Showing posts with label Courgette. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Courgette. Show all posts

Clafoutis and Flagnardes, Flaugnardes or Flognardes on French Menus.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

  
Cherry Clafoutis
www.flickr.com/photos/ipalatin/7326966018/

Clafoutis began as tarts made with a thick crêpe-like batter cooked together with sour cherries. They became so popular outside the old region of Limousin where they originated that when cherries were not in season chefs added other fresh fruits.  Following on that success, the Clafoutis expanded their territory.  Now we have breakfast Clafoutis with button mushrooms and tomatoes, light lunch Clafoutis with salmon or cheese and the main course at lunch or dinner may include a vegetable Clafoutis offered as a garnish.  Oh, and you can still have a Clafoutis with cherries or other fruits as a dessert. (The old region of Limousin included the departments of Corrèz, Creuse, and Haute-Vienne).

On 1-1-2016 the administrative region of Limousin was joined together with the regions of Aquitaine, and Poitou-Charentes in the new super-region of Nouvelle Aquitaine. The old regions' names will remain linked to the foods and wines that are named after them, but their borders will disappear from most maps. 
     
N.B. The word Clafoutis is pronounced kla-fou-tee, the “s” is silent, and it’s the same word whether you order one or ten Clafoutis.
  
  
Depending on the ingredients Clafoutis may be served hot, warm, or cold.  For a single diner, a Clafoutis will usually be made in a single serving dish with a large Clafoutis also being seen when a whole table or a number of patrons make the same order.  Some travel guides refer to a Clafoutis as a flan or pie. However, since the French own the product; and they call Clafoutis a tarte, they are a tart in English.
    
A Cherry Clafoutis
www.flickr.com/photos/70253321@N00/2560568707/
   
Clafoutis on French menus:
  
Clafoutis au Reblochon de Savoie et aux Quetsches - A Clafoutis prepared with quetsche plums and France’s Reblochon AOP cow’s milk cheese from the Savoie. The quetsche plum is a mauve to almost black plum that has a fragrant and sweet yellow flesh; it is oval shaped with nearly pointed ends. The quetsche’s nearest UK relation is the damson plum which is not as sweet.

Clafoutis aux Abricots   A Clafoutis with apricots;    

Clafoutis aux Griottes–  A Clafoutis with France’s griottes, sour cherries; the original recipe.  
        
A black raspberry clafoutis with ice-cream.
(Black raspberries are a North American rasberry family member)
www.flickr.com/photos/stuart_spivack/14591610822
      
Clafoutis aux Tomates et aux Fromages de Chèvre – A Clafoutis with tomatoes and goat’s cheese.

Clafoutis aux Pommes, Servi Tiède et Glace au Calvados –  A Clafoutis made with apples and served warm with ice cream flavored with Calvados.  Calvados and there are three distinct types, is Normandy’s famous Calvados AOC Apple brandy.     

Clafoutis de Saumon Salade Mêlée - A Clafoutis made with salmon and served with a mixed salad.  Salmon in France is the Atlantic salmon.
  

A Clafoutis with plums and almonds
www.flickr.com/photos/12699042@N00/7984229072/
      
Clafoutis de Chèvre et Olives et sa Frisée aux Petits Lardons – A Clafoutis served with a warmed goat’s cheese and olives accompanied by a small salad made with the crispy curly endive flavored with small bacon pieces.  The Frisée or Chicorée or Endive Frisée is the curly endive.  It looks like a lettuce with outer green leaves that curl and in a salad, it adds a slight crunch with a pleasant but slightly bitter taste.  The lighter-colored inner leaves are milder and are considered the best for salads.

Now that Clafoutis are on menus for breakfast, lunch, and dinner that creates problems with Limousine’s other famous tart, the flangnarde also called the flognarde or flaugnarde.  (The name used depends on tradition, and are pronounced with the letter g silent, so flaugnarde is pronounced flo-nyard). 

In the Occitan language, the word Flaugnards is said to come from the word fleunhe meaning soft, and that will describe the texture of a Flaugnard and a Clafouti.  (Occitan is the language that lost out to French when the country looked for a single unifying language).

Flaugnardes and Flognardes on French menus:

Flaugnarde Pomme-Poire à la Fève Tonka – A Flaugnard with apples and pears flavored with the Tonka bean.  The Tonka bean is a plant of South American origins with a strong aroma and used as a spice. I have never had the opportunity to smell or taste the Tonka bean on its own but the aroma is said to resemble vanilla with a touch of almonds and cinnamon and it is mostly used in aniseed-flavored drinks like pastis.
   
