Transhumance in the Vallée d’Aspe
The transhumance is the practice of moving livestock to high mountain pastures as the weather warms in early summer. As I learned when I visited the Fromagerie Écologique Agour Irati, this ancient practice has economic and culinary roots. Moving the flock to communal mountain pastures in the summer allows the farmer to use his land …
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Leave a CommentFava Bean Hummus
Still another way to enjoy fava beans during their (too short!) season. Thanks to my good friend Kelly Lillis for this recipe, which I first enjoyed at her home. This recipe works great for fava beans that have started to get starchy, save tender young favas for another use. The recipe is very quick and …
Leave a CommentJust another Friday night in Orthez
Chez Cabaillou is a restaurant and bar just around the corner from our little house in Orthez, family run since 1935. At lunch, it bustles with locals enjoying their well prepared daily 3-course lunch menu – an crazy bargain at 16 euros. In the evening, the bar becomes a sort of working man’s hangout, where …
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Leave a CommentPork chipolatas sauteed with fava beans, fava leaves and green garlic.
When planting fava beans for ground cover and to add nutrients to poor soil, one tends to forget that, with very little work, you may end up with a whole bunch of fava beans. One of the beauties of favas is that, not only are the beans delicious, but the leaves and flowers are edible …
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Leave a CommentRestaurant Le Socowa, Ciboure France
Literally across the street from the Bay of Biscay, Le Socowa is the French version of a beach front fish shack. With that in mind, you would expect that organization would not be a strong point, which it is not: they almost never answer the phone if you call for a reservation and as far …
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Farm Chicken
One of the difficulties of translating French recipes for the American kitchen is that many of the ingredients are just not the same in France as in America. This difference in ingredients can often mean that getting good results using a French recipe can require a lot of modifications in measurements, timing and techniques. Take, …
2 CommentsSpring lamb sweetbreads with cream and leeks
Living need the Pyrenees, where sheep’s milk cheese is king, inevitably means spring lamb. Ewes need to have lambs to continue producing milk, and the male lambs are of very little use on a dairy farm. Thus in the spring, when they are between 30 and 50 days old, the male lambs are culled from …
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Leave a CommentChez Mattin, still great!
The last time I had the good fortune to dine at Chez Mattin in Ciboure was pre-covid. This family-run Basque restaurants has been consistently one of my favorites for years, see my recommendation from 2013! But a lot changed during covid, and many wonderful restaurants have either not opened or never re-found their pre-covid form, …
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