Domesticity

My herbs have started sprouting!

Déjeuner. Sautée garlic, onion and bell pepper (orange), add boiling water and a bouillon cube. Verser into the glass pan, add a bit of diced potatoes and seasoned chicken (I used herbes de provence, thyme, cumin and black pepper). In the oven at 210°C (~400°F) for 30 minutes, remove, flip the chicken, add frozen peas, turn the oven to 180°C (~350°F), let cook for another 20 or so minutes. Enjoy delicious, tender chicken with lovely chicken gravy to spare. 

Wall decorations + orchid.

My lovely new futon!

My room is wonderfully bright and now I have a comfortable couch to sit on and enjoy the sunlight. Strasbourg is treating me kindly and I promise to write about it soon. 

Gros bisous

MCJ

Les Vacances so far

As we prepare to leave Strasbourg in the morning, I thought I'd check in and say how wonderful it has been. Strasbourg is truly lovely and the apartment we're staying in is absolutely delightful. I would post pictures except it is in fact someone's home and that seems a bit too much into their privacy. We had tea with the owners and I have to say they are people I'd love to know better.

Strasbourg is situated on the Rhine, across the river from Germany, in the Alsace region. It's a great location to explore Alsace and the Lorraine. My parents and I had the chance to day trip to Nancy, Colmar, Kehl (Germany, the city across the river) and Basel (Switzerland). Strasbourg itself is host to several Christmas market and many, many, many tourists during the holiday season.

Apparently I got only one picture of these markets and the market is wayyy in the background. Here it is:

My favorite part of the Strasbourg leg (even with all the fantasticness of Strasbourg) has been being in an apartment with my parents and an oven.

We made candy cane cookies:

soup:

a tarte aux pommes:

and a fantastic Christmas chicken (not pictured, though the soup was made with its leftovers).

As someone who really likes cooking, it's been a joy. And it's been a joy to be with my parents and to share with them some of what I've seen and some of what little I know. It's been even more of a joy to discover new things with them, like Nancy, Colmar and Basel. All three of us speak some French and a little German so our forays into Deutsch-speaking zones have been funny misadventures. Sometimes those forays were just to the restaurant downstairs as Strasbourg still has quite a lot of German influence (and visitors).

Being in Strasbourg has made me think some more about the future. I'm still working out what I want to do, so stay tuned. :)

In the meantime, here is a picture from each of the places we visited.

Nancy: Croq n Jazz. If you go to Nancy, go there. It is apparently at 4 Rue Lafayette.

Colmar

Basel/Bâle, Switzerland: Outside the Art Museum

Kehl, Germany

Big bisous and huge hugs,

MCJ

Peach Chicken Tacos

I've been slowly preparing for my move to France. I've been going through my things, trying to get a few more key cold-weather pieces and staring confusedly at my suitcase. It's smaller than I remember, a lot smaller. Luckily, I enjoy the challenge of packing lightly. Two of the big things I've been thinking about is also: what to introduce my students to about my two home states of Kentucky and Texas and what to give to my contact teachers as representation of these places. With that in mind, it's quite understandable that I would be craving some Tex-Mex. It also just so happens that a lot of Tex-Mex can be made with just a stovetop... or hotplates.

So today, I attempted making tacos (including the tortillas) from scratch. Due to not wanting to buy new groceries, they were somewhat non-traditional but delicious nonetheless. Aside from skimping a bit on the flour for the tortilla dough, they were a success. They also could have used rice to cut through the sweetness of the peaches and tomatoes. Next time....

I used the following two recipes as a basis for this meal:
Flour Tortillas from the Homesick Texan (I followed this recipe exactly, aside from halving it and making smaller tortillas.)
Shredded Chicken for Tacos by Mark Bittman (He has quite a few more taco filling recipes here.)

Peach Chicken Tacos

Yields 2 smaller servings (I would recommend making rice if you're serving this to others)

(I'm not posting a recipe list as this is very open-ended to what you're craving/have on hand. For recommendations to get you started, check out the links above). [Now with suggested changes from 14 Sept.]

1. Slice up one peach. 

2. Season a chicken breast with cayenne pepper, chili powder, black pepper, cajun seasoning and sea salt. 

3. Place chicken breast and peaches in a plastic bag or aluminum foil, seal up and place in fridge. 

4. Prepare tortilla dough. See recipe. My only note on this is, if after kneading it seems too sticky, you need more dough. [A 2:1 ratio of white:whole wheat turns out well.]

5. Chop up yellow onion, garlic, tomato [green and red bell pepper] and chili pepper (to the amounts you desire, I used 1 onion, 3 cloves garlic and ~6 oz of canned tomato and chili pepper... didn't have enough fresh tomatoes on hand). 

6. In a medium-sized sauce pan, sautée onions and garlic in a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil. [Shortly after, add in bell peppers.]

7. Form tortilla dough into small balls. See recipe. 

8. Add in tomato, chili pepper, chicken breast and peaches into the sauce pan.  Add water so that the chicken is barely submerged. Top with bay leaves. 

