A weekend of cooking!

It's been a great cooking weekend. Saturday night, I made sole meunière -- a wonderful buttery dish that you don't see much anymore. It's really pretty simple: sole filets (very thin, very subtle flavor), with a light dusting of flour. The filets are cooked quickly in hot clarified butter, then plated with a good dose of lemon juice. Once the fish is removed from the pan, you add four tablespoons (yes!!!) of good butter. After the butter finishes foaming, you pour the butter over the fish and serve immediately. We ate the fish with brown rice and Melissa D'Arabian's roasted broccoli with parmesan.

Today, we had grilled pork chops and my American adaptation of pommes sarladaise. Again, pretty simple. I sliced potatoes on the mandoline then tossed them into a pan of hot clarified butter (yes!!!!!!) and four whole cloves of garlic. Keep the pan hot and let the potatoes begin to brown. Then, the trick is to cover the pan and let the potatoes steam for 15-20 minutes. Remove the cover, turn up the heat, and let those taters brown until crispy. Fantastic!

Finally, Rachel decided to take quiche Lorraine to her Bible study tonight, so we made two -- one for her, one for me! An authentic quiche Lorraine has no cheese, so it's really very easy. We made a crust, then pre-baked it for ten minutes with "lardons" of bacon scattered on the bottom. After the bacon has begun to cook, add a mixture of four eggs and 20cl of sour cream (sorry, French friends, no crème fraiche) that has been whisked together with some salt and pepper. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes until done. Serve with a green salad, and you've got a lovely Sunday evening dinner!

Sorry, no pictures. Nothing lasted long enough to photograph...

Clarified Butter

For years, I've read about clarified butter. It's better to cook with, as it does not burn as easily as whole butter. But I've never tried it. Well, today's the day. On the menu this evening is sole meuniere (think Julie & Julia, early on, when Julia and Paul are eating at a restaurant in Rouen. Julia looks at a dish and says passionately, "Butter...").

Clarifying butter is easy. Take a pound of unsalted butter (or any amount), and melt in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. It will bubble and boil, and bubble and boil some more. Skim off the foam as it cooks. After several minutes, you will be able to tell that the butter is thickening and becoming clearer. Watch carefully, as the milk solids will go to the bottom. When they barely begin to brown, put your pan in a bowl of cold water to stop the cooking. Voila! Clarified butter. Pour it off in another container, leaving the solids in the pan.

Clarified butter will keep in the refrigerator for weeks.

The Fried Twinkie

Over Labor Day weekend, we traveled to Memphis to visit my Mom and Dad. While there, all the kids, Gramps, and I went to the Delta Fair -- something new since my day, but fun nonetheless. When I was a kid, everyone went to the Mid-South Fair, where you rode dangerous rides, watched people make sculptures out of butter, saw Jerry Lawler and Dutch Mantell wrestle, and ate. I even saw Waylon Jennings in concert one year.

Classic fair fare, of course: corn dogs, gyros, Memphis BBQ, popcorn, corn on the cob, funnel cakes. I loved the fair.

As I mentioned in my last post, though, I mentioned that I've been watching Food Network this summer and have seen several shows about fried fair food. Apparently, they've been frying everything from corn to Oreos to Snickers bars. Oh my.

And Twinkies.

When we got to the fair, I started scouting out the food. Sure enough, every stand had lists of deep fried wonders. I even saw one place where the adventurous could try "fried dough." Not for me.

I did try a Twinkie, though. I couldn't help it. I walked up to the trailer and placed my order. The lady inside took a real Twinkie, put it on a stick, battered it with funnel cake batter, and dropped it into hot oil. Doesn't get much easier than that. After a moment, the delicacy was golden brown and, with a generous sprinkling of powdered sugar, ready to go.

And it wasn't bad. It was pretty good, really, as long as you only take one or two bites. I shared the delectable morsel with everyone else, and everyone was happy.

Until we rode the "Fire Ball..."

Good diet food

Well, I started a food blog. Then, I went on a diet.

Here's the problem: I have gained about twenty-five pounds since we moved by to the US from France. All kinds of reasons for that, but now I'm 41 and in desperate need of better habits. Doesn't mean I'm completely leaving my beloved cheeses or meat or pie. Just being more careful.

Last weekend, we made a Moroccan-inspired chicken dish with couscous. Wasn't quite perfect, so I'll wait to post the recipe. It involved chicken thighs, fire-roasted tomatoes, lemons, olives, zucchini, squash, onions -- oh my! I'll keep working on it and let you know...

For now, though, it's more veggies, less sugar, and as few processed foods as possible.