My brother sent me this photo that he snapped at his local farmers market. I wish I had some of these beauties. They would be great in a mushroom cream sauce w/ pasta!
Happy Foraging!
Bruno
Author Archive for brunosdreamPage 7 of 29
I made this bread using Pastaria’s pizza dough recipe. The oven spring was amazing! It went from 2 1/2 inches in height to almost 4 1/2 inches while baking. The crust is crisp and chewy, with a crumb that is tender and airy. And yes, it makes delicious pizza too!
Thanks Gerard and Ashley for sharing the recipe!
Warm wishes,
Bruno
The second and final week of my tour lands me in Switzerland to sample some of its delicacies (food and drink), and more importantly, visit w/ my cousins, some of whom I haven’t seen since 2004. My home base was Delemont, the town where my mom grew up and where most of my cousins still live. It’s close to the Alsace region of France, so we visited a couple of beautiful towns just across the border – Kaysersberg and Colmar. Other stops were Lucerne (famous for its covered bridge), Vercorin and Grimentz (two alpine villages in the Valais region). Grimentz is one of the best preserved Swiss alpine villages in that region.
One of my cousins introduced me to Damassine, a delicious eau de vie made from damson plums. It quickly became one of my favorite after dinner drinks, having a great aroma and flavor in addition to aiding in the digestion of wonderful meals. One evening we sautéed 2 types of local fresh trout purchased at the Delemont farmers market and of course we finished the meal w/ a bit of cheese and Damassine!
While in Vercorin, my cousin prepared a tradition meal called Assiette Valaisanne, which typically is a platter loaded w/ local cured meats, local cheeses, butter, thin slices of a dense rye bread called seigle, sliced fruit, nuts, cornichons and tomato wedges. This is served w/ wines produced regionally. It makes a delicious meal. Click here for an example.
It was hunting season while I was in Switzerland, so most restaurants offered seasonal dishes made w/ fresh game meat. I was fortunate to sample some venison and chamois prepare a couple of different ways during some of our meals out. One chef slowly braised chamois for 18 hours and served it w/ local mushrooms, spaetzle, seasonal vegetables and fruit. Another preparation was a roulade of venison breast stuffed w/ ground venison and served w/ red cabbage and spaetzle. Both were delicious!
When in Switzerland, I always hope to eat Raclette (a Swiss specialty). It’s one of my favorite ways to eat cheese. A picture is worth a thousand words as you will see in the photos of the Raclette lunch we ate at a cousin’s home one day.
I hope you enjoy these choice photos as much as I enjoyed my short time in Switzerland!
Kaysersberg
Vineyards in Alsace
Colmar (aka – “Little Venice”)
Very slow braised chamois at L’Etoile in Moutier
After dinner at L’Etoile
Lucerne
Delemont (my mom grew up in the building on the right – her dad’s bakery was on the bottom level)
One of the many colorful fountains in Delemont
Delemont farmers market
Our trouts for the evening are the filets on the right
Mushrooms galore
Downtown Delemont
Waiting for the Raclette
Yum!
Vercorin
Grimentz
Our lunch spot in Grimentz
On the menu…
Veggie lasagna
Braised venison
Venison roulade
Au revior et a bientot j’espere!
Bruno
The second installment of my European adventure takes place in the town of Eauze, France, where we were fortunate enough to visit the Armagnac producer, Marquis de Montesquiou. They normally don’t give tours but my brother told them I was coming all the way from St. Louis and was a fan of their Armagnac, so they made an exception. Our guide was the maître de chais (cellar master), Eric Durand. He was kind enough to take 1 1/2 hours out of his busy day to show us around and explain the Armagnac production process.
Armagnac is an eau de vie, like Cognac, but different in that it is distilled only once using a continuous distillation process. This process captures more of the esters from the fermented grapes and results in a more flavorful end product. Eric also noted that the oak barrels in which Armagnac is aged has a looser grain than the barrels used for aging Cognac, allowing the Armagnac to absorb more flavors from the barrels than Cognac.
Our tour culminated w/ a tasting of the house reserve Armagnac that dates back to 1900. If I remember correctly, Eric explained that with every vintage there is some excess Armagnac that won’t fit into the barrels used for that year’s production. This excess was placed in select barrels and is a blend of all vintages dating back to when Marquis de Montesquiou was founded. How fortunate we were to taste something that rare! My friend said he had never seen as big a smile on my face as when that golden nectar touched my taste buds! My brother commented to Eric that I’m now spoiled for life because no other Armagnac will taste as good as this house reserve. So true… so true!!
Here are a few photos from our visit:
“La Cathedrale” (the cathedral) where the barrels are housed
Inside “La Cathedrale”
The large blending barrels (w/ a normal sized barrel in the foreground for perspective)
The large blending barrels and the lab
A label on one of the blending barrels
A label on one of the normal sized barrels (noting the vintage, grape type, farm of origin, etc…)
Markings on one of the normal sized barrels
Maitre de Chais, Eric Durand, explaining the distillation process
Inside the lab
The moment of glory!
Thank you Eric for such a memorable experience!