9. Bring mixture to a boil then let simmer. 

10. Roll out tortilla dough and cook in dry skillet. See recipe. 

11. After ~30 minutes once the chicken is tender, use two forks to shred the chicken. 

12. Turn off the heat and drain out most of the liquid. 

13. Place the peach chicken filling on the tortilla and enjoy!

Also thinking of Texas as another fire has broken out, this time right outside of Houston: http://www.click2houston.com/news/29173094/detail.html

Drunk Pasta

A few months ago, I read a small reference to pasta risotto. The person linked to an article and video by Mark Bittman on how to prepare pasta like risotto. I had never heard of pasta risotto, but it intrigued me so I bookmarked it. Though it intrigued me, it was apparently not enough to ever get me watch the video. Yesterday, in trying to think of stovetop-only recipes, I recalled the article. I pulled it up and watched the video.

Let me tell you, this was the best idea I've had since deciding to apply for TAPIF. Everything about it made me feel wonderful. The scents recall long ago soups and Thanksgivings (granted, this greatly depends on what you put in the pasta risotto). I was so pleased with the result. From the first ingredients going into the pot, I could smell the deliciousness soaking in. Without further ado, here is the (very, very loose) recipe of my Drunk Pasta:

Loosely dice/chop:

• 2 white onions
• 4 stalks of celery (~1 cup, I would guess)
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 tomato
• a few cloves of garlic

Heat a couple tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil in a wide, deep pot.

Add in the onions, celery and garlic.

Enjoy the aromas for three minutes.

Add a generous amount of white wine (hence, the drunk bit... I honestly can't say how much I put in, but at least a cup. This can be substituted with water.).

I will admit I used more wine than I might have in trying to take a picture of it. No regrets.

Add in your pasta (I used linguini, broken into short pieces).

Once the pasta is "glossy," add in the bell pepper and a half cup of chicken stock.

Continue to add in chicken stock little by little bit (allowing the pasta to soak in the liquids. I used 10 oz of chicken stock and could have used more or less).

Stir in spinach and chopped tomatoes.

Chop up chicken breasts (I used three).

Once the pasta is mostly soaked in, stir in the chopped chicken.

Cook (and stir) until no pink remains on the chicken.

Serve and enjoy.

Yum.

All gone.

Serves four generously. Leaves your home smelling like, well, home.

Project Cooking with only Hotplates

One of the many mini-challenges I will face this year is cooking with only hotplates. I consider myself an excellent baker and have a few entrée dishes in my repertoire. Unfortunately, they all involve some component of baking (ignoring, you know, basics like pasta). So in my last few weeks stateside, I'm trying out different recipes that only require a stovetop (or, as will be the case in France, hotplates). Tonight, I tried out my favorite cajun dish, chicken sauce piquant.

I adapted this recipe from Chef John Folse & Company.

Chicken Sauce Piquant (serves 4 with leftovers)

- 2/3 chicken breasts

- 1/2 cup oil (I used canola oil... if you're a newb cooker, remember that you have to be very careful heating olive oil. If you feel you must use olive oil, try using a mixture of half olive half canola oil)

- 1/2 cup flour

- 3 oz tomato paste

- 5 oz Rotel tomatoes

- 8 oz whole tomatoes (if you don't have access to tomato paste/Rotel tomatoes/etc, you could probably use a combination of marinara sauce and some whole tomatoes. If you don't have Rotel tomatoes, add extra spices and finely diced chili peppers)

- 1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped celery

- 1/2 cup chopped onions (I used a yellow onion)

- 1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped bell pepper (I used a green bell pepper)

- 1 to 2 tbsps diced garlic

- 15 oz chicken stock

- 1 tbsp sugar

- 1/2 tsp salt

- black and cayenne pepper to taste

- cajun spice (if you have it)

- 1/4 tsp oregano

- 1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

- 1/4 sliced green onions (about 4 green onions)

- bay leaves (I used fresh, but dry would probably work as well)

Season the chicken breast with sea salt, black pepper and cajun spices. In a dutch oven or large sauce pan, heat up the oil on medium-heat. Once the oil is warmed, place in the chicken breasts. Allowing around 10 minutes for each side of the chicken breast, sauté the chicken until it seems cooked. Then remove the chicken breasts from the oil and keep them warm. Then, place in the flour and stir with a whisk or fork until you have achieved a brown roux (this takes... a while, don't forget to scrape the bottom). Add the tomato paste to the roux and stir for ~5 minutes. Add the celery, onions (NOT the green onions), bell peppers and garlic and sauté until they're wilted (~5 minutes). Add the tomatoes and chicken stock, blend it together. Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Add the sugar, salt, black/cayenne pepper and cajun spices and the chicken. Then add the oregano and Worcestershire sauce. Let simmer for at least 45 minutes. [Optional: I used two forks to shred the chicken. The chicken sauce piquant can be served with whole chicken breast pieces or with the shreds. As the dish of chicken sauce piquant that inspired trying this had shredded chicken, that's my preference.] Just before serving mix in the green onions and bay leaves.

Serve on top of fresh white rice. (You'll want to start the rice about 25 minutes before serving.)

Also, I went to see Elle s'appelait Sarah (Sarah's Key) tonight. It was incredibly moving and I cannot recommend it enough. The movie concerns principally the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup in Paris, a subject of which I frankly knew nothing. Currently out in some US theatres, (it's been out for two years in France) it has enough English that non-Francophone friends shouldn't be too upset about subtitles. The book off which it is based was written by Tatiana de Rosnay. (A girl in the back of the theatre was urging her friend to the read the book as the credits rolled and liked both the book and the movie adaptation, though it apparently left out a lot.)