New Orleans love letters...

PJ & KH 'n NYC

You're going to be hearing a lot about Nouvelle Orleans from old France for the next couple of months as we get our lil' ole traveling shoes on (size 12 thankyouverymuch!) and head to La Louisiane in April for the International Association of Culinary Professionals conference-see banner above! (Ok, it's a great excuse for a food-long week of gabbing and grabbing goodies as well as some serious networking, pitching, teaching and sharing going on.)

The gossip is that The Pimster has just posted a love letter to Tony Bourdain-- in public no less! But I hear the love for NOLA behind it all. My own Love Affair began when a friend of a friend arrived to write a newspaper story about me and the French Kitchen. Ever after called Capt' by one Pableaux Johnson (see above and newly at the Louisville Courier-Journal and writing about it all here) , my courtship with NOLA began.

Since then, it's been a friend of a friend of a friend sort of world... Pableaux beget Sue, Sue beget Mario, and so on. Eventually a few other NOLA Natives arrived on their own to taste la Gascogne and voila! Camont and New Orleans are now twinned forever. At least in my heart!

This summer David Aman "showed up". David is the eye behind the camera of DOCNO and one very nice guy. You can find what he shot this summer with me playing in my tic-tac-toe potager here or just waltzing around 'the Gascon Ranch' here.

All in all, its a great time to be thinking of going to New Orleans and 'giving back' for all the great friends it has set me here!

Mardi Foie Gras tout le monde !!!

en Gascogne- 20th century

Fat Tuesday.
Fat Liver.
Even the buds on the orchard trees are fat this Tuesday.

I might not be in New Orleans ...yet.
But that solitary, artisan-grown foie gras resting in my freezer may just have to be dinner tonight to celebrate the day along with the rest of the world...le carnaval. What better way to party than with a Mardi FOIE Gras!

Claude et Canards gras

Here are a few special photographs by my lens friend Tim Clinch taken in our neighborhood in our lifetime. For a fatter peek at how TC sees the world check out his official website- www.timclinchphotography.com (and notice all the great food pics taken in my French Kitchen!) and TC's new photographic travelblog from our recent trip to Spain- www.clinchpics.blogspot.com.

aux voisins

After the first pre-holiday rush for Christmas foie gras, now is the time to start making confit and putting ducks to bed. Spring is a natural time for the pre-migration fattening mode to kick in. Hardwired in the birds' brains, these spring ducks produce great foie gras and tender meat for preserving for later special dishes like cassoulet and garbure or best of all, a crispy leg of Confit de Canard and a Spring salad.

They may be lining up for beads along the parade routes this week, but here in the French Kitchen, I am celebrating in my own Gascon way- au paniers mes chères!

Laissez les bonnes temps roules!

All photographs above by Tim Clinch
www.timclinchphotography.com

Spanish Lemon Marmalade- the recipe

It didn't take long to cut, juice and slice the dozen souvenir lemons I brought back from Spanish Hooky jaunt #1- Catalunya. I didn't want to do anything fancy, just save the juice for a sweet/tart curd and preserve the untreated, natural rinds.

The French Kitchen recipe:

• 12 organic lemons
• cut in half and juice (reserving juice for lemon curd)
• weigh and slice the rinds in thin strips
  
• measure an equal weight of sugar (e.g.- 500 grams sugar to 500 grams lemon rind)
  
• toss in a stainless steel pot, dump the sugar over them, let them sit together all night
• next morning, cooked the rinds in their syrup-- very slowly, all morning until the syrup was thick and the rinds are still a little chewy.
• pour into 3 jars; give one to a friend, put one in the cupboard, then make toast.

• 

This Sunday morning breakfast- a still hot baguette from the boulanger at Brax, salted butter and lemon marmalade with a steaming cup of café-au-lait.

Wish you were here...