Who You Callin’ a Tart?

Its finally beginning to feel like summer here in Paris. However, I wish I were in Provence. Yes, I am remorseful that I had to leave my soon to be first summer in Provence because my stupid ALS forced me back to Paris. Woe is me, right? But honestly, Paris sucks in the summer. But as usual, I will make the best of it. The best thing to do in the summer in Paris is to leave Paris and that is just what I plan on doing as much as I can. For David’s birthday last weekend, we hightailed it out of Paris to a very special place that I will tell you all about next week. Next week, my new eye tracking software should arrive and after I learn how to use it, I will be back to blogging on a regular basis.

It is difficult for me now to blog because my voice is weak and my caregivers don’t give a shit about my blog. They care about keeping me alive and getting paid… not necessarily in that order. But, if there is a will, there is a way and by God, I will be back to blogging soon.

In the meantime, let’s look at some gorgeous tomato tarts. I put together a whole Pinterest board dedicated to tomato tarts HERE. I cannot really eat much so Pinterest has become my food porn. All I do is look at food. So, this next week is going to be all about food… summer food.

Let’s start with tomato tarts…
 

Tomato Tart with Blue Cheese 

 

Tomato Ricotta Phyllo Tart

Cherry Tomato Tart with Feta

 

Puff Pastry Tomato Tart with Macadamia Nut Pesto

 





 Fresh Tomato Tart

Follow my Tomato Tart Pinterest Board HERE.

*Something you don’t know about me? Even though I am a devout Real Housewives fan, I am proud of my friend, Yolanda Hadid, for exiting the show, The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, gracefully. Yolanda intelligently wants to focus on restoring her health, continuing to mother her children and regaining some privacy… and for that, I admire her. Just for the record I will never watch the show again… yes I will.

How Not To Have a Meltdown on Thanksgiving. By Ellie O'Connell

My Grandmother's Recipe Box

Thanksgiving. A beautiful day to celebrate and give thanks with your friends and family. Also known as: a year-long lead up to a day filled with at least six out of seven deadly sins including gluttony, wrath and sloth. You know it’s true. No Thanksgiving goes smoothly. There is always some sort of cooking disaster like burning the rolls (my mother’s signature move) or some annoying relative who inappropriately “over shares.”

No matter what you do, how much you organize, how much you plan ahead, or how much you pray for a smooth day… It ain’t gonna be. However, there are some tricks that can minimize the carnage.

I think we can all agree that the foremost trick to having a near disaster free Thanksgiving is to plan ahead. Make a list and check it twice. Grocery list, guest list, floral list, music list, drinks list, table setting list… List, list, list! And it’s important to delegate. Let someone else help. My mother usually does 90% of the work but typically she delegates out setting the table, lighting the candles, filling the glasses with water… Stupid jobs for stupid people, I am sure, is her theory. Nothing serious because she doesn’t trust any of us to do it correctly. She usually just has my sister and I do menial labor and then she will come in and put the finishing touches on everything. I am 45 years old and to this day I have never made Thanksgiving dinner. I have been my mother’s assistant to Thanksgiving dinner but the reigns have never been passed over to me and probably never will be unless my mother drops dead, God forbid, and we will have to retch that spatula out of her cold dead hands. Ha ha,ha, I’m laughing as I write that. (Relax, my mother would be laughing too.)

However, this year is my first year to make Thanksgiving by myself and when I say “by myself” I mean my three male Filipino caregivers will be morphed into chefs, bakers, florist and decorators. I have had 45 years of “Thanksgiving observation” and my skill retention will be put to the test this year in Provence as I attempt to “do Thanksgiving.”

I will rely 100% on my Thanksgiving cookbook, Surviving Thanksgiving. Every single one of my family secret recipes are described. My great grandmother’s green beans with bacon. Check. My mother’s famous cranberry sauce (Yolanda Hadid’s favorites). Check. Our family secret stuffing recipe with a surprising ingredient. Check. Sweet potato soufflé from a down-home Southern source. Check.

I am also going to rely heavily on every “tricks of the trade” I can find. These tricks can come from home cooks to professionals. I have started a compilation but I would like all of you to contribute your best Thanksgiving tricks/tips in the comment section so everyone can share their Thanksgiving advice!

I have started a little compilation:

Our beloved Stephen leads our Thanksgiving advice: “I follow the Libby’s back of the canned pumpkin pie recipe, except I: 1) use duck eggs 2) double the spices and 3) bloom the spices in half a stick of melted butter 4) add 1 tablespoon whiskey to the filling (helps evaporate moisture more quickly and amplifies flavor).”

