Savour Fare » Winter

French Cauliflower Soup with Bacon and Herb Garnish

Kate — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 21:23:05 +0000

I sometimes feel like I’m running perpetually behind. Is it 5:00 already? Is it February already? How am I suddenly six months pregnant? Remember that vacation we took to Paris last July? I never shared it with all of you because I just finished editing my photos in DECEMBER. Expect a post in about April.

The nice thing about being behind on things is that reminders can feel like discoveries. When editing my Paris photos, I found the pictures I took at a wonderful meal we ate in the Latin quarter at Bistro y Papilles. Located in a small wine store, with a different set menu every night, it was the kind of wonderful meals that makes you feel like you’re really in Paris. The menu that night started with a velvety cauliflower soup, served at the table in a big tureen. We were presented with shallow soup bowls that were garnished with a “salad” with lardons, croutons, cauliflower, herbs and creme fraiche, and the hot soup was ladled over the salad. All the garnishes brought a wonderful textural contrast to the soup, and it was one of the best things we ate that week.

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Toad in the Hole

Kate — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 13:32:56 +0000

It’s very strange being pregnant in January. It seems like everyone is going on a diet, vowing to lose weight, committing to a high-intensity exercise plan. Me? I’m craving hamburgers, and trying to decide if it’s a good idea to go to a once a week yoga class. I do hope to lose weight this year, but not before I gain a bunch, and I’m just trying to keep up with my protein needs. Oh, and I plan to eat more vegetables.

This time of year has proven to be difficult, anyhow. My dad died a year ago, and while I steeled myself to face the date itself, I’ve found myself feeling a bit more fragile than I normally am. A year is the traditional period of mourning, but while there is a lot of happiness and even joy in my life, I haven’t stopped tearing up unexpectedly, and I still miss him fiercely.

So instead of salads and superfoods, I’ve been seeking out comfort. One of my favorite Friday night dinners is Toad-in-the-Hole — a British classic that’s basically a Yorkshire pudding with sausages. It’s not health food, but it IS comfort food, and it’s made from scratch (OK, I buy the sausages, but you COULD make them from scratch) and there’s a place for that, too.

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Five Easy (Center) Pieces

Kate — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 00:38:51 +0000

Holiday dinners, holiday parties, intimate gatherings with family and friends — cooking is key, but you have to decorate too. You could buy the obligatory bunch of grocery store flowers and stick them in the vase that those roses came in last Valentine’s Day, or you could exercise a little thought and creativity and come up with a simple centerpiece on a budget.

I’m no whiz at floral arranging, but I have a few tips on designing your own centerpieces:

Keep it low. The last thing you want at a dinner party is to discourage conversation by plopping a giant arrangement in the middle of the table! Let your guests see each others’ smiling faces!
Forget the flowers. Flowers can be great, but they’re also a little expected. There are all sorts of other interesting items you can use in an arrangement. See below for some ideas.
Move away from the mixed bouquets. If you do use flowers, avoid those bouquets of 10 different types. Either they cost a fortune or they scream “grocery store!” Stick to one or two types of flowers with interesting colors and textures.
Go crazy with your container. There’s a place for a simple glass vase, but other containers can also lend some pizzazz to a plain arrangement.

Below are ideas for five simple centerpieces you can recreate at home or adapt using the materials you have:

1. A pumpkin we will go

A hollowed pumpkin makes a great vase that lends any arrangement a seasonal air. Here, I combined tiny yellow mums (from the grocery store) with purple Mexican sage (which is taking over my garden). These are combined in a glass jar that’s placed inside a hollowed-out pie pumpkin.

2. A study in scarlet

Seasonal fruits are beautiful and always appetizing on a table. Here I’ve arranged a few pomegranates — one of my favorite, striking fruits — on a bed of cranberries, with their deep red shine. To give this an extra holiday flair, I’ve used a green dish.

3. Chestnuts roasting and an open fire

I always think chestnuts are beautiful and seasonal, and I want to buy them but I don’t want to peel them. Using them for decoration solves this problem. Here, I’ve arranged several chestnuts on a low white tray and placed tealights among them.