  
Flaugnarde de Nèfles aux Pommes –  A Flaugnarde with loquats and apples. When cooked apples are on the menu it is nearly always Granny Smith’s.

Flognarde Pomme et Cannelle – An apple Flognarde flavored with cinnamon.
  
   
Flognarde aux Pommes, Glace Vanille -  A Flognarde with apples and vanilla ice cream.
  
Flognarde aux Mirabelles – A Flognarde made with the Mirabelle plum; a small, yellow to reddish plum that is France’s favorite plum for confitures, jams, and conserves.  The Mirabelle developed locally in the old region of the Lorraine in Northern France most probably from trees that were imported by the Romans, who imported cherries, apricots, and peaches, or it may have been other traders.  The origins of the plum are to the north-east of modern Turkey and the adjacent Caucasus,
    

Still, the world center for the modern Mirabelle is the Lorraine and while not everyone has heard of the Mirabelle plum or even the Lorraine everyone has heard of the Quiche Lorraine.  Since 1-1-2016 the region of Lorraine together with the regions of Alsace, famous for its cuisine and wines, and the Champagne-Ardenne, famous for Champagne, have become parts of the new French super-region of the Grande Est, the Great East. 


Limousin will, however, remain on the culinary map of France. As you drive around the Limousin breed of cattle is recognizable by their chestnut red coloring.  Their name may not be on many menus, but nearly every restaurant offering steaks, roasts or daubs without an AOC/AOP, a Label Rouge or a named source will be offering Limousin beef.
  
Limousin bull.
www.flickr.com/photos/simmysphotos/7436357324/

Restaurant cheese trays on Limousin will include French AOP cheeses as well as first-rate Limousin cheeses that only rarely make it to fromageries, cheese shops, outside the area.  The best local cheeses include the Geuille du Limousin, the Leconet and Saint Pierre goat’s milk cheeses and the Gouzon and Millevaches cow’s milk cheeses.

All around the old region of Limousin are places where the weather, soil are high altitude are said to be especially good for apples.  Here grown France’s only AOP apple the Pomme du Limousin AOC, the Golden Delicious apple of Limousin.  Like other regions with particular routes for wines or cheeses the Limousin has a Route de Pommes, an apple road, You can take that and enjoy apples and cider along with cheeses and stop off for lunch or dinner at restaurants offering Limousin Beef.  All local Tourist Information Offices offer directions.

For something other than culinary enjoyment in Limousin visit the City of Limoges, This is capital the capital of the department of  Haute-Vienne and the home of Limoges porcelain The Museum Adrien Dubouché with its unique porcelain collection has an English language website:


Limoge town hall.
www.flickr.com/photos/boklm/34708725122/
  
Then visit the small town of Aubusson in the department of Creuze so famous for the Aubusson tapestry.  The Departmental Museum of Tapestry has an astonishing collection but their website is in French only but easily understood using the Google or Bing Translate apps:

A place to sit down and rest in the Tapestry Museum Aubusson


--------------------------------

Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

 

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

Copyright 2010, 2013, 2018, 2019
 
--------------------------------

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Fleur de Courgette - The Courgette Flower; in the USA the Zucchini Flower.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

  
The courgette/ zucchini flower.
 
Before the courgette/zucchini flower, there was the fruit itself.
   
The courgette, zucchini in the USA, was developed in northern Italy from squash brought from Central or South America.  An Italian book entitled “Orticoltura”  (2nd edition) is the first known reference to the zucchini/ courgette; the book’s author was Domenico Tamaro, and it was published in 1901. Tamaro called the zucchini the “zucca quarantina vera nana, “  the forty-day true dwarf zucca; zucca is Italian for pumpkin and squash.   From Northern Italy, the zucchini reached France and the rest of Europe
 
Until the 1860’s the city of Nice on France’s Cote d’ Azure belonged to Italy and so it not surprising that this vegetable  (actually a fruit) is an integral part of Cuisine Niçoise, especially ratatouille where the zucchini/courgette stars.
  
The female zucchini plant with its single flower.
www.flickr.com/photos/cobaltfish/14600850634/
   
Courgette, zucchini, flowers are fresh for just a few days, so every day the fields must be checked for new blooming flowers; then they are quickly and lightly packed for the restaurants and farmer’s markets where they will be sold. For your local supermarket to have courgette flowers, they will have to have excellent local sourcing connections and daily supplies. 

