– adjust if necessary.
6. Evenly divide the stuffing among the tomatoes, pressing it firmly into them, and mounding it above the edges of the tomatoes if necessary. Place the tops of the tomatoes atop the stuffing and bake until they become a deep golden, the stuffing is completely cooked and the tomatoes are tender, about 1 hour. Remove from the oven and serve, drizzling the tomatoes with the cooking juices in the pan.
Serves 6 to 8
THE DORDOGNE POTATO CAKE La Galette de Pomme Dordogne
This is the potato galette I learned to make from Danie Dubois so many years ago. She serves it often and always with roasted goose or pork – it makes a fine first course, or an accompaniment.
6 cloves garlic, green germ removed
1 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves, loosely packed (about 20g)
5 tbs (21/2 oz/75g) fat such as lard, goose or duck fat
31/2 lb (1.75kg) waxy potatoes, peeled
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1. Finely chop the garlic with the parsley and transfer it to a small bowl. Add 3 tablespoons of the fat and mix thoroughly, to make a sort of paste. You may make this ahead of time and refrigerate it, covered.
2. Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of fat in a large, nonstick skillet with sides that are about 3 inches (71/2cm) high. You will need to slice the potatoes paper-thin for this dish and the best way to do that is to use a vegetable peeler. ‘Peel’ (or slice) the potatoes right into the hot fat, stirring them occasionally so they don’t stick and seasoning them regularly with salt and pepper as you add them to the pan. It will take about 20 minutes to slice all of the potatoes into the pan, and they will cook evenly as long as you remember to stir them from time to time. They will stick together somewhat, so gendy break them apart as you stir.
3. When all of the potatoes are sliced into the pan, season them one more time with salt and pepper and stir so they are all coated with fat. Add the garlic and parsley mixture and stir so that it melts evenly throughout the potatoes, then cook until the potatoes are deep golden on the underside, a generous 10 minutes.
4. Carefully invert the potato galette onto a large plate and slide it back into the pan, golden side up, and cook until the underside is deep golden, about 15 minutes. To serve, place a serving plate on top of the pan and invert so the galette falls onto the plate. Garnish with flat-leaf parsley leaves if desired, and serve.
Serves 6 to 8
I flew to France on my own for two weeks to find a house for us to live in. For so long I had dreamed of returning, hankered after the life I had known, my friends, the fragrance of golden butter, fresh bread and coffee that is simply part of the French ethos.
By now Michael and I had our two-year-old son Joseph, a chubby, curly red-haired bundle of sweet energy and constant motion, and we thought it would be wonderful for him to grow up bilingual. Moving to France to live while I researched a cookbook would give him that chance. Michael was personally less enthusiastic about the idea of going to France because he has no inherent passion for the country. But doing creative work and being with his family is what is important to him and France, he decided, would offer him that.
After poring over the map of France and considering every region we knew and some we didn’t, Michael and I had decided we would live in Normandy. We wanted to be near Paris and near friends, and we’d grown to love the Normandy coast on earlier trips. So on arriving I took the train to Le Vaudreuil, in Normandy, where my dearest friend Edith Leroy met me at the station. She was delighted at the idea that we were moving back, and had not only asked if I would stay with them while I looked for a place to live, but had offered her help.
We wasted no time, after making coffee and toast, which we enjoyed with her homemade blackberry and redcurrant jelly, in beginning to plot how I should go about looking for a house. I decided to consider anything within a thirty-minute drive of Edith and Bernard’s village. We didn’t care if we lived in the village, but we wanted to be close to it since we knew almost everyone who lived there and were comfortable with its rhythm. After our breakfast I went out to the village café and bought newspapers, brought them back and checked the ads. I made several appointments to see houses, and the following day set out early to look.
Mostly what I looked at were contemporary bungalows which didn’t fit my romantic notion of a house in the French countryside. I spent another day looking, going all the way to Vernon in the east, to Houdan in the southeast and Honfleur in the northwest, though that was getting pretty far afield. I didn’t find a thing.
After two days I regrouped. A friend of Edith’s, Christine, a woman I didn’t really know, said I was going about it all wrong and offered to accompany me the next day. ‘I’ll show you how we rent houses here,’ she said. The next morning we headed off into the countryside stopping to ask everyone we saw if they knew of anything to rent, including hailing a tractor and asking the farmer inside. We discovered a few places but nothing fit my criteria. I was looking for space – both Michael and I work at home – proximity to a choice of schools for Joe and shopping so that I didn’t have to live in the car, charm, a low price.
I decided to try the realtor in Le Vaudreuil. Edith, out of curiosity, came with me. The man had nothing to rent but as we flipped through his book of available properties he pointed out two houses for sale, both in nearby Louviers. Michael and I had no money to buy, so I discounted them. Not Edith. ‘Allez, Suzanne, let’s go look, it’ll be fun. I’ve always wanted to see what these places looked like inside.’ I decided I could take a break from my house search, and away we went in the realtor’s car.
We arrived in Louviers, a mid-size town whose centre is a tasteful blend of ancient and post-war architecture. It was badly damaged during the Second World War – burned by the Germans on their way through – and, like so many towns throughout France, it had to rebuild itself quickly afterwards. The rebuilding was done with style – shops and lodgings are capacious, cream-coloured stuccoed buildings with sharply sloping, slate roofs. A boulevard surrounds the centre, with small streets coming off of it into the heart of the town, where a central cherry-tree-lined square serves a multitude of purposes. Mostly it is a parking lot, except on Saturdays when it hosts the farmers’ market that transforms Louviers into a vibrant fete. The square is also used for special presentations; go-kart races; a twice-yearly, town-wide garage sale where individuals set up stands and sell everything from antiques to children’s trading cards; and a spring plant and flower sale.
Another large, grassy square which is about a five-minute walk from the main square is bordered by homes, and the police and fire stations. It is here that, regularly, huge stages are erected and theatre performances and concerts are held, and big tents are erected for traveling circuses.
Louviers was once an important textile town and still has one textile factory to show for it, as well as a series of canals which once powered the textile mills. Houses built along these canals are generally large and prosperous, and they have private, often fanciful wooden bridges that allow them access from across the water. Louviers also boasts the remains of cloisters from a Franciscan convent which was built in 1646, supposedly the only cloisters in France ever built over a canal.