4. Citrus Shine

A large bowl of fruit is beautiful and seasonal, and guests may be tempted to help themselves after dinner is finished! I always associate clementines and their scent with the Christmas holidays, and the bright color is welcome on a dark day. I think a simple silver bowl sets off the shining orange beautifully.

5. Christmas Classic

Most arrangements have all the color up top in a rather plain container. Placing cranberries in a glass vase and arranging greens in the berries (here, sprigs of rosemary, which offer a lovely piney scent and also grow like a weed in my garden) inverts expectations and provides holiday colors and fragrance.

All of these took less than five minutes to put together, and would add to any holiday table. What are your favorite holiday centerpieces?

2011 Foodie Resolutions and Hot Milk Punch

Kate — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 00:57:52 +0000

It’s time for celebrating! A year has passed that has had its ups and downs, but now we have a whole new year in which to make mistakes, achieve great things, laugh a lot, love a lot, and cook!

I don’t know if you remember last year’s foodie resolutions, but I’ve been going back to them this year. Shall we review?

1. I’m going to try 3 new foods I’ve never tried before (not 3 new recipes, 3 new FOODs. These are reasonably difficult to find.)

I did this! I had durian custard at a dim sum restaurant last spring, geoduck at , and pandan as part of my Thai Market adventures.

2. I’m going to make the perfect Manhattan.
To the extent this is possible, Check

3. I’m going to make a croquembouche.

Yep. I didn’t take photos though, but this was my mom’s birthday cake this year.

4. I’m going to memorize a recipe for biscuits.
I found a good recipe, but failed to memorize it.

5. I’m going to add at least 3 vegetarian dishes to my regular repertoire.
Check on this. Among more pedestrian fare, I made Jaden’s Garlic Butter noodles, substituting tofu for shrimp, several times.

6. I’m going to cook a meal from at least one cuisine I’ve never attempted.
Well, I didn’t go for a cuisine I’ve never attempted, but I did do a deeper exploration of a cuisine I had cooked from this year.

7. I’m going to shop at ethnic markets.
Check.

8. I’m going to cook with seasonal ingredients.
I’m not at 100%, but cherries in December just seem wrong.
9. I’m going to eat a boatload of strawberries.
Of course! This is a gimme.
10. I’m going to make jam.
Not as much as I would like, but I did make This.

So, now for 2011.

1. I will eat food I’ve grown in my garden.
This will take cooperation from Ken, our resident gardener. Santa was kind enough to stuff his stocking with heirloom fruit and vegetable seeds to get us started.

2. I will make my own bacon.

3. I will incorporate more healthy dishes in my repertoire.
I often fall prey to the siren song of bacon, butter and cream. While there’s nothing wrong with these foods, in moderation, sometimes it’s nice to eat something a little lighter.

4. I will cook less, and photograph more.
I want to take the blog not in a new direction, but a more focused one. Rediscover the real purpose of Savour Fare, if you will. Less time cooking special projects for posting, more time posting about what we really eat.

5. I’m going to shop at farmer’s markets.

I already do this, but nothing wrong with renewing my commitment.

6. I will eat more vegetables.

7. I will bake bread.

I have no plans to take over my family’s bread consumption, but I like the rhythm of it.

8. I will eat ripe tomatoes all summer long.

Eight seems like a good number, doesn’t it? And so I leave you to the last dregs of 2010 with a cocktail recipe for a quieter celebration — hot milk punch. The recipe was given to me by an old friend from my glee club days, who looks dapper in tails and makes a mean cocktail. He’s a true Southern gentleman, through and through. It’s more restrained than eggnog, more festive than hot chocolate, more comforting than a hot toddy. I like this to drink by myself, with a good book, by a roaring fire, on a quiet evening. But the recipe can be expanded, and made into a communal affair.

Happy New Year!

Recipe
Hot Milk Punch

1 fl. oz. gold rum (I’ve also made this with dark rum, bourbon and rye)
1 fl. oz. calvados (you can substitute brandy or cognac)
2 teaspoons sugar
8 oz. hot milk
pinch of mace, for garnish (can also be served with nutmeg)

Combine all the ingredients into a mug or sturdy glass, and enjoy.

