Month: March 2019

Basse-Normandie, Invasions

Aside from Paris, one of the most popular destinations for American visitors to France is the coast of Normandy. The sites of the D-Day landings in World War II call to those who want to honor the soldiers whose sacrifices marked the beginning of the end of the war in Europe, and those beaches and related monuments also are a draw for general students of history.

The Allied invasion of 1944 was one of the most significant military campaigns in history, but it was not the first Norman invasion that changed the world. That distinction belongs to the invasion of 1066 that was launched from Normandy across the channel to England.

The Norman conquest of England, nearly a millennium ago, isn’t just ancient history. Its legacy can be found through every subsequent century and even in our language.

For three centuries after the conquest, England was basically ruled by the French. The Anglo-Norman dynasties that followed William’s conquest conducted government business in Norman French and maintained their continental holdings and interests. Some of these rulers spent very little time in England. If you want to learn more about this time period, I can highly recommend historian Dan Jones’ fascinating book The Plantagenets: The Warrior Kings and Queens Who Made England. Incidentally, my favorite Plantagenet is Eleanor of Aquitaine, and we’ll visit with her when we get to southwestern France.

After the Plantagenet dynasty passed on English rule to the Tudors, France and England remained almost perpetually locked in conflict. Even today, British-French relations can be strained as the United Kingdom prepares to leave the European Union. (That link is such a fascinating read on the current state of affairs that I must link it again!)

And there may be no better region to contemplate the past 1,000 years of Anglo-French history, or its future, than in Basse-Normandie. When we eventually visit, we might start in Bayeux to view the famous tapestry depicting the Norman conquest.

Musée de la Tapisserie de Bayeux [Public domain]

The D-Day beaches, where Allied forces landed to liberate France from the Germans, are nearby, as well as graveyards, museums and memorials for the fallen soldiers.

Unrelated to any of these wars is another of Normandy’s top attractions: the island monastery of Mont-Saint-Michel, where visitors can learn about learning in medieval times while enjoying stunning views.

Antoine Lamielle [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)]

One of the best locations to experience the remnants of traditional Norman culture and various dialects of the Norman language, as well as explore the peculiarities of Anglo-French relations, may be the Channel Islands.

These islands, technically the last survivors of the ancient Duchy of Normandy, are basically independent entities, although they receive protection from the United Kingdom. They were the only British territories to be occupied by the Germans during World War II. A terrific novel, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, explores this time period and its aftermath. A film version is available for streaming on Netflix.

John Rostron [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)]

Back on the mainland, another destination for nature lovers is the area south of Caen known as La Suisse Normande for hiking, canoeing and scenic villages.

Osbern [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]

And speaking of villages, I’m so enchanted by the photos of the quintessential Norman village of Beauvron-en-Auge that I want to go directly to the real estate listings!

Tango7174 [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)]

It’s right in the heart of Calvados and camembert country, which is a perfect teaser for next week’s armchair travel segment, the food and drink of Basse-Normandie.

À bientôt !

La cuisine de Haute-Normandie

Pity the lactose-intolerant in Normandy, where it seems every dish contains milk, cream or butter. Or maybe lactose-intolerance isn’t an issue there.

Normandy is justifiably renowned for its cheeses, which include Camembert, Livarot and Pont l’Evêque.

How did it get to be a land of such rich dairy products? Rolling green meadows and a breed of cattle regarded as highly productive.

Vache normande

We’ll get to the great cheese in a couple of weeks. Today, let’s learn about some things that can be made when milk is cooked very, very slowly.

One traditional Norman dish is teurgoule, which is a rice pudding. It may resemble crème brûlée, but the process is very different. It’s baked for hours at low heat in an oven until a crust forms.

Teurgoule. Raphael Labbé [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)]

The Normans also make a milk jam, called confiture de lait. It is milk, sugar and vanilla cooked over low heat until the milk caramelizes. It is strikingly similar to the traditional Latin American preparation of dulce de leche. I used this recipe after looking up several versions in French to ensure it was the real thing.

The confiture at the end of about three hours of cooking.

The confiture is delicious on toast, perhaps made from one of the signature breads of the region, pain brié. The name might lead one to believe it contains cheese, but don’t be confused. Notice the accent. This word comes from the Norman verb brier, which means “to pound.” And that’s exactly what you do with the dough: beat it senseless (or airless).

I used this recipe in English, again after confirming its resemblance to recipes in French. The amount of yeast seemed excessive, but perhaps that’s what was needed for the incredible rise it manages after all the violence. Check out the pounding of the dough in this week’s video.

pain brié

Next week: Basse-Normandie and famous invasions.