Stephen continues with his holiday spirit advice: “Guests like to help. I know this, every etiquette/hosting guide says this. Every lifestyle personality urges “get your guests in on it! It’s more fun!” Bull and shit. I would like to be that person who opens his kitchen, passes a spare apron, and says, "Oh, darling! Chop these carrots however you feel regardless of how I’d like them! Even though you just pet my dog, don’t worry about washing your hands since there are two people blocking the sink arguing about abortion. But that’s not me. I'm a solo act. I feel it’s a strength and I at least recognize this; but in the scheme of things, it's probably a weakness. So, maybe in 30 years when I’m alone on Thanksgiving, I’ll reassess. For now, the model remains: "Darling! Get the fuck out of the kitchen."Bold

But this is just the beginning of Stephen’s Thanksgiving advice. Pop over to Stephen’s blog HERE to read the funniest most realistic advice on Thanksgiving you could ever hope for! You will not be disappointed!

My friend Amy M. is up next with her Thanksgiving advice. Amy is a former editor of Gourmet Magazine and not only knows how to make something taste good but look good also! Amy suggests: “1. Take the time to make turkey stock for your gravy! It doesn't take long and makes a huge difference in flavor. There is an easy recipe on p. 377 of the big Gourmet yellow cookbook. Also, my booze of choice for gravy (in addition to the requisite white wine) is a medium Madiera. 2. If having a large crowd, instead of cooking 2 turkeys which is very cumbersome roast one larger bird and a boneless turkey breast (size of both depends on total number of guests). It's much easier to focus on one bird and then roast a breast--which takes much less time--as most people choose white meat anyway. Dark meat lovers are usually few in a crowd. 3. Many side dishes can be made ahead but not mashed potatoes (no no no). Purists prefer a food mill but I usually don't have the patience for such w/ a large amount so usually use an old fashioned masher. Make sure you warm the butter/milk/cream mixure so it's hot when you add it to the potatoes. (Some people swear by an electric mixer for mashing which is what my mother always used but you have to be gentle and not overdo.)  4. re: dessert: if you're going to make homemade pies, please please please take the time to make your own pastry. My favorite is Dorie Greenspan's "Good for Almost Everything Pie Dough" on p. 442 of her book "Baking, from my home to yours" one of my favorite baking books--a MUST for any baker!”

Thanks, Amy!

My idol, the Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten masters Thanksgiving by offering her advice by keeping it simple. You can read all of Ina’s Thanksgiving advice HERE but here is a little snippet.

Ina advises: “1. Make a game plan. I take a big piece of paper and write my timing on it, working backward. If I want to serve the meal at 4 o’clock, I think, the turkey must go in the oven at noon, come out at three, and then rest for an hour. Then I look at the carrots and parsnips: make them in advance? Yes, they can be reheated while the turkey rests. I pencil that into the schedule. I make sure that there are some things in the oven, some things atop the stove, some things I can make in advance and reheat, and some things I can serve at room temperature. 2. I love to order cookies with people’s name on them as place cards. They are from Eli’s Zabar ($24 for six, elizabar.com). 3. Ask each guest to bring a dessert. They will feel like they are part of the team (and they’ll enjoy their favorite sweet).”

This last bit of Ina’s advice is the complete opposite of my mother’s advice. If a guest brings flowers or dessert to my mother’s Thanksgiving… She will kill you. I have written a complete rulebook in my Surviving Thanksgiving cookbook of what not to do at our house for Thanksgiving titled, “My Mother Will Kill You If You…” You can order the book HERE. It is available in softback and as an e-book if you want it delivered today on your device.

 

 

This brings us to my mother’s Thanksgiving advice. My mother says: “My only really great trick is the one that I use for making all sauces/gravy. I learned it in cooking classes in Springfield, Missouri and have used it forever. 2 Tablespoons melted butter to 2 Tablespoons of flour.  Mix together with a fork and blend it into your liquid with a whisk. If the liquid needs to be thicker make more of this mixture. You can increase the amount but it is always the same equal amount of butter to flour. My other trick if you can call it that.....is before any holiday or event I try to do my best to be really organized with the food and the preparations. Even though I might not look organized to anyone else I am to me! This is really the most important part of any party, holiday or even the evening dinner. Before Thanksgiving I make a list of everything I need to do...even the smallest thing like making sure the napkins are ironed.  Remember the Thanksgiving that I didn't do that and I had a meltdown...I really was not organized or completely prepared...Even as much as I wanted to blame everyone else it really was my responsibility for the meal and that included the napkins....the details do matter. So get prepared, get organized and then you can enjoy the meal and have fun!”

True story. My mother literally had a nervous breakdown over unironed napkins one year. It was about 11 years ago and we are still talking about it/scared about it. But don’t confuse that napkin meltdown with her other meltdown regarding the year my sister brought a store-bought pie to Thanksgiving dinner.