A votre sante’…
Bruno
Here’s a good recipe if you still have basil growing in your yard and don’t know what to do w/ it. You could surprise your friends at whatever Thanksgiving gathering you attend this year by bringing something unusual! In this recipe I used Asian basil to add a more pungent flavor, but any basil will work. I also tried a new technique of letting the basil steep in the gelato base in the fridge for 2 days before churning. This punched up the flavor and color.
Basil Gelato w/ Roasted Hazelnuts
Ingredients:
1 cup Asian basil leaves (packed)
6 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
1 quart half & half
1/2 cup roasted hazelnuts (coarsely chopped)
Procedure:
1) In a metal bowl, whisk egg yolks and sugar until mixture becomes smooth and pale yellow.
2) Place half & half in a heavy pot and heat until scalded.
3) Very slowly whisk warm half & half into egg/sugar mixture so as not to curdle the mixture.
4) Place bowl w/ mixture over a pot of simmering water, stirring continuously w/ a heat resistant spatula until mixture coats the back of a metal spoon (do not let mixture exceed 170 degrees F to prevent curdling), then quickly place bowl in an ice bath to stop the cooking process and promote rapid cooling.
5) Once cool, pour into a food processor, add basil and pulse until basil is finely chopped.
6) Pour back into bowl, cover (I use a shower cap that fits snuggly over the top) and place in fridge for 2 days.
7) Churn mixture in ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions, adding the hazelnuts when mixture begins to thicken.
8) Pour gelato into a 2 quart plastic container and quickly stir to evenly distribute the hazelnuts and basil.
9) Place a piece of parchment paper cut to size on the surface of gelato (this will reduce air exposure and prevent ice crystals from forming on the surface of the gelato), seal container and freeze until firm.
Yield: Approx. 1 1/2 quarts
I hope you enjoy this recipe!
Bruno
How do I edit a fantastic 2 week vacation during which I snapped 670 photos?… Not easily!
To sum it up, seeing family I hadn’t visited since 2004 was so enjoyable I wish I had more time to be w/ them. I definitely won’t let so much time pass before my next visit.
My first stop was Southwestern France. I landed in Bordeaux and spent the first week exploring the region surrounding Agen, the city where my brother and his wife live. This region is filled w/ great food and beautiful countryside which encompasses many well preserved medieval villages.
This post and the ones to follow will provide a visual taste of my experiences…
Agen’s organic farmers market
Gavaudun
Biron
Monpazier
Bonaguil
Rocamadour
Foie gras museum
Josephine Baker’s old house (Chateau des Milandes)
Beynac
Our picnic spot (Roque – Gageac)
Decadent picnic food
A bientot!
Bruno
Huge crop this year… mucho pickled peppers for the winter months!!
Lovin’ the heat!
Bruno
Well, summer’s almost over…what a bummer! Besides spring, it’s my favorite season. Gardening has been good this year. I already have a few ideas for next year that I’m looking forward to putting into action.
Here are a few photos that I shot this morning. As you can see, there are many tomatoes and peppers yet to be picked, and a few baby butternuts that hopefully will plump up for good eatin’! If you enlarge the photo of the zinnias and look closely at the top right flowers you might be able to spot a Monarch butterfly that stopped for some nectar to help it w/ the long flight to Mexico.
Enjoy the final weeks of summer!
Bruno
We’re finally getting a normal rain pattern in St. Louis. A good soaking rain about once a week is just what the garden needs besides my daily watering. Getting some nice ripe veggies on a regular basis… this is why I love to garden!
The following garden pics were snapped on July 26th and on August 5th, voila, the first ripe bounty for my eating pleasure!
I’m one happy gardener :-)
Bruno
If you’re looking for something different to do w/ all those peppers growing in your garden, here’s a quick and easy recipe. I love the sweet and spicy flavors of this jam! Want it more sweet than spicy… just use less spicy peppers, add some bell peppers or just omit the hot pepper seeds/ribs. This jam will wake up your palate in the morning!
Pepper Jam (recipe adapted from popsugar.com)
Ingredients:
Mix of jalapeno and fresno peppers (stems, seeds and ribs removed, leaving seeds/stems of only 3 or 4 jalapenos) – enough for 2 cups when minced
3/4 cup of apple cider vinegar
1 1/4 cups of sugar
1 tablespoon fruit pectin
Procedure:
1) Finely mince peppers in a food processor
2) Place a small plate in the freezer
3) In a large heavy-bottomed pot combine minced peppers, cider vinegar and sugar. Bring to a rolling boil over medium high heat and boil for 10 minutes, stirring often.
4) Add fruit pectin, stirring constantly for 1 minute. Remove pot from heat.
5) Remove plate from freezer and dab a small amount of jam on it. Return plate to freezer for 1 minute. If the jam has jelled and does not slide down the plate when tilted it’s done. If the jam slides down, continue to cook mixture for another minute and try the freezer test again. If the jam is the desired consistency it’s ready.
6) Let cool a bit, then ladle into a jar.
Yield: 10 ounces
Pick a peck of peppers!
Bruno