Mmn, ca vous donne envie?
This is the un-cooked version. I just couldn’t resist. It’s a dish called ‘Andouillette‘.
I’ve got to say that this is one of the only dishes I can’t get myself to enjoy. Don’t get me wrong, I have been raised well and have of course done the right thing and tried it. I have tried it many times in fact – each time trying to savour the flavour as much as those around me (not much pressure here – it’s a Frenchie family favourite). But I’m sorry, everytime I do, I get a certain ‘je ne sais quoi’ flavour. Actually no, I’m lying. I know what I taste – and it’s a taste I wouldn’t normally associate with fine cuisine. Getting me? Sorry, but it does. You should smell the fumes when these babies are smoking in the pan. I thought tripe in Mum and Dad’s pressure cooker was bad.
The first time I ate Andouillette the je-ne-sais-quoi flavour lingered in my mouth well into the following morning (I had brushed my teeth three times). I was horrified and complained to Benji about the disturbingly bad taste. “Well, it is half made of shit,” was his answer.
Am I making your mouth water by now? Look it up and see what’s in it. It’s a delicacy that, in it’s ‘purest’ (and by this I mean ‘smellier’ version) form, you don’t find often, if ever, outside of France. Strange.
As I don’t tend to serve this at home, my mother-in-law likes to get some in preparation for her boy’s arrival. They all laugh at me as they’re tucking into it with dollops of mustard, wondering how on earth I can’t adore this dish. I can only sit there and make cheap comments on the dish’s obvious aesthetic merits and delightfully heady aromas. “My poor son!” my mother-in-law consoles… “At least here at your mother’s you can enjoy Andouillette!”
Hungry?
I shouldn’t go any further before introducing you to this beautiful lady. She is one of the pride and joys of our kitchen and has withstood many a gas bottle change-over (the door on the left conceals the blue butane gas bottle, hooked up by a rubber hose to the elements, which we change over at the hardware store on average every three months). This ‘cuisinière’/ stove has had her bottles changed since the 1950’s!
We found her sitting all shiny and alone in an Emmaüs (charity shop) many years ago and apart from the crack in her bottom drawer’s handle, has aged so gracefully and remained a very loyal friend in the kitchen. I love her!
Her name is FAR and I spotted Catherine Deneuve cooking at a single version in an old French film once and got very excited. And then I came home with this cookbook folder from a ‘vide-grenier’/garage sale the other day, and guess who features on the cover…
I’m not letting her go anywhere!
I want to share a little recipe with you. It’s asparagus season here and every year we eat tonnes of it and the way we’ve normally prepared it, is steamed until al dente and served on a platter with boiled egg scattered over the top and then washed over with a mustard vinaigrette (essentially an oil-based sauce with vinegar – to which you can add lemon juice, salt, pepper, mustard etc, whatever you feel like!).
We’ve been eating it for years and I’ve never considered preparing it any other way, I like it so much! That is, until I ate Philippa’s oven-baked asparagus.
Philippa and her partner John have a winery here in the Minervois – Hegarty Chamans – where they make a great range of organic and biodynamic whites (I love their Marsanne Roussanne!) and reds. Their philosophy of how they make their wines follows into the kitchen. Philippa is an amazing cook and meals there are a real treat. It’s like a celebration of fresh produce (often from their ‘potager’/ vegie patch), colours and aromas. There’s no messing around, just simple, pure flavours blended beautifully together. And it all feels so healthy! (if I leave my wine consumption out of the equation). This dish in particular is a beauty. Thanks Philippa, I’ve been hooked ever since you served this entree of asparagus!
Philippa’s Oven-Baked Asparagus
(Yum! and great served as an entree…)
ingredients:
2-3 bunches green asparagus
olive oil
a good cup full of grated Swiss Gruyere (my favourite cheese EVER) or Parmesan
3-4 dried chopped dried chillies (or 1 or 2 fresh – very hard to find around these parts!)
salt and pepper
method:
chop the ends off the asparagus spears (I never really peel the ends), then rinse and pat dry in a teatowel
pour olive oil into bottom of a good heavy baking dish and swirl to spead the oil
place the spears, then top with the cheese, then the chillies, drizzle more oil and then add salt, pepper to taste
bake in moderate to hot oven (in my old gas oven I cook them on ‘7’) for 30 mins ( or for however long you want, depending on how much crunch you want to leave in the spears)
Et voila! so simple and so delicious!
Kat xoxo
…and a note on the wine! Asparagus is a difficult thing to match with wine. But if you really can’t resist, go ahead and eat them with a dry but fruity white… Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris
The Vigneron's Wife 