging from your neck so the whole kit and caboodle slams into your sternum in an exquisitely painful manner which you will never forget, then turn over on your back when the throbbing lessens a bit, and realise you got your camera, the sky, and an attractive angle exactly where you want them to be. In case if you were wondering, the photographer, camera, and cornfield are all doing fine. The sky, too, the last time I had the courage to look. And yes, I certainly put the fall in the harvest this time around...

Don't try this at home, kids!

À la prochaine!

RELATED POST

How to make potato/onion soup with herbs, crème fraîche, & saucisses de Strasbourg (some photos are corrupted in this old post but recipe remains correct!)

Late Summer Pizza...and tootling about

A brief respite from torrid temperatures spurred us to make pizza after a long period of deprivation. How long? Unbearably long.

Wonderful 'Liguria' tomatoes from our potager

Homemade pizza, we missed you! (Recipe link is at the bottom of this post.)

Toulouse sausage, mushrooms, mozzarella, Parmesan & tomatoes on slow-rise dough crust

Since we now have a Renault Zoe, a rearing-to-go electric car, we are planning to do an outing each week. We went exploring west of our city, Angouleme. Our first stop was a pathway along the Charente River near St. Michel.

Bamboos are very appreciated in France

Walking through a green tunnel made of foliage is one of the most calming experiences in the universe.

The winding Charente River is noted for its enchanting beauty.

Near the very pretty village of Trois-Palis were fields of sunflowers. Their drooping heads, laden with black seeds, mean their harvesting will be fairly soon.  Unless the birds get to them first.

Sunflower oil is one of our favourites

Right off the field was a farm...

...composed of stone buildings.

Solid & practical for sure, but also not without graceful lines

Dirac the Young Cat has done a cursory inspection of the Zoe's interior. Cursory because when he started to claw the driver seat's back, The Calm One showed him the door. In the house, he is interested in boxes but only if they are small.

We have lost count of the number of scratches Dirac proudly carries on his handsome nose.

À la prochaine!

RELATED POST

How to make pizza (some of the photos got corrupted on this old post, but the instructions remain correct!)

Ginger Cantaloupe Lassi with Raspberry Cream...and we got an electric car!

A French variety of cantaloupe, Delice de la Table, is being harvested presently in our potager. Its sweetness, flavour, shape, and colour are exceptional, but not its texture which is a bit fibrous so into the lassi glass it goes!

Raspberries are from our potager also

With judicious sieving, this makes a creamy, energising, late-summer breakfast or lunch.

Delice de la Table is deeply ribbed and when halved...

...it presents a most pretty scalloped, verdant edge.

Ingredients
makes one tall glass

• Cantaloupe, chilled, scrubbed well, seeded, peeled, and cubed
• Ginger, minced, 1 T
• Yogurt, chilled, 250 ml/8 fluid oz, reserving 1 heaping T for the raspberry topping
• Raspberries, a large handful
• Cream, 1 T
• Confectioner's/icing/powdered sugar for sweetening to taste the raspberry cream
• Garnishes: melon slivers and raspberries

Put the raspberries in a fine sieve over a bowl. First crush with a fork and then squash around with a rubber spatula, making sure you use a clean spatula to scrape the outside bottom of the sieve.  Blend a heaping tablespoon of yogurt and one of cream with the raspberry coulis. Sweeten with powdered sugar to taste. Put in the freezer.

Put the cubed melon along with the ginger into a food processor and mix until mostly crushed. Make a melon coulis the same way you did with the raspberries omitting mashing first with a fork. Whisk the melon coulis and yogurt till smooth.

Pour into a tall glass, spoon on the raspberry cream, and top with fresh melon/berries. Velvety and with an exquisite taste, this lassi made me glad that there are melon seeds for planting next season.

The days are still hot enough that I stay indoors except for early morning and evening so I often peek out through the shutters/awning.

Golden acorn squash is close to harvest

Ivy growing up one of the pergola's pillar and a sprawling rose of Sharon

The last car The Calm One and I owned was when we lived in America about a quarter of a century ago! That's because combustion-engine cars are hot, noisy, stinky, drip oil at the latest provocation, eat up gasoline more quickly than I a meal, and depreciate faster than paper currency. Not to mention their deleterious impact on the environment. Since then we made do with company/rental cars, public transportation, our feet, and in the case of grocery shopping, The Calm One's back.  However, at present, there is a suitable option. Though our sweet dreams are made of Tesla, we settled for a Renault Zoe.

Basically a computer on wheels, here it is charging merrily away

We both love how it accelerates, briskly that is, like all electric vehicles, and quietly, so much so, we are constantly surprising pedestrians who first are startled and then break into contagious smiling. Expect a lot of tootling about from us. Beaujolais Nouveau season is around the corner...then there is Toulouse...and we can't forget Aubeterre sur Dronne or Bouteville or Charmant...