Haute-Normandie, part 1

CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=73699

In 2016, France reorganized its administrative regions, combining Haute-Normandie (Upper) and Basse-Normandie (Lower) into a unified Normandie, to the delight of its inhabitants. But we’re keeping the division for our tour de France because it’s a large region with much to share.

Normandy owes its name to its association in the late dark ages with Viking raiders, or Norsemen. We’ll explore the invasions to and from Normandy in part 3.

For now, we take a look at the rich contributions to art and literature, beginning in the ancient city of Rouen, the region’s capital. Located on the River Seine, it was founded by the Gauls and has served as a center for many dynasties, including the Merovingians, the Dukes of Normandy and Anglo-Norman kingdoms.

Rouen. DXR [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]

Rouen boasts beautifully-preserved half-timbered houses and other delights of medieval architecture. The Gros-Horloge is a 14th-century astronomical clock and one of the oldest mechanisms in France.

Gros-Horloge, Rouen.

The Cathédrale de Rouen is among its most famous attractions and was painted by Claude Monet.

Cathédrale de Rouen. Yoyo6507 [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]

Normandy gave birth to the Impressionist art movement. In the 1870s, Monet named his hazy painting of the sea at Le Havre “Impression, soleil levant” (Impression, sunrise), and that became the name of the style of painting by free-thinking artists of the late 19th century seeking to capture scenes of nature and everyday life.

Impression, soleil levant. Claude Monet [Public domain]

Initially met with derision by the art world, the Impressionists now are beloved. Monet was their leader and the countryside of Normandy a favorite subject. Monet’s home and beautiful gardens at Giverny are a top tourism draw.

Monet’s garden at Giverny. Art Anderson [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]

Other famous French people, and even an English king, were born in Rouen. Joan of Arc was tried and burned at the stake here.

Notable from a writer’s perspective is the city’s contribution to literature. Gustave Flaubert hailed from Rouen. His debut novel, Madame Bovary, which is credited with establishing modern realist narration, is set in Rouen and the nearby countryside. (See this week’s video for our take on a couple of Bovary films.)

Gustave Flaubert

Another literary Norman was Flaubert’s protégé, short story master Guy de Maupassant. One of his stories, The Englishman of Etretat, was inspired by a dramatic incident involving the near drowning of English poet Algernon Charles Swinburne, who had taken refuge on the Normandy coast from the constraints of Victorian society. A very flowery account of Swinburne’s ordeal in the surf and its aftermath, along with de Maupassant’s role in it, is a fascinating read, with a cameo appearance by Oscar Wilde. Victor Hugo, who spent significant time in the area, also contributes to the tale.

Algernon Charles Swinburne. Balliol College Portraits: 139 Oil on canvas, 18×13, 1860. Poole number 74

With the exhaustive list of “must-sees” in Normandy, a month seems insufficient for a trip there, even a virtual one. We’ll try our best to provide an enticing overview in our four week stop. Join us next week for some tasty recipes, and don’t even think about counting calories!

La cuisine de Picardie

Last week, we ended our look at Picardie’s culture with an introduction to its extraordinary native son, Alexandre Dumas. This week, we begin our exploration of Picardie cuisine with Dumas. Perhaps one reason we love the French so much is that it seems every French person, regardless of profession, is obligated to contribute to the cuisine. Dumas was no exception.

Dumas is famous for his novels, notably The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, but the last great work of his life was the massive Grand Dictionhnaire de Cuisine, a volume of 600,000 words published posthumously in 1873. According to the publisher of the abridged English translation, Dumas on Food, it was for this work that Dumas wished to be remembered.

As with many French persons, Dumas viewed the entire world of foodstuffs as his eminent domain. He provided descriptions, anecdotes, stories and recipes of foods across the globe, some discovered on his travels. It is a fascinating first-hand account of the gourmet habits of a 19th century French gentleman. [Note: If you wish to read this book, you will need to track down a copy in the used book market as it is unfortunately out of print.]

I have not seen Dumas’ original work, so I can’t know what was omitted in the abridged version. Perhaps he wrote extensively on the food of his boyhood and the editors chose not to include it. Nevertheless, the dishes that are now considered the icons of Picardie cuisine are not described by this most famous native son.

Fortunately, you have me to look them up.

And unfortunately, some can not be easily replicated outside their place of origin.

Unless you are one of those people who can obtain what she wants wherever she happens to be, you will need to go to Picardie to try agneau de pré-salé, lamb that feeds in the salt water marshes of the Baie de Somme and is prized for its unique flavor.

