Poached Eggs
What is more wonderful than a poached egg? Many things, perhaps, but not when you’ve been traveling, or you’re in a hurry, or your child has a performance and you’ve got one hour to make and serve a decent meal. Or really at any time at all when you want something delicious and fast. That […]
An Unexpected Adventure
I save mid-winter and early spring for writing, trying my best not to fill my calendar. It’s always a halcyon time where I, like most writers I know and read about, flirt with the unexpected in productivity, moods, and distractions. Being a mother, and the sole proprietor of a very old home with its own […]
Bitter Orange Marmalade
I love phone calls like the one I received the other day from my neighbor, Nathalie. “Suzanne, I have too many bitter oranges, would you like some?” I didn’t hesitate a minute. This is the season for bitter oranges (Seville oranges – they come from Spain) and each year I turn them into marmalade. […]
London’s Towpath Café
I just spent a short week in London, working. The rewards of my visit were many: a successful recording experience; a duskily delicious and intriguing dinner with my Dutch publisher, Jacqueline Smit of Orlando, at Nopi, Yotam Ottolenghi’s paen to Mediterranean flavors; the best Gloucester pork chop of my life at the Abingdon with another […]
Truffle Weekend – New at On Rue Tatin
Truffles, the black diamonds of the Périgord. I have never seen so many as I did last weekend, emerging from the clay-ish red soil, sitting on the kitchen counter, sifting down atop freshly sautéed foie gras, grated into tender butter, folded into slow-scrambled eggs, layered with creamy cheese. The occasion was On Rue Tatin’s first […]
Pesto for Winter
I just harvested my mini crop of basil from the front garden. Until now we have had unseasonable warm temperatures so I left it in the ground,wanting the leaves to eke out every possible gram of flavor from the soil. But today the temperature is dipping and if the plants stay in the ground much longer, the risk is […]
Solid Oil 2
I received a LOT of comments about the Solid Oil post a few days ago. Questions ranged from “Can you substitute it for butter in baking?” to “Can you add seasonings?” and “How long will it stay frozen?” So this post is a quick addendum that will answer those questions. If you’ve got more, let me […]
Toasts de Sardines
With all of the glorious fresh seafood around me here in Normandy, I tend to forget about tinned sardines. I had occasion, recently, to do some research on their production and I needed to taste what I was writing about, so I gathered several different brands, and set to. What I re-learned was that when […]
