Market=Table cooking classes: radish leaf soup to sabayon

What we bought:

Leeks
Potatoes
Radishes and their tops
Tenderloin of pork

Bacon

2 Apples
Parsley

Little pears

Hazelnuts

Mesclun

a slice of creamy Vacherin- the last of the season.

from the French Kitchen Pantry-
Egg yolks
Thyme
Rosemary
Breadcrumbs

Flour
Eggs
More eggs
White sugar
Sweet wine
Cream fraiche
Soft red wine from Elian Da Ros- cote de marmandais

Sweet Gascon white wine from Guy Arrouy 'gros manseng'

This is what we cooked:

Soupe Verte
A green spring version of a radish leaf and potato soup.

Porc
Pork tenderloin en croute (a fresh herb crust)

with a sauce vernal using aillets and poireaux de vigne
Galette de Pomme Squared
a potato & apple pancake cooked like a Spanish tortilla

L’Œuf
Sabayon classique aux Poires et Noisettes-

the most delicious thing you can do with a dozen eggs !

In exactly the time it took to eat the soup, marvel at it's green-ness and sip some wine, the pork tenderloin was out of the oven, it's crispy herbed crust served with a gentle garlic sauce. The pears lay on a bed of Sabayon, their ginger and tea poaching syrup making an dark puddle around the golden custard. Then the Bad Boy puppies had a walk, exhausted themselves and fell asleep in our arms. Next Wednesday I'm in San Sebastian at the Dialogos de Cocino. We'll make Bacalao pil-pil when I return with salt cod in tow.

French market colors- Orange & Green

If I was quick enough, I could try and capture the sound-- long, plaintive and very high as Winter flies north. It is a bone chilling song that penetrates boat and brain as these Cranes head back north from their African winter vacation. This week, they gathered over the Garonne River in enough confusion before gathering their wits into a 'V' to leave me time to grab my camera . "Yes," Franny tells me she, too, heard the cranes flying north taking winter with them.

While winter lingers still in the markets- roots, cabbages and bulbs, this clash of orange and green met me at the entrance to the petit marche aux Chat' D'Oc. It lifted my spirits enough to make a simple salad with frisee served with artichauts dressed in an zesty orange vinaigrette.

Cranes. Colors. And Shapes. Kitchen inspiration comes in all forms. But most often I am drawn by the natural world outside my galley window. Like those wild cranes flying overhead, I now hunt for spring along the garden paths and plan a Spring Green Soup and Sauce Vernal for tomorrow's Market=Table cooking class. Although we use the French Kitchen at Camont for classes, I cook in this little floating test kitchen- just one of a barge queen's great delights.

"Arrrh, matey. Burnt the soup? Throw it overboard to the fishes

and walk the plank to the pantry!" Captain Kate.

Market Economics

I was in a one Euro mood.
My bag filled quickly, heavily with no recipe in mind.
No list.
Just what looked good… for a euro.

spring onions
radishes
swiss chard
kilo of potatoes
kilo of carrots
slice of pumpkin
bunch of watercress

Soup.
Braised vegetables.
Greens.
The end of winter; the beginning of spring.
Tonight’s lunar eclipse, covered under a heavy cloud blanket, calls for something to celebrate this invisible full moon.

Like beans and sausage.
Moon food should be fat and round, white, cheesy or sweet. But tonight, in the galley of the Julia Hoyt, it will be hot and spicy, white beans, duck chipolatas and Saucisse de Toulouse. NOT a cassoulet but a stove-top steaming pot to scent the air with cumin and chilies, fresh garlic, and a bobbing round onion as fat as a moon.