Okay, so now it’s your turn. What are your best tricks to a fabulously seamless Thanksgiving, if there is such a thing. There isn’t but we can at least try! Leave your tricks/tips/advice in the comment section so we can all share. Happy almost Thanksgiving! Gobble gobble!

 

Surviving Thanksgiving Cookbook!!!!!!!!

Today is October 1^st and you know what that means… Only 57 days until Thanksgiving!

It’s time to start getting ready, ladies and Stephen! The OCD, control freak, and spaz in me is already preparing. The guests are invited and will remain the same depending on their behavior, the tablecloth has been thought out, the platters are organized and because I live in Paris, the land of no Thanksgiving, I will have to make my pilgrimage over to The Thanksgiving Store in the 4^th arrondissement of Paris over the weekend to order/purchase everything I need. And yes I realize it’s only October 1 but you can never be too prepared.

Thanksgiving Shop

20 Rue Saint Paul 75004 Paris

 

And that, my friends, is why I am reintroducing my Thanksgiving cookbook, Surviving Thanksgiving, today! I want all of you to have plenty of time to order it, receive it, read it and prepare before the big day.

If you weren’t around last year for the inaugural Surviving Thanksgiving blog posting, CLICK HERE.

Surviving Thanksgiving is a humorous look at Thanksgiving, a guide and most importantly, a cookbook. All of the recipes are generational O’Connell family secrets.

Here is a little excerpt from the book:

Ahhh, Thanksgiving dinner. The holiday where emotions run high. My family has at least two fights on Thanksgiving …pre-dinner. It could be about ironing the napkins, it can be about why I invited every Tom Dick and Harry in the neighborhood, it could be about my sister hogging her new baby, it could be about my brother eating all of the appetizers before the guests arrive, it could be about my former sister-in-law acting like a guest and not lifting a finger but usually the fight is always about my siblings and me “not helping in the kitchen enough.” The funny part is that if we attempt to help in the kitchen, my mother always tells us that we are doing it wrong and pushes us aside. We are either chopping the onions incorrectly, we are stirring the gravy too fast or not fast enough, we are not basting the turkey with love, we are being too dangerous with the Cuisinart blade, we are not watching the pies in the oven closely enough, etc. We decided that the best thing to do is just to leave my idiot savant mother in the kitchen to work her magic by herself. And she has, for 44 years. We have never helped her. To this day I have never made a Thanksgiving dinner on my own because she has never taught me. This is the first time she has ever even written the recipes down.

My mother was born cooking. She had no choice because it’s what my family does. My mother’s home when she was growing up was a big Carthage stone house that was always filled with tons of family. My grandmother, her housekeeper, Parthenia, my mother and her two sisters, Judy and Becky, ruled that house with an iron spatula. Everything revolved around food and the holidays. Sunday dinners complete with formal dinnerware and chafing dishes on the buffet were de rigueur. Even if we had my grandmother’s famous green pepper steak Chinese dinner, it was going to be on porcelain with linen napkins and crystal glasses. All of the children, including all of the cousins never really helped in the kitchen. We were only allowed to watch. Our job was to help set the table. I’ve been setting the table since I could walk. The good news is that I don’t ever remember anyone asking us to do the dishes.

I don’t want you to think that this Thanksgiving dinner recipe cookbook was put together lightly. This is an accumulation of years of testing, experimenting, and fine-tuning. My mother has been the teacher of private cooking classes, the chairman of the Los Angeles Junior League cookbook committee, has had 2 successful gourmet cookware/gourmet food shops, and has thrown more cocktail parties, dinner parties, birthday parties, weddings and holiday parties than Martha Stewart could even dream of. She is the dyslexic Martha Stewart… Which brings me to another subject.

As much as we love my mother, she is definitely…how can I say this nicely? Well, I’m just going to say it… She is cuckoo. I know this may sound mean but my mother has self-diagnosed dyslexia and the things that come out of her mouth are downright hysterical. She has no filter, spells everything incorrectly and sometimes backwards, never gives a clear explanation, and gets frustrated if you don’t know how to brown pork chops because, as she says, “It’s obvious.” However, she is pretty and can cook the pants off of anyone. So, as a warning, I have left all of her recipes nearly exactly as she has written them. I did have to edit a few things otherwise you would be offended by her tone and most likely would not have been able to completely understand the recipe because the words are out of order due to her dyslexia.