The flowers of the courgette/zucchini have a delicate aroma and to eat them uncooked they must be really fresh as the flower is all about texture.  If you have the chance try the flowers uncooked and stuffed with cream cheese, you will appreciate the scent and feel the flower on your tongue and then the cheese flavoring.  When deep fried, you are left only with the texture and correctly prepared the stuffing will pop as you put pressure on the flower in your mouth.
 
The courgette/zucchini flower dishes of France vary considerably.  Some are lightly stuffed with vegetables or seafood and presented as entrée (the French first course), and that may be a full plate of ten or fifteen flowers. Others are densely stuffed with goat’s cheese or salmon so that three or four flowers are offered as a garnish. The preferred method of cooking is overwhelmingly deep-frying.
   

The male zucchini/ courgette flowers.
www.flickr.com/photos/keithroper/1505611572/

The Courgette (Zucchini) flowers on French Menus:
   
Fleur de Courgette Farcie aux Écrevisses et Poularde, Sauce Nantua - Courgette (zucchini) flowers stuffed with crayfish tails and the meat from a young, spayed, and fattened chicken, accompanied by Sauce Nantua.
   
Sauce Nantua is a butter sauce, originally made with the crayfish for which the town of Nantua was once famous. Today, due to over-fishing the crayfish will not be local.  Nonetheless, the beautiful lake Nantua bordering the town is a watersport center.  Nantua is in the department of Ain which is part of the old province of Bresse.  By local sourcing their produce and food products the chefs of Nantua will be working with one of France’s AOP butters, the Beurre de Bresse AOP and one of France’s only two AOP creams the Crème de Bresse AOP.  Also from Ain come the Bresse Bleu, Bleu de Gex AOP, and Comte AOP cheeses; all that along with France's only AOP poultry, the Volaille de Bresse AOP.   
       
Fleur de Courgette Farcie aux Gambas - Courgette flowers stuffed with large shrimps.

Fleurs de Courgette Farcies aux Petits Légumes – Courgette flowers stuffed with tender young vegetables.
    
Fleurs de Courgettes au Crabe TourteauTartare de Courgette, Estragon, Granny Smith – Courgette flowers stuffed with the meat of the edible brown crab and served with a Tartar of courgettes and Granny Smith apples flavored with tarragon. The edible brown crab with its firm white meat is the most popular crab in France
             

Male zucchini flowers.
www.flickr.com/photos/ljcybergal/641392898/
  
Fleur de Courgette Farcie à La Mousse De Saumon, Jus De Ratatouille – Courgette flowers stuffed with salmon mouse and the sauce from ratatouilleThe most important vegetable in a ratatouille is the courgette/ zucchini, and so here the flower flavored with the vegetable’s cooking juices.
    
Fleurs de Courgettes Farcies et Frites de Panisse aux Olives du Pays, Jus au Romarin – Courgette flowers stuffed with panisse and local olives and served with a Rosemary flavored sauce.  Panisses are made with farine de pois chiche, chickpea flour, in a variety of shapes and deep fried and traditionally served on their own with salt; today an optional addition of grated Parmesan cheese may be offered. Panisse began as a fast food from the City if Nice on the Mediterranean. Panisse would be bought hot and eaten on the go. Now in fine restaurants, a panisse may be used as a garnish or served with a salad or have morphed into a dessert with added fruit.
     

Courgette flowers in the market.
  
Fleurs de Courgettes en Beignets avec Chèvre et Ricotta - Courgette flowers stuffed with goats’ cheese and ricotta and deep fried. Ricotta is a cheese that originated in Italy, but the fresh ricotta will be locally made, and most French ricotta cheeses are made with goat’s milk. Beignets in French is the word used for nearly all deep fried dishes as well as for French doughnuts.
   
In France, the courgette/zucchini flower season runs for nearly three months; from June through August    The female flower is a single yellow flower that grows at the end of the fruit. The more abundant male zucchinis grow on separate stalks near the female plants; the flowers taste the same and have the same texture. 
   

Preparing the zucchini/ corvette flowers
 
In France zucchini is the key ingredient in ratatouille, that famous Provencal stew of vegetables prepared in olive oil and cooked for an extended time over low heat. The dish, originating near present-day Nice, is served as a side dish or on its own for a light lunch served with bread.
  
Deep-fried courgette flowers stuffed with tuna.
Photograph courtesy of Mathew Kinghorn
     
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Searching for the meaning of words, names or phrases
on
French menus?

Just add the word, words, or phrase that you are searching for to the words "Behind the French Menu" and search with Google. Behind the French Menu’s links include hundreds of words, names, and phrases that are seen on French menus. There are over 400 articles that include over 3,000 French dishes with English translations and explanations.
 

Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

 

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

Copyright 2010, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2018

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