Christmas Cheer – Peppermint Pretzel Bark

Kate — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 02:42:09 +0000

The Christmas season is an exciting time for mail. Instead of the usual bills and solicitations (though there are plenty of those), each day’s post brings cards from friends, and my guilty pleasure — Christmas catalogs. I love poring over each one, looking at the Christmas decorations and the Christmas food. Oh the food. I imagine a life where I’m ordering a $200 beef roast and $40 biscuits for Christmas dinner. And then I laugh and recycle the catalogs because WHO BUYS THIS STUFF? When you can make it yourself (and make it better) for less money?

Take peppermint bark. I don’t know who invented it, but for a mere $27 (plus shipping) you can buy it for a loved one for Christmas. Or, for the price of a few ingredients and literally two minutes of your time, you can make it yourself. And you can add pretzels, which elevate your standard, run of the mill pepppermint bark to a whole new level of salty sweet goodness.

You can’t believe how easy this is. Microwave a package of chocolate chips for about a minute, stirring every 15-20 seconds. Mix in a handful of pretzels, spread onto a baking sheet, and pop in the freezer. About 15 minutes later, microwave a package of white chocolate chips, same method. Spread it on top of the hardened pretzel chocolate mixture. Stick a few candy canes in a ziploc bag, whack them a few times with a rolling pin to break them up, sprinkle over the white chocolate, and let the whole thing harden. THAT’S IT. No baking, no candy thermometers. You saved $27 and added some pretzel goodness to boot.

Merry Christmas, says I. Go forth and cook.

Recipe
Peppermint Pretzel Bark

1 12 oz. package chocolate chips
1/2 tsp. peppermint extract (optional)
1.5 cups small salted pretzels
1 12 oz. package white chocolate chips (make sure they have cocoa butter in the ingredients)
1.5 oz. candy canes, broken into small pieces

In a microwave proof bowl, microwave the chocolate chips for 30 seconds, stir, and then microwave in 15 second intervals, stirring between each bout, until the chips are melted. Mix in pretzels, spread as thinly as possible onto a baking sheet lined with parchment and pop in the freezer for 15-30 minutes or until firm.

Repeat the microwaving process with the white chocolate chips. Quickly spread the white chocolate on top of the hardened chocolate pretzel mixture, and sprinkle candy canes on top. Let cool until firm, and using a sharp knife, break into pieces.

Candy Cane Faux-Jo’s

Kate — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 21:09:42 +0000

First, a little note – if you’re in the LA area, please tune in to KCRW’s Good Food (89.9) at 11 am tomorrow (12/11) to hear yours truly yammering about fruitcake. (I think you can also listen to a live stream on kcrw.com) If you’re not in LA, the broadcast should be up on the web after it airs — I’ll post the link next week.

If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you may have gathered that when it comes to Christmas food, I’m a traditionalist. We’ve had the same meal for Christmas dinner every year of my life (even the year I spent Christmas in Florence, Italy), and the same meal for Christmas morning breakfast every year but one (hard to find turkey gravy in Italy). My Christmas baking tends towards either classic Americana, like Sugar Cookies or Bourbon Balls, or classic English Christmas, in the form of Christmas Cake or Mince Pies. And I feel very strongly about the necessity of waking up on Sunday morning and baking Christmas cookies, still in your pajamas.

But sometimes I encounter a newfangled holiday treat that’s so tempting (or addictive) that it becomes a new holiday tradition. If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time you may have realized that I have a deep and abiding love for Trader Joe’s, and never more than at holiday time, when the crack, er, Candy Cane Joe-Joe’s are available. If you’ve never had a Candy Cane Joe-Joe, it’s basically an oreo with crushed up candy canes in the filling. Sounds basic, right? But the sum is so much more than it’s parts. The bits of candy cane stay crunchy in an entirely different way than the cookies stay crunchy. And the whole thing just begs to be dipped in a glass of milk and eaten. In vast quantities.

Never one to leave a good thing well enough alone, I decided to make a homemade version. With the addictive candy cane crunch of the original, plus a rounder flavor and crumblier texture on the chocolate cookie, these Candy Cane Joe-Joe’s/Jojos/Fauxjos/Oreos/Fauxreos are sure to be a new tradition for the Christmas season.