But what you will get with this Thanksgiving cookbook is a set of recipes that you can use for a lifetime and that you can add your own touch to as well. The recipes are easy, approachable and the ingredients are readily available at the supermarket. And, as an added bonus, I’m going to give you my mother’s email address so you to email her with any questions you might have. She loves helping people out and always has little secret cooking ideas to share. But I warn you, her emails back to you will be cryptic and possibly rude, but not intentionally. She will treat you as she treats her children…with love, humor, and a lack of social skills.

I would say bon appétit but my fancy Parisian friend, Sally Perrin, told me that is tacky and if you say bon appétit it is as if you are saying, “chow time.” So, obviously, I will never say bon appétit again… Yes I will.

Bon appétit!

The book guides you through the perils of Thanksgiving from setting the table, flower arrangements, cooking timeline, supply list, the recipes and most importantly how to keep your cool on the big day.

This is the first year that I will be (with my handy dandy caregiver, Joel) cooking Thanksgiving dinner by myself. As you know last year we were lucky enough to enjoy a very special Thanksgiving at the Ralph Lauren restaurant, Ralph’s, in Paris. Thank you Rex and the Lauren family. If you missed that blog, you can read it HERE. This year I decided to have Thanksgiving at our apartment using all of my family’s recipes from the cookbook. I’m sure I will be calling my mother four thousand times to ask her for advice and guess what, you can too! I have included my mother’s Thanksgiving cookbook email in the cookbook for all of you to use if you have any questions. She is eagerly anticipating your emails because she loves to give cooking advice. Remember, my mother used to be a cooking teacher and this is definitely her forte, so ask away! If you want to have the most delicious, home-cooked, authentic Thanksgiving of your entire life, Surviving Thanksgiving is the cookbook for you! Also, a portion of the proceeds will go to ALS research so it’s a win-win!

To purchase the Surviving Thanksgiving cookbook CLICK HERE. The book is available in softback and as an Ebook. Surviving Thanksgiving is also continuously available on the homepage of my blog on the right sidebar.

Gobble gobble!

*Something you don’t know about me? I have curated the October antique sale all around entertaining for the fall holidays. There are lots of goodies that I think you will all love. The sale starts in a few days but I will give you all a heads up via blog postings but in the meantime follow me on Instagram HERE for updates on the sale and sneak peeks!

 

Summer Series: Alfresco, Baby!

Be careful what you wish for. After living in California most of my life, I was excited to move to France so that I could experience seasons again like I did when we lived in Missouri and Aspen… Winter, spring, summer and fall. Growing up in Laguna Beach, Newport Beach, Malibu and Santa Barbara… I lived in perpetual summertime all year round. It was almost too much of a good thing. I felt like I needed a snowstorm for a reality check. Life isn’t supposed to be sunny all the time, right?

 Wrong.

Now that I’ve lived in France for a solid two years, all I want is sunshine. Like John Denver says, “Sunshine on my shoulders, makes me happy.”

At first it used to annoy me that whenever there was a glimpse of sunshine, lily white vitamin D deficient Parisians would slither out of their apartments, eyes squinting, searching for their slice of sunshine in every garden, terrace and café… And then milk it… for hours… Hogging the light. And now, two years later, I am one of them. Sunshine is my holy Grail. I actually check weather reports which is something I’ve never done, praying for sunshine on the weekends when I go outside. Now I understand (and appreciate) why the French take their August “vacances” so seriously. Jeez, Frenchies, I hear ya.

While I love my apartment, appreciate my apartment, respect my apartment… I also hate it. My apartment offers me everything a girl would dream of in a Parisian apartment… Point de hongrie hardwood floors, high ceilings, detailed molding, skyscraper French windows, three fireplaces and in the 1^st arrondissement of Paris. However, it’s lacking one thing… A terrace (and a view but I can’t get greedy.) Yes, I have six little Juliet balconies just big enough for a topiary and Frances (yes, it annoys me that my cat gets more sunshine than I do) but it’s not enough… It’s just not enough! I have spent the last year searching every real estate agency for the equivalent of my apartment but with a terrace.… For the same price. Apparently, I have learned, this is just asking too much… Unless I want to spend €8000 a month and even then it’s still difficult. I have found other apartments for the same price but they lack the high ceilings, the fireplaces and the 7 feet tall French windows because usually places that have terraces are on the last and top floors of the quintessential Haussmann Parisian apartment buildings which were generally reserved for the servants. Lucky maids. (I often wonder that if architect Monsieur Haussmann had just designed these apartments on the lower floors with balconies 3 feet wider if Parisians wouldn’t be so grumpy because they would have a usable balcony with some fresh air and sunshine.) Was I willing to trade my beautiful apartment for a tiny top floor (probably no elevator) unadorned apartment that had a terrace? I went back and forth, trust me. On our weekend walks through Paris my neck is usually craned upward admiring the few lucky souls that have a terrace. I actually take pictures of stranger’s terraces. At least 300 times per walk I ask my caregivers, “Can we please walk on the sunny side of the street?” I need light!

