Recipe for a romantic evening...

Vianne's Spiced Hot Chocolate
     (serves 2)

• 1 2/3 cups milk
• 1/2 vanilla bean, cut in half lengthwise
• 1/2 cinnamon stick
• 1 hot red chile, halved and seeded
• 3 1/2 ounces bittersweet (70 percent) chocolate
• brown sugar to taste (optional)
• whipped cream, chocolate curls, cognac or Amaretto to serve

• Place the milk in a saucepan, add the vanilla bean, cinnamon stick and chile and gently bring it to a shivering simmer for 1 minute.
• Grate the chocolate and whisk it in until it melts.
• If you must, then add brown sugar, but do try without it.
• Take off the heat and allow it to infuse for 10 minutes,then remove the vanilla, cinnamon and chile.
• Return to the heat and bring gently back to a simmer.
• Serve in mugs topped with whipped cream, chocolate curls or a dash of cognac or Amaretto.

recipe page 237, My French Country Kitchen

click link below to view book:

My French Kitchen - A book of 120 Treasured Recipes 

by Joanne Harris (author of Chocolat) (us) - see other country links below)  Harris encourages cooks to engage all their senses when cooking -look at what you're cooking, smell the ingredients, mix them with your fingers, and enjoy their sounds and textures.  Cooking she reminds us, is about as close to magic as modern society allows:  to take a handful of simple, fresh ingredients and turn them into something wonderful, otherworldly.

The 120 recipes include French classics such as Onion Soup and Onion Tart, Coq au Vin, and Créme Brûlée, as well as family favorites like Anouchka's Chile Garlic Bread, Great-Aunt Simone's Marinated Tuna and Great-Aunt Marinette's Slow Fudge Sauce.  And, of course, there's an entire chapter devoted to chocolate -cakes, meringues, and spiced hot chocolate. -excerpt from the book's description, Amazon.

.

"Chocolat" movie still, Johnny Depp and Juliette Binoche

music from this scene:  "Caravan"

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Enjoy!

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image 1, movie still by lb

image 2, movie still via IMDb

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{Romantic and Peaceful Cottage Retreat by l&l Lifestyle.}

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Gathering Place

I just received my copy of  Entertaining in the French Style  by Eileen W. Johnson.  It is a charming book with historical tid-bits and anecdotal stories interlaced with beautiful photos offering a glimpse into the lives of the inhabitants of each region she visits from the Provencal countryside to the Luberon mountains to the heart of Paris.  

A recipe and wine pairing is given from each of the eight locales along the way and the imagery –by photographer Brie Williams– has set my mouth to watering. 


—I'm off to see what I can round up for a late supper!

linen & lavender

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by Eileen Johnson, photographs by Brie Williams

Contents: 

IN THE MEDIEVAL TOWN OF SAIGNON

Breakfast in Bed

IN L'ISLE SUR LA SORGUE

Couscous Dinner

IN THE ANTIQUES CAPITAL OF FRANCE

Garden Lunch

IN THE COUNTRYSIDE NEAR PROVENCE

Three-Course Dinner

IN THE VILLAGE OF MAILLANE

Romantic French Breakfast

IN THE HEART OF BURGUNDY

Cooking with Flowers

IN LA PERCHE

Dinner and Calvados

IN A PARIS APARTMENT

Quintessential City Dining

VISIT the emporium TO ORDER

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"One of my earliest memories of living in Paris...

...is entering the local bistro as a three-year-old, being greeted by the courtly waiter, and then being charmed by a dish that immediately caught my eye:  escargots on display in a glass case..."-excerpt, Olives and Oranges, page 209.

Recipe:  Roasted Scallops with "Snail Butter" and Mâche 

(quick cook recipe - makes 4 main course servings or 6 small plates)

Snail Butter

1 1/4 cups loosely packed fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves

2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

Grated zest of 1/2 lemon

Scallops

4 ounces field-grown mâche, baby spinach or watercress

2 pounds dry-packed medium scallops

Medium-coarse sea salt and coarsely ground black pepper

1 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Juice of 1 lemon (about 2 Tablespoons)

Crusty bread, sliced and toasted

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

FOR SNAIL BUTTER:  Finely chop parsley and garlic together.  Place in a bowl, add butter and zest and mash together with a fork until well combined. 

Place mâche in a large bowl.  Set aside.

FOR SCALLOPS:  Generously season scallops with salt and pepper.  Heat a large cast-iron pan over high heat until quite hot.  Add oil and then scallops, slowly feeding them into the pan, being careful not to crowd pan or lower the temperature of it.  As scallops form a crusty brown sear on the bottom, 3 to 4 minutes, move them on top of each other and add more to the pan.  When all scallops are browned on one side, remove pan from heat and dot scallops with snail butter.

Place skillet in oven for 5 minutes to melt butter and cook scallops through.

Transfer scallops and butter to bowl with mâche, add lemon juice, toss and serve immediately, with crusty bread to sop up buttery juices.

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Olives and Oranges

Recipes and Flavor Secrets from 

Italy, Spain, Cyprus and Beyond

by Sara Jenkins and Mindy Fox

Photographs by Alan Richardson

click to order in these countries:

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One of my favorites! ~

  More cookbooks in Cooking and Wine
  the emporium by l&l

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