Recipe
Candy Cane Faux-Joe’s
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Makes 25 to 30 sandwich cookies

For the chocolate cookies:
1 1/4 c flour
1/2 c unsweetened Dutch process cocoa (I used a very dark Callebaut cocoa)
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 c. sugar
10 Tablespoons (1 stick + 2 T) salted butter
1 large egg

For the filling:
1/4 c. salted butter (1/2 a stick)
1/4 c. vegetable shortening (measure it by filling a pyrex cup to 3/4 cup with water, then adding shortening until the water level reaches 1 cup)
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. peppermint extract
1.5 ounces candy canes

In a food processor, combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Add the butter and pulse until it’s incorporated, then add the egg. Preheat the oven to 375. Chill the dough for a few minutes in the refrigerator while your oven is preheating.

Take rounded teaspoons of the batter and form them into balls, placed evenly on a parchment lined cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Because these are sandwich cookies, it’s important to make the balls as evenly sized and shaped as possible — I found a melon baller to be useful. With the heel of your hand, flatten each ball slightly — you want them to look like chubby disks.

Bake for 9 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the sheet for a few minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool.

Crush the candy canes — you want there to be recognizable shards, but nothing too big. I found the best way to do this was to put the canes (I used mini) in a ziploc bag, bang them with a rolling pin until they were in small pieces, then roll them with said rolling pin until I had candy cane dust/powder.

To make the filling, combine the butter and shortening in a mixing bowl, and add until combined. Slowly beat in the powdered sugar until incorporated. Add the extract, beat until combined, then add your candy cane “dust” and stir until just combined.

To assemble the cookies, try to match up your cookies with a pair of roughly equal size and shape. Place the filling in a pastry bag and, using a 1/2 inch pastry tip, pipe a small blob of filling right in the center of one of your cookies. Using the other half of the sandwich, press the halves together until the filling has spread to the edge, or nearly. Repeat for the remaining sandwiches.

Try to restrain yourself.

Mince Pies

Kate — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 12:53:09 +0000

One upon a time, long ago, a fair maiden embarked upon a journey across the seas to study arts and letters with great minds of her age. On her journey, she encountered a knight, brave and true, who had set out from the maiden’s homeland on a similar quest. Expecting only to find enlightenment, the maiden and the knight found true love. And every year, in memory of their first meeting, the maiden and the knight (OK, mostly the maiden) prepared a traditional sweetmeat that was consumed during the festive season in this land across the water.

If you didn’t gather from the above fable, mince pies are part of my family mythology, and make an appearance during every Christmas season. In the U.K., they’re ubiquitous this time of year, sold in packs of six everywhere from the cheap kind at the Waitrose supermarket down the street, to the ones sold at Fortnum and Mason and marked “Luxury Brandy Mincemeat Pies.” Mince pies are the taste of Christmastime in London. And that taste is incredible — start with concentrated dried fruit flavors, add the flowing sweetness of brown sugar and butte, brighten with sour lemon juice and tart fresh apple, add a faint bitter note from orange and lemon peels and wrap the whole thing in a flaky pastry. Do you see why these might be just a tiny bit addictive?

Fortunately, since they don’t appear on every street corner on this side of the pond, they’re pretty simple to make. Mincemeat may sound daunting (and offputting – the sugar and spices and brandy were a medieval way to preserve meat, but by Victorian times, the meat was largely forgotten, and my version is entirely vegetarian, made with butter and nothing more frightening than a few raisins) but it’s simple as pie to make — the whole thing takes maybe 20 minutes, start to finish, and the hardest part is dicing up an apple.

After you’ve got the mincemeat made (and you can make it well in advance — it keeps forever in the fridge), it’s just a matter of putting it into pie crust and baking. One thing I must insist on is making mini pies like they have in Britain. Mincemeat is so sweet and rich that the only way to get the proper ratio of pastry to filling is to go small. The ones in the picture are mini 6″ pie pans, but my favorite vessel are disposable 3.25″ aluminum tartlet pans I bought at a restaurant supply store.

And the result? Little bites of Christmas cheer, a nice change from sugar cookies and gingerbread men.