What to do? What to do? The last thing my husband wanted to do was move to a smaller apartment so we made an agreement that the weekends were spent outdoors in the summer and in the winter my husband promised to take me at least one weekend a month to the south of France so I can spread my wings and bask in the sunshine. It’s too early to tell if he will hold up his end of the bargain.

Who knew that sunshine would become such a valuable commodity? I remember spending more than one Thanksgiving outdoors while we lived in California. Thanksgiving outdoors? That’s unheard of! I remember wanting to spend Thanksgiving somewhere that “felt like Thanksgiving,” somewhere the leaves were changing, somewhere there was a crisp breeze and somewhere I could wear a cashmere turtleneck sweater. Now all I want is to wear a T-shirt 365 days a year and I’m thinking we should probably move to the Florida Panhandle. I just want to be outside in the sunshine eating breakfast, lunch and dinner. So, this brings us to today’s blog… Alfresco dining. Glorious, glorious alfresco dining.

If we are going to have our meals outside, let’s do it right, shall we? We need the right ambience, the proper accoutrements, and the perfect menu. First let’s start with the look…

 

Now that we know what alfresco dining should look like… Let’s find out where we can buy everything! My favorite summer shopping is always through Mark D. Sikes, Serena & Lily, Williams-Sonoma and a few other boutiques. Take a look...

 Sundial Side Chair from Serena & Lily. Click HERE to purchase.

 

 

 Riviera Side Chair from Serena & Lily. Click HERE to purchase.

 

 

 Garden String Lights from Serena & Lily. Click HERE to purchase.

 

 

 Rablabs Lumino Azure Agate Coasters from Barneys. Click HERE to purchase.

 

 

 Oscar de la Renta's Portuguese hand-cut glasses with blue trim available through Mark D. Sikes. Click HERE to purchase.

 

 

 Oscar de la Renta's caned tray and stand available through Mark D. Sikes. Click HERE to purchase.

 

 

 Juliska's English Country Estate Dinnerware available through Mark D. Sikes. Click HERE to purchase.

 

 

 Woven Seagrass Tray from Williams-Sonoma. Click HERE to purchase. 

 

 

 Flamingo Tapestry Weave Provençal Tablecloth by La Cigale. Click HERE to purchase.

 

 

 Unbreakable Acrylic Tumblers by Williams-Sonoma. Click HERE to purchase.

 

 

 Melamine ( these are plastic, people! ) Bumblebee Dinner Plates by Mary Lake-Thompson. Click HERE to purchase.

 

 

Melamine (yep, plastic) Le Cadeaux Provence Dinner Plates. Click HERE to purchase.

 

Now, what are we going to eat? I have am some ideas…

 Grilled Shrimp and Lemon Skewers with Feta Dill Sauce. Click HERE for recipe.

 

 

 Soy Lemon Flank Steak with Arugula. Click HERE for recipe.

 

Oven Roasted Tomatoes by David Lebovitz. Click HERE for recipe.

  

 Endless Summer Cookbook by Katie Lee. Click HERE to purchase.

 

For more inspiration, follow my Pinterest Alfresco board HERE. It has everything you need to create a perfect alfresco environment from the overall look to the details… the furniture, the lighting, the tablecloths, the serving pieces, the plates, the glasses, the recipes… Alfresco heaven.

In the meantime, your little sun deprived friend Ellie will “do as the Parisians do” and milk the summer sunshine for all it’s worth.

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s summer series. Hint: “faux plage.”

A toute!

The Fixin's: BBQ Corn Casserole

Today’s recipe comes from my teeny tiny great-grandmother, Hannie. I didn’t really realize it until lately but Hannie was the true definition of a modern woman. Independent, self-sufficient, bold, brave, feminine, reserved, wise and boy, could she cook.

Hannie was my mother’s grandmother, my grandmother’s mother, my great grandmother. She lived to be nearly 100. I saw her almost every day of my life until I was about 13 years old when we moved from Missouri to California. Hannie lived directly across the street from my grandmother. My grandmother had the great big old stone house and Hannie lived at the end of the driveway in her own little cottage. She walked to my grandmother’s fancy house every day in her perfect dress with her perfect shoes, hair perfectly coiffed with her perfect manners… With a beer. I swear to God. Hold on, it gets worse, the beer was always in a beer coozy. Hannie didn’t care, she was her own woman.

 

My grandparents house circa 1980s. That is Hannie in the front.

