What I'm Eating This Week


So, this week's edition is late, largely because I'm lazy. I make no apologies.
What I'm Reading [About Food] this Week - As I intimated earlier, this week's reading selection is Waverly Root's The Food of France, a compact tour around France by province. Compared to the same author's history of American food, this is a much superior book - written with passion, and verve, and the occasional moment of real sentiment. One gets the impression that Root really loves France, even with its idiosyncracies and illogics, in a way he doesn't his native home - that's not a bad thing, but if the last month has taught us anything, it's that connecting with a country that you don't appreciate elementally is hard. That's not at all a problem with Root's work on France.

But the book still has its faults. Most striking, Root doesn't do a great job of telling us what these foods are, what they look like, and why people eat them - rather, he presents an annotated list of things that can be found in each province. That's helpful enough, I suppose, and certainly interesting - but it's not a great way of introducing French food to someone who doesn't already have a pretty good idea of what's going on. The example that jumps out at me is his explanation of the clafoutis, which he tells us is rather like the milliard, which he tells us is a sort of cherry tart. But to call the clafoutis a sort of cherry tart is deeply unhelpful - it's a cherry tart in the way ravioli is a type of pasta. One presented a cherry dessert in Alsace or Auvergne, the places where Root tells us we can find the doughy treat, has no way of knowing from The Food of France whether they're faced by a normal cherry tart, or a mendiant (a cherry tart made of stale bread rather than batter), or a milliard, or a clafoutis, or a cherry flan with dessert rice, and I wish Root had done a better job of it. But enough niggling. Short of dragging my Larousse Gastronomique around France with me, Root's book would be my first choice for a itinerant wander around the ancient country. And that, I think, was the author's goal.


4 p.m snack - I had 4 leftover tangerines from the week before. They weren't very tasty, so I didn't eat them. Boiled for several hours, whizzed into a cream, combined with sugar and walnut meal (The recipe is really for ground almonds, but walnuts do as well), and baked slowly for an hour or so, though, and they make a great syrup doused cake. And anyway, what better than citrus to remind you that winter arriveth?

Dinner:

Yogurt Soup with bourghul meatballs - 2x - I suppose I should explain this; it's odd enough that most people won't have eaten it. Soak bourghul wheat in water for ten minutes, drain, and then mix with ground lamb. Knead together with salt for ten minutes, and then roll into marble sized balls. Drop individually into simmering chicken broth, cook for five minutes, remove, and reserve the broth. In a different pan, combine 32 ounces of yogurt with a beaten egg, heat on a low flame while stirring constantly (otherwise you get scrambled eggs and yogurt. Not ideal.) When the yogurt is smooth, and the egg well incorporated, slowly introduce the chicken broth until you have a soup. Add the meatballs again, add chopped mint, salt, and pepper. Serve. Rice or noodles can be added for a substantial lunch the next day.

Basil grind pasta - 2x? - I didn't plan the second part of the week very carefully because of thanksgiving. If I feel like eating anything but a little hummous on Friday, I'll be surprised. In any case, if I want anything else I'll just grind some basil, salt, and garlic in a mortar and pestle, and then drop it all on some linguine with a bunch of olive oil. Dinner doesn't have to be complicated.