Recipe
Mince Pies

1 double recipe pie crust — enough for a 2 crust pie. (You can also use this sour cream pie crust recipe)
Granulated Sugar

For the mincemeat filling:
Adapted from the Baker’s Field Guide to Christmas Cookies, by Dede Wilson

1 apple, peeled cored, and finely diced
1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter
2 cups packed dark brown sugar
1 cup raisins
3/4 cup golden raisins
3/4 cup dried currants
juice and zest from 1 small lemon
1/4 cup finely diced candied orange peel (Use good quality — I like the stuff I get from http://www.culinarydistrict.com)
1/4 cup brandy

Prepare the pastry dough and chill in chubby disks.

Make the mincemeat – combine all the ingredients except the brandy in a large saucepan, heat to a boil, turn down the heat, and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in brandy and simmer for 5 more minutes. Let cool to room temperature.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Roll out pie dough and line mini pie pans with the dough. Add a few spoonfuls of mincemeat (amount depends on the size of your pans), and top each pie with another circle of crust. Seal the edges and crimp with fingers or a fork. Prick the top of each pie to release steam, and sprinkle with granulated sugar.

Bake for 15 minutes, or until the top crust is browned. Let cool, and serve warm or at room temperature.

Holiday Cheer — the Perfect Manhattan

Kate — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 19:32:04 +0000

It’s crunch time for Thanksgiving. You’ve probably planned your menu, done your shopping and begun cooking. All I can offer at this point is courage. Liquid courage. Chances are, at some point this weekend, between the family and the food and the football and the Friday sales, you will need a drink. And chances are, with the Christmas season coming up, you’ll need more than one. And so I present to you that most hallowed of cold season classic cocktails: The Manhattan.

I tasted my first Manhattan, appropriately enough, in Manhattan, at a tiny Greenwich Village restaurant, and I was hooked. A little sweet, but not too sweet, a little spicy, with warm herbal notes from the bitters — this cocktail tasted like autumn leaves and fireplaces and tailgating and all of the good things about fall and winter. And you can add to that the glamour quotient of drinking a very classic cocktail — you are never embarrassed by ordering a Manhattan, whether you’re on a date, at a client lunch, at a party with friends or meeting your inlaws for the first time. It’s the little black dress of cocktails.

Over the years, I’ve tasted a lot of Manhattans, and I’ve gotten picky enough that I prefer to mix them at home (though if you’re in Los Angeles, Cole’s in Downtown LA has the best classic Manhattan I’ve had in a restaurant in recent memory). I prefer them made with rye whiskey, instead of bourbon (rye is the traditional whiskey for a Manhattan– it’s also more flavorful and spicier, with a finish nicely smoothed by the Vermouth). My favorite rye is Rittenhouse, which has the bonus of being relatively inexpensive, but Piketown, which has a smoother, lighter flavor and is similarly cheap, is a nice alternative. I’ve tried different Vermouths as well — Martini & Rossi is fine, Punt y Mes is good, with a slight bitter edge, but if you can find it, my money is on Vya Vermouth, which has an herbal profile almost more like a fine liqueur than a vermouth. Some people like a “perfect” Manhattan, which has equal parts sweet and dry vermouth, but my personal opinion is that the perfect Manhattan is made with sweet vermouth only. Finish it off with bitters (Angostura, always. I’ve tried orange bitters and they’re just not as good). Many bars serve Manhattans shaken with ice and strained into a martini glass, but I’m a klutz and I like my lowballs, on the rocks.

You can put a maraschino in for garnish, but I prefer amarena cherries in syrup — they are wildly expensive and totally worth it.

This may not be the perfect Manhattan, but I’ve come to realize the perfect Manhattan exists only in my mind. This is pretty darn close. When you’re in need of a little extra holiday cheer, mix yourself a Manhattan. And after a few of them, trust me, EVERYTHING will seem perfect.

Cheers!

Recipe
The Best Manhattan Cocktail

2 oz. rye whiskey (try Rittenhouse or Piketown)
1.25 oz. sweet vermouth (try Vya)
3 dashes Angostura bitters
2 amarena cherries

Combine first three ingredients over ice in a lowball glass. Stir gently, and garnish with amarena cherries.