Hannie had a story… A story we never spoke of. That’s how my family rolls… We never speak of anything uncolorful or painful. I do though… as evident in this blog. I don’t see the point of keeping secrets, bottling emotions up, hiding skeletons in the closet, pushing stories under the rug. I think the more you hide something, the more obvious it is. Everyone makes mistakes, everyone has disappointments, failures, scars and regrets. It’s called life and that’s how you grow and learn and… evolve. #NoteToFamily.

I think that everyone should praise Hannie for her bravado instead of shaming her. Her big secret? She got a divorce. That’s it! But back then, it was fucking unheard-of. Granted, she did get a divorce from a super bad guy… A bank robber, but who are we to judge. I’ve dated my fair share of psychos. Don’t pretend like you haven’t either. Trust me, my sweet little great-grandmother had no idea she married a bank robber. However, she knew enough to divorce him. This was a huge ordeal and never spoken of. We were all supposed to just pretend that Hannie had always been single and her children were born by immaculate conception.

Never wanting feel sorry for herself, Hannie just went about her business raising her daughters and… Getting a job! Yep, she worked her entire life. She was Beyoncé’s Independent Woman circa 1940s. She never remarried, lived on her own and supported herself. What I love about her also is that she always looked like a million bucks. Every day her hair was done, her manicure done, she always wore a dress and shoes with a little heel. The adorable part and the oxymoron for her bold character was that she was teeny tiny… Under 5 feet tall. I think that makes her legally an elf. The funny part is that this little elf drove a giant town car.

As reliable as a postman, Hannie walked over to my grandmother’s house rain sleet or snow every single day. She sunk herself into the big couch, legs crossed… with her beer. She loved her family and was always there for us. I think the moral to her story is to never feel sorry for yourself, be brave and that independence is a very womanly trait. Hannie lived her life on her terms, put her past behind her and evolved.

All of that, and she could cook! So, in honor of Hannie’s gusto, I present to you her Barbecue Fixin’s Side Dish: Corn Casserole.

The recipe is from my mother so I cannot be held accountable for misspellings, grammatical errors, erroneous punctuation, evidence of dyslexia, and overall confusion. The end result is fabulous, so just accept it.

Here is the recipe brought to you by my mother:

Hannie’s Corn Casserole

This was my Grandmother Hannie's (Ellie’s great-grandmothers) one dish that she always made in the summer for our summer dinners. We didn't go outside to eat like most people did for a BBQ.  My dad did not cook out. We always had dinner in the Dining Room.  No matter what time of year or what occasion. Hannie always made this at her house which was across the street from my Mom's (Ellie’s grandmother.)  So I would go over and watch her make it....

Hannie's Corn Recipe

6 or 7 ears of yellow corn

butter

1/2 and 1/2 cream

1 onion cut up in small pieces

1 green bell pepper cut up in small pieces

bacon  cooked crisp about 7 or 8 slices crumbed

salt and pepper

First take the corn off of the cob. 

Put the corn in a iron skillet or one that is heavy along with about 1/2 stick of butter and a little vegetable oil.   Add the onions, green bell pepper and cook for about 20 minutes.  You want the corn to be soft but not too soft. Just a little bit to it.  Now add about 1/2 cup of the cream.  Cook for about 10 to 15 minutes or until the cream is rich and getting thick.  Creates a little sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste.  At this point it can wait and keep warn until everything else is ready.  When time to serve put  the bacon on top. 

This recipe has not ever been written down.  So you can make it yours by adding or taking away.  Maybe a little more cream...more butter!  It is all up to you and what you like. 

Hope you try it .   Enjoy.... Anne

Voilà! The second installment of our Barbecue Fixin’s Series. Stay tuned for more…

A toute!

The Fixin's: BBQ Baked Beans

 

Wow! I didn’t realize that there were so many barbecue loving blog readers! I received a ton of emails from readers who were so excited to share their barbecue stories including one email from a woman this morning detailing how to barbecue a whole pig that involved a bathtub, beer and a truck. These are my kind of people.

Because I live in Par-ee, I didn’t realize that it is Memorial Day weekend back in the states! I wish I had thought of this barbecue blog series sooner so I could share all of my family recipes before the big weekend. Alas, we have a whole summer of barbecue ahead of us so not to worry.

I thought it would be fun to take a few days and share my mother’s, my grandmother’s and my great grandmother’s recipes with you that we have used for generations. These are the recipes we use for summer barbecues. Even though I like to go to dumpy barbecue joints, if we are doing barbecue at home, we still make it a formal affair because that’s just how my family is. Even though my grandmother’s recipe calls for a white trash can of Pork n Beans, it was always served on beautiful china in the formal dining room. Isn’t that funny?

