French Food Now

Ingredients for my César Salad, following the recipe in Cuisine et Vins de France.
Garlic, parmesan cheese, eggs. lemon, lettuce, mustard, olive oil, anchovies.
Mushrooms and herbs in picture were ready for another dish for our dinner.

CVF illustration.

A few days ago, I described the French cooking magazine Cuisine et Vins de France, which has published for over 90 years (link to post). For a long time, CVF was pretty highbrow, but it's now owned by the women's magazine Marie Claire, and seems to me to be targeted to fairly ordinary home cooks. I was especially interested in trying to learn about what these normal people are cooking and eating these days, as opposed to the very trendy or elaborate cuisines that are still being served in French restaurants that tourists frequent. On past trips, we've eaten at the homes of various friends so we've had an idea of the difference. French people of our acquaintance are usually much more interested in fine cooking than most Americans, but do not necessarily cook as if they were restaurant chefs -- obviously!

I mentioned that I was hoping to try a couple of recipes from their current online offerings. First I tried "La vraie recette de la salade césar" -- that is, "The authentic recipe for césar salad." The image of the dish from the magazine is above. For my second choice: a very simple dish of turkey cooked with mango slices and green peppercorns. In showing these, I've interspersed some of our other French or French-style dishes from the weekend as well.

Tossing the salad, using the online recipe on the iPad.

This was definitely the classic American dish -- as replicated from the popular French magazine. Evidently, French cooks now like to try exotic foods. Another not-really-French recipe from CVF that is on my list: Thai beef salad.

Second course: mushrooms on toast with herbs from our garden.

At the same time that I was making the salad, I made a second course: mushrooms on toast. The French are much more inclined to serve several courses in a home-style meal than we Americans are. They tend not to put nearly as many different dishes on the plate at one time, but to eat slowly and in a predictable sequence. The slower pace is sometimes thought to be one reason why French people are less likely to be obese than Americans, but that's not a for-sure explanation.

French home cooks in the past virtually never baked their own bread.
Their local bakeries were too good and their ovens were too small.
But Len is working hard on his French-bread skills.

 Another CVF Recipe for Another Dinner

Ingredients for a very simple main course: turkey breast, green peppercorns, mango slices, vinegar, salt.
On the screen, you can see the original presentation from CVF.

CVF illustration.

The recipe title in French: "Magrets de canard aux mangues," that is duck breast with mangoes -- shown in the image from the magazine. I substituted a turkey breast from a local farmer because I couldn't find duck at the shop I went to.

I was impressed at such a good result from just four main ingredients: mango, turkey, vinegar, and green peppercorns! I had to add butter for frying the skinless turkey, which obviously has far less fat than duck with the skin on. Also, because the turkey was less moist, I degreased the pan with a splash of white wine -- not called for in the original.

My turkey and mango slices in the frying pan!

This was really delicious. When I find some duck breasts, I'll try the exact recipe. We love green peppercorns!