Happy Birthday to Me – Gingerbread Cake with Whisky Frosting

Kate — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 11:37:47 +0000

Last week was my birthday, so I baked myself a birthday cake. I do realize how pathetic that sounds, but baking my own birthday cake is actually something I like to do — I get exactly what I want, I get to bake, which I actually enjoy, and I can milk the pity for all it’s worth (I had to BAKE MY OWN birthday cake!) (and lest you still feel sorry for me, my mother also baked me a birthday cake for the family celebration we had a few days after my birthday.)

I do love all kinds of cakes, but after making both a yellow cake with chocolate frosting AND strawberry cupcakes for the Nuni’s birthday, I wanted something a little more adult for mine. Something a little more complex. Something that wouldn’t be devoured by a little person within minutes of baking. And that something was gingerbread.

Despite promising beginnings, the Nuni has not seen the light on gingerbread, which she currently deems too spicy, which makes it perfect for my evil plan, er, birthday cake. My love of gingerbread is well-documented — I’ve already written about this classic gingerbread and this chocolate gingerbread. For this cake I wanted something a little lighter and cakier, and I found it, once again, in Laurie Colwin’s More Home Cooking. (Colwin reveres gingerbread almost as much as I do, and if you haven’t yet read this book or her other one, Home Cooking, then you should read them. Right now. I’m not kidding. Stop reading this and go get your hands on those books). This gingerbread, titled “Damp Gingerbread”, which Colwin adapts from Delia Smith, the British Martha Stewart (and another featured recipe writer on Savour Fare) is sweeter and less dense than the original gingerbread I posted, and has the added bonus of being flavored not with molasses, but with Lyle’s Golden Syrup, which is a British caramelized sugar syrup that tastes like home and is addictive like crack (and if you know of a cheaper source for this stuff, please let me know. It’s DIVINE on oatmeal).

Much as I love gingerbread all by its lonesome, a cake isn’t a birthday cake for reals until you add frosting. And in the “adult” theme, and the “British” theme, I decided to flavor my icing, a basic and classic buttercream, with scotch whisky, which may just be the best idea I’ve had all year. Like the classic English brandy butter (traditionally served with Christmas plum pudding) only with a deeper, more complex and slightly smoky flavor. The whisky cuts the sweetness that can often mar buttercream, and at the same time rounds it out, making it mellower and more lasting. And the whole shebang complements the spicy richness of the gingerbread.

Happy birthday to me. I’m not sharing.

Recipe
Gingerbread Cake with Whisky Frosting
Cake
Adapted from Laurie Colwin’s More Home Cooking1 can Lyle’s Golden Syrup (about 16 oz. or 1.5 cups)
1 stick butter (8 Tablespoons)
2 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1.5 tsp. baking soda
1 Tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1 egg, beaten
1 cup milk
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line the bottom of a 9 inch cake pan (2 inches deep) with parchment and spray the sides with baking spray.

Melt butter and syrup together.

Into a bowl mix flour, salt, syrup and spices. Add the syrup and butter mixture and mix well.

Add egg and milk, and stir until the mixture is combined.

Pour into the cake pan and bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes — it’s OK if the cake still seems a bit damp in the center. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out and cool on a rack.

Using a serrated knife, cut the cake in half horizontally. Fill and top with whisky buttercream.

For whisky buttercream:
1/2 cup butter
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
3 Tablespoons scotch whisky

Combine all ingredients and bake until fluffy.

Giveaway, The Auberge of the Flowering Hearth and Endive Salad with Bacon

Kate — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:22:12 +0000

As I may have mentioned before, I generally receive a several cookbooks for major gift-giving occasions. This isn’t surprising; after all, I have a known cookbook problem, and I have several cookbooks on my Amazon wishlist. I’m fairly familiar with the major cookbooks that are released, what the buzz is, and what the classics are. But this Christmas my aunt (who is a fantastic cook) gave me a book I had never heard of — the Auberge of the Flowering Hearth, by Roy Andries De Groot. “It’s the book that inspired Alice Waters,” she told me. I thanked her politely and added the book to my already crowded shelf of food and cookbooks.

A month or so later, I had finished my book club book for that month and was looking for something to read, and my eye fell on the Auberge. The book is unassuming, with its seventies cover and relatively unknown author (who was at some point the President of the Gourmet Club, which I’m sure had some real meaning in 1973, but sounds made up to me, like something an enterprising high school student would use to pad their college application), but I thought it would be an excellent soothing bedtime read.
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