Date I made these recipes:
July 27, 2014 (The last day of Le Tour de France)
Normandy Gastronomique by Jane Sigal; Foreword
by Anne Willan; Photography by Debbie Patterson
Published by:
Abbeville Press (Out of Print book)
ISBN: 1-55859-496-5
Purchased at Strand
[bookstore] NYC
Recipe: Warm Scallop Salad with Cress and Vegetables
(Salade de Coquilles Saint-Jacques) – p. 36-37
Step-By-Step Tapas
& Spanish Cookery
Published by: Greenwich Editions
ISBN: 0-86288-021-1
Purchased at Arc's Value
Village Thrift Stores, Richfield, MN
Recipe: Gazpacho – p. 33
Bienvenue (Welcome) to my annual Le Tour de France recipe post!
As is usual and customary, I celebrated the end of the greatest bike
race in the world by finding something French to make. And then this year, because I have a tie-in
to Spain,
I threw in something Spanish as well.
"De nada." (Spanish for "You're welcome.)
Still, despite the vast collection of cookbooks of all
topics and all cuisines, I was getting a little nervous about a French recipe
until I happened upon the Normandy cookbook on
a recent trip to the Strand (bookstore) in
NYC. I took it as a sign that I found
this book during the first week of this year's tour. Plus, the foreword was written by Anne
Willan, a celebrated cookbook author whom I've met and talked to when she came
to Minneapolis
years ago to promote a book.
The route of the Le
Tour de France
changes every year and this year, it just skirted around the Normandy
region of France
but it was close enough to merit an inclusion.
Still, the cooking of Normandy
is pretty hearty fare and I was almost in despair of finding a recipe that
worked well in the summer when voila!, the very light Coquilles Saint-Jacques
just leapt of the page. Again, signs
pointed to "yes."
Elsewhere in this cookbook, you'll find a lot of recipes for
seafood and chicken, sometimes in cream sauce, sometimes not, duck, fresh
vegetables, apples and a wonderful apple byproduct, Calvados, a most yummy
apple brandy. As tempting as all those
were, I was feeling in the mood for something light and something seafood. This recipe fits the bill and then some.
Turning our attention to Spain,
here's how gazpacho fits into this picture:
in 1994, my husband and I went to Spain
and stopped outside the city of Granada
for the night having driven and toured the region all day long. While eating in a small restaurant, we
observed a group of Americans – about 6 or 8 in all – "practicing"
their Spanish. When one of them
absolutely butchered "I want to go to the disco," I laughed and said
"Where are you guys from?"
Turns out they were a group of bicyclists from Alabama, who were taking a bike tour through
the Sierra Nevadas. One of the guys in
the group was a former navy guy, previously stationed in Spain, whose
wife was Spanish and he led the group of bikers. He also owned a bike shop in Alabama. We became fast friends with the 'Bama Boys
and agreed to meet the next day in the city of Granada for a group dinner. By the way, you
should know that they weren't sure we were Americans because we were so
quiet. We get that a lot and consider it
a compliment.
So the next day, we had dinner and we all decided to start
with gazpacho, which is pretty much the national soup of Spain. Made up of fresh tomatoes, peppers, onions
and garlic plus a few other key ingredients, it is served cold (or room
temperature) and is delicious. I could eat that all day, every day in the
summer.
Well, one of the guys in the 'Bama Boys was not familiar
with gazpacho and when his soup was served, he took a bite and then exclaimed
in his best southern accent "This soup is cold!"
I want you to know that we could have absolutely split our
sides open laughing but we did not and just explained that it was meant to be
served that way. He remained skeptical
whereas the rest of us polished off our portions, craving more.
And so, dear reader, that is how serving scallops and
gazpacho made prefect sense to honor the tour!
Had I been thinking though, I should have made something Italian or
Sicilian as the 2014 winner, Vincenzo Nibali, hails from those countries (born
in Sicily, went to Italy to train).
Maybe next year.
And as per usual and customary, Andy is sad the tour is over
although I don't think this year's withdrawal will be that bad, considering how
we were on vacation for part of it (and on news blackout at our hotel. I must write to them and tell them that they
need a sports channel for these key events.)
This summer's weather has not been the greatest for biking around these
parts but he's managed to get in some long rides and has a very long ride
scheduled this coming weekend. The
landscape in southern Minnesota (outside Rochester, MN) is not
exactly France or Spain (or England, where part of this year's
tour took place) but it will have to do.
A la prochain! (Until
next time)
Salade De Coquilles
Saint-Jacques – serves 4 as a first course
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 large clove garlic, thinly sliced
Pinch of cayenne pepper
¼ tsp sugar
1 bay leaf
¼ tsp crushed coriander seeds
½ cup dry white wine
½ cup chicken stock, preferably homemade
1 small turnip, peeled and cut into ¼-in dice
½ red bell pepper, seeded and cut into ¼-in dice
½ small zucchini, skin and outside flesh only, cut into ¼-in
dice
2 tsp hazelnut oil
12 scallops
Salt
Garden cress, to garnish
Ann's Note: I
couldn't find hazelnut oil without driving all over town but I did have some
walnut oil on hand so I used that.
Heat the olive oil in a small saucepan. Add the onion and sauté it until translucent,
2-3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook it
until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in
the cayenne, sugar, bay leaf, coriander, white wine, and stock. Bring just to a boil then reduce the heat,
cover, and simmer this court bouillon gently for 10 minutes.
Strain the court-bouillon and return it to the pan. Add the diced turnip and a little salt and
cook gently, covered, for 10-12 minutes.
Add the diced bell pepper and zucchini and continue cooking until the
court-bouillon reduces to a light glaze, 5-7 minutes longer. The vegetables should still be slightly
crunchy.
Remove from the heat and let cool to lukewarm, then stir in
the hazelnut oil. Taste for seasoning,
adding more salt, cayenne, or hazelnut oil until the sauce is as pungent as you
like. (The mixture should be slightly
less seasoned than for traditional vegetables a la grecque.) Keep warm.
Set a nonstick frying pan over moderate heat. When the pan is hot, add the scallops and
cook then, turning once, until they are nearly opaque throughout, 2-3 minutes.
To serve, arrange 3 scallops on each plate. Spoon some of the tepid vegetable mixture
around the scallops. Scatter cress
sparingly over the vegetables and serve immediately.
Ann's Note: I
substituted butter lettuce for the cress.
My grocery store changed ownership recently and man, they about
eliminated anything interesting in the produce department so cress was off the
table. As it was, the new cashier was
sadly lacking in vegetable knowledge.
She asked "What's this?" while ringing up my turnip, zucchini
and butter lettuce. Had she inquired
about my tomatoes, I would have caused an incident and there would have been cleanup at register 12!
Gazpacho – Serves 4
1 ½ pound beefsteak tomatoes
½ Spanish onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 slices firm white bread, crusts removed, broken into
pieces
10 fl oz (1 ¼ cups) tomato juice
3 tablespoons virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
About 8 ice cubes, to serve
Accompaniments
1 diced small red pepper, 1 diced small green pepper, 1
diced small onion, 1 chopped hard-boiled egg and croutons.
Peel, seed and chop the tomatoes. Put in a food processor or blender with
remaining soup ingredients, except ice cubes.
Mix until smooth. Pour soup
through a nylon sieve, pressing down well on contents of sieve. If necessary, thin soup with cold water then
chill well. If you want more texture to
your soup, omit the nylon sieve process.
To serve, pour soup into cold soup bowls, add ice cubs and
then serve with accompaniments if desired.
