from the wonderful New Yorker who presented me with an apron her grandmother had embroidered with the name On Rue Tatin, and which I treasure (she also sent us her special Christmas cookies after the week she spent with us), to the duo of dentists who kept us laughing from Sunday night through to Friday noon, then gave both kids a quick dental examination and advice, followed up by packages of fluoride in the mail; from the school librarian who made a list of ‘must read’ books for Joe, to the retired university professor who keeps me up to date with all manner of interesting food items. Nor will I ever forget our first Australian guest, who kept saying, as she fastened her apron and picked up her knife, ‘I didn’t know we were going to cook!’
All of this, and we’ve only just begun!
My goal with this cooking school is simple, aside from providing an income for us all. I want everyone who comes to On Rue Tatin not only to gain a practical knowledge of French culinary techniques but also to get a real, authentic flavour of France, to experience the rare relationship people here have with food producers and artisans, and to taste the difference in food that is grown locally with care, and eaten within just a few miles of where it was grown. I want them to leave On Rue Tatin with a sense that they ‘know’ France through all of us, and I want them to go home and share what they have learned.
CORN LOAF
Pain de Maïs
This rustic bread is a delight with any meal, though I particularly like it with roast pork. Make sure you keep some for breakfast, to toast, for it is sublime with a touch of salted butter and a drizzle of honey!
3 cups (750ml) lukewarm milk
2 tsp active dry yeast
1 1/2 tsp sugar
4 cups (535g) fine cornmeal (or semolina), preferably yellow
1 tbs sea salt
5 to 6 cups (705g) unbleached, all-purpose flour
1. Place the warm milk in a large bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer. Stir in the yeast and sugar, then the cornmeal (or semolina), 1 cup at a time. Stir in the salt, then add the flour, 1 cup at a time, until you have a soft dough. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead it several times, adding a bit of additional flour if necessary so it doesn’t stick to your fingers.
2. Let the dough rest for 15 minutes on the work surface, then knead it until it is smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes, adding more flour if necessary to keep it from sticking to your hands. Don’t use more than 6 cups of flour – the dough should be soft and slightly wet, not firm.
3. Place the dough in a bowl, cover with a damp towel and let it rise in a warm spot until it has doubled in bulk, about 1–1/2 hours. Punch it down, and divide it in half.
4. Sprinkle two 91/2-inch (23.5cm) pie plates with cornmeal (or semolina). Shape each half of the dough into a round and place them, seam-side down, in the prepared pie plates. Press down on the rounds so they fill the pie plates, cover loosely with a towel and let them rise in a warm spot until they are nearly doubled in bulk, about 30 minutes.
5. Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C).
6. Using a very sharp knife, cut a large spiral in the top of each loaf, then bake in the centre of the oven until the loaves are golden and sound hollow when tapped, 40 to 45 minutes. Remove from the oven, turn out of the pie plates and let cool to room temperature on wire racks.
Two large loaves
RAW BEET SALAD
Salade de Betteraves Crues
I love beets any way I can get them, though this salad is a favourite. I make it often at home, and serve it as a little extra during cooking school weeks, so that everyone has a chance to sample beets at their crunchy finest!
I serve very small portions of this, as its flavour is intense. It looks beautiful in the centre of a small plate garnished with a sprig of green!
1 tsp sherry vinegar
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tbs extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
1 shallot, peeled and cut into paper-thin slices
4 medium beets, trimmed, peeled, and finely grated
Small bunch of chervil, flat-leaf parsley, or arugula
1. Whisk the vinegar with salt and pepper to taste in a large bowl. Add the olive oil in a thin stream, whisking constantly. Taste for seasoning; then stir in the cumin seeds and the shallot. Add the beets and toss so they are thoroughly coated with the dressing. Let the beets rest for at least 15 minutes before serving. Just before serving, mound the beets in the centre of 6 small plates, and garnish them with the parsley or the arugula leaves. Serve immediately
6 servings
Every day for three years, while Joe and I were walking to school in the early mornings, he used to ask me if he could have a little sister, as though this was something we would buy at the charcuterie we passed each morning. The first time the request came up I didn’t know what to say. Joe didn’t know that Michael and I wanted another child – boy or girl – and had been trying to have one for several years. It wouldn’t mean a thing to him if I said, ‘We’re trying, Joe, we’re trying, we don’t want you to be an only child any more than you do.’ So, I put him off by saying, ‘Well, maybe you will one day,’ sheepishly knowing this probably wasn’t true.
Michael and I weren’t desperate to have another child, but we thought it would be great for Joe to have a sibling, and for our family to be one person bigger. We assumed I would get pregnant, but two years had passed and I hadn’t. I decided I would take the first steps to check into adoption, to see how serious we wanted to get. I didn’t get far in my research before I learned that there are few if any babies available for adoption in France: pregnant woman of any age and situation are encouraged to keep their babies, and financial assistance from the state makes it very possible for them to do so. This explains the number of babies wheeling around babies; some of the mothers I see look no older than thirteen and, for all I know, they may be.
The only couples I knew in France who had adopted babies had gone to South America or China to find them, and I knew that we wouldn’t go that far. We didn’t want to, nor could we afford to purchase a child. Secondly, our passion for a child didn’t go to those lengths. Maybe we were selfish – we wanted our own baby, and if our own baby wasn’t going to happen, we’d stay a happy little family of three.
Finally we did what any sensible couple whose son wants a sibling would do. We considered getting a dog. Joe wanted a dog. Michael wanted a dog. I’m not much of an animal-lover, but I figured I could live with a dog. I’d grown up with a dachshund and loved her, but she was a yippy little attack dog who would go after crawling babies if she couldn’t find the moles she was bred to chase, so I didn’t think we wanted that sort. Michael had grown up with and
