baking – Page 9 – Myfrenchkitchen

Autumn is the time of year we eat rustic food. Finish are the dainty salads and light desserts..we now go for rustic, unadorned meals. Apples are in abundance and it will be a shame to allow the time to pass and not use them to their full. I saw these apples in pastry somewhere in a magazine and I only remember they were called by the melodious name of Bourdelots and it looked much prettier than mine. I made them just on feeling, and I can’t imagine the magazine version being tastier, because they are so delicious with the puff pastry and brown sugar and apricot jam…and don’t they look pretty rustic too..(good excuse, n’est pas)?

..Rustic apples in puff pastry..

La Recette:

Clean and peel 4 apples, remove the inner core and drizzle with lemon juice.
Unroll a sheet of puff pastry, cut into quarters. Place 4 quarters on a baking paper on a baking sheet.
Place an apple on each quarter. Fill the apples with a teaspoon of apricot jam, a knob of butter and sproinkle with brown sugar.
Wrap the pastry around the apples and brush with beaten egg.
If you have puff pastry left, cut strips and stick it around the apples from top to bottom.
Refrigerate for 2 hours.
Reheat the oven to 200 degrees C.
Remove the apples from the fridge, brush again with beaten egg. Sprinkle again with brown sugar.
Place on sprigs of rosemary and bake in the hot oven at 200°C for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 180°C and bake for another 25 minutes.
If the apples get too dark on top, cover with brown paper.
Serve warm, or at room temperature with a big dollop of whooped cream or a scoop of créme fraîche or vanilla ice cream.

Pincée de fleur de sel:

Bring the dough right up to the edge of the apples which will ensure that the apples are covered more fully with pastry.
In order for puff pastry to rise high and crispy, the dough must be cold and baked in a hot oven for the first 10- 15 minutes.
Serve the apples as a side dish with a meat roast, like pork or venison.
Fill the apples with spices of your choice or with dried fruit like raisins and nuts.

The mairie or hotel de ville is an important part of every city, town and village in France. It can be as tiny as a hamlet, but it will have a mairie and an eglise. The hotel de ville is usually bigger and houses the mairie and houses several administration departments. But they both hop-use the office of the mayor of a town and the administration offices as well as an école of the commune. So it is no strange sight to see kiddies run around at lunchtime in part of the grounds of the mairie.

The mairies of the campagne has nothing to do with the elaborate and grand hotels de ville of the cities, like Paris or Tours, Lyon. Some are so small, you even pass by it without knowing.

..the mairie in Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne..

..with its administration offices around the corner..

..the little hotel de ville in Bétaille, just alongside he main road through the village..

..the very typical stone hotel de ville of Biars-sur-Cere, with its lovely surroundings,dressed each season in different vegetation..

..le mairie of Biars sur Cere.

..the mairie is still wearing its summer ballgown and pretty soon, with Toussaint at 1 November, it will change to Fall Chrysanthemes..

..In Bretenoux, the hotel de ville is obscured by lovely trees..

..and right opposite it, is the traditional memorial of the soldiers who fought in the war..

..the quaint, typically Corrézien mairie of Le Pescher where our eldest got married..

..and next to it, the mémorial of Le Pescher..

..the mairie of Marcillac la Croze is one of those you pass by without knowing..it sits up on a hill, all alone. The day I looked for this mairie I drove up to its pretty eglise, full of history and asked a gentleman who was raking the leaves, where I could find the mairie. We got caught up in a 30 minute conversation. I had to cut the motor of the car after a while, because he just couldn’t stop talking..

..Of course I can’t leave our own sweet village of Puy d’Arnac behind. Our mairie has recently had a makeover and is now a chic gathering point in the village where the mayor has her offices and I often have to drop in for keys for the garbage points or documents or this or that..

..and right next to the mairie, its école…

..in Vayrac, the hotel de ville is huge with a big spacious place in front of it..

..and to the side, village life continues..

..Altillac has a beautiful building and I pass it almost every day to buy baguette and cheese..The pride of India trees in front complement the building so beautiful in high summer…I always slow down and admire this mairie..

..the mairie of la Chapelle aux Saints, is really out in la campagne and stands all alone among green fields..

This is a prehistoric area, a very important sightseeing site in our area and the mairie forms part of the site..the ecole is at the back of the mairie..

There is still so much to show and so much to be said about the hotel de ville in France and every town’s mairie is special.. Once you have found a town’s hotel de ville, you have also found its centre ville. I will certainly explore and show more at a later stage. These ones are all in a radius of 20 minutes from home. And like the hotels de villes, there are also the fascinating eglises, which I’ll save for another time.

So, with the theme of hotel de ville and French admin , I want to share the Marseillaise, sung by my favorite artist…Edith of course! We celebrated her life in PAris, as she died 50 years ago this October. I just LOVE her..and the song – I sing along with her just as loud as she does! Enjoy!