Okay, these next few blogs are all about the barbecue fixin’s… The sides. These aren’t fancy recipes, they are not gourmet… They are real and they are delicious. However, I must warn you… My mother wrote out all of these recipes and with that comes a whole lot of funny. My mother has self diagnosed dyslexia, is a horrible speller and is just overall confusing. You have to have had to live a lifetime with her to actually understand what she’s talking about. I don’t know how she taught cooking classes because I know how frustrated she gets when we mere mortals don’t know what she’s talking about. She just assumes that everyone is or should be a master chef. When I was growing up, 90% of my life was spent in the kitchen with my mother watching her cook. Rarely, very rarely, she would let me stir a sauce but then she would take the spoon out of my hand and tell me that I was stirring it wrong. I’m pretty sure I do the same thing to my daughter, Grace.

My mother is the type of cook who “feels.” She doesn’t really follow recipes, no two meals are the same, she uses all of her senses to cook and the results are… Extraordinary. So, with that being said… I’m just going to let her recipes be themselves… Confusion, misspellings, improper verb tenses, condescension, assumption and all. She will most likely not tell you what temperature the oven should be because she assumes you should just know. And my God, you better be using the proper cookware or heads will roll. Doesn’t this sound like fun? Just kidding, trust me, it is fun because my mother has a wonderful characteristic of being able to laugh at herself.

Today’s recipe from my mother, Anne:

O’Connell Family Baked Beans

This recipe was my Mom's (Ellie’s grandmother) and I have never had a actual written recipe.  It was just as you go!

So here it is..as I go!

1  large can of Pork n Beans (I pour most of the liquid off) actually, make that two large cans.

about I/2  cup of ketchup

about 1/2 cup of brown sugar

about 1/2 of a green pepper cut in small sizes

about 1/2 of a large onion

a few splashes of Worchestershire Sauce

about 8 to 10 slices of bacon

Pour the pork n beans into a large bowl.  Add all of the ingredients, except the bacon, and mix together.  you might like to add more or less of each of them.  This is just how I start.   I probable add more ketchup and brown sugar and a whole onion and whole green pepper. I probably add more worchestershire because I like it to be a dark color and have a rich taste.  But it does add salt so be careful.  Taste it and see how you like it...a little sweet but a richness to it. I usually double this recipe.  Love the leftover beans the next day.

Now put it in a glass baking dish. Round or rectangle.... any size. It is better to have it in a smaller dish that will give it some depth instead of longer and not as deep.   Now place 4 or 5 slices of bacon across the dish and then the other 4 or 5 across the dish in the other direction to form a basket weave pattern.  Makes it look special!  The bacon is important to this recipe.

Bake in a 400 oven for about 45 to 60 minutes.  Don't let the beans over cook and dry out.  You want them to be moist.  I have burned them many times so be careful.  Put the timer on....Anne

Voilà! My grandmother’s baked beans via my mother. Welcome to my world. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s recipe… My great grandmother’s summer barbecue corn casserole.

Life's Lesson N°12: BBQ

Getting back to the 15 dishes you should master by the age of 30…

Just in time for summer, today we need to master barbecue. This ain’t easy. My first reaction is just to say that if you want good barbecue… Go to the South. Southerners have been mastering barbecue for decades and who are we to interfere?
 

For the first part of my life, I grew up in Missouri, was born in Texas, spent time in the South, and with conviction I can say that I know good barbecue. My parents and grandparents used to take us “to the wrong side of the tracks” in our little town of Springfield, Missouri for old school barbecue. A tiny barbecue joint that had been in operation for three generations… Crosstown Barbecue. It was a total dump but barbecue only tastes good that way. There’s nothing better on a hot summer day than barbecue ribs, coleslaw, baked beans, corn on the cob, watermelon and an icy cold Pepsi.

One sweltering summer my ex-husband and I drove from Missouri to South Carolina stopping at every barbecue place along the way. Our goal was to experience every type of barbecue… Mission accomplished. I learned that there were different types of barbecue depending on the region. Mustard base, tomato base, vinegar base, ketchup base, molasses base. Different types of wood were used… Hickory, pecan, or oak. Some joints used pork, some used beef, some used chicken. Sauces and sides were equally important and barbecue isn’t barbecue without some white bread, paper plates and paper napkins.

 

There was some buzz over here in Paris a while ago about a new restaurant… A barbecue restaurant… In Paris! I was skeptical. However, beggars can’t be choosers so without having any barbecue since I came to Paris two years ago, I thought I would give it a shot. The restaurant is called Flesh and is in the ninth arrondissement. I sent my husband for some take out with specific instructions… Pulled pork sandwich, extra extra barbecue sauce, and coleslaw. None of that came home. They only offered barbecue ribs, no baked beans, no coleslaw and offered Caesar salad as a side dish and offered wine as a beverage. What the fuck! You can’t have Caesar salad with barbecue. You can’t have wine with barbecue! It’s not right, it’s just not done. And what about pulled pork sandwich on a white trash bun… That’s the hallmark of barbecue. The owners of Flesh need to spend a solid summer in Memphis, Arkansas, Texas, Alabama, South Carolina, Kansas City, and North Carolina to get some schooling on what real barbecue is. Quelle horreur!

