In the Wall Street Journal!
By ALEXANDER LOBRANO March 21, 2016 5:05 p.m. ET ON A RECENT Tuesday afternoon, a dozen tiny tartlette crusts in fluted black metal molds released a buttery gust as Susan Hermann Loomis pulled them from the oven. These were nothing fancy, she wanted me to know. “Working people do the best cooking in France,” she […]
Asparagus is Back!
Asparagus is back, asparagus is back!!! The Loire Valley has done its magic, and bunches of white and green, fat, juicy asparagus stalks beckon. I could wait to indulge until Baptiste’s asparagus pokes through the soil of his nearby fields in Criqueboeuf sur Seine. But it’s been a long winter and I cannot. So I expand […]
Sunday Lunch in the Country
I’ve experienced and written a lot about Sunday Lunch, because I think it’s such a warm and admirable French tradition. Families and friends get together to while away the day simply enjoying – a meal, a beautiful table, each other. It’s always a moment hors temps, outside of time, where the clock ticks more slowly, […]
Roast Chicken Antidote
Back from California to a gorgeous, cold, sunny Parisian day then Boom! Awash with rain. So, I’m doing what any sane person would, and filling the house with the glorious scent of roasting chicken. It’s one of the best tonics I know to scare away the post-California sun doldrums! Here is how I do it. […]
California Dreamin’
As I sit and look out the window at the sunny terrace, the sunny pool, the sunny green hills beyond that, for all the world, look like Umbria, I feel a million miles away from home. I’ve signed books at Chino Farm and Warwicks in La Jolla, and taught an amazing private class in Rancho […]
Choucroute
Big vats of choucroute perfume just about every farmers’ market in France. Gloriously fragrant, the cabbage bubbles away, surrounded by hillocks of sausages, smoked pork hock, bacon, and various other pig parts. If you’re in the mood, you simply say “Choucroute pour quatre” or however many you may be, and the vendor packs […]
The Simple Apple Tart
As the simple black dress is my go-to evening attire, this simple apple tart is my go-to dessert. It is so easy. I make my own pastry but if you don’t want to do that, get the best quality pastry you can find. Preheat the oven to 425F (220 C) Roll out the pastry, and […]
Coming to California
Come one, come all to two delicious events for In a French Kitchen in California, guaranteed to brighten the month of February. I’ll be at Chino Farms, in Del Mar, near San Diego, purveyor to the stars and everyone else too. When: Sunday, February 21, 2016, 10:30 am – 12:30 pm Where: The […]
Tapenade in Five – Roughly – Easy Steps
The sun is shining in Aix-en-Provence, whose surrounding region is home to that fabulously flavorful mixture called tapenade. You know it, of course you do. It’s what you dip fennel into, spread on freshly toasted bread, slip under the skin of a chicken before you roast it, or eat right off a spoon. Olives, garlic, […]
Soup as Antidote
Warm, comforting soup is the French antidote to everything – winter’s chill, low spirits, oncoming cold or fever, taxes, strikes, you name it. My household is no exception. And yesterday, with the wind whipping over the ears of the gargoyles on the church across the street, the specter of taxis blocking roads, air traffic controllers […]