Also, you probably need to go to Amiens to sample its special pâté en croûte of a boned duck baked in pastry. I’ll be doing a hacked version here since I do not have the skills or patience to try the original and I highly doubt I’ll find it on a restaurant menu stateside.

However, easily accessible to the home cook is the delicious almond cookie of Amiens, a simple cake with chantilly cream, and a crêpe dish that could be described as French enchiladas.

More photos are on this week’s video episode.

First up is that hard thing, the pâté en croûte. Amiens, the premiere city of Picardie, is known for its version of this French classic. My old edition of the Larousse Gastronomique has a recipe, but otherwise most of the instructions I found for making it were in French. I’m sure the effort is well worth it, but I settled for a cheaper and less time-consuming version.

My pâté en croûte, after the first slice.

Start this two days in advance, or at least very early on the day before you plan to serve it. Basically, you’re chilling the filling and the dough for several hours.

The Superb and Rustic Pâté en Croûte

adapted from a recipe by Yohan Lastre in Let’s Eat France

Cook’s note: The original recipe used a combination of chicken breasts, chicken thighs, pork tenderloin and pork belly. My market didn’t have pork belly, so I used more tenderloin, but I’m certain the pork belly would have made it richer with the extra fat. Also, 1350g of total meat was a little too much for my pan; 1kg would have sufficed. And I only needed half the gelatin recipe.

  • 160 g unsalted butter
  • 1 egg
  • 1 pinch sugar
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 50 g water
  • 250 g all-purpose flour

Melt the butter, let it cool, then beat it with the remaining ingredients for 20 seconds. Knead it until a dough forms, wrap in plastic and refrigerate overnight. The next day, roll it into a large rectangle that can line a greased 9×5 loaf pan, about 1/2 inch thick. Place the dough in the greased pan.

Cook’s note: I highly recommend bakeware from the USA Pan company. You don’t even need to butter or oil these pans.

  • 650 g boneless, skinless chicken thighs, ground or chopped finely
  • 350 g pork tenderloin, ground or chopped finely
  • 350 g pork belly
  • 28 g sea salt
  • freshly ground black pepper (about 15 turns of the mill, maybe 1 tsp)
  • 1 pinch spice blend (I used garam masala)
  • 1/3 cup white wine, vermouth, brandy or port. (I used vermouth and sherry.)
  • 120 g shelled pistachios

Combine all and refrigerate, wrapped, overnight. The next day, after lining the loaf pan with the crust, add this filling. Bake for about 25 minutes at 400F, then lower the heat to 275F and baked until the center is 149F on an instant read thermometer.

While the pâté is cooking, make the gélee.

  • 1 pkg gelatin
  • 4.5 cups chicken or vegetable broth
  • 1/4 cup port

Melt the gelatin in the warm broth, then stir in the port.

Remove the pâté from the oven and fill it with some of the warm gélee. Repeat this step about four or five times in 30 minute intervals. Refrigerate the pâté and any remaining gelée overnight.

The next day, heat the remaining gelée and pour over the top of the pâté. Refrigerate until set. To unmold, gently warm the tin in the oven to loosen the crust from the pan. Slice and serve.

macarons d’amiens

Now that we’ve gotten the hard one out of the way, let’s go for the easiest. These little cookies are simple, delicious and gluten-free! Another treat from Amiens, they just require a little forethought as the dough needs to chill.

There are several recipes on the internet. I used this one, but I forgot to brush the cookies with the egg yolk.

ficelle picarde

A newer entry (circa 1950s) into the cuisine de Picardie is this dish that reminds me of enchiladas. I made it to great acclaim, even from our French houseguest who had never before tried it (he’s from the south of France). I used this recipe, substituting white wine for the lemon juice and using emmantaler cheese.

gâteau battu

A sweet ending or an afternoon snack with tea, this cake is not difficult to make and uses pantry ingredients. It’s almost more of a bread than a cake, and it is traditionally eaten with jam. In Picardie, it is baked in a mold that resembles a chef’s hat, but lacking such a thing, I happily discovered I could approximate the effect with my English pudding pan, thus creating another role for that aside from the annual extravaganza that is Nigella’s Christmas Pudding.

The gâteau also provided a nice base for a dollop of chantilly cream, a classic version of whipped cream originating from the Picardie town of the same name.

There are so many dishes from Picardie that I read about but did not have time to try this week, and now we’re off to Normandy. I feel like I need to move to France and do this over a decade, at least!

À bientôt !