 

Even my mother who is an incredible cook, doesn’t take on barbecue. She leaves that to the experts and she focuses on the sides. We usually order the ribs, the pulled pork and the brisket and we make homemade sides of corn casserole, potato salad, baked beans, peach cobbler, strawberry shortcake, cornbread and sweet tea. So, that’s what we are going to do over the next few days to get us ready for the summer. Fasten your seatbelts… It’s hillbilly time.
 

Life's Lesson N°11: Gratin Dauphinois and The Mind-Body Dilemma

 

My husband announced (rudely) the day after Easter brunch, “I’m cooking next year for Easter.” I guess his delicate French soul had just about enough of my American cooking considering for Easter brunch my caregiver and I made Blueberry French Toast Casserole, Eggs Benedict Casserole and a Potato Bacon Cheese Casserole. My husband is definitely American Casserole “fini.”

My excuse was “I did it for Grace” which is pretty much my excuse for everything. If my baby wants American food, my baby will get American food because that’s the kind of mother I am. However, in all fairness, we will go back to a French menu of roasted lamb with herbs, haricots blancs and the little potato purée next year… Out of respect. Sometimes I need to remind myself that I now live in France and not the grand ol’ United States of ‘merica.

 My husband comes from a very traditional French family from the French Alps, the Haute Savoie region. They are known for a very famous dish called Gratin Dauphinois. My husband’s family makes this special dish as easily as I pour a bowl of Cap’n Crunch cereal. Let me tell you something, it is so delicious that it is sinful and all of us should have it in our repertoire. Think scalloped potatoes with class.

I found a great blog called French for Foodies, and the author, Rachel Bajada, wrote a wonderful piece about Gratin Dauphinois that you should all check out HERE. The article gives you a great history about which cream from the cow is used for Gratin Dauphinois and even how potatoes were introduced to the French (from Americans I might add, you’re welcome). A very interesting read!

 

 

Now, I am not an expert in Gratin Dauphinois, but my husband is and so is his mother, so here are some of their secrets to a perfect Gratin Dauphinois. I just want to state, for the record, that they were very reluctant to give up these secrets…

Use Bintje potatoes

Slice the potatoes very thin… Like a euro coin

Butter the dish but do not add butter

Use three fours crème fraîche to one fourth milk

Do not precook the potatoes

Don’t forget to salt-and-pepper each layer and add nutmeg to each layer

Cook the entire dish slowly, slowly, slowly

Stop asking so many questions (this last bit wasn’t so much said to me as it was implied)                                                                                               

David’s mother also said that people can also add cheese, garlic, herbs and/or ham.

Okay, now let’s look at some recipes…

Gruyere and Thyme Gratin Dauphinois

 

Smitten Kitchen Gratin Dauphinois with Sorrel Mushrooms

 

Gratinée’s Potato Dauphinois

 

Voilà! Gratin Dauphinois mastered!

 *Something you don’t know about me? In case you haven’t noticed, I’m kind of a spaz. I worry about everything, I overthink everything and I also internalize everything. I will not let things “just be.” Everything affects me and I feel like I must do something about everything. I don’t let things slide as evident in my Instagram war a couple of weeks ago. Even though I’m a super happy person, I’m also a very stressful person… Sometimes that’s just the nature of the game. I have always, always thought that my nature has something to do with my illness. My self-diagnosis was proven correct lately as I came across a book by a brilliant doctor, Dr. John E. Sarno, titled The Divided Mind: The Epidemic of Mind-Body Disorders. Dr. John Sarno believes that, “The interaction between the generally reasonable, rational, ethical, moral conscious mind and the repressed feelings of emotional pain, hurt, sadness, and anger characteristic of the unconscious mind appears to be the basis for mindbody disorders.”

 

While I’m not sure if my symptoms are completely “psychosomatic” because I think that’s taking it a little bit too far but I do think that my genetics compounded with severe stress brought about my illness. What’s interesting though is that I also think that my positive attitude has kept the illness from killing me so far. Regardless, I think his book is definitely worth a read. The brain is a mighty mighty organ and the most complex, having the power, in my opinion, to do good or evil. If you want to purchase and read the book, click HERE. Let me know what you think… Let’s open a dialogue. Oh my God, did I just start a book club?