The beginning of Week 7...who would have thought? Monday mornings are still Monday mornings - regardless of the commute or lack thereof. However, at least it is sunny - chilly, breezy but sunny. I find it interesting how we three are handling this. If I am not cooking, I want to sleep. Cate has created her first apartment - setting up two rooms of the house as her own and staying up until dawn. Jamie is just the same. Perhaps, it is his military background. He wakes at the same time, goes to bed at the same time, works out daily, etc.
The constant in all of this is that Sunday means Sunday Dinner. Last night, we celebrated the Alsace - perhaps Jamie's favorite region of France. (Mine will always, always be Brittany.) We have had several wonderful trips there -- lunches in the vineyards, roaming the villages stopping at what looks to be an old home only to find out it is a tasting room, and then ultimately loading the car with case after case of Riesling (again, Jamie's favorite wine). We moved back to the U.S. with at least 12 cases of Riesling.
We have been back for five years and surprisingly those cases have diminished. I won't tell you by how many. I found a way to solve that problem. I reached out to a wine broker in Burgundy and ordered my favorite wine and subtly inquired if he could find Jamie's favorite vitner in Kaysersberg. Thierry worked for weeks and finally found the family and convinced the vitner's wife to sell us four cases of Riesling. I won the wife prize for that one.
My latest coup is landing cases of Cremant. Cremant is sparkling wine and our favorite is from the delightful village of Riquewihr. The Dopff family developed Cremant. They invented the long, signature bottles that carry Riesling. I reached out to the winery and asked if they could ship to the U.S. It tooks months before I would hear a response. The response came from Madame Dopff herself and she told me that she had found a shipper. I have enjoyed many email conversations with Mme Dopff and we sip Cremant quite regularly. She doesn't know me from Adam but I feel like I have made a friend.
My long winded salute to the Alsace.
This recipe brings it all back to me, to Cate and to Jamie. It is simple like so many French dishes but complex at the same time. I don't make it often but each time I do, it is like seeing an old friend.
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