À la prochaine!

RELATED POST

Spiced Blackberry Lassi

RELATED LINK

A combustion-engine car tested by a Swedish owner of an electric car...a hilarious read!

Pan-Grilled Tomato Basil Cheddar Sourdough Rye Sandwich

Plenty of tomatoes along with basil are still making their way from the potager into our kitchen. Cheddar, since it has to compete for the Gallic palate with so many venerable French cheeses, is usually sold in small, pale-golden bricks, that is, when you can find one. One such beauty was gracefully residing in the fridge thanks to the shopping skills of The Calm One.

Meaty and with few seeds, 'Liguria' variety is wonderful for grilled sandwiches. These gorgeous, lobed, pear-shaped, pink toms slice cleanly.

Since they are more fleshy than juicy, a substantial amount can go into the filling without defeating the purpose of grilling a sandwich, that is, to flaunt its resplendent, permeated-with-butter crunchiness.

General instructions for making grilled cheese is found here. Main points are to grate the cheese, butter the sides of the bread slices touching the pan, and press down with a potato masher while grilling.

The basil leaves are an excellent addition and made this sandwich taste super fresh.

In the potager, beds are being prepared for late fall/early winter crops like broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, and spinach.

Cantaloupes are nearly ripe

Ivy covering a wall received vigourous attention from my secateurs. Arriving at fencing unadorned with ivy, I was coaxing some long branches to weave themselves into that new substrate when I noticed...

...a lizard shielding its body from the sun by chilling-out in a hollow fence post.  Its tiny head resembled an ancient stone carving which ignored my rustling the ivy around it.

The way of lizard sunning:  body, no, head, yes.

Late summer is perfect for harvesting and processing herbs for the winter by chopping them, adding a bit of water or oil, and then freezing in ice cube trays. They also can be dried by spreading them on wire racks or a flat plate. Then crumble and store in containers.

Rosemary

À la prochaine!

Tomato Marjoram Granita, Greek Yogurt, Sliced Avocado & Crushed Corn Chip Verrine

A verrine is a French style of presenting an appetiser which is served layered in a small glass. For l'apéritif dinatoire, the filled glasses are placed on a tray and served to guests. Since I supersized mine, it made do as a luscious, refreshing, and nourishing lunch/light supper.

The tomato granita's icy, intense flavour along with a pronounced corn chip crunch contrasted beautifully with the mellow, avocado/yogurt creaminess.

A canning jar filled about 2/3rds

INGREDIENTS

• Tomato granita, recipe below
• Avocado, seed & peel removed and sliced thinly
• Yogurt, Greek-style or regular drained overnight
• Corn chips, put in a dish towel/plastic bag and crushed with a rolling pin
• Garnishes: tomato chunks, avocado/lemon slices, marjoram sprigs, yogurt

For about a liter/quart of granita, chop coarsely four large tomatoes of the very best quality, mix in a small processor or crush with a potato masher, and push through a fine sieve. Add a teaspoon olive oil and salt, lemon juice, and dried marjoram to taste. Pour into a shallow dish that will fit in your freezer, like a cake pan. Every hour break up the ice crystals with a rubber spatula until frozen which can take up to around five hours. When ready to serve, scrape it with the tines of a fork. For the verrine, start with yogurt, followed by the chips, then the avocado (place the green side against the glass), and finally the granita. Repeat. Top with yogurt dollops, lemon slice, piece of tomato, and fresh marjoram sprig.

In the garden, the wild area consisting mostly of brambles, weed trees, and nettles is flourishing. Sheltering lizards, birds, mice, and hedgehogs, it contributes greatly to biodiversity.

The wild blackberries have good taste but too many tough bits so I use them for making coulis

The peppers are turning red, dressing up their spot to the hilt.

Piments des Landes are mildly hot when green but sweet when red 

The broccoli and Brussels sprouts sowed in pots about six weeks ago are ready to be transplanted...

...into their beds.

All twenty-four crucifers will go into the ground within the week

Most of our dahlias are dwarf or sturdy, upright taller ones because if I can avoid staking a plant, I do so. They will continue to nourish insects all the way into autumn.

Dirac the Young Cat has several favourite spots: the asparagus patch, the bit of room between the raspberry bushes and the sauvage space, and assorted window sills overlooking the front garden and the potager.

He sometimes shuns the towel on the sill for the Calm One's decrepit jacket spread on the potting table

If he hears an intriguing sound, he just lifts his head to check if a sprint into the potager is merited.

Not now, maybe next time?

À la prochaine!

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Roasted sweet red pepper and garlic spread/dip