L’Art de Bien Manger

  • Onion Soup on a Rainy Day

    Onion Soup on a Rainy Day

    Rich, creamy and comforting, that’s exactly what I need now. It has been awfully cold out here, overcast days that make one sleepy, thin foggy rain pouring from all directions including bottom up. We play bistrot today, pretending we just ended up in a small French town, hungry and weary, and happily sitting down in… Read more

  • Tartine au Saumon on a Train

    Tartine au Saumon on a Train

    This is a quick one, one for eternal travellers. Salmon tartine. Take a rather large but thin slice of bread, toasted on both sides. In a little bowl, mix fresh goat cheese, cream, dill, half a shallot finely chopped, capers, pink pepper, grated lemon zest and a hint of sea salt. Scoop over the bread,… Read more

  • A Postcard from Summer – Fig Liqueur

    A Postcard from Summer – Fig Liqueur

    Somewhen in July my electrician gave me a ring to tell me he had got plenty of green figs and if I’d like to get some, he’d set some pretty ones aside for me. Of course I wanted some, and I immediately agreed to pop by his place later the afternoon, whereon he sounded very… Read more

  • How to Cook a Duck Breast – Greeting Autumn

    How to Cook a Duck Breast – Greeting Autumn

    It’s Monsieur’s favourite, duck breast, and although I am sure of his infinite love and affection for me I secretly suspect him of being perfectly capable of choosing a perfectly cooked duck breast over my precious company.  Magret de canard, such a French classic, and thus a regular on my table whenever we have something… Read more

  • Histoire d’un Festin, the Story of a Feast

    Histoire d’un Festin, the Story of a Feast

    Imagine. A house on the square of a quaint little village in the East of France. From the windows on the first floor you see the fountain, the road that lazily slopes towards the river, green beyond.  Imagine a house untouched by time for decades, its dust whirled by tiny furry feet only. A house… Read more

  • Saumonette Feuilletée and Changing Plans

    Saumonette Feuilletée and Changing Plans

    In fact I had planned on giving you the recipe of my Fameuse Pintade à la Marengo, but then it’s the year of plans overthrown, hence, today it shall be a Saumonette Feuilletée for you*. While plans overthrown might not always be easy to deal with**, occasionally there might be something good coming from it. Such… Read more