..à la prochaine fois..

Ronelle

If ever you are in the area of Beaulieu sur Dordogne, be sure to drop in at Café Douceur for either a coffee or tea accompanied by homemade treats, or for a light lunch.

Si vous vous trouvez dans la région de Beaulieu, ne continuez pas tout droit sur votre chemin sans faire un stop au Café Douceur pour prendre un lunch, un cafe ou un thé avec un goûter fait maison,

You can judge from the photos that it has a warm atmosphere, welcoming and intimate. Everybody feels instantly at home which is no wonder, because Sophie, the owner and the chef of her café has a big heart and wide smile.

Ces photos montrent clairement l’ambiance chaleureuse, intime et conviviale. C’est normal, car Sophie, la petite propriétaire et la cuisiniére, dirige son café avec en grand coeur et un sourire pétillant.

As a young girl, Sophie was enchanted by l’heure du goûter..(late afternoon tea in France). From then on, her dream was a little café where she could bake, serve and sell madeleines, canelés, sablés and other delicacies she grew up with around l’heure du gouter. At the young age of 24 she took the plunge and opened up Café Douceur, not regretting one minute of her decision since.

Depuis son enfance, Sophie a été enchantée par l’heure du gouter. Son rêve était d’ avoir son propre petit coin pour partager cette passion. Les madeleines, les sablés, les cannelées..ce sont tous ces gourmandises qu’elle a savourée pendant son enfance et qu’elle fait aujourd’hui elle-même. Dèja il y a quelques années, à 24 ans, elle a décidée de réaliser ce rêve en ouvrant son propre café.

La terrasse has a view on centre ville, where everything happens in Beaulieu and everybody knows everybody.

Sur la terrasse, on peut s’amuser en voyant tout ce que et ceux qui arrivent en centre ville de Beaulieu.

In the image below is how she is frequently seen in la salle ..peeking around the corner from the kitchen to say hi and throw a smile at everybody.

Une image très typique…la chef cuisinière souriante jette un coup d’oeil sur la salle pour dire un petit bonjour à ses clients..

With tables and chairs as well as comfy canapés, wooden games and toys for kids, gentle colours, you are invited to take a seat, linger with a magazine and have a second coffee or tea.

On est invité à s’installer dans la salle pour l’ambiance conviviale. On oublie le temps sur un canapé soit avec un livre, soit on découvre les jouets anciens tout en attendant un deuxième café..ou thé.

.. a little bouquet de fleurs at the lunch table..

The meals coming from the kitchen are homemade by Sophie herself, using seasonal fresh herbs, fruit and vegetables, many coming from her own potager(vegetable garden).

Les plats arrivent de la cuisine faits maison avec des produits saisonnièrs et les herbes fraîche, les légumes et fruits, quand possible, cueillis dans son propre potager.

..fraisier..

..crépe complete et salade de jardin..

..Tarte citron au sorbet exotique..

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..Tarte pomme..

La pate a brioche:

For a very large tart: 6 eggs, 350g melted butter, 750g flour, 30g yeast diluted in some lukewarm water, pinch of salt. The recipe can be divided by three or even 4 for a large family size tart.

Add 117g yeast to 1 glass of warm water. Mix it into 250g flour, a pinch of salt and 2 eggs.
Cover an oven pan with baking paper.
Spread the dough to an equal thickness on the paper. Leave aside in a warm corner to rise for about 30 minutes, while you prepare the apples.
Peel and core 3 apples, cut into pieces and place into a casserole with some sugar, a few drops lemon juice , a few juniper berries, a pinch of salt. Simmer to reduce to a compote.
Peel 2 to 3 more apples and slice. Drizzle with lemon juice.
Spread the compote on the prepared brioche dough and arrange the apples slices on top.
Top with sprinkled cassonade/vergeoise/brown sugar and dollops of butter.
Bake for about 30 minutes at 180 degr. C or until the apples are caramelized and the dough is cooked through.

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La suggestion du moment changes every day, depending on season and availability of produce. This day had Papillote de saumon aux petits légumes (salmon parcels with vegetables)on the menu.

La suggestion du moment change quotidiennement selon la saison et les produits disponibles. Ce jour là…une papillote de saumon aux petits légumes.

At the counter/bar, is always a lot of laughter and chatter going on..around a cup of coffee of course.

Autour du bar, toujours de la rigolade!

So, next time you are in the vallée de la Dordogne, do make the effort to turn off to Beaulieu sur Dordogne and drop in to meet Sophie and Pascale and Michel and have a seat by the counter with a coffee, or on a couch with a magazine, or enjoy a light lunch at a table.

Alors. La prochaine fois que vous passez par la vallée de la Dordogne, faites demi tour et arretez-vous devant le Café Douceur en centre ville pour fair la connaisance de Sophie, Pascale et Michel. Surtout, n’soyez pas pressés et restez un bon moment sur un canapé tout confortable!